Chapter 8

Implementation

After making its purchase, HK-47 was relieved to leave the building, even though the ominous thought of having to go back and actually pick up the tuxedo was still in its mind. However, the instant it stepped outside, those thoughts were gone when it saw the pilot of the Ebon Hawk. Having a strong dislike for the man, especially since it was his comment that sparked the action of a droid having to attend the dance, it considered pretending not to have seen him and walk in the other direction, but it was too late. Carth briskly approached the droid.

"Statement: I am very busy at the moment," HK said, looking about, "and do not wish to talk to you. Query: Have you, by any chance, seen our wonderful utility droid?"

"Not recently," Carth replied.

"Great," HK said sarcastically. "Statement: I might as well leave now and go about my droid activities without the presence of any meatbags."

HK tried to move past him, but Carth stepped in its way. "I need to talk to you."

"Statement: Perhaps I my vocabulator was malfunctioning, so let me try to reiterate this once more—go away!"

"I'm not too fond about talking to you either, but this is about the dance and Mission."

"Statement: If you are interested in attending the dance with Mission and are about to plead with me to back down, I will do no such thing."

Carth sighed. "But why Mission? Can't you go with…I don't know, the T3?"

"No. My decision to go with Mission is final. Now, I will leave you to mope about."

HK-47 pushed past Carth, walking in a random direction. For a moment, it slowed its pace but when Carth did not attempt to approach it, the droid felt satisfied. Now, I must find that half-built utility droid.

Carth did not bother to try to catch up with the HK. He knew that the droid was stubborn and always felt best not to try to provoke it in any way. However, there was no doubt that Jolee would not be pleased.

He was about to head back to the Ebon Hawk to report his failure when he thought he heard a strange noise that sounded vaguely like "psst." Carth turned around and saw a personal assistance droid poking its polished head out from around the door frame of the tuxedo store. The pilot looked about him to see if the droid was perhaps trying to get the attention of someone else, but when it nodded its head and beckoned him to come closer, Carth approached it.

"Are you the owner of the droid that was speaking to you only a few moments ago?" it asked.

"Not exactly," Carth replied, "but I do know it. Why?"

"It intends to go to the dance," the droid said.

Carth nodded. "Yeah, I was actually speaking to it about just that."

Another droid of the same type poked its head out. "Isn't that foolish? The dances are held in order to appease the masses and make them forget about their pitiful and exploited existence under an oppressive government."

Carth hesitated. "I don't discuss politics."

"No," a third driod said, appearing from behind the door frame, "but we did happen to accidentally overhear the conversation you were having with that droid."

Carth folded his arms, taking a step back. "That conversation is none of your business."

"But we know how to get that droid away from whatever Mission is," the first droid said.

"I don't know why you're so concerned about this, but I'd rather that you droids didn't get involved. It's a personal matter."

A passing Selkath stared suspiciously at Carth and the droids before walking past them and into the store. One of the droids followed after him while the other two remained with Carth.

"That is too bad," the second droid said, "because we know of many tricks."

"But if you ever change your mind," the first droid said, "you know where to find us."

"And do not worry about which one of us to speak to, comrade, we are all involved."

The two droids brought their heads back into the store, the door closing after them. Carth shrugged his shoulders and headed back to the Ebon Hawk to report to Jolee about everything that had happened.

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Jolee was pleased to find Canderous alone. Fortunately, he was sitting on the floor, alone in the swoop bike garage of the Ebon Hawk, and was not busy cleaning his rifle or sharpening his blade. Rather, he was counting his credits. Jolee stood amused for a moment. Canderous knows how to count? Well, I guess he would have to know how to in order to keep track of the number of his kills!

After the feeling of Canderous doing math got old, Jolee approached him in a casual manner. "Hey, Canderous, how's the warrior of the group?"

Canderous looked up from his credits. "You made me lose count!" he said, agitated.

"Sorry," Jolee replied. He looked around for a chair to sit in, still feeling weak and lightheaded from his injury, but found none. Instead, Jolee leaned his back against the wall and slowly made his way down to the floor. He could feel his wound tighten as he did so, but there was no pain. The medicine he took made certain of that.

"What are the credits for?" he asked.

Canderous had begun to recount, but when Jolee asked the question, he folded them back up and put them in his pocket. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed?"

"Oh, no," Jolee replied, and he stretched out his arms above his head and took a deep breath. It made him feel dizzy, but he did not show it. "I actually feel quite good."

Canderous raised his eyebrows. "Really? That's…that's impressive, especially at your age. I remember when I was first stabbed."

"Really?" Jolee said in a sarcastic manner. "You? Stabbed? Why would someone do something like that?"

