Chapter Eleven – Or Else

Adra sat next to Face, talking with Gaeriel and Nicola, while her fiancé precariously listened in on the conversation, all the while with an arm around her waist. Adra nodded in an answer to one of Gaeriel's questions before turning her head very slightly to glance at Face. His chin was resting neatly on her shoulder, his expression all innocence.

Adra raised an eyebrow at him, hoping that he wasn't thinking what she thought he was. Using the Force to probe in along that thought, she groaned silently. Face was, in fact, thinking what she thought he was thinking. She quickly excused herself from the conversation and twisted to look at Face.

"Absolutely not. I've enlightened Tyria and, at your bidding, Wedge. I'm not giving anyone else a way to ruin my life," she quickly informed him.

Face's expression returned to that of feigned innocence. Adra wasn't impressed. Quickly turned to face him entirely, crossing her arms across her chest. The glower on her face increased as Face's remained the same. Her suspicion doubled at once.

"Alright, flyboy, what the sith did you do?"

Face looked at Adra, trying and failing to maintain his innocent expression that she already wasn't buying anyway. A minute later, she had grabbed his elbow and was making him walk out of the lounge and into the hall. Once they were far enough from the lounge that they wouldn't be overheard, Adra all but slammed him into the wall.

"What did you do?" she repeated. "If I have to use the Force to pull it out of you, I will not be happy."

Face appeared to be gathering his thoughts. "Well, you're not going to be happy with me anyway, but you'd probably be more upset-" Face cringed visibly as Adra's glare intensified. "Alright, alright! Wes, Hobbie, Karrde, Tycho and I were playing sabacc and, you know Karrde, information was in the betting 'pile'. Karrde won the hand and we all had to fork over something."

Adra stared at him in disbelief. The expression quickly changed to horror at the thought of Wes Janson with that knowledge. "You mean to tell me that you just upped and decided that that was the only valuable bit of information you could give out? And you had to tell him that with Janson and Hobbie there? Kriff it, Face, I thought you were smarter than that!"

As she ended her tirade, she threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. Her emotions no longer easy enough to express in words, Adra heaved a sigh and her hands mimicked the previous journey once more. She watched Face for another second then turned to face the other wall and bang her head into it, as if it might work to clear the horrible events of late. As her head met the durasteel for the second time, she felt hands on her shoulders pulling her around to face away from the wall.

Instead, she leaned against the wall she had just been using to pound her head on only to find one of Face's hands pinned at either side of her head. Unwittingly, and almost angrily, she felt her heart quicken as she watched him.

"I'm sure you did think I was smarter than that, Adra, but honestly, what was I supposed to do?" Face's voice wasn't raised as hers had come out as, just an honest question. Adra opened her mouth to give him a dozen scathing remarks in return only to snap it shut again. There was absolutely no reason she needed to get in an argument over this. Instead of saying anything, she sighed and nodded.

"I suppose..." Her words were cut short as she was pulled into a brief yet at the same time lingering kiss. Instantly she reached up and put her arms around Face's neck, her embrace loose. "And just how drunk did Karrde get you, Force tell."

Face grinned at her, then started her lead her towards the lounge. Adra fell into step next to him, one hand now resting on his shoulder while her head found a spot there as well. "You honestly don't want to know. I'll just leave you with this: my head still hurts from it."

A grin flicked across Adra's features as he said that. She nodded, the movement restricted for her lack of wanting to move her head, but all in all, it came out somewhat right. She both felt and saw the grin spreading on her fiancé's face.

"Well then, I suppose that means I'll have to leave you with that headache as punishment, now won't I?"

***

Adra strode down the hallway of Rogue headquarters, carefully making sure Tycho, Hobbie and Wes were occupied. Pressing the door comm of Wedge's office, she waited for it to open. The General raised an eyebrow at her as he stepped back, allowing her entrance. Before she even said a word, Wedge grinned. Adra quickly searched the Force to find that he already knew the reason she was here.

