Chapter 3: Party to Descend Low
Hey guys so I had a little change of plans in my promise to be back in three weeks. I know its been closer to five, but I got some good news, I've almost got the other story I decided to focus on and get done quickly finished. So probably next week I'll be able to rotate stories every week, so you can expect semiweekly updates. I may do another chapter of this story next week just because it would go in a pattern but we'll see. I have two Naruto fanfics I'm writing and a Pokemon one. This fic will come out the same week as the Pokemon one while the Naruto ones will be the week after and then I'll switch to the other set.
Once again, I will be making some adjustments to the story to try and be more realistic where I feel it's better. Also, I probably won't make Calak a 100% full lightside, everyone has to have flaws, right? He'd need a pull to the darkside, and the way I plan to follow canon as much as possible, he'll end up a Jedi Guardian in here. So, I think he would a little prone to giving into violence under the right circumstances like with murderers or people like that. Don't want to be a Mary Sue as they call it. Also, in the Revan Novel, it mentions that Revan occasionally strays into the dark side (meaning his current self by that time when he is about to face the Sith Emperor). So, we'll have to try and be mostly light, say about 75% or so. I usually go after Bendak Starkiller even if I'm playing lightside on Taris so I will probably do the same here toward the end of this planet.
Any ideas you guys have feel free to share in the review.
Carth didn't like the idea of attending a Sith party, but they didn't have many other options. He and Calak walked the streets of Taris the next day in the morning to locate the apartment complex where the party would be held. It turned out the complex wasn't too far from their own, just on the opposite side of the large platform supporting the buildings overlooking the surface of Taris. After locating the apartment complex, they took a look around, Carth showed Calak the elevator leading down to the Lower City. There was a Sith guard standing there, and further down that path they had what might be a major problem down the line. The military base. It was the base of the Sith here on the planet now.
"Well, we probably won't need to go in there, right?" Calak asked.
"I doubt it," Carth said. "But maybe. It will probably be crawling with Sith and maybe even some Dark Jedi as well. We'd need our own Jedi if we ever want to consider going in there. A couple soldiers like us won't stand a chance on our own."
Calak nodded. No sense fighting a battle they couldn't win. They headed back the way they came, past the elevator with the Sith Guard. It might have been easy to simply blast him, but seeing a code pad to open the elevator next to him, Calak saw it would be no use. As they exited this small roofed area, they heard a loud voice shout.
"The evil walks among us! The enemy is here! We cannot stand idly by while this pox infects our society!"
The speaker was an old man shouting loudly and with passion.
"Wonder what's going on?" Calak asked.
"Let's check it out," Carth said.
They approached the old man along with two other human men.
"Everything okay?" Calak asked.
The man grinned. "Friends and fellow humans! I bring you a warning! A warning of a great plague spreading across our planet! Please listen to me!"
His words were a bit confusing, but Calak could understand he felt threatened by someone taking over his planet. Could he be referring to the Sith? If so then he could be an ally. From the looks of it he was trying to form a resistance of some sort.
"Are you referring to the Sith?" Calak asked looking to verify.
"I am speaking of the hideous looking aliens that walk the world of Taris! The Wookies and Ithorians and Bith, all of them! They are hideous and should be eradicated before they contaminate our planet with their alien germs!"
Oh, he was just a xenophobic extremist.
"My name is Gorton Colu, founder of the Anti-Alien League! I wish to preserve the welfare of humans on Taris and keep it beautiful before the aliens make it their backwater world. Join me and together with our new allies, the Sith, we can purify our planet before its too late!"
Calak narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what is worse! Your hate mongering or your ignorance!"
"Yeah! We don't need people like you, old man!" one of the other people that had come up said.
"You are like all the rest, you will not see the truth! When the Day of Reckoning comes you will suffer with the rest of the alien lovers!" Gorton Colu declared.
"You're insane old kook!" Calak shouted.
"Leave me be alien lover!" Colu shouted back.
Calak gritted his teeth, his hand reaching for his blaster, but Carth put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "Come on we should keep moving, kook or no, people like him can make trouble for us."
Calak nodded and had to resist the urge to blast this wanna be genocidal madman. He and the other people who'd been drawn in left.
"Hey I'm no alien lover but I don't want to see them all get killed," the other passerby said. "That kook was way out of line."
