Disclaimer: In no way could I possibly own the awesomeness that is Star Wars, KOTOR, or anything vaguely related to them in any way. I simply write this to entertain myself and hopefully other fans of the game.
A/N: Sorry for the wait, but in between the summer travels of my betas and myself and the amount of time it actually takes to write chapters of this length, it happens. Don't worry though, I am fully dedicated to this story! FYI, Taris will probably have two or three more chapters.
Her vision was clouded with dark mist, with no end in sight. The sound clashing of lightsabers and bursting of blaster fire in the distance was accompanied by wailing klaxons in the background. Suddenly, the mist cleared, revealing a determined young woman with twin brunette pigtails and a tan body suit. 'Bastila,' Keira mentally noted. Bastila wielded a single yellow blade, holding it expertly in front of her body in defense. A Dark Jedi wearing the customary gray robes and black hood slashed at her with his own single blood red saber. The two exchanged blows and parries for a few moments before Bastila forced the Dark Jedi back with her brute force. She slashed out at him, watching the body tumble to the ground before turning her attention elsewhere. Keira tried to get a better look at what was going on, but the dark mist began to roll back in, and her head felt like it was about to implode…
Abandoned Apartment; Upper City North; Taris
Keira bolted up in the bed, beads of sweat forming on her face. She grimaced slightly and clutched her now well bandaged side, remembering the vibroblade wound she had sustained while fighting on the Endar Spire. Glancing around, she realized she was sitting in the only bed in a not completely run down, but obviously abandoned, apartment. Asleep in the only chair in the room was a man in a tacky orange flight jacket, brown hair, and a little stubble. Captain Carth Onasi, remembered Keira. She tried to carefully pull herself out of bed, but to no avail, crying out slightly at the pain her wound was giving her. The noise roused Carth from his sleep, who nearly fell out of his seat seeing his charge awake and moving. He rushed over to the side of the bed and helped to prop Keira up soundly and comfortably against the head of the bed/wall.
"It's good to see you up instead of thrashing around in your sleep," said Carth, as he pulled his seat to the bedside. "You must have been having one hell of a nightmare or something. I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up from it. One minute you'd be lying there all peacefully, and the next I would have had to practically hold you onto the bed. When I went out to scrounge for supplies, I came back and found you on the floor!" joked Carth.
"Well, Captain Onasi, I guess I owe you my life," grudgingly conceded Keira. She hated to rely on others to get her out of sticky situations, but this man had done just that.
"Save your thanks, Ms. Trinidad, I've never abandoned anyone while on a mission, and I'm not about to start now. And you can drop the formalities, by the way. Since we're stuck together on this planet, you can just call me Carth," said Carth.
"Well, if we're dropping formalities, then you can just call me Keira. And what's this you say about being stuck together? What frickin' planet are we on, anyway?" asked the completely disoriented Keira.
"Oh yeah, you've been slipping in and out of consciousness for the past few days, so I guess you wouldn't know what's going on," realized Carth.
"No shit, Carth," grouchily replied Keira. She didn't normally have a lot of patience, and being talked to by Captain Obvious wasn't helping.
Ignoring Keira's comment, Carth began explaining. "Let me start from the beginning. Our escape pod landed on the planet of Taris. Taris is divided into three sections, the Upper City, which is where we are now, the Lower City, and the Under City. The quality of life pretty much gets worse as you get lower. We were lucky enough to crash in the Upper City, which is the safest of the three levels to land. You were pretty banged up from the crash, probably because of that faulty strap, but luckily I made it out unscathed. I dragged you out of the pod and hid us before the authorities could get to the pod, and managed to find this abandoned apartment. While you were out cold, I did some scouting around, and discovered that the Sith, who have been here for a while now, have placed Taris under martial law. They've also imposed a planet-wide quarantine, so no ships are allowed in or out of Taris. The Republic won't be able to rescue us, so we're pretty much left to fend for ourselves. And, to top it all off, Bastila is nowhere to be found, meaning that her escape pod is probably one of the few that crashed into the Under City," summarized Carth.
Keira rubbed her temples. She really felt like she needed a drink or something to keep her from going insane from this bleak news. Seeing her distress, Carth reassured her, "Don't worry, I've been in worse spots."
"So have I, but I wasn't feeling as shitty as I do now," she said. "Is there anything around here a girl can drink?" Carth sighed, getting up and procuring a bottle of Tarisian ale.
"This stuff is pretty cheap, probably because it's local. But be careful, it has a big kick," he warned, handing her the bottle. She took a deep, satisfied swig, and listened to Carth talk more.
"I saw on your service records that you understand a remarkable number of alien languages. That's pretty rare in a raw recruit," complimented Carth.
"Well, technically, I'm not a 'raw recruit,'" corrected Keira. "I only came aboard the Spire because the Jedi wouldn't stop badgering me until I agreed to come. It takes a lot to pull me out of retirement, you know!"
"Retirement?" asked a baffled Carth, looking at the woman seated before him. She looked like she was in her late 20s, early 30s max. "Aren't you a little young for retirement?"
