Canderous followed Carth and the Jedi since he discovered the bar was in that direction. He left them and continued on past the Republic embassy. He managed to find the bar, take a seat and ordered a whiskey.
He looked around and heard a Selkath saying something about the Sith and missing children while another Selkath was saying something along the lines of needing someone to spy on the Republic. He decided to contact Bastila and then a Mandalorian mercenary came up to him. "Canderous! I haven't seen you since the Republic broke our ranks at the battle of Malachor!" Said the merc.
"Ergeron, I see you've got some new guns to add to your collection. Times must have been profitable for since the war." Canderous said.
"Very profitable. When the Republic defeated our fleets, I learned a valuable lesson: it's far better to be a freelance mercenary in a war than to be a soldier for the losing side." Ergeron said, as he sat down next to Canderous, as he ordered a whiskey and began chatting what each have done since the war.
...
Carth, Bastila, Jolee and Juhani managed to find the Republic embassy.
However, they had to deal with a slave dealer from Juhani's past, who they were looking our for and a long time friend of Jolee in prison.
They saw a dark skinned Republic officer with a white beard, giving orders to a couple Republic soldiers. He looked up at the sound of footsteps coming up to him. He looked up and saw the newcomers. They all looked distracted, distressed, while the male in the orange jacket looked angry and paranoid. 'Interesting.' He thought to himself.
"Welcome to Manaan. I'm Roland Wann. I'm the official representative the Republic has on this planet, so I can help out anyone. What can I do for you?" Roland announced.
Bastila decided to just tell the truth since she could trust Republic soldiers. "We are on a mission for the Jedi council. Perhaps you can help us with it." Bastila said.
"Of course, of course. I will do whatever I can but I'm just a simple diplomatic representative of the Republic. I doubt that I can be of any use to the Jedi Council."
"We seek a Star Map, an artifact of a long and forgotten race."
"An ancient and forgotten race...and you think it may be on Manaan? Hmm." Roland seemed to be thinking.
"You know something, don't you?" Bastila asked.
"Well, perhaps. But if you want information then you'll have to do something for me first."
"What do you want us to do?" Bastila asked.
"We were using a submersible recon droid in the oceans surrounding Ahto City and it was...damaged. It took a data recording of the outside of the city before being driven off by the firaxen sharks. But while it was returned to the surface, it encountered difficulties and was disabled. It's automatic systems floated it to the surface but we were unable to retrieve it in time." Roland explained. "The Sith were applying subtle pressure to the Selkath authorities for some reason we could not determine and were able to delay us long enough that they could retrieve it before we did. The droid's data centers are heavily encrypted so it will take the Sith several days, we believe, to get its data. It was captured 12 hours ago. It is imperative that we get it back."
"So, where is the droid?" Carth asked, with an angry tone before Bastila could answer but the Jedi glared at him.
"It is heavily guarded, we believe, in the Sith embassy here on Manaan. Since we have no soldiers to spare, we have no one who can break in there and retrieve it. This is what we ask you to do." Roland explained.
"How do we get inside the Sith embassy?" Bastila asked.
"We have several leads we have been working on to get inside the Sith base. Any of them can work for you, although it would be easier to just concentrate on just one." Roland said and he began listing the options to get inside.
"We'll go with the Sith data cards." Jolee said.
"Good choice. We've been working on that for a while, but it's been difficult so far. Maybe you'll have better luck." He said, as he looked down at his console.
Jolee went into a computer room and started trying to decrypt the data cards after a technician showed him how. Bastila, Juhani, and Carth walked over to the corner.
"He's hiding something." Carth accused.
"That maybe so but we still have to help..." Bastila started, but was interrupted by her commlink. "Yes?"
"This is Canderous. While you infiltrate the Sith base, you might want to search the base for missing Selkath kids. Some Selkath is asking around for someone to spy on the Republic for the mercenaries that have gone missing." came the reply. Juhani and Carth just looked at each other confused but kept silent.
"Ok, will do." She said and then she tried to bring up Mission. "Mission, we need you to go back to the ship. Mission? Mission are you there?" She looked back at Carth and Juhani. "Something is wrong. She won't respond."
"Something is wrong. Do you think something happened to her?" Carth wondered, clearly worried.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Bastila sighed.
Once Jolee was shown what to do, he made sure the technician and no one else was watching as he sliced the system. He found what he was looking for after a few moments. The murder footage. He sent the video to the Ebon Hawk and he managed to decrypt 4 Sith data cards and he walked back to the others.
"I've got the data cards but now all we need is some disguises." Jolee said, to the Jedi and Carth.
"I think I might be able to help with that." Said Roland has he walked up with 4 stolen Sith armor uniforms and 4 blaster rifles. "We got these from a space battle earlier. No where near Manaan."
