Revered and Reviled

"Care for a few rounds of strike pazaak?" Canderous held up a bag of chocolates in front of Mission. "I have some markers you might be interested in."
"Oooh!" Mission jumped up. "Let me get my deck." She ran to her quarters.
"What's strike pazaak?" Patience asked.
The Mandalorian grinned. "It's like regular pazaak, except instead of money you play for strikes and markers. It started as a way for crime lords to hand out assassinations, but it got spread by mercs with no credits who still wanted to earn a place to sleep."
"Are you playing strike pazaak?" called Carth from the cockpit.
"You in, flyboy?" Canderous shouted back.
"Only if Patience is playing. I've got a few good ones written up."
Canderous grinned at her. "You in?"
"What's a strike?"
"A strike is a kind of an IOU. Usually a job or something that the holder wants done. Since none of us want anyone assassinated, it will be probably be something like cooking dinner or sexual favors."
Patience stared at him, speechless. He was completely serious, she realized.
"The pot starts with a strike from each player and a set amount of markers, and at the end of each round, winner takes the pot. In order to take a strike off the table or change the holder, you have to pay in its value with markers. Otherwise, the winner takes your strike and can redeem it later." He held up the bag of chocolates, branded with the name of a famous bakery on Coruscant. "For markers, I usually pay women in chocolate. But hey, if you want to walk off with a few of my strikes, that's okay too."
"Did you say chocolate?" asked Juhani, and Canderous grinned.
"Works every time."
Juhani looked nervously at the group as they gathered, and moved closer to Patience. Mission walked back into the main cabin. "Are you playing too? Go get your deck!" She pulled up the chairs, and began programming the console. "I'll get the table ready."
Patience sighed and pulled out her deck, and took a seat at the table. Juhani sat next to her.
"You'll need to make up some strikes for the pot," said Carth, shuffling his deck as he walked up to the table. He pulled out a few unstamped credit-style chits and handed them to Patience and Juhani. "How much are we starting with?"
"For markers, I'd say ten pieces of chocolate," answered Canderous, "against two strikes? Does that sound good?"
Patience turned over one of the markers that Carth had tossed into the pot. "So you're saying one session of oral sex is worth five pieces of chocolate?"
Carth grinned. "I'll be honest with you. I don't really like chocolate." He handed a sample piece to Juhani.
Patience shook her head in mock disgust, and checked some of the other markers in the pot. Behind her back, Carth gestured to Juhani, and held up another piece as a bribe.
Juhani tasted the candy, and smiled in delight. "These are really good," she said. She looked at Carth again, and used her claws to carefully slice apart the ribbon holding Patience's ponytail.
"What are you – " Patience turned, and the severed ribbon fell to the floor, freeing her hair to curl and spill over her shoulders. "Juhani!"
Carth handed the Cathar a handful of chocolates, as did Canderous. Juhani laughed shyly, and offered a piece to Patience.
Patience flushed under the stares of the two men, and ate the chocolate. "Oh." The sensual taste of genuine chocolate melted her anger away. "These are good."
"Worth every penny," muttered Canderous, and Carth nodded in agreement.
Zaalbar growled, and brought over a case of Ebla beer. "He says one beer is ten chocolates," translated Mission.
"He could have said twenty," grinned Carth, and paid Zaalbar for two beers, handing one to Juhani, and Zaalbar tossed his chocolate into the pot.
"No, the Corellian whiskey is twenty," said Mission, "but he's not selling that until all the beer is gone." She traded two markers to Zaalbar in exchange for a beer of her own.
Patience stared at Carth. "Why did you buy Juhani a beer?"
Carth smiled at her. "Insurance."
Canderous laughed, and bought his own beer, shaking his head.
Juhani shyly offered Patience a sip of her beer.
"Thank you," said Patience, and brushed her hair out of her face, tucking the wayward curls behind her ear. "Great, now I have to make more ribbons. What is wrong with you, anyway?"
