Disclaimer: I have no claim to the Star Wars world, only a joy in everything that George Lucus and Bioware have created. I have only used my imagination with this story. The first part of this is taken directly from the start of the game and throughout my story are direct quotes from conversations in the game, the only Character I lay any claim to is my PC Skye Organa.
***Kashyyyk***
I see a starmap in the middle of a tall forest, the trees tower over it. There looks to be an ancient computer console of some sort next to it but everything is dark. The power of the dark side is strong in this place …
After we had entered hyperspace I had gone to the bunkroom and lay down for a while, eventually falling asleep. I wake feeling disturbed once again and wandering into the common room I spy Bastila sipping on a hot cup of caffa and pour one for myself, thinking that it might be a good idea. She looks pale and though the link I feel that she must have shared the vision also.
"So where about's do you think this one is?" I ask her.
"It looks like it was on the forest floor but I am not certain of the exact location." She replies.
"I guess we'll soon find out once we're on the surface. I might take Zaalbar with me this time, he being a local and all." Bastila nods in agreement.
I turn and head towards the bunkroom to speak with Mission. Even though Zaalbar has sworn a life-debt to me, he hasn't said much about his past. I am wondering if Mission might be able to shed some light as to why he had left Kashyyyk. She tells me that he had some disagreement with his father over something but no details. He's more the strong silent type, doesn't like to say much. Mission then goes on to tell me alittle about her brother, how he met up with a Twi'Lek dancer – Lena – and that Griff and Lena had left her alone on Taris. I didn't know she had a brother so I ask her what happened. She seems to think that Lena got her 'hooks' into him and that she was the reason why Griff left her. She's very touchy about it all and I don't blame her really. I wouldn't like it if I was abandoned somewhere either.
I decide to head to the cockpit to see how long before we arrive when Zaalbar stops me, saying that we have a problem in the storage hold. That some of the ration packs have been tampered with. I don't like the sound of this so I go to investigate straight away. I find that the rations have been reduced considerably, and that we will have to stock up again once we land, we'd had enough to last a month and now it wouldn't last us a fortnight. I figure I had better search the rest of the ship to see if anything else is missing.
As I walk silently though the ship, checking as I go along, I keep thinking I hear footsteps behind me, when I turn there is no one there. Circling back towards the supply hold I catch a glimpse of someone out of the corner of my eye. I find that we have a young stowaway. She is very frightened and speaks a strange dialect. With some coaxing I work out that her language is her own version of Mandalorian. Quietly I sit with her, working out that she had been hiding out on the Ebon Hawk long enough to refer to it as 'home', that she had come onboard at Dantooine and that her name is Sasha. It is then that I remember the conversation I had had with a Twi'Lek just before we left he had been looking for a young girl who had gone missing. He must have meant Sasha. She seems to trust me so I lead her out to Mission and Juhani, asking them to take care of her. Sasha catches sight of Canderous and hides behind me, very frightened. I look up at Canderous and he gets my unspoken suggestion. He moves off towards the swoop hanger. I manage to untangle myself from Sasha's grip and Juhani distracts her by taking her into the galley to get her something to eat.
Following Canderous into the hanger I sit myself on the workbench and watch him for a moment. I have noticed from time to time that he has shown more compassion that I had first given him credit for, that underneath his rough, tough, warriors exterior, he has a softer side. I figure he wouldn't like to admit it either. I decide to be tactful and just briefly thank him for understanding the situation with Sasha before I change the subject, asking him about more of his war stories. We are interrupted by Carth's voice over the speaker, telling us we are about to land …
We all meet in the common room to work out what our next course of action is. Carth says he will take T3 and visit the Czerka Corporation store to get more supplies while the Canderous says he wants to get some parts fix the swoop bike. Bastila and Juhani will occupy Sasha. Zaalbar and Mission follow me out. We disembark and straight away are stopped by a Czerka representative. He is a slimy character and immediately sends chills of dislike down my spine. As we are an 'unscheduled' arrival we are to pay the 100 credit docking fee before being allowed to go anywhere. He then makes my blood boil by telling me to keep my 'slave' under control. This understandably upsets Zaalbar and I have trouble getting him to let me handle things. I manage to get him to go along with me and I turn back to deal with the slimeball, silently promising that I will do something about him and his slave taking ways. Slavers are nothing but scum vermin in my opinion and I find myself having to recite the Jedi code to calm my temper.
