By the way, every little thing about her face
Fills him up, the image so pleasing it could never be erased
Here to stay, embedded in his mind
He wishes they could be together
All the time
By the way she says things, the tone
Just to hear her voice
He can't explain, the sound so exciting to him a perfect choice
Here to stay, embedded in his mind
He wishes they could be together
All the time
A crazy independent *Mando* speaking
Arty flirty red wine drinking sexy tomboy
With a natural way of thinking carefree
Innocent she's slightly sneaky
Confident and proud from another country
Has her way lives for today
By the way she's far away
…
"You're leaving so soon?" Genna asked.
"I stayed through salt and light because it was tradition, and if I didn't my father and Aunt Shara would have a conniption fit." Dalla buzzed around the office she had commandeered, collecting datapads and flimsi files and stuffing them into her briefcase. "But damned if I'm going to be stuck up here during the entire freeze. There's very little I can do out of a closed sea port."
"Fair enough." She had a point there. Genna had never experienced one herself, but she knew that the northern winters froze over the ocean and effectively shut down all sea travel. Aside from the little-used spaceport, the fence's hands would be tied. "Before you go, I wanted to ask if you'd heard anything from the Batch."
Dalla shook her head. "We don't communicate, but I'll have information on them soon enough."
"What do you mean?"
"Let's just say if Cid can send her 'top team' after me, I can send an agent of my own to keep an eye on her. She'll report her findings to me."
"She?" Could it be Ellie? Genna didn't know who else worked for Dalla, but if Ellie showed up at Cid's parlor the Batch would definitely know who she was.
Dalla read her mind. "Ellie is indispensable to the network's daily operations. But yes, she. Why? Are you jealous?"
Genna bristled. "No, our vows were, 'one when we're together and one when we're not - together'."
"Good." Dalla closed the briefcase. "Then this will be a nice little test of his fidelity."
…
He was on an island, she was on an island, there was only the tiny detail: these two islands were on different planets many many parsecs apart. Tech had made it his own personal mission, while his brothers were otherwise occupied, to find out as much as he could about the island on which his bride was now marooned for the time being.
So far, all that he had been able to discover was that the main industry of Blackhold Isle was fishing. The local inhabitants had recently celebrated a festival to their gods that was referred to as salt and light and shortly after that event the region experienced a seasonal period of cold temperatures that caused the sea to freeze over and prevent almost all travel and commercial traffic.
It certainly wasn't like that here. The system's star was shining in the cloudless, blue sky providing warm weather and…
He bounded from the pilot's chair.
"What is it?" Omega looked up from her datapad surprised by his abrupt action.
"Something Mollymauk told Hunter," he explained vaguely while he searched through their supplies. "We don't have much to use for bait."
Omega laid aside her 'pad' roused by his excitement. "What did Mollymauk say?"
He stopped a moment, straightened his goggles, and elucidated. "She said that a squad which can feed itself conserves credits and has a steady supply of food, or something to that effect. She was speaking of the nets and other equipment she had smuggled to Iziz in Genna's muja crates."
"You mean we're going fishing?" She caught on quickly. Hopefully the sea life would do so as well and perhaps they would return to Ord Mantel with something more fresh than ration bars or nerf nuggets for their dinner.
"Precisely." Tech removed the flimziplast wrapper from one of the squad's meager protein cube supplements and attached it to the hook and line that they generally used to winch gear up to the cargo area. "That should serve as makeshift fishing tackle."
"Can I stay out here and watch to see if we get a bite?" Omega asked.
He frowned. "As long as you bring your datapad and continue your studies."
She grumbled but obeyed and then she grinned. "While I'm out here you could have some privacy to comm Genna."
It was Genna who had insisted that part of giving Omega a normal upbringing, since she wasn't enrolled in a school of any sort, would be to provide her with a more eclectic education. And as the member of the squad with the greatest amount of knowledge on most subjects, that responsibility fell to Tech. He hadn't however yet had the impetus to share the fact with his sister that he and Genna were currently not in communication.
