Chapter 40
Uncomfortable conversations
Bastila gave a small shriek and pulled the sheets up to her chin when the doors to the cargo bay opened to reveal a very irate redhead. Terri merely shrugged and covered up as well. The space around the bed was littered with water bottles and MRE containers. A traumatised stuffed Ewok was looking despondently at the ceiling with a thousand yard stare.
"Can we help you?" She blithely asked
Melissa walked rigidly up to the base at the base and started down at them.
"Help me? Oh yes, you can." Melissa stated
"Well? Go on." Terri made a waving motion
"You can start by getting out of my bed which you defiled, take the sheets you have defiled and get out of my room…" Melissa started
"Which we have defiled." Terri completed for her
Terri sat up in the bed and let the sheets pool around her waist, She then proceeded to stretch as well, before settling back against the headboard
"To answer your demands, No. As you are now single again I see no reason why you should have the only double bunk when there is a couple who could use it better." Terri said yawning
" Excuse me?" Melissa said angrily
"You are excused, now next time make sure you bring food if you really have to disturb us."
Melissa gave a feral grin
"Oh, so you want to play it like that then."
She marched to the door and Terri looked down at the blushing Bastila with a leering smile
"Now where were we?"
Carth looked up from the terminal as Canderous, Zaalbar and Juhani entered the cockpit and closed the door. Moments later there was two outraged screams and Mission could be heard cackling in laughter.
"You little brats!" Terri screamed
"Need more help?" Melissa was calling out in glee
"You two are going to die slowly." Bastila screeched
"Here have another shower." Mission called out
"Don't forget to bend over for the soap." Melissa called out mockingly
"Put down that hose or I will make you regret it." Terri loudly threatened
"Bite me." Melissa and Mission echoed as two new screams came.
Carth looked at Canderous
"Fire suppression hose I am guessing." He stated calmly
"Believe so, we chose not to stay to close to find out." Canderous replied
"Hopefully we can unblock the airvents now." Juhani said
"Give it a few more days or figure out a way to muffle sounds, we are still in the honeymoon phase." Carth shrugged
"So we will be here for a while then." Canderous replied getting comfortable
Carth pointed to a locker by the door.
"There is some snacks and beer in there, might as well get comfortable. We are going to be in here for a while from the sound of things" He said
"Drinking while flying, is that allowed?" Juhani asked
"We are in the blue, not much flying to be done." Carth replied
The sound of things being flung around echoed through the ship, curses that would peel paint littered the air. Juhani looked at the door
"Should we not go put a stop to this?" She asked
Carth, Zaalbar and Canderous shuddered
"As gramps Onassi would say. Son, there are times when a man must be a coward to survive, you may be called yellow but you will still be alive to hear it.
I think this is one of those times." Carth firmly stated
"There is no dishonour in not engaging in battle when you will certainly lose." Canderous agreed
"As my great uncle Chewbarwa says, he rather deal with a rabid Kinrath than get between fighting women. Bitches be crazy, he said." Zaalbar growled
"And how did the females in your family respond?" Juhani asked icily
"Never saw him again. Aunt Malaroto said he decided to go walkabout in the lower jungle." Zaalbar replied, shrugging
There came banging on the door and plaintive whistles and beeps as T3 hammered on the door with his manipulator arm. Carth grabbed Canderous's arm as he was about to rise
"Check the camera's first before you let it in."
The droid came in screeching and huddled by the dataport. A very large crash followed moments thereafter. An alarm light started blinking and Carth reached for the hyperdrive thrusters. The ship dropped out of hyperspace and Carth switched to sublight engines before turning to T3
"Since you are in here can you access the holocom system and see if you can lock onto the holonet. Might as well see if we can get the league game since we are stuck in here." He said
"Who is playing?" Canderous asked
"Coronet Lancers versus the Chandrilla Dropbears." Carth replied
"Should be an easy win for the Lancers, with Hyuga on suspension the Dropbears have a weak front line and their defence is terrible." Canderous stated
"As much as I would like to disagree you do have a point, this season is practically over for them, there is no way for them to reach playoffs."
