Kira's Bar.
Zur sat waiting, at his usual table; datapad on the table, endeavouring to look like an overworked office worker catching up on some work. Most people ignored him.
He was feeling uneasy and was sending out those 'avoid me' pheromones.
She's late. That's not like her.
Finally he looked up to see her heading towards the bar; she was dressed casually tonight but to the practised eye you could still see the slight bulge of the blaster outlined in her jacket.
He ignored her until she approached his table, holding a drink.
"Is this seat taken," she asked pleasantly, smiling.
He shook his head and returned to looking at his datapad, seemingly working.
She activated the privacy shield.
Immediately she leaned forward.
"You've been holding out from me." She accused him, her voice changed drastically from when she greeted him, the smile gone.
"I don't know…."
"Cut the crap! She's seeing someone new — a clone. You didn't tell me."
"How…?"
"It doesn't matter how I know, just that I do. Don't flatter yourself, that you're the only one watching her. There's always back up."
"Why is she so important?"
He had never been told, just to watch her, report and prevent any attacks, as she was close to the Chancellor. He didn't know how close at that time.
"She's one of Palpatine's protégés. That's all you need to know. So anything that happens with her. Report to me. Understand. This clone, which one is he? His Battalion? Jedi?"
"He's a Commander, goes by the name of Mayday, 212th under Kenobi."
"Is this ….relationship serious?" She asked with disdain at the thought of a clone and normal human together.
"It's new. I don't know." He lied slightly and with ease —still.
She studied his face but he knew she would see nothing to incriminate him.
"Find out."
"Yes, ma'am."
"One cannot contemplate a human, especially one from the Core, actually having a relationship with a clone." She said contemplatively.
"No, one can't." Zur agreed.
"Has she mentioned Clone Rights?"
"No!"
"Den Skeenah?"
"Who?" He knew exactly who that was but he was playing along with her.
"A low ranking Senator from Chandrila, who has ideas of getting further."
"No, never heard anything like that from her. She's not political."
His handler stared at him.
Zur met her stare.
"Make sure nothing is missed again—nothing. I want weekly updates. Everyone she meets."
"Yes, ma'am."
She gave him one last stare and left.
He downed his whisky in one. He needed to take the bad taste away from his mouth. He carefully placed the glass on the table trying not to draw attention to himself, anymore than normal. He took several breaths and looked around for a familiar face
He needed somewhere to spend the rest of the night, and not one where he was drinking all the time.
He needed someone.
.
212th Barracks.
06:00
"Is he still not back?" Hexx asked, scurrying after Veetch who was almost running towards the Mess Hall. They looked around through the opened doors.
"Can't see him!" Hexx stated the obvious, "No one's seen him. Boil was starting to ask pertinent questions, you know what he's like. Akk dog with a bone. Waxer had to nudge him twice before he shut up. He'll have bruises tomorrow." He checked his comlink on the incoming message.
"One of the shinies says it looks like his com signal is being blocked. Should we report it?"
"One of the shinies?"
"Yes. He's into splicing and tech."
"I'm not going to report anything yet. They could treat him as AWOL."
"Technically he will be if he's not with us when we deploy. You don't just lose a Commander. Not without someone noticing."
"There's somewhere we need to check first. Find Tank! We'll need him. I'll requisition a speeder. And bring that shiny —the techie one, just in case."
Hexx headed off in the opposite direction to find Tank and the shiny, whilst Veetch thought up a good enough reason as to why he needed to requisition the specific speeder he wanted.
.
Hela's Apartment
"Daylight mode." Hela instructed the Home System, which looked after all the aspects of the comfort level in the Apartment. The transparisteel panes cleared and you could see out into the Coruscant sky; sky cars, taxis and public transport streamed past in the distance and it let the natural light into the apartment; what little there was on Coruscant. But there was more up here, they were so high; down below, in the lower levels they weren't so lucky. She didn't like to think if that.
Mayday stood staring out of the floor to ceiling transparisteel windows sipping his caf; he wasn't sure he could ever get used to this. He hadn't realised just how close to the Senate District and the Jedi temple they were.
