"You're not bad with a blaster turret." His tone was both astonished and amused, as if she had been a magician cutting a man in half while shooting down a dozen Sith fighters.
"I bet those fighters were saying the same thing." Carth laughed.
"Were you always that good with a pair of crosshairs?"
Strange. She couldn't remember.
"Are you always so admiring of a woman's ability to blow something up?"Carth raised an eyebrow, his hands moving over the controls of the Ebon Hawk seamlessly.
"Not usually, but you're something else, gorgeous." The nickname made her tingle in places she'd rather not.
This all seemed too much to balance; her new status as a Jedi, finding the Star Forge, how this roguish Republic soldier made her feel.
"Kashyyk shouldn't be far off," he murmured, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back contentedly in his chair.
"Ever been there?"
"I've been a lot of places, but the Wookiee homeworld never came up in the Republic's destinations."Katrina leaned forward, staring into open space, wondering which one of the approaching stars would eventually turn out to be Kashyyk.
"I have."
Strange. She couldn't remember when or why.
"You must have been quite a scout,"Carth said, giving her a sideways glance. "Small wonder the Jedi wanted you aboard."
She stared at him. He broke into laughter.
"All right, I know it wasn't the tune I was singing back on Taris, but you've since shown a lot of reason for a guy to want you by his side."
Katrinastared at him again. She watched his face rapidly fill with blood as he realized how he'd worded his compliment.
"Um...well, you know what I...what I meant was..." He apparently decided it was better not to attempt to finish, and busied himself furiously with the controls.
She bit her lip, trying not to smile girlishly to herself.
"So what's Telos like?" His face grew less embarrassed and more pensive.
"I'm not too sure what it's like now. When I left it was in ruins, but they must have started rebuilding by now."
"What was it like before the war, then?"Carth glanced at her tiredly, but didn't object to her question.
"I imagine everyone says this about their home after it's been blown to kingdom come, but...it was beautiful."
"Two oceans clearer than Hoth ice, trees and flowers and fields," he continued, "It was pretty rustic- most of Telos was rural areas with some larger cities here and there.It's a planet loyal to the Republic. We- I lived in a military colony near the Crion valley."
"I'm not saying it was paradise or anything," he added, noticing the skepticism she'd thought she was keeping off her face. "But it was home."
Hewas calm,paying complete attention toboth her, the controls, and the sky all at the same time.
"What about you? You never did say where you came from." His question interrupted her thoughts, andKatrina involuntarily looked away, trying to hide the fact that she had been watching him.
"You mean I didn't just fall out of the sky in that escape pod with you?" Carth laughed, and she thought of how much she liked his laugh. It was honest, like him.
"I braved your interrogation, beautiful. Think you can make it through mine?" She returned his smile.
"I..."
She instantly felt discombobulated, like there had been a hurricane in her mind and her hapless brain waves were scrambling to collect her memories.
Strange. She couldn't remember.
Her first impressions were how red the planet was. It stood out like a Twi'lek on Kashyyk, a bright crimson blot upon the blackness of space.
It wasn't unlike the explosion that had begun this whole mess, and she winced involuntarily.
"Must be from all the baradium deposits I'm picking up," Canderous commented.
"Supplementation: Baradium is a highly unstable substance used in the construction of thermal detonators and similar weapons, Master. It would seem that our suppositions on the planet's basis of economy are not incorrect. A most sensible direction to take a planet's resources, in my own opinion."
"Are there any authorites to-"
"Unidentified ship, please identify yourself and your business." Bastila's query was cut off by a much more official one. Mission sat up in her seat as if giving the information was an incredibly important task.
"This is the Ebon Hawk requesting permission to land. Um...please?" Mission glanced back at them, and Katrina tried to keep from making a snide comment.
The Twi'lek liked to get angry whenever someone made a crack about her relatively young age, but it was obvious that there were some things even street smarts couldn't change about a kid.
"Shouldn't we tell them what we're doing here too?" Dustil said.
"And possibly send an announcement to whoever planned the attack that his target is about to land?" Bastila answered. Katrina recognized her tone, the superiority and the condescension that had been lorded over her when she had first met the Jedi.
She heard Dustil exhale in frustration. She hoped he could handle Bastila's initial behavior towards new recruits better than she had.
