Connan walked through the Ebon Hawk, mapping the layout inside her mind.
"From the ramp go through the garage and to the left to get to one of the dorms. Go to the right and you get a hallway with the med bay in it." She recited to Jishin.
"While we're talking about the med bay, get something for our nose." Jishin advised. Connan nodded, grabbing a few white cloths.
The ship shook, sending Connan to the floor. She groaned.
"What now?" She asked, running to the cockpit.
"What happened?" She said aloud.
"The Sith are figuring out we've bypassed their auto-targeting system. They're sending fighters. Get down there and fight them!" Carth said.
"No one bother with my broken nose, alright?" Connan droned sarcastically. "I'll just go and save all of our asses because Onasi wants me to fight."
"Republic soldiers fight through anything that comes their way." Carth straightened. Connan bristled.
"Fine. I'll kill the stupid Sith. But you owe me." She growled. She dropped into the turret machine.
Turning on the turret with the flick of a button, Connan gripped the joystick to the turrets and aimed for the Sith fighters. She pressed the red knob on the stick, sending a vibration through the ship as a missile was fired. Connan's nose knocked itself again. She groaned.
"When we get through this alive, remind me to hurt Carth." Connan whined. Jishin nodded.
"Will do."
The missile missed the Sith ship by a long-shot. Carth's growl was heard from above the woman.
"Can't you aim better than that?"
"Get in one of the escape pods and ask me that." Connan spat. She aimed at another ship and shot.
Bull's eye.
"Want to bad-mouth me now?" She called. She heard Carth scowl.
Five more shots erupted from Connan's turrets, blowing up three other Sith ships. Two left.
One of the Sith ships fired at her turrets, barely missing Connan and hitting the hull of the ship. The shields blocked the attack.
"Can't you dodge attacks better than that? Or do you really want to blow me to smithereens?" She called to Carth.
"Hey, you try spinning a ship this size around on impulse and tell me it's easy." Carth snarled back. "Watch out!"
Connan fired another shot, dismembering another Sith ship. One left. Connan squinted her eyes, aiming for it.
The ship shook, sending Connan forward in her seat and causing her to hit her head on the brace in front of her. She groaned.
"What happened?"
"They hit us again." Carth sighed. Connan groaned, hitting the last Sith ship successfully. She climbed out of the turret and sighed, leaning against the wall.
"Well, that was an adventure and a half." She chided, wiping her nose delicately.
"We're free from the Sith's clutches now, but we need somewhere to go." Carth said, instating the warp drive. Connan braced herself to the wall as she was tugged backward.
"We should head to Dantooine. There's a Jedi Enclave there where we can find refuge." Bastila advised.
"We can't go there! You saw what the Sith did to Taris: there wasn't a building left over two stories high!" Carth argued.
"Carth has a point." Connan rubbed her chin. "Though the Jedi may be able to hold their own, Dantooine is a small planet with mostly farmers and children. Going there would be asking Malak to blow it up." She sighed. "We should head somewhere full of tough people, used to battle."
"Well, it's not like we have the fuel left to do that." Bastila growled. "You didn't take out the ship fast enough. That big blast took out most of our fuel. Dantooine is the closest place we can get and be safe."
"I didn't take them out? What about Onasi? The guy can't even turn a ship." Connan threw a hand at Carth.
"Don't drag me into this cat fight, sister." Carth smirked. "This is between you two now."
"Fraking coward." Connan muttered. She glared at Bastila. "Fine."
"We should fix our nose." Jishin tapped her twin gently.
"Right." Connan turned and left the room.
-----
It took them three days to get to Dantooine. During that time, Connan stayed in the med bay, writing things down inside a datapad.
"Best to keep a journal on us." She told Jishin. "In case we need to look back on something that's happened."
"Or we need to laugh." Jishin added, taking control of the hands and describing the feeling of getting their nose smashed with a hilt.
Both Connan's knee and her nose recovered by the time they landed on Dantooine, so she was fully able to walk around and stare at everyone.
"Hey Candorous," She'd asked one day. "You've seen war. Tell me some stories."
"Do I look like your nanny?" The Mandalorian scowled, watching Connan sit cross-legged on the ground.
"No, but you're as bored as I am. So 'fess up." Candorous sighed, sat leaning against the wall, and started on his famous stories.
Connan knew they'd landed on Dantooine when the ship came to a halt and began hissing. She'd been on the med bay counter, writing more in that datapad she'd come to love. She sighed, placing the datapad in her pocket, and stood. The Ebon Hawk thudded to a stop and the ramp opened. Connan glanced outside the ramp.
"I'm going to inform the Council of our arrival." Bastila said behind the woman. Connan jumped, startled. "Just wait here until we're done."
