"I should have held the 18." I repeated for the 14th time to myself, shaking my head disappointedly. "If I had just held the 18 I would have won. I know I would have won. Dammit.."

Revan groaned loudly. "Will you shut up already? You've said that so many times I could punch you in the face. You said you won some creds anyway, right? So why are you still complaining?"

I narrowed my eyes as her but didn't really have any actual annoyance behind it. "Because I don't just play for the credits. I play for the challenge."

Revan looked off to the side, eyes low. "Yeah, well, credits over sport works better for me." She muttered.

I sighed overdramatically. "Rev, you could not possibly understand." I'm not kidding. She probably couldn't. Why? Because credits to me seemed like nothing(like Monopoly money or something). You can get them anywhere. Hell, even when I played KotOR the FIRST time I had 11,100 credits as a norm. Therefore the sport was more fun than the credits. How I do enjoy winning easily when I've met them for only the first time. The shock.. Haha..

"If you like the credits so much, then you can have them. I only scored 153 creds anyway, after betting most the credits I had already won." I sniffed, handing her my winning's.

She looked at me in surprise, then looked down at my hand full of creds. The look on her face was something along the lines of: 'They are real! Real credits! Amazing. Tessa must be the most superb, mature Pazaak player ever.

Haha... No. But I'm sure she was surprised that they were actually real.

She tentatively took them and inconspicuously(or at least somewhat inconspicuously) examined them once more before deciding they really were real.

"How did you get so good, anyway?" She asked, shoving the currency into the pack at her waist.

"Practice." I answered. "So what did you and my evaar'la ori'vod talk about?"

I saw the corners of Revan's mouth twitch up. "Ori'vod, huh? Interesting you hold him in such high regards. You don't even know him."

I half-shrugged. "He's from clan Ordo, right? That was my uncle's clan. He's as close to a blood family member as I could possibly get, since my family's gone." I super self-consciously chose my words, keeping the story I had made up close to mind while still running new ground.

"Your uncle was a mandalorian?" She asked, eyebrow raised and looking every bit suspicious and curious.

"Yeah, but he was killed in the Mandalorian Wars. So I don't even have him anymore, either."

She seemed to be contemplating this information. As she did so I was silently pleased with myself for making a more three-dimensional background. After a few minutes she spoke up. "So.. You have no family left?"

I looked up at her face and then looked away. "No." Was my simple answer. I made sure to make it sound like it was a painful thing to say.

She didn't look at me. She stared straight ahead as if she were in her own macrocosm of memories and thoughts and never said anything.

When we were in the Upper City and halfway back to the Apartments, she spoke up again. "All my family is dead, too."

I waited a few seconds before looking up at her stiffly. "Will you tell me about it?" I asked, afraid I might have been asking too much.

Revan's jaw locked, but she answered me. "My father died of couple years after I was born... And my mother a few months after that."

"I'm sorry. That must have been very hard for you." I said, trying not to lapse into monotone. Hell, I wasn't really sorry. This wasn't her actual past.

She lazily shrugged. "It's fine. I don't remember my parents very well, so it doesn't really matter. A kind middle-aged Sullustan by the name of Tienn Tubb's took me in from the time they died to the time I joined the Republic. I guess that's partially how I learned to understand so many different alien languages."

I couldn't help my brows crinkling at this news. Tienn Tubbs? THE Tienn Tubbs? How in space did the Jedi Order even know of him? Maybe he wasn't the same Tienn Tubbs I was thinking of. I mean, there's gotta be more than one Sullustan Tienn Tubbs in the galaxy, right?

"Was Tienn a mechanic?" I couldn't help from asking.

Her brows crinkled and she looked at me as if she were just remembering something. "Huh. You know what? He did dabble a bit in mechanics. In fact.." She seemed on the brink of some kind of revelation now. "Last I heard he was a technician serving on Malachor. I haven't heard from him since, though, so I would assume he didn't make it." She didn't even sound the least bit sad at the thought he was gone.

And I commented on this. "Doesn't that make you sad? You know, that he might be gone?"

She frowned at the empty space in front of him for the longest time, unanswering.

"Well?" I urged, my famous impatience starting to kick in the tiniest bit.

Her head snapped to look at me as if she had just realized I was there. She stared at me blankly for a few seconds before saying, "Oh. I... I don't know. I don't really feel sad over it. I probably should, shouldn't I? Hmm..."

