ISF Facility.
Skye
Skye Alliance.
February 11th
306ABY
The yell of triumph echoed through the lab, startling the medtechs and immediately putting the ISF guards on alert. All head turned to where Anton Marik was almost dancing as he read the information on the display in front of him.
Karl Sims swallowed his heart back down his throat and bit back the admonishment he wanted to direct at the other man as Doctor Bek made her way down to the lower lab area. The Arkanian had a look of anger on her face as she waved the guards back and scowled at Marik.
“You had better have a good explanation for the juvenile noise” Bek said coldly.
“Yes ma’am” Marik nodded nervously, “But we’ve done it, look!” He gestured at his display, “Look”
Bek frowned at the indicated display, then as a look of surprise came across her face, she pushed Marik aside and looked closer, “Brain activity, we’re seeing brain activity!”
Sims moved to where he could see the display. Sure enough, the simple graphic that had previously been a horizontal line broken only by a few very small blips, was now a series of very distinct peaks and valleys.
“It’s still minimal by human baselines” Sims nodded, “But it’s definitely activity” He glanced at Marik, “Do we know which areas of the brain this is?”
Marik smiled, “All over the place, it’s not isolated to one area. It’s blanket activity”
Bek stared at the data, “We still have a way to go, but we’ve made a breakthrough” She smiled, “Soon the neuro-mem team will be able to start combing through her memories to find out what’s intact and what new memories they need to make. By the time we’re finished, this child will never even be aware that anything bad happened to her”
————————————————–
Bannson Owned Warehouse.
Sanctuary.
Summer
Free Worlds League.
331ABY
August 3rd
Alexa Wolf swept her blaster rifle left and right, sending a stream of laser bolts burning into the wall above the two crouched men. Both men ducked behind their cover, allowing Notha Wel and Samson to move forwards and take up new positions in the warehouse.
As the genetically engineered giant and the Quarren took up new positions either side of the pinned down thugs and opened fire with their heavy blasters, the two men quickly realized they’d been flanked and that further resistance held little prospect of survival.
As the men threw down their weapons and surrendered, Alexa nodded to Scooter Barnes and Rei to restrain the two men, then moved forwards through the warehouse with it’s towering shelves and stacked crates.
Alexa was concerned that they didn’t seem to have encountered many of Bannson’s men here. The pulse locator in the fake Skull had definitely come from this building, but there were nowhere near enough of Bannson’s men here. If she had to guess, they’d encountered maybe half the numbers that had been present when Bannson had visited the dig site.
A cold feeling settled into her stomach and stepping back to allow Samson and Notha to take the lead, she triggered her comlink, “Wolf to Sacul, I need you to ping the pulse locator again”
“Doing it now” Sacul answered without hesitation, “Is there a problem? Is it the wrong location?”
“I don’t know” Alexa frowned hearing a burst of fire from one of the heavy blasters somewhere ahead, “I think we’re in the right location, but something doesn’t feel right”
“No returns yet” Sacul replied, “Nothing yet. Do you want me to widen the search?”
“Do it” Alexa sighed, “Keep me updated” Barely hearing Sacul’s acknowledgement, she trotted ahead to catch up with the others.
Samson nodded at the doorway that lead out of the main storage area, “Looks like a series of storage rooms ahead, Two corridors running parallel”
Alexa nodded, “We’ll split up, let’s make this as quick as possible, find the hostages and smack Bannson upside his head” She paused for a moment, “Scooter, head back to the Pup and instruct Connor to bring the shuttle around this end of the building. Rei, Notha, take the left corridor. Me and Samson will take the right”
Allowing Samson to take the lead with his heavier weapon, Alexa followed him down the designated corridor. Only two of Bannson’s men seemed to be this way, their smoking corpses left lying on the floor behind them. But the sound of weapons fire from elsewhere in the building suggested Rei and Notha were encountering heavier resistance.
“Rei, What’s the situation?” Alexa asked over the comms.
“Heavy resistance” The Nagai answered, “Good half dozen of Bannson’s thugs here. Really missing my battlesuit right now. You sure we couldn’t have used them?”
“Very sure” Alexa grimaced, “I can send Samson your way to help if you need it”
An explosion covered Rei’s reply, then her voice came back strong, “No need, problem solved. We’re fine here”
“Keep me updated” Alexa nodded, then switched frequencies, “Sacul, you have anything for me?”
“Nothing yet” Sacul replied, “Wait one….I just got a return” She paused and Alexa could almost hear the frown, “I just got a return on the pulse locator. But it’s moved. It’s in the town between you and us”
Alexa scowled as she considered that development, but shots from up ahead caught her attention, “I’ll call you back” She snapped, then cutting off the comlink, she headed off down the corridor with Samson in tow.
“Captain, you should let me lead” Samson grunted as he checked the charge on his heavy blaster.
“I’ve let you lead long enough, it’s my turn” Alexa shook her head. The shouts were much clearer, a man’s voice and at least one woman, she thought it might have been Jasmine Karner, but couldn’t be sure, “C’mon, I think we might have at least found our friends”
They rounded a corner ahead and Alexa’s heart caught in her throat, Bannson’s little bully boy Evans had Karner in his grasp, his meaty hand gripping her left biceps tightly and his blaster pressed against her head. Meanwhile, a very badly hurt Galatea lay on the floor, her face a bloody mess and an obvious blaster wound in her left thigh.