Hela's hand slipped around his waist and she leaned into him, her body soft and warm against his, it was a welcome change to the hard edges of his armour, no matter how much protection it gave him. Cody was right we should take comfort where we can.
He wondered if he ever followed his own advice.
"It's an amazing sight isn't it?" Hela's voice disturbed his musings.
"It is. I've only seen it from above when we come into land or when we're orbiting, which is phenomenal but this is just more….."
"I thought you'd been to all those different planets. You must have seen some beautiful sights."
"Not really. We're always either prepping for the battle, immersed in it or cleaning up afterwards. And they often don't look so pretty then."
"I never thought of it that way." She leaned in closer, squeezing him tighter.
"Why should you? You're here. In this…." He was lost for words to describe it. It was nothing like he had ever seen before. His eyes roamed around the balcony; it was huge with seats you could recline on, a water fountain and large lush plants in huge planters. An oasis in the middle of Coruscant.
His stomach muscles twitched involuntarily, as she touched his side. She touched him again.
"Are you ticklish?" She asked, amused that he was.
"No!"
She touched him again, "I think you are."
"No I am not." He put his mug down next to the tray.
"Yes you are!"
He twitched again.
"Sure?" She touched him again, in just the right spot and he twitched away, trying not to laugh.
"There you are. Gotcha!"
"That's it! There's no escape now." Mayday lunged at Hela as she ran off down the corridor squealing with laughter.
.
Hexx pushed the speeder to its limits, "How on earth did you manage to requisition this sir? I thought the Guard were the only ones who could get their hands on these. You must tell me your secret."
"No way! That's between me and my contact."
Hexx huffed his disgust.
"Are you sure these coordinates are correct? We're very near the Senate district." He continued.
"That's why we need this particular speeder."
They banked sharply.
"We're nearly there!" Advised Veetch, "You ready trooper?"
"Sir yes sir." The shiny replied.
"Tank?"
"Ready for anything, sir."
"There!" Veetch pointed to the building they needed.
Hexx manoeuvred the speeder with a skill that belied his current status and they came to a halt in front of the building, landing gently. It hissed as the engines powered down; they disembarked and rushed through the door
The droid was left a smouldering heap on the floor, after it had attempted to impede their progress. It stood no chance.
"Did you have to do that Tank?" Veetch asked, exasperated.
"I think it was the best thing that could happen to that droid." A Female Coruscanti voice rang out from the lift, "It was getting ideas above its station."
They turned to see an elderly woman with white hair pulled tightly back into a bun, standing at the lift doors, leaning on a cane.
"Are you going to see Hela?"
The Troopers' heads turned to each other.
"We can't divulge…"
"Of course you are!" She interrupted Veetch's reply, "Admiral Ella Rys, Republic Navy - retired." She introduced herself, straightening up as she did so, looking much stronger.
"Yes, ma'am." Veetch came to attention at the mention of the military rank, albeit retired.
"At ease, soldier. I don't want to delay you. This way." She held the lift door and they piled in.
"Well this has livened up my day." She said, as the doors closed, "Has Hela done anything wrong? The Commander went up yesterday."
"We can't say ma'am."
"Oh! Is anything else likely to happen?"
"No, Ma'am."
"Oh." She sounded disappointed, "Are you sure?."
"Oh yes, Ma'am."
They reached the floor.
"Hexx. Ensure the lady reaches her apartment safely." Veetch didn't want any civilian witnesses even if they were ex-military. He wasn't sure what he was going to find.
Hexx completed the best salute he had ever done, then escorted the elderly lady - Retired Admiral - to her apartment before trotting back, then they reached Hela's.
"Do you have the code sir?" Asked the shiny.
"No! That's why you're here. Di'kut!" Muttered Hexx.
"Do your best." Advised Tank, glaring at Hexx.
The shiny inserted his splicing tool and hummed and ahhed several times, "Very high spec sir. But I can do it." A few seconds later, "Ready sir, just say when."
"When!" said Veetch.
The door slid open.
.
Mayday carried Hela back to the living room, they were both basking in the euphoria of stress relieving laughter. There was not much of that about these days and it was a welcome relief.
Mayday dipped his face to hers, his eyes on her lips, perhaps they should have stayed in the bedroom.
