Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Since you did, here's the second chapter (or most of it)!

It was midmorning before anyone stirred. Carth rubbed his eyes as he walked over to the single window in the apartment. "You'd think that something would happen here. It's as if the whole of the population is waiting for us to make a grand entrance or something."

His grumbling was interrupted by a feminine voice behind him. "Perhaps they are."

The pilot blinked and whirled around. The female Jedi was sitting up on her bed, her whole manner bespeaking her inner calm.

"Well, look who's up."

She shook her head, a slight smile gracing her lips. "Sarcasm doesn't fit you well, no matter how much you try to hide behind it."

"Still, I am grateful to be alive. I thank you."

Carth snorted, leaning back against the window. "Save it for those who actually deserve it. If it wasn't for the kid here," and he pointed towards where his fellow crewmember lay still asleep, "you wouldn't have made it to the escape pod alive."

His argument did make sense. Her memory supported the claim, at least as far as it went. "I will thank him later, when he wakes up." Almost as an afterthought, she added. "My name is Ria."

The pilot nodded absent-mindedly, his thoughts already soaring ahead to the remainder of the day. They should be able to access the Undercity, now that they had the proper disguise to do so. Of course, that would depend on how up to the task his companions were.

Almost on cue, Tevan woke up and struggled into a sitting position. A thin bead of sweat trickled down his face and he lifted a hand to wipe it away from his eyes. He was muttering something under his breath, and Carth strained to hear what the scout was saying.

"Just a nightmare, that's all. Just a nightmare."

Tevan looked up and noticed the faces staring at him. "What is it?"

"Are you okay?" Carth knew he didn't sound too sympathetic, but he needed to know. "You look like you might still be having problems from yesterday."

The scout shook his head. "I'm a little sore, but nothing that is going to hinder me. It's just the dreams I've been having. They aren't all that pleasant." He grimaced and waved off the subject. "I'm ready to go when you are."

"Great." Carth's voice was flat, but the pilot realized that his companion didn't want to talk about it any more. "We're all set to get into the lower levels. Ria will have to stay here and look after our unexpected guest."

"Ria?"

"That would be me." The Jedi looked almost amused. Standing hastily, Tevan half-bowed in her direction.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "I understand that I have you to thank for my life."

"It was nothing."

"No," she said, slowly lifting her hand to rest her chin upon, "it was not 'nothing'. It may be far more than we know."

"After all," she tilted her head to one side, and glanced at Carth, "not everyone would have stopped to see if I even breathed after the explosion. Not to mention retrieving my lightsaber."

Tevan shifted uncomfortably on his feet. The attention he was receiving was stirring a memory within him, but with maddening certainty, it kept dancing out of his mental grasp. He walked over to the workbench and retrieved Ria's weapon.

"Here. I don't think that it's broken."

The Jedi took her weapon and turned it over carefully, inspecting its surface for any signs of failure in the casing. Finding none, she pointed it away from her and activated the tiny stud on the side, bringing the blade into life with startling quickness. The thrumming of the blade was almost hypnotic; she held it out before her for a moment longer before shutting the lightsaber off.

"It still works. That should be enough for the present."

"I can only hope that it is."

An impatient Republic pilot broke the moment of silence. "Come on! We don't have all day to stand around here. We've got to find Bastila."

"Lead on, fearless leader." Tevan waved helplessly to the bed ridden Jedi. "See you later."

Meanwhile, in the dark depths of Taris, a figure stirred in the shadows. The woman glared at the door that held her prisoner and silently cursed herself and her captors. As soon as she could find an opportunity to escape, she would do so.
Dressed as a Sith Patrol, it didn't take much effort to pass the checkpoint to the lower city. Carth's military experience allowed him to fake the role of patrol leader with ease and the guard gave them access to the elevator. As it came to a stop at the lower level, Carth checked his blaster rifle and took a quick look out the doorway. "All clear, let's go!"

The doors shut behind them, and they headed across the street to an apartment complex. "Sith!" A shout rang out from the side, and the pair turned to see what looked like a street gang rushing to the assault. "Blast!" Carth's voice was angry, but he used his blaster rifle professionally, cutting down two of the attackers at a distance. A third assailant reached him and tried to gut him with a vibroblade, but the pilot dodged the attack and triggered another hail of blaster bolts that tore into the gang member, sending him sprawling lifelessly to the street.

Slightly off to the side, Tevan was ending his own battle. The scout grasped the arm of the first assailant to approach and threw him into the path of the second opponent. The Vulkar screamed as he was cut in two by his own comrade. A swift blow to the throat ended the last surviving gang member's career of crime.

Returning the vibroblade to its sheath, the scout nodded grimly to the pilot. "Lead on." Carth nodded and carefully slid open the door to the apartments. When there was no response to his action, he rolled through the doorway and came up in a crouch, his weapon sweeping the curving hallway before him. It was empty.

