Right, I know I said that the next chapter was going to be Tatooine, but I forgot that this chapter was in between. I'm sure some of you might have noticed the contradiction when Jarek said they should go to Dantooine next, but nobody's perfect, so stop laughing! :(

Enjoy...

Their flight was much longer than usual this time. After Carth had taken off, Jarek just strolled about the ship, hoping for something to do. He went into the kitchen, but he wasn't hungry. He entered the swoop hangar, but he didn't need his weapons upgraded and couldn't ride the swoop bike around the ship. He headed to the cargo hold but had no use for the items laying around such as spare boots, snacks, or illegal spice that Davik had kept locked in a cupboard (Alora had found it earlier while looking for a spare suit of armor).

So, with nothing better to do, Jarek took a seat near the corridor to the cockpit and picked up a book entitled, A Wookiee's Love: Lost in the Forest, Volume 5.Frowning slightly out of interest, he pressed for page one and began to read. It was a very interesting book indeed, but Jarek, who was not in any mood to read a novel about Wookiees who were searching for their lost loves in the Shadowlands, tossed it aside, wondering idly who might have purchased it.

So Jarek waited, watching his teammates stroll by and occasionally waving genially, while the Ebon Hawk flew in hyperspace.

At long last, the Ebon Hawk landed gracefully next to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. When they touched down, however, nobody had plans of visiting the Council. They did not need to speak with them at the moment anyway. When they left, Alora called the crew up for the traditional deciding on who would be leaving with her. Canderous remained on the ship along with T3 and Zaalbar (who only stayed to eat), and Juhani, Jarek, Bastila, Carth, and Mission had chosen to accompany Alora.

"Dantooine," said Bastila after they disembarked, inhaling deeply. "Such a beautiful planet."

If only we could stay here...

Jarek heard these words by looking into her mind, but withdrew quickly incase she felt him.

Why don't you? he asked her.

You know perfectly well what the Council said, she replied, apparently very used to her teammates communicating with her through thought. You know about Alora. We were assigned to keep an eye on her. Things could get out of hand if we don't stay.

True. But when this is all over, I wouldn't mind having a long, quiet stay here...

They passed through the enclave and slipped out of the eastern exit. They had made it a good distance from the enclave and were about to set off to the grassy hills when a woman by a landspeeder hailed them.

"Excuse me, Master Jedi," she said anxiously, "but I am in need of your assistance."

Alora stopped and spun around to face her. "What's your name?" she inquired.

"Elise," she replied simply.

"What's wrong, Elise?" asked Alora.

"My partner has gone missing, you see. I have been looking for days and I cannot find him!" said Elise hurriedly, as if trying to get it all out before her time ran out.

"Your partner?" said Alora uncertainly.

"Yes!" she cried. "I was outside planting and he was inside doing dishes, and...and when I came back, he was...gone!" Eyes suddenly sparkling with tears, Elise raised her hands and sobbed into them.

"Well.... Maybe someone around here holds a grudge against him?" said Alora.

"Well, you see, nobody really...knows he's there," said Elise sheepishly. Jarek suspiciously raised an eyebrow — was she doing anything illegal?

"Could it have been the Mandalorians?" he suggested.

"Maybe," said Elise. "Or could it have been kath hounds? No, no, they aren't intelligent enough to open doors...."

"This happened while the kath hounds were vicious?" said Alora, glancing at a pack of them in the distance.

"Yes. Last week, you see. I've been searching since then, but no one will help me!" she sobbed.

"Did someone pick the lock on the door?" Alora asked curiously.

"No, the door showed no signs of tampering," said Elise thoughtfully.

"Could it have been opened from the inside?"

"Possibly. But he would never attempt to leave! We programmed him —"

"He's a droid?!" Jarek blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Well...yes...he's a droid," she said, eyeing him nervously. "My husband built him for me before he died, and now that they're both gone, I don't...I don't know...." She sobbed yet again into her hands. Jarek and Carth exchanged a quick glance, rolled their eyes, and looked away.

"Okay, ma'am," said Alora slowly. "We'll find your...erm...droid."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you, Master Jedi! I knew I could trust you!" Elise seemed to be resisting the urge to run forward and hug Alora. "Please, if you find him, bring him back to me!"

"I...I will," Alora said rather awkwardly.

"Wow, she really misses that droid, doesn't she?" Mission said quietly as they left.

"Don't be so hard on her," said Bastila calmly. "She's lost a very important person in her life, and the droid is all she has to remember him by."

"Yeah, I guess. But still, she's a little...obsessive."

"Maybe a little," said Jarek, grinning broadly.

"Can we move on?" said Alora impatiently. "If we happen to come across that droid of hers, I guess we should bring it back. But I want to look around a bit more. During my training, I only went down as far as the grove to find Juhani, but nothing past that. Master Zhar spoke of caves here; maybe we might find them."

