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The sunlight streaming through the un-shuttered windows woke Aminta early the following morning, and aggravated her already blooming headache. She groaned, and buried her head in her pillow as she felt a wave of nausea overwhelm her. I knew I shouldn't have had so much ale last night! Her entire body ached, and she was certain that even her supposedly dead hair was throbbing. Moaning louder, she threw the blankets over her head and curled into a tight ball, attempting to ride the waves of dizziness and pain.
Since changing positions had failed to work, Aminta simply groaned louder and went to punch her pillow in frustration, which only served to intensify her dizziness. But instead of her fist hitting something soft, it slammed into a relatively hard surface, causing a noise that made Aminta's head swim. A low groan came from the spot where she had punched, and belatedly, she realized that she wasn't the only one in her bed, and she bolted upright. I didn't think I was that drunk! She wracked her fuzzy brain to remember exactly what she had done the previous night, but the hangover kept her from thinking too hard. It simply hurt her head too much.
"Aminta?" the person beside her groaned, and Aminta felt herself stiffen involuntarily. Of course, If I was drunk enough to sleep with someone, I would be drunk enough to give out my real name.
Aminta lay back in bed and covered herself with the covers again. She felt the man begin to tug at the covers, and she weakly attempted to keep her grip on them, but she found she was unable to. She squeezed her eyes shut as the light streamed over her again, and let out a moan. "Make yourself useful and shut the blinds, will you?" she snapped as she covered her face with her hands.
A low chuckle came from the man, and she sunk deeper into the bed. "Go away!" she attempted to yell, but the attempt only added fuel to her raging headache, so it came out as a whimper.
The man brushed her hair out of her face with a rough, calloused hand. "You get yourself a hangover, Beautiful?" he softly, and now that his voice was no longer so thick with sleep Aminta was able to recognize who he was.
"Carth?" she managed, cracking an eye open. When she saw that he was practically laughing at her, she grabbed the pillow beside her and swung it at his head with surprising force. "Don't you dare mock me," she muttered as she curled up into a ball again.
Carth grinned and shook his head. "I wouldn't dare to try," he replied, smothering another chuckle as he went to the window and did as she asked him to. Once the offending light and been deflected, Aminta re-emerged from the bed.
"Thanks," she muttered grudgingly as she clumsily swung her legs off the side of the bed, and then paused to press a hand to her swimming head. "Damn!" she exclaimed as she sank back down and closed her eyes again. When she opened them a few seconds later, Carth was strangely missing. "Carth?" she called, wincing at the sound of her voice. When he didn't answer, she tried his name again, but there was still no reply.
"Damn you Onasi! How in the seven hells could you leave me when I'm like this?" she demanded rather loudly, ignoring the pain that yelling wreaked on her head.
Carth came back in the room sporting a large grin, a glass of water in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other. "You beckoned?"
Aminta scowled at him as she accepted the glass from his hand. "Bastard," she muttered as she grabbed some pills and gulped them down.
Carth shook his head with another laugh. "My, my. What a foul mouth you have this morning."
Aminta glowered at him. "If you mock me, I swear several vital parts of your anatomy will be missing by noon time."
Carth just shook his head, and pointed to the water. "Drink," he replied with a smirk as he turned and grabbed his clothes off of his bunk. Aminta frowned slightly at the sight of his trousers in his hand, and then turned her eyes to him, starting with surprise when she realized that he was only in Republic standard issue undergarments.
"Um, Carth?" she managed, suddenly feeling somewhat awkward. With most other men, she would have been able to move on and forget that anything had happened, but this was…well… Carth. He was a comrade, and nothing good ever came out of sleeping with a comrade.
Carth turned around slightly, a tad startled at the change of her tone. "Yeah?"
"We didn't, um… do anything last night, did we?" She managed, playing with the blankets as she spoke.
Amused and slightly touched at her sudden uncertainty, Carth smiled softly. "Physically? No. But you did mention something about Deralia," he told her gently, and winced slightly when she jumped.
"What did you tell me about yourself?" Aminta asked after several minutes of uncomfortable silence, relieved that the pills were working and that her head was functioning properly.