The battle for the Hawk lasted several hours and the four participants were seated in a line in the cargo bay like misbehaving toddlers caught in mischief, Canderous and Carth looked down at them disapprovingly.
"Here I thought we were on a serious mission to save the galaxy, and what do we have instead? A bad episode of university girls go wild." Carth stated
"I regret nothing." Melissa mulishly stated
"Ditto." Mission replied, fist bumping Melissa
Terri looked at damage around them and sighed
"We did go a bit overboard I will admit…" She started
"A bit? The four of you wrecked the kitchen, the cargo bay, the dorms and the lounge." Canderous enumerated, unimpressed
"Did you forget that there are other people on this craft as well? Beings that you are severely inconveniencing through your childish actions." Carth sternly continued
The four looked down sheepishly. Carth sighed out.
"Get dressed properly and start clearing this mess up, I expect proper apologies from the four of you when you are done." He said
"And if you think we are not able to enforce this, the Buirs have been notified as to what happened and they are waiting for an update." Canderous stated
Melissa and Mission both paled considerably, shifting back slightly from where they sat. Both having been taken to task by the formidable older women and not wishing for repeat performances. The older two having been in the periphery of these episodes paled as well. Canderous gave a sharklike smile on noticing this
"Good. They said they and Anaka would be coming out here to teach you all manners if you insist on acting like unruly toddlers." He idly stated
Carth looked at his chronograph
"We will be in hyperspace for the next six hours before we drop out for cooldown. I suggest you get busy before we can use the holocom again."
The two older men left the room after that statement. Terri held up a hand motioning for all to wait
"Melissa, I owe you an apology first and foremost. I had no right to speak to you like I did and even less to claim possession to your property. Considering how rude I was I have to thank you for only resorting to the fire hose to clear us out of your bed and room. The only thing I can say is that I was not thinking with my head at the time."
Bastila cleared her throat
"I should add my apology for appropriating your bed and room in the first place. We were not thinking straight, not that it is a valid excuse. And extend it to Mission as well as the room is as much hers as it is yours."
Melissa and Mission shared a look
"Apology accepted, but the two of you still owe us a new bed." Mission stated
Melissa stood up and extended her arms
"Group hug?" She offered
They broke of after a few minutes with Terri and Bastila going ti get the cleaning supplies leaving Melissa and Mission to start picking up the scattered tools and components. Bastila stopped in shock as she heard their conversation
"Should we tell them about the cameras we had built into the unit?" Mission asked
"And give up free porn? We would be the first to post real Jedi on Jedi." Melissa replied incredulously
"First real Jedi on Jedi lesbian porn." Mission corrected
"True, just hope the images are clear enough. There is nothing worse than blurry porn." Melissa continued
"We can check it out later, like you said we cannot upload it if it sucks." Mission stated
Bastila looked frantically at Terri
"We have to find that footage." She demanded
"You know they are probably messing with us." Terri replied
"Can we take that chance? The camera is something Mission would do without hesitation" Bastila responded
"Come to think of it, no. I suggest we start cleaning the cargo bay first and fixing what we can." Terri suggested
In the cargo bay the two teenagers shared another fist bump and holding back on their giggles.
The crew convened in the hastily repaired lounge, the lounge was lit by a single unbroken light. Carth scowled as his chair croaked and groaned as he sat down in it.
