Backstory: I wrote most of this fiction in 2008. Life got in the way, of course, and I never finished it. When first published, it was 20+ pages long each chapter. I have pulled the original from FanFiction, edited through it, changed and added bits, and am now slowly republishing it – something I have wanted to do for many years. The chapters will be published smaller this time around (as editing it is taking me quite some time). I hope people enjoy it as much as they did the first time around, when I was only 15 years old.
The Beginning to a Terrible End Pt. 1
"Fear. Fear attracts the fearful, the strong, the weak, the innocent, and the corrupt. Fear is my ally."
Yellow and red sparks flashed across the slick, silver floor. Computer modules in every corner flared blue screens while beeping loudly and sputtering the wordsERROR simultaneously. The vessel quaked and screamed, shifting its weight back and forth like a giant metronome. As the ship roared through the galaxy, a young woman with dark brown hair charged forward across the same silver floor, throwing all of her might into a blow with her light saber. Slamming down what seemed to be the last remaining dark-robed Sith, she raised her soft hazel eyes to a menacing figure in the distance, calmly readying herself for the final encounter…
Purple clouds trailed across the endless cities sky, coloring the backside of many soaring pods and ships as the planet settled into a peaceful darkness. However, the upper cities of Taris were never completely dark, nor were they completely peaceful. At least not with all of the flashing lights from transportations and the flurries of obnoxious advertisements, street lights, and signs that appeared both left and right. It was a remarkable trait that the population of both humans and aliens on this planet ever got any rest. And of course, as fate would have it, the south apartments were located - conveniently - right in the middle of all of the city's most flourishing commotion.
Grey eyes scanned the civilian population through a thick glass window perched far above the city walkway, attached to a beaten up and abandoned apartment. Or, as they had so lovingly proclaimed it, the 'hideout'. A pale finger tapped absent-mindedly against the thin glass, creating a small rhythmic beat that would flow easily among the other annoying sounds of the Upper City.
One, two, three… one two three…
The Upper City was a mentionable place on Taris, from what she had found so far in her wanderings about. Upon examination it was obviously inhabited by the "wealthy" people, seemingly restricted to humans only, with a group of South Apartments that played host to very disrespectful, uppity snobs.
In an almost unnoticeable movement the young woman who was sitting cat-like in the windowsill lulled her cloaked head slowly around the room, breaking her intense gaze from the wandering ants below. She fixated her latent blank eyes upon the only other human in the sweltering room, and blinked idly while wiping a bead of sweat from her brow.
He, upon who she gazed, seemed unfazed by the blaster-stare he was now receiving. He was sitting in a chair, staring readily at the entrance door as if expecting someone to barge through it. He, with his boot-heavy feet resting up against the nearest wall, chewed the inside of his stubble-infested cheek.
He was Carth Onasi.
The woman had known him for a long week and was already sick of him. His lack of life, lust, or longing for anything other than battle and business was not only irritating, but also annoyingly respectable at the same time. If the woman could have posessed that same passion for work as he did then perhaps she never would have been the low-ranking scoundrel that she used to be; winning pazaak games and smuggling credits and food off of unsuspecting people.
She had met Carth upon the Endar Spire, a republic vessel that was assigned to carry this skilled pilot and decorated war hero, as well as the famous Jedi, Bastila Shan. The ship had been on its way to destroy the world's Sith-occupied invasion, planning to assault them with Bastila's battle meditation full front. However, this vessel was not as grand or as powerful as most of the pre-Malachor V Republic capital ships, and was completely annihilated above the planet it had sought out to protect. Ironically tragic.
And hence their current dilemma.
"What exactly did that twi'lek merchant tell you about the upper city?"
Brown eyes looked narrowly passed two long streaks of dark hair, examining the woman in the windowsill with the utmost annoyance. Of all the worldly things she dared ask him about, it had to be a thing of repetition. "I have told you. Twice, actually."
"Tell me again." Snapped the former female scoundrel, stiffing a yawn.
