Manaan Part 2

A\N Sorry folks, it takes a while for me to put this one up. Thought I forgot about it ? (In Nelson's voice) Hah-Hah. 

 Enjoy.

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Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

Manaan

Part Two

“Oi, oi, oi, cut this off!”

“Stop it, you two! We are all responsible adults now; there isn’t a point for us to behave like little kiddies, is there?”

Skye Imarr’s hands were on the Republic soldier’s. She and Carth Onasi were trying with all their might to drag him in the opposite direction of the Sith officer, who was being held off by Zaalbar and Mission. Even several meters apart from each other, the two still managed to shoot aggressive words and nasty names at each other.

“Sith filth!” The Republic soldier was livid. “Don’t think you guys can dominate most of the galaxy if you own this place. I can single handedly gun you down if I want to!”

“Tut, tut,” the Sith officer sneered back. “Look at who’s talking here? A bloody useless ijet! When was the last time you guys won any battle? We can own this place anytime we want. Gun me down? Hah, I would like to see you try! The Selkath definitely will be very interested to hear about it!”

The Republic soldier made another series of disgruntled noises and was about to wiggle out of Skye and Carth’s grasp for a moment. Jolee stood in front of him, trying to push him back by putting his hands against the soldier’s chest.

“Can’t do it, can you?” The Sith officer shook off Zaalbar and Mission’s grasp (a bit curious considering Zaalbar was twice his size) and snorted, “Softies, as always. How you guys managed to hold this far has always been a mystery to me…”

He walked off towards the Sith hangar while laughing hysterically.

The Republic soldier glared at the Sith officer’s back for a second with bulging eyes, as if he were about to fire blaster his at him before collapsing onto the floor.

“I am probably the worst Republic soldier you guys have seen, aren’t I?” he sighed. “I know what you guys think…but…those bloody Sith were just too unbelievable…”

“Oh, no worries there, we understand it perfectly.” Mission waved her hand around as if there were some ugly smell around her.

The soldier looked at her with great amusement for a moment before continuing.

“The thing is, there is nothing we can do about it here, nor can they. The Selkath placed quiet a strict law on us foreigners. Basically any teeny-tiny mistake we made will be magnified ten-fold and taken to court. If it wasn’t for the bloody kolto, none of us would even bother to put up with each other and act as if we were the best mates in the universe.”

“Kolto?” Skye arched her eyebrow.

“Surely you know what that is, don’t you?” The soldier stared at her with the mixture of astonishment and confusion. “Kolto is the single most valuable healing source in the entire galaxy! Almost every medical pack and healing facility needs it. It can only be found naturally here on Manaan, and those Selkath cheeky buggers know that perfectly well. Neutral? My arse! They are trying to get the benefit from both sides!”

“Calm down, young fella.” Jolee bent over and patted his shoulder.

“I should have swapped with my mate Giles and sign up for the Endar Spire instead…” he mumbled. “At least he actually died on killing off a bloody Sith jiets or two…”

“Giles?” Now it was Carth, Mission, and Skye’s turn to stare at him in shock.

“Wha…haven’t you heard about what happened on the Endar Spire?” the Republic man puzzled.

“Sure we do,” Mission answered him hastily before turning her head towards Skye. “Is this Giles fella the one that got—”

“Sheesh…” Carth intercepted her query.

“You two are Jedi, aren’t you?” The soldier studied Jolee and Skye a couple of minutes before he sighed heavily. “There is no emotion, there is peace; I suppose I really need to learn the Jedi way a bit. Well, better get back to work…”  He stood up and walked to the Republic hangar not very far from them.

“Wa…Wait!” Skye called out after him. “Have you heard of something called the Star Map?”

“Star what?” The officer turned and glared at her in confusion. “Never heard of the thing. But you can check with our embassy in East Central. Perhaps someone there will know. It’s directly across the hotel; you won’t miss it.”

“Right, thanks,” Skye nodded.

