When the lift stopped midway en route to the cargo deck, Shin sighed in annoyance. With the chaos inside the ship, there was no point in sneaking around, so she elected to go back the normal way. But she had hoped for a trip without witnesses, as everybody would likely take the stairs after the quake.
The elevator doors opened on Master Skoll, wearing a grave look. Shin winced, but straightened herself, trying to look composed.
"Ah. I thought I sensed you there," Baylan said, blocking the door. "And miss Wren, I guess..."
Sabine's head poked behind Shin's elbow, the girl waving with an awkward smile.
"Hi, Mr Baylan! Can Shin come play at my house? We're done with homework and all..."
Shin and Baylan both shot a dark look to the Mandalorian, exasperated.
"Sorry Master, I was... tending to the prisoner and..." started Shin
"To your credit, you did more than tha..." interrupted Sabine.
"AND I was just escorting her back to her cell," cut Shin, a clear 'shut up' in her eyes.
Baylan did not even take notice, obviously preoccupied by the situation aboard. He gestured impatiently.
"Yes well, hurry with that, Elsbeth is calling an emergency meeting, I want you there stat."
He almost turned around then spun back, suddenly looking at Sabine, then Shin, thoughtful.
Shin glanced at herself, trying to decide how disheveled she was from the previous 'tending' to Sabine. If I keep that whole situation a secret for a day longer, that's already a miracle, she thought.
"Actually," he said, "come now and bring Miss Wren along. I have a... feeling she might be of use."
"What if she doesn't want to be of use?" complained Sabine.
"I'm sure she will shut up, be a nice girl, and come anyway," said Shin, coldly.
"Oh I wish I'd have come..." mumbled Sabine.
"What was that?" asked Baylan, confused.
Shin shoved an elbow into Sabine's stomach, the girl gasping in surprise. She ignored her, annoyed.
"Nothing, she is coming," Shin said.
Sabine rolled her eyes but followed them, shooting an angry look at Shin.
Silence had fallen on the small conference room, after the main engineer's presentation. Morgan Elsbeth was leaning with her elbows on the table, head in her hands, looking down with a controlled pissed expression. She seemed to be making a superhuman effort not to burst into anger, breathing loudly.
Baylan, calm as always, moved his serious gaze from the ship hologram to Shin, speechless.
Shin, in turn, was making a conscious effort to look to the wall behind Elsbeth and not cross her Master's gaze. She could not contain a faint blush of shame.
Sabine, finally, was visibly grinning, purposely looking at everybody in turn like karma had just offered her the most entertaining show.
"I'm not considered to be a patient woman," said Elsbeth, breaking the silence. "I don't fight it, it scares people into complying faster with what I say."
"Well that's healthy management..." mumbled Sabine with a grin. Elsbeth shot her a dark look before continuing.
"Nevertheless, I find my reputation undeserved since one person in this room is still alive because I allowed it multiple times. And should remind herself of that fragile reality. Another person here was very much paid to tag along, but got to be persuaded somehow that what isn't killing me has to make me stronger, and should really stop helping."
"Oh that other shot was at you I think," said Sabine, snapping a finger at Shin, "I mean I'm okay either way but if you're the one she wanted to kill multiple times, you should screen better your employers, bestie."
The deadly silence that followed, under Elbeth's icy stare, dropped the room to a temperature that would pass Hoth for a tropical world.
"Noting our unwanted guest's remark here, let's just agree everybody in this room is some degrees into my kill list now," said Elsbeth coldly.
"Thank you Lady Elsbeth for stating the gravity of the situation, and expressing a much-deserved anger," said Baylan. "I believe we can now move to make that meeting productive?"
"Should have been a stupid email," mumbled Sabine, yawning. Everybody ignored her.
"You're right Baylan, I can't wait to hear what your apprentice has to suggest since she had the brilliant idea of jettisoning half our spare parts for fun and dooming us?" snapped Elsbeth.
"Hey, I'm... sorry, ok?" apologized Shin, looking away. "I was trying to make a point to the prisoner, I couldn't know we'd need all of this crap."
"You didn't know how to make a point other than depressurizing a whole hangar?" asked Elsbeth in disbelief. "Well did you look really really hard though?"
"Yeah, you practically had a gun to your head on the choice of method," ironized Sabine, taping Shin's shoulder.
"You wouldn't come out!" said Shin, matter-of-factly. "What other choice did I have to make you?"
Sabine just stared flatly at an imaginary camera somewhere.
