Zey's Office.
"The 327th are on their way back to Coruscant." Zey said, head down, still considering his datapad.
"327th?"
"Yes." he looked up, "Jedi Secura has to make a report to the Council in person. They'll be here a few days getting some supplies and repairs." He watched his aide closely. "I understand they have Alpha 27 attached to them?"
"Yes, Sir."
"You could take some time to catch up with him."
"Thank you sir. If time permits I will." He downed his caf, "Is there anything else?"
"No. I have to report to the Council, with Camas, and it threatens to be a long meeting. Take some personal time. Or if you have some more research to do?"
Maze noted the odd look the General gave him.
"Than you Sir, I'll check on the Advisors first."
Zey sighed. These men needed some respite from the war, when they could have something resembling a normal life. He did as much as he could. He may have to do more, like order him.
.
'Maze ner vod. I'm on Triple Zero in a few days. The General has to make a personal report to the Council, so got a few days RNR. Fancy a get together. Bly knows a few places. Ne'tra.'
Maze smiled, it would be good to see him. He'd only had dealings with Sull at SOB and wasn't close with him; all the other Alpha's were spread across the galaxy. If people thought Maze was surly then they needed to meet Sull and Ne'tra was totally different.
He tapped in his reply.
.
Coruscant Cruiser Staging Area
Maze watched The Liberty drop gently in the Staging Area; he could see huge scorch marks on the outside. It had been battered, it needed repairs, better done whilst they were here.
He marched up the ramp to meet his old friend, as usual he was the first one off.
"Su'cuy gar, ner vod. So how goes it?" Ne'tra's voice boomed from the top of the ramp.
Lieutenant Ne'tra bounded down towards his brother who was a total contrast to him; it surprised everyone who knew the pair, that they were friends.
They greeted each other with the Mandalorian forearm clasp; Ne'tra had absorbed the Mandalorian culture more than Maze, especially in his latter training and Maze accepted it.
"Fine. How are you?"
"Great! Looking forward to some RNR. You can show me the night life here."
"Not sure there's much of that for clones."
"You've got to be kidding? The Nulls are based here, they'd find somewhere."
"It's only normally Captain Ordo here."
"Oh. Perhaps not then."
They walked towards Maze's Speeder bike; the staging area was so large, you needed transport to get near the ships. "I've got you a berth in ARCA Barracks for the time you're here, if that's okay?"
"Great! So what do you do for fun?"
"Read."
"Oh Mazey, Mazey, Mazey." He slung his arm heavily over his friend's shoulders; he was the only one allowed to call him that, it went back to when they were cadets, "You're on the planet that never sleeps and you read? Have you not met any ladies?"
"Is that all you think about."
Ne'tra laughed.
"Have you seen General Secura?"
Maze paused, "Yes, I see what you mean. Is it true what they say about Bly?"
"What's that?" Ne'tra was suddenly reticent, eyes narrowed.
"That they're….. close." Maze had heard General Zey make a comment about the closeness of the relationship.
A smirk spread across his face.
"Bucket over boots. Although nobody ever says that to his face. And it's reciprocated if you ask me. I see the looks she gives him."
That came as shock to Maze, although thinking back to General Tur-Mukan, it shouldn't have.
"So really Maze, where do you go? Surely the General lets you out. You can't let Fox's boys have all the fun in the big bad city."
"Like I said, I read, at the Library, gets me out of the barracks; then there's a Caf shop I go to and they've opened a new bar just for Clones, now the GAR has implemented its Leave policy."
"Now I heard that was down to the Nulls." Ne'tra added.
Maze snorted, begrudgingly knowing he was correct.
.
The General was generous with Maze's time off while the 327th were here, but he noticed that there were meetings he hadn't been invited to—again. Delta and Omega hadn't yet been reassigned. He needed to catch up on what was happening; he didn't like being left out of the loop. Admin droids we're very useful at times, unobtrusive.
Maze sat in the Mess with Ne'tra, watching him shovel down a bowl of spicy noodles.
"Kriff! I've never seen so many RC's strutting their stuff, like Nexus on heat. And what's that smell. It's familiar?" He wrinkled his nose in distaste.
"Strill!"
"What— here?" his head whipped around, searching.
