Fenig, weary from travel and stress, fell back fully dressed onto her bunk.  The last few weeks had been....well...longer than she had planned.  Darkness encroached on her stinging eyes, enveloping her vision in it's inkiness.  She dreamed that night, but they were dreams of the past few days.  Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, not more stressful than work itself. 

***

"Fenig!  It's great to see you again!"  Rafe wrapped his dear friend in a tight hug, sweeping her off her feet to swing her around in a circle.  "We weren't expecting you for another week!  Of all the places to take your vacation, you come back here to the Predator.  You're either the most dedicated mechanic I've ever known, or the loopiest."

"Rafe?"

"Yeah Fen?"

"Put me down please?"

"Oh, now why would I want to do that?  You gonna disappear on us again?"  The taller mechanic grinned his wide, charming smile.  The very smile that Fenig had almost succumbed to a few years prior.  Setting her down, his hands slid down her arms to take her hands in his.  This pair had history, and his actions today, in a simple greeting were, well, instilling doubt in her decision to visit here this week.

"No, no disappearing.  I promise.  Catch me up on everything, hmm?  It's been a while since I've heard from you.  Had me worried."  Pulling her hands from Rafe's, a hard task to do for the smaller mechanic, the pair walked from the hanger where her shuttle had landed.  Rafe filled Fenig in on the little stuff.  Repairs, updates to the Nebulon B, crew changes, all the menial things that Rafe knew were not what Fenig had meant.

Three years had passed before Fenig had been promoted and transferred to the Rogues.  Three years since meeting Rafe, since being reunited with Jake, since getting married...  Three years filled with more turmoil that Fenig thought any one person should work through.  She never complained a lick though. 

Winding through the corridoors and bends of the older, understaffed frigate, Rafe led Fenig to their old spot.  Countless hours had they spent sitting in the seldom used officer's lounge (the fact that neither of them were officers at the time hadn't phased them a bit), relaxing in the overstuffed sofa, datapads and cards scattered all within arm's reach of both of them.  Maintenance schedules, duty rosters, which droid to send where to do what.  All of it seeming so mundane for a pair of dedicated mechanics.  Well, Fenig was dedicated, for Rafe it was just something to do while working through his writer's block.  Poets.  Go figure.

Curling her legs beneath her, Fenig watched her old friend.  So close they had come, only days before her wedding.  He was devestatingly handsome then -no wonder so many of the women on board threw themselves at him- and little had changed since Fenig had left.  "So even through all the crew changes and ship updates, you seem to have found the time to moisturize your skin.  It still looks baby soft."

Younger than her by a mere two years, Rafe affected a scowl and handed a synthehol to her.  "You know me, my looks are the most important thing in the universe.  I'd be nothing without my face."  Falling into the worn cushion next to her, he pulled one of her legs to drape over his lap, resting his hand atop her ankle.

"Rei and Zilla still fighting over you?  Vicious little vornskrs those two.  Glad I got married, kept me out of their skirmishes."  She shuddered, remembering one of the more exceptionally violent arguments those two women had gotten into over Rafe.  For a man who had come to the Preadator broken and lacking in confidence, a simple talk with Fenig -which spawned his love for her- had done him two worlds of good.

"Zilla left with Scott a few months ago.  He got transfered to another ship and Rei...  I'm never sure about Rei."  He shrugged before turning his lighter green, but equally intense eyes on Fenig.  "Enough about my love life.  Time to change the subject.  How's your love life?"

Fenig frowned, leveling a stern gaze on him.  Rafe squirmed under it's scrutiny, shifting his drink from one hand to the other only to trade it back again.  "Alright.  Jake was last seen a few days ago.  Vaal knows the details and isn't telling.  If you want to know, you'll have to talk to him."  Rafe mirrored Fenig stare, turning his lips down in a deep frown.  "I don't know sometimes why you still worry about him.  He's an Imperial, Fen.  He's on the side we're fighting.  Who knows what information he gave them about all of us."

"You remember the remorse you felt when Spider died?"  Swinging her leg off his lap, she stood, setting her untouched drink down in her place.  Before she left, she bent down and kissed Rafe gingerly on the lips.  He just didn't get it.  Because Fenig had been reuinted with Jake on this very ship, she had been returned to her usual cheery, compassionate self.  It was that person that Rafe had fallen in love with.  If Jake had never come back, Fenig would have stayed on the Predator for no more than 3 months only to transfer again.  Any time spent on ths ship would have been done in solitude and depression.  If Rafe understood that, he wouldn't have had a doubt.

