Thank you so much for that review Shadows Run! It was one of the bester reviews I've gotten. XD Anyways, here's another chapter, this time much longer! It hit about eleven pages! I was going to make it into two chapters, but I felt like condensing all of the upper city into one chapter. So here we go! Whee! Chapter 3! Again, apologies if I spelled anything wrong, because I'm almost positive I did. And I hope I wrote Carth well enough. I'm having issues with him when I write in Alaanis' point of view, because he always ends up like Zaalbar… ya know standing in the background, real quiet… but I tried! So… I'm done blabbering; here we go!
Chapter Three: The Upper City
Alaanis knew that there was probably more to Carth's history than he'd have liked to reveal, but she didn't want to pry more than she already had. Instead, the two of them would make their selves useful and go on a hunt for Bastila, the 'invincible' jedi.
Jedi were given too much credit in Alaanis' opinion. But she couldn't change that now. Or ever probably. But these thoughts were shoved aside as the door to the apartment complex was opened revealing a scene out in the corridor.
"Get up against the wall you alien scum!" shouted a sith officer, holding a blaster rifle in his arms and wearing an evil grin on his dark human face. Two droids flanked him and there were two Duros standing in front of him. "This is a raid!"
":You sith were here just yesterday and you found nothing, why must you constantly search us:" one of the Duros questioned the sith officer. In response, he got a quick blaster shot to the head.
"That's how we sith deal with smart-mouthed alien scum," the sith commented viciously towards the second Duros, as though tempting him to say the same to him. Then Carth and Alaanis were caught in his eyesight. "Humans hiding out with aliens?" Then he saw the small Republic badge lodged on Carth's belt. Carth suddenly realized what he was staring at and he shot Alaanis a sort of apology for being so stupid. "They're Republic fugitives!" the officer announced. "Attack!"
As soon as the word was out of his mouth, Alaanis unsheathed her vibrosword and make a straight plummet towards the officer's side. With a scream, the officer dropped his blaster and Alaanis took this opportunity to make a strike at his other side and then his stomach. Still screaming in pain at Alaanis' sharp blade, he fell silent as she decapitated him at last with a blow to his neck.
Carth easily took out the two droids with shots from his blasters and the Duros placed his back against a wall to stay out of the way of the battle. Finally the two droids and the officer were lying on the ground, beyond repair and life.
":Thank you humans for your assistance:" the Duros muttered.
":I had to fight back:" Alaanis told him in his own language. ":I couldn't just let him kill me, my partner here and you.:"
":Still, I must thank you. I have to take away these bodies before another patrol comes along looking for them. Poor Igealas, he should've never talked back to that Sith.:" Dragging away the sith officer and his companion's corpse, the Duros headed back towards his own apartment.
":Here, let me help:" Alaanis said, picking up the remains of one of the battle droids and following the Duros. Carth picked up the other droid and followed the two of them.
":You are too kind human:" the Duros commented as Alaanis and Carth dropped their broken droids in the Duros' apartment, two over from their own.
":It was the least I could do:" Alaanis waved her hand in a humble manner. ":My partner and I must be off. Good luck.:" And with a nod, Alaanis left the apartment, the Duros locking it behind Carth.
"I hope these aren't as common as the Duros said they were," Carth muttered as he and Alaanis headed down the hall, away from the Duros' apartment.
"Well, as long as we get some new clothes, we should blend right in," Alaanis pointed out. "Maybe sneak into a few empty apartments…"
Carth gave her a pointed look. "You mean steal?"
"Do you want to get caught? We need new clothes. And a few supplies. And I'm not exactly bursting with credits." Alaanis ignored Carth's frown and turned towards a locked apartment. She placed her ear to the door and closed her eyes, listening. It was quiet in the room. It didn't seem like there was anybody present. Alaanis reached into her pocket and found a small clip with which she began to pick the lock. It came undone quickly.
