While I'm in the waiting room
A thousand thoughts I think of you
Whatever you did, it's got me glued
You're the one I'm dreaming of
Why does this feel like wasted time?
What a price is traveling love?
You and me trapped between these lights
Oh, you're so mine
If we both want the love and I wait long enough
Then the ground that we're on might be coming
I'm all alone in the waiting room
All I can do, is wait for you
"Not sure what's got you all twisted up in knots." Cid's holographic image was not inspiring confidence.
"We were stranded on that planet, Cid. We needed you, and you left us." Even Omega was done with her osik.
"You're fine now, aren't you? And you got your ship back."
"Yeah, with no help from you," Wrecker scoffed.
"Do you want to mope or make money? Because I've got a tip on a downed ship, which means cargo ripe for the taking. I'll even give you 30% of the cut." Was she really doing this now?
"That is our standard percentage," Tech reminded her.
"All right. This one time let's say 35%."
They all crossed their arms and continued to glare.
"Okay, 40."
They glanced at each other in disbelief.
"Fine," The trandosian concluded. "50% as a token of my goodwill, that you seem to have forgotten. I'm sending you the intel now. Don't come back unless you scavenge something valuable."
"What makes you think we'd come back at all?" Hunter asked. It was a valid question.
"Don't test me, Bandana. Just get it done." She cut the transmission before they could reply.
"Severing ties with Cid could be problematic, considering what she knows about us," Tech observed. "Perhaps we choose a diplomatic solution and complete this one last mission for her."
Hunter inspected the incoming data. "Cid only sent coordinates. No ship transponder code or indication of what caused it to crash."
"Limited intel." Wrecker shrugged. "Huh. There's a surprise."
"How hard could scavenging cargo be?" Omega asked.
Hunter sighed deeply but Tech straightened his goggles and got to work.
This was exactly what he needed, another mission on which to focus. It would provide a distraction from contemplating exactly how much knowledge Cid did possess, not just about their squad but also about Rex, who had come to visit them at her parlor, and Mollymauk, who she had sent them to investigate, and about… Genna.
…
"What are you doing here?" Ellie asked over the jingling of the bells attached to the salon's front door. "Last I checked Genna didn't give you permission to set up shop."
"It's a matter of security." Dalla set down the holozine she'd been flipping through. "My family keeps bugging me about what I'm doing in Father's office. Trust me, it's the last place we can have a closed-door meeting."
"And a public salon is?"
In reply Dalla took out a key and locked the door behind Ellie. "Closed door."
"You have a key?!"
"What? I paid for the place." She pulled the shades. "So, tell me. What did you see?"
Ellie lowered her voice. "Ever since Gerrera left, the partisans have been gathering forces in the jungle. They're securing contacts for food, building supplies, munitions — heavy on the munitions."
"You think they're trying to reestablish a base camp?"
"You don't need that much explosive for a base camp. Unless they're going to blast a cave in the Highlands, they're getting ready to do something big."
"Well, Dxun."
"I wish I knew what their target was, but I can only stick my nose so far before it gets chopped off. The last time I was listening, someone was talking about a mercenary from Lasan. Something Skimanos."
Dalla looked up from her black comm. "Zalyanov Skimanos?"
"I'm going to take the fact you found him online as a bad sign."
"You would be right. The first thing that pops up on the dark net is a slew of murder warrants from the palace of Lasan. Skimanos is a stone cold killer, and those don't come cheap. Who's paying for this?"
Ellie chewed on the thought. "Could something have slipped through the cracks?"
"Not on our end. Gerrera's probably conning people out of refugee money."
"You don't think it might be the pirate using some of what she got from you fencing one of her treasures?"
"It's not impossible. She's gotten involved with the refugee effort before, and she isn't the type to stop now." Dalla grimaced. "I'll talk with her. We can't have any overlap with Gerrera."
"I thought I heard voices down here. I don't know why I should be surprised," the proprietress of the salon made her presence known as she descended from the upstairs apartment.
