Twitch, the Rodian, let out a long string of curses.
'You're the one taking up half the table with your food!' snarled Luna. 'Don't blame me if I got confused.'
Twitch gave her a long stare, raised his knife and pointed it at her, then slowly lowered it again. The message was clear: touch my food again and you die.
Luna hunched over her plate and shoveled down another mouthful. 'I don't know how he can eat so much of this,' she said, swallowing. 'It's military rations, after all.'
'Careful, Disciple,' said Vix, the buff Devaronian. Once again he was practising his disarming smile at her. It had the opposite effect. 'You know how serious he takes his food. Now if only I could get him to take his drills as easily,' he grinned, expecting a laugh. None came.
'What does that mean?' asked a small voice, but was immediately spoken over.
'Now, my twins, on the other hand,' said Vox, waving a fork over to the two Duros. 'They know a thing or two about discipline. Always right on schedule.'
Garan, the male twin, shrugged. 'That's the job. Tell us to do a thing, we do it.'
'Get me Ka'iulani's number,' Vix said immediately in a stage whisper that Ka'iulani studiously ignored.
'What were you saying, Zat?' piped up Cora, looking along the table at the Nautolan, who was even shorter than Cora. Wedged between the tall, lanky Fenn Tegmen and the mostly fur Kai Mei'Sei, the Bothan, she looked like the teenage daughter that someone had brought to work and misplaced.
'I was just asking lieutenant Tane,' piped up Zat Fendy. She even sounded like a teenager. 'Why lieutenant Horne called her 'Disciple'. What does that mean?'
'Oh,' said Luna. 'It means I'm a Jedi.' cutlery clattered all along the table. Luna didn't mind, she was used to people being surprised by that fact about her, though she had to admit that when she saw Cora's wide eyed expression, it hurt a little. 'Well, sort of.'
'What do you mean?' Cora asked, frowning.
'I follow the path of the Jedi,' she said, then realised it how vague that sounded to someone who didn't know as much as she did. 'It is my faith; I follow the tenets of the Jedi Code, that the Jedi of the Old Republic followed.
'Your faith?' Cora asked, her frown deepening, staring intensely at her. 'Do you - do you feel the Force?'
Luna blushed. 'Not as such,' she said, 'but you don't need to. The Force is all around us, encompassing all life forms. As such, it is my duty to serve all living beings, and to strive for balance in all things.'
Cora relaxed. 'Oh, I think I understand now,' she said, smiling. 'I don't know much about that myself, but it sounds nice, and if it makes you happy then that's the important thing!'
Luna blushed for a different reason this time, but her mood was ruined when Vix said, snickering, 'tell them about your 'come to the Force' moment.'
If he wasn't an old friend, Luna thought, she would have kicked him in the shin. She debated doing that anyway, but decided it wouldn't do to behave like that around the lower ranks. Still, she couldn't resist telling the story. 'I met Luke Skywalker,' she said softly.
There was utter silence around the table. Twitch had stopped talking. Even Fenn, who had said nothing the entire day, had barely looked anyone in the eye, looked at her. 'He saved my life,' she said reverently. 'When I was a young boy, he came to my home planet to look for a Jedi Holocron,' she paused and explained, 'it's a sort of religious artifact for them. Anyway, there was an old, old Jedi Temple near my village. Me and the other kids followed him and something - something unnatural - came out of the Temple and attacked us. I didn't run fast enough and it caught me. When it did,' her voice went quiet and she was no longer at a table in the mess hall, but back there, in the jungle in the dark of night, looking up at this dark monstrosity, its body in silhouette, its eyes reflecting the moonlight. 'I saw things in its eyes. I saw...' she shook her head, back in the present. 'That's when he appeared. He stood in front of the monster and fought it. I don't remember what happened next but the next thing I know, he was picking me up and taking me back home. And since that moment I've dedicated my life to the Jedi Path.'
Luna looked around sheepishly. Everyone stared at her, enraptured. Fearful. Awestruck. She realised that she maybe have sounded a bit too much of a zealot. She often did. She looked at Cora, who seemed particularly moved, but then the other woman reached out and held her hand, and Luna felt a warmth spread from the touch, spread up her arm and settle in her chest. She really did have the warmest eyes you could get lost in.
'Yeah,' said a voice behind her. 'He always did have a way of turning up just in the nick of time.'
Luna looked behind her and shot to her feet, quickly followed by the rest of Nexu squadron. 'Sir!'
Garik Loran waved his free hand, the other holding a food tray. 'At ease. I thought I might join you.'
'Of course, sir,' she said promptly, and turned back to the table. 'Twitch, make room for the commander.'
Twitch looked at her like he was considering murdering both Luna and the commander as a reasonable prospect. He maintained eye contact as he moved one of his trays, just enough to allow the commander room to put his own down, and not an inch more.
'Much obliged, Twitch,' said Loran, and tucked happily into his food.
'Sir,' Luna asked timidly. 'Did I hear you right? You know him?'
'Oh I knew him,' Loran said warmly. 'He was a Rogue, and the Rogues and Wraiths had a close working relationship.'
'Would you tell us some stories?' Luna asked hopefully, realising she sounded a bit desperate.
'I'd rather Face told you about how he got that scar,' interrupted Ka'iulani, smiling playfully. Luna scowled.
Loran looked between the two. 'I'll be happy to tell you as many stories as you want, as any of you want, of all the times Luke saved my ass,' he said placatingly. 'There'll be plenty of time for that. But this scar? Now that's a story...'
