Saga - Legends "I love to hate you" (Krennic & Kallus one-shoot, fun)

Title: “I love to hate you”, an Orson Krennic one-shoot

Author: AzureAngel2

Co-Author and editor:@DarthUncle

Main beta editor: @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

Length: one-shoot

Summary: Friendship and camaraderie among Imperial officers is not always easy. It is always tough work. Like any relationship really. Director Krennic and Agent Kallus are basically at each others throats.

Time frame: The story takes place in 14 BBY.

Planet of choice: Eriadu

Reader warning: Please excuse my weird English! I am German. English is only my Second language!

Disclaimer: SW is owned by George Lucas, Lucas Ltd. and now The Walt Disney Company


I got it bad.
You don't know how bad I got it.
You got it easy.
You don't know when you got it good.
It's getting harder,
Just keeping life and soul together.
I'm sick of fighting
Even though I know I should.
The cold is biting
Through each and every nerve and fibre.
My broken spirit is frozen to the core.
I don't want to be here no more.

Wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes?
Even if it was for just one day.
And wouldn't it be good if we could wish ourselves away?
Wouldn't it be good to be on your side?
The grass is always greener over there.
Wouldn't it be good if we could live without a care?

You must be joking,
You don't know a thing about it.
You've got no problems.
I'd stay right there if I were you.
I got it harder.
You couldn't dream how hard I got it.
Stay out of my shoes
If you know what's good for you.
The heat is stifling,
Burning me up from the inside.
The sweat is coming through each and every pore.
I don't want to be here no more.
I don't want to be here no more.
I don't want to be here no more.

Wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes?
Even if it was for just one day.
And wouldn't it be good if we could wish ourselves away?
Wouldn't it be good to be on your side?
The grass is always greener over there.
Wouldn't it be good if we could live without a care?

I got it bad.
You don't know how bad I got it.
You got it easy.
You don't know when you got it good.
It's getting harder,
Just keeping life and soul together.
I'm sick of fighting
Even though I know I should.


His ISB combat helmet lies on my desk. Next to his feet that are actually right on my construction plans and sketches. At least his black military boots are clean. Otherwise he already would have found out why my DT-29 is custom-fitted.

“Hand-drawn. In an age of computers and technological miracles,” Alexsandr mocks me. “This is so typical you.”

I cross my arms in front of my chest. The rains of Eriadu keep from my wet uniform on to the office floor.

“You should not leave those lying around like this. It would be all too easy for anybody to walk in here and steal something.”

Instead of taking off my cap off, I pull it deeper into my face. “Because Ina taught me to always be polite with a visitor, I won’t ask how you got in, Alexsandr.”

“Visitors always have presents for their hosts. I have no flowers with me,” he answers with biting derision.

“So you either have a warrant for me,” I consider. “Or a bunch of dumb questions that I really do not have time to answer.”

He surges to his feet, his face scarlet. “You have betrayed our Emperor!” he spits and I can see his saliva flying through the air.

“Now comes the part where you will tell me that I am part of some rebellious organization and a traitor.” I decide to play it cool. Damage control works best this way. “Are you prepared to go all the way?”

His punch sweeps me off my feet. But he does not stop there. He continues to kick me into my ribs. I feel one of them break.

“What I will do to you is a lot less bad than what my mentor will be prepared to do.”

Despite the pain I start to laugh. As if I would fear Yularen. It is somebody else I am very afraid of.

“Stop that!” Alexsandr is irritated and that makes him even more dangerous than he already is. “She has been dead for almost 5 years. And you still act like some crazy person.”

I force myself to get up, holding my left side.

“You blew up the top of Citadel tower!” he accuses me.

“The data files were never in danger. I can calculate explosions, you know.” Now I am truly mad with him. “I am a frecking engineer.”

He rolls his eyes at me. “You are an over-promoted technician, nothing more. That cape of yours is ridiculous. ”

I have too many other things on my mind to let his insults get at me. “I simply dress for the job I really want.”

“You should have read more comic books in your childhood,” he challenges me. “Bad things can happen to guys with a cape.”

