Chapter 6: The Escape Pod

A pang of guilt struck Gaius as he realized how relieved he felt to be leaving the Undercity settlement behind. The mere sight of the people who couldn't leave this dark place for fear of being beaten or killed was almost too emotionally draining to bear. Leaving it behind allowed Gaius to push the thoughts of their plight from his mind and refocus on their mission. Unfortunately, he and Carth travelled with a constant reminder of the worst the Undercity had to officer. Igear.

The Captain had resisted the decision to travel with the man for around an hour before finally giving in. After they returned and promised their guide any salvage he found at the downed escape pod, Carth had spent another hour checking through Igear's supplies – he'd started to pack before Gaius and Carth had even agreed to leave – to make sure they were properly equipped for the trip. It would take more than a day to reach the escape pod, because they had to travel on foot. There wasn't a speeder in the Undercity that hadn't been scrapped for parts.

Gaius knew Carth would agree to hire the guide eventually. Shaleena seemed trustworthy enough, and according to her, Igear was a sneak but overall he was pretty much harmless. Gaius had talked with her while Carth checked the packs. She was oddly cheery for someone living in the filth of the Undercity, though she was probably just excited that someone from the "upworld" was taking the time to talk with her.

Shaleena was full of questions, asking him about the Upper City, what it was like to travel through space, and about his own homeworld and family. She stared silently when he talked, sometimes closing her eyes while she listened, trying to imagine something as foreign to her as sunlight. The woman was clearly upset when the three men left; her all-to-brief time with people from another world cut short by their mission. The look on her face, as the gates to the village's outer wall closed tight, was the only downside to leaving the settlement.

Despite his support for their plan, Gaius wasn't enthusiastic about following through on it. Carth was right to distrust Igear, and letting him lead them through the Undercity was a sizable risk. But at least the man needed them as much as they did him. For the moment, at least, as long as there were rakghouls to kill.

The creatures attacked soon and often. It was hard to believe the grey, deformed beasts had once been human like Shaleena and Igear claimed. The small band stumbled upon one before the village gates had passed from view. It was wading through a mudpit when it saw them and began to charge. They'd stopped to examine it after Carth placed a blaster shot through it, though no one stepped too close. The rakghouls might not have been human once, but there was no way the mangy things didn't contain some disease.

The creature was bizarrely smooth, and its skin glistened under the florescent lights of the Undercity. Had it been any color but pale gray, it might not have been so sickening to see. Its long mouth stretched across its entire face, the maw filled with pointed teeth. On the sides of its head, so far down they were almost touching the edges of its mouth, were two small, black globes that must have been eyes. Small tufts of hair patched its head, which Igear said was an indication that the thing lying in front of them had once been human.

After the initial encounter, a Rakghoul or two would approach them every couple hours. Contrary to the boogeyman status they had gained among the Undercity residents, the creatures were fairly harmless to anyone with a blaster. A single shot to the chest or head typically knocked one over, and the beasts made enough noise that it was almost impossible not to notice when they were around. The sound the rakghouls made as they died could have been confused for a speeder engine overrevving.

After what felt like a day's worth of walking, Carth declared that they should make camp. The Captain must have been keeping the time, because it was impossible to tell day from night down here. The Undercity was in a permanent state of shadow and fluorescent lighting, the sunlight had been blocked out centuries ago.

Igear provided bedrolls for the group, though he slept in the small pushcart he'd brought along to carry salvage back to the village. The rolls were thin and hard, barely an improvement over sleeping on the ground. Gaius learned not to try that, though. He'd rolled off the bed and found that some dark liquid pooled wherever his body pressed on the ground. Standing, he was covered in a layer of soot and dust, a mixture of every pollutant and dead plant that had soaked into the surface of Taris, itself..

Gaius didn't sleep much, anyway, and volunteered to take over Carth's watch early. The Captain told him he should get more sleep, but didn't protest the opportunity to lie down for very long. Gaius leaned against a large pillar, watching over the officer and their guide while they slept.

The support column he was leaning against stretched upward for nearly a hundred floors before it connected with an enclosed walkway, one of the bottommost levels of the Lower City. The Undercity was dotted with similar pillars; a sparse, metal forest that had replaced the organic plants of Taris's past.

Gaius stared upwards at the walkways and buildings, wondering what was going on two-hundred, or five hundred floors above his head. Perhaps Zelka was aiding the surviving Republic soldiers, far above where they were right now. Perhaps Sarna was up there, thinking of him.

