The air in the Lower City was sweltering. I twisted the too-tight helmet I'd bought in a shop on Taris off my head and sucked in the tepid air with a grimace. The roar of a group of swoop bikes echoed around the tiny walls and the ceiling shook a little. There was a scattered clapping of hands as the swoop bikes rode by.
"I don't even think they can see the bikes, I think they just make noise whenever they hear the engines," Carth muttered beside me. He was facing the other way, resting his back against the table, supported by his elbows and looking at the opposite wall. We were in an outdoor canteen of some sorts near a major swoop racing track. A few shouts sounded within the room and the roar of other bikes passed by again.
"I'm sure there's a screen somewhere," I said absent-mindedly, fiddling with the glass of filtered water in front of me. It had been five days since we landed in Taris, and two since I had woken up. So far we'd managed to get access to the Lower City, and even that had been a pain.
Taris was one of those city constructs in the way that Coruscant and Nar Shaddaa were. We had been fortunate enough that our escape pod had landed somewhere at the top. Carth had brushed it aside but he'd apparently been a decent enough pilot to use what little sensors the escape pod had and crash in a remote area without breaking through the platform and falling to the lower levels. If that wasn't enough, it seems like he'd then carried me alone to the building we were currently staying in.
I figured that of all the people I'd could've been stuck with from the Endar Spire — and I'd met enough to make this an educated guess — I really lucked out with having Carth as my partner.
Malak's forces had been on ground before we had started exploring, and the soldiers kept a tight watch on civilians. We'd found out on our first day of looking around and digging for information on Bastila or the other Republic soldiers that only the Sith forces had access to the Lower City. Helpfully, the guard at the door had mistaken me for an off duty Sith because of my similar accent. He had berated me for my lack of conduct, but he'd specified I would get in if I had Sith armour. Carth had been busy trying to hold his laughter in but we had both heard enough to know what we needed to get through.
Finding armour hadn't been easy though. As we had left the City lift we'd noticed a group of seven or eight Sith walking out of a small pristine complex a few metres away from us. We made our way back in double time, shocked at finding the Sith base so quickly, taking multiple paths and fake turns before we were sure we weren't being followed. Then we lay out a careful elaborate plan to capture a Sith and take their armour from them. At the end of the day we were tired enough to call it quits.
Luck was thankfully on my side that night. Since we had no idea of our travel requirements, we had decided to save the soldier rations we had for when we actually didn't have a source of food. The two of us had wandered to the cantina on one of the commerce posts near our hideout to grab a quick bite to eat, sitting separately in an attempt to find any locals that may have been of help. I had taken a seat next to an off duty Sith who had initially thought me another recruit, then seemed more than pleased to find a 'local' willing to say more than two words to him. He suggested I come to a social his team was having - one so important and early some of his friends would even come in uniform and change there. He had also specified that I should bring any friends I had if they 'look half as good as you'.
Carth and I both mourned the day we had wasted with our plan, but once we had decided to get the armour, he insisted we go together. I found an uninspired black dress in the Tarisian style and forced him to wear a similarly dark jacket instead of his obvious brilliant orange one from a kiosk in our building. The mission had taken a while as we waited for our newfound friends to have a progressively good time, but Carth and I had walked out of there victorious, with a bundle of Sith armour in my arms. We'd been fairly lucky that we only needed the one.
Once we had gotten into the Lower City, though, we were at a loss for what to do next. I'd hidden the Sith armour in a bag and stored it under my makeshift cloak to keep attention off us but we still had a long way to go to find Bastila. We'd canvassed the area and so far only found a few major spots to gather at where we could get some information.
"I'm guessing your past line of work must've had a lot of times like these," Carth said, gesturing to the whole room.
"What, being a cargo pilot?" I asked innocently, "I guess I waited a lot in a ship. For the cargo to be loaded."
Carth grinned, "You know what I mean."
We'd been whiling away the time by swapping stories. Carth's had all been courageous tales of Republic soldier bravery and camaraderie. Mine were less … exciting. I'd vaguely mentioned my past and hinted that I'd had an accident that had left me concussed and taken away half of my memories. He thankfully didn't push.
