You know the drill, this is where I deny any nefarious scheme to claim these characters as my own(only because Force Persuade isn't real), and insist they belong to LucasArts and Bioware/Obsidian, except for the exact nature of Revan and the Exile, and Brynna and Aryah.
What I've Been Up To
"How much longer?" Brynna Onasi danced impatiently at her father's side as she repeated her favorite refrain for the fifteenth time.
"Only a few more minutes, Bryn," Carth assured her, putting an arm around his daughter's shoulders. "The shuttle was delayed by a lightning storm leaving Korriban. She'll be here any minute." Oh, the impatience that reared its head in his chest as he said those words. Nine years of waiting, and these last few minutes separating him from his wife seemed to be taking an eternity of their own.
"And knowing her," Mission chimed in, "she'll be the first one down that ramp, and she'll bury herself in one of his hugs." She poked Carth's shoulder teasingly.
"I'd have to agree with you, though I know she'll be happy to see you, too, Mish." Carth grinned.
"What about me?" Brynna demanded, hands on hips in a spitting-image pose of her mother.
Carth chuckled. "She probably won't want to stop hugging you. And be ready for repeated 'I love you's and 'You're so grown-up's. You were a baby when she left." The announcement system's crackling alert that the shuttle from Korriban was docking cut off Brynna's reply, and all three swung to watch for the woman who meant more to them than the galaxy she'd recently saved.
As Mission predicted, Emi was the first one off the shuttle, charging down the boarding ramp so fast she must have been waiting right by it as the shuttle docked. She slammed into Carth, nearly knocking him over despite the fact he'd been anticipating such a greeting, and buried her face in his chest.
"Hey, Flyboy. Missed you."
Oh, he'd waited so long to hear those words. "Hey, Beautiful. Missed you, too." He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, all too willing to acquiesce when she raised her head for a kiss, deciding to wait till later to ask about the new scar cutting down her cheek. Nine years of pent-up desire and love went into both sides of the kiss as Mission and Brynna exchanged a look and a giggle.
Emi finally--very reluctantly--released her husband and turned to hug her friend. "Hey, Mish. You keep him in line for me?"
"Much as is possible. Republic Admirals must have an aversion to taking advice from teenaged Twi'leks," Mission laughed, returning the hug. "I'm so glad you're back."
Finally, Emi turned to her suddenly shy daughter. "Hey, Sweetheart."
"Hi, Mom." Brynna didn't resist as Emi's hug lifted her off the ground, and instead giggled like a maniac and grinned like a fool. "I love you."
"I love you, too, Bryn. I thought about you, and your father, every single day I was gone. You're so--"
"Grown up?" Brynna finished.
"I see your father's been reading my mind again." Emi couldn't have wiped the smile from her face if someone had stuck a blaster in her ear and threatened to pull the trigger. "Though why I didn't think you would grow up is beyond me. But I was going to say 'You're so tall'."
"I'm actually taller than most of the girls my age," Brynna confessed, grinning nearly as big as her mother.
"Well, I wonder where you got that from?" Emi shot her 6'3" husband a teasing grin. "Let's go home," Carth suggested, wrapping one arm around Emi's waist and the other around Brynna's shoulders.
"Yes, let's." Emi leaned her head against his shoulder. It wasn't until they started walking that she sensed it. "Why are you limping?"
Carth sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Oh, boy. I was hoping you wouldn't notice. Mission swore it wasn't that bad."
"It's not. Jedi, remember?" Emi raised one eyebrow. "I thought you were gonna try to stay safe for Brynna while I was gone."
"And I did," Carth insisted, ignoring the accusatory note in her voice. "But…"
"But Brynna got kidnapped," Mission finished when Carth left the sentence hanging.
"WHAT?? Pull the other one." Both of Emi's eyebrows were up high as they would go.
"No, I'm serious!" Mission protested. "Some stupid slavers made the dumbest move of their soon to end careers and snatched the daughter of a war hero and a Jedi. They just saw a girl with a pretty face, and didn't bother to check what kind of rescue party could come after a girl with the last name 'Onasi'."
Emi blinked. "You're serious."
"As a rakghoul infestation."
"When was this? What did you do?" Emi demanded, looking at Carth.