"I was, no, still am," corrected Keira, "one of the greatest scouts in the galaxy. I've been on almost every planet within Republic space, and almost all of the ones in the Outer Rim, which is why the Jedi wanted me so badly for this mission." Her beaming face suddenly contorted, making her look away quickly. When she turned back to face Carth, she wore a small, sad smile. "But, I wanted out of the scouting business a few years ago, and had enough credits to make life comfortable for myself. And no, I don't want to talk about why I quit right now," cut off Keira, noticing Carth's mouth open again while she was talking. Instead, she gazed blankly beyond him. Trying to redirect the conversation back to their current situation, Carth started speaking again.
"Since there's no way that we or the Republic can punch through the Sith blockade, we need to go and find Bastila. She's probably the only one who can help us get off this backwater planet alive," planned Carth.
"Bastila? She's a Jedi, can't she take care of herself?" selfishly asked Keira. "So, she might be in the Under City, but what's the worst that can get her there? She has her lightsaber, doesn't she?"
"I know that she was on the strike team that took down Darth Revan, and can wield the Battle Meditation that's been keeping the Republic war effort alive, but that doesn't mean she's invincible!" said Carth. "For all we know she could have been banged up like you were after her escape pod crashed, and unlike you, she's all alone in the Under City to fend for herself! We can't just leave her there!"
"That's following the assumption that she's still alive," pointed out Keira as she emptied the bottle.
"Okay, well, I don't know if Bastila's alive," conceded Carth, "But I'd rather operate under the assumption that she is. Though she may be incapacitated right now, she has an indispensable command of the Force. If we survived the crash landing, I'm willing to bet both our lives that she did too."
"Whoa, there, Carth. You have every right to hope that she's still alive, but in no uncertain terms are you allowed to bet my life," warned Keira.
"Calm down, it's a figure of speech! But seriously, what's the alternative if she's dead? Malak and the Sith will overrun the galaxy and we'll have to spend the rest of our lives in hiding on this decaying chunk of space rock. So I'd rather work under the scenario that Bastila is still alive," said Carth.
"Okay, you do have a point there," agreed Keira. "What do you suggest we do then, Mr. Assumption Maker?"
Carth rolled his eyes. "Well, Bastila will probably have legions of Sith looking for her, including Dark Jedi. However, no one is going to be looking around for a couple of soldiers, or a soldier and a scout," quickly corrected Carth as Keira opened her mouth, "like us, so we shouldn't have too much trouble getting around Taris, a luxury Bastila sure won't have."
"Yeah, just her overall appearance screams 'prissy Jedi princess!'" said Keira. "But, if it means getting off of this rock, I guess I'll help you find her. And besides, since her people did originally bring me out of retirement, I should probably show some employer loyalty," she hazarded. "Do you have any idea where to start looking?"
"Well, since Bastila's escape pod probably crashed in the Under City, that would be a good place to start. But, you need Sith authorization to get down there, so we're going to have to find a way around that," suggested Carth.
"Well, I'd like to see for myself what kind of hopeless situation we're in, so let's get a move on!" announced Keira.
"Hey, you were the one unconscious for three days!" playfully argued Carth. "But, you might want to put your armor back on, since I had to redress your wound a few times." Carth blushed. "Uh… all of your stuff is in the footlocker by the workbench," he said, pointing across the room.
Realizing that she was once again in her underwear in front of a male Republic soldier, Keira sighed, and got up to redress. "I hope that's all you did," she called as she made her way to the refresher. "Though, I've been in worse spots," she quoted. She flashed back to that time in the cantina at Nar Shadaa when she had agreed to play strip-Pazaak, and grimaced.
"I don't want to know!" declared Carth, raising his arms in the air, even though she couldn't see him anymore. "I bet it has something to do with some sketchy cantina." Little did he know how right he was.
Keira was pleasantly surprised at the wealth their adopted apartment complex hid in its rooms. In addition to the locks being cheap enough that Keira could easily pick them, which was a feat in itself Keira was inept at picking even the simplest of locks, each apartment had an occupant who was all too willing to give them the meager supplies stored in their personal footlockers. Carth, however, was not as thrilled.
"I cannot believe you are robbing the poor locals of this planet of their basic supplies!" spat Carth, scowling at the medpacs, parts, computer spikes, and credits that Keira was pocketing. "We shouldn't be drawing attention to ourselves."
Keira shrugged as she finished counting the credits she had picked up from a cowering Ithorian's bag. "Well, if they are willing to just let us have them, then I don't see the problem with it," reasoned Keira as they made their way to the last apartment in the building. Seeing Carth bristle at her seeming lack of morals, Keira told him seriously, "Look, we are on a mission to escape this blockaded, quarantined planet with a wanted Jedi. These people that we're taking from really aren't planning on utilizing their resources, and we need every bit we can get. So as long as they don't put up a reasonable fight for their stuff, I'm taking it." And with that, she opened the door to the apartment, revealing a pale-skinned woman of medium build with short brunette hair wielding a vibroblade.
