Chapter 9: Tunnels With Rancors

With Zalbaar rescued, the group which now had four members discussed their next move.

"So I guess I owe you a trip into the Vulkar Base, huh?" Mission said. "Well there is an entrance down here not too far. But we should probably get Big Z's weapons back, they're probably being stored around here somewhere.

They took a look around, finding a foot locker in one of the nearby rooms. Sure enough it held a bowcaster and plasteel white long sword like the one Calak had left back in their apartment. There were also some credits inside the locker as well. Zalbaar took the weapons, placing the longsword in a holster on the small bit of red leather he wore which was the only clothing he had on.

"Arr! Arr! Roo!" Zalbaar spoke in his language of moans and barks. "I should be good now."

"Well, lets go," Carth said.

Calak, checked his wrist watch. "Its just a little past noon here. We got two days till the race."

"Yeah, but will it take us around a day to get from here to there," Mission said. "But I think we should maybe rest for a while. Zalbaar and I also never got to explore down here either, we might find more credits the Gamorreans had or something like that. It won't do them any good now if they're all dead."

They sat down, doing their best to ignore the foul smell all around them. They rested for a while, though Zalbaar paced quite a bit restlessly. No doubt he'd had enough of just sitting around while being trapped in the cage.

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

The Wookie turned to him uncertainly then growled a few lines softly. "I'm sorry but I don't feel comfortable talking about my past. Its rather painful. While I honor my lifedebt I don't feel we share more then that right now."

"You'll have to excuse him, not much for talking about himself," Missions said.

Calak sighed, he'd been hoping to maybe bonding with the wookie. But it seemed Zalbaar would be as difficult as Carth, if not more. At least Carth had been willing to talk for all his issues.

He turned to Mission, hoping to talk and pass the time. "So what happened to you before you met Zalbaar Mission? How did you come to Taris in the first place?"

She looked him. "My brother brought me here when I was a baby."

"Your brother?" Calak asked. "I didn't know you had one."

She looked down with sadness on her face. "Yeah, bit of a touchy subject but I guess I can tell you. So my brother's name is Griff. He raised me practically all my life. My parents… I don't who they are, I assume they're dead but I never found out. So it was just me and my brother on Taris. Two aliens on a planet that hated em! We had to leave in the Lower City. Griff had to take care of me and did a decent job I'd say. He gambled, and drank, but he was a great big brother and taught me what I needed to survive. How to pick locks, pockets, and use computers."

Sounded like Griff might have been a thug on the streets but seeing as this place was so hostile to aliens Calak would reserve judgment for now.

"Pretty hand skills to have Mission," he said politely.

"Yeah, they helped me get by," Mission said. "I also learned how to fight from him a bit since he was in the Bek's Gang. I'd get into some of their stuff just to look at it once or twice. Zaedra was mad when she caught me going through hers."

"Well you're not bad," Calak said.

"Thanks, and also thanks for before," Mission said referring to the Gamorean. "I probably could have taken him though if I'd had to."

Calak smirked. "Maybe. Where is your brother now?"

She sighed. "He left. Went off with Lena."

"Who's Lena?" Calak asked.

She frowned now, a spark of anger lighting up in her eyes. "I don't want to talk about her and Griff!"

"Okay, okay! No need to get worked up!" Calak said.

She sighed. "Sorry. I just really hate her."

"Kids today," Carth muttered.

Mission looked at him. "Uh, hey Carth can I talk to you?"

He looked back at her. "Are you ready to have a civilized chat, or is this gonna be another childish tantrum?"

"Tantrum?" Mission repeated offendedly. "I'm trying to apologize you Nerf-Herder!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry too," Carth said.

"About time you two made up," Calak said.

Carth looked at the young Twi'lek for a moment. "Mission, you need to know… we don't think you're helpless. You have some of those skills I heard you talking about and you're good with explosives and scouting without being seen. We might not have made it this far without you. And we need you to save Bastila and stop the Sith. We might need you for more as well."

"You really mean it don't you? Nobody else has ever said that to me," Mission said. "Not even Big Z, though he probably thinks it from time to time."

Zalbaar looked at her and gave a soft groan of agreement.

"Thanks Carth," Mission said. "I'll do my best to help you guys out! Can't worry about my brother, wherever he is. I hope to find him against someday but for now I've got to help you."

