Fic: "Fast As I Can" (8/? J/Z AU)
ALGJSDFHSFASLDXOUWE textbooks. And amazon. 2/2 sellers backed out over a week *after* I paid for two of my textbooks. I am officially peeved. I'd rather buy all the textbooks new and break my bank account in one go, than have to keep making "one last trip back" to the bookstore and almost miss the last-possible-purchase date.
Anyway. Last reposted chapter before tomorrow's new!!1update.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven
Day 99
“I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up.” Zekk grinned as he looked up at the door’s tell-tale jangle. It was too early for the dinner crowd to arrive, and only regulars came in for a drink at this time of day. “You know, my shift is over - ”
Jaina had fairly raced up to the bar. She radiated mischief and excitement; a smile stretched from one sunny side of her face to the other. At his words, she paused briefly. “You don’t have plans, do you?” she asked, cutting him off. Some of the wind seemed to have been taken out of her sails. “Zekk?”
He raised an eyebrow, absently noting that she wore a well-worn flightsuit today, rather than her civvies. “With my tightly packed schedule?” he cracked. “Really, Jaina. You know I’m yours - I’ve given up on any other social life on the fifth day.”
Immediately, she returned to being all things excited. “Great,” she enthused. Without further explanation, she proceeded to drag him out of the Flash, and into a red speeder. She powered up, and flew (rather more daringly than he was used to) into First Tier traffic before Zekk managed to speak.
“Did you - did you just…kidnap me?”
Although in the middle of a sharp turn, Jaina looked over at him with an affectionate - but very impish - smirk. “’Course not. I’m so wonderful, no one ever resists their desire to be around me. And how can you kidnap someone who wants to come?”
“Well, could you tell me where we’re going, then?” he asked. His amusement at Jaina’s antics was beginning to overtake his surprise.
She grinned at him, but turned back to the traffic. “Just wait and see. You’ll love it,” she added. “I promise.”
“Well, if you promise.”
“I’ve always kept my word - unless I’m lying - which I’m not. But - you’ll see.”
Half-way through their journey, Jaina pulled over to blindfold him. Her childlike joy kept him from protesting; he even played along, and repeatedly asked how much longer he would have to wait.
Finally, nearly an hour after his shift ended, Zekk felt the speeder slow down to its stop.
He reached up to his blindfold. “Can I take this off now?”
She helped him stand, and exit the speeder. “No, you can’t. We’re almost there.”
“There” turned out to be a mostly empty aircraft base. Zekk allowed himself the luxury of a long stare before he asked Jaina what she meant by bringing him to what was obviously a military bay.
“This is the Rogue Squadron take-off bay,” she explained. “We share it with a few other squadrons, but the Yellow Aces cancelled their scheduled practice for today.” Unexpectedly, she seemed almost shy, and she cast her eyes away for a moment. “I remembered you said you wanted to learn how to fly. So.” She pointed to a strange, stretched-looking ship. “That’s what we’ll be using.”
Warily, he followed her to the craft. “Are you sure I shouldn’t - I mean - I know the basics, from being a mechanic, but how can you teach me when I’m actually flying? What if I crash?”
Jaina gave him an indulgent look. “This - ” she placed a hand on the ship’s mismatched hull “ - is Ewok. She’s used just for training green trainees. There are two sets of controls - one for the teacher, and one for the student. If you decide to pull an amateur me, and try to crash, I’ll take over before too much damage is done. You’re in good hands.”
He gave up on self-denial, and smiled at her. “Then how could I refuse?”
She returned his grin, and removed a flight suit from her bag. She was already wearing her own under her coat. “You can just put this over your clothes for now - Kyp let me borrow his old one. It’ll be a little big, but it should be okay.”
Kyp Durron was broader, and a little taller than Zekk, but the orphan was used to wearing clothes that didn’t fit quite right. Within minutes, they were comfortably adjusted. Jaina had already climbed into the cockpit, and he was quick to take the pilot’s seat beside her. She handed him a helmet. When he had it on properly, she quickly pulled on her own.
“You ready?” she said, smiling over at him as he finished buckling his crash webbing.
His nerves were jumbled, and his muscles were almost painfully tensed. His heart was beating too fast. His hands trembled. There was only one answer:
“Absolutely.”
Jaina grinned that famous Solo grin. “Then what are we waiting for?”
x-x-x
Flying was a beautiful thing. Late that night, Zekk’s heart still felt like pounding.
Flying was - an exhilarating, reckless, dizzying, breathless sensation that swept through his blood, and cleansed him of all his worries.
“I love this,” Jaina had told him when they landed. She had leaned back in her seat, and given him a warm, contended smile. “I just…love it. I don’t know how anyone can be scared of it.”
He had released the steering gently. In response to her statement, he had been capable only of grinning like an idiot.
“I think falling in love must be like flying.” Jaina had stared out of the viewport, her crash webbing half-unbuckled. “What do you think?”
