Jaina and Jag were in a deep embrace. Her arms were wrapped tautly around his neck, while his arms were wrapped tautly around her waist. She sighed contently, and nuzzled his chest. The married couple were slowly swaying to a gentle tune. Jag smelled his wife's hair deeply, basking in its sweet scent. Jaina giggled as the tingling sensation from that traveled down her spine. "Another week down, my love." Jag said softly. Jaina was surprised about how giddy that realization made her. Another week wasn't much, but it seemed like her second trimester of pregnancy was already flying by fast.
As Jag had spoken, Jaina noticed his Adam's Apple bobbing as he pronounced each syllable. Jaina looked up at him hungrily. "Make your Adam's Apple bob again." She said.
Shivers traveled up Jag's spine. He wasn't sure if his wife purposefully sounded seductive, but did so nonetheless.
"I liked how it's bobbing." Jaina innocently responded.
Jag just smiled while shaking his head. The 2 lovebirds released each other. Jaina went to turn off the gentle music. Her stomach was another centimeter bigger, so it was slightly harder to turn it off than previous nights. Noticing this, Jag pulled the blanket on their bed back. "You first, dear." He insisted.
Jaina sat on the mattress, and Jag helped her get further onto the bed. "Honey, you didn't have to do that." She said.
"I know. But I love you. And things like this will only get harder. I might as well start helping you now so I'll be used to it as the days count down closer to delivery."
Jaina felt touched. Her husband covered her with the blanket. He stopped himself from joining her. "Any last minute needs? Anything at all?" He asked.
His wife smiled sweetly at him. "Really Jag, it's all right. You don't have to do this."
"Sweetie, will you just let me be a gentleman for one minute?"
Jaina realized that it was futile to talk him out of it. Holding back a defeated sigh, she made a random request. "Perhaps some juice."
"Done." Jag said. He left the room, and returned after 6 minutes with a glass of juice, and handed it to her. Jaina took it, and drank it. The cool, flavorfull fluid felt good against her tongue, the walls of her mouth, and the back of her throat. She set the empty glass on the bedside stand. "Anything else?" Jag asked.
"That's all." Jaina assured.
Jag got under the covers, and curled up against his wife, spooning her. He kissed her cheek. "Goodnight, love." He bade.
"Goodnight, sweetheart." She wished back.
They snuggled up against each other a little more, and then they drifted off to sleep.
The sound of glass breaking on the first floor of their hotel room shook Jaina and Jag out of their slumber. Jaina reached out through the Force. "Two intruders." She whispered to her husband. She turned to get out of bed, but Jag stopped her, clutching her arm. "Jag, what're you doing?" She asked quietly.
Jag shook his head. "I'll check it out. You stay here, honey." He whispered.
Confusion abruptly came upon Jaina's face. "But I'm a Jedi Master, and Sword of the Jedi." She explained, trying hard to not let her anger make her raise her voice.
Jag was deadset on his decision. He shook his head, and put his finger to his wife's lips. "You're also pregnant." He paused to gather his thoughts, "I won't be able to live with myself if you're killed."
"Dear, I survived the assault on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant less than a year back."
Jag's somber expression deepened. "Barely. Please, let me handle this. You stay here until I give the all clear." He pleaded.
Jaina sighed, and gestured to the bedside table. Her lightsaber flew to her hand, and she gave it to her husband. "At least take this. It shouldn't be too different from a vibroblade." Jag nodded, and accepted it. He kissed her cheek, then left.
The intruders searched the main floor of the Fel Hotel Room. After 4 minutes, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "I don't care who you nerfherders are. Get the kriff out immediately."
They were startled by Jag's voice. They turned, and trained their blasters on him. Jaina's lightsaber ignited with its usual snap-hissssss. It's violet blade glowed eerily in the darkness.
Jag remembered his training with vibroblades. The main difference was that he was using a hotter blade that was also longer. His only disadvantage was that he didn't have Jedi reflexes. So he'd have to rely on his wits. "I won't ask again." He warned.
Blasterfire went off. Jag rushed to the side of the first intruder, taking quick, brief glances through his peripherals. The first intruder seemed to have a scar across his face. Scarface attempted to blast Jag at point blank, but Jag quickly sliced off the end of the blaster. He quickly hoisted his left leg up, and kicked Scarface to the ground.
The second intruder wasn't able to get a clear shot while Jag dispatched his partner. But once Scarface was on the ground, he opened fire. Jag deflected 2 bolts, and dove for cover. If he had the Force, he wouldn't have needed to take cover. He immediately realized that they seemed to have no military training, which would make his job of defending his home and more importantly, his wife and unborn child, easier. The second intruder had a wisp of a beard, likely messily shaved.
Wispy kept firing at Jag. Scarface maneuvered around them, and leapt to tackle Jag. However, Jag had dived to get out of the way of Wispy's line of fire, and Scarface fell to the ground, and got shot twice!
Jag sliced off the barrel of Wispy's blaster, and kicked him in the stomach. He extinguished the lightsaber. Scarface struggled to his feet, and tried to tackle Jag, but only stumbled on his own legs. Jag wirled out of the way, then slammed the butt of his wife's lightsaber into Scarface's temple, knocking him unconscious. Jag's eyes darted around, looking for Wispy, but he was nowhere to be seen. Just then, he heard his wife scream!
