SHOOT FOR THE STARS

For this next defection we're going to have to reopen an old file. Remember not so very long ago on a bacta transport not so far away?

"Just give it to me." Ka'ra held out her hand for the blaster pistol.

"Do it," Daz agreed. "She was the best shot in our year at the academy."

She looked gratefully into his chocolate brown eyes that were the exact shade as her own, as was their hair upon which they used the same styling serum to tame their identically rebellious curls. From their first day at the academy they had joked that they were twins separated at birth if it hadn't been for the fact that her skin color was as dark as deep space and he was pale as a moonbeam.

He was her best friend and she was glad they were together on this mission. Even if they were about to be boarded by pirates.

The navigator, who was slightly more highly ranked than either of them, passed the weapon to her with trembling hands. "If that's the case." But she looked relieved that she wouldn't have to be the one to directly engage the invaders.

Ka'ra familiarized herself with the pistol as they hurried toward the hatch where they expected the pirates to emerge. It wasn't her mum's hunting rifle and she didn't have any of the reflective pucks that her mother had taught her to use to sight around tight corners but she would have to make due.

The point turned out to be moot, when the pirates tossed an EMP grenade out of the hatch ahead of themselves. She dropped the useless weapon on the ground and backed up to the wall with her hands raised like the rest of her crew mates.

That was it. They were all going to die.

"Greetings, friends! Thanks for letting us aboard your fine vessel. Don't worry, we're just going to help ourselves to your cargo and we'll be on our way. No one needs to get hurt." But the helmeted leader didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to get at that cargo. Instead her visor was quite intently scanning the faces of the crew.

Ka'ra wasn't sure why she noticed this fact, while the pirate and the captain argued over the contents of their cargo bay, but it seemed significant.

And then when Daz blurted out their destination the pirate's gaze settled on him and didn't budge. She asked his name and patted him on the back.

"Everything's loaded up," the one with the mech arm reported.

"See? All done, and no one got hurt. Wasn't that easy?"

Almost too easy.

"Like I said, we'll be on our way now. And one more thing –." She grabbed Daz. "We'll be taking this one with us."

"No!" The captain shouted, though it was drowned out by Daz's cries. "If you need a hostage, take me instead."

"Nah, the skinny ones make better target practice." The mech-armed pirate grabbed Daz's other arm and helped his partner drag him away. "Thanks for the bacta!"

"Daz!" The navigator shrieked right before the airlock closed, leaving Daz with the pirates. "They're gonna hunt Daz for sport!"

Ka'ra broke out into a peal of hysterical laughter. She couldn't help herself. "Well, they were right about the target practice."

"I thought you were his friend!" The navigator gasped in horror.

"She's in shock." The captain attempted to regain control of the situation. They were dead in space but they still had their comms and could signal for a pickup.

Ka'ra allowed them to put a blanket around her shoulders and lead her to her bunk but she wasn't in shock. She was sure she had figured it out before Daz had himself if his reaction was anything to go by.

He had been talking for weeks, very quietly and only to her in the strictest confidence, about contacting Defections and getting out of the imperial machine. He had even asked her to come with him.

She told him she couldn't, there was her mum to think about, but she would never give him up if that's what he decided to do. They were friends and they always would be.

…

Surely even then she had known that it wasn't to be. They were on opposite sides, and she had long wondered what she would do if she happened to find him in her sights.

"What's wrong? Take the shot!" the Lieutenant hissed in her ear.

"They dove undercover before I could get a bead."

That was a lie. Ka'ra had had the rebel in perfect line of vision for long enough to know for sure exactly who he was. His hair was dyed red and it had grown out much longer than regulation but it still had that untameable curl. It was Daz.

And he wasn't carrying weapons. Her old friend was holding a box of food to two small children.

Though her eyes and hands remained steady, her thoughts were anything but. Command had told them that the rebels were building an arsenal and using living shields to protect their position. Through her scope she could see that was patently untrue. The rebels were there, sure, but they were carrying relief supplies to a group of battered civilians.

The Empire had lied. They had lied.

"Draw them back out," the lieutenant ordered. "Shoot the hostages; that'll get them moving."

She shouldn't say anything, but… "The hostages are children."

"It doesn't matter. You know what General Versio said about rebel children. We must look to the future. It will grow up to be an enemy, and our enemies must be destroyed."

"That was the lesson alright." The lesson that had reaffirmed that Daz had been right to get out when he did.