Carth grinned, and didn't answer.
Mission looked at her curiously.
"He keeps stealing them," Patience explained. "I didn't have that many to start with." She nibbled on another chocolate, trying to decide what to offer as her strikes, and trying to ignore Canderous, who was trying to convince Juhani to do something else to Patience.
The little utility droid buzzed up to the table, curious to know what the humans were doing.
Canderous shook his head at the T3 unit. "I can't believe Janice used an old memory core for that droid."
"It's not old!" protested Patience. "The core is brand new! I checked when I was fixing the damage from the Sith base." She finally gave up, and tossed in copies of two random chits that were already in the pot, under her own name.
"It can't be. Brand new droids don't have personality quirks." Canderous started the game, and Mission grinned in excitement.
"He doesn't have any personality quirks!" said Patience defensively. "He's just got very sophisticated programming. Don’t you, T3?"
The droid burbled in answer, then beeped and spun around in a circle.
"Okay, that's a personality quirk if I ever saw one."
"Oh, just ignore the mean old man," said Patience, and handed a datapad with the rules of Pazaak and its variants to T3. "I like you just the way you are," she said, gently patting the little utility droid.
The droid beeped back at her, and there really wasn't any way to describe the beeping other than 'happy.'
"Hey," said Carth, "get your own." The droid turned and looked at Carth. "Yeah, you heard me. This one's mine. Buzz off!" Carth ignored the droid's protests, and frowned at Mission, who had just won the second set in a row.
Canderous looked at Carth, then at Patience. "You do know that the more you treat it like that, the faster its personality will develop? You're going to end up corrupting its programming." The Mandalorian took another sip of his beer. "Also, I'm not old."
Patience laughed, and T3 zipped away. "Oh, he'll be fine. You worry too much."
"Some people say droids don't have souls," said Mission, updating the score on the table. "I think they should meet T3."
Zaalbar growled.
"You deserved it!" snapped Patience. "He isn't broken, and he doesn't need a memory wipe. Leave him alone."
"What?" Canderous asked.
"T3 shocked Zaalbar when he tried to wipe the little guy's memory," Mission explained. "It was pretty funny."
Canderous frowned. "That's not funny! That's dangerous! Developing that kind of behavior on its own – "
"I put that in there," Patience explained. "I know what it feels like to lose your memory, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Not even a droid." She handed Juhani another chocolate, and tried to remember how many cards she had already played.
"Droids don't have feelings," Canderous insisted.
"No one would feel if you wiped out their entire past every time they did something you didn't like," said Patience bitterly. "Leave T3 alone." She won the set, but Carth was still in the lead.
"Is she always this crazy?" Canderous asked Carth, who had just won the final set.
"Sexy, isn't it?" Carth grinned and pulled in the pot. "Let's see what we have in here." He filtered through the chits, whistling to himself. "Oh, I'm keeping that one," he grinned, and pocketed the strike.
Zaalbar growled hopefully, and held out a small "prize size" bottle of Corellian whiskey.
"Hey! You can't do that!" shouted Mission, but Zaalbar just chuckled.
Carth looked curiously at the Wookie. "Isn't she a little young for you?"
Zaalbar growled calmly in response.
"Good point," Carth laughed, and traded Mission's strikes to the Wookie.
"What did he say?" asked Canderous.
"He said, she'll get older and they'll still be valid," explained Patience. "Mission, what did you put in there?"
"Nothing," she muttered, and blushed dark blue. Zaalbar laughed, and Mission muttered something rude under her breath.
"Wait, I – let me see that strike you pulled off the table, Carth!" Patience demanded.
Carth looked at her. "What? No, why?" He set the table and began the next game.
"Because I copied two random ones!"
Carth just grinned at her, in his most infuriating way. "No."
"Carth!"
"You're up, Patience," said Mission unhelpfully.
Patience made a noise of exasperation, and settled down to play. Canderous won the next round, making Mission almost scream in frustration.
