Chapter Three
Even without opening her eyes, she knew it was well past dawn. It had been long after midnight by the time Jaina had rescued Jag from any further losses at the sabacc game downstairs, so they hadn't bothered to draw the shades. No, that wasn't really it. More like, they'd had better things to do with their hands by the time they'd stumbled through the door. She smiled, remembering their antics, and slowly opened her eyes to share her warm expression with Jag.
Staring at the empty, white pillow next to her, her smile faded a little. Then Jaina noticed something nestled in the fold of the coverlet just below Jag's pillow. Reaching across, she gently extricated the item and held it up before her face. Nestled in her palm, the delicately folded flimsi in the shape of a snubfighter caused the corners of her mouth to curl up once more.
Rolling onto her back, Jaina held the flimsi snubfighter above her. She unfolded it carefully, trying to commit the pattern to memory. Someday she would figure out how Jag created his special notes, but when the time came for her to learn she crashed and burned with remarkable consistency. With the flimsi now unfurled, Jaina recognized her fiancé's neat handwriting. Duty calls, special top secret assignment. ERT unknown. Love, YW.
Her lips pursed momentarily, wondering about the nature of this supposed top secret assignment. Reaching into the Force, she easily located his presence, a shining supernova of focused determination among an island full of relaxed, carefree guests. Sensing no pressing call of duty, but rather a desire to please, Jaina figured Jag was simply working on some yet-to-be-discussed detail for the wedding. With the day fast approaching, they would all be immersed in preparations right up until the moment Jaina walked down the aisle.
Walk down the aisle. Stretching her arms over her head, Jaina absorbed that thought. She and Jag had been down this road once before. But back then they hadn't made it as far as Bolis Island; she had run off to nowhere in particular. Now, though, there was nothing Jaina wanted more than to take this next step. Nothing was going to deter her from snagging happiness. It was a new beginning – for them both.
Snuggled like a bug between the sheets, Jaina was content to curl up for an extra snooze. She tugged on Jag's pillow, folding herself around it. One deep inhale brought the familiar spicy scent of her lover. Her eyes began to drift close –
Danger! Her perceptions blared. Muscles wrenched into action.
She rolled over Jag's pillow. Rounding to face up, Jaina caught a glimpse of her attacker. Tall, humanoid.
His weapon bore down on her. Her right arm stayed tucked tight, her left arm reached out to summon her lightsaber from the nightstand. The weapon slapped into her palm just as Jaina landed on the floor in a heap of sheets and pillows. As her thumb brushed the power switch, something smashed into her hand. There was no hum of a blade, only the ominous sound of the beskar handle clattering against the wall.
Swimming through the bedsheets, Jaina somersaulted forward. Bedfoam creaked, then a resounding thud of feet on the floor sounded behind her. In mid-tumble, a sharp crack across her back caused a cry of pain to spill from her lips.
"Watch the goods," she growled, spinning to finally take in her opponent.
The towering Yuuzhan Vong male left her no time to size him up as an opponent. He charged, forcing Jaina to backflip out of the bedroom and into the wider venue afforded by the suite's living room.
She kicked, connecting with chin just before her legs became entangled with arms and amphistaff. Both she and the Yuuzhan Vong toppled to the floor.
Jumping to her feet, she stretched her Force awareness past the void of her opponent, into the bedroom, and locked onto the presence of her newly completed lightsaber. As the Yuuzhan Vong struggled to his feet, the hilt whizzed past his head and landed in her grasp.
The silver blade hissed to life, and the Yuuzhan Vong hesitated from renewing his charge.
"I thought we put this all behind us?" Jaina sidestepped, placing the conformcouch between them.
He shifted, trying to reduce the obstruction, all the while spitting out something in his native tongue. The words or his intention were impossible to discern beyond one lone name – Yun Harla. He paused, apparently appraising the possibility of scaling over the couch.
"Funny how it's only in the holovids that the aliens all speak Basic," she muttered while making a threatening wave with her lightsaber. If she could just ease close enough to the intercom –
Her attacker pounced onto the back of the couch, then jumped straight at Jaina, slicing downward with his amphistaff. She sidestepped, flipping her wrist. A thrum of fast moving energy was followed instantly by the stench of scorched flesh. An arm, weapon still clutched firmly within its grasp, landed between the couch and the low table with a loud thud.
"Now see what you made me do?" Jaina twirled her lightsaber, hoping it was enough deterrent to make her opponent reconsider renewing his aggression.
He stared at his severed arm for a heartbeat, then howled something more about Yun Harla before charging for the window.
The Yuuzhan Vong approached the window at full speed, stutter-stepped, then sprang at it. Wincing in anticipation, Jaina was surprised when there came no loud crash or shattering of glass. The sheers covering the window whipped out with her fleeing attacker, then fluttered back in. No longer wondering about his point of entry, Jaina sprinted to the open window, expecting to see the Yuuzhan Vong plummeting the forty stories to his death. Instead she found a bioformed vine burrowed into the frame. She leaned out and spotted the Yuuzhan Vong clutching the vine as it grew at an unimaginable rate.
