Worth: A Star Wars Story

13. The Calm Before the Storm

-21 BBY, Nine Months Following the Battle of Geonosis-

"Sir, without evidence, the only thing we can do is take down a report..." I was ready to start yanking my hair out. The day was starting out like just about any other. We had to respond to some call about a potential serial speeder-jacking incident, and the Aqualish that we were trying to work with wasn't thrilled that we couldn't just materialize his car abck into existence. With the Coruscant Security Force focused mostly on making sure that the lwoer levels were secure, we usually got stuck on police detail on higher levels of the city.

Even us, unfortunately.

The Aqualish was emphatically arguing with me when Tor stepped in and started rattling off jargon as I turned my brain off and felt my stomach growl. Our shift was over the second we got rid of this guy, and I was raedy for breakfast at the first place we saw. Eventually, I tuned back in and saw him throw his ahnds up and storm off. "Good one," I looekd over at Tor, who just shrugged as I held up my wrist comms, "Hey, Fox. We're finally done here. You can send out the next squad."

"That is Commander Fox to you, Captain."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I heard Red mutter as I crcaked my neck and shut my comm off again. "Hey, Cap? Can we go to Seku's joint for breakfast again? We all just got paid, so we're good for it."

"Not that it matters for Kando," Grek elbowed me as he passed. "He gets to eat for free."

"I do not!" I snapped in reply and felt my cheeks redden a bit, once again grateful for the helmet that kept my cut off from the world. Truthfully, I did. I still always paid for my food even if Seku told me that it was on the house. I didn't like taking her hospitality for granted, especially when I was sure that she barely ever took money from Clones. Kriff, for as much as she fed us, I was hoping she was getting a kickback from the Senate for her services. "But, uh... Yeah, let's go. You coming Tor?"

"Of course," Tor sounded almost offended. Still, I had to check. He was starting to dip out from time to time. I wasn't sure where he was going or what he was doing, but him and a small handful of other guards apparently had a hobby outside of what we all usually did. Trust me, it was suspicious if you knew Tor. Tor had no hobbies, no friends - just his job. Or so I thought. If he was skipping our communal lunches to actually have fun, I was going to be summarily surprised.

We caught one of the speeders and took it across the sector to a small diner that Seku had opened up. She had bought herself the entire building recently, meaning she had three or so floors to work with. They weren't large, but with her ingenuity and apparently a little paper expediting from Talen, she got her stuff somewhat quickly and got herself some secondhand serving droids to boot. Her place was always packed, and her and the other twi'leks who helped her run the place always took care of us. When we got off, I caught Tor looking across the street at a shop I hadn't ever noticed before. What surprised me was the number of Padawans I saw go inside.

"Tor, what even is that?" I asked as Red and Grek went ahead to get us a table.

"Oh, uh, it's a... a hobby shop?" Tor turned to me and said that word like he was asking me a question.

"And?"

He looked around before leaning in close, "Don't say a karking word to anyone about this, but I'm part of the Coruscanti Carnage team for the Coruscant Lothverse TCG league, alright?"

I stared at him for a long time, unsure of what half of the words that even came out of his mouth meant.

He sighed, "It's a card game based around some kid's holo series, okay? Serious business, lots of rules. I like it." That amde sense. I couldn't see Tor getting so excited over a series of games  that was anything less than complicated and rule heavy. "I'm in a team with a few other members of the Guard, and we're scheduled to play one of the top ranked teams in the league in a few days. I'm going to stop in after we eat and pick up a few packs and see if I can convince Padawan Varook to trade with me."