"It smells like ass down here."

"Heard you the first time, Nic."

"No, seriously, it smells like the inside of a bantha's ass down here."

That smell permeated the darkness surrounding Nic, Carth and the blue Twi'lek girl they had been searching for, Mission Vao.

The last few hours were whizzing by in Nic's mind. Every thought was a top-of-the-line speeder zipping by with Nic finding himself incapable of latching onto a single one. Since his rakghoul infection was realized, he and Carth knew they had to work fast.

They had quickly found Mission in the Undercity but this time she was without her Wookiee guardian. Gamorrean slave traders had captured him and that was why the three of them stalked through the seemingly endless black of the sewers below the Undercity, their only source of illumination being the pool of light formed by the flashlights on their blasters. That pool only served to light up each new metal grate stair as they continued their descent into the dark.

Nic coughed. The stale, nearly toxic air was making his near-constant sniffling an unbearable activity. He knew he was getting sick.

"Gamorreans. From what I remember being told back in basic, they're giant pigs, right?"

"Giant, strong pigs," Carth interjected as the three of them marched down step-by-step. "Their skulls are full of sawdust but when you're that strong and that mean, you don't need brains to get the job done."

"These pigs are scavengers," Mission added. "Big Z and I try to avoid them anytime we come down here. They grab whatever creatures or pieces of armor they can find for their trade."

Mission gagged once off to the side. It had been a while since she had ventured down here and she and Zaalbar had never gotten used to the smell.

"We've had some close calls before but Big Z and me...we always got away."

"Wookiees fetch a good price," Carth said. "I'm sure corporations like Czerka would love to get their hands on one."

Nic elbowed Carth's ribs. Carth turned on his friend, or as much as he could see in the dark. Nic turned toward Mission.

"I'm sure Zaalbar's fine, Mission," he assured her. "It's a good thing you found us as quickly as you did. The faster we move, the sooner we find him before the pigs make a trade."

The lump in Mission's throat cleared ever so slightly but she was still thankful for the human man's words. She was glad she had found them in the Undercity. From when she met them up in the cantina in the Lower City, she could tell right from the start that they were different from the average Republic grunts. What little of them there were on Taris, she always thought they were far too preoccupied with winning the war to busy themselves with the plights of the Twi'lek on the street.

It wasn't anything against the Republic. The war, for all intents and purposes, felt like it was being won by the Sith.

The pool of light fell upon a large steel door in front of them. Its middle was rectangular with rounded edges. It tapered off in a traingular shape toward the floor. Light blue and red panels shone in the never-ending dark.

"I got this."

Mission scurried down the remaining steps while Nic and Carth kept their lights on the door. After what looked like a few quick, simple keystrokes, the door opened and Mission cried out, stumbling back and landing on her rear in the doorway.

Nic jumped the last few steps, landing next to her, Carth right behind him. Nic looked through the doorway and spotted a pack of at least three or four rakghouls, huddled together in the corner. The demonic beasts turned their deformed heads as one, as if they were governed by a singular dark force.

Nic froze. He couldn't help himself. For all of their monstrous features, rakghouls still looked humanoid.

That was his near future. Huddled in a dark corner of hell, head bowed, a slave to the demonic instinct that drove these fell creatures.

As one, the rakghouls charged, bounding in long strides on all fours. Nic was still frozen where he crouched.

He didn't even see the small metal sphere soar past the side of his head, rolling on the metal grates straight toward the monsters. Nic still didn't move until the blinding explosion knocked him back.

Scrambling to his feet, he saw nothing but smoke in the room ahead. Nothing was moving. As the smoke cleared, he saw the blown, charred pieces of the beasts that had been charging just seconds ago.

"Not bad for a kid," Carth breathed out, smiling. "You sure someone your age should be carrying those around?"

Mission huffed indignantly.

"Who are you calling a kid, gramps? I can handle grenades just fine! Am I gonna get a thank-you at all?"

Carth sighed, hanging his head. Another strong-willed companion. This was going to tire him out.

"Thank you, Mission. You did just get us out of a tight jam."

