A/N: Was at grandparents. Thank god for the special little sweet spot I've discovered with two bars of unsecured wireless. :D


27

They barely had time to react before the large, enraged Wookiee, yelling about Czerka in the language only HK, Jolee, and Anna understood, stormed towards them, a large branch held like a sword out towards them.

"We're here to talk!" Jolee barked. Anna positioned herself between the group and the charge, though weapons had already jumped into hands. "Force, he's almost feral."

Anna glanced back at Bastila and nodded, and Bastila closed her eyes before pushing her hand out. The gray-furred alien stopped dead, less than a meter away from where he could have swung and hit Anna easily, frozen in the Force. Anna took a step forward.

"Hello," she said. "Believe it or not, we aren't here to hurt you. My friend and I here are Jedi, we were sent here for an artifact. We merely wish to speak to you. Do you know a Wookiee named Zaalbar?"

Something in the Wookiee's eyes changed almost instantly, and Anna nodded at Bastila again. She released the stasis hesitantly, and the Wookiee's shoulders slumped. "Zaalbar is my son. How do you know of him?!"

"HK?" Bastila hissed, motioning at the Wookiee when the droid looked at her. He translated.

"He came here with me."

"You claim to own him?!" It was a roar of rage. Anna shook her head.

"Not by any stretch of the imagination," Anna replied, hands still upheld. "Zaalbar is his own person. I saved him on Taris and he swore a life-debt to me."

The Wookiee — Freyyr, Anna remembered — sighed. "Then he sees something of worth in you. I will listen, cautiously."

"Thank you."

"Query: Ma—"

Carth clapped his hand over the droid's vocabulator.

"Chuundar is holding Zaalbar as a ploy to get us to do his dirty work, which I'm sure you can determine what it is," Anna explained.

"Another instance of where our tradition has failed us," Freyyr murmured. "If I'd listened to him he would not have been exiled, and the slavers would not have this foothold. A year after he was exiled, Chuundar and Czerka sought to attack me. That is why I am here."

Jolee nodded. "Yes. I helped you escape, remember?"

"Yes. Now I do. I'm sorry. I've been down here for so long . . ."

"All right." She relayed the information back to the others, then turned back to him. "Look. Chuundar, as I'm sure you're aware, is doing a fantastic job of ruining your people. Is there any way to get you put back in as the Wookiee leader?"

"Anna, we really —"

Anna delivered a harsh glare at Bastila. "If you have a better way of getting Zaalbar out of there, I'm all ears." Bastila sighed and shook her head. "I didn't think so. Freyyr?"

"I . . . I'm not sure," he admitted. "There are old legends about a blade that was made from the first starship that crashed here, on Kashyyyk. The blade was long lost, but Chuundar holds the hilt. If we could find the blade . . ."

"This is insane!" Carth said, after Anna translated for them. "It's the Shadowlands, who knows where that is? It's like . . . It's impossible!" His tired brain failed to come up with an appropriate analogy, and he settled for just repeating the obvious.

"Uh . . ." Canderous looked sheepish for a second, then held up the blade of a vibrosword, covered in old green stains and bits of flesh. "You don't mean this, do you?"

Anna snatched it and handed it to Freyyr, who suddenly looked shocked. "Yes, this . . . This is it. This is Bacca's Blade."

"How in hell—" Carth started.

"What?!" Canderous motioned at it. "It got caught on my armor when we were ambushed by that thing—"

"The terentatek," Anna interrupted.

"Yeah. That. And I thought it looked the right shape for a piece on the swoop bike." He motioned. "But if it'll get us the hell out of here he can have it."

"This is good." He nodded. "I'll need several hours to spread word and see where my allies are."

"That's fine," Anna said. "We need to finish what we came down here to do. And be careful."

"I will be. Thank you, Anna Kyjjl." Freyyr nodded, and with barely a rustle disappeared into the underbrush.

"Well," Jolee said, though he didn't expand upon it.

"What can I say?" Anna replied. "I like a good revolt. Now where's this map? Wookiees aren't very quiet when it comes to rumors."

