CHAPTER THREE – REX, MEET MORPHINE

STEELA

I am not happy when Sierra says we need to have an urgent meeting in the women's refresher. My bad mood gets worse when I see she's bringing company, and it explodes once said company lifts her head and shoots me that cocky, I'm-so-awesome grin.

"No freaking way."

"I tried, but she remembered that there's no way Saw and I could be married." Sierra says sourly.

"How did you find us?" Hero demands, getting up in Jenn's business.

"I just work here," Jenn says, throwing up her hands. "Look, Sierra here already said I was in."

"My name isn't Sierra," Sierra desperately tries to cover.

"Sure, and rocks are alive."

"Why do you want to work with us?" I ask, eyebrow raised. "You hate us."

"With the searing heat of all the volcanoes on Mustafar," Jenn admits. "But as much as I do, I like not drowning in my student loans more. You think I make money?"

"You're the nurse. We're the ones who live on a ship," I point out.

"I'm a Pantoran and this is the Empire. They pay us half what they pay the human nurses," she says bitterly. "And we don't have health insurance, either. I mean, what's the logic in that? I work in a hospital, and they won't give me health insurance!"

Okay, I have to admit that's ridiculous.

"I wanted to stay near my old friends from college, but nobody on Kuat would hire me so I had to move and so did Rani," Jenn continues. "We got an apartment and we can make the rent and the minimum payments on our loans. So here's the short version of why I'm working with you: I need the money."

Hero nods. Out of all of us, she was the brokest in her early years. And I haven't a doubt in my mind that she would work with con men if it meant helping to pay her bills. (Heck, I would work with hitmen.)

"And before you consider trying to cut me out, just remember I have proof that all the guys have committed fraud."

"Fine," Ahsoka relents. "You can work with us, as long as you follow all instructions, and no freelancing. I don't care if they offer you the Imperial Mint or you see a pot of credits at the end of a rainbow, we can't afford to have any liabilities where the guys are concerned."

"You really can't," Jenn says. "Good choice. You won't regret it."

I already do. "You're a nurse. What are the procedures regarding identification?"

"Your guys have one huge advantage; they're not John Does," Jenn says. "If that was the case the hospital would be actively investigating their identities. But since they came in with actual names and next of kin, then no investigation is pending unless the doctors need past medical records."

"I already took care of that, on that chart they gave me to fill out," Sierra says.

Mina shakes her head. "That's just the medical history. The records would be things like doctor's notes, lab reports, or radiology. And if they don't find those in the men's files, then they'll contact their physicians to obtain them. Which doctor's comm number is on the charts?"

"It'll go to a computer at Senator Organa's med bay," Hero explains. "The way Hutch explained it, the software is programmed to write over the actual medical records with the alias' information. So if they do that, we should be okay as long as we have the aliases programmed into the system."

"Are they?"

Hero looks to her feet. "Hutch does the guys' aliases and I do the girls'."

"Well can you check?" I demand. If those aliases aren't in the system Hero will have to plug them in, and that means she'll have to go back to the ship to get at the computer, which means we'll be down yet another man.

"Hutch's computer should be in with his personal effects so he'll have the final information, but let me try with my comlink. Bear in mind I'm not the hacker …" about thirty seconds later, she looks back up. "My best guess? They're in. Hutch said he planned for eight electronic contingencies, and a medical emergency is always one of them."

"Still, we can't stay here forever," I worry. "No matter how good Hutch's contingencies are, this hospital is still hooked up to Imperial databases. If they run the guys' prints we have an hour to get out of here – tops."

Mina turns to Jenn. "Have they?"

"Nobody at my station said anything about inking them."

"We don't have to worry about that for now, but don't forget about it either," Ahsoka says. "We have to get the guys out of here as efficiently and quietly and possible, and the best way I can think to pull that off is going to be through a transfer to a private hospital."

Jenn snorts.

"Is something funny?" Ahsoka asks.

"Good luck with that," the Pantoran replies. "Transferring one patient is bad enough, but five? You're going to need three ambulances to pull that off, or have one make three trips. Your odds of blocking out an ambulance for that amount of time are about as good as winning the lottery. And plus, there's triage. Your guys are on the bottom of the ambulance priority list."

"Great! So that's not going to work," I cry in frustration. "What's the next best option, having Jenn run some hot records past the docs to get them to discharge the guys early?"

"We can't do that," Sierra says quickly. "I'm not sure about the other guys, but Saw needs to be in the hospital, with his equipment. He has a catheter in."

Mina nods. "She's right. John had to have a urinary catheter once after he was injured at Aargonaar – when the doctors removed it, he was not a happy man. I may be Superwoman, but I draw the line at catheters."

If Mina won't touch it with a ten-foot pole then I don't want to either. But that just creates more problems. "If we can't get them transferred, and we can't get them discharged early, and we can't just let this run its course, then what are we supposed to do?"

There's silence for a moment and all eyes go to Ahsoka. She's the former Jedi, and even though Mina holds the absolute authority on the ship, on the job even she listens to Lux and Ahsoka.

"We have to steal the hospital."

Jenn chokes. "Steal the hospital?"

"Ahsoka, are you nuts?" Hero asks. "We're operating with half a crew. We can't do this!"

