Chapter 13: Incorporating

Kal stood there in shock for a moment. All this time Kira had been missing, and not only had Senya known about it, but she was the one to cause it. He clenched his fist in anger but then quickly relaxed his hand.

As angry as he was, Senya had been loyal to him and the Alliance so far. He had to hear her out with an open mind… not let anger cloud his judgement.

Lana and Kal's eyes met. They exchanged a nonverbal talk with one another and came to an understanding.

Lana reached over and gently grasped Kira's arm.

"Kira, let us hear her out before we start offing people, alright?"

Kira looked at Lana and then Kal. Kal shook his head, showing he agreed with Lana. Kira gave out a humph in annoyance and deactivated her lightsaber.

"Fine! Speak!" Kira demanded of Senya.

Kal sighed and brought his hand to his head before shaking it briefly. "Not the way I would have put it but yes, please do explain Senya."

"Very well. As you know I still worked as a Knight years ago. I was brought on as a guard for the ship they used to transport you, Commander, to your new prison. When the ship was attacked, I did my duty and subdued the invader."

"I understand that Senya. What I'm asking is, why didn't you tell me about any of this before now?"

"Well Commander, I truly didn't realize who that woman was that invaded my ship. All I remember is doing my job and capturing the intruder. After she was locked up, I didn't give it any more thought. My job was done, no need to go past that.

"Yet every time you talked about her it always sounded vaguely familiar. You'll recall I tried to have you give me more information on your wife, soon after we first met on the Gravestone."

Kal thought back to their time on the Gravestone right after they had fled from Zakuul. Thinking back, he does remember a conversation with her about Kira before it got interrupted by Koth and their arrival at Asylum.

"You're right, you did try to talk with me about this before."

Kal looked at Senya and gave her a genuine smile.

"Alright no harm done then. Thanks for watching over her," he said pointing at Kira. "And sorry about the bump she gave you."

"No problem Commander."

Senya looked at Kira and saw that Kira was still upset. It was obvious with how her face looked while looking at her.

"I can see that you're still upset with me. I'm sorry about what happened, but the past is the past. I hope we can move forward and work together in the future."

Kira softened her stance and hard ass attitude a bit in response and gave Senya a nod.

"I'll be going Commander. Let me know if you need me for anything else."

"I will, thanks Senya."

She gave him a nod and walked off. Kal walked back over to Kira and Lana.

"I know this might be difficult but please try to get along. We all want the same things here," he said to Kira.

Kira stared at him for a few seconds before sighing. "For you, I'll try."

Kal smiled at her. "That's all I'm asking for."

Kira smiled back then looked at her surroundings. "So, where are we exactly?"

"We're in the Alliance's base on Odessen," Lana answered.

His smile faltered as he thought of the time she had lost.

"Things have changed since you've been gone," Kal continued with.

"And they didn't change for you?" she asked with a sad smile.

"I've had time to adjust to it at least, you're fresh out the gate."

She nodded her head in understanding.

"You're going by Commander now?" she asked with a smirk on her face.

"Well, this Alliance is his. And as the leader of this Alliance, he was going to require a proper title," answered Lana.

"Lana how many times do we have to go through this?"

"As many times as it takes for you to realize that I am right," she said sternly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Kira gave a slight giggle at the parley between the two.

"Well, if it is all the same to you," Kira said looking at Kal, "I think I'll stick with tough guy. Has a better ring to it I feel," she said with a smirk.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Kal answered.

"Come on, tough guy," she said wrapping her left arm around his right. "You can show me this new base of yours and catch me up on what I've missed."

"Gladly."

They had walked forward a few steps when Kal turned and noticed Lana wasn't following them.

"Lana, are you coming?" he asked looking at her still standing there.

"I don't want-"

"Lana," he said commandingly.

He reached out with his left hand and waited for her to take it.

"Right…" she said before she caught up with them and grabbed Kal's hand. The trio then proceeded to take a tour of the base.

"Always… interesting to speak with Doctor Oggurobb," Kira said as they exited the lab.

"Ha, interesting isn't quite the word I would use," responded Kal.

Lana merely rolled her eyes at the two of them.

"So, what's next on the-" Kira began to say before she heard an energetic beeping.

"T7!" she exclaimed happily when she saw who was making all the beeping.

Meanwhile T7 was happily spinning in circles. Kira ran over to him and crouched down in front of him.

"Hey there little buddy," she said while running her hand along his head. "It's good to see you. I've missed you."

"T7 = missed you too / Reunion = unexpected / T7 = happy"

"I'm sorry I left you. I shouldn't have done that," she said somberly.

