(fic) KOTOR excerpts

[machievelli]

Congrats on this story reaching the 1,000-view milestone!

 

You didn't think the Krayt dragon pearl was a very good lightsaber upgrade in the game? While it wasn't the best upgrade I found it's Attack +3, Damage +2 to be quite beneficial at this point in the game. BTW your story so far tracks the planet order I generally played in the game.

I always thought that she was just hanging around the cantina to drown her sorrows in booze, besides the fact that she already had a fatal ailment. But your version works fine for me too.

 

I really need to read Swun Dzu's The Art of War. My Chinese isn't good enough to read the original so do you have any recommendations on English versions?

 

I actually have two copies, though the one I depend on most is Samuel B Griffith's translation from Oxford University press. It's the once accepted by UNESCO.

 

A+3 D+2? I never got that performance out of it. What other stones did you use with it?

[machievelli]

Bastila

 

“Another vision.” I said to Danika when she entered the mess hall at breakfast. “The Force is guiding us, leading us in the footsteps of Revan and Malak. Ever closer to the Star Forge.”

 

“I have never seen such trees before.”

 

“Wroshyr trees, the largest trees in the galaxy. Kashyyyk is known for them. It is a simple and undeveloped world. I would never have suspected that something as technologically advanced as the Star Map would be here.”

 

“All I saw was huge trees. But there was soil. Perhaps it is on the forest floor itself.”

 

“Possibly. The native species are called Wookiees. They live in villages in the upper branches, going to the forest floor only on ritual quests. Only the bravest among them dare the Shadowlands as they are called. Considering that, it is not surprising that the Star Map could have remained hidden.

 

“No matter, once we have found the Star Map, the situation will become clear.”

 

The ship dropped through the atmosphere, and suddenly we came out of the cloud cover. Below us stretched the Forest.

 

To say that Kashyyyk has a forest is like saying an ocean is a body of water. Kashyyyk had been discovered only about fifty years earlier, and it was nothing but forest except for the oceans and the narrow coastal plains. All of the intelligent life lives as far up the huge trees as they can climb safely. The Wroshyr trees reach as much as four kilometers into the air, towering above the oceans.

 

Czerka Corporation had set up the operations by topping trees in a half-kilometer area, and building landing stages and warehouses in the treetops. I would have never considered trying to land a ship such as the Ebon Hawk, over 200 tons of mass in what amounted to an oversized tree house, and I winced as Carth did it with aplomb.

 

“We are getting a call from Czerka control. They asked who owns and commands Ebon Hawk.” Juhani reported.

 

“Tell them Danika Wordweaver on a mission from the Jedi Council is registered owner and commander.” Carth ordered.

 

Juhani spoke, then listened. “The Czerka Company police request a file on all persons aboard. They are looking for several people that are considered criminals. No one on the list is aboard.” She looked at me. “They include Davik Kang.”

 

“Send them what they asked for.”

 

I stood walking aft. Danika was sipping a mug of tea. “Well?”

 

“We’ll stay minimal for the moment. I’ll take Carth and Zaalbar. Have Mission see about supplies. If she can get herself and Sasha some candy, I won’t complain. Have Canderous stand guard.”

 

“Agreed.”

 

 

He whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious

 

Kashyyyk

 

Danika

 

The smell and sights reminded me of home. Of course we didn’t have Wroshyr trees at home, but there is a fecund smell in a jungle that reaches into the primal mind. There is also the constant noise of life in the forest. After a while it fades into a subtle background. I felt at home immediately. A jungle is living and dying at the same time. The living devours anything that dies almost instantly. Everything alive is being hunted by something else. Even the trees. On Kashyyyk, the Wroshyr grow straight up for almost a hundred meters before branching out. The limbs intertwine so tightly that a tree will die and not even fall. It merely begins sinking slowly into the depths as rot and scavengers weaken and devour the lower limbs.

 

The pad we were on was linked by a walkway large enough for cargo loaders to maneuver on. I discovered later that the Wookiee built these walkways themselves. The nearest village, named Rwookrrorro, was the largest on the planet. The walkway from the Corporate sector to the village was called the Great Walkway. It was larger than the ones before me now.

 

I turned to ask Zaalbar how it felt to be home, but he looked nervous, almost embarrassed. “Is something wrong?”

 

“I honor my life debt.” He growled. “But I see no reason to discuss this further.”

 

“You don’t trust me?”

 

“It is not that. There is nothing personal in this, but I feel you would never understand. The ways of my people are not for outsiders to see. You will have to accept that.”

 

“You are going to have to tell me eventually.”

 

“The sun will also die eventually. That doesn't mean it will happen today.”

 

I shrugged.

 

An Ithorian came toward me holding the ever-present data pad. “I am Janos Wertka, chief of operations for this facility. Welcome to G5-623.” He looked at the pad. “I do not see you on my list of scheduled arrivals. The Czerka Corporation will see to you needs, of course, but as an unscheduled arrival you must pay the 100 credit docking fee in advance I fear.”

 

I looked at him, and from within I felt an upwelling of the Force. “But I have already paid the docking fees.”

 

He looked at me for a long moment, then at his pad. “I see that you paid your fees on a previous voyage. I am sorry.” He made a notation on his pad. “I see there is a Wookiee in your party. Can I assume that you understand his language? If not Czerka Corporation will supply translator earplugs for a modest fee.”

 

“There is no need for that.” I answered.

 

“If you say so. I have found that very few people not from this planet can understand their yowling. If there is anything else you require, I will be in my offices.” He turned and walked away.

 

“Next time, you could think about the rest of us. Neither Canderous nor I speak Wookiee.” Carth said.

 

“I’ll pick them up for you before we leave.” I demurred.

 

“Human?” I turned. Coming toward us, a wide smile showing pointed teeth, was Komad Fortuna. “I see that the call of the hunt has brought you here as well!” He looked around. “The katarn are said to be magnificent!”

 

“Komad! What are you doing here? I‘d almost think you were following me!”

 

“Perish the thought. There are enough amateur hunters of people that I fail to see the need for a true professional. Though I admit you would make an interesting hunt. Dayso Cooh was bound here from Tatooine, and he asked me to accompany him. I think he really wanted a story for his news feed. The ‘Great Hunter out of his element’. If I had known you would bound here, I would have booked passage with you.” He sighed. “Then again, if I had known the political situation, I might have merely gone somewhere else.”

 

“Political situation?”

 

“If you are on an unscheduled ship, they assume you must be from one of the civil rights or animal protection organizations. Their operations here have been under intense scrutiny, though the Republic Senate still refuses to hear the cases.”

 

“Slavery.”

 

“And genocide. They discovered a small primate of the planet called the tach. The animal has a chemical in one of its glands, which heightens the affects of alcohol. The main drink using it was Tarisian ale until recently. Since Taris has been destroyed, they have been trying to find other outlets. But they have slaughtered millions of them, and there is no end in sight as long as tach still live.” He sighed. “I can go into the Shadowlands; Czerka doesn’t care what you do here as long as you pay their docking fees. But you also have to get permission from the chief of Rwookrrorro village and he demands that you hunt a crazed Wookiee and bring proof of his death back first.”

 

He sighed. “I do not hunt sentient beings. Worse yet, I am at least in part, a conservationist, as is any good hunter. It is madness to kill a Krayt Dragon if it is also the last of its kind! I had hoped to gain the trust of the locals, discover how they hunt, and what they hunt so that my activities would not cause injury to the ecosphere. But too many people, like Czerka, have come saying they were friends, and lying about it.

 

“I have heard there is an out worlder actually living down in the Shadowlands for some years now. But that might be hunter’s tales.” He looked around, and smiled gently. “But even this, the view of something that is not desert has cleansed my spirit. I so wish to run down among the life that feeds upon the great trees. To witness it! It is a shame the planet was discovered by Czerka! Their only appreciation of nature is what it will pay their corporate bottom line.”

 

“If they had not, then whom would you deal with?” I asked.

 

“I would that someone like me had been the one to discover the planet. The Wookiee have a rich culture and society, but it isn’t seen by off worlders. I can’t understand why they allow Czerka to get away with what they are doing.”

 

“Perhaps they had no choice.” Zaalbar growled.

 

Fortuna turned toward him. “If it had been my planet I would have fought even if it meant dying instead!” Then he shrugged. “But I am only another off worlder. I fear that someone among your own people is complicit in this, my large friend. I just want to know why.” He turned, thrusting out his hand in a firm grip. “Perchance we can hunt together before you leave. It will be glorious!”

 

We continued on. I noted a sign for the corporate offices, and motioned toward them.

 

It was a busy place, half a dozen people were busy routing cargos to the half dozen Czerka owned and independent ships that were there. Janos Wertka saw us, and motioned for us to approach. “Welcome to our local headquarters. How may Czerka help you here on Edean?”

 

“Edean? I thought the planet was Kashyyyk. And you called it G5-623 when we arrived.”

 

“Kashyyyk is what the Wookiee call it. But since they did not discover it, we labeled it by it’s catalog number G5-623. However I have just been informed that at the last stockholder‘s meeting they voted overwhelmingly to name it Edean.” He looked toward Zaalbar. “However considering your travelling companion, I feel you must be familiar with this world.”

 

“I have been away from home for a long time.” Zaalbar replied.

 

Wertka looked surprised. “You let the beast speak for you? You allow it far more liberties than most of our clients.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

 

“Slavers and those that buy slaves don’t let us talk if they can avoid it.” Zaalbar said.

 

“Slavery is such an ugly and untrue word. We bring Wookiee from their homes, train them in essential skills, and hire them out to companies and people across the Galaxy.”

 

“Whether they want to go or not.” Zaalbar growled.

 

Wertka looked at him then at me. “Your Wookiee seems to be bothered by this arrangement. But I fail to see his concern. You appear to be a satisfied customer at least.”

 

“I am not his owner. Zaalbar has pledged a life-debt to me.”

 

“Ah, I see.” Wertka said sagely. “So difficult to arrange, but it is much better than a restraint collar.”

 

Zaalbar roared in anger. “Do not defame the life-debt! Do not!”

 

“I must warn you that any damage he does, or injury he causes, will be your fault as owner. Call the beast off.”

 

“Zaalbar, later.” I said. He growled, then nodded sullenly. “Why do the Wookiee accept this, arrangement?”

 

“It isn’t only me. We have seven other stations on the planet. As for the arrangement the chief of Rwookrrorro village signed an accord with us five years ago.”

 

“What was this arrangement?” I asked.

 

“The internal workings of Czerka Corporation are not open to-”

 

I leaned forward, that upwelling of the force was a torrent. “You will tell me what I wish to know.”

 

His eyes glazed. “He has been supplying Wookiee trackers to help us in our harvesting. This has eased our problems, and made our harvesting more... humane. It also stops the harvesting from being a running firefight. In return we supply the village with such modern conveniences as weapons. The bow-caster your servant carries was made in one of our factories.”

 

“Who is this leader?”

 

“His name is Chuundar I believe. I didn’t negotiate with the accord personally. The smell bothers my nose.”

 

“Chuundar.” Zaalbar growled. “That was a name I did not want to hear again.”

 

“It seems your servant has issues with this Wookiee. But it doesn’t matter. The Corporation needs to maintain the arrangement. We don’t even meddle in their disagreements between themselves. We just make sure that leader is supported wholeheartedly. Any dissent is, dealt with.”

 

I released the grip on the force, and Wertka’s eyes cleared. “Well if there is no further information you need, I am really rather busy. Feel free to shop our concourse. However I would suggest caution if you go onto the Great Walkway. We do not have the personnel we would need to assure safety, and we do not have the money for rescue mission.”

 

“Thank you.” I turned. Zaalbar looked as if he wanted to rip of the Ithorian’s eyestalk. “Zaalbar, let’s go back to the ship.”

 

He nodded, and we left. I found a quiet nook where no one would overhear, and stopped him. “Talk to me, Zaalbar.”

 

“My home. I should have prepared you better for coming here I will now admit. But I didn’t think I would have to prepare myself for how much it has changed.”

 

“Prepare me for what?”

 

“I did not leave home voluntarily. I know Mission has told you that I was taken by slavers, but there is more. I was already an exile from my tribe when they took me. That was before the arrangement the Ithorian spoke of.”

 

“Why were you exiled?”

 

“My brother made deals with small teams of slavers and helped them gain their first foothold. When I discovered this, I attacked him. My father and his advisors stopped the fight, but he did not believe me when I told him the reason.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“I was so angry with him that I broke our most honored taboo. I used my claws.” He stretched out a hand, and the claws came out. They were at least 30 millimeters long, and went down to needle points. I had seen him delicately lock those claws on a jammed nut, and twist it out with just his wrist instead of using a hyper spanner. They could hold something the size of my head, or as small as a pin with the same delicacy. The Wookiee were considered among the premier mechanics in the Galaxy.

 

“You don’t know what this means to my people. Since Bacca the Great our claws have been tools, never weapons. We dragged ourselves out of the Shadows far below by always remembering that.” He looked at me sadly. “To my people I am a Mad-claw. A monster that walks as a Wookiee. Even if I told them what you have learned, they would not believe me. I am tainted, evil. I deserve to be banished.” He hung his head in sorrow.

 

 

Carth

 

I was kinda glad I didn’t speak Wookiee when Danika talked with Zaalbar. She sent him back to the ship, and as we walked, she filled me in. Zaalbar might have been a wookiee, but he had always struck me as an honorable being. I wondered what I would have done if my brother, if I had one, had done the same thing. I think I probably would have beaten him to a pulp. A good thing my family-

 

Carth? Carth Onasi! I thought that was you!”

 

I turned, looking at the smiling man approaching me. “Jordo!” I leaped forward, catching him in a bear hug.

 

“I thought you’d be out there painting your name across the stars! What happened, your ship crash?”

 

“Actually yes it did.”

 

Jordo roared. “I didn’t think anything would tie you to the ground.” He looked toward Danika. “It might be your attractive friend that finally got you on soil again.”

 

“I assume you’re a friend of Carth’s.” She looked at me with a twinkle in her eye. “I didn’t know he even had any.”

 

“Best friends in the world, missy! Joined the Militia the same day back on Telos. That was back during the Mandalorian Wars.”

 

“So what are you doing here, Jordo? The last time I saw you was on Telos after the attack.”

 

“Yeah, it’s a shame about home. It still hasn’t recovered from the attack. The relief efforts were a joke. The Senate was screaming about the cost, and handed it over to a Corporation. That corporation decided to make ends meet by convincing the planet to dragoon anyone with space flight experience into their commercial fleet.”

 

“Let me guess, Czerka?”

 

“You got it. Anyway, I didn’t find out until after you’d left about Morgana. I’m sorry, man.”

 

“Nothing can be done about it, Jordo, but thanks.”

 

Trying to lighten the mood, he turned his attention back to Danika. “But I can see why you keep this one around. Morgana's hair, her eyes, but not her...” He juggled as if holding two melons chest high. “Upper body strength.”

 

“Hey chill your jets. That’s the owner of my ship.”

 

“No spit? Then if I keep it up she’ll dump you?”

 

“Out of the airlock in hyperspace.” Danika said smoothly.

 

Jordo laughed. “Well it isn’t all bad is it? Dustil’s alive-”

 

“What?” I felt as if someone had punched me in the gut.

 

“He’s alive on Korriban.” Jordo looked worried. “You mean you didn’t know?” He looked from me to Danika. “Yeah. He’s a student at the Sith Academy there. I saw him in uniform and everything.”

 

“No, I didn’t know. He’s been missing since the attack. The Sith must have captured him when they landed.”

 

“Maybe. But he’s spouting the same garbage the Sith always do-”

 

“A word.” Danika interrupted. “What is a Republic Corporation doing dealing with the Sith?”

 

Jordo looked around. “When Czerka picked me up, I found out there’s a whole lot going on. They’ve signed an agreement that Czerka carries all of their trade and sells it in Republic markets as coming from somewhere else. They’re even trying to negotiate with the government of Manaan to carry all Kolto to both sides so the Selkath can kick both off the planet.” He dropped his voice. “I can drop a datapad with all this information off at your ship before I return upstairs. We’re in orbit.”

 

“What’s your cargo?”

 

“Coming out of here?” Jordo asked sardonically.

 

“Yeah. Thanks for letting me know. Take care.” I watched him walk away. “He’s alive.” I looked at Danika. “After all this time, he’s alive!” I thought of his face, only a dim memory now. “He’ll be a man by now.”

 

“We’ll find him.” Danika promised.

 

 

Danika

 

Carth and I left after making sure Zaalbar got aboard. I was in a hurry to complete this mission. As much as a Republican company buying from the enemy, carrying slaves in contravention of law and making secret deals with a neutral planet was important, I had to finish what we had started here. The Czerka guards were surly, but allowed us to pass onto the Great Walkway.

 

There were three landing stages, and as we passed one a shuttle landed. A dozen Wookiee in restraint collars were chivvied aboard, and it lifted. Part of me was coldly furious. To treat anyone this way was an abomination.

 

We were almost to the village when my com squealed.

 

“Danika, they came and took him and we couldn’t do anything!” Mission wailed.

 

“Calm down, Mission. What is it?”

 

“It’s Zaalbar! A couple of Wookiee showed up with half a dozen Czerka bullyboys, and arrested Zaalbar on the orders of some guy named Chuundar!”

 

Carth cursed. “Interesting timing. After you’re gone. Only the captain of a ship can demand proper extradition.”

 

“What about Janos?”

 

“Bastila talked with him. He said the Wookiee deal with their own when it comes to criminal acts. He doesn’t have any authority.”

 

“All right, Mission, I’ll deal with it. Put Canderous on.”

 

“Just a minute.”

 

“Canderous.”

 

“Report.”

 

“Just as Mission said. Two Wookiees, half a dozen Czerka with Janos taking up the rear. He stated that if we didn’t turn Zaalbar over, they would blow us off our landing legs. They mounted two anti-ship cannon on lifters and brought them out as they were trying to get past me. Bastila said to let them go, and we’d get him back.”

 

“In a moment I want you to put Bastila on. But before you do, I have orders.”

 

“Chu!” Canderous shouted the Mandalore word for ‘Sir!’, meaning he would obey anything I said.

 

“No one comes aboard that ship except for our crew from this moment on. If anyone attempts to come aboard, you are to stop them. Peacefully if possible. But if peace will not serve, blow them to hell. That goes for those damn guns if they man them.”

 

“Chu!”

 

“Put Bastila on.”

 

“Danika-”

 

“I don’t want to hear it, Bastila.” I said wearily. “You may have saved the ship and the mission but it might cost us Zaalbar‘s freedom. I would have hoped you would call me back in that situation. I might have stopped them. When I get back, we’ll discuss it.”

 

There was a long pause. “I am sorry, Danika.”

 

I cut off the communication without speaking. “Come on.”

 

We ran the rest of the way.

 

There was a guard at the village gates, and he roared at me. “Stop where you are, Outsider!”

 

I wasn’t in the mood. “Who dares stand in my way?” I roared right back at him in Shyriiwook. “What mother whelped such a pup!”

 

He shrank back, surprised at my vehemence. Then he stiffened. “It is to Chuundar that you must answer for bringing a Mad-claw exile back among us! Come!”

 

The Wookiee village was beautiful. A work of art created by people that had only rudimentary tools until a century before. The common village level was broad and airy; nets strung to block Mynar Hawks and Web crawlers. The village runs up the trees for half a kilometer, with the nurseries at the very tops.

 

I just wish I had come without murder on my mind.

 

An elderly Wookiee stopped us at the door to the residence, slamming his staff down and shouting, “Step forward and address the Mighty Chuundar! Ruler of Rwookrrorro!”

 

I stormed forward, facing a slim Wookiee sitting on a huge chair.

 

“It is normal courtesy to bow.” He said calmly.

 

“It is common courtesy to ask before boarding a ship.” I gritted back. He looked surprised at the fluency of my Shyriiwook

 

“Ah but I did. Dear Janos assisted me.”

 

“Spare me the histrionics.” I snarled. “You have kidnapped one of my crew, and I will have him back.”

 

“Kidnapped?” He laughed. “No, captain. I merely invited my dear brother home for a consultation. There has been no injury. Yet.” He waved languidly, and a pair of Wookiee dragged Zaalbar in. One wielded a restraint collar control, and pressed the button. Zaalbar screamed in pain, collapsing to the floor.

 

“Touch that again, and you die.” I hissed. He looked at me, then at Chuundar. What he saw in my eyes must have convinced him. “As I said Chuundar, spare me the melodrama.”

 

“Did you think you could wander the upper boughs of the forest without me knowing my dear brother had returned?” Chuundar laughed.

 

“That Janos worked with you was more interesting.”

 

“Of course he works with me. I am his pet Wook!” He laughed again, this time ugly. “We work very closely.”

 

“You work with slavers! You betray your own people!” Zaalbar roared. The one with the control box wisely left it alone.

 

“Oh not our people, dear brother. There are a thousand tribes. Each of our enemies can say I have punished them instead of selling off our own.”

 

“That is worse.” I snapped.

 

“Really. Your race is the biggest market woman. Your kind love to see us having to bow and scrape to you.” He looked at Zaalbar. “As for you, brother, you shouldn't use that tone with me. Things have changed here. You are a Mad-claw without honor or name, while I? I am Chieftain.” He looked back at me. “And my people agree with me on this.”

 

“A tidy nest of lies.” I said. “Right up to the part about your people backing you.”

 

“Ah but they do.” He grinned. “With Zaalbar a Mad-claw, and our own father enslaved, Mighty Chuundar stepped up and we have been at peace ever since.”

 

“Mighty Chuundar?” Zaalbar laughed. “You were the runt of the litter!” Then all of his words came through. “Freyyr enslaved! When?”

 

“We have much to discuss, brother, but that can wait until I am done with your friends.” He turned back to us.

 

“What do you want?”

 

“Ah sweet words now? Well let us say I have taken your knight, and you must kill my bishop.” He motioned toward Zaalbar. “I have a use for him, but there is another Mad-claw below. One that has gone insane. He is interfering with the business of my allies, and must be stopped. But as my brother can tell you, we dislike killing our own except in the heat of battle.”

 

“So someone still stands against you?”

 

“What of it? Like my brother he is a Mad-claw. No one would dare give him shelter for fear of being declared so himself. This one is mad and in misery, and you are going to hunt him down and kill him.

 

“My brother shall stay here and we will reminisce about old times, and times to come that he can share if he is willing.”

 

“You are insane.” I snarled.

 

“Really? You won’t need his assistance. All of the people of my village and all the closer villages understand your Basic. They think it is so they can understand our enemies, but it is really so they can better serve. The local villages play tribute so we will take those from farther away. No one can stand against me here. Only someone of the royal family can stand against me, and the only one left is my dear Mad-claw brother. They will not support an off worlder against me.”

 

“There is one that can!” Zaalbar roared.

 

“I assume you speak of our dear enslaved father. If he were here perhaps. He went mad when he discovered that you were right about me. Swore to lead our people against them. But without the Sword of Bacca, he could not challenge me. I do know our laws so well.” He reached behind him, taking the hilt of a vibroblade from a chest by the chair. “A pity someone lost the blade itself. But as long as I hold it, I am Chieftain. That is the law.” He threw it contemptuously back into the box. “Let our departed father go Zaalbar. The Wookiee will go forward into the future, but at a pace I set.”

 

“Patience, Zaalbar.” I said.

 

“Enough words from you, off worlder. Go with my warriors. They will take you to the lift down into the Shadowlands. Gorwooken my best warrior will take you down and bring you back up when you are done.”

 

Carth and I were escorted by a full dozen of Chuundar’s people to the lift car. Using unbreakable kshyy vines, it took us down into the depths.

 

“What is this I heard about a human that lives down there?”

 

Gorwooken snorted. “You should avoid him. He is crazier than even the Mad-claw. He has been here for a long time, More of your years than I know how to count.“

 

The car stopped at a wooden platform, and Gorwooken waved. “Go.”

 

We started through the darkness. The Shadowlands are well named. Enough light filtered through that you could see, but it was a perpetual twilight. We avoided animals as we went. There were katarn in plenty, and we had to kill a few to get through. As we came around a corner a few hours later I heard the roaring hiss of a katarn.

 

An old man stood against a tree, facing four katarn. Before we could draw our weapons he leaped forward. A lightsaber blossomed to life, and he leaped, cutting the head of one of his attackers in half as he flew over it. He landed, swung negligently, and a second one died. The other two hissed then fell to feeding on the dead.

 

“Well, come on out you two. You’re making more noise than a Cantina on a Saturday night.”

[machievelli]

Jolee

 

I saw the woman in Jedi robes, and the man in armor come out. Hunters. Hate the damn people. Most think killing something is a thrill. “Watch yourself.” I warned. “The two behind me aren’t all of them by any stretch.”

 

The woman came close enough for me to recognize her. I had seen her as a kid. Never expected her to be here. “You are a Jedi?” She asked. Obviously the recognition wasn’t mutual.

 

“Don’t go all impressed on me. A simple obeisance is sufficient.” I said. "What are you two doing down here?”

 

“We’re looking for a wookiee.” The man said.

 

“Came to the right place for that. Planet’s full of them last time I looked. Can you be more specific?”

 

“The chieftain of Rwookrrorro has kidnapped one of our companions, a Wookiee named Zaalbar. He wants us to kill a Mad-claw down here.” She said. I could tell she was saddened, and angry.

 

“There aren’t any Mad-claws down here right now. Except for Freyyr-”

 

“Freyyr?” Her head came up. “The Mad-claw we were sent after is Chuundar’s father?” She looked to her companion. “Of course. He can’t get his own people to do it, Czerka obviously can’t find him or can’t kill him. That’s why Komad was told he couldn’t hunt unless he killed the ‘Mad-claw‘.” She shook her head. “This changes things.”

 

“So what are you going to do?” I asked. “Kill him anyway?”

 

“I wouldn’t have just killed him!” She looked appalled. “Even if he were a mad-claw like Chuundar claimed, I would shudder to think that was my only option! Give Chuundar who is helping enslave his own people all the power?” She shook her head. “I could never sleep again.”

 

I nodded. She had the right outlook. “Then I will help you.” I stuck out my hand. “Jolee Bindo.”

 

She shook. Obviously she was in charge. “Danika Wordweaver, and Carth Onasi.” Luckily she turned partway toward her companion during the introduction. She didn’t see my puzzled look. “Where can we find Freyyr?”

 

“He’s not in this section of the Shadowlands. Czerka put up a force-field portal to the section where he is, but ol’ Jolee was watching when they did. I can get us through. But first I have to pick up a few things from my digs.”

