Hi! Sorry, I publish chapters without even addressing you all. I just want to get rid of Taris' scenes (well Taris was not the greatest pleasure in game, and the same in the fanfic). Still, I tried to do things as seriously as possible.
There will be one other chapter on Taris. Then, Dantooine that counts four chapters.
Hope the English is 'idiomatic' enough. I try my best.
Our journey from the lower city of Taris to the flat had taken just over an hour. Fortunately, Bastila had not spoken to me during our little walk. She apparently only had sweet words for me, so her silence during the hour-long journey was a blessing that I savoured every second.
I tried not to move too far in advance of her, in order not to attract attention. In the upper city, where many Sith soldiers were on patrol, we walked side by side, relatively close together, so that we could pretend to be a couple of friends returning from some personal, somewhat eventful entertainment. Bastila had loosened her hair in this respect, to avoid too much attention being paid to her face. I didn't know if it had been of much use, but it was important to do everything possible to prevent anyone from recognising the notorious Jedi, prey of the Dark Lord.
When we finally reached the flat, Bastila very laconically greeted an almost euphoric Carth, gave a furtive and, I was sure, completely indifferent look to Mission and Zaalbar. Then, after Carth had handed her some clean civilian clothes, she hurried off to lock herself in the flat's small shower room for a short while.
When we finally reached the flat, Bastila very laconically greeted an almost euphoric Carth, gave a furtive and, I was sure, completely indifferent look to Mission and Zaalbar, and, after Carth had handed her some clean civilian clothes, she hurried off to lock herself in the flat's small shower room for a short while. She emerged about fifteen minutes later. I had naively thought that this cleanliness would have made her feel more relaxed, and that we would finally be able to talk to a slightly warmer Bastila Shan. But, as she herself had already so delicately implied, I was a complete idiot. We were all seated around the only table in the flat, patiently waiting for the return of our dear Commander. Bastila came back to us looking almost more obnoxious than she did every time she had to talk to me. When she came to us, she grabbed one of the last chairs by the top, pulled it back firmly and sat down in it. I saw her put both hands together on the tabletop, and heard her sigh with a superior sigh. At last she deigned to look up at us, and sweeping her audience with a cold stare, said at last these few words:
"Well?" She said impatiently. "Will someone explain the situation to me? Or do I have to pull your leg every time, for the slightest information?"
I couldn't help but give a discreet smile and look at my companions out of the corner of my eye. Mission, who until now had been troubled by Bastila Shan's arrival, gave up her childishly frightened look and displayed an almost scandalised pout. Zaalbar, I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard a slight grunt from him. As for Carth, he was staring at his Commander, arms crossed, puzzled. Clearly he wasn't going to be intimidated so easily. I kept my eyes on him, waiting for him to speak; as a second in our imitation of a hierarchy, it was his job to address the Commander's request. But he remained silent, his eyes fixed on the Jedi, his brows furrowed. At the time, I imagined it was a little battle of egos, of who was going to make the other one bow. But I couldn't help thinking that this was not like Carth. He was a very respectful man, far from being a soldier who would rebel against his superiors at the slightest remark or derogatory tone. There must have been something between the two of them, something I was not aware of, which would explain the Lieutenant's somewhat irreverent look. The officer, who was beginning to display the characteristic grimace of a disappointed man, finally exhaled loudly through his nose, before finally speaking at a deliberately sustained pace, his gaze almost shamelessly sealed on the Jedi's:
"Madam, our situation is this: the Endar Spire is in pieces, most of the escape pods have crashed so badly that there is little hope of finding any other survivors. The Sith have invaded and blockaded the city to find you, drastically restricting the freedoms of its inhabitants. For our part, we crashed into the lower city. I dragged my friend here, who was unconscious, to this abandoned flat, where he spent several days in a coma. Within hours of his awakening, we did everything we could to find you: we stole papers from the Sith to get to the Undercity, we teamed up with a gang, who sent us, with the help of our two friends here, to the rival gang's headquarters to steal a mechanical part that would have allowed us to win the swoop race for which you were the prize. You know the rest."
