Chapter 3: Calling
The next morning, Kett awoke to a dull pain throbbing in – well, everywhere. His feet were still hot from running last night, and a rock stuck in his back where he must have collapsed in exhaustion. Kett took his coat off, and realized how near to death he had been. It had not been a rock in his back. A scorched streak on his jacket showed clearly where a blaster bolt had ripped across beneath his shoulders. Another beneath his left arm bore similar testimony.
Kett looked around, seeing the others huddled about a small fire. Judging by the clean hole in its carcass, Kett could tell that the animal Lieutenant Fet rotated on a makeshift spit had been shot with Greb's slugthrower. Kett stood and walked up behind them, and saw Tom-Lor lying off to the side, writhing and moaning.
"What's wrong with him?" Kett pried drily.
"Fever. His wounds are infected." Nia sounded despondent. "Probably won't live through the day."
Kett turned to Greb. "How you holding up?"
"I'm still here," the boy responded with a note of regret.
"Yeah," Kett agreed. "You sure are. So, Lieutenant – what happened?"
"It was a blasted ambush. They knew we would be there, somehow. First squad was captured right after they blew the charger. Second squad was killed off by that gunship, and reserve squad… Well, Tom-Lor, Cretos, and Goran were the last ones left. We stood no chance," Fet admitted. "At this point, I don't know what to do. There's not enough food to provide for everyone left, and the droids are out looking for us now."
"We'll have to scatter," Nia said. "It's the only option. Otherwise, we all die out here."
Suddenly, Kett felt tired. The ground began to swell and recede like waves on an ocean, and the trees began to spin around him. He closed his eyes for a second, and opened them to a whole new world. A desert plain appeared before him, rocky and dry and dusty. And there, straight ahead, was a little hovel buried between two boulders lying in the wide open.
A man stood outside it, beckoning Kett inside. "Come in, let us have a drink! It is dry out here, and you look like you could use one."
Kett walked up to the hut, confused. What had happened? What was going on?
"Have a seat," the man said as he poured a red juice into two glasses. "We have quite a bit to discuss."
That voice was familiar in some way, but Kett couldn't put his finger on it. He couldn't remember where he came from, either. He felt strange.
"Welcome to my home," Kett's host said graciously. "It's bare, basic, but comfortable. Just to my liking, though I never would have thought so in my youth. This is my little piece of the afterlife."
Kett was no less confused. "Afterlife? What, am I dead or something? Is that why I can't remember anything?"
"Not at all, my friend. You aren't dead, although by your standards I have been dead for quite some time. What many know, and few believe, is that there truly is an 'afterlife'. Really, it's just the continued existence of one's consciousness. I've forgotten my manners - my name is Jacen. We've spoken before, on different terms, although you won't remember immediately."
"Mine is Kett Wilson," Kett said politely. "But I'm not so sure about this bizarre afterlife thing you just explained."
"No matter!" Jacen assured him. "As long as you believe me, I don't mind if you think I'm just a spot of bad indigestion. The important thing is to help you come to terms with your new life. You see, you're not really Kett Wilson anymore. Your new name is Kett Draxon, is it not?"
"I suppose," Kett answered. "It doesn't matter much what you call me, anyways."
"No, it doesn't," Jacen conceded. "What matters is who you believe you are. Whether you've accepted your new identity, or not. So it does matter what you call yourself, after all."
"Fine," Kett said, a bit perturbed. "What did you want to talk about?"
"First, a bit of background," Jacen began. "I 'died' several hundreds of years ago. I was born the son of the thirty-fourth Draxonus. During my time in the physical realm, I studied philosophy and expanded my mind. Expanded it enough that, upon death, I summoned not only the ability to continue thought, but accepted and embraced the preservation of my physical form. In some sense, at any rate.
"This, what you see around us, is all in my imagination. This is the home I willed into being. I carved out my own little piece of existence, right here, and built it from the ground up. It's an entire planet, really, and I will probably get to exploring it later. That's another matter, and I imagine you feel pressed for time.
