Sorry I haven't added to this story for awhile. I'm going to be pumping out some more chapters in the next few days as I'm feeling inspired right now. Hope you are still enjoying it!

Disclaimer: I can claim no ownership of the characters or places in this fiction.

Day Nine

Another busy day and I feel we might be a step closer to finding Bastila. Carth doesn't think we should completely trust Gadon Thek, but I feel differently somehow. Gadon may be the leader of a swoop gang, but there is a sense of honor about him that is hard to miss. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I should start at the beginning of this day.

I was anxious to take care of this business with Holden so that we could tell Dia the good news, so the first thing after breakfast we headed down to the Lower City after donning our uncomfortable Sith uniforms. Whoever designed these suits must have been a sadist.

We had no trouble entering the Lower City but in my haste, I had not considered the time of day. The cantina was quiet in the early morning hours and even a drunk like Holden was nowhere to be seen. We headed over to the Hidden Bek Base to see if Gadon was awake. He was.

"Have you decided to help us find our friend?" I asked.

"I've found out more about Brejik's plan for Bastila," Gadon replied. "Apparently she's to be the grand prize in the Season Opener of the swoop races. Winner gets the girl."

"Swoop races?" Carth repeated. "Where do you think Brejik is keeping her?"

"Definitely not at the Vulkar Base, she's too valuable a prize, I'd wager," Gadon replied. "The only way to get your friend back is to win first place in the swoop race."

"Gadon, can you help us with this?" I asked. I had no memory of ever riding a swoop bike, but I was willing to give it a shot.

"I might," Gadon said, thoughtfully. "There is something you need to do for me first. The Vulkars stole an accelerator for our modified swoop engine last week. Without it, we don't stand a chance. If you can steal it back for us, I'll let you ride the modified bike with it. You'll ride under the Bek banner of course."

"Why would you let us do that?" I wondered.

Gadon looked a bit uncomfortable. "To tell you the truth, that accelerator hasn't been tested before. Something could go wrong. It's a risk to put a Bek on it. But if you accept, and ride in the race, and you happen to win, it will sway a lot of young folks to join the Beks instead of the Vulkars. This war has been hard on us and we've lost a lot of good people. We need to bring more over to our side. You'll get what you want, and we'll get what we want."

"I don't think…" Carth began.

"We'll do it," I answered, cutting off Carth's refusal. He looked at me sharply. "Carth, I've got a sharp eye and good reflexes. I can drive a swoop."

Carth pulled me a few steps away from Gadon and said in a low voice, "Skye, how do we know we can trust this guy to keep his word? He's a gang leader."

"It's always a trust thing with you, isn't it? Don't you trust anyone?" I replied.

"No, I don't. And if you were smart, you wouldn't either," Carth retorted.

"That's a terrible way to live, Carth. Are you always this suspicious?"

"Yes, I don't trust anyone. They can all turn against you at any moment," he replied, anger beginning to stir in his voice.

"What happened to you?" I shook my head in wonder. I knew that something traumatic must have imprinted itself on Carth's mind. He seemed very adamant.

"I don't want to talk about it," he snapped. "Look, let's just continue on with the search. We don't need to be errand runners for gang bosses."

"I'm sorry, Carth. But instinct is telling me that Gadon is honest. I'm going to get his accelerator for him AND I'm going to win that race!" I turned about.

"Skye…" Carth tried, but I was already speaking with Gadon again.

"Where can I find your accelerator, Gadon?" I asked.

Gadon explained that it would be in the Vulkar base but it was impossible to enter through the secure door. He suggested that we enter it through the sewers in the Undercity."

"You've done this before?" I asked.

"No," Gadon replied. "But Mission Vao has. She and her Wookie have explored every nook and cranny of the sewers and she's told me that she found the entrance. Convince her to be your guide."

"Where can I find her?" I asked, remembering the young Twi'lek and her Wookie from our earlier meeting. "Is she here?"

"No, I believe she is down in the Undercity right now. You may have to ask around down there. Give me your Sith uniforms and I'll give you some security papers. You won't need your uniforms anymore with the papers."

Carth remained fuming silently next to me while I made the exchange with Gadon. We really had to work on these trust issues he had.

When we stepped outside the base, I turned to face the brooding man. "Listen, we need to work together here, Carth. If you have a problem with me, then let's talk about it."

"You just gave away our Sith disguises! How do you know these security papers will even work? Gadon Thek could have just swindled us!"

I shook my head in amazement. "I'm beginning to pity you, Carth. You don't even trust me, do you?"

"It's nothing personal. I don't trust anyone, even myself," he replied. "And I don't need your pity or your psycho analysis!"

