Chapter 23: The Running of the Wolves

Tatooine

The musty scent of slime and spice cling to the throne room of Jabba's palace. The dark and stuffy room made Jabba, who sat on his pedestal seem larger and more terrifying than thought possible of a giant worm. The structure of the room made his voice boom at the frightened bounty hunters. A loud shout of words unintelligible came from the worm's mouth. A being standing beside him on the pedestal translated for him. "The great Jabba demands to knows where his slaves are. It appears that all that lived outside or travel outside these walls never return." Jabba lamented some more in his native tongue that was translated by the other species. "The entire economy of Tatooine is at a standstill. Even the replacements we send for never arrive on Tatooine. They are always stoped in transit. My people are demanding that I do something to retrieve their property and the other Hutts proclaim that I am making us a laughing stock for I have failed to bring the problem under control."

Another Hutt, younger and more moveable moved forward and bow to the elder member of his species. "Don't worry cousin he insisted. Your loyal servant and family member knew how much this meant to you and have spared no expense or resource in having a spy being mistaken as a slave and rounded up during their evacuation. My spy has contacted me from the supposed haven and has given me directions to it. He even claims that the slaves aren't even arm, it seems like all the fighters and arms never leave Tatooine."

Jabba gave a feral grin and his words were translated again. "Send every hunter we have. We shall bring the rebellion to its knees by hitting their weak spot."

Lothal

When Obi-Wan, Anakin, and the Lars landed they were greeted by a man named Terrance who introduced himself as the governor of Lothal. What was shocking for Anakin and obi-wan was that the man led them off to another landing port where Yoda and Bnar were waiting along with Mace.

"What are you two doing here," objected Mace when he saw them. "You are supposed to be heading to the Telgrate system."

"Well it's nearby," said Anakin defensibly.

"Yes it is but I assumed that a pilot of your caliber would not have gotten lost and ended up on Lothal."

"Well…I…" the two caught Jedi mumble for a few minutes making half-ass attempts to explain their presence before Yoda interrupted the argument.

"Curious they were," said Yoda, "about this place no doubt. Decide to make a stop on their way to Telgrate, they did."

"You got us," chuckled Anakin, hoping that no one decided to investigate their landing port that was currently occupied by the Lars and other Tatooine families.

Mace frowned at them, "very well. As long as you are there before your deadline I suppose you could drop in here, but don't make a habit of this."

"Yes sir," said Obi-Wan immediately, "if you don't mind me asking sirs but what are you doing here masters, it's very rare for you and the grandmaster to leave Coruscant at the same time. The last time you two did that was for the first battle of Geonosis. Also, Bnar shouldn't be traveling so far out, he's very old. I'm surprised that Stellar let him do it."

"Believe me," interjected Stellar who stood behind the three masters. "It was not my idea."

Yoda chuckled, "we are hereby requesting of the young order. Ask them to keep in contact I did. After the event on Kessel."

"What happened on Kessel," asked Anakin.

"I'll fill you in later," interjected Obi-Wan quickly, now wasn't the time for Anakin to go off the handle which he always did when slavery was brought up. He quickly changed the topic and address Yoda. "So they contacted you for a similar reason; a force mystery."

"And the three of you decided to investigate together," asked Anakin looking puzzled. "No offense but couldn't Yoda go by himself. This seems more like the thing that he would investigate."

Mace frowned at Anakin. "And what are you implying, that I wouldn't be interested in ancient mysteries such as this?"

"Yes," thought Anakin to Obi-Wan through their bond. "That is exactly what I am saying." Mace had always seemed to be interested in the physical running of the Jedi order. Yoda was more interested in the philosophy of the force. Mace rarely joined Yoda on his philosophy quest. As for Bnar. Bnar was too much of an unknown variable to guess what was the norm for him.

"I asked Mace to come," explained Yoda, "important lesson." Mace looked physically ill at the thought that he needed to be taught a lesson from teenagers.

Bnar smiled "I came here as a translator he explained after studying both the new and old Jedi orders, I came to an interesting conclusion. This new order acts like the ancient Jedi Order, the pre-republic order."

