-- Chapter 5: Awkward Questions --
Carlos sat in the co-pilot's seat watching as Mission ran the ship diagnosis. With Carth and Bastila on the planet, searching for whatever the woman was looking for while Carlos was left too baby-sit, Mission and the ship.
"So, uh… how'd you get left behind, Mission?" Carlos asked in the uncomfortable silence as he watched the young girl besides him. He was a couple of years older than her, but damn she was hot!
"What's that suppose to mean?" Mission asked, glaring at Carlos who shrugged.
"Why didn't you go with the Lady Bastila and Admiral Onasi, I mean?" Carlos replied quickly, hoping that she wasn't going to explode at him.
"Oh, you mean right now?" Mission asked as she turned back to the controls and shut them down with deft fingers. "Really, Carlos, I mean look at Bastila right now. It's best that she had some space to deal with Revan being gone, you know?"
Carlos nodded and fingered his blaster, "but Admiral Onasi went with the Lady Bastila, and he's an Admiral of the Republic."
Carlos didn't know what happened next, but he suddenly found himself lying on the floor, with a bleeding nose and incredibly sore eye.
"Carth went with Bastila because he cares for her well being; I stayed behind in case there was any trouble from traitors or assassins. And I'm just as important as the others and more hardened than most people will ever become so don't imply or tell me who's important or not!"
Mission finished her tirade and watched the dazed Carlos struggle onto his feet.
She hadn't hit him that hard, well okay she had used what Revan had taught her and a bit of what she had learned from Canderous and the others as well, but seriously she had pulled back her punch.
"Come on, let's get you to the med bay and patch you up. You won't be able to play bodyguard if you can't see or walk properly." Mission put her arm around his waist and led Carlos to the med bay, not noticing Dustil as he stood in the shadows talking to Zaalbar.
"Who's that?"
Dustil asked the tall wookiee who turned to glance at who Dustil was pointing to and saw that it was the new bodyguard Carlos, Carth had brought aboard.
"That's Carlos McCrow, a bodyguard for Bastila and Mission, didn't Mission tell you about him?" Zaalbar growled at Dustil who shook his head and pressed his lips together in a tight line; "No she was suppose to call me a couple of days ago, she must have been busy…"
Dustil sighed and looked at his chrono, "I'd go talk to her but I'm late and she's busy. I'll see you later then Zaalbar?" The young man turned to walk out the ship but just before he had reached the bottom of the ramp, he was stopped short by a loud growl.
"Are you going to leave a message for them?" Zaalbar growled and Dustil waved back, "just tell my father that I was here and I said hi. I've got to go now, bye!" Dustil speed off leaving, the tall wookiee standing at the top of the ramp; shaking his head at the departing youth.
Mission, Zaalbar mused, was not going to be happy with Dustil when she found out about this.
"Bastila, what exactly are we looking for?"
Carth reached down and offered his hand to Bastila who took it and used it to pull herself up and then stood besides Carth on the small rock ledge. She pointed to a spot in the cliffs higher up that was different shaped than usual, at least Bastila could see it unlike Carth.
"Up there… we need to go up there so I can find something." Bastila looked at Carth with a fixed look, "Revan always left something of himself behind everywhere he went, this is his home planet; I'm going to find him, even if I have to destroy the galaxy and the Jedi Council to do it."
Carth shuddered at her tone and watched as she started to climb up the cliff again. "I promised to protect her as best as I could, Revan, but to what extent can I let her be like this?" He whispered to a long gone friend.
There was no answer as the Admiral followed the Jedi up the cliff wall, climbing quickly and quietly.
No answer but the wind, screaming and howling as it blew around them.
Carlos leaned back as Mission cleaned his face, holding a towel up to his nose. Jolee and Juhani where out searching for more food supplies so Mission had offered to help him clean up and Carlos had no intention of refusing her help.
"He kept watching her until she noticed and glanced at him, 'what's wrong with you? I didn't hit you that hard, now snap out of it."