"If we are going to work together, you are going to have to share a bit more here," I snapped. "I need to feel we are a team."

"We ARE a team," Carth snapped back. "Damn it! You have to be the most persistent damn woman I know. I have my reasons, o.k. I don't trust easily because I've been deceived before."

"Haven't we all?" I said, throwing up my hands in the air.

"Look, I'm not going to talk about this now, so can we please get on with our duties. Personally, I don't completely trust Gadon and I think we should check around the Lower City for Bastila before we head into the sewers."

"Fine," I conceded. "There are a few apartment blocks down here we can search. I saw them on my map. But if Bastila's not here, we are going into the sewers."

The tension was thick between us as we searched the apartments. They were crawling with Black Vulkars and we had plenty of confrontations with these slimes as we swept every room we could open. A few rooms had surprising security devices and I chalked it up to my scoundrel skills that I was able to figure them out and reap the rewards. These Vulkars had some very useful things. We ended up with a few energy shields and some better armor from our search – but no Bastila.

We also ran into a government bounty named Selven. She was a vicious killer for hire that went a little too far on one of her jobs, according to Zax. I might have left her alone if she hadn't been so mean and nasty when we confronted her. After all, I wasn't into being a bounty hunter. She attacked us and Carth and I finished her. It was a tough fight, though.

Speaking of bounty hunters, we also ran into that Calo Nord fellow. We watched as he gunned down two bounties for that crime boss, Davik. Calo Nord was extremely fast with the blasters.

Everywhere we went there seemed to be some sort of corruption going on. A Mandalorian named Canderous Ordo was working for Davik too, making sure people were paying Davik on time. People seemed genuinely scared of Canderous. We tried to have a word with him, but he had no time for us.

We also found one other bounty; a Twi'lek named Matrik, hiding out in one apartment. He turned traitor on Davik and testified against him in court. Now Davik wanted him dead but I had no desire to do Davik's dirty work for him. In fact, I felt a bit sad about Matrik's situation and offered to help him. The guy wants a permacrete detonator in order to blow up the apartment and fake his death. Carth and I agreed that it just may work and if we could find such a device, we'd be back.

By the time we finished searching the Lower City apartments, we realized that it was approaching late afternoon and we headed for the cantina to see if Holden was there yet. And yes, there he was, slobbering over the Twi'lek dancers. He seemed surprised that we had returned and I gave him the two hundred credits then followed him to Zax to make sure he took the bounty of Dia's head. Zax also paid us the bounty for Selven, surprised that we had managed to take her down.

As Carth and I headed back to the Upper City this evening, we both silently contemplated our argument earlier. I knew he was thinking about it too as I glanced covertly at his face. Something or someone had really done a number on Carth. I wondered if it was a woman, perhaps a cheating wife. What had shaken Carth's trust so thoroughly?

And should I even care? Was it really any of my business? I find that I'm feeling more for Carth than I probably should. It has grown comfortable having him around and in a way; he has a positive effect on me. There are times when I get so frustrated that I feel I could easily loose control in a battle situation, but then there is Carth by my side and I somehow feel I must uphold certain standards. He keeps me honest. And I suppose I like myself better like that.

I think I already mentioned how attractive I find him. Maybe it's best that he doesn't trust me. If he did let me get closer to him, I'm not sure how I'd react. Perhaps I'd lose myself. But then again, I'm not really sure who I really am anyway.

A group of drunks stopped us on our way back to the apartment, shaking us out of our thoughts.

"Hey… you shlummies should stay down in the Lower City where you belong," one of them slurred, stepping in our path.

"Except for you, sweetheart," said another, stepping closer to me.

"Hey, hey, that's enough," Carth warned, putting his arm between me and the drunk man.

The other drunks began closing in around Carth and I knew there would be trouble if something wasn't done immediately. The Sith patrolling the streets were beginning to stop and look towards us. I didn't want to risk being taken in for questioning by them.

"Look guys, we are all friends here. Why don't we buy you a round of drinks at the cantina?" I cajoled.

Carth looked at me like I was crazy, but his eye suddenly caught sight of the approaching Sith as well. "Yes, how about some drinks?" Carth said.

"Drinks?" a drunk said, his head wobbling. "You gonna buy them? You're not bad for a shlummie."

"No more drinks," slurred another. "Got to go home…"

"Yeah, come on."

Carth and I watched as the drunks stumbled away, laughing and forgetting about us completely. The Sith guard approaching lost interest and turned about.

"That was close," I sighed. "Come on, let's go tell Dia she's off the hook."

Thanks to the drunks, the silence between Carth and I was now broken and we both seemed relieved as we walked on.