Igear awoke before Carth did and offered to keep a lookout if Gaius wanted to rest some more. Gaius almost laughed. He'd decided that the man really was leading them to the escape pod, but he was far from trusting him with a blaster, let alone his life.

Instead, the two stood in silence, Igear continually looking like he was about to say something, but never managing to get the words past his lips, while Carth rested for another half an hour or so. Once the Captain awoke, however, they were packed and walking before Gaius had even realized they wouldn't be eating breakfast that morning. His stomach growled. It was an odd thing to feel annoyed about his hunger after the starvation he'd seen less than a day before. And, whether he liked Igear or not, it was best not to insult the guide by asking if he had packed enough food for their trip.

The second day of their journey passed on much the same as the first. They walked, occasionally pausing to shoot the odd Rakghoul that had taken notice of them. Igear provided a meager lunch of dehydrated bread and something he only referred to as "the meat." Hungry as they were, both Gaius and Carth declined the dish.

Their next rest came when, at one point, Igear lost his way. Carth and Gaius took seats at the base of a support pillar while their guide made several loops around the column, muttering to himself. Gaius took the opportunity to rest his eyes, and, whenever he opened them, he noticed Carth staring in the direction of their guide. Though he didn't say it out loud, what little faith the Captain might have had in their guide was clearly fading.

Finally, however, Igear started jumping and pointing. "This way, this way, I'm sure it's this way!" he yelled. "There was supposed to be a pile of rubble from a collapsed walkway, but someone must've gotten to it since then." Carth's glare only grew more piercing.

Gaius looked back and forth between the two men before speaking, "Who would have moved the rubble? Other scavengers?"

Igear nodded furiously. "Must be, could be gangs, but I wouldn't worry," he ran back to where Gaius and Carth sat to snatch his cart. "No one knows where this pod is but me and my friend." Igear had mentioned earlier that it was actually another scavenger who'd seen the pod go down, but he hadn't been able to salvage something that large at the time.

Their guide started at a near-sprint in the direction he'd pointed them in, and Gaius took off after him, motioning for Carth to follow. Eventually Igear tired and slowed down to their previous pace, and they continued on for quite some time uninterrupted. Even the rakghouls left them along for the rest of the afternoon, or whatever served to measure time down here.

Gaius was not looking forward to the return journey. Even if they did find Bastila, there was no way to know what shape she was in. The escape pods had survival rations, but she must have run out of them by now. Or, if she was injured, they'd be carrying her back through the Undercity. He tried to shake the thoughts from his head. There was no use in worrying about situations that they couldn't prepare for at this point.

It wasn't long after the group began contemplating taking another rest that they realized the pod was near. Carth noticed the signs before the other two. A beam that connected two support pillars, had been torn in half around fifty floors up, as if something had ripped right through it. Not too far from that was a column covered in burn marks and large scratches, as if a large piece of metal had scraped across its surface. The entire group took off at full sprint when they realized what it meant.

Carth nearly tripped on a pile of uprooted dirt as they neared the pod's location. A trail had been dug into the ground when the escape pod crashed, and puddles of moisture were forming in its base. The trail lead straight to the target. Whoever was flying it miraculously managed to keep it upright through most of the landing process, but obviously hadn't been prepared for the web of metal that made up the lower levels of Taris. It would've been a miracle for anyone inside the pod to have made it through all of that unscathed.

Igear's eyes widened as they approached the downed craft. The guide raced ahead of both Carth and Gaius, pushing his cart's wheels as fast as they would go. He came to an abrupt stop, however, when an explosion of white light erupted under the front wheel of his cart. Igear toppled backwards and the cart was tossed sideways, its front half singed by the mine.

Gaius ran to where Igear lay. It hadn't been long since he'd been in the guide's condition, onboard the Endar Spire. Gaius reached into his own pack and pulled out a stim. Zelka had left Carth with more than they'd hopefully need, but it was good to have them on hand for situations like this.

Igear grabbed his head as he sat up. "No one told me anything about running into mines," he complained. Gaius suppressed a laugh "Who the hell put these here?"

Gaius patted the injured guide on the back and stood, re-shouldering his pack, "I'm guessing the stims worked." Igear didn't respond.