"Adra, if you ask me very, very nicely, I'll keep Janson, Tycho and Hobbie silent."

She glanced at his desk to see three datacards on it, all of them labeled: Wes Janson, Hobbie Klivian, Tycho Celchu. Adra couldn't help smiling.

"I see you already guessed I'd be coming to beg you, which I will do, short of getting on my knees."

Wedge grinned amusedly and nodded, then picked up his comm. A few minutes later, Janson, Tycho and Hobbie walked in the room. Adra put on a satisfied face as the three of them glanced between Wedge and herself. Wes was the first to notice the titles of the datacards in the open folders on Wedge's desk.

"Not again..." Janson glanced in her direction and Adra gave him a very satisfied smile. Before he could continue, she searched through the Force around him and 'twisted' what she found in relation to the pain that was racking his head right now.

His face contorted once more as the pain in his head intensified and Adra vaguely heard Tycho saying something to the effect of 'You're very lucky you outrank me right now'. Her expression neutralizing once more, she watched as Wedge waved the 'Lieutenant Kettch' file under Janson's nose, all the while replying to his twic.

"That's why I'm a General and you're not."

Tycho shook his head, obviously unimpressed. Adra knew he'd heard that line one-too-many times before. "And I'll still be refusing promotions twenty years from now simply because I don't think I like the idea of yelling at Jaina Solo when she's just as liable to yell back."

Wedge shrugged then looked at Janson. The pilot was banging his head on the desktop. In between the thuds, Adra made out what he was saying, a grin lighting her face.

"I solemnly swear to keep my mouth shut if that holovid isn't shown." Janson stopped banging his head only to rub it. Adra couldn't help grinning at the fact that Wes had probably just doubled the headache that both alcohol and the Force introduced to him.

"Oh, but there's advantaged to being a General! Such as much higher access for things to do with pranks-" Wedge's sentence was cut short as Iella appeared next to him, waving his own rather thick file under his nose, holding a few datacards in the other hand. Wedge grinned very sweetly at his wife, who moved the file away, and then waited patiently as Wedge's 'beating' continued. He pulled out pictures from the Adamar mission and showed them to Tycho and Hobbie. While he allowed Hobbie and Tycho to pale considerably, he spoke to his wife.

"Now honestly Iella, you're supposed to be on my side! And besides, this is a wonderful opportunity to have Adra Loran owe me a favor." Iella rolled her eyes and finally nodded. Wedge smiled, then spoke to Hobbie and Tycho. "Do these pictures look familiar, you two?"

Janson was grinning insanely while Tycho continued to pale. Hobbie was muttering something that sounded exactly like 'my faith is shattered'. Iella herself couldn't even help laughing a bit. However, she brought some seriousness to the situation.

"I know that, Wedge. But this folder is to make sure you don't go overboard."

Wedge looked shocked that she'd even suggest such a thing. He put on an innocent face that deceived nobody and spoke. "Me? Go overboard? I don't know what you're talking about."

Adra rolled her eyes and looked inconspicuously at the ceiling at that. Otherwise, she would've burst out laughing. Instead, she whistled a tune, trying to not allow the fun to her face. Wedge glanced at her, grinning, then looked back at the three pilots in front of him.

"Now, will we be keeping our mouths shut about Adra?" Janson, Tycho and Hobbie all nodded vigorously, casting dark and scared glances to the files on the desk. "That's what I thought. And just so you know, I've got whole drawers on you three."

"How many drawers do I have?" Wes asked excitedly. Adra listened with interest to Wedge's answer.

"Try four, Wes. Four." Wes paled at the answer, but Adra was dually impressed. So there was a record here in the New Republic. After working with them for ten years and hacking into nearly everything with Tyria, she'd just learned about something new.

"You know...I may have to try and break that record," Adra said at last.

Wedge grinned at her and raised an eyebrow. "Good luck at that one. So far, you've only got a folder with your name on it."

