A couple days later had gone passed as the Sith quarantine had settled in and the public of Taris were unsettled by the recent developments. A small group of Republic fugitives had taken two Republic soldiers to a nearby hospital, the doctor in charge of the small medical facility had shown mercy for the poor Republic soldiers, where he had locked them away inside two tubes filled with water inside, surrounded with a containment field.

            The doctor quickly placed the two Republic soldiers in there and activated the healing process. The Republic soldier bodies had started to heal slowly but it was only a matter of time before a Sith patrol would have find them. The Republic fugitives quickly disappeared elsewhere far way to the north, away from Sith patrols.

            Meanwhile deep inside the apartment, Carth had woken up from his nap and noticed that his companion struggled from his sleep, like he was in a nightmare. He then walked over to the bench and grabbed himself a bite to eat and watched his companion tossed and turned. Krurin had the same vision of Bastila fought a dark Jedi again repeatedly and then it vanished.

            He then finally woke up from his terrible dream with sweat all over his face he then opened his eyes and stood up, wiped his face and looked around the strange room. He saw Carth was standing in front of him beside a workbench.

Krurin looked at Carth quite astonished as he’d found himself inside a different room that looked quite luxurious than he expected. He thought the Sith had found and taken them aboard their warship by now. Carth walked over to Krurin and held out a cup of water for him to drink. Krurin grabbed the cup and drank it, he then looked at Carth again where he wanted to have some questions answered.

            “Glad to see you up and running instead of thrashing yourself in your sleep. You must have been experiencing one hell of a nightmare. I was beginning to wonder when you will ever wake up,” Carth said firmly. “I’m Carth, the Republic officer who talked you through your personal communicator and escaped in the escape pod with you, do you remember?”

            “Yeah I remember partially, I’m Krurin Masaror by the way,” Krurin said promptly. “Ugh. Man don’t I feel like been run over or what. How long was I out for?”

            “Well to be honest with you Krurin, you had been in and out of your consciousness for the past couple of days,” Carth admitted. “I guess that rough landing on the escape pod had knocked you out pretty hard. I can imagine that are pretty well confused by now, so I’ll fill you in on the details.”

            “Yeah I guess you could start by doing that,” Krurin sighed disappointedly.

            “Currently we’re on a planet called Taris, in an abandoned apartment,” Carth said firmly. “You were knocked out cold when we landed on the planet’s surface. Fortunately I received a few bruises and managed to get you out of the escape pod. When I heard there we’re people in the background and all the commotion that was happening, I managed to get ourselves into this apartment before a Sith patrol arrived. By the time we had left the scene, the Sith didn’t manage to find us. It’s best to say that we’re safe for the moment.”

            “Thanks for saving my life, I owe you one,” said Krurin thankfully.

            “There’s no need to thank me, besides I would never leave a soldier behind or any Republic soldier for that matter and I’m not about to start now either,” Carth told him. “Besides I need your help to find Bastila and escape Taris if we can.”

            Krurin walked over to the workbench and saw his vibroblade and equipment all laid on the bench. He’d looked at the apartment window and saw a several Sith troopers on the streets of Taris, in the sky he saw and heard several transports both civilian and Sith whirled pass the apartment and landed on some landing pads in the distance.

            “I take it that the Sith have created a blockade around the planet and Taris has fallen under Sith rule,” Krurin frowned.

            “Yes I’m afraid your right. Taris has gone under a planet wide quarantine,” Carth replied anxiously. “Martial law has been declared here as well, but in my past experience I have been in a lot worse situations before so we don’t need to worry. While I’m thinking of it, let’s change the subject.”

            “What would you like to know Carth?” Krurin asked curiously.

            “Well first of all your service records is outstanding for such a rare recruit. Your remarkable knowledge of different alien languages can be very resourceful for our needs especially since we are on a different world,” Carth praised him. “For the record, Bastila was the one who’d recommended you to the Endar Spire and shed spoke of her confidence in you so I could not resist the offer.”

            Krurin was astonished that someone in the Jedi Council had spoken quite high of him. He’d thought to himself for awhile for a moment, his mind had gone blank on him as he failed to recall that if the Jedi Council had influenced him before or remembered the fact he did work with the Jedi Council periodically.

            “I don’t know whether I’d should be flattered by a Jedi’s praise or not,” Krurin smirked.

            “Heh Yeah I suppose you are right,” Carth chuckled. “The Jedi Order doesn’t usually give such high praise to a particular individual.”

            “Carth since we have some important matters at hand we should carry on,” Krurin reminded him. “By the way is there a way the Republic can help us?”

            “You’re right of course,” Carth admitted. “To answer your question I’m afraid we are on our own on this one. With the Sith blockade it would be tough enough as it is for any Republic ship to slip through the blockade and rescue us at the same time. If we’re going to get out here alive, it’s best that we trust no one but ourselves.”

            “Remind me why Bastila is so important to us?” Krurin asked.

            “Obviously that escape pod impact had smacked you head more than I thought,” Carth frowned. “Bastila is a Jedi Knight. She was the hero who killed Darth Revan, Malak’s Sith master. Bastila is the key to the Republic war effort. I suspect the Sith had already known that she was onboard the Endar Spire and ambushed us by surprise.”

            “Maybe Bastila had felt a dark Jedi’s presence that could have triggered the attack?” Krurin suggested.

            “That’s a possible conclusion,” Carth nodded. “I still strongly believe that Bastila had escaped to the planet safely. For the sake of the Republic we have to find and rescue her.”

            “How do you know even if she is still alive Carth?” Krurin asked.

