Chapter 16: Strength of Conviction

The door to the hideout hissed as it opened, then Lana heard two pairs of footsteps echoing down the curved corridor that led to the main room. She looked up from the planning table as Kayora and Vera stepped through the doorway, both looking mostly unharmed, save a few scorch marks and other evidence of some run-ins with fire. Vera still had her helmet on, so Lana couldn’t judge her expression, but Kayora had the concerned yet determined expression of somebody who had seen many battles.

“Give us a quick summary of the facts,” Kayora said, her voice holding steady, having fallen into crisis control mode.

Lana brought up a map of the surrounding area. “Theron and I were investigating a potential lead at this warehouse here.” She indicated with her finger the building they’d been staking out on the holomap. “After a prolonged duration of no observed activity, Theron decided to go investigate. I stayed behind to provide overwatch, and as soon as Theron entered the structure, he was grabbed by several Revanites who quickly subdued him and nullified his implants.” Swiping her hand, the map shifted, showing a different location. “Fortunately, the tracker that Theron was carrying was unaffected by whatever method they used to disable his tech.” A small pulsing dot was present on the map, near the coastline of a set of islands. “However, once the tracker reached here, it disappeared. Either they found and disabled it, or something is blocking it.” Lana tapped a few commands on the console and the view shifted again, this time showing their location in relation to the last place Theron had pinged.

“We’ll need to move quickly,” Kayora stated definitively. “The longer they have him, the lower his chances of survival. I also believe a stealth operation would be more effective. We don’t want to spook the cultists into doing something rash; we still don’t know their intentions with the kidnapping.”

“If you want stealth, I should probably sit this one out.” Vera’s voice filtered through her helmet as she leaned against the table.

Kayora nodded, whether at Vera’s comment or her own internal monologue, Lana couldn’t tell. “Nadia and I will do it. Lana, do you know the status of Nadia and Mako?”

Turning to a different screen, Lana brought up the information on Jakarro’s ship, which would be the best indication of how far along the slave break was. “Their trajectory has them heading to the docks here, so I would expect their mission is complete.”

She’d barely finished before Kayora was striding toward the door. “I’ll catch Nadia at the docks and we’ll begin the rescue operation. Send that location to my datapad, and keep the comms open, though I don’t expect to be in communication until after we have Theron.”

“Understood.” Lana watched Kayora turn the corner, her green headtails swinging behind her. Shifting her focus to the other person left in the room, she was surprised to find Vera staring at her, helmet still donned. She waited a beat, and when the bounty hunter didn’t say anything, Lana broke the silence. “Did you have something you wanted to say?” The silence continued to drag on, and Lana was about to go back to the planning table before Vera spoke.

“You planned it, didn’t you?”

Lana didn’t have to ask for any clarification to know exactly what Vera was talking about. She was shocked that the Chiss had managed to see past the ruse so quickly, but kept her features neutral as she mentally scrambled for a response. Without being able to see Vera’s face, Lana was unable to gauge what the other woman was feeling. Finally, she decided to just answer plainly. If Vera wanted her justification, she’d give it to her, but there was no reason to make such assumptions. “I did.”

Another pause, before Vera let out a snort of laughter and reached up to remove her helmet. “Nice.” Pulling the helmet off, she ran a hand through her dark hair, attempting to corral some of the more unruly strands that had fallen out of her bun.

Lana blinked, then cocked her head. “Nice? That’s all you’ve got to say?”

Shrugging, Vera placed her helmet down on the table and took a few steps toward Lana. “Yeah? What’d you want me to say?”

Letting out a huff of exasperation, Lana crossed her arms. “I don’t know, I just prepared for more of a reaction, given that you were staring me down under that intimidating helmet of yours.”

Vera smirked. “Oh, you think it’s intimidating, huh?” She laughed and continued, not giving Lana a chance to respond. “Did you want me to be angry? Demand reasoning for why you put one of our teammates in danger?”

