No one used it that frequently; it was built to be the main command room, overlooking the engineering bay that held the base's fighter ships. When this section of Eros's post had been turned into the school, the room became unnecessary, only used on the occasions when older navigational students took the jets out for runs in the surrounding space. Which made it the perfect place of solitude, for planning, for scheming. Both he and his brother had cracked the password code years ago, as had a few other students before them, and the room remained a secret hiding space to store contraband, plan pranks, and bring... girls.

Dominic seated himself in a large chair, a huge cushioned monstrosity that the commanding officer must have enjoyed. It swiveled on its base, and he swung it around, crossing his ankles and propping his feet up on one of the control panels as he smirked at Wick. She took another seat beside his, sinking into it with veiled relief, and he smirked a little more wickedly at that.

That thought made her pause, and her wicked grin tightened a little as she studied his flawless features, those deep midnight eyes studying her a little too closely from behind those black spikes as his fingers drummed slowly on the arm of the chair. Her eyes drifted to his hand, then back to his face, and narrowed a bit more. There was no reason for him to be asking about her plans, not at this stage. Still...perhaps he was just curious. She would have been, in his position.

"Matchboy says I'm supposed to stay out of it," she said reluctantly, her lip nearly curling. "But I haven't decided yet. It'd be so much fun to watch you two at work. I'd truly hate to miss it." She glanced away, down into the Engineering Bay where the fighters were lined up for practice, and her smile suddenly blossomed again. She knew exactly where she'd be.

She turned back to the Creche boy, his own eyes lighting as they spotted her excitement. It was so much fun to have another shadow to play with. "But maybe I'll watch you two from up here, neh? Think you could convince the Kitten to curl up in one of those?" She indicated the fighter nearest the doorway. That one wouldn't be going out anytime soon. The engine was half-dismantled, and it was obviously in a state of some disrepair, but the pieces she wanted were intact. The opaque windscreen. The entry hatch mechanism.

An unwilling slice of delight cut in through her anger and lit her fire brighter yet. She led Jor because she liked to see the flame in his green eyes. There was never any doubt. She could read him easily, and that delicious touch of fury never failed to excite her.

Why was Dominic leading her?

Jor had always known exactly how far he could push her before she became truly furious with him, had always stopped just shy of the mark. This man wouldn't stop until it suited him to do so, and that frightened and excited her to an impossible degree.

After that first flush of excitement, however, came shock, and her eyes snapped open as she wrenched free, delicate color in the pale white skin of her cheeks as she tried to contemplate what she'd just done. The palefire ring around her finger burned, and she clenched her left hand as she stared into Dominic's deep indigo eyes.

He was taller than Jor, stronger, older. He played the same games she did, with nearly the same degree of skill. She thought of what they could do together with the rest of Command School as their playground. Images came unbidden to her mind of that smirk, those midnight indigo eyes above hers instead of emerald green. She shivered.

The palefire ring on her hand still seared her skin, and her eyes hardened. She loved Jor, it's true. She could trust him, and she'd never trust this man with the twilight eyes and the vicious smile. He was too much like her for her to relax in his company. These were factors, but none of them swayed her as much as her final thought.

She wouldn't be forced.

If he'd come to her openly, if he hadn't tried to lead her as she led Jordan...maybe then. Maybe not. But she despised losing. She didn't do it well enough to be good at it...and giving into him now, no matter how much she wanted him, felt too much like surrender for her to allow it.

The want had been there, the desire in her kiss and her body. It confused him beyond belief that she'd banked all that, fought it down, and declined. He'd never had that... control, or whatever it was that made her speak with such resigned acceptance in her voice. When he wanted, he took; never against anyone's will, but it had never been a problem, until now. Following one's instincts, needs... that was what he'd been raised to do. Wick wasn't Creche. He couldn't quite comprehend this.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he continued to watch her, saw her turn to face him, but no smile came to his lips this time, no mockery in his features or taunting tone to his words. "Sorry."

