IN A DARK ROOM
Well that was a wild chapter, and we're not letting up anytime soon. On Coruscant, Andressa has an experience which shakes her to the core.
Please be advised, this chapter contains a detailed death scene.
Andressa didn't watch holovision. She liked to spend her free time at the shooting range or her favorite caf shop, not on her couch. But that wasn't to say she didn't know all about the latest shows. How? Simple: she had six kids.
Andressa and her latest trainee, Morgan, had been in their office for all of ten minutes when her second youngest barged in.
"Did you see it?" Yang demanded.
Morgan nodded and squealed, which only egged her sister on. "I can't believe they did that!"
"What are you talking about?" Andressa asked.
"Our show," Morgan explained. "Yang and I watch it every week."
"Really? What's it about?"
"It's a period romance, with beautiful dresses and balls and gorgeous actors." They sighed dreamily and Andressa rolled her eyes.
"You should watch it with us, Divo," Yang suggested.
Morgan perked up. "That's a great idea!"
"I don't know. I don't think I would understand it starting in the middle of the show."
"It's a romance, you don't have to understand it," Yang said and proceeded to hit Andressa where it hurt: "Besides, it would be a great bonding experience."
"Please, Divo," Morgan pleaded. "It would be really fun. We could have a tea party like on the show, just us girls."
Dang it, she couldn't say no to that, especially when they were giving her the puppy dog eyes. Maybe she'd trained her girls a little too well.
Andressa sighed. "Does Herman want to come?"
Herman couldn't come, so the next week she found herself on Yang's couch with a teacup in her hand and Yang and Morgan on either side of her.
"It was based on a book series," Morgan said while the opening credits rolled. "After the first episode, I bought the whole series and binge-read them in like a week."
Maybe this would be interesting. Andressa settled in between the girls, listening to them describe the setting and characters.
"That's the Duke," Yang explained and pointed to the lead actor. "And with him is Daphne Bridgerton."
Andressa spat out her drink.
Morgan startled. "Divo?"
She knew that name. She'd heard that name before. "You said this was based on a book?"
Morgan nodded.
"When was it published?"
"I don't know, but I think it was a while – ."
"I need to look something up." She handed Morgan her teacup and hurried into the next room to check the HoloNet.
Morgan and Yang craned over the back of the couch to watch her go.
"Is she okay?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah, she's going down one of her rabbit holes."
"Should we do something?"
"It's best not to," Yang said, and restarted the show.
…
Andressa paced in Yang's tiny hallway, staring at her comm and the publication date displayed on the screen. A date which preceded her encounter with "Agent Daphne Bridgerton" by only a few months.
Now it all made sense. She'd wondered why Francesca Simon hadn't testified at her assailant's trial when she was supposedly in witness protection, but forgot about it when security footage of him throwing her up against a wall and proof of pregnancy, plus the testimony of a string of previous victims, was enough to send him to prison for a long time.
Francesca had never been in witness protection. She had defected, and the woman from the warehouse was undoubtedly a handler.
How hadn't she noticed? She had the handler in her sights, and instead of bringing her to justice, she'd been duped. She'd let her whisk Francesca to gods-know-where. Was that poor woman okay? Was she even alive?
She has to be alive. The rebels were nothing if not practical. They wouldn't waste time and personnel to extract Francesca from a dangerous situation only to turn around and kill her. And it was a dangerous situation that the handler had plunged into; Andressa had known it herself the instant she met Captain Bryce and her first instinct was to grab Herman. Serial rapists didn't let loose ends go.
So what made Francesca Simon worth the risk? She was a comms officer, and firmly middle of the pack in her career. She hadn't accessed any information to trade. Her only distinguishing trait was her situation.
Defections had rescued her because of it, not in spite of it. It was the only explanation that made sense.
"Divo?" Morgan knocked on the door frame to get her attention.
Andressa smoothed the shock from her face. "Yes?"
Morgan stepped the rest of the way into the hall. "Are you okay? Yang said not to bother you, but you ran out so quickly."
She could have told her, but Morgan was tracking down a spice ring with the intensity of a bloodhound and if Andressa told her, she would dive into this too. She couldn't spread herself so thin, and she needed this time off.
