A/N Because some of you asked for more…Special thanks to Ruby 428 for the idea of how to continue with Jaden and Carth. The song Wicked Game is by Chris Isaak, an older song but still good. I don't own anything other than Jaden and even she objects to being owned! Alpha Cucumber, this is all your fault-now the one-shot's a two-shot! Thanks for everyone's support and I hope you enjoy this. I had a blast writing it.

Chapter 2: Wicked Game

What a wicked game you play

To make me feel this way.

What a wicked thing to do

To let me dream of you.

What a wicked thing to say

You never felt this way…

The smuggler hummed as she strolled through the Upper City of Taris. "Welcome to uptown Taris," she muttered, stopping at one of the outlook points to admire the tall, gleaming, rounded towers.

When she had landed the Alpha Seas two standard days ago, she had peered through the viewport as she navigated through a curtain of cumulous nebulae clouds and seen all the landmasses were covered in a large city. The protocol droid she stopped to glean information told her Taris was called an ecumenopolis, which was what Coruscant was as well. But the stupid droid hadn't told her where Javyar's Cantina was. She made an educated guess it was in the Lower City which she could not access.

Derek, the Captain of the Alpha Seas would pick her to negotiate the sale of the spice. The big, gruff man had been coming on strong about another subject, too and Jaden was in the market for a new bird to fly. She'd be fragged if she became fodder for his sexual appetite. He was angry she rejected him so he'd sent her to reconnoiter.

She turned and hurried her pace. A strange sight far above made her stop and shield her eyes with her hand. Fireworks? She reached into her rucksack and pulled out a pair of macro-binocs and adjusted the zoom. A battle! She could see a gigantic Sith dreadnaught and several fighters the size of Dxun gnats buzzing about a Republic ship. Uh-oh, time to go.

She stuck the macros in her bag and jogged back to the landing pad that held her ship. If there was a battle taking place and the Sith won, well, Taris was not the place to be right now. She saw Derek wave from the cockpit, but when she scampered to the loading ramp she found it already locked.

The hiss of repulsorlifts made her back away to a safe distance. She watched with narrowed blue eyes as the ship rose slowly from the platform, turned and gained momentum and then turned into a speck.

"I hope you die a flaming death, you---"Before she could finish, she got her wish. There was a tiny pop of intense white light way up in the atmosphere.

Her mouth fell open as pieces of fiery debris rained down from the sky, becoming instruments of destruction. The Tarisians fled in panic while the smuggler took shelter under a doorway, watching as metal shrapnel plowed holes in the perfect permacrete walks. She frowned when she saw "Tinnies", her pet name for Sith soldiers in their silver armor, also scamper as fast as their metallic skins would allow, avoiding being crushed.

She swore in every language she knew, even in Shyriiwook, her snarls and grunts granting her a savage pleasure. "I didn't mean this very second." She sighed.

The area she was in was now empty—no Sith, no Tarisians. It was a wasteland of smoldering, pocked duracrete. The smuggler decided nothing was to be gained by remaining there, so she strode purposefully in the direction of the cantina she could visit. But that was not to be.

A hissing roar drew her attention to the sky again. Something was falling. More debris? She pulled out her macro-binocs and identified the object as an escape pod. It flew past the lookout point she stood on. She leaned over the railing, following its smoking trail until it disappeared into what she knew to be the Under City. She kissed the tips of her fingers, bidding the poor souls aboard good-bye, as another, then another pod trailed after it.

Behind her she heard the noise of repulsors being fired and turned to see another pod veer off from the wake of the others, heading directly for her. She crossed her forearms and put them over her head and dived as fast and as far as she could. The impact when the pod struck the duracrete plowed a large hole in the surface and the pod skidded several feet. The explosion sent the smuggler into the side of a building and she hit her head sharply against a duracrete step.

She saw stars and pinwheels—hell, whole constellations and almost blacked out, but she'd always been strong and resilient, so she shook off the blinding pain in her head and raced to see if anyone had survived the spectacular crash.

She executed a double flip onto the top of the pod and gripped the severely dented door. It wouldn't budge. No problem. She pulled out a torque wrench from her bag and unscrewed the bolts until the door fell open.

