InsaneJournal

rated - Low - arriving + making friends

Jaina did her best thinking in the air. She always had felt better when she was flying and after everything that had happened, well, she definitely needed a little time alone in her x-wing. She didn’t even have a real destination as she started to take it up, but it felt better just being up there amongst the stars. She closed her eyes for barely a moment, trying to process the fact that the war was really over, that Jacen had somehow made it happen and that her own twin weirdly looked older than her now, aged physically from the moment when he’d become one with the Force.

It was a lot to wrap her mind around, but all of those thoughts fled her mind when she opened her eyes again and found that her surroundings had completely changed. She was still in her x-wing, but wherever she was now, the sensors didn’t register anything familiar and she was losing her orbit, descending toward a very unfamiliar looking planet. Jaina lept into action, expectly working the controls, but she was dealing with an unknown planet in an unknown system and the landing she made in the middle of what looked like a very large park was anything but graceful. Various systems in her x-wing were offline by the time it was all said and done and Jaina still didn’t have any more clue about where she was.

Then she saw the note floating toward her. The super unhelpful note, honestly, because reading it just made her think she’d fallen asleep and was having a very strange dream. “What in space?” she murmured, shaking her head as she moved to get out of her x-wing and explore the area. She could feel her Uncle Luke in the Force and sensed he was nearby, but there was no one else, no one familiar. She could feel a few Force Signatures that she didn’t recognize, but otherwise there was nothing. She couldn’t feel her mom, her aunt Mara, not even her twin brother Jacen.

Something hit his mind like a crashing transport. Cal found himself dropping into a crouched position as he tried to sort the feeling out. A blast of the Force, that was what it was. He had felt faint spots of it, more so in the apartment he was staying in, but no one had come forward. He had to admit he was holding stuff close to his chest as well, trying to mask his presence as best he could, but this faint flare up had his grip waver for a moment. Cal quickly locked it down and glanced at BD. "I think we need to go investigate, what do you think?" The droid trilled its agreement and quickly scampered up to rest on Cal's back.

He moved quickly, but in such a way he wasn't pulling attention to himself. What he was greeted with was a bit of a shock as he watched a ship descend into the park. BD made an excited sound at the prospect of running into someone that might know them and then his tone cautious as he realized it might also be Imps. "Agreed, we are going to be careful…" That was a little ironic coming from him since he did have a habit of jumping into the middle of Shock Troopers and letting loose with his lightsabers. The trip towards the ship passed by in a blur and he managed to skid to a stop just outside the spot the ship was landed. Dirt and debris kicked up from his feet as he studied the woman. He didn't know her which meant she could be dangerous. Only one way to find out, right?

Cal stepped into her view with his stance purposefully relaxed. His lightsabers were hidden under the hoodie he wore, but still easily accessible if he needed to grab them. He had not quite given up the scrapper style of dressing, but he was also trying to blend in, which meant hoodies instead of ponchos. One hand was still gloved in an attempt to reduce the Force Echos he experienced. "You aren't in space anymore," he said unhelpfully as his greeting. "You crash landed in a new dimension."

Jaina looked over the man standing in front of her, studying him quietly for a moment. His Force signature didn't feel as bright to her as Luke’s, but it was enough of a gain trace for her to surmise he might be Force sensitive. He looked to be around the same age that Anakin would be now and the realization gave her a sharp pang that she quickly swallowed back. Out of all casualties from the Yuuzhan Vong War, it was Anakin whose loss she would always feel the most.

“Goodland,” she said with a quick nod. “The note’s for real, then?” She didn't sense any kind of deception from him, though she had no other reason to trust someone who was a virtual stranger, either. “I'm Jaina.” She offered him what she hoped was a friendly smile. Antagonizing the first person she met in a strange place didn't seem like a good start.

"As real as it can be," he replied as he put a hand up to stop BD from jumping off his shoulder. The droid chirped out the desire to scan the ship, but the Jedi wasn't quite ready to be fully relaxed around Jaina. "Cal, this is BD." The Force seemed to be pushing him to trust a bit more and he frowned before he realized it probably looked like he was frowning at her. He flashed her a smile as he shifted so he could lean his side against a tree. He wasn't ready to drop his barriers quite yet so his true Force signature was going to remain dampened.

"Have to say, most people don't arrive so dramatically," he crossed his arms over his chest. He portrayed relaxation, but he was ready to fly into battle at any second. "Looks like you managed to not completely turn your ship into bantha poodoo."

“I've had worse landings,” Jaina said, grinning. The transport to this Goodland had caught her off guard, but it was far from the worst scrape she'd found herself in; this wouldn't even make the top ten.

Her smile widened a little as she looked at the little BD unit sat upon Cal’s shoulder. “It's nice to meet you, Cal and BD.” If her smile was a little friendlier for the droid, it was probably because she tended to like droids more than she did most people.

“We seem to be from the same place or a similar one, at least,” she commented.

