Chapter 7: Taris Part 7

Suddenly there was a chiming of the doorbell. Everyone immediately went for their weapons and eyed each other nervously. Had the Sith found them? Bastila indicated Sarryn to open the door.

Sarryn with his vibrosaber steady in hand and under the cover of his companions opened it.

When the door opened, they came face to face with not a Sith, but with a rather beautiful Twi'lek woman. The Twi'lek let out a tiny squeal when she saw the weapons being aimed at her, but Sarryn quickly lowered it and indicated the group to do the same. "Don't hurt me!" the woman said in Huttese. "I'm just a messenger."

"Calm down," Sarryn answered, speaking in Huttese as well. "We're not going to hurt you. Please tell me your message."

"Canderous Ordo wishes to speak with Saber, arena and swoop bike champion. He said that if you were interested in escaping this planet alive, he might have an interesting offer. You'll find him in the Lower City cantina." The woman said it all very quickly and glanced around nervously, clearly afraid of getting hurt.

"Alright lady, thanks for the info," Sarryn handed her twenty credits. "This is for the scare."

The Twi'lek took the money gratefully and quickly ran away.

Once Sarryn had closed the apartment door Bastila gave him an inquiring look. "A Mandalorian?"

"Yes, a powerful mercenary working for the Exchange. I believe he's genuine with this offer… He wants to leave this planet to look for glory – I made sure of that – and needs us to accomplish that." He gave Bastila a significant look. "And he's not the type of guy to throw his life away."

The Knight nodded. "Alright, if you trust him, we should investigate this Ordo." She gave the scoundrel an amused grin. "Saber?"

"Don't ask," said Dawn shaking her head when she saw the embarrassed look on Sarryn's face.

"Hmm. Alright, Sarryn, Willow and Dawn come with me. Carth, Zaalbar and Mission stay here in the apartment."

"I'm not leaving Dawn's side!" Mission said hotly.

"We can't go around town with the seven of us," Bastila countered. "It'll draw far too much attention."

"I have to agree with her," Dawn said to the two aliens. "I'm sorry guys."

"You know I can't leave your side, Dawn," the Wookie grunted. "I have to accompany you no matter what."

"Hmm, he's right," Sarryn told Bastila. "Zaalbar is bound by the life debt, so he has to come."

"Fine. Sarryn, Dawn and Zaalbar with me, Willow, Carth and Mission stay behind. End of discussion." Mission opened her mouth to tell just how much she disagreed with the Jedi, but Bastila shut her up with a threatening glare.

The Twi'lek cowered away under those silver eyes. "Yes ma'am," she muttered.

Bastila gave her a nod of approval and started preparing. Dawn, Sarryn and Zaalbar prepared as well, grabbing their weapons and enough aides.

Carth noticed that Bastila was taking a vibrosword with her. "What's with the sword?" he inquired. "Aren't you supposed to carry a lightsaber?"

"When I crash-landed on this planet I immediately fainted. It was… misplaced." The Knight seemed to have gotten rather defensive.

Carth snorted. "You lost your lightsaber? Isn't that a very embarrassing thing to do for a Jedi?" Sarryn laughed as well, but they were both shut up by a murderous glare from Bastila.

"Such a thing is no laughing matter," she huffed indignantly. "Why don't you two grow up and stop acting like children?"

"Err, sorry Bastila," Carth said. "Just seemed like a… Ah, never mind."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

As Sarryn, Dawn, Zaalbar and Bastila headed for the Lower City, they they passed Zelka Forn's medical clinic. Zaalbar – shy as he may be – decided it was time to remind Dawn she had the Rakghoul serum in her possession that Willow had found. This was a topic that greatly interested the Jedi. Dawn and Sarryn had to explain the situation with the mutants in the Undercity and the cure they had found for it.

"That's excellent," the Jedi said, once Sarryn and Dawn were done with the explanation. "This doctor will be able to produce large quantities of the cure and spread it to those in need. Let's bring him the sample immediately."

