Title: Destiny's New Path
Summary: A what if. What if it wasn't Revan on the Bridge when Malak fired on his Master's ship? Suddenly the Apprentice is betrayed by the Master, and Revan then infiltrates the ranks of the Jedi. The Dark Lords mission: turn Bastila to the Dark Side of the Force.
Disclaimer: George Lucas and Bioware own the basis of this FanFic. I am merely entertaining the idea that I am good at making Star Wars stories (stupid ideas).
Author's Note: No author's note this chapter.
Chapter 6: Zaalbar's Secret
I walked into my quarters, meaning to get my lightsaber, some upgrade crystals, and the data-clips of my father and me when I was a baby. If the Jedi knew I carried the clips, it would be likely they would take them from me.
I suddenly felt like something wasn't right. As I swept the crystals into a pouch, I felt the Force nudging my thoughts. I discarded the warning, not seeing what could be wrong with gathering some extra crystals.
With my small gathering of possessions in hand, I made my way to the Ebon Hawk.
As I entered, I saw Juhani and Zora were speaking in the living area. Canderous was at the workbench.
As I passed through the central room, I saw Zaalbar and Mission were adding some extra power-arms to T3, and giving his special 'shock-arm' three power levels higher than before.
Kayle and Carth were, as far as I knew, in the cockpit going over the galaxy map.
And Seth and Erik had lowered the bunks and were sparring in the Port Dormitory.
But I went into the Starboard Dormitory and sat on one of the four bunks, deciding to meditate. As I gathered the Force around me, I saw flashes. Revan and I facing each other on the bridge of the Star Phoenix…
Leia rushing away to fight the Dark Jedi…Kayle blasting his way through the Vulkars to reach me…Kayle igniting his lightsaber as Revan rushed him, the crimson saber already ignited…and then I saw myself, in my quarters gathering some items as I had that evening.
But instead of the items I had gathered, my lightsaber and data-clips and crystals, I saw the archaic lightsaber Kayle had retrieved and several datapads from the Jedi Archives. I did not see any blood-red crystal, but that was little comfort.
I opened my eyes, instantly ending the vision. Fearing what it had meant, I knelt down in front of my footlocker and put in the access code.
I gasped as it opened and I saw the lightsaber, the datapads from the archives and shining out of the pouch, the blood red gem Kayle had retrieved from the Lower levels.
I slammed the footlocker shut, breathing heavily. How could I have taken those things? I didn't remember seeing them in my room.
Then a thought occurred to me: Could Revan have somehow altered my thoughts and made me think I was seeing my lightsaber and other objects instead of what was really there?
I got up quickly, deciding to deal with this later. Since we'd already taken off, I would have to start constructing a new lightsaber, and that would take some time.
I worked non-stop for most of what would be a night if we weren't in hyperspace to construct a new lightsaber. By the time I had finished, only the hilt was constructed and it still needed to be put together.
No one else was awake, except T3 of course, but he wasn't much company and neither of us, bothered each other during the night.
I locked my soon-to-be lightsaber in one of the dozen compartments built into the workbench and then went to bed in the Starboard Dormitory.
The next 'morning', I woke to find Zora, Mission and Juhani all still fast asleep on there bunks. I slowly crept out off of mine and out of the dormitory and into the living area/garage, where I found Carth sitting on one of the chairs with a mug of coffee in his.
"Well, it's nice to see you didn't die of intoxication." I said, walking past Carth to start building my lightsaber again.
"Oh…don't yell…" Carth hissed, sagging in his chair.
Sighing, I took pulled out the lightsaber, collecting some pieces I would need and then went and locked myself in the engine room. There was something soothing about a hyperdrive engine, and it got me away from the others.
I spent several hours locked in the hyperdrive with my collection of different materials and crystals and such that I needed to construct the lightsaber. When I was finally finished, I examined the hilt.
It was something like the horn of a Kath Hound, slender at one end and larger at the other. I'd also used the Force to manipulate the iron and curved the hilt, for extra maneuverability.
I closed my eyes, and hit the activation button. There was a snap-hiss, signaling it was correctly built, and then the low hum of the saber mixed in with the hyperdrive engine. I opened my eyes and saw the brilliant orange saber blade.
