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contained therein. The characters created by me for this story are all
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Tatooine – Mothers and Sand People
The next morning Bastila, HK-47 and I set out to explore the area surrounding Anchorhead. Hopefully, we would acquire some Sand People robes and discover the location of the Sand People camp. On the way out the gate my attention was caught by a Jawa beckoning to me. I walked over to see what it wanted. The Jawa said that its name was Iziz and it was the leader of its tribe as I was of mine. I puzzled out what it said and realized that it was correct, I had automatically taken over the leadership position in our team. Bastila had even automatically accepted that I was the leader of the group. I hadn't even really thought about it before.
From what the Jawa said the Sand People had made captives of his tribe and he wanted me to free them. Why not I thought, I was going there anyway. He said something about the fact that Anchorhead had been settled over and over, and how his people scavenged pieces of ships that fell after battles above. I was puzzled over what this could mean and Bastila said "It could be that this Jawa knows things about this planet's history that the Republic has no inkling of." I asked him if he knew anything about a Star Map and he said that he did. Iziz promised that he would trade information about the Star Map we were seeking for the freedom of his tribe.
I showed my hunting license to the gate guard and he let me out. Standing just outside the gate was a woman heading back into Anchorhead. I nodded to her and she paused and said "You must be a hunter, when you see Tanis, and I know you know him, tell him his wife enjoys the anniversary gift." I paused trying to place the name then grimaced and nodded to her, the obnoxious man at the hunting lodge. I looked at her wondering what she had done to the man and said "Anniversary gift? What are you talking about?" She smirked and said "Just a little something to remember me by. Something that symbolizes our years together. Something that will blow up in his face. Of course, he'll never understand how appropriate it is. He can't talk his way out of this one he's not smart enough." I said "You sound like your planning on killing him." She laughed and said "Oh I'm through planning. I just left him a little mess that he has to take care of. If he's smart, he'll be just fine. But he's not smart." With that she went back into Anchorhead.
I sighed and looked out into the desert where she had been staring. Sure enough I could barely see a figure surrounded by several droids. The figure was not moving. I grumbled, I really hadn't like the guy but I couldn't just ignore the fact that he was out there either. I started for the figure and I could tell Bastila was puzzled over the entire situation. There was also a large sandcrawler in the distance with plumes of smoke rising from it. I decided to check on the hunter first since he was closer then check out whether something was wrong with the sandcrawler.
As we got closer Tanis called out for help, he didn't look too good and I wondered how long he had been out here. He promptly started flirting with both Bastila and I, I was astounded at the audacity of the man. He paused in his attempts to ask me to help him fix the droids. Bastila said "I say we leave him." I paused and looked at her amused; she really had taken an immediate dislike to the man. Tanis said "You're pretty heartless for such a pretty lady you know?" Bastila stared at him and said "I take it back, let's go congratulate his wife." HK-47 chose this moment to chime in and say "I say we blast the meatbag and save you the trouble, master." Tanis drooped and said "What's with all the droids lately, my wife get to you too?" I looked at HK and Bastila and chuckled, and Tanis said to me "I'd really appreciate a bit of help, please."
I told him to hold on and went around to the droids seeing what I could do. I accessed the system message and had to snicker when I read it. All the problems were logic puzzles and it took me a few moments to figure out the correct programming changes to make. Shortly, however, I had all the droids fixed and Tanis said "Thanks for the help, I would have been a goner, Heh and the old bat thought I was dead." I frowned at him and he said "Now my dear lady, I must see to your reward. Will uh earthly delights suffice?" I just looked at him and he stepped back and said "Er... I suppose not. You never asked me for anything, but I consider my life worth something. Please, take this. I insist." I thanked him and he ran back to Anchorhead with his droids. Bastila looked at me and said "What an unpleasant man." I agreed but said that we could hardly leave him out here to die of thirst. Bastila wrinkled her nose at me and nodded saying "I knew you would help him, let's see if that sandcrawler needs some assistance."
They did indeed need help, as we got closer it was apparent that the sandcrawler had been attacked and was motionless in the sand. A few miners stood under its shade looking wildly about and startling at our approach. Their leader barely had time to tell me that the Sand People had attacked them when a small group of Sand People attacked. Bastila, HK and I beat them off quickly and they were followed by three more waves. I force jumped to the nearest group and released my adrenals and was whittling down the group when Bastila trotted up and helped giving me an odd look as she did so. I wondered what it was for until I realized that it was the first time I had used my Force powers that way around her.
