Coruscant Livestock Exchange- Wednesday afternoon
There were some ways where Allana really was a lot like her father, which meant that when the Coruscant Livestock Exchange and Exhbition was going on, it ended up being a family event because she had to see all the animals. Jaina didn't really need to go, but she didn't get enough time with the rest of the Solos as it was these days, and besides, it might be kind of nice to see Allana flip out over stuff like this just like Jacen used to. Though hopefully she wouldn't take to collecting them all in her room like he had.
There were official Jedi escorts for the family, in a Falleen named Natua Wan and a Brubb named Radd Minker. Leia and Jaina were there as regular ordinary people, so they were dressed in civilian clothes and their lightsabers were hidden. It was just your regular, run of the mill family outing when your family was full of well-known people.
"Wow, this place stinks," Jaina decided right away.
"Hey, this was your mother's idea," Han said in a tone that said he thought the exact same thing.
Leia just sighed.
Allana didn't care about the smell at all. She was so excited to be here, pointing at animals and saying their names because she totally knew what they were, okay, and she needed to show off. "Those are nerfs! Jaina has a very pretty coat made from their hide, and we all like the steaks. And the rams are separated because it's mating season. They can become very aggressive and fight each other, as well as trample their young." The kid was seven. "And those are banthas. They are a highly adaptable species and live on many worlds. And those are- oh! Those are rontos! I've never seen a live one before!"
She almost took off into a run, but Natua caught her hand before she could. "Be careful, Amelia. There's a reason why you haven't seen one. They're good animals, very loyal and fond of their masters, but they spook very easily. You don't want to be running up and scaring them."
"You're right, Jedi Wan," Allana nodded, and started walking carefully towards them, straightening as she did. She looked more like a little princess than a regular girl whenever she did that.
"Any way you can break her of that?" Jaina murmured to Leia as they followed.
"I figure that everyone knows she's the ward of a former princess and senator," Leia said quietly. "It would make sense."
Jaina snorted. "I didn't move and stand like that."
"Well, you are your father's daughter. There wasn't much I could do with you in that area."
Up ahead, Han had caught up to Allana and was carrying her on his shoulders, maybe to keep her from trying to run everywhere. The Jedi escorts were mostly concerned with Allana instead of either of the adult Jedi women, so that gave Jaina and Leia some time to talk. "Have you heard from Uncle Luke, by the way?" Jaina asked.
"I've felt him in the Force now and then, but I haven't had a lot of contact," Leia admitted. "Especially not recently."
"Me either. Enough to know he and Ben are all right, though. Cilghal says she's been keeping him up to date," she said. "More than that probably shouldn't know."
Leia nodded, and asked, "How are things with you and Jag?"
"Good," Jaina said with a little smile. "Be nice to have a date without making a mission out of it, but good."
"Comes with the territory, I'm afraid." And Leia would know something about that. "Javis Tyrr again?"
"Mostly him, some others, but mostly him. We got him good recently, though."
"Good. Just hope he doesn't catch you at something," Leia warned. "He might not enjoy the idea of us laughing at him. Something about him- maybe the hair- makes me think he doesn't have a sense of humor when it comes to himself."
Jaina shrugged. "He's just a journalist. This family has survived being smeared before. What can he do? He's not even an official observer."
"But he is observing right now," Radd said, and jerked his head to the left, where Javis Tyrr was indeed watching them through the crowd of people. "Shall I go over and have a word with him?"
"No," Jaina said quickly. "Any attention will only encourage him. Let's go inside to the main halls and see if we can ditch him."
Leia told Han and Natua what was going on, and Natua and Radd navigated them through the crowd to the main part of the exhibition center. They continued on for a while, and while Jaina had never been an animal person and was kind of bored by all this, Allana was having an amazing time. Han, however, was the one she was clinging to as she pointed everything out and excitedly explained things, and he was starting to look like he needed a break. "Honey," he said, "don't you want to go see the cute little critters in the Small Animal Hall?"
"No," Allana said, shaking her head. "I want to go see those."
Of course she was pointing towards a large "WARNING: DANGEROUS ANIMALS" sign that included a disclaimer about violent behavior and "enter at your own risk."
"She's a Solo," Leia shrugged.
