Office hours [all day]

[sith_happened]

Anakin had meant to get started on his Christmas shopping, but had instead gotten sucked into watching episodes of a random reality show called XFire.

He probably wasn't supposed to be rooting for the snipers with the paint guns.

The door was open.

Comments

[solo_sword]

Having missed last week, Jaina was knocking on the door this morning when she took a break from playing war goddess.

[sith_happened]

Anakin stopped watching his screen. "Jaina!"

[solo_sword]

"Glad to see me?" she guessed, stepping inside.

[sith_happened]

"Always," Anakin replied, smiling. "Grab a seat."

[solo_sword]

Jaina sat, maybe looking a little thrown. "You're in a good mood."

[sith_happened]

"I survived telling Rory's grandparents they're going to be great-grandparents," he admitted.

[solo_sword]

Hm. Jaina vaguely wondered if she would have sided with them. "Congratulations. I'm sure they were very threatening."

[sith_happened]

"In their own way," Anakin said mildly. "I'm not exactly going to challenge Richard to a duel. How was your trip?"

[solo_sword]

"Stressful," she admitted. "I've got some pretty big stuff I'm working on right now. And oh, a whole reformed squadron. Surprise."

[sith_happened]

"That is a surprise," he agreed. "Any particular reason for the shake-up?"

[solo_sword]

"Rather than one really good squadron, they're separating us into one really good squadron and two filled with rookies," Jaina grumbled. "Kyp's reforming his squadron, and Jag's back with his Chiss squadron. And I've got to retrain a lot of green pilots while I'm not there."

[sith_happened]

"Sounds difficult," Anakin said dryly. "Are you planning to record yourself yelling at them for doing something stupid? They can play it on a loop in the sims."

[solo_sword]

"They're still in training, not doing a lot of fighting yet. They'd get picked off immediately," she said. "I check in via holo, and I've got people I trust in charge while I'm away."

[sith_happened]

"It still has to make you a little twitchy, right?" Anakin commented.

[solo_sword]

"Oh, completely. Especially since they don't have a ton of experience themselves." She paused, adding, "And John's on my reserves now."

[sith_happened]

It took an iron will not to have his eyes bug out at that news. "He's flying X-Wings?"

[solo_sword]

"He went through flight school," Jaina said. "Did well enough to earn himself a spot. And thanks to Fandom he's already got more experience than most of my rookies."

[sith_happened]

"You'd be okay with him in your squadron?" Anakin asked carefully. "I need any number of incredibly stupid things trying to protect Obi-Wan when we flew together."

[solo_sword]

See, that was why she wondered. "I'd rather him be around than in some other squadron where I didn't know what was happening," she said honestly. "If I wasn't okay with it, he wouldn't be on my roster. Simple as that. I can't afford to pay more attention to one person than everyone else in this situation."

Which was part of why she'd agreed to get him into the flight school before they broke up her squadron.

[sith_happened]

"As long as you're sure," Anakin said. "And don't beat yourself up too badly if things change the first time an op goes completely haywire." He gave her a slightly abashed smile. "I completely disregarded orders one time to go rescue Artoo, and while he was a friend, he's not exactly alive."

[solo_sword]

"He and Threepio are different. What do you mean if things change when things go haywire?"

[sith_happened]

"If you fly into an ambush and the entire sky is full of fire, don't be surprised if your first instinct is to find him," Anakin said quietly. "It doesn't make you less of a pilot."

[solo_sword]

"I've done that sort of thing before. It does make me less of a leader." Let's not talk about who she did that for.

[sith_happened]

"Why do you think so?" Anakin asked, voice neutral.

[solo_sword]

"I disobeyed direct orders and compromised an objective in order to save one person. I couldn't get Kyp to go on, either, so I put him in danger. That's not what you're supposed to do when you're in charge of those people."

She'd do it again in a second.