Smiling at my achievement, I deactivated the blade and hooked it onto my belt and unlocked the engine room door.
For the next few days, nothing much happened. Nothing much could happen in Hyperspace. Then, on the fourth night, Kayle gathered everyone in the living area for what we thought would be a discussion about the mission.
He surprised everyone by revealing three small tables, all of which had three seats and three Pazaak decks, saying that going into something this important with a huge weight on your mind was not a good thing to do.
So therefore, everyone would be joining in a session of Nar Shadaar rules with a combination of Republic rules.
Everyone took a seat except me. Kayle, Canderous and Mission, being the best players, would play without a partner. Zaalbar and T3 then went to Mission's table, Carth and Erik sat with Canderous and Zora and Seth sat with Kayle.
"Come on Bastila, don't be a spoil sport." Kayle said as I turned to leave. "Join in the fun."
I relented. As much as I didn't want to admit it, he was right. It was not a good idea to rush into something as important as the mission with a heavy mind.
I went and sat down next to Zora, and the two of us played Nar Shadaar rules against Seth and Kayle. After losing the first couple games, I got the hang of it, and Zora and I started winning.
A lot! In fact, I started enjoying myself. By the end of the night, Zora and I had won all of Seth and Kayle's plastic chips.
Then I got up and went to sleep in the dormitory. Then all the fun we'd been having was replaced the visions of Malak's path.
…deep in the darkness of the Shadowlands of Kashyyyk…as the mighty beast roared…and questions answered revealed the location…the tripod separated to reveal the Star Map…
Early the next morning, as we came out of Hyperspace above the Wookie world, Kayle and I discussed the vision of the Star Map.
"Do you suppose the Wookies know about it?" Kayle suggested. I shrugged.
"It's possible I suppose. But very few Wookies travel into the Shadowlands beneath their homes in the wroshyr branches." I said. "No doubt we will learn more when we find it."
Kayle nodded, and went into the Port Dormitory to gather anything we'd need in our journey to find the Star Map.
I returned to the Starboard Dormitory to retrieve my lightsaber and a warm cloak. It was likely to be extremely cold in the Shadowlands.
But when I reached the dormitory, I found the lock on my footlocker broken and everything except my newly built lightsaber and one set of robes taken.
This could only mean that my suspicions had been correct. Revan was with us on this ship, and he'd used me to get the items Kayle had retrieved from the Lower Levels. Obviously, they were of some value to the former dark lord.
I would have to keep a close eye on what happened over the next few weeks.
Everyone gathered in the living area/garage, and we split into three groups. Zaalbar, Kayle, Juhani and I would scout the walkway and find any way down into the Shadowlands; Mission, T3, Zora and Seth would gather any information about the world that we would find useful; Canderous, Carth and Erik would remain behind to do any repairs on the Ebon Hawk.
With all that decided, Zaalbar, Juhani, Kayle and I left the Ebon Hawk with Zora, Seth, Mission and T3. We were greeted by a Czerka dock worker, a smug Ithorian with a look that reminded me of Davik in some way.
He stood there giving telling us about all the brilliants of 'Edean', while one of his bulbous eyes watched Zaalbar greedily. When he demanded we pay the docking fee, Kayle glanced side-ways at me, and I obliged; reasoning Czerka had enough credits.
"We don't need to pay the docking fee…Czerka can afford to let us dock for free." I whispered persuasively, backing it up with the Force. The Ithorian got a blank look in his eyes and then he spoke in his own language.
"You don't need to pay the docking fee…Czerka can afford to let you dock for free." The Ithorian turned, still with a blank look in his eyes, and walked down the walkway. I smirked despite myself and having used the Force for something reasonably enjoyable.
Then we separated, Mission's group following the Ithorian whilst we headed towards two large wooden doors.
As we neared the doors, I noticed an orange-skinned Twi'lek woman walking up to us. I stopped and turned to find out what she wanted, but she spoke before I could say anything.
"Excuse me; you wouldn't be Bastila would you?" The woman asked. I was a bit shocked, but nodded.
"Yes, I am Bastila." I said. "May I ask who you are?"
