To Believe or Not To Believe
"Oh, honestly." Bastila placed her hands on her hips, scoffing. Carth carried an unconscious Connan up the Ebon Hawk ramp, followed by Jolee. "Heat exhaustion already? You've only been outside for ten minutes." Carth ignored her. He walked around her to get into the med bay.
"Hey! Are you guys okay?" Bastila reached for Carth's arm. Jolee held her back.
"Not now, lass." He whispered. Bastila's expression changed.
"What happened out there? Is she alright?" She asked Jolee, now alarmed.
"Connan's dehydrated. She said she's been wandering around Korriban for four days." Jolee squeezed Bastila's shoulder.
"What? Four days? That can't be possible." Bastila sputtered, shaking her head.
"Possible or not, she's hotter than a Twi'lek cantina dancer on open-dance night." Jolee shrugged.
"Zing." Mission strode into the hallway, smiling. "Now what's wrong?"
"Well, we went outside and found this purple… thing in the middle of nowhere. Connan, being the curious person she is, touched it. It sucked her into itself, along with Æliesha, and spat them out not a second later. She came out as is." Jolee glanced from Mission, who was now horrified, to Bastila, to Candorous, who had just joined into the conversation. "Saying she'd been in Korriban's heat for four days."
"And you idiots are standing here talking about it while she's in there dying?" Candorous shoved past Bastila and into the med bay.
Carth was already well at work on Connan. He set her on top of the cot and placed a wet rag on her forehead.
"Candorous, now would be a good time for a kolto pack." Carth said without looking up from his work. "I already examined her, and she's got a puncture on her left side. It looked like it'd been heal already, but reopened for some reason." Carth swerved around to Candorous, who was gawking at the condition of Connan. Her head rolled onto her side limply and her arms hung off of the sides of the cot. This looked nothing like the Connan who left ten minutes ago.
"I wasn't talking to amuse myself, Candorous." Carth snapped. Candorous ignored the rude remark and left.
Mission ran in with another rag to replace the one on Connan's forehead.
"A kolto pack, Carth? Are you sure that's wise?" Mission dabbed at Connan's face with the cool rag, wringing out the first one, which was already room temperature. "She hates those things. It's—"
"It's thick and sticky and takes forever to come off unless you're somewhere near a 'fresher." Carth interrupted. "I know that, Mission. And she might be mad at first, but look." Carth pulled out a large datapad. "I just scanned her. Look at this." He clicked on the 'pad, and it lit up with Connan's bones and muscles. Mission glanced over it.
"What's that?" She asked, pointing to Connan's left side of her rib cage. Carth chuckled mirthlessly.
"That, Mission," He started. "Looks to me like a lightsaber wound."
"But it looks like it was closed before. Why's it open now?" Mission asked.
"I'm not an expert, but it looks like the wound wasn't all that closed when she got into a rough fight." Carth shrugged. "And so without the kolto, she'll be sitting there with a big hole in her rib cage."
Mission blanched, backing up. "I'll tell HK-47 to bring three more." She left.
Jolee came in, examining the still-on datascreen with Connan's X-ray.
"Poor lass," He murmured. "I wonder what happened."
"Where's Bastila?" Carth asked.
"She's out scouting the area." Jolee answered. "In case something's still out there."
Candorous came back, handing Carth a kolto pack. Carth held it to Connan's side, preparing to inject it.
"Put that in me and I'll scream." She coughed.
"You're awake." Carth felt her forehead. It was still extremely hot, but he'd taken some of the heat out. "You've got a wound in your stomach. I'm trying to heal it."
"I'm fine," Connan rasped, hacking as she sat up. Carth pushed her back down.
"No you're not." He stressed. "Now just sit there and let me do my job." Connan glanced from him to Candorous. She gave in.
"Fine. But no kolto. The wound isn't bad. I got it three weeks ago." Connan stretched her muscles.
"Three weeks ago?" Jolee repeated, chuckling. Connan nodded, closing her eyes and wiping sweat off of her cheeks. "Connan, three weeks ago we were on Nar Shadaa. There're no Jedi on Nar Shadaa you should be fighting."
Connan opened her eyes.
"That was three weeks ago?" She sat up again.
"Lay down, Connan." Carth seemed more concerned for her health than the conversation. Connan ignored him, holding onto the hand that was supposed to push her down.
