KotOR Misadventures

by Some Random

There are normal days, there are crazy days. And then there's waking up on Taris with no idea how I got there, why and what to do about it. That just takes the whole crazy cake. Self insert, inspired by CpunchMaster. Also contains spoilers. WILL BE CONTINUED!

6. Chapter 6

Some Random: Hm, 20 reviews so far for like 5 chapters, not bad, not bad. They seem to be getting longer (chapters that is) too. Thanks to everyone that did review, it really makes my day guys. I probably would have gotten this up sooner, but my laptop and life didn't quite see things the same way. Don't know about the quality, but hey, that's for you guys to decide. That over with, time to roll on to the chapter!

Disclaimer: Bioware owns KotOR and George Lucas owns Star Wars. Me, well, I own myself and all stupidity/weirdness that accompanies her.

-()-

Chapter Six - One swoop race plus a snooty Jedi, equals...

I bolted awake, breathing ragged, my heart hammering in my chest and a scream lodged in my throat.

'That was some dream.' I shivered. I could still feel those ghostly cold fingers and my skin crawled at the memory. 'And this is why I never watch horror movies.'

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and ran my fingers through my messy hair, staring at the grey metal floor as I tried to make sense of things.

'If I'm to believe any of that, it means that whatever reason I've been brought here for, isn't the normal, happy, shiny, conscience loving sort but something much more sinister.'

I sat still in my empty room, listening to sound of my breathing and the hum of some sort of machinery not too far off.

'But it's just too unbelievable to be true. The Dark Side wants me, whose biggest crime is killing NPC's in Fable 3, to do...something, involving Revan, and somehow I don't think it's attending a tea party. Corrupting Revan? And what's with Miss Shadowy Figure? What's her role in all this?' I scrubbed my face with my hands, getting nowhere. With a sigh, I flopped back onto the bed, only to have my alone time interrupted by the appearance of Mission.

"Oh, looks like you're finally up." She said, walking over from the doorway only to poke me on the knee. "It's about time."

I scowled. "Excuse me for favouring my beauty sleep after a non-stop day of action packed fun. I don't do this kind of shit everyday you know."

She grinned. "Figured as much."

"Well, is there a reason you're here apart from reminding me how lazy I am?"

"Allegra told me to get you. The big race is in a few hours and she wants the whole team ready."

My brow furrowed in confusion. "Wait, I thought that was tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "They moved it. The reason was rather vague but from what I heard, it apparently had something to do with the Sith."

"Apparently?"

"Gadon figures it's because Brejik's getting touchy, especially after we stole that accelerator. Of course, Carth was all "the sooner we get Bastila the better, no?" but then again, he's not in the same position as Allegra."

I sat up and stretched. "Guess I better get properly dressed then. You know, since the race is today and everything." I looked down at my jeans and singlet.

"Yep."
"Well, seeing as you're here, you can make yourself useful by finding those damn bindings of mine..." I looked down. "Oh wait, I'm wearing them..."

-()-

Once I was finally all suited up, the two of us made our way into one of the offices in the Hidden Bek base. Okay, office was a stretch. It was really just the mechanics room off of the swoop garage, but apparently that was enough.

"You know, the least she could do is be around after summoning us and everything." I grumbled, seeing the room empty when we rocked up.
"And the least you could do is be up and ready without wrangling." A familiar voice teased and I turned to see Allegra leaning against the doorframe.

I shrugged. "Overslept I guess." I wasn't about to own up about that dream to her of all people. I acted crazy enough as it was. To be honest, I was glad for the distraction the upcoming swoop race offered, as it got my mind off that one hell of a plot twist/dream. Something I didn't quite want to sit around and think about just yet...maybe when I was off Taris and didn't have the threat of being blown up hanging over my head.

"Thought as much." She straightened and made her way into the room. "Carth's on his way, just running over a few things with Gadon about the race."

"Right." I shifted uncomfortably. "So, what exactly is the plan by the way? Apart from praying the bike doesn't explode..."

A momentary pause on her end, her lips making a thin line, and then she was right back with us. "There's not much to it really. Apart from the racing, which apparently is down to me. Rescuing Bastila is the primary objective."

"Oh yes, can't forget little Miss Jedi who we've all been risking our arses over this whole time. Who could forget?"

"She's valuable to the Republic war effort, and we can't risk the Sith finding her."

"Your words or Carth's?"

The ghost of a smile. "Mostly his, to be honest. I barely know anything about the woman, apart from the fact she ordered my transfer aboard the Spire."

"I see." 'Oh just you wait...'

"Gadon's ready to go as soon as we are." Carth said, finally making an appearance. He looked at me, a smirk coming to his face. "Looks like someone's finally up."
I pouted. "Yeah, yeah. Make a girl feel wanted, why don't cha Onasi?"

He chuckled lightly and then looked at Allegra. "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." She shifted nervously, an interesting thing to see as I'm used to her looking all infallible and bad-ass. 'Spose even Revan gets a little nervous, though I didn't exactly blame her. "As soon as that guy gets back with my racing jumpsuit, we can head out."

It was then I noticed the helmet sitting on the desk. They actually wear protection? Unless this was Allegra insisting upon such things for herself.

"I've had a thought." I said, turning back to the motley crew.

"Just the one?" Mission teased and I slapped her on the shoulder, strangely getting a sense of déjà vu.

"Oh shush you." I focused on my question, looking at Allegra. "How are we going to know which racer is you if you're wearing a helmet? There won't be any red hair flying around to watch out for, so how will we see if you win the race?"

She pursed her lips for a moment, thinking. "That's a good point. Though we really haven't got much time now to do anything about that."

"Actually..." I hefted the helmet into my hands, giving it a good once over. Maybe...hm, I can think of something that would fit just about there, in the middle towards the back. Oh yes. That would work. "Anyone have a pen or something that would leave a mark on this thing?"

She tilted her head to side, looking at me curiously. "Whatever for?"

"I just figured out how we're going to pick you out of the crowd Khan."

A few minutes and a hunt for a contraption that would mark the helmet later and I was hard at work. Mission leant over my shoulder, to get a good look at just what I was doing. "Ooh, that's interesting..."

I paused, lifting the pen and pursing my lips. "Maybe if I just..." I added another curved line to it, connecting everything up. "There."

I have this weird habit of drawing what I like to call, random arcane looking symbols. Really, it's just me messing about with the way lines can curve and join up to make something real trippy looking or probably my dark gothic side intervening in my drawing. Never the less, I like drawing them, even if copying them without tracing is pretty much out of the question because I never stick to same sort of lines. And it was one of these random symbols that I drew on the back of Allegra's helmet, filling it in to make it stand out.

I handed the helmet back "What do ya think?"

One of her fingers traced the symbol I'd drawn, following the pattern. "Looks good. I think you'll definitely spot me out of the crowd now."
"That was the point."

She gave me a warm smile. "Yeah. Nice work anyway, never figured you were an artist."

"Actually, I'm more of a writer, but I'll take praise where I can get it." I leant back against one of the benches, grinning and feeling pretty darn happy with myself.

"I'll bet."

Someone shouted something outside and she turned her head at the sound. "That's probably the guy with my racing suit. I better get going." She tucked the helmet under her arm. "I'll catch up with you lot a little later, when we head off for the race."

Mission and I nodded.

"Sure thing." I said. "See you later then."

