Shadowlands
"I could heal your face Canderous." Juhani made the offer, once they were clear of Gorwooken. Canderous all but hid behind Pol as she said it.
"No I'm good." He snapped. Get away from me.
"If he won't let Pol there's little chance you or I could convince him otherwise." Bastila confirmed. Juhani nodded in understanding. Some people were troubled by any use of the Force, even the lighter arts such as healing. Juhani slotted the Mandalorian into that category and made a mental note not to heal him without express permission or dire need.
Canderous headed off to scout the vicinity while Pol sat the Jedi down in a relatively pest free area and explained the situation as she saw it. "I would really like to shut this operation down, but Chuundar has too much support, I think Zaalbar's father or whoever this rebel wookiee is may know how." She concluded.
Juhani sighed her voice sang a song of deeper understanding and profound pain. Clearly the slave trade had touched her life. "A noble cause Pol, but it supposes much, we may not be able to save them. However I will do all I can to assist you."
"As will I, but let's find this Star Map before it gets much darker." Bastila bought them back to business.
Canderous waved in the distance and held up four fingers then waved a fifth. "I think we have company." Juhani said rising in a graceful arc. Bastila and Pol followed suit. Canderous rejoined them quickly his scimitar at the ready.
"What's out there?" Bastila asked first.
"Four or more men, armed to the teeth, blaster rifles, wookiee bow casters. Could be hunters, or slavers I couldn't tell in this gloom. Their using energy shields, deflecting their fire won't do much." He said pointing to Pol's lightsaber.
"We have our ways." Juhani purred, though reluctant to admit it a typical Jedi Guardian she loved a scrap as much as Pol did. She stretched and smiled lazily. "Let them come, I am ready."
Pol prepared herself, and looked to Bastila. Bastila was teeth grindingly aware of her and vice versa. "Is it the distance?" Pol asked referring to the bond.
Bastila nodded. "I think so. It always seems intense in close quarters. The further away you are the more it lessens. Hang on I see them now." Bastila reached out with the Force trying to identify the strangers before they came into physical view.
Pol and Juhani also sought them out. "They feel frustrated determined… impatient…inadequate?" Juhani said with a frown.
"Big, huge, gigantic, gaping, inadequacy." Bastila confirmed, looking mysterious and vague.
"Almost man sized, you could say." Pol murmured staring into space.
"I would not be so generous." Juhani said liltingly. Pol and Bastila laughed lightly sharing the joke.
"What the frack are you Jedi on about, do we attack or not? Make up your minds we are losing our advantage fast!" Canderous held his injured cheek; it was really starting to throb. He looked to Pol awaiting some kind of order.
Pol's face divided itself into equal parts of astonishment and hilarity. "Oh Chief, you're not going to believe this but I swear it's Calo Nord!"
Canderous said something under his breath, "I can't believe my luck!" How did he get off Taris?
Revenge of the Nord
"Can I kill them now?" Canderous asked cracking his knuckles about the hilt of his sword eagerly.
"Knock yourself out Chief." Pol said waving to the group of bounty hunters.
Calo and his men were startled by her voice; they had spent a fruitless week waiting for the Ebon Hawks crew under orders from Malak. That their prey had found them first was a real kick in the teeth. They recovered quickly though settling into a formation to maximize the spray of their blaster fire and waited…
"I see you bought backup this time Calo. Finally figure out we're too much for you on your own?" Canderous said smoothly the hint of a grin skirting his mouth.
"I hope your team of floozies can fight Canderous because you're dead!" Calo proclaimed loudly, as his men opened fire.
Juhani and Bastila deflected the shots easily; Pol got low making herself a smaller target and sent a crippling wave of the Force at their adversaries. As the five men were thrown backwards Canderous covered the space between them with a bound and began the fight in earnest.
"Ok Team Floozy! Juhani you take blue I'll take green Bastila go red." Pol gave directions swiftly assigning each Jedi to an opponent. She didn't factor Calo in as he was already brawling Gamorrean war axe to scimitar with her favorite Mandalorian. His weapon's too big for him she noticed. Canderous had picked that too and was taking advantage of the fact. Pol wrapped the merc she had dubbed green in a stasis field and flung her lightsaber through his suspended torso cutting him down swiftly.
Calo dropped his war axe as Canderous toppled him, and reached for his dagger, he thrust it into the Mandalorians thigh and leapt to his feet. Canderous disregarded the blinding pain and caught Calo's side with his sword, grinding it through his armor to the bone. He drew his own dagger and finished the bounty hunter with a sudden slash to Calo's throat.