Seeing them approach, Evans turned and dragged Karner between him and Alexa and Samson, “Not another step” Evans snarled “Or the Professor eats a blaster bolt” To emphasise his point, he twisted the barrel of his blaster against her head, eliciting a squeal of pain from the woman.
“Easy, easy” Alexa said calmly, “Pointing her blaster against the ceiling and nodding to Samson to do the same, “Let’s not do anything hasty here”
Evans’ eyes darted nervously, “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to walk out of here and you are going to stand aside and let me. And the Professor here is going to come with me to ensure that everyone behaves”
“Not going to happen” Alexa shook her head, “You can walk out of here and we’ll let you go, but the Professor stays here”
Evans barked a disbelieving laugh, “I’m supposed to trust you?”
“You’ve not got a choice” Alexa smirked, “Letting the Professor go is your only realistic option of survival. Where’s your boss?”
“What makes you think I’ll even tell you?” Evans snorted.
Alexa shrugged, “Again, it’s in your best interests”
“Oh for the love of…..” Karner suddenly interjected into the confrontation, “Just shoot him already!”
“Professor, that’s not helping matters” Alexa looked at her in surprise, “We can all walk away from this nice and happy” She brought her blaster down and slipped it into her holster, “Look see, my blasters away. We’re not going to have any more shooting here” A round of weapons fire from elsewhere in the building punctuated her words and she winced, “Well, not in this part of the building any” She added quickly.
“Not good enough” Evans shook his head, “I’m still taking the good Professor as a hostage”
Movement behind him caught Alexa’s eye and she smiled, “I don’t think so”
The sound of a blaster firing filled the corridor and Evans stiffened in pain, his grip on both his blaster and Karner releasing as he dropped face down on the floor to reveal the smoking blaster hole in his spine right between his shoulder blades.
Karner spun around to see Galatea in a sitting position, a blaster clutched in shaking hands, “Nobody threatens my mom” She said in a voice thick with pain and anger.
“Galatea!” Karner dropped to her knees next to her daughter, “Are you okay?”
“Same answer the last time you asked” Galatea replied with a weak smile, “I really need something for the pain”
“Red, how bad is it?” Alexa said, kneeling next to the engineer.
“Blaster wound in my leg, and I’m pretty sure my nose in broken” Galatea sighed, “Plus, I have a lump the size of a Hutt on the back of my head”
“At least you can still shoot straight” Alexa grinned, “Good shot”
Galatea frowned, “Not that good, I was aiming for his knees”
“Still a good shot” Samson nodded, “It is good to see you alive and well Red, if not entirely intact”
Alexa nodded, “Where’s Bannson and the rest of his men?”
Galatea frowned painfully, “They’ve gone back to the dig site for Marik”
“He needed an expert for the Skull” Karner said, “He still thinks it’s real”
“Sending him back to the dig site?” Alexa stared at the pair of them, “That wasn’t part of the plan”
“Neither was us getting captured and Galatea getting shot” Karner answered, “But that was my fault. But I had to say something, he’d already shot Galatea once then started beating her”
“Okay, okay, can’t be helped now” Alexa nodded as she switched on her comlink, “Wolf to Sacul, do you read me. Sacul? Ash? Anyone?” Only silence answered her call, “Oh hell, we have to get back to the ship” She looked at Galatea, “Can you walk?”
“Barely” Galatea sighed.
“Then do not bother” Samson said, “Hold this” He thrust his heavy blaster at Karner who took the weapon and held it uncomfortably as Samson knelt down and scooped Galatea up in his arms, “We will be much quicker this way” He smiled.
Alexa nodded as they headed towards the nearest doors. She activated her link to the others, “Connor, Scooter, bring the Pup to the east side, we’ll exit that side. Rei, Notha meet us there. And Rei, be ready with your medkit, Galatea is hurting”
As acknowledgements came back, Alexa could only hope the situation back at the ship was under control.
————————————-
Dig Site.
Clouds of dust burst up around Natasha Loren’s knees as the thug behind her forced her into a kneeling position, his fat clammy hand squeezing her shoulder painfully. She tried to turn to shoot a look at him, but a shove against her back threw her to her hands and knees.
Biting back the urge to shout at him, she took stock of the situation. Off to her left, Helene Marshall, Shepard Sims, Esm Silar and Leeza were all like her knelt in the dirt at blaster point. Off to her right, Karner’s dozen or so students were huddled terrified, but stoically silent.
Arrayed around them all were the half-dozen or so thugs Jacob Bannson had brought with him and also William Pfister, the student who apparently had sold them out and had helped the thugs captured some of the students as hostages in order to lure Ash and the others out of the Wolf.
Bannson stepped forwards and smirked down at Ash, “Where’s the rest of your crew?”
“Not here” Ash answered, then grunted as the thug kicked her in the back. Not a hard blow, just enough to hurt, “They went to rescue Karnar and the other girl you’d grabbed”
“And that’s where Captain Wolf is?” Bannson frowned.
Ash nodded, doing what she could to take in their surroundings and the situation without moving her head too much, “Yeah, she wanted to lead the rescue mission. Something about wanting to smack you in the mouth” She noted that all of the thugs that had come with Bannson were present, that meant Jasek Garcia, Antioch Bell, Sacul and Royce Chapman were still hiding out somewhere. Hopefully, they had a plan.
