Carth shrugged his jacket on and headed for the door, "If we're gonna walk into this trap, what better time than now?"

"No," I said, looking up from the droid requisition datapad I'd been perusing.

"No?" Carth's expression lifted, "You're not going through with it," he said thankfully, breathing deeply. "I knew you weren't stupid enough to do it."

I paused for a moment before responding, trying to wrestle with the initial responses that came to mind. "Go to Zelka. Tell him to be ready," I said instead. "I have a feeling that we'll have to leave Taris as soon as we get the ship."

I had known him just long enough to tell by the souring expression on his face that Carth wasn't happy about it. He clearly wasn't happy about a lot of things at that moment. He stood silently, glanced at Bastila who tried to nod inconspicuously and failed, and then straightened his jacket and headed for the door.

"Mission, Z? Go with him." Mission jumped up excitedly, ready for another adventure.

Carth turned around at the door, "I am fine to go on my own. There is no need to endanger anyone else."

"If Canderous knew who you were and was able to track you without your noticing-" I said, ignoring the growing frown on the frustrated pilot's face, "-then there's a chance anyone can do the same."

Carth was silent for several moments, but Zaalbar, for the first time, had other ideas and turned to voice his disagreement.

"Actually Z is right," Mission said, nodding her head in agreement. "Carth don't need us. He and I should go with Bastila to get the droid. In case you haven't noticed, neither of you two look like Davik would've sent you to pick up a droid. You both look like some Tarisian noble sent you to complain about their droid butlers malfunctioning, or whatever Upper City problems the nobles have. Also, she's got the attitude of a noble. Yep, definitely better with the two of us." Her Wookie friend was nodding in agreement, his mane flowing softly with each movement.

"No," I said, frowning, "That will make four of us and then a droid on top of that. We really shouldn't be wandering around in large groups until we're absolutely sure we have a plan of action to get off this planet."

"No offense," Mission shrugged and slid her blue hands into two of the many pockets on her vest. "Most people assume the Black Vulkars killed you after Brejik and the Vulkars don't wanna say any different because it makes 'em look weak otherwise. Maybe we should keep it that way if we're trying to be unnoticed."

"Bastila you can't agree with having Mission go by herself." I looked to the Jedi for some backup.

"Not that a kid should be making decisions, but I agree." Bastila frowned at Mission and raised her voice to speak over the Twi'lek's burst of anger at being called a kid, "And we still need the Sith ID. I don't think it makes sense for you to be there. It will be heavily guarded … if we go to the Sith base, we'll most likely encounter a Dark Jedi there." She glanced at me and quickly looked away.

"What does that mean? What would having Sith at that base have to do with me going? We encountered a few on the Endar Spire and I survived those."

Bastila opened her mouth to retort and thought better of whatever she was going to say, because she opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally responding.

"I meant that I need to be there in case there's a Sith warrior." She placed a hand calmly over the lightsaber hilt strung on her belt, "Killing a jumped-up good-for-nothing slaver with two brain cells isn't the same as going up against a creature that's trained their entire lives to be nothing but a weapon of hatred and anger against all living beings. Besides. Not everything revolves around you, you know."

Mission sighed and shrugged as I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. "Uh. I don't like it but fine. I guess. Only ones that'll know her," she jerked her head in Bastila's direction, "are pretty much dead because Brejik was so secretive. Even the cameras didn't get a good look at her during the race. You on the other hand, were like the main focus of the race. Well. The second main, after that one guy that tried to propose to his girlfriend before entering the race and got rejected." She turned to Zaalbar, "Was he the one that Eva kill-um. That died in the crash?" Zaalbar replied and Mission shrugged, rolling her eyes, "Okay fine. Yeah, yeah, stay on topic. So anyway that's why Z should come with me in case anything funny happens with the droid. And Carth should be fine on his own. I still don't think Bastila should come with me but it's not like she's gonna listen to anything I say anyway." She didn't even glance once at Bastila, who could have killed her with a look at that moment.

If Jedi were the sort to do that.

"And what, I just sit here?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me," Mission turned and headed for the door. Bastila and Zaalbar followed her. "I'm just going to go over some of the notes here then," I said weakly to a suddenly empty room. The door shut and I was left alone.

I supposed it was a good idea after all. Mission knew the people of Taris. And Bastila and I together would certainly raise alarm bells for anyone. But since I had arrived in Taris, I'd been out in the relative unsafety of the planet, worrying about who was going to catch us and when. Now that I was all alone with my thoughts, the strangeness of it all plagued me. That Carth and I were the last surviving members on the 'Spire but we'd somehow managed to get here at all was a miracle. But what if it was forced? I picked up a few datapads but placed them back down after barely skimming through the information on their screens. I couldn't assume the Jedi had planned an elaborate trap for me to see if I would take the chance and escape. But then again, this whole thing — powerful foes with command of an army and a woman with the ability to cut down three men in two seconds — wasn't normal. I didn't know enough about Jedi to know if they would really set me up for something. My mind raced as multiple possibilities came to light. What if this was a simulation and they were trying to pull pieces from my memory that I'd kept hidden for so long? I pinched myself to stop the intrusive thoughts from drowning me in confusion. What was real was in front of me. No more, no less.

Besides, if they were trying to get answers out of me, giving me amnesia in the simulation was a pretty damned stupid thing to do.

I decided to take a nap, but found that I couldn't with the constant worry of what my companions were up to startling me awake every so often. I ended up sitting in the small chair by the table and drinking lukewarm caf while I stared at the pile of datapads and ran through scenarios in my head of what could go wrong and how I'd fix it, spiralling into the depths of my own head in the quiet of the tiny room.

Carth returned first. I scrambled up to stand so quickly that I knocked over the coffee and some of the datapads.

"Did you give him the heads up?" I asked, my face burning as he brought over a towel and helped me mop up most of the liquid.

"Zelka is ready for what's coming," he said, oddly evasively. I chalked it down to him still being mad about my decision to help Canderous Ordo. Carth walked slowly to the windows on the other side of the room. I made my way over.

"I wanted to ask about Mission," he said in a low voice as if worried about being overheard even though we were the only ones in the room. "Bastila raised some … concerns. You're really thinking of bringing her along?"

"I can't leave her," I muttered, "and I'm not sure how this life debt will work if Zaalbar doesn't come. I doubt he'll leave without her."

"Well," he said, "if she comes along, she's got us. Can't say it's any worse than what she'd be doing here."

"You agree with me?" I asked, surprised. Carth stared out through the window, watching the glow of sunlight burst through tiny cracks in the closed slats. The light painted straight hard edged rectangles across his face. "I may not think it's a great idea," he said finally, still evasive, "but I know why you're doing it." He looked at me and smiled faintly, whispering, "She's growing on me too."

"Yeah, they'll figure something out I guess."

"If that droid doesn't turn out to be a ruse."

"We'll take it one step at a time." My voice was strained from having to repeat myself over and over again.

"I hope that'll be the same when we get to Canderous," he said seriously. Carth waved a hand to stop me from replying and quickly added, "I know we're capable of anything he throws at us. I don't doubt you're ready for it. I just want to make sure we go in cautious and not expecting anything from this guy."

"We will," I assured him, "but we'll also be going in expecting a ship out of it. Best case."

Carth looked at me for a few moments and nodded slowly. "Best case."

