Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I don't own KotOR.

"If you're going to use our lift then you have to pay the toll," a bedraggled refuge said authoritatively the minute Revan and Carth stepped off of the lift and into the Under City.

"Yeah," another refugee nodded. "Five credits!"

"Revan, don't-" Carth started to say. He stopped as he saw Revan reach into his pack and pull out five credits. "What? You mean you're actually going to give them the money?"

"And why shouldn't I?" Revan asked innocently, handing the money over. "They have a toll for using their elevator. I used their elevator. Therefore, I am paying the toll. Force, you make it sound like I'm unreasonable or something."

"'Or something', alright," Carth muttered.

"Thank you very much, kind sir," the refugee bowed slightly before running off.

"Such gratitude," Revan mused. "They must have a hard time enforcing that toll."

"I hope they didn't bother you," a refugee girl said as she approached them. "They're always causing trouble…I'm Shaleena, by the way."

"You're actually bothering me more than they did," Revan told her. "Seeing as how they just collected a toll and left and you seem like you plan on having a lengthy conversation. You don't need help or anything, do you?"

Shaleena looked thoughtful. "No, actually I think I'm pretty good. Rukil and Gendar could probably use some help, though."

"Then we'll look into it," Carth promised. "Which way are they?"

"Rukil is that way," Shaleena pointed in one direction. "And Gendar is in the other."

"Why?!?!" Revan moaned as Carth dragged him off towards Gendar.

Carth stopped suddenly as he heard a child's cry for help and immediately changed directions. "What's going on here?" he demanded of the guard at the gate.

"This little kid's about to get eaten by a Rakghoul," the guard replied. "Want to watch?"

"W-what?" Carth sputtered. "Of course I don't want to watch! And you shouldn't watch either. Let him in."

"But then I'LL get eaten by a Rakghoul," the guard protested. "And that would suck."

"No you wouldn't," Carth assured the man, trying to disguise his disgust at the sort cowardice that would allow a child to get eaten right in front of him. "Revan and I will kill the Rakghoul."

"I think you mean 'I will kill the Rakghoul while Revan watches from behind the safety of the gate'," Revan corrected.

Carth turned to stare incredulously at him. "Seriously? He's a child."

"And I'm sure you're well up to the task of saving him," Revan replied. "Besides, I don't want to turn into a monster."

"You're walking a very thin line as it is," Carth muttered.

"All the more reason not to put myself in a position to change," Revan said cheerfully. "Now hurry up and go before the kid gets eaten and I have to listen to you complaining that if I'd been willing to help it wouldn't have happened."

Carth realized that Revan was right. "Well? Don't just stand there; open the gate!" he ordered. Once the gate was open, he quickly ran out and shot at the Rakghoul for a minute and a half or so before it fell.

"Wow, thanks," the little boy smiled up at him. "That was really cool even if you did miss nine times out of ten."

"Everyone's a critic…" Carth complained as he and the child reentered the village.

"Well, it's true," Revan pointed out. "I probably could have taken him down in less than ten seconds."

"But you didn't," Carth reminded him.

"I know," Revan replied. "But I could have. Seriously, maybe you'd have better luck with a sword. It's harder to miss with those, or so I'm told."

"I'm not getting that close to a Rakghoul!" Carth cried.

Revan looked surprised. "Is that…self-preservation instincts I'm hearing? Will wonders never cease?"

Carth sighed. "Let's just find Gendar."

"I saw what you did," a tall black man informed them as they walked past. "My name is Gendar and on behalf of all of us, I would like to thank you for saving that boy. We've lost enough people as it is but I can't ask the guards to put their lives at risk and lose even more people."

"I was happy to help," Carth said earnestly. "Do you need anything else done around here?"

Gendar smiled ruefully. "Not unless you happen to have secured a cure for the Rakghoul plague."

"Well at least you already promised to do that," Revan tried to console himself as Carth immediately pledged their support. "Because seriously, all this future do-gooding is getting a little difficult to keep track of."

"Now since you've already helped me and have, in fact, promised us future aid, is there anything I can do to help you?" Gendar inquired politely.

"As a matter of fact, there is," Carth replied. "Do you know where we can find a Twi'lek named Mission?"