Bastila made short work of red's shield with her double bladed lightsaber, but took a blaster shot to her calf, a deflection gone wrong. She rounded to take the next bounty hunter and realized the fight was thankfully over. She healed herself quickly and gathered the group.
Canderous clutched his thigh awkwardly where the dagger still protruded. "Pol," Sweating buckets and head swimming he sank to his knees, fading fast under the poisons influence.
Pol was at his side in an instant. She tore the hem from the bottom of Mission's shirt and wound it about the base of the dagger. "On three," She warned. She counted as far as two and drew the dagger. Its edge was coated in dark blood and residual poison.
I have to Force heal him… He will hate this. Pol drew on the Force cleansing his body of the toxins and closing the wound beautifully. While I am at it he has enough scars, he could do without the shattered cheekbone. Pol ransacked his body with the Force discovering other injuries. Probing deeply she unearthed hundreds of them old and new, correcting a few badly set bones and reducing the generalized aches that even Canderous's cybernetic implant couldn't ease. She released the Force and looked about her. Juhani and Bastila were watching.
……….
Canderous shuddered as Pol drew the dagger from his thigh. He struggled to maintain consciousness, tried to tell her he had been poisoned, some kind of tranquilizer in there Champ. But he couldn't find the breath. His heart revolted in his chest. His lungs felt loaded like breathing in muddy water then suddenly his system was swept clean, he could breath again. His heart ceased its bursting palpitations and restored its usual function, and the tremors in his bones subsided. Thanks Pol.
Once the poison was gone he tried to sit up, but found he could not. Pol was holding him down. His face quit its throbbing. Not my implant kicking in, it's not that fast, Pol what are you doing to me? He felt an awkward shift in his left leg, the one that still gave him trouble since it was broken all those years ago (not that he had ever mentioned it to a soul). The inflamed muscles he had wrenched during his encounter with Calo were soothed and at last Pol's work was done.
"Vor entye - Thank you," he said sitting up. "That was… new." The Jedi were watching him, all three of them. Pol broke the awkward silence with a joke.
"Was I your first?" She asked saucily.
Cheeky wench. "Yeah, now to make things fair can I be yours?" Canderous felt a sharp open handed blow to his face; it snapped his head back and was charged with such vigor that it caused him to blink in shock. Where the hell did that come from? Not Pol, she's looking more confused than me. Juhani looked smug.
"I call that the 'Force Slap'." She purred agreeably, "it is especially good for keeping vulgar males in line."
Bastila gaped in full blown admiration. To Canderous's dismay Pol also looked impressed. Oh no. This looks bad.
"Can you teach me to do that?" Bastila asked in an ardent voice that bordered on frantic.
"Of course, Pol would you like to learn too?" The Cathar moved languidly towards Pol.
"Oh yeah sign me up baby!" Pol, Bastila and Juhani shook hands conspiratorially. Canderous groaned.
……….
Juhani and Bastila took the lead, seeking signs of the Star Map or the Wookiee, in the Force and their environment. Pol and Canderous followed, chatting quietly amongst themselves. "You didn't have to heal everything." Canderous complained as they trekked through the shadow lands.
"I left your scars, so stop fretting. You had a lot of old wounds there some were going bad." Pol observed.
"I'm an old warrior, comes with the territory."
"Like the sleeplessness. I know it's not just me keeping you awake." She said.
"Hyper vigilance is a state our young warriors are taught to embrace. Night time is usually the time of greatest threat so we sleep lightly in short shifts." Canderous explained the lifestyle; confident that Pol, a veteran of two wars herself would understand completely.
"While you're answering my tedious questions, when did you last have a good night sleep?" She asked.
"When I was a child, probably I guess it would have had to have been before my tenth birthday." Canderous admitted.
"But sleeping next to the nightmare queen doesn't really help does it?"
"Actually Pol if anything I am more relaxed with you near by, I like knowing where you are." Pol missed a step catching her overlong trousers on a fallen branch; Canderous caught her waist and she leaned into him to regain her footing. "Be careful Pol." Canderous warned, and they trudged on boots catching slightly in the heavy mulch of the forest floor.
Jolee Bindo
Jolee Bindo, ex Jedi sat cross legged on what passed for his front porch in the shadow lands. He meditated out of habit more than anything else and had kept his lightsaber out of convenience. It was green signifying his former status as a Jedi consular. The consular arm of the Jedi faction primarily focuses on Force use rather than martial combat. His meditations drifted when he sensed them.