He was sorry. Sorry that he didn't understand, sorry that Donovan did and that would spell the end of their lives here, if not the end of them completely. Dominic sighed quietly, rubbing his face, ignoring Wick as he lay lost in thought. This wasn't quite as easy as he'd hoped, and whatever that Jor had managed to do to win "love," he sure as hell didn't have it. Resignation was written clearly on his own face as he pushed himself standing, nodding at Wick as he palmed open the door and stalked out silently. Nothing would be accomplished here, not now. Retreat and regroup. Maybe he could talk to his brother, learn something.

She limped to the chair he'd been in and sat down, put her feet over one of the arms and lounged against the other and crossed her arms over her stomach. The chair still smelled faintly of him, and she ignored it. Why now? Why had he picked today, and not yesterday? Her frustration was beginning to sizzle again when it came to her.

He hadn't yesterday because he hadn't wanted to. There had been none of drive he'd exhibited here this evening in his actions yesterday. Something had been pushing him...and she had a feeling it had something to do with Dante. Dante...and his brother. Nothing but his brother could have affected him that deeply. She remembered the hatred that Donovan had glared her way yesterday. That wasn't in character, not from what she knew of the Creche.

She needed to know more.

Tonight was not one of those nights.

She managed to land a rough kick at her captor, but Dom held on, and her further attempts to fight were suddenly useless as they entered the room just as lights-out occurred and the door clicked shut securely. Dom dropped her into the large center chair, and she finally squirmed free of the tangled blankets, hair tousled around her face as she hissed.

"Kitanai yarikata... ah, hiretsukan ichiran seisouseiji, hakujin bakatare." Donovan was standing close nearby, and she lashed out, kicking him squarely in the thigh as she smirked angrily, sleepy wrath apparent. "Kutabachimae!"

But Dom moved forward, pushing her roughly to the side as he slid into the seat beside her, flicking her ear hard until she turned to glare at him. "Settle down, Rox, we just wanna talk to you."

Rox shifted to glance up at Dom, who looked down at her, his own consternation reflected in his midnight gaze. She impulsively wrapped her arms around his chest, digging her chin into his shoulder as she whispered only for him. "I don't want you to die, Dommy."

He smiled with all the reassurance he could manage, and hugged her tightly. "Don't worry, Roxdoll. But listen up, okay? I told you about some of the stuff we have to do... well, things just got a little more... difficult. We're not sure we're going to be able to completely pass the tests, not after..." he trailed off a little guiltily, shooting a glance back toward Donovan.

"Aichaku?" she whispered, her eyes widening almost comically as she stared dumbfounded at Donovan. Love? Realization hit her hard, and she fell back against Dominic, still wide-eyed and bewildered. He must be talking about... Dante. He loved Dante. That in itself was enough for her to gape at him, unbelieving, but Dom's fingers tightening slightly into her waist only proved the truth. Her twins certainly were in trouble, and for once, Rox didn't quite know what to say.

Donovan was still watching her, and she managed to close her mouth, trying not to look so ridiculous as she watched him right back. Love... and they wanted her to explain. Her, Roxy, of all people. Affection was one thing, and it never went far. She played, she got what she wanted, and she had fun. That was just about it. The closest she'd ever gotten to love was her attachment to Dominic, and when she... She flushed slightly. This was overwhelming.

All she managed to say at first was a hazy "Eh?" before she caught herself, and shook her head. "Uh, you want me to explain? I mean, I dunno what you want to know. It's not like you can fake it, I guess... not like I really know, but..." The disappointed melting of Donovan's features hardened her resolve a little, and she blushed suddenly, remembering. Rox turned to coil her arms around Dominic's neck, her lips pressed against his ear as she whispered, and it was his turn for his eyes to widen.

Rox was a sweetheart, and entirely unlike Dante in every way a girl could be, but maybe it would be enough. Donovan stood quietly and stretched. If it didn't work, they still had the rest of their two weeks to figure something else out...and if it did, then everything would be alright. They'd have to trade notes later. It was a good thing they'd had lots of practice doing it.

