Transfer to the Endar Spire
When I woke up, two days had passed. The med-techs had stuck me in the Bacta tanks, and my few injuries were taken care of. I knew I was still aboard Ashtree Corona. That labored sound in the air circulation system sounded exactly the same.
The first tech to see me had almost shrieked in surprise. The doctor came in motioning for me not to move. "Just a few tests. What is your name?"
Name. Everything has a name. Everyone has a name. That's how you know they're talking to you and not someone else. "Danika?" I asked
"No, full name."
I pondered. "Danika Wordweaver."
"Home planet?"
"Deralia."
He nodded. "You might have some problems remembering. You were under a long time, and hypox can't repair neural damage. Don't worry about it."
I wanted to tell him that not remembering would bother anyone, and telling you not to worry about it was stupid, but merely nodded.
Every doctor or med I saw for the next few hours was looking at me in awe. I was treated like a visiting Senator, anything I wanted I could have with a word.
I hated it. While everything was healed, I had trouble breathing, especially when I walked. I had been one of those that set the pace in our morning runs. Right then a newborn baby still crawling would have beaten me.
And I dreamed. Usually my dreams were normal. But these dreams linked together. When I slept, I was where the last dream had left off. They started with Kalendra and I walking home hand in hand. Again, that had never happened. Worst yet, I knew somehow that this wasn't Kalendra.
You must know the feeling. You are out among a crowd, and a face catches your eye. They look like someone you used to know perhaps someone you loved, or knew well. But when you're closer, they don't really look alike. The face isn't even really close when you think about it. The voice is not right. This woman was brunette like Kalendra, a bit shorter than I like her, soft voice with an accent nothing like my brief love.
It wasn't her, but for some reason she acted the same at a lot of points. It bothered me more when she didn't follow the script my memory handed out.
The first night in the pool she had stripped off her robe, but wore a bathing suit. Kalendra and I had been so comfortable together that a suit was superfluous. Yet 'Kalendra' in my dream was nervous. As she had lain back in my arms the real Kalendra had cried. Yet this one just lay against me with shoulders
tense. It took her a long time to really relax.
Did I tell the psyche-techs? Are you out of your mind? Once I was fit again, I would return to a ground unit. Away from what I took to be a gradual madness. But if they thought I was failing to track upstairs, all I would get would be a room with padded walls. No thank you very much.
Padawan Loras came to see me on the second day. She always reminded me of the women that came to hunter meetings with their husbands. A demented bird flying from task to task. That little bit of normality actually made me feel even better.
How are you feeling?"
"Like I died and no one told me." I grumped. I was back to walking normally, but still didn't have the wind to run.
"You did, twice." She replied matter of factly. "You ran out of air, and your heart stopped as they were reeling you in. Then again in the airlock. The doctor was sure you wouldn't come back to full mental capability.
"If it weren't for Bastila, you would have been shipped out with the crippled yesterday. But she said you were still cognizant."
I felt a chill of terror. To wake up in a Republic hospital, everyone sure my mind was gone. Or worse, living there to a ripe old age as a drooling moron or a resource to harvest. "How did she know?"
"We're not quite sure, actually. Well you have two more days of convalescing to do. Does it matter to you where?"
"Why."
"Five of the damaged ships are well enough repaired to return to shipyards. A mobile repair ship has arrived to begin repairing the others. The others are splitting up to try to locate the Leviathan. At Bastila's request, you're being transferred to Endar Spire."
I considered the option. Did it matter? Not really. "When?"
"As soon as your gear is packed."
She was as good as her word. Less than an hour later, I walked across the gangway onto the Endar Spire.
With all of the ships that were damaged or destroyed, every ship was crowded. I was assigned a room I shared with a junior officer. I never met him because he was on Beta-shift, and I was assigned to Delta. We shared the bed, each sleeping when the other was working. In my case, work was sleeping, eating, and going to the gym to work out for the next four days.
My dreams continued. This was the first time in my life I had ever had sequential dreams, though others I had spoken to had mentioned them happening. But I am sure no one had ever lived through such rich and vivid dreams. Kalendra and I practiced with ritual brands, though hers seemed to glow as if it were a light saber. We spent as much time together as we had in real live, running through the fields, walking hand in hand. Hugging as if to chase a chill away. But there were those odd places where dream did not fit reality. Climbing Jumja trees to drop ripe fruit into her hands, something that had not happened because while Jumja would be ripe at this very moment at home, they had been two months away when Kalendra and I spent those halcyon days together.
