---

Author's Notes:

Tails of the Old Republic is a crossover between the Sonic the Hedgehog universe and the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game.

Sonic and all related IP belongs to SEGA/ Sonic Team
SW: KotOR and all related IP belongs to Disney/ Lucas Arts/ Bioware Corp
No copyright or trademark infringement intended.

Series rated "Web-14" for violence, mild language, and suggestive themes.

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Tails of the Old Republic

Chapter 041

Lower City Taris — Ebon Hawk

After everything he had been through in the last several days, a hot shower felt like heaven. Tails leaned forward in the shower stall with his hands against the wall and his head under the spray nozzle, soaking up all the warmth he could as the water soaked his fur and skin. With one of his tails wrapped around a shower brush (and the other coiled around his legs — they took up nearly the entire shower stall), the boy scrubbed away the last traces of dirt and grime from the Undercity, gastric slime from the rancor monster, antiseptic chemicals from his surgeries, and the smoke, ashes, and blood from the swoop race and subsequent battle. It felt like years of stress were literally washing down the drain.


There was a knock at the door. “Miles Prower, you’ve been in there for thirty minutes! Hurry up, already!”


‘Odd… That didn’t sound like Mission or Carth, and I don’t remember giving Bastila my full name.’


Sighing wearily, the boy finished rinsing off, then shook himself hard. Like in the Upper City apartments, a blast of warm, dry air evaporated the moisture from his skin and fur in short order, even under his leg brace. Tails grumbled as he put on his clothes: black boots, black pants, copper-orange t-shirt, black short-sleeved windbreaker, black gloves with holes for his claws. As annoying as they were, at least the material was cool to the touch and didn’t itch or irritate his fur like most fabrics did. The boots and gloves even had soft, removable, moisture-wicking inner liners that cushioned his paws from the tough outer material. The clothes smelled lightly of smoke, jet fuel, engine grease, and day-old sweat from last night’s excitement, but they were still serviceable, and his nose was more sensitive than most anyway.


Lastly, Tails tugged on the long tuft of fur on his forehead, almost to the point of his scalp hurting, then released.


Sproing!


His three long bangs now bounced in front of his face once more, gleefully defying gravity’s pull. Back in the living area of their guest quarters, the boy found it nearly empty. Carth, Mission, and Zaalbar were mysteriously absent, and only the Jedi woman Bastila remained. Tails found this very odd indeed.


“Um… where are the others?” he asked.


“They just stepped out for a moment,” said Bastila. “They’re probably getting some food for us.”


That lifted the boy’s spirits! He plopped down on the couch, eager to finally eat something. He’d just have to wait a bit longer, but he could manage that. He noticed that Bastila was eyeing him with curiosity, to a level he found a little off-putting.


“… Yes? You want to talk to me about something?”


“I would like to know what happened after you crashed here on Taris,” the woman said abruptly. “I’m curious as to what you and Carth Onasi were doing before we all joined forces. I got Carth’s version of the story, or at least the short of it, and Mission Vao spoke for both hers and her Wookiee friend’s part in these events.”


“Before we rescued you, you mean.”


“I managed to free myself, as I recall,” she said. “In fact, if I hadn’t been there Brejik and his thugs might have killed you in that fight. It’s probably more accurate to say that I rescued you.”


“You’ve used that line already,” said Tails. “You didn’t escape the Black Vulkars until I arrived, as I recall. Can’t you just admit you were rescued?”


Bastila was getting a grumpy look on her face, which the boy found strangely amusing. “I’ll admit I probably wouldn’t have been able to free myself if it wasn’t for the brawl after the swoop race,” said Bastila. “I guess I should thank you for that, at least. Actually, your presence at the swoop track is what I’m curious about. It couldn’t have been an easy task to find me there, yet somehow you managed. You also avoided detection by the Sith, discovered I was a Vulkar prisoner, gained sponsorship for the race, and then became Taris swoop champion. That’s quite a resume.”


“And rescued the damsel in distress! Don’t forget that.”


‘Remember lady: I’m still bitter from last night!’


