Happy New Year, loyal readers! And a huge THANK YOU for your patience!
Another couple days of Dustil's visit had passed when the one thing Carth had been worrying about happening occured.
He and Dustil had finally gotten a chance to talk-Mission had been monopolizing his son's time 'til now-and had started working through some of the knottier issues that lay between them. They were a good hour into their conversation, without yelling at each other, which was a very good sign, when Mission leaned around the doorframe.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Carth, there 's a call comin' in for you on the wall holo in your room," she informed him. "It's marked urgent, too."
Oh, no...There was only one place where anything coming for him could originate from that would be marked urgent, and it was the one place he couldn't tell no. Not this week. Please not this week. "I'll be right back." He heard Mission challenge Dustil to a pazaak match while they waited, and despite the fact he rarely won, Dustil took her up on that. Carth chuckled. The two of them were fast becoming friends, so much so that he would bet every medal he'd ever been awarded that even if things only ended up being coolly civil between him and his son, Dustil would still visit. Often. That was a good thing. Mission needed a new best friend; if his son happened to fill that spot, Carth would be happy for both of them.
He shook his head as he reached the bedroom and slid the door shut behind him. Taking a deep breath, he hit the button to accept the incoming call. "Admiral Dodonna?"
The Admiral looked distinctly displeased with herself. "Carth, I hate to do this to you, but something's come up, attacks in the Tingel Arm, near the end of the Daragon Trail."
Carth frowned. "Around Korriban? Couldn't it just be pirates?"
Dodonna sighed. "That's what they want you to find out."
"What, now?" Carth stared at her in disbelief. "Dustil's still here; it took him weeks to get permission to visit. We have no idea when this will even be possible again." Not again. I can't put my career over my son again. "Isn't there anyone else who can go?"
Dodonna shook her head. "I"m sorry, Carth. They wanted someone who's at least a Vice-Admiral, and of course when your name showed up on the list, someone decided it would be wise to send someone of your...reputation, just in case this isn't just pirates. I told them your son was visiting, you would be distracted, that it would be better to send someone else, but they were already busy fantasizing all the good press it would bring, sending a hero to 'deal decisively' with the problem."
I never wanted that damn promotion. Sith's blood, this just figures. "Admiral, I..." Carth took a deep breath and raked his hand through his hair. "One of the biggest things Dustil and I have to work out is how I was always on missions, how my duty to the Republic always seemed to win over my duty to him and...and his mother. I can't do this now."
"Carth, there's no way out of it," Dodonna told him gently. "They want you. One of the people killed in the latest attack was a Senator's sister. They have a shuttle preparing to leave in two hours from the military base. You need to be on it. They told me to tell you that if you're late, or don't show, there will be...disciplinary measures taken."
Nice way of saying 'dishonorable discharge and probable jail time', Carth grumbled mentally. "I understand, Admiral. Thank you for trying. I'll..." He sighed. "I'll be there. Which platform?"
"24-C. Carth, I really am sorry."
"I know, Admiral. It's not your fault." Carth jammed the button to end the call, far harder than necessary. He raked his hand back through his already tousled hair before slamming his fist into the wall and swearing under his breath. Now I just have to tell Kenna...and Dustil. His stomach twisted into a hard knot at having to tell his son that, yet again, his career was yanking him away from his family. There goes all the progress we managed to make...
oOo
Dustil and Mission were still playing pazaak when he reached the main room of the house, Kenna taking a break from whatever she had been working on to watch them. He smiled as he saw her absently rub one hand over her barely rounding stomach, pausing and smiling when she felt one of the babies kick. Sith's blood, I don't want to go. For the briefest moment, and the first time in his life, Carth regretted making his career in the military. Don't be silly, a voice in his head scolded, If you weren't career military, you wouldn't have met Kenna. Or even Morgana. Remember? He did. And the two of them made this more than worth it.
He crossed the room to sit next to Kenna, who almost instinctively shifted position to sit closer to him.
"What's wrong?" she asked, seeing his expression.
"Admiral Dodonna called."
"What about?" Kenna pressed warily.
"They're sending me out toward the Daragon Trail, near Korriban, to investigate a series of attacks."
