Jaid: Hi everybody! New chapter! Surprising, no? Gomen for the long wait. Enjoy.
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"We're going to have to pilot these dinky things?" Duo kicked a Y-Wing. Hilde rolled her eyes as she climbed up the ladder.
"Just be thankful we're distraction and not actually going down that trench thing." She commented, climbing into the two person cockpit and going over shooting controls. Duo followed and settled himself into the pilots seat. He sighed, holding the helmet allotted to him in his hands.
"Hilds?"
"Yeah, hon?"
"Do you think we did the right thing?"
Hilde turned to look at him. "Yeah, I think we did."
Duo looked at her seriously. "We could die today."
"At least we'll die fighting for what we believe."
Duo smiled. "Yeah, you're right about that." Turning, he slipped the helmet on and his smile blew into a full blown grin. "Let's get this bad boy started."
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Wufei typed something quickly in the computer and looked at the map above him.
"Good luck." A wry voice behind him said. Wufei turned. Sally stood there, her medic uniform on.
"I don't envy communication jobs." Sally commented. Wufei nodded then, slipped his headphone/microphone on. "It gets confusing."
"You need a clear head." Wufei typed some more, calling up the last few squadrons to show up on the map. Sally smiled a little, then reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. Then she walked away. Wufei looked after her.
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Heero paced the room, coming as close as he had ever come to frustration. No sign of the princess. He still walked back and forth, trying to come up with where she would go.
"Sir." A young commander stood in the door way. Heero looked up.
"A ship named the Outlaw Star just left orbit." The commander hesitated.
"And?"
"They had four registered beings on board; a droid, an alien and two humans."
Heero nodded, his features betraying no emotion.
"However, a heat scanner we sent detected two more life forms."
Heero frowned. It could very well be illegal slaves, immigrants…or it just might be…
"Where was the ship headed?"
"I'm not sure, sir."
"But you are going to find out?"
"Yes, sir." The commander hastily saluted and left the room. Heero leaned against the wall, deep in thought.
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"We're leaving today."
That's what Cloud had told Bit and Triton. The blonde had nodded, while Triton had merely stayed motionless.
'I need to see Midii.' He thought. He had seen her since, sometimes in the crowd at the market, at other times with the slender young man with deep eyes. Triton wondered about the both of them. Tearing his thoughts away, he stood.
"Not going to finished breakfast?" Bit asked.
"Not that hungry." Triton headed for the hatch-way. "I'm taking a little walk, okay?"
Bit shrugged. "Whatever. See ya around."
Triton nodded, then left.
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Catherine had just finished another show and was climbing off the stage when she noticed a young woman sitting at a table alone. There was something in the woman's face that twisted Catherine's sensitive heart and she found herself walking over.
"Hi." She said, and smiled. The woman looked up.
"Hello." She answered in a low, pleasant voice.
"I'm Catherine. Mind if I sit?"
The other woman blinked, but then shook her head. The red-head sat quickly.
"Look, I know it's none of my business, but you look absolutely heartbroken and I just had to come over here and…" she trailed off.
"And what?"
"I don't know." Catherine admitted. The woman smiled slightly.
"I just lost my family." She said quietly. "It was quite a blow."
"Yeah, I'd imagine." Catherine said sympathetically. "I know how that is. I lost my family when I was real little. But I did find my brother again, so I'm thankful for that."
The other woman nodded, but the ever present pain in her eyes made Catherine weep inside.
"Do you have a place to stay?" she asked on impulse.
"Well, no-"
"I have an extra room. Why don't you stay with me until you find out where you're going?"
"That's very kind of you, but…" the woman hesitated. "Don't you think that's a little dangerous? I mean, asking a stranger to spend the night with you like this?"
Catherine grinned. "Well, to tell the truth, if you were a guy, I wouldn't be asking this. But it's not like I'm defenseless or anything…I don't know. You really seem like you need a friend. How about it?"
The woman thought for a little bit. "Okay." She finally decided. "I'm Lucy by the way."
"Nice to meet you Lucy." Catherine smiled. "You can call me Cathy."
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"Sir!"
Heero turned as the young commander ran up. "Yes?"
"We've found their hyperspace trail."
"Then get on to it." Heero ordered. The commander saluted.
"Yes, sir!" he said quickly, running out of the room.
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Triton took a deep breath and knocked on the door. The little girl had told him this is where Midii lived.
A few moments later, the door whooshed gently open and Midii stood there, a hopeful look on her face. As soon as she saw Triton, the look fell. He winced inwardly. Obviously he hadn't been the person she had wanted to see.