Bannson shrugged, “Well, she’s missed her chance” He hefted the faked Skull in one hand, “Now I’m looking for a man named Anton Marik. You have five minutes to tell me where I can find him and then I start shooting people till someone talks” He waved the blaster in his other hand.
“Anton Marik?” Ash looked up at him, “He’s not here” She said truthfully, “He slipped away this morning, we don’t know where he’s gone”
“Really?” Bannson looked at her in disbelief, “Are you really going to test my patience when I have all the cards?” He pointed the blaster at the students, “Perhaps killing one of these children might motivate you?”
“Whoa! Whoa!” Wiliam Pfister stepped forwards, “You said no one would be hurt”
“Did I?” Bannson frowned, “I apologise, that was a mistake on my part” Then without hesitation, he brought the blaster around and shot Pfister right between the eyes. The screams of terror from the students almost overwhelmed the sound of the body hitting the floor and the accompanying sizzling noise from the crater that had been a face, “Now, five minutes” Bannson smiled above the sounds of scared students and someone vomiting.
“Sithspit, He just blasted that kid” Royce Chapman’s voice came across the comlink. From his observation point on the upper hull of the Wolf, he’d been reporting the developing situation outside as the others put together a plan.
“Dammit” Garcia grimaced, “I don’t think we’ve got much time. What are our options?”
Antioch Bell scowled, “A battlesuit would help tip the balance in our favour, but all our battlesuit pilots have gone with the Captain. I also doubt we could get my fighter launched without tipping them off”
Sacul nodded, “Surprise is our best option. But we lack an edge”
Garcia frowned. Chapman had his rifle and was in a prime position, but even he couldn’t take down a half-dozen men without them getting shots off. Antioch had freely admitted he was a fish out of water outside his cockpit and Sacul whilst quick and an expert shot was again only one person, even she couldn’t tip the scales enough, As for himself, the agony in his gut was barely being suppressed by the painkillers he had just taken.
He knew he was dangerously close to an overdose, but he had a feeling it didn’t matter anymore. He suspected he wouldn’t see out the day, he could feel the sweat pouring down his face.
Sacul looked at him worriedly, “Jasek, are you….”
“I’m fine” He cut her off, “We have more important things to worry about. What do we have?”
Sacul shrugged, “We have whatever blasters we can carry and shoot. I’d rather not use grenades, even stun grenades could be dangerous to some of our people out there” She frowned, “We also have our little surprise in the Skull”
“What surprise?” Antioch asked.
“A small detonation charge in the skull” Garcia explained, pushing past the knotting in his gut, “Just enough to blow it apart and send up a nice cloud of dust, not enough to give us cover to get the others clear, but if we can get someone close enough to Bannson and manoeuvre him close to some of his men, it could help us” He thought for a few moments, “Okay, I may have something, but we’ll have to be precise on this”
He quickly began to explain his plan as they made their way down to the cargo hold and the boarding ramp. All the while, he forced himself to ignore the pain and the weakness that was following it.
——————————————
The Pup.
Inbound to the Dig Site.
Alexa jabbed at the console in frustration, “I can’t raise anyone at the Wolf” She looked at Connor, “Can we go any faster?”
Connor scowled, “We could have, but Rei is still patching up Red and the last thing they’d want is for us to hit a patch of turbulence when she’s doing something delicate”
Alexa winced, “I’d have preferred to leave them behind, but I didn’t want to risk us having missed some of Bannson’s thugs”
“We’re four minutes out” Connor said reassuringly, “We might get there and find everything is okay, just a busted transmitter. Wouldn’t be the first time”
“Just wish I was so confident” Alexa sighed.
—————————-
Dig Site.
Ash forced herself to take a few deep calming breaths as Bannson paced back and forth, clearly growing impatient. Despite protests, he was still unwilling to accept that no one knew where Anton Marik had gone.
“One minute” Bannson growled, fingering the trigger of his blaster, “So, you’d best start thinking before I start exacting punishments”
“We can’t tell you what we don’t know” Ash shot back at him.
“I don’t believe you” Bannson smirked, “So which of your crew will it be. The old man?” He pointed the blaster at Sims, “The wannabe ninja?” He swung the blaster at Helene, who shot him an incendiary look, .”Or the alien?” The blaster swung in line with Esm.
Ash gritted her teeth. The odds were stacked and she didn’t think she’d make it out alive, but they’d missed the holdout blaster hidden in it’s arm holster. If she could get it out fast enough, she could probably take down Bannson, maybe two-three of this men, before the rest cut her down. She’d probably die, but the others would have a chance to scatter and possibly survive.
She didn’t want to die. She had too much to live for, her life with Alex was a powerful motivator. But she also refused to stand aside and let her friends die. Maybe Jasek and the others had a plan, but there just wasn’t time.
“Times up!” Bannson suddenly shouted, nearly a full twenty seconds early by Ash’s estimate, “So, who’s the unlucky one?”
“That won’t be necessary” A strong, aged voice called out.
Ash’s heart caught in her throat as she looked over and saw Jasek approaching. Talk about cutting it close. If only she knew what his plan was. Then she noticed how pale he was, the beads of sweat that ran from his brow. She could see he was in pain.
