Chapter 2 - (N)ever Trust A Fox
!FYI! The events in this story are taking place approximately one year before the events of the Phantom Menace !FYI!
Location: The Wheel - Besh Gorgon System
Nick was slowly bored about the fact that the dark being, which stood maybe twenty meters away from them, played the waiting game. Their enemy had positioned himself between two large marble columns, of which dozens stood here in the gambling hall to make it look even more expensive. Another minute passed, but just like their enemy, Nick didn't dare to move or even attack their foe. A quick glance at the bunny beside him showed that Judy seemed to become nervous about the long waiting time. She held her lightsaber in both paws but switched every twenty seconds her position.
"You know, Carrots, the last time I had a Sith in front of me I had to fight her with my lightsaber. Did something changed while I was gone and we try to stare them down now?" Nick teased her.
"Oh, shut up, fox. I don't want to make the first move," Judy replied angered.
"Oh, I can understand that but…," Nick said and turned with a grin towards her, "...Ohhhh, you've never fought against a Sith before... You're afraid. Am I right?"
"That... That's not it, I never fought against a dual wielder...and my eyesight is still blurry because of all that alcohol you threw me in," Judy replied and saw that Nick lowered his green lightsaber and turned towards her.
"Wait...Oh, you mean back then when you attacked me because you couldn't wait until I finished the game?"
"Obviously, Mr. Wilde, there wasn't enough time until the attack would happen."
"Of course, Miss Hopps, but there was enough time for a little sparring fight…," Nick replied and turned his gaze back to the enemy in front of them. Judy, who gritted already her teeth about the childish behavior of the fox, wanted to let it slide but couldn't find the calm to do so.
"If you would've talked to me, then we would've been already out of here!"
"Maybe... but I know 500 million reasons to finish this tournament. So much republican credits...Finnick kills me when he finds out that there will be no prize money at all. Tse, not even a wooden spoon for our hard work," Nick said in a disappointed tone, that Judy just glared at him.
"Hard work? You gambled here in this casino and did presumably so many other dishonorable things, but you're a Jedi! You swore a vow to the republic, the council, your fellow Jedi and every living creature that is in need of help! You vowed to serve, protect and fight for what is right, Mister!"
Judy couldn't see the fox clearly in the darkness, but she saw his white and sharp teeth reflecting the light of the stars and what was left of the lights of the casino. He was grinning but when he began to talk there was just malice and contempt in his voice.
"So many vows...they make you swear and swear. Protect the weak, obey the council, honor your master...But what if the council fights against the innocent or your master wants you to slaughter soldiers of the republic? It's... it's too much… but you...you're not long enough a Jedi Knight to see."
Judy replied and was confused over his statements, "To see what?"
"To see that at one point in your life, you'll forsake one vow or the other. No matter what you do...you'll fail, and you'll break your own rules. Honor, justice, control, abstinence or . . . chastity," Nick stopped for a moment and Judy saw how the eyes of the fox gave her body a closer look before he continued to talk, "...those are nice words the council has taught us to sing, but in the end, they're just words. They have no longer any meaning for me."
"How can you say something like this," Judy replied with wide eyes, but the distorted voice from his enemy in the dark stopped any further discussion. Judy was sure that there was something in the past of the fox that wasn't in the archives of the Jedi Council, that would explain why he took this path. Now, where she was thinking about it there was also not that much of information about him in the archives.
"Are you two done flirting with each other ?"
"Flirting? What do you mean with that," Judy shouted back in annoyance and tried her best to hide a blush until she remembered that they were almost in complete darkness. In contrast to Judy began Nick almost to have a normal conversation.
"Sorry, we're done...You see, I would've invited her to my ship for a night full of passion and ruffled fur with the winner. Maybe, I would even fly with her around some planets of the Republic to show her what life has to offer…," Nick said but saw after a short glance Judy's half-closed eyes and concentrated back at the enemy, "...but enough about me and my destroyed dreams about a night with this gorgeous bunny and maybe a space station of my own somewhere in the outer rim."
With his last words, Nick pointed his lightsaber towards the floor, as if he didn't want to attack. From the owner of the still red glowing lightsabers came no answer. He waited like before in the darkness.
Judy tried to estimate his heights from the length of his lightsaber.
"He's slightly taller than me but not as tall as you, Nick. And he's wearing a strange mask," Judy said. He wore indeed some kind of mask, which was formed like a skull with a long torn nose. There was no mouth, just the empty sockets, where eyes should be. His whole presence emitted an eerie feeling.
When Nick turned towards Judy, he began to whisper in a low voice.
"Okay, listen. I don't have a good feeling about this guy. I think he has some aces up his sleeve, so stay behind me and act as a support. Strike whenever you see a good chance to..," Nick said, but Judy interrupted him, "...I was the best fighter in my class, so don't worry, I know how to fight. Dual wielder or not...we have to make a move to escape this damn space station. besides I have even beat you in less than ten minutes."
This was all the gray bunny said before she started to run towards their enemy, her lightsaber behind her back. And Nick knew she was ready to strike the first blow and to lose.
"This bunny will definitely be the death of me...how can someone be so stubborn and so arrogant at once," Nick said to himself and started, nonetheless, to run after her.
Without any signs of fear, Judy began to recklessly strike her first blows against the unknown enemy. But no matter where she tried to hit, a red lightsaber was already there to block her attack. Left, right, down or above, every strike met his counterpart and made just the noise of clashing plasma against plasma. There was no opening for an attack but what made Judy nervous was the fact that her enemy didn't even fall back - Not even an inch.
'What if I lose?'
Judy couldn't say where the thought was coming from nor could she say what it was. A feeling? A thought? Some more blows and she began to hear a whisper in the back of her head.
'Retreat, or you'll die.'
With all her will she tried to fight against the thought and the enemy in front of her at the same time but it was a battle at two fronts and she felt that sooner or later she would lose. The metal mask under the hood emitted no sign of emotion or life. And he was still blocking every attack.
'You don't want to die, but he will kill you.'
'No, I will withstand.'
'You can't win...look you can't even touch him. Retreat!'
'But...but…,' Judy thought but it was too late, she stepped back from the fight.
"JUDY!"
The gray bunny withdrew for once, startled from the shout that came from behind her. She wasn't able to react in time when a paw grabbed her at her collar and threw her back. For a moment she just flew through the air but thanks to her excellent reflexes she landed on all four. When Judy looked up, she was ready to yell at the fox but her ears dropped and her eyes went wide when she realized what had happened.
Where Judy stood just seconds ago, were now two crossed red lightsabers blocked by a green one. Nick tried his best to hold the enemy back.
'The Sith would've pierced right through me if Nick wouldn't have saved me. I . . . I would be dead,' Judy thought and for the first time in her life, rolled wave after wave of fear through her whole body. Until now, all her fights were against other Jedi or sparring partner who had no intention to kill her, but this was still different. She had never before felt such a kind of shock, that made her tremble like a little child in fear.