Three Jedis, in the Kashyyyk shadow lands no less. Come to see if old man Bindo will rejoin the Order I wonder…Lets see, we got two regular Force sensitive souls both strong and trained, and one exceptionally dazzling Force user, now who the hell could that be? Why no one has been that strong since young whatshername went bad after the wars. And another fellow, dead to the Force though recently affected by it. Hearts bleeding for the dazzling one; like a stuck boma though he denies it even to himself. Now what was her name again? It has to be her. No one else could command that kind of loyalty out of four vastly different souls. Moreover what are they doing in my yard?
Jolee dropped his meditations abruptly and headed out to meet the Jedi. Oh ho ho an angry bull Katarn ahead! Best clear the path for the young people. He swung his lightsaber to readiness and took on the enormous beast valiantly. Its mate joined the fray and Jolee was beset on both sides. Jolee stunned the female chasing her away with the Force and then ended the life male Katarn with a stroke from his lightsaber.
"A Jedi." Juhani said to her companions. Her search had been heavily reliant on the Force in the murkiness of the shadow lands and the Jedi appeared as a sudden bright flare in her psychic vision.
The Star Map seekers changed course and headed towards the unknown Jedi cautiously. When they arrived they saw a well aged Jedi wielding a green lightsaber against one of the native beasts. Like most consular Jedi he fought with the Force more than the blade and while he clearly had the knack of the weapon he lacked the finesse of Juhani's strikes, Bastila's stoic aptitude and Pol's unique flamboyance.
At the end of his bout Jolee doused his weaponry and peered myopically at the newcomers. A Mandalorian hmmm… And a Cathar now theses a race you don't see much these days. Oo she's a pretty young thing, and then there is talented one, that's it step where I can see you girl. It has to be her… Now what was her name!
"Revan! That's it, I knew I'd recall once I saw you up close." Jolee Bindo exclaimed running his hand over his smooth pate and smiling. The mood suddenly changed. Something I said? He wondered.
Juhani hissed in surprise Foolish old man! In her panic she froze Pol on the spot. What to do? She looked at Bastila for direction the Jedis face was a mask of alarm. Juhani tried to follow her gaze but was halted by a large hand that encircled her neck crushing her to submission. She felt the knife before she saw it, her eyes dropped to it. The dagger was hard up against her rib cage, and already beginning to draw blood.
"Whatever you did to her you best undo it Cathar or this goes into your lung." Canderous threatened pressing the knife in. It was still dotted with Calo's arterial spray, and Juhani's blood ran lightly down the length of it mingling intimately.
"Stand down Canderous! Juhani knows who Pol is." Bastila ordered.
Jolee watched over the scene with detached interest. What a fascinating little puzzle! This is more entertaining than booby trapping Czerka's claims with the monkey dung!
Juhani disregarded her predicament and snarled at the old Jedi who was lurking close by nosily. "And now so does Pol."
"She knew already!" Canderous growled through clenched teeth as he applied more pressure to Juhani's neck. Her throat constricted under the crushing strength of the Mandalorians hand, black dots danced before her vision and her skull screamed.
"Canderous stand down! Juhani release Pol." Bastila looked ashen. "Juhani I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't risk you going to the council." Juhani summoned the strength to thaw Pol and Canderous stood down. He left the Cathar and gathered Pol up helping her to her feet while Bastila healed Juhani's wounds. Juhani's act had earned her a two inch deep incision just shy of her lung and severe bruising to her spine and windpipe.
"I am sorry Pol." Juhani said when she was able.
"Well I think now would be the perfect time for a nice cup of tea!" Jolee beamed. Funny bunch these ones! Jolee was ignored. Typical young people, so self absorbed. Nothing's more important to the than their own foolish endeavors. Oh dear that Revan, she has a Force bond with the pretty one. Most unfair, to the poor kid it's like watching a little tach monkey hiding in a rancor's nest.
He turned his attentions away from Bastila and to Revan and the Mandalorian who were squabbling in his dialect. She always did have a thing for languages. An ex Sith lord taking on a Mandalorian brute, I wonder who will win, ha! My moneys on Revan, she has that boy crazier than a droid in an ion storm.
Pol looked at Canderous incredulously. "Apologize to her!" She demanded in his native patois, pointing to Juhani.
"WHY?" Canderous shouted back and placed his hand on his hips defiantly.
