ARCA Barracks

483 days ABG

Maze entered the med bay with the box of pastries, again.

"Su'cuy delivery boy, leave them on the desk."

Maze glared at him. The ARC in training, being treated, glanced between the medic and the Alpha, he knew who Maze was and waited for an outburst. Jab was only a Sargeant.

"Call me 'Delivery boy' again and I won't be responsible for my actions." Maze turned and left before Jab replied although there was a laugh that followed him. He grinned as he strode along the corridor to the Ops room for updates.

Support Officer Loea sat at her station preparing for the day's work. She was dedicated, he couldn't fault that.

"Good morning Captain. Have a good evening?" She greeted him, asking the question mongrels seem obsessed with; he grunted a reply and picked up his stack of datapads ready for the General and strode down the corridor ignoring everyone in his path.

He was hoping to see Essie and Del tonight; they had not seen each other since Ne'tra and that was still raw. He clutched his datapads even tighter to his chest when he heard raised voices coming from the General's office and it wasn't Skirata or Vau. It was a woman and the General —both laughing..

He pushed open the door curious to find out what was happening.

"Ah! There you are Maze." A smile crinkled the General's face. It wasn't very often Maze saw that.

"I told you he wouldn't be long. He's punctual." he addressed the female in the room. "Captain Maze, this is Jedi Knight Janyne Teral."

Maze came to attention and saluted, "Ma'am."

"Pleased to meet you Captain. I've heard a great deal about you." She offered her hand. He shuffled the datapads before finally putting them down. The handshake was firm, he noticed the intricate lightsaber hilt hanging from her belt and her appearance. Approximately the same age as Zey, she had light brown hair, sprinkled with grey, glinting in the light. It was tied back, away from her face. She didn't wear the normal brown robes he associated with the Jedi.

"So…. I understand that you manage to keep Arli in check, eh?" She asked, smiling.

The General spluttered.

"I wouldn't actually say that …Ma'am." He glanced between the two Jedi. He knew that General Zey had a particular friend among the other Jedi from his youth. Just from the occasional comment he let slip and some of the coms he didn't erase. There was nothing particular in them that would cause concern.

"Oh, Arli definitely needs someone to keep him in check—occasionally." She turned and smiled at the General who appeared to be turning slightly pink at this interaction. "I remember once when we were in the Archives, before Jocasta was in charge…."

"Janyne!" Zey warned her.

"You're right Arli, to business."

"Caf Captain?"

A plate of pastries sat in the middle of the table.

"Yes, General."

"Take a seat."

Maze looked between the two of them again. He hadn't met this Jedi before but on closer inspection she looked vaguely familiar. He mentally shook his head.

"It's okay Captain. I won't bite. Not done that recently." She flicked a glance at Zey. Maze swore he went an even darker shade of pink. This was not a type of Jedi he was remotely familiar with, not like Jusik or Tur-Mukan. He found himself wanting to smile; he stopped himself. It was unprofessional.

"Captain. Arli. I have been under cover for the Council and I have already reported my findings to them but felt you should know the details as well. They will have told the Chancellor but…..."

.

Tualin Oola

The cafe was overflowing, the 501st had finished their training and leave, and were due to deploy soon; it was too early for 79's to open, so they were busy both with deliveries and the Caf. The clones getting their last taste of freedom before they went back to the front lines.

Sol's feet were aching already and it was only lunchtime.

"Lucky we took you on," she said to Freyu as she took out an order, "but are you okay serving all these? The ones in blue can be a little boisterous. If it gets too much let me know. You can always help in the kitchen."

"I'm okay. They're very polite."

Sol winced at the raucous laughter coming from a corner table.

"Rhia okay?"

"Yes. She likes being here. She feels safe."

Sol was happy about that, since the incident at the gym, Freyu had become closer to them and the medic Jab always made an effort to talk to her. Sol smiled, he was smitten even Nat saw that.

"If she's clearing the tables, we'll pay her. But she has to promise to do her school work as well." Sol added.

"She knows that. She wants to do what Ryssa did, go to University, so we have to save up now."

"She's a clever girl, she'll go far. Where is she?"

"Outside."

"She needs to take a break. I'll get her something."

Sol didn't want to feel like a slave driver, even though they were so busy. They had even put more tables outside on certain days to accommodate all the clones who seemed to find out about them. Someone had said it was word of mouth. The grapevine must be amazing in the GAR. Sol headed back to the kitchen to get a snack for Rhia and check on the latest orders, the last thing she needed was hungry disgruntled clone troopers.

.

