I'm back with a new chapter, and whew...the backlash from the last one. Before we continue I want to address some of the thee or four concerns and comments I got about the events of the last bit of the story.
To answer the PM I got, no, the team finding Maul's body doesn't change canon, especially since Tharcourt has no inclination to report it. He's too peeved about the Jedi still being around, and telling Vader, who he thinks is a Jedi (Half right) about finding the body is the last thing on his mind. Canon stays the same, story remains possible canon.
As for the...ehem...scene at the end, I got a PM and a comment (I think) about that. No, I don't feel that something like this compromised the integrity of the story. Just the opposite in fact. This is not a smut fic, but I never intended it to be a straight-up war story either. It's a story about these people, normal people who happen to be in the employ of the Galactic Empire. They have hopes, dreams, attractions and fears outside of their duty. That said, there will be scenes like this between characters, but I can promise that they won't go much further than this one did in detail. I'm terrible with writing that sort of thing, so don't expect some Fifty Shades stuff.
Will Drakken and Freya get together? Who knows? It may be Drakken and Freya, it might be Drakken and Veruna. Heck, Freya and Piett may become sweet on each other. I kid, I kid, but my point is that attraction and romance happen, and so it will in this story if the characters evolve those kinds of feelings.
Okay, enough of that now. Let's get back to the regularly scheduled program, already in progress. Enjoy the chapter my loyal readers!
"Commander?" Sergeant Felian greeted in a low voice as Tharcourt pulled up alongside his speeder bike, Freya sitting behind him looking tired, red and bloody. Both looked battered in fact, and were covered in dust.
"We'll be alright." Tharcourt said. "I just need an icepack when we get to the ship. Thorne's gonna need some bacta spray. Dall's gonna be pissed."
"As usual, sir." The scout sergeant chuckled. "What happened?"
"I'll explain when everyone's together." Drakken nodded. "Let's ride."
The rest of the team was already standing around the shuttle by the time Tharcourt's detachment arrived. As Mets and Coleth stowed the team's three speeder bikes on outboard magnetic mounts of The Huntsman, all eyes were on the two officers. If they noticed, they didn't acknowledge the attention. In fact, they seemed to be acting awkward towards each other, casting an occasional guilty glance at one another, and seeming to make a point not to stand to closely to one another.
They finally boarded the ship for the long ride home, taking their seats on the shuttle's two parallel benches. Dall began examining Freya's injuries and sunburn as Ekks lifted off and flew the ship out of the planet's hot and dusty atmosphere. It was too quiet onboard for some of the men, and the usual suspect tried to drum up some conversation.
"So…" Gallen began nervously. "Everyone's wondering, sir…" He looked between the two officers for a moment. "What happened to you and Ensign Thorne?" Tharcourt raised an eyebrow.
"What's the consensus?" The commander asked. The sniper scoffed.
"I think you two got into it with some of those Tuskan Raider people." Gallen answered. Lago shook his head to indicate he felt the same.
"With all due respect…" Mets commented. "I heard our Hellcat mauled another rebel commando."
"Ouch!" Freya winced as Dall began applying bacta spray to her face. "Yer closer the truth…"
"Just keep your eyes closed ma'am." The medic stated. "And your mouth too, unless you like the taste of this stuff."
"Mmm." She agreed.
"Well, I'd originally planned on us staying two days, but I'm afraid we were uncovered." Commander Tharcourt began. "All of you probably heard about the attack on Thorne and a few of us in the hangar." All of the men nodded or murmured to the affirmative. "On our way back from our side mission with Felian's crew, Thorne and I were waylaid by the same person. It turns out, she was a rebel intelligence operative, probably stationed here. She made us shortly after we arrived, and had it in mind to make the two of us permanent residents." He nodded toward Thorne.
"Looks like she was too damn good at her job too." Dall commented, now examining Tharcourt's injuries. The commander let him rub some bacta gel around his swelling eye, then waved him off.
"She had some skill, I'll give her that. Almost killed us…till we got backup."
"Backup, sir?" Daraay asked curiously.
