"What in the hell do you mean she was shot down?" Thesh was screaming at me when we both finally made it into his office. "Is she alive? Is she safe? We have to get back there!"
My mind was reeling. If Jag had made it down, then I was confident that Shenna had, too. One of my cadets, my kids who followed me here to this miserable place, was on that planet with no idea when Venn was coming back. Coupled with Shenna, the girl I had raised, being down their with him...
I was terrified.
"We have to, I know!" I shouted back. That made Thesh pause. I wasn't the type to raise my voice, but I was gripped with terror. It was choking me. "You think I don't know that? My cadet is down there! Shenna is down there! But I can't just go running back to Yavin half cocked and get my entire team killed!" I sank down into one of the chairs and raked my hands back through my hair. "I need to get them back, Thesh, but I can't risk the fleet."
"Then don't," Thesh turned to me, voice calmer now. I could see the years of command experience kicking in as that steely calm I had grown to be so familiar with slipped back over him. Reason took over as he turned to me, "Take the Summa. Get Shenna and Jag back. If Pryde or Hux have anything to say about it, they can answer to me." He leaned forward on his desk, eyes meeting mine with a fire I hadn't ever seen before, "I am done losing crew members and family to the Empire. I don't karking care if Hux decides he wants to court martial me or send me to his pet Sith. Better men have tried to get me executed and failed. I am authorizing this. Jag is too valuable to lose... but Dorn, promise me one thing."
I looked up at him, "Name it."
"Don't... Don't bring her back here," Thesh shook his head and lowered it. I watched as his fists balled up on his desk, "I don't want her to have to do this. Not with these commanders. She... deserves better. Better than this. Better than Venn. I won't ever ask you for anything again if you do me just this one single favor."
I couldn't say not to Thesh - well, not very often, and this was one of those times. "Of course, Thesh," I nodded as he finally allowed himself to sit down with a grunt, leaning back and stretching out his cybernetically repaired leg. "Leg acting up?"
"It does when I get stressed. I'm thinking about having Dokaas redo it. He's about the only doctor I trust."
"Bad decision," I chuckled as Thesh smirked as adjusted himself in his seat,
"I miss them, you know," he spoke as he rotated his chair in a small semi-circle slowly. I rotated my own seat to look at him and saw him with his elbow up on the table absently rubbing his fingers together, "The old squad, I mean. Aurek and the others." I nodded, but stayed quiet as he leaned back, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. It was the first time I really got to look at the cybernetics along the side of his head. They were placed over disfigured flesh, winding paths and patches of metal glowing with small yellow lights from time to time. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually miss Aurek's stupid comments. I even catch myself turning around to ask Besh and Osk maintenance questions sometimes... It's stupid. I wonder what they would think of us now, if they could see us."
I wondered that, too. Besh and Osk likely would have been losing their minds over the new ships, the new sights and places we had been, but Aurek... I couldn't help but wonder if he would be disappointed that I hadn't taken my chance and run off when I had it, stayed on Coruscant with Shenna and Brea and just lived out my glory years in peace. I also like to think that he understood why I came back. "Well," I rolled my head to look at Thesh and smiled, "someone has to come back and keep you alive, right?"
Thesh looked over at me and snorted, trying and failing to keep a smile off of his face. "Stars, you lot were always insufferable."
"You love us."
Thesh finally let himself smile with a fond shake of his head, "I owe you four more than I will ever admit. For everything." He sat up a little and looked at me, "You've always been a good friend, Dorn. To all of us. Never doubt that."
"And you to me, Thesh. To all of us."
"Want some brandy before you go?" Thesh asked, raising his eyebrows slightly as he made to stand up, "I think we could use a drink."
Normally, I would have refused, but this time, I figured that he was right. "I think we do."
--
I summoned the squad into our briefing room and was greeted with the most worried and determined faces that I had ever seen on a group of people before. I barely got to the front of the room before everyone erupted into their own thoughts and opinions - all of them surprisingly unified for once. "We have to go after Jag!" Bastion shouted, slamming his fist into the wall. "He's just a kid!"
"Jarrik, control yourself!" Horran snapped, prompting Bastion to spin to him.
"One of our own is down there, Commander!"
"Screaming and punching things won't help!"
I watched as Tarkona looked over at me, "Send us in, General. I'll get him back." Everyone seemed more than a little surprised at Tarkona's sudden willingness to put his life on the line for Jag, but I wasn't complaining.