"We have noticed a dangerous development in the physical world that threatens to undermine our progress here. The Force is the essence of reality, and must be balanced. It has many sides, many facets, such as the Light Side and the Dark Side. At any given time, the Force will tend to one or the other, and it is the goal of all living beings to re-balance it. A very dark being has taken hold of the galaxy and swayed it heavily toward the dark side. It is already apparent that much must be done to re-balance the Force.
"Unfortunately for my sentiment, the Clan Draxon is rather well finished. At least, the clan I once knew; by six generations ago, the Draxons had already emasculated themselves in preference of creature comforts and political acceptance. The days of Sarodon's wild men have come to a close, I fear."
Kett stared, dumbfounded. "What did I drink?" he asked himself.
"You have had quite a bit of water lately. Rest assured, everything you see and all I say are indeed true and existent." Jacen spoke with a lighthearted air, only undermining any trust Kett might have held in Jacen's words. "Oh, well. We'll speak again soon, and I'm sure you'll be ready to take me seriously then – and I can explain why you are important to my plan. Until that time comes, it's been a pleasure." Jacen smiled smugly and waved his hand with lofty authority, and Kett suddenly opened his eyes to Nia leaning over him, saying something.
He was lying on the ground, and his head hurt. His ears rang with a sharp tone, and Kett felt dizzy. He couldn't tell what Nia was saying, but he could remember Jacen. And something from earlier, a conversation. Her lips moved slowly, but her veins bulged and her wide eyes stared into his. Nia was screaming at him.
Dirt sprayed over Kett's face from beside him as Nia fell flat onto his prostrate body. Just that instant, Kett realized what had happened. They were under attack again. He struggled out from under Nia, who rolled to the side and fired her blaster over his face toward an enemy he couldn't see. Kett lifted the old service blaster from his side and turned to face a line of droids mere meters away. With the deft grace of a match shooter, Kett swung his blaster's muzzle from droid to droid, firing with mad speed.
"Kett!" The voice echoed through a din in Kett's head. "Come on!"
Kett looked at Nia, whose face belied her uncontrolled panic. He pointed to his ear and shook his head. Kett couldn't hear her. But he could still blast droids, which Kett turned to do. His blaster zipped from target to target as adrenalin took hold, dealing destruction to each one a shot at a time. A new energy surged through his body, stronger than any he'd ever known. He could feel every droid, every tree, and rock around him, with startling awareness.
All was still strangely quiet as he dashed from cover to cover. A tree trunk split wide open just ahead of him, the blast rocking his chest and pelting him with splinters of wood. Kett fell behind cover and found a large one lodged in his left shoulder. With a grimace, Kett closed his eyes and yanked it out. Strangely, he felt no pain. Kett looked down again, groping at his chest and abdomen, now concerned that he might be mortally wounded yet unable to feel it. He saw no other injury, though.
Greb was yelling at him about something. Kett turned to follow Greb's line of sight, and saw a battle droid just behind himself. In a split second, Kett pulled his blaster up again – but before he could fire, the droid fell to the ground with a thud. Only a smoking hole in its cranium was left where vital circuitry had been before. Kett looked back at Greb and waved his thanks.
Kett's hearing slowly returned. The snaps and sizzles of passing blaster bolts told Kett just how close to death he sat. But he couldn't stop moving. The droids knew where he was, and they'd corner him any moment now. They had to retreat, but where? The droids might have laid a trap to their rear, intending to catch the small group. To the side, then. They would have to retreat along a line parallel to the enemy line, or risk running into a mop-up squad.
Kett stood and wheeled around, shooting violently from behind the rock he'd taken cover by. "Follow me!" Kett shouted at the top of his lungs as he dashed to another nearby boulder. Kett looked back, and saw Greb looking to follow. "Come on!" Kett urged, before blasting another battle droid.
Then the droids came from behind. This was very bad. They opened fire on the rest of the group, wounding Greb and Nia. Kett felt another surge of energy at this new threat, and launched into action. He bounded over limbs and around bushes, blasting wildly. There were two to the left – he shot them both on the move. Another to the right, and three in front. Kett blasted one more, and his blaster stopped.
