Level 3201. It was as bleak and deserted as she remembered it being the last time she was down this far. Kai stepped off of her speeder and kicked the trash that blew onto her boot from the wind off, and it fluttered out of her view. She was near the train track, so the breeze was no surprise. It was always kicking up all sorts of garbage. That was just the reality of where she stood.
She caught a glimpse of purple, Layla, leaning against her own small ship, drinking out of flask, her purple lekku twitching in that familiar way she grew accustomed to with Rayfe.
"It took you long enough to get here." Layla complained and Kai simply rolled her eyes at her dry tone.
"I am literally two minutes late. That's it. I didn't necessarily want to have a run in with the authorities on my way, so I took a minor detour."
"What issue would you even have with them?" Layla questioned as she opened the ramp. "Isn't your sweet little self protected by the Republic now? You wouldn't be arrested."
Kai laughed as she set her rifle down and her bag with everything she'd need for the mission. "Maybe, but just imagine the timethat would have taken. They would have had to contact a Jedi, and that would have easily taken the rest of the day." She exaggerated the word and looked over at Layla, fluttering her eyelashes. "I would have been even more late, and you wouldn't have liked that."
Layla growled at her a little and finally rolled her eyes as she walked up into the cockpit and Kai followed her with a snicker.
As Layla started up her ship, Kai made herself comfortable in the chair across from hers, and watched her movements with half of her attention. They were able to take off very quickly and soon were up in the upper levels of Coruscant, and Kai finally came back after spacing out. Layla punched in the numbers and coordinates for where they were going and as she was doing that, Kai tilted her head.
"Tatooine? Ah, kriff why do we have to go there? It's so dry, and I always have so much sand in my clothes. It's for like, weeks afterwards too." She complained and Layla glared at her, though there was no real heat behind it.
"You and I both know if someone is trying to hide themselves from the universe, then Tatooine is as good a place as any. It's barren, hard to travel through with the dust storms and the towns are small and far apart. And then there's the locals to deal with. It's a good defense for most people."
Kai waved her off with a grumble and settled back in the chair, leaning her head against the backrest. "Yeah, yeah I know. I just had to complain. It's my duty as your partner in this little endeavor. Give me a little room, would you?"
The ship was bathed in flashing lights as they hurtled towards their destination and it was then that Layla turned to her, pressing a last few buttons.
"Alright, I'll give you room. If you tell me what happened to Rayfe. What, did you two break up or something? I don't see that happening exactly." She asked, her dark brown eyes curious as she pulled out an electrical cigarette.
Kai looked up at the ceiling as she pondered her next words. In reality it didn't hurt as bad to think the words in her mind, but when they had to be spoken out loud, those seemed to hurt worse. She should probably just be blunt, right? There was no way to heal an injury if you didn't just rip the bandage off, clean and stitch it.
"No…Rayfe is...he's dead." She said quietly and Layla was surprisingly quiet. Kai's gaze was to the floor so she didn't see the incredibly rare sight of sympathy in her eyes. "What happened?" Layla asked quietly, the entire cockpit seeming far too quiet.
Kai closed her eyes, the memories still very painful. "It was a retrieval mission for some well-to-do lord of an estate, and he knew we were less…criminal than other bounty hunters. We honestly probably only got that job because of Ozan's reputation, not our own. But we went in to retrieve the item, and when we were on our way out, it all just… went south. Even with the planning we did beforehand. We never knew where the sniper was."
Layla hummed a little as she pulled out the knife on her belt. She didn't use a vibro-knife or anything of that sort, instead opting to use a good old-fashioned metal knife, one that required constant care and sharpening. The cuts were perhaps not as deep as a vibro-knives would be, due to its intense vibrations but she prided herself on her accuracy and finesse. "He protected you, didn't he? That's how he died."
Rayfe's eyes reflected in her mind and she opened her own eyes and looked out the front of the ship, her jaw tight. His eyes were still so warm and vivid in her memory. People often said loved ones who passed on would eventually fade from their memory, but it seemed to her like he'd be with her forever. She could recall every different shade of brown in his eye, and the creases his nose made when he smiled. "Yeah, he did. He protected me and died because of it." She sighed and shook her head. "The stupid man. I don't know why he'd do that. I was shorter than him. At that angle I maybe would have survived."
Layla raised a brow at her. "That's a lie and you know it. You would have died." She said bluntly as she dragged the stone along the blade. "And you want to know why he put himself between you and the sniper?" She asked and Kai looked over, her brows creased.
