I don't own Ranma or Star Wars. Bleh.
February sucked. Just seriously sucked. I had barely two hours a day free due to family issues - working on flipping a house for my brother for at least five hours on top of work. To say I am exhausted after getting home is an understatement. Nonetheless I apologize to my fans/readers for getting this out so late. Those of you wondering about A Third Path, the majority of the chapter is finished, but I sent it to my Asgardian expert to look at, and he has not gotten it back to me. I will however have it out by Saturday at the latest.
This has now been betaed by ultimaflare0, so I believe you all will find it has far less mistakes in it now.
Chapter 10: Incorporeal Entities Behaving Badly
Sidious smiled, watching from his observation perch while the sounds of lightsaber combat resounded around the hidden training room. Like most of his expressions when he allowed his mask of normalcy to fall completely there was little to no humor in the expression. It was a smile that was simply malevolent in both the detail and the totality.
What elicited this visual response was the sight of his new apprentice. She really wasn't his apprentice of course but he allowed Komari Vosa to believe she was. She is after all, quite powerful, stronger in the Force than Maul was by a fair bit. But just like Maul she is all too flawed, above and beyond being a woman in the first place. Vosa allows her anger, and more importantly her hate of the Jedi who abandoned her, to rule her. Just like Maul she will never be a real Sith Lord, but she will be an excellent Sith Assassin.
He watched silently for a moment as Vosa moved through a series of exercises, learning the Sith style of Juyo. The original was flawed, badly by the need to control one's own anger, but Sith version used that unparalleled power to augment her offensive capabilities. Her defense would need more control, but that would come in time.
As he watched Vosa took a low-powered blaster bolt to the thigh, making that point for him. The next instant however she used the power of that pain to reach out and wrench the droids she had been fighting into pieces, a snarl on her lips.
"Enough!" Sidious growled. "This exercise is obviously over for now. The way you funneled your anger into your attack is… decent enough…" Sidious allowed, watching with amusement as the girl almost visibly preened from the faint praise. Thus she wasn't ready for the bolt of Sith Lightning that arced from his hand to impact her body.
It wasn't full powered of course, but Vosa still gasped for a moment. But that was all, she clenched her teeth and bore down, taking in the pain and funneling it into her anger, as well as a bit of pleasure, Sidious was amused to see. "Good! Remember, pain, anger, hate, these are the powers of the Dark Side. Control them and you will be unstoppable! Allow them to control you, as you just did when you destroyed those droids against my orders for this exercise, and you are naught but a beast."
Sidious watched as Vosa nodded, cutting off his torture a moment later. It would be some time before she reached Maul's level of control, but she was already showing progress, which meant she would reach that level quicker than the former Dathomiri born Maul did. That was good, considering she would not be the blunt object Maul was, rather a rapier, a true dagger in the Dark. "Good. Now rein it in, put it in the back of your mind, where you can bring it up later."
Teeth gritted Vosa did as she was ordered, and gradually the stark red of her skin and the yellow in her eyes began to fade from a bright glimmer to a dim light. "Adequate. I will be away for a time. Meditate on the nature of control. When I return I expect your passions to be under control, and for this control to be shown in your physical features."
He had told the girl early on about how she could reverse some of the changes her falling to the Dark Side had etched onto her body. Komari Vosa had originally been a light-skinned young woman with light brown eyes. But the tortures and the anger and hate she had felt as a prisoner of the Bando Gora had turned her skin red, her eyes yellow.
Sidious had corrected some of this with surgery, healing the scars from her torture and removing some of the pain receptors the death cultists had put in her as part of their torture. The red skin however, along with her eyes, would recede with control of her emotions. They could not be repaired cosmetically either, as any new skin graft would start to respond to her emotions just like the old had as soon as they were finished. The skin would change faster than the eyes, but the eyes at least could be covered over with contacts after a certain point.
"Yes master." Vosa replied, hesitating a second before going on. "Master… If you are gone for more than a few days, might I start creating my new lightsaber?"
Leaning back in his chair Sidious frowned, thinking about the question and letting his Force senses out, feeling out the woman's presence in the Force. Vosa had been using one of the many lightsabers Sidious' predecessors had left behind for this exercise, her own lightsaber having been destroyed or taken as a trophy by Jango Fett during his capture of her. But is she at the level where I want her to have a lightsaber to aid in her training?
"When you are done meditating, go through the archives here," Sidious said slowly. "I will want you to have two weapons, one for direct combat, and one for assassination, the kind that can be hidden on your person during infiltration missions. For that, non-lightsaber type weapons will be best, yet I wish to see what you come up with."
Komari's dim yellow eyes seemed to flare for just a second before she got control of herself. The idea of infiltration appealed to her, as it played on a few of the skills she had learned during her time as head of the Bando Gora. On top of that she felt it would be delicious irony to sneak up and assassinate a Jedi, who all thought themselves so all-seeing and wise. "Yes master," she replied, bowing her head.
Nodding Sidious stood up, staring down at the girl for a moment, wondering if he should take the time to dominate the woman sexually as well as physically and mentally, the better to prepare her for one of her possible tasks, but decided to put off that of for now. It was one certain way to tie a woman to you, as evinced by his senatorial aide, who would be more than willing to commit genocide for him at this point, given the changes he'd been able to make to her mind while her body was otherwise occupied. But here it was not necessary just yet and so he turned away, moving out of the room.
About an hour and a half later found Sidious once more under the guise of Shiv Palpatine, rising up over the rest of the senate on the Chancellor's hover seat. "Good beings all, we are here to discuss further reparations to be paid from the Trade Federation to the planet of Naboo. Up to now, the reparations paid have…"
The debate went on for some time, with Palpatine playing his role as elder statesman and neutral leader to a T, while also appealing subtly to those who felt Naboo had been wronged somehow, so subtly that those backing the Trade Federation, could not fault his neutrality. Here there were many voices speaking for the Trade Federation, and not just their bought Senators either. The Nabooan's trade ships were an immensely important part of many a system's economy. In others they were the only source of exterior food, and thus spelled life or death for the inhabitants. Yes, their tariffs were high, but they were the only game in town, so to speak, and that monopoly was in no danger of being broken.
Eventually the Senate reached the decision he knew it would: that the ships already turned over and the war material lost was enough in terms of monetary reparations. Naboo would not be paid a single dime more than it already had, though any goods or treasures taken from the planet during the Trade Federation's occupation would need to be repaid, so long as it could be proved they disappeared during said occupation.
In terms of people, the Board of Directors would all face jail time, up to fifty years for most of them. They would all be sent straight to prison with no actual trial needed, as the evidence against them was seen as so overwhelming, and the fear that they would either be able to escape or buy the judges if given enough time. Nute Gunray however would face a bare two years of house arrest, while retaining his position, being seen, like Palpatine knew he would be, as a moderate who had been forced into a bad position by power-mad Trustees.
Palpatine himself voted to have them tried before sentencing them to jail, wanting to show he was for the rule of law despite the current corruption seen in it at all levels. But he did so because he knew there was no chance of the vote going that way even with his vote.
There was a lot of muttering about both decisions, in particular from Senator Antilles and his faction, who Palpatine had voted with on this occasion. They always stood for the rule of law and ethics, but they were a small, if vocal group, who really didn't understand how the power structure of the Senate had begun to change. They were also somewhat naïve as well, and easily manipulated.
The senate ended on a rather vociferous note of condemnation toward the Trade Federation, but it was a growl with no real teeth in it. There would be no sanctions, no demilitarization, and the oversight put in place of the TF's military forces would be easy to manipulate and point in the wrong direction. Their military buildup would continue, and indeed be stepped up in the next few years.
After several hours of discussion the Senate broke up for the day, and Palpatine returned to his office. There he worked well into the evening, until he was interrupted by one of his guards informing him that Master Bulq was here to see him.
Pasting a welcoming smile on his face Shiv rounded his desk, his hand outstretched in welcome. "Master Bulq, how are you? I take it you are here to discuss the results of today's debate?"
"Indeed, though that should be debates, plural chancellor. The Jedi council feels that there are at least three points here that needs to be discussed: the lack of demilitarization, the decision to simply imprison the Trustees rather than hold a public trial for them, and Nute Gunray retaining his position."
"Very well, let us work through those points one at a time my friend." Shiv replied gravely, waving the master into a seat before sitting down across from him.
After explaining politics to the Jedi, making certain he sounded as irritated as they were about the amount of self-serving favoritism there was at work here, Palpatine paused, shaking his head. "Do not take this the wrong way Master Bulq, but surely masters Gallia and Poof already know this. Why are they not here instead of you?"
Bulq's lips twitched lightly. "Master Gallia is busy bringing Master Trebor up to speed on his duties. He is the replacement for Master Piell, who died during the mission to Naboo. Master Poof was sent with a delegation to the Vivenda Sector to handle a dispute there."
"Ah, see. I meant no offense, but you are renowned for your lightsaber skills, not your enjoyment of Senate-level politics." Palpatine nodded sagely then leaned forward, his features moving into an almost boyish expression of interest. "Indeed, the fact you came up with a style, in conjunction with Master Windu of course, is fascinating to me. Can you tell a layman such as myself anything about it?"
Bulq paused, looking at him thoughtfully before he answered slowly. "Vaapad is half-lightsaber style, half-Force technique. It is designed to turn your enemy's aggression, his emotions of anger and hate, against him. It seems a defensive style at first but it is actually an exceptionally strong offensive style. To use it to the utmost you must have incredible control and be able to simply take your opponent's emotions, letting them bounce off you, feeling them but not partaking in them."
"Ah so it is indeed control that is most important. But then tell me, if you can control your emotions like that, why then are you not allowed to feel them in the first place?" Palpatine asked almost innocently.
Bulq responded to this by going into the normal Jedi rote response to said. He made no mention of the new perspective about such things slowly spreading among the Jedi, since it was still being both discussed, derided and obstructed from members of the High Council on down.
At the same time Sidious subtly reached out into the Force via the Veil of the Dark Side. Here on Coruscant where the Veil was its most powerful it could allow him to influence the minds of even Jedi subtly, without letting any kind of trail back to him. But only if there was already an opening there to use, and with Bulq, there was.
As Sidious had predicted, Sora Bulq was not like Windu. Windu had felt the power of the Dark Side, and shut himself off from it, turning his back on the power of the Dark Side. But Bulq had, during their work on Vaapad, become fascinated by it, and Sidious could tell he had experimented with the power of anger and hate. Now Sidious fanned that tiny flame both via a subtle Force touch and his words.
"I have never understood why Windu gets so much credit for your style," Shiv said, seemingly changing the topic from emotions back to the original one of Vaapad. "Master Windu was made into the Master of the Order from it, yet you are not even as well-known as Master Dooku. Why?"
Bulq made no reply, and Shiv went on, his voice changing to a whisper, almost seductive. It was the kind of voice someone could imagine the snake in the tale of the garden of Eden would have. "I think it is because of those emotions you Jedi are not supposed to have. Windu fears you, because he knows your mastery of Vaapad is greater than his, that you deserve as much credit as him. Hence why he has pushed you to the side, belittled your achievements."
"That, no, I merely helped Windu develop the style, we were not equals in that exercise." Bulg replied, but his voice held no conviction.
"Perhaps." Palpatine's voice changed back, but his subtle Force probe continued as he shook his head. "Yet then we come back to Vaapad itself. If the style is so dangerous because of how close you come to this existential Dark Side, then does that not logically mean the Dark Side itself is powerful? That so long as you control it, it too can be… directed?"
Bulq stared at him, his eyes hard, but there was interest there as well. "I sometimes think the same thing, but that is not the Jedi way…"
"Perhaps not, but then the question then is, is the Jedi way, the only way?" With that, Palpatine pulled back his Force probe, knowing he had gone as far as he could for now. Bulq was hooked now, and interested, he would follow the lure back soon enough.
After walking Bulq out the door Sidious sat back at his desk sighing faintly as he allowed his Palpatine guise to fall once more, staring at the report he had been looking at when Bulq arrived. Manipulating Bulq is somewhat time-consuming but relatively easy. Killing off the Chaotic Locus is not.
The report was from one of his spies on Corellia, telling how the Chaotic Locus and the female Togrutan Jedi had escaped the Death Watch. That is irritating, but with the money and other resources I have 'promised' Vizla the man will no doubt continue the contract. But the Death Watch alone might not be enough, not even if Vizla brings their full power to bear. The Locus must be killed or captured before his effect on my plans can grow beyond my ability to plan for. The ripples in the Force are still causing me problems with seeing the future, both in the now and in the skein of the future.
With a flick of his fingers he began to compose a text message to several of his underworld factors, noticeably his contact in the slowly recovering Black Sun. He and Plagueis had sent Maul against the Black Sun fearing their growing influence in the area of corruption in the various world governments in the Core Worlds. Maul had decapitated the syndicate, killing all of their higher ups, and the Black Sun had fallen into infighting afterward.
Since then several Falleen had begun to take control, ending the internecine fighting. One of them was a young up and comer, who Sidious felt he could manipulate further. And the Black Sun actually have more resources and men than the Death Watch too. Plus either groups could grow to be a threat eventually, so if they win or lose I still win. Just the way it should be.
OOOOOOO
Elsewhere events were proceeding apace. Naboo, against Padme's own preferences, started to reconfigure the Lucre-Hulk ships they had taken into system defense ships. Dooku and his team of investigators had finally found a trail to the Dark Dreamer and were closing in on it. The Green Jedi opened up formal talks with Master Yoda to end the division between them.
And in the Inner Rim, the Ailon Nova Guard's high command met and discussed the events of Squad Unatri.
The Nova Guard was not representative of a culture. The Nova Guard was the Ailoni culture. Martial prowess was held in the highest regard on the heavily fortified world, and every Ailoni family had at least one, mostly more, members in the Nova Guard at any time. A lot of them were of course in the defense force of the system, which did not follow the normal Republic ideal of having a minimal military. They didn't have a massive fleet, so couldn't project power very well, but they always had at least six full corps of troops under arms at any time.
Many troops were sent out in squad or company size groups as mercenaries or research teams. The research teams were sent to other planets where the martial sciences were studied, like Kuat with its famous shipyards, or sometimes Eshan and other, more specialized planets. They would come back with the knowledge of other fighting styles and how the Nova Guard stood up against them.
The teams assigned to mercenary work would hire themselves out in any interesting small scale war or anti-pirate campaign that was going on. They had served in the Stark Hyperspace War, and in the Sepan and Telosian civil wars. At times they hired on as guards for ships in the Outer Rim where pirate activity was expected, and it was as that which Squad Unatri had been working as when they were stabbed in the back by their employer. Unable to pay them, Gardulla had put a soporific in their food, and then used them as some of her many gladiators.
This had to be addressed, as had the return of the squad itself by the Jedi.
Unatri had reported what he had seen, and how the Jedi had freed the slaves, making the Nova Guard be indebted to them. Despite Master Ranicisis arriving and trying to convince them that no such debt existed, that was not the Ailoni way. They believed in the rule of the strong, and refused to be in debt to anyone. The Jedi had proven they were strong, and so would be followed. In so doing the debt to them would be repaid.
"So we are agreed?" Master Ranicisis said serenely, looking at the High Marshall of the Ailoni serenely, while inside he had to hold back a rather fierce, predatory smile. "We will provide you with the transport ships, while you provide the troops?"
"We are." Said one of the High Marshalls. He had been introduced by his title rather than name, in this case High Strategist, which was in keeping with the Ailoni ideas of leadership and martial fervor. "The Hutts must be made to realize the error of their ways. The individual was punished, their activities have not been."
Ranicisis nodded. While invading Hutt space was practically impossible given the lack of local resources and hyperspace lanes, they did have several holdings outside of it, deep into the Mid Rim in fact, which the Jedi knew about andwhich were associated with the slave trade. The Jedi Council had lacked the influence needed to get the Senate to send in the Republic navy, but with the Ailoni providing the bulk of the military this was no longer a concern.
"Jedi will be sent here to join me along with the transport ships." Most of those ships would be coming straight from Kashyyyk, the Wookies wanting in on smashing some slaver scum, especially since one of the bases for Hutt-backed pirates was run by a Trandoshan clan. The others would be coming from Bilbringi and Corellia, bought and paid for by the Jedi Order for this mission. "We will provide hyperspace calculations which will put our attack groups right on top of the targets and then will provide point defense and assault troops during the attack."
The Nova Guard's commanders all nodded and then one of them asked. "And what of these new martial techniques? Will we be allowed to send a squad to learn from this discoverer of ancient knowledge?" That was the Temple public line when trying to explain Ranma's abilities: that his abilities were the result of ancient techniques rediscovered. The Ailoni believed it, or at least were not willing to question it.
"Yes." Ranicisis said simply. "I do not know how many of our ancient techniques non-Force users will be able to use, but I would be willing to talk to Ranma about sharing them. Of course you realize that it will be his decision to do so?"
After a few minutes of back and forth the Ailoni all nodded. They didn't understand how a single Jedi or whatever Ranma was could gainsay a command from his higher ups, but they understood allowance had to be made for other sentients cultures, no matter how bizarre they seemed. "That will do."
Ranicisis nodded his head in the odd, near full body movement of his people, and rose from his cushion without another word. The Hutts will soon find that the universe has begun to change. Though the times might becoming dark, the Order can still shed some light in this galaxy.
OOOOOOO
The trip to Eshan should have only taken a bare day thanks to the various Hyperspace lanes. However Shaak had insisted they stop so she could send a message via Hypercom relay at one point, telling Ranma she wanted to get them some backup for their trap plan. While she was doing that, Ranma went down to the planet and, with Shaak's ID, purchased quite a bit of supplies for said plan, sticking them on the ship and actually filling the sitting area from one end to another.
Much to the chagrin of HK despite this stopover the ship wasn't attacked en-route and came out into the Eshan system without difficulty.
Eshan was a planet of stark, high mountain ranges and scattered rivers moving down into small valleys situated around the planet's ocean, which was almost as blue-seeming up close as Earth's was from space in the pictures Ranma had seen of it in school and far larger. As the Wild Light continued to descend through the atmosphere towards the planet's one space port, it looked also like it was nearly untouched by technology despite the several dozen orbital defense installations and the small but noticeable orbital industry.
That was only true in the mountains however. When they came closer to Outreach, the planet's capital and sole spaceport, they saw the city itself, which looked as high tech as Coronet had been.
The architecture was very different, the Eshani favoring two-story homes designed in squares built around open areas, a holdover form when every family would have their own, slightly different martial art style. Even their shops, office buildings, and factories followed this style of having only two stories, simply becoming more sprawling to accommodate their tasks. This of course meant Outreach covered a far larger area than Coronet. The outer edge of the city facing inland was dominated by massive fields of the local equivalent of wheat being worked by giant harvester droids, larger than most of the buildings. And there were several, slightly larger buildings built all along the one, large, (Ranma thought it looked wider than the Yangtze) river, which led into the ocean along one side of the city. The dock segment of the city was built out over the ocean, with massive metal girders holding the landing docks up out of the water along one edge while the other edge sloped down to the water's edge.
As the ship set down, Ranma disconnected his seatbelt and stood up, stretching somewhat. "So, what kind of reception should we get here?"
"A friendly one. The Echani martial arts is a staple of advanced Guardian training, and the Jedi Order has been looked on favorably here for thousands of years." Shaak replied, her fingers moving deftly over the control board as she and Tune shut the ship down.
"Doleful comment: You mean we won't face any combat here outside of those stupid hand to hand contests of theirs? Pity."
Shaak rolled her eyes, but didn't comment, already used to the bloodthirsty droid's need for violence. "No, at least not by the locals. There's always a possibility that we'll be attacked by bounty hunters of course, and then there's the questions about those Mandalorians. They wore armor like the Death Watch, which is not a good sign."
"Yeah, you said we could hook back up to the Hypernet here and send to the temple for more information on them right? I thought they were decently impressive, tough, trained, pretty much as good as regular troops could be. Though whoever was in command didn't do them any favors splitting his forces and fighting me inside like that where they couldn't keep the range open or use their jet packs."
"Indeed, we can do that easily. For now though, I can see some local officials coming towards us." Shaak replied. "Tune, shut down the engines and lock up behind us. When we get some local accommodations, you can move in there with us or stay with the ship, your choice." Her purple lips quirked as she looked over at the combat droid. "No you don't get a choice HK. I refuse to contemplate what you would do if left with no supervision."
"Scowling tone: Mistress, you have a remarkably accurate understanding of my character. Do not worry however, I have no interest in fighting those who cannot fight back, that would be most unsporting." HK replied, moving out of the cockpit and through the ship towards the ramp with Ranma
"That actually makes me quite happy." Shaak murmured as she followed.
The three of them quickly exited the ship and moved toward the group of four locals waiting for them. All of them had pale skin and pale-colored hair, light blond or light brown, with one man having pure white hair. They stood like statues, their faces utterly unmoving as they watched the trio exit the ship and come toward them.
The first was a sign of training, the second a sign of evolution: an Eshani's face was simply not as mobile as a normal human's, their faces far more gaunt, their lips and cheeks not nearly as expressive. Worse the Eshani all looked quite alike to outsiders, all of them having the same silver or light white hair, pale skin and black eyes, with very little variation in between.
There was a lot of speculation about why the Eshani had evolved along such narrow lines, but nothing definitive. What was known was that these physical characteristics had led them to create the Echani martial art, one of the deadliest martial art styles in the known universe.
As the trio made their way toward them however several small balls were tossed onto the docking bay from someone hanging over the side of it facing out toward the ocean. At the same time a heavily modified small cargo hauler of some kind roared overhead, firing down with what looked like two quad lasers.
"Stun balls!" Shaak shouted, quickly gathering the Force to her. Reaching out with the Force she grabbed all of the balls, hurling them away as she dodged the incoming fire.
Ranma ducked and dodged to one side away from the same fire from above as he tried to charge toward where the balls had originated. "HK take out that starfighter!"
That fire wasn't aimed to hit them however, but to separate the locals, Shaak and HK from Ranma. While the Togrutan Jedi did have a sizeable bounty on her from the Hutts, no bounty hunter in his right mind would even think about taking that bounty on. The prize on Ranma's head though was much too large for any Bounty Hunter to ignore, setting aside his bald-faced challenge to the Bounty Hunter's guild as a whole.
Nor were the stun balls, small balls that sent out pulses of stun energy, the only kind of attack launched against the trio off the Wild Light. There were also some smoke bombs mixed in with them, the same size and general appearance, but a very different effect.
The smoke bombs went off covering the tiny battlefield with dark gray smoke, but this really didn't do much to slow any of the combatants. Shaak relied on the Force, her lightsaber out now and blocking attacks from the ship overhead, while HK's systems were unimpaired, firing up at the ship with his shoulder-mounted heavy blaster. Even the locals didn't seem too bothered by the smoke, ducking and running towards a few blast shields set up along the near edge of the landing pad, away from the attacker.
The attacker in question, an Ikotchi bounty hunter of some repute, slipped off the rope carriage he had been hanging in waiting for his prey, pulling himself up onto the landing pad from his hiding place, his heavily modified blaster in one hand. He was already switching from stun to normal power, no longer thinking it possible to take Ranma captive and get away. Proof of the human's death would have to do.
With his eyes covered by infrared goggles the Ikotchi was able to see the human among his victims, humans having a slight but still distinctly different body temperature than Togrutans and Eshani, who were somewhat warmer and colder respectively. With no warning he began to fire into the smoke towards his target.
Ranma grimaced as the heavy bolts smacked into him, causing him some pain but not doing any damage. "Still it tells me where the attacker is! I've got him Shaak, HK see if you can…"
"BOOOM!" Ranma was interrupted by an explosion and even as he charged forward he stared upward, where the starfighter had just been blown up from fire from the Wild Light. The explosion began to rain bits and pieces down on top of them while also blowing away the smoke.
"Affronted Anger: Cog damn it Tune that was my kill!" HK's voice bellowed.
Realizing now he had no quick way to escape, the attacker laid down covering fire across the landing pad as he moved back to the edge he had just come from. But Ranma was just too fast for him, closing through his fire with no regard for the bolts that hit him. The Ikotchi's eyes widened behind his goggles and he pulled out a frag grenade intent on tossing it forward, but Ranma was already within range to hit him. Ranma's light-pike appeared out of his ki space and one end smacked the grenade as soon as it left the man's hand sending it over his head into the ocean behind him before disappearing once more.
Before the man could pull out a vibro-blade from his waist, Ranma had grabbed him by his flak jacket and hurled him towards HK and Shaak in an over the shoulder throw. He tried to roll with it, but a Force hold from Shaak and HK's heavy foot landing on his back stopped him. "Irritated tone: Master, might I finish him off, this battle wasn't nearly enough to interest me, and Tune already stole my target."
"Nah," Ranma said, smirking somewhat. "He was at least a little decent, and none of his shots went near the locals, so we can't just kill him. Humiliate and beat to a pulp, yeah, that we can do."
"Wait, wAGHh!" The Ikotchi shouted as Ranma reached down and pulled his goggles forward, stretching the elastic before letting them go.
Then Ranma tied the man up like a piñata in his underwear, with one of his own stun balls stuffed into his mouth. "Now, what humiliating message should we write?" he mused, popping the top off a permanent marker he had bought on Coronet, amused at the time that such low tech things still existed in this universe.
"Gleeful amusement: Master, humiliation like this isn't my normal way of dealing with anyone who foolishly attacks me, but it might just be as much fun. Can I have a go?"
A few moments later they were being led away from the docking port and deeper into the city, with Shaak waving off the locals' apologies. "Given the price on Ranma's head we can assume that we will be attacked everywhere we go. And at least two of our party enjoys that kind of thing."
The man across from her in the small aircar was named Magister Clemens, the Eshani equivalent of a mayor. He nodded his head slowly, looking from Ranma and Shaak once or twice. Any Eshani could read body language, and they were taught to do so from an early age even if only those who took up the Echani martial arts learned to use what they saw in terms of combat. He could tell the Jedi actually felt amusement at the attack, an odd thing to see in a Jedi at any time, and the other one, who was also supposed to be a Jedi acted nothing like one of the upholders of justice.
"In that case, we will simply house you for free during your stay instead of charging the Order for your rooms." He said at length. "But I have to wonder if we should be worried about further attacks. This Ikotchi carefully controlled his attack, but the next bounty hunter might not be willing to do so."
The Bounty hunter would spend the night in the Outreach's jail. During that time, his picture, taken when he was practically naked and tied up with the various messages HK and Ranma wrote on him, was posted and sent everywhere on the Hypernet. After a night in jail he would be released to make his way off-world as best he could, and Clemens doubted he would be able to continue work as a bounty hunter after that.
"Agreed, though I doubt that most bounty hunters will be willing to attack us here. Your people's martial history is too well known for most to attempt to attack us here once we are situated in among the city. If they do attack however, Ranma and I will deal with them." Shaak replied.
"Very well. But might I ask what has brought you here?" Clemens asked.
"The Echani martial arts style," Ranma said with a smile. "I've heard a lot about how you can read your opponents and anticipate their attacks almost like Jedi, so I wanted to see if I could incorporate that into my own style."
Clemens exchanged a slight uptick of the lips with another one of the locals, who returned it, bowing his head slightly. "We can set you on the right track there."
The house assigned to Ranma and Shaak was just like the rest of the city, a small two-story building based around an almost-castle like design with its own small enclosed yard. There was nothing in its architecture to set it apart from the rest of the city except for its interior. This was set up in the style of hotel rooms the universe over, with nice, uniform furniture and a distinct lack of anything resembling personalized touches.
"You know we could have just unloaded the stuff from the Wild Light and stayed on board." Ranma said, moving over to look at the small TV that was part of the suite.
Strangely enough, at least to his eyes, the TV room was set in a small recess in the floor, you had to walk a few steps down into it from the rest of the house. He wondered why that was, but didn't care enough to inquire further.
"We could have, but then people would have seen said supplies. Even if we get the local government to help us stash them away we would be forced to answer questions, and I have yet to run into any government which does not believe in copious amounts of paperwork. Paperwork which people, again, could see. We want this to be a trap, we don't want people to realize that we'll be ready for them in Yavin." Shaak replied.
"Meh, I guess, I just prefer the Wild Light to this place. It's a little too impersonal I guess?" Ranma said, thinking about the plan, and wondering if the Death Watch would be the only group they caught in their net.
"That makes sense." Shaak nodded, remembering all the little things they had done to make the interior of the Wild Light seem more like home.
And isn't that an odd thought for any Jedi to have? The only home we are supposed to have is the Order, or at best the Temple. I wonder why that is? Trying to disavow attachments again perhaps? Yet I'm not attached to the ship, but its owner she thought fondly as Ranma began to move some of the furniture around to create an open space for training purposes. It had just begun to rain when they reached the house so they wouldn't be able to use the open area outside.
Ranma flopped down on the sofa he had just finished moving, grinning over at her. "So if we start training tomorrow, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?"
In reply Shaak smiled, and with a little atavistic thrill, moved over to join him on the sofa. There Ranma pulled her into a gentle kiss, which quickly became quite a bit fiercer.
OOOOOOO
Thanks to the stopover Shaak and Ranma had on their way to Eshan and the fact they had been overheard talking about going there while in Corellia Bo-Katan Kryze had been able to get ahead of them. Being half-Eshani, Bo posed as a student of the martial arts herself, wishing to get to know her mother's side of the family. Her mother had become Mandalorian after falling in love with her father on a mercenary mission he had taken part of, while she was part of a small personal security retinue working on the same planet.
Their romance had been just that, though in the typical Mandalorian and Eshani manner: lots of blaster bolts, lots of challenges and flirting as sparring. Her father, Dumac Kryze, emerged the victor having won both his mission, and the maiden's heart. Their love story had actually become something of a tale among Mandalorians, winning Clan Kryze a bit of renown beyond what they won on the battlefield.
And then my older sister had to drag our name through the kriffing mud with her New Mandalorians! Bo thought to herself fiercely, not for the first time, as she moved through the morning exercises, glancing up once at the thin waterproof awning covering the training area. The rain pattered against it in a strangely soothing manner, and she smiled faintly at the noise.
