Next chapter, yay! Thankies to Darth Riven for reviewing! Oh, and i made some minor changes to chapter 1 and 2, just changed a few incontinuities.
Chapter 5: Adding Insult to Injury.
"You know, trying to remember where I chucked my lightsabre was really-" Miko stopped mid-sentence, glancing up from the silver and black hilt in his palm and at the scene before him.
Camilly Freelancer's eyes were clouded by rage and her cheeks were flushed pink with fury as she was stalking towards the door he had just come through. Kyp's face was similarly furious as his eyes bored into the back of her retreating head.
"Am I interrupting something?" Miko asked in a low, wary tone as his gaze flickered from his Master's incensed features to Cam who almost shook with her ire. Kyp's eyes continued to stare at Cam who stopped beside Miko and folded her arms over her chest, ignoring Kyp pointedly.
"Nothing!" Kyp bit out a little too harshly and Miko winced and glanced instead at Cam for enlightenment.
"Oh really?" Miko pushed, cocking an eyebrow as she visibly ground her teeth and glared at him.
"Oh yes! It's nothing really! Just your companion here is a laser-brained, Hutt-spawned, Rancor-dung-eating Hootmian!" Cam yelled, waving her arms in furious illustration of how angry she was. Kyp bristled at the long list of insults that she reeled off without so much as a momentary look in his direction and stood folding his own arms across his chest with fists clenched.
"Well as long as we're trading insults!" he replied with a cocky half grin. "You're the one who took offence you freeloading, self-righteous little harlot!"
Miko stared at his Master in horror, expecting Cam to react to the derogatory comment but instead she simply gave a mirthless laugh and fisted her hands on her hips.
"Please, Sparky? Is that the best you could come up with?! Like I've never heard an insult like that before!" she sneered tossing her head back and barking with laughter again. Kyp's mocking smirk returned and he gave a blasé shrug, letting his eyes rake over her briefly attired body.
"I'm not competing against you to see who can come up with the best insults…I simply call 'em as I see 'em!" a look of deep satisfaction came over Kyp's face as Cam's eyes flashed dangerously in his direction.
"Bite me, you gob of Hutt slime!" she snarled lunging for him but before her hands could find their mark around the ebony haired man's throat, Miko caught her in his grasp and struggled to keep her under control.
"Alright, children, calm down!" Miko growled managing to force his body between that of Cam and Kyp and restore a certain degree of order to the situation. "What happened to get you two at each other's throats like a pair of Tusk Cats?" he fixed his gaze upon Kyp, silently questioning him through the Force at the same time but Kyp either didn't notice or chose not to reply. His ardent emerald stare was focused back on Cam and Miko groaned aloud as the pair began their delirious ranting again. He clamped his hands over his ears and rolled his soft brown eyes to the damp ceiling.
"Force, give me strength!" he muttered through clenched teeth, his own irritation beginning to swell in his chest. "LOOK!" he yelled and the squabbling couple stared at him as his voice bounced around the box-like room. "You two are going to have to be civil to each other! I can't cope if you're going to be arguing all the way to Nal Hutta and back!"
Kyp placed his fists at his slim hips and cocked a dark eyebrow at his apprentice. "Who said we're going to Nal Hutta?!" he demanded brazenly and Miko gave him a confused frown.
"We've got to help Cam get her family back! We've got to stop Droga or innocent people are going to be killed and that will continue as long as he is free!" Miko's confusion only grew at the dispassionate look on the older man's face. "Kyp?"
Kyp turned his back to Miko and raised his gaze to the mould covered ceiling, running a hand through his shadowy hair. Realisation hit Miko through the Force like a physical blow to the chest and he let his breath out in a great blast of air. Kyp meant not to help Freelancer! Something was bothering the Jedi Master, bothering him so badly that he was willing to let Cam go to Nal Hutta and risk capture and death all alone.
"So, you're just going to let this injustice go?!" Miko asked, incredulously and he sensed Kyp clench his teeth.
"It wasn't on the schedule." He replied quietly and Miko sensed the turmoil within him as strong as it had been in the hangar. He paused for a moment before stepping forwards and placing a hand on Kyp's shoulder and leading him away from Cam to the opposite side of the med-room.