Carth walked cautiously to where the cart had overturned. "Whoever placed it, they weren't very careful," he said, bending over to examine where the mine had been set. He sifted through the ground, before standing and wiping his hands off on the side of the cart. "The loose dirt and water must have clogged it. It barely gave off half a charge."

"That was a lot more than half, I say," Igear yelled, louder than necessary, cupping his ears while he talked. Gaius was familiar with that feeling. It took a few minutes for the ringing to go away, even with stims. He helped their guide to his feet. Igear would be fine. Though he complained, if the mine had set off at its full capabilities, there wouldn't have been much of him left to complain.

"Someone must have survived the crash," Gaius said, turning his attention to Carth.

The Captain nodded in agreement as he scanned the ground. "I don't see anymore. Our friend might have been lucky and found the only one."

Igear's hands were still over his ears, "I wouldn't call it luck." He walked over to his cart, and tried to pull it upright, but one of the wheels had been bent by the explosion, so it tipped forward whenever he tried to balance it. Igear struggled to flip the entire cart over, and began stomping the metal wheel into the ground, trying to force it back into place. The soft ground was making that hard, however.

Carth and Gaius both ignored his pounding and carefully started making their way to the pod door on the craft's side. They both kept their eyes trained on the ground.

"Wait," Carth exclaimed as they neared the door. Gaius froze his feet in place. "There's another one here, be careful," the Captain pointed to a mine lying to his left, mostly-exposed on a raised patch of dirt that the pod kicked up when it crashed.

Gaius nodded and cautiously stepped to Carth's right as they reached the side door to the pod. The auto-controls had fried in the crash, so the two soldiers had to pry the door open, forcing it upwards. The metal creaked and strained, but eventually gave way.

There were no working lights inside the pod, and the opened door was blocking the Undercity's fluorescent lamps from reaching the interior. Carth pulled out his pistol and clicked on the flashlight attached to the blaster's muzzle. He waved the light along the walls of the pod's interior, moving it back and forth to cover as much space as possible.

What the light revealed was not what Gaius had hoped to see. The escape pod had been full when it separated from the Endar Spire. The bodies of Republic soldiers, still in uniform, were strapped into nearly every seat. They'd died days ago, probably during the crash. Gaius stepped further inside to get a better look. The chair in front of the pilot console was empty, but the front windshield was still intact. The pilot must have survived, at least.

The sound of Carth's boots came from the far end of the pod, and Gaius turned to search the rest of the interior with his commanding officer. It was difficult to walk through the narrow aisleway to the other end. Gaius could almost feel the hollowness of the bodies whenever his hand or leg accidently brushed by one of them.

Near the rear of the escape pod, Carth was bending over and examining a soldier lying on the ground. "I recognize him," Gaius said once he saw his face.

"Me, too. He was with bridge crew on the Endar Spire." It was the Chief who had been in the firefight on the bridge when Gaius and Trask arrived. It felt like ages ago.

Some of the other deceased soldiers began to look familiar, as well. More members of the bridge crew who had taken the same escape pod. The one person he didn't see was…

There was a coughing sound from the backmost wall of the pod. Gaius and Carth froze for a second, as if neither believed what they heard. Pure silence hung in the air for a long moment before another cough, weaker than the one before it, echoed from the back. Both men rushed forward, ignoring the bodies they brushed against, that before they had been so careful to avoid. Lying on the ground, under the pod's rear window, was the soldier whose leg had been injured on the Endar Spire.

She was alive, but barely.

Carth pulled out a water canteen from his belt and began to empty it over her mouth. It was difficult to tell if any of the liquid made it into her mouth, but the coughs and choking noises she made once Carth had finished indicated that, at least some of it had. She took several loud breaths before she managed to speak.

"Thank you, Sir." Her voice was weak and coarse, but Gaius swore the edges of her mouth lifted to form a smile.

"Glad to see you, alive, Private Koy." Carth placed a warm hand on her shoulder.

"We should get her out of the pod," Gaius glanced back at the rows of dead soldiers behind him. Even in the dark, it was haunting.

"Agreed. Help me with her, will you?" Carth wrapped an arm under the woman's shoulder. Gaius followed his lead, taking her other arm, and they managed to lift her onto her feet. She didn't put any weight on either of her legs, she was too weak to, so the two men had to contort themselves in order to shuffle her down the aisle.

The pod door had fallen shut behind them, and Gaius had to maneuver the Private's shoulder so she could lean against the wall – with Carth's support – while Gaius opened the door. It was significantly easier to push the door open from the inside than it had been to pull from outside, so Gaius nearly fell out of the pod when it lifted quickly.

