Chapter Four: Enemies and Allies
Bastila sighed, trapped in her cage. She was like a mere animal, captured and ready to be sold to the highest bidder. Well, at least she could break free of whoever took possession of her once she was sold into slavery. But she might end up in the farthest reaches of space… with no credits. That would be a difficult mess to get out of.
She wondered back to the attack on the Endar Spire. She wished she could've had a premonition, seen the attack coming, and used her battle meditation. But it was too late to think back on that now. She could only hope that some people escaped…
Like Revan. Hopefully Revan survived. If Revan had died in the attack, then all hope for the Republic was lost. The Jedi council needed Revan alive and unaware of whom she was. She was the key to finding whatever led her and Malak to the dark side.
And hopefully some of the other jedi survived, though Bastila was doubtful. She had felt the tremor in the force as many of the jedi accompanying her died. Hopefully Revan wasn't one of them.
"Wake her guards," hissed a male human voice.
"I'm already awake Brejik," Bastila muttered.
"Ah… so we have snagged ourselves a little republic officer?" Brejik, the leader of the Black Vulkars, a gang of the Lower City of Taris, asked. "No… this won't do for a slave… she's worth more than that." Brejik paced lightly in front of the cage Bastila stood in. He then glanced up at her, grinning madly.
"She would make a fair entrance fee for the swoop race… and when we win, we will win all of the smaller gangs of the lower city." Brejik seemed to have a mad glint in his eye as he went on. "We will wipe out Gadon and the Hidden Beks for good!"
Bastila watched as, laughing like a maniac, Brejik exited the prison cellblock. Bastila sat back down on the floor of the cold stone room below the metal cage she was ensnared in, and meditated. She wondered if she could feel Revan's presence with the force through meditation…
XxXxX
Alaanis Pi shook in her sleep. She felt almost as though a hand had reached towards her and brushed its fingers onto her back. She opened her eyes, wondering if it had actually happened. But seeing Carth's sleeping figure, snoring lightly on the uncomfortable couch of their apartment, she must've imagined it. Hmm… it felt so real…
Glancing down at her chrometer, she could tell it was actually not as early as she had thought. She didn't even feel very tired. Alaanis threw the thin covers of the bed off of her and slipped on the combat suit she had worn the previous day. Even after one day of wear, it was fairly beat up, probably because of the dueling ring.
Carth snored loudly from over on the couch. They had to get an early start if they wanted to get things done. Alaanis giggled as she chucked one of his boots at him and hurriedly lay back down in the bed. She knew it was immature, but the event presented itself so perfectly.
"Wha-?" Carth muttered as he blindly sat up on the couch quickly, his back making an unpleasant sounding crunch. "Ow!" he howled. "Alaanis!"
"What are you waking me up for?" Alaanis asked with a yawn, pretending to have just woken up.
"You threw my boot at me!"
"I've been asleep, and I don't sleepwalk Onasi."
"I know you threw my boot at me!"
"I did not!"
"Did too!"
"Stop being so immature flyboy and let's get a move on." Alaanis couldn't keep a straight face anymore and burst out laughing.
"Oh and I'm immature," Carth grumbled as he picked up the boot that was thrown at him earlier and put it on. "But you're right. Let's go Pi."
"Roger that captain." Alaanis mock saluted Carth.
"Very funny."
"I thought so."
After collecting together all of their supplies, Alaanis was surprised to find how much gear they had. "I guess looting apartments paid off eh flyboy?" she boasted.
"Yeah, shut up." Carth was extra grumpy after Alaanis' wonderfully mature act of kindness. But he helped her get everything ready quickly enough. Then they had to get into the sith uniforms.
Alaanis went first. To make Carth finally get out of his bad mood, Alaanis ended up being much too small to fit into her uniform until she realized that it was the one she swiped from Yun. She growled at Carth who was rolling with laughter at her and picked up the other uniform.
Ten minutes later, both Carth and Alaanis were indistinguishable from the sith, besides the bag that Alaanis had slung over her shoulder. But it didn't matter; she had spotted a few sith carrying bags not so different from hers down to the lower city when they first scouted out the elevator.
"Going down into the lower city?" asked the sith patrol guarding the elevator.
No, we're hijacking this elevator to fly us to Hoth, Alaanis thought to herself. "Yes," she replied to the sith simply.
"I don't envy you," the patrol said earnestly. "Those swoop gangs down there will shoot at anyone, even us!"
"Crazy," Alaanis muttered, shaking her helmeted head lightly.
"Good luck down there. You'll need it."
With a nod of their heads, Carth and Alaanis went into the elevator and headed down into the lower city.
