A Jedi's Love: Chapter 10
Longer than usual wait. Sorry.
After finding the launch codes, which had been on the Sith Apprentice which Tao had killed, Carth, Tao and T3-M4 all left the base and went back to the apartment they now shared. Carth updated the group, mainly Bastila though, on what had happened since the two of them had left.
After she had been informed of the situation Bastila told Tao that she believed something would happen soon and that they would need to hurry if they were to escape Taris. For some reason this caused Tao to worry and she couldn't figure out why. The Jedi also said that she wished to come along with them to see this Mandalorian mercenary. Tao had agreed but had suggested that she would need some sought of a disguise so that the Sith wouldn't recognise her.
And so at the moment Bastila, who now had very bright blonde hair that caused Tao to laugh every time she looked at her, and Tao Fel where both buying some more supplies while Carth was helping to pack everything the group had gathered during their time here, ready for when they all escaped.
Tao watched as the Jedi continued to pick up things she believed they might need. They hadn't spoken much, mainly because Tao had a lot in her mind, but over the time she had kept quiet, she had decided that she needed to talk to Bastila about what happened with the Dark Jedi back in the Sith base.
"Bastila".
The younger woman looked to the smuggler. "Yes?"
Tao thought for a moment, trying to think of how to word what she had on her mind. "When we were at the Sith base, me and Carth were forced to fight a Dark Jedi". Bastila's eyes widened in reply. "I was just wondering how on Coruscant I managed to kill him with my vibroblade! I mean I'm a good fighter but surely he should have kicked my ass". Bastila didn't move for a moment: she just stared at Tao. The smuggler wasn't sure why but she found herself finding the beautiful Jedi staring at her kind of creepy, especially with the hair colour she now had.
"I-I guess that proves it" she finally spoke. "You must have the Force working through you, to be able to beat a force user". Tao nodded but the Jedi continued. "But you must realise that whether or not you are up to the task of the Jedi is down to the Council." Again Tao nodded.
She had come to realise that she actually wanted to be a Jedi. It had been a dream of hers when she'd been growing up and now that she had a chance, however slim, she wanted to take it. The only trouble was the smuggler didn't actually believe she'd make a good Jedi. She hated rules, and so wouldn't follow their code; she loved action where as a Jedi was supposed to be at peace and she loved to drink which the Jedi Order would never allow her to do.
Deciding to lighten the mood she spoke again.
"I must say that you look rather dashing Miss" she said, trying her best to do a Tarisian noble's accent. Bastila scowled at her.
"I'm beginning to think that you just made me do this..." she answered, pointing to her hair "... to make fun of me". Tao smirked and nodded.
"I was just going to give you some robes with an old hood to wear but I decided this would be more fun". Bastila shook her head.
"I refuse to talk to you anymore" the Jedi told, turning away from Tao and going back to her work.
"That doesn't mean I won't talk to you" the smuggler teased. Bastila tried her best in not listening to the woman but she found it so hard not to. She had wished for this for so long, after the years she'd been left alone. She had desired to hear the woman's teases, her voice, again and to not be allowed to gather up the woman she'd loved in her arms again was killing her. And so she was forced to act like the cold, heartless woman, she'd become after she had heard of Revan's fall.
Bastila kept telling herself that this wasn't Revan, the woman she'd fallen in love with, and rather a smuggler in her body. The trouble with this was that the more she spent around Tao Fel the more she realised that she was Revan. She acted exactly the same as the former Dark Lord of the Sith and the thought of this both frightened and excited Bastila at the same time.
"Hey, you okay?" Tao brought Bastila from her thoughts.
"What? Err... yes. Let's go and pay for these things" the Jedi suggested. Tao nodded before the two left to pay for the few pieces of equipment and the supplies they'd picked out.
Soon the two women were going into Javayar's Cantina. While talking to her Bastila had discovered that Tao still had the same disgust for Mandalorians than she had before she'd left for war. This was just another of the many things added to the list of Revan like qualities.