“Hmm, hmm,” Jolee chuckled as they were heading towards the visitor area. “The way of the Jedi…if only he knew we Jedi sometimes behave no different than they do…”
“Well, most of us see Jedi almost as someone they can worship,” Carth commented as he placed the credit on the Selkath port official’s desk for the docking fee.

“Oh, I know, I— ”Jolee’s words were interrupted by the slight poke of Mission’s finger.

“Hey, Jolee. That woman there— ”  She pointed at a anxious and teary-looking woman at the corner of the Ahto West Square.  “Do you know her? She’s been staring at you for quite some time now.”

The woman was in her mid-30s.  Her skin, like most human residents on Manaan, was tan; her hair was tied up into a neat bum, with bits of curls springing out along her soft, elegant face; her dark brown eyes were dark with worry.

“Jo…Jolee? Is this really you, Jolee Bindo?” The women drew near as soon as she noticed Jolee was looking at her. She opened her mouth cautiously and whimpered in such a low voice that it was almost inaudible.

“Yes, I am. And….Goodness mother of gizkas! You are Elora!” Jolee finally recognised the brown-haired female. “Blimey, what are you doing here?”

“Thank the Force you are here, Jolee! You are my only hope! There is no one here would help him, not even the Republic Embassy! You must help Sunry! They framed him! He would never do something like this! You are his old mate; you know what he was like! Please, please, please! You’ve got to help Sunry!” The woman grasped Jolee’s arms tightly at once and blurted out in an almost continuous, desperate, high-pitch voice.

“Wow, wow, wow! Hold on, hold your taun-taun there!”  Jolee gently held Elora’s shoulders.  “I’ve heard about it from Davin on Kashyyk. But I still want to hear it from your account. What exactly happened here?”

Jolee’s attempt trying to get more stories about his old friend from Elora unfortunately failed. Elora was in such a distraught state that all they could gather was that Sunry was accused of killing a Sith woman named Elassa Huros and the evidence were stacking up against him.

“This is no good,” Carth shook his head, glancing at Elora, who was now sobbing uncontrollably against Jolee’s shoulder. “We won’t get anything from her. Perhaps we should ask around to see if they know anything.”

“[You can’t exactly ‘ask around’ here, outsider.]” A Selkath nearby who’d been watching them with great amusement opened his mouth.

“What do you mean?” Skye asked.

“[Well, the law here states that unless you are the appointed arbiter for the case, anyone who queries about an on-going event like this will be seen as attempting stealing confidential information from the agency and it is lifetime imprisonment without even a trial. I strongly suggest you people talk to a Manaan official first before stick your noses around, unless you don’t mind spending the rest of your life in one of the most high-security prisons in the galaxy.]” The Selkath looked around carefully before explaining the law to them.

“Goodness! What a bazaar planet we are on!”  Mission raised her eyebrow.  “Confidential information? A murder? I thought Kashyyyk was bad. I am sorry, Big Z, I take my word back; looks like Manaan’s even worse!”

“[Looks like we will have to see the ‘official’ here then.]” Zaalbar growled.

“Do you know where we can speak to one of those ‘officials’?” Skye asked.

“[Sure, the courthouse is situated directly across the square.]”  The Selkath pointed at the hallway at the far side.  “[You won’t miss it. There is just one thing…]”

“What now?”  Carth rolled his eyes.

“[They will be lunch time in about 10 minutes. I don’t’ think your ‘inquiry’ will be this short.  I suggest you go and have your lunch first.  Come back in the afternoon when the courthouse reopens.]” The Selkath cast him an annoyed glare.

“I see,” Skye nodded. “Well, I suppose an hour or so stuffing your face won’t hurt.”

