fandomhigh | Flight & Flying [Friday, June 22, 2nd period]

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flight and flying

Flight & Flying [Friday, June 22, 2nd period]

Anakin was waiting for the students on the top of the apartment building in town, leaning up against a Lambda-class Imperial shuttle.

"Welcome to the Virgo," he said with a small smile before giving them a quick rundown of the general specifications of the ship. "It's twenty meters long and is generally used to ferry soldiers or cargo back home," he said. "It's also equipped with a hyperdrive--which we will not be using--as well as two forward-facing double laser cannons, two wing-mounted double cannons, and a rear-facing double laser cannon." He met each student's eyes. "Which we will definitely not be using. We're going to do a quick swing around the system here--we won't go out as far as Pluto, but since it's not a planet any longer, I doubt it will be that offended."

He waved a hand towards the ramp. "Come aboard."

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She had no idea why she was telling him this, but at the same time... He kind of did deserve to know how things ended up. "The Empire's still around, but isn't much more than a political party at this stage. They're not even close to a threat," she said, realizing she had no idea how Leia's proposed alliance with the Empire went. "The real danger is an alien species called the Yuuzhan Vong. They're extragalactic, came into our galaxy pretty recently and seem pretty hellbent on taking over. When I left, they were starting to do some pretty serious damage already."

Anakin hissed in a breath. "Cities or planets?" he asked, trying to get an idea of the scope.

"They're trying to make us their new home," she said, and her focus on what was happening outside actually seemed a little clearer. "They've reshaped at least two planets to be hospitable only to them, leaving the rightful populations dead or displaced. They're intent on wiping us out. There aren't any negotiations to be had with them."

Anakin's jaw dropped. "And the Jedi?" he asked.

"We're not very well-liked right now," Jaina answered. "There are only about a hundred of us, and the Vong seem to be on the resistant side. Our tricks don't work, people get angry at us for it, and anti-Jedi sentiment spreads. We're as vulnerable as anyone else." After all, look at Mara.

He pressed his lips together, heart pounding, as he stared out the viewport.

He still had a reputation after all, and he didn't want his granddaughter to see him looking afraid.

A moment later, he turned his attention back to her. "History repeating," he said quietly. "Ignore what the public thinks--do what the Force leads you to do."

"It's not the public I worry about," she said, and she couldn't explain why she was telling him this except that it was the first time she'd actually told the whole story to someone who knew what she was talking about. This was Luke and Gavin's future. Anakin wasn't around for it and he knew that.

"It's the Jedi themselves. There's a lot of infighting between those who would continue to defend anyone we can exactly the way we have been, and those who would rather use every available path to destroy the Vong, no matter what the cost. They're a bit louder when they argue."

"No matter what the cost?"

Anakin was very proud that his voice didn't end up screechy. His tone was still decidedly unimpressed.

"The cost would be Dark Jedi," he said. "And then you'd have to fight off an invasion and a group of your own people and I'm certain you don't have time for that particularly preventable brand of idiocy. You can't just dabble in the dark. You can't decide that you'll throw an enemy ship into the sun for great justice because the best defense is a good offense. You can't wreak just a little bit of vengeance. There is no gray side."

He met Jaina's eyes squarely. "I know."

She nodded in agreement. She wasn't sure about the dabbling bit, as she'd seen people come back, and she'd seen one of her friends reach into it when she'd been hurt. It had been effective, but it was dangerous and not worth the price, in her opinion. She just didn't trust anyone who thought they were in any place not to take it too far, and they would be the only ones dumb enough to try it on purpose.

"Uncle Luke's standing firm, and he's got as much reason to want the Vong gone as anyone. What doesn't help is that his opposition is a reformed Dark Jedi," she said, and notice how she didn't mention anything about Luke's little turn, "who either thinks he can manage it, or doesn't care about the consequences. I really believe it's the first thing."

"He's an idiot," Anakin said flatly, "and Luke is right. The dark side is as much an addiction as using too much spice or drinking to excess. Just because he was strong enough to come back once--it doesn't plot that it always works like that." He glanced at Jaina. "This Jedi of Luke's--let me guess. Charismatic, excessively proud of what he does, very strong?"

Anakin, twenty years ago.

Another nod. "And he's apparently incapable of actually learning from his mistakes," she says. "He would actually probably be a good leader if he had a clue."

"Or he's trying to prove that he's better than he was in the splashiest way possible," Anakin guessed.

Not that he'd ever been tempted in that particular area. Really.

"And that's even more dangerous," he continued, "because if he's focusing on how he can look better, he's lost sight of the reason Jedi have an Order--we need that reminder we, individually, aren't responsible for the fate of anything."

"At the same time, though, we're all fighting, some of us more individually than others. It's weird, because fighting as a group is no more effective than anyone else doing it, but when people split up- and we have to, because this is widespread and there aren't enough of us- you do start thinking on a more individual level. I've even done it just being here. But I realize it and try to fix it. That's harder to do when you're in the middle of it."

Anakin nodded. "During the Clone Wars, we were sent out in pairs and individually--often for months at a time--and there is a definite temptation to start believing that you really do know all there is to know because you're on the ground, talking with those who are suffering, getting shot at, watching beings you know die."

He sighed. "But there is a larger picture, too, and sacrifices that must be made--often on a planetary scale, sometimes system wide--and you have to trust that those with all of the pieces know what they're doing. It was a lesson I was constantly relearning."

"I think some of them are starting to learn it," said Jaina. "I don't get many reports from home, but it seems like people are starting to actually see that their actions have ramifications and can say a lot for Jedi as a whole, not just them. If we lose a planet due to one person's mistake, that stays with them. Sometimes it shouldn't, but they're still stuck with it."

Anakin nodded. "And people remember mistakes more than all of the good done behind the scenes for no acclaim," he said quietly.

She knew there had to be more to that. "Not always," she said. "I think maybe you need to do more good than bad. People will still use it against you, but there's more room to argue."

"When beings are frightened of something they can't control, they always turn on the Jedi," Anakin said. "I think it's because we were used when they were younglings to keep the monsters under the bed. They don't like to remember that we can make mistakes, too, and that our mistakes tend to be on the memorable side. So when we fall, we're not betraying just them. We're betraying a childhood ideal."

"We didn't even get that this time around," she said. "We just got everything set up again. People were just getting used to having Jedi around as a presence again. A lot of pressure was put on us as a whole before we were ready for it, and the first thing that happens where we can't do something as people would like, through no fault of our own, they turn on us. I'm not complaining, it's just what happened, and it's having adverse effects on everyone else."

For a split second, Anakin's face crumpled under the guilt, but it was quickly controlled.

"Let me guess," he said wryly, "politicians trying to carve out little bits of power from this, refugee panic, not enough supplies or ships to come close to helping, and the Hutts doing absolutely nothing useful?"

"Sounds about right. I've only been able to work up one comlink on a secure frequency so far, so I don't get many details. But from what I have heard, that's pretty close."

"I'm so sorry," Anakin said quietly. He wasn't going to say it would get worse before it would get better. She'd learn that soon enough on her own.

"So this is why you're a Rogue rather than completing your training?"

"I'm not even that," Jaina admitted. "I would have tested for admittance but Fandom came up. But when I go back, I'm going to try to get into the military. More good can be done there, and people don't really care who the figure in the helmet in the ship shooting at you is."

"Except if they shoot down one of the few Jedi the galaxy still has left," Anakin said, not liking this plan at all.

"They could just as easily kill me in weapons combat, or set off another batch of coomb spores where no one can detect it," she countered. "Flying's where I can do the most, and if I get shot down, I'll have taken as many of the enemy down as I could."

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