Repair Hangar.
"Zak!" Hela shouted, "Are you here? I need my datapad."
Mayday followed her looking around; the place was deserted. He didn't like it. There was limited Security, droids or cams and they'd had an influx of new people. Anything could happen here.
He speeded up; he'd lost her amongst the ships, all shapes and sizes.
"Zak!" He heard her scream.
Mayday charged around the corner, in time to see Hela shimmying under a tilted Xwing. It had collapsed to one side; two of the stationary struts, part of the landing gear, had buckled.
"Hela!" He bent down to see her, "Talk to me!"
"It's Zak. He's trapped. Get help. I think he's alive but he's bleeding—a lot."
She finally reached him, stretching out her hand, she found a pulse point, it was faint. She hoped it was just her inexperience in taking them but he was alive.
"We need engineers and a Medic in the Hangar Bay. Now!" Mayday bellowed into his com, "Get out of there!" He ordered her.
"He's alive, I can't leave him."
"What if the other strut goes?" His voice slightly softer.
"I've slipped in between the broken ones. It won't make any difference."
Mayday dropped to the floor, lying in his stomach he could see there was no way he could squeeze through that gap but he still didn't like her being there. There was no room to manoeuvre. At a pinch he could pull her out by the ankles. He grabbed one.
She kicked back.
He hung on.
"He's unconscious." she whispered, "I can't do anything for him."
"Medics are on their way. Let me pull you out."
"No! I don't want him to be alone. He didn't leave me alone with Gartee."
Mayday loosened his grip on her leg but his hand remained, "Okay. Just say if you want me to pull."
The sound of boots running made him turn; Bil, medics and others were on their way.
"Out of the way." He was ordered by a medic, sliding on his knees towards them; years of training made him obey.
Bil pushed a repulsor lift underneath the main body of the ship and lifted it slightly.
"Ship stable. Tell me when to raise it."
He pulled Hela out.
"Now!"
The landing gear creaked and groaned, as the ship was raised further, mangled metal untangling.
"Enough!' The medic crawled in.
Hela desperately wanted to ask how Zak was and held onto Mayday's arm, he grasped hers, steadying her.
He hadn't wanted to lose her like that.
The medic was operating as Zak lay unconscious, still under the ship; if he was successful Zak would survive but with life changing injuries, as they used to say on HHN.
.
"This was no accident." Bil told Mayday, whilst Hela watched the medics.
Mayday pulled him away from the ship, turning his back on it, his voice low, "What do you mean?"
"We check for metal fatigue and damage to the landing gear on every landing. I checked. It passed." He snorted at the end.
"Sabotage?" Mayday asked
"I have spoken." He replied and crossed his arms.
"When they've got him out I want it checked. I want to know what was done to it."
Bil looked at him, "Yes. Bil will do." then cocked his head to one side, "I will report directly to Mayday. Hela worked on this ship."
He had already thought of that; it wasn't good whichever way you looked at it.
He turned and then came back, "Hela would not hurt Zak. Bil trusts Hela."
Mayday nodded and put a hand gently on the Ugnaught's shoulder, "So do I."
.
Medbay
Zak was floating in the one and only Bacta tank; Hela couldn't avoid looking at the space where part of his body was missing. They could get a prosthetic but she didn't think it would ever be the same. He looked peaceful though and not in pain.
Mayday walked up and stood behind her; she felt his body heat. She was cold, shock she thought but that was the least of her worries.
"Bil checked the struts. There was nothing wrong with them."
"He's checking them again now."
"It's the first thing we check."
"I know. He told me."
"Mayday. What if…"
"He's reporting directly to me."
"But you'll have to go to Merrick."
He nodded.
It was starting all over again. Her stomach churned.
Mayday turned to see Donca and Finor enter, he immediately pulled a chair for Donca and she sat in it gratefully. She now had a breathing tube that helped her but Finor still hovered.
"We've known him since he was a lad." Said Finor, "He was with us from the beginning."