"These uniforms smell horrible," Alaanis commented, ripping off the helmet of hers.
"Well considering how much those junior officers drank, I'm not surprised. I expected stains of every sort in these," Carth muttered. Alaanis blanched at the thought.
"Lovely flyboy. Let's get out of these things." Both ripped off the uniforms, exposing them back to 'regular outsiders stuck on Taris.' How they would attract attention in the Lower City…
":You are not Vulkars! Attack:"
The moment the elevator door opened into the Lower City, Carth and Alaanis found themselves standing behind three dead corpses (two humans and a rodian). All three bore the colors of a certain swoop gang. Obviously not the 'Vulkars'.
"Great… a welcoming party," muttered Carth as he cocked his blaster and aimed. Alaanis unsheathed her vibroswords and began slicing the nearest attacker. With a slice of his neck he was dead and Alaanis turned towards another with great momentum slipping her vibrosword right through his stomach. A knock to his head with the handle broke him down. Carth was busy on his own trying to shoot through the energy shield the third attacker was donning. Alaanis gave him a hand… and chopped off the arm of the opponent wearing the shield.
"Did you realize how gruesome seeing you fight with those swords is?" Carth asked his companion as he shot the screaming attacker in the head.
"Very bloody I'm guessing," Alaanis said with a smirk. "But they get the job done quicker. And those cheap energy shields don't stop me. I'm guessing one of the gangs owns these guys. I wonder if they're all this way."
"I wouldn't be shocked. They seem to fight first and ask questions later." Carth leaned down and took the energy shield off of the severed arm lying on the ground. "Yuck. That's just nasty. Try not to butcher our enemies anymore will you?"
"I can't make any promises," Alaanis replied winking. She gave him another smirk and led him into an apartment complex across from the elevator. Carth swore he could hear her muttering about more looting. He sighed.
The first three apartments were occupied and strangely enough Alaanis avoided them. But the few after that she did in fact loot. Carth couldn't fight against her though after deciding that the armor that Alaanis had found would probably come in quite handy. The last two apartments were the interesting ones though.
"This one… is occupied," Alaanis muttered as she laid her head against the durasteel door, her eyes shut loosely. Suddenly her eyes shot open and she had a glazed look on her face for a moment. Then her eyes shut again and she shuddered, leaning away from the door.
"What is it?" Carth questioned concernedly. What a strange reaction.
"I… I saw something," Alaanis whispered. Her face looked slightly curios, but mainly frightened. "A poster of a bounty for some woman… I forget her name it started with an S or something. And her picture. And then I saw you and me… in front of the woman from the poster. And… we were killing her. Brutally."
Carth furrowed his brows. This was just strange. "It sounds like… a premonition. But… nobody but jedi have the ability to see the future. Or at least, non force-sensitive races." Alaanis gave him a look, obviously inquiring how he knew such things. "The month on the Endar Spire ended me up with a lot of jedi. I picked a few things up."
"Lovely," Alaanis mumbled, still shaken by the vision. "I guess that means we should go into this apartment… and see what happens."
Alaanis picked open the door and soon enough they were facing a woman in full body armor holding a large blaster rifle.
"What do you want?" she asked in an enraged husky voice.
Alaanis looked confused. "I… don't know. I think I'm here to kill you."
"Here to kill me?" The woman laughed. "Nobody simply kills me! I'm much harder to kill than your average bounty hunter. Of course, obviously, with the bounty on my head I'm sure you know of, the tables have been turned. And I like it that way." A bloodthirsty look appeared on the woman's face and she lifted her blaster rifle.
Alaanis just stood there, staring at the woman with a look in her eyes that made Carth shatter. She looked so… pitying. Like she didn't belong in a battle like this. A duel between two rampaging war-mongering warriors. Because that wasn't who Alaanis was.
But standing like that and looking that way wouldn't change what their enemy was doing. She began shooting her blaster rifle, and though Alaanis dodged most of the bolts expertly, one snagged her in the ankle. That's when her face changed. And she took on the face of a serene warrior. No, not a warrior, someone with a bigger purpose than that, but knowing that she had to do simple things like this.
Her destiny is bigger than this, Carth thought to himself. He only wondered what it was.
But he had to keep his head. Blaster fire whistling this way and that from both ends and Alaanis' blades whizzing everywhere, their opponent was soon dead. Alaanis face had achieved a hard look on her face.
"I think she knew she was going to die soon," she said quietly. "She was a warrior, and they never think past tomorrow."
"Come on," Carth ushered. "There's one more apartment to loot."
