Disclaimer: I don't own it. It belongs to Bioware and Lucas.


The next morning, Carth woke up to a throbbing headache. He tried to remember everything that happened the night before. His eyes opened wide and his head snapped to his right to look at his shoulder. He peeled back the kolto patch and looked at the wound. It looked better than the last time he saw it. He decided to find out what was going on. He slowly sat up and looked around. He saw Sage lying on the ground sleeping.

He took careful measures in standing up. He looked around and found his tunic. The shoulder of it was ripped up and stained with his blood. He pulled it on and stepped outside.

A tall woman with dark hair approached him, "You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Uh, better…I think," he said.

"Well, you certainly look better. May I look at your shoulder?" she asked.

He hesitated, "I'm sorry…you are…?"


Esala explained as much as she could about the events of the night before. She re-dressed his wound and introduced him to the other two victims. He ate with a small group from the village and was able to find some gray water to clean up with.

He was getting rather impatient and wanted to get moving again. He went back into the dwelling he spent the night in to find Sage still sleeping on the floor. He hated to wake her. According to Esala, Sage didn't return to the village until the middle of the night.

He looked upon the sleeping form with a soft expression. He chuckled to himself, Man, she looks like hell…and she doesn't smell too good either. He knelt down at her side to wake her. He thought of the night before. He felt a little ashamed for assuming something had happened between her and Panos. If he would have trusted his original instincts, he would have known better. Although, he chose not to dwell on the relief he felt that she hadn't slept with the lieutenant…especially after witnessing the horrific demise of said man. A fate that would have been his own if it weren't for this woman. He studied her features. She was dreaming again. This one seemed a lot milder than the others. She even had a faint twitch of a smile.


Flashback – 20 Years Ago, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

He sat back on his heals. She knelt down in front of him, "Okay, let's try it."

"What," he flinched back. "No way, I'm not kissing you."

"Come on, Mal, I want to see what the big deal is," she coerced.

"Just once?" he said while looking at her from the corner of his eye.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course just once, we don't have all night you know," she replied.

"All right," he said.

They awkwardly leaned towards each other with exaggerated puckered lips and kissed each other quickly.

They sat back. "Anything?" she asked. "Nope," he shook his head.

"Hmm, maybe we have to do it longer," she suggested.

He shrugged and they tried it again, pressing their lips together for a few seconds.

"How about that time?" he asked. "Nothing, I don't get it," she said.

The pair shrugged and ran off to find something else to do.


Sage woke to a soft hand on her shoulder and the murmuring of her name. She opened her eyes to see soft brown ones looking back at her. She smiled at the sight of the handsome face and closed her eyes again. She stretched languorously on her bedroll, forcing herself out of her slumber. She relaxed a moment with a sigh.

As realization set in, her eyes sprang open. Her body and mind shifted to wide awake and well aware. Her expression hardened and she narrowed her gaze on the man beside her.

Carth had never woken Sage up before, so he really didn't know how she would react. However, he didn't expect to see the hostile look on her face. He put his hands up in defense, "Hey, I'm sorry to wake you, but we really need to get going." He stood and left.

Sage sat up, Oh no, he's not getting off that easy. She moved to the end of the bedroll and pulled on her boots. She stood up and walked out into the village. She searched for her target and zeroed in on him. She began her approach when she was stopped by a small voice, "Um…Excuse me."

Sage looked to her left to see a woman standing there. Her face was pale and her arm was in a sling. Sage recognized her as the woman they pulled out of the quarantine area the night before.

The woman shifted nervously under Sage's gaze, "Are you the upworlder that found the serum?"

Sage nodded with a confused expression. She spoke to the woman the night before and had personally administered the serum.

The woman continued, "Well, I, uh…I'd like to thank you for saving us. I'm not sure what all happened, but I was told that I was near turning before you arrived. I'm forever grateful for your compassion."

Sage didn't know what to say, "Um…how are you feeling?"

The woman relaxed a little now that Sage had finally spoken to her, "I'm a little tired, confused, and sore," she said lifting her bandaged arm a little. "We're trying to piece together the last few days to find out how long ago I was bitten, but I haven't been much help."

