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weetuskenraiderTahiri had never been a fan of waiting, but she'd been doing just that for so long now it might have been days, and as she sat in the cockpit of her X-Wing (really, these boots could come off any time now), half listening to the comm chatter, she wondered how much time had passed in Fandom. She and her pilots -- who'd dubbed themselves Barefoot Squadron, much to her self-conscious amusement -- had trained and drilled for weeks on end both as a squadron and as part of the fleetwide Jedi Force-meld strategy. The past three months had been spent in a series of diversionary attacks against Yuuzhan Vong-held Core worlds, per Admiral Kre'fey's plan.
The concept was fairly simple: they'd hit a poorly defended planet and win by virtue of numbers, and in the process the novice pilots would gain experience, the fleet would build morale, and most importantly they'd cover up their ultimate destination of Ebaq 9. Jaina and Twin Suns Squadron had been on that hellish little asteroid for a while; although Admiral Ackbar hadn't outright said so, Tahiri knew the Yuuzhan Vong would do anything to capture one or both of the Solo twins and thus Jaina was bait in a trap. Tahiri was curious as to how she was doing. She worried about Jaina, maybe more so than she did about the one in Fandom, since her Jaina didn't have the same kind of support structure. She suspected the other Tahiri was in the same position.
She was just extending her senses toward Ebaq 9 when a shockwave of horror lanced through the Force, and she knew where it was coming from. Jaina! Tahiri knew two versions of her now, and she knew how much it took to rattle her. Whatever was going on out there, Jaina was in serious trouble. And she could feel it -- ever since Myrkr, she'd been more closely attuned to the other Jedi who'd been on the strike team, and to Anakin's sister, who was so much like him, most of all. She could sense, however faintly, every break in Jaina's usual calm, and all the flight time she'd clocked since being home gave her enough of a basis to guess at what was going on out there.
Tahiri's hands twitched on the control stick, and she had to fight down the impulse to jump into orbit and help out. Anakin would've done it, and she would have followed him without a second's thought. But Anakin was gone now, Tahiri wasn't his little sidekick any more, and she had a mission to follow and a squadron to lead.
"Hang in there, Jaina," she muttered, feeling sweat trickle down the back of her neck, willing her helmet comm to come alive with the signal they'd been waiting for. And then she felt other presences reaching out to hers, the Jedi in the other squadrons getting ready to initiate the meld. Tahiri clicked her comlink to get her pilots' attention and, appreciating how quickly they cut the chatter, spoke up with a confidence that not so long ago she'd never have believed she could manage. "Barefoots, Leader. Double-check your coordinates and stand by to jump."
Dear Gavin, she thought wryly, and not for the first time, How are you? Danced on chairs in any common rooms lately? Guess what I'm doing now . . . Really, if anything made this easier, it was thoughts like that.
Kre'fey's signal finally came over the comm, and Tahiri gave the order. The second that Barefoot Squadron jumped into orbit around Ebaq 9 Tahiri let herself slide easily into the full Force-meld; she could sense each of the other squadrons and capital ships through the other Jedi in the meld and through them fully grasped the enormity of the battle. This wasn't on the same scale as the past three months' hit-and-run raids had been by a long shot, and she didn't regret that her pilots wouldn't have the same perspective.
Five Yuuzhan Vong battle groups, hundreds of enemy ship analogs, no telling how many thousands of coralskippers. And any paths of retreat were blocked by the tens of thousands of mines laid by General Farlander's fleet. This was, by any measure, the biggest battle Tahiri'd ever been in.
"Barefoots, form up on me and engage," she said into the comm, then shut it off for a moment, just long enough to mutter to herself, "Do-ro'ik vong pratte."
In Yuuzhan Vong, "And woe to our enemies."
Whenever things were tense, Tahiri had always gone for a joke to ease the strain.
Irony was funny.
[OOC: NFB, NFI, OOC okay, pi to the fifteenth decimal point. Plot points of the Battle of Ebaq 9 taken from Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams, but guess who disappeared from this part of the narrative, forcing me to make stuff up? I shouldn't be allowed to make things up. One more later today and that's it.]
The concept was fairly simple: they'd hit a poorly defended planet and win by virtue of numbers, and in the process the novice pilots would gain experience, the fleet would build morale, and most importantly they'd cover up their ultimate destination of Ebaq 9. Jaina and Twin Suns Squadron had been on that hellish little asteroid for a while; although Admiral Ackbar hadn't outright said so, Tahiri knew the Yuuzhan Vong would do anything to capture one or both of the Solo twins and thus Jaina was bait in a trap. Tahiri was curious as to how she was doing. She worried about Jaina, maybe more so than she did about the one in Fandom, since her Jaina didn't have the same kind of support structure. She suspected the other Tahiri was in the same position.
She was just extending her senses toward Ebaq 9 when a shockwave of horror lanced through the Force, and she knew where it was coming from. Jaina! Tahiri knew two versions of her now, and she knew how much it took to rattle her. Whatever was going on out there, Jaina was in serious trouble. And she could feel it -- ever since Myrkr, she'd been more closely attuned to the other Jedi who'd been on the strike team, and to Anakin's sister, who was so much like him, most of all. She could sense, however faintly, every break in Jaina's usual calm, and all the flight time she'd clocked since being home gave her enough of a basis to guess at what was going on out there.
Tahiri's hands twitched on the control stick, and she had to fight down the impulse to jump into orbit and help out. Anakin would've done it, and she would have followed him without a second's thought. But Anakin was gone now, Tahiri wasn't his little sidekick any more, and she had a mission to follow and a squadron to lead.
"Hang in there, Jaina," she muttered, feeling sweat trickle down the back of her neck, willing her helmet comm to come alive with the signal they'd been waiting for. And then she felt other presences reaching out to hers, the Jedi in the other squadrons getting ready to initiate the meld. Tahiri clicked her comlink to get her pilots' attention and, appreciating how quickly they cut the chatter, spoke up with a confidence that not so long ago she'd never have believed she could manage. "Barefoots, Leader. Double-check your coordinates and stand by to jump."
Dear Gavin, she thought wryly, and not for the first time, How are you? Danced on chairs in any common rooms lately? Guess what I'm doing now . . . Really, if anything made this easier, it was thoughts like that.
Kre'fey's signal finally came over the comm, and Tahiri gave the order. The second that Barefoot Squadron jumped into orbit around Ebaq 9 Tahiri let herself slide easily into the full Force-meld; she could sense each of the other squadrons and capital ships through the other Jedi in the meld and through them fully grasped the enormity of the battle. This wasn't on the same scale as the past three months' hit-and-run raids had been by a long shot, and she didn't regret that her pilots wouldn't have the same perspective.
Five Yuuzhan Vong battle groups, hundreds of enemy ship analogs, no telling how many thousands of coralskippers. And any paths of retreat were blocked by the tens of thousands of mines laid by General Farlander's fleet. This was, by any measure, the biggest battle Tahiri'd ever been in.
"Barefoots, form up on me and engage," she said into the comm, then shut it off for a moment, just long enough to mutter to herself, "Do-ro'ik vong pratte."
In Yuuzhan Vong, "And woe to our enemies."
Whenever things were tense, Tahiri had always gone for a joke to ease the strain.
Irony was funny.
[OOC: NFB, NFI, OOC okay, pi to the fifteenth decimal point. Plot points of the Battle of Ebaq 9 taken from Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams, but guess who disappeared from this part of the narrative, forcing me to make stuff up? I shouldn't be allowed to make things up. One more later today and that's it.]
