Knights Of The Old Republic chapter 11– Struggling For A Foothold, Settling For A Beer

"Back on Nar Shadaa. What a shame."

Justin, Mira, Brennen, Brianna, Johnny and Billie had reached Nar Shadaa. They set out immediately for the docks, because that was where Vogga, or Goggles, was. Well, he had his own section to himself, but they figured they could find a way in.

But first, a trip to the cantina.

"Guys, just don't get too drunk, ok?" Brianna said.

"Ya ya, whatever," Justin said, waving his hand at her. He picked up his drink and took a gulp. Suddenly a twi'lek approached the group.

"I heard you want to meet with Goggles The Hutt," he said quietly.

"How? We haven't mentioned it since we left the ship," Brennen said.

"Listen, you want to meet him right?" They nodded. "Well, he told me to get him a new dancer, so if you could find someone suitable, then all you'd have to do is put on this dancing outfit and I'll bring you to him." He put down what he said was a dancing outfit, but appeared to be little more then a bra and underwear. "If you wish to take me up on the offer, then meet me outside of his headquarters." He walked off.

The group grabbed the dancing outfit and stepped out of the cantina. They stood looking at it, then Justin looked at the others. "So, who wants to dance for a Hutt? Mira?"

"Screw that," she answered.

"Brianna?"

"No!" both Brianna and Brennen snapped.

"How 'bout you Lorenti?"

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Ya right."

"Brezu?"

"Hell no."

"Billie?"

"I'd rather be a slave again."

"Well then who's gonna wear the bloody outfit?" he said, irritated. They all looked at him. "What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

A few minutes later...

"I don't know how you guys manage to talk me into these things," Justin grumbled as he stood outside Goggles's door wearing the outfit.

"Shut up and look sexy," Brennen ordered, grinning.

The door opened and they stepped into the Hutt's room. Justin stood in front of Goggles and didn't move.

"Uh, Jaise?" Johnny said.

"I don't know how to dance," he hissed.

However, Goggles didn't want him to dance. "What is this?" he roared in Huttese. "When I asked for a dancer, I didn't mean a male!"

"Listen, Goggles–"

"And why is everyone calling me Goggles lately?"

"We just wanted to ask you if you could sell us some fuel for our ship."

"I will as long as you put on some clothes."

Brennen snorted and handed Justin his robe. He put it on right away. Feeling much more comfortable, he turned back to Goggles. "So, you'll sell us some fuel?"

"Yes, I suppose I can. Where is it?"

"The ship? On Nal Hutta being repaired."

"Oh, so it's delivery now too? That'll up the cost. What kind of a ship is it?"

"A smuggler vessel I guess."

"Well, give me the co-ordinates to it and I'll ship some fuel there."

"How much will this cost us?"

The Hutt considered. "Five thousand credits," he decided.

The group dug into their pockets and threw their credits together. Usually Beth carried the credits, but Justin had taken some money from Grand Puba's palace. They managed to scrape together the five grand and handed it over to the Hutt. He counted it out, making sure he wasn't being cheated, then ordered the fuel to be sent to the planet. Justin told him where the ship was, and he assured them it would reach the planet shortly.

The group thanked him and left, going back to their ship. Well, they stopped at the cantina for a few more drinks, but then they went back to the ship.

Nal Hutta...

Beth sealed the compartment shut, then stepped back, admiring her work. The ship was trashed, but they were bringing it along. It would be fixed, if not by the end of that day, then by the next day.

"Hey, T3, go get me a drink or something!" Beth called to the droid. He beeped and rolled onto the ship. She, T3, HK, Mical, Bao, Ryan, and Iziz were still working on the ship. It was hard work, and they didn't stop for breaks very often, and even the most cautious of them was bound to get shocked, but all wanted to get off the planet as soon as possible.

Ryan shouted, and clutched his hand. Beth sighed. It was the third time he'd gone and fried himself. He was a good mechanic, but clumsy. Beth was worried that he'd get himself killed soon enough.

Visas stepped off the ship. "Someone's on the phone," she told them. "Says they want to speak to Gadzooks or something."

