A bit of a short chapter this time. Taris will be wrapped up after next chapter. In advance, I want people to know that after chapter 10, my upload rate will dropoff. This first planet flew by because I had previously written the chapters and I only had to make minor changes and corrections. After chapter 10, I will start writing from scratch so things won't be as quick. I still plan to have a consistent upload schedule tho so no worries xD
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Kotor. That's all George Lucas' stuff xD
:::
After a quick moment to survey the crowd of patrons, I spotted the Mandalorian drinking at the bar. He was the same Mandalorian from the Undercity that threatened us. When he spotted us, he motioned for us to come over to him. Though he must have been in his late forties, he was obviously still physically fit. He was a large man with massive arms and imposing shoulders. His graying hair and various scars told of his past experiences as a Mandalorian warrior. He more than likely served in the Mandalorian Wars.
"I saw you in the swoop race. Very impressive," he spoke. "You seem like you know how to get results. That's just the kind of person I'm looking for."
"You're the guy from the Undercity. Who are you?"
"My name's Canderous Ordo. I work for Davik Kang and the Exchange, the inter-galactic crime syndicate." Ah. So he's a mercenary. "The hours aren't great, but they promised me a fortune to work for them and I have nothing better to do. Since the Mandalorian Wars, Mandalorian mercs like me are in high demand. But lately Davik hasn't been paying me what he promised. I don't like getting cheated, so I figure it's time for me to break the Sith quarantine and get off this backwater planet." This got my attention.
"Oh yea? And how do you plan to do that?"
He took a large swig from his drink before continuing. "I've got a plan to escape Taris, but I can't do it alone. I need someone I know can get the job done to help me. That's where you come in."
Carth stepped closer to me before telling in my ear, "Careful. Mercs like this haven't a lick of conscience...they'll betray you in a heartbeat. This could be a trap."
Canderous overheard him, however, and immediately snapped at him. "I ain't talking to you, now am I? I'm talking to your friend here." Turning to me, Canderous leaned in close to me and lowered his voice. "I saw you win that swoop race, and I started thinking: Anyone crazy enough to race like that is probably crazy enough to break into the Sith military base. I need someone to steal the Sith launch codes from the base. Without those codes, any ship leaving the atmosphere will be disintegrated by the Sith fleet's automated defense guns."
Now, I've done some crazy things in my life, but breaking into the headquarters of the Sith seemed a bit...suicidal. "Okay, suppose I do break into the Sith base. What do I get out of this?" So far, it seemed like a lose-lose situation for me. Canderous took another drink before choosing his next words carefully.
"Here's the deal: bring me those launch codes and I can provide the vehicle to get off the planet - Davik's flagship: the Ebon Hawk." I laughed. Now he is bringing a crime lord into the deal?
"How are you going to manage that?" I asked him incredulously.
"Uh-uh-uh," he wagged his finger, shaking his head. "Not yet. First, you bring me the launch codes. Then I'll tell you the rest of my plan."
I looked to Bastila and Carth behind me to see if they had any input on the situation. When they remained staring at Canderous with blank faces, I sighed and rubbed my temples. I hate Taris. "How am I even supposed to get into the Sith base? I don't suppose I can just walk up and knock? I could say I'm selling girl-scout cookies."
Ignoring my sarcasm, Canderous finished the last of his drink. "Getting in won't be easy. The Sith base is protected by an encrypted security system. It would take a top-of-the-line astromech droid to slice through it. Luckily for you, I know just the place to get a droid like that. Davik was having one built not far from here." He pulled out a datapad and showed me the location of the droid shop. Not only was it close to the cantina; it wasn't far from the Sith base, either. "Just go there and tell the lady there that Canderous sent you and she'll sell you the droid. Then you can use it to get the launch codes from the Sith base."
"You have all these plans," I interjected. "So why haven't you done anything yourself?"
"Normally I would, but everyone knows who I work for. If I broke into the Sith base, they'd send an army down to Davik's estate to get those codes back. That's why I need you." Fair enough.
"I don't sense any deception from him, which is surprising," Bastila added. "This could be exactly what we need."
