Coruscant to the Yavin system, Tuesday Fandom time

[solo_sword]

Halfway through the meeting with the Chief of State, Jaina came to the realization that Luke allowing her to come with him was not one of his better decisions. Granted, she'd been a pain at him until he finally caved, but he really would have been better off with Jacen, or someone who actually knew how to control their temper.

She wasn't a fan of Borsk Fey'lya to begin with, but she listened to him say that he was going to do nothing to help fight against the Vong occupation of Yavin 4, that as long as he didn't order anyone to do it that it was perfectly fine, and she was having a very hard time not saying anything. He'd hand all the Jedi over to the Vong if he could, and seemed to be saying that it would be fine with him as long as he could hold a truce with the same species that had no qualms about changing over entire planets and murdering or enslaving every living thing left on it. Eventually Jaina did snap, her tirade quickly stopped by Luke, and by the time they left she was dealing with tears of frustration due to having no other way to lash out.

Part of the problem was, she remembered a certain vision her grandfather had had, and this really sounded to Jaina like this could be it. They knew Master Ikrit was already dead, and while she could feel that her little brother was alive, that didn't at all mean that he was safe.

They returned to Luke's quarters to explain the story to Mara and Jacen, along with Karrde's second-in-command, Shada D'ukal. Jaina sat in silence, letting her uncle speak while she reminded herself that getting frustrated again wasn't going to solve anything.

"It makes a certain amount of sense from his perspective," Jacen said when he'd finished listening.

Okay, there went not getting frustrated. "I do not believe you just said that," Jaina said incredulously, staring at him. "This is Anakin we're talking about. It's the praxeum!"

"You don't have to remind me who my brother is," he said. "But that's the point, don't you see? We can hardly be impartial in this case."

"Vape impartiality! Fey'lya's not impartial."

"No, he's not. But his concerns are different."

"Yeah. He's more concerned about the Vong than he is his own citizens." She couldn't help thinking that Leia never would have stood for this.

"That's not true," Luke said. "To be honest, I never thought he would send ships to the Yavin system. I had to ask, though, and we did learn some things."

"Right," Jaina bit out. "Like Fey'lya sent the Vong there in the first place."

"I doubt that very much. I think things happened pretty much as he said. When the Yuuzhan Vong showed up they found Karrde fighting the Peace Brigade, and when they took occupation, Karrde turned on them. They then contacted the New Republic. And Fey'lya's right- I should have seen this coming, long ago," Luke said. "The Yavin system has been at risk for months now. Only the concentrated effort of the Jedi there even allowed us to think it was safe."

"That's perfect, Luke," Mara said. "Blame yourself."

"I'm not trying to allocate blame, Mara."

"Then spare us your apologies for Fey'lya and the senate. What are we going to do?"

Thank you, Aunt Mara. "What Anakin did," Jaina answered. "Talon Karrde is out there right now, fighting a holding action for help that will never come. He'll stay there until they pick all of his ships off, one by one. Won't he, Shada?"

Shada, who had mostly just listened up until this point like a good intelligence-gatherer, nodded. "Yes."

"I understand your concern, Jaina," Luke said, "but what good will one more X-wing do Karrde or Anakin?"

Jaina didn't point out that if she went to Yavin, she still didn't even have an X-wing to use. She'd have to borrow his. "More good than sitting here. And we can contact Mom and Dad, have them bring the Millennium Falcon."

"First of all, Han and Leia are still out of contact. More important, you heard what Fey'lya said."

This was one of the moments she really wished she didn't agree with Kyp.

"Oh, please let them try arresting us," said Mara, her tone just as effective as an eyeroll.

"You think I care even faintly what that scruffy Bothan said," Jaina agreed. "Uncle Luke, we can't do nothing."

She recognized his tone, because she'd heard it hundreds of times, maybe just while at the academy alone. This was Luke letting everyone have their say and then putting the logic to them to calm them back down. "Listen to me, all of you. I'm not worried about arrest as such, and I think you all know that. But things aren't good for the Jedi right now. If we have any friends left in high places, we can't afford to alienate them. We're already considered rogues. We can't allow ourselves to be cast as enemies of the state."

Ugh, more politics. "If they're stupid enough to think that, let 'em," Jaina said. "They're hopeless."

