"…Chesfer acknowledged. Prisoner aboard. Withdrawing our forces."
The last sounds of the recording faded away, and Marcus starred blankly at the opposite wall. As if in trance his finger automatically pushed the "play"-button again and the voices sounded through his quarters again. When Zifra's voice was heard for the first time his eyes twitched only ever so slightly. Again the sounds faded out. This time, however, he just continued starring at the wall. Then suddenly his right foot lashed out and kicked his desktop chair, hard. But not even the loud crashing sound the chair made when it connected with the floor made him feel any better.
The perfect stillness in his quarters was suddenly interrupted by the shrill ringing of his comm. Without looking he tapped the button and said with a kind of detached voice: "Yes?"
"Marcus?" It was Kenzy's voice. He said nothing, just starred. "Marcus?" This time she asked a bit sharper. He cleared his throat. "Yes, what is it?"
"Marcus, I don't know if you remember but your people have been waiting for you for like half an hour now. Don't you think that's a bit inappropriate for a commanding officer?" He closed his eyes. Technically, she was damn right. It was just that… to be honest he didn't know what it was. Sighing he said: "Alright. I'm coming. Where are you?"
"At the briefing room, just as ordered." His gaze fell on the data pad with the recording data card in it. Just as Rannan had done it, he decided out of his gut. "Make that some place where we can't be listened to easily. And where nobody would assume a squadron meeting would take place." Silence on the other hand, then: "Alright… we're moving to the work out room. Kenzy out." He put his comm off, took the data card and left his quarters. On the way to the work out room it dawned on him that maybe this was not one of his brightest ideas. What if Zifra had bugged their quarters? Or set tracking devices on their comms? And how many people were involved in this? He tried to look around for something suspicious, some one following him but could detect nothing.
When he had finally reached the work out room the strange dark swirl of emotions inside of him had been replaced by a grim determination. He entered the room and saw his people sitting there. Most of them looked fatigued. Kara Kar'Esta was absent, as much as her roommate and sister Deraani. He didn't comment on it, though he knew he would have to talk to both of them later.
Everyone of them was looking expectantly at him when he finally cleared his throat. He took a deep breath and tried to speak. On his third attempt he finally managed to say: "People… this was one hell of a battle." Not much reaction. "We lost our commanding officer. And we lost a very good comrade, a friend… both casualties are heavy. But… but this is not the worst. Some hours ago Tom Rannan gave me something. Maybe… it's best if you just listen." He hit the "play"-button on his data pad and again the voices were speaking. He tried to ignore them, tried to hold the emotions in him that were welling up again at bay by watching the reactions of his fellow pilots. Most of them showed signs of disbelief and anger.
The recording finally stopped. Silence reigned the room until Marcus cleared his throat and wanted to say something but Marten beat him to it. "Must have been one heck of a piece of work for Rannan's lot to build up such a good fraud." Marcus swallowed. "He and his people may be a bit… unconventional but… I trust them. Coree… Captain Mallan did it although she had personal difficulties with Rannan, and I talked to his XO. There's no indication that they have any reasons to work against us. Any different opinions?" He looked around. Nobody spoke up so he continued. "Now is the question… what do we do about this?" After a moment of silence Kenzy spoke up. "We should be careful. Very, very careful. Remember that last meeting we had with the Cap? Where all of us could report suspicious activities around our fighters? We thought we had been overreacting but when even Zifra is involved in this how many more people are? I think first thing we have to do is meet up with Rannan and his XO and try to find a strategy to discover the traitors among the ship's crew." Several pilots nodded. Marcus closed his eyes for a moment. Then he said: "Right. Since it seems I'm the officer with the highest length of service I'll act as a commanding officer as long as there's no different order. Any objections?" Nobody raised a hand. "Good. I'll appoint Kenzy as my XO." She nodded. "Your first assignment is to contact Rannan and talk to him about what you suggested here. Try to bring him to meet us as soon as possible. The rest of you… keep your eyes open, not only when you're on duty but your whole waking time. But for now… get some sleep. All of you. That's an order. We'll meet again in 12 hours. Here. Dismissed."
When nothing more came from him, the people slowly stood up and left the room until only he and Kenzy were left. Just as he was about to turn and leave also she came up to him and just said: " And… how are you feeling?" He just gave her a weary look and said: "Why'd you want to know?" She ran a hand over her face. "Look… I know we've never been exactly best friends but… everybody can see that you're just one step from going over the edge, and if you're a commanding officer that's just the one thing you can't afford. Is… is there…?"
"Kenzy… Saron… I lost two good people today. And I lost them because of a traitor. The only things I want at the moment are revenge and to get at least one person back. The only thing that is keeping me sane at the moment is the knowledge that she is out there. And that is all you will hear from me about this." With that he finally turned and made his way out of the room. He didn't hear Saron say: "Dammit, Lochlin, they were my comrades, too."
When she woke up Coreena thought she was dead. Dead and in hell. Every bone in her body ached and seemed to be broken. Her skin was feeling like it would burn away at every moment and her head seemed like it would burst. But then she tried to take a deep breath and her lungs felt like fire.
Obviously she still wasn't dead. Somewhere inside she regretted that, and even more so when she opened her eyes. Yellow-orange light was flooding the cell which was not bigger than four quadrate meters. There was no bunk, nothing for personal hygiene and just a door in the opposite wall.
She was a bit surprised. Somewhere deep inside she actually felt relief at being still alive. After all she had heard and read she would be facing a living nightmare. Soon you'll be begging to die., a voice whispered, and she snapped around. Of course nobody was there but she could have sworn she'd really heard it. With some effort she managed to sit up and draw her knees to her chest. She slung her arms around them and rested her head on them. A kind of deep dark desperation settled in her stomach. How in the whole universe should she survive this?
"I want to see the prisoner." Lord Vader's shiny black mask lenses starred at him, and Chesfer felt as if they looked right into his mind. But strangely he managed to stay calm when he answered: "I am sorry, my Lord, but this will not be possible. Bio-security protocols demand that she be in quarantine for at least another ten standard hours." It was not a complete lie but somehow Chesfer had the feeling that if Vader had the possibility to have a look at the prisoner he would take the woman to Imperial Center. Which was not an option since Chesfer had some issues of his own to settle with the woman pilot. And so he had to stretch the demanded quarantine time a little longer than usual.
Vader's breathing filled the room until it seemed unbearably loud. Just in the same moment as Chesfer was at least considering Vader's request, the Dark Lord spoke up again. "You are not entirely truthful, Admiral. I detest lying subordinates. But as I know, you are a capable interrogation specialist. In two hours I will return to Imperial Center where I will bring this case before the Emperor. In two standard days you will receive coordinates for another rendezvous point. Make sure to be there. And keep the prisoner alive so she can be handed over to me. In the mean time I will leave her to your care. I am sure you know what is expected of you." With that the Dark Lord turned without waiting for an answer and marched out of the room.
In the moment Vader was out of his door Chesfer felt as if a whole mountain was taken off his chest.