Zira Darkstar

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A/N: Long chapter, but it's mostly conversation. Still trying to get more reviews. I really, really want some feedback. Envy is my irl roomate/gf so I concider her opinion to be bias.
~Beta'd by Envy~
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Chapter 4

The next couple days seemed to have rolled by in a blur. Zira remembered little of the events that had transpired and only vaguely recalled what had happened. The most recent thing on her mind was a fight between two Jedi on a ship. The dream felt intense. Zira watched as a young female Jedi attacked with ferocity.

The long, glowing yellow blade flared brilliantly in her hand. Zira couldn’t help but notice that something seemed wrong with her attacks. They were nothing like the smooth and graceful motions she’d seen the Jedi on the Endar Spire use. They were obvious, deliberate, and predictable.

Apparently her opponent felt the same. The talk figure in dark robes and wielding a crimson blade seemed to meet the young one blow for blow. Something struck Zira as odd about the situation. Jedi were supposed to be calm, cool, and collected. This one was a rage of emotion and atrocious with the sword. Zira couldn’t help but compare her style to that of a toddler swinging a stick around in play. The dark one however seemed to be steady and reserved. Zira got the feeling the girl was being toyed with as the other figure back-peddled with measured steps and stance.

The hooded figure had no face, just a black and red mask that covered it. The whole thing made Zira uncomfortable. A Jedi not doing anything remotely Jedi like, and the way the other moved. She felt as though something was about to go horribly wrong. As the woman prepped herself for, what was sure to be, another pathetic attack, Zira suddenly moved to scream out. She wanted to call to the Dark Jedi and tell them to move. She didn’t know why, but something screamed at her to not let the other move any further.

The scream was inaudible and the dream world dropped from sight as Zira felt herself pulled back into reality. The memory of the dream was quickly retreating from not only her eyes, but her mind as well. She could only barely remember a few scattered details already. The only thing she remembered clearly, was that there were two Jedi locked in a fierce battle. And one of them wasn’t very good.

As light filtered through the transparisteel windows and onto her face, she sat up slowly. The grogginess of her slumber fading slow, she absently wondered what became of the young Jedi. A small sense of pity welled up in Zira’s throat as she stood. The poor thing. Of course, this was probably all just some crazy dream and didn’t matter. It must have come about due to that Jedi battle I saw on the Endar Spire.

The thought brought a new rush of emotions and memories. The events on board the Spire rushed across her mind. Trask, the selfish jerk. He knew he couldn’t stand against his opponent, so why… why had he chosen to run off on a fool’s errand. He barely even knew Zira and what had he hoped to accomplish?

The door to the room she was in opened and a rather gruff looking man walked in a blaster pistol still in hand. Zira reacted before she even realized it. She lunged forward and took the man by surprise. Her left hand sweeping up and gripping him by the wrist as she threw her weight into his chest. They both toppled to the floor.

Zira used her free hand to draw her blaster from it’s holster and shoved the barrel roughly into the soft tissue under his chin. The look in her eyes must have been feral, because the man seemed petrified. “Who are you!?” Zira snapped, forcefully.

The man murmured a reply, his jaw unable to move. “It’s Carth, from the Endar Spire.“ He stated, using only his lips. The look in his eyes had changed in that moment, he no longer looked defeated or scared. Zira felt something hard press against her stomach.

Her first thought was to slap the man; she had ended up straddling his waist and was now assuming she knew what the protrusion to be. Her navy blue eyes rolled down his body, however, and she was a bit shocked at what she saw. She had expected a lump protruding through the man’s clothing, instead, she was looking at his left hand. He was holding a blaster pistol tightly against toned muscles of her abdominals.

It didn’t take long for her to assess what would happen. She would pull the trigger, he would do the same. The shots at this range would kill them both. Her mind flashed across a quick headline on the local
news. “Kinky lovers shot each other in sexual play.”

The fact that her jumpsuit was completely unzipped and that she was straddling his waist created the majority of this thought. She slowly pulled her blaster away from his chin and held it up in a surrendering motion. She hoped he’d do the same as she slowly pushed herself up onto her toes and then stood over him.

