Chapter 2: Friends of the Republic

Well I know I said it was gonna be three weeks since the next update but I had a little change of plans that caused me to make this update sooner. The next one probably will take a few weeks. I started another new story so I decided to do them together. I usually rotate stories every week and this makes six.

Just to let you guys know I might have some slight alterations to dialogue that appears in the game since I no longer have access to it, as well as places where I think something could be better with a little change. Also, I will still have Calak interact with people like Dia, though I'm not gonna have him just go around breaking into apartments like he does in the game. Realistically that's not a good way to meet people. I don't know if I'll do all the side quests but we'll see.

Just to give you a breakdown of abilities in the game for those who aren't familiar with the game I'll give a list below.

Rapid Shot/Flurry: Are the quick set of attacks for blasters and melee weapons, letting out a set of attacks.

Power Attack/Blast: A charged attack where the user charges up a blaster shot or hits hard with their melee weaponry.

Sniper Shot/Critical Shot: A precise attack with a blaster, and a deceptive melee attack that fakes an opponent out.

Calak tossed and turned in bed. He saw a woman with a yellow bladed lightsaber fighting another person in a hood with a red lightsaber. The woman was on the offensive, landing a series of quick strikes. She directed her opponents blade off to the side and slashed him across the chest, then turned to face Calak.

Suddenly the soldier woke up. He gazed around in confusion, then realized it had been a dream. But it was certainly vivid, not like most other dreams he had. Taking in his surroundings, Calak saw he was in some sort of apartment with another man present. It was the man in the orange jacket from the Endar Spire, though Calak seemed to have forgotten his name somehow.

"Good to see you up instead of thrashing around in your sleep," his fellow soldier said. "You must have been having one hell of a nightmare. I was wondering if you were ever gonna wake up. I'm Carth."

Calak grunted, rubbing his head. "What happened?"

"Well we crash landed on Taris and you were rendered unconscious," Carth said. "I dragged you away from the crash and managed to get us here."

Calak gave a small smile. "I guess I owe you my life, thanks."

Carth chuckled sheepishly. "You don't have to thank me. I've never abandoned anyone on a mission and I ain't gonna start now. Well I guess I should give you the situation. We're in an abandoned apartment on the surface of Taris. Right after the ship was destroyed, the Sith stormed the planet, declared martial law and blocked all traffic to and from here."

"So what do we do?" Calak asked. "We got to get off this planet somehow."

"Yeah, but we can't abandon Bastila. We were charged to protect her," Carth said.

"Bastila? She was the one in charge of the Endar Spire right?" Calak asked, his memory still a little fuzzy.

"That smack to your head did more damage than I thought. Bastila's a Jedi," Carth said. "She's the reason we still have a shot in this war. Thanks to her battle mediation she can cause her allies to have a boost of spirit and her enemies to lose theirs. At times that's all it takes to shift the balance of power."

That did sound like an incredible gift.

"Any idea how we start looking?" Calak asked.

Carth nodded. "While you were out, I did some scouting around. I learned that a lot of Republic escape pods crashed into the Undercity. That's probably a good place to start. But the Undercity is a dangerous place, its filled with mutants called Rakghouls and who knows what else?"

"Well, the sooner we start looking for Bastila the sooner we find her," Calak said.

"Good idea. We can use this abandoned apartment as a base," Carth said. "The Sith will be focused on looking for Bastila, no one's gonna be looking for a couple of grunts like us. And we can probably get some equipment and supplies here in the Upper City. We'll need to be prepared if we're going to take a trip down to the Undercity."

"Right," Calak said standing up and stretching.

"You sure you're okay?" Carth asked.

"I'm fine," Calak said. "Just need a second to inspect my things."

"Okay. Hey I saw on your service records that you understand a wide variety of alien languages," Carth said.

Calak nodded.

"That's pretty rare in a raw recruit, but it should come in handy while we're stuck on a foreign world. You just get ready and we'll head out when you are."