"It was about a year ago, and he got me an' Dustil an' we went after her," Mission answered for him. "We woulda made it out without them even knowin' we were there, but I tripped. So all these slavers come runnin'. We had to fight them… "
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"You had to trip, didn't you, Mission?" Dustil sighed, pulling out his vibroblade.
"Hey, it was an accident!" Mission retorted, yanking out her own vibroblade and mentally berating herself for being so clumsy. You of all people should know how important silence is, Mission Vao! Her anger served only to tighten her grip on the vibroblade's hilt.
"We have more important things to worry about, you two!!" Carth hollered at them, Krath war blade and Echani foil already in hand. Brynna looked at the circling slavers, who obviously didn't know what they were getting themselves into. A war hero, a former Sith, and an incredibly resourceful Twi'lek, any one of whom could take down about six of them at a shot on a bad day, was not what they saw. No, it was apparent all the slavers saw were a older man, a young Twi'lek, and an overconfident kid. Brynna snatched Dustil's spare blaster from its holster, just in case.
Mission gritted her teeth and sighed. "What's the plan?"
"Fight. Get out of here. And try not to die," Carth snapped.
"That's it?????" Mission and Dustil demanded together.
"Got any better ideas?" Carth retorted. They looked at each other, expressions questioning. "Didn't think so."
The slavers didn't bother with a plan of any kind, they just attacked. Home territory and greater numbers apparently gave their confidence an added boost. It was only after ten of them fell in half as many seconds that they adopted any sort of caution or strategy. Ever so slowly, however, they separated the four of them, pushing them back towards the corners. Tired as they were, all four still held their own, even Brynna, who was a much better shot than her brother anticipated.
Ten of the slavers went after Dustil, and an image of Aryah taking his head off for letting his son--and her fiancé--get killed dominated Carth's mind. Letting loose with a wordless cry of pure rage, Carth shoved his way through the surrounding assailants, impaling, hacking, desperate. Dustil and Brynna had never seen him so angry before, and Mission hadn't in ages.
Half of the ten were dead before the survivors recovered enough to fight back. One Twi'lek swung at Carth as he jammed both blades into the chest of an incredibly surprised Rodian. The attacker's vibroblade cut deep, and the searing pain overwhelmed Carth as he fell. Emi's going to kill me…
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"I thought for sure he was a goner," Mission admitted. "I was halfway across the room, and all I saw was him grunt in pain an' collapse. It scared me to death."
"That makes two of us," Carth commented wryly. "All I could think was 'Oh, Force, Emi's going to be furious…'."
"So what actually happened?" Emi demanded. "Obviously you're not dead, so finish the explanation, please."
"The Twi'lek hit his knee," Mission explained. "Cut it all the way down to the bone. When I got close enough to see it, I was surprised Carth hadn't passed out. It had to hurt like the blazes."
"It did. I think he cut every tendon, ligament, and muscle possible." Carth grinned sheepishly. "Saul's torture cages just barely beat out the level of agony."
Emi's eyes widened. The torture fields had hurt badly enough she had wanted to die. The implication of the pain that Twi'lek had caused… "But you saved Dustil?"
"Yeah. And he returned the favor by removing the Twi'lek's head from its shoulders."
"And practically carrying you home," Mission added.
"Well, I couldn't exactly walk, could I?" Carth reminded her. "I mean, that Twi'lek all but took off my leg."
"Which took about six months to heal up. Oh, Sith's blood, Emi, you want a challenge?" Mission chuckled and shook her head. "Try keepin' him in a chair rather than workin' in a garage for six months."
"I was literally sittin' on him, Mom," Brynna chipped in.
"Hey, I had stuff I wanted to work on," Carth protested.
"Yeah, and what happened the one time you managed to give us the slip? You nearly ruined your knee again!" Mission pointed out.
Carth blushed. "Guess I have to give you that one."
"Well, I think I could get you to stay in one spot for six months," Emi purred, eyes smoldering.
"There's no doubt in my mind, Beautiful." Carth grinned at her. "However, first I want an explanation for this." His thumb brushed the scar that ran from just below her left eye to her chin.
It was Emi's turn to blush, and she muttered, "I didn't duck fast enough."
"There's more to it than that, beautiful, even I can tell that."
"Oh, look, we're home." She swung around and darted through the door.
Carth was right behind her. "Oh, no you don't." He grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. "Who were you fighting?"
