Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Sweet Sixteen

Chapter 2 - Flirting With Danger

He was dreaming again. Seth knew he had to be because he recognized the space that occupied all his dreams. The cold bridge of a nameless warship was as eerie as ever, but this time it was different. Seth didn't feel small and helpless at all. In fact, Seth didn't feel anything, as if he were a disembodied fly on the wall observing the entire scene. And the scene was not one of yelling and screaming and argument and fear - it was one of battle. Two lightsabers clashed, red against yellow, streaking in magnificent displays of light as they whirled about and connected with a hiss. One figure, wielding red, was hooded and ominous. The other, a woman who must have been on the cusp of adulthood, wielding gold.

He watched as sparks flew into the air with every attack and counter-attack, while three additional Jedi stood behind the woman, lightsabers drawn and at the ready but not with the intention of rushing into the fray. The gold lightsaber parried, flicking the blood red blade out of the way before the woman cut down her opponent with hardly a second thought. She continued her advance down the bridge, but blackness enveloped Seth's vision and suddenly he was sitting in a bed. He blinked a few times as he adjusted to the scenery change.

He definitely didn't recognize where he was whatsoever, and he struggled to remember how he came to this place. He sat up, touching his head and hissing at the white-hot pain he felt as his fingers came in contact with heavy bruising on the back of his head.

"You're awake, thank the Force." Seth's head snapped toward the voice, and he realized he was sitting in an unfamiliar studio-style apartment. On the opposite side of the room sat a familiar face, and though he didn't remember how he'd gotten to the apartment, it didn't take much for him to remember his superior officer.

"Captain Onasi, sir!" his hand snapped into a salute and he swung his legs over the side of the bed in an attempt to stand up.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Onasi held his hands up in front of him. "At ease, soldier. Sit back down. You've been slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple of days, you need to take it easy."

"Yes, sir," Seth said as he sat back down. He was aware of a faint throbbing in his skull but it wasn't unbearably painful. "You said I was out for a couple of days, sir?"

"Four," Onasi responded. "And quite a bit's happened in those four days. You were banged up pretty bad when we crashed, it was all I could do just to drag you away from the crash site. Luckily I stumbled upon this abandoned apartment, so we've been holed up in here. The Sith have declared martial law and put in place a planet-wide blockade. I haven't been able to make contact with Commander Shan or any of the other Republic forces that managed to escape the Endar Spire. So it looks like it's just me and you for now, kid."

"So what's next, sir? Do we wait for Commander Shan's orders?"

"Well, first off, if it's just gonna be the two of us against the forces of Taris, I'd like to skip the formalities. Call me Carth."

"Yes, sir," Seth responded dutifully.

"Yes, Carth," Carth corrected him. "This planet is crawling with Sith soldiers. We need to blend in, and acting like a soldier is only gonna raise the red flag to them. And if Bastila - yes, we're dropping the formalities with her as well - were able to get orders to us, she would have done so by now. Which means she's either lying low, or she's been captured. And both of those possibilities require our action."

"And what action would that be, sir?" Seth waited as Carth stared him down for a long while. "Carth," the sixteen-year-old amended.

"Just gotta get you in the habit so you don't slip up in front of Sith troops," the older man said with a smile. "And we're gonna find her, and work with her to develop a strategy to get off this rock."