

The Soul Reader

Published by Bonnie Hatley-Oesch at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Bonnie Hatley-Oesch

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.
Prologue

Dexter's world was pain.

There was no end; there was no light; there was no hope. There was nothing but the searing, empty misery.

The despair enveloped him, caressing his body with its evil killing strokes. And yet, death would have been a sweet relief. A victory. But it never came... because there was no end. He was dying constantly, painfully, endlessly, without ever becoming dead.

He was screaming but he couldn't hear himself, couldn't even take satisfaction in the joy of expressing his anguish.

There was only blackness and pain... neverending and fully hopeless.
Chapter One

Heidi Grace hadn't learned the word "nomad" until she was seven, but she could have given you a complete description for it by the time she could speak full sentences because that is what she was. She couldn't remember a time in her life where she wasn't moving. She read stories about people who settled in one place and lived there with their families until they were old and death took them, but she understood these things the way most people understood the concept of space travel. They knew it happened and they had an idea about it, but it was never a reality in their lives. Heidi was a little sprite of a thing by the time she had her first tooth, her blue eyes always sparkled when she was deep in thought and her fire-red curly hair could be spotted from a mile away.

Aunt Reboa said that the constant moving was necessary, but Heidi didn't fully understand why. As she got older she became more attuned to the fact that it had to do with the constant political strife in the world. More than that, it had something to do with Emperor Ezar and avoiding him. But most of all, it had to do with her gift. This she knew from the beginning. She knew she was different. Special. Gifted, her aunt called it. And yet, Heidi knew she was woefully inadequate at using her gift. After all, she had only ever used it on Aunt Reboa, and had never developed it beyond reading memories. Her mother, she knew, had been much more adept and her gift was much more far-reaching. But Heidi never dreamed she could ever reach her mother's level, and truth be told, she wasn't sure she wanted to. Her gift was what kept them moving. It kept her from fully understanding those stories about people who made a home in one place. Those people who made friends and built a community. She wished for that and often she would pray that her gift would be taken away so that she and her aunt could have a real home. But her gift persisted and her aunt was her only home.

As she grew into adulthood she starting reading more on her own. She devoured books about families, community and friendship. These things she longed for and as she came to understand better, she knew her aunt longed for them as well. And since some combination of her gift and Emperor Ezar was what kept her from having these things, and because there was no literature on her particular impairment (as she truly thought of it), she read about the Emperor. Everything written about him was glowing and wonderful. He was a kind, powerful leader who looked out for his people and kept them safe and happy. She couldn't understand, therefore, why they avoided him at all costs.

One day when she was about sixteen she was walking home—or to the dwelling she and Aunt Reboa were currently staying in—from the local library. She passed a man on the street. He looked haggard and worn. His clothes were covered in dirt and torn in many places. He looked like he hadn't eaten or slept for days. His hair was dirty and unkempt. He was only wearing one shoe and was growing a full, scraggly beard. As she passed him, she couldn't help staring. He sat on the ground, breathing heavily, his arm was wrapped around his midsection. His stomach growled so loudly that she realized he must be holding his stomach because of hunger.

She stopped and fished into her satchel. She hadn't finished her entire lunch today, so why shouldn't he have it? She approached him slowly, holding out her half-eaten sandwich. He regarded her and looked skeptically at the sandwich.

"Are you hungry?" she asked. "I didn't finish my lunch today."

He didn't answer her for a long time, just stared hungrily—and yet warily—at the sandwich. Finally he snatched it from her hand and began devouring it. He ate noisily but didn't say a word to her.

Heidi bit her lower lip, unsure of what else to say or do. "I... could get you some more food... if you need it..."

He looked up at her, as if just remembering that she was there. He swallowed the last bite of her sandwich and stared at her silently for a long time.

"Are you a spy?" he asked finally.

She shook her head, confused. "A spy for whom?"

"Ezar," he mumbled.

"No, I... I'm Heidi."

"Why are you helping me?"

"I... you just... looked hungry..."

He still looked skeptical but finally pursed his lips and nodded, appearing to be satisfied by her answer. "Thank you," he said. "I'm sorry about my rude behavior. It's just so rare to meet anyone outside of the rebellion who isn't too afraid to help someone like me."

"Afraid?" Heidi asked. "Afraid of what?"

"Ezar!" he snapped. "Have you been living under a rock?"

Heidi shook her head and held out a history book she had checked out from the library. "The books say Emperor Ezar is kind and takes care of people."

Furiously he leapt to his feet and slammed his hand down on the book, knocking it to the ground and causing Heidi to jump back and cry out.

"That book is garbage," he growled. "Full of lies. I was a respectable man once. I had a home and a family and a life and Ezar has taken all of that away. You can't learn anything from Imperial-run libraries. They fill it with lies to keep people loyal to the empire or too scared to stand up to him."

"I... I'm sorry..." Heidi said. Her eyes filled with tears of fright and she backed away slowly.

The man reached out suddenly and grabbed her arms. She cried out again as he pulled her towards him, his face inches from hers. He smelled as if he hadn't bathed for days but Heidi forced herself not to gag. She was afraid she would offend him and he might hurt her. He stared at her for a long time. His eyes were wild at first but finally they softened and even looked remorseful.

"I've frightened you," he said without letting go of her. "I'm sorry. I wasn't like this before Ezar ruined me." He dropped his hands from her arms.

Heidi felt in the back of her mind that she should have run from him, but instead she stayed rooted to the spot.

"You're a kind soul," he continued. "You shouldn't have to be a part of this insanity. And yet you can't escape it if you live in this world. There's nowhere to run from it. You have to pick a side. Either live under Ezar's tyrannical rule or join the rebellion." He shook his head at himself, his eyes watering. "I have tried to stay out of it, tried not to join the rebellion but there is no way to live outside of the conflict. If you don't consciously choose a side, a side will be chosen for you."

Heidi breathed and began speaking again nervously. "If the history books are wrong... about the Emperor..." she mumbled. "Then where can I find out the truth?"

He regarded her again. "That's a good question, kid," he said, smiling sadly. "I wish I knew the answer." He jumped and turned suddenly. Two imperial police were walking down the street about three yards away.

"Thanks for the sandwich," the man said and dashed away.

Heidi stood completely stunned on the sidewalk long enough that the police reached her. She jumped when they reached her. One bent down and picked up her history book.

"Did you drop this?"

Heidi nodded and took it from his hand. "Thank you," she said. "I, um... there was a spider on it and I panicked and dropped it."

"Are you all right now?"

"Yes," Heidi nodded and smiled. "Just a silly girl afraid of spiders."

The policeman seemed to accept this explanation and nodded. "Curfew is in an hour," he reminded her.

"Yes," she said. "I was heading home right now. Thank you."

She didn't wait to hear anything else they said, just hurried away.

"Heidi, have you completely lost your senses?!" Aunt Reboa shouted. "Now we have to find someplace else to stay, someplace far away from here!"

She had been ranting since Heidi got home. First the ranting was about where Heidi was so late, after all, she barely made it in before curfew and the last thing they needed was for Heidi to spend the night in jail. Then all the moving and hiding they'd been doing would be for nothing because they'd find out about her gift and the Emperor would have her! It got even worse once Heidi explained why she was late. Reboa ran from window to window slamming the shutters closed and locking them tightly.

"How is this my fault?" Heidi asked.

"What were you even doing talking to some strange man on the street?"

"He was hungry, Aunt Reboa," she argued. "I just wanted to give him the rest of my sandwich. You're angry at me for being kind to a hungry stranger?!"

Reboa sighed wearily, shaking her head sadly. "Heidi, I know you are a kind soul and I love that about you, but you know we have to be careful. If they find us..."

"What?" Heidi demanded. "What happens if they find us? I'm so sick of moving around, Aunt Reboa! If the Emperor really is who these books say he is..." She held up the history book. "...why are we constantly running from him?"

"Heidi..."

"No," Heidi threw the book down, her eyes filling with angry tears. "That man on the street must have been right. These books are full of lies. Either that or my gift is really a curse."

Reboa's eyes shifted around uncomfortably, avoiding Heidi's eyes. She finally responded, so quietly that Heidi could barely hear her. "Your gift is not a curse."

"Then the books are full of lies," Heidi said. "So why haven't we joined the rebellion?"

Reboa's eyes went wide with terror. "Heidi!!! Don't ever say that again!!!"

"Why not?!" Heidi demanded. "That man said we have to pick a side."

"You're going to listen to the ravings of a hunger-crazed lunatic?"

"He may have been looney, Aunt Reboa, but isn't he right?" Heidi asked. "Don't we have to pick a side?"

"We're picking OUR side," Reboa responded firmly. "The side where we both stay alive. If we did join the...." She swallowed, too afraid to even say the word. "...we would end up dead or worse. That's what happens to them."

"Then maybe we should just turn me into the Emperor."

"Heidi!!!" Reboa grew furious. "I did not watch my sister die and spend sixteen years hiding you to give up now."

"All you've done is give up!" Heidi screamed. She turned and threw herself down on her cot, sobbing miserably.

That was four years ago. And they did leave the next morning, but something in Heidi had changed that day and not for the better. She was even quieter now and hardly ever read anymore. She did her chores and her arithmetic lessons obediently, but all mirth had gone out of her. This was why Reboa tried for the first time when Heidi was nineteen to make them a permanent home. She only admonished Heidi never to let anyone know about her gift.

But Heidi was nineteen. And having been kept from almost all interaction with boys her age up until then, certain things were inevitable.

Heidi met Brewer at the local market. He and his father sold produce. He was tall with dark hair and grey eyes. His face was better than handsome, it was interesting, and his crooked smile melted Heidi's knees into water.

"My dad thinks we're going to get into trouble," Brewer said. They were sitting under an old tree in the Imperial Park near the market one afternoon. It was the first time they'd managed to be alone together since they'd met. Both Brewer's dad and Aunt Reboa had made every effort to keep the two apart.

"My aunt just thinks everyone is out to get us," Heidi sighed. "It's nothing against you personally. She's just always afraid the Emperor is going to come and get me."

He chuckled. "For what? Are you a criminal or something?"

Heidi shook her head and pressed her lips together. She knew she shouldn't tell him about her gift, and yet his eyes seemed to make her mouth run away with her.

He lifted the bowl of grapes he had in his lap and offered her one, saving her from speaking more than she intended. She didn't respond with words, she merely nodded. Brewer plucked a grape from the bunch and brought it to her mouth. She parted her lips and he slid the grape in between them. She could have bitten it in half, but instead she allowed him to push the entire grape into her mouth and brought her lips together around it, moistening his fingertip.

She chewed and smiled at him. His finger still lingered at her lips for a moment and then it slid down to her chin. He cupped his hand beneath her chin and brought her face towards his. As she swallowed the grape, his lips came into contact with hers. She surrounded his lower lip with hers the way she had the grape. She could feel his crooked smile at the edge of his mouth turning up slightly and she kissed the corner of his mouth. His lips wound themselves around hers and she dropped her inhibitions without thinking. Before she knew what she was doing, an image appeared in her mind. It was an intensely sexual image of her... she was naked... this was not her own thought...

She yanked herself away suddenly.

He looked utterly astonished.

"What was that?" he asked. "What did you just do?"

"Me?!" she exclaimed. "You're the one picturing me naked."

"How did you know that?!" he asked. He pushed himself away from her and got to his feet quickly. She stood up as well. "You... you read minds?"

"No..." she fumbled. Her mind was racing. How had she done this? She'd always had control over her gift. More than that, she'd always had to touch the top of Aunt Reboa's head with her hands to read her memories. And she'd never seen an image that Reboa hadn't willingly shown to her. Moreover, she'd never seen a thought that Reboa was currently having, she'd only seen memories.

"Heidi!"

Brewer shouting her name brought her back to the present. She realized then that she was so surprised about how differently her gift had manifested itself—albeit inadvertently—that she had forgotten that he was there. More importantly, she'd forgotten that she had revealed to him her secret. This was bad. Aunt Reboa was going to be furious.

"I'm sorry," she fumbled. "I... I have to go!"

She gathered her things and dashed away as quickly as her legs would take her.

A few months later she sat in the kitchen of her dwelling with her eyes closed.

"Okay, you can open them," Reboa said.

Heidi opened her eyes and looked at the item in front of her. It looked somewhat like a pastry, but bigger than any she'd ever seen. It was at least the size of a small hat, but it was circular with a flattened top. She could smell the sweetness of it.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It's a birthday cake," Reboa answered and sat down at the table across from her.

"A what?"

"A cake," she explained. "It's a sweet. A treat for your 20th birthday. When I was a child my mother made them for Kuma and me all the time. Nowadays it's hard to find enough of all the ingredients to make them, but you only turn twenty once." Reboa held out a fork to Heidi. "Try a bite."

Heidi bit her lip but took the fork from Reboa and slid it down the side of the cake. She put the fork in her mouth and pulled the bite off with her lips. She smiled as she chewed and the sweetness filled her mouth.

"Wow, that's really good, Aunt Reboa," she said. "This must have so much sugar in it, how did you afford it?" Sugar was hard to come by and Reboa was exceedingly tight-fisted with their money. She kept it for moving expenses and because she changed jobs so often.

Reboa waved her hand. "Don't worry about that," she said. "It's a special occasion."

Heidi used the fork to pull off another bite. "Well, you eat some, too."

Reboa smiled and got another fork. Together she and Heidi sat and ate the cake silently for a few moments. Reboa suddenly put her fork down and leaned forward.

"I was also thinking..." she began. "I agreed to stop moving around and try to build a life because I wanted you to really live, not just exist like you were doing before."

Heidi continued to eat the cake, wondering where this was going.

"So I'm sorry if I told you not to see that boy at the produce stand," Reboa continued. "You should be able to live and experience things like falling in love and kissing boys and... well, that's as far as I want it to go for now, but..." She smirked and shrugged her shoulders.

Heidi shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She hadn't seen or spoken to Brewer since...

"That's okay," Heidi said finally. "I think you were right before. I don't need to get involved with anyone."

Reboa's face turned somber. "Heidi..." she began with a warning note in her voice. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Heidi answered, but refused to meet Reboa's eyes.

"Heidi!" Reboa exclaimed. "Did that boy take advantage of you?"

"No!"

"You tell me the truth!" Reboa stood up suddenly. "I will talk to his father about this... he should know better. I won't have some boy taking advantage of my niece without..."

"He didn't do anything, it was me!" The words were out of Heidi's mouth before she could think. She clamped her mouth shut and looked away.

Reboa's expression changed slightly from anger to confusion. "What do you mean?"

Heidi worried her lip and continued to avoid Reboa's eyes.

"Heidi..."

"Okay, but please don't be angry," Heidi sighed. "It was an accident. I don't even know how I did it."

"Did what?"

"We were just... kissing," Heidi explained. "That's all... And I've only ever seen memories and only when I tried to look and only when I was touching the top of your head and..." She stopped suddenly when she saw the terrified expression on Reboa's face.

"You read his thoughts..." Reboa breathed. It wasn't a question.

"I didn't mean to."

"When, Heidi? When did this happen?"

Heidi sat with a guilty expression and her mouth agape.

"Heidi!!"

"Three months ago," Heidi mumbled.

"THREE MONTHS!!" Reboa's hands flew to her mouth. "Why didn't you TELL me?!"

"Because I knew you'd be angry with me..."

"But if you'd told me we could have left," Reboa cried, panicking. "We could have run. We could have gotten away. Now it's too late, they'll be coming for you!"

"Maybe not..." Heidi's voice was so tiny.

"Heidi, he'll have told someone and they'll be here!" Reboa dashed from the room and into the only other room in the dwelling.

Heidi stood up from the table; the half-eaten birthday cake looked remarkably funny now. Reboa came rushing back into the room carrying a bag.

"Pack your things, NOW!"

"No!" Heidi whined. "I _like_ it here!"

"Heidi, I don't want to hear it!" Reboa thundered. "We have to get out of here now! Pack only what you absolutely can't live without!"

Heidi burst into tears. "This isn't fair!! You just said I should get to have a real life and I didn't read his mind on purpose!"

"This isn't a punishment, Heidi," Reboa exclaimed. "I'm trying to protect you! I made a promise to Kuma!!! I promised to keep her daughter safe!"

"I'm tired of being safe! I want to stay! I want..."

She didn't get to finish what she was saying. Both of them jumped at the sound of a harsh knock at the door. All life left Reboa's face. Her already fair skin turned an even paler shade of white. She dropped the bag silently to the ground and walked robotically towards the door. She opened the door mechanically and didn't look the least bit surprised when three Imperial guards stood before her.

"Heidi Grace?"

Reboa's arm lifted. She didn't turn her face, she merely pointed to Heidi.

The guard held up a piece of paper and read from it. "By Imperial order, I am to take you into custody to be brought before his Highness the Emperor Ezar immediately."

"Why?" Heidi asked, tears filling her eyes. "What did I do?"

"I'm not at liberty to answer any questions," the guard said. "Please come with me."

Heidi looked frantically to her aunt. "Aunt Reboa..."

But Reboa could do nothing. Her face conveyed her total and utter defeat. In that one look, Heidi could see how Reboa felt she had wasted twenty years of moving from place to place and never having a real life for nothing, how she'd failed her sister and broken her promise. In that one look, Heidi was more punished than she ever had been before or ever would be again. She didn't say anything else. She didn't even ask if she could bring anything with her. What would she bring, after all? She merely turned to the guard somberly and nodded.

The three guards led the way out to an Imperial transport vehicle. One of the guards took Heidi by the arm, even though she showed absolutely no resistance. Heidi didn't even have the energy to argue that pulling her along wasn't necessary. She climbed in the transport vehicle without a word. Somewhere deep in her mind she knew she shouldn't look back, that what she would see would devastate her. And yet, she couldn't help it. She turned to look and through the back window, through the fog of her own tears, she saw her aunt crumpled on the ground outside the entrance to their dwelling, her head in her hands, sobbing bitterly.

And all she'd done was kiss a boy.
Chapter Two

The trip to the Emperor's palace took three days. Heidi was beyond weary when they arrived, not only because of the misery of her last memory of her aunt and the travel itself, but also because the three guards who were transporting her hadn't said more than two or three words to her at any one time since they'd picked her up. They merely let her out by the side of the road when she had to urinate or defecate—and allowed her no privacy—and handed her food when it was time to eat. Heidi had lost track of all time and only knew that the trip had taken three days once she arrived and saw a clock that happened to have the date on it perched outside the palace. It must have been a very long journey since they hadn't once stopped for any extended period of time. They'd only stopped to allow her to relieve herself, to pick up food, or to allow the guards to change positions. At any one time, one guard was watching her, one was driving the transport vehicle, and the other was sleeping. The guards had constantly rotated these duties.

The palace, at least, was as the history books described it. It loomed above her nearly eleven stories high, made entirely of platinum metal with intricately carved gargoyles with ruby eyes hanging on every corner. They made Heidi think of devils. The same guard took her arm as they exited the vehicle and pulled her along. Heidi again didn't bother to resist him or argue but followed silently, looking around at the entrance to the palace. Despite the fact that this was the worst thing that had ever happened to her, she couldn't help but be awed by the magnificence of the palace. Just inside the front entrance there was a foyer made entirely of beige marble. Six twin marble columns lined the walls. Sapphires and rubies dotted the edge of the grey and beige swirl marble floor.

The guards pulled her through many more elaborately jeweled rooms until they reached two gigantic dark oak doors with the imperial insignia carved into them: the face of a lion, his mouth open in a roar. The guards opened the door and led her inside. This room was even more astonishing. It too was made entirely of marble, but this marble was both beige and blue swirled together. It too had marble columns lining the walls and the edge of the floor was lined with sapphires and emeralds this time. The back wall held a stained glass window which contained a picture of a man that Heidi soon noticed sitting in the middle of the room on a throne made entirely of gold with jewels lining the edges and going down the arms.

He was much younger than Heidi expected. She had always assumed he was old, but he couldn't have been more than forty. He had dark hair that was tinted with silver and his eyes were an unusual shade of green. His hair was chin-length and slicked back over his head. He wore an elaborate, purple robe with a white fur lining and his hands were covered with jewels. He sat up straighter than she'd ever seen anyone sit in a chair, his arms draped across the arms of the chair. The guards brought her until she was standing just in front of him. Heidi was fearful of him. His green eyes conveyed nothing, and not in a way that meant she couldn't read him, but in a way that indicated there was nothing behind those eyes. His lips curled up slightly, a smile meant to be welcoming but that just appeared sinister to Heidi.

"Welcome," he said. "I am Emperor Ezar. You are Heidi Grace, I take it?"

Heidi merely nodded.

"I really don't think it's necessary to pull Heidi along, do you?" he said to the guard holding her arm. It was phrased as a question, but his voice conveyed that it was not a question, not even a request, it was an imperative said in the way a slave-driver orders a slave. The guard dropped Heidi's arm immediately.

Ezar stood up from his throne and walked towards Heidi. She could now see that the back of the chair also had the imperial insignia carved into it in pure gold with ruby eyes.

Ezar smiled that same threatening smile at her and took her hand without asking.

"Forgive my guards," he said. "They often do not know if someone is being brought before me as an enemy or a friend. You, of course, are a friend. A friend whose help I am in dire need of."

Heidi swallowed. "Help...?" she mumbled.

"Yes," Ezar continued. "I have heard of your great gifts and have brought you here to enlist your assistance in bringing certain criminals to justice."

"I... I don't know how I could help..." Heidi said.

Ezar looked slightly annoyed for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. "I have heard that you are a mind-reader. Many of the criminals we capture know information that would lead us to the capture of other criminals, but they are often less than forthcoming." He smiled that smile again. "This is where you can assist your Emperor."

"I... can't really read minds."

"You read the mind of a young man, correct?"

"Well... yes, but..."

"So you can read minds," Ezar interrupted her, raising an eyebrow. This was said very similarly to the way he'd spoken to the guard when he instructed him to drop Heidi's arm. Clearly she was to argue no further.

"But..." Heidi pressed. "That was an accident. I've never been able to do it before or since and I'm not even sure how I did it. I've only ever been able to read memories before that one instance."

"If you did it once, you can do it again," Ezar responded, his voice becoming less welcoming. "Your mother could do it so you can do it."

Heidi's eyes widened. "How did you know that?""

"Young lady, I am your Emperor," he stated. "I will ask the questions and you will answer them."

"Did you know my mother?!" Heidi exclaimed, disregarding his warning to her. She leaned towards him without thinking and suddenly a guard shoved her to the ground. This time, instead of admonishing the guard for his use of force, Ezar stood over her.

"You _will_ serve your Emperor one way or another," he said. "I will give you one last chance to cooperate willingly before I resort to other tactics to ensure your assistance in bringing down this ridiculous rebellion against the Imperial forces."

It took Heidi a few minutes to gather her breath as the force of being shoved to the ground had knocked the wind out of her.

"But... I'm telling you... I don't think I _could_ help," she said. "I don't know how I did it."

Ezar's face changed then. Heidi had seen when she'd first met him that the welcoming look was a mask, now she saw the mask melt away and reveal a look more demonic than the gargoyles outside.

"If you will not help your Emperor willingly, we have other methods to ensure your assistance," he said in a low voice.

He nodded to the guard who had knocked her down. Without a word the guard grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet. He pulled her along much more roughly this time, out of the throne room and down a hall they had not entered before. Here the remarkableness of the palace changed. There was no more marble or jewels or gold or platinum. There were merely cold steel walls and rough concrete floors. Every so often Heidi would see a thick steel door with a tiny square window at the top center of it.

"Where are you taking me?" Heidi asked but the guard didn't respond. He didn't even look at her.

After they passed about seventeen of these identical doors the guard stopped in front of one. He pulled a keycard from his belt and held it in front of a small, grey box next to the door. The box beeped and a small light on the box flashed from red to green. The door slid open. He pulled her roughly into the room. In it was another guard lying a man down on a steel table. Next to the table was the strangest contraption Heidi had ever seen. It was clearly the outline of a body and there were places to adjust the height and length of the arms and legs. There were straps located at the wrists, ankles and forehead and there was a large, sinister dome-shaped contraption at the top of the head.

"You done with him?" asked the guard holding Heidi's arm.

"For now," the other guard responded. "He's a tough bastard but I'm getting tired of listening to him scream."

"Well, let me borrow the machine for awhile," Heidi's guard said. "I don't think she'll take long to break."

The other guard looked at Heidi as if seeing her for the first time. "Shit, man, what is she, like 18?" he asked. "What the hell does she need this for?" He jerked his thumb towards the strange machine.

Heidi's guard shrugged. "Won't do what the Emperor wants," he said. "She reads minds or something and is refusing to work for the Emperor. I don't know. I just hope it doesn't take long. You know I hate using the machine on people, that's why I volunteer for the collection missions."

"Yeah, well, I hate travel," the other guard chuckled.

"Help me get her in it?" Heidi's guard said.

"Sure, but I'm not staying for it," the other guard replied. "Seems kind of a waste to me, she's not bad looking and all."

Heidi's guard shrugged and pulled her towards the contraption shaped like a body. Before they could get her in it, though, the door opened and another guard strode in.

"Hektor, you're never going to believe this," he said.

"What?" Heidi's guard asked, slightly annoyed at being interrupted.

"Remember that rebel you caught that got away last week?" he responded. "Well, Fiar caught him again."

Heidi's guard—Hektor apparently—lit up. His eyes went wide. "Where is he?"

"Down the hall," the guard in the doorway said. "I thought maybe you'd like to see him executed since he got you in so much trouble with the Emperor."

Hektor looked back and forth from Heidi to the guard in the doorway. The other guard—the one who was in the room when they entered—spoke up.

"She's not going anywhere, man," he said. "Just leave her here and let's go watch the execution. I could use a break from this thing anyway." He gestured towards the machine.

Hektor sighed. "Yeah, okay..." He let go of Heidi and the three guards walked towards the door. Hektor stopped in the doorway and looked back at her. "Stay put, I'll be back." The door slid shut behind him.

"Like I have a choice," Heidi muttered to herself. She sighed and glanced around the room. It was then that she remembered the young man lying on the steel table. She was able to get a better look at him. He was curled up into a fetal position, his eyes closed, his breath coming in short bursts, as if he'd been running a long distance. His blonde hair was matted and sweaty and sticking to his forehead. His hands were bound with plastic ties that were so tight they were cutting into his skin. However, it looked fairly pointless to her to bind his hands since his face was bloodless and he looked completely devoid of energy and life.

It was silent for quite awhile and Heidi considered what she should do. She stared at the machine, wondering what kind of torture awaited her. She had the faint notion that she should have been more afraid, but instead she just felt despair.

Suddenly the man on the table moaned. She jumped slightly at the noise and walked towards him tentatively. Up until now she had thought that he was asleep. He rubbed his face against the cold steel of the table and swallowed a few times. His eyes fluttered and opened. They were a deep brown. He searched the room and finally focused on her. At first he merely regarded her but then his face contorted slightly in confusion.

"Am I dead?" he mumbled.

Heidi shook her head. "No."

"Since when do they make women imperial guards?"

"I'm not a guard," she said. "I... think I'm a prisoner."

"Huh," he muttered. "Then maybe you could help unbind my hands."

Heidi worried her lip. "Are you a criminal?"

He swallowed again. "By imperial standards, yes," he answered. "But I won't hurt you, and they will." He nodded towards the door.

Heidi glanced towards the door and then back to him. She was sure he was right, but what good would unbinding his hands do? Of course, what good would it do to not unbind his hands? She was sure to be tortured and possibly killed soon, so what difference did it make?

"Please," he said suddenly. "They're cutting my wrists."

"I..." she cleared her throat. "I don't have anything to cut them with."

"There's a small blade in my boot," he said and held one leg up slightly.

She walked towards him and took hold of his foot.

"There," he said. "In that tiny side pocket."

She opened the pocket expecting to find a knife. Instead she found a tiny razor blade no bigger than a cracker.

"I don't think I can cut your binds with this," she said.

"Help me sit up," he said in response.

She sat the blade next to him and helped him into a seated position. She handed him the blade and he worked quickly, sawing back and forth against the bindings on his left hand. The blade slipped and cut him a few times but he merely grimaced and kept sawing. Finally it snapped free. He pulled his hand free and used the blade to saw the binding on his other hand, this time he worked even quicker, seemingly given new life by the freedom of his left hand.