"Well from what I do remember the wait was never this bad," I acceded, "And none of it depended on me saving a Jedi off a Sith controlled planet. I bet you probably have some wild story about that," I added jokingly.
"Actually…" He shrugged at my expression, "Technically he was a Padawan. Or was. I think his Masters framed him for something. We captured him at one point but he seemed to want to help us. Couldn't give him over to the Jedi in confidence so he uh, well," he shot me a grin, "records say he 'escaped in the heat of battle'. I lost a post because of it but I would've let him go again in a heartbeat if I had to." He leaned back comfortably, "You would've been impressed. All three of us — Republic, Jedi, Mandalorian — in one room. I'd elaborate but," he made a faint dismissive gesture with his hand, "it's off-the-books mostly, you understand."
"You've quite the interesting trove of stories for a simple Lieutenant, you know that? I didn't know you were such a rule breaker. What did he do? No wait," I saw the look on his face, "I don't want to know do I?"
"It was complicated. I don't even know the whole story," he twisted around to grab his own glass of filtered water and gulped down the last remaining bit. Three Rodians passed by our seats, running their digits over barely concealed blasters but otherwise ignoring us. "I just remember he was a good kid."
"Carth Onasi, you really have a story for everything don't you?"
"Not all of them turn out so good," he shrugged. "There was that one time …" his voice faltered at a loud noise and we both turned to look at the commotion happening near the back wall.
"I said, get your kriffing hands off me!"
The Twi'lek couldn't have been more than fifteen. The Rodians that had passed us were surrounding her. Two Rodians were flanking her while a third stopped in front of her, much too close for comfort.
"Get away from her." Carth was standing, gun out and pointing at the Rodian in the front, but the words had been mine. My grip tightened around something and I realised that I was standing beside Carth, holding out a tiny knife from one of the dishes we'd ordered. If it was good enough for whatever rubbery animal they referred to as Tarisian Bantha, then it would be good enough for the Rodian.
"I don't know how much you like your teeth," Carth added, "but I'd suggest moving back if you don't want to be picking them up off the floor."
The Rodian turned to examine us and snarled out in Rodese, "They'll pay extra for more females. Let's make quick work of this one and get out of here."
"Oh you're not going anywhere, laser brain! My friend's gonna make quick work out of you." I winced as the Twi'lek snapped at the Rodian, turning his attention back on her once more.
The Rodian turned again to size us up and then shoved the glowing end of an electroblade close to the girl's neck. "The human male can't do anything without hands," he replied, snarling a quick order at his companions.
The Twi'lek seemed more relaxed than most would've been in that position. I trusted that Carth had control of the other two and moved forward, closer to the girl.
"Oh," she said leisurely, making a show of checking her nails from the light of the blade against her neck. "They're not the friends you have to worry about."
I almost thought for a minute that she'd been hit with some terrible plague that had taken her senses away. I started to run to her in case the Rodian got any ideas, but before I could move something clanged against the wall behind the two of them. A large mass stood up in the shadows and walked forward slowly. My jaw dropped at the sight. A Wookie stood at least chest-to-head taller than both the Twi'lek and the Rodian. He growled casually and the first Rodian dropped his blade.
The Twi'lek wasn't done. She whipped around, grabbing a tray off the table and slamming it hard against the Rodian's face. Food and other things flew past in its wake.
The two other Rodians, confused, struggled to decide whether to continue on after us or to go back and help their friend. Carth shot the gun out of the hand of the one who had turned back to aim at the Wookie while I switched direction and ran the last few steps to overpower the other one, twisting his arm around and forcing him to his knees while the Wookie grabbed the first Rodian by its head and lifted it up to stare him in the face.
The Wookie growled and the Rodian screamed. All three of them were screaming now. The canteen was deserted, the rest of the customers having left at the first sign of trouble.
"Z, tell 'em what Rodians taste like."