He got to his feet, both hands still keeping his blasters at the ready. “Good to see you up, instead of thrashing around in your sleep.” His voice seemed strained and Zira couldn’t help but wonder how sincere he was with that statement. “You must have been having one hell of a nightmare. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to wake up. I’m Carth, one of the Republic soldier from the Endar Spire. I was with you on the escape pod, do you remember?” He asked quietly, his voice calm and steady. He seemed unsure of how to proceed with the conversation.

The last moments of the Spire hazily played out in her mind, like at some cheap holovid theater. “Right. I’m Zira Darkstar, by the way. How did we get here?” She tried to sound pleasant, but she wasn’t sure she succeeded.

Carth began to explain slowly, probably thinking something was seriously wrong in her head. She found it a bit annoying but decided it best not to correct him. “Well, you’ve been slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple of days now. So I imagine you’re pretty confused about things. Try not to worry. 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 our escape 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 into this abandoned apartment. By the time the Sith arrived on the scene, we were long gone.”

He seemed fairly confident that he’d managed to give the Sith the slip. She imagined he must have carried her quite a ways from the crash site. The Sith would no doubt be swarming the area where the pods crashed down.

She noticed he still had his blasters ready and she decided to try and calm him down a bit. “I guess I owe you my life. Thanks.” Again, she felt as though she didn’t quite capture the earnestness required to smooth things over properly.

Carth merely scoffed, “You don’t have to thank me. I’ve never abandoned anyone on a mission, and I’m not about to start now.” The coldness in his voice seemed to strike a cord. It drove deep into her being and she suddenly regret rushing the attack a moment ago. “Besides, I’m going to need your help. Taris is under Sith control. Their fleet is orbiting the planet, they’ve declared martial law and they’ve imposed a planet-wide quarantine.” He continued seeming to finally feel the need to explain the details of what was happening to Zira. “But I’ve been in worse spots. I saw on your service record that you understand a remarkable amount of alien languages. That’s pretty rare in a raw recruit, but it should come in handy while we’re stranded on a foreign world. 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 anyone but ourselves.”

Zira was used to that. The little she did remember, both on the ship and before, was that she had been on her own for a very long time. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had a friend she could trust. Pathetic… a Soldier I knew for less then an hour is probably the closest thing to a friend I can even remember. Maybe it was more, but she wasn’t about to delve into that right now. Something else Carth said had sparked a new feeling.

She put aside the feeling of discomfort, that had stemmed from Carth seeming to know more about her then she did him. She would have to make a point to get to know him better, but that would have to wait. “Why is it so important to find Bastila?” She asked, softly, leaving the subject of who exactly Carth Onasi was for a later conversation.

A look of sympathy rolled across his face and he holstered his blasters finally. “That smack to your head did more damage than I thought. Bastila’s a Jedi.” Bastila… She remembered the name from before. She was the one Trask had said they needed to protect. The softer look in Carth’s eyes sparking the memory of her short lived friend. “She was with the strike team that killed Darth Revan, Malak’s Sith master. Bastila is the key to the whole Republic war effort.” Zira felt a small twinge of aggravation at that comment. How can one person, even a Jedi, be so important? She must be something. She’s even got everyday grunts as a part of her fan club.

While she amused herself in her thoughts of this amazing Master Jedi, Carth continued explaining the situation. “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 down here on Taris. For the sake of the Republic war effort, we have to try and find her.” I hope so. Otherwise the “entire Republic war effort” will be decimated and we’ll all just have to become Sith.

The thought must have become visible on her face. She’d made the joke silently, but apparently the look of amusement was on her face. She could tell because of the hard look that was now firmly spread across Carth’s face. She wiped it from her features and quickly stated, “If Bastila is a Jedi, she can probably look after herself.” She was hoping to give a measure of comfort to him.

The strong set of his jaw was clenched tight for a minute. She could tell that he still wasn’t quite happy with the way she’d responded. “Bastila’s going to need our help,” he started again, his voice strained a bit. “Many of Darth Malak’s followers have mastered the dark side of the Force, and the Sith have already killed more their share of Jedi in this war.” Zira’s thoughts lazily drifted back to the poor Jedi from her dream. That must have actually been just a young girl, thrust into combat before she was ready.

Zira felt a renewed sense of pity towards her. The Jedi numbers must be thin to be sending such inexperienced warriors into battle with Sith Masters. Or… at least I think he was a master. He sure seemed to be in control.