Calak found his equipment near the bed. He was still in his armor, so he had to reequip his blaster pistol and rifle, putting them on his hip and back respectively. He saw he now had two swords though, the long sword and the prototype purple vibroblade. Checking the pockets on his armor, Calak found the vibration cell component he'd salvaged from the Jedi on the Endar Spire. This could work well for the vibroblade, but he'd need a workbench that had equipment to upgrade it. But… coincidentally there was one in this apartment. What were the odds of that? They must have used this as an engineer facility at times.

Calak walked over to the workbench. He wasn't a great mechanic, but he could manage to at least put a component inside since he knew the schematics of vibroblades. A little tinkering and… done! Now the vibroblade would vibrate and cut even more perfectly.

"Well you ready?" Carth asked.

"Yeah," Calak said as put the newly improved vibroblade in his belt. He set the old longsword down nearby. It might come in handy later.

They walked out of the apartment into the complex. It seemed though this apartment was abandoned, the complex wasn't. It had people inside it… well, lots of different aliens, a young human woman, an older man and-

"Right you alien scum! Everyone get up against the wall! This a raid!" a man in a Sith uniform said.

He was flanked by two Sith War droids. Two Duros were in front of him looking frightened, their red eyes wide with terror. They didn't look attractive with their green skin but they certainly didn't deserve to be threatened or called scum.

One of the Duros tried to reason with the Sith in his native language, which Calak understood perfectly. "Please, there was a patrol just yesterday and they found nothing. Why do you Sith keep bothering us? Please just leave us in peace!"

"Alright. We'll leave you in… pieces!" the Sith Trooper said shooting his blaster rifle.

His shot hit the Duros in the chest, the alien fell with a scream and hit the floor.

"That's how we Sith deal with smart mouth aliens! Now the rest of you get up against the wall before I lose my temper again!"

He looked around at the occupants with Calak and Carth behind him. He turned to the old man first.

"What are you doing in this alien apartment complex?" he asked fiercely.

"Please I'm just the janitor here!" the old man said.

"Fine, you don't look young enough to be a soldier anyway. How about you miss?" the Sith bully turned to the woman. "Why is a lovely lady hiding out with aliens?"

"None of your business!" the woman said in a mixture of anger and fear.

"Wait, I recognize you… you're someone with a little price on your head!" the Sith said.

"Please, I was just defending myself!" the woman said.

"You're coming with me. Actually, the bounty is for your death. Say farewell!" the Sith aimed his rifle again.

Calak could stand by no longer. "Stop!"

The shout drew the Sith Trooper's attention.

"What's this? More humans hiding out with aliens? You look pretty well armed. You must be Republic fugitives! Attack!"

In response to his command, the two assault droids aimed their weapons. Calak and Carth were outnumbered three against two. But the woman suddenly drew a vibroblade and stabbed the Sith Trooper through the back. The Duros alien got to his feet and attacked one of the assault droids with his bare hairs, managing to knock it down before it could shoot. That left the last one to be shot by Calak and Carth with their blasters, Calak's blaster rifle and both of Carth's pistols shot streams of bolts. The first droid exploded, they aimed for the second but seeing all the bystanders there didn't shoot for fear of harming their new allies. So they charged up close as the remaining droid got up, Calak took aim at point black range and shot, punching a hole in it.

"Thank you!" the woman said uncertainly.

"No problem," Calak said.

The other aliens looked at the two soldiers with appreciation. Though the Duros looked at his fallen fellow.

"Poor Xorgal, I suppose he shouldn't have questioned the Sith. Still I thank you for saving us," the Duros said in his native language.

"Yes thank you!" several alien voices spoke at once.

"If you need anything from my kiosk here in the complex just let me know!" a green skinned Twi'lek said.

"Thanks!" Calak said. "And no problem. But won't someone come by and notice the bodies?"

"Don't worry, I'll move them somewhere else," the Duros said.

"I'm the Janitor here, leave that to me," the old man said. "Besides most of you are young. I don't have much time left. If anyone should die cause of those dang Sith it's going to be me!"

Calak gave a small smile but hoped no one suffered because of him.

Carth meanwhile looked at the human woman who was trying to get back to her room nearby.

"Wait!" he called.

She stopped.

"That Sith said you have a bounty on your head, but you claimed it was for self-defense!" Carth said.

"Please just go away," the woman said.

