Being stared at made it incredibly difficult to meditate.

Since Bastila and Akanni were still on lockdown, they were stuck in the apartment with little to do. Carth, Desiraye and Mission had left once again to prepare for their next venture, but this time they took Zaalbar with them. He wouldn't be going into the base with them, however - he would follow them to the base, then escort their new droid back to the apartment.

Bastila had been attempting to meditate, but could feel Akanni's eyes on her from across the room where she sat at the table, looking at something on her datapad.

"Is something bothering you?"

She needn't have asked. She could feel the young woman's troubled mind.

"I've seen you before."

"Yes, I imagine you have. I'm the one who requested you be brought on board the Endar Spire, and you've likely seen images of me in holovids about the war."

"That's not what I meant," Akanni sighed, "I mean I've seen you recently, in... in visions, or something."

"Visions? What do you mean?"

"When I was unconscious after our crash, I kept having these visions, or dreams. Many of them were just disjointed images, feelings. But I saw you... fighting Revan."

"I see. Well, I have no idea how you could possibly have seen that, but yes, I did fight Revan. I was the leader of the strike team that was sent to her ship."

She looked about to say something else, but hesitated. Finally she tried again.

"Such visions are often the sign of Force sensitivity."

"What do you mean?"

"The Force is complicated; even I with all my training do not fully understand it yet. This is a matter best left to the Masters of the Jedi Council. Once we escape Taris we can seek their guidance, if you wish. They will be able to tell you the significance of your visions, if there is any at all. Right now, however, we should stay focused on the task at hand."

"Well, not much to do right now. Not for us, anyway."

"True." Bastila agreed, "Actually, there is something I would like to ask you about, if I may."

"Alright."

"I'd like to ask you about what happened to you after the crash. How did you find me? I doubt there were neon signs pointing you in my direction, but you still managed to locate me. You also avoided detection by the Sith, gained sponsorship for the race and became the swoop champion. That's quite the resume."

"I didn't do it all on my own," Akanni pointed out, "I had Carth, Mission, Zaalbar and Desiraye at my side. I couldn't have done it without them."

"I'm sure they were helpful during your search, but you were the catalyst in these events. You told me that Carth didn't approve of working with the swoop gang, and yet you still did. That clearly means you were the reason for it."

"Well sure, but even though he didn't like it, he still helped me a great deal."

When he wasn't accusing me of being a traitor, that is...

"Your modesty is admirable. When you were chosen for this mission, none of us expected this much from you."

"I doubt anyone expected to crash-land on Taris, either."

Bastila went on as though she hadn't spoken.

"A Jedi could have done these things, of course. But only by drawing heavily upon the Force."

"I think you may be underestimating us non-Jedi."

"Perhaps." Bastila agreed blithely, "In any case, it's obvious to me that the Force is working through you. I can see no other explanation for your successes thus far."

She seemed to suddenly realize what she was saying, and stopped.

"But these are matters best left to the Jedi Council. For now, let's just accept the fact that you are... gifted. Hopefully between your talents, Desiraye's and my Jedi training and the skills of our companions we will find a way off this planet."

….

"Well, this little guy looks alright. GT, what do you think?"

Desiraye knelt before the astromech droid that the shopkeeper said was for Davik. GT hovered over her shoulders, trilling softly.

"Well, there you have it," Mission laughed, "The little guy's a keeper. Even GT likes him!"

After a few minutes spent haggling over price, the little entourage left the shop with 1800 less credits to their name, but were the new owners of a state-of-the-art astromech droid designated T3-M4. GT seemed fascinated with the little rolling droid - as much as a droid could be fascinated, that is - and spent the entire trip to the Sith base chattering away with it in little beeps that no one bothered to follow.

Once they reached the base, T3 got to work right away. It was almost scary just how good the droid was at picking security locks.

"Wow, that Janice Nall must really know her stuff to program him like this..." Mission whistled.

As soon as the outer doors slid open, Zaalbar and T3 prepared to head back to the apartment.

"GT, go with them." Desiraye instructed. Zaalbar growled lowly, questioning.

"Trust me, he's got more firepower than you'd think. I built him myself, added in a few modifications. If you get into a bind, he can help you out."

A Wookiee and two droids walking down the city streets was a rather unusual sight.

….

"Hey, you can't come waltzing in here!"

Desiraye just sighed.

"Does everyone really have to keep saying that?"

A Twi'lek receptionist was at the desk in the front room, and was clearly not in the mood for bargaining or being reasonable.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

"We're here to for a meeting with the Sith Governor. If you could just unlock the door for us, that'd be great."

"Liar. No one has a meeting with the Governor without an appointment, and there's nothing in the books for today."

Desiraye smiled, approaching the desk slowly.

"Really? Would you mind checking again?"

The Twi'lek tapped a few keys on her computer, and as Desiraye reached the desk she laid a few credits beside her hand.

"You don't want to cause us any trouble. The Sith have made your life hell since they occupied Taris. You want to take this money and leave."

The woman never saw the delicate wave of Desiraye's hand.

"Yes, I... I want to take this money and leave. The Sith have made my life hell..."

The woman blinked a couple times, scooping up the credits and turning to Desiraye again.

"Just let me get out of here before you start blasting up the place."

"Better hurry."

As the woman fled, Carth chuckled.

"Nice one. But if you could just use the Force on her, why the credits?"

"I didn't know for sure that my persuasion would work," Desiraye shrugged, "My connection to the Force has been a little weak since the crash. So I thought a backup plan would be a good idea. Besides, it's not like we couldn't afford it."

"True enough I suppose. But you say your connection is weak? What would cause that?"

"I don't know. I haven't been able to meditate since the crash, so that could be part of it. Or maybe just all the tension on Taris, with the Sith here, is hampering my ability to concentrate."

She thought about it a moment longer, then shrugged again.

"Either way, it doesn't matter right now. What matters is that we need to find those codes. Mission, can you hack the computer and maybe find a map or something? See if there's any camera feeds too - we need to know what we're up against."

Happy to be useful and eager for any chance to show off her skills, Mission quickly hopped to the task. Desiraye smiled as she watched the teen.

"I used to be just like that." She murmured, "So eager to please, desperate to be needed..."

"Used to be..?" Carth echoed, settling against the wall to wait, "What happened to change you?"

"War."

"That'll do it. What was it for you specifically, though?"

"Carth Onasi, are you prying?" Desiraye smiled, but sobered quickly. "What was it for me... it was one man. One man destroyed my world from the inside out, and my father wasn't even there to save me."

Suddenly she seemed to realize what she'd said, and she looked away, startled.

"I'm sorry, I... I can't talk about that. Let's just focus on the mission, okay?"

As she walked back over to Mission, Carth watched her with a gentle smile. He knew that hard look in her eye, the firm set of her jaw. He saw the same thing every time he looked in a mirror.