Topside
- Canderous Ordo -
The console of the Republic's pet harvesting machine blinked ominously at me. First time I'd seen function keys larger than my palm; but then again, it wasn't exactly easy to input commands in these bulky envirosuits. I stabbed a finger at the keyboard, and watched the output manifest on the screen with grim satisfaction.
Accessing Harvester Control:
Initiating Shutdown Sequence...
The Cathar flanked me, keeping a nervy watch on our watery surroundings. I'd thought the surface of Manaan had been bad enough, what with the tight-arsed Selkath and their blathering neutrality, but this pissing about underwater... Well, I'd been in worse spots. Still, Juhani wasn't alone in her desire to get back to the surface. Being surrounded by toothy sharks that saw me as just another appetizer, with naught but one of those flimsy noise-makers to defend myself with, was more than enough to put me on edge.
Pressure Control Layer Shutting Down...
Yet the princess had somehow drawn the rabid fishies away. I personally scoffed at the marvels she and many of her stodgy counterparts attributed to the Force, but this time I was pleasantly surprised. I'd thought the chances of turning into shark chow before reaching this contraption had been altogether too damn high.
Container Pods Shutting Down...
Gratification brought a tight smile to my face. We might actually get out of here in one piece. A squawk in my ear cut cleanly through my satisfaction.
"Kono, look!" the female shark-geek gasped. "The sharks – I think they're attacking the base!"
This infernal place had the same ghoulish feel to it as the Undercity back on Taris. Even relatively sane people started cracking and jumping at the slightest shadows. Yeah, I'd seen that impressive swarm of firaxans dart off in the direction of the Base. But why was the girlie scientist whimpering about it? What are the sharks going to do? Bite through six inches of durasteel?
Shutdown Sequence Complete.
"Got it!" I crowed. "Easier than the girls at Roxy's cantina."
The Cathar had taken a leaden step closer at my remark, envirosuit helmet pointing at the blinking console.
"Canderous has turned the machine off," she murmured through the transmitter. "Should it be rumbling so?"
The contraption was echoing with a reverberating rattle. It hadn't sounded steady since we'd neared it, but then again, neither had the Cathar. I was about to say so when the older academic whimpered over the communications.
"I- Sami, it's ferracrystal, it'll hold. It has to!"
I could feel myself scowling; those two had spent far too long staring at fish and plants if they truly believed a bunch of firaxan could harm them from within the Base. The Cathar pulled back as the harvesting machine loosed another resonating discharge. It sounded vaguely similar to the backfire of a basilisk.
"It's just powering down," I muttered, frowning at the console. "Taking awhile though."
A warning flashed on the screen, and shock punched hard in my gut as I read it.
#ERROR: Container Pod #3 Unstable.
#CRITICAL FAULT: Fuel Tank Pressure Leak.
"No, it- damn, it's unstable! Get out of here!" I growled, muscles clenching as I lurched around violently. Tits on a bantha! We need to haul ass back inside, now!
"Canderous?" Kono queried. "What's going on out there?"
I took a sluggish step towards the lights of the Base, twisting slightly to keep one eye on the Cathar. But she- what does she think she's doing?
"Cathar, you're going the wrong way! It's going to blow!"
Another rumble sounded ominously nearby. Maybe I was being paranoid – who knew how likely it was for Republic equipment to spontaneously explode – but there ain't no way I'm sticking around to find out. I'd seen too many lightweight Republic ships shatter from the slightest hit to trust their machinery.
"I must find the Star Map, Mandalorian!" Juhani's hiss echoed into my ear. "I will not fail!" She'd taken another step away, further into the darkness past the inoperative harvester.
Mand'alor's balls, what is she trying to prove? Now is not the time! I normally had no patience for this sort of stupidity, but the Cathar had been skittish since we'd left the surface. Oh, sod it all. I snarled, staggering determinedly back past the harvesting machine to follow her, even as I cursed myself for succumbing to this brainless sort of loyalty.
Juhani was still moving deeper into the shadows beyond.
The irregular roll of the machine was noticeably louder now, and my eyes slid to the console as I floundered past. The grim message spurred me on further; I could barely see the shape of the Cathar as the shadows ahead enveloped her whole.
