Thank you for being so patient in waiting for this update. The next chapter is almost finished so it shouldn't take long for me to update the next chapter.
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Taris Local Time 09.30
"You seriously owe me a drink after all this is finished"
The words where gritted out between teeth clenched against pain and annoyance.
"This is the fifth time that these damn Vulkars have attacked us. It's a good job we're in a hurry because I'm seriously tempted to teach these guy's a lesson."
The ranting continued as more Vulkars poured from the nearby apartments. Carth could only grin, how she managed to keep up the never-ending tirade of remarks and insults while simultaneously beating the snot out of these thug's he'd never know.
They'd spent an uneasy night – apart as usual – Carth having decided to get some rest after she'd announced that she was heading over to the cantina to play more Pazak. He had to admit that she seemed to be pretty good at the game, judging by the number of credits she'd shown him this morning.
They'd headed off at dawn to make there way into the lowercity or Taris dressed in their stolen uniforms. Luckily no one checked up on their story and they'd made it down safe. That was almost three hours ago and he was hot and sweating with the constant battling of these damn Vulkars.
He took careful aim down the sight of his blaster before firing at the twi'lek stood not 3 feet away from Raven, his sword raised to attack her exposed back. Even as his blaster bolt seared clean into the guy's chest he saw the metallic sheen of Raven's blade being pulled free of his stomach.
As the last of the now dead Vulkars hit the ground he gave a relieved sigh.
"Finally – you'd think they where targeting us on purpose."
He spoke, wiping the sweat stinging his eyes on the back of his jacket sleeve. Raven stood in the modified Echani armour she'd picked up from Kelba Yurt the night before. The blue material like armour was light but incredibly strong, conforming to every single one of her curves.
Carth had to gulp to suppress his feelings while leaning heavily against the wall for support in catching his breath.
"I know what you mean. I'm almost tempted to head back up to the apartment just so we can take a shower – well almost."
Her voice was teasing as she watched him regain his composure. Her smile was brief but mischievous and he had to suppress a groan.
"We might as well take advantage of all these – vacated – apartments. Rest a little before we move on."
"Good idea beautiful I could use a drink."
He followed her into the nearby apartment watching as she unzipped the jacket part of her armour to reveal a plain white cami. It hung to her stomach or at least it did when she wasn't moving, or standing, or stretching…Ok Onasi get a grip.
He purposely turned his attention away as she headed towards the nearby sink. The corner of his eye just catching sight of the intricately designed tattoo that sat just above her left hip. It was partially hidden as it dipped below the waist of the pants she wore.
Frowning he remembered that it wasn't the only tattoo she had, he'd noticed another though much smaller at the join of her collarbones. Both had the same design and they reminded him of something just out of his mental reach.
"Here"
She said handing him the filled glass of water, while she took a deep drink of her own. She'd splashed water on her face and it had clung gently to the black eyelashes surrounding her dark eyes.
"We should probably head towards the cantina. See who we need to speak to about getting us down into the lowercity. I sure as hell don't want to carry these uniforms around much longer."
"Me either, we'll head over in a minute. I'm pretty sure we'll end up having to speak with the Hidden Beks though, judging by our reception here they'll probably be our only option."
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Just over an hour later Raven found herself being physically restrain by Carth. They'd come face to face with Gaddon Thek the leader of the Hidden Beks, but there conversation had taken a turn for the worse when Gaddon's twi'lek bodyguard had said something she shouldn't of.
"I'll show you Sith you Frackin' bitrak."
The words began tumbling out of her so fast she had trouble being certain what they meant. She did know that was spouting off in twi'leki and that none of it was remotely complementary.
A sudden wrench and a deft twist from Carth had her thrown against the nearest wall. His bodyweight preventing her from moving, although she could easily of shoved him aside she recognised the command in his voice as he ordered her to stand down.
Her eyes duelled with his for a full minute before she allowed herself to breath in and break eye contact.
"Yes sir."
He released her and turned to face Gaddon.
"I didn't know a human could curse that creatively in twi'leki. You should probably apologize Zaedra – I think that you offended the nice Republic officers with your insinuations."
"Just because they show such objection doesn't make it any less true."
"Zaedra!"
"Yes sir, I…apologise for my accusations."
