Tempted (Kotor Novelization)

Chapter 2

I'd like to hear what you think is worse than being stuck on an anti-alien world with the Sith on our tail looking to kill us, I thought haughtily.

"I'm serious. Look, I highly doubt the Sith are specifically looking for us anymore, we're not that important. But if we're careful, we can move around the planet without attracting too much attention – a luxury Bastila won't have." Right, I completely forgot about Bastila. If we got off the Endar Spire alive, then Bastila could have too. Though I wasn't entirely sure why she was so important. Yes, she was the Jedi who killed Darth Revan and that's really impressive but why would Carth want to find her so badly? "We may need her help to get off Taris and she'll definitely need ours with half the Sith Fleet looking for her."

"Why is it so important to find Bastila? I get why the Sith fleet is after her, considering she killed their Master and everything but how can she possibly be so valuable to the Republic? What does she have that they need?" I asked him.

"The thing is... Bastila's no ordinary Jedi," Carth explained cautiously. "She has this power called 'Battle Meditation.' As I understand it, Bastila's battle meditation can influence entire armies! She can inspire confidence in her allies and make her enemies lose their will to fight. It's how she defeated Darth Revan." As Carth explained it, weirdly enough, I understood it with ease. I nodded slowly, and I drew my knees to my chest as I twirled the pendant of the necklace that I always wore between my fingers.

"That's a very valuable power considered that is what often tips the balance in a battle."

"That's why it's so important to find her. Without her, the Republic will lose the war for sure. She's pretty much the only reason why Darth Revan didn't crush us like bugs."

"Alright, alright, I see your point. The sooner we find Bastila, the sooner we can find a way out of here."

"You're right, but one thing first. You need to eat something." As Carth mentioned it, my stomach rumbled audibly. How long was I unconscious, exactly? It must have been at least a couple of days by how loudly my stomach was protesting.

"How long was I out?" I asked my voice barely a whisper.

"You've been slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple of days now," Carth replied over his shoulder as he went to get me some food. He returned with some food quickly and he sat down with me while I ate, and let me tell you, I was starving. After eating, I felt much better and my headache was pretty much gone after getting some water in my system, so it must have been dehydration.

Carth and I talked strategy for how we would find Bastila and find a way out of here. According to Carth, Taris was a very dangerous place for two Republic fugitives like us to be right now. The Upper City was crawling with Sith, the Lower City was dealing with a war between the two major swoop gangs known as the Hidden Beks and the Black Vulkars, and the Undercity really hit rock bottom. It was apparently infested with monsters known as rakghouls. We'd have to be very careful here, especially in the Undercity. He also told me that while I was out, he heard rumours of escape pods crashing in the Undercity. We decided to start our search for Bastila there, as much we both would rather avoid the place.

Just to sate my own curiosity, I asked Carth what he knew about the Dark Lord Malak and the Sith. It wasn't that I didn't already know the basics, but I figured a career soldier who had been fighting the Sith since the beginning would know more than I would. I mean, I was just an explorer. I was no expert on Sith and I never really paid much attention to what was going on in the Republic because I spent most of my time on remote planets in the Outer Rim.

Carth didn't tell me much that I didn't already know. The Dark Lords Revan and Malak had been fighting the Republic for about three years now, and Bastila and the Jedi managed to kill Darth Revan, but that didn't stop the Sith. Her apprentice, Darth Malak, just took over and fought the Republic with a ruthlessness and brutality of his own. What did surprise me was that Revan and Malak were both Jedi once, just like Bastila. They fought in the Mandalorian Wars (against the wishes of the Jedi Council) and, for mostly vague reasons, ended up turning evil. I started to wonder at the possibility that Bastila might join the Sith. If seemingly good people, Jedi Knights, like Revan and Malak could turn into these brutal, conquering Sith, then what's stopping Bastila from doing the same thing? We needed to find her. And soon. I told Carth about my fears that Bastila might turn on the Republic if she was caught by the Sith and he seemed to understand and feel my urgency. Hopefully Malak only saw her as a threat instead of a useful tool.