AN: So when I was supposed to be updating Into the Dark, I went and wrote this instead. Truth is, a bunch of stories that I started that were supposed to be short have turned into monsters somehow, and I needed something little to clear my head. I'm going to do my best to keep it short and sweet.

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 1

Space, somewhere near Castell, aboard the Tracker, 4 months after the start of the Clone War, 22 BBY

"Oh blast! Droyk! Blast it, blast it, blast it!" Joelle Karlsen muttered angrily, leaping away from her private terminal in her quarters as the ship's fire alarm kicked in. She scrambled in her stocking feet across the durasteel decking the short distance to the galley. There, coughing, she shut down the system, waving smoke away from her face with one hand as she opened the oven and the sight of a very crispy cake greeted her. She sighed dejectedly. As usual, Elle had gotten engrossed in her research and forgotten that she was attempting to cook. The human woman pulled her ruined creation out of the oven and set it on the table as the faint whirring of a fan indicated the ship's air purification systems kicking in.

"Droyk," she muttered again, poking it with a grimace. Inedible.

The chirps and beeps of an astromech droid echoed down the ship's corridors from the cockpit right then, presenting a welcome distraction. "Alright, R4, I'll be right there," she called back when the droid informed her there was an incoming comm call.

Elle crossed the corridor again to return to her quarters for a sweater, closing it over the rather indecent shirt she was wearing since she was alone on the ship, then walked up the short distance to the cockpit. A ship such as the YT-1760 was small to the point of almost being cramped, meaning it only took her ten strides between all three places.

In the cockpit she sat down at the comm station, which sprang to life to reveal Marek Stannard, a Republic Intelligence lieutenant. Elle herself worked for the Senate Bureau of Intelligence, tasked with the security of the Republic's senators, while Marek followed a more military line of work, but she and Marek had found it beneficial in the past to share information.

They'd shared many other things in the past, too.

So the smile she gave him was genuine—something rare in their line of work. Whenever he called it always brightened her day. "Marek! Please tell me you've got a lead on Senator Gammuto's case to tell me about," she greeted him enthusiastically. There had been an assassination attempt on the Senator about a month ago, and she still had no leads to find the killer.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Elle," he returned cheerfully. Human, with brown hair and eyes, a friendly face and perfect teeth, he was handsome in whatever setting, but at the moment he wore his dark RI uniform, which made him extra dashing, in Elle's opinion. He was still on Coruscant, then. "I do, however, have a tip on Senator Nnaufmin for you."

Now she sat up straighter. This was a case that had eluded her for months.

"The RI got an anon tip from Muunilinst. GAR just hit the capital, Harnaidan, and someone found some Seppie tech intact among the rubble. RI's sending someone of their own for it, but they're not in a hurry, given the amount of anon tips we get just in a day. I figured you'd want it too; besides by the time they get there it might be gone. I figured anything could help. That's where San Hill's headquarters are anyway. Allegedly."

She was nodding, already waving for R4 to start inputting the coordinates into the Nav computer. "You're absolutely right, Marek, that sounds interesting. If I find anything I think you need too, I'll let you know," Elle replied.

He glanced off screen for a moment. "Great! I gotta go. And Elle? You look good," he added as an after thought, with that damn dashing smile that always made her stomach flip. She grinned widely at him and went to suggest that maybe after this she could swing back to the Core for a day or so and they could meet up, but he was already turning away, rising from his chair, and as he moved she caught sight of a suspiciously shaped bruise on his neck, peeking out from under the high dark collar of his uniform. Elle slumped back in her seat as the screen finally went dark.

She had to stop mooning after the man, the brunette woman told herself firmly for the umpteenth time. For a moment, when his face appeared on the call, she'd thought just maybe, he was finally making a personal call, considering the date; but of course, as always with Marek, he only called when he needed something from her. Information or sex, it didn't seem to ever be any more personal with him.

Sighing, Elle dropped her boss a message informing him that she was off to Muunilinst to check on a tip while feeding the nav computer the coordinates, and then she stood up again. "Get us into hyperspace, R4," she instructed over her shoulder as she left the cockpit, intent on heading back to her terminal to pull up some intel on Muunilinst.

But first she had to swing back around the corner into the galley and clean up her attempt at a birthday cake for herself.

"Happy Birthday to me," Elle murmured to herself as she dumped the ruined cake down the trash compactor, the quiet ship making her feel alone more than usual in that moment.

XXXXX

Muunilinst, Harnaidan, temporary GAR garrison, 4 months after the start of the Clone War

Clone Lieutenant CT-4629, who preferred to be called Jarel, was cleaning the last of his kit after the Battle of Muunilinst in the clone barracks when his commlink buzzed and Commander Fordo ordered him to report to the landing pad immediately.

It took him only a moment to reassemble and store his DC-15A rifle and then he hastily pulled on the top half of his blue-striped white armor again. Donning his helmet and snagging his DC-17S, Jarel walked with long strides to the landing pad—really just an open courtyard they'd cleared of rubble. Harnaidan was full of a lot of rubble now.

Stepping into the open space, he immediately spotted Commander Fordo, armor striped red, standing at the foot of the landing ramp of a Corellian freighter, with a human woman wearing the field suit and light body armor of an SBI agent.

So, his anonymous tip had been received, then, and acted upon in a timely matter. Safe behind his helmet, Jarel smiled. Not an RI agent, as he had hoped to attract, he noted with a frown, but she had her own ship and if she proved competent, that was all he required. He snapped a sharp salute to Fordo as he joined them.

"CT-4629, reporting as ordered, sir," he said crisply.

"Lieutenant, this is SBI agent Joelle Karlsen," Fordo addressed him without preamble. "She's here to see that Seppie tech you found. Take her out there."

In order to ensure that he knew of any intelligence agents landing on Muunilinst, Jarel had included finding the tech in his report to Fordo so the Commander would assign him as escort. But he had also reported it anonymously straight to the RI intel lines, not willing to take any chances on the report being missed. He was running out of time and this was the best chance he'd gotten so far.

For all that Fordo was an ARC, he was easy to manipulate.

"Yes sir," Jarel said with a salute, tone stoic and not betraying his pleasure at how well his plan was unfolding. He turned his appraising gaze back to the woman as Fordo left.

She was average height, neither tall nor short, with an athletic build. Slim, but not petite. Her dark brown hair was braided and wrapped in a tight bun on her head, and her eyes, behind a small, transparent visor, were green. Actually, he found her quite attractive; the SBI's light body armor was tight on her, doing little to hide her curves—especially her ass. But he wasn't here to take in how pretty she was, he was here to see what skills she had to offer.

"Lead on, trooper," the agent—Joelle—told him, and he gave a sharp nod of his helmeted head.

"Right. It's this way, sir," he gestured with the muzzle of the rifle in his arms and set off at a brisk pace. She fell into step a pace behind him as they exited the GAR headquarters in the captured city and hiked out into the war torn streets.

AN: Reviews are loved! I have a lot of this story already written, so it should update pretty soon.