Zurth stood and stretched with a yawn. It had been five days and they had gotten a goodly amount of information. He had met or had communications with Canderous Ordo several times. The Mandalorian wanted updates at least once a day and, while he was mostly patient, he urged that Zurth make his move soon. "Davik is going to start wondering about his droid. If he puts in a query as to where the T3 unit is to the droid shop, I'm going to have to find a way to explain that I have it and loaned it out to my own team to get the Sith clearance codes and what not. That won't be very good for me unless you succeed, preferably spectacularly."

But Zurth still needed some more information. They knew how the Sith worked their patrols and how they worked their guard shifts. Thanks to Mission working her way into a local restaurant as a delivery, they learned that inside the main entrance was a reception area and, right behind it, a small security room containing three or four Sith guards. They had obtained the size of the Sith garrison and the number of patrol fighters and various shuttles, freighters and gunships and the number of war droids. What they needed to know was how the guards would react to infiltration and what their reaction times and procedures and so on. That information could only be obtained one of two ways - making the attempt going in half blind and just seeing how they react or getting a Sith trooper to explain or go into it.

The others unanimously decided that Zurth needed to get in contact with his Sith fling and so, here he was at the cantina, hoping she would come around. It had been almost an hour and a half and she would have gotten off her shift a half hour ago. He dropped a credit chip on the counter and heard a silky smooth voice behind him. "What? You're leaving? But I just got here."

Zurth turned to see Sarna standing there and she looked really good. She had clearly taken time to put on make up and pick out her outfit. "Wow..." he said, making his eyes as wide as they could go. "You look..."

"Good enough to eat, I hope;" she purred as she wrapped her arms around his neck. After a long, burning kiss, she pulled away and said, "And while I'm certainly looking forward to it, I'm hungry for food at the moment. Have you eaten?"

"Nope; I thought I'd wait for you."

They grabbed a table and Sarna gazed at him in an almost worshipful manner, her eyes devouring him. "So;" she said, reaching across and casually taking his large, scarred hand, "in what have you been up to the past few days? Did you miss me?"

'Zeek' rubbed a thumb against her hand and said, "A definite yes to the second question. To the first, I've been looking for work and put in another request to get to my ship. Still no luck."

To his surprise, Sarna sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that. I guess you're still anxious to get off Taris then?"

Zurth looked at her. Sarna was studying his hand carefully, refusing to meet his eye. "Well perhaps but I've come to enjoy this planet. I can see myself coming back frequently and maybe, possibly even making it a home base."

"Really?" asked Sarna, sounding quite skeptical. "What does this crummy little world have going for it?"

"I dunno. There's a pretty girl I like here and seeing her would make it more than worth."

That made Sarna blush and smile. "You're just saying that because you want sex."

Zurth laughed. "Okay, let's be real about one thing - you want it at least as badly as I do."

Sarna's eyes glittered and she leaned forward, all but purring. "Oh trust me, I really, really want it, quite possibly even more than you. Do you like my outfit?"

It was a very flattering outfit. The trousers were nice and tight and the shirt's neckline plunged to show her tantalizing cleavage. She wore tall leather boots that hugged her shapely calves. "Oh yeah;" said Zurth, allowing his voice to become a low, alluring rumble. "I like it very much."

A visible shiver ran through the young Sith trooper's body as she felt a large, booted foot rub against her calf. "Can we skip dinner?" she asked hoarsely.

Zurth shook his head, his eyes gleaming wickedly. "Oh no;" he said, still caressing her calf. "I'm hungry and so are you. Besides, this is payback for the binders last time."

"You loved it and you know;" countered Sarna with a smirk.

"It was different and I did;" said Zurth as he brushed his foot up her calf to her knee.

Sarna gasped. "Zeek! We're in public!"

"Come on;" he chuckled as his foot began to brush inward. "I can tell it just excites you even more, knowing that we could get caught at any second."

Sarna couldn't deny it. The waitress came over and, whether to Sarna's relief or dismay, she couldn't tell, Zeek moved his foot. They ordered and waited, at first in silence. "Well," said Sarna, "this is actually starting to feel like a date."