"Right," Jacen sighed, "that's really what we need right now, Jaina- a civil war within the New Republic, as if the war with the Yuuzhan Vong isn't already enough. Besides, Uncle Luke is right. I don't think the weight we could add to the battle would help, not considering the situation as Shada outlined it."

"What, then?" Shada asked. "Karrde can't do it alone."

Luke asked, "What if we added a Star Destroyer to the equation?"

*****

Whether it was to placate her or to actually put her to use, Jaina didn't really care because it gave her something to do. Mara had loaned her the Jade's Shadow in order to go in search of the smuggler Booster Terrik and his Star Destroyer-turned-pleasure ship, the Errant Venture. Given the way she tended to blow up at authority figures (hi, Anakin, Luke, Fey'lya...), she wasn't the best person to talk one into doing anything for her, which may have been why Jacen tagged along. But Booster wasn't your average authority figure. He was, however, very hard to find.

Sometime during the second day, Jaina looked up from the ship's controls, getting a read on where they were exactly, and said, "We should just go to Yavin."

"We can't go to Yavin," Jacen said, almost sounding like he was sighing at her.

"Since when?"

"Since Uncle Luke told us not to."

She frowned, feeling a little more offended than she should. "You're supposed to be with me on this," she said.

"Things have changed," Jacen said simply. "We're finding Booster, Jaina. We're sticking to the plan."

Jaina really wanted to tell him that he had no idea what the last week had been like, about the vision, about the fact that she'd defended him to Anakin and Kyp about this very behavior. And she just didn't. Things really had changed. She was sure she had, though she couldn't see the changes in herself as well as she could see the ones in Jacen. She didn't really have her partner in crime anymore. Welcome to growing up.

After a long while of silence, Jacen excused himself to try meditating, and Jaina had to really talk herself out of just going anyway while he was busy. If it had been anyone else, she probably would have.

*****

Jaina kept her opinion to herself- mostly- for the rest of the trip. Jacen knew where she stood, but he was convinced that finding Booster was the right thing to do. As it turned out, they caught a lucky break. Booster's son-in-law, Jedi Master Corran Horn, had also been aboard, which made the Errant Venture much easier to find. He'd been acutely aware of the situation at the praxeum due to his son Valin being there. Upon hearing the plan, Booster was more than happy to lend any assistance he could in order to get his grandson back safely.

It was a good thing he said yes, because otherwise Jaina was taking the Shadow to Yavin herself to get herself arrested or killed, mysterious vision be damned. Sorry, Jacen.

The group that showed up at Yavin to assist Karrde and his company wouldn't have been nearly as impressive without the Star Destroyer. She, Jacen and Corran took a few X-wings out in order to keep the Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers off a stolen Peace Brigade ship that was clearly trying to escape the moon. Whether Anakin was flying or shooting, Jaina wasn't able tell, but he was doing a pretty fine job either way. It was just that against the Vong and Peace Brigade forces, it wouldn't be enough. At least, not without some help.

There wasn't much of a fight to be had by then. Shoot a couple skips, let the Errant Venture make all the big shots while they got Anakin and the others back to the ship. Still, it was really good to be flying again. An easy rescue to prove that she wouldn't freak out under fire, all the better.

She'd hugged her brother when they were safely aboard the Star Destroyer again, and nearly hit him despite the fact that he was hurt. Kam and Tionne Solusar brought the Jedi students aboard, and the injured- including Anakin and his best friend Tahiri- were taken care of, and the twins sat down with their little brother over dinner to hear his story. Anakin's original plan to stay behind with Master Ikrit to hold off the Peace Brigade while the other Masters hid the students went wrong when Tahiri, Valin, and another student named Sannah decided to help. Ikrit had died in the escape and Tahiri had been captured, tortured and mutilated by the Vong, Anakin going off himself with the eventual help of a slightly traitorous Vong warrior to save her.

While fascinated, Jaina had never been so happy to hear a story end.

"Can't say I was sorry to see you guys show up," Anakin confessed. "I felt you a few times, Jaina, and then you'd disappear. I wasn't sure what was happening."

She'd hoped every time she reached out to him that he would be able to sense her. She'd caught him a few times, too, which had kept her from leaving increasingly worried messages on John's voicemail during that time. "We were on a little hunt," she explained.