"Yeah, sure." Connan started to the cockpit.
"Onasi?" She called.
"In here." He answered. He was sitting in the pilot's chair, staring at the world in front of him. "We finally made it." Connan nodded.
"Yeah," She stared at the ground. Her knuckles in her hands popped.
"Are your fingers alright?" Carth asked, snatching one of them and bending the fingers gently. They popped once again. "They keep popping."
"Well, I'm used to playing a lot of my flute. If I can't play the flute every now and then my fingers get cranky. It's nothing serious." She said, flushing. Carth rubbed her gloved index finger.
"Huh," He muttered. "So what are you going to do now that we're here?"
"I'm not sure." Connan sighed as Carth let go of her hand. "The prospect of meeting a Jedi Council hadn't crossed my mind until Bastila said she was going to meet them. I'm not as enthused as she was."
"Somehow, I thought not." Carth joked. Connan grinned.
"What about you? There's no cantina around or anything." Connan observed.
"I'll just poke around, do some research, and get in touch with General Dadonna. I have to get orders from her on what to do." Carth informed. Connan's ears perked.
"Orders?"
"Yes, she might have me go somewhere else." He sighed.
"Would you, really?" She asked.
"I…I wouldn't be happy about it, but I'd go." Carth answered. "Something else is going to happen here, I can feel it. I'd like to be around to see it."
"Gee, thanks." Connan pouted. Carth chuckled.
-----
"No." Connan crossed her arms, keeping her feet planet firmly on the ramp of the ship.
"What?" Bastila gasped in shock at the other end of the ramp. Her eyes bulged and her mouth was left agape.
"No. No way. Want it in Twi'lek? Comash. Want it in Rodian? Jiya. Want it in Tuskan Raider? Ehh—well, I can't speak it. But it's all the same, anyway. No way am I going to meet the Jedi Council." Connan stamped her foot.
"Why ever not?" Bastila scowled.
"Uhhh… my hair." Connan pointed to the slumped-over ponytail on the top of her head and the small straggles of loose hair frizzed around it.
Bastila raised an eyebrow, clearly disgusted. "Your hair?"
"Yes! My hair. I always do what my hair tells me to do for the day." Connan heard Carth snicker behind her, and grinned herself.
"And what is your hair telling you to do today, Connan?" Bastila asked. Connan faltered for a moment.
"It's telling me to do the same thing I do every day." She clarified.
"And what's that?"
"I don't know myself, but it sure as hell isn't going to meet a Jedi Council." Connan heard Candorous burst into laughter in the garage. Bastila groaned, raising her arms in the air and flipping around 180 degrees.
"You won't be able to leave this part of the docking area, you know. The way to the fields is through the Jedi Enclave. You're stuck here." Bastila said slyly. Connan shrugged.
"I'll manage. I've got two men, one Wookie, one Twi'lek and a machine to keep me company." She leaned on the ramp, twirling a stray hair in between her fingers.
"Ooh!" Bastila growled, clenching her fists at her sides. "If you weren't so stingy, so… so tight-fisted, maybe you'd see that—"
"Tight-fisted? I don't think I've ever been called that by a Jedi before," Connan rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She shrugged. "Oh, well. I'll just stay here until the ship gets fixed, then I'll be off."
"You're just as sullen, just as sarcastic, just as rude as the last time I—" Bastila stopped short.
"The last time you what?" Connan bristled. Bastila blanched, staring at the steel at her feet.
"Nothing, Connan. It's nothing. I will inform the Council of your refusal." She stated, exhaling loudly.
Connan waved, a sudden smirk on her face. "I'll see you later, Princess."
The ramp went up.
-----
"We're idiots." Jishin cringed, folding Connan's arms across her chest as Connan sat leaning against the wall in the women's dormitory. It had been two days since their arrival and Dantooine and nothing could have been duller than being stuck in the women's dorm room of a ship. "Just plain idiots."
"Hey, who knew that house arrest would be so boring?" Connan shrugged. "It's either stay in here or hop on outside to meet the Jedi Council."
"Let's stay here." Jishin hugged herself tighter.
"There you go." Connan said out loud. She sighed, resting her chin on her knees. "But what to do in the meantime?"
For ten minutes, Jishin and Connan stayed silent, staring at the floor. Connan clenched her hands together and groaned.
"This would be so much quicker if we had that stupid flute!" She cried out loud.
"It's our own fault that we lost it. We should have closed the bag before battling with a crime lord." Jishin took over the cords to speak. Connan nodded, taking them back so she could respond.
"But we didn't know we'd be battling a crime lord, now did we?" She asked Jishin.
The door opened. Connan looked up, starting in surprise. Carth stood in the doorway, a look of perplexity on his face.
