The night was quiet.

I couldn't get any sleep what with our fate being decided tomorrow. So, I decided to hang around beside the balconies where the Beks took their swoops for secret test runs. Touching the cold metal of the railing, I gazed out at nothing in particular. My mind was too tired to process the numerous swoops dashing by.

The swoop race. The doomed swoop race.

Before, when I tossed and turned in the Bek's spare bunk, I thought up crazy scenarios of what tomorrow would bring with Carth attempting to win a swoop race. Carth. He had no chance of winning—pilot or no.

Well, I could, right?

Stupid thoughts. Of course not! This anxiety was due to this lack of control—it must have been. I hate when my fate is in other people's hands.

Funny. I had this...feeling. And not the normal gut feeling someone had before a fight or a raid. No. It was a sinking feeling. As if I knew something bad was about to happen. It just didn't seem right. Ha, there go my bipolar thoughts again. If only my brain could feel like one person for once.

Heavy steps and mechanical machinery echoed down the hall. I turned to look over my shoulder. Onasi walked towards me with bruised, sunken eyes. The door swished closed while he took his place beside me, holding the railing. He wore one of the Hidden Bek's spare uniforms since our clothes were still in our old apartment. A beard was starting to grow. Last I checked, one was sprouting on me as well.

He searched my face. "Couldn't sleep?"

I leaned back on the railing. "I don't need sleep, commander."

Onasi stared after my lackadaisical comment.

"I followed you—"

"Great."

"—because I can't seem to figure you out. One moment you act like this is all a joke—the next you manage to lead us closer to Bastila. Is it sheer luck? Or are you actually trying? And what made someone so...aloof join the Republic Navy?"

I turned and gripped the railing. A few lights flickered in the distance. I shrugged. "You could say things...blew up in my face."

Carth looked as if he related to what I said. Somehow.

"You know that we need Bastila in order to escape, right?"

"I know okay?"

Carth's fingers slid away from the railing as he stood straighter. The soldier then glanced out into the dark beyond.

"There is just something off about this whole thing. With the Endar Spire. With you." I peered sideways at the military cut hair of the commander. I tried guessing what he was looking at. "The Sith fleet attacked as soon as we left hyperspace. Like they knew exactly where we'd be. Bastila—even though her powers are outmatched—didn't have enough time to use Battle Meditation because of that ambush. And then there's you."

"What about me?"

He didn't actually think I was to blame? The commander glanced away from what he was looking at in the beyond before leaning on the railing.

"It's just...these things don't add up. Tell me what happened. From your perspective."

I smiled tight.

"Well, I mean, I wasn't in a position to know what was going on. You probably know more than I do."

"No. There was something else."

"What?"

I was sick and tired of Carth's bipolar paranoid monologues. They made me depressed just listening to them.

"The Jedi boarded with you. Odd. Even though Admiral Dodonna's message had been delayed, the transfer date was the day before we departed. Just like you."

"What are you trying to say?"

Something snapped. I flinched after hearing the sound of cuffs attaching my wrist to the railing. How did he get those?

"If you won't tell me what your position in the Republic fleet was before coming onto the Endar Spire, then I can't trust you."

What? He thought I was a Sith spy? I could feel my anger rise in my chest again as I pulled on the cuff. Is this a joke? If there was one person Carth should be blaming, it would be Bastila. But she wasn't here now, was she?

"Of course I'm not a...spy or whatever you think I am. The Jedi were the ones who forced me onto the Spire in the first place under their apparent 'orders' from the Republic."

"Until I hear the same from Bastila, I can't trust you. I will not be betrayed again."

I tugged on the cuff. "I thought we were supposed to be working together here."

"Oh, so now you want to work together?"

Darkness swirled about my vision.

"Let me go."

"I'll let you go once you tell me what you were doing on the Endar Spire."

The plasma bulb above us flickered.

"Oh, yeah? Well, maybe I'll tell you once you tell me why you're a paranoid, nerf herding, bastard."

Then, without warning, the plasma bulb shattered.

We both jumped back as glass shards began to rain down between us. I looked at the glass then back up at the ceiling, narrowing my eyes at the old lights. It didn't look like a malfunction. How did that light crush itself?

Carth hung his head in defeat. "You want to know? Fine." Kicking a few glass pieces to the side, he gazed back into the darkness. "My home planet, Telos, was one of the first planets destroyed in this war. By Saul. Saul Karath." He looked to me as if I would recognize the name but it didn't sound familiar to me. "You know, he was once Admiral Karath?"