Bo had always loved the rain ever since she was a young child. Whenever it rained, her father would never allow them outside, since they lived in the mountains of Mandalore, and the rains signaled mudslides and also brought out various animals to hunt. Satine had enjoyed those same stories, but didn't seem to have gotten the same message out of them Bo had.
I wonder what our father would think of her now? On the one hand he'd probably be proud that she rose to such a position of leadership, but on the other, Dumac'd probably try to kill her himself. Better a kin-slayer than what she's done with the New Mandalorians. Spitting on our culture like that, turning her back on thousands of years of honor and trying to force the same thing down the rest of our collective throats by siding with the kriffing Republic!?
A hand jabbed into the side of her face slightly, what should've been a killing blow instead coming as a light tap with just enough energy to turn her head slightly. "This is a dojo, not a place for woolgathering," said a stern voice beside her. "If you cannot concentrate on the forms leave. This is a place for combat, nothing else."
Bo-Katan turned, bowing quickly to the journeyman-level teacher who had seen her and began to move through the forms once again.
Bo had found a school willing to teach her quickly enough. The Eshani simply challenged her to a hand to hand fight and found her with enough natural ability to teach further despite being an outsider. The Eshani believed that combat, specifically hand to hand combat, was the purest form of communication that existed in the universe. Sparring to an Eshani was thus a part of nearly all walks of life.
Thus the master of the training center of course knew she was trained in the Mandalorean manner, and might have more reasons to being on Eshan than simply wishing to connect to her mother's side of her heritage. However the Eshani didn't care about that, since her desire to learn was genuine, and the Eshani were not ones to judge people's pasts.
Having been assigned to the apprentice level stung, Bo had thought she had learned her mother's style better than that. The master however had been rather brutal in his summation: Bo had gotten too used to wearing armor, which the Eshani eschewed, and to weapons which, while having their place, were not the basis of Echani, the Eshani martial arts.
A few moments later one of the school's masters entered the training room, clicking his fingers twice in the air to get the student's attention. That was a signal for all movement to stop, and both journeyman and apprentices turned as one, bowing slightly from the waist respectfully, something Bo-Katan joined in without reservation. The journeyman she knew she could take on with a reasonable chance of victory in a real fight. The master, an old man named Chud-ro she doubted she could take on unless she was able to keep the range open and simply fill him full of blaster bolts.
"Tomorrow we will be joined by two Jedi. They are here to study our martial arts. One of them is apparently a hand to hand expert, and wishes to incorporate our style into his own." He waited, letting that sink in before going on, his voice still soft and stern, like the best officers could use when on parade. Shouting was for sergeants, or in this case the journeymen, though of course Eshani didn't shout often, they simply challenged you to a spar and let their fists do the talking.
"I expect you all to act accordingly, and give them both the respect they are due. That is all. Carla, come up here." Chud-ro finished, using the name Bo had given them, just in case her real name was somehow known by the locals. Given that she had used that first name several times on scouting missions she was able to answer to it readily enough to possibly fool even the Eshani.
Bo-Katan bowed her head, very carefully keeping any expression from her face, as she moved through the crowd. Of course she had heard of her target's arrival, she even had literally heard the fire fight that had erupted when a bounty hunter tried to get the drop on Ranma and the Jedi who accompanied him. Still wonder what he is, he said he wasn't a Jedi, and he sure as hell didn't fight like one, but he travels with one! If it looks like a rawl snake, and acts like a rawl snake, then it's a rawl snake. But sometimes it's a shadow rawl instead of a regular one.
Coming to a stop in front of the master she stopped thinking about such things, knowing the master would be able to see them in her face. Bowing her head slightly, she asked, "Master you have a task for me?"
"I am assigning you to be our go-between to the Jedi. It has been decided that being from off-world yourself you will be better able to help them acclimatize." Chud-ro ntoned, his face the habitual Eshani blank mask. "This will not be allowed to take away from your own studies."
"Of course not master," Bo-Katan said, bowing her head even more slightly, no expression but simple acceptance on her face. Yes! Now we will see what we can find out about this mysterious non-Jedi warrior!
OOOOOOO
Shaak woke up to the sound of singing in the room below. She stretched, moving out of her bed quickly, Jedi were after all very quick to wake up most of the time unless they were truly exhausted. Then she stopped as she moved to grab up her robe, listening intently, a faint smile on her face. This wasn't the first time she had he heard Ranma sing, the redhead had a magnificent voice, but was somewhat shy about using it around other people.
Walking down the spiral staircase that connected the bedroom with the main sitting room, Shaak stopped, watching as Ranma went through a series of martial arts moves as she sang under her breath. It was in Japanese, Ranma's original language, so Shaak did not understand the words. Reaching out with a gentle tendril of Force she connected her mind to Ranma's exterior thoughts, letting it be a gentle one so that Ranma could feel the connection and wouldn't react badly.
However before she could the song ended and Ranma came to a slow stop, his palms pressed together in front of her chest. From this close she saw that Ranma's shoulders and hair were still wet, and she shook her head looking out the window for the first time noticing that it was still raining. "You went somewhere?" she asked softly, reaching forward to gently touch Ranma's red hair, before moving it to the side and moving in close, her arms going around the other redhead as Ranma turned, hugging Shaak.
"Yeah," Ranma mumbled, her mouth pressed against Shaak's upper chest for a moment, her voice causing a bit of a vibration in Shaak's collarbone. Shaak shuddered slightly, shaking her head, her lekku twitching. She hadn't gotten used to how much Ranma's size changed from one form to the other. Yes, she was used to the actual sex change, and the change in hair color and everything else. But the height was still a continual surprise to her.
"I wanted to do some shopping," Ranma said after moving back. "I noticed the clothing the locals wear, and it's the closest to what I used to wear on my own planet that I've seen so far. At least in type of material anyway, you Jedi seem to wear the same kind of pants I did, though not the shirts, and don't get me started on those silly cloaks you all wear."
"Cotton is useful, durable, and cheap, while a cloak is at home in nearly any environment," Shaak said with a shrug. "Jedi are not supposed to form attachments to material things, something we have discussed numerous times before this."
"Except your lightsabers," Ranma quipped, his lips quirking into a smirk. "You know, that reminds me of a joke I heard in a bar about those things."
"I don't want to hear it!" Shaak said, shaking her head once more, setting her lekku to swaying. "I have no doubt heard every phallic joke about Jedi and their lightsabers you can imagine!"
Ranma laughed, and moved to the kitchen, grabbing up a cup of hot water before pouring it over her now suddenly himself. "Do we have time for breakfast before we go over?"
"I would assume so, considering that Desmond said they would send someone from one of the local schools. I get the impression this individual will also be our minder, as well as watching us for the locals."
"Makes sense," Ranma said with a nod. "The fresher station's free, grab a shower while I use that device Tune made to short our any listening devices 'k?"
Shaak nodded, returning moments later to find that Ranma hadn't found any listening devices, which pleased both of them. After that the two went about the business of putting together breakfast, moving around and with one another fluidly for a few moments, before they sat down at the small table with a local salad and several small fishes just barely charred in their scales.
Now that they knew they could talk without being overheard, Shaak and Ranma discussed their plans long term. After a few moments discussion Ranma turned away from the small table to a corner of the room. "HK wake up."
The hunter-killer droid stood next to a droid recharge station being too large to actually fit inside it. He had powered down pretty promptly last night. ("Annoyed irritation: that one bounty Hunter was probably the only one on-planet, which means any attack during the night is unlikely. If there's no action to be had, I would rather simply power down for a time.")
HK's eyes lit up, and he turned quickly to Ranma. "Expectant query: Yes master, who can I kill for you?"
"While were over learning the local martial arts I want you to look into two things for us. First, head over to the Wild Light and check in with Tune. I know he said he wanted to stay there for our time here, but make sure he's still all right with that choice, then tell him to start looking up information on Yavin 4. Tell him to make it look as if we we're interested in the architecture or something believable."
Since the planet in question had only the barest mention of information as far as Ranma knew, that was going to be tough, and possibly futile. But searching for the information was just another way of setting out some bait.
"Affronted growl: I am not a messenger droid master. I assume that my own task makes up for that insult?"
"Go through the gear we've already bought, and if you think you can find anything to add to it on Eshan, see about purchasing it. Note I said purchasing, not stealing." Ranma said with a smirk. "And I would expect you to try and not leave a paper trail if it's anything that could raise any one's questions."
"Eager tone: That's more like it master! And if I find some kind of black market and need to work with them?"
Ranma frowned thinking then exchanged a glance with Shaak who shrugged. "The locals have a very hard judiciary system Ranma, if there is any kind of black market, it will have to be very well hidden. On the other hand, they have very liberal views about guns and other such things. Especially if you have a sailing license, some of the oceanic animals here have to be seen to be believed."
"That sounds like fun," Ranma said with a smirk. "We might have to go fishing sometime HK."
HK shrugged, a very odd sight in his massive robotic body. "Philosophical response: Violence against sentient meatbags is always more fun master, but I'll take what I can get."
With that the droid was out the door, and they heard his doleful tone as he realized it was raining. "Irritated drawl: Joy, if I rust master I'm going to blame you."
Ranma shrugged, and they went back to talking quietly with Shaak, this time moving on to the topic of what they would do after they sprang their trap. Ranma still wanted to explore, heading to random planets in the Outer Rim to find new martial arts styles to incorporate into his own.
Shaak was more ambivalent, she did after all have her duties as a Jedi. Despite her long-term assignment to follow Ranma around and keep him out of trouble, she would no doubt be assigned other missions occasionally, and wanted to keep their plans fluid so as to not conflict with that obligation.
They were eventually interrupted by someone buzzing the front door. They both stood, with Ranma pulling on a large parka over himself, hoping to keep dry so as to not change form again. Despite having gotten so used to his curse that it no longer really bothered him at all, Ranma loathed having to explain it all the time.
Shaak answered the door, finding a rather short local woman on the other side. She had straight-backed silver hair like many of the locals, light brown eyes and a very pretty face. "Master Jedi?" The woman asked, bowing from the waist very slightly. "I am Carla Kirari. I have been assigned to be your guide and go between while you are here on Eshan. Do you wish to do anything today? Or simply head over to the dojo immediately?"
"Does the dojo have some protection against rain?" Shaak asked. "And it is just Shaak Ti please, or Knight Ti if you must be formal."
Bo-Katan nee Carla nodded. "Yes Knight Ti we do have a small electrical shield against the rain. "
"Very well, the dojo first I think," Shaak said and two of the exited the building quickly following Bo-Katan.
Bo-Katan took the opportunity to examine them both. Thanks to her mother's teachings, she could see a lot in another person's body language. She wasn't nearly as good as the other students here of course, not having lived her entire life among the Eshani, but still good enough to read other outsiders somewhat.
To Bo, Shaak came off as a typical Jedi except she wore a faint smile on those purple lips of hers. While constantly aware of her surroundings, she also kept one eye on Ranma at the same time. She moved with typical Jedi confidence, but moved with an odd sort of serenity.
Ranma held the same confidence, only he was not anything like a Jedi. He moved like a walking swagger, not so much arrogant as with a sense of assumed superiority (there was a fine line there). But while Shaak trusted her Force senses, Ranma's eyes were constantly moving around the landscape, taking in everything not just because he wanted to, but because he was looking for dangers. Bo-Katan could tell the way his eyes stopped occasionally on what she knew where places an attacker could hide.
Interesting she thought to herself as they continued to walk for about 5 minutes before arriving at the training hall.
Like the rest of the buildings here seemed to be, this was a simple square building, two stories tall based around a single large in open area.
Ranma looked around the training area, and sighed faintly. "My kind of people." he said with a grin.
They stayed by the door for a moment while Ranma and Shaak watched the lessons going on in this section, observing and exchanging a few glances. Bo could tell they were not impressed just yet, and ushered them over to the group in the next training center.
Here actual spars were going on between advanced students and journeyman with master Chud-ro looking on. Again the two outsiders stopped watching for a few moments. Frowning slightly, Ranma began to pull at his ponytail thoughtfully.
Bo-Katan frowned at this lack of response. "Is there a problem, Master Jedi?"
"Er, it's just Ranma and something like that," Ranma said frowning thoughtfully then looking over at Shaak. "It looks like you were right, I might not be able to get much out of this."
Cocking an eyebrow Bo had to agree with that sentiment given what she had seen Ranma do with his bare hands back on Corellia. Nonetheless she gestured him forward, walking towards Master Chud-ro. "Master, these are the two Jedi, Jedi knight Shaak Ti and Jedi knight Ranma. The human one, Ranma, seems to be the hand to hand combat expert."
Ranma frowned, and opened his mouth, but Shaak elbowed him slightly in the side, before leaning in to whisper into his ear. "Don't bother, it just isn't worth the aggravation of attempting to explain your unique status every time it comes up."
While 'Carla' looked interested Ranma frowned but shrugged his shoulders, and Master Chud-ro simply looked at the pigtailed human. "You are not impressed." he stated as he looked at Ranma whose eyes had strayed back to the sparring going on.
Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "Not really, no. I mean it looks good, but I'm not certain I can get much of anything out of learning your style, no offense."
"None taken. I realize that our style often doesn't look very imposing on the surface of it, many enemies have thought that over the millennia. Our martial arts is based off reading miniscule tells and anticipating our opponent's maneuvers, understanding them from the inside out through combat. Inherently it seems a defensive style, but defense can be the best offense."
"Understood, and I'm not judging it by how flashy the moves are or anything, It's just…" Ranma frowned, still pulling at his ponytail, then he shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose I can just show you, I don't suppose you have another master around or a journeyman who doesn't have much of an ego and won't take offense if he gets clobbered?"
Shaak shook her head at Ranma's lack of diplomacy, while Chud-ro stiffened slightly, looking at the two Jedi. "If you are simply assuming you will win because you are able to use Force, then I tell you, you are wrong and your perceptions are wrong. Our abilities to understand our opponents through combat matches or exceeds most Jedi's talent with your Force perceptions. Power through the Force is a false promise only strength of the body is pure."
While Ranma looked over at Shaak at those words Chud-ro smiled, again slightly, though from an Eshani that was the same as a full on sneer. "However, far be it for me to stop a young one from learning through hard knocks rather than soft instruction."
He gestured with one hand, and the sparring all around them stopped. The groups moved towards the end of the edges of the sparring area, and the master gestured Ranma to step forward. With his other hand he gestured to one of his journeyman to step forward as well.
The journeyman in question was not a large man, built along the same basic lines as Ranma himself, though he was somewhat taller and broader than Ranma, with the typical Eshani white hair and thin face. He bowed to the young foolish Jedi, who bowed in turn.
For a moment the two of them stood silent and spell, then when Chud-ro lowered his hand they both sprang into motion. Ranma literally sprang, leaping into the air and launching a flying kick towards his opponent, who ducked, dodging by the most miniscule amount, his hand lashing forward. But Ranma had anticipated that, and his own hand lashed out, smashing into his opponent's. As that hand recoiled from the impact Ranma gripped his wrist for just a split second, which allowed Ranma to twirl his body around into a roundhouse kick.
Having seen the move coming the journeyman both broke free and was able to raise an arm to block the kick, bemused that his opponent was remaining in the air. But they were trained to fight Force users, so it wasn't that unusual.
Then the journeyman grunted as the kick landed on his forearm, shock and pain going through his mind as he suddenly found himself lifted off his feet and hurled away by the power of the blow. Strong, that blow should never have been able to have that much power behind it!
Still without speaking the journeyman righted himself in midair, skidding along the mat before he came to a stop. But before he could set his feet Ranma was suddenly in his face. And fast! The two exchanged punches for a few moments, neither landing a telling blow or so it seemed, with the journeyman barley able to keep up with Ranma's speed at this point.
But actually each redirected blow was slamming like a sledgehammer into the journeyman's forearms and hands, causing him to grit his teeth. Even worse was, despite being able to read Ranma's moves, he was not learning anything about him beyond the fact he was simply too fast and strong to anticipate accurately. His style is so chaotic, so wild, I can't… "GAHH!"
At that point Ranma's fist had suddenly disappeared from where the journeyman had thought it would be to slam into his opponent's side. The journeyman knew he had been reading Ranma correctly, the younger man was good at not showing his tells but to a student of Echani Ranma might as well have been shouting. But now it seemed as if Ranma had learned enough about him, and was able to figure out a way to trick his senses.
Even so, the journeyman recovered quickly, and was able to redirect the next two blows. He couldn't block the next two, and the next punch after that smashed into the side of the journeyman's head, sending him crashing to the mat.
The journeyman groaned as he pushed himself to his knees, then stilled as Ranma's hand lightly tapped the back of his head. "That's sort of what I was afraid of," Ranma said with a shrug looking over at the master and Shaak. "He was able to see my tells and anticipate some of my attacks, but anticipating doesn't really matter much if your opponent is just too fast for you to block or too strong. He should probably get those bruises of his seen too by the way."
Ranma looked up, frowning as he realized everyone in the training area was watching him now, their eyes trained like so many lasers, a few of them showing shock, others something else he couldn't quite place. Even the master looked somewhat surprised, if his slightly widened eyes were any indication.
Neither Ranma nor Shaak understood how important sparring and understanding through combat was to the Eshani. They could tell a LOT more than just their opponent's next move. The Eshani could tell if someone was trustworthy, if they had good intentions or bad, if they were hiding something and numerous other things. Combat was the one true way to understand someone.
Even more importantly, the Echani style of martial arts was based upon mastery of the body. As Chud-ro had said, only strength of the body was pure. And Ranma had just shown strength of the body that was frankly astonishing.
Worse, they could tell he was holding back, along with a myriad other things that Ranma didn't realize he advertised even in a spar like this. His confidence, his wild nature, his mastery of several styles which he had merged into a single whole, styles moreover none of them had ever seen before. And above that, his love of the arts came through.
To the Eshani those were incredibly interesting traits. In fact for many, they were… desirable, and Shaak frowned, looking around at 'Carla' and the other female Eshani looking are Ranma now. Oh no… I think we did not think this all the way through…
After shaking his head Chud-ro stepped forward, his eyes now alight with eagerness to test himself against this wild one. "Let us see if I do any better."
'Carla' watched the match excitedly, along with the other apprentices, only to stare in shock as Ranma slowly battered the older man into submission. It took quite a bit longer, Chud-ro was not only somewhat stronger and faster than his journeyman, but also better at reading his opponent, giving him just a bit more of an advantage in anticipating where the his enemies attacks would come from. He had also learned, and was able to redirect more of the blows as well as dodging as often as possible.
Offensively however, Chud-ro could do nothing. Every time he tried, Ranma would use it against him, his tells changing in an instant, proof to all that Ranma had indeed mastered several styles and was able to even change how he thought from one moment to a next while fighting.
This is astonishing and rather disturbing too, not just about what it says about him but me. I thought that I had become close to the pinnacle of what the physical arts could be, but clearly there is another threshold I have yet to reach. Chud-ro thought, though he was unable to focus much on that at present with Ranma pressing in.
Ranma finished the match with a leg sweep putting the older man on his back where he lightly tapped his foot down on Chud-ro's chest before backing away. After that Ranma backed away, looking at the man curiously. "That was interesting. Yeah, I can work with that…"
Chud-ro chuckled, rolling and pushing himself to his feet. "I think we can all see what we have to learn from you in return. Your strength and speed are phenomenal, well beyond anyone I have ever fought before, even other Jedi. I have fought several Jedi who have come here for advanced training, including Master Windu, and none of them could do what you just did even when armed with their lightsabers."
Ranma shrugged. "Jedi have a lot of other stuff they have to learn during their training, I only learned how to fight."
"I see," Chud-ro and with a nod, and he did indeed, he had seen a lot while fighting Ranma. Even more than the onlookers had been able too, and certainly more than his journeyman, who had panicked after blocking that kick.
The older man looked over at Shaak who smiled, pulling off her Jedi robes, handing them and her lightsaber to one of the nearby students. "I believe I have even more to learn than Ranma, though I am uncertain if I am at the same general level as he is in comparison to your school of martial arts, at least when it comes to hand to hand."
Another journeyman stepped forward bowing from the waist far lower than any of the locals had heretofore done to either Ranma or Shaak. "If it pleases you Knight Ti, I will be your opponent now."
Shaak returned the gesture, bowing just as low then the two of them moved as one, quickly exchanging a series of blows. Immediately it was apparent to the watchers that Shaak's hand to hand style was nothing like Ranma's. She didn't move nearly as much, and she didn't take the air is often. In that way, she was much easier for the locals to get a handle on.
They could also tell far more about her than they could Ranma, or rather what they saw wasn't so chaotic and misleading. She fought with the calm nature those who knew about such things expected from a Jedi, yet there was also a wildness to some of her moves, a controlled ferocity that was at odds with that, showing some aspects of her Togrutan nature. Like Ranma, she too enjoyed the contest.
And unlike a normal Jedi was able to rely on her physical skills in this match, not once showing signs of Force Precognition, something that won nods of approval from many of the watchers. After fighting against Ranma so often Shaak had no need to heighten her speed that way, and indeed found herself holding her strength back somewhat in order to not injure her opponent.
Added to her speed and strength, Shaak fought with an incredible precision. She launched numerous feints with only a few real attacks mixed in, but those invariably struck where here opponent was not prepared for them.
in turn whenever her opponent landed a blow on her, normally on the forearm or shin, they found that Shaak would simply shrug them off. This surprisingly extended to debilitating blows to the stomach or chest area. Shaak wasn't even pushed back by the impact.
Defensively, the journeyman did much better in this round than Chud-ro had against Ranma. He was able to keep up with Shaak speed better, and block or redirect most of her blows. However eventually the blows that did get through began to tell, and he was just a little too quick to respond to a blow to his already injured side. As he moved brought both his hands down to block that punch, Shaak's leg lifted into a kick that took the man in the chin hurling him backwards to land on his back with a groan of agony.
"Yes," Chud-ro mused as his journeyman groggily got to his feet, bowing his head even more respectfully towards Shaak than before. Indeed, his eyes were alight with something approaching interest as he took his position on the sidelines of the salle. "Yes, I think we all have something to learn here."
"Meh, maybe, if you've got enough…What?" Ranma trailed off as one of the other journeyman bowed respectfully to him. though in this case, it was a journey-woman.
"If it pleases you Master Ranma, I would spar with you." The woman said, her eyes alight with challenge and her body subtly bent forward in order to draw attention to her feminine features.
Ranma looked over at Chud-ro who shrugged, a faint smile on his face. "We Eshani respect skill of the body over everything. Everyone here wishes now to spar with you. Try to learn what you can from my more advanced students, while I call others of my own status. No doubt my words will galvanize them. Knight Ti, you may join a few of the other students who are going to return to their studies now, if they do not wish to be put on punishment detail."
The rest of the day was a series of spars, with Ranma first fighting all the journeymen level students in the dojo. After making a series of calls Chud-ro returned and began to make comments, pointing out where Ranma had missed this or that tell, what it should have told him about his enemy, and other things of that nature.
In response instead of being a full on spar, Ranma adopted a primarily aikido-based defense. This allowed Ranma to drag the fights out, watching his opponent watch him and learn from this how he was giving himself away. It would take a while, but Ranma knew he could learn quite a bit this way.
That this frustrated his opponents and amused Shaak, Chud-ro and the other masters who answered his summons was something Ranma missed entirely. His opponents, even 'Carla' when she took a turn could read enough in Ranma's fighting ability to realize he wasn't using his own style any longer, instead using one of the several dozen styles he had mastered. It was a show of superiority that either drew respect or irritation, and sometimes both.
At the same time Shaak began to work with a few of the masters, incorporating their ability to read tells into her own mental repertoire. She even trained against a few who had learned swordsmanship or staff-work.
Bo-Katan moved up to Ranma side after one spar, itching to take him on herself, but not at the level she needed to be to challenge him here in the training hall. "I have to say, you're not anything like I thought Jedi would be."
Ranma cocked his head at her, frowning as he replied, ignoring Shaak's earlier attempt to persuade him to not care about that comparison. "I'm not a Jedi. I just work with them."
"Work with them?" Bo asked, hiding a small smile. Well now, isn't that interesting, on many levels. Though I still have to wonder what the hell he did to get such a huge bounty placed on his head.
"Well something like that anyway," Ranma said with a shrug. "It's not like they are paying me or anything, and most of my friends are Jedi, and we do share a lot of similarities. I just don't see the Force like they do, not exactly anyway, and I'm definitely not a part of the Order. Friend yeah, part of it, no."
Bo-Katan frowned, deliberately backing away a step, as did a few of those near enough to listen, though most of the students had turned back to their own instruction, and more than half the journeymen had left to get some small medical attention. "Considering how much history this planet has had with the various Jedi/Sith wars, perhaps you should explain that."
Not that Mandalorians see that history in precisely the same way. In fact, most Mandalorians were far more favorable toward Sith, having fought alongside them more often than against them, certainly more often than they fought with Jedi.
Ranma frowned shaking his head. "Not like that, Dark and Light exist. I've seen examples of both, and I make no bones about it. But I use the Living Force, whereas Jedi, if they're even aware of the different kinds of Force, don't differentiate between that and the Unifying Force."
"What is that supposed to mean? I've never heard those terms before." 'Carla' asked frowning.
Ranma gestured at himself then her then around to the other listeners. "Living people, all living things have the Living Force within them. Anything that isn't alive, rocks, minerals, stars, gases that kind of thing has the Unifying Force within it. That kind of Force sort of binds everything together, and it's that kind of Force that most Jedi use most of the time. I never learned how to do that, I instead use the Living Force within me, and because of that I can do some things the Jedi can't, and vice-versa. Understand?"
"Only vaguely," Bo-Katan said frowning slightly, though inside she was simply listening avidly. If that part about everything living having this Living Force within them meant what she thought… "Perhaps a demonstration?"
Ranma shrugged, and turned to a training dummy that wasn't being used at present, set against the far wall. "Moko Takabashi!" As everyone around them stopped what they were doing to stare at Ranma or the training dummy which had been decapitated by the cerulean sphere, Ranma simply shrugged. "That's one of my attacks. I can't reach through the Force and grab things or anything like that though."
That was just a demonstration, something he did between one second and the next, and I bet that is only one of his attacks! And there's his durability, if that is some kind of teachable technique even the best Beskar armor would pale in comparison! The bounty can wait, I need to learn how Ranma can do that kind of thing, and if I can learn the how to do it too!
With that in mind, and the fact the Bo, as Eshani and Mandalorian, found martial ability sexy, Bo went into seduction mode. Not full on seduction, Ranma's manner told her that would be a bad idea, but flirtatious. It was amazing how men spilled their secrets to the women they slept with after all.
"So, after this would you like me to show you around the city? See the sights, maybe meet new people…partake in some local delights…" Bo said, smiling and almost batting her eyes at the taller Ranma while all around her the women's lips turned downwards in an Eshani frown at how quickly she had moved in on Ranma. Not that they disapproved of her speed, only that she had beaten them to it.
Ranma shook his head, not understanding what she was implying. "Not just yet, Shaak and I might want to at some point though, for now, we'll probably stay here until nighttime, then see about some local clothing and food. I always need new shirts, and I've lost a few pairs of pants too."
Wondering if Ranma just had blown her off, or if he was simply not reacting to what she said Bo changed the subject slightly, her need to know the answer to this question overcoming her desire to wait and get to know Ranma more. On the other hand if I don't ask, no doubt one of the others will.
"Alright, just remember I'm supposed to be your liaison while you're here. My own off-world nature will help you interact with the locals more smoothly. But back to the original topic, you said everything has this Living Force within them?"
Ranma nodded, inwardly cursing his big mouth. On the other hand, how likely is it even these Eshani can devote enough time to the art to build up their ki? Even the old masters here don't have much to speak of.
"Does that mean these techniques of yours can be learned by anyone?" Bo asked, trying not to sound like she was all that interested while around her literally everyone in the training area was trying to listen in.
Ranma frowned shrugging his shoulders, but his sense of honor wouldn't let him outright lie about the Art. "That's up to them, and it takes a shit load of time. It took me 11 years training to build up my own Living Force to the level I could start using it subconsciously, and it took me several more years beyond that to realize I could consciously use it like I just showed you."
Heh, and even then, I'm something of a prodigy, Ranma thought without any trace of false modesty. Ranma could do things with ki that no one, with the exception of Herb, who had a natural advantage, his age could do. Bringing out and using ki was literally the study of a lifetime, dozens of years devoted to a single goal, and very few martial artists ever achieved anything with it.
Staring at Ranma with her head cocked to one side Bo wondered if Ranma was lying there, or possibly making it easier than it would turn out to be.
They were interrupted as Shaak moved towards them. "Ranma, I am almost done for the day, I need some time to meditate on what I've learned here in order to fully incorporate it into my style. But master Chud-ro asked to observe our sparring."
"Fine by me," Ranma said excitedly, grinning at the Togrutan Jedi, perforce forcing Bo to turn toward her too. "Are you going to be using your lightsaber or not?"
"I think I will. Will you?"
Bo-Katan's eyes lit up at this as did many of the other locals. Even though most Echani users disdain weapons, there was artistry to lightsaber combat which they approved of.
But Ranma shook his head. "No, let's see if I can incorporate some of what I've already learned into my hand-to-hand style before trying it out with my light pike."
Shaak nodded, and the two of them moved over to the training salle. Bo-Katan and nearly every other Eshani bar a few apprentices held back by their teacher moved in the same direction, circling the sparring ring.
Ranma and Shaak stood across from one another as Shaak activated her lightsaber holding it up to her face in a salute while Ranma bowed his head. There were some mutters as a few of the journeyman noticed that Ranma didn't have a weapon, but more of approval than anything else. Bo however smirked internally, having seen his durability on display in the battle back in Coronet.
A second after saluting one another Ranma charged forward, keeping to the ground for a moment. Then as Shaak began her counterattack to his first feint he leaped into the air, his fists lashing out in a combo towards her head. Shaak used to lightsaber to this deflect or block his blows, riposting quickly, but Ranma blocked her lightsaber with his own hand, smacking it aside.
