A sigh of relief was left by the young woman in the vent system. She had been cooped up there for an entire planetary rotation without food, water, or any relief. What was assumed as night time fell and the crew had headed back to their quarters for a night's rest when she decided it would be a good time to see if anything was left in the mess hall, which is when she noted the Jedi in there.
They can sense me, I know it, she thought to herself. She knew more about Jedi than more people gave her credit for. In this fight-or-flight circumstance, she knew that choosing flight would be the choice that wouldn't get her captured or killed. So back into the vents she went, careful to put the grate back in exactly the same half crooked way she had done all day. She could go back and try and get some grub now that she was sure the Jedi had gone to rest, but she wasn't going to chance it. Maybe get some sleep, but the vents were colder than the rest of the internal part of the cruiser, and judging by her outfit she would most likely freeze if she didn't get to warmer quarters. Her nose had started running and her skin had been covered in goosebumps for the last few hours. She silently started to crawl through the vent system in hopes of finding somewhere warmer to at least get some rest. She wanted to stand up, her legs and back were cramped from being on all fours all day, and being bipedal, she wished to walk. She crawled along the vents, peering down onto empty hallways or generator rooms as she went.
A light was spewing out through one of the vent grates a few yards away, and a few muffled voices could be heard. Curiosity got the best of her, so she slowly and silently crawled over to peer through the grate. Below she saw a handful of men, all with the same face and voices that were similar, too. Clones, she thought. She had heard about them half a million times back on Coruscant, but she'd never actually seen one except on the holonet, and never one with his armour off. The troopers lounged around in some sort of pod that resembled a bed…or a type of sleeping area. Not a place that she would deem ideal, but good enough.
"But really, I'm glad tonight is a light one. Rough morning always makes for good sleep, right boys?" sighed a voice.
"Aye, Captain. I think I've spent enough time in the infirmary this week. And I've seen more of Kix than I'd like to," the voice laughed.
"Hey now, quality time with me if the best," the one called Kix retorted.
"Not with a fractured knee cap it's not!" The group of men all laughed and settled down in their bunks. She pressed her face against the grate to get a better look at what was going on. The grate wiggled some, which made her nervous to be leaning forward on it so much, but before she could back off of it completely, it fell through onto the floor bringing her down with it.
The men snapped to attention and a few emerged out of their bunks cautiously to see what was the matter. Her fiery red hair was a mess as she tried to stand up from the ground, but had landed hard on her arm. She flipped her head back to get the hair out of her face, see the closest exit, and go. But it was too late.
Half of the clones were confused as to how to handle an intruder; the others had firearms closing in on her.
"Please, don't shoot!" she pleaded. A soft accent tied onto her voice. A few of the men laid down their blasters.
"And why shouldn't we?" the one who was addressed as Captain said.
"I am not here to harm anyone. I uhm, it's hard to explain, but I'm not an enemy. But I am a friend," she tried smiling. The smile is normally what her people used casually to win over people.
"Sir?" a trooper looked over to his Captain.
"Blasters down, men. We should call the General," the Captain said.
"Please, don't. I don't want any trouble. I just want to get off at the next planet," she said, almost breathy. She knew what it meant when the General was called, and she didn't want to get involved with Jedi again.
A few of the men whispered in their bunks, raising an eyebrow and a few smirking. Her cheeks pinked a shade darker than it already was.
"Right then. State your business, Miss…uh…"
"Ava'bre. Manti Ava'bre. Like I said, I just want to get off at the next planet."
"Well, this isn't a taxi. Plus this cruiser left from Coruscant, and we're a bit far from Zeltros for you to be there," the Captain eyed her. She was suddenly nervous, which was a very different feeling than her people were used to.
"If you want further discussion, we could go somewhere more…private?" she charmed. That usually worked, didn't it? She had been away from home for so long she hadn't really remembered how to sweet talk anyone to well anymore.
"I'm taking this one as sending her in for questioning. Call in the General, but tell him the threat is low," the Captain said almost hesitantly and motioned for his men to go about their business. Her charm speak didn't seem to work on this particular soldier. Perhaps the clones were trained for this? She started to get up by pushing up on her arm, the arm she had fell down on hard. She was almost certain it was broken and winced as she got to her feet. But that would have to wait. She now had to follow this trooper and explain herself, which wasn't something she had planned on doing.
Just tell the truth and you'll be fine, she thought. These men were trained to test the intentions of people. He led her into a room with a table and sat her down. His wrist comm beeped and a voice spoke.
"Everything alright, Rex? I'm on my way."
"Everything is fine, General. I'll uh, explain more when you get here," Rex said into his wrist. A few moments a dark haired human Jedi, the same one from the mess hall, strided into the room. He was tall and young, most likely around the girl's age, but had a crease in his forehead.
"And who's this?" the Jedi said, wafting a hand in her direction.
