Chapter Twenty – Old Acquaintances

Thrum, thrum, thrum, thrum.

Jolee watched in silent annoyance as Bastila's fingernails attempted to drill holes into the kitchen counter while she frowned at the wall, clearly lost in her own thoughts. After exchanging a questioning glance with Juhani, who could only shrug in answer, Jolee asked, "Something on your mind, kid?"

Startled, Bastila folded her arms across her chest and shook her head. "How much longer until we reach Tatooine?" she asked with a pensive frown.

Juhani arched an eyebrow at her as she observed, "That is the third time you have asked that question in the past hour, Bastila."

Aeryn shuffled through the kitchen door, rubbing at her bleary eyes and stifling a yawn. "I swear," she grumbled as she poured herself a cup of caffa, "I am never having kids."

Jolee chuckled, "Dustil's really doing a number on you, eh?"

With a haggard sigh, Aeryn said, "I swear the Council used the Force to persuade me into this. Don't get me wrong, he's a powerful Force user, and someday he'll make an incredible Guardian, but the first step is undoing all the damage the Sith did to him. It's like…blowing up a star just so we can piece it back together again."

Jolee patted her arm as he left the room. "Don't make things worse than they are," he gently warned. "Besides," he turned to give her a pointed look, "you agreed to this because you need it as much as Dustil does…maybe more."

"Huh," Aeryn grumbled under her breath, "old people think they know everything." The abrupt thrum, thrum, thrum of Bastila's nails as she once more began her nervous habit caused Aeryn to frown at Juhani, who again merely shrugged. "Uh, Bastila," Aeryn asked tentatively, "you okay?"

Bastila sat down with a heavy sigh. "I am just anxious to get on with our mission, that is all."

Aeryn frowned at her, her brow wrinkled in concentration before she snapped, "You really have to stop blocking our bond, Bastila. It's very irritating."

The young Padawan gave her a sheepish glance. "I am sorry," she said softly, "but it is a…personal matter."

Aeryn laughed in surprise as she sat beside the Padawan and said, "There are no personal matters on this ship anymore. Come on," she urged with gentle concern, "tell us what's got you so worked up."

Bastila shifted uncomfortably as she glanced from Aeryn to Juhani and back again, but seeing nothing but genuine care, she finally relented. "Several months ago," she began quietly, "I received a message from…my mother on Tatooine." Juhani and Aeryn exchanged a wondering look, but didn't interrupt as Bastila continued. "She claimed she was ill and urgently needed to speak with me. At the time, Jedi business kept me from answering her summons. But…even had it not, I do not believe I would have come."

"I do not understand," Juhani pressed, confused. "Why do you not wish to see your mother? Especially if she really were ill."

"My mother can be…a bit taciturn," she said carefully. Aeryn had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing as Bastila, of all people, criticized someone for being uncommunicative. "We never had a strong relationship. I was very close to my father, who doted on me, and I often thought she was jealous of the attention he gave me. When the Jedi offered to train me, she was practically jubilant to be rid of me." It seemed impossible to hide the bitterness in her words.

Aeryn laid one hand on Bastila's arm in comfort as she gained a better perspective of the younger woman's fear of emotional attachments. "Oh, Bastila," she said softly, "I'm so sorry."

Bastila dismissed her sympathy with a wave of her hand and continued, "What does worry me, though, is that she contacted me instead of my father. I fear…I fear something has happened to him." She chewed her lip fretfully as she stared off before finishing quietly, "I am unsure whether I should attempt to contact her while we are there, if she is even still there."

"Well, I think you should," Aeryn offered. "You've obviously been thinking about this since she first tried to contact you, so if for no other reason than to clear your conscience, I think you should find her." Aeryn rose as Bastila nodded uncertainly. "Now, I'd better go shower – we'll be landing on Tatooine in less than an hour."

-

As the crew of the Ebon Hawk descended the loading ramp onto Tatooine, every one of them squinted and attempted to shield their eyes from the scorching light. "And I thought Korriban was bad," Dustil muttered.