"You have nothing to fear from us," Calak said catching up with Carth. He put his blaster rifle down as the woman looked at it uncertainly.

"Well, I suppose you both seem like alright sorts. I got in trouble with one of Davik's men that couldn't keep his hands to himself. That pig Holdan, he got drunk and asked me to dance. But the only thing he got was a nasty scar from my vibroblade. He went and put a bounty on my head for what I did."

"That's not fair!" Calak said. "Maybe I can help. Talk some sense into Holdan."

"You could try I guess, my name is Dia by the way," the woman said. "Holdan usually spends his time in the Lower City cantina. Its dangerous down there but you two seem capable."

"We'll try Dia don't worry," Calak said. "You just lay low and we'll get this cleared up."

"Thank you! I'm in this apartment right here," she said. "But I am getting low on food and can't often risk wandering the streets."

"We can get you some food if you need it," Carth said.

"Thank you so much. Good bye and good luck!" Dia said.

She went inside her apartment to hide. They took a look around the rest of the circular path of the apartment complex. The green Twi'lek from earlier was at a kiosk.

"Thank for saving me and all the others here. Humans like you are very welcome, you're hard to find on Taris. My name is Larrim," the Twi'lek said.

"Pleased to meet you Larrim, I'm Calak," Calak said. "So, you run a kiosk here?"

"Yeah, they don't typically like Twi'lek merchants, so I stick to this complex which is used by aliens mostly. Tarisian people don't often like aliens like me."

"You'd think people would be a bit more tolerant of others nowadays," Carth said.

That was sad indeed, Calak thought.

"What do you have in stock?" he asked.

"A few weapons, food and other things. I even have an energy shield for sale. From the looks of you I think you could use one," Larrim said.

He was right. An energy shield could deflect blaster bolts and protect the wielder for a time. They were too expensive to give to every soldier in the army, but it was said a squad of people with energy shields could handle a small army.

"I'll buy that," Calak said reaching into his pockets to draw his credits.

Larrim handed him the shield but pushed his hands holding the credits back.

"You saved my life. Consider us even," the Twi'lek said. "Whatever you are doing, good luck soldier. Your secret is safe with me."

Calak smiled. This energy shield would make things easier. Buying a little food they dropped it off at Dia's door and knocked. She thanked them again and they headed out of the apartment complex. The Janitor and Duros had already cleaned up the body and droid parts. They were fast.

…

Making their way out of the complex, Carth led Calak to a medical facility not far from it.

"I think this would be the best place to stock up on medpacks and other things for healing ourselves," Carth said.

They entered the medical facility and saw a middle aged man along with a younger assistant. Both of them were dark skinned, the older man had a kind caring looking about himself while the younger one seemed to have a hidden greed in his eyes that Calak didn't like.

"Welcome to my medical facility. I'm Zelka Forn," the older man said. "Do you require healing or medical supplies."

"We could certainly use those," Calak said.

Taking a look at the weapons on his customers hips and back, Zelka frowned slightly. "Are you a mercenary or bounty hunter?"

"Something like that," Calak said. "We are planning a trip into the Under City."

"Oh, I hope you don't catch the Rakghoul disease," Zelka said.

"What's that?" Calak asked.

"A terrible affliction that has plagued Taris for generations. No known antidote though I heard the scientists at the military lab were close to perfecting a cure. Unfortunately, if they did it's in possession of the Sith now. I fear you may catch the disease if you venture into the Under City. I'd strongly advise you to not do so."

"I have to," Calak said.

"Why? Oh wait let me guess, its something to do with those Republic escape pods," Zelka said. "Let me tell you you're wasting you're time. There's nothing left of them by now."

"How do you know?" Calak asked.

"Well because I… I…" Zelka stammered.

Calak narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "I think you're hiding something."

"I can't really tell you," Zelka said looking away uncertainly.

Deciding to take a chance with this doctor, Calak decided to be honest. "I'm a friend of the Republic, if you are then we are on the same side."

Zelka's uncertainty vanished and he managed a smile. "I'm glad to hear that. Follow me."

