Taris Part 2
"You did what?" Carth exclaimed, his shock and anger clearly written on his face.
"I just had drinks with a gorgeous Sith soldier, got her com channel number, beat up a few drunk guys on the way back, and found a way into the lower city tomorrow" Avner told him, kicking his feet up onto the bed.
"How could you get a drink with a Sith soldier?! You're a soldier with the Republic! You're under oath!" Carth shouted.
"For the record, I did not enlist in the military. My ship got captured and it was either this or prison for the rest of my life, so I didn't have any real choice. Secondly, I never took the oath while not hungover, so based on the Republic military code. Third, did you ignore the fact that I found us a way into the lower city without bribing our way past the Sith guard?" Avner asked him.
"So, how did you and your little lightsaber get us down to the lower city, Avner?" Treema asked, raising an eyebrow at him. She was sitting on the workbench, idly kicking her feet.
"Tomorrow morning, Sarna has a shift… WAIT A SECOND! My 'little lightsaber' is not little!" Avner shouted. Treema busted out laughing at her little brother, waving her arm to tell him to continue.
"Anyways, Sarna has a shift at the elevator located across the way tomorrow morning. I managed to convince her to let us down so I can compete in the lower city dueling ring" Avner explained.
"And you achieved that by dangling your 'little lightsaber' in her face?" Treema asked, raising her voice an octave when she brought his little lightsaber.
"I did not sleep with Sarna!" Avner shouted.
"I cannot believe you flirted with a Sith soldier just to find a way into the lower city. How did you even know she was a Sith?" Carth asked, hoping to get the conversation back on track.
"I didn't, but I can't allow a beautiful girl like her to drink alone. It is against my moral values" Revan said casually.
"And as long as you are a Republic soldier, it is a court martial offence to have such contact with the enemy!" Carth snapped. Avner was about to explode, but a glare from Treema settled him down.
"Ok, Republic. Here's the big issue. We are stranded on a foreign world that is under control by the enemy. We have to find Bastila and we can't get to her without finding a way into the lower city. Then, we need to get off this planet where we don't have a ship and the Sith blockade over the planet will shoot down anything trying to leave the planet. We can't do that alone. We need help, and if that means getting help from the Sith themselves, so be it. Thanks to Avner, we have a way to get into the lower city tomorrow morning, but we still need to find Bastila, so tomorrow will be a busy day. We can't afford to be fighting or else we have no chance to find Bastila before the Sith do" Treema suggested, her tone making it clear that she was not taking no for an answer.
Avner shrugged and rolled over, staring at the wall, attempting to sleep. All he was thinking about was what Treema said to him.
"Am I really Revan?" he asked silently. He closed his eyes and more memories went through his mind. He couldn't figure out which memories were true and which memories were not. He had memories from his childhood that he couldn't figure out. Were they from his life or were they just fake memories that the Jedi Council implemented in his mind. So engrossed in his thoughts, he never noticed his sister leave the apartment.
Instead, he spent the night staring at the wall, sorting through memories as he drifted in and out of sleep.
Meanwhile, Treema was on her way to the cantina. She went to the music room and sat down at one of the tables, ordering a drink from the nearby waiter. Suddenly, a man joined her at the table. She glanced up and gave him a small shrug.
"Well, hello there! I see from your exotic appearance that you are not from Taris originally. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jergan" the man told her, giving him a toothy grin.
"Treema" she replied.
"What do you think of our local music? The band is quite good; wouldn't you agree? They're on the verge of intergalactic stardom, you know" Jergan told her.
"Not the worst out there" Treema answered, taking a drink and ordering another.
"Obviously you have an ear for music. Mark my words, they'll be famous soon enough. They were about to go on tour before this Sith quarantine stranded them here. Would you like to meet the band after the show? Maybe have a brief brush with fame before they become intergalactic superstars? I can arrange it, you know. I have a standing arrangement with one of the rodian bodyguards backstage. For the small sum of 20 credits he'll let me set up a meeting with you and the band" Jergan suggested.
"And in that meeting, how many of them do you expect me to sleep with? I am not paying credits to sleep with wannabee musicians who have to get you to get them laid" Treema told him.
"You sting me with your words! I merely thought I could offer you the rare opportunity to meet a celebrity before they were famous. But I see you're not interested. That's too bad. They really are charming fellows. Very well, then, I hope you enjoy the music. If you change your mind, I will be here" Jergan told her.
"Trust me, buddy, you couldn't afford me" Treema told him, leaning down low and seductive, giving him a long look before walking out of the cantina with an overemphasized swagger.
The next morning, Avner woke up and used the refresher quickly before waking Carth and Treema up. The three packed away all their belongings into their bags, making sure that they had everything that they needed in case they had to sleep in the undercity. Carth and Avner were wearing standard issue military suits while Treema was wearing the same leather armor she had been wearing since they landed on Taris. She had cut the bottom half of her armor from the Endar Spire into a V-neck sleeveless shirt that came down to right above her belly button.
The small group walked through the upper city, stopping at Zelka's shop to pick up some medpacks before crossing through the upper city toward the elevator to the lower city. Avner waved at the Sith guard and the guard nodded.
"Who are they, Avner?" Sarna asked, pulling her mask up so they could see it was her.
"These two are my hired bodyguards. I heard that the Vulkars will take shots at anybody so I just hired some extra guns so I don't have to fight a swoop gang by myself" Avner told her.
"Like the future dueling champion of the lower city needs an armed guard" Sarna joked, smiling at him. Avner smiled back and sighed.
"I trust this won't be a problem?" Avner asked, flashing Sarna a cocky smile.