Calak nodded as he and Carth walked back in the direction of their apartment. But as they made it through the short tunnel leading to the other side of the platform they happened upon another small group. It was another older man facing two people who held blasters in their hands. The look on this man's face was not one of hatred but fear and also exhaustion and he panted as if he'd been running.
"Finally caught you, can't run at your age huh? Davak says you missed your last payment!" the first person with a blaster, a human male said.
The second person, an Aqualish alien spoke in his native language next, "Davak doesn't like you missing payments!"
Bounty hunters! Calak realized. Doing a crimelord's dirty work!
"Here, I've got fifty credits!" the man said reaching into his pockets desperately. "Fifty credits ought to buy me some time, right?"
The human bounty hunter shook his head. "Sorry, you're all out of time! Now it's all or nothing!"
"But I don't have that much!" the man said. "How can I give you credits I don't have?"
"That's too bad. I guess we'll just have to take it out of you piece by piece!" the Aqualish said.
"No help, somebody help! They're going to kill me!" the man cried.
Calak looked at Carth and their eyes met.
"I know we have to be careful about drawing attention to ourselves, but are we just gonna let them drag this guy off?" he whispered to Calak.
Calak shook his head. He had been angry and almost ready to murder someone last time but his conscience was clear now. He couldn't let an innocent man suffer on a crime lord's whim. The two bounty hunters suddenly looked in his direction, they'd been so focused on their quarry they hadn't noticed an audience.
"Hold on a second, looks like we got a couple of witnesses here!" the human said.
"Davak doesn't like witnesses," the Aqualish said.
"Please help me!" the victim said.
Calak frowned and drew his blaster rifle. "Leave that man or you'll have to deal with me!"
Carth likewise drew his blasters. "And me!"
The human bounty hunter gritted his teeth, the Aqualish had no mouth, only a pair of pinkish things on his chin. But his eyes narrowed. That was Calak's warning, he quickly pressed the button on the portable energy shield he got yesterday from Larrim. Just in time as the bounty hunters let off a few bolts at him. His shield deflected them but he knew it could only take so much damage before it broke. Calak shot back as did Carth. The Bounty Hunters ran, narrowly avoiding the blasts. They headed over to a nearby levitating statue for cover. They switched targets, aiming for Carth instead. He didn't have an energy shield like Calak so he could get hurt! Calak saw this and leaped off to the side, taking the blasts that would have struck Carth in the chest. It did not harm to him, but he didn't know how much more his shield could take. Maybe one or two more bolts?
Carth's eyes widened in surprise as he saw Calak's actions. He reached into his belt and drew out a frag grenade. He took a quick glance around. The bullied man was a good distance, and there wasn't anyone else nearby to get caught in the blast. But he heard faint shouting in the distance. They'd probably have the authorities here soon, and those were the Sith now.
He threw the grenade. The bounty hunters shot a few more times at Calak who shot back. But both blasts didn't hit, glancing off the statue or shield. The frag grenade exploded though, hitting both bounty hunters who only had ordinary clothes. The shrapnel pierced their skin and they fell.
At that moment the Sith came on the scene. A trio of troopers.
"What happened here?" the lead trooper asked.
"Those two tried to kill me officer!" the bullied man said coming forward fearfully. "These men saved me."
The Sith looked from the dead bounty hunters to Calak and Carth. "Well done citizen. But you should really mind your own business. We won't arrest you for defending yourself or this old man, but be warned, we've taken up the role of law enforcers here. We will shoot whoever attacks first! Understand?"
"Yes sir," Calak said as respectfully as he could, though it felt foul in his mouth.
"Good, now move along."
The Sith turned away as Calak sighed in relief. He and Carth turned to the old man.
"Thank you, I owe you my life! Those bounty hunters were going to take me away and kill me!" He said before looking down. "My wife warned me not to take a loan from Davak. But now I can't pay him back! He'll just keep sending more bounty hunters after me until I'm dead!"
Calak looked at him. "Maybe we can help you with your problem with Davak?"
The man shook his head. "Unless you've got a spare one hundred credits there's nothing you can do."
Calak touched his pocket, then an idea suddenly occurred to him, seeming to draw him to the bodies nearby. "Maybe we should check the bounty hunter's bodies?"