"I'll catch up with you two later," he said with a yawn. "I've got a test tomorrow." He sauntered towards the door without a look back and entered the emergency disengage code they'd hidden from Roxy. The door slid open long enough for him to step out into the hall and then shut again.

"Of course, Dommy. I don't lie to you." She smiled at him, but his serious demeanor lessened her cheeriness for the moment. "What? You don't believe me?"

He looked a little guilty, averting his gaze, and she frowned. "You know I wouldn't have told you all those things about me if I didn't trust you completely. And you said the exact same thing before you told me all about the Creche. You know more than anyone else does, and why did I tell you in the first place?" Rox smiled shyly and leaned in to kiss him softly. "That's why."

"I didn't know." He was slightly taken aback as she rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh, you did so, silly, you just didn't want to admit it. True, neh? You think you don't know what it is, but I think you're wrong. Want me to show you?"

Wick took the step necessary to clear the sensor, and the door slid shut behind her, the white rectangle of light from the hallway shrinking to a sliver and disappearing. The dim illumination from the Engineering Bay below was enough to see everything in the room clearly enough.

The piece of flat grey metal in her pocket was warm when she drew it out to examine it. A a low-grade radio transmitter from the workshop below, set to a particular frequency; one of the simplest electronic devices to construct. The receiver was already in the broken talon, another small metal piece the same metal grey as the door panel it was glued to, and attached to a small piece of specialized polycarbon intended for patching hulls that she'd pressed gently into the frame of the door. When she triggered the receiver, it would trigger the patch, and the door would silently weld itself shut.

When she triggered the receiver, it would also ignite the three minute fuse that ran to the Talon's fuel tank. Fuming nitric acid wasn't something the Command School administration had left laying around for her to find, but, as someone so recently pointed out, Petrol 5 burned rather well on its own.

All it needed was a spark.

Before the review this afternoon, Wick had been hesitant, reluctanty resigned to do what she had to. Before Von Starnburg set that brand on her match, Wick had been someone in love and ready to do something desperate to protect that. Before Jor had shoved her away and left her to Bianca to deal with, Wick had been in shock. By the time she'd been disturbed in the BattleSim room, things had begun to sink in. If Jor had been killed, or maimed, as Johan had led her to believe before, then she might have simply flickered out, but Jor was very alive, and she had business to complete to make sure of his safety.

Until that business was finished, Wick had focus, her eyes bright with the pure cold beauty of an oxygen flame. Nothing distracted her, nothing existed for her now, not until her task was complete. Emotion was no longer an aspect that needed to be dealt with, and as such, Wick had become her own willing puppet. Her mind commanded, her body reacted, and nothing else interfered.

She walked with a slow, measured step to the captain's chair that commanded the widest view of the Bay and still gave her access to one of the console interface panels and took a seat. A few keystrokes later and the view in the bay shimmered a little as the mirrored sunshield came down over the window. To any observers below, it would be a slightly reflective blank face. No one would see her watching the activity below.

Before, it might have meant a means of sparing her conscience, making them unable to look her in the eyes. Now it was simply a matter of convenience.

The command room over the engineering bay was a scene of complete insanity; utter chaos reigned. Lights-out had given them the opportunity to sneak from their cells and sequester themselves within the secluded area, and in keeping with her position, Rox had made sure that this final meeting with her boys would be their best. Everyone was drunk within an hour, and there was no end in sight to their drinking; bottles were everywhere, scattered on the ground as they lounged around wherever they could find space.

"Fuckin' A, Galt, we was supposedta be allies, you fucker!" Huddled in one corner sat the group of hackers, all engaged with fighting in some multiplayer war game that Resa had programmed. Laughter erupted as Pip squealed and threw his desk at Migs, who fell over onto Neal, who flailed his arms to keep from falling over backward and ended up knocking into half the other boys nearby, spilling beer and booze over everything. Landry threw up his hands in disgust and promptly passed out, spurning more laughter and Chicko's well-meant but rather misguided attempt to pour vodka in his mouth to revive him.