"Good;" said Zurth. "I was hoping it would. Why don't you tell me more about yourself?"

Sarna was slow to start but, as they waited, and then ate their food, she warmed to talking about home. Much like many Sith soldiers, she had once served the Republic but, when Revan had left and then returned from parts unknown, she and many others had decided to convert, for lack of a better term, because they thought that the Republic no longer appreciated them or understood the dangers out their. "I honestly believe that Revan took the name of Darth Revan because he thought that he would rule better, make the Republic more prepared for any other dangers. I never met him, but if I were to hazard a guess, Darth Revan was worried about threats outside the known galaxy."

Zurth nodded as if considering carefully. "Could be. I haven't served for some years now. Truth is, part of the reason I left the Republic military was because I was annoyed that all I got when I returned was a slap on the back, a 'great job' and a piece of metal that was supposed to mean something but really didn't. I dunno. I guess I just expected more."

Sarna nodded in understanding. They finished eating and ordered from the very limited dessert menu. That done, they quit the bar and headed out onto the streets. "So where to now?" asked Sarna, her eyes glinting.

"Good question;" rumbled Zurth, "Any ideas?"

With a salacious smile, Sarna took his hand and said, "Come with me, big boy. I know the perfect place."

Neither of them noticed the inconspicuous looking young woman in the garb of a local noble. As they walked away, hand and hand, Bastila Shan followed. She stayed far enough back to not be noticed which would have been difficult considering Zurth's extensive training. But the force was Bastila's ally. She followed carefully until Zurth and the Sith trooper entered a low rent but still tidy looking motel. "Of course the floozy would take him to a cheap motel;" she muttered.

Waiting a couple minutes, she entered afterward. The receptionist, a young Nautolan female looked at her curiously. Bastila waved her hand. "You will ignore my presents and forget you saw me;" she said, putting the force behind her words. The young Nautolan murmured, "I will ignore your presents and forget I saw you."

Bastila strode down the hall and cast out with the force. She hissed and grimaced as she saw hints of other minds, minds of beings who had the same idea that Zurth's Sith trooper did. When she located them, Bastila found herself tempted to use the force to stay slightly connected to their minds. Reluctantly, she pulled herself away and sat in a decorative chair in the corner, hiding herself in the force and, whenever someone went by, she used the force to redirect their interest and curiosity.

After over an hour, Zurth flopped back, gasping for breath. Sarna snuggled up to him. "Best day off ever;" she sighed, completely content.

"Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed it. How do you survive spending days at a time not being allowed to do what you want all the time?"

Sarna shrugged. "It's the price to serve and, hopefully, save the galaxy."

Zurth nodded, rubbing a thumb up and down her spine. "You know," he said casually, "I was actually stationed here for a year before transferring to the special forces. This one time, a street gang had somehow gotten a ton of high grade weapons and tried to storm the place."

"Really?" she said, "I never heard about that!"

"Yeah, we were told to keep it extremely quiet. It was probably pretty embarrassing for the brass since the gang members had nearly gotten to some military airspeeders and starfighters. All I know is, every ranking officer from the base commander down to my company commander were demoted and reassigned. But I'm guessing you Sith have a lot tighter security."

"Oh yes;" said Sarna, shifting just slightly so that 'Zeek's' hand was caressing her in a more preferred spot. "If that were to happen, we'd deploy, crush the attack and then go down to the Lower City in force and wipe out anyone affiliated with any swoop gangs."

"Wow..." said Zurth, "that's extreme. Let me see, the armory used to be just down the hall from the main entrance."

"Oh we moved that further back and put a small security room there."

"Really? There was one literally right behind the reception room;" commented Zurth.

"Yup;" said Sarna, "We quadrupled the security rooms and weapons lockers. We also keep half our troops constantly on alert too. If someone were to so much as sneeze too aggressively, they'd have forty Sith Troopers on them."

Zurth nodded. "Say, if I were to turn in a bounty to your base, how would I do that? There's a rumor that there are still some Rep soldiers scurrying around in the Under City."

