---

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 Lucas Arts/ Bioware Corp
No copyright or trademark infringement intended.

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

---

Upper City Taris — Situation Report

"Oh, you're up!"

Tails relaxed. Mostly. Carth Onasi was lugging several duffel bags worth of stuff, which he deposited on the room's central table. The main door locked shut. The Human was no longer wearing his orange Republic jumpsuit, but had apparently donned some dark gray pants, a black shirt, and a kind of brownish-gold long-sleeve jacket.

"How long have you been awake?" Carth asked politely.

"Um, about half an hour, I guess. I just got out of the shower about ten minutes ago. How long have I been out?"

"Nearly a week," Carth answered. "You got seriously thrashed when we landed, kid, and you took a nasty blow to the head. You've been slipping in and out of consciousness the past couple days. Sounded like you were having some hellish dreams, too. But I'm glad you're all right, now."

Tails scratched his cranium. "Depends on what you mean by, 'all right'. My brains feel like scrambled eggs right now," Tails responded truthfully.

"I'll give you a few hours to adjust; judging by those wounds of yours, you saw a lot of action aboard the Endar Spire before she blew up. Speaking of food, I brought breakfast."

Carth opened up one of his duffel bags, and produced several large plastic containers and other dishware. He quickly washed his hands and set the small circular table, and motioned for Tails to sit across from him. Positively starving, Tails complied.

"I hope you don't think I'm stereotyping you," the Human said, "but I figured you were more of a carnivorous type, so I bought your food accordingly. Enjoy."

Tails opened his food containers, and nearly drowned in his own saliva. The main course was a three-pound steak and several eggs of unknown species, sided by a large tuber resembling a sweet potato, and garnished with an assortment of random vegetables. The savory aromas assaulted Tails' olfactory nerves, and he gurgled in delight. His drink was some sort of fruit juice.

Carth simply had a bowl of hot cereal topped with some unidentifiable fruit.

"Well, don't just stare at it..."

The Mobian had to restrain his impulse to tear into his food like some wild animal. He forced himself to behave civilized, and he used the provided utensils. Still, Tails devoured it all in about five minutes. Leaning back into his chair, the fox let his tongue flop out the side of his mouth, and his stomach felt tight as a drumskin. It's been so long since he last had a full meal...

"Well damn, I didn't think you were that hungry. Remind me to keep you fed; I don't want you gnawing my arm off in my sleep," Carth remarked with a wry grin.

Tails just laughed.

Carth collected the used dishes and tossed them down a recycling chute. Tails recovered himself and cleaned up his face with several napkins. After a few minutes, Tails sat on his bed as before, while Carth sat on a nearby chair, looking a bit more serious than he was earlier.

"I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves, yet. My name is Carth Onasi, one of the Republic soldiers from the Endar Spire. I was with you on the escape pod, do you remember?"

Tails nodded. "I'm Miles Prower, but everyone just calls me "Tails" after my twin tails here. And yes, I remember escaping the spaceship with you. You were the one on my headset, telling me about the last escape pod. Where are we, exactly, and how did we get here?"

Carth shifted, and glanced at the main door leading outside.

"We're in an abandoned apartment on the planet of Taris. You were banged up and bleeding pretty badly when our escape pod crashed, but luckily I wasn't seriously hurt. I was able to drag you away in all the confusion, and I stumbled onto this place. By the time the Sith arrived on the scene, we were long gone. We're safe now, at least for the moment."

"I guess... I owe you my life, then. Thanks."

"There's no need to thank me;" Carth replied. "I've never abandoned anyone on a mission, and I'm not about to start now. Besides, I'm going to need your help."

"Somehow, I take it the Republic isn't going to just swoop in and rescue us, huh?" the fox guessed.

Carth huffed and shook his head. "Taris is now under Sith control. Their fleet is orbiting the planet, they've declared martial law, and they've imposed a planet-wide quarantine: no one gets in or out. But I've been in worse spots. However, there is just no way the Republic is going to be able to launch a rescue mission right now. No one is getting through that blockade."

Tails simply digested that information, along with his breakfast.

Carth continued, "I saw on your service records that you understand a remarkable number 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. If we're going to find Basila and get off this rock, we can't rely on anybody but ourselves."

'Well, I did visit a lot of planets during the Metarex Crisis, so I do know many alien tongues, but SHEESH these guys are laying it on thick...'

"Bastlila?" Tails chimed. "She's the one from the Endar Spire, right? Why is she so important?"

"Wow, that smack to your head did more damage than I thought. Bastila is a Jedi. She was with the strike team that killed Darth Revan, Malak's Sith master."

'Bastila. Jedi. Chaos user. Okay...'

"Bastila is the key to the whole Republic war effort. The Sith must have found out she was on the Endar Spire and set up an ambush in this system. Ugh, we should have had more ships guarding her, but no one was supposed to know she was even there. Anyway, I believe Bastila is was on one of the escape pods that crashed down here. For the sake of the Republic war effort, we have to try and find her!"

"All right, I understand," Tails responded, "but how can one person — even a Jedi — be so important?"

