Just wanted to mention - I changed the title in case you were confused. I feel like this new title fits the themes of the story.

Enough of me, on to the chapter!

The darkness of the cabin wrapped around me like a tight blanket.

Carth's light snores signaled that he'd finally gone into a deep sleep. Through the bond, I sensed that Bastila had also fallen unconscious.

Perfect.

I rolled to my side and grabbed my pack. The sound of the Kashyyyk jungle masked the creaking of the hammock as I stood. Easing the door open, I edged my way down the steps into the cold darkness of the living room.

A blue light enveloped me as I turned on my datapad. The bright red coordinate blinked on the topographic map—marking HK-47's location.

Installing the tracker had been a task and I didn't have much time to make adjustments. Thankfully, someone already installed some sort of tracking system. Wouldn't have been surprised if it was used in conjunction with the...broken assassination protocols. I tried to ignore the dubious implications of that as I rigged my own datapad to take advantage of it.

The command I manually programmed into HK-47 scrawled on the top of the map. The coordinate blinked to the north and at a higher z-coordinate. Jaarak must be somewhere near the top of the wroshyr tree.

I pursed my lips then glanced back up the steps. Even though I knew this was the right thing to do, Bastila would see this as a betrayal anyway. Which is why I had to do this now before she realized what I was up to.

I ignored the pit that had grown in my chest and shoved the datapad into my pack.

All I had to do was succeed. After that, she'd understand.

Insects and critters of all sorts hissed and buzzed in the trees. I flicked my hood up in order to hide my face in shadow. Only a few Wookiees were about and most of them were riding katarns in the trees. None of them paid any mind to the human-figure walking their bridges.

As I ascended the tree, I occasionally peeked at my datapad in order to make sure I was going the right way. After climbing some stairs and avoiding one of the katarn patrols, I stopped before one of the Czerka platforms. They were being guarded by droids programmed to only care about the merchandise, not the odd stranger walking about.

I glanced down at the datapad again.

HK's signal was on the move. And I'd somehow passed him. Groaning, I turned around, only to hear multiple shuffles from below. Kriff. I flinched then looked from side to side. Jaarak and a few of his hunters were going to pass me. While I did want to speak to him, I wanted to do it when he was alone. The only place to hide...was the Czerka platform.

Focusing on the sentinel droids, feeling the warmth of the Force in the air, I pushed with both hands. Both droids crashed over the side of the railing and were flung down to the Shadowlands. I cringed and hoped that no one heard that.

I rushed to the platform and knelt behind one of the silver Czerka cargo boxes.

A few Wookiees marched past, their shadows covering the moonlight.

"—call us out here, Jaarak? What is this about?" one of the Wookiees snarled.

"We need to throw the evidence out before Chuundar sends his climbers over there tomorrow." Jaarak huffed. "Take some warriors to the site. Throw it all to the Shadowlands. Whistle when you've finished."

"Yes, Jaarak." The hunter paused. "But what about Rorworr? Doesn't he know—"

"Let me worry about Rorworr."

Their voices faded as they passed my location. After a moment, a faint clanking of mechanical droid legs came from the steps.

"Psst, HK."

I waved to the droid. His red lights dimmed and the assassin droid marched over to my hiding spot.

"Query: What is it now, Master? Are you to give me another degrading, bloodless task?"

I raised a brow. "Degrading? I thought sneaking around was your specialty. You should be jumping for joy."

"Statement: Yes, I would have, Master, if my assassination protocols were enabled and the hairy meatbag had been specified as a target. Which you have done neither. Not to mention you had me follow that obnoxious blue female meatbag all day—"

"Oh, stop complaining." I glanced over the boxes. Jaarak's group had left and he was walking alone towards what looked to be a platform lined with cages. "I can take it from here. Shoo, go back to the cabin."

HK tightened his grip on his sniper rifle. "Request: Oh, Master, let me come with you, please. My trigger finger is itching to be released."

"Oh really? I can unscrew it and release it down there if you would like," I said, pointing to the Shadowlands.

HK's lights dimmed. "I...no—Correction: Fine, I will do as you say, Master."

The droid grumbled something about "abusive meatbags" as he clanked away towards the cabin. I stood and made for the upper platforms.