"You dumb bunny! Rule number one when you fight a dual wielder. Never draw your lightsaber when you have no idea how to beat him!" Nick shouted back to her but continued quickly with his next advice, "Rule number two, when the enemy has two lightsabers, then face him with two lightsabers!"
Her mouth felt heavy and the words didn't want to come out. She needed time to gain back control over her body.
"But...but that's two against one. Also...I can't...I," Judy tried to answer but in the end, the trembling was too strong and her paws and feet were shaking as if she was sick. In her current state, Judy wasn't even able to hold her lightsaber. With a silent thud, it dropped out of her paw. Nick took just a quick glance at her before he looked directly into the black metal mask of his enemy.
"Isn't she an honorable Jedi Knight? Even now she wants to play by the rules and that when you weren't fair to her at all," Nick said and the Sith tilted his head slightly to inspect the fox and his facial reaction better.
"You noticed it...How," the distorted voice asked, and all Nick did be to grin back at him.
"Let's just say, I used to know someone who used similar tricks. Carrots?" Nick shouted back at the trembling Judy.
"What...what do you mean with tricks?" Judy asked and directed her gaze at the fox.
"Oh good, you're still conscious, fluffbutt. A lot of Jedi would've given up their mental fight by now, but you seem to be tough. Carrots, we three have one thing in common we are force users. Most of us use the force to manipulate the physical world but…," Nick broke and made a little jump back to escape the hard grip of his enemy, "...He is different, he manipulates the emotions of his enemies or to be more precise, he uses the force to inflict fear even in the mightiest and bravest of warriors."
"H-how did you know?" Judy asked with wide eyes as she began to understand that she was lured into a trap.
"The moment he appeared...I told you something was odd about him. I bet you couldn't see him clearly in the darkness but so couldn't I. In contrast to you I'm a nocturnal mammal, I should've been able to see him, but even my eyes wouldn't have been able to do so. He manipulated our perception since the moment he appeared in front of us. Please, tell me what is your name Sith? I want to know who I have to curse, besides the bunny, that I lost 500 million credits today," Nick said and smiled right into the metal mask of his enemy.
The dark warrior in front of him was silent, and Nick guessed he tried to think about a new way to defeat him.
"My name is Darth Lepus, and I'm here to capture the two of you alive."
"Alive? Now that's a turn of events, but I have to refuse, Lepi. There are things in my life I want to do and places I want to see. And I have the feeling of being captured by a Sith will shorten my lifespan drastically," Nick said and raised his lightsaber, a look around showed him a half-destroyed interior, but there were still a lot of empty gaming tables which made in his eyes a good platform to have higher ground.
"I'm no apprentice...Just a Sith, that's all. But you... you're a strange Jedi. No honor, no discipline and not even under the influence of the council. Whatever...a job is a job and I can assure you that this one is nothing personal. Just a way to pay my debt," Darth Lepus prepared himself and changed into an attack position, his lightsabers crossed behind his back. Both fighters backed up to have some distance between them and to have enough time to counter a surprise attack of their opponent.
"Okay to make things clear and to disappoint you right away, I am definitely no Jedi, and I'm especially no Knight… but I can return the kind words because I never met a Sith who was so reluctant to kill someone. You could've killed the bunny easily, but you didn't. Why? Most of you burn to kill someone," Nick said and raised his sword.
"I told you, this is just a mission I have to fulfill...nothing more," Darth Lepus said. Nick estimated that the height and speed of this Sith could be a real problem for him, just like Judy was before.
"Fine...Whatever. Listen, I get tired of this conversation and still have things to do, so let us end this and start the dance," Nick said and started to run with his raised lightsaber towards the enemy. Shortly before he would clash against the Sith, he took his lightsaber to the left and used with his right paw the force to throw the cards and chips which laid on a nearby gambling table towards the Sith. A cloud of hundreds and hundreds of cards, gambling chips, and other items flew through the air and took the Sith his vision.
Lepus was trained to avoid any physical contact during his fights because of his small body. He tried to dodge the cloud of small objects, no matter how light they were. As quick as the Sith could, he closed his lightsabers and rolled to his right, just to find a prepared fox right in front of him. Nick, who awaited such behavior was ready to finish the fight as fast as he could by pushing his lightsaber in Lepus direction, aiming for his chest.
In time, Lepus could just reflect the stab of the fox with his left lightsaber. It was a desperate move and executed hastily. Nick's lightsaber was slightly deflected but still pierced through some inches of Lepus' shoulder.
There was no scream of pain or any other reaction to the wound, but there were sparks flying from the fox's lightsaber, where he pierced through his enemy's chest. The attack was over for Nick and he jumped back on a nearby table. Lepus, on the other hand, wasn't done yet. He got back to his feet and vanished with stopped lightsaber behind a nearby gambling table.
Nick, who held his lightsaber still in both of his paws was prepared for any surprise attack. He observed his surroundings but couldn't see any sign of his enemy. The odd feeling from before seemed to disappear, and his vision was as good as ever.
'He'll need his power for something else than influencing me...but what,' Nick thought and turned his gaze back to Judy. The gray doe was still on her knees and fought against the effects of the force-induced panic attack, 'As long as she's consciousness, everything is fine.'
Nick knew he was dealing with an experienced enemy and he needed to focus all his wits and strength on the task to keep them both alive.
"Not bad Lepus but you see...I have the high ground. So, an advantage for me. But! You definitely know what you do...And I never thought that I would've someone as my enemy who's also cybernetically enhanced, which makes you even more dangerous," Nick said and turned himself around to look out for his foe. Even up there on the gambling table, he couldn't see any movement from the darkness below him. If Nick would bet on the injuries he had inflicted on Lepus, he would definitely say that his enemy couldn't use his left arm any longer. Maybe, he had just hit metal, but there were for sure some important parts he had damaged.
From the depth of the hall sounded Lepus's voice and no matter how hard he tried, Nick couldn't locate where it was coming from, "You fight with some dirty tricks, fox."
Grinning, Nick tried to keep him as long as he could in the conversation, "Of course I do! Don't tell me you have no idea why we foxes are red? Come on, guess!"
"Your predatory lust for blood?"
"Ohohoh, not bad but no."
"Tell me," The last words came from behind him, and they were closer than the ones before. Nick knew the Sith was coming for him.
"Foxes are red, my friend because we're made by the devil," Nick explained and waited for another sound.
"All of you? Even the white, black and golden ones?" Lepus asked and sounded almost as amused as Nick felt during this little conversation. The fox replied instantly with a smirk, "Well, what remains of the foxes out there in the galaxy...you should never trust any of them. They try to seduce you with their warm and fluffy fur and stab you in the back as soon as they get the chance to do so. We red ones...we're at least honest enough to show you what awaits you."
"And what awaits me?"
Nick replied grinning, "Treason."
A shadow emerged behind Nick from the darkness, he had a red lightsaber in his right paw and was ready to strike. In a quick turn, Nick blocked the attack and replied instantly with several blows from different sides but it was the same problem as with Judy, he was too slow and couldn't overcome his defensive, even with just one working arm.