The woman sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes… well… I hardly consider myself a ‘damsel in distress’. I am a member of the Jedi Order, after all. But I won’t deny that you’ve impressed me with what you’ve done.”


“What can I say? I’m a talented individual.”


Bastila scowled. “Lacking in ability, no. Lacking in modesty, most definitely!”


“All right, all right,” said Tails. “I had lots of help, from Carth, from Mission, and from Zaalbar. It’s fair to say, I probably wouldn’t have found you without them. Or, even be alive right now, for that matter.”


“Better. But though others helped, you were, nevertheless, the catalyst for these events. When you were chosen to join this mission, I doubt any of us expected this much from you. A Jedi could have done such things, of course, but only by drawing heavily upon the Force.”


“I think you’re underestimating us non-Jedi,” said Tails.


‘Which reminds me, I need to ask what the hell I’ve been doing the last several months! These missing memories are ticking me off!’


“Perhaps,” said Bastila. “But the Force works through all of us to some degree or another.  There are some outside the Jedi Order that we consider ‘Force sensitive’. It is obvious to me that the Force has been working through you. There is no other explanation for your great success, though I am not certain what to make of this discovery. Perhaps, if you weren’t — well, if you were younger the Jedi might take you for training. But, as it is…”


“Just what are you trying to say?”


“I’m sorry, I’ve overstepped my authority. I’m speaking of things that are best left to the Jedi Council. For now, let’s just accept that you are… gifted. Hopefully, between your abilities, my Jedi training, and the skills of our companions we can find a way off this planet.”


“Hmmm…” Tails settle back into the couch, pondering all that Bastila had said so far. But, faced with the opportunity to needle the woman one last time, the boy smiled and yawned, and folded his arms behind his head. “Heh. Be glad I’m ‘Force-sensitive’, as you say, or else I couldn’t have rescued you!”


Bastila’s face started to turn a bright shade of pink, and took on the appearance of politely restrained rage and contempt. “Ah, yes, the ‘rescue’ again,” she said. “Very well. For what it’s worth, I’ll concede the point to you: you rescued me from Brejik. And yet, here we are, still stuck here on Taris.”


For reasons even he wasn’t sure of, pushing this woman’s buttons made Tails giddy with delight. At least, getting her to admit there was a rescue at all knocked down her ‘high and mighty’ attitude from earlier just a little bit. Some part of the boy’s self-preservation instincts told him he should stop before Bastila snapped and murdered him.


“See?” said the boy. “That wasn’t so hard, now, was it?”


Bastila made a grumbling sound like she just had several teeth pulled, without anesthetic.


The others finally reappeared, and Tails was relieved to find that the Beks had provided food at no cost. He hadn’t eaten in more than twelve hours! Absolutely ravenous, the boy greedily shoveled food into his mouth as fast as he could safely chew and swallow. The others watched him gorge himself with varying degrees of amusement, annoyance, or disgust.


“Does… does he always eat like a wild kath hound?” asked Bastila.


Carth sighed. “Yeah. Pretty much.”


“He ate enough for twelve people!”


“He does that…”


Mission just giggled. Zaalbar’s own eating habits weren’t much different, but then again, the big Wookiee was four times Tails’ size and mass!


Once the teenage Mobian was done stuffing himself, the party gathered to discuss their next move.


“So, what do we know about Taris, and how we can possibly get off?” Bastila asked.


“I hear Davik Kang has got a new ship for his smuggling operations,” said Mission. “He calls it the Ebon Hawk. I don’t know much about space travel, but I hear that ship’s fast enough to break the Sith blockade. Of course, this is all second-hand rumor.”


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


“If Davik does have a ship, he’s got it locked up in his estate. Nobody gets in there, except the people who work for him and the Exchange.”


“Who, exactly, is Davik?” ask Bastila.


“Huh? Davik’s part of the intergalactic crime syndicate, but I thought everyone knew that.” Mission’s eyes lit up, then she said, “Oh, right, you’ve been a prisoner the entire time you’ve been on Taris, so maybe not.”


The Jedi woman fumed, but said nothing. Tails stifled a giggle at Bastila's expense.


“Short of storming his estate, which sounds suicidal,” said Carth, “is there any way we could get access?”