Yet another reason their kids probably got kidnapped so much in their youth.
They ended up going in to see the dangerous animals, because Jaina could recognize that she came from a family full of crazy people. It was crowded, and there was a line to get in because people had to leave before the workers could admit more. When the Solos' group got through, it meant taking a turbolift down to the area beneath the exhibit hall with fifteen or so other people before letting them out in the actual exhibit. Jaina had been the last one inside the turbolift, so she was the first one out when the doors opened, and she maybe said a little too loudly, "Oh, for the love of..."
They'd gone all out on making this place seem dangerous. The animals were all in pens that seemed to be force fields that appeared almost invisible, and there were walkways where people had to proceed in a single-file line as they checked out all the different creatures. That, okay, fine, that looked sort of dangerous. But the lighting cast everything in a slightly red tinge, there was a weird full heartbeat sound in the background and something that almost sounded like ominous music. Leia actually laughed at how over-the-top it was, but Jaina kind of wanted her money back already. Besides, a lot of these animals were probably used for fighting and other awful purposes, and that dulled any real excitement at seeing them.
Allana figured some of that out at the very first pen, where she had to lean over it just to see the one animal inside, and asked, "Why aren't the reeks out in the riding animal pens? They're bred to be pack animals, aren't they? And I thought their skin was supposed to be brown, not red. Is this one hurt?"
Leia and Jaina exchanged glances. "Well, yes, they are pack animals," Jaina explained. "And they're usually fed plants. But sometimes people feed them meat, which makes them more aggressive. They want them to fight other animals."
Allana did not like hearing that, and for a little kid she could definitely look appropriately pissed off. A lot like Tenel Ka in a bad mood for a good reason, Jaina thought. "I've heard of such things, and I think it's very wrong of people to do that," she said seriously.
"You're right, honey," Jaina said, purposely loudly in case anyone here was planning on buying one just for that reason. "It is very wrong of people to do that."
Inside the next pen was a rancor, but that one had Allana more excited. "Queen Mother Tenel Ka has a lightsaber thats hilt is a rancor tooth," she said, being very good at using her mother's formal title in public. They had her trained very well for that sort of thing.
The rancor in the enclosure below was staring up at them, and suddenly squatted and jumped up. Half the people on the walkway screamed, and Jaina automatically went to go for her lightsaber, but the rancor hit an invisible barrier at the top of the pen, and hit the ground again, twitching slightly from the shock.
"Any emergency exits?" Han asked, one arm around Allana. "I'd just as soon get out of here."
"There's one next to every pen," Natua said.
"Then let's go. I'm ready to see something small, fluffy, and no teeth."
"No," Allana said, shrugging Han off, "I want to see all of them."
"You know, we might just trade you in for a chitlik," he told her. "They're a lot easier than little girls."
Allana giggled, because that's what some kids did after screaming at an attempted rancor attack. "But not nearly as cute, right?"
"I'm supposed to be the one with the wisecracks, missy."
Allana wanted to see all the animals, and they were apparently really going to see all. the. animals. They ended up at a pen of slightly cat-like creatures, with one being large and tan-furred and surrounded by ten smaller white ones. "Oh! It's a nexu! And she has cubs!" Allana said excitedly. "How cute!"
"For creatures with four eyes and a mouthful of teeth, they are rather cute," Leia conceded.
"They're still young enough to be bought as guard animals rather than attack animals," Radd informed them. "You have to find excellent trainers, though."
"Wait," Jaina said, eyebrows raised. "You mean you can keep those as pets?"
"Well, yes. If you get them young enough and train them well enough. I mean, they're never going to be a little twirrl, but-"
He stopped right as that little prickle at the back of Jaina's neck started, and by the looks of it Leia's danger sense was going off, too. Allana seemed okay, and Natua- Natua was missing.
Then the lights went out, and people screamed.
That of course sent people running for the emergency exits next to the pens, but that was followed by cries of, "They're locked!"
Leia and Radd both ignited their lightsabers among calls to stay calm, but Jaina kept hers off for the moment. "I'll get the one over by the rancor pen," she said, knowing what they intended to do. Without waiting, she Force-leapt over the crowd and ran on the banister to get where she needed to be.