"Speaking of which…" Alaanis leaned down and searched the bounty hunter's pockets, coming up with a few nice finds including a few choice explosives and a nice chunk of credits.
Alaanis stood back up and walked to the last apartment where she leaned her head once more. "This one is occupied too… but I think he needs help." Before Carth could say anything, Alaanis had sliced open the door and inside was a green Twi'lek.
":What are you doing in my hideout:" he exclaimed, looking rather angry and frightened at once.
"I'm not here to scare you… or collect any bounties," Alaanis told the green Twi'lek, making him look utterly surprised and relieved.
":You… you aren't? Well… I know it's a bit presumptuous, but could you help me perhaps:" he asked simply, looking desperate.
"What do you need?" Carth asked skeptically.
":A permacrete detonator:" the Twi'lek replied. ":And a body to go back to Zax and told him they killed me.:"
"Faking your own death?" Alaanis questioned simply.
":Yes. I am Matrix, and I sort of… snitched on a few Exchange members. I left the Exchange. I used to work for them but then I realized how wrong it was. I went to the authorities and received my freedom at the expense of others. I feel bad about it, yes, but I feel worse about having a bounty on my head:"
"Well, luckily enough, we happen to have a permacrete detonator courtesy of a bounty hunter we managed to hunt down ourselves." Alaanis pulled the device out of her pocket and handed it to Matrix. "You know how to set this?"
":Yes I do ma'am:" Matrix replied, nodding his head. ":Get out of my room and I will follow momentarily.:" He set together the explosives and followed Carth and Alaanis out of the apartment. About five seconds later, the room exploded.
":Thank you for your explosive. I must hurry off now and hopefully find a new hiding spot until I can get off planet. Dead bodies are not supposed to be walking about…:" And with that Matrix ran out of the complex, leaving Carth and Alaanis behind.
"I wonder where we are supposed to go from here," Alaanis wondered aloud. "We need allies down here and it's hard to find some when there's gangs that want to murder everybody about."
"We need somebody who knows about these things," Carth suggested. "Perhaps the locals in the cantina might know a bit more about the gangs and if any are friendly to people like us."
"You mean Republic Fugitives?" Alaanis pointed out.
"Exactly."
XxXxX
"I know all about the Lower City, every nook and cranny of it, every gang and crook."
Carth and Alaanis were in the lower city cantina in the company of none other than a teenage Twi'lek and a Wookie. What an odd pair… Alaanis thought to herself.
"So do you know who the Vulkars are?" Carth asked the small Twi'lek girl, whose name was Mission. The Wookie was named Zaalbar.
"Ugh, yeah I know them," Mission groaned. "Brejik, their leader, was first in line to be the next leader of the Hidden Beks, one of the biggest gangs in the lower city. Gadon Thek, who is the leader of the Hidden Beks, was in a swoop accident and his eyes were replaced with less efficient replacements. Everyone thought he was going to name Brejik as the new leader at that point, but he didn't. So Brejik decided to leave the Hidden Beks and gathered together some support, saying that Gadon was a useless old man. He joined and took over the Black Vulkers, probably the most vicious gang in the lower city. They attack almost everyone but their own on sight and even have the nerve to challenge Davik, even if everybody wants to."
"You know quite a bit about these matters," Alaanis pointed out.
"Yeah, well, I've lived down here all my life and the Hidden Beks are almost like family to me. Gadon is really a great guy and I can't stand Brejik for betraying him like that." Those blue Twi'lek's eyes donned a spiteful appearance.
"Who's Davik exactly?" Carth questioned suddenly.
"He's the big honcho of the Exchange in this part of the galaxy," Mission answered simply. "Ya know, the guy who runs the business of bounties, slaves and spice."
"Hmm," Carth muttered.
"So this gang war that's going on…?" Alaanis asked.
"…Is Brejik's fault completely," Mission said flatly. "He is trying to take over all of the gangs of the Lower City from the Hidden Beks down to the Poison Kulls. The big leading gangs that can fight him fiercely to the little guys who have no choice. He's hoping to win the upcoming swoop tournament to win support. He's got quite the entry fee too… a female republic officer!"
Carth tensed next to Alaanis. The cogs in her mind began working as well. Republic slave… no it couldn't be… Bastila?
"Who do you know can help us win that prize?" Alaanis sputtered out. Mission gave her a look.
"What do you want with a republic officer?" Mission asked, tossing her head to one side.
"Business," Alaanis said.
"The Hidden Beks would probably help you… if you're not associated with the sith that is…"
"Thanks Mission. Carth and I need to head out now though." Alaanis stood up from her seat at a table and bowed her head in goodbye. "Bye Mission, perhaps we shall meet again? Bye Zaalbar."
