Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Seranna's Story

Chapter Two

She woke up, only this time, there was no explosions nor any ship around her. Furthermore the hangover she was having had not subsided, and her head hurt even more. "Ugh! That is the last time I drink on a Republic Warship... ever."

"I'll say, you took quite a bump too." The man in the room stated. "I'm Carth Onasi, and I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up." Seranna lied back down in the bed. "Now I wish I hadn't." Carth chuckled a bit. "Let me guess, you smuggled Corellian ale onboard?" Seranna responded. "Yep." He responded with some reassurance. "Here, something to dull the pain." He administered a drug, and it helped somewhat. "Thanks, you're not as bad as what the scuttlebutt says about you Onasi." Carth chuckled.

"We're in an abandoned apartment on the upper city of Taris, and when we landed, you were out cold. I managed to get you in here before the Sith showed up." He stated to which Seranna responded. "Guess I owe you my life." She mentioned. "You don't have to thank me, I don't leave people behind. Besides, I'm going to need your help." Seranna rubbed her head.

"Taris is under Sith control. They've blockaded the planet, declared martial law, and imposed a planet-wide quarantine." Seranna spoke, "Do I owe the Sith money now?"

"No it's not because of you Kal'ven, it's because of Bastila." Seranna looked up with surprise. "Alright, one Jedi is worth blockading an entire planet and declaring martial law?"

"She's not an ordinary Jedi, she has some kind of 'gift' called 'Battle Meditation'. Through the force, she can inspire her allies to fight, and cause her opponents to loose confidence, and that can decide a battle real quickly. She's going to have half the Sith looking for her, which is why we need to find her and get her off Taris." Carth checked Seranna once again, "You sure you're alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just had a strange dream. Jedi fighting Sith." She stated. "I'm fine, just let that painstim kick in and I'll be up in no time." Carth smiled a bit and then he spoke, "You remind me of my wife after she had one too many drinks one time. Oh, I had to work extra hard getting her in a good mood the next morning." Seranna responded, "Oh yeah, what did you have to do?"

"Coruscantii Chocolates. The universal method of calming women down." Carth responded. Seranna laughed a bit, "Yep, you're a charmer alright." She stood up and walked over to a maintenance table. She picked up her blaster. "Where do we stand on firepower?" She asked.

"That blaster, a few cortosis swords, and my dual blasters." Carth stated. "If we're going to look for the jedi princess, we'll need something a bit heavier than just three blaster pistols." Seranna pointed out "There's a couple of vendors here in the upper city, but I haven't had a chance to check them out. I was mostly concerned about getting kolto injectors for you."

Seranna spoke, "Where do we stand on Creds?" Carth answered with a smirk. "Flat broke." Seranna responded, "Well, I'm pretty good at hustling people at pazaak. Maybe I can fish up few good marks."

"Wow, you are something. But you might be exactly what the Republic needs here." Carth remarked with a smirk. "Makes me wonder what else you're good at?" Seranna returned the smile. "You'll see."

Carth and Seranna exited the apartment to find themselves in a middle of a Sith Raid. It wasn't too big, just two battledroids and one sith officer. "Ok you alien scum, up against the wall, this is a raid." A couple of Duros back-talked the sith and one of them wished he hadn't. The officer blasted him for no reason. "Wait, Humans hiding with Aliens?" He said with surprise. "They're republic fugitives, attack!" Seranna drew her blaster and put a bolt into the officers head, Carth dealt with the two battledroids quickly with his dual blasters." The trio were dealt with quickly.

"Poor Ixgil, He shouldn't have talked back to that Sith. Thanks for that Human." Seranna responded. "No Prob, glad we could help. You think you can clean up here? We kinda don't want to be noticed by them."

"Don't worry about the bodies, I'll move them someplace else. It should throw the Sith off track." The Duros responded as Seranna walked forward and began seaching the bodies. "Nice, these sith have some good stuff." She said as she picked up a blaster rifle. They then moved further down the circular hallway within the building they were in, and Seranna took a look outside one of the viewports. "Whoa, I've never been to Taris, and it's a little like Coruscant." She noted.

