Jaina had jumped at the chance to fly against Luke in a live fire exercise at the base's training section. Part of it was that she felt rusty and wanted serious competition to make sure she was going to survive a battle, but mostly, she wanted time with Luke. Annoyingly, she knew he was playing nice in the exercise, too. He didn't seem to want to really fire on his niece, even if said niece was more than confident she could handle it. Still, they got some good time in, and it wasn't a surprise when he ended it early to head to the mess hall.

They could have had better timing. Inside the mess was a huge holoscreen on the wall of the lounge area that could easily be seen by those being served. The pilots in the lounge were silent, watching the afternoon news, just as the reporter began, "And today's top story- the roundup of Corellian nationals continues as thousands leave Galactic City in a voluntary repatriation program." On the screen was the image of Jacen, dressed all in black and surrounded by troopers, which was bad enough. It all became worse that the only other person in a real uniform was thirteen-year-old Ben.

For a moment all Jaina could do was stare in shock, her stomach dropping down somewhere around her knees. The only clear thought in her head right now was that this was it; she'd feared this for literally half her life now, and now she knew without any doubt it was actually happening.

"Colonel Jacen Solo, speaking earlier, said-"

She didn't look to see how Luke reacted. She didn't want to. Besides, then the officers in the lounge area started talking, completely oblivious to who was standing behind them.

"Old family tradition, terrorizing the population," said one captain. "Just like his grandfather all over again. When's he going to go for a nice black cloak and helmet? And lots of troopers in lovely white armor?"

Jaina snapped. It was her own knowledge of the situation being voiced by someone completely outside of the loop and she couldn't take it. Her hands clenched into fists, she Force pushed the captain against the wall, knocking him out of his chair. She started to go after him, too, ready to make him apologize, but Luke was fast enough to step in front of her, and two of the other pilots stepped in to keep the captain from doing anything. "He didn't mean it," one said. "Sorry, Colonel."

"Go on," the other pilot told the captain. "Apologize to the colonel. You were out of line."

The captain clearly had meant every word and thought this was further proof, but he obediently said, "My apologies, Colonel Solo."

Just to make it worse, that they were still talking about the other Colonel Solo on the news, something that still irked Jaina. She'd worked her ass off in the Yuuzhan Vong war to earn her title, sweated and shed blood and persevered through battle shock and the loss of so many people around her. Meanwhile Jacen, with no real previous military experience, was handed the same rank along with the GAG. It was another thing in a long line of things that hadn't sat right with her, and now it felt bigger than just that.

And that was why she had to work to calm herself down and get control again. "We're all getting a little tense," she said, much calmer, though her words were still very pointed. "I should have found a less assertive way to ask you to retract what you said about my family."

And then the captain finally noticed who it was that had stopped Jaina. Pissing off Jaina wasn't quite the same to most people as pissing off Luke Skywalker, even if she was far more likely to break their bones in response. "Sorry, sir..."

"Forget it," Luke said. "Jaina, let's take a walk."

They were silent until they'd walked to the side of one hangar, finding crates on which to sit. Then it was Luke who started. "We can fence around this or we can blurt it out. I prefer blurting, personally."

"Saves time," Jaina said, concentrating on the ground for a moment.

"I don't know what's happening to Jacen."

"I do."

There was a pause, and when Jaina looked up she found her uncle watching her. He knew just as well as she did what she meant. "You think it's happening."

Jaina nodded. It killed her to admit it, but it was true. "I don't know him anymore."

"That's a scary thing for any twin to say."

"He's been headed this way for a long time, I think," she said, and she felt like she could kick herself for not daring to put it together until now, or at least for not admitting it. She'd spent years telling herself that she was overreacting and paranoid, but she hadn't really wanted to see it, either. She'd been looking for a moment when she could stop things, but it seemed more like it had been a gradual change, something that had slipped by her through years of him making her mad and her freezing him out until she wasn't anymore and then him starting the cycle all over again. "He shuts me out. He even manipulated me against the Chiss."

"I know. It's... worrying," Luke understated.

"I can't trust him now."

It was strange, watching Luke. He was the only person here she had ever told about the possibility of what Jacen might become. She'd expressed her worries over the years, and now she almost felt like they were co-conspirators who knew at least in some regard how things would have to end. But neither of them had considered Jacen using Ben, at least not like this. And, she realized, that might throw a huge wrench in the works with regards to how Luke handled the Jacen situation.

The fact was, Jaina couldn't let this keep happening. She'd never gotten enough detail from Fandom's Ben to know exactly what happened, but she knew it was bad. The last thing she wanted was to see that happen here, too. She'd promised Ben as much, too. So while they were being honest about things they didn't want to have to be honest about, she said, "Uncle Luke, if I were you, I'd get Ben a new teacher."

He nodded, and again, she knew he knew she was right. But the fact that he didn't answer right away worried her more than anything else.


[NFB, NFI, OOC makes me happy. Most dialogue taken from Bloodlines by Karen Traviss though I had to add some bits. Why is everyone in my office hanging out at the copier today. Why.]