Chapter Ten
Thelea paced the quarters she'd been given, wanting to throw something, to scream, to tear something to shreds, to do anything but be a sensible, responsible, mature adult. Instead she forced herself to sit down and take a deep, not very calming, breath. She trembled with the effort of keeping her temper in check, wrapping her arms around herself and digging her fingers into her flesh until she thought she'd draw blood. How dare she? How dare that . . . that Jedi offer her promises of information, drop tantalizing hints, and then at the first opportunity abandon her . . .again? Because try as she might she couldn't erase that vision, or memory, or whatever it was, of that woman, that Jedi, on homeworld, with her, taking care of her, while her mother-where had her mother been? Dead? Away? Aleishia would have known. But Aleishia had left . . . again.
A shattering sound jarred her out of her thoughts. A little glass vase that had been the room's only real decor had exploded into fragments, seemingly of its own accord. She stared at it for a moment, uncomprehending. The room wasn't shaking-so far, at least, the ships above weren't attacking. As far as she could see there was nothing to have caused it. Then she let it slip from her mind-she had too many things to think about to let a shattered vase worry her.
Stepping around the broken glass she picked up the data chip Aleishia had left for her. In her first private fit of pique she'd thrown it across the room. Hopefully the collision with the wall hadn't damaged it too severely. She'd already played it once, which was what had set off the temper tantrum, and it had been the first item to go flying in her rage. The casing was intact, and she put it back into the viewer, which had also demonstrated a remarkable resilience.
The one-sixteenth hologram of Aleishia appeared again, her face framed by the dark robes. "Hello, Thelea. I know you'll be angered by my actions, and I understand."
"The frell you do." She glared at the holo and resisted the childish urge to strike it.
"This is the second time I've had to leave you behind, and it doesn't feel any easier. At least now I know you're on your own and not subject to your mother's family-well, that's as may be." The holo sighed. "The future might always be in motion, but there's nothing we can do about the past. And it's for your future's sake I have to leave. I know, just as you do, that I can't go back to the Empire with you. The time isn't right, though it is coming. But before that there will be very dark times, and you will have to travel them alone. I wish that I, or your father, Force help me, could make them easier for you, but we can't. Though he may be able to provide some escape." The holographic image leaned forward and fiddled with something outside the sensor range. "I've encoded this chip with coordinates to a planet near the edge of what the Empire calls the Unknown Regions. When the darkness comes, you'll find help-and answers-there. Keep this with you at all times. You'll know when you need it." Her eyes flicked away for a moment, as if looking at something. "I have to go now. Forgive me, Mith'ele'arana. Remember you are the child of two noble families, and you have the added strength of the Force. Never forget that, and you will be all right. We will meet again, I promise. Until that time, may the Force be with you." The image flickered and vanished.
Thelea popped the chip out of the reader and clenched it in her fist, as if she could crush it by sheer will. Then she dropped it and the reader to the floor, her fists balling into hard little knots at her side. There was nothing she could do-Aleishia was gone, all the answers with her, unless the Jedi decided to reappear as suddenly as she'd disappeared. She supposed she should be grateful-there need be no explanation now, other than Rothan's report on the theft of the shuttle and their additions to that. Still, another link with her past had just slipped through her fingertips, just as Admiral Thrawn had left, and now she was doubly sure he'd been, if not lying, at least prevaricating. Their careers were on the line, there was a chance Giriad would be ignored and they'd be trapped here, even if they did get back they could be busted down to ensigns or worse . . . she took a deep breath and tried not to scream.
A rap at the old-fashioned wood door brought her head up, but she found her fists didn't want to unclench. "Come in, Rurik."
He poked his head in the door, as if afraid something might come flying at him. "How did you know it was me?"
How had she known? "No one else would have dared." It had been more instinctive than that, but better not to dwell on the thought. "Come in. I'm through pitching fits."
Rurik stepped inside and closed the door behind him, surveying the broken glass and scattered objects. "I take it you're not feeling any better."
She shook her head. "She left. She just left. She didn't even tell me."
He picked his way carefully to her and, hesitantly, put a hand on her shoulder. "Well, if she'd told you, would you have let her go?" Thelea shook her head. "So it's not like she didn't have to sneak."
"Why did she have to go at all?" She turned those glowing eyes towards him and he was surprised at how pale her face was, with dark, purpulish circles marring the powder blue beneath her eyes. Was this how her species cried? "Damn it, Rurik, she had answers! She knew things, and she told me just enough to make me want to ask her more. She knew my mother, she knew my father . . . and it's not only that, but now I know Thrawn was lying, or at least he didn't tell me everything. I know that she was telling the truth, I don't know how but I'm sure of it. And that means he . . . he lied, and he wouldn't tell me why, and now she's gone, and he's left, and my mother is dead and I can't ask anyone why!" Abruptly she grabbed his arm. "You aren't going to leave, are you? I don' t think I could stand to have one more person leave."