Ellie was about to register her own surprise at seeing her friend walking so well on her own two feet when something else caught her attention, the gentle roundness of Genna's abdomen. She left Dalla's side, their conversation would have to be tabled for the moment anyway, and went to greet the mother-to-be. "I didn't think I'd been away that long."
Genna accepted her hug. "You haven't," she said pointedly to let Ellie know they needed to talk and then realizing that the Mollymauk was still observing them she stepped back with a pasted on smile. "Unless you're asking Sloan and I believe he would say that you have been gone for a kriffing age."
"Well, he might have said something of the sort when he met me at the dock but he didn't tell me anything about this." She reached out a hand to touch the small but obvious baby bump.
Dalla snorted. "Maybe because half the north thinks it's his."
"I can assure you," Genna shot the fence a glare, "that Sloan has been the model of brotherly love while you were gone. And I'm sure you two had much more pressing concerns in mind. I know if…" she caught herself and corrected. "When Tech and I are together again we won't be thinking about much else either."
"Surely he'll be here at hyperspeed when he finds out about the baby." Ellie gushed.
"I told Echo not to tell him, so he won't be distracted from his mission."
Dalla cleared her throat. "I guess if you have nothing else to report."
"For salt gods' sake, Dalla." Ellie rolled her eyes.
"What? We came here to discuss network business."
"In my place of business, which I can't perform with the door shut and locked," Genna added dryly.
"It's not like you had a line waiting around the block. And I'm the one who…"
"Alright, alright." Ellie stepped between them before the argument could escalate any further. "Dalla, I'll send you a comm if I remember anything else from my trip that might be useful."
The little fence stood silent in shock for a moment. It was rare for anyone to give her so direct a dismissal and get away with it. But this was her most trusted lieutenant and she had just supplied a most helpful report.
"Aye. Make sure you do." And then as if it had been her idea and she had many other pressing matters to attend to, and who knew, maybe she did, Dalla spun on her heel and unlocked and marched out the door.
Genna also deflated with a sigh and collapsed into one of the salon's rotating chairs in front of the wall length mirror.
It was Ellie who went to make sure that the open sign was turned on and looked out the door in the direction her boss had disappeared. "Has business been that bad?"
"It'll pick up." Genna waved her hand, unconcerned. "I knew it wouldn't be easy starting out. Sloan sent over a few of his old friends." She raised an eyebrow, knowing the man's wife was well aware of his past. "And Aunt Shara has been trying to get the word out to some of the more reputable ladies of the island."
"And what does Aunt Shara have to say about all this?"
"She knows it's not Sloan's, though she was the one who insisted I take the test on the day that he came over to help me get my stuff moved into the apartment." Genna fidgeted in the chair making it rotate back and forth. "I told her that I have a husband whose identity I can't reveal."
Ellie leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. "And she believed you?"
"Well, she thinks I must have been in denial about my early symptoms and that maybe I have my dates mixed up and I'm further along than I thought." She laced her fingers over her small baby bump.
Ellie could do the math and she was aware of how few opportunities there would have been to produce the results she saw in front of her. "Have you been to see the doctor yet?"
"No. Not yet. Shara wanted to go with me and… I didn't know how to explain if they found something… abnormal."
"Regardless of what they find you need to get checked out." Ellie pushed away from the counter and crossed to her friend. She couldn't help but think of her own experience and the baby she had lost, Sloan's baby. "Tech would want you to get the best care possible, for you and his kid."
"I know." Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and Genna dashed them away with her hands.
"And I'll go with you," Ellie promised.
…
"The creature appears to be headed in the direction of the village," Tech reported. This mission had turned into a fine mess. They were only supposed to examine the remains of the Kaminoan science ship, and now here they were with a rampaging beast on the loose.
"We're the ones who let it out," Hunter said. "We have to neutralize it before it hurts anyone."
"How? Our blasters are useless on it," Wrecker asked.