"I'm glad you don't think we'll have any issues if he does cross us," I said, smirking at him.

"I've seen you fight. You'll be fine."

I rested the back of my head against the wall, flattered but not willing to discuss the topic further in case he tried to change my mind again. "What do you think we'll do when we're out of here? They can't expect us to continue on with whatever Bastila was trying to do."

"Well if they do I'll make sure the mission's completed." I stifled my laughter by pretending it was a yawn. Carth was ever the dutiful soldier.

"Me, I'm hoping I'll get a medal. Maybe a nice prize. Definitely hoping getting Bastila off Taris cuts down my service time. Entirely."

"Well you could always join us," Carth shrugged, "we could definitely use the help."

As thankful to Carth as I was for saving my life, I wanted to be as done with the Jedi and the Republic military as I could be. So far my short career as a freelancing operative had proved to be rather disastrous. Carth grinned at me before I felt obligated to respond. "Just a thought. We're a good team."

"Thanks," I replied, nudging him gently with my arm. "The feeling is definitely mutual."

Carth seemed to be both eager to discuss something else, and entirely unwilling to bring up the topic by himself, which I took to mean he was expecting me to say something along the lines of not being sure if making a deal with Canderous was a good idea.

I wasn't too keen on giving him a platform based on how our last few conversations with Bastila had gone. We both retreated to different ends of the room to stare emptily at datapads we'd picked up off the table.

Hours later, the door hissed open, cutting through the silence like a knife through butter, and Mission and Bastila entered with an astromech at their heels that rolled in and beeped excitedly at me as I sat on the couch. Zaalbar came last, peering out behind him for a few seconds before firmly closing the door. Mission reached over and gently ran her gloved hand over the metal dome of the astromech. "Aren't you a friendly lil guy?"

The droid beeped affirmatively and made a few rounds around Carth and me. I reached out to pat the metal dome and the droid slid up to me and began to introduce itself and recount its travel to the apartment.

"There was a Sith that attacked you?" I asked, shocked. Mission shuddered, "He was so creepy. Did Teethree tell you that? I didn't know you could understand binary."

"Sort of. Everything else went off okay? You guys don't seem harmed. You fought a Sith?" I repeated. The droid beeped affirmatively when I repeated my question. Mission pointed to Bastila, who was in the process of unpacking a small bag, "I dunno how those Vulkars got her, she took him out in two seconds. You should've seen it."

"He could never stand up to my Jedi training," Bastila said resolutely, glancing up at us before returning to her task. She didn't seem too eager to discuss the encounter.

"So, that's the droid?" Carth was eyeing the poor droid like it was about to blow up at any minute. He still had his datapad in front of him, but he was staring up over it at the astromech as it rolled around the small room, beeping and questioning things it was seeing.

"He's got the codes we need," I replied, feeling my heartrate slow down as the droid slowed down enough to let me confirm it on the droid's console, "so we're good to go meet up with Canderous and get off this stupid planet."

"Hey! Taris ain't that bad." Mission glared at me.

"Sorry." I winced at her hurt expression. "It's just not the vacation I'd planned for, you know."

"Well there are worse planets to be," she said. Mission looked at Zaalbar, "Yeah. Okay. I guess there's a lot of better ones to be too. Bet you won't miss Taris once we leave, huh, Z?"

"Leave? You can't possibly think you're coming with us." Bastila crossed her arms, eyes narrowing to match her confrontational tone.

"First of all, lady," Mission bristled, "wherever she goes-" she pointed at me, then shifted her blue finger to her Wookie friend, "-he goes. And wherever Z goes, I go." She pointed back at herself. Any problems with that, take it up with my associate here." Zaalbar roared in agreement.

Bastila looked at me, "You cannot be seriously thinking of bringing them along with us. This is a secret mission of great importance to the Republic."

"Is that what this is? Seems to me like we should get out and lay low until Malak forgets about you."

"He's not just going to forget. We must complete our mission first."

"Of course. Tell me what we're doing and I'll see if we can fit it in before or after breakfast tomorrow." I could almost feel the heat off the glare she threw my way, "Because if you hadn't noticed, all of us have put our lives on the line so far just to get a chance to get off this planet. I don't know what you expect to do after we leave, but I'm not throwing myself at Malak's army."

"You don't need to know what I'm here for. Just know that I'm not putting a child in danger."

Mission gasped. "I am not a child. 'Sides, you were the one that was captured, not me. If you ask me, you're more of a liability than I am." She stood up from the couch and curled her hands into fists. I moved to her and touched her shoulder gently. "Look, you two can argue this all you want, but do it later. Let's just focus on getting out of here first. We should head to Canderous."

"Right." Carth, largely quiet before then, had stepped in and raised his hands, trying to ease the tension in the room."Yevana, you and Mission and Zaalbar prep the apartment and make sure everything is ready for extraction. Bastila and I will keep an eye on this one. We'll head to Canderous, get the ship, and come get you."

It was a testament to Carth that — despite all he had put me through with the constant questioning and mistrust — I somehow trusted his words. I knew without a doubt that if they left the apartment together, even if Bastila tried to pull rank on him, Carth Onasi would come back for us.

But I also knew it would never play out the way he was expecting.

"Actually," I turned to face Carth, "I'll be taking Bastila with me."

Carth did not look happy. Again. "Let's take this conversation outside," I muttered, pushing past Bastila and heading for the door. As I stood by the slowly opening door, Carth seemed to almost turn away as if he wasn't going to join me.

He finally sighed dramatically and stalked out after me. The second the door shut on us, leaving us in an empty, echoing apartment hall, he turned on me angrily.

"You have got to be joking."

"Carth, listen-"

"I can't believe you don't trust me to-"

"You have got to have more faith in me," I muttered at him. Carth's voice was rising slightly as he launched into a tirade about how he needed to be the one to go and get the ship because he had first-hand experience with Mandalorians, but I shushed him when he got too loud, shocking him into a dull silence.

With the brief respite I had, I began to speak, as quickly and quietly as possible, "What sense does it make for you to go instead of me? Canderous planned it around bringing me in to help. And I need someone I trust to be with Mission and Zaalbar. Especially if this goes wrong. I know I can trust you to make sure they join us safely. Leaving Taris is Mission's choice to make, not Bastila's."

"I don't understand why you're so eager to join forces with him." Carth glared at me, "You know, for someone I was led to believe was secretly working with the Jedi, you're awfully interested in making sure we follow the Mando's plan down to the last thread."

I found myself wishing I'd had a blunt object near me.

"Led to? Carth, I told you up front I wasn't. And was saving Bastila part of the 'Mando's plan' too?"

"Things sure do seem to work out for you," Carth said.

I pointed a finger at the man in front of me, "I've just about had it with you and your issues. I have not once given you any need to mistrust me."

"Look," Carth raised a hand, "I've just -I've just not had a good time when it comes to trusting people. It's not your fault-"

"Not my fault? Of course it's not my damned fault," I snapped. I stepped close to him and leaned over, trying my best to keep the anger out of my voice but failing, "You think you have a reason to be mistrustful? Well so do we all. I don't care what you think happened to you, it's not as bad as what some of us have been through."

I went to head back into the room, but turned back at the door, "And some of us still carry on somehow," I added dryly.

I wanted to step back through the door and leave with Bastila, so that we could be that much closer to getting off the damned planet. But all the nights and days of spending my time trying to get Carth to trust me for a few minutes so we could work together to save Bastila had worn me down to a point where making a scene wasn't the worst thing on my to-do list.