"We were in Nar Shadaa three weeks ago?" Connan repeated.
"Well, yes." Candorous sputtered, obviously shocked. "That's where you heard about the Tomb of Marka Ragnos having that scepter in it. We came here to get it."
"How long was I in that purple thing, Carth?" She asked abruptly. Carth glanced from her back to her rib cage, ignoring her question. "Carth… how long was I in there?"
"Not even a second, lass." Jolee was the one who answered. "You and Æliesha disappeared and reappeared perhaps a nanosecond later.
"Why?" He continued. "How long did you think you were in there?"
Carth froze, his full attention now on Connan. She glanced from him to Jolee and shrugged.
"Eight months."
"What?" Carth shouted. "Eight months? That's impossible! Where exactly did you go?"
"The… the future." She sheepishly answered. "About four thousand years into the future."
"You statistics don't count you as any older, Connan." Jolee looked through the datascreen again. "And nothing seems different than when you left."
"I was there. I swear it!" Connan cried. She stared at Carth's disbelieving face. "You don't believe me? Then look at my datapad." She pulled it out of her bag and gave it to Carth. "You read the entry from ten minutes ago with your own eyes, so why do I have eight months worth of new entries now? I couldn't possibly have done all that when you people weren't looking."
Carth turned on the datapad and skimmed through the new entries.
"Star date: I haven't exactly been keeping track.
Alright, now I'm mad. The stupid Council told me that the Byssual will come back for me sooner or later, and until then, I'm stuck in this place! I'm going to get Zhar when I get back. And the other Council isn't being very supportive, either. If Windu isn't talking about how great a Jedi he is, he's telling me all the reasons why the Sith can't possibly come back. He's not the one who had to fight ol' Red-And-Black with a bad shoulder in the blistering heat of Tatooine! And Yoda's worse! Why should everything revolve around the Council? "No, Obi Wan can't be ready for the Jedi trials until we say he is!" "Oh, the Council Code forbids a Jedi Knight to take on two Padawans." They all make me sick. Good thing I have Æliesha to harp at. She seems to enjoy it as well as I do.
I taught little Ani how to control a battle pod today. He had a little trouble figuring out which button controlled the missiles, which sealed the cockpit, and which turned on the auto-pilot. Hopefully nothing will come across that makes him have to use that knowledge anytime soon."
Carth choked. "Who's Windu? And Yoda, and Obi Wan, and Anakin?"
"They're people in the future." Connan explained. "That's where I've been. I couldn't get out until the Byssual came back for me." Connan stopped her explanation to throw herself into a fit of coughs.
"Explain it to us later, Connan." Carth said. "Go to sleep. You've been through a lot."
Before Connan could protest, Candorous, Jolee, and Carth left the room.
"Do you really believe her story, Carth?" Candorous asked. Carth strummed through the datapad more.
"I'm not sure. It makes some sense, like how these entries were entered. They weren't here when I check this morning. And it would explain how she got that wound that hasn't fully healed, since she didn't have it when she left."
"You would know." Candorous joked, grinning.
"But she was only gone for and instant." Carth shrugged. "So there's no way all of this could happen that fast. And there's no sign to the datascreen that she's any older. 'Screens can tell if you've aged even by a day, and it didn't say anything had changed."
"So you think she's making it up." Jolee crossed his arms.
"Do you?" Carth asked.
"She's got no reason to lie to us, Carth." Jolee answered. "She doesn't usually lie to us anyway, and planning something this arbitrary just to fool us isn't within her sense of humor range.
"And besides, when she came out, she fell into a low stance with her sabers out, which meant she was battling something. An animal, since she was close to the ground."
"Her last entry is on Korriban." Carth mentioned. "Supposedly, she went searching for the Bysuual."
"You think she could've been battling Hssiss?" Candorous ventured.
"It's certainly a possibility." Jolee said, entering the main hall and pouring three cups of coffa. He handed one to Candorous and set the other next to Carth who was still skimming the 'pad. He gasped.
"It says here…." He stopped, gulping. "It says here that a Sith Lord blew up HK-47, and stabbed Æliesha in the back."
"What?" Candorous took the 'pad from him. "There's no way. Æliesha's being fed as we speak, and Mission's got a hold of HK." He took a sip of his coffa.
