Yep! It's been about a week! I'll try to update once a week for those of you who enjoy reading it! Also, it's the week of finals, so it there's mistakes, forgive me, my brain is fried.
As the Star Wars Galaxy pretty much revolves around the Galactic Standard Calendar, Military time sounds like something they might use. I'm also not in the military directly - I have relatives who are currently serving -, so I'm not perfect at phrasing it.
Chapter 2
Life is meant to be adventurous. Life is supposed to be lived and enjoyed. But when there's a dark void outside your small sanctuary, pressing in and clouding it over in black smoke, suffocating the spare light, it makes things hard. Really hard. Especially since the light couldn't hold, because the source giving it was missing. Within the heart of the Ebon Hawk, each crew member seemed to be lost to their own. Mission tried to play Pazak solo, but her glazed eyes saw through the the card as they shuffled with practiced ease. Canderous and Carth would deny they had anything in common, but both rarely left their "hang outs" within the ship. Canderous worked for hours on the swoop bike, and Carth "monitored the ships controls", neither leaving their areas for more than a few hours of sleep. Zaalbar found whatever little projects he could do, whether that was minor ship repairs, or making excess grenades he would do it to keep his hands and mind busy. The droids did what they could, typically meaning argue with each other, often ending in T3 zapping HK, and HK being rather cross when he came back online. Jolee could be found constantly checking on the medical supplies, and keeping everything organized in the medbay, while Juhani and Bastila often meditated, Bastila trying to feel anything through hers and Oryn's connection.
"We're running low on supplies." Zaalbar informed everyone in the main hold of the Hawk. He had chosen just the right time, for both Carth and Canderous were passing through for a bite before bed.
There was silence before a still fractious Carth to scoff. "Of course we are. And according to our fearless leader, we can leave the Hawk till she gets here." It wasn't lost on the rest of the crew that he didn't say 'If'.
Mission bounced her headtails a bit as she thought how to word her question. "Well, she would have known, right? I mean, she kept an almost perfect record of when we needed to gather new supplies and round up more grub, so, maybe she planned for this?"
"A possibility, I suppose. She was a bit of a perfectionist with such things." Bastila agreed, a bit hesitant as she – even when conversing – kept trying to get anything from the connection.
"So what? We just sit here and wait?" Carth questioned impatiently. "What if she-" There it was, the 'If'. Of course, he never even got to the end of his next word before Mission interrupted.
"She's coming back!" Zaalbar didn't even try to mask rubbing at his sensitive ears from the pitch Mission had used to shriek her declaration. Juhani tried to draw as little attention while doing the same, of her poor ears. Even though he was human, the shriek had Jolee shaking his head to clear the sound out.
"Carth, I know this is particularly hard on you. Don't think I never noticed how reclusive you were back before this all began. Even on the Endar Spire, you rarely talked with anyone. I thought it strange after I came back from the Vulkers," No one missed how she didn't say she had been saved or that she had saved herself, keeping perfectly in the middle, "that you talked to Oryn, whether willing or not so, you still spoke to her. With that being said, you had your reasons not to trust, and you probably feel that that trust you placed in Oryn was wrong, but it wasn't. If anyone, you should distrust the Jedi Council and myself. But do not blame Oryn for our actions."
The main hold was silent during and after Bastila's proclamation. Carth had folded his arms tightly over his chest defensively, wishing he could just get back to his comfy little cockpit and get away from everyone. When Bastila finished, Carth nodded, and retreated to the cockpit, preferring to sleep sitting up than go back where there would be stares or questions.
Once again, the crew split off silently, each heading to their respective bunks; Males port, females starboard. All but Carth, who bunkered down for what he knew was going to be a difficult night.
It was almost hour 22 when a knocking came to the ramp once again. Carth, being in the cockpit, turned on outside video feed with a somnolent flick, his eyes hardly willing to open. A Bothan stood waiting under the ramp. His red tunic with gold lining said wealthy, but the blaster at his hip said different. Upper classman, perhaps? But why? Carth questioned suspiciously. For an affluent Bothan to be almost 13 parsecs away from home, and more specifically on Korriban, couldn't mean much good.
