Mission entered the dancers common room again and found an empty chair. She had never really felt this exposed and betrayed before. She kept on trying to think what she could of done to stop herself from ever being in this position but it was to no avail. If she hadn't ever met those creeps that sent her up here, things could have been different. She could have been there with Carth, as he battled with Revan and maybe, just maybe, of succeeded in escaping him and HK-47. That was all past now, she had to concentrate on the future, on how to get out of this prison. She had a few friends in this otherwise terrible group, the people she had been with on the ship had grown very close to her and she stood up as they walked in. Ooya and Tolyan were nice girls that made Mission feel safer in this ship. Ooya was about the same size as Mission and had light green skin. Tolyan was just a little bit taller, more muscular in shape and had a light purple skin color. They were talking, most likely about the creeps outside gathered around the tables waiting for the next show. Mission had almost lost her faith in men while she was here, only thoughts about her brother kept her from hating them completely. She had seen Canderous while dancing one evening, the only other life form to join Revan in his dark journey. Mission was never really close to Canderous in the first place but seeing him, just standing there with a smirk on his face brought about hatred for everybody that she had met on her journey with Revan. Then Carth came up, the only other man in the group she had fully trusted besides Zaalbar. It was almost shocking to see him on the list, set for execution and the vision of him lying on the bad, almost writhing in pain from the knockout gas brought shivers down her spine on what would happen if they caught her escaping. Just then, Ooya and Tolyan walked up to Mission.
"Hey little girl," Tolyan said, always the sarcastic one "How's your little boyfriend from below?"
"He's not my boyfriend for the last time, he was just some guy that I had traveled with when I thought Revan was actually good." Mission quickly retorted
"Yeah well whatever, I think we're all looking for a guy we can trust right now, I think I've lost hope in the entire gender." Answered Tolyan
"Hey, enough of the bickering you two, we still need to devise a plan on how we can get this guy to help us out of here." Ooya cut in
The three quietly again slipped into the side room.
"Well, here's what I did, after breaking him out and editing his files noting his execution, I took that guys armor from that night and gave it to him. I saw him go up the turbolift in the back but I have absolutely no clue on how he's ever going to convince the squad that he's part of the group."
Ooya looked confused "So you mean that at any time he could be arrested, and our only hope of breaking out of this place could be lost?"
"Well, yeah but I trust Carth more that that."
"Fine then," Tolyan cut in "We'll put our faith in this Carth guy then, but one wrong move and I'm not going to be the one that's going to be blamed"
Carth walked towards the barracks as he ran through the plan in his head. He just walked casually, as if he knew where he was going as not to gain attention from the cameras. As he walked past the barracks, he noticed a lone man exiting the room and heading towards the showers. He quickly followed suit, walking next to the guy trying to start up a conversation.
"You do any of those exercises today?" Carth asked, hoping it would blend with something
"Nah, today was my rest period, I just spent most of my time down in the entertainment section, know what I mean?" the guy said with a wink
"Yeah, that's about the only thing here to do isn't it?"
"Sure is, I'd be nice if something actually happened around here, I joined for the action, the ladies aren't that bad though either,"
The two men had reached the shower and were beginning to undress when Carth quickly dropped into a low kick, knocking the other man off balance. The man slipped on the wet floor and fell backwards, his head connecting with the corner of the bench. Carth knew that most likely there wouldn't be cameras in the shower so he dragged the body over to the side where he noticed a vent, slightly larger than the one Carth had crawled through and labeled PLASMA HEATER FURNACE on the top in small, but bold letters. He kicked open the vent and pushed the body in, watching it slide down the dark shaft, only a bright flash of orange light let Carth know the job was done. He snatched a small cutting laser that was concealed in his armor and cut open the locker where the man had stored his. He quickly changed and started heading back down to the entertainment lounge. Carth hoped that by finding one of the men that knew this guy well, he'd be able to impersonate him just long enough to find a way of escape. The turbolift doors opened and Carth walked into the smoky bar. He was just about to take a seat when a man called him over. He was relived when he noticed a sign in the corner noting that you had to have your full armor on at all times, in case of alert. The man that had called him over had his helmet off, only the fire resistant mask that most soldiers wore underneath covering his face. Noticing his surroundings, Carth did the same.
"So you decided to take me up on my offer, thought you said that you were too drunk," the man said
Carth answered as well as he could "Yeah well, you can never have too much."
"Course I'm right, Canderous Ordo always is." The man answered
Canderous Ordo, the man who had gone off with Revan all those months ago. The thoughts rushed back to him of HK-47 and Canderous beginning to get the ship off the ground as Revan fought; The sight of Revan leaping up on the entry ramp as T3-M4 closed it behind him. It was all a blur.
"Well you know me Canderous, I just can't say no." Carth said, noticing a shake in his voice
"Good. Now just in case you were too drunk last time to understand, here's my plan. This blue Twi'lek, I've met her before, she was on a… crew I was once on, saved her from Taris when it was destroyed. Anyway, she and her two Twi'lek friends always seemed a little resistant to the men's calls around her so I thought we'd go back and… loosen them up a bit." Canderous said with a chuckle
"You mean…"
"Yeah, we'll take 'em up to our barracks and, break them in. We'll do it on our next night off, let's see, in about a standard month."
"But what if they talk? We're not supposed to do things like that are we? I mean…"
"Course after we're done we'll kill 'em of course, we'll just say that we caught them trying to escape and shot them dead"
Carth was horrified at Canderous' plot but it seemed like a good way to get the girls out of the entertainment lounge and escape so he agreed.
