Chapter 2: Taris Part 2

Sarryn, Dawn, Carth and Willow's next stop was a cantina. It was surprisingly busy at this hour of the day. At the entrance was the Pazaak Den. Carth offered to play a few hands to increase their credits, which gave Dawn, Willow and Sarryn the opportunity to scout the cantina out. Some very interesting words reached their ears as they headed for the bar.

"…will just take our uniforms to the party. No need to head back to the Sith base to…"

The noise in the cantina drowned the voice again, but they had heard enough. They turned around to find the source of the voice and quickly spotted a young woman. Sarryn looked at Dawn and Willow as they smiled at each other. They had just found their way through the Lower City lockdown. The woman was currently talking to a male colleague and they decided to wait till she was alone.

The trio did a quick round through the cantina. A fat Hutt was sitting in a separate room, which turned out to be the gambling zone of the duel arena. Fighting in the arena would be quick cred, but it would also draw attention to them.

They entered another separate part of the cantina, and a young woman approached them. "Finally! Which one of you want to take my order," she said in a very bossy voice. Clearly part of nobility. "I'll have one of my regular drinks. Now one of you hurry up, shoo!"

Sarryn, Dawn and Willow glanced at each other. "You must've mistaken us for someone else," said Sarryn, "we're no servers."

"Preposterous!" she exclaimed loudly. "You three just wait until my father finds out about your insubordination! He will get you three fired, he will." Many eyes were now turning in their direction,

Dawn leaned over and whispered in Sarryn's ear. "Maybe we should do something, we're drawing attention."

"I noticed," he whispered back. With a sly grin he stepped close to the woman. "I'm terribly sorry, ma'am," he said in a submissive voice, quiet enough so no one would overhear. "I've seen the way you were looking at my body. Perhaps I could join you in your bedroom tonight and make up for our… insubordination. I'll do everything you want me to, mistress."

The mouth of the noblewoman fell open and her face turned a deep scarlet. For a moment she couldn't find words and was looking like she was going to choke. Finally, she pulled herself together and turned on her heels, leaving the cantina with her nose high in the air.

The rest of the cantina held nothing of interest, so Sarryn and Dawn decided to tackle the girl with the uniform while Willow went in search of Carth to tell him the news. They eyed the woman from afar, she was alone and looking extremely bored.

Sarryn glanced at Dawn who motioned for him to go. He nodded in understanding, he had gotten the impression that Dawn was at the very least bisexual if not outright gay, and of course there was no indication the woman was gay or not. He approached the barmaid. "Hey, you got any idea what that girl over there likes to drink?"

The barmaid looked at the girl Sarryn was pointing at and grinned. "Think you have a chance huh?" Her eyes hovered over him for a moment and she nodded approvingly. "You might just have a chance… if you bring her a Flameout."

Sarryn smirked. "I'll have two please."

Dawn watched as Sarryn, with two drinks in hand, approached the redheaded woman. She made sure to stay close enough to hear Sarryn and the woman but far enough not be picked out of the crowd by the woman.

"Aren't you a bit too pretty to be sitting here alone without a drink?" asked Sarryn.

The redhead watched him in surprise and she took in the stranger for a moment. Then her face softened and she accepted a drink. "You must not be from around here. Most men from around here are swine, they'd never offer a woman a drink."

Sarryn grinned. "Well you are a beautiful Sith soldier." He gave the woman a small seductive smile, without overdoing it.

"That's Sith officer actually," the woman said, but not harshly.

"Sorry, ma'am." Sarryn grinned sheepishly. "I'm just a simple spacer's son, I have no idea of such military stuff." The woman's brown eyes hovered over Sarryn's combat suit and she cocked an eyebrow. "God-ugly thing, I know," he said innocently.

"A spacer huh?" The officer seemed to be losing interest.

"Yeah, it's pretty boring, always being locked up in his small freighter. Sometimes I think about joining the Sith as well," he said while giving the redhead a deeply impressed look. "It must be so thrilling, to be one of their officers. Certainly, on such a lively planet as this."

