When I woke up the next morning, I realized something. I forgot to bring that Igear guy his journals. Oh well. I didn't like him anyway.

Currently, I was walking around doing nothing. Just exploring, really. It was actually more fun than you would think.

I couldn't find Boc and Mission and Zaalbar had left the Bek Base before I had even woken up. Therefore, the only thing on my to-do list was get some Kolto packs, since apparently THOSE are magical healing substances. Not medpacs.

But I didn't know where to get those. And Zaerdra and Gadon the entire world of Taris were all too busy and stuck up in their own lives to worry about my needs. I know. I sound like a whiner-complainer three year old. Sue me.

So I guess I was partly roaming around in hopes to find a Medical Bay, too.

And then, just as I thought all hope was lost...

I should really become an actress. Oh wait. I already was. But now I'm in a different dimension. Guess THAT'S screwed over...

But besides my rampant thoughts: Just as I thought all hope was lost...

I ran into Boc.

Not what you were expecting, huh? I'm sure you were probably thinking something amazing was going to happen like banana's were about to fall out of the sky or something.

"Hey!" I called. He continued to speedwalk down the hall and barely glanced at me. He mumbled a response before he quickly said, "I don't have time right now. There's an emergency in the swoop hangar... something about an explosion." And then, as he walked away from me even more speedily, the only thing he left for me were his muttering's of thing's like 'damn kid's...'

Pbbfft. Well. Fine. I can just find something else to do. No problem.

..Right?

/ / / / /

"Where IS everyone?" I muttered to myself, disheartened. I had made my way to the Upper City and (after maybe perhaps just a little bit getting lost a few times) gone to the apartment the crew shared there in hopes that I would find someone I knew to hang around. Why? Because if the sky suddenly opened and blaster bolts from Hell started penetrating Taris, I needed someone from the crew around me so I could secure a safe escape for myself. Yeah. I know. Selfish. Suck it.

In any case, there was no one in Upper City Taris that I could see, so I had decided I was going to go to the Cantina.

When I got there, though, pazaak was not what caught my interest, this time.

"Oh my God! What do you MEAN Deadeye Duncan won a fight?" I screeched.

The big ole' Jabba the Hut slug in front of me didn't look like he was in the mood to give answers. "Yes, it is surprising. Lot's of money to be gained, now. Are you here to fight, or are you just wasting my time?"

I looked at him from the viewscreen and then back again. "It had to be a fluke." I murmured to myself. I turned back to him. "I'm ready to fight if you're ready to let me in the ring! I'm gonna see what this loser's got!"

And I did.

But AFTER I kicked Gerlon two-finger's ass.

How did that go? I got in the ring and exactly as the bell rang (I know right? Bells? That wasn't exactly in the game - I felt like I was in Mortal Kombat or something - 3, 2, 1, GO!), I shot him in the head. Twice.

No, he wasn't harmed(sadly. Okay, he may have been tolerable in the game, but that guy had a foul mouth on him in person!). Turns out, the ring had training blasters and training vibroblades. AND they made you use them. It sucked ass. But I dealt with it.

Anyway, they sure as Hell don't waste time when it comes to rounds. As soon as I wiped the floor with Gerlon, I was on my way to fight Deadeye.

And boy, was it surprising.

I entered the ring with two borrowed training blasters in my hands and made my way towards the center(as far as they would allow, anyway).

As soon as I was in there, I KNEW something was off.

For one thing, Deadeye looked different than his video game counterpart. For another thing, his entire person just felt wrong. And my last argument?

"GODDAMN!" I shrieked, rolling to the side and holding my shoulder.

He didn't entirely suck on the battlefield.

"Owww... Why is it always THIS side?"

Sure, it was a training blasterbolt, but it still hurt like Hell!

I shot as accurately as I could while I basically ran in circles like a madman.

In case you were wondering? Doing that in the game may work, but it doesn't really help in real life.

However, I had a stroke of luck(surprised?) and tripped.

I know. You're probably wondering how that's a good thing. But I assure you, it was. Because when I fell, my blaster jammed up in the weirdest way possible and wouldn't stop shooting. And almost exactly before it exploded from overheating, Deadeye comically jumped up and down clutching his foot, which was now immensely damaged.

Which gave me the opportunity I needed to grab my still functioning blaster and shoot him a bajillion times.

And guess what I found out?

That wasn't Deadeye Duncan.

See, I knew something was off. I brought that to the attention of the referees(yes, they had those) and it turns out it was someone HIRED to be Deadeye Duncan. My guess is it was probably a failed attempt at trying to clean his name up, but that could just be me.

Now, of course I couldn't be sensible and just let this go. I had to go and find out the who and why and how and whatnot.