"Then take the shot."

"Yes, sir."

The lieutenant raised his binoculars, and then his eyes widened and he gasped before he crumpled facedown on the ground.

Without moving her rifle from the outcropping they were hiding behind, Ka'ra returned her holdout blaster to its holster and ignored the lieutenant's corpse.

"What's going on up there?" Her comm squawked. "We heard a shot. Do you need backup?"

"Hold your position. The rebels have a sharpshooter working for them." They didn't need to know it was her. "I can't get a shot from my current position. I'll give you a signal once I've taken care of them."

Here went nothing. Ka'ra hoisted herself over the ridgeline and started her descent into the unknown.

…

"Uncle Cross!" Saviin left her game immediately and ran towards him, whooping with joy when he picked her up and tossed her into the air.

And then Kebiin was at his feet begging for the same treatment.

It really had been too long since his last visit, and he was glad he had taken Yularen's advice as he allowed his nieces to each take one of his hands and drag him towards their mother's salon, chattering about everything that had gone on during his absence.

A person called Sam featured prominently in this narrative as he might have expected, and though the twins were exuberant in their praise of the ex-imperial Crosshair chose to reserve his own judgment. The colonel may have convinced him to give Genna's boyfriend a chance, but he'd like to see hard evidence first.

The girls burst into their mother's establishment with their surprise guest. "Buir, we're home!"

Genna looked up from her client, an elderly human woman, and grinned. "Well, look at what the nexu dragged in."

"Ooo, is it another one of your handsome brothers-in-law?" The old lady turned in her seat to see as well.

"Indeed it is." The stylist left her station to go and give him a hug. "Mrs. Levi has had a crush on Hunter ever since he helped find her tooka after the sea surge," she warned him in an exaggerated whisper.

"If you're busy now, I can go and come back later," he whispered back but the girls heard and began to protest.

"Don't you dare," Genna admonished him with a playful swat. "You just got here and we haven't seen you in ages."

She looked to her daughters for agreement and then went back to her work. "Besides I was just about to finish up here and Mrs. Levi is my last appointment of the day."

"I knew I had to make it early enough for you to have time to fix yourself up for your date night." The old lady beamed at the stylist in the mirror while Genna set about to remove curlers from the dyed blue hair.

"Is there anyone on this island who isn't aware of my personal business?" Genna scoffed goodnaturedly.

"We're all just happy for you, my dear. It's about time you had something good come your way and that Sam certainly is a good one."

"I'll tell him you said so when I see him."

So, they were going out for the evening. Perhaps Crosshair could offer his services to stay with the girls. It wouldn't further his mission to observe the boyfriend first hand but he could discuss more with the twins about his character.

Genna sprayed some sort of substance onto her client's coiffure presumably to hold it in place and then removed the cape that had been wrapped around her shoulders and assisted the woman to stand.

Mrs. Levi checked her reflection once more and then opened her handbag, drew out a credit chit, and dropped it into the tip jar on the counter. "Beautiful work as always, Miss Genna. I will see you again in two weeks if not sooner."

"I'll schedule you for the same time and thank you."

Now that she was finished Crosshair could ask her about that babysitting job but before he could do that the old woman addressed him on her way out the door.

"You just watch yourself, young man. Somebody as newly in love as that is bound to want everyone around them to share their happiness. She'll be trying to set you up with your perfect match next, you mark my words."

Genna wouldn't do that, would she?

"Wish it was me." Mrs. Levi cackled and then as she scooted through the door she slapped Crosshair on the shebs.

He yelped and the twins, who thankfully hadn't witnessed the assault, looked up at him curiously.

"Of course Sam and I will postpone our night out since you're here." Genna thought out loud while she swept, before he got the chance to suggest otherwise.

"He and Shep put their last catch on ice. Sam thinks he's a master fisherman now but he's really better at grilling up the results of their excursions."

"Buir," Saviin giggled. "How do you know? You've never even been out on the boat with them."

"You get seasick just stepping out on the dock," her twin added with a laugh.

Genna turned on her daughters with a playful growl and they danced out of the way of her tickling fingers. "Well, you must agree that Uncle Crosshair will enjoy Sam's cooking better than mine."

All three of them looked up at him with breathless smiles.

"I would be more than happy to accept the invitation."

"Good," Genna patted his shoulder as if it were all settled. "Because Phee will be here as well."