"That's for me," Beth said. She put down her tools and walked onto the ship. T3 rolled by with a glass of beer on his head. Beth grabbed it, thanking him and then picked up the phone. "Hello, Beth's beating service, you pick it we kick it. Oh hey. Ya, I was wondering how that was going. You picked a leader? Cool. Who is it? Lunch? You chose a rancor to lead you? Well, it's your choice. Ya, I'm leaving soon. How'd you get my number anyway? I left it there? But I never wrote it down...uh, hello?" She put down the phone. "Huh. They hung up."

"Who was that?" Atton asked.

"Just some palace I ruled for a bit." She walked back outside.

For about two hours they continued the repairs on the ship. Then Visas walked out saying that someone had called and told them that they had a shipment of fuel coming in the next hour. Beth was surprised. She'd half-expected something catastrophic to happen, but it seemed things were going smoothly. Then suddenly Bao-Dur swore and backed away from the ship. The others glanced over. Part of the ship was smoking.

The rest of the group ran back from the ship. There was an explosion and they were pelted by bits of metal and shrapnel from the ship. Beth glanced back. There was a blackened patch on the ship, still smoking slightly.

"Bao, what the Hell happened?" Beth asked, rubbing her arm where a piece of metal had ripped open the skin.

"I have no idea. I was just fixing some of the wires and then it started smoking." He inspected the damage. "Well, it's not so bad. I'll just get some more parts from inside the ship. I guess it was supposed to be red to yellow, instead of red to blue." He ran onto the ship.

Beth continued working on her part of the ship. She noticed a chunk of metal farther in, just sitting there. She reached in with her metal arm, and put her hand over the metal. Suddenly there was a clunk, and another piece of metal fell from somewhere in the ship and slammed down on her arm.

She shouted, struggling to pull herself out. Mical, hearing her, walked over and pulled her out. She looked at her arm, crushed slightly and sparking a bit. She swore and kicked her toolbox over.

"I thought you said this arm doesn't feel anything," Mical said, mistaking her anger for pain anger.

"It doesn't!" she fumed. "This ship is such a piece of junk! Now I got two things to fix!" She grabbed one of her tools off the ground and began working on getting her arm to stop sparking.

"Are you mad about something?" Mical asked, watching her.

"No. Just impatient. I hate Nal Hutta. And I'm tired of this ship fucking up in every way possible."

"You have an extremely foul mouth, you know that?"

He'd just said it to distract her from her anger, and it worked. She snorted with laughter.

"Ya, I know. But you're such a whiner, even if my language was butterflies and bunnies you'd complain."

He laughed. "You also call me a whiner a lot."

"Does it hurt your feelings?" Her tone held amusement and the implication that she didn't care how much it hurt him when she told him he whined a lot.

"Hey guys! There's a ship coming on for a landing!" Atton called from the ship.

They glanced up. A fairly big ship landed not too far away. A group of soldiers filed off. A man approached them.

"Who is your leader?" he asked. They turned to Beth, and she stepped forward.

"I am. What's your business here?"

"A friend of yours, goes by the name Jaise, ordered fuel to be brought to your ship." He looked past her at the Ebon Hawk. "Although it looks like it could use a bit more then just fuel."

"Ya, we're working on it. Just load the fuel on the ship. Atton will show you where, just ask him." She went back to work, and the soldiers began dumping the fuel in the ship.

"How come Jaise and the others aren't back yet?" Bao asked.

"Probably got drunk or something. Just like last time we went to Nar Shadaa. Lord knows they probably forgot they were supposed to come back. Now come on, we gotta get this ship up and running." They continued their work on the ship.

Dusk...

"Isn't it beautiful?" Beth said.

"What, the ship?" Mical asked. "No, it looks like we took a pile of scrap metal and taped it together."

"Well, at least it's working. That makes it beautiful enough."

The ship was indeed working, and with it fixed and refueled they could get going whenever they wanted. Justin and the others had returned from Nar Shadaa a bit drunk, well, a lot drunk, about an hour or two before.

"Come on," Beth said. "I hate Nal Hutta now. Let's get out of here."

One hour later...

"And we are outta here! Atton announced as they went to lightspeed. "This time we're going to Onderon, and nothing's gonna stop us!"

Moving the plot forward...

"Damn," Atton said. "Look at the line-up! It'll take us forever to reach Onderon."

Suddenly a voice crackled over the radio. "Ahh, the Ebon Hawk. I was told to expect you." Suddenly the ship rocked back and forth.

