Ambassador

Chapter 11: An Elite Soldier and Elite Clone

"The Ballad of Mandalore?" Marjin chuckled. "He doesn't seem like the type to like music. He mostly sits in his bunk and sulks in silence."

"Yes," Alanja replied, her arm draped over his. "I played a recording for Commander Crosshair, and he played it back for me."

Marjin looked down at her incredulously. "You played it for him?"

"Yes." She hid a small smile. "He and I are friends."

Marjin let out a huge belly laugh, throwing back his head. Still snickering, Marjin turned the corner with her. At the end of the hallway, leaning beside the door to the officers' galley, Crosshair stood waiting, fiddling with the toothpick in his mouth.

Marjin went rigid. "What's he doing here?"

Alanja gave her own haughty laugh, enjoying Marjin's shock. "The same thing he does every evening."

Confused, Marjin looked down at her for an explanation. She patted his arm with a sigh and released her hand from his elbow. "The commander is my guest," she said. She didn't want to part from Marjin, but her duty was to continue to coerce CT-9904 toward her brother's cause. She smiled up at Marjin's commanding, blue eyes and batted her own as she memorized every bit of his chiseled face. "Come back to me," she whispered, referring to Marjin's soon departure on his first mission under Crosshair's command.

His look softened then as he raised his hand to touch her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Crosshair stand up straight, his glare scrutinizing them. A glance from Marjin made it obvious that Crosshair's move would be intervening. Alanja gently took Marjin's hand from her face to quell the clone's advance.

"Did you hear me, soldier?" she said, trying to sound playful to ease the tension.

Ignoring her effort to diffuse the coming escalation between the two men, Marjin purred in his deep voice, "You're beautiful, Ambassador Rampart." Her breath caught at the enthralling compliment. "I would do anything to have you look at me like this. So proud."

She stuttered. "I will come to the hanger to see you off," she said with a smile.

"Good," he replied. "Condolences in the interim." He shot an annoyed look at Crosshair watching them. She was sure that if the clone commander were not there, Marjin would have finally offered her a kiss. But there was no hope of that happening so long as Crosshair played the part of unplanned chaperon.

"Be nice," she playfully scolded Marjin for his jibe at Commander Crosshair.

In reply, he shook his head back. "Nah, that's your job."

Alanja patted Marjin on the arm and offered her a sultry smirk. "I will see you soon," she said and turned towards Crosshair. The clone's dark eyes met hers and then flickered to watch Marjin with disgust.

Once inside, Crosshair closed the door as he always did. He did not mention what he saw between Marjin and Alanja, and she wondered if he even understood what he had seen. What did a clone know about the courtship between a man and woman? Likely, nothing. Like the rest of the clones, Crosshair was consumed with nothing but following orders and killing.

As was now his custom, Crosshair no longer bothered to wait to be invited to sit. He took his seat at their usual table and placed his helmet beside the bowl of rocks from Governor Tarkin. This evening he did not look at her; instead just picked up the rocks one by one to examine them.

"Impressive," he said. It was odd how familiar his tone was, yet he was full of animus. Almost everything he had to say generally came across as biting, even now.