As she left, Mission then grabbed my arm, taking me out the other door in the room. Carth wandered off after Allegra, probably to do...I don't know, Carth things?

"And just where are we going?" I asked as she dragged me off.

"I talked to some of the swoop crews earlier on, while you were still sleeping, and managed to secure one of their spare banners to use for our team."

"Banner? Whatever do we need a banner for?" This was news to me.

"Fans usually have a banner for their favourite racer, to show off on race day. I thought it might be an idea to have one of our own."

Hm, that whole idea reminded me of football somehow, with people brandishing placards and flags during the match to show their support of their favourite team playing. Not that I ever really watched football, as I wasn't the sports kind of girl, but I had seen a little on TV once with a friend to know what I was talking about.

"Makes sense. Though how is anyone going to pick that we're not just supporting one of the Bek riders?"

"You can draw that symbol you did for Allegra's helmet on it, then everyone will know we're supporting her."

"Sounds good."

-()-

Sometime later we made our way to where Allegra and Carth were supposed to be waiting for us to head off for the race, carrying our nifty new banner with us. Allegra was pacing back and forth and talking to herself, while Carth was sitting on a small stack of crates watching her. I guessed she was probably running over the mechanics of swoop racing that she'd practiced earlier on in her head, but it was anyone's guess. Though from the words of encouragement Carth seemed to be giving her that looked likely to be just what was on her mind.

"You all good there?" I said, as Mission and I approached. She stopped and looked up at the two of us, before a sheepish smile came to her face.

"As good as I'll ever be." She then noticed the roll of cloth Mission had bundled in her arms. Aka our banner. "What's that?"

"Oh, nothing really." I winked at Mission. "We all set now?"

Allegra nodded. Her racing outfit wasn't all that different from those you see motorcyclists wearing during the big races. Not that I've ever been to one of those, but TV can be very enlightening. The zip at the front was let down some, showing off the cream skivvy from her scout outfit underneath, the rest of the jumpsuit a nice dark blue with kind of pale silvery markings that drew attention to her eyes, being a similar colour. Her helmet, with the dark symbol on the back was tucked under one arm.

"Looks decent, doesn't it?" She said, noticing me giving her outfit a once over.
"I'll admit it strangely suits you."

"Hm, okay, as far as compliments go." She tugged on it little. "Bit tight fitting though."

"Very." Carth said and I tried not to laugh at the expression on his face.

"Yeah, well, as long as it doesn't rip when you bend over, you'll be all good." I teased.

"I bloody hope not. Though the boys would probably enjoy the show." She winked to Carth, grinning madly, those dimples in full bloom.

"Anyway." Carth then said, changing the subject. "You...girls ready for the race?" I tried not to pull some kind of stupid expression at his obvious hesitation, nor his obvious need to change the subject from where it was inevitably heading. It seemed Onasi was still adjusting to the switch from Jaqe to Jess on my part, now that he knew I was really a girl. My fingers toyed with the end of my ponytail, still in the complete "Jaqe" ensemble mainly on the Beks part. Gadon and the others hadn't gotten the awkward "Omg he's actually a she" surprise, so they all still reckoned I was a bloke.

"Ready as we'll ever be, right Mission?" I said, looking at my partner in crime.

"Yup." She said. "Ready as we'll ever be."

Zaalbar, who we'd met up with while hunting for the banner, barked/growled his response, which Mission then translated. "He says he's ready."

"Well, we better get moving then. The race will be starting soon." Allegra replied, looking at Carth, who nodded.

"Yeah, Bastila can't rescue herself." I said. 'Though she seems to think she does. Man, I can't wait to pull Jedi Princess down a peg or two...or six.' "If she could, she'd probably have done it already. And where would we be then?"

"Screwed." Mission added.

"Exactly." I looked at Carth and Allegra with what I hoped was interpreted as a reassuring expression. "But from what Mish and I have heard from rumours circulating the base here, the Vulkars still have their pretty little prize to show off on race day."

"Today." Mission corrected.

I turned to look at her, now side on to Allegra and Carth. "That's what I meant."

"No, you said race day."

"Yes, but obviously that's today so it doesn't matter. Plus, it sounds better the way I said it."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carth give Allegra a weird look about the two of us and the red-haired scout just shrugged.

"Anyway..." I said. "Don't we all have a race to get to? What are we standing around like a bunch of idiots for?"

Zaalbar growled something, and once again I was at a loss as to understanding him.

"What did he just say?"

"He agrees with you." Mission replied.

"Oh. Well that's new."

"Anyway, let's roll." Allegra said. With a nod from Mission and me, she started heading off through the doors that lead to the swoop track, Carth in step with her and Zaalbar, Mission and I trailing along behind them. Somewhere along the way, I managed to trip over something (damn floors that look even and then trip you up when you least expect it!) and crashed straight into Zaalbar's back.

"Whoops, my bad."

He barked/growled/howled something in his language and I looked to the closest person I had for a translation.

"Mission?"

"He says it's a wonder you've survived after being such an idiot."

I frowned. "Somehow I don't trust you. For all I know he could have said that the room smells of cheese and you could still apparently translate it as 'the only idiot around here is you' or something ridiculously mean to me. Or what you just said."

Mission raised an eyebrow. "Right, and I really go out of my way to do that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. You tell me, this is you we are talking about."

She rolled her eyes and then pushed me towards the door. "Sometimes you are way too weird to understand, you know that?"

I grinned, much like the Cheshire cat. "Yup. Happens that way sometimes."

"Just move it, you weirdy. The swoop race isn't going to just sit around and wait for us."

"What did Zaalbar actually say by the way?"

"Do you really want to know?"

I thought for a moment. "Eh...not really...unless it's super important."

"It wasn't."

"Then don't worry about it."

-()-

The first thing I noticed upon entering the place was the noise. Those swoops are loud, seriously so. From the people crowded around view screens and peering down at the track, it looked like some racers were at it already, clocking up times. It was starting to remind me of some kind of massive car race with all the racket they were making, much like the Grand Prix or something. Not that I've ever been but, like I said, TV can be very enlightening. I'm certain I could barely hear myself think and this was a good day.

"Shit, this place is louder than the time I went to a club that had a live rock band!" I shouted out, checking out the crowded stands.

"What?" Mission shouted, over the roar of the swoop engines, as some racers went through pre-race preparations, others doing runs on the track.

"I said this place is louder than a live rock band at a club I went to once!" I shouted back, hands still covering my ears.

"Oh!"

"Stop shouting!" Carth complained. "It's bad enough without you two making a racket!"

"What?" We both shouted back at him.

He gave up, rolling his eyes and moving to a section a little ways off that was probably quieter.

"Come on!" Mission grabbed my arm again. "Let's find a good spot to show off our banner!"

I grinned and nodded in agreement, deciding that was the best option for a response instead of shouting again.

The two of us cut through the crowd as best we could, trying to make our way to somewhere less crowded in the stands where we could show off our banner with pride. Allegra had already headed off to wherever the Beks garage was, probably to go through the same sorts of checks with her mechanic like these other noisy fellas seemed to be doing. Zaalbar ambled along behind the two of us, as we climbed the stands in our search for a good vantage point. It was then I figured it was the best time to ask something that had been bugging me for a little while now.

"Hey Mish?"

"Yeah?"

"I've got a question."

"Shoot."

