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[Weyoun]

Finally, here's the new Shaya I've promised. Hope you like it.

 
Second Skin 4 : Swooping in

Carth and Shaya stood on a round platform high above the deep chasms between the city buildings of Taris. A bit beyond the platform was the local Sith command centre, where dozens of Sith Fighters were parked and ready for launch in an instant if the need was required. In the middle of the square was a holo-emitter, periodically changing between a newscaster reading current events on Taris and a large holo-artwork seemingly floating in the sky.

But on the other side of the square lay their target : a guarded lift leading into the lower city of Taris.

"Only one guard," Shaya said. "Can't you just do the commando thing and take him out?"

"First of all, I'm a pilot, not a commando," Carth whispered to her. "Secondly, the Sith command centre is in earshot."

The guard simply stood there, and with the inhuman shaded face-plate of his helmet, there was no way of knowing if he was looking at them or not.

"We have to get down there," Carth said. "The manifest from our escape pod says that ours is the only pod that landed on the top of the city. The rest are all down there," he pointed at the chasms, "at the bottom."

Shaya nodded. "So, what do we do?"

"Think of a strategy," Carth said. But at that moment, Shaya strayed a bit too close to the holo-emitter. The image changed. A huge bald man with a piercing angry look appeared. It was as if he was a god. The holo-image was only his bust, but the chalk-white skin and the metal jaw made him seem fearsome. He held out his hand and his finger pointed directly at Shaya. As Shaya moved, the finger actually followed her. Just then a sentence appeared in the hologram : "Darth Malak wants YOU to join the Sith Troopers!"

Too late, the startled Shaya saw that she had strayed too close to the Sith trooper guarding the lift, despite Carth hissing warnings at her like crazy.

"So," the Sith trooper spoke through a communicator in his helmet, further adding to his inhuman, faceless image. "Are you thinking of joining our ranks."

"Uhh," Shaya looked at the trooper, then at the image of Darth Malak. "No. Not really."

"Can't say I'm surprised," the trooper sighed. "Czerka concocted this ad-campaign. I don't know how they talked Malak into this. To make matters worse, this ad-campaign has actually halved our recruitments since it started. Oh, before I forget, papers, please."

"What?"

"Papers please," the trooper said. "Don't tell me you don't have papers."

"I, um, left them in my other pants," Shaya replied, thinking to be clever.

At that moment, Carth pushed himself in the conversation, grabbed Shaya by the arm and started dragging her back to the other side of the platform.

"Hold a moment!" the trooper said, drawing his blaster. Carth and Shaya stopped dead in their tracks. "Onasi. Yes, it is you, Carth Onasi. I recognize you from my old Republic army days! I find it hard to believe you are here on accident. A couple of spies, no less. I'm sure to get a promotion now and can finally get rid of this damn suit for once and for all."

Shaya noticed that Carth was trying to decide if he was a quick enough draw to take down the trooper. She noticed the trooper was only looking at Carth, so she took her chance. "AHAH!" she shouted and drew her vibroblade. Unfortunately, she had drawn it with such a force that it flew from her hand and spun into the air... only to fly over the edge of the platform into the abyss below in a nice parabolic trajectory.

"Crap," Shaya whispered. The trooper was looking at her now, and even though she could not see his face, it was obvious to her that the look he was directing at her was saying : "You are the dumbest woman alive."

Just then, an odd whine sounded nearby. Shaya turned around, just in time to see a Sith fighter charging towards the platform. Before anyone could react, the Sith Fighter slid onto the platform. Metal tearing into metal, sparks flying across the platform. The Fighter missed Shaya and Carth by an inch, but rammed right into the trooper. The fighter's engines then gave up the ghost, but not before it slid over the edge and fell into the depths below, taking the screaming Sith trooper with it.

For a moment, everything was silent... then a small crowd started to form at the edge of the other side of the chasm.

"Guess he's not going to be promoted," Shaya whispered.

"That... has to be the single most embarrassing way to die," Carth muttered.

"I wonder what happened," Shaya asked.

The answer came swiftly as a cheerfully beeping T3-M4 came around the corner. He stopped short in front of the puzzled humans and chirped expectantly.