There was only one person in the pod, a male wearing a day-glo orange jacket. She unbuckled his crash webbing and slid her hands under his arms. She set her feet on the sides of the door and heaved, once, twice, three times, until gravity took over and sent her and the Republic soldier to the hard surface below. She winced and put a hand to the laceration on her temple. Concussed, wanna make a bet.

The man she was trying to rescue--- and she had no idea why she'd gone to all the trouble---, was lying on his face. Blood welled from a cut on his head. Well, she couldn't drag him far and she couldn't carry him, but she could…

She managed to drag him to the entrance of the Taris Towers Apartments. He was pretty much out of the line of sight. She entered the building and raced to the Twi'lek vendor who sold mainly shields and a few special items, none of which she could afford.

"Larrim, you big strong male, you," she cooed, walking her fingers over the tips of one of his lekku, knowing it would drive him mad.

"What do you wish, pretty one? Can I interest you in one of my shields? Perhaps you like to have interspecies…?"

She stroked the lekku, twisting it around her little finger. "Tempting… but, no. I might have a buyer for one of those shields. A Republic soldier's just outside the apartments and I need your muscles to help bring him inside. He's got a bump on his head, but I'm sure once he wakes up he'll be sufficiently grateful and buy one of those superior shields of yours, Larry-warry."

The Twi'lek smiled. His skin was mainly green but when she had touched him, it had turned interesting shades of blue and purple. "I will help. I dislike the Sith more than the Republic."

She flashed him a brilliant smile. "You're such a gem!"

The two of them were able to transport the injured soldier into the apartment she had sliced into. Larrim laid him on the bed and bussed her cheek before he left. Sighing, she dug in her bag and found a med-pack. She went to the refresher, wet a cloth and cleaned the blood off his face. The cloth dropped from suddenly nerveless hands. She recognized him! She knew this man.

She pulled his limp body into a sitting position and yanked off the jacket and then undid the closures on his shirt, revealing a very nice chest with defined abdominal muscles. She remembered those, too. She pulled off the shirt. Her hands slid down to the blaster belt and she unbuckled it, holding him up with one hand while the other slid down his muscular thighs and unsnapped the leg straps. His utility belt was tossed on the growing pile of clothes on the floor.

She let him fall back on the bunk and walked to the end. Checking to see he was still unconscious, she put one boot between her legs and pulled until it came off then did the same to the other one. Socks followed. She crawled up his body, unsnapped his pants then backed down his body, tugging the pants off as she did. Underwear completed the pile.

She wiped her hands as if congratulating herself on a job well done. With keen interest she surveyed his naked body. Yep, she remembered everything. She gathered everything off the floor, dumped it in the foot locker that the apartment supplied and locked it.

She pulled the thin cover up to his chin and used the med-pack She wasn't too worried about his condition—she felt for his pulse and it was strong and steady. She wondered if the doc made house calls. Brushing his lips with hers, she straightened and left the apartment.

Zelka Forn, the Medical Advisor, was busy with a patient when she arrived at the medical facility, so she wandered aimlessly about the medlab. When he had seen she was hurt he'd told her she wouldn't need an appointment.

She paused in front of a door. All locked doors held intrigue for her because there was a larceny within that begged to test every door to see if she could gain entry. This was no exception and the door proved no challenge to her security skill. Her eyes widened as she stepped into the room. There were several kolto tanks and each one held a Republic soldier.

"Hey!" She turned and Zelka was right behind her. "That area is restricted. How did you…?"

She clucked her tongue. "Harboring Republic soldiers, Fornie ole boy?"

"You can't tell the Sith! I—people brought them here and what was I to do? Most of them won't live, but I just wanted to make their last moments more comfortable. Please, you can't!"

She raised a hand. "Shhh—if you keep yelling at the top of your lungs, even the Tinnies are gonna realize something's up. You do me a favor and it buys my silence, deal?"

"What is the favor?" Zelka motioned to a line of patients. "As you can see, I'm very busy. They've all been hit with flying debris."

"First, I need some medical attention and throw in a few freebie advanced medpacks to boot. Second, I need you to come with me and treat a man who may or may not be in a coma."

Zorn's dark face darkened even more. "I have patients with actual appointments. I can't just…"

She tapped her chronometer and raised her voice so it would carry. "Oh, no, Doc Forn, are you aiding and abetting the Repub…"

He quickly struck the lock pad on the side of the door and waved his hands in surrender. "All right. I'll go with you."

