Kess plunged onto Pad 14 beside Chewbacca and pealed from his furry flank to march into the managers' office alone.
"Commander Antilles, sir!" (silly salute) "We need to launch 'The Bucket' asap."
Wedge hardly had a chance to lean back in the Big Chair to listen to her before he nodded at her finished statement. He motioned a finger for Ashten to jump and go. Kess and Ashten trotted back across the Pad where Chewie was already standing in the cockpit overhead to initiate power up.
The repair team filed into their synchronous choreography around the Falcon to prep the ship. Repair dragged over hoses to top off fuel, water, and lube. Another pair checked the power charge connection and autofoam levels. Ashten walked the circumference verifying exterior panels were secure while Kess referenced the current repair requests.
Nearby, Threepio and Artoo waddled and rolled with stuffed duffel bags. Lando muttered from a datapad over which Luke and Han were hunched secretively over to listen. Leia marched in to join them, trailed by an entourage of admins. Han poked his head out of the mess to shout at Kess. "Well?"
Kess looked over the repair list and reported with reluctance, "She's broke, Cap."
Leia's scowl poked out from the crowd.
"How broke?" Han returned, insulted.
"The opto-electrics came up red," Kess said as she approached them. She fell naturally in place at Luke's flank and handed over the repair list to Han. "No navigation corrections in hyperspace."
"In and out," he grumbled and grabbed the report from her. "That's all we need."
"You always say that, and it never turns out to be true."
Leia shot a quiet order to Threepio. "Get together a bag for Lieutenant Lendra as well."
Luke, calmly, raised his voice over the hubbub. "Belay that, Threepio."
Lando's head bounced up. Han's brows knitted. Chewie growled a question. Threepio swiveled his head back and forth five times between the powerful pair of twins.
Leia turned both her feet to her brother, angling a haughty head at his defiance. "I can get her brother myself."
Luke angled a confident eyeball back to his sister, cool but firm. "That's not why."
Incidentally, standing between the bodies of the Jedi Master and the Minister of State, Kess drew her shoulders meekly to her ears and ducked her head.
Leia inhaled like a dragon about to breathe fire—
Luke was calm, "It would be foolish to send my only Jedi back up with me on a mission into hostile territory."
Leia's tone was quietly controlled. "She is not your only Jedi back up—
Luke interrupted her, undeterred. "Until a second apprentice graduates from training, she is my only back up."
The stare down between Luke and Leia lasted only a few seconds more but it was enough to silence everyone in the vicinity. Kess was the only one with the Force empathy skill to know it wasn't about to come to blows, but she kept her head ducked just the same.
Finally, Leia turned her chin and muttered a new order at Kess. "Please ensure they have all the tools on board for any repair-in-air that may be necessary."
"Yes, ma'am."
Kess jumped into action to get away from the discussion, thanking the Force she received an order to which she had no problems complying. She had no idea where she'd find a T10-38 at lightspeed, which was about how much time she had. She racked her brain looking around for ideas on what could she get him that would help, but not so much as the weigh down the ship's speed. With a permissive nod from Wedge, she dove into the tool locker to review what Pad 14 had to offer that the Millennium Falcon couldn't live without.
Duct tape.
Twenty minutes later in the Falcon's cockpit, Han wrapped the headset over his ears and leaned over the console to peak up at Pad 14's stone ceiling. "Ashten! Open the door, will ya?" Chewie worked in the co-pilot's seat to wake the ship into a playful purr. Lando sidled in, still talking to someone on a commlink to put things on hold until he returned. Luke stopped at the cockpit door and called back to Artoo if he'd downloaded his correspondence.
It was a zoo. Everyone was on task to get the job done. Kess unloaded an armful of tools into a bin with a clatter. As she brushed her hands, her eyes caught on Luke in the corridor, who was now closing his mouth to stare at her in the same realization.
He's leaving again. He wasn't home for a standard day and he's leaving again.
The ship began to whine. They heard the clunk as cargo bay doors secured for take-off. Luke broke the stare first, but Kess was distracted too when Leia passed her with a gentle order. "Let's go say goodbye."
Kess followed only to stop in the corridor. Her hand touched one edge of the cockpit door. Luke dropped a shoulder to lean against the other. They had their own silent conversation while Leia bid farewell to the crew inside.
"Be safe," Leia said.
"We'll be back before you know it," Han assured.
Luke and Kess stared at each other, and both began to grin in sadness. Nothing needed to be said. Their emotions matched. Point for point.
Kess stepped into him, wrapping her arms around his body and hugged the stuffing out of him. Luke held her body just as tightly, pressing his eyes closed at her temple. He swallowed hard. She bit her lips. They smashed themselves together for five full heartbeats before relaxing and releasing. Then, with shaky sighs and knowing nods, they separated again.