As it had been in real life, our entire world was each other. There were times when I would be bothered, and when that happened, she would sense it, taking my face in her hands, and kissing my cheek yet again. That kiss would draw me back into the dream.
On the fourth day, I was in the wide wading pool of home, leaned into the tile backing. We had practiced until we were both tired, and it felt good to lay in the water.
"May I join you?" I opened my eyes, and Kalendra was there. She dropped her robe. For a moment, there was a struggle in her eyes, then the suit she had worn joined it. She slid into the liquid, and moved into her favorite spot on my lap. My arms encircled her, and she snuggled with a soft cry of satisfaction.
"I wish we could stay here forever." I whispered.
"You know we cannot." She admonished. "There is much we must do."
I had no idea what she was talking about, but part of me knew exactly what she meant. "I know." I felt saddened. The dreams had become the most exciting part of my recent life. They would have to end.
Then I tensed. Like the time I had reached for my boots and stopped because somehow I had felt the presence of the hook spider in one of them. Something bad was going to happen.
She had sensed it too. We slid apart, unconsciously taking positions of defense. Ahead of me was a nebula I had never seen, and a golden sun. From that sun plunged a Jollo cat. The largest and most ferocious one I had ever seen. I reached for my pistol, but I had forgotten it somehow. Then the cat plunged between us. I could hear Kalendra scream, and a massive paw slammed me down-
Endar Spire
I felt the first blast, and was rolling to fall out of bed. I landed on all fours, then shook my head. I was in my quarters on the Endar Spire. Beyond the transparisteel of the ports I could see the turbolaser blasts slamming into our shields felt the crump of others as they smashed hull plating instead.
Instinct is a wonderful thing. I had been assigned a footlocker, and scrabbled across the floor to it. My palm opened the lock, and I had just grabbed the familiar grip of a blaster rifle when the hatch popped open.
I spun in place, the skeleton stock against my shoulder, cheek welded to it, eye looking down the sight. I didn't recognize the man, but I did recognize the uniform. Republic Navy. I lifted the gun away from target, and he relaxed.
"Danika? I'm Ensign Trask Ulgo. We share these quarters. We work different shifts, which is why we haven't met."
After those sentences I had him pegged as a willing little clown. Most new minted officers are like that.
"The Endar Spire is under attack by a Sith battle fleet. We have to get to the bridge to protect Bastila." I had to count that as stupid observation number 2. I figured he was so newly minted that he thought the crew needed a pep talk, even if he only had one crewperson, and even if we were under attack. I was busy putting on my gear, but he ran off at the mouth anyway.
"One of our primary duties is to guarantee her survival in the event of an enemy attack. You swore an oath just like everyone else on this mission. Now it's time to make good on that oath!"
Where was that power coupling? I dug for it as he continued to run off at the mouth.
"I've heard all about your reputation. Elite combat training, tops in you class. It's no wonder you were handpicked for this mission. Word is, the officers haven't seen a recruit with your potential in twenty years. But all that potential doesn't mean a thing if you can't deliver when it counts!"
I had a disparaging thought; was there a class at the academy on how to write one of these speeches? When I had taken over 2nd squad aboard Ashtree Corona, my entire speech was 'Dylan is gone, I'm in charge. Let's do it.'
More to the point, who was he calling a recruit?
"We're-" I held up a hand to silence him. I pointed at the blaster still on his hip. "You know how to use that thing?" The sword didn't sit right between my shoulder blades, and I shifted it.
I actually broke through the prepared speech. "Yeah."
"Then follow me, and if I don't kill it, you do."
"I'm an officer and I'm in charge-"
"How many actual boarding actions you been on, butter-bar?" I asked.
"Uh, two."
"I've lost count. You decide where we're going, then get the hell out of my way so we can get there alive." I went to the hatch, but it didn't open.
"All the compartments are on lock down. But don't worry I have the codes."
I hissed, motioning with the rifle toward the hatch. He slipped past me and punched in a series I immediately memorized. If we got separated, or he bought a charge, I would be able to go on.
The hatch opened. I spun to cover it, but only an astromech droid was in sight. I double-timed down the passageway, and tapped the code I had gotten into it. This one opened into another passageway. Directly ahead, a lone Republic soldier was firing off to my left. I shifted and saw two people in Sith battle armor there.
"These must the advance guard of their boarding party. For the Republic!' Trask leaped out and opened fire.
Really, did any soldier that had seen action say things like that? I charged out with my own muttered battle cry. "Not this crap again!" The two there went down under our fire. My com clicked, and I paused.
