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"Now, General. I understand that you might still be a little upset about that incident with Corran six months ago."
Alee slid into the chair facing General Airen Cracken. The general's florid face turned a shade darker red as he leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk and clenching his intertwined fingers. Even the roots of his mostly white hair seemed to be blushing.
"Might be upset?" Cracken's voice rasped. "You're a Jedi. Blast it, woman, I'm the head of Intelligence and I didn't even know there was a Jedi right under my nose. Has been for eight years!"
Alee picked a piece of lint off her uniform and rolled it between her finger and thumb.
The general continued, "I was the one to interview you when you first approached the Rebellion, and I was the one to vouch for you. Emperor's bones. I was the one to approve your request to join Intel. Now I'm the one who looks like a total fool."
Hazel eyes flicked up to meet an icy green gaze. Alee blinked away the visual daggers flinging her way. He had every right to be angry.
"Very few people know: the two of us, Corran, Luke Skywalker, and a few others. No one has said anything. And I certainly won't. So, a fool to whom, Sir?" Alee asked.
"A fool to the person staring at me, every morning, from the refresher's mirror." The general slumped back in his chair. Alee sensed the anger leave his body in a whoosh of expelled air.
"Please don't feel that way, General. It isn't your fault that I chose to keep my identity hidden." She sighed. "I never lie, but Dru can tell you that I have a tendency to flirt with it via omission. I'm always slipping through ... loopholes."
"Druce knows?"
"I would never keep such a thing hidden from my lifemate, General. He honors my request for silence."
"But you have no qualms about keeping it concealed from me. From the New Republic." Alee heard bitterness weaving through his words as he continued, "I can't count the times I could have used you out there - in the field. Times when a Jedi would have given us an edge or averted unnecessary deaths."
"We aren't miracle workers, General." Alee closed her eyes and drew a slow breath. "I have often struggled with the same thoughts. A desire for justice runs deep within me, and sometimes it tears me apart that I cannot right every wrong. All I can do is focus on the Living Force and follow where it leads. If I had felt led to reveal my identity to you, I wouldn't have hesitated to do so." She opened her eyes and locked gazes with Cracken. "I have served Intel diligently, Sir. I am your best analyst, and will continue to be if you allow it." She paused. "Make the decision, make another. Remake one past, you cannot."
The general's brow arched in a question mark.
"Master Yoda said that."
"The Yoda?" he asked.
"There was only ever one," Alee replied.
Cracken thrummed his fingers on the arm of his chair and regarded Alee thoughtfully. She tried to see herself through his eyes. Approaching middle-aged. But youthful in appearance, with clear skin, hazel eyes, and auburn hair neatly pulled into a loose bun that brushed the top of her Intel uniform's collar. Still trim and in good physical condition. And intense. Or, at least, tense.
"So what brings you to the dragon's lair?" Cracken asked. " You've avoided me rather studiously these past months. Some report that needs my special attention? No, that's not it, is it? Something you think needs your special attention."
"Well, yes, actually ..."
"So what is it this time? When you ran off on that wild chase with Horn, all you turned up was a Jedi Holocron - hardly worth the risks you took." Cracken narrowed his eyes. "Does this have anything to do with your little hobby of appropriating copies of archaeological reports?"
Alee stifled a ripple of surprise. "How did you know about that?"
The general's tone was wry. "I am the head of Intel, Alee. I'm not without resources."
Heat warmed Alee's cheeks. "Of course, Sir. I didn't mean to imply ..."
Cracken waved away her reply. "Just tell me what is giving you a bad feeling this time, Alee."
"Yes, Sir. And you're right: I do try to peruse any archaeological data that I can."
"Why? Are you chasing after anything Jedi, like Skywalker tends to?"
A frown creased Alee's brow. "My interest is the recovery of Jedi artifacts. But I think my emphasis is somewhat different than Luke's. He is seeking anything that will help in the growth and development of his Jedi Pa ... students. I keep a lookout for anything that might harm the Jedi."
"Like when you took off with Horn on your tail. You thought the Jedi were facing some sort of threat."
"Yes. Fortunately, it was only a trap laid with cleverly planted rumors."
"So ..." The general steepled his fingers. "This time you think you're on to a real threat. And you want my permission to head off on another little joyride."
Alee sighed. "When you put it that way, it sounds so, so pointless."
"Isn't it?"
"I don't think so, Sir. I have been going over the reports concerning this dig site for several weeks. Scouring each update." Alee's look turned quizzical. "Right from the start, I've ... had a bad feeling about the project."
The general snorted.
Alee continued, "But the last update makes it imperative that I check it out, Sir."
"Care to expand on that comment?"
"An artifact has been uncovered. It is housed within several layers of shielding that are still in effect after several thousand years, which, right there, tells me Jedi technology is most likely involved. But, more than that ..."
"You have a bad feeling about it?"
I deserve this cynicism. She sighed. "You may not understand this, Sir, but every time I think about that object I am struck by a ... a darkness surrounding it. I'm sure it is a thing of evil."
"Talk like that makes you sound like Skywalker," the general clipped.
"Thank you, Sir," Alee replied.
"It wasn't a compliment, Alee. I like facts. Data. Not feelings and mystical sensations."
General Cracken spun his chair around so Alee was staring at its back, and a flatscreen holo of a waterfall appeared on the wall he was facing. A sad smile touched Alee's lips. It looked remarkably similar to one she had loved to visit when on Alderaan. It had probably been instantly evaporated in the explosion that had destroyed that peaceful planet. She suppressed a shudder.