***

Knock, knock.  Vaal looked up from his desk to the door.  An old habit, one he kept despite being unable to actually see through the door.  "Come."

When the door slid away, Fenig moved in two steps before snapping up a slalute.  She didn't have to be stationed on his ship to pay her old CO the respect he had repeatedly earned.  Only after he returned it and held a hand out toward a chair did she sit.  Settling into the chair, she had to remember their first meeting. Fenig had come to the Commander asking for procedures and information on military weddings.  She knew then that the question had baffled Vaal.  A feat in itself.

"Greetings, Lt. Durak.  Just under thirty minutes.  Rafe put his foot in his mouth again?"  A rare smile etched itself on Vaal's young features.  Well into his late 30's, the Commander looked no older than 28.

"Something like that."  She smiled back, leaning back comfortably in her seat.  Beneath that clean cut, well toned exterior, Vaal was a pretty laid back man.  People just put too much stock in appearances.

"He makes a better mechanic than he would Intel.  No capacity for secrets."  Lacing his fingers together, he pressed his palms against his stomach.  Fenig wasn't aware of it, but it had been Vaal who'd reccomended that she be both promoted and put in the running for the coveted Chief Mechanic spot in Rogue Squadron.  He'd done it to get Fenig away from the Predator and because he believed she deserved it.  That she was up to the challenge.  Getting her off the ship was his primary motive though.  "I have here the report on Jake's last known activities and the system he's reported to be operating in."  A datacard slid across the desk to stop perfectly flush with the far edge of the desk, staring Fenig in the face.

"This borders the Unknown Region.  I suppose that makes sense for the Imperials to station themselves there."  She looked up, any trace of friendliness erased from her eyes.  Pushing up out of her chair, she turned and headed for the door.

"I have a stolen shuttle, identicards and uniforms for you.  The codes and history are there in that datapad.  The Indestructable is expecting their new coms officer in two days time."

Fenig pivoted slowly on her heel to face Vaal.  Understanding darkened her features.  "Thank you."

"Don't thank me too quickly.  I had to call in a lot of favors to get you that.  Don't blow it and make sure you stick to the parameters in that card.  In the storage locker on your shuttle, the Onyx, you'll find everything you need."  Startlingly, nothing on Vaal had moved in the last few minutes.  He was still sitting in the same casualy comfortable posture that he'd taken only moments ago.

"Understood."  With a decisive nod, Fenig left Tarris Vaal's office once again.

***

She'd left the Predator an hour after speaking with Vaal.  Just long enough to listen to Rafe's latest song on the antique guitar, give him another kiss, and change her clothes.  It felt odd to look down and see the grey cloth and strange rank insignia instead of her well worn coveralls and dirtied Lt's patch on her breast pocket. 

The colors of hyperspace zipped past the main viewport, casting multishadows on the control panel and on Fenig's face.  No, she wasn't Fenig right now.  She was Ensign Rania Cortesa, fresh from training and eager to beat the Rebels back into submission.

An hour before reversion, Fenig, Rania, went over the parameters of her 'mission.'  She'd been given two weeks of leave, and already three days of that were gone.  One to get to the Preadator and two more in transit to the Indestructable.  She was to spend a week as Ensign Rania Cortesa, during which she could proceed as she saw fit in regards to Jake.  After that week, she was to steal the Onyx back and return to the Predator.  "It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to make all these microjumps and short trips," she mumbled to herself.

Standing to stretch, she smoothed her hands over the new uniform -tailored to fit her perfectly.  Running her hands down the leg, she found there there a hard bump on her calf.  Pressing it against her leg with a finger, her other hand curled up inside her pant leg, pulling free whatever had been stuck there.  Rania's eyes -blue by contacts- went wide to see the small, triangular pink pill.  She knew instantly what it was.  Every pilot was given one for the event of their capture.  Same with Intel Ops and Special Forces.  She shook her head and put it back, hoping that she'd never need it, but left it where it was just in case.  There were worse fates than death.