“Well, no, that’s not-“

“Or did you want me to play the cliched mercenary?” Vera continued taking slow steps toward Lana as she talked. “Saying something about ‘acceptable losses’ or ‘as long as I get paid’?”

Lana shifted so she was leaning against the holotable, keeping her arms crossed in mock irritation. “I think you know the answer to that one.”

By now Vera was right in front of Lana, feet spread slightly wider than the Sith’s. As she leaned in, Lana’s arms fell to her sides, gripping the edge of the table. “Or did you want me to tell you how hot it is when you display such self-assuredness? I called you out and you didn’t back down an inch.” Vera leaned closer, letting their bodies meld as she tilted her head up, stopping with their lips just a hair apart. “Because it’s really fucking hot.”

The sexual tension was intoxicating. Lana waited, her breathing shallow, for the kiss that was so close.

“But, we probably shouldn’t be enjoying ourselves while the others are out on a rescue mission.” It took a second for Lana to notice that Vera was withdrawing, but far less than a second to realize that was not acceptable.

“Oh no you don’t.” Hands shooting out to grip Vera’s belt, Lana pulled their bodies flush again, ducking her head to capture Vera’s smiling lips in a bruising kiss. Quickly Vera upped the intensity, slipping her tongue into Lana’s mouth as her hands slid into the folds of her robes. Lana groaned as Vera pressed her thigh between Lana’s legs, against her core, which had already begun throbbing with need. Grinding against the smooth surface of Vera’s thigh armor wasn’t getting close to the relief Lana needed, but Vera thwarted any attempt for her to reposition.

Pulling back, Vera grinned as one of her hands found its way to Lana’s tit, pinching down on her nipple through the fabric of her under tunic. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of,” Vera cooed as Lana continued to try and get a better angle against the thigh between her legs.

Lana gasped as she felt the cool material of Vera’s glove against her stomach, somehow having found its way under her tunic, even while the other hand groped at her breast. Vera’s mouth darted in, latching onto the smooth pale skin of Lana’s neck. The Sith squirmed at the dueling sensations as the gloved hand traversed lower, past the waistband of her underwear. She sucked in a breath as one of Vera’s fingers brushed against her clit, then hissed as that finger turned, causing the seam of the glove to drag against the sensitive bundle of nerves.

“We should probably be quick about it,” Lana heard Vera murmur, feeling her lips shift against her skin as she spoke. “Wouldn’t want to give anybody a show.” The Chiss lifted her head, red eyes gazing into Lana’s yellow ones. “Or maybe you like the danger.” She smirked, then deftly twisted the hand inside Lana’s pants, drawing out a cry of pleasure as she continued to rub against Lana’s clit.

She didn’t know whether she wanted to plead for a quick release or beg for a slow one, but it didn’t much matter considering Lana was barely able to get any words out as Vera’s hands continued their ministrations. Vera drew her tongue along Lana’s jaw, before shifting to her mouth and sucking Lana’s bottom lip in between her own.

Through her pleasure and panting, Lana barely heard the hiss of the door to the hideout. She attempted to do something with that knowledge, but couldn’t drag her attention away from the orgasm that was quickly building in her core.

“Almost there, sweetheart,” Vera whispered after she let Lana’s lip go, but not before giving it a quick bite.

Suddenly Mako’s voice echoed down the hall. “Uh, guys? Is anyone here? Kayora grabbed Nadia and said something about Theron being kidnapped?”

Although she expected the undeniable presence of another person to douse her arousal, Lana found that she was too far along for it to be restrained. She stared pleadingly at Vera, who gave a toothy smile in return.

“Stay in the hallway Mako!” Vera yelled, before doubling her efforts, pulling at Lana’s nipple and pressing her fingers in rough circles around Lana’s hooded bud. The cry that left Lana’s lips was much louder than she intended, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

“Wait, stay in the hallway? Is everything-“ Mako stopped talking at the sound of Lana’s cry, then they heard a groan from the hall. “Oh stars damn it, really? Again? I already have to be extra aware on the ship, but here too! Ugh!” Mako continued to grumble, though neither of the other women could make out the words. Nor did they care to.

