Eclipse Ch. 07

In Kaydia's dreams, she relived their encounter, with Quinn pulling her into a passionate kiss as she wore the Shadi mask. His hand brushed through her hair until the blonde wig slipped to the floor. She gave into him as his hands roamed her body, and peeled off the layers of clothing. It was exciting and terrifying to be so vulnerable before him but she didn't dare try to stop him or slow him down. Dress pooled around her ankles, bra slipped off and her panties slid down.

Pulling away from the kiss, Quinn looked upon her reveal form, but somehow she found she wasn't nude before him. Instead, she wore her Padawan robes and the insecurities of a seventeen-year-old girl. It felt far more exposed than being naked before him. And the Quinn that looked back at her was a younger version of himself, and she had the strangest feeling that she was remembering what he looked like a decade ago, instead of merely imagining it.

The dream brought up anxieties that Kaydia couldn't easily push down, so she found herself waking before Quinn. He looked just as good the morning after, while she was sober and the morning light illuminated his features. And the tattoo was even more brilliant now, and it was rather difficult to resist the temptation to touch it once more. But he rocked her world last night and deserved whatever rest he could carve out for himself. So she left him alone, turning her thoughts towards the job at hand.

Before long Kaydia had transformed herself into Lorsha, a woman who seemed cloned a thousand times over to perform the invisible work that kept the galaxy moving smoothly.

The secretary who answered phones and maintained schedules, the restaurant hostess who oversaw tables and wait-staff rosters, the personal assistant who arranged every aspect of her employer's day. And In her case, she was that valet that was always around precisely when she was needed, whether she was called ahead of time or not. Donning a short black wing in the style of an impeccably sharp bob, and a simple streamlined black leather outfit that only hinted at her sensuality, the transformation was nearly complete.

Out of all her personas, Kaydia found she liked being Lorsha the best. She appreciated the invisibility it afforded her, as opposed to the attention that Shadi was designed to attract. She was already eating breakfast in her mask as Quinn woke up. "Good morning.

Help yourself to breakfast, it's most dehydrated foodstuffs, unfortunately. I put your clothes through the refresher, so they should be ready pretty soon. Unless you want me to drop you off at your place for a change. Otherwise, I thought you can join me for the meeting with my contact. It would save me the trouble of relaying all this information to you a second time."

"No, yeah. That sounds good." He yawned a jaw-cracking yawn. "Let me just get cleaned up, first. And then I'll eat and we can go meet your contact." With that, he threw the covers off and headed towards the bathroom.

Watching the naked Quinn stride towards the bathroom made Kaydia wish she wasn't already dressed and ready for the day. And the thought of him in the shower, alone, with water rolling down his washboard abs distracted her from her meal. Maybe next time they would have to get in together.

Next time. Would there be a next time? The fear that it might not happen again briefly seized her as she picked at her food. It wouldn't be the first one night stand she'd had, but it might have been the first she'd hope to repeat. Could they...date? It wasn't impossible, was it? They got along well, and were obviously quite attracted to each other. It might not work out in the long run, but they could enjoy the ride while it lasted, couldn't they?

He dressed quickly, opting to leave boots and jacket for when they left but was strapping on the shoulder rig that carried his blaster and lightsaber as he joined Kaydia at the breakfast table. She smiled at him as he joined her at the table, unfortunately, dressed. Still there was a job to do, and as she discovered last night, tearing each other's clothing off was half the fun.

"If we have time," he said, taking a seat and spooning reconstituted hash onto a plate,

"I'd like to swing past Munden's first. I should return that borrowed speeder. But it's not urgent."

"Should be fine. I have to pick up mine anyways, so we can switch them off. " She replied before finishing her coffee.

He ate a few bites, then smiled at her from across the table. After a moment, he reached out and rested his hand on hers. "And... after last night.." He hesitated. "My name - my real name - is Quentin. Quentin Hall. I just, well, haven't used it in... in a while. I just..." He hesitated again. "I wanted you to know it."

For a moment, memories from her dream flooded back, suddenly feeling relevant in a way she couldn't quite place. Still, the revelation of his real name made her blush, somehow finding the admission far more intimate than what they had done last night. She smiled warmly as she met his eyes and couldn't resist placing a quick, moist kiss on his lips. Maybe they were dating.

"Looks like we will have to do this again, so I can scream out the right name, this time."

He kissed her back. "You can try," he whispered, caressing her cheek. "But next time, I'm going to try to leave you unable to speak..."

***

Quentin found himself brooding, as he returned the borrowed speeder. What was he doing? He'd never broken cover like this before, never told anyone his real name before. And then, after a single night's fucking, he had risked everything!