 

I led them at a rapid walk. I had been a pretty good judge of character when I was younger, before the order and I had a falling out. They didn’t like me telling stories of the Sith wars to the kids, and pushing the young Padawan too hard. I complained that life is hard, and all history was is stories from the point of view of someone that wasn't there to actually see it. Read the history books if you don’t believe me. Every Jedi and Republic trooper was a saint, and all the Sith were devils. If you believe that, I could sell you the home I lived in on Kashyyyk as a ‘fixer-upper’. This kid had grown into her powers, and would go far.

 

My digs are just that. I found a trunk of a fallen Wroshyr tree, and hollowed it out. Made stove and pipes for it from the local clay, made it nice and comfortable. I went into the back room and changed clothes. I hadn’t worn my Jedi robes in years. One thing I did bring was a hermetically sealed storage container, so they hadn’t rotted. It was hard to get used to them again. I didn’t want to use them but I didn’t feel right just going as Ol’ Jolee if they were serious about doing well.

 

Danika merely nodded when I stepped back out. As we headed toward the portal, I tried to impart knowledge to them. “The company has a gold mine here, if they looked at it right. Take that Syren plant you’re about to step on, Carth. It stings small animals and their bodies supply fertilizer. Or they’re pulled into its flower and are digested directly.” He hastily backed away from it. “Now the larger ones, like the one you’re moving back toward,” He flinched, and moved closer to me, “they do the same with bigger animals, like careless people.” I moved around the plant. The flower turned to follow, but it’s a plant, they don’t move fast. I caught the back of the flower, and pointed. “Right here is the poison reservoir. That stuff could be used in medical research, because in small doses, it paralyzes only for a short time.

 

“The Wookiee have legends that say they came from somewhere else a long time ago. Even the trees aren’t native. There are things down here no Czerka employee or outsider has seen except for me. I won’t tell the corporation because this forest would be a strip mine when they were done.”

 

He spent the next few minutes watching out for Syrens.

 

We heard firing, and Danika stopped. “A battle?”

 

“Nah. Those damn Tach hunters.” I pointed at a small primate that sat there staring owlishly at us. It watched us as if we were the most important thing in it‘s existence. As she looked she could see a dozen or more within plain sight. The nearest one to us moved forward, pulling at the edge of my robe as if wondering what kind of plant it was. It was about as threatening as a mild wind blowing across a field of grass and wildflowers. “That is a tach. Fearsome creature isn’t it? They hunt them for the glands.” I held out my hand with a finger pointed at the first joint . “They kill the animal for something that big. So people on Taris can get blitzed on ale with the strength of wine.”

 

“Not any more.” Carth said. “Taris was destroyed by the Sith.”

 

“They’re back again?” I shook my head. “What were the Jedi doing when that happened? Having tea?”

 

“No.” Danika said. “Two renegade Jedi joined with the Sith. They killed Revan, but Malak is now in command.”

 

“They killed Revan?” I looked at her. “I knew the girl when she was a younker. I don’t think she was that easy to kill.”

 

“Easy!" Carth said. Then he started into a retelling of the battle of Zanebra. I listened, watching her. She was watching the terrain around us, assuring that nothing large enough to be dangerous got close.

 

“Well it sounds like they got her.” I finally said to shut him up. Man I haven’t heard those many words since the last time I tried to talk with the Czerkas up top! “Me I’d want to see the body.” I signaled for silence, and led them up a hill. Tach are the most inoffensive creatures you can imagine. They survive as a species because they breed as if they were born pregnant. Sort of like the Gizka, but someone had actually found a use for the Tach. They just sat there as the gunners shot them. Below us, half a dozen Czerka employees were dragging the bodies of their kills toward a lifter. There two of them were using vibroblades to gut the tach, pulling out the glands, and throwing the bodies aside. They had a pile a meter high, and several more piles scattered behind them. As the pile reached the level of the lifter, one would get in the driver’s seat and pull a few meters away.

 

“Horrible.” Danika whispered. “Is there no way to stop them?”

 

“Ol’ Ma nature would if it wasn’t for that.” I pointed at the half a dozen sonic fence generators on the lifter. “They’re piling up a lot of meat. That attracts the local predators and scavengers. But those generators stop them from coming too close. Every couple of hours they move a klick or so away, and it starts all over again. A pity really, you can‘t use a full power blaster to kill tach, it fries the glands. And those pop guns they‘re using wouldn‘t scratch a katarn.” I pointed across the small valley. What looked like a gathering of the katarn clans was going on. All they were waiting for was the vehicle moving. If we stayed much longer, they would be spreading to our side as well.

 

She considered this. “What if the generators go down?”

 

“I thought of that, but at least two have to go down to weaken the field enough.” I shrugged. “I’d thought of doing it simpler, you know, throwing my lightsaber and cutting two of them down, but since I berated them the first time, they keep a careful watch for me. I can get to one by sneaking up on them, but to get two I have to move where they can see me.”

 

“But there are three of us.”

 

“No, only two.” I waved to Carth. “Not saying you can’t sabotage a generator, boy. It’s just you have to move across that open space, and they watch carefully in case an old coot named Jolee was to stroll up. The Company would send a really nice apology letter to your family if you got shot, but they don‘t care beyond the postage if you ask me.” I tapped Danika on the nose. “It’s just you and me, kid.”

 

She nodded, and we moved apart. Moving across an open space unnoticed is one thing even a Jedi kid knows, and she wasn’t a kid. I reached my generator, and reached up, opening the access panel. The idea was to fry one of the circuits, but make it look like simple fatigue, or wear. Kashyyyk is an invasive planet, and there are bugs that can get into anything if you give them enough time. I picked up a beetle, and slipped it into the compartment. They like the taste of gold, and the circuitry used a lot of it. I wasn’t even back up the hill when suddenly two of the generators shorted out almost simultaneously.

 

The men didn’t notice, but the system sure did. An alarm wailed, and the men stared toward the generators. A man ran toward the control system, and started to access it. If he had dived for the flight controls he might have made it.

 

That’s when the wrath of the katarn decided to descend. A dozen or so charged, headed for all that piled up meat. Behind them were more. A lot more. One of the men fired, and his shot hit a katarn bull that stood a meter and a half at the shoulder. It spun, and after taking a look, decided he liked his meat fresh.

 

The others were a lot smarter. They took off as fast as their legs could carry them while that bull was busy with their friend. Not that it really helped a lot. A lot of katarn found out there wasn’t enough piled meat ready for all of them, and charged along after them.

 

“You know, you can learn more respect for nature by trying to prove who is better one on one with what nature gave you or you had to make with your own hands.” I said. “He learned that the hard way.”

 

We circled around the feeding frenzy. We wouldn’t have to deal with any more katarn for a while.

 

“You didn’t come to Kashyyyk just to go Wookiee hunting, did you youngster?”

 

“No.” Danika replied. “We’re looking for a Star Map.”

 

“That old thing. Never worked for me, why should it work for you?”

 

She stared at me. “I don’t believe it! Months of training, fighting Krayt Dragons stopping feuds rescuing Jawa negotiating with Sand people for what?” She looked at Carth. “We get here and all he has to say is ‘Oh, that old thing’.” She threw her hands in the air. “I give up.”

 

“Well it could have been worse.” I said.”

 

“Enlighten me.”

 

“I could have been on one of my vision quests, and never met you.”

 

She shook her head.

 

We came to the force field, and I pointed at it. “You can tell it’s new. The Wookiee haven’t disabled it and stripped it down. The first ships that landed way back when had problems with that you know. The Wookiee would take them apart trying to see how they worked. That’s how Czerka found out about their mechanical bent.” I waved toward the trees around the portal. “Anywhere but Kashyyyk, this might even have worked. It stops anything that walks, but what about climbers? Wookiee, tach, hell, even katarn can just go up and over. You and me though have to find another way.” I walked over toward the portal, and ran my hands along the column to the right. Now let me see...” The panel opened, and I reached inside. Couldn’t use a bug here. The tolerances were a lot tighter. I found the control stud and pressed it. With a buzz the field died.

 

I stood back. “This is a part of the Shadowlands even the Wookiee avoid. Freyyr is there, and so is what you seek.”

 

 

 

Danika

 

He was a surly old man who talked little or ran off at the mouth when interested. He was bothered though by others talking and used to being alone.

 

I found liked him.

 

Jolee led us into the heart of the Shadowlands, and every word he did speak told us more about the world. The Web-crawlers used a silk for their webs that was strong enough to support a wookiee. He had pointed out that if properly synthesized, or collected it would make ropes that could hold any weight. The kshyy vines had already found a market for restraining Ronto and Bantha.

 

The shadows deepened until it was twilight. Small animals scurried away from us, and larger animals we avoided as well. Finally we came to a clearing. There were ritual stones set in the ground, and Jolee read them for us.

 

Behold the sacred place. Where heroes are born, or fools die.

 

Feed the beast and it will heed your call.

 

Take vipers from their lairs.

 

Hang them upon the vines, as did our ancestors.

 

Let their blood scent the air and mark the ground.

 

The beast comes when summoned if you are generous.

 

It comes to do battle if you are worthy and wise.

 

It grants you glory if you are fearsome and brave.

 

It gives you death if you are a fool

 

“A ritual hunting ground.” I whispered. “It looks ancient.”

 

“And unused for quite a while. I know it hasn’t been used since I came down here.” Jolee said. He brushed some moss from the stone. Then he stiffened. “Freyyr is here.”

 

I reached out with the force. Yes. A single Wookiee watched from nearby. He carried a massive Wookiee double-sword, one that made my engaged lightsaber look like a twig.

 

“More Czerka.” He hissed, coming into view. “Must you defame and destroy everything? Enslave my people kill the tach make deals with my own son? No more!” He spun his weapon into guard, facing us. “Come! You want my head as well, take it if you can!” With a roar, he charged.

 

I blocked frantically. “Freyyr, we are not with Czerka!” I shouted. His attack continued. Carth was trying to get a shot at him, but Freyyr was a savvy warrior, and kept me between them. Jolee reached out, and Freyyr was pinned by the force.

 

“Listen to her old friend!” He shouted.

 

The Wookiee struggled against the bands of Force energy. “Kill me! I have learned that only lies issue from your kind!”

 

“He’s almost feral after so long. This might be difficult.” Jolee said.

 

I shut down my lightsaber, and held out my hands. When I spoke it wasn’t Basic, instead it was the booming roar of Shyriiwook. “A chieftain must think before he does anything!” I roared. “Even Bacca considered what he did before he formed the ritual blade!”

 

He stopped, then suddenly started struggling again. “The words of out worlders are only lies! You will not convince me by speaking my own language instead!”

 

“Do you call Zaalbar a liar as well?”

 

He stopped struggling again. “My son that is dishonored. What do you know of him, out worlder?”

 

“He came with me on our ship.”

 

“You claim to be his owner?”

 

“Never! Zaalbar swore a life debt to me. He follows me because of that oath.”

 

“A life debt.” He sagged. “Then he sees more in you than I do. I will listen. But I will have to think on what you say. Being willing to listen to Czerka and my own son Chuundar has made me wary.”

 

“Let him go Jolee.” The old man released the bonds. Freyyr roared, and swung his open hand at my head. I stood, not defending myself.

 

The blade-like palm stopped close enough that I could feel its kiss against my neck. The Wookiee grinned. “Only one that Zaalbar would follow would have allowed the honor strike.” He lifted the blade from my neck. I snapped an openhanded blow, and stopped it a bare centimeter from his face. He nodded. “And only one he would follow willingly would return it so deftly.” He drove the blade of his weapon into the ground. “Speak.”

 

“We came for the Star Map.”

 

“That alien abomination. The Wookiee came here before the dawn of our memory as slaves, the trees created by a malfunction of that machine.” He waved toward the massive trunks around us. “Now it is our home, and we have known no other. Why are you here to face me?”

 

“Chuundar took Zaalbar prisoner. Sent us to kill a Mad-claw. Only meeting Jolee first told us who you were.”

 

“Chuundar.” The name was a growl. “My son’s lies sent Zaalbar into exile. If only I had listened to him before that. Chuundar and those who are like him had been leading Czerka slaver parties to our hunters, and worse the hunters of other tribes nearby. He blamed the disappearances on the Shadowlands themselves. Zaalbar had discovered this, but when he confronted Chuundar, he was goaded into attacking. When I saw the blood of Zaalbar using his claws, I had to stop it. But the law is clear. He must be exiled, and until he had expiated his sin, he could not return. Slavers took him. Now I know they had been warned to expect him.

 

“When I discovered the truth Chuundar had already prepared. He had been my advisor, suggesting alliances with the neighboring clans. Signing papers the Czerka put before me.

 

“But five years ago, I saw people of those other tribes being hauled away as slaves by Czerka. Heard their own words that it was the papers I signed that consigned them to this fate. I confronted my son. But foolishly, I did it when only those he trusted were present. They tried to kill me, throwing me off the walkway into the Shadowlands as if I was one of those damned by our laws. Only by luck did I live.”

 

“That was when I saw him. Climbing down the trees instead of using the lift car. I distracted the team of Czerkas and Wookiee that followed to verify his death.” Jolee said.

 

“Yes. I remember you now. I am sorry I attacked those that were my friends. Being hunted like an animal will do that to anyone.”

 

He looked at the blade in his hands. “I took this off one that was sent to kill me, and I have waged a war to fight them and their Czerka allies ever since. They even put a force field up to stop me!“ He bellowed his laughter. “I needed a little rest so it stands. I want to regain Bacca’s blade, that is why I came. But I do not feel I am worthy.”

 

“We saw the hilt of Bacca’s blade above.”

 

“Yes. But there is still a way. My son has created a net of lies to ensnare my people, but there are some among them that will bow to tradition rather than Chuundar. I must find the blade of Bacca’s sword. Bring it to stand before Chuundar and the Council. That will give me a chance.

 

“Bacca was a great warrior of legend. Known for his ferocity and his cunning, and when he became leader, his wisdom as well. Bacca found a wreck of something, what he described as a great wing of metal. Within it, he found the blade that bears his name. Now we know that it was a crashed vessel that had been there for thousands of years. From before we existed as a people. The ship fell apart at his touch, but the blade stayed undimmed by time.

 

“When he was dying, he passed it on to another. Among our people it is not your blood that determines if you will be king, but your heart and the blade. Such is tradition. If I return with the blade, even if he has the hilt, it will shadow the succession. The people will be split on who should rule. Then I have a chance, no matter how small, of deposing him.”

 

He motioned toward the ritual clearing. “That is why I come here, trying to gain the courage for the greatest fight of any Wookiee lifetime. To face the Great ritual Beast, and regain the blade.”

 

“Regain?”

 

“Yes. A generation ago, a great leader named Rothrrrawr was challenged in his leadership. He brought Bacca’s blade down to confront the Ritual beast. He failed in killing it, and broke the blade off in its hide. I was given the hilt when he was shamed by this loss. There are those that say our entire race was shamed, and that is why it was taken from us.”

 

“Then you wish to fight this beast, but are afraid?” Carth asked.

 

Freyyr growled, then subsided. “If I face it and fail, I am not worthy of being our chieftain any longer. I am old, and not as strong as I was even five years ago.”

 

I pondered. Something of Wookiee history. Where I had read it, I didn’t even remember. “The companions.” I said.

 

“What?” Carth asked.

 

“When Bacca went to gather the blade the first time, there were sworn companions that were with him. ‘We pledge our life to you, oh great Bacca. To gain in honor by your very presence, and to die if need so that honor be served’.” I quoted. I dropped to my knee. “As they did then, I swear my service to you, Freyyr. To save your race from slavery, to guide my life with honor. Direct me.”

 

“Are you mad?” Carth asked.

 

“No, I see where she is going.” Jolee dropped to his knee. “Direct our swords to your cause.”

 

Carth looked at us, then shrugged. “Let’s do it.”

 

Freyyr looked at us, then dropped to his own knee. “Be my heart, be my conscience, tell me when I fail in my honor. Protect my people even over my own life.” He repeated the ancient words. Then he stood. “We need a Viper as bait.”

 

We found a herd of the beasts nearby. We killed one, and carried the carcass to the ritual circle. Freyyr hung it by a vine, and we moved away. I felt a presence so evil that I wanted to attack it the instant it appeared.

 

Then it came. “A terentatek!” Jolee gasped. “I thought they were extinct!”

 

The terentatek sniffed the air. Picture something that is all mouth shearing teeth and razor sharp spines along it’s back. With a pair each of arms and legs attached almost as an afterthought. There might have been eyes ears, and a nose, but I didn’t see them. It came forward, and the viper disappeared into its cavernous maw.

 

“Now!” Freyyr dropped like a bomb from the vine above the terentatek, his sword ripping into that massive head at the rear. Jolee and I leaped at it’s front, and kept the claws occupied as it tried to get at it’s tormenter. Carth blasted it, but the tough skin turned his bolts.

 

It wasn't sure what to do. It knew that it was in unbearable pain, but it could not ignore us. It spun, and we moved with it, dodging its claws, and striking at it to keep its attention. Freyyr was stabbing and cutting at its skull.

 

The beast spun, then collapsed, throwing Freyyr. I shouted, keeping its attention. It was sorely wounded, and seemed confused. It spun to face me, and Freyyr charged, ramming his sword deep into its underside.

 

It tried to rise up on its toes then fell again, this time for good. I gasped, staring at it. The descriptions on the holocron didn’t do it justice. There was a raw wound on its back, and I motioned to Freyyr as he climbed out from underneath it. He took his sword, and slit open the flesh. The slim wand of a vibroblade fell out, and he caught it. Without the power of the vibration cell, it was merely a whip thin piece of metal.

 

“Bacca’s blade. Returned to us.” He looked at me, then at the others. “You, my companions, humble me. That out worlders would put their lives in danger for my people. Danika Wordweaver, my son has a life debt to you. If we succeed, I would be honored if you would accept us as you Honor Family.”

 

“Honor Family!” Jolee was shocked. “I don‘t know if you realize how big a step that is!”

 

“No, I don’t.” I answered.

 

“He’s saying his entire tribe owes you such a life debt that you have to become family for them to pay it back. You’re a Wookiee in every way except genetics if he does that.”

 

I looked up into that furry face. “I can not express the humility that offer causes in me, Freyyr. Thank you.”

 

“No, thank you, Danika Wordweaver. I call you Shrromarrik, ’Daughter of Honor’ in front of witnesses. That alone will tell my people how much I owe you.”

 

“We must hurry to the upper levels. This ends today.”

 

“I must find the Star Map first.”

 

“Then I must come with you. Honor demands it.”

[Char Ell]

“Hey chill your jets. That’s the owner of my ship.”

Chill your jets? Is that the phrase you wanted to use here? Cool your jets sounds better fitting to me.

 

So you're not addressing the Mandalorians in the Shadowlands or Elam Mattic's dead crewmates in your story? Personally I don't really care about skipping over the Elam sidequest on Kashyyyk but I'm disappointed and surprised that you didn't incorporate the Mandalorians hunting in the Shadowlands.

 

I thought the manner in which you brought Jolee into the party and still using the tach in the story was well done. Of course this wasn't how it played out in the game but I thought your version still works.

 

Here's a link I found that includes the statistics for the Krayt Dragon Pearl when used as a lightsaber upgrade crystal in KotOR: <link>

[machievelli]

Chill your jets? Is that the phrase you wanted to use here? Cool your jets sounds better fitting to me.

 

Give an old man his due, I grew to maturity before you were born, kid. Chill was what we would say.

 

So you're not addressing the Mandalorians in the Shadowlands or Elam Mattic's dead crewmates in your story? Personally I don't really care about skipping over the Elam sidequest on Kashyyyk but I'm disappointed and surprised that you didn't incorporate the Mandalorians hunting in the Shadowlands.

 

As for this if you'll notice I had to do a lot of cutting to move the story on. If I had not we'd still be back on Dantooine diving into caves for more crystals, dealing with the 'little robot lost' the trial, that kind of thing. I left this out because A The Mattic incident assumes you'd talked to the merchant. The Mandalorian incident was just tossed in by the writers IMO so that you wouldn't spend a lot of time wandering doing nothing.

 

 

I thought the manner in which you brought Jolee into the party and still using the tach in the story was well done. Of course this wasn't how it played out in the game but I thought your version still works.

 

The problem with the tach hunt was the writer obviously didn't know a lot about large scale harvesting of animals. The average upscale poultry chain harvests at the rate of hundreds of thousands of birds per day. That implies trucks up the Wazoo plus about a thousand employees working round the clock.

 

Plus you look at the tach you encounter. I tended to run over the damn things because they would just sit there and look at you. I merely combined a poultry farm with a buffalo hunt.

[machievelli]

Computer

 

The computer gave me an idea of what the creators might have been capable of when they still lived. The entire structure was buried in the ground except for a small dais and the Star map pintel. When we approached, it began to hum. I pictured this freshly built, with trees merely a few hundred meters tall if Freyyr was correct. Now it was a tiny alcove in a mass of wooden walls. Yet the trees shrouded it and came no closer.

 

“There it is. Weird thing isn’t it.”

 

As we approached a holographic interface came on line. The figure that stood there looked like the statues we had seen on Tatooine. A humanoid figure, with eyes set off the bullet shaped skull on either side.

 

“Neural access commenced. Proper subject present.”

 

“It never said anything like that before. Only ‘unsuitable life form detected’.” Jolee grumped.

 

“Beginning socialized interface. Awaiting instruction. This terminal has not been accessed in quite some time.”

 

“Who has attempted to access you?”

 

“Three attempts by Wookiee identified as Freyyr. All denied. 152 attempts by unknown species named Jolee Bindo. All denied.”

 

I looked at him. “Maybe I should have mentioned that I’m stubborn.”

 

“Error. All other attempts deleted by previous user.”

 

“Why have you acknowledged me?” I asked.

 

“Systems access error. Subject displays unfamiliarity with the interface. Behavioral configuration must be verified before continuing. I am sorry. I do not mean to confuse you. I will answer all questions to the best of my programming ability. However until configuration is verified, some segments of my system will be blocked.”

 

“What do you mean by behavioral configuration?” I asked.

 

“I was designed to be accessed only by my creators. However at that time, it was considered that servant species might eventually have the right to access my databanks. A series of parameters was designed so that only those that matched the designer’s beliefs would be allowed such access.”

 

“So to get this thing to open up, you have to think like whatever created it?” Jolee asked. “A race you tell me was the epitome of the dark side?”

 

“I think that is exactly what it means.” I said. “But Revan wasn’t evil when she came here. The answers must be something we can give it. Computer, what happens if I do not fit the parameters you have set?”

 

“This system will lock you out permanently. You will not be able to access any part of my system. However the fact that I have allowed you to access me to this extent means that you have within your mind the necessary thought processes that will fit the parameters.”

 

“Why have I been allowed to access you if I do not fit the parameters?”

 

“I cannot say. The parameters suggest that you are close enough to norm that you can be coached, and your answers measured against what my designers wanted. This is not the first time such has occurred. The last time was five years ago.”

 

“Revan.” I said.

 

“I cannot say. The parameters of the one called Revan are not within my system. Data has been corrupted, and that information appears to have been in that section of my memory.”

 

“Can you tell me why you are restricted from saying what the parameters are?”

 

“I cannot speculate on what has been restricted from my memory. The odds that such restrictions were placed by previous users approaches totality.”

 

“So Revan reprogrammed it so only someone who thinks like her can access it.” Jolee said.

 

“Or did she try to make it easier for those that followed? But the machine thinks I can think like her.” I completed the argument. “Computer, I came to find the Star Map.”

 

“Accessing. There is data on the Star Map in my original memory. Access is restricted.”

 

“What must I do to get access?”

 

“Your request requires additional security measures. You must match the parameters that have been set to a greater degree.”

 

“How can I match them when I don’t even know what they are?”

 

“There are measures available to this system. Personality profiling can be used to verify the suitability of your conscious mind. This will inform me as to whether you are worthy of accessing the Star Map, and if not, whether you can be made suitable.”

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“That information is not available. If you have any further questions ask them now. Most of the information you seek will probably not be accessible until behavioral configuration parameters are met.”

 

I sighed. “Begin your evaluation.”

 

“Evaluation commencing. Neural interface established. Results will be compared to the pattern in memory. Relax. Just answer the questions as you feel you should.”

 

It hummed. “You travel with a Wookiee companion. You are captured and separated, charged with a crime. If you both remain silent at your trial, you will both spend a year in jail. However if you accuse Zaalbar of treachery and testify against him, he will serve five years, and you will be set free. He has been offered the same deal. However if you both accuse the other, you will both serve two years. What do you trust him to do?”

 

How did you know I had a Wookiee friend named Zaalbar? I almost asked. I knew Zaalbar would be honorable. If I stayed mute we both would serve time-

No, think as the Builders might. You know the other is honorable, and will never accuse you falsely. Your accusation will trap him for the five years, and you will be free.

 

“I would accuse Zaalbar.” I said. Jolee and Carth gasped.

 

“Excellent. The temperament of a companion is judged haphazardly at best. You know he is honorable, but you also know that his family has a history of betrayal. Freyyr casting him out on perjured testimony. Chuundar betraying and attempting to murder his father, or have you do it for him. Blood will tell. I judge this to be the correct answer.”

 

“I see what you mean.” Jolee said. “This thing obviously has very specific ideas of what a right answer is.”

 

I shook my head. “Continue.”

 

“Hypothetical. You are at war. Your intelligence network deciphers an enemy communication. In five days, they will attack and destroy a city of yours. In ten days, they will be shifting forces to attack in another area, leaving you a clear path of attack that can destroy their center, and end the war. What do you do with this information? What is the optimum course of action?”

 

Again I considered. If you evacuate without an obvious reason, the enemy would realize that their code is broken. If so, they then know that you are aware of the redeployment. You cannot save one without risking the failure of the other. This was actually easier. Canderous had spoken of Revan and some of her battles were in the memory banks. “I would ignore the attack on the city. I would prepare for my own attack in ten days.”

 

“Very good. Saving the people of the city would risk the entire war. It would also notify the enemy of the broken codes. The deaths of those people were necessary for victory to be assured.”

 

“The victory is irrelevant!” I said harshly. “Ending the war was more important. That saves even more lives!”

 

The system hummed. “You have achieved the correct answer, but did so in a manner that does not match the pattern in my memory. However I will adjust both the parameters and the evaluation to compensate.

 

“Using the same hypothetical situation with one difference. There is no war going on, your have an empire at peace with few weak enemies, but your people have grown complacent. They have stagnated, and in so doing, they question the need for a war leader such as you.

 

“Except for that change, the scenario remains the same. An imminent attack, but a weakness that will follow it. How do you react?”

 

Like the Republic before the Mandalore attack. I thought. Unwilling to stand up for itself. Had someone in the Republic military seen what was happening, and allowed the Mando to attack? “I do nothing. Afterward I use the information to obliterate them.”