It was not a skill taught to me, but something I had worked out on my own. And it was so fun to use even if it was slightly crazed. There was nothing like springing into the mist of enemies who were not expecting you to arrive so quickly. We finally beat off the waves and Bastila turned to me and said "Who taught you guardian skills?" I looked at her and said "No one it just seemed a logical use of the Force so I figured out how to do it on my own. You should really try it; it's rather a lot of fun. Even if Carth thinks I'm crazy for using it." I grinned at her but she continued to look at me oddly then shook herself and said "That tactic of the Guardians always seemed crazed to me as well, so I'll leave it to Juhani and you. Why did you choose Sentinel anyway it doesn't really fit you. I expected you to choose Guardian or maybe even Councilor."
We were walking back to the sandcrawler and I answered her in a low voice "Well I wanted both actually and Sentinel seemed a good middle ground since I couldn't make up my mind between the two." She shook her head at me and said "So Sentinel isn't truly your path, you should not have chosen it then." I replied to her "Well they didn't have a Guardian/Councilor type which does feel like my path. So why, not since none of the choices fit." She looked at me but just shook her head since we had arrived back at the sandcrawler.
The captain thanked us even though he seemed a bit nervous around us for some reason. He told us that the company had gotten turrets to set about the mining route but the Sand People had gotten the Jawa's to disable them and had set them up around their own camp. I nodded and thanked him, I hoped that our plan would work and we wouldn't be attacked as soon as the Sand People realized we were not members of their tribe.
Behind the sandcrawler was what looked like the wreck of two land speeders, there was still smoke rising from the wreckage and we hurried over to see if there was anyone left alive. Something was wrong about the scene though and I said as much as we approached and activated my energy shield. It was too obvious; this was a set up, probably the Gamorreans. I was cautious as I approached the wreckage and heard the voice of a female human coming from the wreck crying out for help. Even still the blast caught me by surprise and though I avoided most of it I was still injured.
The three Gamorreans ran up and demanded 500 credits; I said "Is this how you have been killing the hunters? Remember when I said there was justice on the dunes? You have two choices die here or stop attacking people. Which shall it be?" Gurke said "What? Attack them! They are trying to fight!" The three immediately attacked us which was not a bright move on their parts for they were soon dead. Bastila asked me why I had said what I did and I told her of the woman Mission, Carth and I had helped yesterday. I said "I could have persuaded them to leave us alone, but that would have left them free to kill others who could not defend themselves. That doesn't seem right to me, so that's why I gave them the choices I did." She nodded thoughtfully and didn't say anything more.
We wandered around the dunes a bit more and were attacked by Sand People several times. We collected enough robes to try the deception, but agreed that we wanted them cleaned and sterilized before wearing them. After a few hours we returned to the ship and gave the robes to T3 to clean and mend.
While the robes were being cleaned and mended I decided to see if I couldn't repair HK again. When the repair was completed HK told me that he had recovered the last of his deleted memory but unfortunately his history was still not complete. Most of his memory was locked in his core and he could not access it. He said that perhaps some external stimuli might eventually activate it but he had no idea what that might be. He said that he had completed an assassination in Mandalorian space though he could not remember what the target had been or who had sent him. His motor functions had been damaged and he was claimed by a Mandalorian soldier who had proceeded to use his functions to raise his rank. Eventually the soldier had sent the droid against the current Mandalore. HK was captured in the attempt and reprogrammed to assassinate the soldier instead. HK had promptly deactivated himself after the successful assassination of his owner and had then been sold to the Hutt on Sleheyron. He was however able to access several Mandalorian implants that would improve his performance, and gave him a limited self-repair ability.
By the evening the robes were ready and Bastila and I decided to take advantage of the evening light to attempt our deception. Bastila wanted to talk with me before we left though and I could sense that she had been carefully preparing another speech. I groaned to myself but reminded myself to be nice to her; perhaps she needed to tell herself something.
She told me that she had been watching my progress since my training. I raised my eyebrows at her and said "I think we both know the real reason you've been watching me" and I grinned at her and waited for the outburst. Unfortunately she was beginning to catch on to my game, and she merely narrowed her eyes and said "You never give up, do you? I admit I'm interested in you. I find you intriguing. Compelling, even. But it's not what you think. You have a great gift. You have an awesome command of the Force, and I tremble when I think of how you might misuse it." At the word tremble I glanced at her and watched her flush slightly at my intense look but I decided not to bait her anymore and merely replied "I won't misuse my power, Bastila."
She drew in a breath, probably in relief, and said "I've seen how you have resisted many temptations and continue to walk the path of the light side." She continued trying to tell me what the dark side was, how it was not simply giving into anger or temptation to use the Force to destructive ends. She said that it begged you to surrender to it, to release all its terrible power. I was beginning to get worried because it sounded like she had heard its sirens call entirely too clearly. I had heard it as well but I well knew from my training of the path it represented, and that it was no path I wanted to tread. Bastila was saying "And once you stop resisting, it is too late. It twists you up inside and... and turns you into a mockery of everything you once stood for."
