Earthlings 2: The Dark Age

6

19 BBY, Ord Mantell

"Cid!" Kendall strode over to the trandoshan with a datapad carrying a transmission from Raxus. Delvin the cat leapt off the counter to join them; he'd been given the name by Dume the wolf 2 days ago, apparently after a little discussion between the two of them. Kendall found it amusing that the pets from Lothal had apparently taken the names of hers and Depa's padawans, and wondered if they had bonded with Caleb and Leda in the past. 

"What is it, Candy-?" Cid asked, turning to face her. "More news?"

"Yep," Kendall replied as Delvin climbed onto her head. Sometimes she got tempted to call him Leda, both out of confusion and amusement. "From Raxus. Senator Avi Singh's droid is requesting assistance."

"Really?" Cid took the datapad and played the transmission. "He's been arrested, eh?"

"Yeah," Kendall replied, crossing her arms. "The squad isn't back yet-?" 

Cid glanced outside. "They're back now." 

"Goody..." Kendall mumbled in her usual monotone personality mask that she had adopted after Order 66. She turned to see the batch coming back from yet another mission Cid sent them on, Omega holding a carton of Mantell Mix as usual. 

Cid walked over to them. "I've got a mission for you boys- a simple extraction on Raxus."

"Raxus-?" Tech adjusted his goggles. "That is the former center of the Separatist government. It has since become an Imperial outpost-"

"I'm not interested in a history lesson, Goggles," Cid interjected as Delvin tilted his head beside Kendall. "You're being hired to locate and free Senator Avi Singh from his confinement. My client will meet you at the given coordinates to brief you." She shut off the holoprojector before holding up a datacard. "Details are on this. Now get going."

Hunter caught it before examining it. "Help a Separatist-? Not gonna happen."

"Your debt's still not paid, remember?" Cid retorted. "A job's a job."

Kendall glanced over at Tech, Dume, and Noble as Hunter pulled Cid aside for a talk. A bit later, Noble came over to Kendall with Dume before the dog proceeded to leap onto the counter. 

"How's the General doing?" Noble asked cheerfully.

Kendall returned the smile. "I think the pain has finally gone away. In better news, guess who named my cat?"

Noble raised a brow. Kendall pointed at Dume, who yipped happily.

"Really-?" Noble asked, pleasantly surprised. "What name-?"

Kendall chuckled, glancing down at the cat. "Delvin."

"Like Leda-? REALLY?!" Noble squealed as Kendall picked Delvin up. "Aww, that's so cute and honoring..."

"It is..." Kendall smiled, thinking back to the good old days before Order 66 as the cat snuggled against her. If only Leda had survived...

She felt Noble's hand on her as she reassured her that everything would be ok. Kendall smiled back. She hoped it would be true...

--

(Sometime later...)

Kendall let out a huff, watching Bolo and Ketch at it again over the dejarik table. "There they go again..."

"Not very good at it, are they?" Noble quipped besides her. 

"Yeah," Kendall replied with a chuckle before turning her gaze to Delvin, who was currently being chased around the couch by Dume. "Even I could beat them."