"Oh, I'm not surprised you don't remember me…you were barely two years old the last time I saw you." The Twi'lek woman said. "I was just wondering how your mother was fairing. I dare say though, her illness was definitely taking its toll on her the last time we met."
"…Illness?" I was too stunned to say anything else.
"Yes…are you saying she never got in contact with you?" The woman asked, almost as shocked as I was.
"I have not heard from, or seen my mother since I joined the Jedi Order." I said. "What did you mean by illness?"
"Your…your mother was quite ill when I last saw her." She explained. "She-she said that she'd been searching for you for months. And…there is something else…your father is…he's dead."
My mouth fell open and tears welled up in my eyes. After twenty years away from my father, the news of his death affected me as if I'd only been away from him for one day.
I took a deep breath asked a question I'd wished and yet dreaded the answer to since I'd joined the Order. "Do you know where I can find my mother?"
"The last I heard, Helena was on Tatooine." The Twi'lek told me. "That was less then a week ago, it is likely she's still there."
I nodded, and thanked the woman for the information, and she sprinted off, toward the Czerka warehouse.
Kayle started to say something, narrowed my eyes and shook my head, and he understood I needed time to think on what I'd just learned.
After a short conversation with one of the gate guards about the Wookiees, which ended with Kayle using the Force to cause both guards to forget the entire conversation after Zaalbar made threatening movements toward one of them, we passed through gates and out to the Great Walkway.
We hadn't gone far before we were attacked by a dozen of the forest Kinrath. However, between three lightsabers and a Wookie Bowcaster, the Kinrath didn't stand a chance.
Not far ahead of that, we suddenly found ourselves witness to four men in Czerka uniforms, one of them wearing the uniform of a Czerka captain, standing around the body of a dead Wookie.
"What happened here?" Kayle demanded.
"Not that it's any of your business, but this Wookie got a little…violent, and we had to put it down." The captain said tersely.
"Put it down! We're not animals!" Zaalbar roared furiously.
"You murdered him!" Juhani hissed, her hand going to her lightsaber. However, she hesitated, looking back at me.
I suppose the news of my fathers death had awakened some repressed anger which I was, right now, all too happy to use to make the Czerka suffer. I'd already retrieved and ignited the brilliant orange blade of my curved lightsaber.
"What, you think just because you carry one of those little light sticks, you can intimidate us?" The captain said. "In case you didn't notice, Czerka rules the walkways. You know, I just realized that this Wookie went mad and attacked these spacers, and we just didn't get here in time."
It was all I needed. Before the captain had even reached for his blaster I was in front of him with my lightsaber blade driven right through his chest.
Juhani had also raced forward, neatly cutting one of her targets arms off and then using the Force and send him flying backwards and snapping his neck on a low hanging branch.
Zaalbar raised his bowcaster and fired a volley of close-range shots, blasting a dozen holes in the chest of his target, and Kayle dealt with the final, deflected the blaster bolts with his saber and sending them back at the Czerka filth, before reaching him and easily severing the mans torso from his body, and letting him fall off the walkway to be food for the Katarns on the forest floor.
I was still fuming as we continued down the walkway, taking out twenty years of anger on the predators and then a trio of Dark Jedi, barely giving Kayle, Juhani or Zaalbar a chance to battle with them.
Kayle and Zaalbar collected the lightsabers of the fallen Dark Jedi, as well as the rare Barab Ore, which Kayle gave to me to strengthen my lightsaber.
Not long after our encounter with the Dark Jedi, Zaalbar suddenly stopped.
"It has been so long…I should have better prepared you for what lay ahead." He said. I narrowed my eyes at him, but Kayle was the one who spoke.
"What do you mean Zaalbar?" He asked.
"Mission would have told you that I left Kashyyyk fleeing slavers, but that is only a half truth." Zaalbar answered. "The whole truth is that the only reason the slavers got a foot hold is because my brother betrayed us to the Czerka.
"When I learned of his treachery, I-I became frenzied. I was furious, and I…I attacked him with my claws."
Juhani purred softly, or maybe she was hissing. "I do not understand…what is wrong with attacking with your claws?"