"Thanks." Jolee said, as they went somewhere to get dressed.
...
Bastila, Carth, Jolee, and Juhani marched toward the Sith embassy like soldiers on patrol. Any Sith officers or soldiers didn't pay attention to them since they were in uniform.
They were on their way to the embassy and it looked like no one was around. "Do you think this will work?" Carth asked.
"It better work. As long as we don't run into any dark Jedi then we will be find. If Mission is here, then we find her and get the date module." Bastila said.
They got closer to the embassy gates and they saw several sentinel droids and a very bored looking diplomat. They showed him their passcards and he motioned for them to enter, without really looking at them. They went inside and down the elevator and were met with a female officer who just looked at them.
The group walked past but Carth walked right behind her, making her turn around. "What are you doing behind me? You better not be trying anything funny."
"I'm not." Carth said, as he took out a stun stick and hit her in the neck. Her eyes widen when she realized what happened but she quickly passed out before she could call out or request reinforcements.
"Alright, Jolee and Carth. You go get the data module while me and Juhani go find Mission." Bastila said and they split up.
...
Jolee was bending over the console and looking through the cameras while Carth was trying to figure out where to put the unconscious female officer. He found the room with the recon droid. "Well, it appears that Roland was right. It is heavily guarded. I wonder if I would be able to get rid of them." Jolee decided to gas the room and a few moments later, the guards in the room were on the floor unconscious and the guard droid malfunctioned and exploded.
Jolee turned to Carth, who looked like he was carrying the woman away from a pile of wreckage. "Carth, stop messing around with your girlfriend and let's get on our way."
"She's not my... You know what forget it." Carth muttered, as he put the woman against the console.
Jolee and Carth were walking around and passed soldiers who didn't seem to notice them and so far no dark Jedi. "We should probably find some missing Selkath youths while we are here." Carth said, quietly to Jolee.
They saw a Selkath youth standing over ahead of them and Jolee started talking to the youth and somehow convinced him to leave the teachings of the Sith. They continued going further and found a room of a few Selkath youths. Somehow Jolee was able to convince them to give up trying to learn to become a Sith. The Selkath youths went toward the entrance of the embassy and left.
They eventually found the room with the submersible recon droid and now they had to figure out how to get the data module. "So did Roland tell us how to get the data module?" Carth asked.
"No, he didn't. So I'm guessing we have to figure it out." Jolee muttered and they started trying to decrypt it.
...
"I sure hope Mission is ok." Juhani muttered.
"I'm sure she is. We can't lose hope." Bastila muttered as they started walking down a hallway and ended up in a control room of some kind.
They opened one of the airlock doors and a officer was trying to help them through the doors when it jammed and they had to go back. They heard a growl and followed it to find Zaalbar in a cell, they freed him and told him to stay put as they searched for Mission.
They found themselves in the long hallway again but this time they were hearing loud noises from the door farther down the hall, guarded by at least 4 guards and a couple dark Jedi.
"Stop lying to us, girlie!" Came a masculine voice.
"I don't know where they are. I'm telling you the...ahhh!" Came a familiar feminine voice.
Bastila and Juhani shared a look. "That's definitely Mission, alright." Bastila said, as the guard said something, she couldn't make out.
"It would be a shame to waste a pretty little thing like you without having some fun first." The voice said, followed by a lightsaber igniting, some screaming, and a muffled scream which had some disgusting sounds.
Bastila and Juhani found their lightsabers and ignited them, catching the attention of the guards and dark Jedi at the door. It was clear that the guards were confused since Bastila and Juhani looked like Sith soldiers with lightsabers. The guards started shooting
"So much for stealth." Bastila muttered as she and Juhani deflected laser bolts from the guards and locking blades with the dark Jedi.
A few of the deflected blaster bolts hit 2 of the guards killing them. It seemed that no one else heard the sounds of the fight since no one came running. Bastila was locking blades with the dark Jedi using her double bladed lightsaber while Juhani was dealing with the remaining guards.
The two guards were shooting and the next moment, they were floating in the air, really confused until Juhani flung them against each other and then flung them against the wall, knocking them out. Juhani dropped them and they were both slumped against the wall, blasters discarded on the floor.
Bastila killed one dark Jedi and flung the other dark Jedi into the wall. Somehow, the dark Jedi managed to lose his lightsaber. "Who and what are you?" The dark Jedi demanded.
"We are a new generation of Sith trooper force users." Bastila said, with a smirk on her face behind the armor.
Juhani catched on and joined in. "We are going to be your worst nightmare."
The dark Jedi looked lost, trying to understand what they were saying. "I don't believe that." He didn't get his and when he was flung against the ceiling and wall, and then sliced against by Bastila's lightsaber, killing him. "Well, that was fun." Juhani.