"Telos," Carth murmured, and Aminta swallowed. Telos. So much more went into that word than even he could understand… but if he was a Telonisian, maybe he could.
Aminta nodded brusquely and stood, now only slightly touched by dizziness. I'll have to ask Carth what the name of those pills are, they work faster than anything I've ever taken. "After you're done in there, we need to go down to the Lower City."
She issued commands as though she was and Admiral. Carth grinned at the analogy, and offered her a mock salute. "Yes Ma'am."
—————————————
Three hours later, Aminta and Carth were in Sith armor, their now dry Tarisian clothes in Aminta's bag that she slung over her arm. "These are really uncomfortable," Carth complained as the pair headed to the elevator.
"Oh, stop being such a baby!" Aminta reprimanded him as they turned down another hallway.
"I'm not being a baby. If I was being a baby, I'd be whining."
"I'm the one with a hangover, remember? You don't see me complaining!"
"You wouldn't have had a hangover if you would have taken your own advice and not drunk the ale."
"I happen to be able to handle my alcohol very well, thank you. I don't slur my words, or trip, or mumble, or anything. I wasn't putting us in any danger."
"Yeah, but you delayed our leaving the apartment by at least an hour."
Aminta took a deep breath and yanked her helmet on. "Hey, flyboy, unless you want to be recognized by tin can over there, you might want to put yours on too," she muttered as she pointed at the obscene shining object that Carth held.
"Whatever, your majesty." Carth muttered as he obeyed her. Somehow, he got the feeling that he was no longer in control of the situation.
Aminta stopped suddenly, and whirled around to face him. "What did you just say?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.
"Nothing," Carth muttered again as he hastened towards the elevator. The woman went through so many mood swings, Carth almost expected her to be in her ninth month of pregnancy. Maybe I should get her some chocolate. That always seems to even out their temper.
As they got closer to the elevator, the pair fell into silence. The guard didn't spare them a second glance as they approached. "You the new patrols?" he asked as he pressed the buttons to activate the elevator. At Aminta's nod, he spoke again, without looking at them. "Good luck down there. Those gangs are pretty rough. Why, they even shoot at us!" he exclaimed as though he was surprised. The elevator doors flew open.
"Imagine that!" Aminta exclaimed in mock surprise as she stepped into the elevator, pulling Carth in after her. Carth coughed, and them sighed in relief when he noticed that the jibe had gone over the Sith's head. Of course, by that time the doors had slid closed, and there was little that the Sith could do even if he had understood.
Carth glanced over at his companion once the elevator began its descent. "So, how long do you think it's going to take us?" he asked her, ignoring the glare she was casting at him.
"Hopefully long enough to get our clothes on," she replied with a roll of her eyes as she thrust his outfit at him. "If I catch you looking, I swear you'll have a vibroblade in your gut!" she warned him as she pulled her own outfit out of her bag.
Carth grinned. "And what do I get to do if I catch you looking?" he teased her. Aminta didn't rise to the bait.
"You really don't have to worry about that," she informed him staunchly as she turned around. Once she was sure that he was otherwise occupied, she quickly changed, stuffing the Sith uniform into the bag that she carried. When she turned to take Carth's uniform from him, she found his eyes glued on her.
"You were looking," she muttered as she grabbed his uniform and stuffed it in her bag. Carth's gaze didn't waver from her, and she turned back to him with her hands on her hips. "What is your problem?" she demanded, attempting to keep her voice down. However, it was an uphill battle, and she was losing.
"How long has it been since you ate something?" he asked, his voice soft but also as hard as durasteel.
Aminta rolled her eyes and turned away from him again. "You're not my father, Onasi," she muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"I could count your ribs, Ami. That's not healthy."
Aminta froze suddenly, and whirled around to face him. "What did you just call me?" she demanded, her eyes on fire.
Carth took a step back from her, suddenly nervous when he saw her hand clasped over the hilt of her vibroblade. "It was just a nickname… I'm sorry. I didn't know it would make you so…"
Her anger spent, Aminta held up a hand to silence him. "No. It's okay. It's just… someone that I once knew called me that." She grew silent for a moment before glancing back up at him. "But that's ancient history. You can call me Ami if you want," she murmured as she sat down on the floor, drawing her knees to her chest.