And then she lapsed into thought again. Some few minutes later, she said, "I feel like he's safe, somewhere. That's probably why I'm not sad over it."

I 'hmm'd' and left it at that. A few seconds later we arrived at the apartment doors.

At the sound of our arrival, Zaalbar glanced up from a very intense-looking Pazaak game with Mission whilst the blue Twi'lek didn't even seem to know of our existence.

Bastila, who had stormed off in a huff ahead of us when Revan apparently wouldn't try to find another option except Canderous, sat down immediately as soon as she had gotten to the nearest bed, arms crossed.

Let's see... Should I go over to a pouty-mood Bastila, or should I go over to an interesting-looking game of Pazaak?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which one I chose.

Mission was so absorbed in her Pazaak game that she didn't even notice when Revan started listing off what had happened in the Cantina. Zaalbar, on the other hand, slowly removed himself from his seat and went to go get involved in the conversation. I shmoozed myself into his place.

Mission drew and picked up a 6. Her total was now 16. I drew a 2 and it added to Zaalbar's 14. We were even.

She glanced up for the briefest of moments before drawing again. She got a 2 and held her 18. "When'd you get here?" She asked herself more than me distractedly.

"Few seconds ago." I answered just as uncaringly. I picked up an 8 and cursed the deck. Zaalbar only had two useable cards left, and neither of them were subtractables. Frack.

I looked at her face to see if she were about to gloat, but all I saw was concentration. She started a new game without even the slightest bit of care that she had won.

"Are you okay?" I asked, now completely taken away from the game.

She looked up and her eyes stayed glazed over for the next few minutes before she shook her head a little and seemed to come to. "Oh. Yeah, I'm fine. I just have alot on my mind right now."

Hmm.

A series of growls and grunts interrupted what I was about to ask.

"I guess that leaves me out of the equation, then." Zaalbar growled. It truly was mesmerizing, you know. His voice was rough, but it held such a beautifully enthralling cadence that you wanted to listen for hours, even if you couldn't understand or care for what he was saying.

Revan sighed and nodded. "Well, since Bastila could in no way play the role of slave.."

Bastila let out a retort that was immediately snuffed. "Shut it. You couldn't play the role." She repeated, this time more forcefully. Bastila glared for a few seconds before sighing and calming herself. "I suppose with my recent attitude you would think that naturally. I apologize."

Ever the bipolar.

"That leaves me with..." Revan started, only to be interrupted by Bastila. "However. I am more than willing to play the role of slave as long as it allows me to ensure the safe arrival of a transport off this planet."

Revan sighed long and hard. "You just don't get it. If you go, you won't be 'ensuring' anything. I'll be the one doing all the business, not you."

Bastila seemed a little upset at this, but didn't say anything and instead seemed to retreat into thought.

Scheming, probably.

"So that leaves me with Carth." Revan concluded.

Carth was about to say something, but I beat him to it. I snapped up and gave her an unbelieving look. "What about me? ?" I demanded.

She gave me a look. The one that people usually give you when they're thinking: Duhh. Isn't it obvious? Or: Your idiocy is exasperating.

"You'd be far too loud and cause problems. If you had been listening you would have known that."

I stood up and threw my arms in the air. "Of course. We're back to cold shoulderness. Did that bonding time mean nothing to you? Sigh." Yes. I SAID sigh. I believe I've gone over this before.

Revan rolled her eyes and again I could have sworn I saw her mouth curve up. But it was only for an instant and then it was gone, so I couldn't be sure.

"I will go into the Sith base with the droid today, get the codes, then return to Canderous. Any questions?"

I walked up to her. "Nope. No questions. Because you won't find a way to get rid of me for the Sith base. I'm coming with you."

Revan sighed. "I guess I don't have a choice, do I?" She looked up at everyone else, "Okay. I'd like most of you to stay here. I'm hoping to do this inconspicuously, so the less people the better."

I wish I could think before I talk. "The less people? ? Hell! I'd be marchin' up there with blasters a'blazin' if I could! I mean, you don't expect to fight a dark Jedi alone, do you? There's no way you could sneak past him. He has the Force. He'll know your there anyway."

If people weren't listening to me before, they were now. And they all looked intriguingly interested(well, Carth looked suspicious, but hey. What's new?).

Zaalbar was the first to speak up. "Dark Jedi?"

Then the most unexpected thing ever happened.

