Savior Self

Taris part fourteen

Rated PG13

Disclaimer: I do not own. I do not earn. I do not sue, and neither do you. Hee hee!

Savior Self

The next morning, Cortessa left to get them all something to eat. Bastila had to admit that the offer was very kind of her. She hadn't expected as much from her, even when Carth talked about her fondly.

When the woman returned, she was juggling large amount of hot caffa and a large box of synthesized breakfast. She set it on the table with a clatter, looking winded, for her cheeks, nose, and lips were flushed.

Bastila could feel the Force waves around her – how raw and strong she was. She had been foolish to think that, just because she had a new identity, that she would no longer be Force sensitive.

Revan, you haven't changed a bit.

Revan – no, Cortessa – was upset. As inconspicuously as she could, Bastila asked what was the matter.

The woman glared at her. "Nothing," she snapped with obvious contempt.

Bastila chose not to be affected. She backed off for now. "As you wish. We should move on, then. We won't get off Taris just sitting here."

"And we won't get off Taris if we starve to death, so shut up and eat," Cortessa told her, and sat down at the table. Everyone sat down as well and ate in silence.

"So, Mission," Cortessa mumbled quietly. "Tell me about yourself."

Mission was flattered at the attention. Bastila listened in, just to see how Cortessa reacted, to see if her false identity was still working.

"Really?" Mission said, flushing with pleasure. "You want to know about me? Nobody's ever really been interested in me before. What did you want to know?"

Cortessa thought about it. "Where are your parents?" she asked. "Do you have a family?"

Mission shifted uncomfortably. "Big Z's my family, you know? My parents… well, I guess they're dead. It was just me on my own until the day I saw Zaalbar in the Lower City. I could tell right away he was in trouble. This was before the gang wars were out of hand, but even then, the Vulkars were scum. A few of them were hassling Big Z, trying to pick a fight – but he wasn't looking for trouble." She paused, trying to see if Cortessa wanted to hear more or not.

Cortessa nodded. "Go on."

Mission grinned. "Anyway, I don't like Vulkars at the best of times. And when I saw them picking on this poor Wookiee – all alone on a strange planet, overwhelmed by the big city – I just lost it. I screamed out, 'Leave him alone, you core-slimes!' and charged right at them. One of them saw me coming and slapped my so hard he just about knocked me cold."

Cortessa looked her over. "Thank goodness you weren't fried with a blaster," she said.

Bastila had to agree.

Mission's headtails flushed. "Hey, I don't need a lecture from you! You ain't my mother! I knew what I was doing!" She took a deep breath and continued her story. "Those Vulkars didn't scare me. They're nothing but cowards. I knew how to deal with them. Of course, I never got the chance. I guess Zaalbar didn't like seeing me get smacked around. He let out this howl and yanked that Vulkar a meter up off the ground and held him there by his throat."

Cortessa's eyes widened. "What did the other two Vulkars do?"

Mission's tone became gleeful and she grinned. "The other two screamed and ran off. Can't say I blame them. The first time you seen an angry Wookiee up close, it isn't a pretty sight. I thought Zaalbar was going to rip off that punk's arms and beat him to death with his own fists. The Vulkar was so scared he fainted. Or maybe Big Z's breath just knocked him out."

" Mission!" Zaalbar cried, mortified.

Mission ignored him. "I keep telling Zaalbar to brush those choppers of his, but he never listens. Just stay upwind when he's speaking and you'll be fine." She giggled. "Anyway, I knew those Vulkars would be back with friends, so I grabbed Zaalbar and we took off. Ever since then we've been a team. We look out for each other, you know?"

Cortessa nodded. "Thanks for telling me," she said. She glanced at the time. "Oh, no! We've got to get moving! We have a lot to do today."

Mission nodded. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," she said. "Like I used to tell my brother – fast talk and slick words don't get the job done."

Cortessa glanced at her, eyes shining with curiosity. "I didn't know you had a brother," she said.

Mission's expression turned sour. "My brother's a touchy subject, you know? It just so happens that I don't really feel like talking about him right now. Nothing personal. Let's just get back to the business at hand, okay?"

Cortessa nodded, frowning, and finished off her breakfast in silence.

------

The moment Cortessa stepped out the door, she was greeted by a gangly, green-skinned Twi'lek adolescent. He gaped up at her, slack-jawed, his brown eyes wide.

Cortessa was mildly repulsed. "Yes?" she managed to growl.

"You're the rider that won the Great Swoop Race in the Lower City, right?" the kid sputtered at last. Mission looked him over, revolted.

Cortessa wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible. "No, you must be mistaken," she said smoothly, and moved to brush past him.