 

“No, you cannot hide behind the wartime morality of allowing a blow so yours strikes. The enemy does not intend, and does not have the capability to maintain a sustained conflict. Your empire would crush it easily in the attack you plan to launch. There is no great war to maintain, nor will you garner victory after victory. Your decision must be based only on the short-term benefits. The reactions of your people to the attack and your retaliation.”

 

Would it be honorable to allow the murder of millions so you could remain in power? Again I wondered who might have made such a cold-blooded decision. The Senate’s foreign affairs committee had judged the Mando threat as mild. I could almost picture the discussion. Allowing such an attack into our territory would have cost little and someone would have believed they would benefit.

 

“I would allow the attack to occur.”

 

“Excellent. It makes the most long-term sense. Your people would forget about the problems your empire might have to turn their eyes instead to an unfriendly galaxy. As the savior of them in this, you are returned to the pinnacle of honor and respect in their eyes.

 

“Parameters matched. Accessing all programming.”

 

“Open the Star Map.”

 

“Order received, will comply.” The pintel split, and the map gleamed in the air. I copied it into my datapad.

 

“A Star Map. Any idea who created it?” Jolee asked.

 

“A race that seems to be extinct for over 30,000 years.” I replied.

 

“Maybe they aren’t extinct. Maybe you might need some help out there.”

 

“Oh really. Bored with katarn stew?”

 

“Shows what you know. You have to bake katarn. You stew Vipers or web-crawlers.” She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “Hey, don't look at me like that! It’s not like there’s a store nearby for Zabu meat!”

 

“We have some aboard the ship.” Carth said.

 

“You do! Then just try to get off this planet without me!”

 

“I think you’ll have to take a bath first.”

 

“Bath? Woman do you see a ‘fresher down here anywhere?”

 

“We’ll arrange something.”

 

 

Jolee

 

I was shocked with the answers Danika gave. But I understood why they had to be correct. The people that had created that long dead empire had not cared about anything but their power. Revan had seen that, and become... what she had become.

 

We moved through the forest. Four people on a mission to save the Galaxy. But first, we had to save the Wookiee race.

 

We reached the lift, and half a dozen Wookiee stood from the low-lying mist. Gorwooken growled when he saw Freyyr. “You brought the Mad-claw instead of killing him! We were supposed to kill you, blame the deaths on Czerka, but you have earned death for your betrayal!”

 

“Betrayal?” Freyyr roared back. “To murder those sent to commit a crime you cannot? To lay the blame on others?”

 

“Of course.” Danika said. “Because Chuundar wants Zaalbar to join him, to make his hold on your people even stronger.”

 

Freyyr waved the blade of Bacca’s blade. “I have defeated the Great Beast! I return with Bacca’s blade, Gorwooken of no village! Will you defame it?”

 

“When I return it to Chuundar he will give me honor!” The Wookiee charged.

I stunned a couple as Danika attacked. I watched her as I stunned any that got behind her. She had never used a double blade that I knew of, but she used the double saber like a master. Carth was shooting the Wookiee that tried to close on her and Freyyr, and he was damn good with those pistols.

 

Freyyr and Gorwooken slammed together like runaway lifters, and I swear the ground shook when they did. Freyyr used one hand to pin Gorwooken’s sword, and used the silent blade of Bacca’s sword to smash in his head. He spun, grabbing another Wookiee that came at him, catching him in a bear hug. He might have been old, but he was still strong. The Wookiee struggled, pounding his head with his hands, then spasmed as his back snapped. Freyyr tossed him aside.

 

The others were all down. Danika stood, ready. Eyes sweeping to find more, but no one else attacked us.

 

“Come. The lift is made so someone with a Wookiee's strength must lift it. I will bear us back to the Great Walkway.” Freyyr ordered.

 

We got onto the lift, and it went upward through the gloom. Our party rested as we went up. Danika stood silent off to the side. I could see that coming up with the right answers bothered her even more than they had bothered me. Carth was watching her as if he thought she would suddenly become a katarn.

 

The upper walkway was silent when we arrived. “We must hurry-” A form came from the gloom, another wookiee.

 

“Freyyr! You live and without a collar?” The Wookiee asked.

 

“Chorrawl!” Freyyr hugged the other wookiee. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I was told to kill whoever came up if they were not Gorwooken and those that went with him. Chuundar said that the Czerka were planning an ambush and these humans were in league.”

 

“The Czerka ambush was Gorwooken and his followers.” Freyyr answered. He motioned toward the girl. “This one, the one I have named Shrromarrik brought me back from the brink of madness. Returned to us Bacca’s blade.” He waved it. “This I took from the flesh of the Great Beast myself after killing it, as Honor demands.”

 

“Freyyr.” Chorrawl knelt. “Lead us, my chieftain.”

 

“I cannot lead until the Lawgiver judges this case.” Freyyr answered almost gently. “Does Worrroznor still hold the mantle?”

 

“Yes. But Chuundar merely waits until his health fails him at last. He has already chosen Gorwooken to take it when Worrroznor dies.”

 

“Then he will have to choose another. Come. Chorrawl, precede me. Assure that all of those that still honor my name are ready.”

 

“Wait.” Danika said. “It sounds like you are getting ready to attack!”

 

“It may come to that.” Freyyr replied sadly. “Our history has had many times when the leader was not accepted automatically. If Chuundar can call his allies, they will fight to keep him on the throne. Add to that the fact that he will call the Czerkas as well-”

 

“Freyyr!” Chorrawl shouted. He ran down the walkway, and came back dragging a human in a Czerka uniform. The man was unconscious, but not dead. “This one was using his com. The Czerka will know that you return.”

 

“Then you must run, Chorrawl. Gather them as I have commanded. Have Worrroznor present. We must deal with this quickly.”

 

We moved fast. On their com links, Danika and Carth could hear frantic orders being given. There was a roar like the hammer of the gods from the area where the Czerka maintained order.

 

“Canderous, report!” Danika shouted.

 

“The Czerkas thought they could try the same trick again. They sent a dozen of their men to board the ship to arrest us for complicity in a native revolt. They also brought their lifters back out. That was me blowing them to dust. We have prisoners aboard right now. Bastila wants to talk with you.”

 

“Put her on.”

 

“Danika, report please.”

 

“We have the Star Map, but we’ve walked right into a civil war. Zaalbar’s father is alive and was chief before Chuundar. Chuundar has called for reinforcements from Czerka to maintain his power.”

 

“Not good. I felt pain in you earlier.”

 

“Either the builders or Revan set the damn alien computer with parameters only she or a Sith could pass. Lucky for me, I was a soldier. I got through it. How are things at that end?”

 

“Canderous was able to destroy the guns, and take the ones who tried to board us without undue casualties. The Czerka officials are staying away from us. They seem to think we’ll start blasting if they try anything. Hold please for Canderous.”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

“A lot of chatter on the company net. They’re trying to convince the cargo ship Czerka Dream to make an attack run on us. Carth’s pal Jordo has reported that he was able to spike their guns for the moment.”

 

“Maintain alert. If Jordo reports that they have gotten the systems unjammed I want the Ebon Hawk airborne where she will be safe.”

 

“We can take off now. I’ve checked the specs of Czerka Dream. I could beat them armed with nothing but Zaalbar’s breath.”

 

“You’re our tactical officer, you’re in command. Do what you think needs to be done. But don’t destroy that ship! They have Wookiee aboard, and when this is over, I think they will want to come home.”

 

“Understood.” There was a scream of engines a few moments later.

 

There were bodies scattered around the entry into the village. But Chorrawl was among those who stood there. One of the Wookiee was an ancient, his fur a deep brown laced with white as if he had been dipped in silver paint. He looked at Freyyr, then at me.

 

“It is good to see that you still live, Freyyr. Yet you come bearing weapons, followed by out worlders. How say you in this?”

 

“Speaker of the law, I ask your attention and your wisdom.” Freyyr asked, kneeling.

 

“Speak.”

 

“My son has taken the throne by lies and deceit. He sells our people into slavery and uses Czerka and our own warriors to oppress our neighbors. He sits there without this.” He set down the blade he had gained. “He claims to be our leader with false pretenses, and uses out worlders as his supporters.”

 

“As do you, Freyyr.” Worrroznor replied, looking at us.

 

“No. These are my companions, as Bacca had when he first found the blade that bears his name. They have sworn to me of their own will in the words of that time, and fight not for me, but for the honor of our race. This one,” He motioned toward Danika, “I have named Shrromarrik because it was her words that brought me back from the brink of madness.”

 

Worrroznor looked at Danika. “Do you understand the honor Freyyr has bestowed upon you out worlder?”

 

Danika knelt beside Freyyr. “As Bacca’s companions did, so I have done. I swore my service to the true and honorable chieftain of your people, Worrroznor. To save your race from slavery, I will die. To guide my life with honor I have begged of him. He has accepted this oath. Can you gainsay it?” Carth knelt, as did I.

 

Worrroznor bowed his head. “I am pleased and astonished to know that an out-worlder knows so much of our lives and traditions. You have humbled me, the speaker of the law with your wisdom.” He turned to the others. “Go before us; push all those that would refuse ahead of you. The law will be spoken this day, even if our village dies.”

[Char Ell]

“Shows what you know. You have to bake katarn. You stew Vipers or web-crawlers.” She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “Hey, don't look at me like that! It’s not like there’s a store nearby for Zabu meat!”

I didn't understand who was talking to whom in this passage. I thought this part was related from Danika's POV. But this seems to switch when Jolee says,“Shows what you know. You have to bake katarn. You stew Vipers or web-crawlers.” Then Danika looks at him out of the corner of her eye. Then it's back to Danika's POV?

 

I heartily agree with the manner in which you had Danika respond to the holographic interface. That was pretty much how I did it the very first time I played. I thought they were words only, not actual deeds, and the only way I could gain access to the Star Map. I was disappointed when I ended up getting DS points. Now I'm not one who believes in saying one thing and doing another but in that situation if that was what I had to do...

[machievelli]

I didn't understand who was talking to whom in this passage. I thought this part was related from Danika's POV. But this seems to switch when Jolee says,“Shows what you know. You have to bake katarn. You stew Vipers or web-crawlers.” Then Danika looks at him out of the corner of her eye. Then it's back to Danika's POV?

 

I heartily agree with the manner in which you had Danika respond to the holographic interface. That was pretty much how I did it the very first time I played. I thought they were words only, not actual deeds, and the only way I could gain access to the Star Map. I was disappointed when I ended up getting DS points. Now I'm not one who believes in saying one thing and doing another but in that situation if that was what I had to do...

 

 

All right, I screwed up. And didn't notice it until you mentioned it.

 

You get a cookie.

[machievelli]

Danika

 

The unaligned people of Rwookrrorro stood aside as we entered. I could hear Freyyr’s name whispered as we passed. Those that would have stopped us were either pushed ahead by our vanguard, or died when they refused to listen to Worrroznor. The throne room was blocked by a group of not only Wookiee but Czerka as well. We dealt with them, and pushed our way inside.

 

Chuundar sat on his throne, surrounded by both Wookiee and Czerka allies. I saw the chief of Czerka Security standing to the side, his hand on his com.

 

“Well, Father and brother have both returned. We have a family reunion!” Chuundar said. “I think this is your business, Commander Velek.”

 

“Danika Wordweaver, I arrest you for complicity in a native revolt against Czerka Corporation-”

 

“Silence, Human.” Worrroznor growled. “You have told us constantly to stay out of your affairs, and you would return the favor. This is an internal matter of the Wookiee of Rwookrrorro. You have no authority here.”

 

“That woman is a criminal-”

 

“That woman has been named Shrromarrik by Freyyr, once our chieftain, and perhaps soon to be again. She is Wookiee under our laws, which you ignore at your peril.”

 

“But I set the laws of my village, Worrroznor!” Chuundar roared. “I am chieftain here! Not you Law-speaker!”

 

“You may create laws, but cannot ignore the law already written. Nor can you simply decree something. I was arbiter of the law before your father was born, Chuundar. No chieftain is above the law. That was decided by Bacca himself. The law is to be supreme in all things. So it has been since our beginning. So it shall be when we are all dust.

 

“The law is why I am here even now. The chieftain is he who holds Bacca’s blade, Chuundar. So it has been since we first moved from being animals.” Worrroznor said. Freyyr held up the blade. There was a sigh among the gathered Wookiee.

 

“So he had the blade. I have the hilt!” Chuundar pulled it out, brandishing it. “Both you and this creature that was my father said it was important! Who will the people follow, father? You, an old and weak leader? Or me, with the might of a Galactic corporation behind me?”

 

“Enough!” Zaalbar stepped from a corner. “Both of you are fighting over who sits in the chair? The people of our village, of our planet deserve better!”

 

“Listen to your other son, Freyyr.” Chuundar purred. “If you win our village will be gutted, ripe for another to take us over.”

 

“Zaalbar...” I said.

 

“He has been speaking with me since you left, Danika Wordweaver. Much of what he says makes sense.”

 

“Sense? To sell others, even if they are of other tribes into slavery? They are as much your people as Freyyr, Worrroznor, hell, even Chuundar! To use them,” I waved toward the Czerka, “To tell you what to do? This is not a matter for off-worlders and corporations! It is a matter of your own people alone. They must discuss this without outside interference, let the law decide what is right.”

 

“The law!” Chuundar laughed. “I set the law! And the Czerka agrees with me.” He stood, towering over me. “Attack!”

 

It was a madhouse in the close quarters. It was heavy blaster cannon at five paces, and only someone who was lucky or very fast was going to survive.

A dozen Wookiee all told fighting each other, and the Czerkas that were wise diving for cover. Those that were not wise tried to shoot at those who supported Freyyr. They went down in a welter of blood.

 

Chuundar was backed into a corner, and he was screaming for his supporters outside to rally to his defense. But outside the fight was also total. None could force themselves to his side. As a supporter attacked Freyyr Chuundar drew a Sith Assassin’s pistol, and aimed it at Freyyr‘s back.

 

I saw a shape flash, and Worrroznor was there. The blast took him in the stomach, and he collapsed as Freyyr caught his son by the throat, breaking his arm to make him drop the weapon.

 

“Freyyr, no.” Worrroznor gasped.

 

“Listen to him, Freyyr!” I shouted.

 

The Wookiee growled, throwing Chuundar into the arms of his supporters as the fighting died. Everyone was astonished by Chuundar’s attack on the law-speaker.

 

“Worrroznor. You will live.” Freyyr said, holding the ancient in his arms.

 

“No, Freyyr.” He gasped. “Even the mighty Freyyr cannot stop the Dark one from collecting me. “This must end, as the law requires. I will live long enough for that.”

 

“Don’t speak to me of law when my best friend lies dying!”

 

“Freyyr.” The ancient shook his head. “The law is what makes us beings, and not animals. I will speak the law even as the Dark one comes. Will you hear me?”

 

Freyyr bowed his head. “Yes, old friend. I will.”

 

“You are our rightful chief. Chuundar has broken the law in that he has allowed out-worlders to determine our policy and ways of life.” He reached out toward me, and I took his hand. “You, Shrromarrik have a duty to the people you have sworn to protect. Another Law Speaker will be appointed in my place, but you must speak for the law until that time. Freyyr needs advice of your world beyond our trees, and none of us can give such. Will you accept this charge?” He squeezed my hand.

 

“I am not worthy of this responsibility.”

 

He chuckled. “Was I when it was handed to me? Only in dealing with the out-worlders will he need your advice. Guide him. All else can wa...” He squeezed my hand, then I felt it go limp.

 

I lifted it to my cheek, looking at him. “I will give him good words within the law.” I promised.

 

“Hah! So an out worlder will seal my fate!” Chuundar shouted. “After all of your words on it, Father, that is rich!”

 

“No I will not.” I stood away from Freyyr, away from Worrroznor’s body. “I will not judge you under your laws. The one who is appointed in his place will.” I waved toward the body. “He asked me only to guide the Chief in the laws of his kind.” I waved toward the body of Velek. “That I can do.”

 

“Yes. But some things do not need a holder of the law.” Freyyr stood away from his friend, catching his son’s throat in one great paw. His voice sounded like thunder in the enclosed space, reaching even to the crowd beyond. “He has murdered the law speaker, tried to use out-worlders to control our village, spat on our laws. Does any stand with him on this?” He turned, but no one stepped forward in Chuundar’s defense.

 

“Then I shall use his own methods to deal with him.” He stalked from the room. The guards dragged Chuundar to the netting that separated the village from the forest beyond. Freyyr loosened a section, taking his son by his throat. “I declare you exile. Meat for any to slay if you are foolish enough to be seen. Return when you have gathered enough honor to wash this stain clean.”

 

“Father please-”

 

“I have no sons! One was exiled, and awaits my judgment on his return. The other starts his journey as an exile this day.” He flung the boy out into space. They watched him fall.

 

“He might live.” I commented.

 

“If he has the brain my blood gives him, he will. But he must cleanse himself before he returns. That he might fail in.”

 

I spent the next hours saying no. “Freyyr we cannot merely kill all of the out worlders-”

 

“They have battened on my people long enough-”

 

“Will you listen?” I roared back. Freyyr took step back. I moderated my tone. “The Galaxy will awake tomorrow with this world in your hands. Do you want them cheering as Czerka comes in and slaughters you?” He stared at me. “The news that the revolt has started is already going out. There is no way to avoid this. Czerka, would have tried to conceal it but there are enough ships of independent merchants and those Companies not linked to the Corporation. So instead they will try to use your actions to condemn, make you look like animals devouring their people. Animals do that, not warriors with a cause.

 

“So you must give orders that any that fight you, that any that attack you, will die. If they do not, if they are wounded and disarmed, if they surrender, if they try to run, you must let them. You must also announce that this is what you have said.

 

“You must assure that all who fight alongside you will accept this, and the same rule must be used for every Czerka outpost. You must also punish publicly those that violate this order.”

 

“But-”

 

“But nothing! When the Galaxy reads their news tomorrow and in the coming weeks, they must see a people forced to fight. That killed the enemy that faced them, that killed those that attacked them, but showed mercy to all others.

 

“It is hard to make the Wookiee evil when they see pictures of your people helping out worlders in maintaining order. When they see the abject misery of those freed from Czerka Dream, and their return to Kashyyyk. Those that see this must say to themselves, ‘good for the Wookiee!‘.”

 

Those pictures were already being broadcast. Czerka Dream had been designed for rough world cargos where pirates or natives might raid or try to capture them. But she had little firepower compared to Ebon Hawk. Canderous had taken the Ebon Hawk through her fire, and destroyed every weapons emplacement with precision fire, then boarded them and taken the entire crew prisoner. Once that was accomplished he had used their own shuttles to return freed Wookiee slaves to the planet. Among them had been several hundred slaves of other races. The scenes with Wookiee removing their collars, then carrying humans and Twi-lek among others from their servitude had already made waves in the Galaxy.

 

There was already a dozen different news services asking for the inside story. I had yet to get to a proper communication facility, but Canderous had set both Komad Fortuna and Dayso Cooh on it. They had broadcast pictures of the tach, showing people drinking Tarisian ale, then again the gentle creatures that gave the beverage its kick. This was followed by Czerka’s own recordings of the hunts, and the company spokesman speaking of the millions of tach already slain, and how much the company made on each gland.

 

Komad had found something more exciting than hunting. It was called revolution. Dayso Cooh actually needed restraining. He was talking of ‘people’s court’s and rough justice.’ But academics and those that have never seen the carnage of battle are like that.

 

“It is agreed. Is there anything else we must do before we attack?” Freyyr asked sarcastically.

 

“Yes. You must deal with your son.”

 

Freyyr growled. He walked over to Zaalbar. As an exile he could not be part of the war councils of the last hours. Instead he had been working on Bacca’s blade. When we came to him, he flicked the switch, and the blade came to life. He shut it off, and held it out with his eyes down.

 

Freyyr stood there for a long moment, trying to think of what to say. I almost nudged him before he spoke softly. “My son, I have shamed myself in this. I believed what I was told, not what was true. I cast you out, made five years of your life misery without thinking.” Freyyr reached past the blade, touching his son’s head. “I have no excuse for the harm I have done to you.”

 

“I still forgive, Father.” Zaalbar answered his eyes still down. “I learned a great deal in the outside world. A lot of what Danika tells you now I know to be true from seeing them.”

 

“You and she have put into my people the backbone we needed. I will erase the slavers from this world. None of ours will ever go into that again as long as I live.

 

“I have sent quick climbers to the other villages. They took apologies from me for what Chuundar has done to them, and asked for them to ally themselves with us against Czerka.” He grunted a laugh. “My other son could have made himself ruler of the planet if he has merely said ‘fight against them’ instead of letting Czerka have their way. Out-worlders shall be rare here for a time, but knowing such as this one lives makes me happy to be part of the galaxy.

 

“But I owe you for all that time, Zaalbar.” He turned, opening the door. “Hear me! Zaalbar has expiated his sin! A sin that was all a lie from Chuundar’s black heart. He is once more a member of our tribe and my family. And no one would make me more proud than what I received in return for that act!” He turned to his son. “There is a place by my side, soon to sit upon that throne if you are worthy.” It is hard to describe a Wookiee voice as plaintive, but Freyyr’s was.

 

“I thank you my father.” He stood, and for the first time looked his father in the eye again. “I have learned much in the galaxy beyond, not all of it good, not all of it light. I must say no to you father. I cannot return home.”

 

“My son!’ Freyyr wailed. “What must I do to atone?”

 

“My father you have accepted me back and that I will treasure for the rest of my life! But I have sworn a life debt to Danika. I must pay that back before I can return home!”

 

“How can family claim life debt from family?” Freyyr demanded. My crew and I had been declared part of Freyyr’s honor family. We were Wookiee in all but flesh. Plus I still held the title of Shrromarrik and was being called ‘Human law speaker’ even by the children. I could see his point.

 

“Zaalbar-”

 

“Please, Shrromarrik. Let me speak.” He said to me gently. “That is true father, but I gave life debt to her before she was family, and there is the mission our Shrromarrik must complete. I cannot in honor foreswear that. Even to return home. And as she is of our people now, that debt looms larger, for family must always be ready to protect their own.”

 

Freyyr cried to the council. “You see this? I have bowed to your wisdom Shrromarrik, now I must bow to the wisdom of my own son! The Galaxy shall know that Wookiee can judge in faith and honor. Go with my blessing. But before you leave, we owe you Shrromarrik, Danika Wordweaver much honor. We shall sing songs of you and what you have done until the lights in the sky grow cold. But if there is anything we have that you desire, ask for it.”

 

I was stumped. What could I ask for that I needed? “How can family claim debt from family?” I asked.

 

Again Zaalbar interrupted. “Father I would ask one thing. Let me use Bacca’s sword in the coming battle, here and beyond the walls of our forest home. It came from out there before we were people. Let it draw blood of the enemies of all people everywhere!”

 

“That seems fitting.” I said.

 

“I am tempted to say no, my son. But I owe a debt to you and her. Chieftains of our clan have held it since Bacca found it. Do you know what you ask?”

 

“I do father. The Wookiee cannot think of this one world any more. We are part of a galaxy of worlds and people who think of Wookiee and picture a slave or an animal. We must teach them otherwise.”

 

“Yes my son. Take it. Make the world’s tremble at Wookiee wisdom and strength.” He passed the precious relic to his son, who bowed low.

 

“I will, father. And it will return, whether I do or not.”

 

“I would much rather my son and heir return. Guard him well, Shrromarrik!”

 

“I will.”

 

We reached the gate. The guns tracked on us, but did not fire. Beyond the door carnage began.

 

Against a human enemy, the Czerka defenses of walls and auto turrets might have worked. But as Jolee had pointed out, they had made a fatal blunder. The Wookiee knew how those guns worked and how to disable them. The Wookiee were also as comfortable climbing as they were walking, and netting will not stop a determined wookiee. Wookiee had climbed over, eliminating the guards on it, then used the guard officer’s own control box to deactivate the weapons.

 

I ran up to a cowering guard, slapping aside the bowcaster of a young Wookiee. “He’s wounded! He’s unarmed. He is to live!’

 

“Who-“ The youngster started to demand, then Zaalbar slapped him hard enough to bounce him off the tree trunk.

 

“I am Zaalbar, son of Freyyr, and this is my Shrromarrik ‘Human law speaker’!”

 

“Forgive, noble ones.” He ducked his head. “It is the excitement of finally striking back.”

 

I bent to the Czerka. He was holding a rag to a spurting wound, and I pulled a med-kit from my pack. I cleaned and bandaged the wound, then handed him the injector of painkillers. “Lay quiet. They’ll come for you.”

 

“Why?” He almost screamed. All he saw behind me were Wookiee faces, the stuff of nightmares for anyone in Czerka uniform at the moment. “So they can cook me?”

 

“How long have you been on Kashyyyk?”

 

“A week!”

 

“The Wookiee will not eat you. I just hope the clinic wasn’t destroyed in the fighting.” I pulled him from the area where he’d stuffed himself, and pointed at the young Wookiee. “Carry him.”

 

The Wookiee slung his weapon, and gently picked up the unbelieving man. “I know where the clinic is. I will take him there.”

 

There were still knots of fighting. When possible, I called for them to surrender. However at one such, the leader of the men within fired at me. The Wookiee overwhelmed the men, throwing their bodies off the walkway.

 

Ebon Hawk was landing as my team came up to it, and we hurried aboard. Carth’s friend Jordo had delivered the information he had promised.

 

 

Carth

 

I ran to the berthing area as we came aboard. I had to soak my head. I stood there, water dripping off me. My mind was still reeling from what had happened in the Shadowlands. Danika had answered the computer, but the answers disturbed me. Turn on your friend? Allow millions to die in an attack you could have stopped so that you could win a war? Allow the same millions to die just to bolster your power? Saul had made these kinds of decisions. Malak had destroyed Taris, slaughtered off billions of people in the name of his power.

 

If she could be like Saul, like Malak, like Revan, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to see her! I dried my hair and face. I wanted a stiff drink but we had to get out of the system first. I decided I’d settle for a cup of tea. I poured, sipping the acrid brew, then turned to head toward the cockpit, and stopped.

 

Danika sat at the table. She was hunched over a mug, hands clenched so tightly I expected it to shatter. Her eyes were closed, and silent tears coursed down her face. Sasha was sitting beside her and whining a little at the obvious pain on her guardian’s face.

 

“You’re disappointed.” Her voice was a husky whisper. I said nothing.

 

“Whoever programmed the computer knew what kind of person they trusted. They wanted people like the Dark Jedi, like the Sith to find them. I understood that when it told me that there were specific parameters to match.”

 

“Revan must have-”

 

“No. I can’t see someone everyone admired that much giving such answers. The programming had to have been original. But what could I do?

 

“If I gave answers I felt right, it would have locked me out, we would have been stopped without the Star Map. So, I did what I had to do. Think like a conqueror, like a Sith.” She looked up at me. There was no emotion in her face or her voice. As if the tears were just water splashed on her face. “Do you know why the answers I gave were correct?” I shook my head. “Because the builders were self-centered egoists that didn’t care about their own people let alone any others. Any other Jedi, even a Master would have failed. Only I could do it.