            “I don’t,” Carth admitted. “Bastila is young and courageous, yet a skilled and powerful Jedi of the Force I might add. If we had survived the crash, I would expect the same for Bastila knowing her ability.”

            “I have to admit I like this Bastila character,” Krurin admitted. “But what is the alternative if we found her dead Carth? I mean that Malak and the Sith would end up conquering the galaxy and there will be nothing stopping him.”

            “Well I’d rather be on the assumption she is still alive,” Carth said firmly. “Besides I doubt that the Sith are looking for us specifically anyway as we aren’t that important compared to Bastila, she’ll probably have majority of the Sith fleet looking for her, a luxury that she won’t have on her side.”

“Unless,” Krurin muttered. “If we remain on a low profile while we search for Bastila around this forsaken planet and get out of here unnoticed, it could work.”

            “My thought’s exactly,” Carth nodded. “Bastila is no ordinary Jedi, she has a rare gift that nor Sith or Jedi would rarely have. The Jedi call it Battle Meditation. Bastila can influence entire armies.”

            “Battle Mediation? What does it do?” Krurin asked curiously.

            “The Force acts in mysterious ways Krurin,” Carth told him. “Even for a person like me I would never understand it fully.”

            “What can you tell me then?” Krurin asked.

            “From what I know, Bastila can inspire her allies with confidence and make her enemies lose their ability to retaliate. Often it can tip the balance of a large or small battle,” Carth said honestly. “However there are limits to what she can do and from what I gathered, that Battle Meditation requires of lot of concentration and focus to maintain that power.”

            “I see what you mean,” Krurin replied anxiously. “For her to use as our defence on the Endar Spire could have worked, but that attack was so fierce and swift that she was unable to do with all that commotion about.”

            “Yes that’s right,” Carth agreed. “Well with the Sith quarantine we are pretty much in a bleak situation. No ship can take off or land so we are pretty much stuck here unless we can find a way to get off this planet alive.”

            “Well in either case, Bastila needs us and we need her,” Krurin pointed out.

            “True,” Carth nodded. “Anyhow I’ve done some scouting around the place while you were out, and heard some rumours that some Republic escape pods had landed safely in the Undercity area. But the Undercity is a dangerous place so I’ve heard, and its best that we go well prepared, never know what might be there. Also there is a Sith soldier guarding the entrance, checking for authorisation papers and other Sith troopers do go down below there so it might pay to check it out.”

            “I agree,” Krurin nodded. “The sooner we look for Bastila, the sooner we escape from Taris. Let’s go.”  

            “Right,” Carth smiled as he grabbed his blaster rifle and armed himself.

            Krurin and Carth had grabbed their equipment and armed themselves. Krurin then opened the door as Carth walked out. Krurin followed closely behind him and noticed that his companion looked quite awkward as he saw a Sith officer along with two assault droids beside him.

            The Sith officer was talking to two aliens, blue beefed up round cone headed aliens with a loud argumentative conversation was in progress, Carth glanced at his companion and whispered to his left ear softly. ‘Be careful Krurin,’ he warned.

Krurin watched the Sith officer waved his fist in the air and had lost his tempter where’d he pulled out his blaster and shot one of them. The other alien pleaded as he looked at the Republic fugitives, as Krurin listened to the alien he’d strangely understood his language and waited patiently.

Then the Sith officer had turned around and saw the Republic fugitives Carth and Krurin stood there. Carth elbowed his companion on the ribs, Krurin nudged a little and glanced at him then watched the Sith officer held his blaster rifle pointed at him.

“What there are Republic fugitives hiding with aliens here?” said the Sith officer. “Kill them!”

“Great just as we are trying to keep ourselves on a low profile,” Carth muttered.

The Sith officer had fired the first shot as Krurin dodged the incoming laser bolt as Carth pointed his blaster rifle at the assault droid on the left and vaporised the targeted. The blue alien quickly side kicked the Sith officer on the back that knocked him towards Krurin, Krurin quickly held his vibroblade firmly and conducted a wave of flurries on the Sith officer.

The Sith officer tried to dodge Krurin’s flurry attack but every hit received from the focused Republic hero had knocked the cold blooded Sith officer dead cold, then he lunged forward and thrown his vibroblade at the other assault droid through to the neck and disabled him with a large electro shock. The droid then disintegrated and blew up in front of Krurin’s face, Krurin’s smiled and grabbed his vibroblade where he’d looked at the wounded alien and nodded.

“Thanks so much for your help,” said the alien. “Regrettably my friend doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.”

“What about the bodies? Another Sith patrol would come here shortly,” Krurin pointed out.

“Leave that with me to deal with human,” said the alien. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my word.”

“Come on Krurin, we better go,” Carth reminded him.

“Right,” Krurin nodded. “Thanks again for covering our backs.”

The blue alien nodded and dragged the Sith officer down the hallway. As Krurin and Carth walked further down the corridor they were interrupted with a green Twi’lek sale person wearing Republic armour. Carth looked at the Twi’lek firmly as the sales person had grabbed Krurin’s attention.

“Excuse kind sir, have you heard about Republic shield pads?” asked the Twi’lek.

“Yes I know all about them,” Krurin nodded.

“Would you be interested in buying them, they are great for protecting yourself against blaster fire,” persuaded the Twi’lek.

“Some advice for you Krurin,” Carth whispered. “Those shield pads are only good for with standing grenade or blaster fire, not for melee combat such as vibroblades or lightsabers.”

“The offer is nice but I don’t have any credits on me. I’ll check back,” said Krurin firmly.

