Chapter 10: Offense and Defense

If the universe had a sense of humor, Nadia wasn’t sure she liked it. Their date on Alderaan had ended wonderfully. Night had fallen before the two of them finally made their way back to the Star of Ryloth, walking close and sharing the occasional touch or kiss. The others had already returned to the ship, and as soon as Kayora had stepped on board, a priority call from the Jedi Council had come through.

Somehow, an undercover intelligence agent had found out about a collection of data located in the Sith Academy on the Sith homeworld of Korriban, as well as determining that the current Sith forces on Korriban were unusually low, ripe for an incursion. In response, someone else had decided that this data was invaluable to the Republic, and had organized a rapid assault to retrieve it. Naturally, Kayora had been called upon to help lead some of the Republic forces in the assault. To Nadia it all felt too fast, and it looked to her like Kayora might have harbored some of the same feelings. The accelerated timeline regrettably did not allow them to dwell on these thoughts, and before they knew it they had fought their way through the Sith forces and retrieved the data.

Unfortunately, as soon as they’d contacted Colonel Darok about their success, they were informed that an army of Sith had attacked the Jedi homeworld of Tython, the attack coinciding almost perfectly with the Republic’s own. Although they were still suspicious about the timing, there was nothing to be done except retake Tython. The resistance they faced on Tython was almost as fierce as what they’d just been through on Korriban, and by the time they struck down Lord Goh in the holocron chamber, Kayora and Nadia were both exhausted. They had been aided by another pair of Jedi, Syn’ariana Zee and her padawan Kira Carsen, and now had wandered out into one of the more undamaged courtyards to find a place to catch their breath.

As they surveyed the area to find an empty space among the other fatigued Republic forces that were scattered about, Syn’ariana pulled Kayora into a tight hug. Kayora tousled the green-skinned Mirialan’s spiky black hair.

“It’s great to see you, mum,” said Syn’ariana, grinning fondly at the Twi’lek. Both Nadia and Kira exchanged a surprised look, before Kayora laughed lightly.

“Syn’s my adopted daughter,” she explained to the pair of padawans as Syn continued to hold her, still grinning. “I found her on the lower levels during one of my missions to Coruscant.”

“And then I followed her around like a lost loth-kitten until she finally realized she had no choice but to let me stay!” Syn released Kayora from the embrace and flopped down onto the grass, leaning back on her elbows.

Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, Kayora put her hands on her hips. “I believe there was a little more to it than that,” she chided, an amused glint in her eyes.

Wobbling her head back and forth as if she was considering it, Syn ultimately scrunched up her nose and said “Nope!” Then she was back to smiling widely, patting the ground next to her as she looked at Kira.

Nadia was a little unsure of how to handle the unbridled exuberance that the Mirialan appeared to possess, and was grateful that Kayora was here to act as a buffer. Kira plopped down next to Syn, who immediately bumped her shoulder affectionately. Looking around, Kayora found a pair of small wooden stools nearby that she grabbed for the two of them. As they both dropped down onto their respective seats, Nadia let out a long pleasant sigh, happy to be off of her feet for what felt like the first time in days. She let her eyes close momentarily, stretching her arms up over her head then out to the side, before a satisfied shiver ran the length of her spine. She reopened her eyes to find the two Jedi on the ground exchanging glances conspiratorially. Looking over to Kayora to see if she had any idea what was going on, she found her master narrowing her eyes at her adoptive daughter, apparently aware that something was up.

“Syn, what is that look for?” she asked pointedly, raising an eyebrow. Syn put on a look of mock surprise, placing a hand across her chest.

“Why, whatever do you mean?” she inquired, batting her eyelashes innocently.

Scoffing, Kayora crossed her arms. “I know that look. You’re about to ask something incredibly nosy, and I would caution you to think twice about it.”

Syn’s look of surprise turned into one of teasing, as she pretended to think something over. “Okay, I’ve thought twice. Just for you, I thought about it three times.” Quirking her mouth, she fixed Nadia with a piercing stare. Before Kayora could say anything, Syn spoke again. “So how long have you been hooking up with my mom?”

Feeling her face immediately flushing, Nadia was at a loss of how to even begin to respond to that. She felt her mouth open and close, but no sound came out as she quickly looked at Kayora in a panic. Kayora looked just as flustered as her, but at least she was able to speak.

“Syn’ariana Zee, that is not an appropriate thing to ask my padawan, especially since you have just met her!” Kayora scolded her daughter, though the scolding may have lost a little bit of its bite given how red the Twi’lek’s cheeks had become.

“So you’re telling me you haven’t hooked up yet?”

“No, we haven’t yet-” Kayora immediately realized her blunder as Syn’s grin became impossibly wide, looking like she’d just won a high-stakes game of sabacc. She shot up from the ground and practically tackled her mother in another hug, laughing giddily. Sputtering, Kayora attempted to extricate herself before giving in and letting Syn squeeze her. Finally letting her mother go, Syn turned to Nadia and winked.