Sage furrowed her brow, "You mean, you don't remember?"

The woman shook her head, "I'm afraid not."

Esala walked up to them and addressed the woman, "You should really be resting."

The woman nodded and looked back at Sage, "Thanks again upworlder." She turned and walked back over to a small group of villagers.

Sage looked at Esala, "She says she doesn't remember?"

Esala shrugged, "It seems that none of them do. They all remember being attacked, but beyond that, nothing."

"So he doesn't…" she asked, motioning towards Carth.

"No. In fact he's been rather anxious for you to wake up so that you can tell him more of what happened last night."

"I see," she said distractedly. Esala looked at her curiously, but was called away before she could say anything.

Sage looked away in thought, He doesn't remember kissing me. She thought about whether that changed anything. Hmph…how convenient for him. She turned and went back into the dwelling.

She picked up her bedroll and folded it back up. She jammed it back into her bag.

"Sage," came a voice from behind her.

Sage stiffened. Without turning around, she said, "I just need a minute to myself, if you don't mind."

Carth let out an exasperated sigh, Damnit woman! "Fine!" He turned and left.

Sage sat down on the pallet. She rubbed her hands over her face. She sighed deeply and stared at the floor. Now what? She contemplated on telling Carth that he kissed her the night before. The whole experience had her feeling a little off. Now certainly wasn't the time to get into a discussion over it. It was just a kiss and he was apparently delirious at the time. That explained a lot in itself. He wouldn't have done that if he were in his right mind. Of course, that didn't explain his confession of dreaming about her. She thought about that with a slight frown. She wasn't repulsed by the idea by any means…Carth was an attractive man…She just had a hard time understanding him.


Carth approached Sage with caution when she emerged from their dwelling, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Grab your stuff, I'll get the others." She slung her bag over her shoulder and brushed past him.

He ran after her, "Wait, the others? What others?"

She stopped, "Mission and Zaalbar."

"Mission and who?" he asked.

She sighed impatiently, "Zaalbar…her Wookiee friend."

She started walking again when he called out again, "Just wait a minute, will you?"

She stopped again but didn't face him. He moved to stand in front of her, "Would you mind filling me in on last night's events."

She tipped her head down and rubbed her eyes while yawning. "Look, why don't I just tell you the basics now and the details later…We found Missions friend. Now she's going to help us find the Vulkar base. We need to get that accelerator by tonight because the race is tomorrow. Now, can we go already?"

"We can, but then I want some answers," he said and returned to get his things.


On the way to Mission and Zaalbar's dwelling, Sage came upon Rukil. She set her bag in front of him and knelt down to dig through it. She pulled out several datapads until she found the two she was looking for. She stood up and handed them to the elderly man, "Are these what you were looking for?"

The man looked over the datapads. His eyes grew wide in amazement. He looked up at Sage with a wondrous expression, "This is it…you found it…you've saved us all."

"What are you talking about?"

Rukil went on to explain that the journals told of a passage to "The Promised Land." The two journals along with the one she already gave him detailed the location of said passage. He ran to Gendar to show him the findings. Gendar confirmed that he knew of where to start looking. They were to spend the day gathering their things and begin their long journey the next morning.

Rukil was to study the journals while Gendar went to inform the others. By the time Sage found Mission and Zaalbar, the whole village was in an uproar.

"Geez, what happened here," Mission asked, looking in awe at the people moving about excitedly.

"They believe they've found a way out of here," Sage explained.

Mission and Zaalbar collected their things and they went to find Carth.

"You don't mean the Promised Land?" Mission asked.

"Yeah, that's it," Sage said.

"Whoa, this is big. I've been hearing about the Promised Land since I got to Taris. I can't believe it's real."

They reached Carth and began preparing for their day in the sewers. Sage pulled on her armor and Carth waited expectantly for her to fasten his. Sage found minimal armor the previous night that she was able to talk Mission into wearing.

"How long have you been on Taris, Mission?" Sage asked.

"I don't know, about nine years," she answered.

"You came with your parents?"

