Jaina Solo Fel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
solo_sword) wrote2009-01-14 04:52 am
solo_sword) wrote2009-01-14 04:52 am
Starsider, Wednesday Fandom time
Having some time before classes started at Fandom, Jaina was okay to stay home for a bit longer to work with her squadron, continuing to at least try and get her rookies- minus one- in better shape. Also, because it was her orders. And this was all much easier when Kre'fey wasn't visiting all his ships and disrupting the routine she was trying so hard to get together.
The admiral had called an audience for everyone aboard the old Dreadnaught Jaina was stationed on, and she sat at a table on one end of the room between Kyp and Lowbacca, watching Kre'fey seeming to actually get perkier as he made his speech.
"Every morning, I want every person in my command to ask himself the same question. And that question is: how can I hurt the Yuuzhan Vong today?" he said, practically bouncing around the room, using emphatic gestures to get his point across. "And if you can't find a way to hurt the Yuuzhan Vong, I want you to ask yourself this question: how can I help my side grow stronger?"
Kyp's voice was low enough not to be heard past Lowie. "At least it's leadership. It's not like we've seen a lot of leadership in this war."
"Maybe it's a little more leadership than we need," Jaina murmured back. It wasn't that she had anything against what the Bothan was saying. She agreed with the principle. But there was something about him, and the way he was doing things lately that worried her. Really, he'd told her her brother was alive and then went right on to a mission briefing before she could even stand without wobbling.
Lowie didn't give more than a low growl, but he sounded about right there with her. Which came as a shock to no one.Poor whipped Wookiee.
"We're going to win the war of production!" Kre'fey continued. "Our factories are building more starfighters, more capital ships, and more weapons than ever before! Our schools are turning out more pilots and other personnel! Within months we'll have replaced all the terrible losses we've suffered so far in this war!"
That kind of struck a bad chord in itself. Jaina had literally lost count of everyone she'd known who had died in this war. The count was lessened by one now, yes, but none of them could be replaced. And that wasn't even counting everyone else's loved ones...
"That trip to Bothawui has changed the admiral," Kyp murmured. "He used to be a lot less bouncy."
"The Bothans declared ar'krai and removed any necessity for moral responsibility. I imagine that could cheer a person up," Jaina said.
"We're going to smash the Vong! We're going to smash them every day! We're going to smash them until there are no more Yuuzhan Vong!"
As Kre'fey finished his speech with that closer, the room erupted into cheers and applause, but much like Sernpidal, Jaina found herself not wanting to cheer anyone on in this particular quest. A few months ago she'd have been behind it, but she'd been blinded by a lot of personal issues that wouldn't exactly let her see the things she did at Sernpidal: that there were innocent Vong in this war, and that anything that sounded like genocide was not exactly fair. The difference from Sernpidal was that Kyp was just as silent as Jaina and Lowbacca.
When the speech was over, Jaina found herself unable to flee, being stopped by one of Kre'fey's aides saying that he wished to speak with her, and sent to what was serving as his office. Which was a little weird to her. She was a ranking officer, but she wasn't high-ranking enough for casual visits with admirals. Even when he'd called her to tell her about Jacen, Farlander had been there.
As he arrived, he greeted her, "I saw you in the audience and I thought I'd pull you in for a chat."
"Very good, sir," she said neutrally.
"Did you like the speech?"
"I thought it was the strongest speech I've heard in this war, sir." No one could say Jaina hadn't inherited or learned a diplomatic trait or two.
It seemed to make him happy, anyway. Happier. "Coming from Leia Organa's daughter, I'll tae that as a very special compliment indeed."
"My mother hasn't had many chances to make speeches lately, sir."
"Regrettably true." He paused, apparently deciding to get to the point. "I thought that I would send you to see your brother."
"Sir?" Every doubt was momentarily forgotten. He'd just said the best sentence anyone could ever say.
"Colonel Darklighter tells me that you've been working continuously against the enemy," he went on. "That even from this other galaxy, you're planning campaigns. And earning us victories. You deserve a rest, but the war hasn't been able to spare you. But things have grown quiet with both sides reorganizing after Coruscant, so we can spare you now. So I'm going to send you on a furlough to Mon Calamari, for two weeks... But you're going on a special mission for me, do you understand?"
And the doubts were back. Feeling her heart sink a little, she said, "No, sir. I don't understand." It had to say something when you were finally given a break, and told to work on it. This was personal. She wanted to be able to deal with this personally.
"You said that you needed more Jedi for your experimental Force-meld to work," he said, remembering the conversation he'd dropped on her right after telling her about Jacen. "I want you to talk to your mother, to your uncle Luke, and I want you to get me those Jedi. I want to put those Jedi in my ships and have then link through the Force in combat. What do you think?"
"I'll do my best, sir, but... My squadron's been completely reorganized. I'm trying to adjust a lot of pilots into a squadron that gets shot at a lot. And while I'm organizing the campaigns, I can't fly with my squadron from elsewhere. They still aren't ready. We haven't flown together long enough to- I need time, sir- I'm afraid my squadron can't spare me." And yes, sure, she had fears about what was going to happen when she did see her brother again, but it honestly took a backseat to twelve pilots that were supposed to go up against the Vong in defense of the galaxy when she'd been neglecting them so badly lately. Maybe it meant she was growing.
"Your number two can take over for a few more weeks. He's another Jedi, isn't he? The Wookiee? I want you on Mon Calamari finding Jedi for me." He smiled. "And getting some rest, of course. You've been working too hard, like all of us."