The lights dimmed.
"Problem?" He asked.
"Someone's trying to get in." She whispered, "we've got 60 seconds."
Mayday tensed ready for action, his training kicking in at the unexpected change; he dropped Hela back on to her feet and hand went to his side but his blaster was on the table near the door.
"Stay behind me!" He ordered, his arm pushing her behind him, covering her completely, as he searched around for some kind of weapon before spotting the tray on the table; he picked it up, checking its weight.
The door opened quickly, complaining as it did with a loud clunk.
Mayday twisted and launched the tray; it spun through the air at phenomenal speed, narrowly missing the head of one of the four fully armoured troopers, as they rushed through the door.
"What the fuck?" Mayday exclaimed as he saw four of his men now standing at the door poised ready for action.
"Nice shot sir. Nearly took my head off." Replied Tank, glancing at the tray now deeply embedded in the wall not 6 inches from his head.
"Sir. You appeared AWOL, Sir." Explained Veetch, "We couldn't contact you."
Mayday reached over and picked up his blaster and comlink.
"It's on."
Hela moved out from behind Mayday.
"Ma'am!" The troopers chorused, their heads dipped in unison, quickly taking in the fact she was dressed in some kind of nightwear, tiny shorts and a small cropped top.
"I'm sorry that may be my fault."
Veetch removed his helmet, his eyebrow was arched. Hela noticed Mayday did that when he had a question he hadn't asked.
"Hela?" Mayday asked, as he turned to face her, arms crossed.
"I have a jammer to block certain calls. It prevents unwanted incoming nuisance calls and droid cams recording. You've seen outside." She looked through the windows. "It blocks the signals. It's on all the time. I never thought about it. I'll put you all on the allowed list of numbers immediately. I'm sorry."
"It must be very high spec, ma'am, to block even GAR numbers." The shiny trooper commented.
"It is. And you are?"
He looked around confused.
"This is Splicer, ma'am, he's new. I'm Lieutenant Tank and this is Sergeant Hexx."
"Pleased to meet you all. Is the Commander in trouble?"
"Almost. We've had new orders, we're deploying later today."
"Oh. That soon." Hela's voice betrayed her disappointment.
Mayday pulled her around to face him, "I have to go."
"I know."
He turned and walked down the corridor, they had recently laughed in
Hela watched him.
"There's some food in the conservator, help yourselves." She offered, as she followed Mayday.
Tank headed for the kitchen where she pointed and stopped at the door, looking around the room.
"Kriff! Have you seen the size of this?"
The others followed, Splicer tried to keep his mouth shut but it kept dropping open every time he saw some new machine. The others had seen other non GAR homes and they were nothing like those. This was on another level.
"Tank?" asked Splicer.
"What?" he replied as he opened the Conservator, and held the doors. To their eyes, it seemed to overflow with food, food they never normally ate.
"Do you think she grew these herself?"
"Do you see a fucking garden?" replied Tank.
"Not these. These!" he sent an image over.
"What the kriff lad!" Tank stared at the image, "They look real enough to me. So you're a tits man. Delete it now! Before the Boss sees it."
"Why? Its my private channel. I read on the holonet some are false."
"Nothing is private in the GAR. POR. The Boss could access it."
There was silence.
"Wait. Have you got anything else, from the holonet? Keep that."
Tank heard a mutter of agreement.
"Let's dig in!" Tank grabbed some meat and stuffed it into his mouth, before Veetch handed him a plate.
"Manners!" Muttered the Captain, "What is that?"
"Don't know but it tastes good."
"She's got everything in here sir."
"And how do you know?"
"I watch the Holonet."
"If you're a splicer, can you get some of the er, riskier channels?" Hexx asked.
"If you mean ones with sex in—yes." He stuffed a small cake into his mouth and took the rest of the plate.
"That's why I asked."
Hexx and Tank exchanged glances.
"Don't think the boss needs to know that." Muttered Veetch, as he looked at some fruit.
.
Hela sat on the bed and watched as Mayday pulled on his fatigues, "You do realise there will be no food left by the time we leave."
Hela smiled and shrugged, "They can eat as much as they want."
"You have never seen troopers eat."
