Senate District.
685 days ABG
"Large black please." Essie had dropped Del off at the nursery, nipped and grabbed something for lunch, and to top up their own caf and tea supplies. Plus some more painkillers. The headaches were more frequent now and she stopped for a Caf, it helped. She had found a vendor whose caf was good— hot, strong but not bitter.
Turning away from the vendor, she looked around, certain someone was just behind her. There was no one in the queue, just people going to and from work. She nodded to a few she recognised, they returned the gesture too busy to stop and talk.
This was totally different to working in the library.
"Morning Essie!"
She turned back.
"Morning Brad."
The caf hissed as he steamed it, releasing the aroma which usually meant it smelt better than it tasted but not here. It was as good as Nat's.
Maze would like it.
She frowned.
"You okay?"
"Yes, just a headache."
"Ah. The Senate Headache— a well known affliction. Del already in nursery?"
"Yes. He likes it there. He has a little friend he talks about all the time."
"Good. There you are, and these." He added a small bag. "Mel sent them."
She grabbed the proffered cup and bag, looking into it. A small bag of sweets.
"Is he allowed?"
Yes, a few. Thank you." She said as she paid.
"See you tomorrow."
Waving, she walked off, needing the caf and the painkiller as soon as she got inside.
Maze leaned out from the corner, where he ducked back, as she turned around. He had watched as Del ran into the nursery; he looked well, as did she. He knew her movements now, her times and routes. His training told him she should change them regularly but he didn't want to contact her, didn't want to give her hope. So he kept away. Kept watch.
He watched as she entered the building safely, satisfied, he turned to return to Barracks.
.
As she exited the lift, she felt apprehensive, something had happened. She walked slowly up to the office; Den and Rik were off-world, so the door should not be ajar unless ADA was malfunctioning again. She pushed the door open slowly. ADA was in the corner, apparently closed down. Immediately she could see flimzi and datapads strewn on the floor and work stations smashed. She put the caf and bag down slowly and walked silently towards Den's office, hearing someone in there; she pressed the silent alarm under her desk and walked slowly to the office.
Two beings, totally in black and masked, were rifling through the desk and trying to get into the datapad. She tensed, this was going to hurt whichever way it went, because one had already spotted her and she had no blaster.
She backed away slowly, drawing one out of the office, hopefully she would have some element of surprise.
"Deal with her." The one with the datapad ordered.
The other strode towards her.
She could deal with him, poised ready, she pulled back her fist into her side and waited until the last minute. Dropping down to one side, as he lunged, she punched his lower abdomen, made contact but not exactly where she wanted. She misjudged slightly but enough to knock him off balance, causing some discomfort. Quicker than him, as he rolled over leaving himself exposed; she grabbed a handful of manhood and twisted hard.
He screamed high and loud. She was lucky he was human.
Stepping over him, still twisting, she crouched facing the other one.
He was just about to fire when she heard footsteps. Distracted, she lost concentration and he pushed her off, kicking at her in the process. She rolled away, banging her head on the desk leg.
Curling up and lying still she waited, hoping they were on the move.
A hand appeared in front of her face, "Ms Devro!" He pulled her up. "I seem to be doing this a lot recently."
She swayed, she was out of practice.
"Commander Stone. Thank you for coming so quickly. I don't know if they actually got anything."
"We're pursuing them now." He listened to an update in his HUD. "One's having trouble running. I'll get someone to check your head."
"Stitch?"
"Who else?"
"I think I'm alright."
"We'll get you checked over, Ma'am. That's an order, Essie." He said, softer, pulling a chair up for her.
She looked around at the chaos in the office. "I need to get hold of the Senator and explain to him what's happened."
"It's been taken care of. He knows, automatic notification. His assistant is already making arrangements to return early."
"There's no need. I can sort it out."
"He insists. Says you can work from home until the office has been repaired. He'll send you something he needs checking into. The repair droids will be here, when his assistant returns. Until then the office is closed."
Essie reluctantly agreed.
.
Senate District
700 days ABG
"There you are." Brad handed over her usual order.
She looked up to see a familiar set of clone armour walking towards her.
"Can you make another extra strong with sweetener, please."
