Rian:
I could vaguely remember recommending that we head to Kashyyyk first. What the hell was I thinking? Stupid, muggy, disease-infested, buggy muck-hole of a backwater planet.
And then there was Zaalbar. If I had to kill every last Wookiee on the planet to get to him, I would. Then I'd kick his ass. He had no right to flaunt that life-debt garbage, only to turn around, hoist me out of that damned Wookiee village by the scruff of my neck and then just let himself be taken prisoner. Not even a fight. We could have won.
Carth was staring too directly at the wrinkled flap of skin at the base of Jolee Bindo's skull. He was avoiding me. Good. If he said one more thing about Mission, I don't think I'd be able to take it.
What the hell did they expect me to do, anyway? It was bad enough with the numbers I had that I had to split the group up. Then Mission decided to vanish without a word to anyone and then Canderous disappears on some convoluted honor slaughter hunt.
I fully intended to splatter his brains all over a wroshyr tree if one of his fellow Mandalorians hadn't beaten me to it.
The computer tucked away in the Shadowlands that Jolee Bindo led us to didn't appear to be all that impressive. A rusted out piece of trash was more like it. Bindo walked up to it and kicked it.
The kick activated a hologram of a strange looking alien. "Life forms detected. Determining parameters. Initiating neural recognition."
"Yes, there's the thing," Bindo huffed. "Obstinate machine. I've no doubt it holds what you seek, but good luck getting it operational."
"Primary neural recognition complete," the hologram continued. "Preliminary match found."
That pissed the old man off. "Match found?" Bindo demanded. "What the⦠it always muttered something about 'rejected patterns' for me."
"It must have good taste," I said.
No one laughed.
"Begin socialized interface," the hologram said. "Awaiting instruction. Greetings. This terminal has not been accessed for quite some time."
"Rian, I would like you to ask the terminal why it acknowledged you, when it's disregarded Jolee Bindo in the past," Juhani said.
I obliged. "Right. Why have you acknowledged me?"
"Error."
Sith spit.
"Subject displays unfamiliarity to environment," the hologram prattled. "Behavioral reconfiguration will be needed before access. I am sorry, I did not mean to confuse you. I will answer questions to the best of my programming limitations."
"What the hell do you mean by behavioral reconfiguration?" I asked.
"I have been programmed with a very limited field of knowledge and I must restrict access to only those that fit my allowed pattern," the hologram replied.
"You've gotten farther than I ever have, kiddo," Bindo said. "Don't blow it."
I ignored him. "And I don't fit that pattern?"
"I can't say," the hologram said. "Preliminary matching allows for you to be coached."
"Do you not know why or are you restricted from saying?" I tried not to sigh.
"I can't say," it answered. "Likelihood of restriction by previous user, 100."
"Beautiful," I muttered. "I think we're going to have to tear this thing apart piece by piece."
"The Star Map," Juhani urged. "Ask it about the Star Map."
"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled. "Star Map. Know anything about it or can't you say?"
"Assessing." The hologram flashed out.
"Did it break?" I ran a hand through my hair. It was getting shaggy around the ears. Stupid Kashyyyk. "Crap."
"It said it was assessing," Juhani said.
The hologram reappeared. "Yes, I have found a Star Map in original system memory. Access is restricted."
"What do I need to do to get access to the Star Map?" I crossed my arms. The installation had already convinced me to tear it apart piece by piece, I just wanted to get the information I needed first.
"Your request requires additional security access," the hologram replied. "You must be made to match the parameters I have been supplied."
I didn't like the look the old man was giving me. He knew something. I'd tear him apart too if I needed.
"How can I match them when I don't know what they are?" I demanded.
"There are measures available," the hologram said. "Personality profiling will verify the basic structure of your conscious mind. With that, I will determine whether you are ready to receive the Star Map or can be made ready."
"Great," I said. "This personality profiling doesn't involve a lobotomy or anything, does it?"
"Information unavailable."
"Lovely." I sighed. "Let's get this over with."
"Evaluation commencing." The hologram flashed out and I heard the computer whirring. It sounded like some Shadowlands muck had crept inside its casing. "Results will be compared against the pattern in memory. Just act as you should.
