Disclaimer: Fiddle Dee dee and a bottle of rum.
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"These fields go on forever don't they," Mission noted several hours later as she surveyed the terrain. "They aren't very colorful," she observed, and Canderous snorted. The fields were indeed rather colorless; it was a field of brown upon brown, broken only by the blue of the sky. Neither color showed any signs of stopping.
Aminta ignored the comment. "We're getting closer," she informed the pair trailing behind her, who merely looked at each other and shrugged. Aminta closed her eyes briefly, and felt the area around her. A dark aura was coming from the west, growing stronger with every step that she took. It wasn't really an unpleasant feeling. Merely…different. "That way," she said over her shoulder as she pointed in the right direction.
"Jedi," Canderous muttered under his breath, the word coming out akin to a curse.
Aminta turned at this and flashed Canderous a smile of agreement before continuing onward. Canderous grunted, and Mission sighed. "I don't see anything," the girl complained, and Aminta grit her teeth.
"Spend twelve hours a day surrounded by Jedi that insist on probing your mind, and you'll feel it," she retorted, and the teenager grimaced.
"I think I'll pass. I always did hate school," she said with a shiver, and Aminta sighed before dipping back into the force again. Her eyes flew open, and the corner of her lip turned upwards into a smirk as she grabbed her lightsaber from its holster.
"Kath hounds are coming right at us," she informed her companions, who promptly pulled out their weapons.
"How do you even…" Canderous began, but trailed off when he heard a howl. "Never mind," he mumbled under his breath as he lifted his massive gun to his shoulder. Before he had a chance to blink, Aminta was in the middle of a pack of hounds a good forty feet away. Damn, she's fast! Canderous thought, and quickly took aim.
Mission sighed. "Don't bother. She's a Jedi, remember?" the girl reminded him as she set about picking off the beasts that came too close to her friend.
Canderous grinned, and steadied himself as his gun backfired. "I'm going to tell her you said that," he responded gruffly, his voice thick with humor.
Mission blanched. "Don't you dare!" Canderous merely grinned wider, although his eyes stayed on the battlefield. Mission sighed sharply. "Gods, you're an annoying old man," she muttered.
"And you are an irritating, scrawny twi'lek," the Mandalorian countered.
Aminta looked up from the battle to turn her head towards her friends. "Play nice, children!" she scolded them before quickly returning her attention to the Kath, and the offending pair glanced at each other in surprise.
"How does she do that?" Mission wondered, and Canderous smirked.
"Don't bother, she's a Jedi, remember?" he replied, subtly mocking her.
"You must be carrying that gun to compensate for something," Mission muttered darkly, and Canderous' eyebrows rose.
"All my guns are big," he replied with a grin, and Mission rolled her eyes.
"Bad mental image, I'm getting here!" she exclaimed, and Canderous chuckled gruffly. "I still think that you're compensating for something," she muttered under her breath.
Aminta's hand appeared out of nowhere to still Canderous' fist. "I thought I told you two to behave! And here I took you guys because I thought that you'd be most adult about the whole situation."
Canderous grinned. "What, are you afraid Republic would jump you the second you two were out of the kids sight?" he asked, jerking his thumb in Mission's direction.
Aminta closed her eyes and counted to ten. "No," she ground out before turning on her heel and heading away from him as quickly as she could.
"I think I hit a nerve," Canderous whispered conspiratively to Mission, who giggled. Aminta sighed sharply at the exchange, but continued forward without comment. They walked in silence for a time, Aminta's hands occasionally clenching and unclenching at her waist. The grasslands continued onward, the occasional tree breaking up the continuous horizontal lay of the land.
Aminta stopped suddenly, and turned to toss a mirthless smile at her companions. "It's just ahead," she informed them, and licked her lips. "Stay here."
"Hold up! Why do we have to stay behind?" Mission demanded, hurrying so that she stood in front of the older woman. Aminta tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and met Canderous' eyes as she spoke so as to silence his protests as well.
"I don't want you getting hurt," she said simply. "I don't need to add the deaths of two friends to my conscience. Now, if you'll excuse me," with that, she turned on her heel and abruptly stalked off.