"We have to get him back!" Randd, of all people, emphatically added her voice to the growing cacophony in the room.
"And must also mitigate our risks as much as possible," Novaran's calm tones came through the room as an unwanted voice of reason, judging from the dirty looks he was getting. He stepped forward, brow furrowing, "If we return too quickly, we risk putting Lieutenant Montferrat in more danger than he would be otherwise."
"We can't let him get caught by Venn!" Freis burst out from behind him. "General, please! We have to help him!"
"Can it!" Nyra's voice silenced the entire room, and she looked up at me with the most serious expression I had seen on her face to date. "What's the plan, General?"
The entire room went silent as I stood before them, all of their eyes trained on me like I had the answers they were looking for. "I sent a request through Admiral Kaine. We're waiting on authorization to go abck and get Jag at the first chance we get. We're not leaving him behind."
"We can provide Interceptor cover if necessary," Peavey chimed in with a nod.
"No one I'd rather have covering me," I smiled at her and nodded as the intercom in the room blinked and drew everyone's attention its way. Peek wobbled over and turned it on for us with a little gonk. "Who is it?"
"Dorn, get to the bridge now. We need to talk." Sevens' voice went as quickly as it came, and I heard a collective sigh from some of the group as I nodded my farewells and walked from the room.
I felt like I made it to the bridge in record time and found Sevens waiting for me looking more than a little unhappy. "Sevens?"
"I just got interrogated by Allegiant General Pryde as to why our premier Special Forces squadron is getting redeployed to Yavin for a single man," he turned fully to face me with a shake of his head. "Dorn, I understand why you want to do this, but-!"
"But nothing! That is one of my cadets down there, Sevens! if Pryde has an issue with how I handle my men and my affairs-!"
Sevens groaned and turned away, "Hux wasn't happy. And if he isn't happy, none of our senior command is happy."
"Should I care?"
" The request was denied, Dorn," Sevens turned to look at me again with a shake of his head. "They won't let you go back for Jag. I'm sorry."
"I can't just leave him out there, Sevens!"
"And if you leave, what will they do to you?" He fully turned to face me, his face graver than I have ever seen it. "I won't see you court martialed or worse."
"That isn't your decision to make," I felt my fists curling into balls at my side.
"I've lost enough friends, Dorn. I won't lose the last one I have," he stepped closer to me and place a hand on my shoulder. He had that pleading look in his eye that was begging me not to do anything stupid.
Unfortunately for him, I had a track record of being an absolute idiot.
I reached up and grabbed his wrist with a shake of my head, "Jag is only here because of me. I won't abandon him no matter what the upper command says." I lowered his arm away from my shoulder and stepped away.
"They won't let your team go, Dorn!" Sevens protested as I spun on my heel and marched out of the room.
"My team won't be going," I called as I slipped my helmet on. "I will."
--
I felt fortunate that the Bracca was easy enough to handle on my own as I waited to reappear at Yavin. I began my orbit around the planet and started fidgeting with the comms before I got my team's channel open. If Jag was still alive and his helmet was in one piece, he could hear me. "Jag? Lieutenant Montferrat, are you there? This is Vengeant, do you copy?"
The only thing that I was greeted with for a time was static until finally the comms crackled and a voice came through, "This is Jagged Montferrat, reporting in, General. Transmitting my coordinates now. Uh, hey, listen..."
"What is it, Jag?" I input the coordinates into the nav terminal and started looking for nearby places to land amidst the insane amount of forest we were having to compete with.
"I have Apalis with me, sir. She helped me stick it out here. Can we let her use comms to get her a pickup?"
Had he asked any other commander, the answer might have been a lot worse than the 'yes' I gave him as my computer pointed out a nearby clearing. "Can you travel to the clearing about two clicks southwest? That's the only close place I can set the Bracca down."
"We'll be there, General."
I let the Bracca do the landing procedures on her own as I grabbed my helmet and slipped it on adjusting my armor and grabbing my DLT. My identity being secret was paramount during this little operation. Shenna couldn't know that I was Vengeant. The last thing that I wanted was to break my promise to Thesh. Not many people deserved it as much as he and Shenna did.
When I finally lowered the ramp to walk outside, I was greeted by a natural ring of trees that made up a small clearing. Though looking back on it, it likely used to be an old landing zone that just never grew back at one point. The entire area was ominously quiet. Not even the local fauna seemed to be making any sounds, and that was neevr a good sign. I readied my DLT and started to wait. It was so quiet that I could hear my heartbeat echoing in my ears, disturbingly loud isndie of my helmet. That kind of total silence was never good. Never.
