| ***** Lilith finally shrugged. If there was an inquest later on she could always say that the Jedi (no specific names mentioned, after all she would be too drunk to remember, right?) had coerced her into helping take it. "Here," she finally said, "dragging him won't work. We're gonna hurt him. Let's kneel down, each get an arm over our shoulders and lift at the same time. If you use some of that very useful telekinesis you're always telling me about, we should at least make it to our feet, after that it'll be easy." Krelo shrugged. She'd never been very mechanically minded; so she let her friend tell her what to do to get the tall, heavy master off the floor. Shortly the two women were lugging the blissfully molassed Qui-Gon across the street toward the skip. The knight felt her friend's hand flutter somewhere in the vicinity of the master's pockets and a suspicious glint came into her eyes. "You wouldn't be picking his pocket, now would you, Lil?" she asked sweetly. "'That's stealing,'" she singsonged back at the smuggler. "No, it's a shipping and handling charge," Lilith replied blithely. "He's heavy." Krelo snorted in amusement, and helped Lilith maneuver the tall man onto the skip. "There, now we just need- Sith, no keys." "No problem. Stand aside, amateur." Lilith bend over the control panel, her broad shoulders obscuring Krelo's view, and the distinct sound of wires being yanked out of their proper positions could be heard. Bare moments later the skip's engine started with a cough, then purred sweetly. "Oh, that's nice. Hop in, Kre. I don't want to miss what the kids have planned for the next stop." ***** The bright yellow skip slowly crept forward, barely better than walking speed but at least it saved the two tall women what would have surely been sore backs in the morning. "Take the controls, will ya Kre?" Lilith said opening her hand and dropping her pilfered items into her lap. "So what've you got there?" Krelo inquired of her friend who was rummaging through the handful of items she had extracted from Qui-Gon's pocket. "A couple of credits, some rocks and this." she answered with a wicked smile, holding up a small gold key card. "So, a key. So what?" Krelo cast a quick look at the card and shrugged. Glancing ahead she expertly maneuvered the skip around the cantina-crawl participants who seemed to be taking the crawl part literally. The skip took a small dip over a particularly large pothole, jostling the large man stretched out in back. Lifting his head he mumbled something incoherent before passing out once again. "I really must get you out of the temple more Kre, this little key here belongs to one of the fantasy suites at the Royal Coruscant Hotel." "Get off the planet!" Krelo chuckled in response. "Any idea which one?" Closely inspecting the card, Lilith read off a number engraved at the bottom. "1308." "The jungle room." Lilith said after a moment's thought. "Figures." Krelo answered, sounding disappointed. "Everyone knows the man likes the outdoors. Might as well spend the night in the Temple gardens and save your money." "This specific room was decorated to resemble that holo-vid program 'Darzton, wild-man of Shivra', treetop bedroom, wading pool..." Lilith explained. "I think I remember that one. Isn't that the one that starred some big-chested hunk who pulled a scantily clad female out of the river every week?" Krelo stated with humor. "Yup, that's the one. I think that show's only redeeming quality was the star's weekly costume." Lilith's eyes gleamed lasciviously. "Ohhh, yes. I always wondered how he managed to swing through the trees without that little piece of animal skin he wore being whisked away." a deep resounding laugh escaped Krelo. "Now you know something about the Royal Coruscant Hotel...they take their playtime very seriously. You're actually given the only clothes you're allowed to wear in the fantasy suites." "No!" Krelo's eyes widened, her head bobbing back and forth between the man in the back and the road in front of her. "Kinda gives a whole new image to the stoic Master Jinn, doesn't it? Maybe tonight we can talk him into giving us his interpretation of Darzton's jungle yell, whadaya think?" Lilith's brazen laugh joined her friend's. ***** "Did you see that?" Jemmy's mouth opened in disbelief. "What?" Spider looked about. All she could see was the crowd of struggling and ill looking Jedi crawling along the street with their heads almost at ground level. That and the other pedestrians, the fountains and the skip… Skip??? "Is that Lilith and Krelo!" Rela snorted. "Talk about cheating!" "How fast does one of these things go?" Jemmiah wondered out loud. "Why?" "Because there's another one there." The Corellian girl nodded at a second brightly colored skip standing just off an alleyway. "We could go for a little jaunt." "Let me get this right?" Spider frowned. "You want a skip race?" "Sounds good to me!" Rela grinned. "I know how fond you two are of borrowing people's transport…" "Oh, speak!" Jemmiah pouted. "I've got two words to say to