Bastila felt like a herd of banthas had just trod over her head. The last several hours had been a blur and she didn't even know how much time had elapsed since she blacked out. She was shivering and goose bumps were forming on her pale skin. Her captors had stripped her down to her underwear, leaving her bruised and battered on the dirty floor of a tiny cell. With her Force powers exhausted and her lightsaber missing, the swoop gang members who had found her pod had quickly subdued her. She'd fought viciously but in the end there had just been too many of them.

"Sleep well, princess?"

Bastila instinctively covered herself up as she turned to face the owner of the voice. An ugly, dark-skinned man with a scarred face smiled evilly at her.

"I demand you release me at once!" she glowered at him. The man laughed.

"I really don't think you're in a position to make demands. Besides, where would you go even if I did release you? Taris is under Sith occupation and I don't think a Republic officer would last very long if I just let you loose in the middle of the street."

She sighed in frustration.

At least I'm not a prisoner of the Sith.

"May I at least know the name of my gracious host?" she asked sarcastically. The gangster grinned.

"You are a guest of the Black Vulkars, the most notorious swoop gang on Taris, maybe the entire galaxy. My name is Brejik, and I'm the leader of this motley crew. It's such a shame we have to meet under these conditions. You are such a pretty girl."

His dark, beady eyes leered at her, undressing her in his mind. Bastila stared daggers at him.

"What do you want?"

"From you? Nothing. If you're asking if I'm going to turn you over the Sith, of course not. A Republic officer, especially a female one as gorgeous as yourself will fetch a premium in the underground slave market. But don't worry. I'm not going to parade you across a platform in restraints like a piece of meat. You're to be offered as a prize."

"A prize?"

Brejik nodded, a wide grin stretched across his face.

"You see, lower Taris is embroiled in a little swoop gang war right now. As I said before, we Vulkars are the most notorious gang on Taris. Most of the other gangs are just little clubs really, just a bunch of guys with matching jackets who ride around intimidating civilians. But there's another gang, the Hidden Beks. They used to be big, real big. They used to almost run the lower city, kind of like we do now. Well, when I took over the Vulkars, I made them big, bigger than the Beks. It seems Beks couldn't acknowledge the fact they weren't the top predator anymore, so they've been causing me quite a headache."

Bastila looked at him suspiciously, wishing she had her lightsaber so she could wipe the smirk off his face.

"And what do I have to do with your petty dispute?"

"The annual Taris Swoop Championship opener is coming up. It's one of the biggest events in swoop bike racing in the galaxy. Whoever wins it gets a lot of respect. I'm planning to show all the smaller gangs on Taris where the real power is by offering you up as a prize for the winner. When they see I can offer such a valuable reward they'll join me and I'll finally have the strength to break the Beks once and for all. Anyways, enough talking for now. Get some rest. I want you to be looking your best for the opener."

As he turned to leave, Bastila tried to reach out to the Force to help her escape but she found she was unable to even concentrate. Her thoughts were scattered and it was impossible for her mind to focus. She felt something cold around her neck.

"That's a neural restraint collar. It's normally fitted to criminals to keep their minds in a constant state of disarray, making it impossible for them to escape. I've found it works just as well on slaves as criminals. It's on a pretty low setting right now, but if you cause any trouble, I can increase the power until you start to think you're going crazy. And please, don't try to remove it. If you do, it will inject a neurotoxin directly into your bloodstream and you'll be dead within an hour. We wouldn't want that, would we? But you look like the feisty type and I would rather not have to mark you up any more than you are already. I guess I better play it safe."

Bastila glared at him.

"Great thing about these collars is that I can knock you out with a flip of a switch. Just like a droid, eh? Sweet dreams."

Brejik winked at her and twisted a dial on a device on his wrist. Before Bastila could react, the collar sent a jolt running down her spine and her world became dark.

"Can I buy you a drink, beautiful?"

Carth looked at Revan like he was crazy. They had gone to the cantina hoping to find some information but as soon as they entered the room, Revan had made a beeline straight towards a pretty blonde standing by herself beside the bar.

"Um, sure, I guess."

Revan flashed the girl a charming smile that made her blush. As he turned to place his order with the bartender, Carth grabbed his arm.

"You're picking up girls when we're supposed to be trying to find Bastila! Of course I guess Bastila isn't that important. I mean, if she gets captured, so what? It would just mean the Sith would destroy the Republic without her Battle Meditation and we'd all end up in a prison camp somewhere working in a spice mine while Malak sips champagne on Coruscant! Are you out of your mind!"

Revan ignored him and waved the bartender over, ordering two of the most expensive drinks the cantina offered. Carth put his hands to his face and took a deep breath to keep from punching his companion's lights out.

