New chapter up. This one is on the lighter side. Enjoy.

Commander Malcom was having a good morning. He arrived at his office later than normal, since he had nothing on his calendar until the afternoon. He liked having empty mornings. It made his day feel less hectic and much shorter, not to mention he could take his time leaving his apartment. Mornings were always so much better if he could manage a cup or two of caf before actually having to function.

"Good Morning." He said to his assistant, Lillian, who was busy typing away on a datapad. She looked up and gave the Commander a welcoming smile. The human woman was in her late twenties, with long blond hair and blue eyes. She always dressed formally and made sure she looked professional. She was studying to be a senate aid and was proud to be the assistant of the supreme commander.

"Good Morning, Sir. You're late. Knight Wryn is waiting in your office for your appointment."

Malcom gave her a confused look, since he was sure he didn't have an appointment with the Jedi, but he didn't say anything, just nodded and entered his office.

The door closed behind him and he turned to find the Jedi currently laying on the small sofa along the side of the room. She had her eyes covered with her arm and her legs were swung over the arm of the sofa, so she was laying flat. It wasn't the most Jedi-like pose.

"Good Morning, Master Jedi." He said calmly, taking a seat behind his desk, as if walking into his office and finding a Jedi lounging on his sofa was an everyday occurrence. "I didn't think we had an appointment today."

"We don't." Kia replied, not moving.

"Then why does my receptionist seem to think we do?"

Kia removed her arm from her eyes and looked over at the commander, smiling slightly. "I might have cheated a little bit with her."

Malcom chuckled. Kia wasn't one to use Jedi mind tricks. She normally didn't agree with their use, unless the circumstances were dire. Malcom knew this from a conversation they had after one of their post mission debriefings. She had to use the technique on an enemy soldier and she felt conflicted about it, at the time.

"Okay. Then why, might I ask, did you feel the need to play with her mind?"

Kia pulled herself to a seated position and leaned back, allowing her head to rest on the back of the sofa. She closed her eyes. "I'm hiding."

"We're not really getting anywhere here, Kia. Just tell me what happened? Who are you hiding from?"

Kia remained silent for a few moment, but eventually pulled her head up and looked at the commander. "I just got back from my first spy mission for the SIS. You know, the one where I was playing wife to Agent Jonas Balkar."

"The director said the mission was a complete success. What could possibly have happened to make you feel you need to hide. In my office, of all places."

"Agent Balkar's feelings towards me were starting to shift from work related to more affection than I was comfortable with, so once our debriefing was done, I hurried over here. I never realized I was that good an actor."

Malcom nodded. "So, instead of telling Agent Balkar you weren't interested, you ran off and hid in my office."

"Exactly! I'm glad you understand." She replied, excited.

Malcom laughed. "So, why my office?"

"Because no one would come looking for me here. I'm sure you don't get very many random visitors, so it seemed the logical place. You don't mind, do you? I did make sure you weren't busy before butting in."

Kia could feel the commander was amused by her stunt. She figured he would be. Everyone else on Coruscant seemed intimidated by Jace Malcom. To be honest, he was an intimidating man. He was tall, strongly built and had the strong will and attitude to match his size. The scars didn't hurt the image, either. But Kia knew he was a nice guy, as long as you didn't do anything to get on his bad side. Regardless of all of it though, he was widely respected and liked by everyone, though not the type you just dropped in on without a good reason.

"I don't mind. You don't plan to live here all day, do you? I do have meetings this afternoon." He said. Kia could feel he was still in a jovial mood.

"Don't worry. I need to be in General Garza's office in about an hour, so I'll be out of your hair before anything on your schedule pops up. I checked with your receptionist while I was planting my fake appointment."

Kia gave Malcom a confused look at the emotions he was experiencing at her mentioning her plans with Graza.

"You know something about me meeting with Garza." Kia said, standing to face the commander. She had been given no details other than Garza needed to see her, which was odd.

"No I don't." He said blankly. If Kia hadn't been Force sensitive, she might have believed him. He had a very good poker face. Truth was, he had met with the general while Kia was still offworld and he knew exactly what was going on.

Kia huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're lying to me. You know I can tell when you lie. I could Force persuade you to tell me the truth, you know."

Malcom just shrugged, looking down at a datapad on his desk as he spoke. "No you can't. I've been told that trick only works on people with weak minds and my mind is far from weak. Give me your best shot." He looked up at her and smiled.

Kia glared at him for a few more moment, then sighed. "Fine, but I'm leaving. I don't have to take this from the likes of you."

Malcom could tell she was still being silly as she stormed out the door.

"Have a good day, Master Jedi." He yelled after her as the door closed. He could just make out the reply of "you too, Commander" before the door closed completely. Malcolm had to chuckle. Kia really was a unique person. Sometimes she was the stereotypical Jedi, all stoic and logical, but other times, she was almost sophomoric in her personality. Malcom found her amusing. It was nice she felt comfortable enough with him to joke around. Malcom had a feeling this was her way of venting her frustrations. Everyone had to have an outlet, it just turned out Kia's was more juvenile than most.

To Be continued...