Chapter One - Accessing The Lower City.

A dream...

A vision of the events that have passed, and perhaps of events that are yet to come.

My vision blurs and an image of a woman comes into focus, obscuring my view of everythingelse. She's beautiful, but so upset, as if her anger can barely be contained.

Bastila...

She's the Jedi I swore to protect. I only met her briefly, but she had a certain...aura about herthat made me want to get to know her more. When the Jedi commandeered the Endar Spire,they did a lot of security checks. One such check involved Bastila meeting all of the soldiersprotecting her so she could familiarize herself with our faces.

We all stood in a line, and she walked past us, looking at each of us in turn for only a moment.Until she reached me. When she finally stood in front of me she stopped and her gaze held myown. It was intense, the way she looked at me, as if she was trying to gather all of my secretswith only a look.

I held her gaze, more out of fascination than defiance. How can a Jedi, any Jedi, be gifted withsuch eyes? How can any Jedi break through my defenses so easily with a look, and peer intomy soul at a whim?

I sought the answers to those questions with a look of my own, but after a few minutes Bastilafinally broke away from me and continued on. I didn't see her again at any time on the Spire.

My thoughts are interupted when the vision shifts and a Dark Jedi attacks Bastila. She instantlyfends him off and kills him, then sweeps her blade behind her and faces a dark figure. My visionshifts and he turns around, looking at Bastila, but also seeming to look right at me.

My vision gets cloudy, and the more he looks at me the worse it becomes. He makes menervous, extremely nervous, and the need to flee starts to dominate my senses. But I can't. Hejust stares, and the vision shakes, and finally fades away.

Suddenly, the desire to sleep overtakes me, and as my eyes close I fall back into the darkness.

*******************************Once again, I awake with a start. My body is dry, but for some reason I still feel like I'm bathedin sweat. Not far from me, a figure stands up and walks over to me.

“Whoa, slow down.”

A stabbing pain in my...well everywhere, convinces me that might be a good idea. I focus on thefigure and see Carth Onasi.

“How are you feeling?”

I rub my face with my hands and groan.

“Uhn...did anyone get the license of that planet?”

Carth chuckles and I slowly stand up. The more I move the more my senses clear and I lookaround at my surroundings. It looks like we're in some low rent apartment. There are a couplebeds and a workbench, but nothing more. I've spent a lot of time in places like this. It's easy todisappear here.

“When the escape pod crashed, you got banged up prettygood but I managed to escape without injury. I pulled youout of the wreckage and by the time the Sith got therewe were already long gone.”

Carth hands me a bottle of water and I drink it down, the pain finally starting to lessen down tojust a dull throb.

“Thanks for the save. I've never had too much luck withescape pods. They always seem to injure me.”

Carth just smiles and waves his hand dismissively.

“There's no need to thank me. I've never left a man behindand I'm not about to start now. Besides, I'm going to needyour help.”

I look at him for a few moments and then sigh. I know where this is going.

“You didn't manage to find Bastila did you?”

“Unfortunately no. The Sith have declared martial law andhave also imposed a planet-wide quarintine. Moving aroundhas been difficult, but I heard a rumor that more escapepods crashed down into the Undercity. It's a verydangerous place and I need all the help I can get.”

“Can we expect any backup?”

“No. There's no way the Republic can sneek anyone pastthe Sith blockade. If we're going to get out of this thenwe'll need to depend on ourselves.”

Well this sounds like it's going to be fun.

I stand up and stretch my limbs, finally finding that the pain has almost entirely disappeared. Ispot my blaster and vibroblade resting on the workbench. I holster my blaster and strap thevibroblade across my back. I turn back and look at Carth.

“Well, sitting around here isn't going to accomplishanything. It looks like we have a small adventure aheadof us.”

Carth smirks at his enthusiasm and grabs his own blaster.