"The transmission is coming from a large city on the south side of the planet," Zaalbar growled.
"Coming up on the sensors as...Forn-eea?" Mission added, stumbling over the unfamiliar name and stressing the second syllable.
"Fornia." She corrected. They all glanced back at her.
She realized she had absolutely no reason to suppose that her pronunciation was any more correct, other than that she had a distinct feeling that it was right.
"Ebon Hawk, you are cleared for landing at Dock 38."
"That was relatively painless," Dustil remarked.
"It may be that they recognize the name," Juhani told him. "Or perhaps they are a planet used to visitors."
Or maybe the painful part is waiting for us to land.
Mission piloted the ship towards the planet. It began to shudder violently upon entering the atmosphere.
"Sure you don't want to let someone else fly this thing?" Dustil added.
"And what's wrong with my flying?" Mission replied indignantly.
"Mission..." Bastila said cautiously.
"I wouldn't know, considering the fact that you're more crash-landing than flying." Both seemed to ignore her warning tone, and Katrina grasped onto the back of Mission's chair as their entry became rougher and rougher.
"A Jedi does not taunt others for not having as much knowledge as they might have. These are the actions of a Sith," Juhani said severely to Dustil, stumbling forward and grasping for something to hold onto.
"Listen, buddy, just 'cause your dad is Mister-Republic-hero-best- pilot-in-the-galaxy doesn't give you the right to make cracks about my piloting skills!" Mission snapped.
"Mission!" Katrina yelled.
T3 beeped furiously as he tipped over from the turbulence.
"I must have been out of my mind to allow a Twi'lek kid to fly this thing," Canderous muttered at her side.
"Kid?" Katrina's palm flew to her forehead. Canderous smirked grimly, unapologetic.
"Mission, now's not the time!" Zaalbar roared.
"Oh, so now you're against me too, huh, Big Z?" There wasn't much time to admire their surroundings, but Katrina could make out the structures of the city, of the dock they were supposed to be landing at, rushing towards them at alarming speed.
"No one thinks you're a kid, Mission, and no one thinks you're a bad pilot!" she yelled desperately.
"Prove it to us by landing," Bastila added, a slightly queasy quality in her voice.
Mission snorted angrily, but said nothing more.
Katrina took the few seconds to turn and give Dustil a look that might have broken Malak himself into pieces.
The younger Onasi seemed torn between defiance and a red-faced shame. He looked away.
The ship seemed to go faster for a moment, the dock and the tiny people milling about in it growing larger much more quickly than they should. But finally, with a loud groan of metal and thrusters, the ship came to an abrupt stop. They were all thrown backwards.
The ship plopped down into the dock neatly, as if nothing had been amiss.
Mission sighed, turning around in her chair. Her face was a slightly lavender hue, the equivalent of a blush for the blue-skinned Twi'lek.
Bastila was eying her with a slightly green face. Evidently rough flying and cramped quarters weren't agreeing with the Jedi on this mission.
"I guess I got a little upset...and maybe a little distracted."
T3 let out a long series of enraged beeps as he righted himself, what Katrina could only imagine was a string of curses in some unknown droid language.
"From now on," Canderous said roughly, reaching past her and powering down the controls, "I do the flying."
Mission folded her arms but nodded compliantly. However stubborn, she could still admit when she was wrong.
"You and I, Padawan Dustil," Juhani said firmly, turning to Dustil. "will stay aboard the ship and begin your training. You are obviously not yet ready to venture out on a mission other than that of learning the Jedi Code."
Dustil nodded miserably, though she didn't know whether it was because he had failed and exposed his learned Sith behavior, or because he couldn't go out on an adventure with them.
"Yes, Master Juhani."
"Bastila, HK, care to join me?" Bastila nodded vigorously. Katrina stood, rubbing her neck.
"Answer: It would be a distinct pleasure, Master. Since you departed with the meatbag Onasi, only the Mandalorian has been a source of function for my numerous battle capabilities. I am most eager to use them again." She glanced at Canderous, who only smirked to himself as he worked.
"I'm hoping you won't have to, HK." The droid's shoulders seemed to sag dejectedly.
"Answer: As you wish, Master. Though I doubt that to be very likely on a planet based on demolitions."
Katrinawalked towards the ship's gangplank and wondered how true the droid's premonitions would turn out to be.