Seven.
—
"Please! You have to help me!"
Eva and Carth ran to meet the girl halfway, already anxiously fearing the worst.
"Are you alright? Did they bite you?" Eva asked, looking over the teenager in her arms for signs of infection while Carth dutifully kept watch incase anything had followed her out of the sewers
Mission shook her head. "It's Zaalbar. He's in trouble- big trouble! We have to help him. If we don't they'll sell him into slavery!"
"It's alright, Mission." Carth said. He turned to face them once he was sure they were safe enough and placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "We'll do whatever we can to help, just tell us what happened."
"Me…me and Zaalbar were just wandering around here in the Undercity. You know, looking for stuff we could find, just kind of exploring. We do it all the time." They waited for her to continue. "Only this time they were waiting for us."
"Who? Who was waiting for you?"
"Gamorrean slave hunters! We didn't even have a chance to run. Big Z threw himself at them, and he roared for me to run! I... I took off; I figured Zaalbar would be right behind me. But there were too many of them – he couldn't get away. They're going to sell him to a slaver – I just know it"
"Do you know where they would have taken him?" Carth asked, already re-calibrating his gun.
"There's only one place down here that could hold him, but we got to go now— before they move him!"
"Show us the way," Eva said, already heading towards the sewers.
—
Just as Carth had suspected, Mission's panicked retreat had attracted a lot of unwanted attention. The sewers were already filled with a horde of rakghouls ready to attack anything that moved. Fortunately for our trio, Eva was faster, and more than ready to slice through anything that even so much as dared to look their way.
Carth might have found this new maternal streak endearing if he wasn't already busy worrying about her injured side. She showed no hesitation—throwing herself in danger's path until the line of rakghouls ran out and the pack of Gamorreans appeared just to be cut down in the same fashion.
Mission ran past them to the only locked door in the area, and with the most immediate dangers out of the way began chatting, "The sewers is the only place you'll see a manual lock like this on Taris."
She fidgeted with something in her pocket, pulling out a tool, "I've rigged up a little device that should do the trick."
"Impressive," Eva mused quietly.
"You're a sight for sore eyes, Mission." Zaalbar growled as the door slid open and the Wookiee stepped out.
"I'm glad to see you too, Big Z!" Mission jumped into his embrace. "You didn't think I'd forget about you- Mission and Zaalbar forever!"
"Who are these people with you?"
"You remember Eva and Carth, from the Cantina? I never could have got you out without them."
Zaalbar turned to them and growled his thanks.
"What did he say? Carth asked, turning to Mission, but it was Eva who answered.
"He thanks us for saving him from a life of servitude and slavery, and he wishes to swear a lifedebt to us."
"A lifedebt? Are you sure about that, Big Z?" Mission asked, surprised.
Zaalbar nodded, and Mission turned to make sure Eva and Carth knew the importance of such a vow. "A lifedebt is the most solemn vow a Wookiee can make. It means he'll stay by your side for the rest of your life!"
"I am honoured to accept your vow." Eva said, bowing deeply to her new Wookiee companion.
"I guess this means you're stuck with me too." Mission said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Wherever Big Z goes, I'm going. I almost lost him today—it's not going to happen again."
"I'm glad to have you on board, Mission." Eva said. "You're first job as part of the team is to show us how to get into the Vulkar base— Gadon said you might know a back way."
"Oh, of course!" Mission said, happy to be part of a team that needed her skills. "It's past this force field the Vulkars put up— I'm one of the only non-Vulkars on Taris who can get you past it!"
Mission rushed ahead to the force field, Zaalbar right behind her. Carth and Eva trailed slightly behind.
"Lifedebt, huh?" Carth asked before giving her a one-over. "How's your side?"
"It's fine."
"You really let those Gamorreans have it."
Eva shrugged, "They shot first."
"Sure," Carth nodded. "How do you think Bastila will react to the new additions to our crew?"
"She'll get over it." Eva said, unbothered.
—
When they caught up to Mission and Zaalbar, she was already typing away at the security terminal across from the force field.
"Lucky for us I managed to pick the proper codes off the pockets of a Black Vulkar who had a little too much to drink in the Cantina one night. I'll get that energy shield down in a matter of—there!" The force field fell and Mission turned around with a smile. "Now all we have to worry about is the rancor."
Carth took a deep breath and sighed.
"A rancor. Of course there's a rancor. Why wouldn't there be a rancor…" He muttered to himself as they all continued through the sewers.
"I was able to sneak past it before, so I'm sure we'll figure something out." Mission said. "That is, unless you want to change your mind."