"Hah," Alaanis pronounced proudly. "It's open. Come on!" She called to Carth as she walked into the empty and open apartment. There was a few scattered footlockers inside and Alaanis quickly found what she was looking for: simple garments.
"These look about the right sizes…" she mumbled pulling out two sets of clothes. She threw the larger set at Carth. "You can head into the refresher first to change. I'm going to finish scouring this room."
In other words, it's time for me to loot the rest of these footlockers, Alaanis told the truth inside her mind. She smiled innocently at Carth, who though suspicious, headed into the refresher and left Alaanis alone in the room. She found a few medpacs, another vibrosword, a few spare parts and a couple computer spikes. These should come in handy. Alaanis finished searching through the last footlocker, finding a few frag grenades. Jackpot! As soon as she had pocketed the grenades, Carth returned from the refresher.
"Great!" Alaanis smiled brightly, seeing him in pale tan garments that hung slightly loosely, but with his Republic belt (inside out) were tight enough to fit his form. "You look like a regular old Tarisian. Or maybe just another outsider stuck here because of the quarantine." He looked around the room and spotted the open footlockers, his frown deepening slightly. Alaanis' smile widened as she walked into the refresher.
"Don't run out on me flyboy," she grinned at him as she closed the door behind her.
Fifteen minutes later, Alaanis had searched two more apartments, finding a nice combat suit which provided more protection than the plain civilian clothes. Carth really did not enjoy looting all these apartments.
"You're lucky they've all been empty," he pointed out, trailing behind her as she headed for the last apartment in the corridor. "You probably wouldn't have been very welcome if there had been anyone inside."
"Calm down Onasi," Alaanis sighed deeply as she leaned her head against the last apartment. "I have good hearing. I could tell if anyone happened to be inside." She quieted instantly and held her hand up as Carth was about to speak. She lifted her head off of the door and whispered to him. "Someone's in this one." Carth stared at Alaanis to see what that meant she would do. Carth watched, stunned, as Alaanis knocked on the door, like she was visiting a family friend, not a complete stranger.
"Who is it? What do you want?" called a distressed female voice.
"My name is Alaanis Pi and I wanted to see who else was around the apartment complex." Carth rolled his eyes. It was like Alaanis was visiting a new neighbor in a friendly neighborhood. That was not Taris. But for some reason, the woman inside opened the door. Alaanis took one look at the woman and knew something was wrong. She was gripping a vibroblade in her right hand tightly, and her short brown hair hung loosely and messily. Her eyes showed complete fear as she saw Alaanis amble into the apartment, her vibroswords clanking against her legs.
"You're not a bounty hunter are you?" the woman asked fearfully. She gripped her vibroblade tighter.
"No… I'm just a foreigner stuck on Taris with my friend over here," Alaanis said cautiously, waving a hand lightly to indicate Carth's presence. "And who are you?"
"D-Dia," the woman told Alaanis, loosening her grasp on her vibroblade… and then dropping it. "I'm sorry for my um… fears, but you see I'm in a bit of a predicament."
Alaanis turned her bright blue eyes for a quick glance at Carth who shrugged as Dia fell into a chair and sighed loudly. "What happened?" Alaanis questioned. Her eyes turned towards Dia who was staring at the ground, her face in her hands.
"Well," Dia seemed skeptical to reveal anything. But she didn't resist to let her story roll off her tongue. "One of Davik's men, Holdan, put a bounty on me. And all I did was give him a piece of what he deserves. He had had a little too much to drink and began making advances on me, so I sliced him with my vibroblade. Now his pride's hurt and he ran to Zax to put a bounty on me! I've been hiding out all week to avoid any bounty hunters who might want to kill me."
"What a pig," Alaanis muttered. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
Dia chuckled lightly. "Yeah right. Unless you can get Holdan to drop the bounty, I'm stuck in here for some time."
Alaanis smirked. "I'll see what I can do." Dia looked up at the strange woman and blinked.