The Wookie growled something back that definitely sounded more like, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread those lies where idiots like this will believe it," but the Twi'lek translated it as, "Wow, like greasy tach just off the fire! Well, now I'm salivating. Whaddaya say we grab one of 'em for tonight?" She put her hands on her hips, "You don't think they'll last well in cryo do you? That one-" she pointed at the one I held tightly, "-looks like he's got enough meat to last a few days at least."
The Rodian in the Wookie's hands started crying in between his screams, while the two Rodians near us started babbling at each other that they had to ditch their unfortunate leader and go. The Rodian who's hand Carth had shot got up and ran out to the distress of his fellow companions. Carth stood near me and kept his gun trained on the door.
The Twi'lek sighed dramatically and raised both hands. "You know what, I just forgot. My brother? He's a big time crime lord down in these parts. Well he's got a real big dinner party today that I promised I'd go to and I'm not gonna be hungry after that for sure, so I'll cut you a deal. You get outta here in less than thirty seconds and I won't chase you down and cut you into nice little chunks to fill up my cryostorage." She had picked up the electroblade and was now brandishing it in front of her. She nodded at the Wookie and he released the Rodian who took off without a second glance at us. The one I held squirmed but I let him go too after a few seconds.
The Twi'lek grinned up at me as Carth and I walked over to her, Carth still keeping his gun trained in the direction the Rodians had fled. She was short, with sky blue skin right to the tips of her lekku. "Wow, you actually stopped and fought. No one's ever done that before, have they Z?" The Wookie growled a no. The little girl held out a hand wrapped in a dusty fingerless glove. "Well thanks to you Big Z didn't have to splatter Rodian brains all over the wall. Hey," she shrugged at my shocked look, "it happens more often than you think.
"I'm Mission Vao and this big hulking shower clog here is Zaalbar. But I just call him Big Z or Z for short. 'Cause he's Z and he's big. Anyway thanks for your help." She said all this in rapid succession while we shook hands. It took me a few moments to register that she was waiting for my reply. "I am Yevana Mar. This is my friend Carth Onasi," I said. Carth seemed vaguely surprised at shaking her hand like an adult but he did so with grace.
"You're not from here are you? Most of your kind don't really come by the Lower City. Have you been quarantined by the Sith here? They've been here long enough to get on even my nerves. And they sure are making the swoop gangs mad. That no good piece of Rodian waste works for one of the lesser gangs here in the City. He don't scare me. It's the others you gotta watch. You must've run into them already. The Black Vulkars and the Hidden Beks."
"No, we haven't really started looking around here," Carth said. "You seem to know a lot Mission, you been on the streets with, uh, Zaalbar here long?"
"Yeah it's been us. Me and Z go back a long way. We never used to have an issue here - the Hidden Beks kept this place clean of scum. They're alright, it's the Vulkars you gotta watch out for. They're ruthless, and their leader used to be one of the top people in the Hidden Beks, so there's a whole lotta bad blood there." She launched into the history of the gangs while I watched her. There was something incredibly depressing about such a young child being on the streets on her own. Even with her big protector. I wondered what the story was behind the two.
"Wow." Carth scrubbed a hand through his hair once she had finished her tale and shot me a look, "Well thanks Mission. You've been remarkably helpful. My friend and I should probably get going but I really appreciate all the information you've given us." He chuckled, seeming almost on the verge of ruffling the non-existent hair on her head. "You know, you're pretty smart. You could be a tour guide someday."
"Nah I'm fine with just hangin' out with Z here. Most tourists are mean anyway, not like you guys."
I didn't want to get her involved but since she was the only friendly creature we'd met down here so far, I took a gamble, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about any of those escape pods people are all abuzz about would you? I heard rumours that one of them crashed in the Undercity."
Mission eyed me for a moment, then shook her head, "Nah I don't know anything about that. If you're looking for answers about anything on Taris then you should talk to Gadon Thek of the Hidden Beks. Besides. No one really goes down there. The Undercity's crawling with rakghouls. One bite or scratch from one o' those and you become a mindless monster for the rest of your life, feeding on others. I would be careful if I was you."