"Yeah, we were assisted by carnivorous local fauna." Drakken said with an amused smirk. "Swallowed her whole, bones and all like the tooka cat in the story."
"A sarlacc." Lago said. When everyone looked at him, the young stormtrooper clarified. "It's a…I'm not sure whether to call it a plant or an animal, actually. They burrow down in the sand, and grow up big enough to eat a bantha. They slurp people sometimes out in the desert."
"And you're just now telling us this?!" Gallen returned.
"Well, this sarlacc was in the right place at the right time. Ought to sign him up for Imperial service." Tharcourt shrugged. Everyone was silent for a few moments.
"Plant…animal…" Gallen meditated in a low voice. "Plantimal!"
"What the hell?" Mets commented.
"We get back, this has to be reported." Tharcourt said, more to Freya than anyone else. "That rebel operative knew exactly who I was. Their intelligence outfit must be a lot better than I thought." Thorne nodded.
Once back on board The Executor, Commander Tharcourt left orders for the team to return to their barracks and clean up. He and Ensign Thorne made their way to the bridge of the massive super star destroyer. Indeed, it was easy to develop an idea for the sheer size of the vessel as they made their way to their debriefing. It was a trip that would have taken about ten minutes on The Accuser, using the system of vertical and horizontal turbolifts. Here, even with the high-speed elevators, it took the two officers twenty minutes to arrive outside the hatch of the command bridge. Drakken straightened his tunic and hat.
"Okay, how do I look?" He asked. Freya looked him over. His uniform was wrinkled and caked in dust, and his face bore evidence of a violent brawl. She smiled.
"Like shite, C'mander darlin." She spoke.
"About right…" Tharcourt mumbled. "Alright, let's get this over with." He opened the door to the bridge, and stepped in with Freya behind him. His arms folded behind his back and cap pulled low, he looked the part of a hard-charging combat officer. Some of the bridge crewmen looked up at the formidable officer from their pits as he passed by. Drakken quicky looked around for Piett, but not seeing him, he walked toward the dark form of Lord Vader, who was standing near the windows, staring off into space. The dark lord turned at the last minute, and Tharcourt came to a halt, snapping a salute. Freya quickly followed suit.
"Commander." Vader greeted. "I trust your journey to Tatooine was a…successful one."
"For the most part, sir." Tharcourt answered truthfully. "Hot, sandy, miserable place."
"Indeed." Vader replied. "Come. We will speak in private." He led them off the bridge and into some sort of meeting room nearby. "Tell me what you have found."
"I wish I could have brought you more intel, my lord…" Tharcourt began. He started from the top. "The ship you are looking for…the Corellian freighter, the pilot's name is Han Solo, a smuggler and pirate. From what my team and I could gather, he left the world with a young man, an old man and two droids a couple of days before the DS-1 was destroyed. He blasted his way out of the spaceport after being involved in a shooting in one of the local cantinas. Solo uses illegal methods to mask the signature and registration of his vessel, and from what I gather, he is not too popular with the Hutt Cartel at present."
"Kuhhhh…kuhhhh." Vader simply breathed. Drakken took this as an order to continue.
"I couldn't find much information on Skywalker, save that he was probably the young man who escaped on the Corellian ship, and that he may have been the one carrying the stolen plans. I also found out that he had likely been living with relatives on an isolated moisture farm in the desert."
"Tell me everything you know about this." Lord Vader insisted.
"Very well sir…it was a man and woman, with evidence of a child living at what is marked 'Location Bravo', if you would like to check the maps. They were killed by a detachment of Imperial soldiers, likely in an attempt to recover the plans to the DS-1. I thought at first the kid was killed too, but the more I thought about it, the more things started coming together."
"Was there anything of interest in the house?"
"No sir. It looked like it had been picked clean by scavengers." Drakken responded. "At Location C, we found nothing, if there had ever been much in the house to begin with. There was…" He paused, trying to figure out how to explain what he had sensed. Vader gave a slow nod to continue. "My ensign is better with this kind of thing…Thorne, can you describe the house?"