He needed a fresh blaster pack, but his pockets were empty. The two he'd had were now missing, and now Kett stood alone with hostile droids all around. He thought quickly, and tossed his blaster to the two droids in front of him. "Catch!"
"Wait, what?" one of them said in disbelief. Its comrade reached for the airborne weapon, temporarily distracting both of them. Kett rushed over to a fallen droid as they fumbled over his empty blaster, and salvaged the broken droid's E-5. Kett pulled it up quickly, and blasted the two away. The last droid, still a few meters away, aimed its blaster at the wounded Tom-Lor and fired.
"Kriffing rust-bucket!" Kett roared, pouring bolt after bolt into the murderous machine. It teetered and collapsed backward in a smoking heap under a withering volley from Kett's stolen blaster. Kett looked around again, and saw Nia and Greb both leaned up against tree trunks. Where was Lieutenant Fet? Kett rushed to Nia, only a few meters away. "How bad is it?"
"I'll live," Nia gasped. "It hurts like hell!" No wonder – she'd been shot in the upper right thigh, and would have a hard time walking, let alone running.
"Where's Fet?"
"I don't know. He moved up just before I was shot."
Kett looked around. Greb was already firing back again with determination. Kett opened with a volley on the line of droids still marching toward them, and dashed over to Greb's location. "Where did the lieutenant go?" Kett asked.
"Right there," Greb said, pointing to a body lying in a gully several meters away. "He tried to surrender or something. They didn't shoot him, so I did."
Kett smiled. "Good shooting! Now, can you run?"
"Sure," Greb replied. Greb bore blaster bolt scorches on his scalp and hand, but nothing serious.
"Great. We have to get out of here. On my mark, we'll head across this ridge, away from the droids. Once we get going, don't turn back. Just run like fire, okay?" Kett patted Greb's shoulder and ran back to Nia. She was clearly hurt worse than Greb had been; Nia held her right arm tight to her chest and winced with pain. "Hey!" Kett said as he knelt beside her. "Sure you're okay?"
"I don't know," she said. "It hurts! I can't move my hand."
"Okay, okay," Kett assured her. "We're about to move and I need you on your feet. We have to go across this ridge to escape," he said, pointing the way. "Can you make it?"
"Maybe," she replied shakily.
Kett ducked as a blaster bolt crashed beside him. He looked into Nia's pain-filled eyes with pity. "Hey, we'll make it through this." Kett stroked her cheek gently to comfort her, and noticed a streak of red where his shaking hand had been. It was blood. His own blood. Kett looked down at his shoulder again, where a red stain leeched through his shirt. "Blast it. I don't have time for this." Kett stood and fired once more around the tree. "Let's move!" he yelled.
Greb took off first, scampering away ahead of Kett and Nia. Together, the three dashed across the woody ridge and deeper into the forest. No thought of the remaining Draxon clan entered any of their minds as they tripped across vines and trudged past tree after tree. They just had to keep moving, and get away from the droids.
As Kett and Nia struggled together over the terrain, Kett heard Jacen's strange disembodied voice in his ears once again. "There is a cave to your right, along the hill. Look for a small pile of boulders." Kett looked down, unsure of whether the voice was real or another hallucination. But as surely as he'd heard the voice, there was a small outcropping down the steep hill. A raging river below presented a serious risk should any of them fall.
"Greb! Get back here!" Kett called out. "Follow me!" He helped Nia to a tree for cover, as the droids continued their pursuit. "Think you can make it down there?" She eyed the steep grade warily, but nodded with gritted teeth. It wasn't going to be easy.
Greb rushed back, taking wild shots through the brush. "What now?" he inquired between heaving breaths.
"A cave, I think," Kett explained. Kett pointed to the rocks below. "See those stones? It's a long shot, but we're running out of options. Can you get her down there?"
"Sure," Greb answered. Greb took Nia under the shoulder and began the precarious trip downhill, both grasping at roots and bushes to help balance themselves. As they descended, Kett unleashed his new power on the battle droids as they wound their way through the woods.
"I've given you powers you've never experienced before," Jacen's voice explained. "These powers you already have, but have not learned to harness yet. I can teach you to use them without my help, to use your power to change the galaxy for the better."