Jaarak growled at two Wookiee guards who seemed to be arguing back at him about something. They eventually relented and marched up the steps towards Chuundar's hall. I followed and crouched behind one of the pillars holding up the roof.

Rorworr was the only prisoner being held in the flimsy bamboo cages. The Wookiee trader stood as Jaarak approached.

"You." Rorworr roared. "You dare to show your face. After what you did?"

Jaarak paced up to the bars, his back turned to me. "I do to you what Chuundar has done for years to our people."

"You betray the clan for petty revenge?" Rorworr sighed. "You never accepted Chuundar's deal, did you? How long ago did you side with Chorrawl? And why—he killed your father."

Jaarak remained silent for a moment before he answered. "Father betrayed our people just as you have Rorworr. Chuundar's deal may have made sense years ago when we were weak and afraid. But now, the chieftain covets power above all else. We should have fought back years ago."

"The chieftain will not believe a word you say." Rorworr's shoulders rumbled. "It'll be my word against yours. I am the elder—"

Hiss.

A muted bowcaster shot burned into Rorworr's fur. The Wookiee growled and coughed before he collapsed to the wooden boards. Jaarak aimed at him again.

"It appears as if Chorrawl's warriors helped you escape into the night. Pity."

Jaarak shot another bowcaster bolt but this one burned into Rorworr's head. The Wookiee completely collapsed, dead.

Before Jaarak could escape, I brandished my lightsaber and held the humming blue blade up to the Wookiee's chest. I'd expected him to try something—like shoot the bowcaster at me—but the Wookiee was smarter than he appeared. He dropped his weapon then raised his claws.

"Outsider." His shoulders flinched. "Should have guessed. Did you use your powers to sense me?"

"No." I paced closer to the Wookiee. "It helped, but no. Mostly used old-fashioned reason and logic. For example, if Rorworr were providing Chorrawl weapons, they wouldn't have been riding around with spears, would they?"

Jaarak shifted. "That was...what my brother suspected. Why aren't you confronting him?"

"Well, before Chorrawl was going to kill us, I heard a whistle. A very familiar whistle. After they heard that, they ran off before...you showed up. Funny—now that I think about it, that whistle sounded a lot like yours. Not only that but when I asked for ideas on how to find 'proof' against Rorworr you were very sure that Chorrawl would attack the caravan...at all. Why would you assume that?"

The Wookiee huffed. "Are you going to kill me or are you going to keep on rambling?"

"I could keep talking if you want me to."

Jaarak turned his head and met my gaze.

"You won't kill me? Why?"

I pointed my lightsaber at Rorworr's corpse. "Before you throw the furball down, search his belt for a keycard."

"Wait...what? Keycard?"

"You do know what that is, right?"

Jaarak lowered his arms with a huff then grabbed a key from a chain. He unlocked the cage and dug around Rorworr's leather belt.

"Here."

He lifted his claw and waved it up for me. I extinguished my lightsaber and approached but didn't take the keycard.

"Keep it. You'll need it."

Jaarak lowered his claw. "For...what?"

"Czerka and Rorworr are hiding something in one of their storage units—locked with that keycard. It must be something big if only one Wookiee has access to it. My guess would be slave collars or devices like it."

"What...do I do with that?"

"Obviously bringing it before the Council won't work. You need to get the entire village on your side. Chuundar's power is with the people's fear of Czerka. They all believe in his lies that he protects them. Once you expose him for the fraud that he is, their fear will turn to anger. They will have the will to fight. And his power will become nothing."

"You make good points, outsider, but what if they don't agree?" Jaarak asked. "My village has believed for years that our deal with Czerka has been beneficial. Any proof we put before them...could be rejected."

"Why don't you trust your own people?" I tilted my head. "I thought the Wookiees were warriors. Fighters. You're telling me they would be so stubborn, so set in their ways, that they wouldn't see the truth even if it stared them in the face?"

Jaarak looked into my eyes for a minute before nodding. "I can ask Woorwill to set up a village gathering. I will have my hunters acquire the evidence. And we will finally fight back against the invaders." The Wookiee stood and his furry face brightened. "Thank you...Wes of clan Deralia. You didn't need to help us—you could have easily turned me in. I can see why my old friend Zaalbar promised you a life debt."

I smiled then shrugged. "Don't thank me yet. We still have to defeat Czerka."

