The Mission:

When they arrived at the training centre, in the outskirts of the military facility, they found the building completely empty. Nabriah cast an eye on her chronometer, and found they'd been in the hangar for so long that most people had gone to bed.

"Sure you don't want to get some sleep?"

Being the will-powered type, Bao-Dur rejected her proposal. "We need some workout after all the sitting around in that cramped cockpit. My body feels stiffer than a droid without greasing." The look he gave her was so definite she didn't want to argue with him.

"Ok." Nabriah just removed her jacket and her boots "I prefer fighting bare foot," she explained when she saw Bao-Dur's puzzled look at her naked feet.

"I'll just take of my tool belt and that'll be enough," he said as he unbuckled his belt and put it on a bench beside the fighting mat.

Nabriah looked at him in a measuring kind of way, like she was contemplating how to take him on most efficiently. Bao-Dur was still a bit worried that he'd end up hurting her while fighting so he thought he'd play it defensively and wait for her to attack.

They circled around each other, waiting, watchful and then suddenly Nabriah made a move. She'd seen an opening in his stance and took advantage of it making him come off balance. He managed to defend himself and block her attack, but now he was aware that she might look fragile and small, but was very capable of hitting hard. They kept circling, making occasional attacks, blocking and counterattacking each other for a long time. Bao-Dur was beginning to feel the effects of staying awake for too long, but as stubborn he was, he wasn't going to surrender. Oh no! His thoughts began to wander from the sparring practice as he watched her strong but delicate movements; he wanted to conquer her in more ways than one... Sweat was running down his spine, his body tense, anticipating an attack anytime. Bao-Dur decided to make a move instead of waiting; he came at her full force and... suddenly he lay flat on the floor with Nabriah on top of him, sitting astride over his hips, pressing a point somewhere on his neck making his arms useless, incapacitated; her legs neatly hooked around his so he couldn't move them either to get free. She was a lot stronger than she looked... he thought, lying there wondering what the Force had happened. She'd been so fast, using his own strength against him, making him fall and then this... She sat there looking quite amused by the situation. Bao-Dur felt with increasing embarrassment that at least one part of his body hadn't quite got the incapacitated part...and by the look of Nabriah's face she had noticed too. Eyes glittering with laughter and mischief she teased him.

"Did you leave a hydro spanner in your pocket?" Bao-Dur reddened as she confirmed his suspicion. Before he had a chance to answer, she jumped to her feet and started to walk towards the showers.

"Let's hit the showers and then get some rest," she said over her shoulder "and by the way," she added "make your shower a cold one, seems like you'll need it." That was pretty foul of her to say, but it just spilled out of her before she could stop it, perhaps because she was afraid that he'd become aware that she too had reacted. She hurried away leaving him lying on the floor with his self-esteem battered, feeling betrayed by his body and angry with her for commenting on it. Slowly he got to his feet, the numbness fading from his arms. The only place he was hurt was in his heart. Well, that certainly makes clear what she thinks of me, he sighed to himself, only a tech that it's ok to tease but no more. His walk was as heavy as his state of mind, but somehow he got to the shower, got undressed, stepped into the refresher and let the cold water pour over his body. He stood there with his face turned upwards and just let the water cool him off. It was soothing; even the aching in his soul began to subside. Bao-Dur was startled by the banging on the door.

"Hey, Bao-Dur!" It was Nabriah, shouting through the door. "See you tomorrow early; we got a lot of work in front of us. G'night!" He didn't even manage to holler something back before he heard her footsteps fading away down the hall. Oh well, he thought, another day with that woman and I'll go crazy. She really gets to me; I'll have to work harder to keep my true feelings away from her. He sighed as he shut off the shower, dried himself and got dressed again. Bed's calling; he was tired to the bone...

Bao-Dur woke up not too sure of his whereabouts; for a minute he almost thought he was at home again. That was, until he saw the durasteel grey walls. After a glance at the chronometer he quickly jumped out of bed. Sith's blood! He'd slept in! Muttering, he got dressed and suddenly stopped dead, something is missing, but what? He took a real good look around the room, and realized he'd forgotten the remote down in the hangar. Well, there wasn't time to go get it now; he'd have to stop by there later. Now he had to find Nabriah and go through the course of action. Bao-Dur had to run down to security headquarters to make it on time. Nabriah was already waiting for him outside the building, glancing at her chronometer wondering where he'd gone. "Sorry," he panted, "I seem to have overslept."

