Revered and Reviled

"Oh, just say it," grinned Patience.
Bastila looked over at the droid marching silently alongside them. "Fine, your protocol droid saved our lives. There, are you happy?"
"Statement: Your thanks are unnecessary, Jedi. Observation: I enjoyed making use of my combat functions."
"He likes killing things!" exclaimed Bastila. "Who would make a protocol droid like that?"
"He was protecting us," Patience exclaimed.
"Correction: I was protecting my Master."
Bastila looked at the droid. "What did you say?"
Patience realized the droid was deliberately being difficult and speaking in languages that he knew Bastila wouldn't understand. "Nothing, don't worry about it. Let's just head back to the ship and rest up, then we can go find your Star Map and move on."
"Of course," said Bastila uncertainly, and kept her eyes on HK.
They entered the ship, and Canderous walked into the garage.
"Hey, Patience, there's – " he began but she saw them first.
"What is that on the floor?" she asked, but when she saw the shadow flit back into the wall, she realized that they were vermin, and something in her mind shifted. Vermin! On her ship! She raised her hand to strike them down, and she felt a sudden shock run through her, saw a sudden glimpse of a future where Carth walking away from her. Patience screamed as she realized what she was about to do, shut out the dark thoughts and ran blindly, still screaming.
Canderous lifted her in his arms, and caught Bastila before she sank to the floor, and carried them both from the ship. She collapsed against him, sobbing wildly in terror, and threw her arms around him.
"What was that?" Carth and the others came running out.
Zaalbar roared in rage, and stomped one of the gizka underfoot.
"Eww!" Mission scampered away. "How did they get on the ship?"
Carth saw Patience sobbing in Canderous' arms, and rushed down the ramp to her. "What happened? What's wrong?"
"She's scared of them," Canderous explained. "And Bastila fainted."
Carth looked from one to the other in confusion. "Where's that HK unit?"
"Make them go away," Patience sobbed. "Please."
"Of course," he said gently, unsure of what to do.
"Attention: Impertinent meatbag. Suggestion: The most efficient way to remove this particular verminous species would be poison. Correlation: I have ascertained that the merchant located two clicks north of this position carries a poison that would be appropriately potent for the task. Observation: Said merchant is oddly reluctant to vend said poison to a non-organic."
"Yeah, I wouldn't sell you poison either." Carth followed HK so they could clear the ship.
"Where did they come from?" Mission asked again, and helped Canderous set Bastila down.
Canderous nodded towards the slaver that was docked next to them. "That Hutt ship, I think." Patience cringed, and nestled closer to him in unreasoning terror. "T3 has been busy for the last hour sealing off all the main wiring. I didn't think of using poison to get rid of them." Canderous smiled at nothing in particular.
Mission looked up. "You know, if you don't put her down, Carth's head is going to explode."
"I'm thinking about it."
Patience laughed shakily. "I'm … I'm okay now."
"You sure? You don't weigh much. I could hold you all day."
She laughed a little, and he put her down, but she almost collapsed. Her knees were still shaking with terror, and Canderous sat down and pulled her into his lap instead.
Mission giggled, and moved Bastila so that she was leaning on Canderous, then snuggled into the Mandalorian's arms as well. "There, now Carth has nothing to complain about."
"And neither do I," said Canderous in pleased surprise.
"Where's Juhani?" Patience asked.
"She's helping T3 clear out the little lizards," Canderous answered. He didn't think she wanted to hear exactly how the Cathar was helping.
"You know, Bastila's really pretty," Mission commented. "Not as pretty as you. But you never do anything nice with your hair, and you don't dress all fancy. You always wear the same old armor or work clothes. Not that Jedi robes are sexy or anything."
Patience stared at her. "I can't fight in a dress."
"Yeah, but you don't fight when you're on the ship. You should just get something nice, just to wear on board."
"Mission, what are you doing?"
"I'm distracting her and making you think naughty thoughts." The irrepressible Twi'lek grinned up at Canderous. "What color do you think she should wear?"
Canderous closed his eyes, and tried to think of something else.
"Oh come on, blue? White?"
Bastila, still unconscious, stirred and slid her hand under his shirt, and moved her legs so that she was more comfortable. Patience giggled slightly and Mission glanced up at Canderous.
"Okay, this is no longer funny," he grumbled. "How long is Carth going to take?"
"What the – " Carth set down the bag that he was carrying, and looked at Canderous. He saw Patience shrink away, whether from his expected reaction or from fear of what was in the bag, he wasn't sure. "You can't afford all of them."
"What?" said Canderous.