            The Twi’lek salesperson nodded and farewelled Carth and Krurin as they had made their way further down the corridor, Krurin saw a door and had accidentally pressed the button and opened the door by mistake. There was a human female inside the room dressed in rugged clothes, Carth looked at her and noticed that something was odd with the person, she looked quite frightened.

            “Krurin perhaps you should talk to that person,” Carth whispered.

            “Are you sure that’s wise?” Krurin asked.

            “Well I can’t help wonder what is wrong with the person maybe we can help her problem, of course the decision is up to you,” Carth replied.

            “Aren’t we supposed to be on a low profile not grabbing so much attention,” Krurin pointed out.

            “Yes we are supposed to be, but let’s find out what’s troubling her,” Carth insisted.

            “Okay if you insist,” Krurin sighed.

            Krurin walked closer towards the rugged clothed female. He looked at her firmly and noticed her face was troubled. Then shed looked at Krurin and gave a puzzled look on her face. Krurin then had put away his vibroblade beside his right waste and looked back at Carth where’d he shrugged his shoulders. Carth looked at Krurin and waved his blaster rifle at him, insisting that his companion should ask.

            “Excuse what are you doing here in my room,” snapped the feisty woman.

            “Easy there, I mean no disrespect as I’d accidentally opened your door,” Krurin insisted. “My friend and I were looking at you and noticed that you looked troubled.”

            “That’s no excuse, you can’t just barge into other people’s apartments because you’re curious,” contradicted the feisty woman. “But at least you are nicer than that Holdan fellow.”

            “What is your name by the way?” Krurin asked. “Maybe I can help your problems.”

            “My name is Dia,” said the woman kindly. “And you are?”

            “Krurin Masaror, pleased to meet you,” Krurin smiled. “Who is this Holdan fellow anyway?”

            “He’s just one of Davik’s men who had a tendency not to keep his hands to himself, but all he got was a taste of my vibroblade,” Dia frowned. “It’s a shame that I still have to pay for the price though.”

            Krurin looked at Carth and thought for a moment. He then examined Dia’s story version, it had sounded like that Dia had become a victim to a person who wanted to kill her for pleasure. Carth looked at Krurin and walked over towards him, he then tapped on Krurin’s shoulder and quietly had asked him a question.

            “I don’t mean to intrude Krurin but do you think that Dia is innocent for what happened to her?” Carth asked, softly.

            “It’s hard to tell, I’d like to hear Holdan’s story though,” Krurin sighed, then he glanced at Dia again with a puzzled look on his face. “Do you want to talk about it?”

            “I… I don’t know,” Dia replied reluctantly. “I’m in enough trouble as it is and I’m not sure that I can trust you.”

            “You can trust me Dia, I’m a man of my word,” Krurin persuaded.

            “Well I suppose so,” Dia hesitated. “When I cut Holdan, he’d backed away but it also embarrassed him in front of his friends.”

            “Oh that’s pretty rich,” Carth muttered.

            “Shush,” Krurin whispered.

            “Holdan’s spiteful little Hutt-slug, had put a bounty on my head and that’s why I’m here, hiding from them,” Dia pointed out.

            Suddenly a vision had appeared inside Krurin’s head where it had brought back a memory of the Hutts and how he should deal with them. Krurin frowned for a moment as the vision appeared to him quite decisive and aggravated, then he shook his head and looked at Dia straight in the face.

            “Trying to persuade the Hutts won’t be easy,” Krurin frowned. “Is there a way to find Holdan and talk to him directly? Maybe that could work.”

             “I doubt it, but my best guess that Holdan has gone clubbing in one of the cantinas here on Taris,” Dia replied firmly. “He usually hangs out in where the Twi’lek dancers perform. Try either the Undercity cantina called Jayviar’s or the local cantina just up the road here.”

            “I’ll try and persuade Holdan to pull that bounty off your head,” Krurin said persuasively.

            “Just a word of warning Krurin,” Dia warned. “The authorities do tend to turn a blind eye when it comes to the crime lords.”

            “I was afraid you were going to say that,” Krurin frowned.

            “No matter, it’s worth a try anyway,” Carth interrupted.

            “Well farewell and good luck,” Dia smiled.

            Krurin and Carth then walked out the room and closed the door behind them. Carth looked at Krurin and noticed he was still puzzled and confused at the same time. They walked down the corridor where they had found an exit that led outside their apartment. The doors opened before them and Krurin walked through them as Carth followed closely behind them.

            As Krurin stood outside the apartment he saw the crash site, a Republic escape pod surrounded by two cleaning droids. Carth tapped Krurin on the shoulder and pointed him where they should go next. Across the other side of the street was another street that led to the Taris city cantina and on his right, was the Emporium armoury.

            Carth then had taken the lead ahead of the curious companion where they’d found a Sith soldier stood guard at the entrance. Carth put his blaster rifle away in his pockets as Krurin hid his vibroblade on his left side. They’d walked towards the cantina and the doors opened as they approached, Krurin glanced at the Sith soldier but he’d never moved or tilted his head to look at them.

            When they’d reached the cantina’s entrance, Krurin looked at Carth and watched him walked through the door and then followed him. He looked back at the Sith soldier again and the soldier never twitched, Krurin smiled and looked at the people inside. There a large hall of people were gathered there, a mixture of aliens and human interacting with one another.

            The atmosphere inside the cantina was pleasant, a music band playing in the background and the sound of a crowd cheering over a duel match in progress, Carth looked at his companion and then walked over to the bartender and asked a few questions about Holdan. Krurin saw a female in a corner standing still observing him, he walked over and spoke with her.

            “Well hello there stranger, I’m Sarna, a Sith junior officer,” Sarna said comfortably.