"Over here," Jolee said, pointing. "If I remember correctly and the moss is right and —"

"Just . . ." Anna stumbled over something, swearing vehemently in a variety of different languages. "Get us there?"

After nearly an hour of trudging through the Deep Shadowlands detritus, coupled with cussing from three of the six members of the party and more than a few run-ins with Mandalorian raiders to Canderous' delight, Jolee finally stopped them in a glade. Ahead of them was a massive computer system, and next to it—

"Star Map," Anna said, pointing.

"Yes, there it is. Stubborn machine. Good luck getting it to cooperate. I—"

A shimmering image in the form of an alien none of them had ever seen appeared next to the map. It nodded, bulbous eyes waving slightly with the motion. "Neural recognition complete. Match found."

Jolee whirled around. "What? No 'rejected patterns' this time?"

In the dim light of the Shadowlands as Anna stepped forward to address the machine, no one but Jolee noticed Bastila's sudden loss of color — and only he noticed because he thought to look for it.

#

Seven hours of silent trudging later found them back on the lift to the Great Walkway. Anna sewed a torn hem in her overrobe quietly, focused completely on the work in front of her. They didn't need to know each other well — though by this point they did — to know that, if it wouldn't draw attention, Carth would be pacing.

"Your—" He started.

"We've been over this," Anna replied, still focused on her needle. "That computer was primed to recognize Revan's personality. I had to think like him. I had to analyze each scenario from his perspective."

"But you didn't," Carth said. "You gave reasons for it that he wouldn't have."

"But they were the same answer." She shrugged, pulling her needle through the thick fabric. "It doesn't matter how I get to a conclusion as long as I do."

"So you would have let all those people die?" Carth asked. "If it were a real-world scena—"

"It wasn't," she replied sharply. "It wasn't a real world scenario and even if it was, the nuances of the situation could not be described hypothetically. I would need to see exactly where my allies and resources lay before making any such decision. And if in that case a city or world needed to be sacrificed I see no reason why it shouldn't be, with at least attempts at evacuations and warnings. If one billion die here for eleven billion to live there—"

"Don't tell the Jedi that," he muttered, crossing his arms. Anna scowled, knotting off her thread and breaking it between her teeth.

"Either way, we got the information we came for. It doesn't matter."

"So if you were in a situation and you had to sacrifice one of us for the greater good—" he started.

"I don't believe in a no-win scenario," she replied.

"That isn't an answer."

"I would, though it isn't a decision I'd make lightly. And I'd expect you to do the same." She packed her sewing kit back into her bag, frowning. "And I wouldn't be happy about it. But when you place one life against the needs of trillions . . ."

Carth sighed, leaning his head back against the rails. "No, that isn't . . ." He frowned. They couldn't get into a fight. Not here. "All right. I don't . . . I don't disagree with you, I just —"

"I know." She sighed, closing and latching her bag's flap. "The answers weren't very Jedi of me. I'm aware of that. I'm just surprised it's you giving me a lecture and not, well . . ." She cleared her throat and nodded at Bastila. Bastila frowned, but didn't reply.

Jolee chuckled, checking his supplies.

At the walkway, Anna sprang back into action. "Canderous, I need you to get to the ship and tell Juhani and Mission to get everyone who isn't a Czerka employee onto the Hawk for evacuation. So the shopkeeper, that mechanic we saw running around, Fortuna, everyone. Tell them to keep it quiet. Bastila, go with him, I need you to keep Mission on the Hawk."

"Anna, I—" Bastila started. She put her hands on the taller woman's shoulders.

"I need you to go back," she said slowly. "If something goes wrong . . . Zaalbar may already be dead or gone. Mission trusts you and Juhani. I need you to keep her from doing anything rash."

"I will do what I can." As Anna released her and turned back, Bastila gave Jolee a wide-eyed look. He nodded.

"C'mon, princess," Canderous snarled, hefting his blaster over shoulder and starting off towards the Czerka outpost at a jog. With a glance back Bastila followed, sprinting after him.

"Come on." Anna turned on her heel and jogged off.

"Canderous could do it on his own," Carth said. "We may need two Jedi."