"Whatever happened, lads," Jolee stood. "We'll ask her about it when she wakes up."
"I don't think this could have happened," Carth rubbed his chin. "There's no way it could have been possible."
"But Carth—" Jolee said. "We're talking about the Force."
"True." Carth admitted. "I suppose I'll just get the whole story from her."
Back in the med bay, Connan lay frowning. Carth didn't believe her story, did he? Why would not believe her? She hasn't lied about something of this caliber before. She hasn't lied since she acted like she fell to the Dark Side four years ago.
Oh, well. She thought. I'll set him straight later. I think now I'll take him up on the whole sleep issue.
Connan fell asleep.
-----
Four thousand and five years later….
"Anakin!" Obi Wan called through Enclave. "Anakin, where are you?"
"I'm in here, Master." Anakin's small voice answered. "I found a datapad about Connan!"
Obi Wan blanched. He ran into the next room to see Anakin, his Jedi Robes ruffled and his hair shuffling around his shoulders. Anakin looked up at Obi Wan, a bewildered expression across his face.
"Master, why didn't you give this to Connan before she left?" He asked, waving around the all-too familiar datapad. "She could be—"
"I know, Ani." Obi Wan rubbed Anakin's head. "I tried to give it to her, but she wanted nothing of it. And you know her: I couldn't force her to read it. So I had to let her go without it." He switched the subject. "Now, come, my young Padawan. It's almost time for the Senate to vote."
"What are they voting for again?" Anakin asked, standing with his Master.
"Some of the planets have expressed they favor of letting Chancellor Palpatine stay on longer than his four year term."
"I like Chancellor Palpatine, Master." Anakin followed Obi Wan out of the room and toward the Senate conference room. "He's been kind to me since I've met him."
"Yes, well, he does have a good sense about him." Obi Wan agreed, a thought panging in the back of his head.
"I don't trust that man. He's planning something. Don't turn your back on him."
"I'm telling you, Obi Wan, that man is bad news. Just please keep a close eye on him until I can figure out why he seems so—I don't know… Dark Side. Alright?"
Why would Connan say such a thing about a nice, generous man like Palpatine? Mind you, Obi Wan wanted nothing to do with politics, and the man seemed to reek of it, but outside of the Senate, Palpatine was truly a Light Side person.
Maybe it was being too Connan. Anyhow, there couldn't be anything wrong with Palpatine. For five years Obi Wan had kept his eye on Palpatine and nothing had happened. Surely this meant that he was a good man.
"Beside," Obi Wan told himself. "If he were Dark Side, he wouldn't wait a whole five years before showing everyone…. Would he?"
-----
"Still don't believe Connan?" Candorous asked Carth. Carth frowned, a worried look plastered to his skull. Connan fell to the floor again. Bastila wiped sweat off of her brow.
"Connan, how could this have happened? Yesterday morning you could throw me down in two seconds. Then you came back from that so called, 'purple blob'. Now it takes ten." She asked.
"I keep telling you people, I'm rusty. I need to practice." Connan spat.
"Because you haven't fought in around eight months?" Carth asked.
"No, I have, but I was rusty then, too. He beat me pretty bad before I beat him." Connan explained. "And this time around, I'm not letting him get away."
"What?" Carth asked. The last part had been whispered.
"Oh, nothing." Connan shrugged, standing. "Let's start again." She lunged at Bastila with her lightsaber, feeling her sore muscles stretch as she went.
I don't want to go back. She told herself. I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back.
But if I do go back…. Sidious will get his.
The End.
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It's only eight pages long. So what? Lol. I finished it a whole day early! So now I can get started on Star Wars II! Hopefully. I'll do my best.
I want to thank all of you for sticking with this story so closely. Estora, Queenoninsanity, and Lunatic Pandora1 for their consistency with reviewing all of my chapters. Also to NukeDawg, who has been a great help to me throughout the whole ordeal. Thanks to Dark Lord Daishi and all the reviews that kept me going. More thanks to Darth Phex, who probably has the coolest name out there! I always loved reading Darth Phex's two cents.
And of course, to the lovely Angela, for her exciting rants which she posted in the beginning.
Thank you all so much for reviewing my story, and I'll have the next chapter in the new story:
Attack of the Clones
Shocker, eh?
Amme Moto