Carth watched her for a second before kneeling before her and brushing the hair out of her eyes. Aminta stiffened and jerked away from him at his touch, and he withdrew his hand. "I didn't mean to look at you; it was an accident. But then I saw how…very thin…"
Aminta let out a sardonic laugh. "Wow, Carth. You sure know how to make a girl feel special."
Carth grinned and shook his head. "Well, I could make you feel very special, if you wanted me to…"
"Can it, flyboy."
Carth shook his head and grinned as he stood. "Come on, Beautiful. We're nearly to the bottom." He extended his hand, but Aminta slapped it away.
"I am perfectly capable of standing on my own, thank you very much."
"I know exactly how capable you are," Carth replied as his grin widened.
"I'm going to choose to take that as a compliment."
The elevator doors finally opened, and the pair stepped into blaster fire. "Great, just what we needed," Carth muttered under his breath.
"Apparently the gangs down here get along even worse than we do," Aminta remarked dryly as she drew her vibroblades.
"I thought that we got along pretty well," Carth replied with a smirk as he drew his blasters. Aminta merely shook her head and ran into the fray.
Before the Endar Spire, Aminta had rarely fought to the death. However, after only two confrontations, killing felt as natural as breathing. It was unnerving at best. She didn't allow herself to dwell on it as she became locked in combat with a Rodian, barely flinching when the blood spurting from an artery gushed over her.
Carth himself was busy picking off the thugs that rushed with their blades drawn at Aminta, moving onto another the moment he wounded one. The woman was pretty good at handling combat situations, Carth had to admit. The way she fought also told him a lot about her - she wanted to be in the thick of things, and could handle herself well even when she began to get overwhelmed.
In fact, their fighting styles complimented each other quite well. His cautious, standoffish approach combined with her aggressive one resulted in a lethal combination. They made a pretty good team.
Once the last alien had fallen, Carth holstered his blasters, and looked over to see Aminta hunched over. "Ami? Are you okay?" he asked as he gripped her shoulders.
Aminta dug through her bag, and grabbed a med pack with shaking fingers. "Here, let me do that for you," Carth offered, but Aminta ignored him, and quickly injected herself with the Kolto. She relaxed as the cool, numbing sensation ran the length of her body, and then gingerly touched her side, where she had been hit.
Once she made certain she was no longer bleeding, she glanced up at the hovering Carth with a grin. "I'm fine. Now, want to find Bastila?"
Carth let out the breath he had been holding and returned her grin. "Let me guess. The cantina?"
Aminta just smiled.
—————————————————-
Carth glanced around the lower city cantina nervously, shifting uncomfortably in the worn booth. Aminta smiled at his discomfort, and then turned to their waitress. "Just a mug of caffa please," she ordered, and then turned to Carth. He shook his head, and waved the waitress off.
"You really don't like it down here do you?" she asked him after the woman had left, the corners of her lips quirking upwards.
Carth shrugged, looking around at his surroundings. "I can't believe you'd need to ask."
Aminta glanced around her. The cantina was dimly lit, and the scent of an unwashed multitude hung in the air. The music pounded in one corner, but the speakers on their side were in need of repair, and let out crackling sounds instead. Half of the barstools were broken, and there was the occasional drunkard getting sick on themselves and others. The scantily clad dancing twi'leks were sweaty, and their body odor was added to the pungent aroma. "I've been in worse," Aminta said simply.
Carth stared at her. "Well, I certainly haven't, not in a place where…" he trailed off, gesturing to a couple in a booth nearby, "anyone did that in public," he finished, his face screwing in distaste.
Aminta laughed. "Onasi, you were in a place like that just last night!" she exclaimed.
Carth shook his head. "That was different. It was at a party where most everyone knew each other. This…" he trailed off, gesturing to the commotion of the cantina by moving his arm in a wide arc, "is just a little different, don't you think?"
The waitress arrived with Aminta's caffa. "Thank you," she told the woman as she accepted the hot mug. The she turned back to Carth. "Yes, I'd agree it is a bit different, but the principle is the same."
Carth shrugged. "Maybe," he said, but his mind had already moved elsewhere. "Do you drink often?" he asked, looking towards her mug of caffa.