"Phee?" He had a feeling of dread that this was exactly the thing Mrs. Levi had been attempting to warn him about.

"Yeah, you've met her before. She was supposed to watch the twins tonight so I don't see why she shouldn't join us. And she'll sort of even out our number."

Crosshair made an effort not to grimace. "Lovely."

…

Ka'ra made her way through the wreckage of the orbital bombardment with the wariness of a nexu, checking behind her with the same diligence as she monitored the path ahead. Her mother had taught her just how quickly the predator could become the prey.

Perhaps it was her attention to detail that drew her eyes to the shiny object that was affixed to one of the broken down walls. Not just some trinket, this was a reflective puck, Imperial issue. It must have been used by a member of the first team sent to liberate Governor Grotton.

That mission had been deemed successful until Grotton had decided to hang the body of the former governor in the square thereby turning her into a martyr and the resulting chaos had brought about the order to raze the city to the ground.

Well, one being's trash was another being's treasure, Ka'ra thought as she pried the puck from the wall and pocketed it. Let nothing go to waste. That was a lesson from her Dad on one of his visits to the planet where she lived with her mother, when he took some time off from traveling the galaxy buying and selling and trading goods and collecting stories.

She wasn't sure why she'd think of him now other than seeing those kids Daz was helping. Their parents were probably gone forever. And that was why she'd felt the need to get to them before her former squad.

A few more of the discarded pucks found their way into her own stash as she continued towards the fallen bell tower. Whoever had used them had known what he was doing, she observed, not letting her own attention to be distracted from the here and now.

It wasn't hard to track Daz and the two children, and the closer she got the more excitement took over. She came upon the three hidden figures with her blaster in hand and helmet still on. "Daz!"

Daz, who had run out of ammunition and was armed with only a chunk of brick, pushed the children behind him. "If you want a fight then let's go, but leave the kids out of it."

"Fight? No." She realized how this must look and put down her blaster. "It's me," she said and lifted her helmet.

"Ka'ra?" Daz's face did a dance of emotion and he dropped the brick. "Oh my stars, it's you!"

The old friends reunited with a relieved hug and the little girl who'd been hiding behind Daz poked her head out. "But she's one of them."

"Not anymore." Ka'ra knelt to the child's level and looked up at Daz. "Is there room for one more in that rebellion of yours?"

"I'll call my old handler. There's nothing she can't do."

…

Genna came back to the dining room soaked to the skin. "Osik!" She laughed.

Sam and Phee immediately chorused, "swear jar." And both pointed towards the jar on the counter that was far more full of credit chits than the tip jar downstairs.

"It doesn't count because they're not in the room." Genna scowled playfully at them but she still fished one more chit out of her pocket and tossed it into the jar before she rejoined the adults at the table, stopping only to wrap an arm around her boyfriend and getting him wet as well. "You're going to have to mop up in there again. You'd think they would have learned by now to keep some of the water in the tub on bath night."

Sam pulled her onto his lap. "You look like you could use some mopping up as well."

Genna giggled and Phee rolled her eyes at the way the two of them were carrying on.

There was only so much that Crosshair could take of this nonsense. "Will the girls at least come out and say goodnight before it's time for them to go to bed?"

"Yeah." Genna reluctantly moved to her own chair. "They're just getting on their P.J.s. Oh, and their teeth!" she remembered just as the twins slid into the room in nightgowns, damp hair, and stocking feet.

There was a flurry of hugs and kisses for Auntie and Uncle and then both girls grabbed Sam's hands and attempted to pull him from his seat.

"You have to tell us a story!"

"You promised!"

"Elek, elek. Of course I will." He laughed and turned to their mother before they dragged him away. "And I'll make sure that they brush."

"He's so good with them," Phee observed.

"I think they're good for him, too, after all he witnessed when he was with the empire." Genna got a far away look in her eyes as if she had been the hearer of some of the man's stories as well. At least those he could recount without breaking down.

She shook her head and rearranged her features into a somewhat sad smile. "It's why we do what we do, isn't it Phee, to help all of those who got caught up in that osik have a chance to find happiness in the galaxy?"

No one mentioned the swear jar this time but Crosshair wondered again just how appropriate it was for a former imperial to be tucking in his nieces.

He stood. "Might I use your fresher?"

"Sure. It's just up the hall across from the girls' room."

He nodded, excusing himself, but rather than going to relieve himself he stood in the shadow just outside the open door and listened.