            “Nice to meet you Sarna, I’m Krurin Masaror,” Krurin smiled.

            “I’m astonished that someone is talking to me, at all really,” Sarna said surprisingly. “Most of the people on Taris here tend to think that the Sith are nothing more than ruthless tyrants in the galaxy. It can get lonely at times.”

             “That’s because not everyone here appreciate what the Sith have done for them,” Krurin said persuasively.

            “That’s true. We could have slapped a curfew on this forsaken planet but we didn’t,” Sarna smiled. “Everyone here seems to be in a bad mood ever since we set a foothold here. It can be quite depressing a times.”

            “Like everyone, we have to blow our steam once in awhile,” Krurin replied.

            “That’s true,” Sarna agreed. “I’m glad I found somebody who finally understands what I’m going through. Hey, I would love to see you again. Speaking of which we are having a party soon, here is a data pad that shows you a map of it where it’s being held.”

            “Sounds wonderful,” Krurin smiled. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

            “Don’t be late,” Sarna told him. “Some of us won’t be going back to the base to lockup our uniforms at the base. Anyway, I’ll see you there.”

            Sarna then walked away leaving an intrigued Krurin behind with an interesting plan he had on mind. Carth had walked away from the bar and confronted his friend. Krurin had a cheeky grin on his face as he looked at Carth and had told him what he had found out.

            “Carth I found a better way to keep on a low profile rather than I had in mind of signing up for those duels,” Krurin said confidently.

            “Well don’t keep me in the suspense soldier, tell me,” Carth smiled.

            “I was talking to that lovely Sith chick earlier,” Krurin said firmly.

            “You talked to the Sith?” Carth said astonishingly. “Don’t tell me you -.”

            “You worry too much Carth,” Krurin frowned. “I have it all under control.”

            “I sure hope so,” Carth said hopefully.

            “Anyway that Sith chick I was talking to had invited me to a party,” Krurin replied. “And she also mentioned that some of her troops will be leaving their uniforms behind, maybe we can use that to our advantage to go to the Undercity.”

            “I’m beginning to like your plan Krurin,” Carth admitted. “Besides I’d remembered seeing a Sith soldier blocking the entrance and checking each person for authorisation papers but with the Sith uniform, I’m sure they’ll let us pass.”

            “Take me to the northern apartments Carth, I don’t want to be late,” Krurin told him.

            “Very well soldier,” Carth nodded. “I’ll lead the way, follow me.”

            Carth quickly started running out of the cantina as Krurin followed him quickly down through the long wide busy streets of Taris. The Sith soldiers on the street noticed they were running and watched them briefly while the citizens of the Taris were curious what the two under covered Republic soldiers were doing.

            Then suddenly Carth had stopped running a T junction intersection where he saw the hospital on his right the entrance to the northern part of Taris. Krurin looked at Carth, then he saw him pointed his finger towards three people in the distance near the entrance to the northern part of Taris on his left.

            Krurin observed the three people and walked a bit closer as he heard the conversation wasn’t bolding well for one of them. There were two humans and an alien, one of the humans was dressed in rugged clothes like a merchant while the other was dressed like a bounty hunter.

            As the conversation between the three people unfolded, the merchant had missed his last payment. Carth closely walked behind Krurin and listened to the conversation as well. He pulled out both of his blaster rifles and looked at the two bullies. Then both Carth and Krurin heard the word ‘Davik’, both Krurin and Carth looked at each other and nodded, knowing that this was part of the crime lord’s work.

            “You have missed your last payment,” said the human Davik worker.

            “No please, I have 50 credits on me to pay Davik,” pleaded the merchant.

            “Davik doesn’t accept delayed payments. Pay all up or suffer the consequences,” said the human Davik employer, harshly.

            “I know we are supposed to be careful and keep ourselves on a low profile and all, but are we just going to let them get away with this?” Carth whispered.

            “Hang on we have witnesses,” said the alien on basic language.

            “Leave this man alone or you’ll have to deal with us,” Krurin demanded.

            “You’ll pay for interrupting our affairs,” said the male human employee coldly.

            Carth quickly pointed his blasters at the well armoured alien bully and blasted him with four swift bolts. Krurin swiftly pulled out his vibroblade and lashed out the human Davik employer and knocked him out dead cold. The frantic merchant was astonished that someone had saved him.

            “Thank you so much,” said the merchant thankfully. “I owe you my life. Those bounty hunters were going to kill me if I’d didn’t pay Davik, my wife warned me not to take a loan from him. But I don’t have enough money to pay him back.”

            “Maybe I can solve the problem for you,” Krurin offered.

            “No I couldn’t possibly intrude,” said the merchant. “You’ve already helped me as much as it is.”

            “Here take a hundred credits to pay your debt,” Krurin insisted.

            “You’ll give a hundred credits to a stranger just like that?” said Carth astonishingly. “That’s very generous of you.”

            “I can’t believe it. Thank you so much,” said the merchant thankfully. “I’ll never forget this. Now I can pay Davik, thank you.”

            Carth looked at Krurin for a moment and questioned his tactics of his noble generosity. Krurin looked at the two dead bounty hunters and walked over towards them, he saw a pocket filled with credits and took custody of them. Carth slightly tilted his head and nodded.

            “Let’s go,” Krurin said firmly.

            Carth nodded and ran down towards the entrance to the northern side of Taris, Krurin followed closely behind him. After a few minutes they had found themselves on the northern side of Taris. One large and long street that led all the way to the Sith military base and just in front of Carth was the northern apartments.

            “There you are Krurin,” Carth pointed out.

            “Well, let’s not keep our party goers waiting,” Krurin nodded.