"The caffa's not spiked Carth. One hangover is more than enough," she said with a smirk as she took a sip of the hot liquid. It was watery, but she'd had worse. At least it was steaming. "You drink often though." It was a statement, not a question.
"Not often enough to get drunk," he replied. At her look, he shrugged sheepishly. "Well, maybe I should rephrase that. I drink enough to get drunk while I'm in my apartment, but when I'm anywhere else, I don't."
"You're the kind of guy that goes to work before the sun rises, comes home way past dark, and drinks himself into oblivion, aren't you?" Again, it wasn't a question.
Carth was surprised. He barely knew the woman, and she had him pegged. "I know a very good hangover remedy," was all he said, but it was enough.
"I'll need to get the recipe from you," Aminta replied with a slight smile. "Maybe after all of this is over, I'll come to your apartment and we'll be drinking buddies together."
"I knew you drank," Carth replied with a smirk.
Aminta grinned and shook her head. "Trask made me take a class to get out of it. I usually don't drink because I don't want to get addicted to it again."
Carth's eyes widened. "You were a hard core alcoholic?"
"For about a month. It was a good way to forget."
"That it is," Carth replied with a grin. So, we're not that different after all.
Aminta nodded absently, and then her gaze shifted to a young twi'lek girl who looked to be about to get pounced by members of a gang. "Kids these days," she groaned as she turned back to Carth. "All they know how to do is get themselves in trouble."
"Wha…" Carth turned to where Aminta had been looking, and quickly drew his blasters from his holsters, ready to stand in and protect the girl. Just then, a Wookie stepped forward to defend the teenager. Carth smiled and sat down. "It would seem that she has a protector," he chuckled.
Aminta rolled her eyes. "Don't they all?" she muttered a bit resentfully as she took another sip of her caffa.
Carth raised a brow. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Aminta glanced up at him before returning her eyes to her drink. "Nothing."
"What? Nobody protected you when you were a child?"
Aminta raised her gaze up to Carth's again slowly. "No." Her voice was toneless, as it was when she was upset about something, and Carth bit his lip.
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean…"
Aminta held up a hand to block his flow of words. "It's okay. That was a long time ago; I've gotten over it. So, did you have a protector when you were a kid?"
Carth was surprised by her nonchalance and easy shift of subject, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe her. However, he let the subject dropped and gave her a slight grin. "My older sister."
"Are we talking about the same sister who pretends she's your shrink?"
"That's the one."
Surprised, Aminta laughed at him. "Older by how many years?"
"Two," Carth admitted somewhat sheepishly.
Aminta laughed again. "Your protector and your psychiatrist. That must have done a number on your manly pride."
Carth flushed slightly, but grinned at her. "Yeah, well, we all are tormented by siblings in our childhoods. I'm just like everyone else in this galaxy."
Aminta shrugged, and looked back down into her caffa. By her posture, Carth was sure he had said something to waken old memories. So, her childhood is off limits. He tucked that nugget of information away with the others that he had observed, hoping that he would one day be able to make sense of the picture that was forming in his head.
When Aminta didn't lift her head, Carth decided to give her some measure of privacy, so he stopped studying her, and turned instead to watch the twi'lek girl and her companion. The teenager was laughing, the Wookie growling. Of course, Wookies growled all of the time, and Carth couldn't really decipher any meaning from the sounds that they made, but this particular growl sounded annoyed. Carth smiled as he watched the girl lean over and steal a piece of food from the Wookie's plate. The creature roared in indignation, but didn't harm the twi'lek. That alone let Carth know the depth of their relationship. Unless you were very, very close to a Wookie, stealing a bite of his food was like signing your own death sentence.
Aminta followed Carth's gaze, and smiled softly at the teenager. "I wish I had that," she sighed softly, glancing at the girl. Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth the moment after she had uttered the words, hating herself. Great, give him another reason to pry, why don't you?
And, true to character, Carth's didn't miss a beat. "You wish you had what?"
Aminta coughed, and pointedly turned her head away from him. "You know, I think I want a drink after all. Corellian fire whiskey sounds pretty good. You want a glass?" she attempted to divert him from his question, but she knew he wouldn't take the bait. When the man got his mind set on something, he was as impossible as…well… she was.