 

“Because I was a soldier! You served. You know what the mindset is like. How many orders have we given that sent others to their deaths? Because the mission was more important than their lives.” She set down the cup hard. “I was a squad leader for a little over a month. I sent others to their deaths so we could win the battle. I left three men I considered my best friends in the world to hold a corridor so we could do an end run around the defenders to the bridge. One of them lived. Lived!” She slammed her fist on the table hard enough to hurt. “He’s in a life support chair now, a quadriplegic. He’ll never walk, or play with his children, or make love to his wife. My orders did that! I did everything but pull the trigger myself!

 

“I must speak with the masters on Dantooine. If I am no better than Revan, no better than Malak, no better than Saul, we’ve already failed.”

 

“I served with Saul, and I can tell you you’re nothing like him.” She started to speak. “Shut up and listen for once. Looking back at him, I knew Saul was ruthless. I watched him on the bridge of the ship and he never flinched. Even when his orders fed ship after ship into the meat grinder. When he was in command as captain, then as admiral, he never settled for a stalemate. It was victory or nothing.

 

“Now let’s see you in comparison. A woman that worried because I didn’t trust her. Yet when someone needed money, you gave it to him. When we had to go into the Undercity of Taris, you gave those kids money when I would have shoved them aside. You went to rescue Zaalbar because you hate slavers. Oh yes, I saw your face when you heard who had him. Then you turned around and instead of collecting a reward, you pushed Zelka Forn into making sure the people down there were safe for the first time from the Rakghoul plague.

 

“Look at us!” I waved toward the ship. “You risked your life bringing Juhani back from the dark side. You brought closure to Bastila, to Mission, to Zaalbar. You talked instead of fighting with the Sand People. Got them vaporators so they could move in peace. You freed the Jawa. Maybe you failed in ending that war, but you mitigated it. Would Saul do that? We know what Malak would have done.” I shook my head.

 

“If you want to judge yourself, answer this question. Hypothetical. You command a fleet. Someone you hate and fear is hiding down on a planet among billions of innocent civilians. You can keep on searching, even though you have already spent almost a week looking. You can go down yourself, hoping that you enemy will be drawn out to attack you, or you can reduce the planet along with all of those people to ruins. Along with that you will kill a few thousand of your own, but what’s a few more lives tossed in?”

 

I was starting to feel a bit teary myself. I remembered all of those people. Zelka, Gadon, the Outcasts, the people in the street of the upper city. Were they all dead now? Everyone in the upper city most assuredly. I pictured Zelka Forn standing there, unwilling to leave his patients as the plasma ate the city away around them.

 

The only home Mission had ever known, gone.

 

I walked over, laying my hand on her shoulder. “I trust from what I have seen that you would have found another way. Maybe not a perfectly clean way, but one where billions didn’t have to die.” She looked up from the mug. “If I can trust you, why can’t you trust yourself?”

 

“I feel the pull of the dark side.” She whispered. “It would have been so easy to just let the Wookiee have their revenge in full. There are over 100,000 of them still out there enslaved. If I could I would have published all those names, those owners, called the wrath of all of the Gods of all of the races on them.” She stared at the mug again. “It would be so easy to get this done the quick way.”

 

“I can’t see you doing anything the easy way. I think you were probably the best person for this mission. Someone so unsure of themselves that they second-guess everything. If you can’t succeed, no one could.”

 

She shook her head. Sasha moved toward her, and she hugged the girl. “Thanks Carth.”

 

“That’s what I’m here for. When I’m not slaving away on the controls, I’m the head cheerleader of the good ship Ebon Hawk.” I walked toward the cockpit.

 

“Carth.” I turned back to her. “Watch me. Don’t trust me. If I start to slip to the dark side, you’ll tell me right? Stop me in any way you can?”

 

“If I have to die in the attempt.”

 

“Don’t let it get to that point.” She looked away. “Set course for Manaan. It‘s closer than Korriban. Sorry.”

 

 

Ebon Hawk

 

Enroute to Manaan

 

Bastila

 

I could feel her misery even before we took off. But I had to wait until Carth relieved me. Danika was sitting in the mess hall in her own huddle of misery. Sasha was in her arms, crooning as Danika cried.

 

“I don’t want to become like that.” Danika whispered. She looked at me, eyes luminous with tears. I wanted to go to her, to hug her, to tell her it would be all right. As she had done for Mission, as she had done for me. “I want to go back to Dantooine. Beg the Masters to send someone else.”

 

“You are strong, Danika.” I said. “You have resisted the dark side so well. Don’t give up now.”

 

“I don’t know if I can be strong enough any more.” She husked. “What if there is another test when we reach Manaan? What if I have to kill a companion, or do something that will damn me for all time? Revan must have been stronger than I. Yet she fell!”

 

“Revan was strong but in her own way.” I replied. “She was also more impulsive than you are.”

 

“I found out some things about Revan. We picked up a passenger at Kashyyyk. An old man named Jolee Bindo.”

 

Of all the people! “Yes, I have heard of him. Where is he?”

 

“I don’t know. He said something about getting a bath and some decent food.”

 

“Well what you need to do is go into the crew compartment and meditate. You will feel better after that.”

 

“Maybe.” She looked down at Sasha. “Want to come meditate?” The little girl slipped off her lap, taking her by the hand, and dragging her toward the crew quarters. I sighed, then went to find Jolee.

 

He was in the men’s crew compartment, in the ‘fresher, singing. What is it about running water that makes people think they can sing? I sighed again, and leaned against a wall waiting. He stepped out, a large rugged man with a fringe of white hair, rubbing his head with a towel. He saw me, and the towel went from his head to his crotch so fast I almost believed in teleportation. “I thought there were ‘freshers on the other side for the women.”

 

“There are.” I told him. “I had to see you about Danika.”

 

“Danika. You know-”

 

“Yes. I know who she is.” I took a holocron from my pouch, and handed it to him. “View that.”

 

He knotted the towel around his waist, and activated the Holocron. I stood there as he watched it.

 

“Damn fools on the Council. Why are they surprised that she got it all back?”

 

“They didn’t anticipate that she would. Now we must complete this mission. I will need your help.”

 

“Why? She seems to be doing pretty good so far.”

 

“But she feels that she is weakening. I will need your help to bolster her self-confidence.”

 

‘Why? No one thought I was worth the effort way back when.”

 

“Jolee that was almost twenty years ago. I only remember you because your departure was still a subject of talk. Your leaving was more fun than the apprentices had in a decade Rather loud fun as I recall the stories.”

 

“Yeah. Because she was one of my best students, and they didn’t like my teaching style.”

 

“For her sake that must be put behind us. Will you help?”

 

He stared at the holocron, and his voice was soft. “Yeah. I can’t let them screw it up again.”

 

 

Ebon Hawk

 

Enroute to Manaan

 

Danika

 

I felt much better after meditating. I showered with Sasha. Now that she had accepted us, being close no longer bothered her. I dressed, and had her put on some of the clothes we had gotten for her on Tatooine. It was funny really. Most of the people there didn’t have children, so the shops didn’t carry a lot of children’s clothes. We had to fill out her wardrobe from a Jawa kiosk. Seeing that earnest little face thrust out of a Jawa hood was funny. Kashyyyk had shops and we had gotten her more clothes, but those Jawa robes were still her favorite.

 

I stepped into the mess hall, and felt a wave of fury from Juhani’s quarters. I walked over, reaching out, and she spun. “Don’t touch me!”

 

“Juhani. What is wrong?”

 

She hissed, standing from her crouch with a visible effort to control

herself. “I never told you where I came from, where I spent my childhood, did I?”

 

“No, you didn’t.”

 

“Maybe it was because I wanted to deny my feelings. To let it all pass away unnoticed. But I find I cannot. Someone must be to blame. Someone must atone for it!”

 

“Juhani-”

 

“Taris! I was raised on Taris! Someone is responsible for the destruction of everything I knew before I was eleven years old! You and Bastila are to blame! If you had not gone there, evaded the Sith, they would have had no reason to destroy the planet!”

 

I was stunned. “I’m sorry, Juhani, I didn’t know.”

 

“Didn’t know what?” She growled. “That the people there were going to die? That Malak would destroy them when he couldn’t capture you? That I heard you and Carth discussing what happened as if it were a party you had both been to where someone accidentally knocked over the punch bowl?”

 

“Juhani-”

 

“Just let me vent my anger! Allow me that little bit of feeling!” She raised her hand, and her claws extended and retracted. “I hated that place! Yet everything about me was formed there. Every breath I take every step in the ship’s gravity or any other planet reminds me that this is not home! Now all I have is an aching void where all of that was. And in that void, I see your face!”

 

“Juhani, do you think Malak would not have destroyed that world any way? Since he lost the controlling influence of Revan he had destroyed two worlds so far. I want you to believe me that if I had known Malak was that much of a madman, I would have turned myself over to them before the first Tarisian died. I am not worthy of such a sacrifice.”

 

“I know that. I know your heart, Danika. You would have died instead. But it is so hard, to have your entire past wiped away by a callous hand.”

 

“I can’t know it, Juhani. Come, tell me of Taris.”

 

“There is so much we must do-”

 

“No. At the moment, there is nothing more important than Taris, and your feelings.”

 

She sighed, the anger drained away. “It was a horrible place to live. Especially for non-humans. We were relegated to the Lowercity where the elite would not have to acknowledge our existence. Living in perpetual shadow, living off the refuse cast down from above. Working at menial labor because there was nothing else for us.”

 

“How did you survive?”

 

“It was a never-ending struggle. My family fought for every scrap to put on the table, to buy what was needed. But it was never enough. Taxes from the government that gave us nothing back. Fees charged by the Swoop Gangs to walk the very streets. Every credit saved from milli-creds to pay for food, clothing, and medicine.

 

“And always the hatred from those above. Bigotry made policy. When problems would occur, the media would automatically blame the ‘creatures’ that live below. Lording it over all with their wealth and power.

 

“Sometimes they would tour the Lowercity as if it were a petting zoo. Laughing behind their hands at the ‘animals’ that lived in the squalor they created.” She looked miserable, remembering. “But I found that some humans were not that way. There was a Swoop leader that had just taken over, Gadon Thek-”

 

“He was alive, fighting the Sith in a running battle in the Undercity when we left.”

 

She smiled. “If it is the same Thek I remembered, they may have destroyed the planet just to defeat him! There were others as well. Humans that seemed to embody the idea of Humanity.” She smiled. “Like the Jedi.”

 

“The one that sent you to the order?”

 

“No, she could not send me. They had only the ships bound for the front. They could not spare one to take a mere slip of a girl back. But she told me to find the Jedi Academies. Gave me a token to use to show to her teacher, master Vandar. Filled my head with a world that wasn’t hatred and shame. I can almost see her face in yours when I look at you.” She shook her head. “I wish my parents had never fled to Taris.”

 

“Fled?”

 

“A story for another time. I think Zaalbar is making some Merdai stew for those with iron stomachs.”

[Char Ell]

Good stuff. I found the changes you made to the Wookiee revolution believable, the manner in which Freyyr regained his chieftainship as well as his following Danika's advice in their fight against Czerka and other offworlders was IMO an improvement. An important strategy to gain public favor and sympathy in a rebellion, to portray the rebels as the good guys instead of the bad. That was good.

[machievelli]

Thanks. I was bothered because the two fights in this segment, (The brief one with Chuundar and company) and the taking of the Czerka station were lackluster in the game. So I just looked at history and did what I could.

[machievelli]

Ebon Hawk

 

Enroute to Manaan

 

Canderous

 

I found that I had missed the Story circle of home more than I would have admitted to someone not of my clans. Zaalbar had made Merdai stew for some of us, with a milder form for the rest. I was not surprised when Danika and Sasha got bowls of it. Danika would have been Mandalore if she had been born right, and Sasha had learned. What did surprise me was the old man Jolee. He filled his bowl, and almost inhaled it rather than chewing. He filled his bowl again, and this vanished almost as fast.

 

“Real food again!” He said. Sasha watched him, as if afraid he would inhale her next. He looked at me, leaning back from the table. “You’re a big one! What clan?”

 

“Ordo of Clan Ordo.”

 

“Ah. I fought one of your ancestors. A guy named Ramius.”

 

“You fought Ramius Ordo?” I looked at him. “You don’t look to be a hundred years old.”

 

“Well my age is unimportant. There was a siege before the Sith wars. Your people had landed on a planet named Costigain, and I was sent to negotiate. It came down to adverse discussions-”

 

“Adverse discussions?” Carth asked.

 

“Talking with our lightsabers instead of with our mouths.” Jolee replied. “Of course this was supposed to be a ‘peaceful’ negotiation, so the only weapons in the room were dress daggers and fists. Well anyway I think it was someone getting angry on the settler side and defaming Ramius’ mother-”

 

“She died when he was a child. A settler on Subreka shot her from ambush then desecrated her body.” I said.

 

“That would explain why he was so upset. There was only one other Jedi with me, and we had to carry the brunt of the fight. Anyway Ramius cut his way through the others, and saw me. ‘You pup! Now you die!’ he shouted.

 

“Well I was a spry one. I finally beat him by running around the room like an out of control droid, until he finally fell so exhausted that he could barely breath. I bounced back, disarmed him, then hauled him over my lap spanked him like a ten year old misbehaving.”

 

“You didn’t!” Mission said, giggling.

 

“Yep I did. Shocked the Mando into stopping. Then I dragged that loudmouth over, and whaled the tar out of him too. Almost made the both of them stand in a corner holding hands the rest of the day.”

 

“Now I know you’re telling tales.” Carth said. He looked at me, and looked confused.

 

I laughed. No one had ever told that story from the other side before. I had heard it when the ancient Ramius had a little too much to drink. It was at once the high point and low point of his career as a warrior. “It happened just that way.” I gasped.

 

“Tell us more about Revan.” Danika asked.

 

“We fought the Republic over the course of many battle. At the start, they weren't much of a threat. The commanding officers were hesitant and tended to either attack down obvious junctions, or run when they actually found us ready to fight. Oh some were worthy foes. Admirals Karath and Dodonna come to mind. But then Revan took command, and things changed.

 

“The fleets began actually using tactics. Pincer movements mass deceptions, Revan was an acknowledged master when it came to feinting then slamming us to the ground. She abandoned worlds that had little or nothing to defend, using the weapons and ships to make planets we had to capture impregnable. She sacrificed a dozen ships in a feint to draw out our forces in one battle so she could crush one of our fleets against them. She knew how to take risks. I hear she had a way of questioning her commanders. She would pose a hypothetical question, and judge what they should do from the answer.

 

“We captured a Republic General, and he told us about that. ‘You’re in a small ship, a snub fighter. There is an asteroid, and you know it will hit a planet of ten billion people, and kill them. There are no other ships in the system, and the planet has no defenses.

 

“ ‘Your guns would be worthless; the only weapon you have is the ship you are flying. If you ram your ship into the asteroid, it will be obliterated, and you will die. But if you do no one will ever know what happened to you. The people you die for are unknown to you. Or you can call them and try to warn them. All they can look forward to is a horrible wait as they die. Or you can ignore the rock. No one will ever know that you did, and they will die unawares’.

 

“We listened; the riddle is a masterpiece if you think about it. You can tell what the man might do in other situations from it. One of our interrogators asked him what he answered. ‘I asked her to repeat it. She sent me here’. He didn’t understand why we laughed so hard. He was assigned to a supply depot on an unprotected planet, with few troops.

 

“What would you have done Danika?”

 

She sipped her tea. “Aimed at the meteor, and ejected before the ship hit it.”

 

“Why eject?” Canderous asked.

 

“Dying would be pointless. If I failed, I can die in shame waiting. If I succeeded, I know I would die at peace.”

 

“Something Revan would have approved of.“ Canderous said. “In the end Revan proved too much for us.”

 

“You couldn’t have won against the entire Galaxy!” Carth said.

 

“True.” I admitted. “But it was so close. It looked like the entire galaxy was in our grasp! There was a fleet at Kasmiri, and a base at Malchior V. If we smashed the fleet, the base would be ours. We struck, and the fleet ran away. We went on to Malchior and fell into the trap Revan had set. She had installed massive gravity generators in all of the asteroids of the system, then boosted those asteroids into orbits as far as a light minute from the planet. Then she took a small fleet and ‘guarded’ the planet.

 

“We laughed. The fleet she had was half the size of the one we had routed already, and we could crush it easily. Over two hundred Mando ship charged toward a third that number. We tasted victory. Then she sprung the trap. Five fleets came out of hyperspace behind us. Almost 400 hundred ships now faced us and the gravity generators trapped our fleet in normal space.” I looked from face to face.

 

“It wasn’t your ideals that defeated us that day. Not your men or your ships or your ‘fight for freedom’ that stopped us there. It was one thing. Revan. She out-thought our best; she stood on a ship being pulverized by our fleet, and calmly directed the other ships in decimating us. Less than thirty of our ships broke free. Mandalore had to order that retreat himself. No one would have dared to give such an order except for him. But we didn’t have the strength any longer to resist her advances.

 

“But you were losing? Why didn’t you retreat?” Danika asked.

 

“It is what we had wanted all along. We wanted to fight a battle against the best the Republic had to offer. A battle that would be remembered throughout history. We got what we wanted.

 

“What was left of the fleet fell back on our home world. The largest of them was the captured cruiser Vikrant, Mandalore‘s flagship.

 

“Then their ships came. Hundreds of them. We braced for an attack that didn’t come. Then there was a broadcast. Revan in that battle-mask she wore. ‘I am Revan Chadar Bai Echani. I challenge Mandalore to personal combat. Let none interfere‘.“ I looked at them. “You see she understood our people better than anyone we had ever fought. She knew that a personal challenge must be answered. And if she won, she would, under our law become Mandalore, and could order us as did all of those through our history.

 

“Mandalore picked a remote asteroid. Two ships only would be allowed to approach. Vikrant surged forward, and from their fleet came a ship of the same class. I think it was named Harvest Moon-”

 

“Tik-harvest Moon.” Carth corrected.

 

“Yes. The ships closed, dropped the shuttles with the combatants and witnesses, and the battle commenced. To an aficionado, it was masterly. Two warriors, facing each other with the title of Mandalore as the prize. Mandalore tried to force the issue, staying far enough back that Revan‘s lightsaber could not reach him. His guns ravened, Revan leaping to escape blast after blast. Revan fell and it looked as if Mandalore might be winning when suddenly Revan flipped up onto a wall, then past Mandalore to strike down. Mandalore died, and she stood over his body.

 

“Revan, still in the mask, looked as if she had not even been disturbed by the slaughter she had done. ‘As the canons require, I have defeated Mandalore. I stand as your Mandalore now. Does any gainsay my ascension?’

 

“None could. She had won, and our laws were clear. She ordered us to return to our home worlds, and followed us there. When we arrived, she ordered any ships larger than a customs craft abandoned, and they were taken. Republic troops came down, and under her orders all of our heavy weapons, droids, and all combat equipment that was not personal property were destroyed.

 

“Then she had our troops marshaled. ‘Thanks to those who claim your blood but not your honor, your people for a time will have no honor. Until such time as I release you from this, no honor may be gained. You must live with your dishonor for as Mandalore I will not accept honor-death. Those that choose that way to atone go into the darkness bereft. I your Mandalore have spoken.‘. For some that hurt even more. It has always been our way that if you cannot have honor in life, you can gain it in death by your own hand.

 

“Then she left.” I sighed. “Some could not stand the shame. They went into honor-death, knowing that doing so dishonored them more. Others ran, becoming raiders, little more than thieves, as we know from, Dantooine.

 

“But one day we hoped that our honor would be returned. That is until Revan fell at Zanebra. Now we are trapped, unable to regain our honor, unwilling to surrender our lives. None can claim the title of Mandalore without ritual combat or the Mandalore’s word unless all of the Clans agree, and no leader living now is so beloved.

 

“We had lost, and Revan won. We don’t hold a grudge against her, even against those that fought there against us we have no animus. If she had been Mando, we would have drunk wine in the Republic Senate instead.” I sighed. “Instead we are nothing now.”

 

 

 

Danika

 

A short time later, the meeting broke up as we went to bed. I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to do some tinkering with the lightsabers and crystals we had collected on our journey. I was passing the mess hall when I heard Bastila’s voice.

 

“Jolee, may I have a moment?”

 

“Sure.” Jolee sounded tired. As if fighting the same argument yet again.

 

“There is something I think we need to discuss-”

 

“Spare me.” His voice was harsh, in pain. “I don’t want to hear the whole ‘come back to the order, all is forgiven’ argument one more time.”

 

“I know you have... issues with the order. But you are a Jedi, Jolee. You command the force as do we all. Without the guidance of the order how have you managed to stay on the side of light all these years?”

 

“Light side, dark side, you know it doesn’t even really matter any more. The concept doesn’t mean the same thing to you that it does to me. I just wanted to be left alone.”

 

“So Malak and the Sith can do what they please?” Her voice was sharp, angry.

 

“Listen, if I can I will help stop Malak and the Sith right alongside anyone that fights them. But I don’t have to join the order and kowtow to the council for that. Look at the crew of this ship. Carth, Canderous, Mission, Zaalbar. None of them are Jedi but you trust them to do their part. Put me alongside them if you want, but leave me out of it beyond that.”

 

“Jolee-”

 

“Damn it woman, what more do I need to say? It’s like Danika.”

 

“How do you mean?”

 

“The capacity for good and evil is in every person. Just as using the force is there in everyone if they can touch it. Our non Jedi crew do what they think is right, just as Danika is doing even now. You didn’t see the agony she went through facing that damn computer on Kashyyyk, I did. Her inherent honesty got her through that, and I expect everyone who can’t touch the force aboard this ship will make their decisions based on what they believe is right. Being a member of the Jedi or even of the Sith will not change a person’s basic nature.”

 

She sighed. “I can see you are adamant about this. No doubt you had a lot of time to think about what you might say if the discussion ever came up-”

 

“More than you might think, between dodging animals that wanted to invite me to dinner.”

 

“I guess it was foolish of me to think that I of all people could sway you in your position just with a reasoned argument.”

 

“If that’s your way of saying that I am old and stubborn, thank you. But I appreciate the effort.” He raised his voice. “Do you think I lived all those years without knowing when something was watching me, Danika?”

 

I stepped into the room. “Get some sleep, girl.” He ordered. “Leave an old man to his memories.” He looked at Bastila. “You too.”

 

 

Leviathan

 

Saul Karath walked hesitantly toward his lord and master. Malak stood where he usually did, staring out into space, and the glittering shape of the Star Forge. Karath fell to his knees and waited.

 

“You have something to report, Admiral?”

 

“News has come. Calo Nord is dead. He has failed.”

 

Malak turned. “It was not your failure, Admiral. Nord failed, and has died. Arise.”

 

Karath stood. “I can hire more bounty hunters-”

 

“To do what? Give them more target practice?” Malak asked. “No. I have sent for Darth Bandon.”

 

The main hatch opened and Darth Bandon entered. He was tall, a strong young man, dressed in black armor. He strode across the deck as if he owned it. Only when he reached his master did the man drop into a kneeling bow, head lowered. “My master has summoned me?”

 

“Yes. Bastila and her compatriots have escaped yet again. Prove your worth to me, my apprentice. Kill the woman that is with Bastila; kill the man that is with her. Bring Bastila to me alive if possible. But if not, she must die.”

 

“I obey my master.”

 

 

Thus those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to which he must conform...

 

Manaan

 

Danika

 

I dived from above, seeing an ocean that stretched from horizon to horizon. There in the distance, was what looked like a structure, but it was not important. I dropped like a stone, plunging into the ocean. Down I flew, passing creatures both strange and wonderful. Ahead of me I saw a structure, and stopped. This had not been here before. At the foot of the farthest reach of the machinery, there was a circle of lights around the Star Map. I dropped to stand on the mud, feeling the water rock me gently. There was a cry, a sound of distress and anger. Off to one side I saw Firaxa, the predators of Manaan’s deep. Then a shadow came over, and I looked up at-

 

I opened my eyes. I had gotten better at least, not disturbing Sasha when a vision came to me. We were less than a day out of Manaan.

 

The next morning, Bastila was ecstatic.

 

“The Force continues to lead us on the proper path. Another Star Map. It is strange, however that the builders we seek should set such a map here. The entire surface is covered with oceans.”

 

“Perhaps like Tatooine, it wasn't always so.”

 

“There is that. A cataclysm such as the one that turned Tatooine into a desert might have melted the polar ice caps and drowned the planet. The records of that time are fragmentary, and the Selkath have little knowledge of the ocean depths, even though that is where they were born. No matter, we will find it.” As we closed I could see the city named Ahto. Fifty kilometers across, it rested on massive pylons that kept it high and dry for the visitors. It had been built only for visitors, because the Selkath were amphibious, with both gills and lungs, and suits to keep their skins wet when they were out of the water.

 

As we approached, it became more interesting. Davik was wanted on Manaan as was Ebon Hawk, and we had to use one of the extra ID chips for the ship. So it was Star-cluster Wayfarer that called down for landing instructions. There was no argument, and when we landed, there were no massive amounts of troops ready to lock us up. I went into the landing bay with Juhani and Mission.

 

The door opened on an argument. A Sith trooper in full armor was squared off with a Republic trooper. “You pathetic people. Living off the table scraps of the Senators!”

 

“The Senators work for the common good! Not for gain!”

 

The Sith laughed. “If you are truly that weak minded, you might live long enough to be ruled by someone with true strength, like the Sith!’

 

“I ought to rip your fool head off!” The Republic soldier said.

 

“Go ahead. If you’re man enough!” The Sith growled.

 

“Trooper.” I called the Republic soldier. “You have a duty to perform. I suggest you go about it.”

 

The Sith looked at me, and I could feel the glare. “Yes, run like a little child when your mother calls.”

 

“At least I know who my mother and father are.” I replied calmly. The Sith clenched his fist, and stormed off.

 

“Sorry, master Jedi. The Sith keep trying to goad us into fighting.” He motioned. There were a lot of security cameras. “The Selkath are neutrals, and they mean it. Any fighting, they dock the nation responsible. So far we’ve spent almost twice what the Kolto cost in fines.” He laughed. “But so have the Sith, so I think it’s working out.”

 

“So the Selkath are neutral. What of the Sith?”

 

“Neutral means just that. Neither side is allowed warships, or to attack an enemy ship in their system. If you do, they cut off your side‘s share of the Kolto.”

 

“But the Sith could just move on in!” Mission said.

 

“Don’t bet on it. The only people that can get down to harvest the Kolto are the Selkath. This entire city,” He waved at the structure, “was built for our benefit, not theirs. When the Sith Ambassador of two years ago suggested they could take it by force, the Selkath council itemized every weapon the Sith had, and how just aiming at a Selkath would cause them to sink the city. No one wants to find out if they’re really that crazy. The Kolto is too important.”

