When Maze reached Skeenah's office suite, all the rooms were empty, no emergency lighting, just the droid. He calculated where they could have gone but the only person she would have worried about would be Del.
He tried to com Nat.
Coms were still down.
He returned to the stairs; there were still fires raging but pockets of lights had appeared, as other buildings' emergency backup power came on.
"Why isn't that happening here?" He growled, as he took the stairs three at a time.
There was a Nursery in the building with Del registered as attending. He hoped they were there as he tried Stone again.
"Stone here! Maze?"
He slowed his steps.
"I'm in the Senate Administrative Building…"
"Nice to know you cared. If you're interested. Ms Devro and her son are in the Nursery and safe."
Maze took a deep breath before replying, "That is good to know. Do you need any help?"
"No, we've got everything under control now. They're rerouting power as fast as they can."
Maze blinked through his HUD, updates were coming in fast now, catching up.
"I'm getting the same updates."
"Do you want to see them? Ms Devro…"
He thought for a moment. It was best not to.
"No. Maze out."
Maze opened up his com again, as he headed down to the first level.
"Nat. They're safe in the nursery. Coruscant Guards are there too, so they're okay."
He didn't listen to Nat's reply, cutting him off mid sentence
.
Essie watched Stone, as Del sat and drank some juice; he was talking to someone. Then he pulled his helmet off looking satisfied.
"Everything okay?"
"Yes. They're rerouting power from other grids and it may take a few hours but everything should be up and running, reasonably normally soon. Then we'll be rebuilding again."
"Rebuilding again!" She shook her head. The result of the war.
"Have you got a lift home?"
"Rik's offered."
"I can probably get you there faster." He smiled at her.
"Okay. Thankyou. I appreciate it."
.
ARCA Barracks
Operations Room.
"Sir!"
Advisor One stood to attention.
"Sitrep!"
"All squads accounted for. Mission Sitreps updated. The General is on his way back from the Council and we are fully operational Captain."
"Good. Well done, all of you."
"How's the city, Sir?" Support Officer Loea asked.
"Getting back to normal, slowly. There's been some looting and the skylanes are restricted to essential traffic only."
He realised she had been here all the time.
"Is there anyone you need to see or talk to?"
"No sir. But I would appreciate being able to get home and check it's okay and perhaps have a shower and change but I can do that here."
He saw Advisor One's head tilt slightly.
"What's our status now One?"
"All clear, sir."
"Loea, take a couple of hours."
"Thank you sir."
He finally pulled off his helmet, clipping it to his belt as she walked out of the room.
"I'll be in my office."
Walking along the corridor to his office, he saw Loea standing there, waiting.
"Problem?"
"No Captain. But thank you."
She moved towards him. He took a step back.
"No need. I need you to perform without distractions. See you in two hours.
She smiled at him with perfectly aligned teeth, and as she walked away he realised her hair had a hint of bronze to it. She was attractive, and he hadn't realised before. He shook his head and continued to his office.
.
Essie's Apartment Complex.
Stone pulled the speeder up to the landing platform outside Essie's apartment. The sky lanes had opened to emergency, Guard, CSF and GAR traffic only. She was lucky.
"I'll wait while you check if it's okay."
He dropped the speeder gently onto the platform and turned off the engine.
Essie opened up and did a quick check of the rooms and energy supply. It was intermittent but liveable. There was a message to say it would be off at certain times. She could live with that and returned to the speeder.
"Everything's fine Commander. Thank you again." She lifted Del out of the speeder.
"No problem!" He paused, "I wondered if you would like to go for a drink sometime."
Essie looked across at him, before putting her son down, he was getting heavy.
"I'm sorry. Bad timing?" The Commander continued, as he noted her pause.
"No Commander."
"Call me Stone."
"It's just. I'm not interested in seeing anyone at the moment. I'm concentrating on raising my son."
"Okay. Another time then."
She couldn't see what expression he had, as he still had his helmet on. She watched as he sped towards the sky lanes.
.