#ALARM: Rupture In Containment Field
#ALARM: Evacuate Area Immediately!
Why am I following her? It was the Jedi Princess I felt a debt towards; yet I respected Juhani's warrior spirit. And this Star Map business had been part of the mission. The cryptic Zabrak had refused to pay me until I'd vowed to follow their lead. I wasn't going to renege on that again, not after Bastila had saved my hide the way she did
Still, if they expected me to walk blindly into another hairy situation after this, then they needed their heads checked.
"Kono, the window's flexing – there's hundred of those sharks out there! We need to get out of this room!" The female's shrieks pierced into my ear, I felt a sharp desire to shut the damn comm. off.
Blurry outlines materialized in the dark ahead, indicating some sort of structure nearby. The hazy outline of the Cathar merged into black as a blaring rumble resounded behind me. I yanked my feet onwards, feeling vibrations through the ground with every step. It's about to blow! Ordo, get a move on! Ahead loomed an uneven wall that might just be the cover I needed. It wasn't far, but I could feel my mouth opening in a snarl as I pushed my legs even harder.
My hand reached out to grab the side of the broken wall as the ground heaved under my feet. Just as I thought I had my balance, a crushing force of water slammed me off the ground, ripping my grip from the wall and sailing me headfirst into the black unknown.
The machine's finally had it, I realized as a further percussion stunned against my senses, my body sweeping upward with the fierce current. My vision blurred as the water turned murky with debris, but I saw enough. Another blasted wall appeared directly in my path, and there wasn't a kriffing thing I could do to evade it. My hands raised to brace against the oncoming blow.
I smashed against it, hard against my arms which collapsed under the pressure. I grunted as the air left my lungs, pushed prone against the structure as the water buffeted against me and the ringing in my ears grew.
I stayed prone for a few seconds, stunned, vaguely aware that someone was speaking to me. I slipped down, senses dazed, and my legs buckled against me as I hit the ocean floor.
"Canderous, are you okay?"
I was flat on my back; eyes blinking as coherent thought slowly emerged. Eddies of blackish dirt spun in the dark water above, and a throbbing ache resounded through leaden muscles. With a grunt, I positioned a weak arm underneath me, propping myself up to take a look around. Let there be no kriffing leaks in this suit, or I'm fried. My limb threatened to collapse from the weight, and an echoing pressure pulsed from my head.
I'd landed in the ruins the humans had talked about earlier. Broken, eroded slabs of ferracrete or similar rose into the ocean, moss and lichen literally smothering them. Whatever had been built here was ancient. I had no idea where the Cathar was hiding, though.
"Yeah, I'll do," I muttered back, scrabbling to my feet inelegantly. I stumbled, falling against one of the ruined walls. The envirosuit seemed fine so far – no ruptures or tears – and oxygen was still flowing normally through it. What luck. Let's hope it holds.
Just when I thought the danger was gone, something flickered in my periphery, and I twisted sharply to catch the movement. A firaxan shark- no, loads of them, headed towards me, and I'd lost that toy sonic gun in the explosion.
"Force, they are headed directly for you! Do not move!" Juhani cried.
I found that a bit rich coming from her, but held my tongue, standing frozen against a decaying wall. Dozens of sharks milled above me, and one came within touching distance, but-
"They're not attacking," I muttered, frowning. Dumb luck seems to be with me today. The firaxan's head twitched towards me, before flicking away to join the swarm above. "Did Bastila do something to them?"
I idly watched a shoal of smaller fish dart between cracks in the walls. One was swallowed whole by a firaxan as it swam past into the murky shadows beyond. I wasn't going a move a wretched muscle until those sharks had all gone; I was completely defenceless.
"I do not know," Juhani's reply came at last. "I felt a powerful force before, but it was not from Bastila. The firaxans had damaged the harvesting machine earlier, if you recall; Sami believed that may have set off their territorial instincts. Perhaps, now that it's been destroyed, they-"
"I dunno," I grunted. I had a hard time thinking of those rabid sharks with that level of intelligence. I would've thought an explosion would just piss them off all the more. "Kono? You guys shark bait or what?"