"There will be time for blame and anger," interrupted Baylan, calmly. "But for now, Mr Garret here might have some insight as to our possible course of action. And I'd like to hear it."
Elsbeth nodded grumpily, gesturing Garret to speak. Everybody leaned back, looking at the engineer expectantly. The man, uncomfortable under such attention, gathered himself and spoke.
"I've run some simulations," said Garret. "We can't repair, and the probability we make it to Peridea without acting is null. So all data point toward trying another approach and disabling the faulty thruster."
He paused, leaving an uncomfortably long silence.
"Whew, glad we took that guy along," said Sabine chuckling. "I should have braced myself for the input. I hope the simulations were not like very long to run, though. Are you paid by the hour?"
"Uh... don't know who you are madam, but I assure you those are really complex simulations indeed. And few could run them since I designed this ship," said Garret proudly.
"Yeah, Garret, bestie, not the moment to make that last point," winced Sabine. "Don't be like... too proud to say you designed that shitbox, while we're in the same room as the homicidal witch".
"Not helping Miss Wren, please tune down the sass?" suggested Baylan coldly.
"Well she did say 'witch', she could have gone for another letter to start the word," muttered Shin.
"Thank you, finally someone notices my efforts," said Sabine, shooting Shin an appreciative smile.
"May I remind you both that we're all in danger of dying imminently, here?" cut Elsbeth, darkly. It was clear in her eyes that should they not be in mortal danger already, she would have gutted both girls on the spot. "Since Baylan insisted on having you here, do you mind contributing productively Miss Wren?"
"I'm more of a 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it' type of girl," shrugged Sabine.
"I empathize with the sentiment Miss Wren," cut Baylan, "I can't much complain that you wish our demise. But surely you understand that means yours too. Do you wish to die as well?."
"Evermore every minute of this meeting," grumbled Sabine. "But sure, I get your point, I just don't hear Big-Brain over there make actual suggestions though," she said, pointing at Garret.
Elsbeth turned to the engineer as well, annoyed.
"Though I don't approve of our prisoner's tone, I must say she's right: we're all waiting for an actionable suggestion, Garret," she said sharply.
"I was coming to it," said Garret, offended. "I'll just put it bluntly. We have to blow up the faulty thruster."
A new uncomfortable silence fell on the room, as everybody gaped in surprise.
"Okay, points for Big-Brain," admitted Sabine. "He can escape his default dull mode and shift to mynock-shit insane ideas. Garret, can you be boring again please?"
"Only the command interface is accessible from the outside of the engine," justified Garret. "Since it's not responding we have to damage the thruster enough that it can't fire up anymore. All without compromising the structure and integrity of the ring. So a targeted explosion is our best bet"
Elsbeth sighed, visibly struggling not to burst into anger.
"Yeah, of course. I mean we don't have shaped-charge explosives nor any specialist on the matter but let's blow up parts of the ship while in the most experimental possible form of hyperspace. What could go wrong?" she said, ironically. "Is someone in this room not trying to kill us all with the stupidest ideas they can find? Besting Miss Hati here was not a challenge!"
"I seem to recall we do have a specialist on the matter, actually," said Baylan calmly.
"Really?" hissed Elsbeth. " And is that imaginary specialist in the room with us right now?" she said, jeeringly.
"As a matter of fact, she is," said Baylan, shrugging. "I mean you read her file too, so you know."
Elsbeth squinted skeptically but then, something seemed to click in her mind as she opened her eyes wide, turning her gaze to Sabine.
"Oh... of course..." she whispered. "Baylan, is that the reason you were...?"
"I believe it is," said Baylan, turning to Sabine too.
Shin turned to Sabine too, raising an eyebrow in expectation. Sabine, suddenly under the gaze of the whole room, straightened herself in her chair, awkward.
"Uh... Do I have something on my teeth or?" she asked.
"What you have, is expertise in manufacturing, designing, and using explosives, Miss Wren, I seem to recall?"
Sabine's eyes opened wide in surprise.
"Sorry, what? I mean, yes, but uh..."
Shin suddenly remembered Sabine's file and snapped her fingers, smiling.
"That's true, you made the weapon that blew up your home planet. Don't sell yourself short, you're actually good at this stuff!"
Sabine groaned in response, not thrilled to be reminded of her shameful past.
"I guess... with the right stuff I could make shaped-charges and explain how to place them," said Sabine, grudgingly.
Garret was taping on his datapad, pulling up files as he spoke.