"Yes." Jaarak stared down at Rorworr's body. His shoulders dipped. "I...didn't want to do it—kill him. I...didn't want to lead Chorrawl's men to my father's hunting party either. But their deceit, their betrayals..."

The Wookiee picked up the body and struggled to pull it to the railing. With a hard shove, Rorworr fell down into the darkness of the Shadowlands. Forever lost. Wind whipped through the Wookiee's wild hair. Jaarak roared and raised his claw.

It was a warcry.

A crowd of Wookiees blocked the view of the steps. That morning, after a small meal, Jaarak informed us about Rorworr's "escape," and also mentioned that the Council had called a gathering. Everyone was required to attend—even outsiders. Bastila led all of us towards the front of the pack, occasionally giving me a look. I returned it with a grin. She still poked and prodded at the bond, but I wasn't going to relent. Not yet.

Carth rushed to my side. "So...question."

I raised a brow. "What?"

"Where did you go sneaking off to last night?"

Kriff, he saw me? I thought I made sure…Force he must have woken up while I was gone.

I shrugged. "Nature calls."

"No. Don't you dare talk your way out of this one. You're planning something. It's obvious."

"What—I can't go for a piss without 'planning' something?"

"Oh, trying to rile me up again with your snark, huh? Well, I'm not falling for it."

I avoided being stepped on by a Wookiee. We were halfway up the stairs.

"Your paranoia is flaring up again. You probably need to get that checked out by a medical droid."

Carth sighed. "Whatever it is, Wes, you better let us know about it. We need to work together. There's a saying in the Navy: the pilot's mistakes are the Commander's mistakes are the Admiral's mistakes are the Republic's mistakes. We all share the burden of failure."

But I didn't make mistakes—at least in this case. Everything would go to plan. Jaarak would bring out the evidence, the Wookiees would riot, and we could go without trouble down to the Shadowlands. It was foolproof.

"Know about what?" I asked.

Something like...disappointment tightened Carth's face. I ignored it and focused on the Wookiees in front of me. Thankfully, I didn't have a Force bond with the pilot—I had a feeling he'd be an even worse Bondy than Bastila.

We finally arrived at the Great Hall. Some Wookiees corralled us towards the front of the crowd. Hundreds of Wookiees somehow crowded the place and, let me tell you, it stunk worse than the Tarisian sewers. Mission huffed and grimaced while shoving aside many carpets.

"And I thought Big Z got bad!"

At the front of the Great Hall, Chuundar sat upon his branchy throne. Beside him were the remaining councilors—Worroznor, Woorwill, and Jaarak. To his left, Dehno and his Czerka pals smirked and looked down at us all. A protocol droid stood by them—ready to translate.

One of Chuundar's warriors growled and the Hall grew silent. The chieftain sat up and met Jaarak's gaze.

"This gathering has been called upon by the Council," Chuundar began. "Many events have transpired that need to be discussed. The presumed traitor, Rorworr, has gone missing, Clan Chorrawl continues to raid our caravans unheeded, and Jaarak wishes to bring forth new evidence of deceit within the clan."

The village Wookiees growled to each other, all confused and astonished. Bastila stood at my side and I could sense her staring at me. I crossed my arms and tried to feel surprised at this news.

Jaarak whistled and two katarns crawled to the left of the platform next to the basket lift. Between them both, they carried a Czerka container. Dehno and his lackeys flinched at the sight then glared at the Wookiee Council.

"What is the meaning of this? Why do you have our property?" the old man asked.

Jaarak nodded. "Open it."

The crate hissed open and the Wookiee warrior tipped it over. Slave collars all spilled to the wooden floor.

Bastila's glare began to burn a hole in my head.

"What...what are those?" one Wookiee asked.

"Slave collars!" another cried out. "Here in the village!"

The crowd began to bustle. Fear wavered both through the Force and reflected on each Wookiee face.

Chuundar roared. "Silence!" The chieftain pointed at Jaarak. "Explain!"

"Explain? Why do I have to explain, Chieftain Chuundar? That burden is on you. Why does Czerka store slave collars in our village?"

The crowd growled, all the same questions of "Yes, explain, Chieftain."

Chuundar's scar twisted as he roared. "We spoke about this, Jaarak! There was an agreement. Why do you bring this before the clan and not the Council?"