"Of course." The machine hissed again, "I love how you are always polite, even after that scum attacked you. I'm glad they got what they deserved. Here!"
He handed over the caf, as she wondered what he meant by that.
"Thanks Brad. I'll see you tomorrow."
She turned to see Commander Stone a few steps away from her.
"Commander, for you." She pushed the caf towards him. He stopped. "You drink caf don't you? It's just a little thank you. Not much I know."
"Er yes. I just wasn't expecting it. Can I walk you to the office?"
"Sure it's my first day back."
"I know." His helmet tilted towards her, as they walked towards the building.
He held the doors open to the lift.
"Have you caught the thieves?" She had to ask.
"No, I'm afraid not. Mercenaries. Their speeder crashed before we managed to catch them."
"So we don't know why they were there, or who sent them because they were looking for something."
"It could be anyone who doesn't like the Senators' beliefs. There you are, all safe."
They reached the office.
"Thanks for the caf. I'll take a quick break and drink it." He turned to go, "Call me Stone—and if you need anything just let me know."
She watched him walk down the corridor.
.
Essie scrolled through more information Den supplied; it came from a meeting with a Treasury Agent called Wennen. Nothing came up when she did a quick name check but she didn't expect anything, being a Treasury Agent. Essie had not missed the part about her having a clone boyfriend though.
She read through the extensive notes and listened to the recording; it appears the Senator was meticulous and or paranoid, or maybe both with what he was backing. She couldn't blame him.
The Treasury Agent had questioned what happens to clones if they are injured. It was a topic the Senator was passionate about. She knew Maze had a liver transplant after he was injured and Jab dealt with medical problems at the Barracks but what about out in the field?
She still thought about Maze but not every day now. Sometimes she thought she saw him, or rather felt him following her but she was usually mistaken, or wishful thinking.
"Kaliida Shoals. Medical frigates. RIMSOOS. They're all there. But no rehabilitation centres. Did they go back to Kamino?"
She was talking aloud, as she did when researching. Rik teased her about it.
She made a mental note to ask Commander Stone if he knew what happens to his brothers on the front line, if they're injured and unable to fight, even with prosthetics. Commander Wolffe had a prosthetic eye. And to contact the Treasury Agent again, something had obviously aroused her suspicions.
A newsflash came up on her screen.
"Padmé Amidala, who represents the Chommell sector in the Galactic Senate, visited Confederate Senator Mina Bonteri on Raxus. Bonteri recommended the start of peace negotiations in the Confederacy's legislative body. The Separatist Parliament approved this initiative. It is being brought before the Senate today."
"Hmm." She switched to the live feed to keep up with the proceedings and minimised it.
"Time for a refill, Rik?"
"Yes please. I'll just be a couple of secs… just checking on his schedule for next week. ADA is still on the blink."
Essie closed her link, leaving the live feed on. The droid had never functioned correctly since the break in.
"Are they still debating Amidala's peace negotiations?" He asked.
"As we speak and the Banking deregulation."
"We can hope— for peace. Not sure about the banking deregulation."
If the war ends, perhaps Maze could….
"Are you still okay for Sabacc later tonight?" He shouted, interrupting her thoughts. "No talk of politics."
"Yes. Nat and Sol are taking Del, then I'll come over. The usual suspects?"
"Yes."
"I'll bring refreshments then."
"Thanks. I think I'll be a bit late with this. ADA's overbooked him—again."
He cursed.
When she first realised that the Senator and Rik were lovers she felt unsure of where she stood, if she would feel uncomfortable working with them but it had worked out extremely well. They were professional during working hours and she had been to dinner with them a few times. She thought they invited her out of pity but now she was a regular at their Sabacc games even though she had only recently learned how to play, and very badly.
Essie switched the caf machine on, preparing the cups; she frowned as a sharp pain shot through her head, then it went totally black and she was left with another throbbing headache.
Expecting the power to return within a few seconds, she stood waiting.
"Rik? You okay?"
"Yes. It's not me."
Essie waited, looking around; she could see nothing yet.
"Isn't there an auxiliary backup or something?"
"Should be. This used to happen a lot. I thought they'd fixed it. The Senate Chamber has its own power supply."
