Chapter Twenty Eight

Liberty, pilots' briefing room

"All right, people. One half of you doesn't have any idea why they are here, am I right?" Nomo Morgan looked around in the pilots' briefing room, first looking at Rannan and Lochlin, than at Lieutenant Te'sillekk from Silver Cat Squadron and Captain Milter form Krayt Dragon Squadron, seeing one confused and one suspicious. She made a mental note to have ask Ensign Ganner what her gut told about that man in particular after the briefing. After the failed hostage taking by Zifra on the Star Field and Ganner's reaction Morgan trusted her judgment nearly completely.

But now's not the time to think about it., she scolded herself mentally and went on with the briefing. "Fine. And because of that I'll take the time to introduce myself and the people that came with me. I'm Captain Nomo Morgan, captain of the fighter carrier Star Field, and these are Commander Stina T'Inbre, commander of the Y-Wing squadron we are carrying at the moment, and Ensign Kate Ganner, my communications officer. We are here on orders of the High Council to aid you to take out a battle group that has been terrorizing this sector for three years now." She could hear a snort. "Yes, Lieutenant?" Te'sillekk, a Bith, looked at her with his big black eyes and unconcealed disbelief. "A Nebulon-B-frigate and a fighter carrier against a battle group? The Council's gone mad, haven't they?" Morgan shot the Bith one of her trademark cold and calculating looks and answered: "As far as I know, you already took out two ships. And we were specifically ordered to get to the leading ship, a VSD called Predator, if I'm not mistaken?" She looked at Lochlin who nodded. "The other ships are only a second priority at the moment because the Predator is supposed to carry at least nine Prisoners of War, including Captain Coreena Mallan, commander of Gray Squadron. We are ordered to give the troops the Star Field is carrying instead of a second fighter squadron enough time to board the Predator and get the prisoners out. This is our main objective. Did I make myself clear?" A few nods and murmured "Yes, Ma'am"s were sufficient for her to continue.

"All right then, let me give you the details of the mission. In exactly three standard hours we will reach Windermere III, a garrison planet. There will be two VSDs in the system by the time we arrive, plus the Predator, which means that we have to work as fast as possible. Krayt and Silver Cat Squadron will be keeping the Empire's Pride busy…" On the holo of the system that had now come into life behind her, Morgan gestured towards a red blinking dot and 24 green dots were swarming towards it from the dot that represented the Liberty. "while Blue Squadron and the Star Field will be taking care of the Last Judgment." Another cloud of green dots and the slightly bigger dot labeled Liberty made their way to a second red dot. "And finally, the Diamonds will protect the troop transports deployed by the Star Field while Gray Squadron and the Liberty take on the Predator."

Kenzy raised hand, and Morgan nodded towards her. "Yes, Lieutenant?" The woman leaned slightly forward and said: "What about planet side defense?" Morgan nodded. "Good point, Lieutenant. There is a squadron of TIE-fighters stationed on the ground, and a set of two FLAKs. The TIEs will be the main responsibility of Gray Squadron and the Liberty while the FLAKs will be taken care of by a contingent of ground troops from the Star Field and – if possible – a part of the Diamonds. Question answered?" The woman nodded and said "Yes, Ma'am.", but in her eyes Morgan could see the same worry she had. The plan was far from perfect. To be honest: She hated it because of all the flaws and holes in it and the about 100 possibilities for it to fail, but it had been the best she and her team had come up with.

Morgan looked around another time. "Any more questions, people?" As no one raised a hand she clasped her hands behind her back and said: "Good. Now get to your respective fighter bays and prepare yourself and your ships for the attack. Dismissed."

On the way to the Blue Diamond's hangar bay

"Dammit, Ran, get moving. I'm not going to wait ages here, you know.", Marlin looked at him impatiently and as if she was about to drag him toward the hangar all the way by herself, and he smiled. For someone usually so composed Marlin could be a real pain in the ass when it was about punctuality. He knew she was doing it because he had to give his usual pep talk to his people before the final wait for the battle begun, and instead of arguing further he just fastened his steps.