He went to a nearby door that read employees only. Opening it he revealed a healing room with kolto tanks inside. Men in undertunics floated in the kolto, oxygen pumps inserted in their mouths.

"Hey, I recognize those men, they're soldiers!" Carth said. "You're treating them!"

"Unfortunately I can't," Zelka said in regret. "Since the space battle overhead people have been secretly bringing in these Republic soldiers. Their injuries are terrible. Most won't survive, any that did managed to slip away or were captured by less sympathetic parties. But at least I can make their last days more comfortable and at least here they're hidden away from the Sith."

Calak and Carth smiled at the kindness of this man.

"Well for that you have my thanks, its good to know at least some of my men ended up in compassionate hands," Carth said.

"Yeah, don't worry your secret is safe with me," Calak said. "But back to the Rakghoul disease, you're certain there's no way to get the cure?"

"Not unless you storm the military base or kill some Sith patrols down in the Under City," Zelka said. "Please don't endanger yourself on my account."

"We have to go down there," Carth said. "We have to find… someone, and get off this planet. Too bad about these soldiers, we could have used their help."

"Well if you do find the serum I can only give you a modest reward," Zelka said.

They bought what medpacks and antidote kids they could afford. But they would need more. On their way out the assistant, Gurney, stopped them.

"Hey, if you really want to get a good reward for the Rakghoul disease, I'd recommend giving it to Davak Kang. He can pay you what its really worth."

"Davak Kang? Who's that?" Calak asked curiously but having a feeling he wouldn't like the answer.

"Oh come on everyone knows who Davak Kang is. He has his hand in everything that can fill your pockets, spice, slavery, you name it!" Gurney said.

"You're a spy for a crime lord!" Calak exclaimed.

"Now don't get any ideas about telling Zelka," Gurney said. "He'll never believe you over me."

Calak glared at him. "I'd rather give the serum to Zelka. He'd use it to help people."

"Helping people is all well and good, but you have to help yourself first. If you find the Rakghoul serum, give it to Zax in the bounty office."

"And then only the rich could afford the cure, just let the poor suffer right," Carth muttered.

"Not a chance," Calak said.

"Have it your way," Gurney said turning away.

The two soldiers shook off their disgust at the man's greed and walked off. They looked around and saw an equipment shop run by a woman named Keble Yurt. She had a nice selection weapons, though the Sith had impounded much of them. But they had little need for what was left being sold. Except maybe a bomb she had that was rather cheap.

"Never know what we might run into," Carth said. "Do we have enough for that?"

Calak shook his head. "It costs five hundred credits."

"Well if you're a fighter in need of some credits, I have suggestion," Keble Yurt said. "They're looking for new duelists to fight in the cantina Duel Ring nearby. You might make it good there."

"That sounds interesting," Calak said.

They headed to the cantina which was filled with paazaak players dealing cards and people drinking. The two soldiers, having not had breakfast, decided to get a bite to eat.

As they sat down at a table, Calak looked at Carth.

Seeing him stare as he downed a cup of juma juice, Carth asked. "Yes, what's on your mind?"

"I'd like to know more about you Carth," Calak said.

"Me? While I've been a Star Pilot for the Republic for years. I fought in the Mandalorian Wars before all this started. But with all that I've never seen anything like the carnage these Sith animals can unleash. My homeworld was one of the first to fall when they emerged."

He looked down and Calak gave him a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry Carth, that must be very painful for you."

Carth suddenly fumed. "You're the one who wanted to ask about me!"

Calak glared at him. "Hey, what are you getting mad at me for? I'm not the one who butchered your homeworld!"

"No, I know that it's just not something I'm used to talking about," Carth said in remorse. "I'm sorry. I'm just more used to taking action. Let's just focus on our mission for now, okay?"

Calak shrugged. "Alright but we'll have to talk later."

"Fine," Carth said.

They ate in silence. Calak had hoped they might be able to make some progress as friends. But it seemed Carth wasn't ready to open up. Not surprising considering he'd lost his home planet. How would Calak feel if Deralia was butchered?