Mission just shrugged. “You’d have to get Davik’s interest in a good way. The Exchange doesn’t just hire people off the streets, and trying to track down one of his agents will likely just get you shot, or worse. I’m afraid I don’t have much help for there.”


Tails recalled that Mandalorian man, Canderous. He had said he was working for Davik on some ‘special assignment’, but otherwise nothing useful came to mind.


There was an awkward silence for nearly a minute, with everyone grumbling to themselves on what to do. Then Mission whacked Tails on the shoulder.


“Hey, you said you had powers, right?” asked the Twi’lek. “Can you show us now?”


That got everyone’s attention, and the boy nervously replied, “Oh, um, sure.”


He got up from where he was seated at the table, and looked around for the most spacious part of their room. After moving a chair out of the way, he said, “All right, everyone stand back.”


There were a couple of raised eyebrows, but Carth, Bastila, Mission, and Zaalbar complied as much as the relatively cramped room would allow. After he was certain he had a few meters to maneuver, Tails whipped his enormous namesakes around him and then loosely coiled them around his body, practically orbiting him at arm’s length. The fox petted one of them as if it were an incredibly fluffy pet snake.


“On my planet, Mobius, there are lots of people with special powers or abilities,” he explained. “Without diving into a science lecture, we can fuel our powers with an energy field we call Chaos. I’m guessing it’s the same or similar to what you here are calling ‘The Force’. There are about a hundred and seventy Mobians I know about with detectable Chaos levels, but only a few of us can do really extraordinary things with it.


“Sonic the hedgehog, my best friend, can run faster than the speed of sound — over seventeen hundred meters per second, in fact. Knuckles the echidna is both super strong and tough, and he can burrow through the ground as easily as someone could swim through water — even solid rock only slows him down a bit. And Shadow the hedgehog, one of the most powerful beings alive on Mobius, can shoot raw Chaos blasts out of his fingertips, teleport behind barriers, and can also break the sound barrier, though he’s not quite as fast or agile as Sonic is. Silver is another powerful Mobian with telekinetic powers, and can fight just about anything to a standstill, or defeat/destroy it outright, and Blaze can generate and manipulate heat and fire.


“I, um… I can’t do any of those things, but I have gifts of my own, and you’re looking at them! My tails haven’t always been this huge, but they’ve formed the center of my abilities since I was very young — maybe three or four years old. Sonic was the first friend I ever had, and when we went on our adventure together, we… heh heh heh, well, I should just shut up and show you. Watch this!”


Carth turned to the others. “You three may want to brace yourselves.”


Tails’ tails started to glow with a yellowish aura, and little sparks of static electricity started to dance along the strands of fur. Then, from the base of his spine to their tips, his tails flattened into hard, flexible ribbons with razor-sharp edges. Carefully, he uncoiled them from around his body and extended them out slightly.


“Ta-da! Tail blades! Guaranteed to cut through annoying robots with ease. Also good for forming barriers and propellers. When dull, they make excellent cudgels, too!”


Zaalbar had an unreadable expression on his face, but both Mission and Bastila looked stunned, with the Twi’lek girl’s mouth hanging open. Even Carth, who had seen all this before, still looked with amazement. Tails then stretched one of his appendages out to the table. The tip of his tail split into three long strands, and he picked up one of their drinking cups by the handle. Despite there being no flesh or bone at the tip, the three strands had a perfect grip on the cup.


“They’re also prehensile, and the make useful tools. I can even store stuff in them!”


The boy set the cup so that it was resting flat on his left tail. There was a faint yellow aura at the base of the cup, and then the cup sank out of sight and vanished.


“Y-your tail just ate that cup,” said Mission.


“Heh heh, not quite,” the boy said nervously.


“Mr. Prower has a portable pocket dimension he can manipulate,” Carth explained. “It’s like a subspace storage locker. I’ve dubbed it his ‘tailspace’. I’m actually a bit surprised this time — last time he had to coil his tails up to do that.”