"This is Carth Onasi. The Sith are threatening our positions. We can't hold out for long against their firepower. All hands to the bridge!"
"That's Carth! He's one of the Republic's best pilots. He's seen more combat than the rest of the crew combined. If he says things are bad, you'd better believe it. We have to get to the bridge to help defend Bastila."
I dropped, and went through the pouches on the dead Republic trooper. I found a frag grenade and another magazine. "What are you doing?" He almost screamed.
"These weapons don't run on words, Ensign." I slid the grenade in the tube on the front of my outfit, just where it belonged in the first one. As he went up the passageway, I followed. I had caught a glimpse of his insignia before he turned.
What was a medic Psyche specialist doing leading a boarding action?
The next short time was madness as it always is in battle. Panels exploded as energy bled into the electrical system, and the lighting flickered then stabilized at a different level. The enemy were in burnished black and gold, visible only at a distance before our fire took them down. Everywhere were bodies. Our own crewmen, Sith. A number of hatches headed aft were fused. Anyone back there was trapped with no escape, and we didn't have time to save them. Along the way I madly collected grenades, a long sword and a suit of combat armor.
We reached deck four dead aft of the bridge. There was a door leading into the bridge, through an adjacent passageway. But it was locked. I motioned, and Trask moved up. He fiddled, cursing, then the door opened. We looked into an anteroom a hell.
Two people were facing off. One was a Dark Jedi in armor. The other- My heart leaped in pain. Padawan Loras faced off against him, her face set in grim determination. The chubby ever-cheerful woman I had known for months was gone. Instead she was a warrior goddess, and the man facing her was being pushed back by her attack. He was taller broader more muscular yet even I knew he never stood a chance. She spun, blade flashing past him, and he fell in pieces. She barely had enough time to recognize his death when a panel behind her exploded, shredding her.
We charged toward her, just as a pair of Sith came around the corner. I tucked and rolled, coming up on my knees, my rifle already aiming. His first shot went over my head. Mine punched through his faceplate and through the back of his head. Directly ahead of us was the secondary bridge access. But the door refused to budge. I motioned, and we ran down the passageway to the main bridge entrance.
I drew the long sword, and motioned for him to do the same. The hatch slammed up and I was cutting at the Sith I didn't even see. He screamed, and I was past attacking his partner as Trask charged him as well. He went down, and Trask and I looked around frantically. Nothing lived on the bridge but us.
He went to a panel, and brought up a screen. "All of the portside pods are either damaged or away. That leaves starboard." He pointed off to our right. I ran around the corner, and the hatch opened. We stepped through, and the hatch beyond started to open. Beyond it...
A dark Jedi
I know Jedi are supposed to be able to detect each other and their enemy by feeling the force, though no one had ever explained it to me. At that moment, I understood because I could almost feel the black evil miasma in that figure.
He stood there, grinning as if he were a child that had surprised us with a clever trick.
Trask pushed me toward the hatch leading to the starboard escape deck. "Run I'll hold him as long as I can!" Before I understood what he was doing, he leaped through, and his blaster exploded into the control panel on that side. The hatch slammed shut, trapping him with the dark Jedi.
I pounded on the hatch, screaming. I wanted him there so I could slap him and scream in his face. I was the soldier, it was my job to fight and die saving the others. Not some jumped up med student with a gold bar and delusions of grandeur! At least I could make sure his sacrifice was worth something. I opened the hatch leading to the starboard escape deck.
The passageways were empty no-
"This is Carth Onasi to Republican crewman in the Starboard Escape deck; I am tracking your position through the Endar Spire's life support system.
"Bastila's escape pod is away. According to the sensors, you're the last survivor I can see. I can't wait for you much longer. You have to get to the escape pods!"
"Right." I whispered.
I came around a corner, and my rifle was tracking before I even knew why. The Sith armored trooper saw me, but he was a lifetime too late. I ran past his body, checking my map. Turn left, fifteen meters, a door- I looked up, skidding to a stop as I thumbed the rifle to auto fire. The two troopers there had heard me and were turning, but the 'room broom' as we called a blaster on auto fire tumbled them both over. By the hand of one man I saw a vibroblade and picked it up. Better than the alloy weave long sword I had. I hit the control and the hatch popped open.
Carth Onasi was tall, dark, and about ten years older than I was. He shut down the computer, and waved. "You made it just in time. There's only one escape pod left. Come on! We can hide out on the planet below."
"But-"
"Bastila's away, and there's no reason for us to stick around and let the Sith blow holes in us." I must have still hesitated because his face hardened. "Come on! There's time for questions later!"