I said to her "You seem to know that temptation very well" with concern in my voice. She stopped and focused on me seeing that I was more concerned for her than myself. She shook her head and said "I am no less resistant to temptation than any other. I simply have the benefit of training that you do not. But even the training of the Jedi might not be enough to save us." I shook my head aggravated by the tone of self-defeat, but she took it to be disagreement and continued "We only need to look at the atrocities which have been committed by those under its sway to understand the terrible, corrupting evil of the dark side. Millions dead, and far more suffering. What sort of person would you have to become to perform such deeds gladly?"
I answered honestly "I don't know." She nodded and said "Neither do I and I hope I never do." She continued to say how it was easy to think that you could not fall, but the Sith had become powerful because so many Jedi had joined them. The Jedi were weakened while the Sith were strengthened. She said "We must harden our hearts and do whatever is required to fight against the dark side. Even when the battle becomes wearying." I wondered if she were talking about hardening her heart to the attraction between us or something else entirely. I asked "Do whatever is required? Such as?" Bastila replied "I don't know. The vision of our future is clouded by shadows cast from the dark side. But I sense something ominous lurking in those shadows."
She left the conversation at that and we went to pick up the robes from T3 to attempt the deception. We put on all but the head pieces on the ship, and put our robes over the garments. The head piece wrappings would of course have to wait until we got out of the sight of the Anchorhead walls.
As we were walking out of the Ebon Hawk I was paying half attention to my surroundings and trying to figure out what Bastila had been trying to talk about. I was trying to figure out if there was some new type of approach the dark side used with Jedi that I hadn't seen during my Covert Ops training. The only one I could figure out was that with my new powers the temptation to be all powerful had gotten stronger. It had always been a temptation I had to fight with my strong desire to lead and my dislike of being wrong in any way. Now with the power at my fingertips to play at being a small god it was stronger, maybe I had given into it with the Gamorreans or maybe I hadn't. In any case it would be wise of me to keep the temptation in mind when I made decisions. I supposed anyone that got a taste of power had to face this particular demon and overcome it. I just had to keep in mind that I was not intrinsically any better than anyone else, force sensitive or no.
As we were walking through Anchorhead a Twi'lek woman approached us saying "Excuse me... I know it's been a very long time, dear, but aren't you Bastila, Helena's little girl? yes - it's you! I can see it in the eyes. My how you've grown." This pulled me out of my reverie and I looked at Bastila who appeared rather startled and said "I am Bastila, yes. I take it that you know my mother?"
The woman introduced herself as Malare and said that she had worked for Bastila's mother and father on an expedition years ago and had recognized Bastila from holo's Helena had shown her. Bastila said "Is there something I can you for you miss? As you can see, we are in quite a hurry." I said to her "Don't be rude, Bastila." I got a look for my efforts but I didn't care. The woman apologized and asked if Bastila's mother's condition had improved. Bastila was confused and told the woman she had not seen her mother since joining the Jedi Order. Now the woman was very uncomfortable and told us that she had seen Bastila's mother here on Tatooine and that her mother was very ill. I told Bastila that we should go see her mother; I could tell she didn't want to but I wasn't really going to give her any options. It was past time for her to deal with her feelings about her mother.
On the way we got clear indications that her mother was still in the cantina, I was hard put not to snicker and was quickly wondering whether or not part of the problem between the two was that they were too alike. No one could top Bastila's high and mighty attitude either when she got going. This should be one interesting meeting, hopefully I could keep the bloodshed to a minimum. We got to the cantina and I could immediately tell who Helena was, yep same type of princess attitude, except in her mother it was more of a queenly attitude. No wonder the two fought even when Bastila was a child.
The reunion got of to as wonderful a start as I expected then took a downward turn when Helena told us that Bastila's father had died. I felt Bastila's pain and then her anger as she attacked her mother saying "Dead? What happened? What did you do to him?!" Helena turned to me saying "Isn't this a lovely reunion? Already she is flinging insults at me. Tell me.... you're one of her friends. Do you treat your mother this way?" I looked at the both of them and said "I have lost my memory of my childhood, I do not remember what my mother or father looked like, nor whether or not it was a loving relationship or no. From my records though they are both dead so I will never know." Helena said to me "Is that so? Well, I'll be joining her soon enough, I suppose." I looked at her and extended my force senses and could tell that she wasn't lying she was dying. Bastila was ignoring that she could do the same and I resolved that I would make sure that the two were reconciled even if I had to drag Bastila into it.