"We've got two Jedi." She jerked her thumb at Jolee. "Well, me and a not-Jedi with a lightsaber. And I'm riding on Freyyr having some resistance built up in the village."

"If he doesn't?"

"We get Zaalbar and split. It's the sad truth." She jogged along the walkway at a pace that wasn't hard to keep for the others.

"Query." She glanced over her shoulder at HK. "The likelihood that this will result in bloodshed is very high?"

"Yes." She nodded. "So make sure your blaster is primed."

"Affirmation: Oh, master. It is always primed." The droid happily clicked it.

"I hope you're at least planning on talking," Jolee said.

"Planning, yes," Anna replied. "Thinking it'll work, on the other hand . . ."

#

"I need to be there!"

Juhani rubbed her forehead. "Mission, just let me talk to you."

With about ten people taking refuge for an undisclosed reason on their ship and half of them needing nudges through the Force to do so, Mission had realized that an attempt to rescue her friend was underway and insisted she be present. After realizing that Bastila, Juhani, and Canderous had no intention of letting her leave the ship, she stormed into the communications room and locked the door behind her. With Bastila and Canderous attempting to work together and keep the refugees from asking too many questions, it left only Juhani to run interference on the Twi'lek.

The door clicked, and Juhani pushed it open. Mission was curled up on one of the chairs, staring blankly at the screens. "Mission . . ." She started, digging her hands into her robes. "Anna is just doing what she thinks is best."

"She doesn't think he's alive," Mission murmured. "Or she doesn't think she'll get him out."

"No." Juhani sank down into the other chair. "No, Mission. She just knows that sometimes things do not go as she plans, and —"

"And she doesn't want to hurt me," Mission mumbled, a single tear trailing down her face. "But he's all I've got. If I don't have him . . ."

"It will be fine." Juhani reached over and rubbed her hand. "Anna will get him out."

Mission rubbed her sleeve over her eyes. "I hope so. It's . . . he's always doing stupid things to keep me out of trouble, and I just feel useless. Anna never lets me go with her and —"

"Anna doesn't want you to get hurt."

"But it's boring here. I can't even explore when we're in port! I . . . I feel so useless."

"Well," Juhani said, leaning forward. "We are supposed to Manaan next, yes?" Mission nodded. "I do not see why you and I could not gather information, maybe do some missions for her? Perhaps you, Zaalbar, and I?"

Mission's face lit as she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, maybe. Manaan's supposed to be quiet, right? Anna wouldn't mind us doing things."

"No! And she would likely prefer it, since she will not have to spread her focus around."

Mission nodded. "Yeah! It'll be good. It'll —"

An alarm sounded, and their heads jerked up. "What is . . ."

"Everyone stay calm!" Bastila yelled from the main hold, over the sudden hubbub that echoed down the corridor. "Everyone just relax. We're in here. It means we're safe!"

Juhani stuck her head out. "Bastila? What is —"

Bastila glanced back. "Czerka's firing on the ship. Canderous is heading for the anti-personnel cannons but it means they've caused a stir in the village."

Juhani glanced back at Mission, who had slumped back in her chair, blue face turning even paler.

"Any news?"

Bastila shook her head.

#

Rwookrrorro was in chaos.

They sprinted behind their Wookiee guide, surrounded by the howls of arguments echoing through the trees. Their guide pushed through a crowd of Wookiees outside the Rwookrrorro hall, leaving a wake for the smaller humans and droid. In minutes they'd broken through into the hall.

The air inside was tense, radiating out from the two Wookiees standing apart in the middle. One clutched the blade of a vibrosword, the other the hilt. Anna spotted Zaalbar standing helplessly to the side as his brother and father argued.

Chuundar spotted their entrance quickly, roaring and taking a step forward. Zaalbar moved, placing himself between his brother and the approaching group, fur bristled and ready for action.

"You all right?" Anna asked. He nodded.

"But some of the things Chuundar said . . ."

"Can we end this without violence?"

"I doubt it, but we can try." Zaalbar took a step forward, pushing Zaalbar and Chuundar apart with a roar.

