Title: Insubordinate
Author: AdraLoran & NicolaAfyon
Rating: PG-PG13

Chapter One - Fight

Adra grimaced as Inyri climbed over the hanger wall, a good ten feet from the floor.  She would've used the Force to get her daughter back except the only thing that was keeping her on her feet at this very moment was her demanding help from the Force.  Silently she reminded herself that she had to remain awake long enough to talk to Face.  Her two and a half year old was caught by Mace Windu just as she jumped.  Adra walked over slowly, a smile dimly lighting her face.  Master Windu set Inyri on her feet, holding one of her hands as they crossed the hanger to meet.

With a smile, the Jedi master transferred the girl's hand from his to her mother's.  Adra gave the master a thankful nod in accompaniment to her thanks in the Force.  Mace Windu nodded once in return before he walked back into the Temple.  Adra felt the tug on her hand just as Inyri tried to go see some ships she hadn't noticed before.  She grabbed the ladder currently hooked to the durasteel siding of her cockpit to keep from falling over.  This definitely wasn't the time to have an energetic two and a half year old all to herself for a day.  Two hands found their way to her shoulders and a voice accompanied them soon after.

"Inyri, what are you trying to do?  Pull Mommy into the durasteel?"  A mental sigh of relief floated across Adra's mind as Face took a hand from her shoulder to grab the toddler's hand.

* * * * *

Behind Jade, Nicola sat watching the computer screen.  Jade's hands moved nonstop over the keyboard for a full five minutes before abruptly coming to a halt.  Nicola glanced at the screen, wondering if Jade were done already.  The screen still had blanks.  A crease growing along her brow, she looked around to see Jade's face.  The woman was staring at the screen, sort of, but appeared to be more intertwined with the Force at this point.  About to wave a hand in front of Jade's nose, just to be sure, the Jedi looked over at Nicola sharply.

"Adra."

It was one word, but immediate suspicions ran across Nicola's head.  First thing to pop up was 'no, I'm Nicola, not Adra' before the thought that something had happened to Adra sprouted.  Not knowing if she wanted the answer, she looked back at Jade, her face appearing calm.

"What about her?"  It would no doubt be answered by three to five words, considering Jade didn't find any use for them.

"She's pregnant."  The answer came quicker than Nicola had expected and it certainly wasn't what she'd expected.  Though she knew better than to doubt Jade, Nicola found it a bit startling.  Then the memory of what Adra said about being up all night came back to her head.  That would be why Adra said nothing:  she wasn't positive of the fact, even with the Force.  Throwing up at 0200 would've affirmed it for her.

* * * * *

"It was needless disregard for orders, that's what it was!"

Face's voice carried over the distance of the room.  He was standing at the door, Adra herself by the table.  The highlighted topic was Adra's missing of an information conference that the squadron leaders and other important military personal based on Coruscant had to attend.  Because she was one of the two New Republic computer hackers, the 'invitation' was also extended to her.  And she'd missed it.  That wasn't exactly her fault.  She'd gotten sick that morning and didn't want to give it to anyone else.  Of course, her perspective on the 'sickness' was also different now.  With aid from the Force, the final analysis was far from the throwing up thing being over within a week.  Face had been more than a little upset, considering he'd taken the blame for it from Wedge and General bel Iblis, but it wasn't exactly as if it could've been avoided.  Face had known she'd not been feeling well, but apparently it hadn't had enough standing.  Now he was tacking that on to her disobeying an order in a recent furball and marking her actions as insubordination.

"That's all fine and great Face; you knew even before you met me that I had a record for being iffy about following orders I don't agree with.  Don't start flipping out about it now," she retorted, her tone much more calm than his, even if on the inside she was burning with rage.

"Yeah, and it's a shame I didn't read more into it.  Just because you're married to me doesn't give you a sudden ability to disregard military orders on account of having a squadron commander to vouch for you-"

Her expression darkened quickly and she all but jumped from her seat.  "How dare you say that?  In case you've forgotten, I was getting along very well without you, even before Nicola got us to stop fighting!  I was perfectly fine being a Jedi Knight, a computer hacker and an insubordinate pilot.  Don't you go dismissing the fact that Nicola and I ran Wild Knights before Wedge passed his stupid thing on only being on one squadron roster.  I'm not a complete idiot who couldn't survive without orders to meet, Garik Loran."

Face mouthed wordlessly at her as she completed her outburst.  Instead of thinking of a comeback, he turned on his heel and headed for the door.  Adra stared daggers at Face's back, watching him walk heatedly from the room.  The moment the door closed though, she was fighting back tears.  Just another oh-so-wonderful side affect of pregnancy:  being overly emotional.  But the fact that he'd accused her of using the fact that she was married to him as an easy way out of listening to orders was beyond it.  It was unfair to assume such a thing just because of one error.  Adra quickly whipped the tears from her cheeks, oblivious to the fact that she was now sitting on the couch.  Inyri was off with the Antilles girls, which was probably a good thing.  Only half knowing what she was thinking, she dialed up Iella's com.

"Antilles."  The reply was immediate.

"Hi Iella, it's Adra.  Look, I was wondering, would you mind if Inyri spent the night?  I know you'd offered it before, but I wasn't sure if you'd made plans."

Iella listened patiently as Adra finished.  There was a few seconds' pause, but it was quickly filled.  "Of course Inyri can stay here.  I'll send Wedge over after dinner to collect some clothes for her."
"Thanks so much, Iella.  Have a good night."  Iella relayed the same message back then the Adra turned the comunit off.

Silently, Adra walked out of the room, fingers on her right hand brushing the wall as she walked towards the sims.  Once inside the room, she slipped a datacard into the computer.  It was almost five years old now, and she had made it when she first joined the Wraiths.  The words written on it were faded to the point where one really needed to try to interpret.  In the last three years, the disk hadn't been used as much as it had before then.  But it was still used.  Whenever Face and Adra got in a fight, Face would usually end up leaving the room.  So she would just go and grab her datacard and make due with that.  Adra climbed into the sim cockpit, getting settled easily.  Her flight helmet donned, she looked over the controls.