Bastila crossed her arms in turn, and held Carth's stern gaze. I was sure I saw the Jedi grit her teeth as he spoke, especially when the Lieutenant tacitly blamed her for all the deaths and the Sith occupation of Taris. Which made sense, but perhaps it was a somewhat harsh condemnation. Anyway, this glorious moment of empowerment, of which I would have liked to have been the author, had blown a powerful hurricane of satisfaction through me. So powerful that I couldn't hold back a delighted laugh, which I nevertheless tried to suppress with a fake cough.
Bastila turned her head towards me, stared hard for a few seconds, and then turned her attention back to Carth.
"What have you planned next?" She asked in a less ruthless tone.
"Nothing." Carth replied flatly, which caused the Jedi to frown disapprovingly. "We had to work hard to get you out of there in the first place. Now that you're with us, we can think of a way to leave Taris."
"You don't have a plan to escape?" Questioned Bastila, who seemed on the verge of a violent tantrum. "You're telling me we're all stuck here with no idea how to leave Taris?"
"Exactly." I added suddenly, annoyed by the young woman's attitude. Everyone then turned their attention to me. Bastila was staring at me so severely that I was certain at that moment that she would not let such an affront go unpunished. I forgot. I was now a serviceman. Directly subject to the authority of the person I was about to confront. Well, too bad. After all we'd all been through to get her out of her cage, I didn't give a damn about the rest of my career.
"As the Lieutenant explained to you, when we weren't working hard to find you, I was in a coma and Carth was struggling to keep me alive. I'm sorry we didn't take the time to think about what to do next, we were a bit busy not dying or getting caught by the Sith, who have been on the run ever since the cruiser that you were responsible for wrecked."
I was careful to emphasise my very last words. After all, it was her fault that we had come to this point, even though she had certainly never wanted it. Unexpectedly, just as I was expecting an outpouring of remonstrance, the Jedi's gaze softened, and she turned her attention to her hands, still clasped together, on the tabletop. She seemed to reflect, and finally left my highly inappropriate contribution aside. Carth took advantage of this moment of hesitation to give me a supportive look, and gave me a discreet smile before looking back at the Commander. I saw her scratching the skin between her fingers, intensely absorbed in her own reflection.
"We have two crucial issues to deal with." She finally announced, her gaze still fixed on her hands. "Find a ship, and find a way to escape the planet without the Sith spotting us. They most likely have automatic detection systems and checkpoints set up all around Taris. We won't slip through their fingers easily." Carth nodded knowingly, but did not respond to this statement. We all seemed to have finally regained a calm that was essential to making a plan to leave Taris.
"For the moment, from here, we have no solution. We will have to rely on the Tarisians again." I replied factually, pointing at Mission and Zaalbar who were silently watching this exchange. Both the Lieutenant and the Commander turned their heads towards me, wearing a patient but expectant expression.
"We need to go out again and look for people who can help us."
"Perhaps you could go back to Gadon." Mission added, breaking his polite silence. "I don't know if he can help you with this task, but he must surely know people, or at least have useful information."
Bastila frowned, seemingly in some misunderstanding which Carth, who seemed to have noticed her, was quick to dispel:
"Gadon Tek, the leader of the rival gang to the one that captured you, Madam. He was greatly helpful." The man clarified pedagogically. Bastila nodded in turn, and let us continue.
"That sounds like the best option at the moment." Carth replied and began to get up from his chair, ready to get to work. "Any information is good to take."
"You're forgetting that we no longer have the precious sesame that allowed us to reach the Undercity without being arrested by the Sith." I replied, stopping Carth in his tracks, who then returned to his sitting position. "We can always find Sarna, and have another little party with all her friends." I added with a slight laugh, emphasising my joke.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bastila give me a confused look. She'd thought we were a bunch of losers until recently, so this was certainly not the time to tell her about the episode where a Republican serviceman, with the blessing of his superior, had taken advantage of a particularly drunken Sith to steal a pass to the lower city. Carth merely gave me a tight smile, probably to hold back a possible and unwelcome laugh.
"I know how to sneak in." Mission interjected. "Access to the lower city has always been tightly controlled. The arrival of the Sith hasn't changed anything. They've just taken over from the people who were doing it before. And, believe me, they're not much smarter. I can go to the lower city and talk to Gadon for you. You guys could look for information in the upper city while I take care of the underbelly of Taris."
