Hearts Are Meant To, Chapter 23

By KnightMara

A/N: I have been having a horrible time with formatting issues on , but hopefully this latest upload will be successful. To everyone who has reviewed, I thank you! I am also sorry for making you wait so long for this next post. Like I said, formatting has been a nightmare. And now, without further ado:

"Can you believe this?"

Luke threw an irritated glance at the complaining Hobbie before tossing a rather heavy crate toward him. He watched in carefully hidden satisfaction as Hobbie staggered under its weight as he caught it. "No ships to spare, Hobbie," Luke explained as he went back to loading tech supplies into the crates. The Rogues had been at it all morning after having been assigned to the task at the meeting the evening before. "So you might as well make yourself useful on the ground."

"While the Renegades get to have all the fun," Wes groaned, "again."

"Yeah, boys, it's a conspiracy," Wedge remarked with heavy sarcasm. "Narra's finally given up on all of us and decided the Renegades are going to be flying all our missions from now on. We can all retire."

Luke grinned at him.

"Oh, c'mon, Wedge," retorted Hobbie. "This is a joke, and you know it! What're we doing here? Packing crates and loading 'em onto the transport? That's ground crew work!"

"And right now we're ground crew," Luke interjected, putting as much authority in his voice as he could. "You heard Narra last night. We have atmospheric crafts, that's all. No X-wings, or Y-wings. Just our Headhunters, and the airspeeders. Unless there's a serious attack on the base, which no one is expecting, our duties are to help pack up the base, and get on a transport."

"You act like you're happy about it or something," Hobbie countered, a hint of suspicion creeping into his voice.

Luke snorted. "You know, there's a lot I'm not happy about right now, that's a fact. But after a year in the Rebellion, I decided it was time to stop whining about things and do my job."

"What about that thing with Laire yesterday?"

"This assignment came from the General, Hobbie," Luke cried, clearly exasperated. "Not Narra, not Laire. The General." He turned back to his crate sighing, "Look, I don't have time for this. Just take your frustrations somewhere else."

"I know what this is about," Hobbie snapped, refusing to drop the subject. "Luke's new girlfriend is a Renegade, so he's sticking up for them now! Isn't that right?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

Wes chuckled. "Don't want to make the princess jealous, eh?"

Luke only scowled and went back to his work.

"Skywalker!"

Luke spun around at the sound of Narra's voice and saw the man approaching him with a serious look on his face. "Sir."

"I need to speak with you a moment," Narra stated and indicated an area of the hanger away from the Rogues and relatively secluded.

Luke ignored the curious gazes of the others and followed Narra where he lead, wondering if the information he'd given the commander last night had revealed anything.

"Luke," Narra whispered as soon as they were well away from everyone in the vicinity, "I'm doing my best to find out as much as I can about Laire, but my resources are limited. I convinced the General to put him on restricted duty based on the incident with Grey and Cage, but that won't last forever. We need to set a trap for him, and fast. Lives are at stake as long as he's around."

"And lives are at stake if we reveal we know his true intentions as well," Luke added.

"Not that we could make that kind of move, anyway," Narra countered. "Right now this situation is merely a he said/she said dilemma. I need proof, Luke."

Luke rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. "I'm working on it. What about Genna's transfer to Rogue flight?"

"Nearly done," Narra responded. "That will keep you both aboard the transport and make it appear she's spying on you. Especially since the transfer request appears to be made by Cage, herself. I've also worked with the general in coordinating several criss-crossed hyperspace jumps to give you both some time and to keep Laire away from Ithull. That's about all I can do right now."

Luke clasped his hand. "I can't thank you enough for what you've done already."

Narra smiled warmly and glanced over at the grumbling Rogues. "You'd better get back to your men, Luke. They look like they need a morale boost."

"Just eager to get back in the cockpit of an X-wing, sir," Luke laughed.

Narra sobered slightly and said, "I'm sure you boys'll get up there soon enough."

"Yes, sir," the younger man agreed.

"In the meantime," Narra continued with an arched eyebrow as he studied the Rogues from a distance, "make sure they don't kill each other, will you?"

"Huh?" Luke spun around to see what Narra was referring to, and just caught sight of Hobbie leveling a mean right hook against Wes. "Shavit!" Luke growled before he could stop himself. He threw an apologetic look at Narra. "Uh, sorry sir. I guess duty calls."

Laughing, Narra nodded, and Luke sprinted away to try to make peace between his men.

Hours later, the supplies and the Rogues were aboard one of the transport ships that headed toward Ithull. Genna was aware that the ship was scheduled to make several different jumps in order to keep Laire away from the planet for as long as possible, but that offered little comfort. Especially since she was now working within a time frame to try to trap him, she had no idea how Luke was planning to do that, and she hadn't even seen Luke or Laire since before she'd boarded the transport. In fact, last she'd seen, Luke had his hands rather full trying to calm the rest of the Rogues; and if she hadn't been mistaken, she could have sworn he was nursing a black-eye for his efforts. All in all, the situation was a rather frustrating one.