"We do not use our claws for offensive purposes. They are tools, not weapons." Zaalbar explained. "When I attacked Chuundar with my claws, I shed my honour and became no better then the Katarns that walk the forest floor. I was exiled from my tribe and my world, no longer seen as a sentient being."
Juhani nodded. "I understand. My people have…had a similar tradition; if one of us attacked a sister or brother, they would have their warrior's tail severed, and become an exile, only able to reenter the Cathari community when their warriors tail had grown, and then only if they were adopted by another clan."
"I should have better prepared you for this." Zaalbar said. "I do not believe you are ready."
"Do not worry Zaalbar." Kayle said, determinedly, with reassurance evident in his voice. "We'll deal with it when the time comes."
It was not long after that we reached Zaabar's old village, Rwookrrorro. However, the greeting was not unlike a Kath Hound greeting a trespasser.
"Go back from whence you came, offworlder!" roared the Wookie guard. "Do not bring this taint upon my people!"
"Uh, taint?" Kayle didn't understand. Neither did I, actually; though I had an inkling of what the Wookie had meant.
"He means me." Zaalbar said.
"I am here to see your Chieftain." Kayle said. "Zaalbar will walk with me!"
"Your tainted slave will walk with you…if only to Mighty Chuundar's hut!" The Wookie guard said.
"Mighty Chuundar...?" Zaalbar snorted in a Wookie-like-way. We were escorted by three Wookies into the village and toward the Chieftains hut.
Chuundar, it seemed, had to have a large audience before he could speak, as he sent several more Wookies to gather the rest of the crew.
We waited for half an hour before Chuundar sent another group of Wookie hunters out to find out what had happened. Fifteen left, only one returned.
"The Dark One has come to walk our paths. I have seen him, like a shadow upon our trees; And beneath him, our greatest warriors, with no sign of the cause of death." One hunter said, and Chuundar promptly executed the luckless hunter for his failure.
"You have brought death to my people!" Chuundar said, though anyone with half a brain could tell he knew we were not the cause of his warriors' death.
"I could have you and all your crew executed immediately, if my brother Zaalbar did not walk with you."
"Brother?" Kayle turned to look at Zaalbar. "This is the one you attacked?"
"Yes, that is my brother the traitor." Zaalbar said.
"Enough talk!" Chuundar roared. "You have brought a taint to this world. The Dark One will punish you severely, unless…"
He stopped to make it sound dramatic. "Unless you choose to do good by…eliminating one or two problems…deep in the Shadowlands, there are two pests…a human, Joow-lea I think is his name…and another Mad-claw like my brother, who thought to put an end to my rule."
"Someone turned against you?" Kayle smirked. "Perhaps he was the first of many?"
"Do not think to turn my people against me, human!" Chuundar growled. "They will not listen to an offworlder."
"Are you so sure, Mighty Chuundar" Zaalbar was sure the sarcasm could be heard in the last couple words. "I think perhaps there is another!"
"He is dead, Zaalbar." Chuundar growled, and I was sure I could sense glee in his tone. "Our father was killed by the Czerka."
"No…you…you're lying…" Zaalbar stammered.
Three Czerka men suddenly raised the blasters and fired shots intended to stun at Zaalbar.
Kayle ignited his lightsaber faster then I would have thought possible. Juhani and I followed suit almost instinctually, igniting our lightsabers and all three of us rushing forwards to deflect the shots back to where they came from, rendering the three Czerka rats unconscious.
"Hmmm, your owner is very protective of you Zaalbar. I had no idea you could be so valuable." Chuundar sneered.
"I do not own Zaalbar!" Kayle shouted; his green saber still active but no longer in an offensive position. "He follows me because of a life debt."
"Oh, and here I thought you were beneath those Zaalbar, being a mad-claw." Chuundar said. I the glint of steel before Kayle, and threw my lightsaber through the air.
As Chuundar swung his vibrosword to kill Zaalbar, my lightsaber, guided by the Force, moved in front of Zaalbar and blocked the sword.
Kayle lips curled into a snarl. "That's the second attempt you've made to take Zaalbar's life." He snapped. "For someone who is in need of our strength, you certainly have a strange way of doing it."