The redhead looked a bit embarrassed at the man's awed stare. "It's not as exciting as you might think."

"Not?" Sarryn looked surprised. "But someone like you, with both the looks and the skills, must certainly get all the nice jobs, right?"

The redhead's chest swelled with pride from the compliment and she looked pleased with herself. "Well, they indeed trust me with the most important missions. I've made myself irreplaceable, so whenever they want to make sure an assignment succeeds, they ask me."

"Wow," Sarryn said in awe. "You must be really something. I bet you got all the handsome guys at your feet."

"You're the first one, actually." She started to stroke Sarryn's cheek and the arousal became clear in her eyes. "So… what did your parents call their handsome son?"

"S-Sarryn, ma'am."

"Sarryn? That's such a wonderful name." Her voice had turned low and sultry. "My name is Sarna. Say Sarryn, I'm going to a little party tonight. Just me and some other Sith officers drinking together, without our superiors knowing about it. Want to join?" Her fingers started to play with the collar of the combat vest, trying to work their way under it to feel the skin beneath.

"Really?" Sarryn said, trying to sound surprised. "I would love that, Sarna!"

Sarna smiled confidently. "Great. It's held at ten at the apartment block just north of here. Follow the music." She cupped Sarryn's cheek. She placed a gentle, lingering kiss on Sarryn's lips. "Can't wait for the afterparty," she whispered in Sarryn's ear, before turning around and leaving the cantina.

"Well?" said Dawn when Sarryn rejoined.

"I got an invitation to the party," he said. They made their way to the exit.

"Will, Carth," called Dawn as they passed the pazaak table. Outside she and Sarryn told Willow and Carth what had happened with the redheaded Sith officer.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

They were making their way through the busy streets of the Upper City when they came upon a pair of thugs harassing a merchant. Sarryn wanted to ignore them just like everybody else did, but Dawn had different ideas… once again. "We should do something to help him," she said.

"If we stopped to help everyone along the way, we would draw attention to ourselves," said Sarryn. "Better to move along."

Dawn shook her head. "No," she said. "If we don't help those less fortunate, we are no better than the Sith."

"Alright, alright." Sarryn heaved an exasperated sigh, before tapping one of the thugs on the shoulder. "Excuse me sir, my colleague here would like to know why you are beating up that old man."

The guy looked a bit surprised at the question, but answered nonetheless. "He owes Davik Kang credits. We are here to collect; but he won't pay."

Sarryn nodded once. "Excellent sir, you all have a fine day." He turned to Dawn and pulled her with her into the crowd.

"What the hell, Sarryn," said Dawn. "They'll beat him to death!"

Sarryn grabbed Dawn by the arm and pushed him down a small bench. "Sit down, shut up and listen. Why aren't we chasing those thugs away? We could, right? Of course, we could, quite easily in fact. But what would we achieve with it? The merchant certainly won't be helped, because he still owes a mobster a sum of money. They'll just come back to collect the debt later. You want to become his personal bodyguard and protect him for the rest of his life?" Dawn shook her head. "Let's assume we chased them away. They're going to have to explain why they weren't able to collect to their boss. They'll give detailed descriptions about us to their officers. The officer will go after us, probably with violence. We'll be forced to kill him. What do you reckon will happen when we kill a mobster's officer? A mobster that's part of the Exchange?"

Dawn let out a sigh. "I get your point."

"I know you mean well, Dawn," said Sarryn as he sat down next to her. "I used to be like you, wanting to help everyone. But if you think for a moment, you can't save everyone. You have to pick your fights."

"There is wisdom in what he's saying," Carth reluctantly agreed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

They had fully explored the local parts of the Upper City. They had kept to the general area where the escape pods had crashed. All of them had been scavenged dry, no doubt by the Sith. Their search had come to a standstill due to the lockdown of the Lower City, which they couldn't get past until Sarryn had nicked Sarna's Sith uniform later that night.