Kett smirked as he blasted another droid. There were only a handful left now, but reinforcements wouldn't be far behind. "Well," Kett announced to the open air, "It sure is handy right now." Maybe that was only a voice in his head, but maybe it was an ancient spirit after all. Kett had heard some strange legends, but he'd heard quite a bit about battle fatigue too. Only, he hadn't been fighting for very long.
Without further thought, Kett turned to look down the slope to see Greb helping Nia into the cave's entrance. Kett waved down to the boy, who returned his wave with a salute. It was time to go. Kett stepped off the ledge and slid down on his back for a few meters, slowing himself with his heels and elbows. He caught a bush with his right arm, and held on tight. Kett turned onto his stomach and crawled sideways a meter to get closer to the cave, and began to ease down once more. Ten meters, five more, and there he stood at the entrance.
"Your destiny awaits you," Jacen crooned as Kett peered inside the pitch-black cave. "Have no fear; a thousand have gone before you, and ten thousand will follow in your footsteps."
"If this is my destiny," Kett muttered into the darkness, "I feel bad for the ten thousand."
Greb and Nia stood just inside, waiting. "What do we do now?" Greb asked.
"We go into the cave and hide," Kett answered. "We definitely won't survive out there. Anybody got a light?"
Greb and Noa shook their heads – they seemed out of luck. With droids outside and unseen dangers inside, the trio had nowhere to go. Kett closed his eyes and concentrated on their situation. At the mouth of the cave, scanners could easily detect the group. Further down, they stood a chance against superior Separatist technology and wouldn't be worth pursuing anyway.
"What is that?" Greb noted with awe, shattering Kett's thoughts. Kett opened his eyes to the colorful glow of fungi on the rock walls, deep blue with flashing bits of yellow. They made a stripe along the ceiling, dimly lighting the space inside. It all seemed strangely convenient, but Kett had no time to ponder.
"It's light, so let's go." Kett took Greb's place helping Nia, and together they trudged through the natural tunnel, deeper and deeper.
"What happens when the light goes out?" Nia asked as they rounded a corner. "Can we find our way out?"
"I don't think we'll have to," Kett answered. "Something tells me things are only going to get more interesting from here." He could feel a sense of harmony with the ground around him, with all the little plants and bugs crawling about. Perhaps Jacen was no hallucination at all – maybe there was allot more to the galaxy than Kett had thought. Or maybe Kett had simply gone insane. He could only wonder.
The three continued their path around rocks and stalagmites, over sharp crystalline shards and through stagnant puddles. The mysterious cave creatures retreated to their dens, dozens of dado spiders and grubfish peeking out at the humans interrupting their daily life with seeming curiosity. Kett could not see any of them, but he could feel them all in a way he'd never known before.
He could sense Nia's sorrow behind her brave facade, and Greb's similar grief at the loss of his twin. Kett reminded himself that the hope he held for his family would likely be crushed just the same. It was apparent that the three were the only family any of them had, at least for the time being. Kett resolved to take care of both as such, even as he wondered how they would survive or where even to find clean water.
Kett's reverie was soon shattered by a single word. "Welcome." Jacen's voice echoed through the chambers, startling Nia and Greb and stopping them in their tracks. They looked at Kett with fear, but were surprised to see him roll his eyes.
"I dunno who this guy is," Kett explained quickly, "But let's just do what he says, okay? I don't want to make him upset."
"Is that how you knew about the cave?" Greb asked with astonishment.
"Yes, I told him," Jacen answered on Kett's behalf. "Don't be afraid; simply open your minds to a greater world, and understand the things you will now experience are for your benefit."
With those words, the cave was plunged into utter darkness. "Kett," Nia said anxiously, "What's going on?"
"I wish I knew," Kett answered. Just as the last word left his mouth, the three saw the cave transform into an empty city street, not unlike the pedestrian highways of Centar City. It was ghastly quiet – no birds sang, no breeze blew. No busy crowds pushed and shoved against them. Kett, Nia, and Greb all looked about in amazed suspense.