"Now?" Kenna sat up. "But Dustil-"
"I know. They don't care. Some frackin' Senator's sister got killed, so it has to be the Republic's hero from the Jedi Civil Wars that investigates." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Ken. I shouldn't take it out on you."
"I understand, Carth. How're you going to tell Dustil?"
"Tell him what?" Mission asked, suddenly more interested in their conversation than whipping Dustil's tail at pazaak for-literally-the fiftieth time.
"That I've been ordered, and all but threatened with many nasty results if I refuse, to go investigate a series of attacks out near Korriban." He caught the look that flickered across Dustil's face ever so briefly. "I'm sorry, Dustil. If there was any way to get out of it, I would, in a heartbeat. I want to make things right between us, and I know this is not the way to do it."
"Couldn't I come with you?" Dustil suggested, "It's not like I can't handle myself in a fight."
"Yeah, if he can kick my butt, you know he's good," Mission chipped in.
Carth chuckled at that. "I'll ask. But if I say anything about you having combat training, they're going to ask where from, and you know what's going to happen if I tell them that."
"True," Dustil conceded. "Still, I'd appreciate it if you at least asked."
Carth nodded. "I will then, and right now."
oOo
"You really wanna do this?" Mission asked after Carth had left the room.
"I do. It's a chance to spend more time with him, maybe work a few more things out. I mean, the Daragon Trail is halfway across the galaxy; it's going to take a while to get there. We'll have time to talk." He grinned. "And maybe you can polish up your dueling technique enough you actually make me work for the win a little bit next time we spar."
"You-" Mission sputtered, then laughed. "Okay, so you're a better fighter than me. I can still wipe the table with you in pazaak."
"Freely concede the point," Dustil admitted with a wry laugh. "At least I've gotten better."
"True. You're to the point I'd say only Canderous or Carth would beatcha, out of the Hawk's crew." She grinned. "And that's a compliment. If I ever say Kenna could beat you, well," she shrugged, "you know you're just about the worst pazaak player ever."
"Mission Vao!" Kenna protested.
"What? You've said yourself you're terrible at it. You can save the galaxy with your eyes closed, but you can't win a game of pazaak to save your life. And you told me that on Rakata Prime, so don't try to deny it."
"I'm not trying to deny it, I'm just saying some things just don't need to be repeated," Kenna defended.
Dustil laughed. "It makes some of us feel better though; knowing you aren't perfect," he pointed out.
"Well, fine then," Kenna grumbled. "I'm terrible at pazaak and not too much better at cooking. My areas of expertise lie in a more...combat oriented arena."
"In other words, she can whup just about anyone's tail," Mission interjected.
"Maybe not right now." Kenna rubbed one hand over her stomach. "But normally, yes. On a good day I could whup about five people at once."
"Could a few of them be protocol-obsessed bureaucrats?" Carth grumbled as he emerged from the hallway.
"I'm guessing they said no." Dustil kept his eyes on the pazaak game rather than look up at his father.
"They did. All they heard was me asking permission for my seventeen year old son to tag along on a military assignment." Carth sighed in frustration. "I'm sorry, son."
"S'alright, Father. At least you tried." Dustil shrugged in resignation. "C'mon, Mish, let's finish the game and then I can kick your tail in another sparring match."
oOo
I hate this. The thought didn't stop circling in Carth's mind the entire time he was preparing for the assignment. And it showed in the impatient way he yanked out his uniform and dressed for duty the one week in his life he didn't want to.
"Carth." Kenna stepped up behind him as he glared at his reflection in the mirror, hating his promotion, hating the politics that came with it, hating that he had to leave. "Don't leave like this." She wrapped her arms around him, snuggling as close to his back as possible.
"Like what, beautiful?"
"Angry," she replied gently. "Dustil's not mad at you. I think this time he understands that there are times you can't say no. Isn't the fact you two didn't get in a fight over this a sign of progress?"
"Unless he's just quietly stewing over it," Carth pointed out. "He and Mission still out there?"
She shook her head. "They left to go spar. Dustil said something about being tired of losing. Made Mission laugh."
Carth chuckled. "Good."
Kenna nodded against his back. "I know. I'm glad the two of them are getting along so well. I was starting to worry about her. She never wants to talk about Big Z."
