solo_sword | The Ralroost, Sunday afternoon Fandom time

When Jaina got the message a few days into her stay that Colonel Darklighter- and yes, Colonel, she had to think of him that way to differentiate from Gavin- wanted to see her, she was honestly expecting to be let down easy. She wasn't going to be around all the time, and she was only sixteen, and she wasn't entirely happy with her performance in the sim when she tested, though she was aware that that was probably due to her own personal expectations. She hadn't gotten her hopes up, and figured it was protocol to let the children of powerful people know that it wasn't them, no really, but there was something wrong with the system that was rejecting them and they were very sorry.

So it was a shock to be asked to join the squadron, at least for the time being. They were willing to work around her, because they really did need the people and she was good enough to be a Rogue. Jaina had accepted gracefully, and then gone back to her room to squee like a little girl.

The squadron had been good to her so far, too. She even had a call sign already. Because of the control stick for the X-wing, and the fact that she used a lightsaber, they called her Sticks, and it completely thrilled her every time she heard it. Yes, sometimes she was a dork.

In the simulator, though, running through a couple of scenarios to prepare them for flying against the Vong, it was much easier to put all of that aside. She was here for a reason. This was her job, and if she did it wrong, she could be killed, or worse, she'd get others killed. And considering the leader of the damn Chiss squadron kept killing her, she wasn't taking that as a good sign.

"You're taking it too personally," said Anni Capstan as they started back to their room after the last sim.

"He was targeting me," Jaina insisted. "It's harder to treat this as a real mission when I'm pretty sure the Vong won't be going after me specifically every time."

"We all did get killed, you know," Anni pointed out.

And Jaina knew she was being irrational and crabby. Maybe she'd gotten too used to doing well in her workshop. "Yeah. Sorry. We'll do better next time."

Anni excused herself not long after to find or start a sabacc game somewhere, leaving Jaina in the room. It wasn't that she didn't get along with her wingman, it was just that they didn't have any kind of deep-seated connection. Jaina was okay with that, she supposed. She didn't have any real need to make friends, though she generally got along with everyone. And she trusted Anni to have her back, which was the important thing.

She would head out later to join the others, but for a while she just wanted to stay by herself until she wasn't going to be spewing vitriol at them about a faceless pilot she'd never even met.