"Creepy," Nia finally said aloud. Nia and Greb looked at Kett with wide eyes, then down at their own bodies. Neither had so much as a scratch on them, but Kett seemed grievously wounded. Blood still dribbled where the splinter had pierced his shoulder before, and Kett bore the wounds of them both now: a scorched, bloody patch on his right leg, and burns on his face and hands.
Kett bent over with pain, struggling to maintain his composure. Before they could say another word, though, Jacen materialized before them. "Kett Draxon, is that not your name? Are you not a Draxon by calling?"
Kett gritted his teeth and replied, "You yourself said the Draxon clan is finished. What's your point?"
"Come now, let's be a little more cordial," Jacen admonished. "But indeed, what you say is true, from my point of view."
"Kriffing good for you," Kett grunted.
"What are you doing to him?" Nia asked desperately.
"He is becoming familiar with the burden of leadership," Jacen answered. "Your wounds are not your own, not really. They are his to carry, his to care for, and still he has himself to mind. A lesson all three of you would be wise to remember," Jacen advised.
Greb looked at Nia with confidence, then turned to Jacen. "I can carry my share," Greb announced.
"So can I," Nia agreed. "Our wounds are our own, not Kett's."
Jacen smiled. "Ah, I see you are a teachable bunch, after all." Jacen waved his hand surreptitiously, and Kett's wounds all disappeared. Only the rips and burns in his clothing remained. "I suppose you have all learned well enough through this pain," he.
"What is this all about?" Kett asked as he picked himself up, still reeling. "What's your angle? Why are we here, instead of the cave?"
Jacen laughed. "Why, you're still in the cave. But your minds are here, and that alone is what matters. The mind, after all, is our very existence! Now, my angle you already know, young one. The Force must be balanced, and I want your help to ensure that balance. You three are sufficient for the task at hand, I think."
"What task?" Nia asked.
Jacen sighed. "I suppose I must begin once more. You three have all heard of the Jedi, no doubt?" They nodded their agreement. "The Jedi practice communion with and use of the Light Side of the Force. They worship the light, in fact. Their use of the Light Side gives them a special advantage over other beings, which explains the entire existence of the Jedi Order now," Jacen said with a note of disgust.
"The Jedi have ruled long enough. Instead of the Jedi correcting their ways, and embracing the Force itself, they have carried on with their corrupt view for centuries and left the Force out of balance. But the Sith, worshipers of the Dark Side and perennial enemies of the Jedi, are even worse in their pursuit to subjugate. Now the Sith stand poised to take the reins of power in the galaxy, leaving us all worse off."
"The Sith?" Kett asked. "I was told they were no more than an old legend."
"Oh, no," Jacen replied. "Not at all. The Sith are not only real, but they've seized control of the galaxy. The Force must be balanced, and the galaxy will need beings who are willing to make the necessary sacrifices. Each of you will be vital to this struggle."
Greb rolled his eyes. "What kind of trick is this, old man? What are you, some kind of spirit or god?"
"No, I am only an old man, as you say," Jacen replied with resignation. "I can do nothing more than mentor each of you. It is your choice whether to help me or not."
"What are we supposed to do?" Kett asked. "After all, isn't this Jedi and Sith stuff a little out of our league?"
Jacen waved his hand with nonchalance, and the scene about them changed from an empty cityscape to a hilltop, set above a raging battle. "Tell me, what do you see?"
The three looked down on the struggle quietly, for a moment. Vast armies of infantry charged forward into battle as bombers swooped in low, dropping their payloads from the hazy blood-red sky. Heavy machines clunked about, blasting away with laser cannons and rockets. The din of battle seemed to vibrate through the dry and sandy ground beneath their feet.
"It's a battle," Nia said flatly. "A pretty big one."
"Yes, but look closer. Who is fighting?" Jacen prodded.
The glow of lightsabers clashing on the front line could be seen, where dozens of knights crossed their tinted blades against each other and against enemy troopers and droids. "They look like Jedi and Sith," Kett said. Greb and Nia turned to listen as he explained. "This looks like a holo from one of my history texts years ago."
"Who fought here, and why?" Jacen asked as they observed the struggle.