Bastila asked what her mother had gotten her father into that killed him and Helena responded saying "I hadn't realized Jedi were so spiteful. You want me to tell you I brought your father here for an expedition, do you? You want to blame me for his death? You never accepted that your father loved going on his treasure hunts, leaving you alone with me. I was always to blame for everything, what else is new?" I could tell that she was still being truthful and wondered that Bastila still wasn't using her abilities; did she just not want to see that Helena was telling the truth? Helena continued "So yes, fine. I brought your father here to look for kryat dragon pearls. He took and expedition into the Tatooine desert and he died." She told us that he had been hunting and was attacked by a krayt dragon; one of the guides had managed to get away and had seen him being killed. She asked that we find his holocron and bring it to her. Bastila was still being petty and asked "Why? So you can sell it?" at that comment I gave her a hard look to let her know that she was now really behaving badly. She caught the look and had the grace to blush.
Helena said "Is it too much to ask that I have something to remember your father by? Of course it is, isn't it? You couldn't be bothered." I felt bad for the woman, she hadn't realized how much her daughter still resented her and it was hurting her. Bastila mumbled something about us not having time and shot me a desperate look that I ignored asking her instead if she didn't want to find her father's remains. She asked what remains would there be? I asked her what about your mother's sickness? Bastila turned around and asked "Are you actually sick, Mother?" Helena said "What difference does it make to you? None, I'm sure. Just find your father's holocron and you won't have to worry about me again either way." The conversation ended badly but Bastila agreed that we would look for the holocron if we had time. The feelings I was getting from her disturbed me and I resolved to try and get her to talk about them as soon as possible. But for right now we needed to get out to the Sand People camp if we were to even make the attempt. I said as much to Bastila and she agreed we needed to get moving.
We passed the now deserted crawler and paused on the other side of it to don our disguises, then continued on to where the Sand People camp was supposed to be. The disguises worked and we were able to approach the Sand People camp and enter it. As soon as we entered the camp the guard recognized that we were not sand people. HK was able to communicate with him and we were stripped of our sand people clothing and taken to their chieftain. The chieftain required a show of good faith before he would believe that we meant peace. He wanted us to bring back moisture vaporators before he would agree to talk to us. He had already been planning on moving his tribe further away from Anchorhead and needed these to build up stores of water first. I agreed and we were escorted outside. We put back on our robes and proceeded rapidly back to Anchorhead. By my estimation we easily had time to make the round trip this evening.
I managed to purchase two moisture vaporators from the Czeka office without revealing what they were for and we returned to the Sand People camp with them. The Sand People looked at us with disgust but allowed us to approach unmolested. We were taken to the chieftain again and I presented the moisture vaporators. He gave me his chieftain's gaffi as a reward. I then asked about Missions brother Griff, he appeared almost hopeful that I would take him off their hands and said that he was without any semblance of usefulness to them.
I then asked about the captive Jawa's and was told they had lived past their usefulness and if I wanted them I could take them. I then had HK ask him about whether or not they had ever seen a Star Map and he said yes but they had not scavenged it since a krayt dragon had taken up residence in the cavern that contained it. I wondered if coincidences would continue and this might be the same dragon that killed Bastila's father. I thanked the chieftain for the map he gave us and we went to free the captives. I found the Jawa's first and freed them telling them they could run to Anchorhead. Then I found Mission's brother. He wanted to surprise Mission and was planning on going to the space port to see her; I said that we would travel with him. He looked uncertain as did Bastila, but I wasn't about to leave Mission alone to deal with her brother unsupported. It was late anyway and the Star Map would have to wait until the morning. I said to Bastila "Our other task will have to wait till morning anyway; it is too late today to properly scout out the area." She reluctantly nodded and we proceeded with Griff back to the ship.
I made Griff wait outside the ship and let Mission know we had found her brother; she accompanied me back outside the ship to see him. Griff did seem to be happy that Mission was still alive and had not died on Taris. Then Mission asked him whether or not it was his idea to leave her on Taris. Griff danced around the subject and then claimed that he had always meant to go back to Taris for her as soon as he got some credits. I could see Mission droop as she realized the truth and I put a supportive hand on her shoulder. She glanced at me and straightened back up and asked him how he could have done that. He said that she hadn't needed him anymore, and besides she looked like she was doing well financially, and could she spare him some credits. Mission stared at him and said "You... you're hitting me up for credits? I don't believe this! Lena was right about you, Griff! We should have just left you to the Sand People! Don't talk to me anymore - ever!" With the last she stormed back into the ship.
Griff looked at me and said "Huh... that didn't go well. Sis always was a little too fiery for her own good. She'll cool down in time" I just looked at him and he promptly begged me for some credits. I was fairly sure that he was telling the truth that he was absolutely broke and gave him 100 credits. Griff said that he had a job already lined up and would I stop by later to see him about some plan that he had. I sighed but agreed that I would at least hear him out.
I decided to go ahead and report to the Czeka Office and turn in the chieftain's gaffi. The officer there took the gaffi at face value and thanked me for taking care of the situation; I merely nodded and accepted my payment. They didn't need to know exactly how I had taken care of the situation.