Sarna began to gently brush her hand up and down the hard plains of Zurth's muscles as she replied, "You'd bring it to the reception desk and be taken to one of the interior security rooms where you'd sign paperwork, be paid and then be escorted out."

Zurth nodded. "Great. One more question: are there any Dark Jedi? They scare the Corellian hell out of me."

"Thank the force no;" sighed Sarna. "They give me the creeps too. No, there are no Dark Jedi on this base."

Zurth chuckled and nodded. "Gotcha."

They were silent for a bit when Sarna suddenly stiffened and looked at him, her eyes growing just slightly hard. "Why do you want to know so much about our operations?"

Zurth gave her what he hoped was a confused look. "What? What are you talking about?"

"You just seem awfully curious about them. Why is that?"

Zurth frowned but then widened his eyes. "No! No, no! You misunderstand me, Sarna. I was just curious because I used to work there and because the Sith seem a lot more strict and efficient than we were back then, that's all."

Sarna continued to stare at him so he sighed. "Looks like I ruined the mood. I'm sorry. I really was just curious about you and the Sith, that's all. I didn't realize I was treading on toes."

Slowly he sat up and began to cast around for his clothes. He didn't look at her, continue to pretend he was trying to get dressed when, suddenly, Sarna said, "Hold on now, Zeek;" and she pressed her naked body against him. "I didn't say you could go yet."

Her voice was that sultry purr and Zurth suppressed a sigh of relief. He looked at her. "I'm sorry, Sarna."

"Then make it up to me for your nosiness;" she said, lying back on the bed and pulling him with her.

Bastila was getting antsy and worried when they finally came out. Checking her chrono, she scowled. The big oaf had been in there for two and a half hours. He had better have gotten some really good intel. Finally, Zurth emerged with the Sith trooper right behind him. They were both smiling and looked as though they had both thoroughly enjoyed themselves. But Sarna was Sith. It was just as likely that he was putting on a pleasant face for her benefit. She listened as they laughed and headed towards the entrance to the motel, hand in hand. When they were out on the street, she stayed just out of sight and listened as Sarna asked, "Are you going to be coming to the parade?"

"Parade?" asked Zurth, sounding very interested. "What parade is that?"

"We're hoping to bring the moral of the place up so we're having a parade and festival because of some Tarisian holiday. It's supposed to be great fun. The majority of the garrison will be in it."

Bastila could sense Zurth's interest piqued. "Are you going to be in it?"

"Yup, though I doubt you'll recognize me, what with my armor and everything."

"Sure I will;" assured Zurth, "I'll just look for the sexiest suit of Sith Armor."

Bastila rolled her eyes. That was beyond ridiculous. To her mild surprise, the Sith giggled and said, "You are full of it. Anyhow, I should go. We're still supposed to check in, even while on leave. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Only if you want to."

Sarna giggled again. "Trust me, I'll want to. Goodnight, Zeek."

"Goodnight, my sexy, dangerous Sarna."

Again, Bastila rolled her eyes and again, Sarna giggled. There were the sounds of kissing - soft smacks, quiet moans and the like. After a minute, and the sound of someone retreating up the walk, Bastila heard Zurth utter a massive sigh of relief. Reaching out, she could feel that relief palpably radiating of him. Quickly, Bastila rounded the corner she was hiding behind and went up to him. "Are you alright, Zurth?"

Seeing her, Zurth frowned. "I'm fine, thanks. Where did you come from?"

"I've been keeping an eye on you this whole time just in case you needed back up;" she explained but then blushed. "That came out wrong. I wasn't watching. I was just sort of listening in with the force... I mean..." and she trailed off, her face so red that she looked sun burnt. With a sigh of exasperation, she put a hand to her head, massaging her temples. She stole a glance at Zurth who was quite obviously trying not to either laugh or grin or both.

"Well gee, Bastila; never took you for the voyeur type. What would the Jedi Council think?"

If it was even possible, Bastila seemed to turn even more red as she glared. "That is not what I was doing and you bloody well know it, Zurth Barsad! It was foolish of you to go and do this without back up! What would have happened if she decided you had outlived your usefulness?"

