Her twin brother, Jacen, casts a sidelong glance at her and replies, �Yes, it has been a year.�

Jaina stopped walking, scowling at her brother. Jacen continued on a few paces before stopping also and turning around to face her. �You know I can�t help but hear you. You�re so full of excitement you�re practically shouting.�

�Sorry,� she replied, �I can�t help it.� It had been almost a year since the defeat of the Yuuzhan-Vong at Courscant. It had been almost a year since Tahiri Veila, Tekli, and Danni Quee had decided to stay on the living planet world of Zonoma Sekot while it left for the Unknown Regions again. And it had been almost a year since she last had seen Jagged Fel. Just thinking of him made her heart flutter again. Jaina pulled subtlety on the Force to slow her heart rate down towards a normal level. �I�ll try to keep a level head.�

Jacen snorted. �Yeah, like that�ll ever happen.�

She glared at her brother. �Hey, watch it. I know what you get like when you get messages from Tenel Ka.�

�Yeah, I can hear you singing across the galaxy when you get a message from Jag.� He retorted.

It was a standoff in the hallway. Twin against twin. Jacen was the first the break it off and started chuckling. Within seconds Jaina started to laugh along with him. They both realized that they were acting like kids again. Jaina walked towards her brother and threw an arm around him. �Thanks. I really needed that.�

�No problem, that�s what I�m here for.� Smiling, he placed his arm around her waist and they continued down the hall towards the meeting chambers.

Because of their ranks as Jedi Knights, the Solo twins had been asked to attend a meeting of combined councils. Cal Omas and the head of The Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, Admiral Traest Kre�fey and his team, Luke and Mara Skywalker, the head masters and knights of the Jedi Academy, and also �The Insiders� were there. But since all of the �Insiders� were members on other councils, no one knew the wiser. Gilad Pellaeon and the Empire Remnant were invited at a moments notice, luckily they were able to make it. Lastly, the Chiss and the CEDF advisory council were on the schedule to make their announcements to formally join the Galactic Alliance. And Jag just happened to be the official liaison between the Chiss and the GFFA.

Upon entering the meeting hall, Jaina and Jacen were bombarded with hugs and kisses from family and friends. Since Jaina had rejoined Twin Suns and Jacen had been on Mon Calamari, they had not seen their family for a few months. Leia Organa Solo was almost in tears upon knowing that her children were all right. Han Solo was also happy to see that his kids were doing all right for themselves. He was never the same after their brother, Anakin, had died, along with his best friend, Chewbacca. He seemed to be doing ok and recovering, but you could still see the pain deep in his heart.

Jaina glanced around the room when she had the chance. In between trying to conversice with her mother, father, and about 3 friends all at once, she really didn�t get a chance to see if Jag was there at all. Disappointment flooded through her as she glanced around the round meeting hall and the large circular table in the center, he wasn�t there� yet. At least that gave her a few more minutes to compose herself. She didn�t know what to do first when she saw him anyways. Would she run to him and throw her arms around him and never let go? Would she just start crying? Would they be able to get away sitting next to each other and hold hands?

A tone sounded and people started taking their appointed seats at the large discussion table, and appropriate seats behind in the risers. Her involvement with Twin Suns delegated that she sit behind Admiral Kre�fey, but her roll as a Jedi Knight gave her a spot behind her Uncle Luke. Luckily, though, Kre�fey and Uncle Luke were next to each other, so she split the distance between the two. Jacen slipped into the seat beside her.

�Calm down, he�ll be here soon enough.�

�Shush you� Jaina whispered. She heart fluttered again. He�s getting closer, I can feel it!

Cal Omas stood and all conversations in the hall stopped. �I want to thank everyone for being able to make it here today. It�s a great moment in our new founded history, and I�m glad that so many associates and friends can witness this. Today we are welcoming new members in to the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. After today, no one, or no thing will be able to invade our galaxy again!�

Cheers rolled through the hall. Even a year later, the victory over the Yuuzhan-Vong was still very fresh on everyone�s minds.