There was no immediate reply. I felt a twinge of concern; if the scientists had run from the command room, they'd have left Bastila pretty much defenceless. But there ain't no way those fishies could damage that Base. A harvesting machine, maybe, but a solid, underground Base? Even I couldn't believe the Republic to engineer construction weak enough to be damaged by marine life, no matter how I might enjoy belittling their work.
"These must be the ruins," Juhani murmured, and I saw her step into view from behind a jagged outcrop. A few brightly coloured fish darted past her, further into the deep. "And it appears the firaxans are leaving."
I turned around, facing back towards where I thought the harvesting machine would lie. I had no idea in reality; and the ocean was turbid from the explosion. Even the lights from the Base wouldn't show through this cloud of dirt. "Let's just find this Star Map of yours and get back," I grunted, hoping the Cathar knew the way. "I wanna know why that lot ain't answering."
"Yes," Juhani agreed. "I must admit, I am worried for Bastila's safety. What I felt earlier was that same foreign entity we encountered when approaching the station. But stronger." She took a step further into the ruins, and I followed cautiously, keeping an eye out for any movement. Even here behind the irregular structures, eddies of dirt and soot were muddying the water.
A massive wall emerged out of the depths as we tramped closer, this structure dwarfing the ragged walls I'd landed next to. It raised high into the ocean, ten metres or so, and it struck me as particularly odd that the Republic had not bothered to investigate this area further, considering the academic weaklings their empire attracted. A dark hole caught my eye, evidence of an entrance through the monumental enclosure.
"This is it," the Cathar breathed as I stepped through the hole after her. A disjointed contraption, about half my height with four solid spikes protruding outwards, lay on the ground just past Juhani. "The Star Map. We found it."
It looked much the same as the one on Tatooine, I thought grimly as Juhani knelt on the ocean floor. She leaned forward, activating the mechanism in a way I didn't see, and the Star Map unfolded. A large globe of blue-white illuminated the area, looking distinctly out of place in this bleak environment.
"This thing is so close to the Base, and no one's found it before?" I asked in disbelief, as the Cathar started punching commands into the datapad hooked onto her suit. "Even with the fishies around, I'd have thought some idiot would go looking to make himself a hero."
The Cathar took some time to answer, engrossed in creating a data connection with the Map. I frowned as I gazed over the navigational markers. There were more black spots in this map than the one on Tatooine. It had the same mysterious lines cut through the galaxy, although in different places. Somehow, the data of the maps added together must create some endpoint destination. Why the creators couldn't just leave a set of coordinates, I didn't know.
"Hrakert Station has been in this area for little more than a year. Karon told me the Republic deliberately chose a place to mine far away from the Selkath underwater bases." Juhani stood, deactivating the Star Map as she did so. "And this vent has only been found very recently, so I do not think they have known about the ruins for long. But you are correct; the map had been discovered before."
I squinted through the helmet as the light of the Star Map faded, morphing back into dark murkiness. The Jedi seemed to get their kicks from being mysterious; Juhani, for all her warrior spirit, was no different. I wasn't a complete imbecile, I'd gathered whatever these Star Maps led to was critical to the war, otherwise the Jedi would hardly let their precious Bastila out alone. "Right," I drawled. "I take it the Sith have been here, huh?"
Juhani stepped towards me, and I turned to follow. Fortunately, she seemed to know where she was going.
"Let us discuss this later, Canderous, when our crew is back together."
I've heard that before. I shrugged inside the bulky envirosuit. "I'm getting paid to fight, Cathar, and to save your sorry hide. All I need to know is anything that might stop me from doing so."
"Canderous, Juhani!" Kono's voice cut past any response Juhani may have given me. Hah, so they ain't dead yet. Wonder what took them so kriffing long.
"Kono! Are you alright?" Juhani responded deftly. "Is Bastila?"
"Come back, quick!" Kono gasped, and I registered just how strained and panicked his voice was. "Bastila's stopped breathing!"
xXx
The Cathar was one step ahead of me as we rushed into the command room. The two scientists were cloistered near the far end, next to the bench Bastila had been lying on. As we ran towards them, my eyes flicked over a pile of hypodermic needles resting on the table nearby.