“Sure does. But we'll need to keep a low profile. I'veheard of some colorful stories about the Sith

interrogation techniques and I'm not in any hurry toexperience them firsthand. They say that the force cando terrible things to a mind. It can wipe away memoriesand change your very identity.”

Carth had turned toward the door, otherwise he might have been concerned when a flash ofpain shot through my mind and I rub my forehead to dull the pain and follow him. When heopens the door he suddenly stops and turns to look at me.

“Oh, I haven't asked your name yet.”

I smile and hold out my hand.

“My name is Isárion L'belryn.”

Carth takes my hand and gives it a firm shake.

“I'm Carth Onasi. It's a pleasure to be serving with you.Alright, soldier, let's move out.”

*******************************Black Vulkar Base

“Are you deaf? I said let go of me!”

The Jedi motions sharply with her hand and suddenly the Black Vulkar gang member fliesacross the room and impacts hard against the wall, falling to the floor unconscious. Brejikstrides into the room where some of his gang members are trying to restrain the Jedi enough toplace a neural restraint on her.

“She's being feisty is she?”

Brejik asks with an amused chuckle and one of the gang members nods his way, only to get laidflat when the Jedi uses the distraction to introduce his face to her foot. Brejik sighs andapproaches the Jedi. She looks at him with contempt. He decides to try and reason with her.

“Look, Jedi, you're causing way too much trouble. If youdon't calm down then I'll let my gang members do what theywanted to do before, and take you to their quarters untilthe Swoop Race begins. They have some very inventive waysof dealing with impulsive women. I would rather sell youunspoiled, but if it doesn't look worth the effort...”

He doesn't need to go into detail about what they would do. Despite having no experience of thesexual nature herself, Bastila is still aware that there are a lot of people out there who take greatjoy in breaking a Jedi that way. Deciding to take the lesser of two evils, she finally stopsstruggling.

“Good girl. Now, we're going to keep you inhibited for a while soyou won't try to escape. Don't cause anymore problems.”

Deciding to do it quickly, one gang member approaches her and straps the collar around herneck. He grabs the remote from the table and activates it. Bastila's glare remains until her mind

goes blank and she slumps forward.

As the others lift her up, Brejik gives his instructions.

“Put her somewhere safe, away from the Vulkar base just in casesomeone tries to obtain her. And don't do anything to her. If itlooks like the Jedi has been spoiled then I'll kill all of you myself.Now go!”

All of the Vulkars leave the room, carrying the Jedi with them.

*******************************Isárion & Carth

“Ok you alien scum, everyone against the wall! This isa raid!”

Oh you got to be shitting me! We just took two steps out of our apartment!

A Sith, backed up by two battle droigs, stood in front of two Duros, but his back is to us. Maybewe can sneak away.

One of the Duros cautiously approaches the Sith.

“There was a patrol here just yesterday and they foundnothing. Why do you keep bothering us?”

The Sith then replies by raising his weapon and firing a couple shots through the Duros chest.

“That's how Sith deal with smart-mouth aliens! Noweveryone against the wall before I lose my temper again!”

The Sith turns to make sure his order is being followed and notices us. Two humans livingamongst a place reserved for aliens. One would generally call his forthcoming response asbeing presumptous.

“They're Republic fugitives! Attack!”

But then again he's not wrong. Carth and I open fire on the two battle droigs before they have achoice to turn around and shoot back, destroying them instantly. Being better with a gun, I fire atthe Sith even as the droid I destroyed tumbles to the ground, and instantly kill him as well with ashot through the head.

All the aliens in the hallway return to their rooms as if they didn't see anything, and if anotherSith patrol happens to ask them about it, that'll likely be their response. The other Duros kneelsbeside his friend.

“Poor Ixgil. He really shouldn't have talked back to theSith. Nonetheless, thank you for your help human.”

I shrug and both Carth and I holster our blasters and I respond.

“I'm glad I could help. Does this happen often?”

The Duros finally stands up and replies.

“They come almost daily for surprise raids andinspections, but all they're really doing is takinganything they deem as contraband for themselves. It's theSith's own brand of thievery and there is nothing thatcan be done about it.”

