Yeah, I forgot to put Author's notes on the first chapter, so here they are now! Anyway, this is my first attempt at fanfiction (its an upload from one of my stories atKFM), and the original of this is undergoing some serious cosmetic surgery. Anyway, please R + R!

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah. I get it. I don't own anything.


Carth moaned as he sat up, promptly realizing his situation. His arms were still locked in a death grip around the woman who had barely escaped the Endar Spire with her life, and he was staring down at the bottom of the escape pod. He lowered the woman to the floor as carefully as he could, and noticed the blood gushing from her back. It looked mortal from the amount of blood that he was seeing, and he wondered why he hadn't noticed it before. Her head was banged up as well, a large gash from temple to cheekbone marring her pretty face. Damn.

He put one foot on each side of her, and unfastened his safety belt, rolling to his knees while managing not to fall onto the woman lying unconscious between them. He carefully stepped over her, and opened the door, to reveal Taris cloaked in night. Carth breathed a prayer of thanks that there was no one around, and stepped out, reaching back in to lift the woman into his arms.

Carth winced when he felt his arms become slick with the woman's blood, but pushed the feelings of worry and disgust aside so that he would be better able to focus. Noticing the bag that was wedged between the seats, he shifted Aminta's sleight weight so that he was able to grab it. Once he pulled it out, he noted with amusement that it was nearly the same color of his flight jacket. But of course, his jacket was closer to rust, and her bag was more of an obnoxious orange.

Carefully, so as not to disturb her wound more than it already was, he slung the bag over his shoulder and surveyed his surroundings. They had crashed near a cantina, but not close enough to be seen. Beyond that was what appeared to be several shops and an elevator. A sign to his left advertised an apartment for rent a little further north. Might as well try it, he thought absently as he headed in what he perceived to be the right direction. Unfortunately, Carth was unacquainted with Taris, and he soon found himself lost.

Shavit. I swear I've passed that building three times already! Upon further inspection, he realized that he had. Grunting with frustration, Carth sat against the wall for a moment and attempted to catch his breath. The woman wasn't heavy by a long shot, but carrying anything for nearly two hours is liable to wipe a person out. Carth settled the woman into his lap, cradling her head against her chest with one arm as he ran his hand through his hair with the other. Of all times to get lost…

"Excuse me mister?" Carth, startled by the voice, practically jumped. He looked up, and saw a young twi'lek, not older than seventeen he would guess, bent on her haunches and staring at him. The girl laughed and shook her head, her head tails bouncing against her back. "You two drunk?" she asked when she saw his paranoia.

Carth glanced down at the woman in his arms, and then back up to the twi'lek. It would be far easier to explain Aminta's present state as merely drunkenness rather than to attempt to explain that her injuries induced a state of unconsciousness. "I'm not, at least not too much," he told the girl with a sheepish shrug. "But my friend here is…pretty out of it," he managed. It wasn't exactly a lie. She was 'out of it' after all. "I was looking for an apartment that we could stay in for a while, but I got lost," he finished.

The twi'lek's eyes were alight with amusement. "I just finished up my job, and I'm heading home. Of course, home happens to be teeming with aliens like myself and no-goods with bounties on their heads, but the Sith don't come too often, so it's pretty liveable. There's a couple of abandoned apartments near mine; the humans all skidattled after all of us aliens showed up. So if you aren't prejudiced or anything, I'll take you there," she said with a shrug as she stood up.

Carth mentally assessed his situation, and came to the conclusion that trusting the girl might not be such a bad idea…if only for a little while. "Yeah, that would be great," he told her with an attempted smile that turned out more of a grimace. Thankfully, the shadows hid his face, so that the girl didn't take offense to his expression.

"Okay mister. Do I get a tip or something for getting you there?" she asked with a small smile. "After all, you won't be paying rent or anything, so…"

"I'll see if I have anything with me when we get there," he told the twi'lek curtly, before standing. He adjusted Aminta in his arms again so that her weight was easier to bear, and she whimpered softly. Carth jumped at the sound, but then pretended that he hadn't heard anything and followed the girl.

The twi'lek turned to look back at Aminta, and frowned slightly when she saw the look of pain etched upon the woman's face. "She ain't drunk," the twi'lek said simply as she continued to walk. Carth winced, and frantically attempted to come up with an answer to that statement. Before he could fully formulate one, the girl spoke again. "You didn't lace her drink with anything, did you?" she asked, her tone accusatory.

