In hindsight, I was entirely unsure how this topic had never come up before.

  “What do you MEAN YOUR ARM’S KARKING GONE!?” Ma’ shrieks.

  “Got lobbed off by a traitorous Jedi that had planned on joining the Seppies during the war.” I answer calmly as I continue stitching the two crossed double bladed lightsabers in green and blue on the new holster.

  “What do you mean a Jedi did that?” Ma’ asks dejectedly.

  “Bastard was gonna kill everyone on a planet. I tried to stop him. Ended up loosing my arm before killing him.” I answer as I prick my metal finger, I flinch and shake the hand on reflex. Damn thing, should have lowered the pain receptors for this.

  “I- I just. I can’t! I won’t! I will not deal with this absolute lizardshit. Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “Kinda forgot about it.” I reply as I continue the stitch, “Was a busy couple of weeks around then. Planning for and then fighting at Mintooine. Heading to Dellalt again, five times cursed as it is and by the time I managed to get another relaxing call with y’all I’d already had the damn thing a month or two, so it didn’t come up.”

  “This is worse than when your father broke a leg during our courting.” Ma’ complains before rounding on R4, “And why didn’t you tell us about this?”

  R4 whistles non compliance and reminds her that she was never allowed to make any major updates and complaints whenever she changed parts, such as the couple years we had replaced her old dome for that of an R2 before switching it back after we bought an actually good charging port that fit her model.

  “She has you there.” I tease.

  “Damn droid. I guess you didn’t delete excess information?”

  “Why would I? I like her like this. Plus, she says she wants to work on a memoir on her exciting adventures babysitting my career in the Navy.” I reply easily as I struggle to tie a knot with the small string, fuckin’ pain in my ass.

  “And who’s gonna publish that?” Ma’ asks.

  “Figure I’d pay for it with some of my accrued wages as long as I get partial credit.”

  R4 begins complaining about doing all the hard work, but Ma’ cuts her off halfway: “What would you even spend it on? Whenever you ask for it we repaint you, whenever you need an upgrade we get it for you, never mind the spare parts I know you have.”

  “Not to mention the blaster.”

  “Not to mention the blaster.” Pa’ agrees as he enters the room.

  “Nice to see ya away from work.” I say in greeting.

  “Nice to be away.” He replies, placing a kiss on Ma’s head and giving me a short hug from the side as I continue the work. Putting all these stitches in was a pain. I glance around the room, it was very domestic. This was nice.

  I stalked the sewers, slugthrower and vibroknife in hand as I stalk my prey. My gillie suit was caked in various excrement by now, so any scent should be minimized on my end. If only I was alone.

  “You are making this very difficult for me.” I say as I press my knife against the poorly disguised ISB agent.

  “This is not what I signed up for.” The man bemoans.

  “Then leave.” I insist.

  “But I’ve been ordered to follow you at a distance.” He flinches at the admittance.

  “You’re new to this, aint’cha.” I say, “Look, I am fulfilling a military obligation. My planet gave me an award and I need a damn mudpuppy hide to finish my end of the ceremonies.”

  “Why not just buy one?” The man bemoans.

  “One, it’s traditional. Two, some of the pups get a mental infection and need to be put down. Which brings me to three, because I get enough cred-chits to buy myself a drink and pay for a nice long water shower once I’m outta here as long as I nail an infected mudpuppy or two.” I explain calmly, “Something I cannot do if you continue to follow me.”

  “Fine! I’ll leave.”

  “You do that. I’ll be sure to send your office a giftbasket for all the troubles I put’cha through.” I tease as I release the man. What a fuckin’ idiot.

  The ISB agent rushes for the nearest manhole to escape above into the roads of Fondor City. I remove the various bugs he planted on me, busting them one by one with the heel of my boot, chuckling to myself as each one pops satisfyingly. I let out a final chuckle as I return to my hunt.

  A couple hours later, a couple loosed slugs and way more shit than I am comfortable talking about, I’ve got three dead mudpups in front of me. I quickly pull out the metal rope from my belt and begin hogtying the bodies to bring them to the inspector. I’d choose the best hide for my cape later, maybe I’ll even stuff a head to remember the hunt. I look around and scoff, nah, this hunt wasn’t a particularly fun one.

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  I finish tying up the last mudpuppy and begin tying the bodies together when my ears pick something up behind me. I spin around, slugthrower aimed high as I remain low to the ground. I almost drop the weapon in shock as I recognize the person in front of me.

