The Lady Knight

Chapter 6

C-3PO stood outside the ramp again, looking anxiously out to the empty travel way. Kess didn't ask who he was so eager to see and didn't see anyone else herself until after she had loaded the last of seven armloads of equipment into the cargo bay and moved to the galley for a glass of hydrate.

"I'm not going to let you go alone!" A man's voice echoed in from the ramp, increasing in amplitude as bodies approached.

Kess turned around and peered down the corridor. Captain Solo and his wife, the Royal Councilor, argued as they entered through the back hatch instead. The back hatch caught on its rollers and stuck halfway open.

The former Princess of Alderaan looked like she was dressed to go hiking. Leia turned impatiently to shove the hatch open as if she was picking a fight with the ship. "Han! The Falcon is on its last legs. It desperately needs that overhaul! Take the opportunity while you have it!"

"No one is going to work on this ship without me. I won't leave it behind for some nobody to screw it up and I won't let you go alone!" The Captain stopped in his tracks when his eyes found a new body on his ship. For a moment, his eyes went meaner, then, as though he just remembered, he beamed with pride to his wife.

By now, the Councilor Organa Solo paused as well to look quizzically at this stranger on board.

Captain Solo explained as if this would fix everything. "So, I got Admiral Drayson to lend me a repair engineer for the trip."

Chewbacca stepped in from the port corridor and growled something indignant.

The Councilor rolled her eyes. "This is more important than the Falcon's overhaul. I have to be there on time. We only have a three-hour window for a safe arrival." Despite her shortness and pretty face, Leia-Organa-Solo-On-A-Tirade felt a dozen times more dangerous than a broken blaster auto-fire you couldn't shut off.

"And you will be," the Captain assured. "The Admiral promised me the absolute best engineer available." He motioned a hand out to Kess with a clear expression that this was her cue. "Isn't that right?"

Kess nodded and gave him an enthusiastic, "Yes, sir!"

He smiled, "There. See? What's your name?"

"Lieutenant Kess Shneya, sir."

Councilor Organa Solo crossed her arms and looked impatiently as her husband, but the Captain ignored it and carried on a show of introductions. "I'm Captain Han Solo and this is Her Highnessness."

The Councilor dropped her arms and looked at Kess only briefly with a huff, "Make sure the hyperdrive works," and marched out of the bay.

Chewbacca hooted with laughter.

Solo spat back at him, "Shut up. She's going. Okay? I won." He turned to Kess and put his hands on his hips. He looked her clean-pressed uniform up and down. "All the equipment aboard?"

"Yes, sir." She squared her shoulders at him and successfully hid the humor at the man's groveling display. Somehow, she wasn't as nervous in the presence of these two as 'the other guy', but seeing them in person was just as weird.

Chewbacca crossed the bay to follow the Councilor's path into the cockpit and Solo began to follow him, flicking his fingers in the air at her. "Well, bring up some diagnostics or something." He motioned clumsily toward a terminal as he disappeared around the corner.

As soon as the room was empty, Kess turned to the main terminal and sat down in the high-backed chair, instantly typing away at the keyboard. She hardly got the first sequence started when C-3PO's excited voice drifted in from the corridor. Beeps and whistles answered him.

The gold droid hurried into the bay's back hatch, rattling off about some medical droid he ran into on his latest adventure. He and an astromech unit proceeded to the game table and mechanically strapped themselves in.

C-3PO kept rambling and Kess was trying to ignore him when, deep in the guts of the ship, a shuddering groan rose octaves in a matter of seconds. Kess panicked, darted across the bay, slid into the booth, and frantically found her own set of straps.

"Ah, Lieutenant," C-3PO interrupted himself, "I'd like you meet my counterpart, R2-D2."

The scuffed dome of the astromech unit beeped hello.

"Hello," Kess told him, still concentrating on her straps.

"The Lieutenant is a Repair Engineer come to attend to the Millennium Falcon during our trip."

R2-D2 quipped back with the astromech equivalent of sarcasm, "Captain Solo must really be in trouble this time."

Kess grinned as the beeps translated in her head but decided not to comment on the R2 unit's remark. Resting her head back on the hard booth, and recognizing the sound of releasing mooring lines, she blew out a sigh of disappointment.