Zaalbar gave a few unfavourable grunts. The Wookie clearly didn't like Mission getting involved in delicate matters without him. The teenager put her hand affectionately on her friend's arm, and with a tender look in her eyes, she added:
"Don't worry, Zaalbar. It wouldn't be the first time I've done something like this. You know I've never had any problems before."
"That's not proof that nothing will happen this time." Carth replied legitimately. Zaalbar let out another grunt, in agreement with the Lieutenant's words.
"Or you could all stay hidden here forever." The girl retorded coldly, sounding offended.
"She's right." Bastila announced in an imperial voice. "We'll never get out of here if we don't take any chances."
The Jedi stood up, and grabbed the pilot's jacket I had given her after the race. She slipped it over her common civilian clothes and started walking towards a makeshift rack we'd built up on our Tarisan journeys. I saw her grab a dagger, which she somehow slipped inside the thick jacket, and came back to us:
"Come on." She said firmly, but in a tone of voice that was nonetheless kinder than at the beginning of this exchange. "Let's get to work."
Mission stood up and headed for a canteen she'd invested in to prepare some things before leaving. Zaalbar followed her, as if he wanted to protect her as much as possible, at least until they were forced to part ways. Carth and I sat there, both arms folded, staring at our Commander, puzzled.
"You're not planning to leave this place Commander, are you?" Carth asked.
"There is no other alternative, Lieutenant. We have to find a way to leave Taris." The young woman replied sternly. She seemed to understand exactly what Carth was getting at. But she also seemed determined to do as she pleased.
"You think we can't handle this without you?" I asked with a hint of vexation and impertinence.
"No." She said, a murderous look piercing me from all sides. "But there's no way I'm going to sit here and do nothing while you put yourself in danger outside.
The insolence that had been consuming me until then left me so suddenly that I almost physically felt it. Perhaps she was finally capable of showing consideration for someone other than herself.
"Commander, you said it yourself, we must take risks." Carth added with that great pedagogy that was so characteristic of him. "But that doesn't mean we have to try everything, even if it means putting ourselves in impossible situations. We won't risk your capture by the Sith."
The Lieutenant finally rose from his chair and took a few steps towards the Jedi. He adopted a militarily upright posture and, as respectfully as he could, the man addressed his superior again:
"Excuse me Madam, I am about to overstep my duties: I ask you to stay here until we find a way to leave. Zaalbar could stay with you, if he agrees."
The Wookie, who could hear us perfectly well in the distance, turned sharply towards our table, examining the three of us with his big brown eyes. Then he turned his head to Mission, who was looking at him with a teasing smile on her face. The teenager nodded, which made the Wookie grunt softly. He didn't like the idea, but he didn't want to disappoint Mission. And when we'd freed him from the Gamorrean prison he'd been locked up in, he'd felt he owed us his life. I didn't know how far Zaalbar would go to pay us this debt he had invented for himself, but he seemed willing to help us leave Taris. I did not like the idea of taking advantage of such a compromise, but we could not afford the luxury of refusing the help of these two generous fellow travellers. Bastila gave a defeated sigh and replied:
"Okay. I don't like it, but it is indeed wiser this way." With these last words, Bastila moved away from the table, took off the jacket and the dagger she had hidden, and moved to a corner of the living room, where she sat cross-legged. Before probably sinking into some sort of Jedi meditation, she addressed us once more:
"But if things go wrong, I ask you to look for a way to contact me or to come and find me."
Then we did not hear her again. The Commander seemed to have become totally immersed in her trance, and became almost as lifeless to us as all the other furniture in that flat. I watched her curiously for a short while before I too packed a few things and left our refuge. Carth, Mission, Zaalbar and I equipped ourselves with tiny communicators synchronised together so that we would never lose contact with each other. Then we left the flat, leaving a bitter but resigned Zaalbar with a Bastila Shan who, luckily for him, did not seem to be reserving him a day of her best moods.
