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I played the fool today
And I just dream of vanishing into the crowd
Longing for home again
But home is feeling I buried in you
I can't ask for things to be still again
No I can't ask if I could walk through the world in your eyes
Longing for home again
- Melissa Etheridge
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It was almost two weeks later that Jaina finally managed to escape from Karrde and his men. Once Shada had found her laying unconscious on the freezing metal floor with her fighter hovering over like an anxious mother, Jaina had ended up in the medical ward. Jaina hated it. To be perfectly truthful, she didn't escape as much as she was kicked out.
They had yelled something about destroying hundreds of thousands of credits worth of semi-replaceable things as they "checked her out" and sent her along her merry way.
"Merry way, my eye!" Jaina hissed as she pulled her helmet off her head and jammed it under her seat. "I can't believe they thought I would need monitoring. Me! A Jedi! Need monitoring!!"
Her droid, Stalker, tutted reprovingly and she glanced down at the screen.
"No I am not being ridiculous! I needed that time!! I swear I did!!" With that she shut her lips tightly and started up the pre-flight sequences, and a few moments later, her fighter flew lazily out of the hangerbay, totally at odds with her furious mindset. Jaina waited until she was a ways away from the ship before punching in the hyperdrive coordinates and slipping into hyperspace.
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Shada sighed and shook her head, her arms crossed over her chest with her hands on her shoulders. "We're playing with fire Karrde; I don't like it."
"No one said you had to," Karrde admitted, running his hands up and down her arms before kissing her neck. Shada twisted her head to look at him.
"Karrde; I don't think you get it!" Shada insisted, turning her head back to face the view port, leaning her head against Karrde's shoulder. "We lied to her."
"No, we haven't." Karrde said firmly. "And if we had told her any more, people could lose their lives and I'm not willing to take that chance."
Shada groaned and shook her head. "I still don't li-"
"I know." Karrde growled, closing his eyes. "I hate this too."
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Jaina came out of her hibernation trance as the proximity alarm began to ring shrilly. She shook her sleep-fogged head and immediately began to check her fighter's readings.
The brown and blue planet loomed ahead large, and her sparkling eyes dimmed in pain. The planet was called Ruoloc and some of the most beautiful paintings and sculptures to ever be formed in the known history of the galaxy came from it. Nothing new in the way of art had come from the planet in almost fifteen years – civil wars, uprisings and rebellions had transformed a planet renowned for peace and beauty into one famed for death and suffering.
A brisk sigh and mental shake banished the planet's history to the back of her mind as she began to plot out the rest of her plan to catch Zekk. Her body went through the motions of bringing her fighter down through the atmosphere without a hitch.
"Miy'til fighter, this is Easte Ruoloc Command. Please state purpose of visit and cargo."
Jaina blinked. She was in a bloody fighter. Cargo?? Shaking her head again she cleared her throat and keyed on her com. "Easte Ruoloc Command, this is Miy'til fighter, purpose of visit is to meet my… husband. No cargo."
My… Husband?? What the hell was I thinking?? Jaina ranted at herself, trying to keep from imagining what it would be like to be able to say those words and having them be true.
"Miy'til fighter, you are cleared for docking bay 331Z6."
"Thank you command, anything I should be aware of?"
"There are rumors that Boba Fett's prodigy will be stopping by shortly."
"Boba Fett's prodigy??" Jaina questioned, more then slightly alarmed.
"Shan Brooks. Enjoy your stay on Ruloc. Command out."
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Jaina walked out of docking bay 331Z6, blaster at her thigh, lightsaber attached to a loop that she wrapped around her neck and then dangled down her back. With her small stature and large, waif-like hazel eyes she looked like an innocent child to the people in town. It was late in the evening, and most of the inhabitants were drunk; yet it was a different sort of drunk then what her brother and friends were. It was an ugly drunkenness; there were brawls on the corner, trysting couples pressed up against the walls, and Jaina felt completely out of place. Jaina kept her eyes on the ground and was blushing furiously by the time she reached a run down cantina with a neon sign out front that kept burning out, and flickering on again.
Joy, Jaina thought mirthlessly as she eyed the entrance to the questionable establishment. Squaring her shoulders, Jaina's eyes looked slightly desperate as she walked up to doors and shoved them open, and almost doubled over as she started coughing madly, a veritable cloud of smoke flowing out through the open doorway.
"Hey girl! Shut the doors!" Someone yelled at her, and Jaina opened her watering eyes.
"Yeah!" another person called, followed by a rude suggestion that many of the room's occupants laughed at and left Jaina feeling dirty for even hearing it. Pulling her head back to take one more deep breath of mostly untainted air she plunged into the dark, smoke-filled room, letting the doors slam shut behind her.
The music was loud, shaking the floor beneath Jaina's feet as she crouched over, trying to stay under the smoke as she worked her way to the back of the room. People shoved their chairs into her, knocking her around and almost sending her to the floor. Back of the room. Togorian. Black fur. Amber eyes. Name: Eznorb. Jaina ran down the short list that would point out Zekk's former contact to her.
"What'll it be?" the gravelly voice of the bartender boomed at her over the bass and Jaina timidly stood up, then straightened her spine fully once she found that the smoke wasn't as bad in the back of the room.
"Uh… Loamin Ale?" Jaina asked cautiously, unsure if she should be risking it but too thirsty to refuse a drink.
The man stared at her blankly for a few moments, then leaned over the bar to say something in a different tongue to several of his customers. They laughed loudly and Jaina knew instinctively they were mocking her. She ducked her head and looked at the ground, and then a large clawed hand dropped to her shoulder and the laughter died.
The bar tender pulled back, the amusement and shock that had been so visible on his face dieing away and he turned his back to them, and then turned back, plunking a filthy glass filled with questionable liquid in front of her. Jaina blinked, reached out a hand to pick it up, brought it to her lips and felt positively ill when she saw a small animal floating on the top of her drink. Swallowing hard, she replaced the glass without drinking from it.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," she whispered.
A low laugh sounded from behind her and the hands turned her around, pushing her towards the back of the room. "Just don't do it in here – there'll be hell to pay if you." The voice assured her.
Jaina twisted her head around to see the frightening sight of a grinning Togorian. Her eyes narrowed uneasily, "Eznorb, I'm assuming?"
"Right in one, Solo." The tall creature growled pleasantly, shoving open a door and showing her into a dimly lit room that was relatively smoke free. There was a round table that occupied most of the room and around it sat fifteen varied people. Primarily human, they appeared to be playing Sabbacc. "Men? Look lively here, we have… company."
Jaina opened her mouth to ask about Zekk and the Togorian shook his head. "Later, play a couple rounds with us and then we'll tell you everything you need to know about Zekk and what went wrong—okay?"
"Sure, I guess…" Jaina said warily, sensing something very wrong but unable to decide what it was.
A tingle of fear ran down her spine as she was gently pushed down into a seat around the table, a glass of Coreillian Whisky appeared before her and a few cards pressed into her hand. The men grunted greetings at her and Jaina slouched down in her chair, glaring at her cards as if by sheer willpower they would transform into the winning hand. They didn't change as she reached out her free hand and brought the alcohol to her lips and gulped some down, her focus never wavering even as the drugs slowly entered her body.