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Chapter Five
"There you go, you're gone again
I should have known, I couldn't win
There you go, you're by his side" - Johnny Cash
Jaina reached up to throw her dark hair back over her shoulder as she made her way down the long, twisting corridors. She'd just left her father and Lowie behind in the conference room. Rather, she was kicked out of the conference room…
Her brow furrowing in thought, Jaina recalled how very obvious her father had been…he'd clearly wanted her out of the room. It was beyond her understanding why her father required absolute privacy to talk to Lowie…maybe it was something about carrying out the life debt? Just as the thought surfaced in her mind, she decided against it. Her father avoided that topic as much as he could, he definitely wouldn't be the one to bring it up-
Her comlink beeped suddenly, startling the young Jedi from her thoughts. Removing the comlink from its spot at her hip as she continued walking, she checked the code number. The call was from Jag.
"What does he want now?" She murmured to herself. "I just talked to him an hour ago…"
Her thoughts focused on her comlink, Jaina had forgotten to pay attention on where exactly she was going. But soon enough, reality hit her. Literally.
"Oh…" She murmured, rubbing her wrist as she very slowly sat up. She'd fallen to the floor rather hard, landing on the wrist she had been holding the comlink in. She scolded herself for not paying attention, and for her slow reflexes.
Turning her head to see who exactly it was she'd plowed over, her brandy eyes opened wide.
Zekk…
Zekk returned her wide-eyed stare, his emerald eyes easily conveying his shock at seeing her. The two of them stayed that way for a long moment, tangled up together in an odd position on the floor, simply staring at the other.
Jaina was the first to break the silence. Diverting her dark eyes from his, she laughed…a small one. "Interesting reunion, isn't it?"
Zekk laughed too, and turned his head…just in case the warm sensation he felt creeping up the back of his neck developed into a pink tinge on his otherwise pale cheeks. "Better than others I've been too…at least this way we get to miss the cheap ale."
Jaina laughed, and the two began to disentangle themselves from one another. Jaina stood, tossing her hair back over her shoulders again, resting a hand on her hip.
Zekk noticed a small, black object by his feet…a comlink. It must have skidded across the floor when he and Jaina crashed. Jaina…
"Hey…this yours?" He asked, holding out the comlink. Glancing at it as he passed it to her, he commented, "I think you might've missed a call."
Jaina smiled, and took it from him. "Thanks…yeah, it was from Jag. Doesn't really matter, I'll just talk to him later."
Oh…Jag.
His emerald eyes falling to the floor, as if studying for scuff marks from their fall…Zekk muttered, "Yeah…how is Fel, anyway?"
"Uh…he's good. We just flew in the day before yesterday." Jaina answered. She wasn't growing too fond of the direction the conversation was taking. She was strangely desperate to talk about anything other than Jag right now.
"Oh. Well that's good." Zekk commented absently. Over the years he'd managed to devise vast amounts of things to Jaina when he finally saw her, but now…face to face with her at last, every last word fled his mind.
"Yeah…so, when did you get here?" Jaina asked, in an attempt to kill the awkward silence.
"Early yesterday morning. We had a pretty rough scrape with an ion storm. Ship's shields manage to fail at just the right moment." Zekk responded, sarcasm evident in his tone as he rolled his eyes.
"Still got the Lightning Rod?" She asked tentatively. If he'd gotten rid of it at some point, she wasn't sure she wanted to know… The ship had a lot of memories tied to it, even if it didn't belong to her.
"Of course…I'd never get rid of the thing even if I wanted to." He answered, a grin spreading across his face. "Lowie and I are supposed to be fixing her up right now, but he seems to have disappeared."
"He and my dad were still in the conference room when I left. They kind of uh…kicked me out, I think they wanted to talk...might be a while before he gets back."
Zekk grinned at her, laughter lurking within the emerald depths of his eyes. "Kicked you out, huh? I'm surprised you didn't have something to say about that."
"Oh believe me; I do…just no one who'll listen." Jaina replied, the customary Solo grin spreading across her face. "Hey, I could help you work on the Lightning Rod if you want. After all these years with you she could probably use a good tune-up, anyway."
"Oh, that hurts." Zekk responded, casting a mock glare at his old friend. Then he shrugged, grinning again. "But I guess, if you're up for it…"
Jaina felt lighter, suddenly…almost like she was a young teenager again, the stresses of war vanished as she turned and headed for the hangar. Over her shoulder, she threw Zekk a grin and called, "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"So, what have you been up to all this time?" Jaina asked, looking over at Zekk from where she was seated, patching a spot on the ship's hull. The ion storm had not been friendly to the poor ship.
"Pretty much whatever your Uncle says…and when there's no missions from him, there's always refugees and food that need to be shipped." He responded, leaning with his back against the ship as he handed her a new can of sealant.