Carth choked on a breath of air. "No! I…we…" he attempted to explain, and then shook his head. "This isn't a conversation to be had on the streets. I'll tell you…some of the details when we get to the apartment."

The girl just raised her eyebrows and continued to walk. The pair didn't speak another word to each other until they arrived at their destination.

What the twi'lek had said was right; Carth hadn't seen one human being in the building with the exception of the old janitor. But, the aliens apparently took pride in their building; the halls were immaculate, and the floor shone. It was by no means a palace, but it was certainly liveable. The apartment the girl brought him to, however, was a completely different story.

The wallpaper was peeling and yellowed with age, the floors carpeted with a thick layer of dust. The furniture was in no better shape; the fabric torn and faded, the throw pillows on them covered with stains. Carth didn't want to leave Aminta on the filthy couch, but his arms were tired and sore from carrying her for so long and the rest of the apartment needed inspecting.

The kitchenette proved to be no better than the living room; the counters covered in dust, cobwebs spreading the length of the walls. The cabinets were blackened with dirt, and were crawling with various forms of insects. The sink was rusted, and the drain clogged; the light didn't work when he flipped the switch.

Carth sniffed in disdain. In all of his years, he'd never been in a place quite like this. No wonder the dump had been abandoned. Shaking his head, he entered into the refresher, which had once been painted a hideous shade of pink, and its faded version held no more appeal. The room was cramped. The toilet was within an arm's length of the sink, and the sonic shower was crammed into the opposite wall, still an arm's length away from the other fixtures in the room. The mirror was cloudy, and in desperate need of a good cleaning, and the lights flickered sporadically.

Carth shivered at the thought of how much cleaning would have to be done to make the apartment liveable. He cleared his throat, and re-entered the living room, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw the twi'lek inspecting Aminta's bared torso. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he exclaimed as he hurried to cover the woman's bare back with a ratty throw blanket that he found on the back of a chair.

The twi'lek glared up at him. "She's bleeding. What did you do to her?" her voice was cold, and had an undercurrent of danger to it. Her lekku were coiled around her shoulders, either in protection, anger, or a combination of both.

Carth's eyes widened. "I didn't do anything to her!" he exclaimed heatedly, gently covering the woman and turning back around to face the twi'lek, who didn't look convinced of his innocence in the least.

"Oh?" the girl asked, raising a brow. "Then how did she get this?" she demanded, throwing back the blanket that Carth had just placed over the woman, and pointed to the gaping wound on her back.

Carth directed his gaze to where her finger was pointing, and blinked. The wound was larger than he thought it was, and deeper too. The scab had broken, and blood was flowing freely over Aminta's back. Damn. He stared for several more seconds before looking back up at the twi'lek. "I'm not sure," he said hoarsely, his eyes wide, his mouth agape. "I realized it for the first time after she went unconscious…the crash must have reopened it…" he realized what he had just said, and quickly cut off his flow of words. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"The crash? As in those republic space pod crashes?" the twi'lek asked, her eyes gone huge with wonder. "Are you with the republic?" she asked quickly.

A muscle began to work in Carth's jaw, and he clenched his fists, reminding himself to breathe. "Are you finished with the interrogation yet?" he retorted, struggling to fight down the bubble of rising panic. She knows too much…she must be working with the Sith. She knows where we're hiding; she could report us to them at any time…

"Hey, don't worry mister. Those tin cans have made life even more impossible for us aliens than it was before. Anyone who's an enemy of the Sith is a friend of mine," she told him with a light smile, her head tails relaxed and hanging freely down her back now. "But it looks like your friend here needs a little bit of help, and that bedding in the room back there is pretty gross; it'll definitely infect the gash she's got there. I'll run home and grab a few spare blankets; Uschal shouldn't mind," she told him before dashing from the room. She paused in the doorway. "You have any kolto?" she asked him, the thought just dawning on her.

Carth grabbed Aminta's bag from where he had tossed it on the floor, and rummaged through it. "There's two medpacs, but I'm not sure that they will be enough," he said with a frown, chewing on his lower lip with worry.

"Ah, don't worry about it. Uschal should have a few shots of kolto somewhere in his medicine cabinet," she said shortly before disappearing out the door.

