Burning Summer

[Adder]

“Wha—” Adder stumbled over her words as she rushed to get everything ready. Chancing a glance out the cockpit as she engaged the thrusters, the pilot saw exactly what [member="Naomi Carolina"] meant.

The redhead blinked at the hangar a few times, heart in her gut. “I… I don’t know, Freckles. It’s weird.”

Maybe they got a lucky break, and most of the security was somewhere else in the starport. Bastion was a big place, lots of inbound and outbound flights… somewhere, an alarm started to blare.

They were out of time.

“Strap in, Freckles!” Adder yelled over the comlink as she clipped the Nerve helm over her face. She let out a long exhale as the systems of the Phantom Limb kicked in, flooding her senses with data.

She seared the incoming squad of troops with the engine exhaust, barrel rolled over a nearby shuttle, and darted out of the bay.

The moment they were clear, Adder keyed in a nearby system, flicked the hyperdrive switch and watched the stars streak into infinity.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Adder"]

Pinpricks of stars turned into extended lines of white. A sigh escaped her throat, back of her coppery-haired head thumping back against the turret's gunseat. Fingers flexed at her sides.

"We're clear," she whispered to herself, the relative silence of the turret area seeping into her bones.

Trembling palms unclipped the crash-harness.

Get a grip Naomi.

Pushing free from the seat, the teen scrambled up the ladder and headed back toward the cockpit. "They let me go," she whispered, standing in the doorway. "I don't get it. You didn't tell Asmus, right?"

Would he be disappointed that she'd gotten caught? The teen knew it wasn't her fault. It had been a trap. But that didn't matter. She still failed.

 

[Adder]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

The ship shivered slightly as Adder yanked it back out of hyperspace. They were in the middle of galactic nowhere – blackness and nary a star far as the eye could see.

She closed her eyes, head hitting the back of her seat with a heavy sigh.

Kark.

Feet and hands scrambled over metal somewhere in the distance. Freckles’ voice drifted closer, barely echoing in the narrow corridors of the ship.

“No,” the redhead spoke slowly, forcing the words past her lips like they were poison. “Fre— Naomi. I… had to look. ‘Cause if I’d asked Janes he’d know, and you said not to tell…” she trailed off, cursing again.

“When would’ve ya told me, huh?” Adder twisted up from her seat then, something half like anger and half like hurt in her green eyes. “Next month? Three years? Karkin’ never?”

Her knuckles grew white on the edge of her seat before she tore away. Arms crossed, gaze trained on the void beyond the viewport.

“Yer too fething young fer this job, Freckles.”

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Adder"]

"Wha," freckled-face scrunched up in confusion. Palm pushed through tangled thick, wild strands of copper. Hazels stared at Adder's back, very well remembering the stormy-expression she'd just been fixed with.

Too young.

Hazels widened. The teen gulped. "I," she started then closed her yapper. Hazels burned something fierce - a mixture of exhaustion, relief, shock, and anger. "Too young my arse!" The burst left her throat, full of fire and heat. "I didn't want you to get in trouble! I didn't want to get in trouble! So what? I'm not eighteen. Everyone knows there was a pilot who started way younger with Rogues. Choli something."

Kriff, Naomi was just a year younger than that girl.

"But more than that - it was just me and my two younger brothers who made it out of Barkesh. What were we supposed to do, starve?! A job was offered and I took it. Got mouths to feed with Ma and Pa...," she gulped. Angry rivlets of water were cutting down her cheeks. This time, the teen turned her back on Adder.

"And I liked it. It was something I was good at - or, I thought I was, till today."

 

[Adder]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

“Oh fethin’ hell—”

Adder’s bout of fury went as quick as it came. The cut of her features softened, harsh green eyes crinkling at the corners. Kark if she didn’t know that feeling all too well.

Her brow creased, but really, she’d already made the decision. By the time it hit her brain, the pilot was already striding over to the smaller girl – younger girl – and then she was wrapping her up in a hug.

It’d been a long time coming. Ever since that mess on Barkesh, feth dammit.

“You are good at it,” she huffed, voice just above a whisper. “Hell if I don’t wish ya weren’t – then I could kick yer bony arse out of the Wraiths and the SIS and tell ya to pick up somethin’ nicer. Somethin’ that won’t get ye shot ‘fore you can even order a damn drink, Naomi.”

A sigh escaped her lips, and slowly Adder pulled away.

“I didna tell anyone, though.” She shook her head. “Damn me for a soft-hearted fool.”

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Adder"]

She stood stiff-armed for a second. Surprised and not expecting that reaction. The teen expected a lot more yelling. Arms finally moved, wrapping tight around her friend. No. She was more like the older sister she never had and that meant a lot considering it was Naomi who constantly had to shoulder her family's burdens on her own. And [member="Asmus Janes"] was her boss. Not like she could act this way around him.

