Carth:
"Now that we're on Dantooine, I'm going to try and get hold of the Republic." I backed out of the cockpit slowly. Hopefully I could escape those two without doing more damage.
I swear, I was going to have to corner Mission and force her to write me an "Angry Women" handbook. That way I would know when to say certain things and when to place my foot in my mouth to avoid having other people's feet placed in my nether regions. All I had wanted to do was make a little joke and open Bastila up a bit. Instead, I successfully created more animosity between Rian and the Jedi woman.
I noticed that I still had Rian's caffa mug in my hand and shook my head. After a few sips of that sludge I think my stomach was ready to be pumped. That woman really would eat anything.
The main room was empty so I took a seat and fiddled with the holo-vid projector. I typed in the coordinates and was soon flashed with the blue tinted visage of another man.
"Republic office of—"
He began uniformly enough. When he glanced up at me, however, his jaw hung open.
"Carth Onasi?" he spluttered. "Are you the Carth Onasi?"
"Is there another one?" I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
"Well, no." the soldier said, solemnly. "But I have heard so much about your exploits during the Mandalorian Wars. It's a great honor to be talking to you, sir."
I massaged the bridge of my nose. "I'm flattered." I said. "Actually, I just finished up with an assignment and was curious as to what the higher-ups wanted from me next."
"Of course." The younger man nodded. He tried to cover his child-like giddiness with a serious expression. It didn't work. "Hold on a moment, sir."
The screen went blank for a moment, but the idiot must have been too excited to find a mute button. He gibbered on to his office buddies about "talking to Carth Onasi" until I was finally transferred over.
I blinked when I realized who I was going to be speaking with.
"Admiral Dodonna, it's an honor to be speaking with you." I murmured.
"I'm flattered, Onasi." she replied. "But save it. We've got more important things to talk about."
"What do you need to talk to me about?" I asked. "I just wanted to report on a completed assignment."
"That's precisely what I wanted to talk to you about." Her lips smiled, but the rest of her face remained flat. "Your assignment is far from over."
"What do you mean?" The caffa-sludge seemed to shift in my innards.
"I'm going to speak to you plainly." Admiral Dodonna pressed her hands together at their fingertips and gave me a hard stare. "I don't trust the Jedi, Onasi. They've developed half-truths into an art form. We were going to send someone over to keep an eye on their activities, but since you're already conveniently accompanied by Bastila Shan, you'll do."
"So let me get this straight." I swallowed a hard lump in my throat. "You want me to spy on the Jedi?"
"The way you say 'spy' makes it sound so derogatory." Admiral Dodonna replied. "You make it seem like we expect to find something horrible. I just want you there to keep the Jedi as honest as they claim to be."
"How long can I expect to be on this mission?" I asked.
"As long as it takes." she answered firmly.
"Understood." I grumbled.
"Oh, Onasi?" The older woman's brows furrowed for a fleeting moment.
"Yeah?"
"You look like crap. Get some sleep." The holo-vid flashed blue as Admiral Dodonna disconnected.
"Yes, Ma'am." I offered a salute to the empty screen.
I sighed. So the Republic wanted me to play at spy? And against Jedi no less! It could be worse, I guess. I should've been grateful that Admiral Dodonna didn't feel that it would be in the Republic's best interest for Carth Onasi to be dressed incognito as a Twi'lek dancing girl for his little spy masquerade.
Rian entered the main room. She walked over to me and held out an expectant hand. I placed her caffa mug back into it. A lethargic smile crossed her lips as she casually sipped at her caffa.
"I can't figure out how you manage to drink that and live, but you refuse to touch my caffa." I muttered.
"It's different." she said. "You put too much sugar in yours. It'll rot my teeth out."
"That toxic waste in a mug you've got will melt your insides out." I shot back.
"It's not so bad." Rian shrugged. "Wookiees can't be good at everything."
"Zaalbar made that and you're drinking it?" I felt sick just thinking about it. "I can go see if there's a doctor anywhere nearby."
"Don't bother." She grinned. "I'll probably be dead before you make it back."
"What should I tell Bastila when she finds your stinking corpse?" I scratched the stubble around my goatee.
"That I fought bravely and died valiantly." She took another sip of caffa.
"I'll remember that." I muttered. "And stop drinking that. It's disgusting."
Rian laughed. "What are you doing hanging around here, anyway? I thought once you got Bastila to Dantooine you were going to get reassigned."
"Why?" I asked. "Are you trying to get rid of me already?"
She raised an eyebrow. "As much as I appreciate all the flattery that you give my stinking corpse, I thought that you would be needed elsewhere."
"Actually, I was ordered to stay here." I said. "So that leaves me and Bastila here on Dantooine. What about everybody else?"
"What about everybody else?" Rian crossed her arms. Caffa sloshed over onto the holo-vid projector.
"What do you mean 'What about everybody else'?" I demanded. "I know where I'm stuck, what are you and everybody else going to do now?"
"Well, Zaalbar and his life-debt will follow me no matter what I do and Mission will follow Zaalbar no matter what he does." Her nostrils gave an agitated twitch. "And I bet Mission would love to bring that damn droid along."
"So, the four of you will be together." I said. "But where will you go?"
Rian slammed the rest of her caffa-sludge and set the mug down on top of the holo-vid projector. I took the mug down before it had a chance to smash all over the floor.