Carth sighed softly, and sat down next to where Aminta lay, glancing over the wound. He'd been in the military longer than she'd been alive, or so he guessed, and that time had hardened him against all sorts of wounds. He had seen friends shot down; gaping holes replacing their torsos, their severed heads found meters from their bodies. He remembered holding their bodies close as he choked back tears. His comrades, his brothers in arms… In comparison, this woman's injury seemed like a scraped knee. However, he knew that untreated it could still be fatal.

"I'm back," the twi'lek said cheerily, although Carth could see nothing beyond a mound of pillows, bags, and blankets except for a pair of skinny legs. "Leave her there for a second, and get the door to the bedroom for me, will ya?" Without waiting for a response, she headed in the direction of the room.

Carth quickly gathered Aminta in his arms, stood carefully, and pushed open the door for the girl, frowning in distaste when he saw the condition that the bedroom was in. The walls in here had been painted at one time in their history, and that paint was now peeling off the walls in short, bubbly patches. The bedding was moth-eaten, the pillows hard and stiff. There is no way that I'm sleeping in here.

"I told you that the bedroom was kind of gross. Don't look at me like that; I brought you some bedding and stuff too," she said with a roll of her eyes as she quickly stripped one of the beds, throwing the pillow in a nearby trash compactor. She looked back at Carth as she began to make the bed with the materials that she had brought over. "Your friend's head is pretty banged up too." Worry clouded the girl's voice.

Carth looked down at the unconscious woman in his arms, and noticed that what the girl said was true. Carth could see that one of the woman's eyes slanted upwards at the corner, and he imagined that the other did as well, but the left side of her face was so swollen that he couldn't tell. From the gash came a thin stream of blood, trickling down her cheeks. She'd better not be vain. If she is and she looks in the mirror… Carth didn't want to finish that train of thought. He turned his attention back to the twi'lek. "I'll fix that after I bandage her back," he told her shortly as he lowered Aminta to the new bedding, rolling her onto her stomach so that the sheets wouldn't get stained with blood.

"Did you bring the kolto?" he asked the girl as he straightened up.

The twi'lek glared at him. "What do you think I am, an imbecile? Of course I brought the kolto!" she exclaimed indignantly as she fished through one of the bags and pulled out several syringes filled with the liquid. "And I brought some sutures too," she informed him smugly as she held the items out for his inspection.

"Anything else?" Carth asked dryly as he inspected Aminta's wound. It would have to be sterilized, a few dozen stitches were needed, and all of the kolto that the girl brought with her would probably be used.

The twi'lek bent to dig through her bag again. "I got some antiseptic, some bandages…oh, and a girl I know lent me some concealer that's about your friend's skin tone," she finished brightly.

The girl's endless enthusiasm was beginning to grate on Carth's nerves. Wait, did she just mention concealer? As in the make-up? "What is the cover-up for?" he demanded.

The girl shrugged. "She's gonna want to use it when she wakes up. I promise you, she's not going to go anywhere while she's sporting that shiner."

Carth rolled his eyes. Women. "How exactly did you come by all these medical supplies?" he asked suspiciously, peeking into one of the bags, quickly pulling his head away when he saw several pairs of women's undergarments. Apparently this girl thinks very far ahead.

"I work for a doctor named Zelka Forn. I would have taken you there to begin with, but you didn't tell me that she was injured. And the good old doctor's gone by now, and his clinic is closed on weekends," she said nonchalantly as she began to rub some of the antiseptic onto Aminta's back. "I can do this part, but I'm helpless when it comes to surgery. I get nauseous watching people get stitched up," she said with a shiver as she continued to prep the woman.

Carth shook his head. "It's alright. I'm used to doing surgeries anyway; you're not in my line of work without having to learn to deal with that sort of thing." He remembered all too well some of the wounds he'd seen in his lifetime, some more painful for him to bear than others. The nature of his work went unmentioned; the twi'lek already knew, but he would never admit it aloud.

The girl finished, and stood back from her work, allowing Carth to begin the process of stitching up the wound. He worked quickly and efficiently, although the stitches were small and even, a surprising feat for hands as large as his. "So, you never introduced yourself," Carth said as he continued to work.

"My name's Mayenna," the girl said slowly, and Carth could hear the discomfort in her voice. Mayenna didn't lie; she really did get nauseous when confronted with the sight of a needle piercing flesh. She cleared her throat. "You didn't introduce yourself either," she informed him. Her tone was stronger this time; she must have been looking away.

Carth hesitated for a moment before answering, "I'm Carth, and the patient here is Aminta," he said, stumbling over her name. "At least, that's how I think you pronounce it, I've only ever seen her first name on a datapad," he clarified.