"Wow, I really wasn't expecting that sort of welcome, with all of the other quivering residents here!" cheerily announced Keira as she stepped into the apartment.
"Get back!" ordered the woman, brandishing her vibroblade threateningly towards them. "Who are you to come busting in here like you own the place? Come any closer and you'll end up like that sewer rat Holdan!"
"Sorry, we were just a little lost- " started to apologize Carth, when Keira stepped in, curious.
"Who is this 'Holdan' and what did you do to him that should make us think twice?" asked the scout.
Seeing the woman start to raise her blade, she added, "Don't worry, we aren't here to rob or kill you. We're just a couple of travelers trying to salvage enough supplies to live off of while we wait out this quarantine."
Lowering her blade and looking them over suspiciously, the woman answered. "Holdan is just another greedy pig who has taken to working for the Exchange, in this case Davik, who thought he could get his way with any woman on Taris just because he's hired muscle. I taught him a thing or two about women's rights with my vibroblade and now I'm holed up here with a nice large price on my head."
Keira twirled her vibrosword carelessly while she voiced her thoughts. "So, the way I see it, there are a few ways for us to proceed," she paused, searching the face of the other armed woman. "What did you say your name was again?"
"I didn't," curtly replied the woman, "but my name is Dia."
"Yes, so 'Dia', we have a few ways to go about this. The first one is that my companion," Keira tilted her head towards Carth, "and I kill you here and collect the bounty on your head. The second," she said quickly as Dia tightened her grip on her vibroblade, "is that I talk to Holdan for you so that you can walk the streets again without fearing for bounty hunters. You see," explained Keira to the two dumbfounded people in the room, "I am a staunch supporter of women's rights. I hate men who think that women are their property, and I want to strangle the bastards that punish women for their own stupidity." The other two stepped back at the sudden intensity in Keira's last few words.
"You'd really talk to Holdan for me? I don't know if he'd listen to another woman though," warned Dia. "But if you want to try, he's probably lurking in Javyar's Cantina in the Lower City."
"Maybe a man might be able to persuade him," reasoned Carth, feeling left out of the conversation.
"Maybe," agreed Keira, who's eye caught a half open bag on the floor. "However, our help isn't free. We'll talk Holdan into taking the bounty off, but you need to give us all the supplies in that bag first."
Carth seemed to bristle at the idea of taking from a desperate woman, but Dia shrugged.
"Sure, I can always buy some more when I can walk free again. It's not like I'm short on credits, just connections," she said, holding out her bag to the duo.
"Thank you for your cooperation," grinned Keira as she scooped the medpacs and computer spikes out of the bag. "We'll send you word when we get the bounty lifted. Oh, and by the way, how do you get to the Lower City?" inquired Keira, remembering that she had no knowledge of the geography of the planet she was marooned on.
"Unless you have authorization by the Sith, no one can use the elevators. However, the guard at the elevator to the Lower City is pretty lax, and only checks appearances. The guards that got in the elevator before us when I went on that dreadful date with Holdan didn't even have to flash any badges when they went in," informed Dia eagerly, hoping that the information would accelerate the time until her freedom.
"Thanks again," said Carth, as he left Dia's apartment. He walked straight into Keira's upraised gloved hand, stopping him in his tracks. Opening his mouth to protest, the surprisingly gentle hand moved and covered his mouth, indicating quiet. Sulking, Carth looked to see what was so important, and suddenly stiffened.
A few meters from the door stood two silver assault droids and a Sith officer in an immaculate gray uniform toting a large blaster rifle. Before them stood two annoyed looking Duros who had been purchasing energy shields from Larrim.
"Alright you alien scum!" roared the officer with the posh English accent that all the Sith seemed to have. "Drop the credits and the energy shields! They are now property of the Sith Empire!" ordered the Sith.
"This is just ridiculous!" muttered one of the Duros, who stuffed his credits back into his red jumpsuit.
"I said to drop the credits, alien pig! You know the drill," commanded the Sith, pompously waving his blaster rifle at the Duros.
"How could I forget? There was a patrol here yesterday, and they already took anything of value!" cried the Duros.
In a flash the Sith's previously loitering weapon was trained on the Duros, but the officer had to clumsily squeeze off five shots in order to kill the offender. Smirking at the charred body, the Sith turned to only remaining alien in the room, another Duros in a green jumpsuit.
"That's how we Sith deal with stupid, smart-mouthed aliens! Now get up against that wall before I lose my temper again! And where did that green Twi'lek go?" threateningly asked the officer.
Carth continuously gripped and ungripped his hands around his trusty blasters, unsure if he should intervene or not. Keira made the decision for him, as she nimbly darted forward towards the nearest assault droid, silently unsheathing her vibrosword and expertly detaching its head from its chassis before its sensors had even picked her up.
"Humans hiding out with aliens?" exclaimed the Sith officer as he turned to see who had wrecked his droid. "They must be Republic fugitives from that space battle," he thought aloud. "Get them!" he ordered the remaining assault droid.
