Within the last 48 hours, Inner Rim Territories, aboard the Black Knight
"How is it?"
Daru stopped her work and squirmed out from under the maintenance shaft; pulling herself out from beneath the generator's power couplings to look at him with a scowl. The expression looked so familiar that Garin felt his heart jar as he reached down and took her hand, helping her to her feet. It always surprised him how delicate her hands felt considering how much work she did around the ship.
"Thank you," she said with a cautious smile before she looked back at the generator lines with a sigh as her lekku twitched uneasily. "I might have been a little overconfident."
"So we can't install it?"
"We can install it," she said instantly. "I just need more time."
He chuckled, "don't kill yourself. We'd be hard pressed to replace you."
"Well I'm not resting until this is done," she said resolutely, kneeling down to go back into the maze of couplings and junctions.
Garin reached down and put a hand on her shoulder softly, to her credit she didn't freeze up or panic, she simply paused in her movements as her breathing intensified. He pulled his hand away.
"Sorry, it's just another bit of equipment Daru. We're not going to need it for this battle. Take a break."
She reached up and caught his hand, pulling it back down on her shoulder; slowly she leaned her cheek against the back of the hand. She closed her eyes and leaned against him quietly.
"Thank you Garin, I know you're worried about me; but this is keeps me going. I love a challenge."
He paused, frowning slightly but eventually he nodded, cradling her face gently. "Alright, you take all the time you need."
She looked up at him with a smile that was warmer than anything he'd seen since coming back to the unit and for a moment he saw a bit of the old Daru in her eyes.
"When they said I'd find you down here, I didn't expect to find you and Blue would be going at it."
They both looked up, Daru's face fell, she let go of Garin's hand and tucked herself back into the web of machinery as Vic'que smirked at them both.
Garin scowled, though he had to admit that if she hadn't ruined the moment he would have been pleased to see her.
"What are you doing here?"
Her smirk remained in place as he walked over to her, "I thought I'd come home and say good luck to everyone. I wanted to see how the Wyvern's were getting on as well."
"And your CO just lets you leave on a whim," Garin asked incredulously as they left the reactor's maintenance shaft. Passing the swarm of droids and techs that Daru had helping her with the cloak shield on their way.
She shrugged, "well no; but we're just on standby alert. I can launch and join the unit just as easily from the Knight as I can the Chimaera."
Garin snorted as they stepped into the turbolift and it carried them up to the more habitable decks of the Knight.
"Have you seen any of the others?"
She nodded, leaning back against the wall.
"A few, Harth was in the sim room like always beating the crap out of his people and a good number of the others as well."
"I hope you don't mind that I gave Wyvern to Elith."
She shook her head, "Ydres is a good pilot and a better leader. She was the right choice." She grinned at him, "besides the more female officers we have the better."
"Homesick?"
She paused, a frown inching across her features, "yes I guess I am. The 181st is good but it's nothing like Hades. It isn't home."
"You could have come back you know, still could."
She shook her head with a smile as they stepped off the turbolift. "I'm with the 181st now Garin. I wouldn't want to come back and upset anything."
He shrugged, "if you think we're going to get through this without any casualties you're being a little optimistic. The Republic is better trained than the Alliance was, I expect to lose people. There'll be room."
She looked at him disbelievingly for a moment before she started laughing, shaking her head and smiling cheerily.
"Only you could say something so cold and make it sound like an invitation."
He gave an innocent smile, "just being realistic. We lost people at Endor, and I fully expect this battle to be on similar terms."
Vic'que's face flickered and she fell silent as they walked down the hall, when she finally spoke she sounded subdued.
"Thank you, for coming for me. You could have gotten yourself killed but you still came for me."
"I don't leave people behind."
She nodded, a wistful smile crossing her lips. "Maarek says you're too reckless to be in command of a wing."
Garin snorted, "and he's too cold hearted to have the lives of others in his hands. I'm sure we'll reach an understanding."
"You did to some degree after Coruscant. He was pretty surprised when you came to save him. He spent the entire night trying to make sense of why you'd bother saving him."
"I'd like to think we're both mature enough to recognize we're on the same side despite any differences," Garin said thoughtfully.
She snorted quietly, "well if it's any consolation he still thinks you're a damned good pilot whose chief flaw is that you don't listen to reason when it's laid out for you."
He opened his mouth to respond but was forestalled at a shout from behind them.
"The Ice Queen is back," Kalan cheered as he latched one arm around each of their shoulders.
"Sorry sir," Matrin said with a smile, "I tried to stop him."