Only a small night light lit the scene of the two little girls each in their own bed with the covers pulled up to their chins and the hulking figure sitting on the floor between them but at a perfectly respectable distance. And he was telling them a story as promised.

"A long time ago there was a man who lived every moment by the creed, except for one thing: he was unable to be a warrior in the traditional sense. He lived with his family on a lonely farm, no war or clan conflict to fight. But still he had a warrior's heart. One day pirates came to his farm and he engaged them alone in defense of his family. At the end of the fight, all the pirates were dead and our hero mortally wounded. But as he took his final breath, the Manda couldn't bear to let such a brave soul disappear so it placed him in the stars, the Ka'ra, to shine for all time."

Kebiin propped herself up on one elbow and inquired seriously, "Is that where our daddy is now?"

"Elek." The man cleared his throat as if there were something caught there. "He's always up there looking out for the two of you and your buir."

Saviin still lay with her head on the pillow staring at the ceiling or maybe attempting to look beyond it. "Can he see us without his goggles?"

"Of course he can," Sam assured her. "That's what's special about joining the Ka'ra. He can see better now than he could before even with his goggles."

Crosshair was satisfied with the answer as his nieces seemed to be as well. This could only mean that this moment of domestic tranquility was swiftly drawing to a close and Crosshair did not wish to be caught in the act of eavesdropping.

He crossed the hall in one long stride, silently closed the fresher door behind himself, and flushed. Then he ran the water in the sink for a decent amount of time and reemerged into the hallway at the same time that Sam was saying his last goodnights.

Neither man spoke as Sam gestured for Crosshair to proceed him into the dining room where they both observed Phee pacing agitatedly and closing out of a conversation on her comm unit.

"Well this has all the makings of a fine mess, and I'm still on thin ice with Dalla after that limmie game. I'd better call her and make it an official extraction." The handler began to dial her unit.

"She's not available," Crosshair supplied, wondering what emergency could have materialized in the last few minutes. "I was just on Onderon and she's out of the office on family business."

"Great." Phee sighed. "I can't go by myself; it's an active war zone."

That didn't narrow it down. "Where?"

"Desix."

Of course it was Desix. Crosshair silently cursed his luck. "I'm familiar with the area. I can back you up if you wish."

"Really?"

He sent an apologetic look to Genna. "Not that I want to cut this visit short."

"Don't worry about it." Genna didn't look upset at all. In fact she was holding Sam's hand and grinning. "The girls will understand that Uncle Cross and Auntie Phee had to go to work."

This was definitely what Mrs. Levi tried to warn him about. Crosshair swallowed a groan.

…

"I left her with two refugee kids in the old bell tower," their rebel contact, Desix cell member Daz Damask, reported through the shaky hologram. "I was going to rendezvous with the rest of the cell and pick them up later, but the Empire called in reinforcements and they won't go back."

Phee paused the recording. "Know where that is?"

"I wish I didn't." First Mrs. Levi, and now this? If there was a godly entity watching over the galaxy, it was laughing.

"Great. We'll head in, pick up the defector, and we should be out of there in a jiff." With no other business to discuss, she was left with far more awkward personal conversation. "Sorry about Genna trying to throw us together. It must be karma for me trying to set her up."

"It doesn't bother me," he lied. "No offense, but I'm not in the market for anything like that."

"No offense taken," Phee guffawed. "Trust me, you aren't my type. But don't count it out completely, you never know when something like that will hit you."

Not likely. Where would he even find a woman, underneath a target? Crosshair put it out of his mind and scowled at the bell tower as they came in for a landing.

…

Phee was probably going to be annoyed that he ditched her at the rebels' hideout, but the sooner they got this over with, the better. Crosshair could move faster on his own, anyway.

And he was glad he was alone as he approached the bell tower. It was exactly as he'd left it when he was here with Cody, down to the debris scattered throughout the room and the pucks placed on the wall.

No. He looked closer. Some of the pucks had been peeled off and reaffixed.

Heh, good thing he didn't have Phee with him. He knew how to avoid the pucks as much as use them, and so he did. He followed the pucks further and further into the tower, counting as he went until he reached the last one he'd thrown.

If his calculations were correct, and they always were, then whoever readjusted these pucks would be around the next corner to his right, probably using the wall as –.

A blaster clicked behind his head.

"Drop your weapons," the person holding it demanded.

