CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Jag strode into the hangar bay just in time to watch his father give Jaina one final brief embrace before she smiled, tipped her head, and bounded up the boarding ramp into the Jade Shadow. His father turned to face him, and gave a warm smile as Jag arrived.

"I do not know how to thank you enough," Jag said. "For everything."

Soontir shook his head. "There is no need."

Without meaning to, Jag straightened his shoulders. "I have spoken to Shawnkyr. Everything is in place, and we will make our move as soon as I return."

"You will be swift and merciless, I am certain."

"I will do what I must."

There was a flicker of something in his father's good eye. "You always do."

Jag looked at the floor, unable to hold his father's gaze. "I nearly compromised the entire operation."

"You are alive. That is all that matters."

"I will not let you down again."

"Jagged, listen carefully," his father said, reaching out to clasp Jag's shoulder. Jag looked up again, and obeyed. "Duty is important. Loyalty is important. This operation is important. But there are some things in life that are far more important than all of those put together. Including the young woman waiting for you on that starship, and how you feel about her."

Jag could only nod.

His father crushed him into a firm embrace. "Be safe."

"I will," Jag promised.

They held the hug for a long moment before Jag stepped back, snapped his father a crisp salute, spun on his heel, and hurried up the boarding ramp. Even before he reached the top it began to rise beneath his feet, and he'd hardly started down the corridor when its seals hissed shut behind him. Yes, Jaina was definitely impatient.

When he hustled into the cockpit, she was in the pilot's seat running the final preflight sequences on the console. "You're late."

"Hey, I thought we agreed –"

"You're late," she said, glancing back over her shoulder with a wicked grin on her face, "and I'm flying."

"Very well," he replied, and slid into the seat at the console at her right shoulder.

"So," she said, already intent on her tasks again, "did your dad tell you you'd better not bring me around any more?"

Jag shifted a grin. "Not quite."

She entered one more code. "Now that I've met him, I can see why he and my dad didn't get along. They're too much alike."

"Funny." Jag sat back in his chair. "I said the same thing at Hapes."

The Shadow lifted off smoothly from the deck of the hangar, and Jaina guided them toward the star-speckled blackness beyond the magbarrier. After a long moment they felt the small bump of passing outside the Star Destroyer's artificial gravity, and Jaina swung them around toward their hyperspace jump point.

A Chiss voice crackled over the comm.

Jaina snorted. "Would it kill them to speak in Basic?"

"To be fair," he said, trying very hard not to laugh, "they think I'm flying."

"Oh. Right." She met his gaze in their reflections in the viewport, and smiled sheepishly. "So what'd he say?"

"She said we're clear to make our jump."

Jaina laughed, and tapped the comm button. "Copy that. Shadow out."

"You didn't say, may the Force be with them."

"You know, they do have tractor beams on that thing, Jag. Let's not push our luck."

"As you wish." Jag sat forward again and called up the hyperspace navigation data on his console. Everything was in order. "Coordinates ready to jump."

"Perfect." Jaina gave the control yoke one last nudge, then reached for the hyperdrive lever. "And away we go."

The stars blinked, then elongated to streaks of white.

Jaina was already out of her seat. "You did set course for Vikova, right?"

Jag rose too, and held out his hands defensively. "You don't trust me?"

"Not so much, no."

"Ah." He took an overdramatic step backward as she slid past him toward the corridor, then followed her. "Yes, I set course for Vikova."

"Good. I have a score to settle with a guant'no banahs."

He stopped in his tracks. "With a what?"

She kept walking. "Nothing."

Jag burst after her. "Where'd you learn that?"

"Nowhere. I… made it up."

I know how to get it out of her later, he thought deviously just as he caught up to her. "I thought Jedi weren't supposed to seek revenge?"

"Tell that to my aunt, if she finds out what we did to her ship."

"You make a valid point."

"Besides, it's not revenge."

"Oh?"

She tossed him a wink over her shoulder. "Just a little taste of the Solo brand of justice."