"There you are, a pint of Tarisian ale. It's got a pretty strong kick so drink it slow," he winked. The girl giggled.

"I'm Dacen, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Dacen, I'm Sarna."

Whatever this guy was pulling, Carth could tell he was very good at it. Carth knew his type well. Classic lady-killer. There was one in every division. Handsome, good-looking, and very smooth, they were always the ones to come home with a girl on each arm every shore leave. This girl was warming up to Revan quickly. Revan took a sip of his drink.

"So what do you do, Sarna?"

"Well… um… uh… I don't really want to say…"

"Hey, I'm an accountant. I crunch numbers all day until I feel like sticking a blaster to my head and pulling the trigger. Come on, you can tell me. It can't be any worse than what I do!"

The girl's answer came in a very small voice; almost so quiet Carth couldn't hear her words.

"I'm a junior officer with the Sith occupation force."

Carth almost spilled a mouthful of beer all over the bar but Revan just flashed another charming smile.

"Well that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"You mean you're not going to leave?"

The handsome young soldier laughed.

"And leave a pretty girl like yourself alone at the bar? I'm an accountant, not an idiot. Why did you think I was going to take off?"

"Well, it's just everywhere I look I see one of you Tarisians staring at me with hate in your eyes. I'm actually surprised you're still talking to me at all."

Revan laughed again and swept a stray lock of dark brown hair from his face.

"Hey, you're just doing your job right? Besides, I'm not even from Taris. I was just here on business."

"So you're an off-worlder. I'd figure you'd be even more angry, being stuck here, what with the blockade and all."

Sarna took a long sip from her glass. Qel shrugged.

"Taris isn't so bad. I have to admit though, the locals aren't much fun. I came here for school a couple years ago and I could have sworn this place was a lot more alive. But hey, that doesn't mean we can't still have a good time. You just have to make the best of a situation, see the glass as half full instead of half empty. If the Tarisians feel like staying home and brooding, that just means more room at the bar for us, right?"

Revan put his hand over hers and she didn't remove it.

"It must be tough though, for you I mean, being stationed far from home on a hostile world. For me it's easy, I just spend every waking moment here at the cantina, blowing funds from my company account on drinks until I'm passed out on the floor."

His comment elicited a smile. Sarna tossed her light blond hair over her shoulder.

"I wish I could do that. But we're undermanned up at the military base and I work long hours. The pay isn't that great either. I come here to unwind when I get a few hours off. Speaking of which, I've got another shift pretty soon and I should be going. I'd love to see you again though."

Revan smiled and scribbled something down on a napkin.

"That's my communicator number. If you ever feel like a drink and a chance to shoot your mouth off, give me a call. Hey before you go, you wouldn't happen to draw shifts at the lifts down to the lower city, would you?"

Sarna shrugged.

"Occasionally. Everyone has to work the elevator assignments but we all hate them. There isn't a more boring job in the galaxy. I'm lucky in that I've got skills needed elsewhere most of the time. But I've got a shift at Lift 19 tomorrow, just a few blocks north of here tomorrow. Why?"

Revan looked down at his feet sheepishly.

"Well, I placed a few bets on the title fight for Taris Duel Champion a week ago at one of the lower city cantinas, before you guys started placing guards at the elevators. I won, but I've got no way to get down there to collect my winnings."

Sarna smiled warmly at him.

"Show up tomorrow and if I'm there, I'll let you through."

"And I promise I'll take my winnings and buy you something nice," Revan winked. He kissed her hand and smiled.

"I guess I should let you go for now, beautiful. I'd guess your superiors wouldn't be too happy if you were late for your shift."

Revan watched the girl leave and smiled to himself.

"What was that? In case you forgot, we're Republic soldiers, not off-duty accountants! We're supposed to be keeping a low profile! What if she reports you?"

"She won't. Even if she does, that isn't a real communicator number and she doesn't know my real name. A face is not easily remembered. You have to lighten up, Carth or you'll be the one to blow our cover, not me. We needed a way into the lower city and I found it. Sarna will be guarding Lift 19 tomorrow and she promised she would let me through."

Carth looked surprised.

"You did all that just to get us through the checkpoints? How did you know she was with the Sith?"

Revan tapped his finger on the comlink on his belt.

"Her communicator had a scrambling device on it, just like ours. Encryption devices are prohibitively expensive and the variant she had is restricted to military use under Republic law. Either she was Sith, another Republic survivor, or connected to the criminal underground. Making contact with any of the three would have been useful."

Carth just shook his head. Revan looked around the cantina casually, noticing a few pazaak players congregating in a nearby booth.