"Shit! He's shooting at us!" Atton said. The attack on the Ebon Hawk had created a chain reaction though. A few shots had missed, and hit another ship. Thinking it was being attacked, it fired on another ship. This one shot at another, and within a few moments all the ships were attacking each other. It was getting very dangerous to be in the area, especially since Beth was fighting to get at the controls and give their attacker a piece of her mind.

"Take us down to Dxun!" Justin said as he forced Beth out of the cockpit. "We're not gonna get to Onderon at this rate! We'll be killed!"

"All right, I'm taking us down!" Atton called.

"Awww!" Beth said.

On Dxun's surface...

"Oh Goddamn it, it's raining. I hate rain," Johnny complained.

"Oh shut up," Beth said. "It could be much worse then this."

"Ya, we could be on Nal Hutta," Brennen said.

"All of you, shut up," Justin said. "It's gonna be awhile before those ships stop their space battle, so we may as well explore."

The usual group stood outside the ship: Justin, Mira, Beth, Mical, Brennen, Brianna and Johnny. However, Ryan and Billie also wanted to come. Justin stood before them.

"All right men, let's MOVE OUT!!" He led them off into the forest. Dxun was a jungle moon, and it was supposedly uninhabited, except by Cannoks, Maalras(strange leopard like creatures), and Bomas (green hairless animals who looked a bit like dinosaurs). The four exiles knew better though, but kept their mouths shut.

The jungle was difficult to walk through, being so thick and wild. Beth and Brennen walked ahead of the others and slashed a path through the trees with their lightsabers. Often some sort of creature of the woods would leap out at them, but they'd be killed before any damage could be done. They finally stumbled out of the jungle and into a large clearing.

Justin frowned. There were torches in this place, and obvious signs of a fire. The air shimmered in front of them, and three mandalorians appeared in front of them.

"Don't move Jedi," one ordered. "We got you surrounded." All around them mandalorians were appearing out of the air.

"Since when were mandalorians magicians?" Ryan laughed.

"Be quiet. We have stealth field generators. Now follow us. Mandalore wants to meet with you."

"Didn't we kill him in the war?" Brennen asked.

"We have a new Mandalore now," the mandalorian sneered. "Are you going to follow us, or do we have to force you to come?" The mandalorians lifted their guns.

"Ya ya, we'll come," Justin said quickly. He didn't feel like getting shot today. The nine of them allowed themselves to be led away.

He took them to their camp, which was surprisingly high-tech for a base surrounded by jungle. He directed them into a building, which held a single mandalorian. He turned to them.

"I am Mandalore, the leader of this camp," he said. "You were the ones who started that space battle weren't you? Impressive."

"Well, we didn't actually, but don't worry, we're used to getting blamed for things," Justin said. "Anyway, we're just trying to get to Onderon. If you could find it in your heart to help us..."

"I do go to Onderon occasionally. Perhaps I can take you with me...Why do you want to go to Onderon?"

"Find a Jedi master," Justin answered.

"Wait, were we supposed to tell him that?" Johnny asked.

"I don't fucking know. The fact is I did."

"Well, I'm going tomorrow. You guys can stay in the camp until then," Mandalore said. They nodded and walked out of the building.

"So what now?" Billie asked.

"I don't know. We can wander about aimlessly for the rest of the day," Justin said.

"Aw, but that's lame!" Ryan complained.

"Well, if we go into the jungle then suddenly we'll have started more trouble and this chapter will end up being fifty pages long!" Justin snapped.

"Chapter? What the Hell are you talking about?" Beth asked.

"Uh, nothing. Nothing."

"But–"

"Beth, I said nothing!"

She shrugged and walked off to explore the camp. Mical and Ryan followed her. Justin shook his head. In his experience of Ryan the past few days, the guy was a total nutcase. Mical obviously didn't like him, but Beth didn't seem to mind having him around.

Justin, Mira and Johnny went off in another direction. Brennen, Brianna and Billie walked off to check out a few new mandalorian recruits who were training with each other. However, trouble was always two steps away with the group.

Beth looked inside another building, then turned to Mical. She frowned.

"Where's Ryan?"

"What?" He turned to look behind him. "I thought he was there..."

"Shit!" She slapped a hand over her face, frustrated. "I told you to keep an eye on him!"

"I only looked away for a minute!" he retorted.

"Fuck, that idiot probably went into the jungle!" She sighed.

"We could just leave him to die," he suggested hopefully.