"YOU were out of line; you OVERREACTED to put it mildly. Don't you try anything like that EVER again."
"What am I supposed to do next time some one discovers who you are? You're not exactly miss popularity in Republic space Revan." How the frack can I keep you safe if you won't let me do my job, stupid girl!
"Just do it and don't call me that! I need her help." Stupid man, who does he think he is!
"Fine." Canderous agreed switched back to basic and apologized in a Canderous sort of way. "Juhani that was an unfortunate misunderstanding," He tilted his head apathetically and looked out to the forest depths sourly.
"Apology accepted Mandalorian." Juhani stated blandly.
"Juhani do you think you can still work with us?" Pol asked desperately.
Juhani smiled sadly. "How can you ask such a thing after all that you have done for me?" The Cathar asked, "What does my redemption mean if I can not trust in yours Revan?"
"Thank you for your faith Juhani, but please don't call me that. It's Pol now."
"Then we should continue in our task Pol." Juhani said with a forgiving smile.
"Whoa now, perhaps one of you younglings would like to tell an old man what is going on?" Jolee spoke up, apparently there was only so much being ignored an old man could take.
"My apologies I am Padawan Bastila Shan, might I ask who you are Master Jedi?"
"First of all I am an ex Jedi, retired. I'm just Jolee Bindo now and you are in my back yard. So what can I do for you, retrieve a lost ball perhaps, an anti-grav Frisbee gone astray? Star Map? Oh ho! That got your attention. I figured that's what you would be here about once I saw her." Jolee pointed to Pol.
"You know where the Star Map is?" Pol asked.
"I suspect I do, but it's broken. Why do you seek it?"
"We are not at liberty to say Master Bindo," Bastila refused politely.
"It's just Jolee. I won't say it again young lady! Now if you want my help you can come back to my cottage and tell me what's been going on and what you want with the Star Map like civilized people."
"I don't suppose we have a choice?" Pol asked cheekily.
"No not unless you have some tea leaves and a kettle hidden under that meager excuse for clothing. Follow me." Jolee Bindo led the way back to his home on the forest floor.
Pol clutched at her (Mission's) blouse. With the hem of the shirt torn away and Carth's trousers slung low on her hips her belly was exposed, the leg ends of the pants dragged in the leaf litter. Canderous looked her over with a frown, and crouched to fold the cuffs of her pants. "Stay still; you keep tripping cause of these." Pol blushed. I'm such a goof; thismust be a new thing cuz as oafish as I am I couldn't possibly have been Revan. They followed Jolee to his home in contemplative silence.
Jolee's Place
They sat about the tree round that Jolee used as a table in his earthen dwelling sipping tea as Pol and Bastila tried to explain the situation. Canderous listened keenly; this was more of Pol's tale than he had ever heard.
"Thanks to Malak's betrayal I was able to get the upper hand, but though I had Revan in my sights I couldn't bring myself to kill her." Bastila admitted. "So she was bought back to the council for a mind wipe. The plan was to set her up with new memories and to keep watch on her once she was released. We signed her on as a soldier for the Republic, but her link to the Force was so strong that she was recalled after a few months, but on the way to Dantooine we were waylaid by a Sith fleet and crash-landed on Taris. Through the bond I forged to spare her life it became evident that she had residual memories of her past. When we returned to Dantooine, rather than wipe her mind again a new plan was formed by the council to train Pol and set us on Malak's trail." Bastila said.
"They hoped, since the dark taint was gone, to use my half erased memories and inside knowledge to find the star forge responsible for the Sith fleet." Pol sipped her tea, reflectively.
"But Pol's full memories returned the second she began to retrace her steps." Bastila intoned gravely.
"You did not know of your past when you met me?" Juhani asked quietly.
"I did not know at the time, though I suspected something was amiss." She looked at Canderous, he acknowledge her quietly. "If I had it would not have changed my actions, in the grove Juhani, I am not exactly Miss Sweetness and light, but I am not evil. I do not follow the Jedi code blindly as I once did, because it was in part, my downfall, but that is another story." Pol explained.
"Pol agreed to help us fight Malak under the condition that she did it her way. I don't approve of her dismissal of the Jedi conventions, but I could see no other choice." Bastila looked sternly at Canderous, who smirked back at her. "The council will not use Pol as the weapon she can be if they know of her revelation."
"They'll be so scared she will go darkside again that they'll wipe her mind before you can say 'boo!' and spoil all your fun!" Jolee hooted, "You poor mixed up kids, so who else on this ship of fools knows about Pol?"