Janyne used the EasyRide, she knew from experience this was the quickest way to get to where she wanted to go. She was so used to working undercover now, that she looked just like any other commuter. Her lightsaber tucked away in a pocket, out of sight; no tell-tale Jedi robes like Arli or Obi Wan wore, even though she knew Ari would occasionally walk through Coruscant. She smiled at the thought of him; they both still had feelings for each other and she thought the Captain had picked up on that. He was a complicated man; layers and layers to peel away, not like some of the troopers she had met. He was a good fit for Arli.

Arli was troubled, she had already picked that up from the com messages they frequently exchanged and it was part of the reason she was back on Coruscant. He didn't deserve to be in this situation, none of them did. Yes she agreed with the Council the Dark Side was pervading everywhere, especially here. It was oppressive. Like a headache behind the eyes. She used to like the city, the diversity, the life— now.

The other reason, she wanted some time on Coruscant was now in front of her.

"Tualin Oola." She murmured. It looked as if was doing well. They wouldn't be happy to see her, that was expected but all she was doing was checking, just as she had promised to do years ago. She could see they were busy, full of Clone troopers; perhaps this wasn't the best time to visit, to check. She turned to leave.

"What the Kriff are you doing here?"

"Hello Nat! Good to see you too."

.

ARCA Barracks.

Maze was still pondering on the meeting earlier in the day but he had made his checks with the Ops Room, and everything was going well so far but that could change in a second. He pushed the last datapad away. Finally up to date.

There was a rap at his office door.

"Enter!"

The new trooper, Tor, limped in; recovering from an amputation, he was on rehab. He was manning the front desk, used to move people along when they reached the wrong place but now he was breathing hard.

"Sir there's a Captain to see you, he.."

"He's here." A Captain with blue markings on his armour pushed his way past the trooper, and stood aggressively in front of him.

Maze knew exactly who it was, the blond hair gave him away.

Two more troopers skidded to a halt behind him; even with their buckets on there was still an aura of embarrassment about them.

"Sorry about the droid!" He nodded backwards.

"I'll deal with this. Dismiss!"

"Captain, how can I help you?"

.

GAR Barracks.

501st Quarters.

An hour earlier.

Finally the Beast was unloaded and secured under the watch of Doctor Sionver Boll, who had it sedated and restrained. Rex hoped. The men deserved some R and R after that.

The more Rex thought about the message sent to Cori, the angrier he got; she followed all the protocols and she didn't deserve to be pursued by some pen pusher on Coruscant, ticking a box to meet his targets. On reading the message she had assumed she was responsible for the deaths of clone troopers and potentially put him and others at risk. They checked who had been issued the proofs and some nitwit at the Senate had released them on line early, before they had been vetted.

He told Cori there was nothing to worry about, that she hadn't caused the deaths of any troopers. The message was an administrative error.

And it would be by the time he'd finished with whoever sent it.

Coric poked his head around the door to Rex's office, "A few of us are going to a new Cafe some medic friend of Kix told him about. They welcome clones. It's a bit early for 79's so we thought we'd give it a try. You want to join us?"

"Perhaps later. I have something to take care of."

"Need any help Cap?" Coric knew what it was about; Attie couldn't keep his mouth shut he had been so angry, they all were to varying degrees. They'd have gone to sort this Captain out themselves, rank or no rank but the Cap had said he'd take care of it. He just wished Rex and Cori would get together, his friend needed something more than war. They all did.

"Nah. This'll be between Captains."

"Okay— any trouble give us a shout." And with that Coric shot off down the corridor catching up with the others.

Rex checked his datapad, jammed his bucket on and headed through the Barracks at the double. ARCA Barracks was not somewhere a normal trooper ventured—Commandos and Spooks. They were a whole different type of clone and until recently never mixed.

.

ARCA Barracks

Rex got past the sentries with surprising ease, must be shinies. He would have soon got them up to speed, trained better.

Sloppy!

Couldn't do much about the droid. It still amazed him how easy it was to decapitate them. And it felt good leaving it in pieces, sparking in the corridor. He rolled his shoulders in preparation.

By the time he reached the Captain's office, a limping trooper had caught up to him; that trooper had a bit more about him.

When he first saw the pen pusher, Rex was was surprised by how much the Captain looked like Seventeen, the same surly, grumpy demeanour but it only lasted a few seconds, as his anger raged back.

"This!" He pushed his datapad in front of the Captain's face.

The Captain carefully closed the document on his data pad down and put it on the desk. It seemed to Rex, as if he was moving in slow motion. He took his time reading it.

Rex was struggling to keep his anger under wraps.

The Captain finally looked up, "Yes. What about it?"

Same voice as Seventeen.

"Miss Lok followed all the protocols. What she did was secure."

The Alpha Captain raised an eyebrow.

Rex knew he was psyching him out; it was what all the Alphas did. Seventeen was especially good at it. Hells Rex did it himself.

.