Bastila had told Carth to stay at the apartment because she had a strange feeling that they would need to get off of Taris rather quickly once they had gotten the Ebon Hawk and that if he were there, he could organise the group that remained at the apartment much more quickly, possibly saving lives.
When they arrived they were quickly spotted by Canderous who beckoned them over.
"I figured you'd be back" he spoke smugly. "Neither of us is getting of this planet unless we work together". As the two women sat down he raised an eyebrow at Bastila and grinned. "And who's your friend?"
"Be careful where those eyes look, Mandalorian" the Jedi in disguise spat. Rev... no Tao might despise Mandalorians but Bastila had no love for them either. Canderous grunted in reply.
"Anyway, I know the Sith base had a break in, and I know you have those launch codes. So what do you say?"
"Okay. Let's get out of here". The three of them got up and they all left the Cantina. Halfway back to the Upper City lift Tao turned to Ordo.
"How are I and... my friend, going to get into the base?" Canderous didn't turn to face the fiery women but gave a lop-sided grin.
"You're gonna be a new recruit. Davik watches the swoop races and I'll just tell him you're interested. As for your friend..." He stopped and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Tao took the hint and stopped the conversation. Not like it was a very pleasant experience talking with a Mandalorian anyway.
As the group got to the speeder and made their way to Davik's estate Tao became more than a little worried. She knew that it was standard protocol for a new recruit to be checked for their background. If Davik got this information before they had a chance to leave, they would be in trouble. It probably wouldn't make the leader of the Exchange very happy to find out that one of his former smugglers, who had cheated him, was in his estate. She just hoped he wouldn't recognise her.
Once they arrived they were escorted off with Canderous to a throne room of sorts. As Bastila and Tao looked around they were surprised to discover that the estate was decorated in colours that wouldn't usually fit with a human male. The whole place was a variety of shades of purple.
The throne room itself was huge with barely any furniture in it at all. There was a throne chair, obviously, and that was pretty much it. Sitting upon it was an older man with grey hair. Tao nearly laughed at his choice of clothing: which was surprisingly purple.
"Canderous. You've brought some people with you, most intriguing if I do say so myself. You usually travel alone" he commented, more to himself than anything.
"It's not like you to take on partners Canderous; you're getting soft". Tao turned to see a smallish man walking into the room behind her. She recognised him immediately as being Calo Nord, as she'd had the pleasure of seeing him already.
Canderous growled at the small bounty hunter and pointed a finger at him. "Watch yourself Calo. You may be the newest Kath Hound in the pack but you're not top dog yet!"
"Enough!" Davik exclaimed as he rose from his throne. "I won't have you two killing each other: that's not good business. I'm sure Canderous has a reason for bringing these people along". Canderous and Calo backed down from one another and the mercenary motioned to Tao.
"I'm sure you know who this is". Davik gave a good hard look at the smuggler before his lips began to rise.
"Ah yes! Tao Fel, the Taris swoop champion. It's a pleasure to meet you" he spoke while taking the smugglers hand into his, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. "It has been a while since a woman, especially one with your beauty, has won the Taris Swoop Race".
Tao raised her brow and gave a smile, all be it a fake one. "And it's a pleasure to meet you". Davik looked to Bastila and Tao explained. "Oh she's only my servant. She comes in quite handy, especially in a fight".
"She must be very loyal" the Exchange leader commented before taking Tao's hand again, which was starting to make her feel sick. "Come, I'll give you a tour of my operations here".
The tour had been boring for Canderous and Bastila who had just followed Davik around almost like lost Gizka while Tao had hated the tour even more. Davik only paid attention to her, only talked to her and the smuggler had found it extremely frustrating. She had tried her best to act as if she were interested and she must have done a reasonable job but now, finally, the group were free of the annoying old man.
He had brought them to a lavishly decorated room somewhere in his estate and told them that he would be back once he had given her a thorough background check.
"Well wasn't that lovely" Tao voiced once Davik had left. Canderous smirked behind her while Bastila got her lightsaber out.