Time to go to work.
Luke met Leia's gaze, for now his sister in the corridor behind Kess and pretending to wander away. But Leia was peaking a beat longer with a warm grin at the visible affection between the two. Luke brushed off the spike of embarrassment enough to look Kess in the eye, even with his sister watching. He mouthed the words. I love you.
Her eyes glowed. "Don't get shot." But her eyes said more than those words. And Luke knew now that the reflective emotion behind them was there each and every time she had uttered those words before.
Renewed, Luke smiled and stepped into the cockpit, reluctant to let her fingers slip from his grip, yet somehow ready to take on the entire Empire by himself.
With a hard sigh, Kess left them to their adventure and turned to rush out of the ship. She yelled at Artoo to be safe as she trotted through the bay, securing hatches and bins as she took the long way around to the ramp.
Combat boots skidded hard when she found the Leia blocking her exit.
Leia's weight leaned onto one foot, arms crossed at her chest. Gun-barrel eyes aimed at the repair engineer.
Kess slowed her feet and raised her right hand, already launching into sincere apologies. "I was re-ass'ed to Gold Group and the Falcon a civilian ship so Ashten had to—
"Shut up," Leia snapped with a grin.
Kess bit her upper lip and naturally found herself standing at attention. She wondered suddenly if this was about a sister being protective of a brother. Surely Leia must haven't known about them before now.
"Since my brother listens to you, it would stand to reason that your brother might listen to me."
"Um," Kess rattled her head in the vague direction of a nod. "Probably."
"Good." Leia dropped into a conversational tone, ignoring the fact that they were standing on the ramp of a ship that was whining high for lift off. "Mon Mothma told me once that Obi Wan Kenobi didn't like politicians. Said they don't play fair like Jedi commit themselves to do."
Kess shrugged to agree to that observation from several angles. "Yeah, uh, grandpa was pretty opinionated about that."
"In that light," a clean brow flicked with evil pleasure. "I don't have to play fair." Leia met her eye. "Not yet."
Kess's face paled to see the 'Vader' blood truly flowing through Leia veins for the first time.
Threepio came waddling up the gangway with one more sea bag and plopped it in the corridor. Kess squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced at what was coming next.
Leia's Force Print flowered with equal parts mischief and wrath. "Sit down. Shut up. Strap in, and get them home."
The air solidified in Kess's lungs like autofoam hitting hull breach.
With that, Leia marched down the gangway with Threepio waddling at her flank. The woman banged her palm twice on the outer hull to signal all non-essential crew had disembarked. From inside the cockpit, someone flicked the switch to bring up the ramp.
Kess paused with indecision. The steel toes of her boots hovered over the joint as the long tongue slowly enclosed her. If she darted out now, she could fall on her back and roll off to Pad 14 duracrete deck before the Falcon munched her. But, for the split second she had to choose, the debate played out.
The Minister of State was second in command of all enforcement agencies in the Alliance, including the military. By UCMJ code pertaining to the Chain of Command, Lieutenant Lendra had to follow her orders regardless of any ranks between them who might argue otherwise. Besides, Kess knew this ship better than any non-crewmember, so she was the best repair choice to make sure The Bucket brought The Boys home safely.
Yet the Jedi Master's argument was equally valid. Not that Kess felt she could fill his shoes if something happened to Luke, she would at least try to complete his Jedi Guild mission as best she could. But it was his Direct Order to his sister only minutes ago that gave Kess further pause. Luke didn't want her to go, whether it was for the reasons he stated in public or some personal fear of her safety, it didn't matter. Luke didn't want her to go.
And Kess didn't want to defy him just as powerfully as she didn't want to defy his sister.
As the engines whined awake and the gangway slowly closed her in, Kess took a moment to close her eyes and listen to the Force.
Go.
Her eyes opened to the shutting gangway. She turned steel toes away from the exit ramp and stepped silently to the game table to strap herself in.
That the Minister of State ordered her wasn't going to be much of a defense against the Jedi Master or the Smuggler Captain. Kess winced at the explosive reaction she was going to get when Solo found a stowaway on his ship. Luke's would certainly be disappointed that Leia blatantly outranked him, and more disappointed that Kess chose Leia's order over Luke's.
But that wasn't her biggest worry.
As she listened to the mooring lines cut off, Kess pulled Gold Eight's half finished custom oil valve flange from her breast pocket. She fidgeted with in her fingers at the table with a sick grin, then dropped her whole head down on her forearms with a grimacing whine. "I am so fired!"