"Great!" She huffed and waited for her eyes to adjust more, it took a little while it was totally dark.
"What's that?" she could hear sirens.
"I don't think this is a simple outage." Rik said, calmness permeating his voice. A light came from his office, his com link. He appeared by her side.
"Where's your com?"
"Bag—next to the desk."
They moved slowly towards it avoiding the desks. It lit up as she activated it, giving them a little light. There was no signal.
"Can we open the door or are they locked down?"
"Let's see."
She pressed the button— nothing. Rik clicked the manual override.
"Shall we?"
They pulled—it opened.
Peering out the corridors were as dark as the office but they found a window; looking out they could see the chaos outside. Panic hit her, this was much worse than she thought.
"I need to get to Del." She said, trying and failing to keep the rising panic from her voice.
"Come on. We'll have to take the stairs."
.
ARCA Barracks.
Operations Room
The power went off for a couple of seconds before the backup kicked in.
Maze scanned the screens, and they were gradually reconnecting. Then the sirens started, an attack.
The alert rang throughout the Barracks.
"Everybody accounted for?" He asked, they had done drills for this.
"Yes sir!"
"You know the procedures, follow them."
"Yes sir!"
The room emptied apart from one clone, and Support Officer Loea, who looked towards him, the others each going to their designated task.
"Do you have a problem Loea?"
She blinked a few times, "No sir!" she replied and turned back to the screen.
Maze pulled on his helmet and waited for the updates; they came through in seconds.
"Suspected terrorist bombing of the Coruscant power generators."
He blinked, pulling up a map of Coruscant, his feed from CSF and the Guard was giving him multiple explosions throughout Galactic City and the looting had already started.
"Continue to monitor. If needed, we can muster to help."
Support Officer Loea, turned to him again.
"Questions, Loea?"
"What are you going to be doing?"
He stared at her, "I'm reporting to the Coruscant Guard. They'll need all the help they can get."
He walked quickly to the General's office—nothing had come through there and he wasn't back yet. He checked his status. Still at the Temple. Safe for now.
He automatically raised his com, hesitated, then pressed the contact.
It took a few seconds while it rerouted itself.
"Maze?"
"Nat! Are you all okay?"
"We're okay but I can't get hold of Essie, she's at work," there was a pause, "at the Senate Administration Building."
"Leave it with me I'll get back to you." He paused. "Close up! Can you batten up the shop? There's looting already." He heard shouts in the background.
"Already on it lad. Be careful!"
The connection closed.
There was nothing he could do here but he could check in on Essie; he couldn't help himself. Their sacrifice would be in vain if he couldn't protect her and Del in other ways; he wasn't prepared to accept that. He strode out of the Barracks still trying to get hold of Essie on her com.
Galactic City was in chaos, the Skylanes were dangerous with no controls. There were already fires glowing in parts of the city from the explosions. Speeders and bikes had crashed and emergency services were struggling to get to the victims.
Maze scanned a speeder impaled into a shop window, the occupants dead. Just as he was walking away, he heard noises from behind him. Someone trying to take things from the shop and the dead.
"Stop! Or I'll shoot." It was more than they could expect from the Guard. His HUD showed looting was punishable by death.
The being was still rummaging in the speeder; Maze fired. He didn't bother checking on the outcome. He was still trying to get hold of Essie.
The EasyRide was down, then he saw a CSF patrol weaving its way through the remaining traffic. He flagged them down.
"Need a lift?"
"Senate Administrative Building," he replied.
"You're lucky, that's just where we are going. Jump in!"
Maze pulled himself up and strapped himself in.
"Commando?"
"Yes."
"Not seen many of you boys around recently."
"Busy!"
"I'll bet."
They hovered, as an emergency services shuttle dropped out of the sky beside the few speeders remaining. "All Coruscant traffic is in emergency lockdown!" a metallic voice blared.
"My buddy was one of those your brothers saved from that explosion. Always here to give you a lift." The driver explained.
Maze nodded.
And some suspect we're not loyal.
They swung away leaving it to deal with the remaining speeders, "You are ordered to power down your airspeeder. Repeat, power down your airspeeder or face arrest!" He heard it in the distance as they pulled away. Gradually, the sky lanes were clearing and they soon reached the Senate District.