I had the feeling she was hiding something, but Carth cleared his throat before I could press further, "You're absolutely right. We've got no intention of going anywhere where there are rakghouls nearby." He glanced at me and jerked his head in the direction of the exit. "We should probably get going," he said. "Thank you, Mission, you've been an invaluable help to two old tourists."
Mission shrugged, "Well okay. Yeah. Nothing interesting happening here then. Let's move out, Z."
The Wookie growled a protest of the food he'd be leaving behind, and the Twi'lek turned to glare at him, "Well maybe if you didn't drop half of it on you then you wouldn't be so hungry all the time. And geez you stink too! Ever thought about washing that great big rug on your back?" The Wookie's frustrated roar drowned out her complaints as they both turned and left, seemingly having forgotten us.
I watched her go, wide-eyed, then turned to stare at Carth. He seemed as bemused as I.
"Sorry for cutting in, it's just … in case anyone comes asking around I figure the less she knows about us the better." I nodded silently in agreement, watching the odd pair disappear around the corner. "You think she'll be okay?" He asked gently, concern colouring his voice.
"Hey," I said lightly, "She's got a Wookie with her. She's probably better off than any of us."
Carth laughed at that. "I wonder what the story there is," he said thoughtfully.
"Dunno but I hope for their sake they get out of here fast."
We turned to pick up our belongings and slowly left the now-deserted canteen. I threw on the plates of armour over my light jacket and pants with Carth's help and we made our way down to the last elevator. This would take us to the Undercity. We'd heard enough rumours about the crash to decide we wanted to start looking there, even if without help or information from locals like Mission. I waved down the Sith as we walked nearby, "Take us down, soldier." With my accent they never seemed to think us out of place, but this Sith stood immobile. "Did you hear me? I want to go down." I made gestures with my hand this time.
The Sith looked us both up and down. "Are you daft?" Came the sour reply, "I'm not doing a damned thing until you show me some authorization."
We'd decided my Sith persona was going to have to be every bit as abrasive as every other Sith we'd met so far. I squared my shoulders and curled my fists.
"This is my whole damned authorization," I snapped, gesturing to my armour, as Carth laid a hand on my shoulder to pretend to pull me away. I shook it off and stood my ground in front of the Sith. The armour clad man slowly walked up to me until his helmet was inches away from mine. The black visor stopped me from seeing his expression, but I didn't need to see his face to know that he was angry. "You need authorization papers to get down there, whelp. Everyone in Malak's army down on this backwater excuse for a planet knows that. So why don't you?" His voice grew suspicious, "Where's your ID soldier?"
Carth stepped in, "Look, it was my fault. I left the papers back at the base. We'll go grab them right now." He waved both hands in the air and shot me a glance, "We're walking away now. 'Official Sith Business' and all that. Come on, let's go."
The Sith looked us both up and down once more and then snorted and resumed his position by the door. "You come back here without papers again and I'll see you writing up civilian complaints for the next seven weeks." We headed back the way we came.
"Authorization papers," I muttered, "why can't things just be simple? Where would we even have to go for that?"
"We'll figure it out," Carth said soothingly, "we just need to regroup and start asking the right questions."
"That or start beating it out of them. I'm joking," I added when Carth shot me a look.
"Well," Carth seemed like he was loathe to even speak his opinion, "from what the kid was saying, it looks like our only option is to deal directly with the swoop gangs. She said the Hidden Bek hideout was close by." He pulled out his comlog and we pored over the holomap of the Lower City.
"There." He pointed to a nondescript shape just a few blocks west and south of us.
"That's if this whole thing isn't one big trap. Maybe the Sith and the swoop gangs are working together. It would explain why they've left them alone for so long. They probably know who we are already. Maybe they're trying to get us to tell them where Bastila is!"
I laid a hand on his arm as he became increasingly agitated. "Take it easy there. There's no way Malak's got the numbers to come down here and take the Lower City. The swoop gangs probably hate the Sith as much as we do. And Mission does not seem like a conniving spymaster. She's just a kid that wanted to help us out because we tried to help her."
Carth looked like he'd just been made to eat dirt. "I don't think we should trust them."