 

I nodded. Kolto is a healing agent, and also has a regenerative effect in medicinal quantities. Billions of lives had been saved in the years since it was first discovered. What it was really no one could say. The Selkath brought it up out of the ocean, processed it, and sold it. All attempts to duplicate it in a laboratory thus far had failed. The only source was controlled by people who obviously wanted to be left alone.

 

“They sell it to anyone that brings in a ship with the credits for it.” The soldier went on. “Us, the Sith, they don't care. They even sold to the Mandalorians during that war.”

 

“Why haven’t they joined the Republic?”

 

He shrugged. “If someone had asked before this war began, they might have. But right now it’s too profitable selling to both sides. But I can’t see the Sith just standing there and taking that for long.”

 

Neither could I. “We’re looking for the Embassy.”

 

“There’s an information kiosk at the Port authority office. They’ll give you a map there.”

 

“Thank you.” We walked out. There was a small kiosk beyond the door. I heard a voice in Selkath over the speakers. I looked up.

 

ENTERING CITY STRUCTURE. ALL CAMERAS NOW ACTIVATED

 

“I know, it’s disturbing, but it’s to warn visitors where the law stops on the city.” The Selkath at the kiosk said. “Otherwise you dry landers would be killing anything and everything!” They were an odd looking race to us land dwellers. Bipedal, with two arms which ended in webbed hands, they had to wear an environmental suit constantly to keep their leathery skin moist. The wide flat snout stuck out, with two small dewlaps that hung from the end of their jaws. A mister sprayed over the head, keeping it moist. The two eyes at the back of the skull were set to look outward. The merchant had to turn his head side to side to look at us with both eyes.

 

“I carry a variety of souvenirs, and local delicacies for the discerning palate if you’ve a mind.”

 

I glanced at Mission. “Do you have any candy?”

 

“Ah, sweets for children?” He ignored Mission’s protest. He pulled out a small bag of jelly like blocks. “This is Maaanal. I will allow your youngling a sample.”

 

Mission took a piece out, and popped it in her mouth, “Oh! That is good!’

 

“One credit for a large bag.” He held up a bag that would hold about a kilo of the sweet.

 

Mission looked at me entreatingly, and I paid for it. “Be right back.” She ran toward the ship.

 

“Should I ask what it is made of?” I asked when she was out of earshot.

 

“It is made from the belly slime of a Mala fish. Humans can be so, disturbed by natural processes.”

 

“Thank you for not telling us earlier.” I said. Mission rejoined us, and we walked on toward the central alleyway. The city had five sections, and each was separated by wind screens and shields to block the ever present waves. With no land to block them, the waves could reach 100 meters in height and more when storm driven. The first section was the Docking ring, set in the center of the giant donut. Access was restricted to the owners when they were corporate, or by nationalities, so that the Sith docks were in one section, and the Republic in another. We had landed in the unaligned area. If we had given a Republic code, they would have sent us there instead.

 

A tram rushed us to West Central, where the customs kiosk was. We found only another Selkath, and a heavy guard droid. As we entered, the droid straightened, and it’s targeting sensors locked on us.

 

“Halt.” It ordered. “Who among you is Davik Kang?”

 

“Davik Kang is dead. Why are we being asked this question?”

 

“Your vessel was registered as owned by Davik Kang, a known smuggler.” The Selkath replied. “We allowed it to land in hopes that we had finally captured the criminal. Ship’s papers please?”

 

I handed over the ID chip. “Ah, purchased a month ago. Very well. Droid, stand down.” The droid settled back, and fell silent. “Welcome to Ahto City, we hope you will decide to obey our laws while you are here?”

 

“What laws specifically?” I asked.

 

“Human humor, I see. The single most important law is that smuggling of Kolto is punishable by death. If you are carrying Kolto in any form, you must also have a permit for the amount you carry except in standard medicinal quantities for your species.

 

“The only other rule is that the planet and our people are neutrals in this war out there. We adhere strictly to that policy. If you part in a confrontation here, and it is proven that you are responsible for it, you will be fined. If you are actively working for either the Sith Empire, or the Republic Alliance, your national units will be fined. Is this understood?” I nodded.

 

“We allow the carrying of weapons because we practice religious freedom here. It would not be right to tell you to disarm when an Echani needs to carry his under his religion or a mercenary because they are the tools of his trade. This means you must practice restraint. Is there anything else?”

 

I shook my head. He named the fee, and I paid it. He handed me a set of translator plugs, and a map. “Please peruse the guide if you have any questions. There are information pads in every corridor, and by touching one, you can gather any information not within the guide. Thank you for visiting.”

[Char Ell]

“Ordo of Clan Ordo.”

Perhaps this would be better as Canderous of Clan Ordo?

“True.” I admitted. “But it was so close. It looked like the entire galaxy was in our grasp! There was a fleet at Kasmiri, and a base at Malchior V. If we smashed the fleet, the base would be ours. We struck, and the fleet ran away. We went on to Malchior and fell into the trap Revan had set.

Are you creating a new planet here or do you refer to the planet where Revan's forces defeated the Mandalorians and won the Mandalorian War? If it's the latter option then you've got a spelling error here. The planet is Malachor V, not Malchior V.

“We allow the carrying of weapons because we practice religious freedom here. It would not be right to tell you to disarm when an Echani needs to carry his under his religion or a mercenary because they are the tools of his trade. This means you must practice restraint. Is there anything else?”

A nice addition to explain why the Selkath allow weapons to be carried within their city.

I also liked how you expounded on the circumstances of the duel between Mandalore and Revan. That filled in some holes that the game had with that particular story.

[machievelli]

Very good. Thanks for that eagle eye.

[machievelli]

Ahto West

 

Mission

 

That Maaanal was tasty! I had brought a handful along, hoping Sasha the glutton wouldn’t scarf it all while we were gone. Danika and Juhani kept looking at me and smiling. I ignored them. I’m a growing girl, well, in one area at least, and we need our calories, you know? The Selkath had set up the main tramline with malicious aforethought. Unless you’re going to the docking ring, the trams stop at each section on the way and you have to transfer. The Embassy was in East Central, but to get there you had to go through West, then West Central...

 

You get the picture.

 

We strolled, with both Danika and Juhani watching everything. Man, you’d think at that age with their looks they should have trolled the first cantina they came to for free drinks. But not them. We came to the edge of the city walk, and looked down. The edge of the disk of the city ran down a kilometer long slope from where we were, and as we watched a huge wave ran up almost to the city walk. Like a steel beach! Danika was looking at it, then turned. I can't feel the force, but I knew she felt something. Then she was striding forward, into of all things, a cantina.

 

Back in the back of the room, a Selkath sat by himself. I don't know what he was drinking, but if his breath was any indication, woof!

 

“You are troubled.” Danika said.

 

The Selkath looked up, then away. “Leave me in my misery if you are of the Sith.”

 

“I am not of the Sith. I am a Jedi.”

 

“Jedi?” The fish-man looked at her in that goggling way they had. “Perhaps you can help an old fin then. I expect that we have little in common human, but do your people have a love of family?”

 

“Yes, we do.”

 

“Then listen and tell me if you can help. I have no love of the Sith. They have never allowed anyone to stay neutral before, and their words do not match their natures. They do not respect our laws, and try to get your people to break it with their words.

 

“I would never allow this to continue, but I am only an old professor, and no one wishes to learn history anymore. But I believe I can gain the proof of what I think is happening.”

 

“Tell me.” Danika was in that gentle bemused place she gets in. They tell me it helps when you’re negotiating.

 

“Many of our young have gone missing. They have only a few things in common. They are all on the cusp of adulthood, all what you might call ‘lucky’, and, they are all children of our leaders. The ones that in the next few years will become our Councilors. My own Shasha is among them.”

 

“A professor’s child? Why would they take her?” I asked. Danika gave me a ‘butt out’ look.

 

“Well I am also a Councilor. I am on the High Council itself.” He admitted. “I am most alarmed because these disappearances began when the new Ambassador arrived. The last one had a bit of a mischief.”

 

“He did?”

 

“He called A Wookiee that belonged to Czerka Corporation a monkey. The fellow twisted his head completely around before the restraining collar could stop him.”

 

“I am touched.” Danika replied. “Czerka just lost control of Kashyyyk.”

 

“I have heard. The Wookiee here have all asked for and received political asylum. They are awaiting transport home.”

 

So you want me to investigate these disappearances?”

 

“Yes. There is no one else I can turn to. The Mercenaries aren’t allowed out of this section of the city without a valid contract, and the Republic troops are too carefully watched.”

 

“If you find any information, you can contact me through the barkeep. He will send it to me immediately.”

 

“Agreed.”

 

We began to walk out, and another of the fish-folk stopped us. “You are new here. Are you mercenaries?”

 

“No, we are not.”

 

“Perhaps you are Sith? or Republic?”

 

“We are Jedi.” Juhani replied.

 

“Ah, the legendary beings! Perhaps you can help me, then. I am Nilkos Bwaas. I saw you speaking with Councilor Shaelas, and he is a good judge of beings. I am a factor for several mercenaries that call our city home.

 

“Recently the Republic has been hiring mercenaries. Many more than usual. As a representative of our government, I am bothered by this sudden change of policy. Usually the Sith hire the mercenaries. But most have gone with Republic officials instead over the last few days. The Sith have also noticed, and are busy hiring every one they can to stop the Republic plan, whatever it is.

 

“I cannot ask the Republic, they will try to keep their reasons secret. I also cannot ask the Sith because they will slant the information I receive to paint he Republic in the worst possible colors As for the mercenaries, they are being offered more than a standard contract will explain, and don't care as long as the credits are good.”

 

“I don't know about this, Danika. Aren't the Republic the good guys?” I asked.

 

“You are correct, Mission, but just to assure the truth perhaps we should investigate this, Danika. If only to calm his fears.” Juhani murmured.

 

“I am a friend of the Republic.” Nilkos said. “But I must know what is happening. Relations are already strained thanks to our own council. There is talk of throwing both governments off our planet, allowing only transshipment of Kolto through a civilian carrier trusted by both sides.”

 

I looked at Danika. She was grim. The information dovetailed too neatly with what Jordo had given us.

 

“We will investigate this.” Danika replied.

 

“Can it be that Jordo is truthful?” Juhani asked.

 

“A civilian carrier ‘trusted by both sides’ sounds like Czerka to me. Mission, find an info kiosk. See if there is a Czerka office here.”

 

I stopped at the info pad they had installed, pulling out my tools. People tend to forget that if you take a computer and link it to a net, the right person can access anything.

 

I’m not polishing my Lekku, but when it comes to computers, I am the right person.

 

“Got it! Located in Ahto East Central, near the Republic embassy. But their main computer isn’t in the system. Neither is the Sith or Republic ones.”

 

“Not surprising.” Danika murmured. “Come. We have an ambassador to see.”

 

The tram dropped us near the ocean. We walked into the main courtyard, and I nodded toward a door. “Czerka offices.”

 

Danika nodded. “How fast can you work?”

 

“Well a droid would be better than I am, but... Five minutes?”

 

“Too long.” She decided. “We would need to clear the building for that long, and can’t see them letting us.”

 

“Well I can clear the building!” I said. They looked at me. “I did access everything but their main systems. Their secondary system includes environmental. Have you consider how bad some stuff can smell?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

I held up the tourist guide. “It says here that Raw Kolto has an odor so horrible that only the Selkath seem to be immune to it. Processing is required to alleviate this odor, and only the final refining process limits it to a tolerable level. That,” I pointed at the large door beside the Czerka office, “Is listed on the map as a raw Kolto storage area.”

 

“Mission, must we always put up with your criminal proclivities?” Danika asked in a mock-severe tone. “Though I think this would be more on the practical joke side.”

 

I grinned, and ran to the nearest information kiosk. I sliced in, and had a thought. When they tried to fix the problem, they would discover what I had done. Maybe... I checked the info for news. Czerka hadn’t officially reported what was happening on Kashyyyk yet, though it was in everyone else’s news. All they had to say was complaints against the ’high handed’ manner of the local courts judging the Wookiee here as free. I came up with a name, The Anti-Slavery People’s Army, and quickly drafted a communique claiming responsibility for their ‘attack’ on Czerka here. I downloaded it to a datapad then wiped the case, and logged out. I sliced back in using another kiosk a few meters away, and first buggered the local cameras. They fuzzed out and would remain out for the next ten minutes.

 

Now, shift forced draft air from here, order it sent to here instead. Open vents here and here...

 

I logged out, and was back beside my friends when suddenly there was this horrendous smell! When they said raw Kolto smelled bad, they weren’t joking! It made Zaalbar’s breath smell sweet! Everyone who wasn’t Selkath recoiled from the stench. A group of people ran frantically from the Czerka office. I slipped on a breathing mask, and as they ran past us, took off at a dead run.

 

Behind me, Danika and Juhani were helping, making people look other ways as I went through the door. I dropped my datapad with the declaration, then ran into one of the inner offices. There was a terminal still up! That saved me time. I sliced in, bringing up secret company correspondence. There was a lot, but I downloaded all of it onto a datapad I picked up off the desk with a nice Czerka logo on it. A good touch if you ask me.

 

Thanks to the already operational console, I was back out in three minutes flat.

 

I pulled off my mask, and took a deep breath.

 

Bad idea. I whooped my cookies right there. I hated that part. I didn’t have any more Maaanal and would have to hope that Sasha had left me some. Coming back up, it tasted like fish slime!

 

Danika and Juhani ran in, picking me up, and carrying me out of the way as a whole lot of Selkath arrived. Some were obviously the local cops, and they were looking for someone. But the only one close to us looked at me, then past to search.

We had to stay there the better part of an hour as the Selkath first shut down the vent system, then began looking for the Anti-Slavery People’s Army rep they had caught on the monitors. They showed around the picture, but we didn’t recognize her. A pity. According to their cameras she was short human with red hair and Echani armor. Nothing at all like me.

 

 

 

Ahto East Central

 

Danika

 

While we were waiting, I read the correspondence Mission had downloaded. The part that bothered me most was a comment on one of the inner office memos;

 

‘The contract has been sent to the Sith Ambassador, who has been trying to adjust the conditions. He will get it back to me by close of business in two days’.

 

That had been written yesterday. I nibbled at my lip as the Selkath finally began allowing people to move again. If I had a reason, I could enter the Sith embassy, but what reason could I give?

 

The Republic embassy was a small structure off Ahto East. We went through the process of reporting in, asking for an audience with the Ambassador. Surprisingly, as soon as the guards knew we were Jedi, we were sent in immediately.

 

He greeted us like an officer in charge of a besieged garrison. “Welcome! I am Roland Wann, Ambassador to Manaan. I’m so glad you finally arrived!”

 

I looked at him oddly. “We were not scheduled to arrive, Ambassador. We have another mission for the Jedi Council.”

 

His smile slipped. “Oh, dear. Well what can I do for you?”

 

“We are looking for a Star Map. A relic of an ancient and forgotten people.”

 

“An ancient and forgotten people.” He repeated. “That might be what we found.”

 

“You know something?” I asked.

 

“Perhaps.” His aura grew darker, a sign of duplicity. “However, if you wish my information, you must help me out with a problem first.”

 

“Ambassador, we are Jedi. We do not barter like fishmongers in the street.”

 

“If my problem is not taken care of, you will not have time to go to the artifact we have discovered.” He replied waspishly. “We were using a submersible reconnaissance droid near Hrakert Rift which is about twenty kilometers from the city. Something we have never seen before damaged it during that mission. The last record we received showed literally hundreds of the Firaxan sharks circling the Rift.

 

“The droid was badly damaged, and it’s auto systems engaged to get it back to the surface. However a small Sith vessel was inbound, and spotted it first. They picked it up, and took it into their Embassy.

 

“The Sith have been pressuring the local government for some times, and they were able to block our attempts to get it back. Once it was inside their embassy of course, they didn’t need to. The droid’s data block is heavily encrypted, and we know it will take several days for the Sith to access it. But they have already had twelve hours to work on it, and time is running out!”

 

“What about your own troops?”

 

“First, we would be in violation of Selkath law if I sent troops in to retrieve it. Such an act could get the Selkath to evict us from the planet, and cut our supply of Kolto. Second,” He sighed. “All of the troops I have available were sent on another mission, and have not yet returned. We do not have time to waste.”

 

I nodded. The Star Map and the droid were linked in this web of duplicity. So were the men he had sent out. I felt that he didn’t expect them to return at all. “How would I get into this base?”

 

“We have several ways to do it. Any would work for you. There is a Sith prisoner we captured trying to access our computer here in the embassy. He probably knows the access codes to the upper level.”

I suddenly pictured someone being interrogated, the pain of the field tearing at his body, the shock as you realized that pain was all the interrogator would give you, and unless you talked, all you would receive this side of death. “Find another way.” I rasped.

 

“The Sith have exclusive access to a docking bay for a shuttle that runs from here to the lower level of the Sith embassy. It has an encrypted access, but the man we captured had a pass card for that door.”

 

I reached out, and he handed me the pass card. “I should warn you that we have no idea of the numbers the Sith maintain in the embassy. If you do not move swiftly and decisively, they will overwhelm you. I must also warn you that the Republic will disavow any knowledge of your actions. I cannot protect you if you are captured.”

 

I had never considered that he might. Kolto was too important to the war effort. We left, returning to the ship. I decided to take Juhani and T3 with me. If we needed to break into computers in the Sith embassy, T3 was much better suited. Mission went in search of Sasha to get some more of the Maaanal. I shuddered. Maybe it was addictive to humans or Twi-lek?

 

Juhani stepped down onto the dock, and T3 rolled to a stop beside her. “We go in quietly if we can, but no one stops us. Understood?”

 

Juhani nodded. T3 just burbled and beeped. I led the way back to the tram, and inserted the Sith pass card. The tram rumbled along, and stopped at another section of the docking ring. I stepped out, leading them to a door into one of the bays. I opened it, and we entered the access way.

 

EXITING CITY STRUCTURE. ALL CAMERAS NOW DEACTIVATED. The system said.

 

The inner door opened, and a Dark Jedi turned, seeing us. I blasted him off his feet with the force, my light saber singing. “So much for quietly.” I whispered.

 

T3 rolled in, turned, and the twin blasters in his dome popped up. He took three Sith troopers in armor to our left under fire as Juhani charged three more on our right. I charged at the Jedi, cutting him down. I blocked a blast, the bolt ricocheting to blow another trooper off his feet as Juhani dealt with the last one on her side. T3 rolled forward, checking the bodies of his kills.

 

There was a small shuttlecraft resting on the pad, and we entered it. There was only one control, a red button, and a slot for the pass card. I slid it in, and the ship lifted, rotating as the ramp closed. It flew outward, then dived, turning to fly under the city. The bottom of the city was smooth. Any crevices or bends in the metal would have given the ocean something to pull against during a storm. The shuttle aimed upward, and a section of the city opened ahead. The ship flew in, settled on a landing pad, and cycled down.

 

 

 

Sith Embassy

 

Danika

 

We moved into the embassy, and T3 led the way. There was a door ahead, and he stopped at it, inserting an arm into the locking mechanism. There was a squealing, and it opened into a room. We went left, passing down a hall. The door at the end read Flow Control Room. We charged in, dealing with the guards there. There was a computer, but it was controlling just the flow of water into a series of rooms in a baffling manner. We went on, and found a hallway blocked by a force field. Beyond it were two hulking Heavy droids.

 

What is in there? I wondered. It felt important, but not pressing. "Where is the droid facility?”

 

T3 rolled up to an access panel, and plugged in. Then it bleeped, and my data pad blossomed with another section of halls, One was marked as the main entrance to the city above, the other had a room marked ‘Droid Recovery Room’.

 

“Is this the best you can do?” I asked. He bleeped. I read my pad.

 

-All that is in the memory of this toaster they have mounted in the wall.

There is a main computer beyond the droid recovery room- The section that ended in darkness flashed as if to say, ‘here dummy’.

 

I shook my head, and we headed for the recovery room. Unfortunately we had to pass through the Security control room, and we couldn't have timed our arrival worse if we had tried. The shift was changing, and every soldier knows that this is the most alert time of any watch.

 

The guard at the desk challenged us, and started to press a button. I reached out, and she slumped stunned as we charged the guards. There were five of them, but we took care of them easily. We hurried past into the section where the Droid Recovery Room was. The guards there were expecting relief, not an attack. We took them down, and turned to look at the droid. It was shaped like a torpedo with legs, all hanging limply at the moment. T3 rolled up, hoisted himself to full height, and opened the side. He pulled out the data module, and signaled that he was done.

 

Instead of heading back, we went on down the hall that T3 said led to the main computer. We entered a large atrium, and ducked for cover as a Sith and a Selkath came out of a room to the south.

 

“Then it is agreed Duula?” He asked.

 

“Yes. Ambassador Kolorid. The next time there is a major confrontation between your peoples, and the Republic is judged to be the blame, I will call for the removal of both forces from Manaan. Czerka Corporation has already offered to take up the shipments of both sides.” The Selkath said.

 

“Good.” Kolorid purred. “I am sure that Czerka will live up to their responsibilities.”

 

“You understand this is the only way to maintain our neutrality.” Duula went on. “If fight you must, you must do it away from here.”

 

“I can agree with that. I know my Republic Counterpart will disagree, but he wants the Kolto for himself.”

 

They stood exchanging platitudes for several more minutes, then the Selkath touched a stud on his armband. A small flyer lifted over the rail, and he mounted it.

 

“As do we, you stupid fish.” Kolorid growled. He went back into the office.

 

T3 rolled out, and entered the hallway to the main computer. He accessed the system, humming in satisfaction.

 

-I can slice and dice this system- He bleeped. -Do you want it fried or as sushi? -

 

“Don’t say that where the Selkath can hear you.” I admonished. “Any guards left?”

 

-One barracks. Neutralized-

 

“Droids?”

 

-The two in the passageway we saw. Disabled. Force field down-

 

“What about the contract the Czerka rep was talking about?”

 

-Correspondence over a four week period including discussions on the percentage of Republic consigned Kolto to be turned over to Sith ships, then reported as ‘captured’ by Sith forces. The Sith want 45%, Czerka wants to limit it to 25. Copy downloaded to data pad-

 

“So they get paid twice.” Juhani said. “The Republic even pays their insurance for loss!” I nodded.

 

“What is that area beyond the droids?”

 

-Marked Selkath Training Area. Marked as Accessed only by Dark Jedi Master Tolan-

 

“Dark Jedi Master?” Juhani asked aghast. Among the Jedi, you have merely Apprentice Padawan and Master as ranks, though Padawan are also divided into Padawan-learner and Padawan-Knight. But the Sith seemed to have discovered the pleasures of a bureaucracy. Apprentices, Dark Jedi, Dark Jedi Teachers, Dark Jedi Masters, Darth Apprentices, and Darth Masters.

 

“We have to find out what is in there.” I said. “Dark Jedi or no.” I looked at T3. “Can you store all of the data you have collected in a file so no one can access it without my command?”

 

-As if that were hard. All data collected in this complex stored in file ‘Ship maintenance’ and 200 pages of basic maintenance of the ship stuck on at the start-

 

We moved back to the force field. The droids beyond it were dark, and T3 went up to each disabling them permanently.

 

I walked past them, and into the hall beyond. The walls were covered with murals, and each mural extolled a battle the Sith had won, or a great leader of their sect. However history played second fiddle to histrionics. Darth Kun killing his master, but in the mural, Vodo-Siosk Baas was attacking him from behind. Yavin, with Exar Kun standing on the summit of his temple, the worshipful Massassi falling to power the great bolt of force he fired into the heavens. There were more, each more appalling. Ajunta Pall, the first of the Jedi to join the Sith, looking like a saint as he stood on Korriban on a pile of bodies.

 

I was sickened by the time we reached the end of the corridor. I heard a moan, and knew that it was not sound, but the Force calling. I turned right, and opened the door marked Medical Bay. Lying on the floor was a horribly tortured young Selkath. I knelt beside him, running my hand over his head gently. The rubbery skin was soft.

 

“Shasha?” The dying male asked in a soft voice.

 

“No. I am Danika. I am a Jedi.”

 

“Then it is not too late.” He tried to roll over, and I helped him. He ripped open his suit, pulling out a small medallion. “Tell Shasha... tell the others... The Sith...” He gasped, and died.

 

I clutched the medallion, then lay him back down. “T3, where is this ‘master’ Tolan.”

 

He bleeped, and for once I didn't need the translation. I stormed down the hall to the door, and it opened. A Selkath was busy with two training droids, and I slammed him into a wall with the force hard enough to knock him out. The door beyond was where Tolan was.

 

This door also opened. “Who dares disturb...” He stared at me. “You’re dead!”

 

“What is it, Master?” One of the Selkath apprentices with him asked.

 

“Kill her!” He screamed.

 

I stepped between them. To me at that moment they were stuck in syrup and unable to move. I struck at Tolan, and his lightsaber blocked me. He reached out, and I felt his feeble attempt to catch my throat. I pushed it aside, then reached out. I could visualize his heart, and he spasmed as my hand closed on it. One squeeze...

 

No! I would not sink to his level!

 

I released him, then cut, his head bouncing across the floor. Juhani looked at me, and I could see the shock then approval at how close I had come to becoming what I hated the most.

 

It took a few minutes to find Tolan’s logs. He had waxed lyrical on the ‘naiveté’ of the Selkath, and how they would fall into the line the Sith demanded without demur. As for the poor tortured Selkath, he had noted, ‘Galas has proven intransigent, wanting reasons for why the Jedi are evil. I have dealt him a lesson in pain that would have pleased Darth Malak!’

 

I held it. I knew somehow where the Selkath apprentices were. I led our party back to them.

 

The door hissed open, and the four Selkath stood. “Intruders! I can feel the force in them. The Jedi are attacking!” He looked to a female. “Shasha, should we call our Master?”

 

“Not yet. We cannot run to the Master every time a little problem occurs. We will handle this by ourselves.”

 

“Perhaps this is a test they have given us!” Another Selkath said.

 

“Perhaps. Speak, Human. What are you doing here? Only Loyal Selkath of the New Order and our Dark Jedi Masters are allowed here!”

 

“I send you greetings from your father Shaelas. He asked me to investigate your whereabouts.”

 

“I told you he would investigate Shasha! You’re father has always hated the Sith!”

 

“My father is blinded by his own prejudice! He cannot see that we, the young must soon lead, and it is we that will make the decisions. Decisions guided by what is right for our people!” She glared at me. “Return to that old man who knows nothing of truth! The Sith teach us the ways of the force, praise us for our insight! They will lead us into a new world where we will decide! Not old stupid men!”

