Una swallowed, suddenly growing a bit nervous at the idea of Camiss wanting to stay around these parts. She wasn’t at all ashamed of where she came from– for the past few years, she knew these slums as her home as if she was born and raised here– but she knew he would have a lot to say about them. They weren’t anywhere near the nicer side of the market where they last encountered each other for a meal, and it was far too late to start making that walk over. She’d have to just swallow her pride. 

“If you say so,” she said, shrugging, maintaining her cool as she led the way through the market towards one of the food stands that was open late. She ordered for both of them in what little Twi’lek language she knew, and retrieved their food before taking a seat over at one of the small tables available for outdoor seating. 

Una had ordered some chicken sticks for both of them, and she began dipping hers in sauce before taking a big bite and smiling. “You’ve had these before, right?” she asked casually. 

       The market wasn’t as bad as Camiss had expected. Of course, it was still day time, so there was less likely to be anything criminal going on, but so far, Camiss wasn’t as shocked as he thought he would be. Una had them stop at a small stand, which wasn’t quite the restaurant he expected, but since it was owned by a local, it would give him a better perception of the area.

She gave him shifty eyes before letting out a snicker, closing her satchel before giving him a shrug. “If you say so,” she said, pulling her jacket off and draping it over her satchel. “But I don’t know if you’d think these people are any worth protecting.”

There truly wasn’t much to this side of Coruscant; from the Jedi Temple, she was sure that he couldn’t even see as far down as the valley of her neighborhood. But it was telling that he never left the Temple’s confines as much. It made a little more sense why he ended up in her corner of the world at the nightclub. 

She led the way uphill towards the Jaeg Market. It was open all day, but the vendors dwindled at night and less produce was available, but more hot food was. On the way to the market, they passed by a number of homeless people lining the sidewalk, starting to build fires in their self-made tents. Una passed them nonchalantly, not acknowledging them, as she’d been desensitized for the past couple of years. 

“So, are you hungry or something? There’s better restaurants outside of my neighborhood.” 

       Una led him through the neighborhood. The first place they went through was a market area. On the outside, it was pretty similar to what he saw, but once inside he could tell just how different it was. The kinds of food they were selling weren’t the highest quality, and the transactions weren’t being done as smoothly as the one’s he’d ever done were.

       The most upsetting thing he saw was the large amount of homeless that sat along the sides of the street. They were huddled up next to buildings with small fires. They may have been okay now, but in the night, they might not keep them too warm. Luckily, Coruscant never got too cold. Camiss had seen homeless before on other planets, but seeing them in his home had a different feeling.

Una couldn’t help but feel a surge of confidence after the day’s events. She successfully aided the Jedi on his mission, milked another good chunk of credits from him, and managed not to make a crash landing on Coruscant. When she landed, she made sure not to park too close to her home, not wanting her mom or the twins seeing them together. 

She disembarked his ship behind him, throwing her satchel across her chest. With brows furrowed, she couldn’t help but be confused by his question. “Why?” 

She didn’t have a problem showing him around the neighborhood, except for maybe the slight chance either Pyn or Riten would be outside chasing each other, but she wasn’t sure why he’d want to see the slums in the first place. 

       He spoke to her while still looking over the area. “I just feel like I ought to know a little bit more about this planet,” he said. “I’ve been confined to the Temple mostly, and there’s more people than just them that I may need to protect.” He walked over to her.

Once in the ship, Una stood in front of the lever and gripped it, a mischievous grin on her face. “Pewpewpew,” she said, steering the lever in different ways but not actually firing. She looked over at Camiss, expecting him to be amused by her, but of course she was met with his deadpan, serious expression. “Fiiine,” she said, sighing. “Don’t worry. I got this.” 

She sat in the seat and looked out at the sky as they emerged from the hangar, watching as they flew. Camiss was so damn good at flying, it made her jealous. But she would hopefully have the same skills soon if he kept on recruiting her for these side missions. 

       Camiss and Una were on the way back from the mission. They were able to successfully get the shipment to the planet with only a minor inconvenience. On the way back, Una was flying and they were heading to her apartment. Camiss had his ship parked there, so he was going to be able to fly home on his own. When they finally landed, Camiss got out and looked around.