  “Commander Tano.” I mutter in shock before righting myself fully and continuing to aim the slugthrower at the Jedi.

  “Admiral Dericote.” She replies.

  “Fleet Admiral.” I correct, to which the Togruta rolls her eyes.

  “I have come to bargain.”

  “Fun location.”

  “It’s the only place where your tail didn’t stick around, not that I don’t blame him.” She shoots.

  “Well it’s been nice seeing you again, but if you haven’t noticed, I am covered in shit, have three infected mudpuppies to haul to the nearest official sewer entrance and a reward to collect.” I shoot back.

  “Well maybe I could have some of your time while you do that.” She offers.

  “I’d prefer to keep away from Jedi for the moment. If you haven’t noticed, my presence during the Coruscanti coup attempt has made me a larger person of interest for the ISB than some Jedi survivor ever was.” I counter.

  “I have word of one of your Mentor’s contacts. He is interested in meeting with you.” She insists.

  “Honor wouldn’t use a Jedi to tell me this.”

  The teenager rolls her eyes: “I’m talking about Solomahal.”

  “A likely story.” I spit, finger itching to return within the trigger guard.

  “Can’t you just trust me on this?”

  “And why should I trust a Jedi? I just finished stitching two lightsabers on my heir’s holster, don’t think I wont bother adding two more just because stitching them was a pain.” I threaten, I had another five rounds, three of which were bolos and one of which was a flame that probably could light up the entire tunnel.

  “Because he is interested in Plan Dorn of Resurgence, whatever that is.”

  I hesitate a moment. Had Solomahal offered up plan Dorn to someone … it was probable if nothing else. Something to entice someone unsure in the cause. Something to prove there was more at play. Proof of insurance, in a way.

  “Who do you speak for?” I ask.

  “What’s plan Dorn?” She presses instead.

  I frown, hesitating. Jedi were considered traitors, the Inquisitorious hunted them whenever one popped up. Would they take a Jedi’s word? Would a Jedi be able to withhold their word when faced by their rivals in the Force? Finally I sigh, I needed to show vulnerability here, needed to … open up in a way. Damn it, why couldn’t the old General just give up on opsec to tell me about his contacts so I could actually deduce whatever the fuck this Jedi teenager wanted from me.

  Fuck it, I could always shoot her later: “A backup, the second to last one. Plan Aurek was to prevent whoever was tearing power to themselves from gaining enough power to create a dictatorship, be it Jedi, Isard, or Palpatine. Obviously that failed, we focused too much on the Jedi and Isard and didn’t realize Palpatine was a real contender until it was far too late. Plan Besh was what happened over Coruscant, kill Palps and Vader, force the Senate into legitimizing the coup then rally the fair weather friends with the Republic loyalists to quash any Imperial remnants within the Core, moving rimwards as we go. Plan Cresh was to rally the participants from Coruscant, assuming there were any, and continue the fight from there, turn a failed coup attempt into a civil war with the support of a rump Senate. Plan Dorn … is what happens if all the other plans before it fail. It means I take charge and revolt, doing whatever I can to off as many Imps as possible. Make the Empire overreact, make them try to purge the officer corps and punish the people to the point where there’s thousands of little rebellions and hope the Empire doesn’t burn the galaxy down in the process of it being consumed from within.”

  “That sounds like a shitty plan.” The former Padawan says bluntly.

  “There’s a reason it’s plan Dorn and not plan Aurek.” I snipe.

  “Well you should talk with Senator Organa about making your plan less bad.”

  “I’ll be sure to make an appointment. Maybe my convoy back to my command makes a stop at Kuat, Alderaan, Carida and Lantillies to resupply and take on new ships. I’m sure no one will be surprised if I head down planetside for a couple drinks in some seedy bars in their respective capitols.” I offer.

  “I’ll be sure to tell him to change his schedule.” She replies.

  “Good, now fuck off. I have work to do.” I order.

  “Sir yes sir.” She snarks, giving a poor impression of a salute before fucking off.

  “Karking teenagers.” I mutter.

  The hammerhead corvette finishes landing, its ramp thudding to the ground easily as I stare at the various contents within. Looks like more food for the rations. I sigh as I step onto the ship and start moving boxes onto the speeder I drove here with. Soon enough Elix comes down the ramp, a box in his own hands and thuds it down beside mine.

  “Nice seein’ ya again.” I say in greeting as I give my brother a hug.

  “It’s only been a couple a months.” He replies.

  “Well I needed to use up some shore leave either way. Figured I might as well spend it at home.”