Canderous and Mission shared a long, knowing look before following the woman at a distance.
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Aminta dodged yet another attack from the Cathar that had been meditating in the grove. Although Aminta was clearly the better fighter, the other woman was giving her a run for her credits. Whereas Aminta had strength and battle prowess, the Cathar had agility and inhuman flexibility. It was getting difficult for the older woman to keep up.
A blaster bolt shot out of nowhere, and Aminta cursed under her breath. "They were supposed to stay back," she muttered through gritted teeth, and the Cathar threw the pair at the top of the hill into a stasis before another shot could be fired.
Aminta growled out something unintelligible under her breath, and doubled the force of her blows. What would the Jedi care if she killed the younger woman? They had said to remove the taint from the sacred grove, hadn't they? "Don't you ever touch one of my friends!" Aminta shouted, punctuating each word with a swing of her lightsaber.
The Cathar faltered beneath Aminta's blows, and when the younger woman stopped to catch her breath, Aminta knocked the lightsaber from her hands. The Cathar dropped to her knees, and stared up at Aminta, whose lightsaber was poised just above the woman's head. "The dark side has failed me," she murmured, and met Aminta's eyes. "Kill me, I beg of you!"
Aminta lowered her blade, but something in the Cathar's eyes made her stop. They were hopeless and filled with pain. Aminta gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her saber. One swing. Just one, and it will all be over. Nothing. Come on Jae! Get a grip. It's easy… One, two, three, and… She couldn't do it. Aminta sighed sharply, and clipped her saber back to her belt. "Get up," she muttered, her voice dark.
The Cathar stared up at her with narrowed eyes. "Why won't you kill me?" she demanded, and Aminta rolled her eyes.
"You are seriously suicidal. Gods, I need to get you a shrink." The Cathar's eyes widened considerable, and Aminta sighed. "Get up. You're coming back to the council with me," she instructed the Cathar, whose eyes narrowed into slits of anger.
"So that's why you came! You are the council's pawn!" she hissed, and Aminta laughed mirthlessly.
"Hardly," she countered dryly, and the Cathar's face melted into an expression of confusion. "In order for me to get off this gods forsaken planet, I had to accomplish a test; to remove the taint from the grove. Since I couldn't kill you, I'm taking you away from the grove. Got it?" she attempted to explain, and groaned softly when the Cathar winced. "That came out all wrong, didn't it?"
The Cathar stared up at her and swallowed hard. "So the council will bring about my death," she murmured, and Aminta let out a groan of frustration.
"You got a name?" she asked, attempting to draw the Cathar out of her suicidal thoughts.
"Excuse me?"
Aminta rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Your name?" she repeated impatiently. "Look, I want to get back to the enclave before nightfall, so…"
"Juhani," the Cathar replied, somewhat dazed.
"Look, Juhani. Both of us know that Jedi don't kill their prisoners. Even if you did go all Revan on them, they aren't going to kill you. Now, come on. Get up off your ass and get moving."
Juhani's eyes widened considerably at Aminta's language, and the woman smirked at her. "What? The masters prohibit cussing around here too?"
Juhani swallowed and shakily made her way to her feet. "I will return with you to the enclave," she said finally, and Aminta refrained from letting a particularly nasty comment slide off her lips.
As if you had a choice, she thought. But aloud, she merely said, "Well, isn't that just dandy. Come on. And get my friends out of that," she instructed, pointing at the frozen pair. Juhani nodded, and Mission holstered her blasters.
"About time. Geesh, Ami. Do you always have to talk so much?" the teenager demanded. Canderous swung his gun onto his back and leered at Juhani.
"She isn't much to look at, is she? And she gave up in a fight… dishonorable."
"Can it, Candy," Aminta replied over her shoulder as she headed back towards the enclave, and Canderous glared at her. "You too, Mission. I don't want a word out of anybody until we reach the Hawk. Understand?"
