Chapter 3: Leaving Taris

Two Jedis were fighting, their lightsabers hitting each other and every time they made contact a wave of energy struck out but only people who were Force Sensitive would ever feel it. The sheer power behind such a simple looking weapon, it was unimaginable to the untrained. There was a woman and a masked figure. They were fighting.

I recognized one of them. It was Bastila! Suddenly there was an explosion. Someone fired on the ship. The masked figure fell down to the ground. I felt strange like I didn't belong but I did belong. I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. The woman, Bastila, hovered over the masked stranger. She was doing something, I could feel her energy...the pain...I felt pain...I was being pulled...no...stop...STOP!

"NO!" I screamed as I woke up again from another nightmare. I looked around my strange surroundings until I got my bearing. This was the Ebon Hawk, Davik's prized ship. We had been successful infiltrating his base of operations. His guards were tough but we had a good team on our side.

At the moment someone came running into the east quarters where my bunk was. "What's wrong?" asked Carth busily looking around for anything dangerous.

I blushed slightly. "Nothing," I said too embarrassed to have a full-length discussion.

"That didn't sound like nothing. Hey, I'm the one that's supposed to be hard to talk to not the other way around," he said attempting to make a joke. The dream bothered me too much though and all I could give him was a lukewarm smile.

"I just had a bad dream, that's all. Nothing important," I tried to explain but it wasn't enough for him. He wanted to know the details of it, so after a bit of hesitation I told him what had happened in my dream.

"You say there was a masked figure? All black? That kind of sounds like Darth Revan. You know Bastila was with the Jedi strike team when they took Revan down. Perhaps that was what you saw. I can't say I know much about the Force. Maybe you should talk to Bastila about it. She would know more about what that means," he said but I must have made a face because he burst out laughing then. "I know, I know. I don't particularly enjoy talking to her either but she is a Jedi, and if anybody knows something it would be her."

I thanked him for the talk and for his concern for me. He just gave me one of his famous smiles and said, "Anytime you need to talk I'm there for you."

"So I have your permission to dig into your past and learn more about you?" I teased.

"Hey, hold on sister, I didn't say that. Whenever you need to talk, not me," he teased back and left.

Back on Taris I had tried talking to him, to get him to tell me about himself and open up. It was like pulling teeth. He was distrustful of me at first, and I think he still is a little. I had tried to ask him why but all he would say was he'd been betrayed before and he wasn't waiting around to be betrayed again. That put me in a sour mood for the rest of the day and I quit trying to ask him anything or to get to know him.

Later that day he had apologized, and I accepted but there was still some tension between us.

"Why is it so important that you need to know about me?" he asked.

"Curiosity? Or maybe the fact I'm heavily relying on you to be my ally. How can I trust you not to pull a blaster behind my back if you won't tell me anything about yourself?"

"I could ask the same of you."

"And here we are back at square one," I said and sighed.

"Look there are reasons why I don't want to talk about my past, but you're right. You do have a right to know some things but not right now. Let's just focus on getting off the planet then...then maybe we can have another talk," he said although he didn't sound too convincing.

"Alright. Truce for now then. But I won't let up," I said wagging my finger in his face.

He laughed. "No, you don't seem the type. But I'm pretty stubborn too. I won't go down easy."

"I can be pretty persuasive...when I want to be," I said coyly and left it at that.

After gathering my thoughts and my patience I went over to the west crew quarters where Bastila was staying. She seemed distracted.

"You're hear to talk to me about something, am I right?" said Bastila right as I walked in. I paused for a moment. How did she know? Did she probe my mind?

"I know what you're thinking. I can feel it written on your face. Don't worry. I am not using my Jedi Mind Powers on you right now although it would make things a lot simpler sometimes. It's hard to explain but I felt something was wrong. Did you have the dream too?" she asked me.

"Yes, but how did you know? And what do you mean 'too'?" I asked.

"I felt your consciousness inside my dream last night. I can't say I enjoyed the feeling," she explained. I nodded in agreement. "It was more of a vision really than a dream. A vision of the past when I fought Darth Revan."

"Why would I share your dream or vision? It doesn't make any sense. I'm not a Jedi," I said.

"No, but you are strong in the Force, that much I can tell. As to what the visions mean and why we are sharing them I do not know. The Jedi Council would be best to answer that. We should make for Dantooine. That is where they are. Perhaps there we could get more answers. I'm sorry, I can't tell you much more than that," she said.

