"And floating up / You pass us in the night. / A future gazing out / A past to overwrite."
"Blackout"
Linkin Park
"You really shouldn't wear that," Cody growled darkly in Tay's ear, as he came up behind her in the kitchen and slid his hands suggestively over her hips.
She was wearing his tunic.
It had never once entered Cody's mind, how absolutely appealing it would be to catch a woman - his woman - in his clothes. But, the sight of her standing at the sink, in what was very clearly his tunic and very little else, stirred something darkly primal inside of him.
"Yes, well...someone forgot to hang up the clean laundry to dry, so when I went to look for my sleeping tunic, it was no where to be found. I just picked up the first tunic I came across," Tay shrugged, feigning innocence. "It's what you get for leaving it tossed over the back of the couch."
"Don't blame me for the laundry," Cody nipped her neck and enjoyed the sudden hitch in her breath. "That's Saa's job."
"Well, I can blame you for throwing your clothes everywhere on the way to 'fresher," Tay scolded, but there was very little heat to her voice; as a matter of fact, her words sounded rather breathless, in the way they did when her passions were aroused.
"One tunic across the back of the couch hardly counts as 'throwing everywhere'," Cody slowly pulled the tails of his tunic higher up on her thigh and slipped his hands underneath the loose fabric.
He loved the feel of her skin against his rough hands and the feel of her body as it trembled slightly underneath his; he mumbled suggestively into her neck as he let his hands wander.
"I could demonstrate what really counts as throwing clothes, though, if you'd like."
"Saa's still awake," she protested weakly.
"So?" Cody moved his lips up toward her ear.
He gently brushed the edge of her ear with his lips and whispered -
"I think he's kind of figured out that we have a bit of a thing for each other."
"'A bit of a thing'?" she sounded amused and she moved her face, as if trying to "look" over her shoulder at him.
He kissed her cheek, just along the bottom edge of her headband and waited for her to speak again. She reached her hand up and brushed her fingers across his days' worth of stubble; by now, he'd learned to decipher at least a few of her touches. In this case, her fingers seemed almost thoughtful, as they traced the line of his jaw.
"You've been home how long now?"
"'Bout three weeks or so," Cody shrugged - he hadn't really been keeping track of time, truth be told.
But, the answer seemed to satisfy her. Her hand cupped his jaw, just below his ear, as she leaned back against his chest.
"I think that's enough time, don't you?"
"'Nuff time for what?" Cody purposely played oblivious; for a moment, she said absolutely nothing, but her fingers found their way past his ear and into his short-cut hair along the side of his head.
"Cody?" Tay's voice had slipped into the soft, throaty purr he'd begun to recognize and crave.
"Hmmm?"
"Come to bed with me."
"Right now?"
"Mmm-hmm," Tay turned her face again and brushed her lips against the corner of his mouth.
He took a deep, sharp intake of breath, as if to steady himself. He'd waited patiently, ever since Jornada Del Muerto, to hear those words. A part of him knew he could have pushed his boundaries sooner, especially in the last few weeks. But, it had been important to him to have her invite him to her bed for the first time - it was a strange, old-fashioned courtesy, but it was one that they had both needed.
For Cody, it was a courtesy that let him know, under no uncertain terms, that she was ready to welcome him into that last remaining intimacy. It was a courtesy that reassured him that it was something she wanted, not the other way around.
In some ways, it showed that old habits died hard - initiative still made him uncomfortable. He needed to know what she wanted, in clear terms that he couldn't misunderstand. It was still easier for him, that way. It removed his tendency to doubt.
He put his hands on her hips and slowly turned her around. Tay, emboldened by the boundaries they had already crossed in the days and weeks prior, let her hands drift sensuously against his freshly-washed and naked chest. Cody tilted his head to the side and leaned in for just one last, quick kiss...
When's Saa's gravely voice cut decisively through their mutual fog of lust.
"You two kids might wanna' come listen to this."
Cody literally growled in frustration. For a second, he was sorely tempted to just pick Tay up in his arms and march right past Saa toward her waiting bedroom in the back half of the house. But, ignoring an authority figure was something Cody couldn't bring himself to do – even with the temptation of a willing woman pliant in his arms.
So, the former commander settled for growling a vague threat in Saa's general direction, as he lifted his face up and away from Tay's.
"This had better be good."
Saa seemed both mildly amused and apologetic, as he lead Cody and Tay into the cozily-lit livingroom adjourning the kitchen. He even paused a moment, in the doorway between the two rooms, to briefly explain why he had interrupted a promising lover's tryst.
"Just got a call in from Hella. I'd recommend the two of you keep quiet and stay in the background, but I've rigged my buy'ce so the video-audio feed will project on an external holoscreen," Saa paused and the weathered old merc glanced quickly from Cody, to Tay, to back again; his expression was decently abashed. "Didn't think you two would want to hear this news second-hand, so I put her on hold for a minute or two."