"No one, they'd be reluctant to work with me if they knew. In fact I suspect our pilot will want to kill me when he finds out." Pol shivered brimming to the gums with nausea. Her friendship with Cath had been a battle against his paranoia. Now that his paranoid inklings had been confirmed she felt worse for befriending him.
"Carth is replaceable, you aren't." Canderous barked. "If Republic doesn't like it we can always find a new pilot."
To his surprise Juhani nodded in agreement. "He should be told though, if we are all in this together as Pol says." Juhani added.
"The less lies the better, I am sick of the intrigue." Pol agreed; let's get it all over with.
"Very well, as representative of the council in this mission and seeing it was my idea to conceal your revelation from the Order and Juhani; I shall be the one to tell him." Bastila accepted her responsibility with stately solemnity beyond her years. Pol touched her hand in thanks, and to indicate her pride in the woman's brave wisdom. Pol's eyes clouded over.
"Mission." Pol she said looking teary.
"Blue is stronger than she looks, she loves you Champ. Give her a chance." Canderous suggested.
"It's going to get dark in an hour or so, darker anyways if you are planning on going back to your ship you'd best hurry missy. I will take the rest of you to the Star Map in the morning, no sense in doing it at night when all the big predators are out. Go on hop to it!" Jolee said.
Bastila stood up and said her farewells. Juhani Canderous and Pol settled in. Jolee began preparing a meal. "She will be fine. Smart girl that one, now how much should I cook?" Jolee looked at Juhani and Pol, and counted out medium portions. He looked at Canderous. "Big guy aint cha?" He commented and dealt out double for the Mandalorian and a small serving for himself.
They continued their discussion over bowls of mysterious steaming green stuff. "So Pol, why does it look as though you are wearing your big brothers pants?"
Little brothers, Pol thought with a sad twang of guilt. "There has been a clothing shortage."
"Remind me to pack my own then; no one needs to see my wrinkled butt more than twice."
"Who needs to see it once?" Canderous scoffed.
"Packing Mast- Jolee?" Juhani dropped the title mid way though her sentence. "Why will you need to pack?"
"I am going with you; consider it payment for my help with the Star Map. You could use a dose of old cantankerous old coot in your party." He said.
"And I thought the Mandalorian veteran was ample." Juhani derided with a sly grin.
"Bah." Canderous grunted.
"Your help would be most welcome Jolee."
"You're going to let him come?" Canderous asked in Mando'a skeptically.
"Yeah you know me and grumpy old men. I'm starting a collection," Pol joked. Reverting to basic she asked Jolee for help with Zaalbar's predicament. "While you are being so helpful there is another 'delicate' matter you might be able to help us with." Pol began.
"Well delicate is what old men excel at! What can I do for you Pol?" Jolee rested his chin in his hands, his elbows on the table, his eyes were bright and merry and they danced below his fantastic eyebrows.
"I'm looking for a Wookiee…"
His eyes widened and he pointed a bony finger skyward. "Well then you've come to the right place," switching humorously to a foreboding baritone he added, "Except they're all up there in the wroshyr." Pol wondered whether senility had set in or if he just had a fine sense of humor. Either way she decided she liked him.
"Not this one." Pol said.
"Oh you seek Freyyr." Jolee waved his hands about his face miming the characteristics of an old wookiee. His crooked fingers paused at the peaks of his own goatee and he used it as a kind of prop to mime a wookiee mane.
"Chuundar wants his head." Canderous stated impassively. Pol saluted him, and Juhani Force slapped him. Jolee cackled.
Oh I like these girls they got plenty of spirit! "Chuundar is a young hooligan who wouldn't know his furry butt from his shaggy elbow! He's signed on with Czerka sold his people out in exchange for weaponry."
"We hope to change that." Juhani said.
"With Freyyr's help, Zaalbar mentioned he was the former chieftain." Pol said.
"You know the wookiee exile?" Jolee looked startled.
"Life debt." Canderous explained as he cleared the table.
"Well you haven't lost your knack Revan, sorry Pol." Jolee corrected himself with a shake of the head. "You always had a way of reeling them in."
"I had a knack?" Pol asked.
"Well yeah! Look at the way you dominate young Bastila, dear flower of a girl that she is. Your affect on Force users is profound, always has been. That's how you rounded up all those bright young Jedi to go fight in the Mandalorian wars. But this link you have with Bastila, is powerful you nearly drown her in you. The Order is wise to fear that. It's just as well you are on the right path."