"No, I guess my parents died a long time ago. It was just me and Griff," Mission said.

"Griff? Your brother?"

"Yeah, I…I was a little snappish when we last talked. I'm sorry about that. I get a little touchy when it comes to Griff. It's kind of embarrassing telling people about him."

"Embarassing? Why?" Sage asked with sincere curiosity as she re-twisted her braids.

"It's complicated. Griff wasn't the most popular guy, he had his faults. But I still loved him, you know? Sometimes people don't understand. I never knew my parents, my brother always looked out for me. I was just a kid, only five, when he brought me to Taris. But I remember the trip – if you could call it that. We were stuffed inside a packing crate in a star freighter's cargo hold with just enough food and water to make the trip. Not exactly first class, you know?"

Sage and Carth exchanged a wary glance, "You were stowaways?" It was more a statement than a question.

Mission shrugged, "I don't know the whole story…I was pretty young. But my brother owed a lot of money. Might even have been a few arrest warrants out for him, I don't know. The only way to get off the planet was to smuggle ourselves out. I mean, I don't want to make it sound like we were criminals… well, maybe my brother was."

Mission had Carths full attention. She let out an exasperated sigh, "See, this is why I don't like to talk about it. It makes Griff sound worse than he really was. My brother had his problems, but he always looked out for me."

Sage un-sheathed her blade to clean it. "What kind of problems did your brother have?" Sage asked.

"He gambled. And drank. And he was always borrowing money for his latest get rich quick scheme. But he had a good heart, you know? He taught me how to survive. He showed me how to slice into a computer's security system; how to get inside a locked building without the entrance codes, and how to spot a wealthy mark for a quick shell game."

Carth had an incredulous look on his face. Sage paused and raised an eyebrow, "Pretty handy skills to have, Mission."

"Yeah, Griff did right by me," Mission said proudly.

"I really miss him since he left. I keep hoping he'll come back some day. He promised me he would," Mission said as if she was trying to convince herself as well.

Sage turned her attention back to her blade. "Griff doesn't sound like he's big on keeping promises," she said under her breath. Carth nodded in agreement as he started checking his energy cells.

Mission was immediately defensive, "Why do you got to go putting my brother down like that? That's just mean!" She huffed, "Besides, it wasn't his idea to leave! He fell in with a bad crowd. It's all Lena's fault. She's the one who took him from me! Just batted those long lashes at him and off he went!"

Sounds to me like Griff was the bad crowd, Sage thought. "Who's Lena?"

Mission placed her hands on her hips, "I don't want to talk about Griff and Lena – just the thought of that space tramp makes my blood boil! Subject's closed as far as I'm concerned! If I'm going to be any help to you I can't be worrying about my brother running off with some intergalactic skank! So, is there something else you need?"

Carth raised his eyebrows with a smirk. Sage had to stifle a chuckle. "No, no, that was all," she said with a smile.

Her smile faded as she watched Mission sit down with her own blade and scrub at an imaginary spot. He's not coming back, Mission.


Before leaving the village, Esala handed Sage a datapad, "These are all the notes I've taken on the rakghoul disease. I thought that Zelka would be able to use them. Would you mind giving them to him?"

Sage accepted the datapad, "Is there anything else you'd like me to tell him?"

Esala looked away and sighed, "Just tell him…tell him to take care of himself."

Sage looked at her thoughtfully, "Esala, why are you here?"

Esala looked at the ground, "I, um…I just wanted to help people. I was Zelka's…assistant at the time." She looked over at a group of villagers preparing a basket for their journey. "There was an unusual outbreak of the Dantari Flu here on Taris. At the same time, there happened to be a shortage of the antibiotic used to treat it. I believed that Davik Kang was the cause of both. I was so sure…and so desperate to find proof. I, um…broke into Davik's estate. I foolishly underestimated his security system."

"It's a wonder they didn't kill you on sight," Sage observed.

"They did detain me, but Zelka used every resource he had. If it were up to Davik, I'd be dead. But he agreed with the Tarisian authorities to send me here instead. Zelka's been at odds with Davik ever since," she explained. She paused, "I owe him my life."

