Chapter Twenty Five
Star Field, shuttle hangar
"Welcome aboard the Star Field, Gatton. Lieutenant Commander Imes.", Morgan nodded at Zifra and the short, brown-haired woman at his side and continued: "Now, it would be best to discuss everything in the ship officers' briefing room. My XO, communications officer and fighter squadron leader are already waiting there. If you'd please follow me." She turned and lead the two officers to her briefing room. And she just hoped that both them didn't notice the security officers that were moving into place around them quietly. As she entered the briefing room with Zifra and Imes, she gave her comm a double click. It told her Security Chief to send two heavily armed security officers to the door of the briefing room.
When they were inside, Zifra was the first to say something. "What are my pilots still doing here? I just… who was that in those fighters?"
"That, Gatton, is not of your concern. Would you and Lieutenant Commander Imes now please hand over your weapons to me?" The display of emotions on the Captain's and the Lieutenant Commander's face would have been quite entertaining if the whole situation hadn't been so serious. On Imes' face they could see everything from confusion to panic to sheer disbelief to utter helplessness as she turned to Zifra and said: "Sir…", while Zifra tried to keep his facial expression impassive but failed gloriously. There was mostly panic, with just a hint of hostility and desperation which alerted her. She just hoped she wasn't the only one having seen it.
Which she hadn't because suddenly Zifra had his sidearm drawn and moved towards Ensign Ganner in an attempt at taking her hostage. The Ensign, however must have somehow anticipated his move and had ducked under his arm and kicked his legs away from under him so that he laid flat on his back. Immediately afterwards he found Captain Morgan, Commander Rannan and Lieutenant Lochlin towering over himself. Rannan was the fastest to react and disarm him, and then Lochlin was dragging him upwards and shoving him into the nearest wall. "And now, you filthy little son of…"
"Stop it, Lieutenant!", bellowed Morgan's voice together with Rannan yelling: "Lochlin, get a grip!" It took the Lieutenant at least several seconds where he just glared at the Captain. Zifra could have sworn to never having seen such hatred in any being's eyes and for a second or two feared for his life seriously. But then Lochlin let go of him again, slightly staggering away from him and still glaring at him. Zifra didn't get much time to recover since he looked directly into the muzzle of Morgan's blaster immediately after the incident with Lochlin. "By orders of the High Council of the Rebel Alliance I hereby relieve you from your commission as the Captain of the ship Liberty and place you and your XO under my orders. You will assist us in retrieving the prisoners taken by Admiral Chesfer and then be placed under arrest and brought before a court-martial. Lieutenant Commander Imes, hand your sidearm and all other weapons you have with you to Commander D'Jan." Zifra opened his mouth to protest but Morgan shut him up just with a glare and said: "No, Gatton, I don't want to hear anything about this from you. There's evidence against you coming from a trustworthy source. And as I know you, your strongest reason was your overwhelming cowardice."
"I did it for my ship and my crew.", Zifra managed to spat at her, but she just answered with a cold more dangerous and frightening than any yelling could have been: "No, you did it just for yourself. And you deliberately betrayed Captain Mallan, turning her over to Chesfer although fully knowing what he is and what he does to female prisoners. You have no excuse."
Now it was Imes' turn to say something as she suddenly piped up: "What the hell are you talking about? Treason? I… I… sir?" Instead of Zifra, Rannan answered her: "Captain Zifra is accused of fraternization with the enemy, circulate them data, conspiring against fellow officers – the whole package." The woman's face changed its color to a deep shade of pink. "I didn't… I would never… How dare you?" Before Rannan could retort anything, Rua beat him to it: "We assumed you would have knowledge of all this and participate because you had to work closely with Zifra, and it would be impossible for him to organize everything on his own." She had spoken calmly to appease Imes and it seemed to pacify her at least a bit. "I… I swear I didn't know anything about this. However he did it, either he did this on his own or had some else helping him, but I did nothing. Please, you have to believe me." From the edge of the group there came the quiet voice of Ensign Ganner: "Well, I do." Everyone looked at her. "Don't… look at me like this, please. I just have the strong feeling that we can." Some eyebrows were raised, some looks exchanged. Then, Morgan said: "All right. We'll consider this. For the time being, Captain Zifra and Lieutenant Commander Imes will be guarded in my office by the two security officers standing outside." With that she went to the door and ordered the security officers from outside to bring the Liberty's officers to her office and guard them there and then returned to the room to discuss the event and the strategy. After all, she had announced that as a "strategy meeting" to Zifra.
Predator, bridge
"Sir, there's an encrypted transmission coming in." Tellik lifted an eyebrow at the communications officer. "And this should interest me exactly why?" The ensign cleared his throat. "The code is… strange, sir." Tellik heaved a dramatic sigh and looked down the crew pit like a hawk-bat. "All right, show me." He could see the ensign squirm and allowed himself a small smug smirk. Always remember who is watching you., he thought.
On the ensign's screen appeared some numbers and letters, and Tellik instantaneously recognized the code. "Transfer the message to my account.", he told the ensign slightly tight-lipped. Then he told his XO to take the bridge and went straight to his private office, trying hard not to grumble. Zifra, you incompetent son of a bantha, what do you want this time?
