Jaina Solo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sticksofthejedi) wrote2013-06-08 01:21 pm
sticksofthejedi) wrote2013-06-08 01:21 pm
Entry tags:
Memory 66
Memory: The Dawn Rumble.
Received: Day 255
Form: An ornate silver saber. Rusts within days.
Summary: Sob. Bug orgy.
--
What the Dawn Rumble itself starts like:
This happens on a regular basis. They manage not to let the hive mind influence them into taking things any further. Until one night.
So Jaina wakes up in bed with Zekk, cuddling. Theyyyyy are definitely completely tangled up in there. Jaina has to concentrate to remember what happened the night before. There was the Dance of Union, and the Killik insects of the Taat hive wandering off into the "Harem Cave," and all the Joiners wandering off in groups of twos and threes and fours. She and Zekk had definitely left holding hands.
Right now Zekk's fully clothed and Jaina's in her underclothes. Zekk's waking up, and he's content, then bewildered, then guilty; Jaina feels the transition empathically.
Jaina: Well. Interesting night.
Zekk: Yeah. I -- I thought it was a dream.
Jaina: You're saying it wasn't?
Zekk: No, it was fun! Great, even. I just. . . It didn't feel real. . .
Zekk shares his thoughts mentally, cutting out the clumsy words. He loves her, has for years, and has often imagined waking up with her. But this wasn't what he'd been idealizing -- it was just getting carried away on a wave of Killik emotion due to the hive mind. He feels bad because she's been telling him she doesn't have the same feelings for him. Jaina's fallen into a pattern between wanting Jag Fel and pushing Zekk away, and then vice versa. Since she's current in the former, she continues to answer with words because it gives the illusion of them having some boundaries between them, even though their current hive mind means it's an illusion.
She tells him it was just a little cuddling between friends. Jaina feels pretty safe in assuming nothing more happened because Zekk's fully clothed, even though she's down to her underclothes and this is a kind of sketch assumption to make. Zekk feels really bad anyway, and she admits if it had to be someone she prefers him over the other people actually around. She grasps his arm and tells him they just lost control for a little while; she's just glad sexy Twi'leck Alema Rar isn't around.
Zekk apparently can't help himself: he thinks about what it would've been like if all three of them had ended up in the bed together. Jaina punches him in the shoulder and he blushes then tries closing down his end of their empathic connection. She cautions him not to; they're using a Force meld to draw on each other's strength and resolve to maintain as much independence as they can in the hive mind. She also tells him to stop apologizing.
Sitting up to get dressed, Jaina notices Raynar came in at some point. Raynar's disfigured with burn scars and the head of the Killik hive mind. He is the UnuThul. Jaina greets him and dresses in her jumpsuit; no point in modesty when you're mentally hooked up to several thousand in the nest anyway.
Jaina: Come down to see how the drones live?
Raynar: Why do you call us Raynar when you know Raynar Thul is gone?
Jaina: Raynar's still in there somewhere. I can feel him.
Raynar: Perhaps you are right. Perhaps a little Raynar Thul remains in us still. And he will be sorry to see you go.
Raynar says Jaina and Zekk's task defending the Killik from Chiss attacks is done. Jaina points out the Chiss aren't gone. Actually, through the hive mind she can see that the enemy has ships in the system then and there. Zekk backs Jaina up on this. Raynar doesn't say why he wants them to leave; just that "we" wish the Jedi to go back to the Galactic Alliance. Jaina realizes there's going to be a Chiss attack, and Raynar admits it's going to be a full-scale attack this time, not some small incursion that a few Jedi can deter. Jaina's determined to try preventing the violence anyway. Raynar says they're not going to risk friends on this, and leans on them with the hive mind to try compelling obedience.
Jaina realizes the Killik have set up an ambush.
Raynar: You have always been too headstrong for your own good, Jaina. Do not try to figure this out, or --
Zekk: It won't work. If you destroy the Chiss fleet, the next one will only be bigger.
Raynar: Now you've done it. Now you must stay.
Jaina: We weren't leaving without Lowbacca anyway. And Zekk is right. The Colony isn't strong enough to destroy the entireChiss space force.