"Really," asked Anakin. He had not heard much about the early stages of the Jedi order.

"Yes. When the Jedi broke off from Je'daii branch they were very nomadic. they were a very small confederation of people usually traveling by themselves are small groups only and only coming together when they had a difficult task ahead of them. this new order seems to have the same sort of structure in principles as is the pre-republican order. I was an old Republican Jedi so I find myself right in the middle between the Coruscant temple order and the hooligan order as Mace likes to call them." Mace glared at him. "So I offered my translate abilities to help smooth out any confusion" explained Bnar. "They also have a habit of discovering ancient lost information and as a librarian, I have found that quite interesting."

After a few minutes of conversation between the masters, Terrence returned this time he was leading the young Jedi order.

Luke addresses them first "it's good to see you guys. There's much I want to show you. You asked me to keep you informed of any fascinating discoveries that we stumble across. Well, this one is an old ancient discovery that we stumble across a while ago but we felt that you guys would be interested in it anyways. Since our temporary headquarters is on Lothal and we will remain here until the newly free people officially settle, we thought that now would be a good time to have a little open house, and we can show you some of the ancient structures that exist on Lothal."

"There are ancient structures here," objected Mace. "We have no record of anything being located on Lothal."

"Well it pre-dates the republic," explained Corran jumping in. "From what we can uncover Lothal was the first home of the Jedi after leaving Tython. They stayed here for a couple of generations before moving on to become wanders in space. Also when the Jedi left Tython they could be considered still Je'daii. It was shortly after their departure that they began to see themselves as something else. So in a way, this is where the Jedi order was born. Because of that the earliest official Jedi art and temples are here. It's very fascinating, you see the early Jedi had two different types of temples unlike the republic Jedi throughout their history where they Jedi lived in all their temples. In the earlier years, the Jedi kept the temple separate from their living quarters. In Lothal's case, they are in entirely different hemispheres. Right now we are in the capital city, in this hemisphere is the temple. But in the southern hemisphere where there is no one now, there is a settlement where the Jedi lived for several generations before moving on. The reason why they kept the two separate is an anthropology question that we often like to debate on. We thought that Yoda would enjoy the mystery as well. Not to mention that there are some old writings and structures here that give a general idea of what the Jedi who lived there thought about the force and their connection to it."

"Fascinating," agreed Bnar. "Please show us what you have founded."

"Of course," said Luke. "I thought we will start with the temple." Luke turned to leave and the group took the unspoken command to follow. "The temple is very mysterious. It wasn't designed to house anybody but it was built on a force wellspring and design to have a closer connection to the force than any living being. It would be the reason why the Jedi couldn't live in it. For after a while you would begin to wonder if the man in front of you was real or a figment of the force. It may be handy for getting close to the force but for everyday living, it would have driven someone mad. Still, though they would go there when they need questions answered that they could not answer themselves. It's like a labyrinth, each section is designed to only open up depending on the needs of the person who comes there. It's quite fascinating it's like it has a mind of its own and-"

Luke stopped in the middle of his sentence and the middle of the main street in the city. Corran stared at him as he waved a hand in front of Luke's face. "Luke."

Anakin took a quick look around. He knew the face of someone getting a dire warning through the force. He looked at his master and all the other masters, including the ones in the new order, trying to see who else felt the disturbance. Besides Luke the only person who seemed affected was Ezra.

Luke looked up after a few minutes "great darkness," he said cryptically. Ezra nodded his head. Luke looked at Ezra "we should go up. Someplace where we can see the excitement and not get caught up in it."

"Agreed," stated Ezra, "come on guys he called to the group. I'm thinking a building that is four floors up will be perfect. We will be away from the fighting but not too far up that we can't see anything."

"Perfect."

"Wait what's going on," called Anakin as the two began to lead them away.

"Something is about it happen," exclaimed Luke, "something quite exciting."

The group was crowded onto the roof of a four-floor building. One of the highest buildings on Lothal.

Ezra, as the youngest, lay down on his belly on the edge so he could see straight down while the older Jedi cluster around the edge, still standing, not having the child-like flexibility like Ezra.

