WHILE OTHERS SHONE LIKE FIRE

By LS

CHAPTER ONE – SIGNAL 30

"I still maintain that we could have gone after the fire rubies."

Lux turns around in his seat in disbelief, eyes boggled at Hutch. "What do you mean, we could have gone after the fire rubies?"

"The guy had a bag of them. Do you know how much those things are worth on the HoloNet?" Hutch cries. "I could have auctioned them off thirty different people, no questions asked, and we would have been able to put fuel in the ship for two years, no problem!"

"Before or after we pay for the stuff for my broken nose?" Saw asks. "Unless you were planning on magically lifting them with the power of the HoloNet, I'm the one who has to walk in and actually pick up a bag of illegal fire rubies. And I don't want to be the guy who takes thousands of credits' worth of gems from the desk guy, who's really a hired gun."

"And how can you tell he's a hired gun?"

"Last I checked, desk guys don't routinely carry ceramic vibroblades."

No one really can argue with that. Saw and Hutch's discussion fizzles out, and the only sound is the road noise of the speeder's servos and the air rushing through Lux's cracked window.

"I'd like to commend you all on such an excellent job grifting, especially since Sierra wasn't there to prompt," Tandin says, breaking the silence. "The ladies would be very impressed."

"Why weren't they here again?" Saw asks.

"Because Ahsoka is supposedly a Togrutan princess who the mark paid through the nose to spring from custody, and the rest of the girls were her advisors and allies," Lux explains. "It's the Spanish Prisoner, Hutch. We told the mark that we worked for Ahsoka, who was in custody by a rival tribe, and if he donated to help her escape then she would reward him handsomely. We started out with a couple hundred credits, and then brought him news about Ahsoka, pictures of her, and all the while we upped the donations. He's shelled out plenty for the Alliance, and for those mine workers who lost their jobs."

"Why'd he keep donating?"

The mark stared at the hologram, barely believing his eyes. "Princess Vasthee?"

"Yes, I am Princess Zaa Vashtee," Ahsoka said, her smile dazzling even on the hologram, even more dazzling than the bejeweled headdress on her head. "And I am forever in your debt, sir. Thank you for helping my men deliver me from custody."

If only he knew that on the other end of the transmission the gems in the headdress were mere plastic, Ahsoka was faking the genteel speech from a truly impressive number of movies, and one room over Steela Gerrera was trying with all her might to keep Ahsoka's two kids from eating Play-Dough.

"We produced holographic and video evidence that Ahsoka had escaped, and when we came around today it was just for the final donation to get her court on its feet again. That's why I thought we could still go after those fire rubies." Hutch sulks.

"You have his banking information; don't get too greedy," Rex admonishes.

"I'm a thief! It's my job to be greedy, at least a little. It's not like you don't steal, and don't tell me you object to the stuff Steela pickpockets."

"I never steal too much, and neither does she."

"No, but you two steal what you like. Maybe you should steal her an engagement ring."

Rex stammers. "W-what?"

"Well you're going to marry her, right?" Lux jests.

"Of course, but not right now." It's all Rex can do not to gently smack his friends, as he would his brothers. Did the joke about marriage end when he and Steela got together? No. Would it be a hundred times worse if Fives, Hardcase, and the rest of the 501st was behind it? Oh, most certainly yes.

"You just need some lessons in being smooth," Hutch jokes, using his hand to smooth back his hair. "Here's how you do it, Rex. You've got to be all hey, Steela." He crosses his arms and leans up against the edge of his seat with a cocky grin plastered on his face. "I've been thinking, it's about time we take our relationship up to the next level."

"Not another word, Hutch," Rex says, captain face on. "That's disrespectful – if I said that to Steela, she would draw and quarter me!"

"Yeah, she is kind of intense."

"Does Hero know you talk like this?"

Hutch bleaches. "I was just joking around, Rex. I mean, Hero and I get a little flirtatious, but nothing like this. Don't tell her!"