Sarryn was a bit reluctant. "Forn's not the only one interested in the cure. We could also sell it to the Exchange for a big sum of credits."

"And it's not your call, Sarryn. I know you think we might need credits to get off the planet. But this is the right thing to do," said Dawn. "And since the cure is in my possession. It is my call." She turned and stepped into the clinic. She approached the doctor.

After talking with the doctor for a little while longer they left the clinic. Sarryn turned to Bastila. "So, there are still some decent people left on this trash planet. I was starting to wonder where they had all gone."

"Yes, I'm sure he'll do good things with the Rakghoul serum." She shot the scoundrel a meaningful look, but didn't say anything. Sarryn looked a bit ashamed and was glad she didn't press the matter.

When they reached the guarded elevator into the Lower City Sarryn groaned and clasped his forehead before looking straight at Dawn. "Dawn, we forgot. We need to disguise ourselves in the Sith armor to go down. We have to return to the apartment to get it."

Bastila sighed. "Worrying about such trivialities," she said haughtily, before confidently stepping toward the guard.

The Sith noticed them approaching and raised his weapon. "Halt! The Lower City is under lockdown. Please turn around and leave." The Jedi waved her hand and muttered something, after which the Sith suddenly lowered his weapon. "Everything seems to be in order. I'll call up the elevator."

Dawn felt her jaw drop down and Bastila looked smug from her amazement. "You're forgetting you're travelling with a Jedi Knight now."

Once they had stepped inside the elevator and the door had closed behind them, Dawn regained some of her composure. "How?" she managed to ask.

"The Force encompasses everything, even the mind. As such it's possible for a Force wielder to manipulate it."

Sarryn let out a low whistle. "Now that's a useful ability. Couldn't you get anything you want using that?"

The Jedi folded her arms. "The possibilities of mind control are virtually endless, certainly in the hands of someone with a strong will. But with great power comes great responsibility, and these mind tricks violate the individual's free will. Just how far will you go to achieve your goals? The moral issues are under heavy debate by the Jedi."

"But not by the Sith, I presume?" Dawn said.

"The Sith use it as a tool, just like they do with everything. Thankfully those who fall for the temptations of the dark side are usually of lesser mind. They possess not nearly the amount of willpower necessary to completely take over a mind, certainly not a trained one like a Jedi's."

"What about the Sith Lords?" Sarryn asked. "You'd reckon Malak has the power to control even a Jedi Master."

Bastila snorted. "Malak is not nearly as powerful as people like to think. The only reason he hasn't been killed yet is because of his seemingly endless number of spaceships. But yes, someone with an extremely strong will could probably use the Force to sway even a Master. Fortunately, the only Sith Lords I could think of with that kind of capability are Exar Kun and Revan, so we've got nothing to fear anymore."

Sarryn cocked an eyebrow. "You don't seem to hold the current Dark Lord of the Sith in high esteem?"

"He's a betrayer and a leech," the Jedi spat. "He abused the strong fundament lain down by Revan to achieve his own perverted goals."

At that moment the elevator doors and they stepped out of the elevator.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Canderous Ordo was sitting at one of the small tables in the cantina. His feet were resting lazily on the tabletop and he was enjoying a glass of beer. They had decided that Sarryn would take the lead, so he greeted him casually and took a seat at his table. "What's up, Ordo?"

He glanced at the Wookiee and two women for a second. "Who's the new bitch?"

The Jedi folded her arms and gave him a dark glare. He returned it stoically. "She's my boss," Sarryn said simply.

"Oh? A man of your caliber being bossed around? That strikes me as odd."

"My boss is hot, what's your excuse?"

He grinned. "Touché." He took his feet of the table and bent forward, not to be overheard. "Your words have been haunting my mind. Working for Davik is honorless, I see that now. I need to get off this planet and find a new purpose."

"And for that you need me." It was a statement, not a question.

"Saber, you've defeated Twitch and won the swoop race. Rumor has it that you even killed Brejik and some of his generals. If there's anyone capable of escaping this planet it's you. I've made a plan. If you're interested, I'll share it with you."