I shrugged and moved past him. The pod lay open, and I had a sudden feeling that I was looking at my grave. Then I leaped in.
Carth was on my heels, hitting the release as he did.
Neither of us was strapped in, and the jolt of launching slammed us into the bulkhead. I could see the planet, a steel blue ball coming toward us, then something slammed into the hull of the pod. Probably, I figured out later, bleed off from a near miss. It was strong enough to pick me up and slam me into the bulkhead again. That was the last thing I remembered.
Taris
She looked sort of like Kalendra might have as an adult. Tall, dark haired, brown eyes, but Kalendra had never had such a cold and efficient look about her. The woman held a lightsaber, yellow beam clashing with the red of her opponent. Like Padawan Loras the last time I saw her alive, this woman was master of this battle, an outside observer could see it in her movements, the reactions of her opponent. He would lose; it was just a matter of when. She stood for a moment, and I knew she was using another power, and at the same time taunting him with the ease in which she did so.
I felt as if I'd rolled down a mountain without a suit to protect me. I sat up, and my head pounded even harder.
"Good to see you up instead of thrashing around in your sleep." I looked toward the voice. A man, wait- Carth Onasi from the ship. He handed me a mug and I sipped the tea gratefully. We were in a room, and I scanned it as I drank. Once it was probably nice. A comfortable place to live. Now it was run down, as if the owner no longer cared. There was a workbench off to one side. I took the plate of sandwiches he handed me, and began to stuff my face. I was ravenous.
"You must have had one hell of a nightmare. I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up." I finished the sandwich in my hand, grabbed another, and motioned for him to continue.
"I'm Carth. One of the Republic solders from the Endar Spire." He watched my face. "I was with you in the escape pod. Do you remember?"
I nodded. "I had a strange dream." I kept seeing it in my head. Almost like the dreams I had of Kalendra and I that weren't real. "Like a," I searched for a way to explain it better. "A vision or something."
He shrugged. "Well, 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." He looked grim. "At least for the moment."
He waved at the surroundings. "We're in an abandoned apartment on the planet Taris. You were banged up pretty bad when our pod crashed, but luckily I wasn't seriously hurt. I was able to drag you away from our crash site in all the confusion, and I stumbled onto this place. By the time the Sith arrived on the scene, we were long gone."
I thought of waking up in Sith hands, and I felt my blood run cold. "I guess I owe you my life." I looked up at him. "Thanks."
He brushed it off with a tinge of embarrassment. "You don't have to thank me. I've never abandoned anyone on a mission, and I'm not about to start now. Besides, I'm going to need your help."
I must have looked quizzical, because he waved toward the door. "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 seen worse spots."
That didn't make sense. The fleet should be out pounding ours, not sitting overhead. Why was it still here?
"I saw in your service records that you understand a remarkable number of alien languages. That's pretty rare in a raw recruit, but it should come in handy while we're stranded on a foreign world."
I felt a surge of irritation. After all the battles I had seen, some desk jockey still had me down as a raw recruit? The more I heard, the more I wanted to see these service records of mine for myself.
Carth hadn't noticed that second of inattention. "There's no way the Republic will be able to get anyone through the 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."
I hadn't answered, and he began to look worried again. Or maybe he was wondering how far and fast the 'green kid' would run? "Bastila. She's the one from the Endar Spire, right?"
That statement reassured him. "That smack on the head did more damage than I thought. Bastila's a Jedi. She was with the strike team that killed Darth Revan, Malak's Sith master.
"Bastila in 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.
"A lot of the pods were caught by the Sith, or destroyed. But I believe Bastila was on one of the escape pods that crashed here on Taris. For the sake of the Republic war effort, we have to try and find her."
At least the constant pep talks I was getting from everyone made sense now. They all thought I was green. But what he said made sense. The Sith would have lifted the blockade if Bastila was known dead. There was no need to stop a few scattered Republic grunts. Martial law and controlling access from the ground would do that.
I rubbed my head. I still ached, and my mind was running in circles at hyper drive. I firmly told myself that a headache would have to wait. That not knowing what to do could stand in line with it. Action always made me focus.
"Any idea where we should start looking?"
He nodded, glad that I was tracking again. "While you were out of it I did some scouting around. There are reports of a couple escape pods crashing into the Undercity. That is probably a good place to start. But the Undercity is supposed to be 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."
"I don't think we'd like it much either."
He stifled a laugh at that. "The sooner we start looking for Bastila, the sooner we find her. Let's go."
