Anakin's Fortress - Book II (temporary cover)

Thirty-eight - Promethean

Without sex, life would be a mistake.
Year 13

—————

Anakin

"Zena," I say when I've waited long enough. "Where is she?"

"Scanning...Velez is still in the district...with Jewel Eridani and two guards."

"Send a message to the guards to deliver her to my shuttle."

She doesn't respond, which means the message has been sent. Slipping out without another word to anyone, I'm aboard my ship within twenty minutes. Kitten arrives only minutes later.

I'm sitting in one of the chairs for the auxiliary station, closest to the ramp. She walks up it and smiles when she sees me, quickly reaching up to close the ramp. The fabric that still hangs off her curves appears so delicate. Her hair has been set free from its bindings and is extra wavy and wild.

Then I remember she's my wife, and I'm grinning in my mask like a young boy.

"Sorry we took so long," she says, coming to a halt directly in front of me. The black lining around her eyes has been wiped away.

"Have you been crying?" I ask before she can say anything else. Though she looks happy, there's something unusual about her in the Force that I can't pinpoint.

"Oh," Kitten says lightly, a touch surprised. Zena notes a rise in the temperature to her face with a faint red highlight. It stays for two full seconds before disappearing from the screen. "Yes. I'll tell you when we're in the air."

I pat my lap, growing further heated when she obeys without delay. "I take it Zena's intelligence defense mod is working?" She asks, cocking her head at my helmet.

"You wouldn't believe the amount of people who had listening devices of some sort on them this evening." Her eyes grow wide in excitement. "No one we were speaking with." She looks almost disappointed, making me chuckle. "Probably senators looking for blackmail material."

"Isn't it overwhelming?" Her hand skims the side of the metal, her eyes following the path.

"She's quite efficient at presenting information. When she wants me to turn my head, so long as it isn't an emergency, there's a tiny little arrow," I wiggle my finger around in my peripherals, "that appears. I don't think I've ever had to tell her I don't care about something more than once."

"I was programmed to be your best assistant."

At the same time, Kitten says, "That's what I programmed her for," with a small grin.

I laugh and stand, picking her up in one swift motion. "I feel like I'll rip this fabric very easily, Kitten."

She gasps and smacks my chest, hitting only my chest piece. "Don't you dare."

"I don't plan on it," I say while setting her in the co-pilot's chair. "It's just so...thin." I don't know how else to describe it.

I'm starting up the ship, scanning our surroundings one more time. "Oh, I agree," she chuckles. "Do you like your Darth Black cape?"

"My what?" I ask with a glance at her.

"Your cape! It's Jewel's latest design—the color, that is. And my dress!" She spins the chair completely around and when she returns to face me, she's smiling brightly, so full of life.

"They're certainly black..." The woman really named it Darth Black? Good grief.

Kitten laughs and faces the viewscreen. "Are we going home?"