But it would be rude to just leave the feline/canine knocking. Checking his blasters, Carth made his way to the ramp. Lowering it halfway down, Carth got a closer look at the furry alien. First off, it was male, the females faces were thinner, and had less of a mane. Second, he didn't quite like being here.
"Are you one of Oryn Avari's crew members?" The Bothan said, his Common just a bit shaky.
"Yes." Carth answered, urging the Bothan to continue.
The feline/canine gave a quick cough, and asked, "You don't mind if I check, do you? The Lady was very clear that it be you, and only you."
Mentally groaning, Carth waved for him to go ahead, expecting the creature to give him something to sign or something of the sort. What he said had Carth every inch of his skin prickling.
"Who was the dead boy on Matale grounds?" Memories of the peaceful planet, and more specifically Oryn training, jumped to the front of his mind. Oryn didn't like the Jedi robes, but Carth and Canderous both agreed that they were Carth's nickname for her on her. Of course, Carth has almost punched the lights out of Canderous when he said Oryn was "one sexy Jedi". But the more primitive man inside Carth couldn't agree more as he watched her flip through the air, twisting and turning in ways that seemed natural instinct to her, beautifully graceful.
"Casus Sandral." Carth answered with little thought. Every detail of the event would stay with him forever, even the names.
The fields of grass looked just as peaceful from the ground as they had from the sky, according to Carth. Other than the Kath Hounds, and the crazy cat Jedi Oryn had talked into behaving – even though she had persuaded a hut to give her more money than he had initially said, it still sometimes shocked the pilot.
"That wasn't here before." Oryn muttered to herself. She dashed for a group of Kath Hounds, causing Carth to sigh. She did this way too often, which could be why she got along with the Mandalorian, they both dove into a fight after looking at it for half a second. They swear they have plan, often that sentence ending in: "don't die". When the Kath Hounds had been taken care of, Carth finally noticed what Oryn must have spotted from afar. A body, and it definitely hadn't been there before.
She looked critically at the metal piles of junk that may have been droids at one point, and crouched down next to the torn up body, and carefully turned it over. Carth's grip on his blaster turned white at the young face. This boy couldn't be older than Dustil would be at this point, he didn't deserve to die so young. She rummaged around in the boy's satchel and pulled out a datapad.
"Then," The Bothan pulled Carth out of his thoughts, "I believe I have something for you." He walked over to the entrance of the hanger bay, and wheeled over a platform with four cylindrical containers. Reaching into his satchel he pulled out a drive and handed it to a confused Carth. "My job is finished. Enjoy the rest of your evening, or morning, as it is on my home world." And the Bothan left without another word.
Still confused, Carth slipped the drive into his pocket and pressed on the lid of the first container. To his astonishment, there were food packages filling it to the brim. Checking all of them, there was everything they would need for weeks. Even some things they didn't need, like the Mandalorian's favorite alcohol, Narcolethe. But Mission and Zaalbar would be happy about the Alcoari and Gorrnar. Or the Silver-backed fish that Oryn had learned was one of Juhani's favorite dishes. Harza, Jolee's weak spot when it came to sweet foods. Carth could only assume the Chandrilan herb tea was for Bastila, as he didn't really know much about her. And there was a plethora of Honeystix, most of the crew's favorite dessert, one they didn't get often. Juhani said it was too sweet for her.
With a shove, Carth pushed the cart up the ramp of the Hawk and placed the containers in the main hold. As he sat down, he slipped the drive out of his pocket and sat it on the table in front of him.
For descriptions and home worlds of the foods, I went here (delete the spaces): star wars forum /viewtopic/id/830#.Vm99qPkrKhe
Anywho, I know it's shorter than the last chapter, but please hold with me, I'm exhausted from homework and studying, and am ready for bed, but I couldn't get my brain to shut up about how I should update this story. So you better be thankful! I might even update later on this week if I can get a moments peace, or to just relax and write.
Review! Review! Reivew!