"Oh, sorry, I heard voices and thought someone else was in here, too." He said. Connan flushed, looking away.
"T-there's no one else in here. Just me and my shadow." She chuckled nervously at the irony. Carth leaned against the door post, staring at the floor.
"I see…." He murmured. There was a silence for a moment, with Connan twiddling her thumbs and Carth studying the doorway. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak.
"Hey, Connan..." Uh-oh. First name, not last name. This must have been important for him. Connan stared at him.
"Hmmm?"
"I was wondering… why did Davik call you a general?" Connan tightened her fists.
"That's none of your business." She snapped. "It's none of your business, it's none of the Jedi's business, it's none of Davik's business. It's something that happened once that I'd rather not talk about, especially on a planet full of pitying Jedi."
"Not all Jedi are the same, you know." Carth mentioned. He cringed as he remembered her words from before.
"To me, the Jedi look like millions of Saul Karaths."
"They have the same philosophies, and if a faction of them won't help, they all won't help." Connan growled.
"Why won't you tell me what happened to you?" Carth asked. "If it's getting you this mad, you should tell someone about it."
"I will when you tell me your sob story." Connan stood, stretching. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an escape to plan. There are fields behind the Jedi Enclave that I'd like to get to." She started to leave the room when Carth gripped her wrist tightly.
"Wait." He started. She turned and stared at him. "I… got you something." Connan's muscles tensed, her eyes widened. "I—I noticed you being a little bored without your—your flute," he turned red, his hand still encircling her wrist and his face staring at the ground. "So, so I—I sort of, got one made for you."
Carth pulled out a long box, receiving a gasp from Connan. She stared at the box intently.
"It—it's in here." He pushed it into her hands and left the room.
Carth left Connan standing in the women's dorm room, staring at the maroon box in her hands. She was afraid to open it. He said it was a flute. A flute! He'd gotten her a flute?
"We won't know it's a flute until we open it," Jishin answered. Connan sat on one of the bunks and set the box in her lap gently. With trembling fingers, she pulled off the top and set it aside. She giggled shyly.
It was a silver flute, with green, vine-looking indentation around it. Next to the mouthpiece, two letters were carved in a beautiful cursive font. They said "C.F." Connan Frai.
Connan brushed her left hand gently across the flute, testing each valve, button and hole for malfunctions. There were none. It was the perfect flute.
In total shock, Connan stared at the spot where Carth once stood.
"He got us a flute…." She felt her cheeks begin to turn red.
"Why did he do that?" Jishin asked.
"You are one red woman, you know that?" Mission scared Connan, who had been thinking to herself. She jumped.
"Ooh! Mission, you scared me!" She chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head.
"What's that?" Mission asked, pointing to the flute. "I thought you'd lost yours on—on Taris."
"I did." Connan saw Mission's confused look. "He just—I mean, Onasi got—"
"He made one for you, didn't he?" Mission giggled. "Connan's got a boyfriend! Connan's got a boyfriend!"
Connan darted for Mission, tackling the girl and poking relentlessly at her ribs. Mission burst out in uncontrollable laughter.
"He is not my boyfriend." Connan stressed, sighing. "He's a guy that's a friend."
-----
Connan woke early the next morning, taking her two swords and two blasters with her. Smirking, she put the finishing touches into a datapad and set it on the breakfast table. She slung her rucksack around her shoulder and quickly slipped out of the Ebon Hawk.
No one was up and around the front of the Enclave as Connan scanned for witnesses. She stalked up to the Enclave doors and snuck in. Pulling out the schematics she'd picked off of Bastila, she turned right, avoiding the dorms and the Council Room altogether. She sighed. A droid was on patrol in front of the door she needed to get through.
"You have to authority to be here!" The droid called. Connan growled. It was talking way too loud. It was going to wake the whole Enclave up. Connan lunged at it, pulling a few wires out of its head. It shut off. Connan smirked. She was free to move around the fields for a day.
She couldn't wait to see the look on Bastila's face when she found out she was missing.
-----
"Oh, dear. Carth!"
Bastila's voice rang through Carth's ears, waking him from his sleep. He groaned, rubbing his forehead. He trotted into the main hold, running a hand through his hair.
"What is it?" He asked, yawning. Bastila, an apparent glare on her face, shoved the datapad into his hands.
"Read this." She growled. Carth flipped on the datapad and began reading.
"What happened to 'I can't leave the ship unless I meet the Council'? I'm gone! I'll be back in a little bit; I just thought I'd get some fresh air."
Carth chuckled.
"Yeah, what about it?" He asked, handing the pad back. Bastila snatched it away from him.
"What about it? I'm not sure you realize this, but Connan has run off into the fields!" Bastila gawked.
