Carth:
The grove was a couple of yards away; my fully charged blasters were warm in my hands. My heart drummed loudly in my ears, if anything happened to Rian— Blast it! Why was that woman so stupid?
I had told her once not to trust anybody, not me, not herself. I should have thought to have included that damned Jedi council. Not that she listened to me anyway; the idea of whatever it was that was destroying the flora and fauna out here probably sounded like a killer time to her.
Maybe Canderous was able to protect her. Just because I didn't like him, didn't mean that I was going to deny the fact that the Mandalorian was a powerhouse. Of course, we had found the grove by having Zaalbar follow the scent of Canderous' blood. Not a good sign.
So we ran as fast as we could while my fingers twitched over the blaster triggers nervously. And what I saw when we reached those white pillars very nearly made me want to strangle Rian.
They loomed in the entrance to the grove; the sun outlined them like action stars from one of Mission's holo-vids. Rian had a smile of death on her face as the wind rustled her short black hair. Canderous' face was marked with blood and grim determination. Both of their weapons were poised and ready, aimed towards us.
"Rian?" I tried not to groan.
The carefully perfected terror-instilling look died on her face and was replaced with disappointment.
"Carth?" Rian cocked her head to one side. "What are you doing here?"
Zaalbar barked something and Mission piped in as she scrambled over to Rian.
"Yeah!" Mission chimed. "We didn't like the idea of the Jedi sending you to this grove by yourself, so we were coming to help you."
"Thanks, but I was alright." Rian assured.
Canderous plopped down on the ground next to her and wrenched the boot from his foot. His pant leg had been singed and a second degree burn had worked its way up the Mandalorian's calf.
"What happened to you?" Mission sounded disgusted.
"It's the price of a worthy battle." Canderous muttered between the cigarra in his teeth.
"What did you face in this grove, anyway?" I asked.
"A Cathar Jedi." Rian answered. She offered Canderous a sidelong glance as he tended to his many wounds.
I bit down on my anger. "So it was just some petty test against one of their own?" I demanded.
Canderous laughed. "Obviously you've never met a Cathar before."
"Maybe Jedi was the wrong word." Rian said hesitantly.
I glowered at her. "What does that mean?"
"Well, she was a Jedi." Rian explained. "Only, she embraced the Dark Side. Don't look at me like that!"
"That Cathar could have killed you!" I exploded.
"I'm not dead yet." was Rian's argument.
"And you think that, that deems your actions acceptable?" I demanded. "Unbelievable!"
Rian flashed me her teeth in an excruciatingly cheeky grin. Mission laughed and threw her arms around the older woman.
"I give up." I muttered to myself.
I sat down next to Canderous. I had smoked as a teenager, because it was an easy way to piss off my parents, but I hadn't touched a cigarra since Morgana became pregnant. Yet now, the cigarra smoke that surrounded Canderous smelled sweet and enticing. I could very nearly kiss the Mandalorian just to suck the drug from his mouth.
I decided that a smarter course of action would be to dig out some kolto and bacta from my pack. I passed them on to Canderous. He grunted his thanks, tossed the kolto aside and tore into the bacta. I gave a resigned sigh and hoped that Canderous didn't catch on that I reveled in his second-hand smoke.
"Canderous, do you need to wait for your implant to catch up to all your injuries?" Rian asked.
Implant? What was she talking about?
"No." was Canderous' brisk answer.
"Suit yourself." Rian replied. "I'm going to head back to the Jedi enclave to report that the grove has been cleansed."
"Wait just a minute!" I spluttered.
Rian raised an eyebrow.
"You're just going to run right back to the Jedi and report on everything that just happened?" I demanded.
"Why not?" Rian asked.
"Don't you think that's a little naïve?"
I didn't like the look that woman was giving me. My tongue felt heavy and cumbersome. Damned Dodonna and the damned Republic should have sent me to Hoth.
I forced myself to continue. "I mean, why trust the Jedi? They're obviously hiding things from you. From all of us."
"So are you." Rian said tartly.
"What?" I exclaimed.
I heard Mission giggle. Zaalbar put a furry hand on the girl's shoulder and she snuffed her laughter with a palm.