The last strike came from above, and when Nick blocked this one as well, Lepus jumped backward and disappeared back into the darkness of the casino furniture, where he extinguished his lightsaber.
'Damned...This will not work,' Nick thought and cursed himself before he again had to defend against another strike from his opponent. Attack, disappear, wait. That was Lepus plan to attack so far. If it went on like this, there would be no winner at all and as it seemed the Sith had similar thoughts.
"This will not do," Lepus said from the dark, "I guess for once, I should try to be as tricky as you are and change my perspective."
'Change his perspective? What does he. . . Judy!' Nick understood maybe too late but rushed immediately towards the still shaking bunny. A short jump from the table and he was now on the same ground as Lepus. Like a maniac, Nick ran through the rows of gambling tables. When he took a glance to the right, he saw Lepus ran faster than he could towards the gray doe. His lightsaber was already drawn, and Nick could feel that he was ready to strike a blow. 'Maybe his words about catching them alive was just a lie.'
'Why am I doing this? Let him have her, and everything is fine. I escape, and this whole mess is over. Why? Why do I want to save her?' Nick didn't know why but he kept on running.
Simultaneously, Nick and Darth Lepus ended up in front of Judy, but the enemy was between her and the red fox. To Nick's astonishment was Lepus looking at him and not Judy. Even the red lightsaber, which was until this moment in his left paw was gone, but Nick saw that lightning gathered now in it together with an extremely high concentration of the force.
'He has one chance to take me down, and he risks everything for this one strike. And to higher his chance...,' Nick's mind was racing.
Some last words left his muzzle before a combination of lightning and force push hit Nick right in the front and send him flying straight through the hall.
"...You fooled me…"
"Exactly…," Lepus replied.
The lightning push was powerful enough to take everything that stood in its way with it. No matter if it were destroyed tables, chairs or other furniture, so much debris flew in the attack that the fox seemed to disappear. In the end, everything that was torn with the attack slammed into one of the massive marble columns. An unstoppable force meets an unmovable object.
Judy watched in horror how everything was collapsing above the fox. Metal, stone, and wood were creating a large pile of rubble underneath Nick was buried. A large cloud of dust rose from the side of the impact and spread out across the hall.
"N-no!" Judy wanted to shout but was only able to whisper, fear still paralyzed her body. She could feel how her mind tried to process the defeat of the fox but she couldn't. All that was in her at that moment was anger that turned fast into a rage she had never felt before and no one could help her. Here she was, unable to fight the enemy and not knowing how to handle her emotions because the only option she knew was to keep them down.
Judy watched the scenery in front of her unfold and tried even with her unsteady and shaking paws to grab for her own lightsaber, but without any success. Every time she tried to close her fist, it dropped out of her paw. Lepus was still concentrated on his enemy and paid her no attention, just the pile of rubble kept Lepus's interest up. Slowly, he walked towards it as if he awaited another attack from the fox. After he had finished half of the way, he bent down and grabbed for something that lay on the floor. Judy was sure that it was Nick's lightsaber the Sith picked up.
After a quick inspection of the object, he put it on his own belt and moved on. For the pile itself, he took more time to inspect it. He walked around and above it. No centimeter left uninspected. He did this until he was sure that his enemy was really dead. When he seemed satisfied, Lepus used a communication device on his helmet.
"Can you hear me?"
A short break after which Judy couldn't hear clearly who answered him. She couldn't pick up any words but the person on the other side of the line sounded worried, maybe even carrying but in no way commanding.
"No, no, everything is fine. Just some...smaller injuries. Please... you don't have to worry about me, it's nothing you couldn't fix… Yes, it seems that the red fox is dead. I thought he would dodge my last attack….. No. No more signs of him...I know, but at least we have her. Yes, I'll finish and come back…," a short break occurred where nobody said anything. Lepus spoke some last words into his device. And these words confused Judy more than anything else that he had said until now, "...I love you too."
Judy's mind was filled with questions, but there were too many to grasp any clear thought, 'Did...did he said 'I love you'? Who is this Sith?' Judy thought but was rather quickly drawn back to her own situation, 'Why is it so hard to control my limbs...and what is with Nick? Did he really tried to save me and… died? NO! I will not believe it until I saw his body with my own eyes.'
Judy was still defenseless, she couldn't control nor body but at least her mind became clearer. She had to do something, and this quick, Darth Lepus was coming back to her. But no matter what she tried, her feet or arms didn't want to obey any command. Even the use of the force was entirely out of the question. By now, Judy's mind was almost completely filled with anger about her situation and Nick's defeat. The fear from before was gone, but the shock still paralyzed her whole body. With pure willpower, she tried to fight the paralysis and grabbed for her lightsaber. She missed it by a few centimeters but decided immediately to give it another try.
"N-no! I will not give up!" Judy said through clenched teeth.
"It's over," Lepus said, and Judy felt how hot tears began to run down her cheeks. He was right, but she simply couldn't admit her own defeat or Nick's death, "You know… if you would've listened to Wilde, I would be the one who would lay on the ground while you could walk away. Do you have any last wish before we go back to the ship?"
"A-at least, sh-sh-show me your s-stupid face," Judy demanded in her desperation, and to her surprise, he did what she asked for. With index finger and thumb he pushed two buttons on his mask and slide the whole piece over his head, revealing to long ears in white with black stripes and a white-furred face with equally black stripes.
Judy simply couldn't believe that a hare was standing in front of her.
"You...Y-you…," Judy began but couldn't end her sentence. With a sad gaze, the Sith looked down at her and spoke in a voice as if he would regret what he did.
"Yes, I'm a hare and there's a high possibility, we two come from the same planet. But...something like this doesn't matter now. You lost, and I won, that's the important fact at the moment," The hare said and squatted down to help Judy get up, "Too bad that the fox is dead, I liked him somehow."
Judy pushed away his paw and clenched her own paws to fists, while streams of hot tears ran down her cheeks.
"You killed him!"
"Yes and I'm sorry. Believe me, this is nothing personal, just a job to repay a debt and it would've been better if he was still alive."
For a moment, Judy couldn't believe that a Sith apologized to her, but here she was. When she looked up to him, she saw a familiar face, emerging from the shadows behind him. For a moment, Judy thought her mind was playing a trick on her.
"How is that... possible?" Judy said and gasped.
It was Nick, his fur and cloth were partly messed up and dirty but all in all he seemed okay. He had his head directly beside the hare's ears and send a little wink down to Judy. But when he spoke were his words just meant for the hare.
"Hey Lupes, didn't I say that you should never trust a fox? You can't even trust us that we're really dead."
Ready to fight the red fox, the hare turned around and drew his lightsaber, but Nick was faster. He grabbed Lupes's left wrist and pointed with a blaster at the chest of the Sith. He didn't wait for a response and pulled the trigger two times.
Lupes, however, let go of his lightsaber and coughed blood. Confused, how all of this could change in this short amount of time, he looked at the fox but said nothing.