The binding snapped free and he laughed slightly with relief. He tossed the bindings and the blade aside and hopped off the table. Heidi could hear footsteps in the hallway. The man ran to the door and stood next to the side of it. He put a finger to his lips. He mouthed the words "stand back" and waved her backwards. She took a few steps back but wasn't really sure where he wanted her to go.

The door slid open and Hektor appeared with the guard that had been in here when they'd first come in. Both guards looked confused but only for an instant because the blonde man jumped up and brought his elbow down on Hektor's head, knocking him out cold. The other guard reached for his weapon, but the blonde man was faster. He grabbed the guard's wrist as his hand connected with his blaster and swung him across the room. Heidi leapt out of the way as the guard smashed into the wall. Then she saw that the blonde man had the blaster. He shot the guard once, twice, three times. Then he moved forward and even though the guard was already dead, he kicked him furiously in the head and stomach.

"Miserable piece of shit," he muttered and spat upon the guard's face. He returned to Hektor and took the keycard from his belt. He then turned and held out his hand to Heidi. "Let's go."

"Go?" she said, terrified.

"Yes, we have to go now," the man responded. He didn't wait for Heidi to agree. Instead he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along with him. He used Hektor's keycard to open the door and then took off tearing down the hall, dragging Heidi along with him.

Heidi was gasping for breath, trying to ask where they were going, did he have any idea what he was doing, but she couldn't get enough air to speak. His eyes darted back and forth down the hall. He turned a corner and two guards were walking down the hall. He didn't hesitate but shot both of them with the blaster.

An alarm suddenly sounded.

"Shit," she heard him mutter. "Should have killed that other bastard." Heidi assumed that he meant Hektor, but had no breath to ask. He turned towards her. "Hurry up, Red."

"Wha..." Heidi started but didn't get to finish because he pulled her to a small airtight hatch in the side of the wall. It was only about a foot and a half square. He shot twice with the blaster and the hatch dented inwards. He tossed the blaster aside and grabbed hold of the hatch, pulling with all his might. After what seemed like an eternity, it pulled free and Heidi could see a tube going down to God knows where.

"Get in," he ordered her.

"What is that?" she asked. "Where—"

"DAMMIT, WE DON'T HAVE TIME, RED!" he shouted. He didn't wait for her to respond. He picked her up around the waist and hurled her head first into the chute, diving in after her.

She couldn't help crying out as she slid down, down, down.... The further she went the worse the stench got. The drop seemed to take forever. Behind her she heard the blonde man scream "Woo!" excitedly. He was enjoying this?

Finally she saw a light, but as soon as she saw it, she flew out into nothing but air. She seemed to be suspended for an instant and then dropped, landing in a giant body of water. Under the water she heard another splash an instant after she fell in. She pushed herself to the surface and took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. The stench was almost unbearable and she gagged.

Her eyes darted around. She could barely see due to the lack of light, but it was clear she was in a sewer.

The blonde man surfaced in front of her and held two fists up in victory.

"Woo!" he shouted again. "Take that, suckers! Another failed attempt to take me!" He sighed and wiped his hand down his face.

Heidi was gasping and fighting hysteria.

"You okay, Red?" he asked.

"I don't think so," she said.

"You break something?"

"No, I just..." She couldn't finish and burst into angry, bitter tears.

"Oh," the blonde man said uncomfortably. He sighed and took her hand. "Look, we got to get moving, okay? You can... cry... if you need to, but they'll be after us so let's get going."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she cried and yanked her hand free. "You're insane. You dumped me down a sewer line."

"I saved your life," he argued, his face conveying his annoyance. "Or at least saved you from being tortured and used by Ezar, and believe me, that torture is a fate worse than death."

Heidi swallowed. He was most likely right. And they would be coming after her. And she had helped this guy escape so she would be in it even deeper. She didn't have a lot of options. In fact, it appeared her only viable one was to trust this guy. She nodded finally and held out her hand. He took it again without a word and led her down and around the sewers until it poured out into the open air.
Chapter Three

Heidi could no longer smell the disgusting stench, but she knew that only meant she was getting used to it. Both of them had to smell like death having dived into and then walked through a sewer and then into the woods where they had been walking all afternoon in the hot sun. Now that the sun was going down, it occurred to Heidi that she and the blonde man hadn't spoken a word to each other since the sewer.

"Um... sir..." she began.

"Yeah?"

"Where are we going?"

"There's a rebel base about two days walk from here," he said. "We can probably make it there by tomorrow evening."

"So... you're a part of the rebellion?"

"Yes."

"How did you know about that sewer line?" she asked.

"They toss dead bodies down there," he replied. "I saw them do it the last time they captured me."

Heidi shivered despite the heat of the day. She was silent for awhile. "Look, maybe it would be better if you just dropped me somewhere populated," she said finally. "I need to get home."

"I'm not going near anywhere there are people until I get to the base."

"But I have to get back to my aunt," Heidi argued. "She'll be worried about me."

He laughed humorlessly. "There's little point in that," he said. "Your aunt is probably dead and if not, they at least took her to an Imperial prison camp."

Heidi stopped dead in her tracks. "W-What...?" The hysteria began working its way back up her chest and she started to hyperventilate.

"Whoa..." he stopped and walked back towards her. "Calm down, Red."

Heidi shook her head, tears pouring from her eyes. "Calm down?!" she exclaimed. "Three days ago I was at home celebrating my birthday. Now I've been ripped from my home and a prisoner of the Emperor and almost tortured and dropped in a sewer where dead bodies go and following some insane rebel guy through the wilderness to God knows where and I'm sorry if the revelation that my aunt might be dead is just a little too much for me to take after what I've been through!"

"Hey, I've had way worse days than that," he argued, shrugging.

"But _I_ haven't!" she sobbed. "And my aunt... she's my only family..."

His brown eyes, cold and distant until now, softened slightly. His lips parted and momentarily his face was full of empathy. It lasted only an instant and then he cleared his throat and pressed his lips together. When he spoke again, though, his voice was less harsh.

"Look, if the Emperor needed you for something then he probably kept your aunt alive to use as leverage if need be," he said. "So she's probably in some prison camp. I have contacts and I can look into helping you find her when we get back to the base, but we have to get back there first."

Heidi swallowed and tried to calm her crying. She took a few deep breaths. "You would do that for me?"

He shrugged.

"Okay," she said and wiped her face. When she pulled her hand away there was a small, brown particle on her palm. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, wiping her hand on a nearby tree. "I am so disgusting!"

The blonde man chuckled. "There are way worse things than being covered in shit, Red."

"And stop calling me 'Red'!" she exclaimed. "My name is Heidi."

He grinned mischievously. "Sure thing... Red..."

He started walking again and she followed, rolling her eyes. "What are you, eleven?"

"I wish," he muttered. "Life was a lot better at eleven."

"Not for me," she responded, tripping slightly on a root but catching herself on his shoulder. "You want to tell me your name? Or should I call you 'Blonde'?"

He chuckled again. "Dexter," he said. "Or Dex."

She stumbled again.

"Try to watch for tree roots, will ya, Red?"

"Heidi..." she grumbled.

Heidi wrapped her arms tighter around herself. With as hot as it had been today she didn't think it would be so cold at night. They had decided to stop for the night and were sitting in a small clearing among the trees. Dexter was leaning back against one of the tall oaks with his arms folded. Heidi sat across from him with her legs tucked underneath herself.

"Shouldn't we build a fire or something?" she asked.

"Can't," Dexter replied. "Will alert the Imperial guard to where we are and where we have been. Plus..." he held up his hands "...no matches."

"You can't rub sticks together?" she asked. "I thought you were a rebel."

He grinned. After a moment he leaned forward and pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it to her. It was a long-sleeved thick green shirt. Underneath he was wearing a brown ribbed tank top.

"Here," he said. "It's pretty thick, it will keep you warm."

"That's okay," she said. "I don't want you to be cold." She held the shirt out towards him.

He held up a hand and then folded his arms again as he leaned back against the tree. "No, I'll take the first watch for the night and the cold will help keep me awake."

"Okay," Heidi said and pulled the shirt on over her head. He was right, it was very warm. She felt a little better.

"You should get some rest, Red," he said. "I'll wake you up in a few hours so you can watch and I'll sleep. Then you can wake me at dawn and we'll get going again."

She nodded and lay down. She had given up trying to get him to call her by her name. She closed her eyes and was quiet for awhile but her head was spinning and she couldn't shut her brain off. Too many things today had sent the adrenaline coursing through her body. Finally, she opened her eyes again. Dexter was looking up at the sky.

"I can't sleep," she said. "I'm too wired."

He looked back down at her and grinned. "Help keep me awake then until you get tired."

"Why don't I take the first watch?" she suggested.

"Will you be able to tell by looking at the sky when it's two a.m.?" he asked.

She frowned.

"Didn't think so," he said. "Just talk to me for awhile, you'll get sleepy."

"Okay," she agreed and sat up. She thought for a moment before she spoke and then remembered a question she'd been meaning to ask him for awhile. "Why did you kick that guard?"

"What guard?"

"After you knocked Hektor out and took that other guy's blaster," she explained. "You shot him. Three times. He was dead and you still went over and kicked him a bunch."

"Oh," he said. He shifted against the tree uncomfortably before he responded. "I don't know. He'd been torturing me for a couple days and I guess I just really wished I had time to give some of it back to him."

"Torturing you?" she asked. "Like they were going to do to me?"

"Probably."

"What do they do? Strap you in that thing and stick you with hot pokers?"

He scoffed. "That would be a walk in the park compared to what they do."

"Why?" she asked. "What do they do?"

"That machine," he said. "The thing they strap you in... it's a form of psychological torture... it sends signals to your brain." He tapped his head.

"Makes you feel pain?"

"Yeah, but it's more than that. It's not just physical pain, though there's certainly that, but it's also misery, despair, hopelessness. It's... it's..." He thought for a moment, searching for the correct word. "It's hell," he said finally. "The machine puts you in hell."

Heidi breathed and shook her head. "I had no idea..." she mumbled. "The history books don't tell about any of that."

"History books?" he scoffed again. "You mean the propaganda in the Imperial libraries?" He shook his head and chuckled. "That's not history, Red. It's Ezar's effort to make everyone loyal to him. But eventually he ruins everything, hurts everyone somehow, and they all find out the truth. Why do you think the rebellion is growing by leaps and bounds?"

"I didn't know it was," she said.

He nodded. "Why else would my battalion have been attacked? We weren't even on a reconnaissance mission, let alone an attack mission. We were just hiding out but Ezar's trying so hard to take out the rebellion army and he's getting desperate. So he's attacking anything remotely related to the rebellion."

"The rest of your battalion... were they captured, too?"

"No, I sent them one way and I went another," he answered. "I knew they'd come after me because I was the squad leader... I have information they might want."

"That was brave of you."

"Hardly," he said. "It was entirely selfish. I was trying to save myself from what happened to me last time. And I put the rest of the rebellion at risk because they could have gotten information from me."

"What happened to you last time?"

"The last time my squad was captured they tortured me for two days trying to get me to reveal the location of my rebel base, but it wasn't working." His lips became a thin line. "They brought in one of my men—one of my friends—and made me watch them torturing him... I told them the location within ten minutes."

"That's awful."

"That's Ezar."

"You were in hell for two straight days?"

"Well, not two days straight," he said. "They have to let up occasionally to give you the opportunity to talk before they put you back." He cleared his throat and shifted against the tree again. "Also they occasionally have to give you longer breaks so you don't totally lose it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if they go for too long, you can totally snap," he said. "I've seen guys who've been in the machine for too long." He shook his head. "Like walking corpses. They don't talk or recognize anyone, just stare and occasionally moan or scream." He sighed. "Ezar just tosses them in one of his prison camps. The rebellion at least is merciful enough to end their suffering."

Heidi considered this a moment. "You mean end their life?"

"It's not really a life."

Heidi shuddered despite the fact that Dexter's shirt was still keeping her extremely warm.

"Thank you," she said. "For saving me from that."

"No problem, Red," he said, grinning again. "What were you there for anyway? You're not a part of the rebellion, are you?"

"I have... a gift..." She shrugged. "Really it's more of a curse but the Emperor wanted me to use it to help him and when I said that it doesn't work the way he wanted it to work I guess he didn't believe me and sent me to be 'persuaded'."

"What kind of gift?"

"It's kind of hard to explain," she said. "In short I guess you could say that I can read memories. If I touch your head and you think of a memory, I'll see it in my head, like it's my memory, like I'm remembering it. At least, all I've ever been able to do is read memories, except for once. My mother had the same gift—or a similar one—but hers was more advanced. She could read whatever someone was thinking whenever and she didn't have to touch your head to do it. She still had to touch you, but she could just like tap your palm and she could read your mind. I've been able to read current thoughts one single time and I did it inadvertently. But it's apparently what led the Emperor to me and now I'm here. I told him I'd only done it the one time and didn't know how to do it again, but..." She shrugged again.

Dexter didn't speak for awhile. He stared at her curiously.

"What?" she said finally.

"Nothing," he said. "I'm just really glad I got you away from there. You would have been an extremely powerful weapon at the Emperor's disposal. It's possible you would have been able to help him bring down the rebellion."

"I wouldn't do it."

"A few days in the torture machine and you would," he said. "Or worse... a few hours watching them torture your aunt."

Heidi breathed in sharply through her nose, all too aware of the truth of his statement.

"But now you can help the rebellion," he said, smiling. "You'll be a great asset to us."

Heidi frowned. "Serve the Emperor, serve the rebellion, it's all the same, isn't it? Everyone just wants to use me. Everyone just wants me for what they can get from me."

Dexter regarded her for a moment. "No," he said finally. "The rebellion won't force you to help. We're all about freedom. If you help it will be your choice to help."

Heidi relaxed slightly. "Thank you." She looked up at the night sky. It was a clear night and the stars were out. She wondered vaguely if somewhere her Aunt Reboa was looking at the same sky. She was starting to feel tired but her mind was still running in too many directions to fall asleep. She looked back to Dexter and saw that he was watching her. He looked away quickly.

"Have you always been with the rebellion?" she asked finally.

He shrugged. "Since I was 14."

"Your parents were a part of the rebellion?"

"No, they were killed by Ezar."

Heidi's eyes widened in shock. "When you were 14?"

He shook his head. "I was 12."

"Why?"

He didn't look at her as he spoke. "My father was a soldier in the old republic but he was retired. They killed him for refusing to come out of retirement and work for Ezar."

"Your mother, too?"

"Yes, but they killed her for refusing to tell them where I was. She hid me to keep me from them."

"What did they want with you?"

"I was a 12 year old boy..." he explained with another shrug. "I could be a soldier."

Heidi's jaw dropped. "That's terrible, I'm so sorry."

He shrugged again and looked up towards the sky. "It was a long time ago."

"Do you miss them still?"

He nodded. "Especially my mother."

"So you joined the rebellion after they were killed?"

"No, not right away," he answered and finally looked down and met her eyes. "My mother hid me in the coal bin. After the guards killed them I was afraid to come out of the coal bin for almost two days, not only because I was afraid the guards were still there, but also because if I left I would have to walk around the corpses of my parents. But eventually hunger got the best of me and I got out. I gathered whatever food I could take and I fled. For a year and a half I lived on the streets. There were some other runaway and orphaned boys that I hung around with, squatting and stealing food. One day some Imperial guards came and tried to force us to join the Imperial army. Some of us resisted and several of the boys were killed for resisting. But before they got to me a rebel force stepped in and rescued those of us that were left. After that I wanted nothing more than to join the rebel army. But they don't let you join until you're 18 so I had to wait four years. But I was so eager that they let me do non-combat things like laundry and cooking for the soldiers. And they let me do some of the training with the newer recruits. I didn't actually start into combat until I was 19 but I was a soldier from the moment I joined the rebellion."

"How many times have you been caught?"

"Just twice. The first time I was rescued the day after I revealed the location of the rebel base. So I was able to alert them and most of them escaped."

Heidi shivered again.

"Still cold?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Still disturbed about the idea that they were going to use that machine on me..."

"Yep, there are only two reasons to be in that room: you're either being tortured or doing the torturing."

Heidi's eyes widened in realization and she gasped. "My aunt... do you think they'll think she knows where I am and torture her to find out?!"

Dexter's lips parted slightly but he didn't say anything. His eyes revealed what he didn't want to say: that Ezar would use any means necessary to find her and get her back. He looked down but not before Heidi saw what he was thinking. She burst into tears.

"Maybe they won't," Dexter said, although he didn't sound convinced himself. "If they need her as leverage for you then they might not risk it. If she's too damaged to torture anymore, she's no good to them."

Heidi knew he didn't believe it and neither did she, but she'd done so much crying today that she didn't really have any more left in her and so her tears soon subsided. In fact, the weariness of the day and the past three days was beginning to come down on her.

"My aunt tried to hide me," she said suddenly. She tucked her knees up under her chin and stared down at her feet. "She tried to keep me away from the Emperor and the rebellion, tried to keep me safe. But they found me anyway... because we tried to start a real life. And now she's in danger... or worse." She shook her head wearily, her face grave. "It was a mistake not to choose a side—albeit a well-meant mistake. If you don't choose a side one gets chosen for you."

"Yep," Dexter agreed, studying her inquisitively. He considered what he would say next but before he had a chance, Heidi spoke again.

"I'll help the rebellion," she said. "I mean, I don't really know how my ability can help... and I won't violate someone's mind against their will. But if I can help other ways then I'll help."

"Good," Dexter mumbled. "Gives you an opportunity to try and rescue your aunt."

"No, that's not..." Heidi sighed. "I mean, yes, I'd like to save her but that's not it." She wrapped her arms tighter around her knees. "I just see the truth now. I was looking for it before and I only found propaganda and fairy tales. But I see the way things really are now... And twelve year old boys should not have to watch their parents being murdered from coal bins."

Dexter's eyes widened slightly and he drew in a small, sharp breath. He seemed to search her and take her all in for a moment but then closed down again. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded once.

"You should get some sleep, Red," he said finally. "We have a long trek tomorrow and you only have a few more hours before I have to wake you up."

She nodded. "I think I can sleep now."

She lay down on the soft ground, warmed by Dexter's shirt and fell asleep to the sound of locusts in the trees.
Chapter Four

She'd never seen these stairs before... where did they go? And who was that walking up them?

"Aunt Reboa..."

Heidi followed her up the stairs. Where was she going? The stairs seemed to go on forever. There was a light at the top of them but no matter how many steps they climbed, they never even got close to the top. And Heidi tried desperately to catch up to her aunt, but no matter how fast she climbed, Reboa stayed just out of reach.

"Wait!" she cried. "Wait!"

Suddenly the stairs were no more. She was in a marble hallway... it was somewhat familiar. The figure was still just in front of her but it had stopped. She ran forward and reached out and grabbed her shoulder to turn her around. Only it wasn't Aunt Reboa... it was Emperor Ezar.

Heidi cried out and recoiled and then realized she was in the torture room. On the table was a figure... but it wasn't the blonde man this time. She approached cautiously. The figure laid totally still, her eyes wide but unseeing, her arms lifeless by her side.

"No!" Heidi cried. "No! Aunt Reboa..."

She grabbed her aunt and tried desperately to make contact, but she was suddenly pulled away as two faceless guards picked up Reboa and placed her back in the torture machine.

"No!!" Heidi screamed. "No!!"

The switch was flipped. Reboa's eyes, already wide, became wider with terror and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Heidi tried desperately to get free, to run to her, to turn off the switch, but it was—

She awoke with a cry.

"Whoa!" a familiar voice said. "Quiet, Red."

Heidi looked around frantically. The woods... Dexter... it was a dream. She sighed heavily and sat up. She didn't feel very rested but it was apparently her turn to keep watch.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "Nightmare."

"No problem," he replied. "It's only a few hours before dawn. Wake me when the sun comes up, okay?"

She nodded and watched as he lay down on the ground in front of her, still in his undershirt.

"Do you want your shirt back?" she asked.

There was no response but his rhythmic breathing, and momentarily a soft snore. He must have experience falling asleep in strange, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable circumstances. What a rotten hand he'd been dealt. She curled up with her knees under her chin and sat facing him, watching him sleep. It was better than thinking about where she was, how alone she was, and how scared she was... or about her nightmare. She wished he was awake so she could talk to him some more. This hiding business had never been fun, but at least she'd always had someone to talk to before. But he did need his sleep so instead she studied his face. She realized for the first time that she'd never really looked at him that closely. She knew that his hair was blonde and his eyes were a deep brown, but she hadn't noticed the sharp line of his jaw or the slight bump at the bridge of his nose. She also noted that he had a scar above his left eyebrow, like a knife had sliced cleanly from his forehead to his temple. The stubble on his face was becoming a mini-beard and she wondered how long it had been since he'd shaved. She wondered if he shaved regularly or if he just left it to do its own thing.

Her eyes traveled down and noted that his arms were muscled and the veins stood out on his forearms. He had a tattoo on his left shoulder... three circles intertwined.

The sign of the rebellion.

He was bold. No one wore that symbol freely without dire consequences. She only knew from whispers and rumbles the few times she'd seen it graffitied on different buildings that it was a sign the rebellion was intending to meet there. However, this was back when the rebellion was new and the Imperial guard didn't know about the symbol. Now it was merely a symbol of loyalty. Dexter must have been extremely loyal to have it tattooed on his body. Or perhaps all officers in the rebellion army were required to have it. From the little she knew about him, she thought it much more likely that he had it in an effort to give the proverbial finger to the Emperor.

It was going to be a long few hours sitting here with nothing to do and no one to talk to. The warmth of Dexter's shirt was making her feel too comfortable and her eyes started to get heavy. So she took it off and draped it across his chest. He stirred slightly but didn't wake up. A breeze blew and Heidi shivered. She noticed that a leaf had landed on Dexter's forehead. Without thinking she reached over and brushed it aside.

A flash in her brain startled her. It was merely for an instant but it was conflict—she and two other men behind a dumpster, one man told her to get down. Only, it had to be a memory, and not one of hers.

It was the second time she'd read someone's mind inadvertently.

She let him sleep a little beyond when the sun came up. He was already stirring by the time she shook him awake. He glanced up and around and then noticed his shirt lying on top of him.

"You don't want this anymore?" He stood up and held it out to her.

"No, it's warmer now," she said, rising to her feet.

Dexter didn't ask again, he merely pulled it on over his head, yawned and stretched and then turned and waved to her to follow him.

Most of the rest of the day was silent. He walked with purpose; he knew where he was going, although all the trees and woods and everything looked exactly the same to Heidi and she had no idea how one would find anything here. She sort of wanted to talk to him some more but she didn't have much energy and was having to expend it all trekking after him. He walked fast. In fact, the only thing she did say to him all day was "Can you slow down?" a few times. To which he responded "Yeah, sorry..." and slowed down for awhile but soon picked his pace back up and then she had to ask again.

Finally when Heidi was just about to drop to her knees and say, "I give up; you go on without me..." they reached a large cluster of trees. Dexter stopped and held up a hand to her to indicate she should stop as well. He then brought a finger to his lips to admonish her to stay quiet. He held both hands up in surrender and walked towards the cluster.

"Halt!" a disembodied voice shouted suddenly.

"It's me, Gyer," Dexter said.

As if appearing out of nothing, a figure emerged from the trees. He was holding a rifle blaster and wearing clothes similar to Dexter's. When he saw Dexter's face, he pointed the rifle down and laughed gleefully.

"Lieutenant," he said. "You're alive." He rushed forward and embraced Dexter eagerly.

"Of course I am, Private," Dexter returned. "You didn't actually think those Imperial scum would get the better of me, did you?"

"No—" Gyer stopped abruptly and jumped back, he charged and aimed his rifle at Heidi. "Sir, you've been followed!" he exclaimed.

Heidi held up her hands but not before Dexter jumped between her and Gyer's rifle.

"Stand down, soldier," Dexter said with an air of authority she'd not heard from him before. "She's with me. She was a prisoner of Ezar too and she helped me to escape."

Gyer looked surprised, but powered down his rifle and aimed it at the ground again. "Apologies, sir," he mumbled.

"That's all right," Dexter said. "No harm, no foul. But let's get inside before the imperial scouts spot us."

"Yes sir," Gyer agreed and turned to lead the way back into the cluster of trees.

Dexter turned and held out his hand to her. It was then that she realized she still had her hands in the air. She dropped them quickly, feeling rather sheepish.

"Don't worry, Red," he said. "You're safe with me."

Heidi smiled and took his hand. He led the way into the cluster of trees, which, once she stood inside it, Heidi realized were not real trees but steel columns made to look like trees. And they moved. But it was so slightly that from the outside it would have looked like a breeze blowing the branches. Inside was even more amazing. It was a tiny village. There were huts made of mud and straw everywhere and people walked in and out of them. Most of the people had on the same soldier fatigues that Dexter and Gyer wore, but some were merely in civilian clothing. There were even some children chasing their mothers around. There was a large garden near the center of village and next to that stood a much larger hut with two rebel guards standing outside of it, armed.

"Wow," Heidi breathed. "Are all the rebel bases like this?"

"Most of them," Dexter replied.

"But... how do you have the technology and the materials to make all this?" she asked.

"You don't think all scientists and steel workers are loyal to Ezar, do you?" he glanced over at her and grinned.

"They're not all soldiers..." Heidi mused.

"No, but most of the ones that aren't are related to a soldier," he said. "Usually a member of that soldier's family, his wife and kids. Or sometimes their parents or aunts and uncles. Rarely we have people that come looking simply for asylum but those are so rare because usually they can't find our bases. We have to make them really hard to find to keep the enemy from us, which, unfortunately, makes it hard for friends to find us, too."

Heidi watched as two little girls picked tomatoes from the vine in the garden and placed them in a basket. Their mother stood nearby. One of the girls giggled and tossed a tomato into her sister's basket, narrowly missing her sister's head.

"Hey!" the sister exclaimed.

"No throwing tomatoes!" the mother admonished and the girl grinned sheepishly.

Heidi could see now that they were heading for the large mud hut in the center.

"What is this?" she asked.

"Headquarters," Dexter answered. "I have to check back in."

"Look, I don't mean to sound ungrateful but when am I going to be able to bathe and eat?"

"That's a very good question, Lieutenant," a warm alto voice said. Heidi looked up and saw a woman emerging from the hut that Dexter had called 'headquarters'. She was slightly taller than Heidi with dark brown hair cut into a smart bob. She was wearing the same fatigues that Gyer and Dexter wore.

"Commander," Dexter said and he and Gyer both saluted simultaneously.

"You've brought a friend and haven't given her something to eat?" the commander asked. "And I agree with her that both of you desperately need to bathe." She waved her hand in front of her nose and smiled in jest.

"We just got here, Commander," Dexter replied. "And we traveled through the Imperial sewers to escape the palace."

"Oh, I thought that smelled worse than regular shit," Gyer remarked.

The Commander rolled her eyes. "At least introduce me to your friend."

"Yeah," Dexter said and turned to Heidi. "This is, uh..." He stared at her, his mind clearly a blank.

"Heidi!" Heidi exclaimed.

"Right, Heidi," Dexter agreed. "She was a prisoner of the Emperor, too. She helped me to escape."

"Really?" the commander said, impressed. "Well, then we owe you a great debt. Lt. Hathaway is a great asset to the cause and also a good friend and I was very sorry to hear he'd been captured."

"I really didn't do anything," Heidi argued. "He rescued me, not the other way around."

Dexter shrugged. "It was mutual."

"Well, it doesn't matter," the commander said before Heidi could argue anymore. "I am Commander Elena Trevana of Rebel Base number 65. I'm very glad to have you here, Heidi. You are welcome to stay with me if you'd like or we can look into finding you a safehouse with someone else."

"Oh..." Heidi said. "That's... very kind but... um... if it's all the same, I'd rather stay with Dexter." She bit her lower lip. Dexter's eyes widened slightly and his face flushed. Up until then he had still been holding her hand, but he dropped it quickly. Pt. Gyer was attempting to stifle a chuckle and not being completely successful. He snorted.

"You feeling all right, Private?" Dexter asked, annoyed. "Perhaps you should visit the infirmary."

"No, I'm fine, sir," Gyer responded and pressed his lips together tighter.

"I... just feel safer with him," Heidi explained. "Because he already saved my life once..."