            “Do I get the feeling you’re actually enjoying this?” Carth frowned.

            “Carth loosen up a little eh? Don’t be so serious,” Krurin argued.

            “Alright, alright, don’t get so tenacious,” Carth argued.

            “Oh well,” Krurin sighed.

            Krurin quickly ran towards the northern apartment entrance with Carth closely behind him. They entered through the apartment door and saw a small group of people were gathering inside an apartment. Krurin looked at the small crowd firmly and ran towards it.

            As they made their approach towards the crowd down on the left of the corridor, Sarna and her friends had placed their uniforms on the floor in a corner. There was music in background and people were dancing and drinking Tarisian ale. Then within minutes Krurin and Carth had arrived at the doors of the party. Sarna soon recognised a familiar face and welcomed Krurin with open arms as he walked in.

            “Hey come on in!” Sarna cheered. “Try out this Tarisian ale it’s marvellous, the Sith should have conquered this planet ages ago. The party is in full swing, drink up.”

            An hour later had passed as Krurin, Carth and the Sith soldiers danced with each other until eventually all the Sith soldiers had passed out onto the floor, drunk as anything. Krurin then saw the Sith uniforms in the corner, he walked over and grabbed two of them, one for Carth and himself.

            “I take it back what I said earlier,” Carth said confidently. “Your idea was good, I was wrong.”

            “Never mind that Carth, we still have a job to do,” Krurin smiled.

            “Okay we better suit up into our Sith uniforms to disguise ourselves,” Carth pointed out. “Once we have infiltrated to the Undercity, I doubt we will need them again.”

            “Agreed,” Krurin nodded.

            He handed the other Sith uniform to Carth and got dressed, replacing his Republic armour outfit. Carth looked at him as Krurin put his the Sith helmet on and produced a smile at him. Carth then had put on his Sith armour as Krurin stood guard at the entrance where he kept an eye out for any other Sith patrols, within minutes Carth had got dressed and tapped on his companions shoulder.

            As the two disguised Sith soldiers walked out of the room, they exited the northern apartments building and made their way towards the Undercity elevator. Along the way, both Krurin and Carth were saluted by other Sith soldiers and protocol droids. The were disguised outfit seemed quite suitable at best, then suddenly they were interrupted by a small group of drunkard Tarisian bums on the street.

            “Whoa it’s a Sith soldier,” said the first bum drunkard holding the Tarisian ale.

            “Well this is rich,” Carth muttered.

            “Hey you better leave the Sith alone,” said the other drunkard bum, his voice hiccupped as he’d spoke.

            “Yeah you’re right,” muttered the third drunkard.

            The drunkards bums staggered away from the disguised Sith soldiers Krurin and Carth, they both looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Krurin then looked at Carth curiously as he had another question that had come across to his mind, a little get to know each other type question.

            “Hey Carth, since we are stuck here on this wretched planet. I would like to know about you,” Krurin said firmly.

            “Me?” Carth said surprisingly. “I have been a Republic star pilot for many years. I fought during the Mandalorian Wars but to be quite honest I’d never experienced anything like the slaughter that these ruthless Sith can unleash as part of their wrath. The Mandalorians were not even that senseless.”

            “In many ways that’s true,” Krurin admitted.

            “My homeworld Krurin was one of the first planets to fall before Darth Malak and his Sith kilt. The Sith had crushed everything on the planet to ashes or galactic space dust and there wasn’t enough Republic forces to do a damn thing about it!” Carth said harshly.

            “Sounds like you are taking this hard on yourself,” Krurin frowned.

            “I don’t need your sympathy Krurin,” Carth snorted.

            “Hey don’t get all half cocked at me,” Krurin argued. “You more likely followed your orders from the Admirals, where they told you to go and you performed your duty well.”

            “It doesn’t feel right that I failed them Krurin,” Carth sighed. “I didn’t!”

            “Who are you referring to ‘them’? You mean the people of your homeworld?” Krurin asked.

            “Yes,” Carth snapped.

“Well don’t be,” Krurin sighed.

“No, I mean… that’s what I meant,” Carth pleaded. “I’m sorry that I’m not making much sense to you am I? Look, you probably meant well with your questions and all but I don’t like talking about my past as I get pretty edgy about it sometimes. I’m more used to action anyway, so let’s get back to it shall we?”

            Krurin looked at Carth disappointedly, knowing that he had struck a nerve in his companion. A strong nerve that sounded like he had a taste of revenge against the Sith, but the question was ‘who’ he thought. He then looked up ahead of the street and ran towards the end of another intersection, to the right it led directly to the military base and on the left was a mechanical shop filled with machines and droids.

            “The entrance to the Undercity is to your right Krurin,” Carth told him. “Be careful though, there is a Sith military base further up but we aren’t going there yet unless we have to.”

            Krurin turned to the right and walked at a rapid pace down the street towards the military base that was far up ahead of them. A few minutes later they had found a Sith soldier standing beside a door, suddenly a small group of Sith soldiers went down through the door where Krurin heard over the conversation the phrase ‘patrol in Undercity’. Krurin looked at Carth and approached him where he made sure that was the place.

            “Are you sure about this Carth?” Krurin asked curiously.

            “Yes I’m confident enough that’s the entrance to the Undercity,” Carth replied firmly.

            “Follow my lead,” Krurin ordered, as he’d walked over towards the Sith soldier.

            The Sith soldier looked at Krurin firmly, the clever Sith soldier disguised seemed to be working as expected. Krurin stood there at attention for a moment and then started walking closer to the elevator entrance then he noticed the Sith soldier looked at Carth then him again and spoke.