They opened the door to discover Mission, half naked, choking on the soldier in front of her who was caressing her and a dark Jedi stood nearby ready to kill the twi'lek. Bastila got angry since she saw this and killed the soldier and dark Jedi. "It's us, Mission. You are safe." Bastila said, hugging Mission, with the girl hugging her back.
Juhani looked around at the two people who were abusing Mission. "Mission, I'm sorry you had to deal with that." Juhani said.
Bastila began helping Mission get ready, while Juhani contacted Jolee.
...
Jolee and Carth were still trying to get to the data module, but were taking a break. "Dammit. I'm too old to be hacking heavily encrypted modules. We should've brought T3 for this job." Jolee muttered,
Carth held back a chuckle. "Jolee, you are old but not that old, if you get my mean."
"Are you implying something, mister. I can still give you a lecture about mistreating the elderly. I had this exact conversation with Tana." Jolee said and then realized what he said. "That didn't hit a soft spot, did it?"
"No you didn't. I'm still trying to get over the betrayal and if we see her, I'll try to forgive her." Carth said.
"Do I detect a hint of love?" Jolee said.
"You probably do." Carth said.
"Now, since you were married before this, I probably won't give you a lecture about love but I'm going to anyway." Jolee said, but was quickly interrupted by his commlink.
"This is Juhani. We have Mission and Zaalbar but she's fine. Just don't ask any questions if you know what we mean. Do you have the data module?" Came the reply.
"Oh. That's so terrible. I feel sorry for her." Jolee said. "Yeah, about the data module. We don't have it. We've been at the damned thing for about half an hour and I'll probably die of old age before we get it."
"Wait, Roland didn't give you anything to get to the data module?" Juhani asked, surprised.
"Nope. He never did." Jolee said.
"Well, keep trying and we'll wait for you." Juhani said.
Jolee turned to Carth. "You have any explosives?"
"There's plenty around here but we can risk destroying the data module." Carth said.
"Well, it's either hacking this machine and risk getting caught or destroy the machine and risk destroying the data module." Jolee muttered and then remembered his lightsaber. "Actually, I'm just going to use this."
He got his lightsaber and plunged it deep into the droid and somehow that caused the droid to spit out the data module. "I should've done that from the very start." Jolee said as Carth picked it up. "Now, let's get out of here."
...
The group was near the entrance but they were stuck.
The female officer that Carth stunned was knocked out was conscious and angry. She was currently rubbing the spot on her neck that Carth stuck the taser. "What was that?" She muttered only to find the people who knocked her out gone. While she was out, the Selkath youths went up the elevator and returned to their families.
"We're going to get to the bottom of this." She said and she leaned down and spoke into the transmitter on the console. "Commander Gran! Report to the security desk immediately!"
The same diplomat and at least 6 sentinel droids entered the room moments later.
"Who did you authorize to enter recently?" She asked.
"Well, 4 soldiers recently. Why?"
She moved her hand to the mark on her neck. "Well, I'm starting to believe that they are spies."
"What? Sound the alarm! We'll find them!" Said the diplomat as he lead the droids down a hallway while the female officer turned an alarm on.
With the diplomat and his droids gone, and the rest of the base looking for them, which left them to get passed the female officer. Unfortunately for them, she called up a few guards.
"Now is the time to leave." Bastila said, as Mission and Zaalbar put on invisibility belts, so they couldn't be seen. They walked past the security desk but unfortunately, she recognized Carth since he still had the stun stick on his belt and she closed the door locking them in there.
"Wait, right there. I recognize you! You were the one who knocked me out earlier!" She exclaimed.
Carth turned towards her and tossed away his blaster, and the stun stick and got into a defensive stance. The two began tossing punches at each other until Carth knocked her out and opened the door. They left the Sith embassy and returned to the Republic embassy.
"Carth, now I think it's time for a lecture on how to treat women." Jolee said, with a smirk.
Carth just chuckled. "It's wrong to do that unless it's a Sith woman."
The group then gave the data module to Roland Wann who then explained the purpose of the recon droid and gave them a submersible to get down to a research station on the ocean floor. He explained the really reason why the Republic has been sending mercenaries to the base.
They decided to send Carth, Juhani, Bastila, and Jolee down in the submersible to the underwater station but they decided to return to the Hawk for a few minutes.
...
They found the slaver, that wanted to buy Juhani earlier, dead on the floor of the hangar along with his goons with HK standing on the boarding ramp. "Statement: I found these meatbags snooping around here so I blasted them."
They discussed things and what is going to happen. "This last Star Map is the key to finding the Star Forge. Once we find the Star Map, we find the Star Forge and destroy it." Carth said.
After a few minutes they decided to get going and they departed leaving Mission, Zaalbar, Canderous, HK and T3 with the Hawk.