Wispy rushed into Jaina's room. Jaina gasped. Wispy's blaster was still unfunctional. He eyed Jag's blaster on the bedside table. He tossed his scrapped blaster at her. Jaina quickly used the Force to send the blaster aside, keeping her and her developing child safe. But while she was distracted, Wispy had grabbed her husband's blaster, and trained it on her. Jaina turned to face him, and shrieked.
"With you dead, the next generation of Jedi will never rise." Wispy taunted.
He cocked the blaster. With her developing baby, and having woken up not long ago, and having already used the Force to deflect the thrown blaster, she was too weakened to force it away from him. Just then, footsteps ran in. It was Jag.
"Get away from her," He shouted.
Wispy turned to face Jag. Not wanting to see what would happen next, Jag quickly lobbed off the aggressor's hands. Using what strength she had left, Jaina grabbed the her cup, and tossed it at Wispy. The glass shattered, cutting up Wispy, and knocking him unconscious. Jag extinguished his wife's lightsaber, and rushed to her, hugging her. "Are you hurt? Are you alright?" He asked, panicked.
Jaina took a deep breath, calming herself. "I'm fine, dear. It's okay." She promised.
Jag grabbed his wife's hands gently. "Okay." Jaina sensed that Jag was still tense and on edge from the experience. His worry hadn't diminished despite his claim. Jaina caressed his cheek, and gave him reassurance through the Force, even though he wouldn't feel on the level of other Force Sensitives. "I'm alright. Really." She urged.
The couple reported the intruders to Hapan authorities. Wispy ended up succumbing to his injuries from the shattered glass, and died within hours. An autopsy revealed that a shard of glass had severed a ligament in his spine. Scarface survived, and was held in a max security prison.
Jaina and Jag walked into the prison. Tenel Ka and Allana were outside Scarface's holding cell. "Tenel Ka?" Jaina asked.
The Queen Mother turned to face her Sister-in-Law. "What are you doing here?" Jaina continued.
"Chief Dorvan warned me of the possibility of vigilantes attacking the Jedi. However, I wasn't expecting this to happen so soon. The Transitory Mists are a challenge to navigate through." Tenel Ka explained.
Once Allana saw Jag, she rushed over. "Uncle Jag!" She squealed. Jag knelt down with his arms outstretched. Allana ran into him, hugging him. Jag quickly hugged his niece back. "How's my favorite niece?"
"I'm your only niece!"
"Thus, you have no competition."
Jaina and Tenel Ka laughed a little. Once pleasantries were done, they got back to the task at hand. "I'm sorry you two experienced that." Tenel said.
"Well, we're okay now. Jag handled most of it." Jaina assured.
Jag kept his mind deadset on the immediate situation. Jaina wasn't able to get much through the Force on how he was handling things. "I want to know who this man works for." He simply said.
"I'm afraid he may be working independently." Tenel Ka warned.
Jag was adamant. "We all know there were two intruders. I'm certain that there's a master plan."
Tenel sighed. "I'm going in," Jag continued, "I need some kriffing answers."
Tenel quickly covered her daughter's ears. "Please, Jag, not in front of the children."
Jag began walking towards the entrance. Jaina sighed. She sensed his anger rising. It seemed like her husband was a different man now. "Perhaps Han may be rubbing off on him." Tenel suggested, having sensed Jaina's thinking. Jaina sighed, and nodded.
Jag barged into Scarface's cell, and slammed the door shut. He felt his blood heating up. "So, what gave you and your dead friend the idea to try to kill me and my wife?" He asked coldly. Scarface simply grunted. Jag's eyes narrowed. He walked closer to the table. From outside the cell, Jaina tensed up, and brought her hand to her mouth.
"I'm not gonna ask again." Jag warned. His blood heated up further. Scarface shook his head. "You ain't gonna get the answers even when I'm dead." Jag's blood boiled. Gritting his teeth, he slammed his fist against the table. "Under whose order did you come?!" He shouted.
Not wanting Jag to give in more to his anger, Jaina quickly rushed in. 3 guards were about to go in to extract him, but Jaina beat them to the punch. Jaina gave her husband a bear-hug, and dragged him out. Knowing it was her, Jag didn't dare fight back.
The guards escorted Scarface out of the interrogation cell, and back to his holding cell. Jaina decided to have a word with her husband. "Jag, that isn't how we get answers," She pleaded.
"If I had a blaster, we would." He snarled.
Jaina wanted to smack her husband in the face, but maintained her composure. "Please, calm down! I don't like the intrusion any more than you do! But this isn't the way."
Something within Jag reawakened. He looked over, and saw Allana cowering. Tenel Ka had her arms wrapped around her daughter, covering her ears as well. She was whispering something into her daughter's ears that Jag couldn't hear. Jag's expression softened, and a tear fell from his eye. He realized that his hands were balled into fists, and his knuckles were whitening. He let go. He exhaled softly, and hugged his wife. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
Jaina wrapped her arms lovingly around her husband. She nuzzled her head against the side of his neck. The tingling sensation calmed Jag down further. The most Jag could hear in the embrace was Allana's sniffles and silent sobs, and his wife's gentle breathing.