Common Ground
Chapter 7 – Reality Check
Carth was checking his hair out just one more time in the small mirror attached to his locker when a deep chuckle pulled him out of his vain preening and into the present. He flushed and closed the locker door, and was mortified to see Captain Karath regarding him with an amused smile. The part of him that wasn't paralyzed by embarrassment marveled at Saul's ability to catch him at completely embarrassing moments. He seriously hoped that this wasn't going to become a trend.
"Since I doubt you'd spend so much time fixing your hair for me or the Seinar representatives, you must have a girl coming to watch the test flight."
He could feel the back of his neck warm as he flushed even more deeply. "Um… yes, sir. I do."
Saul smiled wryly. "That's what I figured."
They left the pilots' locker room and walked brusquely down the hallway that lead to the hangar bay and observation deck of the Relentless, Saul's ship.
"Is she one of ours, or a local girl?" Saul asked.
"She's an engineering student at the University."
Saul didn't bother hiding his amusement. "Is she one of the women who fought over you about a month ago?"
Carth's flush deepened. He'd hoped Saul had forgotten about that. "Um, yes, sir."
"Interesting. And you're still seeing her?"
"Yes," Carth answered, wondering where Saul was going with this. He was getting the distinct impression that Saul did not approve, but he wasn't sure why.
The last month had been amazingly fun, and he spent time with Morgana every chance he got. She still put in long hours, and he was gone on patrol a lot, but somehow they managed to see each other, although sometimes he had to coax her away from her engine by bribing her with dinner.
Saul stopped in the hallway and scrutinized Carth with his intense grey eyes. "This is probably none of my business, Carth, but I feel like I should say something." Surprisingly, Saul was the one who looked uncomfortable now, and it was clear he was choosing his words carefully.
Saul cleared his throat and straightened his already impeccable jacket. "You're a young and upcoming officer, and you have a great future ahead of you. I just don't want to see you taken advantage of."
Carth was completely confused now. "Taken advantage of, sir? I don't understand."
"You're good-looking, young, successful, and to a lot of women, you're their meal ticket. You need to be careful."
"Oh, sir. She's not like that."
"I'm not saying she is, son. But she's a local girl, and she's probably never even been out of this system. I'd hate to see her 'accidentally' get pregnant and you be forced into something you didn't want."
He couldn't help but be indignant. Although he knew that Captain Karath meant well, he didn't like what he was implying at all. "Sir, she's an engineer, not a cantina rat. I can't imagine that she'd-"
Saul cut him off. "I know you can't, because you're infatuated with her. You wouldn't be the first soldier who's been taken advantage of. It happens all the time, and you have too much potential to waste. I know you think she can't get pregnant, because of the standard chip all Fleet soldiers are given, but trust me, there are ways around that."
Well, we'd have to be sleeping together first, sir…
Carth decided he wasn't going to share his story of sexual frustration with his commanding officer. It wasn't that she was unwilling, or that he didn't want her. On the contrary, he wanted her more than anyone he'd ever wanted before, and that was the problem. Morgana was different, special, and he respected her. She wasn't a cantina rat out for just a good time. He knew he shouldn't rush something that needed to be done right, even though all of his hormones were screaming the contrary.
He was annoyed that his commanding officer thought he was that gullible, but he didn't want to offend the Captain, so he tried to keep the irritation out of his voice. "She wouldn't do that, sir."
"It happened to me, son, and I just don't want to see it happen to you." The truth and sadness in Saul's voice was impossible to deny.
Shocked, Carth blurted out, "You have a kid?"
He knew that Saul had been married and divorced a few years ago, just before Carth had joined his squadron, but as far as he knew, there were no children from that marriage.
Saul nodded, and Carth saw guilt and regret flash across his face. "My ex-wife took my daughter with her when she left. She asked me to stay out of her life, and so far, I've respected her wishes."
They reached the entrance of the observation deck, and although Carth wanted to know more, he didn't feel comfortable asking. Saul clearly didn't want to talk about it anymore, either. "Please, Carth, just think about what I've said, alright?"
Carth nodded.
"Good. Now, let's go meet the brass and suits."