"Mical, don't be an ass. We gotta go after him. Come on." She led him to the gate. "I know I'm gonna regret this."

One hour later...

Justin scratched his head. "So none of you have seen Beth?" They shook their heads. "Well, we can't go after them. It'll be nightfall in an hour. We'll just get lost. Beth will have to find her own way out."

In the jungle...

"Have we explored enough to decide that Ryan is just dead and go back to the camp?" Mical asked.

"Afraid not. Quit being a wuss! It's not like we've come across anything too dangerous."

"No, but I can see us getting lost."

The two had tried to follow Ryan's trail through the jungle, but the bastard hadn't been chopping his way through like they had been, and neither were trackers, so they had no idea which way he'd gone. So for the past hour they'd been walking along some sort of old animal-made trail. They found the occasional cannok, but nothing very dangerous. Mical looked up at the sky.

"Beth, is it getting late?"

She looked up. "Maybe. I don't know. It could just be overcast."

"I don't see any clouds though. It's getting really dark."

"What? You scared of the dark?"

"No. But big, scary animals tend to come out at night." He grinned.

"Ooh, now I'm scared too. Fuck, they're just animals. What's the worst thing we'll find, a boma?"

"No, but how about a zakkeg?" He stopped walking. She looked forward, and stopped too.

The zakkeg stood only a few yards away. They hadn't seen it because of the darkness. But now it seemed painfully obvious. It sniffed at the air, then turned to them, glaring.

"One sec Mical. I told one of these to leave last time I was here. I'll just do it again." She started forward, but then it charged at them, roaring.

"Hard to do with an angry animal?" Mical asked.

"Yep." They'd leaped over the creature, landing behind it. Beth jumped again, landing on it's back. "Maybe my power will better like this." She forced herself into it's mind, using more of her power then usual. Suddenly she became very aware of the amount of animals in the area. And they became very aware of her.

She leaped back, but forgot once again to break the connection. "Mical, I just made things worse," she said.

Mical listened to the crashing sounds of approaching beasts. "Beth, what do you–" He stared at her. "Beth, what the Hell are you doing?"

She was changing again. It was less painful this time, and much quicker. She turned into the dragon thing again within moments. Too late, she broke her connection to the animals.

"Ah Hell, not again," she growled, looking at her hands.

"Holy shit!" Mical exclaimed. "What the Hell is this?"

"I told you about it didn't I?" she said, looking at him. She was head and shoulders taller then him.

"Ya, but I didn't expect–This!"

The zakkeg looked at her uncertainly, then stomped away. Beth listened for the animals, but they were gone too.

"The beasts left," she said to Mical.

"There must be something about this form that impresses animals or something," Mical said. "It was something like on Nal Hutta, when you scared the rancor, the wampas and the zakkegs."

"I don't know. This power is weird." She sniffed at the air. "Damn my sense of smell is strong when I'm like this. And things are loud."

"I guess you get better senses as a...dragon thing. Hey!" His eyes lit up. "You think you can track Ryan or something?"

She looked down at him. "You reduce me to a mere hunting dog?"

"Yes I do. Come on! I don't want to find him, but you do, so unless you want to be in this jungle for another week, I suggest you put your nose to the ground and start sniffing!"

"Oh fine." She ducked down on all fours like a dog. "But you owe me for this." She sniffed at the ground. "I think he may have come by here." She ran off down the trail. He followed.

She didn't look where she was going though, and ran flat into a boma. A big one too. She stepped back. The boma snarled at her, baring it's teeth. She jumped up on her back legs and whipped out her lightsaber.

"I win." She slammed the blade through the boma's face. Mical walked up next to her.

"You wanna slow down?" he snapped, panting. "You know, just because you have lungs that apparently stop you from losing your breath doesn't mean the rest of us do!"

"Go to Hell!" she shot back, and then they heard someone call out.

"Beth! Mical!" Ryan ran forward out of the trees, then paused at the sight of Beth's new shape. "Uh, hi?"

"Ryan, it's Beth, all right? Don't bother asking how, it'll take too long to answer. Now why did you have to leave the camp?"

"Well, it was just so damn boring!" he said, exasperated. "So I figured I'd just take a little walk, but then I got lost and the boma chased me into the forest but then I heard you guys and now I'm safe!" He hugged Beth tightly. She looked blank for a moment, and then pushed him off.

