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Revan’s Tale - Chapter 4
By Kudara
Disclaimer: The name Star Wars, Jedi, Sith, are all the sole
copyrighted property of George Lucas. The names, and material
from the game Knights of the Old Republic are copyright property
of LucasArts and Bioware. In no way does this work intend to
profit from the use of any Star Wars material.
Warning: Contains f/f situations between women.
Rating: PG-13
Revision History: 3/17/04; 10/30/04
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep
writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike
about the story.
Taris – Upper City
I saw a beautiful woman, fierce and bright, she was fighting a
dark Jedi her movements sure and swift as they fought. I could
hear the hum and snap of the lightsabers. I gazed at her face;
my eyes dwelled on her dark eyes, the tendrils of dark brown
hair that escaped the elaborate braids she wore. The dark Jedi
fell and the woman looked up a challenge in her eyes. Was she
looking at me? At something past me? The dream faded and I woke
to unfamiliar surroundings. I was lying on a bed in an
apartment, andI felt like I had been used for a punching bag.
Over a pounding headache I thought ‘I must have been pretty beat
up if I’m still this sore’.
A voice said “Good to see you up instead of thrashing around, I
was starting to wonder if you would ever wake up. I’m Carth, one
of the Republic soldiers from the Endar Spire, I was on the
escape pod with you do you remember?” The man hovering over me
looked concerned and anxious.
I focused on the speaker and recognized him; “Right” I answered
“I’m Catherine or Cait McDonald. How did we get here?” I
carefully felt over my head, it was tender in spots, which would
account for the dazed feeling. Once again the regeneration
implant had probably saved my life. Judging from the looks I was
getting from Onasi, I didn’t think he expected me to be up this
soon if at all.
Carth said “Well you’ve been slipping in and out of
consciousness for over a day now. We’re safe... at least for the
moment. We’re in an abandoned apartment on the planet of Taris.
You were banged up pretty bad when the pod crashed. But luckily
I wasn’t seriously hurt. I was able to drag you away from our
crash site in all the confusion and I stumbled onto this
abandoned apartment. By the time the Sith had arrived on the
scene we were long gone.”
I nodded and said “I guess I owe you my life, thanks”
Carth replied curtly “You don’t have to thank me. I’ve never
abandoned anyone on a mission and I’m not about to start now.
Besides I’m going to need your help.” He began to fill me in on
the situation. Taris was an occupied planet under martial law
and quarantine. Onasi mentioned that for a raw recruit I knew a
lot of languages, and my skills would probably prove to be very
handy in this situation.
I sighed to myself, those darn records again. Carth finished
“There’s no way the Republic will be able to get anyone through
the Sith blockade to help us. If we’re going to find Bastila and
get off this planet, we can’t rely on anybody but ourselves.”
I said “Jedi Bastila, the mission commander from the Endar
Spire. I never had a chance to meet her.”
Carth nodded “Bastila is the key to the whole Republic war
effort. The Sith must have found out she was on the Endar Spire
and set an ambush for us in this system. I believe Bastila was
on one of the escape pods that crashed here on Taris. For the
sake of the Republic war effort we have to find her.”
I asked, “Any idea where we should start looking?” Carth said
“While you were out I did some scouting around. There are
reports of a couple of escape pods crashing down in the
Undercity. That’s probably a good place to start. But the
Undercity is a dangerous place. We don’t want to go in there
unprepared. It won’t do Bastila any good if we go in and get
ourselves killed.”
I chuckled and said “I couldn’t agree with you more on that
point.” I paused and finally asked “about my service records
what exactly was in them, I’m starting to suspect there has been
a clerical error from what you are saying. For one thing I’m
hardly a raw recruit.”
He looked at me and said “You aren’t right out of officer basic
training and the two month advanced officer combat training?.”
He said it like I was only confirming something he already knew.
I sighed and shook my head, “No I graduated from officer basic
school almost two years ago. Didn’t they give any dates?” He
shook his head “No, your service records were pretty spotty.
They included your basic and officer training, a comment about
some advanced combat training which we assumed was the usual
officer combat training that everyone takes, and your marks, but
no dates or anything. We were going to ask for more information
but never had time to.”
I tilted my head to either side and cracked my neck while I
thought about how to proceed without giving away too much
information. I know my commander had never thought I would find
myself in this situation. If I withheld the fact that I was
covert ops I would be hobbling Onasi who would be operating
under an incorrect idea of my abilities.
I finally said, “Well, this places me in an awkward position.