Tatooine – Mothers and Sand People
The next morning Bastila, HK-47 and I set out to explore the area surrounding Anchorhead. Hopefully, we would acquire some Sand People robes and discover the location of the Sand People camp. On the way out the gate my attention was caught by a Jawa beckoning to me. I walked over to see what it wanted. The Jawa said that its name was Iziz and it was the leader of its tribe as I was of mine. I puzzled out what it said and realized that it was correct, I had automatically taken over the leadership position in our team. Bastila had even automatically accepted that I was the leader of the group. I hadn't even really thought about it before.
From what the Jawa said the Sand People had made captives of his tribe and he wanted me to free them. Why not I thought, I was going there anyway. He said something about the fact that Anchorhead had been settled over and over, and how his people scavenged pieces of ships that fell after battles above. I was puzzled over what this could mean and Bastila said "It could be that this Jawa knows things about this planet's history that the Republic has no inkling of." I asked him if he knew anything about a Star Map and he said that he did. Iziz promised that he would trade information about the Star Map we were seeking for the freedom of his tribe.
I showed my hunting license to the gate guard and he let me out. Standing just outside the gate was a woman heading back into Anchorhead. I nodded to her and she paused and said "You must be a hunter, when you see Tanis, and I know you know him, tell him his wife enjoys the anniversary gift." I paused trying to place the name then grimaced and nodded to her, the obnoxious man at the hunting lodge. I looked at her wondering what she had done to the man and said "Anniversary gift? What are you talking about?" She smirked and said "Just a little something to remember me by. Something that symbolizes our years together. Something that will blow up in his face. Of course, he'll never understand how appropriate it is. He can't talk his way out of this one he's not smart enough." I said "You sound like your planning on killing him." She laughed and said "Oh I'm through planning. I just left him a little mess that he has to take care of. If he's smart, he'll be just fine. But he's not smart." With that she went back into Anchorhead.
I sighed and looked out into the desert where she had been staring. Sure enough I could barely see a figure surrounded by several droids. The figure was not moving. I grumbled, I really hadn't like the guy but I couldn't just ignore the fact that he was out there either. I started for the figure and I could tell Bastila was puzzled over the entire situation. There was also a large sandcrawler in the distance with plumes of smoke rising from it. I decided to check on the hunter first since he was closer then check out whether something was wrong with the sandcrawler.
As we got closer Tanis called out for help, he didn't look too good and I wondered how long he had been out here. He promptly started flirting with both Bastila and I, I was astounded at the audacity of the man. He paused in his attempts to ask me to help him fix the droids. Bastila said "I say we leave him." I paused and looked at her amused; she really had taken an immediate dislike to the man. Tanis said "You're pretty heartless for such a pretty lady you know?" Bastila stared at him and said "I take it back, let's go congratulate his wife." HK-47 chose this moment to chime in and say "I say we blast the meatbag and save you the trouble, master." Tanis drooped and said "What's with all the droids lately, my wife get to you too?" I looked at HK and Bastila and chuckled, and Tanis said to me "I'd really appreciate a bit of help, please."
I told him to hold on and went around to the droids seeing what I could do. I accessed the system message and had to snicker when I read it. All the problems were logic puzzles and it took me a few moments to figure out the correct programming changes to make. Shortly, however, I had all the droids fixed and Tanis said "Thanks for the help, I would have been a goner, Heh and the old bat thought I was dead." I frowned at him and he said "Now my dear lady, I must see to your reward. Will uh earthly delights suffice?" I just looked at him and he stepped back and said "Er... I suppose not. You never asked me for anything, but I consider my life worth something. Please, take this. I insist." I thanked him and he ran back to Anchorhead with his droids. Bastila looked at me and said "What an unpleasant man." I agreed but said that we could hardly leave him out here to die of thirst. Bastila wrinkled her nose at me and nodded saying "I knew you would help him, let's see if that sandcrawler needs some assistance."
They did indeed need help, as we got closer it was apparent that the sandcrawler had been attacked and was motionless in the sand. A few miners stood under its shade looking wildly about and startling at our approach. Their leader barely had time to tell me that the Sand People had attacked them when a small group of Sand People attacked. Bastila, HK and I beat them off quickly and they were followed by three more waves. I force jumped to the nearest group and released my adrenals and was whittling down the group when Bastila trotted up and helped giving me an odd look as she did so. I wondered what it was for until I realized that it was the first time I had used my Force powers that way around her.