"Thank you," she gulped, releasing that strong hug. She tried to smile, upturned palm pushing against misty hazels. "Okay," fingers came up to push copper strands behind red ears. Determination eclipsed its way across her worn-out freckled-face.

"They injected me with something. Some sort of truth serum. Makes me nervous. And there's no way they should've known I was on planet. They were looking for me before I even got there. You know what that means, right?"

There was a mole in SIS. Or. Somehow the enemy had hacked into SIS mission logs.

"I don't know if it's safe for me to go back to the carrier right now. What's standard procedure when um, something like this happens?"

 

[Adder]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

“Yeah. I do.”

She released the younger girl from the embrace and sat her down on the nearest bench in the vessel. Cramped for space as they were, they had to solve this sooner rather than later. Especially given the circumstances of Naomi’s release.

Adder rubbed her brow, pacing in a little circle behind the cockpit as she run through the scenarios in her head. Training was a long time ago now, and in the field the rules were always different.

A long sigh left her chest. She flopped down next to Freckles, chuckling in that slow, desperate way.

“When I checked your file there was a bunch of shet outta place. Someone who def shouldn’t have seen it, or ever had access. It’s… it’s bad.” No use sugar-coatin’ the truth. “He let you go, right? I gotta check you for trackers an’ the like, in case it’s a tailin’ scheme.”

She got back up, pulling the smaller redhead with. “This ain’t standard procedure. But…” a shrug, “we don’t really have other options right now.”

With that, Adder brought up her datalogger and began the first scan. Ah, yes. The field.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Adder"]

"A tracker?!" Lips puffed further into a frown. Freckled face scrunched up together. Fingers absently ran across her arms. Something foreign and mechanical in her body made her shiver. Back straightened as Adder began the scan.

Digits squeezed together as she tried to stop fidgeting.

"Makes sense why he let me go so suddenly and why we didn't get much resistance to leave."

She'd feel better if there want actually a tracker, though. How did they get disabled or even come out?

"And this Arkaitz Zambrano guy did inject me with the truth serum. So maybe..." She became more quiet as the scan went on. There was a sudden, sharp beep on the device in Adder's hand and the teen saw the screen flash red.

"Um, not good?"

 

[Adder]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

Adder paused mid-pass, glancing up at the younger girl with worry etched all over her face. “Did you say Zambrano? Fethin’ hell.”

This was getting better and better. Still… “You know I gotta ask, Freckles – did you tell him anything?” As she waited with bated breath to hear the girl’s response, the scanner let out a sharp beep.

The pilot closed her eyes. Exhaled.

“I… both? I guess?” She set the device aside and brought up her wrist-mounted datalogger. “Sit. We’re going to do— well, we’re gonna try to do something about it.” Adder took a seat next to the smaller girl and began to access one of the many unsanctioned programs tucked away under the hood.

Better to keep the girl occupied as she worked, though. “So. There’s one other thing, Freckles. ‘D you tell anyone back home about this assignment coming up? Even just, y’know, mentioned it casually?”

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Adder"]

"Hey," she peered and leaned over, trying to get a close look at Adder's data logger. "Whayre you doing? Is this going to hurt?" She could take pain but she'd had enough surprises for the rest of the day. The rest of the week. Arms crossed defensively, just beneath her chest. Lips puffed out, freckled-face scowling.

"I didn't tell him anything before the truth serum but after...," voice trailed off and her shoulders deflated sharply. "It wasn't anything like training. I tried. I only told him my first name. And that I worked for alliance. Told him I didn't know anything else and he let me go."

She thought for a minute.

"I might be told him my age. Or. He already knew. Some file he had. And yeah. I remember talking to Jay I think. He was hanging around, per usual."

Freckled cheeks reddened a bit. It was no secret half the wraith squad knew Jay Wilson had a crush on Naomi.

 

[Adder]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

They always told you ‘rip off the bandaid’ but hell if theory and practice weren’t always two different animals. Adder understood the idea, but staring at the trembling girl now – so young, so ashamed, so small – she couldn’t find the heart to do it.

Later. There’d be time later.

A heavy sigh escaped her as she drew her into another hug. Her datalogger kept running, brute-forcing the source of the signal until the circuitry got fried. There was a tinny noise of triumph from the device, and the pilot smiled her first smile of the evening.

“Alright. That’s something.” She pulled back, looked Naomi in the eye. “The tracker’s disabled, yeah? We’re gonna get you home and then Doc Arlen’s gonna get that thing out of you.”