"I am afraid I must wait until she is in a position to initiate contact."
Omega deflated a bit. "She hasn't for a while now."
He straightened up to his full height in defiance of his emotions. "Genna is very busy just now with her physical therapy and preparing to open her business. Or she may be surrounded by Mollymauk's associates and unable to risk the security of placing the comm. Now retrieve your datapad and…"
"Yes, sir." She pushed past him into the cabin but then looked back to add. "I'm sure she'll comm soon."
He half smiled at her optimism. "I'm sure she would like nothing better and to hear of your academic progress when the opportunity presents itself."
…
Unfortunately the angling experiment was unsuccessful. At least they had managed to retrieve the package and deliver it intact to Cid's client? Friend? It was obvious to Tech that the pirate who appeared to have walked right out of an Onderonian Beast Rider legend had some sort of connection to the Mollymauk network. He didn't voice his suspicions though, he was too busy thinking about…
"She's not as pretty as Genna," Omega stated.
"What?"
"Phee. She was flirting with you but you barely even noticed."
"Flirting?" Of course he had noticed. "What do you know about flirting?" He was going to say that she was too young for that sort of thing but since his sister was technically older than he was, rapid maturation aside…
"Wrecker and I did some research on it when we were trying to get you and Genna together."
They had, he remembered, until Echo had disposed of their chosen research materials.
The truth was that Omega was entering a stage in her development that would precipitate more questions than Tech with all of his knowledge or his brothers with their varied experience would be capable of answering. It would be invaluable for her to have a female to confide in. In other words he wished again, for more than one reason, that Genna was here to facilitate.
That war chest. If it meant that they could really go somewhere and disappear, they could take Genna with them, giving Omega a more normal life. They could be sort of like a family like Cut and Suu and the kids. The risk would be worth the danger for that sort of outcome.
…
Tech was rethinking that position after plummeting through the Serennian atmosphere in a freight container, separated from half their squad, with a fractured femur. He was gratified that he had insisted on Omega's primary curricula of Imperial fleet specification, and he would reward her with an obligatory piloting lesson when they had absconded from their current situation.
Right now however he was mostly thinking of those bacta patches that his wife had so generously provided that he would make use of as soon as they got back to the Marauder.
"Double zero," Omega mused as they followed the old man towards his domicile. "You and Genna are following that plan too, aren't you?"
He swallowed back the pain in his leg. The question surprised him. He had thought she was still focused on the war chest or on their new 'friend'. He answered simply, "yes."
It wasn't something he particularly wanted to be reminded of. Perhaps that was why he lost himself so totally in the restoration of the data core. Art, culture, history of a civilization that had existed long before the war divided the galaxy along the lines of Republic or Separatist. Serenno it seemed was not unlike Onderon which had also sided with Dooku for a time.
Then he noticed something that was very like the culture his wife had grown up with. "This is the recording of a limmie match."
"You know the beautiful game?" Romar smiled.
"My-" Tech stopped himself, cleared his throat and adjusted his goggles. "Someone I knew was an accomplished athlete before her career was cut short. Her team was forced to forfeit their championship game during the war."
"Tough luck, Ace." The old man nodded. "In my daughter's case." He pointed towards one of the players in the holo image. "It was the Onderonians' dropping out of the running that allowed her to travel off world for the rescheduled tournament."
Tech's eyes widened. He hadn't intended to give away Genna's planet of origin. But Romar just patted his shoulder with a wink. "My girl was out of here when the Empire started their bombardment of the city. That's all that matters."
"You know that she is safe."
"I haven't been able to contact her but I assume wherever she is…" he trailed off.
"Then she is not aware of your condition?" Tech rubbed his leg. He would also be unable to get word to Genna that he had been injured but was still very much alive and trying to get back to her.
He would get back to her. They would find a way to be together someday, with or without the war chest.
