Jaid: Hi guys! Long time no see! Sorry about the long space in between updates. My vacation was totally crazy, and then I got the stomach flu.
Jad: She had to go to the emergency room.
Jaid: Yeah, and they took test and I got an IV and everything!
Jad: You're excited about this?
Jaid: Well…yeah. I've never had an IV in me before!
Jad: …
Jaid: ^__^
Jad: You've been around Naga too long…
Jaid: -__-;
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Lucrezia carefully looked at the dark hallway, then looked back at where Kagura slept. Carefully slinging a bag over her shoulder, she exited the room and jogged silently down the hallway.
Entering the hangar some time later, she looked around for her TIE fighter. Looking down at the clearance card Kagura had given her, she silently thanked her friend, knowing how much it could cause the woman if they were found out. Un-latching the seals, she shoved the bag in, and was about to climb in herself, when a voice spoke.
"Lt. Noin."
Lucrezia jumped and nearly fell off. She looked down. Zechs stood there. Jumping down, she faced him, face pale but set.
"A little late for a practice run, isn't it?" Zechs said coolly.
"I'm not practicing, Zechs." She whispered. There was a silence as they looked at each other.
"The penalty for defecting is death." He said softly.
"Only if you're caught."
"The arm of the Empire is long."
"There are some places even the Empire can't reach."
Another pause.
"They destroyed my home." Lucrezia looked up at him, into his ice blue eyes. "I can't serve a government that just blew up my planet."
"How-"
"Kagura found out from her family."
"You've been planning this."
"For the last week." Lucrezia looked down again. "She doesn't know I was planning to leave." She hated lying to him, but Lucrezia wasn't going to let Kagura suffer if Zechs decided that he had to report her defection.
"You're forcing me into a hard place, you know that?"
"Yes." Lucrezia said, still looking down. Zechs gently placed his hand under her chin and lifted her gaze to his.
"I understand." He said simply, then turned away. "I was walking in the gardens; as far as I knew, all my pilots were in their quarters." Then he walked away. Lucrezia looked after him.
"Thank you." She whispered, then turned and climbed into the cockpit.
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Midii looked up as Quatre entered, looking, for once, tired and vaguely stressed. For some reason she felt her throat tighten as he simply stood in the doorway, thoughts elsewhere.
"Quatre?" she said softly. He jumped slightly and looked at her. Noticing the worry in her eyes and voice, he smiled.
"Hey."
"Hey back." Midii said. Quatre took off his cloak and hung it up, then walked in.
"You hungry?" she asked.
"Yeah."
Midii nodded and set the table. Quatre washed his face and hands, then looked at the mirror. Questions were whirling in his head. Alderaan had blown up. The causes weren't known. Quatre swallowed a lump in his throat and blinked back tears. He should've gone home before; tried to apologize to his father. But now it was too late.
"Quatre?"
He turned at the sound of her worried voice. She stood in the doorway of the bathroom, looking at him with concern in her wide gray eyes. Midii walked up to him.
"Are you all right?"
Quatre smiled weakly and shook his head, not trusting his voice.
"Well, let's eat then." Midii said slowly, not believing him. Quatre followed her to the table. Dinner was quiet and he barely ate. Midii couldn't eat either, not with him staring off in space, looking as if his world had crashed down around him.
"Mids." He said huskily.
"Yeah?"
Quatre swallowed. "Remember I promised to take you to Alderaan?"
"Yeah."
He looked down, blinking. "I'm not going to be able to keep that promise."
"Why?"
"The planet-" his voice cracked and he tried again. "The planet doesn't exist anymore."
Midii looked at him confused.
"It blew up, Midii." Quatre's voice was low and thick with unshed tears. "I just found out."
"I see." She said distantly, somehow not able to believe it. Midii looked at him. He held a hand over his mouth and his eyes were closed. A tear rolled down his cheek.
"Cat?" she used a nickname she hadn't used in years.
"My family-" he broke off, and started to sob. Midii stared at him for a moment, suddenly frightened. She had never seen Quatre cry in the years they had been together. He'd always been so strong. Now he was shaking with sobs. Dropping her utensil, she got up and put her arms around him. Tears were streaking down her face; not for herself, for she had never seen Alderaan, but for him and whatever he had lost there.