"Maybe you should stop cheating and play right," Canderous grinned. "Let's see… looks like I won't be cleaning the galley for a while." Mission threw a wrapper at his head, and he laughed. "What else do I have here? Cooking, more cleaning, and a kissing session. Nice!"
Carth raised an eyebrow. "Who is that from?"
Canderous smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know, flyboy?" He reset the table to start the next game.
Patience groaned. "I don't like this game."
"What on earth are you all doing?" demanded Bastila.
"We're playing strike pazaak," Mission explained. "Wanna join?"
Bastila stared at her. "Strike pazaak is a game for loose women and mercenaries! I'm shocked that you would participate in such a low pastime!"
"You're awfully stuck up," Mission observed.
Patience just shook her head, and continued playing.
"You're playing this too?" said Bastila in horror.
"Be quiet, I'm actually winning for once."
Juhani nervously offered Bastila some chocolate.
"Oh, thank you, Juhani." Bastila ate the candy, then helped herself to another one from the pile between Patience and Juhani, who wasn't actually playing. Since Patience hadn't said anything, she took a few more.
"You know, that's my money you're eating," said Patience finally.
"You seem to doing well."
"Actually, that's all Juhani's so far. She earned it by satisfying Carth's base desires."
"Oh, very funny," snapped Bastila. "What happened to your ribbon?"
"That would be the base desire that Carth needed satisfying," said Patience dryly, winning another set.
Bastila sighed, and popped another chocolate into her mouth. She pulled a chair over, and knelt on it behind Patience so that she could braid her hair. Bastila gently pulled Patience's shirt to one side so that she could get all of Patience's hair in her hands.
Carth looked over, and dropped his beer and cards in shock.
"What is it with you and my hair?" asked Patience without moving.
Carth put his head on the table. "It's not your hair this time."
Juhani looked carefully, then straightened Patience's shirt so that Carth couldn't see under her shirt anymore.
"He's still out of this round, though," said Mission. "And go clean up your beer before you short out the table, flyboy."
"Right. Just give me a second," said Carth, trying to remember how to breathe. "Excuse me." Carth stood up slowly. "I'll be right back."
"Yes! I win!" Patience cheered, and Canderous threw down his cards in disgust. Juhani gathered the pot for her, and they went through them together.
Bastila, still fixing Patience's hair, glanced down at the strikes. "Does that say a back massage?"
"Yeah, you want it?" Patience held it out to her, and Bastila slid the chit into her shirt.
Canderous opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it. Carth returned, and cleaned up the beer spill while Patience started the next round.
Bastila finished with Patience's hair, then sat down on her chair and helped herself to some more from the increased pile of chocolate, and drank some of the beer that Patience was sharing with Juhani. Patience brought some more beer from Zaalbar, but the two Jedi continued drinking from her bottle instead of taking one of their own.
Patience decided not to complain about it, and concentrated on playing. Bastila and Juhani cheered when she won another round, and gleefully went through the pot, eating more chocolate and checking the strikes.
Carth looked over at the Jedi women in disbelief. "Bastila, are you… are you using your Battle Meditation to help Patience win?"
"What?" Bastila stared at him in shock. "How could you possibly think that I would behave in such a fashion? That I would use my abilities for something so frivolous?"
"Hey, look, a hand massage," said Patience. "You want this too?"
Bastila smiled at Carth, and slid the strike into her shirt next to the other one, safely tucked against her breast. "Besides, considering how easy it is to distract you men with a little skin…"
"I knew you were doing it on purpose," Canderous growled. "But I couldn't help myself."
Bastila burst out laughing, and took another swig of beer.
"Guess you're not that old after all," grinned Mission. "And yet you still cheated just so I would lose too."
"Good thing I already won what I wanted," said Carth. "You people make me sick, with all your cheating."
"You liar!" Mission exclaimed. "You totally cheated in the first round."
"Why, you little brat!" Carth protested. "Where do you get off accusing me of cheating, just because you lost?"