"Good idea. We can use this abandoned apartment as our base. Most of the shops look to be open still, and we can probably pick up some equipment and supplies here on the upper level. Just remember to keep a low profile." He looked grim. "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."
I had heard the same thing, seen people we rescued after the fact. But the chill of his words went even deeper. Like I had suddenly stepped through an airlock into deep space without a suit.
Again he didn't notice. First he brought up his computer map, and laid out the problem. It sounded simple, but the problem was literally global.
Taris was a really beautiful place way back when. They had just found half a dozen warp corridors leading from there to the rim about four and a half centuries ago. Entrepreneurs had spent a lot of money building a showcase city to rival Coruscant. The City of Taris covered just about the entire main continent. High-speed trams linked everywhere to everywhere else. But those plans had taken bizarre twists as time went on. Instead of razing sections of the city to rebuild them, they had merely built up from there like a coral reef. When the boom had collapsed fifty years ago, it had hit the planet hard. While still a tourist destination, it wasn't much more since then. The people had become rigidly stratified in their outlook, and the rich on top had dealt with those below them on the social ladder by shoving them down into the lower city. Worse yet, there had been a brief revolution, and the survivors of that had been shoved even farther, down into the depths. That was called the Undercity.
If you expected bright lights, enjoyment, and reasonable food, the upper city was where you lived. But below that? I would have said chaos reigned, but no one did. The lower city was a war zone divided up by the gangs. Traveling anywhere unless you used a tram was dangerous. Few if any places down there were even on the system anymore.
The Undercity was worse. There was only one way open to that level, and it led from an area fought over by two of the larger gangs. It was only open for access when sewers broke down. The technicians went under armed guard even in the best of times.
Taris was a pearl, with layers of beauty, and inside the filth that began it all.
I asked questions, and began to see some respect in his eyes. We knew where the access to the Lowercity was closest to our destination, and had a rough idea of where the pods had crashed. We could pick up our search there.
"-But I figure if don't do anything stupid we should be okay. I mean, after all, they're looking for Bastila, not a couple of grunts like us."
I stood, checking my gear. We were going to start getting overloaded soon, but I wasn't worried yet. The vibroblade I had picked up from the Sith squad leader intrigued me. I checked the pommel and saw that it disassembled. Most don't; they're sealed factory units. I walked over to the workbench, and using the tools, opened the grip. Ah, the vibration cell was an older model. I went through the detritus I had picked up in the mad scramble from the ship, and found a newer model.
I could feel Carth standing behind me. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"The older vibration cells were permanently set. The vibratory level was constant. That's all well and good but you have different cutting rates for different things." I shrugged. "The newer cells are adjustable. You can set them for the specific material, and they cut more smoothly. The next best thing to a lightsaber in close combat. Great for boarding actions, because you can dial it to whatever you're cutting."
I finished connecting it, then switched the blade on. The newer units also ran at a pitch that didn't jar the teeth, something that had always bothered me. That narrow blade would slice through metal or flesh as if it were butter. With the new vibration cell, it would cut through either at the same rate as long as I preset it first. I shut it down, holstering it.
He was grinning at me. For an older man he was quite handsome when he smiled. "I stand corrected. Whatever you are, you're not a raw recruit." His voice changed. "All right, soldier! Let's move out!"
Apartments
There is an old military maxim that says, 'If it can go wrong, it will'. We ran smack into it as we exited the apartment. The problem with the apartments in the South city where we were was that when aliens had come to Taris, they had created their own slums, and we were in one of them.
A man in Sith uniform flanked by a pair of battle droids was harassing a pair of Duros. I could tell from the expressions on the alien faces that this wasn't new. One of the Duros complained.
The Sith merely drew his sidearm, and shot the protester.
I had imagined what a battle droid might think when it was told to attack. I was sure what I went through next was probably as close as a flesh and blood entity could get. I was totally focused on the man as he holstered his weapon. I was measuring the distance to him, and my hand had already found the hilt of the vibroblade. It felt right somehow to have a blade instead of a gun. Something deep inside of me snarled. I had always hated bullies.
He sneered at the aliens, then turned slightly. When he did, he saw Carth. He didn't flinch. I give him that much. His eyes moved farther, and he saw me. "Hey, what's this, humans hiding out with aliens? They're Republic fugitives! Attack!"