“I doubt anyone’s specifically looking for us anymore. We’re not that important.” He began, trying to sound reassuring. Once again she felt that twinge of annoyance bubble up inside her. If she wasn’t so important, why did he need her help so badly? “But if we careful, we can move about the planet without attracting notice; a luxury Bastila won’t have. She’s going to have half the Sith fleet looking for her. They know how vital she is to the war effort. Bastila is no ordinary Jedi. She has a rare gift the Jedi call Battle Meditation. Bastila’s power can influence entire armies.”

Despite her wounded pride, Zira had to admit: she couldn’t do that. She was handy with a blaster; maybe even as deadly with a vibroblade as anyone could be, but she didn’t have mystic Jedi powers. She was going to have to settle for just being a regular person. Damn, guess that means I’ll just have to take my unimportant self to a starport and slip my way off planet. Before she even knew why, she blurted out, “If Bastila is so great, how come the Sith managed to blow up the Endar Spire?” She’d meant to add the word effortlessly, but she figured that would only piss him off again.

Carth seemed to mull the question over a moment. When he started speaking again it was calm and diplomatic. He seemed to be trying to explain it to himself, as much as to her. “Through the Force, Bastila can inspire her allies with confidence and make her enemies lose their will to fight. And often, that’s all it takes to tip the balance in a battle. But there are limits to what she can do. From what I understand of her ability, it requires great concentration and focus to maintain her Battle Meditation. The attack on the Endar Spire happened so fast she probably never even had a chance to use her power.” His voice had begun to take on a desperate tone. He almost seemed to be pleading with Zira. She got the impression that he needed her to understand. He needed to believe that she could have prevented it, and that her abilities were indeed something awe inspiring. “I’m guessing she barely got out alive, and now she’s trapped here, just as we are.” His tone had lost all measure of diplomacy by this point. It had increased in desperation. “The whole planet is under quarantine. No ships can land or take-off. So if Bastila is going to escape Taris, she’s going to need our help. And we’ll probably need her’s.”

The truth spilled out in the last moments. A Sith blockade is one thing, but an entire planet wide quarantine? It’s going to take more then just a stolen shuttle to get off this mud-ball.

Yielding to the situation she offered a roguish grin and stated smoothly, “If it means getting off this planet, I guess I can help you find Bastila.”

Renewed relief seemed to wash over Carth, “Good we need to work together if we’re going to survive. While you were out, I did some scouting around. There are reports of a couple escape pods crashing down into 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 and get ourselves killed.”

She calmly listened to his entire long, boring, needless speech with a passably pleasant smile on her face and nodded. “I want to ask you some questions.” She was planning on fixing the fact that she knew almost nothing about him.

During his speech, Carth had crossed the room and sat heavily in one of the hard looking chairs near the bed she had been sleeping in. He turned to look at her, weary resignation deeply seeded in his saddle brown eyes. “I’ll tell you what I can, though I…I don’t know how much help I’ll be.”

Zira breathed a silent sigh. That conversation would have to wait. He didn’t look to be in any condition to talk at the moment, at least about himself anyway. “What can you tell me about this planet we’re on?”

He laid his head back against the wall behind his chair and began to spout off facts. To her, he sounded like a soldier thrust into a strange environment The assessments he made seemed to be more of a survivalist’s point of view than anything else. Then, as his voice droned on he seemed to remind her again of Trask. She was starting to think all soldiers in the Republic had the potential to be great protocol droids. She began to look about their surroundings.

The apartment was very plain. It was practically empty and had a visible layer of dust settled on all the flat surfaces. There was a large table in the center of the room that lacked chairs. Two beds were nestled into a small offset along the northeast wall. She could see a curtain track along the ceiling that must lower to cover separate the beds from the main room. Just outside the offset were two chairs. They were slid back into the small corners just outside indentation made for the beds.

On the Southwest side there is a small table with two chairs. In the northeastern corner she could see a door leading to a small room that took up some of the apartments floor space. She assumed it to be the refresher and would more then likely only contain a shower. Bummer. A nice hot bath sounds pretty good right about now. The rest of the room was pretty boring. She could see the main door leading out of the apartment and directly across from it were two large transparisteel windows on either side of a workbench. There was an exhaust fan mounted over top of the bench, which lead Zira to believe this apartment’s last tenant used the bench regularly. She marveled a bit at the traffic as it passed by the windows.