"Thanks"
The words where drawn from Carth with wry amusement, Raven on the other hand was still having difficulty controlling her need to plant her fist in the smug twi'leks face.
"Look we didn't come here looking for trouble – we wanted to ask or your help."
"What can the Hidden Beks do for you?"
Gaddon asked.
"Well sir, we're trying to find a way down into the undercity. We're looking for a … friend that may be down there."
"Ah you are Republic then? You'll be wanting to check out those escape pods that crashed down there hmmm? I might be able to help you if I knew what it was that you where looking for."
"Our … friend Bastila – she's an officer in the Republic fleet, she had vital information that is crucial to the war effort."
"I'm sorry son, but if you're looking for that particular officer then I have some bad news, she was taken captive by the Black Vulkars – our main rivals down here. Vicious bunch they are. I'm afraid that she's been taken as a slave."
"Bastila's a slave? We have to help her. Is there anything you can do?"
Carth pleaded, Raven was running things over in her head attempting to come up with some sort of plan.
"We have to rescue her."
The words where torn from her lips, loath as she was to admit to wanting to help a Jedi.
"I agree lieutenant. Is there anything you can do Gaddon? Anything at all?"
"Well from what I've been able to hear this – Bastila – of yours is currently the first prize in the annual swoop-bike race for the lowercity. She's been posted as a sort of – entry fee – by Brejek the leader of the Vulkars."
"So what, we'd need to break into the Vulkars base? We got a look at the entrance on our way through here. There isn't a chance we could get past that kind of security on our own."
"There wouldn't be much point anyway, from what our spy's have been able to find out it seems Brejek – the paranoid bastard – has got her locked up somewhere else. None of my people have been able to find out where, the only way you'll manage to get her is to win the swoop race."
"We don't even have a swoop, let alone a gang backing us. From what I remember from the holo-net you can't enter the race unless you're part of the gangs down here. The race is supposed to determine who controls what. A way to lessen the bloodshed."
"You've done your homework kid, only registered members of an established gang can take part in this race."
Carth was watching he with wry amusement, he'd noticed the moment I'd dropped all hostilities and focused on the mission.
"But I might be able to help you. I could enter you as a racer for the Hidden Beks, I you can do me a favour. We've been working on a prototype for a swoop-bike accelerator -"
"What! Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea just how precise the calculations have to be, to even attempt to alter a swoop-bike's parameters? We're talking less then .00052 variation -"
"Smart as well as beautiful huh? Yes I know the calculation need to be more then precise – they need to be perfect. I've been working on this for the past five years; it's been a hobby of mine. Anyway we'd finally managed to get it working when the damn Vulkars attacked our base. We managed to hold them off but the accelerator was stolen in the process. If you can manage to get it back, I have no problems entering you in the race. All I'm interested in is helping to stabilise the lowercity. I don't believe in slavery."
I watched Carth as he stood there for a moment obviously going over the logistics of such an operation.
"Your still asking us to break into a heavily guarded base filled with thug's who I'm guessing wont take kindly to strangers. It's a huge risk for just the two of us."
"Not if you can find the back way in."
That caught my attention.
"Who would be stupid enough to have such an obvious vulnerability in a base like that?"
"I never said that Brejek was smart, but then again I don't think they believe that it is vulnerable. You'd have to head down into the undercity to even have a chance at finding it – and you'll need the help of a friend of mine. You might have met her short – blue – bad mouth."
"Ah you mean Mission?"
"What! Gaddon no, you can't ask Mission to do this. She's just a kid!"
"She's explored every back alley and sewer of the lower and undercity Zaedra. If there is another way into that base then she'll know it."
He turned back to us and continued.
"So you've met Mission Vao? Did you meet her – ah – friend as well?"
"Yeah she helped us out, told us we should come and ask you about getting some information. Cost us a fortune buying food for her giant fuzz ball too."
I mumbled, not that I had anything against the Wookie but we were still pretty short on credits and could use them all.
"They're probably down in the undercity even now – they usually are. If you can find them she'll be able to help you, just tell her that I sent you – she'll add it to my tab."
He smiled indulgently at the thought.
"You'll need to get down into the undercity though. I'm assuming you managed to – acquire –some Sith uniforms to get down here. It'll take more then that to get past the guard on this level, I've got some authorisation papers for a Sith patrol that went – missing – the other day. They wont have changed the codes as of yet. I'll trade you the armour for the codes, you never know when a little camouflage will come in handy."