The Sith was mortally wounded and Nick was well aware of this. Without any regrets, he let go of his enemy. Hard and unforgiving, Lupes slammed to the ground. Even in his last seconds of consciousness, his gaze was concentrated on the fox. Without pity or any sign of regret, Nick kneeled down beside the dying enemy.
"I told you, I'm no Jedi, and I'm especially no Knight. I don't care about their rules or their honor. If I need a blaster to fight, I'll use it," Nick said as if he had to justify what he did and put the blaster back to its hidden place on his back.
To his big surprise, the hare smiled with his ice-blue eyes up to Nick and said in a heavy voice, "You foxes are all so different...but yet so similar, once you know what you want to protect."
Nick didn't know what to say and waited until his enemy drew his last breath, but he understood what the hare wanted to tell him.
"What did he mean?" Judy asked. Nick turned his gaze to her and said with a smile, "I have no idea, Carrots."
As soon as Lupes was gone, Nick began to search for his and Judy's lightsaber and put both on his belt. For a moment he kneeled down, turned the hare with his white fur and the black stripes on his back and closed the ice-blue eyes of his enemy.
"That's all I can do for ya...You fought more honorable than I did, that much I can give you," Nick said and turned to Judy. Without asking, the fox picked up the doe and carried her carefully in his arms. Blushing, she said to him, "Y-you don't have to do this."
"But I do it anyway. Why you may ask? Because the only thing I know is that a Sith Lord is dead and his minions and lover will come for his corpse and then for us. You heard him, right?"
"Yes...I never heard that a Sith could love someone. The Council taught us that the only thing a Sith could truly love is himself," Judy said and thought about their enemy. He was unusual, so much was clear and Judy wanted nothing more than to revive and ask him so many questions. Why did he apologize? What was his aim? Who was the person he loved?
"Yeah, that's one of the things they told us. Jedi or Sith, this determines just from where we draw our power. The rest is up to the individual...and yes a lot of Sith become evil but not all of them. He can love, hate, fight and protect like anyone else and just because your a Jedi doesn't mean you're doing the right thing," Nick answered and just for a second Judy wanted to reply but decided to keep her question for herself.
She felt safe in Nick's arms, and she knew, without him, she would be dead or captured by now. But there was another question that needed to be asked.
"How could you survive that last attack?"
Nick exhaled deeply before he answered, "I pushed myself out of the blast with the help of the force, and the rest was simply hiding. No big mystery, you see?"
"No...no that wasn't simply hiding. Your whole presence was gone. As if you weren't there...as if you were...dead," Judy said and looked up to him but what she saw was a fox fighting with himself until the moment came that he lost, "Please Nick, tell me."
"I... I can conceal my presence. Like Lepus used the force to inject fear in the heart of his enemies, I can use the force to hide in front of other living beings. It's no big talent, but it saved my scruffy tail a lot of times," Nick walked a while with her in his arms through the Halls of the casino, searching for a specific exit, he knew and which would led away from this battlefield.
When they entered an empty floor, Nick began again to speak, "Listen, Judy, I'm no fighter, no lightsaber master, no master of the force or anything else. I'm just a coward who did what he had to do to survive. That's all."
Judy remained silent and thought about his words. They left the passage behind them and walked over a long metal bridge from one section of the space station to the next. From here, Judy could see the stars shining brightly down on them. She needed not long to see that Nick looked incredibly tired. Like someone who was searching for something but couldn't let himself rest.
"Can I...can I ask you one last question?" A smile emerged from his muzzle before he replied, "Sure, Fluff. Ask."
"Why do you still have your lightsaber, if you say you're no longer a Jedi?"
Nick continued to smile and answered in a calm voice, "It's mine. I made it, and I connect with it a lot of memories. Not all of them are good, but not all of them are bad. It made me to what I am now, and it reminds me of the things I learned throughout my entire life. Giving up on my lightsaber would mean giving up my past, and that would mean giving up a part of myself. See, Carrots... If I start to throw away parts of my past that I don't like, where should I end? At one point, nothing would remain of me. This thing defines what I was and reminds me of what I never want to be anymore."
Somehow, deep inside of her, Judy understood what Nick wanted to tell her. She felt much better by now and was sure she could walk on her own, but she liked it here in his arm. For once, someone was there for her and not the other way around. Almost instinctively, Judy snuggled herself deeper into Nick's arms and inhaled his scent. From this moment onward, she knew that she liked him.
"Nick?"
"Yes, Carrots?"
"Thank you...For saving my life and even if you said I shouldn't trust a fox. I think I'll make an exception with you."
Amazed and a little bit embarrassed, Nick replied, "You're welcome fluff and . . . Thank you."
"She can't just let him die, Sally! I can't accept this...please try again to call her," a vixen with almost golden fur and the name Skye yelled at her android. She was wearing a black overall with dark blue elements. Around her neck was a metal collar that was blinking at one point with a green light. She was nervous and slowly going crazy in her laboratory on board of the Phobos, a massive ship which laid in the docking station number thirteen of the Wheel. She had enough of the waiting and walked through her laboratory and collected everything she could need for first aid and put it into a big black suitcase.
"Sally, try it again! I know she's there and just refuses to answer my calls," The vixen said to the spherical droid who normally floated behind her through the air. Most of the time the black ball showed on a small round display on her front two minimalistic eyes and a mouth to show her state of mind and came in the shape of an emoticon. After a minute of trying to establish the call, Sally replied just with a disappointing sound and equally frustrating face on her display.
Angered about her ignored calls, the vixen threw one of her tools through the laboratory, where it smashed on the other side of the room against a wall and almost broke some monitors.
"NO! No, no, no! She has to hear me out! She has to! She…," The vixen said angered and was supported by Sally who nodded hysterically in mid-air behind her back. Both of them went silent as soon as she saw that someone stood in the door.
"Ch-Charon...how c-can I help you?"
The vixen made no secret out of the fact that she was afraid of the vast Kaminoan, who had in comparison to his species, who were almost white, black skin and white eyes. Jack had told her once that the dark side had corrupted him so much that his entire appearance had changed, but then again she had to think of Jack and his once complete white fur which was by now taunted by black stripes. He never spoke about it but she knew where they were coming from and it worried her with every day a little bit more.
Charon wore as always the grey robe of his people and had his arms crossed behind his back. When the tall alien entered her laboratory, Skye made a step back and bumped into the edge of a table, on which her emergency bag waited to be completed. Her paws clenched into the surface of the table and she could feel how her claws scratched over the metal.
"I was told you have tried to reach Lord Ovis?"
"Y-yes...I wanted to reach her...I need permission to find Jack. M-maybe I can still save him! Anyhow, I need to try," Skye said in a meek voice but found some courage during her conversation. When Charon didn't answer, Skye turned around and continued to pack the rest of the needed tools into her emergency bag.
Without even looking at him, she took the heavy bag with two paws and walked towards the exit.