"Of course," Commander Trevana said, shooting a warning look at Gyer, who was still having trouble controlling his laughter. "Well, if it's all right with Lt. Hathaway, there's no reason why not."

"Unless I'm intruding," Heidi exclaimed suddenly, realizing that she had only assumed Dexter lived alone. It was entirely possible that one of these children running around here was his, accompanied by one of the lovely civilian women as his wife. Heidi was surprised that this notion bothered her so much.

"There's plenty of room with me," Dexter said. "Why don't I show you where I stay and then I'll come back and be debriefed."

"Certainly, Lieutenant," Trevana said. "First, however, I order you to bathe."

Dexter's hut looked exactly like all the others from the outside. Inside was a single room. There was one cot in the corner to one side with one bare pillow and a blanket on it. There was also a tub next to the cot. On the other side there was a stove and a small oven for cooking as well as a table and two chairs. Gyer brought in some fresh water for bathing and after pouring it into the tub, he grinned at Dexter—who glared back—and left.

"Um," Dexter said. "You can bathe first and I'll go walk around outside. I'll find a cot for you. I don't have a separate room for you but I'm sure I can scrounge up a separate bed."

"Thanks," Heidi said.

"And I'll find you some clean clothes, too," he added. "I'll, um, call from the doorway when I get back and you can tell me if it's safe to come in." He backed out of the doorway quickly before Heidi could say anything else.

Heidi undressed and climbed in the hot bath. After the past few days it was quite possibly the most wonderful feeling she thought she'd ever experienced. Now if only she could find something to fill her desperately empty stomach. She didn't have any soap, but she scrubbed her body and hair as best she could in the hot water.

"Hello?" a female voice suddenly called from the hut door.

Heidi plastered herself to the side of the tub. "Hello?"

A small woman entered carrying a satchel with her. "Hi, I'm Dana," she said. "Reynold's wife."

"Reynold?" Heidi asked.

"Private Gyer," she explained.

"Oh," Heidi sighed in relief. "I thought maybe you were Dexter's wife."

Dana burst out laughing. "No, um, he's not married," she said. "I've never even known him to date." She came closer. "I'm sorry to intrude on you but men don't seem to think things through. Dex came and asked me if I had some clothes you could wear but then had no idea how he was going to get them to you without seeing you in your birthday suit, and when I asked him if you had soap and towels, he looked stunned. So I brought you some soap and towels and a few outfits so you don't have to borrow Dexter's fatigues."

"Thank you," Heidi said and took the soap from her. She rescrubbed everything.

"I really hope you don't mind me barging in here," Dana said. "I just had to see who it was Dexter was letting stay in his dwelling with him."

"He doesn't usually let people stay with him?" Heidi asked.

Dana shook her head. "Never. I've known him for five years and he's always lived alone. He's even rescued other civilians and always just sticks them in a safehouse."

"Well, I think he feels... protective of me or something," Heidi mused as she scrubbed her hair.

"That's also unusual," Dana said. "He's usually all business. Always a soldier, never anything else."

"Oh," Heidi said. She didn't really know how to respond and was starting to feel uncomfortable and exposed, not because she was naked but because her presence in Dexter's home was causing curiosity.

Dana seemed to pick up on Heidi's discomfort and stood up. "Well, sorry to bother you," she said. "I live three doors down so if you need anything, just let me know."

"Thanks," Heidi said.

Dexter returned a little while later. By that time Heidi was clean and dressed in a dress Dana had left for her. It was slightly too large but Heidi was fine with it. She found the tub stopper on the side. It was next to a drain that exited from the hut and she pulled it open to drain out the dirty water. When Dexter entered—after announcing his presence and being given the all clear—he was carrying his own jugs of clean water. Heidi used her towel to wipe out the excess dirt and grime from the tub so that his bath would not be tainted with it.

"Dana came by," she said.

"Yeah," Dexter replied. "She wanted to meet you."

"She seems really nice."

"Yeah, she's all right." He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry I didn't think of soap and towels."

"It's okay," Heidi responded.

Dexter suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Um... you could probably go over to Dana's while I..." he gestured towards the tub.

"Oh!" Heidi exclaimed. "Of course, you need to bathe. No, that's okay. I was actually going to go look for some food—"

"That I remembered!" he said suddenly and pulled a bag from underneath his coat. He opened it and inside were several energy bars. "They aren't that fantastic tasting but when you've gone without food for a couple days they're really great at restoring all your body's energy and nourishment."

"Thank you again," Heidi said and took the first bar and devoured it. She took another one from him and walked towards the hut door. "I think I'll just go for a walk."

"You want to do more walking?" he asked, chuckling slightly.

"I'd like to at least see the rest of the base," she said.

"Well, don't go too far, Red," he said. "You can wander out of the base if you're not careful."

"I'll stay in the populated areas," she replied and exited the hut.

Outside the day was drawing to a close. She chewed slower on the other energy bar as she wandered around. After she walked for a few moments, though, she realized Dexter was right and she really didn't want to walk anymore. She found a small tree stump and sat down to finish her energy bar. As she sat there, the same mother with her two daughters that she'd seen earlier in the garden passed by. Each girl was carrying a full basket of vegetables and fruits; the younger one was waddling with her basket between her legs. Finally the mother took the basket from her even though she was already carrying two of her own. The girl then skipped ahead happily to their hut.

Heidi felt a twinge at how it reminded her of her childhood with Aunt Reboa. She felt guilty knowing that she was here safe in a rebel base while, at best, Reboa was stuck in an Imperial prison.
Chapter Five

Heidi turned over on her cot for what had to be the millionth time tonight. After how much had gone on the past few days she was surprised that she wasn't sleeping like a rock, but excitement and worry and guilt and everything else was keeping her brain spinning. She sat up finally, giving up trying to get to sleep, and noticed a small blue light emanating from the kitchen area.

She stood up and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. There wasn't much insulation in a mud hut and she only had on the nightgown that Dana had given her. She walked towards the kitchen and could see that Dexter was sitting at the small table with a tiny hand-held electronic device. The light she had noticed was coming from the device he held. He looked up at her approach.

"I couldn't sleep," Heidi said.

"Me neither," he sighed. "Adrenaline, you know."

"You slept fine in the woods last night."

He grinned and punched the screen of his device a few times with his index finger. "Training," he said. "You learn how to fall asleep anywhere under the harshest conditions and then it makes it weird to fall asleep in your own bed."

Heidi nodded and sat down in the chair across from him. "What is that?" she asked, inclining her head towards the device in his hand.

"It's a comconsole," he answered and after seeing her confused expression, he explained further. "It's a communication device. Commander Trevana said there was an Imperial prison break yesterday at one of the outerlying prisons. A friend of mine was in that prison and presumably led the escape. I'm trying to contact him to see if he's heard anything about your aunt."

"Oh!" Heidi said, surprised. "Thank you."

Dexter nodded and looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. He then finished with the comconsole and switched it off. The moonlight from outside was now the only illumination in the room. "Don't get your hopes up, Red," he said. "It's a long shot."

She nodded. "How did your debriefing go?"

"Fine," he said and leaned back in his chair, scratching his chin. "Just went through the usual stuff. Captured, tortured, didn't tell them anything, some redhead got stuck in my room and freed my hands so I was able to overtake the guards and jump down the sewer line. Same old, same old."

She smirked slightly at him for a moment and then turned serious. "What did they say when you told them about... me?"

Dexter regarded her, placing his hands behind his head. He yawned before he spoke again. "All I told them is how you helped me to escape and that you were to be tortured by Ezar and you wanted to join the rebellion." He shook his head. "I didn't tell them about your gift, although Lieutenant Hugo kept asking questions." He rolled his eyes.

"Why?" Heidi asked.

Dexter shrugged. "He's just twitchy and untrusting, don't take it personally."

"No," Heidi corrected. "I meant why didn't you tell them about my ability?"

"Oh that," Dexter said. "Well, because for one, I don't really think I could explain it, two, it's really your secret to tell, not mine, and three, I don't want them thinking I just brought back some hot commodity rather than an actual person." He scratched the stubble on the side of his face and yawned again. He had shaved earlier when they'd arrived and cleaned up and she thought it made him look much younger than he had when she first met him. Now, however, the stubble was starting to grow back. "It wouldn't be intentional but when you're fighting a war for a just cause it's hard not to look at everyone for what they can do to help further the cause."

"You don't look at people that way, do you?"

"Oh yeah, all the time," Dexter laughed. "I'm not saying that I _should_ , but I still do. I thought about you that way, remember? Before you called me on it."

Heidi looked down at her hands. "Well, I should probably tell your commander," she said. "Otherwise I might accidentally use it and everyone will find out and then you'll all think I'm some kind of Imperial spy or something."

Dexter smirked. "Good point, Red," he said. "You're thinking more and more like a soldier all the time."

"But I don't want to be a soldier," she said, frowning. "Besides, I also think I should tell you that... I accidentally read your mind."

Dexter's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What-what do you mean?"

"Last night when you fell asleep," she explained. "There was a leaf on your face and I brushed it aside and when I did I touched your forehead and I think I saw one of your memories... or maybe it was a dream, I'm not sure. It was a fight in an alleyway. You and two other men... one of them had an X-shaped scar on his cheek." She drew an X on her face with her finger.

Dexter leaned forward, dropping his hands from his head and clasping them in front of him. His eyes widened and his lips parted slightly. "That was when I was rescued by the rebel army," he said. "From the Imperial guards when I was 14."

"Oh..."

"You saw that just from touching my forehead?" he asked, astonished.

"Yeah, but I didn't mean to," she said quickly. "That's the thing, I don't really know how it all works. My mother could read people's minds all the time just by barely touching them, but other than last night and one other time I've only been able to read memories, and then only when I actually touched the top of someone's head. And always before I've been able to control it."

"But last night you did it unwillingly?"

"Yes," Heidi said. "I wouldn't deliberately violate your mind like that. Those are your personal thoughts and memories. You shouldn't have to share them with me if you don't want to."

"I don't care."

"But I do," Heidi argued. "I don't want to do that. I want to control it." She huffed in exasperation. "My aunt told me that it would probably grow eventually, but I didn't think it would grow of its own volition and surprise me like this. It's why I got caught by the Emperor in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

Heidi explained how she'd kissed Brewer and read his mind and the resulting captivity. Dexter was grinning profusely when she finished and attempting to control his laughter.

"Why are you smiling?" she asked, annoyed. "How is that funny?"

"No, no," he chuckled. "You getting caught and taken by the Emperor and all that—there's nothing funny about that." He was still stifling his laughter. "I'm just getting hung up on you reading the guy's mind while he pictured you naked."

Heidi rolled her eyes. "It was not a realistic picture."

"It rarely is, Red."

He got control over his laughter and looked her over a few times. Heidi felt oddly exposed before him even though he wasn't necessarily looking at anything other than her face.

"Maybe you could try it on me," he suggested finally. "Maybe you could read my mind right now. You know, practice, and then get control over it."

"You want me to try to read your mind?"

"If it will help."

Heidi bit her lip. "I'd have to touch your head."

He leaned forward until his face was inches from hers and pointed to the top of his head. "Sorry if it's a bit lumpy."

Heidi stifled a smile and gently wound her fingers through his hair. She closed her eyes and breathed evenly, opening her mind to his, the way she'd always done when she'd read Aunt Reboa.

"I see... a birthday cake..." she said. "A woman in a green dress. She's pretty. She has blonde hair."

"That's my mother," Dexter's voice called to her from the present. "It's my ten year old birthday. By the way, this is really weird."

Heidi let go immediately. "I'm sorry..."

"Why did you stop?" he asked, confused.

"You said it was weird."

"But not in a bad way," Dexter said. "If I'd wanted you to stop I would have said so."

Heidi sighed. "Well, it didn't work anyway. That was a memory. I've always been able to do that. Current thoughts are what I can't seem to do at will."

"Well, try again, Red," Dexter argued. "I'll think of something specific."

Heidi frowned but wound her fingers through his hair again. She breathed and opened. It took quite awhile. She was trying to concentrate, but also not to force anything, just to let her mind open and find his mind. Find the entrance to his thoughts. Let the thoughts come through the chasm between his mind and her mind. Just allow them to come...

"Emperor Ezar is a..." Heidi dropped her hands from his head and huffed. "I am not using that word."

Dexter laughed excitedly. "Unbelievable," he said. "You totally just read my mind. You knew exactly what I was thinking. That's incredible."

Heidi shrugged but smiled. "Yeah, I guess. I'm glad I'm starting to get the hang of reading current thoughts. I've never done that at will before. It's a lot harder than reading memories."

"But you can keep practicing and get better at it," he argued, still smiling and astonished. "That is amazing, Red. How is it that I've never heard anything about this before?"

"Anything about what?"

"Well, I hear about people with amazing abilities all the time," he explained. "The rebellion and Ezar are always in competition for them, but I've never heard of a mind reader before. And if your mom could do it then there must be others."

"I don't know about that," Heidi said. "I've never heard of anyone besides us."

"What about your dad?" Dexter asked. "Or is it a chick thing?"

Heidi rolled her eyes. "I have no idea if it's a 'chick thing'," she said. "But I don't think my father had any special abilities. I never met him. I don't know much about him. My aunt just said he was a mistake that my mother made when she was young. And my mother died when I was a baby and I've lived with my aunt since then. I've never really gotten to explore my abilities. My aunt let me read her memories, but she was very selective with what she would let me see." Heidi smiled sadly. "She would let me see a lot of her memories of my mother at least. When she was young and when she very first had me. I guess you could say I've led kind of a sheltered life. I've never really had any friends other than my aunt, and the first guy I ever had a crush on turned me into the Emperor so..." She shrugged.

Dexter frowned. "I wouldn't be so hard on the guy," he said. "He probably didn't turn you in. He was probably just innocently talking to someone about what happened and word got around. If he'd immediately turned you in, it wouldn't have taken three months for them to come after you."

"I guess..." Heidi said skeptically.

"Trust me," Dexter argued. "The Imperial guards showed up at my parents' house the same week that Ezar took power. They don't waste any time."

Heidi considered this for a moment, calculating in her head. "So that would make you twenty-four."

Dexter nodded.

"Pretty impressive being a lieutenant at 24."

He grinned. "I told you, I was a soldier the moment I joined. I just had to wait until I was 18 to actually get a rank. And then I rose quickly." His smile faded. "Plus, soldiers don't always survive for very long. It's easier to go up in rank when people keep dying and you're one of the few that survive."

"My aunt was always afraid of joining the rebellion for fear that it would get us killed," Heidi mused.

Dexter nodded. "It does get a lot of people killed... that's why a lot of people are too scared to join us even though they hate Ezar as much as we do."

"Hmm," Heidi mused. She wrapped her blanket tighter around her shoulders and leaned forward towards him. "What do you do when you're not being a soldier?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like for fun," she explained. "Hobbies and stuff. I like to read. And when I was a kid I used to like to draw."

"When I was a kid I liked baseball," he answered. "I used to play on the team in the lower school. Now..." he pursed his lips and shook his head. "Just doesn't seem like there's any point to enjoying anything unless and until Ezar is dead."

Heidi winced at the thought of killing the Emperor. She didn't like the guy, but she disliked killing even more. "But isn't that the perfect reason to enjoy life...? Because your time is short and so that the Emperor isn't winning by taking away your enjoyment of life?"

Dexter looked her over and considered this. He shrugged finally. "I guess I have no good argument against that," he said. "I just want to defeat Ezar so badly I don't feel like I have time for anything else." He inclined his head slightly. "Not that I never take shore leave and let off steam, so to speak, but I've only ever wanted one thing, to bring down Ezar's tyrannical empire, at least since I was 12."

"For the longest time all I wanted was to stop moving and establish a home," Heidi responded. "And then when we did..." She shook her head sadly.

"Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you want," Dexter said. He ducked his head and stared down at his hands as he spoke. "You could consider this your home now."

Heidi smiled and was grateful that it was dark because she could feel color rising in her face. "Thank you," she said finally. "It's not the same without my aunt, though."

Dexter frowned and nodded. "Maybe we'll find her, though."

"Maybe..." Heidi said, although she was full of doubt. She sighed, stood up and stretched. "I think I'll try to go to sleep now."

"Night, Red," Dexter said without moving from his spot at the table.

"Night."

The next morning Heidi awoke and for a moment she couldn't remember where she was. She sat up and the room slowly became more familiar.

"Dexter?" she called. He was nowhere in sight.

She climbed out of bed and traded the nightgown she was wearing for a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of corduroy pants that Dana had given her. She surveyed the room, thinking how remarkable it was that it had so little furnishings. Other than the two cots, there was only the table with two chairs, the tub, and a large storage trunk. Heidi walked to the trunk and lifted the lid. Inside were more fatigues—she supposed that was all he wore—and many different weapons. She glanced around again, fearful that he might get angry if he saw her looking through his trunk. She rummaged around in the trunk some more to see if there was anything else. Underwear... boots... nothing much else besides weapons...

"Huh..." Heidi mused as she pulled a small picture frame from the very bottom recesses of the trunk. It was a picture of the blonde woman she'd seen in Dexter's head last night—his mother—and a man who shared Dexter's strong jaw and ridged nose and a boy of about 10 with shockingly light blonde hair and freckles dotting his nose. She snickered.

"What's so funny?"

She jumped and turned to see Dexter standing in the entrance of the hut with a basket full of items from the garden.

"N-Nothing," she stammered, attempting to hide the picture behind her back. But he saw it. He dropped the basket and snatched it from her hands.

"Where did you get this?" he demanded.

"It was in the bottom of your trunk," she said. "I'm-I'm sorry."

He sighed. "Oh... I guess I forgot it was there."

"I have no excuse," she continued. "I went through your things and it wasn't right of me. You've been so nice to me and I go and..."

"Relax, Red," he interrupted as he tossed the picture back in the trunk and shut the lid. "I just forgot it was there. I let you read my mind, remember? I don't care if you look through my trunk. There's nothing interesting in there anyway." He picked the basket back up and started to head towards the kitchen area but stopped abruptly and turned back towards her. "Except don't mess with the weapons. If you don't know how to use them you could seriously hurt or kill yourself."

"No, I... I wouldn't touch the weapons."

He walked towards his stove and set the basket down next to it. "I hope you like fruits and vegetables because all we have here is what grows out of the ground."

"That's fine," she said. "I'll eat anything." She paused and her mind returned to the photo he'd discarded and she snickered again. "By the way, I liked your freckles."

Dexter rolled his eyes as his face flushed. "Oh jeez, that's probably why I buried that picture at the bottom of my trunk."

Heidi considered this for a moment. She wondered if that was really why or if it was the other faces he didn't want to see every day. He began pulling vegetables out of his basket at the table and chopping them.

"Can I help?" Heidi asked.

"I got it," he answered without looking up.

Heidi walked to the table and sat down in the chair across from him. As she placed her hand on the table, Dexter's fingers accidentally brushed the back of her hand.

...and asparagus...

They both jumped simultaneously. Dexter nearly dropped the knife in his hand. He looked down at his fingers as if they held the answer and then back at her.

"Did you do that?" he asked.

Heidi shook her head, her mouth agape. "I—I must have..."

Dexter frowned.

"I'm sorry," Heidi began. "I didn't mean to..."

Dexter looked up at her, somewhat surprised. "No, I'm not mad," he said and then inclined his head. "Trust me, when I'm mad, you'll know it." He paused and his face turned somber again. "I just... I think we need to go ahead and tell Commander Trevana. I was hoping to put it off a bit longer so you could get settled in, but if you're going to be accidentally reading people's minds just by touching their hands then we probably need to go ahead and tell her."

Heidi bit her lip. She really didn't think it would happen again on anyone but him, but she wasn't sure why, and so she didn't say anything. She just nodded.

"I'll make us some breakfast and then we'll go on over to headquarters," Dexter concluded, smiling, and went back to chopping vegetables.
Chapter Six

"I'm not quite sure I understand," Trevana said, her eyebrow raised. "You read minds?"

"Sort of," Heidi answered.

They were inside the mud hut known as "headquarters". It was separated into four different rooms—or sections since none of the rooms had doors. One of them was Commander Trevana's sleeping quarters, and another was her office, the other two consisted of a weapon's storage room and a room for conferences. Her office was where she had convened with Dexter and Heidi after they'd requested to see her. It was a simple room with a single large desk. Three chairs were stationed around the desk, one behind it and two in front of it. Trevena sat in the chair behind the desk and Dexter sat with Heidi next to him on the other side of the desk across from Trevana. Dexter was normally extremely comfortable and confident in this room but today he sat forward in his chair, fidgeting with a loose string on the sleeve of his fatigues. Heidi sat up straight with her hands in her lap. Trevana was leaning forward and staring intently at her. She hadn't said a word the entire time Heidi was attempting to explain her gift, and how the Emperor had tried to use her against them. Even once Heidi was done explaining, Trevana had sat silently for quite awhile with a look of confusion and concern on her face.

She leaned back in her chair finally and pressed the tips of her fingers against her mouth. She stared up at the ceiling, lost in her own thoughts.

"So... if you touched me right now you could tell what I'm thinking?" she asked finally.

"I... don't know, honestly," Heidi said. "For one thing I usually have to touch someone's head and I've only been able to read current thoughts of my own volition that one time when Dexter let me try."

"Maybe you should let her try," Dexter suggested. "She's read my mind a couple of times."

"I wouldn't be able to read anything you didn't want me to," Heidi added quickly.

Trevana still seemed skeptical for a moment, but finally she nodded her assent once and bent forward. Heidi leaned in and wound her fingers through Trevana's short brown hair. She concentrated and relaxed her mind, opening to the space nearby, opening to the chasm between minds. Thoughts began to form. Thoughts that were hers. Thoughts that were not hers.

How do I really know that I can trust you?

Heidi bit her lip. "I suppose you don't," she answered. "But I had no choice but to trust Dexter when I first met him and that turned out okay."

Trevana sat back abruptly. "You heard that?" she said, astonished. "You heard what I was thinking?"

"It was more like the thought was in my head, too," Heidi replied.

"But you did," Trevana said. "You read my mind?"

"Yes."

Trevana's astonished eyes flickered from Heidi to Dexter, who was sitting forward observing the interaction with a concerned look on his face. He hadn't wanted to bring Heidi here this soon, but was afraid that if she didn't reveal her secret, it would be inadvertently revealed and then he'd have trouble assuring everyone that she wasn't an Imperial spy. Especially Lt. Hugo. The guy really needed to relax, he was way too paranoid.

"Lt. Hathaway, I'd like to speak to you alone about this," Trevana said finally.

Dexter nodded. "Of course, Commander," he answered. He stood up and Trevana walked from the room, motioning for him to follow her. He glanced back at Heidi and smiled reassuringly. Heidi smiled back but couldn't hide her worry completely. She dropped her hands to her lap and prepared to wait.

Trevana led Dexter to the weapons' storage room before she spoke because it was the room farthest away from her office.

"Dexter, what have you brought in here?!" Trevana demanded.

"She's not a spy, Commander," he replied.

"How do you know?" Trevana asked. "She easily could be. Think about it. She just happened to be placed in the same room as you, someone they knew was a high-ranking rebellion officer. She could easily learn all sorts of information about us and relay it back to the Emperor."

"She won't," Dexter argued.

"How can you be sure?"

"I just..." he sighed and looked around the room. He considered his next words for a moment. "I am. I trust her. It's an intuition thing, I guess, but I don't believe that she's a spy. I think she's a gift from heaven."

Trevana's eyebrows rose.

"For the rebellion!" Dexter clarified quickly. "She's a good person, Commander. I can tell. She wants to help and she can't read your mind unless she touches you anyway. Plus, she can't read what you don't allow her to read."

"How do you know?"

He sighed again. "I just do," he said. "You've trusted my intuition before and it hasn't let you down. Can't you trust it this time, too?"

Trevana frowned and considered this for a moment. On the one hand, Dexter's intuition was solid and had never been wrong before. But those had always been in combat situations where men could die, but the entire rebellion wouldn't be brought down. And on the other hand, she was responsible for the entire rebellion since the only other Commander was currently in an Imperial prison.

"Well, I'm going to have to think about this," Trevana said finally. "In the meantime I want a sharp eye kept on her. Should I have another officer stay outside your hut at night?"

Dexter frowned severely. "I really don't think that's necessary," he said. "Even if she were to attack me, I think I can easily defend myself against her. She's kind of small and doesn't have any combat training."

"First of all, you don't know that," Trevana answered. "You're assuming that based upon what she's told you, and that's based upon the assumption that she's telling the truth. And second of all, I'm not worried about her attacking you, I'm worried about her reading your mind."

"So we're just going to start being suspicious of everyone who comes to us for help and asylum?" Dexter asked.

"Of course we are!" Trevana exclaimed. "We always have been. We hope that they're friends but are wary that they might be enemies because Ezar is always after us. And if he's getting desperate then why wouldn't he do something like this? Con some innocent-looking girl into infiltrating the rebellion and gaining all our secrets."

"With all due respect, Commander," Dexter responded. "If we look at someone who appears to be innocent and is willing to help us and could be a great asset and just assume that she's working for Ezar and force her to live under constant surveillance and scrutiny and never put her gifts to the test and use them to our advantage, then we are allowing him to win anyway. He is controlling us with fear even inside the rebellion."

Trevana's frown deepened and she pressed her lips tightly together. She couldn't deny the wisdom in his argument, though it seemed like such a strange thing for him to argue.

"You've always been untrusting, Dex," she mused. "Between you and Hugo, I always thought if there were ever any spies one of you would catch on." She paused and chuckled.

Dexter rolled his eyes at the comparison between him and Hugo.

"But you seem unusually trusting of this girl. Why?"

Dexter considered this for a moment. "I... I can only go back to intuition," he answered finally. "I just know in my gut that she's not here to hurt us, but to help us. I just know. I _know_." He raised his eyebrows and leaned his head forward for emphasis. "If you aren't sure that you can trust her then at least trust me."

Trevana licked her lips and her frown did not leave her face but she blew out a puff of air and nodded. "All right, Lieutenant, I'm trusting your instincts on this one," she said. "But I still don't see how she can really help us with anything. And I'm going to have to alert the other officers about her and... you know how that's going to go down with Lt. Hugo."

"Yeah," Dexter grumbled. "May I request that you not tell them until I'm there? Perhaps at the debriefing this evening?"

Trevana nodded. "Yes, that sounds good," she agreed.

Back outside headquarters, Heidi folded her arms as she and Dexter walked back to his hut.

"Your Commander doesn't trust me," she observed.

"Well, put yourself in her shoes," Dexter replied. "It does seem a little suspicious."

Heidi frowned. "Yes, I suppose," she agreed. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

She smiled up at him delightedly. He grinned back for a moment and then cleared his throat, glancing around nervously.

"So what did you want to do now?" he asked to change the subject. "I have a debriefing this evening and we're going to talk about you so you'll probably have to come with me and be available in case they want to ask you questions but until then we're free to do whatever."

"Well, it would help if you did anything for fun," she replied. "Then you could suggest something fun to do."

"The only fun stuff I ever do you wouldn't be interested in," he said with a gleam in his eye. "Debauchery and shenanigans."

She smiled mischievously. "Oh?" she said. "Well, I'll take your word for it. But since I don't really know what there is to do around here, I'm rather open to suggestion as to how to spend the time."

"Hmm," he mused. "Well, I guess we could just walk around and I'll give you a tour of the base."

"Okay..."

They had already wandered past Dexter's hut and continued on around the base. As they walked Heidi saw that many of the huts were much larger than Dexter's—those that had families in them, for example. He also showed her where the well was that they used to draw water and showed her the large oven next to it used to heat the water if they needed to bathe.

"It's kind of a hassle so we usually get to bathe on a rotation," he explained. "When you and I showed up it was an exception because we were both so disgusting." He chuckled. "But for other things the well never dries up and you're welcome to as much water as you need."

"It's amazing," Heidi said. "Are there lots of these bases?"

"Yep," he answered. "107, actually."

"Wow," she breathed. "And they're scattered everywhere throughout the world?"

"Yep."

She surveyed the area, taking in the sights of the trees covering them like a protective shield. She wondered how it was that the Emperor couldn't see this. She looked up and saw that there was a large net covering the base like a dome. Above it there appeared to be plantlife of some kind.

"So is it just covered with leaves and stuff?" she asked, pointing upwards.

"Yeah so from the air it just looks like a large cluster of trees."

