Please be aware that some content of this chapter may be deemed M rated
Nine
General Koon and General Kenobi sat in their robes, not talking or drinking, but waiting.
They had sought her out independently, finding themselves both at the establishment reserved for troopers during their down time.
"Master Koon," she nodded to him first. He stood up and grasped her hand.
"Skylar? It is a privilege to finally meet you. How much like your mother you are."
She immediately knew why he had become her mother's best friend, her confidante.
"I have been waiting a long time to fulfil a promise I made to your mother. She always wanted you to have this."
He unlocked a light sabre from his belt and handed it to her.
She vaguely remembered the delicate silver hilt with elaborate engraving. She held it in her hands for a minute, wondering, willing herself an appropriate reply.
"May I?" she asked transfixed.
"Of course, it's yours now."
He sat back down, clasping his enormous hands together, studying her as she looked over the weapon that once belonged to her mother.
The weapon that had ultimately destroyed her family forever.
She pressed the button to release the gentle hum as the blade withdrew from the intricate handle.
She was mesmerised; her face illuminated in the rose coloured glow.
"Your mother was the only Jedi I know to have found a pink crystal as her source. She always said it was because one day she would have a daughter."
His words were kind but tentative, trying to gauge the reaction this information would elicit. His voice, whilst comforting, broke the spell the weapon had momentarily cast on her.
She turned the light sabre off.
She'd had enough of ancient customs to last her a life time.
"No," she sighed "you keep it," and handed it back to him. "You're more likely to need this than me. Besides," she said looking at the Jedi Master, "she's been at your side for the past twenty years, not mine."
He held the light sabre and replaced it to where it had hung for a long while. He bowed his head, and she turned to Obi-Wan.
"Ben," she said rather tired and emotional, he stood up and grabbed her in a most unlikely display of affection.
###
"What do you make of that Sir?" Jesse questioned the Captain.
The activation of the light sabre had quietened the bar momentarily as all eyes were watching the woman wield the pink blade.
"Don't know, but what I do know is that I am thirsty," he laughed turning his friend around and returning to his brothers.
'Di'kut! What were you thinking' Rex shook his head and thought.
###
"Do you still have it?" she asked him.
Obi-Wan reached under his tunic and pulled out the familiar pendant. She reached under her dress and pulled out a matching piece.
They moved together and joined the two silver medallions at the end and a tiny hologram sprang to life.
"I didn't think that would still work," he said.
"It's been a long time," she breathed back.
They both stared at the tiny figures in front of them.
A woman with two small children.
"That's just before you left with Qui-Gon," Gem said.
"Yes." He waited a second before adding, "you were supposed to come with me," his voice was low and thoughtful.
She stifled back a laugh and shook her head continuing to gaze at the two children that looked so happy
###
They talked for what must have been hours.
Master Koon, interjecting and joining the conversation between the two familiar young people.
The conversation revolving, hovering, always around the unspoken.
Gemma closed her eyes and rubbed them briefly then asked the large Kel Dor the question he was so desperate to answer.
Slowly and obviously still emotional, Koon spoke of the events leading up to her mother's demise.
She could see how visibly shaken he still was at finding her mother's body in the Temple that fateful day a life time ago.
He carried the guilt along with the light sabre at his side.
She could sense that he wanted to hand it over to her; alleviate himself of the burden that he had forced upon himself.
She would play no part in that.
She was there to start her new life and no loving memory about her mother could change her embittered heart.
###
"I've missed you Ben. You never came back?"
"Indeed I did." His tone a little lighter in an attempt to brighten the mood.
"In fact, I was there at your Graduation from University. I was also on Oriis once, and saw you with your father in the laboratory facility he set up. It was quite impressive. Qui-Gon was with me that time."
"But not your mother's funeral?"
"I was there Skylar," he looked away, a distant memory sparked inside his mind.
"And you never thought to see me?"
"It was difficult; you wouldn't understand. I do remember how sad you looked. Seeing me would not have helped. You got on with your life. Leaving for Oriis to be with your father and I knew then that you would be alright. He lowered his voice. "We always kept an eye on you, even if you never wanted to accept us and the life we had chosen. You 're a hard person to ignore Skylar, you're presence in the Force is - "
"Don't say it." she warned. "You know how my father feels," she stifled a breath and corrected herself, "felt about that."
"Your mother was a wonderful Jedi, Skylar," Master Koon added, "you to could have learned to - "
"Stop," she breathed, "just stop. It was never for me. That path was never for me. You have to respect that?" her eyes questioning, pleading the wise men sitting in front of her.