"He and Zaalbar are most likely in the sewers," Gendar replied, pointing towards an entrance. "Be warned, though, a group of Gamorrean slavers have taken to hanging out in there as well as the usual Rakghoul."

"We'll be careful," Carth assured him. "And we'll be back as soon as we get that serum. Do you know where Rukil is?"

"Oh, sure, he's right over that way," Gendar answered helpfully, nodding towards the wizened old man. "Be aware that he's just as likely to fill your head with old stories than not."

"I'll handle this," Revan told Carth as they made their way towards the story-teller.

Carth looked apprehensive. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, you kind of don't care so why-"

"It will save time," Revan insisted, cutting him off. "Hi there, my friend is an obsessive-compulsive hero type who wants to solve all of your problems. What do you need done?"

Rukil looked visibly taken aback. "Well…my apprentice Mayla has gone missing recently. She was going to help us look for the 'promised land.' If you can find her journal, as well as possibly the journals of my father and grandfather, then I know for sure that I can find it and lead my people to a new home."

"Find dead apprentice, got it," Revan nodded. "Now, let's be off-"

"We don't know that she's dead," Carth protested. "And what is this 'promised land' that you speak of?"

Revan closed his eyes and groaned. "So much for getting out of here quickly…"

Rukil's eyes lit up and he immediately launched into an intricate tale of all of the mythos surrounding his people.

"Wow, that is absolutely fascinating," Carth said when the story was over. "We'll make sure to find those journals for you Rukil, I promise."

"Is there any point in wondering why in the world he expects there to be an underground paradise somewhere?" Revan wondered as they started making their way back towards the gates. "I mean…its underground, seriously. It's not going to be much better than here, except possibly there will be less Rakghouls, but we can solve that problem once we find that stupid serum anyway."

"Oh I quite agree," a somewhat slimy voice sounded from right behind them.

Revan sighed heavily. "Who the hell are you and what do you want from us?"

"Want?" the man asked innocently. "I don't want anything. I'm a merchant, you know. Dreadfully hard to make a living when no one ever has any money and no surface-dwellers ever come down here. Still, should you just happen to stumble across those journals…I'll buy them from you."

"Oh, so you want to be the hero by taking the credit for saving your people?" Carth asked.

The would-be merchant snorted. "Not exactly. If people lose hope in the so-called 'promised land' and I am the only one in the village with supplies, they will be forced to turn to me for leadership!"

"That…that's horrible!" Carth said, aghast. "I can't believe you would be so petty as to destroy people's hope and potentially ruin their future all because you're jealous you're not in charge."

"I hate to admit it, but I'm with Carth," Revan said, sounding a little disturbed by the prospect.

Carth blinked, confused. "You…are? Are you feeling alright?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Revan confessed. "Still, don't get used to it. In this case, if you were qualified to have a leadership position, surely your supplies would give you the upper hand and you would already BE leader. While I think this whole 'promised land' nonsense is a waste of time, if Carth is going to insist on looking for them then we're going to give it to the old guy whose voice doesn't make me feel dirty just for talking to."

"I have no idea what you mean…" the merchant protested.

Revan and Carth ignored him and turned back towards the gate.

"I'll let you out," the guard warned, "but if there's a Rakghoul chasing you then I'm not letting you in no matter how much you beg."

"I don't 'beg'," Revan insisted, narrowing his eyes menacingly.

The guard gulped. "Right, of course you don't. I'll just…shut up now."

"You do that," Revan approved.

When the pair made it to the gate of the sewer, they discovered three bodies surrounded by a group of Rakghoul. Upon killing the rabid creatures, Revan and – after some pointed looks from Revan – Carth started to loot the corpses.

"There's some medpacs and credits on this one," Revan announced. "And this one has a vial labeled 'Rakghoul serum.' Well, at least we can say that that wasn't a particularly difficult epic quest…"

"And this one has those three journals Rukil was looking for!" Carth exclaimed.

"…Seriously?" Revan asked, surprised. "All right next to each other and this close to the village? That seems rather unlikely."

"Not at all," Carth disagreed. "Clearly Mayla had found the journals and on her way back was attacked and killed by Rakghouls."