She looked at him, her face blank of expression. "Let's get started!" was all Nabriah said as she turned her back on him and went in.

They'd been given access to a room that stored the Mandalorian ship's blueprints. There they found everything they'd need to penetrate the ship's defences, from notes on patrols to security measures.

"As you already know, the plan is that the two of us are supposed to enter the ship by the means of the Basilisk war droid. I've estimated the best landing bay on board the ship, taking into consideration the closeness to the engine deck lift and apparent lack of supervision. It's a cargo bay mostly used by maintenance personnel, so landing a basilisk there might cause some suspicion. But hopefully we'll get in fast and out even faster, or we'll end up in pieces with the Mandalorians." She indicated a point on the blueprint; Bao-Dur's eyes registered the lift close to the bay, the automated bay control and the locations of computer consoles. It might come in handy, he thought to himself.

Her finger continued over to another blueprint, this one of the engine deck.

"We have to slice into this computer to unlock the main door of the engine room. The area is patrolled but not very often since the Mandalorians feel pretty safe on their command ship. But we have to remain alert for the eventuality." Her finger moved on the print "Here are the ion engines where you're supposed to place the thorium charges we'll be carrying." She looked at him expectantly. "Which are the most effective points to place them, you think?" He bent down to get a thorough look at the layout of the ion engines, read some of the data printed about them and calculated the approximately best ways of wrecking havoc. Rising again he put his finger to the first point:

"Here's the crucial point; if we place a charge here it'll start a chain reaction." His finger moved slightly. "Second charge goes here, that'll boost the reaction started by the first one and…" the finger moved again, "This will be best place for the third charge; it'll kick in if the second fails." He rose and their eyes met, she nodded in consent.

"So we fly there and board the vessel and get down there by using stealth then?" Bao-Dur summed up the mission.

"Yep and try to avoid any encounters. But just in case I'll be wearing a Mandalorian armour and helmet to blend in." Nabriah watched his face turn blank "I knew you wouldn't like it, but it's a security measure. In case your or my stealth field gives up, we need a backup plan, and that's it." She looked almost pleadingly at him.

"How's that going to work then?" Bao-Dur asked in a low voice. Nabriah drew a deep breath as trying to prepare for take-off

"If your generator would fail the Mandalorians would certainly wonder what a Zabrak was doing on their ship. So I thought since you're one and have those little horns on your head, it makes it hard for you to wear a Mandalorian helmet. Then there's also the fact that you hate them. I figured I'd wear the costume and you'd be my prisoner. That would account for a Zabrak wandering around their ship. And if my generator would quit on me, I'd just be another Mandalorian. See?" She tilted her head and sounded as if she were convincing a child about some difficult to understand necessity.

Bao-Dur looked at her for a long time, until he'd managed to convince himself it was a sound plan and the only one that'd work.

"But won't you make a very short Mandalorian?" he mused at her.

Lightning shot from her eyes; he almost ducked out of plain self-preservation. Nabriah snarled and he was pretty sure she wanted to throw something at him, but managed to restrain herself. He just had to go on, as payback for the incident in the combat training.

"Well, don't you agree?" Now his eyes were full of laughter, he could hardly keep it from spreading to his lips and he was starting to shake from trying to hold it in.

He could see she was counting or doing some kind of mental diversion to calm herself down, her head was tilted forward, fists clenched and she took some really deep breaths. She finally raised her head and looked at him.

"Well, yes, I do make a very short Mandalorian, but I've infiltrated them before and they only take me for a young male. Is that enough?" The last words came out like a challenge. But it shone through that she'd reckoned she'd deserved this considering her own behaviour and careless comments of yesterday. Satisfying, he thought, this mended a bit of his wounded self-esteem, knowing that she too had her vulnerabilities. Her height, or more lack of it being one of them.

They went over the plan in detail, discussing the best time to depart and how much time the detonators would have to be set in order to give them enough time to get out. There were so many things that could go wrong, but finally they agreed on 15 minutes. Hungry as they were, they strolled over to the cantina; on the way there Bao-Dur suddenly remembered the remote.

"I've got to go get the remote." Nabriah looked like something suddenly had dawned on her; she brightened up

"Oh I knew something wasn't quite as usual, but I had completely forgotten it. Well, you go get him then, I'll get some food and a table while you're away, is that ok?"

He nodded and headed for the hangar where he'd left the remote, it was lying in the same spot as the day before, dead to the world, and it was good he thought that droids didn't have that sense of time. The remote wouldn't notice for how long it'd been shut down. He activated it and the orb immediately started to emit a series of beeps in his direction.