" Now that all of us are here and dressed, I believe it is time that we started our planning for the next phase." He started
Melissa raised her hand slightly and Carth nodded to her
"All of you would have seen the inactive astromech droid in the communication room by now." She started
"We did and wondered what is going on with it." Bastila replied
"And when did we get it?" Terri added
" Tatooine and when we were two crew short." Carth stated
Melissa coughed lightly drawing attention back to her
"I am afraid T3 is going to suffer a bad motivator and become unavailable for navigation shortly. A2 R4 will of course be called in to take over while we accidently run into a gravity anomaly." Melissa said
"I am not following, T3 seems fine to me." Bastila responded
Carth took over for a moment
"While you were indisposed we discussed the way forward, it seemed to reckless to let the data from our navicomputer fall into Sith hands but we still need to bait that trap and get us a credible explanantion for our acquisitions. Mission pointed out that T3 probably backed up our jumps in its memory core." He spoke
"So the droid is a diversion tactic then?" Bastila asked
"Yes. We fully expect someone to take a crack at it once we limp into a repair yard and since we expect the droid to have a fatal memory problem or accident, a sacrificial droid was decided upon." Mission replied
"T3 has been cloning its memories into the unit while it is in lockdown, according to its records T3 was already acting erratically since we lifted off and will be the cause for our jump into an area that has been declared as unsafe and restricted. Who knew that a bad motivator and overriding safety protocols on its programming could result in being dropped close to a gravity anomaly." Melissa continued.
"The recent internal damage would make selling the story a lot easier as well. It would have seemed odd if the damage had been external only" Canderous stated
Carth sat forward, he paused mid motion as the chair creaked ominously
"That being said I want to suggest a change in our plan to look at the starmaps, I suggest we do Korriban first." He stated
"That would be an exccedingly bad idea at this time" A new voice spoke from the doorway
Carth's chair gave up the ghost and he crashed to the floor as he tried to spin around in it. Bastila shot to her feet
"Master Kashana." She happily greeted the Force Ghost
"What am I invisible?" Berek demanded from the other doorway
Melissa jumped up and ran to him and tried to envelop him in a hug, only managing to swipe through him.
"Forgetting something?" Berek gently teased, speaking softly
"Uh, yeah." Melissa blushed, her voice disappointed
"Believe me, I would have loved a hug but until we meet again in the other plane we can't and I don't want to see you there for a long while yet." Berek said softly.
Carth cleared his throat
"Would you care to explain your statement?"
" The commander of the academy is plotting all of your deaths and the capture of Bastilla." Kashana answered
"Nothing new in that." Carth shrugged
"He plans on having your son kill you to complete his training." Kashana bluntly stated
Carth reared back in shock.
"Dustil would never…" He started
"A lot has changed since you last saw your boy." Berek said gently
Berek walked over and knelt before Carth where he was sitting on the ground.
"When Telos fell Dustil experienced an awakening. In times of great stress some individuals who has the potential to produce later generations of force users can be awakened to the Force. That awakening is how he survived the bombing." Berek explained
"Dustil was rescued from the rubble by a group called the Sons of Telos, which as you know was a movement calling for the secession from the Republic. With his mother dead at the hand of a then Republic officer and carrying a lot of resentment for your abscences they found a fertile field for their reasoning, this was compounded by the Republic's lacklustre relief efforts." Kashana continued
"The Sons of Telos was greatly funded by the Sith and they had pre warning of what was going to happen, so when they found a newly force sensitive on their hands it was inevitable that they would get him to the Sith Academy. His surname, your surname, was already known to them and the academy commander immediately took him under his personal tutelage." Berek completed
The force ghost laid a gentle hand on Carth's shoulder
"Uther Wynn is a master of manipulation and deceit, your boy never stood a chance, however not all is lost. There is still good in the boy and he can be saved. The fact that he is a slow force learner also helps by giving you more time. Time you desperately need to save him." Berek stated
Kashana also knelt down before Carth
"I know you want to rush in and get him out of there. However only force sensitives can get into the academy. And Terri and Juhani will not be able to do so by themselves." Kashana explained
"But Melissa and Bastila are also force sensitive." Carth argued
Berek shook his head
"The moment Bastila enters Korriban's atmosphere they will know she is there and they will stop at nothing to get her. As for Melissa if she goes there now she will fall to the Dark side."