“No one else need die today” Jasek said calmly, despite his pain, “I am Anton Marik”
Bannson looked at him dubiously, “And were where you hiding?”
“In the ship” Jasek shrugged, “I hid myself in a crate. I’m not a soldier, I was scared”
“Yet you chose to reveal yourself now?” Bannson’s expression was so filled with suspicion, Ash swore his beard was twitching,
Jasek deliberately hesitated, just enough to apparently reassure the psychotic businessman, “I realised I could not live with myself if others were to die because of my cowardice”
“Fine then, Mr Marik” Bannson nodded his blaster lowering, “Tell me how to use the Skull of Thanatos” He hefted the skull, “Tell me how to unlock it’s power”
“No” Jasek shook his head, “Release the hostages and then I’ll tell you everything”
Out of the corner of her eye, Ash saw Royce Chapman taking up a position on the Wolfs upper hull, his rifle coming up as he sighted in on a target. Whatever the plan was, it was about to kick off.
“Counter -offer, Mr Marik” Bannson grinned sadistically, “You either tell me what I want to know, or I kill the one with a fondness for sharp knives” He pointed his blaster at Helene.
Jasek shrugged, “Well, I tried”
And then suddenly, as if cued by Jasek’s words, the Skull of Thanatos inexplicably and unexpectedly blew up. It was a relatively harmless explosion, more flash and smoke than anything dangerous, but even so, Bannson screamed in a mix of horror outrage and pain as he suffered burns to the hand that had been holding the skull.
As the cloud of dust and smoke swallowed the screaming and shouting Bannson, a dozen things happened at once. Helene, Sims and Esm moved quickly tackling several of the thugs to the floor as the others milled in confusion, Leeza meanwhile rose in one smooth moment and smashed the top of her head into the jaw of the thug holding her, he stumbled back with blood streaming from mashed lips. Another thug was thrown to the ground as Chapman fired his rifle and burned a hole though his targets sternum. At the same time, Jasek drew his own blaster and cut down another of Bannson’s men. Meanwhile, the students scattered and dropped into the dig sites trenches and hid from the fire fight.
Shaking off her surprise, Ash drew her holdout blaster and shot one thug through the spine as he took aim at Helene as she and the others scrambled to take their opponents weapons off them. Tracking left, she nailed another through the eye, her situational awareness focusing and allowing her to pick out threats as they emerged from the slowly dissipating cloud. Another shot and another thug fell flat on his face. She started to sight in on another one, but he instead fell as Chapman nailed him with a high angle shot.
Movement to her right caught her eye as Bannson came charging from the cloud that had swallowed him, his blaster aimed directly at him. Ash swung her blaster around and pulled the trigger, wincing as she heard the click of the blaster registering empty. Grinning, Bannson brought his blaster up and pointed it straight at her.
Ash braced herself for the inevitable pain, then suddenly something slammed into her from the side. She heard the echo of a blaster shot, then a second one almost an instant later, heard the sizzle of superheated flesh and then she hit the floor and pain erupted in her body. Pain that increased as whatever had collided with her landed on top of her.
Gasping to try and get her breath back, she barely saw Bannson slowly drop to his knees staring incredulously at the smoking blaster hole where his heart should be, then he pitched over on his face. Dimly, she was aware of the sound of repulsorlifts and she saw the Pup circling overhead, surgical and deliberate fire from it picking off the remaining thugs.
It was about this point that she realised that she wasn’t feeling sufficiently hurt for someone that had just been shot, then she remembered the object that had crashed into her and thrown her to the floor.
Rolling into a sitting position, she found Jasek laying across her, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth and a smoking blaster wound in his gut.
“Papa!” Ash wailed, “No…no..no” She looked around desperately, “Shepard! Anyone! I need help here!”
As if stirred by her shouts, Jasek’s eyes flickered open, “Tasha” He said weakly, “You’re safe. I can die happy”
“No, you can’t die” Ash shook her head, “It’s too soon”
“Don’t cry child” Jasek reached up to brush away tears, his blooded hand leaving a bloody streak on her face, “My time has come”
“Jasek” Sims dropped to his knees beside them and began inspecting the wound, “Just stay with us” He started to reach for his medpack, but Garcia’s hand gripped his wrist with unexpected strength.
“Don’t, my friend” He hissed in pain, “It’s too late, I can feel it”
“Jasek, I…” Sims started to say, but trailed off as he saw the determined look in the old actors eyes. His hands moved away from his medkit and instead settled gently on his friends hand.
Ash gripped Jasek’s other hand tightly, “You can’t die, not like this” She sniffed, barely aware of the other Ghosts starting to gather around. A hand rested on her shoulder, she knew it was Alex’s, but she didn’t dare look to see in case she missed her adoptive father’s last moment, “We talked about this. It was going to be peaceful, you’d lay in your bed and slip into sleep and never wake up”
“We can’t always have what we want, Tasha” Jasek smiled weakly, “But I have no regrets, this is a good death” His eyes closed and for a moment, Ash thought he’d gone, but then they slowly opened again, “You brought me so much joy……..my sweet child. I love you” Then this time his eyes did close, and Jasek Garcia slipped into the sleep from which there was no awakening.