"Me first," she told him crankily. Her head really was pounding and she felt like she might throw up.

He gestured to his assistant and told him to reschedule all the appointments and to apologize to his patients. He had an emergency that could not wait. He quickly examined the smuggler, reached for a neuro-hypo and it made a whooshing noise that startled her as he injected her temple. She felt better right away and thanked him as she rushed him to the apartments.

He treated the still recumbent soldier and left, muttering to himself about the lack of payment. She tapped her foot, paced about the bunk, peeked under the cover a couple of times, but that made her too hot, so she cut it out. Finally, she pulled out her Pazaak deck, but she was only through one game with an opponent in her head when she nodded off to sleep.

She was seeing something like a holo movie unfolding before her eyes. A woman, holding a weapon that glowed a bright yellow and wearing sluttish clothing was present along with others with the glowy things—theirs were different colors. Pretty, but give her a decent vibro-blade. She watched the tableau unfold, seeing the slutty girl—what was she, fifteen, sixteen? Pretty stacked, so she amended her best guess to eighteen. She saw the slutty girl point towards someone she couldn't see.

"You can't win, Revan." Slutty girl's voice was snobbish, reminding her of the Tarisian nobles.

Move the kriffin' camera angle so I can see this Revan! Directors of holo-movies should be shot sometimes. Then the holo camera panned to the right and she saw a figure encased in the most awesome armor she'd ever seen. The mask was a little much in her opinion, but whoever this Revan was, he/she was dressed to kill.

Then something happened to the other two with the slutty girl. They fell to the deck—the camera had drawn back to allow her to see the scene was taking place on a ship. Poison gas? She shrugged, seeing Revan make some kind of gesture, closing the fingers of the free hand inside the gauntlet. It sounded like the other two were choking. She could actually hear bones crackle.

Revan did something she'd never seen, spinning her/his red glowy thing with what she knew was unparalleled skill, bringing it up in an arc above his/her head with a flourish and major style. Frack, if I could only learn to wield my vibro-blade like that!

An explosion took everyone, including the dreamer—because this is all just a dream, right?—by surprise. The bridge of the ship caught on fire. Revan had fallen and Slutty Girl crawled over and removed the mask, her eyes widening.

Okay, move the camera so I can see the face. Move… Dammit!

She woke up because a male voice with a decided edge to it was shouting. "Where are my clothes, sister?"

She sat up and brushed the drool from the corner of her mouth. How charming! "Hello, Carth. Remember me? Considering what we did together on Ibico, I don't think calling me 'sister' is very appropriate." She hiked a brow. "Unless you're into incest?"

Carth's face went as red as the cover she'd pulled over him. "Why am I naked, Jaden?"

She smirked. "Oh, you do remember me after all. I didn't want you waking up and walking out on me like last time. I figured a captain in the Republic Navy wouldn't want to risk being seen running through the streets of Taris with only a bed sheet wrapped around him."

"Jaden, I…" He looked down.

"Contemplating your naval, Cap?" She deepened her voice into a facsimile of his. "Jaden, you're so beautiful. Jaden, I've never felt this way before. Jaden, I…didn't mean to pass out and turn over in the middle of the night and whisper my dead wife's name in your ear."

Carth gathered the cover about him as well as he could and stood. "I did that? I'm sorry. Is that why you wiped my datapad?"

She wanted to slap him. If his face already wasn't bruised she would have. "Because of that, what do you take me for? I wiped the datapad because it contained information on my ship. Captain's bars sure don't add to the brain matter, do they?"

His face reddened even more and he brushed his hand through his hair. The two locks strayed back over his forehead. Jaden dug in her bag, opened a jar of a greasy substance, scooped up a dollop and, before Carth could prevent it, smashed it into his hair and raked her fingers through it, gluing the two errant pieces of hair back with the rest.

"There, now you don't look so charming and vulnerable—a ploy I'm sure you use to the utmost when it comes to women!"

Carth swept his hands through the goop in his hair and leveled an exasperated look at the furious smuggler. "What is this stuff?" He took a whiff of his hand and grimaced. "It smells."

"Wanna take a shower and wash it off, be my guest. That's where I'm headed and the water supply is limited so guess we'll have to share. What's the big deal, right? We've already seen each other naked."

