Chapter Thirty
Liberty, brig
"Well… time to say good-bye, Gatton.", Nomo Morgan told Zifra who was just starring a kind of malicious towards her as his hands were bound into cuffs by a guard, and he was led away. He would be sent to the temporary head quarters of the Council for a court-martial, and the Star Field was the ship assigned to bring him there. Morgan hadn't exactly been jumping for joy at reading the order but she understood their necessity. With the Predator still intact and Chesfer still alive it was quite possible that there would be at least tries to bring Zifra into the hands of the Imperials, if only to execute him as they saw fit. But he was still under the jurisdiction of the Rebels, and they knew that giving him a fair trial was what separated them from the Imperials, if nothing else. And so putting him a shuttle and sending him to the Council this way was absolutely no option. And since the Star Field was in the vicinity and scheduled for meeting up with the Council and getting a new squadron on board anyway, they were really the best choice.
When Zifra and his guard had left the brig, Morgan and Ensign Ganner joined them. The young woman had finally stopped throwing occasional glances of wariness and insecurity towards Morgan and had settled in with being Morgan's new personal assistant. After evaluating Ganner's performance in the last days and her role in arresting Zifra in the end, Morgan had come to conclusion that the young ensign was worth a lot more than could be seen on the surface and so had decided to take her further training in her own hands. The ensign had remarkable gut feelings, and Morgan knew with certainty that if encouraged and trained adequately Ganner could be an officer with the capability to lead a war ship on her own sometime. Captain Morgan herself had to put up with a lot because of her being a woman under Palpatine, and she fully intended to not let that happen to any other young and promising yet a little shy female officer under her command.
They had reached the shuttle that would them bring to the Star Field, and standing at the ramp was none other that Lieutenant Commander Imes, now temporary captain of the Liberty. She nodded at Morgan, as they were approaching. "Ma'am." Morgan gestured to the guard and Ganner to bring the prisoner inside and went over to Imes. "What can I do for you, Commander?" Imes cleared her throat. "I just wanted to thank you for believing me when I said I was innocent. And for trusting me enough to make me temporary captain of the Liberty. Well, and in the name of the crew I want to thank you for getting us out of trouble as good as possible. Because of Zifra there are a lot of people lacking real combat experience – myself included – that weren't ready for engaging several VSDs and planetary defense." Morgan allowed herself a small smile. "Commander, don't sell yourself short. Considering how Zifra must have trained you and the crew for combat situations you all did very well. I was impressed by your leadership qualities and your ability to keep calm even in difficult situations. I will put in a recommendation for you." She could see Imes' face coloring all over and smiled inwardly, as the Lieutenant Commander cleared her throat and tried to answer her without stuttering: "Thank… thank you, Ma'am. And now… bring him off the ship. We had enough trouble here." Morgan nodded. "Right. Farewell, Commander, and good hunting." Imes saluted her, and Morgan returned it. Then she walked up the ramp and finally got inside.
She settled in next to Ganner, and watched the shuttle take off and fly towards the Star Field. They had had surprisingly few casualties in the whole affair, and Morgan was grateful for that. Just for once something had worked almost the way it should have.
Pilots' lounge
As Marcus entered the deserted pilots' lounge, he was about to switch on the light, but when he saw a lone figure sitting in one of the seats at the window he stopped himself and walked over, not without tripping over some empty bottle that was a left-over of the victory celebration from an hour ago. His subdued cussing rang through the almost empty room and seemed a little too loud for his ears.
"Can't you go somewhere else to do your celebrating, Lochlin?", the figure suddenly asked and thus exposed himself as Tom Rannan. The bitterness in his voice startled Marcus, and instead of backing off quickly like his instincts told him he walked over to the other man and set down in the opposite seat, leaning back. "Whoever said I was celebrating?" Rannan didn't look at him, and Marcus was grateful for that. Judging from the tone of his voice, he would be dead instaneously if looks could kill. "Your precious captain's back. Now isn't that a reason to celebrate or what?" Rannan's voice was dripping with acid, but Marcus just couldn't leave now. "She's in sick-bay right now. In surgery, to be precise. They are patching up what's left right now, and they should have been done with it at least two hours ago. I don't see any reason to celebrate. And she's not "my" captain. Now why are you skulking around here in the dark?"
The dark gleam in Rannan's eyes should have tipped him off, but Marcus just didn't pay attention to it. Which was a grave mistake, since Rannan jumped up and grabbed Marcus by his collar, pressing him into the seat, and telling him in a dead-serious voice: "Exactly four hours and thirty-four minutes ago my XO, best friend and basically other half was left behind on a planet full of Imps just waiting to get their hands on one of us. I have every right to be "skulking around in the dark"." Slowly, Marcus put his hands up and said: "All right, cool down, I just… I'm sorry about what happened to Rua… I… just didn't think…"
Rannan let go of him and let himself fall back into his chair. "That's right. You didn't think." They lapsed into silence until – suddenly – Rannan spoke up again. "I… shouldn't have told her to be careful." Marcus just raised an eyebrow. "I just have the feeling, that it… somehow brought the bad luck." His opposite just snorted incredulously. "I've heard you talking sithspit before, but this just tops it all. Who would have thought big bad brawling Tom Rannan superstitious to no end?" For a moment Rannan seemed to be jumping at him again but obviously thought better of it. Again it was quiet for some time. Just as Marcus was about to get up and go to sick-bay, Rannan spoke up again. "I never thought it would be true, but it is. "You don't know what you got until you gotta say good-bye" is true down to the last syllable. I never thought… I never thought I was going to lose her someday. She just… from the moment on we met she was just… there. And now she's gone, and I… I…"
Marcus knew that tone of voice. It was the tone of someone who was going to fall apart any minute. He just never expected it from a guy like Rannan. And he knew that if Rannan was going to fall apart in front of him, both of them would never forgive the other for letting it happen. So he did the only thing seeming appropriate at the time. "You know… Lieutenant Rua would never want you to wallow in self-pity and have you brooding in the dark pilots' lounge. She would want you to bloody buck up and keep your squadron in shape for the next battle." And with that he finally went up and left for sick-bay, before Rannan could say anything. Surprised the big man looked up and the only thought coming to his mind was So I made a Diamond out of him after all.
Predator, Adm. Chesfer's office
You are a disgrace to the Imperial Fleet. The Emperor hereby demotes you to the rank of Lieutenant and dismisses you from your post on the VSD Predator. You are to return to Imperial Center ASAP for further investigation of the defeat at Windermere III and the following loss of an important Rebel contact. Disobeyance of this order will result in immediate disintegration.
Chesfer put away the communiqué and started starring off into space again. There were only three things circling his mind: "Disgrace", "demotion" and "immediate disintegration". Then, suddenly, a wail escaped his throat, and in one swift motion he swept everything off of his desk. One stupid medic., he thought. It takes one stupid medic to ruin the career and the life of one man. And a woman medic at that. But he wouldn't let himself being ruined by that woman. Oh no, he would take as much people down with him as he could. And then he would ascent again with the help of their backs.
And the first one to go down and help him up again would be his flag ship's captain. Yes, Chesfer would take part in the investigation, and he would have just the right name and the right story for the commission. With a dangerously calm manor he started to answer the communiqué and started to organize his way to Imperial Center.
A/N: Alright... this is the pre-last chapter, I think. You know, just tying up lose ends. I'm already thinking about one or more sequels, spin-offs... tell me what you think and whom you maybe want to see again, 'kay?