"Well, yes," Bastila spoke up, taking a tiny little bit of a step forward to further join the group. "I would suspect Taris has at least a few Dark Jedi laying around. I mean, this is a Sith ruled planet! You can't expect there not to be Jedi."

"Common or no, I think she knew more than just a little bit about it." Carth interjected.

And from there on out it was like I was on a spinning wheel. My gaze went from Revan to Bastila to Carth back to Revan then to Carth and then over again.

"Kid's have large imaginations." Revan clarified.

Carth scoffed. "Yeah, well, in my experience that kind of 'imagination' leads to betrayal."

Revan put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, well, in my experience your paranoid." She said much louder than was necessary.

"Children, please! Calm yourselves." I said, arms raised like a referee. "We are getting nowhere. Whoever is going to go to the Sith base, come. The way I figure it, it's not like we have much choice if your set on going, anyway. I mean, what are we going to do? Stop you? Like I could face a Wookiee?" I gestured to Zaalbar for good measure. "So you guy's can stay around here and bicker all you want, but I'm leaving." And with that I turned to go out the door.

"You don't even know how to get to the droid shop!" Revan hollered from behind the open door.

"How hard can it be?" I threw back at her.

/ / / / /

"Okay. I get it. This must be Karma. Or maybe Jynxing yourself. So I said it'd be easy. I was wrong." I rambled to myself, completely and utterly lost.

Almost the moment I had walked four steps away from the apartment, it was as if it disappeared and the world suddenly became extremely bigger. So now I was walking around aimlessly, hoping I would stumble upon the droid shop.

In my reverie, I hadn't noticed where I was going(that's kind of the point of 'walking aimlessly and being utterly lost'). I ran smack dab into someone much bigger than me, and I wasn't even the one to fall over. The other person did.

"Ah! Kriff, I'm sorry!" I murmured, holding out a hand to help the other person up.

It was a male. A really stinky male. He smelled like a weird kind of alcoholic drink and his face was all oily and sweaty. He had bags under his eyes and the eyes themselves looked glazed over.

Oh god, no.

"Y..." He drawled out the 'yeh' sound, "Y...YyyyyOU! Shlummie!" He tried to get up, but the most that happened was his arms flailed around and he fell over on his side. "Ghet off eh shreets!"

I took a step back from him and let him flail about himself. "Ew." Was the only thing that came out of my mouth before I stepped over him and went about my way.

A few minutes of wandering and I was still lost.

I sat down and sighed hopelessly. "Okay, Revan. I was wrong. I can't find my way to the droid shop."

And then hope came walking somewhere ahead of me - in the form of an easy-to-see-in-a-crowd orange jacket.

I jumped up immediately. "Oh, thank the Force for Carth's choice of coloured clothing!" And with that I sprinted up to them, not wanting to lose sight of my only hope of not being lost.

Geez. I never noticed before, but we're really not an inconspicuous-looking group. I mean, a Twi'lek, a Wookiee, an orange-jacket-clad Republic Pilot, a Jedi and a former Sith Lord. Nope. The Sith aren't keeping an eye on us at all! Which was total bullcrap. Because, I mean, even just walking around, the shining Sith patrols had to take a second glance at the group.

When I got up to them, Revan seemed to notice immediately. "What took you so long?" She asked.

I shrugged and tried not to make my heavier-than-normal breathing too apparent. "Oh, you know. I had to run some errands first."

Revan raised an eyebrow. "Is 'running errands' always going to be your excuse for being missing?"

Walking right beside her, I shrugged indignantly. "What would you like to hear? Other excuses?"

Revan rolled her eyes, and AGAIN I could swear I saw those fine lips curve upward. "Well, maybe more elaborate ones. The 'running errands' is going to get real old, real quick. Can't you come up with something more, I don't know, thought out?"

I shook my head, but I couldn't control my lips turning up into a smirk. "Your going to judge everything I do no matter what is it, aren't you?"

Revan threw her head back and laughed. "Ha! Maybe a little bit of criticism here and there..."

"Criticism! You've got to be the most difficult female in the galaxy."

This time it was Carth's turn to chortle. "Difficult? This woman's the most stubborn person I've ever met!"

"Ain't that the truth? ?" I asked him with wide eyes.

By this time everyone in the group was showing some kind of humorous reaction(even Bastila!).

A few minutes later we were in the droid shop.

"2,000 credits? !" Revan asked incredulously.

The Twi'lek behind the desk seemed a little nervous when she nodded sheepishly. "I-I am sorry. I do not think I could lower the price even for a friend of Canderous'."