“[I began to think you guys’ tummies are made of steel!]” Zaalbar’s face broke into a devastating grin. “[I’ve been so hungry for so long, I suspect my stomach will start eating itself!]”

~~~~~~~

“Carth.”

Carth Onasi looked around him. Jolee was sitting in his chair, eyes half-closed, presumably meditating or enjoy whatever drink the serving droid just delivered; Mission and Zaalbar were nowhere in sight, but from the yelling and cheering noise that exploded at the other side of there room, they were most likely playing up a storm of pazaak.

There was only one person left—Skye.

“Hi, what’s on your mind?”  Trying to sound casual, Carth gazed into the beautiful twinkling sapphire eyes not very far from him and smiled.

“Well, we’ve been known each other for some times now, so I hope you don’t mind that I am asking you this.”  Perhaps it was the lighting in the cantina, but Skye’s face somehow seemed a little pink.  “Is there something wrong?”“What?”  Carth looked puzzled.

“You’ve been watching me a lot closer lately, so there must be something wrong, right?”  She threw a few side-glances at Carth, while pretending to look at the crystal she had pulled out from her bag. Carth recognised at once it was one of those they’d discovered in that mystery cave on Dantooine.

Now it was Carth’s turn to turn pink. “Arhm….I hadn’t….Arhm…”

“Hadn’t thought I’d notice?”  Skye chuckled.  “It’s kind of obvious, since you are not particularly good at hiding it…”

“Am I? …I’m sorry! I….”  Carth seemed to have suddenly lost the ability to speak Basic.  “I… I’ve been just… just arhm… arhm… admiring you…”

“Admiring me?”  Skye’s eyebrow arched.

“No… don’t get yourself twisted there. It’s not…not like that,” Carth explained earnestly. “…All right, promise me you won’t laugh.”

Skye put her right hand on her chest. “I solemnly swear I won’t.”

“Right…”  Carth took a deep breath.  “I’ve been… how I put this? Watching you in action. Your skills…you have a natural talent that is incredible… no, no, no…”

He waved his hands hastily when he saw Skye’s eyebrow rise higher.

“I don’t mean anything by it.”

“By what?” Skye asked and watched with great amusement as Carth’s face turned into deeper shade of red. “I see…”

She glared at him a few seconds before opening her mouth again.

“All right, any observations?”

“Arhm…”

Carth’s face was now totally magenta. He took a big gulp from the cup he was holding and did not continue.

“You are not gonna tell me?”

Carth continued to look away, and he seemed to have suddenly develop a profound interest in the swoop race broadcasting panel.

Skye grinned. “Carth… to be honest, it’s okay. I don’t mind you are watching me.”

“You… you don’t?”

“Nope.”

“…You should have told me that sooner.”  Carth finally turned his head around, and relief was written all over his face.  “You would have saved me a lot of trouble!”

Skye laughed.

“Oi, you promised me you wouldn’t laugh!” Carth half pretended to be angry, half- watching the Twi’lek, who was in indulgent stitches.

“I…I’m sorry!”  Skye tried to catch her breath.  “I’m sorry…I will stop now, just …give me a moment…sorry.”

“You know what, Skye?”  Carth rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  “Jokes aside, we’ve come a long way with your help. Whether it’s the Force or fate or…just some plain luck… I’m glad you are here, really. The thing is, I don’t think we would have made it this far without you.”

“Oh.”  Now it was Skye’s face that had gone magenta.

“I should have said this long before, instead of doubting you.”  Carth looked at his hands.  “Arhm… I was kind hoping you can forgive me.”

“You already apologized once, Carth,” Skye said.

“Yes, and you accepted it… but that doesn’t mean I am forgiven. I’d like to be.”  Carth called the bartender over and asked for another drink.  “Will you?”

“Why do you need my forgiveness anyway, Commander?”   Skye also asked for another juma juice.

“I did ask you not to call me that a while back, now may I please remind you not to again?” said Carth sternly. “Well, because you’re an impressive and beautiful woman.  In some ways... good ways... you remind me of my wife and I’d like to make things right between us.”

“Beautiful?”  Skye’s eye somehow flickered slightly, as if there was something inside her that was stirring. But before she could say anything further, a loud whining sigh erupted not very far from them.

Sounded like Mission had returned.