       He had been to this part of the planet a few times now, but he hadn’t really looked at what it was like. The other times it was night or he was just picking her up. He never noticed the condition the place was in. This got him thinking. If his job was to protect and keep the peace, he needed to understand as much as he could.

“Yeah,” she agreed in a hushed tone, keeping her arms crossed as they walked. “Next time, I’ll give you a lesson on how to bullshit since you’re not very good at it yet.” 

Once they arrived at the hangar, there were only a few more minutes until the shipment was scheduled to be delivered. Though Una didn’t know what to expect, she had to admit she was a bit nervous. Prior to the run-in with the bounty hunter weeks ago, she’d only ever fought another girl for stealing her makeup. And now, she was potentially going to be at odds with pirates. If only the twins could see her now. 

“By the way, genius, are ya gonna give me your blaster or what?” she muttered. 

       Camiss scoffed. “I can bullshit just fine,” he said as they entered the hanger. “And we don’t have time to worry about that. We have to take off soon so we can follow the ship as it makes its way here. And as for that blaster, the only one you’ll need is attached to our ship.”

       A guard came up to them not long after they arrived. He told them where the ship would be coming in from, and that they would would be joined by four Rodian ships. That should be plenty to help. After they spoke, Camiss led Una back to their ship so they could take off.

“The food shipments?” Senator Farr echoed, confused. “The council has not informed me that the Jedi are willing to help. My understanding was that the Jedi are not able to help neutral planets in the war.” 

Una licked her lips, standing beside Camiss as the two conversed. This was all a little too official for her, and she had to admit she was a little bit intimidated by the Senator in front of her. 

“I’m going to contact Master Windu and see if this has been approved.”

       Camiss had to quickly stop this. “That won’t be necessary,” he said, stepping forward to grab even more of his attention. “I was sent to inform you this was happening as well as do it. The Council was too busy to do anything, so they sent me since I wasn’t in battle at the moment.”

       The senator stopped moving after hearing him. He looked suspicious, but the fact that he would be getting help for his people meant that he had to allow it. “Very well,” he said. “The shipment will be coming in soon. I have pilots who can take you where you need to go.”

Una was a little bit nervous given the last landing she made, but with the Jedi hovering by her side, she eased onto the landing pad as gracefully as she could. Her maneuvering was still a bit jarring, but better than crashing. She chuckled, impressed at herself. “That wasn’t so bad.” 

She turned off the ship and stood up, pulling her electric blue leather jacket from the seat and throwing it on. Her brows furrowed. “Republic co-pilot, huh?” she shrugged her shoulders. “Works for me.” 

They head off of the ship and were immediately greeted by some Rodian officers asking them who they were, what they were doing here, and if they had a warrant for their visit. Una stayed quiet, looking over at the Jedi in hopes he was quick to think on his feet. 

       They got off the ship and immediately were spoken to by guards. Though Camiss wasn’t ready to talk to guards, he knew how to get this moving along. “I’m from the Jedi Temple, and I wish to speak to your leader,” he said, motioning towards the building. “Or anyone who knows about the situation with the food shipments.”

       After mentioning the food, the guards were quick to lead them into what must’ve been the capital building. It was very tall, with statues of Rodians lining the hallway to the offices. They were lead into the office of a senator, Onaconda Farr.

Una scoffed. “Okay, that might be worse than me trying to dodge bullets,” she said, shaking her head. She glanced over to the windshield and saw Rodia, their destination planet, growing larger and larger as they emerged closer. 

Her worry dissipated into wonder and she couldn’t help but smile a little bit in excitement. “So, it’s this close, huh?” she said, turning back to face the steering wheel and turning off autopilot. “Where exactly should I land this thing?”

       The ship started its descent on its own, but Una was going to have to land it herself. Camiss pointed to a landing pad near what was the capital building. “Right there looks to be fine,” he said, leaning over in case she needed help. “Just slow us down and we should be able to descend nice and gently.”

She listened, tilting her head back as she processed the information. It was easy for Una to tell whenever someone was lying, but unluckily for her, the Jedi didn’t seem to have a tell. Maybe it was in their training to know how to deceive. But if she wanted to get paid, she knew that she needed to trust– and if she needed to trust, she’d have to listen to him, even if she was still uncertain about the situation. 