"That's not going to be a problem at all, Avner. Good luck" Sarna said, unlocking the door to the elevator. Avner smiled and led his two companions into the elevator.
Sarna shut the door to the elevator and entered the code that would take them to the lower city.
"Seriously, Avner? Your bodyguards? Next time come up with a better cover story!" Sarna heard through the elevator door before it started to descend. Sarna lowered her mask again, but was left with a lot of questions about what Avner was hiding.
Back in the elevator, Carth was still fuming at Avner.
"See, Carth? We'll be fine" Avner told him, walking out to be spotted by a rodian with an obvious desire to shoot everything in sight.
"Outsiders are not welcome here!" the Rodian hissed, angrily grabbing a pistol. The three rodians were no match for the small group as they were cut down quickly.
The small group walked down the hall before heading in to the lower city cantina.
"We should split up. Carth, you see if you can find a way to get us into the swoop race. Avner, you should go take care of the lower city dueling ring. Just, try not to die and all" Treema told them.
"What are you going, Treema?" Avner asked.
"For a drink" she teased, walking off toward the bar. She sat down and ordered a shot of tarisian ale. It was mere moments before she heard a crash. She turned to look and found a few men surrounding a young blue twi'lek.
"Hey, Zaalbar! Could you give me a hand over here?" she called out, wrestling with one of the men, trying to get free from his grip.
"I'm a little busy right now actually, Mission!" a big brown wookiee roared back. He was surrounded by a group of no less than 7 rodians. Rolling her eyes, Treema walked over and put her hands up.
"Now, now, what do we have here?" she asked, giving each of the men a seductive smile.
"This little girl has been causing a lot of trouble for the Black Vulkars. She needs to learn how to mind her own business" the first man answered before his eyes caught Treema's outfit. She gave him a smile.
"And what about the wookiee?" Treema asked, giving the other man a smile.
"Well, the wookiee and the little girl go everywhere together. She is the brains. He is the brawn" the second man explained, wiping the drool off the edge of his mouth.
"So your solution was to kill them in a cantina with dozens of witnesses and cameras all over the place? Doesn't seem like the way to get the other swoop gangs on your side" Treema told them.
"Brejik doesn't care about any of the other gangs. He knows that if we beat the Hidden Beks we will win" the first man told her.
"And how are you going to do that if you two big strong men and five rodians can't handle a wookiee, teenage twi'lek, and myself?" Treema asked, looking between the two men. They looked at her in shock, but the moment they turned to look around, Treema grabbed Mission and pulled her to the ground. The two men had blaster bolts flying in their direction instantly and they were dead a moment later. The distraction forced the rodians to take their attention off the wookiee and that was all that he needed to break himself free of their hold on him.
A few well-placed blaster bolts later, the rodians were dead on the ground. Treema helped the twi'lek to her feet and gestured to the table she was sitting at before the commotion began. The two sat across from each other and were joined by Carth and the wookiee before too long.
"Nice shooting, Republic" Treema told him. He looked at her in shock.
"Did you know this was going to happen?" he asked.
"You aren't very difficult to read at all, Carth. I send you to do a meaningful task but your distrust for me made me know that you would spend the entire time watching me. So, I waited for this and knew that the second you had a clear shot, you wouldn't miss" Treema told him.
"Thanks for the help. Nobody else would have done anything to help us. I'm Mission Vao and this is Zaalbar" Mission told them.
"Carth, and this is Treema. It was our pleasure, honestly. We have our own problems with the Vulkars" Carth told them.
"I can see that, but is there any way I can repay you for helping us? I know just about everything that goes on in the lower city and the undercity so I can give you some information" Mission suggested, her eyes gleaming mischievously.
"Mission, we need information about the Republic escape pods that crashed into the undercity" Carth said simply.
"Now why would you need information about something like that?" Mission asked, her features looking more tight and nervous than before.
"Well, you're looking at a Republic soldier and a Jedi Knight. We've been stuck on this planet since the space battle last week. If we don't find Bastila and get back to the Republic fast, Malak will win this war" Treema answered. Mission took a deep breath and shrugged.
"Well, I think it would be best if you go talk to Gadon about this. He would be happy to answer these questions for you. He is the leader of the Hidden Beks. Just head out the front door to the cantina. The Bek base is right across the hall. Tell him Mission sent you and they should let you in to speak to him without any fuss" Mission told them.
"Thank you for your help, Mission" Treema said, waving goodbye to the teenage twi'lek and her large Wookiee friend.
"Come on, let's go talk to this Gadon" she said, gesturing for Carth to lead the way.
"What about Avner? Shouldn't we get him first?" Carth asked, looking around for the former smuggler.
"No, he's a grown man and he is currently fighting in the dueling ring, trying to get us some more money. We need find a way into that swoop race so we can get to Bastila" Treema answered.
"You're telling me that Avner is risking his life in the lower city dueling ring?" Carth exclaimed. Treema nodded.
"Now, come on. It's time to do our part to find Bastila" she told him. This time, Carth agreed and he led the way out of the cantina, ready to make sure Avner wasn't risking his life for nothing.
Meanwhile, Avner took one last deep breath before he went to talk to the Hutt at the back of the cantina. He knew what he was about to do.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, I think I am doing a much better job of this story than I did with my previous attempt at writing this story. There are going to be 6 more chapters of Taris before we are off to Dantooine where the real meat of the story will pick up. To those who read my previous story, I'm sure you have already noticed the differences. To those new viewers, thanks for reading.
Give me some advice or give me some tips or just say hey. Either way, give me a review, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks everybody!