"Good luck but I don't think it'll work," she commented in a defeated tone.
"Doesn't mean I can't try. And I won't tell anyone you're here Dia." With a smile and a bow of her head, Alaanis exited the apartment and closed it behind Carth. Dia's face was stuck in confusion and shock at this woman who would help a complete stranger
"As much as I'd enjoy looting some more apartments," Carth muttered as he and Alaanis exited the apartment complex. "I think we'd better be off and start searching for ways to get into the lower city. We can't get past the elevator without at least looking like sith."
"Well, we can't just walk into the sith base and steal some uniforms flyboy," Alaanis commented. "So we go where the off-duty Sith go… we go to the cantina." Before Carth could object, Alaanis walked ahead of him, out into the bright sunlight of a beautiful Tarisian day.
I guess we could be stuck in worse worlds, even though the system here is nuts, Alaanis thought to herself as she observed the sun shining the streets up. Like Hoth… or Tatooine. But she began to reconsider her thoughts as she passed a few drunks jeering at an alien passing by. Prejudice bantha fodder, Alaanis insulted them in her mind. She didn't feel like drawing attention to herself and saying it aloud though.
After walking side by side with Carth (past several Sith patrols that didn't give them a second glance), Alaanis and Carth finally arrived at the Upper City cantina. A sith patrol outside of the cantina didn't even spare them a glance as the two walked into the bar…
And straight into an armored man who grunted as Alaanis slammed into his armored chest. His face was not visible beneath the helmet he wore, but she could feel his glare as she hurried out of that room.
"Always such a klutz Pi?" Carth chuckled to himself.
"Shush flyboy. I was just seeing how heavy the armor was." Alaanis turned her head away so that he couldn't se her blush at her stupid hit. Real smart Pi… reeeeeal smart.
"Right. Say what you want Alaanis," Carth couldn't keep that stupid grin off his face at the visual of the small woman walking straight into a huge, armored man. "That was a memorable image."
"You can shut it any second now Onasi," Alaanis glared at him, but her eyes were twinkling with laughter. Carth just smiled innocently.
Alaanis' gaze scanned the room, looking for someone that she could say was a sith officer. She expected some of them to come and enjoy a drink on their downtime. And they probably wouldn't be welcome with the quarantine they had caused… and maybe more broody than high and mighty as the Tarisian nobles. Alaanis found just what she was looking for in the corner. He was pretty young (probably only a junior officer) and she could see a small sith tattoo on his exposed arm. Bingo.
"Wait here," she hissed to Carth as she ventured over to the sith in the corner. He was a human and his skin was rather fair. His brown hair fell into his eyes lightly, but the sneer on his face made him appear rather ugly.
"Hello there," Alaanis greeted him. She plopped down into a seat next to him and ordered a drink from the waiter that asked her.
"Hello," the sith replied. "I'm surprised you're over here, talking to a sith like me."
"You don't look like a sith… well, except for that tattoo." Alaanis touched her finger to the tattoo on his exposed arm and threw him a grin. This wasn't much fun… but she knew what she had to do.
"Well I'm still surprised you're talking to me, most of the people here are rather pissed off at us sith." The sneer on his face was replaced with a grin that looked more like a smirk. "But it's just my duty to be here. It's not much fun for us either."
"I'm an outsider stuck here, but I get the point. Maybe it's just the attitude that matters. Maybe everybody else just has a bad attitude." She drummed her fingers lightly against the arm on her chair and gave the sith a quirky grin.
"Exactly!" he exclaimed, leaning forward towards Alaanis. "Well, it's been nice chatting, but I have to head off. I have a shift at the base. But a few of us junior officers are having a party later, enjoying the only thing good here, the ale." Alaanis let a small chuckle escape her. Perfect, she thought to herself. Tarisian ale is too strong for them. They'll underestimate it for sure. "Hope you can stop by later, in the Upper City northern apartments. My name's Yun by the way." He stuck out his hand for a handshake.