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Duo tapped his fingers on the table while he and Hilde waited for Sally and Wufei to come and enlighten them as too why the Yavin base had been in a state of panic when the Lady Helen had arrived. Duo looked at his partner. She was staring at the wall blankly. He blew out a breath and stretched in his chair.
The door swooshed open and the two aforementioned Rebels entered.
"About time." Duo commented standing. "What's up?"
"A lot, apparently." Sally answered, sitting in a vacant chair. Hilde turned towards her and Duo sat again. Wufei opted for leaning against the wall.
"The Tantaeve IV was not only our contact ship, but also the ship that carried Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan." Sally began. "The Imperials apparently took the Tantaeve IV prisoner, but the Princess managed to get the plans off the ship."
"How?" Duo asked.
"She downloaded them into an R2 unit and directed it to an escape pod, apparently." Sally said. "They were above the planet Tatooine."
"You're kidding." Duo said flatly. "That hell hole?"
"Duo." Hilde sighed.
"Yes." Sally answered with a slight smile. "The droid and its counterpart, a 3PO unit were found by a band of Jawas. I assume you know what those are."
"Sneakiest little scrappers in the galaxy." Duo stated cheerfully.
Sally nodded. "Anyway, the droids were bought by a farmer. The farmer's son-"
"Nephew." Wufei interrupted.
"Sorry. The nephew found the last part of the Princess' message. I'm still not sure how he got the droids and plans here, but our techs already slicing into the disks."
"Plans for what?" Hilde asked.
"A machine the Empire recently built." Sally answered. "They call it the Death Star."
"I don't like the sound of that." Duo commented.
"You shouldn't." Wufei said softly. "It has the power to blow up an entire planet."
There was a moment of silence.
"By all the gods…" Duo muttered. "What the hell did they want that for?"
"There is some speculation, which I don't have time to give you." Sally stood. "Wufei and I are due for a briefing as is the rest of the base." She paused. "I understand you two signed up?"
"Yes." Hilde confirmed, also standing.
"Figures we'd sign up when there's about to be a battle." Duo commented. "I assume an assault on the Empire is in short order?"
"Sooner than you think. Princess Leia is sure that the Imperials have tracked her escape ship." Sally said, opening the door.
"Of course they would." Duo commented.
"They would what?" Hilde asked as they exited the room.
"Figures that they would be competent when it really matters."
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Relena sat half asleep in the room that had been her world for the past four days. At least she thought it had been four days. Time had blended together for a while now. The door opened and she looked up. Dorothy entered, a tall red headed man behind her. Relena stood.
"Miss Relena, this is Gene Starwind." Dorothy said softly. "He says he can get us off this planet."
"To where?" Relena asked, slightly uneasy.
"To Coruscant." Gene answered. "Best place for you guys to hide."
Relena glanced at her companion, not sure.
"He's right." Dorothy said in the same hushed tone. "The underground is the best place. And the best place where we can do something."
Relena nodded. She looked at Gene.
"Isn't this dangerous for you, Mr. Starwind?"
He grinned, dark blue eyes lighting up. "Me and my crew are used to danger." He said. "Besides, I could never resist a damsel in distress."
Relena couldn't help but smile back. Something about the confidence of his face and voice comforted her somewhat. She looked back at Dorothy. "When do we leave?"
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Triton sat underneath one of the merc ships. Nearby, Bit was muttering to himself while he worked through an engine. Triton had been helping, but now his mind was on other things.
Although he knew that the group had taken a lot of damage, a week still seemed to be a long time to wait in one place, especially with law enforcement after them. He'd puzzled over it all day…
Well, not all day. He had found himself thinking of a certain young woman, but was puzzled about her as well. Meeting Midii again had awakened feelings he didn't know he had possessed, as well as memories he had long forgotten.
When he had met her, Triton had felt the first stirrings of pity he had ever felt. There had been something so defenseless about her, which led him to put down his guard. And then she had been an apparent orphan; somebody with no one. Like him.
When her betrayal had come out, he hadn't felt surprised; he had turned against friends before as well. Betrayal was a part of street life if you were to survive. It was her reason that had caught him slightly off guard. She had been willing to sacrifice anything to save her family. Back then, he wondered what it would have been like to love someone like that. Since finding his sister, Triton felt he understood. He and Midii really weren't so different after all.