“Comic books, Alex?” I raise a brow. “Really? Did you read spy novels as well? That might explain a lot.”

We stand so close to each other that our noses almost touch.

“Listen very carefully now, Orson! You have trouble to control your temper. And playing politics was never your thing. That is why Tarkin will always be ahead of you.”

I yawn. “Are you finished now. I have work to do.”

“You don’t.” He shakes his head slowly. “Not before you explain to me what has happened on Scarif last week. And personally, I don’t care how I’ll get this information out of you.”

He actually cares enough that he is prepared to listen, but do I want him to? Is there a point to telling him what I know? Having many people around who cared for her did not help the original Ina to survive.

My com goes on and before I can hinder Alexsandr it is taken from me.

“Yes?” he barks, putting the earpiece in.

I pray that it is not the youth office. The caller might think that Alexsandr and I are lovers. Then I might forget about the adoption altogether. By instinct, my fingers move to my blaster.

He frowns deeply. “No, I am Agent Kallus. But he is with me, Miss. We were right in a meeting. Hold on, please!”

Looking at me with hooded eyes, I am given back my com. “Orson Krennic speaking,” I breathe.

“Sir, this is Bethany Hart. You have spoken with my boss before. Miss Sexton is willing to take your case to the next level.”

“The Home Study?” I wonder, my mouth strangely dry.

“No, sir. She asks you to file the adoption petition straight away. It would be in the best interest of Dolly if her life normalizes as soon as possible.”

I cringe. That horrible name is the first thing that has to go. It should be Cassandra. That had been Ina’s second name. Plus I can shorten it to Cassie when I want to endear her.

“I do not want to wake false hopes in you, but what actually speaks for your proposal is the fact that the girl has been asking for you non-stop.”

“Really?” I gulp. “What did she say?”

“Just one word. She repeats it constantly.”

I hold my breath. It could be anything from “Monster” to “Traitor”.

“She wipers Daddy.”

I close my eyes, deeply touched. So she was able to bond with me. Perhaps already back at the tower. This is definitely good news.

Alexsandr paces about like a Garral. Even his features remind me of those wolf like creatures.

“Is there anything more that I can do?”

I want to be helpful to speed matters up. With any luck the adoption hearing and order is within reach. Apart from the control of the battle station, once it is finished, I never wanted anything so badly. I want to do it in a fully legal process though. One heist is enough for the rest of my life. I have at least a dozen grey hairs by now.

“File the document by tomorrow and stay put,” Miss Hart advices me. “We will get back in touch with you.”

Before I can reply anything intelligent, she cuts the connection.

I have Alexsandr’s hands around my throat in no time. He is very abusive today.

“An adoption? You want to adopt a child?”

“I certainly wasn’t going for a Corellian dog,” I get out and despite the pain that it gives me, I use a quick combination of Krav Maga movements to get myself free.

“Are we talking about Jyn Erso?”

I laugh at him. “I just said I am not an animal lover.”

Confusion and anger give his face an interesting colour that is in strong contrast with his strawberry-blond hair. “What is going on here?”

“Tsk, you cannot be such a super agent if you still do not get it.” Now it is my turn to roll my eyes at him. “There is but one person in the universe that would make me destroy the fruits of my labour willingly.”

Pity is in his gaze. “Orson, Nagina is dead. Try to face that.”

His claim triggers the truth to erupt from my mouth. “He had her cloned straight away.”

Alexsandr looks like a man who just ate something ate something very disgusting. “You can’t be serious.”

I hold up my hands in defence, a surge of pain going through my ribs once more. “It was around the 1st Empire’s Day ever that I found out about it. Initially, I was sceptical, too. But once I started investigating...”

“Stop it, right there!”

He is ready to storm out of my office, but I will not let him go now. Not like this. He has to hear me out.

Electrical sparks fly through the air, where the opening mechanism of the door just had been. The sprinkler goes on and the alarm sounds.

With a stiff back Alexsandr turns around. “You are truly out of your mind. Let me get a military doctor. You work too hard and too much of late.”