 

“They lie to you.” I said.

 

“Everything the Republic spouts about the Sith are half-truths and full lies! They are no more monsters than the Republic! Their system is purer, in that the intelligent and the strong lead!” She laughed. “As a sign of their good faith, they have even promised to withdraw their forces after the Republic is defeated!”

 

I sighed. Then I spoke from the well of the Force within me in her own language. “And it is said the Firaxa will promise to let you go if you enter his mouth. For he knows a meal says nothing of value about being eaten.”

 

She stiffened. “Spare us your lies! The Sith have treated us with nothing but respect! Your words say that we are prisoners, but do you see any guards? Galas decided that this was not his way, and was returned to the city not an hour ago!”

 

“What of Taris-”

 

“Taris was propaganda! Like the claims of the Mandalore atrocities that were lies!”

 

I held out my hand, the medallion Galas had given me on my palm. “Look in the Medical Bay. You will find a young Selkath tortured to death. Before he died, he gave me this.”

 

One of the Selkath took it, looking at the medallion. “I recognize this! I gave it to Galas when we were both young!”

 

“Lies and more lies!” I could see that she was shaken by it. “You must have killed him yourself! That is only proof that Galas is dead, but not of who killed him!”

 

Wordlessly, I handed her the datapad. Shasha took it, and keyed it open. The others gathered to look.

 

“Shasha, this is the master’s own pad! And that is the master!” They watched the scene play out. Shasha shut it off, and her hand dropped lifeless.

 

I spoke gently. “Shasha, I know what they said to you. ‘The old will not pay attention until you force them. They are jealous of what you can do that they no longer can. We can give you the power they have now, rather than waiting the years they say you must’.” I shook my head sadly. “I would have gladly brought you to the attention of the Council if I had seen you before today. Do you think that I, your elder by ten years likes being told that I am too young and foolish? Yet there is wisdom in the words, ‘He that admits he doesn’t know everything is willing to learn anything’. My master told me that.”

 

“I cannot deny it.” She said sadly. “The Sith only use us to betray our people. We must take this to my father, report this to the Council.” She looked sadly at me. “It was a beautiful dream, but not real, as dreams are not. I apologize for my harsh words. We must go from here, warn our people of what the Sith intend.”

 

They walked out with the pad. We retraced our steps to the elevator.

[Char Ell]

... My own Shasha is among them.”

In the game the name of Shaelas' daughter's is Shasa. The second h is not needed.

 

It took me a while but I think I finally understand what you've added to the story regarding the kolto. The Sith ambassador had an agreement with Duula that Duula would use his position on the court to get both the Sith and the Republic thrown off Manaan after their next conflict. Czerka would then take control of kolto exports and would "lose" some of the Republic shipments to Sith attacks, only the shipments would go to the Sith instead. Did I get it right? If so then I think you did an expert job with this addition. IIRC Duula was the judge who seemed to favor the Sith in the game and now, thanks to this chapter, we know why.

[machievelli]

The biggest problem with the hardcore pacifist is they do things that are truly reprehensible in the name of their belief. Chamberlain gave away a country he didn't even own to guarantee peace for his own, and failed.

 

Nost of the really hardcore one's automatically assume that it is your own side that is wrong. It has to be because otherwise you wouldn't be fighting.

[machievelli]

Arrest

 

Danika

 

A pair of Selkath in Constabulary uniforms with a full dozen droids awaited our arrival on the deck above. “You there, human! You are to be placed under arrest by order of the City Council of Ahto City. You will come with me.”

 

“Why am I being arrested?” I asked. T3 and Juhani had moved aside, ready to attack at my word.

 

“While the Sith Embassy is by law an extraterritorial region, our systems have detected a number of energy discharges suggesting weapons fire. Inquiries of the embassy staff have netted incomprehension. The only person that could be contacted was the ambassador himself. He has since reported that there are a number of dead and things of great value have been stolen.

 

“You, the Cathar and your droid were reported by the cameras in docking section 7A, which is restricted to the Sith, yet your entry records state no such allegiance.

 

“As the leader of this party it is the judgment that you are the cause of the loss of communication, and are guilty of murder and theft. Your companions will be returned to your vessel, and the ship will be banned from departure until your trial is completed.

 

“You will now come with us. Any attempt to escape will be dealt with. Lethal force has been authorized.”

 

I looked at him, then took my lightsaber from my belt, handing it to Juhani. “I am at you disposal.”

 

The trams may have been set to go through all the areas of the city, but the pass card the Selkath officer used took us straight to Ahto West, where the court and the holding facility was. I was put in a holding cell, and the door closed. I knelt, and focused my mind. I meditated while I waited. Something brought my attention back, and I opened my eyes, seeing Ambassador Kolorid.

 

“Well, I have to thank you woman. Thanks to this brazen attack, the Republic will either be barred from the planet, or will pay such a fine that they will buy our Kolto for the next year.”

 

“I think not.” I said softly. “My trial will reveal that you have been taking Selkath youths and trying to convert them to your philosophy.”

 

His smile slipped. “You can’t prove that. We know your droid didn’t have any such data in his memory banks.” We asked the Selkath to check. And the data pad you carried?” He smirked. “Proprietary diplomatic correspondence. We demanded its return.”

 

“Then it is only my word against yours.” I said, closing my eyes. “Go away, Ambassador.”

 

He stormed off. I was starting to sink back into meditation when someone else came to the cell. I sighed, opening my eyes. It was a Selkath in a drab covering.

 

“I am Bwa’lass. I have been selected to be your arbiter for your trial.”

“Arbiter?”

 

“Yes. The accused is allowed an arbiter to speak his case, since only the arbiter may speak unless the subject is questioned in court. It streamlines our court system. I will endeavor to prove you innocent of these crimes, and if not, try to mitigate the severity of the sentencing.”

 

“What have I been charged with?”

 

“Initiating violence against the Sith within their embassy, murder of Sith embassy personnel, and disregarding our own laws in so doing.” He checked his datapad. “The evidence is strong, but I may be able to mitigate sentencing at least.”

 

An alarm went off in my head. “You don’t expect me to go free.”

 

“It is highly unlikely. The Sith have supplied video data that shows you assaulting their people, and killing them. However there may be mitigation in your reasons for being there. I have been given all the relevant background data on you and your companions, so we can ignore that. For what reason did you enter the Sith Embassy illegally?”

 

“I, well, I broke in.”

 

He made a whistling sound I knew was the equivalent of a human snorting. “Criminality seems to be the norm with you off worlders. I am not terribly surprised by your actions, but the court will wish to hear something more substantative. What is your prior association with the Sith?”

 

“I am on a mission for the Jedi Council. As such my previous dealings with the Sith are not germane to this case.”

 

“I would beg to differ. It is well known that the Jedi and the Sith hate each other. The Sith are an expansionist power, as is the Republic and the Jedi are known to back the Republic where the Sith are involved. You and your Council may make it your personal mission to forestall them, but we frown on you fighting on our planet.

 

“I think you will need a more thorough explanation, including your mission in order to convince our judges.” He hummed to himself. “That seems to be all I need before the trial. When you are ready, I can petition the Judges for the trial to commence.”

 

That had been the most lackluster attempt at an interview I had ever heard. “That is all you’re going to ask?”

 

“I have all the information I need to mitigate your sentencing. The facts on the other matters are clear.”

 

“If it’s all the same to you, I would rather defend myself.”

 

He looked at me. “While that is your right, I would advise against it. I am versed in all the necessary particulars of this case and the laws of the Selkath as they apply. To set me aside as arbiter will put you at risk of the death penalty.”

 

“That is all well and good, but I would rather go into court as my own council, rather than with an arbiter who already believes my guilt and merely seeks to mitigate it.”

 

“I will so inform the court. I will also ask as my final act as your arbiter, that they give you until dawn tomorrow to think about this request.”

 

 

 

Breakout, sort of

 

Danika

 

It was around midnight when I came out of meditation with a start. There had been a sound, like a sonic rifle going off, but hushed. I came to my feet, and reached for the door. There was a tingle of electricity. If I touched it I would bounce around the tiny cell for an hour before I stopped.

 

I concentrated on the lock, and it snicked open. The field collapsed as it did. I shoved the door open, then snatched a data pad from the desk, setting it to record. With the Force, I leaped onto the lintel of the door.

 

The door hissed open below me, and I imagined myself a brick in the wall. Two people entered. The darkness hid their race. One of them aimed a wide-belled weapon, and the sonic charge blasted into my cell. “Get her.”

 

The other opened the door, and bent. “She isn’t here.”

 

“What? Of course she is! We took out the guard, the door was locked!”

 

“Well she must be invisible then, because I don’t see her.” He flipped on a hand light.

 

I concentrated on the man with the light. You don’t see her. She must have escaped...

 

“She must have escaped herself.” He sighed. “What’s the plan?”

 

“Well of course we can’t dump her in the ocean for the Firaxa. The rest of the plan is just what the Ambassador says. We were paid by one of her crew to bust her out, and she took passage on the Ithorian freighter.”

 

“Fine. Should we mention that she already got away?”

 

“Are you daft? Then he doesn’t pay us the rest.” They went out mumbling. I dropped to the floor, then stepped outside. The guard was huddled against the wall, shuddering. A close up sonic blast. I found a med kit on his belt, and injected him with something to alleviate the affects, then I moved to a close by kiosk. I called the ship.

 

“Trouble.” I filled Carth in on what had happened, including the impromptu jailbreak. “I’m willing to bet that the local cameras are either rigged to say what they want, or taken out. Easier to claim I broke myself out. Or someone from the ship helped.”

 

“We’ll come over and get you.”

 

“You will do nothing of the kind. Have Mission crack into the local database. Find a Selkath named Shaelas. He’s the father of one of the Selkath recruits. Give him the full story concerning his daughter and the Sith. Ask him to help.”

 

“But what will you do?”

 

“I am going to catch a nap. Call back at this kiosk in an hour.”

 

“Danika.” Bastila came on the com. “We can't just leave you out there!”

 

“You have to. But I would love to have you there in the morning when I go to trial. Afterward we can have breakfast.”

 

There was silence. “If it were anyone else, I would think you had just made a date.” She said archly.

 

“Maybe I am.” I chuckled. “See you in court.” I logged off, and found an out of the way alcove. I set my internal alarm for an hour, and sank back into meditation. If done properly, meditation could make up for sleep. I kept hanging up on Tolan. You’re dead! Who did he think I was?

 

An hour later, I roused myself, and headed toward the kiosk. A garbage truck was parked there, and a Selkath was busy checking the cans along the way. I waited, but he didn’t move on.

 

“Danika Wordweaver. Shaelas sent me.” The Selkath whispered. I stepped out, and he motioned for me to get in the bin on the back. The vehicle hummed, then moved away at a fast clip. It entered a tram, and I head a pass card being used. Then the tram stopped. “Please, exit the vehicle.”

 

I slid over the side. Shaelas and Shasa stood there. The girl touched my side. “You have not escaped!”

 

“No. Why should I have?”

 

“That is what my father asked the media when they reported that you had attacked a guard and escaped. Two off worlders claimed they had been paid by your shipmates to break you out, and saw you as far as a transport that left an hour ago. The constabulary has surrounded your ship, with orders to fire on it if they attempt to escape as well!”

 

I told them what had happened. Shaelas nodded. “If you had disappeared, everything you might say would have been instantly suspect. You will be a guest in my land house this evening. My daughter and I will assure that you are in court tomorrow.”

 

“First, who has been pushing to allow a corporation to pick up the Kolto for both sides? I have heard that they intend to kick both sides off the planet as well.”

 

“That would be councilor Duula. He is also one of the judges this cycle. You see, all of the councilors take a turn as judges. That way any corruption is also punishable as failure to heed their charge as judge. Why?”

 

“Sit with me and I will tell you...”

 

The land house was an apartment used by the Selkath for entertaining or for guests that were not aquatic as they were. I found the furniture to be mundane, but since they themselves never spent too much time there, it didn’t matter.

 

As the sun rose, Shasa came up out of a hole leading to the sea. Her clothing dripped as she entered the bedroom. “My father will join us shortly. We don't stock a lot of off worlder food, but we do have some things that are edible by you.”

 

“Nothing for me, unless you have some form of tea.”

 

“Sadly, we do not. Hot liquid scars our throats. However father has arranged for some hot beverages for you when we reach the courtroom.”

 

“That will be fine. Thank him for me.”

 

Shaelas had a lifter designed by his own people. It was amphibious and watertight as well, allowing it to operate below the surface and above. He flew it out of his land house, into the ocean, then up over the expanse of the city. My clothes had been cleaned, so I didn't smell like garbage anymore.

 

The lifter dropped in Ahto West at the courthouse, and we stepped out.

 

“...since the female has fled, she has freely admitted her crime.” Ambassador Kolorid was pontificating. “Therefore this court must impose punishment on the Republic for her heinous attack.”

 

“Point of order, your honor.” I said. The people that were there turned. Kolorid’s mouth dropped open as I walked up the aisle. “I beg the court’s forgiveness, the attempt to make me disappear last evening has thrown off my request to be heard as my own arbiter.”

 

I couldn’t tell with the goggle-eyed Selkath, but the humans looked stunned. Bastila grinned, and came to me, handing me a cup of tea.

 

“Can you explain what occurred in the holding facility last night?” One of the judges asked.

 

“Two men attacked and stunned the guard on duty. I freed myself from my cell, and was able to hide when they came in and used the same weapon on my cell. They argued, since their job was to feed me to the Firaxa. They decided to follow through with the rest of the plan. Even now I assume messages have gone out to take me off an Ithorian freighter.

 

“However, as the court can see, I am here, on time, awaiting my trial. I would ask the condition of the Selkath that was injured.”

 

“A Bothan neural stunner. He is in serious condition, but expected to recover. This is because an injection of Neurohystamine was used on him, which allowed him to recover enough to call his officer.”

 

“Administered by me.” I added. “Forensic testing of the injector will prove this.”

 

“May I ask why this point must be added?” Judge Duula growled.

 

“Because this was an attempt to assist the guard by myself. If I had attacked him or ordered an attack, I would not have cared about his condition.” I set down the data pad with the conversation of my ‘rescuers’. “This, your honors, will prove my contention that I made no attempt to escape.”

 

“So noted.” Another judge said. “We will confer on your request to act as your own arbiter.” Panels rose between the judges and the courtroom. I sipped my tea calmly. The panels dropped. “It is the decision of the majority of this court that you are allowed to act as your own arbiter. The law requires me to state however that once this trial begins, it cannot be stopped for any reason. Are you ready to begin?”

 

I considered. T3 was there, but where had Shaelas and Shasa gone? I shrugged. “I am ready to proceed.”

 

“Very well. You are accused of the grievous murder of Sith officials, theft, vandalism, and violations of the local Neutrality statute. How do you plead?”

 

“Innocent, your honor.”

 

“Let the record show that empanelled for this trial are Judges Shelkar,”

 

“Jhosa.” Another Selkath stated.

 

“Naleshekan.”

 

“Kota.”

 

“And Duula.” The last said.

 

“This is a trial to discover the culpability and punishment of this individual in the recent assault on the Sith Embassy.” Shelkar read.

 

“Due to the severity of these charges, normal formalities are suspended for this trial.” Judge Jhosa added. “The penalty for these crimes is death.” He looked to Judge Kota. “You may begin the questioning your honor.”

 

Kota leaned forward. “You have pled innocence in this matter. However there are records of our own sensors that weapons were fired inside the Sith embassy.”

 

Shelkar picked it up. “We have records of you entering the restricted Sith landing bay a short time before the attack. The Sith have claimed diplomatic privilege and have told us nothing of what occurred. However you, as someone with a known antipathy for the Sith did enter their embassy just before the firing began. What was your business in the Sith Embassy?”

 

“I was asked to investigate the disappearance of several Selkath youths.”

 

Jhosa sat up at this. “You were led to believe that these youth had disappeared due to some Sith plan?”

 

Duula poured oil on the waters. “She has no doubt been listening to the rumor mongering of Shaelas and his bunch.”

 

“This is noted. Did you find evidence to support your suspicions?” Shelkar asked.

 

I folded back my collar. The search had been perfunctory when I had been arrested, and the pin, with blood still on it, had been in the collar. I held it where they could see it, then handed it to the bailiff. He handed it to Shelkar. “This belonged to Galas. You found this inside the embassy?”

 

“The male child himself handed it to me before he died.”

 

“Objection!” Kolorid screamed. “She murders a Selkath, takes something readily recognizable, and claims she found it in our embassy! The infamy of her act!”

 

“So noted, Ambassador. There are those among us that knew the youth, and this is his. But you have raised a valid point. How can this court know that you did not murder the youth?”

 

“By torture?” Someone called from the rear of the court. Shaelas, along with his daughter and three other Selkath I recognized entered. “My daughter spoke to this woman within the Sith embassy. She recognized the pin as you did, and recognized this as well.” He held up the data pad. “The record of the Jedi Dark Master that boasts not only of the naiveté or our children, but his murder of Galas!” He walked through the room, setting it before Judge Shelkar.

 

The judge signaled, and the panels rose again. Shaelas came over to me, bowing. “I had to assure that the children were also here. They have yet to stand as judges, and this experience will do them good.” I nodded.

 

The panels dropped. Shelkar faced me. “It is the decision of this court that the woman acted in the best interests of the Selkath people. We move to-”

 

“Your honor, I ask a brief moment.” I interrupted.

 

“Woman, you are about to go free. I see no reason to delay that.” Duula snarled

 

“I ask the court to meet in camera, with only myself my droid, and other Selkath present. What I have also discovered is of interest to the Selkath people, and need not be trumpeted to the Galaxy at large,”

 

Shelkar stared at me. “This court is adjourned to be reopened in camera. All people not mentioned in the request will depart.” The bailiffs pushed everyone toward the door. Bastila looked adamant, but I signaled for her to go. The doors slammed down, and Shelkar gaveled the court into session again.

 

“I have been told by Councilor Shaelas that all councilor must sit as judges as well, to assure that any criminal acts can be considered violations of their own oaths of office. This is a noble effort to limit the corruption courts in the Galaxy face every day. I applaud this court in that decision.

 

“There is proof that one of the judges empanelled here has acted secretly in a manner to remove the problem of the warring factions from this planet. While his act may be perceived as good in the whole, he does not have all of the information. The plan as it has been given to him, is that both factions be ordered off Manaan. All consignments of Kolto for each are to be carried by Czerka Corporation, which is a Republic corporation with links on planets on both sides of the conflict.”

 

“Duula we have heard enough of your ranting about this. You appear to stand accused by this woman.” Naleshekan said.

 

“I still stand by it! We cannot remain neutral if both sides sit upon our planet! As you all know, I would gladly deny both sides Kolto if I did not feel that one side or the other would try to capture it.”

 

“Judge Duula, please listen. T3, play the correspondence between Ambassador Kolorid and the Czerka Representative on the planet.” The droid rolled out. He didn’t play it all. Just the relevant portions. The judges stared at their compatriot as the Czerka rep complained that while 25% losses to Sith attacks would have been acceptable; the 45% demanded by the ambassador would cause an investigation that might reveal their duplicity.

 

“So a Republic corporation lies to it’s own government! So what!” Duula screamed. “It's like the lies about Taris!”

 

“Lies? Your honor, my vessel was one of those that escaped from Taris. T3.”

 

The little droid should have been working for a news agency. A holographic representation of the system flashed up. The massive blob of Taris rested in the middle of a series of red arrow shapes. Each marked with a Sith designation, and name. He paused the picture, to show the fleet in it‘s entirety. Then began a playback from our own sensors. Ebon Hawk was circled with a green line, all others not Sith in blue, as was the planet, the symbolic color for neutrals. Fire swept down from the skies, ships attempting to escape were shattered as they ran toward the fleet, hoping to get past them. Instead of the cockpit chatter of all those ships, we heard instead the frequency jumping, people on the ground saying that they surrendered, that they were innocent, that they would even swear alliance, or simply begging for mercy. Ebon Hawk broke through, and I could see that only two or three had succeeded as we did.

 

I was reliving it, and I cried as ship after ship died. As North City collapsed into ruin, followed by South City. I didn’t have the time to see it when it had occurred, and it was a knife in the gut to me.

 

The replay ended, and I found myself sobbing. Maybe Gadon and his Beks had survived. Maybe Gendar and his Outcasts. No one else could have.

 

The Selkath were stunned. Duula looked at the empty space before them, his eyes haunted. “I move that Czerka Corporation be banned from all business dealings on Manaan. That all contracts with said corporation be held in abeyance until this conflict has ended.”

 

I bowed to them, and left them to their deliberations.

 

Bastila came up to me, and I hugged her tightly, burying my head against her chest. “But, you wanted breakfast!” She protested.

 

“No. Just, hold me for a little while.” I whispered. “Keep the chill of hell from me.”

[Char Ell]

Well done! Rearranging all those pieces of the Manaan story and putting them back together, with a few additions, really worked out quite nicely.

 

I'm somewhat confused by Danika's extreme emotional reaction to T3-M4's replay of the destruction of Taris however.

 

Oh yes. I did notice how you spelled the name of Shaelas' daughter in that chapter too.

[machievelli]

I'm somewhat confused by Danika's extreme emotional reaction to T3-M4's replay of the destruction of Taris however.

QUOTE]

 

Having been in a real life battle situation, i can tell you that what happens is you focus on what you're doing. During the flight out she was too busy to be paying attention, couldn;t hear the frantic please for help. She was at a turret, trying to protect her ship.

 

She knew what had happened, but as I said when Bastila commentd on death on Tatooine, it really isn't real to you yet. You know several billion people just died, but it didn't happen before your eyes.

 

Then suddenly you're witnessing it. No adrenaline rush, no combat focus. You're watching them die, hearing their cries, seeing the destruction. Danika as you might have noticed is the kind of soldier that always goes over and over what she did wrong in the last battle. She wishes she could stop, go back to the last save, and do it again without losing the people she did.

 

Plus there is something every soldier and everyone who has ever survived a major disaster knows very well, and that is survivor's guilt. If you have ever seen the Movie Zulu, there is the last scene where Lieutenant Chard asks Lieutenant Bromhead how he feels after his first battle. The last word he uses in description, is 'ashamed'. You live, he dies, and part of you, while exhilerated that you're still there to feel it, is shamed that he did not.

[machievelli]

Rift

 

Bastila

 

I found myself holding Danika on a bench near the court. The bond between us had become both more tenuous, and deeper. I wasn't getting every emotional mood swing, but when I did it was like being flooded with dark waters. She had gone from the calm perfect Jedi to this crying child just within a few moments. What exactly had set it off, I don’t know. But she felt as if she was an admiral that had won a great victory, but at a horrendous cost. She felt a bottomless shame that she no, that we the crew of Ebon Hawk had survived.

 

I held her, murmuring gently into her hair as she cried. My presence, my feelings along the link helped her. I didn’t feel anger with her at this reaction, or nervousness that I was holding a woman four years older than I was as I did. I was the mother bosom to her, the place where even the bravest of ancient man went for succor when life gets too harsh.

 

Yet she didn't slip toward the dark side. She had reacted; using the force to grasp Tolan’s heart, then she made herself turned away from killing with the force without even a debate. I felt so proud of what she had become in such a short time. Yet the pride was shot with dread. We had to go to Korriban next. To the dark heart of the Sith itself. Only then could we go even deeper into the abyss. To wherever the Star Forge was. She sighed, and giggled. “What is so funny?” I asked.

 

“Considering where my face is, I suddenly had an urge to ask for some cookies.”

 

I suddenly understood what she meant, pushing her aside. “You are incorrigible!”

 

“I hope not.” She said. “You’re the only person that has kept me on a even keel so far.” She shook her head, and dried her eyes. “All right, back to normal.” She stood. “We have an ambassador to see.”

 

“Not yet.” I said. She raised an eyebrow at me. “You are going to sit down, eat some breakfast, have some tea, and relax for at least an hour.”

 

She looked at me. ”Yes mother.”

 

“Don't get cute with me, you, yokel!”

 

“Such language.” She murmured.

 

We sat for the time specified, and she polished off enough stew to make Canderous sleepy. After polishing the bowl with the last of her bread, we walked to the Republic embassy.

 

Ambassador Wann came toward us. “Did you get it?” He demanded? Danika tapped T3, and held out the data cube the robot spat out. “Excellent! I will have our technicians assure that it has not been tampered with.”

 

“Now to answer my questions.”

 

“You Jedi, always so forward!” He chuckled, then his face went cold. “Since you are Jedi, I can trust you with this. Please, come to my office.” He led us into a room, then closed the door. I could feel the hum of an anti-snooping field. “As you know, we are fighting a life and death struggle against the Sith. You may also know that we aren‘t doing too well. We need much in the way of supplies, and nothing can be allowed to delay those supplies. Manaan is the only source of Kolto in the galaxy, and we need it desperately. Frankly, we need all we can get.

 

“It sounds like you are about to tell us of an indiscretion.” Danika said.

 

“The conservatives have a majority in the Council at present, and they want the planet to remain neutral, to sell to both sides. But there are more far looking people on the council. They know that if the Sith win, there is nothing that will stop them from taking over anyway. So we made a deal.”

 

“You violated the treaty?” Danika asked.

 

“Not as such. The agreement was to assist the Selkath in the gathering and processing of Kolto. The Selkath still use the methods their ancestors used, seining Kolto that floats to the surface, then refining it. However right before the war began, a survey submersible found where the Kolto floats up from. It is called Hrakert Rift. An abyss about 20 kilometers from the city, half a kilometer from the surface with the rift itself diving over 11 kilometers into the depths. Kolto forms there in underwater volcanic vents, and breaks free to float upward. The rock formations at the top and sides of the rift capture a lot of it. Less than ten percent actually gets carried upward. The Selkath can dive that deep, but the Rift is also the center of an old religion here. Normal mining by them would violate several taboos.

 

“So last year we offered to set up a facility to gather and process the Kolto underwater. I don’t know how much you know about Kolto refining...?” He paused until we shook our heads. “Most of the raw Kolto paste is lost between the ocean floor and the surface. The native wildlife loves it. The raw paste has to be refined four times. Every time you do, it’s bulk is reduced to ten percent. That means 100 kilos of Kolto paste makes 100 grams of medicinal grade Kolto. We found that we can do the refining down there, which means instead of having to move that 100 kilos, we just have to transport 100 grams. We will have increased their production capability by almost one thousand percent when it is fully online, though at present we‘ve only increased it by about two hundred percent. ”

 

“But something happened.” Danika pressed.

 

“Yes. A few days ago, as the final section of the facility was being installed, the base reported that they had found some kind of structure. An obelisk right where the last section was supposed to go. Then suddenly we lost contact. No more communications.”

 

‘What happened?”