There were several frowns now among the onlookers, wondering why the Jedi was training in such a manner. After all, if Shaak's lightsaber had been on full power he would already have been disarmed, literally, many times over.
Bo-Katan however was not one of those frowning. She was simply watching avidly. She had seen Ranma take hits from blaster bolts, and it wasn't that big a stretch to imagine that his durability could stand up against lightsabers to for a second or two.
Then as Shaak forced Ranma to guard against a blow to his chest, the entire audience saw a brief flicker of light around his hand where it impacted the lightsaber. What is that?! Bo-Katan thought, leaning forward. He didn't use anything that looked like that against me and my squad, some kind of energy shield?
"Hmm, that's new Ranma," Shaak quipped, her lightsaber creating a blur around her as the sound of sizzling and fizzing filled the air of the training hall. She wasn't speaking of the Force shield however, but the speed with which Ranma was bringing it out and then dissipating it.
"New, but not as worth it as I thought, stopping your lightsaber is still really draining even cutting down on the amount of time I have my ki shield up!" Ranma grunted, before ducking under a blow that had been aimed at his shoulder.
A second later Ranma grabbed the end of Shaak's lightsaber, intent on taking the momentum of the battle back. His hand glowed with his Living Force Shield as he directed a series of blows toward Shaak's body with his other hand and legs.
But she blocked a few of his punches with her own off-hand and legs, moving around him and wrenching her lightsaber blade out of his hand, bringing it up and down. At the same time she lashed out with two Force Pushes in quick succession, one subtle one trying to disrupt Ranma's footwork, the other an overpowered thrust sent solely at his right shoulder.
Ranma quickly adjusted to the footwork, but twisted his body with the blow from the Force so it didn't take him off his stride. This allowed Shaak to gain the upper hand for a moment, pressing him backwards.
Again and again Ranma batted aside or dodged Shaak's lightsaber, which was moving in an intricate pattern now, well above the skills most of the watchers had seen before and surprising even Chud-ro. She is very good! I have not seen the like before. And her style even with a lightsaber is far more of a singular creation than I would have expected from a Knight. It is a mix of several different types, into one extremely effective whole.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing Chud-ro or the other Eshani could tell from watching the spar. There was enjoyment there, a desire to challenge, a sense of deep friendship, and something else too, something he had never thought to see in a fight involving a Jedi. Interest in one another, and is that actual love I see? Oh that was very good!
That last thought was from a series of exchanges between the two combatants. Ranma had taken the offense again, a few punches having landed in Shaak's midriff while her lightsaber was out of position for a brief second.
But Shaak replied by Force grabbing both his hands and holding him still for a lightsaber strike to the upper shoulder.
Ranma broke her grip one of his hands rising and blocking the blow, but Shaak moved with his riposted flinging herself around to come in again lowdown, forcing Ranma into the air. And instead of trying to close or press her advantage, which Shaak knew was foolish, she sent a series of Force Pushes at him, trying to keep him away from her as she recovered her breath.
In response Ranma moved with the attacks, letting himself be moved here and there through the air, only using his ki to break a Force Hold at the very end, landing before hurling himself forward quickly.
Again and again the two met and sparks flew from his ki shield and her lightsaber. The match began to grind out into a stalemate, with Ranma having fun trying to incorporate his new ability to read his opponent's more subtle moves, and Shaak simply getting a kick out of fighting Ranma as she always did, her Force Precognition against his sheer speed and strength.
Bo-Katan looked around as she heard a gasp and a, "oh wow" from young neophyte next to her. He was a boy of barely 15, his features the normal Eshani narrow face and silver hair. He was blushing visibly, his white skin showing it easily, an odd reaction from an Eshani with their lack of facial expressions. Nor was he the only one, several other people around her were also flushed, and one man went so far as to actually lick his lips as he looked at Shaak.
Okay, what am I missing here? I mean I suppose the Togrutan is attractive, but not that attractive, and why the hells are some of the other women blushing too? Sighing and rather irritated to once more prove her ignorance in terms of the local customs, she elbowed an older journeyman who was standing next to her. "What is it?"
He turned to her, his eyes slightly wide before he remembered that she was of off-planet descent and hadn't been raised in the Eshani culture. "You know of course how sparring like is sometimes used as courtship among us?"
"Yes, of course." Bo replied, trying not to roll her eyes. Of course I know that I'm the result of that type of courtship! She hadn't been shy about telling people who asked her past that either "but what about their body language bothers you so much?"
"Sparring can also be flirting, and that is what this fight is… Really, really good flirting."
Bo-Katan turned back, watching the fight more closely now, frowning internally.
Indeed now that she was looking for it, she could see a few signs which could be taken to mean what the locals seemed to be seeing. Ranma and Shaak danced around one another their limbs flashing into attack or defend. But occasionally one hand or the other touched side, chest or shoulder, in a way to indicate a blow, but also in a way a small caress. Then there was the look in their eyes, especially when those eyes locked on one another, and those smiles…
By the Ancients, they're right! But, but the Jedi aren't allowed to form attachments! What the hells is going on here!? Does Shaak even realize what's going on? Does he? She thought, remembering how Ranma hadn't seemed to notice her attempts to flirt with him. This is very strange.
"Enough! Enough! I'm afraid I can't allow you to monopolize our sparring area for much longer my friends," Chud-ro said clapping his hands and bowing slightly over them, the Eshani way of paying respects.
Which he was, and for far more than the martial skills on display. He could tell that this couple was indeed a couple, and Chud-ro was immensely happy for them, the love they seemed to share was obvious to him. He was also pleased that a Jedi would be willing to feel emotions like that and let them show. It spoke well of Shaak personally, and possibly of a change to the Order as a whole which could only be to the good.
Ranma and Shaak paused, with Ranma having grabbed one of Shaak's hands and pulled her against his chest, his other hand having pushed her lightsaber up and out, holding it there as he stared down at her with a grin on his face. Now consciously aware of their audience for the first time since the fight began both flushed slightly, moving away from one another quickly, not realizing that it was far too late for anyone in this particular audience to not be aware of their feelings.
As they did so however, the awning that protected the open air training area ripped and tore, letting the rain inside. This of course meant that everyone present was witness to Ranma's transformation with the now normal reactions following quickly.
"Oh come on!" Ranma shouted, shaking her fist at the sky while Shaak sighed moving over to pick up her robe, carefully hiding a small smile at her lover's misfortune.
Sighing Ranma turned to the crowd. "It's a weird ass Force curse, yes I was born a guy, no nothing important changes mentally and yes everything works. Any questions, no? Good!" Ranma sighed again, looking down at her shirt which thankfully had been black but not so thankfully was rather formfitting now. God I am so sick and tired of explaining that!
Later the rain finally ended, allowing Ranma and Shaak to take the evening to walk around Outreach with Carla to escort them. Watching their local guide answer a question from Ranma, Shaak pondered the other woman for a few moments. There was something about Carla which was ringing as false through her Force senses, but she was not dangerous to them, nothing overt anyway. There was just something there telling Shaak that Carla was more than she appeared.
She wondered about that, but not enough to bring them up her suspicions up at the moment. After all, Shaak was also a little leery of the girl because she seemed interested in Ranma, and she wondered if the Force was telling her something about that or if she was simply seeing too much into that, letting her concerns color her Force senses.
Ranma stopped outside a store, indicating Shaak shouldn't follow him, and came out wearing some of the local clothing. Bo-Katan stared, smirking slightly as her eyes roved up-and-down Ranma's body, shaking her head. I know I should be more interested in learning his techniques but damn if he doesn't look good! Pity about the curse or whatever it is, and that he's the Death Watch's target. It'll be a shame to kill him.
She tried to keep that thought away, burying it under her appreciation for Ranma hoping that the Jedi hadn't felt that or whatever it was they did to souse out secrets and liars. She knew that their Force magic powers weren't all they were cracked up to be, after all the Mandalorians had quite a bit of success fighting them over the years, but even so….
"Hmm, good material I need to look into getting a few more shirts myself," 'Carla' said, reaching forward to touch Ranma's shirt. That this allowed her to run her hands down on of his pecs was just a bonus, really...
She felt Shaak watching her, and cocked her head to the Togrutan Jedi before changing the subject. "By the way, how long do you think you'll stay on Eshan?"
"What do you think Shaak?" Ranma asked, turning to Shaak as well, a smile on her his face as he did. "And you've got the most to learn here I'm sad to say, so you should be the one to decide how long we're here."
"I think you look good," Shaak said simply shrugging her shoulders. "And given how much damage some of your shirts of taken, it might be a good idea to gather some more up. As for how long, a few months possibly. Depending on how long it takes us to learn the local martial art, and incorporated into our own styles.
"You realize that we will be learning just as much from you?" Bo-Katan asked. "The master asked me to mention that, as it is seen as bad form to take techniques from other styles without the owner's permission."
"Why would that be?" Ranma asked cocking his head in sheer incomprehension. After all, the Anything Goes style was based off taking moves and techniques from others, and doing so while learning from said or during a spar was simply the way the world worked to Ranma. Stealing scrolls of other hidden techniques of course was beyond the pale.
"It's called manners Ranma, don't worry we'll sit down and I'll explain it to you someday. Possibly with some kind of visual aid." Shaak said drolly.
Ranma rolled his eyes pushing Shaak's shoulder lightly and Shaak smirked, causing Bo-Katan to frown at the interplay. He can't be with her, can he? Besides, humane and Togrutans can't breed! All the parts lineup, but nothing happens. She then smirked, her memory going back to the fight on Corellia and the sparring she'd seen today Besides, he's a warrior, he doesn't belong with a bleeding-heart Jedi, he belongs with…
Bo's thoughts broke off and she shook her head. I can't be that interested in him already, can I? Damn Eshani heritage!
Remember the mission, she thought, deliberately turning away so that neither Shaak nor Ranma could see her face. It was thought among Mandalorians that being able to read a person's expressions made Jedi powers more accurate. I can't be falling for him, I barely know him! Okay, yes he sexy as hell, but he's younger than me, and he's our target! Remember that Bo-Katan Kryze, learn from him sure but then forget about it and remember the mission!
Shaking her head she turned back to Ranma and Shaak, putting on her 'helpful local with off-world blood character once more. "So, do you want to pick up some food for your stay or ae you going to eat out every night? And are there any other sites you want to see?"
OOOOOOO
While one of their members was getting close to Ranma and Shaak, the Death Watch was busy elsewhere gathering their numbers. At full strength, the Death Watch currently had 1,200 blooded warriors on the roster, along with several starships. They didn't have a real fleet, and only twenty of their ships had any kind of combat ability, the jewel of which were four nearly new Z-95 headhunters. They were goodships, decent shielding, with decent armament, given to one of the Death Watch's companies by one of their clients in lieu of coin.
The other ships were cargo ships of different types retrofitted to transport people. Their shields had been heavily modified over the years, but there was no way to add much offensive capability beyond a few quad lasers here and there while also hiding their purpose to any Republic inspector.
However bringing all of those warrior together was proving difficult even for Chief Vizla, the titular leader of the organization. While he had a core of eight hundred or so warriors willing to follow his lead whatever he wanted, the others were not so quick to obey him.
Chief Vizla scowled shaking his head as he looked across the table at one of the holographic projections, one of several who were protesting his recall. "I understand your reasoning, but you didn't fight him. This target is insanely dangerous. Imagine the greatest Jedi scum you can think of then multiply his abilities fivefold."
"Apparently neither did you." said the man across from him, one of the other higher up Death Watch officers. He was a newcomer named Tanner, but as he was also heir to a clan he'd been given his own squad command immediately. Since then he had successfully lead a few mercenary operations, but Vizla didn't trust him to understand what it really meant to be in the Death Watch. "By your own report you fought a droid, not the target himself."
"True," Vizla said after a moment, spent clenching his teeth. "I fought his droid, a droid that fought us, an entire squad of Death Watch veterans and made us retreat while another squad ran straight into its master, and was badly mauled. I might not have been in on that fight, but I can tell you about his android. And if this Ranma's abilities are anywhere close, to what reports I now have access to, we will need the numbers."
"All of us, 1,200 Warriors? You can't be serious." The younger man scoffed.
Vizla stared at the man, then around at several of the others. All but his staunchest supporters were looking a little poleaxed by his decision to bring the entire Death Watch together. They'd have to break several lucrative agreements with a few crime lords here and there, including one with the seemingly slowly reconstituting Black Sun, which might be a bad thing in the long term. The rest of the underworld knew not to cross the Death Watch, but the Black Sun, if it got itself all pointed in one direction again, might be too big and too spread out to care about reprisals.
Wordlessly Vizla shook his head. "I've gathered new information about our target," he said slowly, tapping a few buttons on the table in front of him. That sent out several hundred lines of notation to each of the men taking part in this discussion along with a few security recordings. One of the security recordings was from the fight on Corellia, which he had acquired right before leaving the system.
All of the other Mandalorians leaned forward, watching the footage for a few moments, then silently reading the information. One of them growled shaking his head. "Why didn't you have this information in the first place, surely whoever is behind this bounty must have known most of this? You lead your men into a battlefield that favored your enemy far more than your own troops!"
"The information were still being compiled apparently," chief Vizla said, his own tone showing what he thought about that excuse. "But we have it now, and can plan accordingly.
The other man nodded while a few others looked interested in precisely where the information came from, but Vizla didn't say anything further. Truthfully, with what he was being offered long-term, even if he had to go in blind against Ranma he would've done it. He'd be willing to feed the entire Death Watch into that fire blind if he had to. "Does anyone else think we won't need the full Death Watch for this?"
"No," said the man who had initially questioned him, Tanner Kildreen of clan Kildreen. "No I understand that. Especially if he's traveling with a Jedi. Still, I'm wondering if we're beginning to overanalyze this. If he's that good and durable for whatever reason, then surely trying to fight him in space would be a better idea?"
"It would if we had more starfighters," chief Vizla said with a shrug, to which everyone there nodded and he continued. "I already have a spy watching this Ranma character and his Jedi minder, though the planet they are on is not a good place for us to try and attack them. Eshan."
More than one Mandalorian winced. Eshan would be a nightmare for any attacker, even if you were only there to attack an individual. The locals would take any attack on their planet poorly, with disastrous results for the attackers, something the Mandalorians knew very well, having attempted that very thing during the first round of their wars of conquest.
"Sound planning there." said another commander, frowning thoughtfully. "Very well, I'll agree to bring my people in."
One by one the other holograms all nodded, and disconnected.
"Nearly 1,200 Mandalorian warriors, all of them veterans for the most part," chief Vizla said aloud in the now empty room, smiling proudly. "That will be more than enough to kill this bastard, and after, with everything I've been promised, the New Mandalorians will suddenly find themselves with a very real threat to their highhanded control of Mandalore."
He'd actually wanted to gather more men, but the Death Watch name was still against their recruitment efforts. Let a few more years past, let the New Mandalorians be in power for another decade and then Vizla would see how many people were willing to sign up with even the Death Watch if it gave them a chance to still remain real Mandalorians.
OOOOOOO
The Death Watch was not the only group interested in taking Ranma's bounty of course. Beyond the normal Bounty hunters were entire groups of criminals, gangsters, criminal organizations of all sorts were interested, sending out feelers searching for information on Ranma, his whereabouts and his abilities. The amount offered for his head was literally insane, you could buy a fleet with just one of the bounties being offered on Ranma's dual forms.
And since the 'mysterious bounty offeror' knew not to include the details on the curse lest the bounty lose credibility, it was an even more tempting target. You could buy a planet if you could get both the redhead and the black haired targets, especially since the Hutts offered almost as much for one or the other, thinking they were both the center in the Hutt's change of fortune of late and knowing they were behind Jabba and Gardulla's death.
Many thought to turn the redhead in alive to the Hutts since they would have the most fun with her. Then they could hand the man's body to the other group, whoever was actually behind that bounty. Across the Republic, thousands of ne'er-do-wells, gangsters, bounty hunters, and even a few mercenary groups saw that bounty, wondered, sent out feelers, and began to plan…
OOOOOOO
Dooku frowned thoughtfully as he stood in front of the entrance to the ancient temple the Anzati had apparently raised to the Dark Dreamer over the centuries. It was proof the Dreamer's voice went back far longer than the Jedi had ever considered, which was not a good sign.
Around him the three fellow Jedi who had been assigned to this task waited, wary. They had been attacked twice since landing by feral Anzati, and it had only been Dooku's ability to sense the attacks coming that had allowed them to beat them off.
Reaching forward with his force senses, Dooku's frown increased dramatically. There was a Dark Side user in here, of a different sort perhaps but one just as powerful as the Dark Side user Ranma and the others had faced on Naboo. That was to be expected given what they had thus far discerned about the Dark Dreamer and its effects on the Anzati who hear its call. What was worrisome was the second Dark Side user near the first, far less powerful but of the same race.
"I fear we have found young knight Tyris." He breathed sadly, shaking his head. "As for the other…" Dooku closed his eyes for a moment, and was suddenly having to push back a mental assault from inside the temple. It struck quickly, like a master Makashi attack against his mental defenses, aimed at his primal fears.
Dooku quickly brought up his Force powers, defending his mind from the attack, while the others around him gasped and defended themselves as well as they could. Master Tholme, assigned to this mission because of his knowledge of the Anzati, bore up well under the assault, beating it back with little difficulty.
Knight Sofani, a young human male assigned to the mission as both pilot and a decent tracker, nearly succumbed but regained control of himself. Beside Sofani Knight Clorio, a middle-aged Ishi Tib whose padawan had died recently in a freak shuttle accident, went to one knee. His body was shivering and shaking but he eventually threw off the attack, gasping with the exertion.
"GRAHHHHHH!" At a signal through the Force a horde of Anzati emerged from the jungle all around them. Goaded into attack by the voice of their god and their own hunger for the Soup they charged, their faces and hands bestial, their small tentacle feeders stretched before them like the fangs of mindless beasts, which was in fact what they had become.
"Defend yourselves!" Dooku bellowed, moving through the others, his dueling style lightsaber activating as he brought it up into an on guard position. Then with no warning just as the Anzati reached them he lashed out with a Force push of monstrous power, smashing the horde away through the air back into the woods.
Tholme cocked an eyebrow at the older master. "That was… impressive."
"Not impressive enough, they will return. But the mindless Anzati are not our true objective." Dooku replied briskly. "Come, into the temple."
The others nodded and moved into the temple with Dooku in the lead. Tholme, knowing the others could guard him, tried to reach out through the Force to feel out what they could be facing once more, only for his senses to be blocked almost immediately. It was as if the Dark Side, whose power had been on the rise throughout the Force, had gathered even more strongly here, blocking all attempts to pierce it. "Whoever is down there is now blocking our senses," he said aloud.
"Indeed. But before, I sensed at least two Dark Side users, a master and an apprentice. Do you agree?" Tholme asked.
"I do. And like you I am sad to say the apprentice feels like our wayward knight." Tholme replied, shaking his head.
As Tholme finished speaking they came out of the tunnel into a small open area inside the temple, where the tunnel split off into three. One went straight ahead, the others to either side at right angles. From all of them came more feral Anzati, but these were all armed with large vibro-swords and came forward in a far more controlled rush.
"Knights work together to the left, Master Tholme if you would take the right, I will endeavor to take the middle." Dooku said calmly.
"Agreed," Tholme replied just as calmly, moving to take that position as the two knights moved to the other, their lightsabers, both blue, moving as one. Both knights were followers of the Soresu style, which allowed them to work together easily despite never having done it before.
Tholme was a proponent of the dual forms of Shien and Djem So. Djem so served him decently well against bladed opponents. He had also studied with the Anzati Brotherhood of assassins, and knew what to expect. "They will use their weapons to try and engage yours then try to grapple with you in order to drink your Soup, do not let them." He said calmly even as his lightsaber flashed forward, bisecting the first vibroblade and the Anzati holding it.
Dooku nodded, but then moved forward, his lightsaber flashing so fast that even Tholme had trouble following it. The first four Anzati found themselves dead before they even knew they were within range of his weapon and he moved on, slashing hacking and dancing around his enemies.
On the other hand, the two Jedi knights barely held their own, and were slowly pushed back into the area where the three paths converged. Tholme and Dooku both felt this, and fell back in turn hoping to help them if need be.
Then from the entrance came another bestial roar. "GRAAHHHH!" More feral Anzati had arrived.
Tholme found himself back to back with Dooku as the two knights fought desperately nearby. "Forge down one of the passages and hold them! we can't let ourselves be attacked from four directions at once!"
"Indeed, together then?" Dooku replied calmly.
Nodding Tholme reached out with the Force, merging his own Force Push with Dooku's. The Force Push slammed into and through the attackers that had originally come from the left side, scattering them. The two beleaguered knights quickly followed the two masters, killing the downed Anzati and racing ahead of their pursuers.
"We must cut off the head of this particular snake," Dooku said still running ahead of the others.
"Agreed. Do you think you can handle them? I fear neither of our fellows would survive if we leave them alone.
"I believe so yes." With that Dooku turned to the wall of the temple, his lightsaber flashing as he cut into it and the floor. Lifting out the chunk of stone with the Force he hurled it down the tunnel towards the Anzati, but even the ferals had enough presence of mind to dodge the rocks.
He then leaped down to the next level only a few yard below him. Above Dooku the Anzati closed in, the majority of them now coming from one direction toward the weakening, slowly tiring Jedi. But some came from the other side too, which forced the knights to face that direction for a time while Tholme held back the main rush.
Landing he made his way toward where he had initially felt the two Dark Side users, which thankfully was down one side of the corridor he found himself in. And even better, the near and completely feral anzati had concentrated their numbers on the floor above them. Why is it that no one, not even many Jedi, remember that lightsabers can be used to make our own way around buildings? Ahh well, their loss, my gain.
Soon Dooku found himself exiting the tunnel out into another open area, this one much larger than the intersection above. Indeed it was set up like a throne room almost, with an actual stone throne set on a dais at the far end. In the center of the room several chains hung from the ceiling, with what looked like a loop of iron connecting two of them. It was obvious they should have been connected to the other two as well, but the metal there had been sheared clean. Scattered around the floor directly beneath and around it was what looked like pieces of crystal. It looked as if either an explosion had shattered a giant crystal, or someone had cut into the giant crystal in a haphazard manner until it just fell apart.
In front of the dais stood two Anzati, watching calmly as Dooku entered. One of them was an older man looking somewhere around Tholme's age, though of course as an Anzati that was undoubtedly misleading. He had long dark black hair and gray skin with deep-set eyes. He wore a traditional Jedi's robes though in drab black and grey rather than the normal tan or off white. At his side he wore a jet black lightsaber hilt.
The other was young, but in himit was certainly a correct representative of her age. He wore a normal Jedi outfit, and had a silver lightsaber hilt at his side. His eyes were vacant as he stared toward Dooku, almost but not quite as mindless seeming as the Anzati above them. "Welcome Master Jedi. Welcome to my former prison, and the seat of the new Anzati Empire."
Dooku cocked his head, his lightsaber ready at his side as he walked forward. "Master Karkko, your likeness is still kept in the secret files of the Jedi Praxium. I had hoped that the tale of your sealing was an exaggeration. Alas I see it was not."
"Indeed not. My fellow Jedi masters feared me, but refused to kill me, thinking that if they but keep me from the Soup that I would return to the Light. Fools! As if any who truly felt the power of the Sith would ever return to the weakness of the Light."
"And young Tyris?" Dooku asked, moving toward the other two, who slowly separated as he came, looking to encircle him. He stood, smiling faintly now as his Force senses began to reach out, fighting against the miasma of Dark energy that engulfed the entire temple-like structure.
"Niko heard my call, but unlike most of my worshippers he knew it for what it was yet still came to search me out, to learn from me. He freed me, and in return I have taught him much already and will continue to teach more. He will be my general as we rise to Empire!"
Karkko chuckled madly shaking his head as he and his new apprentice activated their lightsabers as one, their humming joining that of Dooku's to fill the throne room completely. "I can feel the Dark Side, it's power is far more now than it was when I was imprisoned! I cannot feel the reason behind it, but all that power is just waiting for a hand, a Sith hand to control it! I will be unto a god!"
He sobered as the two of them moved toward Dooku, now only separated by a few yards. "You can join me Master Dooku. Yes, I know who you are as well, young Niko mentioned you very favorably as a Jedi who has questioned the Order's methods of late, and who is acknowledged as a master duelist. I could use you in my empire."
So, not only is Karkko not the one behind that Dark Side user from Naboo, but he has no insight into who it could be. And Tyris doesn't know anything about Ranma or what new techniques I have. Excellent.
"I think not." Dooku said aloud. Then without any warning or even a sign of his readiness Dooku lashed out with a Force Push along the ground of the throne room.
The bits and pieces of crystal were all picked up and hurled toward Tyris. He dodged backward, his lightsaber flashing and blocking the pieces, cutting them further but not blocking them with his own Force powers, something Dooku noticed before turning his attention on Karkko.
Karrko launched his own distance attack, a blast of Sith Lightning that Dooku parried away into the floor before trying to send it right back at Karrko. The Sith Wizard stopped that attack and came in with his lightsaber swinging high then low in an intricate display of Shi-Cho and a few attacks from Ataru.
Dooku backed away, taking up a defensive stance as he felt the Anzati master reach through the Force battering against Dooku's mental defenses, trying to instill him with fear while pressing him physically. Makashi however was an excellent style for one on one fights like this, and Dooku was its acknowledged master throughout the Order, which allowed him to concentrate half of his attention on the mental assault. "Hmm… you seem to have slowed down while in your stasis, whatever that might have been. Or were all Jedi masters back then so poor in their dueling skills?"
"You know nothing!" Karkko snarled, locking blades with Dooku. "We could do things with the Force your neutered Order could never do, would never allow! You are weak, too afraid of the Dark Side to truly understand power! I slew several Council members of my own time, and you are nothing to even the least of them!"
"Yet here I still stand." Dooku commented his voice still strong showing no sign of the strain he was under, even tucking one hand behind his back while he used his lightsaber one handed as always. The act wasn't a hindrance to his lightsaber style it was simply a show of contempt.
Indeed, it wasn't the physical contest that was bothering Dooku, but the mental. After so long trying to reconstruct Ranma's speed techniques and training his Force Precognition and body to keep with the pigtailed youth Karkko was no physical threat.
The mental side was another thing entirely. The mental assault, the sense of fear Karkko was trying to send directly into Dooku's brain, kept Dooku from pressing his physical advantage, and battered against his mental defenses so much his Force Precognition was hampered badly. It was a show of control that was simply incredible.
In return Dooku was trying to set up a trap, using his own Force Precognition to hamper Karkko's and hiding his intentions while also needling the man, backing away and using as little physical energy as possible, letting his mastery of Makashi do its work and hopefully tiring the ancient Anzati Master out.
But then young Tyris joined in, having finished off the last of the crystals Dooku had thrown at him. He charged forward, his lightsaber lashing out and down at Dooku out of an attack from Ataru. He began to bounce and jump around, looking for openings from every side.
Dooku shook his head slightly, lightsaber flashing faster now, blocking both of them as he kept circling, stopping his two assailants from being able to attack him from both front and back at once. His lack of movements and controlled style seemed to throw both of them off their attacks occasionally, but for a time Karkko's mental pressure kept Dooku from taking advantage.
Then as he leaped up over a low assault from Karrko, Karrko made a mistake. The mental assault cut off for a second as the self-taught Sith lashed out with Sith Lightning instead, intending to fry Dooku as he was in the air.
But Dooku lashed out with the Force, grabbing Karrko's hands and forcing the attack upwards while at the same time lashing out with his lightsaber, blocking Tyris's attack. Their blades locked and then Dooku's hand came out from behind his back to smash with punishing force into the young Knight's head. He fell backwards, shaking his head woozily and Dooku landed launching into his first attack of the battle.
His lightsaber flashed here there and everywhere, slicing slashing and thrusting, pushing Karrko backwards. Now it was Karkko's turn to try to regain his footing, unable to summon up the concentration to renew the mental assault being pressed back as he was physically.
"As I said, I think your abilities faded overmuch in your imprisonment, or simply were never, what is the phrase, up to snuff? What they were cracked up to be? Or perhaps your reliance on your Sith abilities has kept you away from practicing your actual lightsaber skills?" Dooku taunted as he kept up the assault, still mindful of the knight behind him.
Karkko tried to set himself, tried to overcome the master duelist, and when Tyris rejoined the battle he took the chance. Backing up he blocked an overhead blow from Dooku, locking their blades as he tried to direct his Force power into a renewed mental assault.
But Dooku felt him gather his Force powers and, ducking under an attack from Tyris stepped backwards, letting the momentum from Karkko's attack push him away in a circle so they were both in front of him. Before the Ataru using Knight could move away, Dooku launched himself into a new attack with his lightsaber flashing into the speed technique that he had developed after fighting with Ranma.
His own Force Precognition screaming at him Karkko backed away, letting his lightsaber fall in order to try and bring up a Sith Lightning assault. But then he screamed as his hand was sliced off just below the elbow, the limb burned clear through by the plasma of Dooku's lightsaber. "ARHHHH!"
Karkko fell back and Dooku whirled, his speed assault swiftly overwhelming Tyris but he didn't go for the kill. Instead Dooku knocked his lightsaber out of position then actually kicked out, taking the younger man's knee out and then lashing out with a Force Push, sending him flying headfirst into the far wall with concussion inducing force.
The Anzati Knight fell boneless to the ground and Dooku whirled, his lightsaber coming around in a vicious arc. Karkko had just grabbed up his lightsaber in his remaining hand, but he couldn't interpose his blade in time. Dooku's lightsaber cut him in two from one side to the other right above his belt buckle. "GUUhh…."
Dooku stared down at the dying self-proclaimed Sith, shaking his head. "Unlike the masters of your original time, I never had any inclination to imprison you again." He said coldly, watching as the Anzati's eyes dimmed in death.
