This collection of scenes takes place between pages 270-282 of Star Wars: Legacy of the Force--Fury.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, but I do get my jollies playing in their galaxy.

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"Daddy."

...

Happy was the only word to describe Syal Antilles at this particular moment. Happy to see her father, happy to know her mother and sister were safe, happy to taking part in a mission that would make lots of other people safe. She refused to let herself think about her dead fiancée right now, which is why she remained happy for the time being.

Happiness also entailed recognizing old friends. And right now, walking in the opposite direction as her a few meters away, was an old friend that Syal recognized.

"Jaina?"

The brown-haired woman looked in Syal's direction. Her face, though beautiful, was stern; her lips were pressed together hard in focus. For a moment, Syal thought she had made a mistake—this wasn't the Jaina she remembered. Was it? But then recognition blossomed over Jaina's face, and she gave Syal a cheerful—if not a little guarded—smile.

"I know you," Jaina said, changing directions to move towards her. Syal extended a hand, unsure whether she should keep formalities up—or whether Jaina considered her just an acquaintance now—but her concerns were quelled when Jaina pulled her into a tight embrace. Of course Syal and Jaina were more than acquaintances; war hadn't taken away their friendship, at least not yet.

"I'm glad to see you," Syal said, beaming.

Jaina pushed her back to arms length, and seriousness leaked into her smile. "I'm glad to see you alive, Syal. How's your mom? How's Myri?"

Syal nodded at each one of Jaina's questions. "Mom's great, she's here taking part in something, I don't know what, though. Myri's here too, but she's been on the Errant Venture working for Intelligence. She's making a killing as a dealer. You'll have to let her tell you all about it." The two women laughed. "How are your parents?"

As soon as she said the words, Syal instantly regretted bringing up Han and Leia. I'm sure they're just peachy with their son torching Kashyyyk. Thinking about what she had said to Tycho while she was on the shuttle, she thought to herself, I really have a knack for drudging up painful memories. But Jaina didn't let Syal's question outwardly affect her; she glanced in the direction of the Millennium Falcon and shrugged. "They're holding together."

Before Syal could think of a way to change the subject, Jaina's gaze moved over Syal's shoulder, and she gave the younger woman a tight grin. "I'm glad your dad is flying lead. I feel very safe under his wing."

Syal looked over her shoulder in the direction Jaina was looking and saw her father follow after Luke Skywalker and Tycho. She smiled, but suddenly a well of sadness washed over her. "I'm just glad we get to fight on the same side this time."

Almost as if Jaina could read her mind—which she probably could, Syal conceded, considering Jaina was a Jedi—she put a hand on Syal's shoulder and nodded sadly. "I know how hard this war must be on you. It's been hard on all of us."

Syal turned back to Jaina, willing the tears forming in her eyes to go away. "I… lost my fiancé." Tiom's face force itself to the front of her memory, and she angrily struggled against the urge to cry. "But I'm just glad my family is safe."

Not again with the family references. Finally she lost the battle, and tears began rolling down her face. "Jaina, I'm so sorry about—"

"It's fine," Jaina interrupted quietly. Syal was in awe of Jaina's complete control over her emotions—her face was about as unreadable as ancient Rodian scriptures—but she could only imagine the tears Jaina cried when no one was around. "There are people out there who've had it much worse than me."

Words of wisdom, Syal knew. No matter how bad things got, no matter how many fiancées she would lose over her lifetime, it could be worse. At least she still had her parents, and her sister. And if they perished, well, she would still have Uncle Tycho and Aunt Winter to embrace her and love her. And if they, too, perished, well, there was always the Horn family she could turn to for support. Even Jaina, with one brother dead and the other terrorizing the galaxy, she still had her parents, and her uncle and cousin, and probably a whole long list of people who loved her. It could be much worse.

She just hoped that it wouldn't get to that point of much worse.

Syal wiped away the few tears that managed to escape her and slapped a smile on her face. "I really don't know how you do it, Jaina. A veteran of the last war, on the front lines of this one…"

Jaina chuckled softly, and shrugged. "Nothing our parents didn't do before us. I just try not to let myself get hurt."

The double-entendre didn't fall short on Syal. Of course, keeping oneself alive was near the top of the list when fighting a war. A dead soldier was a useless one, and it paid to stay healthy during war. But Syal had heard the rumors—Jaina had attained somewhat legendary status in Galactic Alliance Starfighter Command during her years fighting in the Vong war, whether she knew it or not—of the kind of pilot Jaina was.

