Chapter 17 – Secret

Telos was approaching. Less than an hour now… Atton was happy as a Selkath in water to be back in his own element – the cockpit. He had pushed Mira out the door every bit as brusquely as she had done with him. And when she tried to protest, he started rudely telling her off for letting him sleep for two days and thus preventing him from keeping Jena company as she recovered.

"All right, all right, I'm leaving!" she had exclaimed in irritation. "Jena, call off your kath hound, will ya?" she had yelled toward the main hold.

Atton shrugged, unconcerned. She'll get over it. He then sat down, put his feet up, and smiled, twirling a pazaak card between his fingers. Yeah, life is pretty good… He moved uncomfortably, trying to ignore the slight pang of guilt he had felt since Malachor. At least at this point I don't think I really need to make an effort to stay away from Jena. She knows how I feel, anyway. I could tell. There's only so much you can hide from someone you have a Force bond with. Besides, I don't know why I was being so paranoid earlier… all that crazy Sith Lord stuff is over; I'm not endangering her anymore. He frowned. At least, I hope I'm not… He got a weird nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach, much as he had experienced after she came back from the Ravager. Something was… off. Something was being kept from him. You know what, I'm just not going to worry about it. What happens, happens… I'll just let the Force guide… Dammit! There I go again!

He shook his head, then felt a fleeting presence behind him and heard the door close. He smiled. He recognized that presence. He turned and saw Jena, with most of her bandages gone, standing in the middle of the cockpit, grinning broadly and a little mischievously.

"Jena, what…"

He stopped short when he saw her starting to undo her robe. He dropped his pazaak card, his eyes opened wide and he swallowed. "Jena, what…" he repeated, watching her, unsure of what was going on. Her robe flopped down to the floor in a pile around her and he saw it – red and gold: she was wearing the dancer's outfit. He grinned, finally understanding.

"I figured that seeing as the other boys got to witness it the first time around, you could use a private showing… just so you're not jealous." She winked teasingly. He got up and took an eager step toward her. "Hey wait!" she protested, smiling seductively. "I haven't even gotten to the dancing part!"

He laughed. "Do you honestly think," he said covetously, walking briskly toward her, "that I care that much about the dancing?" He had forgotten all about his earlier worries – mostly on account of the fact that he was physically unable to think at that moment. He grabbed her face between his hands and pulled it toward him, kissing her savagely. "You little vixen," he whispered hoarsely between kisses. "Is this what they teach you at the Jedi Academy?" She giggled and threw her arms around him. He reached down and lifted her up, her legs wrapping themselves around his hips. He walked to the front of the cockpit and set her down on the control board. She giggled again.

"Are you sure I'm not going to somehow make us crash by being on here? What if I hit the wrong button?"

"Nah… It's on autopilot. You can't do a thing from where you're sitting."

She raised an eyebrow and smiled provocatively. "That's what you think," she said, grabbing a handful of his robe and pulling him back toward her. He ran his hands up to her back as he kissed her, blindly grasping for a clasp or a hook, anything at all, when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Dammit!" he muttered, irritated. Jena, looking every bit as provoked as he did, got up and ran to pick up her discarded robe, hurriedly putting it back on.

"Jena? Are you in there?" enquired Mical's voice on the other side of the door.

"Just a minute!" Atton and Jena both exclaimed at the same time, annoyed.

There was a pregnant silence on the other side of the door. "I can… I can come back later," offered Mical uncomfortably.

Jena, who had managed to get her robe back on properly, ran to the door; but before she opened it, she turned around, looked at Atton and mouthed the word "belt" whilst pointing at his waist. He glanced down. His belt was undone. How does she do that? He rapidly fasted it back up – surprisingly enough, considering the trouble he normally had with it – and Jena opened the door. Mical looked extremely embarrassed.

"Like I said, I could have come back," he commented shamefacedly, carefully avoiding Atton's scowl.

"Well, I'm here now," dismissed Jena. "What is it?"

"I just… I thought you might like to have that bandage on your arm removed before we arrived… Look, I'm really sorry if I…"

"It's all right Mical," interrupted Jena. "I'll meet you at the medical room in a moment."

"Very well." Mical turned and left as quickly as he could without making it seem as though he was fleeing. Jena turned and looked at Atton apologetically. Atton shook his head and smiled thinly.

"Go," he said gruffly. "We can pick this up later."

She walked back toward him, stood on the tip of her toes and kissed him lightly. He smiled warmly and kissed her back. How could he possibly remain angry around her? Their kisses became more fervent, and they quickly started forgetting all about Mical.

"Whoa!" said a voice behind them. "You guys ever hear of closing doors? I did not need to see this before breakfast." Right… this is how I can stay angry even if Jena's here. He opened his eyes and shot a black look at Mira, as Jena quickly clasped his hand, smiled guiltily and slipped out.