you. SUNNY BREEZE!" "Aaaah, quit moaning. At least when I borrow things I make sure their owners aren't still attached to them!" Rela frowned. They crept hesitantly towards the skip, looking from side to side in case someone should see they were up to no good. "It's locked down." Spider mumbled, her hands straying over the flaking paint work. "Not for long!" Rela rubbed her hands. "Just give me one minute!" "Even assuming we DO get it going, who is steering?" Spider asked. "Me!" Jemmiah replied, tossing back her hair disdainfully. "Who else?" "Jemmy, dear friend. I think it might be wise if I pointed out that you are very much molassed. You have been popping headache tablets to counter your concussion until they come out your ears. You also drive like a complete maniac!" "That's how all Corellians should drive." Jemmy frowned. "By the seat of their pants." "I'm more worried about filling mine, if you'll forgive my crudeness!" Spider hissed. "You are NOT driving." "I'll drive." Rela smiled. "And guess what? It's locked down no more. C'mon guys, let's go for the ride of a lifetime!" "How's he doing?" Krelo glanced back at the gently snoring Qui-Gon. "I've never seen anyone look both so relaxed and yet in such discomfort at the same time. Must be a guilty conscience, huh Kre…" Lilith gave an involuntary half yelp as something huge and yellow ran right upsides them. It swerved at the last minute but still came very close to removing some more of the paint work… "Mother of Sith, what the…" Krelo said once she'd found her voice. "Look!" Lilith's grimace turned to a grin. "Someone's decided to copy our little idea. How about we give a bit of a race a few times round the block?" "Won't someone notice?" Krelo asked what she thought was a rather obvious question. "Naaaah! This area's full of swoop riders at this time of night." She pointed out a couple of speeding competitors in the distance to back herself up. "This is a skip, Lilith, not a swoop! It's several times larger. We'll get busted for sure!" "Just do it" Lilith nodded. "We'll show those kids what real racing's about!" "You are mad!" Spider's eyes shot open with fear. "Let Rela drive!" "I am fine!" Jemmy bit back. "I don't believe this. Drunk in charge of a skip! That's really going to look good on our records…" "We are not going to get caught!" Jemmiah shook her head. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll let Rela drive in a few more minutes. Ok?" "Good." Spider replied. Then she saw the light of battle in Rela's eyes and wondered if it was such a good thing after all… "Where are we heading for?" Rela asked as the yellow skip began to increase its speed, drawing a few startled looks from one or two spectators. "Right now?" Jemmy yelled back. "Who cares! Let's get this bucket to move!" "Jemmy…" Spider began as the skip lurched to the right with a sudden jolt. "This is GREAT!" Jemmiah beamed. "Who needs swoops when you have repulsar aided garbage trucks? Wooooh! That was close!" She giggled as a she turned to avoid hitting a statue in the center of the road. "We are gonna die!" Moaned Spider. "I just know it. Do you know how embarrassing it'll be when they read in our obituaries that we were killed driving a giant rubbish receptacle?" "Pipe down, Spider." Jemmiah frowned in concentration. "Look there's Mace and Vernice. Let's get up close and give 'em a wave!" "Yeah!" Rela smirked. Annoying Mace was one of her favorite things and she saw no reason to wave away a golden chance such as this. "But let me do the flying, huh?" Jemmiah sighed and decided to relinquish her position at the head of the skip. "OK, but we'd better do the change round quick and easy," Jemmy eyed Spider nastily, "or else you'll wrap this baby round one of the pillars up ahead." Spider said nothing, merely covering her eyes. "One, two…THREE!" Jemmiah moved aside and let Rela squeeze past her swiftly. When Jemmiah leaned to the right the weight seemed to tip slightly to her side, causing Spider to squeal. "Coward." Rela chuckled. She spied Mace and a staggering Vernice and veered slowly in their direction. Spider opened her eyes and sniffed. "What is that smell?" She asked in disgust. "It's a skip, my arachnid loving friend." Jemmiah replied. "People put all sorts of stuff in here. Rubble, household waste, burst mattresses, dead felines…" "Oh, Yuck." Rela snorted. "And drunk Jedi Masters." Jemmiah added to her list. "Well, I don't know what is mixed in with all the rubble but it really stinks!" Spider gagged. "I can hardly smell anything. Obi-Wan's socks will do that for a girl. Once you've coped with them you can cope with anything." Jemmy snickered. "It's just as well Coruscant has a reasonable temperature. I'd hate to think what it would be like if he was living somewhere really hot!" Rela's tongue was slightly out of her mouth with concentration as she drove towards Master Windu. This ought to be good for a laugh… "And another thing," Vernice was saying to Mace as he tried to persuade her to walk in a straight line; "You owe me a dance." "A dance?" Echoed