"I expect that she would use the regular pseudo-breakup lines like, 'we won't be able to do this for awhile. I'll call you later' or 'this was fun but I could get in trouble if we keep doing so we need to stop' and so on."

"Really?" snapped Bastila, crossing her arms as they walked, "so there is no chance she would kill you?"

"Oh no;" said Zurth. "She likes me way too much for that."

"Are you sure?"

Zurth's smile turned down-right smug. "Oh yeah. I'm absolutely sure."

Bastila hmphed and they continued in silence. "Get ready;" murmured Zurth casually.

Bastila glared at him. "For what?"

"As soon as we walk in the apartment, Mission is going to ask where you were and when you tell her, she will unload more jokes at your expense then an intoxicated Bothan comedian."

Bastila groaned. "You have to help me! What can I do to avoid it?"

Zurth laughed. "Oh no, sweetheart! You're on your own."

"Do not call me 'sweetheart';" she snapped, clenching her fists angrily. "Fine. I'll come up with something on my own."

"Okay;" said Zurth, his voice more than just mildly amused.

"There is no emotion, there is only peace;" Bastila muttered to herself. "There is no emotion, there is only peace."

Zurth burst into laughter and shook his head. When they entered the apartment, Mission zeroed in on them. "Hey Zurth; how'd it go?"

Zurth chuckled as he headed to the refrigeration unit. "Pretty good, Kiddo. I got a lot of good information about-"

"Yeah, yeah;" she said, waving it aside. "We'll get to that. I wanted to know about the other stuff."

Zurth did an admirable job of feigning ignorance. "What other stuff?"

"For the love of-" Mission sighed in exasperation. "The sex stuff, soldier boy, the sex stuff! I want details."

Zurth burst into laughter, blushing ever so slightly. "You can keep on wanting, Mission."

"Oh come on!" whined the Twi'lek, "it's not like it's something I haven't experienced."

That seemed to throw Zurth off, "What?"

"I'm a Twi'lek, Zurth;" she said with a shrug. "Don't worry, I usually keep it within a year or two of my age and only with species that are more sexually open like other Twi'leks, Togruta or Nautolans."

"Oh that's comforting;" growled Zurth sarcastically.

Bastila came to his rescue. "None of the rest of us really want to here the gory details of Zurth's rendezvous with the Sith Trooper, Mission."

Mission's brown eyes focused on her. "Where have you been, exactly?"

Bastila cleared her throat uncomfortably and shrugged. "I was in the background, just in case Zurth needed back up."

"Really?" said Mission, very interested in the Jedi now. "So, what, did you just hang out in the cantina or did you stay with them all evening."

"I kept my distance;" said Bastila. "Didn't really stay in sight. The force allowed me to keep tabs without being required to see anything."

"But you felt everything through the force, didn't you?" said the Twi'lek with a grin. "What was that like? Did you get to experience everything second hand through the force?"

Bastila gasped, "Of course not! That is absolutely repulsive, Mission! Zurth's sex life is none of my business. I maintained just enough contact to make sure he wasn't in danger and that's all."

"Are you sure that's the only reason you went?" asked Mission offhandedly.

Bastila's intense glare didn't effect Mission at all. "Why else could I have wanted to go? Zurth is the one who is going to get us off planet. Protecting him is a priority."

"Oh I'd believe you if Zurth wasn't a highly trained special forces bad ass and hadn't already rescued you once. Are you sure you weren't a little jealous?"

Bastila's mouth fell open and even Zurth gave a startled look. The young Jedi sputtered. "Jealous? What the blazes to I have to be jealous of?"

Mission just shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe after that kiss Zurth gave you, that little taste of what he had to offer, you wanted more and had a hard time with the fact that another woman was getting it."

Zurth had buried his face in the refrigeration unit to hide his blush his laughter. Bastila stamped her foot and declared, "I am not jealous, you insufferable, obnoxious child! I am a Jedi and we do not get jealous. We are trained from birth to restrain ourselves of such things and resist temptation."

"Oh please," snorted Mission, "even if you can feel this powerful, mystical force, that does not mean that your biological instincts are eradicated. You feel desire, same as every other living being."

"I do not;" said Bastila, crossing her arms and looking away.