"You're an unemployed mercenary! You can't afford to maintain three women. The law says that you have to maintain each spouse equally. There's no way you can afford three women. I, on the other hand," he grinned, "have a regular paycheck and just got a promotion. I can afford at least two."
Canderous glared at him. "I really hate you sometimes, flyboy."
"You can have Bastila," Carth offered. "I'm not having two Force-sensitives in the house."
"Hey, I'm not sure I like where this is going," giggled Mission.
"What? You'd make a great secondary wife. Everyone likes blue."
Patience giggled shakily. "Wouldn't Zaalbar have something to say about that?"
"He owes you a life debt, doesn't he? I get two wives and a servant thrown in the bargain. Hrm, wait - maybe I shouldn't let the Mandalorian run off with the Jedi who knows Battle Meditation." Carth put his hand on his chin and pretended to think. "Maybe I can afford three wives if I sell something."
Bastila made soft awakening noises, sliding her arm around Canderous and still not fully awake.
"Or, maybe you should just keep her," Carth observed, and Canderous blushed dark red.
"Keep who?" asked Bastila drowsily. "I like these new beds, they're very comfortable."
Everyone laughed, except Canderous, who was trying not to move.
"What? Why are you in my bed, Patience? Wait, where am I?" Bastila sat up, and looked Canderous right in the face. "I hope there is an explanation for this," she said icily, and tried to stand up.
"You fainted," he said. "Sit down before you fall over."
"Why did I faint?" Bastila sat down again as she realized that her legs still wouldn't support her.
"There are scary things on the ship," said Mission calmly. "We're all hiding out here."
"No," said Carth, "I'm working. You're hiding. Canderous is … what are you even doing?"
"Being a bed, apparently."
"And a very good one," said Mission cheerily.
Bastila looked suspiciously at the bag, and saw Patience shrink away. "Where are you going?"
"The Hutts want them. Don't ask, I don't know anymore and I don't want to."
"Are they dead?" asked Patience nervously.
"Yes, very. The droids, Zaalbar, and Juhani are cleaning out the ship. The Hutts only want the whole ones."
"Eew," exclaimed Bastila. "Why are you standing here? Take those horrible things away." Bastila waved him away.
Carth shook his head in exasperation and walked to the next docking bay. He returned in a few minutes, and Canderous was still sitting with the three women in his arms. "Okay, get up and help me clean, Canderous. This is ridiculous."
"I'm stuck!"
Carth glared at him.
"Carth?" asked Patience quietly. "Won't they just come back?"
Carth smiled gently at her. "No, we put down traps and T3 guarantees that there are none left in the interior wiring." She looked very soft and lovely, and Carth was trying very hard not to take her in his arms and kiss the tears away. "We're just going over the nooks and crannies now."
"Do… do you want me to help?" she offered fearfully.
"No!" said Canderous and Bastila at the same time.
Patience looked around in surprise. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No," said Bastila gently, "but you shouldn't push yourself too hard." She stood up and pulled Patience from the Mandalorian's lap. "We'll just sit out here while they work." She sat down, then with a wicked grin at Carth, drew Patience into her arms, and leaned back on Mission. "Go on, then. We'll be right out here, waiting for you."
Carth stared at them. "This is all your fault," he snapped at Canderous.
"I know! Isn't it great?"
Carth grabbed him, and dragged him back into the ship to finish cleaning.

Finally, the group went to go collect the Star Map from the shared visions. Mission and Zaalbar stayed with the ship, over her protests that she was old enough to brave the dangers of the Eastern Dune Sea. Carth just ignored her, and left the droids behind as well.
"Query: Surely the impertinent meatbag does not think I would endanger your chances of success?"
"I just don't want to listen to you," snapped Carth. "Now stay here and guard the ship."
Despite the fact that he was a droid, HK glared at Carth and remained with the ship without any further protest. The three Jedi, along with Carth and Canderous, left to go find the secret cave.
Bastila smiled at Carth. "However did you get that evil droid to follow your commands? He still refers to me as the 'inferior Jedi' and double-checks every command I give him with Patience."
Canderous grinned. "He shot it."
"Carth!" Patience exclaimed. "You did what?"
"We were sparring," said Carth grimly, "and the nasty little rustball tried to pull a fast one, so I shot him."
"You're not supposed to use ranged weapons when you're sparring!"
"Yeah, well, cheating earned his respect. Let's get a move on, 'superior Jedi.' I don't want to get lost out here."
"Oh, don't you start that too," snapped Patience.
"Fine, fine," grinned Carth. "I notice you made some new ribbons," he said conversationally, and Patience ran out of his range, and started talking to Bastila and Juhani about sand, sandfleas, the sunshine, and anything else that caught her eye. Carth watched her chatter away with a smile.