Crosshair rolled his eyes. "Do not shoot me."

"Give me a good reason not to."

Because it would basically amount to suicide? He bit his tongue and went with "Daz sent me."

The woman scoffed. "You'll need to do better than that."

"It's the truth." Something about her voice infuriated him, and his brain-to-mouth filter was rapidly dissolving. Crosshair was about to pop off with his original quip when the woman's comlink beeped.

"You should take that."

The blaster didn't budge, but he sensed the movement as the woman checked her unit and held his breath.

"They could have sent us more warning," she grumbled and lowered the weapon.

With his life no longer in imminent danger, Crosshair turned around. For someone of whom his opinion changed from "none" to "try not to strangle on sight" in two seconds flat, she wasn't bad looking. She was tall and lean, with short hair and skin darker than he had ever seen, and shrewd, calculating eyes.

But he was more concerned with what he didn't see. "Where are the kids?"

On cue, two tiny figures emerged from the rubble. They were a boy and a girl, about the age Omega was when they first met. The boy wasn't quite as dark as the woman, and the girl looked more like Omega with blonde pigtails.

"Are you two alright?" Crosshair asked.

"Yeah," The little girl replied.

"My name is Crosshair. I'm here to rescue you."

"What about Ka'ra?" The boy asked.

It was tempting to ask what about her, but kids weren't great at sarcasm. "Her too."

"Don't act so eager," Ka'ra said dryly. "Blake, Rylie, let's go."

The children shuffled a little further into the open and Crosshair turned to Ka'ra. "Are you the one who put up all those pucks?"

"I was using them to watch out for anyone who might sneak up on us."

"And it never occurred to you that they might lead anyone who knew how to use them directly to your position?"

"And I suppose you know how to use them?" She scoffed.

"Of course I do. Who do you think left them here after the empire's first mission to this stars forsaken rock?"

"That was you?"

"That was me."

The gaze of both of the children bounced back and forth between them as if they were watching a grav-ball match.

"How about if we continue this conversation after we get out of here?" He let his acerbity cover his actual enjoyment of the exchange and the desire to pick it back up again later.

"Lead the way," she agreed.

Crosshair would have liked to be the rear guard and make sure that they all stayed together and that they weren't being followed but he had to admit that this woman, Ka'ra, looked more than capable as she put her helmet back on and took up her weapons for the march.

"Sweep." He gestured to her to watch their back.

"I know what I'm doing," she grumbled but the children looked to her for direction. So she gently instructed, "It's okay. We're going to find you someplace safe. Follow Mr…"

"Just Crosshair," he amended. He was busy scanning their route ahead and only looked down when he felt a small hand slip into his.

The little girl looked up at him with light hazel, trust-filled eyes and smiled.

That trust weighed heavily on him but he nodded his acceptance. "Stay right behind me. And if I tell you to drop, you drop and if I tell you to run —."

"We run. Right, Blake?"

The boy nodded also and they began their retreat.

…

Ten heart pounding standard minutes later (though it felt like much longer) the four of them reached the boundary of the rebel controlled ground. Crosshair couldn't remember a more frightening traverse. Not for his own safety but for the lives of those who were under his care. Still he was glad he had been able to do his part.

He sat a little distance away from Phee and Ka'ra and Daz and the members of the rebel cell, letting them parse out the details. He was wondering when he would be able to get back to Pabu and continue his visit with his nieces when the two little children came to his side.

"They're trying to figure out what to do with us," Blake spoke up. It was barely the second time Crosshair had heard his voice.

"Hmm." The clone wasn't quite sure how to answer.

"They don't mind having Ka'ra join them but they think we'll just be in the way." Rylie looked to be on the verge of tears.

Then he had an inspiration. "Do you know where Ka'ra's name originates?"

Both children shook their heads.

He tried to remember the story as Sam had told it to the twins.

"A long time ago there was a man who lived every moment by the creed…"

"What's a creed?" Blake asked and Rylie gave him an elbow in the side for interrupting.

Crosshair gave the girl a look of gentle admonishment. Surprisingly he didn't mind the inquiry. "A creed is a sort of a promise," he explained to them both. "In the case of the Mandalorians, which this man was, they promise to be loyal to their clan, to fight to protect them if needs be, and to raise their children to do the same. But this man was unable to be a warrior in the traditional sense. He lived with his family on a lonely farm, no war or clan conflict to fight. But still he had a warrior's heart."

