Essie's Apartment.
Maze turned on the shower, closed his eyes and let the recycled water fall; the heat was always good. The water had an odd smell from chemicals used to purify it but it was hot. That was all that mattered. He took a few seconds to bask in its warmth.
Body check.
Ingrained in him on Kamino. The next thirty seconds, he spent surveying his body, each element. Finally —his hands — he stretched them out. No pain, full movement. All good.
Fully functional.
He started the mental preparation for his morning meeting; Zey was a Jedi and he did not wish to reveal anything of himself. He inhaled deeply and held it.
The shower door slid open, disturbing him, Essie stepped in. He breathed out and looked at her questioning.
"Saving water." She smiled.
Something about her posture told him that wasn't all she had in mind; then her hands sliding slowly up his chest and around his neck, pulling him down to kiss him. His hands automatically dropped to her hips. He kept them there; if he moved any lower he knew what would happen next.
"As much as I like this and appreciate it. We don't have time."
"Confident you can even last that long?" Her hands came back down to his chest and she tweaked his nipples. He jumped.
Inhaling deeply, he then let it out slowly, struggling to keep his desire under control.
"I have an eight o'clock meeting."
"I know." She replied, huskily, "That's why I'm here." She kissed him on his chest, sucking a mark there.
He pulled her to him, a lopsided grin on his face. "Last night not enough?"
She smiled.
"Yes, but this is just for you." She pushed herself away, dropping to her knees. His head dropped to follow her.
"Eyes front." She ordered, he snapped back up.
He leant back on the wall, as the sensations assailed him, feeling the need for help to stand upright.
He breathed out slowly, body check abandoned.
"Watch the teeth!" He ordered, trying to breath through the sensations, as he felt something scratch along his length, not just once, but twice.
Maker it felt good.
"I said….." he thought better of repeating himself in his current position.
There was a mumble from his groin area. He thought she was telling him to shut up.
"Don't talk with your mouth full…..Gah!" He wasn't sure exactly what she had done then, his eyes were closed tight now, the feelings overwhelming him sensation after sensation building up. His knees wobbled, he concentrated on staying upright; opening his eyes, he felt some vibrations now.
"Are you laughing? What's funny?"
Her hands traced silky paths up and down his thighs, before resting on his buttocks, and squeezing; his head hit the tiles with a thud, as his hands fell down to her head, the sensations were building up.
He came.
"Shit! Fuck! Bloody Devro."
She held him through it.
When he finally opened his eyes, totally relaxed, he realised what he had said in the heat of the moment. Essie was standing there face blank, hands on hips. Water streaming down her face, her hair hanging down, a tangled mess; a very desirable tangled mess, he thought.
"What did you say?"
"Nice traps and pecs." His hands rested there.
"Stop deflecting." She blinked slowly at him.
"I'm not." He lied.
"That's my nickname isn't it?"
"Nice traps and pecs— yeah." He tried again.
"No— what you said before—bloody Devro."
Caught.
"Only in my head." He tried to explain.
She cocked her head to one side studying him, then grinned, "Very handsome head. I like it. Come here big boy."
She grabbed his face pulling him down for a full on kiss, all teeth and tongue. "Now scrub my back!"
"Yes Ma'am." He grabbed the shower soap and lathered it up, an idea for something else forming.
Ne'tra hadn't told him about showers and the book didn't have a chapter on showers. He was winging it now.
From the noises Bloody Devro was making, she was enjoying it.
.
ARCA Barracks
07:50
General Zey finishing brewing his Caf, as Captain Maze entered his office; you could set your chrono by him. Zey turned to see him armed with a Larty's worth of datapads as normal. All to be signed off before the next meeting.
But the good Captain almost felt content. Zey used the Force to sense a contentment and mellowness that he had rarely felt from the ARC in the beginning. Although he recently noticed the Captain often came into the office in the morning with that feeling and Zey had an idea why. He thought, it was due to Ms Devro from the Library, although nothing had been said by Maze and he wasn't sure if he knew about the part of her that Zey had sensed, when he first met her. He hoped it would not, did not affect their relationship. He felt the Captain was a better, more rounded man for this part of his life.