Garin raised an eyebrow, "I'm sure you did."
Vic'que jabbed a finger into Kalan's side, the smaller man jumped and frowned.
"Hey no fair, you can't tickle an officer."
"Says the man hanging onto his superior and another officer," her tone was dangerous but any threat was belayed by the smile on her face. She probably wouldn't admit it, but she was happy to see the two of them again.
"Going to stay very long," Matrin inquired innocently, "we could run another 'fresher scene for morale purposes."
Vic'que's eyes flashed and she jammed her elbow into Matrin's ribs, he coughed and grinned at her apologetically, "sorry I couldn't resist. Besides I'm sure you look just as good now as you did then. It's only been a few years."
That was all it took; Garin hadn't seen Vic'que quite that shade of red in sometime and watched as her eyes flared up and she took a swing at Matrin, who was saved by Kalan arm over her shoulders.
"I'm going to have Arusi put both of you on permanent work detail," she growled, shoving Kalan off of her who feigned terror.
"Oh no, whatever will we do!"
Garin shook his head and sighed in exasperation, something's never changed; no matter how much time passed. He was kept from further musing when Vic'que managed to get Kalan off of her and this time landed a very vicious blow into Matrin's gut.
"Don't kill them;" he chided. "We've got enough trouble with the Republic."
"They can wait their damned turn; I'm going to gut these two."
Garin sat at his terminal going over everything that had happened over the past week within Hades. Training had been increased by half for all his combat personnel, consequently he'd also allowed them more downtime in lieu of the other duties they'd normally performed meaning that maintenance and engineering teams had been required to pick up the slack. The unit's fighting ability would be ill served if he worked his people to the bone without allowing them to rest, the maintenance and engineer teams at least had droids to assist them in their routine and considering that Daru was heading them she'd have worked them hard even without his orders. During normal operations he made sure that even combat personnel participated in the maintenance of their equipment and the Knight at large but they weren't in a normal operation right now. Even if Thrawn hadn't said it would be, Garin and everyone else who knew about this operation knew it would be decisive. Everyone could feel it.
His door chimed, "enter."
He looked up to see Vic'que, in her flight suit, her hair tied up in the bun she always wore in combat with her helmet beneath her arm.
"Heading back to the Chimaera now," he looked at his chrono and blinked, was it that late already? "I'll see you off."
She snorted and moved out of the way as he stepped into the hall, "as if I'd let you get away with anything else. You're a real hutt you know that, sneaking off in the middle of my visit, and after I snuck out to come see the unit."
He smiled and shrugged, "just because the one-eight-one lets you goof around doesn't mean I have the time to humor you."
There was a long pause as they walked, and then she burst out laughing, she really had changed for the better Garin mused. She'd never have laughed like that before.
"You're a lowborn bastard," she said with a vicious; "to think that Thrawn made you my commander. And you're one to talk about goofing off; you tolerate Matrin and Kalan's antics readily enough."
"They're in my unit," Garin pointed out with a mock defensive tone. "You're not my problem anymore."
Her smile slackened and she shook her head, "you know you're really something. Even Colonel Phennir doesn't inspire people the way you do. It's pretty impressive I envy you that. I could never be patient enough to command a unit as diverse and unique as Hades; commanding the Wyverns was challenging enough."
Garin snorted, "would you want to? Look at what this unit has been through and the mistakes I made knowing that everything I did could have gotten all of us killed. Having this many lives under you is a lot of trouble. You don't get to have much peace of mind."
"Yeah but you manage don't you Gar," she said; he blinked and looked at her. She normally didn't use the shortened version of his name. It was too personal to her mind.
As she continued she sounded almost longing, "you know I always wondered why I followed you. I didn't like you particularly when we first met."
"You hit me," Garin said with a smile.
"You deserved it for that asinine stunt with the escape pod," she returned with a fond scowl.
He snorted, "if everyone that's fallen for one of my asinine stunts got a hit on me I'd be very bruised."
"You'd still deserve it, you don't fight fair."
He shrugged, "fighting fair gets you killed. I prefer not to die."
She nodded, "true and I'd never fault you for keeping us all alive. Still though, when I joined the Fleet I expected there to be more…I guess honor to what I did. I didn't expect to be part of a unit that specialized in skulking behind the enemy's back and shooting them in the foot."
"Life does strange things, when I signed up I didn't expect to watch my entire unit get wiped out from under me. Hell I didn't expect my commanding officer to die on our first major sortie and leave me the ranking pilot."