They got up and looked around the cantina for the place to sign up at the Dueling Ring. Overhearing a couple patrons talking about it they saw a view screen that showed the arena somewhere in the cantina. It was hardly a fight, one combatant, Dead Eye Duncan dropped his blaster, giving his opponent Gerlon Two Fingers the chance to shoot him as he picked it up. Duncan wasn't dead, just injured. Calak looked at the view screen until it vanished.

"You sure you want to get it into that?" Carth asked.

Calak shrugged. "We need money. Let's just ask about it. Hey, who do we talk to about joining the Dueling Ring?" he asked the viewers nearby.

"Uh, Ajuur over there!" the woman who'd been more enthusiast about the duel said.

She pointed to a Hutt in the back of the room. Large sluglike aliens that were well known for being corrupt. Calak sighed, he didn't like the idea of associating with one of them. But he did need credits.

He approached the Hutt who began to converse in his native language of Huttese.

"I'm sorry human the betting parlor is closed."

"I'm not here to place a bet," Calak said. "I'd like to join the Dueling Ring."

"Indeed?" Ajuur looked at him, seeing his multiple weapons and armor. "Yes you look quite well armed. I've been looking for a new face to add some spice to the ring! You maybe just what I need. Alright, I'll sign you up. But I need to give you a name. All the combatants have names for the arena. You are an offworlder yes? I think the Mysterious Stranger would work for that."

Calak thought for a moment. "Hmm… that does have a nice ring to it. But I think I prefer my own name."

"All the arena combatants have nicknames," Ajuur repeated.

Carth nodded. "This is for the best, we could use those credits from those dues but using your real name is too risky. The Sith might have come across a crew manifest back on the Endar Spire."

"Alright, sign me up!" Calak said.

"Good. Now don't worry about the weapons killing you cause our medical droids are state of the art and ring comes equipped with energy suppressors that prevent fatal blows for both blasters and vibroblades. It will weaken your attacks to prevent fatalities."

Well that's reassuring. Calak thought, a little scared.

"Just come back in a little while. Dead-eye Duncan is the first combatant you will face. He should be ready tonight after the medical droids fix him." Ajuur said.

They waited, Calak passed time playing Pazaak in the Cantina. He managed to win a few rounds and even earned some credits from a snobby card champion there. At one point some spoiled brat thought he was her waiter, but he simply walked away after saying he wasn't.

Finally the time came for the duel. Calak was let into the Dueling Ring. His opponent wore the exact same combat suit he did. Not surprising since it was so common. Then a voice spoke out.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, draw your eyes to the center ring! We have a very special presentation in store for you!" The announcer spoke.

He told about Duncan first. "You've seen him lose night after night after night! But this time, he's after fresh meat! Over in this corner, Dead Eye Duncan!"

"And in this corner, a relative new comer to the rings of Taris, emerging from the shadows with no history, no past, and no name, the Mysterious Stranger."

Dead Eye Duncan was a joke. His reflexes were terrible as he engaged Calak in a sword fight. One strike from Calak's vibroblade was all it took and he was down again. Calak scoffed at him as he fell so easily. No one was surprised when he beat the apparent worse duelist to ever fight in this ring. Ah well, it earned him a few hundred credits.

"Good fight, good fight," Ajuur said. "You handled Duncan pretty well but that's not saying much. If you want a real challenge I can arrange for you to take on Gerlon Two Fingers."

Calak nodded, his inner warrior seeming to flare at the recent victory that was too easy. "After that last match I think I need a challenge."

"Yes! Another match!" Ajuusr said thrilled.

And it was back in the ring again. Gerlon Two Fingers. Like both Duncan and Calak, he wore a combat suit. That appeared to be the go to outfit for every combatant in the Dueling Ring.

"Over in this corner, one of the greats, a man so tough even a disfiguring injury couldn't end his career. Ha-ha-ha!" The announcer said. "Gerlon Two Fingers!"

And he repeated the same line to introduce Calak as the Mysterious Stranger from earlier. Then it was time to duel.