"I'm confused," stated Anakin, "what exactly is it that we are waiting on."

"You'll see," said Luke, "look. He was holding up some binoculars and handed them over to Anakin. Look 2 degrees north and 75 degrees west."

Anakin did as he was ordered and stared intently at the sky. In Luke's direction, he was able to make out a ship. A quick search around and he discovered that it was the only ship in orbit. There were several. Pulling up his memory of every spacecraft ever in service Anakin was able to identify the types and most importantly the owners. "Those are bounty hunters he said slowly along with slave cargo ships. You guys only repurpose the slave ships, not bounty ones which means those aren't free slaves, they are slave hunters."

"Yep," agreed Luke, "they have come to take back the slaves."

"We knew that this was going to happen explained Ezra in a nonchalant voice. "Slavery is such a big part of the Hutt culture that it was only a matter of time that they were going to put all their resources into finding out where we were sending all the slaves and then they were going to come and swoop them all up."

"We have to do something," said Anakin quickly.

"First of all," said Ezra looking at him, "what can you do. Isn't there some sort of law against you guys getting involved with the Hutts."

"No there isn't objected Anakin this is republic space meaning that once they got here they became our charges and we are not going to let them be taken."

Anakin moved to jump off the building but was stopped by Luke putting a hand on his shoulder. "Patience," said Luke. "There is no reason to get angry or get involved. It's what the force wants."

"What," objected Anakin.

"Just watch," insisted Luke. "There is no reason for us to get involved."

Anakin looked straight at Obi-Wan and Yoda, trying to judge their reactions. Mace looked at the sky calculating. "I want to see how this plays out first he said slowly no reason to jump in without a plan."

Anakin wasn't happy with that response. With a dramatic sigh, he hunched down next to Ezra and just stare at the ground.

The small carrier ships came in quickly. They blast at a few of the buildings but soon they reveal their real intentions when hundreds of hunters jumped down and began to run through the city. Shouting and yelling quickly filled up the air as both the free slaves and Lothal natives were being grabbed at getting dragged away.

Anakin had seen enough. "Ok," he called. "They are grabbing them, it's time to swing into action."

"No," objected Luke again. "It is not our fight."

"Not our fight," shouted Anakin, looking at him. "They are picking up people and throwing them back into slavery. You lead this revolt how can you turn your back on them." He looked at Obi-Wan and Yoda. "Well aren't you guys going to chime in."

The four older masters look at Anakin, the ground, and then Luke. "This is their territory, said Mace speaking for the group, "we will follow their lead."

Anakin couldn't believe what he was hearing. "That is stupid," he shouted and moved to jump off and into the fray below.

As he was backing up to get momentum Luke jumped in front of him again. Stop he shouted. Anakin was forced to slam on his heels to prevent crashing into Luke. "The force doesn't want us to get involved. If you don't believe me then search the force." Anakin rolled his eyes, he heard that before, he tried to get past Luke but Luke grabbed his shoulder and held him in place with a strength that base on Luke's demeanor, was a surprise. Luke continued to speak, "the force wants us to stay up here and out of the way. Are you a Jedi or are you not, for if you don't even listen to the force then you can't call yourself one."

Anakin stopped after that. He was never very good at standing quietly and listening to the force, but he tried this time since it didn't seem like Luke was going to let go of him anytime soon. Besides, there was no doubt that the force would side on him in this. To his surprise the minute he reached out to the force he received an immediate response. Usually, the forces will be hard to understand but not this time. This time the force wanted him to stay put and doing all it could to convince him that his feet were unable to move.

"You must have trust in the force," continued Luke. "It would not ask Jedi like us to sit back and watch a horrible event."

Anakin stared at him as he was forced to finally admit the truth. With a giant huff, he sat down next to Ezra to glare at the ground.

He didn't see them at all. He didn't even feel them through the force. The first clue that they existed was the hunters' responses. All of a sudden a couple of them were screaming and running, letting go of their prizes and running as fast as their legs would carry them back to their ships. They filled the main street as they ran out of alleyways and buildings.

