Jaina Solo Fel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
solo_sword) wrote2012-05-11 05:30 am
solo_sword) wrote2012-05-11 05:30 am
Coruscant- Friday Fandom time
The night Jaina finally ran into Jagged Fel again, it was not at all what she would have expected it to be like. She'd left the Temple to run an errand, arriving back late, and she just happened to be passing a man in a dark cloak who was leaving at the time. There was absolutely nothing extraordinary about it except for the fact that he seemed just a little shorter than usual, but even if she couldn't read his Force sense, she'd have known him just by his walk and the way he carried himself.
"Jag?"
He stopped, but didn't turn to look at her. With his hood up, she couldn't even see his face. "Yes?" It was definitely his voice.
...That was it?
"Were you just going to walk past? Not even say hello?" she asked. Their last conversation had been less than pleasant, but she'd have thought their history, which included a two-year relationship, would warrant... something.
And yet he again said, "Yes." Then he continued walking out the front doors, past the guard, and was gone.
Jaina stood stunned. That really was it. Two words. He'd said two words to her. Or, more accurately, the same word twice.
She went back to her quarters, completely confused, and with too many questions. She didn't know why he was at the Temple, where he'd been al this time, how pissed he could possibly still be at her for the Swarm War when he shot her down... This was not helped by the new knowledge that there was a great-grandkid of theirs walking around Fandom, either. Which led to another question: was it acceptable to smack Ben for not warning her about this or not? And she didn't like that she felt so bad about a thirty-second meeting that made it seem like Jag really hated her.
*****
Jaina didn't get any answers until a couple days later, when she was summoned to meet Luke in the hangar. It was a normal request, so she didn't expect anything when she headed down and opened the doors. "Uncle Luke, you wanted to see... Oh."
And sitting with him was Jag Fel. It was her first chance to actually look at him since Tenupe, and he did look different. The beard was definitely new. She'd known him with a close military haircut, which he'd grown out long enough to hide the very noticeable scar running from his eyebrow to his hairline that she knew perfectly well was there. She could still see the streak of white hair starting where the scar ended, though. He was dressed all in black and- not that she was paying attention to things like this or anything- Jaina was pretty sure he'd been working out. Overall, it was a really good look on him.
Thus, Jaina decided that she was never again allowed to run into ex-boyfriends unless they'd become ugly and off-putting.
Luke didn't waste any time getting to the point. "I'm putting together a small task force to find Alema Rar," he said. "Colonel Fel here is in charge. I'm assigning you to it, and Zekk, when he's fit to fly."
Um. Jaina had no problem being assigned to that mission itself, aside from feeling like she'd be of much better use watching Jacen. Alema Rar had been a friend of sorts when they were younger. Her sister had been killed by the voxyn in the Vong war, which had set her on a dark path to begin with. Then she'd been assigned to the mission to Myrkr, where Jaina had even encouraged Alema's mad killing while she herself was turning. (Don't think she didn't feel bad about that now.) When the Killik crisis began, Alema probably hadn't even needed to be absorbed by the Dark Nest to turn to the dark side, though it had driven her crazy. She'd been badly disfigured in a duel with Leia and had been thought to be killed on Tenupe for a time, but since recently learning that wasn't true, she had to be found. Especially since she'd been linked with Lumiya, which meant possibly being linked with Jacen. That wasn't the problem. The problem was... Um.
"That is not a good idea," Jaina said, looking between them both. "I don't think I can operate as this man's subordinate."
Luke looked honestly confused by that. "Back in the Yuuzhan Vong war, though he outranked you, he didn't offer you any grief about being your subordinate."
"Things are different now." Now she was worth one word twice. She could already tell this was not going to go well.
Did Luke care? No, of course not. "Yes, you're both older and wiser. And on top of that, the two of you have worked together before, know each other's strengths and weaknesses, and have complementary skills. Consider it settled." He glanced between them. "I'll leave you two to get caught up. Jag, please get me a plan of operation at your earliest opportunity."
And that was it from him. He just left them alone with that, damn him.
Jag waited until Luke was out of range of hearing. "The problem with Jedi Masters," he said, "is that they can't be beaten with impunity."
That was unexpected. And not because it didn't involve only the word "yes." "Jag, did you just make a joke?"
"No," he said seriously. "He knows why I wouldn't want to work with you and has decided to disregard my wishes. I'll have to assume that his reasoning is sound, whatever it is, until proven otherwise. All right, let's do some strategic planning."