It was true, try as they might, her path would never include becoming a Jedi.
She was strong in midi-chlorians, and her strength would have been an asset to the Jedi given the situation the Republic were now in.
However, it wasn't in her heart. Her life had steered her in a different direction, one sadly, the Jedi Order had inadvertently guided, twenty two years earlier.
There was nothing more to be said.
"Ben, I'm tired."
"Allow me escort you back to your apartment," he said, and they left The Bunker, not even noticing that the place had been well and truly cleared of troopers.
###
Rex had walked back to the Barracks with his brothers and had retired to his own quarters.
Being a Captain afforded him a private bunk, which up until recently had only ever been used by him.
He sat down heavily, folding the piece of flimsi with her writing on it over and over in his hands.
"You will be there?" she had asked, and he promised he would.
It was late, twenty three hundred hours and the barracks was settling down for the evening.
He rubbed a hand under his chin, the feeling of stubble familiar and welcome. He decided to keep his word, even if only to find out what the meeting with the Jedi was all about.
'A pink blade, was she one of them to? How did she know to open the weapon like that against Opress?'
With renewed vigor he grabbed his helmet, turned off the light and decided to get some answers.
Just who was this woman he found so fascinating?
###
Jesse was still awake when he heard the Captain leave the barracks. His boots and steps so familiar, he knew them better than his own. He lifted his hands to his mouth and made a small trumpeting sound after he heard the hissing of the electronic doors shut behind him.
"What in the name of the Force is that?" Kix, dropping his head over the side of the bunk asked.
"That's the sound of booty call ner vod." Jesse replied as he broke out into a fit of laughter.
"Di'kut!" Kix muttered to himself as he reclined back, his arms folded behind his head. He wouldn't sleep now, not after that comment.
###
Rex headed towards the Senate accommodation. In full uniform, he wasn't likely to be questioned about his presence in the building at that time of night.
Standing outside the apartment, he looked at the numbers again and stopped before pressing them into the key pad. Rex didn't feel comfortable at entering an empty apartment. Tossing the challenge presenting him over in his mind he heard male voices coming from around the corner. He knew it must be a patrol doing rounds.
Without thinking he punched the sequence in, the door opening as he quickly stepped inside.
'This is the sort of thing an ARC would do,' he thought how Fives would be enjoying all this cloak and dagger stuff.
Rex preferred to live his life the way he fought; hard and out in the open.
She was pushing his boundaries, making him personally uncomfortable, challenging his very ordered existence.
It was exhilarating, the feeling in his gut familiar, and it took him back to a time as a young boy on Kamino.
Once inside he noticed a few things that he remembered from the little planet he found her on.
The guitar with the broken strings, a photo of her and her father in laboratory gowns and he smiled when he picked up her hairbrush that had been left on the dining table. He had seen that on a Death Watch food crate inside the broken ship.
He walked around the room, heading into the galley kitchen and helped himself to a platter laden with colourful fruit. Hungry, he ate one but thought better of taking another. He wandered into the bedroom, quizzically looking at the multitude of pillows adorning the large sleeping space. The refresher room was bigger than his quarters and he decided to take her up on the offer to use it.
Unclipping his armour and stacking it methodically as he would have in his own room, he turned the water on and stepped inside.
###
Obi-Wan stopped with her outside the door of her new accommodation.
"He's in there, isn't he?"
"I hope so," was her reply with a smile, but like Obi-Wan, she knew he was.
"Be careful Skylar, he's a good man and a great soldier."
"I don't think you are in any position to offer me brotherly advice Ben," she retorted.
He bowed his head in that annoying Jedi manner that infuriated her so much and she entered the numbers into the key pad.
The door hissed open and she took a step forward before turning back to him.
"You should try some intimacy Ben, it would release all that pent up frustration I sense in you," she smirked.
He opened his mouth to reply, but she just hit the close button and the door shut quietly in his face.
###
She closed her eyes for a moment, relishing in the end of one part of the evening.
Removing her shoes she padded softly towards her bedroom. She could hear the water running in the refresher.
She stood and waited.
He appeared with a towel wrapped around his waist and wiping his head with one carelessly hung around his neck.
He smiled guilty and said, "I took you up on that offer to use the 'fresher."
"Good," she nodded and walked over to him slowly, her eyes never leaving his.
She noticed how relaxed he looked, herself fighting to keep her own emotions in check.
"Mind telling me what the kriff that was all about with the Jedi?"