"Hey, are you forgetting we're still blockaded?" He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring grin. "I'm not going anywhere, especially not in a Headhunter."
She didn't smile. "Everyone leaves me. Promise me you won't. Promise!"
He could feel the humor drain from him. "Thelea, I promise. I won't leave you." Somewhere in the back of his mind an alarm klaxon was going off, reminding him that she was still his commanding officer, that all regs and all common sense proscribed anything even close to this. He shoved the thought aside. They were not aboard Executor now.
"You promise?" He had never heard that note in her voice before. Anger, amusement, efficiency, even fear at times, but never that child-like terror of abandonment. He cupped her face in his hands. "I'm so tired of being left."
"I promise. Besides, I know you could hunt me down if I ever tried." He kept the smile toned down this time. "I won't leave you."
He could almost feel her drawing in on herself, her strength returning, and he prepared to let her pull away. And then, to his surprise, she seemed to release all that energy and slumped against him, her body shaking with sobs. "My mother's gone, and my father . . . ." That word seemed to stick in her throat. "And now Aleishia. If anyone else leaves me I'll go insane!" He tightened his arms across her back and let her cry, though he knew those eyes did not shed tears. They stood like that for several minutes, until Thelea finally took a deep breath and looked up.
He knew he shouldn't. Every instinct except one was telling him this was a bad idea. But as he was probably never going to get another chance at this, he decided to hell with the regs and protocol. He bent his head to kiss her, and to his surprise and delight she didn't resist at all. Her arms slipped up around his neck, pulling him closer. If either had any doubts about compatibility, the enthusiasm of their responses was enough to quell them. Her skin was cooler than his, and soft. He was incredibly aware of her, the feel of her hands sliding across the back of his skull, and the press of her body, so similar to a human's, against his.
Thelea pulled away suddenly, her hand creeping up to cover her mouth. Her eyes were wider than he'd ever seen them, and she was trembling. "What in all the stars . . . .?" As she backed up her legs collided with the edge of the bed and she dropped gracelessly to sit on it. "What just happened?"
Rurik was surprised he could still blink. "I think I kissed you." She nodded. "I think you kissed me back." She nodded again, her fingers still covering her mouth as if she couldn't quite believe what she had felt. "Oh, hell."
"I couldn't have said it better myself," she said. He sat down beside her, careful to leave a good arm's length between them.
"I definitely kissed you." That fact was stuck in his mind. "I enjoyed it."
"So did I." She sounded as surprised as he did. "I didn't want to stop."
"Neither did I." That was far more true than he really wanted to admit. "We're in trouble."
"Worlds of trouble." They sat for a minute.
Finally Rurik sighed. "We can't let this get around."
"Definitely not. Fraternizing is a serious offense." She wrapped her arms around herself. "We're in enough trouble as it is."
"It's not like we can't control ourselves. It's not like we're the first people in the galaxy this has happened to." He stared at the broken glass on the floor. "Did you throw something?"
She looked rather blankly at the glass. "I don't know how that happened."
The bed shook. So did the glass on the floor.
"What was that?" Even as Rurik said it, the shaking stopped.
"Well, it can't be the world shifting. The kiss wasn't that good."
He gave her a wounded look that changed to consternation as the shaking started again. "Wait a minute. You don't think-" He jumped up and ran for the small balcony off the bedroom. She was close on his heels and almost collided with him as he came to halt. "Oh, no."
"I see we did get them angry." The ground shook again, and this time they could see the source. The bolts of energy were weaker than the ship-killing laser, but they were also focused more tightly than before. As they watched a beam lanced down through the atmosphere, directed at a section of the capitol towards the sea. A plume of orange flame said that, whatever the target had been, the hit had been direct.
"We're in trouble." Rurik's assessment seemed right on the mark to Thelea. He turned back to the room, the broken glass from the vase crunching under his boots. "I think we'd better-"
The next bolt was closer. A lot closer. The transparisteel in the balcony doors rattled wildly in its frames, and the floor shuddered under their feet. Thelea stumbled into Rurik but regained her footing quickly, pulling away from the offered arm. Belatedly a warning klaxon started somewhere in the palace. "Command center," she snapped, "come on."
They sprinted down the corridors, which were ominously deserted. The floors and walls vibrated again with the shock wave of another more-distant blast. "I hope they're just demonstrating their annoyance and not seriously leveling the city," Rurik called over the rumbling.
"They haven't hit this building yet," Thelea snapped, skidding a bit as she rounded a corner. The lights in the corridor flickered.
"Maybe they're just leaving us alive to do the surrendering." Rurik halted in front of the command center door, which failed to slide open. "Damn it. Where's the override on this thing?"
"Step back." Thelea pulled the hold-out blaster from its sheath and fired a single shot into the door panel. There was a shower of sparks, and the door slid halfway open.
