Taris Part 2
"You did what?" Carth exclaimed, his shock and anger clearly written on his face.
"I just spent most of my time in the cantina where I drank with a Sith soldier, but I also found us a way into the lower city" Revan told him, kicking his feet up onto the bed.
"How are we going to get into the lower city?" Melina asked, effectively postponing another attack at Revan that was obviously coming from the extremely distrustful republic captain.
"Tomorrow morning Sarna has a shift at the elevator located in the North part of the upper city, and I managed to convince her to let us down so I can compete in the lower city dueling ring" Revan explained.
"I cannot believe you flirted with a Sith soldier just so we could find a way into the lower city. How did you know she was a Sith?" Carth asked.
"I didn't, but I can't allow a beautiful girl like her to drink alone. It is against my moral values" Revan said casually.
"And it is against your oath as a republic soldier to be in such close contact to the enemy!" Carth retorted angrily.
"Alright, Carth, here's the thing. We are stranded on a foreign world that our enemies control. We need to find Bastila, who we know is in or near one of the main swoop gang bases. Then we need to get off this planet where we don't have a ship and the Sith blockade over the planet will shoot down anything in sight attempting to leave the plane. Now, I don't know about you, but I can't do all of that alone. I would like help, and if that means getting help from the Sith themselves, so be it" Revan retorted flatly.
"We aren't going to solve anything by sitting here arguing. Thanks to Avner, we have a way into the lower city tomorrow morning, but we still need to find Bastila, so tomorrow will be a busy day. We can't afford to be fighting or else we have no chance to find Bastila before the Sith do" Melina begged, stepping between the two men.
Revan shrugged and plopped down on the nearest bunk, ignoring Carth's weathering glare and kicking his boots off, looking up at Carth and Melina who were glaring at him.
Revan shrugged again and closed his eyes, falling asleep only a few seconds later.
The next morning, Revan woke up and used the refresher quickly before waking Carth and Melina. The other two set up their bags and used the refresher before leaving the apartment, going to the medical center to pick up some medpacks before moving on to the elevator.
Revan casually walked up to the guard, expecting Sarna to let him in.
"Oh, Avner, who are they?" Sarna asked.
"They are my hired bodyguards. I heard that the Vulkars will take shots at anybody so I guessed and hired some extra guns instead of having to fight a street gang in the street by myself" Revan explained.
"Like the future dueling champion of the lower city needs an armed guard" Sarna joked. Revan smiled at her and laughed whole heartedly at the joke.
"I guess I am just paranoid about my safety. I trust this won't be a problem?" Revan asked, giving Sarna a flirtatious grin. Through the mask, Revan could swear that Sarna was blushing, though the silver Sith mask made it impossible for Revan to tell for sure.
"That's not going to be a problem, Avner. Good luck" Sarna said, unlocking the door to the elevator. Revan smiled and walked into the elevator, Carth and Melina following him closely.
Revan gave Sarna one last smirk as the elevator door closed and they began to descend into the lower city.
"See, Carth? We'll be fine" Revan said, walking out to be spotted by a rodian with a desire to shoot everything in sight.
"Outsiders are not welcome here!" the Rodian hissed, angrily grabbing a pistol.
The three rodians were no match for the team of the Republic Captain, Jedi Knight, and former Sith Lord as they were cut down quickly.
Revan sighed and walked down the hall, stopping at the cantina to look around for people spying on then before walking in. he walked to the dueling ring where another Hutt was sitting at the back end of the room.
Just before Revan walked into the duel room, he noticed more rodians surrounding a young blue Twi'lek.
"Hey Zaalbar, could you give me a hand over here?" the twi'lek called out. A large brown Wookiee responded to her.
"I'm a little busy right now actually, Mission!" the Wookiee growled back in shyriiwook.
Rolling his eyes, Revan stormed over to stand over one of the rodians.