I look down at the bodies, wondering how I'm going to get rid of them. Carth speaks up.

“This entire area will be in trouble if these bodies arefound. I'd much rather not have Sith knocking on ourdoor.”

The Durops waves his hand dismissively and says.

“I'll hide the bodies far from here so the Sith won't knowthey were killed here. Just go about your business.”

After purchasing two energy shields from a Twi'lek merchant named Larrim, inspect the area.The alient housing really isn't much more than a large metal circle in the ground with crappyrooms. It's the perfect place for an someone to disappear.

Aliens are considered to be at the bottom of the barrel on Taris. The planet hates anynon-humans, with Twi'leks being tolerated in upper Taris only because they are hired for theeyecandy. Humans have always done this, and even after all of these years it still disgusts mehow closed minded they can be.

The Upper Taris area, which is a huge platform outside that overlooks hundreds of kilometerhigh buildings, is frequently patrolled by Sith. But with us just being a couple grunts, the Sithbarely notice our presence, and we're able to walk right past them, and other Taris citizens onthe street without gaining attention.

One tough looking alien has an old man by the throat. Another one stands as backup by hisside.

“You keep missing your payments to Davik. He reallydoesn't like it when people don't pay their debts.”

The old man pleads while also trying to breathe around the hand constricting his throat.

“P-please! I have fifty credits! Consider it a downpayment! Th-that should buy me some time right?”

The alien who is just standing there responds.

“That's not going to cut it this time. It's all ornothing.”

The old man looks back and forth between them with fear in his eyes. He's heard of what Davikdoes to people who can't pay up.

“B-but I don't have that many credits. How can I give yousomething I don't have?”

I hear Carth whispering beside me.

“I know we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves but weshouldn't let this man get hurt right before our eyes.”

The hand tightens around the old man's throat to the point where it looks like he's going to passout from lack of oxygen.

“That just means we're going to have to make an exampleout of you.

Ok, that's enough of that.

“I suggest you take your hand off his throat before youlose it.”

Both thugs turn ttheir heads at once to look at us, before dropping the man, choking andgasping for breath, to the ground.

“There seems to be witnesses.”

“Davik doesn't like witnesses.”

“Looks like we have to teach you to mind your ownbusiness.”

A few blaster shots and about six seconds later, both aliens take a nosedive off the platform. Ipat my hands together and turn my attention to the old man.

“Are you ok?”

I offer my hand to him and he takes it and raises back onto his feet, patting his neck as ifmaking sure all of it is still attached.

“Y-yes. Thank you for your help. But I fear that this hasonly delayed my death, not prevented it. With my debt,more bounty hunters will arrive to collect.”

I look at the old man for several seconds then ask.

“How much is your debt?”

“One hundred Credits. My wife told me not to borrow froma loan shark like him, but I had no choice.”

That's all?

I think for a few more moments and then smile. I found around that amount on the Sith I killed inthe alien quarters. I pull out the right amount of credits and hand it to him. Carth whistles insurprise.

“You're just giving him a hundred credits? Generous ofyou.”

The old man looks down at the credits in surprise. His eyes almost seem to mist over with tears.

“You're just going to give me a hundred credits? Why?”

“Because everyone makes mistakes and you shouldn't haveto live, and die, with yours.”

The old man clutches the credits securely in his hand.

“Thank you for your kindness. I'm going to go pay off thedebt right away! Thank you!”

The old man ran off, looking like a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders. Carth pats meon the back and smirks.

“Made your fair shares of mistakes I take it?”

I just smile at him and shrug.

“More then I'd like to admit. Come on, we still need togather information.”

The Upper City is split into two platforms, the north and south. The south holds the lift to thealien's apartments, a general supply store, and a Cantina which also supports dancing Twi'leks,a Pazaak den, and a combat arena owned by a Hutt. The north platform holds the lift to theLower City, some more apartments, and a doid supply shop owned by a Twi'lek.