Mission soon left our trio. We had tried to find out more about her itinerary, but the very young girl, fed up with this tidal wave of paternalism, had run off with barely a glance at us. Carth and I then set off again for the hottest parts of the district in which we were confined. As we approached the shopping district, a Twi'lek stopped us in our steps, and with both hands invited us to move away from the crowd. Wary but cooperative, we complied almost instinctively. The Twi'lék then pulled a small data pad from a small satchel slung over his shoulder and discreetly handed it to us. Carth and I shared a confused look, then turned our heads towards this mysterious figure, who had not even spoken to us:
"What do you want from us?" I asked with a touch of hostility.
The Twi'lek made small movements of his hips and shoulders, indicating a degree of impatience. He was obviously in a hurry. With a brisk gesture, he shook the datapad, inviting us to grab it once and for all. Carth, seeing that our fellow was growing more and more uncomfortable, finally grabbed the pad, and we saw the Twi'lek walk off at a steady pace. I could have sworn I heard him gasp just before he left us. I watched him walk away until he disappeared into the crowd. Then I turned my attention to Carth and that famous data pad.
"Do you think it's safe to look at it?" I asked worriedly.
"I don't know what's safe and what's not here." Replied the Lieutenant, who had already done the manipulations to consult the object. From where I stood, I could not read what was written. I just stared at Carth and waited for his conclusion.
"Canderous Ordo?" He asked blankly. "Is that the mercenary we met in the lower city?" He then asked, his eyes fixed on me. I nodded.
"He wants to see you. He wants you to meet him in the cantina in our district. He has a proposition for you, I quote, 'an offer you can't refuse'."
I frowned at such an announcement. "What does that mean? Is that a threat?" I asked.
"A threat or good news." Carth corrected, and I felt that he was ready for any opportunity that would allow us to move forward, even if only by a millimetre. The Lieutenant was now giving me an almost pleading look. What did I have to say? It was a request that concerned me, but it was up to him. I clearly did not like the way things were going. Being in a cantina with a Mandalorian mercenary working for Davik Kang, the boss of the biggest criminal organisation on the planet, was a suicidal idea for anyone. But our situation didn't promise anything better if we didn't do something to get out of it.
"Shall we go for a drink then?" I said with a disillusioned, but still sincere smile. Carth responded to my smile and came over to pat me on the shoulder as a sign of camaraderie. We then set off towards the famous cantina, where we were to await the arrival of the Mandalorian.
While we waited for Canderous, we allowed ourselves a moment of relative peace and quiet, each sipping a drink that we felt we had earned. Carth and I, in spite of our hierarchical relationship, were beginning to lower our barriers and to consider each other in a more informal, even friendly way. Moreover, for some time, we no longer systematically called each other by our military rank, but by our respective names. The adventures we had experienced together had brought us closer and, even if there was still a certain professional respect, I could say that we liked each other.
"For a moment I thought we'd never find her." Carth announced quietly, careful not to name her superior publicly. "That would have been the end of this war, the inevitable collapse of the Republic."
I didn't answer immediately. I glanced at my companion, and, while raising my eyebrows exaggeratedly, I pouted in a way that betrayed a great deal of perplexity. I was still upset by the unwelcoming interactions I had had with Bastila up to that point. It was true that she was essential to the survival of the Republic, but at that moment, I had buried any esteem I might have had for her before I had rescued her a moment earlier.
"Oh yes, a tragedy. What a delightful encounter, by the way. Most genuine blessing. She won't soon be out of our minds, that's for sure." I finally replied, not trying to hide the irony in my words.
Carth stared at me with an unexpected lack of understanding. He frowned, then spoke:
"Yes, I know she wasn't exactly easy just now. But put yourself in her shoes. Imagine the responsibility the Order and the Republic have placed on her young shoulders. It's enough to make you feel a bit on edge. I shouldn't have let my temper get the better of me earlier in the flat."
"You're still on that minor incident on the ship? Come on, you're not going to make up your mind about such a trivial event?" Carth asked, still careful not to give away any compromising information by clearly naming the Endar Spire in a place as crowded as a cantina.
I gave Carth another incredulous look. He had spent a lot of time with Bastila on the Endar Spire. How could he be so soft on her? It didn't make sense. Unless she didn't treat him the way she treated me.
"Are you kidding?" I added.
"What do you mean?" Carth asked me. "I don't understand you very well, Corem. She's not a very engaging first impression, but she's a very worthy person. She's much wiser than you'd think, and having been around her especially before we got here, I'd say she's a very rewarding human being. She came across as a very reliable person, trustworthy, able to take a step back from events and her own actions."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I watched Carth for a few seconds before giving a reply to these last words, which, from my point of view, seemed to come from another dimension.