"Somehow," he said, reaching out to clasp her hand, "I think your… victim will find the distinction to be elusive."

She spun to face him, and shrugged. "I can live with that."

"I'm sure you can."

She tugged him inside the stateroom. "There's something else," she whispered, her voice low and suddenly fierce, "I can't live without."

Jag saw the look in her eyes, and swallowed. Hard. "Really?"

"Really." She shoved off his chest with both hands and headed toward the open portal to the refresher. "Be right back. Don't go anywhere."

"Not planning to," he managed to say just before the door slid shut.

Jag walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. He'd never expected to be back in this stateroom again, much less on his way back to Vikova in the Shadow. The damage had been extensive, and he had even wondered if the starship would ever be the same. But his father and Karrde had accomplished the impossible. Jag's preflight inspection, in all its obsessively thorough glory, had failed to find a single flaw. Everything had been restored exactly the way it had been before. Not a bolt out of place or a panel off kilter. The food stores had been restocked, and his father had even made sure their personal belongings were right where they'd left them. If he hadn't been here for the battle, he would never have believed it had occurred onboard.

The refresher door slid open. The blasting sounds of the water shower nearly drowned out Jaina's words as she peeked her head around the doorjamb. "By the way, just before I boarded your dad said something to me about the powerpack for your holdout blaster. Swapped you out a new one or something."

"Thanks, I'll check –" She vanished and the door swished closed. "– on it later."

He sat there for a few minutes before the sense of uneasiness began to crawl all over him. Something bothered him about what she'd said. Not the powerpack. That was fine. His father was very detail-oriented that way. Even worse than Jag himself, probably. It only made sense that while they were repairing the Shadow, his father had made sure everything was ready for the return to Vikova. Especially Jag's weapons, in case he needed them.

So if it wasn't the powerpack, what was it? He had packed the holdout blaster in his black travel bag, right next to Jaina's lightsaber. Organized protectively on top of the wrapped shirt in which he had concealed the small velvety box with the –

"Ktah!" Jag sprang off the bed and dropped to a knee. In a flash he triggered the hidden storage compartment under the bed. The drawer hissed and slid forward. He snatched his bag from inside and unlatched it.

The holdout blaster was resting on top. The rest of the contents were neatly folded and arranged, just as he had left them.

No, not just as he had left them. The shirts were on the wrong side. He grabbed the pistol and the shirts and set them on the floor. The pants were backwards. The belts weren't on top, like they should have been.

Frantically, Jag began to dig.

"No," he muttered to himself. "Oh, no."

He was almost to the spot where they should be…

"No," he spat. They weren't there!

He began pulling out items one by one. He had to find them. He had to know. It was one thing if his father had found the ring. But the thought of his father finding the –

"Whatcha doin'?"

Jag barely managed to stifle his yelp. But he wasn't going to give Jaina the pleasure of knowing she'd snuck up on him so badly. "Looking for something."

"What?"

He wasn't looking at her. He was still digging. "Something."

"Can I help?"

"No." Where are they?

He could hear her pacing closer. "Maybe if you tell me –"

They're not here! "Just give me a –"

Her hand on his shoulder, silenced his voice as it drew him up and turned him around. "Whatever it is, you can find it later," she said. "Don't you think?"

"Uhh…" Jaina stood before him, her brown hair loose and damp around her shoulders, her skin glistening, her eyes sparkling. She was wearing only the skimpy red negligee. The skimpy red negligee. How did she –

She traced her fingertips along his arms. "Tell me how beautiful I am."

He had to remember to breathe first. "You are… the most beautiful woman in the galaxy."

She kissed him. Hard. Claiming his lips with hers, demanding every ounce of passion in his soul in that single act.

"Jay…" he gasped when she finally relinquished him. The ring!

In a single swift motion she tore his shirt off over his head. "Tell me how much you love me."

"I love you…" He was falling backward. Where's the ring? Tumbling. Did she find it too? Crashing onto the bed. "… more than life itself."

She kissed him again, and Jag no longer cared.