            “Another patrol going to the Undercity?” remarked the Sith soldier.

            “Yes that’s right,” Krurin nodded.

            “Watch your step down there,” warned the Sith soldier. “There is a gang war happening down there and they both don’t like us Sith kindly. Unfortunately everyone else is too damn busy to take care of them. Kill the gangsters if forced upon.”

            “Thanks for the warning,” Krurin said softly.

            Krurin and Carth then walked inside the elevator, the doors then closed behind them and they were on their way down towards the Undercity. Carth was looking at his companion for a moment and then pulled his helmet off his head.

            “I doubt we would need these,” Carth said firmly.

            “Hold on Carth, we might,” Krurin replied.

            “Who’s giving the orders here?” Carth argued.

            “Aren’t we supposed to be working together?” Krurin reminded him.

            “Well I was the captain of the Endar Spire,” Carth told him. “I should be in charge.”

            “Carth, shut up,” Krurin smirked.

            “Well fine, have it your way,” Carth snorted. “Wait the elevator has stopped.”

            Krurin and Carth both looked at each other as the doors opened, Carth then walked out of the room and Krurin followed closely behind him. Suddenly another memory of Revan had come back on Krurin’s mind, the intelligence and constitution part of him had caused a slight change on the programmed mind as Krurin’s thoughts suddenly had overwritten the redeemed process and replaced itself with the thoughts of Revan.

It was a strange and momentarily effect for Krurin as he’d looked at the corridor in front of him and noticed several gang members were at a standstill with one another. Carth looked at his friend and pointed towards the gang members on his left and then pointed towards the right where a group of Sith soldiers were moving.

“Hush, be quiet Krurin,” Carth whispered.

            “Looks like there are two gangs there with vibroblades,” Krurin remarked.

            “I think they are the two gangs we should be worried about,” Carth replied firmly.

            “Well the question is why the fighting and who started it,” Krurin frowned.

            “You want to actually get involved with this?” Carth frowned.

            “If it means to find Bastila, yes,” Krurin said softly.

            “First we wait and see what happens,” Carth replied.

            The gangsters were the Hidden Beks and the Black Vulkars. Krurin observed the two gangs; one group had a mixture of Twi’lek’s and humans while the other group were a different kind of species that both Carth and Krurin never had seen before. But what Krurin did not know that the memory embedded inside him, the memory of Revan did know about them.

            The gangs were arguing a dispute over who is the ‘mightiest’ and the ‘strongest’ group ever. Suddenly all hell had broken loose as the two gangs clashed at each other with their vibroblades twisted and twirled at each other. The sound of the swords clashing with each other that made a clinging noise.

            Within minutes one of the Hidden Bek members had fallen to the ground before one of the Black Vulkars. Krurin looked at Carth and signalled him to standby for a possible threat attacked as he’d noticed that the Hidden Beks were overwhelmed by the Black Vulkars aggressive tactics.

            A few minute later had gone passed as the remaining Hidden Beks were killed by the Black Vulkar onslaught, then one of the Black Vulkars had noticed that someone was in the corridor near the elevator. He saw Krurin and Carth dressed in their disguised uniforms and shouted.

            “Sith are not welcomed here!” the Black Vulkar shouted.

“Great, so much for a welcoming committee,” Krurin muttered.

Carth had pulled out his blaster rifles and pointed them towards the Black Vulkars and quickly fired both of his guns rapidly. Krurin pulled out and held his vibroblade firm where he stood on guard and waited for the first Black Vulkar to approach him.

The Black Vulkars come at the disguised Republic heroes with rage and fury, filled with anxiety to crush their opponents, especially the Sith. While Krurin and Carth on the other hand wanted to try to avoid too much attention, soon realised that their under cover could be blown up at any minute now.

The first Black Vulkar delivered a quick side kick towards Krurin’s chest, Krurin took the beaten and then gave a cheeky smirk on his face when he looked at the Black Vulkar in the eye and lashed out his vibroblade. He twisted and feint the vibroblade so fast that cut through the Black Vulkar’s leg and left him screaming in agony onto the floor. Carth then finished him off with a blaster shot right through to the head and knocked the Black Vulkar dead cold onto the floor.

Krurin looked at the other two Black Vulkars and lased out at them both, he avoided their vibroblades and blocked both of them with style. Then Carth stepped in and intervened with his blaster rifles and blasted one of the Black Vulkars on the shoulder that made his opponent quivered.

“Watch you head Krurin,” Carth shouted. “Down you go!”

Krurin heard his friend’s voice and ducked his head quickly as the blaster bolts approached him. The bolts then had impacted on the other Black Vulkars chest plate and knocked him out cold leaving one to Krurin all by himself. Krurin quickly lashed out his vibroblade and conducted a flurry on the last Black Vulkar and killed him instantly.

“Well negotiations have failed,” Krurin frowned.

“They haven’t even begun yet,” Carth argued.

“I don’t need your damn opinion Carth,” Krurin snarled.

Carth turned his head away from his companion in disgust while Krurin walked away from him, down the corridor towards two bodyguards who stood in front of a door each. Krurin looked at both of them, a male Rodian dressed in yellow with heavy armour and a black female dressed similar to the Republic soldier uniform with her vibroblade at her side.

Krurin looked towards the Rodian and the sign above his head, Undercity Cantina. As he’d approached towards the cantina, Carth suddenly realised that something was not right in the picture. His instincts wavered inside his head all over the place where he thought to himself calmly, “I don’t like the look of this place its too quiet,” Carth muttered softly.