"Easy enough to fix." She slashed across the vine, but it reproduced new tendrils as quickly as she cut them. Stepping up her pace, she made little headway. By the time her brow dripped sweat, her attacker was a barely recognizable speck some twenty stories below. Jaina backed away from the window, pausing to eye the various floral arrangements and stacks of gifts that were scattered across the room. This was not how she had planned on spending her day, but she was determined to put this nonsense to a speedy end.
Exhaling in one slow breath, she returned her attention to the open window. In two powerful strides she leapt through, rounding in a flip, then Force-planted her feet to the building's exterior.
It had been years since she had Force-rappelled down the side of a skyscraper, and at first she fell perilously fast. She adjusted her body angle, and the increase in friction with her feet slowed her fall. Trouble was, her feet were bare and getting hotter by the second. She shunted the pain aside, knowing she was rapidly approaching the Yuuzhan Vong warrior.
Jaina glanced below, measuring her descent against the growth of the vine. Her timing had to be impeccable –
Throwing her weight toward the vine, she twisted her arm into it. Her shoulder screamed in agony from the sudden deceleration as she kicked out. Below her the Yuuzhan Vong looked up, shock registering across his tattooed face at the sight of her feet about to make contact with it. The kick's impact snapped his head back, and with only one arm his body flailed off the vine like a leaf. Releasing her hold on the vine, Jaina cartwheeled down the side of the building, her silver blade whipping in a blinding arc as she passed him. Another howl pierced the air, then suddenly fell silent.
Rounding back to a position parallel to the building, Jaina watched the warrior – now armless – plummet the remaining five stories. She had safely rated her descent by the time he bounced onto the roof above the first floor restaurant. His momentum caused him to tumble, thankfully toward the back service entrance and not the pristine boardwalk on the ocean side.
Using the Force to cushion her landing, Jaina bounded a few steps along the restaurant roof, then pulled up to a stop. Peering over the edge, she double-checked that her assailant was indeed dead. The unnatural angle of his spine was confirmation enough.
Not sensing any beings running over to inspect the source of the commotion, Jaina prepared to drop off the roof, then hesitated.
What was she going to do? Drag the body over to the ocean and toss it in? She really didn't want to comm upstairs to the security detail. More likely than not her assailant was a member of the militant Yuuzhan Vong faction which had become obsessed with Jaina since her duel with Caedus. And the last thing Jaina wanted right now was more attention brought to the tragedy in her life. She just wanted the next few days to be about this joyous celebration, about moving forward, about life not death.
Her fist flexed in determination bounced off her leg. The skin of her leg. Jaina's eyes widened and she glanced down at herself. Now she really couldn't comm upstairs. It would not do for the nearly daughter-in-law of the Grand Moff to be discovered traipsing about in public wearing nothing more than Jag's old Twin Suns Squadron shirt. Her course of action now settled, she bent her knees in preparation to jump down into the service alley.
A motion below caused her to freeze, then sink slowly to the roof. A man approached the crumpled body. He moved cautiously, with carefully measured steps. In his right hand, he held a small holdout blaster. Kneeling next to the fallen Yuuzhan Vong, he used the fingers of his left hand to check for vital signs. There was no rush to grab a comlink, no frantic cry for help. In the Force, Jaina sensed only grim resolution. This man had to have been the accomplice; a Yuuzhan Vong couldn't just walk onto a heavily guarded island without some assistance.
Slinking along the rooftop, Jaina jumped down into a small service passage connected to the alley. She had been planning to sneak up behind him, but that was instantly revised as she heard the soft clop of footsteps. The man rounded the corner – and met the bone-jarring crush of Jaina's elbow to his jaw. He was unconscious before his body hit the ground.
She kicked the blaster aside, then patted him down. She found a vibroblade stuffed in his boot and a comlink, but no identification of any sort. Definitely the accomplice.
The comlink she could use, though. Tapping in the code to her parents, she pondered how exactly to explain her situation while she waited for an answer.
"This is Han –" Her father. "– and Leia," her mother interjected. "We're tied up at the moment," her father continued,"but if you leave a message –"
Jaina snorted as she closed the line. Her parents were absolutely incorrigible, like two teenagers on their honeymoon. Then she thought about all they had been through, and realized they deserved to be happy. Which was all well and good, but while they were off busy being happy, who could she turn to? It had to be someone she trusted implicitly…
The right person – persons, actually – for her predicament came to mind almost instantly. She tapped in another code, and was pleasantly surprised when this time she got an answer.
"Antilles," the voice croaked.
"Uncle Wedge –"
"Hey, Jaina. If this is about how much we skimmed from your poor groom, I was planning on giving it all back. Well, indirectly. In the form of a wedding present of sorts. You see –"
"This isn't about the money, Wedge."
