A/N: Remnants of the Storm is the sequel to my other story, Price of Duty, and I encourage you to read it before you begin this one. So, without further ado, here's the Prologue!
Prologue
7 BBY
"Commander?" Rebecca Storm paused in tapping at the control panel in front of her as she turned to Lieutenant Gilda, who held a hologram projector in her hand.
"Yes, Lieutenant? What's wrong?" Rebecca was immediately on guard, wondering if the Empire had somehow tracked them to the remote location they had been at for the past few days. They always seemed to get stronger every day, even with the Kalifa rebel cell's victories in other systems against them.
"It's Dakota Farthing, Commander. She's asking for you again." Rebecca sighed. It had been quite a while since she had last spoken to or met with her friend due to her responsibilities in the Shadow Squadron, and it had started to take a toll on their friendship. They always seemed to argue whenever they spoke lately, and their last meeting had not exactly ended too well. True, Dakota had tried to contact Rebecca a few times since, but she had avoided or ignored each one.
It was the one thing she was best at. But maybe it was time she put that kind of thinking behind her.
"I'll take it in my quarters, thanks." Rebecca waved away the Lieutenant and walked into her quarters. She picked up the comlink at her desk hesitantly. What if Dakota was still angry? But she quickly waved away that thought; Dakota had never been that way. That was more of Rebecca's own way, to be honest. She switched on the comm, and was greeted by the hologram of her oldest living friend.
"Rebecca," Dakota nodded at her, having no indication that she was still angry, though she smiled cautiously. "How have you been?"
Rebecca warily chuckled. "Tired, to be honest, Dakota. Fighting against the Empire can be rough work sometimes."
"Wars always are." Dakota's eyes were filled with understanding. "Don't think I've forgotten what they're like."
"Yeah," Rebecca shifted, uncomfortable with what she would have to do. She was never very good at this kind of thing. "Look, I'm…sorry about what happened last time. I should have trusted you knew what you were doing."
"It's fine; I understand why you wanted to do what you wanted to do. It's a very natural, and expected, reaction, given the circumstances," Dakota patiently answered. Rebecca shook her head in disbelief. Dakota was such a forgiving, second-chance type of person. Sometimes it grated on her nerves, like when she was respectful to people Rebecca knew didn't deserve it, like Scales Daladob. Nevertheless, she had to admit it was a quality she admired about her friend.
"So," Dakota continued, "how are the girls?"
Rebecca genuinely laughed, relieved for the subject change. "What you would expect, Dakota. They want to know everything that's happening and won't stop asking questions. They love it." Her expression became worried as she thought about them. She just hoped that their minds would change when they got older. They would always be too young for this kind of life to her.
"What about Rex? Have you given any thought to what I said about him, because he needs to know, Rebecca." Dakota said earnestly. "You can't keep this from him forever. He deserves to know."
Rebecca rubbed her forehead. Yes, Dakota was right about that. She did need to tell him, regardless of Daku's threats. She couldn't live in fear of him any longer; that was no type of life to live. "I'll send a transmission, but I can't vouch for how it'll go about. It's been years since I've been in contact with him. He'll probably get angry at me, to be honest."
"There are consequences for every decision, Rebecca, but you have to learn to get through it, regardless."
"I know." Rebecca fingered the silver ring with the sapphire-blue stone on her necklace nervously. It was time. "I'll do it soon."
Dakota smiled reassuringly as her hologram flickered. "I hope so."
Suddenly, the alarm blared in her room. Dakota cocked her head. "What's that?"
Rebecca's heart started hammering in her rib cage as her head shot up. Oh, no. "I have to go, Dakota. I'll comm you later!" She cut off the call before Dakota could answer, and ran out to the bridge.
Her worst nightmare was finally realized: the Empire had found them.
A/N: So, I've finally started updating Remnants of the Storm! Yay! I've decided to start updating now because I'm not sure if I'll be able to update during the summer months; there's a lot going on then: me moving back to the USA, attending a college, getting a job, et cetera. You know, regular old stuff in life, and I'm going to be updating about every two weeks until then.
Also, I'm going to tell you why Rebecca and Dakota were having arguments at this point, because I doubt I'll be able to incorporate it into the story, and I have an extended head-canon about this trilogy. An Imperial agent had been shot down by Kalifan rebels and crashed onto the planet, getting badly injured. Dakota pulled him from the wreckage, and took him back to her house, nursing him back to health and tending to his injuries, because she tends to be a "Good Samaritan" about these kinds of things. Rebecca found out that Dakota was healing this Imperial, and asked (actually, demanded) that Dakota turn him over to her to be interrogated. Of course, Dakota refused, since he wasn't finished healing, and moving him could turn his healing injuries fatal. So, they got into a huge fight about, with Rebecca ending up threatening Dakota with a blaster before leaving (war-like times can be pretty rough on Rebecca's psyche). Hence, the tensions mentioned in the prologue.
As always, reviews are food for a fanfiction writer's soul! Let me know what you think!
