The dry cackling filled the blackness and for a moment, that was all she knew. Then he fell on her, his knees pressing into her chest. His twisted white face laughed at her, mocking her. Cold wrinkled hands wrapped around her neck, gripping. Then the Emperor's cloaked head slowly transformed into Metieh. The Admiral's long white hair fell into her face as he continued to strangle hair. Jaina tried to struggle, but the pressure against her chest was too much. She watched with horror as the face changed to her mother's. Mom was wearing the Sith robes and her hair flowed free. "Mom..." Jaina rasped. The face shifted quickly to that of her own father, under the influence of the virus. Tears formed around Jaina's eyes. Maybe it wasn't the virus. Maybe that's why he sent her on a suicide mission. Maybe he didn't really lo- Her father's face changed into Nik-Vie's. She pressed against him, sobbing loudly. Nik-Vie's hands tightened around her neck, and his face started to decay, blackening and peeling. Jaina screamed and the sound seemed to catch for a moment before jerking her back to consciousness. The world blurred and jumped in and out of focus as Jaina blinked. In her hazy vision, she thought she could make out a white light. She gasped for air, but found something was still pressing against her chest. She punched at the object, squirming beneath it. After a moment, she realized she was trapped under one of the recently installed Crash Inflation Devices-An air bag. Jaina let out a short breath and twisted around in her seat. Her fingers wrapped around the multi-tool on her belt and she snapped out her knife. She shoved the blade into the air bag and white powder burst out and sprayed over Jaina's face and chest. "Back to the drawing board," she muttered. She loosened her crash webbing and took off her helmet. Rubbing a tender spot on the back of her head, she leaned forward to send out a distress call. All she got was static. The radio was useless. Jaina wrinkled her nose and pushed the hair out of her eyes. After a few moments of staring at the control panel, she used her multi-tool to pry the cover off the radio. She tried to rewire it, but nothing seemed to work. She closed her eyes and tried to focus. *Help me...This is Jaina Solo...If anyone can hear me...* She frowned. She had a very bad feeling about this. *Anyone?* But she knew there wouldn't be an answer. It was as if her 'voice' had no echo. Then she remembered crashing. She had tried to use the Force, but it didn't work. It was if she was in a Force dead zone. A chill ran up Jaina's spine and she started to panic. She needed to get out of the cockpit, NOW. She slammed her fist against the control to raise the canopy, but it didn't work. She looked up and noticed the large tree that must have fallen onto the craft when she crashed. Her eyes rolled up and she leaned forward, dropping her forehead against the control panel. Thunk. "Ow," she muttered. "What else could go-" she bit her lip before she could finish. She took a deep breath and reached for her lightsabre. She held it up close to the transparisteel canopy and activated it. The violet blade sliced through the canopy as well as the tree. Her hands shook a little as she pulled the blade across the viewshield. When she'd sliced all the way across the tree, she fumbled the lightsabre and it slipped out of her hands. She jerked back and let out a sharp yelp as the blade came within millimetres of slicing off her legs. The weapon came to rest balanced across her lap, her flightsuit burnt through and the top several layers of skin on her thighs melting. She tried to stay very still while she slowly reached forward to deactivate the weapon. The lightsabre hilt tumbled to the floor and Jaina let out a deep sigh. She tried to hold back tears as she busied herself with examining the burn-It didn't look too serious; it was only a flesh wound. She pulled some bacta packs out of her first aid kit and strapped them onto her thighs. After securing the packs, she sunk down into her seat and placed both feet against the canopy. Gathering all the strength she had, she shoved the glass. She winced and bit her lower lip as the searing pain went through her legs, but she brightened as the severed half of the tree slid off the X-wing. "Now," Jaina murmured, rubbing the bacta pack against her leg, "for the easy part." A blunt edge snapped out of Jaina's multi-tool and she forced it into the space between the hull and the canopy. Carefully, she slid the tool along the groove, searching for the latch. When she found it, she unhooked the connection. Then she did the same on the other side, so that the canopy was completely unlatched. With a hard push, she was able to lift and move the canopy enough to make a small opening. After hooking her lightsabre and multi-tool to her belt, she slipped out of the X-wing. For the first time, she really had a chance to look around. Green plants were everywhere. Trees seemed to head up into the atmosphere for miles. Somewhere off in the distance she heard flowing water. It was beautiful. But it seemed so empty.
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