While she had been taking in the surroundings, Carth had gone been sleepily droning on about Taris. “Taris was once a magnificent planet-wide metropolis of towering skyscrapers. But that was a long time ago. The Upper City, where the rich citizens live, is…is still pretty safe. If it wasn’t for the Sith occupation and the planet-wide quarantine, it might not even be that bad a place to live. But farther down things have degenerated. The…the Lower City is nothing but a slum, overrun by swoop-bike gangs waging a never-ending war for control. And the Under City is, well, even worse. The lowest level of Taris is a wasteland overrun by rakghouls; mindless, deseased mutants that attack on sight. I’ve already entered all this info into your data-pad journal.”

“Come on. I want to scout this planet out a bit.” She said finally. She had to say something, anything to get him to stop talking. The idea of movement seemed to be the equivalent to shouting the word, “attention!” Carth snapped to his feet and was almost completely at full attention before relaxing his stance a bit.

“Good idea, we can use this abandoned apartment as a base, and we can probably get some equipment and supplies here in the Upper City. Just remember to keep a low profile. I’ve heard grim stories about the Dark Jedi interrogation techniques. They say the Force can do terrible Things to a mind. It can wipe away your memories and destroy your very identity! But I figure if we don’t do anything stupid, we should be okay. I mean, after all, they’re… they’re looking for Bastila, not a couple of grunts like us. Alright soldier, let’s move out.”

“Uh… Carth. I’m not a soldier. And besides, I said that I wanted to scout a bit. I don’t know what you’ve been doing while I was out of it, but I don’t think sleeping was included.”

Carth paled a bit. She could tell he was trying not to show any fatigue whatsoever. “I’ll be alright, you shouldn’t be traveling alone.”

“I’m a human girl wandering the streets of a huge metropolis surrounded by local authorities. If I run into any trouble, all I have to do is shout and I’m sure several eager young men will rush to my aid. Besides, I’m good at blending in. Another person will just make me stand out.” The look in his eyes didn’t seem to inspire trust. “I’ll be careful, I promise. And I’ll be back in just a little while.”

Carth still didn’t seem to approve. His stare had become hard, driven. He was out to make a nonverbal point.

Thinking fast, Zira quickly decided what to say. “Even a soldier needs to rest and be alert. Right now you’d only be a liability.”

His resolve shattered and she knew she’d won this round. “Alright. Wake me in four hours. We have a lot of work to do.”

“Sir, yes sir!” She mock saluted.

His resolve degenerated a bit more as a chuckle rocked him gently. “Wrong hand, soldier.”

“Oh. Yeah. I knew that.” She quickly switched hands, a wide, playful grin spread her cheeks. “See you in four hundred hours, sir!”

The chuckle continued and he shook his head. “Military time would be zero four hundred. And that would be more like seventeen hours, galactic standard time.”

“Fair enough, I’ll see you in seventeen hours.”

She could tell she’d pushed the joke too far, his mirthful laughter had subsided. “Four hours.”

Rather than screw up the closest thing to a tender moment she was figuring she’d get out of him, she decided to excuse herself.

After leaving the apartment things were rather dull. She wandered around the apartment building, looking for something interesting. Apparently, Taris wasn’t on galactic standard. As she walked passed several of the windows she made a rough guess that the time was later then most sentient races were awake. The hallway was practically empty. She had only had to contend the space with one or two maintenance droids.

She found a kiosk, that had been locked up and was beyond slicing. She would need something much more noisy to try and rob the thing, and she figured that it would just draw more attention that it was worth.

She let her mind drift. Her thoughts bounced at random from moments on the Endar Spire to her conversation with Carth. She had just started mulling over thoughts of what kind of person this Bastila must be, when someone a shrill woman’s voice broke the morning silence.

Zira’s reflexes kicked into overdrive and she hit the floor, her blaster in hand. A woman was standing in a room before her with a vibroblade held precariously in both hands. “Who are you? What are you doing here? You can’t just come barging into someone’s home!” she exclaimed wildly.

“I’m sorry, I was just investigating the area.” Zira said dumbly. Had she just picked the lock to this woman’s home? She wracked her brain quickly as to what she’d been doing while wandering. She stood up slowly, holstering her blaster. She held her hands up defensively, noticing that her belt pack seemed a bit heavier then she remembered.