Emi flushed even more, and studied a particularly interesting scuff mark on his left boot rather than look into his eyes. Carth might not be a Jedi, but he had a way of reading her mind Emi found uncanny. Carth, Mission, and Brynna waited patiently through the seconds of silence until Emi whispered, "Teren."
"What?" Mission wasn't sure she'd heard right.
"Teren," Emi mumbled a little louder.
"Why?" Brynna plunked down on the couch and looked up at her mother in confusion.
"We were practicing in one of the cargo holds in the Hawk, and he moved just a nanosecond faster than I expected…"
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"Is that the best you can do?" Teren goaded, blocking another slash at his knees and circling Emi. "I thought Revan was one of the best."
"I AM." Emi brought her vibroblade down on his and shoved it to the floor. "I was distracted."
"By what?" Teren twisted his blade free and lunged forward.
Emi bent backwards, swung into a crouch and swiped at his ankles. "What do you think?"
"I think if you moved this slow against a Sith, you'd be in serious trouble." Teren dodged her strike and paused for a second to wipe sweat off his shaved head. "Were you thinking about Carth again?"
"You caught me," Emi sighed. "Brynna, too, but mostly Carth."
"Ever since I told you that man's still waiting, still loves you, you're hardly any good in a fight." Teren rolled his vibroblade around his hand and swung at her almost casually. Almost as if proving his point, Emi barely managed to block it. "See? I've known Padawans who would hide in shame for a block that slow."
"Just…stop it. Please?" Emi ran a hand through her short, sweaty hair.
"Em, you know what moving that slow in a fight will mean."
"You or I will end up dead." Emi adjusted her grip on the vibroblade and attacked again. "I'm sorry, really I am."
Teren parried her strike and stepped back, circling again. "Sorry doesn't speed up your blade. You have to focus." He suddenly lunged forward, aiming straight at her head. Emi bent over backwards, practically touching the floor grates with her shoulders, bringing up her blade in the blink of an eye, but still a nanosecond too slow. She felt Teren's blade kiss her cheek, sliding down towards her chin.
"Teren!" Her legs came out from under her, and the great and powerful Revan landed flat on her backside, blade still parallel to the floor, holding Teren back from doing any more damage.
"See what I mean?" the Exile demanded, panting. He dropped his vibroblade and walked out, chuckling, leaving Emi alone with only her heavy breathing, and the new cut trickling blood down her cheek, for company. He's right, she admitted grudgingly, fingering the gash he should never have been able to cause.
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"It's a good thing we were practicing with vibroblades, not lightsabers, or he'd probably have done a little more damage," Emi confessed.
"I'd stick with 'I didn't duck fast enough' when other people ask," Carth suggested, struggling mightily to keep back the laughter pounding up his throat.
"You can laugh, you hairless Wookiee. Teren already did." Emi crossed her arms and glared at her husband as he took her up on it. She only managed to hold that look for a second before she was chuckling herself. Mission and Brynna were practically crying, they was laughing so hard. "Well, I guess it is kind of funny. The invincible Revan got her butt kicked in a practice duel with the Jedi Exile."
"I like the thought that I'm distracting," Carth teased, wrapping his arms around his wife.
"Oh, yes, very. You nearly got me killed twice, y'know," she jibed back, leaning against his chest.
"Really?" Carth raised one eyebrow.
"Oh, yes. Thinking about the love of your life in the middle of a battle with eight or nine Dark Jedi is not a good idea."
"Well, obviously you still vanquished them."
"Actually Teren did. I caused that poor man no end of frustration. Why do you think I'm home?"
"I'm guessing there's more to it than 'you missed us'?"
"Oh, yes. Teren finally decided he'd be better fighting solo than with a ridiculously distracted partner. So he told me to go home." Emi grinned evilly. "If I'd known he was going to react like that, I would have gone all loopy on him much faster."
"Mom?" Brynna bit her lip.
"What, sweetie?"
"Are you home for good?" The girl hesitantly voiced her--and her father's--longest standing worry, eyes pleading.
"For good," Emi promised, leaning back to kiss Carth.
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So, yeah, I want honest opinions about the whole 'Brynna getting kidnapped' thing, if it's too cheesy I'll revise…It could happen…I just had this picture in my head I had to get out(and I kinda like it)…. I'm sure I can come up with a good (different) reason for Carth to be limping…
Oh, and there's at least one more piece coming. =) I promise!!!