"Come, Sally," Skye ordered the droid, who followed her but the machine never took his gaze from the Kaminoan. When both tried to leave the laboratory the door didn't open. She knew instantly that Charon was blocking it with the force.
"Where do you think, you're going, Ms. Winters?" Charon asked without moving or turning his gaze to her.
"I told you where I'll go, and there's nothing that will stop me from doing so. I will save him," Skye said, her yellow eyes locked on the door in front of her. Determined to save the hare who meant so much to her. She knew what she had to do and this wasn't the first time that something like this happened either.
"Do you really think we would let our best scientist for biology, cybernetics, and the force, walk alone through an infamous space station full of gamblers, drunks and now even with two enemy Jedi on the run? You're smarter than this, Ms. Winters and besides, Lepus is dead," Charon said and smiled to her.
"We can't be sure! I will…," Skye began but was suddenly yanked up into mid-air and back into the middle of the room. It felt as if somebody would hold her up with one arm. Sally panicked beside her and began to react like a loyal dog would by attacking Charon. But the droid was never meant to be a weapon or any kind of threat, and that's why her attempts of bumping into the Kaminoan, was more an annoyance for him than anything else. With ease, Charon positioned him in mid-air beside Skye.
"You will do as I say and nothing else, do you understand me?"
"No!" Skye replied reluctantly and growled down at the alien. She could see how Charon lowered his eyelids and looked dangerously up to her.
"No," Charon asked and continued, "I think you don't understand your place here, Ms. Winters."
"Believe me, I do… Lord Ovis needs me for Project Mayhem, and the equation is easy, without Jack I'm out. When I'm out, no project Mayhem. So *ugh*… No Jack, no project Mayhem, easy as that...and I swear you I'll tell Lord Ovis that this was your fault," Skye tried her best to sound convincing but internal she was panicking and afraid for Jack. She knew better than anyone else, that the time she had to save him was limited.
Grunting, Charon let go of the vixen. The fall was short and followed by a hard landing, which Skye repaid with a dark glare at the self-proclaimed Sith. The vixen showed no signs of pain. She didn't want to give Charon this satisfaction. As soon as she was able to float around her master, checking if everything was okay with her. When the droid had checked that everything was fine, it returned to Skye's side and remained behind her, locking his gaze again at the tall alien.
"Fine...I give you permission to search for him, but you will take four of my guards with you. No objections, vixen!"
The doors closed behind Charon the laboratory, what he left behind was a crying and coughing vixen, who sat devastated on the ground.
Skye wanted to stand up and walk on, she had to search for Jack, but for now, the only thing she could do was to sit here and cry about the situation she was in.
'Jack, please be okay. I will come for you and put you back together like I always did, but please fight. You know how much I need you,' Skye thought to herself. Her face changed back to one filled with determination instead of new tears. She wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her overall and stood up.
"Sally?"
The droid who was until now hovering around her with a sorrowful face awakened from her slumber and flew fast to her master.
"Come, we have to find Jack," Skye said, and a smile appeared on Sally's display flying as fast as she could over to the door, chirping and waiting in utter delight for the vixen. With an equally cheerful smile, Skye replied to the noises, "That's my girl! Mmh, who wants to find daddy?"
Another chirping came from Sally before Skye walked past her. With the droid behind her and the heavy bag in her paws, she paced as fast as she could to the exit of the ship, where already four guards waited for her. Skye knew just the leader of the small group, his name was Hortun Telic and a former human member of the Republican army, where he had the rank of a lieutenant, but here he was the leader of Charon's soldiers or mercenaries.
"Ms. Winters, Charon told me we're here to retrieve the corpse of Darth Lepus," Telic asked. The human was a soldier all his life and knew nothing else, emotions seem to be a foreign word for him. It made her angry how they talked about him.
"He's not dead! What you do, is to escort me to his last whereabouts. Do you understand this? As soon as I enter the hall you'll leave me alone with him."
"Sorry, Miss but we have strict orders what you're allowed to do and what not."
"I DON'T CARE! Bring me to him and do as I say!" It was enough for the young vixen, all she wanted was going to the mammal she loved and try her best to bring him back. She knew that with every wasted minute the chances to save him were lower and lower.
"Okay, Miss but this mission is on you. If anything happens, you're to blame," Telic said and nodded.
"Fine by me… But please, let us go," Skye replied, and she could feel how tired she was right now.
It took the group and Skye another twenty minutes until they reached the hall where the fights happened. Until now, no one of the group had spoken to her. They were almost like ghosts but Skye didn't care, she just felt that with every minute she came closer to him, she felt more and more uneasy.
The casino was still abandoned and would be until tomorrow. Charon had talked to the owner and Syke could already imagine that it had been a rather unpleasant conversation. A shiver ran down her spine and made the fur on her tail stand up when she just thought about it.
Always, when she went out on such a mission to find him, and his situation was unclear, she hoped that it would be the last time she had to do this. That it would be better from there on but it never happened. There was always a step-down. Jack was the only positive thing she had in her life and maybe even the only person who ever loved her unconditionally. For no money in the whole wide galaxy, she wanted someone else, all she wanted was her white hare with the black stripes.
'Is that really too much to wish for? A quiet life with him, like they had before? Before all this mess started?' Skye asked herself and sighed, before she turned to Telic, "Open the door for me and wait. If I shouldn't have returned in the next sixty minutes, then and just then you're allowed to enter."
"Yes, Miss."
Telic replied and opened with the other mercenaries the door. Quickly, Skye and Sally entered the quiet casino hall. For some seconds she stood just there and stared in the darkness of the hall until the heavy door closed with a loud noise.
Complete darkness was all around her, even the emergency lighting system was dead by now and if there was one thing that scared her as much as Charon, then it was the darkness. Even today and even as a fox, she couldn't sleep at night without a small light on. And yes, it was a childish and irrational fear, something she was well aware of as a scientist, but Jack had never complained about it or even made fun of her. Whenever she awoke at night because of a bad dream, he had taken her into his arms and consoled her. But now she had to be strong, and for the time until he was back on his feet she tried her best to ban the fear into the back of her mind. There was only one thought left, 'Jack needs me.'
"Sally?"
The droid blinked in the darkness and flew over to her, Sally's face looked curious, and she seemed ready to work.
"Search for Jack."
This command was one of the few the AI had prioritized higher than most others. The moment in which Sally heard this order, the black sphere began to scan the hall instantly. Skye, however, searched in her bag for a flashlight and turned in on. She examined the place with her limited view and hoped to see any moment Jack in his black suit. But there wasn't anything.
Skye could see a large pile of rubble but didn't know if this was Jack's doing or the fault of the other two Jedi. Some years ago, Jack had always a camera on to stream what happened to her in real-time, but this was too nerve-racking for her, and so they agreed that he would at least give her a quick call when the mission was done, or the danger had vanished. She couldn't understand what went wrong this time. He said he had killed one of the Jedi. Did he oversee him? Or made a mistake? No, that wasn't like him...Maybe he was tricked?