Sarryn folded his arms. "My interest depends on the quality of your plan, now doesn't it?"

The Mandalorian grinned again. "A true businessman I see. Whatever, you need my help for the plan anyway." He took another gulp of his beer and started talking. "When trying to leave this planet you're facing two lethal problems. The first one is the Sith's planet wide automated defense system. Every ship is officially grounded, if you try to take off, you're fried within seconds. Unless you have official launch codes."

Sarryn thought about the problem. "The only one I can think of to have such codes is a high ranking Sith official."

Ordo nodded. "The Sith Governor for example. He's got himself holed up inside that Sith Base close to here. You might be able to raid the base and alleviate him from the codes."

Sarryn cocked an eyebrow. "Really Ordo? Raiding a military base?"

"Hey you survived a gang war. Personally, I'd rather face those Sith pussies than ruthless gangsters. Your biggest problem will be security, but I've got that covered. I've recently ordered a T3 utility droid from Janice at the Upper City. Figured it might be useful someday, figured correctly. Tell her I've sent you and the droid is yours."

"How much will that little bugger set us back?" Dawn asked.

"The selling price is 2000 credits." He saw her shocked expression and laughed. "But Janice is a weak Twi'lek lady, who constantly has to fight over her right to run a shop in the Upper City. Convincing her to hand it over for free is a piece of cake, certainly if you drop the name of Davik Kang."

Sarryn glanced over at Bastila, who looked disapprovingly. He turned back to Ordo. "We'll figure it out. So then what?"

"Once you've got those codes, we face the second problem, which is that fucking Sith fleet over our heads. Leave Taris' atmosphere and you'll have them on your tail. You're going to need a damn fast ship to outrun those. That's where I come in, or rather my boss. Davik's ship, the Ebon Hawk, is said to be the fastest ship in the galaxy. If there's one ship on this planet capable of outrunning the Sith, it's that one."

Sarryn shook his head. "The ship of a powerful Exchange boss. How do you propose we steal it?"

"It's locked away at Davik's mansion." He studied Sarryn for a moment. "You look like someone who can take care of himself. And you've made quite a name for yourself. My plan is the following: I put you forward as a possible recruit for the Exchange's higher ranks. He will invite us over to his mansion to check you out. Standard procedure for new candidates is an extensive background check. You'll be locked inside the mansion during that time."

"And when we're there we steal his ship," Sarryn finished. He smiled. "That might just work." He glanced over at Dawn and Bastila, who nodded.

"I'm afraid it's the best we have at the moment," said Bastila. "If you're confident we can trust this Mandalorian I suggest we take his offer."

Ordo looked at her gruffly. "Your boss seems arrogant. Are you sure you should be taking orders from a woman like that?"

"I shouldn't." Sarryn got to his feet. "But I'm afraid I don't have a choice." Bastila shook her head in disapproval but proudly ignored them. "Set up the meeting with Kang," Sarryn told Ordo. "We'll return with the codes within two hours."

"Feeling confident huh?" Ordo barked a loud laugh. "I like you. See you in two."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"So how many credits do we have?" Bastila inquired as they were approaching the droid shop.

"Exactly 2122," Sarryn answered.

The Jedi let out an exasperated sigh. "So, after this purchase we're pretty much broke?"

Sarryn scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Err, I guess…"

Bastila shook her head. "Can you explain to me why there was no note on your record that you have the finance control of a four-year-old?"

"That hurts, Knight Shan. We didn't exactly have a steady income here and equipment and aides are expensive."

"I can see that," the Jedi said with a glance at Dawn's clothes. "Dawn, got nicely dressed up."

Dawn got defensive. "We were trying to lay low. The clothes I came with were missing when I woke on the Endar Spire so I was given a Republic uniform to wear. Between me, Carth and Sarryn we had to get something less conspicuous on a world controlled by the Sith. Also, Willow was still wearing her clothes from Earth, clothes that would draw suspicion all on their own. As our fashion is different than anything that these people have ever seen."

Bastila could agree that a change of clothes was needed so as not to draw attention to themselves.