She paused and looked at him, "you know none of the others talk about that. Arusi, Luixana...even Kalan and Matrin get somber when anyone mentions it."
Garin didn't say anything as they stepped into the waiting lift, as it whisked them towards the hangar he finally spoke into the growing silence.
"All five of us thought we were going to die, even Harth. Toth, in his usual resourcefulness got us drunk the night before, our Captain joined in."
She blinked and looked at him, "your commanding officer got drunk with you?"
He smiled, "we were the last five of his pilots, out of twenty-five we were all that was left. It was a pretty big mess."
"And Thrawn saved your hides," she said with a snort, shaking her head. "We all owe him in some way or another, like you said before."
She looked at him when didn't respond, "you know when we crashed on Endor's moon, I thought we would die there, alone."
He didn't say anything, so she continued, "I always wondered why I hated you so much, then you came after me and saved my life and I realized something." She looked away now, her expression guilty. "I wouldn't have done the same for you, not then, if that had been you falling through the atmosphere I would have let you burn."
Garin smiled, "I know. Most of the unit would have made the same call I think, though I doubt they'd admit it."
"But that was what I resented I guess, your stubborn refusal to give up on any of us, even me. I was the weak link in the unit," she scowled at him as he opened his mouth. "Don't even think about contradicting me, I nearly shot Blue remember?"
Garin closed his mouth again and let her continue, "I guess that's why I was so mad at you when you let her go to pieces like that. It wasn't like you and I was furious that you'd give up on anyone so easily. That's why I came and kicked you into shape just before she went and locked herself in the hangar."
"Thank you for that," he said. "I needed it, though at the time I was pretty obstinate."
The lift stopped and they stepped off, taking another ride to the gantry where Vic'que's Interceptor was berthed. They stopped in front of it and she turned to look at him for a long, silent, moment.
"Gar…" she frowned uncertainly, "thank you sir. For everything, I wouldn't be quite this good without everything you did for me."
Garin shrugged and smiled, "anytime."
There was another pause, and she stepped closer to him, Garin immediately raised his hand, "stop right there. You've got Stele; don't do anything you're going to hate yourself for."
She snorted and eyed him mischievously, "that's twice now you've blown me off." She looked at her Interceptor, donning her helmet. "You might give me a complex."
"I'm sure Stele will remedy any issue."
She nodded and dropped down the ladder into the open hatch, looking up at him. "It's funny, I fell for him and still want him after all this time;" he could just imagine the expression on her face. "But I keep thinking of what it would have been like to fall in love with you instead."
Garin knelt and looked down the ladder, "don't dwell on it. If he means that much to you, stick with him. You'll go crazy otherwise."
Again he imagined her expression, an arrogant smirk, as she responded. "Garin you should know by now, on Kuat all you men are the same: just breeding material for the women."
He snorted, "don't die."
She nodded, "you too. Make sure you tell Blue how much she means to you."
With that she closed the hatch, and after an initial check the berthing clamps released her wing pylons and she activated her repulsorlifts. She saluted through the cockpit and he returned it with a nod. He watched the red striped Interceptor back out into the hangar and exit through the containment field before turning and accelerating into space. He stood there a while longer, his mind running through the course of his career and everyone that had been a part of it. The more he thought about it, the larger his smile grew and he felt growing warmth inside of him; it had been a very good life. If even Vic'que had reached an inner peace despite all the turmoil then he certainly didn't have any excuse not to do the same.
Later, he leaned over a maintenance shaft and wrapped his knuckles against a power housing; Daru's smeared and dirtied face appeared in the shaft's access hatch.
She looked up at him curiously, "shouldn't you be resting?"
He shrugged, "couldn't close my eyes."
She blinked, and even though he couldn't see the tails themselves, he saw the base of her lekku pulse in an uncertain spasm.
"Did you need something Garin?"
He knelt and reached down with a gentle smile, "just you."
Her eyes flickered in a brief flash of fear, but after a moment's hesitation she put her tools down and reached up, clasping his hand. He pulled her up out of the hatch, and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips against hers gently. She returned the kiss eagerly, pressing herself into his arms as she leaned into him. When they finally broke the kiss he saw tears in her eyes, he brushed a lubricant smeared cheek with a soft smile.
"You're filthy, let's get you cleaned up."
The members of the engineering team that Daru had been working with all exchanged glances, the veteran Hades members smiled and exchanged good natured cat calls, while the new clone and non-clone members glanced around uncertainly. Neither Garin nor Daru paid any attention as they left together.