Which was why she was now taking the edge off of that frustration in the transport's small fitness center. She was also immensely thankful for the genius who had decided to install the random pieces of exercise equipment in a tiny unused room aboard the ship. Of course, it wouldn't do to have an out-of-shape military unit, now would it? Nor would it do to have pilots and soldiers moving around with pent-up anxieties and barely repressed anger. A short while ago, she'd felt like tackling a few Rogues herself. Taking the productive approach, she tackled the stationary runner instead, setting it to a grueling pace and an extended duration. About halfway through, fueled by her adrenaline, she hadn't even begun to fatigue, though her sense of calm was slowly returning.

"Having fun yet?"

Taken utterly by surprise, she nearly stumbled as she whipped her head around to meet the gaze of her intruder. She quickly regained her balance, however, trying to scowl as she faced her head forward again. "Don't you ever do that to me again, Luke!"

"Didn't mean to startle you," he said apologetically, moving around to the front of the machine so he could talk to her without causing another accident. "Didn't you hear the door when I came in?"

"No," Genna replied, self-consciously pushing a sweat-drenched curl away from her face as she continued her run. "So why are you here, anyway?"

"Looking for you," he answered as he took a seat on a nearby bench. "Actually, I was kinda' surprised to find you here."

"Why?" Genna teased in reply. "Never seen a girl sweat before?"

Luke laughed. "I was raised on a desert planet, what do you think?"

Genna couldn't help but grin at him, the young farm boy-turned pilot. "So then why the surprise?"

Shrugging, Luke answered, "Guess I figured it was a strange place for you to be. Considering."

"Considering what?" she asked, gesturing around them without breaking pace. "That I feel helpless, frustrated, impatient, anxious? Since there's really nothing I can do at the moment, I figured I'd let off some steam in the most positive way possible." She paused in her speech a moment as she surveyed him. "Nice shiner, by the way."

Luke appeared to blush as he touched the darkening skin beneath his eye in embarrassment. "Thanks."

"How'd you get it?"

"You're not the only one trying to let off some steam. The Rogues are a bit agitated, too, only they don't seem to handle it as well as you do. And, unfortunately, I got in the way of Wes's fist as he tried to retaliate against Hobbie's initial punch. That's the last time I'll ever try to stop a fight. I'll let them get all the bruises next time."

Genna shook her head, laughing at his statement. "Right. And the next time it happens, you'll go all noble again, Luke. I may not have known you for very long, but I think I've got you pretty well pegged." At least, she assumed she did. She was placing her own life and the lives of her friends in his hands. She only hoped that the young pilot who had proven himself to be a perfect gentleman time and time again was the true character of the man before her. Looking into his eyes at this moment, it was hard to doubt that it was. Smiling at him, she powered down the runner and stepped off.

"Done already?" he asked, rising from the bench and handing her the bottle of water at his feet.

She gratefully took it from his grasp as she dabbed her face and neck with a towel. "Yeah," she said between sips of water. "Either the run or your visit put me in a much better mood. And I've been on that thing long enough."

She saw him smile at her off-handed compliment before he asked, "How long exactly were you running?"

"Don't ask," she responded before taking another gulp. "I'll probably be paying for it tomorrow, anyway."

"Well, don't hesitate to find me if you need a massage tomorrow."

Genna watched in amusement at the play of emotions across Luke's face as the full realization of what he'd just said hit him. It tickled her, and if she hadn't felt so disgustingly sweaty at the moment, she probably would have hugged him for it. Instead, she settled for a teasing remark that was sure to make him blush. "I'll be sure to stop by your quarters if I need you."

She was rewarded for her words as his cheeks slowly burned crimson and he looked down at his boots with a lopsided grin. What she didn't expect was his next reply. "You do that."

With that, she burst out in a hearty laugh. "My, my, Lieutenant Commander Skywalker, aren't we bold?"

"Maybe," he said softly, taking a timid step toward her, as thought mustering his courage. "Or maybe it's something else."

She was taken aback when he reached up a hand and brushed several damp curls away from her face and tucked them behind her ear. She squirmed uncharacteristically. "Don't. I've been sweating, and I'm all gross and disgusting," she stammered.

Luke let his hand slide down her neck until it rested on her shoulder and took a step back. "I'm sorry," he apologized gently. "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. But I have to say, you're far from disgusting."

"Well, I certainly don't feel very attractive at the moment," she said in excuse, though touched by his words.

"Okay, then," Luke said, smiling at her. "Why don't I let you take a shower, and then you can meet me in my quarters when you're done. I have a few ideas I want to talk to you about."

At first, Genna's pulse raced at the invitation and its possible implications. But at the mention of his "ideas," reality hit her full force, and she knew he'd come up with a plan for their little trap. Feeling strangely disappointed, though she couldn't fathom why, she nodded. "I'll see you then."

"I'll be waiting," he replied, giving her shoulder a light squeeze before he headed for the door.

As she watched him go, a sudden strange feeling began to well up inside her. Before she could think, she called out, "Luke?"
He turned to look at her with a puzzled expression. "Yeah?"

But she couldn't speak. Couldn't answer. Couldn't explain what it was that had made her call his name. She hadn't meant to, really. Or had she? Suddenly she didn't want him to leave. She wanted to bask in the presence of him, of his obvious caring for her. Or was it something more? No, it was too soon. He couldn't be falling for her, nor her for him. They hadn't known each other long enough. And yet, a nagging voice in her brain kept telling him she was falling for him, and falling hard. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Realizing he was still standing there, she knew she had to say something. "Nothing, never mind."

Luke nodded and left, as she watched him, puzzled by her own emotions.