"I think it should be Dawn and I for this one," said Sarryn. "we can play the big brother, little sister card. That might get us some kind of discount." He looked at Bastila and Zaalbar. "You two should wait out here."

"I go with Dawn," said Zaalbar.

"Big-Z," said Dawn. "You can still protect me very easily by guarding the door so that no one interrupts us."

Zaalbar looked at Dawn and reluctantly agreed to wait with Bastila.

Sarryn grabbed Dawn by the arm and pulled her with her into the shop. "Oooh, look sis, it is the right place," he said loudly and extremely enthusiastically. He scanned the shop for a second, before his eye fell on something on one of the shelves. "Oh my gosh, look over there!" He rushed over to the object, while still pulling along Dawn. "It's totally that newly released Sensor Probe. Look Diane, it uses three additional gyroscopes over the old model so it's even more stable when handling explosives."

"That's awesome," Dawn said excitedly.

"Too bad my unit doesn't have the required software to install it," Sarryn pouted.

The proprietor of the shop had noticed the odd duo and approached them with a tiny smile. "Welcome to Janice's Droid Shop," she greeted. "I'm Janice, at your service."

Sarryn's smile widened. "Hai! Is this stuff all yours? I mean you can tinker with it all day long?"

The enthusiasm rubbed off on the Twi'lek. "It sure is. And yes, I tinker with this all day, that's my job after all."

"I'm like so jealous right now." Sarryn looked positively awed. "I wish I could work on my unit all day long, but Diane won't let me."

"You're a grown man, Xander," said Dawn. "You do have to provide for us."

Sarryn gave Janice a resigned smile, but then his eye fell on something at the counter. "Oh my gosh, is that a Security Interface Tool?"

"That's right," Janice said as she picked up the unit to show her customer. "It comes with brand-new v5.2 software installed, to work with even the most advanced terminals."

"Ooh, the 5.2 patch totally got rid of that rerouting bug, didn't it? It's beautiful!" Sarryn nearly drooled over the piece of hardware.

"Xander, we really need to save our money for what we came for," said Dawn.

"Oh, that's right!" Sarryn woman said brightly. "Canderous Ordo sent me to pick up his new T3 droid."

"Oh, so you're the one he sent. You're in luck, I finished the final modifications he requested just this morning." She indicated her customer to follow. "It's over here."

There were two T3 units on display, the T3-M4 unit and a cheaper T3-M8 one. Sarryn crouched down beside the units and nearly squealed in joy. "It's beautiful. Look over here sis, this droid can do like… like almost everything!"

"You're right," Janice said. "It's an exceptionally versatile droid. Equipped with advanced software and hardware to do almost any job you want. Hack terminals, pick locks, handle mines and explosives. It can even repair most of your equipment."

"I think I'm in love!" Sarryn grinned. He glanced over at the M8 unit and saw something out of the ordinary. He moved over to it to investigate. "Oh, look over here Miss Janice! This unit's processor is wrongly wired. Like this it'll quickly heat up when activated and possibly explode."

Janice moved over and also studied the droid. "You're completely right. Thanks for spotting that, very sharp!"

"No need for thanks, us nerds need to stick together!" Sarryn said enthusiastically. "An exploding droid wouldn't be very good advertisement for your shop."

The proprietor laughed. "Not at all. I'll have to fix that before selling that unit." "So, what's the T3-M4 unit cost Miss Janice?"

"It's 2000 credits. For that money it's completely patched and ready for duty."

Sarryn's face fell. "Canderous only gave me 1000 credits. Said that's what it would cost."

Dawn sighed. "Oh Xander, I told you that guy would only try to take advantage of you."

"He doesn't!" Sarryn said hotly. "He's a good friend. Maybe he just made a mistake, I'll just pay the other 1000 credits in advance, he'll pay them back."

"You're so darn gullible Xander," Dawn said with a sigh. "You're never going to see that money again. In fact, he'll probably just vanish after you give him the droid."

"He's nothing like that!"