 

“We don‘t know!” He sighed. “I sent what troops I had, about three squads. No word back. We began hiring mercenaries, and began sending them down, but none of them have returned either. We finally had the droid the Sith captured sent here, and deployed it. All we’ve been trying to do is contact the base again!” He sighed. “Now that we have the data, we still don’t know what to do. The Sith don‘t know exactly what we’re up to, but they’ve been hiring mercenaries at twice what we pay just to stop us.

 

“Then you came with the mention of an ancient artifact. Probably what we found. If you know a way to get past this mess, I am duty bound to assist you.”

 

“How can I get down there?” Danika asked. She was pale.

 

“We have a submersible, one of the personnel transports we have been using to tend the station. There is room for a crew of five. It will automatically home in on the station, and take you right there. I haven’t got any more troops I can spare to send with you, though.”

 

She took the card, her hand trembling. “We can leave immediately.” She stood. “Where is the sub bay?”

 

He directed us, and Danika walked out. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

 

“I don’t like being in an enclosed space that tight.” She admitted. “I can handle it when I’m in a ship, but something this small... I don’t know.”

 

“I’ll be there with you.” She looked at me gratefully.

 

The submersible was smaller than I had thought. Danika looked at it as if it were her coffin, but climbed in without demur. T3 rolled down into one of the open slots, plugging into the systems, bringing them up. I climbed down, and the hatch slid closed.

 

Water flowed up as the sub began its dive. We entered a green expanse of light, and fish swam by us as we dove toward the bottom. A huge pillar fifty meters across swept by to our right, then we were in the open sea. The light faded as we went deeper. Suddenly a Firaxa swam by, snapping at us. The Firaxa is one of the largest ocean going predators of the oceans of Manaan, averaging five to ten meters in length.

 

As we went deeper, the lights clicked on. All we could see was a narrow cone boring directly ahead of us. T3 suddenly bleeped, and the sub spun on one wing. Something rushed past us. All I could see was a single eye and teeth.

 

Danika showed me the datapad that reported what T3 was saying.

 

-Large concentration of Firaxa ahead. Number uncounted. Evading attacks-

 

“What is causing that?” Danika asked.

 

I slid forward. There was a manual piloting system, and ahead of us circled in red on the lidar was one hell of a lot of Firaxa. “Do we have any weapons, T3?”

 

A listing came up. I highlighted one. “Give me control!”

 

The controls came alive in my hands, and I keyed up my selection. A dozen sonic grenades fell away, and I aimed us upward as the sharks charged toward us. The sub shuddered as the grenades ripple fired. The Firaxa staggered, then drifted toward the bottom, stunned. I aimed for the hole I had made, and plunged deeper. The bottom was only a few meters away, and I pulled out, missing a rocky outcropping as we did. I set the system to drop a grenade every few seconds, and ran before the wave of sharks that followed.

 

There was a blob marked in green, the station itself. Something the size of a cruiser was near it, and the huge shape moved toward us. I hugged the bottom, and something passed over us. It took forever to move by. At least 400 meters long, I estimated, whatever it was.

 

There was wreckage as we came closer. Half a dozen subs of the same design had been battered to pieces. One looked as if it had been bitten in half! We came out in a bright green bubble. Lights installed on stanchions made it as bright as 50 meters depth. Then we could see the square box shape of the main building. I tapped the controls, and saw a door open. A Firaxa came out of it, lunging at us, but we were by it, and into the bay. The door closed behind us. I had forgotten to shut off the dispenser, and it was pure luck that I had. We came around the corner into the bay itself, and a swarm of Firaxa were there. They came at us, then stopped, ripped apart as the grenades went off behind us in the enclosed space. We shot upward, coming up into a moon-pool dock. The engines hissed, then died. As the canopy came back, we saw a scene of carnage. A sub had been in the bay beside ours. It had been beaten to wreckage. Bodies lay everywhere. Most had been hacked to death, though some looked as if they had been poisoned.

 

Danika leaped from the sub and her breathing slowed. “I made it!” She gasped smiling.

 

“I knew you would.” I soothed.

 

She shook her head, looking at me oddly. “Did you hear that?”

 

“What?”

 

“A keening sound, like a cry for help.”

 

“No I didn’t.”

 

She shook her head again. Perhaps I am hearing things. Let’s go.”

 

We walked toward a door. It had been locked, but T3 opened it without trouble. A Twi-lek in a mercenary uniform lowered his blaster when he saw us. “We have to get out of here, now!”

 

“Wait. We’re here to rescue you.” I said.

 

He laughed hysterically. “Then rescue me!”

 

“We have to find out what happened first.” Danika tried to sooth him.

 

But her words only made him angry. “They’re all dead, the entire mission is a bust, and I want-”

 

“Soldier, is that a proper report?” I had never heard that I Will Be Obeyed voice from Danika before. The mercenary snapped to attention.

 

“Sorry, sir, no excuse, sir.”

 

“Report.”

 

“Bastan Twill. Hired along with four others to rescue the people down here, sir.”

 

She nodded. “Continue.”

 

“It’s all confusing, sir. The Selkath seem to have gone mad, and began killing everyone. My team was one of two. The other was led by Colin Faris, another top-flight mercenary, ten of us in all.

 

“Our teams moved through the building, but we were ambushed every step of the way. I don't know how many Selkath were working here, but we killed maybe a hundred and they kept coming. Captain Faris got cut off from us with one other survivor down by the locks that lead outside. The survivors of our teams were pushed back, until I finally locked that door. When I did, I was the only one left alive.”

 

Danika nodded. “Stand easy, soldier, we’re taking over.” She said. I could picture a team of a hundred troops behind us as she said that. So could Bastan. He sagged.

 

“You stay here, guard the way home. We’ll take care of it.”

 

“If you say so. But begging your pardon sir, if you didn’t bring tacnukes, You’re going to get reamed.”

 

She smiled at him. “We’ll manage.” She went to the door. “T3, crack it.”

[machievelli]

Danika

 

The instant I saw that mercenary all my fears fell away. I was back in my element, a ground pounder taking charge. The man we left guarding the sub was calmer, ready to fight again.

 

“How did you do that?” Bastila asked. “I didn’t feel any of the force in your words, but he relaxed almost immediately!”

 

“I told you that you underestimated those without the force. All I did was what an officer that saw him in that condition would have done. Stiffened his spine. When everything goes to hell, it’s that officer standing there as if he knows he’s going to live forever that takes you forward.” The door opened into a docking tunnel attached from the docking bay to a vast structure beyond.

 

We reached a computer console, and T3 tied into it. “Any thing moving?”

 

-Statistically everything is in constant motion thanks to molecular displacement. Care to be more specific? -

 

“Smart mouth. Scan the facility. What life forms are moving? Include Droids in that before you start to complain.”

 

There were droids wandering the halls. They were set for full wartime footing, meaning that without an access code, we would have to destroy them. Well I wasn't being charged for damages. T3 locked them down.

 

The halls were clear because just about every room in the station was filled with Selkath. They all had glazed eyes, and wandered around. For a moment, I felt perhaps there was no danger, but right about then a human in a lab coat made a break for it from where he had been hiding in a locker. Every Selkath within ten meters charged in, and ripped him apart. Some of them stung him with spines hidden in their dewlaps. That explained the poison victims.

 

“T3, can you control the speaker system throughout the base?”

 

-Affirmative. If you are going to suggest a ‘sonic bullet’, I would suggest a range that will not kill or harm you as well-

 

“That is exactly what I was thinking. But I don‘t want to kill the Selkath either if we can avoid it.”

 

-Setting Human lethal range locked out. Trying sub-sonic settings that are not dangerous to humans-

 

I felt a rumble in my feet, and twisted my head. Non-lethal doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. The Selkath went even madder than they had been, slamming into walls, then collapsing. “Are they dead?”

 

-Negative. Selkath are more resistant to sound vibrations than humans. They will be incapacitated for several hours-

 

“All right, how do we get to the refining facility?”

 

-Access way not completed. Entry via enviro suit-

 

I shuddered. Bastila noticed it immediately. “Danika-”

 

“Bastila, remember I died in a suit. I felt the air run out. I don’t... I don’t think I can do that again.” I stared at the ocean beyond the armorplast.

 

“Then I will go-”

 

“No. This is my problem. I must deal with it.”

 

We walked down to the locks that accessed the sea. The one closest to my goal was locked with a password. T3 couldn’t circumvent it.

 

I shook my head. “What happened down here?”

 

We reached the lock. Even searching through the complex, there was only the one suit. I grabbed it. I know Bastila would have gone, but I couldn’t let her. This was my fear. If I didn't face it now, I never would. I slipped on the helmet, and as it locked I found myself frantically clawing at the locking ring. She caught my hands, holding them. “Look at me!” She demanded. My eyes were closed. I opened them, seeing her face right there. “Do you want me to go?” I shook my head frantically. “Then you have to get yourself together. I am depending on you!”

 

I shuddered, nodding. She attached a small device to the suit. “I was reading the data files. They used these to drive away Firaxa. Use it if they get too close.” I nodded again. I knew if I opened my mouth I would be begging to get out of this damn suit, let her do this!

 

She stepped aside, and I saw the lock door. I didn’t want to go out there. Couldn’t go out there! But my hand rose, and I keyed it open. The door closed behind me and water sprayed down on top of me. I wanted to scream, but I knew she’d hear it. Hear and open the door, and go instead. I couldn’t let her do this. I had to!

 

The exterior door opened. The room beyond looked like the one I had just left. As I waddled into the room beyond, I heard someone cursing. From the sound he had a lot of experience cursing on a lot of other worlds.

 

“Report.” I said.

 

“Who is that?”

 

“Danika Wordweaver. We’re here to rescue you.”

 

“Yeah about a day too effing late if you ask me.” He snarled.

 

“Faris?”

 

“Yep, that’s me. Captain in the Republic infantry no less, once upon a time.”

“I only reached sergeant.” I replied.

 

“Then they’re scraping the bottom up there.”

 

“No. My commission is less than six months old.”

 

“Oh, new meat to tell me what to do?”

 

“Nothing of the kind, Captain.” I replied. The Riffed troops from the last war were still sensitive. “I’m new. Got a sitrep for me?”

 

“S-BAR.” He rasped back. “I went in with eight, and now I’m the only one left.

 

I translated it as Screwed Beyond All Repair. “No, Bastan Twill made it back to the lock.”

 

“Then that’s a 20% survival. Not at all good.” I heard a ping, and my suit read it. Another suit, 20 meters to my left.

 

“It’s something. I was at Zanebra and we lost more than that.”

 

“You mean someone survived that goat rape?”

 

I waddled toward him. “You’re talking to one of them. What were you planning?”

 

“The bug-out boogie. I can’t get through the building; those damn fish are everywhere. But if I get over to the lock near the boat bay, I can get clear.”

 

“Maybe so, sir. But what about the people in the Harvesting section?”

 

“They can wait for backup with some serious firepower. Maybe some heavy weapons.” I came in sight of him, and he was already heading into a section that was solid. “I blew the walls to flood this area when the fish went bananas the second time. We had orders not to hurt them. I think I’ll throw that goat rapist in the sub for that mission.”

 

That made sense now. This area should have been open, but the walls and fixtures were definitely not designed for immersion. I passed a body that had been slammed into a wall hard enough to almost weld it. I came around the corner, and Faris was jumping out onto the ocean bottom through a ten-foot gap in the wall. “Come on. Just watch out for-”

 

As he spoke, something huge came from the side, catching him like a trout catching a mayfly. Blood sprayed as it powered away from the opening. I came to it, watching his legs float back to the bottom. The Firaxa that had taken him was a lot bigger than the average mentioned.

 

I closed my eyes. I could hear my breath, and frantically looked at the gauge. I still had seven hours. I mentally made my heart slow down. The mud was right there. I looked at the sonic projector mounted on the glove. I silently prayed as I took that last step. It was clear for the moment. I checked the map I had. The harvester section was to my left about thirty meters. The connection to the main section was on the other side of it.

 

I started waddling that way. This suit was not made for rapid movement. I mentally attached jets props hell, while I was imagining a damn hyper drive to it, but my mental manipulation did not supply the equipment. A Firaxa bulleted toward me, and I hit the projector. The animal froze as if I had prodded it, then turned and shot away. I grinned, and every time I saw one of them I hit it with a shot. I reached the door, and had started it cycling when something made me spin and trigger it. A Firaxa spasmed less than a meter from me as I fell through the hatch.

 

I sobbed as the water came down, pulling off my helmet as soon as if was clear. Recycled air, but it wasn’t inside a shoebox damn it!

 

I climbed out of the suit, and drew my light saber. It wouldn’t have worked under water, but I wished it would. I keyed the inner hatch, and was swinging before my target was in view. Three Selkath were there right at the door, and all were down before they even knew I was there. I staggered past them, and went hunting. There were half a dozen more, and I dealt with them. I found a map of the harvesting section, and noticed that the control room was off by itself. I went that way, and found a force field in my way. I found the intercom, and flicked it on.

 

“Hello! Is anyone in the control room?”

 

I heard someone scream then a fan above me kicked in. I felt the air being pumped from the room. I lit my lightsaber, and punched it into the wall near one of the control nodes for the force field. It shorted out, and suddenly I could breath again. I stormed forward. There were two people in the room. The woman started crying. “I’m sorry.” She kept repeating. The man came to her side, and laid his hand on her shoulder.

 

“Sami just panicked We heard your voice, and she thought the Selkath had gotten into the control room.”

 

I nodded, relaxing. “I hope my voice really isn’t that raspy.” I said. Sami smiled a little at that. “I’m Danika. I was sent down to investigate.”

 

“Nomi Nolan. I was the director of this mess before it all went to hell. Sami is our science advisor.” He sat at a terminal. “We haven’t had contact with the base for at least three days.”

 

“I came originally about the artifact you discovered.”

 

They looked at each other. “We only reported it last week. Too soon for you to have been sent.”

 

“I knew it was here, just not where.” I replied. “What can you tell me?”

 

“We were assembling the last section of the harvesting arm. There is an overhang, and we estimate fifty kilotons of Kolto might be trapped below it. The arm has to extend out over the rift itself and down to scrap Kolto from the side. We were setting the foundation legs when someone spotted this obelisk just sitting there on the bottom. Here, Sami, see if we have Munroe’s data feed.”

 

She turned, and began running through the computer. Then she pointed at the large screen. Someone in a suit was waddling through the mud toward a series of lights. “When we found it, I ordered lights installed. Doctor Munroe is... I mean he was the chief of oceanographic sciences for the facility. He was heading toward it when everything went to hell.”

 

The camera stopped as the person halted to get a better picture. A Star Map obelisk stood there thrust out of the sediment. He approached it, careful to keep it in the camera focus. Then something rose beyond it, a mass of black. Then the screen went crazy, then blank.

 

“We got a call from Chuck Feelis, shift supervisor. This was the last section, so we were on an all hands evolution. All but ten of our people were out there, including our cargo lifters.” He signalled Sami again.

 

The screen became a sensor screen, with green lights representing the people. Two were marked as cargo lifters. One of those lit up as a voice said. “Looks like we can get the pylons in without damaging whatever it is.-”

 

“Chuck, in the rift.” As we watched a huge blip appeared, coming up out of the rift fast.

 

“Holy-” the word cut off as Cargo 1 disappeared down its throat. The picture fluttered, then came back. Cargo 2 caught a shock wave from whatever it was, slamming into a pylon, and went out. Red markers suddenly came out of nowhere around the men. As we watched, the lights disappeared.

 

“Those red markers are Firaxa. There was a sonic pulse strong enough to fry our sonar right before they came in. Five of our people got back into the buildings but our troubles had only started.

 

“We had reports that Selkath had fallen, frothing. Then they suddenly began attacking our people. We watched men being ripped apart alive as we ran for here.” Sami looked horrified. “Nolan got up the force field, but it was too late for most of them.

 

“We’ve been waiting for a rescue since then. There are no submersible suits in here.”

 

“What was that black thing?”

 

“That is what freaked everyone out before the Selkath went crazy.” Nolan brought up a scanner.

 

It was a Firaxa. But it was huge. “That’s what, four hundred meters long?” I said in a whisper.

 

“About that. These Firaxa sharks don’t have any natural predators except each other. They live until something kills them.”

 

I stared at it. “And the sound came from that?” They nodded silently.

 

“We think it came up because our construction bothered it.” Nolan said. “But we can’t tell anyone because we can‘t get out of here!” Sami waved at the ocean. “Even if we had suits, the Firaxa have gone mad! They’re attacking everything that moves out there!”

 

“And the Selkath are attacking everyone inside.” Sami added grimly.

 

I nodded, keying my com. “Bastila, have T3 set that sonic shock wave he created to go off every ten minutes.”

 

“We’re moving back to the terminal.”

 

I nodded. “Then we have to get rid of the shark. Any ideas?”

 

Sami nodded “The Firaxa take a man every now and then. We’ve tried sonic fences, turrets that fire sonic charges, sonic mines, but nothing fazes them for long. We’ve been working on a repellant since the project began. The repellant was supposed to make a smell or taste that bothered the Firaxa. But it isn’t working quite right yet.”

 

“It works well enough for that!” Nolan said. “If we can’t get support, we’re dead either way!”

 

“But the repercussions to the environment!” Sami gasped.

 

“I don’t give a damn about an ocean I don't have to live with!”

 

“But it might taint the Kolto-”

 

“Wait a minute!” I shouted. “What is wrong with the repellant?”

 

“It doesn’t chase them away.” Sami said softly. “It kills them. Horribly.”

 

I stared at her. She nodded. “We tested in right before everything went to hell. We had a captured Firaxa in a tank, and dropped a small amount in the water. It caused the skin to rupture and the gills ruptured a few minutes later. We can’t just let it loose in the ocean! We don't know what it will do to the other sea life, and the Kolto-”

 

“And the Selkath.” I added. I pictured Shasawith her skin rupturing, blood spraying out. Even if it only affected the Firaxa, what would happen to an

environment without them? There were laws about this! “How large was the dose you used?”

 

“A milliliter in a fifty thousand-liter tank. After the test we figured one hundredth of a milliliter was still toxic in the same volume.”

 

I pictured only a liter flask. That would poison over a million cubic kilometers of ocean! “There must be another way.”

 

They looked at each other. “Well if the last section wasn’t there, maybe it would go away again. But that is three months of work in construction, and we don’t have enough explosives-” Nolan began.

 

“There’s the hydrolium.”

 

“Sami, the tank on the last section is fifty liters! If that went up, the whole base could go!”

 

“Not if the fuel lines were started. We could turn on the grinder head, and that would put fuel in the line instead-”

 

“It isn’t like that is much better!” Nolan almost screamed. “It could still blow the entire station to hell!”

 

“What is this hydrolium?”

 

“A liquid fuel. We use it for machinery that requires a lot of energy, but where nuclear power packs or fusion generators are contraindicated. That would heat up the nearby ocean, and we’re trying to impact the ecosphere as little as possible.

 

“The problem is, hydrolium reacts with water. You inject a centigram into the engines, and spray it with water. It releases as much energy as a block of blasting explosive. Fifty liters is enough to level the entire base!”

 

“Can the tank be drained off?”

 

“No. It’s a sealed unit. The only thing it feeds to is the line to the engines.”

 

I pictured my options. “I need some blasting explosives.”

 

“We don’t have any in here.” Nolan admitted. “But a grenade could rupture a line easily enough.”

 

“What about filling just one line?”

 

“No can do. It’s all of them or none.” Sami said.

 

“But the lines should survive a rupture in another by themselves and one line should be enough. When the tank sensors detect that, they should shut down.”

 

There were too many ‘shoulds’ in that statement. I fingered my vest. I had grenades there. “I need a bag of some kind.”

 

I stood under the flood, trying to stay calm. Bad enough I had to set off a massive explosion, but I was going to be in the water when it happened. If the shock wave caught me, I would be pulped. Nolan had marked a small storage bay. With the door closed, it should take most of the shock without too much damage. I didn’t mention the qualifier again.

 

The door opened, and I sprayed the outside with the sonic projector. A pair of Firaxa that had been waiting for me bolted away. I waddled out, and spotted the line of deck plates they had laid out down the run of the structure. I went down them, watching for Firaxa.

 

The Hydrolium tank was back near the end of the new structure, the lines already attached. Nolan had said he would start one of the grinding heads when he saw me in the scanners. I moved out farther. Part of me hoped we could keep from destroying the entire thing, but I didn’t have any hopes.

 

Ahead of me, I could hear an engine cycling, then a screeching as a grinder head was dropped to the rock, ripping Kolto from it and flinging it back into a hopper. I jumped to the top of the storage bay, and moved onto the framework itself. I found the hydrolium line. “All right, stop it!” I shouted. As I did a swarm of Firaxa charged into the light, headed for the grinding head. They tried to rip the head free, worrying at whatever they could reach. I saw a Firaxa begin ripping at the fuel line and instinctively leaped down into the shed, pulling the door closed.

 

There was a thump, and the door slammed hard, springing back open then slamming again. Then suddenly the lines began to explode like fireworks. I caught the door, and pulled it to just as the hammer of the gods slammed the shed. I was bounced around, and around me the metal of the shed began to fall apart in shards. I ripped open the door somehow and dived outside just as there was a tearing sound. A girder above me began to stretch, the metal vibrating in a tone that rose until I couldn’t hear it any more, then it shattered. Across the section above me more and more girders did the same thing. Then 50 meters of the structure lurched, lifted the end toward me up, and dropped into the abyss.

 

“Danika.” I looked around. Metal shards had imbedded themselves in the deck plating, some deep enough to punch through into the sediment. One of them still quivered less than a hand’s breadth from my faceplate.

 

“Danika, report.”

 

I staggered to my feet. Where I stood there was the mass of the structure running back toward the base. The lines had ruptured as Nolan had predicted, but the tank had not. But in front of me the landscape had been scoured clean.

 

“Danika, please-”

 

“I’m all right.” I said. “I’m heading toward the Star Map.”

 

“Be careful.”

 

I slogged forward. The Firaxa seemed to be ignoring me. I reached a section just short of the Star Map when I felt something approaching. I turned and stared up.

 

And up.

 

And up.

 

The giant Firaxa was headed toward me, as large as a space cruiser. I felt an urge, and reached up, feeling the smooth skin run across my glove. It seemed to enjoy that simple touch because it slowed down. For a moment I pictured the joking photos where someone stands below a cargo ship that is taking off, hands against the hull plating as if they had lifted it. I could have posed for it myself.

 

Suddenly I felt a sense of awe. These Firaxa sharks don’t have any natural predators except each other. They live until something kills them. I pictured the goggle-eyed builders standing on a cliff face over the ocean, setting the Star Map up. Below them swam a Firaxa shark barely average in size. Then the sea had risen, the shark swimming up with it, but returning to where it felt comfortable, the trench that had been it’s home. It had seen the death of that empire, and witnessed the birth of the Republic.

 

Perhaps the Republic will fall. I thought. And thanks to me this Firaxa will still be here, awaiting the next empire that arose maybe another 30 millennia from now.

 

It swam on, and I ducked as the tail fin swept by. I caught a stanchion just in time to avoid being blown off the edge of the abyss. It swam up, sweeping like a fighter coming back, then it rolled, and dropped back into it’s home.

 

I stood there in awe for several minutes. Then I shook myself, and waddled on to the Star Map. As with the others, it seemed to sense my presence, and opened up. I recorded the data, and slid the datapad back into its case.

 

Suddenly I stopped. I felt something, and knew instinctively that it came down the bond I shared with Bastila. Then... nothing.

 

“Bastila.” I turned, waddling frantically toward the lock leading back to the base. “Bastila, answer me.” I moved past the harvesting control room. “T3-”

 

“Oh do be quiet.” A man’s voice answered. “My master has use for your friend, and I can reprogram the droid. It is you I am waiting for now. Come to me, my little Jedi. Maybe you can free them?” He laughed. “All you have to do is defeat me. Come to the Sub bay. The corridor that attaches it to the main building. I will meet you there.”

 

“If you’ve hurt her-”

 

“Oh please. No threats. Just come.”

 

I felt rage flow through me, and locked it down hard. All it would do is distract me. I reached the door, ripping the suit off as the water dropped below my knees. I brushed my robe, then ran toward the docking bays. Around me the Selkath were waking up. I hoped their madness had passed.

 

I reached the door, that lead into the walkway to the sub bay and when it opened, I saw a man in black armor, standing in the center of the tube, facing me. I recognized that face.

 

“You were on the Endar Spire. You murdered Trask Ulgo!”

 

He shrugged, his voice a purr. “I have killed so many people for my master. It is hard to keep track.“ He walked toward me. “You however have become an obsession for me. Did you know that? I wasn’t sure who you were when I saw you on the ship. Your friend Ulgo was good enough for that. But I knew of you before my master Darth Malak did. Before Admiral Karath told him. I am Darth Bandon, apprentice to Darth Malak.” His lightsaber, a double like mine lit. “I am your doom.”

 

I had a vision of Vrook. I had read about one of Revan’s exploits before she left for the Mandalore war, she had allowed herself to be captured by a terrorist group to find the son of a King. During the fighting that later ensued, she had been trapped, and had thrown the leader and his two chief torturers from a balcony using the force. I asked him about it. How had they ended up in such a situation? Why hadn’t they killed her when they had the chance? He had answered me with a simple statement. ‘When in the hands of your enemies, always hope for the truly evil captor. Because while a good man will kill you without a word, the evil always have to gloat.”

 

Bandon leaped, using the force to throw him across the distance between us. Our lightsabers clashed, and I blocked as he tried to cut with the off hand edge. I kicked, and he flew backwards, flipping in midair to land on his feet. Then he reached out, and I felt his hand catch my throat with the force. “I want to look into your eyes, see you know when death approaches!” He screamed. “Picture Bastila as Malak’s devoted slave and your Republic in ruins! I want to feel your neck collapse!”

 

Always hope for the truly evil captor. I pictured Bastila in chains with a slave collar and part of me broke. I growled. “Like this, fool!” I reached out, and his eyes went wide with shock as I grabbed his throat with the force.

 

“No, you can’t!” He screamed as my force-hand crushed his neck like a vice. I pulled, and the head ripped free, flying toward me. I stepped aside as his body fell to its knees, eyes still unbelieving from beside my foot.

 

“If you’re going to kill someone do it, don‘t talk about it.” I walked past his body. Bastan Twill lay dead in the next room, his head twisted completely around. I walked to him, then looked into the sub bay. Two dark Jedi stood there, and they stared at me in horror.

 

“Bandon-” One began. I caught them both, and their necks snapped.

 

“Ask him what happened in hell.” There was another sub in the bay. T3 sat there forlorn, and behind him, Bastila lay on the deck plates. A Sith designed restraint collar had been attached around her neck, and shackles had been linked to it then to her hands and feet. She quivered as the system fed back into her every time she even thought of moving. I opened the bands, throwing the entire thing into the water, then hugged her, cuddling her to my bosom. Suddenly it struck me what I just done. I had killed three people using the force alone. The blackest of all the dark arts. I found I was crying. No please, I can’t be what I hate!