"Aye, yessir." She answered, stepping forward a little. "T'was a strange feelin' there, milaird. Peaceful, but powerful, like ye were bein' watched. I think we all felt it t' ein degree or 'nother. I'm right sorry if I sound superstitious to ye, but it was a bit like bein' in a sacred spot, or some hainted ol' house. T'was all a little unnatural, Laird Vader."
"Your insight serves you well, Ensign." Vader stated. "You have given me more information than you believe you have. Satisfactory work." She curtseyed.
"Lord Vader, there was another incident that happened on-world." Commander Tharcourt added. "We were attacked by a rebel operative in the city of Mos Eisley. The rebel tracked us into the desert, and caught Ensign Thorne and I separated from the rest of the unit. She identified herself as Rebel Intelligence, and knew who I was."
"I was curious as to how you acquired those injuries, Commander." Vader said. "Did you eliminate the rebel?"
"Yes and no. We engaged her, or rather her us, and Ensign Thorne apparently knocked the operative into an animal called a sarlacc, sir." Vader slowly looked at Thorne, who smiled nervously, then back to Tharcourt.
"You have odd ways of conducting combat." Lord Vader said. "Is there something you're not telling me, Commander?" He pressed, leaning toward Drakken ever so slightly. Tharcourt swallowed.
"No, my lord…just…may I ask a question?"
"Continue."
"Well sir…as you may know, I fought in the Clone Wars. After this mission, I couldn't help but wonder…from a pragmatic standpoint, you understand…do the rebels have assistance from those Jedi people from back then?" Vader was silent for what seemed like an eternity before he answered.
"The Jedi are extinct, Commander Tharcourt." Vader said with a hint of aggression in his tone. "Their order was destroyed, and the remaining ones were hunted down and killed long ago. We must do everything in our power to prevent the return of the Jedi." The familiar cold sensation began to build in the room.
"Of course, sir." Tharcourt said, not wanting to press an issue that was obviously a point of anger to Vader. "From what I experienced in the war, I have no love for them either, Lord Vader." More silence.
"Then if there is nothing else, you may go, Commander." Vader stated. Tharcourt saluted him, anticipating and receiving no gesture in return, then the two officers left the room and began their long trek back to their area in the lower parts of the ship.
"Well…that went better than I thought it would." Drakken finally said as they boarded the first of five turbolifts they would need to get to their destination. "He must've been in a good mood or something."
"Aye…till ye mentioned those Jed'hai. I doon't think he liked that very much, Drakken."
"No…no he did not." Drakken muttered. "Holds himself like a sabacc player…"
"Wot?"
"You hear Lord Vader when I asked him about the Jedi? He didn't deny it outright. If the Jedi are all dead, why do we need to keep them from coming back? No, he didn't say that the Jedi weren't helping the rebels. He pretty much just told me not to say another word about it or else."
"That dead Jed'hai doon on Tattoine." Freya remarked. Drakken gave a nod.
"Exactly. He hasn't been a professional corpse but a year or less. So much for them being wiped out a long, long time ago, right? I'd say he went to that planet and got into it with someone. Maybe it was this Skywalker guy. Maybe it was the old man. Maybe they're Jedi too, and the whole thing was nothing but a continuation of the war…you know, Jedi versus the Empire. Crazy idea, but what if a few of the Jedi were or are now on the side of the Empire, and others, the ones who went rogue and tried to take over the galaxy, are on the side of the rebels?"
"Nuhuhuh…" Thorne shivered melodramatically. "Neu tank ye', darlin'. I don't wanna be thinkin' about havin' t' fight a bunch a' magic-usin' demons with laser swords what can throttle me from across the room."
"You and me both." Drakken stated sternly. They stepped off of the turbolift on the proper deck, and walked down a corridor. They passed by a group of Navy troopers passing the opposite way, and the officer, a young lieutenant stopped and saluted, his face showing concern.
"You alright sir? Ensign?" He asked. Drakken was confused a moment.
"Huh?" He returned, then realized how he must appear. "Oh. Yes, lieutenant. Just got back from a mission. We're fine." He shook his head.
"Very well, sir." The lieutenant replied and moved on.
"Hm. Nice guy." Freya commented.
"Yep." Drakken agreed. They began walking down the now empty corridor. "You fought well, by the way."
