Chapter 2

On the bridge of a star cruiser, a female Jedi was fighting a cloaked Sith. He was a Sith as he was fighting against her with a red sithsaber. They continued to duel each other, the red lightsaber clashing against her yellow lightsaber. The female Jedi stood her ground. Then everything went black.

_

Kanaan woke up suddenly, finding himself on a bed in a room he didn't really recognise. He felt his head was hurting. He got up off the bed, he saw that republic soldier, he vaguely remembers a couple feet away in the room. Kanaan walked over to him.
"Good to see you up, instead of thrashing around in your sleep. You must have been having one hell of a nightmare. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to wake up. I'm Carth Onasi, one of the Republic soldiers from the Endar Spire. I was with you on the escape pod. You remember that right?" He asked.
"I had a strange dream like a vision of something." Kanaan said, rubbing a palm of his hand against his head.
"I'm not surprised. You took a serious blow to the head. You're probably having all sorts of strange dreams and nightmares. For now, I wouldn't worry about it. You've been slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple of days now, so I imagine you're pretty confused about things. Try not to worry; we're safe for now, at least. You see we're in an abandoned apartment on the planet Taris. You were banged up pretty bad, when our escape pod crashed. Luckily I wasn't too seriously hurt. I was able to drag you away from the crash site in all the confusion and I stumbled onto this apartment. By the time the Sith arrived at the scene of the crash, we were long gone." Carth explained.
"I guess I owe you my life then," Kanaan said.
"You don't need to thank me," Carth said. "I've never abandoned anyone on a mission, and I'm not going to start now. Besides I'm going to need your help. Because Taris is under Sith control, their fleet is orbiting the planet, they've declared martial law, and they've imposed a planet wide quarantine. But I've been in worse spots. I saw on your service records that you understand a remarkable number of alien languages. Which is pretty rare in raw recruits, but it should come in handy while on a foreign planet like this. For now there's no way that the Republic will be able to get anyone through that Sith blockade to help us. If we're going to find Bastila and get off this planet, we can't rely on anybody but ourselves."
"Why is it so important to find Bastila anyway?" Kanaan asked him. His head was still hurting.
"That smack to your head did more damage than I thought. Bastila's a Jedi, she was a part of the Jedi strike team that killed Darth Revan, Malak's Sith Master. Bastila is the key to the whole Republic war effort. The Sith must have found out she was on the Endar Spire and set an ambush for us in this system. I believe Bastila was on one of the escape pods that crashed down here on Taris. For the sake of the Republic war effort, we have to try and find her."
"How can one Jedi be so important?" Kanaan posed another question to him.
"Bastila is no ordinary Jedi, she has a rare gift the Jedi call Battle Meditation, which can influence entire armies, through the Force she can inspire her allies with confidence and make her enemies lose the will to fight. Often that's all it takes to tip the balance in battle. Of course there are limits to what she can do, but from what I understand it takes great concentration and focus to maintain this Battle Meditation. The attack on the Endar Spire happened so fast, she never got a chance to use it and like us barely got out alive."
"So what do you suggest we do next?" Kanaan asked him.
"Bastila's going to need our help. Many of Darth Malak's minions can use the dark side of the Force, and the Sith have already killed their fair share of Jedi in this war. Nobody will be looking for a couple of common soldiers like us. And if we're careful we can move around the planet, without attracting notice; a luxury Bastila won't have. Like I've said the whole planet is under quarantine, the Sith will be after her, and if she's alive, and wants to escape Taris, she's going to need our help. We'll probably need hers." Carth said.
"Any ideas where we should start looking for her?" Kanaan asked another question.
"While you were out, I did some scouting around. There are reports of a couple escape pods crashing down into the under city. That's probably a good place to start. But it's a dangerous place, we don't want to go in there unprepared. It won't do Bastila any good if we go and get ourselves killed." Carth said.
"Well let's get going, the sooner we find her, the better." Kanaan said.
"Good idea, we can use this apartment as a base and we can probably get some equipment and some supplies up here in the Upper City. Just remember to keep a low profile. I've heard some grim stories about the Dark Jedi interrogation techniques. They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind. It can wipe away your memories and destroy your very identity. But I figure if we don't do anything stupid we should be okay, after all they're looking for Bastila. Alright soldier let's move out." Carth said.
Kanaan looked around the room. There was a main door a couple feet away. Across the room was a workbench, a couple of opened footlockers. There were two beds in the room and Kanaan's equipment was beside the bed. He walked over and picked it up. At the back of the room were two darkened windows overlooking the city. Kanaan and Carth walked over to the main door, and opened it. They stepped out into the corridor.