"Vau's here, Skirata, and more coming back." Maze's tone showed some displeasure.
Ne'tra whistled,"Little Keldabe!" .
Maze sniggered, his brother could always lighten his mood.
"So Qiilura?"
"Different."
"Yeah. Not what we expected is it, war?" Occasionally, Ne'tra was serious, a side you rarely saw; he was a bit like RC8105, always searching for something.
"Fancy a Spar?" Maze suggested to get him out of this mood.
"Nah! Alpha 02 always was ugly."
Maze rolled his eyes.
"And a deserter."
"What? You mean he wasn't reconditioned."
"There's been reports. Someone looking like Fett trying to be Mandalor. But we know he's dead."
Ne'tra huffed a reply and they sat in silence.
Desertion. It wasn't something that was normally discussed. But you heard rumours wherever you were.
"Come on. The training rooms are down there. You need to burn off those noodles." He pulled his brother up and they grinned, as they trotted off.
They hadn't seen General Zey watching them from the corner; he was seeing a Maze that he rarely saw, one at ease with himself and his brother.
.
The showers were hot and wet, Ne'tra leaned back against the wall.
"I really missed these. Sonics are not the same. You can spend as long as you want under them?"
Maze nodded, "Plus a full therapy area, ice baths for injuries and state of the art medical Centre. General Jusik likes his weapons. He's cultivated a friend at R and D so we get first go at some of the new stuff. Some of which is impressive."
"Hey what's that then." He pointed to the scar on Maze's side.
"A present from Qiilura."
"So?"
Ne'tra listened to Maze's quick explanation
"And you ended up having your liver replaced." Ne'tra sucked in air between his teeth, "Nasty."
Maze nodded. "Bloody Gdans. Sneaky buggers."
"Right." Ne'tra scrubbed his torso with his towel, "I'm free for the remainder of the day but it's a bit early to drink even for me. Show me the sights and let's hit that Caf shop you keep talking about, I need some sugar." Ne'tra was back on form.
.
Tualin Oola
"Where the Fek are you taking me?" asked Ne'tra; they were strolling along the Coruscant walkways rather than taking the EasyRide Train which cost credits. Maze wanted to pay when they got to Sol's and Nat's.
"The caf shop."
They turned into the alley, then straight into the shop.
"Hey Maze." Sol shouted to him, noting he was with a friend. "Take a seat. I'll be there soon."
The shop was more crowded than normal, with a few brothers in there, who attempted to stand and salute, when the two ARCs entered. He waved them back down. Sol was serving what looked to be a shiny. He overheard the conversation.
"No that's too much." she said. "I'll just take that one. Give me a shout when you want a refill."
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you Ma'am." He scuttled away with his tray full of cups, cookies and pastries.
Sol walked over. "So the usual Maze?"
"Yes please. This is Ne'tra."
"Pleased to meet you, Ma'am."
"And you Ne'tra. You want the same?"
"Yes. Please."
"Five minutes. We're kinda busy."
"Sure Sol." Maze answered, pleased that the place was filling up. He had never seen it this busy.
"So how did you find this place?" Ne'tra noted how at ease his friend was here.
"Friends of Essie's own it."
"Friends of Essie, wait ….Essie is a female name." Ne'tra tried hard to cover up his shock.
"Yes. She works at the library."
"Is she the only woman you've met." He recovered quickly.
"We're friends."
"Good friends?"
"Not like that kind of friend."
"I want to meet her." Find out what's wrong with her, he thought. "Invite her to 79's tonight."
Maze was just about to say he didn't think she would come.
"No arguing or I'll ask her friend to ask her."
Maze pulled out his com; he knew Ne'tra would be as good as his word, he was as stubborn as he was. Nat had given him Essie's number; he had never used it before.
.
Essie's com beeped.
Number withheld.
She deleted it, put it on silent and continued her cataloging; when she'd finished, there were six messages from the same 'withheld' number. She opened the last one, to reply and give the caller a piece of her mind.
'It's Maze. Would you like to go to a new bar tonight. I'll be there with a brother. Its called 79's. 20:00 hours. Just reply yes.'
"Maze?"
She'd have to ask Sol and Nat to take Del and find something to wear. It had been a long time since she had been out, to a bar. A new bar.