He swung off the speeder, in the few seconds they hovered.
"Thanks."
"Anytime!" They pulled away, lights flashing.
Maze strode through the chaos to the Senate Administrative Building.
.
Senate Administrative Building.
The stairs appeared interminable, they were running down the twenty four flights to reach the Nursery. Essie's head was pounding, she assumed from the stress. She didn't feel her feet touching the steps, she was almost sliding down the stairs holding on and swinging around, as they reached the end of each flight.
Being on the outside of the building they heard more sirens and orders blaring out from the emergency vehicles, saying the city was in a lockdown and they were going nowhere. All she needed was Del, Nat, Sol and Maze to be safe; she'd worry about everything else after that.
She reached the end of one flight and stumbled, just managing to hold onto the rails.
Rik grabbed the back of her top and pulled her back, steadying her.
"Hey! Be careful! You're no good to him dead."
She dragged herself back from the next flight and took a few seconds to calm down.
"Slow down! We'll get there." He opened up his com, checking. "Comms are still down. Are you okay?"
She nodded.
"Come on just a few more flights."
They restarted, slower, steadier, the sirens and lights from the emergency vehicles lighting up the flights of stairs. There was still no emergency power. A few more flights and they reached the floor, pushing through the door on to Nursery floor.
There were parents gathered around its entrance unable to get in and at the front stood two Coruscant Guards. She pushed through to the parents followed by Rik.
Peering through the windows to the Reception area, where she had dropped Del off hours earlier, she could see lights flickering in the background; they had probably done the same with their coms.
The crowd behind her were jostling her and grumbling angrily.
"Why can't we get in?" She addressed one of the troopers, with people pushing behind her.
"Orders Ma'am, we're in lockdown."
"Yes but they're our children."
"Not all." His bucket moved around the crowd. Not every child has a parent out here and until the state of emergency is downgraded. We keep them here."
"You can't." she protested again.
"We can, Ma'am. General Order, 412, subsection…."
"Whatever!" She retorted, exasperated, angry.
She slapped his chest plate. "I want my son with me now!" And heard shouts of agreement coming from behind her.
His head tilted to one side, fractionally. "Yeah. You talk to someone higher up."
Clone or no clone, she wanted Del with her now.
"The Commander's coming now."
She felt Rik's hand on her shoulder. "Stay calm. They're only doing their job." He whispered.
Essie took a deep breath. He was right.
Just stay calm.
She felt the crowd behind her part; the reason became apparent as another member of the Coruscant guard approached. He felt familiar.
"You need to disperse."
"We can't, our children are in here." Someone from the back shouted.
"So let us in."
He tilted his head, touching his bucket.
"If we let you in you can't come out until the lockdown is ended."
"Fine by me!" Muttered Essie, anything to get inside. "Are you coming with me?" She addressed Rik.
"Probably for the best."
One of the guards opened the door and they pushed inside, each desperate to reach their child. More com lights came on and the guards helped light up the area. Del came running out, arms held out and she swung him up. He pointed to the lights. The children enjoyed the makeshift light show, unaware of the danger in the city.
"Once we're allowed out. I'll get the speeder and get you home. The EasyRide won't be up and running anytime soon." Rik offered, tickling Del under his chin
"Thanks."
"I'll check with the Guard for an update." He wandered off, in search of one of the Guards.
Essie sat with Del, playing a game with their hands. He'd get bored soon but she had some games and books to read on her datapad. Unless he wanted to play with a friend, who kept waving to him from across the room. He suddenly went quiet looking up.
"This one's cute. Didn't know it was your ankle biter." Stone said, regretting the use of the words as soon as he saw her reaction.
.
Maze reached the Senate Administrative Building, he was monitoring the Guards channel; they were being pulled in all directions trying to keep order. He tried to get hold of Stone, to advise him he was on his way, of course. Their little agreement worked both ways as far as Maze was concerned and despite what he had said, he was not going to let any of them get hurt.
He walked up to the doors, two Guards stood in front. They saluted.
"Meeting with Commander Stone!"
"Sir!" They let him in and locked down immediately after him.
He raced up the stairs to Den Skeenah's office, hoping he wasn't too late.
.