Chapter 4- good nights' sleep

Chief walked up to the door smiling. He was carrying a breakfast tray because the Commander needed to eat and He'd probably sleep late too if I had a woman like that. But when he knocked on the door it was opened by Loren and she was still wearing all of the clothes she'd had the day before excepting her boots.

"I figured you needed to eat. I brought you both some breakfast."

"Thanks." The chief looked past her and saw the admiral getting off the couch and massaging his shoulder.

"Hey chief, what time is it?"

"Late Sir, but if you are going to keep training them like you did before you needed the rest."

"Right, o' wait I didn't introduce everybody, Lauren this is the Chief of the Boat, Chief this is Lauren. Chief you don't happen to have that report on the engines and fighters do you?"

"In fact I do, I'll assemble all the pilots and set the captain to spinning up the ship for all the drills you will inevitably run."

"Chief, that was my first day you haven't seen anything yet. I will whip these boys into shape; by the end of this week we'll be ready to take on Courescant." Chuckling the chief left the two of them with paperwork and breakfast.

"Well he seems like a nice guy."

"Great man, but I don't know him as well as I would like, been in the navy less than a week."

"Well you'll get used to it. So what did you do? All I got on the news and my assignment notice was that you joined the navy a few days ago starting as a commander and got me for 'services rendered to the empire.'"

He frowned at the way she said it but responded. "I used to be a smuggler. I learned how to fly in a beat up old ship on my home planet. My dad was a smuggler too, and he managed to save up enough to get the Nightstalker. Then when I got old enough I helped him run it. He retired two years ago and I got the ship. I was so busy getting shipments in to pay off my old debts and sending money so that my parents would be able to get a house to retire in. I came to see them after they went on a little trip to Chepin III for their anniversary. You know the rest."

"No I don't, they didn't tell us anything."

"You mean you don't know about the bombing, the fleet or well me?"

"No, all I know is that you did something big and that bad stuff happened to the colony on Chepin that's all."

"Sith, well when I got out of hyperspace there was a rebel fleet in orbit of the planet. They fired down on a munitions complex and on the spaceport. Nobody survived. I saw them kill my parents, so I put my skills to use. When the fury came out of hyperspace I had finally gotten behind the only surviving ship, a rebel cruiser. They watched me destroy it with all hands."

Sean looked forlorn remembering how many people he had killed. She moved towards him and squeezed his shoulder. He looked surprised but the pain was gone from his eyes.

"Thanks."

"You'll be fine. Now don't think about your parents, concentrate on these pilots. I'll be there with you the whole time okay?"

"Alright, and that would mean a lot. Who knows, you might learn something."
They walked to the hanger bay side by side Sean leaning over just enough that he could feel their shoulders touch. It was all the comfort he needed to forget his sorrow and clear his mind. The pilots came to attention when he got into room and he looked them up and down. "You all get to start the day off with a little exercise. Suit up and fly out to the front of the ship. Wait there for orders."

The men ran into their ships and launched. The chief was standing next to Lauren by the door and he asked, "What are we going to do first?"

"Tell all forward batteries to open fire with practice rounds. Ask the bridge to record how long till they're all hit."

"Yes sir." Then the chief spoke into a com and they all started walking towards the bridge. When they reached there one of the younger men stood and announced that the entire wing of tie's had been "destroyed" by the batteries in exactly six seconds. The chief restrained himself from laughing and Sean just smiled. Lauren then stood silently behind the chief's right shoulder at his position on the bridge.

"Right, tell them to hold while I come out and divide up into squadrons. This is going to be a long day."

The last exercise of the day was another incident of Sean flying off in a shuttle with a befuddled group of tie pilots wondering how he did it.

He was starting to get used to having Loren there with him, even though he did not realize it. She was soaking up all the lessons he gave to others and he was quite amazed at the range of information she was starting to acquire. When the door closed he blew out a breath and collapsed on the bed. After a second he realized it was her bed and started to get up.

"Oh come on we are two adults we can share a bed without anything happening, you need the rest anyways."

"Alright, as the lady orders just let me brush my teeth so I can collapse."

A few minutes later he came out of the 'fresher, and she was wearing a tank top and sleep pants. This time around he grabbed pajama bottoms as well and hopped in bed.

"Night Lauren"

"Night Sean"

They both took their sides of the bed and promptly drifted off to sleep. When Sean woke up he felt something warm on his chest and side. Well that's odd, he thought groggily as he opened his eyes and realized what the warmth was. It was a beautiful woman cuddled next to him with her head on his chest. Oh god it's Lauren if she wakes up now. Then the body started to stir, too late.

When Lauren started to wake up she felt so safe, so warm, it was like she was being held. She wanted for anything to stay in that dream, but then the dream drifted away and the feeling was still there. Wait. Where am I, uh oh what is that? That's an oh no. What she was holding on to was a very gentlemanly and very good looking commander who looked like he was about to die.

She's going to kill me, he he well, at least I die happy. Then Sean's mind began to wander, alright let's not think things like that about innocent friends who happen to be very good looking. So they both waited for the other to jump out of the bed. When that didn't happen Sean started thinking of how to politely extricate himself from this. Then Lauren snuggled up into his chest and asked in a groggy voice, "what time is it?"

"It's only oh seven hundred."

"Stay here for a few minuets then." Came the response as she got even closer to Sean. He grinned. Better response then expected. They stayed that way for a quarter of an hour before they got dressed quickly and ran to the officer's mess for food.

For days the wing trained constantly, Sean and Loren took their meals in the hanger with the other pilots. The day before they were supposed to start operations the fighters and bombers were able to inflict heavy damage on the ship, destroy its 'fighter screen,' and get away with minimal casualties. Sean went to bed happy, he wasn't lonely any more and he was commanding the best unit in the navy.