Duro, Wednesday Fandom time

[solo_sword]

Administrative assistant work was not the sort of thing Jaina had been planning on doing when she came out here, but it was something to do, and Han had thought it was a good enough idea to talk her into it. This may have been a mistake, due to the amount of detail involved that left Jaina squinting at pieces of flimsi, trying unsuccessfully to make out the words and figures on them and giving herself a headache in the process.

"You have too much work," she finally sighed, laying one of the flimsies down on her mother's desk.

"I'm not arguing with you there," Leia told her, still poring over a datapad. "But someone's got to do it."

"Why does it have to be you?" It did occur to Jaina that it might have been the first time she'd ever outright asked that question aloud.

Leia glanced up at her and replied, "Who else would do all of this?"

"Please, Coruscant is full of people scrambling to get into any position of power they can take."

"Which that alone makes those particular people unsuitable for this kind of job."

Jaina hated when she made sense. And she was pretty sure she'd said that herself at some point.

She saw Leia still glancing at her, and tugged her knit cap down a little further on her bald head. "Stop staring."

"I'm not," said Leia, whose own head was swathed in a scarf. It was actually kind of hard to tell why she was wearing it if you didn't already know. It looked more like a fashion statement. "You didn't have to go through decontamination, you know. You could have waited out the quarantine."

"Speak for yourself."

"I'm just saying, you're at that age."

"It's hair. It'll grow back. I'm not in the market to impress anyone with a good first impression."

Leia raised her eyebrows, like she was waiting for Jaina to elaborate.

She didn't. Instead, she said, "We missed you at Parents Weekend." If she wanted to know more, she could ask Han. They seemed to be doing okay now. And while Jaina definitely preferred having her parents together and getting along, it didn't really change anything regarding her own personal feelings about her mother.

"I didn't know about it," Leia said slowly.

Jaina shrugged. "Maybe Viqi Shesh intercepted your invitation. It doesn't matter anyway. Dad and Aunt Mara came. It went better than I expected."

"I'm sorry I missed it."

She hadn't been expecting to get that much. So she gave a little bit back. "Maybe next time."

Leia blinked, and asked, "How long are you planning on staying there?"

"As long as I want to," she said quickly, a little reminder that she got to make those decisions for herself now.

Apparently Leia got the message, and nodded, "Fair enough," before lowering her head again to get back to work.

*****

Jaina sat in the copilot's seat of the Jade's Shadow, listening to her aunt brief Leia on the latest attempt on their lives. It was strange, she knew, but in the aftermath of nearly getting killed again, she'd felt more like herself than she had this whole trip until she heard the voice on the other side of the comm unit. That just brought her embarrassingly back to nothing but seventeen years old.

"Didn't even ask about me, did she?" she asked once the transmission had faded enough to force Mara to end it. And once again, she didn't think she was being entirely unreasonable. She and Mara had gone to see the mysterious Dr. Cree'Ar... and unexpectedly ended up unmasking the Yuuzhan Vong agent Nom Amor, who'd admitted to being the one who infected Mara with the disease that should have killed her. They'd ended up having to dig themselves out from a tunnel collapse while he escaped, something that still didn't sit right with Jaina. And even after hearing the story, Leia hadn't asked.

"I would've told you if you'd been hurt," Mara explained.

"Some women shouldn't have children."

It was rare that Jaina saw the look on Mara's face directed at her. "I can't believe you said that."

Jaina didn't feel embarrassed or ashamed even now, though. She meant it. "To her, I'm an inconvenience. 'Winter, take Jaina for a walk.' 'Threepio, tell Anakin a story.' 'Here, Chewbacca, watch the twins.'"

"And how many mothers gave up a seat on a shuttle headed for safety this year? Put their kids on board and stayed behind, to die or be enslaved? Sometimes staying with your child isn't possible."

"Then mothers who are too important to raise their kids should just sign them over and go off to work."

She really should have known better than to get into this with Mara, of all people. She'd been taken from her parents as a child and raised in the Emperor's service. She hadn't had the luxury of a family. That was why the reaction didn't surprise Jaina at all. "For such a mature young woman, you are being surprisingly childish."

For once, Jaina didn't find it in her to be upset or defensive at being called on it. Which wasn't to say she wasn't still firmly rooted in that private angry state that so rarely seemed to go away lately, but she wasn't angry about that. "I'm also being honest. Mara, I almost died at Kalarba. I lost an awfully good friend at Ithor. She gave up everything, to give families a chance to survive somewhere else."

"And your mother is giving those survivors somewhere to live. This planet is hope, literally and symbolically."

She also should have known she wasn't going to get any kind of sympathy here. She didn't really expect it. "Poor Mom," she sighed. "She's got a half-blind, stubborn daughter who can't fight anymore and a son who's afraid to be a Jedi. Good thing Anakin came along."

"You've got a temporary weakness. File this away for your future, Jaina Solo. It's all right to take risks for yourself. But never, never commit someone else to hand-to-hand combat if they've had their fighting edge blunted. Do we understand each other?"

She didn't get a chance to answer right away, as that was when they got into Duro's atmosphere, finally giving Mara a chance to touch base with Luke over the comm. At least Jaina would have a chance to see him (weird as it could be when she was so used to the teenage version of her uncle) and Anakin while she was here. Anakin at least would get it, even if he didn't agree.

As soon as they'd started in towards their destination, Jaina asked, "Is that why Nom Anor's still alive? Because my fighting edge has been blunted?"

Mara was probably wishing she would shut up right about now. "You wouldn't have been able to sense him through the Force or see him well enough to be able to do any real damage that wasn't out of pure luck."