“I may have been out of practice for a while,” said Tails. The boy let both appendages go back to their normal, fluffy state, then combed his fingers through his left tail. “Nothing in this one; I wonder where that went?” he said with a grin. He then reached inside his right tail, with his arm disappearing up to his elbow, then pulled out the cup. “Ta-da!”


The fox boy was wearing an ear-to-ear grin.


“That — that had to be some sort of trick, or sleight of hand!” said Mission.


“Trust me, it’s real,” said Carth. “He stored a whole suit of Sith armor in there, and more. Bastila?”


The Jedi woman seemed at a loss for words. “I — this is extraordinary. I have never met, or even known of any being that could manipulate their bodies with the Force so precisely. And — forgive my incredulity — but you say there are others on your world who can do even more?”


Carth snorted. “You haven’t seen the half of it.” He looked around the room, then said, “You think you can hover in here, kid?”


Tails scratched the back of his head. “Well… maybe. There’s not much room in here, but I can try. Hold on to your hats, it’s gonna get windy in here!”


The boy knelt down so that his back was nearly parallel with the floor. His tails stretched out to their full length at either side of him, then flattened again into blades.


“Did he say propellers, earlier?” asked Bastila.


“Yep,” said Carth.


The fox’s tail-blades curved and began rotating counter-clockwise. He pulled in his tails a bit, so each formed a radius of about two meters. They spun faster and faster until they were nothing but a blur, and they produced quite a powerful draft. Then, as easily as a hummingbird, Tails’ body was lifted off the floor, and he hovered about a meter in the air. He said nothing at all this time, but he was grinning madly.


“All right, that’s enough showing off,” said Carth.


Tails obeyed, and he stopped spinning his namesakes around. He plopped back to the floor, and his tails returned to normal.


“Whew, I think that’s enough show-and-tell for now,” he said. “I feel worn out already.”


There was a silence for several seconds, then Mission shouted, “That was amazing!”


The boy blushed terribly, but fortunately it was hidden by his fur. “Heh, heh heh heh, thanks.” He cradled one of his tails, and said, “These things are what’s kept me alive all these years, and what have allowed me to fight alongside Sonic and the others back on my world. Although, I’ve really been left behind over the last several years, so I’m usually relegated to either fire support or mission control, or something tech-related. I don’t like fighting, but I miss the days Sonic and I were virtually inseparable. I miss him.”


After a moment’s pause, Carth said, “Well, I’m sure you can meet your friends back home sometime soon.” He turned to address everyone at once, then added, “All right, we still need to get off this rock, and the Ebon Hawk is our best lead. I guess our plan now is to find some way, any way, into Davik’s estate without getting our heads shot off.”


“I agree,” said Bastila. “It’s a stretch, but the local cantinas are still the best place to expand our leads, and perhaps find someone who can get us to that ship.”


“All right. We’ll head to Javyar’s Cantina down here in the Lower City first. If that doesn’t pan out, there’s a place we can go in the Upper City. Our hideout for the last week and a half has been in an abandoned apartment up there.”

---

The party of five left their guest quarters, and after restocking their supplies in the Bek base, they hit the streets and headed for Javyar’s. Thankfully there were no gang attacks in the darkly lit corridors, or any other incident of note. Tails walked with a limp, and his leg started to ache more, but it was still manageable, so he kept quiet about it. As they approached, the Rodian cantina bouncer eyed them warily, but otherwise said nothing, and they went inside.


Inside was the normal hustle and bustle of cantina life, but with an air of celebration still lingering for members of the Hidden Bek gang. At Carth’s insistence, the group split up to find whatever information they could.


Tails was grateful not to be tethered to anyone again. Any sense of freedom had proved fleeting since waking up on the Endar Spire, and despite knowing the seriousness of their situation, the fox boy wanted to enjoy the feeling as long as he could. His stomach had emptied in the hour and a half since leaving the Bek base, so he bought a few snacks to help fill the void again.


As he did so, Tails noticed many people here staring and talking about him. He tuned his ears to catch their conversations, and overheard them talking about the swoop race and ensuing battle. Oddly he heard several discussions as to whether he was a “Bothan” or a “Cathar” or not, whatever those were. Then, there were two references that made him bristle: “Mysterious Stranger” and “Bendak Starkiller”.