Once she was there, she pushed her way through the people- easier said than done when you were as tiny as she was, but she managed it- and had them clear the way so that she could pull her lightsaber and start cutting a hole in the door to let the people out. But while she was doing that, she felt a sudden sense of urgency from Leia, and Jaina began trying to cut faster. Then the screams started again, and when Jaina looked back, she saw that the barriers holding the animals separate from the public had gone down, and someone seemed to have programmed it to be feeding time- Oh, Sithspit, she needed to work faster.
There weren't any Force techniques she could use to make this go any quicker, but Jaina did her damndest. When she managed to get a serviceable hole cut, she started shooing people through it, and then had to push her way back through the crowd people trying to get out as soon as possible. Several animals were loose and attacking people, or other animals. People were screaming and crying, and Jaina barely knew where to start, so she relied on instinct, which unfortunately meant trying to disable if not cut down anything that was trying to kill someone, until her area was just clear enough to try and find her family.
She found Han first, headed back towards the main hall. Allana was clinging to him, terrified and silent. "Dad!" Jaina called, almost skidding to a stop next to him. "Where's Mom?"
"I think Natua Wan cracked up," he said. "Called your mother out. She's gone to find and stop her."
"That's what I figured," Jaina sighed. "Just what we need, another crazy Jedi. You know Tyrr is going to make the most of this."
"We can't catch a break," Han muttered. "It'll be fun, she said. Educational, she said. A day out. Right."
Ignoring that, Jaina said, "This way," and started towards the main hall, knowing he and Allana would follow. She was pretty sure Han could get Allana out on his own, but given who that little girl was, Jaina wanted to make absolutely sure of it. Rather than trying to open the door normally, she turned to use her momentum to bang it open with her shoulder, and inside, things were even worse. Animals were loose in there, too, and everyone had fled there to try and get out, which just agitated the animals more.
"Stang! She opened the corrals," Jaina said, jaw dropped. How did they fix this?
"The corrals surround the main building," Han added.
Jaina nodded. "Too dangerous for you to try and get outside now. Stay here and wait for me."
"Like chubba I-"
"Dad! You have to keep Amelia safe!" Jaina told him. "I'll go fight my way through, grab a speeder or a speeder bike or something, and come back for you. That display- climb on top of it. Most of the herd animals can't climb, and the only ones tall enough to get to you would be the rontos, and they're trying to get out, not attack."
"Okay," Han said, but he wasn't happy about it. "But if you're not back here in fifteen minutes with a way out for us, I'll ground you. I don't care how old you are."
Jaina had never ever been grounded in her life, outside of the times Fandom thought it was funny, and she actually laughed. "Bet I'll be back in ten."
That... was not going to happen. If Jaina's only concern was to get to a speeder and get them out, she could have done it. But she was so Jedi that it hurt, and she couldn't just let people be harmed or killed. So if she saw an animal attacking, she had to step in. If she saw someone hurt, she had to at least get them out of the way so they couldn't be hurt more. She didn't kill unless it was necessary, and when security finally filed in and began shooting at loose animals, she knew it was something that had to be done. There were too many people, too much chaos, and no way to control it.
And then Jaina decided that she needed to try something she wasn't too good at. Beast control had always been Jacen's thing, not hers, but she cleared her mind and concentrated on the animals nearest to her, trying to coax them back into their pens. Amazingly, it worked, and once she knew that it did, she could extend her focus to a couple more animals, and a couple more, until she had a small, calm pack following her back to a pen. When it was filled, she pulled down the metal bar that would still keep them enclosed if the invisible barriers went out, and at least that was one less thing for people to worry about.
When she turned around, she looked right into Javis Tyrr's face. "You!" she said, walking up to him and put her hand over his stupid cam droid.
"Jaina Solo, can you verify that Jedi Natua Wan has succumbed to the same mental illness that-"
Jaina used her free hand to grip his shirt. "You saw her? Where?"
Sure, now that she had every opportunity to beat him up he cooperated for once. "Just a minute ago. She was opening up all the corrals. I have it recorded."
"Where did she go?"
He pointed to the side of the exhibition hall. The corrals went all the way around, and it seemed Natua meant to open them all.