I wracked my brain in thought. On the one hand, we would be breaking into the Sith base. Even though their numbers would be spread thin due to the escape pod crashes and the swoop war, the base would still be crawling with a countless number of Sith. On the other hand, I had a feeling that if we didn't take this opportunity, we wouldn't get another chance to get off this planet. And Bastila said he won't screw us over.
"Well, Canderous," I started. "Looks like we don't got much choice. You got a deal." I extended my hand out to him, which he shook eagerly.
"Excellent. I'm going to wait in the Lower City cantina. You come find me when you got those launch codes so we can get off this rock." With that, Canderous got up and headed for the exit. What did I just get myself into?
:::
:::
"A customer? Come in, Come in. Janice Nall at your service. Welcome to my droid supply shop. Always good to see a new face."
The three of us had found the droid shop and were greeted by a green twi'lek. The shop was littered with droid parts and various pieces of equipment. All types of defunct droids sat against the wall. This placed seemed run down and unlikely to have the top-of-the-line droid Canderous promised.
"Uh, yea," I started. "Canderous sent me. He said you would have a droid for us?"
The shopkeeper's face lit up in recognition. "Oh, Canderous sent you! Well why didn't you say so? Okay, the droid is ready." She stepped through the door behind her and, after a few moments, re-emerged with a small, silver astromech droid followed behind her. "This little guy is T3-M4. He is the very best in terms of hacking and slicing computer and security systems. This guy can even slice into military-grade defenses. He is all yours for two thousand credits." I pulled out a couple of five-hundred credit chips and handed them to the lady. After thanking us for our purchase, she bowed respectfully and went to the back room.
Taking this as our clue to leave, the three of us exited the shop with T3 in tow. Now, we were headed to the Sith base not far from here. "So im gonna be calling you T3 from now on. T3, are you ready to help us get into that Sith base?" T3 rolled along in silence behind us. "Okay...well I'm Kaleb. These two with me are Carth and Bastila. They are my friends." I explained. T3 was silent for a few more moments before letting out a series of boops and clicks. "You don't talk much, do you?" More beeps and clicks followed before he was silent again. I looked from T3 to see that we had begun to approach the military base.
"You can actually understand that thing?" Bastila asked skeptically.
"Yea. I've been around droids all my life. Binary just comes easy to me." I explained. She merely raised her eyebrow in curiosity before eyeing the huge building that was before us.
T3 took the initiative and rolled right up to the door. Without waiting for a command, he immediately went to work on slicing into the security system. Within a few moments, I heard a small whirring sound come from the door before it buzzed and slid open. The little guy's got skills. I guess we would be able to just walk through the front door after all.
Upon entering the Sith base, we were met by an angry twi'lek receptionist that was obviously confused by the presence of three people not dressed in Sith uniform and their small droid. For all she knows, we could be spies.
"Hey! Who are you? This is a restricted area! You better tell me what you're doing or I will hit the alarm." She emphasized her point by moving her arm below her desk, possibly hovering over some unseen alarm switch. I immediately thought of something to keep her from alerting the entire base to our presence.
"We're here for an important meeting. Don't worry- I know where I have to go. So if you don't mind we'll just be on-" I could tell from the look on her face, she didn't believe me at all. Crap.
"Cut the crap. You think that just because I'm pretty I'm also stupid?" I was kind of hoping for that, yes. "You better tell me why you're here or I'll hit this alarm and you'll have about three seconds before this office is swarming with Sith soldiers."
Sighing, I discreetly fingered my knife, and I saw Bastila move her hand to her lightsaber just as Carth readied himself to draw his blasters if need be. "Look," I started, reaching into my pocket. "Here's fifty credits." I flipped the credit chip to her. "Just please don't hit that alarm."
To my surprise, her face brightened. "Fifty credits? You got a deal!" She pocketed the credits before continuing. "The Sith have made my life a living hell ever since they began this damn occupation. In fact, it's about time someone stood up to these Sith. Just do me a favor: wait until I'm out of here before you start blasting the place up." Well aren't you the most loyal person I've ever met.