"Our stock of explosives is intact and quite extensive. If you can modify them, we can provide the tools and materials. But I wouldn't trust any of our men to know how to place and detonate them," he said, turning to Baylan and Elsbeth. "If we are to maximize our chances, she has to go in person."
"You want to send a war prisoner, bound on killing us, to roam the ship alone with explosives?" asked Elsbeth flatly. "I must know, is there an actual contest for the most stupid idea? Did you all place bets on how far you could go before I lost my mind?"
"He didn't say Miss Wren should go alone," nuanced Baylan, calmly.
Everybody turned to him, in expectation. Finally, Elsbeth shook her head, taking a deep breath.
"I can't spare you in the meantime Baylan. The ship is in disarray, and you're the only cool-headed person aboard beside me," she said. "A Jedi would do short work of my men with such leeway, so that leaves the worst possible option... And I'm not saying it, for my own sanity."
"And yet," said Baylan, "Worst or not, that leaves only one option."
Shin rolled her eyes to the ceiling, letting out a long sigh. Oh no. The fricking girl is going to be unmanageable, this is a nightmare...
"You're going with her, Shin. Let's prepare and have you out in fifteen," said Baylan, unequivocally.
They all stood up, Garret scrambling out to prepare the gear. Sabine, still sitting, looked at them with wide eyes.
"So... uh... I don't get a say in this?" she complained.
"Well if you ask nicely, they might let you pick the explosives color..." said Shin, passive-aggressive. "I'm not grilled either. But you and me, we're going down below."
As Shin was packing supplies, Baylan entered the room. He looked around, checking for other people, but they were alone in the small armory. Shin didn't let him get to his point, and snapped at him.
"So you lied to me, Master. I saw the file. The one about Ezra Bridger. You never needed any information about him, you just fucking punished me for laughs."
Baylan took a deep breath, pacing the room. He seemed to collect his thoughts for a moment, before speaking.
"Not for laughs. I... had a vision," he said.
"A vision about how funny it would be to have me go crazy tending to that... to her?" said Shin bitterly. She continued packing, not looking at Baylan.
"Not funny, no. Crucial," responded Baylan. "What you are about to do... it wouldn't succeed unless you and the girl got on better terms. I... engineered that."
"Well thank you for trusting me with that fact, Master. I take great fucking pride in being a mindless pawn."
Baylan walked to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She turned, confronting his gaze with a burning angry look of her own. Unwavering, Baylan met her eyes and talked with the tone he always took when speaking of important matters.
"Shin, what is a stake here is well beyond all of us. We're all pawns in the mess of possible futures. The one I'm trying to bring, the power I'm trying to reach... it requires every sacrifice. Even mine, and going against my own sentiments," Baylan said.
"So I guess I'm at the bottom of that sacrifice food chain," spit Shin, with a disgusted look.
Baylan shook his head, caressing her cheek fatherly. There was true consideration in his eyes, noted Shin.
"On the contrary Shin. Right now, you have but a crucial role to play in the whole scheme of things," explained Baylan. "But later? Later, you will be central to it. I'm not harvesting that power for me, Shin. I already know that somehow, I won't live to use it. I'm only finding it so that the right person can wield it."
Shin gaped, her eyes widening in surprise.
"The history of the Force is paved with a long collection of chosen ones. And I have chosen carefully. So that what I teach lives tenfold in my apprentice. So that you, can shape that galaxy the right way."
Shin said nothing, the words of her master sinking in. But the anger in her eyes had calmed and turned to expectancy.
Garret and Sabine were already waiting at the service elevator when Shin and Baylan came out of the armory to join them. The engineer looked stressed, going over file after file on his datapad. Sabine was casually leaning on the elevator wall, a bored look on her face, as Garret was talking to her.
"So, there should be everything you need in that bag, in terms of explosives," said Garret, pointing at a backpack on the ground. "I've also put detonators and relevant tools to modify them. There's a datapad stressing the exact points to blow up, and those not to blow up..."
"Yeah, I got it Big-Brain, cut the podcast," sighed Sabine, grabbing the bag of supplies.
Shin made her way to the girl and joined her inside the elevator, tossing her own supplies bags on the ground. She crossed Sabine's gaze and was happy to sense resolve in the girl's eyes as well.
"What is that?" asked Sabine, pointing at the extra supplies. "Shouldn't we pack light?"
"We're going to the extreme other side of the ring," said Shin darkly. "The elevator will take us three-quarters of the way there. Then Garret here will have to vent the whole remaining section. So I got us spacesuits, rations, and basic survival gear in case we get caught up..."