Layla shook her head, and her lekku twitched once. "You can be incredibly dense sometimes, I swear. You're legitimately wondering why he saved you. It's because he looked at you, like you were the reason the galaxy still spun, like you were the one that placed every star in the sky. You were everything to him. It's far too adorable for me, really quite revolting" She said, and Kai knew she was teasing, "and I wonder why you two didn't get married sooner."
She didn't truly mean it was revolting. It was maybe a bit too sickeningly sweet at times, when she used to be around them, but truth be told, she wished to find someone one day that would look at her the way he had looked at like Kai.
Would they look at her with the same warmth and fondness in their eyes?
Would they protect her with their dying breath? She'd like to think so. She'd also like to know where in galaxy's name they were, because she was lonely.
"Revolting, huh?" Kai asked, her voice quiet and a bit rough but she had a small smile on her face. She knew exactly what Layla was thinking. It was a bit odd how well they could read each other, but she supposed sometimes it was like that. Sometimes you just connected with people.
"Absolutely. And you would have made a good couple, I guess. But I'm sorry that happened. That's…messed up. That shouldn't have happened. It's always the good ones." She was silent for a while after that, and the mood settled into comfortable silence. It was the necessary silence to mourn the loss of a good person.
It was then that her eyes lit up and Kai stared at her warily. When Layla looked like that, you never could predict the next words out of her mouth.
"So, not to rush things or anything like that, but do you have a boyfriend now? Bo thinks you do" She asked, and Kai's cheeks flushed red. Bo didn't know how to keep his mouth shut, and she was going to have to talk to him about that.
Layla knew she had won. Kai didn't blush hardly ever. So, if she was doing that now, then her hunch was correct.
Kai threw up one hand and rolled her eyes. "Layla! Where on earth would I find a boyfriend? I'm still hectic and busy, all the time! It's not like I have time to find one."
Layla rolled her eyes and took another pull of her cigarette. "Oh please, you're in the middle of a clone army. I've seen some of those boys at 79ers. Some may be a bit…too clean cut and boring for me, but there's a few that have caught my eye. They're not too bad looking. I wouldn't blame you, if you have found one."
Kai narrowed her eyes at her statement. "Which ones caught your eye?"
Layla narrowed her own eyes. "I'll answer the question, only if you answer mine. We're not making this about me, I know your tricks."
Kai rolled her eyes and put out a hand and when Layla passed the cigarette she took her own pull. "Ok, whatever. Yeah, I am getting pretty close with one of the captains. His name is Rex. We work a lot together but, I don't know." Kai looked down at her hands, and picked at a nail. She took another drag. "He's, just different from Rayfe, obviously, but he still has that warmth and kindness about him. And of course, he's attractive, I'd have to be blind to not see that. He has nice eyes." She finished lamely and Layla burst out laughing.
"Oh, you've got it bad! Look at you fallin' in love with a soldier. Big bad scary Kai is going get all weak in the knees again."
Kai swiped at her and tossed the cigarette which Layla caught with a gasp and a curse. If that dropped, it'd break and Kai knew that. "Alright, I answered your questions. So, answer me now. What clones are in your unfortunate clutches? Maybe I can save them."
Layla rolled her eyes. "Alight fine. He's usually in grey, and I think he has a fake eye. A wicked scar to go with it. He's pretty serious though, I've maybe seen him smile twice and that was after quite a few drinks. The other one, I don't know, he was in blue, with a red mark on his shoulder. A weird haircut though, I'm not sure what I thought of it. Lightning bolts and everything. But I just saw them briefly when I was grabbing a drink. I left when it got more crowded."
Kai snickered and rolled her eyes. "Wolffe and Kix, huh. Well Wolffe is one of the grouchiest clone commanders I know, but he's insanely smart and cares about his team so I can't fault him. And Kix is the medic of the group I work with the most. He's a really good mean. I'd actually approve of him, with you. He's got a really good heart. Maybe you two could settle down somewhere nice, have a farm." Kai wiggled her eyebrows and Layla got up from her chair.
"Okay that's enough for now, I'm going to stock up on ammo for everything. You're not setting me up with any of them. It was just an observation. Goodbye!" Layla hightailed it out of the room and it made Kai start laughing as she sat back in the chair.
She stopped laughing after a few moments and her hum became thoughtful. She had never really put her feelings into words until she had asked her. It wasn't like she really had anyone to talk to. Bo was pretty busy most of the time, and plus they didn't talk about stuff like this together. Ozan was unavailable but she was considering having a few words with the Jedi. They had to let her talk to him. So that left just her, and Layla apparently, and now that it was out of her mouth, out in the expanse of space it seemed far more solid.
He was a good man, even if he was nothing like Rayfe. Of course, he wasn't going to be. That was naive and foolish to think that. Just because she had fallen in love with him, and he had been her first love didn't mean that every man after that would be the same. Of course, he'd be different.