"Is there a problem here?" Revan asked, narrowing his eyes at the Rodian.
"Little girl is Vulkar enemy; she supports Beks. We Vulkars don't like that" the Rodian said.
"And the Wookiee?" Revan asked.
"Wookiee is friend of little girl. They cause problems for Vulkars. We stop them now" the Vulkar said.
"Before you do that, let me enlighten you about something. These two are your enemy. Vulkars are my enemy. My mother always told me that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so I suggest you and your friends leave under your own power before I personally make sure none of you are able to walk under your own power ever again" Revan threatened.
Enraged, the Rodian flung himself at Revan, only to be caught and have his neck broken on the spot.
Seeing that, the rest of the rodians attacked all at once but Revan defended Mission while Carth and Melina rescued Zaalbar from his own captors.
Soon after the first Rodian's death, Mission and Zaalbar were seated across from Revan, Carth, and Melina in a booth.
"That should solve your Vulkar problems, at least for now" Revan commented.
"Thanks for the help. Nobody else would have done anything to help us" Mission told them.
"Well, I have a problem with the Vulkars" Revan said flatly.
"I can see that, but is there any way I can repay you for helping us? I know just about everything that goes on in the lower city and the Undercity so I can give you some information" Mission suggested, her eyes gleaming mischievously.
"Mission, we need information about the Republic escape pods that crashed into the Undercity" Melina whispered to the young twi'lek.
"Now why would you need information about something like that?' Mission asked, her features looking more tight and nervous than before.
"Mission, we are Republic soldiers who crashed on this planet since the space battle overhead. If we don't find Bastila and get back to the republic fast, Malak will win the war" Revan explained.
Mission took a few minutes of silence before she responded to Revan absolutely rocking her world.
"Well, I can't say I am not surprised to hear that, but I think you should go to Gadon with your questions. I think Gadon will be happy to answer your questions and he will probably be able to do a better job than me. In case you don't know, Gadon is in the Bek base just across the hall. Tell the sentry that Mission sent you and they will let you speak to Gadon" Mission told them.
"Thanks for the help, Mission" Melina said, waving goodbye to the teenage twi'lek and her large Wookiee friend.
"Carth, Melina, you two go to Gadon and try to find out information on Bastila. Meet back here when you are done" Revan ordered.
"What will you be doing, Avner?" Carth asked suspiciously.
"I will fight in this duel ring to get us a little more spare cash. It might also be a way to impress one of the gangs to help us gain entry into the race" Revan replied.
"Avner, these duels are to the death" Melina whispered.
"I know. It's why I will be the one taking this risk. Neither one of you should be taking this risk, not at this point in our search for Bastila" Revan told them.
"As a Jedi, I cannot allow you to risk your life like that" Melina told him.
"Well it isn't your choice, Melina. I am the one who is willing to make this choice, and there is nothing you can say or the Jedi Council can do to make me change this decision. I will do this to save Bastila. We can do more split up so that is what we are going to do" Revan told them.
"Alright Avner, good luck" Carth told him, obviously impressed by the devotion that the former smuggler had to finding Bastila. Carth had a begrudging respect for Revan after that, but partly because Carth didn't know that Avner was really Revan.
Melina had respect for Revan simply because of what Revan did in the Mandalorian Wars, his pure power of being able to break the control of the Jedi Council's mind wipe, and because after being a Sith lord, he was still so driven to find Bastila. There wasn't anyone else who would do that much.
With those thoughts going through their heads, Melina and Carth turned and moved toward the Bek base while Revan went to talk to the Hutt in the back of the cantina.
Author's Note: I know this story is going slow and I apologize for that. I will try to get going faster after Taris, but it will be 5 or 6 more chapters I think. So stick with me until then, and I think the overall quality of the story will improve. But that is coming from the writer, so you should review and tell me what you think. Tell me what I am doing right or wrong or anything you want to say. I would really appreciate it. Thanks everybody!