ARCA Barracks
736 days ABG
Captain Maze was not in a good mood, despite having just spent an hour in the gym trying to exercise off his frustration with the galaxy at large. He'd not heard much from Stone recently and he was getting twitchy with inactivity plus Skirata and Vau were back in town, which always affected his mood.
He was taking a walk around the parade ground, blinking through the updates in his HUD, when he saw them standing there heads bowed over datapads.
He initially wondered what they were plotting, for two people who hated each other, so the rumours went, they were very close. He watched, then saw a slight flash of a reflection coming from an opposite window. He magnified it.
"Delta squad. What are you up to?"
They were almost as bad as Omega. Were they planning to take out the hated training Sergeant? Everyone on Kamino knew what he was like and then what happened with RC3222 earlier in the war.
Jango was hard but never like that.
Well he had never seen him like that.
They had better not do anything; it was the last thing he needed, especially on this day.
He magnified Delta again — no they're eating nuts as well, not a good combination when you're a sniper.
He turned back to the two sergeants, watching their lips. He knew almost immediately what they were doing.
The names.
It was two years after the start of the war.
.
Mess Hall
Coruscant Guard HQ
Republic Executive Building.
"Thorn."
Stone lifted his leg over the back of the chair and slid into it, placing his tray on the table.
"Stone."
"How's it going?" Stone asked, seeing the exasperated look on Thorn's face.
"I know this is what we've been tasked to do, protect the Senators etc etc but sometimes I do wonder what galaxy they think we're in and do they know that we're actually at War." He ran his fingers through his blond tipped hair.
"That bad eh?"
"You don't know half of it."
"It's not all a bed of roses being here all the time." Stone took a sip of his caf.
"Speaking of beds," Thorn leaned forward, "how is your latest conquest going?"
"It's not."
"Perhaps she's not into male humans?" Thorn stared at his plate, pushing the food around, trying to decide what it was before putting a forkful in his mouth.
"She is, I know she is." Stone replied.
Thorn leaned back, chewing the nondescript meat protein.
"Is she worth it?"
"You know me."
Thorn smirked.
"Perhaps you need to change tactics."
"She just says she's concentrating on her son."
"Well, you can't take him out, that would be a no no." Thorn waved his forefinger at Stone.
"I wasn't intending to." Stone rolled his eyes, "I'm not sure he likes me."
"Have you tried getting around him?"
"Yeah." He remembered the jelsweets he'd given to him, a few days earlier and the look he received in return, "He still doesn't like me."
"You definitely need to change tactics."
"I know that." An irritated Stone replied.
"I may be able to help." Thorn offered.
"How?" Stone's eyes narrowed in interest.
"My exasperating Senator has a problem with a vendor…."
.
Senate Administrative Building
740 days ABG
Essie walked around the corner already getting her credits out for her caf, before she took Del to the nursery. He was pulling her along, desperate to meet his friend; they were really close and Essie was happy he was playing with other children.
She stopped, there were Coruscant Guards all around Brad dismantling his stall.
"What's going on?" She demanded. It wasn't Stone, she knew the markings on his armour, he had been around pestering her enough.
One of the Guards pulled away, as Brad was retrieving all his stock.
"This vendor does not have a permit."
"I had one. Someone rescinded it." Brad shouted as he was packing up.
"Commander?"
"Thorn, ma'am."
"Who withdrew it and why."
"The licensing authority, after a complaint."
"A complaint by whom?"
Essie had never heard anyone complain about Brad, his Caf or the other snacks he sold.
Thorn cleared his throat and leaned closer, "It was a Senator." his voice was low.
"Which one?" Essie mimicked him.
"The one from Charra."
"Charra? That planet supplies most of the caf on Coruscant."
Thorn shrugged. "Exactly."
"Why would he attack one vendor?"
Thorn looked around, "Word is, he has a company that supplies the Senate Restaurants with their Caf. He has a monopoly and is slowly getting rid of all the competition."
Essie felt her self righteousness come to the fore. This was wrong. People should be able to trade, be able to make a living for themselves without being attacked by big corporations.