"That works, too." Rurik shouldered his way in and Thelea had to push him when he stopped only a few steps in.
"What is it?" and then she was able to see around him. The holoprojector at the center of the room was activated, showing Telamara and the ships surrounding her. There were nearly twice as many of the capital ships, glowing a hostile red, as there had been only that morning. And more than half were concentrated over the highly populated capital city.
"Rurik, Commander, where have you been?" Dallen Torak's uniform was singed, as if he'd been too close to an exploding control panel-which, from the glittering glass, plastiform and metal bits crunching on the floor, he probably had. "There wasn't any warning. The new ships appeared and the bombardment started almost immediately."
"We were-held up." The brief hitch in Thelea's voice made Rurik look at her, but her expression was impassive as always. "What's happening?"
"We are, to put it bluntly, being beaten." Dallen gestured to the holoprojector. "And badly."
"Shields?" Rurik asked.
"They've punched through them as if they weren't there. The defense platform's already gone, of course." The ex-stormtrooper's voice was almost pedantic.
Thelea looked around the dimly lit room and spotted Gena and Caia Rothan, both huddled in controller's chairs, blankets around their shoulders, looking shell-shocked. "Where is Governor Rothan?"
Caia looked up, hollow-eyed. "He went out . . . wanted to see what was going on. He took a trooper escort but with all the shooting-"
"I told him not to go," Dallen interrupted. "He insisted." A slight twitch of the shoulders was the only outward sign of frustration. "They're jamming communications, or there's just so much static in the air they're being naturally blocked, but either way we can't get through to them." The building bucked beneath their feet again. "That was too close."
"The last four or five have been too close. Have they broadcast any surrender demands yet?" Rurik asked.
"Not that we could translate. We've intercepted some communications, but they don't seem directed at us." The building shook again. "Closer together," he noted clinically.
Thelea forced her fingers to unclench from their death grip on the back of a chair. "I don't suppose you have any sort of shelters or something?"
"Retreat?" The amount of distaste he could put into a single word was remarkable, really.
"Well, they're either going to blow up the whole building, or they're going to blow up most of it. If we don't want to be captured or crushed into very small pieces, we ought to think about leaving." Thelea kept her tone carefully level. Sometimes ground pounders took gentle handling, not unlike a mentally deficient child. "Better to retreat and hide until the fleet gets here." If the fleet gets here, she thought, but she didn't say that part aloud.
"There are tunnels." Gena's voice sounded very young. "Beneath the palace. They're part of a cave system under the city. I used to sneak out through them, but I know they go deeper."
"I remember that," and there was an oddly affectionate tone to Dallen's voice. "But they're just that, caves. There are no defenses-"
"But there are places to hide. If we can stay low enough, they won't be able to find us before the fleet arrives." Thelea slammed her fist on the panel. "I don't plan to die here, and if I have to play tunnel snake to be sure of it, so be it. We get what weapons we can and whoever's left and-"
"Set the ground-based defenses to self-destruct and leave them a few nice surprises," Rurik picked up. "If the lasers aren't any good against them in a fair fight, we might as well get some use out of them."
Dallen considered that for a moment, and then reached for the comm switch. "There's a weapons locker over there. Get out what you can. I'll have the remaining techs rig the guns and lock down the computers."
Gena stood up. "I'm going to get ration packs. There're a few emergency lockers. They won't have much but at least it'll be food. Come on, Mother." The last was delivered in a voice that must have done her ground-pounder husband proud. Caia Rothan follwed here daughter, almost meekly.
"Great. More ration packs." Rurik tossed Thelea what looked like, and on inspection was, a stormtrooper's blaster rifle. She grimaced at the weight of the weapon. He hefted two and pulled out a bag of recharge packs. "And I just wanted a nice visit home."
"We should be so lucky." Thelea checked the charge on the blaster she was holding.
Dallen switched the comm to broadcast. "All personnel, report to the command center. All personnel who are able, report to the command center."
"Can they rig the comlinks so we can stay in touch with the computer?" Thelea asked.
"We'll see when they get here." Dallen looked at the two pilots. "So tell me, do you always bring death and destruction trailing in your wake, or did we just catch you on a good week?"
Thelea looked at Rurik, who shrugged. "Call it a gift."
Dallen sighed. "That's what I was afraid of." The building shuddered again and the lights flickered to half-power. "Rurik, not that I don't like you, but the next time you feel an urge to visit home, do us a favor. Don't."
Rurik grimaced. "You're being optimistic." Dallen raised an eyebrow and he clarified, "You're assuming we're all going to live long enough to do this again."
The ex-trooper looked over at Thelea. "Is he still this obnoxious or is he just putting on a show for the folks back home?"
"He's toned it down," she said dryly. "Wait'll the fleet and some senior officers get here and you'll see the true depth of his obnoxiousness." The floor seemed to vibrate from a distant impact, and Thelea wondered if she was turning into an optimist, too.