Krurin ignored his companion’s murmuring, as he tried to open the door it was locked. The Rodian guard looked at him and said, “I have strict orders not to allow any Sith troopers on patrol in here. Unless you are off duty, you can enter inside Javyar’s cantina.”

“But we are off duty,” Krurin insisted.

“No deal,” said the Rodian firmly. “If you are off duty, come back later then.”

“Come on Krurin, I have an idea,” Carth whispered.

Carth walked around the corner and removed his Sith outfit. Krurin looked around the corridor and noticed no one was approaching; he then removed his Sith outfit and stood there dressed back into his Republic soldier outfit. Carth placed the Sith uniforms under a crate beside him and then walked back towards Javyar’s cantina.

“Watch your step,” warned the Rodian guard. “No brawls in the cantina.”

“As if there were any,” Krurin whispered softly.

“Remember to keep on a low profile here,” Carth reminded him, softly.

“Don’t worry,” Krurin replied.

The guard pressed the door button firmly and opened the cantina door before them where Carth and Krurin had walked straight inside. The doors closed behind them as they’d reached inside the cantina, there were a group of Pazaak players playing a card game of Pazaak around a large table in the foyer.

The determined Republic heroes walked around the place unnoticed until suddenly just about they’d went inside to the bar area, Krurin noticed something was odd in the room and held his hand back at Carth which stopped his friend walking in any further.

Carth stood beside his friend and looked at him puzzled, then he noticed three bounty hunters from right approached towards another bounty hunter who stood firm in the corner, wearing a helmet with goggles and heavy plated tan coloured armour suit. Krurin was glancing at him where a thought had occurred to him that something was odd he’d felt inside, a gut instinct that this bounty hunter must be working for Davik.

“Go away,” the bounty hunter shouted.

“Why isn’t it the bounty hunter Calo Nord,” said the Rodian bounty hunter. “He’s the best bounty hunter who works for Davik.”

“One,” said Calo coldly.

“One? Me do not understand?” said the Quarren bounty hunter.

“Two,” said Calo coldly.

Krurin shifted his eyes towards Carth and stepped back as things looked like they were about to get ugly. He then glanced at all the bounty hunters and watched them closely as all of them had pulled out their blasters and were about to draw them at each other.

“Come on Calo Nord, we just want to talk to you that’s all,” said the green Twi’lek bounty hunter.

“Three,” said Calo firmly.

Calo quickly drawn out a flash grenade from the palm of his right hand and throw it at them. After a few seconds there was a quick flash light that blinded the three bounty hunters, Carth squinted his eyes and Krurin watched Calo drawn out his blaster pistols and pointed towards the three blinded bounty hunters.

Then everyone heard of quick and rapid blaster fire, Calo had knocked all three bounty hunters dead cold. Whilst Krurin stood there completely amazed how quick the fearless bounty hunter had killed all the three talented bounty hunters and wanted to congratulate him. The bounty hunter Calo Nord placed his blaster pistols back inside his side pockets as he walked over towards the exit where Krurin and Carth were standing there.

“That was an impressive job you did Calo,” Krurin congratulated Calo.

“One,” replied Calo coldly.

“Hey I was trying to be nice,” Krurin argued.

“Two,” Calo snapped.

“Get out my sight,” Krurin shouted. “I don’t want to interfere.”

“Smart,” Calo nodded.

Calo walked away from Krurin and Carth leaving a dead cold beat inside both the hearts of the Republic fugitives. Krurin looked back at Carth and shrugged his shoulders in disgust. Carth sighed and walked over towards the bar tender whilst Krurin took a stroll around the joint where he ran into a blue young female Twi’lek and her tall, fury wookie companion.

Krurin stood there and noticed that two Rodians approached the young blue female Twi’lek. He looked at them firmly and was kinda interested what would happen next as he approached towards them slowly to listen where he heard the conversation between the young Twi’lek wasn’t going so well.

“You have a problem ‘bug eye’, leave me alone,” said the blue Twi’lek.

“I don’t like your tone missy,” said the Rodian.

“Perhaps we should teach you some manners,” said the other Rodian.

“Oh yeah,” Mission smirked. “You don’t know how to quit don’t you? Maybe I should persuade you further. Hey Big Z a little help here.”

“I haven’t finished my dinner,” Zaalbar growled.

“Quit complaining and get over here,” Mission demanded.

“Whoa I don’t want trouble with the wookie,” said the Rodian franticly.

“You have a problem with me and you deal with Big Z,” Mission taunted.

The two Rodians walked away from the cheeky Twi’lek, Krurin looked at the blue Twi’lek Mission and her strange scruffy companion Big Z for a moment and then glanced back at Carth over at the bar and signalled him to come over. Carth looked at Krurin and smiled where he’d whispered.

“That’s an odd pair,” Carth pointed out.

“I agree,” Krurin admitted. “Perhaps they know more about this place than we do. Don’t you think?”

Carth nodded admitting that Krurin did have a point as he watched his friend walked over towards the blue Twi’lek where he’d introduced himself in an appropriate manner. The blue Twi’lek seemed quite shocked that another person was talking to her openly, shed looked beside Krurin and noticed Carth was there in the background behind him.

“Hi, excuse me I’m Krurin Masaror and I was wondering if you could help me,” Krurin said softly.

“Hey I haven’t seen you around here,” said the blue Twi’lek female on ‘Basic’ language, the main human language the Republic used for many generations. “Yeah I could help you in any way I can.”

“That’s weird, a Twi’lek speaking ‘Basic’ fluently,” Krurin commented.

“No it’s not that strange, quite common actually,” Mission replied anxiously. “Some of the aliens here prefer to speak their own language rather than using the Republic’s ‘Basic’ language, you get the picture. My name is Mission Vao, you can call me Mission for short and this is my friend Zaalbar.”