"What's the matter?" Bao-Dur wrinkled his eyebrows.

The remote continued to beep almost frantically he listened carefully to the droid.

"Still mad at her are you? No need to go on beeping about it though, it'll just make me more sure that you're jealous it won't make it better." The remote silenced.

He walked back to the cantina now feeling more complete when he had his little sphere following him again. Nabriah waved at him from a table in the far end of the room, he made his way there and sat down in front of her.

"Good to see you," she said.

"I haven't been gone that long," he answered and realized she'd been talking to the remote. It whirred and produced a beep in her direction, almost as if it too were taken by surprise.

"I apologize for the accident, wasn't my intention to bump into you like that. I hope none of your circuits were destroyed?" She gave the remote a worried look. "Were there?"

The following series of beeps sounded reassuring and Bao-Dur sat there looking from Nabriah to the remote and wondered what'd been happening while he wasn't looking. He shook his head "Well, actually I checked it and nothing happened to it. I've made him extra sturdy, taking reckless females into consideration." Yet again there was laughter in his eyes, Nabriah shook her fist at him in pretended anger, but there was laughter in her eyes too. They burst into laughter at the same time.

After the meal they went for some stealth practice, Nabriah made it a lot more difficult for him this time. Using movement sensors that were practically impossible to fool, he failed a couple of times and she patiently told him all the possible ways there were to cheat them and showed to him what he'd done wrong. She made him practice for hours until she was satisfied with him. Nabriah looked at the chronometer, sighed and said;

"That's enough for today Bao-Dur." He liked the way she said his name, but then he was getting more and more attracted to her by the minute. He'd found it hard to breathe when standing close to her, feeling the warmth of her body, enjoying the scent of her hair. She was so tiny, he thought, but he knew no man would ever sweep her off her feet without her consent, with the day before in the training ring fresh in mind. "Are you listening to a word I'm saying?" Suddenly her voice broke through his daydreaming, startling him. "Uh..?" was all he managed to get out.

Nabriah raised her brows and her facial expression turned doubtful as if she were considering him to be either very absent-minded or just plain stupid. "When we're out there you cannot behave like this." Now she looked worried. "Our survival depends on our awareness and demands that we're totally focused on what we're doing. If you're going to act like this we'll end up in a lot of different places... at one time..."

Bao-Dur couldn't help it, but he found her description of their future fate should he turn absent-minded quite funny; a wide grin spread on his face, his eyes glittering with laughter.

"You're totally crazy, even for a Zabrak," Nabriah smiled wryly back at him shaking her head. She sighed, looked him deep in the eyes and went on "As I was saying when you were somewhere else in spirit, tomorrow night it's time for the real thing. You still feel up to it or...?" She left the question hanging in the air.

"I'm still game, no need to worry. I'll get those detonators in place," he replied dryly.

"Good. Time to get some rest then. Tomorrow we'll be busy making the final preparations, checking the equipment and getting some up-to-date intelligence."

They walked together towards the quarters and he found that hers wasn't that far from his. They stopped outside her door. She had a strange look in her eyes that he couldn't interpret, almost as if she was searching for something in his eyes. Bao-Dur stood in front of her, wanting to say something, but too afraid to either scare her off or that she'd mock him like she'd done the day before. So instead he said nothing; neither did she. There was an uncomfortable silence and Bao-Dur started to shift his weight from one foot to the other and Nabriah seemed like she had taken a great interest in the stars above.

"Uh. Well... Good night then," he mumbled feeling like a jerk.

"Eh, yeah, sleep tight," she replied almost reluctantly as if she too wanted to say something. I'm probably just imagining things, time to sleep, perhaps for the last time… who knows?

Next morning he woke up sweating and with his dreams fresh in mind. The mere thought of them made him embarrassed. Now she had snuck into his unconscious fantasies as well, he just hoped it wouldn't show in his face when they met exactly how explicit they'd been. His body was aching for relief, and there was only one way to get that. He headed for the shower feeling ashamed of himself, his head full of flashes from the dreams he'd had. A shiver went down his spine, oh, the thought of her body, her eyes in the dreams full of desire and lust...He just couldn't get those pictures out of his head. Bao-Dur felt guilty about the way his body reacted to her and he really tried to conceal his feelings in her presence. But it was increasingly difficult to keep his desires in check. He swallowed hard and practically ran towards the showers...