"Look, maybe I can be of help here," Janice interrupted with a kind smile. "You've really helped me out with that M8unit and you're a nice man. I'm willing to sell the droid for just 1000 credits, if you promise to make a bit of advertisement for my shop. And make all your droid related purchases here in the future."

"Awesome!" Sarryn cheered. He grabbed the woman in a brief hug. "You're the best Miss Janice. I'll tell all my friends about your shop and you'll definitely see me here in the future."

When the duo walked out of the shop with their freshly purchased utility droid Dawn turned to Sarryn. "That was fun!"

Sarryn smiled at Dawn. "It was, wasn't it. And you did good, Dawn."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The apartment door opened and when Sarryn, Dawn, Bastila and Zaalbar entered Mission grinned widely. Dawn turned to Willow and Mission with an enthusiastic smile. "Blue, Willow, check out this droid we've just bought." As they had returned to the apartment Sarryn had told Dawn all about droids causing her to get more and more excited about possibly owning one.

Mission seemed absolutely ecstatic, revealing a shared interest. She, Dawn, Willow and Sarryn crouched down beside the droid and were soon animatedly talking and pointing, completely oblivious to the rest of the world.

Carth turned to Bastila, who shook her head and looked almost exasperated. "What's with that droid?" he inquired. He couldn't help but add: "And what's with Dawn and Baill?"

"I believe they have found a new love." Carth couldn't help but notice a hopeful tone in her voice. "We bought the droid because it's a part of the Mandalorian's plan." She quickly explained the proposed plan to him.

"Do you really think it's wise to sneak into a Sith military base?" he asked the Jedi when she was done. "I mean, it doesn't matter much if one of us gets captured, but you… You're one of the reasons this war isn't yet lost. If they turn you to their side it's pretty much over for the Republic."

His compliment caused a smug smile on the Jedi's face. "I'm afraid it's the only plan we've got. To get past the planet's defense system we need those codes and…" Bastila's eye suddenly fell on Sarryn. "What are you doing with that screwdriver?" she barked.

Sarryn, Dawn, Willow and Mission were still crouched beside the droid, but Sarryn had gathered some tools around him and was obviously planning to open the little tin can up. The scoundrel was shocked up by the Jedi's loud words.

"Teaching Dawn and Mission the basics of droid mechanics," he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Willow seems to know almost as much as I do, apparently in their universe she has actually worked on droids before."

"And just how much time do you think we have for that?" the Jedi demanded.

Sarryn shrugged. "I don't know, isn't that stuff for the commander to worry about?"

"Get over here so we can come up with a plan," said Bastila.

Dawn sighed. "Sorry, Blue," she said. "Guess we'll have to wait for another time for Willow and Sarryn to show us some basics."

Mission pouted, but she didn't dare express her resentment in the presence of the Jedi Knight.

Sarryn, Dawn and Willow got to their feet and approached Bastila and Carth.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Hannah was sitting at her desk in the entrance hall of the Sith base. She had taken the job as receptionist after the Sith had closed the office she previously worked at. Working with gruff Sith soldiers was far from enjoyable, but at least it was a well-paid job, certainly in these bad times.

As she was working on her console the front door opened and a male Sith soldier stepped in. He had two unknown women in his custody. The women were cuffed and even wearing neural disruptors, meaning they were high-risk prisoners. "'sup pretty lady, always a pleasure seeing you. Might want to call the gov'ner, I've caught a Jedi Knight and her Padawan."

The receptionist's eyes widened and she wanted to call in reinforcements, but the Sith stopped her. "Don't do that please. They're completely restrained, both physically and mentally." He briefly pointed at the neural disruptor, before bending over in a conspiratorial way. "Besides, they're my catch. Don't want anyone else running off with the glory."

Hannah nodded once and decided not to anger the soldier. As a rule of thumb, it was best not to piss off anyone in here. She pressed a button on her in-ear communicator and soon had a connection with the Governor himself. "Governor? Sorry to interrupt your meditations, but there's a soldier at the desk that has caught that Jedi Knight and her Padawan."