It was something every pilot did, to a certain extent. It would be ridiculous to allow oneself to get close to every pilot in the squadron, knowing the average rate of survival of starfighter pilots. Young pilots spent a lot of time feeling anguished over the loss of squadron-mates, but it didn't take them long to toughen up and raise a bit of emotional armor. It was said, however, that Jaina took distancing herself from the other pilots in her squadron to an abnormal extreme, and her stint as Yun-Harla helped that along. That she was so tight-lipped about herself, and spent so little time with the other people in her squadron, that people knew more about her brothers—who weren't even enlisted in the military—than they did about Jaina herself. Apparently, Jaina took a lot of measures to make sure she didn't set herself up for emotional distress.

Those were only rumors, of course, stemming from a war that took place ten years earlier. It was also said that Jaina's former squadron was comprised of several Chiss pilots, and when Syal ran into a member of that species once or twice in her life, she could understand why Jaina had not wasted her time on getting to know her squad mates; they had approximately zero personality and emotional depth. Conflicting rumors from other people claimed that Jaina was, in fact, emotionally invested in her squadron, and that she maintained the normal distance of any squadron commander. Still more rumors stated that while she had initially been a bit of a cold commander, she had thawed considerably when a man Syal knew had shown up out of the Unknown Regions and swept her off her feet.

The Jaina standing before Syal now didn't seem to quite match any of the rumors that surrounded her. Yes, Jaina looked tired, and perhaps a little distant. But more than anything, she looked worried—just as everyone within a klick did. Jaina had hugged Syal, had smiled and laughed with her, and had shown genuine concern for her and her family's wellbeing. If Jaina wanted to be a little guarded, well, that was totally understandable. Necessary, even.

Syal's thoughts traveled through time. As early as she could remember, Jaina was always a figure in her life. She was the older, beautiful, Jedi child of some of her father's closest friends, and shared with Syal a love for flight. Even though Jaina was five or six years her senior, she remembered occasionally playing together with Jaina and Myri as children, when they were both living on Coruscant and their parents had business together, or even just visiting for pleasure. Her father Wedge had even taken Jaina out in the two-seater trainer he built for Syal once or twice. Syal vaguely recalled Jaina mentioning that she wished she had little sisters like Syal and Myri, as she only had brothers herself.

Even when Jaina was attending Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy on Yavin IV, the girls ran into each other from time to time. It wasn't until the Vong war started that their infrequent visits abruptly ended—Jaina was whisked away into the military, while Syal and Myri were whisked away aboard the Errant Venture and sent into hiding. Nearly four years had gone by before they saw each other again, at Borleias, when Jaina was helping transfer more Jedi and civilian refugees to the Venture. It was a bizarre encounter; Jaina had always been older than Syal by several years, but four years of fighting had vastly transformed the young woman with so much promise into a hardened survivor that was beyond her nineteen years. Even Syal, who was twelve at the time, could see in that brief moment what the ravages of war had done to Jaina, and suddenly Jaina was no longer a child with Syal anymore.

Syal snapped back to the present. Ten years had passed since the Vong war ended, and a lot had happened since then. Jaina became a prominent figure in the Jedi Order and was involved in a border dispute that Syal didn't know much about. Syal graduated and enlisted in the Galactic Alliance military, struggling to find a place where her father's shadow didn't reach. Their paths crossed occasionally, and Syal was always happy to know that they weren't strangers to one another even when a great deal of time passed. And now, standing before each other, they were grown women, and comrades-in-arms.

A small well of happiness bubbled in Syal's stomach. Syal realized how much she had admired Jaina her whole life, and continued to admire her now. "It's really good to see you, Jaina. It's been too long."

Jaina clasped a hand to Syal's. "You too, Syal. It's good to be flying with you." They both nodded to each other, and let the other go. "Oh, by the way, I ran into Valin in the Ops center. I don't know how long it's been since you've seen each other, but I know he's had a crush on you since he was six years old—"

Syal playfully jabbed Jaina's shoulder. "I'm headed that way, I'll see if I run into him. Thanks."

Jaina gave Syal one last smile and the two parted in separate directions. Syal was a good ten meters away from Jaina when she heard her voice over her shoulder. "Wait, Syal—one more thing."

Syal turned to see Jaina jogging back to her. "What is it?"

Jaina stopped in front of her, an odd expression on her face. "I just realized something. You know who else is here? Your cousin."

Syal had to stop and think about that for several long moments. Cousin… Did Mom have a sister? I don't remember…

Finally realization dawned on her. "Oh! Jagged?"

Jaina nodded emphatically. "Yeah. He's in Medical right now—he got a little beat up in his last engagement—but I can comm you when he's up and about. I bet he'd really be excited to see you. Excited by Jag's standards, I mean."

"Wow, uh, yeah, definitely let me know." Syal's extended family—her real extended family, related by blood—had always been a bizarre mystery to her. It would be an interesting opportunity to shed some light on something she knew so little about. How strange to run across him on Endor, of all places.