Further up in the corridor, they saw a confrontation between three Duros and a man in uniform with two security droids, and they were armed.
"There was a patrol here just yesterday, and they found nothing! Why do you Sith keep bothering us?" One of the Duros demanded.
The office acted first, firing at the Duro that had spoken. Lasers poured into his chest and he went down to the ground.
"That's how we Sith deal with smart-mouth aliens! Now the rest of you get up against the wall before I lose my temper again." The Sith officer said.
"They need our help," Carth said.
The Sith officer heard him. The officer and the two droids turned around and looked at Carth and Kanaan further up the corridor.
"Hey what's this? Humans hiding with aliens?" The Sith officer spat. Then it dawned on him. "They're republic fugitives. Attack!" The Sith officer and the two droids started firing at Kanaan and Carth.
Carth and Kanaan took out their own blasters and started firing back. Kanaan with his free hand tossed a frag grenade over at one of the droids', it landed on the ground beside the droid and detonated. That droid went down to the ground, just as the two Duro's joined in on the fight. They fought the Sith Officer using his hands. While he was distracted Carth shot him several times in the back as Kanaan finished off the other droid. The Sith officer fell down to the ground. Kanaan and Carth walked over to the two remaining Duros.
"Poor Ixgil, he should have kept his mouth shut." One of the Duros said. "Thanks anyway."
"Don't worry about the mess, we'll clean it up." The other Duro said.
"Your both welcome," Kanaan said. He walked over to the dead corpse and took away some of the officer's credits.

The two of them turned and walked up the round, circular corridor. They walked past their apartment, and carried on walking. Further up the corridor was an elderly looking man walking alongside a small cleaning droid. The man turned around and looked at the two men.
"Hey, watch where you're walking. I've just been cleaning these floors." The elderly man said.
"Sorry," Kanaan replied.
"Well alright then, no hard feelings." The man said, smiling briefly. "My name is Kadir; I'm the janitor of this building. You must be new tenants here right? I never thought they'd rent out that abandoned apartment. Hmm, you look like an off-worlder. What happened, you got stuck here because of the quarantine? Can't see any other reason why anyone would want that old apartment."
"Well you could be the right there." Kanaan said, not wanting to reveal much to him. "I have to go now. So I'll be seeing you around."
"Right okay then, goodbye and good luck." Kadir replied. He and the droid continued walking, going about their business.

They continued walking up the corridor, about to walk past another apartment, when the door opened and this female Twi'lek came out of the apartment and stepped into the corridor. The Twi'lek glanced at both Carth and Kanaan, and then walked off, walking past both of them as her apartment door closed. Kanaan and Carth kept on making their way around the building. They kept on walking until they eventually see this other male Twi'lek stood by the side of the corridor, stood at a stand, with all these products for sale as well as circular containers that stood off the ground up right, filled with gear probably. The Twi'lek looked at Carth and Kanaan, and there was a surprised look on his face.
"Well, I don't see too many of your kind around here. Most of the residents around here in this run down building are illegal aliens. My name is Larim by the way." The Twi'lek introduced himself.
"My name is Kanaan." Kanaan introduced himself in return.
"I know it's not really any of my business, but you look like someone who might need some of these new energy shields. They're the latest thing, they're very high tech." Larim said.
"No thanks, I don't want any energy shields." Kanaan said. "I've heard about them before."
"You sure about that, I hear they even protect you from lightsabers, for a limited time only." Larim said. "As they're not perfect you know."
"Anything else for sale?" Kanaan asked him.
"You want to look at what I have in stock? Its reasonable price, not much to look at. But hey, it's better than nothing." Larim said. "I've got a couple medpacs, computer spikes and parts available."
"I'll buy two medpacs and computer spikes then." Kanaan said, taking out some credits.
Larim picked up a few from the stand and handed it over to Kanaan. Kanaan then paid him the credits.
"Thank you." Larim said. "I'll see you around."
"Goodbye," Kanaan said.