Canderous snorted and pointed out, "Korriban only has one sun, kid."

Dustil narrowed his eyes as he peered through the fingers of his raised hand, noticing the second sun in the sky for the first time. "Yep," he grumbled, "I already hate this place."

"Okay," Aeryn said decisively, turning to face them all, "here's the plan for the moment. Dustil, Carth and I will accompany Bastila on some…personal business." Aeryn paused as Bastila offered her a grateful look. "Canderous, I want you to take Jolee and Juhani and see what you three can find out about this area. It would be pretty stupid to go wandering through the vast desert with no idea where the Star Map is. Just…ask around, see what you can find. But Canderous," she gave him a meaningful stare, "try to keep a low profile."

Canderous snorted as he claimed, "Hey, 'low profile' is my middle name."

Jolee muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear, "More like 'low profile if everyone in a ten mile radius is dead.'"

"Alright, that's enough," Aeryn said over the chuckles of her companions. "Mission and Zaalbar, I want you to stay with T3 on the ship. This isn't exactly the safest planet and-."

"No way!" Mission interrupted. "I am not getting left behind AGAIN! Big Z is perfectly capable of holding down the fort, so you can just find me somewhere to be – somewhere that's not the ship!" She crossed her arms and set her jaw stubbornly.

Aeryn sighed, and gave Canderous a pleading look, which he adamantly ignored until she laid one hand on his arm and puffed out her bottom lip in a pout. With an aggravated sigh, the Mandalorian shook his head and rolled his eyes at her display, but said to Mission, "Alright, kid, you can tag along, but try to stay out of trouble."

Mission beamed and said teasingly, "Oh, don't worry, staying out of trouble is my middle name!"

Canderous groaned and gave Aeryn that all-too-familiar "you owe me" look before the two groups left the ship and split up.

-

"Mm, yes? Can I help you?" The aging woman looked up from her drink in the smoke-filled cantina. She was thin and frail, her back bent from years of hard living, but her resemblance to Bastila was immediately apparent.

"It is me, Mother," Bastila said coldly, stepping up to the table. "Or do you not recognize your own daughter?"

The older woman wrinkled her nose disdainfully as she said, "And just how can you expect me to when I haven't received so much as a picture of you since you left?"

Bastila sighed in irritation, trying to recite the Jedi Code in her mind to keep her temper in check. "You knew that once I entered the Order there would be no contact. In fact," Bastila put her hands on her hips and glared, not caring how childish she might look, "you seemed quite pleased with that arrangement."

Shaking her head bitterly, the older woman chided, "You haven't changed a bit. Still blaming me for everything, I see. Ah, well, I suppose I should have expected as much."

Seeing Bastila preparing an angry retort, Carth stepped in, placing one hand on Bastila's arm as he said quietly to her, "Bastila, arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. Why don't you just ask her why she contacted you?"

Bastila pursed her lips and squared her shoulders. "Yes, Mother, why did you contact me?" she asked harshly. "And where is Father?"

The older woman's bitter scowl softened into sorrow. "I…I had thought you would have heard by now," she said mournfully. "I'm sorry, Bastila, but your father is dead."

Bastila looked like the wind had been knocked out of her as her shoulders slumped and her face contorted from the painful revelation. Carth and Aeryn both reached instinctively to comfort her, but before they could say two words, Bastila brushed them off, pointing accusingly at her mother as she spat, "This is all your fault! Always leading Father around on those damn fool adventures! Tempting him with treasure hunts that always led nowhere! You got him killed, you selfish woman!"

Surprisingly, the older woman kept a neutral face through the tirade, a sad sigh escaping her as Bastila finally fell silent. "Well," she said calmly, "then you'll be happy to know that I will soon be joining him. I am dying Bastila, but before I go, there is something I want you to do for me."

Bastila shook her head in disgust as she hissed, "I seriously doubt you are dying, Mother. This simply sounds like more of your melodrama."