But they didn't find any caves. They continued through the hills and at the peak of a particularly tall one overlooking a small valley, they saw a large estate lying down below. An elderly man was outside, apparently scavenging his yard for something.

"What are you looking for?" Alora asked when they reached the bottom of the valley.

"My son, Shen, has gone missing! I know the Sandrals are to blame for this! I know it! If I ever get my hands on him, ooh, I'll —"

"Who are the Sandrals?" interjected Alora.

"A blight upon Dantooine, that's what they are!" he replied furiously.

"What happened?" she asked politely. The old man glowered at her for a moment, then let out a barely audible sigh.

"Nurik Sandral's son went missing a few weeks ago, and he blamed me for it! Me! But I never touched his filthy brat son. So, in retaliation, he kidnapped Shen!"

"Are you sure the Sandrals are to blame?" Alora asked.

The old man scoffed.

"Of course they are to blame! If you knew the facts, you would think so too! Look. You're a Jedi. Maybe you have the permission to...search their estate." Though the old man knew this wasn't true, he seemed desperate.

"We can go to their house," said Jarek, "but I doubt we'll be able to enter."

"I'll give you one thousand credits if you find my son! Just, please, look for him! He's my only heir!"

Alora agreed to look for him, though halfheartedly, and took the others with her down the valley and back into the rolling hills. This peaceful visit was obviously not going to be as peaceful as they had hoped.

Walking south, the group continued through a few more farms. Jarek noticed a few packs of napping kath hounds along the way, barely visible inside the tall grass. A few of them poked their heads up to see who was passing but did not attack. Now that Juhani had stopped using her powers to inflict violence in the kath hounds, they were no longer a threat unless provoked.

Along the way, they stumbled upon a body in a particularly tall patch of grass, of a boy who could not have been any older than nineteen. There was a vest of armor on the boy's corpse, and deep claw marks on his side. He had been killed by kath hounds. Jarek picked up a diary from his remains, a diary with a name scribbled on it: Casus Sandral.

Jarek gave the diary to Alora, who merely glanced at the front and stowed it in her back pocket.

Not long after that, they had a clear view of the Sandral grounds. They were about to proceed to the estate when they heard scratching noises from behind them, and turned to see a droid being attacked by three kath hounds. The droid, however, did not even seem to notice it was being injured.

Jarek shot a bolt of lightning up into the air in an attempt to distract the kath hounds. The beasts turned their horned heads to look, and, seizing his chance, Jarek tossed his lightsaber at the nearest one. As he grasped it firmly in his hand again, the other two charged.

Mission and Carth ducked behind a large rock and fired with their blasters, but the four Jedi sprinted forward and fought with their lightsabers.

At one point Alora got scraped badly in her side by one of the beasts' sharp claws, used the Force to push it away, and quickly healed herself with kolto. Jarek had trouble fighting his own kath hound, and found that his lightsaber had no effect on their horns whatsoever.

In the end, they were victorious. Just as the Jedi were about to return to the others, they heard a rustling behind them and turned only to see another kath hound. This one, however, was quite unlike the others — its body and horns were a great deal larger, its tail longer, and it was colored a pasty white.

It was an albino kath hound.

The beast growled and charged. Jarek's reflexes kicked in; he did a back flip just in time to miss the creature's attack and landed on his feet behind it. Before the kath hound could turn around, he sliced the animal's hide. But it didn't have the effect Jarek had expected. On the contrary, the albino kath hound didn't seem the slightest bit injured. And then understood.

"It can resist lightsabers!" he yelled to the others, who all backed away. He turned back around and his last vision was of the albino kath hound charging at him, just before everything went black and he felt something enormous collide with him.

"Is he okay?"

"He's dead!"

"Don't be stupid. Look, he's still got a pulse."

"How hard do you think it hit him?"

"I don't know, but — wait, he's moving."

The voices sounded strangely distant. Opening his eyes, Jarek saw blurred figures huddled around him from high above. He tried to talk, but all that came out was a groan. As the figures slid into focus, he immediately recognized them as Carth, Mission, Bastila, Juhani, and Alora.

"Are you all right?" Bastila's voice came from the crowd. Jarek didn't have an answer.

"I...don't know," he said weakly. "What happened?"

"You were knocked out by that kath hound," she said softly. "We gave you some kolto and I used the Force to seal the wound, but it doesn't look like you've healed all the way. Don't sit up." Obeying Bastila's advice, Jarek remained motionless. He felt a hand upon his skin and grunted. It stung badly.

