� � � � � � � � � � � � � � �LOST LOVE� � � � � � � � � � � � � �
� written by Carole Eichner

� � �The stars were many and the moon shone bright as Angel stared out the open window of her room, the warm night air gently moved the lace draperies as she stood there staring at the sky. For once it was nice not to hear the roar of the TIE Fighters.. as they raced across the sky battling to defend off the X-Wings. Off in the distance you could hear the waves break as they hit the rocks on the shoreline.. Angel had a lot on her mind and knew the only thing to help would be her walk along the beach. Somehow the combination of the star, moon, and water always helped her to resolve her feelings.

� � �Angel walked the path to the beach and found a gather of rocks. She climbed to the top and sat just staring out at the ocean, which seemed rather clear tonight. The scum and oil had pretty much lifted that the rebels had dumped. Thinking back she wondered why things had changed so fast. She longed for the days were her world was rebel free.. but she also had to thank the rebels for making her the person she was today. It was about 20 years ago that a 17 yr. old blonde streaked.. brown eyed beauty got her first taste of rebellion. She remembered it like it was yesterday.. A gorgeous red-haired female rebel stormed into her father's life and turned their house upside down. Father was a border line rebel himself torn between the two sides but it didn't take much for him to forget his loyalties. After seeing how the rebels destroyed her family she vowed to make them pay, even if it took the rest of her life.

� � �The waves splashed higher and startled Angel reminding her of why she came here. She needed to come up with a plan and a crew to go in and rescue her husband who was kidnapped and recover some stolen goods.

� � �It had only been a month since their wedding day.. everyone had joined in with them to celebrate this joyous occasion, their love was so strong and special. Then one morning DarkRaptor was sent on a secret mission, the only thing I knew with my clearance was he was to deliver weapons and was to be a fairly safe mission. I had asked about flying with him but SDIR Rogue had another operation for me to handle. It would only be a few days that my love and I would be apart. I can remember what he told me right before he climbed into the plane・#034;Hey hey.. don't cry, you know how I hate when you do that.. Don't worry my Lady・I will be back with you in my arms before you know it. I love you always forever and ever and ever.." with those last words we kissed and into the ship he left.

� � �I stood there till his ship was out of site with a few tears rolling down my cheek, I turned to walk back to head quarters and there was my boss, SDIR Rogue, he saw the tears and immediately said "I wish there was something I could do to cheer you up." I half smiled through the tears and said, "The best thing for me is to get busy with our operation."

� � �As the tide moved in Angel headed back to the house, she shut the lights and heard a knock at the door. Angel opened the door and there was Tycho and Hawkeye. "Hey what brings you two here? Come on in." said Angel as she opened the door.

"How you been Angel?", Tycho asked as he entered.

� � �"Well trying to hold up under the circumstances." Angel replied as she shut the door. Hawkeye glanced at their wedding picture, turned to Angel

� �"We've been taken to another planet." Angel raised her head looked at them both trying to hold back the tears.. walked to the window and looked out.

� � Tycho walked over putting his arm around Angel. "Hey it is gonna be ok.. we understand if you need to let it out."

� � �Hawkeye walked over. "Angel you know we are here for you and we will do whatever it takes to bring DR home safely to you!"

� � �Angel nodded, "I know, you have never let me down before." After Tycho and Hawkeye left Angel tried to sleep but she couldn't. She went down to the work study and pulled out all her maps on the universe. Knowing where some of the rebel camps had been would help narrow planets down.

� � � The next morning Angel called SDIR Rogue for a meeting she wanted to get the best pilots for this mission. Rogue had still been asleep when angel called.. "YEAH!! Who is this.. do you know what time it is???" Rogue grumbled.

� � �Angel answered in an excited voice, "Get out of bed, rise and shine we got a mission, an important mission!"

� � �"Oh, Angel it is you, you caught me off guard.. umm.. asleep" Rogue replied in a little softer voice. "Is this about DarkRaptor?"

� � �"Yes Rogue!" Angel replied "I just can't sit back and wait.. you know I need to find him, to know he is ok."

� � �Rogue agreed, "I knew you would do this so I have been working on some ideas.. Let me call some men together and we can get this mission in action. Meet me at INTEL Headquarters at 0900 and we will brief the men."

Angel answered in a relieved voice "Thank you Rogue, I knew I could count on you."