"Why not? We're con artists too."

"Steal the hospital?" Jenn repeats.

"Yeah, but right now we're con artists who are down two shills, a hitter, a hacker, and a mastermind!" I cry.

"So what? We can do this."

"Ahsoka, this isn't a con. This is a heist," Sierra says. "Steela is the only one here who works with heists. The rest of us are shills, a roper, and a grifter."

"Steal the hospital?" Jenn bleats.

Mina quickly crosses the room and takes Jenn by the arm. "Breathe deep and slow, dear. Don't hyperventilate."

Ahsoka gives Sierra a withering look.

"We are not just two shills, a grifter, and a roper. Mina raised two children, adopted four more, and got me when I married Lux, and she still managed to be the scariest Senator in Parliament! Hero fought for the rebellion. Steela led the rebellion. You helped tear down the Lazarus Project. And me?" she draws herself to her full height and puffs out her chest. "I was a Jedi."

I look over my shoulder to see if Jenn heard that. She isn't listening; instead she's blissfully distracted by Mina.

"If you say that a Jedi, two rebels, a grifter, and Senator BonScary can't steal a hospital, then I say you're wrong!" Ahsoka continues. "We've watched the guys do their jobs before, and sometimes we've done them in their places. And so help me Unifar, we're going to do it again."

"And exactly how are we going to accomplish that?" I ask with my arms crossed.

"Hero, you're the hacker," Ahsoka says gleefully. "Sierra, you're still the grifter but we're going to throw in some mastermind duties -."

"Please tell me you did not just give Sierra authority," Hero says.

I stifle a laugh. "She said it, not me!"

Sierra slugs first Hero, then me. It barely hurts.

Ahsoka continues. "And your reactions are precisely why I'm taking the other half of mastermind duty, as well as half the hitter duty. Steela, you have the other half. And Mina, if you'll pick up the slack in the shill department?"

"Of course," Mina redirects her attention to Jenn. "Are you alright now?"

"Are you guys thieves?" Jenn asks.

I pause and weigh the possible responses. Yes. No. Sort of.

But surprising to no one, Mina comes up with the words first. "We're seekers of justice, Jenn, and we use whatever means we can to find it."

To her eternal credit, Jenn shrugs. "As long as I get paid."

…

When I was called in for the emergency refresher meeting, Rex was just starting to stir after his head injury and the cocktail of drugs. An altered state of consciousness is never a good thing, so I go back to his room while Ahsoka and Sierra work out the plans.

Rex reclines in his bed, popping his lips.

"Rex?"

"I feel fuzzy."

Uh-oh, that doesn't sound great. "It's just from the medicine. Do you remember where we are?"

Rex moans and arches his back, temporarily forgetting about his broken collarbone. "Ow! Oh, mother. It's fuzzy and it hurts."

"Stay still," I implore, picking up his water cup and holding out the straw. "I don't want you to get hurt worse. Just stay still, and drink some water."

Instead of taking the straw, Rex gives me a dubious look. "Are you a nurse?"

"No. Drink the water,"

"You're the prettiest civvie I've ever seen."

Blood rushes to my cheeks. "Thank you,"

"What's your name?"

It dawns on me: because of the pain medication, Rex doesn't remember who I am.

"My name is Steela. I'm your girlfriend."

"You're my girlfriend?"

"Yes, I am."

He blinks a few times, then zeroes in on my face. "Did Fives and Jesse send you to joke with me?"

"No, Rex. Drink your water."

But Rex has far more important things to concern himself with than water. "This isn't a joke? You're really my girlfriend?"

"It's not a joke," I sit on the edge of his bed, a smile on my face. "I wouldn't joke about being your girlfriend. But remember, if the doctors come in you need to tell them I'm your wife."

His face lights up with an enormous, pure smile. "Holy force, I'm the luckiest guy alive!"

"I am too, Rexster. Now will you drink your water?"

Rex takes a sip probably just to appease me. "How long have we been together?"

"A long time. Over a year now."

"Wait until the guys hear about this!" He raves. "I have a girlfriend. Have we kissed?"

"We've kissed a few times."

"Are we going to get married?"

"Someday," I agree, cracking a smile. Rex is usually so serious; his childlike enthusiasm is surprisingly sweet.

"Someday," he repeats, and then says "Will you marry me?"

List of places, to date, I've thought Rex was proposing or he has proposed to me.

The refresher

My birthday party

At a bar after waaay too much juma.

The hospital, while on pain medication.

"That's the morphine talking," I caress his brow with the back of my hand. "We agreed we weren't ready to get married right now. But if you drink your water, I'll be just as happy."

Rex looks sorely disappointed. "All right. But as soon as I get out of here, I'm getting you a ring."

Somebody better block the wedding and Hallmark channels on Rex's hospital TV. The pain meds are really doing a number on his head. Speaking of the Stee-Rex ship, MusicKeeper showed me a lovely drawing of Captain Rex on a T. Rex. As far as I'm concerned, it's the ship mascot.

Thank you to julyza, Starwarshobbitfics, MusicKeeper, RoseRavenclaw, Johnt12345, and TrinityWrites for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!

Until next time,

LS