"HAH!" Shaya grinned and patted T3 on the head. "He says he saw we were in trouble, headed to the launchpad, programmed a course into the fighter's targeting computer and jumpstarted one of the booster-engines. Nice going, T3!"

"Is that droid insane?!" Carth said. "He could have gotten us all killed."

T3 chirped angrily and turned its back to Carth.

"Dare I ask what he said?" Carth said.

Shaya nodded. "He said your brain resembles a self-sealing stembolt."

"Did he now?"

"I happen to agree."

Carth scoffed. "Enough," he said. "The elevator is clear, let's get down there before anybody notices us."

"You should be happy T3 is here," Shaya said. "He saved our butts."

Shaya watched Carth and T3 get onto the elevator. She quickly picked up the blaster that the trooper had so kindly dropped and hurried to join her friends.

---

The elevator stopped halfway down. The doors opened, giving view into a dilapidated hallway. It was obvious that the lower halves of the buildings that made up the planetwide city of Taris were not as well-maintained as the tops of the buildings. Foul odors hung in these hallways, as well as garbage, remains of swoopbikes and their occupants and other, undetermined debris. T3 chirped angrily as his left leg rode through a piece of discarded chewing gum.

Huge, yet dirty windows gave the natural light access at certain points, driving away the glare of wall-lighting. Though the windows, they could see that the buildings were connected with tunnels, some makeshift, creative a maze of these dilapidated tunnels all across the planet. The occasional swoop-bike swooped along outside.

"Be careful here, Shaya," Carth said. "This could be a hive of scum and villainy. This is swoopbike gang country. Look at the tags," he said, pointing at a piece of graffiti.

Shaya looked at the 'tag'. "This isn't a tag," she finally said. "It's Twi'lek."

"What does it say?" Carth asked.

"It says : 'Whoever reads this is a stupid chuba-face'. It's signed 'Mission Vao'."

"How mature," Carth snorted. "How did you know it was Twi'lek?"

Shaya thought a moment. "I know dozens of languages. Don't know why, I just do. I just take to languages quickly."

At that moment, past the large window, a blue swoop-bike shot past, pursued by two orange-colored bikes. The two bikes fired upon the blue swoop, but the pilot evaded the blasts expertly, adding to the many scorch-marks on the building walls outside. Shaya and Carth watched as the blue swoop slalomed around several pillars. The pilot of one of the orange bikes wasn't up to the challenge and slammed right into one of the pillars, finding his death in a fiery explosion. The remaining orange bike was still in pursuit, blasting away. Finally, one of the blasts hit the blue bike, causing one of the engines to sparkle and spew thick smoke. The pilot barely kept her bike upright, but managed to not only keep the bike straight, but also pulled off an emergency stop, causing the startled pilot of the orange to evade... right into the wall. The blue swoop-bike then shot into the airlock of the very hallway Shaya, T3 and Carth stood in. A few moments later, the bike passed them, spewing thick smoke into their faces.

As Shaya and Carth were coughing, and while T3 was trying to figure out just why his two companions were making those weird noises, a genuinely apologetic female voice yellow out a 'ssoorrrrryyy' while the bike swooped by.

When Shaya and Carth were finished hacking up their lungs, the three of them followed suit. They quickly found the blue swoop-bike and the pilot, now fussing over the damaged engine.

"Ohhhhhhhh," the pilot wailed as she examined her port engine. The pilot in question was a young Twi'lek girl with an aqua-marine skin. Hers was a face that smiled easily. Her lekku were casually draped from the back of her head over her shoulders.

"Hey there," Carth greeted.

"Oh, hey," the twi'lek returned the greeting. "Sorry about that lungful back there."

"That was some fancy flying back there, kid," Carth grinned.

Immediately, the girl's behaviour changed. "Kid?!" she challenged as she put her hands against her hips. "Who are you callin' a kid?! I'm fourteen!!"

Shaya broke in. "Let's start over. Hi, I'm Shaya, this is T3 and that's Carth."

"Pleased to meet you," the girl said. "I'm Mission. Mission Vao."

Shaya took out her toolkit. "Now, let me take a look at that engine of yours."

"Hey, hey, hey," Mission said, moving between Shaya and her precious swoop-bike. "I've only known your for five seconds."

"What have you got to loose?" Shaya said. "Besides, I used to be an engineer on a starship."