"Are you a Mandalorian?" asked Rylie, assuming permission to do so since the precedent had been set.

"I am not," he answered patiently.

"But you came to rescue us," she observed.

"I suppose," Crosshair had to consider the answer. "I have come to possess a similar system of values…"

"What happened to the man?" Blake pressed.

"Well, one day pirates came to his farm and he engaged them alone in defense of his family. At the end of the fight, all the pirates were dead and the man was mortally wounded. But as he took his final breath, the Manda couldn't bear to let such a brave soul disappear so it placed him in the stars, the Ka'ra, to shine for all time."

Blake looked up into the night sky and whispered, "He became a star."

Rylie on the other hand frowned. "Is Ka'ra a Mandalorian?"

"You would have to ask her that yourself." Crosshair had noticed the woman but didn't know how long she had been standing there listening.

Both children got up and hurried to her and she knelt to their level. "I'm not a Mandalorian. My father did tell me a story something like that when I was little, though."

"Are you going to stay here when they take us away?" Rylie blinked back tears.

"Nope." This answer came not from Ka'ra but from Phee who joined them and went on to explain mostly to Crosshair who would understand more than the children could. "They might have taken her on Daz's word even though Mollymauk hadn't fully vetted her but she wanted to make sure the kids were settled before she made her decision. Isn't that right?"

Ka'ra smiled reassuringly at Blake and Rylie. "I haven't yet completed my mission."

"So where are we going?" Crosshair asked, plucking a fresh toothpick out of a pocket and placing it between his lips.

"To visit another one of your sisters-in-law, of course." Phee announced.

…

"So, you and Daz?"

"No, nothing like that. We're just friends. He's like my brother, kind of like those two." She gestured to the children, who were engrossed in the holovid Phee set up for them. The resemblance really was uncanny, he realized, like Ka'ra and Daz reversed.

"And I take it you'll be joining your friend once we have the kids settled?" He followed her out of the cabin and into the cargo hold, unwilling to let go of the argument.

"Who knows?" She quipped. "Maybe I'll stay on Desix, maybe I won't, maybe they'll have me pick off the Emperor from Coruscant."

Crosshair snorted. "If you get that mission, save the shot for me."

"Why would I do that?"

"Perhaps because I rescued you?"

"I had everything under control."

"Of course, down to the trail of pucks to lead the empire right to you."

Ka'ra glared at him. "Those were for surveillance."

"Ever heard of a lookout post?"

"How would I get the kids into a sniper's nest? We couldn't possibly fit."

"Better than leaving them out in the open. If I was working for the Empire, all I'd have to do is line up a shot and you'd all be dead."

"Who says you could make the shot?" She challenged him.

Stars, this woman! "I've made them before."

"Prove it."

She would see who she was mocking. Crosshair took the toothpick out of his mouth and flicked it at the wall, where it lodged firmly in the crack between two panels.

"Nice," Ka'ra said, and a moment later a second toothpick joined his. "But any kid playing darts could land that."

"Then pick your target. I can hit anything."

"Anything?" She cocked her eyebrow in challenge.

A red haze settled over Crosshair's vision.

When Hunter demanded an explanation later, Crosshair couldn't give him one. His mind's eye stopped recording, like when Tech switched off his goggles, and something else took over him.

When he finally came back to himself, he and Ka'ra were pressed against the bulkhead ripping at each other's armor. And, well, at that point Crosshair didn't care. Kriffing her into the bulkhead seemed a better release than blowing her away.

"Yoo hoo! We're going to —." Phee opened the cargo bay door without a care in the world and promptly scrambled back when she saw the two of them. "Okay then! We're coming out of hyperspace soon. You guys, uh, you just come out when you're ready."

She shut the door and shouted "Alrighty, we're going to the cockpit, kids!"

Osik, the kids! Ka'ra seemed to have a similar revelation because she pushed out of his arms and started looking for her blacks.

"Are you going to say anything?" He asked incredulously while searching for his own.

"Why would I?" She retorted more sharply than she needed to. "It's not like it meant anything."

It didn't mean anything. Crosshair did his best to put the experience out of his mind and not to think about how different it had been from the night he and Tech visited a brothel. The aggravation made it better. That must be it.

Still he had to say something: "Satisfied that I can hit any target?"

"At least that one." She adjusted her blacks and led the way out of the cargo hold.