I looked at Carth questioningly, waiting for him to nod his agreement, before I pulled the backpack with the armour in, off and placed it on the table. I rummaged around inside before extracting the compressed body shell that contained the rest of the uniform, and place it on the desk as Carth did the same with his."
"Here – take care of these, I might ask for them back."
Gaddon handed the papers to Carth who quickly placed them in his jacket pocket.
"We should head down now and scout around, see what we can find. We can head out into the undercity proper tomorrow after we've gotten some rest."
Carth spoke to me before turning back to Gaddon.
"I'm not going to promise anything, but we'll see what we can do."
"That's all I ask, good look son – and you kid. You're going to need it."
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The door to the Hidden Beks base slipped shut behind then as they made their way out into the main passageway that circled through the lowercity. Carth gave a nod to the guard on duty ay the door before continuing his way down the passage.
Raven followed behind taking his silence as the warning he intended. He waited until they where out of earshot of the guard before turning to face her.
"Just what the frack was that about in there lieutenant? Not only did you place us unnecessary danger, you could have seriously hindered this entire mission."
"What are you talking about?"
"That –back there, with Gaddon and Zaedra. If I hadn't been there to stop you, you could have started a damn brawl with the twi'lek."
"Oh."
"Don't 'oh' me lieutenant, I'm waiting for an explanation."
"She called us Sith."
"And that give you a reason t fly off the handle?"
"She had no right to accuse us of being Sith, no matter what the provocation."
"This is a Sith occupied world – these people have every right to be wary…"
"What you mean like you?"
He stopped and really looked at her for a moment. That golden gleam had entered the black depths of her eyes again, her face was lit by the overhead panel casting her features into shadow.
"And just what is that supposed to imply lieutenant?"
"I wasn't implying anything Captain, I was stating fact. You've been treating me like the enemy since we landed on this rock, suspicious, accusatory and down right rude. I'm not a Sith – I will NEVER be a Sith. I wont have anyone saying otherwise."
He watched he absolute passion and conviction that her face and body projected and felt a pang of guilt and sadness that he had had a part to play in causing her hurt.
"Lieutenant – Raven we where dressed in Sith uniforms to get down here, we walked through the uppercity dressed as Sith."
"It was a disguise, one we need in order to help our mission. That doesn't make us Sith."
"These people are scared – and yes wary of strangers. I'm certain that Zaedra was only trying to protect Gaddon by bringing up a possibility. You can't let what others think effect you like that – can't let it cloud your objectivity."
"It still matters what people think – it matter what you think."
The harshness of her tone had evaporated, leaving behind the hint of vulnerability that he'd noticed before. She turned her body away; gazing down the passageway leaving him stood looking at her.
"Raven – look at me – please."
When she didn't immediately turn he risked placing his hand on her shoulder, gently turning her until she faced him again. He watched as her eyes dropped down to his arm before they moved upwards to look at his face.
"I know you're not Sith ok. I didn't mean to question you loyalty, but I just find it difficult to trust – anyone. That doesn't mean that I think you Sith."
"How am I supposed to know what you think Carth? You never let anyone in – never share anything of yourself."
"I have my reasons."
"But how am I meant to know that – I'm not a frackin' force user."
"Thank the force for that."
"What I mean is I can't read your mind Sir, I don't know what our thinking or feeling. How am I meant to prove myself to you if I don't know what it is I need to prove?"
"You don't need to prove anything to me Raven. I realise that now and I'm sorry that my suspicions caused you pain, but I don't know hoe to be – open or trusting – but I'm willing to try."
"Thank you Sir, I'll try not to push to hard."
"You do that lieutenant, and I'll try to be a little more open."
She smiled at him then flashing him those straight white teeth before laughing out loud. She clapped him on the shoulder still laughing while he tried really hard to keep a straight face.
"Don't worry Sir – Carth I think I've had enough openness as I can handle for now."
"Good we should head on down to the undercity and get this scouting over with."
"Yes, Sir!"
She saluted him with all seriousness, before she started laughing again, this time Carth didn't even try to stop himself from joining in. their laughter echoed down the hall following them as the continued on their way.