A cantina is always a good source of information. That's right; I went there for informationgathering. I just happened to end up in the arena area. Pure coincidence.

“This is so not a coincidence.”

Carth grumbles as he finds me watching one of the monitors. A man and a woman are watchingthe monitor beside me, the woman talking very excitedly.

“I can't believe we couldn't get tickets! Now we have towatch the match on the monitors.”

“What's the big deal? It's only Gerlon Two-Fingers.”

“Just stop complaining and watch the match.”

The man just sights, seeming to only be there to humor her and make sure she doesn't bet all ofher credits in one day.

The announcer's voice suddenly bursts from the monitor. And Carth watches along with myselfas two men step into the arena.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! Watch as these two men

fight for your gambling enjoyment! In one corner-”

The camera zooms up to one of the men, almost pointedly aiming at the guy's left hand, whichonly consists of two fingers.

“Gerlon Two-Fingers! And in the other corner-”

The camera zooms up to an old man who is way past his prime, and his receding hairline showsthat it had sounded the retreat years ago.

“The ever persisent Deadeye Duncan! Let thematch...begin!”

Both men unholster their weapons at the same time, but Duncan somehow manages to drop hisgun to the ground, giving Gerlon more then enough time to shoot Duncan. It only took one shot.The announcer instantly announced the end.

“Well...that was rather quick wasn't it? And it comes asno surprise, Deadeye Duncan is down! But don't worryladies and gentlemen, he's only unconscious. Our medicswill arrive shortly to revive him.”

The monitor went dead, signaling the end of the match. I stand there for several moments, juststaring at the monitor. Then I come to a decision.

“My turn!”

Like an excited child about to get a gift, I make a made dash for the Hutt. Only to be abruptlystopped by Carth's hand grabbing hold of my clothes.

“Nu-uh. We have more important things to do right now.You can come back and play later.”

I turn toward him and give my best sorrowful look.

“But...but adventure and...and battle arena. It's likeevery little boy's dream.”

Carth crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow. The puppy dog gaze crashes and burns. I cavein to his demands.

“Fine, we'll continue the search for Bastila. I only metthe woman once and she's already ruining all my fun...”

I try not to pout as we leave the Cantina behind and move on to the North platform. As we walk Istart to become a little curious about the man I'm travelling with.

“Won't don't you tell me a little about yourself. I'd liketo know the person I'm travelling with.”

Carth points at himself in surprise.

“Me? Well I've been a Republic pilot for years and I've

seen my fair share of wars. I even participated in theMandalorian Wars before this Sith problem began.”

“Really? I was a sharpshooter during that war. But I'mnot too sure how I feel about us having an event thatslaughtered countless people in common.”

Carth nods in understanding and continues.

“But even after that war, I've never encountered the kindof ruthless slaughter these Sith are capable of. Hell,even the Mandalorians weren't as senseless in theirconquest.”

A flood of emotions crosses Carth's face as he struggles to recall painful memories. I kind ofregret asking him.

“My planet was one of the first to fall under Malak'scontrol. He bombed the planet into submission and therewasn't a single damn thing the Republic could do aboutit.”

Making an observation of his emotions I reply.

“You're making it sound like it was your fault. Like youwere responsible somehow.”

Carth almost yells out his next response to that.

“I didn't fail. I couldn't have! I did everything Icould...I followed orders and did my duty. That doesn'tmean I failed them!”

Them?

I voice that thought aloud.

“Them? Do you mean the people of your planet?”

Carth seems to mentally kick himself for the word slip.

“That's...that is not what I meant. I'm sorry, I know I'mnot making much sense right now but I'm a man of actionand I would prefer we get back to the mission at hand.”

I decide then to honor his request for a change of subject and for the next several minutes wewalk quietly until...

“What is thish planet coming to!”

Three drunken men stumble toward us. The one in front continues.

“Shlummies walking the streets of Upper Tarish!”