"I have a feeling we're going to need credits if we want to get off Taris later. Carth, how many credits do you have on you?"

"A little less than two hundred, why?"

Revan smiled wickedly.

"Ever play pazaak?"

Four hours later and Revan and Carth were alone at the pazaak table. Carth had been mildly surprised to see the younger soldier win five hands straight, never losing more than one round per hand. When Revan extended his winning streak to ten games, the amateur players stopped playing but the 'pros', players who spent all day at the cantinas, laughed and attributed it to beginner's luck. They weren't laughing twenty hands later, when not one of them could beat the fresh-faced newcomer.

All Carth could do was watch in awe as their credits grew from a stack of about three hundred to almost two thousand. The other players had checked Revan several times to see if he was cheating, going so far as to rifle through his entire side deck with an ultraviolet lamp, seeing if he marked his cards. But try as they might, they couldn't find any evidence of cheating. All the time, Revan had just smiled innocently.

Carth had tried his hand at pazaak occasionally, playing it more as a distraction than anything during long hyperspace trips. He was half decent, but not good enough to play regularly for money. His side deck, the part of the game that set the pros apart from the amateurs, was pretty pathetic, as he never bought extra cards to give him an edge. Revan hadn't had his own side deck, borrowing his, and he had gone hours without losing. When the last player finally left, grumbling under his breath about the extent to which cheaters would go, Carth had counted Revan's winnings.

"Almost twenty-five hundred credits! I don't get it. You probably played almost a hundred games and you didn't lose once. You must be a pretty slick cheater. I was standing behind you the whole time and I never figured you out."

Revan just gave him a knowing smile.

"What is it that makes you think I cheated? Pazaak is a game of numbers, a game of probability. It's not difficult once you figure it out."

"Care to teach me a few tricks then?" Carth asked honestly.

"Maybe another time. For now, we should be heading back to the apartment. I should probably have lost a few hands on purpose to avoid drawing attention but this should be enough to buy us passage off this planet."

Revan laughed.

Bastila would be so very disappointed in me if she knew I was using the Force to play pazaak.

Mission Vao watched the two men enter the cantina. She'd never seen them before. They were dressed in scruffy looking clothes but she saw that one of them was wearing an expensive looking chronograph. Slowly slipping up to him, she expertly removed it from his wrist and turned to leave when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going with my chrono?"

Mission froze. She'd never been caught before.

"I'm… I'm sorry sir… I… I just…"

The man looked angry. Mission looked around for Zaalbar but he was busy eating. As usual. The man's friend turned around and smiled at her.

"It's okay Carth. She's just a kid. No harm done. You should let her go."

Carth sighed and released her.

"I guess you're right. Sorry kid, I'm just a little on edge."

Mission hated being called a kid but she decided to let it slide. There was something about these two that piqued her interest. Ever since the Sith had locked down the planet, things had been getting dull on Taris. Revan studied the little blue Twi'lek girl carefully before speaking.

"Isn't this a cantina? What are you doing here alone little girl? Are you lost?"

"Are you blind? Of course this is a cantina!"

Revan winced as the tiny waif who'd looked so pathetic just seconds earlier transformed into a raging rancor before his eyes.

"And I'm NOT a little girl! I can take care of myself just fine and you look a lot more lost than me and…" Mission snapped.

To her surprise, the man quickly apologized and smiled.

"Yes, you're right. We are a little lost. We're… we're new here. We just landed."

Mission frowned. The planet had been quarantined since the invasion three months ago.

"Just landed? Do I look like I'm stupid or something?"

"Can I have a word with you?"

"Sure, I've got nothing better to do."

Revan pulled her aside to a booth.

"We're Republic soldiers…"

Carth frowned and leaned over to whisper into his ear.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Mission looked at the two strangely, shifting her gaze from one to the other, and back again.

"What are you guys talking about? Were you fighting in that big battle overhead a few days ago?"

"So you heard."

She nodded her head excitedly.

"Of course, everyone knows. You really couldn't miss it. The flashes in the sky, the escape pods streaking into the undercity. It's the first excitement this planet has seen in…"

"Wait, did you say escape pods?"

She nodded again enthusiastically.

"Yup. I'd hate to be in them though. The undercity is a real nasty place, what with all the swoop gangs and rakghouls. I mean here in the lower city, it's not bad but…"

When she looked up, the two men were gone. Mission shrugged and called over to a massive Wookiee.

"Come on Zaalbar, there's nothing to do around here. Let's go and see if anything's going on at the Bek base."

"Rakghouls?" Carth asked.