I’m not sure how much to tell you of my training since so much
of it is classified, which is why the service records you got
were ah... so interesting. I’m under orders to not give out
details but I can let you know that I’m two years out of officer
training. After officer basic I went into covert ops training
and I graduated from that half a year ago. Other than that there
really isn’t any more I can tell you. Sorry, but orders are
orders. I’m bending them to tell you this much.”
He stared at me and said “That explains the tattoo on your back
it’s your unit symbol isn’t it? I thought it was pretty odd for
a raw recruit to have a tattoo with the motto “Death comes on
silent feet.” I colored realizing that he must have undressed me
while I was unconscious, but then I thought that he had probably
been trying to find out how badly wounded I was and
administering medical care, exactly as I would have done if our
positions had been reversed.
“Yes it’s my unit’s symbol, how badly hurt was I anyway? I’ve
got a huge lump on my head and a blinding headache. And I’m sore
all over.”
He looked concerned and said “Honestly I don’t know how you’re
up and moving, I was really worried given the extent of your
injuries whether or not you were going to make it. You’re pretty
tough, I thought maybe you were a weight lifter or something,
but Covert Ops, that explains a lot of things that were puzzling
me. Like how you already knew how to slice that security
terminal.”
Carth paused and said “I feel a lot more optimistic about
pulling this off now, thanks for letting me know. I know that
you can’t tell me anything about your service experiences but I
feel better knowing you probably have some combat experience.”
He looked at me and I kept my expression carefully neutral. He
grinned and shook his head “alright, alright I’ll stop. I know
the drill you can neither confirm nor deny that you ever may or
may not have been in combat.”
My lips twitched and I said “I need a shower before we go
anywhere. Maybe my head will quit hurting so much. We can
combine what we know about this place after my shower and figure
out a plan of action.”
I examined myself in the shower and winced at the bruising
evident; I checked myself over for fractured bones but couldn’t
find any evidence of any. I checked out my reactions as best as
possible and determined that I was probably suffering from a
slight concussion. It would be best if we took it quiet for
another day and I let myself heal up.
Once I had finished my shower Onasi and I compared what we knew
of Taris. It wasn’t a great place to live unless you were in the
upper city. The further down the towering spires you lived the
worse the conditions got. And the Undercity sounded like a truly
terrible place with no true sunlight and some type of mutant
life form called rakghouls wandering about it.
As we talked I examined the vibrosword I had picked up on the
Endar Spire, Carth had grabbed our packs from the escape pod and
had brought them as well as myself to the apartment. I was very
pleased that he had, as it meant we were not completely without
supplies. The weapon was some type of prototype and it was
upgradeable. I had a few upgrades on me and decided to install
them while we talked. I swung the sword around a few times after
I had finished and was pleased with the results. My headache had
passed while we talked and we decided it was a good time to go
do a bit of scouting around.
As we exited the apartment we immediately ran into a Sith
officer and two patrol droids harassing two Duros, one of the
Duros asked why they were being questioned and the Sith officer
responded by shooting him. When I protested this action the Sith
officer immediately identified us as Republic fugitives and
ordered the droids to attack.
Moving swiftly I took him out before he could call for help and
Carth and I quickly dispatched the two droids. I was pleased to
see the Sith were over relying on droids here as they usually
did. The remaining Duros thanked us and assured us that he would
take care of the remains of the officer and droids.
Much to Onasi's embarrassment I poked my head into every
apartment that looked empty for stuff that might be sellable. We
needed credits to buy some decent equipment and I wasn't above
salvaging everything that didn’t have an obvious owner to get
them. A helpful Twi'lik by the name of Larrim had a small shop
set up in the apartment building and was more than pleased to
buy any decent equipment we found.
By the time I we had finished exploring we had promised to help
Dia, a woman we found hiding in one of the apartments, with
getting a bounty removed that had been placed on her head when
she refused to accept the advances of the local crime boss’s
employees. I wasn’t sure how to go about getting it done but I
would try if we could get into the lower city.
Carth had a pensive look about him as we continued exploring.
Curious as to it’s cause, I paused and asked if he could fill me
in some on his Republic service. He told me he had been a star
pilot for several years and had fought in the Mandalorian Wars
before all this started. In a tone of disbelief he commented
that the Sith were more senseless than the Mandalorians had ever
been.
I nodded remembering my training classes. Carth told me that his
home world was one of the first planets to fall to Malak's
fleet, and I apologized for bring up such a painful subject. In
a low voice he mentioned failing someone by following his orders
but then he clammed up and refused to talk about it anymore. I
could see his pain and dropped the subject; if he wanted to he
would bring it up later.