That's one of his buddies chimed in.

“Yeah! Shouldn't you returnsh to the Lower City,shlummie?”

Carth groans and slaps his hand against his forehead.

“Oh this is rich.”

I try to hold back a laugh, because I know I'm a much worse drunk.

“Come on guys, we can all be friends here. How about Ibuy you a drink?”

The man gasps in surprise, wobbles uncertainly for a moment, and then finally seems to catchhis balance again.

“'Eeeeeey for a shlummie you ain't so bad! 'ey guys, thenext drink is on the shlummie.”

“No. No more drinksh! We're already late enough as it is.”

“Awww I guesh you're right. See you later shlummie.”

The three men stumble away and Carth shakes his head.

“I don't know how you ended that without a fight fight,but good job I guess.”

“Although I love a good fight, I don't think it can solveeverything. Those men just needed someone to speak theirlanguage.”

“I didn't know you could speak drunken moron.”

“Many nights in a Cantina made me a bit of a linguist inall forms of stupidity.”

We both get a good laugh out of the strange turn our conversation has taken, but we're alsoglad for a break in the tension that formed after I pried into his past.

After a little more searching, we come across a door with a single Sith guard standing in front ofit.

Hmm...this must be the way down to the Lower City.

When we try to pass the Sith guard moves in front of us to block our way.

“Due the gang war, only those with permission may enterthe Lower City.”

“How do I get permission?”

“If you need to ask that then you won't get the permission.

Move along.”

Carth lets out a very annoyed sigh as we walk away.

“Why are there so many annoying obstacles standing in ourway?”

I smile and respond.

“It's more fun this way. Think of what kind of tale thiswill make for the little recruits. They'll worship us!”

*******************************Later That Night...

After spending the day gathering information, we retreated back to our apartment for a goodnight's rest. It almost three hours before Carth fell asleep and I could sneak out. I have my ownway of gathering information that he might not approve of. That's why I'm currently hear, talkingto a somewhat cute off duty Sith named Sarna who became real talkative after just a fewrounds. She mentioned how the Sith guard at the gate to the Under City doesn't even check forpapers anymore. With a uniform you can walk right in.

“You know, most others would be depressed after gettingassigned to this backwaters shithole, but not me.”

Good, she's starting to talk about her life as a Sith. Maybe if I just prod a little more...

“It's good you're keeping a positive attitude.”

She smiles at my compliment.

“That's exactly it! It's all about attitude! Even us Sithhave to kick back every once in a while. Most people don'teven talk to us. We could have imposed a planetwide curfewbut we didn't!”

She's almost making this too easy. I prod her ego a little more.

“The people of this planet clearly don't know how goodyou are to them.”

Her smile widens, and in her drunken state of mind, I suddenly become way moretrustworthy.

“Hey, you're a pretty nice guy. You know...”

Here it comes. A combination of alcohol, affection, and the illusion ofcompanionship will do it every single time.

“Some of the other Sith and I throw a party once a weekto blow off some steam. You're welcome to join us.”

Hmm. I was kind of hoping to enter her apartment, drink her under the table, andthen steal her Sith armor to get past the guard. Maybe I can work with this.

“Most of the others don't even take off their armor beforecoming to the party.”

Oh yeah, I can definitely work with this.

“Oh really? When does the party start?”

She smiles and looks at the clock.

“Pretty much right now. I was going to leave the Cantinaafter a few games of Pazaak but then you-”

She points at me, the gesture accusatory but her eyes amused.

“Entered the Cantina and became a distraction.”

There is a lot you can tell about a woman by how she flirts with you. The giggles,the gestures, the chaste smiles when they're not necessary, to name a few. They'reuseful tools to have when when you're trying to manipulate a woman to either sharesecrets with you, or her body.

Although I'm a proud flirt and I've had some experiences, I'm not particularlyfond of using it to my advantage. People have teased me in the past for being ahopeless romantic. I love to wine and dine and have romantic walks. It may be cornybut it's just the kind of guy I am.