Anyone else and she would have assumed it was a date but he mentioned a brother and this was Maze.
Of course she replied yes.
.
79's
Maze and Ne'tra joined the brothers filing into 79's, the music was pumping out with a top heavy bass beat, the big screens suspended from the ceilings, showing various sports events.
"What time is she coming." Ne'tra was fascinated to see this Librarian; he had an image in his mind of what she looked like and it wasn't flattering. A bit like a Jedi, and looking at her friend, a little on the old side. He would be surprised if she materialised.
"20:00 hours."
"Is that the time you told her?"
"Yes."
"She won't understand."
"Yes she will."
"Civvies don't talk like that."
"We'll see. She said she'd be here and I have faith in her."
Ne'tra stared hard at his friend. You could count the number of people Maze had faith in, using less than the fingers of one hand.
.
"Thanks again Sol. I won't be too late. It's just to see this new bar with Maze and his friend."
"You look very …..smart. I like the colour." Sol said. "And it doesn't matter about the time. You stay as long as you want. It'll do you good to get out."
"Thanks. I've only worn it a couple of times before, then I couldn't get in it. Now I can again." She smoothed her cobalt blue dress down, hoping she wasn't overdressed. It was plain, fitted, long sleeves, a little clingy with a small slit up the back; her hair was down, curled and swept around to the front. She had a matching wrap.
Nat came in, "You look nice."
"Thank you." She turned around, showing the low dropped back, edged with lace and the small slit. She was displaying a large expanse of toned back.
"But you can't go dressed like that." That back dropped far too low for his liking and it looked like she wasn't wearing underwear.
"What? You said I looked nice."
"I changed my mind. You can't run in that dress or those shoes."
"They match the dress."
"You definitely wouldn't be able to run in those."
"I won't need to run Nat. I can take care of myself and I'm twenty four. You can't dictate what I wear like you did when I was fourteen."
"I couldn't then." He muttered. "Just be careful. Com me if you need me."
"You know I will. You're my first port of call for help of any kind."
"Enjoy yourself." Shouted Sol as she went through the door. There was a slight bang as she shut it.
"She has no idea how she looks does she?" Asked Nat with a sigh.
"Nope. And Maze would have to be blind not to see it either. I can't believe the pair of them."
.
Essie hailed a taxi from just outside, one of Nat's friends, Rax.
"Did Nat call you?"
He shrugged, "You look nice Essie. Where to?"
"79's."
"That's the new clone bar. Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Okay, does Nat know?"
"Yes." she sighed, "We've already had The Discussion."
"Okay. If you need a taxi back, call me. I'll come immediately."
"Thanks Rax. I appreciate it."
He pulled in close at the landing platform, so she didn't have to stride out too far in the dress, it was a little snug. His taxi was new and clean, and he specialised in taking ladies, who wanted to make the perfect entrance. He waved his fare; so she threw a credit chip through the window. He shook his head as he pulled away.
"I pay my way." She muttered.
79's was located in one of Coruscant's skyscrapers; two sets of sliding doors formed the entrance. Essie looked up at the large, brightly lit sign, you couldn't miss it or the pounding music that came through the entrance. She pushed firmly through the small crowd of clones gathered at the front. A couple were obviously already worse for wear. She walked inside and realised she hadn't thought this out. It was bigger than she anticipated and full of clones. She scanned a sea of faces that looked almost the same; she couldn't see Maze. She searched on the second floor and still saw no one she knew.
There was a long, oval bar and several 2-1B series medical droid servers led by BU11 and some luxury droids as well; she headed there, avoiding the dancers. Happy to see there were other non clones here as well.
79's view screens were massive and the only ones she was interested in were the Podracing, but it was a race she had already seen with Nat, he liked to watch that and wrestling.
Sensing someone familiar, she turned to see Maze standing up in a booth, waving at her, smiling. It struck her again how handsome he was when he smiled; she pushed through to him.
"Hi. You look good." His eyes fixed on her face.
She knew she did. She had made an effort.
"Thanks." She felt her face heat up, that hadn't happened in years, "What are you drinking?"
"We've got beers."
"We?" She hated beer, preferring a fruit gin, not that she drank much now.