"I'm about to get you out of another, old man. Just watch me work my magic on the door."

The Twi'lek girl ran off to the door on the group's right, working to bypass any security systems to get it open.

Far enough way behind her, Carth rested a hand on Nic's shoulder from behind.

"It's not too late to tell her, you know."

Nic closed his eyes and shook his head, biting his lip in frustration.

"Yeah, let's inform the entire galaxy that I'm a ticking time bomb."

"You know what I mean. She'll understand if she knows."

Carth withdrew his hand and placed both knuckles on his hips as he walked around to Nic's side.

"We shouldn't be spending time down here. We should be going directly to the Vulkar base. I'm sure one of those low-life scavengers has a cure on his person. They'd have to if they go through these wastes at all."

"If we hit the Vulkar base first, there's no guarantee Zaalbar would still be here by the time we were done. He needs our help now."

"And you need all the time we can spare before this thing circulates, Nic! Two days is great and all but we could be down in these sewers for a long time, and who knows? This disease could reach a point in development where the cure would be worthless."

Nic turned to look toward his friend. Carth could see a new weariness etched in the ensign's features. It looked very much like Nic was very nearly resigning himself to this fate and Carth would have none of that.

"You heard it straight from the Upper City doc's mouth, Carth," Nic protested. "This cure doesn't exist in mass quantities. Someone would have had to steal the doctor's formula."

"And who says it hasn't been already?" Carth grumbled louder, then brought his voice down more as Mission continued working on the door.

"For all the doctor knows, someone could have sold a copy of his formula to Davik, Gadon or Brejik. They'd pay a hell of a lot to make sure that cure ended up in the hands of their followers."

Nic shook his head. "I'm not throwing away Zaalbar's freedom on a possibility."

Carth could feel the blood bubbling in his face, having reached the end of his rope, not even caring how angry he sounded.

"So you'll just throw away your own life, then."

In the next second, Carth found Nic's hand grabbing a fistful of the orange material of his jacket and smashing his back into the nearest metal wall, pinning him there.

"I'm preserving my life, Carth!" Nic growled in a menacing whisper. "This cure is a crap-shot at best. Mission has helped our mission since the moment we met her and now she needs us to help her. I always repay kindnesses done to me. That's who I am, so excuse me if I'd like to stay the man I am while I still have the chance to!"

Nic relinquished his grip on Carth and stared the Republic soldier in the face. Carth's eyes showed surprise back at his companion. He had never seen such anger and ferocity in Nic before. Nic had also never gotten this violent with him before. There was a desperation in Nic's shining eyes. There was a lot of pain but also a lot of resolve.

As much as Carth wanted to change Nic's mind, he could tell that his companion would be immovable on this point.

"Do you understa-"

Nic broke off in a short fit of coughing. He brought his hand up to cover his mouth. His body shook several times with each rasping splutter.

Carth's shock quickly turned to concern.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah...ahem...ah-HEM...I'm fine."

Thankfully for them, Mission interrupted their moment.

"Done! Door's unlocked. You guys ready to go?"

The two men stared at each other only a few seconds more. "We are. Let's go." Nic called back, turning on the spot to head back over to Mission.

Carth adjusted the neck of his orange jacket and followed at a distance.

While walking over, Nic looked down at his hand.

Blood.

Mission's voice brought his head snapping back up.

"Oh, Kriff! Heads up!"

After the door opened, four Gamorrean guards stood in a line before them. Nic cursed in his head. They must have heard the explosion somewhere in their hideout and came to investigate.

Carth had said these pigs were big but they were massive. At least seven feet tall each with rotten egg-green skin, large, sweaty snouts with curled, yellowish tusks spurting out behind their bottom lips. Their armored suits looked to be patched together with whatever metal they found down here.

Nic's eyes then fell on their weapons. Axes with blades bigger and wider than Nic's head, fashioned-together spears and clubs.

The three of them were outnumbered and outgunned. Nic was sure just one of those things could crush his head between its thick, fat hands.

"Got anymore grenades?"Carth asked Mission, his voice cracking slightly.