Gods, help me.Mustering up as much patience as possible Carth pushed a sigh past his thin, dry lips and dropped his lazy feet from the wall with a loud 'clank' on the dusty floor. "He said that the upper city had a cantina, which is famous for its dueling ring owned by some hutt." He paused to recall. "There's also a droid shop, an equipment emporium, and a medical facility. Oh, and a Sith military base which is heavily patrolled by Sith troo- are you even listening?"
True Baill, a well-known scoundrel brought into this mess by a silly request from an over-rated Jedi, clamped her jaw shut from the over exasperated stretch that she had so desperately tried to hide. "Yes, yes. Cantina, droid shop, Sith base, medical facility. I get it."
It was nothing new. They had both walked around the entire upper city and visited every shop he had named, more than once. It was apparent that the locals were going to be of no help… except for the alien that spoke of a Gadon Thek who "Might know something about a Jedi". But, or course, they couldn't gain access into the Lower City to gain an audience with this Gadon Thek fellow.
"I suppose I'll go search some more, then." Search. What are we even searching for, anyway? Bastila, hiding under a Sith uniform? Unlikely.
The most they had been able to uncover in the past week were a few republic soldier crash survivors, hidden away in the medical facility and being treated until death by kind, naive Zelka Forn. However, even though she had inwardly convinced herself that nothing would be found in this continual search, getting out of the hideout for a while would be nice.
As the woman began to hop out of the windowsill, stretching her back and rolling her shoulders up and down for relief, the pilot's features brightened in agreement.
"I'll come with you."
The rushing buildup of reasons for Carth not to come along with her was endless. Aside from the obvious fact that they had both hit it off from the beginning rather terrible, she didn't view his presence as particularly necessary.
But with the preceding time it took for her to think about how much she'd hate for him to come, he was already at the door, waiting for her to follow.
Grumbling something wicked to herself, the thin woman tossed the black hood of her tattered robes farther over her face and shuffled grouchily after the pilot. Strolling quickly past him as if to take the lead in a pod race, they walked down the wide circular hall that promised to lead nowhere.
The only varmint inheriting the hall was a twi'lek merchant – who was absolutely convinced that True knew nothing about energy fields – and that was about it. This was much opposite to the ruckus of the first day they'd left the abandoned apartment, where they had endured their first real Sith run-in and only narrowly escaped trouble when a surviving alien offered to clean up the mess so that it appeared as if the patrols were killed 'elsewhere'.
Taris's humid atmosphere welcomed True and Carth happily as they exited the south apartments and entered the city. Many people walked around in a busy clutter, meshed into the crowd with tall shiny Sith patrol officers.
Some of the locals were scattered here and there chatting in monotones and giving the duo suspicious looks.
As she trotted ahead of him, Carth watched the bottom of the scoundrel's dark cloak flip playfully at her heels.
She was a very mysterious woman, only taking the time to reveal her name and occupation to him when they had first landed on the planet. And considering the fact that most of their wandering around had been separate from each other, he really hadn't spoken to the scoundrel other than quick exchanges involving information about the planet. Still, those conversations seemed to just irritate her know-it-all attitude, and the only thing they had managed to pry into the 'common' category was that they shared a longing for a quick departure off of Taris.
"You know, as much as I would hate to suggest this, perhaps lowering that hood wouldn't make us seem so suspicious to all of these folks." He finally announced when he could no longer bear the cautious glances from the passers-by, all seemingly alarmed by the woman's odd getup.
True took a moment to realize that the pilot's words were addressed to her, which wasn't as strange as it seemed. The man hardly attempted to speak to her ever since she had woken up on 'crash landing day', where she had been shocked and confused to see a concerned stranger staring down upon her exhausted body.
Halting in her determined stride True halfway turned towards the man, pursing her lips in anticipation. "What's so wrong with my hood being up?"
"Well, considering the planet is dark…" Carth said slowly, managing to gesture towards the sky with his hands.
"This planet is not dark. There are lights everywhere, if you hadn't noticed." True interjected in, clenching the front of her robe protectively.