Only... it wasn't just a simple case of getting laid, was it? He ran his fingers through his hair, and stared out the window. He liked her. Maybe he was even falling in love with her - something that felt ridiculous, since it had been less than a week since they'd met. But even now, he was trying to figure out how to persuade her to come with him when he was finished. She was skilled, she was good in a fight (and in bed), she was fun to talk to, and she was Force-sensitive. He'd recognized the empathic feedback once he'd thought about it, even if she hadn't. It was why they'd been so good together -each had sensed what the other wanted.

Force sensitive.

Damnit, he was going to have to consult the Archives. The odds were astronomical, but was it possible he'd stumbled across that lost padawan after all these years?

***

Soon they were off, returning his borrowed speeder and retrieved her own. A top of the line, model year new transport that was as sleek and efficient as her mask. Quentin was seated up front, alongside her as she parked and waited for her contact, Linora.

The slender brunette entered the speeder without hesitation, though she did stiffen when she noticed a third person in the speeder, a man she was not expecting.

"This is Quinn Hale. He performed quite well on the last job and agreed to another one," Kaydia introduced, deciding to keep his real name to herself for a bit longer. It felt like a present he had given her, and even now she wanted to cherish that. For a moment at least, before pulling out to drive in the predetermined route, which in reality was just an excuse for her and Linora to meet up. Linora nodded at the man, only seeing the back of his head and half of his face. Familiar, somehow.

"Tuzza Drezixis your target this time around," She said simply, knowing that his prominence wouldn't be lost on Kaydia. The regional Vigo, and the man who had authorized and overseen her conditioning. The one who had given her the command to kill Jedi master Bry-Ta. Linora knew this would be a satisfying kill for her, if not an easy one. "He is familiar with all your current persona's, so you are going to need a solid plan to strike him. Like I said last night, I can't know anything until you hit him, and all I can give you at the moment is his schedule for the next month. I'll be paying twice your rate for this job." She sent the files over to their data pads.

"Any questions?"

Quentin glanced over the data pad, and shook his head. Then he looked sideways at Kaydia, checking if she had any.

The speeder was on autopilot as Kaydia reviewed the information on her data pad.

Tuzza Drezix. She started at the name and face as some of her worst memories flooded her mind. She forced the Lorsha mask, wearing a calm, in control expression as sorrow and rage coursed through her veins. Suddenly she needed a hit of Inertia. Something to drown the emotions boiling under her skin. Even Quentin's presence, and the thought of spending another night wrapped around him couldn't ease the tension that tugged at her very being.

It was the culmination of everything she wanted since she returned to this life. To strike at the man who did this to her, and repay the years of pain he had put her through. She knew she needed to concentrate, to come at this from a position of collected composure, but it was difficult to push down everything that had been done to her, and everything she had done.

"No questions," she answered, finally, feeling both Quentin's and Linora's eyes on her. It was good, too, since she was nearing the endpoint of their trip. Linora got out without another word and Kaydia pulled the speeder out and drove a couple kilometers away.

***

Quentin nearly shook with relief as Linora exited the speeder, half-expecting her to turn and cut him down through the hull. But she walked away without a look back, merging into the crowd and disappearing into a store. He sighed, then began systematically flexing and releasing each of his muscles in turn to release tension. It was difficult. He could sense the hatred and anger and fear in Kaydia's mind, roiling and churning like storm clouds even as she struggled for calm and tried to review the details of the job. Finally, she tossed her datapad down. "It's not going to be simple," she observed, leaning back in the driver seat. "How do you feel about playing the chauffeur again?"

"Well," he said, forcing a note of levity he didn't feel, "I think we've established that I don't mind driving..." It was a weak innuendo, but there it was. Turning his attention back to business, he picked up his own datapad and reviewed the notes once more. "Hmmm..." he finally muttered. "'Not going to be simple' is an understatement. So, we could abandon discreet."

He put his datapad down as well. "I've got a proton launcher at my ship, part of my collection of questionably-legal implements of mayhem. We could just track his movements, and blow his skimmer to hell from blocks away." He mimed aiming and firing a shoulder-mounted weapon. "Boom. Then we just need to send a small probe in to collect enough DNA to prove he was in the car."

Quentin's grin didn't falter in the teeth of her dour expression. "No? Well, I guess being hunted as Separatist terrorists would put a crimp on our plans. So. Tell me about playing the chauffeur?"

***

The plan wasn't too bad. Quentin would masquerade as Tuzza's chauffeur when he was headed towards the warehouse district to meet with some smugglers. Quentin would divert the Vigo to another warehouse, where Kaydia would be waiting to complete the hit. Kaydia wasn't terribly happy with the plan, but it was unlikely they were going to be able to come up with a better one. Tuzza was a made man, and wasn't ever going to be easy to kill. As it was, they would have to expect at least a couple bodyguards.

They needed to retrofit a speeder to interrupt lines of communication, scout out a warehouse location, get a read on who would be guarding Tuzza that day. He had a rotating list of eight men and two women who stood at his side, usually in pairs, but sometimes as many as four. Kaydia and Quentin had their work cut out for them.