Sage nodded slowly, "That would explain why Zelka was so adamant about me not going after the virus."

The healer nodded.

Sage glanced over at her waiting group, "I have to go," she said.

Esala placed her hands on Sage's arms, "We owe you so much, Marin Sage. I don't know what brought you to this planet, but I thank the force you are here." She dropped her arms and held out her hand. Sage took it and smiled, "Take care."

When Sage pulled away, Esala stopped her, "Sage…I know it's none of my business…and you can take it for what it's worth…but, he was very worried about you."

She nodded slightly and returned to her companions.

Esala watched as the travelers headed back to the sewers. She watched the man and the woman in particular. I'm sure those two have quite an interesting journey ahead of them. She smiled and returned to pack more supplies.


Sage started to fill Carth in on some of the previous night's events. Mission explained that the force field they encountered the night before was the entrance they needed to use. She said she knew how to get through, but didn't want to let Doeman know that.

"Who's Doeman?" Carth asked.

Sage winced at the memory of the fallen boy, "He was someone I hired to help us out last night."

"I hope you didn't tell him anything!" Carth said.

"Well…it wouldn't really matter if we did," Sage said.

Carth shot her a nervous look, "Why?"

"Because he's dead," Sage said.

Carth eyed her with suspicion and in a low voice asked, "What happened to him?"

Sage didn't miss the silent accusation. "Oh, I didn't want him blabbing who we were, so I took him out," she said sarcastically.

Carth tightened his jaw and gave her a disapproving look, "That wouldn't surprise me!"

She harrumphed.


When they reached the force field, Sage laid out the plan the way she saw it while Mission worked on deactivating the shield. They would break into the Vulkar base and find the prototype accelerator. After that, they would all go their separate ways.

\ Marin Sage, I have sworn a life debt to you. I will not be leaving your company. \ Zaalbar stated.

Sage sighed, "Look, about that…I just really don't think that's a good idea."

\ Do not dishonor the life debt by refusing me. You will bring great shame to me by doing so. \

Sage put her arms up in defense, "Hey, I'm not trying to dishonor anything…I just think that maybe you should get to know someone a little better before you make that kind of decision."

Carth was looking from one to the other in utter confusion. Not being able to understand Shyriiwook held him at a great disadvantage.

\ You proved yourself worthy of a life debt when you risked your life to save mine. I will not leave your side. \

Sage squeezed the bridge of her nose. How am I going to get out of this?

Carth pulled Sage to the side so that the others couldn't hear, "What was that all about?"

"Well, it seems that since I released Zaalbar from the slavers, he, in return, has pledged a life debt to me," Sage explained.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"Well, he swears to protect my life with his own," she said as if it were obvious.

"So…he's going to stay with you?" he asked.

She nodded. "For how long?"

She shrugged, "Apparently until one of us dies."

"WHAT?" Carth couldn't believe it. He thought maybe all they had to do was buy the guy dinner or something, which in itself would be quite an expense, being a Wookiee and all.

"So now we have to get him off the planet too?" he asked.

"Well…him and Mission," she said.

"Mission?"

"She won't leave his side."

"So we're stuck with both of them?" his irritation was evident.

"Hey, I don't know what you're all worked up about. I'm the one that has to live with this," she said.

"Isn't there some way you can get out of it?" he asked.

"You don't think I've tried?" she paused. "Oh wait, you would probably expect me to kill him or something, right? Because I'm just that kind of person," she said sardonically.

Mission cheered her success and Sage turned abruptly to head through the passageway. Carth stood there for a moment, I… he sighed.


They encountered a few more gamorreans and rakghouls when they entered into the lower sewers.

After defeating a small group, Mission decided to ask Carth a few questions, "Hey, Carth. You're a pilot for the Republic, right?" He nodded hesitantly. "You've been all over the galaxy I bet, right?" He nodded again. "So tell me, how would you rate Taris compared to other worlds you've seen?"

Carth studied her a moment before answering, "I'll be honest, Mission. Taris would rate pretty low. The prejudice, the rich spoiling themselves while the poor are crushed beneath them…not a pretty picture."