He deserved it.
Zey remembered that feeling from his youth and he was happy for him.
He must Com Janyne later. Check in with her. Lament their current positions. The War.
Attachment be damned. Who hadn't got good friends in the Order. It's how you reacted, if you lost them, that was the problem. You couldn't grow up with people and not have feelings for them.
It would only take ten minutes with the datapads or five, if there was something from Camas, for the Captain's feeling of contentment to disappear.
"Caf Captain?"
"Yes sir. There's some pastries in the Rec Room; if you're interested although I took the liberty of bringing a few in for us."
He placed the box on the table.
"Tualin Oola eh. They have a talented and generous baker there."
"They do sir."
"Let's just enjoy them before we start on the datapads." He picked a pastry up and offered the box to Maze.
Zey was enjoying his Captain's aura of contentment too much. It was a highlight in a bloody and depressing conflict, with the Dark Side seeming more and more oppressive on Coruscant.
.
Maze had never seen that particular ID pop up on the General's incoming calls before.
"Sir?"
Zey was staring at the ID, unbelieving.
Maze picked up his datapad and turned to leave, assuming he would not be needed for this particular call.
"Captain! Stay!"
Zey pressed the accept button.
The Chancellor's face came into view, with Mas Amedda standing behind as usual.
"General Zey."
The General nodded but did not rise.
"Chancellor."
"And this is?"
Maze felt the Chancellor's gaze fall on him.
"Captain Maze. He has full clearance."
Maze stood to attention and saluted, he wasn't sure how else to address his Commander in Chief.
The Chancellor nodded.
"At ease, Captain." he looked at the General, "that is the correct phrase is it not."
The General nodded.
Maze stood at ease and studied him; he still could not see why they he had elected him, other than what he had discussed with Essie.
"I have read your last report and am eternally grateful for all the work you and your men do. It is greatly appreciated by both myself and the Republic."
Maze watched the man's body language, as he steepled his fingers in front of him. It was a gesture Maze associated with the Jedi, perhaps he picked it up from them, or perhaps it was a distracting gesture. Other than that, the Chancellor gave nothing away.
"Whilst General Grievous is still a priority, there is another who needs to be found."
"Another?" Asked Zey, "I was not aware the Separatists had any one else as dangerous to the Republic. Has Republic Intelligence some information we don't?"
Zey said accusingly, then moved nearer to the screen, as if searching for something. His brows furrowed.
"Highly unlikely, General. This is someone we have known about for a while but have been unable to trace. And now more information has come to light."
"Sir?"
"Chief Scientist Ko Sai defected."
Maze struggled not to react. He had never heard of a Kaminoan voluntarily leaving Kamino, except the current Senator.
"Are we sure it's a defection?"
"Prime Minister Lama Su is adamant."
"Do we know when this occurred?"
"Not exactly, the Kaminoans are a little hazy on the dates."
"And this is the first time we hear?"
"I agree and our displeasure has been made known to Lama Su. Now I need you to find her— alive."
"With respect Chancellor my teams are already spread too thin, perhaps Republic Intelligence…"
"I need one of your teams— the best. We have details of where she was last and that should be with you in seconds."
Maze saw the encrypted message pop up.
"Chancellor….." Zey tried again.
"No. General Zey—finding Chief Scientist Ko Sai is as much a priority as locating General Grievous. Our survival depends on a strong army, and that means the highest quality clones —conscription of ordinary citizens is a poor second and would be politically unacceptable. Find her! if only to deny the Separatists her expertise. You have the best intelligence assets the Republic has ever known. So I'll accept no excuses."
The link was cut.
Maze saw the steel beneath the velvet.
"Send Delta to me as soon as they return." Zey demanded.
"Yes sir."
.
Advisors Ops Room.