A bleeping light on the controls pulled Rania's attention back to the shuttle.  Ten seconds to reversion.  A quick glance behind her told her that all her New Republic uniforms were stowed in the secret compartment.  Eight seconds to reversion.  Running her fingers over her neck confirmed that the long chain carrying her wedding band was still in place.  Six seconds to reversion.  She smoothed her hands over her tight bun, and put her service cap back on.  Four, three, two... Rania pulled back on the hyperdrive controls, dumping the Onyx back into realspace.

Before her, big as life and twice as ugly, was the Star Destroyer Indestructable.  "What a name.  Sort of jinxing themselves, aren't they?"  She rolled her eyes and opened up the com channel.

"Shuttle Onyx, proceed along the specified route to the secondary landing bay.  Lt. Rottie will be there to meet you." 

"Copy Indestructable, Onyx out."  As soon as she was sure the com channel was down, she broke out into laughter.  "Rottie!  What an unfortunate name!"  The specified route scrolled over her command screen, giving her the option for auto pilot.  Fenig wrinkled her nose at it and took the shuttle in manually.  She was no hot shot pilot, but she wasn't a retard at the controls of a shuttle either.  Setting it down gently, she started the powerdown and collected her, Rania's, things.

At the base of the ramp, an older, maybe in his forties, man stood.  His back was hunched over a little, probably from too many years at a computer terminal, and his hair was prematurely grey.  Shifting her bag to her left shoulder, Rania snapped to attention, affecting a sharp salute -Imperial style- before schooling her features into the eager, but well trained impassivity of Rania Cortesa.

"Ensign Cortesa.  Your file says you're trained in the comms systems.  It didn't make a single mention about piloting a shuttle."  Rottie lifted his chin to look down his crooked nose at the younger officer.

Swearing internally, she kept any trace of surprise from her face.  "No sir, it wouldn't.  My piloting training is unofficial and limited to shuttles and landspeeders, sir."

"I see.  Well, follow me."  His boots squeaked on the decking as he spun, marching away like he had a very large and leafy branch shoved up his backside.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she reshouldered her bag and followed in silence.  Good one, Fen.  Nearly blew the whole thing.

***

"This is your room.  It's small now, but if you do a worthy job, you might find yourself promoted into more pleasant accomodations."  Rottie stood sideways in the doorway, holding out a hand to the room. 

Rania looked past him and let her lips curl in a small smile.  "It's more than I need, sir."  She stood still, waiting for him to step out of the way so she could put her things away.  Rottie didn't move.  In fact, he had a rather pleased smirk on his face.  Great, harrass the new girl.  Too bad you're not very original, Rottie.  Adjusting her smile into a bit more embarassed, almost flattered type of smile, she slipped past him, careful to press herself as tightly against the other doorframe as possible.  Rottie's beginnings of a belly killed her efforts beautifully.

"Your duty schedule is on your bunk.  I believe your first shift is in the morning.  The Admiral felt you needed a night to rest and become familiar with the ship before your first shift."  The satisfied smile had disappeared at mention of the Admiral.

"Yessir, thank you sir."  Rania smiled ingratiatingly and palmed the door controls, watching in pleasure as it slid shut, cutting off whatever comment Rottie had waiting on his tongue.  Falling back on the bunk, she lifted the datapad and scrolled over her duty roster.  It didn't surprise her that Lt Rottie was her direct superior nor that her shift never had her and the Admiral on the bridge at the same time.  Scowling at the limited information she'd been given, Rania tossed the datapad on the bunk beside her and sat up.  "Time to go learn the ship."

***

Her wandering had taken her from her room to her station and back again, then to the gym, the hanger where her shuttle was, and then finally to the cafeteria.  Even a fake Imp has to eat.  She'd picked out the freshest looking bagged salad and taken a seat at a small, solitary little corner of the long tables that filled the cafeteria.  She was avoided for a number of reasons.  She was female and potential trouble to all the men on the ship -Imp chicks had a history of saying yes but then claiming they said no- she was an officer, albeit a low ranking one, and because she had no friends.  Her eyes very rarely stayed on her food as she ate, looking up to the senior staff table each time someone sat down or stood up, a glance at the main entrance and at the food line. 

Never once did she see Jake.

Heaving a soft sigh, she looked back down and continued eating, resolving to finish her meal and go back to her room to sleep.