The twi'lek took a few moments to gather her things before running past us and out of the base. I saw the computer from behind her desk, and deciding to test the extent of T3's programming, I told him to hack into the Sith computer system. A few beeps and boops later, T3 moved over to the computer and hacked into the system in seconds. Impressed, I began giving him commands. First, I ordered him to download a map of the base onto my datapad. After doing so easily, I commanded him to access the droid functions of all the droids within the Sith base and mess with their targeting sensors. After a few seconds, I could hear blaster fire ring out throughout the entire Sith base. T3 had not only managed to screw with their sensors, but he even programmed the droids to target the Sith soldiers. T3 was like a cute, trash compactor of death when given a computer.
Finally, after several minutes of gunfire passed by, I ordered T3 to overload any circuit breakers located in every room of the base. A few clicks and beeps were heard from T3 as he went to work. I could hear several explosions ring throughout the base, and then everything was silent. I looked through the camera feeds throughout the base and saw that there were only a handful of Sith remaining that had managed to survive the droid revolt. Nothing we couldn't handle. Impressed, I applauded T3 for a job well done. He gave a few more beeps and clicks before becoming silent again. A quiet little guy, indeed.
The four of us were now in an elevator that lead to the governor's office. We had searched through the entire Sith base and had yet to find the launch codes. Even in the command center, the only things we found were the bodies of dead Sith officers that had been shot down by droids. We had gotten into small scrapes with the remaining Sith soldiers, but otherwise, no problems had arisen. T3 had really done a number on the base.
We had eventually come to the only point on our map that we hadn't explored yet. The elevator lead to the governor's office on the upper floor. If the head Sith didn't have those codes, then those damn codes weren't here.
As the elevator came to a stop, I felt a presence on the other side of the door. I couldn't quite explain it, but it felt...off. Bastila sensed it too, and she reached for her lightsaber. Taking her lead, I reached for my sword and Carth reached for his blasters. As we opened the door the elevator, we saw a large computer room with many screens and flashing lights and control panels scattered throughout. In the center of the room sat a man garbed in black and silver armor. He seemed to be in some sort of meditative state with his legs crossed and palms relaxed. Our entrance seemed to draw him from whatever trance he was in. Livid, the Sith turned to face us.
"Who dares interrupt my meditation? You will pay for interrupting my-" The man stopped in mid-sentence as his eyes rested on me. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before speaking again. "I sense the Force is strong with you. Very strong. Who would have though a Force Adept could be found on this insignificant planet? But your talent is no match for a disciple of the dark side!"
This Sith was obviously nuts. Sure, Bastila had brought up the fact that I could be potentailly Force Sensitive, but I hadn't really believed her. I mean, I'd gone my whole life without showing any signs of anything other than sheer badassness on my part. Why would I suddenly show ability with the Force?
Passing the Sith off as crazy, I muttered, "Oh, I'm going to have more fun than I should."
The Sith closed his eyes, a dark grin on his face. "Yes! Feel the hatred and anger within yourself! Call upon the power of the dark side!" At this point, I had no clue what the Sith was talking about. I just wanted to kick his ass. "This meeting is a stroke of luck for me- my master will surely reward me with my lightsaber for killing you."
...He doesn't even have his lightsaber? The man was really in no position to be making threats if he couldn't even properly defend himself.
Needless to say, the Sith didn't lasted very long. He did manage to push T3 into Carth with the Force and knocked him unconscious, but by then, Bastila had already managed to close the gap between herself and the Sith. With her superior skill and techinque, she had effortlessly struck the governor down without much resistance. Damn, I didn't even get a crack at the guy.
After searching the dead Sith's body, we looted several hundred credits as well as an encrypted datapad. After picking him off of Carth, I had T3 slice into the datapad. I looked through the contents of the datapad and was relieved to see that it indeed contained the launch codes we were looking for. Now, we just needed to head to Lower City to meet with Canderous.
:::
:::
"I knew you'd be back. Neither one of us is getting off this planet unless we work together." We found Canderous at the bar of the Lower City, drinking a large glass of some form of alcohol. "Now, I know the Sith base had a break in. I know it was you. I know you've got those departure codes I need. So what do you say? We join forces and I can get you inside Davik's base - and right to the Ebon Hawk. We can go now."
"Alright, let's say that we do team up," I started. "Now, how do you plan on getting me into Davik's estate?"