"You travel with a Wookiee and have encountered complications. Hypothetical: you and this Zaalbar are captured and separated. If you both remain silent, one year in prison for each of you. However, call Zaalbar a traitor and he will serve five years, while you serve none. He is offered the same deal, but if you both accuse the other, you both serve two years. What do you do?"
"How do you know Zaalbar's name?" I demanded.
"I hear what happens on Kashyyyk and a good deal beyond. Answer the question I have posed."
"How come I have to answer your questions when you don't answer mine?" I kicked it. "Stupid piece of junk."
"Answer the question I have posed," the hologram repeated.
"You answer the damn question!" I scowled. "You know about Kashyyyk and a good deal beyond, you should know the answer."
"Answer the question I have posed."
I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to Jolee Bindo shaking his head. "You're trying to argue with a machine," he said. "It's following a specific programming. You can't change that."
"Just answer the question," Carth groaned.
The answer was easy; it was a simple math problem. Getting off free was better than one year, two years were better than five. But that was Zaalbar, not some nameless equation. He had a face and a hairy, belligerent ass that I needed to beat.
So I lied.
"I trust Zaalbar," I said. "I would say nothing and neither would he."
"Your loyalty is dangerous," the hologram stated.
"So are my fists," I growled.
"Zaalbar's family is mired in treachery," the hologram continued. "What loyalty do they know?"
"He swore a life-debt," I argued. "He meant it."
"Your answer is incorrect," the hologram said.
"The choice is mine and I refuse to alter it," I said.
"You cannot refuse," the hologram replied. "Evaluation must continue. You must match the pattern in memory. Your memory. I must demand honest acceptance of the proper behavior. That is the condition of my programming."
I sighed. "I can't do this. Let's just go get Zaalbar."
"And what will that accomplish?" Juhani asked.
"This is an important mission, isn't it?" Carth kept his eyes on his blaster as he replaced the charge in it.
"Have you heard back from Bastila yet?" I asked.
"No."
"Once we get done with the Shadowlands, the first thing we'll do is track down Mission," I told him. "Will that make you happy?"
"Happy?" Carth blinked. "No, that won't make me happy. I won't be happy until I know she's alive and well, until I've given her a lecture about how stupid taking off was, until I lock her in the crews' quarters until she's thirty. Hell, why don't we throw in Malak's burning corpse while we're at it and a restoration effort for all the planets bombed in recent years?"
Juhani tugged on Carth's arm and began whispering words for his ears only. I turned back to the computer. "Continue the evaluation."
"The previous incorrect answer will be discounted," the hologram said. "Future incorrect responses will result in rejection.
"Hypothetical: You are at war. Deciphering an intercepted code, you learn two things about your enemy. A single spot in their defense will be at its weakest in ten days and they will attack one of your cities in five days. What do you do with this information? What is the most efficient course of action?"
I paused. That information sounded familiar. I think it was from that one time I did a spice run in Hutt Space with a couple of old soldiers. History was boring unless things were blown up. Carth had taken his arm back from Juhani to better suspiciously watch things.
"I prepare my forces to attack in ten days," I said. "I do nothing in the city."
"Very good," the hologram said. "If you had moved to evacuate the city, you would have alerted the enemy to their lost codes."
"You mean you'd just let all those people die?" Carth asked. "That's monstrous."
I didn't bother looking back, I was sure it wasn't just Carth. I could practically imagine Juhani's disappointed eyes boring holes into the back of my skull. Too many people sensitive about blown up home worlds.
"Ultimate victory required the deaths of the people in that city," the hologram stated. "You wisely ignored sentiment in your decision."
It was time to save face. "Victory is irrelevant," I said. "Stopping the war saved many more people."
"You achieved the proper result with logic that does not match the pattern in memory," the hologram said. "I shall adjust my evaluation.
"Hypothetical: Remove the ongoing war from the previous example. Consider enemy states to be weak and remote. With no external threat your empire stagnates. Your people become complacent and begin to question you. Same scenario as before; you discover an impending attack, but also a weakness that will come after. How do you react?"