It was then that they slowly began to appear in pursuit of their prey. Giant Wolves, Lothal wolves, the true hunters. They were slightly bigger than a human and they were appearing out of thin air and in some cases, it was literally out of the air.

The slowly prowled closer to the hunters, the invaders of their space, growling and moving into pouncing positions. When a handful was in the swiping distance, there seemed to be an unspoken command for all at once they pounce. They tear at the hunters, grabbing them by their tunics, shaking them in the air before throwing them away and moving onto their next target. They strike with everything, head, claws, tails, and teeth, especially teeth.

None of the hunters seem to be safe. No matter who ran and how far, the wolves always got their target. Even if the hunter reached their ship and manage to take a flight, the wolves would launch their jaws into the ship and drag it down. The wolves were also indestructible no firearms, swords, or ship crashes would singe their fur.

They only attacked the hunters, leaving their prisoners alone. The care of the civilians fell to a different creature. The came in a wave of furry bodies, the Lothal cats. Some of them join in with the wolves attack by launching themselves at the hunters' faces and scratch and claw not just the face but the entire body until the hunters were completely covered by cats.

The majority of the cats seem to be in charge of the caring of the civilians. They would use their claws to unlock the manacles and the chains that had been put on civilians and leading them away. They would also stand guard and threaten any hunter who mistakenly approached them.

Eventually, Ezra had had enough. He made a loud whistling noise, "Beta Beta," he called loudly. One of the more giant wolves seemed to hear his call and jumped gracefully up to join the Jedi. Please begged Ezra giving giant puppy-eyes to the giant wolf. "Please can I help." The wolf named Beta seemed to think about it for a few minutes before nodding his head and laying down so Ezra could jump onto his back. Beta hadn't been the only creature who came to see the Jedi at Ezra's call. A sea of Lothal cats came as well. Ezra address them when he was on the wolf's back. "Come my furry army," he shouted waving his lightsaber in front of him like it was a sword. "We shall smite our enemies and add to my collection of helmets."

The cats all mewl in agreement before jumping down the building with Ezra and the wolf. Once there, he and his furry campions quickly join in the fray.

Eventually, it was all over with the wolves being victories. All the hunters that remained we running to their ships and the wolves, this time, allowed them as if they wanted survivors to tell the story of what happened here.

When a good chunk of the hunters had left, the ground began to shake. The shakes were nothing like Anakin had ever experience and he wasn't alone. Many of his fellow Jedi, even the new Jedi, were forced to grab one another to prevent falling on their bums. Off to the side of a mountain, that seemed to appear out of nowhere and was still growing.

"What is that," shouted Anakin pointing to the mountain that was now towering over the city.

"That's the temple," shouted Corran over the rumble. He had already fallen along with Luke and was now just trying to hold onto the ground. "The Lothal wolves must have activated it."

"Activated a temple?"

"Just one," defended Luke.

Anakin stared at the temple as it began to glow. Writing that seemed to be done in a blue light began to appear all over the temple. Pieces of rock or what he suspects was just dirt covering began to shatter off revealing blue kyber underneath. At the tip of the mountain or the temple began to produce a bright blue orb of light. Anakin just stared in amazement as the blue orb began to grow and grow until finally, it launched itself into the sky above, almost light a laser cannon created by kyber and the force.

There was a loud booming noise that came from the sky. A few minutes later one of the slave ships had begun to disintegrate upon reentry. The temple began to continue this for a few most shots. It stored up its energy and launched it at the ships forcing them down. After a few shots, it began to power down and Anakin had a hunch that it was because all the remaining ships were speeding out of the system as fast as possible.

He looked in amazement at the new order Jedi, "what was that," he proclaimed.

"I told you," said Corran, "that's the Jedi temple."

"Our temple doesn't do that." It was the only response Anakin could think of.

"Not surprising we're Jedi, pacifist, shooting lasers like that is out of our wheelhouse. But not for the Lothal wolves. For them, it's simple, anyone who comes here with ill intentions has to be destroyed."