"So? She can take care of herself."
Bastila slammed her hands onto the table, standing. Carth suppressed a laugh.
"You don't know what's in the fields, do you?" Bastila growled. "There are Kath Hounds—"
"They're just wild dogs. Connan can take care of those. She's smart enough to take weapons."
"There are Kinraths."
"They're just like the Kath Hounds."
"There are Mandalorian Mercs!"
Carth choked on his words, nearly falling over onto the table. He thumped his chest.
"That might pose a problem."
----
Wow, Connan thought ruefully, there are some needy people on Dantooine.
"So, please!" The woman exclaimed. "Please find my droid!"
"Lady," Connan rubbed her eyes. "It's not even dawn yet. What are you doing out here?"
"Looking for my droid!" The woman answered. Shrugging, Connan sighed.
"If I find the thing, I'll be sure to send it your way. Happy?" With wave, Connan was off.
The cool breeze flipped through Connan's hair as she sauntered through the fields of Dantooine. She closed her eyes, sighing. Nothing could have been better than feeling the nice wind caress her cheek and she strode through the fields. She sat on a rather large and pulled out her new flute.
"The least I can do is play it," she said to herself. Jishin answered.
"What should we play?" She asked, cocking her head. Connan shrugged.
"Something happy-ish. We're outside of that stupid ship until they find us! And besides, the sun is coming up." Without letting Jishin reply, Connan held the flute up to her lips and blew.
Her fingers twiddled around on the surface, finding the keys she needed to hit for the right sound. A sweet little tune flittered around the air, wafting upwards, almost seeming to try and race the rising sun.
A little yelp behind Connan broke her attention. She perked her head up, turning on the rock. There sat a small Kath Hound, barely old enough to walk around. It was young enough so its ears hadn't straightened yet, so they lay on the sides of its head, flopping around as it tilted its head. It didn't seem like it intended harm, but Connan eyed it warily.
"Hello," She said to it, waving. It yelped happily, turning around. In a moment it noticed its tail. It began spinning about in circles trying to catch it. Connan laughed. It didn't want to hurt her; it wanted to play.
"Don't do that." Connan ordered, inching off of the boulder. She landed on her feet, right in front of the Hound. She scratched its ears, bending over to its height. It was going to be a big Hound, it was barely alive and it was already up to her knee. "You're a girl, aren't you?" She scratched the Kath Hound's chin. It cooed happily.
"Here, see if you like this." Connan stuck the flute back to her mouth and started playing again. She played a simple melody, with jumps and quirks everywhere. The dog became invigorated. She jumped into the air and spun around, as if she was dancing. Connan laughed.
"Isn't she precious!" Jishin remarked. The Kath Hound stopped running. It froze, save for its ears as they turned all around.
"Did it just hear you?" Connan asked Jishin. Jishin shrugged.
"Hey, Kath Hound! If you can hear me, run around in a circle and bark three times!" Jishin cupped her hands together as she spoke.
"Jishin, it's barely a pup. It's not going to know how to—" Connan stopped mid-sentence as the Hound ran a huge circle around Connan and barked three times. "Oh, my."
"Can we keep it?" Jishin asked, pleading. The Hound came up to them.
"Oh, I don't know." Connan admitted, scratching the back of her head. "What would we call her?"
"Let's call her 'Saffire'!" Jishin replied quickly.
"No, she's not blue." Connan shook her head. "How about Æliesha?"
The dog yipped.
"It knows its name already!" Connan said. The dog tackled her, smothering her face with licks. Jishin laughed.
"How are we going to get her past the Jedi Enclave?" Jishin asked through the vocal cords.
"Come to think of it, how are we going to get past the Jedi Enclave? It's probably already opened by now." Connan sat on the grass, with her new dog laying across her leg span beside her.
"We could wait them out for the day." Jishin suggested. Connan shook her head.
"No, that would take too long. And besides, sometimes the Jedi come out here for extra training." She explained. "We'll have to just walk right through with a Kath Hound and stop anyone who tries to stop us."
A shot was fired inches away from Connan's right thigh. She flipped over backward and pulled out her own blaster. Æliesha stood beside her, angry.
There, in front of Connan, stood five Mandalorian Mercs.
-----
I finally finished! I'm grounded so I can't work on AOTC. I'm at school working on this. And I keep messing up because these keyboards suck. Well, here you are, Queenofinsanity.
Sorry for the long wait, y'all. I'll try and update some more stuff before things get bad. Please review me!
Oh, and another thing before the bell rings. Since I can't play the game and get the dialogue, I can't go by it. So I'll be freelancing for a while. If I miss anything mondo-major and I can't make up for it in some other way please review and tell me so I can fix it! Thanks a lot and please review!