Sighing faintly Dooku took stock of his body, shaking his head at how… good he felt. A fight like this should have exhausted him, especially on top of the battle to get here in the first place and the two ambushes they had fought through before even reaching the temple. My word, Ranma's training certainly has helped my endurance, I haven't felt this good, this young in years!
Shaking his head, Dooku made his way over to the downed knight. After making certain he was unconscious Dooku ripped off a portion of his robe, covering his jaw and mouth and tying it tightly around his head so that the proboscis the Anzati used to drink 'The Soup' could not pop out. It was a temporary solution of course, but Dooku could only hope the man hadn't actually tasted any of said substance while under Karkko's influence. If he had, there might be no hope for him.
But that thankfully will be something the Healers will need to decide. All I can do is keep him under control.
A commotion near the entrance to the throne room drew his attention for a moment as Knight Sofani and Master Tholme entered. Dooku frowned, looking at Tholme. "Knight Clorio?"
"Clorio had passed on. He was pulled down by a feral Anzati he thought dead, and the Anzati fed on Clorio's Soup before we could come to his aid." Tholme shook his head. "The ferals are dead or fled however, which at least means we might have an easier time of it getting back to our ship. And I see it was Karkko as we feared, and you, you dealt with both Tyris and Karkko…"
Tholme moved to kneel down next to Dooku while Sofani guarded the entrance just in case. Tholme took out a few manacles, which he quickly put on Tyris. They were gene-locked, only he could ever open them. As he was working he looked at Dooku with something approaching shock showing through his habitual Jedi dourness. "You took them both on? Karkko alone was supposedly a match for the entire Jedi Council of his own time. And Tyris is supposedly a decent blade for a knight."
"After sparring with Ranma they were both rather slow and weak actually. It was Karkko's mental attacks and his Sith abilities which made him a real threat. But I was able to compensate." Dooku replied dryly, shaking his head. "Now, how do we help young Tyris here? Should we head to Anzat or back to the temple?"
OOOOOOO
The next day after their arrival, Bo-Katan nee Carla showed up at the house assigned to Ranma and Shaak Ti, eager to try to get close to Ranma. She couldn't help it really, she was just too damn interested in his abilities, and his body. Ranma's abilities, and the fact they might be learnable by someone didn't have the mysterious Force was a lure no Mandalorian or Eshani could ignore. His curse was… odd, and Bo really had no idea how to react to it, but for now that was a minor issue.
She knew that Shaak had gone shopping alone that morning, hoping to pick up some pants for herself the better to fit in with the Eshani, since she had no wish to show off her normal training garb around that many people. Bo-Katan had hoped to catch Ranma alone that morning because of this, only to find him gone from their rooms.
HK answered the door and from his towering height (HK's body was about 8' 6", while Bo was on the short side at 5' 9") glared down at the Eshani who was not an Eshani. "Rote response: Hello, this is the temporary residence of Ranma Saotome. Are you here to challenge, attack, or woo?"
"Um, what?" Bo asked, her voice deadpan, despite being somewhat intimidated by the large assassin droid, knowing it had taken on Chief Vizla and his squad.
"Amused Tone: my master has told this one and the Mistress of how often he was challenged or attacked at home when he was younger, so the Mistress and I decided to be proactive in responding to similar occurrences. Given how often my master was challenged to sparring matches last evening alone it seems to have been a good idea."
"Yes, well around here choice one and three are nearly the same thing at times," Bo said, shaking her head. "So am I to take it Ranma's not here?"
"Bored response: Of course not, else I would not have answered the door. He left this morning to see about organizing a trip up into the mountains."
Sighing irritably Bo turned and left without another word. After all, why would anyone waste social niceties on a droid? HK let out an electronic noise, the android equivalent of a snort, before closing the door once more.
Moving through the city Bo tried to think about where Ranma would have gone. After all, she hadn't been here for that long herself. About five blocks away from the hotel house she stopped, seeing a flash of black hair bouncing around the rooftops to the left of where she was walking. "What… the…"
Curious Bo moved in that direction, jumping up onto a car and then from there jumped again, her hands grabbing the edge of the rooftop. She pulled herself up easily enough then made her way over to where Ranma was apparently hiding from someone on the streets below, his head barely peeking out over the lip of the roof as he stared at them. "What are you doing?"
"Gahmm!" Ranma twitched, nearly falling forward off the sloped roof as one hand rose to stifle his mouth from the shout of surprise Bo's arrival had caused. He quickly turned and glared at her, then moved away from the edge of the roof. "Don't do that!" He hissed lowly.
"What are you doing?" Bo repeated, one eyebrow rising in amusement.
"Just look for yourself." Ranma groaned shaking her head.
Bo did so, frowning as she saw a group of six young Eshani, four girls and two boys. They were all looking around them, obviously searching for something. She looked up at Ranma and he shuddered. "Fangirls."
"And boys too, I note," Bo said with a grin, now understanding what was going on. "Well given the Eshani view of strength of the body you probably should have expected something like this."
"How?!" Ranma groaned, and Bo laughed.
"Strength of the body is beauty here, Ranma." Bo shrugged. "You have to understand how intrinsically connected the martial arts ideal is to the Eshani culture. Everyone here learns Echani to a greater or lesser degree, and the idea of knowing someone through combat is the bedrock of a lot of the interaction between Eshani. Strength of the body is beauty here." And you're pretty damn handsome on top of that…
"Ughh… any way to discourage them?" Ranma asked, turning away and moving over the roof to another corner.
"Most men would be happy to have several women after them…" Bo teased as she followed him, though mostly to see what his reaction would be. After all, if he really was somehow with the Togrutan Jedi, then this would tell her that.
"Not me," Ranma said bluntly, shaking his head. "I had to deal with 'admirers' before of both genders, I really don't want to have to deal with them here."
"There's a story behind that, you'll have to tell me sometime. I…" Bo stopped speaking, watching as Ranma leaped over the two of three yards of the street below them to the next roof over without any kind of buildup. I know that shouldn't shock me after his show yesterday but damn!
He stopped as she stopped speaking only to turn to her with a grin. "You coming?"
Bo growled at the challenge in Ranma's tone, then backed away from the edge of the roof, getting a run up before hurling herself forward over the gape, she landed, rolling forward for a second before hopping to her feet, glaring at him.
"Meh, not bad, at least you're not afraid of heights." Ranma laughed. "But answer the question, any way to discourage the fangirls and boys?"
"Probably not in terms of them challenging you to spars. And sparring is flirting here, so no to that. Being serious about chasing you down, maybe." Bo shrugged. "Get with the various masters and get the word that you'll only accept challenges from masters, that could help, especially if you set up a time every day where you'd be open to everyone. I'll tell people that when you're not actually at one of the training areas you don't want to be challenged, but I doubt that will make much of a difference."
"Argh. Ah well, I guess that's what I get for not looking further into the local society. So long as I'm not going to find any boys or girls trying to ambush me in the shower or bed for a spar or, um, other things," Ranma blushed, stuttering for a moment before going on. "Then I suppose I can deal with it."
"No one would do that, they are interested in you, that doesn't mean they're stalkers or sluts." Bo said with a laugh then she leaned in lightly, cocking one white eyebrow. "So, what're you up to now?"
"I was trying to find out how to get up into the mountains, I love mountaineering, all high spaces really, so I figured it would be fun. It turns out that there's actually not that much traffic going into most of the mountains, certainly not the areas I'm interested in. Figured I might find some hermits or the local equivalent, martial art masters that had retreated up there to commune with nature, there were a lot of those where I was from." Ranma shrugged. "Again, turns out that isn't the case here. Still want to go mountaineering though."
Bo laughed, shaking her head. "Why don't I look into that for you? After yesterday you're a minor celebrity Ranma, so it's doubtful you could do anything so simple without attracting a lot of attention. Even Knight Ti would probably have an easier time of it despite being possibly the only Togrutan on the whole planet!"
As Ranma laughed ruefully in turn Bo leaned forward, capturing his hand in her own, squeezing it hard. "In the meantime, I'd like my own chance to spar with you if that's alright? Not just in unarmed combat, but armed too, I prefer weapons frankly."
Within minutes the two of them had moved back to Ranma's current domicile and into the small, open-air training area at the back. Bo had stopped for a second at her own rented apartment to grab up a few training weapons, a long blunt knife and a gauntlet with little electrical shockers fit into the palms and fingers. She grinned, taking up a stance with her knife held down low the point facing towards Ranma as she held her hand up by her face, palm open.
Taking in her stance and weapons Ranma frowned, the sight niggling his memory for a moment, but he couldn't place it. Meh, probably not important. "HK, want to count the time?"
"Apathetic drone: If I cannot participate, I suppose so. 1, 2, 3."
At three Bo shot forward, her knife held low in a feint before she whirled to the side in a spinning high kick. Ranma however didn't fall for her feint, and simply caught her foot as easily as if she was a child, tossing her aside. "Yeah see, this is why I said I wasn't certain how much I could get out of the local martial arts styles."
Bo grunted, rolling along the ground before kicking off and coming in on the attack again. Damn it, he's so strong! And I'm not good enough or fast enough to keep up! The locals might be able to read his responses, but I can't, and my weapons don't even seem to worry him at all!
The reason for this became apparent when Ranma caught the blade of her knife between two fingers, then made a twisting motion with said fingers, shattering it. The sight both astonished and enraged Bo. "Damn it, that was my knife you kriffing bastard!" she shouted, aiming a kick to Ranma's balls.
He of course blocked it, backing away slightly. "Sorry, didn't know it was your own weapon, I just wanted to prove a point. Yah can see I won't get much out of fighting you like this. I don't mind helping you train though, so long as you don't bother me all the time about it."
"Tsk, is it that much a hardship being around me?" Bo asked, her hands on her hips as she glared dangerously at the taller Ranma.
"Nah, ya seem fun and all, but I'd still want some time to train myself. Even the best has to keep training to remain the best you know." Ranma replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Okay, I can understand that sure. You're going to really have to come up with some schedule though the locals will all be after you all the time if you don't." Bo replied, scowling. "Now, let's get back to it."
OOOOOOO
Shaak sighed, shaking her head as she once again firmly rebuffed the offer of a spar from one of the locals. Master Chud-Ro had explained some of the impact Ranma and her exhibition had on the locals, but she still was a little bemused to find men flirting with her despite her Jedi robes and lightsaber. It is very odd, is this what other attractive women have to deal with all the time, or is it simply because the locals equate physical martial talent with attractiveness? Regardless, I don't think I like it. And I would have thought that if they had decided I was not a 'typical' Jedi, they would also have realized that Ranma and I are together.
That thought as always brought a smile to Shaak's face until she felt eyes on her. Looking up, Shaak saw several more of the locals, all journeymen from the day before coming towards her. There were both men and women among them, which struck Shaak as odd though perhaps down to Ranma's curse, which of course brought her mind back to how the locals should have realized they were a couple.
Now, what would Ranma do here? Her smile widening at that question Shaak suddenly turned leaping up onto a nearby rooftop and away, leaving her would-be suitors behind.
Ignoring the front door, Shaak bounced down from the roof of their hotel house to the training area in the back, landing and staring.
Their local guide Carla and Ranma looked up from where they had been in the midst of a spar apparently. Carla was on the ground, her leg flashing out into a kick which Ranma had just jumped over. Her outstretched arm, on which Shaak noticed the woman was wearing a gauntlet of some kind, had been caught by Ranma on the outside of the arm right behind the gauntlet and held there.
Ranma had stopped moving as Shaak jumped down from the rooftop, but Carla had not. She twisted her hand around in Ranma's loosening grip her hand grasping Ranma's own arm. There was a sizzle and a smell of ozone for a moment and Ranma yelped, wrenching his arm free. "OW, what the hell Carla!"
Shaak raised a sardonic eyebrow, a flare of jealousy going through her for a moment at the thought this human woman had been alone with Ranma. the sight of HK in one corner watching the activity calmed that feeling down somewhat, but it didn't go away, nibbling at the back of her mind.
For her part Carla was simply staring at Ranma, shaking her head. "That, that was a shock set to kill, you just absorbed every level of discharge this glove is rated for one after another and you don't even look singed!"
"I told you, you need to forget any sort of 'normal' physical limitation when it comes to me." Ranma laughed ,thumping his chest mock-arrogantly before turning to Shaak, his smile becoming noticeably warmer, with just a hint of teasing to it as he turned his full attention on Shaak.
That smile caused the knot of jealousy at the back of Shaak's mind to disappear, and she shook her head with a faint laugh. "Indeed, Ranma wouldn't even be able to spot normal if you gave him hints."
"Like you would?" Ranma laughed, shaking his head. "So, did you have any trouble with the locals?"
"No, which was rather off-putting, my Jedi robes were no help in staving off their interest in me." Shaak sighed, shaking her head, saying her earlier thoughts aloud. "I would have imagined they would have realized you and I were together though."
"Wait, so you really are together, as in a couple?" Carla asked, flipping up to her feet. She was drenched in sweat from head to toe, her white exercise shirt nearly see through now showing off a tight black exercise bra underneath it.
Shaak noticed that, though Ranma didn't seem walking over to put an arm around Shaak's waist and lean his head against one of her montrals. "Yep."
"Huh…" Carla nodded, her eyes looking back and forth as Shaak tried not to feel smug about Ranma's simple declaration. "That's interesting. Might not stop the locals though."
Nor me, Bo thought, Ranma was way too damn interesting, and not just in terms of the skills he could teach her, for her to leave him with a stupid, pacifistic Jedi. Probably just lays there in missionary and takes it anyway, I can show him what a real lover is like! But I'll have to be careful, subtle if at all possible though judging by how he's reacted to flirting so far that might not be possible. Still, best not to do anything to really rub it into the Togrutan's face that I'm after her man.
All ideas of simply getting close to Ranma in order to target his weaknesses had disappeared in a bare two days interaction. Not that Bo realized that just yet. She shook her head now, stretching her arms above her head, becoming somewhat annoyed that Ranma didn't seem to notice, before asking, "So, how about working out that schedule?"
With 'Carla's' help, Shaak and Ranma got in touch with the more prominent Echani masters, working out a simple schedule which was then sent to each of the cities training halls, as well as a few others elsewhere on the planet. In the mornings, Shaak would head to one of the local halls to train with the masters of said hall while Ranma would spar with HK in an open area for half the morning, taking on journeyman and above after that until lunch.
The two would meet up for lunch, sometimes with a few of the locals, sometimes not. In the afternoon, while Shaak meditated, Ranma practiced on his own or trained with the local masters. The evenings were spent exploring the city or, on several occasions, heading out in one of the local catamarans to explore the ocean. Bo set that up, and occasionally joined them, not often enough to seem intrusive, but enough so that she could continue to get closer to Ranma.
Shaak also used this time to hear cases of justice in any locals affairs those involved wanted a Jedi's opinion on. Thankfully on Eshan these were few and far between, and mostly involved off-world businesses not understanding the local society.
'Carla's' prediction that they would have problems with the locals proved accurate on two levels. One the one hand, the locals did indeed challenge both Shaak and Ranma whenever they could, and sparring was indeed flirting to the Eshani. Luckily on their fourth day on the planet Ranma made his feelings toward boys hitting on him/her very plain:
Ranma, once again in his female form, stood across from one of the youngest masters he had yet to meet, a man named Gilbridd in his own training hall. Ranma routinely changed from one form to another, in order to not get rusty with one of his bodies and to make certain he incorporated any new techniques into his various styles.
This had thrown many of the locals off, until they sparred with him, where the found out that Ranma's entire combat approach changed with his bodies. Ranma as a man was more laid back and reactionary for the most part, while in his girl form Ranma preferred to be on the attack, always taking the initiative and holding it, overwhelming her opponent unless she had a reason not to. This wasn't universal of course, Ranma could change his style between one second and the next, but those underlying principles did tend to remain the same.
Gilbridd was taller than Ranma's male body by a good foot, and wider across the shoulders than most. He was strong, fast and skilled, and unfortunately knew it. His stance showed a certain amount of arrogance, much like Ranma's own, and he crouched down his hands open as his eyes analyzed the redhead. He had heard about Ranma's Force curse, but had yet to see it in action, and even if he had it would not have bothered him, believing that he could awaken Ranma to the pleasure of his female body. "Are you ready?"
Narrowing Her eyes, Ranma twisted her body to the side, providing a smaller profile, one hand forward low, the other up high around her neck. "Yeah. On three?"
Ranma taking a stance at all would have been a warning sign to anyone who knew him, and from the sidelines Bo surprisingly picked up on this. The disguised Mandalorian winced, backing away from the edge of the training salle.
"one, two, three!" With that Gilbridd charged forward, aiming to take control of the center of the salle quickly, lashing out with punches but few kicks, always keeping control of his body as Ranma met his attacks, making certain he could pull back at any time so as to not let Ranma use the momentum to take to the air. The locals knew that like a Jedi Ranma was dangerous in the air, indeed she was more dangerous there than on the ground.
Moving around slightly Glibridd let Ranma press in, trying to maneuver the redhead into striking out at his upper body. Ranma noticed this but didn't understand why Glibridd was giving him those openings. A few moments into the spar, Ranma decided to bite and see what happened.
Ranma's fist sped past Glibridd's defense, slamming into Gilbridd's shoulder. But her taller opponent went with the blow slightly, while the arm he'd tried to defend with shot out skirting along the front of Ranma's chest as he grabbed at her side, bringing her into a grapple, his other hand coming down and around her at the same time.
Or he would have, had Ranma not broken his hold easily then before Glibridd could think Ranma's other fist slammed forward, crashing into Gilbridd's chest. Gilbridd's body lifted into the air, shooting backwards as if he had been fired out of a slug thrower over the heads of the crowd, to slam into and through the far wall of the training hall.
Ranma glared around her, pointing at the now twitching body of the young master. "No grappling, understood?" Even the minimalist Eshani found themselves nodding their heads rapidly, their eyes twitching from the short redhead to the Gilbridd's twitching body.
Even Shaak had to deal with a few fanboys. She however would simply ignore all of the signs of interest, not responding at all to them. When she trained or sparred her face and body language closed down, becoming a wall the locals threw themselves at in an attempt to get her to respond as she had to Ranma that first day, failing miserably. Then when she sparred with Ranma, her Jedi control would fade before she even stepped into the salle, and the two would once more put on a display of martial prowess and emotions that made the locals watching blush in awe.
Unfortunately, the second part of the local culture that got on Ranma and Shaak's nerves was that 'Carla' had been correct in another way too. Outside of sparring, the Eshani were actually somewhat prudish, and the Eshani were so similar to one another that anyone from off-planet stuck out like a sore thumb. This was doubly so for Shaak, given her exotic Togrutan features, and Ranma had become something of a local celebrity after that first day. So wherever they went in public, even out on the catamaran, they were watched. Shaak was somewhat used to that, having seen the same thing on many planets given her lightsaber and Jedi robes, but found it very off-putting when she was looking forward to a nice time out with her boyfriend.
Carla's attempts to flirt also irritated Shaak. Unlike the locals, Bo was subtle, never pushing the envelope, simply always around, showing off her body and trying to grab Ranma's attention. Every time Shaak saw Ranma with Carla jealousy would grow within Shaak's mind, and she found herself having trouble dealing with it. The only thing that made it go away was the fact Ranma didn't seem to notice.
One evening after deciding to stay in for the night, Shaak decided to broach this subject with Ranma. "Ranma, have you noticed how Carla tries to flirt with you?" And is there a reason why you haven't shot her down yet? Shaak thought worriedly.
"Huh?" Ranma said, turning from where he had been flipping through the channels on the TV. "Uh, no, does she?"
Shaak stared at him, then began to giggle, shaking her head as her jealousy once more left her in a rush, leaving her almost but not quite feeling tired mentally. Then she frowned, cocking her head. "You reacted to Aayla and Luminara a time or two on Kashyyyk. And that human Jedi knight what was her name, the one with the rear to die for?"
"Heh, that's a loaded question Shaak, like that whole 'does this dress make me look fat' thing women sometimes ask." Ranma shook his head in turn, his hand reaching up to run his fingers over Shaak's lekku, causing her to twitch and moan at the sensation. "I suppose I reacted to Aayla and Luminara because I had gotten to know them, and I suppose I've worked up a certain level of immunity to purely human women."
Then he laughed, his fingers still tracing up Shaak's lekku. "As for the knight with the 'rear to die for' she did trip us both and fall down onto me when we were sparring Shaak! Of course I reacted when her rear was right on top of me. It's not like I could have stopped myself, it was a purely physical reaction, and I pushed it down the moment I noticed it was happening."
"True, you did." Shaak sighed faintly, leaning into his touch, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry Ranma, this whole jealousy thing bothers me occasionally. I just don't have enough experience dealing with it."
"Heh, wish I could say the same. I still feel it though, whenever I see any of the locals try to flirt with you in their weird ass way." Ranma smirked. "Then they fail to get a reaction out of you so miserably it makes me smile."
His smile turned gentle and he stopped touching her lekku his fingers tracing to her jaw instead. "Their attention you doesn't matter to me Shaak because I know, I know, that you won't respond to them. What we have, it goes way beyond the physical, right?"
Shaak's eyes opened, locking with Ranma's own, understanding what he hadn't given voice to, and she nodded wordlessly, leaning over to kiss him lightly before pulling back. "Yes, it does, and their attention doesn't matter, nor Carla's to you. Only our attention on one another."
With that she leaned in, kissing him ardently as their arms went around one another. Slowly pulling away from the kiss, Shaak trailed kisses down Ranma's jaw as he bucked lightly beneath her. Then as she reached his collarbone Shaak bit down hard as she could. But once again her sharp teeth couldn't penetrate Ranma's skin. None of her training with him helping her jaw muscles become stronger.
She pouted before opening her mouth in a low moan as Ranma's hand trailed down her back lekku, one hand gripping her rear and pulling her onto his waist, her legs going to either side of him as he lightly pulled at her back lekku with the other. Leaning down slightly from her new vantage point Shaak kissed Ranma open mouth to open mouth, her tongue out and trying to dominate the kiss, only to find it impossible. Ranma took control for a few moments, breaking off only when they needed to breath.
Now it was his turn to trail kisses down Shaak's check and jaw, tracing her white markings for a moment, his hands busy squeezing her rear and back lekku respectively. Between kisses he asked, "Why in the world do you keep trying to bite me Shaak?"
"Mhmgmm… it's, it's my Togrutan instincts. Togrutans always try, try to mhhhm, to mark our mates I suppose. It's, it's a pure instinctual act." Shaak moaned her hips working against Ranma's waist.
"Huh…" Ranma said then leaned back, the hand on her back lekku abandoning it to move to take up one of her front lekku. As Shaak watched, still gulping in air Ranma brought the tip of the lekku up to his mouth sucking at it, his tongue twirling around the edge, causing Shaak to moan even louder, throwing her head back, her back arching.
Ranma grunted a little as this put more pressure on his physical response to her body. Shaak felt that and began to move her core against him deliberately rubbing into and down on it, her lips found his neck sucking and nipping at the skin as hard as she could, once again losing control of her Togrutan instincts.
In response Ranma bit down on the end of Shaak's lekku, sucking at the same time. Not hard of course, Ranma didn't want to break the skin, just lightly bruise it. But that was enough.
Shaak went wild, her voice rising into a near shriek as her body just went crazy, her hips rising and falling without any input from her brain as once again, Ranma caused her to orgasm, though this time it was without any kind of buildup, striking her body almost out of the blue.
Ranma grunted again, pulling back from his ministration on her lekku tip so he could grit his teeth as, with a final shudder, he too finished. He leaned back against the sofa's back as Shaak fell forward, her head practically lolling for a moment.
"Oh blessed Force that was… oh wow…that was surprising…" Shaak groaned, slowly pushing her body off Ranma's to stare at him. Ranma looked back, his eyes clouded with the after effects of his own body's reaction. Shaak leaned her forehead against his for a moment before leaning to the side to gently kiss him once before nuzzling into his neck.
The two of them fell asleep there, unmindful of HK"s return or the TV or anything else, just lost in one another.
OOOOOOO
Carla sighed as she once again made the short trek to the hotel house Ranma and Shaak were using. The past few weeks had been the most physically tiring she could ever remember, even more than her training to be squad leader or her earlier training to become a Mandalorian Warrior. She had become leagues better in the past two weeks then she had been before arriving here, and had learned how to incorporate more of her mother's Echani into her Mandalorian style than ever before.
But for all of that, her personal mission to get close to Ranma had not been going anywhere. He simply didn't notice her flirting with him if she was at all subtle, and if she wasn't he just looked uncomfortable instead of reacting as a real man should. It should be simple, I'm a woman he's a human man, there shouldn't be anything Shaak has that I don't, and I know I would make a better lover than any prudish Jedi, but he just… doesn't… seem… interested! Arghh! That was a major blow to her pride as a woman.
Worse, I still don't know how I think about his female form. That was a major sticking point for Bo. She had experimented once with a woman when she was younger, but hadn't enjoyed it at all. The other woman's curves and her kiss had actually turned Bo off, she liked hard muscles and sharp edges, not curves, and the feel of a woman's lips was also too different for her to enjoy.
Despite this, the difference in her skill from simply sparring with Ranma over the past few days was huge. Before arriving on Eshan, Bo would have rated herself an only fair to middling hand-to-hand combatant. She was far better with a blaster in her hand and her rocket pack on her back. But now, Bo felt she might have been able to take on any of the old hats at hand to hand. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, Ranma said you don't need to force to become as strong or as fast as him, and I believe him. Bo had in fact forgotten her original mission here entirely in the face of Ranma's skills.
About to round the last turn to the street where Ranma and Shaak were living Bo's thoughts juddered to a halt as she heard the two of them talking ahead of her. But it wasn't just the words, but the topic. "I do not understand why you have this fascination with the Mandalorians Ranma. I understand you wish to know your enemy, and with the Death Watch possibly gunning for you I can understand that, but your interest seems to go deeper than that."
Steeling her mind from the flare of sudden interest she had felt, Bo rounded the corner, allowing one eyebrow to quirk up as she saw the two of them. "Hello you two, I was just about to stop by and get you. Chud-Ro's training hall is closed for the day, the ground needs to be repaired after yesterday's spars. So I'm supposed to show you to one of the others."
"Gotcha," Ranma replied as Shaak nodded her head to the other woman, having the grace to look somewhat abashed. She and Ranma had gotten into it quite a bit yesterday, and a lot of the damage the ground had taken had come from Shaak's lightsaber and her Force attacks.
As 'Carla' fell in beside the two of them, she cocked her head quizzically. "You are researching the Mandalorians? And have one of their strange factions after you?"
"Yeah, though I wouldn't call the Death Watch a faction, that gives them too much credit in my mind." Ranma growled. "Pirates, raiders and cowards the lot of them. I've been looking over some of the information about them. Their credo says they want to return to the old ways of the Mandalorians from their wars of conquest. I could almost understand that, my own people went through a time where they had similar beliefs."
He snorted harshly. "Of course the difference between the ideal of honorable conquest and the reality are two different things. The horrors we inflicted on our neighbors was about as far beyond the bounds of the code of the Samurai the modern martial code of the Japanese army was supposed to be based on as anything could be. The rape of Nanking, the horrors we inflicted on our prisoners or our Philippine conquests. I've no doubt the Mandalorians of old did a lot of the same things, especially once they began to lose. Honor tends to go out the window under those circumstances."
Bo hoped to the ancients that Shaak wasn't reading her thoughts or emotions like the Jedi were supposed to be able to, or if she was, that she would think Bo's sudden spike of anxiety and interest would be about the things Ranma had just mentioned rather than his attack on the Death Watch and the ancient Mandalorians the Death Watch was supposed to act as. "I haven't heard of any of those places, or any group called the samurai, though you've mentioned a time or two about not being from around here. These samurai were warriors I suppose?"
"Yeah, a caste group which dedicated themselves to the art of combat, primarily with the sword and bow, as well as the arts like painting and other things of that nature, just to retain their humanity I suppose. They were never as honorable in person as they were supposed to be, but they were supposed to hold giri and ninjo, that is personal honor and the honor of duty to their lord, higher than anything else. The horrors the second one could lead them into often made them ignore the first."
Ranma chuckled suddenly. "Actually they are rather like the Mandalorians in other ways, they were known to wear armor complete with helmets, and specialized in wars of movement."
"The parallels are indeed interesting, though I am more interested in you translating that one book of yours Ranma, the Art of War? The bits and pieces of that you've shared are intensely thought provoking." Shaak said, smiling slightly, though her eyes were on Carla as she spoke.
"I'd be interested in that too, but what made you say the Death Watch are worse than the ancient Mandalorians were supposed to be?" 'Carla' asked, trying to keep her voice level as if it only mattered as much as any intellectual question would have.
"There's quite a bit about the Death Watch scattered around the Republic, and thanks to Shaak here I was able to access a lot of it. This new version of the Death Watch don't seem to care about what they fight for just like the last one: Protecting drug dealers, working with criminal groups, guarding slave ships and even taking and selling slaves themselves. They aren't honorable mercenaries and I doubt they have any kind of honor code they keep to. And that doesn't even consider the little civil war they had with the True Mandalorians, stabbing them in the back and forcing them to fight the Jedi, or the fact they might be behind a few terrorist style attacks throughout the Mandalore sector."
It was all Bo could do to keep her face straight. Drug dealing, slaving!? I've never heard we've been involved in that kind of thing! And what's this about stabbing the True Mandalorians in the back? "You realize of course that any kind of information like that you get via the Jedi Order would be tainted by the distrust and dislike both the Republic and Order naturally feel towards their old enemies." She said lightly.
"Yeah, I realize that, but where there's so much smoke, there's got to be some fire, you know?" Ranma said with a shrug. "No, the Death Watch is irredeemable in my eyes. Course, the New Mandalorian faction which seems to be in charge of their planet is kind of… bizarre to me too, but that's just me. Pacifists like that only really thrive when they are protected by people with very big sticks, and unfortunately the longer you deride the people with the sticks, the further you distance yourselves from that protection."