"So I was right and she was dead," Revan noted. "Not that it wasn't extremely obvious from the first."

"You don't know that," Carth countered. "She might have been taken by slavers."

"But she wasn't," Revan reminded him. "She died."

"I guess we better head back and get these journals to Rukil and some of this serum to Gendar," Carth decided. "Although I suppose we can wait to get the rest of the serum to the clinic until we're done here."

"Turn back already?" Revan couldn't believe it. "You realize we've been gone for less than ten minutes, right?"

"You realize that if we succeed we can probably just use that door we came across when we first got down to the lower city and not have to worry about heading back through the sewers?" Carth shot back.

"You have a point, my friend," Revan acknowledged reluctantly and the pair set off back towards the village.

"Back already?" the guard was surprised, to say the least. "You know most people don't give up until at least an hour or two…"

"We're not 'giving up'," Revan corrected, grimacing at the words. "We've just found a few things we promised we would look for and since we weren't that far out decided to return them now."

"If you say so," the guard remained unconvinced.

"This is already taking up far too much of my valuable time," Revan declared. "So let's split up. You take the journals to Rukil and listen to him ramble on about the promised land and I'll go find someone to cure with the serum."

"Alright," Carth agreed readily enough. "But remember: don't use all of it and don't even think about charging them for it. These people literally don't have any money."

"I know, I know…" Revan took the serum and headed off towards Gendar.

"Back again so soon?" Gendar inquired. "Or haven't you left yet?"

"Oh no, we left, found the serum, and came back," Revan replied, holding up the vial. "So who needs this?"

"You've found a cure?" Gendar whispered, shocked. "That's…I can hardly believe it. Here, take it to the quarantine pen over there. We've mostly just been keeping people there until they turn into a Rakghoul."

Revan nodded and made his way towards the quarantine area, deciding not to ask what happened after the infected turned into Rakghouls as no one there seemed to have any method for killing them. The other quarantined people were probably torn to pieces. Still, at least they weren't turning into Rakghouls.

"So," Revan greeted the woman guarding the pen. "Gendar sent me with a cure for the Rakghoul serum."

"What?" the woman gasped. "That's great! Still, I'm afraid that that won't do anything for these poor people…"

Revan peered into the quarantined area. There didn't appear to be any Rakghouls although there were seven or eight people standing around, looking terrified. "Why not?"

"Some of them are very close to transforming and I just can't take the risk of getting infected," the woman explained.

Revan raised an eyebrow. "Even though if you did you have easy access to the cure right here?"

The woman nodded. "I just can't take that chance," she insisted.

Revan rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll administer it."

"Alright," the woman brightened at the thought of someone else risking themselves instead of her. "But know that I can't let you out until everyone is either dead or cured."

"Why is everyone I meet so freaking helpless?" Revan wondered as he entered the quarantined area.

"Help me…" one of the infected people pleaded immediately upon spotting Revan.

"I am here to help," Revan confirmed. "I have a cure right here and all you need to do is-"

"No," the man shook his head. "It's too late for that. I can feel the burning inside of me…you have to kill me!"

Revan gave him an odd look. "Are you sure? I mean, you haven't transformed yet, what makes you think the cure won't work on you?"

"Because I can feel the burning," the man said again, sounding desperate. "It won't be long now. Please! I don't want to be one of those mindless beasts!"

Revan's eye twitched. "Then take the serum! Honestly, if you haven't transformed yet, it's not too late. If it will happen soon then hurry up and take it now. We're just wasting valuable time arguing that you COULD be spending ensuring that you don't transform ever."

"No, it just won't work," the man said stubbornly. He hunched over and two other people in the pen did the same. "And now it's too late for me…"

"If you had just taken the cure then this wouldn't have happened!" Revan exclaimed, frustrated beyond belief as he watched the three men transform into Rakghouls. "As this is your own dam fault, I refuse to feel sorry for you." Revan took out his vibroblade and made quick work of the three Rakghouls.

"Thank you so much!" a different infected man said gratefully. "You saved us from getting torn apart. And you have a cure, too. You've saved us!"

"Yes, yes," Revan said dismissively. He held up the cure. "That means you'll consent to take the cure, then?"

