Much cursing was to be had between both of the conscious men during the atmospheric entry. Jack grinned at the complementing swears uttered in the tiny space, as they were thrown around during the fiery entry, which changed to a grimace at the shuddering impact, the grinding of metal on metal, with the scraps of concrete. Soon everything was still. Sitting up Jack grabbed his head and moaned in pain. He felt a bone break when he was slammed against one of the un-cushioned walls, and could tell his body was almost done mending the fracture in his arm.
"What a rush." He grimaced again as he stood, hitting his head on the low ceiling. "Last time I crashed an entry that hard, I was arrested. Had to break out of that lab in New Mexico. Later they said it was a weather balloon. Who knew?"
He lowered his head and walked over to Carth. "You okay?"
"Yeah." The pilot rasped. He shook his head and got to his feet, soldier resolve preventing any pain from showing. "What about the girl?"
Jack knelt and felt her wrist. "She's still alive, but I don't like the look of the bump on her head. We need to find a place for her to rest." He looked her over, trying to discern if she could be moved.
He jumped when he heard a clang and hiss. "Sorry." the soldier called. "Just opening the lock." Seconds later, sunlight streamed in, making everything just a little bit brighter. "We're in luck. The Tarisian's have fled from the area. Don't know how long though. Looks like there are some housing complexes near by."
Jack nodded, leaned down and hefted the girl over his shoulders in a fireman lift. "Grab her bag. She doesn't seem the type to forgive if her stuff is lost."
Carth let them past and grabbed the weapon sack, jumped out and followed Jack's pace, quick despite the extra weight he was carrying.
They reached what appeared to be apartment complexes, though every building looked the same, and he couldn't read the alien script. Waiting patiently as Carth opened the doors, he swayed slightly from the extra weight upon his shoulders. He entered, and turned into the large hallway, both directions turning towards the same direction. Apparently this place was circular.
"I'll check the rooms; see if there is any vacancy." Carth whispered, in case there was anybody around that might want to know the plan. "Go hide with her over there, that storage closet should provide cover until I get back."
"You got it, don't be too long." Jack replied with a small wink. Carth appeared to shudder some, then walk off, trying to find a room.
Opening the closet with one hand, Jack winced as it loudly grated open. He hated waiting. The woman in his arms moaned for a second and kicked, evidently having a bad dream, but only time would tell if she was alright.
Carth came back to find Jack sitting on a deactivated service droid. "I found a room. It has beds, so she can rest."
Having come back from a scouting mission, Carth seemed to trust him enough for that, Jack sat back in on of the beds in their room, the girl, Lillian Candella, still asleep, her head holding a nasty bump. "There are still plenty of those tin men out there. Patrolling, putting down riots."
"The Sith. Call them by their name."
"Sith? What kind species are they? They seem to always be wearing their suits. And I never see them in the cantina."
Carth shook his head. "Not a species, but an ideal. Only the strongest survive. If the one above you is weak, take them out. They are the scourge of the galaxy. Mostly humans, and their leader is Darth Malak, a former Jedi."
"Malak. Fancy name. I figure if I have to wait here before I get home, I might as well learn some. Tell me of this Jedi."
"Dark Jedi. A few years ago, a group of warriors, Mandalorians, tried taking over the Republic. They had attempted to do so before under another Jedi, Exar Kun, but that was put down. This time, the Jedi would not help us; they sat in their chambers, trying to figure out how to decide if they wanted to join. All but one."
"Malak?"
"Revan. Revan and his friend Malak recruited Jedi, finding those that would help us win against the Mandos. They entered and I never saw such skill. The Jedi helped turned the tide of the war."
"So now, the Republic is fighting them. What happened to your grand allies?" Lillian turned in her sleep, restless dreams.
"Revan and Malak had summoned a huge fleet, and turned on us. They had became Sith, fallen Jedi. Revan had turned the tide, and became a hero. Many soldiers were willing to lay down their lives for the Jedi. Even my old mentor." His voice became hard, as if bringing up hateful memories.
Jack closed his eyes, "I'm sorry Carth. Um, what did happen to Revan?"
"Malak turned on his old master, taking the chance when the Jedi led a strike team headed by Bastilla. He blew up Revan's ship, the task force was lucky to survive. I don't think we would be doing so well in this war if we had lost her." He grew silent after that; the face of one that no longer wanted to talk gave taken over. The girl started kicking, rough dreams apparently.
Jack sat down at the table. He hadn't really had a chance to look at the room since they arrived. There was a storage locker and a work bench. He walked over to the bench and pulled out his revolver, took some tools and cleaned it, taking it back to a status that he had never reached in the hub. Headshot. Then went back to checking it worked, turning only when he heard a sound behind him.
Lillian jerked awake, surprised to find her someplace completely different from where she last remembered. Sitting up, she found the man in the strange coat standing at the workbench, toying with his silver weapon, a blaster that exploded, and the Republic Soldier that had saved the escape pod for her, sitting on the bed watching her.
He smiled, "Hey. That was a pretty nasty bump you got there. Glad to see you're awake."
"Where are we?" She rubbed her head, feeling a tender spot.
"I found an abandoned apartment on Taris in the upper levels. The Sith have control of the planet as Jack has discovered through some scouting."
"Decided to trust him?" She stretched, feeling her muscles tighten, happy with movement from after being out.
"I would if he stopped winking at me sometimes."
