Post 9
Jade and her brother were sitting at the kitchen table the next morning when Kyp came downstairs. He started to back out but she stopped him.
"Kyp, you're welcome to join us."
"I don't want to intrude." He said, not moving from the doorway.
"You're not. Please, I made more than enough. Even with the rancor here." Jade joked as she rose to get another plate and glass for him. Her brother threw his napkin in her direction as Kyp crossed the room and sat down. Kyp didn't know too much about Jake Storm. What information he did know he had heard from Jaina and a few of the senior military officials. The man was second in command of Rogue Squadron and apparently had made quite a name for himself before he and Jade had even come to the Known Regions. He had heard nothing but praise for the young man from everyone he talked to.
Kyp helped himself to the food that was in the middle of the table as he felt Jake eye him. He looked up and the pilot smiled. "So, you're the lucky one that gets to baby sit ole bad ass here."
The master raised an eyebrow. "Bad ass?" He looked over to Jade and she rolled her eyes.
"When I got the position, he took me out to celebrate and had a little too much to drink. He couldn't say ambassador by the end of the night so he just called me bad ass." She told him with a shake of her head.
"It's close." Jake scoffed.
"It is?" Kyp asked.
"Ambassador. Bassador. Bad ass. It's close enough." He said as he cleared his dishes off the table.
"Brothers. Gotta love them." Jade quipped. Kyp laughed and returned to eating his breakfast. Jake came back to the table and gave his sister a kiss on the cheek.
"I'll call you later." He told her. Kyp looked up and the younger man stared at him for a moment then nodded. Nodding back slowly, Kyp chuckled as the pilot walked out of the room. How many people was he going to have to answer to with this assignment? Iella was going to be the least of his worries at this point. He finished his meal in silence and Jade sat next to him reading something on her datapad. After a few minutes she put it down on the table and took a deep breath.
"Bela is supposed to come home today." She told him simply.
"Anything I should be concerned about? Besides the obvious." He amended quickly.
"Not that I know of. I assume Ella has given you all the information they have as of now."
Kyp affirmed his answer as she took his plates and set them in the sink. Jade gripped the edge of the sink and looked out the window. "I've skimmed over most of it. I'll read it more in depth later. Does he know about me?" He asked.
Jade turned around to face him and leaned against the counter. She loosely crossed her arms in front of her and gave him a weak smile. "You know about the shooting." Kyp nodded and she continued. "My father insisted that I get some sort of private protection, outside of the senatorial guards. Bela adamantly refused. I'm not sure if it was his pride or his secret he was trying to keep. Edward agreed with my father. Surprisingly, Bela left it to me to find someone to fill the job. Of course, I turned to Ella."
"Makes sense. So he could either be royally pissed or not care at all." Kyp offered.
"Yep." Walking back over to the table she sat down and took a drink of her caf. "I can't help but think that by leaving it up to me to find protection he was hoping I would pick someone who couldn't do the job." She looked up to meet his gaze.
"You think he ordered the shooting." It wasn't a question.
"Honestly, I'm not sure what to think. I never imagined my husband could be involved in the selling of slaves, let alone trying to have me killed. Even after two months I'm not sure how I feel." She told him quietly. "I'm not sure I'll ever know."
"Even good people get caught up in bad things." Kyp told her. She looked up and graced him with a smile.
"That they do." Standing, she collected her datapad and some papers. "I just wanted to warn you."
"I appreciate that." He told her. "If I'm gonna have my ass handed to me I at least like a little warning."
/____________________________________\
Since Jade didn't have any meetings today, Kyp took her up on the offer to familiarize him with the grounds. Intelligence had given him a rough map of them, but he wanted to inspect them personally. She started the tour in the house.
"There are six rooms, but two have been converted into offices. One for me and one for Bela. Two are guest bedrooms and the other is a rec room." She told him as they walked down the hall towards the back door.
It was a cloudy morning, and a light drizzle greeted them as they exited the house and started their walk. Right outside the back door there was a small seating area that was not very open. Probably due to security more than privacy would be his guess. There were a few trees that dotted the yard but they weren't more than 20 feet from the house. Another security issue. He could see the numerous cameras that were mounted on the house and on poles spaced so far apart around the entire perimeter.
"Who has access to the cameras?" He asked as she turned and looked at one of them.
"Edward, Bela and myself. The rest of the guards can watch them but they can't manipulate any of the footage."
Kyp nodded and continued his perusal of the yard.
"You don't have to worry about bugs either. Iella comes and sweeps periodically and we haven't found any so far. Unless he's using some new technology that we don't have."
"I doubt it. He would have made some sort of move on you or intelligence by now if that were the case." Kyp commented.
"Maybe he did." She told him quietly.
He turned to look at her and shook his head. "I don't know why, but I have a feeling he didn't order that."
"Jedi feeling?" She asked with a smile in her voice.
He chuckled. "Maybe. Something about that just doesn't feel right. I stopped trying to figure it out. I just hope I have an epiphany before I have an aneurysm."
They entered the house 20 minutes later laughing when Kyp looked up and found the senator staring at them. His gaze was calm and he didn't feel any hatred or anger emanating from the man. Actually, he didn't feel anything. The man was there, but his emotions were so tightly controlled he could have been looking at a robot if he didn't know better. He was about Kyp's height and that's where the similarities ended. Where Kyp was built like a pilot, lean and toned, Bela was built like a rock. He was extremely muscular and bulky. His sandy brown hair was military short and his piercing blue eyes betrayed no emotions.