He grabbed her arm. "No, human," he said. "I don't think so. I saw the swoop race: you were there. You died and rose again. You saved a baby. You flipped the bike. You posted the best time."

Cortessa winced.

"You are the one I was sent to find." The Twi'lek took a deep breath. "I have a message from Canderous Ordo. He says to meet him in the cantina."

Recognition struck. Cortessa batted her lashes to hide her emotion. "Canderous? The Mandalorian that works for Davik, right?"

Carth grunted. He didn't like Canderous.

The Twi'lek nodded. "Yes, that's the one," he said. "Given his connections, you can see why it would be smart to attend this meeting."

Cortessa put her hands on her hips. "I don't think I'll be able to make this 'meeting,'" she said. She knew all about slimy guys' ways of getting a girl alone. She sensed Canderous might want something along this line. If she was told to leave her friends behind, she wouldn't go at all.

The Twi'lek got her meaning. "Well… he didn't say why he wanted to meet you," he muttered. "He only said that he had an offer you couldn't refuse."

Suspicious. Cortessa slipped the kid a Pazaak card. "Thanks. I'll think about it."

The Twi'lek nodded. "I would advise you not to put this meeting off for too long, human. Mandalorians are known for many things, but patience is not one of them."

Cortessa headed around the complex ring and stepped outside, taking a deep breath and cleansing her mind. She had brought Mission and Carth with her, for a famous Jedi and a large Wookiee would attract too much attention in the Upper City. Carth and Cortessa got enough attention for their looks, and Mission was odd because she was blue. They didn't need a stunningly beautiful Jedi princess and a hulking Wookiee drawing more eyes.

Cortessa started for the cantina. Carth mumbled silently behind her, his eyes downcast. Mission looked miserable, her headtails flat and drooping, her eyes wide and pitiful. She whimpered and grumbled unhappily, dragging her feet.

Unable to stand it any longer, Cortessa turned to face her. "Is something the matter?" she asked, folding her arms.

Mission stared back, eyes wide. "I… I was a little snappish when we last talked. I'm sorry about that," she said. Cortessa softened. "I get a little touchy when it comes to Griff. It's kind of embarrassing telling people about him."

Cortessa rested a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to," she offered.

Mission shook her head. "No! I want to tell you. Zaalbar's a great listener but it might be nice to talk about this with someone who doesn't reply in growls and grunts." They smiled at each other. The Twi'lek teenager took a deep breath. "I never knew my parents; my brother always looked out for me. He's the one who brought me to Taris. I was just a kid, only five. But I remember the trip – if you could call it that."

"What do you mean?"

"We were stuffed inside a packing crate in a star freighter's cargo hold with just enough food and water to make the trip. Not exactly first class, you know?" She smiled, shaking her head.

Cortessa blinked, fascinated. "You were stowaways?"

Mission shrugged. "I don't know the whole story – I was pretty young. But my brother owed a lot of money. Might even have been a few arrest warrants out for him… I don't know." She sighed. "Anyway. The only way to get off the planet was to smuggle ourselves out. I mean, I don't want to make it sound like we were criminals… well… maybe my brother was…" She wrinkled her nose, struggling with herself until her headtails turned purple. Finally she managed to stammer, "See, this is why I don't like to talk about it! It makes Griff sound worse than he really was! My brother had his problems, but he always looked out for me."

Cortessa nodded. "What kind of problems did he have?" she asked warmly.

Mission bit her lip. "He gambled. And drank. And smoked. And… and… and he was always borrowing money for his latest get-rich-quick scheme. And he was only… what… eight… nine years older than me? He wasn't old enough to do that stuff! But he had a good heart, you know? He taught me how to survive."

"How so?"

"He showed me how to slice into a computer's security system, how to get inside a locked building without the access codes, and how to spot a wealthy mark for a quick shell game."

Cortessa forced herself to lie, for Mission's sake. "Pretty nifty skills, Mission."

Mission beamed. "Yeah. Griff did right by me." She drooped again, sighing sullenly. "I really miss him since he left. I keep hoping he'll come back some day. He promised me he would."

Cortessa had to wonder. "Why did he leave?"

Mission scowled thoughtfully. "He fell in with the bad crowd." Carth actually snorted behind them. Griff was the bad crowd. Mission rushed to defend her brother. "It's all Lena's fault! She's the one who took him from me! Just batted those long lashes at him and off he went!"

Cortessa frowned. "Who's Lena?"

Mission went rigid, glaring at the ground. "I don't want to talk about Griff and Lena," she muttered. "Just the thought of that space tramp makes my blood boil. Subject's closed as far as I'm concerned." She looked up again, and though she had a controlled look on her face, her headtails were flushed and twitching with her inner anger. "If I'm going to be any help to you, I can't be worrying about my brother running off with some intergalactic skank. So, can we go see Canderous?"