The general asked, "Where?"
"Agamar."
"You have three weeks." He spun his chair back around and glared at Alee. "Including travel time. That means one week on the planet. Just one. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir." Alee fought to keep a grin off her face.
Cracken scowled. "You might not be thanking me when you get there. I can't spare anyone to follow you this time, so if you get in trouble, you're on your own."
"Yes, Sir." Her eyes sparkled.
"I suppose you need transport?" he asked.
"Well ... now that you mention it ..."
"I can only issue you something small - a two-man craft at most. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir."
"When do you plan to leave?"
"Tomorrow." The grin won out and lit her face.
The general's scowl deepened. "Get out of here before I come to my senses."
Alee popped to her feet and snapped a salute. "Yes, Sir."
She barely refrained from running out of the office.
"Are you going to tell me what you're up to?" Druce's voice echoed through the near empty warehouse.
Alee flipped through the air and came to a halt. He had been watching her for the last hour as she forced herself through a rigorous workout. She had sprinted up and down staircases, jumped onto and over crates, fallen with the Force, and leapt high in the air to rebound off pillars.
As Druce descended the main staircase, she frowned at the slight sheen of sweat she wiped off her brow. It wouldn't have been there a decade ago. She cleared her features and watched her lifemate approach. Tall at 1.9 meters, he was lean, with narrow hips and long legs. Space black hair was pulled into a ponytail that snaked just below his collar. Matching eyebrows floated over deep blue eyes. Alee smiled and moved forward to meet him. How she loved losing herself in those fathomless azure depths.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth down to hers. Eyes open, Alee watched desire spark deep within his being, igniting her own embers into instant flame. The kiss deepened and she gave herself to the sensations flowing through her hungry body.
Druce pulled back from their embrace, and it took Alee a moment to regain her equilibrium, to steady her breathing, irregular now for an entirely different reason than a short time ago. She blinked his stern visage into focus.
Running her finger along his stubble-lined jaw, she licked her lips, then sighed with resignation.
"I was going to tell you," Alee said, "as soon as I got back to the apartment. But you weren't home yet, and I needed to expend some energy. I didn't expect you to follow me here."
She waved vaguely at the cavernous interior of the warehouse. It belonged to an acquaintance of Dru's and was almost always empty, but whenever she asked him about the owner he became rather evasive, which told her this shadowy figure was somehow related to his long-ago smuggler days. She really didn't care, and she certainly appreciated the chance to work out in a relatively private setting. One where she could employ her Jedi abilities without raising unwanted questions.
"I see," replied Druce. "By the way, there was a holo message waiting for you at home. General Cracken said the transport is cleared and ready any time you are." He paused. "Is this another mission with Horn?"
"Not on your life. I was serious when I said I never wanted to work with him again. He always imagines himself 'in charge'."
Dru crossed his arms. "Tough to run a mission with two leaders and no followers."
Alee opened her mouth and snapped it shut.
"Were you going to say something, Alee?" Dru asked sweetly.
She narrowed her eyes. "I was going to say that Corran is busy with Rogue Squadron business, anyway. So he couldn't come, even if I were to let him."
"Then you are blasting into the wilds of the galaxy alone?"
Alee nodded.
Dru cupped his hand along her jaw and brushed his thumb over her cheek. His eyes were shrouded with stormy shadows. "Emperor's bones, woman. It drives me crazy when I know you are traipsing around Coruscant's lower levels, looking for orphans to rescue. How will I stay sane knowing you are out there somewhere, all alone, facing who knows what?"
"You'll worry about me?" Alee asked softly.
"To distraction, my sweet Jedi," Dru whispered.
With a tiny moan she slipped her arms around his waist, and pressed her ear against his chest to listen to his heartbeat, strong and regular. The beat increased marginally and Dru pulled her closer. He rested his cheek on her head.
"Where?" he asked.
"Agamar."
"Why?"
"To check out an archaeological dig."
A pause. "What sort of Jedi artifact has been uncovered?"
Alee sighed at how Dru's straight-line slicer logic was dead on target. The reports flashed through her mind and Alee felt a ripple of apprehension wash down her spine. Dru moved back a few centimeters and gently clamped his hands on her head to tilt it up.
Looking into her eyes, he prompted, "Alee?"
"I just don't know, Dru."
"Then don't go."
"That's why I have to go," she replied.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
"Don't tell General Cracken. It would lower the high esteem he holds you in," Alee teased.
"I'm serious, Alee."
"So am I, Dru." She shrugged. "You know me. I'll be fine."
"Yes, I do know you. That's why I'm so worried."
Alee raised one brow. "Thanks."
"Promise me nothing will happen to you," Dru whispered.
"I ... can't. But I promise I'll make every effort to get back to you in one piece. The promise of a Jedi, Dru. It can only be broken by death."
Druce groaned. "That's what I'm afraid of." He suddenly pulled her close and hugged her fiercely. "You're my family, Alee. My heart. What would I do if something happened to you? I couldn't go on living without my heart."
There was nothing Alee think to could say. Maybe it would have been easier if Druce had been away on a project and had come home to a message, like last time. Goodbyes were like sinking a vibroblade into your mind. As she had parted a final time from Qui-Gon, he had urged her not to go, as Dru was urging her now. She had gone anyway - and paid an awful price for her single-mindedness. Was history repeating itself? Was her death awaiting her on this mission? She didn't know. All she knew was that she had to follow the Force's leading. And it was leading her to Agamar.
"Let's go home," she whispered. "Morning will
come too soon as it is."