It took a moment for Gaius to comprehend what he saw on the outside. Any joy he'd gleaned from finding someone alive in the escape pod evaporated at the sight of a seven armed men and two women pointing weapons at him, six humans and a Twi'lek.

Gaius grabbed his own blaster out of its holster and held up his free hand behind him, motioning for Carth to stay back from the doorway.

Igear was sitting on top of his overturned pushcart, with a grin stretching from ear to ear. "I told you they were Republic soldiers!" he yelled to the group behind him.

"You also said they wouldn't have any weapons." The voice came from the unusually large man at the head of the group. He was the only one not dressed warmly, wearing only a black shirt and a vest. His hair was a recognizable short, military-style, and every muscle in his body seemed to bulge and flex when he moved. A Mandalorian.

Igear stayed seated on his cart, but emphasized his words with emphatic hand gestures. "It's not my fault!" he screamed. "I thought they would give me a weapon to help keep watch at night! I would have taken their other blasters and walked them here. I couldn't think of anything else when they wouldn't give me one!"

"What is this?" Gaius yelled down from the doorway of the pod. When it crashed, enough dirt had been kicked up that the pod was slightly elevated from where the others stood outside, providing Gaius with a clear view of the entire group.

The Mandalorian cracked a smile. "Haven't figured it out, yet, huh?" He was holding one of the largest blaster rifles Gaius had ever seen. It was resting on his shoulder, at the moment, rather than being aimed. He probably figured the rest of his men had enough firepower that it wasn't needed. "You've been sold out by our friend, Igear. So here's what will happen now. We're going to wait out here until you realize there's no fighting your way out of this. You'll toss that blaster onto the ground and we can all have a nice little walk back to Davik's estate."

Behind him in the pod, Carth cursed. The name wasn't familiar to Gaius, but from the way the Captain was speaking, they were in trouble.

Igear turned around towards the Mandalorian. "I also lead you to salvage! Look at how this is completely intact! That has to count for something! Double pay, at least?" While the group was distracted by the traitor's ramblings, Gaius fired his blaster. The bolt flew straight through the shoulder blades of Igear. He stopped complaining about his pay and fell forward, off his cart and onto the ground.

Shouldn't have wasted the stims.

The Mandalorian hadn't flinched when Gaius fired, though the rest of the group had. Several blaster shots struck the side of the pod, leaving large, black marks on the side. Gaius ducked away from the door until the firing stop.

"They're no good to Davik dead," he heard the Mandalorian yell, "he wanted to deal with their Captain personally, so keep your heads on." Gaius wondered why they were interested in Carth, but he assumed it probably had something to do with those idents the Captain wasn't telling him about.

He peaked outside the pod, praying that the need to take them alive wasn't some trick. That Mandalorians weren't known for trickery in fights somewhat assuaged his fear.

The Mandalorian was holding a hand in the air as he ordered his men to lower their weapons. Once his crew was settled, the Mandalorian turned back to the escape pod, lowering his large rifle from his shoulder and holding it in both hands. "That was a risk," he shouted at the pod door, "some of my men aren't as calm as I am. And you're lucky that blaster bolt didn't hit one of them. Igear was scum, but I would've had to kill you if that was one of my men lying there. Anyway, you're still coming with us. Davik's got use for you."

Carth leaned on the wall next to Gaius, leaving Koy to rest against the back wall. "They'll turn us into the Sith," he whispered. Private Koy tried to say something, but it was caught between her breaths. The thought of being captured had panicked her, and she needed to calm down, or else she'd pass out.

"We're not going anywhere," Gaius yelled to the group of thugs outside.

The Mandalorian smirked. "We'll see about that." He lowered his weapon and pointed behind him. "You, two, quit fooling around with the tailhead and bring them out."

The man and woman to his right stepped forward, and Gaius saw, for the first time, that the Twi'lek's hands were bound. Gaius held his blaster forward, but the two ignored him and continued toward the pod. They knew he wouldn't shoot while the rest of their group had weapons pointed at him.

As it turned out, he wouldn't have to shoot. As the man reached the escape pod, he stepped onto the mound of dirt that elevated the pod and there was a small clicking sound. A moment later, there was an explosion.