"The Republic - they fought against the Sith Empire in the Great Hyperspace War. If this is Korriban, then this must be the great battle fought to defeat the Sith on their home world."
"Indeed," Jacen said with satisfaction. "So, who do you see fighting behind the Jedi, and who fights behind the Sith?"
Greb looked up at Jacen cautiously as he answered, "They look like regular troopers to me."
Jacen smiled. "Then you see my point; these Jedi and these Sith would be nothing without their armies to back them. This battle here, a struggle in the Force, is fought by people much like yourselves, even with little awareness of the nature of the Force."
With another wave of his hand, Jacen returned the group to the abandoned city street where they stood before. "Now, let me warn you. The galaxy has changed much since any of you last watched a holocast. Your friends will be enemies, and your enemies may no longer be so. Watch your step and tread carefully – the devil comes dressed in white."
As those final words left Jacen's mouth, Kett, Nia, and Greb returned to the darkness of the cave on Sarodon.
"That was wild," Nia said as they regained their bearings. "Kett, I don't know what you've got us into, but something tells me that's not the last time we're gonna see that guy."
"He's persistent," Kett noted aloud. "So, what do we do now?" Kett asked. The glowing fungi had faded away, leaving the three stranded in darkness.
"I guess we can wait until the light comes back, and make our way out again," Greb suggested.
"I don't like the idea of just sitting here," Kett complained. "Who knows what kind of creatures might live in this cave?" Kett said with a shudder. The cool, damp air lent a deathly vibe to the cave, and cold drops of water falling from stalactites above smattered their heads and shoulders.
"I don't think we have much choice," Nia said.
They didn't. All three sat in silence, waiting. Kett hoped that some spider would not come crawling up his leg, or worse, drop on his head. It was ironic, he noted, that the strange visions had not startled him nearly as much as a harmless arachnid would. Kett then realized, in a brief moment of clarity, that his shoulder no longer bled.
Excited, Kett ran his right hand up under his shirt and over the wound – but there was no wound at all. He could feel the crust of blood and rip in his shirt, but not a bit of pain where the open gash had been. His wounds truly had been healed, and he imagined that Nia and Greb's wounds must have healed as well.
With a warm smile, Kett let his need for rest take over once again, and drifted into sleep without further thought for spiders, the Force, or blood.
…
Kett felt the ground shake beneath him. It was dark; Kett knew he was asleep. A deep moan alerted him, and Kett slowly and deliberately awoke from his slumber. The deep moan gradually morphed into a human voice. Greb's voice. That shaking? It was Greb's hand on his shoulder. Something was going on.
An attack?
Kett jumped up quickly, his heart pounding. "What? Where?" Another hand reached out to still him, bathed in a gentle green glow.
"Kett, the light's back," Nia replied gently, grasping his left shoulder. "We should start moving if we're going to get out of this cave.
Oh. Kett remembered everything now, the cave, the vision. "Oh, alright. Do we have everything?" Kett said as he stooped to retrieve his E-5 from the cavern floor.
"Yeah, we took inventory while you slept," Greb informed him. "Didn't want to wake you up, but we took a tally between the two of us. I have about twenty rounds left for my rifle and enough food for two days."
"I've got this blaster pistol and a power cell," Nia said, "And a canteen for water, if we can find another spring."
Kett searched his pockets with his free hand, patting each one down to check for stray contents. "I'm empty," Kett reported. "And there's no telling how long this blaster will last. We need a plan."
"There should be another town nearby," Nia said as they wandered through the dimly lit tunnels once more. "Once we get out of here, we can head that way. My father charted out allot of this territory, and I remember helping him to draft the maps."
"You didn't just use a holomap?" Kett asked, incredulous.
"We don't have power sources in the wilderness," Greb explained. "A holo would be useless when its charge went dry, so we kept physical records of important things like maps and stories."
"Huh." Kett wasn't impressed. Physical records were easily lost or destroyed, and difficult to duplicate. Even their use – such as reading a map, for instance – could be a challenge. "Why not just come out of the forest, and live like normal people?"
