Paradox : Three

Paradox 

He was beginning to get tired of her screaming. All she did was lay there and thrash about, yelling her lungs out and soiling the bed with her blood and sweat and other fluids; personally, he thought it might have been wiser to kill her. Carth hadn’t thought so, however. He was one of those fools who was good right down to his core, even if it put his own life in danger.

Viza’s head had been cut by a loose sheet of metal on the landing. It had almost cut through her skull completely – she was lucky to be alive at all. But of course Carth had come to the rescue, fixing her up just right.

Nirubu had to admit that the guy had a talent for being the hero. He did his job, and he did it right, and God did he ever look good doing it. Quite frankly, Nirubu had never seen a finer man in his life. The guy was tall and strong and wide, but gentle as a kath pup. He had the uncanny ability to take control of a situation, just by the pitch of his voice, never raising it – and in that same way he used his voice to soothe and comfort. His face was broad and honest, rugged from years of bad luck, and he seemed to radiate skill. His flaw was his pure and infantile heart; and his simple nature.

Oh, and he had a lovely bum.

From across the room, Nirubu listlessly studied it as the other man bent over to try and sooth Viza, who was screaming again. Carth’s pants were too tight and too dark, and wherever they chose to cling, the place was perfectly exposed, and someone could simply read the curve of his rear uninterrupted. The front end was even more shocking – naturally.

And so Nirubu let what he would describe as ‘manly envy’ wash over him from that distance. He was nothing like Carth. They were opposites. Where Carth was big and warm, Nirubu was slim and cold as ice. It reminded him of an old story his mother told him once as a boy, the contrast in personalities. If there was a crack in the wall, a man like Carth might kick it until it fell apart. A man like Nirubu would simply slip inside of it like water and trickle whole through to the other side.

Carth’s careful ministrations woke the girl up at last. Nirubu could tell immediately that she was an idiot. She batted her big blue eyes around, her face blank and wondering simply. She looked to Carth and smiled, and it was the smooth smile that came with no hitch that men loved, because it meant she was unthinking in her smile – which might imply she was just as generous with other acts of intimacy.

And Carth smiled back, because he wasn’t that much brighter (though, on him, it was sweetly appealing). “Hey there,” he said in a quiet, soothing tone. “It’s good to see you awake, instead of thrashing around in your sleep. You must have been having one hell of a nightmare. I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up.”

Vaguely, Nirubu wished she hadn’t in the end. He had no use for a woman, and she would only slow them down. She quite obviously lacked the get-‘er-done attitude Carth and Nirubu shared.

Now, she batted those pretty lashes and said in a cute, flittering voice, “Where am I? How did I get here?”

Nirubu groaned, rolling his head on the axis of his fist. Carth had been so considerate to go out and get them some caffa. Now, he sipped his cup and settled in to see how Carth would handle her.

He was infinitely patient, slowing down to explain everything to her. He was a completely different man than he had been on the Endar Spire. Here, they weren’t under immediate threat of death. “Well, you’ve been slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple of days now, so I imagine you’re pretty confused about things. We’re in an abandoned apartment on the planet of Taris. You were banged up pretty bad when our escape pod crashed, but luckily Nirubu and I weren’t seriously hurt. We were able to drag you away from our crash site –”

Viza’s eyes snapped to Nirubu, who offered her a wry half-smile. Her wide-eyed act faltered for a moment, and she dropped the ditzy smile. Thank God.

“I’ve seen you before,” she said.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her. “I imagine you have. We lived on the same ship for several months.”

“N-No… I’ve seen you… somewhere else…”

“It’s possible. I’ve been a little bit of everywhere, sweetheart.”

Carth looked unsettled by having the attention drawn away from himself. He went to sit beside Nirubu, keeping his eyes fixed on the girl, as though she might faint again. If he was going to let an emotional attachment bloom between them, and he let it get in the way, Nirubu felt he might kill him. Already he was beginning to feel like a third wheel.

Viza didn’t move from her bed. Perhaps she realized she didn’t have the strength to stand just yet. “I guess I owe you my life,” she said quietly. “Thanks.”

Nirubu yawned. Carth, however, soaked up the praise. “You don’t have to thank me. I’ve never abandoned anyone on a mission, and I’m not about to start now. Besides, I need your help.” He didn’t give her a chance to deny him her assistance, and instead launched into the boring story of how they got there, filling her in on the quarantine, Bastila’s absence.

