Private Between Stars

[Kelly T. Perris]

THEED HANGAR
NABOO

If there was a name for what this time of year was to him, Kelly didn’t know what it was, but this year it was the most familiar of things: deployment. Scuttlebutt was the fleet was in ready state due to some combination of intelligence and Jedi foresight and his leave was being cut short.

It was all the same to him; at least out there was the most familiar thing in the ‘verse. Twenty-four years, six in the service, two in the academy, and walking away from his commission and the patriotism that once held him in a solid grip was the second-hardest thing he’d ever done, but the break wasn’t clean, though that ache had been dulling for a while now.

That was a choice, to leave. One he wouldn't have managed to make when he did, if not for the counsel of his older sister.

What dwelt most in his thoughts at this time, thought, wasn’t his decision, and he kept himself busy in the face of it. Most of the time that meant getting greasy, like today. It wasn’t the Garage, but he’d take any workshop or hanger that had him into the guts of something mechanical, and this day, he was buried shoulder-deep into an N-1 at Theed Hangar, reaching for a connection.

“Almost got it…”

At some point, he’d stopped driving himself mad over what he could have done differently. Stopped looking for faults that weren’t there. There were no answers then, and none now. But that was as far as he’d gotten, at least with his heart and head, though his body had no such hang-ups, and he had few reservations about scratching that itch when it arose.

It staved off enough of the questions. Fingers hooked around the wire and he carefully worked it free of the connection point.

“...there! S’all yours.”

Precarious with the engine hanging so close to his head, but with that tether cleared, so was the danger to his braincase as the block of inner workings was wheeled away to make room for a replacement.

He released the breath he’d been holding in that last stretch, but still remained bent over the frame of the starfighter’s engine bay, only hauling himself up enough to plant his forearms on the edge of it. Kelly started to work a hand free of a glove, giving a cursory glance around the inside of the busy hanger as he did, checking to see if there was something else to get stuck into…

★ Addison Porte ★​

 

[Addison Porte]

NABOO
THEED HANGAR
Reconnect
Kelly T. Perris

You_Never_Left_My_Heart
​

The Taanabian hesitated a moment outside the Theed hangar entrance before going in. She had run several scenarios over and over in her mind of how this mea culpa might go. In the end, the Jedi Knight felt it was just best to rip the proverbial bandage off and see if the patient would live or not.

Addison took a deep breath, then the long-legged brunette strolled inside the voluminous hangar bay wearing an olive green sleeveless jumpsuit with her lightsaber clipped to the utility belt slung low off her shapely hips; hair styled in a short wavy bob, a new look, as well as her skin dewy with a sun-kissed glow to it. Though, all that couldn't hide an unspoken sadness underneath.

A grin came to her lips as she sensed Kelly's familiar signature in the Force, then followed it with her brandy eyes to the back of the hangar where he was working on a Naboo snubfighter. The grease monkey was halfway inside the engine housing in a very focused manner. She stopped short to admire him from a nearby stack of crates as the hangar techs were helping him at that moment with the removal of said engine.

When the sandy blonde turned his head to peer out over the hangar taking a break seemingly as he waited for the replacement, Addy's hazel brown orbs zeroed in on his heavenly blue and they froze or melted. It felt like a target lock had formed between them and she bite her lip in anticipation of what was to come next; same exact spot bitten a couple of weeks or so prior at her mother's farewell.

Tinks was prepared to be vaped on the spot by the other ace pilot, but hopeful Indy wouldn't even though it had been her fault the romantic meet up on Lujo never happened. The thing was Addy never stopped caring even after all this time. How could she, Kels was the one who got away.

I probably broke his heart unless I completely missed the mark with him, but it couldn't be helped given the circumstances...

Addison took another deep breath, then smiled softly up at the Corellian. "Hey, flyboy... You need any help? I'm pretty good with tools getting into tight spaces. Small hands, remember," the chestnut beauty offered with a light tone despite her nervousness, then she lifted them palms up from her sides to show him.