Feeling his grip weaken, Ash fell across his body and wept in a way that she hadn’t done since she was a child.
—————————————–
August 17th.
Alexa watched the last of the police speeders head off down the road, then sighed with relief. Within hours of the shoot out with Bannson’s men, the local authorities had swarmed all over the area, looking to arrest just about anyone that blinked, regardless of the part they played in the proceedings.
Fortunately, anticipating that Bannson’s bribery of the local constabulary might have been an issue, Alexa had had Sacul send a transmission after Bannson’s first visit. That transmission had been the contents of Bannson’s files, detailing his activities here and which local officials were in his pocket. The recipient of the data was the Free Worlds League Intelligence Ministry, whose agents had been trying to nail Bannson for some time now. Even before the local police could pull the cuffs from their belts, the FWLIM had dropped onto the situation and overrode the local polices jurisdiction. Though disappointed to find Bannson dead, the lead agent had still been grateful enough for the info that he’d forced the local police chief to drop all charges against the Ghosts, though the arrests of his corrupt officers ensured that the chief suddenly had more important things to worry about.
That didn’t mean that the Ghosts were quite off the hook. The local chief -though he couldn’t do anything had still insisted on keeping a close eye on them and had restricted them to the Dig Site. Of course, one quick comm call to Agent Smith -yes, that really was his name- and he’d put a call to the planetary authorities and suddenly the chief had found himself encouraged to take early retirement.
It had still taken a couple of days for the new chief to be reasonably satisfied that Alexa and her people wouldn’t cause any more trouble before he finally gave the order for the police to leave them alone.
Giving another sigh, she made her way back towards the Wolf. Despite the interference of the police, the last week had been pretty hectic. Between the injuries suffered by some of her crew – Galatea was the worst hurt, but Notha had picked up yet another blaster wound during the rescue and then both Esm and Ash had picked up cuts and bruises during the shoot-out before Alexa and the others had arrived- and dealing with the loss of Jasek Garcia, any celebrations had been pretty curtailed.
A cold feeling settled into her stomach. Losing Garcia had hit the crew hard, very hard. When Yorinaga Tortorelli had died during the battle for Skye seven years ago, the crew had mourned, but they hadn’t been hit that hard due to barely really knowing him. But with Garcia, seven years of knowing someone, eating at the same table and living aboard the same small ship, you develop a close relationship with each other.
Ash had been hit the hardest, but that was no surprise. The closeness between the two had been like that between father and daughter and had been beneficial to both. Garcia’s death had left Ash utterly distraught. Even though he’d been dying, Ash had counted on Jasek having a peaceful death and had been utterly unprepared for such a violent end for her ‘papa’.
A feeling of helplessness swept over Alexa. Nothing she could do could stir Ash from her depression and grief, all she could do was hold her and continue to look after her till she could come out of it.
It would take time, but hopefully things could begin once they held the service for Jasek tomorrow. With the police interference, they been unable to do anything before, plus Ash had insisted that Jasek would prefer all the crew there. Fortunately, earlier in the week Sacul had managed to contact Dan and Kitten and the two had chartered a fast courier to bring them to Summer and they were due to arrive later today.
“Captain Wolf!” A voice called out and intruded on her thoughts.
Alexa looked and saw Professor Karner approaching, “Professor” She smiled, “What can I do for you?”
“Nothing much anymore really” Jasmine Karner smiled, “My problems are all dealt with now that Bannson’s dead. But I just thought you’d like to now, I’ve got a message back from Tol Lumas. The university has declared your contract fulfilled and has released your full payment” She looked down for a moment, “I know it matters little compared to what it cost you, but I thought you’d like to know”
“It’s appreciated even so, Professor” Alexa nodded, “At least we were able to help you”
Karner looked back up, her face apologetic, “It’s my fault that Garcia died”
Alexa shook her head, “Please don’t think that, Doctor. None of us knew how things would turn out”
“But if I hadn’t gone tearing after Pfister when I saw him going into the shed, myself and Galatea wouldn’t have been captured” Karner frowned, “And you wouldn’t have had to rescue us. With all your people here, Bannson wouldn’t have been able to get the drop on you”
“And I shouldn’t have been so distracted” Alexa shot back, “I wasn’t thinking clearly. Too damned busy with my own problems and too damned determined to prove I wasn’t struggling to make sense of things”
“Captain….Alexa” Karner said softly, “If you continue to think like that, you’ll never trust your own judgement again. Tell me, were your decisions correct at the time, based on the information you had”
Alexa thought for a moment, then nodded, “Yes, they were”
“Then why question them?” Karner asked, “You can’t second guess yourself just because you have the benefit of hindsight”
Alexa sighed and kicked at the dirt with the toe of her boot, “You’re right, I can’t. . But it’s hard”
“It always is when you lose a friend” Karner smiled, “You’ll be asking yourself constantly, could you have done anything different” She grimaced, “In hindsight, I shouldn’t have told Bannson that Marik was here at the dig. If I hadn’t, he wouldn’t have come here”She shrugged, “On the other hand, that would have left you and your rescue team possibly facing all of Bannson’s men instead of only half of them, how many would have died then?”