"You're new here.  When did you get in?"  A soft and friendly voice filled her ears.  Friendly... and very familiar.  Hesitant to look up, her false blue eyes trailed up the trim white uniform to the curiously smiling face, blue eyes and mop of well combed blonde hair.  Her breath caught in her throat to see that it was Jake.  Her Jake.  Her husband Jake.

Jake's reaction was very much the same.  It can't be.  Fenig's dead.  This girl just looks like her.  Her eyes are different.  Fenig would have never worn her hair in a tight bun. She'd never be seen in an Imperial's uniform.  Major T'renn's cheeks warmed a bit upon realizing he was staring.  The wide, crystal blue eyes of the Ensign looked up at him with concern and confusion.  "Is everything alright, sir?  Do you need the medic?"

Pushing aside the wave of old emotions he'd thought were long gone, Jake motioned to the seat across from her.  "May I?"

Rania was shocked.  "Uh...yessir, I mean, of course sir."  She started to rise, but stopped when he held out a hand for her to remain seated.  "I'm sorry, sir, but is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes, there is.  Tell me about yourself, Ensign...."  His darker blue eyes looked to her to provide him with her name.  He was pleased to hear in her voice an innocence that his deceased wife had long ago lost, further confirming that this was not her.  He had to admire the girl.  The resemblance was uncanny.

"Rania Cortesa, sir.  I just arrived this afternoon.  Lt. Rottie said I didn't start my duties until tomorrow morning and that I should familiarize myself with more of the ship."  The remains of her salad long forgotten, Rania folded her hands primly in her lap.

"Rottie said that, did he?  Did he tell you that if you needed anything he'd be in his quarters?"  Jake leaned forward on an elbow, smirking almost knowingly at the younger officer.

"No, sir.  He did not."  Rania shifted in her seat, visibly uncomfortable with both the conversation and her company.  She knew that Majors didn't generally sit down to talk casually with new Ensigns unless they wanted something.  It disgusted Fenig to think that her Jake was like that.  One of those older officers who took advantage of the young, 'fresh meat.'

"Really?  He's slipping.  I would have thought he'd be all too eager to debrief you." 

"To be honest, sir, I closed my door after he told me my first shift was in the morning."  Her voice became clipped, almost rude in as little of an insubordinate way as she could muster.

His laughter caused her to jump as it rang out in the cafeteria, barely rising above the general clatter of eating and talking.  "Good for you!  That scoundrel's been taking advantage of the female officers for years.  Usually drives them to request a transfer as soon as he looses interest in them.  Pity really, there are just too many men on this ship sometimes." 

Rania seemed to relax a little, letting her shoulders slump beneath her uniform.  "Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?"  She bit down on her bottom lip, making her even countenance lean toward the innocent, even cute side.

Too bad it was a very Fenig thing to do.  Jake paused, his last question completely forced from his mind.  Hundreds of memories came rushing back, flooding his calm, sending thousands of ripples over his eyes.  "Yes, Ensign Cortesa, one more thing."  He swallowed hard against the dryness in his throat.  "Where are you from?"

"Sir, I was born on Coruscant, sir."

Jake nodded stupidly and stood up.  "Very good, Ensign."  He tapped a finger on the tabletop before walking distractedly from the cafeteria, lost in a completely different galaxy.

Rania rose as well, carrying her tray to the garbage disposal.  Making quick work of disposing her things -by cutting in line ahead of a few stormtroopers- she jogged past the lines of tables and casual observers.  If she was lucky, she'd catch him just before he got to the lift.

She was lucky.  "Major!  Sir, might I speak with you a moment?" 

Jake turned a pair of glassy eyes, slowly rimming in red, on the young officer.  "Yes, Ensign?"

"Sir, at your earliest convenience, may I borrow a bit of your time?"  Her brows rose, opening up her face to her fullest look of optimism. 

"I have a moment now.  What is it?"  Impatience hardened his voice and his posture clearly read that he was just humoring her until he could get away.

"Actually, sir, it's fairly private."  The hopeful smile that had curled her lips faded, but the optimism was still clear as day.  "Sir," she added as an afterthought.

Studying her for a moment, Jake could feel his heart wrenching from his chest with every passing second he looked at this woman who looked so much like his dead wife.  "Fine."  That one word opened the lift and he stepped in.  She followed, and the few waiting crewmen -all listening intently to what an Ensign could have to say to the reputedly harsh Major- started to follow.  A glare and raised hand from Jake halted their steps.  "Wait for the next one."