"So you're not upset that we raided those apartments today?" I asked.

"Taking from Vulkars? No, I'm not upset. They probably stole everything they had anyway," Carth replied.

I felt emboldened by the easy chit chat and decided to broach a more serious topic.

"Carth," I said in my most empathetic voice, "please tell me about what happened to you. I really, sincerely, want to know you better."

Carth turned his face towards mine and looked into my eyes for a moment as if he were sizing me up. It made my heart skip a beat all the same. Then he looked straight ahead as we continued walking.

"There was a man, an admiral in the Republic Army that I served under, Admiral Saul Karath. He was a damn good leader and a good friend. We were able to successfully repel the Mandalorians from our home planet when the Jedi Revan and Malak sent their fleets to our aide. I was proud to have served under Admiral Karath. He was a hero to me."

"Go on," I encouraged.

"Then, when Revan and Malak returned from wherever they had disappeared to, they had become Sith and were recruiting all the good men they could find for their new Sith Armada. They were able to convince Saul to join with them," Carth said with difficulty. "Saul wanted me to come along with him, but I refused. I was shocked and disgusted that he would become a Sith. I had thought him to be a good man."

"I'm sorry, Carth," I replied.

"Oh that's not the worst of it," Carth answered, anger filling his tone. "Saul turned against our home planet, the planet he had helped save from the Mandalorians. He turned around and attacked it, giving his new Sith masters the codes to bypass our security systems. They destroyed so much, so many died…" Carth grew quiet and looked away a moment.

I stopped walking and took his hand, pulling him around to face me. "Carth, that's terrible. I'm sorry."

His eyebrows knitted with anger. "That's not all! But I don't want to talk about it. I should have stopped it! All I know is that I'm going to get Saul one way or another. He's going to pay!"

I moved my fingers up his arms to try to calm him. "Carth, you have a right to be angry. I understand that. But I'm not Saul."

"I know that. I'm sorry I'm being such an ass, it's just that…" Carth's eyes shifted about, angry and nervous. Then he locked his gaze on mine. "I won't be fooled again, Skye. Not by you, not by anyone!" He shrugged out of my embrace and stalked on at a quick pace. I realized the conversation was over for now, but at least I found out what his wound was, or at least part of it.

I followed a distance behind as Carth entered our apartment. I didn't go in after him. I felt a bit of alone time was what Carth needed at the moment. I went next door to visit with Dia and tell her the good news. She was extremely happy and grateful. I really felt good about doing that for her, so good that I decided to help that Matrik fellow as well.

After I left her apartment, I went to Keebla Yurt's store and purchased the permacrete detonator for Matrik. I hoped he'd be all right until tomorrow because there was no way I was going down to the Lower City tonight.

I felt restless tonight and I didn't want to go back to the apartment yet, so I headed for the cantina. And there he was, Bendak Starkiller! He noticed me lingering around him and asked, "What do you want? I'm not giving autoprints today, so move along."

"Maybe I don't want an autoprint from you, Bendak. Maybe I'd rather collect that big bounty on your head," I stated, emboldened by a few drinks.

Bendak laughed. "Good luck, little bounty hunter. Pull out your weapon in here and the automated targeting system will gun you down."

"You have to leave sometime, Bendak," I said, smugly.

"Why would I want to leave? I've got everything I need here," he replied. "Tell you what. I've seen you in the duel ring, but you haven't impressed me. If you can beat all those other pretenders, I'll consider facing you in a Death Match. You'll get your bounty if you win."

"I'll see you later, then," I boldly asserted.

"Good luck," he laughed.

I really shouldn't have had those drinks tonight. That Tarisian ale really does pack a punch. I headed straight for the dueling arena and challenged that cold bitch, Ice. We had some nasty words, and my mood was really not a good one. Azure was happy that I was back and it seemed that the men were very excited at the prospect of a duel between two women.

Need I tell you how it turned out? I stuck with my vibroblade the whole time, but Ice used a combination of blaster and blade. It was a tougher fight than Gerlon, but she went down. I surprise myself at these times. I really wish I remembered how I learned to fight like I do. It is almost instinctual.

The purse was a nice 300 credits and I smiled at Bendak knowingly as I passed him by on my way out of the cantina.

Now I sit here on my bed, writing in this journal while Carth is fast asleep on his bed next to mine. At least I think he is asleep. His back is turned and I can gaze on his shoulders, arms and back at my leisure. How long has it been since I've been with a man? Have I ever been with a man? I wish I could remember.

I reached my hand across, hovering close to Carth's shoulder. I can feel the heat coming off of his skin, but I quickly pulled back. What is this man doing to me?

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