"Yeah?" Mission asked. "Hm... 'Used to'?"

"It, um, kinda blew up."

"That's, um, not very encouraging," Mission said.

Shaya was quick to recover. "It was a Sith related incident. We were on a republic cruiser and..."

"Yes," Carth hissed. "My friend is quite quick to trust," he glowered.

"Don't worry," Mission said. "I won't tell. Those Sith keep hassling Twi'leks and other aliens in the streets, so I don't have any love for them. But... if you think you could help with my engine..."

"T3 and I will start right away," Shaya said. T3 chirped and started to work unscrewing the cover of the engine.

"Thanks little guy," Mission grinned.

"Mission," Carth asked. "While they're working, would mind if I asked you some questions?"

"Sure, fire away," Mission said, "least I can do."

Shaya and T3 unscrewed the cover and started to examine the broken engine.

"What happened back here," Carth asked.

"Oh," Mission said. "I was going to pick up my buddy here at the cantina. He goes here to eat, you know? And we were going to explore the sewers in the Undercity. And while I was buzzing along, these two chuba-faced vulkars are on my tail shooting at me. But I'm no rookie anymore and I showed them!"

"Vulkars?"

"They're a swoop-gang, as bad as they come. They're agressive and just plain mean. They're trying to take over territories that belong to the Beks."

"Beks?"

"They're the good guys... Well, at least they're not the bad guys. They like honor and all that, helping others, but they're not afraid to show their teeth when need me. Just like me!"

"Are you a Bek?" Carth asked while Shaya's upper torso disappeared up the engine's turbine.

"No," Mission said, seeming very disappointed. "I can come and go whenever I please and they look out for me and such, but... Gadon, that's their leader, by the way, says I'm too young. But it's not fair, because I can bike better than any of the Beks!"

"How'd you get this swoop-bike?" Carth said. "They don't sell bikes to four-teen year olds."

"I kinda... stole it," Mission said. "Actually, my friend scared off the original owner," she grinned. "I've been biking since I was eleven, even though it always gave my friend a heart-attack to see my race through the halls. He trusts me completely now, though."

"About the Vulkars," Carth said.

"Word on the street is they've backed by Davik," Mission said. "If that's true, than it's very bad."

"Who's Davik?"

"Only the exchange boss for the entire planet," Mission said. "Got his hands into everything, from spice to gambling to... whatever. Word is he's as angry about the Sith occupation just like everybody is. Even his super-fast smuggling vessel isn't fast enough to escape the blockade intact."

Shaya popped out of the engine just in time to see Carth's face light up in glee. She could literally see the wheels in motion. A friendly, yet stern chirp from T3 prodded her into going back to work.

"Do you know where he keeps it?"

"It's called the Ebon Hawk. He probably keeps it at his mansion, but you'll need an army to get in there."

"I see," Carth asked. "What's the word on the street about the crashed escape pods landing in the Undercity?"

"Ahh," Mission said. "I get it. You've from those escape pods, aren't you?"

"No," Carth tried. "We were trapped..."

"Oh, come on, I'm not kid! You're asking newbie questions and there hasn't been any traffic to the planet in five months. Plus, Shaya said her ship blew up... where else would those pods come from, hm?"

Carth sighed. "You're smart."

"Street-smart," Mission grinned.

Shaya and T3 screwed the top back on the engine in record time. "All done," Shaya said. "Good as new. T3 welded the rotor into place and I took care of the rest of the damage."

Mission took a moment to check out the repairs and smiled. "Looks fine to me, thank you. I'll return the favor. I can't take all of you to the Undercity on my swoop-bike, but the Beks probably know a way. The main hold of the Beks is over there, just ahead. I'll radio Gadon and let him know you check out."

Carth smiled. "Thank you. You've been a tremendous help, Mission."

"Don't mention it, now... Oh, there's my friend now," Mission said. And out of the cantina's door came a huge 7 foot wookie. The wookie looked at Shaya and Carth for a moment at let out a series of growls.

"Don't worry, Big Z, " said Mission. "They're alright. They helped me fix my swoop."

Another series of growls followed.

"Yeah, Vulkars again, but I showed them," Mission said. 'Big Z.' stepped on the back of the bike and held on as Mission switch on the engine.

"Thanks again," Mission said. "See you around!"