In the meantime, they visited the local clinic to get medical supplies. Behind a counter, a middle-aged black man in a dark suit looked up and smiled. "Hello there. I can see that a couple of you are off-worlders. Get stuck here by the quarantine, eh? Well, never let it be said that Zelka Forn refused aid to others just because of their origins."

"Then we won't say it," Dawn stated with a slight smile. "We just need a few supplies."

"Certainly," Forn said as he led the way to the supply counter nearby. "I'm afraid my stock isn't as large as it should be because of the quarantine. But at least the Sith have their own medical stores so I won't have to worry about them moving in and taking my inventory."

"Is that a common thing?" Carth asked, trying to make it sound like an innocent question.

"Oh, it's happened at a few places," Forn said as he went over the supplies. "Mostly, it's from the weapons merchants, to take the high-end arms away. They hate the idea of the citizens here having firepower. It might give some the idea to start a rebellion. I've also heard that they've taken some of the more advanced droids and parts from the droid sellers. However, as I said, I've managed to stay out of their sight."

"That's good," Sarryn said. "We'd like a few medpacks, maybe an antidote kit or two if you have them?"

"No problem," Forn stated. "I have medical supplies for almost anything…save rakghoul disease of course."

"Rakghoul disease?" Willow asked with a frown. "What's that?"

Forn's face darkened. "A very terrible affliction that has plagued Taris for as long as I can remember. It is confined to the Undercity, a deadly virus spread by some sort of creatures. Those who are infected are doomed to mutate into those creatures, becoming mindless beasts."

"There's no cure?" Dawn asked.

"No, though I heard Republic scientists at the military base here on Taris were close to perfecting a cure." Forn stated. "The the Sith arrived. They overran the military base and now refuse to allow anyone access to the laboratories inside. The Sith are keeping all the serum for the patrols into the Undercity. Although I hear the Sith have a serum that can treat the effects if administrated quickly enough. I do believe that if I were to get hold of a sample, I could synthesize a cure. If I could just get my hands on a sample of that serum the rakghoul disease could be wiped from the face of Taris forever." He shrugged. "However, as you can imagine, the Sith aren't too interested in sharing."

Dawn looked to Willow, Carth and Sarryn. Willow and Carth nodded in agreement to the silent question. Though Sarryn was against it, they would help if they could. "Maybe we could find a way to get our hands on a sample of that serum for you," she said

Forn shook his head. "I don't see how anyone could get their hands on the serum. The military base is crawling with Sith guards," he said. "Breaking in there would be a suicide mission. I suppose the Sith patrols in the Undercity might have a sample of the serum on them, if they hadn't already used it because of a rakghoul infection. But I doubt a patrol would just hand the serum over. And nobody's stupid enough to attack one of the Sith patrols, even in the Undercity."

Dawn smiled. "Don't worry, Zelka. We will get that serum for you!"

"Please don't say that! If the Sith ever hear you they might think I'm suggesting you start attacking their patrols. They could shut me down!" Zelka said, worried. "I only mentioned the serum because you asked. I don't expect anyone to get me the serum. Now is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Do you know anything about any Republic escape pods that crashed in the city?" Carth questioned.

"Escape pods?" Forn started. "Ah, no, no I don't."

Willow could tell that Forn was lying through his teeth. She glanced around the shop, her eyes resting on a locked door nearby. She moved toward it as the others kept pressing the doctor.

"You must know something," Dawn stated.

"I am too busy running my facility to care about such things!" Forn said, a bead of perspiration running down his balding head. "I know nothing about this!"

Sarryn leaned in. "Here's a tip, Doc. Make sure you stick to the whole confidentiality thing with your patients. Cause, buddy, you suck as a liar."

Willow felt a presence behind the wall. She moved her hand over the lock as she uttered, "Basem." There was a rumble as the doors slid open.