"Is there a problem?" Another clone voice butted in. Essie thought she recognised this one.
"Commander Stone!" Thorn stood to attention and saluted. "We have to move this vendor on. He has no licence."
"Someone revoked it!" Butted in Brad before going back to his packing.
"Then you can't trade." Confirmed Stone.
"This isn't right. He has the right to earn a living under the Constitution.' Essie butted in now.
Stone turned to look at her, "Essie—ma'am." He held her arm moving her to one side, "Unfortunately under the new Security Amendments anyone who is this close to the Senate has to have a specific Permit to Trade."
Essie frowned, she remembered the Amendment but had not thought it would lead to such restrictive practices.
"Isn't there anything you can do about this?" She appealed to him.
Stone appeared to consider this for a moment.
"I'm afraid he's too near the Senate District to be able to trade at the moment without further Security checks being carried out."
"The area ends there." Thorn pointed to the corner, "It wouldn't be a problem if he was over there." Thorn pointed to the other side of the corner "but he would still need an emergency licence to continue trading."
"So how do I get one of those?" Brad asked, he had watched as Thorn pointed out the area he could trade from, as he finished packing up his cart.
"Would you be able to trade from there?" Essie asked.
"Yes. As long as people walk by I can trade."
Essie looked at Stone but all she could see was the impassive, and intimidating, helmet.
"Can you help?" She asked him again, all the while trying to stop Del pulling her along.
"Let me check." His head tilted, looking as if he was contacting someone.
A couple of minutes later.
"That's all sorted. So long as he stays in that area away from here he's okay. He can trade."
"Did you hear that Brad?"
She received a thumbs up,as he pushed his cart to the corner, but not before giving the increasingly impatient Del a bag of jelsweets.
"Thank you again Commander."
"Stone, my name's Stone." He pulled off his helmet, and looked at the child examining his packet of sweets then to Essie, "There is something you can do, if you really want to thank me."
Stone looked at Thorn, then back to Essie.
"Yes, anything." She replied.
"Have a drink with me tonight. Then we're even."
Essie rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"I walked into that one didn't I?"
"You did rather."
"Okay. One drink."
Stone grinned.
"But where are we going?" She asked.
"Dress up, its not 79's."
That was all he would say, as she allowed her son to pull her towards the Nursery.
"I don't like him. He's not Maze." Del declared.
"No Del. He's Stone. But why don't you like him?"
"He gave me jelsweets."
"But you like jelsweets and it was kind of him to do that." Essie replied, despite thinking it was probably a way to get to her.
"Yes. But they were green. I only like red."
"But you ate them."
He stopped and looked up, exasperated, "It would be ungrateful not to."
She didn't really know how to answer that.
.
"Stone—this is the Galaxies Opera House." Essie stood staring at the impressive, albeit totally over the top theatre and performing arts venue. She had never been here before.
"Yeah." The Commander looked up at the building. He had often done Security here.
"Stone, this is too….expensive…too much…How…?"
"I can't pretend I bought the tickets but there were empty spaces and it doesn't look good, so the Guard gets to make up the spaces."
"I thought your dress greys looked different." She had noticed some additional trim to the shoulders and other places.
"We have to have dress, dress greys." He joked. "For special occasions."
"I'm flattered."
They did look to be better material than the normal troopers.
He held out his arm. She draped her hand over it, and they walked up the stairs to their seats.
She was not immune to some of the disapproving looks that they received but she wasn't going to cause a problem here. Stone ignored them.
"Doesn't it ever make you angry, how you're treated?" She asked softly, leaning close to him.
Stone stopped for a split second, then continued. "I'm human what do you think?"
"You hide it well."
"It was our upbringing."
Maze had never mentioned much about Kamino.
They obviously weren't given the best seats and they were high up in the auditorium.
More disapproving looks as they took their seats together.
They had reached the third act, it was hot and stuffy in the auditorium; Essie was struggling to stay awake. She had never been a fan of Mon Cal Opera and now she was bored stiff. She squirmed in her seat and tried to concentrate, looking over to Stone who was staring straight out at the musicians, back ramrod straight. She sighed, stifled a yawn and turned back to the performance.