"You'll be all right. Here, just a little bit." Jarek felt a needle pierce his skin, and then a liquid being injected into his arm. The needle was removed, and his wounds (which seemed to be somewhere on his stomach) felt considerably better. He tried to push himself to his feet, and several of his teammates hoisted him up. By now he was able to open his eyes completely and see his surroundings clearly. He could feel large bandages wrapped around his torso under his robes, no doubt where the albino kath hound had hit him.

The white albino kath hound lay dead in the grass, and the droid who had been attacked was nowhere in sight.

"Where'd he go?" Jarek choked.

"He's been destroyed," said Alora.

"What?" he grunted, taken aback.

"The droid said his master, Elise, had become obsessive over him and did not meet any real people — human people — any longer. He wished to be destroyed so she could go out and see real people again, like she did when her husband was alive. He seemed to think it was best. We argued a bit about it, but in the end we all decided it was best that we destroyed him. I just hope Elise will understand why."

His arms around Bastila and Carth, Jarek and the others proceeded slowly down to the Sandral estate.

A battle droid awaited out front, clutching a repeater rifle.

"What is your business here?" it asked Alora brusquely. "If you are looking for Shen Matale, you are wasting your time. Nurik Sandral doesn't know where the boy is."

"We come with information about Nurik's son. Casus is dead."

"Dead, you say? Master Sandral would like to see you. Enter." The entrance to the estate clicked then opened. Alora and the others entered, looking around.

It was a few moments before Nurik Sandral arrived in the entrance hall. Alora and the others waited patiently until he came, examining the blooming trees and the running water in a small pond. "My droid informs me that you have information regarding my son," he said when he marched into the room. He was dark-skinned and tall, but visibly weak and balding.

"Yes," said Alora kindly. "I found your son out in the fields. He was killed by kath hounds."

"Kath hounds?" said Nurik in disbelief. "I was sure the Matale family was to blame."

"But they were not," said Alora, quickly changing the subject. "I have his diary. Take it." Alora gave the diary they found on the Sandral boy's corpse to Nurik.

"Thank you...very much. This is all I have to remember my son. Here, take this reward." Nurik gave Alora one hundred credits, which she took—Jarek noticed—very fervently.

"I have nothing more to say to you, so if you will please leave...." Alora nodded and Nurik left. Just as they had turned around to go...

"Wait!" A tall girl with jet-black hair had rushed in, panting. "Have you come seeking knowledge of Shen Matale?"

"No," said Alora honestly. "We came to inform Nurik that his son had died," she added gravely.

"Dead? Then it is as Father feared. How...how did he die?"

"He was killed by kath hounds," Alora replied.

"I have information regarding Shen Matale's location," said the girl after a slight pause. "You must understand, Father is very angry. He is doing things he doesn't normally do."

"What happened?" said Alora, slightly alarmed.

"Father...Father was irate about his son's disappearance. He blamed the Matale family for it, and in retaliation he kidnapped their son Shen! Father thinks Ahlan Matale will let his son go now that his son has been taken. But if they aren't to blame.... This has caused our families to be in the situation we are in now."

"Where is Shen?" Alora asked, taking a step closer to the Sandral girl. "What happened to him?

"He's fine...for now. Father put him in a cell, but the guards will never let you inside our house. So take this keycard —" she pulled a small chip from her shirt pocket and slipped it into Alora's hand "— and go in through the side entrance. You can sneak in and free Shen."

"Why do you care about him?"

This was a fair question, though Jarek. The girl looked a bit embarrassed at the query but said, "Shen and I.... Well, I met him one day and he...he was so nice to me. He wasn't what I expected, from what Father spoke about him. We made secret arrangements to meet each other frequently, and...kind of fell in love." The girl blushed furiously and looked down at the ground. But she looked back up seriously at Alora when she spoke again. "But, please, go free Shen. I fear Father will kill him now that he discovered my brother is dead." The girl gave Alora a pleading look. She nodded.

"I will do that now," she said. The girl beamed and turned around, leaving the way she came, and Alora, Jarek, and the others exited through the front door. They snuck around to a door on the opposite side of the estate and Alora used the keycard to open it.

"You have to stay here," she said to Jarek, who tried to follow her inside. "Your wound is too serious. You can't get banged up any more than you already are." Jarek opened his mouth to retort, but Bastila cut him off.

"I will stay with him," she said. "He needs protection."

"All right." Carth, Mission, Juhani, and Alora all stepped inside, sealing the door behind them and leaving Jarek and Bastila alone outside the door.

"Thanks," Jarek managed to say, just above a whisper. Bastila smiled awkwardly.

"You're welcome."

"Why'd you do it?" he asked.

"Because you need someone to protect you," she said. "And I don't want you to go and get killed on me. You're a good friend."

"We can be more than friends, Bastila," Jarek heard himself say, surprised that it had come out of his own mouth. Bastila turned and looked at him, taken aback, obviously not expecting that reply.