I sighed and moved Revan out of my way. "Here." And threw appropriate amount of credits on her desk.

I turned to T3 lovingly. "Okay, T3. Come on! We got work to do." And promptly turned to leave, T3-M4 following behind.

Revan quickly caught up with me. "What was that? !" She demanded.

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Me buying T3?"

Revan gestured back at the droid shop. "No! THAT. Where'd you get all those credits from? !"

I shrugged again. "Eh. There are some people - namely Quarrens - on Taris that are rich and end up in bad situations."

Revan shook her head. "I can't say I've ever met anyone like you before."

I grinned at her. "Nope. And you never will." And it's true. How many other people in the galaxy 'know the future' and travel with Revan and whatnot?

A few seconds later we were some yards away from the base hiding behind some swoops. "Kriff. They put guards at the door." THAT was unexpected.

"Beep-beep boop?" T3 rang.

I shook my head and sighed. "No. See, we're not actually supposed to be IN the base... That's why we need you." Little did I know at the time that I needed T3 far more than I could ever know. "So you can see why we can't just walk in. If those guards see us we'll be toast. If the guards DON'T see us we'll be toast. Either way we're a yummy breakfast."

"Deet-deet?"

"Oh. Um.. Well... Toast is.. Well it's... I dunno. It's food." I answered awkwardly.

"Why don't one of us just put on a stealth generator and sneak past them when the door opens?" Mission suggested.

I shook my head, even though Revan was obviously going to say something. "No, we can't do that. How long would we have to wait until the door opens? Hang on. Just gimme a minute to think."

The group argued and talked and planned quietly amongst themselves while I did so.

"If we take out the officers then there won't be a problem getting in." Zaalbar brought up.

Revan shook her head this time. "Yeah, but if this is an 'inconspicuous' mission, how do you think a couple dead soldiers at the front door would look when whoever is out comes home?"

"Well... we don't have to kill them," Mission interjected.

Carth's turn. "Mission's right. While I don't favour the Sith at all, I don't like the idea of manslaughter. That would make us no better than them."

I groaned loudly. "Will you people shut up? I'm tryna think here!"

Revan rolled her eyes.

I don't know why, but for some reason when she did that it made a brilliant idea come to mind. "Hey, wait! I've got an idea."

"Well, let's hear it, miss 'I can't think with noise'," Revan said.

I ignored her comment. "Bastila. Why don't you use the Force to put in the idea that one of the guards should go inside to get something from the armoury. When the door opens, Mission can go in after him and slice into the secretary's computer and send gases through the floor vents. It won't kill any of the soldiers, but it'll at least send them unconscious. I'll go with her. While the first guard is going to get something, I'll convince the secretary to tell the other guard he's needed somewhere. Bastila can use the Force to help him accept this as true. Then the secretary will leave and I'll show you guy's the way to the launch codes."

Revan raised her eyebrows. "That's actually not a bad idea, so long as the secretary complies."

Carth shook his head. "I don't like how much we're relying on the Force. Maybe we should think of something different."

Bastila stood indignant. "And just how would you rather have it, Carth? We all rely on the Force far more than you seem to think."

Carth frowned at her. "All I'm saying is I don't like it. And how do we know this secretary's even going to help us, anyway? She could run off and tell the Sith what we're up to!"

I shook my head at him. "Carth, you have to trust me. I know the girl who works as the secretary, okay? She's trustworthy."

He shook his head, obviously still not liking any of this.

Bastila turned her attention to the guards and seemed in deep concentration. A few minutes later one of the guards turned to the other one. Bastila withdrew from her concentration and looked well pleased. "That guard had already been thinking he needed a shine-up. I just made it seem unbearable to deal with any longer."

I nodded. "Good work. Keep tabs on him while we're in there for a little while just in case he get's cold feet. Okay, Mission. We need to go." I glanced at the guard, who was turning towards the door. "Now."

I flipped on my stealth generator and she did the same. We both practically ran to the door, though the reality of it was we could only jog in order to keep our generator's at the best capacity.

We made it in before the door closed.

"You! What are you doing, leaving your post?" The Twi'lek (who was again not green nor even yellow - she was blue) secretary demanded.

The guard shook his head at her. "I.." He seemed uncertain. Then, just like the change in the wind, he stood up straighter. "I need to go get a shine-up. As you can see, it's become beyond unbearable. The master would surely be displeased if he saw it." And with that he left without even letting the secretary say any more.