We wandered around the upper city, at first I was tense with all
the Sith troopers about but when it became obvious we were not
drawing any attention I started relaxing and noticed a clinic.
If the doctor wasn’t the type to ask a lot of questions it would
be a good thing to get myself checked out, I decided. I wasn’t
worried about my implants showing up as they were all coated
with a protective coating that would hide them from the usual
scanning devices.
The doctor was a kind man, one of the ones who took his oath to
treat everyone that came to him seriously. He mentioned that he
could treat everything but the rakghoul disease, curious I asked
him what that was. What he said was horrible, I thought the
rakghouls were some mutant, but he told me that they were people
who had been infected by other rakghouls and had mutated into
them.
He told us that the Republic had developed a serum to cure an
infected person but that the Sith had come and taken over before
it could be distributed. They were of course keeping it for
their own patrols, and refused to let the Taris medical staff
have any. I nodded and resolved that if I had a chance to get a
sample I would bring it to him so he could synthesize some. I
had him check me out and he confirmed that I had a slight
concussion which he was able to cure.
Grateful, I thanked him and he wandered off to another patient.
For some unknown reason I felt drawn to the back of the clinic.
There was a door there that was locked and I quickly sliced it
open. Onasi noticed what I was doing and started to argue with
me but stopped as I motioned that he should come in the room
with me. Two Republic soldiers, hung in bacta tanks at the end
of the room. Their wounds were severe and it was clear that they
would probably not survive them.
The doctor came in behind us agitated and asked us what we were
doing back there, it was for employees only. Carth said "I know
these soldiers," the doctor looked at him and said the only way
you could recognize them is if you were a friend of the
Republic. Onasi and I nodded; none of us mentioned that we would
obviously have to be fellow crew members. Carth and I thanked
him for caring for them and I asked if there was anything we
could do. He shook his head and said that he was keeping them
pain free and that was the most anyone could do for them.
On our way out the medical assistant told us that if we found
the rakghoul serum that Davik Kang would pay us well for it. I
asked why Kang was interested in it and it became clear that
Kang believed there was a profit to be made in selling the
serum. I was disgusted and told him so, and that I would give
the serum to Zelka if I found any.
We found the local cantina and went inside, Carth went up to the
bar and I noticed a pretty young woman glancing at us from one
of the tables. I walked over and gave her a friendly smile, she
smiled back but said that she wasn’t looking for conversation;
she was only here to relax before her next duty shift.
I was surprised she didn’t look like one of the Sith, I said as
much and she grinned and said that she didn’t wear her uniform
when off duty. She said the Sith didn’t own her and that being
in the fleet was just a job to her. She didn’t sound very happy
and I said as much, she sighed and said that she had been
promised adventure and excitement in exotic locales. Instead she
was stationed here on a backwater planet, but she didn’t have
any other way of earning a living.
I nodded and she looked worried and said that she would
appreciate it if I didn’t repeat anything, it might not go over
well. I thought to myself that would probably be very accurate
and assured her that I would not. I stored away all that she had
told me, it was a facet of the Sith fleet that I hadn’t been
exposed to. I hadn’t thought that the Sith would be recruiting
using the normal recruiting methods of promising adventure and
travel. It meant that some of the people walking around in Sith
uniforms were not necessarily evil people, at least not yet. I
wondered sadly how long it would be before the young woman erred
and got herself executed or became hardened to what went on
around her.
I wandered about the cantina and found my attention drawn to an
area where they were showing a duel, one of the duelers fumbled
and dropped his weapon and went quickly down, and the announcer
mentioned that he was just unconscious. I wondered what was
going on and went over to ask the Hutt about the duel and he
told me they used energy suppressor fields to ensure that no one
was killed during the match. Medical droids were on the arena
floor just in case as well.
He asked if I was interested in fighting and said that I would
get 10% of the money bet on the match if I won. I went over in
my mind the skill levels of the two men I had seen fighting and
smiled. He had a deal; even Carth allowed that it was probably a
good way to raise some credits. The Hutt gave me the name
Mysterious Stranger and I chuckled and agreed to use the name.
The first fight was amazingly easy, so I agreed to immediately
meet the next duelist on the list. People were gathering to
watch and were looking like I would be able to make a decent
amount on the next match if I won it. The second fight went
almost as easily, I had to duck a blaster bolt as I closed the
distance to melee that left a welt on my arm but I was unhurt
other than that. I stood on the edge of the ring until the
regeneration implant healed it enough to where it didn’t hurt
and waved off the droids watching them carry Gerlon away.
