Reunion (#3 Post-Order 66 Series)

Reunion - Part 6

When Rex awoke, Senna wasn't in bed with him. Quickly, he dressed, making his way downstairs, half afraid he'd find her gone after the moment from the night before. He felt a slight rush of relief when he spotted her perched at the bar, datapad in hand as Cid watched her from the seat next to her, her face resting on one of her clawed hands.

"How long is this gonna take, Blue Eyes?"

"Give me a few, Cid. I haven't exactly done this before."

"Should I call Goggles? Maybe he can tell you how it's done."

Senna shot her a glare that would have melted any other being in the galaxy into a puddle, but Cid just rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying, he talks a lot, but the guy gets it done."

"I'll get it done," Senna grumbled, punching away at the keys on her datapad with a little more aggression than was warranted. Rex struggled to hide the grin threatening to overwhelm him. Still competing with Tech and he's not even here.

"What are you smiling at, Blondie?"

Rex felt heat creep up the back of his neck as Senna whirled to see him standing awkwardly at the base of the steps. "Nothing," he muttered, striding over. Senna averted her gaze, going back to tinkering with the datapad and the disks. Rex watched her for a few moments before turning to Cid. "Were you able to get any information for us?"

"Yeah. The information is that your friend is buried under about ten layers of classification."

"That's it?" Rex asked incredulously. "That's all you could find?"

"Relax, Blondie. Sometimes the devil's in the details." Cid punched a few buttons on her own datapad, extending it towards Rex. "The fact that my sources can't find him is a clue. He's probably been taken to a classified Imperial base. The Imperials have several levels of classification, and I normally can get access to the lower tiers. For this guy to be impossible to find, he's got to be on one of the upper tier classified bases. There are only a handful of those."

"Do you have locations on any of them?"

"No, few do. That's why they're classified. Like I said, it narrows your search to a handful of places."

Rex scrubbed his hands over his face in exasperation. "It doesn't matter if it's a handful or a hundred if we can't find the location of any of them, Cid."

"I did what I could. I don't know what you want me to tell you. Also, if Blue Eyes gets these disks flashed, I'll consider us square on the info and for the room and board."

Rex paused to look at Cid. That's awfully nice of her. "What's the catch, Cid?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

The Trandoshan scoffed and shrugged. "The ten disks were more than I could have hoped for, and," she said, stepping closer and lowering her voice, "I know how much it means to you to find this other clone. So perhaps, it's your lucky day and you shouldn't look this gift fathier in the mouth, Blondie."

Rex didn't know what to say to that, so he extended his hand. "Thank you, Cid. That means a lot."

She glanced down at his outstretched hand before nudging past him towards her back office. "Yeah, yeah, let me know when you've got the disks programmed."

Rex watched her hunched form recede into the darkness of the back of the establishment before he took a deep breath and slid into the seat next to Senna. "Sounds like we've got about as much out of this place as we can." His chest felt tight with the realization that this might be where they part ways. Why would she stay? I'm of no further use to her, and she doesn't have any other leads. I'm sure there are other ways she could find that base besides Wolffe. Other people will know where it's at.