"You know what? I don't have to take this from you. I don't owe you my story but you're gonna listen to it all the same. You think I just surrendered myself to the Jedi? My asshole partner betrayed me in an attempt to make a few extra credits. And because of that I lost my entire livelihood and was left stranded in the middle of fucking space with a shot-up ship, no hyperdrive, and a kriffing Jedi at my back. That bastard's lucky I barely remember any of it." The only images I had prior to waking up weeks later in a medical bay on Coruscant was the unsteady shake below my feet of a dying ship, and the lights and sirens blaring off and on briefly. Whispers of betrayal and abandonment.

"Do you know what it's like to be told of your life like an outsider? To be told you had one known acquaintance and that they betrayed you in the same sentence?

"Now, I put my life on the line to rescue that … that woman, and I didn't do it to sit here and be interrogated by secret Republic service over here." I gestured rudely toward the pilot "You do this my way, or you find your own way off this planet." I slammed my shoulder into the door and opened it with a thud, ignoring the alarmed looks of my companions as they spread out away from the opening doors. Carth entered shortly after, avoiding my angry gaze completely as I laid out my plan before the others.

And then the excruciating meeting was over. Mission stopped pretending like our conversation hadn't grown loud enough to reach their ears. Carth picked up his jacket and stormed off, muttering something about supplies. And Bastila and Teethree waited quietly by the entrance for me as I packed my items into a small bag.

I had no idea how this was going to turn out, but for the first time the thought of doing something was drowning out the confusion of whether or not it was the right thing to do. We set off down the hall, ready to finally get the fuck off Taris.

The cantina Canderous had told us to go to mostly consisted of a sketchy bar situated somewhere within the winding tunnels of the Lower City. Several doors led to rooms both private and public. One of them held a small crowd watching a group of Twi'leks harmonise to a Rodian singer. Another held a Hutt, who glared at us even as we glanced into the open area. Still another was a smaller bar within the cantina, tables huddled closely together with a busy bar at the very back.

We found Canderous squared away in a private room nursing a half-empty glass, feet crossed and resting on the table next to a few empty bottles of Juma.

Despite all my assurances to Carth, I felt a sense of worry settle over me as we crossed the threshold of the room that Canderous had secured. It wasn't that we knew so little of him — a total of three things, in fact, one that he wanted to leave Taris, two, that he was a Mandalorian, and three, judging by the way he was gulping down his drink as we walked in that he liked his Juma — but that what we did know left more questions unanswered.

Canderous being a Mandalorian (or ex-Mandalorian, as he mentioned) had nothing to do with it. I knew his kind. Even if you couldn't work out what they were trying when they made a pact, a real Mandalorian had honour. They made deals and they stuck to them. And once you were on their good side you'd be very stupid to do anything to jeopardise that. Navigating a Mandalorian may have been tough but at least you knew where you stood with them.

But that was the problem — I just couldn't figure him out. He had worked for a crime mogul like Davik but left at the drop of a hat to come find me, regardless of the consequences, and he did not seem like a man that would take a chance so lightly. Something about me gave him confidence that we would leave Taris. It wasn't the native camaraderie that Carth had, nor the grudging respect Bastila had slowly been giving me. Nor even Mission's playful trusting nature or Zaalbar's loyal heart. Canderous seemed to know without a doubt that I would get off this planet and he had barely spent two minutes with me. I wondered what he saw in me and shuddered to think what would happen if I ever found out.

"You brought the Jedi," he grunted. Canderous glanced around the room as we awkwardly filed in and bared his teeth in a grim smile at Bastila. "Hope your blade's as good as the tales. We're not getting out without skilled warriors"

He shrugged off his jacket, revealing a cut shirt and toned arms. "I see you have the droid." Canderous looked up at me expectantly.

I nodded, "He's got the code. I keep him and the code. We'll share it when we get the ship."

Canderous chuckled, "Smart woman. Well if you're ready to get off this damned planet, we can head there now.

I glanced at Bastila and Teethree, the latter beeping excitedly.

"We're ready."

Davik Kang's estate was one of the few extravagant buildings I'd seen on Taris, though I had heard the Upper City was littered with them if you went far enough. We'd taken a different lift up to the Upper City, on an entirely different grid than where we had frequented those past few days, and made our way through gilded gates that threw gigantic shadows onto the courtyard. The opening foyer was a riot of colours and golden statues, and the tiled floors were mosaics of popular swoop racing stars. We entered through a small set of doors into an equally lavish receiving room and a small Twi'lek came to take our coats while another one offered refreshments. They both wore clothing carefully designed to reveal as much as it could while still hiding everything else that was important. Both the Twi'leks — one male and one female — had a brand etched onto their left shoulder and a delicate silver circle around their neck.

"Canderous!" A thin man approached us, dressed in a blue tunic of Tarisian cut and slim black pants. A hired guard was walking close behind him, blaster out and at the ready.

"Canderous, my friend. I was wondering where you'd wandered off to. I see you've brought a-" he eyed me up and down, recognition flashing in his dark eyes. "The Stranger! Alive and well. Will wonders never cease?"

"We are hoping to keep that quiet," I said, clasping my arms behind my back. Canderous nodded and jerked his head at Bastila and I. "Davik. They've both shown their worth as fighters. I reckon they'd be good contacts for you to have."

"You reckon, do you?" The man examined Bastila and me for another few moments. His guard piped up behind him, "Never pegged you for a team player, Ordo."

"Never pegged you stupid enough to speak to me, Nord." Canderous replied venomously.

The man chuckled and shifted on his feet. "You've been gone long enough for me to overtake your kill count. Davik rewards those who get results."

Canderous gestured to us. "Two warriors that could take you down single handedly, and a droid that could be the ticket to un-grounding that glorious ship Davik's got in the back. And you see no results?"

There was a tension in the air that I could sense. Both hired muscles were ready for a fight. Desperate, even.

Davik waved them both away. "I pay you to get rid of my problems for me, not to think, Canderous. But you've brought such fine specimens. Take them to our guest room," he told the guard behind him, who glared at Canderous. "Canderous you can wait with them. I'll be along shortly to give these two beautiful women a fine welcome."

The guard — Nord — took us to a small set of rooms in the west wing of the palace. "Slave quarters are down there if you need some relaxing. Stay in this room here."

He walked to a door at the end of the hall and gestured to the sealed entryway. "Don't try to leave now before your background check's done. Droids're programmed to shoot on sight." He gave the three of us a nasty grin. "Wouldn't want you dead before we had the chance to get fully acquainted. Name's Calo Nord by the way. In case you do survive today. Better remember the man you'll be taking orders from."

He waved a hand and the entryway opened quickly, hissing shut behind him as he left.

"Man'll be nothing but a shitstain on the ground once I'm through with him," Canderous growled, lifting his hands away from the blaster holstered at his belt for the first time since we entered Davik Kang's estated.

"Nothing to do but wait now," the Mandalorian grunted. I looked around the room, taking in the beds side-by-side on one wall and the sparse decorations that consisted of a single plant in one corner and a small console near the front where the other bounty hunter had left.

Bastila walked over to one of the beds, sat down, and crossed her legs under her, slowing the rhythm of her breathing until she looked almost asleep. Teethree beeped a little announcement that it would be powering down before the lights on its tiny ocular piece dimmed.