Nabriah was on her way to the hangar when she caught a glimpse of Bao-Dur hurrying somewhere with a determined look on his face. Being the curious kind of person she was, she couldn't resist the impulse to turn on the stealth generator. She sneaked behind him at a short distance, just enough so he wouldn't detect her. His path lead into a building she'd never been to, so unknowingly she kept on following him. She hurried to get close enough to be able to enter the door without raising his suspicion.

The door slammed shut the second she'd entered, not until then she realized where they were. The men's refresher room... it was empty. Thank the Force! she thought to herself and then it dawned on her what kind of situation she'd put herself in... Nabriah wouldn't be able to leave until Bao-Dur did, he'd surely notice the door opening by itself and knowing him he'd make a pretty accurate guess of who'd been there... and she didn't really want to be on the receiving end of his anger... Oh no... Considering how he'd reacted when he found out she'd been spying on him working and this... was just far worse...

Well, I've really done it this time... mad at herself for not thinking before acting. She sent a thankful thought to her former teacher for teaching her an old technique which made it possible to hold your breath for long periods of time; it would surely come in handy now. Bao-Dur was getting undressed, pulling the t-shirt over his head, revealing bulging muscles and, to her surprise, tribal tattoos; winding, entwined in some places, both on his back and chest ending on the edges of his broad shoulders. In his calm way he unbuckled his belt and began taking off his pants. Panic started to rise within Nabriah; she wanted to turn her back and stop watching him, but... it was as if she were glued to the floor.

Bao-Dur's secret audience watched with wide open eyes as the last of his modesty fell to the floor. His current state was difficult to miss, and she wondered, with something like jealousy, who had caused that reaction in him. She berated herself for looking, but she couldn't tear her eyes away: he was really something special. Her pulse quickened as she watched him enter the shower, allowing the water to cascade down his chest and limbs. She traced the flow of the water, the motion of his hands. She nearly gasped out loud as she recognized a tell-tale rhythm in his movement. She knew she should turn away, but she couldn't: she had become as a statue, staring unblinkingly as his body began to shudder. She longed to reach out to him...help him with this task. Then she heard it:"Na-bri-ah" he breathed as his struggle calmed itself and he leaned against the wall of the shower.

Did he...? Was it... my name..? Was I the object of his fantasies? the realization, that it might be her fault he'd been in such a state, hit her in the gut. At the same time it gave her a jolt of hope, that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She wished she'd had the guts to turn off her stealth belt and step into the shower with him. Shaking from withheld excitement, her blood rushing through her veins, heart throbbing... the impact of desire making her legs feels like jelly. She wanted to run away and hide out of shame. This very moment she wanted to die, feeling she'd violated Bao-Dur's' privacy severely by spying on him. There were no extenuating circumstances that ever could apologize for her behaviour. This was going to have to become her secret; he'd never forgive her if he'd get to know she'd seen this...

Bao-Dur got out of the shower looking more relaxed than ever; he quickly got dressed before her veiled eyes and left with her tagging along, feeling exhausted and afraid to reveal her presence. He headed for the munitions depot and disappeared through the door. Nabriah started to run frantically towards the hangar. She ran as if she'd been chased by a pack of Kath hounds that hadn't been feed for ages. Once inside, she clutched to edge of the workbench, leaning over it, breathing heavily, trying to gather herself and re-establish her calm. Nabriah let go of the workbench with one hand and turned off the stealth field generator in the nick of time. Just a moment later she heard his footsteps behind her...

Dreading to meet his gaze, she kept her back turned to him. She tried to seem busy updating the necessary docking codes, her hands still trembling in frustration.

The short walk down to the hangar, with a slight detour to the munitions depot to pick up the charges he needed, had cleared his mind and he felt more focused than before. Entering he found her busy updating the codes needed for permission to board the vessel.

"Did you get those thorium charges on your way down here?" she asked him in an as casual voice as she could produce with her back still turned against him so he couldn't see her face.

"Yes, I've got them right here, so…" he dragged the word a little bit, "please don't do anything rash or we'll be in space a bit sooner than we want to." His eyes glittered mischievously at her. Nabriah turned around and glanced at him, careful not to meet his eyes, with a wry smile on her face.

"You really ARE crazy," she replied, returning to work.

Bao-Dur watched her carefully; that look on her face didn't correspond with her eyes. There was something odd about them and the way she seemed to avoid meeting his... He was probably just imagining, but... He got a strange notion she was hiding something from him, and it puzzled him. Suddenly getting a flash from the previous nights dreams, he felt a sting of guilt for having them. He was so lucky Nabriah wasn't a Jedi; if she'd been able to read his mind... she'd probably struck him unconscious. He tried to remain calm and focused his thoughts on the upcoming mission.

