The Great War

CHAPTER 5 - SKILAH

Hera always said how rebels were built for rebelling, rather than mandatory paperwork; that was why Skilah liked to get a head start on incident reports. Using her questis, she would write notes to herself as the investigation went along, jotting down her thoughts, any leads she thought would lead them to answers. Having all that information ready at her disposal made the final report, not just easier, but also much more detailed than if she had to recall everything after multiple weeks. Skilah knelt on a bench in the cruiser's cantina, her dry eyes staring at the glowing screen of her questis. A figure, dress in bright orange, stood over her before slamming a tray down and sitting in the bench opposite. The young Commander didn't even flinch.
"Commander, Spectre," a familiar voice said. "The General wants to see you."
Skilah looked up at Captain Carson Teva, who was now nibbling on a salamander stick.
"Oh yeah?" Skilah smirked. "What did I do this time?"
Carson stared at her, gravely.
"I think you should go and speak to the General."
Skilah's smile immediately vanished. She grabbed her questis and darted out of the cantina, heading towards the bridge.

When she arrived, Hera had just finished talking to one of the officers on deck. Skilah wasted no time in coming face to face with the Twi'lek and blurting, "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Skie, I'm gonna need you to stay calm."
"Why do I need to stay calm? What's happened?" Skilah raised her eyebrows.
"Just-" Hera started, "promise you're not going to freak out on me."
"How can I promise that when I no idea what you're about to say?" Skilah said shrilly.
Hera glared at her; it was the look she always gave when she wasn't asking you to do something, but rather telling you to.
"I promise." Skilah sighed, but her heart was racing. What could have happened? Was it Sabine? Was she okay? Images of a crashed speeder encased in smoke flashed across Skilah's mind.
"Sabine's been stabbed." Hera finally said.
Skilah stared at her, unsure of what to do.
"You've been permitted leave to go and check on her, I can have a shuttle prepared-"
"Can I take the Phantom instead?"
Hera sighed pitifully. "Yes, but- Commander Spectre!" She shouted after Skilah, who had already left the room, abruptly. The deck officer whom Hera had been speaking to, before the Commander came in, stood behind her and said, "She took that well."
"Deck Officer, a person you care about has just been injured, you have clearance to leave the ship you are stationed on to go and visit them; where is the first place you would go?"
"Uh," the officer stuttered, "my quarters, ma'am, to pack up my personal things."
"The Commander's quarters," Hera said, "are on the port side of this cruiser. Commander Spectre has just turned right in the corridor outside, towards the ship's starboard side."
"But, the weaponised training room is on the ship's starboard side?" Observed the deck officer.
Hera turned her head to look at him; the deck officer raised his eyebrows in realisation.
"Should I... go after her, ma'am?"
"Not unless you want to remain in one piece for the rest of this rotation." Hera scoffed.
The deck officer nodded, and returned to his post.

Skilah stood in the white hospital room, Sabine lay in blue scrubs on bed infront of her. Skilah could sense her tension, her fear. She knew Ahsoka could sense it too. Sabine tossed, and panted, and Skilah knew she must have been having another one of her nightmares. Skilah pushed off the wall she had been leaning on with her foot, and crossed to Sabine's bedside.
"Sabine." She said softly, sitting on the white sheets and taking her girlfriend's hand gently is her's.
Sabine opened her eyes and looked up at her in confusion, the turned her head to Ahsoka, who had come over from her spot by the large window. Sabine took a moment to take in her surroundings.
"The droids," she suddenly said, panicked. "The took the map-"
She tried to sit up, but sucked in a breath and bright her hand to her stomach. Skilah and Ahsoka both place their hands on her shoulders to stop her, and push her back down against the mattress.
"Relax," Ahsoka soothed.
"You don't understand," Sabine wobbled. "I unlocked it."
Skilah looked at Ahsoka, who looked at Huyang, who was across the room from them consulting with a medical droid, then back at Sabine.
Sabine began describing what she seen. An image of two galaxies and pathway between them. Skilah could not tell if Ahsoka was disappointed or angry when Sabine confessed she hadn't time to decipher the map before the droids took it, and they had destroyed the records she had kept of her findings.
"How many droids were there?" Ahsoka asked.
"Two," Sabine stated. "I took one out."
Ahsoka walked round the bed towards the door. "Get some rest." she said.
"Wait!" Sabine pleaded. "You need my help!"
"No." Ahsoka said abruptly. "You've done enough."

Sabine, currently propped up on her elbows, lay back down and sighed before turning to Skilah.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, hoarsely.
"Well, when you hear 'Sabine got stabbed' , I'm not exactly going to wait around for someone to tell if you're okay."
Sabine breathed a laugh, and Skilah chuckled at the sound. She's missed that laugh.
"You didn't have to come, y'know." Sabine said.
"Yes I did." Skilah leaned forward and kissed Sabine's forehead. She began twirling her long hair with her fingers, admiring the colours, then she noticed the sparkle of her eyes as the sun shone through the window, how the blue of her hospital scrubs complimented her soft skin, she in took in everything, right down to the chipped nail polish on Sabine's fingers. God, she'd missed her so much! Holograms did no justice compared to in person. Seeing her now, Skilah thought, they would have to drag her off this planet unconscious if they thought she was ever leaving her again.

"Who did this to you?" Skilah asked.
Whoever it was, she would hunt them down herself, followed by Hera's entire fleet, and make them regret the day they were born for ever touching her Sabine.
"I don't know who she was," Sabine began. "But she had short blonde hair, almost white, and a braid like the ones I've seen in old holo-pics of Jedi Padawans. And she had a red lightsaber."
Shit.
The woman in the hologram. The one who had rescued Morgan Elsbeth while on her way to her trial. Skilah knew this woman wasn't just some mercenary, but she'd rather not be associated with such things, especially now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WORD COUNT: 1129
AUTHOR'S NOTE: First time we're seeing our girls together! I love them so much already, they are so cute and I'm having way too much fun writing them. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!