It was not a skill taught to me, but something I had worked out on my own. And it was so fun to use even if it was slightly crazed. There was nothing like springing into the mist of enemies who were not expecting you to arrive so quickly. We finally beat off the waves and Bastila turned to me and said "Who taught you guardian skills?" I looked at her and said "No one it just seemed a logical use of the Force so I figured out how to do it on my own. You should really try it; it's rather a lot of fun. Even if Carth thinks I'm crazy for using it." I grinned at her but she continued to look at me oddly then shook herself and said "That tactic of the Guardians always seemed crazed to me as well, so I'll leave it to Juhani and you. Why did you choose Sentinel anyway it doesn't really fit you. I expected you to choose Guardian or maybe even Councilor."
We were walking back to the sandcrawler and I answered her in a low voice "Well I wanted both actually and Sentinel seemed a good middle ground since I couldn't make up my mind between the two." She shook her head at me and said "So Sentinel isn't truly your path, you should not have chosen it then." I replied to her "Well they didn't have a Guardian/Councilor type which does feel like my path. So why, not since none of the choices fit." She looked at me but just shook her head since we had arrived back at the sandcrawler.
The captain thanked us even though he seemed a bit nervous around us for some reason. He told us that the company had gotten turrets to set about the mining route but the Sand People had gotten the Jawa's to disable them and had set them up around their own camp. I nodded and thanked him, I hoped that our plan would work and we wouldn't be attacked as soon as the Sand People realized we were not members of their tribe.
Behind the sandcrawler was what looked like the wreck of two land speeders, there was still smoke rising from the wreckage and we hurried over to see if there was anyone left alive. Something was wrong about the scene though and I said as much as we approached and activated my energy shield. It was too obvious; this was a set up, probably the Gamorreans. I was cautious as I approached the wreckage and heard the voice of a female human coming from the wreck crying out for help. Even still the blast caught me by surprise and though I avoided most of it I was still injured.
The three Gamorreans ran up and demanded 500 credits; I said "Is this how you have been killing the hunters? Remember when I said there was justice on the dunes? You have two choices die here or stop attacking people. Which shall it be?" Gurke said "What? Attack them! They are trying to fight!" The three immediately attacked us which was not a bright move on their parts for they were soon dead. Bastila asked me why I had said what I did and I told her of the woman Mission, Carth and I had helped yesterday. I said "I could have persuaded them to leave us alone, but that would have left them free to kill others who could not defend themselves. That doesn't seem right to me, so that's why I gave them the choices I did." She nodded thoughtfully and didn't say anything more.
We wandered around the dunes a bit more and were attacked by Sand People several times. We collected enough robes to try the deception, but agreed that we wanted them cleaned and sterilized before wearing them. After a few hours we returned to the ship and gave the robes to T3 to clean and mend.
While the robes were being cleaned and mended I decided to see if I couldn't repair HK again. When the repair was completed HK told me that he had recovered the last of his deleted memory but unfortunately his history was still not complete. Most of his memory was locked in his core and he could not access it. He said that perhaps some external stimuli might eventually activate it but he had no idea what that might be. He said that he had completed an assassination in Mandalorian space though he could not remember what the target had been or who had sent him. His motor functions had been damaged and he was claimed by a Mandalorian soldier who had proceeded to use his functions to raise his rank. Eventually the soldier had sent the droid against the current Mandalore. HK was captured in the attempt and reprogrammed to assassinate the soldier instead. HK had promptly deactivated himself after the successful assassination of his owner and had then been sold to the Hutt on Sleheyron. He was however able to access several Mandalorian implants that would improve his performance, and gave him a limited self-repair ability.
By the evening the robes were ready and Bastila and I decided to take advantage of the evening light to attempt our deception. Bastila wanted to talk with me before we left though and I could sense that she had been carefully preparing another speech. I groaned to myself but reminded myself to be nice to her; perhaps she needed to tell herself something.
She told me that she had been watching my progress since my training. I raised my eyebrows at her and said "I think we both know the real reason you've been watching me" and I grinned at her and waited for the outburst. Unfortunately she was beginning to catch on to my game, and she merely narrowed her eyes and said "You never give up, do you? I admit I'm interested in you. I find you intriguing. Compelling, even. But it's not what you think. You have a great gift. You have an awesome command of the Force, and I tremble when I think of how you might misuse it." At the word tremble I glanced at her and watched her flush slightly at my intense look but I decided not to bait her anymore and merely replied "I won't misuse my power, Bastila."
She drew in a breath, probably in relief, and said "I've seen how you have resisted many temptations and continue to walk the path of the light side." She continued trying to tell me what the dark side was, how it was not simply giving into anger or temptation to use the Force to destructive ends. She said that it begged you to surrender to it, to release all its terrible power. I was beginning to get worried because it sounded like she had heard its sirens call entirely too clearly. I had heard it as well but I well knew from my training of the path it represented, and that it was no path I wanted to tread. Bastila was saying "And once you stop resisting, it is too late. It twists you up inside and... and turns you into a mockery of everything you once stood for."