"Better?", he said and threw one of his boyish grins and Lin. She only grumbled: "Not by much. Someday, you'll brake your own record in taking a hell of a lot of time if you continue walking like an old man." Rannan touched his heart in a mock pretension of being hurt. "You wound me, Lin, really. I'm doing everything to comply to your wished, and how do you thank me for it? With nothing but reproaches." She said nothing, just stuck out her tongue which he answered with ruffling her dark curls. Making a small squealing sound, she tried to escape the ruffling and glared at him. "The only reason I haven't taken any drastic measure against this abuse of my hair is, that I have this helmet in my hand and would probably damage it if I were to use it against your thick skull.", she told him with a dead-serious face. Which only made him laugh harder.

Inwardly he just smiled at this. He loved those times with Marlin, when it were only the two of them. Rannan didn't care who else was seeing them in the corridors and what they were interpreting into the way they acted around each other since they knew it was all happening in a friendship sort of way.

They had arrived at the hangar just in time for them to be the fast ones and waited until their squadron mates were assembled around them. Rannan took a deep breath and then spoke: "All right, you heard Captain Morgan. I know that plan sounds like crap, but believe me: All the other plans we came up with sounded worse. So… don't get scared if the space is swarming with TIEs and you are taken under fire by two FLAKs and a VSD. Just concentrate on protecting those transports. If Morgan gives us orders, we follow them unconditionally. I know I haven't demonstrated much faith in her abilities to command in the time we were stationed aboard the Star Field, but I do have it. She may be a lot but she sure is one thing: a hell of a tactical genius. So follow her orders, follow my orders, and don't get blown out of space. And that's an order, too." His people smiled or laughed or threw him mock salutes as they made their way to their fighters, but as Marlin was about to turn towards her fighter he suddenly had a very strange feeling, as if he wouldn't be seeing her again and grabbed her hand out of impulse and said: "Marlin… I…" She looked at him, with one eyebrow cocked, and he felt ashamed of the letting himself act on a stupid fragment of a thought. And instead of what he wanted to say – telling her to be careful, to make sure coming back to him – he just said: "Just… don't do anything stupid. I'd hate it if I had to go looking for a new XO.", and smirked at her. She gave him a half-smile and said: "When have I ever done anything stupid, huh?" Still a little embarrassed he let go of her hand, rubbed his neck and said: "Right. I should have thought of that before." And with that he ruffled her curls again and earned a slap on the arm by her, before they were finally going to their respective fighters.

Gray Squadron's hangar bay

All right, Marten thought, this is really the last try to get anything out of her. After that you will finally stop yourself getting embarrassed by that woman. They had been jogging to the hangar bay in complete silence, but just as she was about to climb up the latter to her fighter he seized her hand and turned her around towards him. Before she could say anything, he beat her to it and said: "Whatever you wanted to say, just don't. You had your turn, now I want mine. Don't even think about doing something stupid out there and die just to annoy me. I've said it before and I meant it then as much as I mean it now. I want you to come back to the Liberty and really talk out things with me. And I… I…"

Damnit, why couldn't he just say it? Say that he needed her. That he would terribly miss her. That there was something between them, something that went farther then lust or the need to vent off frustration. He wanted her, he needed her, he… loved her. As simple as that. So why couldn't he just say it? She opened her mouth, and this time he didn't cut her short. "Whatever it is, just don't say it. Not now. I've told you before, we got a job to do. But if it's really important for you… we can talk. After the job. I… I promise. Just don't…" And for the first time he saw something he'd never seen before in her eyes. Fear. For of the upcoming battle. Lieutenant Saron Kenzy was genuinely afraid of going into the battle. He could also somehow hear it in her voice, see it in the way she moved her head to avoid his eyes. Maybe it was because he now was so accustomed to her body, her eyes, her voice.

And he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time: The need to protect her and to assure her that everything would be okay in the end. That both of them would get through it all. Instead of that he just let go of her hand and engulfed her in a hug. After an awkward moment where she didn't move at all he suddenly felt her hugging him back, and he felt like a mountain was taken off his chest. Marten had never been good with words, and he was relieved that she got his message anyway.

He loosened the embrace the same moment she let go of him a little and leant his forehead against hers. Neither of them spoke for some moments although both of them made at least three attempts but failed miserably for a loss of words. Then, as he was caressing her cheek with his thumps, she said: "I promise not to die. If you do the same." He grinned and said: "No dying. And that's a promise", and then he just couldn't hold himself back anymore and kissed her, roughly, like always, finally and desperately claiming her as his.