"Hey! Get away from there!" Forn called out as he rushed from the counter and to Willow. She had entered the room, which turned out to be some sort of laboratory. Before her were a pair of large tanks, each holding a body suspended in Kolto.

Forn stopped, a look of fear coming on his face as the others came behind him to take in the sight. Carth frowned for a moment before his eyes widened. "Wait a minute…I recognize them from the Spire!"

Forn looked at him. "You do? But then…you must be with the Republic."

"We're friends of the Republic," Dawn said. "You can trust us."

The doctor visibly relaxed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't sure if you were actually Sith agents trying to smoke me out. Since the battle in space, people have been bringing me some soldiers from escape pods. What choice did I have?"

Willow shook her head. "If you're like doctors on mine and Dawn's home world, very little. Our doctors take an oath to help anyone in need. Though some do forget their oath for greed."

"It is that way here," Forn said. "I have taken an oath to help anyone in need." He motioned toward the men in the tanks. "A couple were minor ones, I managed to patch them up and they went their own way. Sadly, most of have been like these, their injuries far too severe to do anything."

"So…they're dying?" Dawn softly asked.

Forn sadly nodded. "I'm afraid so. I figure the least I can do is make their last few days as comfortable as possible. It's better if they're getting some treatment instead of being in a Sith torture cell."

"Well, for that, you have my thanks," Carth said with obvious gratitude. "It's good to know at least some of these men landed in compassionate hands."

"I hate to imagine what the Sith would do if they discovered these soldiers here. But since their initial questioning the Sith have not returned, so it maybe my fears are unfounded," Forn said. He shut the door and led the way back to the counter. "Well, let's get you rung up with your meds." He quickly added things up and handed them a small pad.

Sarryn took it and frowned. "Wait a sec…it should be more expensive than this."

A slight smile came to Forn's face. "Let's just say you all qualify for a…special discount." Sarryn returned the smile as he handed the credits over to him,

"These poor people," Willow said as they headed for the door. "Like Carth said it's good to know they ended up here in compassionate hands."

Just as they wanted to leave the medical facility, the doctor's assistant approached them. "Psst. You there! Wait a minute. I need to talk to you about the rakghoul serum. I've got an offer for you that you might want to hear."

"An offer? What are you talking about?" Dawn questioned skeptical of what kind of offer the man would have.

"Zelka isn't the only one who wants to get his hands on the Rakghoul serum. Davik Kang will pay you ten times what Zelka can if you can get the cure," the assistant said.

Dawn shook her head at what she was hearing. She had been right to be skeptical; the man was only in the medical profession for his own greed. "I think I would rather give the serum to Zelka. He will use it to help people."

"Helping people is all well and good, but you have to help yourselves first, right?" the assistant asked. "I'm telling you Davik will pay big credits for the cure. More than Zelka could ever afford."

"And then only the rich could afford the cure," Willow said, she was rather ticked off with the man. "Just let the poor suffer, right?"

"If you find the rakghoul serum, just take it to Zax in the Lower City bounty office," Gurney said. "He works for Davik. He'll pay you what the cure is really worth!" He turned back to his work.

Willow looked back at Forn, "Do you think he knows his employee is two timing him?"

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "But I'm going to tell him." She turned and walked over to Forn. "Did you know your employee over there tried to get us to give the serum, if we should find it, to Davik Kang instead of you?"

Forn looked at his assistant, soon to be former assistant. "I will take care of it," he said. "Thank you for letting me know."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

As they walked back toward the apartment, Dawn noticed that Sarryn was eying her. Finally, she had enough and looked at him. "Yes?" he asked. "What's on your mind?"

"Actually, I was wondering what was on yours. You keep looking at me," said Dawn.

"You're an attractive woman, Dawn," said Carth. "If I am looking at you it is meant only as a compliment."

"Oh," said Dawn. "First off I just turned sixteen. Second, I'm gay, I like women. Anyways I wouldn't mind knowing about you Carth."

