The Akurian Queen

He'd slept fitfully along with her, struggling keep exposure to the cold at minimum. His joints ached with the exhaustion of sleep that was mostly denied, and numbed still by the bite in the air. Still, when the shock of activity roused him awake, adrenaline warmed him the rest of the way and he shoved at the guard nearest him, which prompted a baton to be rammed into his midsection.

Doubled over in a heap, Dan heaved, providing little further resistance as a pair of hands horse-collared him to his feet and shoved him roughly onward.

He didn't say a word to Lok or his other companions. There wasn't anything that needed to be said yet.

She was dead weight, making her 'escorts' drag her from the cell and down the corridor. With her head hung low and her disheveled hair spilling into her face, the Lupine kept her eyes closed. It was for the best.

She heard a door whisk open, and in the next instant a blast of cold air assaulted her. Unconsciously her body jerked in defense against the sting of the morning breeze, and in retaliation she was given a none-too-gentle shake.

They were out in the open now. For as little protection from the elements that their prison had offered, it was still better than the raw cold that came from direct exposure. In the distance she could hear marching boots over hard-packed snow. It was not a comforting sound, and the Jedi gave a furtive glance upward through tawny strands of hair.

She spied the base's commanding officer, Durrin, and another squad of stormtroopers in formation behind him.

The chill of the morning air was instantly forgotten as she recognized their manner of execution rising up behind the Imperial and his soldiers in the form of four single posts, and she felt her stomach sink into a tangle of knots.

"Well at least they're pragmatic."

Dan groused as he was being frog-marched to his death.

"A good old fashioned firing squad. Iconic, and economical. All we need now are a few stims for the condemned."

A few shared glances between Kori and Dage, and he narrowed his eyes against the blinding snow at the silhouettes beyond the gunmen.

"Least we're gonna see it comin'," Kori was as honest as ever in the face of his impending execution.

For her part s'Il only let out a tired groan.

"Y'know Dan," Dage made it a point to be as uncooperative as he possibly could be, which yielded only rougher treatment as a baton was jabbed into his side. The blonde winced, his body instinctively shying away from the blow.

"Now might be a good time t'ask your mule-stubborn girl again."

A ways off, he watched. State executions - even this far from the Core, were still enjoyable in their own way if one knew how best to deal with the realities of what was about to happen. Torik had no dog in this fight. Beholden to the credits that now populated his accounts, he enjoyed the comfort of an early morning Corellian whiskey coupled with a fine-cut Mimban. From behind the heady, spice-scented haze, he grinned in self-satisfaction as his eyes never strayed from the group of four being brought out into the courtyard.

Dan winced. Then again, it was now or eternity. She probably wasn't gonna get any less stubborn as a ghost.

"Lok, ring or not, I don't give a damn. Marry me."

It was low enough to be out of earshot of Beirhannon and any of the Imperial goons, but Dage and Kori no doubt heard. Might as well have friends to witness.

Inwardly she grimaced, giving a rough shake of her head as she was pulled up the shallow steps onto the low platform. Through the cold, she at least managed to add a croaked voice to her displeasure.

"No."

Kori and Dage however felt likewise, and their voices rose in chorus to call out to the Imperial commander.

"Oi! You with the black uniform!"

"Needin' some officiatin' over here!"

As the two rebels were themselves wrested upward, they craned their necks in the direction of Commander Durrin who - with a somewhat tired expression - stared back.

As Kori was manhandled toward one of the posts, Dage took over.

"Got us a happy couple what needs marryin'-"

"I'm th'best man!" Kori was able to chime in, which left Dage with only one other option. It was one he happily embraced with a care-free grin.

"... an' I'm th'maid o' honor!"

The comic relief was, for once, a distraction. Dan looked fully at the love of his life.

"You mean to tell me there isn't an ounce of regret in you? You're willing to take that to your grave? With the way we feel about each other?"

There wasn't much time left. If he died, that was one thing. Not hearing a yes before that was another.

Propped against one of the posts, she remained motionless as binders were fitted to her wrists. Stubbornly the Lupine stared ahead, a pained scowl marring her features. Kori and Dage continued their heckling even as they too were fitted with binders.

"Stop asking me. This is not something I wish to discuss right now. And frankly, I would think that you wouldn't want to discuss it right now, either."

Her jaw set, and she shifted her wrists in the binders she now so grumpily wore.

"Considering the circumstances and all of that."

Commander Durrin moved up to stand on the platform, and pulling out a box of stims, removed one for himself before offering Kori and Dage the same. Cheerily they accepted.

The Imperial moved on to Dan, holding the box out with one of the stims extended.

The Rebel commander took the stim offered, and waited for it to be lit. The Imperial moved on, again giving them a little breathing room.