Carth gulped. He remembered making love to Jaden—the silky feel of her skin under his rough, calloused hands.

"Fine!" he snapped. "I wouldn't want to cause a water shortage!" He whipped the cover off in front of her and marched into the refresher.

Both brows rose as she viewed his fine behind. "Oh, what the hell?" She flung off her clothes and hurried into the refresher area.

Carth stood under the hot water, his face upturned and his eyes closed. Jaden stepped in the stall and his eyes flew open and he turned. Seen through the steamy water, his eyes were brown pools; the wet lashes flicked beads of water as he lowered his head. Jaden's arms came up around his neck He spanned her waist with his warm hands and drew her slowly, relentlessly, against him. Erotic notions entered his head. He planned to see to it she never thought of this shower without thinking of him.

When the water turned to ice, he tossed her over his shoulder, ignoring her ear-splitting screech. He dried her off quickly and she did the same for him. The bunk wasn't really built for a couple, but they made it work. Soon, Jaden was crying out, but for an entirely different reason.

* * *

Jaden awoke, mumbling as a deep shadow crawled over her face, intruding on a rather vivid dream. When she tried to move, she found she couldn't. There was an arm about her waist and a leg hooked possessively over hers. Stretching like a contented feline, she snuggled against Carth and closed her eyes.

Carth was awake, fighting the guilt. How could he think he was cheating on Morgana when she had been dead for so long? He gazed tenderly at the woman in his arms. Jaden was like a flight of the imagination: curvaceous softness, lithe limbs and unrivalled passion.

Jaden's name had been first in his thoughts when he awoke, unlike last time when he had spoken Morgana'sname. Way to go, Onasi, he thought ruefully. No wonder she had been ready to scratch his eyes out.

Jaden made a whimpering noise and then her eyes flew open and she looked as if she didn't know where she was or who he was for a moment.

He stroked her long, jet black hair. "Are you okay?"

Her eyes looked like the blue petals of the Adala flower on Telos before Malak had destroyed it. "I… keep having this weird dream—about someone named Revan."

Carth stiffened. "Why would you be dreaming about Revan?" His natural paranoia asserted itself and he knew he sounded curt.

"How the hell should I know?" She pushed his leg off and started to sit up.

"Where you going, gorgeous?" He ran a finger down her naked back and watched her shiver. He had to power down his suspicion. Revan probably gave plenty of people nightmares.

"I need off this planet. So, we just wait here. You use your com-link and contact your ship and we get rescued, right?" She curled up against him again.

"Uh, my ship was the Endar Spire and it got vaped by the Sith."

Jaden frowned slightly. "O-kaaay. That complicates things a little bit."

He sighed, figuring he might as well tell her everything---well, to a point. This was a need-to-know op after all. "Jaden, sweetheart." His breath stirred the hair near her ear.

"M-mmm?"

"Before we can leave Taris there's something we have to do."

"I know. Find a transport or steal a ship."

Carth shook his head. "The Sith will follow standard operating procedure and Taris will be quarantined. That means…"

She flipped her hair out of her eyes and leveled a look at him. "I know what it means. You can have beauty and brains all at the same time, Cap. So, what's the plan?"

"We have to find and rescue a Jedi." Carth spun the words together in one breath as fast as he could.

"What? What Jedi? What are you talking about?" There was a flash of ire in her eyes.

"Bastila Shan was the one in charge of the operation on the Spire. I know she escaped in one of the pods."

"Except for yours, all the other pods landed in the Under City. Know what that means? She's compost!" Jaden flipped her legs over the side of the bunk and stood up with agile grace.

Carth wanted to enjoy the view, but his duty always came first. "It's my job to find her and I'm asking you to help me!"

Jaden dressed as fast as she could. She went over to the trunk, unlocked it and tossed him his clothes. She held onto his blaster belt and lifted one of the blasters out of the holster.

Carth sorted through his clothes for his underwear and yanked it on. "What, are ya gonna shoot me now?"

"I might." She studied the blaster. "H-mmm, nice. Arkanian design—heavily modified. What's this engraved on it?"

Carth muttered something as he quickly donned his clothes.

Jaden raised a hand to cup her ear. "What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I said," he bit out through white teeth. " I said it's my family crest."

She snickered and put it back into the holster. "Well, I'm sure you won't mind if I take the other—standard Republish ish, it'll do."