"That's brilliant," she said, smiling brightly and still staring upwards.

Dexter, on the other hand, was staring at her.

She dropped her eyes back down and met his. He grinned and she smiled back. He continued walking and she followed. They had now circled the entire camp.

"So what's the rebellion's ultimate goal?" she asked. "I mean, I know you want to kill the Emperor or at least end his reign, but what about after that? Are you going to elect a new Emperor?"

Dexter stopped and regarded her for a moment.

"What?" she asked nervously after he'd been staring at her for awhile.

"You know, if you are a spy, I certainly am going to look like the biggest fool in the history of the world," he said. "Here I am giving you all this information about the rebellion..."

"I'm not a spy!" Heidi huffed. "I thought you said you trusted me."

He nodded. "I do," he answered. "I don't think you're a spy but I've been fooled before."

She frowned. "Well, if you want we can talk about something else. I was just curious."

Dexter considered this for a moment and then responded: "We intend to set up a new republic once Ezar is dead. So that the people will rule themselves and no one person will ever have too much power again."

Heidi smiled sweetly. "Let's talk about something else," she repeated. And they continued walking back towards Dexter's hut.

"This is insane!" Lt. Hugo said, slamming his hand down on the table.

"Lt. Hugo, calm down," Trevana admonished.

They were convened in the conference room of headquarters. There was one lone table in the conference room lined with three chairs on each side and a chair at the head and the foot. Trevana sat at the head of the table. She had just finished telling everyone about Heidi's gift. Dexter sat on her right and Lt. Hugo on her left. Other than Lt. Hugo and Dexter, Sergeant Trist and Sergeant Hyuin were present. Dexter had agreed to stay silent while Trevana attempted to explain the situation to everyone but he was having a hard time keeping his mouth shut when Hugo kept accusing Heidi of being a spy.

"Lt. Hathaway believes that she's telling the truth," Trevana continued. "And he's spent the most time with her and I trust his instincts."

"Well, my instincts say to dump her at the nearest Imperial prison and get the hell out of there," Hugo snapped.

Dexter's anger swelled and he started to respond but Trevana beat him to the punch.

"If we dumped her with the Imperial forces then they'd have a mind-reader at their disposal," Trevana argued.

Hugo grumbled. "Fine, then keep her here but under lock and key."

"Sure," Dexter jumped in finally. "Because heaven forbid we help an innocent girl who has an unusual ability. We should just treat her like the pariah she is, right, Chris?"

"You're just thinking with your dick!" Hugo retorted.

Dexter slammed both hands down on the table and shoved his chair back so hard as he stood up that it went flying across the room, hit the wall and fell over on the floor. Hugo likewise jumped up. Both men were red-faced and glaring at one another. Trist and Hyuin exchanged glances and scooted their chairs away from the lieutenants.

"Hathaway! Hugo!" Trevana exclaimed as she jumped up and held her hands out to keep the men apart. "That is enough! Both of you, sit down!"

Dexter glowered evenly across the table at Chris Hugo and set his jaw, but he turned and went to pick up his chair. When he returned to the table and sat back down, Hugo was also sitting with his arms folded, glaring back at him.

"It's my call, Lieutenant," Trevana said to Hugo. "And I'm going with Dex on this one. It's not simply his instinct. I also have thought about it and I don't think we can just automatically assume that this girl is an Imperial spy. She doesn't seem like any spy I've ever come across and if you were honest, I would think she's not like any spy you've ever met, either."

Hugo glanced up, his face belying that she spoke the truth as much as he didn't want to admit it. He didn't say anything, but frowned and looked down at the table.

"If she is a spy," Trevana went on. "Then I suppose I'll go down in history as the biggest fool ever. And I'm sorry, Dex, but I do want to keep an eye on her, but I'm not going to lock her up and treat her like a prisoner. If she's not a spy then she could be an asset. I am not entirely sure how yet but... in the meantime I am giving her asylum and she is not to be harmed, understood?"

Hugo's frown deepened but he nodded once in acknowledgment.

Trevana sighed and turned her face back to the rest of the men. She pressed her index fingers against the bridge of her nose. Tentatively in the back Sgt. Trist raised his hand.

"Yes, Sergeant?" Trevana asked.

"Um... while the pissing contest was going on," he waved to Dexter and Hugo. "I kind of had an idea..."

Dexter grinned. He really liked Trist. Usually if he went on a mission and needed a second in command, he requested Trist. Trist was actually older than Dexter. He was in his early forties and had joined the rebellion while he was in his thirties after Ezar's men raped and murdered his wife—right in front of him.

So Trist was eager to end Ezar but he had also somehow managed to not allow what had happened to him to completely break him. He was even-tempered and wise and Dexter trusted him completely.

"An idea about what?" Trevana asked.

"About the girl," Trist answered. "The mind-reader girl. How she can help."

"Oh?" Trevana responded.

"Yeah, I was thinking, if she can read minds can she also like tell you stuff, too?" he asked, facing Dexter.

"What do you mean?" Dexter asked.

"Like let's say she reads one of my thoughts... could she then put the same thought in your head later?"

"I... I don't know," Dexter answered. "She hasn't done that to me."

Hugo scoffed and mumbled something under his breath, but became silent again after Trevana and Dexter simultaneously shot him looks of warning.

"Well, if she could... maybe she could help with training soldiers," Trist finished, ignoring Lt. Hugo.

"How?" Trevana asked. "I'm not sure I follow..."

Trist sighed and leaned forward. "Well, the rebellion is growing," he began. "By leaps and bounds. People are joining left and right because they're realizing what a bastard Ezar is and that they have to choose a side. But everyone that comes to us doesn't know how to fight. So we have to train them but that takes months at best and years at worst. So we're growing but we're not growing fast enough. If we could grow quicker... if we could recruit enough able-bodied soldiers quickly enough we might be able to make a stand against the empire now, when they're not expecting it, which would give us the advantage. And if we did that and we managed to take out Ezar or at least capture him and take down his guard... well, that would kind of put an end to his reign. And isn't that our goal?"

"Yeah but I don't see how Heidi can help with that," Dexter interjected.

"Well, if she can transfer thoughts and memories, then why not yours or mine," Trist answered. "She takes all the training and memories in my head that I have when I got trained and she plunks it in someone else's head and presto... they have all the training it took me years to acquire in just a few minutes. She does it a few hundred times and we have an army growing exponentially in a matter of months."

Everyone sat back in their chairs and was silent for a few moments, pondering the implications of Trist's idea. Even Hugo raised one eyebrow and seemed surprisingly intrigued by it.

Sgt. Hyuin finally broke the silence by laughing. "You swing for the fence, Reece," he chuckled.

"It's an interesting idea," Trevana agreed. "I just don't think we could get all those recruits here for her to work on them. And that's assuming that she could do it."

"Plus," Hugo added. "Wouldn't it kind of alert Ezar to our location if you suddenly had all these people showing up in one location? Prime way to get caught."

"If we were going to try something like this," Hyuin cut in. "It really would make more sense to move her around from base to base, teaching or training or mind-melding or whatever with the recruits at each base."

"That puts her at greater risk," Dexter interrupted.

"Better her than all of us," Hugo responded.

Dexter glared at him and opened his mouth to respond when Trist interjected: "Well, she wouldn't have to go alone. She could go with a battalion or at least with a few armed men to protect her."

"Fewer men would probably draw less attention," Hyuin said, turning his eyes towards Dexter. "So it would probably be safer for everyone involved, including her."

Hugo sneered. "I suppose Lt. Hathaway would be eager to volunteer."

Dexter again started to snap back at him when Trist interrupted again: "I'll volunteer." When all heads turned to him, he added, "To be Lt. Hathaway's back up for her."

Dexter grinned at Trist again.

"Well," Trevana said. "All of this hinges on her ability to do what you're suggesting in the first place. If she can't then it really doesn't matter how we go about it because we can't go about it at all." She turned to Dexter. "Why don't you call her in here?"

"Sure," he stood up and looked directly at Hugo. "As long as everyone agrees to be civil."

Hugo looked up at him and frowned, but drew his fingers across his lips like he was zipping a zipper closed.

Dexter accepted this and turned to walk out of the room. He walked across the hall to Trevana's office where Heidi was sitting, waiting patiently.

"Hey," he said as he stuck his head in. "They want to ask you some stuff."

She nodded and stood, shaking nervously. She walked to Dexter's side and followed him back across the hall to the conference room. Her fingers slipped into his absently.

I'm scared...

He stopped abruptly and turned to stare at her.

"Did you do that?"

Her eyes widened. "You heard that?"

"More like I... thought it..." he answered. "Only I didn't think it, did I?"

She shook her head. "I... don't know how I did that."

He chuckled. "Well, that's one question answered."

"What question?" she asked.

"They wanted to know if you can put thoughts in people's heads," he said. "Not just read other people's thoughts."

"I don't know what all I can do," she admitted, her eyes filled with fear.

"Hey, don't be afraid," he said. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I told you, Red, you're safe with me."

She smiled and nodded. She took his hand again.

I feel safe with you.

He grinned and pulled her into the conference room.
Chapter Seven

Heidi didn't have that much to pack. Dana had given her some more clothing to bring with her and a few toiletry items to keep herself as cleaned and groomed as living in rebellion bases allowed. But other than that, she merely had Dexter and Sgt. Trist to keep track of.

After the conversation in the conference room Heidi had come to two conclusions: one, this was a mission for which she felt completely inadequate but hoped she could pull off for Dexter's sake and two, Lt. Hugo _really_ didn't like her. However, the rest of the men seemed to be less wary and more hopeful. This made her even more determined to help and even more concerned about her lack of ability. And Lt. Hugo returned to his own base with Sgt. Hyuin the next day so she didn't have to deal with Hugo for long.

When she'd mentioned to Dexter that she wasn't sure she could pull it off, he offered to be the first to transfer his training to her, so that she could start out with someone she felt comfortable with. She had sat in his hut with him on the floor and put her hands to his head. She absorbed his memories of being trained, absorbed his knowledge of how to fight, how to survive, how to withstand torture... and it pained her to know all that he'd gone through to get as good as he was.

During the session, she took breaks and they spoke more about how he had grown up intending to be a ball player until the death of his parents. Because of this conversation, the next thing he thought of was his memory of his parents' death and she saw it.

She released his head, dropped her head into her hands and cried.

"I'm sorry, Red," he said. "I shouldn't have shown you that..."

She shook her head. "No, it's okay. I just hate that it happened to you. I could feel your fear and your pain at losing them and..." she stopped talking and more tears escaped. "It just isn't right."

"Yeah..."

Dexter warned the Sgt. Trist to be careful about showing Heidi painful memories. He was the next up. Other than Dexter, he was the one Heidi liked the best. He clearly liked her, didn't think she was a spy, and was a good friend of Dexter's. Heidi first transferred some of Dexter's knowledge of the inner workings of the palace to Trist before she started to absorb his training memories. Unfortunately, he was trying so hard not to think of the rape and murder of his wife that he inadvertently thought of it.

Heidi melted on the floor and wept bitterly.

"I'm so sorry..." Trist said. "I was trying so hard not to think of it..."

Heidi shook her head and mumbled that she needed a minute. She hurried from the room and ran outside, breezing past Dexter as she did so.

"What happened?" he asked Trist, who was looking extremely ashamed.

"I... accidentally... thought about what happened to Jane," he admitted.

"What?! Dexter cried. "Reece!"

"I'm sorry!!"

Dexter didn't hear any more because he rushed out the door after Heidi. He had to search the base for awhile but he finally found her standing with her arms folded, watching a woman and her son—who was probably about eight years old—draw water from the well.

"Red?" Dexter said as he approached.

She stared, her expression stony, at the well and didn't respond. She had stopped crying, but her face was tear-streaked, red, and blotchy.

"Trist shouldn't have done that..." Dexter began.

"It wasn't his fault," she interrupted. "You try hard enough not to think of something and that's all that you can think about."

Dexter frowned. "Yeah..." He stood silently next to her, watching the woman and her son draw water from the well with his hands in his pockets, not knowing what else to say.

"He wished that he'd killed her," Heidi said suddenly.

"What?" Dexter asked, confused.

"Sgt. Trist," Heidi explained. "He wished that he'd killed his wife."

Dexter's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why would...?"

"He heard them coming," she continued. "When he had to watch them violate her... he wished that he'd simply killed her when he heard them approach... so she wouldn't have had to endure that... so he wouldn't have had to witness it." Her eyes began to water again. "He still feels guilty for not killing her when he heard them approaching."

"Jeez..." Dexter breathed. He cleared his throat. "Look, maybe this was a bad idea. I don't want you to have to see every horrible thing that ever happened to someone because of Ezar. I don't want you to have to carry the burden of everyone's pain."

"No," Heidi responded resolutely as she wiped her fresh tears from her face. She turned to face Dexter. "I want to help. I have to help. If I can help bring down Ezar after he murdered your parents and had Trist's wife raped and murdered and... I have a feeling he had something more to do with my mother's death than my aunt is letting on." She shook her head. "He has to be stopped and I think I'm here to help stop him. So I'm not giving up."

"I just don't want you to lose yourself..."

She forced a weak smile. "Just tell your men to focus on their training memories," she said. "Don't tell them what not to think about... just tell them what to focus on. Okay?"

"Okay," he agreed.

She turned and walked back towards headquarters with Dexter following behind.

After that she had gleaned knowledge from Commander Trevana and gave her the knowledge of the palace from Dexter. Now she was preparing for her first trip to a new base. They had a transport vehicle and both Dexter and Trist wore civilian clothing. Heidi was covered from head to toe in a concubine dressing. Her face and head were concealed by a veil and headdress. She climbed in the back seat with Dexter. Trist was driving

"I really hope I don't let you down," Heidi mumbled to him as they started the engine to leave. "If I can't do this."

"Don't be ridiculous, Red," Dexter responded. "I'm sure you can do it. And even if you can't, it won't matter to me." He grinned. "We'll bring down Ezar one way or another."

She smiled and shifted in her seat. "So are we going to be doing training the entire time we're there?" she asked.

"Why?" Dexter asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I just thought maybe we could do something else for awhile," she replied. "You know, something fun. You said you had fun every now and again—debauchery and shenanigans..."

Trist began chuckling loudly from the front seat.

Dexter frowned. "I really don't think you want to do any of the stuff I do in my off time," he mumbled.

"Why not?" she asked.

Trist laughed harder. "He's talking about getting drunk and hitting on drunken women," he piped up. "Not something a respectable girl like you wants to be involved in."

Dexter's frown deepened and he looked away from Heidi, folding his arms.

"Oh..." Heidi said finally. "Well, maybe there's something else recreational we can do."

They arrived at the base without any trouble. They only had to pass through one Imperial border stop and they just stuck to their cover story: Dexter was taking his sister to be a concubine for a wealthy gentleman in the province of Yuka. The guard on post was clearly bored and just waved them through without comment.

The second base they arrived at was likewise concealed in a cluster of trees that was really a collection of steel columns made to look like trees. Dexter showed them the tattoo on his shoulder and they were immediately allowed entrance. Moreover, when they got there, several of the men knew both Dexter and Trist.

Heidi stood back as Dexter greeted friends of his, though he soon brought her forward and introduced her around as well. One Private—his name was Washburn—looked over at Trist after Dexter introduced Heidi and raised an eyebrow. Trist shrugged and grinned.

Washburn's wife, Greta, took Heidi for a walk around the base and showed her where she and Dexter would be staying as well as where their well and garden was so that she would be able to access the water and food while she was there.

They returned to headquarters and Trist was standing outside waiting for her.

"Lt. Hathaway is preparing the new recruits," Trist said. "He has to interview them and make sure there are no Imperial spies. So we have a little while. Come with me. I have a surprise for you." He smiled and started walking, waving to her to follow him.

"Where are we going?" Heidi asked.

"I told you, it's a surprise," Trist replied. "Lt. Hathaway wanted me to take you. He said he's sorry he can't take you himself but he has to screen the new recruits. He's the lieutenant so it's kind of his job."

Heidi jogged along behind Trist. "Do all you rebel soldier guys walk so fast?"

Trist chuckled and slowed down. "Yeah, sorry," he said. "We're trained to move quickly." Heidi realized as he said this that she already knew it from the knowledge she'd absorbed from Trist, Dexter, and Trevana. But it was still difficult to keep up when she wasn't used to walking so quickly.

He turned a corner and a building came into view—not another hut but an actual building. It was, of course, nothing compared to the buildings controlled by the empire, but it was made of steel and it was larger than headquarters by about 100 square feet. From the outside it was nothing more than a large steel box. Heidi assumed it was an armory, but why weren't there any guards outside of it? Trist led her up to the front door and pulled it open for her.

"After you..." he said and waved his hand towards the entrance.

Heidi gave him a confused look but walked inside. As soon as she did, her jaw dropped. The walls of weapons she expected to see were nowhere in sight. Instead the building was covered wall to wall with books. Between the walls were bookcases also containing books and a few chairs and tables set up for reading. Here and there people sat reading or studying from the open books.

"It's a library," she mumbled.

Trist, who had sidled up next to her, nodded. "Yep, probably the only one in the world not filled with ridiculous Imperial propaganda. The lieutenant thought you might be interested."

Heidi just looked around in awe and nodded. "I am..." As if her feet had a mind of their own, she began traveling, almost floating, down the aisles of books, her fingers tracing and fluttering over the spines. She wanted to start reading but it was so overwhelming. Where should she even begin? She picked up a book at random.

" _The Handmaid's Tale_ ," she read and then looked up at Trist. "What's a handmaid?"

Trist shrugged. "Beats me, I've never read any of these."

Heidi was shocked. "Never?!"

He shook his head.

"You mean you have all these books constantly at your disposal and you've never taken advantage of them? Are you crazy?"

Trist chuckled. "I'm not much of a reader; I'm more of a doer."

"But sometimes reading is the way you learn the right things to do," Heidi argued. "Here..." She slapped _The Handmaid's Tale_ into his arms. "Take this one and read it. Then tell me what a handmaid is."

"Why don't you read it?" Trist asked.

Heidi waved her hand around. "Do you see the mountains of things for me to read," she said. "I'm going to need some help. And what good is fighting for freedom from Imperial oppression if you're not going to take advantage of the freedoms that you have. Knowledge is power, my friend."

He chuckled again. "All right, I'll read it." He opened it and flipped through the pages absently as he followed her around.

She continued walking down the aisles, randomly selecting books. She would read a few of the first pages and decide whether she was interested. If she was, she added it to the pile that was quickly becoming a tower in her arms. Trist started laughing again.

"You going to read all of those this afternoon?" he asked.

Heidi frowned. "Oh... I can't check them out and take them home?"

Trist shook his head. "Unfortunately, no, you have to read them here," he said. "This is the only library filled with real literature, like I said, so we have to be careful to guard the material in it."

"Oh," Heidi said, disappointed. "Well, maybe I'll come back some other time, then. This is amazing but with everything I'm doing here today I don't think I have time to sit and read."

"What are you doing other than training new recruits?" Trist asked.

"Well," Heidi smiled slyly. "I was kind of hoping you'd help me with something." She leaned forward and let him in on her plan.

Trist laughed heartily. "I'll see what I can do," he said.

"Although, the 'training' I'm doing really does take a lot of energy," she admitted. "Maybe reading isn't the best use of my time right now."

"Well, the new recruits won't be ready for you for at least another hour," Trist pointed out. "You could probably read a little."

Heidi considered this for a moment and then looked through her stack of books. She picked the smallest one out; it was probably the only one she could finish in an hour.

" _Fahrenheit 451_ ," Trist read off the cover. "Hmm..."

Heidi read the back cover. "Seems appropriate... it's about the freedom of the written word."

She and Trist found an empty table and sat down. She placed the stack of books she'd chosen down on the table and then immediately opened _Fahrenheit 451_ and began devouring it. It did not read like other books she had read. It was a story with intensity, with details about emotions and places and events. It wasn't like the empty, structured history books she'd read, or the scientific, step-by-step arithmetic books her Aunt Reboa had taught her from. She got caught up and soon forgot that she was in the rebel library. Instead, she was stealing books and hiding them in her house with Guy Montag.

"Miss Grace? Miss Grace?"

Heidi started and looked up. Trist was standing next to her now, rather than sitting in the chair across from her. When she had begun reading, he had as well, though Heidi didn't really notice due to her absorption in her own book. He held up _The Handmaid's Tale_.

"This is pretty intense," he said. "I didn't finish it but I'll come back. I want to see how it ends."

"Did you find out what a 'handmaid' is?"

"Apparently it's a concubine," he said. "A woman used for reproductive purposes."

"Like what I'm pretending to be?"

"Well, sort of," Trist said. "But the concubines in our world are not like in this book and they're not called 'handmaids'. I think this book is a work of fiction."

Heidi nodded. "Yes, my aunt taught me about fiction. Stories that aren't true but that are written for fun or to make some larger point through allegory and storytelling." She smiled and held up her book. "Mine is, too."

"Well, it's about time to get back to headquarters," Trist said.

Heidi frowned. "I guess I'll have to come back too," she said and dropped the book on the table. She hadn't quite finished it and was disappointed that she would have to wait to do so. "Don't forget to finish yours because I want you to tell me the story once you're done."

"Why don't you just read it yourself?"

Heidi waved her hand at the stack of books on the table. "Do you see the amount I have to read here?" she said. "I told you I'm going to need help."

Trist laughed harder. "You're quite a person, Miss Grace," he said as he led the way to the exit. "If I was twenty years younger I'd be taking you out for a night on the town." He considered this for a moment. "Well, I guess not. I'd like to but I couldn't do that to the lieutenant." He opened the door for her.

Heidi's brow furrowed. "Which Lieutenant?"

"Hathaway," Trist replied as if the answer were obvious. They walked from the library and headed back towards headquarters.

"Oh, I thought you meant Hugo because he doesn't like me," Heidi said. "Why would Dex care?"

At this Trist's laughter became raucous. "You're kidding, right?" he asked and at Heidi's confused expression he laughed even harder. "He's got a huge thing for you."

"A thing?" Heidi asked.

"Yes," Trist said. "You know, a crush, romantic feelings... even love perhaps..."

Heidi felt her face fill with color. Her eyes went wide and she stared straight ahead. She continued following Trist but no longer saw the sights breezing past her. In her mind she saw Dexter and wondered... wondered... The only other boy she'd ever been attracted to was not at all like Dex. He looked extremely different. He was romantic and spoke sweetly. Dexter was neither of those things. He was realistic and straightforward. And yet... he was intensely real to her. He was strong—not just physically—and kind and protective and she could tell just by looking at him that he felt things deeply, but kept them to himself. She knew that even though there were times that he let her read him, he was still holding things back from her. But he apparently trusted her enough to let her read some things from him. Moreover, he trusted her in spite of the appearances that made Lt. Hugo and even Commander Trevana wary of her. And he cared how she was used—if she was used—and if she was respected.

"I'm sorry if I upset you," Trist's voice pulled her out of her own head suddenly. "I thought you knew. It's fairly obvious if you've known Lt. Hathaway for any length of time. I've never seen him latch on to any one person they way he has to you." Trist thought for a moment and then shrugged. "But then I guess you didn't realize that because you've only known him since he's known you."

"No, I knew that," Heidi said and at Trist's confused expression she explained. "I've talked to enough people about him and learned enough of his story and... read him enough... that I know all of that. I guess I just thought he thought of me as an innocent that needed to be protected. I thought he was merely being the attentive soldier."

"He certainly does want to protect you, Miss Grace," Trist agreed. They rounded a corner and came in sight of headquarters. "But it has nothing to do with paternal or soldierly feelings, believe me. Lt. Hathaway is different around you than he is around other people. I'm not really sure how to explain it other than to say that he tends to move to your rhythm... if that makes any sense."

"It does."

And strangely, it made perfect sense. And it was exactly what she always felt herself doing around him... especially when she was reading him. This made her wonder briefly if the intensity of her feelings had anything to do with how her gift had grown since she'd known him. But she wasn't able to think about it long because they were entering the door of headquarters.

Dexter was waiting just inside. She felt her heart jump when she saw him and wondered if that was because of the revelation Sgt. Trist had made to her... or if it was due to her own excitement at seeing him.

"The recruits are in there," Dexter said as she approached. He waved to a room where many able-bodied men and women sat. "They're ready whenever you are."

She smiled and nodded at him. "Okay..." She glanced around and realized that Trist had left.

"Did you like the library?" Dexter asked, grinning.

Her smile widened. "I loved it," she said. She stared up at him for a moment and then cleared her throat. "I'd better get started." She pointed to the room where the recruits waited.

"Sure," he said. "You can meet them individually in here." He led her to a room with a small table and a few chairs. "Wait here and I'll bring the first one in."

"Okay," she agreed and sat down in one of the chairs at the table to wait.

Dexter left and returned with a man no older than Heidi a few moments later. The man seemed wary of Heidi but sat down in the chair across from her.

"So..." Dexter said to her. "Do you need anything?" He backed towards the door.

"Wait!" Heidi exclaimed, standing up suddenly. "You're not staying?"

"Did you want me to stay?"

"Yes."

He grinned. "Okay, then I'll stay." He found a chair and pulled up to the table. "This is Justin Heger," he said, gesturing to the new recruit.

"Hey," Justin Heger greeted.

"Nice to meet you, Justin," Heidi said as she sat back down. "My name is Heidi. I'm just going to touch your head and you're going to see some memories like they're your own memories. It won't hurt at all and it will only last a few minutes. And then you'll have all the training you need to be a rebel soldier."

Justin Heger swallowed nervously. "Okay..."

Heidi worried her lip. "I can wait until you're ready if you want."

"No, it's okay," he responded. "I'm ready." But Heidi could clearly tell that he was not.

She leaned forward. "This isn't going to work if you close your mind to me," she said. "So it's best if you feel comfortable with me first. Why don't you tell me why you want to join the rebel army?"

He frowned and looked down at the table. "My family was killed for refusing to pay more taxes to the Emperor," he answered. "We had already paid taxes once this year and they came back and demanded more. My father refused and they killed him and my mother and my older brother. I barely escaped with my younger sister."

"That's terrible," Heidi said, her face full of empathy. "Emperor Ezar stole me from my aunt just a few weeks ago. I was in the middle of celebrating my birthday and they just came and took me away. And when I told the Emperor I couldn't do what he wanted—not that I wouldn't do it, that I _couldn't_ do it—he sent me to be tortured and I barely made it out alive. I just got lucky and D—Lieutenant Hathaway was there and he rescued me."

"It was mutual," Dexter mumbled.

"My aunt is likely in an Imperial prison camp if she's not dead," Heidi went on. "And I'm starting to believe that my mother was killed by Ezar as well."

"Wow..." Justin Heger breathed.

"So I understand..." Heidi explained. "...your desire to bring down the Emperor..." She held out her hand. "You can trust me."

Justin Heger relaxed and reached out his hand to hers. He placed it gently in her palm.

Can you hear me?

"Yeah..." he said aloud.

I need to touch your head to be able to really put the memories in, okay?

He nodded. "Yeah..."

He leaned forward and Heidi placed her hands on his head. She breathed slowly, opened her mind, and began pouring the information into him.
Chapter Eight

After the last recruit of the day left the room, Heidi leaned back in the chair and sighed. Most of the recruits were so eager to get their training and go after the Emperor that they hadn't been as difficult to convince to open up as Justin Heger had been. But Heidi did have to use similar tactics to get some of them to trust her.

However, the more she did it, the easier it became and it was taking less time and energy. She was actually feeling more energized now than when she'd begun.

"I'm getting better at this," she announced to Dexter.

"I can tell," he replied, smiling tentatively. "You were talking to some of them without even touching their heads. You just touched their hands."

"Yeah," she agreed, nodding. "It was intense." She stood up and walked towards him. He reached out and grabbed her hand suddenly.

Can you hear me?

Heidi's brow furrowed. _Yes._

He dropped her hand. "I just... wanted to make sure it still worked."

"Why wouldn't it?" she asked, confused. "You were the first one it ever worked with. And I'm getting better at it, not worse."

"Right," he said. He jerked his head towards the door and shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn't want her hearing his thoughts right now since all he could think about was how jealousy had welled up until it almost choked him every time she'd had a silent conversation with one of the recruits.

As they exited the building, Sgt. Trist came running up to them.

"Miss Grace," he said, smiling and huffing. "I have... taken care of that little matter you requested of me." He raised his eyebrows significantly.