"Alaanis," she replied, grasping his hand lightly and shaking it.
"The party's at nine, hope you can stop by." Yun held out his hand and Alaanis passed him her datapad. "I'm placing the location of the party in here." After tampering with it for a moment, Yun gave the datapad back to her. "See you." He stood up and gave Alaanis a last smile (that continued to look like a smirk) and walked off.
"I'll try," Alaanis muttered as he walked off, throwing a small wave over her shoulder. Receiving her drink from the waiter, Alaanis headed back to where Carth was sitting at the bar.
"Have fun chatting it up with junior over there?" Carth asked, not without the slightest hint of coldness.
"A little chilly are we?" Alaanis commented, raising an eyebrow at Carth. "Anyways, the sith are having a party later and I'm invited. Don't worry," she said when Carth gave her an alarmed look. "I know what I'm doing. Those sith haven't drunken Tarisian ale yet… and once they do they won't know what hit them." Alaanis filled him in on the small talk that happened over in the corner. Carth had to admit it was a fairly good plan.
"But what are we going to do until then?" he asked Alaanis. It was only just past midday, and it was quite some time until the sith party would begin. Alaanis' eyes scanned the room and landed on a vid-screen where a duel was taking place.
"We need some credits you know…" Alaanis mumbled. "Maybe a few duels could whittle some credits into our account…" She stood up and knowing that he would regret this, Carth followed.
XxXxX
It had only been five hours since Alaanis Pi had begun her dueling career as the Mysterious Stranger, and yet she had defeated every opponent that came her way, even the champion of the duelists Twitch. Alaanis pocketed the 1,700 credits she had won from dueling as Carth continued to shake his head violently.
"You are nuts you know that right?" he muttered. Alaanis had practically killed herself multiple times in the dueling ring. Her side had a violent scrape in it from a blade Marl had pulled on her and she had to have Carth as support to keep from falling.
"Yes, but it earned us a good chunk of change," Alaanis informed him. "And I'm still alive right?"
"You're damn lucky to be living Alaanis," Carth commented as she slipped from his grasp for a second. "Come on, we should stop by a medical building. You need some help with that cut."
"I would normally object but as you are acting as my crutch, I don't think I have an option," Alaanis muttered. "It's not that bad."
"Al, you can't walk on your own," Carth grumbled. "I think you need some medical attention."
"Fine," Alaanis said grumpily. They passed by the large and armored figure once again on their way out, but this time he stopped them.
"Mysterious Stranger are you?" the man questioned Alaanis.
"That's me," Alaanis answered, nodding. "And my crutch here, Flyboy." Carth scowled and she grinned at him.
"I'm Bendak Starkiller. You know… the infamous death-match duelist?" the man announced. "I saw you in the ring and you're pretty good, especially for a rookie such as yourself. If you're up for a death match, I'd like to prove my skill against a worthy opponent."
"I think I'll have to respectfully decline you there Bendak," Alaanis replied. "As you can see, I'm injured, and I'm also moving around here a lot. As pleasant as it would be to fight you, I just don't think I'm a worthy enough opponent, especially with this injury."
Bendak backed off, definitely disappointed at her refusal, and Carth and Alaanis left the cantina.
"You could have made some serious credits there Alaanis," Carth pointed out, trying to stick her where it hurt.
"We have enough with all the other duel matches. Plus, I don't fancy being murdered yet. I'd at least want to be murdered doing something worthwhile, not trying to earn some respect and credits." Alaanis groaned lightly as she slipped from Carth's grasp.
"Come on," he said lightly. "Let's get you to the doctor's. That cut has got to hurt."
It does, Alaanis thought to herself. "Not as much as hearing you speak," she teased.
"You do know I'm the one thing keeping you from collapsing onto the ground right?" Carth asked her, guiding her towards the medical facility nearby.
