Ghosts in the Holonet

[Kes Akiena]

It was confirmation enough, and Kes felt his entire body grow rigid. He knew. Somehow... he knew.

The how of it eluded him, but there would be time in the future to delve into that question.

"Your dedication to the station is noted, Chief."

A moment later, and without giving Anauri a chance to respond, the redhead shifted his eyes to the rest of those in the room.

"If anyone else has anything to add?"

There was no answer, with a few heads even giving a shake to the negative.

"Very good then. You're all dismissed."

In the midst of departing bodies, Kes lifted a hand, a single finger extended upwards.

"Chief, stay, if you would," all fingers opened then, in a gesture that was easy enough to understand, "... may I see your datapad?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri knew that Kes knew, and that glimmer of a smile returned, pulling at some of the wrinkles beneath his fur. As the rest of the command staff filed out, Anauri hesitated, as asked, and tapped a tab on his datapad which had not made it into his presentation.

"Naturally, sir," he replied, stepping forward. "I did have a bit more a multimedia component to share, but as I'm not as good at this whole song-and-dance as some others are, I figured I'd... leave that to the professionals."

With that, he flipped his datapad over and extended it to Kes, unable to hide his smile any longer, due to what was now on the open tab.

[Kes Akiena]

And there it was. A Kes from a lifetime ago. A Kes that hadn't yet joined the Rebellion. A Kes that never once thought his older self would be watching the product of a young man desperate for school funding.