"Who are we talking about here?" I asked sarcastically. Carth just stared at me. Of course, my question didn't require any real answer.
"You mean she ever let you speak without tearing you down and stomping on you right after? Is the woman I saved the same woman you praise me for? Please tell me, Carth." I added.
Carth seemed to be drowning in this atmosphere of profound confusion. He finally understood that I was not referring to that incident on the Endar Spire.
"Did she bully you again?" The Lieutenant asked, seeming not to want to believe that Bastila had been attacking me again.
"You mean she's usually nice to you?" I replied.
"Well, as I said, leaving aside her behaviour from earlier, I don't have that much to complain about." The Lieutenant admitted almost embarrassingly. He clearly didn't get the same treatment as I did.
Annoyed, I looked down at my glass on the tabletop, which I held in both hands. I shook my head in exasperation, gave a defeated sigh, then resumed:
"That's what I thought. She just can't stand me. So be it. We don't all have to like each other, but she doesn't have to put me down at every opportunity. Whether she's my superior or not. Hell, I worked like mad to get her out of there too! I don't even want her to thank me, but I wish she'd stop bashing me so freely."
"Just tell her. It will be easier." The Lieutenant replied very simply, his eyes unfocused.
"It's fun. Thanks Carth, but no thanks." I said with a slight chuckle.
"Why not, after all? If she doesn't like it, she'll let you know, full stop. She's not going to abandon you on the planet. And, in a professional context, if she ever tries anything, I'll back you up. I'm not a general officer, but I have the ear of some of the higher ranks. But I'm sure she wouldn't do anything like that. She's stubborn, but she's not a bad person."
"Thank you Carth." I spoke gratefully. "I appreciate it."
"Don't thank me. I can see what you're worth. And while I have some regard for our dear friend, I will not let a man as reliable as you be pushed around unfairly. Even by her."
I looked at my Lieutenant with gratitude. I decided to raise my glass ever so slightly, as if to honour the man in front of me. Carth imitated my gesture, a benevolent smile on his lips. We each took a sip of our respective beverages and ceased our discussion, paying attention to the upcoming arrival of the mysterious Mandalorian, who made his appearance about ten minutes later.
I saw him about twenty yards away from us, turning his head in all directions, most certainly looking for me. Carth then raised a hand to indicate our presence to the man, who then turned his attention to our table. At first he looked uncertain at the sight of my unsolicited Lieutenant. However, when he seemed to see me at his side, he started walking towards us.
Canderous Ordo was a rather impressive fellow: despite his rather standard height, he had particularly broad shoulders and a broad chest. And the sleeveless garment he wore revealed a well-defined and voluminous musculature. He had a very symmetrical face, a square jaw, a rather unwelcoming look. In short, a guy you wouldn't want to bother too much. Nevertheless, his greying hair and a few wrinkles could not hide the fact that the man was no longer a young man. Yet, as I watched him walk through the cantina to join us, it was clear that he was causing fear around him. Customers and staff alike turned as he passed, all wearing worried expressions. Ordo was known here. Everyone could recognise the Mandalorian when he appeared.
"Were you afraid to come alone?" The Mandalorian suddenly barked, having finally reached our location.
Stunned by such a tone, I glanced at Carth in surprise, who immediately returned it. I was clearly destined to meet the most unpleasant people in this entire system. I then turned my head towards the mercenary, standing next to our table, holding my gaze expectantly.
"So what?" I said, playing his game. "I am not a fighter. I'm just some common guy. What's the shame of being cautious when you meet a Mandalorian, who happens to be the armed wing of the local crime lord?" I added, holding Canderous' gaze defiantly.
A few short seconds passed, and I saw the man suddenly adopt an almost enthusiastic expression, an amused smile replacing the closed pout he had been wearing. He turned, grabbed a chair at a table behind us by the back, and came to sit next to us. He then raised a hand and snapped his fingers at a nearby waiter, who nodded zealously, and trotted off to the bar where a Rodian was immediately busy making some kind of drink. Canderous then turned his attention to me, still smiling.