"Sshh, no more talking tonight. I have had enough words." She was face to face with her rescuer.
"You, know-" he started, but she silenced him by placing her index finger against his lips.
He put his large hands on either side of her hips and rocked her ever so gently against him.
Her hands moved up his arms, feeling their warmth, knowing their strength.
Her heart began to race as he moved one hand up to release the bow at her neck.
"Let's see what we have here?" he mused. The material slid through his fingers and the silk gown cascaded silently to the floor.
Without breaking eye contact, he moved his strong hands down either side of her, catching the material at her hips he pulled it lower until they succumbed to the same fate as her dress. She took a step closer to him. His hands remaining on her bare skin.
He looked at his hands against her hips, the colour of her pale skin was the first thing that struck him. He was used to seeing another colour contrasted against his large brown hands. Then the moment hit him like a blaster shot to the chest. This was someone new, not the familiar female he was used to being naked with.
He was experiencing life outside the army, and he knew he was going to like it.
She ran her fingers down his taunt abdomen, feeling every muscle as she continued.
She caught her finger at the top of the towel around his waist, and she gently pulled until, it too, headed south.
It was Gemma's turn to raise an eyebrow as her eyes wandered down the length of his body.
He merely smiled, already beginning to stiffen.
"Like what you see Ma'am?" He repeated her earlier question from the bar.
"Indeed I do Captain." She played along. "You've done this before haven't you?"
"I have," was his controlled reply.
"You?" he questioned. She nodded quickly.
At that instant he ground his mouth against hers, both sets of arms grabbing at each other, pulling them tighter and tighter together.
He moved her towards the bed, his mouth never breaking contact with hers as he lowered her down.
He then rolled to his right bringing her with him. She was on top, briefly before they rolled again and she felt his full weight against her.
He moved his mouth quickly to her ear and began to nibble slowly, blowing air on the wet area left behind, sending every hair on the back of her neck on edge
A low moan left her throat. She held the back of his head as he worked his way down to her chest.
"MMmmm," he growled as he took the gold medal he had given her earlier in his mouth and flicked it to one side.
He then began to kiss around her breasts, taking a nipple into his mouth and toying with it playfully with his tongue.
The sensation was overwhelming and she writhed under him, moving her hips involuntarily.
She couldn't think, as he headed from one side of her to the other.
She let him go and her arms flailed above her head, grabbing the material beneath her.
She had never felt such complete abandon in her life.
He slowly moved to her stomach, kissing, nibbling, and pulling every piece of her with his mouth.
He continued lower until he got to a point where she gasped and quickly grabbed his head.
"No!" she protested a little too loudly, looking down at the man situated between her legs.
He stopped and saw her startled expression, and began trailing his lips back up her abdomen.
'Yeah right you've done this before' he mused to himself, happy that for once, he was more knowledgeable in things other than deeces, death and destruction.
Slowly he made his way back to her mouth and gently began anew, kissing her lips gently.
Little by little his tongue made its way in whilst his hand travelled down her body to the spot his mouth had initially sought.
She allowed him to touch her and roused further and further until her back arched and her head pushed its way into the mattress beneath them.
He waited for her breath to return before he manoeuvred himself over her fully, and she obliged by opening herself up to him.
There he began a new rhythm, all the time aware of the woman below him. He did know what to do, he had done this before. Then why, was he so nervous? He quickly shut down his mind, allowing his youthful body to take control.
The physical act of sating his masculine need whilst remaining in control was overwhelming. The time for wild abandon would eventually come, for now he had to take the lead, he owed her that in the very least.
###
Rex groaned softly in her ear as he came.
Holding his head in her hands she looked at him, surveying his face as she waited for the pulsing to cease.
He closed his eyes and moved his face into one of her palms, kissing it gently as he withdrew from the perfect warmth that enveloped him.
She moved slightly, wincing at the heat searing through her as she placed her head in the crook of his shoulder.
"You should have told me," his deep tone reverberating through his chest into her ear.
"Told you what?"
Rex continued to stare at the ceiling.
"That it was your first time."
Her secret was given away with her virginity.
He felt it, the gasping of air followed by the choking sobs that escaped her small frame.
Rex moved quickly, pulling her tightly into his chest as her body convulsed in his arms.
It was all too much; the physical, mental and emotional ride the past six months had put her body through.
She cried for herself.
For Reed.
For her father, and now for the first time in her life, her mother.
He continued to hold her, knowing full well the importance of releasing the unspoken, until they fell, still entwined, fast asleep.
###