"Huh. You know, we've talked about martial arts, styles and techniques a lot, but never about codes of honor before this. It's an interesting topic I have to say. If you look down on the Mandalorian's code, what's yours like? Do you share the Jedi's?" 'Carla' asked, unable to stop herself, but she was able to keep her tone and thoughts mellow for the moment, hopefully fooling the Togrutan.
"Heh, uh, no." Ranma laughed, but his blue eyes were serious as they nailed Carla to the pavement. "I follow the Code of the martial artist. Defend the weak if you can. Strive to your utmost in the Art. Follow your own set of right and wrong, never let anyone else dictate them. Let your deeds define you, not the opinion of others. Hold life as sacred, only take it if you must." His lips twitched into a wintry, self-deprecating smirk. "That last one's been going through some revision since I… left home."
Shaak wordlessly took Ranma hand in hers, and the walk continued for a time until Carla spotted something she could use as a change of topic. "Shaak, how did you hurt the tip of the that one lekku?"
Over the next few days, Bo went out of her way to strike up conversations about the Mandalorians and the samurai every time she could get Ranma alone, along with her continued low-key flirting campaign. Said campaign hit a bump when Ranma was splashed by some cold water from a busted pipe just as Bo was going to lean into his back. To feel and see the sexy man becoming the shorter redhead was a major turn off to Bo.
Bo was careful to not broach those subjects whenever Shaak was around, even more careful than she was about flirting in front of her because B didn't want Shaak to be any more suspicious of her than she already was. Bo decided there were indeed a lot of parallels between the Mandalorians and samurai. Mandalorians were more tactically flexible, better soldiers overall and placed personal glory and honor first. The samurai were specialists, more about service to their lord and clan, and also less expansionistic.
She also kept on asking a few scattered questions here and there about the data on the Death Watch. To her horror, a lot of it looked legitimate. Indeed, she had talked to other Death Watch members who had been to a few systems named though they had never said what they were doing there.
Assassination, bounty hunting, those she was fine with. If you were important enough to assassinate you could pay others to defend you. If you had a bounty, you were dangerous enough to look after yourself.
But drug dealing, or protecting drug dealers from the law? Taking slaves and selling them to the Hutts or to some random fat slug of a senator? Attacking pleasure yachts, killing everyone aboard and lauding your attack as if you had boarded a Republic cruiser? That last, Bo had actually heard about from one of the braggarts. And if the report was the truth, then the others might be as well.
That left Bo-Katan Kryze, Mandalorian Warrior of Clan Kryze, questioning what she had done with her life, and her place in the Death Watch, let alone about the idea of taking Ranma's bounty which frankly didn't look at all possible, even if they used the entire Death Watch to the task. Which didn't even consider the rest of her discussions with Ranma about the nature of honor, and what it meant, which just so happened to not at all accidentally touch on his abilities and techniques.
Wanting to get some clarity on her feelings towards Ranma at least Bo-Katan went by the training hall where Shaak was learning from a few of the masters. She bided her time, training with a few of the journeymen, her speed and accuracy somewhat above her fellow apprentices' level. The journeymen still handled her easily enough in simple hand to hand, but put a shock gaunt and a knife in her hand and even if they were similarly armed it was a different story.
When Shaak was free and about to leave the training hall to head back to their house for a time, 'Carla' walked up to her. "Do you have time to spar with me Knight Ti?"
Shaak looked at the other woman for a moment then slowly nodded her head. "Very well. Hand to hand or weapons?"
"Full on, weapons," Bo replied somewhat tersely, already taking a stance.
Slowly nodding her head again Shaak used the Force to summon a training sword to her hand, not her lightsaber. Carla didn't have Ranma's durability or ki shield after all. A second after her weapon hit her hand Shaak raised it, blocking a blow from Carla's own weapon, a long bladed knife of some kind with an odd slight angle to the blade.
Wordlessly the two of them began to exchange a few blows. Shaak knew this bout was about more than just Carla wanting to challenge her. For the past few days she had been getting odd flashes of powerful emotions from the other woman, but she hadn't looked closer, leery of abusing her Force powers for her own gain, given how the other woman had been making a play for Ranma practically since day one. The emotions though painted a strange picture, guilt, desire, shock, sadness, Self-recrimination, and now, as they were crossing blades, a strange need for closure.
Shaak brought her blade up into an intricate series of assaults, switching from small, controlled sweeps to thrusts in an eye-blink, forcing Carla to change her own style to defend against it. In reply Carla began to use punches and kicks, trying to keep in close so Shaak couldn't use her weapons longer range to best advantage.
Shaak however didn't even try to back away, using her own off hand and her legs, in particular her knees, to counter Carla's. And when Carla's shock gaunt struck her, Shaak barely even twitched before smashing that fist aside with her own. That opened up Carla for a pile driving kick that sent her skidding backwards.
She attempted to move with it, actually backpedaling out of range before trying to come in low pushing herself forward knife first, but Shaak's blade lashed out downward, substituting speed for cutting edge. Carla's weapon, whatever it was, was sheared in half and she stumbled forward into a roundhouse kick that smashed her to the side.
Shaking her head woozily, Bo pushed herself onto her back as she analyzed the fight, substituting her weapons with her normal blaster, armor and rocket pack, while also giving Shaak her lightsaber. Maybe if my armor was real Beskar steel I could fight her, as it is…no, don't say that. She can already use a lot of the skills Ranma talks about, and I've seen her take a few punches from him that would have shattered bone on anyone else. Maybe if I had been the one to meet Ranma first, and maybe if he didn't have that bizarre curse, but as it is…
Only half of that last thought had been about their actual physical combat, but the end resolution was the same. Bo-Katan shook her head leaning back on her arms, staring up at Shaak. "I never stood a chance, did I?"
Shaak allowed her purples lips to quirk slightly, cocking an eyebrow quizzically. That comment had been about far more than just the match, and a part of her, the part of Shaak Ti was Togrutan woman rather than Jedi Knight, was happy to see it. "Would you like me to apologize?"
"I'd punch your teeth in if you did!" Bo-Katan said shaking her head and sighing before pushing to her feet. "Ah well, that at least solves one of my problems, the rest, the rest I suppose I'll have to work out a solution on my own. Thanks for the spar Shaak."
Shaak Ti nodded, her eyes remaining on the woman as she left. I hope that means she has given over her pursuit of Ranma. As much as I know Ranma is not attracted to her, I still dislike her chasing after him. But I also don't want to see even Carla hurt from his ignoring her attempts.
Two days passed since that confrontation, and Carla had indeed backed off from her flirting with Ranma though she also began to push him into training with her as often as she could. This was fine by Ranma at this point because he had absorbed as much as he could of Echani. Teaching Carla was interesting because she was not nearly as wedded to the local style as the full-blood Eshani were.
Unfortunately as Ranma had known all along it really wasn't a style Ranma would be able to utilize fully. He was able to see the various tells pointed out to him in the upper and lower body, but the Eshani had taken this to a level he would never be able to reach. The Eshani, with the sameness of their features and the way they were normally not emotive in any way had raised that ability to the study of a lifetime, able to discern an opponent's style in any single move or gesture..
Worse in a way, his opponents simply were not getting much out of it in return. Every day Ranma would spar with the masters of the various local schools and drub them. Even the meanest student could tell that, and while they took it good naturedly, they'd began to be depressed, unlike Bo, who took her being so overwhelmed as a challenge. Here was a martial artist who had taken the idea of 'strength of the body', which was the bedrock of the Eshani belief, both martial and societal, to a level none had ever imagined possible. And they could but dream of reaching it, and could not help him further on that journey.
In contrast, Shaak had learned quite a bit, becoming far better in hand to hand combat. She and Ranma sparred full on every evening with their lightsabers, and both could see her progress in reading her opponents on a daily basis. But even she had reached the point where she was starting to see limited returns, and so Ranma and Shaak began to make plans to leave.
At this point, Ranma at last organized an outing up into the mountains. The two of them, Carla and a local guide took a powerboat up the river and out of the city to trace its path through the mountains. HK went with them too, simply because he had been making noises about being bored, and neither Ranma nor Shaak had any wish to see what the droid would take it into his mind to do in that state.
The boat trip was a bit on the boring side at first, then the river's current picked up, and they began to see some rapids and rocks here and there. These were massive outcroppings of some massively dense local stone, sticking out as bare as bone, the river having worn away every other rock around them over the millennia.
"We call that stone Effishica, teeth of the mountain!" the local guide shouted over the roar of the river. "It is super-dense, and even the smallest of those boulders would weigh as much as eighty tons!"
His listeners barely nodded, enjoying the trip now save for HK. Ranma however was at the front of the boat, whooping in joy as was Carla. Even the normally calm Shaak was enjoying the trip, and showed this despite her Jedi self-control.
The rapids went on for about forty minutes, then as they finally entered the mountain proper, the river deepened dramatically, and the current slowed. For a time the river kept on, moving further and further into the mountains, the forest around them slowly disappearing to be replaced by a rocky, mountainous area. After that, the river entered a canyon it had warn out of the mountains in some ancient eon. The sides of it were made of varying shades of grey with one or two striking shafts of green rock.
Ranma and Shaak took in the view and smiled, before looking at one another, their smiles widening. This was something they shared, the love of nature like this. Bo noticed this, and frowned. Despite having consciously given up chasing Ranma she still had some attraction to him, and seeing him look at Shaak like that bothered her.
Luckily for Bo something happened just then that took her mind off such thoughts. Near the prow of the boat Shaak stiffened, her lightsaber suddenly coming to her hand and activating, blocking a series of blaster bolts from one high. From a few places along what had looked like a sheer cliff what looked like fifteen attackers opened fire on the boat. Four of them concentrated on Shaak, but the rest didn't.
Bo cursed luridly in Mando'a under her breath for having no blaster to return fire, before leaping over the side avoiding several blaster bolts by the skin of her teeth, holding onto the side of the boat for a moment. She watched as their local guide was perforated before Ranma could turn and push him out of the way. Several bolts hit Ranma too, but did no damage she could see beyond burning his clothes, just like back on Coronet.
As the guide died, Ranma turned from his attempt to push him into the water leaping up and away from the boat. His feet hit the side of the canyon and Bo watched as Ranma bounced off it to the other side, heading up. Shaak did the same, though far slower, using her lightsaber to block and blaster bolts coming towards her.
Even HK was on the move, first firing back and killing at least one of their attackers before turning and firing off a grappling hook from his newest toy, an underslung solid shell projectile launcher of some local type HK had taken a shine too. "Joyful pronouncement: Ahh this day just took a turn for the better!"
Oh hell no, no way is a Mandalorian Warrior going to sit by and be the only one not taking the fight to the enemy! The idea it might have been a group of Death Watch didn't occur to her, despite having informed Chief Vizla of their targets arrival here weeks before.
Reaching up, she grabbed at one of HK"s legs as he passed her by, letting go before the violent droid could kick her off when they reached the canyon wall. She climbed up the side of the canyon quickly, Faster than the heavier HK could move despite his grappling rope, her hands finding handholds the larger droid couldn't use. Soon she also found a small trail, hidden from below, leading upwards. Pulling out her knife, she followed it, keeping her eyes scanning all around her, hunched so as to not provide a larger target.
Below, HK had followed her, muttering imprecations against all meatbags as he did, but stopped, taking fire from across the canyon from a few people, who turned on him, thinking him an easier target than Ranma and his impression of a bouncing ball. HK's blaster came up over his shoulder, and he fired back, pushing both of his attackers and a third back into cover, the rocky outer side of a similar path to that Bo had followed up.
Ranma reached a ledge where three of their attackers had been firing from. Two of them turned away while the third continued to fire down at Shaak, who was now hanging onto the canyon wall, unable to progress at present due to the weight of fire on her forcing her to concentrate on her lightsaber skills.
Ranma landed, his hands flashing out and grabbing the guns of the two had turned to deal with him, pushing them to facing one another just as they fired. Tossing their dead bodies over the side he kicked out hard at the third one, sending him over the edge screaming to the river far below. Then he used his own heavy blaster from his ki space, perforating several attacks across the canyon before they could turn their attention away from Shaak.
Without those shooters, Shaak was able to concentrate on moving again, and leaped off the wall of the canyon aided by a massive Force Push. She landed on another mostly hidden walkway, her lightsaber flashing from defense into offense as the men around her backed away.
By this point Ranma had left the ledge he was on behind, heading up a path of his own, chasing after four of their attackers, who had retreated up it from another ledge higher up the canyon, and Ranma realized that these pathways must have been created at some point, they were far too regular. Two of them fell to Carla, who turned up from around another bend in these interconnected ledges, blasting them off their feet with a few well-placed shots from a stolen blaster. A third fell when Ranma hurled a small stone at him, crushing the back of his head.
The fourth made it around a bend in the path and Ranma and Carla both moved to pursue him but then there was a scream, cut short. "GAAAA-!"
Carla and Ranma looked at one another and Carla bowed slightly. "After you, Mister I'm Immune to blaster bolts."
"Your sarcasm disturbs me…" Ranma mused, even as he moved ahead of the half-Eshani girl, not noticing how proficient she seemed to be with a blaster. With Ranma in the lead the two of them moved further away from the canyon's walls and up into the mountains, coming out eventually a ways away from the canyon onto the mountain side.
A moment later they were joined by Shaak, who had been caught on the other side of the canyon at first, but had found her own way out on the other side of the canyon now. Leaping across with the help of the Force she shook her head at Ranma. "HK is busy pursuing a few of the survivors, who, I note, were all wearing the same uniform and were all Aqualish. I think there is a bounty hunter team of Aqualish, so this might well have been them."
"Let HK have his fun, we heard something when we were pursuing one of them, and" 'CLANG!' Ranma's hand had thrust out quickly as something large shot reared out from between two large boulders sticking out of the of the mountainside to try and attack him.
The thing was thrust backwards, servomotors whining as well as something else. Staring after it, Ranma frowned, staring down at his fist then at the beast. "What the hell did I just punch?
Carla's eyes widened and she raced forward shouting at Ranma who looked like he was about to attack the thing. "Don't!"
The strange robotic creature was huge. Covered in armored plate, of standing on its four feet it would be nearly nine feet tall at the withers. It's head was a mass of weapons and sensors set on a wide, powerful looking neck, which in movement looked like a that of a dog. It had two wide optics set far back and away from what must have been its main weapons set, those and the large claws which dotted its feet A few other weapons dotted its massive shoulders, and there was what looked like a place for a saddle set far back on the beast.
The beast was obviously an attack droid of some kind, but just as obviously ancient and falling apart. Large areas of its outer armor were gone, revealing wires and electronics which fizzled and sparked. One of its back limbs seemed locked in a crouching position, rusted solid, while rust, moss and lichen marked its body everywhere. Most of its weapons were broken, shattered of bent to uselessness. It's eyes were dim, but still tracking the three sentients in front of it.
To 'Carla' it was easily the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, and it was all she could do to not let loose with a girlish squeal. It's a Bes'uliik! Oh my god, an honest to the manda Bes'uliik! Why in the world, how in the universe did it get here!? I know Mandalorians attacked Eshan during the wars, but surely any Bes'uliik would have been collected afterward. Whatever it's here now, no way will I just leave it!
She held her hands forward, making a soothing clicking noise in the back of her throat, speaking Mando'a, hoping Shaak didn't recognize the language. She knew the Jedi translated via some kind of mental technique, but did that help them actually recognize a specific language?
Regardless, Bo had more important things on her mind right now. "Shhh, great beast, shhh, we are friends here, not enemies, calm your diodes…"
It might have been her tone or hearing the language of its masters after so long, but regardless the creature laid down, it's head thumping into the ground at its rheumy optics locked on her. Bo moved forward, running her hands along the robotic creature's sides, still. "Look at you it's been a while since someone looked after you, old beast. Still nothing a lot of tender loving care won't cure. Would you like that?"
"Really?" Ranma asked deadpan as Shaak translated the normally tough-as-nails Carla's words. "What the heck is this beastie that's got you so enthused?"
Shaak frowned, cocking her head. "It looks oddly familiar, as if I'd seen it before, but I can't bring it to mind it was so long ago. From a history text when I was an initiate I think…"
Thinking quickly Bo spoke up before Shaak could try and bring the image to mind, outright lying and hoping that Shaak wouldn't pick up on it. "Oh, it's an ancient guard beast from Corellia or Kuat originally I think, not certain." She actually couldn't remember where the Bes'uliik were originally from, so maybe that would cover the rest of her lie. "My home planet of Codia almost venerated them for a time. I have no idea how it appeared here."
Shaak's eyes narrowed lightly, sensing some prevarication there, but not enough to call the woman out on. I have to be careful to not let my own ongoing irritation with her cloud my impressions of Carla. It's obvious she is hiding many things, including where she is originally from, but she is not a threat to Ranma or I and I cannot justify using my powers on her any further than I have in the past.
Not knowing anything of Shaak's inner thoughts, Bo looked at Shaak and Ranma. "Look, I can't just leave this beastie here. I'll call in a few favors and get a ship to come up here and help me with him, but I need to get him to trust me first, not just let me near him. That'll take some time, but there's no reason you two need to wait for me."
Ranma shrugged disinterest and looked at Shaak who stared hard at Carla, thinking hard. After a second she nodded, once again telling herself to be wary of letting her emotions guide her. Then too, there was a sense here: a sense of some kind of crossroads or a chance playing out. Nothing as clear as a Force vision but still, Shaak decided to follow that impression and see where it led. "Very well. We will see you when you get back into the city I suppose."
With that the two of them walked off, leaving Carla there to continue to croon to the odd robotic creature. She continued to earn the Bes'uliik's trust, wiping off the lichen, repairing the wires, and doing what little she could for it with no tools. She wasn't normally mechanically inclined, but Bo was going to make an exception here.
Eventually the beast trusted her enough to lead her away from the canyon over the mountains to where it had been hiding for the last few thousand years, only moving out whenever it heard the signs of battle. The reason for this was obvious the moment Bo entered the large cave and saw the ancient remains of a Mandalorian Warrior. After so long there was nothing of its body left, but this left the most ancient looking version of her people's armor that she had ever seen.
For a moment Bo simply stood there, staring. After a moment she leaned down, to touch the corpse's gauntlets, holding them up to look inside them. She stared hard at them for a moment before shaking her head, fighting back a near hysterical chuckle. Crush gaunts, Vizla's the only man I've ever met who has a pair! If this and the Bes'uliik aren't a sign from the manda that I'm supposed to try and forge my own faction to stand against his, I don't know what else it could be.
The manda was an odd concept to non-Mandalorians. It was the name Bo's people gave to a sort of collective gestalt, a over-mind created by the souls of warriors who had died, hence their somewhat simplistic ancestor worship. It also covered the idea of fate without touching on the Force the Jedi and Sith used. Bringing up the idea the Force and the manda might be one and the same would get you attacked by any Mandalorian who heard you.
Bo returned late the next day, only to find that Shaak and Ranma were preparing to leave Eshan. She told them as little as she could about the Bes'uliik, but Shaak still seemed to sense something but why whatever it was brought a faint smile to the Togrutan's face was beyond Bo.
The Mandalorian warrior was surprised however to see that several Nova Guard had arrived to talk to Ranma. According to him, they had been sent to observe him and question him about his techniques. This made Bo's conviction firm further. No way will I let another warrior culture learn Ranma's skills before mine!
After staying her farewells, Bo watched the Wild Light lift off heading to space. When it was out of sight, she turned away resolutely. She had a few people to talk to and several dozen calls to make.
OOOOOOO
As they left the planet's atmosphere Ranma sighed while following Shaak's instructions, having them head out-system rather than jump to hyperspace after they left Eshan's gravitic shadow. Shaak had told him that morning that the people she had called during their stop-over had both responded and sent a ship to meet them her in the Eshan system. "Well, we're away, I just hope this planet of ours works. That last Bounty Hunters attempt on our lives was a little bit much."
"I know that look Ranma, what are you thinking?" Shaak asked warily.
"Well we've got our plan to trap anyone who comes after us. But with the size of the Republic I don't think even the rumors of us wiping out whole armies would stop Bounty Hunters from coming after us. And after that attack, I'm thinking of doing a little hunting of my own, not just trapping."
Ranma smirked, but it was a wintry rather than humorous expression as he remembered how the Bounty Hunters had killed their guide in the attack yesterday. "Did you know that the Bounty Hunters Guild has actual guild halls in some systems? I figure showing up in a few of those, beating up everyone inside and stringing them up by their ears for a bit might get the idea that I am displeased with them into their brains."
Shaak thought about it, laughed, a rippling sound of laughter which reverberated around the cockpit as she shook her head leaning over to kiss Ranma on the lips for a moment before pulling back. "That sounds like fun! You have no idea how much issues there have been between the Bounty Hunters Guild and the Jedi Order since the Senate allowed the Guild to become an actual accredited union. Worse is how little oversight there is in terms of bounties they take! Forcing them to realize there are some bounties they shouldn't touch is an excellent idea."
"Glad you approve," Ranma said, leaning his forehead against hers for a moment staring into her eyes, so blue against the background of the white marks around them. "But before that, I think I'd like a few days just us yeah?" He asked somewhat tremulously. They'd only gone on one date over the past month, and outside of that brief biting moment, as Ranma thought of it, they hadn't actually had that very many romantic moments at all.
Or at least what the two of them thought of as romantic. The Eshani were decidedly against public displays of affection outside sparring, and it had made both of them rather uncomfortable to even hold hands at times. Worse in a way was how much the two of them apparently told the onlookers whenever they sparred! It was almost like the two of them had been on display, and not in a good way. Added to that was Carla's near constant presence.
"Oh my word yes…" Shaak whispered, before leaning forward to kiss his nose, an impish smirk on her purple lips as Ranma scowled, reaching up to wipe at his nose. "I still have to find a way to reward you for that one time after all." Shaak had actually thought up a way to do so, it was simply figuring out the appropriate moment to go through with her idea that was bothering her.
"You haven't even told me what I did right!" Ranma laughed, his hands snaking up to Shaak's waist where she was leaning over between their seats.
"Disgusted tone: Master, if you and the Togrutan are going to fornicate right here, can I at least turn off my optic sensors first?" HK groused from where he stood by the entrance to the cockpit.
"Way to break the damn mood HK," Ranma growled, turning to give the droid the finger. Thankfully that human expression had passed well beyond humanity, and its meaning was understood the universe over.
Shaak laughed again, shaking her head at the irrepressibly violent and antisocially caustic droid then looked over to Tune as he spoke up from below where she had been leaning over between the two pilot chairs. She absently noted the droids voice had settled down now, into a young boy's voice with a distinct Chandrillan accent, his A's and O's almost lyrical. "Master, Mistress, I hate to agree with the decrepit one, but if you wish to flirt, could you please not do it right above my dome? Also, the Nova Guard ship is pulling up alongside us. Their astromech is querying me about our course."
"Good," Ranma said with a grin. "I like those guys, and I know they'd hate to miss the party."
"I can understand that, unlike your near-fascination with the Mandalorians." Shaak said shaking her head.
"We've been over that love," Ranma said
Shaak chuckled again and said "I'm not a Jedi" chorusing the words as Ranma said them, then laughing lightly as he looked at her in surprise. "You've said that often enough my dear."
"Okay, but have you actually realized what it means? My sense of honor is a lot closer to the Mandalorian code than the Jedi's, at least as its practiced today. I also don't have any preconceptions as even you do when thinking about the Mandalorians Shaak."
That caused Shaak to frown thoughtfully, falling silent. Jedi must not allow preconceptions to impact their thoughts, must not let their personal opinions impact their actions. Ranma's right, I need to look beyond the bloody history both ancient and recent between the Order and the Mandalorians. To allow myself to be influenced like that is something I cannot allow.
I also might be allowing my reaction to Carla and her flirting with Ranma to color my emotions, against something as a Jedi I cannot allow. I've become far better at controlling my emotions, especially when they could impact my connection to the Force, but I need to keep getting better at letting jealousy and possessiveness in particular impact my connection to the Force and my thoughts.
"Alright, I understand that Ranma and I will keep an open mind about the Mandalorians in the future. So long as they are not actively attacking us anyway." Shaak replied after several moments silence. Then she leaned forward, staring at the radar screen. "Interesting there is a second ship out there."
"You are expecting only one?" Ranma asked.
"I was expecting only one at most." Shaak shrugged. "The people I contacted don't really have access to a lot of technology at the best of times, let alone actual starships."
"Are you going to come clean and tell me who these people we're meeting are now?" Ranma asked, leaning over to touch the montrals closest to him lightly.
"Well, I don't know who out who is on the second ship, but I called in a favor from a Barabel clan."
Ranma looked at her blankly then looked over at HK. "HK?"
"Interested surprise: The name does not ring a bell to me master." The murderous droid replied.
"That's interesting," Shaak murmured, looking at the hunter killer droid as well before turning her attention back to Ranma. "The Barabels are a species of reptilians like the Trandoshans. They don't look much alike however, and I would be very, very careful about making that comparison in front of a representative of either race, it would not be good for your life prospects. They loathe one another almost as pathologically as Trandoshans hate Wookies."
At Ranma's nod Shaak went on. "I cannot say every representative of the Barabels are honorable or decent, but they revere the Jedi because early on in their introduction to other races a group of Jedi stepped in to save them from a civil war which might well have wiped out most of their population. We have also stepped in several times since to help them retain their independence since then against various corporations who wanted to exploit their planet's resources."
"Do you think they'll have enough room for our supplies," Ranma asked gesturing past HK into the living area the main sitting room of the Wild Light, which was still packed from one side to another with barely enough room for the HK to pass through on his way to the landing ramp.
"I have no idea," Shaak said with a shrug.
It turned out that the Barabels in fact did not have enough room for even a meeting, let alone the supplies Ranma and Shaak had gathered. But the Nova Guard did, and when asked allowed representatives of the other three ships to come aboard. Soon they were all were seated around a room on the Nova Guard's ship, which was a heavy modified Corellian transport.
The Barabels were, as Shaak had said, reptiles with green scales, a flat face and wide, fanged mouths and yellow slitted eyes. They stood about six feet tall rather than the eight feet or so Trandoshans normally stood, with wider shoulders and a stouter frame than a Trandoshan as well. They were powerfully muscled and wore what looked like leather vests over carapace armor. They wore some odd knives at their sides, with wide hilts and serrated, slightly curved blades coming out from both ends. They also had rifles slung over their shoulders.
The two representatives from the unknown ship were almost as much of a surprise: a human and a Wookie. The Wookie was tall for his race and rail thin, but Ranma knew even so his strength would be surprising, with russet-colored fur and the normal bandoleer across his chest. The human was on the short side, barely standing taller than Ranma's female form would, but he was well-built and armed, with a blaster riding at his hip and a few knives as well. His eyes were brown, and his face seemed rather a grim sort, but at present he was smiling.
"Master Yoda sent us," the human said one of them, stepping forward and holding out his hand. "I'm Richard Calixes. My parents were both slaves of the Hutts. They escaped a few years after I was born thanks to that Hutt losing a war with another Hutt, but I never forgot my years as a slave. This is Liarnicshoo, call him Liac. He is the chief of the clan three of the Wookies you helped escape belonged to, and when Master Yoda made it known that you might be running into some trouble, he and his warriors all volunteered to help."
"How many of you are there?" Shaak asked, smiling and shaking the man's hand before gripping the Wookies arm and squeezing with surprising grip from a Togrutan.
The Wookie answered this time, which Shaak automatically translated via the Force, though she had to translate verbally for Ranma. "24 Wookies and 175 humans and Twi'leks, all of them former slaves or sons and daughters of slaves."
Richard nodded then leaned forward conspiratorially. "Master Yoda wanted to send a few Guardians help you but it was felt that if they did, it would give the game away, whatever that is."
"Shaak," Ranma asked contemplatively as he sat down nodding at the Barabel and the two Nova guard already sitting there. "Did you tell Master Yoda what we were planning?"
"No," Shaak said sitting next to him and smiling at both Richard and Liac, who sat down quickly in their own chairs. "No I didn't, indeed, I've only communicated with any of the Order twice since leaving Corellia. Which means either Master Yoda sensed it through the Force which would be very odd but possibly a good sign given how such things have become difficult of later. Or he has an amusingly accurate understanding of your personality and your impact on mine."
There were some chuckles at that, and the Barabel bowed his head, his clawed hands pressed claw tip to claw tip as he did. Even the Nova Guard representative chuckled a little, his voice rather tinny coming through the helmet he always wore. But it was the Barabel who spoke up first. "Grand Masssster Yoda, a most wissse individual, ancient and learned, ressspected as such. We ressspect all Jedi, yet we are here to repay the Knight Shaak Ti for her aid."
He looked at night Shaak, his eyes slowly blinking once. "Jedi ssserve all it isss true, but your ssservice wasss more personal. There is a debt of my clan to you and your massster, and we are here to ssseee it paid."
Ranma looked at Shaak, and she shrugged, uncomfortable with such praise. "A Techno Union wanted to open up a chemical factory on Barabel, but it was feared they had both undercut the locals of their part in the profits and had lied about their profits or had been cutting corners. My master and I were sent to investigate, and found they were poisoning some of the local water. I helped to not only prove that, but helped to heal a few of the locals with my limited healing skills."
"The Jedi, a force of justice they are in the galaxy. Have helped us in the past many times. Not alwayssss ruled in our favor of courssse, sssuch would not be jussstice, but alwaysss jussst are the Jedi. Aid them we will, if called upon." The Barabel replied, smiling a fang-hiding smile at Shaak's lack of ego.
She had in fact been badly poisoned herself while investigating the factory in question. Her subsequent Force Healing from that had helped her master in healing the locals from the slower acting poisons they had been infected by through their water supply.
Wanting to move past the idea that the Barabels owed her in particular Shaak went on briskly. "Very well, here is the plan. As may or may not know, Ranma here and I have bounties on us. What you might not know, is that the initial bounty on Ranma it does not come from the Hutts. Or at least we think so, it seems to be far too high for the Hutts to pay even for the death of two of their own. We believe that he has angered some up-and-coming criminal organization, and they wish to make an example of him. But, they haven't had much luck so far."