"Yeah… my high and mighty crutch."
Alaanis and Carth arrived at the medical facility just a minute or two later and immediately Carth laid Alaanis down on a bed in the room. The doctor, Zelka Forn, took one look at the gash and raised an eyebrow.
"How did this happen?" the black human questioned Carth.
"Vibroblade in a duel match," Carth replied simply.
"Ah so you must be the Mysterious Stranger everybody is talking about," Zelka said.
"That's me," Alaanis answered, her eyes closed to absorb the pain and let it wash over her. "The crazy, psycho, not to mention completely bonkers, Mysterious Stranger."
"Well congratulations on all your wins, but it seems like I'll have to keep you here tonight with that cut," Zelka informed his injured patient.
"I have to be somewhere in a few hours. I can't stay overnight," Alaanis protested.
"I don't think you can go anywhere with this cut unless it's properly treated… and that'll take most of the evening." Zelka frowned slightly. "I'm sorry Miss, but that's what you get when you have an injury like this. You should feel lucky."
Alaanis sighed, her eyes still closed. She'd have to sneak out at some point. She couldn't miss the sith party and not get whatever sith supplies she could acquire. Carth would not approve, but he knew what had to be done. She opened her eyes and scanned the room.
It was a plain room, like any typical medical facility. There were three medical droids. Two were out of service and the third was bustling around, cleaning up a bit. There was another human man standing by the entrance to the clinic, flipping through some datapads. There were three empty kolto tanks and a messy desk that must've been Zelkas. A few lockers probably held some medical supplies. The walls were a simple grey color and there was one door, which led to… somewhere.
"What's behind that door over there?" Alaanis asked suddenly. Zelka, who had begun to tidy up his desk, knocked a pile of papers off of his desk.
"Oh, nothing… just some old broken things," Zelka said nervously. He was hiding something… that much was obvious.
"Come now, you can share with us. Whatever it is, we won't tell anybody," Alaanis shoved some persuasion into her voice. She was always a very persuasive person… hopefully her skills would come in handy here.
"Er… well… I'll show you two then," Zelka muttered quietly. He walked over to the locked door and typed in a code. It opened and revealed quite a sight. Two republic soldiers, obviously unconscious and permanently injured from the crash landings from the Endar Spire onto Taris, were floating in kolto tanks.
"Wow," Alaanis mumbled.
"I knew that the lower city gangs nor the sith would treat them kindly, so I decided to help their last days be pleasant enough. I couldn't bear to let them die in the hands of the enemy," Zelka stated, still a bit nervous.
"We're friends of the republic," Carth told him. "We won't tell anyone. And you have our thanks for doing this service for them. They may die, but they'll die peacefully enough."
Alaanis had been pretty sure most people on Taris wouldn't care. But obviously Zelka Forn was one who did. "You have double my thanks," she said quietly, smiling lightly.
"You said you had somewhere to be soon correct?" Zelka asked Alaanis. She nodded her head in reply. "I can try and get your treatment done as quickly as possible. It might be more painful though. That gash is rather deep and I don't think it has stopped bleeding yet. But I will try my best to have you stitched up soon enough."
"I can take pain," Alaanis said, nodding her head. "Let's make this quick." She closed her eyes again and took on an indifferent look on her face, not grimacing once during the process of putting her side back together.
Carth had a new admiration for this woman. The utensils Zelka was using were not things Carth saw in most typical medical facilities, and looked to be rather painful. But the peaceful look on Alaanis' face never faltered. She was tougher than she seemed to be.
It was almost nine by the time Zelka had finished stitching Alaanis up. She seemed to be somewhere between sleeping and being awake when he finished. "I'm done," he said lightly and Alaanis' eyes fluttered open. She smiled.
"Thank you for everything." She stood up a bit unsteadily, but after balancing herself once again, she was standing as normal as possible. "You sure did a good job on me."
