Unsettled/Disillusioned

Chapter 11: the Wife

The next day, Wedge asked about his black eye and wondered if he'd missed a game of grav-ball, as some members of the Bad Batch were sporting bruises too. Kallus rolled his eyes and asked where Cal was.

Kallus found Cal in the garden, with Ezra and Toa, admiring the plants. A wild creature with a smooth, round shell and tall eye stalks had wandered into the Base's perimeter. Cal was petting it, keeping it docile as BD-1 scanned it. Cal was wearing his lightsaber on one hip, his blaster on the other and the strange charm hung from his holster. It was quiet now, no sign of green flame anywhere.

"Hi, Kallus!" Ezra was the first to greet him as he approached.

"Hello, Kallus," Toa added pleasantly.

Cal slowly turned around to glance up at him, "Hi, Kallus," he said, he sounded tired but his eyes were still bright.

"Good morning, all," Kallus greeted them with a wave, "Toa, Cal, if you could come with me to the command centre, we'll open communications to your crew, your people." A wave of relief crashed through Cal, he smiled so wide Kallus could see a gap in his teeth.

Hera was waiting in the command centre for them, standing by the holoconsole. "As part of our safety measures, we will need to monitor the communications," Kallus explained in a clipped manner of speaking that reminded him of his days in the ISB. He pointed to the holoconsole in the middle of the room, a large circular table that was currently projecting a holomap of the Mid and Outer Rims, "and due to these safety protocols, our communications will have a high level of encryption. You may speak to the members of your crew but you won't be able to see them. They won't see you, either."

"We understand," Cal said with a nod.

"Call Greez?" Toa asked.

"He may not be on the Mantis. Contact Ashe, they're always monitoring transmissions, and everyone would be at Rambler's Reach," Cal said as Hera helped Toa punch in the calculations for the transmissions.

"Koboh is all the way out there?" Hera asked as the call went out and she calculated on the map where it was going.

"Small, quiet. Far from the action. It's home," Cal shrugged. The image projection in the middle of the holotable changed from the holomaps to a sphere of digital light.

"Hey, you've reached Ashe Javi and DD-EC, finest DJ duo on the Galactic Frontier," a smooth voice called when the transmission finally connected, the sphere pulsed with each syllable. The droid spat a tune of digital beeps, whistles and chirps.

"Ashe! It's me, Toa, Cal and BD-1. Our communications were blocked but now we can finally make contact," Toa explained.

"Oh, hey! Didn't recognise the transponder code. I'll go get the Marshall. She's been setting new records in Holotactics since your expedition went awry. You're in for it now, Cal," Ashe teased. Cal rolled his eyes and BD-1 whistled suggestively as the sphere of light shrunk while Ashe was away. The light pulsed slightly again as a breath was picked up on the other end.

"Cal? My Jedi."

A woman's beautiful voice came through the transmission, each syllable sounding like a perfectly crafted note of music, light and in an accent Kallus didn't recognise. Cal looked like the rest of the world fell away the moment he heard that voice.

"Merrin."

Kallus swore he saw a tear run down Cal's face, disappearing into his beard. BD whistled happily and bobbed up and down on his back. Toa smiled at the display.

"Cal, why can I not see you?" the light warbled.

"Merrin, this is an encrypted channel, I can't see you either. But I can hear you," Cal explained, "oh, I can hear you."