Last time: Kyr voiced his worry for Cien going to Caranas pregnant.

Now: They pack up and head out.


Chapter 19- The Admiral's Call

Sasha stood in the entrance to the hangar, staring up at the Forerunner. They decided to take that and the Shadow as they thought they could be there in case the Shadow Runner was recognized by Cordova or his men and ended up being shot down again. Or to just have extra firepower against the cartel. Both were possible options. But as she stood there, a wave of uneasiness filled her. All of the excitement and energy she had been feeling getting ready for this trip suddenly dissipated as reality sunk in as to what they were about to go do. She trembled slightly at the knot that was forming in her gut.

Oppie walked up to her side. "You doing okay?" He asked a little quietly.

"I'm alright," Sasha said quietly, a small tremble to her voice. "Just a… little nervous."

"Yeah, me too." He admitted at her side.

Sasha looked up at him. "Really?"

"Yeah." He admitted, "I guess I probably shouldn't tell you that." He said a little sheepishly.

"No, it's okay," Sasha said, looking back towards the ships. "It helps to know I'm not the only one." She went silent for a moment. "Did you feel this way before you left for the beach?" She asked quietly.

"Not so much. But going back to Caranas after what happened to us there, it just opens some not so old scars." He said. Trying to put the memory of Kyr's desperate maneuvers and then being shot down out of his mind.

"I understand," Sasha said as she reached up and placed a comforting hand on his arm. "Still leaving the planet in any capacity is still bothering me. I nearly had a breakdown when we left for the beach." She admitted as she looked away.

"We're all here." Oppie said, assuring her. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have troubled you with my own misgivings." He said, worried.

"It's okay," Sasha said, glancing at him. "We've all got wounds from this that still need to heal. That's why we're going, right?"

"Yeah." Oppie agreed. "It will be nice to go there and actually do something about that situation. I'm hoping it puts a lot of those worries to rest. For all of us." He said, glancing over at where Kyr was, loading stuff in an almost reluctant manner aboard the Shadow Runner. He had never seen so many munitions loaded aboard the ship before.

"Yeah, I hope so too," Sasha agreed as she looked over at Kyr too, worried about him.

Cien came walking in, with her travel bag and in her full armor. She still wasn't far along enough that she had much of a bump, but she had an odd mixture of her serious 'business face' and the elated happiness they had seen over the last week as she went across the hangar to the Shadow.

"I feel bad saying this, but I never thought I would see her so happy." He said to Sasha in a quiet and somewhat bemused tone.

"You should have seen her the night they got married," Sasha said as a small smile came to her face. "She was just like this then, if not happier now. That's what being with Kyr has done to her, and I'm happy for them."

"Me too." Oppie said, "And Kyr seemed so happy over this last week as well." He observed with a small smile. "Both of them together, I guess."

"Yeah," Sasha said, smiling fully now. "Though I guess we answered the question. Twins really do run in the family." She glanced at Oppie on that. "Viran told me about what you said when you all first found out I was expecting Lana."

Oppie chuckled at that. "Yeah, I guess. That's usually on the mothers side though, isn't it? That would mean twins run in her family as well I suppose."

"I guess so," Sasha said also with a chuckle. "Thanks Op. I feel better now."

"And." He continued, "if it doesn't run in her family, then that means it's some kind of Xiv family thing, so maybe you guys will have twins still." He suggested with a smirk.

Sasha lightly smacked him in the arm before heading to the Forerunner to load her gear. "I don't think it works like that, Op," she said over her shoulder.

"Well, the Force works in mysterious ways." Oppie said, following after her with a smirk.

She shot a glare at him on that. Viran descended the ramp to meet them as they approached.

"Ready to go?" He asked them both, but gave Sasha a worried glance.

"Yeah. Is the ship ready?" Sasha said, her uneasiness faded.

"Pretty much," Viran said with a smirk. "Just waiting on them." He gestured to the Shadow with his chin.


Kitsu and Illara came in with Lana, going over to the Forerunner. Cien glanced at them as she approached the ramp of the Shadow. "Everything ready?" She asked Kyr, curious for all the munitions he was loading aboard the ship.

"Just about." He said, "Tac is getting one last load of one hundred and -" He was in his full armor, minus his helmet, and he felt a com buzz linked to his suit. He went up the ramp and hit a button, since the call was routed to the ship. "Hello?" He asked.

"Hey son, how are you doing?" Kyr and Cien heard, they recognized Admiral Sulam's voice immediately.

"We're doing good, how are you?" He answered, glancing down at Cien a little confused

"Doing great tiger. Listen, is Cien around?" She asked, "we got something we could use her help on."

"Yes, I'm right here." Cien said, stepping up to the top of the ramp where the com-panel was.

"Oh hey hun, how are you?" She asked.

"Well." Cien answered, "what's going on?" She asked.

"Well, our new assignment is an interesting one." She began, "seems there's been a series of raids on former Sith temple sites, and we thought we'd give you a call, in case you were available to come consult with us."

Cien glanced at Kyr, "we were actually just getting ready to go on another assignment." She answered, not quite sure. "What sites?" She asked.

"Three that we know of." The Admiral answered, "Some archaeological teams started reporting them. Kahrahek, Maladrem, and Nosforat." She supplied the names of the planets.

Cien blanched after hearing those names. And Kyr was suddenly very curious and worried as he frowned at her. "Do you mind if we talk privately for a second?" Cien asked.