Triton's musings were interrupted as Cloud called to them. He walked over.
"What's up?" Bit asked.
"Boss says to be prepared to leave at any minute." Cloud answered. "I think he's getting jittery."
"We've been in this place for too long." Triton commented quietly, standing and tossing a tool into its container. "I don't understand it."
Cloud shrugged. "We'll be leaving soon. Boss just wanted you to know." He walked away. Triton shared a glance with Bit.
"I didn't think of it before, but it is kinda weird." The blonde man said. Triton nodded, turning away.
"I'm going into the city. Think you can handle the rest?"
Bit rolled his eyes. "As if you were helping much anyway. Go on, get out of here."
Triton smiled a bit and nodded, then quickly walked towards the exit. Shaking his head, Bit got back to work.
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Duo had been ancy for most of the briefing. An older man, Jan Dodonna, had briefly explained the station's capabilities, and now was telling how it was possible to destroy it.
"You will fly down this passageway to the port hole. It is about two meters wide and can accommodate a smaller missile. If shot correctly, the missile will start a chain reaction causing the station to blow up." Jan finished as the vid that had been playing came to a stop.
"Two meters?" a dark haired pilot spoke up. "That's impossible."
"It's not impossible."
Duo looked over at the young, fair-haired man who had spoken. A boy really. His face was earnest.
"I used to shoot wamp rats all the time in my T-16 back home and their not much bigger than two meters." The boy continued with a confidence that made Duo smile. He glanced at Hilde.
"He's not much older than us." She reminded him underneath her breath. Duo was about to answer, when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a familiar head of brown hair. Looking around, he then saw a familiar Wookie.
"Hey, look who's here." He whispered, as Jan was answering some more questions.
"Oh my." Hilde struggled not to giggle. "Of all people."
"Yeah." Duo grinned.
"I think we've covered the most important points." Jan inadvertently interrupted their conversation. "Man your ships and may the Force be with you."
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Zechs stood stock still as inspections were held. Lucrezia's disappearance had caused a rather small frenzy, but another promising pilot had soon replaced her.
Although his face was impassive, Zechs' thoughts were almost racing. Lucrezia had left because the Empire had destroyed her home. He couldn't blame her. The Empire had destroyed his home; they had completely taken it over and his sister had been executed as a traitor. And what made even more like betrayal was that his childhood friend, Trieze Khushrenada, was now the ruling Moff of Sank.
It was too much. He'd been planning his own escape for a while now. All he needed was the right moment. Then the Empire would be without one TIE pilot forever. He'd joined the Empire with the goal of toppling it. It was about time he started.
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Jaid: Hope you guys liked it! I'm not sure how updates will be going, since I've posted two new stories. Maybe you guys could check 'em out and let me know what ya think! They are "New Generation! I know cheesy title" (Yu-Gi-Oh!) and "A Second Chance" (Inu-Yasha). They are my first stories in each section-
Naga: Translation – they probably suck.
Jaid: *hits him with frying pan* I'd really like to know your guys' thoughts on them. Thanks!
Jad: Don't forget to Review!!!
Time for…
Respond to the Reviewer!
Iris Omega – You reviewed! You actually read the thing! Oh, I'm so happy! Lol, ^__~
Midii – Thanx! Your encouragement has meant a lot to me.
Blue eyes – It is sad, huh? But kinda necessary…I guess…I dunno!
Ley – lol, well, I'm one of those writers who puts people they like through all sorts of bad stuff. Just read "On the Wild Frontier" and see what I did to Quatre. The guy gets shot twice!!!
And now, for the Contest
Well, nobody ventured a guess last time. Oh well. Here are the answers.
Kagura – Inu-Yasha. She's the demon of wind and one of Naraku's kids.
Rin – Inu-Yasha. She's the little girl Sessho-maru adopted.
Bentaro – Jubei chan the Ninja Girl. He's the leader of the "unrefined" gang.
Bit – I'm not saying yet, cause he's in this chappy too. So you guys get another chance. ^__^
For this chapter, the guest appearances were Gene Starwind and Bit Cloud. See you at the review board!!!