"Yeah?"
"I mean, I lost my blasters at the beginning of the fight, and that reb had some talent. You pretty much carried the fight."
"Aww. Ye got some good licks in there too." She returned, and nudged Drakken lightly with an elbow.
"Yes, a couple. Then I got thrown down, bit and almost carved up as I recall." Tharcourt said with a smirk. "Then you threw her into that dirt dragon thing, my dear ensign."
"Och. That lil' beastie still gives me th' willies. I near couldnae work up the ballocks to get me staff back. Figured I'd be desert." Thorne frowned. "What kinda universe we live in where as ye cannae trust the groon ye walk upon, fer feck sake?" Drakken chuckled. "Wait…wot are ye gonna do with the…things we bought?" Drakken gave a devious smile.
"Oh, I figured some things are better held onto for a rainy day…" He said cryptically. "I got top people on it." Thorne glanced over at him and narrowed her eyes.
"Who?"
"Top…people." Drakken repeated matter-of-factly." The edges of Freya's lips turned up a little.
"Lemme guess…Ekks."
"I told him to create a secret cache for us, just in case we need the stuff again." Drakken explained. "We did that kind of thing back in the war. Hell, I might add to it, give us a bunch of disguises and untraceable equipment for future missions." They stepped into another turbolift and started going down deeper into the ship.
"Isn't this sort of…against th' rules?" Thorne asked quietly, but with a sly grin.
"Oh yes. Very much so, I would think." Drakken replied. "Gonna report me, ensign?"
"Drakken!" Thorne gasped. "Ye asked me that first time we met!"
"Oh yeah…I guess I did." He mused. "Hm. We have quite the long history of not reporting one another, don't we?" He felt her fingers gently caressing his, and Tharcourt suddenly felt very guilty for what had happened on Tatooine. He squeezed her hand softly. "Freya…" He began, "You know, I was thinking…"
"Wot…about our 'lil tryst in the desert?" She asked with a sigh, and she nodded. "Aye."
"I…I dunno what came over me…" He said. "We uh…"
"It t'was the sun!" Fryea remarked quickly. "Aye. Baked our brains it did. I heared dehydration affects yer better judgement, ya know?"
"Yes…yeah, that was probably it…" Drakken muttered. They stepped off of the lift, and got into the one next to it, a horizontally-traversing one.
"Yeah…sorry 'bout that though, me darlin'." Thorne continued. "I got a 'lil carried away…"
"So did I." Tharcourt said softly. "And I'm sorry too, my friend." Freya gave him a little smile.
"Ye gonna ask?" She inquired. He raised an eyebrow.
"Ask what?" He returned, and Thorne giggled and shoved him gently.
"About dinner, ye fool."
"Ah yes, our tradition." Drakken smiled. "We'll stop by the office and clean up first. I'll leave a few orders with the men, and then we'll grab something to eat."
They arrived at the barracks and immediately, each went to their private refreshers to wash off the dirt and blood of the mission. Drakken as always finished with a brisk combing of his hair, just to get it into an acceptable appearance. He frowned when he noticed a couple grey follicles amidst the black. Yet another reminder of the irritating fact he was getting older. Sighing, he threw a clean cap over his head, and put on a clean tunic and belt.
He exited the refresher fully dressed to find that Freya had also just finished up and had left her washroom as well. He glanced over and balked, sure that his cheeks must be red. Thorne was only wearing one of her short 'little wrap' skirts, and a regulation white undershirt, which clung to the curves of her torso impeccably. Her still-damp hair was down, streaming down her shoulders and back, almost to her knees, in a waterfall of brilliant red.
Deny it all he wanted, she was gorgeous, and Drakken couldn't force himself to look away for a moment, stunned by her beauty. She looked over at him, and her green eyes widened, and Freya let out a squeak that broke the tense silence. Tharcourt snapped his head forward and continued into his room, where he let out a long breath as he fell back against the closed hatch of his quarters.
