One Month After A New Dawn

Hera Syndulla had never had a partner before, unless she counted Chopper, but she preferred a partner who was a little less generous with the verbal abuse.

And, so far, Kanan Jarrus was as good a partner as she could have hoped for.

It had been a strange adjustment, living with a man aboard a small ship, but she supposed it could have been a whole lot stranger. Getting along with Kanan in close quarters was relatively painless, and it was a nice bonus that he was easy on the eyes. He clearly found her equally pleasant to look at, and if mutual physical appreciation was all there was to it, that would have been just fine. Hera had worked with men she'd found attractive before. She had even gotten involved with one or two- after the job was done, of course- but no one had really ever been able to match her pace.

Kanan was a different story. He was always there when she needed him, and sometimes he was there when she didn't even know that she needed him. His wry wit kept her smiling, even when things were looking really rough. They'd developed a communication style of sarcastic banter that kept their often tedious existence from spiraling into depressing boredom. He was never predictable, and he was always able to keep up with her; sometimes, he even managed to get a step ahead. He had a sharp, agile mind that made him an ideal partner and an even better friend.

His finer qualities made him something of a very nicely-packaged problem for Hera. Luckily, he also had plenty of not-so-great qualities that kept a reasonably sane woman like her at a careful distance. But the truth was, Hera felt inexplicably drawn to Kanan. She didn't know why she trusted him enough to bring him aboard so quickly, either, especially based on what little she knew of his background. His possible Jedi past notwithstanding, he was a hard-drinking drifter with a penchant for disappearing when things get a little too familiar or confining. He regaled her with stories of fights, cantinas, and women (she could have done with less of that last), all of which painted him as the hero. He had made no attempt to hide who he was from her, though, and maybe that was why she trusted him so quickly. She knew there was a lot more to the story, and she figured maybe someday she would eventually get past the bombastic prologue. How many stories about cantinas can one person have, anyway? His supply seemed to be never-ending.

If he really was a Jedi, though, his potential could be almost limitless. All he needed was a purpose to bring out the best in him. And there was no better purpose than putting an end to the evil Empire.

"Unfortunately," she sighed to herself, "there's a little too much work for just the two of us."

She was sitting in the cockpit of the Ghost, which was filled with the brilliant blue light of the hyperspace lane the ship hurtled through. She had just finished setting up a meeting on Lothal with a contact via the HoloNet, and they were en route. She was hoping that the meeting might set up a job, because they were desperately in need of food and fuel. Just keeping things going was often a full-time job, and the hope was always that they could get paid and deal a blow, no matter how small, to the Empire. It didn't always work out quite that way, though.

Her thoughts drifted back to Kanan, as they had been doing more and more frequently as of late. She didn't care for it. When she took him on as crew, she knew he was interested in her for more than her ship and her piloting skills. Hera liked him quite a bit; he was a lot more entertaining than Chopper. More importantly, he'd repeatedly proven himself to be a valuable asset. They made such a great team, in fact, that she'd begun to think of him as her partner (though she had yet to let him in on his status upgrade). But he had no idea that she was an operative for a burgeoning Rebellion in the works, and it had to stay that way, too. Hera had a job to do, regardless of any questionable personal interest in Kanan, and she was far too busy to be bothered with his romantic swaggering nonsense.

Right on cue, the swaggering nonsense came through the doors at her back and deposited himself in the co-pilot chair. She could tell that he was bored, and that usually meant that he was planning on annoying her while she was trying to work.

Might as well nip this in the bud, she thought. "Did you run the diagnostics on the Phantom?" she asked, picking up her recently abandoned datapad. It was best to look busy when dealing with a bored Kanan.

"Oh, sure. Hours ago. Hey, did I tell you about the night I got into a fight with a Wookiee at the Asteroid Belt? Surprised I survived to tell the tale. There I was, minding my own business-"

"I doubt that very much," Hera broke in. "Did you help Chop with the hyperdrive motivator?"

Kanan frowned for a moment. Hera suspected that he was used to women hanging on his every word, and she thoroughly enjoyed irritating him by doing just the opposite.

"Just finished. Hey. I just realized that I've never asked you how old you are," Kanan said, a note of genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Eighteen," Hera replied. Age had never mattered very much to her; living under the yoke of the Empire made everyone seem older than they really were, anyway.

His eyes widened. "You're only eighteen? I thought you were older than that. You're not like any eighteen-year-old girl I've ever met."

Hera swiveled in her chair to get a better look at him. "And I'm sure you've met a few. Why? How old are you?"

"Twenty-two," he said. "Can't you tell that I'm an older Man of the Galaxy? A force to be reckoned with? I can't help it if eighteen-year-old girls are always trying to fly away with me in their starships."

She snorted. "More like a pain to be reckoned with."

"You're funny, Syndulla. You're the whole package, really. Great pilot, funny, gorgeous...I should be the one paying you. Speaking of that..."

"You get paid when I get paid," she said loftily. "I'm meeting one of my contacts on Lothal, and I'm hoping there's some good intel for us."

Kanan rubbed his callused hands together. "And some good credits, I hope. But Lothal? I like Old Jho's Pit Stop, but it's just about the most boring Outer Rim planet there is. And that's saying something."

Hera shrugged. "It's a good place to lie low. I'm sure you can find some trouble to get yourself into."

"Maybe. Where there's a bottle and a sabaac game, there's a way."

Hera rolled her eyes.

Kanan managed to stay quiet for all of two seconds. "So...tell me about your childhood. What was it like growing up on Ryloth? Any boyfriends? Girlfriends? I'm especially interested in hearing about girlfriends."

"Has anyone ever told you that you ask a lot of questions?" Hera asked, exasperated.

His expression became guarded and tight with repressed emotion. It took him a long moment to answer. "Yeah. I've heard that before," he said, in a low tone with an edge to it.

Hera paused. Her question had obviously hit a raw spot deep in Kanan Jarrus's heart, and she was instantly curious to know the meaning of it. But something told her not to ask.

"Ryloth," she said, trying to sound breezy. "Well, you know, it's full of Twi'leks. That sort of thing."

The pained expression vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Has anyone ever told you that you're terrible at giving answers?" Kanan asked her, cocking an eyebrow.

"Actually," she said, "Yes. But it makes me excellent at keeping secrets."

"What if a guy wants to get to know you better, though?" Kanan asked.

"Depends on the guy. What guy?"

"Maybe this one." His gaze was getting a little too intense.

"You? I don't date crew members," Hera said, only half joking.

Mock hurt (and maybe a little bit of real hurt) filled Kanan's face. "Who said anything about dating? I mean, I'm not opposed to it. But that's not why I want to get to know you."

"Sure," Hera laughed.

"I'm serious," he said. And his tone did actually sound slightly more serious. "I took this job because I like you, Hera. But you don't give me a lot to work with."

She sighed. "Honestly, Kanan...there's not that much to tell. At least, not much that isn't depressing. I left a couple of years ago, and my father wasn't happy about that. We haven't spoken since. My mother is dead. See? It's depressing."

His face was contemplative as he looked at her. "I guess we all have depressing stories, these days."

Hera nodded. The nav computer beeped, notifying them that they were approaching Lothal. Hera took the Ghost off autopilot and dropped them out of hyperspace. The green-and-blue orb of Lothal floated among the stars in front of them.

"Well," she said, "I hope we can find some work to do down there that'll hurt the Empire. That should cheer us up a bit."

Kanan grinned. "You got that right, Captain."