We move out and away from the dock, Big Z stopping to breathe deeply, commenting that he had almost forgotten what it was like being 'home'.
A little further on a Twi'lek woman calls out "Mission? Is that you? It's me, Lena. Remember? I was dating your brother back on Taris."
Mission looks shocked as she replies "Lena? What … what are you doing here? Where's Griff?"
Lena tells us that she had broken up with Griff a few month's after leaving Taris, that he was bad news and that Mission was much better off without him. I have to try and calm Mission down as she gets very defensive about Griff, accusing Lena of being a cantina rat. I sense that Lena is being truthful so try and get though to Mission that maybe her brother isn't the man she thought he was. Lena mentions that she wanted to take Mission with them when they left Taris but Griff had refused to, saying that he was being held back by having to look after her. He is nothing but trouble and ditched her after she ran out of money. When we ask where Griff is now, she tells us that he is on Tatooine trying to make his fortune out there.
Taking her cue to leave when Mission accuses her of being a table-dancing, brother-stealing home wrecker, she parts with one last comment "I didn't mean to upset you Mission. But one day you will see that I am right about your brother, I only hope it isn't too late by then."
Looking at Mission I see pain and anger flash across her face. She has a lot to think about now and I just hope that she can try and see both sides of the scale. Lena sounded sincere to me and I sensed no deception in her through the force. I have a feeling that Griff might just be one of those males that were just out to make a quick buck and didn't care who got in the way. In my opinion, Mission is far better off without him but I will hold my tongue and my judgement until I speak with him first. Further on we are confronted by Czerka guards who I just try to ignore. I tell them that I have paid the docking fee and that I will go though the gates if I wish to.
I am getting very tired of the Czerka Corporation attitude and find myself taking refuge in the Jedi code once again. Through the gates and we are shocked to see more Czerka goons killing a Wookie. I am not impressed and demand to be told what is going on. I do not like to see innocent's murdered in cold blood and a fight ensues. My force powers are getting stronger and I can now freeze them in stasis. Doing so, Mission and Zaalbar finish them off. I search them and find an id card, which I pocket thinking that it might come in handy down the track.
Looking up and around us I find it so amazing that the trees can be so large. I couldn't remember seeing trees this huge and I know Mission never has either, both of us in awe of the magnificent sight of them. As we follow along the timbered pathway, I begin to sense something dark up ahead. We had run into the forest Kinrath and other creatures that meant us harm but this is a dark overbearing presence … three of them to be exact. Three dark Jedi await us as we round the next bend. Somehow I manage to freeze two of them in stasis allowing Mission and Zaalbar to fire on them from afar while I ignite my lightsaber and attack the third. He has a double bladed red lightsaber and puts up a fierce fight, throwing everything at me making me force heal myself often. Don't ask me how but I manage to catch him up in a force whirlwind and get a few good strikes in. Mission and Zaalbar, having finished off the other two, add their strikes to mine and we finally overcome him. Panting for breath I lean against the huge trunk of a tree so I can recover.
This is the first time since becoming a Jedi that I've come up against dark Jedi, let alone three of them, and I find it difficult to comprehend the darkness I felt radiating out of them. After a moment I am ready to continue and we run into more trouble, of a slightly different type. We have come across the Wookie village guard and he accuses us of bringing a taint to the village. I have no idea what he is talking about and turn to Zaalbar who fills me in slightly. He tells us that he is regarded as a 'madclaw' for attacking his brother with his claws and that he was banished because of it. He had found out and accused his brother of dealing with the slavers and they had fought. Claws are not to be used as weapons in their society and he, in his anger had used his. We are taken to Chuundar, the village Chieftain and Zaalbar is taken from us. I am told that to get him back I must perform a task for him. There is another 'madclaw' in the Shadowlands that I must deal with and then he will think of releasing Zaalbar.
