Reunion (#3 Post-Order 66 Series)

Reunion - Part 11

"You kept this," she said softly, and he rolled onto his side, gently taking it from her hands.

"Thought it might bring me luck. Used to have it on a chain I wore around my neck, but that broke a few months back. Just carried it with me since then."

She rolled to face him. "Did it bring you luck?"

He smirked at her. "You're here, aren't you?"

Senna leaned forward, grazing her nose against his. "I suppose I am."

Rex slipped his fingers around the back of her neck gently, cradling her head as he pulled her lips to his. "Then I'd argue that makes me the luckiest man in the galaxy."

"Maker, you're cheesy," she muttered against his lips.

"But you love me."

"That I do."

---

Senna found Gungi out on the central platform, fiddling with a power coupling, seemingly frustrated. She sat next to him, setting her datapad near her leg for translations as she leaned forward. "What have you got there?"

<<This power coupler isn't working. Not sure if there's a short or some other issue.>>

"May I?" she asked, extending her hands. Gungi glanced at her before heaving a deeply defeated sigh and surrendering the hardware. Senna gave him a small smile before she began turning it over in her hands, examining the connection ports. "Will it not connect at all, or is the signal intermittent?"

<<It'll blink on for a moment or two and then go dead. Do you know what's causing it?>>

"Hmmm...I have a thought. Can I borrow that screwdriver?" Gungi passed her the small screwdriver, and Senna placed the power coupler in between them. "Good, now shine that light on the positive connection port." Gungi obeyed, focusing the light on the connector pins. Senna carefully poked and prodded at the pins before finding what she was looking for. "Alright, see how this pin doesn't give at all when I press on it?" Gungi nodded. "Now look at this one." She poked at the pin next to it, and it wiggled lower into the housing, loosely moving away from the screwdriver. "Just a loose pin. It's getting pushed away from the power source when you mate the cable to it. Should be easy enough to replace, and I'll bet that fixes it."

The young Wookiee roared a quiet thanks before setting the power coupling down, silently fidgeting with his large paws. Senna could feel the unrest rolling off of him. "What is it, Gungi?"

His large brown eyes met hers, and he shrugged. He's still just a teenager, she thought. But he carries so much weight. Finally, he spoke.

<<I feel as though I should go with you. That I'm letting everyone down by not going.>>

"Who would you be letting down?" Senna asked gently.

<<You. The Jedi. All of my friends who were killed. Master Secura.>>

Senna reached out her hand and took one of Gungi's massive paws. "Choosing a path other than being a Jedi is not betraying their memories, Gungi. I didn't know your master as well as I would have liked, but I believe Aayla would have wanted you to choose your own way, especially now when so much is at risk." She gestured around them. "Choosing your family is not wrong. And I am not here to tell you that the only way is the Jedi way. I myself have strayed from that path since the fall of the Republic." He glanced up at her at that and she shrugged. "Survival necessitated certain choices."

<<Do you regret any of those choices?>>

She considered her reply carefully. "I don't regret them. They were the correct ones for me in the moment, even if they didn't work out as I had planned. And whatever you decide to do, as long as you are doing it with the best of intentions and with a pure heart, it is the right choice." She tapped his chest. "You have all of the guidance of your masters and your peers. You were chosen as a Padawan because Aayla believed you were ready to start making decisions such as the one you now face. I trust in you, as she did. And if your place is here with your family, then you aren't letting a single soul in this galaxy down. She would tell you the same thing."