Anakin looked over his surroundings. "I think you found it."

"We never thought we'd find Booster," Jaina told him. "I was ready to hijack the Jade Shadow and fly straight to Yavin. When Booster doesn't want to be found, he can really disappear."

"What was he doing?"

"Running weapons to the Hutt underground, actually. I just asked myself where Booster would go if he wanted to help the war effort and still turn a profit without feeling bad about it," she said.

"You're kidding."

"It didn't hurt that Corran was with him," Jacen said. "We got hints of him in the Force."

"Still," Anakin said. Had to hand it to the kid, even after all he'd done on Yavin he could still be impressed by someone else's work.

Jaina could use that. Maybe it would help them bridge their gap a little. "Jacen's being modest," she said. "He spent a lot of time in deep meditation, trying to find Corran. It was no accident."

"That's pretty impressive."

"Thank you, Anakin," said Jacen, sounding a little surprised. He frowned, studying him for a moment before asking, "Are you okay?"

Anakin nodded, and he looked fine enough to Jaina. Bruised, yes, but otherwise fine. "Yes, actually. I mean, my leg still hurts, even with the bacta patch, but otherwise, I think I'm fine. In fact, better than fine."

"What do you mean?" Jacen asked, a bit suspiciously.

"Up until now, I had no way to think of the Yuuzhan Vong except as enemies."

"They are enemies," Jaina insisted.

"Yes. So was the Empire. But Palpatine aside, it must have been possible for Mom and Dad and Uncle Luke to at least conceive of the people they were fighting as possible friends. In fact, that's how Uncle Luke destroyed the Emperor, right? He was able to imagine Darth Vader as his father, as a friend," Anakin said. And he did have a point. Look at Mara. "The Yuuzhan Vong- well, to be frank, I didn't even want to consider them that way."

Sometimes it was a little alarming to hear the once little boy that never wanted to talk sound so mature. "They don't make it easy," Jaina allowed. "Look what happened to Elegos when he tried to understand them." The Caamasi Senator had been killed, studied, and his bones sent back as a gift.

"So you think you succeeded where Elegos failed?" Jacen wondered.

"Do I understand them? No, not completely. But I have a deeper understanding than I did. I can think of them as people now, and that makes a difference."

"You're right, of course," Jacen nodded. "Does that mean you've decided not to fight them anymore? Are you going to work for peace?"

"Are you kidding?" Anakin asked incredulously. "We have to fight them, Jacen. I have to fight them. I just know more about how to do it now."

Of course that wasn't what Jacen wanted to hear, and by the frown on his face, Jaina was preparing for another argument between the boys. "Are you sure that's the right lesson to take away from all of this?"

"No offense, Jacen, but I think I'll leave off worrying about what lesson I might have learned if I had been someone else. Because frankly, if I had been anyone else, I don't think I would have survived to learn any lesson."

"Tell Booster we're going to have to evacuate the ship," Jaina told Jacen. "The way Anakin's head is expanding, it'll split through the hull in no time."

"Believe it or not," Anakin said, "I don't say what I just did with pride. I'm just stating a fact."

"Pride is pretty sneaky. It disguises itself pretty well," Jacen said. "I hope you'll have a long talk with Uncle Luke at some point. Unless you don't think even he has anything to teach you."

Surprisingly, there was no flash of irritation from Anakin. "Don't put words in my mouth, Jacen."

"And don't you forget who pulled your butt out of the fire there at the end," Jaina added.

Anakin grinned widely. "But that's what I meant, don't you see? When I said that no one but me could have survived what I did. Because no one else in the galaxy has you two for his brother and sister."

He left right after to see Tahiri, which may have either been so he wouldn't laugh at their faces, or to keep them from throwing food at him. Jacen and Jaina sat there for a moment in silence, Jacen just shaking his head, until Jaina said, "I think he's right."

Jacen looked up at her, confused. "Seriously?"

Jaina nodded solemnly. "I can't honestly say I would have been able to make it through that," she said. She heard a lot about how much work she still needed, and it was true. "I would have tried my absolute best, but that's no guarantee. Do you really think you could have done what he did?"

He didn't answer, but she could tell he was going to be overthinking about it.

[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Most of the dialogue from Edge of Victory I: Conquest by Greg Keys. Yay for being much shorter this time, woo hoo!]