“Fine,” she said, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest, and crossing her legs. “Say we do piss off the pirates and they want to kill us. You expect me to be able to shoot a blaster, and pilot my way out of gunfire?” she asked, lifting a brow at him. 

       Camiss could tell that Una didn’t fully trust him or understand, but he didn’t need her to. He just needed her to help. He had hoped, however, that at this point she would trust him, but since he couldn’t fully trust her yet, he had no room to judge.

Una saw the way he clutched onto the handle and became hyper-aware of her steering as they zoomed out of Coruscant’s atmosphere and into outer space. Her driving became a little smoother, maybe because there were no other hazards in traffic. She looked around the dashboard for a second before finding a button labeled ‘AUTOPILOT.’ She pressed it, the speeder halting with a sudden jolt, before it rode smoothly again and she could turn in her seat to look at Camiss. 

“Look,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’m no good girl. Trust me. But I’m not an idiot. I know when I’m about to step in shit just by the smell of it. And this– this smells rotten.” She leaned forward, narrowing her eyes at him. “I need to know every detail. What we’re going to do there, who we’re going to be talking to, and why the Jedi don’t want you out here doing this kind of mission.”

       Camiss leaned back, ready to explain. This mission wasn’t supposed to be the most dangerous, but Una, like many others, feared the Jedi because of the way they were being talked about. He knew they weren’t dangerous, but Una wouldn’t.

Una nearly swerved into the other lane of flight traffic when she heard the Jedi had gone rogue for this mission. She glanced at him incredulously. “What?!” she exclaimed, not even bothering to answer his question. “You– you didn’t tell the other Jedi about this?!” 

She would have turned around and head back home if she knew how to maneuver the speeder that way. Lucky for him, she only knew how to go straight. “I can’t believe you. How am I supposed to believe I won’t get in trouble for this?” she asked. “I better get some hazard pay for this or something. Camiss, I really can’t get arrested.” 

As reckless as she was, she did bad on her own, and never had a partner. That way, if she ever got caught for anything she did, the blame would fall on her and her only. With a Jedi by her side– a rebellious one at that– she couldn’t guarantee protection from the blame, no matter how good Camiss seemed. 

       Camiss tried to remain calm, but struggled as Una kept steering them into the other lane. He knew the risks of doing this, and they were pretty big for such a small thing, but he thought Una would enjoy that. She didn’t exactly live her life by the rules, anyway. He just needed to convince her that what they were doing was right, however he could.

She watched as he set up the GPS until the direction popped up on the screen. With a snicker, she responded, “You must be super desperate calling on some stripper to help you do your dirty work.” She quickly glanced at the dashboard, having did a little bit of practice and research since she last flew, on borrowed ships of course. 

Smoothly, she set course for Rodia, elevating the ship to start heading away from Coruscant. She glanced over at Camiss. “But I mean, really,” she said. “Am I even allowed to do this? Like, you have to promise I won’t get arrested for interfering with Jedi business. Don’t you have a partner or something?”

       “This isn’t Jedi business,” he said, focusing on the flight to make sure nothing went wrong. “They chose to not take part in this. This is an independent mission that I’m running with you. The Jedi may not like that this happens, but I promise that you won’t be the one they get upset with.”

       Camiss had to hope that the Rodians wouldn’t say anything to the Jedi or senate about what they do. He could get in big trouble for going against the council, something he had never done before. But, it was worth the risk to him.

Una raised a brow at him, gauging his honesty, and figuring she should trust him for now. She reached a hand out for him to shake and seal the deal. “Fine,” she agreed, tilting her chin up. “Just know I’ll be charging extra if the situation gets deadly.” 

She let him lead the way to his ship. Once they were close to it, she tugged her boots on, flashing him a wicked smile. “You know, it was really nice of you to sweeten the deal by letting me fly,” she said, stepping in the pilot’s side. “But I hope you don’t regret it this time. Set up the GPS?”

       He was going to let Una fly, but he wasn’t going to let her do ALL of the flying. He was going to let her make the trip to Rodia, but when it came to flying with the transport, he needed to have himself piloting to make sure everything went right.