Before any of the remaining Sith could attack, Carth hit the droid in the head with a single deadly blast while Keira kicked the blaster rifle out of the soldier's hands and ran him through with her vibrosword. The two hit the ground within seconds, neither having a chance of survival. Keira frowned with distaste as the Sith's blood flowed around her boots while mingling with the droids' burnt circuitry.
"Hey janitor," she called to the elderly man down the hall. "There's another mess over here for you to clean up!"
"Poor Ixgil," the other Duros lamented, staring down at his friend's fallen corpse. "He shouldn't have talked back to that Sith like that. Thankfully you were here to intervene, human."
"If it's one thing I can't stand, it's abuse of power," replied Keira in Durese. "But it your deceased friend said that these patrols come through here regularly. Won't someone back here to look for this Hutt-slug?" asked Keira, kicking the face of the Sith officer with contempt.
"Do not worry yourself with that," assured the Duros. "I can hide him and the droids with the rest of the trash to be incinerated. The Rodian who does it won't even bat a figurative eyelash!"
Keira nodded in assent, staring at the torn and bloody uniform of the Sith officer. Turning to Carth she said, "Too bad his uniform is in no shape to use as a disguise. I don't think it'll be the easiest task to get two intact Sith uniforms."
"I'll have to agree with you there," said Carth, sliding his blasters back into their holsters. "Well, I guess we should head out and explore the rest of the Upper City, and keep an eye out for a few extra uniforms," he suggested as he emptied the contents of the Sith's backpack.
"Hey, I thought rummaging through remains was beneath you," joked Keira. Her mood turned a little more serious, if not pouty, when she stamped a little with her boots. "We'll have to make another trip back to our apartment. I've got blood all over my boots, and besides the fact that I pride myself on my personal hygiene, it would look a little suspicious if I tracked bloody footprints everywhere we went."
"Yeah, I guess leaving a bloody trail behind us wouldn't exactly be the best idea," agreed Carth, starting to warm up to Keira's logic.
As they walked back towards the apartment door, Keira felt a sudden wave of foreboding wash through her. Brushing it off as quickly as it came, she groaned audibly at the sight that stood before her. The lock on their apartment door was undone and the door left open. Rummaging through their minimal back up supplies was none other than Larrim, who was tossing medpacs and security tunnelers into a large beige sack beside him. Keira drew her sword to strike, but Carth had already drawn his blasters and hit the green Twi'lek two times squarely in the back, instantly killing him. As they took inventory of their supplies and added the other filched items to their stock, Keira commented.
"Carth, I have to admit, I really didn't think you had it in you. Normally I'm the one who has to start the fighting!" she teased.
"If it's one thing I despise, it's betrayal," Carth replied with all seriousness. "And that green Twi'lek was the one who led me to this apartment when you were under. Sure, I didn't buy the energy shield he was trying to sell me, but I didn't think he would stoop so low as to come back in here while we were gone to steal our stuff!" rambled Carth.
"Well, this is easily solved," reasoned Keira. "Just change the code on the door. I doubt anyone else knew the code, with the only one being dead," she nonchalantly motioned to the corpse of Larrim. "So you throw that sewer slime's body out the window, and I'll take care of the lock!"
Carth's mouth hung open so low that Keira thought she could have fit her arm down his throat a few times without a problem. "What? I doubt that Duros would be willing to someone else for us. It'll be a long drop to the Lower or Under City, and I don't think anyone will come looking for him," explained Keira as though she was suggesting a new route to work.
Not being able to think of a suitable retort, Carth did as he was told. After Keira finished washing her boots, they went off into the Upper City.
Cantina; Upper City North; Taris
"Really, this was sort of predictable," sighed Carth as he and Keira leaned against the bar waiting for their drinks.
"Cantinas are one of the best places to conduct reconnaissance on a foreign planet," said Keira learnedly. "We'll meet at least one representative of every racial and social group on this planet, and they'll all naturally group together with people similar to them, making the surveying easy."
"I guess," he conceded. "And we do need to get some credits to spend too," he suggested, thinking ahead about what armor, weapons, and other supplies they were going to need in a place like the Under City. The whole planet didn't appeal much to Carth.
Truth be told, the Upper City Cantina (it didn't have any other, flashier name) wasn't too bad. It just wasn't spectacular in any way and housed some of the snobbiest people Carth and Keira had ever met. The same thought echoed through their minds after some time in the city: Just how many people could comment on your clothes in the same stuck-up manner in the same vicinity? It wasn't just the people in the cantina either, people on the street started to avoid them just by the clothes they were wearing, except for the Sith, who just kept walking like they owned the place, which they sort of did. The most annoying thing was, though, that every shop they walked into only carried armor. How were they supposed to blend into the local population when Tarisian clothing was out of stock in every shop on the planet? Even Keira had joked that in a time of crisis and occupation it seemed like the Tarisians stocked up on clothes instead of food and weapons.
"The drinks are here," announced Keira with an undertone of relief. Carth just shook his head as he took a sip of his Corellian ale.
