Peace of the Jedi [Sequel to Sword of the Lanterns]

Chapter Twelve- Launch

DC WATTYS ARE BACK AND THIS SERIES IS GOING IN THE GREEN LANTERN CATEGORY!!! AGAIN!!!!

Carol looked over the paperwork Jaina had given her as they both walked the halls of Ferris Aircraft, sipping on lattes from the cafe.

"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting your little friend to be this thorough." Carol shook her head.

Jaina smirked. "Nightwing's awesome. He recently took over leadership, and he can hack anything almost as fast as BB-8. Doing this was child's play for him." Jaina smiled down at her shoes. "He reminds me of my little brother."

Carol smiled sadly at Jaina, who went suspiciously quiet.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Jaina shook her head. "No, I didn't come here for that. I came here to get away from that, leave it all behind."

Carol put her hand over Jaina's, their pink and green rings tapping against each other. "I know you'd like to pretend that what happened to you never happened at all. I tried to do that when I first got my ring. Eventually, though, it caught up with me, and I had to face it. I had to become Star Sapphire."

Jaina looked at the serious expression on Carol's face, then pulled her hand out of reach. "Not just yet. I...I'm not ready."

Carol shook her head and hugged Jaina tightly, the ring on her finger glowing brightly. "You, Jaina Solo, are the most stubborn woman I've ever met. And that's coming from me."

Jaina laughed and the two continued their walk down the halls, when the flighty secretary who had shown Jaina to Carol's office ran up behind them, stopping to rub her ankles and catch her breath.

"Miss Ferris! Miss Ferris!" She implored. "It's Cape Canaveral on the phone!"

"Thank you Tasha, I'll be there in a moment."

Tasha sighed, rolling her eyes and running back to the office in a wobbly sort of way.

"Cape Canaveral?" Jaina asked.

Carol continued the walk at a leisurely pace. "Hal got me to join the Earth-Mars communication initiative, an organization committed to developing communication between Earth and Mars, Martian Manhunter's home planet. And maybe even other worlds. Cape Canaveral is the perfect place to launch a rocket to deliver an Earth-Mars communication satellite into the atmosphere."

"But you don't make rockets, you make planes." Jaina pointed out.

Carol shrugged. "We're flexible."

She lead Jaina out onto the walkway that stretched over the hangar. Jaina could still see the old trusty YT-13 model Hal had taken her for a spin in, and what was left of those "X" models that replaced the ones she used to fight Doctor Polaris.

Carol stopped in the middle of the walkway, watching her employees hard at work below. "There are a lot of people who aren't though, we've had plenty of opposition towards building our satellite and rocket. Several of the solar panels went missing last week. The guys from Boeing air you caught weren't the only incident we've had lately."

She turned to Jaina. "Can I ask if you and your team will watch the satellite launch? Make sure it doesn't get busted up before liftoff?"

Jaina smirked, her typical lopsided grin. "Way ahead of you Carol, 'Wing thinks the Light might try to sabotage the launch so that we can't call out to other planets for help if you guys get invaded by more not-so-friendly aliens. I'll be there!"

Carol sighed in relief that was short-lived as her walkie-talkie hissed with another reminder from Tasha.

"Well, do you wanna get out there?" 

"Huh?" Jaina caught the pilot's helmet that Carol threw at her chest.

"Yeah, you're my best pilot, aren't you?" Carol waved Jaina towards the stairs at the end of the walkway.

"Wait," Jaina stopped halfway towards the stairs Carol indicated. "You're hiring me?"

"Is that even a question?" Carol splayed her arms. "I've had Hal's old locker with your name on it for a month now! Go on and fly those jets, your jumpsuit and your flight schedule is in the locker."

Jaina snatched the set of locker keys Carol tossed her, which also included a copy of the keys to Hal's emerald green Prius, and ran down the stairs.

She was never leaving Earth again.

-------

"They're both gonna wind up our responsibility, aren't they?"

"Not necessarily," Nightwing tried to assure Mal. "The real Roy- Speedy- is recuperating at Royal Memorial in Star City. Arrows Red and Green are watching over him. And Bart, Impulse, is staying with Jay and Joan Garrick in Central City."

Jaina didn't meet Red Arrow the last time she was on Earth. However, she did know that he was particularly close to Kaldur, Wally, and Dick before they started the team, and turned out to be a clone, just like Connor. For the past five years, after discovering he was a clone, he'd been tirelessly searching for his original. Jaina was glad to see that at least someone was accomplishing their goal around here.

"Uh-huh, they're both going to wind up our responsibility." Mal repeated.

"Doesn't everything?" Connor snapped.

"I mean, she's a great kid and all, but we've already got our hands full with Jessica and her power ring!" Mal sighed.

Jaina glared at Mal before punching him halfway across the room.

"Jessica isn't anyone's responsibility, go that? And if anyone makes her feel like she's a burden on top of what she's trying to fight daily, then I will punch you into next year!" She threatened.

"Noted," Mal said, slowly standing up and rubbing the back of his head. Nightwing and Superboy looked at each other awkwardly.

"So, where are we on finding the Light's new partner?" Connor changed the subject.

"The abductees we found in Bialya last month were all captured after your Malina Island and the Kroloteans were destroyed, so who were Queen Bee and her drones working for?" Jaina

Nightwing pinched the bridge of his nose. "We don't know yet."

The four of them looked up as laughter echoed from down the hall.

"Not so fast, La'gaan!" M'gann said as La'gaan tossed several more crab cakes into his mouth.

Connor groaned quietly, and Jaina patted his back as his ex and La'gaan continued to flirt. "Call me when it's time for the briefing."

"Recognize; Artemis, B07."

Nightwing grinned. "Time for the briefing."

Even thought they'd seen her just a week ago, M'gann and Jaina dashed over to the zeta-tubes and hugged Artemis tightly.

"What are you doing here?" Jaina asked.

"'Wing asked if I wanted to do one more mission. You know me, I couldn't say no. Wally wasn't too happy about it, but it wasn't like he was going to say no to me." She grinned.

"Alright everyone, listen up," Nightwing said, sounding like the tutor Jaina had back on Corellia.

"The Ferris Aircraft launch of their Earth-Mars communications satellite is at 2130, roughly ten hours from now. There are people out there who don't even like the idea of aliens, and will do anything to scrub this launch."

M'gann looked to the floor, clearly upset, but Artemis put a hand on her shoulder.

"But that's why I came back. Because not all of us feel that way."

"So why are you going?" Mal asked Nightwing suspiciously. Jaina studied the team's "new" (relatively speaking) leader, arms folded across her chest.

Nightwing shrugged. "Well, after leading this team for half a year, I'm peckish for a little action."

For some reason, Jaina could sense the hesitancy in his voice. But what in the galaxy could Nightwing be keeping from the team?