They walked over to the bodies and looted the pockets quickly. They'd be picked up by cleaning droids sooner or later. But there was just enough time to see what they had. Feeling some credit chips in the pockets Calak and Carth pulled them out. Putting them together they had… one hundred credits precisely!
"One hundred credits!" he said holding them out to the man. "Take them!"
"You're giving me a hundred credits just like that?" the man was in shock. "I don't know how I can ever repay you! Thank you! Now I can pay off Davak!"
He made his way off.
"You're generous Calak," Carth said with a small smile. "Giving someone a hundred credits like that."
"At least they weren't ours and belonged to those Bounty Hunters!" Calak said.
"Yeah!" Carth chuckled. "How did you know they had credits?"
"Just… had this feeling," Calak said. "They had to have some right?"
"I guess," Carth said. "Well let's head back to the apartment."
…
They hung around for a while. But Calak sighed.
"I'm bored. We really gonna just sit here all day?" he asked.
"Well, we've already scouted our way into the Lower City, then we'll need to get into the Under City to find Bastila. I guess if you want to do something we still need to get some supplies. Maybe you can see about getting into one of the next rounds in the Dueling Ring," Carth said.
Calak nodded "Yeah I think that would be a good idea!"
They headed to the Equipment Emporium, buying a few grenades, mines, and the permacrete detonator that Calak saw yesterday. They spent most of the credits Calak earned from the Dueling Ring matches. Then Calak headed back to the Cantina and spoke with Ajuur. The Hutt scheduled his next match to take place later that day, closer to sunset. Calak might be a little late to the Sith Party but not by much. They went back to the other side of the platform where the elevator to the Lower City, Sarna's apartments, and the Military Base were.
"I think there was some sort of droid shop nearby," Carth said as they made their way there. "A droid might come in handy to crack codes or other stuff. If we could get an assault droid that would really help us out!"
"Yeah," Calak agreed. He felt intrigued at the idea of having a high-level combat droid at his side, then grinned as another thought crossed his mind. "I'm the one with credits so the droid will have to belong to me!"
Carth chuckled nervously. "Well, I won't complain. You're the one earning the money around here in the Dueling Ring. Just don't turn it on me!"
"No promises," Calak cracked.
The two men chuckled.
As they continued on the platform, a group of four foul-smelling men blocked their way. Drunks, from the smell of them.
"What is this planet coming to huh? Hic!" one man said in a hiccupy voice. "Slummies just walking about?"
"Shouldn't you go back to the Under City where you belong Slummy?" a second drunk said.
"Well this is rich," Carth whispered as they endured the mockery.
"Yeah! Like he said!" A third drunk said in a more aggressive manner then the other two. "These streets are for Upper City citizens! You better get out of our way if you know what's good for you!"
Calak's eyebrow twitched in anger. These guys were asking for a fight! But they were unarmed and unarmored. It would be easy for him to draw his rifle and gun them down. Their bare firsts wouldn't do much against his combat suit. Then there were the Sith, who would attack the first party that disrupted the peace. Two patrols were nearby, looking at them, observing the tension. Calak glanced back at the four confronters. It probably wouldn't take much to provoke the drunks in their current state then the Sith would help shoot them down. It would be a slaughter, at least Calak wouldn't be arrested or attacked in that regard. But he'd rather avoid a fight right now.
"Uh, hey guys come on! We don't need to fight!" Calak said forcing a smile. "Let me buy you a drink tonight at the cantina!"
That got their attention and the hostility vanished.
"A drink? Hey hey for a slummy you ain't so bad! Come on boys, this slummy is buying the next round!" the last drunk said.
"No way, forget it! No more drinks! We're late enough as it is!" the first one said.
"Uh-uh, yeah, you're right. Maybe next time slummy!" the final agreed looking at Calak.
Appeased, the four drunks walked off. Calak sighed in relief as he saw the two Sith Patrols look away.
"That was a close call… for them," Carth said. "I thought for sure you were gonna provoke them!"
"I thought about it," Calak admitted as they resumed walking. "But I'd rather shoot that guy over there!"
He pointed to Gorton Colu who was still in the same location spouting his anti-alien nonsense.
"We sure attract trouble huh?" Carth asked. "Let's avoid him, he's just an old man. Might not take much to provoke him but we got better things to do."
