CHAPTER TWO – ENTER KIRA NARRO

SIERRA

If I hadn't been raised by Mina Bonteri, and if Eva/Kira didn't look so shocked, I would have crowed "I knew it!"

What can I say? I'm a grifter; we can detect our own kind a mile away. I knew what Eva was doing the instant words came out of her mouth. She caught onto me just as fast.

Sharp handshakes, cold tones, stiff stances, formal diction, and stilted speech completed the package. I made sure to keep Saw close and move between Eva and Katooni in case things got ugly, and Eva was constantly looking for an escape route.

The tension evaporated when Ahsoka and Lux rushed into the room, calling her "Kira."

In its place is mere confusion.

"Ahsoka?" Kira asks, pointing at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm with my family." Ahsoka says, gesturing to all of us. "We've been on this ship for a long time." She playfully nudges Lux. "Lux here has gotten handier over time."

In the doorway, Mom bristles. "Lux, what does she mean by that?"

"You two know each other?" Kira asks, eyes shifting between Lux and me.

Lux clears his throat. "Kira, this is my mother Mina and my sister Sierra. They were occupied during our last meeting?"

"Last meeting?"

"Ahsoka and Lux helped some friends and I escape Order 66." Kira explains. "We stayed on Onderon for a while until we had to leave."

"When did this happen?" I ask.

"Before we stole the ship," Lux explains. "While you were doing to prep work, Ahsoka and I went to secure a place for Kira and her friends to hide and while we were there we helped with a new baby. It was good practice for Tav."

"Just wait until Rex gets back." Ahsoka gushes. "He'll be ecstatic."

On Ahsoka's hip, Tav waves his chubby arms. "Ma-ma, down."

Ahsoka sets him on the floor. "Oh gosh, I almost forgot. Kira, meet Tavin Bonteri. We call him Tav."

Kira leans down to get a better look at my nephew. "Hello, little one," she says, holding her finger out for him to grab. She looks up at Ahsoka and Lux, and she doesn't look happy, though why I can't imagine.

"His birthday is in a month." Ahsoka explains, watching hawk-eyed as Tav pushes himself up onto his feet so he can toddle around.

"Can we get back to the task at hand, please?" Hutch asks, crossing his arms. "You know, the part where we have an utter stranger on our ship, and she's apparently not an utter stranger to everyone else?"

"Where are my manners? Forgive me." Kira stands up, cap in her hands. She's nervous; her fingers have crumpled the cap up. "Hello. I'm Kira Narro, Padawan and member of the Jedi Order."

"If you're a Jedi, then why are you in a cadet uniform?" Katooni asks innocently.

"I'm undercover." Kira forces a tight-lipped smile. "There's no better place to glean Imperial intel than straight from their ranks. I'm studying to be an officer."

"You didn't ping off any Imperial daatbases," Hutch says. "But when I ducked into Senator Organa's, your name lit up. According to him, you're working as a rebel spy?"

"That's the long and short of it."

"Imperial Navy," Hero studies Kira's uniform. "Good choice. I'm Hero St. James, Katooni's mom."

"She was also crazy enough to marry me." Hutch says proudly, folding his arms. "Hutch St. James."

"The Cashier from Hell?"

Hutch stammers. "Y-yeah, that's me. How did you know that?"

"They taught about hackers like you at the Academy." Kira says, smile becoming a little less forced. "They still can't figure out how to stop your software."

Hutch smiles broadly. "Nobody can stop me."

The only reason the Empire can't pin us down is because Hutch changes everything constantly and shuffles his signals across the galaxy, but Kira doesn't need to know that. The compliment has sufficiently inflated Hutch's ego.

Ahsoka ignores it. "Kira, what kind of assignment are you on?"

Kira's face twitches as if she's tasted something bitter. "It's not pretty, Ahsoka."

"Nothing involving the Empire is," Steela says sourly and sits down.

Kira runs a hand through her blonde hair. "I'm working on an assignment for Senator Organa, who's not pleased with the slavery bill the Senate recently passed." Her nose crinkles. "I, too, am not pleased with this bill."

"Not very many are," Mom spits. Once she caught wind of that bill, she was on the comlink with Senator Organa yelling about it in full Bonscary mode. I'm not sure what Senator Organa's reaction was, but I'd bet my left shoe it was somewhere between "disturbed" and "terrified".

"Ever since the bill passed, King Atai Molec of Zygerria has been building up his empire, which was impressive to begin with" Kira continues. "Slave auctions are more successful than ever, and where there's demand -."

"There has to be supply," Ahsoka finishes woefully.

"Hundreds of thousands of innocent beings have already been kidnapped." Kira says, eyes narrowing. "Senator Organa sent me to gain intel from my superiors to find out if Atai was somehow breaking the fine print. I simply need to find him a foothold so he can begin working on repealing the bill."

"Was there anything on those chips?"

"Some, but not enough to dent Atai."

"I've researched him." I say. "Atai Molec went behind Queen Miraj's back, got her 'killed' with some help from the Lazarus Project, and proceeded to take the throne with zero problems. He's smart, calculating, and if he has a heart it's made of nitrogen."

Kira stiffens and purses her lips, clenching her cap so tightly her fingers turn white. Might be a good idea to drop the topic, Sierra.