The pigs called out as one in a horrible, gutteral scream and came charging at them.

Nic's and Carth's mind snapped into gear again.

"Split up and draw them apart!" Carth called, firing off a few shots with his one good blaster. The bolts just bounced off the center pig's armor. "Look for weak points in their armor and keep moving!"

The three of them dove away in different directions as the pigs charged into their room. Mission couldn't roll far enough away and one of the pigs bent down and grabbed one of her legs at the ankle.

"Hey! Let go, pig-face!"

The Gamorrean growled another low oink and raised his club to strike her head. Mission squirmed but couldn't break free, aiming her own blasters at the pig's head. She fired two shots into the pig's eyes and it gave out a cry, blinded, releasing its grip.

While the pig stumbled back, Mission scrambled back up and aimed a kick at the pig's chest armor, which sent a wave of pain up her leg.

"Owwwwch!"

While that was happening, Carth had run off to the right side of the room, a pig with a long spear chasing after him. He found a large steel column spanning from the floor to the ceiling and got an idea. He stopped and turned to face the pig with the column on his right.

The pig charged and stopped a few inches in front of Carth, thrusting out with its spear. Carth avoided getting stuck like a rotisserie chicken by jumping to the other side of the column. It took the pig a few seconds to process that his target was no longer there. Carth used that time to fire off a shot from the other side of the column. It was just absorbed into the shoulder of the pig's armor.

"Where the hell do Gamorreans find armor like this?!"

That got the pig's attention. It lunged again toward the other side of the column and Carth jumped over again, this time slamming his boot down on the bridge of the pig's feet. The pig squealed as Carth aimed his blaster at the opening in the creature's armor between the chest and the head and fired a bolt through the pig's throat.
The creature fell back, dropping its spear and grabbing at its throat. It spluttered and shook a few times before collapsing, giving off a shrill ring as its armor collided with the metal grates.

"The neck! Go for their necks!" He shouted as he rejoined the fray.

Mission turned to Carth after he yelled. That was a mistake. The Gamorrean she just kicked grabbed the back of her neck and threw her to the floor. The Twi'lek could do nothing against the pig's superior strength. She crashed face-first to the metal grates.
Stars exploded in front of her vision as she made impact. Her mind swam as she sluggishly rolled onto her back. The pig raising its club above her for the killing blow was now only a blur.

Until Nic leapt onto the pig's back and it stumbled to the side. Mission shook her head, her vision clearing in time to watch the Republic ensign play piggy-back with a massive porker.

Nic grunted, struggling to keep his death grip around the pig's throat. The Gamorrean was doing everything it could to throw him off, including stabbing behind it with the blunt end of its club. Nic ripped an arm free and stuck the nose of his blaster into its neck, firing three times.

The Gamorrean crashed to the ground, throwing Nic to the floor with it. He got up and smiled over at Mission, but she was pointing at something behind him.

"Look out!"

Nic spun just in time to take the the butt of a spear right across his mouth. Nic felt searing pain as his lip burst open, a crimson stream spurting through the world spun and Nic crashed to all fours, coughing and spitting out hot blood. Mission took this chance. She aimed a careful shot for the creature's throat and hit her target dead-on while it was hovering over Nic.

One more to go.

Carth, by this time, had sprinted back into the heat of the brawl. He lowered his shoulder and tried to knock the last giant pig off its feet. He ended up stopping dead in his tracks as the Gamorrean held firm. The axe-wielding pig used its free hand to grab Carth's face, pick him up by his head and hurl him straight into the nearest wall. The Republic soldier smashed into the wall with his back and hit the ground hard.
Carth looked up in time to see the pig turn toward him with the axe.

It looked to be the end of the line for him, until the shining tip of a vibroblade stabbed through the creature's throat. It seemed to shake violently a few times as Nic twisted the blade. A few choking gasps were its last utterances as Nic pulled the blade out and it fell to its knees, collapsing, never to rise again.

Mission ran over as Nic slumped to one knee, propping himself up with his now filthy blade.

"I think we found our slave traders," Nic said, his words laced with a lisp from the steady stream of blood still dripping from his mouth.