‘Oooooooh CRAP! I forgot about that!’


“Hey you! Hey you, Mister!” someone called out.


‘Please, oh pleeeeease talk about something else!’


Tails turned and faced two older male teenagers, one a Human, the other a Twi’lek. “Can I help you?” he asked.


“You’re the ‘Mysterious Stranger’ aren’t you?” said the Human, with obvious excitement on his face. “You’re going to fight Starkiller in a death match tonight, right?”


The Mobian’s right eye twitched, but he tried to hide his distress by taking a sip from his drink. “What if I am?” he asked.


“Oh, come on, I know it’s you! You’ve got the humongous tails and everything!” said the Human.


“Do you really think you can beat him?” the Twi’lek asked. “Starkiller has killed every duelist and bounty hunter ever to face him!”


“I’m aware of his misdeeds,” Tails grumbled. “I take it you’re fans of his, then?”


“Oh, yes,” the Human said. “We’ve always looked up to him when we were younger!”


Tails snorted. ‘Some role model,’ he thought to himself.


“But, actually,” the Human continued, “We’re fans you, too! You kicked all kinds of ass in the arena earlier, and we’re taking bets which one of you will survive tonight! This is so exciting; there hasn’t been a legal death match in the Upper City in years!”


The fox was weary of this conversation already, and more than a little disgusted by these two morons’ fanboying over Starkiller and his death matches. “I have to go,” Tails said flatly. “Don’t blow all your money on stupid bets.”


Tails made his escape as smoothly as he could, ducking and weaving through the crowds, careful not to trip anybody as his tails trailed behind him. He could feel his bile rising, and by the time he entered Zax’s bounty office, he was already fuming inside. The boy tried not to stomp as he marched up to the Hutt. Besides, his leg was hurting enough as it was.


“Ah! The vaunted ‘Mysterious Stranger’ returns,” the Hutt gurgled. “You had vanished a couple days ago; people were beginning to worry about you! But what are doing down here? Your match is tonight! Do you have bounties to collect?”


“No… I’ve just been busy,” said Tails. “Um, when — exactly — is the match scheduled at the arena?”


“What, you don’t know?” said Zax. “It’s been plastered on every news monitor in the Upper and Lower Cities for the last day and a half! Ajuur hasn’t told you?”


“I haven’t been in the Upper or Lower Cities the last day and a half,” the boy growled.


“Bah! Twenty-one hundred hours, tonight. You know which place,” said Zax. The Hutt then eyed Tails’ leg, and pointed with one of his degenerate arms. “Is that going to be a problem?”


Tails looked down at his leg brace, then back at Zax. “No, I’ll get it taken care of later,” he said. “Actually, Zax, I need to talk to you — about the match.”


“Oh?” said the Hutt. “Don’t tell me you’re chickening out! That’s Ajuur’s business anyway — he’ll eat you alive if you back out now, after all he went through to set this up!”


“No, I…” Tails trailed off and squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to go through with his foolish, impulsive challenge. He didn’t want to face Bendak in the ring. But, something was burning inside of him. Bendak had never truly ‘retired’, and would continue to kill anybody who challenged him or tried to collect on his bounty. The man needed to be stopped, and Tails truly felt it was on him, to beat him — no matter what it took. “… I’m not backing out,” he finished.


“Then what are you still doing here? If you’re not here about bounties, get out of my office!”


“I am here about Starkiller’s bounty!” Tails growled. “Look… I need you to do something for me. About Bendak.”


“Oh? Like what?” said Zax.

---

Carth Onasi grumbled to himself as he checked the time. After more than two hours in this dive, nothing useful had come up, and one vulpine Mobian had gone and disappeared again. The Republic officer swore he was going to get that boy a leash. And maybe a shock collar!


Bastila appeared. “Anything?” she asked.


“Nothing at all,” said Carth. “We should collect the others and move on.”


“I’m here,” said Tails as he rounded a corner.


“There you are. Just where have you been?” asked Carth.


Tails just shrugged. “Around,” he grumbled. “This is a busy place, you know. We leaving?”


Carth raised an eyebrow. “What’s eating you?”