"By disassembling you and taking the Star Map," I decided.
"Implied threat matches the pattern in memory," the hologram remarked. "But the subject has failed to demonstrate required recognition. Access denied. Defense mode initiated."
Laser turrets and a couple of war droids. I would have thought that droids would have appeared anything but inconspicuous in a place like Kashyyyk, but they must have been tucked behind some tree stump or something. For ancient machines, their blasters sure as hell hadn't rusted out.
Duck, roll, dodge, dodge. I had a lightsaber, I would have thought that it'd be the easiest thing to use. Juhani didn't seem to have any trouble using her lightsaber, neither did the old man. Even Carth, as Force sensitive as a pile of ferrocrete, was able to find cover and place a couple well-aimed blaster shots. I got a blaster burn along my calf for my trouble before Bindo decapitated the war droid coming after me.
You're not even trying.
If that was Bastila in my head again, I'd throttle her. Kick, thrust, sidestep, make it a primal grunt, not some girly squeal. The remaining droid was slow, so all I had to do was run like hell, dip under its outstretched arm, aim my lightsaber for its armpit and then watch as Juhani decimated it. I didn't like feeling useless.
"I'm trying, damn it." I shifted the lightsaber in my hand and deflected a blaster bolt back at the laser turret. It missed.
If I could have concentrated, taken a moment to gather my thoughts, maybe I would have been able to react better. Just taken a deep breath, moved to cover and gone from there. No, I stood there irritated and surly while the turret powered up another shot.
Screw that.
It tickled. A million needlelike fingers starting in my chest, moving up to my neck and dancing down my arms. Exploding out of my fingers. That's what power tasted like, metallic in the back of my throat.
The old man was expressionless. Carth seemed to be battling between amazement and paranoia; paranoia won out as soon as he caught the look on Juhani's face. The turrets were destroyed, apparently that wasn't good enough.
The hologram reappeared. "Neural scan complete," it said. "It would appear initial assumptions about you were incorrect. Secondary scans during battle have revealed much. Under duress, your emotions were easier to read. Programming now instructs that I give you what you seek."
"What did your scan during the battle reveal?" I swallowed the feeling away.
"That information is not available," the hologram replied. "Soon you will recognize the proper course to follow. The Star Map is yours. This unit has now completed its primary duty and has finished with the subject. Executing final action. Activation of Star Map commencing."
The hologram flitted out and in its place, a Star Map appeared. Decayed and incomplete like the first one, fortunately this map's deterioration started over Tatooine. Carth flipped open his datapad and began to record the new information.
"Well, well," Bindo mused. "So this is a Star Map. An ancient artifact of Dark Side power. Can't say I'm surprised. I always knew there was something down here. I wonder if the Star Map has had an effect on the evolution of the creatures here in the Shadowlands. Might explain why it's so dangerous down here. An interesting theory, but I suppose we don't have time to test it now, do we?"
"Help me tear this thing apart," I said. "We could have the droid look at it, maybe figure something out. At the very least, no one else will stumble across it."
"Rian." Juhani's voice was soft, hesitant. "I would like to speak with you. The next time you have a free moment, perhaps?"
"I can't say when that will be," I said as I tore off a piece of the computer's casing. "But sure."
"Make time," Juhani urged. "It's very important that we discuss things."
"Promise," I replied. "Later."
"So, we have the Star Map." Bindo scratched his moustache. "What now?"
"You still tagging along?" I asked. "Make yourself useful and hold this." I tossed a computer part over my shoulder.
"I'm certain whatever comes out of your ship's food synthesizer still tastes better than tach," the old man replied. "Have you ever eaten tach?"
"We're going to haul this back the Hawk," I said. "And check up on Bastila's progress with Mission. Depending on what Bastila says, we go after Mission or the crazy Wookiee down here."
"Crazy Wookiee, huh?" Bindo smirked. "That wouldn't happen to be Freyyr, would it?"
"How would I know?" I said. "All we were told was to get the crazy Wookiee in exchange for Zaalbar."
"Interesting," Bindo remarked.
"Quiet!" Carth called out. "I just got hold of Bastila on the com. She's got information on Mission."