"Hey, piss off! What are you, a child?" She snorted, then looked around. "Anyway, we gotta get out of here. Jaise is gonna be pissed when we get back."

"Oh." Ryan looked a bit sheepish. "Well, maybe we can pretend we never left?"

"Ya, that'd be the day," Mical snapped. "We've been gone for hours, only an idiot like you wouldn't have noticed that we were gone."

"Mical, ease off," Beth said. Ryan stared at the ground, feeling ridiculous. She dragged Mical away. "Why are you always being so hard on him?"

"Because I don't like him!" he said angrily. "All he does is get himself, and us, into trouble. We can't watch him all the time, he's gonna get himself killed!"

"He hasn't changed much from the war," Beth said. "Everyone in my platoon were like that. Even me. We were bored easily, but back then we had battles to distract us. I guess I got over the war better then him."

"What, you saying he's a crazy warbrain or something?"

"I don't know. I have no damn clue. Ryan was always a difficult person to understand."

"We should have left him at the ship. Or on Nal Hutta." The latter obviously appealed to him more.

"Mical, you're just gonna have to learn to live with him."

"I don't see why."

"Because I learned to live with him." She was getting impatient.

"Look, I'll see what I can do."

"You'd better. I'm sick of asking nicely."

She walked back over to Ryan. "Come on. Let's get back to the camp." The three started their journey back.

"Hey Beth, when do you change back to a, you know, human?" Mical asked.

"When I want to," Beth answered. "When I release my hold on my power."

"Well that explains a lot more." This statement was very sarcastic.

"Well, fuck, I don't how to explain it any better!"

Of course, neither of them considered the noise they were making. There was a rustle in the trees, and three men leaped out. One ran up and slammed a sword through Beth's heart.

Or so he'd thought. She froze for a moment, then, with an irritated air about her, she pulled the sword out and stabbed it threw the man's throat.

He fell, coughing. The two others stared at their dead comrade, looked up at her, then ran. Mical and Ryan stared at her.

"Beth, why aren't you dead?" Mical asked.

"A very valid question." She looked at the break in the front of her armor just in time to see the wound sealing over. "Whoa."

"You healed really fast," Ryan said.

Beth rolled her eyes. "Thanks buddy. I hadn't noticed."

"Every time I think I'm starting to understand this power of yours, it goes and spins in another direction," Mical commented. "Are you invincible or something like that? Did it even hurt?"

"Ya, but not as much as I thought it would." She looked worried, like this was a bad thing. "Can we just get out here? I want out of here. I'm sick of spending sleepless nights in dangerous places."

The three set off again, following their trail back to the camp. As they neared the gate Beth began changing back rapidly. Mical and Ryan watched, transfixed, as she shortened back to her normal height in only a few seconds.

The guard at the gate was surprised to see them. "When did you leave?" he asked.

"Not long ago. Went out for some fresh air," Beth answered.

"I didn't see you leave."

"We went out a different way."

He shook his head. "Well, get in. It's not safe to be out at this time. There are more beasts out at night then during the day."

The three hurried back to their rooms. Justin was up, and glared at them when they walked in, like a parent that had caught his kids out past their bedtime. "And where were you three?" he asked sternly.

"We went out for a walk and got lost," Beth said. "Sorry."

He sighed. "Just go to bed," he ordered. They did as he said immediately.

The next day...

"All right, who's coming?" Mandalore asked as the crew of the Ebon Hawk stood before the shuttle they were taking to Onderon.

It was, of course, Justin, Mira, Beth, Mical, Brennen, Brianna, Johnny, Ryan and Billie who said yes. Mandalore seemed surprised at the amount of people, but didn't object.

"Stand aside, I'm driving," Beth said when they got inside.

"You are not," Justin said. "Mandalore can do it."

"Well actually..." Mandalore started.

"Oh you gotta be shitting me!"

"Well, usually I get someone else to pilot the ship for me," Mandalore said.

"Fine Beth! You can fly!"

"I don't know..." She smirked. "Maybe Ryan should do it."

"NO!" everyone shouted. Beth laughed and sat in the pilot's chair.

"Let's get this party started!"

"I'm gonna regret this, I know it." Justin shook his head. "I'm gonna go back there and write my will."

"Not gonna be of much use when we crash and burn."

"Beth, shut up." Justin walked to the back of the shuttle.

On Onderon...

"See? That wasn't so bad."

"Beth, we nearly died three times."

