AN: Sorry, completely forgot about uploading this. I think I need to put it into a regular reminder or something. My deepest apology.


Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

Taris

Part Seven

Someone was running around the corner, just behind the rubble. The person breathed quite heavily. There were a few trips over the pebbles and debris on the ground but he or she didn't seem to mind at all; he or she simply staggered a little but carried on-obviously a sign of being in a big hurry. Skye and Carth couldn't see it from where they were, but judging from the steps, it was a young person.

They exchanged a somewhat alarmed look; both quietly pulled out their weapons and pointed them towards the source of the running steps.

Surely enough, within seconds a young alien girl-a Twi'lek to be precise-sprinted into view. She had a skin colour of a slightly darker blue than Skye's, piercings on her left eyebrow and her nose, and cute dimples on both cheeks. She was the very person they'd been hoping to bump into: the Twi'lek girl Mission.

"THANK GOODNESS! There is someone here!" Mission yelled out almost as soon as she spotted them. She was in hysterics. Her body was shaking and she was on the verge of breaking down in tears. "Please, please help me! Help me! You will help me, won't you? PLEASE, you've got to help me! You've got to…you…"

"Wow, calm down, young lady!" Carth kindly held Mission's shoulder to steady her. "What's going on?"

"…Hey, I know you two! You were the up-worlders in the Cantina…Well, screw that for the moment. You two are gonna help me, right? This is a state of emergency…" Mission panted and looked at them desperately.

"What's the matter?" Skye asked.

"It's Zalbaar...he's..." Tears began to pour out of Mission's eyes. "He's…" She couldn't finish.

"Mission, you need to calm down," said Carth gently. "What's wrong with Zalbaar?"

"Zalbaar…" Mission took a deep breath, wiped the tears off her face and tried all her best to reply calmly. "We were at the sewers, you know, just cruising, looking for something exciting, some action, like we always have. All of the sudden those Gamorreans came out of nowhere and then the next thing we knew, we were ambushed. I think they had been planning to get us there on purpose… Well, normally if there was just one Big Z could handle those damn things himself. But this time there were just so many of them! Big Z just jumped at them and yelled at me: 'RUN.' Well, I did. I took off! I thought he would be right behind me! BUT THEY GOT HIM! THEY ARE GOING TO SELL HIM AS A SLAVE THIS TIME, I KNOW IT!" She began to sob again.

"There, there, don't panic." Carth kindly wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "We will help you out. We didn't say we wouldn't, did we?"

"You…you will?" Mission peeked through her hands that'd been covering her face.

"Where did they take him, do you know?" Skye asked.

"They have a base somewhere in the lower part of the sewers, I think." Mission sniffed. "I heard they had a base there. They might take him there for the time being."

"All right, then, we will go there!" Skye patted her shoulder.

"You… you will? Oh, gee, thank you so much. I was so worried that no one would help me. I can't let them take Big Z away like that. He's my best friend, you know. Those villagers aren't exactly a match when it comes to Gamorreans." Mission gave them a weak smile.

"Show us the way, Mission," Carth smiled.

"This way, guys." Mission pointed at a door in the distance. "Oh, in case you haven't been warned. There are a few large groups of rakghouls that usually hang around that area. Careful there."

Surely enough, within minutes they were attacked by two groups of rakghouls. By the time they had managed to clear out all of them, they were all covered with cuts and bruises.

"Blast, I hate those bloody rakghouls," Carth complained as he injected a dose of medpac into his lower leg. They were all sitting down against the wall of a collapsed building, taking some rest.

"Tell me about it. They are awfully annoying, aren't they?" Mission gently prodded ther bruise on her elbow and winced. Obviously it really hurt. "Zalbaar usually took care of those things when he was around… Force, I truly hope he's all right..."

"Misssion," Skye said slowly. "We've met Gadon."

"Decent old bloke, isn't he?" Mission flashed her a smirk.

"He wanted us to sneak into the Vulkars base for him," Skye continued, "to get the prototype accelerator back."

"He did? Hm…" Mission frowned. "I suppose he reckoned you two were up-worlders so it would be easier to get past the guards."

"Yes, and he recommended you to be the guide to lead us in through the sewers." Carth pointed at Mission.

"'Course. I am the one and only person is capable of doing that." Mission nodded confidently. "Those sewers are like my own backyard! No problem; I will do that as soon as we get Big Z out."

"You will?" Carth seemed surprised.