Cortessa nodded. "Sure. Okay."

Mission sighed. "Thank you."

Cortessa smiled sympathetically and opened the cantina door.

------

They stepped into the cantina silently, clumped together, and spotted Canderous right away. His muscular bulk took up half the walkway. Mission hadn't seen enough of him to have an opinion, but he looked a little shady around the edges, and Carth was gripping his blaster with enough force to make it whine in complaint.

Canderous looked over as they approached and grinned approvingly, leaning against the bar counter. Cortessa nodded and they shook hands, staring firmly into each other's eyes. Canderous grabbed her arm and led her to a table, sitting very close to her. He kept his voice soft and Mission leaned in to hear. Carth pressed his hands to the tabletop.

"I saw you in the swoop race," Canderous told her. "Very impressive. You seem to know how to get results. That's just he kind of person I'm looking for."

Cortessa raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

Canderous cracked his neck. "I work for Davik Kang and the Exchange; the hours aren't great, but they promised me a fortune to work for them and I have nothing better to do. Mandalorian mercs like me are in high demand." He took a long drag from a cigarra, gazing at the ceiling thoughtfully. "But lately, Davik hasn't been paying me what he promised. I don't like getting cheated, so I figured it's time for me to break the Sith quarantine and get off this backwater planet."

Cortessa frowned. "Why are you telling me this?" she hissed.

He grinned. "I've got a plan to escape Taris, but I can't do it alone," he said. Mission braced herself. Uh-oh. She knew how these dealings went – her brother used to pull them on her all the time. She glanced at Carth, who shared her unease.

Canderous ignored them both as if they were spots of dirt on the floor. "I need someone I know can get the job done to help me," he said. "That's where you come in."

Carth grabbed Cortessa's shoulder tightly and squeezed it. She glared at him. "Be careful," he hissed in her ear. "Mercs like this haven't a lick of conscience… they'll betray you in a heartbeat. This could be a trap."

Cortessa twitched. Mission shared her views on Carth's tight-lipped security and his lack of trust. Anything he said about someone else could be effectively discredited.

Canderous glared at Carth, resting his elbow on the table and resting a hand on Cortessa's other shoulder, his cigarra hanging from his mouth. "I ain't talking to you," he said. "I'm talking to your friend, aren't I?"

Carth flushed with anger and stepped back, gritting his teeth.

Canderous turned back to Cortessa. "I saw you win that swoop race, and I started thinking. Anyone crazy enough to race like that is probably crazy enough to break into the Sith military base."

Mission gasped with horror. The military base? Was he nuts? Canderous flicked a cigarra butt at her and she felt her headtails throb with rage.

Cortessa cleared her throat. "Stop harassing my friends or I won't do anything for you, buddy."

Canderous was subdued. "Fine. Anyway… I need someone to steal the Sith launch codes from the base. Without those codes, any ship leaving the atmosphere will be disintegrated by the Sith fleet's automated defense guns."

Cortessa cocked an eyebrow. "Why should I help you?"

Canderous grinned, lighting another cigarra and slipping it between his teeth. "Here's the deal: you bring me those launch codes and I can provide the vehicle to get off this planet – Davik's flagship, the Ebon Hawk."

Cortessa's lips twitched with her inner, amused disbelief. "And how are you going to manage that?"

He wagged a finger at her, but his eyes twinkled at her interest. "Uh-uh. Not yet. First, you bring me the launch codes. Then I'll tell you the rest of my plan."

Cortessa nodded. "How am I supposed to get inside the military base?"

"Hold on," Canderous said. He looked around. "We've been sitting here too long. Let's move."

"What?"

"Just do it." He got up and moved to another part of the cantina, standing in a shady corner. Cortessa followed with Carth and Mission and they all stood together again.

Canderous took a drag from his cigarra. "Okay. Getting in won't be easy: the Sith base is protected by an encrypted security system. It would take a top-of-the-line astromech droid to slice through it. Lucky for you I know just the place to get a droid like that. Davik was having one custom built by Janice Nall. Just tell her Canderous sent you and she'll sell you the droid. Then you can use it to get the launch codes from the Sith base."

Cortessa was suspicious. "Why don't you do this yourself?" she asked him slowly.

Canderous shook his head. "Normally I would do this myself," he said. "But everyone knows who I work for. If I broke into the Sith base, they'd send an army down on Davik's estate to get those codes back. That's why I need you." He paused, smirking. "Besides, Janice is... well, she's not… she swings, do you see?"

