Chapter 42

Jaina gently extracted herself from Iella's embrace. "This is so exciting!" the older woman beamed. "Oh, I'm so happy for the both of you."

Wedge gave Jag a hearty slap on the back, grinning broadly. "Congratulations, Fel. I'm going to love watching the two of you attempt to handle this."

"Wedge!" Iella admonished, but he just smiled in return. "Don't pay him any mind. You will be wonderful parents," she told the young couple. "But come on in, we were just about to start dinner."

"I hope we're not intruding," Jaina said. "It's just you let us stay here the last time, and we didn't really have any other place to stay, seeing as Jacen seems to have company."

"Oh, it's fine," Iella answered, leading them into the kitchen. "We love having you here, no trouble at all. It's so great just to have a tie to Syal. I know how much Wedge has missed her."

"She spoke of you often," Jag said to Wedge. "I think she felt guilty for letting you believe she was dead all those years."

Wedge smiled again, but this time with a tinge of sadness. "It was wonderful to see her again at the signing of the peace treaty. She hasn't changed a bit."

They all took a seat at the dinner table, where Myri and Syal already sat. "So is it a boy or a girl?" Iella questioned.

"A girl," Jag answered.

"We're naming her Hanna," Jaina finished proudly.

Wedge looked at his holddaughter fondly. "Han would have been so proud of you. I know it was difficult at times, but he really loved you kids. I remember, I was there when he and Leia decided to let Luke have full custody of the three of you. He was depressed for months. In fact, I don't think he ever got over it."

Jaina forked her food sadly. "I wish things could have been different. But I appreciate what he tried to do for us."

There was an uncomfortable silence where no one was sure what to say. Finally Iella said, "How did the meeting today go?"

"I think we have a plan," Jag answered. "It was Jaina's idea, actually. I won't tell you what it is yet, because we haven't finalized things, but Jaina went to see Leia today and we're pretty sure she'll back it."

"I was surprised not to see you there," Jaina said to Wedge.

"I was asked to come," he said. "But I didn't really see the point. I'm more of a in-the-action kind of strategist. You tell me where, when, and what, and I'll figure out the best way to do it. I leave the other stuff to the politicians."

"So who's this company of Jacen's? A Danni Quee, right?" Iella asked.

"I don't know, Jag was the one who saw her," Jaina said, looking at her husband expectantly.

"Well," Jag said, "I think Jacen said she was a scientist. An astronomer. Force-sensitive, too. He rescued her from Helska, I think. Anyway, she wants to become a Jedi and in the absence of a real master he's training her."

Jaina snorted derisively at the comment. "Yeah. Right. Like he's a professional. And I can't see him leaving the front lines to train a new recruit, especially since we haven't been officially knighted yet. I think there's more to this."

Iella smiled knowingly. "I've seen her. She's very pretty. I just wanted to know if you all had met her yet."

"She's seems nice enough," Jag said nonchalantly. Jaina looked pale.

"You don't think he likes her, do you?"

"Would that be such a bad thing?" Wedge smirked.

"Yes, it would," Jaina scowled. "Jacen's not old enough for something like that."

At this both the Antilles' laughed uproariously, and even Jag had to fight down a smile. "Uh, you do realize you're twins, right?" he grinned.

"Well, yeah," she stumbled. "But that's different."

"How?" Wedge asked. "You're married and expecting a baby, but your brother who's the same age can't have a girlfriend?"

Jaina looked at her hands. "I'm just a little protective, I guess. I don't want him to get hurt."

"That's understandable," Iella said. About then Syal started to yawn, lids drooping over big blue eyes. Myri looked tired, too, her tiny hands twirling the fork around her dinner lackadaisically. "I think someone's ready for bed."

"Nuh-uh," Syal protested.

"Come on, go wash up. I'll come say goodnight in a minute," she instructed in a motherly tone.

Syal went to do as instructed without further protests, but Myri slid out of her chair and went to climb onto Jag's lap. "Will you read me a story?" she asked.

Jag looked at her speechlessly, then to Wedge and Iella. "Go ahead," the former CorSec agent said. "It's fine."

"Yeah," Jaina smiled behind the rim of her glass, "it'll be good practice."

Jag gave her a dirty look, then slid Myri off his lap and stood. Boldly she wrapped her hand around one finger and tugged, pulling him along reluctantly.

"The Three Little Bimm," Jag said, frowning. "How interesting."

Myri smiled up at him contentedly, sliding the disc into the holoprojector and waiting for him to read the words off the screen. Jag sighed as he settled into the chair beside her. "Okay, let's see. Once upon a time, there were three little Bimm..."

Jaina peered through the doorway, taking in the spectacle with a mixture of amusement and fondness. Jag sat in the chair beside the small bed, Myri looking at the still images that rotated with the story. Jag's discomfort was apparent, which made it all the more humorous and endearing. "Wait," Myri interrupted. "How did the Howlrunner get to Bimmisaari?"

Jag frowned, obviously perplexed by the question. "Does it matter?"

She nodded vigorously. "Howlrunners don't live on Bimmisaari. You expect me to believe one just showed up, right when the poor little Bimm was trying to build his flimsiplast house?"

Jag sighed heavily. "Okay. Um, it came with traders from Kamar. It got loose while they were unloading."