"Says her name is Manti Ava'bre, home world: Zeltros, current world: Coruscant," the clone stated.
"So, care to explain why you were hiding in our ventilation system?" the Jedi's voice wasn't very forgiving.
"Because I knew I would be pulled into a room like this and interrogated," she almost snapped. She needed to play nice, but after the last few years on Coruscant playing nice wasn't an easy task.
"Precisely. But I noticed you are bit far from Zeltros, which makes this a bit of a sticky situation," he asked, leaning on the table.
"I've been living on Coruscant for a few years now. Not by choice," she muttered.
"No one ever ends up on Coruscant by choice," he almost laughed. Her lip curved downward in a half frown and she crossed her arms without thinking.
"For a moment I was glad to be off that artificial glowing rock," she muttered.
"If you didn't like it so much, why were you there? I can tell you're no threat to us, but you still need to explain why you're here," he said, now in a more calmer tone. The Force, that's how he can tell I'm not here to cause mayhem.
She sighed. This wasn't her favourite thing to talk about, but it was almost impossible to lie to a Jedi, and by keeping her mouth shut she would only dig her hole deeper. "Some few years ago a group of merciless bounty hunters found their way to Zeltros. I'm still uncertain to what their mission was, but I was taken from my home and forced into a ship. I couldn't see much as I was stowed into the back of the ship, but I heard them saying something about returning to Coruscant. A man, Rodian I think? Green skin and sparkling eyes, he came in to see me. He seemed uneasy about coming back there though. I was afraid, but somehow I convinced him I was not the right one. Whether or not I was is still a question in the air. They disposed of me once they reached Coruscant, leaving me in the boonies on my own," she said. Anakin's face softened and the clone shifted uncomfortably.
"I'm uhm, very sorry about that," Skywalker cleared his throat.
"Thank you, but I've been through much worse. Don't bother asking how I managed to survive on my own all these years. But when I heard there was a Cruiser docking out, I had to get on somehow. I didn't mean to cause such a problem."
"Problem? No, don't worry about it. But you're lucky I'm the one in charge here because the other Jedi wouldn't be so forgiving about a stowaway. But there's something about you, Pinkie. I can sense the force with you," he said. Manti rolled her brown eyes full circle.
"That's something to save for another time," she almost pleaded.
Another trooper opened the door to the room.
"Rex?" he questioned.
"Ah yes, Kix, I knew I'd be needing you soon. You saw as well as I did how she fell on her arm," Rex retorted.
"I'd be alarmed if you didn't, Captain. It's not every day a blur of pink falls from your ceiling," he eyed Manti. "Should I take her to the infirmary?"
"Uh," Rex said, turning to his General for further instruction. Anakin nodded in approval. "Go ahead, Kix. She's going to need some bandaging."
"Hey now, I'm the medic here," he smiled.
"Take her into the infirmary. Let me know how things go once you're done. Sir," he turned to the General for permission to leave.
"You're in good hands with Kix. He's our team's medic. We'll talk more about all this tomorrow. I'm in need of a good night's sleep," Skywalker said, smirking to the girl and walked out of the room. Rex gave an assuring nod to the other clone and left as well. Kix looked over at Manti and smiled awkwardly.
"So a Zeltron, eh?" he said.
"Yes. What gave it away? The skin or the hair?" she laughed.
"Might have been one of those."
"Ah yes, I know it all too well," she sighed. He walked over and helped her stand with her good arm and walked her over to the infirmary. She sat down on the edge of the cot while he took a look at her arm.
"Small fracture, but you'll be fine in no time," he said assuring, wrapping her elbow up.
"Thank you," she said softly. She had stopped feeling so cold and began to embrace the warmer world outside of the vent system. She wished she had a coat to bundle up with, but she only had a ratty one back in that corner she called home. Her current outfit had multiple cutouts and wasn't ideal for staying warm. With her good arm, she reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"There, good as new. Well, almost," the clone said, finishing up her bandaging. She half-smiled politely. She was exhausted. There was barely ever a good night's rest in her part of town on Coruscant, and she was craving some sleep. She yawned and covered her mouth politely with her hand.
"I'm guessing this is my home for the night?" she blinked and gestured to the cot.
"Fine by me, and right now I'm in charge," he said kindly. "Is there anything I can get you? A blanket or something to help?"
"A blanket would be nice. Thank you, uhm, Kix, yes?"
"Yeah, that's me," he tossed her a bundle of soft fabric. "I'll need to check on your arm in the morning. Just try not to sleep on that arm, for obvious reasons."
"Will do, soldier," she smiled as he exited the room. She shifted on the cot. Not a very comfortable place, but better than what she had been dealing with the past few days at least. The only thing that really mattered to her right now was that she wasn't or shivering in the small hole in the wall that she wouldn't even call a home, she wasn't dancing in the sleazy nightclub for food money, and that she was in a safe place with kind people with good intentions. And that night, Manti slept in more peace that she had in years.