"I'm fine," she smiled, which wasn't hard. Morgan was so kind and thoughtful, it was difficult not to smile in her presence. "I thought I recognized something, but I had it wrong."
"In the show?"
"The actress," She fibbed and led the way back toward the living room. "Sorry for running out. Can you catch me up?"
She memorized every detail. Tracking the phony Agent Bridgerton would be impossible now, but if her associates had followed her lead then she might get a lead on them. What she would do with said lead, she didn't know.
…
The ISB was silent as the grave when Andressa arrived the next morning and she flagged down the first person she knew. "Collerand, what happened?"
"Didn't you hear?" He asked. "It's Agent Kallus. He arrested his trainee for treason."
"Not Officer Swain."
But Collerand nodded. "That sounds right."
Little Swain, a traitor?! Last Andressa had seen her was at the trainees' graduation ceremony, and she had looked at Agent Kallus like he was her universe. "What was she doing?"
"Botched defection. I don't know what the kid was thinking, but she's in for it. We think she had contact with Mollymauk, so Beck's handling the interrogation."
Alecia Beck and an interrogation room was never a good combination. Andressa fought the urge to hug her children until they couldn't breathe.
"Kallus is going to be a basket case."
"No kidding. I'd give him space if I were you," Collerand advised and went on his way.
…
While Andressa tried to ignore the fact that Hannah Swain was screaming in the interrogation rooms below, Morgan's bloodhound diligence paid off. She had a location on the spice dealers by the end of the month and went with Andressa to check it out. It was a perfect case – the dealers were out but they'd left their paperwork, and they had evidence for days.
Then the dealers came back, blaster bolts started flying, and it all went to hell.
Andressa dispatched the last dealer with a well-placed headshot and keyed her comlink once she knew the coast was clear. "This is Agent Divo requesting immediate medevac to my current location. My trainee has been shot."
"Copy, Divo. Sending first available unit."
Andressa stashed her comlink and pulled the prone Morgan into her lap to get a better angle. "Come here."
Morgan wailed when Andressa moved her.
"I know, I'm sorry." She peeled off her undershirt and tore it into strips to pack the wound and apply pressure. The blaster wound was centered in Morgan's gut, painful but not necessarily lethal.
"Is it bad?" Morgan tried to look.
"You're definitely going to be in the hospital for a few days." Andressa forced a smile. "You can watch all the shows you want and make your siblings wait on you hand and foot. They'll only complain a little."
"Very funny, Divo." She stuck out her tongue and rested her head on Andressa's legs.
"Just hang in there for a few minutes and the ambulance will be here."
When five minutes went by with no sign of the ambulance, Andressa called again. "This is Divo requesting ETA on medevac."
"No ETA yet, Divo. All units are currently occupied."
Andressa looked down. Morgan's skin had become ghost-white.
"She can't wait." She lowered her voice so Morgan couldn't hear her, but her tone was strong as steel. "I have an officer down with a blaster wound to the stomach, and she's lost a lot of blood. She needs to get to the medcenter immediately."
Andressa couldn't drive her. Not only was she afraid to find out what would happen if she released the pressure on Morgan's wound, but their speeder was parked too far away to be any good.
The dispatcher didn't budge. "I can't reroute ambulances in the middle of a call. You have dibs on the first available unit."
"Are they coming?" Morgan asked. "It really hurts."
She stroked Morgan's hair. "They're almost here."
…
Twenty minutes after Andressa called the ambulance, Morgan stopped complaining about the pain.
"Yang can have my Bridgerton books," she announced. "I was going to loan them to her when I was done reading them anyway."
"You love those books," Andressa protested, ignoring the horrible sinking feeling. "Besides, you'll need something to read in the hospital."
Morgan didn't look at her. "I'm not going to the hospital."
"Yes you are." Andressa stared at the ceiling and desperately tried to get her emotions in check before Morgan felt her sobbing. "You're going to the hospital, and you're going to be fine."
Morgan ignored her. "I bought you flowers for the end of the assignment. Your favorites. I paid for a delivery service. Don't freak out when you get them, okay?"
If she replied she was going to lose it, so Andressa just held Morgan close while she stared into the distance.
"What are you looking at?"
"My grandpa's here," Morgan said.
Dread wrapped around Andressa's heart like a boa constrictor.