Dustil pulled Aeryn aside, whispering in her ear so that only she could hear, "Her mother's telling the truth, Master. Can't you feel the sickness destroying her body?"

Aeryn nodded and whispered back, "Yes, but I wonder why Bastila can't. Maybe because she doesn't want to." She shook her head sadly at the woman and her daughter, focusing back on their conversation.

"…find your father's holocron," Bastila's mother was saying.

"Why?" Bastila asked angrily. "So you can sell it for a few credits?"

Her mother sighed wearily, her shoulders slumping as she murmured, "Is it too much to ask for an old woman to have something to remember the man she loved before she dies?" When all she received was a scornful sneer from Bastila, the older woman continued, "Look, this is all I am asking for. A krayt dragon out on the Dune Sea killed your father. One of the other hunters said it dragged his body into its lair, which means his pack, and therefore his holocron, are probably still there."

Exasperated, Bastila threw her hands up and said loudly, "We are on a very important mission for the Jedi Council, Mother! You cannot expect us to go running off on some fool's errand!"

Carth again attempted to calm the situation by asking, "Bastila, don't you want to find your father's remains? It might do you both some good."

Bastila gazed at him, her fury melting to depressed resignation. "What good, Carth?" she asked meekly. "He is dead, and nothing can change that." Her expression tightened as she turned quickly back to her mother and said, "I am sorry we have wasted each other's time." She turned and fled the cantina, Carth right behind her.

Aeryn turned to offer an apology to Bastila's mother, but the older woman had already returned to staring in forlorn silence into her drink. Frowning, Aeryn and Dustil left as well, following at a reasonable distance from Carth and Bastila. As she watched the older man attempt to talk some sense into the young, impulsive Jedi, Aeryn became acutely aware of strong emotions radiating from Dustil, mostly anger and jealousy toward the couple in front of them. Aeryn made a mental note to speak to her young charge about such feelings the next time they meditated.

The four were nearly back to the ship when they spotted Juhani and Canderous walking out of a building marked simply as "Hunter's Lodge." Aeryn could sense immediately that something was wrong, both from the confusing swirl of powerful emotions that surrounded Canderous, and from the scorching fury that burned behind his eyes.

"Any luck?" Carth asked hopefully, oblivious to the Mandalorian's demeanor. "Where's Jolee and Mission?"

Juhani cast a reproachful glance at Canderous before responding, "Jolee and Mission are questioning the Czerka employees of this world at their base down the street. As for us…we-." The Cathar broke off as Canderous abruptly turned and walked away, back toward the Ebon Hawk.

Aeryn ran to catch up with him, but he neither paused nor looked at her as she asked, "Canderous, what's wrong?" He stared straight ahead, his pace never slowing, even as they reached the ship and boarded. Aeryn tried to follow him as he strode into the garage, but to her shock, he slammed the door shut in her face and locked it behind him.

The moment Juhani stepped off the ramp, Aeryn demanded, "Alright, what the hell happened!? What's the matter with him?"

Juhani pulled her gently into the women's dorm, closing the door for privacy. "Canderous met an old friend," she said hurriedly. "Another Mandalorian named Jagi."

Lost, Aeryn shook her head and said, "Wait, wait. Start from the beginning, please."

Juhani nodded and began again, "I…I am not entirely sure what happened, but one moment we were talking to one of the hunters, the next, this big man, as tall and imposing as Canderous, bumped into him intentionally. I was certain they were going to come to blows, but Canderous recognized the man, called him by name. This…Jagi, it seems, has spent many years searching for Canderous. He called Canderous a glory-hunter and said he acted without honor, abandoned his men, during an important battle. The…Battle of Althir, I believe he said."

Aeryn frowned as she thought back, vaguely recalling the battle from one of Canderous' many war stories. "Well," she sighed, worried, "I suppose that explains a lot about his attitude."

"That is not all," Juhani said with foreboding. "Jagi challenged Canderous to a battle of honor. Tomorrow, at sunset on the Dune Sea, they will fight to the death."