The next few weeks went by with Carth hanging out in the lounge and participating in some of the drills that their commanding officer had them do. It actually felt good to Carth to be back in an army, have a sense of order and just be able to relax without problems. He never talked with Mission, fearing that if they were seen that his whole plan would be ruined. He just sat in the back, sipping a drink and watching the performances, never making any moves or giving any tips. It was just nice to get some of the treatment he deserved, Carth was sick of leading rebels, running away and never knowing where your next meal was coming from. It was just four weeks of rest and relaxation, a sense of being back into the swing of things, sometimes he caught himself wanting to stay in this, to keep in the army and join Revan.
Mission was worried. She'd seen Carth around at the lounge so she knew he wasn't dead but he hadn't come to talk to her in about three weeks. All these thoughts ran through her mind, had he changed his mind? Was he going to stay with Revan? Had she pushed him too far? She shook these thoughts out of her head, Carth would stay with her, and he wouldn't betray her. She'd gone through too much to just have another man turn against her. Mission leaned back on her tiny cot. It had been another night of groping men; any tips she collected were given right to the bartender. It was just a sick sight. She grabbed the thin blanket at the foot of her bed and closed her eyes, hoping that soon Carth would come with a plan.
Carth woke up on his free day. He knew that today was the day that he had made plans with Canderous. He went about his morning duties, walking to the showers and cleaning his sleep space. Right after he walked down to the bar to meet with Canderous. They went over the details.
"Ok, Right at night, when all the men were down here, Mission and her two friends would just be leaving, we walk to the back, with holdout blasters, and show like we're just walking to the lounge chairs, then we quickly board the turbolift, go to the showers, do our business, as they're running back, we shoot them, say they were trying to escape, and we all go about our normal lives, deal?"
Carth nodded "Sounds good."
Night finally rolled around and the two started their plan. Canderous was sitting at the bar, as Carth was sitting in a lounge chair, reading a datapad. Canderous motioned to Carth towards the back and both men stood up and began walking back. Mission and her two friends were leaving the stage just as the two men confronted them. Canderous and Carth drew their blasters quietly.
"Don't move blueberry, follow us, and nobody gets hurt."
Mission instantly recognized the two men. Canderous the betrayer, and Carth, the man that she had put so much trust in. "How are they working together?" Mission thought to herself. Canderous and Carth motioned for the girls to go in front of them, as they all casually walked to the lounge area. Then Canderous led the girls into the back of the nearest turbolift, and the two burly men stood in front of them, blocking any view. They reached the barracks level and Carth ordered them to walk to the shower area, and don't make any sudden moves. Just after the girls turned into the shower, the men walked behind, making a drama of following them for the cameras. The Twi'leks were sitting on the bench, two of them crying.
"Aww, shut up," Carth said "You're making this more difficult on yourselves."
Canderous then walked towards the light purple one and pulled her up.
"You first," he said and began yanking on her top.
Carth ran up to him and head butted him right in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Canderous flew back against the wall as the Twi'lek righted herself and got into a fighting stance. The three women and Carth began their assault on Canderous, trying to subdue him. Canderous fought back well, knocking out one of the Twi'leks, and sending Mission flying against the wall, no breath left in her. It was Carth and the purple Twi'lek left. Carth went head on with Canderous as she made lightning attacks from behind, working as a distraction. The Twi'lek then made a grab for his shoulders, propping herself on top of him in a handstand. She then placed herself between him and the ceiling, temporarily restraining the large man. Carth took advantage of the moment to place a heavy weighted kick on Canderous' chest, knocking him unconscious as he fell into one of the shower stalls. Carth kicked open some of the lockers and handed each Twi'lek a vibroblade, a blaster, and a light armored flight suit. The four then took off down the hallway, trying to find the nearest way to the hanger. It was harder to disguise the women because of the tails hanging off the back of their heads, but they managed to make it to the transport bay, where some of the lighter craft were stored. Carth entered first, selecting a light correlian frigate, not unlike the ship they had traveled in as a group before. As Carth started the ship up, the girls went around the hanger trying to collect anything that they could find to be useful. That's when they heard a familiar beeping noise. A small droid sat in the corner, beeping loudly at Mission.
"T3-M4? What are you doing down here?" Mission asked quietly
The droid beeped happily, almost as if it was relieved to see a familiar face.
"C'mon T3, follow us," Mission whispered "we'll get you out of here."
The droid and three Twi'leks headed towards the ship, which was running and ready to go. The group boarded the ship and Mission headed up to the cockpit as Ooya and Tolyan moved into the storage bay to drop off their supplies. T3-M4 moved about, surveying the ship and making any needed repairs. The ship rose from the hanger floor and with a quick jolt, shot out of the bay. Revan sat in a chair in his quarters. He had felt the presence of Carth about a week ago after seeing a strange man with Canderous. He had been trying to figure out how he could of gotten out of the near impregnable hanger. A light started beeping on the chair, notifying of an unauthorized ship leaving hanger bay E. Revan pushed another button to open up a comlink channel to a flight squadron, dispatching them to destroy the fleeing craft. He smirked, thinking of Carth's face as hundreds of fighters because swarming his tiny craft.
Bastila felt it too. She instantly noticed the fight that was going on outside and began focusing her battle meditation against the tiny craft, as it was pummeled by blast after blast.