"Well, your black, hooded cloak is screaming 'I want to cause trouble'." Carth replied, louder and more forceful than he intended.
"Well, your yellow jacket is … just screaming." True countered, eyeing his putrid-colored garb up and down.
Carth morphed his expression quickly from 'kindly conversation' to 'defensive insulting' in a snap, absentmindedly stroking the front of his jacket protectively. "Would you just lower the hood!? I'm not sure how many wars you have actually witnessed but Sith tend to wear black robes rather similar to those."
True turned feverishly around, swallowing down her rising annoyance at his tone. Oh this is just rich!"Sith? I've seen them. And I know that none of them would travel alongside a sun-colored-jacket companion." She retorted viciously, jabbing her index finger aggressively into his chest. "You're bright enough for the both of us, Pilot."
"Just drop the hood, Scoundrel." He snapped sternly, batting her hand off of his jacket and courting his feet around her.
Eyes fixated upon his face, True watched Carth until he was out of sight from the blinding sides of her black hood. Things were falling into a much weaker and desperate state causing both of the Endar Spire escapees to lose all of their patience with the situation and each other. In both of their minds they had pictured already being well off of this planet.
But that had yet to happen. An entire week had passed and the duo had not only failed (miserably) at finding Bastila but they had also made zero progress on plans for escape.
Sighing like a child who finally came to the realization that their tantrum wasn't going to get them any candy, True slowly raised her hands to the sides of her hood and pushed the cloth from her face. I can't take this anymore. Things are going to have to change for action to take course...
Squinting as the luminance rushed for her eyes, the woman couldn't help but come to terms with what had to be done. "I feel like a drink."
Carth paused somewhat in front of her, turned and nodded with no retaliation. We have got to change our course in action.
True slipped easily through the crowd and spotted two seats at the bar next to a well-dressed man, who eyed her with a hint of disgust as she placed herself narrowly next to him. He seemed to be accompanied with two of his buddies, who both leaned forward in their chair to whisper and murmur amongst themselves. Ah, but imagined what they might have said if I had left my hood on!
Carth placed himself next to her a moment later, having a bit more trouble weaving through the crowd, and immediately tapped the bar-top for some service.
The Cantina on this planet was hugely crowded, almost as hot as the hideout, and obnoxiously loud. It played host to many drunken ruffians that busied themselves around the twi'lek dancers, the view-screens airing the local dueling ring, and the bar.
"Here's two Tarisian ale's for yo- SIR, GET OFF THE DAMN TABLE!" The bartender stammered, practically tossing the glasses of alcohol to Carth before rushing away to push a man off of the bar top.
"Crazy in here." True muttered softly, eyeing the drink that Carth moved toward her across the bar suspiciously. She tapped a long finger nail against the chalice and watched several bubbles shimmy up from the bottom of the glass.
"Yeah. This Cantina is occupying mostly off-duty Military Sith. I came in her a few days ago when we had split up to look for Bastila. It wasn't so crowded then." Carth replied, staring around at the groups of people, completely oblivious to True's fascination with the foreign drink.
"Tar-meeshun ale…" She stammered incorrectly, finally taking a cautious sip of the glittering ale. As soon as the toxic liquid rushed into her mouth, her gray eyes slammed shut, and her features squinted awkwardly into a face that only a Kath Hound would find attractive.
Carth turned his attention back to the woman and chuckled lightly at the sight. Amateur little Scoundrel."Don't tell me you have never had Tarisian ale before?"
"I have never had Tarisian ale before." She playfully mocked, setting the glass gently back onto the bar top as if it were a bomb set to explode at any moment.
Carth laughed again. "I find that hard to believe. Everyone has had this stuff – especially on Taris. This planet is practically known for it."
"It's strong…" True replied, dropping her neck and leveling her eyes to the drink, examining it as if it were dosed with something horribly vile to make such a taste.
Carth watched her quietly for a moment, interested in the way that she childishly reacted to the alcohol. He certainly hadn't pin-pointed the dark, mysterious, sometimes unbearable woman as a light-weight.