"I wonder what she'd look like as a Dark Jedi," mused Canderous.
"What? Why would you even think that?" Carth glared at him. "Patience would never turn to the Dark side."
"Of course," Canderous agreed, "I was just wondering. You ever notice how Dark Jedi dress? They don't wear those stupid concealing robes." He looked over Patience and Bastila. "It would be a whole different perspective on following the leader, if you know what I mean."
"You have issues," Carth shook his head. "Let's just go."
They made their way to Tatooine's Eastern Dune Sea. "Why couldn't we rent a landspeeder or something?" Patience asked, trying very hard not to whine.
"Because someone spent all our credits on droid parts," said Canderous with a grin.
Patience sighed. "We could hit the swoop track. I bet I could win some races, and then we'd have money again."
"No!" said Carth. "No way."
She looked at him. "Oh, come on, I'd win and you know it!"
"I am not watching that again. I thought I was going to have a heart attack every time you took a corner," muttered Carth.
Patience looked at him, and her whole being seemed to light up with joy.
"Well at least you got her to stop whining about walking," grumbled Canderous.
The Eastern Dune Sea looked exactly like the Western Dune Sea, except that landscape here wasn't dominated by a Sand People enclave, it was dominated by a giant cave.
A bone-chilling howl, half-scream and half-growl, echoed across the desert.
"What was that?" asked Juhani nervously.
"That was the Grand Krayt Dragon." Carth looked around. "The cave is its lair, obviously, but what made it challenge?"
"You don't think it saw us from all the way over there, do you?" asked Canderous doubtfully.
The krayt dragon, huge and ponderous, rivaling the size of a sandcrawler, emerged slowly from the cave. Its growl shook the earth, and the sand beneath their feet shifted in response.
"I think it did," said Patience suddenly, watching the sand shiver with every step of the giant beast.
It roared again, and its giant head, covered with thick scales and filled with sharp teeth turned to look directly at them.
"Oh, that's not good," said Bastila. "How fast do you think it moves?"
The dragon charged with lightning fast speed, its massive webbed feet ideal for traversing the sand.
"Run!" shouted Carth, and the group scattered, except for Patience.
Patience activated her lightsabers, both the same rich shade of violet now, and charged the dragon.
"Patience! No!" Carth watched in terror as the tiny woman leapt into the air, and landed on the dragon's back. The dragon's tail whipped in fury, knocking Canderous from his feet and sent the Mandalorian flying. Canderous landed heavily, and lay still.
Bastila shouted, distracting the dragon from the prone form, and began leading the dragon away. Patience held onto one of the dragon's spines and let it carry her away. With a growl of rage, Juhani ran after them, her Cathar speed easily allowing her to keep pace for a short distance.
Carth ran over to Canderous. He was badly wounded, both by the force of the blow and the cruel spines in the krayt dragon's tail. He did what he could to stabilize the Mandalorian. The cybernetic implants that all Mandalorian warriors had kicked in, and Canderous was able to sit up.
"Oh, figures," growled Canderous. He coughed, and spat out some blood. "First big fight, and I go down in the first round. Where are they?"
Carth and Canderous looked over, where the three Jedi women were tearing the great dragon apart. In Juhani's case, literally – she was springing on the beast's hindquarters anytime it tried to gather for a charge at Bastila, and would tear away chunks of leathery flesh with her claws. For her part, Bastila was using her lightsaber to distract the dragon from whipping around or trying to roll so that it could crush the tiny creature on its back.
Patience was bouncing around on the krayt dragon, running along the spine, jumping, flying, her lightsabers flashing violet in the bright Tatooine sunshine. Her lightsabers ripped into the dual spinal cords of the dragon, making it slow and erratic in its attacks. She jumped straight up into the air, throwing one of her lightsabers in a glittering arc into the air above her, and landed with her first lightsaber buried in the dragon's neck. She used the beast's momentum to throw herself into the air again, and caught her second lightsaber, and drove into the beast's neck on the other side. She pulled herself back up to the dragon's back, and held out her hands, summoning the lightsabers back to her.
With an utterly horrible roar, the dragon's head fell, almost completely severed from the giant body.
"That was amazing," said Canderous.
Carth looked warningly at him. "Keep your eyes in your head. She's mine."
"So you keep saying, flyboy."
Bastila ran back to tend to Canderous' wounds, and Patience and Juhani examined the body.
"Find anything interesting?" Carth asked, trying not to let his face show how frightened he had been.
"Look! Pearls!" She held out two rounded stones from the dragon's gizzard. "I bet if I cleaned these off, I could use them in a lightsaber. They're not really pearls, you know."