She got to her feet. "Now lets take a quick look around and see if we can find anything else that might help out and then we can take the tunnel to the Vulkar Base."

They walked through the Sewers. A few Rakghouls were left over in other parts, but with their blasters and bowcasters shot the creatures before they could get up close. Mission also used a few more mines and lead another pack into a trap. Behind one of the doors they found something else. Another journal about the Promised Land.

"I don't believe this!" Calak said as he looked through the pages. "We must really be getting lucky!"

"Well I guess we could head back to the village, its not that far from the entrance to the tunnel leading to the Vulkar Base.

With this section of the sewers pretty much cleared out they had no problem getting back. They passed by a glowing purple energy shield blocking another way out.

"That's the way into the tunnel," Mission said. "The Vulkars haven't been down here in a long time. They just want to keep any other Rakghouls from entering the area. There's some in there though so they have sentry droids and some Gamorreans patrolling for them."

"Well its not too far at least," Carth said.

They headed back up to the Undercity and were glad to find no new hostiles on the way. The group made their way to the village. Igear spotted them as they walked by but made no mood to approach. He knew now he couldn't tempt Calak to let these people suffer in exchange for credits.

They found Rukil outside his tent.

"You've returned!" the old man said. "Have you… done as I asked? Have found the journals."

"I happened upon them somehow," Calak said handing him the two book.

Rukil smiled excitedly and opened the two of them. "Can it be true? Does the Promised Land really exist?"

He scanned the pages and his mouth fell open. "Yes! Yes! It does exist! The works of my father and grandfather have found their way back at last!"

He walked over the tent just across from his own.

"Gendar! Gendar! I must speak with you!"

Out stepped a serious looking man.

"Rukil what do you want now? Have you more fables of a hidden paradise just waiting for us to find it?" the leader of the village asked.

"You may not think these are fables when you see what I have brought you Gendar," said Rukil as he held out the three journals.

Gendar was skeptical as he took them with a frown. But as he scanned the notes his eyes widened in surprise and hope. "What? No! Are these real Rukil? Is this information accurate?"

"I assure you everything in those journals is real! The Promised Land exists!" Rukil said.

"The entrance is far from here Rukil! It will take us weeks if not months to get there!" Gendar said as he looked at a series of maps on the pages. "And we will have to cross through many Rakghoul infested areas."

"I do not deny the journey will be hard Gendar. But surely it is better then the miserable life we've lead here."

"Wise words, Rukil," Gendar agreed. "Our supplies are high right now. We could leave at nightfall."

Rukil nodded. Calak looked at the others.

"What do you think we should do?" Calak asked. "We could stay and help them pack. I don't know about you guys but I think I'd rather sleep here in the grass then in the sewers tonight."

"But it would be quicker!" Carth said.

"I'm with Calak on this one!" Mission said.

Zalbaar growled in agreement. "ARRR!"

Carth sighed. "Guess we'll have to double time it tomorrow.

They helped the outcasts pack what supplies they could into packs or crude carts. By that time night had fallen in the Upper City as it was approximately 19 hours standard galactic time. Calak received a glare from Igear, but that was the only negative reception. The others smiled as they heard what he'd done for them.

Once the last of the supplies were loaded, Calak went looking for Rukil. The old man was busy writing a sign on wood and copying several maps of the Promised Land, putting them in front of the elevator leading up to the Upper City. Now anyone else who was exiled down here would be able to find the Promised Land.

"Thank you Upworlder," Rukil said as he finished his work. "Now we all have a chance at a better life. We must part ways here, for I sense your destiny lies elsewhere."

"He sounds a bit like a Jedi," Carth said. "I wonder if he has the same power?"

Calak shrugged. "I'm glad I could help. I hope you and your people all have a better life in the Promised Land."

'Goodbye Upworlder. Thank you."

Soon the outcasts left through the gate armed with crude weapons that would have to suffice. Calak, his group, and all the Sith Patrols had thinned the numbers of any Rakghouls that lived in the immediate area. They walked out and vanished into the paths of the Undercity.

"Well, hopefully they'll have an easier life," Calak said.

"And hopefully we can still get to the base in time," Carth said.

"Lets get some sleep," Mission said as she went into one of the nearby tents which still had some bed furnishings.

Calak and the others agreed.