�Even though,� Cal began again when it had quieted, �no one when though the war without losing some one close to them. Families where torn apart. Children pulled from their parents, friends pulled from their homes. But we did learn one thing through all this. We learned that with hope, and faith, and the knowledge that the Force is guiding us, we can prevail what is set against us! We can prevail against the evil in the galaxy! We can prevail all that oppose us!�

People were jumping to their feet and applauding at deafening levels. It took almost five minutes for everyone to calm down again.

�Now, with this new chapter unfolding in our history, I have the esteemed honor to present the last piece of the puzzle that has taken a long time in making. They originally came as Vanguard Squadron to do a recon mission. Later, those pilots joined forces with us in the Twins Suns Squadron.� Jacen nudged his sister and smiled at her, she just blushed. �And now, a select few are on the CEDF advisatory council, who have agreed to work with us as liaisons between the Chiss and the GFFA. May I present Colonel Jagged Fel, and his associate, Shawnkyr of the Chiss.

Jaina stopped breathing as all 1.75 meters of Jagged Fel entered the room. His jet-black hair was still cut in the short fashion favored by the Chiss military. A scar running from right eyebrow and up hit the edge of his scalp and ignited a streak of his hair into bright white. His sparkling green eyes betrayed no sense of emotions. Wearing his traditional black flight uniform with red stripes on the legs and arms, he crisply walked up to the dais where Cal was standing and shook hands with the head of the Galactic Alliance.

Applause, once again, was reverberating though out the meeting room as Jag and Shawnkyr stood before everyone. Jaina didn�t notice that some of the other Jedi were casting glances in her direction. Everyone knew that she and Jag had been together, some were seeing what her reaction was, some were just feeling the joy roll off of her at just being in the same room with him again. Jacen tried to dampen down his sister�s presence in the Force with his own, but it didn�t help any. She was just too strong for anyone to get in her way. Jacen ended up just nudging her in the ribs when he felt her getting light headed. She drew in a sharp breath, not realizing that she had not breathed in the almost two minutes since Jag had entered the room. Jaina didn�t care about much in those moments, only that Jag was here and alive!

Jag was glancing around the room while waiting for people to quiet down. He nodded curtly to his uncle; General Wedge Antilles, Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, and several other high-ranking military officials. His eyes raked the crowd, and settled on Jaina just for not even half a heartbeat, and moved on to seeking out anyone he hadn�t acknowledged yet. Jaina�s heart leapt to the highest it had been in months when their eyes met, only to sink to rock bottom when Jag did not seem to acknowledge that she even existed. Jacen put an arm around her shoulders, sensing she was walking on unstable emotional ground. The least he could do was to be there to support her. She felt tears forming when they had sat down again and everyone had quieted.

�On behalf of the Chiss empire� Jag began, �my father, Governor General Baron Soontir Fel, the entire CEDF council and all house phalanxes, we would like to proudly announce our union with the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances.� Applause broke out once again. �We offer all our services of our military and knowledge of the Unknown Regions and Chiss space to you.� The cheer was deafening, and continued on for quite some time.

�Look sis, I�m sure he knows you�re alive, he probably was just trying to keep his cool before making his big speech.�

Jacen was trying to calm Jaina down while walking with her back to her quarters in the squad�s barracks, although whatever he said, nothing seemed to be working. During the meeting she had just barely been able to keep herself composed, but since leaving the hall, she had been a wreck. She started pumbling Jacen with �what if�s?� ever since leaving. �What if Jag forgot about me? What if he doesn�t care anymore? What if he found a new girl friend?!�

�But Jacen!� She began, but got cut off with her brother putting his hand over her mouth. They stopped walking and he turned to face her.