"Oh, absolutely!" the man said enthusiastically, taking the proffered vial and curing himself and his fellow infected and previously doomed villagers.

"Thank you so much," the woman previously guarding the quarantined area gushed. "You've done the impossible, and just in time, too. Gendar has given the orders to move out. Apparently Rukil's finally found his way to the promised land."

"Really?" Revan asked neutrally. "How happy for you." He set off in search of his wayward companion, who was watching everyone pack with a triumphant smile on his face. "The journals were that helpful then?"

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe," Carth replied. "Apparently they each held part of a map and Rukil was quickly able to piece the information together. The 'promised land' is on the other side of the planet, so it may take them some time to reach so Gendar wanted to set out right away."

"At least the fact that they're leaving means no more people demanding that we make their lives suck less," Revan said, uncharacteristically optimistic.

"Yes, I just hope that they'll be okay…" Carth trailed off. "It sounds like a hard journey."

"No point just standing around watching them pack, now is there? We've got to go find Mission and sneak into the Vulkars base," Revan reminded him.

"Ah, right," Carth nodded.

The guard had apparently abandoned his post to pack for the upcoming migration and so Revan and Carth were spared his doubts about them as they set off towards the sewers again, hopefully this time actually making it inside.

Unfortunately, right as they were reaching the entrance a little blue Twi'lek came running out, looking faintly hysterical. "You've got to help me!" she begged. "No one will help me; even the Beks won't help me!"

"Mission, calm down," Carth told her gently. "What do you need help with?"

"How do you know the Beks won't help you?" Revan asked. "Have you even bothered to ask them or did you just assume that they were amoral sociopaths who couldn't be bothered even if it literally took no effort on their part?"

Carth rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Revan, they were just uniforms."

"I will not hear your lies," Revan sniffed.

"I didn't get a chance to ask yet," Mission admitted. "But I know that they won't help. They don't want to get mixed up with Gamorrean slavers and Zaalbar was just kidnapped by some of them."

"We'll help you get him back, don't worry, Mission," Carth vowed.

For once, Revan didn't make even a token attempt at fighting him. "And once we do you'll help us find our way into the Vulkar base, right?"

Mission looked surprised. "The Vulkar base, huh? Sure, why not?"

- -

Revan, Carth, and Mission – who was a surprisingly good shot, which bothered Carth immensely – took down the last of the Gamorreans and opened the door to reveal Mission's captured Wookie companion, Zaalbar.

"Mission?" Zaalbar asked, sounding puzzled. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't very well just leave you to die or get enslaved or anything, Big Z," Mission told him earnestly. "So my new friends helped me rescue you. It took awhile to wade through all those Gamorreans and Rakghouls, but we did it. They need my help to get into the Vulkar base, but after that we're free to do whatever."

"I'm not so certain of that, Mission," Zaalbar said seriously. "If it is true that these people have saved me from a life of slavery, I shall have to swear a life debt to one of them. But which one?"

"Seriously, do you have any idea what he's saying?" Carth asked.

"Of course," Revan replied, slightly affronted. "Who doesn't speak Wookie?"

"Most people don't," Carth said, a bit defensively. "And I happen to be one of those people."

"I guess that answers that question, then," Zaalbar murmured. "Tell me, enlightened human: what is your name?"

"Me? I'm Revan," Revan introduced. "But don't worry. I'm not THAT Revan. Well, probably not. I don't remember being a Sith Lord, but Carth doesn't believe in coincidences and apparently 'the Force can do terrible things to a mind' or something."

"…Right," Zaalbar said finally. "Are you familiar with the concept of Life Debts among my people?"

Revan nodded. "I have heard of them, yes. Are you sure you want to swear one to me? From what I can tell, they're kind of a big deal."

"And so is saving me from slavery," Zaalbar replied, not dissuaded in the slightest. "From this day forth, I pledge my life to you, Revan."

"If Big Z's coming then I'm coming, too," Mission announced. "I didn't go through all this trouble to rescue him only to lose him so easily."

"Well you're welcome to join us," Revan told them honestly. "Especially as I think the fact he's the only one here who doesn't understand what Zaalbar is saying is going to annoy him very quickly."