So when the security left the filthy-looking 'medical bay', I turned off my stealth generator(ha! That thing get's me everywhere!). I sat in front of him and waited while he recovered from his unconscious stupor(they were going to take him away when he woke up - though, from what I could tell, the fat slug in charge of thing's couldn't really give a shit and so he'd be off the hook in no time). It took awhile, but I entered everything all up in my datapad and made a few doodles while I waited.

The sound of groaning was brought to my attention a few short seconds after I had just finished putting a mustache on a ridiculous-looking domo. What is Domo, anyway? A gigantic fuzzy turd?

Seriously. What is the deal with Domo. I don't get it.

"What the Hell happened?" He moaned.

I put away my datapad. "Eh. I just kicked your ass. Nothing special."

He looked up at in me regaining-consciousness alarm. "Who the Hell are you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I think I should be the one asking that, 'Deadeye'."

He paused before frowning at me, "What the Hell are you talking about?"

I groaned loudly and stood up from my position on the floor next to his bed. "Do you always speak like this?"

He paused again and looked at me in confusion. It took a moment before he swallowed his pride and asked me what was on his mind. "What the Hell are you talking about?" He repeated.

I faked an eye twitch. "That. That right there. Everything you've said so far all has the same format."

His eyebrows drew together. "What the Hell do you mean?"

I stared at him with one eyebrow lower than the other and my mouth agape and said nothing. I just looked at him with that expression on my face.

He just stared at me back, with that same disoriented and confused look.

I finally shook my head and sighed. "Who are you? You're obviously not Deadeye. He's somewhat of an.. Er.. acquaintance of mine."

He scoff-laughed. "Acquaintance? I didn't know anyone was stupid enough to spare the time to talk to him, much less become his 'acquaintance'."

I crossed my arms and scowled at him. "Well, you obviously stopped to spare the time to talk to him. Otherwise you wouldn't be here impersonating him." I widened my eyes in a 'you're crazy' expression and motioned to the wall with my pupils. "I mean, of all the people to pretend to be, you chose Deadeye? Surely there's better people to be."

He scoffed. "I don't care who I am, as long as I get paid."

I stared blankly at him for quite a few moments, arms still crossed.

"...Paid?"

He raised an eyebrow this time. "Of course. You didn't think I pretended to be Deadeye for my own pleasure, did you?" He rubbed his forehead. "Although, I wasn't expecting to get beaten by some little girl the first day on the job."

I uncrossed my arms and put them on my hips. "So you were hired to be Deadeye? That's insanity! This is a galaxy turned upsidown! Where in the universe did Deadeye get money to pay an impersonator?" By the end of that little rant I was already turning away from him and talking to myself.

The man shrugged. "Don't know. He didn't tell me."

I turned back to him. "Well..." I looked him quickly up and down and raised my eyebrows at him. "Don't know and don't really care why you told me all that. But whatever. Good luck. I really have no reason to waste my time on you anymore." And promptly left.

I was still turning over all that crazy in my mind while I left the Cantina entirely. When I got outside I barely noticed. When I got halfway to the apartment I barely noticed. When I tripped over a random piece of junk I barely noticed. It wasn't until I ran into the door to the Upper City apartment complex that I actually noticed anything.

"Well, damn," I exclaimed, actually looking around me. "It's dark out. When did that happen? I must have been doodling for a really long time."

Then I actually looked at where I was. And my jaw dropped. "Oh my God! I actually made it to the Apartment Complex! And I wasn't even thinking about it!" I crossed my arms at the door. "Ohhh, no. This is so not fair. Why is it all thing's like this are always done unconsciously when it comes to me?" I shook my head and opened the damn thing. "Ugh. Oh well."

Although, I did take note that my brain took me to the Upper City complex instead of Gadon's place. And thank God it did. Good going, unconscious me! While I love the dark, I would probably have been saying 'Hello' to far more than just the night time, had I attempted to go down below.

Ahem.

With that in mind, I scurried my way to the apartment a little faster than normal.

Huh.

You know how in the game there are two doors for loading caches? You know, like when you entered the Sith Tombs on Korriban, there was another door behind the door you opened? It was like that with all the doors that loaded somewhere. It wasn't actually like that in reality. It was just one door. I say this because that was the first time I had noticed that.

When the door opened, the first thing I saw was a Carth sitting right on my bed.

I closed the door and walked my way up to him, setting my bag down on the bed he was sitting on. It was, after all, MY bed. He would be moving.

"I thought you went with Rev." I said, sitting down next to him.

He was cleaning his blaster. "Nope." He said, not looking up from his work. "She took Bastila."

Was that a tinge of jealousy I heard?

He shrugged. "Where have you been?" He sounded truly interested.