I pursed my lips then smiled crookedly, nodding my head as if I remembered. He was probably referring to something a recruit in the army would know. I was going to fake as much as I could in order to get out of these cuffs.

Carth combed his hair back with his hand. He obviously didn't want to tell me a whole narrative. "He used to be my mentor during the Mandalorian Wars. When he led the Sith fleet to destroy Telos...I couldn't trust anyone anymore. Not you and not the Jedi either. It's nothing personal."

I jiggled the cuffs. "It sounds personal to me."

"Well, it isn't. And you aren't giving me any reasons for it not to be."

Touché.

The commander sighed. "Saul...he could have ignored the order. He could have just stood down but he didn't. That's why, when we meet again, I will kill him for what he did. He deserves little else."

I closed my eyes. Vengeance was like twin stars. They made a man who coveted them blind. Carth reminded me of that little saying. Nothing was going to stop him from being blind to everything else around him.

"Now it's your turn." Carth glanced at me. "Go on. Tell me what you've been trying to hide from me. Or I will leave you here. All night."

What should I say? What was there to say after he poured his heart out and made himself vulnerable? I would be foolish not to tell him the truth now and regret it when he comes after me later.

Yet, before I could admit anything, the doors swished open behind us. We both turned. A blue Twi'lek rushed out into the faint light, ignoring the glass that splayed along the floor.

"You have to help me! The Hidden Beks won't help me! Gadon and Zaedra won't help me! You just—please say you'll help me!" Mission cried out.

I pulled on the cuff when I flinched. "Wait just...slow down and tell us what's wrong."

Even I was surprised by my calm voice after that stressful conversation.

Mission took another breath, her face sullied with dirt and blood. "They've taken Zaalbar! The Vulkars! They...he told me to run and I didn't want to do it at first but he pushed me away and...and..."

Carth took a step forward. "Tell us the whole story Mission. From the beginning."

Another deep breath and the alien girl's rushed speaking condensed. "We were just walking around the Lower City, we do it all the time, but neither of us saw the ambush. I...I thought that it was safe. They've captured Zaalbar! B-Brejik's probably going to sell him into slavery! Please, we have to get into their base! The Hidden Beks...they're not going to risk it. Gadon and Zaedra...they've told me not to explore the streets at night before. You can help me though, right?"

I glanced towards Carth, his lips pursed in indecision. And even though I thought it was a stupid idea...

"We'll help you," I said.

Carth glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. "I would normally agree, but we don't exactly have the time."

"They helped us find Bastila. It's only fair that we return the favor."

"I guess..."

Before Mission could thank us, her gaze trailed to my hand.

"Erm...why are you cuffed to the railing?"

Carth, reluctantly, released me from my binds with the caveat that I'd answer his questions later. That and he only cuffed me as a test. He still wasn't sure if I passed yet. And apparently I was the one playing games here.

"There is one back way that the Vulkars barely keep guarded in the Under City," Mission said.

The floor number reached one hundred and I kept a tight grip on my blaster. With the credits I had left from being hired by the Republic, we each bought ourselves suitable protection. Which got us barely anything at all. I was still crying on the inside when that zero appeared on the Hidden Bek's datapad. Carth rolled his eyes when he saw my expression of pure defeat. I was bankrupt. Officially.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Carth, the worrywart, asked.

Mission's expression broke from her reassuring smile. "Um...well...it's safe enough. I suppose. I mean, we go down here all the time."

I shook my head. "If it was safe then the Vulkars would close it down. A dangerous backdoor is useful for many people including the ones keeping something or someone hidden."

"You know, if I didn't know you, that would have sounded wise."

"Just common sense, Orangy."

I glanced at the elevator floor number. Thirty. I prayed one more time that we would get out of this alive.

The doors opened and a stench that I could barely tolerate wafted into the small elevator. My face scrunched up in literal pain and I glanced towards Carth to confirm whether I wasn't just imagining this death-defying odor.

I wasn't.

Mission was the first to exit into the hard mud that was the true ground of Taris. I followed her by a few feet all while glancing about the Under City. Shacks were set precariously against the ancient steel walls of the Taris skyscrapers. The people who lived down here were crawling around like rats while staring up at the alien-looking up-worlders. I felt rather overdressed in this environment despite the second-hand cortosis weave armor. A few skinny children ran past us and each one of them stopped to gawk. I turned my head, enough for me to notice a few short and pale beggars making their way towards us

"Hey, you used our elevator!"

We stopped. Carth caught up to us and was on guard after spotting the newcomers.

One of the beggar's friends pointed crudely at us.

"Yeah, and you have to pay to use our elevator."