"Given the fact that the crew was most likely eaten by the creature, I doubt it is currently hungry." Tech pointed out what was, at least to him, obvious.
Apparently not to Omega. "It ate the crew?"
"How is that helping, Tech?" Wrecker quipped.
"It ate the crew." Omega repeated in a horrified whisper.
Hunter didn't bother with horror. "Access the lab files, and find out what species we're dealing with and how to stop it."
"Mmm, I can help. I know my way around Kaminoan tech," Omega volunteered.
"Go. Wrecker, with me."
The bridge, where Tech had begun his investigation, was pretty much like any other ship he had ever boarded but this lab was cold and sterile or at least it had been sterile before the creature had turned it into a feeding ground.
He couldn't help but think how artificial it all seemed. It was all so contrived and he had never considered the Kaminoan cloning operations like that before. Now, however, he had experienced something real and natural with Genna. She had made him feel real.
He returned his concentration to the matter at hand. "This data is highly encrypted, even within the ship's own system."
"Start here," Omega suggested. "This is used to extract and manipulate a host's genetic material."
"You are familiar with this type of cloning?"
"Not exactly. I heard rumors of other Kaminoan experiments, but Nala Se kept that data away from me. I think whatever they were doing was happening off-world."
"These appear to be designs using the creature's genetic material for modified armor plating. That must be why it was unaffected by our blaster fire."
The data was fascinating. He could spend weeks analyzing it all.
"Then how do we stop it?" Omega's question brought him back to their current situation.
"Uncertain, However, this confirms that the species feeds on energy, which propels its rapid growth."
"You mean it'll get even bigger?"
"Yes, much bigger."
The growth acceleration was in fact very much similar to that of the Fett clone manipulation. It would reach maturity more quickly but it would also experience a shorter lifespan. Just as the time he might have spent with Genna would have been abbreviated.
Tech couldn't dwell on the idea. He activated the comm. "Hunter, the creature is the same species that attacked Coruscant during the war. You must not let it get near the power grid, or it will increase exponentially in size."
Hunter responded, "Too late."
…
"But I got in the hot spring, and dyed my hair, and got drunk!" Genna paced in front of Ellie while she worked herself into a frenzy. "Nevermind the baby's father is genetically modified, what have I done to this kid already?"
"Lots of other women have done stupider things while pregnant and their babies were perfectly fine," Ellie tried to mollify her.
"Were they having a child with a clone who ages twice as fast as normal? Look at me Ellie, I'm huge already. Other women aren't this big at fourteen weeks."
"Were you looking up things on the HoloNet? Genna, surely you know better than that!"
"I had to do something! If Kamino hadn't been blown up Tech would have probably downloaded the entire kriffing file on the subject." Genna rubbed her wedding ring between her fingers, trying to calm herself.
"You're going to wear grooves in that thing," Ellie noticed, maybe she should change the subject.
"That's what Dalla said."
"Dalla's seen it?"
"Yes, but she didn't seem to know about it. I've been meaning to ask you about that; Cid said it was a gift from her and Mollymauk."
Ellie sighed. "Have I told you the story of how Dalla became Mollymauk?"
That sounded like as good a distraction as any. Genna settled in for the telling.
"When Dalla was fifteen, she dated Lux Bonteri," Ellie explained. "Long story short, some things came up and he had to break up with her quickly. And the next time he saw her, they were at a funeral."
Genna's eyes widened. "He didn't."
Ellie nodded. "To say Dalla took it badly would be an understatement. That's when she first dyed her hair. So a couple of weeks later, when Lux handed her a jewelry set that had been passed down in his family for years and told her to, and I quote, 'get rid of it,' she took no prisoners."
"She sold it?!"
"On the HoloNet. For ninety-nine ninety-nine."
She couldn't believe it. Genna had a rough appraisal of her wedding ring thanks to some research, and a set containing multiple stones of the same type would be priceless. But the repetition of "ninety-nine" had stirred another memory and she reached down to scratch the tattoo on her ankle. "How did Cid get a hold of them?"