"Enough, it's dinner time." Canderous turned off the table. "Oh, hey, I don't have to cook." He handed a chit to Mission with a cruel laugh.
Mission dropped her head to the table. "I really hate you guys."
Zaalbar growled encouragingly, and the two walked down the galley to prepare the meal.
Patience looked at Carth. "Okay, now will you tell me what the first strike said?"
"Which?"
"The one you wouldn't let me see! I know it's mine, I checked all the others."
"Oh, that," Carth grinned. He pulled the chit out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Might as well use it now."
Patience read it, and started laughing. "Carth! You made me think it was something horrible. I hate you."
Carth stood, smiling, and held out his hand to her. "Too bad, it's still a valid debt, and you're going to pay it."
She took his hand, blushing slightly. "Jerk."
"Let's go to the cargo hold."
Bastila stared at her, and Patience handed her the chit before walking away with Carth.
"A dancing lesson?" said Bastila in confusion, and Patience flashed her a happy smile.
Carth locked the door to the cargo hold once they were inside, then pulled her to him for a long, warm kiss. "You have no idea how happy I am to be off Dantooine."
"Not happier than I am!"
"At least you had classes, and things to do. I had to spend all day dodging Jedi Masters who wanted to know if you were pregnant yet, and that damned little green – thing – "
"Ah, very interesting," said Patience in perfect imitation of Master Vandar, and they both threw back their heads and laughed.
"He was the worst!" Carth leaned over her, and kissed her again, and Patience put her arms around his neck, pulling him to her hungrily. "Did Bastila tell you they're encouraging female Jedi to go out and have babies now? Because of you?"
"What?"
"Your vision of the future made them think, and they remembered that the children of Jedi tend to be Jedi as well. So the Council has relaxed the rules a little, and they've set up a child raising center on Coruscant."
"Really?"
Carth nodded. "Wouldn't want the galaxy to run out of Jedi, now would we?"
Patience laughed, and kissed Carth again. "That's it, as soon as this stupid mission is over, we're getting married and settling down!"
"Deal," Carth pulled her into a stunning kiss before she could protest, lifting her in his arms, crushing her to him.
"Oh, I didn't mean it that way," she breathed softly. She couldn't take her eyes from his face, from the loving passion in his eyes. She wanted him to do that again, to hold her tightly, with all his strength.
"I did." He kissed her again, and started undoing the braid that was holding her hair in place.
"No, I mean, you don't have to… you can't hear me over the urge to touch my hair, can you?" she smiled.
Carth chuckled. "I can't help it. You're very, very beautiful. You must know that."
She thought about it. "No, I can't remember anyone ever bringing it up before."
"Really? Is everyone blind where you come from?"
Patience shrugged. "I can't remember where I came from, and my record says I'm not married and never had a baby, so … maybe? Maybe I was raised by some Near-Human species, and I'm really ugly to them?"
"Or maybe," Carth kissed her again, "you sprang full-grown from the brow of a Celestial goddess, and were sent to save the galaxy from destruction." Her hair, soft like silk, spilled down over his hands, and Carth smiled in appreciation. "So very beautiful."
Patience moaned softly, and slid a hand beneath his collar, seeking his skin.
"None of that," said Carth with mock severity. "This is supposed to be a dancing lesson, remember? The kissing session is later."
"Oh, this is part of the lesson," she whispered with a smile.
"Really?" said Carth. "Do tell."
Patience slid her hands along his skin. "The dance style is called adan'jere – it means, 'skins touch.' You put your hips against each other, like so," she pulled him into a close embrace, and placed his arm around her, held the other one in her hand. "Your hands stay here, and here, so that we can feel each other's rhythm." She returned her other hand to his shoulder, playing with his collar, touching his skin.
"There's no music," Carth whispered hoarsely. Her closeness was intoxicating, her touch maddening.