After a brief meeting with Saul's superiors and the corporate executives from Republic Seinar Systems, Carth was dismissed while the techies did a last-minute systems check on the flyer. He stole a few minutes and went looking for Morgana.
He found her staring out the large viewing windows, admiring the sleek lines of the prototype flyer, and he knew that, while she was outwardly composed, she was desperate to get her hands on the fighter.
Carth chuckled as he snaked his arms around her waist, and heat flooded through him when she leaned back against his chest. "You're just itching to see that engine, aren't you?"
"Yes," she admitted sheepishly.
"Yeah, I figured you came today just to see the fighter and not me," he teased.
She turned in his arms and smiled. "I did come to see the fighter, but getting to see the handsome pilot who's flying it is a nice bonus."
He sighed in mock surrender. "I guess that'll have to do. You're going to stick around after the test flight, right?"
Her smile widened. "Of course."
"Good."
He wanted to kiss her, but not only was his commanding officer frowning at him thoughtfully from across the room, Jordo and Dustil were approaching with huge, troublemaking smiles on their faces. Carth almost managed to suppress a groan.
"Hey, Carth. Aren't you going to introduce us?" Jordo asked with an openly curious expression.
Morgana looked up at him expectantly, but Carth hesitated. He'd been putting this moment off for over a month, simply out of the desire to keep her all to himself. Besides, Dustil was a handful, and Jordo was really good with women, and Carth wanted to make damned sure Morgana was his before he introduced them.
But now it looked like he wasn't going to be able to avoid it. He let her go, but took her hand. "Morgana, this is Jordo and Dustil."
She smiled shyly while Jordo turned on the charm. "I can see why you've kept her all to yourself. Nice to finally meet you, Morgana."
Carth shot his friend a look that said: hands off! Jordo merely grinned harder. Captain Karath signaled him from across the room, and he knew that it was time to get started.
"I have to go, kitten."
"Be careful."
With a start, he realized that she was worried for him, and a lump formed in his throat. Other than his family, no one had ever worried for him before, and he had to admit that it felt really good.
"I will."
She nodded, and despite his earlier reservations, he bent down and brushed her lips with his. Reluctantly, he let go of her hand.
Dustil grinned and clasped his shoulder. "Don't worry, Onasi. We'll take care of her while you're gone. Won't we, Jordo?"
"Yup."
Out of time, he had no choice but to abandon an overwhelmed-looking Morgana to his friends.
Dustil and Jordo steered a nervous Morgana over to the observation deck seating and sat down on either side of her. Intimidated by the presence of his friends, she started to retreat into her shell, but the pair of them wouldn't allow it.
Jordo smiled disarmingly. "So you're the girl who's been tying Onasi in knots. I was beginning to think you were a myth." Morgana didn't know what to say to that, although inwardly she was pleased. It was good to know that she was having the same effect on him as he was on her.
"I knew she was real. I see her all the time at her house," Dustil said. Morgana often passed Dustil in the hallway leaving her roommate's bedroom in the morning. "I'm sorry I haven't said anything. Cait, well…" His voice trailed off and he looked guilty.
"She'd be angry if she saw you talking to me. It's okay," she reassured him.
Even after an entire month, Renie was still furious with Morgana, and made sure that her friends also gave her the cold shoulder. While it was annoying, Morgana didn't mind too much. The last month had been fantastic, and she was willing to pay the price because Carth was worth it.
Face it, Morgana, you're smitten.
She knew that she ought to be spending all of her time on her studies. Her project was due in a week-and-a-half, but she'd found it impossible to turn him down. Still, she was confident that her project was ready. Even with all of the last-minute tweaking she needed to do, she still found time to be with him, even if only for an hour or so. Nabat had said it was healthy, but there was still a big part of Morgana that felt guilty because she was only working ten to twelve hours a day, instead of putting in sixteen-hour days like she used to.
It helped that Carth was on patrol quite a bit, because when he was gone she managed to get a lot of work done. The situation with the Corellian pirates was heating up, as the pirates, angry because the Corellian government had capitulated to the Republic, had started hijacking and ransoming government ships and employees. Everyone knew that something bad was going to happen soon if the Republic Fleet failed to get them under control.