� � �Angel went to her bedroom closet and pulled out a black leather mini dress and matching leather boots that came up to her knees, she pulled on her thigh holster and slipped in her silver blaster. She stood staring in the mirror wondering if she could mask her pain and tiredness. She half smiled, brushed the tears away and out the door she went.

�� � Angel jumped into her Z-28 airspeeder, she stopped by Mantra's on the way. Distant was there also, she filled them in on what Rogue and her had in mind for the mission. They both wanted to help. She asked them to come with her to the briefing, they followed and headed off to Headquarters.

� � �As Angel entered the room, they all greeted her with sympathy and tried to reassure her they would find DR. She thanked them all and knew if anyone could find him it would be one of them・.Hawkeye, Garret, Tycho, Blake, Rogue, Mantra, Distant, and Thrawn. Angel thanked them for their help and asked Rogue to brief them on what the mission would entail.

� � "Men you know how important this is and it isn't gonna be easy. Problem is we don't know where DR is. Angel has been working on a few things and narrowed it down to a few planets." Angel stood up, walked to the board with some maps hanging, "Here's where I think our best possibilities are. I think we should break up into groups of twos, for there are four planets to be searched・irdo, Kanar, Bonadan, and Roon. We will keep in contact throughout the whole mission." Angel passed the itinerary out to everyone. "Good luck men, I have faith in each and everyone of you, may the dark side guide you."

� � �Everyone paired off Element 2: Hawk and Tycho, Element 3: Mantra and Distant, Element 4: Blake and Rogue, Element 5: Garret and Thrawn. As they left, Angel knew she couldn't stay behind. She radioed the hangar to get her TIE ready for flight. "Spektre can you hear me?" Angel pressed her Comm.

� � �"Yes, Angel loud and clear." Spektre was to begin his leave, but he knew how important this was so helped her. Angel walked down the corridor and there was Skittles. Skittles knew that look in Angel's eyes.

� � �"Angel what do you have planned now?"

� � �Angel stopped. "Get into your flight gear. We are taking off for Biitu. The other squads have already left for their destinations." Talk was small between them. Which only confirmed Skittles' beliefs, Angel was really worried.

� � �Element 5 to 1. "Angel we have just arrived and there is nothing here, I mean nothing."

� � "Ok Garret unless you have any other ideas go back to base, thank you!" Angel sighed.

� � � Garret immediately questioned back. "Angel where are you? I know you aren't at base.. are you?"

� �� "Umm, no I am not.. but do you think I could really just stay there and wait around doing nothing but worry?"

� � �"No I guess not." Garret replied "Blah!"

� � �Angel and Skittles had a few more hours before they reached Biitu. In the meantime Distant and Mantra had just started checking out their location.. minutes seemed like hours. Mantra finally radioed in. "Angel you there..?"

� � �"Yes I am please, tell me you have good news" Angel's heart pounded heavily against her chest.

� � �Mantra replied, "I am sorry, nothing here.. we looked everywhere and there isn't a sign."

� � �Angels heart wanted to stop.. "Thank you Mantra, I know you and Distant did what you could."

� �� Distant radioed Skittles, "How is she holding up? AND WHY are you two out here?"

� � �"Distant when can you ever keep Angel out of something, especially when it deals with her personally?"

� � �"Well make sure you two stay safe and try to stay out of trouble." Distant replied with a snicker.

� � �"Skittles we are approaching Biitu get ready for landing, looks like a clearing over those hills there.. Lets hope we find something. I really need for this to be over with, I need to know he is safe." Skittles sighed, "I know Angel and have faith, it will be ok and things will work out."

� � �As they were landing Tycho and Hawkeye reported in with no news.. I suggested they head back to base also. It was now up to Rogue and Blake or us. We jumped out of the TIEs and looked around, "Something doesn't seem right here at all." Angel whispered over to Skittles.

� � �"I know what you mean but I can't place it." The two proceeded with caution. The land was a mixture of rocky hills and sandy ground, the air seemed thin and the sky was cloudy.

� � � "Just be ready for anything" Angel commanded Skittles.

� � �In the meantime, Rogue and Blake had a found a few interesting things and was headed to Biitu, to tell Angel. Rogue had a feeling that the two may be in danger also. He was like Angel with this special gift of sensing future events which has helped many missions.