She had to admit sitting here, hurtling amidst the stars, she missed Rex. In reality she missed the whole group. She wouldn't go so far as to say that they were her family, but they were very important to her. Ozan was her family and he would be for the rest of his life, that was indisputable.
But she was lonely. She was so used to the noise and bustle of the base, that sitting her in silence and solitude was…lonely.
She supposed there was no use in sitting there doing nothing so she did her best to clean up the space she was in, and she sat down in the pilot's seat, her fingers ready as they quickly approached the destination.
She tapped the comm. "We have two minutes to atmosphere, are you coming back up or just staying down there?"
"I'm not quite done yet, put us down and I'll strap in down here." Layla answered and she nodded, the whole ship lurching a minute amount as they hit the atmosphere. She flew towards where they were supposed to be and gave a low whistle at the sandstorm covering the entire area. There was no way they could land and survey the nearby area, and she growled lightly in frustration. If this thing had just gotten started there was a potential it could last at least a day. She entered the atmosphere and the winds buffeted the entire ship.
"I'm going to put us down on the side of a rock formation, until this storm passes over. So, prepare for a bit of a bumpy ride until we get down there. It's going to mess with the radar just a bit."
They both knew this and Layla voiced her agreement, and she watched the radar carefully as they slowly come closer to the ground. A particularly strong gust of wind hit their ship and rocked them alarmingly close to a rock outcropping and she guided the ship under it and engaged the landing gear and they settled underneath, the ship groaning with the wind. She powered down the ship and got up and made her way downstairs.
"Yeah, we're going to be here for a while. It's pretty bad out there." She muttered and Layla groaned and kicked the wall.
"So much for trying to get in and out quick. I don't like having to wait." She rolled her eyes, and slammed the lid of a crate down.
"I would say we should go as the wind is calming down but if we're doing a long-distance shot, we won't make it with the wind. We have to wait. And depending on how the dunes have shaped, we may be able to get it from above."
That was the thing with desert planets. You could never depend on the landscape to stay the same. Kai jerked her thumb at the small bunk Layla had on the side of the ship.
"If you don't mind I'm going to take a nap for a while. Training has been really rough and I could use the catch up." She explained and Layla rolled her eyes and teased her about the "training" even as she nodded.
Kai ignored her and laid down, checking her chrono, and she was shocked to see a message from Rex. She made sure Layla wasn't looking because she knew she'd hear something about it, and she opened it.
~~Everything is going well here. You?~~
Kai smiled a little bit as she processed what this meant. He had an extremely busy schedule which means he remembered to text her and felt the need to do so. That was uncharacteristic of him, and she had to admit her chest warmed.
~~We were going to head after the target, but there's a big sandstorm. So, we had to wait.~~
The reply came very quickly and it was short.
~~ I'm sorry to hear that.~~ And that made her snort.
That was the slightly awkward Rex she knew.
~~We'll be fine. It gives me a minute to catch up on some sleep.~~
Her comm buzzed again.
~~Then I'll let you go. Please message me when the mission is complete.~~
She smiled as she rolled onto her other side and she closed her eyes, holding the comm device closed. It was kind of nice to have someone message her, and ask how she was doing. It was different, and it was a good kind of different.
She sighed long and loud and took deep breaths, until she felt herself start to relax and she slowly slipped into sleep, not waking again until Layla shook her shoulder.
"It's time to go." She woke Kai up, giving her time to stretch and get her bearings. The storm calmed down quite a bit and they suited up, and grabbed ammo.
The door opened and Kai slid the scarf above her mouth and nose, keeping the sand out, and they walked up the dune, and slid out their binoculars. They laid down on their stomachs and checked out the area.
The town they were looking for was about two klicks out and was unfortunately surrounded by a large flat area, which made close cover impossible.
"What do you think? We could use the new scope we have and take a shot from that west dune." Layla nodded, her lekku covered by a large headscarf. Kai took the binoculars and took in the information.
"It'll be a stretch, but we might make it, now the the wind has gone down. But we don't have many shots. They'll know where the shot comes from and they'll send speeders."
Layla grinned at her. "Well then, it's a good thing that you'll be on the southern dune and I'll be on the eastern, and we'll both shoot at the same time. Then they won't know the direction and our communication should be fine with no interruptions. And you'll take the gun with heavier fire. You always did like being the distraction, so I doubt you'll complain."
She was completely right. Kai had nothing to complain about. Well, maybe except for the necessary hike on foot, to the sides of the town.
That was something Kai was never going to change. If there was a possibility of a speeder there was no way she was going to stay silent. What fun would that be?