Predator, isolation cell

"You in for a round of story telling?", he asked and grinned at her. She grinned back, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. "I'm not much of a storyteller, Lieutenant." Oh dear, was that a pout he made? "Aw, come on. You said you would socialize with the squadron as soon as there was a possibility. Now this is a possibility. So… come on, get out of the fighter and come with me." The Lieutenant grinned again, crawling a little more towards her cockpit on the nose of her fighter. She laughed. "All right, but just for an hour or so." The happiness that lit up the Lieutenant's face took her over, too, and she found herself grinning like a fool when she was climbing down the latter. Just as she set her foot down, the Lieutenant landed beside her. He looked at her, and suddenly the sparkling in his eyes had changed to something… deeper and darker. She felt drawn to him, more than ever before. And before she knew it, she was kissing him, with want and longing… and he was kissing her back. Just as she was about to loosen up the kiss a little she felt the texture of his lips change. Startled she broke the kiss. And looked into the leering face of Admiral Chesfer. A scream broke from her mouth, louder than anything she had heard before. Chesfer's face sneered at her and she just couldn't stop screaming…

Sweating and panting she woke up. It had been the fifth time in a row she had had a dream like this in the spare times where she actually fall asleep. It would start with her being in some situation with the Lieutenant – Marcus, she reminded herself – and it would always end with Marcus suddenly changing into Chesfer or they being attacked and Marcus being shot by Chesfer or taken and tortured before her eyes… Always Marcus, never herself. Cori squeezed her eyes shut tight. Was that her subconscious telling her that she had betrayed him already? That she had already talked under the torture, told Chesfer her greatest weakness?

She shook her head violently. And wished to be able to escape her aching weak body and her broken mind like she had managed to in her last torture session for only some seconds. At some point the pain and the shame and the Ekel at Chesfer – and at herself – had become unbearable and again something inside her had snapped. Suddenly she had felt herself being broken in two. One part of her – the body, that was being raped again and the part of her mind that was destroyed already – had remained on the torture table, screaming and whimpering and wincing under Chesfer's massive body, but another part of her – obviously something that was still deep inside her, protected by a force she didn't know – was standing outside of it all, observing it unbeteiligt. It had scared her, feeling like this, but at the same time she was thankful for not having to feel pain or fear or shame anymore.

The whole moment lasted only seconds but she could still very clearly remember it. And this feeling was all that kept her from crawling back into the farthest corner of her cell when the door suddenly opened and a storm trooper stepped into the room, pointing his blaster towards her. She knew what was to come now. She would be hauled up and dragged to the interrogation chamber and Chesfer would…

"Hello, dear.", a now well known and well hated voice leered at her, and she blinked. No hauling up? "Yes, I know you were looking forward to our next rendezvous as much as me but I have unfortunate news for both of us. I'm very sad to inform you of it but you are to leave us at our next stop." Leave? "It seems someone at Imperial Center thinks you valuable enough to be transferred off this ship and shipped to them. Rise and shine, darling, for our good doctor here will check you through one last time before you will be brought done to Windermere Base with your fellow Rebel scum." Cori blinked again. Imperial Center? Doctor? Fellow Rebels? What was the meaning of that? Was that a new torture method? Giving her hope to finally escape his filthy hands and then crushing them again?

Before her, Chesfer stepped aside and revealed the blond woman she knew as doctor Kardian. Kardian stepped forward and crouched down beside Cori. Her hands propped and prodded and she was throwing med-babble over her shoulder. When she came to examining her ears, Cori she whispered something like "Told you I'd get you outta here. Just trust me." between two bits of med-babble. When the doctor was done, she turned to Chesfer, saying: "Everything's fine according to the circumstances, sir. She's fully capable of being moved." The Admiral nodded and motioned for a storm trooper to come forward. In an instant he dragged Cori to her feet and out of the cell. For a moment she was absolutely sure they would take the usual way to the interrogation chamber, but to her surprise she was taken a wholly different way. Now she was completely confused. The only thing she knew by some strange way she couldn't explain was that she could trust Kardian. For the first time in a long time she prayed. That she would be right and that she would get away from all of this.

A/N: Whoa, I really made it. I kept up my "one chapter per week"-routine even though this week's been hell so far. Sometimes I really wish, days had 42 hours minimum :S

Anyway, 'nother chapter, 'nother thank you to Bjrn, 'nother week from hell to go...