"I really didn't think about the jammer, you know, and you were supposed to be on furlough."
"I believe you." He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head, looking around the bedroom. So different to where he was going to spend the next weeks or months, "I just wish I could have stayed around longer."
"So do I."
She stood on her toes to kiss him gently, then pulled away, adjusting the collar on his fatigues. He had missed that part again, "Be careful out there and don't forget me, will you?"
"As if I could."
"Contact me when you're back, for however short a time."
"I will."
She nearly made him promise but that sounded a little too desperate.
"Let's see if they've left you any food."
He held her around the waist as they walked back to the kitchen. The troopers stood to attention as they entered.
"At ease men. Did you leave me anything?"
They looked at one another sheepishly, Mayday shook his head.
He turned to Hela to give her a quick kiss, as the others looked away, almost embarrassed by it.
"Please be careful."
"I always am."
He pulled away and joined his men; they turned as one and saluted.
.
"So get me up to speed."
They were striding quickly along the corridor.
"We're part of the reinforcements to join the 501st and 91st Reconnaissance on Malastare. They're struggling. Outnumbered."
"Aren't we always."
The lift dropped quickly to the ground floor.
"Just droids?" Mayday asked.
"As far as we know, there's an urgent treaty that needs to be signed, so the Chancellor is on the Jedi's back."
"I can't quite imagine that with Windu, I'm sure he holds his own."
"But we have a detour first and there's an experimental weapon." Veetch added.
"That always fills me with confidence." Mayday replied sardonically.
They exited the lift and Mayday noticed the smouldering droid. He stopped.
"I see you've been practising."
"Just getting the shiny up to speed." Hexx answered
"We've got two hours sir." Veetch explained, as they walked through the Reception area.
"We'd better get busy then."
.
Zur let himself in, he had come in through the back entrance and done a quick security check. Some of the other residents were complaining about the droid in Reception but he had avoided getting involved with their complaints.
Something was different. He looked at the wall at the side of his head and was immediately on alert looking for Hela. He dropped the dress he had picked up for her before he found her on the terrace, staring up at the sky, "So he's gone?"
"Yes."
"Is that it, the end?"
She still stared at the sky, looking for something.
"They've been deployed, early. He had to go."
"Yeah."
"You don't believe that?"
He shrugged, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you'd been redecorating." He nodded towards the embedded tray.
"Ah." She turned back to the sky.
"I couldn't say."
She wasn't sure what she was looking for.
.
"I wish I could join you but it may be a few days." Commander Cody was on the hologram as Mayday and his squad strode towards their gunships. They were all loaded to the gunnels with their additional kit.
"Understood sir. Don't leave it too long. There may be nothing for you left to do if you do."
"Don't be too bloody cocky." Cody grinned, "Out!"
Their pilot stood at attention besides their designated gunship.
"Wings, sir. Ready when you are. Hope this is okay. Sergeant Hexx suggested it." He moved away.
On the side of the gunship was painted a large blue plom flower.
"I saw they had pride of place on her table, sir. I am assuming she liked them."
"She did." He looked again at the nose art. It was well painted.
"Let's go!"
They piled into the gunship having done this numerous times now and it pulled away.
"This is your pilot speaking. I'd like to Welcome you aboard and please ensure your luggage is stowed safely. The temperature outside is a comfortable 22 degrees centigrade. We are just taking a tour of the Senate District. If you look on the left is the Jedi Temple and on the right some other sights."
The gunship banked and the doors opened.
"This your idea?" Mayday asked Veetch.
"All Tank's sir."
He looked through the doors. And there she was.
.
Hela lay on the recliner chair alternately reading her datapad and watching the skylanes as a gunship came into view, it was coming nearer, heading straight for her building. She sat up checking what she thought she saw. Definitely nearer. Then she stood up and walked towards the edge of the terrace.
Zur came up and stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders; he wanted to be here to steady her.
The gunship hovered; it was so close she could clearly see the pilot, then it turned and banked towards her, the blue plom flower nose art distinctly visible, the side door opened and there he was, bucket off. She had a moment of panic until she saw he was holding on. She smiled and inclined her head once, then it moved smoothly away the doors closing heading up to the orbiting ship.
.