"The forest is our home," Nia said. "We have lived in the wild for hundreds of years, ever since the first colony ships arrived. We survived just fine without holograms and luxury flats for long enough; why integrate with a society of foreigners just to get something we don't need?"
"But Sarodon is your home, my home. We're all native," Kett countered. "Who's foreign?"
"I'd say that since my grandfathers colonized the planet, that makes me the native," Greb argued. "Most people living in the towns and cities, like yourself, are just immigrants coming to make a profit from our home."
"I don't know about that," Kett said. "Times change. There are allot more of us than there are of you."
"Us? You? I thought you were a Draxon," Nia said, notes of bitter rejection in her voice. "What about –"
"Look," Kett cut her off, "I'm in this to save my own neck and find my family. I don't give a damn for the Draxon clan any more than I did a week ago, and this Jacen character is only one more obstacle in my way. I'm really sorry about what happened, but that's not my fault, and it doesn't change anything."
"What about us, then?" Nia asked desperately. "Don't you care at all? We took you in and cared for you, and now you're just going to leave us?"
Kett stopped and turned to face the others, his face colder than the shimmering green walls that surrounded them. "Your dad didn't give me much of a choice, Nia. I could join him, or your clan would just leave my body to feed the wolves. Then he hatched that lunatic plan to attack the droids with a bunch of untrained woodsmen, and I had to go along with it!"
"Don't talk about my father that way!" Nia said, stiffening with anger.
Kett took a step toward her, thrusting a finger in Greb's direction. "What about Cordin? Your father's bright ideas got Greb's brother killed, and everyone else killed too! It was stupid!"
Greb lowered his eyes with grief at the mention of his deceased twin, but Nia launched into an angry rampage. "I'll kill you!" she roared, her rage-filled voice bouncing off the walls and echoing through the empty halls. As Nia raised a fist to strike him, the green glow dimmed down until they could no longer see one another. With a snarl, Nia sat down on the floor.
Kett joined her, glad that the darkness had effectively deterred her attack. He was in no mood to kill somebody he'd been fighting to keep alive only – well, he didn't know how long ago anymore. It didn't matter. Kett knew how it had to be if they were going to make it through together. "Alright," Kett announced through the tense silence, "Here's how it is.
"I'm the only one of the three of us who has somewhere to go now, so I'm going to be in charge from today on. Either of you can leave if you want, but just keep in mind that those droids are still walking the woods and you'll have nobody to cover your ass. I don't care how it is, but I'm going to make it home no matter what happens."
"What about the clan?" Greb asked quietly.
Kett thought for a moment. There was only one good answer. "I'm Kett Draxon. If I'm going to take charge, I'll take the title too. I suppose that makes me Draxonus, then."
"Over my dead body!" Nia protested. "That was my father's title, and I am heir to the eldership!"
"If that's how you like it, fine," Kett replied with determination. "If you aren't going to cooperate or leave peacefully, I can take you on. This is my clan now, and I make the calls."
"Oh, you think," Nia said, tension building. "I could whoop you easily."
"Think your bruises have healed from the last time you 'whooped' me?" Kett taunted. "Don't even try. Like I said, I'm going home with or without you. Don't get in my way, or you won't have much time to regret it." Kett's words startled even himself. He hadn't known he had such a dark side.
"What about your own bruises, cowboy? You haven't seen me fight yet," Nia replied.
"Guys, can we kick it down a notch?" Greb asked from his seat against a stubby stalagmite. "I don't think it matters who's in charge anymore. I just want to get out of this alive, and it won't do any of us any good if you two beat each other to death."
Kett crouched and ran his palms over the rocky floor, searching for a dry place to sit. "If you wanna call yourself Draxonus, fine. See if I care. But I still call the shots, like it or not."
Nia held her tongue for a moment, thinking on her options. What use was it, fighting over the title of her dead father anyways? It was not as if she had a clan to lead. "If you're in charge anyways, then the Draxonus name means nothing in my possession. I would rather sacrifice my birthright than reduce the name to some kind of formality."
"Then we're getting somewhere," Kett said as he sat back against the cave wall. "Let's call a truce. Deal?"