Tor was walking slowly back to the front desk; running after Captain Rex had put too much pressure on his prosthetic and he needed to have it checked over by Jab. Which was fine because he got to have one of those fruit pastries that everyone raved about.

He stopped outside the Captain's room; there were scrapes and knocks coming from inside. He leaned closer and listened again, sure he could hear the occasional oomph. Now there was banging and the sound of things dropping to the floor. He raised his fist to knock and check if everything was okay. The visiting Captain had not looked happy.

"I wouldn't."

Tor jumped at the sound of Jab's voice.

"That's Captain Rex and I have it on good authority that he is not happy with Captain Maze at this moment."

"But…."

"No buts. Take it from me, you do not mess with Alphas and ARCs." He leaned forward, looking from side to side along the corridor, and whispered, "I've heard Alphas bite."

Both looked at the door. It had gone quiet.

Jab put his forefinger to his mouth— keep quiet!

They tip toed away.

.

Tualin Oola

The corner table rose as one to salute their Captain when he entered, accompanied by another Captain with no identifying marks on his armour. Rex waved them down.

Coric watched them fascinated, he assumed this was the Captain who sent the message and yet they seemed friends now.

"So this is the place." Rex said, "My medics told me about it. A cafe where you just pay what you can afford if you're a clone. Said they had the best Warra nut cookies on Coruscant. I didn't believe them about the payment but I see now."

"I prefer the Spicy Nerf Steak Bake myself."

Maze decided he liked Captain Rex. He presented a good argument and his investigations were spot on, he couldn't fault him. A pretty good head lock too. They were on their third caf when Essie came in with Del, who spotted him immediately and ran over. Rex gave his fellow captain a peculiar look when he pulled the little boy onto his knee.

"He's a friend's son." Maze explained. "Essie!" he shouted.

Essie came to a sudden halt, in front of them. Her mouth slightly opened and face turned a delicate shade of pink. Her mouth closed and opened again wider but nothing came out. She closed it again,

Maze smiled at her; "This is Essie. She is usually much more talkative. She's a fan of yours."

Her face went pinker, almost red. She found her voice.

"Hi, I'm Essie. It's so good to meet you." her voice was low, but he couldn't miss the narrow eyed look she gave Maze.

"Ma'am." he acknowledged her.

"Can I get you some caf and something to eat?" she continued.

Rex watched the Alpha and the woman; the looks they exchanged was sometimes like the General and the Senator.

"I'll have another Nerf Steak Bake." Maze chipped in.

"Did I ask you?"

She turned back to Rex. Maze eyebrows shot up.

"I'll have a Nerf Steak Bake…please." Maze repeated.

"Only one?" She asked, sharply, not even turning round.

Maze gave a her a questioning look. "What about you Rex?" He asked.

"I'll have the same."

"I'll get them for you. Do you want them heated up?"

"Yes. You know how I like it, Essie."

The young woman glared at Maze.

Rex had watched the interaction between the two, with confusion now.

"Captain Rex?" she smiled at him.

"Heated please."

Essie nodded and headed to the kitchen.

"Did you say, she was your friend?" asked Rex.

"Yes. She's a Librarian."

Rex tried to picture in his mind what a Librarian looked like and the nearest he got was Jedi Jocasta Nu, who Ahsoka had described to him once. The natborns must have different types of Librarians.

.

Essie was irritated with Maze ambushing her like that, she must have looked like an idiot to Captain Rex. Mouth opening and closing like a Nubian scale fish.

"Hey Sol. Busy eh?

"Hmm."

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Sure? You seem distracted."

"Yeah, fine just busy. 501st are here."

"So I gather. I'm just getting a couple of nerf steak bakes for Maze and his friend. I'll pay."

"Maze okay?"

"Yes, just being Maze."

"Oh that bad eh?"

"He's not that bad!"

Sol placed a hand on her arm, "He makes you happy and that's all that matters. Ignore me. It's been a bad day."

"Let me help!"

"No! You go and sit with Maze and his friend. Here's their food. I'll bring the caf later."

Essie balanced the plates carefully, as she walked towards their table, she had done this for years helping out, then sat down next to Maze. "There you are boys." Del was sitting on Maze's knee, with a slightly bemused looking Rex sitting next to them.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I just wasn't expecting to see you here."

"That's okay ma'am." He took one of the plates off her.

"Good." She didn't know what else to say. She was still flushed; she felt as hot as Mustafar and Maze was enjoying it. She could see it in his eyes.

.

"So Maze's message exonerating Miss Lok was deleted by some over enthusiastic protocol droid in Senator Amidala's office." confirmed Captain Rex, to Essie.

"But he didn't tell me that before he had me pinned to the wall in a choke hold." Maze interjected smiling.

