Chapter Six
Liberty, sick-bay
Two days later the Liberty rendezvoused with a freighter that finally brought them the vital bacta resources they needed. Marcus Lochlin was one of the first to be treated. As he was floating in the tank Coreena stood in front of it and silently watched him. After the incident two days ago she hadn't spoken with him again, still too confused about the feelings their last look had inspired. The last time she had felt anything like this was like three years ago and it had brought her only pain and a job she had never dreamt of. The profanity of her reasons to join the Rebellion still made her somewhat uneasy. She was quite sure not very much women had gotten into it because of love sickness.
Before everything had happened she had been the spoiled daughter of a single-parent Alderaanian lit professor with distinct connections to the Alderaanian royal family. Her mother had loved her, taught her the values every Alderaanian respected and even introduced her to a genuine princess. She had never known her father, and she had never needed one. Her mother had told her that he had been some unimportant Imperial officer on shore leave to Alderaan, and that was all she ever wanted to know. Men weren't needed in the live of Nunavut and Coreena Mallan. But everything had changed when Coreena had gotten to know a young rather unimportant noble from the court of Alderaan, one of her mother's students. He had been two or three years older than she, and was kind, charming and pretty good-looking but the greatest miracle of all had been that he actually had noticed her and even seemed to like her. They had been dating for quite a time, almost a year, when he finally pulled the big question. Had she known what saying yes meant she would never have done it. It had been just like in some trashy love HoloVid. Nothing had seemed to be wrong during the wedding preparations but when the big day was there she and her family and friends had been the only ones waiting at the altar. Later she found out that his mother had called the whole thing off because she had gotten wind that her future daughter-in-law was an illegitimate child. Not even her connections to the royal family had saved her. The woman just had had too much ambitions for power to let her son marry a woman who didn't even know her father's name. Having been set up and feeling like dirt she knew no better then to bid her mother farewell and hurry off the planet. And so Coreena Mallan met with the Resistance and had gotten involved with it. First to get her mind off the whole thing and only after two or three months out of real devotion for the cause.
The figure in the bacta tank stirred and opened his eyes. After feeling paralyzed for a second Coreena let her guts decide and fled the room. She just didn't want to get close to this man now.
Liberty, on patrol around the ships
"I tell you, she's avoiding me." Flann let out something that was part snort, part laugh. "Nah, you're imagining, Blenwell. If she was avoiding you she first would have to notice you." Spinning his X-Wing in a barrel roll Marten let out his frustration. "Really, this woman hates me."
"As if you did anything to prevent this, Seven.", Deraani Kar'Esta's voice came over the comm. "Oh, will you just shut up, Three." Swaying around Liberty's nose Deraani replied in a good-humored voice: "But I'm right, ain't I?"
"Yeah. Now will you shut up?" Deraani grinned, showing little sharp teeth. This is going to be fun., she thought. "No! If you would be hating her as much why does it bother you like this?" Even more so that Kenzy'll join our little party in some seconds. "If you haven't noticed it by now, oh clever one, it is not bothering me the least." Maybe I'll get some nice story to tell Kara today… just have to lead him in the right direction… "Oh yeah… then why don't you just stop complaining about the Lieutenant?" A fourth green dot appeared on her rear monitor. Now the party's got its honorary guest. "I am not complaining, I'm just telling Nine what that woman's really made of." Come on, Blenwell, just say something really stupid. Do it for me and my sister and the rest of the squadron. "Yeah, as if we don't know this already. Really, Seven, you are so predictable. You're like an open data file, you know that?"
"If you don't stop voicing your stupid suspicions about me, the Lieutenant and the crap you suspect between us I will personally space you right after we return to the hangar. Or maybe I choose to shoot you right know, I haven't decided yet."
"But I have decided to give you a very thorough lecture when we return from this patrol, Seven. In front of the whole crew if you don't stop with your ridiculous whining immediately." Kenzy's reprimand and the shocked expression on Blenwell's face she could see even through the distance between them made Deraani laugh so hard that she had to turn of her comm for almost a minute. Only when she saw a red light blinking she turned it on again, switching to the channel she was hailed on. "You set this up, didn't you? You let me run into the sarlacc pit so you could enjoy your twisted sense of humor." This was just too funny. "Yeah, Blenwell. That was the revenge for telling Dreis about that little incident on the last shore leave."