Mission gave a wicked grin and asked, "Really? So the thought of Zurth without his shirt on, kissing your lips doesn't do a thing."

"Nope;" said Bastila.

"And if he were to drag his lips back to your ear or down your neck, the idea of that does nothing?"

Bastila swallowed, her mouth beginning to dry, and replied firmly, "not a thing."

"And if his big hands began to caress your legs or run through your hair and with his bare chest pressed against yours? You don't think that those abs and pectorals and that firm little butt of his-"

"That's it!" snapped Bastila, her face and lips red with embarrassment and no small amount of arousal, "I am leaving. Let me know when you two are ready to discuss strategy and not your sex lives!"

She stormed out. Mission turned to Zurth, "So;" she said conversationally, "about those details?"

"Where are Carth and Zaalbar?" asked Zurth.

"Fact finding mission and grocery run;" said Mission. "Details, Zurth! I want the details!"

"I'm not going to give you details, Mission;" said Zurth as he pulled a bottle of Tarisian ale out and popped the top.

"Don't be such a prudish stick in the mud, old man!" said the young Twi'lek. "I'll tell you some of mine. There was this one time, about two months ago, I met this-"

"I don't want to know!" said Zurth. "I don't want to hear and I don't want to talk about it."

"You are absolutely no fun;" pouted the Twi'lek.

An hour later, they were gathered around the holo-schematics of the base and Zurth began. "So here is the plan - in two days, there is going to be a parade along the main streetways to celebrate some local holiday or another and then a festival after that. According to Sarna, most of the garrison is going to be in the parade. If we're lucky, it's only going to be a skeleton security team left at the base. We'll use that opportunity to go right in the front door."

He paused, waiting for the objections. Carth smiled wryly and said, "Okay? Keep going, Zeek;"

Zurth nodded and said, "We'll do this by using either myself or you, Carth, as a Republic soldier we found and captured in the Under City. Hopefully, that will get us passed the reception desk. They will take us to one of the internal security areas and, from there, we'll overpower them and attempt to slice into the system. If that doesn't work, we'll shut down all security holo cams, open all security doors, shut down all coms and download the facility map to a datapad and fight our way to the primary mainframe. There, T3 and Mission will start working their magic and we'll get what we came for while and fight our way right back out. Any questions?"

"Who will the infiltration team be?" asked Bastila.

"Myself and Carth, since one of us has to be the captured Republic Soldier, Mission and T3 since they'll be doing the slicing, and Zaalbar for extra muscle."

Bastila frowned. "So everyone but me? That's a terrible idea! What if there are Dark Jedi?"

"There aren't;" said Zurth.

"How do you know that?"

"Sarna told me;" said Zurth.

Bastila's eyes narrowed. "And you're just taking her word for it? What makes you think she is so trustworthy?"

"I'm pretty good at reading people, Bastila. She gave me none of the tell-tale signs of deception."

"Perhaps;" said Bastila, trying to be carefully, "your affection for this Sith is clouding your judgement."

Zurth straightened, clearly slightly offended. "I've been doing this for a long time, Bastila. While I do kinda like this girl, I could still tell if she was lying."

"You are staking this mission on that, Zurth;" she said, shaking her head.

The others looked back and forth between the two of them as a battle of wills seemed to take place. Carth cleared his throat and said, "You know, Zeek, we might be able to use her. I mean, if we announced that the legendary and highly sought after Bastila Shan was in custody, we'd be able to draw a lot more of their security into one place and that would be extremely helpful. If we eliminate them, that's a lot fewer to deal with later."

Zurth grimaced and said, "That's a huge risk, Carth. Bastila, you are the one the Sith are after. If we die, you can find another way off planet. If you die or are captured, the Republic will be in serious trouble."

"It's worth it;" said Bastila and Carth nodded firmly.

"Alright then, we have a plan. We'll put it in motion as soon as the parade starts. Mission, you and Zaalbar will come in with T3 once we give you the signal and, by then, we should have cleared a path for you."

All of them nodded grimly and the holo shut down. They had a plan. Zurth went a commed Canderous Ordo while the others went about checking gear and weapons.