Jude and Mik were laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Their voices were loud and slurred as they berated one another like an old married couple. "If I ever sees you, Jude-o, I'm gonna blow your fuckin' ship outta shpace, fuckin' sherve you right..." Someone threw a bottle at them and shouted "Shut the fuck up, you naggin' hos!" but they continued their exchange. "Firsht I'm gonna off your fuckin' boy Sasha, and den I'll fuckin' shoot you right in the foot, Mikky, den we'll shee how you like it!"

"Kreez, I tro diz brokeen bootle ztraight in zat oogly faze uv yourz..." Khris was seated in one of the huge leather chairs with a very, very inebriated Swede draped over his legs. He kept trying to steal kisses, and she kept cursing in an accent far worse than anything anyone had ever heard. In the seat of honor, planted squarely in Luke's lap and giggling uproariously at everything, was Rox. She watched her boys with undeniable amusement, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, she was happy.

The past two years had been difficult ones. After Litong's visit, Rox had had a nervous breakdown. She'd locked herself in her room and refused to leave, finally throwing a temper tantrum when her commander overrode the door lock and managed to get inside. Luckily for Gin, he'd had the presence of mind to leave her to her friends, and it had taken Khris, Luke, and Vin to restrain her as she screamed and tried to fight them. Only hours later when she'd wailed herself hoarse, and fell asleep exhausted with Luke to stay with her, did her boys have the chance to hit the school and try to discover what had prompted her fit.

They'd found no answer in Dante, who had very politely, very calmly, and very coldly told them that she never wanted to speak to any of them again about Rox, and then shut the door in their faces.

Landry had then dug up the holocam records, and what they witnessed surprised them. They watched the exchange between Litong and Rox, and then Rox and Dante... and Vin immediately made an attempt to find Dominic. When his email was returned with a security-issued warning against any further contact, they'd tried McAvrey. Mark didn't have any idea, but he was able to get the rather confusing message from Dominic of "Tell Roxdoll it's okay, and that I'll see her in two years. Say 'aichaku.'" With this cryptic message, they retreated back to Griffin, only to find that Luke had also fallen asleep, and Rox was nowhere to be found.

Thus the hunt had begun.

It was almost dark by that time, but they had to find her. Everyone Rox had ever employed turned out to search for her, and nearly two hundred of the school's more than one thousand soldiers split into groups and started looking. They went everywhere. Hours passed. Lights-out came, and no one cared. Still they wandered, and still they searched. Only by chance did Luke take one last walk through the library and noticed a quiet shuffling noise. It took him a half hour to find where it came from, and another ten minutes to carefully climb the bookcases, but he finally found Rox hidden in a little space beneath the second-floor balcony, curled in a ball and crying piteously.

He told her Dominic's message, and she'd cried herself to sleep again as he hugged her, right up there in that dusty nook. Luke had stayed with her that night, and every other night for the next two years. Commander Gin never protested-- he had used Rox before as a supplier, and didn't want to lose his goods-- and her brief breakdown was never reported. Gradually she cheered up, and began to participate again in her work... and thus days, weeks, and months passed. She never heard from Dominic, except in brief reports from McAvrey. She never talked to Dante again. The girl would not forgive her.

But Dominic had. That was what had given Rox enough courage to return to trouble.

Now the end was here. Rox took another swig from her bottle and gave Luke a beery kiss on the cheek, blushing as he repaid the favor. Tomorrow morning they would graduate, and since she'd given up her two-week Earthside leave, she would be sent directly to the command post. Three days journey; it couldn't pass fast enough for Rox. She would miss her game, but no doubt someone else would arise to overlord it all, and someone else could rule the trade. All those she had truly befriended were bound for Fleetcom with her. And Dominic would be waiting.

