Lou
folded her shirt, and stuffed it into the suitcase. She intended to
leave the Angel and get to
Coruscant as quickly as she possibly could without anyone noticing
her departure. Above all, she hoped that Park was asleep and that she
would not pass him in the hall on her way to the docking bay.
Lou programmed her own smaller
craft in the docking bay to prep itself for take off, before locking
her quarters behind her, so that even Captain Lindsey could not get
in in her absence.
Lou made her way through the
corridors to the docking bay, trying not to look suspicious. Luckily,
she did not pass anyone.
She
strapped herself into the pilot's chair, then, after being cleared
for take-off by the droid, blasted off into space. After setting her
course for Coruscant, Lou watched the Angel
grow smaller and smaller.
* * *
"Who cleared that ship to
leave?" Captain Lindsey was furious. Park twitched nervously at
his commanding officer's raised voice. "Was it you?" he
barreled down on Park.
"No," Park answered,
his voice a low, terrified squeak, averting his eyes.
"Do you know where Ensign
Lou is going?" Lindsey demanded.
Park
shook his head, despite the voice in his head that kept hissing
Coruscant.
"Ease up, Cap. You're
scaring the poor guy," Jenkens chuckled.
Park gave Jenkens an evil
glare, but remained silent.
"McDougall, can you track
her ship's course?" Lindsey asked.
"That is conceivable,
Captain."
"Good.
Get to it now."
McDougall bowed his head, then exited the conference room.
She
is coming to see me, the voice
in Park's head stated.
"Do you have a spare
keycard, Park? My override doesn't work. Can you get into her
quarters? I need to get in there, Park. Are you even listening to
me?"
She
left you behind, and you can't come to terms with that fact.
"Leave me alone!"
Park exploded at the voice in his head. Lindsey glared daggers at
him, and his eyes went wide. Park's mind was racing, trying to figure
out how to cover up his outburst. He knew that if he claimed he was
hearing voices in his head, they would lock him up. "Yeah,
that's right. I have no idea how you can get into her quarters, and
you know what? Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. You'd probably
stand there sniffing her panties."
"Assuming she left any
behind," Jenkens added.
"Dismissed," Lindsey
barked at Jenkens, narrowing his eyes at him. Jenkens arched his
eyebrow, but did not argue with his Captain, though he felt leery
about leaving Park alone with him. "Now," Lindsey stated.
Jenkens threw one last look at Park, who was shaking his head no,
then left. "Mortimer, I know you have a duplicate keycard for
Lou's quarters. You are going to find it, and bring it to me."
"I-"
"Come on. We'll go
together," Lindsey gestured toward the door.
"But I don't know where
it is off the top of my head."
It
is between the headboard of your bed and the wall.
Leave me alone.
"We'll
look for it. Maybe you'll even remember on the way over."
Park reluctantly followed his
Captain to his quarters to find the misplaced keycard.
* * *
Why
don't you just get it out from behind the bed, and get it over with?
"Because,"
Park whispered to the voice in his head. "I don't want Lindsey
going into Mi's room before I get to look around first."
What
do you think you will discover? You already know that Jareena is
coming to Coruscant to see me.
"Why
do you keep calling her that?"
It
is her name.
"Not anymore."
It
was her name when I knew her.
"Oh."
"I found it,"
Lindsey announced, his head appearing above the mattress on Park's
bed.
"You did?" Park
choked.
"Yeah. Something
possessed me to look between the headboard and the wall, and there it
was," he held it up for Park to see.
"That 'something' wasn't
you, was it?" he whispered rhetorically.
Of
course.
"Son of a-"
"Who are you talking to?"
"Uh...myself."
Lindsey raised his eyebrows,
but said nothing. Afterall, everyone knew that Mortimer Park was
slightly off.
Lou stared at the blackness of
space. She had been traveling through it alone for three days, yet
she was not tired of the view. She loved space. She loved the stars.
Most of all, she loved being in space among the stars. That was why
she had left Coruscant in the first place. She did not belong there,
on a world of endless city.