"And we're not going to. All we have to do is go to this Gadon Thek and ask him if he knows anything about the crashed pods and how we can get into the Undercity."
"And you think they're just going to tell us everything? They're not going to give information freely. Hell, they'll probably just lead us into a trap. There's no way to know if they're working for the Sith!"
"Carth," I paused and looked up at him, "I … I know you're having trouble with this whole trust thing but … look, we don't have to trust the gangs, we just have to get them to cooperate with us enough to get some answers."
"It's not them and it's not you. I don't trust anyone here," he shook his head in defeat. "Look, we'll do what you say but I'll be watching them closely."
There was an obvious pause in his voice, as if there was more to what he'd said out loud. I got the distinct feeling they were not the only ones he was going to be watching. I tried to let go of some of the air I'd been holding in. It probably wasn't personal for him but it sure as stars felt like it was to me.
"Alright Carth. Just … keep your blasters down okay? If everything goes south when we walk in you can say I told you so."
He muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like he was voicing concern that we'd make it that far. I kept my mouth shut and continued on down one of the hallways.
We were about to head back out to the Upper City to regroup when we passed by two nondescript doors with a large woman standing beside them. She leaned casually against the doorframe with an air of nonchalance but I could tell she'd already seized us both up for possible threats.
We had walked up the hallway and down one of the side passages before I made my decision to turn back.
Carth grabbed my arm as I changed direction, "We should really plan how we're going to approach them and what we are willing to give up," he started, but I brushed his arm aside and shook my head in disagreement.
"Carth, we've been planning everything out step by step. And nothing has gone according to plan. Let's just go talk this out. Maybe it blows up in our faces, maybe it doesn't. I just think we're being way too careful about this."
He looked like he wanted to say more — much more — but thankfully after a moment Carth nodded in agreement and we continued on. As we neared the compound I looked at him and added, "Look, if you feel better about having our weapons out …"
"I'm paranoid, sure, but I'm not an idiot," he replied in a light tone. "We'll do it your way for now." I was glad he had enough presence of mind to stick to his promise the whole way through.
The woman at the door seemed to be expecting us, but she tried to turn us away half-heartedly at the start.
"I need to see Gadon Thek," I repeated patiently but firmly for the third or fourth time. "I heard quite a lot about him from a friend. Young Twi'lek by the name of Mission Vao. You know her?" The woman sighed, casually looked down the sight of a blaster pointed at the ground and then frowned at me.
"Fine. I guess you'd have to be far too stupid to try anything in our home base. Besides, I figure you make for your blaster and Zaerdra'll have your limbs cut off in three different places before you so much as shifted a muscle."
That seemed oddly specific, but I wasn't about to call her out on anything. Not with the door opening slowly and Carth standing beside me all but straining to reach for his blaster. "Thanks," I said hurriedly, gesturing to Carth and heading inside the compound.
The Hidden Bek base was industrial but served as a good compound for a swoop gang. It was warm here too, but not unbearable, and the faint smell of fuel and burnt gas filled the air. There was none of the luxury that gangs from other planets tended to surround themselves with here. The folk working on mechanics to the side or strolling about the compound on other errands seemed hardy but not troublesome. We got the occasional distrustful glare but with the attitude it seemed more like a busy complex than any gang hideout I'd ever been to in my line of work.
Then there was Zaerdra. The Twi'lek was tall, her form fitting outfit cut to show off the definition of her muscles more than her skin. She had a permanent glare before I even reached her, and her blaster was pointed straight at me. "You give me a good enough story why I shouldn't shoot you down right now and maybe I'll consider not feeding you to the Rakghouls after I shoot," she snarled in Basic.
The man beside her laid an arm on her shoulder. "Come now Zaerdra, we'll not be shooting guests that come into our pavilion before learning what they are here for."
The Twi'lek gave him an agitated look, "But, Gadon-" he patted her shoulder soothingly, then turned his gaze on us. His eyes were clearly cybernetic, and sometimes glowed strangely in the light, almost as if they had a light of their own. Their white shine seemed brighter against his dark skin.