�Hey, stop it will ya? How could he forget Colonel Jaina Solo? X-wing pilot extraordinaire with Rogue Squadron, and Jedi to boot? You�ve got to be sucking enough spice to drop a Hutt to forget that name!�

A deep emotional pain crossed her eyes, and she slumped in defeat. She knew he was right and she was just overreacting. She nodded as she grabbed her brother�s hand away from her face. �You�re right.� She sighed. �You�re right. I know� I�m blowing this all out of proportions.�

�There you go. Hey, for all we know, he could be sitting in your bunk right now waiting for you to return.� Nodding farther down the hall to where her door could be seen.

�I highly doubt that. But hey, it�s worth a shot.�

They continued down the hall. Taking a deep breath, Jaina punched in her key code and the door whooshed open and the lights turned on. No Jag. That sinking feeling flooded back to her.

�Don�t get your hopes down sis, I�m sure he�ll be by.� Jacen replied while giving her the famous Solo �reassurance� smile. �You going to be ok now?� �Yeah, sure. I�m just going to hop in the �fresher and get cleaned up before I head down to blow up something in the sims.�

�Ok, but if you need anything� anything at all, you�ve got my comm. code, right?�

She nodded. �Yes. And Jacen� thanks.� She rapped her arms around her brother and hugged him.

�Any time Jaina... any time� And with that, they disengaged, and he walked off towards the direction of the mess hall.

Jaina sighed and moved inside her room, shutting the door behind her. She walked over to the couch, shed her Jedi cloak, and flopped down on top of it in just her flight suit. Looking around the room, she was searching for anything to get her mind off of all that has happened in the last couple of hours. She was seated in a small living room style room, where she had the couch and a low table, and adjacent a small kitchenette area. Through one door off to the right of that she had the �fresher, and a little bit farther along that same wall was the door to her bedroom. On the opposite wall was a small desk and a comm. unit. She glanced over her shoulder to see if there were any messages that were demanding her attention. Nothing, but what did catch her attention was something else lying on the desk. Something she had not left there.

�What the...� she levered herself off of the couch and made her way towards the desk. Two red roses were resting on her desk! Next to them was a data chip. She quickly retrieved her data pad from the desk drawer and plugged the chip in. A short message came up on the screen.

Jaina�s heart leapt into her throat! JAG!! Her heart sang out. She let loose a �whoop� of joy, grabbed the roses, data pad, and bolted for the door.

She burst into the infirmary no more than 5 minutes later, out of breath, but full of energy and adrenaline. Master Cigal, the Jedi�s Mon Cal healer was not startled in the slightest when Jaina came rushing in. Jaina had not even opened her mouth to ask Cigal if she had seen Jag when the Mon Cal Jedi just smiled and pointed towards the bacta tank along the far side of the room. There, sitting on a table beside the tank were two more roses and another data chip! She ran over and shoved the new data chip into her pad.

What did the �floor� have to do with it? Glancing down, she realized that there were lines all over the floor that lead out into the hall way. There was a chart near-by that gave the color-coding. Green ran to the barracks, red ran to the flight decks� there! � black ran to the pilots Observation Lounge. From there many crew are able to watch the dog fights without actually being out in space in a star fighter. Then it hit her - they first met in the middle of a dogfight! She gathered up the two new roses, the data chip, and hurried on her way shouting a thanks to Cigal over her shoulder as she ran.

She ran towards the ops deck as fast as she could, people jumping out of her way as to not get run over. She slowed right outside the doors as to not alert her peers inside to her hastiness. Even though she seemed to be running wild thought the ship, she as least had a little dignity with the possibility of facing her superiors. She marched up to the doors and they slid aside. Thankfully the lounge area was almost empty; most of everyone was probably still down by the meeting exchanging formalities. She paused inside the doors and scanned the room. There they were! Over in a secluded corner of the transparency window area, on the ledge, were some roses! She tried with all her effort to not break into a run. Sure enough, two more roses and another data chip. She switched out chips and read her new message.

Rematch... I got kicked..? she shook her head to try to clear it. Think, Jaina! Think! The sparring rooms! That had to be it! Jag had always teased her about using the Force when she never was so she would fight harder with her own abilities. He would always claim he won because she had cheated. Once again, gathering up two more roses, data chips, and her composure, she set off for the Sparring rooms.