Their nods were lost to the pair as the lift doors closed and started to rise.  Jake turned to face the young woman again, fixing his glare on her.  "What is it, Ensign, that is so important you had to bring it up infront of the enlisted?"

Rania bowed her head apologetically.  "I'm very sorry sir, but if it is alright, I would prefer to tell you behind locked doors."

"You're bordering on a courtmartial, Ensign.  But I'll hear you out this once.  After this, you would do well to never approach me again without due reason."  His steps were heavy on the decking as he left the lift and headed for his quarters.  He'd been hoping that this brash little officer would have filled him in and then been done with it.  No such luck.  He should have guessed.  Fenig had been trouble for him, and now this girl was proving to be much in the same.  "After you, Ensign."

Rania stepped into Jake's quarters and looked around.  "It's very different than my room, sir.  Very large."  Idle conversation in the voice of an innocent child.

"Get to it."  A soft click passed between them as the door locked and Jake turned to her again.  "I am not a patient man."

Her back still to him, her hands came up to cover her face.  For a moment, he thought she was crying, strengthened by her retreat to his refresher.  Rolling his eyes, he could only guess what was so important that she'd conned her way into his quarters and was now crying in his 'fresher. 

It all became clear when she left the 'fresher, long chocolate hair hanging loose down her back, blue eyes turned green and a very familiar, cocksure grin on her face.  "You used to be very patient.  Or was that all an act?"

"Fenig...?"  Before Jake even knew he was moving, he'd swept her up in his arms, hugging her with all his might.  He was afriad that if he let go, that if he opened his eyes, she would be gone and this would have turned out to be another one of those torturous dreams.  The ones he got when he drank too much.

"Oh, Jake.  I missed you!  Gods it's good to see you again."  She hugged him right back, squeezing her eyes shut just as tightly.  Three years had gone by since they'd seperated.  He heading back to the Imperial life that wouldn't let go of him, and her back to the Rebel life she couldn't dream of leaving.

She took a breath to say more, but her words were cut off by an empassioned kiss.  The next moments were all a blur as Jake laid her down on the bunk and the pair, married for three lonely years, made love for the second time as husband and wife. 

***

"Feni, I'm not sure I can let you go again.  Watching you jump to hyperspace in our ship was the hardest thing I ever had to do.  Then I learned that the Predator shot you down upon arrival for my crimes, I wasn't sure I could go on living."  Morning had come and gone, Ensign Rania Cortesa had missed her first shift, but Major Jake T'rann had commed Lt. Rottie, informing him that he'd reassigned Cortesa temporarily.  The couple had laughed at the indignation in Rottie's voice when he'd asked about her reassignment.  'She has skills that would be better suited to assissting my objective and I have reassigned her to be my personal assistant,' Jake had told him.  Little did Rottie know that, at the time, Fenig had been tracing lines over Jake's naked chest.

"Well, I wasn't shot down.  I thought that you had changed your mind about us.  I sent you a coded and untraceable message every week for the first year."  She kissed his chest then his chin, cuddling closer and hugging him tightly.

"I never got the messages.  My superiors-"

"Lied to you." Fenig cut him off, tilting her head back to look up at him.  "I love you, Jake.  Death hadn't kept you away from me and it's not about to keep me away from you."

"But this puts us back in the same situation.  This is my life now."

"Leave it.  You know what they told you, how can you go on working for them?  Come back to Coruscant with me.  We'll get an apartment off base, you can join the Republic, maybe even be a pilot again.  You were one of the best, honey.  We need good people like you."

Jake shook his head and slipped from Fenig's embrace.  "I love you too, but I can't leave.  We both know that."

"Then I guess I wasted my time.  I'm sorry to have wasted yours."  She sat up, covering herself with the sheet that hadn't been kicked to the floor. 

"I'm sorry too."  Jake crossed to his desk and picked something up, clicking it once.  In the blink of an eye, the door slid open to reveal a squad of stormtroopers all armed with blast rifles.  Save one who carried stun cuffs.

Understanding, even sad acceptance, colored Fenig's eyes dark.  Securing the sheet around her, she stood slowly and held out her wrists.  "If this is how you want it to be, so be it."  In that instant, that split second, Fenig changed.  She went from loving wife and attentive lover to the detatched prisoner who would soon be welcoming death.  She only regretted that her uniform pants were in a crumpled heap in the far corner of the room. 

