The Stardancer hummed along the hyperlane, its occupants sleeping. All of its systems were working correctly, and there were no problems to report. Save one. The small leak in her hyperdrive oil went undetected, as did the device attached to the underside of the nacelle. Her owner slept on, unknowing.
Mags woke with a grunt. The room was dark, and she instinctively knew it was deep into the night. Okay, she thought, these contractions are now organized, even if they are spaced out. She slowly sat up, trying not to wake Felix. If only the force weren't so hard to use while in labor, she mused. She slowly and quietly made her way into the apartment's living room, debating on whether she should call Elara or wait.
Sarai had felt the force change and went to her oldest daughter, ready to help her. She knew Mags would need force help for this, and hoped that between herself and what limited force Maura could call up, it would be enough. Ian would be early, but not dangerously so, only a few weeks. She could see that labor had progressed, but slowly. Mags gave her a grim smile and reached for her offered hand.
"Mom, sorry to wake you," Mags said, squeezing the petite hand in hers. "The pain is manageable, if you want to go back to sleep."
"Nonsense, dear," Sarai told her, "I'll make us some tea, and we can walk if you like." She made her way into the spacious kitchen, suddenly missing her youngest daughter. Miriah's presence tended to lend a positive note to things, she realized. She was putting water on to heat when Felix pushed into the kitchen, looking worse for wear, and straight over to the caffa machine.
"Felix, dear, go rest. She'll need you more later, and it might be a very long day ahead." She watched as he turned one half opened eye to her, the other remaining closed against the lights.
"No, no. I need to be here for her. I knew we'd probably be up in the middle of the night, I'm okay." He leaned over the counter, waiting for the brew to be discharged from the machine, his mug grasped tightly in his hand. They both turned as Mags made her way into the kitchen, the light of her aura surrounding her.
"Felix, honey, you didn't have to get up yet," she told him, touching his tired face.
"I wanted to, love. I told you I'd be with you through everything." He smiled as she tiptoed to kiss his cheek, and pulled her into a hug. They stood there, drawing on each other's strength, preparing for the coming hours and the birth of their son.
Aric was trying to sleep, which he was finding difficult. It had been quite a while since he hadn't had Maura by his side, and he was finding it difficult to drift off without her. In less than an hour, the Stardancer would drop out of hyperspace and Miriah would be at the bridge. I'll just rest here, until the others are awake. Even if I don't sleep, I'll rest, he thought.
Miriah had been sleeping for over nine hours when she woke and glanced at the chrono. We'll be out of hyperspace soon, she thought, and I do feel pretty good. She snuggled into Corso's warmth, his arms pulling her close though he didn't wake. She vaguely wondered how the other passengers were doing, just before she drifted back into slumber. She and Corso both jumped when the alarm sounded, and it took Miriah a few seconds to realize that the sound wasn't their chrono, but a systems alert. She bounded up and pushed the nausea away, moving at a run to the bridge, Corso only a few seconds behind her. She met Aric in the hallway and surged past him to the console.
"Uhoh, we're losing hyperdrive oil, at a steady rate. Not something I can fix until we land, but I have to take her out of hyperspace now!" She pushed all the right buttons, but nothing happened. In fact, it felt like the ship moved faster.
"What will happen, Mir? If you can't get us out of hyperspace?" Corso asked, a worried frown on his face.
She turned her wide silver eyes to the man she loved. "We'll explode. Sooner than later. Let's…" The first explosion rocked the vessel, and threw them around the bridge. Miriah gained her feet and took off at a run, yelling instructions to the men. "Get to the escape pods, I'll get Jurin."
"NO!" Corso yelled, "Get yourself off, Mir, I'll get Jurin. We only have the two pods, so Aric you go with Mir. Go! Now!"
Another explosion rocked them, and Miriah fell against Aric. He just lifted her and ran to the pod, seeing Corso herding Jurin to the other one. As he pulled his tiny sister in law in with him, and sealed the door, he felt the ship tremble ominously. He punched the launch button, shielding Miriah with his body.
Corso pulled the colonel to the pod, but when he tried to pull the man in with him, he refused. "Come on, Jurin, we'll die here," he yelled. Jurin looked at the man who had tried to save him, and gave him a small wave as he hit the switch on the wall to seal the pod and eject it from the dying ship. Corso looked on in horror as the Stardancer shattered, Jurin still aboard. The force of the blast sent debris raining on the pod, and Corso had no idea where he might land, just that he was not only spinning in space. Miriah was out here somewhere too, and that scared him more than anything.
Magdalane felt the tremor in the force, and turned worried eyes to her husband, who was walking around the balcony with her. "We need to try and contact the ship, something has happened," she told him. He never doubted her power in the force, and turned them into the apartment to the holo. After several tries, he turned to the assembled group, which had seen them rush inside.
"Nothing, but it could just be that they're still in hyperspace. We'll try back in an hour," he told them, trying to remain calm. Maura paled on the outer edge of the group, and turned to the twins.
"Go play, sweeties. We'll try to get Daddy on the com in a little bit. I promise when we get him, you'll get to talk to him, okay?" They nodded, satisfied with the explanation, and ran off to the play area they'd set up. Maura marched up to Felix and pulled him aside. "You know as well as I do that something has happened. They should have exited hyperspace half an hour ago, and Miriah is nothing if not precise. Call Tython Orbital, see if they can detect anything or raise them on subspace." Felix nodded and placed the call, then returned to the group with news.
"They haven't seen the Stardancer, in fact, nothing has exited hyperspace in the last twelve hours," he told them. "They aren't picking up subspace coms either, but if they're further away than about fifteen parsecs, that's not unusual. They'll keep looking, and let us know." He looked down as he shifted his feet. He felt odd about it all too, but there was nothing to be done. He looked up at Maura just as he heard Magdalane let out a low moan, and hurried to his wife's side.