"You...you know that's not allowed," she said timidly. "We're Jedi. We...we can't get involved like that."

"Why not?"

"Because, emotions like that lead to other emotions like hate and anger which leads to the dark side. Do you want to take that chance?"

He would take that chance, he knew, only for someone he really loved...

"Maybe," he said.

"You shouldn't. I wouldn't want you to do that...even for me." Jarek nodded and they both fell silent. This awkward silence was broken, however, by blaster fire and the hum of a lightsaber from inside the estate. Followed by that was an explosion and a clank. A droid had been defeated. Bastila stood up.

"Don't go," Jarek groaned. She looked down at him again, but didn't move.

Another long silence followed this. Neither of them spoke, and there was no sound from inside the Sandral estate or outside in the rolling hills. Jarek and Bastila both sat looking at the door, hoping something would happen.

After a long wait, the others returned from the estate with a tan, somewhat short boy with shaved hair and tattered clothes. Bastila helped Jarek up.

"Where's Rahasia?" the boy asked.

"She must have gone out the front," Alora replied. "She wasn't inside."

"Let's go," he said immediately. The group proceeded to the front entrance, where Rahasia Sandral stood waiting, feet close together, hands clasped.

"Shen!" she cried, and she and Shen embraced. "You made it."

Everybody took a moment to greet the strangers, but were interrupted by the front door, which opened so suddenly everyone jumped. Nurik Sandral emerged, flanked by two battle droids. A moment later, Ahlan Matale appeared from behind the hills and arrived with his own armed droids.

"Nurik!" snarled Ahlan.

"Ahlan!" barked Nurik.

"Father!" cried Shen.

"Shen!" yelled Ahlan.

"Father!" shouted Rahasia.

"Rahasia!" called Nurik.

"I should have known you'd taken my son, Nurik!"

"You took my boy from me long before that!" Nurik growled.

"I did nothing of the sort! Had you not kidnapped Shen, this never would have —"

"Stop it!" Alora yelled suddenly. "Both of you! This isn't helping anything!"

"Don't tell me to stop, Jedi!" spat Ahlan. "I do not take orders from you!"

A wicked expression sparked on Alora's face. She drew her lightsaber. "You will if you want to survive this reunion," she said in a low voice unlike her own.

"Alora, no!" Jarek cried, pushing her arm down. "What are you doing?" Alora came back to her senses and silenced her lightsaber. Ahlan, it appeared, had backed away a few steps.

"She's right, Father," said Shen. "We don't need to fight!"

"Nurik, you've brainwashed my child! Shen, he kidnapped you from me! Didn't you ever realize this?"

"I want to be with Rahasia," said Shen defiantly.

"You fool boy! You will never run away with that Sandral harlot!"

"I will, Father, and you can't stop me!"

Rahasia and Shen ran. Before their fathers could react, they had fled over the hills.

"Look what you've done, Nurik!"

"What I've done?! You were the one who took my son from me first! You should have known the consequences, Ahlan."

"I will not listen to this nonsense!" barked Ahlan. "Because of you, my son has run away."

"Your son? What about my daughter?!"

"You can live without her," said Ahlan coldly. "We all can."

"How dare you! Droids, attack!" Nurik yelled.

"Don't even think about —" Ahlan began, but was cut off. He was hit by several blaster bolts in the chest and fell to the ground, dead.

Ahlan's droids sprang to life as their master was killed.

"Master has been injured," said the emotionless, automated voice. "Return fire!"

Mr. Matale's droids fired at Nurik, who was hit several times and died before he could react. It was only a moment before a massive firefight began. Alora and the others dove out of the way and she watched, horror-struck, as the droids finished each other off. In the end, they were all destroyed.

Alora had her hand over her mouth for a long, silent moment after that. Nobody spoke.

Do you see what love can do to a person and even their family? Bastila's voice echoed in Jarek's head.

If the families hadn't been fighting, it wouldn't have come to this. Rahasia and Shen would be living in their own home by now and their fathers would have been proud of them. Not all love is bad.

"Should we tell them?" said Carth, unsure.

"I couldn't," Alora replied. "They'll...they'll find out."

Everyone agreed.

"Well," said Jarek, "I think I've had enough of a break for today, you?"

Alora nodded silently, and the five of them set off to the Ebon Hawk. Carth, Bastila, Alora, and Jarek all headed immediately to the cockpit.

"Where to next?" Jarek asked.

"I've been thinking Tatooine," said Carth.

"You're right," sighed Jarek. "We should just get it out of the way. Full speed ahead."

And so ends Chapter Six. Part 1 of Tatooine is next chapter. Yes, I'm sure.

Questions? Suggestions? E-mail me! lbartell (at) sbcglobal (dot) net ...