"Lothal wolves?"

"Yes," said Luke, "it's difficult to explain for even I don't fully understand it but the wolves and cats are guardians of Lothal. They are the only two native species on this planet. Everything else was brought in by settlers. It's because of them that the Jedi settle on this planet after Tython's destruction. After the first Sith war, the Jedi had nearly been wiped out by the fighting. They needed a place that was safe where they could settle down in peace and recover from the war. The force led them to Lothal which to this day is the perfect place for those who are weary of fighting can settle down. The guardians allow settlers to live here, it's only those who threaten the piece that they destroy. Meaning that the early Sith who followed the Jedi to Lothal were destroyed once they landed. And to prevent Sith from destroying Lothal from space they built the weapon into their temple and gave the command codes to the guardians. That way they wouldn't have to destroy the Sith and the guardians could use it to protect Lothal from any other threat even after the Jedi moved on. The guardians and Jedi had a real close connection. A lot of their early writings and artwork stars the guardians."

"From what we have gathered they discover that a force wellspring exists on Lothal. The force was so potent that it took physical form whose sole purpose was to guard the wellspring and prevent contamination. The early Jedi never found the wellspring but they assume that the guardians hid it to ensure that it was never found, even by the Jedi."

"This is why we didn't want you guys to get involved. When the Jedi get involved in a small outpost like Lothal, who is under attack, all they are doing is protecting the people for a moment. Eventually, the bandits and slavers will return and without the Jedi, the civilians will get destroyed for they can't defend themselves. Now though instead of waiting for you guys to leave Lothal to take the slaves back, they will never return out of fear of the Lothal wolves, which will only grow in the retelling of the stories."

The next hour the group of Jedi spent it discussing the guardians and the theories that the ancient Jedi had about them. Finally, Anakin had enough and decided to leave the group to see how the clean up was going.

When you think about all the fighting, you would expect some level of damage on the ground but there wasn't. Just a few topped over carts and giant claw marks on some of the buildings. The Lothal wolves did a good job of removing the threat without any additional damage. Even the people were in good shape, the worst cases were blaster burns on limbs which made sense, the slavers didn't want to damage their prisoners. All and all nothing that would suggest a battle.

When Anakin turn the corner though he took back that thought. In the center and being given a wide berth by the civilians was a troop of cats. Marching in line with tails hanging in the air and each one carrying a helmet from a slaver.

Anakin followed the cats to Ezra who sat in the center of the street next to a giant pile of helmets that were already given to him.

"No Fluffy," Ezra spoke in a stern tone to the white cat. "You already tried to give this to me and I told you that it's not a helmet. Go and get a helmet." The cat walked off, its tail dragging behind it.

"What are you doing," asked Anakin looking at the boy who was examining a helmet that was just handed to him.

"I collect helmets as a hobby, explained Ezra. "I wasn't going to pass this up."

Anakin stared at him and the cats. "How come they listen to you."

"Easy I was born and raised on Lothal. The strange force that made the guardians lies in my blood as well. Its why the force wouldn't let you guys get involved but allowed me to. Lothal is my home which makes me an honorary guardian. The wolves and cats are connected to me. We can understand one another and these guys know that I want helmets."

Anakin was thinking about this when he was shoved by a giant wolf, Beta if he wasn't mistaken, who dropped at Ezra's feet an assassin droid.

"That's not a mask but thanks, I can do something with it," Ezra study the droid and wipe off the slobber to see where Beta's fangs have ripped it. "Hmm. Droids are more of Luke's thing maybe he could fix it and I can reprogram it. Thanks Beta, this will be handy. Beta wagged his tail as he licked Ezra's face."

The white cat name Fluffy return, climbing on top of Beta and landing next to Ezra where it lowered not a helmet but-

"That's a mask," shouted Anakin, "like the kind that Plo Koon's species wears."

Ezra studied it closely. "Yeah, your right. One of the hunters must have been one of his species. Strange they don't seem like the kind who would get involved in something like this. Still good find Fluffy even if it's not a helmet it still will make a good item for my collection."

Fluffy purred at the praise.