"You're both not much for talking. That's fine. It's the fighting I need." Canderous had taken a seat on the middle bed, facing the inner wall away from Bastila. I took a seat on the third bed across from him. Now was my chance to get to know the man I was trusting to get me off planet and who was likely forcing himself to place the same trust in me.

Before I could think of a non-intrusive question to ask, Canderous leaned forward and grinned at me. "A Jedi, a soldier and a 'hunter walk into a bar. What do you think happens next?"

I was taken aback by the question. I tried to think of a clever response and couldn't come up with anything. "Some fight I'm guessing?" I asked finally, giving up.

Canderous shook his head and snorted. "That's the damn joke itself. No punchline. Thing is, no real fighter's stupid enough to put themselves in a situation like that unless they've got a death wish." He jerked his head behind him. Bastila was sitting still as a rock, back straight. Even though our voices were low I had no doubts she was listening to every word.

"So what is she? Your caretaker?"

I frowned at the question. "We're here until we get off Taris. Then we go our separate ways."

"You can't fool me. That soldier's been working with her for a while. You want me to believe that you're not with them and yet you took down an entire gang to free her? I'm no damn scholar but something doesn't add up."

I looked at Bastila again and lowered my voice as much as I could, "He wouldn't help me unless I freed her." It was true.

"And how'd you two meet?"

"A cantina."

"Lotta trust to place in someone you've never met." His grin grew almost predatory as I silently gestured to him to indicate the story between us wasn't so different. "You're a smart woman. You know a good alliance when you see one. Your friend on the other hand... I've seen his type. He wouldn't trust a cantina wench so easily. I doubt that's what you are."

"He's seen your kind too it seems," I said tiredly.

Canderous glared at me, his posture and tone shifting almost immediately, "They were not my kind."

I leaned back slightly. His eyes shone with fervor. "There's nothing honourable in gunning down unarmed civilians. Whatever your man fought was no true Mandalorian."

"Well you can understand why it's hard for him to know the difference-"

"No. Those things were cowards. No Mandalorian is a coward." He brought out his gun and I started, trying to keep from shaking as he rested the barrel against my forehead. "A Mandalorian would never pull a trigger on an unarmed foe. There's no honour or win in a one-sided fight." His gun dropped lower, and I grabbed it from his hands before he pulled away, tossing the gun unto the bed behind me and frowning up at him. "Well I thought Mandos weren't stupid enough to play with guns and yet here we are!" I snapped, my voice hoarse.

"You've got bite. But no saber." His inquisitive gaze ran over me, "And not military," he mused aloud. "And you're no Tarisian native like that alien girl. They trust you too much. You've got the makings of a 'hunter but you surround yourself with too much noise to be one really. Who are you?"

I wasn't much appreciating his line of questioning. The man was quite perceptive. I supposed it came with the territory of an ex-Mandalorian bounty hunter.

"Couldn't you tell?" I said dismissively, "I'm a lost princess of the Hutt Cartel. Here to finally form an allegiance with the Sith against the Republic. It's why I chose the single planet under siege from the Sith in the Outer Rim."

"Lost princess explains why the soldier's been making those eyes at you." His grin grew at my responding frown. "Matter of fact, he didn't seem quite pleased with our arrangement. Maybe a bit of jealousy perhaps?"

"Listen to me. I don't care if all we do is get you off Taris and drop you out into the atmosphere for one of Malak's forces to pick up," I hissed, "You want in on our little group, you respect the rest of them. Got it?"

Canderous leaned back, his index finger lazily tracing the barrel of his second gun. "Listen, little 'hunter. And I only say this because I think you've got a long ways to go if you want to make something of yourself in this world. You want to know the least trustworthy lot of folk in the galaxy? The ones that can't trust anyone but themselves. They'll be the ones who shoot you in the back and justify it 'cause some dead fucker killed someone they knew twenty years ago." His eyes glinted in the light. "Consider yourself warned."

He smirked, "'Course, if you really wanted to get ahead in the world, you could start with killing one of 'em." He jerked his head in Bastila's direction. "Used to be you could make a lot of money killing Jedi. And prestige. It'd net you a whole lot of prestige."

Canderous stood slowly and stretched, raising his voice and staring at Bastila as he did so. "You know, I've always been interested in Jedi healing," he said, "I've heard they heal like cockroaches and are twice as hard to kill because of that. How's that work on others?" He asked Bastila. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him in disgust before turning to face the door, her back to us.

I carefully stood up, making my way to the console. "We've waited here long enough. We should move quickly." The less interaction Bastila and Canderous had, the more likely it was that the four of us — Teethree included — left Davik's estate unscathed.

The console had a small map of the guest area. Canderous brought up a larger map of the complex after fiddling with the settings a bit. "The ship's in here," he explained, pointing to a large square on one end of the map, glowing brightly on the console screen.

"They're already suspicious. Let's get out of here and take the ship as fast as we can."

Canderous had a quick way of opening up the door which involved confusing the circuit a few seconds long enough for the door to violently shudder open and snap closed hard enough that, if he hadn't shoved Bastila and me through immediately after pushing an indignant Teethree forward, we'd have experienced firsthand the feeling of an old rusty door slicing us in half.

There was nothing on our section of the complex except for a few empty rooms. We went through the complex, combing our way through empty courtrooms and storage areas. The estate had looked quite big on the outside but it only would have taken about twenty standard minutes for us to walk through most of it. Canderous had intended to go through guns blazing but Bastila and I both pushed for a more subtle approach, and so the twenty minutes stretched to about an hour or so with waiting for guards to be in opportune locations and taking less busy routes before we had gotten where we needed to be.

"Through there," Canderous said finally, "the doors are through that chamber."

I leaned against the wall, peering quickly in both directions to determine our threat. I found myself looking into a large room with tall ceilings and bright tapestries decorating every inch of the wall except for one long section on the right that was covered in floor-to-ceiling windows that let in enough natural light to brighten the room all on its own. There was a long table in the middle of the room, the gilded embellishments on the chairs glittering brightly in the light of the sun. There were no light fixtures from what I could see, leading me to believe the city lights of Taris alone were enough to light up the room in the dark.

The chamber was largely empty apart from a few recently abandoned meals. I had a feeling the chamber doors were not so innocently closed.

Canderous and Bastila had made their way through the room after I gave the signal, but I turned back to go and access the console behind the door.

"Where are you going?" Canderous growled, "We're almost there."

"Wait," I snapped, waving him off, already pulling open one of the slots on the comm terminal. "There's no jack for Teethree to use but I can get in." Teethree helpfully beeped and pulled a security spike out from somewhere in his metal body. "That's exactly what I need!" I said, kneeling down and setting up the comm to use the spike.

"We don't have the time, woman, just open the bloody hangar doors and-"

"Shhh," I didn't bother gesturing, busy as I was with getting into the comm terminal. The first camera feed I got into showed us a helpful image of at least thirteen guards on the other side of the chamber door. "Any other routes?" I asked the Mandalorian. He nodded slowly and pressed a few panels on the console before bringing up a security feed. "Hallway through there," he grunted.

I switched between camera feeds to see the best route for us to take, setting doors open as I mapped our destination based on Canderous' agreeing grunts. He turned back to survey the room once more to make sure there wasn't anything we could use.