Jaina shoved him away, sending a pulse to short out the cam droid. Then she picked up her comlink and said, "Mom, Natua was just out here about a minute ago. She's headed around the north side of the exhibition hall."
"That explains something," came Leia's voice. "Looks like I've been chasing shadows. I'm on my way."
"How about an exclusive interview since my information proved useful?" Tyrr asked.
"How about I don't punch you in the nose?" Jaina snapped, and took off running towards the exhibition hall.
She commed Radd on the way, and found Natua by the bordok pen. Unfortunately Natua sensed her coming, so she opened the pen to let the animals charge towards Jaina as she was charging. Jaina was better than that, though, and Force-lept onto the back of one, ran across it, and sprang towards Natua with her lightsaber lit.
Natua was ready for her, and blocked. "I don't want to hurt you!" Jaina told her.
"But I want to hurt you," Natua hissed. "The real Jaina will thank me."
Natua pulled back, as did Jaina. She really didn't want to hurt Natua. The other Jedi was troubled, and needed to be taken care of. She was-
She was using her pheromones to try and incluence her. "Oh, now the gloves come off," Jaina snapped.
"Nice trick, Natua," Leia said from behind her. "You led me on a merry chase for a little bit. Jacen was able to throw his voice like that, too. Don't suppose you'd care to tell me how you did it?"
"About time you got here," Jaina said, watching Natua carefully.
"Sorry," Leia said.
"Surrender," Radd said as he joined them. "You're outnumbered three to one, Natua. You know we are only concerned about your-"
Natua lunged at Jaina, but both Solos brought their blades up in perfect tandem, the pressure of which knocked Natua's blade, and she stumbled. Radd sprang on her, headbutted her, and she dropped, unconscious.
Leia and Jaina both looked to Radd, who shrugged, embarrassed.
"Hey, it did the trick," Jaina said.
She looked up to see Han headed towards them, with Allana walking next to him, gripping his hand tightly. "Looks like I missed all the fun again," he said.
"This keeps getting harder to witness," Leia sighed, looking down at Natua. "Valin, Seff, Jysella, and now Natua. All so young to have something like this happen."
"Guess they just don't make Jedi like they used to."
"Dad, I'm right here."
[Remember when they were all "there's gonna be a scene at a zoo!" and we were all Interested? I don't remember why anymore. Anyway, NFB/I, OOC okay. Dialogue from Omen by Christie Golden.]
There were official Jedi escorts for the family, in a Falleen named Natua Wan and a Brubb named Radd Minker. Leia and Jaina were there as regular ordinary people, so they were dressed in civilian clothes and their lightsabers were hidden. It was just your regular, run of the mill family outing when your family was full of well-known people.
"Wow, this place stinks," Jaina decided right away.
"Hey, this was your mother's idea," Han said in a tone that said he thought the exact same thing.
Leia just sighed.
Allana didn't care about the smell at all. She was so excited to be here, pointing at animals and saying their names because she totally knew what they were, okay, and she needed to show off. "Those are nerfs! Jaina has a very pretty coat made from their hide, and we all like the steaks. And the rams are separated because it's mating season. They can become very aggressive and fight each other, as well as trample their young." The kid was seven. "And those are banthas. They are a highly adaptable species and live on many worlds. And those are- oh! Those are rontos! I've never seen a live one before!"
She almost took off into a run, but Natua caught her hand before she could. "Be careful, Amelia. There's a reason why you haven't seen one. They're good animals, very loyal and fond of their masters, but they spook very easily. You don't want to be running up and scaring them."
"You're right, Jedi Wan," Allana nodded, and started walking carefully towards them, straightening as she did. She looked more like a little princess than a regular girl whenever she did that.
"Any way you can break her of that?" Jaina murmured to Leia as they followed.
"I figure that everyone knows she's the ward of a former princess and senator," Leia said quietly. "It would make sense."
Jaina snorted. "I didn't move and stand like that."
"Well, you are your father's daughter. There wasn't much I could do with you in that area."
Up ahead, Han had caught up to Allana and was carrying her on his shoulders, maybe to keep her from trying to run everywhere. The Jedi escorts were mostly concerned with Allana instead of either of the adult Jedi women, so that gave Jaina and Leia some time to talk. "Have you heard from Uncle Luke, by the way?" Jaina asked.