The Wookiee scout glanced over at me. "I'm tired of selling our people out to Czerka and pretending it is for the good of all. You do not protect us, Chuundar, and you never have!"

All of the Wookiees growled at each other, half in fear, half with anger. The droid translated all that was being said. As their words registered, Bastila became colder and colder.

"Rorworr wasn't the traitor," Bastila muttered to me. "And you knew. Didn't you?"

I grit my teeth.

Dehno and his Czerka employees all armed themselves as the crowd began to rile up.

"I did what I had to in order to protect the clan—I swear by Bacca's blade!" Chuundar argued, shaking the hilt around his neck. "Only the criminals were enslaved."

"Criminals? Chorrawl and Zaalbar committed no crimes!" Jaarak roared. "Neither did Freyyr, the rightful chieftain. You enslave the innocent!"

Woorwill flinched. "You...brother, you speak like a Mad Claw…"

"Why do you have sympathy for criminals?" Chuundar faced the crowd. "Ah, but of course—it is because it is Jaarak who is the traitor! And he pinned his own crimes on Rorworr!" He roared. "Many of your own hunters died in Chorrawl's attacks. Including your own father. You were also the only survivor of that attack. Suspicious."

Oh, kriff. This is not how it was all supposed to go. Jaarak froze then glanced towards his younger brother.

Woorwill tightened his grip on his bowcaster. "Brother...did you tell Clan Chorrawl about father's hunting party?"

Jaarak roared. "No, Woorwill! That isn't—"

"You murdered your own father! You probably killed Rorworr to silence him!" Chuundar relaxed back onto his throne. "A kinslayer's word cannot be trusted. Chorrawl, Zaalbar, and Freyyr were all Mad Claws." The chieftain sighed. "I know...the fate of all criminals is to be banished to the Shadowlands and not enslavement, but tradition has changed before. Czerka has given us much in exchange for the Mad Claws. It has more than paid off."

The crowd began to die down and some nodded in agreement. Force...I had to do something before we lost everything. Ignoring Bastila's hand on my shoulder, I stormed to the front of the crowd. Chuundar narrowed his eyes at me and his Wookiee guards bore their teeth.

"But will they stop at criminals?" I waved at the tipped-over box. "Look at how many collars there are! Why does Czerka think that this many of you will become Mad Claws? And when you were about to attack them, they brandished their weapons. They fear you. If you sit back and do nothing, Czerka will take the next step and enslave you all. All you need to do is fight—"

"Wes!"

Bastila hissed my name and stormed towards me. She tried to pull me back but I yanked away from her grip. I stared out at the Wookiees. Fear. It froze them in place. None moved to agree. None moved to fight.

Chuundar chuckled. "You are correct, outsider, Czerka recognized my strength above all. They fear us. That fear will stop them from doing what you say."

"Those are lies, and you know it," I hissed.

The Wookiee chieftain paused. "It is interesting that you take Jaarak's side..."

"I take his side because he's right. This has to stop." I faced the Wookiees again. "Do you want Czerka to take your home? Because Chuundar is going to let it happen—"

Danger. Two great claws rushed to grab my arms from behind. I dodged after sensing the attack, yet Bastila hadn't been so lucky. The rest of our team was grabbed as well by the warriors. HK-47 raised his rifle but it was swiped before he could let out a shot. Jaarak was taken hostage by his own hunters—who now loathed him for his betrayal.

I took my lightsaber and ignited the blade. Czerka and Chuundar's Wookiees all pointed their blasters at me. Sweat built on my forehead.

Chuundar huffed. "I said to find the traitor, outsiders, not to join them." He waved a gray claw. "You want to go to the Shadowlands after my brother so badly? Fine. In fact, you can stay there. Only I and Czerka control the basket lifts back to the surface for many, many miles. The creatures below will kill you all before you can possibly escape the shadows of the trees."

The Wookiees surrounded me, brandishing vibroblades and bowcasters. I had...no choice. I pressed the button and the blue blade of my lightsaber returned to its casket.

A fiery rage burned beneath my skin.

Chuundar nodded and everyone was dragged towards the basket lift.

"I have made a decision after these...turn of events. I cannot trust the words of another wook. From now on, only I make the decisions for the clan. The Council is no more."