Carth glanced back to where she had been looking, and turned back to her with a look of surprise on his face. "You want kids?" he asked incredulously. She didn't seem to be the type that swooned over dimples and curls.
Aminta felt her throat constrict at Carth's tone and she crossed her arms over her chest. "What? Is that so hard to believe? Just because I'm sarcastic doesn't mean I don't want everything that normal women want?"
"No… It's just… You seem so independent. I can't imagine you being attached to someone for the rest of your life. Plus the fact that you're a smuggler means your willing to take risks that mothers don't generally take…"
"And you're a soldier, and you are under constant risk too. Are you going to tell me that makes you an unfit parent?"
Carth's gaze dropped to his hands, and he let out a shaky breath. "Maybe," he managed past the lump that was quickly growing in his throat. "Probably," he said as he met her eyes again.
Aminta read something in them that she didn't want to see, so she turned away from him. This conversation was going nowhere fast, and if by some miracle it began to go somewhere, she had a feeling that the end of it would devastate both of them.
Carth was also all too willing to let the subject drop, but figured he should say something to mend the rift that had started between them. He would be working with her for a while, after all, and the last thing he needed was to dislike his partner. "Maybe we'd both be unfit parents. I know I would be. But maybe there's a side to you that I haven't met yet. Maybe you'd make a better mother than I'd make a father."
Aminta didn't say anything, but the tension that hung thick in the air between them began to dissipate. Carth smiled softly, as Aminta glanced back down into her caffa and whispered, "Maybe."
Just as quickly, the moment was broken as the now familiar clanking of armor made its way into the cantina. Aminta's head snapped around so fast she was sure she'd develop a case of whiplash, and her eyes narrowed when she saw a Sith making his way to the bar.
"What is he doing here?" Carth whispered, casting the man a curious glance. "Isn't it comparable to suicide for a Sith to enter a Lower City Cantina?"
Aminta frowned slightly as her gut warned her of danger. She had long ago learned that her gut tended to be right, so she watched the Sith as warily as she could without seeming conspicuous.
The pair stared in tense, suspicious silence as the sith approached the bartender, a small bag in hand. They stared open mouthed as he dumped the contents of the bag onto the table in front of the alien. "What do you think he's giving him all of those credits for?" Carth asked.
Aminta put up a hand to silence him. He tried to say something again, but she shot him a death glare. "I'm listening." she told him harshly, before turning her attention back to the Sith.
Carth stared at her. He had been told on several occasions, and by several different physicians, that he had the body and senses of a man a decade younger than himself. He frowned in concentration, straining to hear the conversation that Aminta was able to make out from such a great distance away. He could hear nothing. He glanced over at the girl to see her eyes narrow in annoyance. "They're looking for you."
"What?" Carth demanded.
"Not just you, I guess. They're giving out the descriptions of all of the republic officers aboard the spire." She stopped to listen again, and winced. "Apparently, they've tracked all of them down but two- you and Bastila."
"The bartender wouldn't give us up to them. He has to hate the sith as much as we do."
"That pile of credits looks pretty convincing, and the punishment for hiding the whereabouts of a republic officer is harsh. They don't sentence you to death, but with what they do do to you, death sounds like an answer to a prayer."
Despite himself, Carth shuddered. "We have to leave," he said, and started to rise from the booth.
Aminta grabbed his arm, and quickly pulled him back down. "No! If we leave, we'll only draw attention to ourselves!" she exclaimed.
"Great! Then what in the galaxy do you suppose that we should do?" he demanded, anger and fear intertwined in his voice.
"We act as inconspicuous as possible."
"And how do you propose that we…" he was cut off when the woman next to him covered his mouth with a kiss. Carth lost all of his senses for a moment until he realized that he was lying down, and she was on top of him. He quickly pulled his mouth away from hers. "You call this being inconspicuous?" he demanded harshly.
Aminta grinned. "You were the one who pointed out the couples in the booths nearby. We'll fit right in," she said before lowering her mouth to his again.
Carth stiffened, and quickly pulled away from her. "What makes you think that I…" he began, but Aminta's mouth was on his again. She released him after a few seconds, and laid her head on his chest.