And off they went, towards the airlock. A few moments later, the blue swoop-bike appeared on the other side of the window, just before taking a dip downwards, into the depths below.

"Well," said Shaya. "Time to see Gadon, I guess."

Carth, Shaya and T3 passed the cantina, deeper into the corridor. "Shaya. About this Ebon Hawk..."

"Let it go, Carth," Shaya said.

"Still... I think we could get our hands on that ship," Carth muttered, rubbing his stubble.

"Dwooooooo," was T3's response.
 

Next : the Undercity!

---Weyoun

[Laufey]

"Think of a strategy," Carth said. But at that moment, Shaya strayed a bit too close to the holo-emitter. The image changed. A huge bald man with a piercing angry look appeared. It was as if he was a god. The holo-image was only his bust, but the chalk-white skin and the metal jaw made him seem fearsome. He held out his hand and his finger pointed directly at Shaya. As Shaya moved, the finger actually followed her. Just then a sentence appeared in the hologram : "Darth Malak wants YOU to join the Sith Troopers!"

Brrr, that *is* scary!

"Can't say I'm surprised," the trooper sighed. "Czerka concocted this ad-campaign. I don't know how they talked Malak into this. To make matters worse, this ad-campaign has actually halved our recruitments since it started. Oh, before I forget, papers, please."

I can't say I'm surprised either. Malak's is not a friendly face.

Just then, an odd whine sounded nearby. Shaya turned around, just in time to see a Sith fighter charging towards the platform. Before anyone could react, the Sith Fighter slid onto the platform. Metal tearing into metal, sparks flying across the platform. The Fighter missed Shaya and Carth by an inch, but rammed right into the trooper. The fighter's engines then gave up the ghost, but not before it slid over the edge and fell into the depths below, taking the screaming Sith trooper with it.

Talk about 'oops moment'!

"HAH!" Shaya grinned and patted T3 on the head. "He says he saw we were in trouble, headed to the launchpad, programmed a course into the fighter's targeting computer and jumpstarted one of the booster-engines. Nice going, T3!"

Awwww, he's a good droid!

"Be careful here, Shaya," Carth said. "This could be a hive of scum and villainy. This is swoopbike gang country. Look at the tags," he said, pointing at a piece of graffiti.

Somebody's having an Anomen moment, how cute! Come on Carth, say 'dank pool of base corruption' you know you want to.

When Shaya and Carth were finished hacking up their lungs, the three of them followed suit. They quickly found the blue swoop-bike and the pilot, now fussing over the damaged engine.

"Ohhhhhhhh," the pilot wailed as she examined her port engine. The pilot in question was a young Twi'lek girl with an aqua-marine skin. Hers was a face that smiled easily. Her lekku were casually draped from the back of her head over her shoulders.

Good way of introducing Mission - bit more action packed than in the game, and provides a contrast to the following exposition part.

"Don't mention it, now... Oh, there's my friend now," Mission said. And out of the cantina's door came a huge 7 foot wookie. The wookie looked at Shaya and Carth for a moment at let out a series of growls.

Zaalbar...hope you'll give him an actual personality, unlike they did in the game.

[Weyoun]

carth: run around without underwear?

(its a joke from an episode of "friends"...where joey says he's going commando to mean he's put his pants on without any underwear... )

I remember when Kramer did the same thing. I gather the effect it had on his friends was quite the same.

Darth Darth Binks: Meesa so wannsa do this commercial. But Malaksa said meesa not photogenic enough...

Ever wonder why the other Sith Lords always beat you up, D-D Binks?

shaya: what, do you owe him money or something?

carth:

Stupid Pazaak.

maybe instead of darth revan she should be darth clumsy?

really, she should pick up a nice wrench...or a lightsaber...(with a blade shaped like a wrench)

Both would actually work for her.

AAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At least there aren't any crocodiles at the bottom.

nah...there are worse...and I'm sure you'll come up with them in this series, Weyoun...

Count on it.

shaya: OOOO...SO CUTE!!!

Carth: What is wrong with you people?

LOL! But T3 IS cute.

so i guess the real hero of this series is t3, right?

He has his moments.

alec guinesse's lawyers: YOU THERE! CARTH ONASI!!!