"You're back!" Sami cried in relief, straightening from the position she was crouched in. "I've got her breathing again – her heart stopped earlier – I don't know what happened!"
Juhani was already kneeling next to Bastila, her hands resting gently on the prone Jedi's chest. A breathing mask was strapped tightly around Bastila's face, forcing oxygen into her lungs.
I glanced up towards the far window – it looked completely intact, and I had no idea what the scientists had been panicking about earlier.
I folded my arms, feeling my mouth twist with disgust as I looked the two humans over. "What happened to the princess then?"
"I don't know!" the dark-skinned female gasped. "The sharks started attacking the window – I thought we were all going to die! Then- then they all disappeared-"
"I think when the harvesting machine exploded," Kono cut in. His gaze was still resting worriedly on Bastila as the Cathar closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. "Maybe that distracted them. Then we saw Bastila was out cold. If we hadn't had the emergency kits here, she'd be dead by now."
Sami's hands were shaking as she dropped another needle onto the pile. "How did the machine explode? I think maybe that's what dispersed the firaxans; it'd fit with their behaviour. If they considered our mining an infringement on their territory, then perhaps-"
"I don't give a damn about the firaxans!" I snarled, as my impatience with their pointless waffling reached breaking point. I'd seen those hungry firaxans out there, and I wasn't about to credit them with intelligence. The girl's eyes widened at my outburst, and she actually took a stumbling step backwards. "I want to know what's wrong with Bastila!"
Sami stared at me in mute surprise, and it was the Cathar who answered. Her palms were still laid upon Bastila, and her anguished look of concern redoubled my worry. "I can barely feel her," she whispered. "Her life force is so weak, it is almost extinguished."
I felt my scowl deepen. "But she'll be alright then? Her heart's beating, she's getting oxygen - all she needs is rest?" My gaze had fixed back on the Jedi Princess, watching her chest as it slowly rose and fell.
Juhani looked away, shaking her head slowly. "It is not mere exhaustion, Canderous. All living beings encompass the Force; it is part of them, as they are part of it. Bastila... she is so close to dying, that she does not even feel alive, let alone human. This sort of psychic damage... I am no healer, but it is possible she may not recover."
I could feel the muscles in my face tighten. I'd vowed to get Bastila to the surface, but that would hardly help her if she died in the process. My eyes slid accusingly to the two humans. "What happened to her?"
Horror was etched on Kono's face; Sami merely looked indignant. "I told you, we didn't see! We were too busy-"
"Panicking because you thought a bunch of fish could get in here. Yeah. Right."
"Canderous, she appears stable." Juhani's low voice cut through the room. "As long as she doesn't relapse, I believe she will improve. Blaming the others will not help her."
There were far too many conditions in that sentence, but the only way to increase her odds was to acquire medical care. The Cathar was right. Denouncing the scientists wouldn't make the Jedi suddenly wake.
I felt the air in my lungs expel in a dissatisfied grunt. "You said yourself you're no healer, Cathar. Whether you reckon she'll recover ain't worth a damn to me. We need to get her topside, get some real help. Kono, you sent that message yet?"
The scientist nodded at me wearily, a deep frown lining his face. "Yes. I've broadcast it on all available frequencies, though to be perfectly honest I'm unsure if the signal is strong enough to reach the surface. I will keep trying."
"There's not much else we can do, now," Sami commented, gazing at me and the Cathar in turn. "We have enough food to last for months. The air... well, as long as someone surface-side gets Kono's message, then we'll be fine."
I felt my lips twist in disgust. "I'm not inclined to bet my life on those sorts of odds. You ain't got no way of knowing the distress signal's strong enough, and we may just suffocate in the mean time."
"We've been doing all we can," Kono blustered heatedly. "By all means, if you have any suggestions, then please air them!"
"Where's the communications array in this blasted hole?" I shot back. "Seems to me we should focus on getting that up and running. Make sure that someone hears our call."
"The room's sealed shut. You would need high grade explosives – permacrete or something similar – to open the blast doors." Sami answered, looking intently at me.