Jake stared sadly at her as the stun cuffs clicked around her wrists, tingling their potential power against her skin.  Their eyes met for a moment before a tug on her shoulder broke the gaze.  "Wait."  The offending trooper looked at the naked Major, careful to keep his black bug-eyes fixed on the man's face.  "Fenig, please forgive me."  His hand cupped her cheek, lifting her lips to meet his in a fierce kiss.

It broke when the stormtroopers led her away.

***

"I understand that sir.  What I don't-  Yes sir.  Yes sir.  Understood.  T'renn out."  Jake slumped back in his chair, running a hand through his hair.  He was doing everything in his power to get Fenig's sentence reduced.  They were planning on torturing her for a while to see what information she spilled, and then executing her as a traitor to the Empire. 

He had to see her.  He had to make her understand.  The look in her eyes, the betrayal he'd seen there had been so clear, so strong.  It tore out his heart all over again.  His steps were strong and confident walking down the corridoor to the detention level.  The attendants had snapped to attention as soon as he'd entered.  No verbal questions were posed to the Major as he strode down the cell corridoor that housed Fenig's cell.  They did, however, report it to the Captain immediately.

His command code opened up her door, snapping her head around at the sound.  She relaxed to see it was him, but not enough to offer him relief that she wasn't about to attack him.  "Fenig."

She replied with silence.

He sat down on the metal bunk next to her, looking ashamedly down at his hands.  "I wanted to try and explain things to you.  I need to apologize again."  He looked up to her hardened face, answered again with silence.  "They knew you were coming.  I don't know how they know, but they knew.  My superior contacted me last night while you were sleeping.  He was generous and gave us the morning together, but as you know, you were scheduled to be arrested at noon.  I didn't know, Fenig.  If I had, I would have gotten you off the ship before they came.  I'm sorry."

A long silence passed between them in which Jake was afraid to look up at her.  He studied his hands until her soft voice startled him to look up.  "You say that if you had known you would have gotten me off ship, but your superior contacted you last night.  Why couldn't you have woken me to get me away then?"

"Admiral Schaffer had been alerted to your presence as well and any shuttles carrying you or myself off ship would have been immobilized and we both would have been killed on sight."

"I see."

"Fenig, please, let me know that you forgive me.  I can't go on thinking that you despise me."  Jake's sapphire blue eyes sparkled with welling tears, pulling desperately on Fenig's heart strings.

"I can't do that Jake.  That's the difference between you and me.  I've never lied to you, and I'm not about to start now." 

Jake nodded slowly, the tears threatening to fall disappeared back into his eyes.  Steadying himself, he rose to leave her cell.  "I never lied about how I feel about you.  I loved you with all my heart then, and I still do."

"I know, Jake.  I love you too, but I can't forgive you."

"I understand."  Jake mummbled softly and left her cell, locking the door behind him.  He walked with all the confidence and strength an Intelligence Major should back down the corridoor.  He even managed to pull off the facade all the way back to his quarters.  It was there, in the relative darkness, that he collapsed down on his unmade bunk -still unkempt from his last night with his wife four nights ago- and began to cry in silence.

***

Jake must have fallen asleep because when he woke up, his head was pounding and his face was pushed so hard into his pillow that he had lines creasing his face.

"She really is a remarkable woman, T'renn.  You're a lucky man to have her."  Deep, rolling tones full of genuine admiration lilted across the room.  Jake turned his head to see the Admiral sitting at his desk, watching him wake from heavy sleep.

"I know, sir.  That's why I married her."  Jake pushed himself up to a sitting position, smoothing his hands over his hopelessly wrinkled uniform.

"Women are funny that way.  That can inspire us to be greater and yet with the tiniest of frowns dash our entire world to pieces.  I can only begin to imagine what you two must have experienced for you both to have risked so much."

"What do you mean, sir?"

Digging his elbows into his knees, the Admiral leaned forward into the ring of light that reflected brightly off of his uniform whites.  "I read your file, T'renn.  You didn't have to go back to the Rebels after Endor.  You were offered a different spot, and yet you risked discovery to be with her.  She did the same by coming here to see you.  I see it in her eyes when I talk to her.  She's a rare one indeed.  Very strong of both body and mind, determined, and loyal.  Not to mention devestatingly beautiful.  They don't make many like her anymore."