"So tell me, Mira, is the entire crew dedicated to preventing Jena and I from being alone today, or is it just you and Mical?" he snapped.

"Hey, no point in being testy with me. Door was wide open. I just came here to keep you company…" She smirked. "But apparently that job had already been filled. I hope you're not expecting the same kind of treatment from me now that she's gone." Atton glowered at her. "So Mical came by too?" she asked. "Yeah, you guys really want to consider closing the door from now on."

Atton was exasperated. "It was closed! He knocked!"

Mira laughed. "He knocked? Wow, for a smart guy, he can really act dumb sometimes. Either that or he's a glutton for punishment."

"Yeah, I've noticed." Atton turned and walked back to his seat. Mira followed him and sat on the co-pilot seat.

"So…" she said, settling in comfortably. "I take it you guys talked…"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"Ew. I wasn't asking for the lurid details of your sex life."

"I wasn't going to give you any. I meant we talked, but we didn't really discuss anything. I think we just have this unspoken… thing."

"Aw…" quipped Mira, clasping her hands together and putting them up against her heart. "He wuvs her!"

"Shut up, Mira."

"You do! You wuv her and she wuvs you!"

"Don't think I can't forcibly remove you from the cockpit."

"Actually, I do think so, because you have to begin landing procedures," she said, pointing at the flashing light on the console and laughing.

"Damn you, Mira!"

The crew stepped off the Ebon Hawk and were immediately greeted by Lieutenant Grenn.

"Glad to see you made it off Malachor alive, Exile."

"As are we, Lieutenant," smiled Jena.

"I assume you'll be staying in Telos for a short while, before you depart for… your next destination. Feel free to use the same apartment as before…"

"Oh, you mean the one we were imprisoned in?" quipped Atton. Jena glared at him.

Grenn cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Yes, that would… be the one. As a matter of fact, the one next door, C2, is also at your disposal. Once you're settled in, if you wouldn't mind coming to see me at the TSF Office for a report, I would appreciate it."

"Of course, Lieutenant. I will be along shortly."

Grenn turned and walked away. How many more times are we going to have to deal with this schutta? I hope we leave Telos soon. This planet is depressing. Not Malachor V depressing, but depressing nonetheless.

"All right," said Jena, "I guess we might as well get ourselves settled in. I think the best way to do this is girls in one room, boys in the other." Yeah, I had a feeling this was going to happen…I guess it'd be asking a bit too much to share a room with her. Wait. That means I'm going to share a room with Mical. Oh no…Bao-Dur and Mandalore, I can handle… but Mical? He shook his head as he followed Jena, who led the way. When they arrived at the residential complex, the group split in two by gender. Atton, Bao-Dur, Mical and Mandalore all headed into the one apartment.

"Oh, wait a minute," commented Atton. "There are only three beds in here. One of us is going to have to stay on the ship." I call ship! Anything to get away from Mical's snores.

"That's all right," replied Mandalore. "I won't need one. I'm leaving for Dxun within the hour."

Atton frowned. "Leaving?"

"Well, yes… surely you didn't expect our little 'team' to remain as such once Jena no longer needed us."

"Well, how do you know she no longer needs us? We don't know where she's going now."

Mandalore gave Atton a long look. "No, I don't know where she's going. The same way I didn't know where Revan went," he replied, walking back out.

Well, that was an odd statement. Too bad he's a Mandalorian; he'd make an excellent Jedi. What did he mean by that? He's making it sound as though he knew Revan. But that can't be right… why would Revan be hanging out with a Mandalorian? And what does Revan have to do with Jena? He suddenly remembered the room in the Ithorian Compound… Admiral Onasi… he had a message for… The gnawing feeling at the pit of his stomach returned. He turned to Mical and Bao-Dur.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I haven't had a drink since Nar Shaddaa, and I sure could use one right about now. I think I remember you guys owing me a round."

"I don't drink," said Mical.

Atton rolled his eyes. "Well, I know you don't. What about you, Bao?"

"I might join you in a little while… I have some maintenance work I need to do on T3 first."

Atton shook his head. "Fine. I'll just go alone." He walked out of the apartment and saw Jena stepping out of hers. He smiled. "Hey, you want to join me at the cantina? I'll bet you could use a drink too!"

"I… I can't, Atton… I have to go meet with Lieutenant Grenn…" Her eyes seemed to be guiltily avoiding his. He frowned confusedly.

"Oh, all right… did you need me to go with you?"

"No, that's okay, you go on ahead. It'll be a boring meeting anyway," she said, suddenly meeting his gaze and smiling at him. He started wondering if he had imagined that look in her eyes.

Author's Notes: Down to the crunch! Only two more chapters left... Thank you so much for all your reviews! It's great to hear that you're enjoying this story! I hope you also enjoyed these past two chapters.