Waving his hand, Carth began to move further into the building. Behind him, he heard the door slide shut and the reassuring footsteps of his companion covering his back. Well, it should have been reassuring; Carth found it more satisfactory that he had the unknown quotient under his thumb. He had to admit that the kid had been extremely efficient at the tasks that had been given to him so far. He'd even been fairly open concerning his past, though the recounting seemed fuzzy, for lack of a better term. Maybe it was just the stress of the current situation wearing on him.

Whatever it was, it didn't necessitate his immediate attention; clearing a room here did. While they could wander around in the Undercity in the pilfered uniforms, it would probably cause more problems than it would solve. Apart from the Sith patrols in the area, no one would care about their supposed 'authority'. Besides, the disguise did nothing to maintain anonymity in a city full of lowlifes.

Surprisingly enough, the first room that they broke into was empty, save for a scrapped security droid in one corner. The uniforms were discarded, stuffed into a metal container in the corner. Carth checked his pistol and replaced the power cell in the blaster rifle he had been using. Tevan stood over by the droid, fiddling with its internal workings. A spark flew and the scout pulled back his fingers hastily. "Ouch."

Hesitantly he went back to work, reconnecting wires and circuits. Finally, he closed up the droid and powered up the interface. Carth moved closer, curious now. The scout was inputting several figures, changing the droid's functions. When he closed up the interface panel, the droid whirred once and came to life. Bluish shields snapped up around it, and it turned to face the humans. "Scanning commencing."

Its electronic eyes stared hard at them for a moment. "Scanning finished. Life forms classified, friendly. Patrol on standby."

The pilot cast a glance at his companion. "What did it just do?"

"I programmed it to guard this room for us. It just finished classifying us as friendly." Tevan stood a little to the side and strapped on his blaster. "I figured that it would be best if we had a chance of retaining our disguises. We still might have other patrols to pass."

Carth nodded, seeing the wisdom in that thought. Opening the door, he peered both ways. No one was in sight, and he stepped out into the corridor. Tevan followed behind him, pausing only to lock the door. Together they walked back out into the Undercity. Few people, human or otherwise, could be seen in the area.

The cantina on this level had a bouncer outside to warn potential customers of the dangers of being 'disruptive'. The two who slipped past him ignored his words, just like every other human who seemed to inhabit this dump. He expressed his opinion rather blatantly in his native tongue, and was surprised to hear what sounded like a dry laugh nearby. He could have sworn that no one would understand what he was saying… After a suspicious glance around, he hunkered down to wait for the next set of customers to beg entrance.

Few people stood in the entryway and most of them seemed content to ignore anyone walking past. Tevan noted Carth's gaze passing over each person, cataloguing his or her threat level in his mind. The scout fought the urge to roll his eyes and walked into the main room. He jerked to a halt as the pilot stopped suddenly. Peering over Carth's shoulder, Tevan took in a ludicrous scene; three aliens surrounded a short human who had stopped and was listening to their drivel.

"Go away."

Dark goggles hid the man's eyes and his mouth seemed set in an eternal frown. He stood silent after his opening statement, almost as if there were no one else in the room with him. His tormentors stepped closer, their eyes gleeful in the dim light. "Hey! You no talk like that! We just want to say hi to big, bad, bounty hunter."

The Twi'lek sneered as he looked down on the little man. "Nah, this can't be Calo Nord. He's supposed to be tough. This one is a runt."

"One."

"You try to be funny, little man? " The Rhodian looked puzzled.

"Hey, do you know who we are? We're Black Vulkars, so don't mess with us!" The bounty hunter ignored the warning.

"Two."

"Me no understand. One? Two? Why you counting? You trying to figure how many against you or something?" The Rhodian was scratching his head now, still stumped. His companions reached for their blasters. "Well Calo, it's three against one. What do you say to those odds?"

If they were looking for him to back down, they were greatly surprised. The bounty hunter stood there, his eyes hidden behind his goggles. "Three."

At that word, his hands swept into motion, his left hand tossing a grenade to the floor while his right swept his blaster out of its holster. The two Republic soldiers covered their eyes instinctively as the grenade exploded in a flash of intense light. Three screams covered the sound of the blasters shots. The light faded, leaving a view of the three corpses on the floor. Silence fell over the cantina as the bounty hunter made his way to the exit.

Noise eventually returned to the place as the patrons returned to their normal routine. The noise of the band filtered through the place as Carth led the way to an unoccupied table in the rear of the cantina. "Nifty little surprise that." He muttered to Tevan as they sat down. "Stun them with the flash and then blast them when they can't see. No wonder he wears those goggles." The scout nodded as he swept the surrounding tables with his gaze. "Stand wary of that one if we ever have to fight him."

Carth raised an eyebrow. "And just what does this come from?" His tone was skeptical. Tevan shook his head impatiently, looking frustrated for a moment. "I… forget it. It was just a feeling that I had."