"It's not?"
"No." But Jaina certainly made a mental note to discuss it with Jag later. Hadn't he said the night had been a success? "I'm stuck in a bit of a situation and I need some assistance."
"Whatever you need." Wedge sounded alert, command ready.
"Actually, I really need to talk to Iella…"
It took Jaina only a minute to explain, and thankfully neither Iella nor Wedge suggested Jaina should just comm Jag's father to handle the mess. Best of all, they assured her they would be down immediately.
So now she had one last thing to do before returning to her room. Trying to not look too hard at the Yuuzhan Vong's crumpled body, she managed to levitate it and place it next to his unconscious accomplice. Satisfied the pair wouldn't be found before Wedge and Iella reached the scene, Jaina slipped through a service door that led into the ground floor restaurant. This restaurant was closed for the morning hours, so she moved unnoticed, only stopping at the outskirts of the lobby.
Sneaking back to the room was proving to be an easier task than Jaina had anticipated. With the hour still early, only an occasional guest wandered around the lobby. Jaina waited for an opportune moment – one couple passed out of the lobby heading for the boardwalk, another guest engaged the desk attendant with a question – then sprinted for the bank of lifts. Using the Force, she nudged the call button as she approached, expecting the lift the couple had just vacated to open back up.
Unfortunately for Jaina, the nearest lift door swept open first, revealing none other than her old protector Winter and her former commanding officer Tycho Celchu. The sight of the half-dressed bride-to-be, clutching a lightsaber in one hand and a holdout blaster in the other, only drew two bemused smiles.
Jaina had no choice but to play along. "Winter!" Entering the lift, she hugged the older woman. "We're so glad you could make it."
Winter returned the embrace. "Tycho and I wouldn't miss this for the world."
Stepping away from the white-haired doppelganger for her mother, Jaina acknowledged Tycho with a quick kiss to his cheek. "I really want to catch up, but I have a fitting appointment I'm late for and –"
"And apparently you're going to make absolutely sure he gets it right," Winter said, eyeing the weapons in Jaina's hands.
Before Jaina could whip out a witty retort, Tycho's comlink squawked in a tone that demanded attention. "Celchu here."
"Where are you?" Wedge's voice asked.
"Really, Tycho," Winter said. "The boys are so desperate for the good old days, they've resorted to using your command frequency."
The aristocratic Alderaanian held his palm up to placate her protest. He keyed the comlink. "Heading to breakfast with my wife."
"Excellent. I need you both. Meet me in the lobby post haste." The line closed, as if the erstwhile general had just doled out orders and dismissed the troops.
Knowing that Wedge's summons was her fault, Jaina drifted to the back of the lift and waved meekly at the departing couple. "See you later," she said as the lift swished closed.
Her finger paused over the floor buttons. She could go straight to the top, where there would invariably be a host of questions from the ISS guards that she didn't really want to answer. Or…
She depressed the button for one floor lower. The lift rose swiftly, and thankfully made no unexpected stops on its journey up. As soon as the door opened, she stuck her head into the hallway. Finding it empty, she trotted toward the double doors just to the left of the lifts. She raised her fist to rap on the door, but it opened before she could make the first knock. Her mother blinked in surprise.
"Jaina?"
Not waiting to be invited inside, Jaina scooted past her mother. "Good morning. Better untie Dad; playtime is over."
Leia ignored the remark and shut the door. "I was about to head up for your fitting appointment."
"Perfect." Jaina grabbed the door to open it. "You should go, then."
Her Jedi reflexes now rivaling Jaina's, Leia kept it held shut. "Without you?" She paused, and concern blossomed across her face. "Jaina, you're not having second thoughts –"
"I knew it!" Han exclaimed as he walked up to the two women. "That Imperial dictator pushed our daughter into his goodwill event of galactic proportions. Don't worry, sweetheart, I can have the Falcon fired up and us all out of here within the hour. I'll even take Jag if you want me to."
"I'm not having second thoughts, Dad."
"Huh. Well, then why else would you be sneaking out in a shirt with weapons in both hands?"
"It's a long story. Just trust me on this, okay?" Jaina faced her mother and donned her most beseeching look, one worthy of Wynssa Starflare. "Can you please just go up to my suite? Raul will be there any minute, and I don't want to risk his wrath."
Her mother scrutinized Jaina carefully, and Jaina felt a probe in the Force too. Shoulders relaxing, Leia sighed. "But I don't see why we both can't –"
Grabbing her mother, Jaina spun her around to face the door. "Because if the ISS guards see I've gotten out undetected, they're going to lock me and Jag down like a couple of prisoners at Carcel. I might even end up with an Imperial escort down the aisle instead of Dad, and nobody wants that."
Still Leia resisted Jaina's nudging toward the door. "Fine. And how exactly are you going to get back to the suite, young lady?"
Jaina winked at her father. "Don't sweat it. With a little help from Dad, I'll be right up."