The boy groaned, and said, “I’m tired, I’m sore, I’m nauseous from being in here, I’ve got a lot on my mind, and my leg is really starting to kill me. I’d like to stop by Zelka Forn’s clinic as soon as possible.”


Carth sighed. “All right, let’s grab Mission and Zaalbar and get going. We’ll stop by the clinic first, then the apartment, then we’ll head to the cantinas up top.”


“And, I can help you with your leg pain again, when we get out of sight,” said Bastila.


“What time is it now, anyway?” Tails asked.


“Fifteen-thirty,” Carth answered. “Come on, we’re wasting time.”


Tails couldn’t agree more.

---

The five of them made it to the elevator without further incident.


“All right, we’ve made it this far,” said Carth. “Prower and I used this elevator to get down here, but…” he turned to Bastila, and said, “… there’s a Sith guard at the top. Will you be able to get past him?”


“I should be able to trick him into thinking I’m somebody else, yes,” Bastila answered.


“What about us?” asked Mission? “Z and I aren’t exactly supposed to be up there, either.”


“Oh, he’ll think nothing of it,” said Bastila.


Tails wondered about Bastila’s Jedi powers. At the Bek base, he had felt some sort of field coming from her that made the other gang members ignore her. It had made his brain itch. Could she really screw with people’s minds like that? On a whim?


They all entered the elevator, and it began its long ascent to the Upper City of Taris. Bored and with nothing to do, everyone started wandering about the elevator platform. At least, being a cargo elevator, there was room enough to move around. After a while, Tails approached Mission. Despite that morning’s embarrassment, the boy was curious about her and wanted to learn more about her.


“Hey there,” said Mission. “What can I do for you?”


“Um, well,” the boy began, suddenly unsure of himself. He felt his face get hot again, and he scratched the back of his head nervously. “About this morning…”


Mission sighed and crossed her arms. “Look, I’m sorry, OK?” she said. “I didn’t realize who or what I had snuggled up against, and I didn’t mean to try to cuddle you to death like you were my plush toy, or something.” The Twi’lek girl started blushing, and she stammered, “Er, not that I regret cuddling up with you, or anything. I mean, it was kinda cold in that room, and you were very warm; I mean, you felt very nice, but I didn’t… uh… arrrrgh!”


The girl squeezed her eyes shut and smacked her face with a palm. “Smooth,” she muttered.


Tails’ own face felt like it was about to spontaneously combust, and he stared at the floor, not daring to make eye contact.


“I didn’t mean it, OK?!” Mission blurted loudly.


Still staring at his toes, Tails sucked in his breath, and said, “Yes, I know, Mission, you didn’t mean it. It was just… extremely embarrassing. I’ve already forgiven you.”


Half a minute of awkward silence passed.


“I’d like to know a little bit more about you, Mission,” Tails said suddenly. He stopped staring at his feet and look directly up into Mission’s face.


“Huh? Really?” she said, and had a surprised look on her face.


“If it’s not too much trouble, anyway,” said Tails.


“You… want to know more about me? Nobody’s ever been much interested in me before,” she said. A genuine smile broke across her face, but she hurriedly tried to replace it with a more neutral and stoic expression. She failed miserably. “What did you want to know?”


“Well…” Tails scrambled to parse an actual question before he looked silly, and asked, “How did you and Zaalbar first meet up? Do you have any family?”


“Hmm. Big Z’s my family, you know what I mean? My parents… well, I guess they’re dead,” said Mission. “It was just me on my own until the day I saw Zaalbar in the lower city. I could tell right away that he was in trouble. This was before the gang wars got out of hand, but even then, the Vulkars were scum. A few of them were hassling Big Z, trying to pick a fight, but he wasn’t looking for trouble.”


“Wow, really?” said Tails. He glanced over at Zaalbar, who was leaning with his back against the wall. “They were picking a fight with a Wookiee?”