"Sadist," muttered Carth. "Still, if you're going to be travelling with us then you should probably be aware that we're Republic fugitives looking to rescue a Jedi named Bastila and then escape from Taris. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Would you notice if I said that I did?" Zaalbar asked rhetorically.

"No, not really," Mission replied with a shrug. "Taris isn't exactly the most pro-alien place in the galaxy, you know."

"Now that that's settled, would you please take us to the base now?" Revan asked politely.

"Oh, sure," Mission nodded. "It's right this way."

Everyone silently followed Mission for a few minutes until she stopped in front of a door with a purple force field blocking it. "Let's see if I remember those codes," Mission murmured as she approached the computer terminal that was a few feet away from the door. After a few moments with the terminal, the force field flickered and then died entirely.

"Maybe the Vulkars should think about upgrading their security if it can be beaten by a twelve-year-old," Carth mused.

"I'm fourteen!" Mission yelled. "Honestly, I'm not a kid so don't even think about treating me like one!"

"I wasn't trying to treat you like a kid," Carth tried to pacify her. "But really, only kids take offense at being called a kid…"

"SO not helping, Carth," Revan glared at him.

"You'd better be careful," Mission warned. "I'm a better shot than you are, but my aim isn't perfect."

"Did…did she just threaten me?" Carth asked, shocked.

"I didn't hear any threats," Revan replied. "She's just warning you of her unreliable aim. You probably should have warned her that you can't shoot to save your life, but she's probably picked up on that by now."

"But…she…" Carth was still spluttering as they continued to make their way deeper into the sewers and closer to the Vulkars base.

After slaughtering their way down the tunnel, they stopped just short of another door as the walls started to shake.

"Okay, what in the world was that?" Revan demanded.

"I have no idea," Mission replied. "That severed hand has a datapad in it, though. Maybe that will have the answers."

"That sounds just unlikely enough to be true," Revan decided, picking up said datapad. "Let's see…apparently there's a rancor in the sewers and whoever owned this datapad had developed some sort of synthesized odor that was supposed to attract the rancor. I'm not sure why he didn't use it instead of getting his arm torn off and possibly getting eaten, but there you go."

"And here's the synthetic odor," Zaalbar said, picking up a vial that was clearly labeled as such.

"Okay, let's open the door and see what our options are," Revan said, doing as he said he would. "There appears to be a rancor on the other side of the room. It hasn't spotted us yet, but once we go in there it will probably make short work of us. There's also a pile of corpses that we can hide the synthesized odor in and a grenade or two to blow the rancor up. I would do it myself except I came up with this idea and I've already decided Carth's not allowed to do stealth work since he won't cut it out with the battle cries."

"I'm not that bad!" Carth protested before realizing that no one was listening.

"Big Z's not really very stealthy either," Mission informed them. "So I guess it's up to me. Fortunately, I have a stealth field generator, so I should be fine."

"Good luck and try not to get eaten," Revan told he as he handed her a grenade. "Zaalbar would probably be pissed."

"Definitely," Zaalbar confirmed as he handed her the synthesized odor.

After Mission disappeared into the room with the rancor, Carth turned incredulously towards Zaalbar and Revan. "Seriously?"

"Seriously what?" Revan asked absently, keeping an eye on the rancor in case it somehow noticed Mission despite the fact that she was invisible.

"She's a child and you're making her face a rancor all on her own!" Carth cried out.

"Hey, she volunteered," Revan pointed out.

"Mission is very capable and we're right here in case something goes wrong," Zaalbar growled.

"Zaalbar said we're here in case of emergency," Revan loosely translated.

"Yeah, but still – Ow!" Carth grabbed his shin.

"And I'm not a kid," Mission said flatly, rematerializing in front of him and looking unapologetic.

"You didn't have to kick me," Carth complained.

"No? Well it felt good anyway," Mission told him.

There was an explosion from the next room and they all went to the door to see the rancor lying on the ground in front of the pile of corpses, dead.

"Next stop, Black Vulkar base," Revan said cheerfully. "So tell me, Mission, Zaalbar…exactly how fond are you guys of the Beks?"

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