"I will get you for this, you little…"
"Control to patrols: We just received sensor signals from a larger group of Imperial vessels 100 km away but they are coming at very high speed towards our direction. All patrols return to the hangars. We are jumping in five minutes so hurry up." Immediately Gray and Silver Cats patrol flights changed their courses and returned to their respective hangars. When every fighter had been brought in, the Liberty immediately made the jump to light speed. "Running again.", Marten just mumbled gruffly.
Predator, sick-bay
Dimly Kesra registered that she was in a room she didn't know. Opening her eyes only half she saw white walls, a white ceiling and a moving figure, clad in white as well. Through the mist that was clouding her brain she figured that she was in some medical facility. As if having been detached from the rest of her mind, the reasonable part told her that the torture was over and that she now was about to experience the "after care". She just hoped they would put her back to unconsciousness because then she wouldn't have to feel her body hurting all over, most of all that strange soreness between her legs.
The figure came toward her and she recognized a human with short blond hair and syringe in his hands. Images of the past hour involving same looking instruments came back. When the syringe made her way nearer and nearer towards her she began squirming and making low whimpering noises. "Don't move. This will not hurt. It will make the pain go away." The voice speaking to her was surprisingly warm and soothing and – what was most interesting – quite obviously female. Kesra relaxed a bit. The human which she had thought being a young man turned out to be a woman, maybe a nurse or something, but when the syringe finally met her skin she contracted again. The unbearable pain several one of these had given her had burned itself into her brain.
"If you'd just keep quiet it wouldn't hurt." Now the voice became a little impatient. "I'm here to make some of the pain go away. Just don't make this any more difficult, will you?" And then a strange sensation flooded through Kesra's body. The pain which had tortured her seconds ago was gone, leaving behind only a kind of distinct soreness and her mind slowly seemed to clear from any memories connected with the pain. At last she fully opened her eyes and starred into the plain face of a human woman. "Hi, I'm Surgeon Lieutenant Doctor Ilara Kardian, chief medic aboard the Predator and responsible for sewing together Chesfer's toys after he again managed to brake them, and who are you?" Was this some kind of interview, too? Not willing to trust her drugged mind Kesra chose to be silent. After waiting some moments the medic just shrugged and turned her back towards Kesra and seemed to activate a comm.
"Kardian here. I'm finished with her. No… I can't yet release her… No, commander, this one really needs some further monitoring… You don't seem to understand… She really…" Silence. An agitated voice on the other end of the comm. Then: "Yes, sir. No, sir. Yes, sir. Kardian out, sir." Kesra noticed a slight change in the upright stature of the medic but it was gone almost immediately. "Why for the Empire's sake do they make us swear that oath if they force us to brake it on every possible occasion afterwards? But who am I asking? Anyway…" A door opposite to Kesra's cot opened and an Imperial officer accompanied by some storm troopers appeared. He snapped to attention before the woman and began with " Lieutenant Ganner reporting…" but she made him stop with a wink. "Spare me that stupid protocol and take your prisoner." The black clad officer nodded and motioned towards Kesra, issuing some orders to the troopers standing behind him. Some moments later she was hauled up again.
Liberty, sick-bay
Not being able to sleep but still not being allowed to walk outside sick-bay, Marcus wandered aimlessly through it. That is, until he heard muffled moans and whimpers through a door. Wondering he stopped and read the provisional name tag. Cpt. Coreena Mallan. The sounds continued. That clearly sounds like a nightmare or something. Trusting his guts he pressed the door opener. Luckily the door eventually opened and he stepped into the dark room. Lighted only by the sparse light from the few stars shimmering through the velvety blackness of deep space Lochlin could make out her sleeping form, tossing restlessly from one side to the other. He had been right, she was being tortured by a nightmare of some sorts.
Not knowing what to do he just stood there, watching her and wishing he just could wake her up and make the suffering stop, taking her in his arms… Now, what was he thinking of? Just like every other time he reminded himself over and over that this still was his superior, his CO, for the Jedi's sake. On her bed Coreena Mallan moved to a fetal position, seeming more vulnerable than ever. She seemed to have curled into a tight ball, half-whispering "No." over and over again. This just had to end, as Marcus could see no woman suffer, most of all not her… Will you just stop it?, he again reprimanded himself. Hesitatingly he moved towards her and touched her shoulder as lightly as he could. Nevertheless she jerked up and starred at him with wild eyes. "What…? Who…?"