"Damn…" He whispered, and rubbed his sun-reddened face. It was impossible for him to deny his attraction to Thorne. What had happened on Tatooine was not simply a symptom of heat exhaustion. It was a failure of him to control his impulses. Drakken may have been far and long distanced from the concepts of romance and physical desire, but he was not a fool. He was physically attracted to her. Their camaraderie and chemistry together more than made up for the awkwardness, but he still regretted that they would have to contend with such pestering feelings. He could tell that Thorne too fought with the same problem; she genuinely reveled in their friendship, and their work relationship was excelsior, but she strove against those kinds of feelings for him too.
There was no point in dwelling on it anymore. He came to the conclusion that as well as they worked and fought together, and as good of a friendship as they enjoyed, there would always be these odd moments of awkwardness between them. There would be times when one or the other would be temporarily reduced to foolishness by their latent feelings for one another. He determined to reduce these instances as much as he could, and to resign himself to suffer through the times he could not.
Freya sat on her bed with her knees up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her shins. The way Drakken had looked at her in the short hall outside the refreshers…it was obvious to her that the notion they had been driven to madness by the suns of Tatooine was as ridiculous as it sounded when she first said it. She loved Drakken, she had made peace with that a long time ago. The last week had driven it home that he loved her too, he just couldn't show it. The hand-holding, the hugging…what they had almost done in the desert; they were acting less and less like friends, and more like a couple.
She knew that if they weren't restrained by their ranks and regulations, they would probably be together. Drakken was playing things straight. Though she toyed with the idea of breaking the rules and throwing caution to the wind, Freya knew he would not chance them losing everything for what she knew he saw as a risky romantic fling with a subordinate and a friend. She understood that, as much as it hurt. They couldn't be together the way she wished they could be, and the way she knew he probably wanted too.
She let out a frustrated sigh and threw herself feet first off of the bed, flipping into a standing position. She threw on a clean, pressed tunic and tied her hair back without brushing it, smiling into the mirror at the wilder look it gave her. She put on her belt and holstered blaster (her regulation weapon), and sat on the edge of her bed to put on her open-toed boots. She figured that if she were having dinner with Drakken, she'd may as well look nice.
Tharcourt entered the commons room to an odd sight. R-5 was in a corner of the room, the droid's badly damaged head removed and disassembled on the floor. A work light had been rigged up and was hanging over the astromech to provide light, and a large toolbox was open on the floor. Ekks and Lago were standing around the droid like a couple of grim surgeons with a patient. It was almost laughable, if they weren't attempting their dicey mechanical surgery for Freya's benefit.
"How's it looking, fellows?" Drakken asked, walking over to the scene.
"I think we might be able to make something work, boss." Ekks stated, looking down into the body of the astromech like someone who had dropped something valuable into a refuse canister.
"Yeah, I've built a couple droids…well somewhat." Lago added.
"Somewhat?" The commander questioned; his right eyebrow raised.
"Well, they mostly worked." Lago admitted. "But don't worry sir, I'm better at repairing than building."
"This is pretty much a rebuild, little buddy." Ekks said dryly. "And I need some parts."
"What do you need?" Tharcourt asked.
"Oh, ow's our patient, Ekks?" Freya asked, entering the room and joining the group. She looked disappointedly at R-5.
"I was just telling the boss that I need some parts to get him fixed, ma'am." Ekks answered. "And what don't I need? Lago, tell the commander what you told me." The young stormtrooper grinned nervously.
"Motivator is shot, main circuitry got fried, looks like the bolt went through the CPU and ricocheted off the back of the photoreceptor. That's melted into slag, so's the vocabulator and the left pneumatic actuator for the leg assembly. Now the wiring harness and relay for the spatial…"
"Lago…son…" Drakken interrupted. "Pretend for a moment I don't know a damned thing you're talking about. What's wrong with the droid?"
"Oh…um…" Lago stammered. "Well the CPU, his brain…it got hit, and part of it was destroyed. So was the things that make him move and talk." Tharcourt glanced sidelong at Freya, who huffed sadly.
"So, he's scrap." The commander said.
"I said we'd fix him, and there is one way." Ekks countered. "Lago thinks that if he can get another CPU and memory wipe it, he can slave it to the damaged one. That would give R-5 most of his old personality back, and…well…"
"Well?" Drakken pressed suspiciously.