The pilot struggled with that for a while, studying his companion as if looking for some shred of betrayal. He shrugged finally, accepting the statement at face value. "All right, I'll let it be. Let's see what we can find out about getting down to the Undercity. Directions, anything that will get us there."

"Right, I'll see what I can find out." The scout stood and disappeared into the crowd.

Carth headed for the bar for a drink, passing a wookie sitting at a table as he did so. The alien ignored him, grumbling softly to itself. The pilot ordered his drink and cast about for anyone who looked like a local. No one seemed to stand out, so he sipped his drink and waited. Presently the bartender walked over to him, glancing at the empty glass. "Refill for ya?"

The slight nod that he got encouraged him, and the bartender switched out the glass for another filled to the brim. The customer's hand stayed on the counter for a second longer than necessary to place down his credits, and when the man picked them up, he noted that there was more than was required for the drink. He nodded, lowering his head towards the spacer in front of him. "So what you wanna know?"

Carth's voice was low as he pretended to sip from his drink. "Undercity. Where's the access, and how do we get there."

"Access is easy; head out the door and make a left, follow the street till it dead-ends in an elevator shaft." The bartender slipped the credit chip into his pocket, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Gettin down there is the problem, see, the Sith have a nice little blockade down there, and they ain't lettin people through lately. Not like anybody is ever in a hurry to get down there on a good day. I hear tell it's because of that ship overhead, some escape capsule or some nonesuch. Course, if it was, the people are probably dead by now. Lotsa bad critters down there."

Carth nodded, actually sipping the drink this time as he pondered what he'd just heard. "Any chance you know someone who might know how to get down there?"

The man shrugged, turning away. "Can't say, but I've heard that there's still bounties to be had over at the bounty office." He gestured vaguely over the pilot's shoulder to a room in the back. Carth nodded again and stayed a moment longer to drain his glass. When he slid it over to the bartender, it had another chip underneath. The man looked pleased with himself as he went back to serving his other customers.

Halfway to the room, he ran into Tevan coming his way. The scout fell into step beside him, his voice low. "Hear that there's bounties to be had. Best source of information is the office, Hutt heads it up."

Carth grimaced. "Just our luck."

"Let me handle him. I've spoken to a Hutt a time or two before." Tevan sounded as though it were a routine operation, instead of something distasteful. "Besides, he'll have to speak a rare tongue to keep me from knowing exactly what he's saying, and they generally only speak huttese."

The republic pilot still wasn't happy. "What are the odds of two of those slugs being on the same planet? I don't like it." He got a frown in return. "Maybe you should be quiet and look menacing, it might help business negotiations."

The room where Zax held his court with bounties governmental and private was almost free of smoke, which may have been due to the extremely small gathering of people inside it. Two Rhodians and a Twi'lek lounged in opposite corners, blasters tucked safely away in their holsters. Carth glared at them as he passed, and noted that none of them bothered to return the look. The Hutt was another matter altogether.

As soon as they were close enough, his tiny arms began to wave expressively. "Welcome to the bounty hunting office! What can I help you with?"

Carth ignored the odor that emanated from the Hutt and stood silently glaring. Tevan spoke up smoothly, though Carth didn't understand a word of what was uttered. Granted, he hadn't understood much of the Hutt's greeting either, his vocabulary in huttese was extremely limited. The scout and the Hutt discoursed back and forth for a few minutes before Tevan turned and handed him a datapad. "It's got all the info that we'll need for bounties. Anything that we do track down, we come here to get paid for. Zax claims that there's a standard rate for all government bounties."

Carth frowned as he strode out of the room, datapad held loosely in his hand. He glanced at the contents as he slid into a chair at an empty table. "The governmental stuff looks okay, but I won't be party to doing somebody's dirty work for them." The scout nodded as he took the seat across the table. "You're right. Zax didn't seem to care - he said that it's our business as to what contracts we take. If we don't want them, maybe somebody else will be willing to smear the victim. I think we ought to leave our options open though…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Carth waved a his hand impatiently and set the datapad down. "The point is that we have to get down there somehow, get Bastila, and get out of here."

Tevan sighed, running one hand through his hair. "I know. But we're going to have to start somewhere, and maybe we'll get more information as we go along. Zax won't shell out unless you pay him, and I get the feeling that he really doesn't know any more than the bartender here." Seeing Carth nod in agreement, he stood. "Let's get out of here."

They exited the cantina, passing through a few side streets to an old apartment building. According to the data that Zax had given them, a dangerous former bounty hunter resided there.

Carth kept an eye out while Tevan fiddled with the security lock on the door to the apartment. It wasn't standard, and took the scout a few moments to unravel. The door slid open, and as he stepped inside, the pilot was stopped by a cold command. "Stop right there and state your business or I'll blast your brains out."

Glancing to his right, he caught a glimpse of the woman. 'Oh great...'

Sorry if this seems disjointed - you've got everything that has been written up to this point. BTW - Thanks again for the reviews. I really, really appreciate it. It's hard to write something and post it, just to wonder if anyone has bothered to read it.