"I do not know about where you come from. But age has no baring here. I have met women who were already married at your age," said Carth. "And about me, well I've been a pilot for the Republic for years. I've seen more than my fair share of wars ... I fought in the Mandalorian Wars before all this started. But with all that, I've never experienced the slaughter these Sith animals can unleash. Not even the Mandalorians were that senseless. My home world was one of the first planets to fall to Malak's fleet."

"Malak?" asked Willow who had been listening in.

"He is a Sith Lord," said Sarryn. "He's the Sith's leader."

Carth nodded. "He ordered, my home world bombed into submission, and there wasn't a damned thing our Republic forces could do to stop them. As a result, my wife and child were killed."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Dawn. "That must have been very painful."

"I'm just a soldier; I got where the Admirals tell me to," said Carth, angrily. "I follow my orders and I do my duty. It just ..." he sighed, "…doesn't seem right that doing that means I failed them! I didn't!"

"I'm sorry, Carth. I didn't mean to upset you," said Dawn with a sigh.

"You mean well with your questions, Dawn," said Carth. "You and your friend, Willow, are new to this ... what did you call it? ... dimension? So, some questions should be expected. I'm just not accustomed to talking about my past very much. At all, actually. I'm more used to taking action ... keeping my mind focused on the business at hand. So, let's just do that. If you have more questions let's save them for later."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"I'm going to challenge the arena," said Sarryn.

"Arena?" said Dawn. "I thought we agreed to lay low?"

"What credits we managed to scrounge we spent on medical supplies, Willow's vibrosword and clothes so we could get rid of the uniforms," said Sarryn. "We're going to need some proper equipment if we want to survive in the Lower City. For that we need money and fighting in the arena is a quick way to make some. And about our low profile…I've changed my mind. It might not be such a bad thing if we get noted by one of the gangs."

Carth cocked an eyebrow. "And why's that?"

"It's a war down there. We may have to join one of the gangs to be able to continue our search for Bastila."

"Join them?" Carth stuttered. "I will not join a gang. Period."

"I think Sarryn may be on to something," said Willow. "As much as I don't want to join a gang either. You have to admit that if the gangs control things down there. Allying ourselves with one will be safer than potentially having to face all of them because we didn't ally with any."

"Gaining respect is incredibly important when facing gangs," said Sarryn. "If you're a nobody they'll just chew you up and piss on your corpse. And these swoop gangsters know everything that's going on down there. It might help us find Bastila faster."

"Alright, alright," said Carth as he looked at Dawn who nodded. "We see your point. And we could use the money. Just… be careful alright?"

Sarryn smirked confidently. "Sure, I'll be careful."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"We've been talking while you were gone," said Dawn when Sarryn returned, having won in the arena more than enough credits to get them all decent equipment. "We think it wouldn't be a bad idea to hedge our bets when it comes to the uniform situation."

"What did you have in mind?" asked Sarryn.

"We don't know how many you will be able to acquire for sure," said Willow. "Maybe one or four. So, Dawn and I will look around while you and Carth are at the party."

Sarryn thought about it. They did have a point. Sarna was just one person, she may only have access to her own uniform. It wouldn't hurt to see if there were others around. "It sounds like a worthwhile plan."

They walked through the streets of upper Taris. When they reached the apartment complex they split up.

As luck would have it Dawn and Willow found several soldiers guarding and interrogating an alien about stolen uniforms and armor. As they approached, one of the Sith guarding the door spoke up, "Just move along. There is nothing to be seen here."

"Where did you hide those Sith uniforms?" the Sith Commander asked the alien. "Did you sell them to the Tarisian underground? Start talking—I want answers!"

"Please," the alien said. "I am only a visitor to Taris, trapped here by your quarantine. I know nothing about the Tarisian underground or your missing Sith uniforms!"

"What's going on in there?" Willow asked.

"You're a little too curious for your own good, civilian!" the Sith guarding the door said. "This does not concern you."