"Piece of cake. I know exactly where their entrance are in the sewers." Mission patted herself assertively.

"Speaking of which, how did you two end up hanging around the Lower City together anyway?" Carth queried. "It's not exactly a common sight."

"Oh, that." Mission grinned. "That is a long story. We kind of bumped into each other and...we just clicked. You know... I will explain this to you once we get Big Z out."

"Right."

They continued their journey further down the track and more vicious and aggressive rakghouls followed. Finally, they came to another open ground.

Surprisingly, there were no rakghouls in sight.

There was someone there, but not rakghouls, nor Gamorreans. Under the dim lights, Skye could see they each had a blaster rifle in their hands. Some of them had huge sacks on their backs.

They were human.

"Crap." Skye heard Mission curse under her breath. "The Exchange kath hounds."

One of them noticed their presence. He spun around and pointed his rifle towards them. "Don't…don't go any further...I am warning you, I...I…I'll shoot!"

"Want to try?" Carth wasn't very impressed with the warning. He pulled out his blaster and pointed it at the person's head.

Mission let out a snort-like laughter; obviously she wasn't impressed either.

"All right, that's enough. Cut the crap, will you? The last thing I want is more unnecessary fighting," some familiar voice cut in. A man emerged from the stone monument-like structure nearby. He had a Bothan stun stick in one hand and a blaster in another. There were several splashes of glue-like greenish liquid on his shirt, which Skye identified at once as rakghouls' blood.

Skye also immediately recognized the hawk eyes and spiky hair. Her sapphire eyes narrowed.

It was Canderous, the Mandalorian they had seen in the Lower City.

"Oh, it's you two." Canderous nodded towards Skye and Carth, clearly remembering them from the episode in the Lower City as well. "Right, if you are here for the escape pod, forget it. I suggest you turn around and go back. Not that we are greedy or anything, it just that someone's already here before us. And I have some clear ideas on who might that be."

"The crash site is near?" Carth gave him an raised eyebrow.

"What? You are not here for the escape pods? Then what are you doing here, sight-seeing?" Canderous chuckled. "Everyone here on Taris knows about the escape pod crashes and pretty much every gang I can point my finger at are fighting to get their hands on whatever was in there. Now…" He turned around and looked at the area behind him. "Davik isn't going to be happy about this. The Vulkars have already been here by the looks of things…so the rumours were true then…"

" Urh...Chief?" One of his gang interrupted him with hesitation. "…I think I spotted some rakghouls, over there…in the shadows…"

Skye turned towards where the gang pointed at and surely enough, there were groups of rakghouls not very far away from them. It looked like they already spotted them. They began to make aggressive noises and charge towards their direction.

"Jolly good!" Canderous loaded his blasters and shouted. "'K, fellas, walking rotten meat ahead, get your gear ready!"

Canderous' fighting ability was impressively good. Skye watched him slashing away at those monsters almost single-handedly, while his companions were having troubles even holding their rifles straight. Skye, Carth, and Mission ended up having to spend most of their time fending off those beasts for them.

"Bloody Gizka!" Canderous cursed when they finished off all the rakghouls. "That's it! FELLAS, we are off! I can't baby sit you people by myself. Told Davik it wouldn't work, but he refused to listen to me. Now look at this bloody mess…" He kicked the dead Exchange companion's body. "Better head back before I lose everyone."

The remaining Exchange party looked visibly relieved when they heard this. Mission let out a chuckle and tried to hide the teasing grin on her face. Skye swore she heard Carth remark 'Sissy' under his breath.

"I suggest you do the same. This place isn't exactly a tourist attraction," said Canderous seriously before he was off with the Exchange party.

Skye gazed at the dark shadow on the other side of the openings, where there seemed to be a lot of smoke coming out from the top. "…Do you think that was the crash site?"

Carth tilted his head towards the direction she was looking at. "Shall we?"

Without further ado, the three of them quickly sprinted towards the shadow. As they drew near, they found it was indeed what they've been looking for: the escape pod crash site.

It was like a war zone. There were burn marks everywhere. Small piles of debris were still burning here and there-things that the salvage party didn't want scattered all over the place. Dead humans, aliens, and rakghoul bodies were splattered on the walls, on the ground, or even hanging down from some bigger chunks of debris. There was a hug crack in the middle of the site, and right in the center, in the mist of all the chaos, was the very thing they'd been looking for-the escape pods.