Raynar: That won't be necessary. We only need to hold them off until the Hapans arrive.
Jaina: Hapans? What are Hapans doing out here?
Raynar: Defending the weak. Jacen convinced Tenel Ka to send us a fleet.
Jaina: Jacen convinced Tenel Ka, or you used Jacen to convince her? Your touch can be very compelling.
Raynar: Perhaps, but even we are not strong enough to control Jacen. He has moved beyond our control -- or anyone else's. You know that yourself.
Sending a fleet to the Killiks will either escalate the conflict or prevent all the fighting. Jaina says even Solos don't like odds that long -- a threatened Chiss doesn't back off, it gets mean and aggressive. Raynar says they can't allow the Chiss to destroy their nests, tells them once the ambush begins they're free to fight or leave, but until then they're to stay as "guests." Jaina fights the mental compulsion and tells him the Dark Jedi that had been with Raynar when he was lost in the mission to kill the Voxyn queen are influencing him. Lomi and Welk want this war.
Raynar: Lomi and Welk are dead.
Jaina: Then who attacked the Shadow on her way in?
Raynar: Insect mercenaries hired by the Chiss?
Zekk: You have proof?
Raynar: We have no time to look for proof. We are too busy defending our nests.
Zekk: What about the attack on Saba? I suppose you're going to tell me she attacked a Joiner by mistake, and he took her lightsaber away and wounded her?
Raynar: Yes. That is the best explanation.
Jaina: Raynar, they're blinding you to the truth. The best explanation --
Raynar We are tired of telling you! Raynar Thul is gone. We are all that remains.
This time, he leans on them with the mental compulsion so that they have to walk away from him. No more talk.
Received: Day 255
Form: An ornate silver saber. Rusts within days.
Summary: Sob. Bug orgy.
--
What the Dawn Rumble itself starts like:
With the dance-field glowing in the iridescent light of Qoribu's reflection and a thousand Taat swirling through the intricate patterns of the Little Dawn Rumble, Leia felt as though she had stepped a thousand centuries into Alderaan's past, when the Colony still ruled the planet and human expansion remained a dark storm on the galaxy's horizon. The Killiks were "singing" their part of the Song of the Universe as they danced, chirping melody through their tiny proboscises, tapping time with their mandibles, drumming bass in their chest cavities. Alien and primal though the music was, the performance was as flawless as anything Leia had ever heard in Harmony Hall on Coruscant, a thousand instruments played by a single artist.
. . .
Leia saw what Han had been looking at and let her sentence trail off. On the near side of the swarm, Jaina, Zekk, and Alema were frisking through the dance steps amid an eddy of dancers. The three Jedi were holding their hands above their heads, waving them in unison with the Killiks' antennae. Every few seconds, Jaina and Zekk would bow forward with the entire nest and rub forearms with the antennae of whatever insect they happened to be facing. Alema bowed as well, but rubbed lekku instead of arms.
This happens on a regular basis. They manage not to let the hive mind influence them into taking things any further. Until one night.
So Jaina wakes up in bed with Zekk, cuddling. Theyyyyy are definitely completely tangled up in there. Jaina has to concentrate to remember what happened the night before. There was the Dance of Union, and the Killik insects of the Taat hive wandering off into the "Harem Cave," and all the Joiners wandering off in groups of twos and threes and fours. She and Zekk had definitely left holding hands.
Right now Zekk's fully clothed and Jaina's in her underclothes. Zekk's waking up, and he's content, then bewildered, then guilty; Jaina feels the transition empathically.
Jaina: Well. Interesting night.
Zekk: Yeah. I -- I thought it was a dream.
Jaina: You're saying it wasn't?
Zekk: No, it was fun! Great, even. I just. . . It didn't feel real. . .
Zekk shares his thoughts mentally, cutting out the clumsy words. He loves her, has for years, and has often imagined waking up with her. But this wasn't what he'd been idealizing -- it was just getting carried away on a wave of Killik emotion due to the hive mind. He feels bad because she's been telling him she doesn't have the same feelings for him. Jaina's fallen into a pattern between wanting Jag Fel and pushing Zekk away, and then vice versa. Since she's current in the former, she continues to answer with words because it gives the illusion of them having some boundaries between them, even though their current hive mind means it's an illusion.