The entire escape pod rocked backwards, nearly rolling out of place. Gaius stumbled inside, landing in a thankfully-empty chair along the back row. This mine wasn't clogged, and had given off its full charge. At least one of the thugs outside had to have been killed by the explosion. Gaius worried about what that might do to the Mandalorian's calm demeanor.

Private Koy had fallen over when the pod tilted. Fortunately for her, and less so for Carth, the Captain had been knocked over as well, and she'd landed on top of him. It didn't seem to help too much, though, as she was grunting and clutching at her leg. The same leg was injured when Gaius saw her on the Endar Spire. She hadn't gotten any medical attention for it after the pod crashed.

Gaius stood, wearily making his way back to the pod door. His ears were ringing from being so close to it, but physically, he felt fine. The escape pod was built to withstand more firepower than a single mine, so the three soldiers on the interior had been shielded. Peering out, the woman was now dragging the man who'd set off the mine back toward the group. Incredibly, they were both still alive, though Gaius could clearly see burns through his tattered clothes. The man wasn't making any noise, either. He must've passed out from the pain.

The Mandalorian was, again, unfazed by the new development, aiming his rifle at Gaius as soon as his head appeared outside. "Nice trick," he said, calmly, "now tell me how many more of those do you have lying around?"

Gaius genuinely had no idea. He'd thought the mine Igear had driven his cart over was the only one still active. "That's for you to find out," he decided was the best answer.

"Or," the Mandalorian started, "I can just toss a grenade into that nice little tin can of yours, and bring you back to Davik in a bucket." He was bluffing. Gaius had already overheard him telling his men that they were needed alive.

"How about you keep sending your people up here until they all look like that," he pointed to the burned thug.

"Big words coming from someone hiding in an escape pod," for the first time, though, the Mandalorian looked away and towards his injured ally. For just a split second, he appeared to express genuine concern for the man under his leadership.

"Don't antagonize them anymore than we have to," Carth had regained his feet and was now leaning against the back of the pod, helping Koy stand. "Do you know how many are left?" he directed his question at the Private.

"There-" Koy began coughing violently before she could finish the thought. She doubled forward, gasping for air. Carth strained to keep her from falling down. Finally, she regained some of her composure, supporting herself on the security bar used to strap everyone into their seats. "There's no more," she whispered. Gaius's eyes searched the faces of the gangsters outside to see if any of them had heard what she said. Koy was struggling to keep talking, "Those things got them."

She must have been talking about the rakghouls. They were probably the reason she'd set the mines out in the first place. It didn't seem like anyone outside heard what Private Koy revealed, but it wouldn't be long before they figured it out on their own.

Both groups waited silently, the Mandalorian pacing along the moist ground at a distance from the escape pod, scanning the ground for more hidden mines. The two uninjured thugs stood on either side of where the Mandalorian paced. One of them held the arm of the Twi'lek girl, though she was attempting to pull herself free from his grasp. The thug just squeezed tighter whenever it appeared like she was about to break loose. The woman who had approached the pod was tending to the man who'd stepped on the mine behind them, propping him up against the base of a nearby pillar.

"Canderous, is the bounty really worth this?" One of the two men said to the Mandalorian. "This was supposed to be easy." His comment went unanswered.

"Okay," the Mandalorian said, at last, not truly in response to anything. He turned and grabbed the arm of the Twi'lek from his subordinate. "Start walking."

"Like hell I am." Oddly, for a Twi'lek, she was speaking basic. She spat onto the Mandalorian's boots, but that only made him laugh. For a captive, the girl seemed to be more trouble for the Mandalorian's crew than anything else.

The Mandalorian gave the girl a small push forward with one hand. As she stumbled, he raised his oversized rifle toward her back. "That wasn't a question. Now move." Gaius held his breath. When she made it to the pod, they'd realize there were no more mines.

The girl glared at him before turning her head towards the pod. Her eyes met Gaius's. They were blue, like her skin. She took a step forward, and Gaius gave her a small nod. The thugs wouldn't notice; they were too focused on where the Twi'lek was stepping.

Gaius held his breath every time she moved forward. He knew there were no mines, but it was the Mandalorian realizing that fact which worried him.

The girl was about halfway to the pod now. They would have to think of something before she made it all the way and the rest of the gang followed. "Any ideas?" Carth asked behind him.

Gaius sighed, and he reached into his pocket. Suddenly, an idea came to him. "Stop!" he yelled to the Twi'lek. "Right in front of you, there's a mine." The girl froze in place, one foot in the air. She stared down, intently, trying to find the dangerous spot in the ground before placing her raised foot behind her.