"Wait what? Why is everybody so obsessed with depressurizing the ship, here?" complained Sabine.
"The deflagration from the explosives might propagate to the whole ring section otherwise," said Garret. "Oxygen being very flammable, it's better to detonate in a void environment."
Sabine winced, looking at the bags with concern. Shin shot her a reassuring look and pressed the elevator buttons.
"Let's go," she said, nonchalantly. "The faster we're out, the faster we're done."
As the lift doors started to close, Baylan spoke, looking at Shin.
"Godspeed to you both. And Shin... please come back alive, preferably with Miss Wren too."
Shin nodded, letting the door close. She felt a tingle in her belly, which wasn't entirely due to the elevator moving.
Both girls were silent in the big elevator. Damn, I can't believe that not even two hours earlier, we were in Elsbeth's bed, she thought. Everything went so fast they didn't have a minute alone to discuss what happened in the room. Shin was trying to run the plan in her head again, not paying attention to the Mandalorian girl. She saw Sabine mindlessly examining the extra supplies, foraging in the bags, and taking inventory. I hope half this crap will prove unnecessary, thought Shin. Then, as per usual, Sabine broke the silence and yanked Shin out of her thoughts.
"So... is that elevator ride due to be long?" asked the girl, innocently, leaning casually against the wall.
"We're going more than a third of the ring length," explained Shin, shrugging. "In case you've not noticed, that's supposed to enclose a full Star Destroyer. And they didn't build a turbolift, it's merely a service elevator. We're on for two, maybe three hours..."
"Hum," acknowledged Sabine. She wasn't leaning on the wall anymore. She came closer to Shin, and the apprentice noticed she was still ruffled and slightly disheveled from their earlier games. Sweat from running around and those earlier shenanigans had added a faint savage flagrance to her natural smell. One that had become much too familiar and intoxicating for Shin.
"And," said Sabine, leaning closer still. "I guess they haven't bothered putting on some... video surveillance in such a barren lift, right?" She had put a finger to her lips, biting it, her other hand on her back.
Shin's eyes opened wide, as she started to see where the Mandalorian was going with that.
"Uh, look... We will discuss what happened when we're back, I promise," said Shin, embarrassed. "But right now, let's focus on the mission, besides you have explosives to modify..."
Sabine planted herself right before her. She still held a hand in her back, stressing an innocent pose, but she had moved the finger on her lips to Shin's plexus. She started running it down, to her chest, slightly caressing between her breasts.
"I'll take that as a 'no' then," said Sabine, softly, plunging her gaze into Shin's. She was now close enough that her perfect little nose was barely grazing hers. The girl's not-so-innocent mouth was calling for her kisses again, and Shin was barely holding herself.
"It is... A no..." she breathed, her heart quickening. "We can't get... distracted..."
Sabine's hand pressed on her breast entirely, turning the teasing into a more obvious caress. Slowly, she moved it to Shin's hips, her fingers tapping teasingly on the apprentice's lower back. She started to put just the right amount of pressure in that little grasp for Shin to wish she was grasping much lower.
"I was talking about the cameras," whispered Sabine, her mouth now burying into Shin's blond hair, her breath warming her ears in slow languid waves. "Because if we're finally alone, I'm finishing this, this time..." Her hand made its way under Shin's shirt, the tip of her fingers caressing slowly but firmly the blond's back. Shin shivered, her heartbeat now drumming deafeningly in her ears. She couldn't muster the resolve to push her back.
"Sabine... come on..." she breathed, unconvincingly.
"Nuh-uh. I'm not waiting anymore. Not for the good moment. Not even for you to agree..." said Sabine, kissing Shin's neck languidly. She went up, licking her ear, biting it, breathing warmly as she whispered. "Like you said to me earlier... it's happening. And if you agree, that's a bonus..."
Shin winced, and closed her eyes, letting out a long breath as the girl's mouth and tongue were hacking at her will, the wet smell of Sabine's saliva aggravating an already out-of-control fire between her thighs. She could feel herself getting wet, her willpower vanishing by the seconds.
"Don't... make me do this... it's so not the moment...!" she moaned, pushing unconvincingly against Sabine's chest, in a feeble attempt to turn her down.
Surprisingly slowly, but firmly, Sabine caught her hand breaking the push. She brought Shin's fingers to her mouth and mindlessly sucked on them, her tongue slithering again and again between every finger of the apprentice. This sent a shiver across Shin's spine, and she let out a moan, the fire between her thighs intensifying. The Mandalorian cocked her head in appreciation.