"Davik is always looking to recruit new talent," Canderous offered. "I'll tell him how you won that swoop race and mention that you're interested in working for the Exchange. I'll say I brought you in so he could check you out. He'll have you stay at his estate for a couple of days while he runs some background checks on you - standard procedure."
"This is too risky," Bastila interrupted. "We should find another way."
Canderous looked at her, annoyed. "You got a better plan, princess? Or are you just objecting because you didn't think of it yourself?" I almost laughed at the way Bastila bristled when Canderous called her a princess.
"No...I don't have another plan. I would rather not place my life in your hands, however," Bastila countered.
"I could say the same thing about you, so that makes us even." Canderous turned to me. "Fortunately, we both want to get off this rock, right? While Davik's checking you out, we steal the Ebon Hawk and escape Taris."
Knowing this is probably the best chance of escape that would present itself to us, I relented. "Very well, Canderous. Let's-" A flash of blue and brown at the corner of my eye caught my attention. "Actually, Canderous. Hold on. I need to do something first." I turned to Carth and motioned him to come with me.
Walking through the bar, Bastila and Carth followed me as I walked up to the blue twi'lek and brown fur ball. "What are you doing, Mission? Have you been drinking?" I snatched the bottle of Tarisian ale from her hands and set it down on a random table off to the side.
"Oh hey, Kaleb! I was wondering when you would show up!" She slapped me on the arm, a goofy grin on her face. "I've been trying to blend in with the locals so I could find information." Her words were slurred, and she seemed to stumble over her own tongue. Great, a drunk teenage girl in a bar full of shady, Lower City thugs.
"Mission, are you drunk?!" Bastila exclaimed at my side. Mission's response was to gesture with her hands that she was only a little drunk, leaving a tiny bit of space between her thumb and index finger for emphasis. In other words, she was completely hammered. The whole situation was actually quite comical.
"Zaalbar, just how many drinks did she have?" I asked her furry companion. Another giggle from Mission had Carth slapping himself in disbelief.
:She had three large glasses before she was singing at the top of her lungs. She even tried to force me to have some as well. The dishonor : Somehow, it seemed like both a hilarious, yet awful, idea to try to get a wookiee drunk.
"Mission, you are far too young to be drinking!" Bastila scolded.
"Relax, Bastila, she is just having a bit of fun," I added. I remember I was the same way at her age.
"So you're saying it's okay for her to be drunk in the middle of a bar?" Bastila argued, her voice quickly rising as patrons around us were beginning to stare.
"Bastila, leave her alone," I started. "Don't you remember the first time you got drunk?"
"Yea, Bastila, you're cramping my mood! I'm a big girl. I can handle myself just fine." Mission happily added, searching for her bottle of ale.
"I have never been drunk, for your information," Bastila stated. The laugh I gave at this confession had her puffing her cheeks in anger. "The master's wouldn't allow it, and I would never defy their rules over something as silly as alcohol."
"Yea, yea. Your loss. Forgot you were perfect, goody two-shoes, princess." Turning to Mission, I rested a hand on her shoulder to draw her attention from the ceiling. "We already have things planned out, Mission. I don't want you drinking any more, okay?." Mission pouted in protest, but eventually conceded. I turned to Carth. "Carth, take the drunk and Zaalbar back to the apartment. Make sure they don't get into any more trouble while me and Bastila are gone, okay?"
Nodding in confirmation, I watched as Carth grabbed Mission by the scruff of her neck. He scolded her for getting drunk in a shady place such as the Lower City cantina. Zaalbar followed behind them in silence, a tray of food in his paws. I watched as they all exited the cantina before making my way back to Canderous, who chose to ignore the whole scene that had just taken place.
"Alright Canderous, I'm ready. Just needed to take care of some things first."
Canderous nodded, finishing his drink. "Come on. I've got an air speeder outside to take us to Davik's estate. The sooner we're off Taris, the better."
Indeed, the sooner we get off this damn planet, the better. It seemed as if we had been here for weeks when in reality, it had only been a few days. And I couldn't help the sinking feeling in my stomach that something bad would happen if we didn't get off of this planet soon.
:::
Read and review please xD any and all comments/reviews/constructive criticisms are helpful!