"So, you just met her?" Mayenna asked, raising her eyebrows. "That's unusual," she murmured, more to herself than to Carth, but he decided to respond.

"Not really. We're of different ranks; the two don't really associate with each other," he said with a slight shrug, although careful not to disrupt his hands as he continued to work the needle through her skin.

"Yeah, I know how that is. Due to the whole alien vs. Upper City Tarisian conflict, I don't know many humans. I guess it's kind of the same," she finished with a slight shrug in a frown.

"Maybe," Carth admitted. "So, what's been happening on Taris? I haven't been here in at least a decade." He well remembered the last time that he'd been here. He and his wife had stayed at a nice hotel for a few days… his wife. A horrible ache filled his chest, and he quickly turned his mind to other things. No thinking…just the mission, he reminded himself before forcing himself to focus on Mayenna's words.

Mayenna's frown deepened. "Well, the Upper City has always been run by prejudice, so you must have noticed that ten years ago." At Carth's slight nod, she continued, "Anyway, things have gotten even worse since then, especially with the Sith quarantine that they've put around the planet. No one is allowed in or out, including the aliens and visitors that got stuck here. Also, the Sith guard the elevators that go down to the Under and Lower cities, so there is no way for us aliens up here to mingle with our own kinds, except in the apartments; and believe me, you get cabin fever pretty fast."

"Did you say a quarantine? You mean there's absolutely no way out?" Carth asked, chewing on his lower lip with worry as he finished suturing the wound. That definitely through a major dent in his plans. That's all right…when a door closes a window opens, right? When the hell did I start thinking like an optimist?

"Yeah. That really stinks for all you republics, doesn't it?'

Carth froze, but didn't bother to reply. She knew, and he refused to say anything more on the matter of his occupation, but the prospect of more survivors… "You mean there were more pod crashes?" he asked, hope flooding him. Bastila had to have gotten off the ship; she was priority and would have gone before any of the others. So, that meant that there was a high probability that she was somewhere, and if he had made it out of the crash alive, a Jedi certainly must have!

"Yeah, there have been a lot, but most of them crashed in the Under City and Lower City. The ones that crashed up here besides you two…" her words trailed off. "Let's just say that compared to them, your friend here made it out easy."

Carth winced, and accepted a kolto syringe from Mayenna's outstretched hand. He didn't have to ask if they were dead or not; sometimes it was better to die immediately than to face injuries that would slowly kill you. And from the way she had spoken, it seemed that the survivors were members of the latter group. He injected the kolto into Aminta's back before injecting a second and then a third to be absolutely positive that it would heal quickly and that there would be no infection.

"The stitching ids done; you can look down now," he informed the girl, quickly changing the subject as he began to bandage the now sutured wound. The sight of the woman's bare torso didn't phase him; war pretty much dulled all sense of modesty when the person in question was unconscious.

Mayenna grinned at Carth, her confidence restored now that the procedure was over. "Go take a shower while I do her head. I don't mind using butterfly stitches," she told him brightly once he had finished, picking up one of the smaller bags that she had brought in and tossed it at his head.

Carth had good reflexes, and caught it quickly, sparing the girl a grateful smile while he looked in the bag. There were the basic essentials needed for a bathroom, and he guessed that the same friend that had given her the concealer had also given her the shampoo. "Thanks," he told her briefly before heading to the refresher.

Mayenna sighed softly as she picked up the antiseptic and gently spread it over the gash on Aminta's head. She began to talk to the unconscious woman; talkative by nature, she didn't turn down the opportunity to speak to someone who couldn't silence her. "That's a pretty nice guy there; I have a feeling he's gonna take real good care of you. I wish Uschal was that nice, but oh well. You can't have everything you wish for, especially when you need a place to stay."

Once the cut was disinfected, she carefully butterflied it, and checked to be sure that no more blood came through. That done, she injected the now stitched cut with two shots of kolto, knowing that only one was needed, but also knowing that the woman lying on the bed would probably like the bruising on her face to be mostly healed by the time she woke up. "But he's alright I guess. I mean, he doesn't hurt me, or anything, but he isn't one for talk, at least not about important things. If my parents were still alive I wouldn't be sleeping with him then. I mean, I'm still pretty much a kid myself and I really don't want to be living like I am, but I'm a twi'lek. It's what's expected of me. And Zelka doesn't pay me very much, so…" It was so easy to talk to a patient. You could pour your heart out to them, and they'd offer no judgment. Patients were about the only people that she could talk to that way.