"I've got a friend with me."
She looked around Maze to see another clone who waved at her; she waved back, smiling.
"Is the beer alright."
"Ne'tra say it's like drinking Tatooine gnats pi….urine."
"I'll get you something else. What would you like, whiskey?"
"Yeah. Two whiskies."
"You sit down."
"Are you sure?"
"My treat. I'll get a droid to bring them over."
Maze sat down, whilst Essie headed to the bar and Ne'tra pulled his chin off the table.
"Fek Maze, where did you find her?"
"University Library."
"No way. Kandosii! Look at that back and…..arse. Kriff!"
He gave him a hard nudge, just where there were no armour plates, "Put your tongue back in and watch your language. She's a lady and my friend."
"Okay, okay."
Ne'tra watched the woman enter the fray at the bar; she was tiny in height compared to the Clones, but they parted for her, as she smiled at everyone, nodding and thanking them.
He shook his head, his friend must be blind, "Mazey, Mazey, Mazey. You sly dog."
"What do you mean?"
"What are you blind? Just look at her."
Ne'tra's eyes took in every part, as Essie walked back from the bar followed by a droid and three troopers, who peeled away when they saw who was in the booth she was heading to. Sure she was small but everything was there and the dress emphasised it all.
Maze watched her, he had never seen her look remotely like this before, Ne'tra was right. No she was just a friend.
Bloody Devro.
Ne'tra rose and let her slip in between them.
"Essie, this is Ne'tra."
"Pleased to meet you ma'am and thanks for the drink."
"Pleased to meet you too and call me Essie." She held out her hand he shook it.
"I will. Call me Net."
"And no problems with the drinks. It's my treat. It's the least I can do."
Maze had a bad feeling about this.
.
The music was pounding out, as she watched clones enjoying themselves; laughing at some of the dancing. Most of them looked like Nat, when he'd had one too many with Dex, then trying to get Sol to dance with him and tripping over her feet. They were having to shout at each other to be heard over the music, chatter and general hubbub. It was a lot louder than the library.
"It's not bad in here, is it?" asked Ne'tra, as his arm moved across her shoulder, and she felt his leg bouncing in time with the music.
"It looks good. About time someone started doing things for the soldiers." She glanced at Maze, his face impassive.
"Yeah, not everyone gets to spend a lot of time on Triple Zero."
"You know, Maze was the first clone I had ever seen, properly."
"Really? Don't hold it against the rest of us." He saw her reaction, "I'm joking. Is it true that you're a Librarian." He looked directly into her eyes.
"Yes. Why?"
"You don't look like one."
"What do you think one looks like?"
"Definitely not like you. Older. Greyer. Serious."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"It was meant as one."
"Thank you. But you should see the Librarians for the Performing Arts Department, leotards and all." She glanced at Maze again. He was very quiet, whereas Ne'tra laughed loudly and nudged Maze before drinking his shot of whiskey. He poured himself another.
"What's yours? Not water?" He eyed her drink, it was tall, fizzy and fruity.
"I like fruit salad with mine."
He smirked.
She looked at Maze; he was still quiet, expressionless. He turned away.
"It's Nubian Gin."
"Gin eh? Isn't there a rhyme about that?"
"Rhyme?"
"Let me think." He looked at the ceiling. "Whisky makes you frisky!"
"Don't drink whisky."
"Brandy makes you randy." He added, grinning.
She shook her head smiling.
"And Gin makes you sin." He finished, "How many gins do you need?"
"Net!" Maze growled; he should have known better than to bring her here, with him.
"Not enough!" Essie grinned back at him.
Ne'tra's head flew back as he laughed.
She didn't think it was that funny.
Ne'tra's lifted his glass to have another drink, when his eyes went to the doors, "We are honoured tonight, ner vod. Commanders in the house." He gestured towards the doors.
Essie's gaze followed his hand.
Three clones stood in the doorway.
He and Maze stood to attention.
The newcomers had their helmets on but all the clones obviously knew them, as numerous clones faced them and cheered, raising their glasses. Essie realised they were heading towards their booth. Her two companions saluted, as they approached. One with stripes the colour of Net's appeared to be in charge and spoke, "pull some chairs up Wolffe, this looks as good a place as any."
.