Carth laughed and then grabbed his ribs.

"Ow," he wheezed.

Nic looked up at Mission. He saw darker blue splotches in a few places on the Twi'lek's face. He guessed those were bruises.

"You OK?"

The girl smiled, offering a hand to help him up.

"Takes more than a few walking ham sandwiches to stop me."

Nic chuckled painfully as he took her hand.

"Not bad for a kid, indeed!"

It didn't take the three travelers long to find the tunnel where Zaalbar was being kept. For giant pigs, these Gamorreans led a very organized slave trade. A map on a datapad retrieved from one of the bodies made navigating the remaining tunnels relatively simple.

Nic and Carth were following behind Mission as she stared at the datapad readout and then back up to the tunnels every now and then to clarify their location. They were now trekking down a tunnel with a series of doors on their left.

"Big Z should be behind one of these doors...just about...right here!"

Mission excitedly dropped the datapad and ran straight for the door nearest them in a series of three. The Twi'lek girl pulled up short and examined the door.

"Hmmm...look at this. This is one of those old-style manual locks. No computer codes or nothing."

"Is the computer whiz stumped?" Carth jokingly taunted.

Mission fixed him with a look. "Don't you worry, gramps. I've seen plenty of these locks before."

She stretched her arms out, crackling her knuckles.

"Just need a couple seconds..."

Sure enough, the door opened and a very happy-looking Wookiee bounded out from behind it. To any other person standing nearby, the Wookiee would have given a few shouting growls. To Nic, he heard everything the creature said in full Basic.

"You're a sight for sore eyes, Mission!"

Mission jumped and flung her arms around the Wookiee's neck, hanging in the air.

"I'm glad to see you too, Big Z! You didn't think I'd forget about you. Mission and Zaalbar, together forever!"

She laughed excitedly as the Wookiee set her back down and looked toward Nic and Carth, pointing a hairy arm at them.

"Who's that with you?"

Mission smiled at her companions. "These are the guys who helped me find you, Big Z! Without them, I never would have been able to get to you!"

"A pleasure," Carth nodded to the creature. He hadn't seen one since the Trade Federation rebellions many years ago.

Nic bent down to pick up the discarded datapad.

"We can't lose thisssss..."

Nic turned, spit and couged, retching. More blood was seeping past his lips and making him slur his words. Carth watched his friend carefully for a few moments.

"That lip should have healed up by now. Why are you still spitting up blood?"

Nic found himself honestly not knowing what to say. He just faced his friend, breathing hard to recover his breath, wiping the crimson trails from his mouth.

Carth's eyes widened in terror.

"It's not your busted mouth. You're coughing up blood!"

Nic shook his head, his eyes darting from Mission and Zaalbar back to Carth.

"I'm fine."

"What's wrong?" Mission asked.

"Nic's infected with the rakghoul disease."

"Carth!"

"What?!"

Mission nearly stumbld back a step. Carth didn't stop there, though.

"He got infected saving an Undercity man from a pack of those things. Mission, we need to get to the Vulkar base now. He's got maybe a little more than a day now before he's beyond help."

The Wookiee said nothing, merely staring ahead at Nic. Mission eyed the ensign with a new look in her eyes, one of shock and maybe even fear.

Nic hung his head and sighed heavily. There was no point in downgrading it or keeping it a secret now. He was sick and he knew it. The infection was spreading and getting worse. There was no hiding it now.

Nic simply stared back up at the Twi'lek girl.

"We came from the Bek base, Mission. We didn't see any cures there. Do you think it's possible that the Vulkars may have gotten their hands on some in their base?"

Mission had to wake herself up from her stunned state in order to respond.

"I...I don't know. I've never even seen a cure."

Nic hung his head again. Mission quickly started back up.

"But we can gain access to their base from these sewers. If there are any cures in there, it's not too far from here."

Nic tossed the datapad into Mission's hands and pressed forward down the tunnel ahead of everyone else, calling back behind him.

"Then let's not waste anymore time. We have a mission to finish. I'd like to see it through."