He seemed to notice my discomfort and chuckled, "That's what happens when you are too overconfident. I lost my real ones in a swoop accident a little while ago." I shivered, but the man himself was not half as unnerving as his eyes. "Since then," his voice hardened and his eyes narrowed, "every one has expected me to step down. They all think they can do the job better. Is that why you are here, stranger?"
I raised my hands slowly, pausing when Zaerdra let out a wordless growl. "No. I'm here for information."
"Talk to the Taris Tourism Board if you want a tour guide," Zaerdra snapped. I looked at her and shrugged, gesturing to the compound. "Hey, I figured if there was anyone that really knew Taris, it'd be the Hidden Beks. The authorities don't know the planet like you do. Or at least, that's what I thought."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, offworlder," the Twi'lek retorted. She twisted her head to look back at Gadon. "Tell me you can hear it. Her accent's just like those occupying assholes. This is some trick they are playing on us and I won't be a part of it!"
Gadon shook his head as Zaerdra raised her blaster once more, the point aimed at my head. "Zaerdra, if we start shooting everyone that walks through those doors simply because they are not a Hidden Bek then we are no better than the Vulkars. Let's at least hear what this offworlder has to say for herself. Not everyone with an Outer Rim accent is a Sith."
"Thank you," I started, suppressing my urge to glare at the Twi'lek after she snorted in disgust before I even finished the phrase. I continued on, "Thank you, Gadon Thek, for your hospitality. We had some questions that no one here seems to be able to help us with. I was hoping we'd have more luck with your knowledgeable gang."
Gadon rolled his eyes, "I may be old but that doesn't mean I have the patience of an old geezer," he warned me.
"I…yes. We've heard rumours of an escape pod that landed in the Undercity. What do you know of it?" I saw his expression and added, "We're looking for a woman that may have been involved."
Gadon's brow knit over his glowing cybernetic eyes. It made for a very eerie look in the lighting. His voice was soft and compassionate though, "I am afraid I do know what you are talking about. I have information on this woman. And none of it good. We all felt the tremor when the escape pod hit, but the first ones on scene were the Black Vulkars. By the time they left, all the valuable items had been stripped from the crash and we only had shredded durasteel to go through. The female soldier they found was subdued and brought back with them."
"So," I said after taking a moment to process the story, "we'd have to go to the Black Vulkars?"
Gadon and Zaerdra both snorted in derision. "Brejik's gone crazy since she was found. He's been meaning to take over the Lower City and, with her as a prize in the upcoming swoop race, he plans to buy the loyalty of whichever team wins the race," the older man explained. "There's no way she'll be kept in a place easily accessible by anyone."
"What do you mean, prize for a swoop race?" I asked, my voice raised. I didn't think I could ever have been so offended, "You can't put a person up as a prize."
Zaerdra's lekku swung from shoulder to shoulder as she shook her head. "How new are you, offworlder? The Vulkars deal in people. Where do you think slaves come from?"
"You can't sell her as a slave!" The shock and disgust in my voice must have shown. Gadon and Zaerdra both gave me a calculating look.
"You know who else was looking for a female soldier," Zaerdra mused aloud, "I believe it was the Sith."
"I can assure you we're not with the Sith."
"Then why the interest, stranger?" Gadon's eyes bored into mine.
"I work with an interested party," I said evasively. "We need to ensure she is not harmed."
"Sure," Zaerdra said, "Slaves don't go for as much with marks all over their body."
"I am not going to sell her as a slave!"
Zaerdra stepped closer to me. "You say you're not with the Sith. Tell me how a stranger like you with no ties to the Sith gets into the Lower City without trouble then? The Sith keep those elevators on lockdown."
"I … I stole a suit of armour." I could feel my face tinge red as Zaerdra cackled.
"How fortunate for you," she said wryly. Carth, stars bless him, fished around in our compact bag and pulled out the suit of armour and the ID tag that had come along with it. "That look like either of us to you?" He asked, matching Zaerdra's tone of voice. The picture he held up was of a woman, red headed and almost paler than the white background she stood in front of; it was clearly a big contrast to my dark hair and much darker skin. Zaerdra's eyes dipped down to the card and back up to our faces suspiciously.