"Oh my... you still got my taste on those! So naughty of you..." said Sabine, playfully.
She put her face against the blonde's, almost kissing her as she talked, her lips brushing Shin's.
"You don't understand, do you?" she murmured. "I've played the fragile and feminine little thing for you so far because it was funny and hot. But Blondie... you may be a psycho, but I'm no nice little girl either. Now that thing... our thing... I'm driving it now. And you're complying. I'm not making you do anything. I'm doing. You."
She kissed her, and Shin moaned, closing her eyes, tasting the sweet and inebriating taste of Sabine's mouth. The girl's tongue was already exploring her mouth, leaving no uncharted territory in its twirls.
Then suddenly, Shin felt Sabine's hand grabbing hers, and pulling them up. She opened her eyes in surprise, just in time to watch a pair of magnetic cuffs she had packed close with an eerie click on her own wrist. Cuffed, her hands were now up and tied to the elevator crude lamp on the wall. Sabine looked at her with a triumphant smile, devouring her with a hungry gaze.
"What the hell...!" squirmed Shin, yanking at the cuffs in vain. She felt completely exposed and vulnerable, hands up like that. She realized the handcuffs were holding her so high against the wall, that she almost had to stand on her toes to remain straight. "Are you... playing me again? Is that another escape stunt?" she cried in despair.
But Sabine just came closer again and started to unfasten the apprentice's shoulder plates. The armor parts fell on the ground with a dull thud.
"Don't worry... or do... But no, I'm not going anywhere, Shin. I'm fucking you," said Sabine, in a calm low voice. "Sky high. Again and again. All the way through this time. I'm fucking you for the next..." she trailed her sentence, as her agile fingers unfastened Shin's belt to toss it aside, the apprentice's pants loosening at the waist. "...for the next two to three hours, I guess," breathed Sabine finally.
Shin was about to protest and yank again at her restraints, but she gasped and rose on her toes, clasping her thighs as Sabine's fingers were now digging under her pants, carefully lifting the stretch of her panties. Sabine's other hand went the way up, digging under her shirt greedily, grasping her breasts. Shin felt the girl's digits caressing, clasping, pinching them hungrily, titillating her nipples playfully.
She gasped, but Sabine swallowed her moan with a kiss, her tongue enlacing and twirling Shin's in an endless ballet of caresses. She was completely at her mercy, and she felt the handcuff was not even necessary, as Sabine's kisses and hungry hands had her pinned down under a firestorm of blissful abandonment.
She barely winced, as she felt the blue-haired girl's fingers make their way inside of her, parting her wet burning lips. She moaned, she screamed, she squirmed, in vain... for Sabine continued to take her mouth and didn't stop her hands, pressing all of the right spots inside of her. Her fingers moved in relentless caresses, exploring every inch of her vagina, dousing her panties with her wet intimate excitement. She felt defenseless but filled, shivers of pleasure radiating from her thighs to her whole body. She arched on her toes at every surprise twist and pinch on her nipples, Sabine making it a delicious torture of pain and bliss.
She was not fighting anymore, abandoning herself in the hands of the Jedi girl, almost literally melting under them, surrendering to to the relentless assault of her fingers.
She felt her pants slide down her long legs, to the elevator's ground. Then Sabine's finger excruciatingly came out of her muff, soaked with Shin's pleasure, to clasp her panties. She felt Sabine pulling them down slowly, the damp clothes sliding down her thighs, exposing her intimacy to the Mandalorian's resolute gaze. Shin looked at her, shaking, gaping.
"As I said," said Sabine, licking her soiled fingers with a starving look, "I will make full use of those two or three hours... and that was just ten minutes. So brace yourself, Shin. As you said, you and me, we're going down below. All the way down."
The Jedi dropped to her knees, and Shin trembled as the girl's mouth came closer and closer to her slit. There will be no going back from that one, she thought. But she didn't say anything, closing her eyes in expectation. I never had a chance fighting this anyway.
She braced herself, but could not contain a loud moan, as she felt the kiss of Sabine's lips on her pussy. Then, as the wet, agile, tongue of the girl parted her intimate lips to lick her slowly, the moans turned into screams of pleasure.
She let herself go, now overtly hoping that Sabine was not lying about filling those long hours entirely. An unnecessary wish.
As it turned out, Sabine didn't lie. Not for a second.