When he arrived at his office, he ran the message through the decoder and opened it. Which he wished to having never done at all when he read the text:
Have new orders. Am afraid orders could lead to unnecessary confrontation. Need coordinates for next three stops to avoid confrontation. Urgently.
Why now? What stupid orders did they gave this foolish coward? But in the other hand: It is his part of the deal to warn us and stay clear of us. Well, one of the parts. Tellik leant back in his seat and starred at the opposite wall. After a few more moments he finally typed in the answer, attached the requested nav-data, encrypted the message and sent it.
Liberty, pilots lounge
"You know, you are supposed to being asleep."
Without turning around, Marcus just shot her a "What is it?" and continued starring at the black void outside the transpari steel window. Already slightly annoyed Saron crossed the dark and deserted pilots lounge and let herself fall into the seat beside the one where he slouched in. For now, she chose to stay as calm as possible and to ignore whatever had bitten him. "We have the coordinates of the next three stops. It's a garrison planet called Windermere III. Morgan decided to get Chesfer there. There will be troops both on-planet and in space, but they're not suspecting us so we hope to have the element of surprise on our side. We'll be there in two standard days, and Morgan orders us to get our ships and ourselves in top shape so I suggest you get your sleep… sir.", she finished in a slightly mocking tone, and was surprised to find almost no reaction at all.
Well, she had one last card up her sleeve. "She also made it very clear to me to make it clear to you, that she won't tolerate any more outbursts from you like that one on the Star Field, not on one of the ships nor in battle nor anywhere else." Saron leant forward with her forearms placed on her thighs and looked at Marcus. The only reaction she could make out was that he squeezed his eyes shut tight for a few moments and then starred out of the window again. And that was the moment where she lost the precious little bit that was left of her patience.
She stood up abruptly and slammed her fist against the view port. "Dammit, Lochlin! Just quit this whole… act your putting up here. Morgan's right with ordering you to hold your emotions in check. Whatever it is you're acting on here, just stop it. Stop this whole moody I-just-can't-find-a-balance-crap. You're a commanding officer for the Stars' sake." He didn't say anything, but at least gathered himself from his slouching position up in his seat. He leant forward, just as she had done and put his face in his hands. Giving a quiet huff Saron returned to her seat and ran a hand over her face. "Just tell me, Lieutenant. What is it?" She knew she wasn't good with this counseling thing but she had the feeling that she should at least try.
"I can't tell you, Lieutenant. I just…"
"If… if you can't tell me as your subordinate then tell me as your friend.", she threw in, but that was obviously another wrong thing to say because when he looked at her she saw nothing friendly, just loneliness and hurt and a slight hint of desperation. "I don't have any friends left, Lieutenant. And now I'd appreciate it if you would let me alone." Saron knew that technically this meant she was dismissed, but she wouldn't give up this time. She had let him walk away one time, she wasn't going to another time. If he could tell her what to do about the thing with Blenwell then she could squeeze out of him whatever was bothering him. She had the vague feeling that it had a lot to do with the Cap being taken prisoner and the relationship between Lochlin and Mallan before that but she knew that people shouldn't bottle up everything inside of them. Said the woman who mastered the art of bottling up with flying colors and centuries ago., she thought a little sourly.
"Lieutenant…Marcus… I… it's got to something with the Cap, right?" He shook his head. "Look…"
"No, I won't. You got some serious issues, and they need to be fixed. And I need to know what this is all about 'cause I'm still your 2IC. You're not the only one with a responsibility to the squadron. I have it, too, and I don't want anything to go wrong in the most inconvenient moment. So tell me what this is all about. What was it between you and the Cap? Why are you acting like this? Just spill it." For a moment she feared that she had gone too far, crossing the line to insubordination, but he just looked at her, all of a sudden seeming extremely tired. "I… understand what you want to say but let me be in peace. Just for once. I'll tell you after the mission but up to then I just don't want to talk about it. It's just… just too much right now." Well, at least it was some reaction., she thought, and said: "Well… all right. But no stalling after the mission. You'll tell me. Or… or you should at least see one of the counselors here. For now, I'll just… go." With that she stood up and went for the door. Just before she had reached it, he spoke up again: "Lieutenant… Saron, whatever it was between Cor… the Cap and me… I don't know what it was… but it sure as hell wasn't what it could have been." She smiled to herself, saying to him: "Don't worry. We'll get her back."
She was surprised to find him saying something more: "And Saron, did you speak to Blenwell already?" She winced. I should have known we wouldn't be let off the hook that easily. "Where do you think I was just going to right now?" When he answered this time, she could hear the smile in his voice, too. "Dismissed, Lieutenant."
A/N: All right, so this took me a little longer but everything was roughed up pretty much over here because the Chancelor decided he wanted to bring forward the elections for the German parliamnet a little bit and announced them to be this fall instead of next. And me being member of a political party, I was completely off the roll for several days, and I haven't been at home this weekend so I couldn't finish the chapter at the time I would have liked to.
Anyway, now it's done, and people, the climax is getting nearer, I promise ;) Hope you had fun with that chapter, though. And as always, feedback will earn you a cookie, and flames will roast my marshmellows.