In fact Shaak and Ranma both wondered if the bounty on him came from the possible Sith that might still be out there, but had no way of finding out. Either way however they hoped to inconvenience or discredit the individual behind the bounty by wiping out anyone coming after them with this trap.
There were some nods of agreement at that, but they were still looking at Shaak quizzically. "Do you know where this criminal is hiding? Is that why Master Yoda said you might need help?" asked Richard.
"We don't unfortunately, but we do intend to defang him by setting up a trap for anyone coming after us." She pressed a few controls on the computer set on the table between them all and after a few minutes a Galactic map popped up, following by a small red dot appearing as she input the coordinates of Yavin 4. There wasn't anything written about the jungle moon in the galactic histories or even the Jedi archives save for a brief mention of it being the sight of a battle against the Sith Lord Exar Kun. Given how many times since that period the archives had been destroyed that was understandable.
She waited a moment then went on. "We will stay there for a time, and draw in anyone after Ranma's bounty. In particular we are concerned with a quasi-mercenary group known as the Death Watch."
"The Hutts are going to send whole armies after you," Liac warned, his dew claws popping out for a moment in a Wookie expression of disgust as Shaak translated for the others around the table. "The Jedi order has been following your example of moving against the slaving industry as have others, and they have lost a lot of their holdings outside their own space."
He looked over at the Nova Guard who nodded. "That was known to us, but others are handling those operations. Our job is to observe Ranma Saotome's abilities and take our observations back to our people, while also earning the right to learn them if at all possible."
The Barabel nodded. "It issss a good plan, and it may well defang not only thisss hidden enemy, but othersss too. We are with you," he said, pulling out his knife and holding the blades in both hands, holding the blade up to his forehead in some kind of purely Barabel gesture. It was in fact how a Barabel began any hunt, a benediction to god to bless his weapons, not strike true or anything of that nature, but for them to just not fall apart or otherwise fail. The Barabels were a rather pragmatic people, and their iron had never been the best quality.
Moments later the three ships left the system together, and came out together three days later in Yavin. The moon, which circled a massive gas giant, beckoned them forward with its bright green and dark blue coloring. They hovered over the moon, their ships sensors probing down into the atmosphere while Shaak did the same with her Force sense.
"Interesting, that looks like a temple of some kind," Shaak said after an hour or saw, staring down at the image on their screens. I did not think that anything would be intact here. Not after so long, and certainly not after this place was the scene of a battle against a Dark Side user."
Ranma frowned. "Tell me again what happened here?"
"Yavin saw a battle between the Brotherhood of the Sith under Exar Kun and the Jedi Order. Other than that brief mention I don't know anything else, the Jedi Order's history of that time is disjointed at best since Ossus, the Jedi Order's main library planet, was destroyed during that war."
Shaak fell silent then, frowning as she concentrated on what the Force was telling her. She could sense something here, but couldn't quite get a handle on what it was the feeling slid away from her senses every time she tried to concentrate on it.
Beside her Ranma frowned, looking at her closely suspicion dawning on him. "Shaak exactly why did you choose this planet for our ambush?"
"It was close to the Eshan, off the space lanes and uninhabited, other than that I chose it randomly as you saw." She opened her eyes to see Ranma staring at her askance, and she shrugged. "I asked the Force for guidance of course, that is what any Jedi means when they say 'randomly'."
"Riiiiight," Ranma muttered, shaking his head. "I just hope the Force didn't have some kind of ulterior motive for suggesting it."
"The Force has no ulterior motives, it simply is," Shaak said primly, then looked away as Ranma barked a harsh laugh, before beginning the ship's dissent.
After doing a flyby over the area until they found a likely swamp where they could hide some of their ships, the Wild Light and the other three ships set down in a stone-floored parade ground next to the temple, which thanks to the stone was mostly free of the jungle overgrowth. After unloading, the Wild Light, the Barabel ship and the ship Richard and Liac's group had flown in all lifted off again, before settling down into the swamp.
Ranma looked at the swamp, shaking his head as the last few bubbles of the Barabel ship's passage disappeared. "Are you sure that will work?"
Shaak shrugged, gesturing Richard to reply. "It's an old trick," the older man said, shrugging his shoulders as he reached down to pick up a backpack. "Everyone will suspect we have more ships around given our numbers, but in no one will be able to see those ships underneath the cold water of the swamp from orbit, and the swamp's water is too thick for any flyover to see through.
Ranma nodded then looked around at the rest of the view. "Jungle, jungle everywhere. I still have to wonder how this whole single environment planet thing works, but it's certainly a good location for a trap isn't it?" he said smirking over at the Barabel, who chuckled a wheezing sort of laughter at this strange human.
Later he and the fifteen other Barabel part of this hunt watched their lizard eyes far wider than normal as they watched Ranma heft loads of explosives, chemicals and other things from the Wild Light. A human who was physically stronger than one of their own was astonishing.
Over the next few hours the odd group broke down the work along natural lines. The Wookies began to work on a few anti-air defenses scattered throughout the jungle randomly, each one running on its own small independent source of power, good for only a few shots but that would be enough. Since they had brought along half of those, that was fine, and the Wookies knew more about technology and hiding weapons from orbital detection than anyone.
The Barabels mapped out the area, and began to plant traps throughout the jungle near the temple, which everyone agreed would be the first target of any attackers. It was an obvious landmark, and controlled decently large and almost clear landing area. The humans handled setting up a few supply depots with the supplies they had brought along with those of Shaak and Ranma. These would be small supply points scattered throughout the jungle. At the same time the humans began to map those points, while also doing the same with the Barabel's traps, mapping them out along with the antiair guns.
HK was given the task of setting up traps inside the temple itself. They would leave a few electronic devices here to make it seem as if they were living in the temple to any scanners from orbit, but that ruse wouldn't last for long. he also began to place mines throughout the parade ground, courtesy of Richard's group.
After helping with the unloading, Shaak and Ranma began to scout around, racing through the jungle's canopy at a speed none of the others could dream of matching.
Within about five minutes of leaving the temple's environs, they were almost out of sight from the few lookouts stationed on top of said temple. Not that either of them noticed that, having found what looked like some kind of downed spacefighter. It wasn't a type Shaak was familiar with. It was in ancient looking however, and overgrown with vines. Inside the cockpit of it they found the decayed body of a humanoid, still in what Shaak did recognize as ancient Republic Navy garb.
Moving further away from the temple they found other signs of the ancient battles which had occurred here scattered throughout the jungle. Odd shaped trees, their branches or trunks having been shattered in some ancient destruction and grown anew. Scars in the very land where heavy weapons had dug deep into the earth of the jungle, now overgrown with bushes and even trees, small in comparison to the monsters of the rest of the jungle, but still large. A few even were still somewhat clear of growth, though not many.
"Why am I getting the impression that this battle was a lot bigger than you thought it was?" Ranma muttered, coming to a stop next to Shaak on one large branch.
Shaak shrugged, her arm going around his waist for a moment as Ranma did the same, staring out over the jungle. "Even so, it is a beautiful planet. I could say that the growth we have seen even over the scars of that ancient war is a good anecdote for how life must always evolves and grow. But I won't."
"Good," Ranma said laughing lightly. "I'd have to smack you."
Shaak chuckled, shaking her head before bumping her hip against his. "I didn't think you're into that kind of thing."
"What kind of thing, Shaak?" Ranma asked, his face blank.
Shaak looked at him sharply then realized he was having her on by the twitching of his lips, and laughed again, kissing Ranma hard on the lips.
Before they could go farther than that, they were interrupted as around them a loud screeching went up from several dozen throats. "Oh come on!" Ranma growled, wheeling away, his hands flashing to catch the barbed tongue of some kind of animal that had snuck up on them.
Shaak sighed then frowned, wondering why she hadn't sensed the attack, before several giant rodent-like creatures flitted through the jungle's upper growth towards them. But these were not normal looking animals. Some of them had scales growing through their fur, others had multiple eyes, barbs or other strange growth. They look like mutations almost and she shuddered as her Force senses washed over them.
Pulling her senses back she swiftly activated her lightsaber. "They have been touched by the Dark Side!"
"Just great!" Ranma quipped, punching the first one who'd attacked them out of the tree they were all on, as the others closed in. "Watch out for their tongues, and I think their front paws might also be poisoned!"
"I see that!" Shaak replied as she danced in place, whipping her lightsaber this way and that around her in an intricate defense, while Ranma took the air, bouncing up and around the tree tops, smashing the rodents down one after another with well-placed blows. But some of those blows only seemed irritated to them, the ones with scales were far more durable than Ranma had expected, and he began to put more power into his punches, which worked better.
There were over sixty of them however, and the lovers began to be pushed away from the direction they had come from, almost but not quite herding them. Neither Ranma nor Shaak noticed this embroiled in the fight as they were.
Not even Shaak with her Force Precognition now stretched to the limits realized that because several other mutated animals had joined the fight, including one that looks like a sort of odd predator-kind of rhinoceros creature. It was larger than the other creatures by a wide margin, and wasn't arboreal in nature, but it was also massively muscled, with a wide mouth filled with teeth and two huge horns protruding one on top of another from its large snout.
It slammed into and through the tree Ranma and Shaak were fighting in and the tree began to topple quickly. They leaped away, but it followed them, crashing through tree after tree, as more and more rodent like creatures appeared on the ground beneath them. But even worse were the hundreds of little, tiny beetle like creatures that were following them, skittering over the jungle floor but thankfully unable to climb trees.
"We have to find a clearing!" Ranma said, ducking under a blow from behind that he had seen coming through the jungle foliage. "We need more line of sight!"
"I'm open to suggestions!" Shaak said, cutting through a tree limb and a mutant rodent that was perched on it trying to claw her eyes out, before leaping over another which had just try to claw her legs out from under her. Her lightsaber swooped down, the heat of the lightsaber searing through the creatures head and into a second's leg, sending that beast caterwauling to the floor of the jungle. Then they were off again, as the rhino creature smashed through that tree.
Ranma leaped up, kicking off the back of a rodent creature to get even more air for a moment. From this height Ranma saw something they could use then let gravity once again try to assert control over him. Even as he came down though, Ranma made a point of killing several of the beasties attacking them, and landed on top of the rhino creature.
"Yee Haw!" Ranma laughed, his legs clad clamped around the beast's middle, as punches in quick succession smashed into its back armor while it tried to buck him off. Then his fist flashed a third time, smashing deep into the creature's back and crushing its spine.
While the tiny bugs began to crawl up the dying beast's body towards him Ranma jumped up and over it as several of the rodent like animals that made up the majority of the attackers descended on the body. Engaging a few more in a nearby tree Ranma noticed that groups seemed to forget the fight for a moment, their claws carving bloody chunks out of the dead rhino creature until they fell in turn to the beetles, screaming in agony.
Nearby Shaak whirled in place, her lightsaber a blur as it flashed through every creature that attempted to attack her, sending body parts even less identifiable bits away smoking and sizzling. The battle wasn't really trying her just yet, but she couldn't count on navigating her way through the treetops, her opponents and deal with the bigger danger, the bug swarm following them.
"I found something!" Ranma said, leaping over two of her attackers to land on one side of her.
Shaak had turned away from that direction, bringing her lightsaber up and around to slice into another creature, the Force having warned her of his impending arrival. "Good, lead the way, I need space to deal with the beetles, or whatever local equivalent they are!"
"Got it!" Ranma said, before launching a few ki attacks around, earning them a bit of space, but only a little before the rodent creatures pressed in once more.
With Ranma leading them the duo forged their way through the ongoing attack. Shaak's lightsaber and Ranma's fists were unassailable now, and Ranma had even broken out his own lightsaber to help cut their way through the upper foliage for a bit, using those pieces of foliage to hinder their assailants or even as projectile weapons occasionally.
The bit of landscape Ranma had seen was what looked like another temple in the distance, a smaller one than the large temple they'd landed at, but still of some appreciable size. It's entire surface was nearly covered with vines and moss, but it would still allow them to get some distance both from the rodent creatures, which seemed to not want to come down to the ground.
That made sense of course given what the beetle swarm could do to them, though Shaak wondered why the beetles did not climb up the trees in turn, until she saw a few climb up the vines, which seemed to cover every tree in sight. The vine's length suddenly sprouted several dozen small mouths, too small to do much to the rodent creatures, but large enough to, gobble up the little beetles, and the mystery was solved.
The lovers landed astride the rocky side of the temple clinging there with one of Ranma's techniques he had taught Shaak, using the Force to actually grip onto the side of the temple like their feet had become coated with glue. Shaak had laughed when Ranma had told her the name of the technique, but the Scared Spider Maneuver once again proved its' worth here.
As the rodents hesitated where the larger trees ended and smaller ones began around the temple Shaak let her lightsaber fall to her side as she gestured with her free hand toward the hundreds of tiny beetles which scrambled towards them through them through the smaller trees. At her gesture the Force rose up around her and a massive wall of air slammed into the beetle horde, throwing them back. Their tinny bodies were caught by the vines or shattered on impact with the trees beyond them. Five times she did this, until the horde was dealt with, the last few beetles retreating now.
But that threat dealt with let the rodents move forward in droves, fully forty of the beasts closing in from all sides now, even over the top of the pyramid-shaped temple. The fight was now fast and furious, with the mutated beasts trying to close with them even more violently than before, but Ranma and Shaak worked in tandem, moving through and around one another working like a machine slicing, dicing, punching kicking, Force Pushes and ki attacks all working in unison.
Eventually the mutant rodents attacking them began to peter out, the last few trying to jump up over Ranma to get at where Shaak was busy with a few more higher up the temple wall, which was a mistake. Ranma leaped up to meet them, killing two with his hands and feet while his lightsaber skewered another.
A fourth enemy however actually reached the wall behind him, its tongue lashing out towards Shaak. Ranma's follow up blow missed, smashing into the rocky outcropping with stone shattering force while Shaak ducked under the assault, her lightsaber stabbing. As the temple's wall began to collapse around the place Ranma's fist had hit, The two of them leaped away to land on the jungle's floor.
Watching this, Shaak's lips twitched in an attempt at humor. "You need to watch where you're punching."
"I normally don't miss what I aim at!" Ranma retorted to the backdrop of falling rocks. A moment later however the rocks had subsided enough for them to stare into the space of the temple now revealed.
The inside of the temple thus revealed was far larger than the outside, the single room descending into darkness for a moment. Ranma pulled out a few glow sticks and after activating them, tossed them inside.
This allowed Ranma and Shaak to see the interior of the temple, which was one large room, interspersed with a single giant column of stone which rose almost the ceiling where they now stood. Near the column's base A series of chains held a skeleton of a humanoid suspended between them. Nearby a series of ruined computers, racked with age and disuse, were set into the column as well. It looked as if the man had died somehow suspended there, though how he had died was a question.
That was all Ranma could see, but Shaak's Force senses were telling her something even more disturbing. "Something is here," she said, activating her lightsabers as she stared down into the pit of the temple's interior. "Something Dark."
"I can't feel anything," Ranma said with a shrug. Even though he was willing and able to reach out to the Force, he still couldn't get that kind of sense from it. "I will say though this place has a kind of atmosphere."
But even as Shaak concentrated on her Force senses, the feeling disappeared again just like it had in orbit. "I can't sense it now. I have no idea what is going on here." She murmured shaking her head. "Some kind of Dark touched animal which is able to spread its taint perhaps? The feeling felt like an animals at first, but now I question even that."
"You said the Force might've guided you here right?"
"Yes," Shaak replied almost absent-mindedly, still trying to concentrate on the Force.
Ranma nodded his head slowly. "If the Light Side of the Force had a physical body right now, I'd give it a spanking." He said shaking his head. "I am not it's damn toy!"
The odd feeling in the air of darkness disappeared then as an even stranger feeling of Light Side Force suffused Shaak's senses for a few seconds and she shook her head. That almost like a blush, except it was coming from the Force!
"Ranma what in the universe..." she said aloud, and she stared at Ranma for a moment, then laughed before shaking her head and becoming serious once more. "If we were sent to take care of this issue, then we were poor choices Ranma. I can't sense whatever it was now, and even if I could, if this is some kind of Dark Side Force Ghost, I don't have the skills to deal with it."
"Oh well, then the Force better find itself some other flunkies." Ranma said shaking his head with a smirk.
Shaak growled at that, smacking his shoulder lightly. But even as they joked around, they were still very serious as they began to search around the temple for any hint of what they had stumbled into.
OOOOOOO
His name was Exar Kun and he was the greatest Sith sorcerer in all of history. Originally a Jedi, Kun had always been more powerful than his peers as well as prone to anger and as such felt he should have access to teachings and histories that had long been prohibited to most Jedi. His search for knowledge had eventually led him far from the Jedi temples, to a Sith holocron and a Sith Ghost named Freedon Nadd. Eventually after several betrayals and years of education Exar Kun emerged as a Sith Lord in his own right.
Soon he corrupted other Jedi and created the Brotherhood of the Sith, which he sent out into a universe already rife with war against various smaller Sith groups, the first years of the Mandalore Crusades, and various other, small scale wars. The Great Sith War absorbed some of these factions like the Mandalorians, suborned others, and began to spread until they began striking deep into the Republic, even as far as Coruscant.
Eventually they were beaten back, but not until after hundreds of planets had been ravaged, a super nova set off to annihilate others, and trillions had died. The final battle occurred over Yavin 4. The victorious Jedi and Republic forces had come, led by Kun's estranged apprentice Ulic Qel Droma, to finish Exar Kun and his Massassi warriors off via orbital bombardment. The Massassi had been so mutated by the Dark Side that they had no wills of their own, and any invasion would have cost thousands of lives.
But Exar Kun had one last trick to play. Like many Sith, Exar Kun was motivated by a desire for power and immortality and he was a Sith Sorcerer of the first degree despite his young age in comparison to earlier Sith. He had come up with a Dark Side Sith ritual which would give him immortality, but the ritual needed the energy of thousands, millions of deaths. He had such a source of energy in the Massassi.
As the Jedi fleet began its bombardment, the Massassi began to sacrifice themselves in their thousands. The ritual went off, and the splash of Dark Side energies formed as a fire that engulfed the entire planet, destroying much of the surface and further fueling the ritual with the lives of the rest of the Massassi, leaving the Sith temples standing alone in what was then a fire-scorched wasteland. The Jedi felt the splash of the Dark Side of course, and saw the results. They knew that Kun had died, seemingly killing himself.
While Exar Kun did indeed die physically, his soul was ripped out by the ritual and let loose into the Force as a Force Ghost. Unfortunately for Kun, he was still stuck on Yavin 4, unable to move away from the planet's surface without possessing someone. And for more than 3 and 1/2 thousand years he remained there, watching as the planet's forests and jungles slowly grew back from a few small isolated valleys spared the splash of the Dark Side.
It has been eons since a Force user has come here I must, gah! But she is such a creature of the Light Side! But he could feel this Togrutan's feelings, her emotions of 'love' and affection acting on his ethereal body like the burning of a sun on skin. She if full of the Light! It was disturbing in the extreme to him, but she was a Force user. She can be taken, she is my way away from my prison!
The ghost of Exar Kun tried to move forward, try to move towards the Jedi. But he couldn't, he couldn't get past the feelings and the positive emotions she was feeling overriding the feelings of fear, irritation and concern, of which Kun could have used only fear as a pathway into the Togrutan's mind. The feelings of love, serenity, affection and selflessness acted like a defense against him, and he was too weak to try to enter the blank wall of the Other's mind.
He too was a Force user, but it was as if there was a barrier between the Unifying Force and the monstrous pillar of Living Force within him. By the Dark Side, if he had been among my Massassi tools he alone could have powered a full third of the ritual! It was the strangest thing Exar Kun had ever sensed, but that didn't matter either since Kun couldn't get past that bizarre barrier.
And I am too weak to reach out to the more distant beings I sense at the moment, none of whom have a lick of Force within them. Sith take it, I overextended myself directing my pets. I should've waited, waited until the others were here, but the power of these two, it was too tempting after so long slowly fading over the millennia into madness! But now that it comes to it, I cannot possess the Jedi, she is too strong in the Light and I too weak.
The Dark Side of the Force might be coming stronger, but even if I could reach out to it past this planet's atmosphere, I wouldn't. I can sense it is under the control of someone else, and I refuse to draw any of that one's attention.
Sighing faintly, Exar Kun faded into the shadows further, so much so that even a Jedi Master trained to sense the Dark Side would have been unable to find him. He would watch, and he would wait. I have waited millennia for my chance at life, I can wait a bit longer.
OOOOOOO
After a few hours fruitless searching around the Temple and within, Ranma and Shaak returned to the temple where they had originally landed to meet up with the others. The only things they had found were a few computers which had long since rusted into uselessness and a few equally useless weapons.
They told the others some of what they had run into, not about the feeling of the Dark Side thought since none of the others had any kind of defense against it. Instead they painted an even uglier image of the mutated creatures, marking their hunting grounds in a wide area around the buried temple. This way the others knew to stay the hell away from that area entirely, moving all of the traps that were even a mile nearby out, piling them up even denser outside that area.
After that, while Ranma joined the Barabels in setting up traps, eager to see if he could add to his own repertoire, Shaak elected to stay at the temple, using her Force senses to try and figure out what kind of Dark Side presence was here.
OOOOOOO
Several days later as the hundred plus men and women were putting together the final touches of their various tasks, two ships came out of hyperspace. Moving towards Yavin 4 they began to broadcast in the clear. "Attention, Jedi Knight Shaak Ti and Warrior Ranma, this is Bo-Katan Kryze of the Mandalorians requesting permission to land, for a parlay."
In the cockpit of the Nova Guard's ship Shaak and Ranma looked at one another then Shaak shook her head, groaning mentally as they both recognized the voice. "We should have realized it."
"I suppose we should've," Ranma said with a shrug. "She always seemed a little too interested in the Mandalorians when I talked to her about them, and maybe a little too friendly too."
"I detected no deception from her about that though I felt she was hiding something minor before that. I wonder if by that point she had realized she no longer saw us as enemies." Shaak mused.
"Maybe so, heh, she wouldn't be the first friend I've made after fighting her."
"Too true, but let us hope she is a more faithful and true friend than any of the friends you made in your past life." With that gentle barb sent Ranma's way Shaak reached forward, taking the communication device from the Nova Guard member who had been operating it. "This is Knight Shaak Ti to Warrior Kryze, permission granted to land for purposes of a parlay."
About 15 minutes later, around forty people, mostly the humans working around the temple to bait the trap there, congregated together to watch as the two ships came down. Both were tramp freighter's, small ones which had been obviously heavily repaired over the centuries. From them came forward two dozen Mandalore warriors, fully kitted out in their armor with their helmets underneath their arms. And in the lead…
Ranma cursed volubly shaking his head. "I really should've seen the resemblance. Shaak this girl's one of the one's I fought on Corellia."
"Yeah you should have," Bo-Katan said with a smirk, one hand rising up to run her fingers through once again orange hair. "I dyed my hair and put in some contacts, added a fake scar on my jaw, and suddenly you didn't recognize me. If was a vain sort of woman that would irritate me."
"Irritated mutter: I dislike the fact that I let the leader of that attack go. Perhaps Master you would let me repair that deficit here?"
HK raised his shoulder cannon, but Ranma smacked it back down with a negligent wave of his hand. "None of that."
He stared hard at Bo-Katan, as did Shaak before looking over the other Mandalorians behind her. Her Force senses reached out, and they told her that all of the warriors here were feeling wary but eager. Despite the lightsaber at her side and her general garb marking her out as a Jedi they also didn't hate her on sight, which was a good thing given how much hatred existed from the Mandalorians to the Jedi and how much wariness exited from the Jedi in the other direction.
"Why're you here Bo-Katan Kryze of Mandalore?" Shaak asked, almost closing her eyes as she bent her will to the Force to detect if the woman tried to deceive them. An outright lie she could easily feel, prevarications and misdirection were harder, but now that she was looking for them she would spot them regardless of the woman's attempts to redirect her.
"How much do you know about the Mandalorians as they are now?" Bo asked, seriously as her followers spread out behind her, looking at the people with Ranma curiously and respectfully in a few cases. Wookies might not be natural Warriors, but when roused they were incredibly dangerous, and more than one of the Warriors here had tangled with the Nova Guard on the opposite side of merc contracts in the Outer Rim or expansion regions. The Nova Guard had never had the numbers the Mandalorians had fielded in their history or the tactical and strategic flexibility, but their social structures were somewhat similar.
Ranma looked Shaak, who replied. "I know that they are currently ruled by a group called the New Mandalorians, a group which espouses pacifism and rejects any kind of violence at all. The Mandalore system was subjected to heavy bombardment near the end of the Mandalorian wars, and again when a faction of Mandalorians sided with the Sith in the New Sith Wars, and it hasn't recovered even a thousand years later in many ways. You don't have any large military establishment, but you are still clan based as a society. Is that about right?"
"You're right about the clan based society but not so right about our so-called rulers. The problem is, they are in charge, you're right about that, but they are because of two things: economic pressure and the backing of the Republic. The NM's controls several of our most heavily industrialized cities, including our capital. This gives them tremendous economic clout. But they don't actually speak for a majority of the population, only a small and vocal minority. And they received recognition as the planetary government because they were the only ones to care to go to the Republic and ask to be recognized as such, another black mark added to the fact they receive aid from the Republic. The title Duchess or Governor isn't even Mandalorian!"
Bo shook her head, deliberately putting thoughts about Satine out of her mind. "But the New Mandalorians concept of pacifism is killing our people's way of life! We have been warriors literally since before we went to the stars, and we can't, turn our backs on that history, which is what the NM's want to do. More and more Warriors are beginning to look for an alternative."
"They aren't quite desperate enough to look to the Death Watch just yet, but the number of dissatisfied people number in the tens of thousands. We are going to be looking at an open, and large scale civil war if things keep going this way. But I can't honestly say that the Death Watch it is the way forward any longer, not after our discussions about the end never justifying the means, and what slavery or drug abuse really meant."
"'Tens of thousands'?" Shaak asked somewhat weakly. "Surely the New Mandalorians have more public approval than that."
"They might have initially right after the New Sith War, but not since most of the planet recovered. There's too much of our society that is based upon being a warrior culture, on the following the tenants of the Resol'nare, for pacifism to make much headway." Bo-Katan replied honestly looking at Shaak earnestly.
Shaak might be a Jedi, but she was a fighter, Bo knew that having crossed fists with the other woman. She hoped that Shaak would understand.
Shaak nodded slowly then squeezed Ranma's hand. "I believe her.," she said simply. " I believe them, they all agree with her. They truly believe that their people are moving towards a civil war, and that they need to return to their ancient ways."
"Those ancient ways however," she said turning towards Bo-Katan again. "was the way of conquering and subjugating your neighbors by force, so I can't see the appeal of returning to them in their entirety."
"Agreed," Bo replied swiftly. "We don't have the numbers to sustain that kind of thing, and even if we did, how much honor could we win in a war of conquering the weak?"
"How exactly are you going to stave off that civil war?" Ranma asked Bo, though Shaak already thought he had an idea.
"I want to give the common Mandalorians who want to retain their Warrior soul a third option to back," Bo-Katan replied honestly. The Death Watch is going to come after you, if we help smash them, literally wipe them out, we can take their place as the option for true warriors going forward. That and your teachings Ranma, they could become a symbol of the Reborn Mandalorians!"
"I don't actually like the idea of helping to train your entire society like that but…" Shaak and Ranma looked at one another for a long, long time, then Shaak bowed her head slightly in acquiescence and Ranma went on "But we can see what happens eventually." He smirked then looking over at the Mandalorians behind Bo-Katan. "Besides, this'll let me see what you guys can really do against enemies your own weight class."
Bo-Katan growled a little, but shook her head as laughter rebounded around them. Shaak simply smiled, letting her old irritation at the woman fade as she held out her hand to the other woman. "Welcome aboard," she said simply.
OOOOOOO
Two days after the Mandalorian under Bo-Katan arrived, the makeshift radar of one of their ships, which had been set down by the temple then made to look as if it had engine trouble, picked out several hyperspace flashes.
Looking over the information the radar was relaying with Shaak, Ranma and the other leaders Bo smirked. Ranma almost smirked too. Despite the knowledge that this would be a fight to the death, and that many people would die on both sides. Despite his gentle nature, Ranma was a man of action and the past two days had been boring. Even exploring the jungle just wasn't as interesting alone while Shaak used the Force to search for it.
Shaak simply sighed shaking her head, folding her hands inside the long sleeves of her Jedi robe for a moment as she stared at the plot. "Is it just me, or are there quite a lot of them?"
"Actually, yes…" said Liac slowly in his own language which as always Shaak translated for the others. Liac had been the one who had rigged up the radar, making it stronger and able to see farther up the gravity well then it normally would have. "We don't have any accurate account of their numbers all we can see at this distance is a large sort of blob. We should get more definition when they close with the planet."
Which the ships did a few moments later, having spent a few moments doing something among themselves they couldn't detect from this distance. Whatever it was, it didn't stop the giant blob from closing with the planet and as it did so the blob became dozens upon dozens of red dots, each of them a starship. "Well, someone really doesn't like you!" Bo laughed.
"Doubt that it has anything to do with me, more to do with cash they're being offered for my head." Ranma quipped, but his face was grim as was Shaak's. With those kinds of numbers, say each ship carrying a fifty or more men, this was going to be a heck of a lot harder than he had feared.
"All right people," Ranma said looking over at Shaak who nodded her head. "We all know what to do, let's get going before they get close enough to actually pick us up on their scanners. HK," he said turning to the droid. "You're up. Bleed them."
"Attempted musical tone: oh happy day!" HK replied, straitening up and clenching his hands, both his normal and clawed.
Everyone in the room turned to the droid even the Wookies staring and HK let out an electronic huff as he turned, quickly leaving the ship heading toward the temple. "Irritated mutter: everyone's a critic."
