Last time: Tac sent a message to Cien.

Now: Cien gives the message to the Admiral.

Part 2- Chapter 1- Runaway

Admiral Sulam looked up as Cien stormed into the bridge like an Empress into her throne room. Her Mandalorian helmet was still on, and the Admiral squinted a little looking at her armor under the harsh lights. She was currently in front of the situation table looking at the sector wide fleet deployments. Even though most of that was centered on the 19th since this area was very sparsely populated by New Republic forces. That weird little patrol of B-Wings seemed out of place, though she vaguely remembered it was a training flight.

"What's up hun?" She said, not bothering to try to admonish her or the Jedi trailing in quickly after her that the bridge was no place for civvies.

"Tac just sent coordinates for where he and Kyr are." Cien announced stepping to the situation table like she had done so a thousand times before. The Admiral realized she probably had.

Her statement caught the Admiral's attention. "Oh? Perfect, do you have any worry that Tac might have been compromised?" She asked.

"No." Cien stated.

The Admiral regarded her for a split second. "Okay." She looked back down at the table, "give us a copy of the coordinates and we'll see what we can do." She looked at the table, at the fleet wide dispositions nearby to see if there was any additional help or reinforcements she might call on, and how soon they could get there. Nominally she was only in charge of the 19th, but she was also the highest ranking officer in the sector, so all the assets were hers to play with if she wished.

Cien read off the numbers from the message to the Admiral as one of the officers next to her input them. A point on the star map appeared, only about an hour and a half away by hyperdrive.

"Nice." The Admiral said, looking up at Cien, Sasha, Viran and Oppie who had filed in around the table. "I'm going to go call command and see if they can approve the mission." She turned to move back to her office as quickly as decorum allowed.

That brought Cien up short. She was silent for a moment as the Admiral seemed to walk away with all the speed of cold molasses. "What?" She asked icily.

The Admiral glanced at her over her shoulder. "I may be in command hun, but they ain't my ships. I need to go get my orders on this." She stopped to regard the confused looking Force users at the table.

Cien stood there in shock at that turn of events, and blinked under her helmet.

Oppie was the first to speak, looking between the Admiral and Scamp "Surely in a matter of this nature…" Oppie said, a little confused.

The Admiral looked back at him. "Son, I know in the Clone Wars the Generals were given pretty broad discretion but I don't have that. We'll move as quick as we can on this, don't worry." She said turning to head back to her office, "and my name ain't Shirley." She said with a wave over her shoulder.

Scamp looked at the Jedi and Cien. "I know it sounds tedious, but this is the way the New Republic handles things like this," he said simply. "But we do have a plan once it is approved,"

"And we're a part of it, right?" Oppie asked, "we are fully capable of helping." He insisted. Neither her nor anyone else at the table noticed as Cien quietly backed away from the group as all eyes focused on Scamp and Oppie.

"I am one of the few here that is well aware of what the Jedi and the Sith are capable of," Scamp said in agreement. "And I have included you, but I'm not sure the New Republic will allow the involvement."

"But Kyr is our family, we want to help," Viran butted in. "If they say no, how would they know if we help out?"

"I'm not the one who writes the reports," Scamp shrugged. "But that's not a bad thought. We can talk with Nadiera when she gets back."

"And how long would it take for something to get approved?" Sasha asked him.

"Depends," Scamp said with a frown. "It could take a few moments or hours. So I'm not entirely sure."

Sasha nodded and was about to say something when she noticed that Cien was no longer in the room. She looked around trying to see where she disappeared before looking back at the others. "Where's Cien?" She asked, worried.

The other three looked around noticing her gone now too. Sasha made her way to the door.

"Stay here. I'll go look for her," Sasha told them as she ran out the door.

Even under her armor, still wearing her buy'ce, the crew saw and felt Cien's anger wafting off of her as she stalked through the corridors, pounding towards the hangar bay. They stepped aside and she paid them no mind as she had done so many other times when she stalked through corridors in a mood similar to this. But she had never been in a mood like this before.

Nothing would stand in her way, certainly not the crew as they made space for her. She was walking in a blind rage. They finally had coordinates, they knew where Kyr was. And they were doing nothing. Up until last year she had been at the top of whatever hierarchy she had been in for decades, second only to Dracul. The thought she should have to wait for some Republic bureaucrat, of all things, for permission to go save her husband was enough to make her spit in disdain. And probably kill them.