The vixen made a face when she saw all the gambling tables laying around together with poker chips, money, glasses and above all was this terrible stench of alcohol in the air. She always wanted to visit the Crimson Casino herself and thought it was such a fine establishment, but she was apparently wrong.
A loud alarm sounded from the other side of the room and Skye felt how her heart skipped a beat.
'Sally found him! Now go to him.'
New confidence rose in her but the heavy bag prevented her from moving any faster. Because of the bag, she needed another minute until she reached finally Sally, who floated excitedly about her finding and around the unconscious Jack.
Skye stopped in front of him and watched how he laid on the floor as if he was sleeping peacefully. Like the last times when she had found him, tears gathered in her eyes, but she didn't give in and tried to stand her ground.
Skye knelt down beside him and watched him for a moment. He made no sound and looked awfully peaceful with his closed eyes.
"Sally, light," The droid turned and activated two small but very bright lights beside her 'face.'
'Oh no, he even took off his mask...Skye! Concentrate! He needs you now.'
But what she found on his chest surprised her. She awaited cut off limbs or a pierced chest through a lightsaber, but this?
"Blaster...? I thought you were fighting Jedis, Jack," Skye said as if he was there and could reply to her.
She tried everything to detach the breastplate from his body, but the blaster shots seemed to have melted and fused with the metal underneath. Her only option was now to cut it off and try to fix the damage underneath. Without looking, she opened the heavy bag and search with her right paw for the small light cutter which was in fact just a miniature version of a lightsaber, Jack had once built it for her. It was highly effective but also as sharp and unforgiving as the real deal. Carefully and just centimeter for centimeter she worked herself forward on the plate.
It took her almost ten minutes until his bare chest laid open and once more struck grief the vixen when she looked on his for her well-known but worn-out body. Scars and missing fur were the least of his problems. Jack's entire right arm was gone together with his right shoulder, both were replaced by cybernetic ones. Those pieces went directly over into the chest which was in fact almost a complete replacement of his original thorax through a steel and carbon version, that protected most of his original organs. At least everything she could save.
Skye's paw stroked over the metal chest up to the point where the heaviest wound of all was located. Right there where Jack's heart should be was now just an energy cell that delivered the power for his artificial heart. Skye remembered just too well, that he took this wound upon himself to protect her from the damage of a grenade. He did this without thinking, and she knew he would do this again and at any time. That was her Jack.
'All the things he did for me, all the dangers. . . What else could I do than to love him with all I got,' Skye thought smiling and was kind of relieved that just the energy cell was destroyed through the blaster shots.
Without hesitation, she began with the replacement of the broken part. What even Jack didn't know was that every time when he was on the brink of death and Skye saved him, she added something to his cybernetic parts. By now he could survive things that others could never survive, like two shots from a blaster directly to the chest. Skye had added smaller backup batteries which supplied Jack's whole body for at least twenty-four hours with energy to prevent him from brain damage or organ failure. Right now, he was more in a comatose state than on the brink of real death.
The energy cell was replaced, and Skye saw how the normal function of his body returned. Jack's breathing was again going normal, his heartbeat was back, and his ears also reacted to sound. Smiling, Skye laid Jack's head on her thighs and began to caress his cheeks. From this moment on, she could just wait and hope that he was okay and soon be back on his own two feet.
"Come on, Jack. For six years we two are together like this. That's not how it ends," Skye said and began to hum a tune she had in mind and also often sang when she was working. It didn't take long before she began to sing.
...
I don't sing well, but I got a lot of heart
This world's a pirate, and I'm swimming with the sharks
And in the sunlight, I'm shaking like it's dark
What could I say
I was born to be this way
And what could I say
I'm just living for today
…
A moan came from the hare lying on her thighs, and Skye stopped her singing at once.
"That's not true...your voice is beautiful," Jack said and opened slowly his ice-blue eyes which met her yellow ones instantly. Both couldn't hide the smile of joy when they both looked at each other.
"How are you feeling, Jack," Skye asked, happy but still worried about him.
"You know, I always feel perfect when the first thing I see is my personal sky…," Jack said, but he could see how her face turned to a worried one, "Jack, please…"
"I'm sorry. I feel...okay so far. My right arm is broken, but I guess you will repair this in no time," Jack replied and observed how his vixen reacted. A deep exhale followed the most beautiful smile he could imagine and for which he could and had killed.
For a while, Skye was just looking at him and all his scars and of course his black stripes. When she first saw him bare in front of her, he was covered in pure white fur. Sometimes, Skye asked herself if she was the cause and the fault for all his misery and his drift to the dark side. She didn't care how he looked, she would love him even if his complete fur would turn black, but she knew where his stripes were coming from and what caused them. She hated it that he used the dark side but he did this to protect her, and she knew he would never stop.
'Not until…,' Skye shook her head and exhaled deeply.
Jack seemed to notice the change of mood and reached up to her with his left paw. At first, he just caressed her cheek, but it didn't take long until she closed her yellow eyes and began to enjoy his touch.
"One of the enemy Jedi was a fox. A red one. He was also the one who shot me...but before that, he had said something to me," Skye who still enjoyed Jack's treatment had begun to purr softly, "So...did he. Ahhh, Jack. You know that I can't concentrate when you're doing this."
"I know," Jack replied smiling and took his paw down to get the full attention of his vixen again.
"He said, that I should never trust a fox because you're all made by the devil and sooner or later you would stab me in the back," Jack said and looked up. Skye laughed and replied still giggling, "Well, maybe I will do this one day my little hare."
Skye just fooled around and bowed down to him, rubbing her black nose against his. But Jack was severe when he replied, "I would always trust you, even when you do something like this to me...my life is yours. Forever."
Skye was speechless, even so, it wasn't the first time he had said something like this to her, but it was never so direct or so earnest. She knew what he felt for her.
"I love you," Jack said and hadn't to wait long for Skye's reply, "And I love you."
The golden vixen bowed again down to the hare, but this time, she placed a kiss on his muzzle. Slowly, she raised her head and stood up from her kneeling position,
"Come, I help you up and back at the ship, I make a long check of your whole body," Skye said grinning and handed the hare a paw.
"Is that a promise Ms. ... ," Jack replied, but as soon as he got up to his feet, everything in his view started to spin and became blurry. He went back to his knees and coughed blood. A device on Skye's arm began to make an emergency sound. Even Sally flew nervously around Jack and checked his status.
"Jack? Jack!" Skye went instantly to him, the white fur around his muzzle darkened with blood. The hare was back on his knees and his left paw, while his broken right arm dangled to the ground.
"No! No, no, no... Your left lung collapsed...this must be from the impact of the blaster shots. While you laid on the floor, everything was fine but now...," Skye said and activated her communication device, "Telic! I need help, immediately. Jack was back on his feet, but his left lung collapsed we need transportation back to the ship. And that now!"
"Telic here. We're on our way, Miss Winters." The mercenary replied.
"Jack, did you hear that...they're coming…," Skye said, but her voice became quieter and sounded as if she was far away.