Guess the mighty Jedi isn't coming on this trip.

Bummer.

"You're late." Han bitched as he flipped switches and checked gauges.

Luke punched the hatch control to slide shut behind him and took the seat behind Chewie. "Sorry." He pulled the straps over his shoulders, but Luke's hands slowed to look over his shoulder. He sensed out through the bulkhead and then eyed Leia. "Who else is on board?"

Leia smiled tightly, "He decided to rob the Alliance of an engineer to make me feel better about the Falcon not getting its overhaul."

The buckle clicked audibly. Luke leaned forward against the straps. "Han, we've only got a three-hour window."

"Would you two relax?" Han whined. "Once we get into hyperspace, the time of arrival is set. And if anything does go wrong, Shneya's here to fix it."

Chewie growled a complaint.

Han grumbled back, "Well, I'm certainly not going to let her touch any critical systems until we get there."

"Shneya?" Luke repeated in surprise.

"Yeah." Han gave him a double take. "Why? You know her?"

Luke sat back with a perplexed grin, "Not exactly."

Han didn't care. He blurted a boisterous shout, "Okay, we're outta here!"

The Jedi lost himself in thought as the Falcon punched through the early morning atmosphere. Luke wondered if he was ready for what lie ahead and decided that he would probably never feel ready for it anyway. The fact that Kesselia K. Shneya was on board could not have been purely coincidental. The Force somehow opened the door of opportunity and this was far more than a subtle hint.

Whether Luke was ready for this or not, it was time.

Kess may have been a ground pounder but she was well aware of what hyperspace felt like. She peeled off the straps as soon as gravity caught up and dashed to the terminal to carry out her standing orders. The second diagnostic sequence began scrolling up the screen when voices poured in from the passageway.

Leia Organa Solo approached Kess with a calculating glare. She wore a rawhide jacket, scuffed black boots, and rough khaki pants. The woman looked nothing like the famous Princess from the late Alderaan, nothing like the youngest Ambassador of the Imperial Senate, and barely resembled the Alliance Councilor that masterminded so many treaties and diplomatic relations. Kess remembered seeing her on the vid wearing expensive dresses bowing with leaders from dozens of systems. She even saw her at Mon Mothma's side in more than one Chief Commander Report. The Councilor looked out of place here. In rugged clothes, on a rugged ship, with a rugged husband, she looked like a normal person.

"Did you go through a security check?" the Councilor asked with inquisitive eyes.

C-3PO raised a golden finger as he mechanically stood from his chair. "If I may say so, Councilor, Alliance procedures on security checks dictate the subject shall not be informed or otherwise aware that they are undergoing a security check before or at that time." The droid stopped in the center of the bay, awaiting a 'thank you' from the Councilor. The Councilor sighed as though the droid had spilled the beans.

Kess grinned sheepishly, "I don't know, ma'am."

Captain Solo interjected as he entered the bay, "Drayson wouldn't have sent me an engineer who hadn't." He slapped C-3PO on the arm like an old buddy, his tone was too kind, "Goldenrod, there's no need for you to be wasting such valuable energy while were in hyperspace. Why don't you take the opportunity to shut down and recharge for a couple of days."

"Why, thank you, sir. Please feel free to activate me if the need arises."

Solo's act was almost comical. "Of course," he nodded with rich sarcasm. "It's kind of you to offer."

Kess and the Councilor watched C-3PO stiffly walk to a corner of the bay. He paused as though he sensed a note of mockery in the Captain's voice but brushed it off as a matter to ignore. The lights in his eyes went out and the droid fell asleep.

Captain Solo smiled cocky at his audience until R2-D2 bumped him from behind.

Kess understood the astromech as if he were saying it in Basic. "I need to shut down and recharge too, Captain," R2D2 whistled. "I am twelve days overdue and I doubt he is going to get around to it on a treaty trip."

The Captain responded as though he understood what the astromech said. "You're gonna have to ask him about that, kiddo."

Kess watched the dome head roll away in defeat and returned her attentions to the Councilor. The Councilor's glare softened only a little when she leaned against the terminal desk and crossed her arms. "Do you know anything about diplomacy?"