"We don't exactly have the credits, little guy," I said.

"Liar! You up-worlders always have credits."

The one time I tell the truth about my finances and I'm shot down. This must be fate's true revenge.

Carth, fortunately, had been smart enough to bring credit slips with him. Should I thank him for his quick thinking or despise him for being better prepared? The beggars took the credits greedily. Mission glared at the commander.

"You shouldn't have done that..." she muttered.

Carth tilted his head. "Why not?"

"People remember down here."

Even though I hadn't been the one to give those beggars credits, I shivered. These people looked desperate...and hungry. I haven't seen any planet like this before—and I've seen planets. These people were in such a destitute state that they were at a civilized level way below the discovery of the hyperdrive. Which is to say, ancient. As we tread through the village, more and more people gathered around us. My spine shivered again when I saw the hunger and fear in their eyes. These people would do anything to survive. Anything.

A woman bumped into me. Before I could apologize, she tried to claw me apart.

"Murderer!" she shouted. "Dictator! Tyrant!"

I had no choice but to throw the weak person off of me and onto the ground. This only incited the people around us. Mission paled and Carth pushed hard onto my back to go faster as the villagers raged, each of them attempting to claw at us.

"You left us to the rakghouls!"

"Up-worlder scum!"

"Leave us alone!"

My mind was in such a tumble that I hadn't even realized when the people had thrown us out into the wastelands through an iron gate. I glared back at the unwelcoming Under City dwellers.

"What was that?" I shouted at Mission. "Who were those—?"

"They were banished here a long time ago. Prisoners of a long-forgotten war. They've been oppressed for so long that some don't even know what it's like in the sun."

The rest of my words lay dry in my mouth as I stood and dusted myself off. Carth looked a bit more shaken than I was. This Outer Rim planet was crueler than most that I've seen. At least slaves and other lower-class people on other worlds got to see the light of day.

The skyscraper trunks stood like frozen statues. An ominous growl echoed through the cold bleak desert. My foggy breath came from my lips in small puffs. The cold made me shiver. And Mission actually looked scared for once.

"We have to watch out for rakghouls," she said. "If you see one, run. Their bites will turn you into one of those monsters."

"Great. Just what we needed—more danger," I muttered.

We began to walk. Each of our steps created small indents in the soft ground. When I used to smuggle in Taris years ago, I learned that the planet used to be lush and green with life before they found rich resources upon its surface. Of course, there were other fairy tales that people liked to tell about this planet. But I didn't believe in stories.

And now...

"It's kind of...quiet," Carth whispered.

"Not anymore, is it?" I whispered back.

"Shh."

Mission stopped us when we saw fragmented parts in the distance. Faint smoke trailed out like wisps from what appeared to be a crash of some sort. Holding up a hand, she pointed to the ground. Landmines. Whoever was here first didn't want anyone coming back.

Carth gripped his blaster. "This is an escape pod..."

I took another look at the machine parts and recognized the broken Republic insignia immediately. Maybe it was Bastila's escape pod? Of course, she wasn't there anymore.

Mission turned from the crash. "We have to keep moving. The entrance is not far."

You cannot win, Revan.

Something tugged at me towards the wreckage. A voice? A call? No, it was like some invisible force whispering to me from inside the pod. That's why when Mission continued past the parts, I swung to the left.

Carth waved at me.

"Where are you going?"

I avoided the frag mines camouflaged within broken engines and hugged the edge of the large escape pod until I got to the blasted broken door. Carefully checking for mines, I climbed in through the side hatch. The pit stank of smoke and burnt gases as I peered around. What was I looking for? Bastila wasn't here. What was the point of this expedition? I was wasting precious time—

A lone device. It looked a lot like Bastila's lightsaber from that foggy dream. You cannot win, Revan. Yes, that had been her voice. And there was her lightsaber, hidden underneath the escape pod seat like a mistreated toy. Before I could try to figure out whether that was or wasn't a dream, a thought caused me to smirk. What kind of klutz was this Bastila? She tripped and misplace important items like lightsabers. How was the fate of the galaxy in her hands?

After stretching my body to the limit, I grabbed the lightsaber and climbed out. My hair frizzed up from being inside that humid broken spacecraft. Both Carth and Mission gave me strange looks as I waved the metal tube around.

"Looks like someone has forgotten something."

The commander grimaced as I waved it again.

"Be careful with that!" Carth shouted. "You could accidentally stab me or yourself with it."

I pursed my lips together then placed the lightsaber carefully into my pack. Did he really think I was that irresponsible? I wasn't going to go on a rampage with a Jedi's weapon. Before I could argue, Mission stomped towards where we were previously heading.