Jack's sight became smaller and smaller until everything around him went dark. The last things he recognized was Skye, who kneeled beside him and begged him to stay with her and Sally who flew in panic around the two of them and made beeping noises as if she would die herself. In the end, there were just his own thoughts, and they were about his vixen.
'Please let me stay...I have to protect her.'
When Jack opened his eyes again, he laid in his own bed back on board of the Phobos where he shared a cabin with his vixen. But right now he had to order his thoughts. How did he arrive here? What had happened? But most importantly, where was Skye?
To his luck, he could answer the last and most crucial question instantly. The golden vixen laid, like every night, with her head on Jack's chest and seemed to be in a deep sleep. Her left arm was around him and their legs entangled to a mess of white and gold. On top of that, and until today Jack didn't know if she did this intentionally or not, Skye covered both of them with her tail. With that, the blanket wasn't needed, but when Jack raised it, he saw what he already expected, a naked vixen that made him smile for a moment until his gaze went up to the collar she wore. Jack's smile vanished instantly when this thought crossed his mind. For two years, this thing was around her neck, but he knew that every attempt to remove it would instantly kill her.
Before that, they had everything they ever wanted. Their own ship, ideas and the will to see as much as possible of the galaxy. But they were at the wrong time, in the wrong place and met the wrong enemy. And now? Now, Jack and Skye had to pay off a five-year debt for Lord Ovis, and until then, he and Skye were nothing more than the Sith Lords' property. He had to fight, and Skye had to work on a secret project which had the obscure name Mayhem.
For some seconds, Jack just listened to Skye and how she was breathing in her sleep. When he raised his right cybernetic arm, he recognized that this one was different from before. It was brand new and lighter than the old one.
'She already healed me, changed the arm and repaired everything. How long was I asleep? Or better how long was she awake?'
Carefully, Jack tried to escape the greedy grasp of his vixen, if this would be a typical day he would gladly stay in bed with her but this day wasn't typical. He had lost to someone.
Skye didn't like it to be left alone in bed and looked almost as if she was pouting in her sleep when Jack crawled from under her to the edge of their bed. Standing beside it, he saw on a nearby chair his trousers which he put on for once. We wanted to walk over to the command terminal and inform himself what happened in the time he was knocked out.
But when he walked with bare upper body past the large mirror, which was attached to the wall of their cabin, Jack stopped and looked for a while at his own image.
"You're a mess, Jack... It's a wonder that she can love you like this."
His real right arm was gone, as well as his right shoulder, most of his chest, his heart and some other organs. Everything replaced through cybernetic parts. Now came a ruptured lung to his list of failing body parts but as long as he could go on and protect her, everything was fine.
But what really concerned him were the black stripes he had developed over the years. Jack knew that the dark side was taunting him...changing him into someone or something else. But he couldn't see it directly, just in the way Skye sometimes looked at him. Her eyes were full of fear of him. That hurt him, more than any lightsaber could ever cut. The only one who should never have such feelings about him.
There were times when he lost his mind to the dark side. Times where anger and rage dominated his emotions. Times where no voice but hers could reach him. Jack feared the time when even this was no more possible. He feared the day she wouldn't come back to him to save him from the darkness. But most of all he feared the day where he could become her darkness.
Jack sighed heavily and took a last look at his black stripes before he heard the beeping noises of Sally who just realized that one of his owners was awake. Seemingly happy, the black droid flew around the hare. Jack had to chuckle about the silly thing but grabbed her with both paws when she became too loud.
"Psst. You wake her, Sally. We have to be quiet, alright?"
The Droid in his paws nodded and remained silent. At least for now. Sally returned to her most liked hobby, which seems to be floating through the air and watching everything in her surroundings. Right now, she was above Skye but not for long, and she flew on to one of the windows towards space. They were in hyperspace and probably following the two Jedi.
When he walked back to the bed, he discovered on Skye's night table a small tablet with her last recorded work. Jack thought that a quick glance couldn't hurt. He took it and sat on the edge of the bed. Skye instinctively turned around and wrapped her arms around the hare.
'Two hours for fixing my collapsed left lung, three hours for the replacing of the arm and fixing the damage on my chest.' He looked down at the sleeping vixen.
"Thank you, my dear lady, for piecing this broken and worn out body together," Jack said and pressed a kiss on her forehead. A smile flashed over her sleepy face before she replied in an equally sleepy voice.
"I would always try to piece you back together . . . It's fun... almost like a puzzle," Skye said and giggled about her own joke before she closed her eyes again.
When Jack drew the blanket over her shoulders, he could see through her fur dark blue spots on her collarbone, neck, and throat. He knew this kind of injuries very well, every force user would recognize them immediately, and he knew that he would never do her any harm. Never.
He knew only one other force user on this ship.
"Skye who did this?" Jack asked, his voice way darker than his normal one. The vixen needed a moment to understand what the hare wanted from her.
"Why did he hurt you?"
Wide awake, she was crawling up to a sitting position. Skye could already sense the anger boiling up in Jack, but she still tried her best to cover it up, but he already knew enough.
"Th-that's nothing...You know me, clumsy Skye, fell about her own two feet. Dumb, dumb, dumb…," But she felt that it didn't work and so she tried the last thing on her list and begged, "Please Jack...let it go and don't give in. Not for his sake but for yours," Skye said and grabbed his left paw.
For a moment, she thought he would stay. Especially when he began to caress her paw with his thumb. But he quickly turned around and levitated one of his lightsabers into his right paw. He could hear Skye behind him, how she stood up and tried to follow him but she wasn't as fast as he was.
"Jack! No, please! Let us talk about this," Jack could see, how she had the blanket clutched to her chest and how she desperately tried to locate her clothing. When he left the room, and the door closed. Jack used the force to break the lock and keep her in there.
'She's a goddamn genius, she doesn't need longer than five minutes to find a way out. I need to find this piece of shit,' Jack thought and hurried on.
Driven by blind rage, he walked straight through the nearby corridors, directly towards the bridge where he felt the person he was looking for. Some other crew members passed his way, but they either backed away from him or quietly stood still until he was gone.
When he entered the bridge, there was only Telic the mercenary and some crew members around and of course Charon, the captain of the Phobos. Standing in front of the long command table, typing various commands into it. He didn't look up but recognized the half-naked hare without a doubt.
"Ah, Darth Lepus. You returned from the dead and oh...what for a rare view you offer us," The Kaminoan said with a dirty smile on his face.
Jack didn't wait or wanted to talk about anything, he wanted answers. He jumped on the other end of the command table, staring at the tall black alien.
"What did you do to her?"
He looked finally up and met Jack's eyes directly.
"Me? I taught her some manners and explained to her where she stands in this order. But she didn't want to listen to me! And so she got maybe two or three little bruises."
"Two or three little bruises...," Jack repeated almost not audible for the people around them.
