Epilogue: Reports

"This is ridiculous!  We should have had a lead by now!" The Organa Girl bellowed.  Even if it was a fact, she did not have to be so...loud about it.  Then again, expecting Leia to not have an opinion was like expecting a Bantha growing wings.  At least Chief Engineering Officer Adams's facial expressions were amusing - his robotic ear never did like such loud screeches.

"So you agree we must move to support our forces against the Black Sun then?" Admiral Akbar always spoke with a fine sense of nobility.  It was true that his initial claim to fame was a bit dark - he assassinated a key Empire leader by the name of Tarkin during the takeover of Coruscant over twenty years ago - but Akbar was a loyal family friend of the Vicious family.  Akbar had quickly rose from Colonial to Commander to Commodore and now finally Admiral, proving himself to be both a fine commander and diplomat.  Not one bad word about Akbar could be found, except perhaps for his occasional periods of being overly conservative with his maneuvers.

The Droid, B-69, stood silent as always in the corner.  Its eyes swerved back to forth, constantly scanning its environment, in this case the dining room of the Admiral.  It always followed Terra Vicious wherever she went, had been for almost twenty years, or so rumor said.  It was still a bit unsettling.  Terra, the leader of the special operations team and de facto second in command, spoke "Just give my team another hour or two to review our work.  There must have been missing we're missing.  I've met them.  They're good people but there is simply no way they could keep quiet for so long."  The stress could easily be seen on her face - many restless nights had been spent on this operation. 

"I'm sorry Commander" The Admiral stated. "But we cannot risk the lives our allies"  He almost always called her by Terra; in response Terra clenched her fist and said nothing. 

With the meeting all but over, I went through the common low threat report and incident files.  As the chief security officer, it was my job - plus, frankly, most of the files were just complaints, and I took a perverse joy in reading about how poor everyone else lives were.  And then I saw Lieutenant Page's report. This was exactly what Terra needed, had to be - same type of ship model, specifications...though why it from the Lieutenant and not the Commodore was a bit strange. 

I've never cared for Terra Vicious, and the way this mission was draining on her I admit was a bit...pleasing.  I could simply put this file in lockdown, forget all about it, and watch her suffer.  But when I looked at the Admiral, his large eyes downcast at what he had just said to Terra...I knew what I had to do "Sir..."