"That's more like it," the Mandalorian said, loud enough for them to hear inside the pod. "Now, are you going to come out or tell us where the rest of them are. Otherwise, the girl can keep searching." His plan might have actually worked if there had truly been more mines. Gaius and Carth wouldn't have let the young Twi'lek sacrifice herself for them.

"I'm coming out," Gaius yelled. He placed the blaster at his feet and held his hands in the air. He took a tentative step onto the soft ground, near where the mine had lain a few minutes ago. The side of the pod was covered in dirt and fragments from the explosion, and a faint trail of blood drops led from the site to where the injured man now lay against a pillar. Gaius took a step forward to where the Twi'lek now stood still.

"What about your friend?" The Mandalorian was now pointing his weapon squarely into Gaius's chest. He was clearly done underestimating the Republic soldiers.

"He'll be out in a second," Gaius continued to walk forward with his hands up. "I have a proposition for you. How much is this bounty on our heads?"

The Mandalorian laughed, "You think I'm in this for some credits? It's going to take a lot more than a few-"

"How much are you offering?" the man to the Mandalorian's left asked, cutting off his superior.

"Listen here, you-" the Mandalorian, Canderous, shouted at his subordinate on the left, but he was cut off again.

The woman who had been tending to the injured had left him behind and approached the rest of her crew. She didn't have a weapon on her, it was still lying on the ground by the pillar. "I want to hear what he's offering. It's a hundred on your head. A thousand for the Captain back there."

"I'll pay five hundred, right now." Gaius said, stone-faced. He would have been offended by the price difference if the situation hadn't been so dire. "Take it, and you can stop worrying about that," Gaius motioned with his head in the direction of the injured thug who'd stepped on a mine, "happening to you."

"You're not going to-" the Mandalorian started, but was cut off again. He was losing control of his subordinates.

"I think that's a good deal," the third thug, standing to the right, said. "That's nearly half what Davik would pay. It's not like the Sith really care about them, they're looking for that Jedi."

"Shut up!" Canderous yelled. The Twi'lek girl started laughing, "You, too."

Everyone on this planet is looking for Bastila. Hopefully, the rest of them were having as much luck as he and Carth were.

"Show us the five hundred and we'll leave," the thug on the left said. The Mandalorian had officially lost control of the crew.

Gaius lowered his hands to his side and smiled, glancing at the Twi'lek, who was still grinning over the situation. He slowly slid a hand into his pocket as all the thugs but the Mandalorian aimed their rifles to make sure he didn't pull out a weapon. The credits from the cantina were in a small pouch that he threw at their feet.

The woman rushed forward and snatched it off the ground, not worrying about potential mines she could've stepped on. She poured the credits into her hands and started counting. Gaius had nearly forgotten how large his pazaak winnings were in the chaos of the past two days. Once she finished, and appeared satisfied, it was apparent that the Mandalorian had resigned himself to the deal, lowering his weapon and shaking his head.

"There's more than five hundred in here," the woman told him as she put the credits back into the pouch.

"It's for the girl," Carth's voice yelled out from where the pod rested. The Captain was standing right by the doorway. Gaius wasn't sure when he'd come out. Why Carth wanted their Twi'lek prisoner, though, was beyond him.

Now it was the Mandalorian who laughed. "That's the first reasonable thing either of you have said." He pulled a key from his belt and dropped it to the ground. "You two are lucky that my men are greedier than they are smart," as if to prove his point, the rest of his crew was already beginning to argue over how to split the credits. Even the injured man was shouting for them not to cut him out. Canderous motioned to the key lying on the ground. "That's for her bindings. She's your problem now."

With that, he turned and walked to the group behind him. He reached the pillar and stood over where the injured man lay. Wordlessly, he hoisted his subordinate over his shoulder and led the rest of the group back the way they'd came.

Gaius watched closely as they left, making sure none of them decided to collect the bounty and take the money, too. He barely noticed as Carth pushed past him to grab the keys for the Twi'lek's restraints. The Captain grabbed the girl's arm.

"I'm not going with you," she said defiantly, "You can count on that."

Carth ignored her, looking the girl dead in the eyes. "I saw the way you laughed when he mentioned the Jedi. You know where Bastila is."

The Twi'lek's face lit up and she cracked a grin. "Yeah. I know where she is."