Gadon was obviously tired of the idle chatter. He seemed to have made up his mind about something while we were trying to convince Zaerdra we weren't lying. "Let me give you a free piece of advice," he said, crossing his arms and glaring down at us with his two glowing eyes, "'only way you're getting your friend out is by winning the swoop race. Problem is, right now the Vulkars are two steps ahead of us. We developed a prototype accelerator a few months back that would almost guarantee us a win, but those bloody Vulkars came in and stole it from us! Without that accelerator you're gonna lose no matter how good of a rider you are."
"Well I can assure you that is not our only problem," I said lightly, "I figure having a swoop bike is the least thing you need to enter a swoop race so I'm going to hazard a guess we're more than two steps behind the Black Vulkars."
Gadon Thek nodded in understanding, "I thought you may have a similar trouble. So that's why I'll make you a deal. Get me that accelerator and I'll trade you for a swoop bike."
My eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How exactly am I supposed to do that?"
"Guard mentioned you spoke to Mission Vao before you came here. Now that's how you're gonna get in to the Vulkar base. That girl knows most of the secret routes in the City. If anyone can take you in, it'd be her."
"I am not taking a child into the heart of a swoop gang complex."
Gadon shrugged, "That child has probably been through there more times than Brejik himself. Back when we weren't so divided. I doubt any of 'em new folk even know she had access. She knows the dangers better 'n anyone. If you're interested in saving this woman then you had better cozy up to the idea." He rummaged around for something on his desk and paused, looking down at the sheaf of datapads in front of him, "I suppose I should mention the race is in two days."
"Two days? That is not nearly enough time." My heart was beginning to sink. I'd never raced professionally before. And here I was. Only thing I needed to do was win. How hard could that be? I felt like breaking down and laughing.
"Well I won't argue with that. You want to find Mission, she'll probably be in the Undercity with that Wookie of hers. She tends to hang out there and look for things to salvage. Once you meet her she can take you to the Vulkars and you can take back my damned accelerator. Then you have this old man's word that you can have a swoop bike to enter into the race."
It took all my effort not to collapse against his desk from mental exhaustion. "We already tried … to go down to the Undercity … they said the armour wouldn't work. We needed authorization papers."
"Ah, right. That's what I was looking for." Gadon resumed looking through the mess on his desk and came up with an official looking datapad. "You need authorization papers? I got 'em. I'll trade you for the Sith armour. Hell you won't even need it with these," he shook the datapad in one hand, "it'll let you go through any level, including the Upper ones."
I glanced at Carth who frowned at Gadon. "How do we know it won't lock us in this level?" he asked, crossing his arms.
Gadon shrugged, "Look, you take it or you leave it. Makes no difference to me." He started to put the datapad down, but I took the armour from Carth and handed it over to Gadon — or at least tried to before Zaerdra snatched it out of my hands and peered at it as though it were a cleverly disguised bomb.
"You aren't even gonna ask what they want it for?" Carth protested. Zaerdra, satisfied with the armour, dropped it on the ground beside her and crossed her arms. It made a sharp clack against the concrete floor. "There's a war coming. Only fools don't prepare for a war," she said, not even a hint of her characteristic sharpness in her voice. For the first time I thought I saw more of her than most had in their lifetime. The Twi'lek was beautiful, with creamy skin that faded into purple at the tips of her lekku, but her hard eyes shone with weariness at the days to come. She'd seen a lot, and suffered for it too.
Just like that she was gone and Zaerdra was staring at me suspiciously again. Gadon handed me the datapad before I could open my mouth. "You should have everything you need," he said, staring at me with his unsettling eyes. "I suppose I'll wait for you to show up. If you decide your friend's worth the trouble."
I muttered, "She's not my friend," half-heartedly and thanked both Gadon and Zaerdra. Carth and I turned to leave.
"I hope you both make it," Gadon called out. "For all our sakes."