She nodded, seemingly satisfied with his response, and motioned for him to continue. Jaina kept watching. "And so finally the Howlrunner came to the last little Bimm's house, made from ferrocrete. And he said, 'if you don't come out I'll blow your house down'."

"He was going to blow down a house made of ferrocrete?" Myri exclaimed. "He can't do that."

"Well technically he can't talk, either," Jag muttered.

"He could have growled it," Myri said staunchly. "But he can't blow down a house made of ferrocrete."

"Fine," Jag said. "He used a his H3-1 Heavy Artillery laser cannon."

Myri's eyes grew wide in astonishment. "Will that blow a hole through ferrocrete?"

"You bet," he nodded. "You could bust a hole through the side of a Star Destroyer with one of those babies."

"So then what happens?"

Apparently deciding to abandon the written text for a more plausible improvisation he said, "Blew the whole building to pieces. Nothing left but dust."

"But what about the little Bimms?"

"Well that does present a problem, doesn't it?" he murmured to himself. "Uh, they got out first. They had a swoop bike stashed in the basement and made a clean getaway before the first shot was fired."

"Really?" she asked.

"Sure," he smiled. She grinned up at him contentedly, then settled back under the sheets of her bed.

"Goodnight, Jag."

Jag bent and kissed her forehead lightly, then got up and left the room, turning the lights out as he went. He closed the door and turned, then finally saw Jaina standing there, arms folded across her chest and a soft smile playing across her lips. "What?" he asked.

She went to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning against his chest. "A laser cannon?" she laughed gently.

He ran his hand through her hair fondly. "Hey, it's more likely than that other version. Do they really expect kids to buy that?"

Jaina pulled away slightly, but only enough so that she could lead him down the hall to their temporary room. "We'll just have to wait and see what Hanna thinks, won't we?"

He stopped then, tugging her back into his embrace. "Do you realize that in just a couple of years we're going to have a little girl just like that? Isn't that scariest thing you can imagine?"

Slowly she shook her head. "No. It would be a whole lot scarier facing it without you."

He looked at her seriously for a minute, then broke into a broad smile. "I wonder, for how young an age do they start making speeder bikes?"

She laughed loudly, leaning up to kiss him softly. "I'm sure she'll be more than capable of beating all the other little Imperials."

"Of course, I'll teach her all the tricks. She'll know every maneuver in the book," he said.

She grinned slyly, then tugged him in the direction they had been heading. "Where are we going?" he asked.

Jaina look over her shoulder and smiled, her brown eyes twinkling. "I was hoping you could show me some of those maneuvers. But if you're too busy..."

His eyebrows shot up and he followed obediently. "I live to serve."

Commander Elkanah Eliab scratched his head reluctantly. "I'm not sure Jaina and Jag would want me to release her. I kind of got the impression she's a prisoner of war, not free to do what she wants. And I know the Admiral won't like it."

Luke breathed deeply, trying to remain calm. He was a Jedi Master, after all. "Jaina is a Jedi, and answers to me. And I say that we need a ship to send Nen Yim home in. Are you going to give it to us or not?" That wasn't technically true, but Eliab didn't know that.

The commander licked his lips nervously. "I don't like this. I don't take orders from you, and if this isn't what the Admiral wants..."

"Bugger the Admiral," Mara snarled beside him. "We need a ship. Now, we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. It's your choice. See, either you be a nice little Imperial and hand over a ship, or we take one. Now, that would make a whole lot of complications, don't you think? Lot's of paperwork and messy political stuff you really don't want involved in. I advise you to consider our generous offer to go through the proper channels and commission us a ship. Now."

Eliab swallowed hard. "If this is against regulations it's going to be your heads."

"We take full responsibility," Luke said soothingly. Mara's abrasiveness seemed to have done the trick for now, but they didn't want to go too far.

"Okay," he breathed. "There's a small light freighter we can spare. I don't think Jaina will like us depleting the Roughshod's stash, though."

"I'll take care of Jaina," Mara stated flatly. "You worry about getting that thing up and running."

He nodded reluctantly and turned to follow her commands. "That worked well," Luke said when he was out of earshot.

Mara shook her head tiredly and leaned on his arm. "It was about all I could muster. I'm so tired, Luke."

"I know," he whispered sadly. "We should get you back to the apartment. But you've done well. You had me believing you were ready to tear the poor boy to pieces."

"It wasn't hard," she grumbled. "All these mood swings are really getting the best of me. I hate being so touchy."

"Well for once it's come in handy. And after the baby's born everything will go back to normal."

"If I live that long," she whispered.

"Now don't you start saying things like that," he admonished harshly. "Nen Yim is going to leave Cilghal everything she needs to prepare an antidote. You'll be as good as new in no time."

"I hope you're right," she sighed. "Do you think this plan will work?"

"We have nothing to lose if it doesn't," he said, steering her towards the turbolifts. "It all depends on our shaper friend. I hope it does work, personally. So many lives, including Yuuzhan Vong ones, will be saved. That's all can ask for."

"If the high-ups don't kill her on sight," Mara reminded him. "Think she can fool them?"

"Fooled us, didn't she? And they don't even have the Force."

"True," she nodded. "I guess there's nothing to do but wait and see."