"No, sir.  You won't find women like her in high society on Coruscant or in all the bars and casinos the galaxy over.  I had to be a spy to find her, a traitor to marry her, and she had to die to see me again."  Jake pulled a tight reign on his anger, barely managing to prevent his voice from hissing out between his teeth.

"How very true.  That's why in less than a day's time there will be a gap in the sensor's sweep for you two to escape in the Onyx."

Jake's chin lifted in disblief at the Admiral's words.  Schaffer recognized it immediately.  "It's not a set up, T'renn.  Call it a favor from one widower to another.  They won't be interrogating her tonight, and they'll be transfering her to a different cell as they ready the execution."

He understood.  All of it.  The Admiral's extra kindness to the few women that came to work on the Star Destroyer, Rottie's hatred of the Admiral for it, every last detail.  "Thank you sir, but I won't be going with her.  My life isn't with her anymore.  I couldn't bear to put my crimes on her shoulders any longer.  She deserves better."

"I see.  You're a good man, T'renn, but I can't decide if you're the most stupid man I've ever met, or the most wise."  A smile touched the Admiral's aged face as he rose.  "Good luck, T'renn." 

The door slid shut behind the white uniform, locking Jake's whoop of joy in his quarters.

***

One final tug on his crisp uniform tunic took place of the nervous tapping of his foot.  Hide all weakness, especially in front of the subordinates.  And nervousness was definately a weakness, one that they would exploit in less than a heartbeat.  The lift door slid away to grant Jake access to the detention level's main monitoring station.  The two trooper guards and one low ranking officer snapped to attention before Jake waved them at ease.  "I'm here to transfer the woman to her new cell."

The lower officer sputtered for a moment before regaining some composure.  Panicing at the slightest of change would not get him the promotion he felt he so justly deserved.  "I was not notified of the change of transfer plans, sir."

Jake didn't miss a beat.  "The Admiral approved it.  It was her last request."

"Oh, of course then sir."  Bustling about his business on the control panel, he turned again, flicking his fingernails together in anxiety.  "The access code is Aurek-Enth-Vev 3827 Shen."

Snagging a set of binder cuffs, Jake set off down the hall at a brisk, but official pace.  The soft, nervous chittering of the lower level officer finally disappeared from his ears before he calmed visibly, slowing to a more comfortable pace.  It wasn't more than a dozen steps before he was pressing in the code to Fenig's cell, or shaking her gently from her sleep.  It almost felt routine.

The knee to his groin definately did not feel routine.  Doubling over in pain, Jake looked through clouded eyes at his wife.  "Twice, Jake.  Twice I've risked things for you and twice I've been stunned, tortured and interrogated because of you."  Shooting to her feet in a flash of anger, Fenig balled her fists tightly, ready to hit him again.

"Three times actually," he wheezed painfully.  "There was that time on Centerpoint with the pirates."  The stinging was starting to die down allowing Jake to regain much of his upright posture.

"Now is not the time to remind me of things, Jake.  I can't believe you have the gall to come in here like that!  Do you even have any idea what they've done to me?"  Now that he really got a good look at her, he spotted the torn uniform -still in the Imperial Ensign's uniform- frazzled hair, cuts, bruises and a nice split in the center of her bottom lip.

"I said I was sorry, Fen.  I really mean it."

"Stow it, Jake."  She resorted to pacing, maintaining a new distance between herself and him.  Her shoes squeaked with every step, still too new not to.  "I didn't come here for apologies."

Standing upright, he leaned back and twisted, groaning as his back cracked.  "Then what did you come here for, Fenig?"  The impatience in his voice was thick, heavy, weighing her feet to a stop.

"To get a divorce."  Her deep green eyes locked solidly with his blue, a wash of tears, fear, sadness, anger, hate, love, remorse, earnesty, and strick determination flowed between them both.  Neither sure of where each emotion originated from.

"Have things really gone so badly between us?"  That was a pretty stupid question.  Jake thought she was dead and there was Fenig, thinking that she was still married to an Imperial.

"You're a frelling Imperial, Jake!  We have over three years of separation to base this on!  Shavit!"  Fenig threw up her hands in disgust, sitting back onto the hard metal bunk.

