I'd like to take a quick moment to thank all my readers for all the favourites and follows that I have gained so far, It's definitely a great feeling to see that people do genuinely like this story. Even if I didn't have any faves or follows I would probably still write this anyway, but I didn't realise just how good it makes me feel to have such positivity.
I would also like to do a 'poll' of sorts: I've really started to dislike the name I came up with this story, it really was a poor afterthought; so what I want is people to suggest a more Mass Effect and KoToR-esque name for the story because currently, I think, the name is a bit too uninspired
On with the chapter!
Nick led both Carth and Tali through the lower city up to a rundown part of the city with a destroyed door, at least it looked that way until Nick whispered something into the control panel. At that point, the door seemingly repaired itself and it slid open cautiously. It revealed a dark passageway with a single light illuminating a door at the end, Nick shut the door as Carth and Tali followed him in.
"Watch your step, follow my exact moves." Nick turned around motioning for them to follow, he began moving very slowly down the passageway, taking random turns and making small hops. Tali and Carth followed cautiously, mimicking Nick's steps very carefully. Once they made it to the end, Tali turned around and was surprised to see that the door they came in on was actually quite far away.
"What was all that about?" Carth asked, while Nick was working on the door.
"Hm..." Nick turned around as the door slid open revealing a much brighter hallway, "That was the back door, laid out with traps so any Vulkars who think they're smart will fall for hours." He smirked at the thought.
Tali looked back the way they came before entering the base behind Nick. As they walked down the steel hallway, Tali and Carth glanced at each other in thought. Neither said anything, but their thoughts remained the same: how could they benefit from this?
Nick led them into a large hall that had lots of people walking around or huddled in small groups, most of them were armed and armoured. Tali and Carth were met with strange looks as they walked towards a desk. Tali recognised the humans, but the aliens with strange appendages intrigued her, she knew Liara would love to study them. She was lost in thought for a second as she thought about Liara and the rest of the crew, she hoped that they were all okay, but she was wondering whether they were thinking about her. She suddenly felt glad about having Carth around, he was a nice guy and he could have easily passed her by and left her to the Sith. Carth intrigued Tali because he seemed so secretive, having lived inside a suit her whole life, Tali had learned to read expressions and movements. Carth's movements indicated to Tali that he carried a heavy burden and that he obviously has some secrets to tell. Nick was a different story: he walked with pride but he seemed scared or fearful, Tali could not tell what of, but it was there. It didn't matter time was not on their side so Tali quickly returned her thoughts back to the task.
Nick strolled up to the desk in an orderly manner, the man behind the desk was clad in very heavy battle armour and he had a large rifle slung on his back. His face had it's share of scars but his eyes were particularly interesting. They were grey in colour and he hardly moved them at all, Carth speculated that he may have lost his sight and have implants to allow him to see, but he didn't want to ask. Beside the man was another one of those aliens that intrigued Tali, she was a very light colour and wore armour that was silver in colour, she had her back turned and was working on a terminal. In her right hand was a pistol of unique design, there was something engraved on the side but Tali could not make it out. The alien clutched it tightly, as if expecting a firefight to erupt at any moment.
"Gadon." Nick said while the man turned around, his eyes twitched for a second before focusing on Nick
"Nick." Gadon affirmed, "I can see two more people with you, have you brought guests?" As he said this the Twi'lek turned around and upon seeing the newcomers she drew her pistol.
"Nick!" The Twi'lek shouted "How could you bring in strangers, they could be working for the Vulkars or worse... the Sith." She held her pistol tightly, training it on Tali who held her hands in the air.
"Calm down Zaerdra!" Gadon said, "I'm sure Nick has an explanation for bringing them in." He turned to Nick and his companions, Zaerdra lowered her weapon "Go on, tell us what you know."
"Well they are not Vulkars, we were attacked when I met them, everyone in the squad died." Nick said bowing his head in respect
"Damn..." Gadon said, bowing his head in honour of the fallen.
"But, as they attacked these two helped me take em' out." He gestured to Tali and Carth behind him "I figured I owed them, they said they were looking for someone maybe you can help?"
"Hm..." Gadon pondered for a second, looking over at the two strangers before him. "Tell us who you are, we should be able to help you out."
Carth spoke up before Tali could even open her mouth. "I'm Carth, this is Tali." He pointed at Tali who was standing slightly behind him. "We're looking for someone who crashed in the undercity."
"Ah, I suspected as much." Gadon said with a smile "Anybody as well equipped as you two would likely want to know, let me guess: you were both in an escape pod?" Gadon asked. Carth simply nodded with a little hesitation. "It's fine, we'll keep it secret. We're not like the Vulkars or the Sith, they would sell you out."
"Glad we didn't run into them then." Tali said quietly, barely escaping her mask.
"Well I'll help you out, whatever information you need I'll give you access to." Gadon replied, his smile widening.
Zaerdra quickly interrupted "Gadon. Are you sure we can trust them? They're still strangers and they could easily betray us."
"Anyone who helps out my best man is a friend of mine." Gadon said turning back to Zaerdra, Nick had shuffled sideways to give Tali and Carth full attention. "So what do you need to know?"