Cortessa was silent.

Canderous sighed. "She doesn't take an interest in men so much. She'd rather… well…"

"Out with it."

"She's a lesbian. I figured you could work her better than your boyfriend can."

Cortessa considered him for a moment. After a moment, she nodded, to Mission's horror. She shook his hand, and her slim fingers were lost inside his huge, callused paw. "Okay, Canderous," she said, her face set and determined. "You've got a deal."

Canderous grinned his strange, hard grin, and tossed his cigarra away. "I'm going to wait in Javyar's cantina tomorrow," he said. "You come find me when you've got those launch codes and I'll make sure we both get off this rock." He walked around her, letting his arm loop around her waist and his hand drag over her hips and stomach before he left.

Cortessa shuddered, her face flushing. Mission suspected that she had a small thing for the Mandalorian. Or maybe it was just the stim boosters Mission had accidentally put in her caffa instead of Bastila's. Probably both. Carth, like Cortessa, was red in the face, but with anger and jealousy, rather with flustered attraction.

"What was that about?" he spluttered, but kept his voice soft.

Cortessa turned her gaze to him. "Hey, we have a way off this planet," she said coolly. "I don't sense any deception from him, and he'll pay if he does betray us."

Carth sighed. "As much as I hate to say it, you're probably right," he muttered. "We're going to need that ship."

"That's right," she said. "You remind yourself of that, doll, because I'm sure as hell not passing this up."

He glared at her back as she headed for the dueling chambers, twirling her vibroblades with an airy expertise. She spoke with the Hutt and beat the last two contenders – an old, capable man, and a jumpy Rodian. The old man gave her a run for money, and she left with a definite limp, but she was in high spirits.

"That wasn't very smart," Carth said unhappily as she pocketed roughly 1,000 credits. "Now everyone knows who you are."

"As if they wouldn't from the swoop race, in case you haven't noticed," she replied, holding her side even as she grinned at him.

He frowned. Mission thought his concern was cute. She realized with a start that she hadn't forgiven him for calling her a kid so long ago. How could she have off apologizing for so long? She was ashamed.

"Hey, uh… Carth?" she said, touching his arm, distracting him from his eyeball-fight with Cortessa. "Can I… can I talk to you for a second?"

He stared at her. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

He blinked. "What? Sorry for what?"

"For… um… getting mad at you. It's just that I'm sick of everyone treating me like I'm a helpless kid."

Carth smiled. "Hey, it's okay. I know. And I'm sorry about what I said, too. I'm just a little on edge lately. Not surprising, considering what we've all been through. But I shouldn't take it out on you."

Mission doubted his stress was from their current situation. She got the feeling it was all Cortessa's doing.

Speaking of which, the woman was grinning at them both, her arms folded. "It's nice to hear you two being civil," she said.

Mission stuck out her tongue at her.

Carth took the Twi'lek's shoulder in his large hands. " Mission, you have to know that we don't think you're helpless," he said firmly. "Look where we are; look at what we're doing. You're not just along for the ride. We need you."

Mission was touched. "You really mean it, don't you?" she murmured. Tears stung at her eyes. "Nobody's ever said anything like that to me before, not even Big Z. He might think it, but he's not really one for words, you know? Thanks, Carth."

He smiled at her. She was shocked to feel her stomach do a flip. Maybe Cortessa had a reason for flirting with him like that – he sure didn't look old when he smiled. "Ah, it's no big deal," he said casually, shrugging. "Sometimes you just need to hear a few words of encouragement." He had meant this to grab Cortessa and to be nice at once, but then he decided to twist it into a playful barb. "Kids are like that."

Mission exploded. "KIDS ARE LIKE THAT?" she screamed, glaring. Then she realized that he was kidding, from the way he looked at her with a grin. She took a deep breath and laughed at herself. "Oh. I get it. Okay, you got me. You're pretty funny, Carth. For an old guy. Come on, you geezer – let's get back to what we were doing."

They grinned, nodding to each other, and Cortessa led the way back to the apartment to inform the others of Canderous and the Ebon Hawk.

------

Author's Notes: Ooooo. Sexy elder Mandalorian men. Corty's got taste.

FaintlyAlarming – Here you go.

SilverSentinal21 – I went to Dantooine before I got your message. I left because it brought back so many memories and I was sad that it had changed so much. XD I'm pathetic. No, Atton won't tell me why he joined the Sith, only that he killed Jedi. I wanna stabbity his cute brown eyes out.

Vila Skye – Lovely, doll. I had fun with this chapter, too.

Amme Moto – I /know/. I loved Brejik's death. I thought it would add some humor, too. Corty ain't gonna take no more.