Once she was finished, she gently drew the sheets back over Aminta's body and smiled down at the woman. "Boy, are you two lucky that I came around when I did!" Mayenna exclaimed with a quick laugh before straightening. Carth still hadn't returned from the 'fresher, so Mayenna headed over to the other cot in the room and began to strip and re-make it.

By the time that she was finished, Carth had re-entered the room. "How's she doing?" Carth asked, inclining his head towards Aminta.

Mayenna shrugged as she straightened up. "She hasn't made a sound yet, but we probably should take her to Zelka's when she wakes up," she said as she stretched out a kink in her back and stifled a yawn.

Carth's eyebrows shot up. "We?" he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. He hadn't teamed up with anyone by choice ion a long time, and he wasn't about to start to now. Especially with a twi'lek kid that should be sleeping at this hour, he thought as he glared at her

Carth had to give the girl credit; she didn't back down, or even flinch. "Yeah, we. You've got me dragged into this mess of yours, and I'm sticking, whether you like it or not!" She exclaimed, planting her hands on her hips.

Despite himself, Carth chuckled. "Okay, kid. I get the picture," he said with a slight shake of his head.

Mayenna bristled for a moment, and then relaxed again. "You just remember that I'm going to be right down the hall until you get yourself off of this planet," she said lightly, offering a chance at a friendship.

Carth grasped at it, but barely. "I'll do that," he said, but in a noncommittal tone.

Mayenna shrugged. "You'd better," she warned him. After stifling another yawn, she looked down at her chronometer. "It's late; I should probably be going now. Uschal might get mad at me for how long I took," she said with a light smile before she dashed out of the apartment.

Carth smiled softly and shook his head. Just like a kid. They come in fast, and they leave even faster. His eyes became clouded with the weight of memories, and his chest became tight again. He shook his head to dispel the feelings and the memories as he climbed between the clean sheets. He glanced once more over at the unconscious woman on the bed across from him before pulling up the blankets and allowing himself to drift off.


Unfortunately, his moments of sleep were all too brief. He was jerked from his slumber several hours later by screaming that was inhuman in its intensity. Startled, he sat up quickly, not realizing how close he had been to the edge of the bed until he had hit the floor.

Grumbling, he untangled himself from the sheets that were twined against his legs, and stood up quickly, reaching for the gun that he kept beneath his pillow. It took him several moments of sleep-induced fog for him to realize that the screaming was coming from Aminta.

Carth replaced his blaster beneath the pillow, and rushed over to the woman, grabbing her arms and pinning them down to either side of her body. If she keeps up like this, she's going to pull out the stitches! She bucked hard against him, and Carth nearly lost his grip on her. Well, she certainly is stronger than she looks, he thought ruefully as adjusted his grip, and tried to focus on restraining her. No wonder she made it off of the Spire alive.

Aminta's eyes flew open, but they were dilated and out of focus. Her breathing grew more rapid as she thrashed harder, but her screams lessened. Carth pushed her harder into the mattress in an attempt to keep her from injuring herself, and she stopped thrashing, her screams melting into soft whimpers. Carth, panting from the effort of holding her down, gentled his hold on her arms to see how she would react. She drew away from him, and began speaking rapidly in a language that he couldn't understand.

"Shh," he murmured softly as he completely let go of her arms. She drew them close to her body, and curled up into a ball, hiding her face in her hands as the strange words continued to pour from her mouth.

Carth frowned for a moment, torn by indecision, and then sat down warily on the edge of her bed and began to rub her back as he spoke softly to her. Gradually, he felt her begin to relax, and then she lapsed into unconsciousness again.

Carth stood and rubbed a hand over his face. I really hope that she isn't like this the whole time that she's unconscious. He glanced down at his chronometer and groaned when he realized that he had only received three hours of sleep. He glanced back at the woman lying relatively peacefully, and gently pulled the blanket back over her small form. Straightening, he headed back to his bed, and collapsed once he hit the mattress, not bothering to pull the blankets back over his body.

He managed to get another hour's worth of sleep before the screaming started again. Carth's eyes flew open, and he dragged himself from his bed. This is going to be a very, very, very, long night.


The world spun as lightsabers clashed together, the sound both foreign and familiar. A Jedi, obviously young, but not necessarily untried, paused in the battle for a moment, attempting to speak to the dark lord that she was fighting.