I grunted. "Worth a shot. I'm gonna go see what I can do." My eyes slid to the unmoving Jedi, and I felt determination twist in my gut. No way was I gonna sit about yapping, relying on shaky hope to get us out of here.
"We have weeks of air left," the dark-skinned human cautioned. "You don't have to go haring off again, Canderous. Frankly, you look like death."
My eyes shot to the woman in quick anger, but the only emotion she showed was concern. With that, I was abruptly conscious of the aching lassitude that had sunk deep into my limbs. I knew I'd be feeling some hefty whiplash in a few hours when the adrenalin wore off. The Cathar was looking at me also, her face drawn and pale. I wondered briefly when we'd last slept.
"Rest and food is a good idea," Kono added quietly. "There may still be Selkath around. We haven't seen any on the cameras for awhile, but it doesn't hurt to play it safe."
I nodded abruptly. If there were still loopy fishmen around, then I'd much prefer to kill them on a full stomach.
"Alright. What you got to eat around here then?"
xXx
Quiet voices roused me from a deep slumber; I yawned, stretching uncomfortably tight limbs on the hard bench, as the conversation drifted to my ears. A band of pressure throbbed around my chest, warning against moving too quickly.
"Are you saying you think one of the firaxan's could wield the Force?" Sami's voice, quiet, but sharply incredulous.
"All I know is that a large entity attacked Bastila with the Force – and quite probably caused her current condition. I felt it. It had some sort of control, or authority, over the firaxan swarm," Juhani's soft voice replied.
I couldn't stop the snort of derision that ripped from my lungs as I slowly sat, leaning back against the wall. The Cathar's startled gaze landed on me in surprise. "And it didn't occur to you that it might have been a Dark Jedi?" I interrupted, sarcasm audibly dripping from my voice. "You'd rather attribute Force powers to a fish?"
Juhani's patience was admirable; she didn't appear remotely offended. "It was a completely foreign power, Canderous. Primitive, and yet immensely powerful. It was not wielding the Force the way I, or any Jedi or Sith, know how to. Combine that with the presence of a shark vastly larger than any we have encountered before, and I believe it to be the only logical explanation."
I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief. My neck felt irritatingly weak, and I could feel muscles creaking in painful objection. "Initiate a few sharks into the Order, and you'll have the upper hand over the Sith in no time," I drawled derisively.
A flash of impatience sparked through Juhani's expression at last, but it was the frowning human who replied. "Actually, we have no idea why the Selkath researchers stationed here went insane. They seemed to lose all grasp of reality, and let's not forget that Selkath have evolved from aquatic vertebrates..."
"You believe this power may have had an affect on them as well as the firaxans?" Juhani replied quietly, a note of curiosity sparking in her voice.
Sami shrugged. "We haven't come up with any plausible explanation. And..." the scientist trailed off, deep furrows lining her forehead. "I believe the Selkath's god is a large shark of some type. I wonder..."
I stopped for a moment, mulling the facts over in my head. A big shark had been spotted, supposedly using the Force. The other sharks had gone crazy. The Selkath are related to the sharks. The Selkath had all gone crazy.
Well, this all leads to one irrefutable conclusion.
"You're both nuts," I said bluntly, rolling my eyes. I could believe this tripe from the scientist, but Juhani's input convinced me: the Jedi were a pack of rambling fools, whose common sense had long melted into space dust. Impatient, I glanced around the room, noting Kono's sleeping figure on a bench near Bastila. "Enough of this useless conversation. How long have I been out? How's Bastila?"
Sami scowled darkly at me, and even the Cathar was frowning in irritation. I raised my eyebrows sardonically at the both of them, until Juhani finally sighed in capitulation. "About eight hours. I have just woken myself. Bastila came to a few hours ago, and Sami tended to her."
"She was unintelligible," Sami replied curtly. "I don't think she roused as much as her vocal chords spasmed. But at least-"
A piercing beep from a cluster of consoles cut through her spiel, and Sami quickly jumped to her feet.
"What is it?" Juhani asked in alarm as the woman strode towards the machines.
"I don't believe it," Sami muttered, tapping a few keys quickly. "Juhani, wake Kono!"