"Kira = forgiven / T7 = happy Kira alright"

"Thank you."

Kal walked over and put a hand on Kira's shoulder.

"T7 helped rescue me from Arcann."

"Did you now? Well, aren't you a little hero?" Kira said affectionately.

"Galaxy = needs Jedi / T7 + Jedi = unstoppable team / T7 + Jedi = defeat Arcann"

"You know it! Now I'm going to continue showing Kira around, you two can catch up later."

"T7 = acknowledged / Kira = have fun"

T7 said his goodbyes then rolled off towards his original destination.

"It was… good to see T7 again…." She trailed off thinking about the old crew. "Have you found anyone else yet?"

"No word on Doc or Rusk yet."

"And Scourge?" she asked raising an eyebrow at his deliberate leaving out of Scourge.

"He… he's working for Arcann to try and kill me. Tried to stop me while I was rescuing you actually."

Kira slammed her fist into her other hand.

"I knew he couldn't be trusted! Can't ever trust those evil blasted Sith!" she stopped after realizing what she said. "Lana, I'm sorry. I didn't mean you-"

"It's alright," she said waving off her concerns. "My colleagues have never much lent themselves to building a good reputation. The one they have now is most assuredly deserved."

"You know I trust you, 100 percent Lana," said Kal. He looked at Kira and then amended his statement. "We trust you, 100 percent."

"Yes, we do," Kira quickly said agreeing with his statement.

"I know but thank you both," she said giving them both an assured smile.

Kira smiled back at her and reattached herself to Kal's side.

"Next up I think we'll stop by the Enclave," Kal said listing their next destination.

"Actually, I was hoping we could check out your quarters. I'd like to see if you've come up in the world since the room on the ship," Kira said voicing her opinion.

"Oh… yeah, yeah we can do that," Kal said taken by surprise for a moment.

Lana gave Kira a knowing smirk before she walked over and whispered something into her ear. Kira blushed lightly before giving her a thanks.

"I should really be getting back to work." She gave Kal a quick kiss then broke away from the two. "Have fun you two!" she said walking towards the command center.

The two walked into his quarters and the door shut behind them.

"It's a little larger than the room on-"

Kal was cut off from his explanation as Kira took control of his mouth. She was aggressive in her pursuit to the point that he was slowly being backed up until he hit the wall.

He let out a light oomph to which Kira gave out a breathy sorry before resuming her assault on his lips. Kal had his hands resting on her hips while hers were slung around his neck. He moved his lower until they were resting on her rear end.

Kal lifted her into the air, and she wrapped her legs around his midriff. Kal broke the two apart as they both panted heavily.

"You know the bed is over there." He motioned while still holding on to her to the bed behind her.

Kira gave a quick look over her shoulder before turning back to Kal.

"We'll get to it… eventually," she said before she overlapped his lips with her own once more.

Lana was working at the command center when a worker walked up to hand her a report.

"Here's that report you were asking for Ma'am."

"Thank you. That'll be-" She stopped as a light blush overtook her, and she bent over slightly at the sensations assaulting her.

"Ma'am?" the worker questioned. "Are you alright?"

Luckily, she had been able to hold her moan in, not knowing how she could live with the embarrassment if she hadn't.

"I'm fine, sorry about that." She straightened up. "That'll be all."

The worker gave her a salute. "Yes Ma'am." Then they walked off.

'Well, that was a surprising… 'perk'… of the bond.'

Lana reached in and shut off her connection to the bond temporarily, knowing that if she didn't, it would be impossible to get any of her work done.

Kal and Kira were laying down on the bed with not a piece of cloth around them to be seen. Kira, lying her head down on his chest, was running her left hand along his body. She had seemed to focus on the scar over his gut.

"I got that one from Arcann," Kal said breaking the silence between the two of them.

Kira stopped her motions and Kal felt sadness seeping through the bond.

"What's wrong?" he asked her while pulling her closer to him.

"It's just… I used to know everything about you. I knew every scar on your body and where you got it from. Seeing this… just reminded me of how much I truly lost."

"I'm sorry. If I hadn't gotten myself captured by Arcann, none of this would have happened."

"No," she said looking up from his chest. She raised her hand and rested it on his cheek. "None of this is your fault. If you blame yourself then I must blame myself for getting captured. Do you want me to do that?"

"No of course not."

"Then stop trying to shoulder everyone's burdens. You try to carry all of the galaxy's problems on your shoulders. It's alright to let some of us help you bear that burden."

"I know."

Kira looked at him, then gave an angry humph, and laid her head back down on his chest.

"You say that but you don't mean it. You'll continue like you are the only one who can."

