Luna made her way, slowly, carefully in the dark, from position to position to position, Nexu to Nexu, checking that each one was ready to go, knew their job. When she reached Cora, she paused, her mind drifting to something not work related. She shook her head. Git a grip, Tane, she thought to herself. With a deep breath, she settled in beside her.
'We can't be together.' she said bluntly. Smooth.
'Hello to you too,' replied Cora, unruffled. Cora continued her observation of the hangar through her macrobinoculars. At least one of us can be professional, she mentally chastised herself.
'I'm your superior officer,' Luna said stoutly. 'It would be a clear example of my taking advantage of the power imbalance between us. It cannot happen.'
'Two reds entering the south entrance,' Cora said into her radio. Two blips came back in acknowledgement. 'It was just a kiss,' she said to Luna. 'A cover. That's it.'
'Oh,' said Luna, disappointed. 'Well, good. Let's just leave it at that.' but still Luna hesitated. Memories of Cora in her TIE flashed in her mind's eye, some of the most beautiful flying she had ever seen. She would often lay awake at night, replaying those moments in her head. She had even saved a video replay to her datapad. 'Well, good,' she said again, then left to check on Twitch in his sniper's nest.
'Not that I didn't enjoy it, though,' Cora's words followed her as she walked away. Luna swore she could even hear her smile in her words. She smiled to herself, happy Cora couldn't see her face.
When her rounds were done, she settled back down beside Face. 'All good, sir.' she saw the silhouette of his head nod in the moonlight.
'Good to hear.'
A silence settled between them. She didn't like it. 'How's the infiltration team going?' Kai Me'Sei, Vix Horne and Ka'iulani, the infiltration specialist, had gone in to lay the ground work for their mission tonight.
'Not yet.'
'Have you heard back from Ro'vena yet?' Ro'vena, Nexu Squadron's imitation expert, had gone separately from the infiltration party, earlier in the day, posing as an out of work pirate, to keep the real ones distracted.
'She just checked in,' said Face. And, because it was Face, he couldn't resist. 'She said they're having a parrrty.'
'Oh, for the sake of the Force, Face,' she hit him about the head. 'No.'
'Striking a superior officer, that's a capital offence.' he said with mock seriousness. 'But I'll let it slide, in exchange of a bribe of some of your Cheedoan whiskey.'
'How did you-' she started, shocked. 'I don't know what you're talking about.'
'Suuure,' he said. She saw the silhouette of his body shaking in laughter, and she hit him again.
'Ow!'
'You deserved that.'
Two blips.
Face toggled his radio to send a single blip, then turned it on to speak into it. 'All units, go.' he said. Three, go boom.'
It was less than a second later before the explosion broke the silence, the explosion lighting up the far side of the hangar. Moments later, Twitch, sent out a barrage of shots into the hangar. Cora couldn't see from her position, but she knew that he was aiming for the windows of the lounge overlooking the interior of the hangar. Face stood and, without a moment's hesitation, charged in, rifle at the ready.
Cora had a moment's hesitation. She was supposed to meet up with Rana Madak, the female Duros twin, and head straight for the Republic Cruiser, but it was her first firefight outside of a cockpit, and she had trouble willing her legs to move.
The sound of shots echoed from the hangar, bright red light illuminating the ground in flashes.
Rana sidled towards her. 'Are we going?' she asked, confused.
'We're going.' Luna said resolutely. She did not feel it, she wanted to run in the opposite direction, but she had to do this.
I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.
She stood - and then, because she realised that was stupid, she crouched, her training finally kicking in, and ran to the entrance. The other Nexu pilots, save for Twitch and Garan Madak, were already in the hangar. Face, Ro'vena and Vix were laying a heavy cover fire at the interior tower on the far side, the base of which, was a mass of twisted metal, burning steadily. They were making sure none of the pirates could fire down on them from the lounge, nor somehow make it out of the destroyed passageways leading from the dormitory into the hangar proper. Kai, Ka'iulani and Cora were busy going from Ugly to Ugly, initiating the start up sequence of each, and Fenn and Zatt following quickly behind, linking up each starfighter's computer, ready to be slaved to the Cruiser's main computer.
Luna and Rana made a bee line for the Cruiser. She wasn't sure if it was the infiltration team or the pirates' own laziness, but it was already unlocked. As she stepped onto the ramp, she looked up into the rafters, and a thought came to her. 'You get the engines running,' she instructed Rana, and stepped back onto the hangar floor.
'Where are you going?' Rana called after her, but Luna ignored her.
Luna looked about her. The light was sporadic and flickering so she had trouble finding what she was after, but when she did she dashed for the console near the base of the interior tower. Blaster bolts peppered the ground around her and she unholstered her pistol and shot wildly into the air. A second later she heard the higher pitched whine of Twitch's sniper rifle and the shooting around her stopped. Finally there, she slammed her first onto the console and watched as the starfighter rack, a latticework structure, descend from the roof and settle atop the cruiser with a groan. Luna pumped her fist in the air, grinning, then ran back to the cruiser ramp, unmolested by any fire. As she stepped in, she heard the engines begin to wind, the sound battling the blasterfire for superiority
Settling into the pilot seat, Luna started up the main computer, the display coming alive with status updates for the ship. She smiled as Zatt, the tiny Nautolan woman, settled in beside her. 'All systems go,' she said to her, and then said the same into her radio. The tiny Nautolan nodded and started tapping at the console beside her.
'Oh,' said Zatt, 'they already have programs in place for this. That's nifty.' her slim fingers tapped at the console some more, and Luna saw the statuses for twelve of the Uglies flash green. 'Fighters slaved to the ship. Ready to go, ma'am.'
'Good work, Zatt.' Luna said. The Nautolan grinned shyly.
'One, we're good to go.'
'Roger, Five. All units, get in the ship. Five, send the signal.'
Luna eyed the comm station beside her. She hated herself for what she was about to do, but after only a moment's hesitation, she linked her her datapad to the comm unit, and sent the signal.
Outside, Luna saw through the cockpit window, Ugly upon Ugly hovered up into the air, then slowly flew out of the hangar and into the night sky. Flashes of red light filled the cockpit as the pirates, no longer inhibited by the Nexus' covering fire, let all the frustration and anger out on the cruiser, but the handheld blasters were too weak and ineffectual to do anything against the hull. From out of the corner of her eye, Luna saw Twitch sprinting into the hangar. A moment later, Face called up to her from deep in the ship, 'all aboard! Let's go!'
Luna didn't hesitate, knowing they had just a few minutes, and she gunned the engines, the ship soaring out of there and into the night sky. They were only a few kilometres off of the ground before she saw blips on her sensor display.
'Good work, Nexu Squadron,' said Poe Dameron's familiar voice over the comm. 'Rapier Squadron, light 'em up.'
X-wings streaked by, shot a volley of torpedoes at the hangar, then flew back up into space, disappearing into the black like mechanical ghosts.
Below them, the torpedoes hit their mark, completely destroying the hangar bay - and the nearby civilian hangars, too. The fireball extended out, a great plume of brilliant destruction. In the light, she saw houses at the outpost on fire. She turned the cruiser away, up into the air, unable to look any longer.