Hela turned, "I —"
He reached out. "We know you wouldn't do anything like this."
"But who would?"
It was what everyone was thinking.
.
Merrick sat at his desk, Dreis stood to one side.
"Bil?"
He didn't answer.
Bil had turned his hearing aids off. He was not prepared to listen to anyone accusing her.
Mayday touched his shoulder and he flicked the switch on.
"So what exactly did you find?" Merrick asked.
"Liquid— painted onto the struts in right place for it to fall, crushing anyone underneath, or causing ship to crash on landing."
"A liquid? What kind of liquid? This was sabotage?"
"Yes." Mayday and Bil answered at the same time.
Bil pulled up the details from his datapad and displayed them on the Holoscreen. Images of the struts and details of the checks done, and when.
"Liquid holds microbes in suspension. Microbes designed to eat through durasteel when painted on."
"Are you telling me they eat through Durasteel but only where it's painted."
"Bil has spoken."
Merrick narrowed his eyes, "Are you sure?"
He straightened up and crossed his arms. "Bil has learned many things in his life. Not always mechanic. Bil also chemist." Not everyone was open with their past.
Mayday flicked a glance at the Ugnaught, this was news to him.
"So it was checked on landing. Then you worked on them one by one so they were left in the hanger until you finished them."
Bil nodded.
"Can you check if others have been affected?"
"Bil can. See. UV torch shows microbes. No others are painted."
"So—"
"Sir. She wouldn't do anything like that." Mayday interrupted him. "She went under it with Zak."
"I think you're somewhat biased Commander."
"Bil agree with Mayday."
Merrick glanced between the two of them. Despite what he said, she had never left the base and they had no facilities to manufacture this stuff. That he knew of.
"Timeline then. When were the checks finished?"
"Hela finished on the Xwing one hour later."
"How long did she spend on it?"
"45 minutes."
"So she could have done it."
Mayday bristled.
"No —Bil recorded her." Bil replied.
"What?" Asked Mayday, turning to the Ugnaught, "You never—".
"We have no schematics or maintenance manuals for Xwing. Need to know what works and what doesn't. Best way. We record each other. She record me and then me her." Explained Bil, "need to write manual for others."
They watched the recordings; they showed what they did to each craft but only their hands and they talked through it, any problems. First Bil, you could see his Ugnaught hands completing the checks. Then Hela, although you couldn't see her face, the Crimson Dawn brand was visible in several shots.
"So it was done either, just after the initial check or after she left."
"She left her datapad there."
"Are you saying they went in after her?"
"Yes."
"Bil agree."
"But how did they get hold of the stuff?" Asked Mayday.
"There's nothing like this on the base, it would be too dangerous."
"Hela hasn't been off base,"
"I know. She's in the clear, so who has?"
Dreis checked the rosters and journeys.
"Merrick and some pilots."
"I can't tell you where I've been, it's on a need to know basis." said Merrick "but check where all the pilots have been. I can't imagine—" he didn't want to imagine any pilot he fought with doing that.
.
"Everyone's been accounted for." Mayday handed over the datapad.
Donca and Finor had been pulled in on this one.
"Any ideas?" Merrick asked.
"I suggest increasing the number of security cams in the hangar, as a priority. If it's happened once it could happen again."
"I don't like the idea of my people being spied on."
"They may not be our people." Interrupted Donca. Merrick looked at the woman; she appeared frailer by the day, "It needs to be secure for everyone. If they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear."
"Agreed."
The thought of a spy in their midst, left a nasty taste in everyone's mouth but it may be a fact of life the more organised and dangerous to the Empire they became.
.
Hela glared at the returning pilot and along with Bil muttered Ugnaught expletives as they saw the damage to the starfighter; and that was before she and Bil climbed inside and made a list of the repairs required. It had gone out before the others had been completed. It was safe—ish. But not up to specs.
Nothing further had happened since the Security Cams had been installed. Mayday was unhappy because there were still blind spots and he kept telling her places she shouldn't go.