473 days ABG
"How is Omega doing?" Maze asked, he liked to keep track of that particular squad and Delta, especially with Skirata and Vau around on Coruscant. Although he had never quite got to the bottom of exactly what happened on Mygeeto. There were unexplained gaps in Delta's timeline and Vau was absent for a time— personal business.
Maze swore he heard one of the squad say, "What happened on Mygeeto stays on Mygeeto." Scorch, it had something to do with Vau but he was back now and he and Skirata were nearly friendly, where Skirata was, Vau appeared shortly after.
Maze filed that away for later.
Zey had plans for Delta courtesy of Palpatine and Skirata couldn't know about it.
"There's been a hitch but Omega are back on track." Advisor one confirmed.
"Hitch?"
"Civilian police officer casualty."
Fierfek! That's all we need.
"How bad?"
"Dead—bad."
"Fek!"
"Yes sir, but they've sorted it."
"Okay." He breathed out.
"Yayax squad?"
"On target, ETA four hours. Optimal conditions on planet." Advisor Two advised.
Maze was thankful for some good news, as far as it went. It could change in the next ten minutes. He studied the electronic Operations map, now taking up the whole of one wall. The various colours indicating which squads were deployed and their status.
"Sir!" Advisor four raised his voice. "There's some information coming in. Big losses. Over 10,000. Fleet Auxiliary Core Guardian destroyed - all hands lost."
The room went silent.
The men took in the sheer number of lost brothers.
"Get me more info — how and why."
This room now monitored more than just the squads. It had expanded and they needed more staff for it but had less brothers available.
One of the new techs was proving most adept at interpreting the incoming data and despite his initial misgivings, Support Officer Loea was proving an asset to the team. She piped up. It still felt odd that there was a female voice in the midst of his advisors but finally some of the Commandos had stopped tripping over themselves when they saw her in the corridor.
"Sir? Defensive Cannons offline – unscheduled maintenance."
Maze walked over to her desk.
"There's more. CIS had the classified information on troop movements and readiness."
There was a leak somewhere.
Maze checked his datapad; Zey was at the Jedi Council.
.
Jedi General Zey took his grounding walk back through Coruscant, the Council meeting had been as fraught as ever. He stopped, as he felt something familiar in the Force. He searched for it. A dark haired woman leaned over the walkway rail, it was her but he didn't recognise her. He walked over.
"Can I help you?" He asked, anyone could see he was a Jedi. He didn't hide it.
"Jedi!"she said, he recognised the voice.
"Jinart?" She neither confirmed nor denied it.
"We warned you, Jedi. We have taken action!"
"Jinart. What action?" He had a bad feeling about this.
"The settlers. Remove them!"
He assumed it was Jinart.
"It takes time."
"Remove them unless you want more casualties on your conscience."
"I need to take this." He opened up his persistently pinging com, turning away from her
"Maze?"
"We've lost Fleet Auxiliary Core Guardian — 10,653 hands."
He could no longer feel her presence, "Jinart?"
The rail next to him was empty. He searched the surrounding area, there she was, he walked quickly, catching up to the woman walking away.
"Jinart?" He put his hand on her shoulder. She turned. It wasn't her.
"My apologies." He said, dipping his head.
He looked around again, there was no sign of her. She could look like any one, be anywhere.
He felt empty.
.
Maze was waiting for Zey as he entered the Barracks. He handed him a datapad, as they walked side by side, quickly to his office.
"Latest information, the Separatists have claimed responsibility." Maze was concise.
"It's the Gurlanins. Jinart contacted me, here, on Coruscant." Zey replied.
"Sir?"
"Get this message to General Tur Mukan on Qiilura for me. The Gurlanins won't accept any more delays, not without further consequences."
'GURLANINS CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY FOR CLASSIFIED IN FORMATION ON TROOP MOVEMENTS AND READINESS STATUS RELEASED TODAY TO CIS COMMANDERS. LEAK HAS RESULTED IN 10,653 CASUALTIES: FLEET AUXILIARY CORE GUARDIAN DE STROYED WITH ALL HANDS WHILE DEFENSIVE CANNON WAS OFFLINE DURING UNSCHEDULED MAINTENANCE. REMOVE QUIL URA CONTINGENT IMMEDIATELY. CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ACCEPTABLE IF COLONISTS USE LETHAL FORCE.'