�Hey Jaina!� a familiar voice rang out as she was working her way towards the exit door. She looked over. Seated in an oversized plush chair was Gavin Darklighter and another familiar face, Tycho Celchu. Two of her commanding officers. Oh no! She thought, but still made her way over to them.

�General Darklighter, General Celchu.� She nodded to both of them in turn.

They exchanged a glance. �Don�t be so formal Jaina. Neither of us are on duty, and you certainly are not either.�

�Sorry Sirs. Er, Gavin and Tycho.�

�That�s better,� Tycho replied. He settled a little deeper into his own plush chair and pulled a sip off of his drink.

�What have you got there Sticks?� Gavin asked, pointing towards her ever-increasing armload of roses.

�Uh, they appear to be roses, Sir. Er, Gavin. What are you two doing here anyways, shouldn�t you be down rubbing elbows with the others?�

Gavin snorted, �I hate those �meetings� as much as a drooling Dewback. Why aren�t you still down there tracking down Colonel Fel?� he said with a glint in his eyes.

�Well, Gavin, I seem to be on a wild goose chase trying to find him as it is.� She told him, motioning with the armload of roses.

�Wild Goose chase?� Gavin repeated.

�Yes, that�s what I said, wild goose chase. I�m sorry, but I must now go to the sparring rooms to find my next clue. I�ll talk to you later, Sirs.� And with that, she was off again.

�I�ll want a full report in the morning!� Tycho teased after her.

Just one more corner and the sparring rooms will be right in front of me. Jaina thought as she hurried down the corridors. She smiled to herself as she keyed the door to let herself into the rooms. She had many fond memories of these rooms. She trained and fought here with Jag, and she had come here often in the last year thinking she could still hear his voice echoing in the walls.

�Alrighty, where are you?� she spoke out loud. Glancing around the empty rooms she noticed that no one else was here. That�s odd... there normally are people here. She began doing a search of the room to find the roses, and at a quick glance, found nothing. Sighing, she headed towards the bank of lockers that people used on a temporary basis to stow their shoes and personal gear while they are working out. She stopped in front of locker number 12. She and Jag normally used this one. The numbers standing for their combined call names in Twins Suns. On most occasions, number 1 for her, and number 2 for Jag. She opened the locker and found her bounty! Two more roses and another chip.

What is he talking about? She mussed over the note for several seconds before she was able to start putting the pieces together. Greatest pilot, no we, hate to break, my X-Wing? That�s got to be it! She gathered up her loot, and headed out of the rooms and aft towards the docking bays where her X-wing was birthed.

Thankfully there still were not many people walking around on the ship yet. She had always worked hard to maintain her image of the Colonel rank that she holds, and to see her bustling around caring an armload of roses and a fist full of date chips shoved in her flightsuit pockets, the people she did happen to past were giving her second glances as she hurried along the hallways. She hated people staring at her, looking like disheveled person unsure of where they were. Why is Jag doing this to me? She asked herself as she was going down yet another turbolift closing in on her X-Wing. What point does he have to make having me do all this? Jaina could not answer this question. She was completely clueless on WHY Jag was making her run around on this �goose chase� as she had previously stated it.

She had to cut that thought short as she realized that she was already at the blast doors that allowed her into the Docking Bays. Before she keyed in her clearance code to open the doors, she took a deep breath and composed herself. Most people she had passed in the hall, she didn�t know them. But here, in the docking bays, she knew all these people on a first name basis, she wanted to see a little more in control of herself in there.

�Here goes nothing.� She said and stepped up to key in her code. The light turned green and the doors opened with an all too familiar whoosh and she stepped inside. As per usual, it was a hustle and bustle of a couple of squadrons� worth of people, vehicles, and equipment. On the far side of the bay a duo of X-wings with yellow and black striping were coming in to land, just as 2 more where maneuvering on repulsors heading outbound. Janson�s Yellow Aces must be on escort or patrol duty today.