"That's not really an option. Gadon needs his prototype accelerator, and we need Gadon's help to find our friend." Eva explained.
"Okay then, off we go." Mission said, skipping to the front to lead the party deeper into the sewers.
—
They knew they had reached the rancor den when they could smell the stench of death. A severed arm laid at the entrance of the den, a putrid vail in its hand.
"Ugh, what is that?" Mission asked, holding her nose.
"Rancor bait." Eva said after a quick whiff. "Seems it worked too well…Anybody got a grenade?"
Zaalbar held out his satchel, making Eva grin widely when she peaked inside.
"Perfect."
Carth narrowed his eyes, "Eva, what are you—"
"Stay here." Eva winked, before activating the stealth field generator he didn't realize she still had, and disappearing into the rancors den.
"Shit."
"Now what?" Mission asked.
"Now, you stay here." Carth ordered.
Zaalbar immediately nodded, grabbing Mission so she couldn't run off.
"Hey!" She grumbled, but Carth was already heading into the rancors den after his invisible companion.
His steps were slow and measured, his brain already trying to figure out what Eva was up to and how he could pull her back to safety before one or both of them ended up like any of the other numerous corpses decaying around them. He kept his blaster trained on the rancor on the far side of the room, watching as the beast clawed at the door they needed to get through.
He was glad his training had included spotting the subtle indicators of stealth fields. He breathed a sigh of relief when he caught the shimmer of refracted light out of the corner of his eye. She was hunched over right in the middle of the bone pit in the center of the room. He was about to call out to her, when suddenly she stood, and let the stealth field drop.
"Eva—"
"HEY! UGLY! YOU WANT A PIECE OF THIS?"
Carth froze as the rancor slowly turned around to find the source of the noise. Eva was loudly brandishing the severed arm above her head, baiting the rancor to charge towards her, and charge towards her it did.
"FuckingHELL EVA!" Carth reached out to pull her back. The room shook with each crashing step the rancor took towards them.
"COME AND GET IT YOU OVERGROWN SPACE POTATO!" Eva yelled, throwing the severed arm right into the rancors face before pushing Carth on to the ground.
This was it. The moment they would be eaten alive… or at least that was what Carth thought right before the room erupted into hot flames.
—
"That. Was. AMAZING!" Mission yelled, running out into the den to inspect the newly charred rancor corpse. Zaalbar followed with his crossbow up incase the beast wasn't really dead.
Eva slowly rolled off her companion, grunting as she held her side. "That...may have been a mistake."
"You think?" Carth glared as he pulled himself up and turned to give her a hand.
"Mhmmm, yup. Definitely a mistake." She groaned as he held her up and began walking her past the rancor corpse, through the door door on the other end of it's den.
"I told you not to overexert yourself." Carth set her down against a wall in the corridor they now were gathered it. "If you ripped any of my stitches, I'm going to be pissed."
"No rips, only bruising and excruciating pain." Eva assured, though Carth still checked for himself. Satisfied, he sunk down beside her and sighed in relief.
"We really need to find you a better outlet. Perhaps something with a little less death. Or fire."
Don't worry," she replied, leaning against him. "Only a few more death defying tricks and then we're home free."
"That's exactly why I worry."
"So now what? Storm the base?" Mission asked. The four of them were gathered right outside the door to an elevator. It was the only thing left between them and the Vulkar base.
"Too risky." Carth replied. "We don't have enough intel—the layout, the number we'd be up against—not to mention we're already one person down."
"I'm not down—" Eva began until she saw Carth's face. "Fine. Mission, can you hack into their security system remotely?"
"Sure, just need a datapad."
"You can use mine." Eva passed the device over to the young hacker. "See if you can download the area schematics and take control of the security feeds. If we can get eyes inside, we can try to sneak in and out without anyone even noticing."
"I'll go." Carth said, reaching over to undo Eva's stealth field generator from around her waist.
Eva smirked as he pulled it off her. "At least buy me dinner first, Captain."
"Oh hush." He said, narrowing his eyes. "Zaalbar, you stay here and keep watch in case anyone else tries to come in this way. Comm me when you're in the system."
Eva nodded, pulling out her comm's earpiece as Carth did the same. "Do you know what you're looking for?"
"I'm sure you'll let me know." He said with a small smile as the elevator doors closed around him.
—
"How we doing, Mission?"
"I have control of all the cameras, look." She passed the datapad over and clicked on the feed from the elevator. On screen, Carth was fiddling with his blaster.