Gerlon had a blaster pistol out, Calak drew his own blaster rifle. They unleashed blaster fire at each other, which weakened thanks to the energy suppressors so it wouldn't kill. Both of them moved side to side. Gerlon was certainly tougher than Duncan, but he was still a cripple who'd lost the use of some of his fingers. Just another low level one, still he managed to last longer then Duncan for sure. Calak shot a few times as he circled the ring, and finally his blast caught Gerlon. But it didn't go through his armor thanks to the suppressor. Calak huffed impatiently and took careful aim, charging his next shot. Gerlon took advantage of him stopping to aim and shot. The blast hit Calak's armor, but just like Calak's earlier one it was weakened so he was hardly injured. Calak then shot, his blast hit Gerlon with the appropriate force this time. Not enough to kill but enough to bring him down. Calak grinned. Even if he was a cripple he wasn't a complete pushover. Hopefully the next one would be a real challenge.

Returning to the cantina he got his next set of winnings and walked out for a little drink. Carth had gone out to do some more scouting while Calak earned credits. He'd probably head back to their apartment to wait for Carth. It was getting late so they should probably call it good. Make some more progress tomorrow. As he got up he spotted a beautiful woman who was sitting by herself. She looked at him hopefully. He offered a small smile and walked over.

"Hi," he said.

"Hello there. I saw you in the dueling ring. Pretty good, even if it was against the lowest of the low," she said. "Maybe you can take on Ice or Marl, they're the real fighters. and win. Now that would probably be entertaining."

Calak chuckled. "Are you local?"

"No, I'm a Sith."

"What?" Calak exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm not on duty right now. The name is Sarna," the woman said. "I'm actually a little surprised you're talking to me right now. You're an offworlder so we kind of trapped you here."

"Uh, well its not too bad," Calak said, which was true. "The locals aren't much fun though. You just gotta keep a positive attitude."

"Exactly its all about attitude!" Sarna said. "You know what, I like you! Why don't you come to a party tomorrow night?"

"Really?" Calak asked.

"Certainly. Got to have a celebration after conquering a planet after all! I know you probably aren't happy but don't worry. We'll let you leave once we find what we're looking for."

And that would be Bastila, Calak thought. This could be an opportunity to get some intel or something. Maybe the Sith know where Bastila is.

"Okay, I'll come," Calak said.

"Excellent. I'll see you there!" Sarna said.

She walked off. Calak smirked. She was pretty, but it wouldn't work with him and a Sith. Ah well, he'd just see what he could get out of this. It felt wrong to use her, but he had to do what he had to.

He got some dinner with the credits he'd got from the Dueling Ring, asking for another meal as well he hoped Dia would like. He then headed back to the apartment complex and knocked on Dia's door, giving her the food before turning in.

"Thank you so much. Have you had a chance to talk to Holdan yet?" she asked.

"Not yet," he said. "I don't know how to get into the Lower City."

"Oh, right. Well good luck," she said.

Calak headed to his apartment close by. Soon Carth came and reported what he found.

"Well I found a way to get into the Lower City. There's an elevator that goes down there but only Sith or people with special security papers can get in," Carth said.

"Well, maybe we can get some help from the Sith then," Calak said.

"What do you mean?"

"I got invited to a Sith party."

"WHAT?"

Okay that feels like a good line to leave this on. So I changed a few things here. Like, how many hostages are taken prisoner by the Sith in the beginning. The trooper with the two assault droids said stuff like everybody and the rest of you, which implies there were multiple people/aliens there when there were only two Duros in the area being threatened, plus one of them got killed and the tropper still said 'rest of you'. So I had a lot of minor residents there like Larrim and Kadir the Janitor, be present and held hostage. I don't remember the main Duros name, if you can tell me I'd appreciate it. But no biggie if not. Those characters even helped! Ha ha! Also I changed the price of items in this story. The bomb sold in the shop is only 50 credits in the game, like what? A bomb shouldn't be that cheap. Also I increased the amount of credits Calak got in the Dueling Ring. Just felt more realistic that way. Lastly, I made Gerlon Two Fingers at least mildly tough cause that's always how I viewed him. Not very tough but somewhat. I looked him on Wookiepedia and it said he was pretty weak but I never got that vibe, so I made him a little tougher then that said out of respect. Hope you guys liked it and please review. I will take your suggestions into consideration as needed. Hope you have a good day, and this time really will be three weeks till the next update, maybe longer. Update when I can.