"I've felt him in the Force now and then, but I haven't had a lot of contact," Leia admitted. "Especially not recently."
"Me either. Enough to know he and Ben are all right, though. Cilghal says she's been keeping him up to date," she said. "More than that probably shouldn't know."
Leia nodded, and asked, "How are things with you and Jag?"
"Good," Jaina said with a little smile. "Be nice to have a date without making a mission out of it, but good."
"Comes with the territory, I'm afraid." And Leia would know something about that. "Javis Tyrr again?"
"Mostly him, some others, but mostly him. We got him good recently, though."
"Good. Just hope he doesn't catch you at something," Leia warned. "He might not enjoy the idea of us laughing at him. Something about him- maybe the hair- makes me think he doesn't have a sense of humor when it comes to himself."
Jaina shrugged. "He's just a journalist. This family has survived being smeared before. What can he do? He's not even an official observer."
"But he is observing right now," Radd said, and jerked his head to the left, where Javis Tyrr was indeed watching them through the crowd of people. "Shall I go over and have a word with him?"
"No," Jaina said quickly. "Any attention will only encourage him. Let's go inside to the main halls and see if we can ditch him."
Leia told Han and Natua what was going on, and Natua and Radd navigated them through the crowd to the main part of the exhibition center. They continued on for a while, and while Jaina had never been an animal person and was kind of bored by all this, Allana was having an amazing time. Han, however, was the one she was clinging to as she pointed everything out and excitedly explained things, and he was starting to look like he needed a break. "Honey," he said, "don't you want to go see the cute little critters in the Small Animal Hall?"
"No," Allana said, shaking her head. "I want to go see those."
Of course she was pointing towards a large "WARNING: DANGEROUS ANIMALS" sign that included a disclaimer about violent behavior and "enter at your own risk."
"She's a Solo," Leia shrugged.
Yet another reason their kids probably got kidnapped so much in their youth.
They ended up going in to see the dangerous animals, because Jaina could recognize that she came from a family full of crazy people. It was crowded, and there was a line to get in because people had to leave before the workers could admit more. When the Solos' group got through, it meant taking a turbolift down to the area beneath the exhibit hall with fifteen or so other people before letting them out in the actual exhibit. Jaina had been the last one inside the turbolift, so she was the first one out when the doors opened, and she maybe said a little too loudly, "Oh, for the love of..."
They'd gone all out on making this place seem dangerous. The animals were all in pens that seemed to be force fields that appeared almost invisible, and there were walkways where people had to proceed in a single-file line as they checked out all the different creatures. That, okay, fine, that looked sort of dangerous. But the lighting cast everything in a slightly red tinge, there was a weird full heartbeat sound in the background and something that almost sounded like ominous music. Leia actually laughed at how over-the-top it was, but Jaina kind of wanted her money back already. Besides, a lot of these animals were probably used for fighting and other awful purposes, and that dulled any real excitement at seeing them.
Allana figured some of that out at the very first pen, where she had to lean over it just to see the one animal inside, and asked, "Why aren't the reeks out in the riding animal pens? They're bred to be pack animals, aren't they? And I thought their skin was supposed to be brown, not red. Is this one hurt?"
Leia and Jaina exchanged glances. "Well, yes, they are pack animals," Jaina explained. "And they're usually fed plants. But sometimes people feed them meat, which makes them more aggressive. They want them to fight other animals."
Allana did not like hearing that, and for a little kid she could definitely look appropriately pissed off. A lot like Tenel Ka in a bad mood for a good reason, Jaina thought. "I've heard of such things, and I think it's very wrong of people to do that," she said seriously.
"You're right, honey," Jaina said, purposely loudly in case anyone here was planning on buying one just for that reason. "It is very wrong of people to do that."
Inside the next pen was a rancor, but that one had Allana more excited. "Queen Mother Tenel Ka has a lightsaber thats hilt is a rancor tooth," she said, being very good at using her mother's formal title in public. They had her trained very well for that sort of thing.
The rancor in the enclosure below was staring up at them, and suddenly squatted and jumped up. Half the people on the walkway screamed, and Jaina automatically went to go for her lightsaber, but the rancor hit an invisible barrier at the top of the pen, and hit the ground again, twitching slightly from the shock.