"We'll leave first thing we wake up," Calak said.

…

They did so, eating a quick breakfast from the food they'd brought down with them and then it was back into the sewers. They were grateful that they'd had the excuse to stay in the village rather then sleep here with the bad smell. They made their way back to the energy shield that blocked the tunnel connecting this part of the sewers with the path to the Vulkar base.

"I got these codes off a Vulkar that had a little too much to drink one night," Mission said as she worked the computer.

After pressing a few buttons the shield behind them flickered and deactivated. Calak and his group began their walk through the long stinky sewers.

"Well, I was here before. Didn't want to go in though," Mission said. "Not exactly a big fan of the Vulkars you know? I just hope the Rancor monster isn't still there."

"Rancor!? Are you serious!?" Calak exclaimed.

Rancors were very big carnivorous creatures found on some of the more dangerous planets. Calak had heard wealthy Hutts and other crime factions used them to intimidate or even eat their enemies.

"Yeah, there used to be a rancor that lives in that area of the sewers. I don't how it got there but I hope its starved by now. Unless… it belongs to the Vulkars and they feed it."

That would not make things easy.

"Well we'll figure something out," Calak said.

"We have to," Carth said.

It took many hours just to get close to their destination. They walked for a long time through the upward paths, slowly climbing the levels of the sewers. Finally once they reached a certain point they came across their first wave of resistance. A group of Gammoreans fighting a group of Rakghouls. The pigs struck with their large axes at the mutants who for the most part were quick enough to dodge the heavy cutting strikes. Though Calak noticed the limbs cut off of a few sets of Rakghoul bodies. He had to resist the urge to vomit at the sight of blood and intestines spread across the floor of the sewers. Most of the fighting appeared to be done as only a couple members of every party remained.

Calak aimed his rifle, which he'd been holding out for hours to be ready for any confrontation. Blasters bolts fired from it as well as Mission, Carth, and Zalbaar's weapons. The Rakghoul closest to them went down first as it was shot in the back, quickly followed by the Gamorrean who was caught completely by surprise as a new group that wasn't Rakghouls appeared. He only had time to give them a look of shock before they blasted him as well.

The Gammorean and Rakghoul that had been fighting a few feet away turned their attention to Calak and the others as they heard the blaster bolts. The Rakghoul growled and turned its attention to them, deciding they were obviously a greater threat. They turned their blasters at it, barely managing to shoot it before it got too close. The last Gammorean turned tail, even as dumb as it was it could see that it outmatched and outnumbered.

He tried to get to the door that was closed nearby but Zalbaar blasted him with his bowcaster.

"Arr! Rorr! Arrar!" Zalbaar roared angrily. "That's for trying to enslave me!"

"Nice shot Big Z!" Mission said to her best friend as she stood next to him.

"Arr grr! Thanks Mission," he growled softly in her face.

Mission formed a disgusted face. "Eh! Zalbaar! Your breath is really right now! In fact now that I think about its been that way since we rescued you from the Gamorreans down below. What did they feed you buddy?"

Zalbaar let out a pained set of growls. "They didn't, I wasn't their guest, Mission. I was a prisoner. I don't they cared much what happened for me."

"Oh Zalbaar that's terrible!" Mission said. "Must have been hard for you! I know how cranky you get if you don't get your eight square meals a day. But its nothing a toothbrush wouldn't fix."

"No toothbrush!" Zalbaar objected with a growl. "Its not done for us Wookies!"

"Alright alright, fine, no toothbrush," Mission said. "Just try and eat something that will get rid of the smell!"

"I'll work on it," Zalbaar grunted.

They continued on with caution, soon meeting another set of foes. Another pair of Rakghouls and some sentry droids that hovered in midair shooting bolts from a pair of blasters from its wings. It shot one of the Rakghouls but the other one managed to leap on top of it and bit into it, but was shot down. The Sentry droid then hovered back up, a bite in the top of it. It spotted them with its sensors and opened fire in the direction of Zalbaar. The blast caught the Wookie in the shoulder. Zalbaar yowled in pain.

"Zalbaar!" Mission screamed.

Calak and Carth both fired from their blasters. Their combined shots destroyed the droid which fell down in the form of wreckage. They turned their attention to their wounded comrade.

"Let me see that," Carth said. "I've treated a lot of injuries over the years."