I waited until the swoop careening along the track down below us had passed before posing my question. "Just how...does this whole swoop race business work out?"

"Oh right, Dantooine doesn't have swoop races does it?"

"Uh...no. Hence why I'm asking." 'Not entirely true girly, you just wanna know if they're going to race like in the game.' "Although I have heard about them. Dangerous stuff."

"Yeah, it can get pretty crazy. Some racers get waay too cocky and the explosions can take out others with them."

I winced, if mostly for show. "Ouch. So...how exactly do they...race?"

Mission paused as an announcer mumbled something over the intergalactic equivalent of loudspeakers (it was too loud to really understand what he was saying) and we kept clambering through the stands. "Usually they do speed runs, and the racer with the fastest time wins."

"Usually?"

"Today's a little different."

"How so?"

"The racers with the fastest times in the preliminaries, which is what they're doing now, face off against each other in one big final race. The winner of that wins the championship."

"Oh." This didn't sound too good, especially with that big old catch we had to work with. The two of us stopped, finding a spot that looked good enough to haul out the banner.

"From the look on your face, I think you're thinking what I'm thinking." She said, resting our banner down on one of the benches.

"That it's more likely the bike's going to explode before we get the chance to win?"

"Yup."
"Then yes, I am thinking what you're thinking." 'Since when did we become the Bananas in Pyjamas?' "So what's our plan with this then?"
"We wait until the final race is about to start and..."

"...show it off in all its glory along with all the other fans?"

"Yup."

"Sounds good to me. As long as Allegra makes it through the preliminaries."

"Yeah."

We sat down on one of the benches, still with a pretty good view of the track. I slouched forward, staring at the track before deciding to use the opportunity we had for more conversation. "So how long have you been on Taris?"

"Ooh, long time now. I was just a little kid when I arrived here."

"Bit rough of a place for a kid to grow up." She opened her mouth for that protest I knew was coming (although that time it had been Carth saying it and she'd been digital) and I beat her to the punch. "I'm just sayin', compared to Dantooine, this place is no picnic. Well, it's not exactly easy there either, but at least you don't have gangs that could beat you senseless while just walking down the street. No wonder you're such a tough cookie. Though having Zaalbar around must help."

She stopped, closed her mouth for a few seconds, and then spoke up. "I look out for Zaalbar as much as he looks out for me, I ain't some helpless kid."

"I never said that." I scuffed my feet, a warm smile coming to my face. "I mean, you can handle yourself way better than I can and I'm the older then you."

She returned the smile. "Just how old did you say you were again?"

I noticed the cheeky twinkle in her eyes. "I'm not telling you, you'll just rub in my face just how much I suck."

"Well...I suppose that's what you get for being a farm kid..."

I punched her playfully in the arm. "Oi missy, don't diss us country folk." She just grinned back at me, and the mood sobered up again.

"Do you ever think you'll see your family again?"

Her question caught me off guard and I had to think about what to say for a moment. "I don't know. Maybe...maybe one day."

'Shit, my family.' I'd been so caught up in all the craziness that had been going that I'd almost forgotten about home. Just how the hell was I going to get back? My little sis, mum, dad...was I ever going to see them again? And my friends, what about them? Things didn't seem like quite so much a big fun party anymore, if I didn't know how I was going to get home.

'What did you do back there anyway? Sure, you had friends, and you've got family but...it's not like you really amounted to anything...' That was no reason not to worry. This wasn't my home, this wasn't my real life. What was I going to do if...if...I didn't quite want to think about that just yet.

"Jess?" Mission said, noticing I'd gone very quiet.

I shook my head, brushing all those thoughts aside for a moment. "Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Oh. Okay."

We were silent again for a moment, both thinking, until I decided I was going to be the one to break it. "What about you? You got family somewhere?"

She sat there, silent for a bit longer. I was just thinking of changing the train of conversation when she finally spoke. "My brother, Griff. I was too young to remember my parents, much less know them or what happened...well, it was always just the two of us, you know?"

I nodded. "So what happened to him?" 'Apart from the fact he's a sleazy arsehole.' Oh yes, I remembered Griff, Mission's sleazebag of a brother. If I ever meet him, I'm going to give that bum a piece of my mind...

"I...I don't really want to talk about it. Not now anyway."

"That's okay, I understand."

She smiled, if it was only a small one. "You know, I'm glad you're not a guy."

I raised my eyebrows. "And why is that exactly?"

She giggled. "Because you're much better as a girl."

"That's not an answer."

Her smile widened. "It is now."

I poked her playfully in the ribs. "It is not. Give me a real answer."

She giggled again, scooting out of reach."Because as a guy, I'd almost think you're gay. What with the way you fussed over your hair, your clothes, and problems talking to girls..."

It wasn't exactly an answer, but I couldn't be bothered to go into it anymore. This was much more fun.

I laughed. "Small talk was never my strong point, regardless of gender. And all that doesn't necessarily mean a guy is gay."

"True. But since you're not a guy, it explains all that stuff."

A cheeky smile came to my face. "What if I was still gay?"

"Huh?"

"Being a girl explains all the stuff that could be taken as a gay guy, but what if I was still gay regardless?"

She gave me a questioning look. "You...aren't...are you?"

I laughed again. "And what if I was?" I grinned, wiggling my eyebrows.

"I would think twice about the whole shower scene yesterday." From the look on her face though, I think she'd caught on that I was just being an idiot and teasing her.

"Oh boy, I'm all hot and bothered at the thought of being alone...in the showers...with Allegra..." I joked, pretending to fan myself. "A girl gets tingles just thinking of that gorgeous red-head."

She laughed. "You're terrible."

"Aw...now that's just mean. You shouldn't be so mean to poor little old me." I pulled a sad face and she just pushed me in the shoulder, knocking me back a little.

"You weirdy."

I kept grinning. "You know you love me. In a totally platonic and so not homosexual way..." She just rolled her eyes.

Standing up, I stretched, at the same time wondering what else we could do while we waited for the final race. I looked past Mission, noticing a bunch of people milling around somewhere close by, though a little lower down from us. Then a cage came into view, guarded by a pair of...Nikto I believe they're called, in Vulkar colours.

'Must be where they keep the stash for the prize. Which means...that's where Basty is.'

My opinion on the young Jedi was mixed. Sure, she annoyed the hell outta me, much like Carth sometimes did but somehow I still somewhat liked her as well. Felt sorry for her sometimes even, but not enough to go out of my way to ignore her self-righteous behaviour.

An idea occurred to me and I stood up, moving to stand in front of Mission, and poking her on the knee. "Come on."

She looked up. "What?"

"Let's go check out the prize draw, see what's going on." I tilted my head in the direction of the area I'd noticed earlier, with all the Vulkars. There were a few Beks over there, and some other gangs, but the majority were Vulkars. Probably because Basty was their prize and they wanted to keep an eye on her.

"But we already know..."

"We've got time to kill. Plus, I'd like to get a good look at the woman that I joined this crazy little crusade to rescue. Wouldn't you?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah, I guess."

"Don't worry, we'll get back here in time for the race. I wouldn't miss showing off this baby for the world." I patted our banner. "Besides, Zaalbar can watch it for us, right big guy?"

Zaalbar growled an affirmative.

"See?"

"All right." She stood up. "Let's go then."