Carth spoke up, "Coruscant dose not have racist government, dueling rings, or Davik Kang." He noted. "Taris is both the cream, and the crud of the galaxy. Sure it looks nice in the upper city, but wait till you get to the lower city. It's ruled by Swoop Gangs down there. Then there's the undercity. They say the Tarisian System of Justice is not one for mercy."

"Lovely," Seranna noted. "'Join the Republic Fleet, see the galaxy, battle against Sith and Mandalorians in an epic struggle for survival.'" She stated as they walked. But Carth did not respond to that quip, and it somewhat disturbed Seranna. "Did I upset you Carth? I didn't mean to." She stated. "I fought in the Mandalorian Wars. And I've never seen anything like what these Sith have unleashed. Not even the Mandalorians were this senseless." Carth said that in somewhat of a angered tone.

"I'm sorry Carth," Carth spoke with his hand held up. "No, it's alright. It's just an old and open wound. I'll tell you more about it later."

Seranna walked into, what appeared to be, some sort of club not far from the Apartment that they decided to hide out in. And they had everything here. She wondered if she could get a drink here, but for now, she decided they needed credits.

There was always Pazaak, but that required credits to begin with, so she looked around more. She really wanted to try out Tarisian Ale, but this was no time to mess around. So, she ventured into another wing of the club to find herself in a room, surrounded by monitors, and several people with weapons in the middle. "Hey, it's starting!" One of the spectator's noted. Seranna moved over to the screens.

On one of them, two people stepped into some kind of dueling ring. And the announcer giving them a rousing introduction. Suddenly one of them drew a blaster, and one of them almost drew a blaster, but dropped it to the ground. When he picked it up, he got shot. Seranna chuckled, "Talk about your run of bad luck." She noted. It did not take long for the duelists involved to show up again in the club. Apparently, one of them, who's nickname was 'Deadeye Duncan', was not as ominous as she first thought. He had terrible coordination, a blaster that did not have a good grip to prevent slipping. "Wow, a moisture farmer millitia would have a field day with you." She mentioned.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." He mentioned. She motioned over to the Hutt, who was for all intents and purposes, running the Arena. "So, is this where we place bets?" She asked the Hutt. "The betting window's closed. People are tired of seeing the same duelists all the time. It's bad for business unless you want to fight. We need a new face in the dueling ring, human. You look like you can hold your own, so do you want to step into the dueling ring?"

Seranna smirked, "Oh yeah, risk my neck for money? Then again, I always risk my neck for money. Or maybe a little fun. Sign me up." Carth spoke, "Vibroblades and Blasters? How come no one ever dies?"

"We've got a suppressor field in place. Weapons hurt, but they do not kill. So, are you still interested?" The hutt asked? Seranna responded, "Even better."

"Alright, you need an Arena name. How about the Mysterious Stranger?" Seranna frowned. "That's a horrible name." Carth suddenly interjected. "It might be a good idea, just in case the Sith came across the Endar Spire's crew manifest." Seranna sighed, "Alright, Mysterious Stranger it is."

Seranna and Deadeye stood their ground in the Dueling ring, and the announcer introduced her, 'Mysterious Stranger', and the guy that got blasted during the last duel. She rolled her eyes. That hutt had set her up with this looser. She wanted a little bit more of a Challenge.

Deadeye tried drawing his blaster, and Seranna shot the blaster out of his hand. She kept on shooting it across the arena, and the field didn't cause too much damage to the blaster. She walked over and knocked Deadeye to the ground with the back of her hand as he was fumbling for his blaster. This only caused the crowd to cheer even more. She picked up the blaster and took a look at it. "Czerka P-441. It's a cheap knockoff of Blastec's DL-21. They were pulled from the market because of a defective prefire chamber. Czerka also didn't balance the weapon's weight very good. Causing it to be unwieldy in combat. The grip is a cheap hydroplas that is well known for slipping when wet. Especially with sweat." Deadeye got up and charged at Seranna. She evaded a punch and then tripped deadeye quite easily. "And you don't have a hint of military training with you. You were trained by second-rate mercs, weren't you? The military teaches you never to just attack, but to evaluate your chances of success. Which is what you should be doing right now. Go home Duncan, for your own sake." Seranna turned toward the Arena's exit.

"Well.. Deadeye is down again. But really, are any of us surprised? You'll have to do better than that Stranger."