I said to her "You seem to know that temptation very well" with concern in my voice. She stopped and focused on me seeing that I was more concerned for her than myself. She shook her head and said "I am no less resistant to temptation than any other. I simply have the benefit of training that you do not. But even the training of the Jedi might not be enough to save us." I shook my head aggravated by the tone of self-defeat, but she took it to be disagreement and continued "We only need to look at the atrocities which have been committed by those under its sway to understand the terrible, corrupting evil of the dark side. Millions dead, and far more suffering. What sort of person would you have to become to perform such deeds gladly?"
I answered honestly "I don't know." She nodded and said "Neither do I and I hope I never do." She continued to say how it was easy to think that you could not fall, but the Sith had become powerful because so many Jedi had joined them. The Jedi were weakened while the Sith were strengthened. She said "We must harden our hearts and do whatever is required to fight against the dark side. Even when the battle becomes wearying." I wondered if she were talking about hardening her heart to the attraction between us or something else entirely. I asked "Do whatever is required? Such as?" Bastila replied "I don't know. The vision of our future is clouded by shadows cast from the dark side. But I sense something ominous lurking in those shadows."
She left the conversation at that and we went to pick up the robes from T3 to attempt the deception. We put on all but the head pieces on the ship, and put our robes over the garments. The head piece wrappings would of course have to wait until we got out of the sight of the Anchorhead walls.
As we were walking out of the Ebon Hawk I was paying half attention to my surroundings and trying to figure out what Bastila had been trying to talk about. I was trying to figure out if there was some new type of approach the dark side used with Jedi that I hadn't seen during my Covert Ops training. The only one I could figure out was that with my new powers the temptation to be all powerful had gotten stronger. It had always been a temptation I had to fight with my strong desire to lead and my dislike of being wrong in any way. Now with the power at my fingertips to play at being a small god it was stronger, maybe I had given into it with the Gamorreans or maybe I hadn't. In any case it would be wise of me to keep the temptation in mind when I made decisions. I supposed anyone that got a taste of power had to face this particular demon and overcome it. I just had to keep in mind that I was not intrinsically any better than anyone else, force sensitive or no.
As we were walking through Anchorhead a Twi'lek woman approached us saying "Excuse me... I know it's been a very long time, dear, but aren't you Bastila, Helena's little girl? yes - it's you! I can see it in the eyes. My how you've grown." This pulled me out of my reverie and I looked at Bastila who appeared rather startled and said "I am Bastila, yes. I take it that you know my mother?"
The woman introduced herself as Malare and said that she had worked for Bastila's mother and father on an expedition years ago and had recognized Bastila from holo's Helena had shown her. Bastila said "Is there something I can you for you miss? As you can see, we are in quite a hurry." I said to her "Don't be rude, Bastila." I got a look for my efforts but I didn't care. The woman apologized and asked if Bastila's mother's condition had improved. Bastila was confused and told the woman she had not seen her mother since joining the Jedi Order. Now the woman was very uncomfortable and told us that she had seen Bastila's mother here on Tatooine and that her mother was very ill. I told Bastila that we should go see her mother; I could tell she didn't want to but I wasn't really going to give her any options. It was past time for her to deal with her feelings about her mother.
On the way we got clear indications that her mother was still in the cantina, I was hard put not to snicker and was quickly wondering whether or not part of the problem between the two was that they were too alike. No one could top Bastila's high and mighty attitude either when she got going. This should be one interesting meeting, hopefully I could keep the bloodshed to a minimum. We got to the cantina and I could immediately tell who Helena was, yep same type of princess attitude, except in her mother it was more of a queenly attitude. No wonder the two fought even when Bastila was a child.
The reunion got of to as wonderful a start as I expected then took a downward turn when Helena told us that Bastila's father had died. I felt Bastila's pain and then her anger as she attacked her mother saying "Dead? What happened? What did you do to him?!" Helena turned to me saying "Isn't this a lovely reunion? Already she is flinging insults at me. Tell me.... you're one of her friends. Do you treat your mother this way?" I looked at the both of them and said "I have lost my memory of my childhood, I do not remember what my mother or father looked like, nor whether or not it was a loving relationship or no. From my records though they are both dead so I will never know." Helena said to me "Is that so? Well, I'll be joining her soon enough, I suppose." I looked at her and extended my force senses and could tell that she wasn't lying she was dying. Bastila was ignoring that she could do the same and I resolved that I would make sure that the two were reconciled even if I had to drag Bastila into it.