Zaalbar barked us something that sounded like the cross between a warning and a goodbye, but as usual I had no hope of understanding what came out of his mouth.

"We'll be back soon buddy, don't worry." Mission said to him. "I'll bring you back something to eat."

More barks and growls.

"I only have two hands! Geez!"

-()-

A quick look at one of the view screens showing the race stats showed us that Allegra had made it through the preliminaries (with some pretty sweet times too) and we were one step closer to rescuing Bastila. Hopefully the accelerator held out during the final race, otherwise we were going to be really screwed.

That sorted, we busied ourselves with checking out the stakes. Of course, marching right up to the cage and taking a peek proved to be a little more difficult than originally anticipated.

"Just where do you think you're going?" A burly looking Vulkar said, as I came within just a few feet of Bastila's cage.

"Uh...there?" I pointed behind him, trying not to balk at the size of the guy compared to me. I mean, I'm fairly tall, but this guy was huge.

"And what makes you think you can do that?"

Mission, who seemed a million times braver then me, beat me at responding. "The fact we have someone racing for it bantha-face. Seems you need to read up on the rules."

"Yeah...read up on the rules..." I echoed, a little more nervously. 'Maybe we should have taken Zaalbar after all...'

The Vulkar guard grunted something incoherent and then stepped aside, waving us towards the cage. To be truthfully, I'd seen Basty a million times before, but Mission here had no real idea who the young Jedi was, or even what she looked like. Which was really the only reason I'd suggested this trip.

'Take a good look girly. This is the woman you'll probably drive you up the wall with her snooty-ness for the rest of this trip...'

Speaking of trips, just where was I thinking mine was going to end? Where was I planning on getting off this crazy train? Off Taris was a big certainty, I wasn't (nor would I ever be) in the mood to get disintegrated any time soon. I'd probably be all right getting off at Dantooine...except for the fact the Sith eventually blew that place to pieces as well. You know sticking with these guys the whole way is starting to sound like a better idea...at least that way I have a say in how and when I get killed.

I turned my attention and thoughts, back to the cage. Basty wasn't looking so good in there, a bit paler then normal and barely standing upright. That neural disruptor must be some serious business.

"Well, well, look what we have here." A sly, arrogant sounding voice then came from behind us.

'Hm, I think my complete arsehole senses are tingling...that must be Brejik.'

And sure enough, when Mission and I turned around, there was the Black Vulkar leader, looking as smug and annoying as ever. Gosh what I wouldn't give to slap him right about now...if it wasn't going to get me killed. The guy needs a reality check, followed by a swift kick up the backside.

"Getting a good look at the prize now, are you kiddies?"

I scowled something vicious at the demeaning term (I'm almost twenty damn it!) and crossed my arms over my chest. Mission wasn't looking too happy with it either.

"Well, gramps..." I said, putting particular emphasis on gramps in retaliation for the kiddies remark. "...what's it to you?"

"We're allowed to be here." Mission added, mimicking my stance.

That smug look was still on his face. "Take a good look kids, for this is the closest you'll ever get to the prize."

"Pff." I snorted. "Entertain what delusions you see fit, Brejik, your overconfidence is your weakness." Oh great, now I'm half-quoting Luke Skywalker. Could I get anymore geeky?

"Your faith in your friends is yours."

'What is this, Return of the Jedi? He's about as ugly as the Emperor I guess...'

It was still pretty darn loud even over here and in my opinion the situation was just asking for it. Especially as a swoop raced just around the corner at about the same time he opened his mouth to keep boosting that bloody overinflated ego of his.

"Sorry mate, I can't hear ya over the sound of my awesomeness!" I sent a wicked grin in response to the vicious scowl on Brejik's face and then turned to my partner in crime.

"We done Mish?"

She nodded. "Yup."

"See ya on the flip side, guys. And please, try to lose gracefully." And with those particularly smart alecy words and a mock salute/wave from me, Mission and I turned tail and got out of there. Didn't want to wear out our welcome, and I was pretty sure after my big mouth, we weren't all that welcome by the Vulkars.

"That was brave." Mission said, as we left the Black Vulkar leader and his cronies far behind.

"Eh, it's not like he could do anything too nasty to us back there anyway, not with so many witnesses."

'No, that's later when he's gonna accuse Allegra of cheating, the dirty little prick.'

"I'm guessing the woman in the cage is obviously Bastila though."

"Yeah." I spared a glance back the way we'd came. "I'll say one thing though."

"What?"
"What is it with captors always making their women prisoners to wear skanky outfits? Seriously."

She giggled. "I think that's just a male thing."

"Not just males I'm afraid..." Eh? What was that? "You're telling me."

Shaking my head, I focused on our conversation rather than randomly hearing voices. Not like I hadn't done that before in the course of this little misadventure of mine (the damn things brought me here after all).

"Aw, and I thought you said you were gay before."

I snorted. "That was a joke and you know it. Besides, if I was gay, skanky outfits might be interesting but they're also demeaning."

She smiled. "Anyway, we better get back. The race will be starting any minute now."

I nodded. "Good idea."

"Just let me get something for Zaalbar to eat and we'll be all good..."

-()-

Zaalbar growled a greeting when we got back and dug straight into the stuff Mission brought back for him. Meanwhile, the two of us clambered up onto one of the benches in the stands, setting up our banner so it was ready when the time came. It was in the middle of doing that, when Carth rocked up.

"There you are." He said, walking over. "I saw Brejik looking pretty put off just before. You two wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would you?"

Mission and I exchanged a conspirators look. "Us? Come on Carth, we're practically angels, aren't we Mish?"

"Yup!"

He rolled his eyes, and then took in our banner. "Is that for the race?"

"Yup. Made it ourselves." Mission answered, "Right Jess?"
"You betcha. The other banners are gonna have nothing on this baby." I grinned.

Carth chuckled. "All right, settle down you two. We're here to rescue Bastila remember?"

"Who could forget?" I finished. "We've only been reminded like...I don't know, a million times?" I pursed my lips for a minute. "We got a good look at her before, over at the prize draw. They've got some kind of neural disruptor on her and the poor gal isn't lookin' too good for it."

Carth's brow furrowed. "I see. Brejik must have found out she's a Jedi somehow, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered with it."

"Well, I'm sure things will be fine once she's rescued." Mission added. "I mean, that's what we're here for, right?"

I nodded. "Yup." 'And then we'll have to put up with her. Still, I do feel sorry for her...'

Carth made himself comfortable over by the railing, and then pointed down at the track. "Here they come."

Mission and I got into position, and then she looked at me."Ready?"

"Ready when you are Mish. Let's unleash this baby!"

As the racers made their way out onto the track to their swoops, Mission and I unfurled the banner on its supports, showing it off in its full glory. The background was a neat dark blue, much like Allegra's racing jumpsuit, with silver lines making a cross over it. The symbol I'd drawn earlier sat in pride of place, right in the centre, standing out in bold black. Allegra, down on the track, noticed our banner unfurling into existence, and with a grin, lifted her helmet in the air showing off the symbol etched onto it with pride. Nobody was gonna mistake this mother of a banner as belonging to anyone else. Other banners slowly made their appearance, some for Vulkar riders others for the Beks. There were even some other ones for gangs I didn't even know existed. The whole experience was surreal and I couldn't help but grin like mad, certain my jaw would be aching once the race was over from all the work it was doing. Seeing this thing play out in person was a million times more exciting.