Juhani was testing the flesh of the krayt dragon. "Do you think there's any way we can get some of this back to the ship? Zaalbar would love to try some." She helped herself to another piece. "We should pull off some teeth, too, they would make nice jewelry."
"Well, if you finish what's in the cooler, we can carry some meat back for Zaalbar." Carth emptied the cooler, and Patience carried the food back to where Bastila and Canderous were sitting. She set it down and ran back to Carth's side after making sure that Canderous would recover.
"It's like she doesn't even know I exist," Canderous sighed.
"Well, now you know how I feel," snapped Bastila.
Canderous pulled her into his arms and leaned back in the sand. "I know you exist," he grinned. "But we're not being serious, remember?"
Bastila made a noise of disapproval, but didn't try to move out of his arms.
"You're sexy when you're jealous," he grinned. "But I don't want to get sand anywhere it shouldn't."
"Oh, you brute!" Bastila hit him on the shoulder, ignoring his protests of pain. "Let go of me! Let go this instant!"
"Is that any way to treat a wounded warrior?"
Carth and Juhani finished stuffing the cooler with as much meat as they could. Patience pulled out some teeth for Juhani to make a necklace, and one or two for herself, as well as part of a horn.
"What are you going to do with all that?" Carth asked her.
"I'm going to use it on my lightsabers. The horn would make an excellent grip." Patience jumped down from the head again. "It's starting to smell really bad. Let's go get Bastila's stupid map and get out of here."
"I think Bastila is still making sure Canderous is in working order," said Juhani.
"What?" Carth looked over at where Canderous and Bastila were lying in the sand. "By the Maker! When did that happen?"
Juhani looked at him curiously. "Their scents have been mingled for some time. Not as much as that of you and Patience, of course."
"What? Why 'of course'?" Carth blushed, and Patience laughed at him. "Why, you – "
She skipped out of his reach and ran, dancing along the sand and singing a wordless song, completely oblivious to the fact that she had almost single-handedly killed one of the most vicious predators in the known galaxy.
They walked far enough away from the dead dragon to escape the smell, and ate the food while Canderous recovered from his wounds. A group of Sand People, awed by their prowess, came up humbly and gestured at the dragon. Patience nodded, indicating that they could have the body. The Sand People howled in joy, and began cutting it up and carrying it back to their enclave.
Juhani looked on sadly. "At least we saved some."
"That good?" Canderous asked curiously.
"Oh, I don't think Humans could eat it. But, yes, it was very good!" Juhani smiled, her sharp fangs gleaming white in the sun.
"Okay, please stop smiling like that. You're scaring me," said Carth. "Let's go to the cave and get this over with. You ready, Canderous?"
Canderous nodded, and stood up slowly.
"I'm really sorry," said Patience quickly. "I didn't think about its tail. Next time, I'll make sure everyone is out of range before I charge."
"No, it was my own fault. I should have moved out of the way faster. Don't risk losing a battle just because one person might get hurt."
"I don't want to lose anyone just because I was careless," Patience explained.
"Well, no," Canderous agreed with a grin. "Now, if it was some epic battle, and you were sacrificing me to ensure victory, that would be different."
"Really," said Carth, "please stop smiling like that. It's creepy."
Canderous laughed, and began singing a Mandalorian war song as they walked.
"And for the record," Carth added, "we are never doing that again."
"Carth!" Patience exclaimed. Canderous laughed, and Bastila shook her head.
Finally, they reached the cave. "It looked closer," Patience panted. "I don't like this planet."
"This place.... Evil has collected here. It is a place of darkness." Juhani looked around, at the corpses of failed hunters and other treasure seekers who had fallen to the dragon.
"Indeed," Bastila looked around the cave. "This place is strong with the Dark Side."
"How can a place be good or evil?" Patience protested. "Places don't feel."
"No," Bastila agreed. "But sometimes, a place where a great evil has occurred will hold the memories of what happened, resonating with the emotions. In time, the echoes grow until anyone who enters such a place can hear and feel nothing but darkness."
Patience considered. "Are there also places of light?" While she spoke, she was searching the bodies, finding random bits of history as they walked.
"Of course. There is Coruscant, for instance. The whole world resonates with light."
"Do you think a place could be both dark and light? Or would they cancel each other out? Like, light to light, and dark to dark? Depending on who enters."
Bastila blinked in surprise. "What an odd question. No, I don't think so. I don't think that light and dark can really co-exist."
Canderous looked at Patience. "Well, not in a place. Maybe in a person."
Bastila glared at him. "That's nonsense. Do you not understand anything about the Force?"