“Point taken” Alexa nodded slowly, “You’ve given me a lot to think about” She smiled, “How’s Galatea doing? She’s my engineer, but you’ve seen more of her than I have these last few days”
Grateful for the change of subject, Karner smiled, “She’s better. Her leg is healed up and she’s mobile again” She glanced across the to large tent in the centre of the site, “We’ve been doing a lot of talking. I’m finally getting the chance to get to know my own daughter. We’ve a long way to go, but we’re getting there” The smile disappeared, “How’s Natasha?”
Alexa hesitated and looked at her hands, “She’s hurting really bad. Jasek was almost a father to her. Her own parents were never there for her, so Jasek really was the closest to family she’s got. He was the father she never had and she was the daughter he never had”
“She’ll heal” Karner said, “It’ll take time. But she has you to help her through the worst of it, you just need to be there for her”
“I always am, Professor” Alexa smiled.
—————————————–
Though her tears were long spent and she no longer had the energy to cry, Ash still lay on the bed curled into a foetal position. Her grief was no longer the sharp agony that it had been at the beginning of the week, but the pain of it still dogged her and prevented her functioning.
She still couldn’t believe he was gone. She’d accepted that he was dying, but she’d hoped for more time, a chance to say goodbye properly. It was hard to come to terms that he was gone.
What made it hurt most, was that he’d died saving her. Because of her mistake in misjudging the charge on her holdout blaster, he’d thrown himself into the path of Jacob Bannson’s fire as the late industrialist had fired on her.
Jasek’s death was hurting far harder than the death of her real father had. Darik Loren had been very misogynistic in his views, firm in his opinion that women could never match what a man could do. At the same time he gave her brothers Ben and Jol every ounce of his attention, he had all but ignored the much younger Natasha. Whilst her brothers had received the best private tutoring, attended summer camps, been bought the latest trends and gone to the best private schools, Natasha had been denied the same privileges, attending a state school and saving her meagre allowance just to have the money for the stuff she wanted.
It wasn’t that he disliked her, he just felt that as she wasn’t a son, she wasn’t worth his time.
Eventually, when the time came for her to move up through the education system, she was able to convince him that she should be able to choose her next school. Perhaps it was just him indulging her for once or simply seeing it as a way of getting her out of his hair, but Darik had allowed her to attend the Steiner School for Higher Education in the Skye Alliance.
That had been the last time they’d spoken. When Ash had applied for Alliance citizenship in order to move onto the Nagelring with Alex, he’d sent a short but terse message telling her not to bother coming home ever again. Even when he’d been on his deathbed, he hadn’t tried to get in touch, an attitude that carried over to her brothers after his death.
On the other hand, Jasek for how little he’d known Ash at first, had taken her under his wing. Teaching her what he knew and for the first time in over thirty years, she’d known what it was like to have a father. In return, he’d seen her as a proxy daughter and gave her the love he had never had children to share with before.
Ash sighed, her thoughts drifting back to her birth father. How would he have reacted to her being a lesbian? What would he have thought about the woman she loved?
Grunting and forcing herself off that line of thinking she sat up, but gave one last thought for the father that had never been worth her time, “Look at what I’ve accomplished, you old fool” She muttered bitterly.
Staggering over to the rooms small fresher, she ran the sink full of ice cold water, then after a second to brace herself, plunged her head under. The shock of the cold blasted away the last vestiges of lethargy and cleared her mind somewhat. Pulling her head clear again and gasping for breath, she grabbed a towel and began drying her head and hair.
The sound of the cabins door opening caught her ear and was followed quickly by a wary voice, “Ash, you in here still?” Alexa called out.
“I’m in here” Ash replied wearily, pulling the plug from the sink and stepping through into the main cabin.
Alexa smiled sadly up at her, “Well, you’re out of bed at least”
Ash resisted the urge to make a snarky comment back at her. Alexa was just trying to make her feel better and the last thing Ash wanted to do was make her lover feel even worse about what happened. She knew Alexa blamed herself partially for the events that led to the shoot out and Jasek’s death, but as far as Ash was concerned, Alexa had made all the right decisions.
She nodded slowly, “I need to get up and about. I can’t lay in bed forever, it’s not what Papa would have wanted”
Alexa reached out to stroke her arm, “We’ve heard back from Dan and Kitten. We can hold the service tomorrow….if you feel up to it”
Ash hesitated, then sighed, “Yeah we have to say goodbye. I don’t want to, I’m not ready to, but we can’t put it off” She moved and threw herself bonelessly onto the rooms small couch, “I should say something at the service, but I don’t know what”
“Just speak from the heart” Alexa said, “You shared something special with him. As strong as what you and I have. You’ll know what to say when the time comes”
Ash nodded, then looked down at the floor, her face reddening with shame, “I’m sorry”
“Sorry?” Alexa frowned, “For what?”
“For all but ignoring you this last week” Ash sighed, “You’ve been trying to help me and I just kept brushing you off”
“You were hurting” Alexa shrugged, “It’s okay” But her expression suggested it wasn’t entirely okay.
“Liar” Ash managed a smile, “You’ve had serious problems of your own with what you’ve learned, but I haven’t been there for you”
“It’s fine” Alexa shrugged.
“No, no it’s not” Ash pulled her into a hug, “This is a two way relationship. Always has been. I can’t let my grief blind me to that fact that you’re hurting too. And I’m sorry”
“Accepted” Alexa returned the hug fiercely.