"Bye," Mission imitated and Carth shot them both a wane smile as he followed Alaanis. Before leaving the cantina however, Alaanis had a stop to make. Well, two.
They stopped in a room where holograms of Twi'leks were dancing and a man was drooling all over himself. Alaanis took on an appearance of disgust. Carth himself was quite disgusted as well.
"Holdan?" Alaanis asked the man who turned around towards her quite quickly.
"These holograms are quite the entertainment," the man said. "Though of course alien girls aren't my type of thing. How about you?"
Alaanis was cringing on the inside. She felt like disconnecting a few things with her vibroswords right now. But she had business to attend to.
"I want you to take the bounty off of Dia. It was self-defense and plus, by you placing a bounty you are embarrassing yourself, making you look like a wimp who couldn't handle a woman yourself." Alaanis shot him a hard and cold glare and a pure look of disgust. Behind her, Carth was smirking at her spunk.
Holdan looked shocked to hear someone speak to him like that. But then realization hit him. "You're right. I am embarrassing myself. I'll take the bounty off. You can tell Dia that it's off all right? It's not my fault she's quite a good piece of work."
Alaanis rolled her eyes as Holdan stalked out of the room and into Zax's bounty office to call off the bounty. She followed him and as soon as he was done talking to Zax the hutt, she stepped forward.
"I would like to collect a few bounties," Alaanis informed the large slug.
":Which bounties:" Zax asked.
"Matrix the Twi'lek and Selven the bounty hunter," Alaanis said.
":Ah… yes I had heard of their deaths not an hour ago. Matrix's was quite messy… was he that hard to kill:" Zax began putting together a small stack of credits.
"An explosion finished the job easier." Alaanis shrugged.
":Well here are six hundred credits, the normal price for two bounties.:" Zax handed Alaanis the small stack he had put together.
"Thank you Zax," Alaanis bowed her head slightly and she and Carth left the bounty office and the cantina.
"I wonder where the Hidden Bek base is…" Alaanis thought aloud once they were back on the streets of the Lower City, walking this way and that, hunting for help.
"What do you want with the Hidden Beks?"
Alaanis and Carth snapped their heads around. Carth cringed as his cracked. Behind them was a slim yet fit black woman looking aged but not withered by constant war. She was holding a rather large sword and staring accusingly at Carth and Alaanis.
"We need Gadon's help," Alaanis told the older woman. Alaanis received a look in response.
"We were told to see him by Mission Vao," Carth threw in. The woman eased her expression a bit and turned her gaze to Carth.
"Mission you say?" the woman asked. Carth and Alaanis both nodded. "Well… Mission is almost a Bek herself. I guess if she has okayed you then you're welcome enough to enter the base. It's not like you could hurt Gadon in the center of his base. Especially with Zaendra watching you."
Alaanis smiled gratefully as the woman led them to a large door and tapped in a security code.
"Thank you for your assistance," Alaanis said politely as she and Carth entered the base. The older woman shot her a wane smile and locked the door behind them.
The Hidden Bek base was what Carth had basically expected. Packaging crates filled with everything from spice to swoop parts were lying around, dozens of Beks wearing their gang color were talking, relaxing, working and carrying the crates around. This was the main hall of the base, and at the very back was a desk where a man who has reached his prime and a slightly younger Twi'lek with a determined look were standing. They were conversing in low tones as Alaanis and Carth approached them.
"Who're you?" asked the Twi'lek with the most suspicious gaze ever on her face. This must've been Zaendra.
"My name is Alaanis Pi and this is Carth Onasi," Alaanis told her. "We were referred to come here by Mission Vao. We need the help of Gadon Thek?"
The man gave her a quick and piercing look before donning a much less suspicious look. "Mission sent you did she? Well… I guess any friends of Mission are people I can trust."
"Gadon you can't be so trusting!" exclaimed Zaendra. "They could be working for Brejik, or worse the sith!"
"We're not with the Vulkers or the sith, we can guarantee that ma'am," Carth put in.
"Zaendra calm down, I think these off-worlders have an agenda of their own," Gadon said. He looked more closely at Alaanis and chuckled lightly. "I don't think she would fit in with the sith solider requirements."
"They might be spies! They could be working for the sith!"
"If the sith were to attack us, they would send a battalion or troops, shoot everyone and then ask questions to the dead corpses," Gadon grinned. "Like I said, I think they have their own reasons for visiting us."
Carth was stifling laughter from seeing Zaendra so infuriated. Finally she exhaled and groaned. "You can speak to Gadon then."