"So... we've got the charges, stealth generators, codes and I'll shut down the remote just before we depart." There was a sad "Bleep" coming from the remote. Bao-Dur looked at it while leaning over the workbench trying to get a clear view of what she was doing. "You'll hardly notice it; I won't shut you down longer than necessary. Anything more needing attention?" he said directed to Nabriah.

Nabriah's hands were flying across the data pad that was to be hooked up to the Basilisk's navi computer, altering the codes. She glanced at him, thinking oh yes, there is but there's no time for that now... cursing the wave of blood that threatened to shoot up to her face, the mere thought making her shiver again. Instead she said: "I'm cloaking our ship, so the Mandalorian vessel will apprehend us as a cargo ship due to deliver spare parts. Apart from that I only need to change into that Mandalorian armour. The helmet won't be needed until we reach our destination. You might want to make a check on the Basilisk just to make sure everything's ok? "

Bao-Dur nodded in agreement, he left her and started to go through his usual checklist examining the ship carefully. While he did that Nabriah finished with the codes, located the stealth generators and checked them so they were fully charged. She drew a deep breath and turned away from the workbench to watch Bao-Dur's doings. The calm way in which he moved, the concentrated air on his face, the memory of his naked body... She found it hard to resist an urge to rush to him and fling herself into his arms. She promised herself that when all this was over, she'd tell him how she felt about him.

The checklist was completed; Bao-Dur threw a look at Nabriah to see what she was busy doing, and he noticed the determined expression on her face. He could tell by the look she'd made up her mind about something and making her re-consider wouldn't be an option. He hoped he hadn't been that easy to see through. The last thing he'd want was her to walk out of his life after this mission, but he might as well prepare for the eventuality even if it stung in his heart. He went over to her. "So what's next?"

She handed him a stealth belt conveying that she wanted him to put it on, seeming to be in a hurry because he almost dropped the belt due to her letting go of it much earlier than he'd expected. He raised his brows in wonder, while fastening the belt around his waist. Her next move made them shoot even further up when she started to unbutton her jacket before his very eyes.

I owe him this, she thought, I've see him and it isn't more than fair he gets some kind of payback for what I did. If I'm right, he'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed watching him. She admitted to herself for the first time to herself that she actually had enjoyed the shower incident to a certain degree.

Whoa! Is this a dream coming true? he thought, tingling sensations travelling throughout his system. He tried to suppress them.

Nabriah continued her stripping down to her underwear, which consisted of a pair of military green hot pants and a brassiere of the same colour. Wide-eyed he watched, unable to avert his stare. Unfortunately for him, she didn't go any further than that. Well, he was kind of relived she didn't, he wouldn't have been able to maintain his self-control if she'd gone on. He'd probably just jumped her where she was standing and that would have been a very, very bad idea...

She turned around, their eyes getting full contact for the first time this day. Nabriah's gaze was tormented as if something pained her. Bao-Dur wondered what she saw in his eyes, does the passion I feel for her show? Do I have the same kind of pained look in my eyes?

Slowly Nabriah reached for the armour, putting it on carefully as effortlessly as possible. All too soon she was finished. Bao-Dur hated the mere sight of the thing she was wearing, but he also knew it was necessary in case anything went wrong. He turned his attention in the direction of the remote. Sighing he took a good look at it: "Well, it seems the time has come for me to shut you down, little friend." He felt sad that it couldn't accompany him, "This journey I have to do without you. Your presence would raise the Mandalorians' suspicion and we can't have that, can we?" He went on with a wry smile. "We'll be back soon and I'll get you activated first thing."

The remote floated towards Bao-Dur "Beep... beep! Dwooo deet!"

"No, I'll be fine, though I'll miss you floating around my head." Bao-Dur acknowledged by reaching out for the floating remote, which headed for his open hand. It landed softly in his palm, and he turned it off. With great care Bao-Dur put the remote on the work bench, reluctant to leave it behind. He gave it a last glance before commencing the final steps towards this his fateful trip.

"Bao-Dur..." Nabriah softly called out his name. Looking up at her; he saw traces of tears in the corner of her eye. It seemed the tension of the moment was getting to her as well.

"It's time..." she continued in a reduced voice. Bao-Dur turned to the control panel next to the work bench and entered the code for the hangar ports; they slowly opened showing the grey sky and the launch pad.