Una tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at him. Damn it. She should’ve asked if there was money involved before agreeing to do so. She crossed her arms over her chest, boots dangling in her hand as she stood away from his speeder. 

“All that, for free?” she said, lifting her brows. She chuckled, shaking her head. “No can do, cowboy. I only work if I get paid. I can’t really afford to volunteer.” 

It sounded bad, but rent was due in a couple of days, and she needed to look out for herself. Camiss hardly did that, always in the interest of helping others. That was fine, but that would be his own vice– not hers. 

       Camiss couldn’t really do this on his own, and he had no one else. His only option now was to pay her, even if that meant “borrowing” some of the Council’s money to do so. He could try and use mind tricks to make her do it, but that was against his morals. Paying her had worked once before, so he was going to have to do it again.

Her ears perked up. “You’re serious?” She had to double check, despite the Jedi never having lied to her before. She bit her bottom lip and glanced over her shoulder, watching for a second as Pyn recruited Riten’s help in lugging the piles of clothes into their bedroom. 

“Uhhh…” she stammered, then looked back at Camiss. “Gimme a mo’.”

She slammed the door in his face, though not on purpose, more in a hasty manner. She quickly grabbed whatever piles of clothes were left and put them in their respective bedrooms. In Una’s bedroom, Haisha had fallen asleep. She was doing better these days, but spending a lot of her time in bed. 

She took the few moments she had in there to change out of her pajamas and into a pair of pants and a plain t-shirt, grabbing her jacket before heading back out to the living room. 

“Pyn, Riten,” she said, “I’m gonna need you two to be on your best behavior. Somethin’ came up at the bar and I need to take care of it. Might be gone for a day or so. Take this,” she said, pulling out a little chip she’d bought recently, “and press the button if you need me. It’ll let us talk. But only do it for emergencies, okay?” 

She had bought the chip with the locket that hung around her neck just a few days ago. “Be back soon. Love you.” 

A few moments later, she got out of her house and threw her jacket over her shoulders, holding her combat boots– which she didn’t have time to put on– in her hands. “I’m down, but I better be getting paid.” 

       Camiss wasn’t expecting the door to be slammed in his face, but she got back quicker than he could be upset. He knew she’d be willing to go. The problem was, however, there wasn’t payment involved. He assumed some freedom was all that she would need in return.

Life went on as it did after Una’s last encounter with the Jedi. She wasn’t expecting anything to come out of their date after she’d dropped him home that night. There was no way to keep in touch with him, so she didn’t– he’d drop by her place or stumble upon her if he needed to say something, and perhaps she’d do the same. She felt strangely connected to Camiss, but their lives were too different and too chaotic to pursue anything. 

And, besides, Jedi weren’t allowed to have attachments. 

At home on a weekend, Una sat on the living room floor folding laundry alongside Pyn. As she folded, she couldn’t kick the Jedi from her mind. She wondered if he had some force ability to stick to her brain, and cursed him for it if he did. 

Pyn, though too young to notice when someone had a crush, noticed when her big sister was off. “Everythin’ okay, Una?” she asked. 

Una took a second to answer, visibly frustrated as her brows furrowed. “Huh?” she asked. 

“You’re makin’ a face.” 

Una relaxed her features and chuckled. “Yeah, silly, I’m fine. Just… thinking.” 

She stood up, having finished folding the laundry, and picked up one of her many piles. Just as she was about to head to the twins’ bedroom, someone knocked on the door. “Here,” she said, transferring the pile to Pyn. “Take these to your brother’s drawer.”

She head to the door, clad in nothing but a loose t-shirt and pajama shorts on her day off, and opened it. Seeing Camiss, the very subject which had poisoned her thoughts lately, confused her. “What?” she asked. She kept the slit of her door rather narrow, not wanting him to see the inside of her home. 

“What’s going on? I can’t just leave, you know that.” 

       Camiss had no one else to turn to. Sure, Una wasn’t a great shot, nor a great pilot, but she didn’t have to follow orders from the senate. Besides, he was pretty sure that she would be willing to help, given that she wanted to get off this planet, even if it was for only a little bit.