"Drop her in!" The R2 astromech droid was lowered slowly into the X-Wing. Jox smiled. "Great work, boys. We're almost set." Chilton Jox was a great leader..At least, he liked to think so. He graduated second from the flight academy. Right behind.. "Hey, Jox!" Jaina jogged into the docking bay, smiling brightly. "Great work! Thanks for getting the R2 set." She paused for a moment to catch her breath, bracing herself against the X-Wing with her hand. Jox blinked as Jaina's hand smudged oil on her craft. "Oh, here. Let me call someone to wipe that up.." "No," Jaina responded quickly. "I mean, it's okay. I want it there." She glanced at him and grinned. "No, I'm not insane." Jox chuckled. "Darn Jedi mind probes.." Jaina held up her hands in defense, her right palm still black with oil. "No probes. Honest. I just know you. And I know what you'd be thinking. And I'm not." Jaina shrugged and turned away from Jox to examine the print. "If I were crazy, you'd be the one leading this mission, eh?" "Right," Jox said, looking down at his hands. "Hey, we should probably get started." Jaina pulled on her helmet and nodded. She climbed up into the cockpit and settled in. As the canopy closed over Jaina, she watched Jox head off to his fighter. She'd spent a lot of time with him at the flight academy, and she usually found him to be a pleasant person. He was fun to talk to, and had some interesting stories. But Jaina wasn't a fool. She knew she couldn't trust him. He was a ladder climber, and right now the only thing in his way was Jaina. Friendly fire was a possibility. She thought it was a bit extreme, even for Jox, but she would watch out for it. "Hey, R2. Keep an eye on Jox. Rogue 2." The droid responded with a series of chirps. "Yes, I know he's on our side. Just let me know if his targeting sites 'accidentally' land on us." The droid's beeps sounded a little reluctant, but Jaina ignored it. She fastened her crash webbing and started up the X-wing. "All right, boys," she said into her intership comm. "It's showtime." The docking bay doors opened and the X-wings filed out into space. "Engage hyperdrive." Jaina liked working with navigation computers, but of course X-wings aren't equipped with them. The R2 units were programmed with the jump co-ordinates. Jaina pulled a lever and the stars in her viewshield became distorted as she entered hyperspace. *** When the ship returned to normal space, Jaina's eyebrows rose. An unfamiliar planet loomed very close by. "What's that?" she asked the R2, a slight edge on her voice. The droid seemed to hesitate before beeping a soft reply. "What do you mean 'What's what?'? What's that planet doing there?" Jaina glanced over her shoulder. "And why aren't the others coming out of hyperspace? We're not in the right place, are we? What did you do?" The unit didn't respond. Jaina pulled the X-wing into the planet's orbit. "Well, if you won't answer me, I'll land here and find a droid who will. You're going to the closest scrap heap." She brought the craft down through the upper layers of atmosphere. Jaina started searching for a radio channel to communicate with an authority about a landing site. The R2 started beeping frantically. "What now?" beepbeepbeep. "The engine?" Jaina let out a deep sigh. "Don't tell me.." Thunk. "I asked you not to tell me that!" Jaina pulled sharply on the throttle and received a sputtering reply. She grunted in frustration and started trying other levers. "Come on, come on.." The ship was falling towards the planet. Jaina closed her eyes and reached out into the Force. Maybe she could levitate the ship safely to the ground. Or at least find some sort of guidance for another course of action. Nothing. Jaina's brow furrowed and she bit her lip. She tried concentrating harder, reaching further. Still nothing. She opened her eyes. Wide. The planet's surface was zooming up at her. So she did the only thing she could. She screamed. Crash. Darkness.
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