"Triton." She said softly.
"I wanted to come see you." He told her.
"Oh." Midii seemed to hesitate, then moved away from the door. "I suppose you should come in."
Triton nodded and entered. Midii led him to the living room area and he sat on the sofa, while she stood near the view port.
"I'm leaving pretty soon." Triton began. "I just…I wanted to say good bye this time."
Midii nodded. "Yeah." She turned to him. He looked so calm, so assured. Midii could only hope that her tumulting feelings didn't show up on her face. There was a silence in which neither said anything.
Triton looked at the angelic blonde and felt a twinge of regret. What would have happened, he thought, if he had chosen to stay with her, or asked her to come with him?
For her part, Midii was struggling with her past love and Quatre's ever present place in her thoughts. She was sure she cared deeply about Quatre, but what was Triton to her? The emotions swirled inside and she had no way to describe them, even to herself.
Triton abruptly stood. "There's something I want to know." He said, walking closer. "Why him?"
"Pardon?" Midii looked up at him startled.
"Why did you go with him? What about your family?" Triton asked. The Midii he remembered would have never abandoned her family.
Midii looked away. "They're gone." She said, voice cracking. "A long time ago. Tatooine is a harsh planet. A lot of people don't make it." She looked back up at him and her blue/gray eyes held tears. "Jabba executed my father after taking the money I gave him. Simply because he felt like it. After that, I did what I could to provide for the boys, but…" she broke off and slumped against the wall, tears running freely. "I couldn't do it! Robert and Thomas were killed in a shoot out near a bar. Robert was killed instantly, but Thomas hung on to life and I thought he was going to make it. But he didn't. Aiden…" Midii let out a shaky breath. "I don't know where he is. He just left one day and didn't come back. He could be dead or a slave or who knows what else." She bit her lip, trying to get a hold of herself. "I couldn't pay my debts and the collectors were threatening to sell me to get the money I owed them. They had me up on that block, people bidding for me, and I was sold. To a young man." Midii smiled. "As soon as I was delivered, he showed me the certificate of ownership and then erased it. 'Do you know what that means?' he asked. 'It means you're free.' And he let me go. But I didn't have a place, so I offered to work for him on his ship. He agreed and…well, it's been an interesting few years." She looked up at Triton. "I owe Quatre quite a bit; he paid a lot for me and he's been taking care of me these last few years."
Triton nodded. He almost wanted to ask if she would come with him if he asked, but there was a time when everybody needed to let go. Midii had found her place, he had found his.
Triton took her hand. "Then this is good-bye." He said softly. "I never forgot you; I don't think I ever will."
Midii nodded. "Same here, Nanashi." She answered in the same soft tone. 'But we all need to move on.' She thought. 'Yes move on. I've got Quatre now; and Triton has his friends. We'll both be okay.'
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"Great skies." Duo muttered as they flew out to meet the Death Star.
Hilde nodded, unable to speak. A knot was in her stomach. Taking a deep breath, she turned back around and put her hands on the shooting controls. (A/N: In a Y-wing, the cockpit is big enough for two people. The pilot sits near the front, facing forward. The shooter can sit facing sideways to navigate or can sit back to back with the pilot to shoot.)
"Blue Squardon, this is Blue leader. Head for the far side of the Base. We'll be trying to take down the TIE squadrons before they get to the trench. You guys get shoot at whatever you want though."
A chorus of cheers went through the airways and Hilde grinned as she heard Duo laugh.
"All right, all right. Seriously," the leader said. "Follow me and then spread out when we hit the right coordinates. Got it?"
Agreement was voiced. Hilde smiled, feeling the first tingling of adrenaline.
"Ready, babe?" Duo asked.
"More than ready." Hilde answered. "Better fly me close enough to hit stuff, fly boy."
"Yes, ma'am." Duo said enthusiastically.
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Jaid: The next chapter will be the last. Then we're off to Act II! Aren't you all happy? Lol.
Ley – Yup! I love to hurt my favs! Of course, it's not so pleasant for them…
Blue eyes – Very soon; he will be getting out of there very soon.
KaT aka Mistress Shinigami – Glad you liked it!
Midii – Thanks! I'm so glad you liked that little scene!
Contest so far:
Ley, KaT, and Midii got Gene. KaT recognized Bit! (I was wondering if anyone would!)
There were no guest appearances for this chapter, so the contest is pretty much over. I'll be announcing the winner in the next chapter.