"I'm getting sick of your lies you alien scum!" the officer said. "We got your ugly mug on a security tape from the base! Start talking before I splatter your slimy brains all over this room."

"Uh-oh," the Sith guarding the door said as he glanced back at his commander. "I think the Commander is beginning to lose his temper. I'm glad I'm out here—it took me an hour to clean the bloodstains from my uniform after the last interrogation."

"Dawn," Willow whispered. "We should do something. Not only could we get the uniforms from these guys but we could save that alien from being killed."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "Maybe the alien doesn't really know anything."

"Just stay out of this," said the Sith guarding the door. "If you know what's good for you."

"We won't let you kill a defenseless prisoner!" Dawn stated.

"What was that?" the officer asked. "Did I hear you right? Let us kill them? How can they stop us? Time to teach these civilians the penalty of defying the Sith!" He drew a blaster as the guards at the door drew swords.

Dawn dove for cover and fired her own blaster felling the officer instantly. Willow took on one the guards at the door. She had rarely had the luxury of using a sword back in Sunnydale. But she had watched Buffy use one enough to know how to use one herself.

"Thank you, humans," the alien said as he approached Dawn and Willow after the last of the guards was lying dead at their feet. "The Sith would have killed me of that I am sure."

"You're welcome," Dawn said. "Go on. We'll take care of these guys."

"Again, many thanks," the alien said running out into the corridor and towards the exit from the apartments.

Dawn and Willow dragged the Sith that had been guarding the room inside and closed the door behind them. They then stripped their bodies.

"Well at least that is two," said Willow. "Let's hope Sarryn and Carth got two more."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

When Dawn and Willow returned to the apartment, they shared with Carth and Sarryn, they found that everyone had been successful. They now had three sets of Sith armor, complete with full-face helmets. And one officer's uniform. Dawn got the uniform and Sarryn, Willow and Carth took the armor.

Before heading into the Lower City they went back to the Emporium and bought some equipment from Sarryn's winnings in the arena. Dawn and Willow wound up getting some armor that could be warn under their normal clothes. They also got various grenades and mines, some security spikes and repair kits. They had spent most of their credits and Sarryn doubted it would be enough to survive in the vile Undercity. They would have to find a way to make more credits down in the Lower City.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Were heading down into the Lower City," Dawn stated with as much authority as she could muster. Since she was in the officer's uniform it had been decided she would be the one in charge as far as the Sith were concerned.

"Another patrol?" The Sith soldier that was stationed at the elevator sounded rather grumpy as he eyed the four of them. "You'd reckon all those pods are empty by now."

"A merc claims he found another escape pod down there, unopened," Dawn said just as moodily. "A hundred to one it's just another crummy story, but my superiors want it checked out anyway."

"Tsk, sounds just like the Governor," the guard spat, while calling the elevator up. "You'd think if he had any potential, he would've had his lightsaber by now… But no, he has to make up his lack of skill by stroking the ego of his superiors with valuable presents."

"I know what you mean," Dawn grunted. "He'll do anything to suck up to Lord Malak."

The guard laughed behind his mask. "Hey, at least it pays the bills. It does make you wonder what Malak is thinking… Lord Revan would've never put someone like him in charge."

"Shows just how much he cares about this cesspool of a planet," said Dawn.

"You reckon he's going to bomb it, just like Telos?" The Sith sounded a bit uncertain. "Is that why the fleet is gathering around this planet?"

"Don't know," Dawn shrugged. "I don't see the point really. If he wants to rule the galaxy, why blast half of it up?"

"Yeah… he wouldn't bomb Taris." At that moment the elevator arrived. He stepped aside so they could enter. "Can't say I can envy you entering the Undercity. Last time I went there I spent four hours cleaning my armor."

"I hear you," said Dawn as she, Willow, Sarryn and Carth stepped into the elevator. The door shut closed and the elevator started its descent.

Sarryn finally dared to breathe again. "That went well," he smirked.