 

She stopped shuddering, and I heard her take a deep ragged breath.

 

“Danika, Malak sent-”

 

“I know. He sent Bandon to me, I sent him to hell.” She looked up eyes wide and frightened. “No one hurts my friends.” I whispered. Then I hugged her as if just touching her would heal the wound I had made in my own soul. “I’m sorry.” I wailed. “He boasted you’d be Malak’s slave, and I just... snapped. I killed him, I killed the ones with him with the force!” I wanted to scream, but deep inside, I knew that I would do it again. To protect those I loved I would kill anything. With whatever was at hand.

 

She hugged me, murmuring comfort. But deep in my heart I felt a doubt that had been growing since Tatooine.

 

Bastila had been lying to me from the very start.

 

Betraying my trust.

 

But why?

[Char Ell]

Interesting how you show Danika as having a fear of being in a submersible. I don't really understand the difference between that and a space ship. On the other hand, I can understand Danika's fear of envirosuits, since they're so similar to space suits and as you reminded your readers that's how Danika remembers dying, suffocating in a space suit.

[machievelli]

Ahto City

 

Danika

 

The Ambassador was not happy. He was stunned that I’d destroyed three months of work. Damage control was on his mind as we walked out of the embassy.

 

The Selkath constables that came to arrest me were icing on the cake. They surrounded us with half a dozen guards, and when we exited at the court, I could see why. There were a hundred odd Selkath, all wailing outside the court. The guards used stun rods to clear the way, and considering the crowd was trying to get close enough to tear me apart, I could understand why.

 

The court was almost as bad. There were only a**dozen or so more here, but they made up for lack of numbers with sheer volume.

 

“That someone would dare to profane the holy site!” A Selkath was burbling loudly. “The person should be flayed and salted! She should be fed to the Firaxa an inch at a time-”

 

“We must have order.” Judge Kota called.

 

“Everyone even remotely connected to this should be flayed!”

 

“I will have order!” Shelkar roared. When he didn’t get it, he thumbed a stud. A blast of sound dropped the Selkath before the dais to their knees. I huddled, holding my head.

 

“If there is one more word I will begin having people arrested!” Shelkar warned. He saw me, and pointed before his dais. “Bring her.”

 

I walked forward, stopping to face the panel.

 

“Selkath living near Hrakert Rift recorded a massive explosion. You are known to have been seen in a submersible headed into the Rift. This court has convened to discover why.”

 

“The Republic Ambassador sent me to the Kolto mining facility-”

 

“What facility!” Duula screamed.

 

“Some of us have been trying to improve our methods of production.” Judge Naleshekan said. “We asked the Republic to help.”

 

“But to build on the holy site-”

 

“The holy site is the Rift itself, as you well know. Not the sea floor above it.”

 

“But-”

 

“Let it be Duula!” Kota snarled.

 

“Let the record show that empanelled for this trial are Judges Shelkar,”

 

“Jhosa.”

 

“Naleshekan.”

 

“Kota.”

 

“And Duula.”

 

“You went to the mining facility. What occurred there?”

 

“The facility had almost been completed when a huge Firaxa rose from the Rift. It gave some kind of cry, and the Firaxa went mad attacking everything that moved. Selkath assigned to the facility also went mad. Most of the crew both human and Selkath have been killed in the fighting. We used a sonic pulse to disable the Selkath survivors. I was advised by human survivors that the Firaxa might return to the Rift if I destroyed the last section of the harvester, and I used Hydrolium to drop it into the Rift.”

 

“A great Firaxa-”

 

“But it’s only a legend-”

 

“Didn’t she say she killed it?”

 

“No! The horror of such an act-”

 

“Kill the slayer-”

 

“I did not kill it!” I shouted. The room fell silent, everyone staring at me. “To me it was a magnificent animal protecting its territory. It was we who were trespassing, not it.” I waved my hand, trying to put into words what I had seen.

 

“I could no more have killed it than I would have destroyed the entire galaxy because I was angry with one person! It was older than the Republic, older than your own recorded history! I felt all I could be was a witness to it’s coming. It knew this somehow. It swam over me, huge, my hand running down it’s belly-”

 

“What, she touched it?” Someone whispered.

 

One of the Selkath in very drab clothing stepped forward. “You touched him?”

 

I nodded numbly.

 

“With which hand?” I held out my right hand. The Selkath leaned forward, and smelled my hand.

 

“She did. His mark is upon her!”

 

“Silence, Frooke.”

 

“I will not be silent! The Progenitor lives, and she, an off worlder has touched him! Shame upon our people that it was not one of us to receive that blessing!”

 

The court closed the partition. I shivered. I had felt for a moment that the priest was going to order my hand cut off for blasphemy.

 

The wait was long this time. I stood there, with the Selkath doing everything they could not to touch me. Somehow I was both blessed and a pariah in the same body.

 

The partition dropped. Half a dozen more Selkath had joined them on that side.

 

Shelkar looked at me then bowed his head. “Woman, you do not know the turmoil you have caused among our people. The Progenitor was a myth, something only the faithful of his temple believed. Something that harkens back to when our race still scrabbled in the mud of the ocean. Something we wanted to put aside.” He sighed. “Something that your have reminded us of. For he is also called the soul of our world.

 

“Now we face the real problem. Throughout history there have been those that have been allowed to touch him. They are prophets and lawgivers in our history. Would you be such to us?” His voice held an entreaty.

 

“I am not worthy of such a role, Your honor.”

 

“He thought you were, or he would have swam away rather than letting you touch him.” Frooke said. “He has chosen you.”

 

“Speak, chosen one. What would you have us do?” Kota begged.

 

I held the power of the entire planet in my hands at that moment. I could have ordered them to commit ritual suicide, or cast out the Sith, or anything. What I might say next would reverberate through the sector. I could feel Bastila standing beside me, her worry because she saw what a temptation it would be for me. I reached out, taking her hand. They gasped as I touched her.

 

“She has marked her!” Someone whispered.

 

“Your honors, people of Manaan, darkness flows through the Galaxy, and one of the bright spots of light is here upon your world. Do not allow yourselves to be dragged into that struggle unwilling. If you choose to enter it, do so of your own will, but let none demand your decision.

 

“You have stood, as he would have wanted, facing the future, and not shunning the consequences. What more could even a God expect?” I looked around the eyes of the crowd. “Go forth and do good for others, for your people, for yourselves. Do not act from greed, act from compassion.”

 

I bowed. “Go with your god, people of Manaan.” There was a sigh as I turned and led Bastila out of there. The crowd outside had fallen silent, and this time we didn’t need guards. Hands brushed my clothing yet avoiding my flesh, eyes tried to catch mine. A father held up his child to see me, and the young boy waved hesitantly. I smiled and waved back. The boy almost shrieked in delight, wriggling until he was put down. He ran over, taking my hand.

 

I knelt, rubbing his head with my right hand. The crowd sighed.

 

“Please! Take me with you chosen one!”

 

I shook my head. “No. Grow strong, grow wise, become a good judge of your people in time. I will be watching you.” I pointed toward the ocean. “And so will he.”

 

They left us alone as we went to the tram. We boarded it, and I touched Bastila’s face gently. “When I saw that huge shark, I felt such awe that all my fears fell away. We will win, or die. But now I no longer worry that we will fail.”

 

Half of the Selkath in the city must have tried to fit themselves on our route to the ship. I walked the halls ignoring them. Not because I felt they deserved to be ignored, but I didn’t want a repeat of the child in the courtyard. We didn’t have enough room aboard for all of the disciples I could have gathered.

 

The vender that had sold us the sweets for the children ran up, pressing a two-kilo bag of them into my hand. “For the young ones.”

 

I bowed my head. “Thank you.”

 

“No, thank you for bringing our faith back to us.”

 

We reached the Ebon Hawk finally.

 

 

 

Ebon Hawk:

 

Enroute to Korriban

 

Bastila

 

I came aboard Ebon Hawk, almost running to the berthing area. I fell to my knees. I had to meditate, I needed to meditate. I had to understand what was going on in my mind, in her mind!

 

But that center of peace wasn’t there. I was buffeted by her emotions, and mine as well. Bad enough that I had problems dealing with such, now her emotions also swept over me. She had such clear emotional thoughts and reactions. Not muddied like most people I had met. Each emotion and the thoughts attached to it were a single jewel in a myriad of color. I could touch each and feel it as if it were my own. In fact her emotional existence was clearer to me than my own. Her anger not with Bandon but with herself for slipping even incrementally toward the dark side.

 

I felt a hand on my head, and peace flowed. “Jolee, I can't do it any longer.” I whispered. “Help me.”

 

“You have to let it go then. Talk to her, break the bond.”

 

“I can’t!” I wailed in anguish. “What if we fail because I did?”

 

“What if we fail because you didn’t?” He asked.

 

“I can’t stand it!” I wanted to tear my hair out. “If I do, we might fail if I do not, we might fail. I could double think myself into oblivion!”

 

“Welcome to what the masters deal with all the time.” He said. “Why do you think I stayed hidden for all those years? I didn’t want to be a master, and they didn’t want me to become one.”

 

“It couldn’t be that simple.” I retorted.

 

“Of course not. Nothing ever is.” He didn’t bother to tell me more though.

 

It would be two days to Korriban. Two of the longest days of my life. Danika was feeling something I couldn’t touch. She was blocking me better than I had blocked her before. She would watch me, as if she was hoping I would say something, but I stayed mute. Once this mission was over, I would break this bond and do everything I could to get as far away as the Galaxy permitted.

 

But there were still the dreams...

 

I found myself in the jungle of Deralia. I could hear, no I could feel the life scuttling through the dense underbrush. I heard a noise, and walked toward it. I came to a clearing, and there were huge barrel shaped bodies with ribbon wings along the sides floating in midair as they gently sculled about the clearing.

“Those are Tirlat.“ I turned and Danika was there. She was dressed in shorts with a sleeveless shirt as when she had been a child. She motioned for me to follow, and we climbed the tree. She looked at me, her hand touching my cheek. “In all our dreams, this we have never done. I feel I can show it to you now.“ She gripped my hand, and as one huge body began moving below us she said, “Now!” We dropped together. We landed on its back and she flung the line in a practiced motion, making the weighted end spin down and around the neck. She caught the loose end as I dropped down to sit with my legs straddling her, my arms around her waist.

The ribbons stiffened into blades, and the Tirlat tried to escape. The wings came up then down in a powerful thump, and we shot forward. I clutched to her desperately at the sudden acceleration. It was strange and wonderful at the same time. I found myself leaning into her, my hands against the front of her body, my head turned to lay against her back.

It was timeless, and too short. She maneuvered the beast back to the clearing, and at her call we rolled back off the broad back. We landed, me flat on my back, her kneeling above me. This was the vision, her last memory that I had clung to. She had a slight sad smile on her face.

“In all the time we have spent in the bond you have never told me why you started it.”

I tensed. “What?”

“I know you created the bond, Bastila. I think I have always known I just don’t know why. There is more, but you haven’t told me.” She touched my face gently. “I want to know, but I can’t help but feel that it frightens you. I won’t push. When you are ready, you can tell me. I trust you with my mind, and with my life.”

“Danika, you’re right. The truth is-”

 

I felt myself slamming into the bulkhead. There was shouting, and I could see by the chrono that it was ship-night. I threw on my robe, and ran toward the cockpit. As I turned toward the cockpit through the mess hall, Danika joined me. She had a look that promised ill tidings for whoever had awakened us.

 

Carth was at the controls, checking the readings. “Gravity well. Big one. What-” He stared at the proximity detector alarm. “A big ship. Canderous, can you see it?”

 

“An Interdictor cruiser!” Canderous answered from the lower turret. “Looks like the Leviathan.”

 

“Leviathan.” Carth snarled. “Saul’s flagship. They’re locking on a tractor beam.” He shut down the engines. “We’re caught.”

 

I found myself looking at Danika. She stood there, eyes closed. “All hands to the mess hall. We have what, five minutes?”

 

“Try three.” Carth said.

 

“Then we don’t have a lot of time.”

 

Everyone was awake, standing there with eyes wide with shock. Danika immediately took charge. “We’ve been caught by the Sith. I know that Karath knows about Bastila and Carth if they run our ID. If he does, he’ll also have my file as well. But the rest of you he might not know about. We have to plan how we’re going to escape right now, leaving the three of us out of the equation.”

 

“I am very good at concealment.” Juhani said. “If I slip off the ship after they have captured the rest of you, I can find my way to the holding cells and release you.”

“Yeah, but they have three sections of cells.” Carth pointed out. “The Interdictor was designed for blockade work. You can catch a lot of prisoners when on that duty. Five cells per holding area guard posts in each section, and each with their own computer access.”

 

“So we need more strings for our bow.” Jolee said. “I can sway the mind of one of them. If there’s more, I’m in trouble”

 

“What about medical units?” Canderous asked.

 

“Why?”

 

“We Mando were trained in biometric contol as young warriors. Our immune systems and adrenal glands are under our control, and we heal about faster than a normal human. If I were to set off a concussion grenade in the engine room, I could knock myself unconscious. They’ll take me to sick bay. Hopefully I’ll get one of those idiot med techs that think Mando are normal humans. When I wake up they’ll find out otherwise.”

 

“I have an alternate emergency power source, so I can appear to be deactivated.” HK said. “Most people do not know my internal workings, so they will probably take me to the repair shop for reprogramming and powering up. My systems will notify me when I get there, and I can power myself back up and deal with them. I can also dismantle T3 sufficiently that they think he is under repair. He should end up in the same repair bay.”

 

“As for getting out of tight spots I’m a wiz at it!” Mission said. “All I need is to badmouth a guard enough that he puts me in a separate section and cell.”

 

“If they don’t kill you.” Zaalbar warned.

 

“They won’t.” Mission answered smugly. “Little girls may get slapped around, but they aren’t going to blow me away when they might have fun with me first!”

 

“Mission!” Danika was appalled.

 

“Hey, if you wanted to stop that kind of thing, you would have had to find me a week after Griff left.” Mission looked haunted. “But I found out that when a man is thinking with that,” she pointed down, “His brain isn’t engaged.”

 

Danika looked to each face, then at Sasha. “Sasha, Berani li soope.”

 

“Sho!” She curled her fingers into claws. “Malpali!”

 

“Sho!” Danika snapped. Then she knelt holding the girl. “Abd de koolarti. Soope. Pres Kali?”

 

“Ya.” She whispered. Then she ran toward the cargo bay.

 

“You told her to hide.” I said.

 

“But she is a warrior born.” Canderous said approvingly. “Her answer was to kill them all.”

 

“I wish it were that easy.” Jolee said. There was a thud against the hull, and we all looked up.

 

“If you need something specific, get it now.” Danika ordered.

 

 

Leviathan

 

Action report

 

Members of the 4th regiment boarded the captured vessel identified as merchant vessel Ebon Hawk when it was brought aboard. The crew of that vessel, who opened the hatch rather than forcing us to breach it, facilitated this.

 

However everything did not go smoothly. One crewperson, a Twi-lek girl assaulted one of the troopers, soaking him in a rather vile concoction from their galley. Another, a human male, had attempted to blow up the ship’s hyper drive system, but only succeeded in injuring himself.

 

Captured were three human males, two human females, a Twi-lek female and a Wookiee male. Two droids were discovered in stages of repair. One was an astromech design, the other appears to be a standard HK model. Both disabled.

 

One of the women was discovered to be the Jedi Bastila. The other is listed as the companion of one Lieutenant Carth Onasi, Republic Navy. One of the men was discovered to be this Carth Onasi. These three were sent to Maximum security holding central.

 

The injured human male has been sent to the Prison sickbay in Central corridor. The droids to maintenance on C deck. The female Twi-lek physically assaulted Captain Omari, kneeing him in the crotch hard enough that he also went to medical. The girl has been sent to Starboard holding. The Wookiee and the other human male have been sent to portside holding.

 

Report ends.

 

Admiral Saul Karath read the report, smirking. “Well Carth, your luck has finally run out.” He looked up to the com officer. “Send to Lord Malak, Bastila and her companions have been captured. Give our present coordinates. Ask for instructions.” He stood, pulling down his coat. “I am going to see an old friend.”

 

 

Leviathan

 

Danika

 

They used full restraints on us similar to what Darth Bandon had used on Bastila. Each arm and leg was attached electronically to a collar around our necks. As long as we did exactly what we were told, we could move. But if we deviated even the smallest amount, the restraints would lock our muscles. We were taken to the Central holding facility, and one by one were thrust into interrogation tubes. The force fields forced us to stand upright. It was like being immersed in electrified jelly. Any movement set up a reaction in the field that balanced the energy you exerted.

 

A man entered. He was an older man, iron gray hair cut short under his cap. He was fit, wiry. Not a fighter, but still keeping himself in trim. His uniform was bland, only a couple of decorations marred the smooth expanse of cloth.

 

He stopped in front of the tubes, looking at us. “Well, Bastila. So good to finally meet you. As for you-“ He glared at me, “-I’ll leave your welcome to Malak.” Then he turned to Carth, ignoring us.

 

“Well, the years have not treated you well, old friend.”

 

“Saul.” Carth gritted out.

 

“You really should have joined me. I could have used your level head a number of times. If you will give me your parole, I can have you out of there in a moment.”

 

“All I want to do is rip your head off, Saul! How’s that for a parole?”

 

“Whatever did I do to you-”

 

“You bombed Telos, you killed Morgana!” Carth struggled, trying to break out of the field.

 

Saul actually looked sad. “Oh, you were from Telos. I had forgotten. I wouldn't have hurt your wife for the world.”

 

“Don’t get pious with me, Saul! She was on a planet, and the planet was in your way! You would have killed your own mother in that circumstance!”

 

“Now Carth you know I cannot direct every weapon in a battle. If I had known-”

 

“Spare me the hypocrisy! My wife dead, my son being raised by the Sith! What was so important that you had to betray everything you swore an oath to protect?”

 

Karath’s eyes grew cold. “Do not presume that our friendship will protect you if I get angry, Carth. I was saving my own life.”

 

“From what?” Carth laughed. “Did Malak and Revan come in the night and threaten you?”

 

“No the Republic was going to destroy my life.” Saul growled. “Remember what it was like when the Mandalorian wars started? The incompetents that we were saddled with? The ones that defended the wrong place, attacked the wrong target, and blamed us for their failures? When the Jedi took over most were shuffled into positions where they couldn’t do any harm, but they lived. Those great competent men we fought alongside died and those incompetent bastards lived and moved up the promotion list.

 

“When the war ended, and Revan and Malak went in search of the Star Forge, there was no one to protect us any more. The Republic Senators used their power to reinstate those has-beens, and whom do you think they had to displace? Only Admiral Dodonna was safe, but she had been to school with all of them hadn’t she?

 

“But not ‘good old Saul Karath’, oh no. The son of a farmer, a Maverick officer, what weight did that carry with officers that lived and breathed privilege? They couldn’t fire me, they couldn’t retire me, so they decided to ‘promote’ me. They showered me with medals, and said that after that last cruise, they were assigning me as commandant of the Academy.” He growled again, and raised his fists. “Can you see me wiping their children’s noses, and trying to dun military history and tactics into those thick skulls? Neither could they! They wanted me to retire, or live out my life as a round peg in a hole they rounded out for me!

 

“I who lead a third of the fleet! Who stood just below Revan and Malak as a leader! Who had to save their butts time and time again? I was to become a non-entity!” There was a glint of madness in his eyes. “But Malak saved me. He sent a messenger to me and promised me a command as long as I lived. He admired my skill, and didn’t intend to stuff me off into a wasted position.”

 

Carth sighed. “So to keep from getting old, you stuffed my planet and my people, my wife into the meat grinder to prove your loyalty.”

 

“I am not old! I wasn’t too old to teach you everything you know.”

 

“I know that, Saul.” Carth said sadly. “I looked up to you. I would have died for you. And you repaid me with murder.”

 

They looked at each other, old and young, and I wished I could reconcile them. But there was too much pain for even a Jedi to break through. Karath shook himself, then looked at the two of us, now ignoring Carth. “The Dark Lord has been apprised of your capture, and I have no doubt he already has tortures aplenty for all of you. But since he is not here, I will merely have to fill in. Give them a taste of their future.”

 

I felt something reach into me, and try to rip out every organ simultaneously. Both Carth and Bastila echoed my cry of pain. Then it was gone.

 

“That is merely a taste of what you will endure. I would like some information to give to the Dark Lord when he arrives, and you will give it to me.”

 

“Don’t waste your breath asking, Saul!” Carth rasped. “We won’t tell you anything!”

 

“I don’t expect you to, Carth. But I happen to know your friend’s loyalties have proven in the past to be much more, flexible.” He nodded toward me.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Dear girl, I am doing the interrogating. I will ask the questions, you will answer.” He turned, now focusing his attention on me. “It is time to put your loyalty to the test. I doubt you would break if I tortured you personally. Your will is much too strong to give that easily. However even a hero has a soft spot. With most it is seeing their companions tortured in their stead.

 

“Bastila is to be left alone, but there are no such restrictions on Carth. So I ask you this. Which is more important? Carth’s life and well being? Or you precious mission?

 

“I will begin. Every time you refuse to answer a question, Carth gets punished for it. Every time you lie, I will punish him. I may just punish him-” He held up a hand and Carth screamed in agony. “-Just because I can. Shall we begin?”

 

“I won’t betray the Jedi. Even to save myself.” I said.

 

“Don’t tell him anything!” Carth shouted. He spasmed as the field slammed down again.

 

“So brave, and so stupid. Now, where is the Jedi Academy you trained at?” I just stared at him. He sighed, raising a finger. Carth screamed, then sagged. “I wasn’t merely going to ask you questions and assume the truth, dear girl. I know the answer to many of them, and I use them to test you. All you did was hurt Carth unnecessarily. I know you trained on Dantooine. We have destroyed that Academy, and the Jedi there are no more. Nothing remains but smoking ruins and the charred remains of your masters.”

 

“No! You’re lying!”

 

“What you believe is incidental. We destroyed that pustule of Jedi filth, and now all those that even know about your mission are dead. You are all that’s left, and you will tell me.

 

“What was your mission? Why did the Jedi send you? What plan did you have to stop the Sith Armada?”

 

I shook my head. When I heard Carth scream again, I looked at him. If someone suffers because of you, never close your eyes, or turn away. Remember and honor their sacrifice. He begged, words strung in the screaming.

 

As he sagged, Karath walked over almost close enough to touch except for the force field “What kind of monster can simply listen to him being tormented? What manner of friend are you to him?”

 

“What manner of friend apologizes for murdering his wife then torments him?” I flared back. “If you didn’t have a fleet to command and an enemy to fight, you would be at your desk, ripping the wings and legs off insects!

 

“Your insane, Karath. Death will merely end your misery. Since we are going through this for your enjoyment, just stop asking, and torture us all you want.”

 

He raised a hand. This time the torture seemed to go on forever. Then Carth sagged in the field even though it still snapped. “I would have expected him to pass out much sooner than that. There aren’t many that can take such pain, even for brief intervals.

 

“However you are right. I am wasting my time. However when the Dark Lord gets here, you will find that my methods are hugs and kisses in comparison. So I will leave you with yet another taste of your future.”

 

The field ripped at me, and I screamed. My throat was raw when I finally passed out.

 

I found myself staring at the bulkhead, and just blinking hurt. I must have whimpered because Bastila spoke. “Don’t try to move too quickly. Admiral Karath had the guard torture you long after you passed out.

 

“They tortured all of us, but they seemed to like punishing you more.”

 

“Saul has become some sort of perverted monster.” Carth said. I could hear the denial in his voice. It might be his enemy, but why would he have changed so drastically?

 

“Carth, the Dark side of the force infects everyone around a Dark Lord. Once a normal person begins that journey, there is no telling the depths they will sink to. I fear he has been lost forever.”

 

“There is always the chance of redemption, Bastila. Even for such as him.” I said.

 

She smiled sadly. “I think you are correct in that. When you face such unbridled cruelty, it is hard to consider their redemption. I think I am still reacting to the destruction of the Academy.”

 

As she said it. I suddenly felt that loss. It was as if I had lost a tooth, and only as my tongue rolled across the gap could I sense it.

 

“I would like to believe that Admiral Karath was lying to us, but I could feel it when his words brought my attention to it. We should have felt such a great loss through the force. I fear the Dark side has grown so strong that they were able to hide it from us. I can only hope some of them survived. Vrook, Vandar, Dorak, Zhar. Some of them must have survived.”

 

“None of that matters if we can’t get out of here!” Carth said.

 

“Where is Karath now?”

 

“He mentioned that Lord Malak is on his way here. I think Saul went to prepare for Malak’s arrival. He probably won‘t bother to mention how his interrogation failed.”

 

“It was fortunate you were able to resist his interrogation, Danika. Even the smallest amount of information could be vital.”

 

“I hate to admit it, but there was a time there where I wished you would tell him everything.” Carth said.

 

“What I said didn’t matter. He was going to torture us anyway.” I said.

 

“I’ve known him for years. You are probably right. The entire interrogation was a sham. He just wanted a reason to torture us. To torture you, before Malak arrived.” He shook his head wearily. “But why just you? What did he mean?”

 

“Bastila, what were you going to tell me in the dream.”

 

“We don’t have time for that now, Danika.”

 

“Saul seems to think he knows me. So did Darth Bandon. What is going on?”

 

“Danika, once we are back aboard the ship, I will answer all your questions.” She stiffened. Do you feel that?”

 

I had sensed it to. As if a great predator had opened it’s eyes, and was watching us. Then I felt it moving toward us fast. “Malak is coming.”

 

“Then we had better hope someone’s plan works.” Carth said.

[Char Ell]

“With which hand?” I held out my right hand. The Selkath leaned forward, and smelled my hand.

 

“She did. His mark is upon her!”

I don't understand how this Selkath would have been able to use his sense of smell to detect the Progenitor's scent. If Danika wore a deep-sea suit as depicted in-game her hand would have been covered by a thick insulating glove that would have prevented any physical contact between Danika and the giant Firaxa. I would have expected then that any detectable scent would be on the glove of Danika's dive suit, not her actual hand.

While I generally liked the extra layers you wove into the Manaan Star Map quest I found Danika's speech and the Selkath people's reaction to the Progenitor's "Chosen One" a bit overdramatic for my taste.

 

I very much enjoyed the additional detail in the Leviathan encounter. I look forward to seeing how you orchestrate the ensuing breakout and escape. The extra background you provided for Saul Karath helped me understand why he decided to betray the Republic from an empathetic perspective. For me this hammered home how appealing "bad" alternatives can be sometimes.