The last monitoring feed took a few moments to load, switching from a dark grey to a blinding yellow and then finally shifting to the image I was looking for.

In a large hangar sat a tiny ship. The image was dark and grainy, but from what I could tell, it looked like a standard freighter to me. "This thing's gonna go fast enough to circumvent a cruiser?" I asked skeptically.

"Just open the damned door and we'll find out," the Mandalorian grumbled. I sighed and complied, moving on to my final task before leaving the comm. Canderous came back over to see what was taking me so long.

"You can't be serious."

"They don't deserve-"

"They're not going to leave just because you open one or two doors. And when Davik walks into the room to find all slaves suddenly collarless? It'll do them more harm than good," he said dismissively. The object of our discussion — the slaves lounging about casually in their rooms — seemed to intuitively agree with him. One of them had even picked up the collar I'd disabled and was trying to fit it back around his neck. I felt a surge of hopelessness at some pressing danger I couldn't comprehend. I needed them to get out of that room.

"That's not good enough for me," I snapped, slamming my fist down on the comm, as if a hit would spark something in the room to get them to leave.

The whole base shook violently. The floor tilted and I pitched forward, slamming my stomach against the console and knocking the breath from my lungs. Canderous fell heavily against the wall beside me. Bastila fared better than the two of us, stumbling to the wall but managing to hold herself up against it, fingers splayed out over the gaudy wallpaper for balance.

"What in the Outer Rims did you do, woman?"

I looked up at the Mandalorian, holding tightly to the comm station with both hands as the floor continued to rumble underneath us.

"I didn't do anything," I said between gritted teeth. Canderous looked like he didn't believe me. The floor stopped rumbling and we each took a few careful steps to see if the floor would shake again. I glanced at the screen and saw a few lucky slaves had disappeared from the feed. On the ground and the beds lay smashed pottery and upended furniture, as well as what painfully looked like unlucky slaves underneath the ruin. Whatever had happened had really done a number on the complex.

"Did you hide a damned bomb in here somewhere?" I felt Canderous grasp my upper arm, his grip tight against my skin. "I don't like surprises."

The ground rumbled underneath us again and the room slanted to the side. I jogged backward to keep my balance, Canderous pulling me in the opposite direction. "What's going on?"

Bastila had moved in front of Canderous and the two of them were staring through the windows on the one side of the wall of the chamber. "We need to go now," she said harshly, switching from a fast paced walk to a run. The room slowly darkened bit by bit as something large blocked off the light from the sun and hid everything else from sight. I saw something careen into a building far in the distance and then the earth rumbled and the floor shifted back the other way. Canderous let go of my arm and we ran ahead with Teethree.

Bastila's lightsaber flashed and buzzed as she cut a giant hole in the blast doors in front of us. We had no time to waste finding another route to the hangar. There was a large crater on the other side of the door where there had once been thirteen guards ready to surprise us. All three of us ran through as the ground shuddered and groaned beneath us and the windows shattered behind us, spraying the hall with deadly shards of clear transparisteel. The sound that came after was enormous and deafening, though I barely heard it, feeling it more in my bones than hearing a pitch.

We burst through to the hangar bay and Bastila was thrown to the floor as the ground trembled violently. Canderous was already reaching for his gun before I even began to realise there were two other men in the room with us.

"Just like I thought. A dirty Mandalorian with no honour." Nord, in his blue pants and a tight hat with goggles, crossed his arms and spat on the ground beside him.

"You thought you could outsmart us, Canderous," Davik said, slowly beginning to walk forward, "but the gig is up. You'll never take the Ebon Hawk from me." Davik gestured to the ship. It seemed rather un-aptly named. The ship resembled no hawk I'd ever seen. And it wasn't painted black, but instead a riot of white and a dull rusty red.

"Kill that one-" he jerked his head at me "-and help me subdue the Jedi. I hear Malak is willing to donate a fair share of credits for her capture."

"You won't take me," Bastila snarled as she picked herself up from the floor. Her lightsaber exploded into two brilliant orange lines of light, which she spun in a dizzying circle. It was the first time I had seen her activate her weapon.

The ground pitched the three of us forward as it rumbled and shook. Tremor after tremor rocked the building around us. Large chunks of stone and steel fell from the ceiling. Calo Nord dodged a shower of debris easily but the Tarisian mogul Davik Kang wasn't so lucky. All that remained of him apart from a vaguely red-tinted rock was the triangular spatter of his insides that pooled out from underneath it.

Canderous wasted no time bringing his gun to bear and shooting at the momentarily distracted guard. "Get the ship ready!" Bastila and I turned and ran for the Ebon Hawk.

There was a set of stairs on the other side that led to a closed door set in the ship. A panel on one side of the door sparked as I moved to open it. I slid a bloodied piece of broken glass I'd picked off my shirt into the side of the panel and carefully worked the door out so that it wouldn't shock me when I went to touch it.

Bastila grabbed my arm and jerked her head in the direction of the combat behind us. "If you don't believe Carth, believe that man's actions. A senseless, violent killer can only ever be a senseless, violent killer. We'd do well not to keep him."

"I thought you were staying out of this?" I tried to pay attention to her while I dealt with getting the Ebon Hawk's system to respond. Slicing through the wires on the now-exposed port only took a few more seconds, and Bastila, Teethree and I were in the ship even as we heard footsteps close in on the ship and more clustered blasterfire nearby.

"You made the deal with him. So you make the final decision. But I needed to advise you."

After a few moments of silence while we tried to find our way around, I turned to look at the other woman, "So now you're suggesting we renege on a promise we made and leave him to die? Isn't that against the Jedi Code or something?"

"We are not figures in those stupid holovids you watch. Real life is not so clean and simple. If he's a threat, he should be dealt with accordingly. The reality is that our mission is far too important to play with the rules of honour."

I bit my tongue before I could blurt out that Jedi probably hadn't been the topic of heroic holovids. Not for a long time. Not since the 'Wars. Even I remembered that.

"Look Bastila. If you want to murder him in cold blood then you do it. I'm not leaving without him so please figure out a proper place to stash his body so Mission and Zaalbar don't accidentally walk into it."

"Well about the girl-"

"You want to kill her too?" Bastila's expression told me she wasn't quite so appreciative of my dark humour. "Good. Because she's also coming along with us. In case you've forgotten, we wouldn't have been able to save you without her. And if we hadn't met Canderous we'd probably still be twiddling our thumbs in that stars-cursed Tarisian complex and one of us would've gone mad by now. Now I'm going to get us up in the air. You're free to do what you want."

I finally made my way into the cockpit where I immediately dashed to the seat and fired up the ship's thrusters. I felt the ship rumble underneath me, and I was suddenly pitched at a crazy angle as the ship lifted suddenly and the floor fell away from another violent explosion somewhere off to the side. For a minute all I could see in the viewport was the gaping hole that was left as the floor crumbled to nothing below, and the lip of that new hole as the ship drifted frighteningly close to it. I jerked the handle to the side and pressed a few of the glowing panels that indicated turn and shift on a ship. The ship impressed me, responding almost immediately and smoothly righting itself and rising. The broken floor fell away as I climbed higher. As I rose even more I saw Calo Nord squirming on the ground, blood pooling around him. I searched the console quickly and found the override controls for the door, banking to the right to let Canderous onto the ship. "Leave him, he's done for!" I called over the comm, "We need to go now!" Canderous turned without delay and jumped onto the ramp, the ring of his boots echoing in the ship as I closed up the ramp and readied the ship to leave.