Bastila asked what her mother had gotten her father into that killed him and Helena responded saying "I hadn't realized Jedi were so spiteful. You want me to tell you I brought your father here for an expedition, do you? You want to blame me for his death? You never accepted that your father loved going on his treasure hunts, leaving you alone with me. I was always to blame for everything, what else is new?" I could tell that she was still being truthful and wondered that Bastila still wasn't using her abilities; did she just not want to see that Helena was telling the truth? Helena continued "So yes, fine. I brought your father here to look for kryat dragon pearls. He took and expedition into the Tatooine desert and he died." She told us that he had been hunting and was attacked by a krayt dragon; one of the guides had managed to get away and had seen him being killed. She asked that we find his holocron and bring it to her. Bastila was still being petty and asked "Why? So you can sell it?" at that comment I gave her a hard look to let her know that she was now really behaving badly. She caught the look and had the grace to blush.
Helena said "Is it too much to ask that I have something to remember your father by? Of course it is, isn't it? You couldn't be bothered." I felt bad for the woman, she hadn't realized how much her daughter still resented her and it was hurting her. Bastila mumbled something about us not having time and shot me a desperate look that I ignored asking her instead if she didn't want to find her father's remains. She asked what remains would there be? I asked her what about your mother's sickness? Bastila turned around and asked "Are you actually sick, Mother?" Helena said "What difference does it make to you? None, I'm sure. Just find your father's holocron and you won't have to worry about me again either way." The conversation ended badly but Bastila agreed that we would look for the holocron if we had time. The feelings I was getting from her disturbed me and I resolved to try and get her to talk about them as soon as possible. But for right now we needed to get out to the Sand People camp if we were to even make the attempt. I said as much to Bastila and she agreed we needed to get moving.
We passed the now deserted crawler and paused on the other side of it to don our disguises, then continued on to where the Sand People camp was supposed to be. The disguises worked and we were able to approach the Sand People camp and enter it. As soon as we entered the camp the guard recognized that we were not sand people. HK was able to communicate with him and we were stripped of our sand people clothing and taken to their chieftain. The chieftain required a show of good faith before he would believe that we meant peace. He wanted us to bring back moisture vaporators before he would agree to talk to us. He had already been planning on moving his tribe further away from Anchorhead and needed these to build up stores of water first. I agreed and we were escorted outside. We put back on our robes and proceeded rapidly back to Anchorhead. By my estimation we easily had time to make the round trip this evening.
I managed to purchase two moisture vaporators from the Czeka office without revealing what they were for and we returned to the Sand People camp with them. The Sand People looked at us with disgust but allowed us to approach unmolested. We were taken to the chieftain again and I presented the moisture vaporators. He gave me his chieftain's gaffi as a reward. I then asked about Missions brother Griff, he appeared almost hopeful that I would take him off their hands and said that he was without any semblance of usefulness to them.
I then asked about the captive Jawa's and was told they had lived past their usefulness and if I wanted them I could take them. I then had HK ask him about whether or not they had ever seen a Star Map and he said yes but they had not scavenged it since a krayt dragon had taken up residence in the cavern that contained it. I wondered if coincidences would continue and this might be the same dragon that killed Bastila's father. I thanked the chieftain for the map he gave us and we went to free the captives. I found the Jawa's first and freed them telling them they could run to Anchorhead. Then I found Mission's brother. He wanted to surprise Mission and was planning on going to the space port to see her; I said that we would travel with him. He looked uncertain as did Bastila, but I wasn't about to leave Mission alone to deal with her brother unsupported. It was late anyway and the Star Map would have to wait until the morning. I said to Bastila "Our other task will have to wait till morning anyway; it is too late today to properly scout out the area." She reluctantly nodded and we proceeded with Griff back to the ship.
I made Griff wait outside the ship and let Mission know we had found her brother; she accompanied me back outside the ship to see him. Griff did seem to be happy that Mission was still alive and had not died on Taris. Then Mission asked him whether or not it was his idea to leave her on Taris. Griff danced around the subject and then claimed that he had always meant to go back to Taris for her as soon as he got some credits. I could see Mission droop as she realized the truth and I put a supportive hand on her shoulder. She glanced at me and straightened back up and asked him how he could have done that. He said that she hadn't needed him anymore, and besides she looked like she was doing well financially, and could she spare him some credits. Mission stared at him and said "You... you're hitting me up for credits? I don't believe this! Lena was right about you, Griff! We should have just left you to the Sand People! Don't talk to me anymore - ever!" With the last she stormed back into the ship.
Griff looked at me and said "Huh... that didn't go well. Sis always was a little too fiery for her own good. She'll cool down in time" I just looked at him and he promptly begged me for some credits. I was fairly sure that he was telling the truth that he was absolutely broke and gave him 100 credits. Griff said that he had a job already lined up and would I stop by later to see him about some plan that he had. I sighed but agreed that I would at least hear him out.
I decided to go ahead and report to the Czeka Office and turn in the chieftain's gaffi. The officer there took the gaffi at face value and thanked me for taking care of the situation; I merely nodded and accepted my payment. They didn't need to know exactly how I had taken care of the situation.