The droid's translation faded. One of the warriors pushed me forward. My feet guided me to the lift and my head became lighter than air. I was the last to enter the basket. Jaarak stared down at me and I could feel his shame. Feel his anger. Or perhaps...that had been my own shame. My own anger.

Chuundar waltzed towards us—a Wookiee smile on his face. "Let this be a lesson to all who wish to betray Clan Chuundar."

The basket rumbled as one of the warriors began to unwind the pulley system. The village of Rwookrrorro disappeared and was replaced with the endless darkness below...

Where did I go wrong?

They should have all recognized Czerka as a threat. They all should have seen it. Sure, they enslaved "criminals" one day, but they didn't think they could be next? I'd replayed that scenario over and over. Again and again. Searching for where I went wrong. What had been the error? What had been the mistake?

You believed in them.

That's right.

I put my trust, my faith, in the Wookiees. Yet fear ended up controlling them in the end. If it wasn't them being enslaved then, well, did it matter? Without a real danger, a real threat, the fear of what could happen if they stepped out of line dominated their minds like the dark side dominated the Sith.

That had been where I went wrong. My faith, my trust, had blinded me. It was a... weakness. A mistake.

The Wookiees wanted to be enslaved. Freedom, to them, was a path to death and destruction. To chaos. And what I did was threaten them with that freedom.

There was no point. I couldn't help the Wookiees if they didn't want to help themselves.

Darkness.

The descent enveloped me in darkness.

"Well..." Canderous had been the first one to interrupt the silence. "We're heading for the Shadowlands. This technically counts as a victory, right?"

Verena sighed.

Vines waved in the slight breeze and bat-like creatures fluttered about. A muted darkness masked the basket we all had been forced into. HK-47 mourned the loss of his sniper rifle in the corner. Carth hadn't stopped glaring at me from the far side of the basket. Mission sat in the middle of the lift, staring at her hands. Juhani stared up into the trees. Verena stared down into the shadows. Jaarak had fallen into a depressed frozen state. And no one answered the Mandalorian.

I took a spot far from everyone else in the corner. Staring down for miles and miles, watching the Shadowlands grow closer.

My shoulders fell and a bitterness coiled in my chest.

Stupid. I had been so stupid.

I slammed the side of the basket I'd been leaning on, causing the whole thing to shift. No one commented on my outburst. Before the bitterness could climb up my neck, before the darkness could overtake me, I grabbed the bamboo of the rail tight and closed my eyes.

No. I'm a Jedi. Remember that. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance...there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death—

Something warm grabbed my shoulder. I flinched—for some reason, I hadn't sensed it even though everyone had been so quiet.

Bastila. Her soft face had no emotion, her gray eyes peered up at me through dark lashes, and in the bond…

Warm compassion. Understanding. Trust.

Not anger. Not hatred. Not suspicion.

I shook her hand away from my shoulder. The bond became numb again.

"You don't have to say it," I whispered to the shadows. "I know. I'm an idiot."

Bastila leaned on the rail next to me. I didn't look back to see her expression nor did I dare sense the bond. Perhaps I...was afraid that her compassion had already turned to disdain.

"As Jedi, we aren't supposed to feel...attached," she whispered. "Friendships, family...love. It all eventually leads to the dark side."

My body grew heavy. Here we go—another lecture. I'd thought she'd learned after what happened on Tatooine. After she saw her father's holocron. Emotion, yet peace. Normally, I would have made a snarky remark. Maybe argue. But...I had no more fight left. And she'd proven herself right, after all. I'd allowed my emotions, my passion, to cloud my judgment. If I hadn't believed so vehemently...believed so strongly about the Wookiees' plight. If I hadn't trusted them to want to save themselves—

"But that doesn't mean we cannot trust one another."

I turned towards her with a raised brow.

Bastila's hair hung loose, most of it covered her face, yet a melancholy poisoned her eyes. She sighed. "Our bond is...complicated. Sometimes, we have no choice but to feel each other's emotions. Because of that, we have no choice but to have some type of attachment. Even when...we block each other out."

I narrowed my eyes. "Do you know why I blocked you out, sunshine? Why I didn't tell you about Jaarak's betrayals? Because you would have told that bastard Chuundar about him. And guess what? It turned out exactly how you wanted it to anyway. Congratulations."