Seeing as he was the more experienced soldier, Calak stood aside. Carth took a syringe out of his own medpack and gave Zalbaar a shot of the healing chemicals. The Wookie made a grateful growl.

"You're welcome, that should heal up soon but don't over exert yourself," Carth said. "You just stay behind us for a while."

They resumed their walk with Zalbaar moving at the back. In case of any more droids or blaster wielding foes, they activated the energy shields they each carried. As he pressed the button for his shield though, Calak's suddenly burned and turned from white to black.

"Eh! Looks like this is my last use of my shield!" Calak said.

"We better find another one soon then if we're going to the Vulkar base," Carth said.

The path turned downhill soon at the end of this one they found a door with a severed arm in front of it which held a datapad, and had three vials something attached to it. Calak gritted his teeth again.

"Gammoreans or Vulkars I guess," Mission said. "I don't think a Rancor would simply sever the arm. But I think its just beyond this door!"

There was a loud roar from the room beyond which told them she was right.

"Well not exactly cleaning up after themselves are they?" Carth remarked looking at the arm.

"They live in the sewers, I don't think hygiene is a concern of the Gammoreans." Calak said.

"You're probably right," Mission giggled.

Calak was about to press the button to open the door where the Rancor was. But a feeling inside him told him to wait. He pulled his hand away.

"If it is a rancor we need some sort of plan," Calak said. "Have you ever slain one before Carth?"

Carth shook his head. "No, I hear they are INCREDIBLY resistant to blaster fire though, their hide is too thick. It would take a lot of fire power to penetrate their skin. Probably canon level."

"We don't have a canon though," Calak lamented. "What about grenades?"

"Might do some damage but I'd hate to just walk into the Vulkar Base without any," Carth said.

"Yeah, I don't my mines would do anything either, maybe damage its legs a bit to slow it down? But not enough," Mission said.

Zalbaar, not having any ideas of his own simply stayed silent.

They leaned against the stinky walls. Then Calak looked back down at the severed arm. Maybe it held something useful they could use?

"Well, lets see if this datapad has anything."

He pulled the datapad out of the severed arm and opened it.

"Its from a member of the Hidden Beks," Calak said.

"Yeah, I showed them the way here a while back. They were trying to get into the Vulkar Base so they could kill Brejik and end the war quickly. I guess they didn't make it close enough to shoot him," Mission said.

Calak turned back to the entry. "Okay it says they used a synthesizer that they hoped would smell bad to the rancor but ended up luring it closer to them. That must be these things here!"

He gestured to the vials still attached to the arm.

"Guess that's the last thing we need right now," Carth said.

Calak thought for a moment. "Actually, this could be JUST what we need!"

They all looked at him in confusion. He told them his idea.

"If we could find something to put this synthesizer on, the Rancor will eat it! Say, what if it happened to eat a grenade?"

They looked at him with intrigue now.

"You said we'd have a hard time blasting it from the outside, but maybe if we got it on the inside," Calak said.

"That could work! Calak you're a genius!" Carth said before sighing. "And I'm supposed to be the leader around here since I'm the more experienced soldier. But it looks you just have natural talent recruit."

"Hey, you have the experience which we might need sometimes," Calak said trying to make his comrade feel better.

Carth gave a small smile. "Thanks."

They quickly came up with a plan. Since Mission had a stealth field generator she would be the one to find something to put a mine in and feed the rancor with. Opening the door they peered out and saw it. The rancor was a huge monster with a thick brown hide, it walked on two legs and a pair of long clawed hands, and though its back was to them, Calak knew they also had a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. The creature stood in the back of the room beyond before a set of doors that it seemed to be watching expectantly, no doubt the Vulkars needed to feed it so they came from there. That was also where Calak and the others needed to go. The Rancors didn't seem to notice the other door leading into its makeshift pen had been opened. It must have been put in here at a young age cause there was no way it could have fit through either door at its current size. It could eat one of them up with a few bites. A new terrible smell entered the nostrils of the group and they quickly a large pile of bodies closer to them but a few meters away from the rancor.

"Eh!" Mission said as she smelled the bodies as well. "Disgusting! But that would probably do to put something in!"