"That droid gets stranger every day," Shaak said shaking her head and staring at Ranma. "I wonder why?"
"Oy!" Ranma groused, shaking his head as everyone else in the room laughed, even the Barabel. "That's a little below the belt Shaak. He was already weird way before I woke him up."
Buoyed by that moment of levity, the leaders went on their way lighthearted for the moment. Despite the sheer numbers coming after them, they were confident that they could win this.
OOOOOOO
Chief Vizla scowled angrily as he turned off the communication device of the slam of his hand. He had just been warned off, warned off by common criminals, scum of the galaxy who thought that because they had greater numbers than his troops that they had a greater right to be here! As if scum like that could kill our target! I didn't bring a thousand two hundred trained Mandalorian warriors together to fight someone who could be taken out by such as them.
With a sigh he opened up the communications to the other Death Watch ships. "Let our new erstwhile allies land first as they wish to. I'm getting the feeling we're walking into a trap here."
Whatever else could be said about him, and there was a lot given what he had turned the Death Watch to over the years, Vizla was a veteran soldier. He had seen dozens of small battlefields and even one war in his time, and had developed good combat instincts to go with his training as a Mandalorian. Something about this moon was screaming ambush to him.
The four Death Watch starfighters zoomed down into the atmosphere along with a few dozen other ramshackle starfighters and even two high-end starfighters from the human Kuat and a personalized Alderaanian yacht of all things. That one was actually the most heavily armored ship in the fleet outside two of the Death Watch ships, with four heavy turbolasers, and two Quad cannons. It lacked any kind of concussion or torpedo system, but the Z-95 headhunters had those in abundance for such small fighters. The other ships were freighters of varying size and age and varied just as much in combat ability.
The first ten freighters landed right on top of the temple where their readings spotted a power source, and troops began to disgorge as chief Vizla's own ship began to descend into the atmosphere. It was still hovering there when the first of the mines went off. Vizla watched from the cockpit of his ship's forward facing viewport as the ships which had already landed began to explode.
The effect on the ships waiting to land was instantaneous. More than one ship opened fire on their fellows fearing treachery was behind this sudden turn of events. Four ships exploded under the fire of a few more, and two ships nearby actually almost turned their guns on the Death Watch thinking they were behind it. But the Death Watch didn't respond, instead firing on the top of the temple. Around them other ships began to follow their lead, and for a moment order, such as it was, began to gain momentum.
Moments later the first two dozen gangsters out of the ships made it to the entrance of the Temple only to fall back immediately under heavy fire. Behind them stalked the same hunter killer droid that chief Vizla had lost his arm to. It raced out of hiding, having apparently added a short barreled grenade launcher to his repertoire. A grenade went off among its attackers before they could separate too far, and more than half died in the explosion. The others joined them in death as HK mowed them down with his hand gun.
Anger filled Vizla as he grasped his robotic arm with his one real one right below the elbow and he glared over at his communications officer. "Order's to all our ships, open fire on the droid down there, take that thing out!"
OOOOOOO
HK had hoped to stay within the Temple's environs for a time, but whoever was up there was slightly more on the ball than he had hoped. They had immediately began to fire at the top of the Temple rather than continue to land, and HK did the mechanical equivalent of shrugging philosophically before fighting his way out.
He looked up as a barrage of heavy fire came down towards him, then began to duck and dodge this way and that. "Irritated statement: Someone up there doesn't like me. I do hope we will be able to discuss our differences further in person."
Using the repulsors in his leg HK changed direction randomly several times then dove headfirst into a bit of the jungle underbrush, his metallic body twisting at the waist as much as possible when HK forced his ungainly body into a roll away from the incoming fire. His new body wasn't quite as dexterous as his original one from what he could remember, but it was somewhat more durable.
That served the droid well now. HK took stock of himself as he continued on his way through the jungle. He had been hit several times, but the only thing he had lost was his shoulder mounted blaster, whose barrel had been sheared off hallway down its length.
HK's legs continued to pump forward, pushing the droid faster and faster through the words far faster than most living creatures could've it moved, until he was well away from the battle zone. Slowing slightly HK allowed his legs to keep moving forward on their own turning his upper body entirely around so he could look back toward the temple.
He could barely see it through the woods at this point, but when he sent the signal, he certainly heard the detonation of the explosives in the temple itself. "Introspective reflection: That was an interesting beginning, but only a beginning. This campaign will hopefully become even more interesting as it continues."
OOOOOOO
While his ship continued to fly patterns over the temple, chief Vizla stared out from the now open landing ramp, allowing him a better view of the carnage below. Thanks to his helmet, he was able to see quite a bit more detail down there than his unaided eye would've been able to, and he shook his head. "Pilot, take us back up and around, we'd have to drag most of those ships out of the way to keep using this is a landing area. Communications, get me the leaders of the surviving groups. This is the last time I want us any of us to walk into traps like that."
A few moments later, Vizla was back in the cockpit talking to the various leaders among this ragtag band. Most of them had no problem working together now, shaken by what had occurred. They were gangsters, bounty hunters, killers, murderers, rapists, smugglers of drugs and slaves. They were not trained soldiers. This level of violence was beyond most of them. Even some more honest smugglers had decided to try their luck at the bounty game, though most of those had taken one look at the carnage and had already pulled out, heading out and away from the planet before going to hyperspace.
Vizla had no care for those cowards however, what he cared about was getting this motley troop to move and act like a single unified group.
Two of the captains from a criminal group that called themselves the Dread Wind of all things from out near the Dalonbian Sector took umbrage at the fact that Vizla was assuming command. "Why the hell should we listen to you! You're all murderous scum, no better than the rest of us so don't act so high and mighty just because of those fancy suits of yours!"
"Our Mandalorian armor is the sign we are superior in comparison to you scum in any way you could imagine." Vizla said calmly. "That includes conflict resolution. Coloro, kill them."
A millisecond later, two concussion missiles flashed out from one of the Mandalorian fighters, slamming into the two ships that had tried to argue Vizla's assumption of command. Both of them shattered, exploding and killing all aboard. Vizla glared at the other leaders, each of their faces set in a small square on the communication screen. "Does anyone else want to argue the point?"
After a moment of silence Vizla went on. "Good, now my survey team has found another spot we can put down. We will do it in groups, while several of our ships fly around it to provide air support just in case. I expect you all to follow my orders from now on. The debacle down below should've shown you that this target is not only different from any target you've ever taken on, and that they're waiting for us too. I shouldn't have to paint a picture as to what that could mean."
The captains all nodded dumbly, a few of them even respectfully at the ruthlessness Vizla had shown, while others were simply shocked at the sudden death of their fellows.
"Criminal scum," the Death Watch commander murmured as he turned off the communicator. "More used to having brawls in bars and brothels than actual combat. Still, they'll do for cannon fodder."
"True enough," said a voice from behind him, and he turned to see captain Tanner.
Nodding at the younger man, Vizla reached out to grasp his hand. "You'll be in charge of the third echelon when we land," he said simply. I'm going to go down with the first, set up a base camp and command center."
"The scum won't like taking the time to do that." The other man warned.
Vizla shrugged. "I just got done lambasting them for thinking this was going to be easy, we're here for the long haul. If they don't like it, they are free to go their own way, but I doubt many will. Not with the remnants of our allies down there still smoldering."
OOOOOOO
Exar Kun felt the deaths through the Force, felt their fear their impotent anger as they died. "Oh yes," he murmured, unheard by any. "Yes, this I can use, their deaths will empower me as the deaths of my Massassi followers fueled the original ritual!"
With that thought Kun reached out to the Dark Side, slowly siphoning the Dark side powers the deaths had caused, but slowly, losing much of the power of their deaths but that was alright. His caution allowed him to take in the energy with neither the Togrutan Jedi or anyone else from farther away feeling it. Kun had no idea how long a reach whoever was behind the rising power of the Dark Side had, and no desire to find out.
Not for a long time at least. Eventually however, he thought to himself as he concentrated on the empowering himself further, eventually though, we will see who is the true Sith!
OOOOOOO
From where he was hiding, Richard raised his binoculars to watch the distant glade the attackers had decided to use as their landing area, watching as more and more troops unloaded. He stopped counting at around 1,900 men, and there were several dozen squads of Death Watch out there too. This isn't going to be easy, but then again that's good. The more scum we draw in here, the fewer there are elsewhere.
He looked up at the sun, and estimated they only had a few more hours of daylight left. That means the first day of this campaign's done, but if they think that means their troubles are over for now, they are dead wrong. Because when dark came, it would be the Barabels turn to do their part.
OOOOOOO
That evening the now once more confident criminals, Death Watch members and mercenary bands began to press out into the jungle, setting up a perimeter for their landing area. Behind them, other groups began to unload equipment, if they had any, or simply kip out in their ships, waiting for dawn to come so they could start the hung. But that night, it was the Barabels who went hunting.
Like many other reptilian species, Barabels could see in the dark, and moved through the jungle like wraiths, their dark green hides acting like natural camouflage. In many ways it was simply a slightly dryer version of their own homeworld. And they had already hunted out many of the beasts in the area. The survivors knew to keep away from the voracious reptiles.
Each Barabel went out armed solely with their twin-bladed knives and armed with their regular night vision and instincts they ambushed several of the security guards walking the perimeter. Some twenty men died that first night, never even having seen their attackers.
They didn't have it all their own way however. One Barabel ran into two Death Watch troopers who were moving through the jungle almost as silently as he was. Worse, their helmets allowed them night vision. "Sentry team five!" shouted one of them in Mandalorian, their arms coming up as they fired their blasters at the apparition try to sneak up on their right. "We are engaging what appears to be a reptile type sentient, he is armed, and obviously not local!"
The Barabel grimaced as a blaster bolt caught his shoulder, but like the Trandoshans, a Barabel could take a lot of damage. It hurt like blazes but didn't impede him. He slipped behind a tree, then rolled away quickly into a deeper shadow, behind a dense bush.
"Hrakak!" He cursed as more blaster bolts followed him, impacting around and through his temporary hideaway, one catching him a glancing blow along one side of his head. The Mandalorians had shifted position taking cover themselves while one of them changed his helmet's visor from night vision to infrared, and they had been able to spot him easily despite his hiding spot.
Grimacing in real pain now he pulled out a small flare grenade the ex-slaves had brought along, lobbing it towards his assailants. It went off blinding both of them and he quickly retreated through the woods.
Despite that minor setback however, the Barabel raiders retreated into the jungle having done quite a bit of damage to the attackers. Twenty men had died in their attacks, and any attempt to scout the jungle past the landing area stopped the moment the Barabel's presence was reported back to Vizla.
But they were a bit of a sideshow in comparison to Ranma and Shaak's own mission. Both of them were able to sneak through the woods even easier than the Barabels. While Ranma had disappeared under the Umi-Sen-ken, Shaak was using more normal Force powers to mask her presence along with her physical stealth skills. She had to pause occasionally when she spotted a nonhuman sentient that she didn't recognize, or ones that she did recognize and knew might spot her.
In particular there was a group of seven Toydarians among the mercenaries, the little flying aliens moving through the jungle canopy as if they had been born there along one side of the base camp, patrolling with the others and setting up a small camp of their own. Nonhumans like that were immune to Jedi mind tricks, which a part of Force Stealth was based on, directing sentients attentions away from the user. The other half of the technique was more physical, bending light around the individual so as to blend into the background. But alone either version could be overcome by a wary enough mind.
Their mission however wasn't to kill. While Shaak was willing to do so, ambushing someone like this out of the dark smacked too much of needless killing to her, which skirted close to the Dark Side, aggressively taking another's life when it wasn't necessary. She was a Jedi, a Guardian yes, but not a soldier, and that kind of killing was anathema to her.
Frankly, the sheer numbers that had come after Ranma had startled her, and right now she would be much more happier to simply scare most of these people away. After all that kind of fear would stop other people from coming after them just as much is simply killing them. Wouldn't it?
Ranma had the same idea if for different reasons. He didn't think of it as leading to the Dark Side, it simply wasn't honorable to kill someone out like that, from ambush when they had no skill or strength to fight back. And he wasn't willing to do it.
No, their mission was instead information gathering: Liac and a few of the Wookies had come up with several listening devices, which would let them both listen in on what was going on in the camp and what was being sent over their com gear. The Wookies had been a gold mine with that kind of thing.
Thanks to their stealth skills the two of them were in and out with no one the wiser… right up until they began to move through the outer perimeter again. "Halt! Jedi! Jedi near the Blue Streak's ship!"
Shaak stared aghast up into the canopy of a tree above her and spotted a Toydarian who had been hiding in among the leaves. He pulled out a tiny blaster made to fit his smaller frame, and quickly began to fire down at her. The noise attracted the attention of several more, along with six Death Watch members who were patrolling nearby, coming in from all directions.
The Death Watch members came from both in front of and to the right flank of Ranma and Shaak's current position, and Ranma groaned as he saw the Death Watch coming at them out of the darkness, illuminated by the flash of their own blasters and the Toydarian's. "I'm going to use you as a freaking soccer ball your little flying fucker!" Ranma growled, coming out of the Umi-Sen-Ken and bringing out his blaster to return fire at two of the Death Watch. The Umi-Sen-Ken couldn't stand up to someone using a blaster or plasma weapon while within its cloak.
Now that they were caught, Shaak also cancelled her Force technique, activating your lightsaber and bringing it up to block the Toydarian's blaster bolts. She also reached out with the Force towards one of the Death Watch members racing along towards them, from the direction they had been moving toward, subtly tripping him up. He tripped magnificently slamming his helmet-clad head into a tree, knocking himself out despite the helmet's protection.
Two more barreled forward, flaring their rocket packs now as they zoomed through the jungle towards the two would-be spies. Their blasters fired on full auto as one of them brought up his other wrist, firing one of the Mandalorian's tiny gyro-weapons.
"Oh no you don't!" Ranma ducked, grabbing the gyro rocket out of the air from right behind the end of it, his fingers clamping down on the back of the rocket rather than the wire connecting it to the Mandalorian, pulling the other man towards him as he wrapped it around a nearby tree. The Mandalorian's rocket pack continued to thrust him forward, and he couldn't disconnect the wire fast enough, slamming at full tilt into the tree.
The tree, a small one, shattered at the impact, falling with a crashing boom to the jungle floor. But around them most of the other Death Watch members who had already responded to the alarm went to ground, unwilling to close further while more people began to converge on the disturbance.
"Ranma, flash bangs!" Shaak shouted, still deflecting blaster bolts coming towards the pair of them.
Ranma nodded reaching into his specially emptied ki space where he pulled out several dozen flash bangs, hurling them into the air.
Seeing the tiny balls in the nighttime air thanks to the strobing blaster fire all around them Shaak whirled away from where she had been blocking blaster bolts. Leaping up over another Death Watch member who had tried to close with a vibro-knife, her lightsaber stabbed down into the man's skull from above while at the same time she reached out through the Force towards the balls. They flew off in different in different directions to smash and flash all around them in a kaleidoscope of sudden brilliance that blinded their attackers, both the Death Watch and the normal criminals who had rushed out to join the battle form the nearest ship.
There were screams and cries and more than one man cursed. The Death Watch members who felt themselves blinded immediately went to ground, ducking towards where their memory told them the nearest shelter was. The other gangsters didn't even do that, and continued to fire, killing several of their own men and even one unlucky Mandalorian, unable to even remember where Shaak and Ranma had been standing a few seconds ago.
The little Toydarian who had spotted Shaak and started this action blinked away tears from his eyes blinded as the rest of them by the sudden shatteringly bright light. He looked up through watery eyes as Ranma appeared, visible against the backdrop of the nighttime sky having jumped from another tree towards him.
"Goal!" Ranma shouted as his foot connected with the small flying imp. The Toydarian shrieked as he felt himself smashed through the jungle back towards camp.
Despite the recent combat Shaak almost, but not quite giggled in a very un-Jedi-like manner as Ranma rejoined, his personal mission accomplished.
OOOOOOO
Despite their setbacks Vizla began to herd the rest of the scum out in earnest early the next day. Groups of 100 moved out in every direction, with orders to radio back to the main group when they ran into any strong opposition. Each group was led by 10 Death Watch, while he kept most of his own men back.
He would push them forward when they finally found their target, but the preparations that had gone into this battlefield, which Vizla knew was now a trap, warned him it wouldn't be easy. The sighting of the reptilian alien, and the trapped temple, told him that. Better, most of the other mercenary commanders, if not the gang leaders, agreed with him, at least on that point.
"Just because you're in charge doesn't mean you'll get the lion's share of the bounty you know," said one of the other mercenary commanders, his tone almost conversational as his troops began to move out. "That'll belong to whatever group or individual takes the target's head."
"That's fine," Vizla said with a shrug, somewhat more polite to another mercenary than he would have been to one of the leaders to the criminal gangs. "Frankly, I don't really care to count money I don't have, and neither should you."
"Hah, true enough!" The man, another human from Coruscant nodded his head, gesturing his troops out into the jungle beyond the landing area. They were not as well armed as Mandalorians, but competent for all of that.
As the man walked away Vizla turned to another one of his men. "Keep up our air cover. Our target has help, but air superiority will win us the day. Eventually he'll run out of help, and we'll have him. But until then, let the scum do the dying."
"Understood," the man said with a nod. "But some of the trees here are tough bastards. They might foil our sensors from up high and even block the ship's blasters."
"I don't want a miracle, I just want competence," Vizla replied mildly but the man nodded his head quickly and moved off to obey his orders.
Three starfighters of various types moved to cover over each group as they began to move through the jungle. But as Vizla had known, they almost immediately began to run into trouble.
Booby-traps went off here and there throughout the woods, taking out one or as many as six of the pirates and other criminal types as they simply didn't know what to look for. Here and there even a few mercenaries lost their lives to particularly well-hidden traps, and in particular tripwires. The foliage here was so dense, and there were so many vines it was almost impossible to spot the tripwires, and explosions continually rattled the jungle here and there in a wide area around the landing zone.
But Vizla was adamant, and continued to push more of the scum forward on ever widening arcs through the jungle.
OOOOOOO
Midday found Ranma hidden once again under his Umi-Sen-Ken. He didn't like it, it made him feel uncomfortable cut off from everything like this now, he had gotten too used to feeling the Force around him, even if he couldn't use it like Jedi could. However, it was proving handy, able to mask his presence from any scanners and even the sight of species immune to Jedi tricks.
"Their starting to pull back now, consolidating further. They're trying to find a way through our traps I think." He murmured into a com. bead.
"That's to be expected. We're not dealing with complete idiots after all." Shaak's voice replied, somewhat loud in his ear, but they couldn't modify the volume much on the cheap com. beads they had bought.
Normally Shaak would have been out with Ranma, but she had felt something last night through the Force and had tried to get a handle on it this morning, but whatever the feeling was, eluded her. Despite that, Shaak's intuition told that whatever Dark entity was on the planet had somehow gotten stronger over the night.
"Pity about that," Ranma quipped, shaking his head. But Bo had been very specific when describing chief Vizla and how he led the Death Watch. Whatever the other groups might be, the Death Watch were professionals. "Scouts call in, does anyone have an eye on any Death Watch."
A few voices responded in the negative, but one of the Barabels replied after a few moments with something else. "I have eyessss on another mercenary group, five Trandoshans and humans who are wearing uniforms of ssssome kind. "
As he finished speaking, there was the sound of blasters firing in the background and a second later, the com. bead went silent and Ranma cursed. They just had their first casualty. Moments later, the mercenaries began to push through the rest of the rabble.
Shaak, Ranma and Liac's Wookies hit them hard here and there, coming out of their hiding spaces in close before the mercenaries could realize they were there. The Wookies had spread out in small four Wookie teams, with four humans on heavy weapons nearby to provide antiair cover. Their howling warcries rebounded through jungle, and more than one attacker quailed, breaking at the sight of the Wookies suddenly in their midst.
Launching himself forward Ranma's punch almost liquidated Trandoshan's head. At the same time he grabbed another's arm with his other hand, ripping it out from its socket with a ferocity that few in Nerima would have ever credited to him. But scum like this was the backbone of the slaving industry and their entire culture seemed based upon not only that the strongest should rule, but that they should prey on the weak. That was anathema to a martial artist like Ranma, and he had no qualms about making his displeasure known.
Having moved forward to join the engagement mere moments before it began Shaak was even more dangerous. Her lightsaber flashed deflecting blaster bolts all around her, assuming a Shien defense as she did so, the return bolts battering their owners and slaying several. While not nearly as ruthless about it, Shaak felt just as strongly about the slaving scum. "HK, if you would please?!"
From his own hiding place a little further along the route this band of mercenaries had been following HK opened up with his grenade launcher before the mercenaries tried to spread out. Before they could the grenades landed, killing over a dozen and wounding others.
As the screams of the wounded began Shaak and Ranma then faded back into the jungle with HK laying down covering fire until they were away before following them. "Joyful mutter: violence, glorious violence!"
Leaping down into one of the scars left over from some ancient orbital bombardment, Ranma and Shaak hid themselves there for a moment. Above them the now battered and angry mercenaries raced past them trying desperately to find their attackers in the dense jungle undergrowth. The two waited a bit, then moved off, heading through the jungle to wear Shaak's senses told them another band of mercenaries were moving.
Throughout the rest of the day the defenders set up numerous ambushes like that. Yet despite the several hundred deaths they caused among the criminals and mercenaries, Ranma had to call that first day a loss. That first Barabel, whose name had been K'thca, was not their only loss that day.
They lost one man and two women from Richard's group and two Wookies from Liac's tribe. They had been caught by overhead fire while pulling back from a successful ambush. The overhead fire wasn't often very accurate thanks to the dense jungle, but this time it had found them in a tiny clearing. Another two men had gone missing, presumed dead.
The two Wookies had gone down fighting, taking seven Trandoshans with them. But at the sight of the Wookies that band of 20 Trandoshans had gone mad, rushing forward despite the cover fire from two other humans to grapple with the Wookies, eventually literally tearing them into pieces.
"We need to spread out more," Ranma said shaking his head that evening as Liac and Richard told him and Shaak about their losses. "We need to fade faster, don't get caught in any pitched battle. We'll have to rely on our traps to split them up into smaller groups. they'll to wise up to them soon but they'll serve for now. Remember, we've got an entire jungle to play with, let them keep thinking they're winning by pushing us back, as long as they do all the dying."
Shaak nodded firmly looking around at all of their friends, her face somewhat drawn. The feeling of so many deaths through the Force, and the continued feeling of something just out of range of her senses was wearing on her. Even so, her voice was strong as she spoke, soft but warm. "We have lost people today, and there are far more of them than we ever expected. If any of you wish to leave, we will endeavor to try and get you back to your ships to do so. If the mercenaries and criminals see Ranma and myself somewhere else, they no doubt will ignore anyone trying to escape the planet. "
"Screw that," Richard said shaking his head as the other leaders did the same, the Nova Guard's sergeant just shaking his head silently.
Liac went further, reaching out to grab Shaak by the shoulders and shake her gently as he spoke, the others needing no translation. "We are here because we are friends, because we wish to be here, because this is a fight worth fighting, and this scum has darkened the galaxy long enough! We will not retreat."
The Barabels all shook their heads in unison. "The Jedi have helped us, and Jedi stand for justice! We will stand with the Jedi. "
"I'm not even going to deign to answer that question," Bo said, flipping the female Jedi the finger. "What kind of message would I be sending to my fellow Mandalorians if we pulled back? We're here to stay. Besides, we haven't even gotten it stuck in yet."
Shaak nodded her head humbly. "Thank you my friends."
"Then tomorrow will be your day, Bo. You and the Nova Guard. I'll fight with the Nova Guard, HK, you go with the Mandalorians. Hit and fade on a larger scale, but remember to beware their overhead cover." Ranma said and everyone else nodded. "Liac, your clan and the Barabels can pull back and start making up more traps. There's that weird vine fruit thing that can explode, see what you can do with that sort of thing."
The next day, Bo and her Mandalorians struck. With HK's help, they opened fire on two of the starfighters providing air combat patrol over one of the groups that hadn't been hit yesterday. Their hover-sleds provided mobility the rest of the defenders lacked, allowing them to move through the undergrowth until they were well ahead of the attacking column then coming back towards them on foot to set up their ambush.
Her jungle camouflage painted Mandalorians moved through the jungle silently, taking up positions here and there in well-hidden hideaways as their targets came within sight. HK was further back, waiting on Bo's order to open up on the starfighters along with three of her other men with heavy weapons.
The first this group knew of that was one of theirs pilots screaming. "Something got a lock on mEEE!"
An instant later an explosion rippled through the air as a concussion missile launched from a handheld cannon much like HK's grenade launcher shot up from the jungle. It slammed into the starfighter's unprotected rightmost wing, this Ugly not even having shields. The impact sent the starfighter cartwheeling away into its fellow in a moment of serendipity that had to be seen to be believed. Both of the starfighters exploded, and suddenly the third was all alone, under heavy fire from HK. It had shields however and began to peel off, panicking.
"Fire." Bo said simply, and her men opened up.
The front of the column moving through the jungle disappeared under their fire, fifteen people going down almost immediately. Three Death Watch members at the head of the column survived that ambush and pulled back quickly, using the rocket packs to zoom up into the jungle overgrowth or to the sides faster than most could track.
One of them still died under concentrated fire from a few of Bo's men, but the other two closed with her own right flank, firing back desperately, as one of them shouted "Aruetiise (traitors)! We're facing our own out here!"
That had been sent over the communicators of the attackers and in the clear. In reply Bo smiled, knowing chief Vizla would know what was going on now even as she too opened fire on the two trying to flank her men, killing one with a shot through his visor as the other crumpled, his legs scythed out from under him.
Four other Death Watch members had been further back in the line. Now they rocketed forward up and over the rest, ignoring their responsibilities to give the others orders in favor of trying to close with the group that had ambushed them.
In reply Bo activated her own rocket pack, zooming in that direction, broadcasting an open frequency as she met them alone, letting her people keep on firing at the enemy line. "This is Bo-Katan Kryze! I was of the Death Watch, until I was force to recognize the truth: the Death Watch has fallen almost as far as the New Mandalorians think we have! We have become the scum of the galaxy, uncaring of what we fight for or who only that we fight! That is not the Mandalorian way! Even in our conquests we fought against strong opponents, we did not fight those so weaker than ourselves, we never enslaved, we never took money to sell drugs or protect those who did, we ruled!"
"Now look at us! We fight to guard drug dealers, to take and sell slaves, to fight security forces so that the filth of the universe can make their money! We tell ourselves it doesn't matter because it as a means to an end, to keep our skills and follow the tenants of Resol'nare as best we can, but the ends do not justify the means!"
She whirled around in midair between two trees, deactivating her rocket pack and rolling forward, whipping out her gyro rocket to entangle one of the Mandalorians attacking her. The wire tied him to a tree and she cut it off, her wrist launcher automatically loading another gyro rocket. Her blaster in Bo's other hand took the leg out from one other Warrior, then Bo swung herself around hiding behind the barrel of another tree.
"We have to care about why we're fighting, we have to care about the cause, not just the fight! We have to fight for honor and glory, to return dignity and honor to our people! Join me!" Bo shouted, her vibro-blade flicking out from her suit's forearm, quickly clashing with another opponent for a moment.
With their blades locked Bo kicked out, catching the man on the leg. His form stumbling Bo grabbed his outstretched arm flipping him over him over her shoulder for to slam back first into the ground. Instead of replying, verbally however the Mandalorian Warrior beneath Bo activated his jet pack, boosting off of the ground and taking her legs out from under her for second.
But Bo had anticipated that, leaping up just before contact so she was unharmed. Flipping herself in midair, just like Ranma had showed her a time or two, she reached down with her crush gaunts, grabbing the man's head and crushing the visor of his helmet as her body bore him to earth, the two of them skidding along the jungle floor before his rocket pack cut out. "Join me!" she shouted, now straddling his waist. "I don't want to have to kill any more Warriors then I need to!"
"Go to hell traitor!" The man said, trying to bringing up his wrist with his own gyro rocket.
Bo's hand lashed out, catching that arm in her grip and crushing his forearm bracer, before she shook her head and flipped her blaster out of its holster at her side. She fired once into the ruined facemask.
Looking around and at her HUD, which told her where her squad was, Bo took stock of the wider battle. Realizing that her people were in danger of being enveloped now as the rest of the attacking group had begun to push forward on all sides she scowled, opening a channel to just her own troops. "Away! Pull back and rendezvous at the hover-bikes!" she shouted in Mandalorian, turning and activating her jet pack.
"Jaundiced interjection: I assume that means me as well, or were you speaking in your native tongue in an attempt to through me off?"
"You understand Mandalorian?" Bo asked HK in shock, zooming through the upper foliage now.
"Amused response: Of course, I was owned by a Mandalorian at one point at least I think I was. He certainly was wearing one of your helmets, though admittedly it was a rather peculiar design…"
"That is a good sign he was a Mandalorian yes," Bo said, shaking her head as the around Bo her squad zoomed through the jungle foliage at breakneck speed, only their trained reflexes keeping them from smashing with bone breaking force into the trees all around them.
"Do you think that will have any effect?" Ranma asked later as Bo led her troops through the jungle on their hover bikes. She had lost only one man dead, another wounded in this exchange, though they hadn't been able to stay and scavenge blaster packs, which Bo knew they would need to do quickly.
At the same time that fight had been going on, Ranma and the others had pulled back from the area they had previously been fighting, spreading out further through the jungle. And like Ranma had suggested, Liac's clan and the Barabels had already begun to set more traps. These were more low-tech, but the two races had a knack for this kind of thing, something which hundreds of attackers would learn in the next few days.
Above, the sky began to open up and rain began to pour down, further covering the noise of the hover bikes, and putting a positive damper on most of the combatants eagerness to continue the fight today. Shaking her head and once more thankful for her helmet, Bo replied to Ranma's question even as she zoomed on with her company. "I don't know. A lot of the Death Watch will follow Vizla whatever happens, but others, others might begin to question why they're fighting here right now. Especially with the information we'll be broadcasting soon."