Without warning, Jack raised his right paw and tossed Charon back against the rear side of his captain seat. Charon wanted to counter the attack, but he was too slow, and Jack had him already captured with the force. Without warning, Jack raised the pressure against him. The Kaminoan screamed in pain, but the hare didn't stop.
"What did I told you when we were forced to work for Lord Ovis? Tell me! Back then, what did I said to you?"
The tall alien was trying to touch his throat, but Jack flung his arms down with the help of the force.
"That I . . . Arghhh. . . should never do anything that would hurt your vixen. Ahhh, stop it! That's madness!"
Jack didn't listen, he had heard already enough. With a fast movement of his paw, he threw Charon into multiple monitors to his left. Sparks and glass flew through the whole bridge, and Jack heard a scream from one of the crew members who stood behind him.
"She's mine, and I will not allow that you do anything to her! Do you understand me?"
Charon was screaming in pain, but none of his mercenaries came to help him, all of them stood in fear around and watched what happened to their captain. Jack, however, wanted to clear things once and for all.
The red lightsaber in his paw started to buzz, and he went over to the still screaming Kaminoan, his body until now sunken into the broken monitors. But Jack didn't stop here. He jumped beside Charon and stepped over his long throat, by now Charon had understood that this was no demonstration of pure power. Jack wanted to kill.
He thrust his lightsaber into the already broken monitor. The glowing red blade just inches away from the alien's throat.
"Darth Lepus… Stop this foolish behavior," Charon demanded meekly.
"For the last time, my name is Jack Savage. I got this name from the one who trained and taught me everything I know, Darth Vectivus. And one of the things he taught me was that being a Sith would make me free! That I had to follow just my own believes and nothing else. But I'm everything else but free. I'm here on this damned ship, drawn into Lord Ovis foolish competition with Darth Sidious and the Jedi council," Jack explained loud with clenched teeth.
"Stop...you're killing me, hare," Charon shouted underneath him.
"All of this I could take and accept, but I'll never accept what you did to her. Never. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"
"Yes! Yes! I understand but stop."
"No... there's no honesty in your words... just lies, and appeasements," Jack said and slowly closed the space between the saber and Charon's throat.
"NO, JACK! Please, don't do it," This voice was different, and Jack knew immediately it was her voice. Skye stood, just clothed in their blanket, in the middle of the bridge and watched with a shocked look, what his mate was doing.
"Jack please, I'm not worth to kill someone else," Skye said, but the hare replied, "For you, I would burn down a whole world and more."
"Yes, listen to her!" Charon said, but Jack replied instantly, "Shut up!"
"Jack, please. Come down, and we go back to our cabin. Please, do it for me. End this madness," Skye begged one last time, and Jack laid his head deep into his neck, closing his eyes for a moment and tried to come down. With a deep exhale, Jack closed his lightsaber but just when Charon thought it was over, Jack took the head of the alien in front of him and turned his gaze to Skye, who still stood in the middle of the room.
She had still the blanket clenched to her chest, and it was now that Jack guessed that her back was bare and visible for the crew members behind her. 'She was just focused on me...,' Jack thought, and a wave of shame flooded his mind which he tried to push in the back of his mind for now.
"Look at her and always remember that your miserable life continues because of the one you've hurt," Jack said and took his cybernetic paw finally from him. Still panting, the black stripped hare stepped down from the console and walked towards Skye. His lightsaber was extinguished and hung back on his belt. Grim, Jack looked to Telic who stood at the door with a slightly open mouth.
"You better help him, or he maybe bleeds to death...," Jack said to Telic but was interrupted by a tantrum from the raging Kaminoan, "You caught me off guard, hare! And you'll regret that I promise you," Charon screamed and escaped with a bleeding head the crushed console underneath him. Telic went immediately to him and supported him to leave the bridge.
When Jack was finally in front of Skye, she looked at him with this gaze that made him feel as if he was a little kid again and was just intensified when she said, "You shouldn't have done that."
"I'm sorry," Jack said and took the blanket quickly from Skye and wrapped her neatly into it. So that nobody could see what was only meant for him. They just wanted to return to their cabin when a voice sounded from the communication area, where a small projection stood, clothed in a black hood.
"Where do you two think you're going? Stay, we need to talk," Jack could already hear the smile in her voice.
Jack and Skye turned back to the small creature and replied in unison, "Yes, Lord Ovis."
'This day is getting worse and worse,' Jack thought and didn't even bother to smile.
"I saw your defeat, Charon. That is precisely the reason, why I don't allow you to use the title Darth...and now bring yourself in representable condition, Charon," Lord Ovis said and turned towards the vixen and the hare, while Charon left, supported by Telic, the bridge," Darth Lepus, you will continue with the pursuit of Nicholas Wilde and the Jedi Knight, Judy Hopps."
"Yes, Lord Ovis," Jack and Skye replied instantly.
"And Lepus...I'm a little bit sorry, I should've told you that Nick would use every dirty trick he knows to survive. But I guess, you'll be the next time more carefully when you challenge him. He was always like this, you know, even when I trained him."
"You...trained him?" Jack asked perplexed and could see how Lord Ovis laughed about his confused face, "Oh yes, I did. But at a certain point, he betrayed me. Lepus, if he continues to make problems...kill him. Miss Hopps is already annoying enough and probably all we need for our final test."
With the same innocent smile with which Lord Ovis ordered death, she continued to speak to Skye, "My dear vixen, how is the project going?"
"G-good, I wait just for the last information from Honey and then we are ready for the final test."
"Perfect! I awaited nothing less from you, Skye. Hopps and Wilde are right now on their way to Naboo, and so are you."
"Naboo? What do they want on Naboo?" Jack asked and recognized that he had to catch up on what happened after he became unconscious.
"Isn't it obvious? They want to find me and Nick knows who he needs to ask to get this information but not for free. Anyhow, a new queen will get her crown, and you two will attend the ceremony, locate Hopps and Wilde who will probably also attend this feast as guests, catch them and bring them to me. We will meet afterward on Moraband. Darth Lepus, you will get the command of this ship and Charon as your servant," Lord Ovis said. Jack knew that the Caminoan wouldn't like that. There was still one more question Jack had to ask before Lord Ovis would end the connection.
"What will you do during this time, Lord Ovis?"
"Me? Oh I wish I could see the new queen but I will meet with an old friend and see if he will join us or not. He and I haven't spoken to each other for such a long time. It will be a delight to see him again. Anyhow, we will have one last conversation which will decide if our paths lead us in different directions or back on the same road. I hope Darth Sidious will make the right decision," Lord Ovis said and smiled sweetly at the two before the hologram disappeared. Some seconds passed before Jack turned to Skye with a smile.
"You know... I always wanted to see you in a dress," Jack said, but all that Skye could do was stare at him with an open mouth before she began to laugh. Her laughing was always a relief for him.
"I'm glad I have the old Jack back," Skye said still chuckling before she pressed him a kiss on the forehead. With a shaking head and still laughing, Skye turned around and walked off, back to their room.
"What? I really do," Jack replied and followed her with a smile on his muzzle.