Kanaan and Carth continued walking in the corridor, walking past yet another apartment. There was a loud bang that came from inside the apartment. The two of them looked at each other, and drew their weapons. Kanaan moved in first, and using a security pick, opened the apartment door. There was a woman on the floor of apartment, and a kid. She was lying on the floor by the dining table.
"My mommy's collapsed, please help!" The boy shouted.
Carth and Kanaan ran over to help her. Carth kneeled down by her side, and checked her pulse.
"She's still alive." Carth said.
Kanaan saw that there was a bottle of some sort of liquid, and another drink on the table. Kanaan looked over at the woman and heard her groan; she was coming around.
"She's waking up," Carth said, standing up to his feet and stepping back from her.
"W-who are you people?" The woman said, getting to her feet. "What are you doing here?" She said sharply.
"You could've died," Kanaan argued.
"Well I didn't and I didn't need your help." The woman said. "You can't go around barging into people's home."
"Sorry," Carth said, shaking his head.
The woman cooled a bit. "At least you're not as bad as that pig Holdan."
"Who's Holdan?" Kanaan asked her.
"Just of one Davik's men who can't keep his hands to himself. But all he got for his trouble was a nasty scar from my viroblade. Too bad I'm still the one paying the price." The woman said.
"What do you mean by that?" Carth asked her.
"I don't want to talk about it," The woman shook her head. "I don't know if I can trust you."
"You can trust me," Kanaan said, trying to persuade her. "Maybe we can help you."
"Well I suppose you seem alright. When I cut Holdan it made him back off, but it also in embarrassed him in front of his friends. He's a very spiteful man; they nearly tried taking my son Ari. But that's when I struck out at him you see. So instead of taking my son, they put a bounty on my head. That's why I'm hiding out here." The woman said.
"Is there anything I can do to help you out?" Kanaan asked her.
"I doubt it; Holdan is one of Davik's men. When you work for the local crime lord, the local authorities turn to tend a blind eye. I'm afraid it's between me and Holdan now." The woman said.
"Maybe I could speak to Holdan for you," Kanaan said.
"You could try I guess. He usually hangs out in the Cantina in the Lower City. It probably won't do any good; Holdan's used to getting his own way." The woman said shaking her head, in almost accepting defeat. "That's one of the fringe benefits of being a goon for Davik. Working for the local crime lord lets you get away with things. Still I appreciate the offer." The woman said.
"I have to be going now." Kanaan said.
"The name's Vera by the way." The woman said, smiling. "Good luck, I hope you can talk some sense into Davik."
"Goodbye," Both Carth and Kanaan said.
The two of them made their way out of the apartment. They eventually kept on walking and found the elevator that took them down to the ground level of the building in the upper city.

They came out onto a platform of the upper city. They could see the skyline, there were other buildings nearby. There were other people walking about. Straight ahead, or as good as, there was a walkway that went underneath a huge building. The two of them began walking towards it. Kanaan sensed there was something bothering Carth. Kanaan turns to look at him.
"I'd like to know more about you Carth," Kanaan said.
"Well my home world was one of the first planets to fall to Malak's fleet. The Sith bombed it into submission and there wasn't a damn thing our Republic forces could do to stop them." Carth said.
"I'm sorry to hear that Carth, it must be very painful for you." Kanaan said.
Carth was silent for a few moments. "I'm just a soldier; I go where the fleet admirals tell me to. I follow my orders and I do my duty. It just…." He sighed. "It just doesn't seem right that doing that means that I failed them! I didn't."
"I'm sorry Carth; I didn't mean to upset you." Kanaan said.
"It's okay," Carth said, shrugging. "You didn't know. And I shouldn't take it out on you. Let's get going with our mission."

Kanaan and Carth walked under the archway, the walkway led off to the right, where there was a door to a shop. Outside on the wall it said in bold letters "Keila's Shop". Kanaan opened the door and they went inside out of curiosity. As the door opened, it revealed a medium sized room; they stepped inside the room. There was equipment lined up on shelves such as armour, combat suits. There was a dark skinned woman stood behind a desk, and there was droid some work in the next room.
"What have you got for sale?" Kanaan asked her.
"Well the Sith confiscated most of the heavy stuff, and they've impounded the swoop bikes. I've still got a nice selection. As you can see." The woman said.
Kanaan looked past her and saw there were viroblades, double bladed swords, short swords, ion blasters, blaster pistols hanging on shelves and racked up on the back wall. There were footlockers and various other containers on the ground with equipment.
"It's okay for now, I'll come back later," Kanaan said.
"Alright see you around," The woman replied, smiling.
Kanaan and Carth turned around and walked out of the shop. They continued walking to the right, to continue exploring the city. They could see up ahead that the walkway lead to a huge building complex of some sort. They arrived at the entrance to the building. There were two Sith Troopers stood over to one side. On the huge doors it said "Upper City Cantina". The two of them came into the Cantina.