"What makes you think…"
"Understand?" Aminta shouted, and Canderous cut himself off. Mission bit her lip, and hurried to Aminta's side. Aminta glanced at the girl out of the corner of her eye, and Mission wisely opted to stay silent. Smart kid./i
The four walked in silence, Aminta in the front, Mission and Canderous close behind her, and Juhani trailing behind. The temperature grew cooler as the sun began to set, and Aminta frowned. I had hoped to be home before darkness, she thought absently, and quickly shoved the wave of disappointment away from her.
Mission shivered, and the girl's teeth began to shatter as the temperature steadily decreased. Aminta sighed, and wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulder. "We'll only be a couple more hours," Aminta attempted to comfort the girl, who scowled.
"We've been walking all day! I'm tired, and hungry, and thirsty…" she complained miserably, and Aminta closed her eyes in an attempt to ward off irritation. She had been walking just as long, after all. And, she had fought a psychopath Cathar with a penchant for suicide… In short, Aminta was as tired as the next person.
"It's too dangerous to make camp. Remember all the Kinrath and Kath hounds?" she reminded, the girl, and Mission shivered again, although this time not from the cold. The girl didn't complain again, and the company was once again shrouded in silence.
A long while afterwards, the ring of Aminta's comm link broke the stillness. Irritated, Aminta flicked it on and brought it to her lips. "Yes?" she barked, and a chuckle came from the other end.
"Hard day, Beautiful?" Carth teased, and Canderous snorted. Juhani raised a brow, and Mission glanced back at the Cathar with an impish grin.
"What do you want?" Aminta muttered, and Carth chuckled again.
"You've been gone for fourteen hours. Just making sure that you didn't need any help out there."
"We're just peachy," Aminta snapped, and silence prevailed again. Feeling guilty for taking out her frustration on him, Aminta rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Look, Carth, I'm sorry… I'm just…stressed," she apologized softly, glaring at Canderous when he leered at her.
"Want me to make you some Caffa?" Carth offered, and Canderous laughed out loud.
"So, Republic's a home maker, huh? Always did know that something was off with him," he sneered, and Mission slapped the man's remarkably large bicep with a scowl.
"Not the time, Canderous," Aminta snapped, and Canderous merely grinned at her.
"Okay… How's Mission doing?" Carth asked attempting to draw Aminta to her soft spot. Mission took the initiative to grab the comm link from Aminta's hands and dump her frustrations into Carth's ear. Aminta rolled her eyes and snatched the comm back from the girl.
"You lonely?" she asked, glaring at Mission who gave her an impish grin.
"That an invitation?" Carth replied, the humor evident in his voice.
"No," Aminta replied flatly, and Carth chuckled.
"Seems to me that…"
Aminta quickly cut him off before he could say anything else. "We have an audience here, remember?" she hissed into the link, and Carth laughed.
"I know what you meant. I'm actually enjoying the silence. There aren't any Mandalorian curses or psychotic Rodian music blaring in my ears. Pretty nice."
"Enjoy your last few minutes of it. The landing pad's in sight," Aminta warned him dryly, and a corner of her mouth lifted into a smile when Carth cursed under his breath. "Glad to know that you're happy to see me, flyboy."
Carth sighed. "I'm jumping in the refresher before you take all the hot water," he said, and promptly hung up.
"Don't you dare!" she shouted into her comm unit, which was now disconnected from the pilot's. "Insufferable man! He is in so much trouble," she muttered, and Canderous laughed gruffly. Aminta turned to her companions. "Drop Juhani off at the enclave on your way back. I've got a score to settle." With that, she took off, her body a blur as the force aided her speed.
"How much you bet that Republic gets laid?" Canderous asked Mission, whose cheeks promptly flushed a deep purple.
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"Onasi, get out of there this instant!" Aminta shouted as she pounded on the closed door.
"Wait your turn," was the response from within.
Seething, Aminta yanked a security spike from her pocket and shoved it into the door mechanism. She grinned as the door clicked, and strode inside with a smirk. Carth paled when he saw, her, and then flushed a deep crimson color. "What are you doing in here?" he sputtered, and Aminta rolled her eyes.