a confused Mace. "Don't you remember? About twenty years ago at some 'after knighting ceremony' - can't remember whose - you promised me the first dance and then you told me you had a bad case of the squits and left me standing all on my own." "I don't remember…" Mace began, his words being cut off by the whooshing sound of something approaching very fast. His force sense screamed at him to watch out. Turning swiftly, he found himself almost slap-bang in the path of a giant hover skip! "Get down!" He shoved Vernice face first to the gutter and then dived on top of her protectively. "YEEEEEEHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Jemmiah called out as Rela banked to the right in order to avoid hitting the two masters. "Hi, Master Windy!" Yelled Rela over the din. "You look mighty cozy down there on the ground with your arm about Master Ashdal like that! Don't want to start any rumors, do we?" Mace looked up and swore as he heard the girlish giggling already fading into the distance. Spider turned round and waved at him before they turned sharply round a corner. "They are going to kill themselves!" He yelled. "And if they don't then I will!" "There they are!" Lilith smiled as she nudged Krelo on the arm. "Jemmiah and friends. Making for that alleyway. Let's give 'em a real fright!" "No need to ask twice." Krelo grinned in reply as she set about altering the skips' direction. In the background they heard Qui-Gon groaning. "Hey, jungle boy's beginning to wake up a bit." Krelo observed. "Maybe we should stop off before the next cantina and use our little force related trick to sober him up a little." "Hmm." Lilith said absently, watching as they started to weave towards Rela's skip. They hadn't spotted them yet… "Let's get in real close." Krelo's eyes shone. Jemmiah's brow creased as she tried to navigate round all the streets and alleyways. Some of them were rather dark and not altogether to her liking. And the older ones were much narrower and built up, making it trickier to maneuver. She was almost glad that she had let Rela fly this thing after all… She glanced back and saw Lilith and Krelo coming up on them fast. "Rela, get this crate moving. We've got competition!" She shouted joyfully. "I'm doing my best!" Rela laughed. The two skips flew upsides one another, twisting and turning almost at the same time as if joined by some invisible thread. "Faster, Kre!" Lilith crowed. "We can get to the cantina before them if we take that side street on the left and then double back." "Are you sure?" Krelo looked uncertain. "Damn straight!" Lilith responded. "When am I ever wrong? I'm a Corellian!" Krelo was about to tell her that being one did not necessarily guarantee the other but bit her tongue and did as she was asked, banking to the left and almost taking out an elderly Bith as he wandered down the street. "Where did they go?" Rela demanded. "Let's just get back to the cantina. Mace is gonna have us Nerf whipped for what we've just done." Spider insisted. "I want to know where they've got to!" Rela stuck out her chin belligerently. "Maybe they went down there?" Jemmy pointed to an alley opening to the distant right. "Then that's where we're going!" Rela frowned as she glanced at the controls. One of these would increase the speed even further, the green one she thought. "Hold on guys! This is going to be short and sweet…" The words were ripped from her throat as her fingers stabbed at the green button. Instead of going faster the whole skip seemed to buck upwards some fifteen feet into the air, throwing its occupants skyward. The last thing Rela remembered was the sound of the skip slamming down over their heads as they fell back onto the ground, imprisoning them under all the building debris… As the dust settled a stunned, eerie silence surrounded those entombed within the upturned skip. Rela wondered whether or not she should declare to everyone that it wasn't her fault. "It's my fault." She moaned softly. "Sorry guys. I was sure I pressed the green button but, hey, maybe I'm color blind or something…guys? Speak to me?" A chill spread rapidly down her spine and left her feeling very fearful. They were trapped. She was trapped. Oh, hell… Her body started to shake slightly as the realization hit her. Feeling around with her hand, she came across what felt like a human arm. It was cold. Rela almost choked in horror. "Guys… SPEAK to me!" She half wailed. "Jemmy don't you dare be dead! Obi-Wan will kill me! Spider? PLEASE answer me!" "Whoever's making that sith awful din please stop it at once. I had a sore head to start with and it's just got ten times worse." Jemmiah's voice, followed by a cough echoed slightly inside the skip. "Jemmy!" Rela groaned. "Don't do that to me!" "I'm having a really bad day." Jemmy coughed again as the dust irritated her throat. "I've been knocked on the head, drugged, assaulted, nearly crisped in a fire, passed out, been violently sick…and now flattened by a giant rubbish tip. Can you believe it?" "Are you ok?" Rela tried to squint through