Adder led her back into the cockpit of the ship. They got strapped and then it was a short ride home – Wraith had access to a bunch of extra-black astrogation charts that helped them get around much faster than commercial spacers.

~~~​

Their arrival on the Subversion was a quiet one. She landed in the smaller of the two hangars – an unusual spot for the Phantom Limb – and kept Freckles casually tucked away from the view of the dock cameras as they made haste for the med bay.

Far as she was concerned, that tracker wasn’t staying inside her body a moment longer. Once she’d passed the younger girl unto the competent hands of the Zeltron doctor, Adder stepped out into the corridor, closed her eyes and…

caught her breath.

What a day.

“Kark.”

It was time she brought Asmus in on this. She didn’t want to, but the longer they held off, the deeper that pile of shet got. Wouldn’t be the first time she’d lie about the source of her info, anyway. Wouldn’t be the last, either.

Ignoring the pulsing headache in her temples, Adder turned on a secure comm. line to one [member="Asmus Janes"], Wingcom and playboy, at your service.

“Sir—” a retreat to rank helped her detach her mind from the whole situation. Emotions were running high as it was. “Sir, we have a serious security issue. I’d rather not say anymore here. Meet me next to the medbay on deck C.”

Time to face the music.

 

[Asmus Janes]

@Adder @Naomi Carolina

"So this is the story about the wookie and the sullustan?" Max asked. There was a planning room behind the flight control room that overlooked the deck. Max was technically in charge but it was a very quiet day and everything was currently grounded. He was in the planning room sat around the table with his pilots at readiness. One wall showed an updated display of the surrounding region. Not one of them looked at it.

They looked at the cards on the table and the hands each held.

Wilson gave a shrug. "No this one is worse."

"Worse?" Max looked aghast. "Where do you even get these stories?"

"Five years working as a smuggler in the Outer Rim," Asmus explained. "But he's right. This is worse than the..." He trailed off as his intercom buzzed. "Max, something has come up. Comm me if you need."

There was a general clamour of disapproval. Asmus was already down and the group decided he was ducking out. He dropped his cards face down on the table to silence the group. He'd given up a near perfect hand.


On his way in Asmus passed Nurse Quey. The nurse was over six feet of lean, crimson-skinned togruta. It would have been a distraction, or at least an opportunity for a chat, if the message hadn't sounded quite so urgent.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he spotted Adder. This didn't seem the best location for a meeting on a security breach.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

@Adder @Asmus Janes

Crisp, sterile linens clung to her form. Odd how being surrounded by medical droids and back on the Subversion she didn't feel quite safe. The procedure was quick. One quick, small incision and the tracker was out. So small, Naomi just saw the teeniest for gray specks. Only a tiny stitch was needed. Naomi had plenty of stitches in her short life. Part of racing in the mines back on Barkesh. The red-rocks weren't kind to crashes.

The teen frowned as the Zeltron doctor emitted warm and fuzzy feelings she knew wasn't her own.

Hard to fight them, though.

"Should be all clear," the zeltron doc rumbled, his voice crisp and smooth like a golden-apple.

Naomi went to throw the sheets off but was stopped by a firm hand.

"Not so fast. Your vitals are a bit off. You need rest." The Zeltron knew better than to ask questions about particulars after being with a spy ship for so long.

"But you just said," Naomi scowled.

"Rest kid. I'll let the others know. Don't make me sedate you."

 

[Adder]

Could hear [member="Asmus Janes"] coming from a mile away – he had this distinct swagger-gait that echoed down a corridor. Couldn’t miss it.

Soon as he rounded the corner, Adder shook her head and motioned further down the way. [member="Naomi Carolina"] would be bed-bound for a few more minutes at least.

The Subversion was technically a hyper-secure, hyper-vigilant marriage of ship and circuitry. It was quite mind-boggling at times, just how many cameras and sensors littered the vessel. Even so, over the years the Wraiths and the engineers and the SIS had all found their little blind spots. Nooks and crannies here and there, just enough to hold a quick, quiet one-on-one conversation.

Adder led the Wingcom into one such corner – a wedge of space where two corridors met at an awkward angle and no-one could hear or see you speak.

“The mission Carolina got sent on was compromised from the start,” she hissed in a low voice. “Someone knew she was coming. She got captured first thing and held for interrogation.” A beat. “I went in for an extraction. Disabled the tracker they’d planted in her – Arlen got it out by now. We’ll scan it but it’s obviously Sith.”

She caught a breath, holding up a finger for Janes to let her finish. “That mission was designed and assigned here. On this ship.” If she were still as paranoid as she used to be when she nursed the bottle, Adder might’ve stopped to consider that it could be Asmus himself. Hell, the thought crossed her mind, even now.

Still – gotta trust someone. And when you spent your life flying through space at breakneck speeds, that someone was usually the Wingcom.

“Some kark broke into the files and sold her out.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Adder"] [member="Naomi Carolina"]