"Sure thing hun." The Admiral replied, amused. Kyr could guess it was because the Admiral wasn't used to being put on hold by pretty much anyone.

He hit the com-panel to mute the mic. "What's going on?" He asked her, seeing the very worried look on her face.

"Those were the temples I visited," she said, troubled. "When I was trying to do research on the mindspace. The same order as when I visited them, and I have some friends at other, later sites I visited then." She said, worriedly.

"Wait, what? Who's this?" He asked, curious about these friends of hers he had never heard about, "like other Sith?" He asked incredulously.

"No." Cien said annoyedly, cocking her head at him in incredulity. "I do have friends, you know. They're archeologists I've been corresponding with."

"Oh." Kyr said. It suddenly struck him that if they accepted this job, Cien would incidentally be surrounded by the entirety of the 19th, and safely aboard the Defiant. "Well I'm thinking we should go." He said, tentatively, not trying to tip his hand, or his ulterior motive for suggesting that.

She raised her eyebrow, seeing right through him. "Kyr..."

"Look, if you have friends at these sites, we should go check them out. And I also know the Admiral wouldn't be asking for help unless this was a really… interesting assignment. This seems worth checking out." He said. Every bit of that was true.

She glanced over across the hangar where the others were all gathered, waiting for them. "But what about…" She trailed off.

"They'll be fine." Kyr said, "we're overkill for what they're walking into anyway. Just boring police work."

She looked at him wryly, and then rolled her eyes. But she still considered it. "Let's go talk with them and see what they think." She suggested, feeling bad, possibly changing their plans at the last minute.

"Sure." He switched the com back on. "You still there Admiral?" He asked

"Yeah." She said, still bemused, thankfully.

"We need to go talk with the others," Kyr said, "we had another thing planned, but we might switch to this. Mind if we call you back in like half an hour?"

"Sure. Thanks guys." The Admiral replied.

"No problem." Kyr said, shutting off the com. "Okay."

Cien turned, and they both walked down the ramp and across to where the Forerunner was landed, over to where the others were waiting.

"You guys ready?" Viran asked them as they approached.

Sasha looked up from where she was tickling Lana in her arms as she had taken her daughter from Kitsu for a moment as they were saying bye.

"We just got a call from Admiral Sulam." Kyr started.

"Someone is raiding and attacking Sith temples and they don't know why. They asked me to come help." Cien finished, looking between them.

"What? Really?" Sasha asked, intrigued.

"That sounds right up your alley," Viran commented. "Are you gonna go check it out?"

"We wanted to check with you guys before we made a decision." Cien said. Over behind her, slightly behind her shoulder, Kyr was subtly shaking his head up and down in approval. He instantly stopped when she turned to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Cien, this sounds like a job only you can do," Sasha said, not even noticing Kyr. "If you need to rush off to help them, do it. We'll be okay. We have the trackers now and if you guys finish in time then you can join us."

Viran nodded in agreement to that, but trying to hide a smirk as he did notice Kyr's nodding.

Oppie had noticed but he did a good job of keeping a straight face. "Yeah, if you need to go take care of this please do what you need to. We've got this handled."

Cien looked between them, and cast another look at a studiously straight faced Kyr before speaking. "I feel bad not being there for you guys with this trip." She said.

Sasha handed Lana to Viran and then came forward, placing her hands on Cien's shoulders. "You will always be there for us even if you're not in the same location as us. Go help Sulam and the 19th. And give the others a hug for me. We've got this," she said, adding a smile on her last statement.

"Okay." She pulled Sasha into a hug. "Message us if you guys need any help. And let me know through mindspace how everything is progressing."

"Will do," Sasha said, hugging her back. She glanced up at a very relieved Kyr, giving him a knowing look before mouthing 'Take care of her.' He just nodded solemnly in response.

Cien stepped away, swallowing almost as if she might be getting ready to cry. She hugged Oppie next. "We'll see you guys soon."

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine." Oppie said, trying to suppress a hint of confusion at her reaction. "we'll stay in touch and keep you updated."

Cien nodded and then moved to hug Viran, and Lana. "Take care of her." She said.

"I will," Viran said, giving her an awkward hug in return as he was also holding Lana. "Take care of Kyr and yourself, okay? Last thing we need is you getting caught because Kyr did something stupid," he added hoping to make her laugh.

"Okay." Cien said, letting go with a sniff.

"Bye guys." Kyr said with a little wave.

"Later, vod," Viran said, giving his usual two finger salute. Lana just waved.

"Bye guys." Oppie said, waving in response.

"Bye," Sasha said, returning the wave before turning to her daughter. She took the little one from Viran after he said bye to her. He then disappeared into the ship to get it started up. Sasha turned and handed Lana off to Kitsu. "Take care. We'll call when we get to Caranas."

"Okay, and give us a call if you need any help. We're not that far away if you need extra firepower." Kitsu said.

"Will do," Sasha said with a chuckle. She then waved to all of them as she boarded the ship. "Bye."

"Bye." Cien said, taking another sniff.

"You okay?" Kyr asked her, worried. "You're not getting a bad feeling are you?"

"No, no bad feelings." Cien said, trying to keep her composure as the other three went aboard the ship.

"Okay." Kyr said as he wrapped his arm across her shoulders.

With that, the Forerunner took off into the sky and disappeared into the atmosphere.


End of Part 1

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