"I only wanted you to block the bond at times when it is required. For your protection. Not to block it so that you could hide things from me."

Oh. So that is what she took issue with.

I sneered. "I shouldn't have to tell you anything. You shouldn't have to tell me anything. Without the bond, we would have stayed in our own hyperspace lanes. I would have been happier for it."

"The Force gave us this bond for our mission—"

"The mission." I threw my hand. "Right, it's always about the mission."

"—for our mission to find the Star Forge. To fight against the Sith. Against the darkness. I do not want it to go away for that reason. My own personal comfort doesn't matter in that regard."

My fingers curled around the railing. "But this isn't about your personal comfort, is it? You wanted to get into my head even after I blocked you out. And why? Because you wanted to stop me from 'ruining the mission,' right? Or maybe it's because you like peeking into my mind for your own personal amusement. Well, I'm not that interesting. Believe me."

Her chest and shoulders shook—almost as if she was out of breath—as I spoke. Like she was trying to suppress something. I didn't know what. Not without trying to sense the bond. I scrutinized her face. It had become red—as if she was angry.

I sneered. "No, you wanted to get into my head because you're afraid I'll 'turn to the dark side.' I highly doubt caring about the Wookiees' enslavement will turn me into a monster, sunshine. And I already told you that I don't need your programmed definition of—"

"I wasn't concerned about not sensing you because I wanted to control or discomfort you. I was concerned because I was worried—because I care about you, idiot!"

What?

Her shoulders stilled and I felt an outpouring of warmth in the bond. "You...before you blocked me out, I felt your pain of regret. And I...you believed that you could stop the pain by helping the Wookiees. To...redeem yourself from things you did or didn't do."

How...hadn't I blocked—?

"The thing is...you don't have to try to save everyone to redeem yourself, Wes. Because it's not possible. Once you failed to save the Wookiees, the pain of your self-loathing only became worse. The...the mission wasn't the only reason why I didn't want you to start a Wookiee rebellion. I didn't want you to set yourself up for failure. You cannot walk into a place so entrenched with evil and force it to change for good overnight. It's just not practical. Yet you would have never been convinced."

I crossed my arms. The bond became numb once more. I didn't say a word.

"I know—I have no right to want to sense your emotions after you've blocked me out. I have no right. But the pain...it was too much. And when it went away, when you hid your pain from me, of course, I became worried. I didn't want you to think you had to hide like I had...with my father."

I closed my eyes. Water dripped from above, off of some vines, and onto my head. A buzz of some kind, not from bugs, rang my ears.

How dare she.

After all of her high and mighty "there-is-no-emotion" remarks...how dare she act like she was concerned about me. Like she cared about me. Even if it wasn't completely hypocritical, why would anyone waste their time doing that? And how was she able to peel my mind back like that anyway? The bond. But she couldn't have because I hadn't even thought about the regret in...years.

I hadn't moved on.

Not really. How could I? My world had been destroyed and there had been nothing I could do about it. Nothing I could do about it because I'd been captured. But then, when the Republic took the threat seriously, I ran away from it like a smuggler hiding in an asteroid belt. I never backed down from doing something I would regret not doing. Except for the one time that it mattered.

So, then, how could I move on? The Mandalorians were defeated. My home, gone. Everything they sacrificed...wasted. There had been no point to the suffering in the end. So, yes, maybe I did want to save the Wookiees in some twisted, selfish way to make my own suffering matter.

Because there was no handy-dandy holocron sitting in a krayt dragon's cave to help me move on.

I could tell that she was waiting for me to say something. Anything. But I honestly didn't know what to say. It should have been impossible for her to sense my regret. It was a pain I rarely if ever humored for the sake of my own sanity. And for that reason, I didn't say anything.

What was there to say about regrets that didn't exist?

She must have realized I wasn't going to speak. Or...she sensed me blocking my thoughts.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have—" A sigh. "Well, it's too late now, I suppose."

I sensed her moving away from the railing. Once I was sure she had gone away, I opened my eyes and stared down at the oncoming darkness. Alone.

The basket lift approached the overgrown jungle floor. Vines, roots, and flora of all kinds made a tangled web around us. We could barely see anything past one or two of the wide wroshyr trees. And something other than pitch-black darkness shivered in the air. Something wrong...something...evil.

I did not like it. One bit.