"It's hard losing a friend, Ken. Especially one as close as those two were."
"I know." Kenna gave a wry smile. "I know I must have lost friends in the Wars, even if I can't remember, and besides, I had to kill one of them."
"You mean Malak."
"Mm-hm. And I know he was a completely different person, having been twisted by the dark side and everything, but I couldn't help wondering the whole time I was fighting him if there was any of Alek left inside him." She sighed. "I know it's different. But still..."
Carth turned and kissed her on the forehead. "And I know what you mean, honey. I'm thrilled Mission and Dustil are getting along so well. I'm glad he doesn't seem to hate me anymore, either."
Kenna chuckled. "That is a good thing." She sighed. "But you have to leave now, don't you?"
He nodded. "Sorry, beautiful." He tipped her chin up to kiss her goodbye. "Hopefully I'll be back soon. 'Til then, make sure the kids stay in line."
"Will do, Vice-Admiral," she teased, kissing him again. "G'bye, Carth."
"Good-bye, Kenna." He stole one last kiss before grabbing his bag and heading out the door.
oOo
The knot of rebellion in his stomach only continued to grow the whole trip to the landing platform. As he crossed to the open door of the shuttle that would take him to the ship being used for this mission, Carth wanted nothing more than to slam some bureaucratic skulls together. He honestly tried to take Kenna's advice and not leave angry, but when he was being used to advance some damn politician's career-maybe at the cost of repairing long burnt bridges with his son-it was hard, and he couldn't keep the edge of anger off his stride.
"Good to see you, Vice-Admiral," the shuttle pilot greeted him. "A lot of people feel much better about our chances of success with you along, sir." Carth just nodded and let one of the privates waiting silently at attention take his bag. He wasn't going to vent his frustration on the pilot. The man had nothing to do with Carth being yanked away from his family, and it wouldn't be fair to lash out at him. Now, if one of those fracking Senators shows up, that may be a different story.
"We all set?" he asked, mentally counting the personnel standing on the platform.
The pilot nodded. "Now that you're here, sir. We can leave whenever you're ready."
Poor choice of words, soldier. "Well, then let's get moving. Sooner we leave, the sooner we can be back."
"Sounds good to me, sir," the pilot grinned, before hollering for the rest of the men and women standing on the platform to load up.
oOo
The shuttle flight up to the cruiser was short enough, and the surrounding void of space helped dull the edge of Carth's anger quite a bit. This was, after all, one of the places he felt most at home; out in space. It had been the only place he felt at home for a long time, ever since Telos, but Kenna had caused a serious shift in that regard.
Carth had to smile slightly at that realization as he headed for the cruiser's cockpit. He wanted to meet the pilot. If he couldn't fly the ship himself, knowing it was in good hands would have to do.
They were well on their way by the time he reached the cockpit, so the pilot and co-pilot were only occupied with keeping things steady. The dark-skinned co-pilot noticed him first.
"Devyn." She nudged the pilot's shoulder, causing the man to look up from fiddling with the controls.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Vice-Admiral," he apologized, switching control of the ship to the co-pilot so he could give Carth his full attention. "Lieutenant Commander Devyn T'Oor. I've been piloting the Triumph the whole five years she's been in service. She handles like a dream." You couldn't miss the pride in the man's voice if you tried. He, like many pilots-if not all-viewed the cruiser as his baby.
Carth knew how that felt. He wasn't the type to resort to using his fists quickly, but one of the only fights he'd gotten in-and the only one he'd started-while Telos militia was when a private had made a snide comment about his ship. The man ended up with a black eye, a bloody nose, and several other nasty bruises that Carth counted more than worth the formal reprimand he received. He indulged in a brief smile at the memory before returning his attention to the pilot.
"...co-pilot is Lieutenant Jayde Ferric. She's flown with me on the Triumph's last eight trips out the Daragon Trail. She knows this ship almost as well as I do."
"Honor to meet you, sir," the woman smiled at him. "Though I do have to clarify, I'm still a junior grade Lieutenant."
"Well, not for much long, Jay," Devyn pointed out. "You'll make full Lieutenant soon. Trust me."
"Hope you're right." She turned her attention back to the controls as Devyn briefed Carth on the finer details of their mission. By the time he finished, Carth could feel a first class headache starting.