Stepping into the hangar deck it was as busy as ever with deck crew going about their activities. Cien ignored them and stalked towards the Spirit, ignoring the few heads that looked up to track her.

"Cien, wait!" Sasha's voice rang out behind her.

Cien barely heard her and didn't acknowledge Sasha as she continued forward, halfway across the hangar deck.

Sasha bound up the hangar behind her, closing the distance. "Cien, please wait!" She called at her. "Just stop for a second. Please."

"No!" Cien shouted, turning on her heels looking Sasha full on. "I have waited almost two kriffing weeks, I'm not waiting any longer!" She yelled as she stood her ground in front of Sasha, and her voice, amplified through her buy'ce rang through the hangar space and all activity ceased as they turned to look. "I have the kriffing coordinates. I am not going to let him die because we need kriffing clearance from some kriffing Republic officer!" She shouted, seething at Sasha.

Hassen, Bubbles and the rest of Valiant squadron came out of their ready room, and they noticed the A-Wing guys also did the same, trying to figure out what all the shouting was.

Sasha frowned at her and stood still for a moment. "I know. I know how hard it has been on you these last two weeks. And I know how great it feels to finally have good news," she said quieter and gentler. "But we need to think for a moment. Running in there head first is reckless. You could get hurt or worse."

"He's dying." She seethed. "If it was Viran and you could feel him dying in the back of your mind you wouldn't stop and wait." She growled.

"No, I wouldn't wait and I'm not telling you to either," Sasha said simply. "I was going to say that you shouldn't go alone. Let me come with you. At least that way you have someone to watch your back until the fleet shows up."

"I'm going to deal with this my way." She growled lowly. "Where I am going you should not follow." She turned and started heading for her ship.

"I understand that and I won't hold you back," Sasha said as she followed her. "But you are my best friend. My sister. I am not letting you go alone. It's too dangerous even if you can easily handle yourself and Selina's forces. Just let me come with you." Her voice was firm as she stood her ground in this.

Cien just ignored her and kept walking across the hangar deck. Sasha closed the distance and reached out, grabbing her arm.

"Cien, please let me help you," Sasha said more gently this time. "Please don't go alone. I can't lose you too."

Cien froze as Sasha's hand wrapped around her arm. After a second her shoulders and head slumped as the weight of the moment hit her. She pulled off her buy'ce, and mixed with the seething anger and determination in her eyes, there were tears falling down her cheeks as she turned to face Sasha. "I need to do this." She finally said.

"I know," Sasha said as she moved her hand from her arm to her shoulders. "And I'm here to help. We are in this together, okay?" She gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

Cien looked at Sasha. She couldn't delay any longer. And she couldn't have any delays when she arrived. This wasn't a villa they were walking into, this was a warship. She couldn't watch Sasha and move fast enough. And she couldn't have Sasha in danger too. She pulled Sasha into a hug. "Thank you for always being here for me." She said quietly as she pulled Sasha close and she felt tears fall down her face.

"Of course," Sasha said as she held her tight in the hug.

"And please, please forgive me." She pleaded as the side of her head brushed Sasha's cheek as she hugged her tighter.

"For wha- ?" Sasha started before Cien interrupted.

"Sleep." Cien commanded in a soft whisper through tears.

Sasha's eyes rolled back as her form went limp in Cien's arms. Cien took her weight as Sasha relaxed into her tight embrace, and Cien gently lowered her down to the hangar deck. She stood up, looking down at Sasha gently sleeping, and she realized everyone in the hangar was frozen, watching them. This might be the last time she ever saw Sasha, certainly the last time Sasha would ever trust her. Cien knew she had just broken something between them and it could probably never be fixed. But she needed to go save Kyr, that was the only thing that mattered. She put her buy'ce back on and walked to her ship, on the way there she pressed a button on her gauntlet and started the remote power up sequence, and as she stepped through the hatch the ship was already taking off.

"Oh osik." Hassen said, using the term he and a lot of the crew had taken from the Colonel. Cien's scary looking ship was taking off, more than likely without permission from flight ops, and Sasheeka was laying there on the deck, it looked like she had been stunned somehow. He and Bubbles were the first ones to start running towards her to see what happened.

They knelt at her side, Bubbles checking her vitals.

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