Maze read it, "As is sir?"
Zey nodded. Maze turned to walk away.
"Maze."
He turned back.
"You were right."
Maze nodded, "I'll get it sent immediately."
.
"I won't be able to come over tonight. There's been a development." Maze grabbed a few seconds to com Essie.
There was a pause at the other end. "Are you okay? You sound …."
"Tired—We all are."
"I don't mind if it's late. It's your choice. Del's here."
"I can't promise."
"I know. Just— be safe."
Maze went back to his checks:
Cori Lok—legit. Childhood friend of Senator Amidala, undertaking a project to enhance the status of the clones by showing their war —attached to the 501st. The bloody 501st.
"OPSEC still applies." He muttered. He started to draft the message.
.
Maze checked on Delta, from Zey's secure channel; Skirata couldn't know about this. Maze keyed in his ID code. Delta were where they were supposed to be, heading towards Hutt space, following the leads on Ko Sai, which was more than could be said for Jusik. As much as he liked Zey, and Jusik for that matter, he didn't know what was going on between the two, especially Jusik; he seemed more at ease with Skirata. But whatever Jedi games they were playing, and for whatever reason, he was keeping well out of it.
There was nothing more he could do but he didn't want to go back to his bunk tonight. He went to his quarters and changed. 10:45. He would be late, very late.
.
Republic Star Destroyer Resolute
In Hyperspace - en route to the Core
It was a clone at his door, Rex knew that, by the knock; although thinking about it why would it be anyone else. It didn't pay to think that way.
"Enter!"
Attie poked his head around the door.
"You busy Captain?"
"What have you done now?" He saw Cori's datapad in the trooper's hand. "I hope you have Cori's permission for that.
"Sort of."
Damn! The trooper didn't even look ashamed.
"You either have permission or not."
"No sir."
"Then I suggest that you return it immediately."
"But she's..er… upset." he thought that was the best way to describe her reaction.
"Then all the more reason to return it— before I put you on a charge." Rex barked, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"No Captain, it's this."
He pushed the datapad under Rex's nose.
Rex focused on the message.
Special Operations Branch.
ARCA Barracks
Galactic City
Coruscant.
To:Corrin Lok.
Ref:Non compliance with OPSEC.
It has come to my attention that a number of images known to have been taken by you are now in the Public Domain on the Holonet.
These images relate to the personnel of 501st Company and their theatre of operations.
Enemies of the Republic can use these images to identify specific personnel including the current serving officers and this can be used to target them for termination.
I understand your project has been sanctioned by a member of the Senate. This is notice that I am undertaking a further investigation into how the images were released and further action will be taken against you should any negligence be found on your behalf.
I attach details on OPSEC for your information.
A-26, Captain.
SOB.
GAR.
Appendices:
App. 1
OPSEC:
Identification of Critical information.
Analysis of Threats.
Analysis of Vulnerabilities.
Assessment of Risk.
Application of Appropriate OPSEC Measures.
.
"What the fuck! " he cursed.
Rex wanted to throw the datapad at the wall but it wasn't his.
"I'll deal with it. Tell Cori not to worry."
"It might be better if it came from you, sir."
Rex sent the message to himself then deleted it.
"Leave it with me Attie."
Rex clenched his fist as Attie left, then checked the ETA for Coruscant.
.
Essie's Apartment.
Entering the passcode, he pushed open the door slowly and tip-toed into the room. His stomach rumbled, and he made a detour to the conservator, stuffing several pastries into his mouth, as he stood there; these were savoury. Some type of steak bake, she called them. There was always something in there for him.
He was luckier than most of his brothers but sometimes guilt raised its head. He glugged down some blue milk and checked on Del. He was fast asleep, before tiptoeing to her bedroom. He silently undressed, before slipping into bed and moving up to Essie. She shuffled back towards him before turning and dropping a leg over him, pulling him closer.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."
