Luna shifted her weight from one leg to the other, hoping to ease the tension in both. It didn't help.
She had been waiting there, in the dark, hidden behind a crate for what seemed like a lifetime, and she wasn't sure she could take the stress much longer. She looked to her left, to see that Cora was perfectly comfortable. Luna scowled at her. She would make her pay later. Cora turned to look at her, and smiled. Luna blushed, starting to worry that Cora could read her mind. She kinda hoped she could.
They both tensed as they heard footsteps, voices outside, coming closer. This was it. The wait was finally open.
The door opened, light flooded into the room, bright and overwhelming, disorienting. They both jumped to their feet as the two targets entered the room. Around them, the other Nexus followed suit.
'Happy birthday!' they cried in unison.
Their target, Venn, looked around wildly, their eyes widening in panic. They paused, and then bolted for the refresher, locking the door behind them.
'Ah,' said Ka'iulani. 'That was not entirely unexpected, but still. I'll see to them.' she left the salon and settled herself just outside the refresher, talking quietly to the door.
'More for Twitch,' said Twitch, in Rodian, pulling the cake towards him. He let out a long, sad sigh as Face pulled it away.
'You may have the stomach of thirteen people,' said Face, 'but this cake is for thirteen actual people.'
Twitch scoffed. 'You think Twitch can only eat for thirteen? Low estimate.'
Face took a knife from the small kitchenette by the starboard bulkhead and carved up the cake, sliding pieces across the table to each person. He made Twitch wait until everyone else present had got their piece.
'Not enough,' Twitch said sadly. He still ate it.
Before anyone could reply, Venn and Ka'iulani returned. All eyes turned to them. Venn looked more than a little bit uncomfortable, hiding inside themself more than usual, looking not just down at the floor, as was their usual habit, but at the bulkhead to the side. They swiveled their head down, then up towards Ka'iulani, who gently rubbed their back and nodded encouragingly.
'I saved you a seat,' said Vix, patting the empty bench beside him. 'And some cake.'
Venn wringed their hands, then muttered something too low to hear, though Luna thought it might be a thank you. They hurried to the empty seat, pulled the cake to them, eating it in small, quick bites.
'So,' said Vix, 'you don't talk much, huh?'
Venn stilled. Ka'iulani shot Vix a warning look, but he continued. 'That's fine. You don't need to. Just so you know, you're one of us.' he patted them on the back. Ka'iulani's hands shot to her mouth. Venn started breathing quickly, their eyes widening again. They didn't run though. Instead, in the blink of an eye, they had wrapped their arms around a very taken aback Vix.
'You're all right, little man,' said Vix, wrapping his arms around around them, looking around the table smugly. The hug lasted for longer than would normally be considered comfortable, but Vix didn't seem to mind. Eventually, Ka'iulani moved to sit to the other of Venn and gently disentangled the two, Luna noticed there were tears in Venn's eyes. Cora rushed over and hugged them, quickly followed by Zatt, then Face, and then every other Nexu - even Twitch, who had swiped several slices along the way - until Venn was buried in a pile of bodies. From somewhere inside that pile, Venn said, 'I've never had a birthday before.' Luna, as second in command, was privy to the personnel files, and knew perfectly well why they hadn't had any birthdays before, felt her eyes moisten as she heard those words.
'Well,' said Face, 'as long as you're part of my crew, you'll have plenty more to come.'
'Yeah,' said Luna gruffly. 'You're family now, kid.'
The proximity alarm sounded throughout the ship and they all looked up, the moment's spell broken. In a rush, they all separated before Face had even had a chance to give the call to action, Flight 2 ran to the cargo bay, where they donned their flight gear and descended out of the ship and into the rack, then into their ships.
'Nexu 5, ready,' said Luna over the comm.
'Six ready,' said Cora.
'Seven ready,' said Fenn.
'Eight ready,' said Ka'iulani.
'Detach and spread into a screening formation off the bow,' said Luna, her own X-Defender coming free with a jolt, then a few moments of calm before her thrusters kicked in, leading the way. She looked at her scanner, the targets too far away for visuals just yet. 'What do we have, Nexu's Nest?' she said over the comm, giving the cruiser's callsign rather than an individual, as was protocol when so close to the enemy.
Two First Order cargo ships,' said Face, then paused. 'And a starfighter carrier for protection.'
'Pretty,' said Luna, fighting hard to keep her voice modulated and calm, even as a thrill ran through her. This was it. 'What do we blow up first?'
