Chapter Two – The Mission

Nicola smiled at her older daughters and their 'triplet' as the three of them went about showing Jacinta how to put together a detonator.  Of course, with uncles like the Wraith children had, specifically Kell, Ryok and Cloud.  Of course, Adra also seemed to enjoy blowing things up...

With a sigh, she reached over and grabbed Ciny, keeping her from holding the explosive when it went off.  When it did go off, the explosion went straight up, about three feet, a miniature of what Kell's and Cloud's real equipment could do.  While 'normal' parents might have issues with their needs to indulge her children with 'toys' that exploded, Nicola didn't have a problem with it, so long as said children didn't get hurt with them.  Neither, or course, did Adra or either Tyrias.

Adra...  Missing for two and a half weeks.  While it was hard not to tell Face- and half the other people in the squad, for that matter- what was really up, Nicola had to remain silent.  Even though... well, just because everything else had gone wrong so far didn't mean what Adra had been sent to do had... she hoped.

While Face Loran had no clue what was really going on, Nicola, Tyria Ritril, Wedge and Iella were the only people who really knew the plan, and what it might cost the Lorans in the long run, Adra had been willing to go through with it.  Even if it meant giving up time with her daughters...and possibly losing the unborn twins.  She hadn't figured into it, however, that Daala would've had ysalamiri waiting on board the Knight Hammer.

On top of all that, Adra had lied to Face.  She wasn't actually six weeks pregnant.  No, it was more like two and a half months.  However, this plan had been in motion for nearly four months and Adra had known that above all, Face couldn't know.  He'd only make more of an effort and press to get her out of there.  And then they wouldn't get the information they needed.  Besides, that was why Adra was in there in the first place:  to get the inside information.

Across the room, she felt Bror's presence approaching the closed door.  Ty and Koyi were with him and, to her slight shock, so was Face.  And Face was livid.

The door slid back and Nicola saw Ty and Koyi running over towards her, their expressions gleeful.  The younger twins hid quickly behind her and Nicola looked from their faces to Bror's.  Her husband raised an eyebrow at her and cast a meaningful look at Face, accompanying it with a mental image of a storm cloud.

Nicola stared at him, then looked to Face and back, noting the severely pissed look on his face.

"So," he said, without any preamble other than Bror moving their children into another room, Face's daughters running over to him.  "How long were you in on this?"

Nicola cringed inwardly.  So Wedge had told him.  Before she could answer, Face was talking again.

"While I understand the basis behind keeping this mission from me, you failed to tell me that six weeks was a lie.  I've no doubt in my mind that you were involved in shielding and blocking all this information that I've also got no doubt I would've figured out otherwise," Face said.  Inyri and Ciny both scowled up at him, looking like they were unsure whether or not to cry or just hide behind Bror.  Face went on, "Like, for example, the fact that Adra would be showing right now while in a tank top.  Someone obviously did a kriffing mind trick to either make me think I was being delirious or to erase my memory at that point."

Nicola glanced down at the two Loran girls, watching their expressions both visible and through the Force.  She saw Face glance down at them even as she summoned them over to her.  Inyri took Ciny's hand and led her younger sister over to her.  Nicola picked up the younger of the two girls, Bror picking up Inyri, and she looked at Face again.  "After I make sure your children aren't going to be mentally scarred for the rest of their lives, I'll tell you."

Before he could respond with an answer of any kind, Nicola lead Bror, Inyri in hand, to the other room where their own four children were now sitting in a lopsided circle, the older two using telekinesis to make Koyi and Tynian's toys float in and out of reach.  Normally Nicola would've told the girls to quit it and give their siblings the toys, but today she merely put Ciny down next to Meli and walked back out into the main room, using the Force to close the door behind her.

"Alright, Face Loran, I'll give you your answer," she said, coming to a halt in front of him.  "This whole mission was thought up about four months ago and yes, Adra was in on it from the beginning.  I trust Wedge already spilled everything he knew with you, however, that doesn't mean you have to come in here like a raging idiot.  That's exactly why Adra didn't tell you."

Face glared hard at her, his green eyes darkening.  "So you thought that lying and covering it up would be any better?"

"Yes, in fact we did. You already have proven that you get so damn protective of your wife and if we had told you, you wouldn't have let her go.  For your information, Tyria volunteered to go but Adra shot her down since Tyria's already been tortured by Daala," Nicola spat in response, resisting the urge to punch him.

It didn't appear to her that Face recognized her internal struggle, though if he had, he probably wouldn't have cared at this point.  Instead, the pilot merely sighed and glanced out the window to the view of Coruscant's cityscape beyond.  Waiting for him to come up with a reply, Nicola sat herself down on the end of the couch, her gaze never leaving his face.  At last the pilot sighed.

"Alright, fine," he said, admitting defeat.  "You win.  So now could we please find a way to get her out of there?  It was you, after all, who got her in.  And I highly doubt Cloud is going to be up and fine about this Cloud City arrangement, especially if it involves Daala nabbing Tyria again."

She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to make his point, though she almost knew what he was going to be asking next.  And, of course, she also knew the answer.  Adra, Tyria, and she had worked this out already, knowing full-well that anything that they didn't plan for probably would go wrong.  And that included the possibility of Face's finding out and demanding they do something stupid- go figure.  And their plans had worked perfectly, minus their forgetting about the ysalamiri, but then again, nobody was perfect.  Nicola looked back at Face to see him staring at her.  One side of her mouth twisted up into a feral smile.

"There's already a plan for this, Face.  It's just a matter of making it move."