She reached into adjusted the timer of the grenade Calak had given her to three minutes. She wasn't sure how long it would take the Rancor to eat it, but she wanted to be safe. Too soon and it would blow up either before the Rancor reached it or in its hand. They needed it to be all the way in the monster's stomach to do the real damage. She looked over the bodies, finding one that was less chewed amongst the many skeletons there. She swallowed her disgust and cut the body open, at least it was old enough that the body had stopped its blood flow. She stuffed the activated grenade inside and sprayed the body with the synthesizer. She then quickly but quietly retreated away. For a moment the Rancor stayed in front of the main doors, as if hoping for fresh food. But soon it sniffed and turned around, heading back to the pile of its saved cache. It sniffed and growled then seized the body that Mission had sprayed and trapped. It stuffed the corpse into its mouth. As soon as it did though, the grenade Mission had set up exploded.

The Rancor let out a pained bellow as the blast appeared within its mouth and it clutched its throat. With a final cry the mighty beast fell to the floor of the sewer, dead.

"It worked!" Mission said as she deactivated her generator and appeared next to the others.

"Yeah!" Calak said. "Now, we just get into the Vulkar Base, get the prototype accelerator and get back to Gadon."

He checked his wrist watch. "Its already afternoon!"

"Then we better hurry!" Carth said.

They made their way around the Rancor's immense corpse to the door it had been waiting at. They hesitated before opening it, wondering if there were guards there. But seeing as they all had their energy shields up felt it would be moderately safe. They pressed the button and the last door they would hopefully open in the sewers opened. Inside was another tunnel, but one that smaller than most of the others they'd seen down here. There were guards, but only two of them. A pair of Nikto Vulkars as usual. Their eyes widened on their scaled faces as they saw the group of four. One turned to the other in frustration then shouted in their native language.

"I told you something wasn't right and there was an explosion!"

"Well… fire! Kill em!"

"No put your shield up first dummy!"

They both activated their own energy shields on their wrists. Calak and the other three fired their blasters at them seconds too late. The shields deflected their shots and the Vulkars reciprocated. They were outnumbered two to one, so the odds were in the favor of Calak and his friends. They'd penetrate those shields after some number of shots. But Calak didn't want to waste anymore ammo then he needed to. He dropped his rifle and charged up close, drawing his vibroblade. The others ceased their fire as he came in range of their blasters. The Vulkars shot at him but his final use of his shield still protected him. It deflected the bolts as he closed the distance between them and struck with sword, cutting one down with a single strike. The other managed to draw his own vibroblade and strike at him, but Calak managed to block. Carth, Mission and Zalbaar charged in as well, their own blades drawn. The Vulkar was overwhelmed as four weapons struck at him, his energy shield useless against melee strikes. He was cut and impaled, then fell over. Calak felt a surge of pity for the Nikto as he'd been so overwhelmed, but there was no time nor reason to dwell on that. He was fighting a war and had to use whatever was at his disposal. While he preferred to be honorable and fair, he couldn't let that keep him from victory, but he also had to be careful not to cross to heinous a line. He recalled how he'd killed the three Sith back in the Undercity. That had been close.

They stripped the two Vulkars of their energy shields with Calak taking one of them to replace the one that had been used up. Just in time too, cause the shield had just worn off. He threw away the useless burned out one and stuck the newer one on his wrist instead. The other went to Carth who would probably have his run out soon as well.

They looked at the next door. The one leading into the Vulkar Base.

"Guess we're going into a place full of enemies now," Calak remarked.

"Well we've been going through that pretty much this whole time," Carth said.

"True I guess," Calak said before turning to their newer comrades. "You guys really want to come with us?"

"We ain't abandoning you Calak!" Mission said. "Besides, I probably hate Vulkars way more then you do! I've been fighting them for years!"

"Arr! Rorr!" Zalbaar growled in agreement.

Calak took a breath and pressed the button. Inside was an elevator that would take them up. They stepped inside and saw a pair of buttons. Up and down. Calak pressed the up button and up they went… to the Vulkar Base.

Alright back in business. Had to take a week off to focus on a single story and get it done. I thought it would be another week but I ended up combining some of the chapters I planned since they turned out to be shorter then expected. Ah well I'm back now. Hope you guys enjoyed this newest chapter and please review. I might have changed how I was having Zalbaar speak before with having his dialogue sound like normal Wookie growls with a translation provided. I might change some of the earlier chapters to match this but we'll see. See you in a couple weeks!