"Maybe we should get going on making some credits," Carth suggested, always one to stay focused on the task at hand. "There was a Pazaak player that looked like he had a lot of credits on him near the entrance."
"Okay," agreed Keira distractedly as she downed the last of her juma juice. "That leaves me with fighting in the dueling ring!"
"No, no, no," disagreed Carth hurriedly. "You can't go out dueling intoxicated! And even if you weren't, dueling is dangerous! I won't let you risk your life just for some credits, and besides, our covers may get blown from all of the press coverage."
"But if I wore the hood on my cloak, the press wouldn't be a problem," pointed out Keira.
"And if your opponent is actually decent and blows your hood back?" skeptically replied Carth.
"Fine, I'll just keep talking to the locals that will give me the light of day," said Keira with an undertone of defeat.
Carth looked over Keira's shoulder. "Well, it looks like you have a line of them waiting behind you."
"Don't worry about me," she assured Carth when she saw the concerned look on his face. "I can handle myself around these cantina rats."
"Yeah, I guess it takes one to know one," snidely remarked Carth. Continuing as Keira made a face at him he said, "And at least you won't have to spend all of our precious credits on drinks!"
"That's the spirit!" merrily exclaimed Keira as Carth made his way to the Pazaak player Niklos.
Pazaak Room of the Upper City Cantina; Upper City North; Taris
Grimacing as he arranged his side deck, Carth began to wonder if he would actually be able to beat Niklos with the deck he had just purchased from the retired player across the room. Not even any subtraction cards? Carth thought with disdain. Glancing up at the cocky Niklos, Carth put down his wager.
"Two hundred credits?" sputtered the seasoned gambler with disbelief. Returning back to his narcissistic self he declared, "I will enjoy relieving you of your purse!"
"You'll eat those words, Niklos," shot back Carth. "Let's play."
It was a close game, much too close for Carth's liking. Carth had won three matches to two, though the Republic pilot blamed the slim margin to his limited side deck. However, he was enjoying the spectacle before him, with Niklos red in the face and muttering to himself. All of his fan girls had either left completely or were starting to drift to one of the different rooms of the cantina, just away from their once revered Pazaak champion.
"Again, off-worlder," spat out Niklos. "Double or nothing."
Carth gave him a dazzling smile of both generosity and deception. "Okay, if you insist."
It seemed like the first game was just a warm-up for Carth, as he beat Niklos again 3-1. When asked for another rematch, Carth swept the stuck-up Tarisian 3-0, leaving the table 3500 credits richer as he chuckled to himself. He always liked putting rich snobs in their place. With no other opponents left in the cantina, Carth returned to a now-empty bar.
"Excuse me, sir," Carth asked the bartender. "Where did the raven-haired woman I was with earlier go?"
"You mean the woman that brought half of the cantina's male population here and drained all of my juma juice and Corellian fire whiskey?" clarified the middle aged man.
With raised eyebrows, Carth answered, "Yeah, her. Did you see where she wandered off to, and catch how intoxicated she was?"
"I won't ever forget her," replied the bartender with awe. "She drank two bottles of juma juice and a bottle of Corellian fire whiskey without even batting an eyelash. No sir, she seemed only a little tipsy when she left the bar, and headed to the dueling ring. I can only hope she just went to place a bet, but man I would give to see her in a fight."
Uh-oh, thought Carth, his eyes darting across the cantina to the entrance of the dueling ring. He bolted from the bar and headed straight to one of arena's view screens, almost pounding his head against the screen at the sight that awaited him.
Keira was locking blades with a heartless looking blonde woman, but the odds did not look like they were on Keira's side for once. Peering over to one of the other view screen spectators he asked, "Hey, what do you know about that new duelist fighting the blonde woman now?"
The other spectator didn't even shift his gaze from his screen. "You are clearly an off-worlder if you don't know the names of all of the duelists. The blonde girl is Ice, and she's only lost to Twitch, the reigning champion of the dueling ring. The other woman goes by the name the Mysterious Stranger, and she sure is mysterious! I mean, she just started dueling today, and she's already beaten Dead-Eye, Gerlon, and Ice! All in a row! Almost everyone's placing their bets on her, but I'm starting to regret it now, she doesn't look like she's going to be able to hold out against Marl. Maybe she should've waited a day before challenging her."
Carth looked back at his own screen. The other spectator was right, Keira didn't look like she could go much longer. She was holding her side with the still mending rib injury like everything inside of her was going to fall out, and Carth could also spot that she was favoring her right ankle as well as some new cuts of varying depths scattered across her body. Why is she doing this? wondered Carth. I told her not to fight in the dueling ring! The least she could have done is waited this last fight out… He was shaken from his reverie as he gasped at the latest wound that Keira sustained, a deep cut in the thigh.
"Someone get her out of that arena! She won't make it if she isn't taken to a hospital now!" Carth called out to nobody in particular, slightly hysteric.