Racers took their positions on their rides. The volume of the swoop engines increased, the sound nearly deafening and I listened to the countdown over the loudspeakers, just audible above the clamour below.

5...4...3...

Allegra pulled down the visor of her helmet, and lifted her feet up to rest against the pedals. Other racers took positions. The atmosphere in the crowd was tense as the final seconds ticked down.

...2...1...

The light overhead the racers flickered from red to green.

...Go!'

The roar of swoop engines filled the air as they took off, each competing for glory. Racers zoomed across the track, the riders merely colourful blurs. Mission and I were leaning right against the railing, trying to spot Allegra in the crush as they went past us, little more than a blue and silver blur with a black mark up top on the track amongst the others. And it wasn't looking too good so far, what with her stuck behind a pair of Vulkars that were making it impossible to attempt a pass.

'Not good.'

Then there was a large flash as one of the two in front of her hit something, careening into his fellow. The explosion was pretty crazy, leaving scorch marks over the track. Allegra zoomed past, unaffected, now reaching third place. Soon enough they were all out of sight, and the two of us were scrambling to peer around Carth to look at a hand-held view screen he'd picked up. Hm, reminded me of the Podrace in the first movie...didn't Anakin's mum have something like this? Eh, I was liking these swoop races better. I winced at another almost collision, Allegra nicking past to take up second, and then looked back at the track, seeing if I could catch any sort of glimpse of them from here.

My brow furrowed, seeing something in the distance that had me stop and think for a moment. "Uh Mish..." I tugged on her jacket, hoping to get her attention.

"Mm?"

"Call me crazy but, is there supposed to be a guy standing over there?" I pointed to the shifty looking fella over in an abandoned stand, high up with a good view of the track. Carth was still occupied with watching the race.

"What do you mean?" She took a good look and then both of us noticed something that struck the innocence of the situation out of the picture.

"Damn, he's got a..." I started.

"...sniper rifle." She finished. We both looked at each other.

"I think Brejik's got something shifty planned." I said, "I say him because I'm sure that guy's in Vulkar colours."
She nodded. "We have to do something. If Brejik's sniper takes out Allegra..."

"...we're screwed."

We clambered down off the bench we'd been standing on to fix up our banner, near the railing.

"Where are you two going?" Carth asked, our escape not going unnoticed.

"There's a..."

I was cut off unceremoniously by Mission's hand over my mouth. "Girl stuff."

He raised an eyebrow, thought for a moment, and then waved us off. "Just get on with it."

I removed Mission's hand and the two of us walked away from Carth. Once out of sight, we took off, pushing our way through the crowd of fans and other team members milling around our part of the stands, headed in the direction of the sniper. A few people complained at being shoved unceremoniously aside, but I didn't let it faze me. There was a sniper to take care of. Of course, I saw her reasoning for not having Carth tag along, we had little time as it was and explaining things to him would eat up valuable seconds.

Unfortunately, the crowd got worse the further we got in, and it wasn't long before we found ourselves held up by a particularly large road block.

'Speaking of eating up valuable seconds...'

"Split up!" I shouted to Mission. "That way at least one of us will make it there in time to stop him!"

Nodding, she headed around to the right, while I took the left, barging my way through the crowd. An elbow here, a good shove there and then I was free, careening down the makeshift hallway. A blue blur just behind me to my right told me that Mission had gotten free of the crush as well. The two of us managed to make it to the sniper's stand unimpeded, and just in time too.

The seconds ticked down. The Vulkar sniper looked down the sight one last time. He lined up his shot. I sprinted across through the stands, heart pounding in my chest.

'Just a little further...'

His finger hovered inches off the trigger. A smug smirk made its way to his face. A burst of speed seemed to come from nowhere as I raced on. The finger moved, just a fragment on the trigger when... bam! My body collided with his in a full on tackle. The shot went wide, hitting the ceiling instead of its intended target. Allegra raced around the corner, overtaking another rider to finally wind up in first place, with not much track left to go. Mission caught up to me just as I was clambering off the sniper.

I flashed a grin her way. "Good guys 1, Vulkars, nil. Scnap!"

Her eyes went wide as she pointed over my shoulder. "Behind you!"

I just missed the blow the sniper sent my way by ducking, but wasn't so lucky with the second and was sent sprawling across the stands. Mission ran in and kicked the sniper rifle away as he scrambled to grab it, only to get an elbow in the ribs for her trouble. Recovering, I raced back into the fray, jumping onto the sniper's back and grappling his arms. The two of us wrestled back and forth, him attempting to get me off as I pounded my fists against what I could reach.

"Get off bitch!" he snarled, just barely dodging a hit from Mission who tried to take advantage of the situation.

"Make me arsehole!" I snapped back, the kick I'd sent his way going wide as he spun around.

His answer was to smash his back, and me, against a nearby wall. I hit the wall hard, pain shooting through the back of my head and, sliding off the back of the Vulkar sniper, crumpled to the floor.

'Damn it!'

Mission pulled out her blaster and took a shot at him as he now came after her. Dodging that, he suddenly picked up the rifle and swung it towards her, making her back up to dodge it and open for a counter attack. Knocking her blaster away, he sent her sprawling across the stands. Fuck! We're getting our butts kicked! And she's a better fighter then me!

'Snipers are supposed to be gangly little pricks, not human/alien tanks that smash you into walls!'

Forcing myself back upright, I staggered forward a few steps, determined not to mess this up. Of course, the fact I could now barely see from all the dark spots in my vision didn't help in the slightest.

"I should have known this would happen!" Someone, somewhere, cursed yet I couldn't tell if it had been out loud or in my head. "Blast and damnation! This transition period is most inconvenient!"

Either someone had done something to the lights or hitting the wall had somehow fucked up my vision. Mission was scrambling for her blaster, knocked out of her hand by the sniper earlier. The sniper moved back to his earlier position. I kept on moving forward, despite my dodgy vision. Closing in on the sniper, a few seconds passed as he lined up for another shot and then...

"This will have to do for now..."

...I pounced.

The rest of the battle was a blur, I was so out of it I don't even remember what happened. All that I do remember though, is coming back to holding the muzzle of my blaster snugly against the back of the sniper's head, my other arm around in a choke hold around his neck, keeping him from doing anything funny.

'That was...weird, to say the least.' I couldn't even remember seeing what Mission had been doing, but no doubt whatever it was had been enough for me to sneak in and get to this position. Blinking a few times to focus my vision better, I concentrated back on the situation at hand.

"Not feeling so cool now, are we mate?" I hissed, digging my blaster in a little for emphasis. "You picked the wrong girls to mess with."

I heard Mission come over and turned my head a little to look at her. "You okay?"

She nodded. "My head hurts a little, and no doubt I'll have a few bruises, but otherwise I'm good. You?"

"I've been better." I'm surprised I was upright with the way my head was spinning, but it was getting better so things should be good. The rest of me still felt pretty sore though. Seems bruised ribs had been the least of my worries in this adventure.

"We should get back, Allegra will have come off the track by now." Mission said, keeping an eye on our prisoner now as well. Although, was it just me, or did her tone sound a little...different? Almost...a teensy bit afraid. But...of me? That didn't make sense.

I nodded. "Grab that sniper rifle."

"Why?"