Ash sighed and looked around the room, painfully aware that she hadn’t left it for almost the whole week, “I need a walk. And some fresh air”
“You want me to come with?” Alexa asked.
“No, it’s okay. I’ve just got some thinking to do” She stood, then hesitated, “Alexa, I need you to do something for me”
“Anything” Alexa nodded.
“Message your father” Ash’s tone carried no room for argument, “Try and make your peace with him before you have no more chances”
“I don’t know…” Alexa started to say.
“Do it, please” Ash looked at her, “Don’t leave it too late” She leaned down and kissed her lover, “Please”
When Ash had left, Alexa sat deep in thought for a few moments. What could she even say? How do you even start a message to a father you haven’t seen or spoken to in seven years?
She sighed and moved over to the cabins terminal. If all else fails, you speak from the heart.
—————————————-
Sacul glanced at the datapad as she made her way up through the Wolf towards the command deck. She didn’t need to look at the datapad for the information she wanted, the data on the pad was already on her network, but she’d learnt over the years that using the datapad tended not to freak people out as much when she pulled up data.
Even her fellow crewmates tended to be a little perturbed when she accessed a wealth of data without using a pad or terminal.
The actual information wasn’t particularly interesting for the most part, just galactic news updates and other mundane details. The only note of interest was confirmation that their payment for the mission had been transferred into the Ghosts account, inflating it nicely.
Boots clattering on the stairway ahead caught her attention and she looked up to see Natasha descending from the crew deck.
“Natasha!” Sacul smiled, “It’s good to see you up and about. How are you feeling?”
“Hi Sacul” Ash sighed, her face pale and weary “I’m okay. Still hurting, but I’m getting there”
“That’s good to hear” Sacul nodded, then stepped forwards and hugged her, “You look like you need plenty of these”
Ash returned the hug and managed a chuckle, “That I do, Sacul” Her expression turned thoughtful, “Sacul , what do you remember of my father, Darik? You knew him for a lot longer than I did. What did you think of him?”
Sacul frowned, “I didn’t really know him all that well. He rarely came down to my part of the facility and when he did, it was for an inspection” She shrugged, “He tended to treat me like I was just part of the equipment, he never really acknowledged me. Except for when he was asking a question about some function or other. And then, he’d speak like he was just talking to a droid” Sacul frowned, “I always found him arrogant, dismissive of others opinions. He always favoured your brothers over you, that much was obvious”
Ash nodded, “Pretty much as I remember him” She snorted, “He was never much of a father to me. Jasek was the closest thing to a true father”
Sacul reached out and touched Ash on the arm in what she hoped was a reassuring manner, “The family we come from isn’t as important as the family we’ve made for ourselves”
Ash managed a smile, but even Sacul could see that it was somewhat brittle, indicating just how much Natasha was hurting, “That’s so true” She smiled at the synthetic girl, “How did you deal with it? All those years ago, watching your friends die one by one?”
Sacul glanced away, feeling an emotion she would probably call grief welling up. For her the memories were as fresh as if those events had happened only minutes ago. Most prominent was her sat by Face’s deathbed, holding his hand as he slipped away and feeling his hand grow slowly cold even as she made her plans to take his body from his cottage on Loord to Mandalore where he was to be buried next to his beloved Asha.
“The pain never really goes away” Sacul said after a few moments, “But it does fade, it becomes something else” She spun the lie, for her the pain was as fresh as ever, “Instead of your focus being on your loss, you focus more on the fond memories, the happy times”
“That’s something I guess” Ash sighed.
Sacul smiled reassuringly, “Natasha, you’re strong. You’ll heal and your every memory of Jasek will be the happy ones. And you know, that if you ever feel down, You have me, you have Alexa. You have your family, this one, on this ship”
Ash managed a smile, this one more genuine, almost hopeful, “Thank you, Sacul”
————————————————
August 18th
Alexa shivered as she glanced up at the grey clouds that hung overhead, it didn’t feel like there was much chance if rain, but she wouldn’t bet against it. She had hoped the weather would be better today, but they couldn’t delay the service for Garcia any longer.
She looked over as Galatea and her mother joined the gathered group in the small area they’d cleared near the ship. Centrepiece was a wooden bier on which lay the mortal shell of Jasek Garcia and everyone formed a circle around it. Alexa was pleased to see that all of Karner’s students had all attended along with the Ghosts. She was also glad that Dan and Kitten had made it, despite a slight hold up on the way.
As she waited for everyone to settle into silence, Alexa glanced over at Ash and felt a wave of sadness wash over her. Her lover was still hurting immensely, her adoptive father’s death having left a huge gaping hole in her spirit. She would recover in time, but for now, she needed the support of those who loved her.
Alexa was hopeful that holding the funeral would allow Ash to say a goodbye and start to heal.