"Calm down, you simpleton!" brushed off the neighboring spectator. "Don't you know that the arena is equipped with special energy shields? Sure the blasters and vibroblades will hurt there, but they won't kill."
"Vibroblades and blasters, and no one ever gets killed? Why do I get a feeling you're taking me out for a ride?" Carth asked skeptically, momentarily distracted.
"Shut up! The match is just getting juicy!" silenced the spectator.
Turning back to the screen, Carth saw Keira take another blow, this time to the left arm, her sword arm. But instead of collapsing and surrendering, Keira surprised the entire audience, including Carth, by grabbing Ice with her less wounded arm, drawing her closer, and then kicking her squarely in the chest with Marl's vibroblade still lodged in her arm. With her opponent gasping for breath on the floor, Keira released the blade from her arm and began to swing wildly at her opponent until the medics rushed onto the field and the match was declared over. Marl was lucky to have escaped with all of his face. In the distraction, Keira slipped away from the view of the cameras, and reappeared in the duelist's lounge, heavily injured. Ignoring the cheering fans and Carth for the time being, she limped over to the Hutt in charge of placing bets and organizing duels.
"Alright, I beat Marl," she told the Hutt tiredly. "Just give me my cut."
"Oh, Mysterious Stranger, you never fail to disappoint!" chortled the Hutt. "Here are the credits I promised. Five hundred. If you can beat Twitch, not only will you receive a thousand credits, but you'll also be crowned champion of the dueling circuit here on Taris."
"I'll be back soon," promised Keira, hobbling her way towards Carth. He met her half way, and did as much as he could to support her.
"What were you thinking? You could've have gotten yourself killed in there! You might be dead soon if we don't get you looked at!" scolded Carth.
"Hey, I needed to get us some credits too, and there was no one useful left to talk to at the bar," wheezed Keira.
"We'll discuss this later," vowed Carth. "Now, though, we need to get you some medical attention. And I mean professional medical attention, by the look of those wounds. There's a medical facility down the street, come on," directed Carth, guiding Keira out of the cantina. Keira had no objections, mainly because she had passed out.
Medical Facility; Upper City North; Taris
Zelka Forn, a middle-aged, balding, doctor, slowly injected kolto into Keira's rib cage. Above, her left arm was already expertly stitched up, and the ankle put into a splint. Carth paced impatiently on the opposite side of the operating table, taking nervous glances at his unconscious comrade every few seconds. Another man, a slimy fellow named Gurney who claimed to be the assistant first-aider, ignored the spectacle altogether, and continued to type away on his computer console like he had since Carth had jogged inside with Keira slung across his back.
"This is as much as I can do for her here," announced Zelka as he disposed of the syringe. "With your permission, though, I would like to keep her in a kolto tank overnight to make sure she heals properly."
Carth hesitated to answer for a few seconds, weighing the urgency of the mission to rescue Bastila against Keira's health. He decided, though, that without Keira at 100%, they would never get to Bastila in time. However, just as he was about to respond, Keira stirred atop the table.
"How is she awake already?" exclaimed Zelka, alarmed. "I shot her up with enough sedatives to keep an albino kath hound docile!"
"Ugh…" groaned Keira, struggling to sit up. Carth rushed over, gently taking her shoulders to keep her lying down.
"Hey, hey, Keira, it's me, Carth," he said soothingly in an attempt to calm her.
"I… I know who you are, Carth," said Keira groggily, though Carth didn't know how she managed the edge of biting sarcasm that came with it. "We… we can't stay here. I can't stay here overnight…" she mumbled almost under her breath.
"Keira, you're just a little disoriented," tried to reason Carth. "But you have to stay here. You're way too injured to go back out there!" Deciding to give the couple some privacy, Zelka moved back towards the front of the store and began taking inventory of his meager supplies.
"Besides the dueling," began Keira, regaining some lucidity and powers of speech, "I met an interesting fellow at the bar. I found a way to get us some," she glanced at Zelka, "um, some new uniforms for work," she hinted rather lamely. However, Zelka wasn't the smartest pharmacist/first aider, so he didn't notice the blatantly obvious plan to get something that wasn't a work uniform.
"Great!" said Carth, happy that even now some progress was being made on their quest. "Just give me the directions and I'll go get the uniforms while you recover."
"You cannot be the one to get these uniforms, Carth. The..." Keira paused, trying to quickly come up with some way to reveal her plan stealthily but obviously enough so that Carth would get it. "The drycleaner is interested in more than just some business. He wants to see the customer face to face," she tried to hint. By the look on Carth's face, Keira's message was less than decipherable. Frustrated, she continued to struggle to get up, this time successfully able to lean upright against the back storeroom door. As she painfully pushed herself to stand without support, the lock on the door beeped loudly ACCESS DENIED.
"Hey, what are you two doing back there!" cried Zelka, racing back to the door while glancing at the front entrance frantically. "That room is off-limits! Medical personnel only!"