"She was the buyer. Apparently she wanted them to display in her parlor," Ellie sighed. "And when Dalla realized that Lux had to dump her to protect her, well, it was too late. She's still cringing about it."
"Is that why she named her ship…?"
"Aye, that's why she named the flagship Bad Decisions. Our other freighter is Horrible Ideas and we have a shuttle called Spite."
Genna stifled a chuckle just as the Mollymauk herself and her Aunt Shara bustled into the waiting room.
"Did we miss it?"
"No, they haven't called her back yet."
"Genna Carid?" The nurse called from the doorway to the exam rooms.
"Sounds like we were right on time."
While Genna went to put on her exam gown, Shara and Ellie sat down in the room's two guest chairs and Dalla hopped up onto the counter. Aunt Shara gave her a disapproving frown but Dalla just shrugged, "There was nowhere else for me to sit."
Genna reemerged before they could get into an argument, sat on the exam table with a sigh and Shara stood to help her arrange the provided sheet over her knees. "Are you sure you want all of us to be here? One or more of us can step out if you'd rather have more privacy when Doctor Niamh comes in."
Aunt Shara gave a pointed look at the other two young women as if wondering why they felt the need to be there in the first place. Obviously Genna would want her there as she had the most experience with this sort of thing after six pregnancies of her own.
"No, it's alright." Genna looked to Ellie for support. She wasn't quite sure about Dalla but she guessed the Mollymauk was still keeping tabs on her investment. "We're all girls here, I practically grew up in a locker room, and those two have already seen the painting of me hanging up at the museum."
"You've modeled for an artist?" Aunt Shara took her seat again and asked conversationally since her advice had not been taken.
"Same one who painted you," Dalla mumbled from her perch.
Ellie grinned at Genna. "I wonder if Tech still has the print that we gave him for lifeday up in the ship?"
"Oh yeah, Sloan told me about that." Genna rolled her eyes.
Aunt Shara inserted herself back into the conversation. "It's such an interesting name, Tech. Is it short for something or a nickname from his military squadron?"
"It's umm… something like that." Genna agreed hesitantly.
"Where is his family from?" The older woman asked and then demurred. "If that is too personal I'm sorry. I know you've said that it might compromise his safety if you share too much information. But I assure you I would never…"
"No, it's alright." Genna settled on a partial truth. "He's umm… his family is originally from Mandalore, like mine."
"That's why you enjoy speaking the language together?" Aunt Shara beamed. "I think it's so sweet that you have that hobby that you can still engage in while he's on deployment."
Genna nodded and was saved from further questions by the arrival of the doctor.
She looked up from her datapad as she entered. "Genna, It's so nice to meet you. I'm Doctor Niamh and it looks like you brought along the entire entourage." She smiled around at the rest of the familiar faces, and reached out to shake Genna's hand.
"Well," Genna breathed, "Since Daddy couldn't make it. I will be able to get a recording of the scan to send to him, right?" Maybe it would make it easier to tell him if she had proof.
"Of course. We'll get to that right after the physical exam and we'll check the heartbeat." The doctor gave Dalla a wink and shoved her to the side good naturedly so that she could set down her reports on the counter beside the girl.
"Genna, Doctor Niamh delivered all of my babies," Shara informed her.
"And Dalla here," Niamh sighed teasingly. "I keep saying I'm going to retire one of these days but Shara's got me pressured into delivering her grandbabies."
"You can count this one as the first." Shara reached forward and squeezed Genna's hand. "I've already let her know that this one is welcome to call me Nana."
"I thought you weren't old enough to be a Grandma yet, Aunt Shara," Dalla crowed.
"None of the boys are ready for that sort of thing yet, thank the salt gods."
"I don't know about that," Ellie grinned. "You didn't see how well Thias and Kason were getting along with Mohan's nieces when we visited the orchard a few weeks ago."
"What? No one told me about this." Shara looked honestly alarmed.
