I wake slowly from my sleep, the slight chill in the air brings a small smile to my face even as the darkness of my dream is chased away by the relative comfort of my surroundings.
It was a nice thought of Kirain to turn the temperature on the ship down a little bit. He doesn't like cold temperatures, partly cause it reminds him of the month he was stranded on Hoth and partly because he's simply not used to it. Tython rarely got cold enough for me to be truly comfortable, but that's kind of the point of being a Jedi.
Kirain doesn't believe in that kind of lifestyle, and I'm honestly not that surprised. The collection of... Stuff in the living quarters is quite impressive; ranging from a horrendously colored hat/bowl that smells faintly of Hutt to a holo of him, Lasseya, his father and mother that must have been taken almost ten years ago. Kirain looks so much younger and missing the characteristic scar across his right eye, Lasseya is sticking her tongue out at the holoprojector and his mother and father look, of not over joyed, then content with their lot.
The smell of Industrial-solvent grade caff tells me that Kirain is up and about and enjoying his morning rituals; shaving with an antiquated razor and drinking caff instead of drawing on the force to rejuvenate him. I have to remember to ask him why he does that, it can't be as efficent.
I slightly reluctantly get up and dressed. There isn't a whole lot to do at the moment, hyperspace travel is traditionally very boring and meditation in hyperspace always leaves me feeling slightly ill.
"Rough nights sleep?"
Kirain hasn't even looked up from his data pad. It's a strange bond we share, almost like master and apprentice but different at the same time.
"It was strange; There was an unnamed terror waiting in the darkness and only we had the power to stop it."
Kirain looked up from his datapad at this.
"Did you get any sense of urgency? As if whatever was about to happen was soon?"
Did he mean like a vision? Also why did he want to know specifically?
"We're heading to the Republic Fleet, Adil has ordered the Spectres to assemble."
***
"This is Denova, rich in resources considered key to the Republic military.
Due to our military forces being stretched to the limit, the defence of the planet was.. Contacted out.
"In normal speak that means mercs. My money is on someone out bidding the Republic"
The briefing officer obviously heard the comment from Kirain who is sat on my left.
"Do you have any questions or just providing a running commentary to the walking security risk?"
"I do actually; What resource are we talking about here?"
"Classified, but radiation and bio-hazards are not a concern here."
There is flash of annoyance from Kirain, the security risk is a valid concern but the way the briefing officer wielded it like a weapon was unfair. He makes a quick note on flimsiplast and sticks it into his pocket. I'm surprised that he writes with his left hand rather than his right.
"Your objective is simple; they are lead by a Warlord called Kephess.
You are to work through the defences and eliminate him."
"Why not just flatten the whole place from Space? It's sure to be full of bobby traps and nasty surprises."
"Orbital bombardment is not an option."
Kir nods and smiles a little bit to himself. To the untrained eye it looks like he's not paying attention to the rest of the briefing, but he's scanning through the intel on his datapad.
"So what did we make of that them?"
The briefing is already over, my chrono says that 10 minutes has past, did I really get that lost in looking at him.
"Light in any real details but the maps seem information rich enough."
"The resource is Baradium, that's why the Empire stuck their ugly nose in and why we can't flatten the place from space."
The voice is from a female trooper, another Mirialan like Commander Farstrider but I don't know her name.
"What's so special about it?"
My question sounds incredibly foolish.
"It's what gives missiles and thermal detonators their punch. Small amounts of it are very destructive.
Superheat large deposits of it with, say, a capital ship grade turbolaser and you could conceivably crack the planet in two.
I don't think even Chancellor Saresh and Master Shan could keep the Spectres a secret of we caused another Peragus."
***
"Be careful on this one Kirain, these mercs have a reputation, one that's well earned if the intel is to be believed."
"I read the exact same intel as you Vel, I'll be fine."
"Please..."
I don't know how to say it, something at the back of my mind knows that this Kephess is linked to the darkness of dream.
That's not the only thing that I want to say, Jedi shouldn't have emotional attachments; but there are times when I can't stop thinking about him and I don't know if its the bond or something else but I don't know what I'd do without him.
He walks over to where I'm stood. He looks as impressive as ever in this green and white "work clothes" as he calls them, but his expression is softer than normal.
"I'm coming back, I promise."
He pulls me in close. The last time he held me like this was after Kaon. Without thinking I push myself up onto my toes and kiss him on the cheek. Immediately I feel surprise roll of him.
"Oh I'm so sorry.. I thought that..."
I'm can feel the heat rising on my own cheeks. He smiles, slowly tilts my head up and kisses me softy on the lips. I never realized how much I wanted this until now, but it's over too quickly.
"I really have to go, but not even the Emperor himself will stop me coming back."
He steps away and turns to leave, I can feel the conflict in him, but he has a duty to his, our, fellow Spectres and the Republic.