Lou knew that she was lucky to
have gotten off-planet when she had. It was only a month later when
Darth Sidious and his Sith Apprentice had corrupted the Senate and
taken over. Sidious had proclaimed himself Emperor, and there had
been no one to oppose him.
These first two years had been
dark times for anyone, even if they were all for Palpatine's
outrageous ideas and goals. He had wiped out anything and anyone who
stood in his path.
A green light blinked on the
panel of buttons before her, snapping her out of her reverie. She
flipped a switch, bringing her ship out of Hyperspace.
"A few more hours, Maul."
Are
you looking forward to seeing me again?
"Does that really
surprise you?"
Breckin's eyes snapped open.
Something had woken him up, but what?
"Corrina?" he tried
to see into the dark. "Computer, lights on," he ordered.
The lights flickered, but stayed on. "Cor, where did you go?"
A wave of panic overtook him, as he reached for his pants. What if he
had left her unsatisfied, and now he would never see her again?
"I'm
not saying that,"
Simpson's voice floated out from the bathroom.
Breckin's heart skipped a
beat, and a wide grin spread across his face. She was still here.
"Of
course I have it. That was easy...nope, he's pretty easy, too."
Breckin stood outside the door, eyebrows furrowed, as he realized
that Simpson was talking to someone other than him. And he refused to
believe that she may be talking about
him.
"It's all there. I
checked it out myself...yes...as you wish."
Breckin realized that
Simpson's conversation was over, and he hurried back into bed.
"Computer, lights off," he whispered harshly, and the
lights turned off. He rolled onto his side, and pretended that he was
still asleep, waiting intently for Simpson to return to him. A few
minutes passed before she did.
"Lance," she cooed
in his ear. "Wake up, Sweetie."
"Hmm?" Breckin tried
to sound groggy, as he turned his head to face her.
"Oh, Lance," Simpson
kissed him passionately, rolling him over onto his back. Something
cold and rough traced a line down his chest. "How much did you
hear?"
"How much did I...?"
he let the question trail off, his voice confused.
"You woke up, and you
overheard some of my conversation, didn't you, Baby?" she kissed
him again.
"I don't know what you're
talking about, Cor," he whispered.
"Are you sure?"
Breckin put his arms around
her waist, and rolled them both over, so that he was on top of her.
He heard something metal clang to the floor. "Absolutely
positive." He kissed Simpson softly, hoping she bought the lie.
"Look, just let me go in
and have a look around first," Park snatched Lou's keycard out
of Lindsey's hand.
"Not a chance. You'll
reorganize her stuff so that I won't be able to figure anything out,"
he took the keycard back.
"You
don't know her like I do, Sir. She would not
appreciate you going into her quarters in her absence," Park
returned, grabbing it again.
Lindsey tore the card out of
Park's hand, saying, "Lou doesn't want you going in either,
otherwise she would have told you she was leaving."
"No,
if she didn't want me to know that she was leaving, she would have
taken the keycard back," he grabbed it back. "She didn't
tell me because she didn't want me to go with her." That
hurt, he thought to himself.
Indeed,
Maul's voice replied.
Go
away.
Park
had not realized that Lindsey had once again taken the keycard away
from him. "Maybe she tried
to find it, but didn't know where to look."
"M-i would have known
where to look," he had almost said 'Maul'. "You're just
jealous that she wouldn't take you along." He snatched the
keycard back.
"Listen,
Park, this is immature. Of both
of us," Lindsey grabbed it out of Park's hand. "I'm
the Captain. I'll
go first."
"You
say we're being immature, and then the best thing
you can come up with is that you're
the Captain?"
Park threw his hands in the air. "Fine. Open the damned door."
Lindsey nodded, and with an
air of satisfaction, swiped the keycard down the interface.
Park got in first. "Alright,
so what we're looking for is-"
Nothing.
You know where she went. You know why she went there.
"Clues as to where she
went, and why she went there," Lindsey finished, and Park
wondered if the Captain was hearing the same voices he was.
Just
you, Morty.
Park
shuddered. Don't ever call me that again.
He looked over at where Lindsey was looking in the drawers in the
bed. Park went over to Lou's desk, and went through the drawers,
searching for the portrait of the Sith Lord.