Stone squeezed her hand; she jerked her head up from her chest.
"You okay?" He whispered.
She blinked,stretching her eyes open, "Tired, and it's hot in here." She stifled another yawn.
"Shh!" The person behind them, shushed them again. They only had to whisper or move and they shushed them
Essie wanted to laugh; Stone looked so solemn but she could sense he hated this as well. She looked at her program; there was an Intermission soon. She stifled another yawn, making a face like Yoda and felt Stone moving next to her. He had his eyes closed, jaw clamped shut and his shoulders were shaking.
She inadvertently smiled and clamped it back; according to the programme this was where one of the cast died. She crossed her legs and dug her fingernails into the palm of her hand.
Then suddenly the music stopped and everyone rose. Stone and Essie rose a split second later and enthusiastically clapped with the rest before everyone surged for the exits to get refreshments from the bars.
Stone pushed her firmly through, his hand in the small of her back, guiding her past the people making derogatory comments about clones, which Stone outwardly ignored. She had forgotten how some people treated them but she felt his anger bubbling and was impressed by his restraint. Finally they pushed out from the crowd onto the walkway; Essie took a deep breath, being short she always found crowds a little overpowering.
"You okay? Do you want to sit?"
"We've been sitting continuously for two hours, my backside is numb. I'd like to just walk."
He held his arm out, she linked hers through it and they strolled along the walkway ignoring the passersby who were rushing to and fro.
"Tell me truthfully," Stone said,his face blank, "you hated it didn't you?"
"Truthfully…?" Essie asked, she didn't want to upset him.
He nodded.
"It's not my first choice of music."
"Thank goodness. I thought it was me."
"It was boring. I'm sure I fell asleep at one point." Added Essie.
Stone barked out a laugh; the sound still took her by surprise. It was the same but different to Maze.
"You did. Your chin was resting on your chest."
"You should be thankful I didn't snore."
Stone raised an eyebrow in response.
"I didn't, did I?" She asked, horrified.
"No. It was a near thing though." He continued looking ahead, as they walked, Essie felt his amusement. She must have been making some kind of noise.
"Thank you for giving Del the jelsweets the other day."
He turned to look down at her, "I didn't think he liked them or me."
"He prefers the red ones but it was kind of you."
She thought he blushed but she must have been mistaken.
"That's a first. Me being called kind."
They eventually reached the Tualin Oola.
"I thought we'd be going back to your apartment?"
"We?"
"You must know how I feel about you."
"Which is?"
"I want to….." he leaned in close, "see you again. Perhaps we can have some fun."
His face was right next to her. His lips so close to hers.
"And what's your definition of fun?"
"A few drinks, then sex."
He was blunt; she had never been propositioned like that not since University.
"Not tonight." She pushed him away slowly, hand in the middle of his chest. He let her, smiling.
.
Essie lay in bed thinking about Stone.
She had to admit she liked him.
His proposition.
There could be no strings attached. Just for fun.
It was not like Maze. Nothing like Maze. She was not going there again. She had set boundaries for Maze and they had been crossed on both parts.
This was going to be nothing like that.
.
ARCA Barracks
740 days ABG
Alina Loea watched the Captain, the Alpha ARC, the other clones called him. Initially she had thought he looked just the same as all the others that manned the barracks but after a short time she realised he was bigger, built more like the Commandos that came in and out of the Barracks between missions. Some were almost normal, passing the time of day with her, calling her Ma'am. Others, notably Delta squad moved as one, scowled as one. They were disconcerting. Then there was the one that flirted with her all the time every time he came in, Lieutenant Mereel. She had the impression the Captain didn't like the Lieutenant.
She did, they had spent an agreeable night together; she often wondered what the Captain would be like. They always said the quiet ones were the worst. He hardly spoke to her unless it was about work.
She had thought Maze was all business, all about the missions, the logistics, the battles, until the power outage. Then he was worried and she thought it was about someone in particular because he disappeared. She couldn't find him anywhere.
.