Canderous shrugged. "You people dress up a serious religion with lots of nonsensical baggage. Trying to find the truth in it is barely worth the effort."
"That's almost heresy, Mandalorian," said Carth, trying not to be angry.
"Oh, look, look!" Patience ran up holding a crystal that she had found on the wall. "Just look at this crystal! Isn't it amazing?"
"You didn't hear anything we just said, did you?"
"Huh?" Patience looked at Canderous in confusion, then at Carth and Bastila. "What? You guys were arguing about something. It was boring."
Bastila covered her face with her hands and tried not to laugh. "You are unbelievable. Come, let's download the Star Map and get out of here."
Carth added the information from the Star Map to the datapad. "I wonder how Revan got past the dragon."
Canderous chuckled. "He probably told it to get out of his way."
Carth grinned. "You know, you're probably right. Okay, let's get out of here." He put the datapad away and they started out of the cave.
"I have to give you credit. You've led me on quite a hunt."
"Calo Nord," said Canderous in disgust as he saw the bounty hunter at the entrance. He was surrounded by a troop of mercenaries, who all had their weapons at the ready. "How did you survive Taris? I thought you had been crushed when Kang's estate collapsed."
"Oh, that's how they found us," said Carth in disgust. "He knows we took the Ebon Hawk."
"You mean, stole the Ebon Hawk," snarled Nord. "You'll pay for that, and for leaving me for dead. And you, Ordo, you will pay for betraying the Exchange."
"Oh, get over yourself, Nord. Nobody cares about that crap except for you."
"You aren't going to get away from me. Not any of you. Nobody gets away from Calo Nord. Nobody."
Canderous sighed. "Are you done talking yet, Nord? Can we get to the fighting? We have better things to do."
"You got lucky on Taris," snarled Nord. The Sith saved you from a slow and gruesome death."
"He's just going to go on, isn't he?" Carth asked, and Canderous nodded.
"Well, the Sith won't be getting in my way this time," Nord laughed. "I've got a contract with them." The murderous bounty hunter looked at Bastila, then at Patience. "Jedi. Women. Seems like a waste."
"It's only a waste because you repel women, Nord."
"Canderous!" exclaimed Patience. "We're kind of outnumbered, maybe we shouldn't be making them angry?"
"What? He really does repel women. Not even his own mother liked him."
Calo Nord snarled viciously and raised his arm to throw a grenade, but Canderous was ready for him, and fired his heavy blaster. The blast knocked Nord from his feet, but didn't get past his shields.
"You're stupid, too," said Canderous with a grin. "I still wonder how you were keeping your position with Davik Kang. My first guess was sex, but every time I look at you - "
"Shut up!" Nord shouted. "Attack them! Kill them all, except the two Jedi women!"
"Three," said Juhani, whose Cathar stealth had allowed her to sneak around the edge of the cave while everyone had been distracting Nord, and was now right behind him. "There are three Jedi women." Her lightsaber flashed, and Nord's shields fell under the blow.
"Thanks," grinned Canderous, and started firing at Calo Nord again before he could get his shields back up.
The fight erupted into complete chaos now. Bastila using the Force to hurl large groups of mercenaries into the air, Juhani and Patience cutting down mercenaries left and right, while Carth and Canderous were focusing their blaster fire on Calo Nord, preventing him from using his thermal detonators or putting his shields back up.
Nord fell under a rain of blaster fire, and the last mercenaries dropped beneath the whirling blades.
"Just to be sure," muttered Canderous, and fired a blast from his heavy blaster rifle into Nord's head.
Bastila daintily wiped away a bloodstain from her boots. "Your sense of timing is atrocious."
"Yeah, yeah, I just didn't want him to get up again and throw a thermal detonator after us. Sorry."
Carth pulled a datapad and some credit chits from Nord's body. "Records, dates, oh, hey, the Sith paid a lot for you, Bastila. This order came from Malak himself."
"What an unpleasant thought," said Bastila softly.
"Don't worry, if all his bounty hunters are like this, we'll be both safe and rich," grinned Canderous.
"Yay!" Patience cheered as she exited the cave. "They came in landspeeders!" She hopped into one.
"Oh, no, no way. Move, you are not driving," exclaimed Carth.
Patience grumbled but slid over and let Carth have the pilot's seat. Juhani and Canderous climbed in the back, and Bastila squeezed herself next to Patience.
"I think this would be easier if I sat on your lap," said Patience.
"Yes," Bastila agreed as Patience rearranged herself, "so long as the thought of it doesn't make Carth crash or Canderous fall off."
"Very funny," snapped Carth. "Will you just settle in so we can.... Where is your other hand?"
"Just drive," said Bastila firmly.