"I thought we already were," Alaanis muttered under her breath so that Zaendra couldn't hear her. Carth had to work harder to keep his laughter in check.
"But if you make one wrong move, you'll be down faster than you can say Vulker spy!" Zaendra threatened. She gave them wary glares as she carried a pile of papers from the desk and headed off through a back door.
"Now… what do two off-worlders want with a swoop gang leader like me?" Gadon asked Carth and Alaanis once Zaendra was gone.
"Mission told us that a female Republic officer was up for dibs in the upcoming swoop race," Alaanis replied. "We need to free that Republic officer. Or in other words, we need to win her."
"And you want me to help you there," Gadon concluded. "Well… I have a proposition for you."
"Go on," Alaanis raised her eyebrows in anticipation.
"I could sponser you as a Hidden Bek for the upcoming swoop race. It's in four days, enough time for you to do a task for me to prove that you're on our side." The swoop leader gave both Alaanis and Carth looks that told him that they better not double-cross him. "Us Beks were working on a prototype swoop accelerator that would help our swoops go faster. But of course, Brejik and his Vulkers snatched it about a week ago to guarantee their win. I need you to steal that back from him. Once you return the accelerator, I will sponsor you in the race. Have you ever raced before?"
Alaanis scrunched up her face in concentration. "Once or twice when I was younger," she shrugged. "Nothing too serious. But I did win every time."
Gadon chuckled lightly. "Well, you have the look of a racer about you, I think you'd do just fine. And if you don't win but the Beks do, I will strike up a deal with you somehow for you to get your Republic Officer back. Us Beks don't believe in slavery, unlike the Vulkers."
"So we steal the accelerator… how?" Carth questioned. He didn't expect the Black Vulkers to leave their doors open to off-worlders.
"The front door of the base is locked up tight. And there's no point in searching for your Republic officer, she's probably locked away somewhere safe until the big race." Gadon sighed, thinking inwardly about how Carth and Alaanis could get in. Zaendra walked out of the back door with a new stack of papers and Gadon sat down in his seat, thinking a bit.
"You could get into the base from the secret entrance in the sewers. You'd have to go through the Undercity of course, and it would probably be a suicide mission considering you don't know the area." Gadon sighed again. "Hm… I didn't want to come to this, but I think you might end up having to ask Mission herself to be your guide."
"Mission!" Zaendra exclaimed, knocking a few of the papers off of Gadon's desk. "You can't be serious Gadon! She's just a kid!"
"She's tough Zaendra, she can hold her own, especially with Zaalbar around," Gadon pointed out. "If you don't find her in the Lower City streets, I'd expect looking for her in the Undercity or the sewers. But you can't get down there on your own. Unless you have sith authorization papers that is." Gadon shot Alaanis a look. She shook her head. "Well… how did you get down here from the Upper City?"
"Sith uniforms," Alaanis answered.
"Let's make a trade them. Your uniforms for my papers. You can't get down into the Undercity with just uniforms." Gadon looked at Alaanis and she nodded her head.
"It's a deal," she told him, pulling out the two uniforms from her oversized bag. Gadon set them in a bag behind his desk and ruffled through some papers on his desk under he found the ones he was looking for. He handed four sheets of paper to Alaanis.
"Two sets of authorization papers," he said. "These should get you into the Undercity, and back into the Upper City."
"Thanks," Alaanis said, handing Carth one set of papers and folding one set herself to place in her pockets. "Don't worry Gadon, we'll get that accelerator. We're not double-crossers."
"I'm glad to hear that," Gadon commented with a light smile on his lips. "Allies?" he held out a calloused hand for Alaanis to shake.
She grasped it with her delicate own hand. It was surprising how that small and gentle hand could've held the hilt of a vibrosword that hacked away her enemies. He wondered how glad Gadon should be that she was his ally and not his enemy.
"Allies."
XxXxX
Yes! Yay! –celebrates- Finally finished this chapter. I had been like three quarters of the way done for like a week now but I never got around to writing the conversation with Gadon. But now its set and done. Yes! By the way, I'm sorry if I got way too contemplative on the battle with Selven thingy. But rereading it, I rather liked Carth's thoughts on that. So, anyways, review like crazy PLEASE because I love reviews… though I must not have much love lol. Except for Shadows Run. XD You deserve lots of doggy biscuits for those reviews. Anyways, next chapter, we get to meet up with Mission and Zaalbar, visit the Undercity, the sewers, and of course the Vulker base. I'm not sure if the swoop race will be condensed in the next chapter or not. Anyways, adios peoples! Enjoy! And until next time, pet your ducks!
4-21-05