"Smile for the camera, Captain." Eva said into her comm. They watched as the Carth on screen snapped to attention, giving the room a once over before his eyes finally landed on the camera above him.
"You can see me already?" He asked, surprised.
"You and all the nooks and crannies of this base. She's fast, isn't she?"
"Impressive." Carth agreed. "So, what's waiting for me on the other side of this door?"
"Not much." Eva replied, flipping through the different camera feeds. "It's surprisingly empty."
"Too busy harassing people on the streets to protect their own base?"
"Seems like it." Eva turned to Mission. "How are we on area schematics?"
"Just finished downloading. The garage will be on the second floor, but there doesn't seem to be any cameras in there. I can't see what's in there."
"Alright, thanks." Eva sighed. "Carth?"
"Yeah?"
"Head east, and then north. You should be reaching another elevator. That will take you to the garage. You'll be going in blind though. There aren't any camera's to hack."
—
"Is there a problem?" Eva's disembodied voice sent shivers down his spine.
"The door is locked." He replied. "Can Mission get past it?"
"That's going to be tricky." She hummed in his ear. "You'll need to find a—hold on, you have Vulkars incoming."
Carth quickly activated the stealth field generator and waited as two Vulkar guards rounded the corner, heading straight for the garage.
"...said he's going to sell her to the Sith when we win."
"If he's not careful the Sith will come and just take her."
"That's why he has her hidden far away—"
As one of the guards swiped his passcard, Carth suddenly appeared behind them, knocking them out with a few swift smacks from the butt of his blaster.
"Nicely done." Eva purred approvingly as he stepped into the now open elevator.
"Thanks." He helped himself to some of the vulkar attire the unconscious men wore and entered the garage looking like just one of the many vulkars wandering around the speeders doing touch ups and loitering.
"Can I get a description of what I'm looking for?" He asked, under his breath.
"Big. Heavily guarded. Made of metal." Eva's voice teased him from afar.
"Thanks, but I worked that much out myself." He couldn't help but smile when he heard her laugh at his snark.
"Are you near a swoop bike?"
"Tons of them."
"Do any of them have a device with a blinking blue light attached to the engine?"
"No—hold on I've been spotted."
"Hey you! Stop loitering and come help us with this accelerator." A green Twi'lek man gestured for Carth to enter a side room where another man and a Twi'lek woman were already waiting.
"Uh, sure—"
"Wait a second," The other man paused as the door closed behind them. "You're not one of ours—"
He was cut off as Carth landed a solid punch on his jaw. Suddenly he had two blasters drawn on him
"Looks like we have a visitor," The Twi'lek man sneered. "Tell me, were you conned by Gadon Thek into trying to steal Brejik's swoop engine accelerator?"
"It's ah, more of a recovery mission." Carth replied, his own blasters ready and aimed.
"Should I dispose of him, Kandon?" The Twi'lek woman asked, her eyes trained on Carth.
"You're not a Vulkar, not Hidden Bek...must be freelance. Listen, I didn't go to all the trouble of acquiring this prototype just so you could steal it back for that old fool. How much are they paying you? We can negotiate—"
A single shot from each of Carth's blasters fired, hitting the Twi'leks faster than they could react and knocking them out cold.
"Yeah, should have talked to me before the rancor."
—
Carth dumped the crate holding the swoop engine at their feet in triumph.
"You got it!" Mission squealed, jumping up to inspect the goods.
"Sure did." He said, dumping the Vulkar disguise. "It's a lot heavier than it looks."
Zaalbar made a grunt, and then picked up the crate with ease.
"Great work, Captain." Eva said, while accepting his arm.
"Thanks. How was being benched?"
"Wonderful. I sat here and didn't move an inch. You should be proud." She smiled while leaning against him. "In fact, I think I'm all healed up now."
"Oh really?"
"Absolutely."
"Is that why you're leaning on me for support?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's just because I like you, Onasi." She teased.
"Uh huh," He said, unconvinced. "Come on, I can feel the temperatures dropping again. Let's get this accelerator back to the Hidden Beks."
—
"I was beginning to wonder if you would make it. My mechanics need time to install the prototype into the swoop engine of our bike." Gadon Thek said when they arrived back at his base.
"One prototype accelerator, as promised." Eva said, letting go of Carth to stand up straight.
"Don't worry, I'm a man of my word. I promised you could ride in the swoop race under our banner. I'm going to do you one better: I'm going to let you ride the swoop bike with the prototype accelerator installed on it."