"You know, you're practically a legend around here," Dustil said. "Everyone knows about that fight between you and Renie."
She blinked. Carth hadn't mentioned anything about this. "They do?"
Jordo shot Dustil a dirty look. "He's exaggerating."
Dustil continued, oblivious to her growing dismay. "It was great. It took Carth weeks to live it down."
"Oh, dear." She could feel herself turning crimson, and she wanted to slink into the nearest hole.
Jordo was fairly apologetic. "It's blown over now. And it's not like Carth's never been embarrassed before."
"Heh. That's true," Dustil chimed in. "There was this one time in grade school when…"
Dustil launched into a long, elaborate story about how Carth was obsessed with his grade school science teacher. By the end, Morgana was laughing so hard that her stomach ached.
"He used to bring Nova lilies from his mother's garden every day, except for that one time he brought her a glow frog." He shook his head, remembering. "Poor Carth. He was so crushed when he found out that she was engaged to someone. It took him at least a month to get over it."
"How old was he?" Morgana asked.
"Eight."
They all laughed.
Dustil squinted at her. "You know, you kinda look like her, actually."
Once again, Morgana didn't quite know what to say. After fumbling around for something, she came up with, "So you've known Carth for a long time, then?"
"Oh, yeah. We grew up on Telos together."
They watched as the test fighter went through the preflight checklist, and they could hear Carth preparing to take her out over the comm.
"We were neighbors, and his parents were friends with mine. We did everything together: went to school together, got in trouble together, and later joined the Fleet together." He jerked his thumb over at Jordo. "We met this joker in the Academy."
Carth launched the test fighter, and the talking died down somewhat as he vanished from eyesight. Attention shifted to the giant holovid, where Carth's flight path was being tracked. Carth wasn't going to take the ship far, just from Corellia, around Talus and Tralus, and back. Since it was the first test flight, Morgana knew they would want him to take it easy, no fancy maneuvers or anything. That would come much later.
She watched the data roll off the screen, the numbers and equations as well as status reports. She half listened to Dustil's stories as she scrutinized the data. For about ten minutes the numbers appeared to be fine, and everything was running smoothly, but then she started to see a pattern in the engine data.
Then images began to flash through her mind. She could see the grounding wires for the engine stabilizers working themselves loose, bit by bit, beginning to smoke and spark. The vision was so vivid that she could almost smell the stink of wiring that was beginning to overheat.
Shaken by the images, she took a deep breath to steady herself. While this wasn't the first time she'd had a vision like this, it happened very rarely, and when it happened she was never, ever wrong. "There's something wrong with the stabilizers," she said, cutting across Dustil's story about how he and Carth had stolen a pack of his mother's cigarras and smoked the whole thing.
Jordo scrutinized the holoscreen. "I don't see anything unusual."
Morgana knew that he wouldn't, unless he understood some of the raw data moving across the screen, and Morgana's concern doubled. She looked over to where the Seinar representatives were talking to a group of officers. Both Professors Obrin and Hajar were also there, and neither of them looked concerned.
She rose, and Jordo stood with her. "We have to let them know," she said.
Jordo looked uncertain. "If there were something wrong, wouldn't the designers know?"
"Maybe, maybe not." Morgana didn't want to waste time trying to explain what she saw to Dustil and Jordo. She just walked over to Professor Hajar and pointed out the data on the screen.
Professor Obrin blew her off. "Morgana, I'm sure that the designers know their engine better than you do." He began to apologize to the Seinar representative. "I'm sorry, she's an overzealous student and her boyfriend is flying the fighter-"
But the Seinar representative ignored him, instead concentrating on the data Morgana had pointed out. "She's right. There is something wrong with the rear stabilizers." He turned to an officer. "Captain Karath, tell your pilot to cut his engines, and we'll send a transport to go pick him up."
"But even with a blown stabilizer, he should be able to bring the ship back on its own," Captain Karath protested.
Morgana shook her head. She couldn't shake the picture in her mind. "It's not a faulty stabilizer. It's a faulty connection. They must have crossed the grounding wires. It's easy to do. If he keeps flying for much longer, he's risking an engine fire." It was a common mistake made in Corellian farm machinery. She had seen the same thing at her father's repair shop. Even though this was much more advanced machinery, the effect was the same.