"Tell me what's going on," she murmured close to his ear.
"I think that I'm the one that needs to know what is going on here!"
"No, you idiot! Look over my shoulder, and tell me what the Sith is doing!"
"Oh, right," Carth said sheepishly, before doing as she told him. The bartender was motioning towards them, while pocketing the credits that the sith had offered him for information. "He's going to be heading over here any second now," he said, turning his attention back towards Aminta.
"Great," she muttered and Carth wasn't sure whether or not he needed to be offended from her comment. "Just, act like you're enjoying yourself," she whispered harshly, before lowering her mouth to his again.
Carth knew the stakes if he didn't play along, so he wrapped his arms tightly around her and kissed her back. Suddenly, he was all too aware that he was enjoying himself far too much. It had been a long time since a woman had been lying on top of him, and her touch felt like fire. He let out a harsh breath, and went to pull away again, but her hands were framing his face, preventing him from escape. She told me to act like I was enjoying myself. What's the harm in having a little fun? he thought, before untucking her tunic from her pants and running his hands up along her bare back.
When she didn't protest, he moved his hands higher, up underneath her bra strap. Aminta hit him hard in the shoulder, otherwise staying completely in character. "I can only take so much, Onasi!" she muttered. Carth grinned into the kiss. He was enjoying himself.
Aminta pulled away just long enough to ask, "Where is he?"
Carth pushed himself up enough so that he could see, but not enough for it to look like he was doing anything other than shifting to a more comfortable position. "He's watching us," he whispered softly.
Aminta groaned, and Carth suppressed a laugh. He occupied himself with kissing her neck and jaw line instead. "You can at least act like you're enjoying yourself," he murmured, subtly mocking her.
"Remember what I told you would happen if you mocked me again? You're just lucky that if I severed you from your co-pilots Sith boy would definitely realize that this is all an act."
Carth grinned. "Well, I guess I should thank him, shouldn't I?" he murmured into her ear as he dug his fingers into her hair, casing pins to fly everywhere.
"I'm going to murder you," Aminta seethed, and she dug her nails painfully into his shoulder.
"Not while Sith boy's watching."
"Speaking of the tin can, where is he?" Aminta asked harshly as she suppressed a whimper from where Carth's lips had found a sensitive spot on her neck.
Carth looked again, just in time to see the doors of the Cantina close behind the Sith. "He's gone," he said, a trace of regret in his voice.
Aminta sat up quickly, and backed as far away from Carth as she could. "Men are such pigs," she muttered angrily, wiping her mouth. Carth noticed with some amusement that she was breathing as harshly as he was.
"You seemed to be enjoying yourself too, you know."
"Shut up!" Aminta exclaimed somewhat guiltily before she caught herself and began to furiously re-braid her hair, twisting in the booth to find the pins that had fallen out. Carth merely grinned and helped her wordlessly, attempting to ignore the pains of his body.
"You're adorable when you're mussed," Carth whispered, leaning close to her ear, and laughed when she shoved him away. "Someone's a bit temperamental today," he said as he sat back up, a grin plastered on to his face.
Aminta huffed out a sigh. "And you are a…" she quickly reigned in her language when the twi'lek girl approached their table.
"You in some trouble with the sith?"
Aminta Jae finally calmed herself down enough to study the girl in front of her. The twi'lek's skin shone bright blue, her head tails twitching with curiosity. She had twinkling dark eyes and a bright, mischievous smile. Aminta judged her to be anywhere from fourteen to sixteen, and a girl worthy of their trust.
"What would make you ask that?" Aminta questioned, with a slight smile and a toss of her head.
"Well, the two of you were sitting pretty far apart, just talking, you know? And then, trash can there," she paused when she caught the two adult's amused glance, "Well, that's what I call all of those blood sucking sith!" she clarified before continuing, "comes in, the bar tender motions to you guys, and suddenly, the both of you are making out. The moment he leaves, you're arguing. Seems a bit convenient, don't it?" The girl's head tails swung lightly against her back with confidence. "And if you got a problem with the sith, you just made it onto my personal list of friends."
"And just who would you be?" Aminta asked with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Me? I'm Mission Vao."