"Alright," he sighed, more sure than ever that this was a serious case of politicians overreacting to run of the mill piracy because someone they actually cared about was affected. "Let me know if anything out of the ordinary happens on the way. For now, I'll be in my cabin."
"Yes, sir," Devyn and Jayde replied in unison.
oOo
By the time he reached his cabin, Carth wanted to do nothing more than dump this assignment in someone else's lap; even more than he had before. He was reaching for the keypad to open the door when a pair of voices floated out of the cabin.
"...you know we'd get in huge trouble."
"Should've thought about that sooner. This whole thing was your idea."
Oh, Sith's blood...He sighed, rubbed at the still-pounding headache, and keyed in the the door code. It slid open with a quiet woosh.
The two uniform-clad trespassers whirled to face him, guilt written across their faces.
"Hi, Carth." Mission grinned sheepishly. "Um...I can explain."
"Yes. She can explain everything," Dustil grumbled, shooting his partner in crime a dirty look. "The whole thing was her idea, so it's only fair."
Carth groaned and leaned back against the wall. I should have known... "So explain, Mission."
"Well, we really were gonna go spar, honest, but the usual place was closed. A pipe burst and they were repairin' water damage...or somethin'. So I knew about this other place, not as nice, an' further from your place, but still okay. And it, um, was near the Republic shuttle platforms. So we, like, walked right past this whole pallet of uniforms they were shippin' somewhere, and I got this crazy idea-"
"Yes, 'crazy' is the perfect adjective," Dustil interrupted dryly. "At the time she was calling it brilliant," he explained to his father when Carth raised an eyebrow at him.
"Anyway, I got this idea that if we took a couple of the uniforms, we could, y'know, come with you. You know how good I am in a fight, and if Dustil can beat me, he must be better, right?" The Twi'lek didn't wait for him to answer before continuing. "So I talked him into this scheme of mine, we took the uniforms, snuck on the shuttle, and, um, here we are." She offered him an angelic smile, one that begged to not get shipped down to the next planet they passed to go home.
"And you didn't think how much trouble this would cause?" Carth asked her, thinking mostly of Kenna's reaction to the two of them sneaking off. It would be a lie to say he wasn't wondering how to explain this to Republic Command, should they find out.
"No, and I'm really, really sorry. But now that we're here, can we stay? Please?"
Carth looked at Dustil. "What about you, Dustil? You want to stay, too?"
Dustil nodded, his brown eyes serious. "I would, Father. If...if we could."
Mind already sifting through enough possible solutions it was doubling his headache, Carth stared at the ceiling for a minute. "Alright," he finally sighed. "Let me get my hands on a crew roster. I'll see if there are any empty bunkrooms, or if anyone's short a roommate. If we have the space, you can stay-"
"Thank you!" Mission practically squealed-a sound he'd never heard her make before-and hugged him.
"Hang on, Mission. There's a couple conditions on staying. First, you have to do what I say. This isn't like the Hawk. This is a military vessel, and I'm in charge. Clear?"
She nodded. "Uh-huh."
"Second, if we run into the pirates or whatever is behind these attacks, no heroics." He looked at Dustil. "That goes for both of you."
"Sure." The young man nodded. "Follow orders, no heroics. I think we can manage that. I know I can."
"I can, too!" Mission protested before turning her attention back to Carth. "And if we do that stuff, we get to stay?"
Carth nodded. "Yes. You can stay."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she hugged him tighter.
Dustil chuckled at her enthusiastic reaction as he met Carth's eyes. "Thanks, Dad."
In that one short sentence, Carth felt the rift between them start to close.
A/N: Finally! I am so, so, so sorry it took so freaking long to get another chapter for this up. Besides having to wrangle very uncooperative muses into submission, I've had a lot of other fanfic stuff I've had to do too(mostly Dragon Age, and all on my deviantART page. Probably won't move it here, as none of it's in Rahna's universe). But, at last, I prevailed! *smirks triumphantly at subdued muses* I know Mission and Dustil sneaking on isn't exactly original, but, um, it seemed like a very 'Mission' thing to do. And I have a feeling this little escapade will cement Dustil as her new best friend. :D Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to get up. But I make no promises.