I shrugged this time. "Eh. Places."

He glanced up at me and I smirked a little bit.

"What about you?" I asked.

He closed his blaster. "Eh. Places."

I grinned.

"So. You know Deadeye Duncan?" I asked as he put away his cleaning gear.

He glanced up at me with an eyebrow raised. "That horrible fighter in the dueling ring? Yeah, I've heard of him."

I kicked off my shoes. "He hired an impersonator to fight for him. Interesting, quite honestly. I don't know where he could have gotten the money for it."

He hummed and seemed to be in thought about it for awhile before he shook his head a little and brushed it aside. He turned to look at me and appeared to examine my face for a few moments before his eyebrows creased. "Could I ask you something?"

I pulled my legs up to my chest and shrugged. "Sure."

He turned to me a little, one hand resting on his knee and the other relaxed on his right leg. Two very familiar strands of middle-aged hair flopped around on his forehead as he moved to look at me better. "It's just something that's been bugging me. I'm curious."

Uh-oh. This can't be good.

"Those guards in the Vulkar base... You killed them, didn't you?"

Oh. Well that could've been way worse.

"What gave it away? Was it the reckless manner in which it was done? Perhaps I should have bought some flowers beforehand to place on their corpses." I tapped my chin thoughtfully.

He rolled his eyes, but I know I saw his mouth twitch upward. "Very funny. You should try cracking those jokes at the Cantina. You may actually get some tips, then."

I laughed humorlessly. "Ha-ha-ha. And maybe you should try smiling once in awhile. What was the point of this question, again?"

He let out a half laugh, half sigh and stared very intently at the durasteel floor beneath his boots. "What I was trying to ask, was..." He looked me in the eyes as he continued on, "That wasn't your first time killing someone. Was it?"

It didn't sound like a question, but more like a statement.

How easily I could have lied. I could have gone on and played the little kicked puppy routine and been all, "Of course it was! Dear God, it was awful. I'm scarred."

But I didn't.

And why I told him the truth, I'll never know.

"No." I responded, complete seriousness enveloping my expression. "It wasn't."

He nodded curtly and said nothing more on the subject.

His question was never brought up again and I was never bugged about it later. I sometimes wonder if it wasn't just a very realistic dream.

Then again, if that was a dream, I suppose all of this might as well have been.

/ / / / / /

TESSA DATAPAD LOG: 165490

Day 5 without Revan in our party. I never realized how boring life could be without a former Sith Lord in it.

Did you know Gizka is a rare treat over here? If I didn't know Taris was going to be bombed soon, I'd see if I couldn't set up someone to buy off all those Gizka from Tatooine for me. Although, it makes me curious. Maybe we should have grilled Giz-ke-bobs sometime on our trips.

In any case, I've found pleasure in beating everyone in the dueling ring (even if I did pass out quite a few times). Found pleasure in the credits, too.

I finally figured out how to get up and down from the Lower and Upper cities. It would figure I'd know how to do it right before the place is bombed. Hmph.

TESSA DATAPAD LOG: 165491

Do you know what I discovered today? ! Carth had a comm on him all this time and he didn't even tell me! He's been sneaking in updates from Revan all this time and I didn't even know. Humph! No one tells me anything around here. I always have to get the information on my own.

Well, we'll see who has the last laugh when I reverse-engineer his power converter for the flash suppressor on his blaster pistol. Ha!

/ / / / / /

"I'm beginning to think we'll never get off this planet, Carth." I moaned, my right arm laying lazily over my eyes.

"These thing's take time. I'm sure Alora and Bastila are doing everything they can in their position."

"Yes. I'm sure they're getting lots of scented oils rubbed into their delicate skin by sexy skimpy-dressed servants and drinking all the Tarisian Ale they can ingest. Very useful."

"Th-"

"And I don't like this place, anyhow." I whined, sitting up. "It stinks like raw garbage and the people are rude and I get lost a lot and everything's expensive and the clothes are plain and boring and gross and moldy and you can't get a good meal here and the job wages suck and-"

"Rawr." Cried Zaalbar from across the room. 'Rawr' in a sense, anyway. I couldn't understand what he was saying, so I assume he was just growling to complain. "Your voice. It's worse than Mission when she talks about how I need a bath. It makes my head hurt."

I threw my hands up into the air. "And that's not even the worst part!" His comment was ignored. "It's chilly here and there's nothing to do and the nobles are snobby and the aliens are grumpy and then there's that anti-alien freak out on the corner who never shuts up and-"

"Pzzzt!"

Carth seemed calmly eager to turn away from my ranting and to the strange beeping coming from his pack.

"Carth. Carth, can you read me? Pzzzhht!"