"Any emergency exits?" Han asked, one arm around Allana. "I'd just as soon get out of here."
"There's one next to every pen," Natua said.
"Then let's go. I'm ready to see something small, fluffy, and no teeth."
"No," Allana said, shrugging Han off, "I want to see all of them."
"You know, we might just trade you in for a chitlik," he told her. "They're a lot easier than little girls."
Allana giggled, because that's what some kids did after screaming at an attempted rancor attack. "But not nearly as cute, right?"
"I'm supposed to be the one with the wisecracks, missy."
Allana wanted to see all the animals, and they were apparently really going to see all. the. animals. They ended up at a pen of slightly cat-like creatures, with one being large and tan-furred and surrounded by ten smaller white ones. "Oh! It's a nexu! And she has cubs!" Allana said excitedly. "How cute!"
"For creatures with four eyes and a mouthful of teeth, they are rather cute," Leia conceded.
"They're still young enough to be bought as guard animals rather than attack animals," Radd informed them. "You have to find excellent trainers, though."
"Wait," Jaina said, eyebrows raised. "You mean you can keep those as pets?"
"Well, yes. If you get them young enough and train them well enough. I mean, they're never going to be a little twirrl, but-"
He stopped right as that little prickle at the back of Jaina's neck started, and by the looks of it Leia's danger sense was going off, too. Allana seemed okay, and Natua- Natua was missing.
Then the lights went out, and people screamed.
That of course sent people running for the emergency exits next to the pens, but that was followed by cries of, "They're locked!"
Leia and Radd both ignited their lightsabers among calls to stay calm, but Jaina kept hers off for the moment. "I'll get the one over by the rancor pen," she said, knowing what they intended to do. Without waiting, she Force-leapt over the crowd and ran on the banister to get where she needed to be.
Once she was there, she pushed her way through the people- easier said than done when you were as tiny as she was, but she managed it- and had them clear the way so that she could pull her lightsaber and start cutting a hole in the door to let the people out. But while she was doing that, she felt a sudden sense of urgency from Leia, and Jaina began trying to cut faster. Then the screams started again, and when Jaina looked back, she saw that the barriers holding the animals separate from the public had gone down, and someone seemed to have programmed it to be feeding time- Oh, Sithspit, she needed to work faster.
There weren't any Force techniques she could use to make this go any quicker, but Jaina did her damndest. When she managed to get a serviceable hole cut, she started shooing people through it, and then had to push her way back through the crowd people trying to get out as soon as possible. Several animals were loose and attacking people, or other animals. People were screaming and crying, and Jaina barely knew where to start, so she relied on instinct, which unfortunately meant trying to disable if not cut down anything that was trying to kill someone, until her area was just clear enough to try and find her family.
She found Han first, headed back towards the main hall. Allana was clinging to him, terrified and silent. "Dad!" Jaina called, almost skidding to a stop next to him. "Where's Mom?"
"I think Natua Wan cracked up," he said. "Called your mother out. She's gone to find and stop her."
"That's what I figured," Jaina sighed. "Just what we need, another crazy Jedi. You know Tyrr is going to make the most of this."
"We can't catch a break," Han muttered. "It'll be fun, she said. Educational, she said. A day out. Right."
Ignoring that, Jaina said, "This way," and started towards the main hall, knowing he and Allana would follow. She was pretty sure Han could get Allana out on his own, but given who that little girl was, Jaina wanted to make absolutely sure of it. Rather than trying to open the door normally, she turned to use her momentum to bang it open with her shoulder, and inside, things were even worse. Animals were loose in there, too, and everyone had fled there to try and get out, which just agitated the animals more.
"Stang! She opened the corrals," Jaina said, jaw dropped. How did they fix this?
"The corrals surround the main building," Han added.
Jaina nodded. "Too dangerous for you to try and get outside now. Stay here and wait for me."
"Like chubba I-"
"Dad! You have to keep Amelia safe!" Jaina told him. "I'll go fight my way through, grab a speeder or a speeder bike or something, and come back for you. That display- climb on top of it. Most of the herd animals can't climb, and the only ones tall enough to get to you would be the rontos, and they're trying to get out, not attack."