...Ouch. "Why wouldn't you want to?" she asked, more stung than she wanted to admit. "Because of what happened with the Dark Nest?"
"It doesn't matter. We have planning to do." He gestured toward the door, clearly intending to shoo her out so they could get this over with.
Instead, Jaina stayed put and glared. "It does matter. If I'm going to be working in a hostile environment, I need to know why. If we have a problem, you should have told me about it years ago."
"I couldn't," he snapped, which she hadn't expected. Whenever they'd argued, he'd get clipped tones and if his words seemed harsh it was because they were true, but she couldn't recall him ever actually snapping at her. "I was stranded on Tenupe for two years. And because of your actions, ignoring the consequences of freeing Lowbacca and what he did subsequently, I am now barred from my family forever. And that is the why."
For a moment she could only stare at him. While they were fighting above Tenupe, he'd told her that his intervening to get Lowie freed had put his family finances in dire straits when Lowie was involved in certain pro-Killik battles after his release. Jaina wasn't entirely at fault for it, but she had played a part in it, and she accepted responsibility for that. That wasn't the part that shocked her. Two years. He'd been stranded for two years. It wasn't like Tenupe was an easy world to be stuck on, either. He'd had to fight to survive it. Meanwhile she'd gone to "recover" in Fandom for a while, then returned home to resume business as usual, assuming he'd been rescued and the Chiss just didn't want to release that information because she was the one asking for it. She felt horrible for her own actions, and angry at the Chiss for everything else. Barred from his family? Who did that? And what happened to his career then? Being forced to resign from the military had been hard enough for Jaina, but Jag lived to fly.
He explained. "Yes, the Jedi way preaches forgiveness, but that isn't the Chiss approach. To the Chiss and my family, I am an unperson, and that's forever. Don't bother thinking about ways to correct the situation," he continued, knowing exactly what she was thinking, "it would be roughly as useful as worrying about painting out the laser damage your uncle left on the hull of the Death Star. Instead, worry about Alema Rar."
That horrible feeling didn't go away. She did want to fix it, too, or help him, or something. At the same time she realized he had more reason than ever to hate her, even if it wasn't all her fault. He'd lost everything because of something she was involved in. If she wanted to help, then she just had to make this as easy as possible on him.
"All right," she said, gathering herself back together and straightening. "Strategic planning."
[Dialogue taken from Exile by Aaron Allston. NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Wb, Jag!]
"Jag?"
He stopped, but didn't turn to look at her. With his hood up, she couldn't even see his face. "Yes?" It was definitely his voice.
...That was it?
"Were you just going to walk past? Not even say hello?" she asked. Their last conversation had been less than pleasant, but she'd have thought their history, which included a two-year relationship, would warrant... something.
And yet he again said, "Yes." Then he continued walking out the front doors, past the guard, and was gone.
Jaina stood stunned. That really was it. Two words. He'd said two words to her. Or, more accurately, the same word twice.
She went back to her quarters, completely confused, and with too many questions. She didn't know why he was at the Temple, where he'd been al this time, how pissed he could possibly still be at her for the Swarm War when he shot her down... This was not helped by the new knowledge that there was a great-grandkid of theirs walking around Fandom, either. Which led to another question: was it acceptable to smack Ben for not warning her about this or not? And she didn't like that she felt so bad about a thirty-second meeting that made it seem like Jag really hated her.
*****
Jaina didn't get any answers until a couple days later, when she was summoned to meet Luke in the hangar. It was a normal request, so she didn't expect anything when she headed down and opened the doors. "Uncle Luke, you wanted to see... Oh."
And sitting with him was Jag Fel. It was her first chance to actually look at him since Tenupe, and he did look different. The beard was definitely new. She'd known him with a close military haircut, which he'd grown out long enough to hide the very noticeable scar running from his eyebrow to his hairline that she knew perfectly well was there. She could still see the streak of white hair starting where the scar ended, though. He was dressed all in black and- not that she was paying attention to things like this or anything- Jaina was pretty sure he'd been working out. Overall, it was a really good look on him.
Thus, Jaina decided that she was never again allowed to run into ex-boyfriends unless they'd become ugly and off-putting.
Luke didn't waste any time getting to the point. "I'm putting together a small task force to find Alema Rar," he said. "Colonel Fel here is in charge. I'm assigning you to it, and Zekk, when he's fit to fly."