� � �"ANGEL GET DOWN!" Skittles shouted, as she dove to bring Angel to the ground. The blast shook up a lot of gravel spreading it through the air, dust made it hard to see as they both pulled out their blasters.

�� � �"Where in the heck did that come from?" Angel gasped.

"I think that is their idea of a warm welcome." Skittles said with a grin.

� � �Angel's comm went off that moment, "You girls ok?" Blake's voice came across. "Ahh, yeah, considering we were just about blown to pieces."

� � �"Angel why are you not at base when I asked you to stay there?" Rogue shouted.

� � �"Since when do I listen to my boss" Angel replied sarcastically.

� � �"We are almost there, please stay out of trouble till we get there.", Rogue pleaded. Blake radioed to see who else was in the area. The others were on their way.

� � �"Skittles stay close by, we are gonna find out who has this problem with us arriving here and what they are hiding." Skittles knew Angel was determined again.

"But what did Rogue just tell you?"

� � "I don't care what Rogue said, was he the one that almost got blown up?!" Angel shouted. Skittles followed Angel knowing she would do whatever she wanted anyways.

�� � The other squads just landed.. Rogue grabbed Distant, Garret and Thrawn, "You come with me, Blake you take Mantra, Tycho and Hawkeye and check the northern end." The guys nodded and off they went.

� � �Angel and Skittles came upon a couple Rebels guarding some cargo and a ship. "You take the one on the left, I got the other.", Angel whispered over to Skittles. Skittles nodded and they both drew their blasters and fired. The men fell to the ground. Angel commanded Skittles to check out the ship while she looked around outside.

� � �Skittles moved to the open door, Angel covered her as she entered the ship. Blasts were shot through the air as Angel hid behind the rock. Angel looked for a clear shot but couldn't get one, she crawled over to another set of rocks which gave her the clearance needed to blast the other rebels who were moving in. Angel looked to the sky as she heard the roar of the X-Wings flying over... she knew they needed to move quick or things would get really bad.

� � �"Rogue you hear me out there.. get someone up in their TIE and get these guys off my back...Skittles is checking out the ship and they have spotted us scouting around."

"Angel.. didn't I tell you to stay put, no one is near their TIE's right now.."

� � �Just then the roar of a TIE fighter rang through the sky.. Shots were heard echoing through the valley. RA_Trak had heard the SOS call and came to the rescue.

� � � "Hang on Angel, they will be history before you know it..." Trak grinned as he rolled to the right and blasted the X-Wing to pieces. Trak rolled a ninety degrees and managed to hit the wing of the second X-Wing and it went off with trails of smoke and flames following.

� � �"Trak great flying thanks for the help!!" Angel smiled as she pressed the comm. "No problem Angel, you would of done the same for me.." Trak headed to the other side where the others had landed.

� � �Angel blasted extra shots just to make sure there were no other unexpected rebels hiding about.. Just as Angel was ready to move, Rogue got her attention.. "I see you listen as always・well at least you are ok."

� � �Angel grinned, "Don't be upset with me, you know I just can't do nothing." Rogue handed Angel an envelope, "Here we found this with some other things of DR's."

Angel looked in excitement, "YOU FOUND DR??"

� � �"NO!" Rogue replied "Just some of his belongings and this." Angel walked away from Rogue as Thrawn, Garret and Distant came up. She sat down and read the words she didn't want to hear・.

・.Angel, I am sorry, you deserve so much more than me, someone who can lavish the attention and love on you that you deserve. My missions will be taking me away from you. Please move on with your life as I will mine・ But remember I will always love you・

Tears fell as Angel finished reading it, Rogue came over and hugged Angel, no words were spoken.

� � Meanwhile, Skittles found Imperial plans that were not to be in the Rebel's hands. She grabbed the plans and tucked them under her shirt, as she turned there stood a tall dark haired man, "Where do you think you are going with those?" Skittles tried to reach for her blaster but a hand from behind grabbed it first. With her other hand she managed to click on her comm.

Thrawn heard her voice and came running over to Angel and Rogue, "Listen to this!"

� � �Angel had just remembered where Skittles was, "DAMN IT!! I was too caught up in my own problems and forgot about Skittles." Just as Garret and Distant reached Angel the ship took off taking Skittles with them. Angel fell to her knees and began to cry harder.

To be continued....