"Oh, but there is," Patience said sweetly. "This is why the style only works for two members of the same species." She started to tap out the rhythm of his heartbeat, "And really, any song will do when you really want to dance." She started to hum a simple melody, matching his rhythm, then began to sway, moving his hips with hers, guiding him to leading her in a set of simple steps.
He held her close, as the style demanded, and she ran her leg along his, letting him sweep her in a graceful circle. "I like this dance," Carth whispered in her ear. "But I think I like anything that gives me an excuse to touch you."
Patience, her lips curved in a brilliant and sweet smile, pulled his head down to hers. "I want you to want me," she whispered back. "I love knowing that you dream about me." She watched his face, his smile, his eyes. She opened her mouth to tell him that she felt the same way, only deeper and stronger, that she loved him more than he could imagine. But she stopped, tilting her head to one side.
"What's wrong?"
She pushed him away. "Do you hear that?"
Carth looked around, and suddenly Patience ran out of the cargo hold, twisting her hair up and out of the way. Carth stared after her in shock, then the alarm sounded.
"Sith fighters! We're under attack!" Canderous shouted as he ran to the bridge, seeing that Patience was already halfway up to the gunnery turret.
Carth shook himself. How had she known? He ran to the bridge. There was no hiding from the fact that there was something very unusual about the woman he loved, and possibly, a little frightening.
Canderous grinned in appreciation as Patience shot down the Sith fighters one by one. "That is some woman."
Carth didn't answer, and concentrated on the approach to Tatooine.
Canderous looked over in surprise. "What, you're done with her already?"
"What? No. I just..." he couldn't think of what to say. He wished he had someone to talk to, besides the towering Mandalorian. "Just leave her alone, Ordo."
"Leave her alone too long, flyboy, and she won't be there when you get back."
"What are you two talking about?" asked Bastila as she walked up to the bridge.
"Nothing," said Carth quickly. "We're landing on Tatooine. Could you make sure everyone is okay?"
"Of course," said Bastila calmly, and took Patience, who had just jumped down from the turret, with her to check the crew.
They landed on Tatooine, and waited for the port officials to clear their ship so they could enter the city proper. Carth busied himself with some minor repairs, avoiding Patience.
With a sigh, Patience went outside and sat on the gangplank, watching people go by. Canderous and Bastila joined her.
"Hot out," Canderous grunted.
"It is," Patience agreed. Tatooine was hot and dry, and the suns were way too bright. "Does it ever rain here?"
Bastila shook her head. "There isn't enough moisture."
Patience watched curiously as a family walked past, a white-haired little boy following his mother and father. The woman was a tall, shapely Near-Human with long white hair and slave marks on her face; and the man, a handsome young Human with brown hair. Patience looked at them in surprise, and tried not to stare. The woman didn't look Human enough to have a child with a true Human. They were talking excitedly about something, and didn't notice the little boy wandering away. Patience skipped down the ramp, and tried to surreptitiously herd the child back into following his parents.
The little boy toddled right up to her instead, charming her with his dark grey eyes, and demanded to be picked up. Patience laughed quietly and lifted him in her arms. The little boy smiled happily at her, and kissed her on the cheek.
"What are you doing?" Bastila asked, and the little boy held out his arms to Bastila.
"He's a flirt," grinned Patience. "Don't blame me."
Bastila let the little boy kiss her, as his parents came back for their missing child.
"Look at that, Jaek managed to find a Jedi to flirt with," the man grinned. "Sorry, he's Force sensitive, and just can't keep his little hands off Jedi." He took the boy back from Bastila with a smile.
"Are you taking him to Coruscant?" asked Bastila, still holding hands with the smiling little boy.
The woman nodded, smiling proudly at her son.
Patience looked curiously at the little boy, then the father. She felt something wet touch her ear, and jumped with a shriek of surprise. Canderous burst out laughing, and she threw a mock punch at his shoulder. "What was that?"
"I didn't do anything," he said, with a terrible attempt at innocence. "Go get me a beer."
"Get it yourself," she protested, and Canderous held out a chit.