"We're taking this guy with us." I changed my position, keeping the blaster level with the sniper's head, but now grabbing him by the collar (feeling pretty badass in the process). "It's time to show Brejik messing with us is a bad idea."

"And soon, this Brejik won't be the only one..."

-()-

By the time we got back, things were already getting heated. No doubt we'd already missed Brejik's little line about Allegra (who'd obviously won) supposedly cheating and our fearless leader hadn't been about to take that lying down.

"I cheated?" Allegra said, pointing a finger at the Black Vulkar leader, her helmet resting snugly beneath one arm. "Who stole the accelerator from the Beks in the first place?"

"How come you have it now, if I "stole it" as you so claim?"

"Obviously somebody reclaimed it you schutta, or are you really that stupid?"

Brejik glared at her. "You are in no position to..."

"...give the leader of the Black Vulkars a taste of his own medicine?"

I will say something about Allegra. The woman has guts. Serious guts. Then again, with a past like hers, that's not all that much of a surprise.

"You cheated and you dare mock me woman?"

I coughed loudly and the attention shifted from Allegra and Brejik's little tiff to me, standing a short distance from them with Mission. Thankfully my head had stopped spinning by the time we'd made it back, though I did have a small headache. Being crashed into walls is not good for my brain cells.

"Speaking of cheating..." I threw down the Vulkar sniper, resting one booted foot on his back to keep him down. "...I think having a sniper ready to take out unsuspecting riders in the way pretty much takes the cake in my book." I levelled my gaze with Brejik's feeling pretty darn smug and proud of myself. "Like say...this one?" My foot nudged the sniper bloke in the side. "In Vulkar colours too I must admit."

"Not so smug now are ya Brejik?" Mission said and the two of us exchanged a high five at Brejik's sour expression.

"Due to the Hidden Beks' treachery, the Black Vulkars withdraw their part of the prize." Brejik snarled, looking pretty darn pissed off that his little plan was foiled. Of course, Mission and I were ripe to call Vulkar treachery but never got our chance.

"But that goes against tradition!" The Duros racing coordinator protested, before either of us could say a word. "Once entered, a prize cannot be withdrawn!"

It didn't surprise me in the slightest when Brejik shot the guy, and started his little pro-Vulkar rant. I could have just done without the "We are the wave of the future" speech of ultimate crap and I'm surprised I didn't try and shoot him right then.

"I happen to make my own future." Allegra said, sounding just as intimidating with this quiet and even tone she was adopting. "And it's starting to look like one without you in it."

'Ooh, is it just me, or has the room temperature just dropped a few degrees?'

"You think you can stop me from just selling this woman on the slave market?" the idiot named Brejik continued, looking smug. "You can certainly try."

I probably should have been more scared about the upcoming battle, but with Basty about to break out any minute, Allegra's total badass-ness and Mission, Carth and Zaalbar backing me up, I felt surprisingly confident. A new turn of events for me, I can tell ya.

'Seriously mate, you have no idea just who you are dealing with here...'

"I might have something to say about that Brejik." I nearly squealed like a bloody fan girl at the sound of that familiar, if weak sounding, voice and mentally cursed such blatant out of character behaviour.

The cage door was torn off with a wave of...what exactly would you call it? Telekinetic energy? Invisible Force energy? My creativity seems lacking in ways of describing it. Surprised at the sudden turn of events, one of the Vulkar guards was a little slow in reacting, giving Bastila plenty of time to nick his vibro double-blade and take him out. The other was a little faster, though met the same fate as Bastila gracefully whirled the weapon in her hands, slashing him straight across the throat. Then bloody blade in hand, she turned to everyone else, grey eyes shooting daggers at Brejik.

'Ouch.'

Would it be over-exaggerating to say I nearly exploded in happiness? Actually, yeah, it would. I was happy my shit-tastic combat skills were having their slack taken up by a Jedi, but I wasn't that happy.

'YES!' I had to stop myself from screaming that out loud. Despite her obvious personality flaws, I was glad for Bastila's assistance. Even though she was going to claim it was her that saved all of us in the end like the arrogant woman she is, but hey, I'll admit to being saved a little considering how bad I am at fighting. Just a little, mind you. When no one's looking...

"Black Vulkars to me!"

"Oh yes...summon the cronies..." I muttered, keeping a good grip on my blaster, still pointed at the sniper. Wait...couldn't I like ransom this guy or something? He is a hostage after all. Mission and Carth both reached for their blasters, with Zaalbar letting out an angry roar, bowcaster in hand.

"Kill this woman, kill the swoop rider! Kill them all!"

Even though we were about to head into some major battle where I knew I would probably totally get my arse kicked, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. 'Right, so moron face gets his lame cronies to take on a Jedi? Seriously, do the normal bad guys learn nothing? Jedi = lightsaber = fancy powers = total badass-ness. Okay, so this time it's just Bastila but...'

"Ah!" My internal ranting was interrupted from my feet being shoved out from under me as sniper bloke decided he was going to join his buddies in the upcoming skirmish. Amazing considering the state he was in. Somebody sure kicked the shit out of him.

Of course this was not so good news for me, being the closet target, and I barely managed to kick arse last time.

'I think I could do with another random semi- blackout...it seemed apparently helpful last time...'

As he scrambled up, I kicked out towards him, hoping to hit something. Contrary to my usual bad luck, I not only managed to have the blow connect, but also to hit a rather vulnerable area. The Vulkar sniper doubled over, giving me the opportunity to get back onto my feet.

"Try making any babies now son of a bitch..." I knocked him over the head for good measure, leaving him out cold on the floor clutching his crotch. One down, a dozen or so left. Perfect.

"If you really wanted that line to stand up, you should have shot him in the groin. As it stands, reproduction is sadly still possible. If he lives through this that is."

What the...? Voices again? Okay so it didn't sound like one of those weird ones that had brought me here, but was familiar none the less. And feminine. Creepy...but I had much more important and life-threatening things to worry about then hearing voices right now.

"Just don't get killed." Not to state the obvious, but yes, that is the plan.

Many of the other racers and gang members had already turned tail and fled once things had gotten nasty, leaving just us folks to deal with the Vulkars. Probably a good thing, with my shoddy aim I'd more likely hit them instead of the Vulkars.

Allegra threw her helmet towards a Vulkar thug that came at her, smacking him in the face and leaving him down for the count. Only to realise she'd used up her only weapon. I was currently fumbling for my blaster as the fight broke out, Vulkars coming at us from multiple directions and red spraying everywhere as Mission and Carth returned fire. Then some green as Zaalbar joined with his bowcaster, resorting to hand to hand combat whenever someone got too close.

'Just how many of these guys are there? They've multiplied! There wasn't this many in the pixelated version!'

Coat-hangering one of the Vulkars that ran past me in attempt to take out Bastila, I nabbed his blaster before his nasty landing on the ground and threw both that and my own to Allegra, who was still in a dire need for a weapon. And then realised just how much of an idiot I'd just been.

'Brilliant plan you utter moron! You do realise you just threw away the only weapon you at least vaguely knew how to use!'

I was regretting that move faster than you can say that lovely little f-word. Seriously so, with the hail of blaster fire that then came my way. Ducking to avoid getting hit in the face, I kept running, in a zig-zag to avoid anything else that came my way. The first two shooting at me were then taken down by a few well placed shots from Carth, who then moved to cover Allegra leaving Mission and Zaalbar to take up my slack. Oh and Bastila, can't forget her. In the middle of this current to kill and not be killed situation, I noticed a very handy, shiny metal cylinder hanging off Brejik's belt. A very, very, handy in the right hands shiny long metal cylinder.