"He says I'm going somewhere."
Andressa didn't let the tears fall until Morgan closed her eyes.
…
"All units, this is Agent Divo calling for immediate backup. I have an officer bleeding to death. Please respond."
"Officer down, all units please respond."
"I don't care where you get the ambulance but I need one right now!"
…
Half an hour after she'd been shot, Morgan opened her eyes.
"Natalie!" Andressa held her close and hovered over her, hanging on her every movement. "Natalie, honey, stay with me. Help is coming."
"I want my mommy," Morgan cried.
"I'll call her as soon as we get to the hospital."
Morgan squinted at her with glassy eyes. "Mom? Did Divo call you?"
Andressa had only met Mrs. Morgan once, but it was enough to know that she didn't look a damn thing like Natalie's mother. This wasn't just blood loss, this was… was…
She took a deep, shuddering breath and released the pressure on the wound to pull Morgan close.
"Yes," she choked. "She called me."
"I'm scared."
"I'm right here, baby. I'm not going anywhere."
"Divo's going to be mad."
"No, she won't."
"Mommy, I failed."
"Even so, she wouldn't be mad," she said. "No matter what happens tonight, or where you go, you're my little girl and you're Divo's little girl. And even if you have to go somewhere she can't follow, Divo will understand. And Divo will always love you."
She planted a kiss on Morgan's forehead. "Always."
"Love you too, Mom."
"Give me a big hug." She wrapped her arms around Morgan and held on for all she was worth.
She held on even after Morgan stopped breathing.
…
Forty-five minutes after Andressa's call, Agent Collerand beat the ambulance.
"Divo!" He peeled open the door and light streamed into the dark warehouse. "I'm parked out front, come — oh, kriff."
Andressa was bent over Morgan, finger combing her hair just so.
"I don't want anyone to see her like this," she whispered. "She doesn't look like Morgan."
"How long…?"
"Ten minutes."
"Oh my gods," Collerand removed his cap.
"Don't. Just… don't."
The sound of sirens approached and then abruptly stopped outside the door.
"Divo." Collerand held out his arms. "I'll take her to them."
Andressa held on tighter. "I can do it."
"No, you can't. You're a mess." He reached out again. "Please let me do this for her."
It was the hardest thing Andressa had ever done, placing her daughter into Collerand's arms and watching him carry her away and lay her on the paramedics' stretcher. She watched as he took a step back so the medics could do their work and solemnly saluted the girl on the gurney.
"Tell the coroner we'll be in contact," he told one of them, and Andressa dissolved.
The next thing she registered besides her own suffocating pain was Collerand pulling her to her feet.
"I'll drive you home," he offered and led the way to his speeder.
As soon as they were inside, anger shot through Andressa like an injection of spice. "Where the kriff was the ambulance?"
"I don't think –."
"Tell me, Collerand, or I'll pull the records myself!"
She knew it was going to be bad when Collerand hesitated before telling her. "The driver said they were on an illness call in the Financial district. Fever and body aches, probably influenza."
"Are you telling me that my baby is dead because some bigwig called an ambulance for the flu?"
"I'm so sorry."
"That's what you're telling me, isn't it?!"
He didn't reply.
Andressa screamed.
…
Colonel Yularen made her take a week off work. She came back the day after Morgan's funeral on a rampage. Everyone was staring at her, but she didn't care. They hadn't had to watch their daughter be lowered into a crypt. They hadn't watched the life drain out of her while their screams fell on deaf ears.
She had to do something, anything to get her mind out of that warehouse. Andressa grabbed the first piece of flimsi she laid her hands on.
It was her shoddy notes on "Agent Bridgerton" and Francesca Simon's defection.
She crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it in the trash can. Of course Francesca had called kriffing Defections! Her life was in danger and gods knew the Empire didn't move with any speed. They couldn't even get an ambulance for a dying girl in the heart of Imperial power.
Her sweet Morgan…
Andressa buried her head in her hands and tried to pretend that she wouldn't have called Defections in a heartbeat if it meant Morgan was alive today.
After a long moment, she fished out the paper ball and flattened it on her desk. She was a lot of things, but a hypocrite wasn't one of them. Now she knew what she was going to do with this lead.