"I couldn't sleep, not after you commed."
"Sorry."
"It's alright."
She kissed his jaw, the stubble scratching her skin. He rubbed it, "I didn't think to shave."
"It's fine. It's you."
She found his lips this time, a gentle graze from hers.
"Do you want to talk about it? Or can't you?"
He laid his head to rest between her neck and shoulder.
"Big losses. Whole ship. There was a leak of troop movements."
"From SOB?"
"No someone else but it's linked to us or rather what we did at the start of the war. Promises were made and never kept. This was the result."
"How many?"
"Ten thousand six hundred and fifty three."
He heard her let out a breath.
"All clones?"
"The majority."
"I'm sorry."
"Why? It's not your fault."
She shook her head, her arms wrapping around him, pulling him closer, into her. He relaxed.
It shouldn't have but it helped.
.
University Library.
Essie kept glancing up, checking the entrance. They arranged to meet and if he was going to be late, which happened more often recently, he commed her.
"Com him if you're worried!" Instructed Johl, he had mellowed in his time here; she hoped it was partly her influence but it could be he was just growing up and realising things were never black and white. They were just going through the last part of his preparation for his promotion.
"This isn't about me. We're supposed to be prepping for your interview."
"I'm prepped as much as I can, and your assessment helped."
"Good. You deserve it but then you'll leave when you get posted."
"Miss me?"
"You know I will."
He smiled.
"Now call your Captain!"
Her finishing time was approaching and she was picking Del up. She never normally commed him; he had only recently given her his code, with the security override.
You tied up? She tapped.
The automated reply came; meaning he was but she still worried, he was a man of habits and his habit was to message her, if he was late or could not come.
Let me know you're okay. She tapped.
Things were changing, Coruscant was changing. She was sensing more things and couldn't ignore them out as much as she used to. It felt as if there was a permanent dark grey cloud over the city and a permanent downpour of rain, like they had occasionally. Every time she woke up she expected to see that.
She walked out of the Library, expecting the dark clouds but saw bright sunshine and a gentle breeze, she shook her head trying to clear it. It didn't work, she headed to pick Del up.
.
Essie pushed the last packet into the conservator, then started on the dishwasher, when her com beeped. She ran, grabbed it, clicking it on.
"Maze?"
"Hey." He sounded strained.
"Bad day?"
"Yeah."
"You alright? You sound…"
"Fine." He interrupted.
"Do you want to come over?"
"Yeah. I'll be there soon."
The com clicked off; Essie decided on a quick shower. She had a surprise for him. It was her birthday and Sol and Nat had booked them a meal. She had been unsure what he would say about it and if he could actually get away, so had not mentioned it. They hadn't been anywhere together since 79's and this was an expensive restaurant, one she had always wanted to go to.
It would be a new experience for him.
.
Maze entered her apartment, in his fatigues; he was a common figure in her building now and if people didn't like it they never said. The Rodian on the ground floor kept thanking him for his work in the war, keeping them safe.
He walked, straight up to her, pulled her to him and kissed her; it always felt good. He dropped his forehead to hers, feeling some of the tension fade. She pulled away and pushed a small card in front of his face.
"Present from Nat and Sol. A meal out for us."
He stood, his arm around her waist, looking at the gift card; it was for a full course dinner at one of Coruscant's most exclusive restaurant for two.
"It's for my birthday. I've never been."
"I can't go. I have nothing to wear." He grumbled.
Her eyebrow arched.
"Even I know you would have to wear some kind of civilian suit, which I don't have." He added, crossing his arms, thinking of what Palpatine wore.
"Don't you want to go?"
"I've told you. I don't have a suit."
"Is that the only reason?"
"Yes."
"Wait there."
"I'm not going anywhere!" He frowned, as she disappeared into the bedroom. Seconds later she returned, carrying a blue suit on a hanger.
"Walked into that didn't I?" He muttered.
She nodded, smiling.
.