And that was that. And Jaina was a little proud of herself that she managed to get out of there without bopping him in the nose.
[NFB, NFI, blah blah blah. Been a while since I had one this short. Most dialogue from Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams.]
The admiral had called an audience for everyone aboard the old Dreadnaught Jaina was stationed on, and she sat at a table on one end of the room between Kyp and Lowbacca, watching Kre'fey seeming to actually get perkier as he made his speech.
"Every morning, I want every person in my command to ask himself the same question. And that question is: how can I hurt the Yuuzhan Vong today?" he said, practically bouncing around the room, using emphatic gestures to get his point across. "And if you can't find a way to hurt the Yuuzhan Vong, I want you to ask yourself this question: how can I help my side grow stronger?"
Kyp's voice was low enough not to be heard past Lowie. "At least it's leadership. It's not like we've seen a lot of leadership in this war."
"Maybe it's a little more leadership than we need," Jaina murmured back. It wasn't that she had anything against what the Bothan was saying. She agreed with the principle. But there was something about him, and the way he was doing things lately that worried her. Really, he'd told her her brother was alive and then went right on to a mission briefing before she could even stand without wobbling.
Lowie didn't give more than a low growl, but he sounded about right there with her. Which came as a shock to no one.
"We're going to win the war of production!" Kre'fey continued. "Our factories are building more starfighters, more capital ships, and more weapons than ever before! Our schools are turning out more pilots and other personnel! Within months we'll have replaced all the terrible losses we've suffered so far in this war!"
That kind of struck a bad chord in itself. Jaina had literally lost count of everyone she'd known who had died in this war. The count was lessened by one now, yes, but none of them could be replaced. And that wasn't even counting everyone else's loved ones...
"That trip to Bothawui has changed the admiral," Kyp murmured. "He used to be a lot less bouncy."
"The Bothans declared ar'krai and removed any necessity for moral responsibility. I imagine that could cheer a person up," Jaina said.
"We're going to smash the Vong! We're going to smash them every day! We're going to smash them until there are no more Yuuzhan Vong!"
As Kre'fey finished his speech with that closer, the room erupted into cheers and applause, but much like Sernpidal, Jaina found herself not wanting to cheer anyone on in this particular quest. A few months ago she'd have been behind it, but she'd been blinded by a lot of personal issues that wouldn't exactly let her see the things she did at Sernpidal: that there were innocent Vong in this war, and that anything that sounded like genocide was not exactly fair. The difference from Sernpidal was that Kyp was just as silent as Jaina and Lowbacca.
When the speech was over, Jaina found herself unable to flee, being stopped by one of Kre'fey's aides saying that he wished to speak with her, and sent to what was serving as his office. Which was a little weird to her. She was a ranking officer, but she wasn't high-ranking enough for casual visits with admirals. Even when he'd called her to tell her about Jacen, Farlander had been there.
As he arrived, he greeted her, "I saw you in the audience and I thought I'd pull you in for a chat."
"Very good, sir," she said neutrally.
"Did you like the speech?"
"I thought it was the strongest speech I've heard in this war, sir." No one could say Jaina hadn't inherited or learned a diplomatic trait or two.
It seemed to make him happy, anyway. Happier. "Coming from Leia Organa's daughter, I'll tae that as a very special compliment indeed."
"My mother hasn't had many chances to make speeches lately, sir."
"Regrettably true." He paused, apparently deciding to get to the point. "I thought that I would send you to see your brother."
"Sir?" Every doubt was momentarily forgotten. He'd just said the best sentence anyone could ever say.
"Colonel Darklighter tells me that you've been working continuously against the enemy," he went on. "That even from this other galaxy, you're planning campaigns. And earning us victories. You deserve a rest, but the war hasn't been able to spare you. But things have grown quiet with both sides reorganizing after Coruscant, so we can spare you now. So I'm going to send you on a furlough to Mon Calamari, for two weeks... But you're going on a special mission for me, do you understand?"
And the doubts were back. Feeling her heart sink a little, she said, "No, sir. I don't understand." It had to say something when you were finally given a break, and told to work on it. This was personal. She wanted to be able to deal with this personally.
"You said that you needed more Jedi for your experimental Force-meld to work," he said, remembering the conversation he'd dropped on her right after telling her about Jacen. "I want you to talk to your mother, to your uncle Luke, and I want you to get me those Jedi. I want to put those Jedi in my ships and have then link through the Force in combat. What do you think?"
"I'll do my best, sir, but... My squadron's been completely reorganized. I'm trying to adjust a lot of pilots into a squadron that gets shot at a lot. And while I'm organizing the campaigns, I can't fly with my squadron from elsewhere. They still aren't ready. We haven't flown together long enough to- I need time, sir- I'm afraid my squadron can't spare me." And yes, sure, she had fears about what was going to happen when she did see her brother again, but it honestly took a backseat to twelve pilots that were supposed to go up against the Vong in defense of the galaxy when she'd been neglecting them so badly lately. Maybe it meant she was growing.
"Your number two can take over for a few more weeks. He's another Jedi, isn't he? The Wookiee? I want you on Mon Calamari finding Jedi for me." He smiled. "And getting some rest, of course. You've been working too hard, like all of us."
And that was that. And Jaina was a little proud of herself that she managed to get out of there without bopping him in the nose.
[NFB, NFI, blah blah blah. Been a while since I had one this short. Most dialogue from Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams.]