"I've been in this business for years miss," Zelka explained, grinning lightly. "I can cure any disease. Except one of course." Carth and Alaanis both shot him questioning glances. "The rakghoul disease. There was work on a cure down in a research facility in the undercity, but that was before the quarantine. Most likely the sith have kept it for themselves and their patrols down there. I wish I could get my hands on that cure…"
"If I find some, I will give you it," Alaanis promised.
"Don't go to any trouble on my behalf miss," Zelka shook his head. "I don't want you getting into too much trouble where ever you're going."
"But if I find some, it's yours." Alaanis gave Zelka a last smile and a bow of her head. Carth followed her out of the building. But another figure trailed after them for a moment.
"Hey!" a voice called. "Stop for a moment!" The man who had been at the entrance to Zelka's clinic was the one calling after Carth and Alaanis. "I heard you talking about the rakghoul cure. Don't give it to Zelka. Give it to Zax, at the bounty office in the lower city. You'll get a fortune for it! Tell him Gurney sent you."
"No thanks," Alaanis gave him a wane smile.
"Think about it!" Gurney said. "You'll be rolling in the credits."
"And then only the rich could afford it right?" Carth asked, glaring hard at this punk.
"So?" Gurney questioned. Carth gave him a disgusted look.
"No thanks," Alaanis said a little more sternly this time. Gurney took the hint and ran off back to the clinic.
"Geez, talk about self-interests," Carth mumbled.
"It's expected," Alaanis commented. "Come on. We've got to get to this party. I don't think you can come in with me though. That sith only invited me."
Carth was about to protest before he realized she was right. "Fine," he replied curtly. "But I'll be waiting down the hall. This is in the other apartment building is it not?"
"Yeah," Alaanis answered. She looked up from her datapad and the map. "Here we are. Right in here, fourth apartment to the right." Carth and Alaanis headed into the building.
They walked in silence for a moment. "Wait here," Alaanis commanded Carth. There was loud music coming from a room two to their right. A roar of laughter erupted. "I'll be back within an hour probably. I'm not sure how quickly the ale will take to knock them out. But it shouldn't be longer than that." Without waiting for an answer, Alaanis' blonde head was seen retreating away from Carth and towards the closed apartment door.
"Alaanis you came!" came the voice of Yun, the junior sith officer from earlier. He was holding a bottle of Tarisian ale in his right hand and he threw his left one over her shoulder and led her around the room. "We should have conquered this planet ages ago! The ale is the best!"
"Careful Yun," said a female officer. "This ale has quite the punch."
"Ah who cares!" shouted Yun, very drunk and starting to fall onto Alaanis. "We're not on duty tomorrow. Let's drink up!" He handed a bottle to Alaanis… who poured the whole thing onto the floor.
Alaanis' calculations were way off. It took only a mere twenty minutes before every sith officer was lying on the floor, knocked out completely by the ale. Hurrying out into the hallway, she snagged Carth and dragged him into the apartment to begin hunting for anything useful.
Looking through a couple bags, Alaanis decided to be discreet about what she stole and what she left. She could be easily accused if she took everything. She only took a medpac here and a grenade there. Then in the last pack, she found what they were looking for.
"Yes!" she called out. Carth, who was on the other side of the room looking through another backpack walked over to Alaanis. She held up two sith uniforms triumphantly.
"Perfect," Carth announced grinning despite himself. "We should go. We should get some sleep before tomorrow. We can go down into the lower city then."
Alaanis yawned lightly. "Sounds good to me. It's been a long day." Stuffing the sith uniforms into her pack, she followed Carth out of the building and into the Tarisian night. By the time they reached their apartment complex, Alaanis was dead on her feet and once they were inside the apartment, she was asleep on the bed, getting a better night's sleep, dreamless this time.
XxXxX
Enjoy! Review too please! Reviews make me happier and more prone to post. HINT HINT! Adios peoples! Until the next chapter… um… REVIEW! Lol.
4-3-05