Mission tried to defend her home, "Yeah, but that's only since the Sith occupation. Before that…," she paused to think about it. "Well, I guess it wasn't all that different, really." She seemed to realize something, "Hmm….maybe Taris ain't as great as I thought, you know?"

"Trust me, Mission. There are a lot of worlds better than Taris. There are worse, too. But Taris is no place for a kid to live on her own…even a kid who's got a Wookiee to look out for her," he explained. Wrong answer, Sage thought.

Mission yelled, "Hey, I ain't no kid! And I look out for Zaalbar as much as he looks out for me. Big Z's my friend, not my babysitter! Geez, I come ask you a question and you give me a lecture!"

Carth couldn't believe this kid was talking to him like that, "Don't you snap at me, missy! You want a lecture? How's this: only bratty little children fly off the handle because of a simple comment."

Sage smirked, "You're not going to take that from him, are you Mission?" Carth shot her a look that said, 'stay out of this.' It made her smile more.

"I don't have to listen to you, Carth! You ain't my father…though you're sure old enough to be! So keep your lectures inside your withered old head, 'cause I don't need 'em!" Mission bit back.

Sage turned her head away at the 'old' comment. She doesn't hold back.

Carth huffed, "And I sure as hell don't need this. Let's just drop it and get back to what we were doing."

"Fine by me," Mission said.


They reached the end of a long passageway when Sage bent down to study the remains on the ground. Carth hung back in thought. He didn't miss the implication that he was old. He didn't feel old, but he didn't realize he was at a point in his life that teenagers considered him to be. He was old enough to be her father…and that thought alone was enough to weigh heavy on his heart.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Sage yelling, "RANCOR?"

"Oh, yeah, didn't I mention that?" Mission said.

Sage stared at her, "There's really a rancor in there?"

Mission nodded sheepishly.

"A full grown one?" Sage asked.

Mission winced and nodded again.

Sage took a deep breath. Mission added, "I've gotten past him before."

Sage shook her head, "That was you…we're talking four of us…one being a more than two meter tall Wookiee…kind of hard to sneak him anywhere." She started pacing while looking over the datapad and the vile she retrieved.

"There's no way we can fight it," Carth added.

Sage pointed to the arm on the floor, "Not unless you want to end up like that."

"What's that?" Carth asked pointing to the vile.

Sage held up the datapad, "It seems the Beks thought they had an idea to get around it. However…," she looked down at the remains, "I don't think it worked out too well for that guy."

She closed her eyes and stretched her neck from side to side, rubbing the back. It reminded Carth of her short night, That must be why she's so touchy today.

"All right," Sage started, "let's see what we're dealing with…I'll hit the door controls…everyone quiet and be ready to run like hell."

She walked over to the controls and the door slid open. They peeked in to see the rancor's attention at the other door. Sage scanned the room. There was a pile of what must be the rancor's leftovers. She crinkled her nose at the thought. Then, setting her bag down, she had an idea.

Carth saw Sage lean over and whisper something to Mission. Mission took off her stealth belt and handed it to Sage. She put the belt on and retrieved a grenade from her bag. He grabbed her arm. "What do you think you're doing," he hissed.

She pulled her arm from his grasp and said, "Trust me, Carth. I know what I'm doing." At least I think I do. She moved a meter away from him and activated the belt. He wasn't quick enough to stop her before she disappeared. He clenched his fists, Damn her!

He waited nervously as the most infuriating woman he'd ever met in his life walked into a rancor den. He watched the room for any sign of her.

She made it to the pile of bones in the middle of the large room. She placed the grenade in the pile and poured the contents of the vile onto it. She quickly moved away to where the others were waiting.

Before she got there, the rancor smelled the odor coming from the pile. He moved quickly to it and grabbed at what he thought was his prey. Moments later, a muffled explosion arose from within him as he let out a ground shaking roar. He staggered a few steps and then fell lifeless to the floor.

The four travelers watched in amazement from their hiding place. Carth looked over at the now revealed Sage, She must think she's invincible.