Heidi smiled excitedly.

"What matter?" Dexter asked, confused.

"Lead the way, Sergeant!" Heidi instructed.

Trist turned and waved to them to follow.

Heidi grabbed Dexter by the arm—he still had his hands shoved in his pockets. "Come on," she said.

"What is going on?" he demanded, but followed along as she pulled him.

Trist led them down the path and around a few corners until they came to a clearing. Several of Dexter's friends were present, half of them wearing green shirts and the other half wearing black shirts. There were both men and women— both soldiers and their husbands and wives. And there were several tall torches lighting the area.

In the middle of the clearing was a diamond created by four t-shirts at the four corners of the diamond, each shirt held down by rocks. There was also a t-shirt in the middle of the diamond held down by rocks. Four of the men were passing out gloves and bats—gloves to the team with black shirts and bats to the team with green shirts.

"We're going to have to share," Trist said, indicating the gloves, bats, and baseballs. "Because we barely managed to scrounge up enough for one team."

"What the hell is this?" Dexter asked.

"It's a baseball game, silly," Heidi laughed, still holding onto his arm. "You said you liked baseball and you need to have some fun and we can't exactly have the 'fun'..." She made air quotes around the word 'fun'. "...that you normally have in your off time. So..." She spread her arms out and indicated the diamond.

Dexter's eyes went wide. "You did this?" His hands pulled out of his pockets and dropped to his side.

"Well, I had help." She nudged Sgt. Trist who held up his hands in surrender and pointed back to her.

"It was all her idea," he protested. "I just asked around and gathered some people up."

Heidi dove forward again and grabbed Dexter's arm again. "Come on, it will be fun," she urged. "If we don't take advantage of the freedoms we have then the Emperor has already won." Her hand slipped down his arm to his hand, but he pulled his hand away quickly.

He stared at her in astonishment and shook his head. "You are..." he breathed and then stopped before he said anymore. He continued to shake his head.

"What?" Heidi asked. Her heart started to pump and she took a step closer to him.

He pressed his lips together and swallowed. He chuckled and pulled his jacket off and tossed it to the ground.

"Let's play ball," he said and rushed away from her towards the field.

She smiled and turned back around towards the diamond, but felt like the conversation had ended without reaching its completion.

The game began.

Heidi was on Sgt. Trist's team and Dexter was on the opposing team. Heidi had never played baseball before in her life, so she really didn't know what she was doing and struck out almost every time she went up to bat. Of course, other than Dexter and a few others, most everyone was a novice, so she didn't feel singled out.

Dexter was pitching for his team most of the game, which gave them an advantage since he knew how to pitch. The members of Heidi's team that actually could hit the ball had difficulties since Dexter was a fairly decent pitcher. It made her wonder how much of his talent had been wasted since he hadn't pitched since he was twelve and was still doing a pretty decent job.

Trist was one of the few on Heidi's team that was able to connect with the ball a few times. He mostly just bunted it towards third base—which was covered by one of the soldier's husbands who wasn't very good at baseball—and ran as fast as he could towards first. It worked most of the time and Trist and a couple of other people were the main reason Heidi's team ever scored at all.

Dexter was likewise good at hitting the ball. Washburn pitched for Heidi's team and he was decent, but Dexter managed to crack a few pretty good ground balls out into left field and make it to second or third base before the ball got back to the infield and he had to stop. He and a few others were the main scorers for his team.

Towards the end of the game Dexter's team was up by two points, the bases were loaded and Heidi was up to bat.

"Okay, I'll toss it to you easy, Red," Dexter said. He'd been tossing it to her easy the entire game so it was rather pointless to announce this and Heidi took it as him teasing her about her lack of baseball skills.

"Just throw the damn ball," she retorted, sticking out her tongue.

He grinned and lobbed the ball towards her.

She swung and missed.

"Ugh!" she cried and smacked the bat against the ground in frustration.

"That's okay!' Trist called from second base. "Just bring it on home, okay? Keep your eye on the ball."

"Eye on the ball..." Heidi muttered. "Eye on the ball..." She shook out her arms, rolled her head around her neck, and got back into her batting stance.

Dexter chuckled and tossed the ball towards her again.

She swung and missed.

"UH!" she huffed. "I think my bat is broken!" She held it up in mock annoyance.

Dexter laughed harder as the catcher tossed the ball back to him.

"Last one, Red," he joked. "Last one."

"Just throw it..." she grumbled as she planted her feet and held the bat up.

He grinned and winked at her. She narrowed her eyes and focused directly on the ball.

He lobbed it towards her.

She swung.

She heard a decisive crack and realized that she hadn't spun around in the air like the last time. She looked up and saw the ball sailing over Dexter's head.

"I hit it!" she exclaimed.

"Run!!" three of her teammates shouted simultaneously from behind her.

She took off. Trist and the other two players had already started. She ran to first, to second, to third and finally to home base and jumped on it excitedly.

"Ugh!" Dexter groaned and collapsed onto the ground as if the home run had knocked him over.

"Oh get up, crybaby," Heidi called. "Don't be a spoiled sport!"

"This is what I get for throwing the ball to you easy," he responded, grinning as he stood back up and dusted himself off.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself to deal with losing to a girl," she returned.

They didn't have to remain at that base for much longer since Heidi was moving through the recruits so quickly. She was somewhat disappointed because though she managed to finish _Fahrenheit 451_ , there were so many more books she wanted to read and now she had to leave the only library she'd ever found with real information in it. Dexter promised her that they would come back, though.

Next they took a train across the country to a base in a desert. The train only went so far and after that they had to walk a long distance and carry backpacks with water on their backs and sip from them sparingly. Fortunately, all three had the training in their heads to know how to ration the water.

The rebel base was over a sand dune, but one so far out that the Imperial guard was unlikely to travel so far. No one was likely to travel this far unless he knew exactly where he was going and for what. And the dune was so large that it created an enormous valley between it and another dune.

The valley was deep enough that from above, the dwellings below looked rather primitive. But they climbed down the side and the closer they got, the more Heidi could see that the huts were just as advanced as at the other bases. And there were a lot more of them. This base, apparently, was in an area that was so rarely travelled by the Imperial guard that many rebels stayed here. Moreover, though it could be seen from the air, it appeared to be almost nothing from the air. Some had even apparently said it was a mirage, a trick of the eye from the glare of the sun on the sand dunes, so it was even more concealed than many of the other bases.

The dunes surrounding the base were high enough that they provided plenty of shade all day so the temperature in the base remained on the warmer side of temperate. And the base was deep enough in the ground that they actually were able to dig multiple wells. It was in the most seemingly awful place that turned out to be the most wonderful place.

Many of the recruits were there because it was such a large base and so Heidi, Trist and Dexter stayed there for weeks.

Heidi and Dexter were actually provided their own hut to stay in while Trist stayed with another officer.

As the training of these recruits was drawing to a close, Heidi attempted again to get Dexter to talk to her. She wanted to ask him about what Trist had said, but she didn't want to pressure him. She wanted him to come out and say it himself. After all, if Trist was wrong, it would make her travel even more wearisome because she and Dexter would have awkwardness between them.

"Sorry there's no library here, Red," Dexter mentioned as they walked back to their hut after her most recent training session.

"That's okay," she replied. "We could get another couple of teams together and I could kick your butt in baseball again." She smiled brightly.

"Ha ha," he said mockingly with a grin. "That was a fluke, you know."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself," she repeated, shrugging.

He chuckled and folded his arms. He was wearing his brown ribbed tank top and when he folded his arms, the muscles stood out and it spread his tattoo wider over his shoulder.

"Why do you have that tattoo?" she asked suddenly.

He stopped walking and glanced down at it. "This?" he said. "It's the symbol of the rebellion."

"I know," she said, stepping closer to him to get a better look at it. "I just wondered if it was required for rebellion officers to get it or if you just did it to shove it in Ezar's face."

"It's mostly the latter," he responded. "You don't have to get one but if you do, no one questions whether you're actually part of the rebellion." He shrugged. "It makes it easier when I want to gain entrance to rebel bases. I show it to them and they know I'm loyal."

Heidi frowned. She reached up her index finger and traced the three circles on his shoulder. She could feel the hum of his mind but before she could read anything, he closed himself off and refused her entrance to his thoughts.

"Why are you doing that?" she asked.

"Doing what?"

"You aren't letting me read you," she said. "You never refuse to let me read you."

Dexter shifted uncomfortably and stepped away from her so that she was no longer touching him. "I don't have to share every thought in my head with you, do I?" he grumbled.

Heidi was stung at the gruffness of his tone. "No..." she said. "I just thought..."

"What?" he asked, his face closed, his eyes avoiding hers.

"Nothing..." she said after a moment. "Nothing. You're completely entitled to your own private thoughts."

He nodded. "Okay, then," he said, still avoiding her eyes. He cleared his throat. "We should get back and get some rest." He began walking again and she trudged along behind him.

"Dex, are you mad at me or something?" she asked.

"No."

"Then what's going on...?"

"I just don't want to share every thought that traipses through my head with you, okay?" he snapped, stopping and turning towards her suddenly. He immediately regretted his tone.

Heidi flinched. She felt tears prickle the edges of her eyes. "Fine," she managed to choke out. But she clenched her jaw and refused to allow his words to cause her to cry in front of him.

He sighed in frustration as guilt welled up in his chest. "I'm sorry," he said. "Let's just get back, okay?"

She folded her arms and set her jaw. "Fine."

She turned away from him and cried silently in her cot that night as she fell asleep. Dexter, on the other side of the room, was lying on his side facing away from her, feeling the steel ball of guilt turn over and over in the pit of his stomach.

They didn't speak of the disagreement the next day. Heidi merely returned to training the recruits and avoided talking to Dexter. He could tell he'd hurt her and it only made the guilt expand in his gut. The next evening he found her lying on her back out in a small clearing near one of the base's wells staring up at the sky.

He approached awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. He glanced up at the sky and could see what a clear night it was. The stars were out and they dotted the sky with their luminosity.

"What are you doing?" Dexter asked.

"Just looking at the stars," she replied without looking at him. "Base 65 has that huge cover over it so you can't ever see the sky. And it's so clear tonight."

Dexter cleared his throat and shuffled his feet. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday," he said. "I just would like to keep some stuff to myself. But I shouldn't have been so rude to you."

She shrugged from the ground, again without looking at him. "Whatever."

He sat down next to her and looked up at the sky, too. He glanced down at her again and wondered if he should apologize a second time. His guilt was battling with defensiveness and he was about to reiterate that he didn't have to share everything with her when she spoke.

"When I was a kid," she mused. "My aunt and I lived in this one house for about a month. But it had a ladder that led up to the roof and the roof was flat so I could go up there with a blanket and a book and lie back and watch the stars. I was always looking for constellations, but the only one I ever saw was the Big Dipper. So a lot of times I made up my own and just named them whatever I wanted." She pointed to the sky. "Like see that cluster over there? It looks like a bowl. So I could call it the bowl constellation."

Dexter chuckled. "You can't come up with something more creative?"

"I'm not a very creative person," she replied with a smirk.

"That's not true," he disagreed and lay down on the ground next to her. "If they have the Big Dipper, maybe you could call your bowl constellation the Big Eater."

Heidi laughed. "Or the Big Feeder."

"The Big Dipper dips chili into the Big Feeder," he replied.

"What's chili?" Heidi asked, turning her head towards him finally.

His forehead creased and he looked over at her. "You've never had chili?"

She shook her head.

"Huh," he mused and looked back up at the sky. "My mother used to make it when I was a kid. It has like meat and beans and tomatoes in it. It's just a big mixture of those things and spices and sometimes other vegetables or what have you and you eat it out of a bowl."

"Mmm," Heidi mumbled. "My aunt was never much of a cook and we had so little money because we moved around so much and she just took whatever odd jobs she could find. So we pretty much ate whatever scraps we could scrounge up. It was never what you might call a real meal. I've eaten better since I've been a part of the rebellion than I ever did before that."

He laughed heartily. "That's just sad, Red," he said. "One of these days when we have access to real food and real spices I'll cook you a real meal."

She looked over at him again. "You will?"

"Sure," he answered, shrugging. "Why not?"

"Mmm," Heidi murmured again. She didn't say anything else. She reached her hands over her head and stretched them upwards as far as they could go, taking a deep breath as she did so. The pink flesh of her belly peeked out from below her shirt and Dexter couldn't help his eyes traveling down to it.

She reached over to him and tried to take his hand.

...have her...

He snatched his hand away quickly and sat up.

"What's wrong?" she asked, pulling herself up onto her elbows.

"Nothing," he mumbled. "It's getting late." He stood up and dusted himself off.

Heidi frowned up at him. "You're shutting me out again."

"I told you, I just don't want to share all of my thoughts with you," he grumbled.

Heidi sighed heavily and lay back down on the ground. "Fine," she replied and stared up at the sky away from him.

He shifted uncomfortably. "It's late," he repeated. "Are you coming inside?"

"In a little while," she answered.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but couldn't think of what to say. So finally he just mumbled "good night" and trudged back towards the safehouse where they were staying. Heidi didn't respond and she waited until he was out of sight before she allowed a few tears to trickle down the sides of her face.

Fortunately, they were done with training the next day and ready to head out. They travelled to a few more bases where Heidi trained more recruits. She and Dexter didn't talk about their disagreements and she didn't ask about what Trist had said. She had decided that either Trist was wrong—or that if he wasn't wrong, that Dexter at least was not going to ever admit it to her.

She was actually starting to get really confused about Dexter. One minute he would be the fun-loving guy that she'd first known when she met him. He would take her hand and speak telepathically to and with her. They built inside jokes and shared secrets. Other times he would shut down, refuse to open his mind to her, and snap at her if she asked why.

"I just don't get it," Heidi complained to Sgt. Trist one afternoon as they were loading things into the transport vehicle. Dexter was finishing up with the new recruits Heidi had trained and would be joining them shortly.

Trist shrugged and didn't say anything. He concentrated intently on loading their bags into the vehicle and closed the trunk.

"Reece, I know you are thinking something," she prodded. "What is it with everyone wanting me not to know what they're thinking?"

He turned to her, frowning slightly. "I... have a theory," Trist replied. "As to why he acts that way.... But I don't know if I should say."

"Of course you should say," she said. "Why shouldn't you say?"

"Breaking rank," he suggested.

"This doesn't have anything to do with soldier stuff," she argued. "He's your friend. You're my friend. He's... my friend... I guess. Half the time, I don't even know. This is a friendship matter, not a soldier matter."

Trist considered this for a moment and then began: "I've never known him to be all that close to anyone," he said. "He has friends, of course, but they're all soldiers. It's understood that we could die at any moment and you have to be prepared for that. He doesn't make close friends with civilians. At least he never has until you. I think the times when he shuts down on you are the times that he's getting nervous about how much he likes you."

"You mean he's afraid of his feelings for me?"

"Yes."

"But that's stupid," she argued. "He's like the bravest guy I know—present company excluded—he's not afraid of anything."

Trist chuckled for a moment and then his face dropped slowly, inch by inch, until his mouth was a thin line and his eyes were filled with sorrow. He looked down at the ground. "I have stared down blaster rifles and been surrounded by Imperial guard with seemingly no way out. I have taken shots to the abdomen and come close to death before." He stopped and looked up and out into the distance, not really seeing what was in front of him. "But none of that was even one bit as painful as watching those men rape Jane." He shook his head resolutely. Heidi could even see his eyes moistening slightly. "Trust me, there is nothing more frightening than loving someone. You can train soldiers to withstand torture and physical pain. You can even train them to survive in desperate circumstances and endure gruesome experiences. But to ask someone to risk their heart... to risk losing someone they care about... That takes the kind of courage you can't train for."

Heidi stared at him, unbelieving.

"I would give up every last ounce of information about the rebellion that I have to the Emperor," he continued. "I would bow down and kiss the bastard's feet... if it meant I could have Jane back."

Heidi's eyes were starting to mist and she opened her mouth to say something to Trist when...

"Ready?" Dexter called as he approached.

Trist's eyes flicked over to Dexter and he regained his composure. "Yep," he agreed, his face switching quickly back to soldier-mode. He walked to the driver's side door and climbed in.

"What's wrong?" Dexter asked Heidi when he saw her face.

"Nothing," she replied, shaking her head. "Let's just go."

They climbed in the vehicle after Heidi had donned her concubine garb and covered herself up.

Dexter turned to her with a concerned look. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, grateful that the concubine outfit was covering most of her face. "Just nervous because we're heading to Lt. Hugo's base. He hates me, you know?"

Dexter sighed and sat back, accepting this explanation. "He doesn't hate you," he argued as Trist pulled away from the base. "He's afraid of you."

"Afraid of me?" Heidi scoffed. "I'm like this big." She lifted her hand and held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart.

Dexter chuckled and shoved her hand back under her garment. "He's afraid of your mind-reading ability," he explained. "Keep your hands covered."

The concubine disguise had been chosen for Heidi because legitimate concubines—women sold to men simply for their sexual prowess—had to stay completely covered except for their eyes. It was to keep them especially just for the men who were to have them. It was sexist and degrading and stupid, but it made a perfect disguise because no one would recognize her and no one would be allowed to touch her, thus, there was no risk she would accidentally read someone's mind and give herself away. Heidi had actually reveled in the idea that they were using one of Ezar's oppressive laws against him. Unfortunately, it also meant that most of the rides had to be in total silence and she couldn't even grab Dexter's hand to speak telepathically because he was not permitted to touch her either, since he was merely playing the role of the man who delivered the concubine.

The ride this time took a couple of days and Dexter and Trist traded off driving so that one of them could sleep in the back seat with her when he grew too tired. By the time they reached Hugo's base, though she had slept in the back most of the ride, Heidi was extremely weary, mostly because she was tired of the silence. The trip had reminded her too much of her trek from home to the Imperial palace.

This rebel base was hidden in the side of a mountain rather than the wilderness. Again, it was in a spot that no one would notice it unless one was actually looking. A rock jutted out from the side of the mountain and appeared to just be another rock, but rounding it revealed the entrance to a cave—or what appeared to Heidi to be a cave.

Trist stopped at the front entrance and Heidi could hear several blaster rifles charge.

"Halt!" someone called.

Dexter stepped from the vehicle with his hands in the air. "It's us," he announced.

"State your business!" the voice yelled back.

To Heidi's surprise, Dexter grinned.

"I know that's you, Chris," he replied. "I'd recognize that chain-smoker voice anywhere."

Lt. Hugo emerged from the shadows of the cave with his rifle trained right at Dexter. His eyebrow was raised and his eyes were narrow.

"How do I know it's really you?" he asked. "Ezar could create doppelganger pod people."

Dexter stepped forward and replied: "Could a doppelganger do this?" Quick as lightening, he grabbed Hugo's blaster and whipped it out of his hand and around until he had disarmed Hugo and was now aiming the blaster at him. Several more of Hugo's men jumped from the shadows with blasters aimed at Dexter, but Hugo held up his hand.

He glared at Dexter for a few intense moments, but then grinned.

"I let you do that," he said, pointing to the rifle.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself," Dexter replied and pointed the rifle towards the ground.

Both of them laughed and embraced one another. Hugo's other men disarmed their rifles and pointed them down. Heidi breathed a sigh of relief as Trist in the front seat chuckled and shook his head. He glanced back at Heidi.

"Those two are more alike than you'd think," he said as he began pulling the vehicle into the cave once Hugo waved them in. "And more than either of them would like to admit."

"I thought they didn't get along," Heidi responded, pulling her veil and headdress off as they entered the caves.

"They often don't," Trist answered. "But mostly because they're so alike. Both of them are untrusting and suspicious that everything is in some way tied to Ezar's effort to bring down the rebellion. So when one of them latches onto something that the other one isn't sure about..." He glanced back at her, grinned, and nodded towards her. "...all hell breaks loose between them."

Dexter and Hugo were still talking and ribbing one another like old buddies and walking in front of the transport vehicle as Trist drove slowly into the base. Heidi leaned over and looked out the window at the base concealed in the mountains. It was different than the other bases she'd been to because it appeared to be more a series of caves and caverns than huts. In the middle, though, was a huge, shimmering pool of water. Heidi gasped at its beauty.

"Is that a natural body of water?" she asked Trist as he pulled the vehicle to a stop.

"Yep," Trist replied as he stepped from the vehicle and walked to the back door to open it for her. "Never dries up and they have plenty of water all the time." Heidi stepped down from the vehicle. "Also, it's a hot spring, so the water is always warm. So people here get to bathe all the time."

"Wow," Heidi said, basking at the wonder of the spring. "Why don't you build more bases like this one?"

Trist chuckled. "Well, for one thing, because we haven't found more natural formations like this and for another because there's no place to grow food. Lt. Hugo has to go to other bases and gather food and bring it back and stockpile it. And the people who live here have to ration it out." He paused. "That's what he was doing at our base a few months ago when you first met him."

"Does he always go himself?" Heidi asked. "Seems like that would be dangerous. Shouldn't he send some of his men to get the food?"

Trist nodded. "Very astute," he said as they headed towards Dexter and Hugo. "He usually sends other men to do it but when he feels he needs to be kept up on what's going on with the other bases, he goes himself. Also, I think he feels guilty sending someone else because he places them in danger when they are outside the protection of his base. He prefers to put himself in danger."

Heidi smirked and looked up to lock eyes with Trist. "Sounds like someone else I know."

Trist became confused. "Me?"

She shook her head and nodded towards Dexter.

"Ah!" Trist said and smiled. "Agreed."

Dexter was chuckling as they approached. "Chris, you remember Heidi, right?"

Hugo's smile faded slightly but he nodded politely to Heidi. "Yes, hello again," he said and then turned to Trist. He held out his hand and smiled brightly. "Reece!"

Trist took his hand and pulled him forward so that they could embrace.

Heidi sighed and folded her arms. She glanced around the base again and when she looked back, she met Dexter's eyes and he winked, jerked his head toward Hugo and shrugged as if to say "don't take it personally."

"So where's Dugan?" Dexter asked Hugo suddenly.

Hugo glanced over at Dexter, cleared his throat and his smile faded slightly. "He's... uh... he's not here..." He glanced over at Heidi, his eyes clearly belying his desire not to say anything around her, though he looked away again quickly and tried to hide his discomfort.

"Not here?" Dexter repeated, confused. "Why? He on a mission of some kind?"

"Yeah," Hugo replied and turned and started to walk away. "Why don't I show you all where you'll be staying?"

"Hey, wait a second," Dexter responded. He rushed to catch up to Hugo. Heidi and Trist followed behind in silence. "What mission? Why would he be on a mission and not tell me about it?"

Hugo didn't answer but Dexter could tell from of the shift of his eyes that it was Heidi he didn't want to hear the answer to the question.

"Oh come on, man," Dexter said, annoyed. "You have got to get over this. She's trained like thousands of our men. Our numbers are increasing at an exponential rate because of her and you're still distrusting?"

"Maybe Sgt. Trist and I should go for a walk and you two can discuss things?" Heidi suggested.

Hugo started to respond to this suggestion, but Dexter immediately said: "No." He placed a hand on Hugo's shoulder and forced him to stop walking. Heidi and Trist stopped, too, standing uncomfortably next to Hugo and Dexter.

"You need to start trusting her," Dexter insisted. "She's here to help train your men and if you can't get on board with that then your men aren't going to trust her and the training won't work or if it does, you won't trust your men."

"Hey, what do you want from me, man?" Hugo protested. "I let you guys come, didn't I?"

"It's not enough," Dexter argued.

"Well, it's all you're going to get from me," Hugo responded. He turned to Heidi. "If you're not a spy then I truly apologize but you came from the Imperial palace, you read minds and you've swindled Lt. Hathaway..."

"She didn't swindle me!"

"Whatever!" Hugo snapped. "It's just suspicious is all I'm saying. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt by allowing this training to go on, but I can't help it if it seems way too convenient that we just happen to obtain the perfect person to solve all of our problems the instant we need her."

"Maybe that's exactly why I'm here," Heidi interjected.

All three men focused on her intently.

"All I mean is..." she continued. "I believe there are greater forces at work in the world than just the Emperor or the rebellion... and maybe those forces are handing you just what you need. And maybe you should take it and run with it rather than looking a gift horse in the mouth."

Dexter grinned and turned back to Hugo. "What she said." He jerked his thumb towards Heidi.

Hugo frowned skeptically and looked back and forth between Dexter and Heidi for a few moments. He sighed once more before he spoke again.

"Dugan and a group of men under him were sent to invade the Imperial prison," he said finally.

"Which one, Chris?" Dexter asked. "There are like a hundred of them."

Hugo looked directly at him. "The one adjacent to the palace."

Dexter's eyes widened and Trist whistled in awe.

"What?" Dexter asked. "Are you crazy?"

"A ton of rebel fighters are in that prison," Hugo explained.

"But that's a suicide mission," Dexter said. "That's insane. That place is crawling with Imperial guard. There's no way to free those prisoners. He's going to be majorly outnumbered. Best case scenario is that he and all his men get caught and put in the exact prison they're trying to free."

Hugo set his jaw and didn't respond.

Dexter shook his head in astonishment. "You've totally lost it man," he said. "I'm telling Commander Trevana about this..."

"The Commander is the one who ordered it," Hugo answered.

"What?!" Dexter cried. "Why would she...? Why wouldn't she tell me...?" His face fell as he realized. "You _both_ still don't trust Heidi. And you don't trust me because I'm backing her."

"We trust you, Dex..." Hugo began.

"No!" Dexter held up his hand, his face full of fury and betrayal. "I'm going to contact the Commander now and demand an explanation." He turned and strode away angrily.

Heidi and Trist stood next to Hugo awkwardly. Hugo stared after Dexter, frowning deeply.

"So..." Trist said finally. "You were going to show us where we are to stay?"

Hugo glanced at him, as if he had forgotten they were there.

"Yeah..." he said finally and waved to them to follow him.
Chapter Nine

Dexter was sitting at a comconsole, typing furiously, when Heidi entered the room. Hugo had shown them to the safehouse that had been designated for her, Trist, and Dexter, after which they had been allowed to bathe. Trist let her bathe first. She then asked where Dexter was because she was worried about him and had been informed that he was at headquarters attempting to contact Commander Trevana.

So that's where she'd gone and finally found him in an office room by himself. It was an office very similar to the one Commander Trevana had except the desk was on the side wall instead of the back wall. Dexter sat behind it.

"Hey..." she whispered.

He looked up, registering her presence for the first time. "Hey..." he mumbled and looked back at the comconsole. He punched some more buttons on the screen and then dropped it onto the desk in annoyance. He sighed and sat back in his chair.

"Did you talk to Commander Trevana?" Heidi asked.

He shook his head. He placed his hand over his mouth in contemplation and rested his elbow on the arm of the chair. His other hand rested on the desk. He stared down at the comconsole on the desk. "I sent her a message but she isn't answering."

Heidi found a chair and pulled it up to the desk in front of him. She reached out and took his hand.

Maybe she's busy and she'll get back to you.

He pulled his hand away and sighed. He shifted in his chair until he was leaning forward, his head inches from hers.

"I just don't understand this," he admitted. "Yeah, at first, okay, I get it. The way you got to us was rather unusual and suspicious. But I would think after being with us for months and not betraying us and helping us train plenty of soldiers that you would have proven yourself." He shook his head in annoyance. "It makes me so angry."

"Because it's now a reflection on you?"

His forehead creased. "No," he said. "I don't really give a crap what that clown Hugo thinks of me. And if the Commander is going to start distrusting me that's her problem. I've been under her for five years and I would think she would know by now when I'm off my rocker and when I'm trusting my instincts." He rubbed his temples. "It's just that we have a chance to take the empire down here. We have a chance to end this ridiculous war and give everyone freedom and you're the gift we needed from heaven to do it. And if they can't see that... if we're divided against one another... then we might as well just surrender to Ezar right now because it won't work."

The corners of Heidi's mouth turned up. "You think I'm a gift from heaven?"

Dexter scoffed. He sat back in the chair and stared down at his hands. "For the rebellion, I mean," he said.

"Just for the rebellion?" Heidi asked tentatively.

His eyes flickered up and met hers. He cleared his throat. "Yeah... why?"

She frowned and shook her head. "Nothing," she responded. She folded her arms and sat back. She sighed and pressed her lips together in annoyance.