"No! It was only twice!"

The group walked off the landing pad. Mandalore led them to another part of town, saying he had a friend that could contact the Jedi they were looking for.

His friend's name was Dagon Ghent, and he was doctor. A bad doctor, but a doctor nonetheless. He lived in the scummy part of town, with the works: gangs, bounty hunters...

A cantina.

Justin grinned. "I'll see you guys later," he said, staring to walk off to the cantina. Mira grabbed him by the back of his robes.

"Oh no you don't," she ordered. "We have business to attend to."

"Aw!" Justin slumped. "No fair."

"There's Dagon's office," Mandalore sad, pointing. However, as usual, things would not be so easy for them.

"Damn it! The door's locked!" Beth growled as she pulled at the doorknob.

"I guess he's not home," Mandalore said, looking through the window.

A scruffy looking man approached them. "You lookin' for Ghent? He got arrested this morning."

"Huh," Beth said, letting go of the knob.

"Ya, got arrested for murder," the man said. He walked off.

"Would your friend actually kill someone Mandalore?" Brianna asked.

"Hell, I would," Beth said.

"Dagon is a terrible doctor, and an idiot, but he wouldn't kill someone. He must have been framed."

"Looks like we have a mystery on our hands gang," Beth said. Everyone stared at her. "What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

Justin shook his head. "Beth, this isn't an episode of Scooby-Doo ok?"

"I never said it was!"

"Look, us exiles know he's innocent," Justin said to Mandalore. "Don't ask how, we just do. See that broken droid over there?" He pointed at a pile of garbage. "It's head holds proof that it wasn't Ghent."

They grabbed the head and watched it's last feed. It showed the droid getting shot from some direction.

"How does that prove anything?" Mandalore asked.

"I'll show you. Follow me." Justin led them away to the cleaner part of town, where they went straight to the police building.

"We have proof that Dagon Ghent is innocent!" Justin stated loudly when they got inside. He slammed the head down on the desk, and it sparked.

"Jaise, you're breaking it!" Beth picked it up. "You keep doing that and you're gonna damage the memory core, and then what do we do?"

The officer they were supposed to be showing it to got up and took the droid head from her. He watched the video feed.

"Yep. This proves his innocence." He put the droid head on the desk. "Hey!" he yelled down the hallway. Justin assumed their was another cop down there. "Let Dagon Ghent out!"

A cop led a man with a shaved head out. The exiles recognized Dagon Ghent.

The group walked out of the building with Ghent behind them. "See, I told you it would work," Justin said to Mandalore.

"No you didn't."

"Really? I'm almost positive I did."

"So what do you guys want?" Dagon asked.

"We want you to contact the palace for us. We need to speak to Kavar."

"All right, come on, let's get back to my house."

Moving the plot past boring pointless crap...

"All right, Kavar says he'll meet you in the cantina. You can go there now."

"Thanks Ghent," Justin said.

"Ya ya, just get out."

They headed for the cantina immediately. It must have looked odd: ten people strolling into the cantina all at once, a few wearing robes, one roaring for a drink, another telling that one that he wasn't allowed drinking or else she'd kill him...Yep, an odd group. The exiles searched the crowd for Kavar and picked him out easily.

The exiles walked towards him. He stood to greet them, but suddenly about a dozen men burst into the cantina, holding guns.

"Stay where you are Jedi!" one of them yelled. "You are under arrest!"

Kavar swung a hand, and the soldiers toppled. He started for the door, but paused for a moment. "I'll contact you later. For now, run!" He hurried out.

They started to follow, but the soldiers were up again. "Kill them!" the same one cried. "Shoot them down!"

The soldiers opened fire. Cantina patrons jumped under their tables, trying to avoid the blaster fire. The exiles attacked, ignoring any bullet wounds and slashing the soldiers down. The soldiers were no match for four experienced Jedi.

Justin turned to the rest of the group. "Come on! We gotta get out of here!" They raced out. But as soon as they ran through the door they heard more blaster shots. Justin shouted and clutched his arm as one struck home.

Brennen and Johnny stepped forward. Brennen threw out his hands, throwing the large group of soldiers down. Johnny used Force lightning, killing all of them.

They started for their ship, but then a rodian stepped out. Behind him were three trandoshans, a twi'lek, an aqualish and two gammorreans. Obviously bounty hunters.