Kess didn't read the expression as disrespect, just worried. Assuming there was some secretive and very important mission on the other end of this trip, Kess simply played along to ease the Councilor's concerns. "Not really, ma'am. I mean, I know the Imperials are the bad guys." She shrugged pathetically.

The Councilor grinned to the humor, "Well, we have a difficult task ahead of us." She stood up straight again. "You and I will get together on the customs before we arrive."

"Yes, ma'am." She watched the Councilor stroll to the game table and Kess turned her attentions to the third and final set of diagnostics.

"How are those diagnostics coming?" The Captain poked out from the kitchen with a steamy mug and leaned his shoulder against the bulkhead.

"Just started the third sequence, sir. I can get to those hyperdrive motivator schematics as soon as this completes."

Captain Solo's voice went cold, "What hyperdrive motivator schematics?"

Kess saw his wary eyes and stopped breathing for an instant. She pulled the datacard out of her shin pocket and handed it to him. "My orders included a list of repairs I'm to complete before our return, sir."

Solo's frown deepened. He put down his mug, slid the card into a datapad, and read.

"The hyperdrive motivator is the most critical item on the list, sir." Kess continued cautiously, but the Captain ignored her. He ignored his wife noisily tossing datacards on the game table from a bag, ignored the warbling of the astromech unit, and ignored the clicks of boots echoing in from the corridor.

Kess did a double take to realize a fourth human was on board. She was downright stupefied when she saw who it was. Her heart audibly skipped a beat when the Jedi Knight strolled into the bay.

"Good morning, Lieutenant." Skywalker barely glanced at her as he joined his sister at the table. Another bag full of datacards began tumbling out in a clatter.

Kess gulped and tore her eyes off the Jedi uniform. Her eyes fell on the lightsaber hanging from his belt, and again tore her eyes away to stare at the uncomfortably at the floor.

At Lokey's, he was dressed in the same fencing outfit that she had. She wondered if his saber was hidden under the suit that day. She hoped he had forgotten about her remark, cursing herself about it once more, and wondered, again, what he had meant by his.

"Lieutenant?" Skywalker repeated. His voice rang out in her ears.

She shook the buzzing thoughts out of her head, "Um, sorry, sir. I j-just wasn't aware that you were going, um, on the trip," (gulp) "Sir."

Skywalker turned to the table again, sifting through the datacards and pretending not to notice her nervousness. His tone was politely stale, "Nor I, you. But since you're here, maybe we can schedule a few matches. I certainly could use more practice." His eyes flicked to her again for only a brief second and returned to the duties at the table. "And I'll promise not to use the Force if you like."

A picture flashed in her mind, but the scene of the two of them dressed up in fencing sensor suits on a border-controlled mat didn't quite fit the available space in the main bay. "You carry fencing equipment on board, sir?"

"Er, no." Skywalker smiled oddly, "We have an OrCad program on board."

Her eyes closed for a long blink, cursing herself for the stupid question. "Yes, sir," she mumbled. Her eyes opened to find a datacard in front of her again.

Solo's voice was colder now. "No hyperdrive motivator, no navicomputer, no fire control. I can't let you tear down any of my critical systems on this trip."

She shot out of her chair with a plea. "But, Captain, this is the list I was given-" Kess urged him.

"No." He put up a stiff finger, "You will follow my orders to the letter. You will repair what I tell you to repair in the order I tell you to repair them. The people that wrote this list don't know how my ship is wired. While we're in hyperspace, you cannot touch any critical systems, and that's final."

She met his narrowed eyes long enough to realize just how much of a vote she had. "Yes, sir." Her shoulders slumped considerably, "What do you want me to work on first?"

The Captain stepped back a pace and looked at the Commander. The Jedi was watching cautiously from the game table, keeping his nose respectfully out of it.

"The hypo-shower," the Captain replied.

Kess blinked hard and tried not to sound disgusted. "You want me to fix your shower?"

"Yes. The shower," he decided firmly. "There's too much hydrogen in the spray, it needs to be realigned."

Kess stood and set her shoulders. "The shower," she repeated. She walked with purpose to the port corridor.

Four months of repair-in-air and he's going to have me fix all of his creature comforts instead of the stuff that will get him killed. Kess made a mental bet that the next thing he would have her work on was the stupid repulsor couch.