"You're mad at me now?" Dexter asked.

"No," she said.

He frowned and cocked his head to the side. "You're lying."

"Yeah, well, so are you," she retorted in irritation.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nevermind," she said. She stood up and started walking from the room.

"Where are you going?" Dexter demanded and stood up himself.

"It's getting late," Heidi replied as she stood in the doorway. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed. When you're ready to be honest with me... you know where to find me."

She didn't wait for an answer, she just stalked out of headquarters and walked back to the safehouse.

She didn't see much of Dexter the next few days. She suspected he was avoiding her and she was tired of going after him just to have him shut down. He left her alone while she trained the recruits. She was more comfortable doing it now on her own so it didn't really matter except she knew that it meant there was a rift between them.

It was after they'd been there a week that Heidi walked out of the room at headquarters where she'd been training the recruits and saw Hugo was sitting in the same office Dexter had been sitting a week ago trying to get a message to Commander Trevana. Hugo was looking over some paperwork. All the recruits had left and she had merely been taking a moment to compose her thoughts before heading out. She paused by Hugo's doorway and glanced in. He looked up and smiled politely.

She smiled back and then walked from the cave. Dexter was walking up towards her as she exited.

"I'm done for the day," she announced.

He nodded. "You're moving a lot faster here than you have at some of the other places," he said. "I don't think we'll have to stay more than a few more days."

"Great," she said and folded her arms. She started down the path towards the safehouse, and away from him.

He sighed and turned towards her. "Why are you pissed at me?" he demanded.

"Why are you hiding thoughts from me?" she retorted, stopping and glancing back at him.

"I have to share all of my thoughts with you?" he asked, annoyed.

"Nope," she said. "But I also don't have to spell out why I'm angry with you. If you can hide stuff from me then I can hide stuff from you."

"So it begins, then?" he said. "They're not only distrusting you and distrusting me but now they're causing us not to trust one another?"

"This has nothing to do with Lt. Hugo or Commander Trevana," Heidi snapped. "And you know it. You have been closing down on me for weeks, way before any of this." She waved her hand around to indicate the situation with Hugo.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Dexter grumbled.

"Oh, what a load..." Heidi said as she rolled her eyes skyward, but then stopped suddenly. "What is that?" she asked, pointing upwards.

"Don't change the subject!" Dexter argued.

"No, seriously, Dex!" she insisted, pointing up.

Dexter sighed but looked up and his eyes went wide. An Imperial jet soared over the base—followed by several more. He watched in horror as a bomb dropped from the jet.

"Look out!" he screamed and dove into Heidi, knocking her over as the bomb landed directly in the hot spring in the middle of the base.

With a loud explosion, water and rock went flying everywhere. Dexter did his best to cover Heidi's body completely with his. Pandemonium ensued and people began screaming and running for their lives as more and more bombs fell from the sky. When Dexter pulled up and looked around for a moment, Heidi tried to sit up but another blast went off and she had to roll to her left to keep from being pummeled by flying rock.

People dove into the caves for cover and, fortunately, the spring was deep and wide enough that most of the bombs fell into it and the blasts were tapered by the water.

Heidi sat up abruptly and whipped her head around, searching for Dexter. She saw he was scrambling to his feet about a meter from her. She then turned her head and saw that headquarters had nearly caved in

"Hugo!" she shouted and jumped up. She dashed across to the front of headquarters and dove through the tiny opening that remained.

Dexter stood up and glanced over in time to see her jump through.

"Heidi!" he screamed futilely.

Inside headquarters looked not much better than outside. Much of it had already caved in and there was very little light. She found Hugo slumped over at his desk, nearly unconscious and moaning. A large boulder sat immediately to the left of him and he was bleeding from a large gash in his forehead.

Heidi wound her arms underneath his armpits and clasped her hands together at his sternum. She pulled him from his chair. As best she could, she dragged him back towards the entrance of headquarters—only to discover that more rock had fallen and it was now completely blocked.

She set Hugo down and pulled him into a sitting position. She grabbed his shoulders and stared directly into his face, though his eyes were vacant and unseeing.

"Lt. Hugo!" she shouted, shaking him slightly. "Is there another way out of here? We're trapped inside unless there's another way out!" She shook him again. "Hugo!!"

But he didn't respond other than to moan. His eyes rolled around in his head and his head lolled backwards. She sighed and pushed the urge to panic down in her chest. She pulled his head forward. She pressed her hands against the sides of his face and concentrated.

Please, Chris, tell me. You don't have to reveal everything to me. Just tell me if there's another way out of here. We could both die. Tell me... please... trust me for just this one instance.

Her eyes snapped open. She wasted no time but grabbed Hugo around the chest again and drug him backwards, following the path she'd seen in his brain. She prayed that he wasn't lying to her.

Around another corner, she heard another explosion and dirt tumbled from the ceiling. She tried to pick up the pace, but it was so difficult dragging him along with her. She couldn't lift him; he weighed probably three times as much as she did. But she wasn't going to leave him there. She'd gone in after him and he wasn't dead yet. She wasn't going to abandon him.

She turned another corner as another blast dropped more debris from the ceiling. Finally she saw a light at the back exit of the cave. She scurried as fast as her feet would take her with Hugo in tow. Another blast dropped more rock and caused her to lose her footing and fall over on her behind. Hugo collapsed against her.

To her horror, she saw that rock was starting to accumulate at the back entrance to the cave like it had at the front.

She shoved Hugo off of her and scrambled to her feet. She grabbed his hands and pulled with all her might, dragging him desperately towards the exit as more and more rock accumulated and made the exit smaller and smaller.

"Come on!" she shouted to Hugo. "Come on!!!"

To her surprise, his eyes fluttered and stared at her.

"Heidi?!" he said in surprise.

"Get up!" she shouted, pointing to the exit. "We're about to be trapped inside!"

He was still woozy, but he got to his feet and threw an arm over her shoulders. Together they dove through the tiny space that remained at the exit, just before another blast caused more rock to fall and completely close in headquarters.

Hugo collapsed at her feet again once they were out. She bent down to help him, but he fell over into her arms. She sat down on the ground and held his head in her lap.

"You came for me?" he said, astonished.

She nodded, cradling his head. "Stay awake, okay?" she instructed.

They were in an outlying part of the base. She could see a few people milling around and tried to wave and call to them, but they were still in panic mode and no one acknowledged her.

She sighed and turned her face back to Hugo. "I'm going to have to go find help."

He shook his head. "I can't feel my legs," he responded. "I can feel a serious puncture wound in my abdomen." He pointed down.

Heidi looked down and, to her horror, saw that there was a giant, gaping hole in Hugo's stomach. Most of his insides were starting to spill out. She hadn't seen it in headquarters due to the lack of light.

"No..." she breathed, tears springing to her eyes. "I-I'll find you a medic!"

He shook his head again. "It's way too late," he answered. "I can feel the life leaving my body." His lips were bloodless and his face was starting to turn grey. A tear ran down the side of his face across his temple and left a single, clean line in the mess of dirt on his face.

Tears spilled out of Heidi's eyes. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I tried to save you."

He nodded. "I know," he said. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you before."

"It's okay..."

He shook his head again. "It's not okay," he said. He swallowed. "Don't let Ezar get away with this. There's no telling how many of my men he's killed here today. And not just my men, but their wives and children."

Heidi nodded and sobbed. "I won't," she insisted. "He won't get away with this."

Hugo swallowed again. "Good." He reached up and placed his hand on the side of her face and closed his eyes.

Heidi gasped as information flooded her brain. Her eyes widened as she saw the real reason for Dugan's suicide mission. It wasn't a suicide mission.

It was a Trojan horse mission.

As abruptly as it began, it stopped and Hugo's hand dropped from her face. His eyes closed and he breathed out one more time. She stared down at his lifeless body and sobbed.
Chapter Ten

Heidi trudged across the rock with her arms folded. Her face and hair were filthy and the tracks of her tears could clearly be seen in the dirt on her face. She hadn't bothered to try and wipe any of the dirt away or smooth down the rat's nest that was her hair. The bombings had stopped and people had calmed down. It seemed that since they were in a mountain that the casualties had been reduced because people had managed to retreat into the caves for cover, but there were still plenty of injured and dead people strewn about. And there was no telling how many people were trapped inside caves, unable to escape. Heidi tried to keep her eyes focused forward so as not to become overwhelmed by the devastation.

People with medical training that were not injured were attending to those that were. Some uninjured men were attempting to dig some of the caves open and search for survivors. She searched the base as she reached the middle of it and her eyes stopped when she saw the hot spring. It had been completely demolished and dried up.

Her mouth became a thin line. She wanted to cry at the sight of it, but she felt like she had no more tears left in her.

"Miss Grace!" a voice called out suddenly.

She turned to see Sgt. Trist approaching, carrying a medkit. He had a bandage on his head that was stained with blood, but otherwise appeared to be unscathed. She sighed with relief and hugged him unabashedly when he reached her.

"You're okay," she said.

"Yes," he responded, patting her back awkwardly. "Are you injured at all?"

She shook her head and pulled away from him. "No..." she answered. "But Lt. Hugo is dead."

Trist's face fell. "Dead?"

She nodded. "I pulled him out of headquarters before it collapsed but he was mortally wounded." She sighed and looked down at the ground. "There was nothing I could do." She pointed back the way she'd come without looking up. "His body is back there."

Trist frowned and pressed his lips together. "I'll take care of it," he responded finally. "By the way, Lt. Hathaway is looking for you."

"Is he okay?" she asked.

"He's not injured if that's what you mean," Trist responded. "But he's super pissed."

"Yeah, I'm starting to hate Ezar more and more, too," she answered.

Trist chuckled ironically. "No, I meant at you."

"Me?" Heidi asked, astonished. "What did I do? This isn't my fault!" She waved her hand around to indicate the destruction of the base.

"No," Trist explained. "I think he's mad at you for going after Chris."

"What?!" she cried. "Why?"

Trist shrugged. "Put yourself in danger."

"I couldn't just leave him in there to die when I thought there was a chance to save him," Heidi argued.

"Hey, you don't have to tell me," Trist answered. He clapped her on the shoulder and headed off in the direction of Hugo's body.

Heidi sighed in annoyance and began trudging again in the direction that Trist had come from. On the way, she bent over and ran her hand through a small puddle of water and then used it to wipe the dirt and grime from her face and hands as best she could. It only took her a few more minutes before she found Dexter rounding up more injured people and trying to coordinate lifesaving efforts. He stopped abruptly when he saw her approach.

"There you are!" he snapped. "Where the hell did you go?! You should have stayed right next to me! You could have been killed!"

"It's not my fault the blast knocked us apart," she returned.

"Don't give me that crap!" he yelled angrily. "I saw you go in headquarters and then I saw the entrance to it completely collapse! What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that Lt. Hugo was inside and if someone didn't go in after him that he could be trapped in there and die," she replied. "Besides, we got out the other side."

"And he's okay?"

She frowned and looked down at her feet. "No," she admitted softly. "He was mortally wounded and I didn't realize it until we got out of headquarters. It was too dark inside and I didn't see his wound." She paused, averting her eyes. "He's dead."

Dexter growled furiously and shook his fists in frustration. "You see?! You risked your life for nothing! You could have died!"

"I didn't know at the time that he was wounded that badly," she argued. She faced Dexter again with her arms folded. "I had to try and save him!"

"No, you didn't!"

"I can't believe this!" she snapped. "You're a soldier. Isn't it your motto to never leave a man behind?!"

"But you're not a soldier," Dexter returned. "You need to stay close to me so you don't get hurt!"

"Excuse me," she said. "I believe I have plenty of training in my head, as you'll recall..." She tapped her skull. "I think I can take care of myself."

"It doesn't matter!" he huffed. "Training is no match for field experience!"

"Really?" she demanded. "Then why are you making me shove it in a bunch of recruits' heads to form an army then?"

Dexter clenched his fists tighter and set his jaw, breathing heavily through his nose. His nostrils flared in anger. He had no good argument in response. "You just... you shouldn't have left my side," he said finally. "Don't do it again!"

Heidi scoffed in annoyance. "You can't tell me what to do," she returned. "As you so aptly pointed out, I'm not a soldier. I'm not one your Privates that you can just order around."

"I'm just trying to protect you," Dexter argued. "You could have gotten killed!"

"So what?" she responded. "I've done at least 90% of the training you needed, probably more. You have your army. You said I was an asset to the rebellion only and I've done my part. What difference does it make if I get killed now?"

"What kind of a thing is that to say?!" he demanded. "I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't," he responded. "I have to have a reason?"

"Yes," Heidi snapped, stomping her foot in anger and frustration. "There's _always_ a reason. Why can't you just say what it is? Why can't you just be honest with me? Why can't you just say what you're thinking?!"

"What are you talking about?" Dexter huffed. He turned and started to walk back towards the injured he had been tending to earlier.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Heidi yelled as she stalked after him. "Don't walk away from me!"

He didn't turn back to her.

"UGH!!" she growled. "You are such a coward!"

He stopped abruptly and turned back around toward her, fury blazing in his eyes. "What did you say?"

"You heard me!"

He stomped back towards her. "You mean because I don't want you to get hurt now I'm a coward?"

"I mean because you can't open up to anyone," she replied. "You close yourself off to any kind of human connection. You act like when you kill Ezar things will be all better but life is fleeting. There's always going to be an Ezar of some kind lurking around the corner and you can't cut off your emotions just to keep from getting hurt again."

"You're one to talk," he said. "Traveling from place to place your whole life. Never settling down and even trying to make a real home."

"I didn't have a choice about that," she argued. "My aunt forced it upon me."

"It seems to me that once you reached the age of adulthood, she couldn't force anything on you," he returned. He pointed his index finger directly at her. "Maybe you're the coward."

Heidi felt white hot fury burn in her chest. "Fine..." she growled through gritted teeth. "But then you are, too. You make no sense. One minute you let me see all the pain and agony you experienced watching your parents murdered and then the next you completely shut down. Why would you let me see something that raw and personal to you and then hold back something else?"

"Maybe I just don't want to hurt you with my thoughts again like I did when you saw what happened to my parents," he said. "Did you ever think of that?"

"No," she retorted. "I think you're trying to keep from hurting yourself again."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what it means, Dex!"

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't!"

"Yes, you... UGH!" Heidi yelled and threw up her hands. "You drive me absolutely _crazy_ sometimes!"

She turned on her heel furiously and stomped away. Dexter stared after her, grinding his teeth together for a moment.

"Heidi!" he shouted suddenly.

"What?!" she responded angrily.

He used the entire length of his long legs to stride towards her swiftly. She stopped and turned back towards him just as he reached her.

He threw his hand forward and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her in close and cupped his other hand around her cheek. Before she knew what was happening, his mouth connected with hers. He kissed her deep; he kissed her fervently. His breath intermingled with hers and she felt like her head was spinning.

He was still holding her wrist as he kissed her and she wound her other arm around his neck. His hand slipped down her wrist and his fingers wound themselves in between hers. Suddenly her brain was flooded with a million thoughts at once, so many she couldn't discern between them or focus on any single one.

...can't stop thinking about you...

...absolutely crazy...

...such a cute laugh...

...dying to kiss you...

...never met anyone else like you...

...completely exposed even without the mind-reading thing...

He pulled away as abruptly as he'd come towards her to kiss her. He dropped his hands from her and took a step back. She couldn't hear his thoughts anymore. For a moment, she stood with her hands out and up, as if waiting for something to drop into her arms, and then she dropped them abruptly to her side. He stared down into her eyes, his breath coming in short bursts, and she looked back up at him.

For a moment, their eyes were locked. Both were expressionless, breathless, and speechless. Dexter suddenly grinned brightly at her. A smile played at the corners of her mouth as well.

He stepped towards her and bent his head to kiss her again when...

"Lieutenant!"

He jerked away from her quickly as Trist approached.

"Yes...?" Dexter responded, trying not to sound too annoyed.

"It's Commander Trevana," Trist answered and held out a comconsole to Dexter.

Dexter took it. He glanced over at Heidi and frowned, but pressed a button on the comsonsole and then focused on it. "Commander?"

Her face appeared on the screen. "Lieutenant," she said. "I got your message and I am fully ready to inform you of the nature of Sgt. Dugan's mission..."

Heidi pressed her lips together and looked down. Lt. Hugo had already revealed that information to her and she had yet to share it with Dex, though she had every intention of doing so. There just hadn't been a proper moment yet.

"I need you, Trist, and Heidi to return to base 65 immediately," Trevana continued.

"Commander, in case the Sergeant didn't tell you, we're in the middle of a crisis here," Dexter responded. "And Chris is dead."

"I realize that," Trevana answered sadly. "Sgt. Hyuin should be able to handle everything there. I need the three of you back here immediately." She leaned her head forward significantly. "That's an _order_ , Lieutenant."

It was maddening sitting in the vehicle wearing all of the concubine garb as they traveled as quickly as they could back to base 65. Heidi's eyes kept flickering over to Dexter and he was frequently glancing back at her as well.

The anticipation was killing her and finally she reached a hand out from under her garment and wound her fingers through his. He jumped slightly in surprise.

I want to talk about that kiss...

We will! Just not now! You have to keep your hand concealed!

He pushed her hand back under her garment and looked seriously into her eyes. He shook his head significantly and turned his face back towards the front. Heidi frowned beneath her veil and sighed heavily. It was going to be a long few days journey back to base 65.

They finally arrived three days after they'd left Hugo's base in the mountains. By this time Dexter was driving and Trist was in the back seat with her. He pulled in to the base after identifying himself and stopped the vehicle.

Heidi quickly pulled her veil and headdress off as Trist and Dexter climbed out of the vehicle. She followed them, intending to take Dexter's hand and speak with him telepathically the moment she was out of the vehicle. But when she got out, she saw Commander Trevana and another man approaching them.

"Kyle!" Dexter exclaimed at the sight of the new man.

"Hey, man!" the young man greeted. He was about Dexter's age but about a foot taller with darker hair and much leaner than Dexter, though Dexter's extra bulk was totally muscular.

Dexter laughed heartily and embraced him, slapping him energetically on the back several times. "What the hell, dude?" Dexter said. "I tried to send you a message a few months ago and never heard back from you."

"Yeah, I know," the man—Kyle apparently—responded. "So where's this mind-reader girl anyway?"

Dexter pulled Kyle back towards Trist and Heidi.

"Hey, Red, this is Lt. Kyle Bookman," Dexter introduced him. "Kyle, this is Heidi." He turned back to her. "He's the one who led the prison break I told you about. I contacted him about your aunt."

"Oh!" Heidi exclaimed. "So... have you heard from her?"

"Yep," Kyle responded. "She came with me."

"Came with you where?"

"Here," he answered.

Heidi's eyes widened in astonishment. "She's here?!" she cried. "Where?"

As if on cue, Reboa emerged from around the corner of headquarters. She was a bit surprised by the large crowd in front of headquarters but her eyes widened when she saw Heidi. She smiled brightly and tears began streaming down her face.

"Aunt Reboa!" Heidi cried and ran across the lawn to her.

"Heidi!" Reboa exclaimed. She embraced Heidi excitedly and they held one another and cried for several minutes. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"I thought you were dead," Heidi responded, wiping tears from her face. She pulled back to look in Reboa's face.

Reboa placed her hands on either side of Heidi's face in delight.

"Oh, I have so much to tell you!" Heidi said. "And I want to know what all happened to you since the last time I saw you!"

"Yes, of course," Reboa said. "Let's go somewhere and talk."

Heidi glanced back. "Is that okay?" she asked, looking directly at Dexter.

Dexter frowned slightly but nodded. "We can talk later," he responded.

Heidi bit her lip and nodded. She inclined her head towards him and widened her eyes to say "we _will_ talk later". She then turned and began walking with Reboa.

They walked slowly around the camp and Reboa told Heidi how after the three Imperial guards had taken her, two more showed up at the house to take her into custody for keeping a valuable asset to the empire hidden from the Emperor. She was so distraught over losing Heidi, she didn't resist at all.

They immediately took her to the Imperial prison where she was for three days. While she was there, she was trying to figure out a way to get out and get to Heidi. She still wanted to keep her promise to Kuma. She heard about Lt. Bookman's plans to break out of the prison and asked to join him. He agreed if she chose to join the rebellion, so she said she would. After all, she wanted to rescue Heidi and the rebellion seemed to be the only viable option for accomplishing such a task.

The prison break was messy and several people died, but she, Bookman, and fifteen other rebels escaped alive and made it to Bookman's rebel base number 39. It was an outerlying prison, one that wasn't kept as closely guarded, so they were successful. If it had been a more closely-guarded prison, it's likely all the attempted escapees would have died. As it was, only about half of them died.

When they got to Bookman's base, she immediately began asking about how to go after Heidi but Bookman told her there were more important matters he had to attend to. However, the next day he reported that he'd gotten a communication from Dexter saying that Heidi was alive and at rebel base number 65.

"I wanted to come to you immediately, but Kyle wanted to be sure we wouldn't be followed," she added as she sat down on a tree stump next to Heidi. "Also he soon heard that you were moving around from base to base so he suggested that we stay put and see if you would come to us. After waiting for months, not knowing if you were safe, I finally insisted that we come here. He had promised me we would and I was going to hold him to his promise. So we came finally and found out that you were in that attack on that base in the mountains. I was terrified that you were dead but they told me you weren't and I begged for you to be brought back here."

"It's unbelievable, Aunt Reboa," Heidi responded. "I'm so relieved to know you're okay."

"You have to tell me what's been going on with you, though," Reboa insisted. "They said you're helping them build an army or something."

Heidi nodded. "My gift..." she explained. "It's grown so much since I've been here." She quickly related all that had occurred to her since the last time she'd seen Reboa. Reboa's face grew more and more concerned as she heard the story.

"What's wrong?" Heidi asked. "I know that face." She pointed to Reboa.

Reboa frowned and looked down at her hands. She was silent for quite awhile. "I suppose that you had to grow up sometime," she said finally. "I just—I had hoped I could protect you longer. But maybe it was a mistake." She sighed and nodded. She looked up at Heidi. "Yes, it was a mistake. I should have allowed you the opportunity to let your gift flourish. We should have joined the rebellion long ago. I just wanted so badly to keep you safe and so often members of the rebellion are killed. I made a promise to Kuma that I would keep you safe." She bit her lip and paused for a moment. "I deliberately kept you from developing your gift and that was wrong of me. That's why it started expanding out of nowhere when you developed that crush on that boy. Your gift is tied to your emotional state. So it grows when your emotions grow." She swallowed. "I think that's why it's growing so rapidly now—because of this man you're spending so much time with."

"Dex?" Heidi asked.

Reboa nodded. "You're developing feelings for him," she said. "And it's making your gift grow quickly—maybe quicker than you can handle."

Heidi frowned. "Didn't you just decide it was wrong to try and hold me back just to keep me safe?" she argued. "And I've been handling it fine for months while you've been away."

"Yes, you're right," Reboa said. She sighed and contemplated her next words for a moment. "I think it's time I told you the truth about what really happened to your mother..."

Heidi sat up straighter. Her lips parted slightly but she didn't say anything. She inclined herself towards Reboa to listen intently.

Reboa took a deep breath before she began: "It had been months that Ezar's men had been coming after her. Ezar wasn't the Emperor yet, he was only the temporary Viceroy of the people, but he was gaining power and Kuma and I knew it was only a matter of time and complacency of the people before he controlled everything. He had sent men after your mother before but we had always managed to escape before they caught us.

"But then she met your father. He seemed like a great person at the time, but he was really an agent for Ezar. He used her shamelessly and left her after discovering how great her gift was. He actually helped her expand her gift while he was around because she was falling in love with him and, as I said, your gift is tied to your emotions.

"She didn't discover she was pregnant until after he'd disappeared and when he returned and discovered she was pregnant, he vowed to take you back to Ezar. He planned to raise you under Ezar and make you his puppet, I suppose."

Reboa shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "So to protect you... your mother killed him... with her gift."

Heidi's face twisted in puzzlement. "What?" she asked. "How could you just read someone's mind to death?"

Reboa sighed and looked directly into Heidi's eyes. "I honestly don't know. I was there and I witnessed it and I know it was tied to her gift because she grabbed his head and used her mind, but I honestly don't know what she did. I can tell you what I saw... She grabbed his head like she did to read someone, but his face turned grey and lifeless and blood came out of his eyes and ears... and then he was dead."

Heidi was stunned. "What did she say happened?"

Reboa shook her head. "She swore up and down that she couldn't remember what she'd done. She said all she knew is that she felt extreme fury and couldn't let him take you. The next thing she remembered was hours later after we'd fled. I had to grab her hand and pull her along because it was like she was in a trance. And our fleeing did no good. Ezar and his men kept coming after us. As far as we knew, your father was the only one who knew of your existence and they were only after your mother. So... eventually Kuma said that I should take you and get away from her."

Reboa swallowed and tears welled up in her eyes. Her voice broke as she spoke. "I told her I didn't want to leave her but she insisted that you would be safer with me because they wouldn't come after us anymore. She made me promise that no matter what happened I would protect you and keep you from Ezar. She made me promise before I knew what her plan was."

Tears were now streaming down her face. "That same day Ezar's men came again. She forced us to hide from them. You were only a year old and you had fallen asleep so that's how I managed to keep you quiet. She went out to confront the men that came. She said something like they would never get her no matter what. She would never serve that bastard Ezar..."

Reboa was crying so hard as she spoke that Heidi almost didn't understand her next words. "Then she stabbed herself in the heart." Reboa dropped her head into her hands and sobbed.

"She killed herself?" Heidi asked, astonished. Tears formed in her eyes and spilled over as Reboa nodded.

"I watched her from our hiding place, forcing myself not to scream or cry out," she said. "I had to stay quiet so I wouldn't wake you and so they wouldn't find us. They left after she was dead and, to my knowledge, they never knew you existed."

Heidi's hand covered her mouth absently and tears streamed down her face. "I'm so sorry, Aunt Reboa," she mumbled through her tears. "I never knew."

Reboa shook her head. "No, I never wanted to tell you," she said as she tried desperately to pull herself together. "I never wanted you to know your mother killed herself. She did it to protect you and me, but..." Reboa shook her head again and dropped her head back into her hands, sobbing.

Heidi leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her aunt. She pressed her cheek to Reboa's.

It's all going to be okay. The rebellion is going to take down Ezar soon. Very soon. I know it.

Reboa's head snapped up. "How do you know?"

Heidi frowned. "I just do," she said. "I can't tell you their plan. I promised a dying man I would keep his secret. But the Emperor's reign is coming to an end. I swear it is, Aunt Reboa."
Chapter Eleven

Dexter sat with his hands folded, trying to wait patiently. Trevana was finishing up talking outside to Bookman. He was planning to head back to his own base soon now that he had performed his task of reuniting Reboa with her niece.

Dexter and Trist were waiting in Trevana's office for her to come in. She had told them to wait while she finished talking to Bookman and then she planned to let them in on the plan of attack on the Emperor. Dexter was eager to know what she had to say, but he was also antsy to get this conversation over with because there was an even more important conversation he needed to have.

His fingers drifted to his mouth and he absently rubbed his thumb over his lower lip. His mind became filled with the memory of her lips on his. The taste of her mouth, the feel of her breath, the smell of her skin so close to him. He had been dying to kiss her for months, though he had continually tried to deny it to himself.

"Thank you for waiting, gentleman," Trevana said as she entered the room finally.

Dexter and Trist both stood for her but she quickly waved to them to sit back down. She sat down on the opposite side of the desk from them and leaned forward. She folded her hands in front of her and stared seriously at the two of them.

"I'm sorry I kept you both out of the loop on Sgt. Dugan's mission," she said. "Hugo urged me not to let Heidi in on it in case she was a spy and I listened to him. And he insisted that the two of you were too trusting of her and if I told either of you, she would find out. I believe now that it was a mistake and my intelligence has revealed that it was because of Dugan's attack on the imperial prison that the imperial guard found out the location of Hugo's base."

She sighed. "I put you both and Heidi at risk by failing to keep you informed about the plan," she continued. "I am extremely sorry for that. I am extremely grateful that none of you were hurt or killed. I only wish that Chris had survived or that we had planned some sort of evacuation of his base, but there is no use dwelling on the past now."

"You mean that Dugan gave up the location of the base?" Trist asked.