Lux wrings his hands.

"Everyone, how expensive do you think it is to run a slave empire?"

"What?" Saw asks.

"Well, you have to feed and clothe the slaves," Lux says. "Then there's security to worry about; those shock collars can't be cheap. You have to pay all those guards and buy the slaves from the slave catchers, not to mention real estate and lawyers to examine purchases, and you've run up a pretty hefty bill."

"That's your mastermind face." Ahsoka says. "What are you thinking?"

"I have a few ideas," Lux says. "But they revolve around one central thought. Atai Molec has too much money, and the Alliance could use some more."

Too much money? Oh, I'm liking the way this sounds more and more!

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Steela asks, smile pulling at her cheeks.

"Probably," Lux says. "Everyone, let's go steal a slave empire."

KIRA

"But I don't want to sleep in Dad's and your room!"

"It's not open for discussion, Katooni." Hero says as she strips the sheets from Katooni's trundle bed. "Kira needs a place to sleep tonight and you can still fit in with me and Dad."

"Why doesn't Kira take Sierra's bed?" Katooni whines.

"Because Sierra's doctor said that she's not allowed to sleep anywhere but in her own bed." Hero argues. "You're sleeping with us and that's final. Now get your pajamas and let's go."

Katooni grumbles, opens a drawer and pulls out a set of pink flannel pajamas, giving her mom the stink-eye the whole way.

I smile at her antics. I've always enjoyed working with younglings. "What clan were you?" I ask, deciding to lighten the mood. "I was a Bergruufta."

Katooni brightens at the mention of the Jedi Order. "I was in Wolf Clan. Master Sinube helped us with a lot of our lessons."

"Master Sinube? I remember him." I grin. Master Sinube used to help teach us lightsaber forms. He loved younglings to the core.

"I remember some Bergruufta friends I had too. They always shared: candy, holobooks, their beds…"

Katooni looks like she wants to say more, but Hero, wise to her daughter's scheme, clears her throat and jerks her head in a let's get going gesture. Katooni shoots one last look back to her trundle bed and walks out the door.

"You have quite the con artist on your hands." I comment.

"We taught her well," Steela says.

Sierra takes the sheets from Hero and gives them a good hard shake. Tiny flecks of something dark flutter to the floor.

"Yeah, sorry about this." She apologizes. "We caught her eating cookies in bed yesterday."

"I've slept in worse places." I say as I help her fit the sheets around the mattress.

Steela digs through her drawer and hands me a T-shirt and pair of shorts. "Refresher's down the hall. I'd get there before Lux uses up all the hot water. You can borrow my soap, but whatever you do don't touch anything of Hero's." Her voice drops "Hero isn't the politest person, but now that she's pregnant it's ten times worse."

I swallow hard "Hero's things are off-limits. Got it."

"Great," Sierra says and pulls the blanket onto the bed. "By the time you're out we'll probably have dinner ready. I think Tandin's cooking."

Steela shrugs. "Better than Lux."

I wince. When Lux tried to cook dinner after Order 66, he lit the stove on fire.

That's not an experience I wish to repeat.

…

I barely managed to get into the refresher before Lux. He was coming down the hallway with his shower caddy when I shut the door.

As I emerge with towel-dried hair and my uniform in a bundle, the sound of whispering comes from down the hallway.

"You're sure that's her?" a familiar, gruff voice asks.

"We're all sure," Ahsoka replies. "It may have been a while since I saw her last, but it's her. It's Kira."

That's when I remember just how familiar that voice is. I'd heard hundreds just like it ever since the war began.

I turn on my heel and jog toward the source of the voice just as the common room door opens.

The clone in the doorway raises his eyebrows. "Commander Narro?"

I may not have known him as well as Cody, but right now he's the most beautiful sight in the galaxy. "Rex!"

Rex stands there with his arms at his sides.

"Oh, go on and hug each other." Ahsoka snorts. "I know you want to."

I roll my eyes and hold my hand out to greet the good captain. I'm relieved to see that he wasn't brainwashed by the Order. "It's good to see you, Captain."

"It's been a long time, Commander Narro."

Before I can instruct him to call me Kira, a tiny warm person presses against me.

"Hug," Tav says simply and squeezes my leg.

I reach a hand down to give him a gentle squeeze. "All right, little one. A hug for you."

Ahsoka bends down to guide her son away. "Tav, let's give Kira and Uncle Rex a minute."

"Oh no, he's fine." And he is. Tavin's a sweet, well-mannered youngling, and the dark hair on his head looks like another baby I knew.

Cadena's baby.

I pull back and Tav, sensing that hug time is over, toddles away babbling about juice.

"He's adorable."

Ahsoka nods. "Thank you. When he's a little older we'll have to start force training him. Somehow I have a feeling that'll be more intense than potty training."

I laugh. "Of course. At least it won't smell."

"Ahem?"

In the doorway, Lux clears his throat.

"I hate to break up this moment," he says. "But if you two are done chatting, then dinner's ready. Also, we have a con to plan."

A/N: Now that Kira is fully introduced, it's time to get down to stealing! Does anyone else remember Atai Molec from the Zygerria Arc? If anyone deserves to be robbed blind, it's him.

Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, Rose Ravenclaw, and MusicKeeper for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!

Until next time,

Lux's Sister