"Indeed? That's excellent news. Make sure they are properly restrained and taken to the prison block."

"Yes sir, right away sir." She disconnected the call and looked back to the soldier. "You are to take them to the prison block right away." She noticed the Jedi muttering something and staring at her intently. The silver eyes confused her for a moment, but when the Jedi's eyes drooped close, she quickly managed to regain her composure. "Like I said, take her to the Governor's office right away, I'm clearing the way for you."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Ralph was silently scolding himself for cursing that officer who had skipped the line in the mess. Now he was stuck on elevator duty. It was possibly the dullest job at the base, no one would ever be able to infiltrate this far into the base. And even if they would, the elevator was guarded by a few turrets and the most advanced defense droid on the planet. At least, he thought it was. The thing looked rather menacing and was surrounded by a shimmering Force field.

He was bored out of his mind. The elevator led to the Governor's office, meaning hardly anyone came by here. He was quietly dozing off against the wall when he suddenly received a call from the reception. "A soldier is on his way. He has important prisoners that the Governor wants to see immediately. Please let them through without delay."

It was a strange request, as standard protocol demanded that any prisoner was to be detained inside the prison block. But his job couldn't bear another screw-up, certainly not by disobeying a direct order from the Governor himself. So, when the soldier and his prisoners arrived, he silently called up the elevator to let them into the big boss's office.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Governor had been brutally taken out of his meditations, but for once he didn't mind. Under the roof of his own base was Bastila Shan, the highly sought-after Jedi Knight. He briefly glanced at the lightsaber on his desk and smirked. The object had been recovered from one of the Republic escape pods that had crashed down on his planet.

A frantic search for the owner had begun, which had intensified when word got out about the identity of said owner. For days the woman had remained elusive, until now.

Now this famous Jedi Knight was his. He licked his lips. If he was the one to deliver the woman to Lord Malak, he certainly would have earned the right to carry his own lightsaber. He'd move up a step in the food chain and possibly be able to leave this rotten planet.

He was surprised when the doors behind him opened, he hadn't called anyone up. To his astonishment none other than the Jedi Knight and a teenage girl entered, accompanied by a soldier. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked darkly. "They had to be taken to the prison block." He noticed the cuffs and neural disruptor and felt somewhat at ease. At least that idiotic grunt hadn't brought a battle-ready Jedi Knight into his office.

"Sorry, gov'ner," the soldier said without sounding sorry at all. "Must've taken a wrong turn somewhere."

The Governor touched the Force and felt it rippling. His heart skipped a beat when he realized both women and the man were Force sensitive and none of them carried a trace of the Dark Side. "Who are you?" he asked the Sith soldier. "Just who the fuck are you?" Panic clasped his throat.

The soldier drew his vibrosaber. "I'm just a sad guy that's going to end your misery." Like a coiled viper he sprung toward him. He dashed out of the way and grabbed his double-bladed vibrosword from the rack. Just in time he parried her blade, while letting the other blade sail towards the soldier's arm in a Force-sped motion. The second blade caught the soldier by surprise and managed to gash a deep cut in his arm. He backed away from the governor while clasping his wounded arm and cursed.

He grinned triumphantly; this injured man wouldn't stand a chance against him anymore. Suddenly the sound of an activating lightsaber reached his ears. The sight that greeted with made his heart drop. "Foolish boy," the not so restrained Jedi Knight scolded the man, while swirling her yellow lightsaber around. "This man is training to become a Sith Lord, you can't compare him to the pitiful grunts you've faced in the arena."

"She's likely right," agreed the supposed Padawan.

"Could've done with that warning a bit earlier," the certainly not Sith soldier snarled. "Damn, that he has cut a muscle."

The Jedi looked the governor in the eyes. "I'll use the Force to heal it, after I've dealt with this guy." She took a determined step towards him and he felt all blood draining from his face. This was a trained Jedi Knight and a famous war veteran. He wasn't sure who the girl was but he was sure she was likely as deadly as the other two or they wouldn't have brought her along. He got into his battle stance for what he knew was going to be the last fight of his life.