"Be ready." Anna took a step back next to the others. "Jolee, take the back and right with Carth. HK, you'll take the front left with me. Focus on the slavers first, and let us take care of the Wookiees and keep them off you."

"Anna," Carth started. She rested a hand on his arm.

"We'll be fine," Jolee said for her. Anna was busy watching the argument, then—

"Go!" she barked, sabers igniting close enough that Carth felt the heat coming off them, then throwing her on-hand lightsaber before rocketing off after it into a Wookiee about to charge into the family battle erupting in the middle of the room.

#

The fighting quieted down, and it was all they could do to keep Mission from running off the ship. As Juhani waited with her in the cargo hold, Bastila and Canderous carefully lowered the ramp.

"Should probably throw you out first, princess," Canderous said as the ramp thunked against the landing pad.

"You are the one with the rifle," she chided, glaring at him. "But since you're obviously afraid—"

"Don't you even start, sister," Canderous said, pointing at her. "I'm not the one who got taken down by a street gang."

"Oh, and we've returned to that have we? At least I bested the w—man who defeated your people." Bastila stepped out of the ramp before Canderous could comment on her slip, had he even caught it.

Outside a pair of Wookiees had flanked the entrance to the Czerka encampment, the wood of the walkway shiny and wet. One of them turned and held out a vibrosword towards Bastila, who held up her hands.

"Uh, yes, I'm with Anna Kyjjl. She's a Jedi that was just in Rw-Rwo-your village."

The Wookiee said something unintelligible.

"He said that he knows who you are," Mission supplied, smoothly stepping past her. "Are they all right? Is Zaalbar all right?"

The Wookiee said something else. Mission sagged slightly, then turned and beamed back at them. "They're fine. They're escorting them back now. They would thank us more personally but they need to secure their borders."

Bastila nodded. "Thank you," she said, addressing the Wookiee. "We'll take those we have on our ship off-world."

"There is one guy," Anna interrupted, trotting up the walkway behind the guards. "Says he wants to live in the Shadowlands. Gain your respect." She shrugged, glancing up at the gray-haired Wookiee next to her. "I dunno. He might help you out against Czerka. He'll certainly have no love for them." The Wookiee shrugged and replied. She grinned. "I'll let him know."

Mission sprinted past her, throwing herself into Zaalbar's arms. The Wookiee hauled her up into what would be a crushing hug, letting her cling to his fur. Anna nodded at Bastila. "Everything went well?"

"It did."

"Who's that?" Juhani asked, nodding at the dark-skinned older man shoving something down in a bag. He waved his hand.

"Jolee. Jolee Bindo. Don't mind me, just catching a ride off world."

"We'll take you as far as Dantooine," Anna said. "Unless you want to stay here."

Jolee huffed and started towards the Hawk.

"Is he —"

"It's a long story," Bastila replied, casting a half-glare at Canderous.

"All right," Anna called, waving to Zaalbar and Mission. "Come on, everyone. Back on the ship. The Wookiees need to do some housecleaning, and I doubt they'll want us around for it."


A/N:

MK: Let's just blame everything on the dark side. Heh heh bright orange chastity belt, I wish I could draw sand I'd freaking draw that in a heartbeat. I usually don't mind length but I usually see all these people writing one-shots and such and I'm like anglkhealrneakjr;a. After all, my Shenko Mass Effect fic was 66 freaking chapters, plus an epilogue and a prologue. Just not sure how many people read such long things. And don't worry, I'm taking care of myself. I usually write about five to ten chapters in advance of what I post (e.g. right now I'm catching up, I'm right in the middle of Korriban writing-wise, but I've had the Leviathan written for a while) so usually I just have to do an edit and then I can post. I've done fics where I write each chapter before posting and they really just don't do well with me.

REB-ART: Ah yeah, the creeping fog. It's there, just not really getting described. I threw in a mention of it for ya though. Also I can get why we didn't see Jolee lecturing Bastila but you know that he did, after he tells you that he knew who you were. Also . . . heh heh heh, don't worry, Korriban is not getting delayed. It's just one more instance of the Jedi Council underestimating the power of a former Sith Lord attempting to get into someone's pants. Or, at least, this particular former Sith Lord.