"Sorry, force of Habit." Jack smoothly replied from the workbench. He came over and sat on the side of the bed, his blue eyes looking into hers, Lillian felt something in her stomach; he was different in some way…but those eyes. They held so much wisdom, they were older than his face, but his smile erased all the thoughts from her mind. "Carth was telling me that we need to find Bastilla. She escaped the ship, but he hasn't been able to contact her through the radio. I think she may have been captured, though the Tin Men don't seem to have any information on a captured Jedi."
"There were plenty of shuttle pods that crashed through or past the Upper City. Most likely, hers was one of them. We need to get to the under city." Carth added.
"How do we get there?" Lillian decided to stand up and put some armor on, deciding to take an Echani combat suit rather than her basic clothes. She stretched again, flexibility was down, but if a blade hit her, it wouldn't do as much damage now. Jack still seemed to still be wearing his dark blue coat.
Carth sighed, "That's the problem…"
"Only the Tin Men or those with authority papers can pass the check points. Apparently there is some sort of gang war going on down there."
Lillian felt a grin coming on. "In that case, it seems that we need to steal…" Carth let out a cough, "'borrow,' some Sith armor."
Jack gave her a wink and a sly grin. "I like the way you think." He holstered his sidearm. "Now let's move out." With that, he moved towards the door.
Lillian looked at Carth and shrugged, then followed after the man. Charisma, but there still wasn't something quite right about him.
Jack stepped into the corridor, and found two greenish grey aliens, with very large heads, being held up by two Tin Men. Sith, gotta remember that. Lillian stepped up and immediately took control of the situation, a natural leader.
"What's going on here?"
One of the Soldiers turned around, "Move along citizen, there is nothing to see here."
"It seems to me like you're holding up those two Duros." She took a step forward, moving her hand to her sword hilt.
"We are involved in an investigation; these aliens are suspects of an attack on Sith Peace Keepers."
"An oxymoron if I ever heard one." Carth muttered.
One of the aliens started sneaking off, and all hell broke loose. The second trooper drew his gun and let off a blast of red light, hitting the alien square in the back. The second alien hit the deck as blades were drawn between Lillian and the Sith she was talking to. Without time for a draw, Jack leapt forward and grabbed the shooter, disarming him, and feeling a break in his hand as his fist hit the metal helmet.
The two grappled, the Sith trying to choke the Captain. Seeing black start forming around his eyes, Jack reached out and felt the hands against his neck, pealing the fingers from around him, releasing the iron grip. The grip released, and Jack kicked out, his boot protecting his foot from a fracture. As the soldier lost his balance, Jack grabbed the helmeted head, and spun around the body, then yanked, twisting, feeling the neck snap and the body go limp. Looking around, he saw Carth trying to get a shot into the melee of Lillian and the other Trooper, she was holding her own, deflecting every blow and kicking when she had the chance, the other was wearing down, to many blows taken and slowing down from trying to strike to hard. With one final swing, the head was removed from the body and flew into the wall; the clang of metal on concrete rang through the hall, the alien making sure that every thing was okay, and moved over to his fallen friend.
"This is what my brother gets for fighting against the Sith." He closed his eyes, "Thank you, not many people would have helped us. I'll take the bodies and hide them, hopefully no scouts will be around for a while."
"I need to help out, how ever I can." Lillian looked at the alien. "I'm sorry that it came to this." The alien nodded, and started moving the bodies. Jack looked down at the weapons, and took both the sword and the blaster. They might come in handy later.
They continued down the hall, when Carth spoke up, "Look, I know we need to help these people, but I don't think killing Sith in the middle of a hall wall isn't going to help the people. It will attract attention."
Lillian turned on the soldier, "What are you getting at? Do you think I got into that fight to have Sith come down on us? I only did that to save the Duros."
"Right, and I'm sure the fact that you and Jack are the only people to escape the ship."
"You think we had something to do with that attack?"
Jack shook his head and steeped in between the two quarrelers. "Look kids, I know there is reason for distrust, but we need to find this Jedi." When they started moving in on each other, Jack found himself holding the two back. Lillian was short, but she pressed the limit of his strength. Carth was almost there; perhaps that's why he was a gunman. He gave a smile, "Save the fighting for the Sith out there." He felt something there, between the two of them. Now if he could keep them from killing each other, this might work out in the end.
Carth closed his eyes and nodded. He relaxed and stepped back, same with the girl. Jack smiled again, "Now then, we need to find some armor. Pity that other set was too damaged to be effective for the checkpoint."
Lillian nodded and then walked off, but stopped by a blue skinned alien with long hairless tails protruding from his head, wrapped around his shoulder and hanging down. He seemed to be selling wares. Jack moved in closer, listening intently, "You need some personal energy shields. No blaster bolt can pass through. Yes! It absorbs the energy and feeds it into the battery."
"I know about energy shields." She was trying to get away, back to her task, but he wouldn't stop pestering her.
"Yes, then you know what a marvel they are." The alien was persistent, Jack gave him that.
"Until blaster tech catches up with shield tech." Carth said, simply.
Jack nodded, "That is how it always works. Tell me, how well does it works against non-energy based weaponry? Say a sword, or a chemically propelled blast?"
The alien laughed, "If your opponent runs at you with a sword, you shoot them down! And nobody uses slugs anymore!"
Jack nodded, "Hypothetically then."
The alien stroked his chin, "I would suppose that it would pass through the shield. There has been no test done."
"Thanks. I'll look into them later." He gave a wink to the alien and caught up with the soldier and scoundrel. A door whisked open and they all stepped out into the bright sunlight and the bustle of a city.