I was moving even before he had shouted the command. The blade hummed as he drew his sidearm. If he had not holstered it, he might have had a chance. I sliced upward, and the blaster along with half his arm went with it. He screamed. I was too close for the droid's targeting sensors to separate me from him, and I used it, cutting to my left shattering the torso of that droid. I could hear blaster fire, and as I spun back to my first victim, he was staring at the wreckage Carth had made of the other droid. He saw my blade come up, and screamed 'Please-" before I cut down, killing him.
We were frozen in the tableau for a moment. I was getting a handle on my fury. I wanted to chop the dead man into fish bait. But I knew it was just my anger talking. That scream for mercy really irritated me. Most bullies I had dealt with were the kind that would laugh at your pleas, but expect you to honor theirs. I touched the stud, and the sword hummed to silence. The Duros stared at me with a mixture of terror and awe on his face. "Are you all right?"
The Duros nodded kneeling by his friend. Nothing would have saved his life at this point. "Poor Ixgil. He should never have talked back to that Sith. Thankfully, you were here to step in and help us, human This isn't the first time the Sith have come in here to cause trouble for us. Hopefully it will be the last."
I stared at him with amazement. We had a pair of bodies rapidly making a mess and he had hope still? "Won't someone come searching for this patrol?"
He shrugged fatalistically. "Don't worry about the bodies. I will move them so that if looks like they were killed elsewhere. That should throw the Sith off the track. With any luck they won't be bothering us again for a while."
I knelt, taking the equipment off the dead Sith. More grenades. I slotted them.
"Where did you learn that?" Carth asked.
"What, the sword? At home."
"No. How to roll your victim afterward."
I chuckled. "A pilot usually doesn't see much close range combat. When you're a grunt, you learn the fine art of conservation. A dead man doesn't need weapons. You can use them. So he gives you what you need to complete the mission." I nodded toward the blaster he still held. "For an old man, you're pretty good with that thing."
"Years of practice." He smiled sadly. "Besides, if they're close enough to hit me with a sword, I'm not doing my job."
I shrugged at that. If they were close enough to hit me with a sword and I was still alive, I had been doing my job. I pocketed the few credits the dead man had, and hefted his rifle.
"How many rifles do you need?" He asked plaintively.
"I can carry it until we sell it. After all," I pulled out my Republic ID card. "We try to run one of these through a kiosk, and we'll have Sith all over us."
He shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "All right, I forgot."
We walked down the hall. A Twi-lek was watching as we approached, and he spoke. "Well I don't see too many of your kind around here. Most of the residents of these rundown old apartments are illegal aliens. I'm Larrim, by the way." I instantly pegged him as a salesman. When it comes to a glad-handing salesman, the only thing worse than Twi-leks are humans and Hutt. He proved me right when he looked around as if he expected the constable to be standing right there.
"You might be interested to know that I have for sale." He motioned toward a section of the wall where he'd set up a display. "You want to see what I have in stock? I know my kiosk isn't much to look at, but my prices are reasonable, and the merchandise is sound."
I looked at what he had. Recorders, music cubes, a few specialty spices for other aliens species. "I don't see much really,"
He grinned, showing the pointed teeth of an adult Twi-lek. "No problem, just step up and have a peek." He reached down, and lifted. The entire upper deck was just for cover. Below it he had a rack of weapons, grenades separated in fruit bins.
I shook my head. "There isn't anything I desperately need right now, but perhaps you're in the mood to buy?"
We haggled, something the Twi-lek love to do. When I was done I had sold the two blaster rifles I had picked up, one of the blaster pistols, all of the adrenal supplements, and I walked away with about five hundred credits. We ended the session with both complaining that they had been ripped off, which meant we were if not pleased, we were at least satisfied that we had gotten the better of the deal.
"Now we can buy supplies if we need them." I said, slipping the plastic coins into my belt. I remembered the map, and began striding down the hall. The building was circular, at least on this level. The aliens that lived in the rooms ignored us. It was better that way for both them and us.
I stopped at the door into the street. "Won't we look out of place with all this hardware?"
Carth grinned. "Girl, you're going to fit right in."
Upper City: South
I saw what he meant when we stepped outside. Among the normal citizens were a lot of people dressed in space suits, combat gear, and attitudes.
The sky was cloudy; in fact the streets were cloudy. The building on Taris reach up in some areas almost four kilometers. Only the streets are required to be below 3500. That isn't hubris, its simple survival. Above 3500 meters the air pressure on the average planet is too low to support un-adapted human life. As it was, someone who had spent their life at sea level would have been gasping up here.
