Here's the next chapter for uhh… what's this again, oh yeah, now I remember. Ahem, here's the next chapter Working On It.

Disclaimer: I own nothing; it all belongs to George Lucas. Yay for him.

Chapter Ten: Rock Dragon

"Zekk! Zekk, get your carcass outta bed right now!" Jaina shouted as she pounded on his door. "C'mon, we got a lot of work to do!" She heard cursing and a loud banging noise and wondered what was going on in there. Luckily, the door whisked open before she could wonder further on the subject.

A disgruntled looking Zekk stood before her with tousled hair clad only in a pair of boxers. He was frowning down at her – which Jaina didn't notice since she was distracted by. . . other things. All she had to say on the matter was that Zekk must have been working out. She swung her gaze up to his when he cleared his throat. Zekk gave her an expectant look while Jaina just looked slightly confused. He rolled his eyes then asked, "Jaina, what did you want?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, c'mon! We've got things to do!" Jaina grabbed his arm and started to drag him away.

Zekk stopped her. "Where am I going? Shouldn't I get dressed first?"

"Oh, right, that might be a good idea."

He rolled his eyes again before turning around and stepping back into his room. He told Jaina to wait for him in the hall before walking back into his room and closing the door. Jaina waited as he showered and got dressed. Roughly ten minutes later Zekk came out – his hair still slightly damp – and more clothed than before.

"Okay, now you're going to tell me why you woke me up at 0700 in the morning and why it couldn't wait until a decent hour," Zekk stated.

"Come with me," Jaina ordered. She spun on her heel and started walking down a hall that led northwest – at least what Zekk assumed was northwest. Zekk didn't have anything better to do so he followed her down the hallway. He mentally grumbled to himself about women who have control issues and followed after her. They ambled along a bit farther until they came to another door. How Jaina knew where everyone was Zekk would never know. Lowie was apparently waiting for them because the door opened before they could reach it.

Lowie growled a greeting and started to walk with them. Zekk felt slightly out of the loop that Lowie knew what was going on when he didn't have the slightest clue. He scowled for a moment. His bed was nice, too.

"Zekk? Zekk, were you listening?" Jaina asked. She stared at him expectantly.

"Eh?"

"I asked if you were looking forward to seeing her, too," Jaina repeated.

"See who?"

"Didn't you pay attention to last night's dinner conversation? You agreed to what we were saying."

"I did?" Last night was kind of hazy. Between the heavy food and wine, Zekk was having a hard time remembering anything except for when his head had hit the pillow.

"Yeah, we're going to visit the Rock Dragon this morning," Jaina explained.

"And this couldn't wait until a more decent hour?" Zekk was back to being grumpy about waking up. This was his vacation. He was supposed to be sleeping in, not getting up at seven to work on some ship.

"No, Lowie and I wanted to get an early start."

Lowie growled his agreement and started up a conversation about what condition they thought the Rock Dragon would be.

As the sleepy morning grumpiness disappeared, Zekk's mind switched gears to the topic of where and when they were going to eat. Knowing Jaina and Lowie, there would either be food there or they wouldn't realize their hunger until they registered the hunger pains. Wait, Lowie was a Wookiee so his hunger would catch up to him sooner or later, forcing them to eat. After all, Jaina didn't really register anything outside of machinery once she got into her working mood – at least, she neverused to.

XaXaXaXa-

(Cabinet room, with a meeting going on at the same time)

Tenel Ka was stuck in a meeting with her advisors. Then again, she was always stuck in a meeting with them. You'd think that they would be discussing about some famine or the state of the Hapes Consortium's exports and imports or other political stuff, now wouldn't you? Well then reader, you're wrong. The entire cabinet was debating what color the carpet should be when she walked down the aisle. The urge to rub her temples against the oncoming headache was becoming irresistible.

Realizing that she was threatened - more than normal - of losing control with her advisors, Tenel Ka quickly exercised the Jedi calming technique several times over. When they finally decided on a navy blue, Tenel Ka asked, "Governor Niana, what is the status of Anderra?"

Everyone jumped and scrambled to get back to back to work, even though there was no threat in Tenel Ka's voice. Governor Niana shuffled around her papers before saying, "The status is stable; the worst of the storms are over and raining season should end soon."

"Good, what's the latest news of our troops in the Transitory Mists Region? We trust that there hasn't been too much trouble from the pirates. In the last report, it seemed that they were starting to back down." One by one, Tenel Ka got everyone back on track and finally finished the meeting. The clothes she was wearing were becoming increasingly uncomfortable – the gown being far more restricting than Tenel Ka liked.

As she rose and left the room at a brisk pace, her handmaidens and body guards trailed behind her. Gesturing the nearest handmaiden over to her, Tenel Ka asked, "What is our schedule for the rest of the morning?"

"Your Majesty has an audience with some senators in thirty minutes; afterwards there is an appointment with the royal tailors at 1000. Then Your Majesty has to take care of some menu details for the wedding at 1100, then at 1115 you're needed to review the music selected for the dancing. Also, you have to decide on the plating for the reception and four days of banquets afterwards. At 1200, you need to eat lunch with Your Majesty's fiancé," she said.

"Thank you," was Tenel Ka's curt reply. She waved them away as she entered her chambers and changed her clothes for the rest of the day's engagements.

XaXaXaXa-

(Hangar)

"Look at this, the people didn't even remember to keep the air filters at peak condition. They're at 88!" Jaina exclaimed to Lowie and Zekk.

Zekk and Lowie shared an exasperated look and rolled their eyes. Lowie added to Jaina's observation that the techs would have probably been busy with other things like recovering from the war.

"Oh, right, I knew that."