"Come on, slowpokes!"

Our journey within the underbelly of the Upper City came to a halt when Mission noticed something past the ancient wall. Both Carth and I prepared our blasters as we peered past that wall with anticipated trigger fingers. We must have been walking down there for about an hour before we ran into the Sith patrol.

Which is to say...a very much dead Sith patrol.

White pale creatures encircled their corpses and made gross, grumbling sounds. As if they were...digesting. Mission and Carth grimaced as they saw what laid beyond the metal roots.

"Are you kidding me?" Carth said.

I laughed darkly at that statement.

The soldier frowned. "Do you think this is funny?"

Mission came between us like a bouncer breaking up a drunken dispute. Her expression was frantic. Now she was afraid? Amazing...

"Listen, we can't take on all of those rakghouls at once. The entrance to the sewers are just beside them. If we go nice and easy then we can do it. I've done it before with Zaalbar so it's possible."

"Yeah, you did it before. But I highly doubt Carth is as quiet as that Wookiee. He whispers like a bantha in heat."

Carth narrowed his eyes.

"Hey! I can be stealthy."

Sure.

With a small nod, Mission crawled close to the ground, using the darker shadows of the skyscraper as cover from the rakghouls. I wondered how she was able to avoid these creatures when they could just as well smell us. The shredded Sith patrol didn't bode well for us. I hoped that they weren't some premonitions about our own fate.

We hugged the wall as if a gigantic chasm laid below our feet. The pale creatures were scrunched over the armored Sith. The disgusting sounds of their digestion shook me to the core. Kriff...they were eating them. My skin grew cold and my hands shook as I stepped over metal gravel. Carth's breath could be heard a mile away. Lay off the calories you fat Gamorrean.

He could have been a little bit more careful with his footing too, because if he tripped—

Carth cursed as he tripped over a machine part and went tumbling to the ground.

I had to jinx it.

We couldn't stay angry at him for long. Five pale heads peered up at us with dark red teeth and eyes. There was a split second of silence—a credit could have been dropped and heard light-years away. Mission breathed loudly behind us which was amazing because she was more silent than I was.

It was too late to hide now, wasn't it?

Why had I agreed to do this again?

The quiet air was broken when I raised my blaster and fired off a precise shot. That shot hit one of the monsters square in its pale skull. The four remaining beasts danced around Mission's blaster fire and Carth began shooting from the ground. Mission was able to get in a few hits on one of the rakghoul's torso, but it kept on running towards us like it had only been pinched. Had I been lucky with that first shot?

I fired off a few more rounds and I was able to take another down. Because they were starting to close in. I took a few steps back as they grew closer and Mission followed my lead. Carth, however, was struggling to get up from the ground.

"Carth! Get up you old fart!" I shouted, aiming blindly at the rakghouls as I ran back towards the wall. He hadn't heard me as he shot with one of his blasters at the three remaining beasts. Seeing no choice, I tugged the pin out of the frag grenade and chucked it towards the rushing animals. I wasn't sure if Carth would be too close. If he was, the cortosis weave in his armor should be enough to protect him.

The resounding smoke and angry coughing blasted through the rakghouls like Deralian butter. Crossing my fingers, I squinted past the dark smoke created by the accursed sediment of Taris.

There were shouts of surprise and I raised my blaster again only to jump when red laser light pierced the grenade smoke. A pale figure fell and red liquid spread from where I had thought Carth to be.

I almost felt my heart stop.

Wait, I cared about this soldier's safety? That's surprising.

I ran towards the commander's position.

"Carth!"

I was close enough to observe the damage. The pale skinny rakghoul had tackled the soldier. Two of them had been torn to pieces by the grenade yet, somehow, the third one had survived enough to claw at Carth. After that attack, the commander had been able to shoot its brains out. I shoved the rakghoul body off of him and peered down. His face was bloody along with his shoulder which had been pierced with two puncture marks. He was still awake...somehow.

He coughed. "Thanks a lot, you idiot. You could've blown my fucking head off."

I narrowed my eyes. Mission came up to us then covered her mouth in horror. He looked bad but the soldier probably had worse—Mandalorian War veteran and all. Carth sat up carefully...however something worse than gravity pulled him back to earth. I pursed my lips as I took a more careful look at his shoulder wound. Pus? What...did this rakghoul have rabies or something?

Oh no.

What had Mission said? Their bites will turn you into one of those monsters.

Mission's hand remained on her face like she was trying to hold back a scream.

Carth was dying.