Chapter Thirteen – Jade Veila
Jade glared over her computer screen to the door panel, eyes narrowed. The Force presences of Tyria, Nicola and Adra were walking past it, but something was definitely different. Nicola was blazing and brilliant in the Force and Tyria was her usual self, considering she wasn't Force sensitive. Adra, however, was muted. Though she would usually not even bother to look in on those going past her lair, Adra hadn't come around this part of base for a good three weeks. The fact that she was now sparked Jade's interest, as Adra almost never bothered putting barriers around herself. But she was certainly doing that now.
Undaunted, she looked back at the computer screen wondering just what was going on in the base for the first time since she joined the squadron. Sure she was always in her lair. Sure she could read the reports sent out by General Antilles. But those never seemed to really matter. This was the first actual time her own curiosity was driving her out of the rooms she'd kept to herself in. But that didn't mean she was leaving them. Instead, she just went back to her work.
Approximately an hour later, Jade sat back in her chair, frowning at the wall in front of her. Her mind was still puzzling over Adra's curious shielding. Unconsciously realizing that there would be no other way to get this wondering out of her, she stood up, rubbing her mechanical arm as she did so. Then she walked over to the door and opened it, entering the hall. A quick scan of the building told her that Tyria was talking to Cloud in the lounge, Kell and Ryok were lost in explosive making in the lab, and that Face, Bror and Elix were in the sims. Adra and Nicola were walking down the main hallway, just past Face's office. Gaeriel and Asyr were nowhere to be found, but that was hardly surprising, considering Asyr had most likely dragged her off somewhere.
Setting her course for the general direction Adra and Nicola were coming from, Jade probed around in the Force. Nicola was talking animatedly over some subject- probably A-Wings versus X-Wings- and Adra was putting in a comment every now and then. Stretching out her Force-sense even further, Jade abruptly stopped walking. Adra's barriers were down, considering she was talking only with Nicola, and that gave insight to everything. And between the two women walking, there were five Force-sparks. Two, she knew, were Adra and Nicola. Then there were the twins Nicola was pregnant with. But the fifth was linked onto Adra's. The surprise she originally felt was muted as she turned on her heel to go back to the door she'd just left. Well, she had her answer. Time to figure out if it had been sufficient to quench her curiosity.
* * * * *
Adra stopped walking abruptly, her eyes fixed on a point ahead of her. Vaguely she heard Nicola stop talking and then saw her friend turn back to look at her. Once more Nicola was speaking, but Adra was again paying no attention. Jade's presence in the Force had just become uncloaked, leaving her no doubt that her suspicions had been correct. Jade had, in fact, been searching for answers. She shouldn't have walked down that hallway. Silently she cursed herself before she realized Nicola was staring at her with a very concerned look on her face.
"I-I'm sorry, Nicola, what were you saying?" She asked abruptly.
Nicola didn't appear to be convinced that she'd just spaced out. "I asked you what was wrong."
"Nothing, never mind. I'm fine," Adra replied sharply. She hurriedly walked up to where Nicola was waiting and then continued on past towards the lounge, their original destination. A mental sigh rose in her head as Nicola caught her arm to stop her from going any farther. Why oh why did her friends have to be so inquisitive?
"No you're not; Adra, talk to me or I'll go and get Face."
A scowl settled on her face as Nicola finished. The only downside of having a squadron commander for your fiancé, other than the fact that everyone knew about his personal life. With a sigh that met the air this time, she peeled Nicola's fingers from her arm and led her on, collecting her thoughts.
"It's nothing, really. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It was just Jade; she came out of her lair again today for, I guess, one specific reason. She's figured me out and I'm not sure if I wanted that to happen."
"Adra Loran, that's the worse excuse I've ever heard," Nicola stated flatly.
She couldn't help grinning at that before she replied. "Well, my friend," she began, sarcasm taking over. "No one said that the truth was as hyped up as it is in our imaginations, now did they? Let's go find those pilots that call themselves our significant others and whip their butts in the sims before we're not allowed to any more."
Behind her, she heard Nicola laughing. The pair glanced at each other once as the full effect of the absurdity in Adra's statements set in. Whether or not they were allowed to, they would both be in the sims past six months pregnant. Of course, that didn't mean General Antilles would know about it.
* * * * *
Face glanced down to his tactical board once more before releasing another shot on the Imperial crafts zipping around them. Vape whistled information to him just as two more blips appeared on his screen. That was rather strange, considering the sims didn't just launch new enemy ships. The last original Imperial craft exploded near him, leaving himself, Elix and Bror to regroup. Elix fired a single shot at the other TIE fighters tentatively, seeming unsure as to what exactly they were doing there. The TIE fighters' pilots were immediately recognized as the Interceptor dodged. A grin stretched over his features and he checked his shields and weapons. Vape bleeped again as Face flicked on his comm.
