Disclaimer: I make no money, and I only write about what I enjoy. Crimson Squad, Cerina Browlin, Reone, Gan Pohin, and the opening segment quotes are mine. Arlington Zey and Bardan Jusik belong to Karen Traviss. George Lucas owns everything else.

Segment 4

Since when do Clones do an intelligence agent's job? Don't Clones have enough risks on the battlefield to worry about? They've been given a shortened life and that doesn't even take into account their accelerated aging. Instead of risking more men, we should be negotiating with this supposed informant and showing the proper way to share intelligence.
Jedi General Bardan Jusik

The City of Sha'ye on the Planet Denon
687 Days ABG

Cerina's apartment structure was subtle, nearly invisible in the row of buildings, and Dusty began to suspect that it wasn't truly where she lived but more of the web of deceit she had created to hide her true identity. In the dark, Dusty could see that the outside of the building was a light-colored material, a brick-like substance. Windows were spaced evenly at every eight feet across, and the main doors were on the bottom level. He had to assume that there were emergency escape exits on the back end of the buildings, but he wasn't entirely certain of that unless he had the opportunity to see the other side of the complex.

As Cerina opened the main door on the lower floor of the building, Dusty felt himself naturally go on edge as though he wanted his HUD and his blaster. His instincts told him that there was no danger and that no one had been trailing them because he had been watching for that and he could tell that Cerina was being cautious also. His eyes took a quick scan of the doorway, and he saw that there was no indication that anyone had breached the building.

Moving inside the well-lit foyer and stepping towards the turbo-lift chamber, Dusty came to understand that his fear wasn't because of an enemy now. It was because of the unknown, the idea that he was taking this supposed date too seriously and he would be entering a woman's apartment – a woman who was gifted with beauty and seemed to want to do everything in her capacity to give him a normal human experience.

While they waited for the turbolift chamber door to open, Dusty glanced at Cerina, and she looked to him offering a small smile. "We'll talk in the apartment."

Dusty nodded in understanding as they stepped inside the turbolift and took it to the third floor. When the door opened, Cerina led him to an apartment seven doors from the turbolift. She typed in her keycode and they moved inside the living quarters.

She set the lights to be brighter than the dim nightlight they had provided, and Dusty did a quick sweep with his eyes of the apartment. He counted one main room, but it was sectioned off to appear as a living room, a dining nook, and a kitchenette. There were two doors, and one of them was opened on the far side of the room. Dusty could see in the dimness of that room that there was the outline of a bed, which meant that the closed door was the refresher station.

The apartment had no decorations and nothing beyond simple basics, enough to make it seem as though someone lived in it, just very plainly. Again, it led Dusty to believe that it wasn't truly Cerina's living quarters, and it was a safe house set aside for her to do the actual transfer of the information.

In the seconds it took Dusty to observe and make his conclusions, Cerina had moved toward a utensil holder in the kitchenette. Picking out something that looked like a vegetable masher, she pushed carefully on part of the handle and slid open a secret compartment. A small holochip that was the size of her thumb landed on the counter. She quickly put the utensil back together and returned it to the holder. Then, she touched a button on the holo device and a small holoprojection of an underground map came to life.

"It's Nusset's bunker," she explained. "It's below the Sha'ye opera house, and he rarely comes out of it anymore. Everything he needs is brought in through vendors of the opera company. There are records on this chip of everything you'll need to show your superiors, including the full-scale map of his lair and the latest list of potential ingredients he is planning to use in his biological weapon. A database was even included giving the names of his potential buyers."

Dusty let his eyes study the schematics, wishing he had his HUD to record it in the event that something should happen to the holochip.

"Here, it's is yours," she finished as she held it out for him.

Dusty didn't think twice as he closed it down and took it from her. He knelt down and put it safely in the hidden pocket of his boot.

Cerina kept her eyes on him. "It's time for you to save your army."

Standing up, Dusty found himself unable to move right away. He knew it was his duty to turn and rush out the door to meet up with his brothers. However, before him stood a moment, an opportunity, a chance in life he knew he would never have again. If the war didn't kill him, his damn accelerated aging would.

"Ma'am…" he said, letting his voice drift away as he was not entirely certain what to say, what to do, or where to even begin with it all.

Cerina saw his hesitation and suddenly stepped forward taking the initiative of the moment he was obviously unsure about acting upon and simply pressed her lips to his.

Dusty couldn't help his uncertainty at her unpredictable actions, but after a moment he relaxed into the soft warmth of her kiss. He found that he liked how their lips molded together and how the spark of excitement tingled through his nerves.

Consumed in the moment, he let his one arm reach around her, his hand touching the delicate curve of her back. His other hand came forward to shut down the microphone on his lapel because he felt his brothers didn't need to be eavesdropping during this part of the mission. This moment had nothing to do with the actual mission, and it was personal, which meant that Dusty wanted to enjoy it selfishly.

After a few moments, Cerina pulled gently back and found that her hands had snaked their way around his neck. She dared to trace her fingers down the front of his jacket and pull it open, working it over his shoulders.

Dusty hesitated once more at this new development, and he moved to take a step backwards. Cerina paused long enough to kiss him again, and this time Dusty decided to relent the jacket. He moved his arms through the sleeves and then he brought his hands around her waist. He tilted towards her, taking in the sensations of the kiss for all it was worth. He was fairly certain he would never know what it was again and found it was a much more enjoyable experience than what the Kaminoans presented it to be in their flash-training.

Continuing to remain tangled in their embrace, Cerina slowly led Dusty to the bed of the apartment, and he paused as she turned him, the back of his legs bumping lightly against the mattress. He gently broke the kiss with Cerina and held her a few inches from him, realizing that the opportunity she wanted to truly give him was something the Kaminoans had never taught and the GAR would never teach. She wanted to give him something that would remind him he was a man – a human – who should be allowed to know the same basic pleasures as any other human in the galaxy.

Looking into her eyes and feeling the warmth of her body in his hands, Dusty knew he shouldn't do this. He knew that his brothers were waiting for him and that they had probably gone into panic mode the moment he shut down the comlink. He never planned to shut it down for longer than a minute or two, just long enough so that no one would think it was anything other than interference. Besides, he now had the information that the Republic needed, the confirmation they sought so they could issue the order to send in Crimson to finish off Nusset. It was imperative that Dusty get the holochip that Cerina had given him to his superiors immediately.

Then, he thought about what Cerina told him about a moment in time, something to remember. She had already given him so much that he understood more now than he had before he dressed up as some civvie.

He thought about what his false personality of Elig Munot would do if he were faced with the predicament of a beautiful woman before him and an empty bed behind him. And, at that moment, Dusty decided Elig was a civilian who had nothing to lose, nothing to fear, and if Dusty's superiors wanted him to be Elig Munot, then he would continue to be this civilian personality for a little while longer. After all, he was only following the orders he was given. It just happened those orders could bend into the situation he was within.

Dusty brought his lips to Cerina's and decided that if she wanted to give Elig Munot a night to remember, then he would continue to portray this civilian man and know what it was like to be normal. He was going to seize the opportunity before him and be a human man, the one thing the Kaminoans had never allowed any of them to experience.