Because her parents and brother were actually being in the same system as her for once, and all the excitement going on with the Chiss, she was giving a week off. Part of her relaxing vacation had been to stay away from the bays, and the duty rosters. It had been hard the first day or two, but it got easier as the week progressed. Along the wall to her left was Twins Suns Squadrons� X-wings and� her heart took a jump again. At the end of the line of X-Wings, closest to the magnetic field open to space, were a couple of familiar looking Chiss Claw craft! She headed towards the Claw Craft and her X-Wing at a controlled pace. With her being the leader of Twin Suns, she was the closest X-Wing towards open space. �First one out, last one in� was the motto of all squadron leaders. As she got closer and closer to her own personal X-Wing, she noticed that the cockpit canopy was cracked open a few inches. Normally they are closed and sealed so nothing can get into them. Only the pilots and the squad�s mechanics have the access codes to open them, and Jaina is not one to forget and leave it open.

She stepped up to the side of her craft. Sure enough, the cockpit was opened just a bit. �Hump, no ladder. Of course.� She mumbled to herself. She carefully deposited her roses onto the floor by the front landing strut. She opened herself to the Force to make sure that the cockpit was empty of beings, and then let the Force flow through her and leapt up onto the nose of her craft. She landed solidly on the top without so much as a second thought about falling. She calmly walked to the cockpit and lifted up the canopy. There, on her crash couch were 2 more roses, and another data chip. She leaned down over the front lip of the cockpit and reached for the items. She was able to get her fingers on them, and with a slight Force nudge, got them firmly in her hand. She rotated around and sat down on the nose of her craft to read the next piece of her puzzle.

My quarters!! Jaina thought. It all started there, so my last clue has to be there!! She called upon the Force one last time and vaulted to the floor. The landed with a thump and went over to gather up the rest of her roses. She didn�t care about being professional anymore, she didn�t care about her Colonel ranking anymore, she didn�t care about anything except for getting back to her quarters ASAP. She took off at a dead run for the blast doors. Thankfully, going out, she didn�t have to stop to enter her pass code, the doors automatically open.

She bolted for the turbolift that would take her up to the pilot�s quarters. She punched the button and waited for the lift to arrive. The lift was there within seconds, but it seemed like forever to Jaina. She jumped inside and hit the button to her level, repeatedly, hoping the more she hit it and the faster she hit it would make the lift rise faster. It was an eternity before the lift doors opened again and let her loose on her level. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her down the hall way towards the door to her bunk.

She slid to a stop outside her door and punched in her entry code. The door whooshed open, she stepped inside and called for the lights. Uh-Oh. The lights did not turn on. She knew how close she was to the kitchenette table, and made her way for that to at least set her collected stuff down. She found the edge of the table and laid her precious cargo upon the top, when she got a familiar tingling sensation through the Force. She spun around, and noticed that on the other side of the room there were lit candles on her desk. She looked through the slight illumination and recognized the all too familiar shape of 2 roses and a date ship sitting on her desktop. Right where I the found the first ones.

She made her way to the desk and picked up the last of the data cards and read it.

�But, but... where�s the rest?� Pushing buttons on the data pad to see if the rest of the �poem� would be reviled. Nothing more came up on the screen. �Come on! Where is the rest of it!?� She starts to shake the data pad in hopes that some more information would fall out of it.

�Who cares, now that you are closer to me.� A familiar voice says from the darkness.

Jaina spun around and found herself facing non other than Jagged Fel himself! He was standing just a few feet away from her leaning against the back of the couch, grinning openly. She was so excited she didn�t recognize that he was even in the room.

�JAG!� Jaina screamed and launched herself at him.