"You haven't been brought into a squadron already? I'm surprised no one's grabbed you." Jaina said, recalling her own consideration of inducting him into Twin Suns. It took her a moment to realize why she'd never followed up, but then she remembered…Jag had come up with something different…
"I had an offer, but uh…I guess staying with the Lightning Rod seemed better to me, or something...I don't really remember what happened." In truth, Zekk had been invited to join quite a few squadrons. And while it was true that he wanted to stay with his ship, he had the feeling that Luke understood Zekk's plight with the Fel and Jaina situation, and had suggested Zekk for various types of other missions. Sometimes, Zekk found that he really hated how the Force could give others insight to the deepest of feelings.
"How long have you and Lowie been teamed up?" She asked, taking a break from her hull-patching and looking up at Zekk.
"Not long…only a month or two. We've been shipping weapons and food to resistance groups across the galaxy." He responded, sighing. Just the thought of how hectic slipping in to one base and getting back out unnoticed was gave him a headache. Normally they were lucky if they didn't have to deal with at least three skips.
"Well I feel useless now…all I do is stay wherever the squadron is stationed and train…then fight when a battle comes. Seems like everyone else is out there actually doing something." Jaina mused, frowning.
"But you're an amazing pilot…teaching other pilots to stay alive is definitely a contribution." Zekk insisted.
"Yeah, I guess-" Jaina began, but then she picked up the can of sealant again and shot him a mock glare. "Hey…are you gonna just stand there or are you gonna help me? It's your ship after all!"
Zekk grinned at her and held out his hands. "Well, I thought I might just kick back while my ship got some free maintenance."
Jaina pretended to be shocked. Holding up her greasy hands, she retorted, "Oh, you didn't! I've got this stuff all over my hands you know…I'm not afraid to use it."
Zekk waved his hand, a smug expression on his face. "Hah, you don't scare me."
Jaina's brandy eyes narrowed, a playful smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. Raising an eyebrow she murmured, "Oh I don't do I?"
Without warning, she jumped up. Zekk was ready for her. But, as he reached out an arm to stop her advance, someone managed to kick over the can of sealant. The dark fluid quickly spread over the smooth surface of the floor, and Jaina and Zekk struggled to keep their footing atop the slippery stuff.
At the same time Jaina grabbed Zekk's arm to hold herself up, Zekk leaned an arm on her shoulder to gain support…they both went down in a heap.
"This seems to happen a lot with us." Jaina commented, laughing as she lay in the still-growing puddle of sealant.
"That's the second can I've lost in two days!" Zekk moaned, playfully shoving Jaina's shoulder.
She only laughed harder. She didn't seem to care that the longer she lay there, the worse the grease worked its way into her hair and clothes. Her right cheek was smudged with the stuff, and a small amount had gotten itself on the tip of her nose. To Zekk, she had never been more beautiful…
"Ahem."
The two young Jedi jumped at the sound, their heads snapping around with amazing speed to find the source of the noise.
"Jag…" Jaina said, slowly raising herself from the greasy pond. Zekk didn't move.
"You didn't answer my call." The young colonel stated, eyeing the two young Jedi who were still tangled together on the floor.
Realizing her awkward position, Jaina managed to separate herself from Zekk and the two of them got to their feet, though not without difficulty. It made Zekk wonder when he noticed Jaina wouldn't meet his eyes.
"Sorry about that…I figured I'd just talk to you in person, but then I ran into Zekk and I offered to help him fix up the Lightning Rod." Jaina explained, gesturing to the knocked over sealant can and then to herself.
Jag nodded and then shook his head, eyebrows furrowing as though he were confused. "I still don't understand why you don't just leave it up to the mechanics. It's their job after all." He muttered.
Jaina didn't even bother to respond. She just took the small rag Zekk offered her and attempted to wipe some of the grease from her face and jumpsuit.
"I'll be seeing you in the mess hall soon?" Jag asked her, raising his eyebrows.
Nodding, and with a small grin on her face, Jaina said. "Yeah…I think I need to hit the 'fresher real quick, though."
Jag nodded and turned to leave. "I'll see you there, then."
"Thanks." Jaina said, turning to Zekk and handing him the rag, a small Solo grin on her face. "This was fun."
Zekk nodded and swallowed. "Yeah, yeah it was."
"Well, I guess I better get going…I've got to make it to a date with the 'fresher, that's for sure."
Zekk grinned back at her, though his heart suddenly wasn't in it. In a low voice, he responded, "Yeah…that might be a good idea."
"Well…later." Jaina said, turning to walk away. "See you around sometime?"
"Maybe." Was Zekk's only response, "Lowie and I leave in a little under two weeks."
"Make sure to say goodbye this time." Jaina called back over her shoulder as she left the hangar.
"Promise." He responded, not sure if she'd heard. He didn't need to ask her what she meant. The memory of everything that had happened on Hapes was still perfectly ingrained in his mind.
Zekk's eyes followed her for a moment, until she was completely out of sight before straying to the huge mess that was spread across the floor. Lowie was going to be so pleased…