"Hey, that's my blaster!"

"Was; now it's mine. I can't go out into the cold, cruel world of Taris without a weapon, now can I?"

He grinned. "Then you're coming with me? You'll help me?"

"When Hoth temps reach a balmy 70 Celsius, I'll risk my life to find a Jedi who's probably already fertilizer. No way, Carth! I wish you all the luck in finding her, but this is where we part company. No hard feelings I hope."

He scowled. "There sure as hell are hard feelings. Jaden, I can't believe you would abandon me like this."

Jaden rolled her eyes. "Look, you're good in the sack, handsome, but I don't risk my neck for anybody. What you're intending is a suicide mission. Maybe, after you've had years of therapy, you'll see this was a bid for attention. Onasi, you need help—professional help I mean. It's been four years and you still blame yourself for not being there for Morgana. Get over it! You were doing your job—trying to save the galaxy."

He was flabbergasted and unable to speak for a long moment. "How do you know that? I never talk about it."

"You talk in your sleep and you really open up when you've had lots of Corellian ale, flyboy. I heard the sad tale when we had our first time together. Even if I went with you, the odds are not in our favor and I need the odds to be a least somewhat in our favor before I'd sign on for a trek through the Under City."

Carth looked so shaken and disappointed, Jaden had to resist slapping him. What did he expect? She was a smuggler, a thief, a liar and only out for herself.

"I'm sorry, if my ethics don't measure up to your insurmountable code of honor, but that's the way it is." She placed her hands on her hips and waited for him to explode.

Big, sad eyes met hers. "I told you things I never talk about and you treat it like a joke. My family was everything to me, Jaden. Everything!" His hands flew in violent gestures.

"I know and it's left no room for anyone else." She sighed, came over and kissed his cheek. "Good luck, Carth. I really mean it."

He nodded. "You look after yourself, Jaden."

"It's what I'm good at. Oh, and, Carth?" She paused just as she was about to open the apartment door. "Don't wear that jacket. You might as well paint a target on your back." She got half way through the door and then she stopped. "And by the way, the Twi'lek down the hall helped me carry you in here. I told him you'd buy one of his shields as a gesture of good will." She blew him a kiss and was gone.

Carth sank down on the rumpled bunk and pounded the pillow in frustration and anger. He stopped when the door opened and Jaden rushed in, sealing it behind her.

"Forget something?" He scowled. "Oh, I know. You forgot to rip my heart out before you take off on your own. That it?"

"There's a Sith patrol right outside in the hall." Her tremulous smile was right in place.

"And?" Carth rose and turned his back on her.

She looked daggers at him. "Fine! And, if I'm to help you find your damned Jedi then I'll need your help to take care of the frackin' Sith!"

Carth hiked his eyebrows, a small smile curling his lips. "What was that, Jaden? Help me, did you say?"

"I wouldn't need you at all if I had a decent stealth belt," she muttered. A mutinous expression crossed her face. "All right, so we team up. Any chance of a reward if we find her alive and actually manage to get her off the planet?"

"I'll see to it personally." He extended a hand.

"After what we just did over and over and over, the man wants to shake hands?" She smirked when Carth blushed furiously. She spit in her hand and grasped his. "Smuggler's bond."

"Yuk," he said as he wiped off his hand on the side of his pants.

She paced a little, gearing up for the upcoming fight. "Wish I had a vibro-blade. When I fight I like to be up close and personal." She checked the power reserve on the blaster and nodded.

"Ready." He brandished his blaster.

"Lose the jacket, flyboy. I mean it."

Carth shucked off the jacket. "Happy?"

"Deliriously."

* * *

Five standard minutes later, several Sith bodies lay on the floor outside the apartment. Jaden sniffed the air. "I love the smell of ozone in the morning." She bent to field strip the bodies and Carth turned away in distaste.

"Oh, and, flyboy, the only time a smuggler's bond holds true is with another smuggler and I did say if." Jaden's voice came from a distance down the hall.

Carth whirled, eyes widening in disbelief as the elevator door opened and the smuggler stepped inside, waving merrily. Then she was gone.

I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you.

I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you.

No, I don't want to fall in love.

Sorry, this girl's gonna break your heart.

No, I don't want to fall in love….

With you.

9