The masked and robed Jedi threw out a push threw the force, but the younger of the two easily blocked it. The dark Jedi was weakening, but she continued to fight. A snarl rose from the back of her throat, and the younger of the two continued serenely, unfazed.

The fight continued for several more minutes, the stench of sweat and fear filling the room. The young Jedi finally neared enough to strike the dark one and then…

Bright blinding pain surrounded her, causing her to drown in its intensity. She was now within the body of the dark Jedi, barely managing to breathe. She felt like she was drowning, could feel every one of her systems shut down. She began to panic, and that cut off her air supply, and she frantically tried to claw at her throat, but her hands couldn't move. Her world began to become dotted with black spots, before she finally realized that she could no longer see. Her mind began to shut down as well; she could feel the panic subsiding as the blackness surrounded her. The last command that she could give herself was to breathe. And she did slowly, but with each breath she felt as though she was drinking water, sucking it into her lungs until the pain was so intense that she was about to burst… "…Can't be saved."

Aminta Jae sat up quickly, disoriented, the quick motion made her head swim. Aw, shavit! Her world was still black, but she could breathe. Grateful, she took several deep breaths; feeling her panic gradually subside, she slowly took stock of her body. Her head was pounding, and her back ached, but besides that, she was fine. Well, as fine as somebody could be when that person's head and back hurt. I would kill for some pain relievers.

Carth jumped off of his bed when the now familiar thrashing sounded from the other side of the room, but slowed when he saw the woman bolt upwards and just sit there for a few moments. In the past three days of an experience that he compared to hell, she had yet to do that. And then he absolutely froze when she opened her eyes. She had opened them before, it was true, but she hadn't been quite lucid then.

"Jae?" he asked cautiously, kneeling before her to test her reaction.

Aminta swallowed hard at the sound of a man's voice, and quickly turned her head to face him, the action causing stars to fly behind her eyes. What is wrong with me? She lifted a hand to her aching head and winced when she felt the tenderness there. This is not good.

Carth frowned slightly at seeing her confusion. "Jae, are you all right?" he asked quietly. Her eyes hardened at the gentle tone of his voice, and the corners of his mouth quirked upwards. Yep, she's all right.

Oh gods no! Aminta thought, hoping that this wasn't just another twist to her nightmare. When his hand made contact with her shoulder, her muscles jerked. Nope, no nightmare. She quickly reached for the dagger at her belt, and frowned slightly when she realized that it wasn't there.

Carth saw the movement, and frowned, placing his hand on hers to still her motion. "It's with the rest of the weapons you had," he said, pointing the footlocker on her side of the room. Even as he said it, he wondered again how in all of the galaxies she had fit so many on her person. And the grenades… When he and Mayenna had begun to strip off the remaining bits of Aminta's uniform the morning after he had first arrived at the apartment, they had both been shocked at how many there were, and Carth had been even more surprised at exactly how light she was without all of the junk strapped to her body.

Aminta jerked her hand out from beneath Carth's and glared at him. "Don't touch me," she ordered, and he backed away, and amused smile playing across his features. Aminta scowled deeper, and pushed the blankets off of her, shivering when the cool air brushed over her bare arms and legs. She frowned slightly, and looked down to see what she was wearing. A bandage was wrapped around her from her collarbone to her navel, and beneath that, she was wearing nothing but a pair of underwear. Well this is absolutely lovely! It appears that he'd already touched me. She glared at him, and pulled the blanket back over her legs.

Carth flushed slightly, and attempted to explain. "Your uniform was bloody, and I had to get you out of it…Mayenna, the girl who brought us her, well, she offered to give you some of her stuff, but her clothes were a bit too big for you, so we just left you in that," he stammered, and then cleared his throat. War made for immodesty during surgery and its aftermath, but it had no influence on what happened when the patient was fully conscious.

Aminta furrowed her brow, attempting to place the name, but found that she couldn't. And this man standing before her was vaguely familiar, but she could remember little of him. "I think you'd better tell me what's been going on," she informed him, crossing her arms over her chest. Her voice came out harsh and angry, but she didn't care. When she spoke like that, people were intimidated of her, and that's what she wanted. People who she grew to care for had the uncanny knack of leaving her or dying. It was better for them to fear her than to love her anyway.