BD beeped out a greeting. "He says it is nice to meet you," Cal translated easily. No one here understood droid so he was playing the loyal translator. An eyebrow raised at the fact she knew his swear words. BD made an inquiring noise as the young Jedi debated which cards to play. She had a ship, she knew words he knew, and she didn't seem like a threat. Well, may as well jump straight into the firefight. He had survived facing off against Darth Vader so he could handle this if she was actually Sith. Cal dropped his guards on his Force signature as he reached out to sense if she was with the Empire or not.

He was not met with the corruption of the Dark Side and he could only stare at her. "How did- you survived the purge." There was faint hope in his voice. He didn't realize she was from a different time, letting his joy overwhelm him for a moment as he pushed himself away from the tree.

"Everyone else… it has just been me."

“The purge?” The question in her voice died up when she realized what he must be referring to. “Order 66,” she realized. “That was before I was born, but I've read about it.” This probably wasn't the best time to tell him who her grandfather was, if it was something she ever wanted to admit to him. “I was born almost 3 decades after that. My mother and uncle are both force sensitive, but they were young and very well hidden from the Empire.” It was incredible to meet someone from that time. She'd heard stories about some of the old Jedi, about Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda who had both trained her Uncle Luke, but this was the first time Jaina had met anyone from that time in person.

“This Entity has brought us through time as well as space.” The thought honestly terrified her a little. She was smart enough to be afraid of anything that had that kind of power.

His face fell slightly when she said she had only read about Order 66 and then he just gave a nod. "So I did the right thing." The Force had found a way like he had hoped. Cal had destroyed the list of all the Force Sensitive children in the galaxy in order to save them from the grip of the Empire. Darth Vader would have hunted them down with his Inquisitors, rather like the vision he had in the Temple. He felt more secure in the move he had made now knowing that the Jedi were not snuffed out in the future.

"The Entity did. There are signatures here, but you are the first one I have interacted with. Up until now I have just being doing my best to blend in…with the other people here." Cal patted BD on the head before raising his arm out like a springboard for the droid to jump off of. Once BD was in the ground he raced over to the ship and started scanning away. "Easy, buddy," Cal said with a faint grin in his voice.

Jaina nodded. “I sense my uncle, Luke Skywalker,” she admitted. “I don’t recognize the others.” If there were other force users here, she was surprised they hadn’t sensed him and reached out to him, especially Luke. She had to admit she was curious about the others, too. Were they Jedi or untrained force sensitives? If people could be from different time periods, they could be anyone.

“I should find someplace less conspicuous to keep my x-wing,” she thought aloud, noting that this park didn’t exactly lack people, some of whom seemed to be giving her and the ship some curious looks. “Do you know where I can move it to?”

Luke Skywalker meant nothing to Cal. He knew the last name Skywalker, but more in regards to the old Padawan of Obi-Wan. Anakin. A war hero. Cal merely made a sound of agreement since he had no idea what to say. Now, the question about where to move the ship was something he could answer!

Cal motioned to BD and the droid seemed to understand because it popped away from the ship to project a map of what they had explored. "The woods, buddy," a waypoint icon appeared on the map marking the random woods that had appeared one day. "That is your best bet. Some people go there, but you can camouflage your ship and BD can put an alarm on it for you. We have figured out how to set alerts on the mobile phone."

He grinned at her and then tapped BD with the toe of his boot. The droid trilled in happiness before shutting the map down.

Jaina looked over at him and grinned. Droids could be really kriffing handy sometimes. Most of the time. In general, Jaina liked them better than she did most people. She wasn’t sure what a mobile phone was, though, and she gave Cal a somewhat confused look. “Mobile phone?” she questions, somehow trusting this man she’d just met, even if he used words she didn’t fully recognize, and she moved toward her x-wing, knowing she’d need to check some systems to see how easily she’d be able to move it without having to rely on the Force.

“Uh, a thing in this place.” Cal dug into his pocket and pulled out the smartphone. “Handy thing. I think we all get one.” BD clambered up his leg before settling on his back, one foot gripping the material of his top. “I am sure someone will explain better.” He slid the phone back into his pocket before reaching up to pat BD’s head with clear affection.

“Your ship good? BD and I can help repair if need be.” Cal felt most comfortable when he was working on things. The scrapyard had been Hell, but it had been something he understood. Goodland was a bit harder to understand. No extreme threat, no one to run from, he was just...here.

Looking at the device Cal showed her, Jaina nodded. It wasn’t one she fully recognized, but she was sure she’d be able to figure it out. She was pretty good with tech; not as good as Anakin had been, but still pretty good. It would be a problem for after she got her x-wing out of the way.

“A little banged up, but I can get her there,” she said, having given it a quick inspection. “She’ll need a few repairs, I guess I won’t say no to a little help with them.” She was pretty capable on her own, but that didn’t mean she had to do the work alone. Jaina was used to working as a team.