Just as Canderous joined us in the cockpit, a blast emanated right from where Davik Kang and his associate lay, ripping through the ship's stabilizers and sending us twirling away from the scene off balance. I struggled to right the ship, but it swerved strongly and we exited the hangar at a 30 degree angle from the now gaping hole that had opened the estate up to the Tarisian sky. The seatbelt that I'd strapped tightly around myself was creaking unhappily at the sudden rush of weight as we all but hung over the precipice of the hole in Davik's now-ruined estate.

I pushed us forward, righting the ship as we flew out of the shadow of the now-pile of rubble we had been marvelling at a few hours before. Canderous and Bastila both grunted as our weight shifted back to the uncomfortable chairs suddenly.

We could see that Davik's estate had not been plagued by a sudden localised earthquake. All around us, skyscrapers and estates were up in flames. We flew just under a shattering building, and I had to flip the ship vertically again to fly through a break in the falling construction or risk crashing into a pillar. Canderous was cursing loudly, both him and Bastila gripping tightly onto my pilot's chair from their own seats where they had strapped themselves tightly in.

The viewport flashed brilliantly, going from blazing sun to crushing darkness each second as more chaos erupted around us. "I'm going for the others." I distinctly remember that I was yelling even though we heard very little of the chaos outside in the ship. Something roared past us and the ground below us erupted in orange flame, the resulting torrent of wind buffeting the ship from underneath. Teethree hooked into the ship's computer and helped to stabilize the ship as I flew it through the dangerous sky. "What in the hellish reaches of space is going on out here?" I asked hoarsely. Bastila responded, her grim tone hanging in the air like a death sentence.

"Malak."

With some direction from Canderous, we found the — thankfully unscathed — building that Carth and I had made a home of for the last few days. Canderous had gone up to one of the turret guns, keeping stray fighters and building sections off of us for a small portion of the flight. The glass windows of the building shattered under the ship's gunfire and I pulled up alongside the apartment, shifting so that as the ramp descended, it led to the hole in the window. Zaalbar followed Mission and Carth, giving us a wave just before the Wookie himself jumped onto the ramp to signify that everything was on board. I waited a few more minutes to hear Mission and Zaalbar in the ship's hallway before firing the ship's thrusters and pushing the ship back and away from the building. Something had seemed to take a fancy to our mobile ship, and three large clusters of glowing missiles were on their way toward us. Mission and Zaalbar were yelling loudly as I manually piloted the ship out of the way of two of the missiles.

I felt the seat beside me shift as the Republic pilot strapped in, the belts clicking loudly in the silent room as the planet Taris blazed around us.

"Oh there's no way we're taking that thing head on," he muttered, looking at the approaching missile on the viewport. "Strap in or hold onto something as tightly as you can," he yelled into the comm system. We heard disagreeing yells from the others in the ship as I let him take control and Carth turned the ship to the left and around, flipping over the missile and turning us upside down long enough to watch it smash into a lower area of the building. Our apartment began to shudder as its supports caved in below it. Flames and glass rose in a brilliant burst, almost seeming to hug one side of the ship as Carth spun us back around and angled the ship up toward the sky.

"We need to be outta here now!"

"Wait! We need to go back to Zelka's place," I said, gesturing back where we had come from. Carth glanced behind me — to Bastila — and shook his head resolutely, "We don't have time," he replied, reaching over and pressing the selection to begin the climb out of atmosphere. He let go of the manual hold and we all jerked back into our seats as the ship pulled up vertically and began its slow climb.

"Carth, we know where they are! They won't be able to free themselves. Even Zelka-Zelka! He'll be in trouble too, we-" Carth slapped my hand away from the lever and I glowered at him.

"When you asked me to go tell him to be ready, I forced him underground instead. Helped him pack up and everything. Told him to go to Gadon Thek and gave him some money to help."

"When were you going to tell me this?" I snapped.

"Told you just now, didn't I?"

"How's that safer?"

"Lower City will be hit but I think most of the Upper City will protect them from this," he gestured up at the viewport and the bombardment. "And with Gadon's protection, I think they'll be fine."

"Not sure why you think Gadon would just help like that." I frowned as Carth swerved left and right to avoid the ship being hit. Even though he had some limited control over the ship's path to the atmosphere, we were locked on a route going straight up with no way to turn back now.

Carth shrugged, "I just told Zelka, if the rakghoul serum he'd been processing wasn't incentive enough, to remind Gadon that we helped him out quite a bit."

I was trying to focus on the expanse of sky in the viewport above us as we rose steadily, and not at the entire city of Taris crumbling to pieces below us. I wanted to believe Carth and think that the Lower City would be saved but all I could see in the viewport screen as streaks of light rushed past us to fall heavily down on the planet below were the remnants of the city as it fell to pieces.

"Regardless of the outcome, every last one of those men and women knew what they were getting into when they took the pledge for this mission." Bastila's voice grew stronger as she spoke, "Their lives will be wasted if we die today."

I twisted in my seat and turned to her, partially glad to be staring at something that didn't involve the rapidly falling burning speeders and 'scrapers and gaping cliffs in the Tarisian city that were now almost at the bottom-most edge of our viewport. The black of space slowly began to drop over the screen and smudge out the rest of the receding planet, "Are you mad? They could have helped us! Their deaths are worth nothing-"

"But my death is. If I die, the mission fails. And if the mission fails, the Republic falls."

"Look here," I fumbled with the lock on my seatbelt, failed to unlock it due to the ship's climbing safety protocol, and settled with glaring at the image of Bastila on the darkening screen above me. We were finally getting out of the atmosphere. "I don't even know what your mission is-"

"You don't need to."

"-but I am damn sure it isn't to just willfully waste the lives of Republic soldiers. You Jedi're all walking invincible cruisers on your own, but the rest of us aren't blessed with your powers."

"Let's talk about this after." Carth interrupted smoothly, setting some of the controls up to ready the ship for a jump into hyperspace. We began a slow climb out of the planet's gravity well so that we could successfully make the jump. Now that the ship was out of the range of the missiles bombarding the planet, Teethree beeped affirmatively in the background, confirming that he had downloaded the Sith codes onto our ship and masked the ship's reference codes. All we could do was wait until we entered the atmosphere and hope it worked.

"Where to, Bastila?" Carth's voice split the sullen silence that had grown over the cockpit.

"Dantooine," she said without hesitation, glaring at me, "Listen to me. The Jedi are not infallible. We have our weaknesses just like everyone else. To think otherwise is folly — especially for a Jedi."

"Dant-you can't be serious, Bastila. Won't that be the first place Malak will look?" Carth was staring open-mouthed at the Jedi behind us. I wasn't sure what either of them were talking about.

"You're wrong," she replied coolly. "Dantooine is the one place Malak could never attack in his wildest dreams. The Jedi Council is strong. We can protect the planet against him."

Carth turned in his seat, trying to see Bastila properly. "But … the Council. Won't he know to look-"

The ship's comm system dinged and Canderous' gruff voice sounded over the icy quiet.

"Someone else get on these guns. Those IDs will keep us from getting lasered by ground control and the big destroyers, but any of their fighters catch a glimpse of us … like a real glimpse through their viewports ... they'll know immediately we're not with them."