"Bastila is no ordinary Jedi," Carth explained. "She has a rare gift the Jedi call 'Battle Meditation' that can influence entire armies. Through the Force, Bastila can inspire her allies with confidence, and make her enemies lose their will to fight. Often, that's all it takes to tip the balance in a battle."

'The "Force"? What is that? Is it related to Chaos?'

"Of course, there are limits to what she can do," the Human continued. "But from what I understand of her ability, it takes great concentration and focus to maintain her Battle Meditation. The attack on the Endar Spire happened so fast that Bastila had no time to use her ability. Like us, she barely got out of there alive."

"OK. So what do you suggest we do next?" Tails asked, wanting to help.

Carth sighed. "Bastila is going to need our help. Many of Darth Malak's followers can use the dark side of the Force, and the Sith have already killed their share of Jedi in this war. Nobody will be looking for a couple of common soldiers like us. As you can see, I've already ditched my Republic uniform for ordinary civilian clothes. If we're careful, we can move about the planet without attracting any notice, a luxury Bastila won't have.  Bastila will have half the Sith fleet looking for her; they know how important she is to this war. With the whole planet under quarantine, no ships can land or leave. So if Bastila's going to escape Taris, she is going to need our help. And, we'll probably need hers."

"Alrighty. Any idea where we should start looking?" the young Mobian asked.

The boy bounded off his bed and landed in the middle of the room, but teetered precariously on his legs. He nearly fell on his face. He flailed his arms, trying to regain his balance. It was embarrassing.

"Perhaps we should wait a few more hours," Carth suggested. "You just came out of a coma barely an hour ago. Rest now, I don't need my right-hand man falling over himself when we least need it."

"It's not my head, but my tail," Tails countered. "This one is still... really hurt. It feels numb, and isn't responding to my commands very well. I'll be fine though, if I wrap both tails together..."

"I saw your tail. It was a mess, like it was stuck under a plasma torch. What happened to it? In fact, those six barbecue-stripes on your body, and that charred mess on your tail look an awful lot like—"

—lightsaber wounds, Carth mouthed silently. He just now figured it out.

"Did you... ENGAGE... a Dark Jedi on board the Endar Spire?!"

Tails groaned at the memory. "Yes," the Mobian replied. "Ensign Ulgo sacrificed his life in order to preserve mine. I would have been cut to pieces had he not intervened."

"Ensign Ulgo... Trask? You can confirm he's dead?"

Tails tried to keep his voice level. "Not exactly. I didn't see him die, but he tossed me through a bulkhead and engaged the Dark Jedi on his own. I think the end result would be easy to predict..."

"Dammit, Trask was a good soldier. You and I were the last two Republic troops to leave alive, and I had hoped he had escaped prior to us."

Carth sighed in disgust. Tails stared at the floor.

"Well, I'm glad YOU are alive. Not many can tango with a Jedi in combat — dark side or otherwise — and live to tell about it. Sleep, now. We leave in six hours."

The plain-clothes Human vacated his seat and wandered over to the window, staring blankly at the morning sky.

Tails didn't show it, but the memory of his battle with the Dark Jedi, and the subsequent death of Trask, hurt him greatly. Tails had seen his life flash before his eyes on several occasions, but he had never been so decidedly crushed as he had been with that Sith duelist. Tails told the truth: if Trask had not intervened, the Mobian would have been chopped liver. Or mashed potatoes. Reflexively, Tails clutched his chest. The energy wave that had smashed into him had nearly crushed the life out of him. And the boy had drained ALL of his Chaos energy in parrying that lightsaber strike with his tail. The tail in question twitched in response.

Of all his emotions, feelings of helplessness, uselessness, and worthlessness hurt Miles the most. Even betrayal didn't hurt so damn much. Trask had to save him. Trask, a Human without the slightest trace of Chaos affinity, had to save him. Why? Because Tails was his ally. Trask was saving his comrade-in-arms. He counted Tails to be his friend.

'And here's the stupid one who opened the bulkhead, and let the demon out of his cage!' Tails thought bitterly.

Tails sighed, and swept those thoughts under the proverbial rug. The memory exhausted him. Climbing back into his bed and tucking himself into a sphere, Miles Prower used one tail as a pillow, the other as a blanket. He now resembled a furry orange beach ball. Fully obscured from the outside world, Tails allowed himself to sleep.

Not that he actually slept long.

Tails had kept his senses on full alert, so his sleep had been shallow. After waking again, the Mobian unwrapped and uncurled himself, and found Carth snoozing on the bunk opposite of his own. A mere two hours had passed. He shook the cobwebs out of his brain, and slipped quietly out of his bed. His body ached significantly less now, and his burnt tail was responding more readily to his instructions. Tails could actually feel some of his Chaos energy trickling back now, much to his relief, even if it was only a tiny fraction. He felt exposed without it.

In the corner of their tiny apartment, Tails spotted some sort of workbench. Rummaging through his stuff, the boy located his electronic headset. Carth had been kind enough to clean the soot and blood off it. The workbench was calling him, and his inner engineer was begging to be let out. He literally bounced over to it.