Chuundar roared at Kayle, not saying anything, just roaring. "If you have any intention of leaving this village alive, you will obey me!"
Kayle looked around the room. Between three Jedi and a Wookie, it was likely that Chuundar wouldn't be able to stop us. But it would also risk the Wookies who only fought because Chuundar was chieftain, not because they actually wanted to.
"Very well, we'll do what you wish…" Kayle said. He turned to leave. We made our way to the door, but three tall Wookies suddenly stood in Zaalbar's way.
"Zaalbar shall stay behind, so as to assure me of your obedience and return." Chuundar said.
Reluctantly, and only after looking the three Wookies up and down, Kayle nodded at Juhani and I, and we walked out of the hut.
We traveled through the village, receiving disgusted looks from the Wookies. We left the village, and found our way around the winding paths of the Great Walkway.
We suddenly found ourselves in a battle alongside three Wookies against at least a dozen Czerka slavers. I ignited by orange lightsaber and began deflecting blaster bolts and parrying sword attacks.
Kayle was tearing through them, his lightsaber an arc of green light, whilst Juhani was letting loose powerful attacks against the Czerka.
We eventually killed all the slavers that were attacking the Wookies, and we learned that the leader of the hunting group was a friend of the mad Wookie we had been sent to kill.
Kayle assured Chorrawl that he had no intention of doing Chuundar's dirty work. After some persuasion, we learned something very odd: the mad-claw was in fact Freyyr, Zaalbar's father.
Chorrawl offered to gather anyone else who would support Freyyr, and Kayle gladly accepted the help. Upon siding with Freyyr, a few of Chorrawls hunting party attacked us, but we dealt with them quickly.
After a quick discussion, Chorrawl and the remaining hunting party leapt toward the trees off of the walkway and began springing from tree to tree toward the other villages.
We then found Gorwooken, the Wookie who would help take us down into the Shadowlands.
The trip down took several hours, and was extremely boring. What we met at the bottom was Calo Nord and five Wookiees working with him.
"I though you died on Taris." I said, igniting my lightsaber.
"Oh no, I'm very hard to kill little Jedi." Calo said. "And I've been paid great amount to bring you back with me!"
Juhani and Kayle had both ignited there lightsabers and stepped forward. "…Over my dead body!" Kayle snapped back, waving his saber threateningly.
"I certainly hope so." Calo said. "Okay boys, let's go!" He raised his blaster and fired a continuous stream of shots toward Kayle, forcing instantly on the defensive, and making it impossible for him to join in the battle.
And the five Wookies were making it very difficult to get to Calo, with the cotorsis weave vibroblades it was difficult to get at them.
Just when it looked like we were going to lose this battle, there was a snap-hiss and a second green light appeared in the semi-darkness and an aged, dark skinned man sprinted toward us, driving his saber through the back of an unsuspecting Wookie, and the throwing the lightsaber through the air to sever the head of a second.
The third wookie it was aimed at on its return trip to the man managed to dodge and only lost its arm. Of course, then it was killed by a second slash from Juhani, as the wookie she'd been battling had been distracted by the newcomer and she managed to stab it through the chest.
Kayle continued to defend against Calo, who seemed to be unaware of anything except the fact that his target was quickly tiring from the constant assault of blaster fire.
I took down the final Wookie, then Juhani, the old man and I all attacked Calo. Juhani first took out his blasters, slicing the ends off of them, and causing them to explode, blasting all of us a dozen feet backwards.
I recovered first, and then Calo. He pulled out a vibroblade as I sprinted towards him, my lightsaber ignited once again.
Kayle joined me soon after, making it a lot easier to take down the Bounty Hunter. Once Calo was dead, Kayle searched his remains and found a datapad, with information on every crew member except Erik and Seth.
Then we turned to meet the man who had saved us.
"We sure are lucky you showed up when you did." Kayle said.
"Ah, tish-tosh, you were doing perfectly fine without me." The old man said.
"So, just who are you?" I asked.
"The name's Jolee, Jolee Bindo." He said with an amused air in his tone.
Kayle started to say something but Jolee shook his head. "Not here; too many little critters then can kill us here. We'll talk back in my hut."