Viza seemed to be concentrating. Nirubu feared she would hurt herself, thinking so hard.

But the words came without any incident. “I’ve heard of Bastila before. Why is it so important to find her?”

Carth seemed shocked. “That smack to your head did more damage than I thought,” he said, and Nirubu let out a short giggle. Without warning it evolved into a full out laughing fit; Carth and Viza stared at him with what could only be described as sheer horror. When Nirubu finally got himself under control he looked as if nothing had happened at all, except for the faint flush in his cheeks. He cleared his throat and waved one pale, delicate hand. “Continue.”

Carth watched him warily from the corner of his eye as he spoke now. “Bastila’s a Jedi. She was with the strike team that killed Darth Revan, Malak’s Sith master. Bastila’s the key to the whole Republic war effort. The Sith must have found out she was on the Endar Spire and set an ambush for us in this system. I believe Bastila was on one of the escape pods that crashed down here on Taris. For the sake of the Republic war effort, we have to try and find her.”

Nirubu raised his fingers, reminiscent of a schoolboy. Carth gave him a hard look, but when Nirubu only waited patiently he sighed and said, “Yes, Nirubu?”

“I don’t see why finding her is of such importance. If she’s so powerful, she ought to be able to help herself – perhaps she should be helping us. If she has such power, why did she need our help so badly to even get off the Endar Spire? Jedi or no, what makes her so miraculous?”

“He brings up a good point, you know,” Viza added, and Nirubu decided she wasn’t quite as dumb as she looked.

Carth looked uncomfortable. “Bastila has this ability called Battle Meditation. I don’t know much about it, but I know it’s important. With the force of her Will she can influence the morale of entire armies.”

“Why didn’t she beat the living hell out of those Sith, then?”

Carth looked at him sadly. “The attack on the Endar Spire probably happened so fast she never had a chance to use her Battle Meditation. Like us, she barely got out alive.”

Nirubu leaned in a bit, like a feral cat stalking its prey. “Really? And how do you even know Bastila’s still alive?”

Carth squared his shoulders, that stubborn look coming over his face. Already, Nirubu was becoming familiar with it. “I don’t,” Carth said, his voice firm. “But Bastila’s young, and she has a powerful command of the Force. We survived the crash landing, so I’m willing to bet that she may have, too. Besides, what’s the alternative? I mean, if she’s dead, then no one can stop Malak and his Sith from wiping out the Republic. And I’d rather operate on the assumption that she survived.”

“Assumptions do not save lives, but risk them – if that is what you consider most important.” Nirubu left this open, but Carth’s expression was unchanging.

Viza had lost her face in her hands. She really was beautiful despite her weak mind. “What are we going to do now?” she asked.

Carth was relieved to be talking about something that didn’t involve his own flawed logic. “We need to find Bastila,” he said, “and help her. Nobody will be looking for a couple of common soldiers like us, so we’ve got that on our side. Even then, if Bastila wants to get off this planet, she’s going to need our help. And we’ll probably need hers.

“Viza, while you were out, Nirubu and I did some scouting around. There are reports of a couple escape pods crashing down into the Undercity. That’s probably a good place to start looking. But the Undercity is a dangerous place. We don’t want to go in there unprepared. It won’t do Bastila any good if we go out and get ourselves killed.”

Nirubu smiled wryly. “It wouldn’t do us much good either.”

Viza nodded in agreement. “I don’t want to die…”

“We won’t,” Carth said with a passion so sudden that Nirubu was temporarily knocked from his perpetual calm. “Just remember to keep a low profile.”

“Yeah, that’ll be easy,” Nirubu sneered. “I mean, we’ve got Soldier Boy over here, Sleeping Beauty over there, and… me.”

“Man-Woman, maybe,” Viza suggested.

The look Nirubu gave her could have cut diamonds. “Whore, don’t be jealous because a man is more naturally gifted in looks than you are.”

“Hey, hey, we don’t need that,” Carth snapped. “We’re on the same side here.”

“Are we?” Nirubu gave him a sharp look, and Carth raised a hand as if to strike him.

“I don’t know, are we?” he growled back. “Don’t give me a reason to distrust you, Nirubu. I saved your life.”

Nirubu stood and walked to the other side of the room. He had brought a datapad with him, and went to work writing on it. He left the room tense in his wake, and nothing else was said.

After a while, Viza fell back to sleep, and this time had no nightmares.

Carth, however, stayed awake for a long while yet, sometimes watching Nirubu, who pretended he didn’t notice.

-fin