She tells him it was just a little cuddling between friends. Jaina feels pretty safe in assuming nothing more happened because Zekk's fully clothed, even though she's down to her underclothes and this is a kind of sketch assumption to make. Zekk feels really bad anyway, and she admits if it had to be someone she prefers him over the other people actually around. She grasps his arm and tells him they just lost control for a little while; she's just glad sexy Twi'leck Alema Rar isn't around.
Zekk apparently can't help himself: he thinks about what it would've been like if all three of them had ended up in the bed together. Jaina punches him in the shoulder and he blushes then tries closing down his end of their empathic connection. She cautions him not to; they're using a Force meld to draw on each other's strength and resolve to maintain as much independence as they can in the hive mind. She also tells him to stop apologizing.
Sitting up to get dressed, Jaina notices Raynar came in at some point. Raynar's disfigured with burn scars and the head of the Killik hive mind. He is the UnuThul. Jaina greets him and dresses in her jumpsuit; no point in modesty when you're mentally hooked up to several thousand in the nest anyway.
Jaina: Come down to see how the drones live?
Raynar: Why do you call us Raynar when you know Raynar Thul is gone?
Jaina: Raynar's still in there somewhere. I can feel him.
Raynar: Perhaps you are right. Perhaps a little Raynar Thul remains in us still. And he will be sorry to see you go.
Raynar says Jaina and Zekk's task defending the Killik from Chiss attacks is done. Jaina points out the Chiss aren't gone. Actually, through the hive mind she can see that the enemy has ships in the system then and there. Zekk backs Jaina up on this. Raynar doesn't say why he wants them to leave; just that "we" wish the Jedi to go back to the Galactic Alliance. Jaina realizes there's going to be a Chiss attack, and Raynar admits it's going to be a full-scale attack this time, not some small incursion that a few Jedi can deter. Jaina's determined to try preventing the violence anyway. Raynar says they're not going to risk friends on this, and leans on them with the hive mind to try compelling obedience.
Jaina realizes the Killik have set up an ambush.
Raynar: You have always been too headstrong for your own good, Jaina. Do not try to figure this out, or --
Zekk: It won't work. If you destroy the Chiss fleet, the next one will only be bigger.
Raynar: Now you've done it. Now you must stay.
Jaina: We weren't leaving without Lowbacca anyway. And Zekk is right. The Colony isn't strong enough to destroy the entireChiss space force.
Raynar: That won't be necessary. We only need to hold them off until the Hapans arrive.
Jaina: Hapans? What are Hapans doing out here?
Raynar: Defending the weak. Jacen convinced Tenel Ka to send us a fleet.
Jaina: Jacen convinced Tenel Ka, or you used Jacen to convince her? Your touch can be very compelling.
Raynar: Perhaps, but even we are not strong enough to control Jacen. He has moved beyond our control -- or anyone else's. You know that yourself.
Sending a fleet to the Killiks will either escalate the conflict or prevent all the fighting. Jaina says even Solos don't like odds that long -- a threatened Chiss doesn't back off, it gets mean and aggressive. Raynar says they can't allow the Chiss to destroy their nests, tells them once the ambush begins they're free to fight or leave, but until then they're to stay as "guests." Jaina fights the mental compulsion and tells him the Dark Jedi that had been with Raynar when he was lost in the mission to kill the Voxyn queen are influencing him. Lomi and Welk want this war.
Raynar: Lomi and Welk are dead.
Jaina: Then who attacked the Shadow on her way in?
Raynar: Insect mercenaries hired by the Chiss?
Zekk: You have proof?
Raynar: We have no time to look for proof. We are too busy defending our nests.
Zekk: What about the attack on Saba? I suppose you're going to tell me she attacked a Joiner by mistake, and he took her lightsaber away and wounded her?
Raynar: Yes. That is the best explanation.
Jaina: Raynar, they're blinding you to the truth. The best explanation --
Raynar We are tired of telling you! Raynar Thul is gone. We are all that remains.
This time, he leans on them with the mental compulsion so that they have to walk away from him. No more talk.