There's a tense silence, and then Rex guffaws. "You should have seen the look on your face, St. James!"

The tension evaporates, and all the men laugh.

"Hutch is in no place to lecture you anyway, Rex." Saw says. "When he asked Hero out the first time, he was so nervous he could barely speak!"

"Gentlemen," Tandin interjects. "Enough with torturing Rex and Hutch Let's enjoy the ride back to the ship and listen to the radio."

"That sounds like a good idea," Lux agrees and reaches for the dials. "What station? I'm willing to listen to anything that isn't kids' music."

It only takes an instant, a fraction of a second where Lux's eyes are on the radio dials and not focused on the road ahead of him. A fraction of a second for his blind steering to slip, or something to flash through his peripheral vision unnoticed.

When asked about it later, no one knows how it happened. All they remember is the sound of laughter and happiness in the speeder; Lux's fingers teasing the first strains of a funky song out of the radio speakers.

And then there's nothing but slamming impact and twisting durasteel, the funky song forever silenced by the scream of metal on metal and the wailing of sirens.

The fire department and the stormtroopers arrive on the scene, signaled by a bevy of frantic calls reporting the accident.

A laundry van with a twisted bumper is parked next to the destroyed speeder, its driver pacing the ground until one of the officers approaches him.

"Their light turned red right before they hit the intersection," he babbles. "I tried to stop or swerve around them, but it all happened so fast…"

"It's all right," the officer reassures him. The fire department buzzes around the vehicle, lifting the passengers onto stretchers.

"I keep a crowbar in my trunk. I pried their doors open so they could get out, but they couldn't do it. I didn't touch them or anything because I know you're not supposed to, and that guy with the blue speeder used his fire extinguisher to make sure nothing was on fire," the van driver babbles.

"You did the right thing," the officer confirms. "I'm going to ask you to come down to the station with me to fill out an accident report, but first I need to notify these men's families of what happened. Do you know any of them?" The driver shakes his head, so the officer moves on to his backup plan. Once the paramedics have the men loaded onto stretchers, he grabs each's bag of personal effects and sifts through it until he finds a comlink he can unlock.

He pores through the contacts. Unfortunately for him, the comlink's owner is a fan of nicknames – no "Mom" or "Dad" in sight. He finds such gems as "Scary Woman", "General Awesome," "Lucky Boy" and "T-Rex", but nothing which count point him to the man's family. He's about to just pick one of the contacts – "Scary Woman" looks promising – until he finds it on his second scroll through. "Sister", decorated with a little happy face.

He dials the number and pulls out the man's ID, reading his name.

"Hey, you guys are late!"

"Ma'am, my name is Officer Short," the officer says, his stomach twisting in knots. "Are you the next of kin to Mr. Jaime Vashtor?"

STEELA

"The guys were supposed to be back by now."

Hero eyes the dinner table suspiciously. "I can only keep lunch warm for so long, and 'so long' is coming to an end, quick. Ahsoka and I have kids to feed, and after a while jogan slices just don't cut it anymore."

"Forget this," Ahsoka looks into the common room, where Tav sits on the floor playing with his tooka doll. "Tav, it's time for lunch. I don't know where your father is."

Tav throws down Mr. Tooka and zooms over to the table. "What are we having, Mommy?"

Thank goodness Tav grew out of his "I will eat nothing but chicken nuggets" phase a while ago. When Ahsoka tells him "Bantha burgers," Tav's only response is to ask for ketchup.

"How about you, Kiara?" Ahsoka asks her daughter as she straps her into the highchair. "Do you want carrots, or peas?"

"Pi!" Kiara shrieks. She's in the stage where she only says fragments of words or sentences, and I think it's adorable.

"Peas! What a great choice." She opens up the jar of pureed peas and fills her spoon.

Mina pulls out her chair and takes a seat at the table. "As much as I hate to leave the men behind, lunch is getting cold. Sierra, please pass the mustard."

