The Nexus stood there, looking at the blast door to hangar 3, uncaring of any dangers about them.
The blast door glowed red, the metal slightly warped - the result of the explosion that marked the loss of their escape plan, and the loss of their friend.
Face knew that he should say something. Tell the others to focus on the mission, to find another way out, but he couldn't. He had lost comrades and friends, both as part of a squadron and commanding one, but it never got easier. He remembered each person, each death, and they all had indelibly left their mark on his heart. Cora was no different, in a sense, but somehow it hurt more. He was an old man, now. His hair, beard and moustache were more grey than black, his body ached, almost grumpy at its continued existence and more and more he found himself lost in memories, spent more time in the past than he did in the present. Cora was so young; she had her whole life ahead of her - but it was gone in an instant, all because he had put his need to know over his mission.
'Poor Cora,' said Rana. 'How are we going to tell Luna?'
Face frowned. Of course, as her flight leader, Luna would take it hard. The fact that she couldn't be here would gnaw at her. 'I'll tell her myself when we get back,' he said. It's good that he said when and not if, he thought to himself. They would have picked up on that. Best to make it seem like a fact, then it would become so - even if he didn't know how. 'We should go.' he added, but still he didn't move. His body itched to move, to act, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He felt so tired, all of a sudden. Nobody else moved either.
'What are we waiting for?'
Face clenched his jaw, feeling his anger rise, but he tempered himself. 'We're just taking a moment.'
'Oh. Why?'
Face closed his eyes, unable to look at the blast door any longer. The heat was already dissipating from the metal - the blast had probably created a huge hole in the station, he realised dully, and the vacuum had probably sucked the heat away. 'Just taking a moment to remember a fallen comrade.'
'Oh.'
'Yeah.' he said.
'Who?'
Face frowned, then turned to the voice. Cora was standing right there, slightly charred but otherwise unharmed, behind them. She waved awkwardly. 'Cora!' he rushed over to her and wrapped her in a tight hug.
'Um,' said Cora into his chest, 'you're squishing. I'm squished.'
Face quickly let her go and she dropped a few inches to land on the deck. 'Sorry,' he said hastily.
'That's okay,' she said, breathing hard, then hugged him back, decidedly more gently. 'Um,' she said, then hesitated. 'Why are we hugging again?'
'We thought you were dead, dear,' said Ka'iulani, who came in to join the hug. The others decided to pile on.
'Still alive,' said Cora, her voice muffled by the mass of bodies.
Face let the moment continue for a little longer, then decided that they had spent too long idling. 'We have to get moving,' he said. 'Zatt, where's the nearest hangar?'
The tiny Nautolan broke from the huddle and fiddled with her datapad. One by one, the group dissipated and, without a word or command needed, settled into defensive positions, securing the area. Face looked over Zatt's shoulder as she searched the station map. 'That way,' she pointed down the way Face had come.
Face nodded, and signaled to the others to move out.
It was slow going, but mostly quiet. They ran into several squads of stormtroopers, but none that could match their numbers and they were quickly overwhelmed and dealt with. He was sure they had signalled their positions, and someone in command could probably track their progress and guess what their next move was, but they never encountered any real opposition. They probably had their hands full with the explosion, Face thought, but, still, it troubled him.