Um. Jaina had no problem being assigned to that mission itself, aside from feeling like she'd be of much better use watching Jacen. Alema Rar had been a friend of sorts when they were younger. Her sister had been killed by the voxyn in the Vong war, which had set her on a dark path to begin with. Then she'd been assigned to the mission to Myrkr, where Jaina had even encouraged Alema's mad killing while she herself was turning. (Don't think she didn't feel bad about that now.) When the Killik crisis began, Alema probably hadn't even needed to be absorbed by the Dark Nest to turn to the dark side, though it had driven her crazy. She'd been badly disfigured in a duel with Leia and had been thought to be killed on Tenupe for a time, but since recently learning that wasn't true, she had to be found. Especially since she'd been linked with Lumiya, which meant possibly being linked with Jacen. That wasn't the problem. The problem was... Um.
"That is not a good idea," Jaina said, looking between them both. "I don't think I can operate as this man's subordinate."
Luke looked honestly confused by that. "Back in the Yuuzhan Vong war, though he outranked you, he didn't offer you any grief about being your subordinate."
"Things are different now." Now she was worth one word twice. She could already tell this was not going to go well.
Did Luke care? No, of course not. "Yes, you're both older and wiser. And on top of that, the two of you have worked together before, know each other's strengths and weaknesses, and have complementary skills. Consider it settled." He glanced between them. "I'll leave you two to get caught up. Jag, please get me a plan of operation at your earliest opportunity."
And that was it from him. He just left them alone with that, damn him.
Jag waited until Luke was out of range of hearing. "The problem with Jedi Masters," he said, "is that they can't be beaten with impunity."
That was unexpected. And not because it didn't involve only the word "yes." "Jag, did you just make a joke?"
"No," he said seriously. "He knows why I wouldn't want to work with you and has decided to disregard my wishes. I'll have to assume that his reasoning is sound, whatever it is, until proven otherwise. All right, let's do some strategic planning."
...Ouch. "Why wouldn't you want to?" she asked, more stung than she wanted to admit. "Because of what happened with the Dark Nest?"
"It doesn't matter. We have planning to do." He gestured toward the door, clearly intending to shoo her out so they could get this over with.
Instead, Jaina stayed put and glared. "It does matter. If I'm going to be working in a hostile environment, I need to know why. If we have a problem, you should have told me about it years ago."
"I couldn't," he snapped, which she hadn't expected. Whenever they'd argued, he'd get clipped tones and if his words seemed harsh it was because they were true, but she couldn't recall him ever actually snapping at her. "I was stranded on Tenupe for two years. And because of your actions, ignoring the consequences of freeing Lowbacca and what he did subsequently, I am now barred from my family forever. And that is the why."
For a moment she could only stare at him. While they were fighting above Tenupe, he'd told her that his intervening to get Lowie freed had put his family finances in dire straits when Lowie was involved in certain pro-Killik battles after his release. Jaina wasn't entirely at fault for it, but she had played a part in it, and she accepted responsibility for that. That wasn't the part that shocked her. Two years. He'd been stranded for two years. It wasn't like Tenupe was an easy world to be stuck on, either. He'd had to fight to survive it. Meanwhile she'd gone to "recover" in Fandom for a while, then returned home to resume business as usual, assuming he'd been rescued and the Chiss just didn't want to release that information because she was the one asking for it. She felt horrible for her own actions, and angry at the Chiss for everything else. Barred from his family? Who did that? And what happened to his career then? Being forced to resign from the military had been hard enough for Jaina, but Jag lived to fly.
He explained. "Yes, the Jedi way preaches forgiveness, but that isn't the Chiss approach. To the Chiss and my family, I am an unperson, and that's forever. Don't bother thinking about ways to correct the situation," he continued, knowing exactly what she was thinking, "it would be roughly as useful as worrying about painting out the laser damage your uncle left on the hull of the Death Star. Instead, worry about Alema Rar."
That horrible feeling didn't go away. She did want to fix it, too, or help him, or something. At the same time she realized he had more reason than ever to hate her, even if it wasn't all her fault. He'd lost everything because of something she was involved in. If she wanted to help, then she just had to make this as easy as possible on him.
"All right," she said, gathering herself back together and straightening. "Strategic planning."
[Dialogue taken from Exile by Aaron Allston. NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Wb, Jag!]