Pretending that she hadn't accidentally triggered the alarm on the door, Keira smoothly assured the overworked doctor. "Don't worry, Zelka, you can trust us with whatever's behind this door." Ignoring Zelka's protests, she nodded to Carth to pick the lock. When he stubbornly refused to, she made a mental note to talk some sense into him later and bashed the lock off with her uninjured arm. What they found shocked even Keira. The limp bodies of Republic soldiers from the Spire were the last thing either of the survivors was expecting. Though Keira had distanced herself from almost everyone on the ship, Carth rushed up to one of the kolto tanks containing a middle-aged but well-toned man.
"Captain Nozwick…" murmured Carth, putting his hand up to the glass.
"Wait, you know these people?" exclaimed Zelka. The doctor was smart enough to close the door behind him before continuing. "Then that means you are also friends of the Republic!"
"Yes, we were stationed with these soldiers on the Endar Spire," said Carth. "Can… can you tell me how you came to care for them?"
Zelka smiled kindly. "Ever since the space battle overhead, people have been secretly bringing these soldiers. They knew that I would care for noble soldiers of the Republic. However, they were all already in bad shape when I got them. The only thing I can do now is keep them comfortable for their last few days."
"Well, for that you have our thanks," said Keira from the far corner of the room, surprising the men. "No one deserves to be left to die like that."
"No they do not, Miss," agreed Zelka.
"Oh, now that we all know we favor the Republic cause, I can tell you that plan Carth!" remembered Keira. "I met a Sith soldier in the cantina, and he and his buddies are having a party tonight in some apartment in Upper City South. He doesn't seem like the responsible type, and I figured we could get some of their uniforms while they're partying."
"A party? That's your plan to get into the Lower City?" asked Carth with disbelief.
"Well, the guy was a coreslime. If the rest of his friends are all like that, getting their uniforms will be easy! And it's not like they can tell their superiors that they lost their uniforms at a wild party," reasoned Keira.
"Fine, but I'm coming with you," insisted Carth. "You can't go to a Sith party all by yourself."
"No, they'll get suspicious if I bring you," refused Keira. "While I get the uniforms, you can just search the other apartments for supplies like our complex."
"You know what, let's just drop the subject till we get there," said Carth, not willing to give up but not seeing any openings in the argument either.
"Why do you two need to get to the Lower City anyway?" asked Zelka.
"Well, actually we need to get to the Under City to search a few of the Republic escape pods," answered Carth. "But we figured the Lower City is a good start."
"Well, if you find a rakghoul serum, could you please bring it to me?" pleaded Zelka.
Keira nodded knowingly. "The Sith have the serum to prevent those horrible mutations, but they won't share it?"
"How did you know?" asked the amazed Zelka.
"Typical Sith," Carth and Keira said in unison.
Apartment Building; Upper City South; Taris
Carth had to admit, Keira cleaned up nicely. Though she was only wearing a military suit, combat pants, and her signature cloak, she managed to wear it as though she was in cocktail dress. No evidence of her dueling marathon was visible, though her occasional grimace said otherwise. The loud music pulsed from the Sith apartment, and Carth was still reluctant to let Keira go into that snake's nest alone.
"At least let me come with you!" repeated Carth. "You can do all the talking, it's just that I don't trust those kath hounds."
"Carth, from what I can tell, and trust me, I'm good at reading people, you're just not a social person," stated Keira matter-of-factly, patting Carth on the shoulder. "You would blow our cover in an instant." Leaving no room for argument, she thrust a bag into Carth's hands. "Just gather supplies and wait for me outside the complex. I'll be in and out in two hours tops."
Not waiting for a response, she turned around and entered the party.
**2 Hours Later**
Carth twitched impatiently outside of the apartment complex, glancing at his watch. It had been two hours, and Keira hadn't showed up yet. Gripping the bag, he switched its weight to his opposite shoulder. The apartments in the southern part of the city had proved to be more bountiful, having more credits, medpacs, and arms than their own apartment complex. Better yet, the sniveling wannabe nobles let him take everything without putting up a fight. Keira was right, they needed the supplies more than the Tarisians who hoarded them. The door behind him suddenly slid open, and a stumbling Keira emerged with two bundles of armor clutched to her stomach. Holding her shoulder to steady her, Carth noticed something amiss.
"Hey… I… I got the uniforms…" slurred Keira. "But I decided to get… decided to get the armor instead of the gray ones so that our faces would be covered…"
"Uh, great," congratulated Carth halfheartedly. "What's up with you? I've seen you drink double your weight in Tarisian ale, so that can't be it."
"Let's start walking… and then I'll tell you," insisted Keira, as she headed back towards the direction of their apartment.
Reluctantly, Carth followed, peppering her with questions. "It's not alcohol, Keira, so tell me what happened! Is it your wounds?"
Grinning, Keira replied, sobering up a little, "You could say that. The minute I walked into that hellhole of a party, the Sith were downing the Tarisian ale like water,-"
"Like you do," piped in Carth.