The ship jerked and settled into its own speed as we fought past the last vestiges of Taris' gravity well. Once the hyperdrive was ready and the calculations were done, we could make the jump to Lightspeed. Canderous was right, though, as that would still take some time. The seatbelts made an audible click once the ship's safety protocols were met. I fumbled with the latch and pushed my way past the chairs and into the hallway, not wanting to sit with Bastila and Carth for a moment longer than I had to.

I fumed my entire way over to the spare set of guns and strapped myself into the seat, running my hands across the triggers and scanning the sky for any outlying ships. That we had gotten this far meant the IDs the droid had masked over the ship's own were good enough. Once we were far enough away from the planet, a few small fighter craft lazily circled us while they scanned our ID tags, turning about in confusion once we came into view and they realised our ID did not match the expected ship. The ship's alarms blared seconds before the first blasts from the fighters sparked against our shields. I returned the fire with gusto, feeling the anticipation build in me as I settled into the rhythm of scanning my small window of viewport and shooting at anything that flew by.

I never counted how many I shot down, and I barely registered Canderous' congratulations over the PA system once all the fighters had been taken care of. Once we had turned away from the brilliant star at the center of Taris' system, the star-dotted black of space shifted slowly to blue as we finally made the jump to hyperspace. I don't even remember if Malak's cruiser had gotten wind of our attempted escape at the time.

I do remember staring through the viewport at the blue and white streaks that made for one long tunnel as we whizzed through hyperspace. Slowly, the planes of my face — mirrored brightly against the window — were joined by another ghostly face floating a bit above mine as Carth made his way into the small gunnery room.

I stared at the screen wordlessly and Carth stood there for a moment, clearing his throat and trying to start a sentence a few times before cursing under his breath. "Just let me say my piece," he asked.

I stared ahead sullenly and remained quiet. Carth took that as a sign to start talking.

"About Zelka. I know you're mad. Bastila didn't think your worries would amount to anything. But I've been in the presence of enough Jedi to know to trust someone's instincts. Saved a lot of people on Serroco because of it back in the 'War. You may not be a Force user but I've seen you work to turn impossible tides. I may think there's no logic to what you do but-."

"Is there a point to this?" I asked irritably.

Carth stuttered as he tried to backtrack. "I-I'm saying trust in the fact that they were warned ahead of time. He's lived there for years, he probably knows of better hideouts than we could have found in the last few days."

"Well," I said, "I'm glad to know they're safe. But I'm no Jedi. Could've just been some bullshit feeling that went wrong."

"Well, it didn't, did it?" He asked softly. I had no answer for him. Bastila's words echoed in my head. I wondered if she had spoken to Carth about it.

"Bastila-"

"She can overlook things sometimes."

"You'd think this would be her area of expertise," I said dryly. "I'm surprised she didn't want to fly straight at Malak's ship and deal with him there. Didn't she kill his friend? Revan?"

"Really?" Carth winced at my expression, and shook his head. "Sorry. I keep forgetting that you have that … I mean. That your ah … your memory."

I turned around to look at him. "My amnesia."

"Yes."

"I mean, I remember about the 'War. I think."

"Look," Carth settled against the wall of the ship, crossing his arms over his chest. "Do you actually know what this whole thing with Malak is?"

"I'm guessing it's not that he didn't like the look of our ship." I raised both hands in apology at Carth's raised eyebrow, "Okay, okay, fine. I get that he's some Dark Jedi leader or something that showed up out of nowhere and is trying to . Look I'm going to be honest, there was a briefing before I was assigned to the 'Spire. And no, I didn't read it."

Carth sighed and ran a hand across his face tiredly. "Well, the short version is this: when the Mandalorian Wars were in full swing, Revan fought for the Jedi to join the War and fight for the Republic. No one knows the full details of the whole internal debate, but all I know is one day we were almost at the end of our rope, losing parts of the galaxy to Mandalorian Raiders at such a massive scale that the Republic was all but done. The next, Revan and other Jedi were fighting alongside our forces. Side-by-side. Like we were on the same side or something." Carth added sarcastically.

He shifted onto his shoulder and rested his head against the wall, staring out at the viewport behind me in thought. "I'll tell you, that was the first time I felt like we really had a chance, you know? A Jedi by our side. Mandalorian-occupied worlds were falling back to us. People weren't afraid anymore. We really thought things were going to change. And Malak … again, I don't know the full story, but he was Revan's right hand, before everything. We owed our victories over those next few months to both of them."

"I don't understand, they fought with you?" I said slowly, "wasn't this Revan … bad or something?"

"Not to us. Not then.

"Revan was a damned hero. And Malak too. Then something happened and both Revan, Malak and the Mandalorians disappeared after rumours that Mandalore had been dealt with. We wondered where Revan and Malak had gone, but the whole galaxy rejoiced at the war ending. Even non-Republic worlds were ecstatic. Some of them were vying to join the Republic after the tides had turned. Like they forgot what had happened at the start.

"And then …" Carth took a deep breath. "A little while after that, Revan came back. Only … there was an army behind Revan and Malak. And that army was not on our side." I realised suddenly that Carth's hands were clenched tightly, the whites of his knuckles standing out in the dull glow of space.

"The Jedi had disavowed them, but it was too late," he finished quietly.

"They came back with a vengeance and strength we weren't prepared for. Jedi and soldiers we'd fought beside months before turned on us or started dropping like flies. There was no middle ground, no safe in between." He cast a quick glance at me, "No room to not choose a side. Everyone was forced to."

He paused, staring out at the viewport. "What do you mean 'everyone was forced to choose a side'?" I asked.

Carth's voice grew dull and listless, "Who do you think those men and women were? The ones we met all over Taris? They didn't show up out of thin air. Yes, Revan and Malak had soldiers. Dark Jedi. But -" he shifted uncomfortably, "When they came back, they gave everyone the option to join them or die. And for some, it wasn't a question. Revan and Malak had saved the galaxy. If that doesn't inspire loyalty, what does? Many people made the switch, blindly following Revan as they had before. It … it tore apart our military. Our friends and family … those we'd fought beside and stood strong with only a few days ago were suddenly turning themselves against …" his voice died down, the effort of finishing his sentence becoming all too apparent and he hunched forward as if a huge weight had been dropped over his shoulders.

I knew the look in his eyes; hurt and betrayal. Carth was speaking from experience.

Knowing better than to push past and dig too deep when he was already struggling with the story, I tried to change his focus.

"But Revan and Malak … what happened out there? I mean these two were heroes you said. How did they just … come back 'changed'?"

Carth shrugged, trying to hide the flash of relief across his face as I changed the subject, "No one knows. Maybe they had it in them all along. Maybe they were captured and interrogated." He frowned at the viewport behind me, as if trying to remember some long lost tale, "I've heard some dark stories about the Sith interrogation techniques. They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind … leave you a withering husk, barely sentient. I've …" his voice grew quiet again, "I've seen the effects of the Force on people before. Maybe something similar happened with Revan?

"Anyway …" His voice grew stronger, "A little while ago, Bastila was sent by the Jedi to pull off a stealth mission to attack Revan and Malak at the heart of their base. She succeeded and killed Revan, but something happened and they had to leave before they could get any further. Malak took up the mantle and somehow it almost feels worse than it did before.

