Star Wars_ Legacy of the Force 07_ Fury - Aaron Allston [42]
“Once.” Her words were soft, uncertain. “The third time.”
“Are you absolutely sure that if I’d tried that tactic on our first bout, it wouldn’t have worked?”
She was silent for a long moment. Then she shook her head.
Jag unbuckled his helmet and took it off, holding it at his side. “Jaina, as your commanding officer, I’m ordering you to take today off. No training, no strategizing, nothing. Report to me first thing in the morning. At that time, if you think you need another day off, I require you to tell me so. You’ll get it.”
“Yes…Colonel.”
Jag nodded at her and Zekk, then spun and headed back to the hangar.
Jag maintained his brisk walking pace until he reached the Falcon’s hangar. Then he looked around and, seeing no one within sight, moved more slowly and heavily to the Falcon’s boarding ramp. He sat on its slope, leaning away from its angle of descent to remain upright. He set his helmet down, then slowly peeled the thin black gloves off the crushgaunts, staring blankly at the floor as he did so.
“I expected—”
The voice came from the tall, dark figure who seemed to materialize in front of Jag. Jag jumped up, reaching for a blaster pistol that was not there, then relaxed as he recognized the speaker.
“—you to be jubilant.” Zekk frowned down at him. “Not jumpy. And morose.”
Jag sat again and scowled up at the Jedi. Carefully, he used his right hand to pull his left-hand crushgaunt free of his arm. He set it down beside the helmet. “I’m not morose.”
“And I’m a Sullustan.”
“Yes, the ears tipped me off.”
Zekk managed a brief grin. “I just wanted to say congratulations.”
“For what?”
“For getting through to her. She looked as shocked as if you’d clobbered her with a force pike. Now she’s thinking.”
“Good.” Jag pulled the other crushgaunt free and set it down. He looked at his palms, which were red and sweaty. “I didn’t like shouting at her.”
“Well, you don’t shout much.”
“That’s not it.” Jag’s eyes focused past the floor, to some distant place and time. “Years ago, I thought I could see my future in her eyes. My future, maybe even the future of my line, my name. Since then, she’s slipped away from me. I helped that happen. Out of anger. Out of pride.” He shook his head and met Zekk’s gaze again. “But I can’t let her slip away from what it is to be human.”
Zekk was silent for a long moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was unusually gentle. “Jag, I’m going to let you in on a secret. You’re an irritant, like itching powder in an enviro-suit.”
Jag glared at him.
“On top of that, you’ve got no sense of humor, you’re more Force-blind than a rock, you handle a lightsaber like a drunken Hutt, and you’re short. But after today, I’m exceedingly proud to have you as a comrade-in-arms.” He extended his hand.
Jag looked at it as if expecting a final insult to be written on its palm, then shook it. “Thanks.”
“So do I have today off, too?”
Jag’s shoulders slumped. “Sure.”
“Go have a drink or something, Colonel.” Zekk spun and headed out through the hangar’s main entrance, walking toward the base crew quarters.
Jag sat where he was for long minutes, then collected his gear and left.
Leia, silent, stepped out from the shadows at the top of the boarding ramp and shook her head. She glanced back over her shoulder. “Han?”
“Yeah, sweetie.”
“How do you teach a man not to be a noble, long-suffering, self-sacrificing idiot?”
“I don’t know, sweetie. Mostly I shoot them.”
“I’ll consider that.”
chapter thirteen
CORUSCANT
The war raged on.
Back in control of his portions of the Alliance military and no longer distracted by Allana’s absence—for, secretly, she accompanied him everywhere, smuggled between GA government buildings and the Anakin Solo in shuttles, guarded by only the most trusted officers