Carth and I both heaved a collective sigh of relief once we were clear of the Hidden Bek base. They may not have been overly aggressive, but we were still trespassing in their territory, and we clearly did not belong. Gadon Thek was helpful now but I was under no illusion that he had his own reasons for entrusting the task of finding the accelerator to us — the most obvious one being not wanting to sacrifice any of his own on this potentially fatal mission.
The authorization papers worked to get us back to the Upper City thankfully. I stuffed the datapad back under my jacket and flexed my fingers.
"Let's head back tomorrow and make our way to the Undercity. We'll regroup tonight and grab some supplies tomorrow morning. I think there was a medical bay somewhere on the south platform near our building where we can stock up on medpacs. I've heard rakghouls have a serious bite, but maybe some antidote will help if we're in a tight spot." Carth nodded slowly, his eyes trained in the distance, clearly lost in thought.
"Hey," I nudged him and he started, blinking at me, "we just have to get through this and then we're free of the gangs and we'll have a clear visual on Bastila."
"You think it's gonna be that easy?" He seemed like he was trying his best to be supportive but all I could think of was how bad of a job he was doing. "Have you ever ridden a swoop bike? Okay great. So no, you haven't, but you plan on winning this professional race somehow? And that too with the accelerator in the Hidden Bek's hands? I mean, you know they're not just going to hand that over to you, even if you do return it all prettily packaged and ready to use."
I tugged at his arm and slipped into a side lane, away from most of the crowds out and about at night, before grabbing the lapels of his jacket and pulling his face close to mine.
"Listen up, fly boy, you're not the only pilot on board that knows their way around an obstacle course," I said sweetly, "and I highly doubt riding a swoop bike is going to be harder than some of the other craft I've piloted back in my day. Let's see how well the plan goes before we knock it, hey?
"Gadon said that Bastila will be hidden away until the race," I continued patiently before he could open his mouth to speak again. "The rest of the Vulkars won't know where she is, even if we tied up every last one of them to make someone talk. Whether I race or not, we won't have a chance to get at her until they bring her out as a prize." I let go of him and Carth took a step back.
I walked to the wall and leaned against it, continuing on in a slightly gentler tone, "Well, what do you propose? You want me to destroy the accelerator? Because then I won't even get a bike to qualify in the race. And I'm guessing they're not going to let a spectator close enough for me to free her. This is really the only sure way to save Bastila we've found since we got here. Don't you think that deserves a chance?"
Had I been with anyone else from the Endar Spire speaking like that probably would've gotten me a sidelined with the promise of a court martial once we were off-planet. But Carth mulled the options over, running a hand over his face in thought before shaking his head in defeat. "Hey, like I said before … you call the shots. Let's just hope it doesn't go horribly wrong."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said wryly.
"You bet, beautiful," he shot back, turning back to join the street and staring straight ahead with just the slightest twist of a grin to his mouth. I paused and glared at his back as he continued walking. At the Sith party we'd been to, I'd encountered a very drunk man who'd been enamoured with most of the women in the party but had been far too drunk to say more than just two or three words. 'Beautiful' had been at the forefront of his considerably small dictionary. I had spent an unfortunate amount of time with this man trying to distract him so that he wouldn't notice the bag of Sith armour I had clearly stolen.
Carth hadn't let me live it down yet.
I strode forward, clapping him on the shoulder and digging my fingers in just enough to get a wince, "Oh don't worry, you handsome thug," I said, "we'll find a nice pretty Sith lady for you too after we save Bastila."
Carth groaned, "I've spent too much time with crazies to want to bring that on myself," he said.
We grabbed some food from a small kiosk in the Upper City and headed to our apartment to plan for our venture into the Undercity before getting some rest, although neither of us found it an easy task to sleep. The worry of tomorrow loomed over our heads and it was hard to let go of the anxious thoughts that ran through my head.
I settled for leaning back in the chair — Carth had tried to convince me to take the bed, but I'd made sure we switched daily and it was his turn tonight — and watching the nighttime glow of Taris through some of the tiny openings in the broken slats over the window while I waited for sleep to come.