Essie choked on her caf; Maze slapped her on her back. "Alpha 17 was a good trainer."

Rex nodded, "Wouldn't have survived without it."

"I think you do yourself an injustice, Rex."

"Is Miss Lok still with you?" Essie asked.

Rex looked at Maze, he nodded.

"Yes. For a few more months, until she's got enough footage."

"Why exactly is she with you?" asked Essie, glancing at Maze.

Rex cleared his throat, "Senator Amidala, and General Skywalker want the public to know who is out there fighting for them, men and not droids."

"Some of us already know you're men."

Rex couldn't miss the look she gave Maze; he felt himself get warm under his body suit; a similar feeling to when he saw the General talking to the Senator.

"The General also mentioned trying to get us citizenship and rights after the war ends."

Both Maze and Essie stared at him.

"Is that a possibility?" Essie asked.

He shrugged, "I don't know but at least they're trying.

The conversation stalled.

"I've seen some of Ms Lok's wildlife studies on the Holonet, they're amazing." Essie filled in the silence. "I've become rather a fan."

"I'll let her know."

.

Essie's Apartment

Later that night.

"You ambushed me with the Captain." Essie declared.

"I did not, it was just …a happenstance."

"More like contrivance." she could do long words.

"I disagree, a serendipitous meeting perhaps." Maze continued.

"You swallowed a dictionary?"

Maze grinned, he could do this all night but Essie was obviously bored with it.

"So what did you think of him?"

He pressed her against the kitchen counter top. Del was fast asleep.

"I like him, and his hair is definitely not dyed." She declared, as she put the mugs away. "Why did he have you in a choke hold?" she had been wanting to ask him all night.

"I may have inferred there was something between him and Ms Lok."

She sniggered, "I really like him."

"No too much, I hope." He said, before his mouth started working on her neck. She stopped moving, letting the feelings wash over her. His hands wrapped around her, sliding under her top.

"Oh Captain!" she moaned.

Maze stopped for a second, then continued.

"Oh Rex!" She moaned again.

"What?" Maze pulled away from her, letting go.

She giggled and darted away.

"Hey!" he ran after her, into the bedroom, catching her at the bed.

As he pulled her to him by the waist, her arms snaked up his chest and around his neck.

"Jealous?" She held his gaze, his eyes almost black.

"No! I have you—here." He held her tighter.

"And?"

"I wouldn't want to lose you. You mean too much to me."

She basked in the sincerity he exuded, then leaned up to his ear, whispering, "And I love you too."

He twirled her around and fell to the bed holding her, before kissing her until she couldn't breathe. He didn't realise how much those words meant to him until now.

She sat on his thighs, knees either side and pulled her top off, closing her eyes as his hands, roamed up her torso and around to the back of her bra, he flicked it undone, and dropped it at the side of the bed. He knew exactly what she liked now and the more pleasure he gave her, the more he enjoyed it himself.

He pulled at her pants, they were different, silkier, matching.

"I like these." He pulled the top and let it flick back. "Better off though!"

Essie leaned over to one side and shimmied them down; he pulled her back onto him, kissing her again before pulling his top off.

"Bottoms?" She said, smirking. They didn't take long to reach the others and she positioned herself over him. His hand slid between her legs but she could barely wait before lining him up and sinking down.

"Essie?"

She leant over, "I just want you Maze, as much as I can." He replied by thrusting upwards, as she responded with the rolling of her hips steadying herself on his chest. His hands went to her hips and around, squeezing in response to her hip rolls. He leaned forward taking a nipple between his teeth; her movements increased in speed, a hand reaching between them, finally she stiffened on top of him and groaned before laying on him. He turned them over, staying inside her, pulling her closer by the hips, as he knelt, thrusting in deep until he came with a grunt.

He lowered his forehead to hers, feeling her arms slide around him.

.

Tualin Oola

"Nat! There you are. It's been really…busy. Oh."

Sol saw who followed him into the Cafe.

"Essie's not here. They've gone home." She said curtly.

"I didn't want to disturb her but I saw the little boy. He looks just like her Father."

"She's happy. Settled."

"I've kept away. Like I said I would. But this war….."

"She's fine. Doesn't need you and definitely doesn't need a Jedi."

"I just wanted to make sure she's okay."

"And Del. You need to keep away from him too."

"The child? He's not force sensitive?"

"No!"

"The Father?"

"Gone!"

"She was sitting with two Clones?"

Sol glared, wondering how long she had been watching.

"Maze is a good man. He makes her happy."

The name was familiar but she recognised him. She felt uneasy about this, with his artificially short lifespan but who was she to say anything. She hadn't seen her niece since her younger sister and her husband died, and she shouldn't be here now. But she hadn't always followed the Jedi code.