I tried probing her with more questions but she refused to answer them saying she didn't have enough wisdom to give me a proper answer. I left feeling even more frustrated than when I came in but at least she wasn't too unpleasant. Now that the excitement of escaping Taris was over she seemed to have calmed down. I could almost tolerate her now, I think.

I went up to the bridge and asked the computer to plot a course to Dantooine. It beeped in acknowledgement. I sat in the captain's chair all alone. The ship had been on auto-pilot before I came in. I wasn't sure what the others were doing. Probably playing Pazaak or eating.

"So you're here too?" said a gruff voice from behind. I continued staring off into space. Canderous sat down in the co-pilot's seat. I knew what he was thinking. The ship was roomy but with the amount of people we had on board it was a little crowded. There wasn't too many places you could go for privacy.

He didn't seem to mind too much though that I was in there with him and we both just sat there enjoying the vast emptiness of space and the quiet solitude. Every once in a while I could hear Zaalbar wailing. Mission was quite the Pazaak player though she never plays for money, just for fun.

She had tried to teach me the game and I think I am catching on. I might just try my skills with a real player someday. It would be a good way to make some quick cash. Better than risking my life in a dueling ring that's for sure.

I kind of like having everyone here though. It felt almost like a family, something that I seem to have no memory of. Of course, I didn't seem to have much of any memory before a certain time period. I wondered if that was strange.

Most likely once we reached Dantooine everyone would probably go their separate ways. What reason would there be to stick together.

Suddenly the ship lurched forward.

"What the hell was that?" I cried out taking the ship out of auto-pilot and into manual drive.

"We got some birds on our tail," remarked Canderous as he flipped on some switches to stabilize the ship.

"I'll go and man the turrets." Just then Carth rushed in. "Thank goodness you're here. Take the stick, I'm going back to the tower." He nodded slowly taking a long glance over at Canderous and myself but I didn't have the time to analyze what that look meant. I rushed past him and up to the gun turret.

There were 5 cruisers behind us and I did my best to quickly snuff them out. I breathed a sigh of relief when all that drama was over. The rest of the flight to Dantooine was relatively smooth except for the silence. Everyone kept mostly to themselves. Bastila was constantly meditating, Canderous was usually polishing his weapons somewhere, and the Twi'lek and the Wookie spent most of the time back in the bunks playing cards or just laying around which left Carth and me up at the bridge most of the time.

I think right before that surprise attack was the only time I've spent alone with Canderous and I still didn't know anything about him. I made up my mind then to try to talk to him. He had a lot of experience, I could see it. Carth was also a bit of a mystery too. I've tried to talk to him several times and each time he gives me a little more information but never enough to satisfy my aching curiosity. Maybe that was why I wanted to be near him.

Whatever the reason both men were equally frustrating at times.

"We're nearing Dantooine," said Carth who was piloting the ship.

From above the planet looked pretty much empty and flat unlike the tall buildings and full landscape of Taris. It was hard to believe the Jedi Council was here but it was a pretty good hiding place I supposed if you thought about it. It was a very unassuming planet with nothing of interest.

I didn't know what to expect when we landed. Bastila went straight away to meet with the Council while the rest of us stayed back with the ship. It wasn't long before she came back. The Council wanted to meet with me, alone.

"I just don't understand why no one else can be there," Carth protested. "I mean I think I have a right to know what's going on...along with everyone else."

"Are you going to miss being my bodyguard?" I teased.

"Bodyguard?" he said. The look on his face was priceless. With a small smile on his face he said, "I don't know about that. You've saved me on numerous occasions, more than I've helped you if I'm being honest with myself. You don't need me."

"I'm not too sure about that," I said but my voice was hardly louder than a whisper and I quickly turned away from the group slightly embarrassed for even saying such a thing.

I started to follow Bastila to the Council Chambers when Carth yelled out, "I want a full report when you get back!"

"Yes, sir!" I said adding a stiff salute and the most phony voice I could muster. The group fell into a light laughter which made me smile. After the horror of the destruction of Taris it was nice to see some smiles.

I just wondered how long these seemingly peaceful times could last and what the Jedi Council had to say about my strange visions.

A/N: This is just a rough draft. I plan to go back and refine the story so feedback is greatly appreciated :)