It had momentarily distracted Zekk from the flying-induced high. “Is that what you feel about Jag, then?”
She had rolled her eyes. “I’ve already told you I’m not in love with him. We’ve only gone out on a few dates.” She sighed, and patted Ewok’s control board. “This just makes me think it’d be worth it. But falling in love…it just seems like such a-a dangerous thing. All the risks of flying, times a thousand. Like you could fly off course, or miscalculate and end up in a black hole, at any moment, even if you do everything right.”
“Or you could find a new, untouched paradise,” he’d remarked.
“Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” She had looked so very wistful.
For some reason, the conversation was stuck in his mind, as close as the experience of flight. Jaina’s love of flying had been so characteristically brash and passionate - but somehow deeper, more untouched, than most of their conversations - uncovering more of her to his eyes.
Falling in love…it just seems like such a-a dangerous thing. All the risks of flying, times a thousand. Like you could fly off course, or miscalculate and end up in a black hole, at any moment…
Jaina’s parents were, by all accounts, a genuine love-match. Tabloids liked to photograph Leia Organa Solo without her ring, and Han Solo with an unfamiliar woman. Rags liked to demand if it was over - if someone was cheating - if someone had asked for a divorce lawyer. Even when the couple denied it - especially when they denied it. But whether or not any of that was true (and Jaina’s disgust with tabloids suggested the negative), the Solo couple’s start had been uncalculated. No matter how sketchy it might have been for Han Solo to kidnap his future wife. By now, everyone insisted the situation had called for “desperate measures,” whatever that meant.
The more Zekk read about Jaina’s parents, however, the more he became intrigued…and perplexed.
Before his marriage to a political figurehead (and future Chief-of-State), Han Solo had been a nobody. He had started out as an orphan pickpocket, and was kicked out of the Imperial army years later. He turned to smuggling-then, suddenly, became a Rebel hero. The man had no position he had not gained himself; many of his original possessions had some kind of…interesting…story behind their ownership. He had little to offer a princess and political leader.
A nobody fell in love with a princess - it seemed like something straight out of a fairy tale. Such relationships weren’t supposed to happen in real life. They went against - against the laws of nature. There had to be far more to Han Solo than was shown in his profile. Secret ties to royalty, perhaps? Connections to celebrities other than his wife’s family, or inherited wealth.
Nobodies - people like Zekk - didn’t just fall in love with the “other people.” And they - the rich, the beautiful, the famous - certainly didn’t fall in love back. Even if their hands were grease-stained.
Right?
Zekk - home alone, with a second-hand piloting guide data sheet in his hands - shook himself.
Why did it even matter?
Part 9
Anyway. Last reposted chapter before tomorrow's new!!1update.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven
Day 99
“I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up.” Zekk grinned as he looked up at the door’s tell-tale jangle. It was too early for the dinner crowd to arrive, and only regulars came in for a drink at this time of day. “You know, my shift is over - ”
Jaina had fairly raced up to the bar. She radiated mischief and excitement; a smile stretched from one sunny side of her face to the other. At his words, she paused briefly. “You don’t have plans, do you?” she asked, cutting him off. Some of the wind seemed to have been taken out of her sails. “Zekk?”
He raised an eyebrow, absently noting that she wore a well-worn flightsuit today, rather than her civvies. “With my tightly packed schedule?” he cracked. “Really, Jaina. You know I’m yours - I’ve given up on any other social life on the fifth day.”
Immediately, she returned to being all things excited. “Great,” she enthused. Without further explanation, she proceeded to drag him out of the Flash, and into a red speeder. She powered up, and flew (rather more daringly than he was used to) into First Tier traffic before Zekk managed to speak.
“Did you - did you just…kidnap me?”
Although in the middle of a sharp turn, Jaina looked over at him with an affectionate - but very impish - smirk. “’Course not. I’m so wonderful, no one ever resists their desire to be around me. And how can you kidnap someone who wants to come?”
“Well, could you tell me where we’re going, then?” he asked. His amusement at Jaina’s antics was beginning to overtake his surprise.
She grinned at him, but turned back to the traffic. “Just wait and see. You’ll love it,” she added. “I promise.”
“Well, if you promise.”
“I’ve always kept my word - unless I’m lying - which I’m not. But - you’ll see.”
Half-way through their journey, Jaina pulled over to blindfold him. Her childlike joy kept him from protesting; he even played along, and repeatedly asked how much longer he would have to wait.
Finally, nearly an hour after his shift ended, Zekk felt the speeder slow down to its stop.
He reached up to his blindfold. “Can I take this off now?”
She helped him stand, and exit the speeder. “No, you can’t. We’re almost there.”
“There” turned out to be a mostly empty aircraft base. Zekk allowed himself the luxury of a long stare before he asked Jaina what she meant by bringing him to what was obviously a military bay.