"Yeah."
They found the droid shop Carth spoke of. The owner was a female Twilek. As they walked up to the counter, Calak saw no assault droids, just protocol and a couple utility droids.
"Welcome to Droids by Janice! I'm Janice Hall, how may I serve you?"
"Good morning!" Calak said being friendly. "We're here to check out your droids."
"Do you have any that are for assault?" Carth asked.
Janice shook her head. "Unfortunately, my assault droids have all been confiscated by the Sith. As if business weren't bad enough with the Upper City being so prejudiced against aliens."
Calak gave her a look of sympathy. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I can make it through," Janice said. "I always have through hard work and dedication. I may not have assault droids but I do have protocol droids to help you at home or perform other tasks, as well as utility droids to help out with repairs or other mechanical issues."
Calak thought about it for a moment. He wasn't much of a mechanic, so a Utility Droid would probably be more useful to repair things. A Protocol droid wouldn't serve much purpose as they couldn't fight and would likely only get blown up in the crossfire. Utility droids also came with built in blasters and electric charges making them at least mildly useful in a fight while the Protocols only had bare hands and no programming for weapons.
"I'll take one of your Utility Droids," Calak said.
There were two of them, a blue one and a brown one.
"Oh, unfortunately I only have one for sale, the other is reserved as a special order," Janice said. "The brown one, T3-H8 is for sale. He's the more basic version but he should get the job done in all but the most advanced scenarios. I just repaired his modulator cause it kept blowing up so he should be good."
Calak shrugged. "Okay, I'll take him. How much?"
"Five Hundred Credits," Janice said.
That would be a dent in what remained of Calak's credits. He would only have two hundred left, enough for several meals at least. Ah well, he'd gotten the explosives he needed from Kebla Yurt and would get more credits from the next duel this evening. This little guy could help if Calak and Carth needed repairs done for anything.
Calak handed Janice the credits and looked at the droid.
"Alright T3 you're with me now," he said.
The droid beeped.
"Come on," Calak said beckoning him before turning back to Janice. "Pleasure doing business with you."
"Likewise, good to meet someone who is friendly toward aliens," Janice said.
Calak, Carth and their new droid walked outside. But as soon as T3-H8 crossed the doorway of the store he began letting off high pitched noises and-
Boom! The droid exploded, leaving a pile of metal on the platform. The two men looked back in surprise.
"What happened?" Janice asked as she came out to investigate. "It blew up? I thought I fixed that modulator!"
Calak was filled with disappointment. "Uh, can I get my money back?"
"Yes of course!" Janice said as she ran back to the counter, quickly returning with the credits Calak had handed her a moment ago. "Here you are, a full refund. No hard feelings I hope?"
"No," Calak shook his head.
He and Carth walked back, passing Gorton Colu who shouted.
"Listen to me people! There is a terrible scourge affecting our planet! We cannot stand idly by while this pox infects our society!" the old man shouted from across the street.
Now that guy, Calak did have hard feelings for.
…
They headed to the Cantina for lunch and asked some of the patrons about the Lower City, learning that there was currently a gang war there between two groups. The Hidden Beks and Black Vulkars. The Beks weren't a problem but the Vulkars had begun shooting anything that moved aside from their own. It was a dangerous place, almost as bad as the Undercity. But they had no choice but to press through whatever came their way to find Bastila.
After eating his food, Calak walked into the area where Ajuur was. Inside the Hutts rooms were Deadeye Duncan and Gerlon Two Fingers along with two humans. One was a young blonde woman and the other was older man with a double vibroblade, both of them wore the same combat suit as well. Lastly, Calak saw Rodian in the corner. They must be the other duelists.
"Ah, Stranger!" Gerlon called. "Stopping by huh? Well now we got the whole group here! You've met me and Duncan already."
"Hi," Calak said politely.
"Yeah, yeah you beat me like everyone else does," Deadeye grumbled. "Just don't get a big head over it. Everyone beats me."
"That's right, and Gerlon maybe capable but he's still a cripple," the woman said coldly. "I'm Ice, and I'm to be your opponent tonight."
"Please to meet you," Calak said trying to be friendly.
"Hah! The only meeting you'll be doing is making meat out of yourself tonight when I beat you!" Ice said.