Carth: urm...yes?

alec guinesse's lawyers: you, sir will cease and desist from ever using the phrase "hive of scum and villainy" ever again! that phrase has been trademarked by Sir Alec Guiness, and using that phrase again will open you up to litigation and legal repercussions!

carth: damn...

LOL! Thanks for noticing the reference.

shaya: and a babbel fish in my ear...

carth: a WHAT?

shaya: just roll with it...its a plot device...

carth: oy...

Hey, if it works.

she's such a gear head...

Darth Revan: force fix!

*Deathstar fires a huge energy blast, destroying Dantooine*

Darth Vader: that is so cool!!! all i ever got was force push and force choke...*sob*

Shaya : Yeah, I got the better part of the deal. Now... Force Overchange For Repairs! *credits roll in*

d'uh!

"Dwooooooo," was T3's response.
 

translation: In your dreams, laser brain...

More soon please!!!

I'll do my best!

[Weyoun]

"Sev: take up snipe positions."

"Roger that, Three-Eight."

Hey, these people haven't been born/grown yet!

Hate to break it to you, but at this point, I don't think you even own another pair of pants...

She's wearing everything she owns at the moment. All the rest of her clothes are still floating in space next to the debries of the ship.

I know that's a Trek reference... and I'm fairly certain it's a DS9 reference... isn't that from the episode where Jake and Nog are trying to get Ben some kind of fancy souvenir baseball for his birthday?

Exactly. It's sort of a running gag on the show, since we never really see one, and never find out what those things actually are meant for.

(Chuckle) That's Mission for ya.

She's cute.

I still say one of my favorite banter bits is the one where Bastila uses Jedi powers to knock Mission's legs out from under her. That's just adorable.

But mean...

Seriously. It's the only toy he's gonna get... and it's not even a very pretty one.

And, even then, Shaya's the one who'll own it. I think the Ebon Hawk is pretty, though, but I just wish it wasn't brown.

[Weyoun]

I wonder if he’ll helpfully explain to them that they need to find a Sith uniform to enter.

Not this time.

Way to go, flyboy. Shaya was handling the situation perfectly until you decided to cut in!

Carth has his moments... but this is not one of them.

Hope it didn’t impale anyone down in the Undercity.

You'll find out later.

Well, not perhaps the dumbest, but probably one of the clumsiest he’s seen.

Huh? Weyoun giving his characters such a lucky break?

Actually, T3 did.

Is there anything this droid can’t do?

He can't slice and dice onions.

I didn’t know she could ride a swoop bike like that.

My invention.

Okay, obviously, you’re not a kid. You’re a child.

A child with a seriously overpowered swoop-bike, actually.

Why would he be so happy to hear that, after all Mission said that the ship is not fast enough to escape the blockade?

Carth's just thinking ahead.

And that’s about as far as his personality goes…

I'm still working on how to put him in. Should I just have Shaya or Mission translating for her or put in myself what he means to say? Hmm, tricky.

For once, Carth is actually right about something…

[Weyoun]

I can't say I'm surprised either. Malak's is not a friendly face.

It's a PR flop.

Talk about 'oops moment'!

It certainly is for the Sith Trooper.

Awwww, he's a good droid!

The little bugger saves the day more than once.

Somebody's having an Anomen moment, how cute! Come on Carth, say 'dank pool of base corruption' you know you want to.

I'll kill him before I do that.

Good way of introducing Mission - bit more action packed than in the game, and provides a contrast to the following exposition part.

It was fun, plus it sets her up as the racer later on.

Zaalbar...hope you'll give him an actual personality, unlike they did in the game.

It's difficult, because I still have to figure out how to make him speak without making it seem he's talking english!

[Weyoun]

"Can't say I'm surprised," the trooper sighed. "Czerka concocted this ad-campaign. I don't know how they talked Malak into this. To make matters worse, this ad-campaign has actually halved our recruitments since it started. Oh, before I forget, papers, please."

Oh well, back to old recruitment drive: point blaster at potential recruit, and then ask if they want to sign up.

Hey, it worked in the past... but troops don't tend to be very loyal.

"Hold a moment!" the trooper said, drawing his blaster. Carth and Shaya stopped dead in their tracks. "Onasi. Yes, it is you, Carth Onasi. I recognize you from my old Republic army days! I find it hard to believe you are here on accident. A couple of spies, no less. I'm sure to get a promotion now and can finally get rid of this damn suit for once and for all."