The woman seemed perturbed at his attitude and was about to call something after him, when I walked up to her and put a finger on her lips. "Ssssssshhhh..." I said slowly.

Her eyes widened, and she indeed did not say anything.

"Don't panic. I'm a good guy. Me and my entourage have come to take down this place. I need you to call the other guard out and tell him he's needed urgently in the medical bay. If he asks why tell him you weren't told, but that the commander ordered it."

This all seemed to process in the girl's sky grey eyes. When she was finally done apparently thinking this through, her eyes narrowed a bit. "I always knew the Sith would pay for their crimes. I'll do as you ask... Just let me leave before you bomb this place."

I nodded firmly, something which was lost on her since she couldn't see me. "Can do."

She dialed something on the desk in front of her, and a few seconds later the guard from outside walked in. "Your needed in the medical bay," She said sternly.

You could tell even through his mask that he was suspicious. "Why?" He asked.

The Twi'lek lifted her chin up and looked at him like a reprimanding mother about to say, 'Don't question me, just do it!'

"I wasn't told. However, I doubt you should keep the commander waiting."

I imagined his eyes bulging out of his sockets like a cartoon character as he jogged off a few moments later.

"Thank you. You've done a great thing today."

The Twi'lek shook her head. "I don't know about that, but I'm definitely getting out of here."

I shrugged and let her leave. When she was gone, Mission walked up to me and began punching in codes and such for the Sith's gasic surprise. "What was that all about?" She asked.

Neither of us took off our generators. "What do you mean?" I replied.

"You said you knew her."

I shrugged, another effect that was lost on her. "Eh, well.. We're acquaintances."

I imagined her giving me an incredulous look. "You mean you didn't really know her? What if she just ran off to go get help?"

I began to shake my head then stopped. She couldn't see me anyway. "She didn't. I promise. If it makes you feel any better, you can close and lock up the doors when the rest of our group get's here."

Which was now. The moment I said that, everyone else filed into the room.

Revan walked up to me as if she blatantly knew I was there and then poked me on my shoulder. My stealth generator flickered off.

"Well, aloha!" I said up to her. "Nice of you to join us." I then turned to Carth smugly. "See? My plan worked."

Carth shook his head and Mission took off her generator. "Not quite. We don't even have the codes yet."

Just then a series of muffled chokes and groans came to us from behind many closed doors.

"Done. Now lead the way," Mission said to me.

I nodded. "No problem." And with those words, sped off towards the entrance.

Halfway to the room with the Duros in the prisoner field I spoke up. "Now be aware that they have some droids here. So get ready to fight if you have to." I informed them. Everyone commented an affirmative, be it in grunts or actual words.

When we got to the Duros prisoner, I wasted no time in freeing him. I quickly turned all the switches to red and then shooed him away. "Your free. Run." He did so.

I then led the way to the elevator leading to the Dark Jedi.

"What was that? ?" Revan asked, coming up to join alongside me.

"You know, I'm beginning to think that's the only question you guy's will ever ask me." I told her.

She frowned at me. "Answer the question."

I shrugged mid-jog. "There was an innocent prisoner. I freed him."

Revan frowned even deeper. "But you couldn't have known he was innocent. Plus, how did you know switching all the consoles to red would free him?"

I threw my head back and sighed. "You ask too many questions. If you must know, he's the cousin of a friend of mine. I knew that was the room they keep their prisoners, and I knew that he had been taken hostage for no good reason, so I freed him upon sight."

Revan's frown didn't go away. "And you just happened to know it was him without looking."

"I looked."

Revan shook her head. "That doesn't explain how you knew how to free him."

I sighed again. "It's common protocol. Anyone could do it without much knowledge on freeing prisoners."

Revan's frown calmed a little, but she still seemed unhappy with her interrogation. "Then tell me something."

I looked at her. "Anything."

"What was his name?"

I froze. Mission almost bumped into me from the sudden stop. I looked at Revan blankly for a few nanoseconds before I said the first thing on my mind. "Bob." And with that I continued to jog.

/ / / / /

There it was.

Right there in front of me. My destiny.

The key to survival and, at the moment, most precious thing in the Universe.

"Are you going to open the elevator door or do I have to remove you so I can?" Revan grouched.

I shot her a fake dirteye and opened the thing.

Well. This'll be fun. I always loved killing Dark Jedi. Sigh.