Captain Karath looked at her dubiously, sizing Morgana up. "How can you possibly know that?"
Suddenly, Morgana realized that everyone in the room was waiting for her answer. Knowing that they would never believe her if she told them she saw it in her mind, Morgana ignored her self-consciousness and panic, and launched into a technical explanation that basically boiled down to the fact that she could tell that it wasn't connected correctly by the heat being generated.
"We'll have to see if you're correct. You'll have to come down when we inspect it," the Seinar engineer said.
Morgana could barely suppress her excitement at getting to see the fighter up close. When the transport towed the fighter back in, they all went down to inspect the ship. It took less than a minute-and-a-half to find the faulty stabilizer connector; the blackened cables and the acrid stink in the air lead them right to it.
The Seinar engineer was impressed. "Young lady, what's your name?"
"Morgana Drayson, sir."
"Well, Morgana, you probably saved our pilot from a serious injury and accident. We wouldn't have caught it if it hadn't been for you. You're going to come to the next test flight, right?"
She nodded.
"Good. Because there are some people I'd like you to meet…"
In the cocooned warmth of his speeder, Carth nuzzled the soft spot under Morgana's ear and said, "You were very impressive today, kitten." She breathed in his earthy, warm scent as she perched on his lap.
They had just gotten back from celebrating his first test flight with his friends, and the street in front of the house was dark and deserted. It was late, and she knew she ought to go in, but she really didn't want to go up by herself. Spending the night without him was quickly becoming an unbearable option.
The darkness masked her flush, she hoped. She brushed his hair back and sighed. "I'm just glad that you weren't hurt."
"Me, too. And I owe it to you."
"Not really. I mean, they probably would have caught it."
"Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that you stopped an accident from happening. It looks like I owe you one, kitten." He grinned. "I'm going to have to come up with some way to repay you."
Morgana could feel herself turning pink. "That's really not necessary, Carth."
Carth planted kisses along her jawline, and she could feel his smile against her skin. "Yeah, it is. So tell me, Ana, how can I repay you?" The way he said it made her feel all melty and hot, and impatient lust swamped her.
You can take me upstairs.
Carth's eyes widened in surprise, but the look on his face turned her insides molten, and that was when she realized that she had actually said it out loud. She didn't get a chance to be embarrassed, though, because he kissed her so hard that he stole her breath away. He tasted like the ale they'd been drinking, smooth and dark.
When they broke apart, he rasped, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Mortification crashed over her. "You don't want -"
"No! I do!" His forcefulness surprised her. "I want you more than anything, kitten." He cupped her face, and she could feel him trembling. "I just want to make sure… I don't want to push you."
"Carth, I… I mean, I'm not…" she began, not knowing quite how to say it, "innocent."
"It's not that… um… what I mean is that you're special to me, and I just… I just want to do this right."
She was speechless, because that had to be the sweetest thing she'd ever heard.
Her heart began to race as she murmured, "Come upstairs with me, Carth."
He swallowed and nodded, and they scrambled to get out of the speeder. He took her hand as they nearly ran up the walkway. They were barely inside the front door when he scooped her up and kissed her again. As he raced up the stairs, she kissed the underside of his jaw and heard his breathing turn ragged. Need and desire coiled tight in her belly, and only the fact that they were in the hallway kept her from trying to get his clothes off. He stopped at her door and she fumbled with the lock. It took her a couple of tries, but after what seemed like an eternity, the door slid open.
Because he was kissing her as he carried her, neither of them noticed that the light was on, nor the man sitting on her bed until he roared, "Get your hands off my girlfriend!"
The molten desire in Morgana's belly turned to a block of ice as she looked up and saw Brell turning bright red.
Oh, blast!
Once again, a big thanks to xenzen for betaing my fic and putting up with my comma dysfunction. Also, thanks noop-ni and armiena for letting me know that guys are actually reading this story, in the most manly way possible – lol.
For those who are interested in leaning more about Saul's daughter... this fic sparked a small plot gizka that resulted in a short one-shot story that can be seen over on the kotorfanmedia website, under the dueling circle challange responses.