Berek turned around to face the stunned girl
"Ever since Lothal it has been calling to you, has it not?" He gently stated
"How did you…" Melissa started replying, shock edged on her face
"At this point of your training the call of the dark will be very strong, and that you had teetered on the edge makes the call stronger."
"But should that not make me susceptible as well?" Juhani asked
Kashana gave the Cathar woman a proud smile
"You broke the hold it had over you, you will be tempted but you will not fall again. Of all the force sensitives here you are the safest from corruption."
Berek went over to Melissa and sank down to her level
"All the meditation and practise you have done has worked to keep you from slipping farther. Luckily I know of a way for you to regain your balance."
"How?" Melissa asked in a small scared voice
"By returning to Lothal." Berek simply stated
There was complete silence on that statement. Berek gave a small smile
"No, I have not lost my mind. Your mother never went looking for the outpost. In fact there is more to the outpost than what is currently recorded in the hall of records."
"What is there?" Terri asked
"A hidden temple, with the last near extinction of the order a group of masters had decided to set up a network of hidden temples to provide places of refuge should a sufficiently large threat arise again." Kashana answered
"This temple is built on a Force Nexus, similar to the one in the valley of the Jedi on Ossus. The group deliberately mislabelled it, the secret passed from master to padawan. Inevitably the secret got lost." Berek explained.
Kashana lifted her hand to forestall any more questions
"If you decide to go there, you will do so alone. The other will not benefit from a visit at this time" She firmly stated
"You want me to go alone to an enemy held planet and find a lost temple?" Melissa stated incredulously
"Consider it to be your knighthood trails, as for lost we can give you the coordinates. In fact we have already given it to T3." Berek grinned
The two force ghosts started to fade away.
"Why do I get the feeling we are not being told something important again?" Terri grouched
"We are Jedi Masters, of course there is a hidden lesson." Kashana grinned impishly.
The group sat in silence while they digested the new information. Terri dropped her head into her hands with a groan
"Just for once I wish we could have something going to plan without hidden quests."
Bastila soothingly rubbed her back. Melissa was studying the holomap that they had on display since their meeting started
"I know our original plan was to jump to Sluis Van for repairs, but how about we change it to Naboo?"
"Why Naboo?" Mission asked
"The Milk Runner is being refitted on Naboo to get their cargo bay door issue sorted out. That will give me access to an unknown ship."
Everyone in the room snorted in amusement at that name except for Juhani
"Are all Alterrans terrible at naming things?" Mission demanded
"Sukura named it, so you don't get to blame me or Bonita." Melissa retorted
"And the two of you could not say anything to stop that name from being used?" Carth asked
"Sukura used her kitten eyes and a pout, we could not say no to that." Melissa sighed defeated
After a brief round of laughter at that, Carth turned serious again
"You are seriously considering going then?" He asked
"Yes." Melissa replied sighing
She ran her hands through her hair in frustration
" I know we are on a tight schedule and all these delays are adding up. But that they came here to warn us of a threat we have not foreseen. I think I need to do this, if only to get myself back in balance again. I do not want to be a risk to any of you."
Carth turned to the other three sensitives.
" What is your take on this?"
" If Berek believes there is a threat to Melissa I believe him. He would not endanger his granddaughter." Terri replied
"I can attest that the call of the dark side is difficult to resist at the best of times and on a planet steeped in it…" Bastila shrugged "They are right that I cannot go there, and not just because of them feeling my presence. My hubris might lead me down a path to the dark there. And with me entering a relationship my commitment to the Jedi code is shaky at best, I will find no refuge in its tenants."
"That you can admit to your hubris is already a massive step forward." Terri stated softly, taking her hands
Carth stood up from where he was seated
"As much as I would like to rush to Korriban, I will trust your judgement on the matter. Now let us go wreck a perfectly fine ship for profit and misinformation."