"No, I don't believe so," Trevana answered. "I believe the imperial guard merely retraced his steps until they found the base. Dugan and all of his men were captured and placed in the imperial prison, but this was always their goal."

Dexter's brow furrowed in confusion. "It was their goal to be captured?"

"Yes," Trevana replied. "And because it was their goal, they were deliberately sloppy with their attack... so they would get caught. But in the course of being sloppy in order to get caught, they also were sloppy enough to leave traces that led the imperial guard back to the base and that resulted in the attack. I should have realized and evacuated the base. If I had kept both of you apprised of the situation, one of you might have thought of it and suggested it and we could have saved most of the people in the base." She sighed and considered this. "However, we would have had to leave some people there anyway because if the entire base had been evacuated it would have looked suspicious and Ezar's men might have gotten wise to the plan. So I suppose there was no way to avoid some casualties either way. I only wish I had at least not had you all present and I had saved Chris and the civilians on the base."

"Wait, I still don't understand," Dexter interrupted. "Why would Dugan want to get caught?"

Trevana smiled. "To take down the Emperor," she replied simply. "To build an army inside the palace."

Dexter raised an eyebrow.

"Heidi has helped us amass an army large enough that we can attack not only the palace, but every imperial guard post simultaneously," Trevana explained. "We take them all out, we capture the captain of the Imperial guard in the palace—and hopefully Ezar himself—and they're completely lost."

"But there is no way we could possibly take down the palace," Trist argued. "Unless we sent the entire army. They have home field advantage. They know the palace, we don't."

"Dexter has been there twice," Trevana replied. "And Heidi transferred his knowledge of the inner workings of the palace to you so you can be his backup."

"You want me to attack the palace?" Dexter asked. "No offense, Commander, but that's a suicide mission."

"You're not there to simply attack," Trevana said with a sly smile. "You're there to open the Trojan horse."

"What...?" Dexter began but Trevana continued before he could finish his question.

"Dugan and all his men and all the captured rebels that are contained in the imperial prison adjacent to the palace are waiting for you to release them into the palace itself," she said. "Ezar has a release to open the entrance to the prison from inside the palace so that they can easily transport prisoners into the prison from their torture rooms." Her smile widened. "We're going to use it to transport the prisoners into the palace. We bring a second wave into the palace that they're not expecting. And Dugan's been captured before just like you have Dex... he knows his way around the palace. Together the two of you can come at the Imperial guard from more than one direction. One of you captures the captain of the guard and the other captures or kills Ezar. End game."

Trist's eyes were wide and he was smiling profusely. He burst out laughing suddenly. "I love it," he said. "I'm excited to be a part of this crazy mission."

"This is insane, Commander," Dexter added. "You do realize that?"

"I realize we get one shot at this," she answered, nodding. "But it's time. We strike while the iron is hot, while they're not suspecting it and while we have the advantage of a sudden increase in numbers... and while the poison is inside the belly of the beast."

Trist and Dexter exchanged glances. Trist was grinning profusely.

"Well, I'm sold," he said.

Trevana smirked at him and turned to Dexter. "Lt. Hathaway?"

Dexter shrugged and chuckled. "I suppose it's the only chance we have," he responded. "And I don't want Dugan and his men trapped in the prison for no reason. So I'm on board."

"Good," Trevana said. "I'd hate to have to order you to do it against your will but I won't let Chris' death be in vain. Tomorrow we take down Ezar."

She stood up.

"Whoa!" Dexter jumped up from his chair so quickly that it clattered to the floor. "Tomorrow?!"

"Yes, Dex," Trevana said. "Everything's in place and we have to take Ezar down before they figure any of it out. So tonight you do whatever it is you want to because tomorrow you're going on a very dangerous mission from which you may not come back." She looked over at Trist. "That goes for you, too, Reece."

"Cool," Trist said as he stood up. "I'm going to go get wasted then. Am I dismissed?"

Trevana frowned. "I don't want you hung over in the morning."

"I'll be sure to temper it," he said with a grin.

"All right then," Trevana said, smiling. "Dismissed."

Dexter walked from headquarters slowly. His mind was swimming in a million different directions. He thought about the possibility that he would die tomorrow and, for the first time in as long as he could remember, he was extremely disturbed by the idea. He didn't want to die.

Not that he'd ever desired death—except for perhaps when he witnessed his parents' murder—but he had never minded the idea of death before. It was simply inevitable and if it came while he was fighting the evil dictator who'd taken his family away from him, he was glad to give his life.

Now he had something else he wanted to live for. Something besides the fight for justice and freedom. Something... with curly red hair and a spritely laugh...

She was trudging up the path towards him. Her arms were folded and her face was red and tear-streaked. She was staring at the ground, but clearly heading towards him as she came right up to him.

"You okay, Red?" he asked.

"My mother killed herself," she mumbled softly.

"What?"

"Ezar's men came for her," Heidi explained. "She hid me and my aunt and she killed herself so they wouldn't take her and they wouldn't find out about me. She killed herself so Ezar couldn't use her and so we could escape."

"Damn..." Dexter breathed. "I'm sorry, Red."

Her face contorted in pain and she leaned her forehead against his chest. She sobbed softly. He gingerly placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. He didn't know what to say but he desperately wanted to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, Red," he repeated. "I'm so sorry."

She breathed in sharply and pulled her head back suddenly to look in his eyes. "Lt. Hugo..." she said. "I meant to tell you... he told me why Sgt. Dugan attacked the palace prison..."

"Yeah, the Commander just filled me in," Dexter answered. "Dugan and his men were deliberately captured by the Imperial guard so that we could release them into the palace and attack the guard and the Emperor."

"We?" Heidi asked. "As in... you?"

He nodded. "Trist and I go tomorrow to attack the palace."

Heidi's eyes widened in horror and her mouth dropped open. "You're leading the attack on the palace?"

"Yeah..."

"But you could be killed..."

"I know," he said. He sighed and dropped his hands from her shoulders. He looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet. "Up until now that's never bothered me all that much. I've always been willing to give my life for the rebellion's cause. Always been eager to do anything to bring down Ezar—even die." He looked back up into her eyes. "But now..." He stopped and merely shook his head. He pressed his lips together and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"What?" Heidi prompted. "Now what?"

"I don't know..." he breathed. He swallowed. "You're not like anyone else I've ever met in my whole life," he admitted suddenly.

She smiled. "I could say the same about you."

He grinned brightly. "It seems like you read my mind... even when you aren't actually reading my mind. Like I'm completely exposed in front of you no matter how hard I try to hide myself."

"You don't..." Heidi began, but was abruptly stopped by the sound of blaster fire.

She whipped around and cried out in terror as Imperial guardsmen came barreling through the base. They shot furiously, left and right, and dashed right for her.

Dexter grabbed her hand to pull her away so they could run, but as he turned an Imperial guardsman brought his blaster down across his temple. Heidi cried out as he dropped to the ground, dazed. The guardsman grabbed Heidi around the waist and threw her over his shoulder.

"Dex!" she shouted, holding her hand out towards him.

Dexter tried to push himself up but everything was becoming fuzzy and black. He tried desperately to keep his eyes open, to fight back into consciousness but the blackness was overwhelming him. He watched as they carried her out of the base and then the blackness enveloped him and he was still.

Dexter's head was throbbing. He sat up but this made it worse. His hand flew to his left temple and as he pulled it away he discovered blood on his palm. He was slightly dizzy, but attempted to stand nonetheless. This proved to be a mistake and he dropped to his knees quickly. He blinked, willing the ground to come back into focus.

...Have to get control... have to look after my men... make sure the battalion is okay... assess the damage and...

He gasped as the ground finally did come back into focus. None of that mattered.

Heidi...

He stood. He got dizzy again and for a moment felt like he was going to throw up, but through sheer force of will, he pushed the dizziness and nausea down into the pit of his stomach. His eyes snapped open.

"Red?!" he shouted. "Heidi!"

"Lieutenant?" a voice behind him called.

He turned and saw Sgt. Trist approaching with a medkit. Dexter's eyes searched the area. The base looked wartorn, but most of the people present were still alive. Many were injured, including several civilians. Those that were not injured—or not as severely injured—such as Sgt. Trist, were attending to those who were. A few children were scattered about bringing water to injured people and soldiers who were providing medical care.

"Sir, you're injured," Trist continued. He dropped to one knee and opened his medkit.

"I'm fine," Dexter grumbled. "Where's Heidi... have you seen Heidi?"

"You probably just have a mild concussion," Trist continued, ignoring Dexter's question.

"Forget that," Dexter said. "What happened to her?"

Trist stood with a sanitary cloth to clean Dexter's wound. "Let me clean it up, sir," he said, deliberately avoiding Dexter's eyes.

"Answer me, Sergeant!" Dexter thundered.

Trist froze, swallowed and took a step back. "She's gone, sir," he said. "They took her. Commander Trevana thinks she was all they were after because it was a small battalion..."

Dexter only heard some of the rest of Trist's words.

"...acted with a singular purpose..."

"...very few casualties, only those that got in their way..."

Dexter furiously shoved Trist aside and strode quickly across the area, searching for Commander Trevana. Trist scurried after him, wiping at his head wound. Dexter tried to wave him away, annoyed.

"Where is the Commander?" Dexter asked.

"She's at headquarters trying to organize this chaos," Trist responded.

Dexter slapped Trist's hand away again. "Go tend to someone who actually needs your help," Dexter said. "I've had way worse injuries than this."

"But sir..."

"That's an _order_ , Sergeant," Dexter interrupted Trist, staring directly into his eyes to convey his intensity.

Trist swallowed and nodded. He then turned and strode away. Dexter turned and headed towards headquarters. He wanted to run, but unfortunately, his head wound was a little more severe than he was letting on. But he didn't want to waste any time getting it patched up and it would heal. He at least knew it wasn't life-threatening and he wasn't going to sleep any time soon so there was no risk from the concussion. He pushed past the guards to the entrance, though they offered him little to no resistance, and strode with purpose towards Commander Trevana's office. She was already there convening with Privates Gyer and Hendricks.

"Lieutenant," Trevana said upon him entering. "You're injured."

"They took Heidi," Dexter said, ignoring her statement.

"You should see one of the medics," she continued as if she hadn't heard him.

"We have to go after her," Dexter went on. "They'll torture her. They'll hurt her. They'll make it painful and long-lasting. We have to save her."

"Lieutenant," Trevana said. "We are in the middle of a crisis if you can't tell and we are on the verge of attacking the empire and bringing them down for good. We don't have the time or the manpower to go after one person."

"So you're just going to let them have her?!" Dexter shouted. "After everything she did for us?"

"Plenty of soldiers have given their lives for this cause..." Trevana began.

"She's not a soldier, Elena!!" he interrupted

"Lieutenant!" Trevana said with a warning voice.

Dexter's voice caught in his throat and he swallowed over the lump the size of a baseball. There was an extreme awkward silence while Dexter and Trevana stared at one another. Gyer and Hendricks exchanged uncomfortable glances and shifted around uneasily.

"Privates, would you please excuse us for a few moments," Trevana said finally.

Both quickly mumbled "Yes, Commander" and exited as fast as their legs would allow.

As soon as they were gone Trevana sighed heavily and walked around the desk to Dexter. She sat down on the edge of the desk and composed her thoughts before speaking.

"I know how much you care about her, Dex, so I'll let your insubordination in front of the Privates slide, but I can't organize a rescue mission for Heidi right now," she said after a few moments.

"So you're just going to let them torture and possibly kill her?" Dexter asked, astonished.

"Dex, we're so close," Trevana explained, her face pleading with him to understand. "The attack begins tomorrow and we have a chance here and now to end Ezar's tyrannical rule and bring about freedom for everyone but we have to strike while the iron is hot and before they find out about our plans."

"How do you know they didn't already find out?" he asked. "They attack us just before we go after them? That can't be a coincidence."

"I believe," Trevana sighed. "That they were only here for Heidi. I believe that they intercepted your communication with Bookman and tracked him and Reboa here in order to find her."

Dexter felt the blood leave his face. "What makes you think that?"

Trevana frowned sadly and avoided his eyes. "Bookman and I were talking... before he left... about how he was afraid your communication might have been intercepted and that's one of the reasons he waited so long before he brought Reboa here." She sighed. "Apparently he didn't wait long enough."

Dexter felt guilt, fury and anguish building to monumental proportions in his gut. He had led Ezar directly to her.

"So I don't think they have any idea about our plan of attack," Trevana went on. "We still have a shot."

"All the more reason to rescue Heidi," Dexter argued. "She knows about the plan, she could tell them."

"How does she know, Lieutenant?" Trevana asked, with a hint of irritation.

"Lt. Hugo told her," Dexter retorted. "After she tried to save his life."

Trevana sighed and frowned. Her brow furrowed. "I have every confidence that she'll keep our secret long enough for the attack to begin and then there won't be anything they can do to stop us."

"So you expect them to torture her for information?" Dexter's face contorted in anger and betrayal. "And you're just going to let them?!"

"Dex, if it were any other day I would have already sent a search and rescue team after her," Trevana said. "But we don't have any manpower to spare right now. We need everyone where they are supposed to be for the attack on the imperial guard. And if this attack fails then everything she did for us will have been for nothing and her sacrifice will be in vain."

"She shouldn't have to be sacrificed at all, Elena!" Dexter cried. The intensity of the situation was building in him but he took a deep breath.

_Reason with her... you've been able to influence her decisions before_.

His voice was calmer when he next spoke. "Let me take a small battalion of men in after her..."

"No," Trevana said. "I told you I can't spare any soldiers."

"Then me," Dexter replied. "I'll go alone. I know the palace. I've been there twice. I can find my way around. I can find her..."

"That's exactly why I need you to lead the attack on the palace," Trevana interrupted. "So that you can release the prisoners into the palace and take out the palace guard and hopefully Ezar himself. If anyone finds her while you're there, the orders will certainly be to rescue her, but..."

"Sgt. Trist can do it," Dexter pleaded desperately. "I know he can. Heidi transferred all my knowledge of the inner workings of the palace to him. He can lead the attack."

"Trist is fully competent and he is going to be your backup," Trevana said. "But he doesn't have your stealth and cunning."

"He has _better_ stealth and cunning..."

"Lieutenant," Trevana said, her voice changing to one of authority for which there was no more argument. "I need you to lead the attack on the palace. You know you are the ideal person to do it, you're just not thinking clearly. You're not thinking like a soldier, you're thinking like... a lover..."

Dexter pressed his lips together, his fury and frustration building to the point where he feared they might explode out of his ears. He clenched his fists and leaned on the desk. He knew she was right, but... Heidi... the torture machine... He could just imagine them using it on her and it made his brain go white with rage.

"I am tremendously sorry I have to sacrifice Heidi for this," Trevana said. "I don't like it anymore than you do."

"I very much doubt that," Dexter grumbled.

"Well, no one is sorrier than I am that I'm going to have to pull rank on you and say... those are my orders, Lieutenant."

Dexter wanted to scream. He wanted to throw the Commander into the wall and take a blaster to the entirety of the office. But instead he glared furiously at Trevana and growled, "Yes, Commander." He turned and strode irately from the room. As soon as he left, Trevana let out the breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding and shuddered.
Chapter Twelve

She could suddenly hear her own voice. A deep, piercing wail.

Heidi breathed frantically as the room came back into focus. She tried not to hyperventilate but was not successful. Tears were streaming down her face and her eyes shot back and forth, searching for something, anything, to comfort her. But there were only the imperial guards, standing in front of her with their arms crossed and their faces stony. Remarkably, it was a welcome sight compared to what she had just experienced.

The trip back to the palace this time had been much different from her last one. This time she had kicked and screamed and flailed and done everything she could to get free, but it was no use. The imperial guards were stronger than her. This time she hadn't even ridden in the back seat of the transport vehicle. They had bound her hands and thrown her in the trunk. She had kicked and screamed in the trunk for miles and then concluded that it was a futile waste of her energy.

It was fortunate that the palace was so close to base 65 because Heidi was certain the guardsmen wouldn't allow her to get out and relieve herself like they had last time, and she was correct. By the time they arrived, she desperately needed to go, so as soon as they pulled her out, she had pissed directly on the guard that lifted her from the trunk.

He had revolted and cried out in anger, but hadn't dropped her like she had hoped so she could run. The other guards nearby had laughed. The guard she'd urinated on had shoved her violently with a snarl towards the other guards, who caught her, still laughing. She suspected he'd wanted to hurt her more for that indignity and that the only reason he hadn't was because he was under strict orders not to.

After that, the wet guard went to get changed while the other two guards took her down the hall. They stripped off her clothing and shot her with a hose. She gasped as the freezing cold water hit her. They threw what appeared to be a prisoner's uniform to her and ordered her to get dressed. She only obeyed because she was shivering from the cold shower. Of course, even once she was dressed, she wasn't much warmer. After this, they had taken her directly to the torture room. Her heart was pounding and her body started to tremble more and more as they approached the dreaded room. They strapped her in.

"The Emperor said you get one chance to cooperate," one of the guards had said. "So start talking."

But she merely pressed her lips tightly together and shook her head as best she could while strapped in the machine.

And then they'd flipped the switch.

This was the first break she'd received and she had no idea how long it had been since the machine also removed the concept of time.

"How can you do this?" she sputtered, sobbing. "Do you know what it's like? Do you know what it does to you?"

The guards exchanged glances, one of them smirked slightly, and then turned back to look at her. She resumed sobbing when she realized they didn't care. Her sobbing became more intense as she thought about how Dexter had had to endure this for days straight—twice.

"Does that mean you're ready to talk?" one of the guards asked.

_Dexter..._ She saw his face in her mind. She thought about how she'd first found him curled up on that cold, metal table with his hands bound having experienced for days the kind of torture she now had to endure. If she talked now, she would be betraying him. Everything he'd endured would be for nothing. His parents' death would never be avenged. Her own mother's death... how much death did there have to be? How could she let all of that death and despair slide?

The tears were still flooding her face, but she set her jaw and breathed hard, glaring at the two guards. Her nostrils flared. Finally she spat across the room and hit one guard on the ear. He made a disgusted face and wiped the spittle from his ear. He looked up at her with intense hatred.

"That's all I have to say," she muttered.

She took a deep breath as they flipped the switch again.

Trist and Dexter sat with their backs against two trees at the edge of the woods next to the palace.

"You know where the release is, right?" Dexter asked. "To release the prisoners into the palace?"

"Yes, sir," Trist whispered. "But you'll be there even if I forget."

"Don't forget, Sergeant!" Dexter replied intently. "These imperial guards will recognize me. I've been here twice before. I met Ezar himself the first time I was here. If they see me, I'm as good as dead. And you'll have to lead this battalion yourself."

"I know that sir."

"I need to be certain you're ready to lead this battalion yourself," Dexter added. "I believe you can handle it. You are fully capable of leading these men to the prisoner release and releasing our men into the palace. But I need to know that you believe it, too."

"I do, sir," Trist agreed, nodding. "Thank you for your confidence in me."

Dexter nodded seriously. It was a point where normally Dexter would have grinned and ribbed with Trist, but it wasn't in him today knowing that Heidi was trapped somewhere inside enduring God only knows what.

The men gathered around the palace, barely hidden by the trees. Dexter moved quickly toward the palace. He sidled up next to a side entrance that the imperial guard used and ducked down as best he could. He waited until a guardsman exited. He jumped up behind him and brought his weapon down on the man's head quickly and quietly, knocking him out cold. Two of his men rushed forward to grab the man and pull him back into the woods. Once there, they bound & gagged him

They searched the guard quickly and found the keycard that would allow them entrance to the palace. Trist took it and ran back to the door. He glanced in the tiny window to be certain there were no guards immediately inside of the doorway. When he saw that it was clear, he waved the keycard in front of the key box. The box beeped and the light on it turned green.

Trist pulled the door open and slipped inside, waving to Dexter. He propped the door open with a large tree limb from the forest.

"On my mark," Dexter said to the other men in hiding and rushed up to the door himself. He glanced around once more to be sure there were no guardsmen and waved to the first battalion to come on.

The men rushed forward, carrying a bag of weapons with them, and slipped through the open door to join Trist in the hallway. Trist was already poised and ready to strike any guardsmen who rounded the corner before all the rebel fighters had gotten inside.

Dexter glanced around again and waved the second battalion in.

Trist had to shoot two guardsmen that came around the corner in the hallway. "Hurry," he said to Dexter. "Someone might have heard that."

Dexter waved the final group of men into the palace and jumped in himself after them. He left kicked the stick out of the door and back into the outside and then waved to the men to follow him down the hallway.

They traveled down and around a corner as quietly as they could. It was a less used hallway because it was close to the imperial prison. The only reason to be there was if you were transferring a prisoner to and from the prison. However, it was impossible to completely miss any guardsmen and they came in contact with two more.

Dexter shot them quickly and efficiently and then waved his men on down the hall. They reached a place where the hallway split in two. One way led to the prison and the prison release that they had to activate, the other to the torture rooms.

Dexter sidled up next to Trist against the corner where the hallway rounded towards the prison release.

"All right, good work," Dexter whispered to the men and then turned to Trist. "This is where I leave you."

Trist looked at him intensely, his face full of confusion. "What-what do you mean?"

"I'm going after Heidi," Dexter explained. "You're in charge now. You take this battalion and you release the prisoners."

"B-But, sir," Trist breathed. "Commander Trevana's orders..."

"I know what her orders were, Sergeant," Dexter said. "I'm disobeying her orders."

Trist's eyes widened even more until they were the size of saucers. He opened his mouth to respond, but Dexter cut him off by placing his hand on his shoulder.

"I wasn't just giving lip service out there, Sergeant," Dexter said. "I have complete confidence that you can pull this off and your orders are to lead these men if for any reason I'm not able to. Well, I'm not able to because I'm going after Heidi. If you need me to then I order you to take over. Either way, you have your orders from me and from Commander Trevana. I'm sorry to spring it on you like this but you know I couldn't have told you sooner or you would have been forced to alert the Commander. I had to do it when there was no turning back. Well, now there's no turning back. And I need you to pull this off. Tell me that you can pull it off."

Trist was still astonished but he said: "I can pull it off."

"Good man," Dexter said. He grinned and slapped Trist once more on the shoulder before he turned to the other men. "You follow Sgt. Trist, understand?" They all nodded. Dexter glanced once more at Trist and saluted. Trist saluted back, his face still full of amazement. Then Dexter stood up and took off down the hall.

It wasn't long before he encountered an imperial guardsman. He got lucky and the guard was alone, so he overtook him easily and without much noise. He pulled him into a nearby closet and quickly stripped him of his uniform. Dexter replaced his own fatigues with the guard's uniform, making a mental note to piss on them later when he took them off—if he survived.

He chuckled to himself as he relieved the guard of his blaster. "What have you done to me, Red? I've not only disobeyed orders but now I'm wearing imperial scum garb."

He bound and gagged the guard and left him in the closet and strode with purpose and authority down the hallway to the torture rooms. The steel doors all looked alike and he tried not to be too conspicuous as he glanced in door after door looking for her. His breath caught in his throat when he finally found her. She was strapped in the torture machine wearing a prisoner's uniform. The machine wasn't on at the moment, but it was clear she was merely being given a small break. Her face was contorted, her eyes closed, and he could see how red her face and the area around her eyes was. It took all of his strength and training not to attempt busting down the door. Unfortunately, the guard whose clothes he'd stolen did not have a keycard and he'd left the other one they had with Sgt. Trist so that he could open the release. The guard Dexter had attacked must have been of low rank and not permitted in the torture area. He cursed himself for not looking for a guard with a keycard and reminded himself that trying to bust the door down would be futile and only draw needless attention to himself.

"Come on, Trist, come on, Dugan," he whispered. "Please hurry."

Sgt. Trist marched the men quickly down the hallway towards the prison door. Half the battalion waited at the edge of the hall where Dexter had left them to watch for imperial guard. As he reached the door to the prison that was connected to the palace, Trist heard blaster fire from back where he'd left his men and prayed that they weren't overwhelmed—or at least they could hold the guard off until he could accomplish what he was here to do.

He swung the keycard he still had in front of the release box. It beeped, the light turned green and the door slid open.

He ducked his head inside and glanced around. He waved to his men. They dashed inside and quickly and efficiently killed the imperial guard inside who were keeping the prisoners enclosed. Most of them were lounging in the operating room that held the releases for all the cells, though a few had been on the floor and the rebel soldiers had been forced to scatter to overtake them all. Trist quickly pulled down all the releases. One by one, the cells clanged open and rebel soldiers emerged.

"Marco!" Trist called, leaning his head out of the operating room.

"Polo!" came the reply he was looking for.

He grinned and waved to his men to retrieve the bag filled with weapons. More of Trist's men rushed in with the large bag they'd been carrying and armed all the soldiers within. Sgt. Dugan came rushing forward and stopped, surprised, when he saw Sgt. Trist.

"Reece?" he said, confused. "I thought Hathaway was going to be in charge of this mission."

"Yeah, but he's incapacitated," Trist answered.

Dugan's eyes widened. "Oh... he's not dead is he?"

"No," Trist answered, grinning. "Worse... he's in love..."

"Dex?" Dugan laughed, astonished.

"Yeah, it's a long story and we don't have time," Trist said.

"Right," Dugan said, nodding. "If we both survive this, though, you have to tell me about it."

"Will do," Trist agreed with another grin.

Dugan waved to his men and they dashed down the hallway and out the door into the palace. "I'm disabling communications," Dugan said to Trist. "After that I'll come around behind the main guard's quarters."

Trist nodded seriously. "Try to hurry," he said. "I'd rather not lose any more men than I have to."

"Understood," Dugan agreed and dashed down the hall after his men.

He and his men hurried around the corner, blasters blazing. They entered the main communications area and quickly shot all the guard present. Dugan himself took a blaster to the communications headquarters, disabling all communications.

The alarm began to sound.

Imperial guardsmen were running down the hall. Dexter paced and tried to look like he was frantically moving as well, but stayed close to the door. He glanced in and saw one of the guards on the comconsole, trying to discern what was happening. Finally, getting no response, the two guards ran to the door. It slid open and they took off down the hall. Dexter leaped in the room just before the door closed on him. The guards hadn't even noticed him.

Heidi was limp like a rag doll in the machine. Her face was red and blotchy and streaked with tears. Dexter tossed his blaster aside and worked quickly freeing her arms, legs, and head. She fell lifelessly into his arms and he gently placed her on the ground, cradling her head in the crook of his arm.

"Red!" he shouted. "Heidi! Open your eyes! Look at me!" He shook her shoulders gently but she was still completely out. "Come on, Baby, open your eyes! Look at me! Please, Red! Please don't do this to me! Please!" He still got nothing. Tears sprang to his eyes. The first time he'd cried since he was twelve years old. He pressed his lips to the top of her head and held her against himself, rocking her gently. "Please... please..."

"Mmm..."

Dexter's head shot back and he held her up. "Red?"

She whimpered and her head lolled forward.

"Oh please, no," he moaned. "Red, it's me. It's Dex. Please open your eyes and look at me. Please!" He shook her again while cupping her chin in his hand.

Her eyes snapped open but they stared up at the ceiling, unseeing.

"Look at me!" he screamed. "LOOK AT ME!!!" He shook her again and then decided that was a bad tactic considering that he might do more damage to her brain rattling it around in her head. He placed his hands on either side of her face and forced her to turn towards him. Her eyes were still vacant. He breathed evenly and closed his eyes.

Wake up, Red... wake up... Wake up, please... Wake up... wake up...

She gasped. He opened his eyes. She was frantically fighting him, trying to get free of his grip, but her eyes searched the room, finally aware of where she was.

"No, no, Red, it's okay, it's okay, it's me..."

She stopped flailing and looked directly at him. She stared for a moment, seeing him but not making the connection.

"D-Dex..." she breathed finally.

Dexter laughed with relief and wiped his forearm across his eyes. "Yeah, it's me," he said. "You're okay. You're okay. I won't let them hurt you again."

Her lips parted and she stared intently at him for a moment and then burst into tears. He pulled her tight against him and she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder.

"You had to endure that for two days," she whimpered. "Twice?!"

"I'm so sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry I let them take you. I'm so sorry I couldn't get here sooner. I'm so sorry. Show me who tortured you and I'll put them in this wretched, evil machine and leave them there forever."

She laughed ironically and pulled her face away from his shoulder so she could see him. "No, just get me out of here. Take me home."