Oh gods that was lame or what?!

​

 

[Kelly T. Perris]

THEED HANGAR
NABOO

He was looking for another job in the hangar to continue to keep himself occupied, with too many hours yet to burn until he’d ship back out. Kelly was fairly intent on continuing as he’d been doing, but then, his attention was caught by a woman watching him, and the slow bite of her lip soon as he’d noticed her standing there hadn't exactly helped him keep hold of those plans.

Instead, it made him turn towards her and—after the last fingers of the second glove were free—straighten out to where one of his hands was still on the frame. He glanced left, then right, and right back to her, and pointed a brief finger at himself. Nope, she was here for him, and he plain well couldn’t look away.

[ Damn, she’s… wow, okay. ]

Most times a woman appeared looking for him in his personal time, it was one of his pilots, and that was strictly professional. But this? Alls he’d been doing was minding his own damn business, and Hotness Herself came to him. Wasn’t like the Old Gods to drop anything in his lap but trouble… well, she could be that.

Addison took another deep breath, then smiled softly up at the Corellian. "Hey, flyboy... You need any help? I'm pretty good with tools getting into tight spaces. Small hands, remember," the chestnut beauty offered with a light tone despite her nervousness, then she lifted them palms up from her sides to show him.

That comment earned the smallest twitch at the corner of his mouth, as he tucked the gloves into a back pocket.

[ Tools? Tight spaces? Alright. I see where this is going. ]

Hell, if that didn't put some kinda thoughts in his head. Then she followed with the hands, and he damn well might've short-circuited right there for what that said, after the last statement... if another thing entirely hadn't happened, instead.

[ Wait... ]

Why was that familiar? He was dead certain he'd not forget a woman like this. Kelly backtracked over her words, taking a long, full look at her, her stance, curves, eyes, the cogs turning. Taking in her face. The lightsaber hilt.

Standing and straightening in full as it began to dawn on him.

"Addy?"

No, he'd never forgotten.

The name came out dry. Quiet. Shaken. No, this couldn't be real. She was... but that thought never got far, in the face of what appeared to be very real. None of those dreams he used to have early on after she'd left him went like this. Maybe he was losing it, but at some point in those moments, he'd started to wander to her, his face almost haunted, the roil of everything he'd ended up feeling back then threatening to bubble up and come along for the ride. He swallowed it down.

"How is this... ?"

And closer still.

"How are you...?"

Until he was before her.

"Gods, tell me I'm not dreaming, please."

Kelly reached out and grasped both of her arms with a shaking delicateness as if holding on too tight to what might be an apparition would make it disappear, slipping like sand through his fingers.

"How?"

★ Addison Porte ★​

 

[Addison Porte]

NABOO
THEED HANGAR
Reconnect
Kelly T. Perris

You_Never_Left_My_Heart

​

"Addy?"

"How is this... ?"

"How are you...?"

"Gods, tell me I'm not dreaming, please."

From the disbelief written all over Kelly's face and the same ripple felt in the Force from him, the man probably thought that Addison was one of those angels from the moons of Iego that spacers often talked about showing up out of thin air to comfort them. For some reason that amused her if true.

Kelly reached out and grasped both of her arms with a shaking delicateness as if holding on too tight to what might be an apparition would make it disappear, slipping like sand through his fingers.

"How?"

His touch on her bare arms sent shivers down her spine. Oh how she'd missed Indy. The yearning to be fully wrapped up in the Corellian's strong arms was overwhelming in that moment, but it was too much to ask for. Tinks kept telling herself she needed to be patient as it could be that he simply had moved on or didn't want to see her again. Relationships could be a fickle thing and something the young Jedi had not mastered as of yet.

Well at least Aiden has welcomed me back into his life and now I have a niece!

"I can assure you it's me, Kels... alive and in the flesh," the brunette answered with a warm smile, then added. "As for how and why I'm here, well that is a long story that would be best told with the help of a strong drink. Are you free?" she asked with hopeful eyes.

​