Carth:

"There, you see? Beautifully subtle, isn't it?"

For a Jedi, I thought Jolee Bindo was alright. He liked to yammer quite a bit, but he knew when to yammer, when to work and when it was okay to work and yammer at the same time.

"At least, compared to the other Czerka equipment dumped down here," the old Jedi continued. "It's only been here a short while or the Wookiees would have disabled it. They wouldn't have an easy time of it, though."

Rian cut straight to the point. "Have you gone past it before?"

I didn't like it. She had just shut down, closed herself off. What really got me was how she just brushed off Mission's disappearance as Bastila's problem.

It struck a nerve. Maybe my son vanishing years ago was my problem, but I had gotten help every step of the way. Whether it was something simple, like posting his face all over the holo-net or something riskier, like a classified document regarding Telos slipped into my datapad, it mattered.

Maybe I was just bitter. After the first year, all the "Dustil's fine, we just have to find him" pomp had turned into "Maybe he died when Telos was bombed, Carth." I still hadn't found him, regardless of whether it was because he was a prisoner or if he was lying in an unmarked grave or if he simply decided to hitch to the other side of the galaxy.

I desperately hoped that it was the last choice.

"Yes, I've gone through it," Jolee replied. "But I don't make a habit of it. The other side is genuinely dangerous."

"But you can get past it," Rian pressed. "You said so."

A part of me wanted to scream, slap some sense into her, anything. Instead I just stood there, a damn idiot, sucking in a numbness that didn't fit with the humid air.

"I can manipulate it for a moment," Jolee said. He walked over towards a console by the force field and punched in a seven digit code. "We've got thirty seconds to cross."

Rian wasted no time and was the first one over. Canderous was followed by Juhani and Jolee trailed after me. The first thing I caught sight of was a dead Wookiee sprawled out against the underbrush of a massive tree stump. The alien's fur was able to conceal the majority of its injuries in a mass of matted hair and clotted blood, but the stakes pinning its body to the ground was a blatant warning to trespassers. The evenly spaced Wookiee heads surrounding the corpse only added to the ambiance. Nice.

"Worthless kriffing trash," Canderous growled as he stormed towards the grisly scene.

"What's going on?" I took a step forward.

"Stay back," Canderous called over his shoulder. "There's plasma mines in each skull."

"How does he know that?" I asked.

"Because his people have done this," Juhani answered quietly.

"But this is Kashyyyk," I said. "What are Mandalorians doing on Kashyyyk?"

"They appear to be hunting and slaughtering," Juhani replied.

I held in a groan and settled for gnashing my teeth. I could vaguely remember a similar story during the Mandalorian Wars. Flayed bodies of Republic soldiers were left as a gruesome monument dangling from the trees. When other soldiers moved to retrieve their friends for proper burials, they were also blown to bits. It made a sick sort of sense and I didn't like it.

Canderous continued to disassemble the trap. Finished, the Mandalorian stood, tossed the defused mines at our feet and lit a cigarra.

"I have to go," he said. "I'll meet you back at the ship later."

"We have a mission to accomplish," Rian said, her voice clipped. "And more problems that seem to be spilling out every time a comlink goes off and you want to just leave to do whatever the hell you feel like?"

"It's your mission to accomplish, not mine," Canderous replied. "Now, I've just noticed another problem that's spilled out. I'm going to take care of it. Keep armed at all times or you'll be dead, they've got stealth generators."

And he just walked away. I winced as Rian swore.

"Everything alright?" Jolee raised an eyebrow.

Rian muttered something in a language I couldn't decipher before she faced the group. "Everyone else fine with continuing?" she asked.

Both Jolee and Juhani met her glare with steady gazes. I couldn't take it any longer.

"I'm worried about Mission," I said.

"And?" A quick flash of impatience, then nothing.

I swallowed the bile rising in the back of my throat. "We're not going to do anything for her?"

She blinked once and stepped towards me. When Rian was close enough for me to feel her breath on the front of my jacket, she stopped. Her voice was low. "What would you have me do?"

"She's just a kid," I argued.

"What would you have me do?" Rian repeated. "Do you want me to send you back through the Shadowlands by yourself so that you can look for her? If you manage to get back to the upper levels without becoming some creature's lunch, how much time will you have wasted? And that's a very big if, Carth. What if you get hurt down here by yourself?"

"So we just abandon her?" I demanded. "That's disgusting."

"Is it?" Rian asked. "Zaalbar's in trouble and I have to help him. There's a Star Map down here and I need to find it. Canderous just walked off and who knows what's going to happen to him and now you want to head off in a completely different direction? I don't even know if Mission's in trouble or if she's just bored and wasting time somewhere."

"I have a really bad feeling about it," I said.

Bad move. Why couldn't I just voice my concerns in a calm, respectful manner, have her listen, nod and reply? I recognized that look, it was identical to the one I received back on Taris when she blew up over my not trusting anyone. Big things like Wookiees could get killed in the Shadowlands and I was too stupid to know how to keep things from escalating. And Rian? Rian was insane.

"And what are you going to do about it?" she exploded. "What do you want me to do about it? A suggestion would be nice."

I couldn't believe that the Jedi Council would put her in charge of anything. I sighed. "I don't know."

"Are you coming with me?" Rian asked as she turned away. "I'm going to find this Star Map, then I'm going to kill Chuundar. Everything else, I'll worry about later."

"And that's it?" All I wanted was to remain calm, rational. "I don't agree with this. Would you just abandon me or Bastila or anybody else if it delayed finding a Star Map?"

"Alright, Carth," I hated how she made my name sound like an obscenity. "Let's drop everything. Forget Zaalbar, let's go track down Mission."

"I never said to forget Z—"

"Pick one."

"What?"

"I said pick one," Rian snarled. "Mission or Zaalbar? Which one's more valuable? Who's worth more to you?"

"Valuable?" I spluttered. "They're not tools."

"No they're not," she hollered. "But we know that Zaalbar's alive and we know where he is. We don't know anything about Mission until we hear back from Bastila!"

An invisible hand reached out and slammed my mouth shut. Rian shared my shock, her mouth also frozen. Jolee Bindo stepped between us.

"This is the Shadowlands," he hissed. "What kind of things do you think you'll attract screeching like that?"

He released our jaws. Juhani shook her head.

"If you two are done wasting time," she said. "I'm ready to follow Jolee Bindo to the Star Map."

Rian trudged towards the others. I was just a soldier; I was supposed to follow orders. It didn't make me feel any better. If Mission wasn't okay when we found her, I didn't think I'd be able to live it down.

I followed after the group.

"Rian, you don't really intend to kill Chuundar, do you?" Juhani asked as she sidestepped a bush.

"He took Zaalbar," Rian replied.

"You are a Jedi," Juhani said. "Those thoughts are of the Dark Side."

Rian didn't answer.

"If it comes to that, I won't let you kill him," Juhani said.

"You going to stop me?" Rian smirked.

"You saved me…" Juhani faltered. "I owe you that much at least."

"You owe me nothing," Rian muttered.

"I decide what I owe and to whom," Juhani said. She turned to Jolee. "How much farther to the Star Map?"

"We're almost there," the old man promised.

I tried to concentrate on the scenery. Even if there wasn't that force field blocking my way, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find my way out of the Shadowlands if Jolee Bindo was killed or decided to disappear. Just one more thing to worry over. I glanced at the chronometer in my pocket and groaned; it would be a long time until dark.