the darkness. "My foot's caught under something. It's a bit sore but nothing major. You?" "I seem to be fine." Rela continued to shake. "Spider?" "Y-yeah. I'm ok, I guess." Replied Spider sounding extremely shaken. "Well, you can't blame me for that one." Jemmiah tried to shift her position a little. "I may be molassed but I wasn't the one driving." "Look, I said I was sorry. What more do you want?" Rela snapped. "I'm just saying…" "Well don't!" "Ok!" Jemmiah yelled. "Keep your hair on!" "Guys, calm down!" Spider could feel the temperature rise. "Sorry." Muttered Jemmy. "Yeah, well." Rela sniffed. Her hand brushed the cold fingers once more. If it wasn't Jemmy and it wasn't Spider… "Guys!" She squealed. "There's somebody's arm in the skip!" "What?" Spider asked. "An arm! I said an arm, are you deaf?" Rela hissed. "As in 'human' arm?" Jemmy said. "It's all cold and stiff and horrible…" Rela shivered. "Maybe that's what the smell is." Spider whimpered. "I said there was a stink from back here." "Don't be silly. Dead people don't smell like that." Jemmiah hadn't meant to say that out loud. Rela felt the tremors begin to take her pretty badly. "How…how do you know? How many dead people have you seen?" She said, the situation bringing out a sarcastic tinge to her voice. "Decomposing bodies smell…sort of sweet. Sickly. It's difficult to explain it." Even though they couldn't see her she looked away. "And for your information I've seen my share of dead people." "You're making that up." Rela growled. "What?!" Jemmy glared. "Is that the sort of thing somebody makes up? I've had to help bury people. Sometimes rebury people. It's not nice, let me tell you." "Why?" Spider asked with a shudder. "Punishment, usually." She decided to elaborate a little more. "I used to live with a psychopath before Qui-Gon took me away." "Sounds wonderful." Spider swallowed. "It wasn't, believe me." Rela said nothing. "Where's this arm of yours?" Jemmiah said eventually. "Halfway between myself and you." Rela shook. Reaching out much as Rela had done before, Jemmiah's hand sought and located the cold, flesh like fingers. It caused her to shudder. "Urgh! That's disgusting! Sith, I think you're right Rela. I think there's a body in here!" "Or maybe just bits." Spider began to panic at the thought. "Wait a moment…" Jemmy felt further up the arm, "I'll see if there's anything else…" She screamed. "It's come off in my hand!" She yelled, throwing the severed arm at Spider. "I don't want it!" Spider uncharacteristically burst into tears. "Keep it away from me!" Rela backed against the metal side of the skip. There was silence once more, except for the sound of labored breathing as Jemmiah sought to recover herself. "Sorry guys, " She apologized once she had found her voice, "I kinda lost it there." "We've got to get out of here." Spider groaned. "They'll find us, don't worry. Lilith and Krelo will come and look for us." Jemmy panted. "I'm…I'm not very good in confined spaces." Rela said in a wavering voice. "I've got news for you, neither am I." Jemmy tried to laugh. Spider sat bolt upright. "I think I'm sitting on the head!" She replied nauseously. "W-where?" Jemmy gulped. "Let me see." Rela and Spider moved as far away as they could from the grizzly object. I don't want to do this, Jemmy thought. I really don't want to do this! She let her hands stray over the flesh. Synthi-flesh. "Relax guys, it's a mannequin." Jemmy breathed again. "Sure as heck felt real." "How do you know it's not?" Rela asked fearfully. "Well," Jemmiah regained some of her composure, "not too many people have MADE IN CORUSCANT stamped on the back of their heads." "Oh…thank the gods." Spider sighed. Jemmiah glanced at the shadow that was Rela. "You ok?" She asked. "Not really." Came the reply. "I hope they get us out of here real soon, or I might go crazy." Pause. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier." She added. "About what?" "Implying you were a liar. It's just Qui-Gon never said anything much about you. I didn't know…" "Forget it." Jemmy said. "But what you said…" "It doesn't matter any more." "Is this the psychopath that Kryztan mentioned?" "Look, just drop it!" Jemmiah shouted, disturbing some of the debris that sloped from the right hand side of the skip. She put her hand in something soft and squishy. "Bassalads!" She gasped. "What the hell is that? Urgh! It's like…" "I don't want to know." Spider looked away. "…I think it's some kind of bodily waste." Jemmiah groaned. "Of the cannoid variety I should imagine." She looked around for something to wipe her hand on and came into contact with Spider's top. "This'll do." She said gratefully. "Please tell me you didn't do what I think you just did!" Spider hissed. "Why couldn't you have used that mattress over there?" "Because it smells like someone's weed on it!" Jemmy snorted. Rela closed her eyes. Something told her they were in for a long wait. And she didn't know how much she could take. |
| A Night to (almost) Remember |
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