'Let's just hope Bastila can catch well on the spot...'

So, like the unskilled maniac I am, I set about anteing up our side. Aka, nabbing that lightsaber off Brejik.

Preoccupied with dodging fire from Allegra, he didn't notice the tall, lanky young woman (aka me) racing over, her eyes on the prize hanging off his belt.

Grabbing Basty's lightsaber off, I slid through his open legs as he turned finally realising someone was near him. Once on the other side, I scrambled back up onto my feet, dodged his swing towards me and then whistled loudly to garner a certain brunette's attention. And then with a final...

"Bastila, think quick!"

...I threw that very handy shiny long metal cylinder towards her, with as much accurate aim as possible.

Discarding the vibro double-blade she'd "acquired earlier" into the chest of a Vulkar, Bastila plucked her lightsaber out of the air as it came towards her, and in the same instance as activating it, decapitated a second Black Vulkar that was sneaking up on her.

'Man, why is everyone so much more badass then me? ...this is just not fair...'

Ducking a swing from a Vulkar, I then elbowed him in the face before spinning around to follow that up with a well placed kick.

'What do you know, I'm getting better at this combat shit all the time...'

Backing up as others joined their fellow, I became aware of a humming sound just as my back hit Bastila's.

"Oh." Neither of us thought too much on it, finding the Vulkars closing in more in need of attention.

Undoing the catch that kept my sword snugly in its sheath, part of me almost squealed in excitement hearing that lovely sching sound as I pulled it out, the funky fluorescents (or the equivalent of fluorescents) down here giving the normally silvery blade a yellow-gold edge. Taking what I believed was the best estimation of a defensive stance, I kept my eye on the melee weapon wielding Vulkars swarming in front of me. A similar number was no doubt behind me as well, at Bastila's front.

"Can I safely assume you know how to use that thing?"

I tried not to let my sheepish-ness seep into my tone of voice. "Of course." 'Not unless you value your life Basty...'

"Then I suggest you do so."

"Don't have to tell me twice."

'Time to find my inner Lady Death.' I thought, thinking of one of my original characters that wielded a katana with speed and style. Something I knew I would never be able to compare to, no matter how much I tried. Plus the fact she was a vampire might also have something to do with it.

With Bastila covering my back, I fended off the Vulkar thugs coming my way as best I could, lacking in both strength and skill in comparison. I realised just how lacking when I nearly had my arm taken off trying to block an overhead swing. Darting out of the way, it occurred to me that dodging seemed the best of my abilities. Swerving my body right as a Vulkar swung his vibroblade my way, I bumped into another one and just managed to avoid having my arm chopped off.
'Right in front of Bastila too...great.' She was just carving through anyone that was stupid enough to go her way, while in the meantime I was barely hitting anything.

'You look like a total idiot!'

Ducking another swing, I thrust my sword forward into the chest of one of the two Vulkars closest to me (ignoring the stab to my conscience about killing someone) and then tried to pull it back out again. The damn thing stuck, and mentally cursing, I tugged viciously to pull it loose. Planting my foot on his chest I finally dragged my sword free from the chest of the Vulkar, my hand catching the handle in the reverse to how I'd held it earlier, now wielding it Starkiller-style. Only to swing it round and finish the second one off with a deep slash across the chest.

'Why the hell am I holding it this way now? Wouldn't that make it a million times harder to fight with the darn thing?'

I brought the blade up in time to block a sloppy swing from another Vulkar that had snuck up on me. Sparks flew as his blade slid against my own and a well-placed kick to the chest had him stumbling back. My hands changed their grip on the sword handle again, opting for a more traditional style, and I swung the blade out towards him, just managing to catch him on the shoulder.

'What the hell?'

One minute I'd fight almost as if I knew how, and then the next, I was swinging this thing around like a madwoman with no skills. Everything was disjointed, my body moving somewhat out of whack, more so then usual in these situations. I had no time to think about this however, my still bruised ribs receiving a nasty blow to them that had me falling over my feet and onto the floor. Thankfully, the Vulkar responsible was then unceremoniously taken out by Zaalbar. I managed to see Allegra shoot Brejik's blaster right out of his hand, before delivering him a shot right between the eyes. Leaving the Vulkar leader as dead as the rest of his men that had been stupid enough to go against us.

I blinked several times to clear the dark spots from my vision, still lying on the floor. Any remaining Vulkars skedaddled, probably intimidated both by the carnage and the double-bladed laser sword of death Bastila was sporting. Man, hope she thanks me for tossing that thing her way. And doesn't bring up just how idiotic I looked just before.

"Well...we're alive." I said, feeling uninclined to get up off the floor at present. "And we got Bastila. I'd call that an achievement."

Mission nudged my leg with her foot. "Just alive." She corrected. "Considering the way you fight."

"Can we leave the criticism of my skills for a time when I can actually have the energy to fight back, thanks? I think my already-bruised-but-now-even-more-so ribs are bitching terribly at me right now. And probably various other bits of me too." The shallow cut on my right arm from when I barely dodged a slash my way still stung like crazy.

"Then don't fight like a suicidal maniac next time."

"Say what?"

"Mission's got a point kid." Carth joined our conversation. "You were swinging that sword of yours around like someone with a few screws loose. That or two people trying to fight with the one body."

"Well, as far as I know, there's only one of me in this here body of mine, so I guess I'll take the few screws loose option." I sat up. "Even if I still take some offense to it. I still haven't got this whole combat thing down quite yet." 'Tell me something I don't know guys. If I had any idea just what the hell had been going on with me back there, I'd tell you. But I don't. No idea whatsoever.'

"I'm just glad things turned out how they did." Allegra said, tossing my blaster back to me.

Thankfully, I managed to catch it properly. "What, having a bunch of thugs assault our arses because their leader is the worst sore loser there ever was? I'd prefer it to have gone a much more civilised and somewhat less violent way."

"What I meant is that we managed to pull things off without anyone being seriously injured."

"Hm, that's a valid point."

Zaalbar growled something in agreement.

Bastila, who seemed to have been ignoring our conversation for the past minute or so, was brushing herself off, deactivated lightsaber in hand. And no doubt (though this is sheer speculation) wishing she was in her customary robes instead of the skanky little outfit she was wearing right now.

"I find such an outfit...flattering." For a total pervert maybe...wait?

I shook my head, thinking that somewhere in that mess of a battle I'd taken another blow to the head. Enough with the damn voices already, I'm crazy enough as it is.

"Well, that could have gone better." She said, finally seeing fit to talk to us.

I raised my hands in the air, blaster sitting in my lap. "See, I'm not the only one."

She raised an eyebrow in my direction, still sitting on the floor, before addressing Allegra.

"But if you think you can collect me as a prize you are sorely mistaken. I am..."

"...the Jedi we've been looking for this entire time?" I blinked innocently at her, acting as if I hadn't spoken at all when she looked my way again. Of course, part of my brain had detoured off to decide which time I liked her voice better, Bastila or a female Jaden Korr out of Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. Or comparing the two, I'm not exactly sure which.