Opening the cuffs, Jake held them out for her to put on, his face straightening again.  He didn't like the situation any more than she did, but at least he could do something about it.  Fenig sighed heavily and shook her head in remorse, taking the cuffs from him and clipping them on.  "Let me guess, you asked to take me to my execution so you can press the button personally?  Sometimes, Jake, I think your idea of love has been terribly twisted.  Were you beaten as a child or something?  Is that where all this comes from?"  She stood and straightened her posture with all the pride she could muster.  It strengthened to know that at the very least, Jake would be the last thing she saw and she could glare into his blue eyes with all the hate in the universe.

Jake didn't reply.  He just wrapped a strong hand around her upper arm -thinner than he remembered- and led her forcefully from the detention block.  He took her past the idiot officer and his two stormtrooper guards, down the lift, through a maze of corridoors supposedly to her end.  All the while he remembered his friends in Black Ball Squadron, fighting at their side on Endor, his joyful reunion with Fenig after a year of which everyone thought he'd died on the forest moon.  He let each and every face pass before his eyes in silence.  It had been so long that he didn't know any more if these people were alive or if they were dead.  He didn't know if they knew he'd been a spy, if they thought him a traitor and despised him, or if Fenig had let them keep his memory well.  He just knew that he loved Fenig, always had, and now he'd lost her for good.

His thoughts flowed back to the now just as he was turning her down a seldom used hall and unlocking her binders.  "I'm letting you go.  I can take you back to the Onyx and give you the coordinates to slip beneath our sensors, but it ends there.  I love you Fenig, so I'm granting you a divorce."  Jake had found the divorce forms in with her things on the Onyx.  He'd signed them, transmitted them and finalized them.  They would be no longer Jake and Fenig T'renn in one day's time.

The surprise Fenig felt rang through her resolve, shining clear on her face.  "Thank you, Jake.  This means....  Thank you."  She nodded simply.

***

"The sensor window will only last for thirty seconds, so you have to be clear by then and in hyperspace or you'll only be tractored back in again."  Clenching his jaw against his grief, Jake entered in coordinates into the navicomp, preparing everything for her.  All she would have to do it pull the lever and sit back.

"Right," Fenig replied from the copilot's seat where she was cleaning a few of her older, and more painful wounds with the med kit.  Watching Jake with the studious eye she was known for, Fenig remembered all the things about Jake that she had fallen in love with.  His good looks aside, Jake was intelligent, compassionate, good humored, a perfect partner in crime, everything she had ever wanted.  Not to mention one of the best pilots she had ever seen.  But that Jake was dead.  That Jake had never been real.  Jake Tolby had never existed, never been born in Coronet City, Corellia, never had a father who worked for CorSec.  He had only been a lie.

"I love you Fenig.  Fly straight, travel safe."  He straightened, turned and walked slowly out the rear of the shuttle.  He turned at the base of the ramp, setting his feet on the hanger decking.  "Fenig?"

The pilot's seat swiveled so the near petite mechanic could see her husband once more.  "Yes?"  That look, that wide-eyed innocence, so false, but it wrenched in her chest, twisting desperately against her resolve.  Jake had won so many arguments, so many different things with that look.  He wouldn't win now.

"What's his name?"  Softly, simply asked.

"Wes."  She turned the pilot's seat around, forever leaving Jake behind in her past, where he belonged.  The shuttle ramp closed, locking Fenig in, sealing the next few seconds of her future in the 'unsure' category.  Powerup and liftoff went unchallenged, so did her departure.  A mere two seconds before she had reached her jump point, the comm started blinking, demanding her attention.

"Shuttle Onyx, shut down your engines and prepare to be escorted in."  Fenig swore under her breath, her right hand hovering over the hyperspace controls, her left over the engine controls while her eyes were staring wide at the sensors that showed a pair of TIE Fighters speeding her way and the tractor beam holding her in place.

With in the blink of an eye, the tractor let go and the voice on the com that filled her ears was familiar and warm.  "Proceed on your scheduled course, Onyx.  Fly straight, travel safe."

Fenig smiled as she pulled back on the hyperspace control, letting the force push her back into the seat.  Jake had come through, maybe even redeemed himself in the eyes of the woman he loved. 

All that he knew was that she was rocketing away to a happy future... and he couldn't be more pleased.