"What?" I ground out.
Sami turned back to face us, and her look of sheer amazement told me the news was good. "There's a ship approaching." A disbelieving grin lit the young woman's face. "We're saved!"
xXx
The trip back topside was annoyingly long, no matter how gratifying it was to be leaving that cursed Base. Our rescuers were, in fact, a squad of Selkath arriving in a ship much larger than the puny Republic submersibles, and their presence at Hrakert Station had been enough to send the older scientist into fits of fear.
Kono's distress signal had worked, despite my own misgivings, but it had been the Selkath who had intercepted the message. While a small group of Republic soldiers had also made the trip down, it was obvious who was in charge. The uniformed fish had been interrogating the two scientists since we departed, and each probing question had left the pair of them looking more and more sickeningly uncomfortable.
I couldn't help a snort of amused derision; the Republic had made this mess with their secret base, and now it was time to pay the price.
Even the Cathar had gone in for her fair share of questioning, but they'd mostly left me alone after a few non committal grunts and vacant stares in their direction. Sometimes it paid to act as stupid as most people assumed mercenaries were.
Now that Bastila was hooked into a partial bacta tank and declared medically stable, if not yet conscious, my own worry had ceased. The princess would recover; it was past time for me to make my own plans. As much as I owed Bastila, I didn't relish the idea of following her any longer, nor did I particularly believe my skills would be desired.
I disliked being idle, and sitting for hours accompanied by suspicious Selkath and uptight Republic grunts wasn't doing much for my temper. Or my thoughts, which, now that I was unoccupied, were trailing back to that explosive revelation of hours ago.
Revan. Or, more accurately, Jen Sahara. She wasn't who she'd once been, the renegade Jedi who'd triumphed over the best of my kind. How much of Revan was left? I'd wager my last credits she didn't know her true identity, but her craziness and battle-skill convinced me that some part remained.
If she hadn't scuttled our ship and done a runner, I would've followed her. I was going to anyway, before I even knew who she was. Trouble sticks to her like flies on a bantha's arse, and my life has been just a bit too dull lately. The last few years had gone against the grain, scraping around for mercenary work from the likes of Davik Kang, a small-time Exchange thug with delusions of political importance.
Even without our interference, his ingratiating manner and tendency to renege on trade agreements meant his time had been coming to a close, and I'd jumped at the chance to leave Taris. Jen Sahara had piqued my curiosity. Despite being drawn into a secret Jedi mission – or maybe because of it – I'd felt the complacency and idle restlessness that had dogged me for the past year start to dissipate. I'd thought that maybe, I might finally find something really worth fighting for again.
Waste of time thinking about this, Ordo. The crazy chit's gone, and you'd better start worrying about your own future. All I was left with was a faint admiration for the Revan of old, and a desire to pay her back for blowing up the Ebon Hawk while I still on board.
I felt the transport ship start to decelerate, just as a hissing voice informed us of our impending arrival. We were surfacing in the Ahto City harbour, where we would be transferred into a submersible headed directly to the Republic Embassy. I wondered idly if the Selkath were planning to question us further, and just how difficult it would be to slip away, and off this planet. Mercenary work wasn't exactly flourishing on Manaan.
Minutes later, and the ship was docked. Medical personnel had already boarded and began clustering around Bastila. I shot the Cathar a quick look; she jerked her head towards them, indicating she would try to stay with the Jedi.
I wasn't needed anymore, and maybe it was time to leave. Take the cue from the Twi'lek brat, and disappear. This party's getting old at any rate. But first, I had to escape from this political nightmare.
It wasn't possible in the intervening minutes. I, along with the two scientists, were efficiently herded towards a small submersible. The Republic soldiers had already dispersed; instead, four Selkath guards were escorting us back to the Embassy.
The Republic's really screwed themselves here, I thought with grim amusement. Since when do armoured Selkath "escort" Republic researchers? All things considered, maybe it wasn't that surprising. I was still impressed that the Republic actually had the balls to mine kolto right under the Selkaths' nose.