Standing over the workbench, Tails plunked down the headset and fiddled with a variety of alien-looking tools. With his gloved hands, Tails chose the most likely device and pried the headset apart. The boy progeny whistled. The technology within it was so alien to him, so advanced — yet he instinctively knew what each component was for. He found the battery, the central processor, the system memory, and the data storage. Activating the eyepiece, Tails hijacked it as a TV screen so he could probe the headset's operating system. The Mobian fox was greeted by various alien symbols, but somehow understood their meaning. He initiated a graphical user interface to better explore the system.

The software was pretty basic — it was just a headset, after all, but the hardware capabilities were something else! Tails figured a Nicole-class AI could fit quite comfortably in the tiny device, and NICOLE was the most powerful AI on Mobius. If he could just figure out the hardware programming language, he could write his own AI...

Something on Carth's person suddenly beeped, and the Human started stirring. Tails looked at the window; the sunbeam coming through had shifted considerably. Had four hours passed already?! Tails was so absorbed into his activity that he completely lost track of time. He carefully reassembled the headset, wishing he had more time to play with the technology. Not even Dr. Robotnik could have invented this stuff...

"You already up?" Carth asked, collecting himself.

"Yeah. I didn't sleep much, but I feel much better now."

"That's good. What are you doing over there?"

"Tinkering. 'All I'm really good at'," Tails replied, referencing a certain knuckle-headed echidna.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind."

Tails finished putting the headset back together, and he latched it around his left ear. It was light as a feather, and he barely felt it. The bluish, semi-transparent eyepiece began streaming various bits of tactical data.

"I presume you have a plan regarding Bastila's rescue and our escape from this planet?" Tails asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Carth checked his belongings and stood by the window again.

"While you were out of it, I did some scouting around. There are reports of a couple of escape pods crashing down into the Undercity; that's probably a good place to start. But the Undercity of Taris is a dangerous place, and we don't want to go in there unprepared. It'll do Bastila no good if we go and get ourselves killed."

Tails grunted in agreement.

"Can I... ask you a few questions?"

"If you make it brief; it's nearly noon and we need to start looking. I'll tell you what I can, but I don't know how much help it'll be." Carth responded.

"What can you tell me about Malak and the Sith? Head injury, you know."

"Well... everything I know about Malak is pretty much common knowledge. He escaped the trap that killed Darth Revan, his Sith master. With Revan dead, Malak became the new Dark Lord. It's obvious that Malak is a ruthless tyrant who'll crush anyone in his way, just like Revan was. Experience has shown that the Sith won't stop until the Republic lies in ruins. Malak and the Sith don't respect anything except raw, brutal power. It's hard to imagine how someone who used to be a Jedi could become such a monster!"

"Huh? A Jedi? What do you mean?"

"Malak and Revan were once members of the Jedi Order, but they were young and headstrong. Against the wishes of the Council they both went to battle the Mandalorians on the Outer Rim of the galaxy. Something... happened out there. Something corrupted them and drew them to the dark side. Or maybe there was something rotten in them all along; I don't know. They formed an army of ex-Republic soldiers and other Jedi who had fallen to the dark side, with Revan at their head, until Revan was killed by Bastila’s Jedi strike team. But even that didn't slow the Sith down! Malak simply stepped in and took control of the Sith armada as the new Dark Lord, resuming the bloody conquest of the Outer Worlds as if nothing even happened!"

The Mobian grunted noncommittally. This was an awful lot of data to assimilate.

"Don't worry, we'll find a way to stop them!" Tails piped, more optimistically than he felt.

"I hope you're right. The Republic hasn't been able to stop them so far, even with the help of the whole Jedi Order. I think Bastila is the galaxy's last hope."

"Well then," Tails started, "I guess we'd best start looking for Bastila. The sooner we start looking, the sooner we find her!" Tails was grinning.

"You read my mind, kid. Just one thing..."

"What's that?"

"Put some clothes on, please. I personally don't mind if you prance around naked, but we need to remain discreet."

"I am NOT naked!"

"Maybe on your planet, shoes and gloves count as 'fully clothed', but in the rest of the galaxy, wearing pants is considered civilized. Put a shirt on too, please. All your scars, especially those 'barbecue stripes', are going to attract unwanted attention. I put some appropriate clothing in your locker earlier."

Tails fumed, but Carth's logic was solid. He huffed over to his footlocker and yanked out a pair of black cargo pants, an orange sleeveless shirt, and a black short-sleeved windbreaker. Tails hurriedly threw it all on, pulling his namesakes through a crudely cut tail-hole. Tails left the jacket open and unzipped.

'I'm going to roast alive in all this fabric,' Tails thought to himself, 'if I don't itch to death, first!'

"Happy?"

"Stop complaining, you look handsome in that outfit."

Carth handed Tails a small blaster pistol, which the irritated Mobian clipped to his belt.

"You ready?"

"Whenever you are!"

"Good. We can use this abandoned apartment as a base, and we can probably get equipment and supplies here in the Upper city. Just remember we need to keep a low profile. I've heard some grim stories about 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 that if we don't do anything stupid, we should be OK. I mean, they're searching for Bastila, not a couple of grunts like us. All right soldier, let's move out!"

"Agreed."

Carth and Tails opened the apartment door and stepped outside.