"Oh, that stupid game," Patience took the chit demanding an hour's worth of errands, and walked back into the ship. It wasn't until she was standing in the galley that she realized that Canderous had stopped her from being extremely rude. Mandalorians, with their love of extended families and interspecies adoption, would have noticed immediately that the boy was not the son of the man.
Patience wondered what their story was, as the man and woman seemed to be in love, and the little boy was obviously the child of the woman. Patience brought Canderous the beer, and was in time to see the family walking away.
The man was holding the little boy, who was waving goodbye to everyone. When the boy saw Patience, he blew her a baby kiss and waved.
"He didn't blow me a kiss," said Bastila. "You've made another conquest!"
Canderous laughed, and Patience blushed. The woman turned again, and looked curiously at Patience before the family boarded a transport ship.
"What was that about?" Canderous asked. "Did she know you?"
Patience shrugged. "I don't think so?"
“She didn't seem to recognize you. I think you just remind her of someone. Either that, or she was afraid you were going to steal her baby." Bastila smiled, to show she was joking.
Canderous laughed, and Patience rolled her eyes.
"I don't suppose you feel like upgrading my gun now, do you?" Canderous grinned. "Oh, wait, you don't have a choice."
"Fine, I'll go do it," Patience returned to the ship, and carried the Mandalorian's heavy assault rifle to the workbench. She hummed a little song to herself, and started upgrading the weapon's targeting and power delivery system. When she finished with his rifle, she started working on another rifle that someone had placed next to her, without thinking about it. It wasn't until she stopped to stretch, that she realized she had gotten so absorbed in her work that she had also upgraded two pairs of blaster pistols as well as the two rifles.
"Oh, you're awake again." She turned and saw Carth leaning against the wall, watching her work. He smiled at her. "Canderous was going to try and slip his armor in, to see what would happen."
Patience blushed a little. "I got a little carried away."
"Want to go get some food?"
"Just one second, I didn't finish," she looked back at the workbench. "I want to do some work on my lightsaber, to see what happens."
Carth watched her turn back to the tools and the weapons, and she again fell under the spell of her work. He watched as she changed the crystals in her lightsaber, moved around some wires, added new connectors. Finally she stood, and picked up the casing, checking the balance in her hand. She made an experimental pass, then activated the blade. Carth gasped in surprise. The blade had changed from brilliant blue to a soft violet, and the hum was subtly different.
Patience smiled in satisfaction. "It worked!"
"Where did you find new crystals?"
"That weird cave, you remember. The one with all the corrupted kinraths." She turned off the lightsaber and put it away. "Does this mean you trust me again?"
Carth shook his head. "No, you're just too beautiful to resist." He pulled her into his arms for a quick kiss, but she buried her hands in his hair, and wouldn't let him go.
She kissed him hungrily, desperately, trying to convince him of something, but she wasn't sure what. "Please, Carth," she whispered before kissing him again. "Please, don't leave me."
He lifted her in his arms, drew her into a wild kiss.
"Hey, get a room! What is it with you two?" grumbled Mission. "Gimme back my guns before you get them all sticky."
"Those are your guns?" Patience moved so that Mission could pick up her weapons.
"Canderous said I could." Mission poked out her tongue at Patience. She picked up the other assault rifle as well. "And Zaalbar says thank you,” she giggled as she ran off.
"Oh, that jerk." She looked at the bench again. "So, whose pistols are those?"
Carth kissed her again, then picked up his weapons, laughing.
"What!"
"You get really wrapped up in your work, don't you?" Carth kissed her cheek. "Thank you."
"Oh!"
Carth met her eyes, to make sure she wasn't really angry, and somehow, she was in his arms again, kissing him with all her soul. "Thank you," he repeated. "For everything. Just," he kissed her hair, "just be patient with me, okay? It's been a while." He smiled at her, and Patience knew that she would wait, no matter how long it long it took for Carth to thaw out completely. She knew that it would be worth it.