“Hey, nobody said the Vulkars were smart!” Mission said, chuckling. “But, there were three of them, so maybe they figured they could handle him. I don’t know. Anyway, I don’t like Vulkars at the best of times, and when I saw them picking on this poor Wookie — all alone on a strange planet, overwhelmed by the big city — I just lost it. I screamed out, ‘Leave him alone, you core-slimes!’ and charged right at them. Well, one of them saw me coming and hit me so hard, he just about knocked me cold.”


“Ouch,” Tails said sympathetically. “At least none of them pulled a blaster on you.”


“Hey, I don’t need a lecture from you. You ain’t my mother! I knew what I was doing.”


‘I, uh, wasn’t lecturing you,’ thought Tails.


“Those Vulkars didn’t scare me,” Mission continued. “They’re nothing but cowards — I knew how to deal with them. Of course, I never got the chance. I guess Zaalbar didn’t like seeing me get smacked around. He let out this howl, and yanked that Vulkar a meter off the ground, holding him up by his throat!”


“Oh, wow,” said Tails. “Did, uh… did Zaalbar kill him?” he asked nervously.


“Nah. I thought Zaalbar was going to rip that punk’s arms off and start beating him to death with his own fists! But, the Vulkar got so scared that he fainted. That, or, maybe Big Z’s breath just knocked him out. I keep telling Zaalbar to brush those choppers of his, but he never listens. Just… stay upwind when he’s speaking, and you’ll be fine.


“Anyway, the other two screamed and ran off. Can’t say I blame them — the first time you see an angry Wookie up close isn’t a pretty sight! I knew those Vulkars would be back with friends, so I grabbed Zaalbar and we ran off. Ever since then, we’ve been a team. We look out for each other, you know?”


“Heh, that’s quite the story,” the fox boy said. “How did Zaalbar end up on Taris?”


Mission shrugged. “He was fleeing some kind of trouble back on Kashyyyk, his homeworld. That’s all I know, really. Big Z doesn’t like to talk about it.” It was her turn to glance at Zaalbar, then she turned back to Tails. “In case you didn’t notice, he’s the ‘strong, silent type’. Doesn’t much matter to me, though. I accept him for what he is, not what he was. Me and Zaalbar — we like to live in the present.”


“Hmm,” was Tails’ only response. He turned away slightly, thinking to himself. He shifted his weight back and forth between his heels and his toes, and noted how much more comfortable for him it was becoming to stand on his toes for prolonged periods. His legs and feet had been changing a lot in the last year or so.


“You know… your story is kinda similar to my own,” he said. “In some ways, at least.”


“Oh? How so?” asked Mission, her interest piqued.


“I… I never knew my own parents,” said Tails, sighing. “Until just a few years ago, I didn’t even know their names — Amadeus and Rosemary Prower. They were both high-ranking military officers for the Kingdom of Acorn, back on my world. But, well… they both vanished shortly after I was born. I barely have a few, fragmented memories of them from when I was a baby. I lived abandoned and on my own, in the wilderness, until Sonic found me.”


“Oh, gosh,” said Mission. “How old were you?”


Tails looked at her in the eyes for a moment, then turned away again. “I don’t really have coherent memories of that time, but… between ages two and five. I’m not really sure.”


“You were abandoned as a baby?!”


Tails continued rocking back and forth on his feet. “Yeah… I don’t really blame my parents, though. I mean, I don’t think they intentionally abandoned me. Like I said, they just… disappeared. No one knows what happened to them.” The boy smiled a bit, then he said, “But then, Sonic found me when I was five-ish, and it was like I woke up from a nightmare. He became my family. Heh… our first meeting was rather embarrassing.”


“Wow… what was embarrassing about it?”


Tails turned to look at her again, and he got this extremely sheepish look on his face. “I… uh… tried to kill him. Heh… I almost succeeded, too,” he said, chuckling nervously.


“You nearly killed him?”


The fox boy turned away, but he still had an embarrassed grin on his face. “Yeah. I was starving, and I was nearly feral from my time in the wilderness, but I was well practiced in my tail-blade ability by that time. He landed his airplane near Emerald Hill forest, on the island I was on. I saw him and stalked him for a while. As fascinated as I was by his machine and his gift of speed, I saw him only as food. When he stopped for a rest, I, ah… I pounced on him. Heh… he never saw my attack coming until it was too late. If Sonic didn’t have a full stock of Power Rings right then… I would have cut him in half!”