Surprise blossomed in his eyes as he realized that Jaina was actually flying towards him with such momentum he wasn�t going to be able to catch her gracefully. Her arms rapped around his neck and her lips connected with his only half a second later. He knew full well that there was a couch and coffee table right behind them to break their fall if they fell straight back Thankfully, Jag had fast reflexes and was able to snake his arms around Jaina�s waist and twist slightly before falling over the back of the couch. That was his plan anyways. Unfortunately, though, Jag did not twist around enough to be able to land first and cushion Jaina�s fall. Jaina landed first on the couch with a soft whomph and Jag unceremoniously fell on top of her, but neither cared at that moment. They landed on the couch in a heap of laughing, tears, hugs, and kisses.

They kissed with a fierce passion of long lost lovers, never wanting to let go, never wanting the moment to end. Jab clung fiercely to Jaina, drinking in the scents of her hair, feeling the warmth of her body. He didn�t realized how much he had missed her until this moment.

Jaina was relishing in the familiar touch of Jag through the Force. He always had a strong, but calming presence through it, even though he wasn�t the least bit Force sensitive. Memories and emotions started rolling through her. Memories of their fight with the Vong, of her little brother Anakin, she felt Jacen�s touch through the Force, (he was probably worried about her sudden spike of alarm.) She started to weep � but it was all from happiness. Jag was here, and he was alive. They BOTH were alive!

All of a sudden Jaina�s brain waves came back to the �here and now� and she realized she couldn�t breath. Then more thoughts came to her� her wild chase around the ship, hardly any messages in the last year, even less emotion in those messages. She found herself getting very frustrated at Jag.

Reluctanly, they had to break free for air. Panting heavliey because of the loss of oxygen, Jaina took a few breaths while stairing up at Jag. Jag just smiled, content with himself of being able to supprize Jaina like that.

�How� dare� you�� Jaina spoke first, inbetween breaths.

�What� are you� talking� about�.� Jag was all confused.

"How dare you!" Jaina was getting upset now.

Jag arched an black eyebrow at her, but was at a loss for words. Where is she going with this? Jaina tried to get free of Jag�s embrace, and he realized this, so just hugged her tighter.

�Get off me Jag!�

�No, not until you tell me what�s wrong.� Jag still was lost.

�Tell you what�s wrong? Tell you what�s wrong?!� Jaina was screaming now.

�Jaina� Jaina, what in the name of Sith is wrong with you?� Jag just didn�t understand what was going on.

By this time, Jaina just wanted to get free, so she called upon the Force and shoved Jag off of her. Jag had no options, he got pushed onto the floor. Well, that is after his head came into solid contact with the coffee table.

�Ow! Blast it Jaina! What�s gotten into you?� Jag asked while rubbing his head.

Jaina sat up on the couch. �Do you really want to know what�s wrong? Ok, I�ll tell you. It�s you. It�s all your fault!�

�My fault? What�s my fault?� Jag got up into a sitting position on the floor.

Jaina glared at him though narrowed eyes. �Those messages. They were so full of emotion. I could tell that you missed me. Then that dam wild-goose-chase around the ship? Make ME look like an idiot? Then you, breaking into my bunk, hiding out to ambush me? I can go on��

O-oh, Jaina�s pulling out the sarcasm cannons here... I�d better watch myself. �Messages? I sent you messages when I could. You don�t know how badly I wanted to give one atom of recognition that I still missed you! But my father checked all off the out-going transmisitions. There was nothing I could do. It was out of my hands.�

"Well, fine then. What about the blasted chase around the ship? I�m sure my brother helped you set that up. Jacen�s always the one for a prank to make me look stupid." Jaina retorted.

Jag rubbed his head where it hit the table. That�s going to leave a mark. �Jacen had nothing to do with that. I swear.�

�Riiiight.� Jaina said.

�No really, it was all me.� Jag reached out to take her hand. She flinched at his touch, but he held on. �Jaina, please. You must believe me. Besides� a wise old man once told me �You can�t look dignified when you�re having fun.� When was the last time you had fun?�

�I� I don�t know? And if I find out who taught you that little saying, I�m going to kill them.� Jaina was starting to calm down a little now. She still didn�t know where he was going with this. She sighed. �Jag, what�s your point?