"Kyp, we are Jedi." He stated calmly in a low tone so that Cam couldn't hear. "It is our job to put others before ourselves. Whatever is bugging you-" Kyp attempted to interrupt at that point but Miko continued. "Whatever it is that is clouding your judgement, ignore it, get rid of it, deal with it, do something with it!" he gave Kyp a sympathetic smile and couldn't help chuckling at their role-reversal, for Kyp was usually the one doing the lecturing, being a Jedi Master. He stood up straight and removed his hand from his friend's shoulder. "Now, are we going to go and do our job and help this girl?" he questioned a little louder and bringing Cam back into the conversation.
Kyp glanced at Cam who gazed hopefully back at Miko and was not unaware of the wink his apprentice sent her, causing her to blush and look to Kyp. Kyp felt the growl bubble from his throat before he could stop it and jabbed a finger in Cam's direction causing her night blue eyes to turn cold again.
"Just don't think that this is all about you! We're doing this to stop the slave trade, got it?!" he bit out, gruffly and silently cursed himself. Why did he have to be so severe when all he truly wanted was to be friends?
But you don't just want to be her friend, do you? His icy thoughts observed, and he almost rolled his eyes in exasperation. If you are honest with yourself you'll know that the reason you act so harshly towards her is because you want her and she doesn't reciprocate those feelings! Kyp shook his head to rid those thoughts from his mind and looked back at Cam's angry face.
"If you're going to be like that then I don't want or need your help, Jedi!" she scathed.
"Come on!" Miko injected, with a tired and impatient sigh. "I thought we got past all this?!" he gave Kyp a meaningful glare and then turned to Cam soothingly. "We all have reasons for going to Nal Hutta. We all have similar missions. Cam, you want to save your family and Kyp and I want to end slavery. It only makes sense for us to work together."
Both fiery tempered arguers fell silent and nodded at his words.
"However," Miko continued. "there is no point in going at all if you two kill each other before we even get off world!" he paused again taking a deep steadying breath an fixing each with a beseeching, brown-eyed, persuasive look. "Please, please, please agree to be civil to each other, for my sanity's sake at least?!"
Cam looked from Miko to Kyp's intense emerald eyes in silence, her lips pursed as if she were considering Miko's request carefully. Finally she tossed her many dusty blond plaits and folded her arms in an attempt at indifference.
"Fine!" she said in a light voice filled with disinterest.
"Fine!" Kyp echoed her statement and tone, turning his eyes to the damp wall.
"Finally!" Miko gasped with exasperated relief. It was certainly going to be an…eventful mission!
-ooooo-
Calleth Freelancer struggled with his bonds again. Though he knew that it was ultimately pointless, he needed to do something, he needed to keep his minds busy and away from imaginings of their fate when they touched down on Nal Hutta.
"Cal…" the silvery voice of the pale green Twi'lek spoke in muted tones beside him. "Cam got away. At least she is safe…" she fell silent again, staring at their companions who were still unconscious from the drugs their captor had forced on them.
Cal shook his flaxen blond head and clenched his fists as much as was possible in his vibrocuffs without getting shocked.
"Tolou." he muttered, turning his dark stare to Tolou's deep green one. "Do you really think that my sister is going to just let all this lie?!" he shook his head and stared down at the metallic ground. "No. It's not in Cam's nature to just roll over and yield and that creature knows it!" he spat indicating in the direction of the cockpit where their guard no-doubt sat grinning to himself in triumph. He sighed deeply and shook his hair from his eyes with a toss of his head. "She'll come for us…I know it! She's too much like Dad not to come! And when she does, Droga will kill us all!"
Tolou reached out her bound hands and placed them, comfortingly on Cal's arm causing him to look up at her. Her bright green eyes showed confidence, where all he felt was hopelessness.
"Cam may be young and headstrong, but don't count her among the stupid, Cal." She replied softly. "She has a good head on her shoulders and more fight in her than a cornered Nexu." She turned and leant her back against the ships hull and gave a grin that almost convinced Calleth himself. "She won't go down as easily as we did when we were taken unawares, reassure yourself with that." She suddenly became serious and grim, and spoke with quiet fury. "You do not know what Droga put us through those years we were in his possession. That alone will spur her to succeed."
Cal nodded at the Twi'lek's words and felt, for the first time since their capture, a sliver of hope seep into his heart.
-ooooo-