I left the dueling ring and stood in the back of the room trying
to judge the next duelist. It was a woman named Ice and she
looked fit and dangerous. Hmm this would be a nice duel I
thought to myself, I might even get a good workout. The cantina
was crowded and I had gotten 200 credits for the last fight. I
went up to the Hutt and agreed to the next duel. It was a close
match, she was quick and very good with her vibroblade, I was
being careful and got a painful slice for my efforts but I took
her down without injuring her too badly. I watched the medical
droids anxiously to make sure she was ok and breathed a sight of
relief when she got to her feet. That was more than enough for
me in one day, besides I didn’t want anyone wondering why I was
healing so quickly.
As we were making out way toward the other end of the upper city
we noticed two men threatening an old man. Carth and I looked at
each other and wandered closer wondering what was going on. We
got close enough to hear that they were threatening the man
because of a loan he owned Davik Kang and it was fairly obvious
they intended to seriously hurt or even kill the old man if he
didn’t produce the money.
The two thugs noticed us watching and said something about
witnesses. I couldn’t stand by and allow them to hurt the old
man so I announced "Leave this man alone or you will have to
deal with me."
Not being very bright they immediately attacked Carth and I, and
died very quickly. The old man thanked us and then worried that
there would only be more until they killed him. I asked if here
was anything I could do to help and he smiled and said unless
you have a spare 100 credits, there wasn’t much more that I
could do for him. I could tell from his attitude that he was not
seriously expecting me to give him money, and I chuckled and
riffled through the two thugs wallets and pulled out the money
in them and handed it to him. "Here's 100 credits right here,
take them." He blinked and began thanking me, but I said
laughing "It only seems appropriate that you use that money to
pay off Davik."
We finally found the elevator to the Lower city but it was
guarded by a Sith trooper who waved us off saying "This elevator
is off limits. Only Sith patrols and those with proper
authorization are allowed into the Lower city. Its obvious from
the way your dressed that your not one of the Sith patrols, so
unless you have the authorization papers you must move along!"
We moved off but it was now obvious what we needed to acquire in
order to get down to the Lower City.
We found another apartment complex and with a grin I said "ohh
another tour opportunity." Carth groaned but nodded, "just be
careful that they are abandoned."
We went in the first room only to find a man hiding in the
corner asking us not to kill him and mentioning a name that was
becoming all too common, Davik. I assured him that I was not
here to kill him and asked how he was in trouble, he owed Davik
200 credits and if he didn’t pay Davik would kill him.
I was about to shrug and turn away when I realized what I was
doing, I had the credits and I was thinking that 200 credits had
more value than this mans life. I pulled out the credits and
gave them to him, it’s not like I couldn’t earn more in my next
duel anyway. The sheer gratitude in his eyes and voice was
certainly worth more than 200 credits. Carth muttered "That sure
was generous of you. I just hope we don't end up needing those
credits later on." To which I replied, "We have enough, and we
didn't need it nearly as much as he does." I chuckled and
finished "Though I hope I stop stumbling on these needy souls
soon or we may run out of money."
We continued along the hallway only to see a group of three Sith
troopers questioning an alien in the common room. I heard the
word uniform and drifted closer. The Sith Commander was asking
where the alien had hidden Sith uniforms, the commander was
getting angry and the trooper edged out of the rooming muttering
something about not wanting to clean blood stains from his
uniform this time.
Realizing what was about to happen and said "Maybe the alien
really doesn’t know anything."
The trooper spun and said "Just stay out of this if you know
what’s good for you."
I tensed releasing adrenals into my blood knowing the outcome of
what I was about to say "I won’t let you kill a defenseless
prisoner!"
The Sith Commander spun away from the alien and focused on me
"What was that? let us kill him? Time to teach this civilian the
penalty for defying the Sith!"
I didn’t hesitate and cut down the nearest trooper as he said
this and rushed the Commander letting Carth take out the other
trooper. The Sith commander was slower than I expected and went
down quickly. I really hadn’t needed to bother with the adrenals
but better safe than dead.
The alien thanked us for saving his life and when I asked about
the Sith uniforms he admitted that he had been stealing them and
giving them to a Lower City gang called the Hidden Bek's. The
leader was a man named Gadon Thek, and he mentioned that I
should take the uniforms off the Sith we had killed and use them
to get into the Lower City. Once there we should talk to Gadon.
I wasn’t sure this gang leader would know anything but it was
worth a try, if he was collecting Sith uniforms to fight then at
least he might be sympathetic to us.
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