Kyp stood where they had stopped and watched as Jade walked over to her husband and was greeted with a hug and a kiss. She was definitely keeping up the happy wife bit, but it was the twinge in his chest that bothered him. Not having the time to delve too deep into his psyche, he refocused his attention on the couple across from him.
"Sha wasn't sure when you were going to be back." He heard her tell Bela. Sha Moonwood was Bela's assistant, that much he remembered from his information. "I was just showing Master Durron around the house."
Bela smiled at his wife, affection obvious in his eyes, and then returned his gaze back to Kyp. The senator held his hand out to shake and Kyp obliged him.
"To what do we owe the honor of your visit, Master Jedi." Bela asked.
"I've been assigned to be your wife's security detail, sir." Kyp offered before Jade could say anything.
The senator frowned in confusion. "Assigned by whom?" He asked politely. Kyp still didn't feel anything from the man. Either he was force sensitive or he had been trained to shield his thoughts by someone who was.
"Dad asked for a Jedi to be assigned to me, Bela." He turned to his wife and smiled at her again. Iella had told Kyp in the briefing that Michael Storm had offered to be the scapegoat for the Jedi being called into the picture. They had hoped that this would remove any suspicion from Jade. Kyp had agreed with the idea.
"I see. And you're okay with this sweetheart?" Jade nodded at his question and he kissed her forehead. "Good. I have to admit that does make me feel a lot better about leaving you here by yourself." He said as he stepped out of his wife's arms and walked towards the kitchen.
Jade and Kyp shared a look and she followed her husband. Kyp stood there watching as she followed him into the other room.
"First obstacle cleared." He mumbled to himself. "Five million more to go."
/____________________________________\
Jaina hit the chime on the door and waited impatiently for someone to answer. Kyp had never come back to the temple yesterday after his meeting with Luke and she was extremely curious as to where he had gone. Tapping her foot, she crossed her arms in front of her and was thinking about opening the door her self when someone finally did. However, it wasn't the person she wanted to see.
Huffing to herself, she mumbled 'never mind' when she saw Jag and started off down the hall.
"Hey!" Jag called after her and for some reason she stopped. She turned around to face him, putting her hand on her hips and glaring.
"What."
"Well, good evening to you too, sunshine. I assume you're looking for Kyp." Jag said, as he leaned against the doorframe, watching her with amusement.
"I was." She retorted.
"For Force sake, Jaina, why do you have to be so contrary. Come in here." Rolling his eyes, he walked back into the room, as if he expected her to follow. She stood motionless in the hall, feeling the urge to simply turn around and go back to stomping down the hall in anger. But something stopped her. Wordlessly, she walked back to the doorway and into the apartment. Jag had sat down on the couch, apparently resuming whatever he had been working on before she had interruped him. The door swooshed closed behind her, but she still stood like a sentry by it. Jag waited a moment, then looked over at her.
"Sit." He told her as he nodded towards the chair next to him. Surprisingly, she did as he commanded and he found himself having to hold back his laughter. She was wound up tight today.
"I'm guessing Kyp didn't have a chance to fill you in on what happened with Luke?" Jag asked as he continued with whatever he was doing on the datapad. She nodded and he smiled.
"In his defense, he really didn't have a lot of time. He told me the basics while he was packing."
"Packing? To go where?" Jaina's voice was now tinged with concern and he felt her start to relax.
Setting the datapad down on the table, Jag leaned back into the couch and met her gaze. "He's been assigned as protection for Ambassador Storm."
"You're kidding me?"
Jag chuckled. "That's what I said. Apparently, he is to be her guard around the clock, so he's staying at the Mnaa residence for the time being. He wasn't sure how long it was going to last, but he was guessing a while."
"Why him?"
"That, is a good question." Jag responded. "I asked him that myself, but he didn't really have an answer. Actually, I think he did, but he just couldn't say anything. I have a feeling there is more to this than what he said."
"That's just strange. She and her husband already have guards." She was talking more to herself now than him, but he responded anyway.
"Yeah, and they worked so well when she was shot." He said sarcastically. Jaina gave him a small smile and he felt his heart thump a little harder. He had always loved her smile, probably because she didn't use it nearly enough. He had thought that after everything she had been through in the last 10 years at least, that she would finally be able to find some peace. Jag was starting to think she wasn't allowing herself any peace, but he had been reluctant to say that to her.
"I guess it doesn't hurt to have a jedi around in that case." She said, breaking into his thoughts. He nodded, but didn't say anything. Right now, he was just happy to have her sitting in the same area and not biting his head off. It was a rare occurrence these days and he intended to take advantage of it. She was dressed in her flight suit today, which meant she had been working over at the academy with some of the new pilots. Sometimes he envied her that she still got to fly, but he honestly liked what he was doing. Every once in a while he and his uncle would go jump in the simulators just to let off some steam, but it wasn't the same.
"Jag?" He looked up and found her staring at him.
"Sorry, took a little trip there." He told her quietly.
"S'ok. I should probably go now." Jaina added hurriedly and stood. Jag mirrored her actions and when she started to walk towards the door he gently grabbed her arm. She didn't turn around to look at him, but he wasn't offended. It just meant she was trying to hide her feelings.
"You know that anytime you need to talk I'm here. Don't you?" He asked quietly. Jaina finally turned to look at him and he saw confusion in her eyes. "Despite everything that has happened between us Jaina, I'm still your friend."
She searched his eyes for a moment, then nodded and pulled out of his grasp. He didn't move until the door closed behind her, then he plopped down on the couch and closed his eyes. He could run five miles a day and not be winded, but just one short talk with Jaina made him feel like a rookie all over again. Some things never changed.
/____________________________________\