"Fine," Nia bit back. "I agree to your leadership as Draxonus. Under protest."
"I submit to your leadership as Draxonus," Greb echoed.
"Thank you," Kett said with a victorious sigh. His blood pressure still soared, but disaster had been averted, if only for the time being. As the three began to relax again, the dim green glow returned. "Convenient," Kett said aloud. "Let's get moving again."
The group took to their feet once more, and followed the lighted strips of fungus to the mouth around bends and through forks. After several minutes of trudging along, they stood once more at the mouth of the cave. Only, Kett could see stars overhead. Candis and Capos shone down on a great grassy meadow lying just beyond the cave's exit.
"This doesn't make sense," Kett said. "This cave was in the forest. How did we wind up in the grasslands?"
Nia and Greb joined him, similarly taken aback. Greb stepped outside, studying the sky. "Guys, you're not going to believe this."
"What?" Nia asked.
"These stars only appear in the southern hemisphere. See the Orbis Cluster? There's the Hilt of Goredon, and that's the south pole!"
"Wait," Kett said cautiously. "Are you saying we walked halfway across the planet through that cave? That's impossible."
Greb looked at him and shrugged. "Either that, or Sarodon turned upside-down. I don't know, but I'm not wrong. That's the Hilt of Goredon and you can't even see it from the northern hemisphere."
"Someday you have to tell me where you learned that, living in the woods all your life," Kett said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Sometimes we just happen to know something that comes in handy, whether it makes sense or not," Greb answered.
Kett turned back to face the cave. "Jacen! What's up with this?" No reply came, as Nia and Greb turned likewise. "Talking to caves now. What kind of insanity have I fallen to?" Kett wondered aloud. A gentle breeze tugged at his tunic, and the moons' light cast eerie double shadows on the ground beneath him. Kett couldn't help stopping to kick at the dirt, utterly incapable of comprehending the continual strange turns his life had taken in the past few days.
One thing he was sure of - Kett wasn't tired anymore. "We're moving out," he announced. "Greb, you pick the best two directions we could go."
Kett and Nia stood alone as Greb walked out by himself to choose two likely courses. Kett considered trying to apologize for his harsh tone. He hadn't meant to be so stubborn or authoritative. But his family was on the line, and Kett wasn't about to let them go either. Maybe his tone had been justified. Maybe that's how it had to be, being in charge. Still, did it have to hurt so much?
Greb returned with his report. "We can go that direction," Greb said, pointing to a gentle glow on the horizon. "It's about northeast of here. Probably a city. But it might be occupied. Over there," Greb pointed to a valley to their west, "Is probably the closest source of water. If we got started now, we could make it there before daybreak."
Kett crossed his arms and considered carefully. He had made his choice, but he had an idea. "Nia, what do you think?"
"Does it matter?" she snapped.
"Does to me," Kett said. "I want to hear your opinion." Perhaps giving Nia her say would be a small step toward reconciling their increasingly sharp differences.
"I'd rather fill up on water before venturing into a city that might well be occupied already. No sense in dying while I'm dehydrated," Nia said, patting the empty canteen on her belt.
Kett started off without a word, walking toward the valley, blaster in hand. Nia and Greb followed, matching Kett's path in single file through the shoulder-height golden grasses of the prairie. Little stalks slapped at Kett's face with each step, as though to push him back with whatever little force they could muster in the wind. Nothing would hold him back. He might be a Draxon now, but not even the Force itself could stop him from finding his family – let alone some absurd tribal tradition. Southern hemisphere or not, Kett would find a way home.
As they trudged on, Greb offered occasional course corrections based on the stars above until Kett learned the array of stars himself. In the tall grass, they could see no landmarks except the ones behind them, much less the valley they aimed to reach by sunrise.
Kett pondered on his family as they walked. His father, Kreados Wilson. His mother, Portana. His sister, Jera. They needed someone to help look after them. To help rebuild. He would make it there, no matter the cost. But what of Nia, or Greb? Questions better left unasked, Kett decided, until that time came. There were immediate problems at hand, and his compatriots' long-term fates were not numbered among them.