"Is that why they were leaving me alone when Sloan and I stopped off in Iziz so we could…" she stopped herself just in time before she spilled the real reason for their layover. "So I could give Dalla her haircut?"
"You did a great job." Dalla ran her fingers through her pink hair drawing the attention back to her appearance.
Aunt Shara rolled her eyes. "I want to hear more about these girls later on. You said they're Mohan's nieces, so they're togruta?"
"How about we focus on the patient or patients actually?" Doctor Niamh hovered her exam chair toward Genna with a smile.
"Is working with hair dye especially dangerous during the first few weeks?" Genna rambled worriedly. "I mean I did Dalla's hair a couple of weeks ago but then I did mine after I had been drinking and then I had to dye it back. And then there was the hot springs and the tattoo…"
The doctor touched a finger to her lips for silence and then placed the listening portion of the stethoscope into her ears and began searching for a heartbeat. Her eyebrows drew together slightly as she listened to first one side of Genna's baby bump and then the other.
"Remind me," The doctor glanced back at the document on the counter but didn't reach for it since she had a better source of information right in front of her. "Did you mention in your family history that there were any multiples on either side, yours or the father's?"
"Two of my older brothers were twins." Genna supplied immediately but then she looked from Ellie to Dalla and back again before she answered. "And I guess you could say that the father's side has… multiples."
Dalla snorted.
"Is that like a risk factor or something?" Genna asked.
Ellie encouraged her, "Go ahead and tell them. It won't go beyond this room."
Shara looked confused and Doctor Niamh just nodded.
Genna took a deep shaky breath and then let it out in a rush. "He's a clone. The baby's father is a Fett clone. His DNA was modified and his aging accelerated. I don't know if any of that will pass on or effect…" A tear rolled down her cheek and she swept it away with the back of her hand. " Haar'chak , these hormones!"
"Genna," the doctor said calmly. "I am going to do everything I can to make sure that you and baby are safe and healthy. And we are all here for you."
"That's right, Genna." Aunt Shara overcame her momentary shock and smiled warmly.
"So let's do that ultrasound and see if we can get a look at this little one." The doctor stood and began to prepare the equipment. She had Genna lay back, uncovered her stomach and squirted some sort of blue goo onto her skin before setting the instrument in place and then she pointed to the viewing screen.
None of the younger women really knew what they were looking at as they all gathered around for a better view but Aunt Shara cooed at the image, "Awwww!"
"This dome shape here is the head," Doctor Niamh explained.
It was obvious once she pointed it out and Ellie, Dalla, and Genna all expressed their understanding with a unison, "Oh!"
"There's the spine," Doctor Niamh continued. "And that flash, like a tiny strobe light? That's the heart beating."
It was real! It was an actual living human! But there was something else. It might have been some sort of echo in the image but Dalla felt the need to point it out. "What's that other flashing on the other side?"
Doctor Niamh moved the instrument on Genna's belly to focus on the other strobing object. It looked identical to the first. "And here we have another head and spine and beating heart. I'll have to do some more measurements, but it looks to me Genna like you have two healthy babies."
"Twins?" The tears spilled from her eyes again but she didn't care, other than the fact that they blurred the sight of her two beautiful children. "That would explain why I'm bigger than I thought I would be," she laughed, unable to look away from the miraculous sight.
"I guess they do run in families."
And after a few more clicks of the device the doctor was able to confirm. "Both twin A and twin B seem to be growing right on schedule for the dates you gave me." She tagged them in the image in different colors with the text "Twin A" and "Twin B" so that Tech would be able to see them in the recording. When they were able to get it to him that was.
"You used purple and blue. Those were by brothers' names in Mando'a. Saviin means purple and Kebiin means blue."
"Those sound like they would be lovely names for a boy or a girl," Shara whispered, not wanting to spoil the moment.
"Then shall we for now, till we know…" Doctor Niamh deleted the text on the blue tag for twin A and retyped in "Kebiin," and then she did the same with the purple tag for twin B and typed "Saviin".