"We can't keep patching them up." Muttered Hela, from inside the cockpit, "they need some real downtime. We only see them for refueling, rearming and repairs. They need regular servicing but…" she shook her head.
"Agreed." Said Bil, checking his datapad; he had switched his hearing aids on. He said it was useful to switch them off sometimes, "We just need more."
"Can't see that happening, these are prototypes. They never went into full production."
They stopped working as an old Republic shuttle landed and an unknown civilian with an astromech droid alighted. Both watched as they walked past them, never acknowledging them.
They glanced at each other, quickly looking back to where he went.
"Wonder who he is?" Hela asked.
"None of our business. Or we would have been told."
"Yeah."
She'd ask Mayday later.
.
Merrick's Office
"Our Xwings are prototypes and the Empire has stopped production in favour of the TIE. Economics apparently. So we can't obtain more from anywhere. But they are the only starfighter that can come anywhere near tackling the TIEs and Destroyers." Merrick walked around his desk and perched on the front
"Is there nothing else out there?"asked Mayday.
"Nothing that comes anywhere near its specs."
"So how did we get these?" Asked Mayday.
The man dressed in dark grey stepped out from the shadows, where Mayday noted he had stood quietly since before the beginning of the meeting. He had not been introduced.
"One of the original designers defected and was able to let us know where these were being held and we liberated them before Incom Corporation was Imperialised."
"They produced the ARC-170, didn't they?" Asked Mayday. His brothers had flown those and Hela had spoken at length about them.
"Yes, a good starfighter but the Xwing is even better."
Merrick had been watching the newcomer closely and he continued, "The Rebellion is becoming more organised and needs to arm itself with more than Republic or Imperial cast offs. We need a starfighter that can match the TIE. We need more Xwings."
Mayday looked at Merrick, who sounded as if he was putting forward a proposal to whoever was in charge but he gave nothing away, "And how is it proposed we obtain them?"
"We mount an extraction mission." The stranger answered.
"Extraction of Xwings from an Imperialised Corporation? You need pilots for that." Mayday had checked out the Xwing cockpit after Hela had not stopped talking about them. It was easy enough to fly— in a straight line but if there was a firefight, it needed an experienced pilot to evade and return fire if required.
"We want your team to go in. Extract the designers. We also understand there are engineers and test pilots wanting to defect."
"I only have a small squad and I'm already down one. There isn't time to train others."
"We have other cells."
"There are test pilots with the designers and engineers. Many are unhappy with the Empire. They're used to their freedom, given leeway to pursue designs, ideas going off at a tangent. It's how the best innovations are made. Rogues if you like."
Mayday was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, he narrowed his eyes, "How good is the Intel?"
"Best we've had in a long time."
"Why?"
"Incom has always been at its heart a staunchly independent company. One of its first successes was Bespin Cloud City. It originally focused on the design and manufacture of high-performance repulsorlift platforms. They switched to atmospheric and space fighter-craft later."
"I didn't ask for a history lesson but you know a lot about them."
"I was one of their VP's."
"Ah. So why the change in loyalties?"
"A company has to have work to survive. The Empire cancelled the X Wing Project and started making moves to Imperialise us— them. I disagreed with that. If I wanted to work for the Empire, I would've enlisted."
"Where is it?"
"Are you in?"
"It's a mission isn't it? We need those ships don't we?"
"Incom has a number of subsidiary plants scattered around the galaxy. The one we're looking at is the one at Ranklinge in the Shelsha sector."
"But?" Asked Mayday.
"There's a conflict brewing on the planet which could lead to a Civil War, so we need to move fast." His com beeped, he ignored it."Don't want to get caught up in that it could be messy."
The Astromech, chirped and beeped and came out of the shadows.
"Excuse me." He moved back into the shadows to take the call. He returned after the short call ended, looking grim.
"I've just heard. The Empire has sent an initial force there comprising Stormtroopers and a number of ISB agents. All work has stopped. The designers and engineers have been removed from their duties and are being questioned by the ISB agents. We need to move even quicker."