  “So ya decided to help me out while you were here?”

  “Figured it was something to do after all the fun stuff was done.” I tease.

  Elix rolls his eyes and gestures for me to come and help with the next box: “Well I won’t say no to the extra help.”

  “Ever think of gettin’ a droid or two to help with the offloading and crew?” I ask.

  “Considered it, but with all the new restrictions I’d either need to get something as dumb as a brick, something as strong as a protocol droid or something as expensive as a speeder. Anything else ain’t flyin’ past the regulators unless I can prove I bought the damn things before we went Empire.” He replies as we grab another pair of boxes.

  “Well I think you should be able to buy some modified B1s. Sure you’ll need two to do any decent unloading, but depending on where you buy them you should be able to keep their turret use software to keep your guns operational. Then all ya need is a second hand R2 unit that hasn’t had its memory wiped that has some experience with Hammerheads for an engineering hand.” I suggest.

  “Eh, B1s are bad PR right now. Better to buy a BLX General Labour droid, even with the upcharge.”

  “I heard those develop personalities rather quickly, better treat em right.” I reply as we drop our boxes on the speeder again.

  “Don’t start with the droid rights thing again.” Elix says, “You know I agree with you, I don’t need to see the presentation again, thrice was enough.”

  “Good.” I reply, “Means you’ll treat your droid right when you got em.”

  Elix simply rolls his eyes at me as we walk back into the cargo hold. Halfway there I hear a familiar curse of: “E chu ta!”

  “You didn’t mention Alice was here.” I say with a fake glare.

  “Didn’t know I had to tell ya everythin’.” Elix teases.

  A clang of something falling and another curse makes us hasten our steps slightly. We quickly find Alice in a pair of oil stained coveralls with a hydrospanner in one hand and a dirty piece of cloth in another. I glance over at Elix and gesture for him to do something.

  “You alright Ali?” He asks.

  “Fine, damn hammer fell on my foot.” She explains before glancing at her boyfriend and I, “Hi Thrakey.”

  “Alice.” I reply, “Working on the backup fuel intake?”

  “Tryin’ to turn it into an intake for better fuel to supercharge the engine in a pinch.” She explains, returning to her work.

  “Won’t you need an additional fuel tank for that?” I ask.

  “Sure, but just a small one with enough fuel to get us out of a tractor beam in a pinch, last thing we need is some customs bastard fuckin’ up our timetables.” She says before the realization finally hits her, “Thrakey!”

  “Alice.” I nod again as she charges into me, almost throwing me to the floor.

  “You didn’t say you’d be by! Oh, oh! We can finally get the last blessing now!”

  “Wait, you’re gettin’ hitched? Now?”

  “I was gonna wait until we were done with unloading Ali.” Elix says as Alice releases me from her iron grip and moves beside her husband to be.

  “Fuck YES!” I shout, “Ma’ owes me twenty credits.”

  “You bet on us?” Alice asks

  “What kind of friend you take me for, of course I did.” I say with an eyeroll.

  “Well fuck you too then.” Elix says.

  “You want this done officially or not?” I tease, “Promise not to snitch on ya both.”

  “Officially please, for my own sake at least.” Elix pleads.

  “Oh, I should change.” Alice says aloud.

  “Probably why your hubby-to-be wanted to wait until work was done.” I joke.

  Alice frowns: “Damn.”

  I clear my throat a moment as I try to remember the proceedings: “Alright wish me luck, haven’t practiced this one in ages. Elix Riderman-Dericote, adopted child of Naomi , daughter of Fondor and Owen Dericote, son of Fondor’s first people, who have you brought.”

  “Alice, a daughter of Fondor, child of Mari, daughter of Fondor and Antos Vydrel, grandson of Zeltron.” Elix replies, placing a hand on her shoulder as he speaks.

  “Alice, is this the man for you?”

  “He is mine.” She replies with a megawatt grin.

  “Then I, brother of Elix, give my blessing for my sister-to-be.” I say with a nod before pulling out my flask, “Celebratory drink?”

  “Just one.” Elix agrees as he takes the flask, “We still need to finish unloading.”

  Alice steals it before Elix can take a swig and takes one herself before offering it back to her husband-to-be: “Yeah, wouldn’t do for ya to be lugging boxes about while drunk, would it?”

  “Sure wouldn’t.” I reply as I take the flask back and take a swig myself, “Make sure to invite me to the wedding.”

  “Couldn’t have it without ya.” Alice says with a smirk.