"So. Tell me about yourself." Her question caught him off-guard, especially since her stern gaze never broke from the ale. He almost thought she was speaking directly to the drink…
"Me?" Carth mused, turning away from her as he let the question sink in. He clamped stubbornly onto the moment of silence to find the most fitting way to fasten his life into one short explanation. I guess I owe her some part of my story."I have been a star pilot in the Republic for years. I fought in many wars, including the Mandalorian before this." Well that was a whole lot easier than I thought.
Blinking back the rising look of utter disappointment True leaned back in her seat and finally broke her stare from the ale, fixating her piercing eyes now onto the pilot in defeat. "That's it?"
Carth sighed. Of course, that's not good enough… "Well, my home world was one of the first to fall to Malak's fleet. The Sith bombed it into submission and there wasn't a damn thing our Republic soldiers could do to stop them."
True brushed her tongue along the top row of her teeth, fishing for the taste of ale remaining on her palate.Ah, typical story; an angry soldier who has lost everything."You're talking like it's your fault. Like you failed somehow."
There was short silence shared between them. Carth's ears twitched at the sound of a drunk woman guffawing loudly in the corner of the cramped cantina, and the sound seemed to rattle him into a spiraling pit of anger.
"It shouldn't be my fault." He hissed to nobody in particular, "I did everything I could… I followed my orders and did my duty. That shouldn't mean I failed them. I didn't!"
True twitched her eyes back and forth, confused. Ok, check him down for crazy. "Them? Who's them? Do you mean the people of your home world?"
"Ye- no… no. That's not what I mean. I mean… I'm sorry. I'm not making much sense, am I?" He mumbled, leaning forward with his elbows placed on the counter and his thumbs gorging into his eyes. He exhaled slowly. Damn it, Onasi.
It was True's turn to be amused. Giggling light-heatedly, she propped her elbow up onto the bar top and crinkled her nose. "Not entirely, no."
Carth winced and slowly raised his head, turning to look at her with a subtle expression plastered to his face. "You probably mean well with your questions, I'm just not accustomed to talking about my past very much. At all, actually."
True nodded, understanding. As much as she wanted to badger and interrogate the man for all he was worth, she knew it was somewhat her own fault for his lack of trust in her.
Well, it's a start. She thought impatiently, tucking some stray auburn hair behind the nape of her ear and taking another sip of the ale that slowly seemed to naturalize itself to her liking.
"I want to know some things about you, now."
Dropping the drink to the table, the corners of the woman's mouth twitched up to a small smile. "I was raised a wookie. They shaved me at a young age and gave me a serum to never grow my hair back. Oh and the teeth… they filed those down to normal size. Oh and my ears-"
Carth raised his eyebrows astonished. Women! I swear, they expect us to be mind readers… "Right." He interrupted her, completely done with the conversation. "I assumed you would have told me, anyway, if you had wanted to."
Chuckling softly, she dropped her head to her chest and smiled. "My name is True Baill."
"Oh, so nice to meet you!" Carth mumbled, sarcastically. "Come now, I told you." What are you, Onasi, five? 'I told you, now you gotta tell me'... you're an idiot.
Good point.Perhaps it was the ale getting to her, or perhaps she was finally starting to feel comfortable opening up slightly… either way, True decided she could play the game as well. "For as far back as I can allow myself to remember I have been a scoundrel. I have made it all over the galaxy, and fought my few battles, though nothing as glorious as you." She said, voice traveling off very far as she rubbed the side of the glass with her thumb. "That's really about it."
Almost as stubborn as I am. Good.Carth nodded absent-mindedly, taking a swig of his ale and adjusting comfortably in his seat, though newly determined to avoid eye-contact with the scoundrel for the rest of the night.
Just as things seemed to be as normal as they could possibly be, fate interjected.
"Hey there, pretty thing. I haven't seen you around here before; of course I don't get much time off from the Sith military base."