Mission is very upset at losing Big Z once again so we head back to the Ebon Hawk, having to fight through some more kinrath's on the way. I don't feel like tackling the Shadowlands late in the day, let alone after dark and wish to get a good night's sleep before heading down there. Everyone is in the common room when we return, asking where Big Z is. Mission is looking very downcast and upset so Juhani and Sasha go with her to the bunkroom. I indicate that I would like to speak with Bastila and we head towards the cockpit for some privacy. I tell her about my run in with the dark jedi and she nods her head saying that she had felt the dark presence also. Carth puts in an appearance at that point and I get the impression he had eavesdropped on our conversation. "That's in then, I'm going with you tomorrow, no arguing about it," he tells me, confirming my suspicion. I look questioningly at Bastila, requesting her presence in the morning also and she nods agreement as she heads back to the common room.
I look out the front of the Hawk lost in my thoughts for a long moment before I feel a hand on my arm. Carth is carefully watching me and I turn my attention back to him, our earlier conflict forgotten. Taking his handkerchief from his pocket he carefully wipes some blood from my face. I hadn't even noticed I'd been bleeding and recall that it must of happened when we fought the last lot of kinrath on the way back. I am feeling quite drained of both energy and force powers, making him comment about how pale I'd gotten. Putting his hand on the small of my back he gives a gentle push and escorts me back to the common room, seating me down and putting a hot cup of caffa and a bowl of stew in front of me. Glancing up to thank him I give Carth a sad, tired smile, my mind working over time on what I have to do to get Big Z back again. I sip on my caffa, eat my dinner and listen to the others talking about how they got on that day with their various tasks. As soon as I'm finished I make my way to the refresher unit, quickly cleaning myself up and head to my bunk. I am asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
Feeling refreshed I wake early in the morning and head into the galley to get some breakfast. I have a fresh brew of caffa ready when Bastila and Carth come in and hand them each a mug. We sit in companionable silence, hearing the sounds of snoring coming from the male bunkroom – Canderous is still sound asleep.
"How do you sleep with that going on" I comment, laughing at Carth.
A sour look crosses his face and says one word – earplugs. Finishing up we head down the ramp and towards the basket that will take us down to the Shadowlands. Gorwooken takes us down, warning us as we go that the journey down is long and could draw the unwelcome interest of the predators below. Taking heed of his warning we are silent on the trip down.
Reaching the ground we discover we have drawn the attention of a different kind of predator – Calo Nord and his flunkies are camped not far from the basket. He tells us that the sith won't get in the way of our demise this time and I get the impression he had made a deal with them. Freezing his flunkies in stasis, Bastila and I focus our attention on Calo while Carth fires upon Calo's two Wookie companions. We find Calo resistant to stasis and throw a few grenades his direction, trying to weaken his personal shield. We move in to attack him from both directions, allowing Carth a clear view to fire on him as he had taken care of the others. He is a tough enemy to take down but we eventually manage to, searching him for information and find that he had 2000 credits on him – guessing it is prepayment for our demise. We move off further into the Shadowlands.
Bastila and I turn to each other as we head deeper into the Shadowlands as we both feel a ripple through the force. We head in the direction the Force is pointing us and see an amazing sight. An old man is fighting four of the local predators, a green lightsaber flashing as he does battle. He drops the last of them as we reach him and shuts his blade down. Telling us to follow him, he leads us to his hut, commenting as he goes that yes he lives under a fallen log. Introducing himself as Jolee Bindo, he tells us that he wishes us to perform a task for him. ]
We have to remove some unwanted poachers from his 'garden'. The poachers are killing the local Tach and he wants them stopped, preferably with a peaceful solution, as he doesn't want further trouble for the Wookies. He mentions that there are other obstacles he can help us with in our search and that he would also like to join our party. He points us in the direction and we set off to see what we can do about it. We soon come across the poachers, noticing that they have quite a few sonic emitters around the camp. Carth speaks with the Captain and is told that they are not going to leave because of a hermit. I sidle up to one of the guards, flirting with him and asking what the emitter is for.