"Did anyone ever tell you, you're really beautiful, Mission?" Carlos asked instead of answering and looked softly at her as she blushed.
"Stop that, Carlos! Or I won't help you…" Mission began but Carlos cut her off.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked softly and she looked at the floor for a long while before a small yes was voiced.
Carlos shook his head in disappointment; "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, I'll leave now." He stood up and made to leave when Mission touched his arm lightly.
"No, you don't have to go." Mission sighed and stood up and started to put the supplies away, "Dustil and I aren't really seeing each other right now, he's been avoiding me for sometime and we're drifting apart everyday."
"Oh." It was all that Carlos could think of to say as Mission's shoulder's shook with buried emotion. He reached out and pulled her into an embrace, hugging her tight; as she let him even returning the movement herself.
Somehow, Mission found herself kissing Carlos suddenly with no reason for and she didn't stop it. Nor did he pull back when she kissed him, instead leaning in for a deeper and longer kiss. Mission had thought Carlos was cute when he had stayed on the ship for a while and she had gotten to know him better.
And with Dustil being elsewhere these days and barely talking to her now, she had felt shunned and betrayed, loosing all interest in Carth's wayward Jedi son. They found their way back to the quarters unoccupied somehow while kissing and fell onto one of the bunks unaware of their surroundings.
It was a long night for them...
The next morning Carth looked up as Zaalbar walked into the cockpit, "have you seen Mission and Carlos lately?"
Zaalbar shook his head, and Carth could have sworn that Zalbar was grinning for the briefest time and then he changed his mind; the tall wookiee did not look like he was in any mood to laugh.
"Is there something wrong, Zaalbar? Other than Bastila's current..." Carth mouthed the words mood swings, "there didn't seem to be anything wrong before I left.
"Dustil dropped by early but you and Bastila were out on your little trip... and Mission was busy." Zaalbar's eyes drilled into Carth, "She was busy with Carlos."
Carth sat back and frowned, Dustil and Mission had been seeing each other for some time after Revan hooked the two teenagers up together with the ending of the Star Forge business settled down finally. It was a good idea and obvious to see that the two youngesters were smitten about each other, but lately Dustil and Mission had been breaking apart, no longer really seeing each other.
Dustil claimed he was too busy and Mission said that he was nelgecting her, hardly visiting her or talking to her anymore. Carth had kept silent, hoping that it was just something that was going to pass but Misson had ditched his son and she had been right, in the fact that Dustil was neglecting her.
"So, now she's interested in Carlos?" Carth mused out loud and made his way to the Communications' room and looked up the log for the past day's recordings.
"Who's that?"
Dustil asked the tall wookiee who turned to glance at who Dustil was pointing to and saw that it was the new bodyguard Carlos, Carth had brought aboard.
"That's Carlos McCrow, a bodyguard for Bastila and Mission, didn't Mission tell you about him?" Zaalbar growled at Dustil who shook his head and pressed his lips together in a tight line; "No, she was suppose to call me a couple of days ago, she must have been busy…"
Dustil sighed and looked at his chrono, "I'd go talk to her but I'm late and she's busy. I'll see you later then Zaalbar?"
The young man turned to walk out the ship but just before he had reached the bottom of the ramp, he was stopped short by a loud growl.
"Are you going to leave a message for them?" Zaalbar growled and Dustil waved back, "just tell my father that I was here and I said hi. I've got to go now, bye!" Dustil speed off leaving, the tall wookiee standing at the top of the ramp; shaking his head at the departing youth.
"Dustil, you idot! Of coursre you're going to loose her that way!" Carth slammed his fist down on the table, as he groaned, "thickheaded stubborn--"
You're talking about your son, I assume?"
Carth whirled around and faced the intruder, Revan's sister, Kay...
"How... how did you get on the ship?" Carth demanded, his hand reaching for the blaster rifle buckled on his belt and leg.
Kay smiled at Carth, "Revan's my brother, Carth, that's how I got on."