"Call Elara," Mags said through clenched teeth. Sarai held her other hand and added to the force aura, which eased the pain of the hard contraction somewhat. Breathing over the wave of pain, she saw Felix nod and return to the holo, where Maura still stood.
"Don't tell Mags what's going on, she has enough to get through right now," Maura told him, and he nodded agreement. He placed the call to Elara, and before he could return to his wife, he heard her moan again. Damn, he thought, that was about seven minutes apart, and he sprinted the last few feet to where he wife was struggling to rise from the soft couch.
"I feel better moving, at least for now," she told him, the pleading look in her eyes nearly undoing him. He put his arm around her and with Sarai on the other side, they walked around the perimeter of the living area. Blessing and his troops shifted uneasily, prepared for battle but not childbirth. Elara burst through the door, and went straight to the Jedi, walking unsteadily around the room. Scanner in hand, Elara related the details to the parents to be.
"Six centimeters dilated, Mags. Good job. You're able to stay ahead of the pain or do you want meds?"
"No meds, Elara, thanks. I may change my mind later, but for now Mom and I can stay on top." Mags stopped as a contraction gripped her, and bent forward. Her knees buckled and Felix caught her, swinging her up in his arms and heading toward their bedroom with her, Sarai following with Elara. They made her as comfortable as they could and Maura brought ice shavings to her sister.
"Maura, have you heard from Miriah yet?" Mags asked, and Maura turned away before answering.
"Not yet. We think there might have been something break on the ship, but we're in touch with the Tython Orbital guys, they'll let us know when they get something." I hate this, Maura thought, and I need Aric back here, now!
Aric cradled Miriah's head against him, glad she couldn't see her precious ship turned into a debris cloud. He could feel her breathing, knew she was probably okay, and wondered where the hell they'd land. He could feel the heat of atmosphere burning against the pod's outer shell, but couldn't see anything yet from the small window. He did see Corso's pod once, as the autopilot turned them for entry into the nearest habitable planet's space, but had no idea that Jurin wasn't aboard. He thought of Maura and the twins, and wanted nothing more than to be with them again.
Corso wept with the thought of Jurin staying behind, his wife not with him, and her beloved ship destroyed. When he'd last saw her, Aric was lifting her unconscious form into the pod, and he wished with all he had that he'd been with her. He needed to touch her, see that she was okay. He'd seen their pod, so he knew they'd escaped the ship, but had no way of contacting them. He settled against the seat, waiting the interminable minutes until the pod would land, trying to send his love to Miriah and their sons.
Magdalane was in a state of perpetual pain, and Elara told her she was at eight centimeters. Sarai and Maura were doing all they could to help, but they were barely able to keep her from screaming out. Felix saw the panic in her eyes and knew they would be using stims soon. None of them saw Devin come into the room, but when he touched his aunt, she immediately relaxed, suddenly the pain was manageable. She looked around, not seeing the small hand on her shoulder. "What did you guys do? It's so much better now!" She looked with relief at her mother, who shook her head.
"I have no idea, dear. I felt the surge as well, but it didn't come from me," Sarai told her, puzzled. The contractions were about three minutes apart at this point, and there wasn't time to figure it out now. Devin put his head on his aunt's shoulder, and Mags could feel the full extent of his force power enter her aura, and her eyes widened.
"It's Devin," she breathed. "His force power is adding to ours, it's amazing, incredible!" As she continued to labor toward Ian's birth, Devin rested on her shoulder, his eyes closed but his force flowing through her, pure white light that bathed them all in its calm, giving Mags the boost she needed. When she began to push, Devin shifted to put his little hands on her head, and she felt him relax to give her all he had.
"He's coming, Mags," Elara encouraged her. "I can see his head. One more push, that's it!" Ian's cries filled the room as Mags laughed in relief, Felix kissing her head and stroking Devin's as he lay on his aunt in an exhausted sleep.
"He's perfect," Mags said, and handed their son to Felix to take Devin in her tired and shaking arms. He opened his eyes for only a second before snuggling into his aunt. "And this one, the force link will forever be with us, Dev," she told him in a quiet voice, knowing her nephew was beyond hearing. "Mom, take Devin to rest, he needs to recharge." Sarai took the little boy in her arms, and carried him to her room, placing him on her bed. His eyes opened again, and she heard his hoarse whisper.
"Need Mama," he said, his eyes pleading.
"I know, little man, Mama will be home soon. I promise," Sarai told him, realizing as he said it that something had gone very wrong.
Aric heard the warning klaxon and again shielded Miriah for impact. She was still out, but he'd seen her eyes moving beneath her lids, so hopefully she was close to being back with them. He could see Corso's pod and figured they'd land about a kilometer from each other. What planet they'd be on, he couldn't say. At least he was in his cortosis gear, Corso and Miriah were still in sleeping clothes. There should be some gear in the pod. As meticulous as Miriah was about her ship, he had no doubt that the pods would be fully stocked. On that note, he had figured out that whatever had happened to the Stardancer was deliberate. The beeping of the klaxon sped up, and the mechanical voice noted ten seconds to impact. He pulled Miriah close, and sent a prayer to the force for safe landing. The pod dived nose first into the ground, and Aric felt the silence descend on them as he unbuckled the harness he'd wrapped around them both. He saw the blood oozing from Miriah's nose and figured it had happened on impact. He stood slowly, and reached up to unlatch the hatch.
As Ian was taking his first meal among the loving touches of his parents and family, Corso was trying to pull himself out of the pod's wreckage. He could see the plume of dust that Aric's pod had kicked up, and stumbled out of his own toward it. Please, please let Miriah be okay, he said to himself.