Someone nudged her leg, and she cackled and flopped over to hang upside down, staring at Mik as the other girl made a face. "Hey Roxy, I shay we go do shomethin' bad. Like... like pick on da flashboy!" All attention in the room instantly focused on Mik, and when Fin started to kick his feet in the air with mirth, everyone began to talk at once. "Yeah, let's prank Nicolai!" "Goddamn arrogant flash, he told me the other day--" "Fuck, what're we waitin' for?! We can only kick his ass once!"

Desks were thrown aside, bottles were left behind, Khris carried a singing Swede as Rox clung like a limpet to Luke's back, and the entourage made their way through the corridors to Phoenix Quad.

It was hilarious. Luke dropped Rox in the hallway, and everyone else stormed into the cells, emerging a moment later with a sleepily confused and very angry Nicolai. He started to fight, and amongst muffled curses and laughter, the next few minutes were happily spent in half-heartedly pounding the flashboy. Khris and Sticks, amongst others, were really starting to get into it when the sound of a door opening behind them drew their notice, and everyone turned around to see Dante glaring at them.

Four years had passed. It was Commander Dante once more.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Her voice was cold, and quiet, but the question was unmistakeably directed at Rox. Rox's blurry chocolate eyes widened and refocused a little, and she pushed herself standing and walked over to where Dante stood in the doorway. The girl glared with glacier eyes, and despite herself, Rox took a step back and whispered. "Jéli?"

Dante hissed. "Don't call me that. I don't want to talk to you. You know that." She stared with icy disdain at the crowd of soldiers, and then pointed at Nicolai. "Get back to your room, Nico. The rest of you leave, before I report this." She turned to stalk back into the quad when Rox impulsively grabbed Dante's shoulder. "Chotto matte, Jéli, please don't--"

"Don't touch me, you sneak!" Rox was knocked back against the wall as Dante spun around and hit her hand away, and she made a hiccuping noise of disbelief as Dante continued her tirade. "I hate you! You knew he was alright all along, you knew and you didn't tell me, and you ruined my chance of seeing him again! How dare you!"

Rox wasn't thinking very clearly. She screeched in anger and punched Dante in the face.

They went down in a maelstorm of flailing limbs and accented shrieks; Dante cursing in French and trying to shove Rox off of her, Rox cursing in Japanese and trying to cling to Dante. No one else knew what to do, and so they did nothing, standing around with stupefied incredulous looks on their faces as the two former best friends fought for all they were worth.

"Baka!" Rox wailed as she pulled on Dante's hair. "Dommychan said it was okay! He said we can see them!" Dante hissed and struggled and slapped Rox across the face. "Chienne! Why should I trust you?! All you do is lie!"

Soldiers were beginning to peek out from their cells, attracted by the noise, and Jude shook off a little of his tipsy haze and wrapped his arms around Rox's waist, tugging her forcefully off of Dante. Nicolai moved to grab Dante and pull her away from Rox. They were still berating eachother when Landry moved over to Dante and held her chin in his hand, keeping her gaze locked with his as she tried to spit at him and escape.

"Shut up, Commander, and listen. Rox is not lying. We spoke to Dominic." Mercury eyes widened, and Dante stopped fighting, going limp in Nicolai's hold as she stared. "We did research. Their Creche contract has been bought by the International Fleet. You know what that means."

"See, I toldyu I wasn't lying, why didn't you believe me?" Rox's voice caught at the end and she began to bawl drunkenly, until Luke picked her up and hugged her. Dante whimpered, and her eyes bled violet as she looked up at Luke with bleak pleading. "Rea... really?"

"Really."

Nicolai didn't restrain her this time as she pulled away and ran to Rox, clinging to her friend as the girl clung to Luke. "Je suis désolé, je suis désolé... I'm sorry, Rox, I didn't--" Rox hugged Dante, threw her head back, and keened louder, if that was possible. Sounds of doors opening alerted some of the more sober members of the group, fortunately, and they hushed the wailing duo and carried them into Dante's quarters. There wasn't nearly enough room for all of them, but they managed to fit in the tiny space, and as one drunken, exhausted mob, they slowly fell asleep as Rox and Dante's tears abated and peace was restored.

It was alright again.