-

Aeryn was pacing outside the locked garage door when Jolee and Mission returned. Though she wondered as Mission ducked her head to avoid making eye contact and scurried toward the port dorm, Aeryn said wearily to Jolee, "Please tell me you've had some success."

Jolee shrugged thoughtfully and said, "You could say that – all it took was selling my soul to Czerka. I got us a hunting license."

Aeryn blinked in confusion, failing to see the connection between finding the Star Map and having a hunting license. "A license to hunt what, exactly?" she asked carefully.

"Sand People," Jolee said flatly. Chuckling at Aeryn's dismayed expression, he reminded her, "I told you I had to sell my soul."

"I guess so," Aeryn responded. "But I still don't see how this helps us find the Star Map."

"Well, from what we gathered," the old man began with unusual patience, "the only creatures that know this planet well enough to locate the Star Map are the Sand People."

Bewildered, Aeryn asked, "So…you want to hunt them?"

The old man heaved an irritated sigh as he grumbled, "Kids these days really are dense. No, young lady," he explained in a voice that implied he was speaking to a three-year-old half-wit. "The license is just our ticket out of this city, since no one but hunters can leave. Sheesh," he muttered, "you'd think our fearless leader would be able to deduce that much at least."

Wrestling with the urge to scream at the infuriating old man, Aeryn said in a measured tone, "So, if you're not suggesting the wholesale slaughter of a species, what are you suggesting?"

"Well," Jolee began slowly, crossing his arms and leaning against the side of the hallway, "there was a man inside the offices when we arrived who claimed that Czerka is the reason for the Sand People becoming aggressive. He seemed to believe they could be reasoned with."

Aeryn frowned as she said, "Even if that were true, I don't speak their language, Jolee."

"That's what I told the man," Jolee said with a nod. "He claims that the local droid dealer has an unusually sophisticated translator droid for sale right now. It might be worth looking into."

Finally seeing a thin ray of hope on this dismal planet, Aeryn had nearly broken into a smile when she felt a deep wash of sorrow coming from the port dorm. Jolee frowned as she met his eyes, obviously feeling the change too. Together, they rushed down the hall, met halfway by Juhani and Dustil as well. Not a word was exchanged as the four Jedi burst into the dorm room, only to see Mission sitting on her bunk staring at the wall across from her as tears slid silently down her cheeks. In her trembling hands was a datapad.

Aeryn quickly knelt beside the young twi'lek, shaking her slightly to get her attention. "Mission, what is it?" she gently pleaded. "Why are you crying?"

Mission stared at her, or rather through her, for a long moment before pushing the datapad into her hands. Without so much as a glance at the other three, the twi'lek laid down on her bunk and rolled her back to them, curling herself into a ball.

Gazing down at the datapad, Aeryn realized with some surprise that it was an employee manifest from the Czerka Corporation. We have got to stop stealing these things! The screen displayed the picture of a blue male twi'lek, young with a cock-sure grin spread across his face. Beside the picture was the name "Vao, Griff." Underneath the name, in large, bold-faced red letters were the words "Missing: Presumed Dead."

Squeezing her eyes shut and pinching the bridge of her nose, Aeryn handed the datapad off to the others with a sigh, hoping she would not have to explain what they were seeing. Aeryn shifted to a comfortable sitting position beside the bed, putting one hand on the girl's shoulder, but saying nothing. As soon as the other's finished reading, Jolee silently ushered them from the room. Dustil hesitated in the doorway, a painful frown wrinkling his brow, but with a sigh, he too left the room.

They stayed like that for a long time, Mission perfectly still on the bed, Aeryn offering silent comfort. Finally, Aeryn decided to leave the grieving girl to rest, but as she began to stand, Mission's weak, cracked voice whispered, "Please don't leave me. I…I don't want to be alone."

Smiling slightly in relief to hear her speak, Aeryn sat back down and whispered in return, "You're never alone, Mission."