"I said blockade and I meant it. Maybe fifty, sixty ships were caught on the ground or in orbit. Anything that could land was landed and have guards posted on them. Those that couldn't land because of their design were allowed caretaker crews, but locked down with explosives linked to their drive systems and battle droids to make sure no one tries to disconnect them." He pointed at a shuttle taking off. "The only surface to space shuttles allowed have Sith crews. You can go up to your ship, but you can't stay there. Besides, there's one of the Interdictor class cruisers in orbit, and a dozen smaller ships. Anything that tries to take off or break orbit gets blown to atoms.
"But ships sitting in dock mean crews on the street. Let's just say the Oligarchs aren't happy with that." He motioned to the side. The pod we had crashed in was right there, and I winced at the damage. I didn't know it had been that close. Droids were circling it, dismantling the pod for any usable scrap.
I mentally brought up the map of the section of the city we were in. It was called, with fine attention to new names, merely South City. We were on one of the main promenades, where the local citizens liked to walk along and show their finery. The tube station to North City, where the entrance to the Lower city was. I located the important places we might need to go as we walked toward the tube station. There was a weapons shop directly across the promenade, with a cantina down another smaller promenade. At the other end of it past the shops and air-car pads were a medical facility, and the tube station.
"I think we should reconnoiter before we load up on ordinance." I said. I had a blaster rifle, the vibroblade, and about a half-dozen grenades. We were set for anything but a major fight, and if we ran into that, things were already in the crapper.
"Agreed." We strolled. We weren't horrible nasty Republic troops. We were neutrals just stuck here. The local citizens glared at or ignored us. Sith troops in armor stalked the promenade, avoided by pretty much everyone. There were a few aliens, but they scurried from place to place as if terrified. Seeing a Tarisian spit at one, I understood their worry.
We had reached the tube station when it happened. An old man was walking furtively toward the station when two people suddenly stopped him, shoving him toward one of the edges of the promenade. By his dress I figured he was a lower to middle level merchant.
"Davik says you missed your last payment." The human of the pair said.
"Davik doesn't like you missing payments." The Aqualish with him added.
The man looked from one face to the other, then fumbled at his belt pouch. "Here, I've got fifty credits. That should buy me some time, right?"
The human shook his head. "Sorry, you're all out of time. Now it's all or nothing."
"Davik can't have people not paying their debts." The Aqualish said helpfully.
"But I don't have that much! How can I give you credits I don't have?" The merchant whined.
"That's too bad. Davik already gave us instructions. He wants to make an example of you. Come with us." He caught the man by the arm; his associate took the other. They started toward the edge of the promenade. The Aqualish reached out, and touched a pad that had been connected to the safety field. It hissed, and wind pummeled us.
The merchant realized that time was one thing he didn't have. "No! Help! Somebody help! They're going to kill me!"
The few people walking by ignored him. As it had in the apartment complex, my mind focused tightly. I started forward. Carth caught my arm, but I shrugged him off. I drew the vibroblade keeping it turned off tight against my leg as I walked straight toward them.
The human noticed my approach, and was actually happy for the audience. "Hold on a second. Looks like we got a witness here!"
"Davik doesn't like witnesses." The Aqualish just had to say something.
"Leave this man alone or you'll deal with me." I said softly.
The tough looked happy. The man he was about to kill hadn't been enough entertainment for him. "Guess we'll just have to teach you to mind your own business."
He started to grab my arm, and choked as I rammed the vibroblade into his stomach and cut upward. The blade hissed from him, and I spun, chopping into the chest of the second tough before he even knew a fight had started. I flicked the blood that had adhered aside, then shut off the cell, and slowly sheathed the blade.
The merchant just stood there staring at me. He looked down at the corpses and realized that he was going to live at least a little longer. "Thank you! I owe you my life! My wife warned me not to take a loan from Davik. Now I can't pay him back. It's not good to owe a crime lord money. He'll just keep sending bounty hunters after me until I'm dead."
I understood how he felt, but his effusive thanks was starting to wear. "Maybe I can help you."
He shook his head sadly. "You already helped me by saving my life from them. I don't have the money to hire you to protect me. If I did, I would have already paid Davik off. So unless you have a spare hundred credits to give me so I can pay off Davik, there's nothing else you can do." At the last, his tone was ironic. 100 credits is a weeks pay for most people.
I reached into my pouch. We didn't have a lot, but I pictured this man trying to whine his way through a blaster bolt. I pulled enough coins to cover what he asked for, and dropped them into his hand. "Here, take them."
He stared at the money as if he thought it would vanish. Then he looked at me now not only with awe, but astonishment. "You're giving me a hundred credits? Just like that? I don't know what to say! Thank you, Thank you!"