"Sh, sh… it's just me, Lochlin." Her bewilderment didn't cease, even seemed to grow. "Lochlin? Lieutenant Lochlin? But… you are dead…" So this was what her nightmare had been about. "No, I'm here. Really, I am." At last she seemed to relax a little. "I… you… yes… yes, I recognize your voice." And then she realized the situation. "What the heck are you doing in my room?" She sounded furious but that somehow sounded better than her confused stammering some moments ago. "I… I heard you through the door, and thought you might have nightmare, so I…"
"So you thought you'd just storm into my room, snatch me from my nightmare's talons and be cherished as my hero?" Now she was becoming unfair. "Hey! I did not end a conversation by storming off because of some look!" She fully sat up in her bed and drew her legs toward her. "I didn't end the talk either, it was over anyway, okay?" Her behavior had changed to defiantly. He didn't like this either. "Now, look, Captain…"As she tilted her head a little her eyes caught the light from the stars outside and had a fascinating twinkle to them. He forced himself to stop looking like a lovesick teenager, even if she couldn't fully see his facial expression.
"It's just… we should stop avoiding each other or talk only business respectively. We are squadron mates and we should act like this. Or we'll become the equivalent to our all-favorite banter pair. I don't think it would be very good for the squadron if it had a command group like this." She turned her head to the wall so he very dimly could see her profile. "I don't understand why you're still talking in plural. To me it's pretty clear they won't let me fly until this whole mess is solved and as I see it now, afterwards I will be cleared off the roster because I'm a danger to all my squad mates. Believe it or not, my career's over." The distinctness with which she gave her analysis of the situation made him shudder.
"No, Captain… There has to be some possibility you haven't seen yet. You just have to have more faith in you. Well, that and the shortage of staff the Alliance has to go trough at the moment." He wasn't all sure but he could swear he had a seen a smile flutter over her face. "I've talked to D'Ar about this and he agreed with me. I'm sorry but it seems you're getting a new commander again." He shook his head. "That's just Tie. Maybe he's a good medic but he's awful when it comes to superiors. He tries to agree with them everywhere it's possible. Must be remnant of his Imperial past. Let me talk to him. I bet you're getting your flight status back sooner than you like." She shook her head and got up. Standing at the big window only her silhouette could be seen. The long hair she normally wore braided was now open and cascaded down her back to hip-length. "Tie's not the problem, Lieutenant. I noticed his inclination for pleasing his superiors, too. The snoops from Intelligence are the ones giving me the creeps. "
He walked up to her, looking out of the window as well. "Reed and Mitchum?" Surprised she nodded. "Don't worry 'bout them. They are responsible for inner security so they stick their nose in every affair they think belongs to their charge. I think they got a special attraction to our squadron since we are the ones with the most connections to the Empire and smuggling syndicates. I mean, take Randy. He had to go through five interviews before they even let him fly simulators just because his father is some minor Imperial officer. They just didn't believe he broke up with him long ago because he didn't have "evidence". Cranky, aren't they?" She ran her hands through her hair and shook her head so that little waves rippled through them. "Yeah, but that still doesn't help me. I shot a fellow Gray, so what's there more to say?"
"You did it in the heat of the moment. You were just freaked out because of Alderaan. You didn't think. Plenty of reasons to cancel even the hearing. Plus we need all the pilots we can get, and you got potential. Being your wing-man really is a pleasure. So… if you'd let me deal with Snoop and Snoopy…" She smiled again, this time with more confidence. "Thank you, Lieutenant, but I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." He smiled at her. "Maybe, but I'd like to repay you for this thing you pulled in the Hunter-attack. Really saved my butt out there. Besides… that's what a wing-mate is there for, backing you up and getting the neks off your tail so you can take care of the bigger fishes, isn't it?" She turned her face to him, and with every movement her hair seemed to flow. He wished he just could get his eyes off her hair, lithe figure, long fingers… "Well, if you put it this way… but I still don't find it right that you deal with these guys and not me…" Anything for a beautiful woman… Dammit, Lochlin! "I've got some experience with them… Dreis always let this to me, saying he had something better to do than caressing the egos of some snoops. So…" Coreena turned to the window again. "If this works… I owe you one…"
"Yah, if we possibly get any shore leave sometime, you're welcome to buy me a drink, 'kay?" She made a face and slapped him playfully on the arm. "Oh, you fly-boys…" He grinned. Mission accomplished. "Now, don't go there, or we might end up in a spare and I will have to let you win so you won't be disappointed." The mischievous grin playing over his face was kind of infecting as she had to grin herself. "Or I will have to let you win so your precious fly-boy ego won't take too much damage." Light-hearted they both shared a laughter.