"Gladly," he said, nodding. "Can you walk?"

"I think so," she answered. She left one arm around his neck and he pulled her to a standing position. They lifted their heads and both froze at the sight in the doorway.

"How touching," Ezar mused.
Chapter Thirteen

"You should have obeyed me when you had the chance, Miss Grace," Ezar said. The two guards next to him had blaster rifles aimed directly at them.

"I'll never help you, you murderous monster," Heidi growled.

Ezar frowned. "I see these criminals have been telling you their lies."

"And what about what happened to my mother?" Heidi snarled. "Is that a lie, too?"

Ezar regarded her with a sinister scowl. "Your mother killed herself."

"I know that," Heidi replied. "So then I was told the truth."

Ezar's scowl turned up slightly into a smile but didn't lose any of its evilness. Dexter was searching the room frantically for a means of escape. He was cursing himself for tossing the blaster aside.

_Don't try anything heroic_ , he heard suddenly and felt her hand on his neck. _Don't do anything to get yourself killed._ He looked over at her and frowned.

"I should have known the rebellion would come up with some fool-hardy method to try to get you back," Ezar continued. "But we were prepared and now neither of you will survive."

_He thinks the attack was for me,_ Heidi conveyed. _That's good. It means the others will be successful._

I don't really care about that if you get tortured and killed.

"Welcome back, Mr. Hathaway," Ezar said and waved the two guards forward. In a moment they were across the room. They wrenched Heidi and Dexter apart and shoved Heidi towards Ezar. Ezar grabbed her by the shoulders and held her tight. It took both guards to subdue Dexter and he continued fighting and growling "Let her go!" long after they had control over him.

"It's always nice to have you back with us," Ezar continued.

"Yeah? Well, the pleasure's all yours," Dexter snarled. He locked eyes with Heidi, wishing desperately that she didn't have to touch him in order to speak telepathically. If these were to be their last moments, there was so much he wanted to say to her.

"Indeed," Ezar said, nodding. "It's very interesting because the last time you and I met we were having trouble persuading you to speak with us and now we're having trouble persuading Miss Grace. It's remarkable, really, considering that you have most likely had training in endurance and resisting our attempts to obtain your cooperation and she has not and yet she still resists." He clucked his tongue and shook his head as if he were talking to naughty schoolchildren. "And here the rebellion sends a battalion to infiltrate my palace and free my prisoners and you come alone after this one little girl, which leads me to believe that she is either very valuable to the rebellion or very valuable... to you..." He shrugged. "Or possibly both, but it's the second one that I'd like to converse about further." He nodded to the two guards and they began wrestling Dexter towards the dreaded machine.

"No!" Heidi screamed as they shoved him in it and strapped him down. Ezar held her tight and she struggled against him futilely.

Dexter stared at her, willing her with his eyes to cooperate, don't do anything to try to save me, just keep yourself safe. Her eyes were intense back, begging him to fight, pleading with anyone and everyone for this not to be happening.

"If, as I suspect," Ezar went on. "That she is, in fact, valuable to you that begs the question of whether you are valuable to her and I recall that last time we were having trouble persuading you to speak to us and that you were willing to suffer to keep your criminal secrets from us but you were unwilling to allow another to suffer on your behalf. I wonder..." he mused with an evil smirk "...if a similar tactic will work on the lovely Miss Grace."

Heidi's eyes were screaming. She placed her hands on either side of Ezar's face and he started. He turned to her and for a moment he stared at her intently. She shook her head furiously, begging with her eyes as much as with her mind.

Suddenly he laughed delightedly. "Amazing..." he breathed. "Perhaps I will keep you alive, then." He pulled her hands from his face and turned her back towards Dexter. "I am curious," he continued. "As to just how valuable she is to you, and vice versa, for certainly that affects how we go about this. So tell me, lad... are you in love with Miss Grace?"

Heidi looked at Dexter and he at her. He swallowed and felt that his answer was obvious. Wasn't it clear from his eyes, from his attentions? How had he never said it out loud before? How had she never read it from his mind? He knew he tried to keep it concealed but he marveled that he'd actually been successful. He was simply shocked that he'd managed to keep it to himself all this time.

"Yes..." he responded, his answer intended for her and her alone.

"Fascinating!" Ezar exclaimed. "Love _is_ a many splendid thing... if it's requited, of course. It's rather painful if it's not. But then, that brings us to our next question... for Miss Grace..." He placed Heidi in front of him, but facing away, and wrapped his arms around her, smiling gleefully at Dexter. He held her arms down by her side and forced her to face Dexter. Her eyes were filling with tears again. She mouthed the words "I'm sorry."

"So Miss Grace," Ezar whispered into her ear seductively, causing Heidi to shiver with revulsion. "Is Mr. Hathaway's love requited? Do you love him back?"

Heidi blinked and the tears spilled over finally. She could feel the salt in her mouth from the intense grief she'd experienced today. How could she answer? How could she say the right thing? She wanted to look away but somehow she couldn't. Somehow her eyes stayed locked with Dexter's.

"No," she responded finally.

In that moment, Heidi saw the devastation in his face. She hated herself for her response and Dexter felt as if the torture machine would be a welcome distraction.

Ezar was laughing gleefully. He shoved Heidi to the two guards, who each held onto one of her arms and pulled her away from the machine, but still allowed her a front row seat. Ezar crossed the room to the machine and stood next to Dexter.

"Too bad for you my lad," he said. "But... no matter..." He reached over and flipped the switch.

Heidi screamed "NO!" before any noise came out of Dexter's mouth. But an instant later, his head reared back and his body contorted as much as it could with his arms and legs strapped down and a horrifying cry emerged from deep in his chest.

Heidi writhed and pulled desperately against the guards, but she couldn't get free. "NOOOOOOO!!!" she screamed, her body wracked with sobs and guilt as she watched Dexter suffer. His screams of agony pierced her soul and she felt that she hurt even worse now than when she'd been in the machine herself.

After a few moments, Ezar flipped the switch off. Dexter's body slumped down and he whimpered. His eyes opened and he stared agonizingly at her.

Ezar strode across the room to Heidi and stared intently and directly into her face, his face inches from hers. "Now I can do this all day, Miss Grace," he said, sneering at her. "But you will cooperate with me. You will tell me everything you know about the rebellion or I will flip that switch back on and your adoring little puppy will stay locked in that hell until there is nothing left of him. So start talking."

Heidi stared deep into Ezar's vacant eyes. Was he even human? How could anyone be so bereft of feeling of any kind? She felt something new, something terrible, welling up inside her.

My mother... Dexter's family... Sgt. Trist's wife... Justin Heger's family... Lt. Hugo... How much death and destruction has this one man caused?

Something snapped.

"Let... him... go..." Heidi growled through clenched teeth in a voice that stirred the guards holding her. "Or I will end you now."

Ezar stared at her for another moment and then sneered. "Wrong answer, Miss Grace..." He turned to walk back to the machine.

A hollow, bellowing roar emerged from where she knew not, but it emanated from her mouth. Her two hands moved from where they were to the tops of the guards' heads. Dexter watched in awe as their faces became grey and lifeless and blood spilled from their ears and the corners of their eyes. They dropped to the ground and Heidi, her lip curled back like an animal, sprung forward and clenched Ezar's head between her two hands, as if to crush his skull. His eyes went wide with terror just before she screamed again and he joined her with an agonizing scream of his own. His face turned grey and blood poured from his ears and eyes. Dexter could see the veins pop out on his face and neck. He dropped to his knees but Heidi didn't let go. Dexter watched as it seemed every drop of blood in Ezar's body spilled from his eyes and ears onto the floor next to Heidi, and then finally, he fell over dead at her feet.

The sound of the alarm in the hall repeatedly pierced the air, but in between its shrieks, Dexter was deafened by the silence. Heidi stood trembling, staring at the blood covering her hands. Dexter couldn't see her eyes as her hair hung down the sides of her face.

"Heidi," he called. "Heidi, let me out of here." He yanked on the binding at his arm.

Heidi looked up. Her teeth were still clenched and bared and her eyes still wide, but she at least managed to unstrap the binding on one of his hands. He used the hand to free his other hand and then his head, followed by both of his feet. He climbed down and took hold of Heidi's shoulders, staring into her vacant and confused face.

"Are you still in there?" he asked.

She looked up at him and finally her lips closed over her teeth. She blinked twice and then breathed out sharply.

"Dex..." she moaned. She opened her mouth to say something else but then her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed into his arms.

Trist was trying not to count his casualties. Already he was afraid he'd lost too many men to pull this off. He was trying to stay focused and not think about how many of the men were his friends—how many of them had wives and children that he was going to have to tell about their deaths.

He rounded another corner, calling on the knowledge Heidi had placed in his head of the inner workings of the palace. He knew that the main post where the captain of the guard should be was just around the next bend. However, he doubted that unless Dugan could get there in time that he'd be able to overtake it himself.

He stood outside the door and waved his men in. He thought of Jane and silently prayed that if this was to be his last hour, that at least he would be reunited with her.

The blaster fire was nearly deafening. He dashed in himself with the remainder of his men. They were evenly matched, but he knew more guardsmen would be coming. And the captain of the guard was nowhere in sight.

He cursed under his breath and fired at more guardsmen.

The door slid open again and a large group of imperial guardsmen—led by the captain of the imperial guard—entered the room.

They were outnumbered. They were doomed.

Trist stared at the captain and bared his teeth. The man sneered back at him. There was no mistaking that he was the captain since he wore his medals with pride. Moreover, he had that deep gash of a scar across his cheek that everyone who encountered him and survived always mentioned.

"Jane..." Trist mumbled to himself.

The guard began taking out his men one by one. He and the captain were locked in a staring match. Neither one raised their weapon, despite the direness of the situation.

Finally the captain of the guard pulled his weapon from his holster and aimed it at Trist.

Suddenly the door slid open again and the captain wailed as blaster fire hit his hand and he dropped his weapon.

Dugan and his men rushed in.

The guardsmen were so surprised that the rebels were able to get the upper hand quickly and soon they surrounded the guard.

Dugan had his blaster aimed directly at the captain's head. The captain, still sneering at Trist, held up his hands in surrender and his men followed his lead.

The rebels aimed and corralled the group of remaining guardsmen into a group in the center of the room.

"Not such a good day to be an imperial bastard, is it, Chuck?" Dugan asked the captain and then grinned happily at Trist.

Trist smirked back at him.

Dexter went back into soldier mode. He checked her pulse to be sure she was still alive. He set her down on the floor for a moment and retrieved one of the dead guardsmen's keycards. He then pulled Heidi back up from the ground and threw one of his arms underneath her neck and the other under her knees and lifted her up. He used the keycard to get out of the room and then walked out into the hall. There weren't any guards in sight and he knew it would be a problem if he ran into one of the rebellion soldiers because he was still wearing the imperial uniform. But he rushed as quickly as he could down the hall and around the corner and down another hall into the main palace area. There were many bodies lying on the ground, both imperial guards and rebellion soldiers.

Dexter continued down another hall looking for an exit. Finally he found the throne room. There was a large stained glass window in the back with a picture of Ezar created by the stained glass.

Dexter grinned. He set Heidi gently down on the carpet and picked up Ezar's throne. It was rather heavy considering it was made of pure gold, but adrenaline helped him along.

"How's this for irony?" he mumbled to himself and hurled the throne through the window. It shattered quickly into a million pieces.

Dexter retrieved Heidi from the floor and kicked away some of the lingering shards of glass at the edge of the window. He stepped through and ran quickly. The night sky offered little light, but many rebel transport vehicles had arrived. He was taking a chance approaching them wearing what he was, but he didn't have a choice. He picked one out and ran to it.

"Halt!" a voice called from the interior of the vehicle.

Dexter sighed with relief. "Hendricks, it's me, Lt. Hathaway," he called. "I found Heidi. I had to put on an imperial uniform to get to her."

Hendricks hopped down and walked towards him aiming both a rifle blaster and a flashlight at him. "Lieutenant?" he said once he got close enough to see. He looked down at Heidi. "What happened?"

"It's a long story," Dexter answered. "One I should probably tell to Commander Trevana first, but she needs medical attention."

"I have a comconsole in the vehicle," Hendricks said as he lowered his weapon and led the way back.

Dexter climbed in and laid Heidi down on the back seat. Hendricks called over the comconsole for reinforcements to help them transport Heidi back to the base infirmary. Dexter pulled off his shirt and tossed it to the floor. He cared little about how cold he was without it. That was enough wearing enemy colors for a woman who didn't even love him back.
Chapter Fourteen

The room slowly came into focus. It wasn't familiar. The ceiling was a white cloth and at the moment, it was all she could see. Heidi turned her head to the right and saw hospital beds with injured soldiers in them. The room she was in was rather primitive. It wasn't a hut so much as a giant, white tent. She turned her head to the left and saw Aunt Reboa asleep in a chair next to her.

"Aunt Reboa?"

Reboa startled awake. She broke into a wide smile when she saw Heidi awake and leaned forward to her.

"Oh, honey, you're okay," she said.

Heidi rubbed her forehead. She had a splitting headache. "Where's Dexter?"

"I was so worried," Reboa went on, ignoring her question. "But now that you're okay I can start being happy again. Honey, the rebels are winning!" She grabbed Heidi's hands excitedly.

"Aunt Reboa..."

"Things are still chaotic but news of the Emperor's death has spread," Reboa was talking so fast Heidi was having trouble getting a word in. "They're calling you a hero for killing him..." She paused briefly to add: "You have to tell me what you did because from what Lt. Hathaway described, it sounded like what your mother did..."

"I don't really know what I did," Heidi responded. "I need to speak to Dexter."

"Well, you'll figure it out," Reboa continued. "Many people who proclaimed loyalty to the Emperor are now switching sides since they were only loyal out of fear. And those who are still loyal are few and they're on the run and being captured."

"Aunt Reboa," Heidi said again. "Where is Dexter?"

Reboa shrugged. "Oh, he's around somewhere. He comes by to check on you every now and then." She leaned forward and started talking excitedly again. "I think we can find a house together once things calm down and you're back on your feet. A lot of the homes the Emperor had control of are now abandoned and the rebellion is going to be giving them away to needy people."

"No!" Heidi shouted suddenly. "I have to talk to Dexter."

"Well, I'm sure he'll be by sometime..."

"No! Now!" Heidi exclaimed. She forced herself to a sitting position even though her head still felt like it was going to split open. She brought her hand to it and winced. "I have to talk to him now. I have to. Please go find him for me."

"Maybe you should rest," Reboa argued, trying to push her back down on the bed.

Heidi shoved her hands away. "Aunt Reboa, either go find him for me or I'm going to get out of this bed and going to find him myself."

"All right, all right," Reboa said. She placed her hands on Heidi's shoulders to keep her from getting up. "Just lie back, I'll go find him."

Heidi nodded wearily and lay back down on the bed. Reboa got up and walked from the tent they were using as an infirmary. Base 65 had its own infirmary but by the time Heidi had been brought back, it was completely full and they were setting up tents to house more of the injured. Reboa had been devastated when she saw Heidi. Dexter had carried her in and set her down on the bed while Reboa wept. Dexter ordered her to be treated immediately—and then he'd left.

Once Reboa had calmed down a bit, she realized there was something odd about the way Dexter just left Heidi there. She asked him what had occurred and he'd told her, but in a short, business-like way. And he'd come by a few times to check on Heidi's progress, but had never stayed for more than a few minutes, mumbling "Keep me informed about her condition" to Reboa or whatever medic happened to be looking after Heidi at the moment.

People were milling around the base as Reboa searched for him. She didn't see him anywhere in the general vicinity. She checked his hut first and then went to headquarters where she was stopped by guards at the entrance. She quickly explained that Heidi was asking for Dexter and wouldn't let up. Finally, a guard ran inside and came back with Dexter after a few moments.

"Reboa?" Dexter said, confused. "What happened? Is Heidi okay?" For a moment, concern washed over his face.

Reboa nodded. "She's fine. She's awake and she's asking to talk to you."

Dexter frowned; his concern disappeared. "Well, I'll be by later..."

"I really think you should come now," Reboa said. "I had to promise I'd come find you and bring you back or else she was going to get out of bed and come after you herself and she's really in no condition to be out of bed."

Dexter's frown deepened and he looked a little annoyed. "All right, just one second." He walked back into headquarters and found Commander Trevana, who he'd been talking to just before Reboa showed up.

"Heidi's awake and asking for me," he informed the commander. "And Reboa says she's threatening to get out of bed if I don't come to her."

Trevana nodded. "Go and check on her and come back."

Dexter turned on his heel and walked back out of headquarters to where Reboa was waiting. He waved her forward and then followed her back to the infirmary.

After he had returned to the base and taken Heidi to the infirmary and been assured that she would be given the best care, he had immediately reported to Commander Trevana. He had informed her of all that had occurred to him since he'd entered the palace and her face had grown increasingly irritated.

"So you disobeyed my orders?" she asked sternly as he finished his tale.

"Yes," he acknowledged. "And I'll take whatever punishment you think is appropriate."

Trevana had sighed heavily and frowned at him for a few moments, but then the corner of her mouth turned up slightly. "Well, I'd say since you managed to kill Ezar there's really no harm, no foul," she responded finally. "And Trist and Dugan captured the captain of the guard and the rest of his men. And all the other guard posts are reporting rebel control so I really don't think it's time for me to be dealing with a court marshal for a rebel army that's attempting to start a new republic. I have enough on my plate."

Dexter's brow furrowed. "So you're letting me off the hook?" he asked. "I willfully and defiantly disobeyed your orders. You shouldn't let that slide."

"The only ones who know that you disobeyed my orders are you, me, and Sgt. Trist, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, then let's just say that your rescue mission for Heidi was a secret one," she said. "It was planned that way all along as a diversion for Ezar and it worked and we managed to assassinate him in the process. I've already spoken to Sgt. Trist about it."

"So we're just going to cover it up?"

"I think of it more as accepting that the outcome was favorable and not letting a tiny slip-up destroy everything we've worked for," Trevana replied.

"It wasn't a tiny slip-up," Dexter argued. "It was a stupid, arrogant, malicious violation of your trust and I..."

"Lieutenant!" Trevana interrupted, holding up her hand. "I know you. Now, I don't know what it was that happened in that torture room that's making you question your decision but I know when you made it you didn't act maliciously towards me or the rebellion. And if we make your insubordination a big to-do then it's going to look like I'm trying to punish one of the two people who assassinated Emperor Ezar and brought about peace for us. Right now it's more important that the people back us as we finish bringing down this empire and establish a new, peaceful republic. If we say that your actions and Heidi's were planned—it works in our favor."

"But it's a lie," Dexter grumbled.

"Sometimes when we tell lies we have very good reasons for doing so," Trevana responded. "I'm sure you can see how in this case it's important and even if you can't, I'm giving you a new order to stick to this lie..." She inclined her head towards him significantly. "I hope that this time I can trust you to carry out my orders."

Dexter pressed his lips together but nodded his assent once. "Yes, Commander."

Since then he had spent the majority of his time at headquarters helping Commander Trevana organize the chaos that was the aftermath of the attack on the empire. He was trying to bury himself in his duties and not think about things. Not think about that kiss, not think about his confession of love, not think about everything that had occurred in that torture room. But every now and again that ache in the pit of his stomach got the better of him and he would wander over to the infirmary to check on her again. Each time he was hoping she would be awake because he wanted to know that she was okay, but was also gratified that she was not—he didn't want to talk with her.

Now she was awake and was insisting on talking to him. He swallowed and told himself that this was inevitable unless she had died, which he certainly didn't want, and he just had to suck it up and get it over with. Then he could go on about his business and put all of this nonsense with her behind him.

He entered the tent and when Heidi saw him, she pushed herself into a seated position again.

"Dex..."

He didn't respond, he merely nodded to her and deliberately clasped his hands behind his back. He stood close enough that it was clear she was who he was there to see, but not so close to the bed that the meeting would appear to be anything other than him checking to see that she was all right.

"Heidi, lie back down," Reboa said. She rushed to Heidi's side and attempted to push her back down on the bed.

Heidi shoved her hands away again. "Aunt Reboa would you give us a minute, please?"

Reboa frowned but nodded and walked out of the tent.

Heidi smiled up adoringly at Dexter. He smiled back politely. She desperately wanted to hold his hand and speak to him telepathically but he wasn't allowing it.

"I'm glad to know you're awake," he said finally.

"You came for me..." she began.

"Yes," he said, averting his eyes from hers. "There's no need to thank me. Those were my orders. They didn't want you to reveal anything you knew to the Emperor."

"Dex..."

"So if that's all, I really have to get back." He took a step backwards.

"No!" she exclaimed and reached for him. "That isn't all. I have to tell you something." She grabbed her head as she began to feel dizzy. Dexter lurched forward automatically but then quickly regained himself before she noticed. He retook his aloof stance with his hands behind his back.

"Should I get a doctor?" he asked.

"No," she said. "I have to tell you something."

"What?"

"I lied," she said and dropped her hands from her head. Tears sprung to her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Dex, I lied." She looked up at him as the tears began pouring from her eyes.

"You lied about what?" he asked, shaking his head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"When Ezar asked me if I loved you and I said no," she explained. "I lied."

Dexter's arms dropped to his side. His lips parted slightly and his severe posture relaxed visibly. "You lied...?"

She nodded, wiping away tears. "The truth is that I do love you," she continued. "I love you."

Dexter's grin returned slowly and he pulled the chair Reboa had been sitting in up next to her bed. He reached out his hands and took hers in them.

_Why?_ he asked. _Why did you lie?_

_I'm so sorry. I thought maybe if Ezar thought I didn't love you that he wouldn't torture you to try to get me to talk. But it didn't work._ Tears streamed down her face. _He tortured you anyway and it was the most horrible experience I've ever had—watching you suffer. It was even worse than when they were torturing me. And I felt even worse because I know how much I hurt you when you said you loved me and I said I didn't love you back. I only did it to try to save you but it was for nothing and I hurt you and I hate myself for..._

"Stop!" he exclaimed aloud and then chuckled. "It's okay."

"It is _so_ not okay."

"It is," he said and leaned forward. He kissed her forehead gently, affectionately. "I understand. I forgive you."

"Really?" she asked.

He nodded and pressed his forehead against hers. "Really."

She sniffled and smiled at him through her tears. She leaned in and his lips met hers with eager sincerity. She kissed him tenderly and earnestly.

I love you, Dex.

Back at ya, Red.

* * *

Heidi sat with her legs crossed and her palms resting calmly on her knees. She breathed deeply and opened her mind. It expanded outward and wound around the surface of the space surrounding her. She brought it back in and then pushed it back out again, working on her control. Suddenly she felt someone touch her hand at the same time she heard his mind.

Doing yoga, Red?

She opened her eyes and turned to Dexter sitting on the ground next to her.

"No, I'm working on controlling my power," she said.

He slipped his fingers through hers. _I think you're doing pretty well._

She nodded and looked down at their hands intertwined. _Except I still can't remember what happened. I can't remember what I did to Ezar._

"That's a good thing, Red," Dexter said aloud. "It wasn't exactly pleasant."

"I know but the last thing I remember is you being tortured and Ezar telling me to cooperate," she argued. "I don't know how or what I did to kill those people."

"The last thing you should worry about is killing Ezar," Dexter said. "You know you're a hero, Red. That man was evil. How many lives did you save by killing him?"

"That's not the point," Heidi said. "I don't know what I did. And so I don't know how to prevent doing it again. I don't know how to control it. And this isn't like accidentally reading someone's memories... it's life or death."

"Well," he said. "It seems like every time your ability expands is at a time of intense emotion. Isn't that what your aunt said? Your ability is tied to your emotions? Like the first time you read current thoughts you were making out with a dude you liked. And the other times it expanded..." He grinned. "You were falling in love with me."

Heidi smirked back at him. "You were falling in love with me, too," she retorted.

He shook his head. "No, I wasn't," he said and at her concerned expression he explained further. "I was already in love with you. I fell in love with you in the woods when you said you were going to join the rebellion."

Her eyes widened in astonishment and her jaw dropped. "You'd known me for like a few hours..." she argued. "And I was covered in poo!"

Dexter laughed heartily. "So was I," he replied. "And it didn't matter. I was attracted to you when I first saw you and..." He shrugged. "I don't know. There was just always something about you that made me feel completely captivated."

"But..." Heidi protested. "You fought it... for so long you... you refused to acknowledge that you felt anything for me."

"Well, I didn't say that I admitted it to myself that first night," he returned. "It's just when I finally did admit it to myself, I realized that I'd really known it since then."

"When did you admit it to yourself?"

"Right before I kissed you the first time," he answered. He shook his head. "You were right about me. I was being a coward." He swallowed and looked into her eyes. "You made me stronger."

She smiled sweetly at him. "You are a complex man, Lt. Dexter Hathaway."

He grinned. "Yeah, I can't do anything normal," he chuckled. "Have to go and fall for a mind-reader."

"And murderer," Heidi mumbled, looking down at her hands. "Don't forget that."

"You're not a murderer, Red," he argued.

"Even if you don't count Ezar," she answered. "What about those other two guards?"

"That was self-defense," Dexter said. "Or at least in defense of me." He placed his hand on her cheek. _You are_ not _a murderer._

"Maybe not yet," she said. "But what if I do it again? How can I know I won't do it again if I don't even know what happened?"

Dexter dropped his hand from her face and took her hands in his. "When you did... whatever it was you did," he said. "You were experiencing an intense amount of anger and pain. An overwhelming amount, even. So whatever happened was probably triggered by that, don't you think?"

Heidi considered this. "Maybe..."

"So it's unlikely to happen again," Dexter said. "I mean, it's not like we're ever going to be in that situation again. At least, I hope not."

"I suppose," she sighed. "I'm just having trouble enjoying the rebel victory knowing that I killed three people with my bare hands and not only do I not know how I did it, but I can't even remember doing it."

Dexter squeezed her hands. _Don't worry, Red. We'll figure it out._

I hope you're right.

_Of course I am._ He grinned. _Anyway, that's not what I came to talk to you about._

"Well, I could use a change of subject," she said. "What did you come here for?"

Dexter cleared his throat. "Okay, well, your aunt is all set up with a new home," he began. "And the doctors say you're just about ready to be released. So that begs the question... are you coming home with me or with her?"

"I... don't know," Heidi replied. "I guess I kind of assumed I'd be with Aunt Reboa. She keeps talking about me living with her again."

Dexter frowned. "Well, I want you with me," he said. "I mean, I think you deserve a real house, not a hut. A place to call home and all, so I'm looking into getting one but there's talk about me taking some political office and that's going to affect where I have to live."

"Well, that's okay," she said. She frowned and looked down at their clasped hands. "I can stay with my aunt for now and you can figure out your situation." She wasn't too fond of the idea but she really didn't want to stay in his hut anymore when there was the option of a real home. And she was also worried about Reboa being alone.

"I don't want to wait," Dexter said matter-of-factly. "I want you with me. Now. Always."

Heidi bit her lower lip as her face flushed. "I want that, too."

"Okay then," he leaned forward and stared into her eyes. _Will you marry me?_

Heidi's eyes widened and her smile spread from ear to ear. "Yes!"

Dexter smiled brightly at her. "Boy you've really done a number on me, Red," he laughed. "I disobeyed orders, wore enemy colors, risked my life, and now I'm giving up my swinging single life for you."

Heidi rolled her eyes. "Because you were such the ladies man before I came along," she said and then something occurred to her. "Wait, what do you mean you disobeyed orders?"

"Oh yeah, I didn't tell you about that, did I?" he chuckled.

She shook her head.

He squeezed her hands and quickly flooded her brain with his memories of arguing with Commander Trevana, infiltrating the palace and abandoning Sgt. Trist to go after her, and finally his discussion with the commander after everything was over.

Heidi shook her head in astonishment.

"You can't tell anyone, though," he said. "The commander wants it to look like it was all planned. You, me, the commander, and Trist are the only ones who know."

"You're unbelievable..." she breathed.

"I told you," he said, grinning. "You've really done a number on me."

"You've greatly affected me, too," she mumbled. "Like no one else has."

"Yeah, I never thought I would change so much so quickly," he said, shrugging. "But I just hadn't met you yet, I guess. Hadn't found my Heidi."

Heidi leaned in and pressed her forehead against his. She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent. _Call me 'Red'._

210