Carth shook his head. "You're giving him a hundred credits? Generous." I could tell his tone was sarcastic, but he'd probably never been on the ragged edge of poverty before.
The merchant was running off at the mouth. "Now I can pay off Davik. You've saved my life! I had better take this to him right away!"
"One word of advice." I said. "Your wife sounds like a smart woman. Next time I'd listen to her." He nodded, and hurried off.
"What about these guys?" He motioned toward the bodies. I flipped over the Aqualish, and went through his pouch, and then I caught his legs, and flipped him over the edge into space. Carth stared at me as I did the same with the human.
"What guys?" I asked resetting the safety field. I looked past him. A pair of Sith were walking toward us. "Now unless you want to explain to the occupiers how all this blood ended up on the ground, I suggest we decide to get a check up." I hooked a thumb toward the medical center across the way.
As we walked, I held out my hand. "No good deed goes un-rewarded." The money I had taken off the two was exactly 100 credits.
The medical treatment center was small. After all with modern medicine you don't need massive structures for something as simple as a clinic. There was a man near the door, but he snarled, pointing us toward the rear. A tall bald man was working on a child. I admired his skill. A two-year-old is sometimes the worse patient. In pain, probably barely old enough to talk. This child just watched him with trusting eyes as the med tech sprayed the burns on his arms.
"Now what have I told you about this?" He asked. "You can't scratch these, it will cause scars. You don't want scars do you?" The child stared wide-eyed, and shook his head. "Then I won't have to use the bad spray." He turned, checking a scanner, and turned back to the boy's arm.
"What zit doo?" The child asked.
"The bad spray?" The child nodded. The med looked around, saw my attention, and winked slowly with one impassive eye. "Well if you use it on boys, they turn into girls if they scratch. But it's worse for girls. They turn into little boys!"
"Oooh!" Behind the child his mother shook her head in exasperation, but she was smiling.
"Look for a back door if we need it." I whispered. Carth nodded, and moved toward the back of the open room.
Finished with his patient, the med tech turned to me. "I see from your appearance that you are an out-worlder. Still you are welcome here. I'll not have it said that Zelka Forn refused to help somebody just because they're not a citizen of Taris. Do you require medical treatment? I can treat almost any injury or ailment right here, except for the Rakghoul disease."
Carth walked up behind him. "Actually, I have a question." He said. He was furious about something, but I didn't know what. Forn looked confused, but followed him to a personnel door in the larger door at the back. Carth opened it.
"What are you doing! Don't go in there! That is for medical personnel only!" Carth grabbed the protesting man and shoved him into the back. I followed into horror.
Bacta tanks dozens of them. People, some horribly mangled occupied five. I stared, then approached one of the tanks. I had seen the man before. Suddenly the face clicked in my mind. "I recognize him." I looked at another face. I recognized all of them. "They're Republic soldiers!"
"You recognize them?" Forn looked from my face to Carth's "But how! Unless... you're friends of the Republic?"
I touched the transparisteel of the tank. "We are friends of the Republic. You can trust us."
Forn sighed. "I guess... I guess I had better tell you what's going on. I only hope the Sith don't find out what I've done." He sat in a chair, rubbing his face with his hands, staring sadly at the occupied tanks. "Since the space battle overhead, people have been secretly bringing in these Republic soldiers who crash-landed on this planet. I had to take them in, what other choice did I have?
"Their injuries are terrible. Even with everything I can do most won't survive. But at least I can make their last days more comfortable. And at least they are hidden from the Sith."
I looked at this man, and saw the inherent bravery of his act. The Sith wouldn't care that his act was strictly humanitarian. They would see someone that had hidden possibly valuable interrogation assets from them. If he was lucky, all they would do is kill him.
Carth was embarrassed by his original suspicions. "Well for what you have done you have my thanks. It's good to know that at least some of these men ended up in compassionate hands."
Forn looked sad. "I shudder to think what the Sith would do if they discovered these soldiers here. But since their initial questioning, they haven't returned. So it may be that my fears are unfounded."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" I asked softly.
Forn shook his head with a sad smile. "I am afraid there is nothing more anyone can do for them. If you'll excuse me, I should return to the front in case someone comes in needing treatment."
I leaned my head against one of the tanks. The woman inside it had been one of those nurses that bothered me so much. The last time I saw her I had screamed at her to let me just exercise, and she had left with a pained expression. "I'm sorry for what I said." I whispered to her. "Sorry for everything I might have done."