"It was during the war," Canderous explained, as if not catching Jolee's sarcasm. "Not what your Republic calls the Mandalorian Wars, but another war. I was only sixteen years old and we were suppose to recapture a city on one of our planetary outposts that had fallen to a group of rebels. Damn rebels."

"Sounds like an interesting story," Jolee quickly said before Canderous could get into any further detail, "but, you know, after being stabbed and all, I don't feel like listening about any…stabbings."

"Oh."

Canderous did not say anything further. He drew his knees up to his body and sighed. His eyes were turned away from Jolee and, instead, were focused on the swoop bike.

Jolee cleared his throat. "So, um, what's with the credits?"

"I earned them myself!" he snapped. "You can go check our collective pile. I didn't steal!"

"I wasn't accusing you of stealing," Jolee said in a calm voice, "I was just…curious." Jolee decided to make an educated guess about the credits. "I've seen a few people counting their credits to make certain they had enough for the dance."

Canderous chuckled. "So that's what you think I was doing. And let me guess, you're wondering why someone like me would go to a dance like that?"

"I was actually wondering if you were going with Bastila."

Canderous frowned. "Why?"

Jolee thought fast. "Just because whoever goes to the dance with Bastila is in the best position."

Canderous' frown became more distinct. "Bastila! To the dance!"

"You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?"

Jolee laughed. "After seeing Bastila practically every single day since however long its been when you people escaped Taris, you haven't noticed?"

"Jolee, what the hell are you talking about?"

Jolee paused for a moment. Better say it straight out. "She's a really attractive person."

Canderous stared blankly. "You came here to tell me that Bastila's hot?"

"All I'm saying is that whoever goes with Bastila will be the most talked about until the suns of Tatooine burn out."

"Bastila is a Jedi. A very stuck up and annoying Jedi."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but haven't you noticed her body?"

Canderous hesitated, surprised by what Jolee had said. "You have a pretty dirty mind for an ex-Jedi and a hermit who's only seen tachs and Wookiees for thirty years."

"Just because the Jedi are barred from sex doesn't mean they can't think about it, and there were some pretty attractive Czerka seductresses on Kashyyyk."

"Kashyyyk," the Mandalorian repeated, raising his eyebrows.

"No, really, I'm serious. And Kashyyyk's actually the best place to pick up on a woman because, you know, they think that all they'll see are a bunch of wookies, tachs, and you know what they say about Czerka guys, don't you?"

"Uhh…"

"Well, they basically don't have sex lives, so when the women are assigned to Kashyyyk, anticipating a really boring time, but then encounter a handsome man like myself… well, you get the picture."

Canderous opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it. He was still rather stunned by the way the conversation was going, not expecting Jolee to talk that way. He frowned again. "What does this have to do with Bastila?"

"And you know," Jolee continued, realizing he had to get back on topic, "when I say that Jedi think about sex, that does include Bastila."

The Mandalorian's eyes narrowed. "And?"

"Well, she's a young lass and, even if she won't show them or admit it to herself, she has feelings."

Canderous stood up, shaking his head. Jolee had the terrible feeling that he suddenly caught on. "Bastila…dislikes me to a great extent. If you want to go to the dance with her, by all means, do so. I could care less."

Damn, Jolee thought, but then became more determined. No, I won't give up. I can convince him. "I was just—"

A sound outside the garage and the corridor got both his and Canderous' attention. Carth stood right at the threshold. He looked at both of them.

"How long have you been standing there?" Canderous asked, his voice taking on an angry edge.

"I just got here," Carth replied. "I heard voices so I came to see what it was, but I'll—"

Canderous approached him, his lips tight against a reddened face. Carth kept his ground, even though he anticipated to be screamed at. However, Canderous just walked past him, bumping him with his shoulder. Carth watched him as continued to walk down the narrow hallway and was out of sight.

Carth turned to Jolee and entered into the room. He sighed. "I take it you weren't successful."

"No. I think he caught on to what I was doing, too. I'm sorry."

Carth looked crestfallen. "That's alright. I wasn't really successful either. That droid is stubborn." Carth took a deep breath, already regretting what he decided to say next. "However, there were these…personal assistance droids that I came across who claimed that they were willing to prevent HK from going to the dance."

Jolee smiled. "Well, why didn't you say so earlier? This is great news!"

"I don't know. These droids were strange and I don't know if they should be trusted."

"You don't trust anyone! Look, if something goes wrong, just blame it on me."

However, Carth still did not look convinced.

"How about this," Jolee said, "you get me up and help me back to the medical bed and tell me exactly what happened and we'll make a decision from there. Sound good?"

"Sure," Carth replied, extending a hand to help Jolee off the floor.