Lana was so close, and as Vera bit down on her earlobe, her orgasm tipped over the edge and cascaded down through her. Biting her lip to try and stifle some of her moans, Lana let the orgasm flood her system, her arms and legs shaking against the table. It swept through her, leaving her with a slight feeling of lightheadedness, but still conscious, which was an improvement to several of the other sessions with Vera. Not that she necessarily minded the euphoric bliss of passing out post-orgasm, but there was a time and place for it, neither of which were the current situation. Tasting copper in her mouth, Lana raised a shaky hand and touched it to her lip, confirming she’d bit it a little too hard and drawn blood.

Pulling her hands out of Lana’s clothes, Vera adjusted the Sith’s robes before leaning up to press a soft kiss to her lips.

“Maybe I can return the favor later,” Lana whispered, still catching her breath.

“I wouldn’t say no.” Vera kissed Lana again then stepped away, turning back to the holotable. “Come on in Mako.”

The young woman popped her head around the door, looking at the two of them with narrowed eyes. “Are you sure you can keep your hands to yourselves while I’m here? I mean, I’m thrilled you two are so enamored with each other, but I also really don’t want to walk in on my sister fucking someone.” She leveled an accusing glare at the Chiss in question. “Again.”

Lana raised a questioning eyebrow as Vera shrugged. “To be fair, she didn’t knock.”

Mako’s mouth dropped open. “You left the door open!”

As the two bounty hunters continued to banter back and forth, Lana smiled to herself and grabbed the datapad she’d been working on before. She did actually have a few things to check in on before the others returned.

—

Several hours later, the three of them had shifted from research and planning to some more hands-on training, specifically hand-to-hand combat. Mako surprised Lana with her skills, though from what she knew of the girl’s childhood, she shouldn’t have been surprised that Mako would be rather scrappy in a melee. Throwing up an arm to block Mako’s strike, Lana had barely enough time to lift her foot out of the way of the girl’s follow-up leg sweep. It was more difficult than Lana had expected to spar without tapping into the Force, but that just reinforced her drive to train. It was never good to be too reliant on any one thing, even if the likelihood that she’d lose her connection to the Force was extremely small. Stranger things had happened, she told herself as she rolled to one side then struck out with a foot, catching Mako in the heel and sending her toppling.

“Fuck!” Mako spat as she landed on her back. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, she regarded her sparring partner with a critical eye. “Are you sure you’re not using the Force?”

Lana chuckled as she stuck out a hand to help the girl up. “I am sure.”

“Then I’m more out of practice than I thought,” Mako groused as she accepted Lana’s hand.

“Just because I’m not using the Force doesn’t mean that I don’t benefit from a lifetime of training with it,” Lana replied, quick to defend Mako’s abilities. “You are very apt in hand-to-hand combat, and would do well against most opponents.”

Strutting over to Vera, who was looking over some documents at the table, Mako stuck out her tongue. “Your Sith lady told me I was good at scrapping.” Vera raised an eyebrow as Mako grabbed a drink from her pack. “And she’s practically unbeatable.”

“You think so?” the Chiss asked.

“Yep. I bet you couldn’t even beat her,” Mako replied haughtily, after chugging some water and leaning against the holotable.

“I bet I could … subdue her.” The insinuation dripping from Vera’s words made Lana clench her thighs together.

Apparently the innuendo did not get by Mako, who threw up her hands. “You can’t just fuck her! If she can’t use the Force, you can’t use all your sex moves!”

Lana burst out laughing as Vera turned to Mako, head cocked. “Sex moves huh? What do you mean by that?”

Before the girl could elaborate, they all heard the hiss of the door and several sets of footsteps coming down the hall.

Theron was the first one into the room and didn’t hesitate before stomping toward Lana, fury in his eyes.

“Really, Lana? You set me up to get kidnapped?” the SIS agent snapped. Lana saw Vera reach for her pistol and quickly held out a hand, gesturing for her to hold. She’d explain herself, but was not going to apologize. Hopefully, that would be enough.