His expression dropped quite suddenly. His gaze narrowed before he looked away from Adder. Behind that easy smile and relaxed demeanour was a fierce intelligence - when he felt like applying it. Avoiding his family's goals for it had taken up much of his life.

"Getting a signal out isn't easy," he reasoned. "We're running dark so if they did that and covered their tracks it's beyond our ability to track."

Another pause as he mentally tallied who would have had access to mission data far enough in advance to plan this. Everything here was compartmentalised and isolated. He did, the backup pilot. Captain or the XO and the Staff Officers they did the planning with. Max.

"But if they rigged the ship to send a signal when they were away from the Subversion it would have been harder to track. Where is it now? Did she talk to anyone else about the operation?"

Asmus had worked on ship firmware before. He could probably find tampering if he could get access before the engineers.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Asmus Janes"] [member="Adder"]

The youngest wraith member did exactly as the doctor ordered. Until the doc left the room. Legs swung out from under the sheet and her feet hit the cold floor. Sneaking to the doorway, hazels peeked around the corner.

The doc's back was turned to her, going over some charts.

Hands scooped her boots up and she quickly tiptoed past the main intake area. Left. Right. Found herself running right into Asmus and Adder. "Sir," she said a bit surprised. "Adder," she breathed, catching the last bit of conversation. Trying to balance on one wobbly leg, she went to shove a foot in one of her boots. "I talked to Jay but Jay always talks to me."

No secret that Wilson had a crush on the teen. Or at least, he acted like it.

With one boot on and the other foot bare, she paused and looked at her XO, dread building in the pit of her belly and worry across her freckled-face. "Am I going to get kicked from Wraiths?"

 

[Adder]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“She’s… in the medbay…” Adder trailed off with a deepening furrow in her brow as she watched a familiar freckled figure bolt down the corridor.

Didn’t take long for [member="Naomi Carolina"] to stumble back around, doing her unceremonious best on one foot and a stray shoe. Truly, the picture of the Alliance’s best and fastest. Maybe Arlen gave her some kinda drugs?

“I—”

Well, if Freckles didn’t have the best timing. Saved Adder stumbling through that unfortunate explanation. She hadn’t had the heart to mention it on the ride over, not with the kid in tears as it was.

“No clue how he got the message out, cryptocommunications ain’t really my field. But I may have a… friend or two there, in the SIS.” She shrugged. Cat was out of the bag now, and pinning this on the right culprit was more important than her own little secrets.

This wasn’t a shot they could afford to miss.

“Wasn’t exactly on the books, that extraction. I pulled some strings to see where I was going, and, well.” She puffed out a breath. “Wasn’t difficult to figure out who’d done it before me. Wilson’s worth questioning at least.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Naomi Carolina"] [member="Adder"]

"No you're not getting kicked out Naomi."

If Wilson was outside of the mission briefing and she'd told him where she was going then she would be getting a stern talking to from someone higher up the chain, but it didn't seem the time to bring that up.

"What do you mean someone went before you?" he asked very carefully. This was no time to get the wrong idea. He needed to know exactly what she meant. Had someone been asking similar questions or did she have a clear line to the culprit from formal access requests.

" Is the ship she left on in the hangar or did you both come back on another vessel?"

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Asmus Janes"] [member="Adder"]

Cryptocommunications. All that stuff was giving the teen a headache. She couldn't help the look of relief cross her freckled-face as Asmus promised she wouldn't be kicked out. Tension she'd been holding along her shoulders released a bit. Just a tiny bit.

Someone had tried to kill her or set her up. Didn't rightly know which one was worse. Hazels fixed on Adder. Lips pursed. Adder knew she was 15. She'd promised not to tell anyone, right? The teen suspected Asmus knew but they'd never right out had that conversation.

Tension was back again. Hazels panned to Asmus. "No. I had to ditch the ship. Followed protocol. No information was left behind." Coppery-brows scrunched together. "Wait. Why would you have to question Wilson?"

He'd never....right?

 

[Adder]

[member="Naomi Carolina"] [member="Asmus Janes"]

“I mean,” Adder began and puffed out a long breath. Licked her lips. Yank off the bandaid, right?

“I mean the same SIS tech owed two people a favor. One of ‘em was me – ‘s how I figured out where you were, Naomi.” Did her accent always get this bad when she was stressed? She’d never noticed until now. “The other guy… was Wilson.”

There. It was out.

“I asked when exactly he’d accessed the file. It was the night before Carolina left on her mission.”

The redhead couldn’t quite bear to look at her younger friend. Everyone knew Jay had a crush on Freckles, and though the kid always vehemently denied anything mutual was going on, Adder had her doubts.

Of course, in light of recent… revelations, the whole ‘crush’ story was likely just a convenient cover. Get her talking, get the info… she squeezed her eyes shut.

The bastard.