Blake and Rylie seemed to be none the wiser about what had happened, engrossed in their holo. Phee on the other hand looked like she wanted to bleach her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Rylie asked innocently. "We heard someone make noise."

Cover, cover. "We're fine," Ka'ra said. "We were just walking around and I stepped on Mr. Crosshair's foot."

Blake wasn't buying. "Really? Cause I thought it sounded like you, and then there was a really loud bang."

"She didn't want to tell you that she tripped when she stepped on my foot and fell into the bulkhead." Crosshair patted Ka'ra's shoulder. "It's okay, we all make mistakes."

The look she gave him could have killed him dead.

Phee cut in before any actual homicide could occur. "We're approaching Pantora. Riyo has a racket going with the courts to place war orphans with adoptive families."

"Families?" Crosshair repeated.

"We can't split them up," Ka'ra insisted. "They're good as siblings and they're all each other has."

Phee stopped them. "I don't like it either, but we don't have another option. I'll push for them to be placed together."

…

"You two just wait here and finish your holo while we talk."

There was nothing Blake or Rylie could do but nod their heads and watch as Ka'ra and Crosshair and Phee followed the pretty blue skinned lady into the fancy office. Ka'ra turned and gave them a hopeful smile, while Crosshair just stared determinedly ahead as if he'd rather be staring down the sight of his rifle at an enemy target.

As soon as they had closed the door Rylie shut off the holo unit.

"Hey, it wasn't over yet," Blake complained. Maybe he was just glad of the distraction from the inevitable outcome of the meeting the adults were having without them.

But Rylie huffed. "You know they were just going to live happily ever after. The twins will get rid of the mean lady and make their parents fall in love again."

"That doesn't mean I didn't want to see it."

"I wish we could do something like that." She mused while she walked around running her fingers across the edge of a shelf that looked to be full of very boring holo books.

"Rylie, in case you haven't noticed we aren't twins. And," he choked a little on the words. "Our parents are dead."

"But that's just it. They're going to send us away to people we don't even know, maybe a million parsecs away and we'll never see each other again. We have to do something."

Blake looked at the door they had come in. "We could run away." Pantora hadn't looked like that bad a place as they walked from the spaceport to the big government office building. Anything had to be better than cowering behind rubble on Desix.

Before they could devise a plan to make a break for it, however, the door opened and a blue skinned gentleman walked in. Rylie could tell he was a gentleman because of his dressy tunic and tailored trousers.

"Well, hello there." He smiled kindly at them like the lady had when she was introduced as Senator Riyo Chuchi. "My name's Ion and who might you be?"

Blake clammed up but Rylie supplied both their names.

"It's very nice to meet you both. You know you don't have a thing to worry about. I've worked with the senator for years and she's the best in the galaxy at finding families for kids who are on their own."

"Oh, we're not orphans," Rylie countered immediately.

"We're not?" Blake gaped at her and then he repeated in a somewhat more confident tone, "we're not."

"Oh, really?" the man smirked incredulously.

"Well, my momma died when I was little." Rylie invented on the spot. "But my dad is in there talking to the senator."

Blake caught on. "And my mom! We lost my dad."

"In a fire," Rylie added. "All their docs and chain codes and everything were destroyed."

"And they can't get married without those!" Blake grinned and so did his friend. Maybe they could live happily ever after like the twins in that holo. "Th-that's why they had to come and talk to the senator!"

"Is that so?" Ion nodded and stroked his chin. "Do they know how strongly you both feel about this? Maybe we should just go in there and have a talk with…"

Rylie ran ahead of him as he opened the door to the office. Then she sighted Crosshair and barreled into his arms. "Daddy!"

Blake followed suit and hugged Ka'ra with a quieter, "Hi, Mom."

…

Ion had been sure he would catch them out immediately. He and Riyo had worked with kids before who were natural liars, who had been on their own long enough to learn to say anything to get what they wanted. He certainly hadn't been expecting the ring of truth of an actual familial resemblance or (after the initial shock) the way Blake's 'mom' knelt down to ask if everything was okay and how Rylie's 'dad' glared at Ion as if he'd murder anyone who dared to lay a hand on the little girl.

"Ah, sorry for the interruption." Ion scanned the office for some sense of normalcy and found it in the unwavering sabaac smile of Senator Riyo Chuchi. "The children were just telling me about the need for some replacement docs?"