“Nice to meet you Mission,” Krurin nodded. “And you as well Zaalbar. This is my friend Carth.”

Zaalbar growled in the background. “Nice to meet you,” Carth said anxiously.

“You’re new to the Undercity I see,” Mission remarked. “I would give you a tour but the streets of the Undercity aren’t as safe as it used to be with all this gang war.”

“Yeah, so we’ve noticed,” Krurin agreed. “What can you tell me about it?”

“You’ve came to the right person,” Mission said cheerfully. “There are two gangs that dwell here in the Undercity. They are the Hidden Beks and Black Vulkars. The Hidden Beks are led by a man named Gadon, he is a good man and a well respected leader by his gang but his successor Brejik had betrayed him and become the leader of the Black Vulkars.”

“What happened do you know?” Carth interrupted.

“When Gadon had lost his eye sight to an incident, everyone in the Hidden Bek gang anticipated that Gadon would have stepped down and Brejik was next in line of becoming their new leader,” Mission explained. “However Brejik was impatient and had seized the moment to betray the Hidden Beks gang and choose himself the quick and easy path by joining the Black Vulkars. Ever since then, all hell broke loose between those two gangs, fighting over the senseless leadership reasoning.”

“So that would explain of the gang wars then,” Krurin nodded.

“Not to mention why there were so many Black Vulkars we had to deal with,” Carth pointed out.

“Yeah, if you ask me it’s completely ridiculous,” Mission said objectively. “Is there anything else you would like to know?”

“Just one,” Krurin replied. “I’ve been hearing rumours of a person named Davik Kang, what do you know about him?”

“Davik is the crime lord of Taris,” Mission replied. “He works for a company called Czerka Corporations, part of the Exchange. He basically runs the joint here on Taris along side with his bounty bodyguard Calo Nord and -.”

“Hold on a sec,” Krurin interrupted. “Was that Calo Nord who was here a minute ago and killed those other bounty hunters over there?”

“Yes that was him alright,” Mission nodded. “Calo doesn’t talk much. He prefers action and making sure that Davik’s borrowers have paid their debts. Also he is not a person to double cross with, before you know it you’ll end up dead on the floor.”

“So we’ve noticed,” Carth interrupted. “Go on if you have any further information about Davik.”

“Well there is a rumour that Davik has a ship of some sort, called the Ebon Hawk. People say that Davik’s ship is the fastest around here on Taris,” Mission continued.

“Where would he keep it you know?” Carth asked curiously.

“Probably locked away tight in his estate, don’t know to be honest,” Mission replied honestly. “Another rumour has it that he is trying to obtain some authorisation launch codes to blast away from Taris, so far he has failed.”

“Sounds like something that we can do,” Krurin muttered softly.

“Anyway, I think that pretty much covers it,” Mission sighed. “Is there anything else you would like to know before we head off?”

“I have one,” Carth said firmly. “Can you explain how you and your wookie companion first met each other, I’m just curious.”

“Well Big Z here, Zaalbar came from the planet Kashyyyk,” said Mission. “Zaalbar was running away from sort of trouble from his homeworld and didn’t want to talk about it since. When he’d come to Taris, he ran into more trouble here. One day I’d found him in trouble with some Gamorrean grunts and couldn’t sit by and watch him get tortured.”

“So I take it you intervened?” Krurin concluded.

“Yeah more likely the case I went in and kicked the sorry Gamorrean’s away from Zaalbar. In the end, well it’s obvious that Zaalbar and I have been living together every since,” Mission replied.

“No I think that would be all,” Krurin smiled. “I appreciate your time for providing us an insight to this place. I hope to catch up with you some other time.”

“Sure no problem,” said Mission happily. “Well Big Z, we better go.”

“But I haven’t finished my dinner,” Zaalbar complained.

“Quit complaining,” Mission argued. “I’m sure we’ll find something to eat at the Hidden Bek base, come on.”

Mission and Zaalbar walked away from Krurin and Carth where they leaved them behind inside Javyar’s cantina. Krurin thought for a moment as he accessed the situation where he predicted that he could us some of the information to put into good use. Carth looked at him and wondered what his friend had in mind.

Krurin looked around the cantina and found an entertainment area with a few Twi’lek dancers dancing and a Bolian band were playing music in the background. He noticed a tall male human dressed like a bounty hunter and walked up closely behind and grabbed his attention.

“Huh? Oh sorry I didn’t see you there. I was occupied looking at those lovely Twi’lek dancers and look at them sway those head tales of theirs,” said the bounty hunter. “I don’t usually go for these birds. I had some bad experience with our own species lately. Maybe its time for a change, you know what I mean?”

“Who are you?” Krurin asked.

“The names Holdan, I work for Davik Kang and the exchange,” Holdan replied. “I’m one of his top couriers.”

“So you are the one who put the bounty on Dia’s head?” Krurin asked.

“Yes. Did Zax send you here?” Holdan asked coldly. “Maybe he did mention it to you at the bounty office. I don’t care who kills her as long the job gets done.”

“Krurin watch you step,” Carth whispered. “Neither of us went to the bounty office, so you better make a good cover up story for that.”

“I want the bounty off her head,” Krurin demanded.

“That’s your cover story?” Carth remarked, whispering softly. “Careful Krurin… we don’t want to get into too much trouble.”

Krurin looked at Carth and shrugged his shoulders as he produced an innocent look on his face, while Carth looked at his companion and shook his head in disbelief knowing that he should have said something. Then they looked at Holdan where he waved his left fist in the air and told them not to intervene.