The rodian held up a gun. Mandalore suddenly pushed the Jedi aside and shot the rodian once, killing the alien on the spot. The rest of the bounty hunters, enraged, started shooting at them, but were killed by the exiles in seconds.

They continued on, occasionally stopping to kill the odd soldier that attacked them. One time one of the citizens attacked Beth from behind, throwing his arms around her throat, but Mical and Ryan killed him quickly. Finally, the shuttle was in sight. But there was one last problem.

"Guys, were those turrets there before?" Brennen asked nervously. They stopped walking, looking at the turrets lining both sides of the street. At the end of it was their ship, but suddenly they were a bit worried about moving in case it triggered a sudden onslaught of fire.

"Jaise?" Johnny asked. The turrets spun suddenly to target them.

"Aw piss!" Justin said. "Go!" They ran. The turrets open fired on them. These blasts were much stronger then blaster fire. Beth made the mistake of trying to deflect one with her left saber and it shook her blade violently. The lightsaber sparked, and electricity flew up her arm, numbing it. She cried out, fingers opening spasmodically and dropping the weapon. Mical grabbed the back of her armor and pulled her forward in time to avoid more turret blasts.

They ran onto the shuttle. "Beth, get us out of here!" Justin yelled. She stumbled forward and punched in the ignition codes.

"We're out of here!" Beth called as the ship lurched upwards. "Why is it that I must grow to hate every planet we go to?"

On Dxun...

It was still raining. By the time Mandalore had led them back to their ship they were soaked. He had decided to come with them, apparently to search for other mandalorians. However, they didn't end up going very far just yet. As soon as they walked onto the ship, T3 rolled forward, beeping.

"Brezu?" Justin asked.

"He says he got a message from the mandalorian camp. Apparently it's urgent, and we gotta go back there."

Johnny groaned. "We were just there!"

"Ya!" Beth agreed. "I'm exhausted, and my arm still hurts from that shot! And I lost my lightsaber, I was going to make another one!"

"Beth, Lorenti, quit whining," Justin ordered. "Let's just get back to the camp. But we're not bringing a ton of people. Mandalore, you don't have to come. Ryan, Random Billie, neither are you." Charlie, who had come waddling out of the medbay, growled to get his attention. "No, you and Roger aren't coming either."

"So just the seven of us then?" Brennen asked.

"No, eight." Kreia walked forward. "I'm coming too. And you can't stop me."

"Hey Lorenti, I got you a date!" Brennen laughed. He pushed Johnny towards the old Jedi. Johnny gave him a nasty look.

"Aw, why does McBitch have to come?" Beth complained. "She'll just bring us all down."

"Be silent!" Kreia hissed at her. Beth glared at her. Kriea merely turned her gaze on her however, and she looked away.

"Guys, shut up," Justin interjected. "Just let her come. Now let's MOVE OUT!!" He led them back off the ship.

Back at the camp...

"Ok, so Kavar and the queen are under attack on Onderon," Justin said.

"Yep," the mandalorian, Kelborn, said.

"And you..." Justin turned to Kreia. "You say there's a bunch of Sith in the jungle that must be taken care of."

"Yes," she answered.

"And now we, as the protagonists of this story, must take care of both problems."

"Yes," Kreia and Kelborn answered.

"And how are we going to do that?"

"You must split into two groups, and take care of both problems separately."

"Ok..." Justin thought for a moment, then called out "EXILE HUDDLE!!" The four exiles stepped to one side and stood in a small circle. "Ok, so who goes where?" he asked in a low tone.

"I'm not going to Onderon. I hate that place," Beth answered.

"Ok, Beth you can take care of the Sith in the jungle."

"Whoa whoa!" Brennen said. "You're just gonna send her out there alone?"

"Not alone. She'll be with Mical."

"Look, me and Brianna will go with her. She and Mical always get in trouble when they're alone."

"All right, then me, Mira, Lorenti and Kreia will go to Onderon. That was easy to settle." The exiles turned back to the others. "We have decided who will go where."

"And what are your choices?" Kreia asked.

"Me and Lorenti are going back to Onderon. Beth and Brezu are going to take out the Sith."

"All right," Kelborn said. "Then everyone's who's going to Onderon, go to the shuttle. Everyone who is going into the jungle, follow me. We got a rough road ahead of us."

You don't know the half of it. Justin thought.

End Of Chapter 11