There was a rustling coming closer, and I turned my blaster towards the sound. Footsteps and arms moving brush, noises I knew from Mimban. They were moving fast, and it didn't take more than a moment to understand why.
"General!" Jag burst through the brush, helmet in hand, with Shenna hot on his heels. Both of them looked absolutely terrified, and soon I saw why. "Rancor!" Directly behind them was one of the nastiest beings I had ever seen in my life, and the creature was trying to get a hold of one of the two.
I had seen a few rancor before at a distance. Massive, ugly beasts, but this one had two long horns on its head. That was new.
"Jag!" I commanded, "Hit the deck!" He grabbed Shenna and flung both of them to the ground as I opened fire on the rancor which seemed to have, luckily, not noticed me until I started shooting it. It turned on me and started coming forward, but it seemed like my constant barrage of blaster fire was slowing it down enough for me to get off one long charged shot straight through the beast's heart. The kickback from the blaster on the last shot made my arm jerk, and I felt the muscles begin to twinge and tighten uncomfortably in my shoulder. The creature collapsed to the ground with a groan as I tried my best to keep it from looking like my arm wanted to kill me as I lowered my DLT and set it on the ground. As I came down from the adrenaline high, I turned my attention to my cadet. "Jag!" I shot over and grabbed him by his shoulders, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Vengeant!" Jag grabbed my arms with a relieved laugh, resting his forehead on my shoulder with a shaking sigh. "You came back for me..."
"Never leave a man behind. You know me better than that." I wrapped him up in a hug and raised my helmeted head to see Shenna standing nervously by. I wanted to grab her up and hug her, too, but Thesh's words rang in my ears like sirens. "Thank you, Apalis," I nodded at her, and she shook her head.
"Jag saved me. The least I could do was help keep him alive, too." She looked a little nervous, shifting from foot to foot, so I took a quick second to look her over. She got a bit taller and had gained a bit of muscle. She had cut off a lot of her hair and braided up around her head like her mother used to do. Her dark eyes were still big and brown with that little hint of fire in them. She wore a pilot's uniform now, that orange jumpsuit and off-white vest, her name emblazoned on it in aurebesh beneath a symbol I couldn't place. She was a young woman now, but she was still my little sun.
"Hop onboard and use my comms," I gestured to the Bracca behind me with the chin of my helmet, and she gave me a grateful smile as she passed me by.
Jag gave me a grateful smile as he took a seat on the ship's ramp. "Thank you, sir."
"This is a little unorthodox, Jag," I sat down beside him as I heard Shenna inside.
"I know, but... She did right by me, and she's Admiral Ahuff's daughter." I paused and looked over at him, and I saw him giving me a knowing look. "I saw her vest. Listen, I know that if it turned out that my father was alive, the last thing I would want to hear after having mourned his death is that he's alive and hasn't gone out looking for me yet."
We sat there and waited for her for a while, and I gave Jag a chance to catch his breath more than anything else. He needed it. She emerged not much alter and quickly hurried down the ramp to put some distance between us and her. I couldn't blame her. I knew that Venn had likely told them all stories about me. I knew that there were a lot of them that were true, but I couldn't help but feel a pang in my chest on seeing Shenna want to stay as far away from me as possible.
"They, um," he clasped her hands together in front of her, still holding her helmet in her hands, "they were already on their way, so it won't be a long time now..."
An awkward silence fell between us as we sat there, and I could tell that Jag wanted to talk to her, but kept stopping when he glanced back at me. Finally, I cleared my throat, "I won't begrudge you both a conversation, you know." My voice seemed to surprise them both as I knelt down to grab my DLT, and I saw Shenna stiffen at the motion. "And don't worry. I may be First Order, but I keep my word. Shooting you isn't on my list of things to do today."
Jag turned to her and grinned, "Told you."
She snorted a small laugh, "Okay, I'll admit... He's not everything that Venn said."
"He's not so bad," Jag turned to look up to me with a smile. "Dangerous, sure, but he's got honor."
Honor. Not usually a word I'd associate with me, if I was being honest.
"I do have one question, Vengeant." I looked up when Shenna addressed me, and I saw Jag turn to look at me, too. "You could have shot me down the other day. You didn't. Why?"
Ah. Now that was a tricky question to answer. I couldn't really tell her the truth without giving myself away, so I settled on shifting my weight and rolling my shoulder as I met her gaze through the lenses of my helmet.