“This is the Rogue Squadron take-off bay,” she explained. “We share it with a few other squadrons, but the Yellow Aces cancelled their scheduled practice for today.” Unexpectedly, she seemed almost shy, and she cast her eyes away for a moment. “I remembered you said you wanted to learn how to fly. So.” She pointed to a strange, stretched-looking ship. “That’s what we’ll be using.”
Warily, he followed her to the craft. “Are you sure I shouldn’t - I mean - I know the basics, from being a mechanic, but how can you teach me when I’m actually flying? What if I crash?”
Jaina gave him an indulgent look. “This - ” she placed a hand on the ship’s mismatched hull “ - is Ewok. She’s used just for training green trainees. There are two sets of controls - one for the teacher, and one for the student. If you decide to pull an amateur me, and try to crash, I’ll take over before too much damage is done. You’re in good hands.”
He gave up on self-denial, and smiled at her. “Then how could I refuse?”
She returned his grin, and removed a flight suit from her bag. She was already wearing her own under her coat. “You can just put this over your clothes for now - Kyp let me borrow his old one. It’ll be a little big, but it should be okay.”
Kyp Durron was broader, and a little taller than Zekk, but the orphan was used to wearing clothes that didn’t fit quite right. Within minutes, they were comfortably adjusted. Jaina had already climbed into the cockpit, and he was quick to take the pilot’s seat beside her. She handed him a helmet. When he had it on properly, she quickly pulled on her own.
“You ready?” she said, smiling over at him as he finished buckling his crash webbing.
His nerves were jumbled, and his muscles were almost painfully tensed. His heart was beating too fast. His hands trembled. There was only one answer:
“Absolutely.”
Jaina grinned that famous Solo grin. “Then what are we waiting for?”
x-x-x
Flying was a beautiful thing. Late that night, Zekk’s heart still felt like pounding.
Flying was - an exhilarating, reckless, dizzying, breathless sensation that swept through his blood, and cleansed him of all his worries.
“I love this,” Jaina had told him when they landed. She had leaned back in her seat, and given him a warm, contended smile. “I just…love it. I don’t know how anyone can be scared of it.”
He had released the steering gently. In response to her statement, he had been capable only of grinning like an idiot.
“I think falling in love must be like flying.” Jaina had stared out of the viewport, her crash webbing half-unbuckled. “What do you think?”
It had momentarily distracted Zekk from the flying-induced high. “Is that what you feel about Jag, then?”
She had rolled her eyes. “I’ve already told you I’m not in love with him. We’ve only gone out on a few dates.” She sighed, and patted Ewok’s control board. “This just makes me think it’d be worth it. But falling in love…it just seems like such a-a dangerous thing. All the risks of flying, times a thousand. Like you could fly off course, or miscalculate and end up in a black hole, at any moment, even if you do everything right.”
“Or you could find a new, untouched paradise,” he’d remarked.
“Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” She had looked so very wistful.
For some reason, the conversation was stuck in his mind, as close as the experience of flight. Jaina’s love of flying had been so characteristically brash and passionate - but somehow deeper, more untouched, than most of their conversations - uncovering more of her to his eyes.
Falling in love…it just seems like such a-a dangerous thing. All the risks of flying, times a thousand. Like you could fly off course, or miscalculate and end up in a black hole, at any moment…
Jaina’s parents were, by all accounts, a genuine love-match. Tabloids liked to photograph Leia Organa Solo without her ring, and Han Solo with an unfamiliar woman. Rags liked to demand if it was over - if someone was cheating - if someone had asked for a divorce lawyer. Even when the couple denied it - especially when they denied it. But whether or not any of that was true (and Jaina’s disgust with tabloids suggested the negative), the Solo couple’s start had been uncalculated. No matter how sketchy it might have been for Han Solo to kidnap his future wife. By now, everyone insisted the situation had called for “desperate measures,” whatever that meant.
The more Zekk read about Jaina’s parents, however, the more he became intrigued…and perplexed.
Before his marriage to a political figurehead (and future Chief-of-State), Han Solo had been a nobody. He had started out as an orphan pickpocket, and was kicked out of the Imperial army years later. He turned to smuggling-then, suddenly, became a Rebel hero. The man had no position he had not gained himself; many of his original possessions had some kind of…interesting…story behind their ownership. He had little to offer a princess and political leader.
A nobody fell in love with a princess - it seemed like something straight out of a fairy tale. Such relationships weren’t supposed to happen in real life. They went against - against the laws of nature. There had to be far more to Han Solo than was shown in his profile. Secret ties to royalty, perhaps? Connections to celebrities other than his wife’s family, or inherited wealth.
Nobodies - people like Zekk - didn’t just fall in love with the “other people.” And they - the rich, the beautiful, the famous - certainly didn’t fall in love back. Even if their hands were grease-stained.
Right?
Zekk - home alone, with a second-hand piloting guide data sheet in his hands - shook himself.
Why did it even matter?
Part 9