However, for a mission like this, I'm more then willing to push aside the romanticin me to get the job done. Sensing that she's not someone who likes to dance arounda subject, I reach forward and tightly grasp her hand.

“My apologies. To make up for being such a distraction,I'll walk you to the party. And later...”

Anyone sober would be able to see right through my words, honeyed as they are.

“You can tell me how I might be able to make up the timefor you.”

She giggles in response and looks at me with eyes that long to just skip the partyentirely and get straight to the “apology”. I do feel kind of bad for manipulatingher like this. She may be a Sith, but she's also a very lonely person living ona planet where people hate her.

But it's for the mission...

We leave the Cantina shortly after, and the entire way to the party she'spractically hanging off my arm. The walk takes a lot longer then it should, mostlybecause she's not exactly sober enough to walk in a straight line.

When we finally get there, the party is in full swing and with over a dozen Sith,all of whom have taken themselves out of their Sith armor and placed them againstthe wall.

I only need two of them. But how am I going to sneak out of here with two veryshiny, and heavy, suits of Sith armor? I guess I'll just play it by ear.

One of the Sith walk up to us as we enter the room.

“Hey Sarna! The Tarisian Ale you ordered for the partyarrived just in time. I'd be careful though, it has quitea kick.”

Maybe I can make this work afterall...

*******************************Four Hours Later...

“Why won't you pash out!?”

After four hours of drinking, every Sith fell asleep. Save one.

Sarna grins at my very loud, and highly inebriated voice. She chugs down anotherglass of the ale, forcing me to take another drink as well.

This bitch ish a monshter! She's not human!”

“Hah! Like thish ish going to shtop me! I've never loshta drinking contesht!”

I stare at the woman in disbelief.

“You have more conshtitushin then a Mandalorian! Ish on,woman!”

*******************************Two Hours Later...

I slowly, unsteadily, and with great effort drag my sorry carcass through the door,with the Sith armors held tightly under my arms. Even in my current state of mindI don't forget them. They're my spoils of war. The hardest war I've ever fought,to be certain.

She was a worthy foe, but in the end I came out as the victor. I'm sure I'll arguethe validity of my triumph when the hangover hits me later, but at the moment Iplace the armors silently on the floor and collapse on my bed, sleep taking mealmost instantly.

*******************************The Mandalorian Wars

Dxun

“Get your ass up, soldier!”

My Commanding Officer's booming voice shakes me awake and I instantly jump outof bed and stand at attention. I swear, he does that for his own amusement.

“Both you and Amelia have a new mission!”

Amelia is a Jedi and a frequent teammate. During the war, Revan started to assigntwo man sniper squads, one being a soldier and the other a Jedi. The reasoningbehind this was that the Jedi could help avoid detection behind enemy lines, andassist should any unforeseen problems arise.

It's not a frequent partnership for most, but all of my targets have been prioritykills so a Jedi has been necessary. In every outing, my partner has been thebeautiful and exceptionally talented Amelia. I just call her Ames, and it annoysher to no end.

During our outings we've grown quite close and we often spend time together whenwe're off duty. I thought such...attachments were taboo for the Jedi but she doesn'tseem to mind.

My commanding officer hands me a folder and I open it up. Within is several paperswith the necessary information on the target and a somewhat blurry picture. Thetarget is heavily armored, with the most notable feature being a face mask withlong, thick tubes protuding from it. I know who this is.

“My target is Mandalore, sir?”

He nods stiffly.

“Once he's dead it won't take long for a new Mandalorianto gain the position, but we're hoping it will delay theMandalorian fleets long enough for Revan to sendreinforcements. If we can get those reinforcements thenwe can push even farther into enemy lines. If for somereason you miss, or are complication arises that preventsyou from taking the shot, then the Jedi will finish thejob.”

He reaches forward and firmly shakes my hand.

“Good luck, soldier. Make us proud.”