"You wouldn't get out," she replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "So…" She hurried over to the toilet, and promptly flushed it. Carth howled in outrage and pain when the water of the shower went scathing hot.
Aminta laughed at his discomfort. "Payback," she said simply, and she ran out of the room before he could stop her.
"You'll get yours, Jae!" The pilot called after her, and Aminta smirked.
"Yeah flyboy, give it your best shot," she murmured under her breath with a slight smile as she headed into the common room. Aminta made herself comfortable on the couch, and thumbed through Mission's ever growing collection of holovoids. Death and Torture… Now why would a teenaged girl pick up that kind of movie? Aminta shook her head, and moved onto the next film on the stack. "Of Wookies and Gizkas…sounds like a comedy," Aminta murmured to herself, and placed the holo into the holo projector.
The projection came to life, and Aminta spent the next few minutes watching the utter stupidity of a staring contest between the two species. After a long period time, the scene switched to the Wookie and the Gizka running around in circles. Aminta's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No wonder I've never heard of this before."
"Having a good time?" Carth asked Aminta darkly as he entered the room, and she looked over her shoulder at him. His hair was sticking up in all directions from toweling it dry, and he was wearing a pair of pajamas. Aminta bit her tongue in an attempt not to laugh.
"Definitely," she replied dryly before turning her attention back to the screen. The two characters were now attempting to have a staring contest as they ran around in circles. Aminta cocked her head. "Well that's just plain weird."
Carth shook his head and stood in front of the projection, blocking Aminta's view. "You know, it isn't very nice to interrupt someone's shower. And it's even worse when you dump them in steaming hot water."
Aminta looked him over slowly. "You'll get over it," she replied with a smirk. "Now, move it. I'd like to see those idiots make a mockery of their species."
Carth cocked a brow. "Want me to move? Fine, I'll move," he retorted, and then he lunged at her. Caught by surprise, Aminta tumbled to the floor and Carth landed heavily on top of her. Aminta struggled to breathe, and squirmed under his weight.
"Get off of me you moron!" she shouted at him, but Carth merely grinned. He grabbed both of her wrists with one hand, and shoved them over her head. Aminta thrashed, but it did little good. "Did you hear me? I said to get off!"
Carth chuckled. "I heard you." With his free hand, he pushed her shirt up to her rib cage, and Aminta glowered at him. Carth's grin widened, and he attacked the exposed shin with his fingers relentlessly. Aminta tried to curl into a ball to get out of his reach, but he was persistent. The only alternative was to laugh until tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Please! Please stop!" Aminta begged between bouts of laughter.
"Payback," Carth replied smugly, doubling his effort.
Breathless from lack of air, and her head pounding from all of her giggling, Aminta stopped trying to squirm out of his reach. "I surrender!" she exclaimed, and Carth grinned.
"What have we here?" Canderous boomed as he entered the common room. Mission was conveniently nowhere to be seen. "Hey, blue! You owe me fifty credits!" He called down the hallway, and then turned his attention back to the pair collapsed in a heap on the floor.
Still laughing, Aminta pushed Carth off of her. "You just wait. We'll get even," she threatened, and Carth smiled.
"We are even. You got me, I got you. Done."
"No way. I have to win," Aminta countered, and Carth shook his head.
"You do realize that this means war?" he replied with a grin, and Aminta laughed.
"Yep." She pushed herself to her feet, and offered a hand up to Carth. Carth took her hand, but pulled her back down to the floor.
"Now I'm winning," he informed her with a smirk as he jumped to his feet.
"You are so dead!" Aminta called out to his retreating form as she pushed herself to her feet. "You know, I think I'm beginning to like your opinion of our resident flyboy more and more," she told Canderous, who chuckled.
"So, what did you do to start this mess?" the hulking man asked her with a smirk as he took a seat on the couch. "And what the hell is on the holovision?"
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I'm sorry it took me so long to update. Between school and Writer's Block, not much can get accomplished. Anyway… I know that it's really short, but I thought that I owed you guys something.
Thanks for reading, and please be kind enough to review.