Carth hurried forward and jumped off the edge of the crack. He approached the pod cautiously, with his blaster rifle loaded in his hands. Skye and Mission followed.

"…Nothing." He looked inside the pod. "Blast! They stripped this pretty clean!"

"Nothing much here, either." Mission swiftly moved to the other escape pod nearby and peeked inside. "Those bloody Vulkars left pretty much nothing behind…"

"How do you know it's the Vulkars?" Carth glanced at her with query. "These might be those Exchange kath hounds' masterpiece."

"Oh, please. Did you hear what that merc said?" Mission threw her eyes heavenwards. "What exactly are you two looking for anyway?"

Skye didn't answer. She examined a piece of soft fabric attached at the edge of the escape pod. It was of brown colour. Somehow it reminded her a lot of the Jedi she saw on the Endar Spire

"What kind of clothes did Bastila wear?" She turned around her head and asked Carth.

"Force, I don't know…" Carth scratched his head. "Clothes?"

Mission chuckled and mumbled: "Men! They never pay attention to details…Goodness, 'clothes,' my arse..." She wandered off a bit farther to have a closer look at the pile of odd-looking debris.

Skye smiled and quietly put the fabric into her pocket. She was about to call out for Carth and Mission to leave the site when she heard someone, or something stirring not very far from them.

She immediately drew out her blaster and pointed in that direction. "Who's there?!"

Carth twisted his head around quickly and also pointed his rifle towards the same direction, while Mission pulled out her bothan stun stick and stared at them with alarm.

A small figure slowly emerged from the shadows with both hands up in the air. "Please don't shoot, I am not one of those monsters…not yet…"

Skye put her blaster down slightly and looked at him with a frown. She recognised this person. He was with her on the iEndar Spire, his name was…

"…Giles," she said quietly.

"Hey, you are that Twik from the iEndar Spire! Excellent!" Giles gave them what seemed to be the first smile he had in days. "They left me here to die! You guys have got to help me before it's too late!"

"What's happening to you?" Carth asked.

"I was bitten by one of those ugly fellas after the escape pod was crashed." Giles pointed at his bloodstained shirt. "They charged right straight at us as soon as we manage to open the jammed door, taking out most of my mates at once. I was the only survivor in my pod! When those gangsters came, they found out what happened to me and decided not to take me. They left me here to die! Now, can you guys help? I understand the mutation process is about to start any minute now. I don't want to become one of them." He pointed at the dead rakghouls a few meters away from them and shot them a couple of horrified glares.

"…I suppose we can." Skye hesitated for a moment before she opened the pouch on her waist and drew out the rakghoul serum. They had found those on a severely chewed Sith officer body and had been planing to give it to Zelka. There was plenty for her to help Giles and keep the promise she had given to Zelka. It just that her last contact with him onboard the Endar Spire was not a particularly pleasant one, and she was quite reluctant to assist him.

"Gee, thanks, guys!" Giles quickly took the serum capsule and injected it into his body immediately.

Carth gave Skye a raised eyebrow and whispered: "What had he done to you?"

"Wha-what?"

"For a moment you looked like you wanted to shoot him with that blaster in your hands instead of giving him that serum." Carth's auburn eyes gazed at her.

"…You wouldn't want to know."

"That unpleasant, huh?"

Skye shrugged but did not reply.

Giles gave them a fake grin before heading off towards the direction of the Under City village. "Thank you guys…huh… I suppose I owe you an apology, huh…what is your name, sorry?"

"Skye Imarr," replied Skye coldly. "Before you go, there is something I want to ask you."

"Huh, all right. Ask away." Gile looked terribly nervous and frightened.

"Did you come across a Jedi name Bastila when you were onboard?" Skye queried.

"Ba-who?" Giles' face was puzzled.

"…Never mind." Skye waved her hands, indicating for him to go away.

"Doesn't look like he knows anything," commented Carth as he watched Giles wander off. "He might not have been in the same escape pod as Bastila."

"Perhaps," Skye shrugged. "Well, in that case, there isn't much here for us to dwell on. I suppose we'd better move-"

Her words were cut off by a sudden heart-wrenching scream. It came from the far side of the opening, just a few meters away from the gate. Skye turned her head towards the direction with alarm and tried to figure out who might that be.

"Don't bother." Mission sighed and patted her shoulder. "That was Giles. Looks like he didn't make it."

Skye turned her head back and closed her eyes, trying very hard not to think about the unfortunate fellow's last moments.