Kal didn't respond, not wanting to confirm that she was correct. The two fell into a silence for a while, just enjoying being near each other again after so long.

"Kal… did… did you ever get my message?" she asked, afraid of the answer she might hear.

"Yeah, I did, and I don't care what you did."

"You don't-"

"I was never a very good Jedi. The fact that we're lying here proves that."

Kira gave a light laugh at that and snuggled in closer to him.

"I had to force myself to stay in the light. Had to always fight my instincts and do what I thought was proper of a Jedi, but after what happened on the Emperor's space station, I realized I wasn't meant to be a Jedi.

"I'm always going to want to keep helping people, but the Jedi code and I don't mix well. Neither do I and the Sith code. I'm… different. Something more in the middle of the two. I've done some bad things… terrible things, and I'm going to do more before my time is up. So, the things you did? No, I don't care about that. What I care about is you."

She squeezed him so tightly he was worried she might break a rib.

"I care that this is eating you up inside. And I'm worried about you falling to the dark side, and not because it's the dark, but because it's not you. You were never meant to join the dark side. You have a light heart through and through. When what we do requires a touch of the dark let me and Lana handle that. And you'll be there to be our light. To make sure we never go too far."

"But what if I can't get you back to the light? What if I can't get back to the light? What if I falter?"

"Then I'll be there to put you back on track, every step of the way."

Kira raised her head once again and grabbed his head before giving him a gentle kiss.

"I love you, so so much."

"I love you too, Kira."

Switching to lighter topics, Kal asked her "So what did Lana whisper to you anyways?"

"Well," she said in a sing song tone as she rose and straddled him. "She told me how she was making an executive decision and putting you on mandatory vacation time for the next two days."

Kira bent down and kissed him sweetly.

"We have a lot of lost time to make up for and two days isn't a whole lot of time to do that, so we better get started. Think you're up for the challenge, tough guy?" she asked with a smirk.

Kal responded by putting his hands on her hips and flipping her over until she was lying underneath him, all the while she was giggling. He started to work on making up for that lost time.

For two days almost no one had seen hide nor hair of the Commander. Neither had Lana, who wanted to give the both of them some privacy for their reunion. Then the two of them showed up seemingly out of nowhere at the command center.

"Commander, welcome back," Lana said as way of greeting. "How was the vacation?" she asked with a knowing smirk as she looked over at Kira.

"It was wonderful," responded Kira. "Very… relaxing. You should take one soon."

"Hmm," she said as she looked over Kal. "Perhaps I will."

"I'll take you on a vacation whenever you want Lana. Now have I missed anything while I've been gone."

"Not much Commander," she said handing him a datapad. "It's been relatively quiet for once, let's hope it stays that way."

Lana looked around and once she made sure there was no one nearby who could hear she whispered, "Although there are rumors starting to fly about that the Commander ordered an execution. The pilots must have talked but right now they're just rumors, and no one can confirm that Kaliyo is dead. She usually stays off planet, so most people think she's just off world again."

Lana widened her eyes as she looked at Kira and realized she might have made a mistake and told her something she wasn't supposed to know. Kal caught onto her worries however and alleviated them.

"Don't worry I've caught Kira up as much as I could, about everything. We've come to an agreement. I come to you when we need to make a hard decision, and she stays back as our grounding rod. She'll make sure we never lose ourselves."

"Like Kal said he caught me up and I'm behind you two all the way. Always will be. I'll just be here to make sure you don't ever go too far."

"You don't think what happened with Kaliyo was too far?" Lana asked her genuinely curious.

"No. After what she did to those people on Zakuul… No, I think Kal did exactly what he needed to do. Sometimes bad people need to be put down permanently."

Lana smiled. "I'm glad you see it that way." Turning towards Kal she continued, "I don't think you need to worry too much about it Commander. I'll keep running interference as best I can, and Theron's offered to help. He might not really like what you did but he understands, and he'll do what he can to support you."

"Thank you, Lana, and thank Theron for me too."

"You're welcome. And Commander, if I might offer you some advice, I would come out and be frank about what you did and why. This Alliance is behind you. Being honest about what happened is probably for the best. These people trust and support you. This won't change that."

"Thanks. I'll think about it," he said seriously.

A voice interrupted their private conversation.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't sleeping beauty."

"Theron!" Kira exclaimed happily at seeing their old friend again. She ran over and gave him a quick hug.

"Nice to see you up and around this time. I would have said hello earlier, but someone decided to take an impromptu vacation on me."

"Well Theron, after waking up, me and Kal had a lot of issues to 'work' through. We really had to 'bang' out these problems 'laid' before us to get to the 'naked' truth," she said emphasizing as many parts of the innuendos as she could.