"I'm in." Said Mayday, looking at Merrick.
.
Mayday lay on the bed, thinking over what had happened at the meeting; he hadn't joined Hela in the shower. He was distracted and couldn't give his full attention to her the way she deserved.
He heard the shower stop and tried to put away his thoughts.
Hela appeared at the foot, her face scrubbed clean and glowed; a towel wrapped around her at breast height; he watched as she crawled up his body on the bed, the towel finally dropping away.
"So. What's bugging you? Is it that civilian that came in earlier today?"
He automatically wrapped his arms around her, dragging her onto him.
Her chin came to rest on his chest.
"What do you know about him?"
"Nothing. We just saw him come in with an Astromech. Is he still here?"
"Yes."
He succumbed to nuzzling her throat.
"Stop trying to distract me." She giggled.
"He's here about a mission."
"For you?"
"Yes."
She slid her arms underneath and around him. Leaning on his chest.
"You only had to say. How long do we have?"
"A few days."
She kissed him, "That's all I need to know." Already her stomach was churning at the thought of him leaving.
He flipped her over, so he was on top now.
"So— plenty of time."
"For what?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.
"I have a few ideas." He felt her move slightly, as he settled between her legs; her hardening nipples pressing into his chest, as he leant on her.
There was a time when he had thought this would never happen again; he felt truly alive when he was fighting for the Rebellion or here with her.
Her arms wrapped around his neck, staying there as he moved away slightly to give him better access and she let out a breathless sigh when he closed his lips around a nipple; he pursued that, circling the nub with his tongue and was rewarded with a soft whimper.
Her hands sank deeper into his hair, holding him there, unwilling to let this feeling go.
They didn't use words anymore; they understood each other's body. What they wanted and needed.
He had his orders.
Eventually he moved down, sucking and nipping at her stomach, her hips until he reached her thighs. He stopped and held her steady. Her hands still entangled in his hair, urging him wordlessly on.
He understood her needs.
He dipped his head, using his hands to hold her in place, pressing her into the mattress; she groaned at the touch of his tongue, grasping at his hair as pleasure rose within her. Stroking her inner thighs, he added to it, her skin melting beneath his touch.
Her breath quickened and her hips pushed at him until her spine was arching off the bed as she came with a guttural cry.
He held her steady; his own arousal, pushed back with increasing difficulty, with impressive self control, until she moved and opened her legs wider.
He thrust into her long and hard.
He settled into a pace slow enough that he could still see her face, but fast enough to increase the urgency rising in both of them. It always surprised him how well they did this.
She arched up to capture his mouth, in hers; their tongues dancing around each other, pushing and nipping, intermingled as their need for satisfaction took over.
Under him completely, his size and weight, intensified her lust for him.
Time and familiarity had not dimmed their passion but deepened it, taking it to another level.
She was panting hard, making incoherent noises, digging her nails into his biceps, trying to push harder against him. He pulled the pillow from beneath her head and pushed it under her hips, lifting them.
He pushes himself back up and starts again, thrusting deeper; the change in angle causes Hela to grunt in the back of her throat with every thrust. She pushes back at him, her arms now stretched over her head, pressed back against the wall for leverage and head flung back.
He watches her.
He feels her body tense beneath him and he dips down to kiss her, as she comes. Her stomach and legs tighten and spasm with her orgasm, and he captures the deep groan she makes as she finally comes.
Now he lets go and he chases his own orgasm, relishing how she's hot and wet for him and still groaning with his every thrust. With his final push he comes hard.
He braced himself, breathing hard until he slowly lets himself down and lies on her.
Sweaty.
Satiated.
He wasn't sure if he could still move, or if he ever wanted to, so they lay there.
He slips out of her and she kisses him; her fingers slide down his back, hesitating over his scars, before stopping, resting there.
He didn't ever want to leave her again.
He never did but he had to.
.
A/N:some made up science here as befitting Star Wars.