Giving him a scathing glare, Keira continued. "Yes, well, anyway, most of the Sith were already passing out from the alcohol. I figured, soon enough, the rest would pass out too and I could just snatch the uniforms and split. But, there were a few burly looking guys in the corner smoking, well, I don't know, some sort of spice, and they just wouldn't go down. I knew I wasn't in shape to fight all of them, so I joined in their smoking until they passed out. Did wonders for my pain too," revealed Keira. "Then I just took the uniforms and left."
Carth was beside himself. "You smoked spice in order to get two Sith uniforms?"
"Yup," happily replied Keira.
Carth remained silent for a long time, until eventually saying, "Well, I can't say I agree with your methods, but at least your work paid off."
They continued to walk in silence for a few minutes until they heard a scuffle in a side alleyway. Curious, they decided to take a peek.
"Davik says you missed your last payment," drawled a tall human toting a blaster rifle.
"Davik doesn't like you missing payments!" growled an Aqualish.
"Here! I've got fifty credits right here! That's a down payment! That will buy me some time, won't it!" groveled an elderly human.
"Sorry, but you're out of chances, old man. It's all or nothing now. Davik can't have people not paying off their debts. It's bad business," informed the human with false regret.
"But I don't have that much! How can I pay Davik credits that I don't have!" tried to reason the old man.
"Stop trying to be smart, human!" warned the Aqualish. "Davik wants to make an example of you. Come with us."
"No! Help, somebody help! They're going to kill me!" desperately cried out the old man.
"I know that we're trying to keep a low profile, and you're not physically recovered yet, but can we just stand here and let them take that man?" whispered Carth to Keira, who now seemed perfectly sober and alert.
"Alright, I'll see what we can do," said Keira reluctantly. "Though, really, if he can't pay back his debts like a responsible sentient being, I don't think he deserves it." Waving her vibrosword at the two thugs, Keira yelled. "Hey you two, I think you need to pick on someone your own age!"
The two enforcers whirled around at the unexpected voice. Seeing only an injured woman waving a vibrosword, they relaxed.
"Hehe, looks like we get to make another example out of you!" laughed the human, spitting shots out of his blaster rifle wildly.
"Tarisians," reproached Keira as she ignored her pain to run over and knock the rifle out of the thug's hands. "All guns and violence until they actually have to kill someone." She slowly ran her sword from the puzzled thug's waist to his chin, sadistically taking pleasure in his slow death as Carth shot the other thug down.
Ignoring Keira, Carth rushed over to check on the old man. "Are you alright, sir?"
"Yes, yes, I'm okay thanks to you!" gratefully replied the old man.
"You're welco-" began Carth, as he was cut off by Keira.
"Why did you need that money anyway?" she inquired.
"Um, nothing you'd want to be bothered with, miss," assured the man.
"I think you should tell the truth," she threatened, dangerously pressing the tip of her vibrosword to the man's chin.
"Keira! Stop it! He's only an old man!" cried Carth.
"Carth, he's just some stranger we met in an alleyway. Don't you think he could be suspicious too?" reasoned Keira. Shifting her gaze back to the man, she continued her interrogation, slowly increasing the pressure of her sword against the man's flesh, "What were you doing with that money?"
"I—I needed the money for gambling," confessed the man. "I just thought that if I got lucky just once, that I'd be able to bribe the Sith into letting me leave the planet."
"Just what I thought," scoffed Keira. "Another greedy Tarisian." Still increasing the pressure of her sword, she began to draw the man's blood.
"Keira…" said Carth, not wanting to see what was coming next, but unable to look away. "Everyone has their gambling problems…"
"Yeah, well, they don't need to get others to rescue them when they get into money trouble," she shot back, looking down at the quivering man with disdain.
"Please, you don't have to do this," desperately pleaded the old man.
Keira held her blade in place, silently contemplating whether this man really did deserve to have his life taken away in that alleyway. Yes, he had used them to protect himself from the thugs, but it wasn't like he had premeditated it. In a time of need, Keira would have also hoped for someone to save her if she asked. However… she didn't plan on needing the help of a stranger in situations like these. Common thugs could easily be dispatched, and those that couldn't should never have gotten involved with them in the first place. It was one thing to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but to borrow money from a notorious crime lord was just being stupid.
"You didn't need to gamble," stated Keira with harsh finality as she thrust the blade through the man's head. Carth felt the bile rise in his throat as he watched Keira disgustedly pull her sword out of the man's head and wipe his entrails on his clothes.
"What was the point of that?" angrily asked Carth when he regained his composure, which wasn't until they had entered their apartment. "He wasn't going to hurt anyone!"
"He used us as his own personal bodyguards when he should've dealt with his problems by himself," coldly replied Keira.
"You have your drinking problem!" pointed out Carth.
"It's not a problem, Carth, if it doesn't get in the way of anyone else," flung back Keira, upset at being put on the defensive.
"Well, maybe before you go around killing people because of their flaws, you should deal with yours," spat Carth, moving to sleep on the makeshift bed on the ground.
Keira was silent, taken aback by Carth's harsh yet true words. However, he didn't seem in the mood to talk more about it, so she went to sleep, trying to heal all of her wounds.