Considering Carth is supposed to be a 'hero of the republic' and all-it's surprising he's not recognized more often.

Good point, yes. Poor Carth found out the hard way what the price of fame is this day.

That's a good little droid. Poor Carth is seriously outclassed.

Isn't he, though. Poor meatbag,

"Ohhhhhhhh," the pilot wailed as she examined her port engine. The pilot in question was a young Twi'lek girl with an aqua-marine skin. Hers was a face that smiled easily. Her lekku were casually draped from the back of her head over her shoulders.

Lovely entrance for Mission. I sure hope she gets to ride in the big swoop race since Shaya would probably fall off.

LOL! Good eye. Mission will race, but Shaya will be there as her mechanic.

"Let it go, Carth," Shaya said.

"Still... I think we could get our hands on that ship," Carth muttered, rubbing his stubble.

Aww Shaya, you've got T3, let Carth have his little toy too.

It'll be Shaya's toy, though, she'll own the ship.

[Weyoun]

Whee! A KoTOR series!!!!

Well, it is one of my favorite game, but writing a new series is daunting, seeing I still have another one to finish.

I'm really liking it. The humor is excellent! I've just finished searching out/reading and laughing so hard over Carth-Shaya exchanges that I nearly fell out of my chair. (Not to mention T3- bite my shiney metal ass indeed! ) Am at the office, good thing my door is closed or the staff would be absolutely sure I'm completely insane!

LOL! I'll try to make it every bit as fun and funny as Tnt is. That's not hard with the characters that game gives us.

As for the office... Hehehehe, it appears I've done my job.

Anyway, I liked the dream sequence in the first chapter that not only clued the reader into the fact that Shaya is Revan but also your introduction of The Exile. I also like the way that you've established Shaya as a Droid technician rather than a spiffy, super-duper whiz-bang warrior. Your interpretation of the charaters has been very believable and much fun so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the rest of the crew!

There'll be much more dream sequences. They're fun to do. And Shaya, well, I didn't really want a spiffy warrior. Laska's filling that role already, and I didn't want to clone her. Shaya's much more fun the way she is now.

Thanks for reading and commenting. I hope to keep you entertained!

[Weyoun]

I'd be a bit daunted too. But you've got a great imagination and having been reading your stories for....gosh about 5-6 years now, I have to compliment you also on how much you've learned both in terms of story telling and your writing in English. Your students are going to be very lucky to have you as a teacher for all sorts of reasons!

Stop making me blush. But thanks! I wish my students would realize tha too, though.

Done your job huh. Yeah - you got me! I zipped in, the story caught my eye and then I couldn't stop reading! AND I nearly choking on my coffee from laughing. (sacriledge!)

Ah, I always love to hear that! The coffee-choke is one of the greatest compliments a humor-writer can get.

Well, Shaya is really great. Right now I'm doing a PbP -- a Heroes Unlimited/Palladian Uni game. My character's bionic and she's still getting used to having a bionic hand and legs, so she's a bit...clumsy. Forgets her own strength and speed so she crushes glasses and teacups, trips over her toes trying to avoid stepping on other folks....made me think of Sierra (my character) when I read about Shaya's antics with the vibrosword!

LOL! I love those kind of parodying moves. It actually makes superheroes and the like a lot more human. It sounds like Shaya and Sierra might get along, though... if Shaya could keep her curious tools out of Sierra's limbs, though.

---Weyoun

[Weyoun]

Getting a touch of parenthood by default are you? I suspect that as your students get to know you they'll realize it (especially when they figure out that you like many of the same things that they probably do...like video games.)

I wonder what they'd think if, on some days, they do inspire me to start up GTA and drive over as many people as possible.

Well if Shaya ever has the urge to drop into Century City she'd be welcome. Sierra would appreciate Shaya's tools. She's got some engineering skills (enough to allow her to do a quick patch job if necessary in the middle of nowhere) although she's seriously looking forward to tormenting the handsome but shy mechanical genius that lives in the ground floor apartment of her building. (Obvious and very poor pick up lines about tune ups come to mind. )

My, my, Sierra does sound like quite piece of work.