The outcast, one of the poor denizens of the undercity, nodded. Vicious, flesh eating mutants, the rakghouls were a constant threat to everybody living below the Upper city. Once bitten, a victim had a few hours, at most a day or two, before they themselves mutated into a rakghoul. The thought of being infected made Carth's skin crawl. After finding out all he could from the outcast, Revan thanked him, tossed him a five credit chip, and set out into the darkness. As he followed him, Carth suddenly heard movement and instinctively grabbed for his blaster. It was too late. A heavy repeater was pointed at his head. Looking around, Carth saw a grim looking man staring at him from behind the huge weapon. Revan was nowhere to be seen. Carth heard the click of the safety being taken off a blaster.

"Take it easy, drop the blaster slowly and nobody has to get hurt," Revan said quietly, seemingly appearing right behind the hulking owner of the repeater. The man eyed Carth as he slowly lowered his weapon.

"I almost shot you. I thought you were a rakghoul. What are you two doing down here anyways? In case you were blind, this isn't exactly a nice place to go for a walk."

"We're looking for those Republic escape pods that crashed down here."

Canderous looked at the man who'd jumped him suspiciously. He recognized those eyes from somewhere. The way he walked, the way he carried himself… he was dressed like a mercenary or a bounty hunter but there was just something about him…

"Are you with one of those swoop gangs?"

Carth stared at him blankly.

"Swoop gangs?"

"Are you stupid or something? The swoop gangs? Crazy fools who when they're not trying to break their necks at six hundred miles an hour, like to take potshots at pedestrians?"

Revan shook his head.

"We're… we're kind of new here. Can you spare us a few minutes and fill us in?"

Canderous glanced at the chrono on his wrist. He wouldn't normally waste his time to talk to complete strangers, but there was definitely something about the one who'd managed to sneak up on him that piqued his curiosity.

"Yeah, I guess I can spare you a few minutes. The swoop gangs, the lower city is swarming with those punks. The two biggest are the Hidden Beks and the Black Vulkars. The Hidden Beks are led by a guy named Gadon Thek. He's not a bad guy. Keeps his boys in line. But those Vulkars…"

Carth instinctively flinched as the man with the huge gun squeezed the trigger, blasting off a few bolts into the ground.

"Those Vulkars are led by this imbecile who goes by the name of Brejik. Little punk thinks he owns the circuit. Those Vulkars will shoot at anyone, including the Sith. Hell, they've even taken a few shots at me and they already know I work for the Exchange."

Carth looked at Revan. The Exchange was the biggest crime syndicate in the galaxy. It's shadowy fingers reached into every corner of every planet. Where there were credits to be made illicitly, the Exchange was involved. Prostitution, gambling, smuggling, slavery, the Exchange had its hand in everything. Before Carth could speak, Revan cut him off.

"You're with the Exchange? Do you think the Exchange could smuggle a few passengers off this planet?"

Canderous snorted.

"Yeah, you wish. Not even the Exchange can break the Sith blockade. Anyone trying to leave the planet would be fried instantly by their autotargeting defense cannons. Besides I doubt you've got enough credits to make it worth my while. Anyways, I've got to go. If you're looking for those escape pods, there's one just a few hundred meters south of here. Don't expect to find anything though. Those dumb Vulkars have already stripped everything."

As soon as Canderous was out of hearing range, Revan pulled Carth close.

"Maybe this Gadon Thek can help us out. We're going to need some more information before we go stumbling blindly around the undercity."

Carth stared at him like he had just fallen out of the sky.

"The swoop gangs? First the Exchange, now the swoop gangs? Have you gone mad? Those guys will sell us out so fast we…"

Revan shook his head.

"We really don't have much of a choice."

Revan frowned as he stared out the window of the apartment, looking out over vast metropolitan Taris.

"What's going through your head, soldier?"

He turned to face Carth.

"Bastila."

"What about her?"

Revan played with the small pendant in his hand and sighed. She had given it back to him, near the end of the Mandalore Wars.

"Something to remember me by, Revan, so you don't forget me."

She had pushed it into his hand, given him a slightly sad smile, and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'd sooner forget my own name. Besides, I think you'd kill me if I did."

She had been so beautiful, so radiant. It had almost been enough to keep him from leading Malak and the others into the great abyss. He had known it would break her heart, letting himself fall into darkness, resurrecting the Sith to march on the Republic. He had put the pendant back into its box and hidden it away in his apartment on Coruscant. Having it with him brought back too many painful memories, weakening him for the trials he had known lay ahead. When he'd been released from the infirmary on Dantooine after the failed Jedi mind wipe, he had found it, hidden away where he'd left it, tears staining the silk liner of the box.