Sierra has only just reached for the mustard bottle to hand to her mom when my comlink rings. I dig it out of my pocket to check the screen.

"Steela," Mina admonishes.

"I know, no comlinks at the table. But it's Saw," I explain and pick up. "Hey, you guys are late!"

The voice on the other end of the comlink isn't Saw's. "Ma'am, my name is Officer Short. Are you the next of kin to Mr. Jaime Vashtor?"

I'm about to just hang up on the guy until I remember just where I've heard "Jaime Vashtor" before – it's Saw's alias. "Yes, I'm his sister. Is something wrong?"

"Ma'am, I'm calling to inform you that Jaime and his friends have been involved in a speeder accident."

"What's going on?" Sierra asks, apparently gauging from my face that something is horribly wrong.

"Speeder crash?" I repeat.

All activity at the table stops cold.

"Yes ma'am, they failed to yield at a red light and were broadsided by an oncoming vehicle. All passengers have been taken to Rampart General Medcenter. Can you give me contact details for their next of kin?"

"They're all here with me; the guys were supposed to meet us for lunch. Are they okay?"

"They are all alive."

Thank God. I cover the speaker on my comlink with my hand. "The guys got in a speeder accident. They're taking them to Rampart Medcenter now."

"Rampart?" Sierra repeats. "Steela, Rampart is a public medcenter. As in, Imperial-run."

Great. "Officer, I need you to change the ambulance's destination. Rampart General, um, violates our religious beliefs!"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but there's nothing I can do. The ambulances have already departed."

"Okay, thank you for notifying me." I hang up. "We need to get to the medcenter; they can't deviate at this point." At the moment, two guys in particular are jockeying for my attention. Saw is an idiot on the road and Rex, well, who doesn't worry when their boyfriend gets into an accident? And then there's Tandin – he's not as young as he once was.

"Oh my force," Ahsoka frets, grabbing her headtails. "Oh my force, Oh my force."

Tav puts down his bantha burger. "Mommy? Are you okay?"

Ahsoka takes a second to collect herself in front of her children. "Yes, Tav. I'm just worried about Daddy. How about you eat your lunch, and when you're done you can put your plate in the sink and go back to playing with Mr. Tooka?" Tav nods and goes back to his lunch, and Ahsoka locks eyes with me.

"Steela, I'm sure Rex is okay. He's survived some rough landings before."

"I'm sure Lux is fine too." But how do we know? It's not like the officer told me anything!

Sierra snaps us out of our worrywart state with the last thing we need: more problems. "How are we going to get to the medcenter? We don't have a speeder!"

"There's a public transport which arrives at the entrance of the docks in five minutes," Mina says, her calm exterior masking what's doubtlessly a roiling sea of terror. "Ladies, we need to hurry."

"But what about the kids?"

Hero takes care of that problem in three seconds flat: she plops Molly into Katooni's arms, grabs Kiara's spoon and holds it out to her daughter.

"You're on duty," she orders. "Their bedtime is at seven, make macaroni and cheese for dinner, and I'll call you from the medcenter when I know more."

"Is Dad going to be okay?" Katooni asks, balancing her sister on one hip to take Kiara's spoon with the other.

"If I know one thing about your dad, it's that he has a hard head," Hero reassures. "All right ladies, we have five minutes to make the transport. Let's go!"

You all knew this story was coming. In fact, many of you wished me luck with it or even asked for it in all caps (You know who you are) and that made me very, very happy. I'm proud to present this for you!

Rampart General Medcenter is a callout to the series "Emergency!". Great old show. Speaking of shows, "Signal 30" is the name of a film I had to watch for driver's education. (I do not recommend looking it up. It's the type of film which is meant to scare the bejeezus out of young drivers.)

The guys may not be in as much trouble as the characters on Emergency or the poor people who ended up in "Signal 30", but they're still in it deep. Please feel free to leave a review on your way out.

Until next time,

LS