The Morning After

Ashlyn woke up slowly with the most amazing feeling ever and then the memories of the previous night came back to her. She couldn't help the grin that spread across her face as she looked up at the ceiling above the bed. Then Ashlyn turned her head to find Daly's face inches away from hers and she watched him sleep quietly. It wasn't much longer when Daly's eyes opened to find the love of his life watching him. Ashlyn sat up and moved to sit on top of him, leaning down and kissed him passionately as Daly's hands came up to cradle her face.
"Morning," Daly whispered as their lips parted and Ashlyn rested her head back down on his chest. They lied there for what felt like forever but neither of them wanted to get up and face their responsibilities.
"We should get up and get dressed," Ashlyn said, "Before our Masters come in here and find us like this," she added lifting her head up, so she could see Daly's face.
"Well technically we are no longer their Padawans remember," Daly reminded her.
"Oh yes, I forgot. We are now officially Jedi Knights," Ashlyn said, "That's going to take a while to sink in, isn't it?"
Daly laughed and nodded his head, "Yes, I think it will."

Ashlyn and Daly exited the ship into the Jedi Temple hangar to find all their friends waiting for them. Daly immediately approached Raven and Stret to give them both brotherly hugs, congratulating them on being Knighted.
"We were so worried about you," Inoma said as she hugged Ashlyn tightly, "The boys are just too macho to admit it," she whispered as the two girls laughed heartily.
Jania noticed something different about Ashlyn's smile and raised an eyebrow curiously and she received a look as if to say not now. However, Gav always being the intuitive one of the group was the only one to notice that their friends no longer had Padawan braids but as always, he stayed silent about it.
The group began to walk through the Temple to get to the hangar where the Scoundrels Constellation was docked. They all walked aboard with Eric, Stones, Inoma, Chewbacca, Alazea, Gilgaro and even Mia to sit around and talk about everything they had missed with drinks in their hands.
"So, what has everyone been doing?" Ashlyn asked.
"You missed a battle with the Empire on Agamar," Ancor stated in a disgruntled tone which was when Ashlyn and Daly realised his Padawan braid had been cut off.
"Wait-Ancor did you got knighted?" Daly asked curiously.
"Nope I did not agree with the Council's decisions to retreat from Agamar, haven't agreed with most of their decisions lately," Ancor said and then when they gave him quizzical looks he decided to explain further, "I decided to leave the Jedi Order and take Gilgaro up on his offer to become his co-pilot."
"Oh okay," Ashlyn said softly, not sure how to respond to this revelation.
"The Senate decided to form a new army that civilians can enlist in to help fight the war against this Empire," Mia said to break the awkward silence that had started.
"Really?" Daly asked in surprise.
"Yeah, some of the Clones and I re-enlisted yesterday," Stones said.
"I enlisted also," Ancor added.
"Did Rex and Cody re-enlist as well?" Ashlyn inquired curiously.
"Yep they are both pretty excited to start fighting again, I guess you could say that it was what we were programmed to do," Stones answered.
"We have Senator Amidala to thank for the new army, she pushed it through the Senate. Never thought I would see her wanting to create an army, what with all her campaigns during the Clone Wars to stop the Clone army," Eric stated.
"Well we were mainly up against droids during the Clone Wars not crazy Sith with lightsabers, we need all the help we can get," Inoma pointed out.
"Plus, it means anyone can join this army which means there will be a lot fewer citizens struggling to survive because of the large number of jobs," Alazea said, agreeing with Inoma that it was the best decision.

The doors to the Empress's meeting hall swung open to admit Geoff Kallus and a younger man entrance.
"Empress," Geoff greeted as he knelt on one knee in front of the throne, his actions copied by the younger man and then they both rose to their feet, "This is Agent Alexsandr Kallus, my son."
The Sith Empress went from looking bored to very interested in a split second as she shooed the father away with a wave of her hand. Geoff stepped back and waited with baited breath that his son had bought news that would make her happy.
"Tell me, Agent Kallus, what did you find?" Jaira asked in a sickly-sweet voice.
"My lord, the Jedi you ordered me to follow has been knighted and I bring you other news that I am sure will be most intriguing to you," Agent Kallus began, "He got married to another Jedi Knight," he added.
The Sith Empress tilted her head slightly as she asked in a curious tone, "Are you absolutely certain?"
"Yes, I watched the ceremony with my own eyes," Agent Kallus stated confidently.
Jaira paused momentarily and looked off into empty space, "Interesting. Very interesting," she mumbled. Then she rose from her throne and approached the Agent who remained completely still without flinching as she came to stand in front of him.
"You have done very well, I am impressed and surprised," Jaira said, "Geoff?"
Geoff stepped forward, "Yes my Lord?" he asked with baited breath.
"I think I will take you up on your offer, make sure every Agent is as effective as your son," Jaira revealed as she turned back to her throne, "You may go organise for your headquarters to be built in one of the buildings that are being restored by the reconstruction team."
"Thank you, Empress," Geoff said gratefully, "If I could suggest an idea that I have to infiltrate the Galactic Republic Senate," he offered.
"If you put together official plans for it then you may bring it to me but until then I will not be discussing a plan that has not been put together properly," Jaira stated firmly.
"Yes, of course," Geoff said as he left the hall with his son.
Jaira grinned as she thought about the news of her brother's marriage and then realised that soon there will nieces and nephews. There was no doubt in her mind that Daly would want his children to become Jedi which made anger boil in her chest.
"No matter," Jaira said softly, "I will just have to make sure I take the children away from him and raise them to live their true heritage," she added as she began to laugh insanely.

THE END

A/N: This is the end of Book 7. Would love to know what you guys all think. Book 8 is already completed, just have to upload it to the website and then post the chapters. I will do a notice post when I have started to post Adventures of the Templars Book 8: The Great Infiltration to let you guys know. I just started university study up again so I will get onto it as soon as I can.

Ashlyn Dubreas