"Gadon! You can't be serious! We need one of our best riders on that bike! We can't let some rookie take the prototype engine into the race!" Zaerdra was horrified.
"Rookie? I could beat you in my sleep." Eva huffed, making the Twi'lek woman narrow her eyes in annoyance.
"I have to be honest with you—there's a reason I'm letting you take the prototype engine." Gadon interjected. "The accelerator isn't stable; there's a good chance it could explode during the race. I can't let one of my own riders take the risk."
"Wait, you mean she could die on the track?" Carth asked, incredulously.
"It doesn't matter—" Eva said, dismissively.
"Eva…"
"—I'm going to win."
"Perfect, we'll set up a room for you." Gadon smiled and motioned towards Zaerdra. "Zaalbar, do you know where that goes…?"
Zaerdra gestured for the humans to follow her, but Mission had already begun to drag Eva in the opposite direction.
"Go away, Mission." The older Twi'lek grumbled.
"But I wanted to show them where the refresher is."
"I can show them, after I show them to their room. Go bother someone else."
"I'm not bothering them!" Mission glared. "I'm part of the crew."
Zaerdra stopped and faced the young girl, "And just what does that mean?"
"It means they're gonna take me with them when they go to space—"
"You are not going to outer space, Mission!"
"Why not? You're not my mom—!"
"You're such a brat—!"
"Here." Carth interrupted while reaching for Eva's pack. "I'll take our stuff to the room. You and Mission can get a head start in the refresher….I'll, uh, find you later?"
"Sounds like a plan, Captain." Eva winked, taking Mission's hand and following her down the corridor away from the others.
—
"This is still too big for me, but it might fit you." Mission sat in her closet, tossing out articles of clothing for Eva to peruse.
"Zaerdra thinks she's the boss of me just because she used to have a thing for my—" She cut herself off, suddenly looking excited. "Hey, is Carth really a Captain?"
"Sure is." Eva answered while examining the things Mission had picked out for her. "He's practically the poster-boy of the Republic."
"Do you guys get to live in space all the time or…?"
"Carth probably does. Or maybe he has a military apartment. I'm usually stuck inside the temple on Coruscant—"
"Wait, you guys don't live together?"
"Why would we live together?"
"I thought you were married or something."
"Married?" Eva was shocked. "No, we...we've only known each other for a couple of weeks."
"Ugh, lame." Mission grumbled, but then shrugged. "Whatever, it will happen eventually."
"What are you talking about?"
"Nevermind. Are you gonna try the outfit on?"
"What exactly is this for again?"
"It's for the party! Gadon always throws parties when there's something to celebrate." She explained. "You guys saved the day, so you're the guests of honor...But I won't be there because I'm 'too young'...even though I also helped."
"Sorry Mission. I can skip it if it makes you feel better."
"No! You have to go so you can tell me all about it tomorrow!"
—
News of the returned accelerator had quickly spread through the base, and, just as Mission had said, the night had fastly became one of celebration. Tarisian ale was being passed around like air. The music was pounding, and it seemed every member of the Hidden Beks was in attendance, ready to order another round for our heroes.
"Hey, there you are." Eva smiled when the horde of hands that had dragged her out onto the dance floor had suddenly shoved her in the direction of her missing partner.
"Hey," He smiled back. "They really like their alcohol, these Tarisians."
"No kidding." Eva laughed. "I've drank so many, and they just keep coming."
"New outfit?" He asked, gesturing to the blue-grey romper Mission had dressed her in.
"Free of rancor-char and everything"
"Well, you look nice." Carth said, noticing her hair was down again. "Your hair too. It looks good when it's down."
"You like it?" Eva smirked.
"Yeah it...nevermind." He thought for a moment, "Did you want to dance?"
"Normally I'd say yes, but I'm having trouble staying upright as it is."
"We should find a place to sit, then." Carth suggested, looking around, and seeing nothing.
"How about our room?"
"Oh, right…"
Together they stumbled away from the crowds and the pounding music and into the relatively quiet living space Gadon had assigned to them. It was a small room, barely big enough for the bed inside it.
"I put our bags over on the…" Carth began, but trailed off when Eva began slipping out of her clothes.
"Help me out of this, will you?" She asked, spinning around so he was directly behind her. She pulled her hair up, revealing a zipper that ran down the length of her back.
He hesitated for only a moment, but then began a low chuckle. "You really do have the modesty of a Hutt."
His hands fumbled with the zipper, working it down so that the romper fell away and all that was left was her and the mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Are you complaining?"
He chuckled again as they took the last few steps to the bed.
"Never."