I would never kill my family, I wanted to say.
What I did say was different. "To send a message to Venn," I nodded to her. "One he clearly seemed to know. Why did he leave you out here?"
Shenna hesitated. She didn't have an answer other than one that would make her cause look fragile at best. I could read her actual answer all over her face as she forced another smile and looked down at her helmet, "He has to keep everyone else safe. I can't expect him to make exceptions for me."
"Vengeant came back for me," Jag frowned as he turned back to her. "Surely he can do the same for you."
"It doesn't matter, anyway. My people were going to come and get me with or without him." She tried to shrug it off, but I could see that it stung her knowing that he had a point.
There was the sound of ships overhead, and when we looked up, we caught sight of a squadron of X-Wings landing at a nearby safe zone I had seen earlier. I recognized a few of their ships from the dogfight we had had a few days prior.
"Your people?" I asked an Shenna nodded. I already knew the answer, but I wanted to be sure. It didn't take long before they showed up, sprinting through the brush. They were a motley crew. A decent chunk of them were Alderaanian, but there were aliens among them, too. A duros, an Ishi-tub, a Weequay, and every last one of them all drew blasters on us the moment that they laid eyes on us.
"Stop!" Shenna flung herself between her pilots and Jag, and I watched as they stared at her in surprise.
"Shen, they're Imps!" One of them, a big human pilot, was the one who spoke up first. he snapped his words out, gesturing to us with his rifle, as I sized him up. He was tall, Alderaanian himself judging by his look.
"They saved my life!" Shenna replied and gesture beside her to the dead rancor, "and Jag-" She caught herself, and I saw a few of the pilots cock an eyebrow at her use of his nickname. Hell, it even made me pause. "This pilot, he could have killed me and he didn't!"
"What part of they're Imps isn't computing with you?"
"My father was an imp you kriffing sack of Bantha shit!" Shenna snapped, her voice breaking as she screamed at him. "If we keep thinking like that, then when this war is done there'll just be another one! Bo, why in the hell do you think it was so easy for the First Order to get people in the first place? How are we ever supposed to heal when people like you won't let them live in peace? Half of the academy defected because of people like you!" She threw down her helmet and it rolled to the now stunned Bo's feet, and I could see her angrily wipe away tears of frustration that began to spill down her cheeks. I wanted so badly to take my helmet off and speak to her, to hug her, to do something, but my promise gripped me by the throat and kept me quietly standing behind Jag. "We're letting them go. And if any single one of you takes one step towards them, I will beat the Corellian hells out of you. Do I make myself clear?"
"Shen..." Bo was clearly trying to apologize, but Shenna turned away and looked at us.
Her freckled face was stained with tears as she met Jag's gaze again, "You're not a bad person, Jag. You're just with the wrong people."
I watched Jag's face as he looked back at her, and there was something there that I couldn't quite puzzle out. "Same to you, Shenna." He turned back to me with a nod, "I'm ready, General. Let's go home."
I guided him away by his shoulder and met Shenna's gaze through the lenses of my helmet. I had so many things that I wanted to say to her, but I settled for pausing on the ramp to the Bracca, "Thank you, Shenna."
I saw something catch on her face as I turned away, something almost like recognition, and continued up the ramp, closing it behind me before making my way to the cockpit where I saw Jag sitting back in the co-pilot's seat. I decided to let him catch his breath as I powered her up and we began to lift into the air. I saw Shenna leaving with her pilots through the front viewing port, and she looked back at us one final time before she disappeared into the vegetation and out of sight. After a time, Jag started helping get the Bracca going, still keeping silent until we had pierced through the atmosphere and jumped to hyperspace.
"I hope I never have to fight her again," Jag muttered as we sat back and watched the hyperspace lane pass us by. "She was... incredible."
"Don't let Admiral Ahuff catch you saying that," I muttered as I double checked the computers to be sure that the Bracca wasn't going to send us straight into an asteroid field.
"I can't imagine that he was thrilled with his daughter being in the Resistance."
"Keep that part quiet when we get back."
"No worries. The Admiral's secret is safe with me. He's been good to us. Least I can do is not give his enemies anything to work with." He sat back in the seat and closed his eyes and we sat together in silence. "Are you going to get in trouble? For getting me out of there?" Jag turned to me with concern coloring his face as I pulled my helmet off with a shrug.
"Maybe," I tuned to look at him with a smile, "but it was worth it."