I don't think I'd ever been so happy to hear such a staticky voice before.

"It's Revahhh-lora!" I cried, scrambling to get closer to the sound as if it were a lifelink (funny, because it was).

Carth struggled to untangle the blankets that held his pack hostage so he could get to the comm. I shoved him out of the way (a.k.a. onto the floor) as soon as I got over there and threw the blankets entirely off the bed. "HANG ONNN! I'M COMING FOR YOUUU! BREATHE! YOU WON'T BE TRAPPED FOREVER! I'LL UNBURY YOU!"

I think I might have accidentally broken the button holding Carth's pack closed when I tore it open and dumped it out. Rations, blaster equipment, a few credits and other assorted things all fell out and made a gigantic mess.

"Rev! Rev, are you there?" I cried, searching through the junk to try and find the comm.

"You guy's need to get out of there - now. Thing's aren't looking pretty." Just then-

BOOM!

I was knocked off my knees and onto my stomach from the floor hurdling underneath me.

"We've got the Ebon Hawk - get outside!" Another belch from the ground. "NOW!"

I looked around to everyone in the room - thank the Force that everyone had decided to stay put today. "You heard the woman! Come on!" And then tried to crawl my way to the door.

And then I stopped.

"OhmyGod! No! Wait! I can't leave without my bag!" I whipped back around and speed-crawled my way over to my bed. As soon as I had gotten my hands on my belonging's, another crash resounded in my ears - this one louder than the ones previously.

Smoked choked up my lungs almost immediately after that.

"Ugh!" I covered my face with my arm and coughed as if I had just eaten a fly.

"Come on!" Carth's voice called out to me.

I didn't want to open my eyes. The smoke hurt.

I stretched out a hand and felt the open air, not really expecting to find anything and doing it more for show, hoping someone would see it and grab onto it.

And someone did.

I was pulled roughly off the ground, bag safely secured around my other arm, and shoved through a hole that led to fresh air.

I looked around. Taris was in ruin. People were screaming and running around like a movie scene. It was amazing and horrifying all at once.

"This... This is unreal." I murmured, taking in the tragedy around me.

Upon looking, I saw that the Sith had shot through our apartment and created an escape hole straight to outside.

"You'll have time to think on it later, now let's go!"

Before I knew it Carth had taken a hold on me again and was dragging me towards some unknown destination.

Then I saw it. Coming right out from behind a Star Wars skyscraper was the Ebon Hawk in all it's shiny new glory.

Me, Carth, T3, Mission, Zaalbar and Canderous were all still traveling forward when the Ebon Hawk reached us. It hovered just a few yards above the ground and the loading ramp was open. Revan stood at the top.

"Come on!" She yelled, waving ravenously for us to come nearer.

We all made a break for it and jumped on in single file like kindergardeners ready to recieve candy.

Carth was the last one on, making sure everyone was safe and secure before he saved himself.

"GO! GO! GO!" She yelled. It was the only sound I was able to hear above the deafness in my ears and the sounds from outside. Her and Carth sprinted to the cockpit while the rest of us strapped ourselves to the nearest chair.

Let me just tell you this: riding in the Ebon Hawk for the first time? It was the coolest thing ever. EVER.

It was like... Being on a plane, a rollercoaster and a swing all at the same time. It was calm and yet it was so... Thrilling.

And me, being myself, of course put my hands up as if I were on a Disneyland ride.

"Wheeee!"

A few momentos later, the turbulence ended and Revan came running through the main hold and I unbuckled myself to see the action going on in the cockpit. But not before Revan cried, "They're shooting at us!"

I stumbled a bit on my way to the action room. Apparently, getting shot at causes the ship to wiggle.

I gotta say. Being able to look outside and see stars - REAL stars! - was absolutely the most beautiful I've ever seen. It was indescribable. My breath was taken away.

I fell rather than sat down on the back seat behind Bastila. Whether it was from the blow from an attacking ship or the weakness of my knees from the view, I don't know.

"They're off our backs! Going into hyperspace!" Carth declared.

I held onto my seat in apprehension. This was the coolest moment of ever. Hyperspace. What every geek dreams of experiencing. And I got to.

But I'll bet you're wondering what it was like.

It was... Interesting.

The blur of almost slow-motion blue fuzzed up the stars I so craved and I was sent backwards into my chair as if I had been pushed. And then it was as if nothing had happened. Everything was normal, except for the swirly hues of azure outside the window. It was silent. The only sounds for a few long moments were the sounds coming from the ship itself.

And then a deep sigh of relief flew out from Carth. I knew exactly how he felt. Relaxed. Relieved. Thankful.

Finally. It was over. We were safe.

...For now, anyway.