But Carth wasn't intimidated. "You honestly remember nothing?" he asked incredulously. Aminta glared at him, and Carth raised his hands. "Alright, alright. Well, you were aboard the Endar Spire, and the Sith attacked…"

Suddenly, vague recollections began to swarm her mind, and then sharpened in intensity. "Trask?" she demanded, but no sooner than the name was out of her mouth that she realized the horrible truth. It was indeed very true that those she cared most for had the uncanny knack of dying, but that didn't make the pain any easier to bear.

She must have broadcasted her emotions across her face, because the next thing she knew, Carth was sitting beside her, gently rubbing her back in a way that was oddly comforting. She leaned into him for a brief moment, allowing herself to bask in grief before hastily pulling herself away from Carth, embarrassed that she had showed such weakness. She said a final goodbye to Trask in her mind, swallowing back the tears that threatened to spill over, before forever shutting Trask into the dark recesses of her memories. "I remember what happened on the Spire," she said hoarsely, scooting farther away from the man beside her. "But I need to know what happened afterward," she told him, her voice hard and bored again. This was the third time that she had consciously showed him weakness, and she was determined that he wouldn't get past her defenses again.

But Carth knew all too well what she was doing; after all, he did the same thing. And in that knowledge, he also understood that she knew that he could tell that she was covering, but that she desperately wished that he would pretend that he didn't. So, he didn't push the matter of how raw her emotions must be, and rather told her all that had happened since she had been unconscious, omitting the details of her many fierce nightmares.

Aminta run a hand through her tangled hair, and absently wondered at how she looked. "So, how long have I been out?" she asked, pulling her long, thick, curly mass of hair over one shoulder and began to attack it with her fingers.

Carth watched her in amusement. "About three days," he said with a shrug as he bent down and retrieved a hairbrush from the orange bag that he had found in the escape pod several days before. He held the brush out to Aminta with a slight smile. Please don't let her be vain! She really looks awful, and if she is…

Aminta glanced from Carth to the hairbrush, and up to the man's face again. "If you put itching powder in that, I swear I'm going to kill you," she muttered as she took it from him and brought it to her nose, warily examining it before running it through her hair.

Despite himself, Carth laughed. Aminta jumped slightly at the sound. People generally didn't laugh at her, and for good reason. She was gruff, mean, and sarcastic. Only those who entered her life at an unstable, suicidal point had ever been able to see past that… or those that she had chosen to. And Carth was certainly belonged in neither group. But his laugh was nice. It came from his gut, not his throat, as so many men she had known. It reminded her of Kael, and she was suddenly awash with memories. Don't you dare! Not while someone is in the room! You are not going to break down now! She scolded herself, and managed a decent scowl at him. The guy was really starting to get under her skin, and to think, she'd been awake only for a grand total of seven minutes.

"Don't worry, A… Aminta," he said, pronouncing her name Ah-mint-ah. "There's no itching powder there. I don't even have any, and if you're not convinced of my innocence you can check the supplies," he said, and frowned slightly when she shrugged. "How exactly do you pronounce your name?" he asked, his frown deepening.

"It's said Ah-meen-tah, but lots of people mispronounce it. I've gotten somewhat used to being called something that sounds a lot like a candy," she said with a roll of her eyes, and then groaned when the hairbrush met a particularly vicious tangle. "Well, this is just peachy," she grunted as she yanked at it. But all of her pulling and yanking only served to make it worse, and to bring another explosion of pain into her head.

"You doing alright?" Carth asked with a raised brow, and didn't back down when she threw him an absolutely murderous glare.

"Yeah, I'm doing absolutely wonderful. Long hair is an absolute joy!" she exclaimed with a sarcastic drawl as she doubled her efforts on her hair, attempting to ignore Carth's grin. How dare he laugh at me? In case he hasn't noticed, I've had a particularly hard morning, and he definitely hasn't been helping matters. The least he could do is to offer a little bit of support!

Carth watched Aminta's face fall slightly, and he winced. Well, I feel like a jerk, he berated himself as he sat down next to her. Remembering how she hated being treated with gentleness when she felt exposed, he simply reached around her and grabbed the hairbrush from her hands.

"Hey!" she exclaimed indignantly, and whirled around to get it back from him. Carth forcibly turned her back around, and put the hairbrush to her hair. "I have plenty of experience doing this kind of thing, alright? Just relax for a second while I work the knot out!" he exclaimed when she tried to grab the brush from his again.