Cody just nodded and jerked his chin toward the dimmer living room in indication of his willingness to trust Saa's instincts. Tay curled her arm around Cody's waist in a silent show of both affection and support, and the two moved into the living room together.
Saa had his buy'ce rigged up on the short-legged table in the center of the small room; the projector was turned toward the far corner of the couch and Cody could see a frozen holopic of Hella flickering pale and blue against the warmer backdrop of the fireplace. The clone decided it would be best, then, to sit in Saa's usual armchair, which was behind the buy'ce and catty-corner from holoprojection itself.
Cody settled in with a sigh – a part of him was intrigued by Saa's mysteriousness, but a larger part of him wished the old merc's timing was more appropriate. The clone reached out and grabbed Tay's hand as she made to move past him and Cody satisified himself – for the moment – with pulling her down onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist and the Miralukan Jedi snuggled insantly against his bare chest; her breath ghosted gently against his skin and her hair was soft and warm beneath his chin.
Saa sat down on the couch and glanced over toward the cozy couple. For a moment or two, the edges around his mouth softened. By now, Cody knew the Mandalorian well enough to read the flash of approval in his sharp green eyes; the two men met each other's gaze across the two or three arms' length between them and Cody basked briefly in the warmth of Saa's silent blessing.
Then, without further ado, Saa shifted his focus to the frozen holoprojection. He put his hand inside of his buy'ce and a second later, Hella's blue-tinged figure blinked and warped as the holo-feed caught up again with real-time.
After several seconds of shifting static lines, Hella came back into focus. From Cody's viewpoint in the back, it appeared that she was looking down on something in her paws and didn't immediately realize that she'd been taken off hold.
"You were saying, Hel'ika," Saa slowly leaned forward in his seat and put his elbows on his knees as he gave his daughter his full attention.
"Ah...!" the Togorian's head titled up sharply and Cody could imagine the bemused look on her furry, whiskered face.
Hella was not the personality type that liked being caught off-guard; Saa, on the other hand, chuckled in obvious enjoyment of his momentary gain of the upper hand. Cody remembered the moment at the culling pens on Jornada Del Muerto, when Hella had prowled up behind him and boasted of her Togorian-given ability to move about without the slightest sound. A smile even twitched on the corners of his own mouth, as he recognized the signs of a mutual "game" played by both Hella and Saa – the kind of friendly rivalry played by a father and a daughter, over who was better at what.
"There you are," Hella – in her typical fashion – moved briskly to business and didn't allow her buir much time to gloat in his fleeting glory. "All is well?"
"It was just Tay and Cody, messing about in the kitchen," Saa shrugged and kept his eyes firmly focused on Hella's flickering projection.
Tay "hmphed" a bit, her shoulders rising and falling sharply with a soft snort of amusement. Cody titled his chin down so he could place a lingering kiss on the top of her head; if given his druthers, he would have prefered to be tangled up in Tay's sheets at that moment. But, now Saa had his interest and he couldn't help notice Hella's tail flick once, twice in something like aggrivation. He lifted a eyebrow and glanced toward Saa – how much did Hella know? If the subtle movement of her tail was any indication, she sensed her buir's little white lie.
And, disapproved. Though, except for that single flick of the very tip of her tail, she made no indication of her truer feelings.
"So, you were saying...?" Saa moved the conversation smoothly past the truth of why he had put Hella on hold in the middle of their preexisting conversation.
The Togorian flicked her tail once again – back, forth – but continued just as smoothly with the discussion as if nothing unusual had been so casually bypassed.
"I ran into one of the aliit about two days ago. As I was saying before, I would have contacted you sooner, buir, but...things are changing for the worse here in Korynth," Hella shifted her arms and from the look of her stance, she had crossed her arms over her chest.
Her voice lowered a notch or two, though she was still clearly audible through the buy'ce's feed.
"An Imperial battleship docked about a week ago. Then, just two days after that, there was a breif skirmish between between a few of the battleship's new model starfighters and a Corellian-made light frieght. The freighter has since disappeared, but the Imperials have stayed in the capitol," both Hella's tail and ears flickered in a clear indication of disapproval. "And have made their presence very heavily known.
"The skirmish between the Imperialists and the freighter knocked down a communications tower in the center of the city. And now all contact between the western and eastern sides of the planet are being heavily monitered."
"Imperialists in Korynth," Saa's back stiffened and he sat straight up; a troubled look flashed across his face, before his usual stoic mask slid into face and shuttered his emotions carefully behind the professional face of a life-long mercenary. "That's some grim news you bring, ad'ika. Though, how does this all tie in with meeting your vod?"
"She contacted me just hours after the frieghter disappeared. She asked that I not pass on her name, but she said that you would know her by her description," Hella's tail waved slowly back and forth, as her tone turned thoughtful. "She has a limp – a condition I believe she called 'gout'?" the Togorian titled her head to the side as she tried to make sense of the unfamiliar word. "She said she was once one of the Cuy'val Dar and that she worked on hire for the Republic as a blockade runner for various planetary systems during the Wars."