Something slammed into the rail next to me.

"You lied."

I glanced up at the dark canopy before smirking at the pilot.

"Lied?"

"What did you do last night? And do not lie to me. Again."

Mission perked her head up at the sound of Carth's raised voice. "What do yah mean? Wes went somewhere?"

Verena, Canderous, and Juhani raised their brows. Bastila...well she was sulking on the other side of the lift.

I shook my head. "I didn't want to lie to you, Carth, but you have a habit of sticking your fat nose into everyone's business when you don't have answers that you like."

"Yeah, and there's a reason I do that. Exhibit A." He waved at me. "Exhibit B." He then waved down to the Shadowlands. "Because of...whatever you snuck out to do...we're stuck down here. I'm sure of it. What the hell happened?"

I huffed then glanced over at Jaarak. "I made a...miscalculation." My dry mouth became bitter. "It doesn't matter."

"No, for once I agree with Onasi," Verena cut in. "Where did the Wookiees find those slave collars? Was that what Rorworr locked away with his keycard? But...how did the Wookiee know what to use it for?"

"So, that's what you were doing." Carth's face grew red. "You worked together with Jaarak to try and start something. You knew that he was the traitor. And you didn't tell us."

"As I said." My voice grew dark as I leaned closer. "It. Doesn't. Matter. Carth."

A spike of...something flickered within the Republic soldier's eyes. Probably fear but...that made no sense. Carth didn't fear me. Not really. Annoyed by me, sure. But not fear.

Canderous groaned. "Enough yapping...we're landing."

The lift shuddered as it gently collided with the ground. Jaarak, who hadn't moved an inch since the beginning of our trip, walked towards a roped-up latch and pulled. A ramp slid out from below and clattered down revealing the misty darkness beyond.

A strange smell wafted in the air. Not sulfuric like a swamp or salty like the ocean. But...metallic. Like blood. Billions of lifeforms scattered around in the trees, under roots, on the wet ground. Tachs crawled and whooped at us from vines. And something hissed in the distance. A snake or...something worse. The dark sensation was ever-present. It was as if something was watching us over our shoulders. Just like the vision.

The Wookiee met my gaze. "We need to stick together. Even when I traveled here with my hunters it was...dangerous."

I nodded.

"Not going to translate?" Carth snorted. "Figures. Probably didn't translate a lot of important details."

"He said we need to stay together." I smirked—though it wasn't with humor. "Unless you want to risk it and stay here to sulk about nothing?"

The pilot shot me that same look that couldn't have been fear from before. And he didn't quip back like he would usually.

All of us followed the Wookiee out of the basket. Once Bastila left, Jaarak slammed the ramp shut. That must have triggered something since the basket began to lift back up into the canopy.

The chaotic sounds of the Shadowlands reflected the tension in the air.

"Where are we going?" Carth interrupted the cacophony. The pilot glanced at Jaarak then back at Bastila who didn't look up from staring at her boots. "We...we're here to find an ancient machine called a Star Map."

"We need to find Big Z too!" Mission said, moving Carth aside. "First, actually!"

"And then get out of here after we do all of that," Juhani finished.

Jaarak shook his head. "The only machines down here are from Czerka. As for where Zaalbar could be...there is one wook who can help us." He nodded to the dark. "I visited him and the other exiled whenever I could spare a moment during our hunts to give them supplies."

"Exiled?" I asked. "There are some Wookiees down here who weren't captured by Czerka's crew?"

Jaarak nodded. "Chorrawl...used to lead the hunters before he was branded a Mad Claw. I helped him escape before he was banished. But before that, we both helped the exiles captured by Czerka on our hunts. Of course, nowadays, their leader can take most of the credit."

"And...who would that be?"

"The rightful chieftain." The Wookiee straightened. "Freyyr."

And into the darkness they go...

So, concerning the Kashyyyk plot, I always found it odd how the Wookiees didn't just attack Czerka outright after twenty years (even with Chuundar holding them back I guess(?)). They completely demolished them after a simple change in leadership. So, that is one of the reasons why I made it so that only the "Mad Claws" or the falsely accused are being enslaved. Human (well Wookiee lol) nature at times puts the "self" before "you" so...the results are in this chapter.

Hope you enjoyed and if I don't post before...May the Fourth be with you :)!