“My gosh… wait, what’s a ‘power ring’? I think I remember you mentioning those before.”


“It’s a golden ring of concentrated Chaos energy, and can heal you instantly, amongst other things. You can’t see them or touch them unless you’re Chaos-sensitive, or Force-sensitive, or whatever. I’ll explain more later. Anyway, when I cut him, about a thousand Power Rings flew out of him at high speed. In retrospect, seeing Sonic scramble to re-collect a few of those rings was funny as hell. It’s just that, I had so completely surprised him, and there were few times I ever saw such abject terror on his face.


“I was still trying to eat him at the time, so it wasn’t funny then, though. We had a short scuffle, then Sonic booted me in the head and I went down. He was a hundred times faster than me, after all. Anyway, it took a while, but Sonic helped nurse me back to health, and helped screw my head back on straight. We became fast friends after that, and I followed him around ever since!”


Mission blinked. She didn’t quite know what to make of the boy’s story. “That’s — that’s amazing. Huh, well, I bet you’re glad you didn’t kill your friend!”


“Heh, very much so,” said Tails. “I would have been without my best friend, for one, and I probably would have died in that forest from starvation, infection, or madness. Heck, in that one instant, I almost completely derailed the history of Mobius! If I had killed Sonic then… Dr. Robotnik would have wiped us all out that year, I’d bet.”


Mission wrinkled her brow. “Who’s Robotnik?” she asked.


Tails’ expression fell, and he said, “A very evil Human. He was an alien to our world, along with his nephew, and he’s tried to conquer Mobius for about a decade. Sonic tells me he wasn’t always evil, but I only knew him as a villain.”


“Oh,” said Mission, and she filed that away for later. “Wow, your childhood was… intense. I came to Taris when I was five, and I had my brother to look after me for a long while, before I met Zaalbar.”


The Mobian turned back to face Mission directly. “Oh? I didn’t know you had a brother.”


Mission frowned, and said, “My brother is kind of a touchy subject, and I really don’t want to talk about him right now. Nothing personal.”


“Oh, well, OK then,” Tails said. The boy looked up, and added, “Oh, hey, the elevator’s nearly to the top.”


“It is?” Mission looked up. “Huh, looks like it.”


“Heh, something about elevator rides, and the ability to finish a conversation!”


Mission looked at him quizzically. “Huh?”


Tails just grinned and shook his head. “Nuthin’,” he said.


Everything was quiet for another minute, then the elevator started slowing down. It locked into place with a thunk, and the door to the outside world slid open.


“Here we go,” muttered Carth.


Carth Onasi stepped out of the elevator and into the bright sunlight of the Upper City, followed by Tails.


“Who are you?” the Sith guard demanded. “I recognize the furball, but you—”


“I have my authorization papers,” said Carth.


“What? Since when? Let me see those…”


At that moment, Bastila stepped off the platform. The guard whipped his head around and said, “And just who are — YOU!”


Bastila waved her hand across his face. “I am not the Jedi you’re looking for,” she said.


“You… no, you’re not the Jedi we’re looking for,” the guard repeated in a dazed tone.


“We don’t need to show you any authorization papers.”


“I… don’t need to see any authorization papers.”


“Our companions have free access to use this elevator at any time.”


“You… and your companions… are free to use this elevator at any time.”


“Good,” said Bastila. “We’ll be on our way now.”


Mission and Zaalbar poked their heads out the elevator door, and seeing it was safe, hastily made their way out and past the guard. Mission whistled a not-so-innocent tune as she walked by.


“Yes,” droned the guard, “You’ll be on your way now. Good day.”


The five companions walked briskly away from the elevator, with everyone but Bastila looking over their shoulders at least once.


‘OK, that was scary,’ thought Tails. ‘Very, very, VERY scary.’


“Well, that was easy,” said Mission. “So, Jedi can tell someone a boldfaced lie, and they’ll believe it? Just like that?


“The Force can be a powerful tool against the weak-minded,” said Bastila.


‘Note to self: work on psychic defense measures!’