"She's out there, somewhere. This search, it brings back a few memories, reminds me of someone I once knew."

Carth sat himself down on a bare cot.

"Who?"

"A girl I knew before… before the war."

"Which one? The Mandalorian War or the one we're fighting now?" Carth asked. Revan shook his head.

"It doesn't matter. Both, I suppose."

Carth nodded. Every soldier was different but it seemed they all had one thing in common. The girl they'd left behind. The sweetheart they longed to go home to.

"So what happened with this girl?"

Revan chewed on his lower lip, closing his eyes.

"It's… it's difficult to explain. All that matters is… I loved her. I just didn't know it at the time. I never got a chance to tell her how I felt about her until… until it was too late. I broke her heart and she never knew why."

Memories of Bastila cradling his head in her lap on the bridge of the Titan as she wept came flashing back and he felt a pain in his heart more intense than any he had ever felt before. Carth put an understanding hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"I lost someone I cared about too. I loved her more than anything, more than I loved myself. But she was taken from me."

Carth's hand dropped and his voice became bitter. Revan could feel Carth's pain through the Force, even stronger than his own.

"I lost her when the Sith bombed Telos. They razed the entire planet and I had to watch. I couldn't do a damn thing about it. My wife… my son… everything I ever cared about… gone. Just like that."

Revan remembered Telos. It had been early in his campaign against the Republic. Saul Karath, one of the Republic's leading admirals had come to him with an offer to switch sides and betray the Republic. Ever wary of treason, Revan had accepted Admiral Karath into his ranks but demanded he pass a test of loyalty. He had ordered Karath to join Malak's fleet, preparing to take a system neighboring Telos. He'd given Karath an order to bomb Fort Trazien, a Republic military base on Telos and one of the Admiral's first command posts as a young officer, into the ground. Malak, consumed by bloodlust and seeing an opportunity to demonstrate his ruthlessness, had changed Revan's commands, ordering Admiral Karath to bombard the entire surface of the planet. When the guns of the Sith fleet finally fell silent, three hundred million people were dead and many more would join them. Revan was guilt ridden at the knowledge he had been the one responsible for giving the initial order that had killed Carth's family.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. But she's gone and I'll never see her face again. Dammit…"

"What?"

"We're soldiers and we pledge ourselves to the defense of the Republic. We follow our orders and we fight. I was in the Republic fleet sent to intercept Saul before he reached Telos. As usual, intelligence was wrong and we got there just as the Sith were leaving the system. I had to hold Morgana in my arms and feel her getting weaker, feel the life leaving her body until she was gone."

Carth clenched his teeth.

"There weren't enough medics. The squadron I was with was prepped for war, not a relief mission. And so I held my wife while she died, knowing the man I'd considered almost a father had killed her."

If Carth had been a Jedi, his anger and hatred would have drawn him over to the dark side long ago. There was vengeance in his heart. But there was also something in him, something that still fought for a higher purpose than simple revenge. There was a struggle in this man, but also a nobility that Revan could sense.

"Betrayal by a friend is among the most painful things a man can experience."

"Yeah... heh… it burns me to know I used to look up to him."

"Who was this man?"

"Saul. Saul Karath, commander of the entire Republic fleet. Until he turned on us. I served on Admiral Karath's command ship in the Mandalorian Wars. He was a hero, one of the greatest. He taught me everything I know. He was a friend, closer than family. I never would have even imagined he would become a turncoat. But he did."

Carth sighed.

"I swore an oath on the grave of my wife, an oath I would find Saul someday and kill him, make him pay. That's the only thing that's kept me going, the only reason I still fight."

"Vengeance alone can't sustain a man for long. There's something more," Revan said. Carth nodded.

"Yeah, you're right, I guess. I fight because no matter how often the Republic seems to let me down with all the corruption in the Senate, I still believe in it. Call me an idiot, but I still believe in democracy and equality and prosperity for all. Even if we never reach it, the Republic at least still fights for those ideals. And so I fight. It's what Morgana would have wanted… Anyways, that's enough rambling for now. We should get some sleep if we're going to track down this Gadon Thek tomorrow."

As Carth turned off the dim light and got into his cot, Revan sat alone in the darkness, the soldier's words playing through his head.

"Call me an idiot, but I still believe in democracy and equality and prosperity for all. Even if we never reach it, the Republic at least still fights for those ideals."

Revan sighed.

This man went to war because he had to. I went to war because I chose to. He fights to preserve what he believes in. But when I fought, I betrayed everything I believed in. What am I even fighting for?

Lost in his thoughts, Revan finally drifted off into a troubled sleep two hours later.