Boy she was cold hearted! Ice was a fitting name for her.
Calak dropped civility now. "Alright Ice! If that's how you want to play it! I guess I'll just have to MELT you!"
Most of the other duelists laughed.
"Good one stranger!"
"Oh, that's so good!"
Ice glared at him. "Funny. But you'll regret those words!"
She walked off. Soon the hour came when she and Calak walked into the Dueling Ring to face each other. Unlike the first two opponents she was a fully capable fighter.
She shot at Calak who moved to the side, firing his blaster rifle. She rolled with good reflexes and shot from the ground, grazing Calak's shoulder with a weakened but still painful energy blast. Calak groaned and aimed his rifle with difficulty due to his wounded soldier. But he did aim, shooting Ice in the chest as she stood up pointing her blaster at him. She fell unconscious. Calak let out a few breaths as the medics took Ice in. Calak soon got another set of winnings. Now it was onto the party.
…
Calak didn't have much in the way of clothes that could be worn at a special event and there wasn't a shoo nearby. He'd have to get some other clothes soon when he had the opportunity. Ah well, his combat suit was still attractive enough for formal events. They headed out when the time came and arrived at the apartment complex. Looking around they heard music playing and followed it to its source. Entering the room, Calak quickly spotted Sarna.
"You made it! I'm glad!" Sarna said. "The party is in full swing!"
Calak smiled. "Great."
There were some people dancing, and many others with beverages in their hands.
"You have to try this Tarisian ale! It's fantastic!" Sarna said as she held up a bottle and handed him a glass of the beer.
"Careful Sarna, that wines got quite the kick to it! A few more bottles and we'll all be passed out on the floor!" A partygoer said.
"Who cares? We're not on duty tomorrow!" Sarna said. "Let's live a little!"
Calak and Carth looked at each other, if those Sith were to overdose a little that could give them a good opportunity to go through their items. Maybe they could find something useful.
"Well lets party!" Calak stated as he raised his cup.
"Here here! To the Sith!" they shouted raising theirs as well.
Calak and Carth only took sips as it wasn't something they wanted to drink to, a Sith Victory. No one noticed at least. They waited, ate party food, danced a bit, then their patience and moderation paid off. Sarna and all the other Sith lay on the floor, too intoxicated from the strong and infamous drink of Taris. Calak and Carth smirked then looked around. They found a few datapads on the Sith but no news of Bastila, there were however a couple Sith Uniforms in a set of backpacks.
"This will probably do it!" Carth said. "We can disguise ourselves as Sith and get down to the Lower City!"
"Perfect!" Calak said. "Let's grab some of this food as well. We don't know when we might need it."
They stuffed their packs with everything they could carry and headed back to their apartment through the night of Taris.
"Well, I never thought I'd say this but it was fun to party with the Sith!" Carth said.
"Yeah, we survived at least!" Calak said.
They dropped a bit of the stolen food off at Dia's apartment.
"Thanks," she said as she answered the door and accepted the gift.
"We'll be able to get into the Lower City tomorrow," Calak assured her. "We'll get your issue with Holdan sorted out."
"Thank you," she smiled.
Calak and Carth walked back to their apartment, put their packs with the Sith armor down and fell into their own beds. Tomorrow it was down to the Lower City.
…
The next day, Calak and Carth awoke and dressed in their stolen Sith Armor they'd stolen from the party and made their way to the elevator. Before they did though, they stopped at Zelka's medical facility to get some more medical supplies like medpacks and antidote kits. Zelka was uneasy about having two Sith Troopers in his facility but was relieved when they bought a good amount of supplies. Then it was onto the elevator. Like yesterday a Sith guard was there.
"Another patrol heading down to the Lower City eh?" he asked. "You two better watch yourselves down there. The gang violence is bad and we have to be on guard at all times."
"Right," Calak said.
"Good luck."
The Sith punched in the code to the elevator which opened and allowed the Republic Soldiers wearing their enemies uniform inside. Now it was down to the Lower City.
Okay, had Calak and Carth cover most of the stuff that goes on as side quests in the Upper City now. I had Carth get a Sith Uniform of his own as it made sense since I thought it would look suspicious for a citizen to accompany a Sith Trooper. I suppose he could pass Carth off as a hired gun or something but I felt this worked out better.