"You still could have gotten him when I couldn't. Getting him should be more important than protecting me."

"And what kind of master would I be if I let that happen? Not to mention that if that vial had contained more of those spores, he could have infected you, or caused a relapse in me. If you won't accept any other answer, pretend I'm being selfish myself."

Oddly, the realization that the thought had to have crossed Mara's mind made her feel a little better.

*****

It wasn't that Jaina hadn't spent a lot of time considering picking up her comlink to touch base in Fandom. She'd had enough close calls to want to, definitely. And yet she had no idea what to say when she thought over how the conversations could go in her head. She didn't know how long she'd been gone by now, but it couldn't have been too much time. Also, it might be a little overwhelming to hear even half this stuff and then have to end it with "I have to go spring my brother from captivity by a corrupt CorDuro official before the Vong invade. Talk to you after!"

At the moment, she was fully aware of how she'd been acting, and yet she still thought she had more sense than Jacen. She didn't know why he was trying to hang out with Vice-Director Brarun, and honestly, she didn't care. They were pretty sure now that the Vong were set on Duro, and that meant getting Jacen away from the crazy bad guy so they could deal with the next part of the crisis. And though Luke insisted that Jacen wasn't in any immediate danger from Brarun, the down time leading up to going was driving Jaina crazy. It left her with too much time to contemplate calls she knew better than to make.

It wasn't until Luke and Mara called her and Anakin to go, the same way you'd call the kids to hurry up and get in the speeder because you had to be somewhere on time, that Jaina finally pocketed her comlink and decided to deal with it after this part of the crisis.

*****

Really, leave it to Jacen to get himself taken captive. Not that Jaina herself was anyone to talk, but she was on the outside here, and this wasn't about her anyway. She let Luke, Mara and Anakin set up the distraction outside while she worked her way into the building where her twin was being kept. It wasn't even that difficult. Two guards, easily taken out with the stun setting on her blaster, and then it was down to the room. She was used to this sort of thing being much harder. Sometimes requiring explosives.

She didn't even need to open the door herself. It slid open from the controls on Jacen's side, which made her wonder what he was still doing here. She greeted him with a simple, "Hey."

He slipped past her, peeking out into the hallway to see the damage she'd done. "Hey. Nice of you to visit. Great hair."

This was completely wrong. She was supposed to be rescuing him, not dropping by for a visit. He wasn't supposed to be here of his own free will. The glare she gave him was more for the scene she'd walked into than the crack about her hair. "Speak for yourself," she said, looking up at his own bald head. "Speak for yourself. What are you doing here, waiting for Hoth to melt?"

"Vice-Director Brarun did send down a message that Uncle Luke had been spotted, out at the docks. He wants to talk with us all. Want some cold kroyie?"

He seriously couldn't be this easily taken in by people. "You've got to be kidding me," she muttered, going to his window to check out the area to the sides, above and below, searching in the Force almost more than just with her eyes now. They had to have something set up for it to be this easy.

Apparently knowing why she was looking, he assured her, "The only guards are in the hall. Were in the hall. Doesn't look like they gave you any trouble."

"As guards go, they weren't real impressive."

"I think that their only real job is to let Brarun know if I decide to leave."

...And he stayed anyway. She pointed out the window at the lightsaber "battle", courtesy of Luke and Anakin, clearly visible from this vantage point. "See that? That's going on in your honor- a distraction, so I can get you out. We're headed back down to Gateway."

"Is it necessary? I'm waiting to talk to the Vice-Director-"

Idiot. "Are you even marginally aware of what's going on around you?" Jaina demanded. "Aunt Mara and I just exposed a Yuuzhan Vong agent down at Gateway, and he nearly killed us both." To prove her point, she pulled off her cap to show him the synthflesh strip covering the cut above her right ear, a little souvenir from Nom Anor's tunnel collapse. "And Uncle Luke just found connections between your previous vice-director and the Peace Brigade."

That was a direct hit and she knew it. "That's why Brarun's anxious to get a Jedi in custody? Because the Peace Brigade has figured out that the Yuuzhan Vong want to neutralize us?"

"Give the boy a medal," she drawled. "And meanwhile you're just sitting here, blind to it all. Aren't you listening to the Force at all? Can't you tell? Something's about to happen. Again."

Jacen looked a bit sheepish when he admitted, "Actually, I decided to stop using it. Completely. Uncle Luke challenged me, and I... I'm tired, Jaina. If I can't fight darkness with darkness, then maybe I can't fight violence with violence. I just feel like I'm... waiting for something to happen."

There weren't words for how much she didn't care at the moment. Later, she would, yes. Now, not so much. He could philosophize all he damn well pleased once she got him out of here. "What's going to happen is another invasion, Jacen. And you're coming with me, whether you want to or not."

The blaster was still set to stun, but still, seeing your twin sister pull a weapon on you had to knock some sense into a person. She hoped so, anyway. This would be much easier if he'd just come along willingly. "You'd make me come with you?" he asked, looking shocked.

"You may want to set yourself up as a tragic hero, but it isn't going to happen," Jaina said. "Yes, idiot brother, I would make you come." She really would have done it, too.

He actually kind of smiled at that. "I'll come," he said finally.

She didn't actually point the blaster away until they were almost ready to leave.


[NFB, NFI, you know the drill. Parts still taken straight from Balance Point. The mun is not responsible for that last bit not ending with a nice clean little shot to the head, thus clearing up a lot of problems in the Legacy of the Force era right then. < /mean >]