Hella paused again and Cody turned his attention toward Saa. Something...cold...ran through his veins at the name "Cuy'val Dar."
Kamino. The name and the memories ran unbidden through his mind. With the sense of cold, left in the wake of his earliest memories, came a feeling of hope that he barely dared to recognize.
Where there was talk of Kamino, these days, there was also talk of clones. Cody was distracted from his racing thoughts, though, by the gentle pressure of Tay's lips against the side of his throat. Warmth counterbalance the knot of cold anxiety in his chest and he relaxed muscles that he hadn't even realized he had tensed.
He determed that, later, he would go out of his way to demonstrate his appreciation to Tay for sensing his emotions and setting them straight. The thought made the corners of his mouth soften and he moved one of his hands from her shoulder, to brush his knuckles absently along her cheek.
His attention drifted back to Saa and the look of unadultered amazement on the Mandalorian's face surprised Cody in turn. After a few moments of shocked silence, Saa's expression slowly turned thoughtful.
"Ru'ika's daughter," Saa reached up and slowly stroked the goatee that he had decided to keep from his days posing as Cody's Miralukan "side-kick". "I met her very briefly during the War. Good woman, if one didn't take into account her taste in men," the mercenary's lipst twisted wryly. "Fine pilot, too, if the Republic payroll was anything to go by."
"I liked her as well. Runi chose well," Hella paused and a deep sorrow tinted her next words. "Mro'ika would have been proud."
"Indeed," Saa leaned back against the couch and continued stroking his chin, deep in thought.
Cody knew the man well enough by now, to know when ideas were running through Saa's calculating mind. There was a heavy, pregnant silence in the room for several long moments, before Hella hestitantly broke through her buir's private musings.
"She has found work as a smuggler, since the Wars. Currently, though, she works in partnership with a bounty hunter," the Togorian's ears suddenly went flat back against her skull. "A Lepi," those two words alone conveyed her personal opinion on the character in question.
"A Lepi bounty-hunter?" Saa, on the other hand, seemed mildly amused, if not incredulous.
Cody watched as the mercenary's eyebrows arched high in surprise.
"That's not something you hear about every day. Those types usually make good, solid pilots from what I've seen, but I can't say I've ever known one that wasn't skittish with a blaster."
"This one fancies herself a bit of a vigilante," Hella snorted, her disdain apparent. "A braggart, if you ask me."
"Oh, well," Saa barked a short laugh and shrugged. "Most Lepis are tall on the tale and short on the wit."
Hella just snorted and flicked her tail. Another short pause punctuated the conversation, but then she sighed and rocked back on her heels.
"In any case, Ru'ika's daugther and this Lepi have taken a bounty from the Imperialists, to search for the missing freighter."
"Now, why would a Par'jain do a fool thing like that?" amusement slipped from Saa's face and was replaced by a disapproving frown. "The aliit is still loyal to the Republic. Or, at least, to freedom."
"This is why my vod would like to meet you and speak to you in person," Hella paused, as if for effect, before continuing softly. "She – and the Lepi – claim that the freighter belongs to a crew of Imperial deserters."
Cody thought his heart would stop.
"Deserters?" His heart raced, the implications suddenly unfathomable. He unconsciously tightened his grip on the Jedi in his lap and even the touch of Tay's cool fingers on his chest didn't divert his instantly riveted attention.
"The information that was shared with me claims that two of that crew were captured in Korynth by Imperial operatives and are being held alive onboard the battleship. There are still four crewmembers onboard the freighter – three females and a man. A clone."
Saa very quietly and very carefully echoed the very question that suddenly leapt to Cody's lips.
"A name?"
"I was given none," Hella shook her head and her ears flickered apologetically. "I was told, however, that more information would be forthcoming, if a meeting could be arranged with you."
"And why would your vod want a meeting with me, if she's accepted an Imperial bounty?" a fierce, dangerous fire suddenly glinted coldly in Saa's shadowed green eyes.
He leaned forward slowly toward the holoprojector, as if that would make him closer to Hella somehow.
"She said you would ask that," Hella chuckled sharply and shook her head again. "As you say, the two of you met in the Wars. She says she knows that you had contact with..." the Togorian paused and titled her head, as if trying to recall the exact words. "'Skirata's boys' and that you – like her – were loyal to the ideals of the Republic. She said to tell you that you fought with clones and that she trained them," the striped cat-woman shrugged and spread her hands open wide as if in supplication. "And that it is in the nature of a Par'jain to betray her enemy."
"Ah," was all Saa said for a very, very long time.
And in the profound silence that followed, Cody's heart and mind raced, turning what Hella had said over and over in his mind -
"There are still four crewmembers on board the freighter – three females and a man. A clone."