"So the sonic emitter is the only thing keeping you hear?" I ask him.
He replies that it is so I suggest that if it weren't turned on he wouldn't have to guard it any longer. As he his disgruntled with the Captain and his task he gives me the code to shut it down, commenting that he 'didn't' help me out. Carth and Bastila keep the Captain distracted; I think his attention is focused on Bastila mostly as most of the other men are ogling her also. I make my way over to another guard and repeat the process, managing to shut down several of the emitters. It doesn't take long for the large predator to come charging through the camp. The Captain, with a horrified look on his face begins to run, his men following closely behind him. Carth, Bastila and myself are standing off to the side when the creature tears through, ignoring us in favour of the running men.
"What was that creature," I ask as.
Carth answers me that it is a Terentatek. As soon as he mentions the name of it I realise that this is what one of the Twi'lek's at the Enclave had told me about. That they feed off Force sensitive's and are difficult, but not impossible, to kill. I had been told about the 'great hunt' to reduce the Terentatek's numbers and that many of the Jedi on that hunt never returned.
Returning to Jolee, he says that he doesn't feel the stench of death about us and asks why we spared them. I mention that there was a peaceful solution and that I didn't feel like taking their lives when they could be removed in another way. When told about the Terentatek he informs us that he knew the creature was around and that the older Wookies used to battle the beast to prove courage within their culture. Asking him if we can now continue he nods in agreement and leads us off to where Czerka has placed a force shield. Dealing with that he then leads us to the Star Map.
We have to battle our way though may of the local predators on the way. Nearing the sight, Bastila and I both comment that it looks familiar. Jolee watches us both carefully and I get the impression that he knows more than he will let on. He seems to know a lot about everything but doesn't wish to talk about much except for in riddles or odd stories. We all sense the dark presence around us as I walk straight up to the hologram computer. I have to go though a lot of rigmarole to get the star map opened as it wants specified answers to it's questions. Initially it had said it recognised me and that startled all of us, then it changed its findings saying that the patterns were wrong and setting its guardian droids onto us. After defeating them it says that during the battle it did recognise the correct patterns, opens the star map and shuts itself down. Such a contradiction of events but as we get the information we sort we continue on.
Jolee then takes us to the Wookie Freyyr, the old Chieftain and Zaalbar's father. He is very hostile at first and attacks us. Defending ourselves by freezing him in stasis several times until he realises we are not going to harm him he finally calms down enough to talk with us. When we tell him that we are friends of Zaalbar's and that Chuundar is holding him in the village he softens up towards us more. Telling us that he is sorry that he didn't believe Zaalbar over the incident that had him banished. That when he had discovered Chuundar's deception and his dealings with the slavers it was too late. His authority had been undermined and he escaped down to the Shadowlands, waiting for a chance to redeem himself. Seeing this as his chance he says he will meet us up in the village once he has rounded up some support but firstly we would have to do something for him.
We have to collect Bacca's blade from the hide of the Terentatek. Jolee leads us to the ritual grounds and I read the marker. We had tangled with some forest kinrath and now hang up an 'offering' for the Terentatek. It doesn't take long in appearing and between the three of us Jedi and Carth we manage to over come it quickly, retrieving the blade and also finding a datapad. Reading it we discover that it belonged to one of the Jedi sent out for the great hunt. We head back to Freyyr. Now he tells us he will return to the village. Knowing that he would climb up and that we would take far longer to return up to the top we start back towards the basket lift.
Upon our return to the basket Gorwooken is very hostile. He and his companions are loyal to Chuundar and have heard from spies of us helping Freyyr. He won't listen to reason and they attack us. They are no match for our jedi powers and the battle is soon over. Climbing into the basket Jolee takes control of it and we ascend to the village level. An hour later we are led back to the village by one of Freyyr's supporters.
