Jaina caught Wedge as he was leaving his office, heading to the bridge where he could command the Galactic Alliance forces. Falling into step with him, Jaina began to plead her case. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off with his sharp, "No."
"But, General," Jaina began, only to be cut off again.
"No, Lieutenant Colonel," Wedge said swiftly speeding up his pace to leave her behind.
Jaina sped up her pace so she was next to him once again. "How many squadrons do you have without Twins, Vanguard, and Striker?" she asked, trying a different tactic.
Wedge replied almost immediately, "Enough."
"That's not what I asked General," Jaina stated, her impatience beginning to get the best of her. They were almost to the bridge and she knew when they got there she would be brushed off and expected to help out wherever her squadron was needed on the Dream. "I asked how many squadrons you have on active duty."
Wedge stopped abruptly and turned to face her. "Lieutenant Colonel, if I were you, I would change the tone I was using while speaking to my superior." Taking his reprimand in silence, Jaina listened as he continued, "We have Blackmoon, Spike, Rebel, and," he paused and then mumbled, "Vanguard." As abruptly as he stopped, he began his trek anew.
Jaina, still trying to digest the information, was a step or two behind. "How did Colonel Fel talk you into letting Vanguard fight?"
Wedge seemingly ignored her as they made the final turn to the bridge. "Tycho!" he yelled as they entered the bridge. Tycho Celchu looked up from the threat board he was studying and motioned Wedge over with his hand. "Report," Wedge said crisply.
"It's worse than we first thought," Tycho began. The distance that was crossed drowned the rest of his statement out and Jaina disgustedly about faced and walked out of the bridge.
"Goddess!" Wedge yelled, making Jaina pause at the entry to the bridge. "Twins is active as of right now!" He didn't need to tell her twice. She bolted from the bridge towards the hanger where Twin Suns was berthed, shouting orders to Kyp on her comlink the entire time.
As soon as Jaina commed him, Kyp had propelled the squadron into action, it wasn't as if they had needed any prompting though. They were just waiting on their Commander now. Kyp glanced around the hanger, looking for any sign of the Trickster Goddess. He didn't catch sight of her until she was vaulting over the ladder into her voxyn adorned X-wing.
"We're ready when you are, Divine One," Kyp stated into his headset.
Less than a minute later, Jaina stated, "Let's show them what they're missing." Her squadron didn't need to be told twice. They rose from the ground in a graceful formation, exited the hanger two-by-two, and headed into the war zone.
"Nice of you to join us, Great One," her aunt's strained voice barked out from the comm.
Perking up at her aunt's voice, Jaina responded, "No problem, Black Lead." After reviewing the situation and continuing to stay invisible to the enemy's wrath, Jaina asked, "Where would you like us?"
There was a slight pause as her aunt executed a barrel-roll and shot down a skip, "Looks to me like Twins would be best fit to help Rebel squadron planet-side."
Jaina double-clicked her comm as she studied the new mission. "Alright Twins," she said, beginning to loop around and head toward their new destination. "You heard the woman, let's go show the Vong what they're missing." The squadron followed her without a word, making a small smile break through her battle demeanor. They've really grown up she thought proudly. Plasma flying across her transparisteel brought her back to the battle at hand, and made the smile slip right back off her face.
Giving a force-nudge to Kyp, she switched channels and spoke to Rebel squadron's leader. "Colonel Anarth," Jaina intoned into the comm. She heard a click in acknowledgement, and then continued, "Goddess, here."
"Switch to channel 076, Goddess," Rebel lead replied quickly, making Jaina inwardly smile. She'd never had dealings with Colonel Tasha Anarth, but she knew already that she would like her and could only hope that this battle wasn't the last she heard of her.
Jaina switched channels and almost immediately was bombarded with orders. "Have you squadron break into twos and assign them to mine. We've already lost half of our squadron and I don't want those without wingmates left to fend for themselves."
Jaina double-clicked her comm and relayed the orders to her second-in-command through the force. Kyp acknowledged and Jaina brought herself back to the conversation at hand. The colonel had paused for a moment and then began to speak again, "Our goal here is to keep the Vong away from the planet. Mon Cal is apparently gathering their battleships and sending them up to help defend the planet and then their squadrons will take over planet watch, freeing us up to go help Vanguard eliminate the carriers."
"Alrighty," Jaina replied, clicking her comm over to Kyp's frequency. "Who do we have with us?" she asked, wasting no time to brief her XO.
"Flight Officer Travar Qualto, at your service," a distinctly Bothan drawl spoke.
Jaina didn't even try to not roll her eyes at the pride in the Bothan's voice. "Alright, let's get busy," she said, swinging her X-wing around as her tactical targeter latched onto an enemy blip. Happy hunting, she thought grimly.
If that's what you call it Kyp's voice replied in her mind. She shook her head as she began her chase of the enemy.
Jaina swooped around her Rebel squadron wingmate trying to shake the skip that had somehow attached itself to her aft. iKyp/i Jaina thought urgently to her partner. I could use your help
Kyp's tense force-reply was, I've got my own problems, Goddess. Jaina didn't have to look at the threat screen to know it was true.
"We're outnumbered five to one!" their Rebel squadron wingmate exclaimed. Jaina couldn't remember his name. Was it Tarm or Gravar She'd only heard it once and she had been too busy shooting down skips to remember.
"We don't have to beat them yet," Jaina tightly responded. "We just have to wait for some reinforcements." As she finished speaking, she turned to port abruptly and hard, and then thrust her X-wing into a tight spiral roll; all the while fighting the strong force of Gs that were trying to knock her out.
She finished her spiral roll and found herself exactly where she had hoped; behind the coralskipper that had been tracking her. Before the ship noticed her, she stuttered her lasers full-power at its aft. She scored three hits before the black hole appeared, but by then it was too late. The skip imploded on itself as Jaina sped away to Kyp's aide.
She found herself in the center of the war zone. Why should I have known Kyp would be here she thought to herself as she dodged the allied forces and swerved around enemy fire. She saw Kyp's X-wing doing a dangerous dance through the enemy fire and every once in a while sending a shot back. For every shot he made, they made 10, all closer than his to their mark. He was out-numbered 7 to 1, but now that Jaina had shown up and their Rebel squadron wingmate was on his way it would make the odds 7 to 3; slightly better, but still too many.
Jaina began to help Kyp eliminate a few of the skips that were unbalancing the odds with a quick roll and a slice of her X-wing's lasers. The skip was shot-down before it even had a chance to register her as a new threat. The others knew she was there now, but she had a plan. A sharp turn and tight barrel-roll later, she was behind another skip, aiming her lasers and firing. She missed, but the skip was now warned. You don't mess with this one.
Jaina could feel something was amiss. She didn't have time to focus on anything except the battle, but she was sure something was going to happen. Another, roll and another shot at the enemy.
Dodge. Shoot. Shoot again. The battle was going fast but she was in her zone. Nothing could stop her now. Roll. Shoot. Turn. Aim. Shoot. Something in the back of mind. Can't stop now. Dodge. Turn. Spiral. Aim. Shoot. Pain. Pain. No. There isn't supposed to be pain. No pain. Stop
Jaina's X-wing began to spiral out of control as she lost consciousness. The enemy scored a few hits on her ship and her aft caught fire. "Jaina!" Kyp's startled voice yelled into the comm. He received no answer and reached out to her in the force to find what he already knew would be true; death.