"Personally I want to get off this planet as soon as possible" commented the Jedi as she moved to open the door.
"Impatient isn't she" noted Canderous.
"Perhaps". Still not talking to a Mandalorian if I don't have to.
Bastila ended up leading them completely the wrong way, into the slave quarters. She questioned as to why Canderous hadn't told her which way to go and he just thought it would be rather funny to have her lead them blindly. Tao started to get uneasy as she realised that the Mandalorian had the same kind of twisted humour as she did. She didn't like having the same qualities as one of those butchers.
In the end, Tao led them through the estate and it didn't take them long to find the Hanger. The only trouble was it was locked and the only way in would be to get the codes to disable the security. It was then that Canderous piped up and told them that the pilot of the Hawk had been locked up for stealing spice and that he would bound to know what the code was.
After a lot of killing, where Bastila found herself watching how impressively Tao fought, they found the pilot. He was stuck in a shielded cage, being tortured but after destroying the droids Tao set him free. He told them the codes before running off.
"Is that man stupid?" asked Tao as they made their way back to the hanger. "How's he gonna got out of here on his own, with no weapons?"
"How should I know? He'll probably sell us out and tell Davik we're stealing his ship if he gets caught" Canderous answered.
Before long, they were in the Hanger with the Ebon Hawk barely thirty metres away. The three were about to run to it when the entire estate shuddered. Then again, and again, and again. Every time the shudder became more powerful, nearly knocking the three of them off of their feet. Tao and Canderous wondered what was going on while Bastila knew instantly: the Sith were bombing the planet.
"Quickly, on the ship" Bastila ordered. "The Sith are bombing the planet". Tao and Canderous looked at the Jedi in shock before they began to run forward. They were once again cut off when a mumbling Davik and Calo Nord came rushing into the Hanger.
"You!" Davik pointed to Tao. The smuggler motioned to herself questioning if he was talking to her.
"You are that smuggler my boys had so much trouble finding. You caused me a lot of grief you know, and now you're trying to steal from me again!" Tao didn't answer, she just snarled at the man that had ordered Leila's death. She pulled out her vibroblade and charged at the man.
She moved so quickly that Davik only just had a chance to pull out his own sword to block the attack and Calo never even had a chance to take a shot at her. The bounty hunter soon became busy, though, with Bastila and Canderous.
It didn't take long for Davik to go down and, just as Tao was going to make the killing blow, she was pulled backwards by some invisible force. She moved to stand and noticed that the roof had collapsed, killing Davik and, if not for the power, her to. She realised it was Bastila who'd done this and smiled.
A second after Davik's death, Calo pulled out a detonator and told the three how he may as well go down with them if he was going to die. He didn't get the chance to pull the trigger however as another section of roof fell on top of him.
The three didn't wait to leave and all of them shot towards the ship. Canderous did grab Davik's body and Tao hoped that it was for his armour and not for some sick Mandalorian custom she didn't know about.
Tao sat at the controls of the Hawk before piloting the vessel towards the apartment complex they'd been staying at. The smuggler was a reasonable pilot but she had left most of the piloting to Leila during her smuggling days.
She flew towards the complex and found the group of people on top of the roof. Also on the roof were a few other random people Tao had never seen before: probably people who Carth had brought along, trying to save.
Tao lowered the Hawk down and landed her on top of the roof. As soon as the ramp was open there was a rush of people getting inside. Carth ran to the cockpit and took the controls of the ship before telling Tao to get to the turrets, just in case any fighters tried to shoot them down.
It was a good thing the smuggler had too because if she hadn't have been there, the fighters may have already destroyed the ship. She worked her way through them reasonably quick before the star lines appeared telling her that they were now in hyperspace.
The smuggler let out a sigh of relief. They had got away but the Sith had just killed millions. She knew they were evil but she hadn't been expecting anything like this. In these few moments Tao came to realise something: if she could help in any way in bringing the downfall of the Sith, she would do.
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