“I was worried mum was going to be alone her whole life, keeping all her feelings bottled up like a robot peacekeeper. Thank you for waking her up.” Nadia was still unable to come up with any coherent response, so Syn just winked again and skipped back over to where Kira was still lounging on the ground. Lowering herself down, Syn nestled herself in between Kira’s legs and leaned back against the other woman.

“Syn, this doesn’t really work when I don’t have anything to lean against,” Kira commented in faux annoyance.

“You love it,” Syn chirped back, twisting her head around to give Kira a peck on the lips. Another jovial grin covered her face as she turned back to face the others. “Yep, I’m with my padawan too. Must be a family thing.”

Nadia heard a groan from beside her as Kayora ran her hands down her face in mild consternation. At least Syn was supportive, she thought, even though that support was a little more enthusiastic than Nadia was used to. Removing her head from her hands, Kayora gave her an apologetic look, to which Nadia responded with a smile, and reached out her hand. The other woman met her halfway, her cool fingers wrapping around Nadia’s own. A peal of laughter caught their attention as Kira had started tickling Syn, nimble fingers poking at her sides and drawing forth uncontrolled giggles.

“You’ll pay for this later,” Syn gasped, attempting to worm her way out of her padawan’s reach to no avail.

“I’m sure I will,” Kira responded with a wicked grin, then redoubled her efforts, much to the chagrin of several of the other Republic soldiers around them.

“She always was a lively one,” Kayora remarked fondly, watching the two younger Jedi enjoy themselves.

“I wonder where she got it from, because it certainly wasn’t from you,” Nadia teased, pinching two of Kayora’s fingers between her own. She giggled at the wry smile Kayora cast her way, before they both continued to observe the interaction in front of them, which finally calmed down into Syn sprawled across Kira’s lap, panting heavily.

“You … just … wait,” said Syn, much to Kira’s amusement.

—

Bidding a fond farewell to the others, Kayora and Nadia strode up the boarding ramp and through the open door into the Star of Ryloth. As they reached the top of the stairs, Felix poked his head out of the cockpit.

“Kayora, encrypted transmission came in for you. I forwarded it to the holoterminal.”

The two Jedi made their way to the lounge area and Kayora tapped through a couple screens on the terminal to get to the message. After several authentication checks that were very thorough, the message finally played. As it flickered into being, they found themselves looking at a man who just exuded intelligence agent. He wore a jacket with a slightly high collar, and his hair was styled into a small fauxhawk. Around his left eye were some prominent cybernetic implants, and a pair of rather lethal looking blaster pistols hung at his sides.

“Master T’ven, my name is Theron Shan. I’m with the SIS.” SIS, or Strategic Information Service, was essentially the Republic’s spy network. Nadia let out a small huff of laughter at how accurate she had pegged the new guy. “I don’t know about you, but I felt like something was a little off with these attacks on Tython and Korriban. I did some digging, and there’s definitely something unsettling about the data I’ve found. On top of that, I’ve had contact with another intelligence operative who is seeing the same thing I am. We’re not entirely sure what it is indicating, only that it’s not good.

Because of the sensitive nature of what we’ve found, I can’t tell you more here, only that I’m concerned that it could reach deep into the Republic itself. I need someone to help me with some groundwork, and since I can’t trust any of my usual contacts, I’m reaching out to you. I know I’m not giving you much to go on, but I also know what kind of person you are. I know you want to protect the people of this galaxy. Please meet me at the attached rendez-vous. Theron out.”

The message blipped out of existence, and apparently had deleted itself entirely, except for a set of coordinates. Glancing at her master, Nadia found her deep in thought, tapping her knuckle against her pursed lips. Lips that Nadia really wanted to kiss …

Blinking her eyes a couple of times, Nadia gently pushed that thought to the side. There would be plenty of time for that later, once they decided how they wanted to deal with this SIS agent’s offer. Suddenly, recognition leapt to the front of Nadia’s mind.

“Wait, did he say Theron Shan?” At Kayora’s confirmation, Nadia continued. “Like, Shan like Satele Shan? Like the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order?”

“That would be the one,” Kayora answered, still pinching her lips together in thought.

“Shouldn’t we trust him? Since he is related … wait, why didn’t he ask her? And is he not a Jedi? He’s part of the SIS? Are they on good terms or-” Nadia quickly stopped her rambling when Kayora held up a finger, a small smile tugging at her lips.

“I do appreciate your curiosity, padawan, but we need not stray into gossip.” The smile grew a little larger at Nadia’s embarrassment, and Kayora handed her the small datachip containing the coordinates. “Give these to Felix and tell him to set a course, then see me in my room.” Still mildly sheepish, Nadia gave an awkward thumbs up and hurried toward the cockpit.