Again, Lowie and Zekk exchanged looks and rolled their eyes. Jaina continued her inspection of the ship's interior, muttering things to herself as she went along. Lowie pointed out that they would probably have to go through all the systems and check them manually.

Jaina looked like her Lifeday had come early. "You're right, Lowie, and while we're at it, we should see which parts need to be updated or replaced. It'll also be a good chance to upgrade it."

Zekk hadn't seen Jaina this excited in a long time. In fact, he was afraid that she might trample everyone in her over zealousness.

"Goddess! You in here?"

The call was coming outside and the three Jedi looked out the hatch. In the hangar stood Mystiran and Tahiri trying to hold back an over-eager Alaric from running up to the ship.

"Umm…hi? Did you guys want something?" Jaina asked as she walked down the ramp.

"Al wanted to see the ship and we sensed you inside and we figured that you'd let him take a look," Mystiran explained.

Jaina frowned and Zekk felt Jaina starting to get into one of her 'it's mine!' moods. Her brow knitted and Jaina, after moments of thought, stated very reluctantly, "As long as he doesn't touch anything and stays in the corner with a straightjacket on him, he can come in."

Tahiri and Mystiran let Alaric go and the man rushed up the ramp, ignoring Jaina, Lowie, and Zekk as he went. The other two people followed up the ramp at a much slower pace.

"I haven't seen thisthing in years!" Tahiri exclaimed. "I remember you guys spending days just working on this ship." She gave a grin. "Jacen and Tenel Ka would be bonding while they patched and checked the hull, Lowie and Em Teedee would be arguing, you and Zekk would be flirting –"

"We didn't flirt!" Jaina and Zekk exclaimedin unison. There was a red tinge on both of their faces. Tahiri giggled while Lowie started to chuckle before adding in his own comments.

Mystiran shrugged. "I don't remember seeing you two flirt that much, but that's probably because Al and I were too busy being in detention or I was keeping Al from hacking into files that are none of his business."

"Detention?" Tahiri asked, looking over at her husband.

"Yeah, well Al and I got into a lot of trouble when we were younger." Mystiran was starting to look uncomfortable. "You know the week where dancing holographs of neon-colored Ewoks ran around the temple?" Everyone nodded. "That was us. Landed detention for a month because we gave the teachers migraines from looking at them."

"You gave me a migraine, too. Do you know –" Zekk started.

"That's not important, what's important is Al's messing with the ship!" Jaina exclaimed as she chased after the man.

"Feeling the love," Zekk said as he headed in the direction of the galley. His stomach was growling in earnest now and he couldn't ignore it any longer.

"Ooohh, look a slicer module! Those are illegal! How cool! Can I try it out? Pretty please? Pretty, pretty, pretty please? I'll be your best friend?" Alaric begged.

From the Rock Dragon's kitchen Zekk shouted, "Position's filled!"

"I'll be your slave for a month?" Alaric pleaded, adding Ewok eyes(1) for good measure.

Jaina grinned, "Make it two months and then you have yourself a deal!"

Alaric whooped and started doing a victory dance. He stopped at Jaina's voice. "But, you have to clear it with Tenel Ka first."

"Sithspit, you're kidding me! I can't just go up to the Queen Mother and ask, "Can I borrow your ship to slice into someone's computer and steal all of their files?'! Besides, she's scary! Especially since she could make me bend 26 unnatural ways with her bare hand if I broke it," Alaric accented these statements by flapping his arms and turning a bright shade of red. He looked like some demented bird that hadlost all of its feathers.

Jaina started to laugh at him. Alaric gave an indignant huff and sat down on the small lounge seat. Tahiri giggled a bit before asking, "What makes you think Tenel Ka would do that to you, Al? After all, she hasn't done anything to warrant such fear."

Alaric didn't answer; instead he stared at the table. Mystiran chuckled and said, "Al's always been afraid of her, ever since we first went to the Praxeum. I think it's because when we first met Tenel Ka she was practicing with her daggers and it scared the Sith outta Al."

"Is that all? Geez, Al, you're a wuss," Jaina said.

Alaric stuck his tongue out at her. "It's not my fault; she's scary!"

"How about you ask her at dinner when everyone else is around?" Tahiri suggested.

"Good idea, Tahiri! Thanks! You're a lot smarter than my brother! By the way, why did you marry him? I think you could do so much better," Alaric said.

Mystiran stared at him, "Traitor! Don't tell her that! It's supposed to be a secret!"

Tahiri giggled and shook her head. "Well come on, 'Ran, you need to take your medicine."

"But I don't wanna take my meds," Mystiran whined as he, Tahiri, and Alaric walked out of the ship.

Jaina shook her head and then called to Lowie and Zekk, "All rightboys, time to get to work!"

TBC-

Guess what guys? This is my b-day present from me to you.

GundamFan: Thanks and I'm just going to call you that okay? It's easier for my brain to remember.

Aramor Lady of Mirkwood: Thank you, I'm glad that it entertained you! It did what it was supposed to do.

Shira Brie: Thanks! Glad you liked it. Please don't hold it over Ace Ryn Knight's head too long! She might stop reading!

Jill2282: Thank you!

California Mountain Girl: Thank you! You don't know how cool it is to know that you're reading my story! Food fights are fun, I think I've two in this story… I can't really remember. You think I got Zekk and Jaina's character right? Wow… I'm going into stunned silence mode right after I finish these IR's. I don't think your Jaina's weak! She's more open with Zekk than she was in NJO. That's a good thing!

Elorinna Evenstarre: Thanks! Heh, there's a healthy dose of hyperness in all of my stories. It's probably because I'm on hyperactive far too often in real life. Woot! Another J-Zer! We're gaining in numbers! I totally agree with the Palpatine thing! Right on!