"They know what I want." He said proudly. Immediately he returned to the last words I had said. "For a common guy, you've been making a lot of noise lately. And that's not just a metaphor."
I just watched the Mandalorian, not saying a word. Carth did the same. He was not the centre of Ordo's attention anyway.
"Wait a minute!" The mercenary continued abruptly, as if suddenly thinking of something new. "Where's that pretty prize you won?" He asked me with a smile, this time a curious one. "I can assure you that all the pilots were highly enthusiastic this season. Are you keeping her at home? Are you going to sell her?"
"You want her?" I said urgently, almost cutting the Mandalorian off. "If I could, I would give her to you, believe me. But you'd soon be disillusioned. You would hate me." I added in a tone somewhere between humour and genuine exasperation.
Carth then elbowed me hard enough to cause a sharp but short pain in my arm. I gave him a cold look, and continued towards the Mandalorian, who seemed to be getting more and more jolly with us.
"But it seems that not everyone agrees with me."
The waiter Canderous had asked for appeared at our table, and came to put the ordered drink in front of the man. Before disappearing, he bowed very slightly, as a sign of respect for the Mandalorian, who did not seem to take any notice. He immediately grabbed the glass and took a generous sip of his drink.
"If you've come to negotiate this woman," I resumed with the certainty and seriousness that the situation demanded. "You are wasting your time. Certainly, we are not going to give her up to anyone."
Canderous then stared at me, strangely puzzled, and then at Carth; he went back and forth a couple of times like this, before replying, in a teasing tone:
"What do you mean 'we'?" He began, his eyebrows exaggeratedly raised. "Oh! My apologies." The man continued, overacting in surprise. "You live together? Is it shared parenting? Sorry, I didn't realise! That's really moving."
Carth and I looked at the man with a touch of boredom.
"I know perfectly well who you are, both of you." Replied the Mandalorian, who had by now approached us, and adopted a much more restrained volume. "And I also know that this lovely prize is not a mere officer of the Republic. I'm actually very surprised that Brejik didn't recognise her. Well, that only proves once again that he was a complete retard. And, by the way, do you think I don't know that she had a lot to do with, if not initiate, the mess that followed your race?"
"Thank you!" I said in a falsely satisfied voice. "We do agree that it's partly her fault!" I finished rather childishly. Carth elbowed me again, which made Ordo smile slightly.
"You're not 'normal', and neither is she. And that's good, because for my very next project, I need atypical people." The man announced before he was almost cut off by Carth.
"What do you want?" The officer asked, sounding preoccupied by the Mandalorian's last words. Canderous then turned his attention to my Lieutenant, and replied seriously:
"The same as all of you. I want to get off this damn planet. But we all know that's impossible at the moment."
"Why ask us if you think it's impossible? And why do you want to leave Taris?" Carth continued.
"Because I know how to make that goal attainable. But it won't be a walk in the park. As for my wish to leave the planet: look at what's happening! I have nothing more to expect from Taris. The Sith have placed a strict quarantine, martial laws have been passed lately. They will do anything to find your friend. And believe me, the Republican leaders are not acting against the Sith; Dreshan Norr is in Malak's pocket, he will do anything to preserve his rank. I fought in the Mandalorian wars. I can sense when something is going to go wrong. And the next few weeks, or maybe even days, are going to be dark, I'm sure."
These words caused me to flinch with astonishment. Dreshan Norr, the handover. It was him that day, in charge of flushing Tavhir out of his burrow and installing Bastila Shan as Commander of the Endar Spire. Would he be in the Dark Lord's pocket? Would he be responsible for the attack on our cruiser, just above Taris, the planet of which he was the official representative? Coincidentally, when the escape pods crashed, the Sith army was already very comfortably installed, as if they were just waiting for the trap to close on us. The idea was unbearable, but we had to accept it: the Senator was a traitor.
"Calm down, Carth." I replied gently. The man did not react physically, but seemed to quieten down. "What did you have in mind, Canderous?" I then asked.
"There is only one way to leave Taris. The Ebon Hawk." The man announced solemnly.
"The Ebon Hawk?" Carth echoed softly.
