Chapter Two
Jaina's hand rested on the hyperspace lever of her x-wing. She had reverted to real space in the farthest reaches of the Csillian system. It was by far the most conservative hyperspace jump that she had ever plotted. She was so far out that the Csillian fighter patrols wouldn't even spot her. That allowed her time to consider whether she truly wanted to go through with this or not. Jacen had been the one to suggest that she come here and she wondered idly if he had known about Jag's invitation.
After Jacen had made his suggestion, she had, of course, protested, giving him a half-dozen reasons why it wouldn't be a good idea just off of the top of her head. Her heart, however, hadn't truly been in her protests. She had known it and unfortunately, so had Jacen. Now she faced a decision- to stay and find Jag or to go back now.
Her hand lingered on the hyperspace lever and she called up the coordinates for the jump back to Ossus. She couldn't come here and face Jag like this. She had been the one to refuse him and push him away. The galaxy still wasn't a safe place for them or their future. She wouldn't make the same mistakes that her parents, her aunt and uncle and so many others had made. She would not put the safety of her galaxy before her family.
Jaina bit her lip, struggling to control the contradictory emotions within her. There was still so much that she needed to do before she could have her dreams. With an unsteady hand, Jaina grasped the control stick of her x-wing and pulled it around, circling her x-wing around in a gentle arc. As Csilla came into view for the second time, Jaina hesitated, decreasing her acceleration slightly. She grimaced and then unable to resist, closed her eyes and sent her mind out into the flow of the Force, searching for a luminous presence that she would know anywhere. She found him in an instant, and smiled brilliantly as his familiar Force presence washed over her. She savored the feeling that was uniquely Jag and smiled- her first true smile in days.
Almost without thinking, Jaina took her hand off of the hyperspace lever and throttled her acceleration forward. Jag wasn't a dream. Jag was here and he was real. She couldn't let him slip away from her while she was trying to work for a future that might never happen.
The Chiss Ground Control greeted her harshly, demanding to know how she had gotten there and why. Her answers had not proved to their liking, nor had the fact that she was flying a well-armed x-wing. For one very long hour, Jaina had been afraid that they would refuse to allow her to land. She had grown desperate enough to even consider using a mind trick on Control.
Before she had given in to that impulse, however, the Chiss Control had spoken again. She tried to cut into what he was saying, but he overrode her. "Negative, Unidentified X-Wing. Please state your name and the transponder code of your fighter."
Jaina almost growled at the man, but suppressed the desire. This was the first time he had done anything, but deny her permission to land. She activated the channel to the Chiss Control and replied more sharply than she had intended. "Chiss Control, my name is Jaina Solo, transponder code K-387-E-9228."
There was a long pause and Jaina began to grow impatient again.
Finally the controller responded, "Knight Solo, please follow the coordinates that you are being provided with directly down to your destination. Welcome to Csilla."
Jaina cut off the transmission with a flick of her gloved finger and her x-wing jumped forward to follow the given coordinates down to the planet's surface. For the first time in almost six months, Jaina was glad to have worked for the Jedi Council. That transponder would get her far, it seemed.
As the cockpit to Jaina's x-wing rose, she gently pulled off her helmet and let her single tight braid of hair fall back down over her shoulder. She stood up easily and dropped casually to the ground. She glanced slowly around the busy hanger, but seeing no one coming to approach her, turned back to her astromech unit.
"Lock the x-wing up," she said quickly. "Warn anyone who tries to come too close. If they keep coming, notify me immediately."
Quietly the astromech unit beeped his acknowledgement and Jaina turned away, heading quickly towards the hangar bay's closest exit.
She had almost reached the door and was just in the process of stripping off her second glove when she heard a voice call out sharply, "Colonel Solo!"
Jaina stopped abruptly and whirled to face whoever had called her name. She was surprised to see the Chiss woman coming towards her, but stopped nonetheless.
"Major Nuruodo, it's a pleasure to see you again."
The Csillian woman nodded in acknowledgement and bowed slightly in greeting as she stopped in front of Jaina. "It is quite a surprise to see you here, Colonel," she said bluntly. "I did not expect to see you in the Unknown Regions."
"Oh," was the only vaguely polite reply that Jaina could muster. She was so anxious now to see Jag. Restlessness filled her and she had to use Jedi calming techniques simply to keep herself from fidgeting.
A troubled expression flicked over Shawnkyr's usually unreadable face, "I…." she hesitated. "As I'm sure you remember, Colonel Solo, I have not always approved of your connection to Colonel Fel. I thought it best for him not to be associated with you or any of your actions. I was concerned that he would be…tainted by his connection to you. When he returned home six months ago, I was happy to see that his association with you had ended."
Each word seemed to drive into Jaina's heart. Her restlessness had disappeared in an instant and she stood in front of Shawnkyr, frozen by what the Csillian woman had said.
Shawnkyr took a deep breath, before she continued and raised her glowing red eyes to meet Jaina's.
"Jagged has changed, however, since he has come back-since he left you. He is still one of CEDF's best pilots. He leads an elite squadron and he has excelled in his new duties as the Chiss liaison. However," she said carefully, "Jagged is not happy or even content. I have known Jagged for many years, Colonel. I knew him even before Cherith died. He wasn't even so unhappy then. I'm telling you this, Colonel, because my opinion of you and your influence on Jagged has changed. He misses you, Colonel, and as his friend, I do not wish Jagged to be unhappy."
Shawnkyr hesitated for a moment and then held her hand out to Jaina. When Jaina extended her hand, the Chiss woman dropped a small datachip into her hand, gave Jaina a small half-bow and walked away, leaving Jaina standing there bewildered by the one-sided conversation that she had just had. She glanced down at the chip and frowned, pulling a data reader out of her pocket to examine its contents. A moment later she smiled. Shawnkyr had given her Jag's coordinates.