“Would I risk everything everything that I have built up in my career for a delusion?” I yell. “Would I?”

His eyes harden again. “I don’t know what you believe to have seen in this tower...”

I grip my weapon again and this time, I shoot a laser beam straight into the ceiling. “There is a little girl under surveillance in the Main Hospital. Official channels would tell you that she is the daughter of a spice-addicted mother. That I saved her life by doing so. But the truth is, the child comes from a secret chamber of the Citadel Tower.”

Unimpressed, Alexsandr remains next to the door. “When it was secret, how did you find it?”

“Because I was the bloody architect and I found out that the old man...”

“The Emperor,” he corrects me.

“Lied to me,” I move on. “That was never a medical chamber with a bacta tank at its centre. Instead, he had put one of those cursed clone cylinders in. And inside he grew himself a second Ina. As if anything could replace her.”

I get a direct call from my anxious secretary.

“Sir, are you alright?” he wants to know via the intercom.

“Agent Kallus and I are a bit under the weather,” I snarl. “Turn that frecking fire sprinkler off! We are getting a cold here.”

“But, sir!” Jack Mills protests.

“All is fine,” cuts Alexander in. “The director’s blaster had a malfunction.”

The drizzle rain stops immediately.

“I think you were overreacting here, Orson.”

“Who is the greater drama queen?” I counter. “Listen, I did not necessarily become a Jedi hugger now but some facts about the Force are true. And the clone that I rescued from it’s goldfish bowl is such a fact. Necromancy, perhaps. Messing around with Midi-chlorians, I have no idea. But I have seen portraits of Ina as a very young child. It is her.”

Alexsandr wipes the water from his face. “You should have contacted me about that sooner. Discretion usually not neither your first nor your second name.”

We stare at each other.

“I owe Mistress Samye a life, too,” he moves on. “If you manage to act less like a rathar in future then the two of us can make things right this time.”

“No Imperial court,” I suggest.

“Home schooling instead of a public education,” he throws in.

“Hey, the adoption is not through yet,” I give to consider.

“Miss Sexton seems to have approved of you, which is a good thing. At times, you do not behave like a real jerk and bad ass.” He winks at me. “Then you act like the genius you believe to be.”

“If you tell me now that you love me, then I blow a hole straight in your head, Alex.”

He makes a face. “I’d rather kiss a Lasat.”

I grunt. “You have strange tastes.”

“Says the man in white with the flamboyant cape.”

“Can we get out of here?” I complain.

The last thing that I want is a nasty cold or, even worse, an electro shock. Ina’s clone copy needs me around. As a protector.

“What about your sketches and construction drawings?” wonders Alexsandr.

“Do you believe me stupid enough not to have made copies that I keep elsewhere?” I ask, sharpness swinging in my voice.

“You are like a true outer rim simpleton at times.” He flashes me a brazen smile. “Getting overexcited in the big city.”

“Are you in such a desperate need for a third nose hole?” I reply.

“I’d rather take you to the hospital,” he suggests. When I am already about to thank him, he adds, “I want to see the girl.”


Sources:
The song “Wouldn't It Be Good” by Nik Kershaw (1984)
Wookieepedia – The Star Wars Wiki
Jedipedia, a free German Star Wars-Encyclopaedia

 

That was a lot of fun, reading this bromance! And some hard,harsh truths spoken. Plus seeds of treason planted. I hope Orson's ribs will be okay.

Will we see/read more of the two men and a little lady?

 

I am always up for a bit of snark, no more like a lot of it! You can tell Orson really cares about Cassandra. Yeah that is a better name than Dolly, with all the associations with Delila.

 

@DarthUncle: Thanks for finding the time to post a comment and to correct all the mistakes that you have found by reading along. I did not realize that it were so many this time.


@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: Thanks for putting up with bad grammar & writing mistakes all the time. And always being so kind. Well, I am grateful that there is always feedback from my husband & you.

But I honestly do not know if I can write on. I will try to, but I do not want to promise anything that I cannot keep.