"Okay," Han said, but he wasn't happy about it. "But if you're not back here in fifteen minutes with a way out for us, I'll ground you. I don't care how old you are."
Jaina had never ever been grounded in her life, outside of the times Fandom thought it was funny, and she actually laughed. "Bet I'll be back in ten."
That... was not going to happen. If Jaina's only concern was to get to a speeder and get them out, she could have done it. But she was so Jedi that it hurt, and she couldn't just let people be harmed or killed. So if she saw an animal attacking, she had to step in. If she saw someone hurt, she had to at least get them out of the way so they couldn't be hurt more. She didn't kill unless it was necessary, and when security finally filed in and began shooting at loose animals, she knew it was something that had to be done. There were too many people, too much chaos, and no way to control it.
And then Jaina decided that she needed to try something she wasn't too good at. Beast control had always been Jacen's thing, not hers, but she cleared her mind and concentrated on the animals nearest to her, trying to coax them back into their pens. Amazingly, it worked, and once she knew that it did, she could extend her focus to a couple more animals, and a couple more, until she had a small, calm pack following her back to a pen. When it was filled, she pulled down the metal bar that would still keep them enclosed if the invisible barriers went out, and at least that was one less thing for people to worry about.
When she turned around, she looked right into Javis Tyrr's face. "You!" she said, walking up to him and put her hand over his stupid cam droid.
"Jaina Solo, can you verify that Jedi Natua Wan has succumbed to the same mental illness that-"
Jaina used her free hand to grip his shirt. "You saw her? Where?"
Sure, now that she had every opportunity to beat him up he cooperated for once. "Just a minute ago. She was opening up all the corrals. I have it recorded."
"Where did she go?"
He pointed to the side of the exhibition hall. The corrals went all the way around, and it seemed Natua meant to open them all.
Jaina shoved him away, sending a pulse to short out the cam droid. Then she picked up her comlink and said, "Mom, Natua was just out here about a minute ago. She's headed around the north side of the exhibition hall."
"That explains something," came Leia's voice. "Looks like I've been chasing shadows. I'm on my way."
"How about an exclusive interview since my information proved useful?" Tyrr asked.
"How about I don't punch you in the nose?" Jaina snapped, and took off running towards the exhibition hall.
She commed Radd on the way, and found Natua by the bordok pen. Unfortunately Natua sensed her coming, so she opened the pen to let the animals charge towards Jaina as she was charging. Jaina was better than that, though, and Force-lept onto the back of one, ran across it, and sprang towards Natua with her lightsaber lit.
Natua was ready for her, and blocked. "I don't want to hurt you!" Jaina told her.
"But I want to hurt you," Natua hissed. "The real Jaina will thank me."
Natua pulled back, as did Jaina. She really didn't want to hurt Natua. The other Jedi was troubled, and needed to be taken care of. She was-
She was using her pheromones to try and incluence her. "Oh, now the gloves come off," Jaina snapped.
"Nice trick, Natua," Leia said from behind her. "You led me on a merry chase for a little bit. Jacen was able to throw his voice like that, too. Don't suppose you'd care to tell me how you did it?"
"About time you got here," Jaina said, watching Natua carefully.
"Sorry," Leia said.
"Surrender," Radd said as he joined them. "You're outnumbered three to one, Natua. You know we are only concerned about your-"
Natua lunged at Jaina, but both Solos brought their blades up in perfect tandem, the pressure of which knocked Natua's blade, and she stumbled. Radd sprang on her, headbutted her, and she dropped, unconscious.
Leia and Jaina both looked to Radd, who shrugged, embarrassed.
"Hey, it did the trick," Jaina said.
She looked up to see Han headed towards them, with Allana walking next to him, gripping his hand tightly. "Looks like I missed all the fun again," he said.
"This keeps getting harder to witness," Leia sighed, looking down at Natua. "Valin, Seff, Jysella, and now Natua. All so young to have something like this happen."
"Guess they just don't make Jedi like they used to."
"Dad, I'm right here."
[Remember when they were all "there's gonna be a scene at a zoo!" and we were all Interested? I don't remember why anymore. Anyway, NFB/I, OOC okay. Dialogue from Omen by Christie Golden.]