"Corellia." she replied. "Start up on the Corellian Run again. Mission's smart, if I can nip her cockiness she'll make a fine smuggler."
"Do you really think that's the sort of life that a fourteen year old should live?" I looked up at Rian.
She didn't even flinch. "Do you really think that she was living the sort of life that a fourteen year old should live on Taris?" she retorted.
"Who are you to make decisions regarding Mission's life?" I argued.
"I'm not." Rian snapped. "I'm making a decision for myself. It's Mission's choice to follow me."
"Look, I'm not trying to fight with you." I groaned.
"Then don't." she said. Rian glanced around the main room and asked, "Do you think Canderous or Bastila will have a problem with me keeping the Ebon Hawk?"
"Were you even planning on asking them before taking the ship?" I rubbed the bridge of my nose.
"Maybe it would be a better idea to just take off with the ship." she reflected.
"That's not what I meant and you know it." I groaned.
Rian hopped up onto the table and crossed her legs. She had a smarmy grin on her face, but she kept quiet. I was definitely going to have to enlist Mission to write that handbook for me.
The metallic click of boot heels striking the floor made me turn my head. Bastila stood in the doorway; she rapped her knuckles against the door frame briskly.
The smile was still firmly in place on Rian's face, but I could feel the temperature in the room cool. She gazed at the Jedi expectantly.
Bastila looked frazzled. A lock of dark hair had fallen from her braids and it hung limply. She gnawed on her lower lip and her blue eyes darted from Rian to myself.
"I have spoken briefly with the council; they request an audience with you, Rian." Bastila said quietly. "We should go at once."
"An audience with the Jedi council?" I mused. "That's pretty unusual for someone who isn't even a Jedi. What's this all about, Bastila?"
She turned her head away from me. "I'm sorry, Carth, but I cannot tell you." she replied. "All I ask is that you trust in the Force and the wisdom of the Jedi council."
And all I asked was for you to tell me what was going on. I sighed. "Well, I don't like being left out of the loop, but I'm not looking to get you in any trouble with the Jedi Masters." I admitted. "We'll do things your way for a while."
Rian would tell me what was going on afterwards. If not voluntarily, I could probably ply her with booze to get her to talk. It's not that I wanted to do something underhanded like that, but I couldn't stand stumbling around blindly. I shouldn't have to think of ways to extract information anyway; I'd ask and she'd tell me. Especially if Rian knew it was something terrible enough to get a rise out of me.
"Come, they are expecting us." Bastila said. Without waiting to see if we followed, she turned on her heels and marched out of the Ebon Hawk.
I looked at Rian warily. As she sprang from the table top I caught the whiff of vanilla musk and caffa. I had to admit that she'd have a pleasant aroma if she would only scrub that caffa reek from her teeth.
"I'm coming with you." I told her.
"Suit yourself."
We entered the Jedi enclave without conflict. Bastila must have made a point to keep a good distance between us because as soon as Rian and I walked through the doors we saw Bastila disappear around a corner.
Rian was immediately stopped by another Jedi who berated her for not wearing the standard Padawan garb. I tried to politely intervene, but once again got shot down for attempting to play mediator between two angry women. The Jedi finally realized that Rian wasn't a fellow Padawan when she suggested that the other woman set herself on fire.
We followed the red and white tiled corridors until we found Bastila waiting outside the council room. We headed for it, but as soon as Rian walked through the door Bastila swiftly stepped in front of me and slammed the door in my face. I was beginning to yearn to be reassigned to someplace like Hoth.
Great, what am I supposed to do now? I leaned up against the wall and tried to listen through the door. Not a single sound filtered through. The doors looked pretty pricey with geometric patterns worked into them. I wondered how much the Jedi Masters paid to have them installed. How did Jedi get paychecks, anyway? Was there some sort of "Masters of the Universe" fee they charged out to people just for being smug?
Maybe I worried too much about Rian and what would happen to her when she mouthed off to the wrong Jedi. I suppose it was good to worry for a change instead concentrating on other things.
I found it strange that I couldn't remember Morgana's face, yet his was burned into my memory. The sharp hawk nose on an otherwise seemingly kind visage came to mind immediately. His dark hair had begun to gray the last time I had seen him, but that was more than four years ago. Maybe his hair would be completely white the next time I laid my eyes on him, or his arthritis would have spread from his fingers to his wrists and back. It wouldn't matter; I'd still be able to recognize him. I'd tear his heart from his chest if I could.
"You never did cry for me, did you darling?"
No, love, no I didn't. I couldn't, I refused to allow myself that beautiful luxury until that bastard was cold in the ground just like you.
I pulled myself back from my misery and looked at the closed door. So Admiral Dodonna thought this was important? She probably figured that I would be inside the council room and not nosing around outside it.
Their little meeting had taken too long for my tastes. Rudeness be damned, I opened the door.
Rian gave a flourish to the council as she bowed. One master practically had steam shooting from his pasty white ears as he fumed. The other human had a peculiar look of amusement on his face; his mouth was cinched tightly as if he was battling desperately to keep from smiling. The Twi'lek blinked slowly, and the other short green creature behaved as if he had expected what had just happened all along. Bastila was completely horrified.
Rian swaggered to the door and gave me a lopsided grin.
"What did you just do?" I demanded.
She laughed. "Apparently these old geezers want to make me a Jedi."