"Bastila?" Carth said. At the sound of her name, the young Jedi turned her head to look at him, then looked at Allegra and then the pieces seemed to click into place.

"Carth? Carth Onasi?"

Carth nodded. "Yes ma'am. I'm glad you're alive."

"As am I." She looked back at Allegra again. "And you must be...the scout from the Endar Spire. My apologies for earlier."

"No worries. I'm not sure if you remember, but my name is..."

"Allegra Khan." Bastila said calmly, like she'd practiced the name a million times. Probably had.

"Uh, yes. Heh, well I guess we both were on board..."

"You were transferred to the Spire under my command, yes."

"..." Allegra blinked a few times. "Okaaay." She coughed a little nervously and set about introducing the rest of us. "Anyway, you already know Carth, so, the blue Twi'lek over there is Mission Vao and the Wookie's her friend Zaalbar."

"Finally, things are looking up." Carth said. "Maybe now we can make a move getting off this planet." Allegra nodded in agreement. Bastila's expression was hard to read. I'm not even sure what Mission and Zaalbar thought about it all.

I decided it was my turn for introductions, having been left out of Allegra's little speech because of Carth's interruption."Anyway I'm..."

"Appearing ridiculously androgynous and apparently cannot defend yourself?" Bastila finished, barely even looking my way.

I recoiled, like I'd been slapped in the face, and one of my hands started playing with the end of my ponytail. "Hey! Lay off will ya? I didn't exactly..."

"Just who exactly are you?"

'Well Miss High and Mighty, I'm Jess **** from Planet Earth where all this is a video game and I can bitch all I like about your conceitedness to the screen to my heart's content without having the backlash.'

"****, Jess ****." I said, then realised I'd managed to randomly do a James Bond reference and felt like a total idiot. The fact Bastila was looking at me like I was a total idiot didn't exactly help either. "Ahem, and I'm actually a girl..." I ignored the split second odd expression on Carth's face as I said that, letting my hair down. "See? Not so ridiculously androgynous now, am I?" 'No, now you look like a flat-chested adolescent...'

"Well, seeing that we've rescued you maybe now we can start planning a way to get off this planet." Allegra said, trying to move things along once again.

"Rescued me? I think it's fair to say I rescued all of you, after that mess." Bastila replied.

Allegra looked a little pissed off at that. "You rescued us? Excuse me, if I remember right somebody was incapacitated until about, oh I don't know, five minutes ago?"

I covered my mouth with my hands, lest somebody catch the smile my lips had curved into upon hearing Allegra shut down Bastila.

"So, I think it's fair to say that yes, we rescued you. Mess or no mess." Crossing her arms across her chest, Allegra cocked her hips the side, the expression on her face daring Bastila to contradict her.

'This woman is just too awesome.'

"Anyway, I will be here with Carth once you're ready to admit that." Grabbing Carth by the arm, she wandered a short distance off, taking Onasi with her.

Mission and I watched them go, before exchanging a look of raised eyebrows between us. Then Zaalbar growled/barked something that deemed her attention and I was on my own.

Coming to the conclusion my best bet was to probably make a better impression of myself to Bastila, considering how things had gone down earlier, so I wandered over to the Jedi with that intent in mind.

"Nice to finally meet you, after hearing Carth bang on about ya." I held out my hand, a warm, hopefully friendly looking smile on my face. She stared at it. I waited a second or two more, before giving up. This woman is just way too icy for her own good. I mean, the two of us couldn't be more different, especially in looks. The woman makes me look like some awkward, gawky teenager (especially with my current lack of breasts) and we're practically the same age. Well, she's probably a year or two older than me, but that's technicalities.

"So, bet you're glad to be out of that cage and in better hands, huh?"

She barely acknowledged my presence. "And what, pray tell, do you define as 'better hands'?"

"Uh, well, us...obviously."

"Considering the display I saw earlier, the others are more on the list then yourself."

"Well, nobody said it was just me, nor did they say...all of us were the most capable." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "But hey, at least you know, you'll have some company around your age now?"

'Why do you have to be so socially inept sometimes?'

Her eyes narrowed a little."Just how old do you think I am?"

"What? I didn't mean..." I stopped, then realised just what idea she had in her head about me. "Hey, I'm not a kid. I might not quite look it right now but I'm almost twenty and you're like, what, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two?" 'It's the bindings! It has to be! That's why everyone thinks I'm younger!'

"Age has nothing to do with anything between us."

I swear I had to stop my brain from corrupting that sentence and fast before I said anything stupid. "I know, I just meant...you know what, I'm going to stop right there before this gets even more convoluted."

"A wise decision."

"You're telling me."

"Right, right, right."

We were both silent for a moment and I realised she hadn't quite thanked me for my help quite yet.

"Yes?" She eventually said, seeing that I was looking at her somewhat expectantly.

"Sooo..." I shifted my feet. "Isn't there something you should be saying?"

She raised an eyebrow. "And that would be?"

"Uh...thank you. For, you know, tossing that there lightsaber your way earlier..."

"While helpful, it was also a distraction that any of those Vulkars could have taken advantage of. I'm lucky your attempt didn't end badly."

"Well, geez, I was just trying to help. You don't have to shoot me down like some arrogant pig."

She frowned. "I am not arrogant. It would simply more beneficial if you thought before you acted."

"I do think before I act, thank you very much missy. I am quite the spur of the moment genius I'll have you know."

"Is that so? And how many successes has this 'spur of the moment genius' received thus far?"

"Uh...two."

"And therein lies my point."

"Hey, it was two out of two attempts!"

"And out of these, two attempts, did either almost get you killed?"

"Uh, well, you see..."

"Exactly." She turned her back on me. "You might want to rethink adding "genius" in that earlier statement."

"Well, looky here Miss High and Mighty, we can't all be Jedi with fancy powers wielding double-bladed laser swords of death now can we?" I bitched. Even the others didn't give me this much crap for being stupid. Sure, Carth called me insane, but nothing this mean.

"I never said that." She said, her normal icy tone getting an edge to it.

"No, but you pretty much implied it. That counts in my book."

She turned back to face me, deciding what she was about to say was better delivered face to face. "Perhaps this book of yours needs a page where you learn how to hold your own in combat."

"You know, I didn't come on this little crazy train only to be insulted by the very woman I was helping rescue."

"It seemed to me you were the one in need of rescuing back there. I managed to rescue myself thank you very much."

Her behaviour was starting to get right on my nerves and in the end, I couldn't take it anymore so without really thinking...

"Oh for fucks sake!" ...I slapped her. "Can't you just be thankful someone tried to do something helpful for you for once?

And then what I just did caught up to me big time.

'Oh shit.'

-()-

Some Random: *smirks* I think I'll leave it there. You'll have to wait till next chapter to see how Basty deals with me. I have nothing really against her, honest. Hell, in real life I probably wouldn't have the guts to slap her, annoyed or not. Threaten to, yes. Pull it off, no. Hopefully nothing comes off as Basty-bashing because that was not my intention. As for the weird italicised commentary, that was intentional. If you've put the pieces together already, good on you. As for "me" it may take a little longer...

Argh, and I swear I need to improve my fight scene writing, they still sound like shit on the page and a million times better in my head, especially the bit with the sniper...but maybe that's just me? Once again, reviews make the world, or in this case the story, go round so please drop me one. *puppy dog eyes*

Next: Complications...