Here's Chapter 11. I promised to update before the end of March and I keep my promises (sometimes). Hope you like it. Elemarth, herc009 and Ann Jinn, thanks a lot for reviewing.

Disclaimer: (See previous chapters.)

CHAPTER 11
RedWraith

Maia's first thought was, His baby? Her mind reeled. He has a child? Her second thought was, What is his baby doing in the hanger? Is he hiding it there?

Her surprise must have shown on her face or she must have spoken her thoughts out loud for her companion turned red and said rather hurriedly, "My ship. That's what I call my ship."

He calls his ship 'Baby'?

"Her name's RedWraith actually. 'Baby' is a, ah, term of affection."

"Jedi aren't supposed to have attachments." The words were out of her mouth before she had even considered them properly.

"Oh." He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose you feel nothing for your friend then," he said. The way he said it made it sound as though she had just challenged him. "I'm surprised; you two seemed very close, since you address each other by your nicknames."

Force, thought Maia, mentally kicking herself. "Sabie'nhra's my friend," she retorted. "Of course I like her. I just meant that…"

"That what?" Jeran brows were drawn together, his arms were crossed and he looked very annoyed. "How can two people be friends without there being at least some feelings of connection? The same goes with Master-Padawan relationships. No matter what the Code says, Jedi or not, all bound to have an attachment."

"But that's different. You're talking about people and your ship isn't a person."

He gave glowered at her, his blue eyes cold. "My ship has saved my life a lot of times. She has been a good companion in tight spots and a more trustworthy one than many people I have met. But what do you know of this?" he added scathingly. "You're only nine."

Maia opened her mouth to give an angry rejoinder, but then a voice at the back of her cut in. He's right. What do you know? He's a Knight, he's probably faced loads of tough missions. You've never gone further than five miles from the Temple. After all, you are only nine. "Sorry," she muttered.

She heard him sigh and looked up to see the coldness leave his eyes. "It's okay," he said tersely. "You're just repeating what you learn. When you get older you'll understand why I see things this way." He held out his hand and gave her a small smile. "Friends again?"

"Yeah." She held out her hand. As he squeezed it gently his own hand suddenly seemed to hum; not as an audible noise, but more as the tiniest of vibrations against her palm. Wow, a mechno-hand, she thought. As it was covered with synthflesh, she had never noticed. She would have liked to ask him why he had it but then thinking that losing a hand was not something one would happily recall, decided to keep her mouth shut. She did not want another argument with her friend.

Neither of them spoke as they boarded the turbolift to the hangers. Maia stared at the panel of floor buttons, watching the floors speed by on the small screen. After a few seconds, a chime dinged, breaking the silence and the doors opened.

Maia looked around curiously as they stepped out onto the hanger floor. She had never been there before. There were not many ships. From what she knew, there were ships in major spaceports reserved for use of the Order so need for private craft was limited.

Jeran strode towards the most battered looking ship in the place and spread his arms in proclamation. "The RedWraith, the best ship in the galaxy," he said proudly.

It was a light freighter, its hull worn and scorched, and the crimson markings that gave it its name were barely discernable. Maia could see that he was very fond of it though; she was sure that if his arms were long enough, he would probably embrace it.

She followed him as he walked up to its ramp, and then rolled her eyes as she waited for him to finally gain entry into the ship. First he opened up a security panel and inserted a cardkey before entering a password, submitting his thumbprint and an eyescan. After it had finally finished scanning his voice patterns, the ramp opened, allowing them access.

At last, thought Maia ask she walked up the ramp. Jeran turned around and flashed a sheepish grin, muttering, "Paranoia," before disappearing down towards the front of the ship. The girl was left on her but she did not mind at all. At she could explore this strange place in peace.

She decided to start with the door right across from her. It opened up into a tiny common room, with a small projector table and several stools. An open toolkit sat in a corner next to a scattered deck of cards and a datapad. Other than that, the room was bare.

A door opened up to a cramped galley and another to a refresher. She walked through an open doorway and found herself facing to two more doors, one which was locked and the other which must be the crew cabin. A sleep roll lay tightly rolled on the bunk and there was a large chest in the corner. Out of curiosity, she tried to open it but it was locked too.

Bored, she explored the ship one more time but only succeeded in boring herself even more. The inside of the battered craft was spotless and there was nothing to suggest how her friend lived. She wondered how anyone could be so fond of what was probably the dullest ship in the galaxy.

She walked back into the galley and out of sheer curiosity, peeked into the cooling unit. There was food, most of it in tins and cans or freeze dried ration bars and lots and lots of chocolate. It looked like her friend had a sweet tooth.

A loud crash caused her to start and whirl around. The sound was followed by curse and a couple of dull thuds. Slowly Maia moved towards the cockpit. Maybe Jeran could do with some help.

He was hauling himself out of a hatch in the deck as she came in, his tunic stained with grease, sucking a cut on his thumb.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said although his expression told her exact opposite.

"Can I help?"

"There's no need to help if nothing's wrong," he said shortly. "Don't you have anything to do?"

Maia shook her head. "I've already looked around. You ship is so dull." She deliberately emphasised the 'so', wondering how he would react to her insult of his darling 'Baby'.

Jeran frowned. "She's not dull. She's just like any other ship. What did you expect?"

The girl shrugged. "I dunno. I've never been in one. Do you fly a lot?"

"Yes."

"Do you like chocolate?"

The corners of his mouth slowly curled upward into a grin. "Love it." He raised an eyebrow. "You've been looking in the cooling unit, haven't you?"

She nodded. "I was bored," she explained apologetically.

He sighed and pushed himself to his feet. "Come," he beckoned and led her to the common room. There, he gathered up the stack of cards and began shuffling them. "Do you know how to play sabacc?"

She shook her head and watched him deal the cards on the table. "Your right hand's mechanical isn't it?" she asked tentatively. "I noticed when I shook it."

Jeran nodded and slid onto one of the stools. "Okay," he murmured, fanning out the cards in his hand. He frowned at the cards and then looked at her. "Can you get some bars of chocolate? We can gamble with those. I'll teach you how to play sabacc before I send you back to bed." He winked at her. "Who knows, it might come in handy one day when you find yourself out of credits."

As always, read and review.
May the Force be with you always.

Xrai