"Now here we are. Months after Revan's demise, we get called on for this top secret mission to escort Bastila Shan, the woman who killed Darth Revan, and we happen to be ambushed near a planet that the Sith clearly already had a bit of a presence on. You know what happens from there.

"The fact is, Revan may have been an easy target for the Jedi based on surprise alone. I don't think they were expecting the Jedi to come after them the way they did. What reason did they have to suspect, after they all but sat out the Mandalorian Wars …" His voice trailed away again. "But Malak won't fall for the same trick twice."

"So how do you defeat Malak?"

"That's the mystery, isn't it."

The silence stretched out uncomfortably long. Carth took a deep breath and picked at the edge of one of his sleeves as he finally brought up the nerve to speak his mind. "Hey look, I'm sorry."

I didn't respond, not sure if I would be able to over the lump in my throat that was growing stronger and stronger.

"I have made the last few days a bit of a hell for you and I didn't mean to. I apologise. I just … When you fight through two wars and see all both sides have to offer, it's hard to keep trusting everyone you come across."

"Could you say that maybe to me, and not your jacket?" I snapped, trying — and failing spectacularly — to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

Carth looked up in surprise, dropping his arms and standing straight beside the wall. "Yevana, I'm sorry. I've let one betrayal rule my feelings for too long-"

"So you did know someone who joined Revan." I was too stuck in my own triumph to realise that I'd spoken out loud until too late.

Carth's expression darkened and I realised he had not meant to be so forthcoming. "That's not what I said at all. I'm just - look, I'm trying to be nice here and all you're doing is mocking me for-"

"Carth, I didn't … it was a joke. A stupid one." Normally I would have stood my ground with the man, matching his stubbornness step by step. But we had hours left before we would reach Dantooine and it was a very small ship. "You're sorry. I accept your apology. I'm sorry I brought that up. Let's start over?" I held out my hand, feeling my face grow redder with embarrassment as moments passed by and Carth silently stared at my outstretched palm.

I finally decided to say something, to save face and leave, but he reached out and grasped my palm tightly, pulling me up to stand in front of him. "New beginning," he agreed. "Let's start with a drink before something else goes wrong."

I wasn't sure if he meant with the ship or with our conversation, which had been a disastrous roller coaster since it had begun. I also didn't want to take the time to clarify.

"I would kill for a drink. Think they have something stronger than juma?"

Carth and I both made our way through the ship, acclimatizing ourselves to the layout and making a note of any supplies we could see around the ship and keeping our conversation as neutral and lightweight as we both possibly could.

"Seems like a smuggler's paradise," I said as we exited a small hallway. It led back into a circular room that took up quite a large section of the ship and led to most of the crew quarters and the cockpit. There was a gigantic pit and a large circular holoterminal in the middle of the room surrounded by comfy looking couches. Mission and Zaalbar had already made themselves comfortable on two of the chairs. The young Twi'lek tossed me a small bar. "They only had ration bars, so here you go." I exchanged a sad glance with the soldier at the lack of alcohol in our ship but wolfed down the bar as we sat down.

Bastila and Canderous didn't seem eager to join our little dinner, and so Carth had turned the terminal on and we searched through the saved holovids on the ship — I had had to distract Mission and turn her gaze for some of the screens that popped up — and settled one of the few kid-friendly holovids. Something about the title name made me think it had probably been saved by mistake. But Mission had fallen asleep a short while after and Zaalbar had carried her off to the room they both had chosen.

I yawned and Carth switched off the vid. "Maybe we should get some rest in, huh?"

I nodded wordlessly, working through another yawn at that precise moment. I stood up slowly, stretching. Carth followed me into the hallway and past the room I'd chosen for myself.

"So," he said, "some of those videos, ah …"

"Oh right," I said tiredly, "we should definitely get rid of them before Mission sees those."

Carth nodded, "I think we should probably just purge the whole thing."

Carth was close to me, the cramped hallway forcing us to stand toe-to-toe. "You know-" he glanced around the dimly lit corridor. "You put much thought into what you're gonna do once we get to Dantooine?"

I leaned back against the door. "Honestly it's been such a whirlwind of events. I'm still trying to piece together the fact that they bombarded an entire planet just to get to Bastila. Seems like so much for one person."

"For one Jedi," he corrected me. "A single Jedi can turn the course of a fight. Malak is wise to be cautious." Carth was staring a bit past me, lost in thought.

"Well," I said, "Honestly I would never go up against a Sith and that is the last thing I'd wish on anyone."

There was a quiet pause and Carth looked back at me, "Even if we did it together?"

"Excuse me?" Carth looked at my surprised expression then grinned, his cheeks reddening slightly under the warm yellow glow from the ship's hallway. "I meant I think you should join my crew once we get Bastila to Dantooine. You're a good fighter and pilot. You've more than proven yourself in Taris … although I'll probably have to ask you to stop accessing confidential military data. I don't think the Republic approves of that sort of thing."

"Is it me or Big Z you're really after?"

"I'm serious," he said. He was staring at me earnestly from across the tiny space. "I think you'd be an asset to have by my side. The Republic could use someone like you."

I opened my mouth to retort, but caught myself. He was trying to get off to a good start. Even though he was struggling with the words, he was trying his best to say that everything was okay between us.

"I want someone by my side that I can trust," he added finally. "And you've shown that I can trust you a thousand times over in Taris."

The weight of his words fell over me as the silence of the ship surrounded us. I struggled with what to say next.

"Carth, that's kind of you," I said, meaning every word. He was infuriating to a degree, but he was a good man. I rested my hand on his arm. "I really appreciate your offer. I'm just a little-"

"You don't have to answer now," he said quickly, laying a hand over mine, "in fact please don't. Just think about it, would you? Before we get to Dantooine?"

I shot him a sly look, "Carth Onasi, are you trying to keep me out of trouble?"

"More like trying to manage it," he said without missing a beat, "I don't think anyone could keep trouble away from you. Or you from it."

"Well I'm flattered," I laughed. The silence that replaced our conversation seemed less oppressive than the last time. Much more … companionable. The short clipped sound of static dragged us both from our thoughts, and I stepped away from Carth to look down the hallway. "Did you hear-"

Bastila's voice sounded almost beside us and I jumped again. "Yevana? Are you in this room? I need your help urgently for a report that I must get ready for the Council-" the door to my room opened and I saw the comm unit on the side wall glow red as she spoke, switching to green when she paused to take a breath.

"Oh no," I groaned, knowing she couldn't hear me.

"-and it needs to be done before we get to Dantooine. Please join me here."

Carth started laughing. Bastila repeated her message and he gently laid a hand on my shoulder and grinned before heading back in the direction of the cockpit, mouthing a cheeky good luck before doing so.

I wasn't entirely sure where Bastila had situated herself, but I finally found her nestled in a tiny compartment, with a small bed tucked to one side and a table and chair stuck near the door. I felt a little awkward about the spacious room I'd chosen as my own earlier.

"Bastila?" The door to her room was open. I rapped my knuckles against the wall beside it.

She didn't even look up from the datapad she was clacking away furiously on. I sat down and picked up one that had been set aside, labeled 'ACCOUNT OF ENDAR SPIRE SURVIVOR'. "We went over this already."

"Better your words than mine. I might have missed something and the Council will not."

"You want — word for word — what I told you less than a day ago?"

"Thank you." She hadn't even looked up from her datapad the whole time I'd been there.

I sighed and sat down to work.