Hi there! I really enjoy the way you write Kit Fisto and Aayla Secura! I was wondering if I may humbly prompt you to write a story in where they're on a mission where Kit Fisto is the decoy Jedi while Aayla is undercover as a slave and they're trying to flirt and tease each other but come dangerously close to blowing cover?
Anon, my dear, I am so glad you’re enjoying my stuff and I am always very happy to write more of Kit and Aayla! Sorry for the delay, though.
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“And who is this pretty lady?” Kit dodged his escort to approach Aayla, who was almost unrecognizable under the grime and (he hoped) fake bruises.
“No one important, Master Jedi!” Administrator Duval all but yelped, making a grab for his arm. “Please! We have a schedule to keep, right?”
Alarm and irritation poured off him, and even with the blocking cream covering his ahwey he could still pick up the greasy tastefeel of stale deathstick smoke and old blood. Or perhaps it was left over from the Administrator’s unsavory predilections.
Aayla, for her part, flashed a warning at him but kept her eyes downcast, as befit the lowly slave she was pretending to be.
“Just a humble worker, m’lord,” she murmured, her accent thicker and canted toward the harshness of the Western reaches of Ryloth than her usual Northern drawl.
“A worker who is busy,” Duval said, pulling him away. “So we should leave her to it!”
Kit knew he shouldn’t risk jeopardizing the mission, but they’d been undercover for two weeks already and the veneer of “we’re but a modest little textile factory” that covered up a multi-system slave-running operation was wearing thin.
It had to be ten times worse for Aayla, who’d been “captured” and put in with the more valuable slaves. He was simply here as a distraction while she did most of the hard work of gathering evidence. They’d already sent off a small mountainload to their Senate contact and now it was mostly a matter of making sure no one figured out what was happening while Organa’s team ran around securing warrants and arranging to have the factory raided.
“May I at least know the humble worker’s name?” Kit grinned, allowing himself to be pulled away.
“Perhaps another time, m’lord. Aayla bowed her head to hide her smile, but Kit caught it anyway.
Judging by the dark glare Duval was flashing between the two of them, he might have caught it, too.
“So, Nevin!” Kit clapped the Administrator on the back, causing him to stumble a bit. “I believe you said the dye vats were the next stop? I’ve been dyeing to see them all week!”
Duval’s pale human skin flushed dark, the tastefeel of his emotions almost cloying. “Right this way, Master Pelagis.”
Kit allowed himself to be led, falling back into his role as the dim-witted but well-meaning Jedi Knight Lamis Pelagis, who was ostensibly on Duuradi for a routine inspection, but if you read between the lines (which “Lamis” couldn’t), it was to keep him out of the Order’s way for a while.
When he met with Aayla for their next handoff that night, the first thing he did was pull her into a hug.
“I will be very glad when this mission is finally over,” he murmured. “I’m not sure how much longer I can stand being around that revolting little droch.”
“I noticed.”
Aayla smiled up at him, and for a moment, nothing else mattered.
“I still wish I could have been the slave and you the wet-behind-the-gills Jedi Knight blundering around getting in the way.” He reached out, carefully brushing a smudge of dirt from her cheek.
Aayla covered his hand with her own, leaning into his touch. “As much as I love the idea of you in a skimpy outfit, freykaa, you know why it had to be this way.”
He sighed, resting his forehead against hers. For all that the Republic lauded itself on being civilized, sexisim- and less savory things- still ran deep. Females commanded a higher price and twi’leks higher still.
“I know,” he said. With luck and a good team of lawyers, the information they’d gathered should be enough to cripple the slave trade through the whole region.
Warmth rushed through him as fingers brushed against his ahwey. They also tucked a datachip under one of his bands.
Aayla pulled back, flicking a finger at his nose. “Besides, you do dumb so much better than I do.”
He laughed. “I guess those years of practice have finally paid off.”
She arched a brow ridge at him. “Practice. Right.” She caught his fingers, giving them a light kiss. “Now get back to your nice opulent cage before we get caught.”
“I’d be a fool not to listen to such wisdom.” He gave her an exaggerated bow, grinning at the way she rolled her eyes. “Stay safe, freykaa.”
“You as well.”
They parted. Kit released his hopes into the Force, willing it to keep Aayla and the other slaves safe and to bring a quick end to the mission.