I broke Malak. I had a Force bond with Malak and I lead him down the dark path. "I see. I will have to be more careful of her."
"Yes you will. You're going to have to face your past too." Jolee said seriously. He pushed in his chair and began rummaging through a box for bedding. Every so often he would toss an article out behind himself. Juhani caught them and made up beds. Canderous cleared floor space by shifting the heavy table. Pol sat glumly, budging only once the table was dragged away from her. With no where left to rest her elbows she stood and tried to be useful.
"I will take you to Freyyr's lair as well then. So Zaalbar is with you?" Jolee asked as he rustled about his belongings.
"Yes and no, he came with me but Chuundar is holding him to ransom for Freyyr's head." Pol answered. I didn't even think of Zaalbar's reaction to the Revan thing.
"That's a big bed Juhani," Jolee observed the Jedis work. She had made two single sleeping areas and one double.
"For Pol and Canderous, they usually camp together." She explained.
"Well dear girl, let's hope they behave themselves, I'd hate to meet the love child of that union in a dark alley." Jolee hooted with genuine mirth and settled himself down for a nights sleep.
Bastila the Magnificent
Recalling an early lesson in use of the Force Bastila drew a line mentally between Jolee's hut and the basket. She marked a new point from the basket to the village and the village to Czerka's post and the Hawk. She followed it with the words of her tutors resounding in her mind. Force users need not lose their way. Let the Force guide your step when sight fails you.
This was one of many lessons that Pol had been exempted from in her brief retraining. Bastila wondered again how much of Pol's early education the woman would recall. In former life as Revan she had been a dedicated pupil.
It is definitely getting darker. She noticed. Bastila stopped her foot inches form the corpse of a wookiee. Oh dear it's fresh. She noticed. Thank the Force for small mercies it doesn't smell, well no worse than live Wookiees do. She turned back to face Jolee's hermitage for a moment seeking Pol through their bond. Anxiety, guilt, sorrow, regret …there is no emotion there is peace. She resumed her trek back to the Hawk, aware that the further she got from Pol the less of her she felt. The distance was liberating.
Bastila sensed three people ahead of her. She snuck closer for a visual. Mandalorian warriors. They were cloaked and had been covertly dispatching Wookiees that dared the shadow lands. Scum! With a war cry Bastila leapt into action killing the leader instantly with her lightsaber. The other two Mandalorians tried to corner her against the trunk of a great tree. She dazed one with the Force and repelled him so that he was out of her range. She struck out at the last meeting his vibroblade with her lightsaber. Deftly cutting him below his guard she executed him and looked to the Mandalorian raider she had thrown.
He held his hands up in surrender. "Easy now, don't kill me. I have no quarrel with you Jedi." He said voice contorted by the voder in his helmet.
"Go then, take your clan and don't come back." Bastila threatened. The Mandalorian turned tail and fled into the forest depths. Bastila took the basket to the upper canopy without trouble. She thanked Gorwooken, who was still on duty, and hoped she had pronounced his name correctly.
Bastila fought off a clutch of forest Mykals' and a Kinrath between the village and the outpost. At last, near full dark she crossed the treetop terrace to Czerka's post. She passed a food vendor and stopped to buy a fresh meal for the Hawks skeleton crew.
While she waited for the vendor to package the food Bastila noticed a young Czerka employee was leering at her. "Well now you are one gorgeous dame, how are you this evening?" He asked the polite words made ugly by his vulgar tone.
"I am most definitely better off without your company." Bastila answered truthfully. She paid the vendor and made to leave. The Czerka employee stepped in her way. Bastila cursed Mission's taste in clothing and Pol for letting her shop. Simply perfect my Force reserves are low and now my hands are full. Bastila looked at the bags in her hands regretfully.
"You sure sweetheart? I could help you carry those bags." He asked staring point blank down her cavernous cleavage.
"I am fine, let me pass." Bastila muttered. She lacked the strength form her earlier encounters to Force persuade the man into buggering off.
He sleazed closer, cutting rudely into her personal space and said. "If you want to get past you got to pay the kiss toll." He puckered up and waited.
Bloody men! The audacity! "Pay this you hairless wookiee!" Bastila had just enough Force reserves to employ Juhani's patented 'Force Slap' with satisfying effect. With a private chuckle to herself and a blessing to her Cathar friend she continued on her way to the Hawk's landing pad. Thank you Juhani!