And this is why I wear a hood. Turning around, True found herself face to face with a tall man who displayed young, unappealing features, and curly dark hair. His clothes looked nothing Sith related, so she found it almost hard to believe he had anything to do with the Sith.
As if he could read her gaze like a book he continued in explanation, "I'm off duty right now, so I'm not in uniform. My name is Yun Genda – junior officer first class with the Sith occupation force."
The war pilot turned to face True's direction again, eyeing the current situation with modesty. Wonderful, she has been in here for fifteen minutes and is already getting hit on. Fully aware that this was surely going to turn into something worth being sober forCarth downed the last bit of his ale and swiveled around to face the advancing man.
"I'm True Baill, it's nice to meet you." True smiled curtly, extending a hand that could only be revealed when she pulled back her oversized robe sleeve.
Yun graciously took hold of her hand tenderly and rattled it up and down. "I must say I'm a bit shocked you're talking to me. Everyone on this backwater planet is in such a bad mood towards us Sith anymore. I say you have to make the best of things even in hard times like these!"
True shrugged coolly, glancing naturally towards Carth as she spoke. "Well, everyone has their ups and downs. It's how you deal with them that counts…"
Carth's eyes fell cautiously upon True. She really was a bundle of surprise. Every time her mouth had opened in the past hour, words had tumbled out that he greatly hadn't anticipated. How had he been living with this woman for a week and not seen how knowledgeable she really was? Oh, right, because she has been silently, childishly sulking for a week.
Yun smiled gaily. "You're right! Hey, I like you. Tonight me and some of the junior Sith officers are going to throw a party, and you should drop by. I'll show you where it is on your map…"
Carth still wasn't particularly sure why True insisted on stopping by the party.
Other than the recurring assumption that she held an attraction for the 'junior Sith officer' (which she had whole-heartedly threatened to cut off his ears if he suggested again) Carth couldn't think of a reason as to why she would want to embrace such an atmosphere.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to." True scoffed at him over her shoulder for the umpteenth time. I'd almost prefer it.
"These Sith," He started, ignoring her comments once again. "They're like animals. They kill without a purpose and will stop at nothing. It makes me sick."
Rolling her grey eyes, True pushed her palm against the button that opened the entrance to the North Apartments. Once you get him started he just won't shut up,she thought to herself, making her way swiftly down the rounded hallway while reading the silver numbers outside of each door.
Carth was short at her heels, calling the numbers out loud behind her as if she didn't already know what each one read. When she finally found apartment 303 and Carth had plainly announced it – "Look, isn't this it?" – she turned swiftly around on her heel.
"What?" Carth asked shocked, trying his hardest not to smile, feeling he was successful in his attempts at rattling her. He was trying a new approach with her stubbornness, now.
"Are you trying to drive me insane? Why don't you want me to go in here!?" She hissed through gritted teeth, motioning to the shut door.
"Because. The last thing I need is you getting into trouble with the Sith. We're trying to stay low-key here and you're insisting on partying it out with the enemy." Frustrating, brainless woman. Carth pointed out, groping her hand and forcing it downard as it reached for the opening.
"Look, we're going to have to stick together for things to start working to our advantage here. We've tried splitting up, and it has gotten us nowhere. So… trust me." True slapped his hand away from her grip and opened the door, ignoring Carth's disagreeing sounds.
The door shot open with a soft whir, intoxicating the hallways air with the thick stench of Terisian ale. True enjoyed watching Carth's face turn from anger to shock as he realized the inhabitances of the party were all drunkenly passed out on the floor, snoring peacefully.
"Happening party…" Carth murmured, watching her walk in and step over gaily snoozing bodies.
"I had a feeling they would all be passed out by now. I've seen one too many parties end like this, being as I do not drink much and everyone else does…" She lifted up a brown military bag from the corner of the room and tipped it forward to reveal two Sith uniforms stuffed deep inside. "And now we have our disguise!"
Carth distorted his face to serene astonishment and couldn't help but smile. "Impressive." Cute.