He thought he might have noticed a flicker in the senator's golden eyes before a gasp from the other side of the room drew his attention to a woman he hadn't noticed before, standing with her arms crossed over her chest and an expression of alarm.

But another soft voice drew all of their focus to the small boy. "A replacement for the docs we lost when Dad died in the fire."

"Oh." The woman stared at her 'son' and then glanced around at the others. "The fire."

And then the little girl burst out with what looked like real tears in her eyes, while still clinging to her 'father', "You can't get married to Ms Ka'ra without the docs."

"I certainly couldn't." The man acknowledged, a little shell shocked.

Riyo stepped around her desk to make introductions. "Ion, you seem to have already met Rylie and Blake. This is Ka'ra."

The woman stood but still kept a hand on her 'son's' shoulder and gave Ion a polite nod.

"And Crosshair."

The man couldn't have extricated himself from his 'daughter's' embrace to shake Ion's hand if he wanted to.

"And this is my friend Phee. She brought the, er, issue about the docs to my attention."

The woman, Phee, didn't say a word.

After a second's pause, Riyo sighed. "Everyone, this is Ion Papanoida. We sometimes work together in the business of my charitable organization."

"Well." Ion clapped his hands and everyone in the room seemed to jump in surprise at the noise. "I would think that some replacement docs and a marriage license should be simple enough to obtain. Let's get to work."

…

Riyo had called ahead to Genna to announce the news, and the new arrivals were welcomed with as much celebration as they could manage on short notice. Sam and Shep had grilled up another catch, Wrecker arrived with a fruit basket in each arm, and Omega even presented Ka'ra with a bridal bouquet. Echo looked a little incredulous, and Hunter kept mouthing what every time Crosshair looked in his direction, but he ignored them.

It was easy to ignore him with Blake and Rylie zooming around and marveling at each and every thing. Pabu was a whole new world, and they were eager to take it all in.

Crosshair kicked back in the chair next to his – well, she was his wife now. At least Ka'ra didn't seem too worked up about it, making small talk with Genna and drinking a beer. If they had to be married, she wasn't too bad.

"Mazel tov."

Dalla walked onto the terrace as if she'd been invited all along and made a beeline for Crosshair and Ka'ra.

Phee made the introduction. "This is Dalla, one of our other members. She's here to finish up the security checks and close your file."

"It's just an extra precaution since you've married into the network." Dalla shook Ka'ra's hand. "But it can wait. Crosshair, a word?"

And here it was. He followed Dalla to a quiet alley where they could speak in private, and the second they arrived Dalla's usual, grim expression appeared.

"I skipped my father's funeral luncheon for this, so make it good."

He did a double take. "Your father died?"

"What, you thought I left the office for vacation? I got the message from Phee right after the burial and got here as fast as I could, and good thing I did. You got married?"

"It was the kids' idea. They pretended Ka'ra and I were their parents so they wouldn't be split up, and we had to make the story good."

That didn't appease Dalla. "So you got convenience married to support a childrens' cover story, and you're not expecting it to blow up in your face?"

"Well, there's also a certain amount of… chemistry." He wasn't going to deny the perks.

"If you and your convenience wife are having convenience sex, then it stops being convenient real quick."

"And you're the one to talk, you who got married for convenience."

"You don't want to be me; I'm a mess! My flagship is literally called the Bad Decisions!"

He'd definitely overlooked that. For the first time since Mayday's death, Crosshair had the feeling he'd gotten himself into deep osik.

Dalla calmed herself down. "My advice to you is to make it real before it becomes real outside of your control. Especially since there are kids involved."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"If I can do it, anybody can. You just …" she gestured indistinctly. "Do it, I guess. Talk to her."

"Any other pointers?" He asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Liquid courage helps," Dalla said and started walking away. "I'm going to finish your wife's security checks so you can have some time to think."

Abandoned in the alley, Crosshair had no choice but to go back to the party which was starting to look more like his wake. What was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to say anything?

Blake and Rylie were playing with the other children when he returned, and they broke out in smiles at first sight.

"Daddy!" Rylie barreled at him again, and this time he knew to catch her. But he wasn't expecting Blake to attach himself to his leg as well.

"Thank you, Dad," he whispered into Crosshair's armor.

He made eye contact with Ka'ra who looked at him over her shoulder from where she was speaking to Dalla and smiled.

And that was all it took. In the space of a second Crosshair, stone-cold sniper and formerly confirmed bachelor, had found his creed.