Noting that everyone was ready, Alexa stepped forwards, “Thank you all for coming here this evening” She said aloud, her voice carrying across the clearing, “We’ve all gathered here to say goodbye to a good friend, a trusted comrade and a man who always thought about others over himself” She paused for a moment, “Here, tonight, we are here to say goodbye to Jasek Garcia, who laid down his life for those he cared about” She hesitated and glanced at Ash, “And especially for one person in particular, who he cared for more than any other”
Taking a deep breath, she looked around the gathered group, “He was….what was Jasek Garcia to me? He was a gentleman. Cultured. Fair in all matters whether dealing with his friends or with a villain. He was something of a sleuth. Always looking for answers, for solutions to problems and pushing others to do the same. Encouraging us to look beneath the surface for the truth. He was compassionate, intelligent and possessed a strong sense of humour that helped raise the mood of any situation” She looked down, “He was a valued member of my crew, a good friend and he will be missed”
She stepped back as Leeza stepped forwards and began telling the story of a mission four years ago when Garcia had saved her life after they’d been ambushed. Alexa stepped next to Ash and reached out for her hand, “You doing okay?” She whispered.
Ash nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
“You sure you’re okay to say something?”Alexa glanced at her partner, “I can say something more if you like”
“”No” Ash said, finding her voice, “I want to do this. I can do it”
By now Leeza had finished telling her story and had stepped back into the circle. Alexa and Ash watched as Dan, Conner and Samson all stepped forwards and each said a little something, but Alexa barely heard what they said, her attention was focused on Ash, willing her girlfriend to take comfort from her presence..
One by one, each of the Ghosts stepped up to share their thoughts or fond memories of Garcia and then after Shepard Sims had given an emotional eulogy to his friend , Rei stepped forwards and Alexa forced her attention back to the proceedings.
“I am not like Jasek Garcia was, I am not human” Rei nodded, “But I guess that is obvious. As such, I have a different view of death. It isn’t that the person is dead, but how did they die? Did they do so with honour?” She frowned, the expression looking strange on her white, angular features, “If Jasek Garcia had not died the way he did, saving his adoptive daughter, he would still have had honour. All his deeds, the people he helped over the years. All adding to a glorious whole” She nodded sharply, “But on top of that, he took control of his own life and death, choosing to sacrifice himself to protect his friends and the innocent students. To this I must add, that like a true warrior, Jasek took the life of Jacob Bannson in battle, avenging his own death before he himself died” She looked over at Ash and Alexa, “And in his final moments, having saved the life of Natasha, his adoptive daughter, he faced his death without fear. Such valour!” She drew her Tekh’la blade and flourished it in salute to Garcia’s body, “To that end, I do not mourn the passing of my friend Jasek Garcia, I rejoice!”
Alexa saw a slight smile creep onto Ash’s face, “Thank you, Rei” She whispered. Then as Rei stepped back, Ash gave Alexa a brave smile then releasing her hand, stepped forwards.
“First, I want to thank you all for coming” Ash smiled bravely at those gathered, “Jasek would be pleased to know that everyone thought so well of him. He was a man who always had time for others, whether it was to offer advice or merely to help them” She took a calming breath and wiped a tear from her cheek, “For me, Jasek was my papa. My own father never gave me the time of day, ignoring me at the best of times and belittling me at worst. In Jasek, I found a father-figure who saw my worth, who gave me something I’d lacked in my life and who would encourage me to push myself to be all I could be” She sniffed, “He taught me a lot and gave me a love that I lacked in my childhood and for that, I will always treasure his memory” She gazed around the circle, “What was only known to a select few and that that even the majority of his friends didn’t know, was that he was already dying when he took the decision to walk out of the Wolf and confront Bannson. A few months ago, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only a few months to live” She caught the shocked looks of many of her crew mates, “He did not tell anyone other than a select few, because he did not want to be treated differently. He’d accepted his fate and was determined to go on as normal. He didn’t want to be defined by his illness, but by the things he did. Even towards the end, when he would spend hours during the day near crippled by pain, he continued to force himself to do his duties” She glanced at Alexa and then Shepard Sims, “Despite the attempts of others to force him to slow down, he refused to do so. But that was him in a nutshell, the job was more important than himself” She paused and forced herself to maintain her composure. Even so, she could feel the tears running down her face, “He…he” She hesitated.“
Alexa stepped forwards and rested a hand on Ash’s shoulder. The taller blond woman drawing strength from her lovers presence, “You can do this” Alexa smiled reassuringly.
Ash nodded and looked up, “Jasek asked me if I would do a reading at any funeral. While this setting may not have been what he was expecting when he asked, I think it would still be appropriate” She lifted the datapad from her belt and swallowing, began to read.
Though shaky at first, her voice grew stronger as she read the poem out.
“In the old hall, nearby the stair’
‘Stands a carved and ancient chair’
‘Looking from the topmost stair’
‘Someone’s often seated there’
‘But when, unthinking, I descend’
‘He has gone, my unknown friend’
‘We never speak, I never meet’
‘The shadow in that ancient seat’
‘I know full well, some unwarned day’
‘My friend will not have gone away’
‘But when I reach the lowest stair’
‘I shall find Him waiting there’
‘And I shall gaze, without surprise’
‘Into kindly, quiet eyes’
‘Take his hand,without a sigh’
‘Waiting not to say goodbye’
‘I shall go most cheerfully’
‘With the friend who has waited so long for me’
As she finished, Ash knew she couldn’t hold back the tears and began to weep as Connor and Antioch Bell stepped forwards at Alexa’s signal and began to light the bier with the flaming torches they bore.
Ash looked down at Alexa, “I’m going to miss him so much” She said tearfully.
“I know my love” Alexa looked up at her, “I know”
Fractured Galaxy 