"She is a small cargo ship. It is the pride of Davik, as it is certainly one of the fastest pieces of junk in the Outer Rim. However, since the arrival of the Sith, the ship has never left Davik's hangars. If we're going to get out of here, we're going to need that ship."
"That's great!" Carth claimed loudly. "Your status in the Exchange should allow us to approach the ship easily, shouldn't it?"
"Of course. But there are other parameters we need to set before we can even think of putting a finger on the sheet metal of this bird."
Canderous turned his head, as if to make sure that no unwanted ears were listening. Then he returned to his previous posture, and, still as discreetly as possible, resumed his explanations:
"We will never leave the planet in one piece without the necessary coordinates and authorisations. If we decide to fly off without them, the Sith defence systems will tear us to shreds before we even reach the atmosphere. We need the authorisation codes to get out. And those codes can be retrieved from the Sith military base in the administrative district."
"You're thinking of infiltrating a Sith military base?" I asked in puzzlement.
" I certainly don't." The Mandalorian replied, somewhat amused by the question. "You'll be just fine for that."
"I see." Carth replied with disillusionment. "This has a lot of 'good' ideas, but when it comes to execution, you'll have to wait."
"I'm in a position to provide you with a ship." Canderous defended himself. "I think that's a necessary part of your escape, don't you?"
"Yours too." I added, arms crossed, trying my best to show the mercenary my displeasure.
"Indeed." He admitted. A few seconds passed, then he resumed:
"I could take part in this little party. But my every move is scrutinised and reported to Davik. If it gets out that I'm having fun infiltrating a Sith base, you can be sure that Davik will quickly make the connection and figure out that I'm planning to steal the Ebon Hawk. And then we can all kiss our safe-conduct goodbye."
Carth gave me a defeated look. I sighed heavily and took the last sip of my drink.
"It hurts to admit it, but it makes sense." Carth finally announced.
"Well, are we working together?" The Mandalorian asked with urgency, and what I felt to be a hint of hope. Carth and I sighed while staring at the man.
"Perfect. You can trust me." The mercenary promised. "To demonstrate my good faith, I invite you to go as quickly as possible to the trading district, where you can find the business of a 'client' who owes Davik money. She owns the droid shop not far from the Sith base. You will ask her on my behalf to kindly hand over T3-M4, a small pile of bolts on wheels, capable of bypassing some of the Sith security systems. He can get you into the base. She won't ask you any questions, don't worry."
"You're asking us to strip a poor woman of her merchandise?" I asked, in a somewhat scandalised tone, which seemed to annoy the Mandalorian, who immediately replied in a pedagogical manner.
"She is not 'a poor woman'. She is a person who came to Davik for cash, and was not able to pay back in time. This is business. She owes money, she doesn't have any, we compensate our loss in another way. We didn't force her to borrow from us. After that, if you want to pay for the droid, it' s up to you. It's worth five thousand credits. Normally I would have come to collect this money after you'd passed, but I confess I don't much care for the Exchange's little deals anymore. But right now, we need that droid. And this woman's misfortunes serve us all."
I saw Carth raise his eyebrows in disapproval. But he did not flinch. For my part, I had a furious desire to kick the Mandalorian to the curb and find another way to get into the base. Nevertheless, it was clear that we could not allow ourselves to be too demanding. What we had to do now was totally immoral, but we had no choice. We had to leave Taris. Bastila Shan's survival was more than worth this ethical lapse, and the idea, which should have made me feel better, irritated me even more.
"All right." I finished in a dejected voice. Carth bent down and patted me on the shoulder before returning to his initial position and added:
"Let's not waste any more time. Let's go, Corem. We'll take this opportunity to call our little Twil'ek back, so she doesn't get into a mess for nothing."
Thanks for reading!
Just a word about the small paragraphs about Carth's confusion when Corem explains that Bastila still behaves like the b*tch she sometimes is. Carth is quite surprised because he's been able to spend more time with her on the Endar Spire and could "enjoy" a more plesant dimension of her personality. This fact that I tried to explicit is directly referring to another chapter I cannot publish, for it is a moment between Carth and Bastila alone. As I am writing from Corem's perception, it would be quite incoherent to propose a chapter between two people that are not him. It's a shame, because I quite like this chapter. Maybe I will publish it as a oneshot. I don't know.