"We're looking for a... Jedi Knight, it is absolutely vital that she is not captured by the Sith." Carth quickly said, hesitating before mentioning exactly what Bastila was, but he thought he could trust them.
"Hm." Gadon quickly replied, furrowing his brow while thinking quietly to himself. "When the pods crashed I sent a team to see if they could retrieve any survivors so we could help them out. Unfortunately, the Vulkars got there first and started tearing one of the pods apart, there was a firefight, during the fight my men reported seeing a woman being dragged away by the Vulkar forces." Gadon shuffled forward slightly.
"Damn." Carth muttered to himself.
"You are right to worry, the Vulkars are likely going to sell her off to the slave trade. However, it is likely they don't know who she is, otherwise they would have handed her over to the Sith without hesitation." Gadon said noticing the worried look on Carth's face, however he remained suspicious of Tali because he could not see her face.
At the mention of the slave trade, Tali was quickly thrown back in and felt the need to ask. "Slave trade! You mean slaves are still used in your- I mean in the galaxy?" She almost blew her cover, they likely wouldn't believe her if she told them who she was.
"Yeah, it's brutal. We would never use or buy slaves." Nick stated firmly gesturing with his hands.
"Wait!" Gadon quickly said, "I believe that Brejik is going to offer up Bastila as the prize for this years swoop tournament." He stated firmly trying to reassure them.
"How does that help us?" Carth asked, slightly concerned.
"I could sponsor you as a rider for the Beks, if you win the tournament then you win Bastila and you can free her." Gadon said triumphantly
"Hm, that could actually work." Carth said bringing his hand up to his chin. "But, wait a second. Who is Brejik."
Zaerdra quickly spoke up over Carth. "Brejik used to be Gadon's second in command, he recently left to go and lead the Vulkars. He started this war along with it." The Twi'lek stated coldly
"He's a sick, twisted man." Nick added after Zaerdra had finished speaking.
"Why don't we just raid their base for Bastila?" Tali unexpectedly said in the middle of the conversation.
"Brejik has probably got her locked up somewhere secret in preparation for the race." Gadon said affirming Tali's suspicions.
"Then let's get the tournament started!" Carth said impatiently.
"Hold it." Gadon held his arm up to stop them. "Recently our engineers created a prototype swoop engine that is faster than any normal engine, but it was stolen by the Vulkars as we were trying to move it here. You'll need that engine to win the race, it's your best chance." He put his arm down and rested them at his sides.
"It's never easy, is it?" Tali said after Gadon had finished speaking.
"We believe that it is currently in a nearby base preparing to be moved elsewhere, now is the time to get it." Gadon said, rallying the two.
"Then let's go-" Carth said while turning away.
"Hang on." Gadon interrupted Carth "You'll need a way in, if you charge in the front door you'll just get shot on site, you'll need to go in through a secret entrance."
"Oh yeah? And where's that then?" Carth was growing impatient, he crossed his arms.
"There's an entrance to in the sewers, a Twi'lek by the name of Mission Vao will help you." Gadon said, maintaining his calm demeanour.
"Mission, Gadon? She's just a kid!" Zaerdra interjected with slight anger in her voice.
"That may be, but she's the only person that knows the undercity inside out. If anyone can help you it's her." Gadon said, stopping Zaerdra.
"Where can we find this 'Mission'?" Carth asked, putting his hands by his side, his legs started to cramp after standing for so long. He shuffled around, to stop the cramps.
"She's usually exploring the undercity sewers with her Wookiee partner, Zaalbaar. However that has it's own set of problems." Gadon could sense the impatience on Carth's face and although he couldn't see it, he knew Tali was growing impatient as well. "The Sith set up a checkpoint, you'll need the proper security papers to get past."
"We have documents, that's how we got down here in the first place!" Tali quickly said as Carth pulled out the datapad with the information on it.
"Let me see..." Gadon took the datapad in his hands, he held it closer to his face so that he could see it clearer, the implants hadn't fully restored his vision, but it was good enough. "No... these won't get you through the checkpoint, luckily we have a pass to get into the undercity, we can trade you these documents for them." Gadon held the datapad down.
"Well, if it will get us closer to Bastila, we shouldn't waste time." Tali said hopefully, her voice sounded more serious than usual.
"Good. Zaerdra, get them the pass." Gadon said, turning back to his bodyguard, Zaerdra handed the pass to Carth but eyed him suspiciously. "You three should get going. Bring the accelerator back here and then we can enter the tournament."
"Three..?" Nick asked, bewildered at the statement.
"Yes. Nick, I want you to go with them, you know the lower city well and you can help them out." Gadon said as he turned to Carth and Tali "Good luck, I hope to see you later in one piece." Gadon said cheerfully as the three left, he had no doubt that they would come through for him.
"That went well." Tali said as they left through the main entrance, to their right was a lookout for the Beks who looked over with a scowl.
"Come on, the elevator to the undercity is this way." Nick stated while pointing to their right, "The Vulkars pretty much own this area, if we tread carefully we'll get through." He added as he started to move. Carth and Tali followed as they ran off into the dark with their weapons drawn.