"You are." Rian continued. "Every time I try to have a discussion with you, you put it off. Are you going to suggest that we get back to the 'task at hand' again, Carth? My mission's done right now."
This crap again? Why was she so interested?
"I thought I said I didn't want to talk about it anymore." I said with as much calm as I could muster.
"I think you owe me an explanation, Carth Onasi." Rian's nostril flared up as she spoke.
Mission landed on her bottom and leaned forward. The gleam in her eyes matched her earlier excitement for the droid hunt. At least someone was entertained.
"Listen sister, just because we're working together does not mean you get to badger me with constant questions." I growled. "Especially not in front of everyone else!"
"You're damn right it does!" Rian bellowed.
"Blast it if you aren't the most frustrating woman to talk to!" I exploded. "Isn't there someone else you can harass for a little while?"
Rian gave a dry chuckle. "I'm frustrating?" She raised an eyebrow. "Look who's talking."
"Me?"
Mission guffawed.
"What did I do?" I asked.
"Oh that's rich." Rian snorted. "Where have you been?"
"I," I sighed. "okay, I give up. You win."
We were talking about the Jedi. How the hell did she twist this into an attack on me?
"I suppose I could use someone to talk to. I'm just not used to it." I admitted. "I don't know why you're so interested, but here goes. When I think of all the men who have betrayed us, the one that stands out above them all is the one I respected the most. Saul."
"That name sounds familiar." Rian mused.
Canderous nodded in agreement.
"With good reason." I told her. "Admiral Saul Karath is the commander of the entire Sith fleet. He's half the reason Malak has done so well in the war.
"Saul was my commanding officer back when the Mandalorian Wars first began. He taught me everything I know about being a soldier."
Mission's cheerful laughter had died. Rian was regarding me carefully to the point it made me uncomfortable. I couldn't decipher anything from either Canderous' or Zaalbar's expressions. I sighed.
"I looked up to him." I admitted. "Saul approached me before he left. He talked to me about how the Republic was on the losing side and about how I should start thinking of my survival.
"I know now that he was trying to recruit me into the Sith, but I couldn't have conceived of it back then."
Damn it, this was why I had kept this to myself. Mission's eyes were misty and her head cocked to one side. Rian's face had softened. They were both sympathetic. More sympathy.
Poor Carth Onasi, his father-figure betrayed him and blew up his home world. What a sad tale, I should have just told them about my wife and son too to get it out of the way. As it was, I was certain Mission at least would be trailing me around the Ebon Hawk to mother me and to offer a dry shoulder for my tears. It was exactly what I didn't want.
"Anyway, I argued with him and he got angry and he left. I never saw him again." I ended the story as quickly as possible.
"You didn't think he would betray the Republic?" Canderous' voice was flat and emotionless.
Rian shot him a warning glare. Blood pounded at my temples.
"Saul was my mentor. He led us to so many victories against the Mandalorians," I bit into that word harshly.
The bastard didn't even flinch.
"Even when things looked to be the worst. I just…" I sighed. "I couldn't conceive of it. He couldn't be serious. I was wrong of course."
Rian put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a squeeze. "You don't have to keep on going if you don't want to."
There was that pity again. It propelled me to continue.
"He not only left us for the Sith, he gave them the codes to bypass our scanners." I blurted out. "I remember waking up as the first of the Sith bombers snuck past our defenses and began destroying half of our docked ships. I knew right away what had happened. I could have stopped him, could have stopped it all."
"Do you really believe that?" Rian whispered.
Her face was still soft, but it was tinged with something else. A slight contempt that filled me with relief.
"Maybe."
Mission flinched at the bitterness in my voice.
"If I ever catch up with Saul again, he will regret it." I promised. "He will regret it."
"So that's all of it, then?" Rian murmured for my ears alone.
"No, but I don't want to talk about it right now." I replied.
"Fair enough." She nodded and turned to the rest of our group. "Time to see what the Jedi have in store for me."
That would have been enough of a headache for me, but Rian had to look at me and say, "Carth, go help Canderous hobble back to the Ebon Hawk."