"Some other time you'd rather talk about it?"

Dan laughed a bit, the stim in his mouth shaking from the act of doing so. Stubborn heiffer to the end, she was. And worst of all, he loved that. The stormtroopers waited for the order, like aloof statues bearing only passing witness to this very personal moment.

"This is the part in the sabacc round where you lay all your cards on the table, so that's what I'm doing."

He glanced back at s'Il, as they both stood ready to die.

"Marry me."

Another smile and a shrug.

"You'd deny a dying man's last wish?"

"I... "

"Answer the man, girl." Durrin's voice was impatient. This entire encounter was turning into nothing but a farce, and he was already unhappy about the paperwork he would have to draft.

Screwing her face into an angry scowl, the Lupine turned a very nearly venomous glare to Dan.

"Fine. Yes, I'll marry you."

From the moment the two rebels had begun shouting at Durrin, Torik stepped out to make his way toward the platform, and he reached the periphery just as the Jedi gave her answer. He smiled at the grudging acceptance she'd allowed.

He lifted his glass to Dan in a congratulatory, yet mocking salute.

The smile on Dan's face might otherwise be permanent if not for the wrinkles that tried to betray it. He caught the mocking salute from Beirhannon out of his periphery, but paid it no mind. He'd take a mocking salutation at face value, because not even a blaster bolt would undo this.

"I'll be yours forever, Loklorien s'Ilancy."

All that remained was for Dan and Lok to write that forever.

Durrin drew from his stim, gave a hmph, and turned to regard the Jedi woman for a moment. She appeared docile enough despite her vocalizations, and the Imperial gave it no more thought as his eyes went to Dan.

"I'd ask if you had a ring, but something tells me not to expect that much from you."

Another pull from the stim.

"Nevertheless. Ignoring the fact that I've never done this before, I'll foregoe the normal flowery language and feel-good beginnings.

"Do you like her."

"Most days, sure."

Dan watched the changeable pout on Lok's lips warm somewhat, and looked back at the Imperial officer.

"But I love her every day, and love trumps whatever hand gets dealt."

It was a surprising amount of exposed honesty to an enemy at death's door, that was for sure. Maybe the threat of imminent demise made it easier to put into words.

Durrin gave a mild snort.

"Truer words never've been spoken," he grunted before quickly going on.

"Alright then, you love her. Will you take her as yours, and keep her for all time through sickness and health and until death do you part?"

The irony was at least not lost on the Imperial, as the slight grin on his features showed.

The bleak humor in the ad-hoc oath at least tugged at the corners of his mouth. Dan simply nodded.

"I do."

Durrin then shifted his attention to the Lupine.

"And you? Do you like him? Love? And whatever you want to say of him before witnesses."

This was at least a curious bit of last request before an execution. Despite any practical notion to simply get on with it, he felt strangely compelled to see this meager request through. They weren't barbarians, after all.

"I like him when he's not pestering me," the Jedi grumbled out, though at least her expression was a shade warmer than the weather.

Angling her head to afford Dan a look, she went on.

"He's always been with me through everything... "

One last pang of memory, a glimpse of Zem standing in the lift at the Temple during their escape from the Purge and reaching a hand out to her. And then he was gone, swept away on the biting Akurian wind to be replaced by Dan. He'd not left, and had stayed at her side through all they'd gone through. Dan, who'd given her shelter and comfort, warmth and closeness.

The Lupine gave a ghostly smile.

"I love him."

It was enough for Durrin, and the Imperial nodded.

"Very well. You both love each other. You've declared that love before witnesses, and I am confident that the both of you will find happiness in the short time you have left. Does anyone object to these two coming together?"

A look to Kori and Dage only returned wide, carefree smiles, and a mocking look back to the firing squad yielded not a word. He turned back.

"Then on my authority, I declare you to be man and wife," his eyes went to Dan.

"You may kiss your bride in the afterlife."

And without another word, Commander Durrin turned on his heel and made his way down off the platform.

Another salute - this time with the Mimban - and Torik finished off the dregs of his morning drink. He gave a smug grin to the four rebels as they stood, waiting for the sound of blaster rifles.

Another puff of his cigar, and he took a few steps back as Durrin stepped from the platform.

It seemed that both he and the rebel commander would get what they wanted; Dan his yes, and Torik the prospect of credits for the ring still safely tucked away in its' box, nestled safely within the inner pocket of his overcoat.

It was time.

Dan looked ahead, staring down the line of troopers who would be their executioners.

"No regrets."

It was as much a testamonial statement as it was an imperative to his comrades. His left arm reached out, finding the right hand of the woman adjacent to him. Their hands clasped.

"Ready..."

In that embrace at the edge of oblivion, his index finger tapped against her hand three times.

"...aim...."