A Second Chance

Shortly after the rescue of the Redeemer…
Kass Novan dug up the soil and set the small plant down in its hole before covering it up again. She looked across at the grey-haired man kneeling in the dirt. His smooth-skinned hands were flecked with fresh cuts from thorns and stray twigs lurking in the ground.

“That’s not deep enough,” she said, scooping more soil from the ground with her trowel. “The roots won’t take.”

Senator Josia Crey nodded and placed the plant where she instructed before patting the soil down. “Thank you. Where did you learn to do this?”

“It was a hobby back on Anoat. I had a herb garden, and a small greenhouse on our terrace.” She took off her wide-brimmed hat and wiped sweat from her brow. “I never thought I’d be planting anything on this scale.”

“We can’t live on ration packs, though,” Crey said.

“And I never thought I’d see a senator getting his hands dirty like this.”

“My hands were already dirty,” he said, not looking up from his work. “They might as well get dirty for something good.”

Kass winced. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring that up.”

Crey shook his head. “It’s all right. At least you’ll speak to me. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.”

“You did what you had to, to keep your family safe,” Kass said, staring out at Carrie, her daughter, playing with Lee and the other children. “I know what that’s like; I just had different options than you did.” She sighed and her gaze fell. “Good people died, regardless.”

“So you’re saying there’s no good choices?”

She shook her head. “I’m saying we can’t let our mistakes define us. All we can do is look at our options, weight the odds, and make a choice. For better or worse.”

Crey nodded. “Before this my biggest choices were about budget negotiations and tax plans. I could have run. I’ve got… I had the money to get my family somewhere safe.”

“Kyle and Cadren will get them off of Ghorman. Those people have… a talent for that kind off thing.”

“Yes,” Crey said. His brow furrowed.

Kass raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” He started planting another sapling.

Kass saw his gaze turn vacant. “You’re not going with them, are you?”

He didn’t say anything.

“By the Force, you are!”

He threw down his trowel. “There’s a growing anti-Imperial movement on Ghorman. I have allies there. I can help them get planetside and move around once they’re there.”

“You don’t know the kind of danger you’ll be putting yourself in.”

“Yes I do!” he said, standing to pace in a circle. He ran his soil-encrusted hands through his hair and rubbed his face. “I do.”

Kass stood slowly. “You could get hurt, or killed.”

He nodded and looked at the ground, before his eyes raised to meet hers. “You’ve done the same for your daughter, right?”

“Yes,” she said with a sigh.

“The rebels don’t owe me anything. If I can do something, anything, to deserve this,” he gestured at the rudimentary farm and encampment surrounding them, “then I owe it to them.”

“Okay,” Kass said. “Well, let’s get back to work. I want to get as much done as I can before I’m down a worker for a while.”

Crey smiled and nodded, and the pair sat to continue planting crops.