Adra's eyes twinkled mischievously and she nodded. "A folder, yes. A folder of the things you actually know about."

Everyone around the room couldn't help grinning at her comment. Adra shrugged off the reaction as if it were 'nothing big' and bit back a laugh as Wedge commented.

"Ah yes, the things that you've done to me are in a whole different section."

Feigning shock, Adra replied. "That's utterly and entirely false! I have done nothing to you. Yet."

Wes, Hobbie and Tycho seemed to take that as their cue to creep out of the room. They started walking slowly backwards as Wedge replied. "Really now, Loran?"

"Other than trying to hijack Fel's Interceptor... And no, because Adra Loran hasn't done anything to you. Adra Tallon on the other hand..."

Wedge grinned as he responded to her making note of the differences between the two names. "That TIE business was to Fel and you get points for it. I hate Fel."

Adra listened as the door slid shut, effectively closing the three pilots out in the hall. She turned to look at the door, and then turned back to Wedge. "And now I must assume that I owe you."

She glanced up to see his face and saw him nodding fervently. "Yes, you do. Big time. I don't normally go into my files for incidents other than those inflicted upon me."

Again she nodded, her grin widening. "I'll stick to owing you a favor. Now if you don't mind, I have a few headache boosters to dole out."

The look on General Antilles' face was one of interest. He raised an eyebrow, grin still in tact. "Might I ask to whom?"

Raising an eyebrow, Adra reached into the Force again, coming to terms with Tycho and Hobbie's headaches. Curses let up very loudly in the air and could be heard even through the walls. Opening her mouth to reply, she stopped short as Tycho gave a very loud remark.

"Alright, now I'm interested," Wedge said, looking her over with interest.

Adra smiled, and nodded. "Well, let me put it to you this way. Three of your officers will have severe migraines for the next 48 hours. A certain fiancé of mine will be in living hell for the next day."

Looking a bit more than mildly impressed, Wedge prodded further. "Is this by the Force or hangover?"

Contemplating her answer, she twisted what she found in Janson once more, sending him another little round of pain. Next time she found an idea of the nature to pick fun at her or Nicola, that man wouldn't be walking for a few days. She rethought the last thing she said, then edited it and answered. "Actually, I might go easy on Face. And I'm merely adding to the hangover that they all have by twisting it through the Force."

Wedge nodded, as if it suddenly all made sense, though Adra was sure she'd done absolutely nothing to clear his confusion. "Ah."

Adra nodded and turned to go. Stopping a stride short of the door, she glanced over her shoulder once more. "Oh, and if Talon Karrde comms you looking for me, I'm not here and I haven't talked to you."

She received a nod in answer before the actual words. "Fine. That'll be two you owe me."

Her steps carried her back to Wedge's desk where she put a datacard down on it firmly. Shaking her head, she raises an eyebrow and grins very faintly. "No, that's only one, General. You got information that you would've had to pay a lot more for out of the deal."

An expression of deep seated confusion passed Wedge before his face blanked again. "Really now? What information would that be?"

"Let me put it to you this way: I love being a computer hacker," Adra stated.

"Make your point, Loran."

Her grin widening, she elaborated. "While Karrde thinks his systems are infallible, they're the easiest thing in the galaxy to hack into. Meaning the Wild Karrde has just 'shared' a considerable amount of information that Talon Karrde was going to have up on the black market about the Imperials in a few weeks. You've got it right there free of charge."

Though Wedge only raised an eyebrow and said 'I see', Adra could tell he was impressed.  His wife was already reaching for the datacard she'd placed on the desk. She nodded to Iella, then addressed the General once more. "I'm sure you do, sir, I'm sure you do. Now if you don't mind..." Tycho's curse filled the purposeful silence before she continued. "I'm off."

Wedge grinned and nodded, then went back to organizing his files. Adra walked out of the office and out to the hanger bay to head back to Wraith.