"It might give him higher processing ability." Lago clarified. "You know, make him think faster. He would also get the prime directives of whatever chip we install him with."
"That's not terrifying." Tharcourt muttered.
"Do it." Freya said.
"I need a droid head." Ekks stated.
"Ye can go to the materiel department and requisition one, right?" Thorne asked.
"Yeeahhh…we could do that…" Ekks replied shadily. "But one question…how would you like to have R-5 more…mission capable?" Drakken narrowed his eyes.
"Meaning?"
"Oh, just that he'd be able to navigate and repair The Huntsman like usual…" Ekks grinned. "But he'd also be able to do surveillance, translate and he'd have offensive weaponry to protect the shuttle with." Tharcourt heard Freya giggle and looked to see her holding a hand over her mouth.
"Och…that soons…amazin'!" She quipped. Drakken huffed.
"Fine. Just do it." Ekks immediately held out a datapad.
"Juuuust need your signature right here on this normal, not suspicious at all requisition form, boss."
"I'm washing my hands of this…" Tharcourt mumbled, signing the screen. "Just…get it done and over with."
"Yes sir." Lago said with a lazy salute.
"How long ye think it'll take, lads?" Thorne inquired.
"Ohhh…if you can stay gone about four or five hours, I think we can have you a surprise waiting for you when you get back, Ensign Hellcat." Ekks said with a smile. Tharcourt shot the two troopers a cautious glance before he and Thorne exited the room.
Dinner in the mess hall was better than the last time they had eaten there. They arrived before the evening rush to find that the kitchen had made some sort of pastry filled with bantha meat and vegetables. There was the obligatory dinner roll, and they were given glasses of tea to drink, something that only seemed to happen about once a week. For dessert, a hefty portion of cobbler was dropped onto their trays. They sat at an out-of-the way table in the corner of the room, and Freya looked happily at her meal.
"Meat pies! About time th' Empire figures out how ta' feed fightin' men!" She took a sip of the tea and made an unamused face. "Still ain't learned wot a proper tea should taste like though." She added. "But meat pies!"
"I take it you like this dish." Drakken commented, poking his food with a fork.
"Och aye!" She replied, shoving a fork-full into her mouth. "Mmmhmhmhmm. Meat an' tatties is a reg'lar superfood. Ye ever 'ad sor'liss?" Tharcourt chewed and swallowed his bite of the meat pastry.
"No, I don't think I ever heard of sourlis."
"Aw it's the best, Drakken." Thorne said, then ate a couple more bites before continuing. "You take an animal's 'eart, liver an' lungs, an' ye grind 'em up with oats an' spices. Ye put that mixture in the stomach and bile it right good. Ye eat it with tatties." She looked to see Drakken holding a piece of meat skewered on his fork halfway to his mouth, his eyes locked on her with a look of concern.
"Stomach, eh?" He asked curiously. "And you eat that?"
"If ye wanna grow up big an' strong like me." Freya returned with a wink. Drakken let out a chuckle.
"Oh…I'll be sure to eat my sourlis then." He laughed. "But I don't see myself ever being able to fight like you can."
"What are ye on about? Yer a great fighter."
"Yeah, with a blaster, maybe." Drakken sent back. "In hand-to-hand…you're amazing." He took a drink of his tea. "I mean that too. You saved my life on that ball of dust." Thorne blushed a little.
"Aw…I mean…I tol' ye I'd stuck by ye, didnae I?" She said warmly. "And I mean ta'. Even if ye weren't me best mate, I owe ye a bit of a life-debt." Drakken smiled. "Yep, Drakken Tharcourt…I'm stuck to ye like glue now, and I'll protect ye from all the mean ol' rebels." He chuckled again. Despite the awkward moments between them, he couldn't imagine life without Freya in it now. It was like a void in his existence had somehow been filled.
"Hm. You know, we ever make it to your homeworld, I might be willing to try that sor'lis stuff."
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I will have the next up in a few days. Until then, please send me your comments and reviews, and don't forget to click that fav button! Until next time my loyal readers, Cheerio!