It is good to see that Big Z is unharmed although he has absorbed enough of Chuundar's garbage about Czerka to be confused. I ask him to try and sort out a peaceful solution but that doesn't happen. Chuundar will not listen to reason, ordering the Czerka representatives to fight. Seeing this Zaalbar sides with his father. It is unfortunate that there has been more bloodshed but there wasn't any way of talking reason. Once the fighting has ceased we are thanked for our help. Zaalbar is honoured with Bacca's sword, being told that one day he would become the Chieftain of the village. As he has the life-debt with me he says that he will continue to journey with us. He follows us back to the Ebon Hawk knowing that his father is proud of him.
The Wookies have fought their way into the Czerka docking bay and have taken it over and tell us that we are the only outsiders that they will allow to be there unharmed for some time to come. Mission comes flying out of the Hawk as soon as she sees Big Z, throwing her arms around his humungous frame. He looks down at her, patting her gently on her back. The reunion makes a very touching sight and soon has everyone smiling again.
Jolee is introduced around the rest of the crew as we move back into the common room. Sasha warms to Jolee straight away and even looks calmer around Canderous, which is good to see. We decide to head back to Dantooine and return Sasha to her family. Carth heads to the cockpit to do a pre-flight check saying he doesn't trust any of the rest of us to do it right and I make a smart comment about a certain paranoid flyboy, making the rest of the crew crack up with laughter. He gives me a dirty look and shaking his head, disappears into the cockpit.
Arriving at Dantooine several hours later and feeling rested I head down the ramp, spying the Twi'lek Lur Arka Sulas talking with one of the docking bay mechanic's. I tell him about Sasha and ask if he would like to come onboard to see her. Once he agrees I lead him to her, telling him that she only speaks her own version of Mandalorian. He recognises her on sight and is very grateful for her return, promising to take her straight to her parents who have been extremely worried about her. Job done, we resupply again and decide that our next port of call will be Tatooine. Mission, Bastila and I sneak into the cockpit while Jolee, Juhani, Canderous and Carth are talking and prepare for lift off, laughing when Carth realises someone else is flying 'his precious ship' and comes racing in.
"Tough luck flyboy, it's our turn this time" he is told. I feel very comfortable in the pilot's chair and lift off goes perfectly. Even Carth has to agree how smooth it was. Setting our course for Tatooine we enter hyperspace. Bastila and Mission head to the common room to see what everyone else is up to and Carth takes the co-pilot's seat. I hear him clear his throat and I turn to look at him, seeing that he doesn't look very comfortable.
"I, ahhh …I'm not very good at this. I… I know I owe you an apology. Uh, more than one probably. I was just so desperate to finally face Saul directly in the battle over Taris, and now the Jedi have us looking for these… these Star Maps. I know this mission is important, it's just … I feel a bit useless, I can fight, sure, but I'm no Jedi… all this feels completely out of my league."
"Why don't you return to the front lines then?" I ask.
"Because this is more important. This may really, finally, make a difference… I suppose even if I can't figure out everything that is going on, I still want to help if I can. I just hate not knowing what's going on and feeling this… helpless. But I shouldn't have taken that out on you. I've been a royal pain in the backside, haven't I?"
I know he is trying his best to apologise but none the less not wanting to make it easy for him I reply with "You sure have flyboy"
"Ha! Well… I guess I should be at least a little please that I haven't lost my touch. So … I'm sorry. Will you accept my apology?"
I can't help myself, mischief takes over and cocking my head to one side I give him a sly look, "I don't know. Maybe you should work for it abit."
"Oh? I don't know if I like the sound of that …"
"Don't you want me to accept your apology?" I say with mischief dancing in my eyes.
Catching my eye he warily replies with "I don't know. What am I going to have to do for it?"
Seeing him looking worried and trying to keep a straight face I come out with "Just a little kiss. How about it?"
A strange look crosses his face and flushing red, he splutters "I … heh, I really think that I should, ah… get going."
I can't keep a straight face any longer, pointing at him and laughing, "I was only joking Carth, relax"
Blushing he stammers, "I'm sorry, I'm glad things are better between us now. I should … I should go" and he high-tails it out of the cockpit, my laughter following behind him. I know I shouldn't have done it but I just couldn't help myself. I make myself comfortable for the first shift on our journey, knowing that one of the other's will come in to relieve me in a few hours.