Tika Dane: Cleanup
By: Myst Dragon
Chapter 3
The remainder of the trip following the interruption of Tika's conversation with Carth had been relatively uneventful. The peace had allowed her to meditate with Bastila, as well as chat with Jolee about his views on the faults in relying solely on the 'wisdom' of the council. Once he'd told her about an old master, who was too blind to see his own faults and believed himself to be infallible. While it is true that not all masters are so foolish, some at least have the inclination to cry out about the faults of others and their actions before looking inward. Meditation had helped her keep things in perspective, as much as she could, and it helped her see humor in some of the situations. While the redheaded woman recognized somber moments, she always did her best to make light of and laugh at situations that might make her angry or afraid. Since awakening as Tika Dane, she'd found that the concepts of relativity and perspective, helped her greatly.
Soon after the Ebon Hawk had landed in the settlement of Anchorhead, she'd busied herself in finding things for many of the other crew members to do. She gave Mission some credits to risk with the local Pazaak players, saying she'd like the loaned money back if Mission actually won anything in the end. Zaalbar naturally took to the task of being the young twi'lek's bodyguard. Mission didn't really mind having the tall, brown furred wookiee along, except for the insinuation that she needed him. Tika convinced Canderous to take HK-47 out on the dunes, hunting. Both the droid and the Mandalorian seemed heavily disposed to combat. She'd convinced Jolee Bindo to guide Bastila and Juhani among the people of the settlement to give them some experience dealing with 'normal' people under 'normal' circumstances. The former hermit found a bit of irony in the idea of him leading the younger Jedi in such an excursion. She simply told the small astromech droid, T3-M4, not to go near the dormitories.
Soon after the ship had been cleared of all but Tika, Carth, and T3-M4; and she was certain the droid wouldn't be a problem for her plan, the red-haired Jedi went to the men's dormitory. She knocked on the door, and waited for and invitation. When she opened the door, she saw Carth going over a few readouts on one of his datapads. "You know, a girl could grow old waiting for you." The woman commented dryly.
He looked up to her with an innocent expression. "I'm sorry, but when the signs seem too obvious my gut has a tendency to scream, 'trap'." He returned, teasing the woman he'd come to care for since he'd first met her, half-dressed, on the Endar Spire. Back on Taris his opinion of her had been mixed. At one moment she was giving to the point of hurting their funds and at others, she was entirely self-serving.
"There's been a rift between us ever since Malak and Saul announced on the Leviathan that I used to be Revan. That rift seems to have healed for the most part, but I need to know something." She sighed, fighting off the pain of how Carth reacted to that revelation. "Why are you here?"
He stood up, surprised. He thought he'd already made his feelings clear. "Why am I here? I'm here, because I want to protect you!" He closed the distance between them, and gently placed his hands her shoulders. "I love you. I'm sorry for hurting you, but I'm still trying to get used to thinking of you… as just being you, and I can't help but wonder if 'we' can really be." He put his arms around her, and Tika returned his warm embrace.
"What about the Republic? I thought it meant more to you than anything, even me."
"Nothing is more important to me than you." He confessed to her with a smile. "I'm sure the Republic can survive the rest of the war without me on a battleship. Especially if they take you up on your offer and hire you for special jobs." He told her with a tinge of humor.
"Jobs to clean up my mess, you mean." She only had to tilt her head up slightly to cause her green eyes to make contact with his brown.
"No. Jobs to clean up Revan and Malak's mess. Tika Dane had nothing to do with it." He told her with a warm smile, and she kissed him. Before either of them were truly aware of it, they were both topless, and on their way to a bunk. Before they made it to the bunk, however, Mission's voice sounded across the ship's comm. system, interrupting them.
"Tika, we've got an incoming transmission from a Republic ship for you." The twi'lek girl's voice informed her. Tika couldn't help but wonder why she would even be back on the ship so soon.
The redhead gave a frustrated sigh, as she parted from Carth and held down a panel on the wall. "Are they saying what this is about?"
She heard mission's voice come back over the comm. "No. Just that some Dodonna woman want's to talk to you. Wasn't she one of those people there to celebrate us destroying the Star Forge?"
"Admiral Dodonna?" Carth's eyes widened in surprise and he went to work putting his shirt and Jacket back on.
Tika sighed once more, this time in resignation. "Switch it over to the holotable in the main hold. We'll be there shortly."
Carth and Tika soon dressed and entered the main hold, where Mission and the holographic image of Admiral Dodonna were waiting. "You know, you caused quite a stir with your abrupt departure, especially with Master Vrook. It was fortunate that Master Vandar was on hand to get him to stop insisting we send half the fleet after you!" Remembering the human, Jedi Master's reaction to Tika's message, put a wry grin on the older woman's face. "I guess I can understand your desire to leave the name Revan behind you; with its dangerous reputation."
Tika would have preferred the subject not come up at all, but she had no desire to leave the admiral with a misinterpretation. "It's not a matter of me wanting to simply change my ways and be someone else, it's that I don't really remember being Revan. I have flashes of a few moments in her life, but it's like watching holovids of someone else. I don't feel any real connection to those memories. You may not truly understand why I hold on to my so called 'false memories and identity', so I'll tell you as clearly as I can. I feel connected to those memories, they are what made me what I was on the Endar Spire and they are what make me who I am now. I am Tika Dane, former smuggler who was forced into becoming a Jedi to defend myself." She paused, giving Admiral Dodonna a chance to absorb what she said. It was important to her that this woman understand and accept who she is, and how she perceives herself. "You could think of it as if a battle droid's memory and personality core had been switched out with an astromech's." She couldn't help but smirk at the absurdity of her analogy.
Tika's feelings didn't seem lost on the Admiral. "I see then. Tika, I'm sure some of my officers who suggested this may have been thinking of Revan's memories for this mission, but I believe your recent experiences should more than prepare you for it." Tika arched a brow at this. "We need you to go into Sith controlled space, and bring back one of our intelligence officers or at least what he has gathered about the Sith holding that sector. We lost contact with him two days ago, but since his beacon is still operational, it is believed that he is unable to return to his transmitter, and that the safe house may still be intact. We are sending you the encoded mission details right now."
"So, we've got data retrieval and hopefully a rescue mission." Carth summarized. "Hopefully our guy's just lying low."
"Wouldn't this be dangerous for a group like ours? I mean really dangerous!" Mission added nervously.
"About as dangerous as Korriban." Tika commented, retaining her smirk.
"That's what I was afraid of." Mission, sighed.
Tika returned her attention to the holographic image of Admiral Dodonna. "I'm sorry I can't give you a definite answer, but I need to discuss this with the rest of the crew. I'll get things settled here as soon as possible and send word as soon as things are decided. I hope you understand."
The admiral nodded in acknowledgement. "Understood, we'll be awaiting your response."
Once the image of Admiral Dodonna vanished, Carth looked at Tika, with a sense of shock on his face. "You have to think about whether or not you want to go in to help him? If he's been exposed, we can't just leave him there!"
Tika's smirk vanished, but she managed to force a smile as she responded to what she felt was an accusation of callousness. "I am going to try to help him, but I'm not going to force everyone to come along. Of course, I'll have to find a safe place to drop Mission off during this little excursion into Sith space."
"Hey!" The blue skinned twi'lek exclaimed, insulted. "Don't make decisions for me like that. I'm not a child!"
Tika jokingly put her hands up defensively. "I'm sorry, Mish. I'll let you decide to go or not on your own then." She conceded. "Now, let's call the others back, and find out who is and who isn't coming along for this job."