"Ok, you can stop," Theron said throwing his hands up in surrender. "I get your point."

"Actually, she was the one getting the point," Kal said joining in with Kira.

Lana rolled her eyes at that and muttered "The two of you are insufferable."

Kal and Kira looked at each other for a second, said, "We try," at the same time, and then laughed at their own synchronism.

"Nonetheless, it's good to see you again," Theron said giving a smile of his own. "I also bring along some more good news. I managed to track down one of your old pals."

Theron bent over the holotable and brought up a holo of an old friend of theirs.

"Provost Marshal Rusk has just finished and come off a classified mission for the Republic government. He commands the Dead Man's Legion, a rough and dangerous military unit made up of convicts."

"Convicts?"

"Yeah, apparently they give them a 'choice'," he said with air quotes. "Serve with the Legion or be in prison for the rest of their lives. Nice people the Republic government," he said looking back over the holo of Rusk.

"No government is perfect," Kira said trying to defend them. "But, yeah, this doesn't exactly look good."

"Well nevertheless if you want to speak with Rusk before the Republic puts him under another deeply classified mission, I would head out now. He and his squad are still stationed on Nar Shaddaa finished up loose ends."

"Well, I guess I know what I'm doing today," said Kal.

"We're doing today," corrected Kira. "I just got you back tough guy. I'm not letting you out of my sight anymore then I have to."

"Fine by me," Kal said giving her a smile.

"Then I'll do my best to keep things running until your return." Lana paused for a moment before adding on, "Also I don't think you should be going out there with just the two of you. Arcann still has a star fortress sitting over Nar Shaddaa. If you're going to go you should bring some guards."

"Guards will just attract attention, besides Kira and I survived this long with just the two of us watching over each other's backs."

"I know that I'm just-"

"Your concern is noted and appreciated but we'll be fine." When Kal saw Lana wasn't satisfied he added on, "Trust me."

Lana stared at him before breaking her eyes away and sighing.

"Saying that all the time isn't fair."

Kal cracked a smirk. "Who said I play fair?"

Lana didn't respond to that. She turned her head and saw Kira staring at her with an amused smile. "What?"

"Nothing, you're just cute when you're worried."

Lana blushed and began stumbling over her words, looking towards Kal.

Kal laughed at that. "Don't look at me. I was thinking the same thing, I just didn't say it."

"Can't believe I'm the one that has to come in and save Lana, but stranger things have happened," cut in Theron. "You don't have time to wait around all day, get moving Commander."

"Aye Aye Sir," Kal said giving a mock salute. "Come on Kira, we have a Legion to recruit."

"Coordinates are locked in. We'll be at Nar Shaddaa in a few hours, Master."

"I don't think I really qualify as your Master anymore Kira."

"Oh, I don't know," she said sliding up to him in the cockpit, "I rather like the name… don't you?" she asked cutely twisting her head.

Kal rested his hands on her hips and leaned down giving her a gentle kiss. They broke apart, smiles on their faces, and eyes locked on one another.

"Huh, reminds me of old times when we had to steal kisses when no one else was looking."

"Yeah, the secrecy was annoying at times," she said moving back in and stealing another quick kiss. She broke apart but kept her face close to his. Close enough that he could feel every breath she took. Looking at her, he watched her eyes lit up with mirth.

"But I think the secrecy and the exhilaration of being caught made it that much more… enticing," she breathed out against his lips.

She took a step back and put a finger up to her in mouth in an exaggerated thinking motion.

"I wonder how our bedroom is holding up. We should check on it," she said walking past Kal towards the cockpit door. She stopped when she got there and looked over her shoulder. "You know… for old time's sake," she said with a smirk, before she disappeared around the corner.

Kal couldn't stop the grin that was plastered on his face.

'She's going to be the death of me' he thought before he rushed off after her.

AN: I intended to get this out before I moved but didn't finish it in time. And then after I arrived my old keyboard's power cable decided to die on me. Oh well at least my new one got here quick.

Rusk's recruitment was meant to be in this chapter, and it was going to be a quick thing, but I had an idea that I could have him help Kal take down Nar Shaddaa's star fortress. So, a little teaser for what's coming next.

Something I forgot to write in the last AN was about Skadge. You may have noticed that I didn't mention him when talking about the bounty hunter's companions. In my universe, where the characters are allowed to reject companions they don't want, Skadge never made it off Belsavis with the bounty hunter. For simplicity's sake let's just assume he's dead, either on Belsavis or by Rusk offscreen for Rusk's classified mission.

Till the next one,

Magician

Published: 8/21/21