It didn't take long to reach the Embassy, and I was quick to unbuckle myself and exit into the docking station of the building. The first man I recognized was the aging Republic Commander; he looked taken aback as I stepped away from the transport, throwing a faint smirk his way and vaguely scanning the room. Damn, but it feels good to be topside again. My experience over the last day left me less than keen to travel underwater anytime soon. And to think I'd just been bagging Juhani for such reluctance.
Uniformed Selkath lined the docking room, making clear their hefty military presence wasn't to be ignored. And the expression on Wann's face couldn't be called anything other than pissed.
I strode purposefully towards the exit, hoping cocky confidence would see me out but utterly unsurprised when a Selkath guard stopped me, informing me in broken Basic that the Embassy was blockaded until further notice. I nodded impatiently and moved away. I disliked being confined to the Embassy, but I wasn't about to defy the Selkath – not since they'd already taken my blaster away.
Against an army of Selkath, there wasn't much I could do but wait it out. They weren't, however, likely to hold a paid mercenary here for long. Right, Ordo, if now ain't the time for a drink, then I dunno when is. The Embassy's mess hall – which had better damn well serve drinks – was back through the main antechamber. A huddle of Republic soldiers cloistered near the room's centre, looking tired, outnumbered, and defeated. I wondered briefly how long the Selkath had been assuming control. I'd wager two minutes after finding out about the kolto base.
My gaze sharpened as I recognized Onasi, gingerly rubbing his shoulder. I glanced back at the other Republic grunts, and suddenly various injuries came to light; bruises, bandages, one man could barely stand up straight – did they actually fight the kriffing Selkath? That would've been suicide, in Ahto City.
I frowned, and walked closer. "Onasi," I nodded at him. "Looks like you've had a bit of fun."
The other man scowled, and somehow I doubted we'd ever see to eye to eye. His idea of fun probably consisted of reading the military archives while sipping barli tea.
"Ordo," he muttered. "I see you didn't drown. Where's Bastila and Juhani?"
"With the medics, still on their way here. Bastila's not faring so well, but they say she's stable." My gaze travelled over him; the Republic pilot stood awkwardly, as if in pain, and patches of dried blood discoloured his tattered clothes. But what caught my attention were the black lines tracing up his neck. I'd seen those before.
"What the kriff happened here, Onasi?" I frowned at him as he closed his eyes briefly.
"Dark Jedi," he replied in a dark voice. "Ten of them infiltrated this place, looking for Bastila."
My brows shot up in surprise. "I guess old Malak wants her pretty bad then, huh? Ten of them..." I whistled. "You're lucky to be standing. That's a fair army, when it comes to Force users." I'd seen Jedi, light and dark, fight together before. Ten of them was a lot.
"I know." His voice was low, his expression tight. "If Jen hadn't..." he cut himself off, shaking his head in irritation.
"Jen?" I snapped as my attention was sharply wrested back. "She's here?"
Carth sighed, an exasperated blast of air expelling from his lungs. "Last I saw, she was traipsing back to the bar to get drunk. Why don't you join her?" he muttered, and stalked off towards Wann.
Revan's back. I could feel the corners of my mouth turn up in expectation. Suddenly, I wasn't quite so sure about leaving. Not until after I'd spoken with her, at any rate.
xXx
Surrounded by empty glasses, I found her face planted onto a table. A messy tumble of dark curls proclaimed her identity, and as I strode closer she stirred, slowly raising her head to focus bleary eyes on me.
She squinted, and a vague grin of recognition grew on her face.
"Hey!" she called in greeting, stumbling to her feet. One hand shot out to lean on the cracked plasteel table, which wobbled alarmingly. I could feel myself smirking. Damn, but she's completely rat-faced. "Candy! You're back!" she gushed, in a semi-slurred voice.
I snorted in amusement. It's good to see her, but there's no way she doesn't deserve what's coming to her. I was unable to quell a wry half-grin as I looked her straight in the eyes. "This is for blowing up the Ebon Hawk while I was still on it," I said softly. She frowned in drunken confusion, her gaze focused so intently on my face that she completely failed to spot my fist until it crashed into her face.
Revan gave a little scream as she crumpled to the floor. I loosed a bark of laughter, and turned on my heel with one parting shot:
"And don't call me Candy."
xXx