Aminta crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the window, the only true source of beauty in the whole bedroom. She didn't offer further argument, but she didn't relax either. Carth was gentle, something that she hadn't anticipated, and she slowly found herself getting used to his touch. It was certainly a lot more comfortable having him brush out her hair for her than having her do it herself. She was glad that her back was facing him at the moment; he had seen far too many of her true emotions. She cleared her throat quickly, "So, Carth. Tell me a little bit about yourself," she said, pulling a lock of hair over her shoulder and twirling it around a long, slender finger. Carth's hand froze on her hair, and Aminta could feel his trepidation. So, we all have our secrets.

He recovered quickly and began to brush out the tangle again. He was making progress, but the thing was massive! "Well, you already know my name, as for my age, I'm not sure that you want to know that, but, I'm probably old enough to be your father, and I'm a pilot. I've been fighting the Sith since the Mandalorian Wars, so… I've been in the army for quite some time. I was recently named Captain, so, I was assigned to be an advisor to the Jedi aboard the Spire. I'm sure that's something that I should take pride in," he told her as he continued to work on the knot. If she pries, I think I'll swallow my blaster.

"Name, age, and rank. The standard response to all personal questions asked," Aminta said with a small smile. She should know; that had been ingrained into her head since she'd turned nineteen. "But I could have found any of that information out by looking you up on the holonet."

Yeah, she's going to pry, Carth thought, looking longingly towards his blaster for a moment. "Well then, why don't you tell me about yourself?" he retorted, still attempting to get the knot from her hair. If she is as impossible as this tangle is…

"Well, you already know my name, no decent man would ask a woman her age, and the Endar Spire was my very first and hopefully last assignment with the Republic," she smirked, imitating the tone of voice he had used when he had told her about himself.

Okay, so she apparently is as impossible as her hair. This is just my luck. "So, now who is getting out of answering a question by giving out name, age, and rank?" he asked, purposely tugging the brush through her hair a little harder.

"Well, why do you want to know about me?" she retorted as she turned her head to glare at him. "And don't pretend to be innocent; I know that you pulled my hair on purpose," she huffed, turning back around and crossing her arms over her chest.

Carth snorted. "Well, you asked about me first. Why do you want to know about me?" her replied, gentling the strokes of the brush again. The girl is too smart for her own good.

Suddenly, Aminta began to laugh. Carth started with surprise; he had begun to get the impression that the woman hated him. "You know what, Onasi? You aren't half bad," she managed through her laughter. "Actually, you're a pretty good sport; not many people have been able to go against me for as long as you have."

Carth chuckled slightly. "That's probably because most people are probably smart enough not to stick their heads into a lion's den."

"So are you saying that you're dumb?" she baited him, raising a brow.

Carth set down the brush for a moment, and put his hands on her shoulders. She is probably going to bite my head off after I say this, but… Oh well. "No. I'm someone who realizes that the lion is just a housecat that only pretends to be a lion to keep from being hurt." His voice wasn't kind or consoling; he stated it as a fact. He knew full well how much she disliked being treated with gentleness when she felt vulnerable.

Aminta went still for a moment, and felt a wave of panic wash over her mind. Never had someone seen through her so easily before…well, no one since Kael, that is. Maybe the fact that he reminded her so much of her husband was what kept her from turning around and slapping him, as she most likely would have done to everyone else. Or maybe it was the fact that she had a nagging feeling that he was hurting as deeply as she was. She frowned as she examined that possibility, and realized that it was probably all too true. He reacted and avoided personal questions just as she did. In a way, it was comforting to be with someone so like herself. "Maybe you see the lion as a housecat because you are also hiding something from the world," she said softly, and turned around to face him.

Carth gaped at her. She was intelligent, that was for certain. And she was so like him that he shouldn't have been surprised at how she was able too see past his exterior and realize the pain that he was hiding. He didn't deny her claim; how could he? "We all have out secrets," he told her, echoing her thoughts from moments before.

Indeed we do, Aminta thought with a sad smile. But this has gone far enough; it's one thing for him to realize what's going on, and another thing to break down in front of someone that I just met. She abruptly turned around, and presented her hair to him again. "Can you finish already? My grandmother could do this faster than you can!"

Carth chuckled, and allowed the subject to change. After all, an abused cat wasn't healed overnight. Alas, he knew that all too well.


Well, I hope that you liked it. Anyway, please leave somments for me, but, I would really appreciate it if you didn't use f, godd, or any of the less commonly accepted curse words. Feel free to use ones that sound like they came from star wars though. I might get a kick out of reading them. :)