Taggart and Mannix sat on a couch in the lounge. There was a holo net program playing, but they weren't paying attention. Using models, hands and whatever else they could find, the Ace was showing the young pilot different maneuvers and tricks that he'd learned over the years.
"See, if they come at you from this vector, you pull what I like to call the double X cross-over," Taggart explained and then demonstrated the move, which involved two barrel rolls and an inverted loop.
"Okay, that makes sense, but isn't it disorienting?" Mannix asked.
"It is, especially away from any planets to reorient yourself. It's why a dog-fight in space is so much more instrument-reliant, you know kid?" the older pilot instructed. "Really at this point, you just need more time in the cockpit. I can only teach you so much, and you've learned just about everything I can teach you. The rest is practice and experience."
Taggart looked over at the only other occupants of the room. Zanz and Dengar were going over their insertion and hijacking plans once again. "Alright, enviro suits on, we breach the portal. Any survivors removed, once that's be done, you begin checking payload while I check for system restart..." Dengar, the ex-Mandalorian was saying when he was interrupted.
"You know, if you guys don't have it down by now, you may never have it down," Taggart said jokingly, and his protege giggled quietly.
"You'd do well to get your ass over here and pay attention, Tag," Zanz, Dianna's first mate said. "You're going to be with us and have to do a cold start on that shuttle, and you need to be just as familiar with this plan."
"Don't worry, if it's got a hyper-drive, I can pilot it," Taggart retorted. "Hell, even if it doesn't have a hyper-drive, I can pilot it. Of course, why anyone would want to bother flying something without a hyper-drive is beyond me," he chuckled.
Just then, Zanz noticed two figures walking in the corridor past the open lounge doors, and he jumped up. "Den, go over this with Tag whether he likes it or not. The kid can sit in too. Maybe he'll learn more than barrel rolls and hyper-drives."
"Will do, boss," Dengar replied.
Zanz trotted out the door and caught up with Trychon and Raezyr in the hall. "I want to talk to you two," he said as the two Sith turned to look at him.
"Make it brief, old man. We're busy," Raezyr said, staring the ex-Sith commando in the eye. He knew it was a challenge, and he also knew that Zanz would not step up to it. Not after their last confrontation in the hangar several weeks prior.
Zanz broke eye contact first, and looked at Trychon. "I'm telling you right now that if this doesn't go as planned, if I think for a moment that this crew is in over it's head, I'm pulling the plug. I'm not letting you wipe this crew out because of Sith greed. These people depend on me and I won't let them down. I swear to you, if I catch a whiff of betrayal from you two, I'll order a retreat."
Trychon and Raezyr glanced at each other briefly before the older brother replied. "Alright, you do that, Zanz," Trychon said with a condescending note in his voice.
"How do you know your information is accurate, Sith?" Zanz demanded, not bothering to hide his scorn.
"Oh, we just know," Trychon said. They both turned and continued down the corridor, rolling their eyes.
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"What's the big idea?" Tyr said testily.
The four Sith stood in Dianna's office, having requested it's use for a private meeting.
"What exactly are you talking about?" Trychon inquired.
"You're still mad about the command decision we made back on Corellia, aren't you?" Tyr asked. "That's why you didn't bother waiting for us to get here before starting that briefing. Maybe we had something to add. Did you stop and think about that?" Anya stood behind and to the side of Tyr, giving him an approving look.
Trychon thought for a moment, not about how he was going to respond, but about the inflection in Tyr's voice and the body language their two counter-parts were giving. Tyr was speaking as if he had rehearsed this, and while Trychon didn't doubt that his Sith brother had, Anya's demeanor was almost as if she were a conductor of an orchestra, or a director of a holo-drama, watching things unfold as she had coached.
"You made a decision in the heat of the moment. One you thought was for the best of us all," Trychon said, knowing full well it wasn't the truth, but he needed to knock the pedestal out from under them. "You can't be faulted for doing what you thought was right, no matter how bad the decision was."
Tyr started to interject, but Trychon continued. "As for the briefing, you may have had something to add, true, but timing is of the essence here, and we had no way of knowing when you would arrive. It's why we filled you in on the plan before we went to Corellia."
Trychon turned to leave, signifying the meeting was over. Raezyr began to follow, then turned back. "You two make sure your gear is ready and your ship is prepped. We leave at 0900 hours tomorrow morning."
The brothers walked out leaving Anya and Tyr standing there speechless. Tyr turned to her for council, but she could give none. For the first time in a long time, she felt like things were not going her way. She stormed out, wondering at what point she lost control of things.
Tyr stood there for a moment, then followed his lover out the door.
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Raezyr's eyes snapped open and he almost called his lightsaber to his hand from the dresser across the room before he realized that the presence was a familiar one. The Sith could barely make out the silhouette of Dianna's lithe body in the darkness as she paced.
"Come back to bed, Di," Raezyr called sleepily.
"I can't sleep, baby," she replied quietly.
"What's the matter?"
"Raez, you know I trust you, right?" Dianna said, walking over and sitting down on the edge of the bed. Raezyr sat up, reached over and rubbed her back reassuringly, saying nothing and waiting for the red-headed woman to continue. "It's just that I don't think you know how much I have riding on this operation.
"Your instructions were so last minute, that I've had to buy, beg, or borrow parts and ships from anywhere I could get them. I've called in every favor, every marker, every chit that anyone has ever owed me. I've even had to beg for favors in my father's name, just to get everything ready in time," she told him.
"And I didn't have a choice," she continued. "Business has been so bad lately. No jobs are coming in. If we don't do this, we'd have been ruined in a year.
"But here's my dilemma," she said, turning to look into her lover's eyes. "I'm now in debt to so many people, that if we don't come home with this money, I'll have to sell this base. Even then I don't know if it'll be enough to cover what I now owe."
Raezyr pulled the beautiful woman into bed and into his arms. "Di, we won't fail. I promise you." He kissed her deeply.
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