She was a taller woman, almost as tall as Carth. She had black hair, drawn tightly back into a low pony tail. She was an attractive woman, her body curving in all the right places. She had a cute round face and small nose. She regarded Zira carefully before slowly lowering the tip of her vibroblade. “That’s no excuse. You can’t just go around barging into people’s apartments because you’re curious! But at least you’re more polite than that pig, Holdan.”

This was good, conversation might mean she could talk her way out of this. She would rather take her chances talking to this woman than the a demanding, angry Sith interrogator. “Holdan? Who’s that?”

She seemed to relax a bit more. She released the one hand from the hilt of her blade and let the weapon fall limply to her side. “Just one of Davik’s men who can’t keep his hands to himself. But all he got for his trouble was a nasty scar from my Vibroblade! Too bad I’m the one still paying the price.” She emphasized the point by motioning to the weapon in her hand.

Zira could already tell she had the woman where she wanted her. She wasn’t defensive anymore, and thus, Zira could pretty much do whatever she wanted. She felt strangely akin to her however. She decided to at least figure out what the woman meant. “What do you mean?”

A newly restored sense of fear found the woman’s shrill voice, “I… I don’t want to talk about it. I’m in enough trouble already. Besides, I don’t know if I can trust you.”

Zira offered a very convincing, charming smile and held her hands up again. This time though, they were in mock surrender. “You can trust me,” she cooed. “Maybe I can help.”

Dia seemed to consider her a moment before sheathing the Vibroblade and resting it back beside a large bed. A bed she had, no doubt, leapt from when the door had opened. She seated herself heavily on the edge of the bed, collapsing forward so her elbows fell upon her knees and she hunched over. “Well, I suppose you seem like an alright sort. When I cut Holdan it made him back off, but it also embarrassed him in front of his friends. Holdan’s a spiteful little Hutt-slug. He went and put out a bounty on my head for what I did! That’s why I’m hiding out here.” She had looked up at Zira.

Something in her eyes caused a tug inside Zira. The woman’s eyes were welling with tears and her voice was drenched in despair. Zira crossed the room and knelt down in front of the woman, reaching up and gently cupping her chin in the crook of her index finger. She gently tipped the woman’s face up so they were looking intently at each other. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Dia’s shoulders sank a bit and she rested more weight from her head against the finger on her chin. Zira could tell the woman needed the contact. The gentle touch of someone willing to help seemed to give her enough strength to resume speaking. “I doubt it. Holdan is one of Davik’s men. When you work for the local crime lord the authorities tend to turn a blind eye. I’m afraid this is between me and Holdan now.” Zira could tell she was trying intently to seem tough, but she knew she’d gotten herself in over her head.

“Maybe I could speak to Holdan for you.” Zira kept her tone gentle, keeping the connection between them soft.

“You could try I guess. He usually hangs out at the cantina in the Lower city. It probably won’t do any good. Holdan’s used to getting his own way. That’s one of the fringe benefits of being a goon for Davik. Working for the local crime lord lets you get away with things. Still, I appreciate the offer.” Her voice had filled with a measure of hope now.

Zira felt the need to protect this woman. Something about her just screamed out to Zira and she knew there was nothing she could do but answer it’s call. She held the pose for a few long moments while the gentle woman wiped away tears from the edges of her eyes, before saying softly, “I’ll be going now.”

She hoped that she hadn’t been too cold, but she wanted the woman to understand the urgency in which she planned to attend the matter.

“Goodbye, and good luck. I hope you can talk some sense into Holdan.”

She knew from the moment she’d heard her final comment that she’d failed. There was no hope in her voice. The way she’d said “goodbye” seemed too final. Zira offered a smile, but she could tell it belayed the sadness she suddenly felt.

A final effort to raise her spirits came to mind as Zira was making her way towards the door. “My name is Zira Darkstar. My friend and I just recently moved into the apartment building. We are at the apartment in the northwest corner, if you ever need to talk.”

The woman did soften a bit, a small bit of relief or joy in her voice. “I’m Dia. It is a pleasure to meet you Zira.”

“Likewise.”

Zira couldn’t think of anything else to say; instead, she excused herself from the apartment and went back to her own. In the morning she’d drag Carth about with her, and she would solve poor Dia’s problem. One way, or another