"Alright guys, let's remind those two why we've got higher ranks on our collars then they do," he spoke into the comm, the laughter evident in his voice. What he hadn't realized was that the entire sim was playing on one frequency, not Imperial and New Republic.
So it was a shock when Adra's voice came through his comm. "Gee Face, it's a good thing we've resolved that little issue, though I think you might actually have to- gasp- work for that statement to reign true."
He was so transfixed by the shock of hearing the Imperial ships talking to him that he failed to notice that the two Interceptors had come up easily. Mentally cursing himself for being so stupid, he looked off to each of his wings. Bror and Elix must've been as dumbfounded as he had been because they were only now moving off. Adra and Nicola were behind them now and he dove his ship down just in time to miss being hit in one of his engines by a burst of laser fire that came from one of their ships.
"I suppose this is another bit of revenge for what I told Janson then," he muttered under his breath.
Excellent deduction, Face. Now show me those fancy flying moves before I kill you. Adra's voice rang across his head and he realized that it was she who was on his tail. Elix was no longer on the screen, meaning Adra and Nicola had taken him out first. With a laugh, he saw Nicola streaking after her husband's craft. No doubt they'd both purposefully killed off Elix so they could torture Bror and himself. Well, two could play at that game. He jammed his stick to the left, causing his X-Wing to roll port. The TIE fighter was, however, two steps ahead of him. As he halted the roll and zipped down, he found himself face to face with Adra's TIE. Over the comm he barely registered Bror's curse as Nicola's fire hit one of his engines.
Face felt his craft shudder slightly and the interior lights flickered slightly before coming back online. Whatever Adra had just done, she had done it well. His systems were 17% down. Vape was twittering angrily and Face couldn't help laughing.
"I know, Vape. Just be glad you don't have to deal with this against you in every furball." He made to continue, but instead was cut off as he concentrated on dodging the next blow that was coming his way. He succeeded only halfway, the laser blast clipping one of his wings. Face let out yet another curse and then jerked his X-Wing up, attempting to spiral it over the TIE fighter and get in behind it.
Silently he cursed Adra for having the Force to use. Not that she wouldn't be a good pilot without it, but the Force gave you that one-up mode that made it harder to be beaten down unless you really weren't paying attention. His craft shook again and he apparently cursed loud enough for it to be heard over the comm, as Adra's voice came back at him, laughing. His systems were 32% down and he was running on two engines and rear shields were working at only 41%.
"Vape, concentrate shields to the rear," he ordered his astromech. Vape tooted a response before Face saw the Interceptor dive down behind him.
Another curse left his lips as he saw the craft spiraling around to his side, lasers firing rapidly at his now-defenseless S-foils. Realizing he'd just made the most idiotic mistake he could, Face jerked the stick to the side, trying to roll the X-Wing even as he knew he wouldn't be quick enough. The laser fire hit the side of the X-Wing in rapid succession, just below the canopy. The X-Wing shook for a second then the simulator went black.
Three minutes later, he was standing outside the sim cockpit with his helmet under his arm. Elix was sitting in the chair in front of the sim screen, Adra next to him. Bror and Nicola were walking over from their sims at the same time as the holovid of the sims came onscreen, waiting to be played. Face looked over at Adra to find her grinning wickedly and he knew at once that she wasn't going to let him live that down, especially after he'd egged her on about why they didn't have higher ranks.
"Well, Commander, I'd like to know your opinions of our flying now," Adra spoke pleasantly, her voice carrying a slight hint of a challenge.
Face flashed a grin as he spoke. "I have no other defense than that you were flying in an Interceptor and they are more maneuverable. And you've also flown one since you were eight."
Adra's face turned sour instantly as she glared daggers at him. "Oh, I see. So you're saying I couldn't whip your scores to smithereens in an X-Wing? Turn around, flyboy, and march straight back to those simulators."
He debated for a second over not doing as she had ordered, considering he held the authority to refuse, but he decided it wasn't worth her annoyance. With a sigh he shoved his flight helmet back on his head and hopped back into the sim cockpit. He had a few seconds before the simulation screen changed to the sim she'd set and he saw another X-Wing next to him. With a sigh, he realized they were in a blank simulation; no planets, no mine fields, nothing. The other X-Wing rolled around and he relinquished hopes of proving himself right as Vape registered a hit to him. This was going to be a long day.