About an hour after the rain began more communications were sent out in the clear. Half of these signals carried data packets containing information on all the illicit dealings the Death Watch had fallen to over the years to fund itself or just to make connections in the criminal underworld. The other half were recordings of Ranma showing off his durability and skills, and the phrase 'we could learn this too' playing over and over.
Later on the Nova Guard got into the act, taking out three starfighters and several dozen pirates, wiping out one pirate crew almost entirely before fading into the rain. Immediately following that battle, they mouse-trapped a force of Death Watch that tried to follow them, pinning them down with Bo's aid and wiping them out before once again fading into the jungle.
All in all, it was a very bad day for the attackers.
OOOOOOO
"I'm putting my own bounty on that kriffing traitor!" Vizla shouted, his crush gaunt slamming down hard enough to destroyed the communication terminal in front of him. Luckily the crush gaunt was turned off, so it only damaged the communications device slightly rather than tearing through the entire thing. "There is no place she can go, no pit deep enough to hide an aruteii to the Death Watch!"
"What about her words?" said Tanner, pulling off his helmet to stare hard at chief Vizla face to face.
"Bah! She just wants my leadership position, that's all this is, a power-play. She's trying to use this whole thing and in efforts to kill me so she doesn't have to challenge me herself!"
"And her accusations against the Death Watch?" Tanner went on coldly. He had never been sent on those kind of mission because Vizla feared he was still naïve about what the Death Watch had to do to in order to fund itself.
"We are fighting for the warrior souls of our people!" Vizla said glaring at the younger man. "Yes, the Death Watch name might have a bad history behind it, but that is pure propaganda from the New Mandalorians! And if we have to occasionally get our hands dirty so that we can get said hands on the weapons we need, so be it."
Tanner nodded, seemingly taking Vizla's word as simple truth. But that night he and forty-six other Death Watch members faded into the jungle, eventually making contact with a few of the Barabels, and then Bo.
Vizla heard of this desertion the next day, but the numbers didn't matter in the great scheme of things. They were made good along with much of the losses they had sustained by more incoming bounty hunters, pirates and smugglers. True a few of them had come to blows in orbit, but others had come down, willing to work with the forces already here, at least for now.
It irritated Vizla true, but what irritated him more was trying to figure out a way to pin these people down. He didn't have nearly as many hover bikes as he should to be able to patrol the jungle at any speed. That had been Bo's area of expertise, her Night Owls squadron had specialized in hit-and-run tactics and had the majority of the hover bikes the Death Watch had. No, speed was impossible here.
"It looks as if we are here for the long haul," he said aloud, then began to create a map of the jungle and the various areas where they had already clashed with the defenders. He also began to mark in other areas, slowly developing an actual map of the jungle even better than the one Ranma, Shaak and their group had. He didn't question this, simply thinking that he was doing so from the reports of his scouts, but he wasn't, not entirely.
There was now a little voice in his head, whispering in his ear. Exar Kun had found a mind that, while not Force sensitive, could help him regain his power in other ways. And this one's mind was as easy to manipulate as MandaloreIndomitable had been.
Four days went past with various groups clashing throughout the jungle. Ranma and his people refused to be pinned down, hitting and fading, always pulling back away from the attackers landing area further into the jungle. They did after all have an entire jungle to play with as Ranma had said. They traded space for lives, but never in the direction of the temple where Shaak and Ranma had run into the Dark-mutated creatures.
Nor, thanks to Bo, were the attackers the only ones to receive reinforcements. Other Mandalorians arrived to join in the battle who had not been affiliated with the Death Watch, eager to see if this way to return to their roots Bo had promised was all it cracked up to be. Though others elsewhere did take notice of this…
OOOOOOO
Duchess Satine Kryze, leader of the New Mandalorians, the peaceful faction that had begun to lead the Mandalorians out of barbarism stared at her chief advisor. "What do you mean Clento and the others have disappeared?"
"I mean they're gone my lady, four clan chiefs and over four hundred warriors all told have just disappeared off the grid. They were among those that have begun to mutter about your our continued policies of disarmament and nonaggression and doing away with the outdated honor code, so we had them under observation. However we lost them for a few days, and since have discovered they have left the system entirely." The man said, bowing his head slightly. Satine was not one who liked too much deference, formality yes, obsequiousness no.
"Where could they have gone?" Satine muttered, then shook her head, looking back out over the city and up past to the interior edge of the bio-cube to the moon which had just risen up over the planet. "Could it be connected to wherever the Death Watch went?"
"I have not forgotten that the Death Watch pulled back from their moon base Duchess, but there is no evidence to link that to the disappearance of Clento Ka Rogn and the others who have begun to speak against our policies." Her advisor replied. "There is rumor that they have attempted to take on a specific and rather tremendously large bounty, but surely that is a rumor only. They would not near their full complement of troops to take any one or even any three bounties."
"Do we have any information about these new disappearances? Anything they were talking about, any long term plans they might be putting into motion or had to stop to take care of whatever this might be?" Satine asked, turning away from the moon and the dead-end past those banished to it represented. As the ruler of her people she had to face the future, and that was with her party of New Mandalorians.
"Very little I'm afraid, Duchess. We know they were in communication with someone, a single someone, but both ends used scramblers, and our listening devices couldn't break it. There was only one call in the clear conducted by the four clan leaders, a call for a return to the Resol'nare and a symbol of some kind they are rallying around, an ancient beast. But what that could act actually mean in real terms, we do not know."
Scowling Satine turned away, staring out over the balcony of her viewing room to the city beyond. Her city. She and her party had dragged the Mandalorian's economy together again after the last rounds of conflict, and were slowly bringing the rest of their society out of their warlike ways and onto the enlightened path of pacifism, which was the way forward for the entire galaxy.
Satine would prove it, her people would prove that you didn't have to be killers trying to cloak your sadism with bare cloaks of made up honor to prosper. They had been showing this for years and would continue to do so. Anyone who thought differently was simply wrong, uninformed, or worse, a throwback to the kind of warmongering barbarian that a majority of the Republic still thought Mandalorians were.
"Keep me apprised," she said aloud, shaking her head. "If this is some sort of new recruitment push from the Death Watch we will need to be aware of it. And if this is some kind of new political party harkening back to the bad old days I'll want to know, and be ready to move against them the instant they give me an excuse."
OOOOOOO
Over three weeks passed as Ranma and his group fought a guerrilla war against their enemies during which both sides were reinforced astonishingly. The reinforcements for the attackers came as no surprise, more mercenaries, smugglers, and other criminal sorts trickled in, sometimes small groups, sometimes large ones. Many of them came to blows before coming down to the planet, and still others left quickly, unwilling to get involved with a fight as serious as this one was.
Ranma had no idea how many people had survived to join the fight to take his head, but it was way more than even he had thought would come after them in so short a time, and Shaak had never considered it either. Their trap plan had really spiraled way out of control, but they were now stuck here, and that was all there was to it.
At the same time, a large group of Mandalorians flocked to Bo-Katan's call to create a new brotherhood, the Reborn, giving her around eight hundred warriors of her own near the end of the first week of the campaign. They blasted through the thin airborne forces operating under Vizla and went to ground before anyone could stop them.
There were a lot of hard questions from them about Shaak Ti. The enmity the Mandalorians felt to the Jedi was very real. However when they saw Ranma in action, and learned they too could possibly learn how to be as strong or tough as he was if they put in enough time and effort, they were onboard.
There were still a lot of questions to be answered long term, but talking to the various warriors, young and old, Ranma understood Bo had told the truth about the growing resentment toward the so-called New Mandalorians and how they acted as their planet's government. Because of that and Ranma's own abilities Bo had been able to bring these men and women together on their side despite sharing her last name with the hated poster woman of the New Mandalorians. They were that desperate for an option which would allow them to keep their warrior's ethos and not force them to join the Death Watch.
Of course when Vizla learned about this he hit the roof, pushing his 'troops' forward en-masse towards where the newcomers had landed. The newcomers had lost a few ships before they could hide them in various ways, but had wiped out more pirates and other groups in a single day than the rest of the defenders had done up until then.
This disaster had forced Vizla to change tactics. He had established several different small base camps scattered throughout the woods as fast reaction forces. He had also begun to use his Death Watch more than the rest of the loose alliance as scouts, bringing forward the forces from the small base camps into whatever fight his Death Watch found swiftly in order to envelope the defenders before they could fade away.
Ranma and his friends had lost men because of this tactic, another Barabel, two Wookies, and fifteen of Richard's men and women. But Bo and the Mandalorians had suffered worse, with over fifty dead to this tactic and the fighting when the newcomers arrived.
Worse, despite HK's and the other heavy weapons teams best efforts, air superiority was still telling whenever it could be called in time. It had cost the newcomers under clan chief Rogn several hundred people, and another Wookie had died at the same time. Ranma honestly felt more remorse for the Wookies death, as he had known the Wookie, a near-black-furred young man name Salmar, than the Mandalorians, and felt rather bad about it despite knowing that was simply human nature.
Even with their new allies the defenders were in a bad way now. Supplies had begun to dwindle, not food thankfully for the Barabels and Wookies. But the defenders were running low on bandages, water sanitizers, blaster packs and other supplies. They were entirely out of concussion missiles for their anti-air weapons or even HK's giant slug thrower.
Ranma and the other leaders knew by that point they were actually slowly starting to lose. I knew we were going to face a lot of people coming after me, but this is freaking ridiculous! I never realized before, at least not in my head, how huge the Republic is and how quick people can get from one place to another. Any criminal band that tossed this many people into a meat grinder would have been wiped out but we ain't fighting one band, were fighting dozens, hundreds maybe by this point. This trap of ours has turned around and bit us on the ass! And that doesn't even consider whatever Shaak's been feeling…
We need to counterattack now, and I think we can. But we need to be a little sneaky about it, and we need to change our own tactics, radically.
He groaned for a second, kneading one shoulder where he had been hit by a turbolaser blast from another attack from on high, this one from the yacht which had come down with the first bunch. The ship had died from a Moko Takabasha and a concussion missile from one of the heavy weapons teams, but that heavy weapons team, Mandalorians all, had died. And Ranma had only escaped with his arm intact thanks to the heightened toughness training he'd gone through on Kashyyyk.
Moving through the small, well-hidden camp he, Shaak and two of the Barabels had set up, he saw Shaak sitting Indian style on the ground underneath a camouflaged awning, her hands tented in front of her as she meditated.
She opened her eyes and turned to watch Ranma, and he carefully hid a wince at how weary she looked, not fatigue of the body but of the soul. The deaths and the feeling of the Dark entity slithering just out of her perception had begun to drain her.
"I'm sorry I got you into this Shaak," Ranma said sitting down next to her, reaching out to tenderly run a hand down her cheek. "Even now I'm sort of enjoying this, the challenge of combat, the adrenaline of it, but you're not, are you."
"No, and I don't think I would be a Jedi any longer if I did. Oh, I can admit to enjoying the challenge of combat, but not on this scale." Shaak sighed, her eye closing again as she leaned into his touch. "Jedi, even Guardians like myself, are not soldiers. We feel deaths through the Force, and in a battle like this that feeling builds up, which the Dark entity is using of course. We can be warriors, but we act as police more often than not, upholders of law rather than soldiers who must withstand the stress of constant combat. I would not have realized the difference between the two mindsets before this."
"For me, it's never been about upholding the law but about acting in accordance to my own Code, which is different than a Jedi's of course. I don't revel in death, you know that. But the challenge of even this kind of combat is something I enjoy." Ranma replied, looking somewhat repentant of that admission.
"That sounds more like a Mandalorian point of view than a Jedi," Bo-Katan said from nearby, coming out of the dark of the jungle with four of her Night Owls around her.
She gestured with her head towards the south. "We hit one of their small fast reaction outposts while the troops were away trying to find a few of the Barabels. They didn't and we took their supplies and ambushed them when they returned. There were only a few Death Watch among them, the group was mostly a merc band with a red heart encased in a drinking cup as their patch. I've never run into them before, but they weren't very good in any event, took out more than twenty before we had to fade."
She plopped down, looking physically exhausted as most of them were these days, but her eyes were still bright. Like the rest of the Mandalorians of both genders she was enjoying the constant warfare. A campaign like this despite its relatively small scale would bring her and the others a lot of glory if they won.
"So, what're we talking about?" Bo asked, sprawling out on the ground. One of her own squad mates, the Night Owls, came over. She winked at Ranma and Shaak as she handed out a meal made from one of the local flowers, which had a sort of meaty texture to it but a taste like whatever sauce it was boiled in. Ranma thought of it as the weirdest kind of mushroom he'd ever heard of, but it was quite tasty.
"Pressure, exhaustion and the Dark entity we told you about," Shaak replied, smiling thanks at the Night Owl woman.
Bo grimaced, shaking her head as she looked out into the slowly lightening darkness beyond the camp. "I still don't understand what this Dark Entity could be, but I'm not a Jedi thank the manda! Why can't you deal with it though?"
"My Force senses are not strong enough to find it, no matter how hard I try. I've attempted to nearly every waking hour when I'm not actually fighting, but I cannot. I could wish Master Yoda, or even better Master Yaddle had felt the need to join us, but we are stuck with just me." Shaak replied, shaking her head.
"Yeah, I'll say it again, for just guiding us here the Light Side of the Force needs a spanking." Ranma joked, causing both Mandalorian women to chuckle. "Still tell us what you can, maybe another perspective will help."
Shaak nodded, her smile widening noticeably as she felt that shivering of shock and almost-but not quite blush through the Force. "I know whatever entity is here has grown stronger, feeding off every death that has occurred since this campaign began. I can tell there is a distinct intelligence there, and I think it is a masculine one, but that is about all I can tell for certain. He is malevolent, intelligent and still growing in power. I think… I believe I could put a name to the entity, but I still cannot find it."
Ranma frowned then nodded slowly. "Exar Kun himself? Old Kieran said they never found his body after all, and you said this was a sight of a battle against his Brotherhood. And frankly that'd make far too much sense given my usual 'luck'."
"Yes that is what I suspect." Shaak replied. Another individual might have used the word 'feared' but Shaak was a Jedi and while she had come to understand her own emotions and the need to feel them in the first place, speaking about fear and other Dark Side emotions was still not easy for her. "I think he somehow cheated death, becoming some kind of Force Ghost. But whatever it was he did backfired, keeping him here on Yavin instead of letting him roam freely."
"So he wants off the planet. You think he's strong enough to entirely take someone over and get out using their bodies like in that bizarre 'Ghost Creeper' movie series?" Bo asked, now more than a little concerned as her friend shook her head quickly removing herself from the conversation. Exar Kun was a name every Mandalorian had heard, and for the most part it wasn't in a good way being one of betrayal, backstabbing and defeat snatched from the jaws of victory because of treachery in the Brotherhood or a sudden change of objectives.
"I have never heard of that movie series, Jedi do not normally keep up with modern culture." Shaak replied, shaking her head. "As to your question however, I believe he has already taken someone over, but not entirely yet. He wants to remain here, gaining strength from the deaths of the campaign until he is ready to leave."
"Wait, would he be able to use his Force powers if he takes someone over who isn't a Force user?" Ranma asked, frowning.
"I do not know, that is one of many things I do not know about this situation." Shaak said, almost growling the words as she showed Ranma her teeth for a moment. Then she frowned. "I do think he would rather try to take me over if he could, so that might be the goal of his taking in so much power."
"If we find whoever he's currently possessing and kill that person would this ghost thing die?" Bo asked bluntly. "It did sometimes in the 'Creeper' movies, but you had to use holy oak to do it."
"Not going to comment on that concept, but as to your actual question I don't know." Shaak sighed then, clamping down quickly on her irritation at the lack of knowledge she was operating under. She fell silent, thinking about it for a moment before going on. "I think the ghost would be weakened, but not killed. Not unless we can somehow dissipate the ghost itself, which means I need to become a target, draw it in and defeat it mentally."
Ranma growled angrily at that reaching over to take Shaak's hand in his. "Are you sure that's the only way to deal with this Kun bastard?"
"Yes." Shaak replied, the concept firming swiftly in her mind as she squeezed his hand back. "Yes I am certain. But first we need to find out who he's inhabiting and force him out."
"That's easy anyway." Ranma said with a shrug, letting go of her hands while Bo nodded. When Shaak looked at them both in shock Ranma laughed. "Use logic rather than trying to find Kun with your senses Shaak. If you were a Force Ghost and you wanted to take someone over in order to cause a lot of deaths but were still worried about being found, who would you try to take over?"
Shaak looked at him blankly, an expression on her gaunt face that caused Bo to cackle for a moment shaking her head. After a moment Shaak recovered enough to reach forward, bringing one of Ranma's hands up to her lips, kissing it lightly. "Hmm… logic, a thing that Jedi are not known for normally. Certainly not something I would expect from you either. But yes, that makes sense."
"Heh…" Ranma chuckled, bringing one of Shaak's hands up to his own mouth to kiss her palm before leaning back, becoming serious once more. "Anyway, before I came over here I was thinking about talking to you about the overall battle, and this information just makes that more important. I think we need to change our tactics."
Shaak and Ranma smiled evilly. "I actually hadn't just stopped by to see you Shaak, but because I think it's time for our counterattack. Thanks to Vizla being so helpful in pushing out those small quick reaction bases of theirs, they have left behind most of their ships at the landing site, well out of range. They still have air superiority flights out, but not enough and they're out of position."
"HK," he began turning to the droid, who had remained silent, his eyes gleaming. "Can you get to the lake without being spotted?"
"Affronted response: Master are you trying to be insulting? Of course I can! Giddy delight: Does that mean what I think it means?"
"It does indeed. Weapons free HK, it's time we start turning this around."
"Bo, you and a few hundred Mandos and I will set up a defensive redoubt here," Ranma said pulling out a map of the area they had been painstakingly creating ever since they had landed. The attackers seemed to also have decent idea of the land, which, Ranma reflected while he pointed at a spot on the map, should have given them a clue.
"We want to look like a big target. We'll spend today and tomorrow night radioing in the open, about how we're running out of supplies, which they have to already know, then pull back, let the Barabels and Wookies and Richard's troops go to ground entirely for a time. Let them concentrate on us, and pull back slowly throughout the day and night to here. Let them think they can concentrate on us, encircle us…"
The place Ranma had chosen for his mock last stand was a giant granite outcropping, well back from where the battles had been going on thus far. It had a somewhat open area around it but no overhead cover, hence why they hadn't been using it before this. "We drag them in, let them think their air can pound us into rubble, then jump on them in turn and turn it around on them. And with the Wild Light, we can cut off any further reinforcements that arrive. That'll let the rest of your people to get their own ships into the air."
"And once we can stop any reinforcements and have air superiority ourselves, we win this fight!" Bo said her eyes lighting up in response as she reached to trace Ranma's jaw her eyes lighting up as the sun crested the horizon, her emotions suddenly running away with her despite her resolution to not pouch. "Are you sure you don't want to join us more… permanently? What a Mandalorian you would make!"
"Nope," Ranma said with a shrug moving away slightly as Shaak's eyes narrowed slightly in their white markings. "I'm a martial artist, not a Mandalorian, not a Jedi, just me. On the other hand, trainings always fun."
"Oh hell yes," said more than one of the nearby Mandalorians, eagerly to learn Ranma's skills. Even after only three weeks of training with them, Bo's abilities were head and shoulders above the rest of her troops, and it would be years before she had built her Living Force up to the level where she could use it.
"I agree it sounds like a good plan," Shaak said approvingly. "But while you do that, I think Bo and myself need to headhunt Vizla."
"Agreed," Bo said, shaking her head. "When the Wild Light and the other ships start to bombard them we'll need to make certain he doesn't try to run. I want to make certain that darmanda (Not Mandalorian) is dead. The rest we can probably just strand here, but him, I want to see his body, beyond wanting to force Kun's ghost out of him."
All three of them chuckled, and got down to more serious planning, getting in touch with the other leaders. It was time for the counter attack.
OOOOOOO
It took them about a day to prime the trap. Ranma pulled back from the fighting for the entire day, moving back to the rocky outcropping to clear away as much space around it as possible, doing alone in a day what would have taken the rest of their forces the same amount of time to do.
At the same time the Wookies, Richard's irregulars, and the Barabels began to retreat through the jungle in small groups. This left the Mandalorians and Nova Guard to bear the brunt of the combat for now, something they were happy to do despite losing people in little trickles throughout the day. The attackers lost more, and no reinforcements arrived to replace them.
During the night, the Barabels and Nova Guard went out, wreaking havoc on a few of the small forward bases only to 'retreat' after a bit without taking any supplies. This, the day's actions, and the bases they hit seemed to do the trick, and Vizla started to push all of his men in the direction those bases had faced, straight toward the rock outcropping.
The next day, Shaak opened her eyes from where she was leaning against a tree trunk high up in its branches, staring out as the sun came up. She hadn't actually slept, instead meditating through the night, preparing herself for the coming mental combat. It wasn't something any Jedi had ever needed to do as far as she knew, taking on someone entirely in their own mind.
But there were some parallels she could use to deduce what she might be facing. The first and most obvious was he pressure another Force user, and in particular a Dark Side Force user could put on an individual, pushing at their victim's Force Precognition and other senses with their own hate and anger. Shaak felt she could handle that well enough, and after sparring with Ranma for so long, Shaak knew no amount of dun moch was going to get under her skin.
The second place she could take inspiration from was two of the Knight trials, the Trial of Spirit and the Trial of Perception. While her perception wasn't able to discern where Kun's ghost was nor stop him from taking power from the deaths of the combatants, she believed once face to face she could at least discern when he was trying to cloud her senses. The trial of Spirit had made Ti face her own innermost fears, and in so doing had given Shaak an idea of how to control her perception of her inner mind and thoughts.
Despite this, Shaak admitted, if only to herself, that she was uneasy. Exar Kun had been a Sith Lord, and a master duelist too when he was alive. She wasn't certain that she could match his mental powers, or even how the mental combat would play out at all. Would it happen on her mental plain, as had the Trial of Spirit? Or would it be more a thing of feeling and pressure?
Shaak looked up as Ranma bounded up the tree to crouch next to her, one hand coming up to whip her hair back over her shoulders. Cocking an eyebrow Shaak noticed that the redhead's hair was rather wet, but they hadn't gotten any rain yet today or the night before. And Ranma had dressed in the slightly shorter pants and shirt she routinely used when in female form too. "Ranma?"
"Grrrr… been spending too much time in female form lately, it added up again." Ranma growled, flipping her body around slightly so she could plop herself down onto the same branch Shaak was on, laying her head in the Togrutan's lap. "Blech, but at least this way I can take it out on the Bounty Hunters and other bastards out there."
Shaak smiled, leaning down to kiss the short redhead tenderly on the lips before pulling back. "I think I have a bottle of pain medicine in my ki space if you want it Ranma."
"Took some already, but if you don't mind I'll take some more later." Ranma nodded, groaning a little. "At least the queasiness doesn't seem to be that bad this time. The pain though, is somewhat worse to make up for it…"
Even as Shaak commiserated with her however, Ranma was staring at her lover thoughtfully. "You're worried." She said bluntly after Shaak finished speaking. "This whole idea of getting to attack Exar Kun is bothering you."
"Yes." Shaak replied simply, smiling at how easily Ranma had begun to read her emotions. But when she went on she was serious once again. "Ranma, Exar Kun faced Jedi Masters known for their combat abilities, and he was a vaunted user of Sith sorcery. He was also known for the power of his voice. What if he beats me?"
"He won't. Shaak you've fought me enough that your combat abilities is probably in the top five of your Order right now." Ranma replied soothingly, trying not to flare up at Shaak putting herself down like that. her own emotions all over the place. "You can beat him, trust in yourself."
"I appreciate the vote of confidence Ranma, and if this was a physical contest I would agree. But it won't be, this battle will be entirely mental, and that is an area I've never trained in." Shaak said, looking worried.
Cocking her head thoughtfully Ranma stared up at her lady, thinking. She needs some inspiration, not an actual pep talk. Ranma's lips quirked for a second and she asked, "Hey Shaak, you remember that song I was singing that first morning on Eshan? Do you still want to hear it?"
Shaak blinked a little, leaning backwards as Ranma sat up, turning her body around to sit opposite her. "I remember it yes and of course would love to hear you sing. But what brought it to mind?"
"Heh, you'll see." With that Ranma fell silent for a second, cracking her head this way and that, touching her throat gently before beginning.
"At the beginning, bringing back the light, take your animosity shove it into the pitch black night…" Ranma began, her voice clear and strong. "This is your creation, the world is your slate, let's paint it all anew now. It's not too late! I'll be your bright, white liiiiight!"
Shaak jolted as the lyrics hit her, her eyes widening as Ranma continued. The wording and the beat of the song was unlike any she had heard, but it was certainly uplifting. "Brighter than a white hot fire, louder than a crashing tide, bigger than a mountain spire, higher than the wind you ride! Until your voice is heard, go change the whole damn world! Never giving up the fight, gonna be the bright white light!"
Ranma went on staring into Shaak's eyes. Neither noticed that many of the nearby Mandalorians and the few others nearby had stopped what they were doing to listen to the redhead sing a song that, for all its odd words, was clearly a call to battle.
"Rise from the ashes, pure of flesh and blood. Free yourself of hatred, swallow it up and call it done. We are connected, never be apart! Reach out to one another, go heart to heart! Embrace the bright white liiiiight!"
To Shaak it was something different, an inspiration and, as the lyrics of the next refrain penetrated, a love song too.
"Even if you bare your soul, even if you shake your pride, nothing's going to crush that hope, nothing's gonna dull your shine the time for change has come, watch as the colors run. Never givin' up the fight, gonna be the bright white Light! I'm gonna shine bright, I wanna be the whiiiiite!"
Shaak's smile widened and she closed her eyes for a brief second. When she opened them once more, she threw her shoulders back, hurling her self-doubts and worries off like an ill-fitting cloak. Shaak's eyes began to shine as she centered herself once more, pushing past even the mental exhaustion the constant deaths had caused her. Leaning forward she took Ranma's hands, staring at the redhead with love in her eyes as Ranma finished the song.
"Nothing's gonna stop true light, separate wrong from right. Never leave a stone unturned, do it for the world you yearn! Just know that come what may such beauty can't be stained! Never givin' up the fight, gonna be the bright, white light!" Ranma belted out the final verse, holding the last note for a time before letting it fade.
The moment Ranma finished singing Shaak leaned forward, capturing the redhead in a kiss pulling the shorter girl against her. When they separated, Shaak murmured, "Thank you Ranma, thank you for reminding me of my courage."
Come what may I will face it with courage and determination, I will not let my own worries or fears control me. I am a force of Light and I will not falter no matter how strong the Dark becomes around me.
The moment was ruined by a few catcalls from some of the Mandalorians and a few of Richard's people. Who then had to scatter for cover as Ranma, her emotional control gone, shrieked and started to throw branches at them with punishing force and cries of "Perverts, the lot of you!"
Behind her, Shaak shook her head, then began to laugh, shaking her head. "There's never a dull moment with Ranma, is there?"
OOOOOOO
HK moved through the jungle silently, the servomotors of his legs barely making noise even to his own senses, let alone anyone else's. He did not engage the few scattered sentients he saw here and there, deserters or scouts that had somehow gotten turned around from the groups that had moved on from their starting point, pushing Ranma and company back. He paused occasionally, waiting several times as starfighters roared overhead.
The attackers had thirty two ships at this point, given the combat losses and new additions. Seven of them were up patrolling the air at all time, mostly starfighters, while there were at least ten ships which had landed since the start of this campaign that were pure transport vessels with little to no weapons of their own.
And those transport vessels are now utterly undefended. And the ships in the air are no threat to the Wild Light. My master's plan is a good one, HK thought. I just hope that I can get back afterwards in time for the final battle. Missing such as that would displease me, violence done second hand is never as satisfying.
Moments later, HK reached the edge of the lake where the Wild Light and the remaining two ships of their party had been stored. Without hesitation HK continued to walk forward, entering the water and heading downwards, disappearing into the water with barely a plot.
After only being attacked once by some kind of underwater predator, HK reached the side of the Wild Light, where he entered a code for the outer airlock. Soon after that, he marched up into the cockpit, leaving droplets of water along the way. Tune's voice spoke up from where he had been ensconced, the droid bleeping and warbling at the older droid. "You get to clean those up."
"Affronted shock: How dare you, I am not a menial! That is your role, not mine. Besides I imagine you had nothing but time off these past few days."
"Do not act as if you did not enjoy it," the younger droid muttered then connected into the Wild Light's computer and the Wild Light's engine began to rev up. He had been stuck here the entire time, unable to even pick up radio signals through the water around him, but he had agreed with Ranma when they hid the ship that an astromech would be a liability in a jungle fight. "I take it by your presence Master Ranma has decided on a use for the Wild Light?"
HK sat down with some difficulty in one of the pilot's seat after all he was quite a bit wider and taller than the human norm. His one normal hand reached out to the controls as the claws of his other hand gently tapped the control board right below the buttons for the ship's weapons. "Giddy Anticipation: He has indeed. Prepare for slaughter!"
Moments later the Wild Light burst out of the water like a giant whale, which given the fact that its creators had evolved from a water planet was oddly appropriate. Immediately it was picked up by the raider's radar, but all of the ships they currently had in the air were, as Ranma had known they would be, out of position.
OOOOOOO
Vizla glared angrily from behind a downed tree to the large rocky outcropping where he could see the aruteii and their target, in his female form. He still wasn't certain he believed the strange water-based curse wasn't some kind of elaborate Jedi trick, but he had seen enough reports about it to know the redhead bounty head was the same person as the black-haired one.
At the moment said target was standing in front of the rocky outcropping her strange lightsaber in hand. Above and beyond her were at least a hundred and fifty Mandalorian warriors, a few scattered Wookies, humans and Twi'leks, and two groups of Nova Guard situated around two crew served heavy blasters. They were all well hidden among the rocks, which itself was a very dangerous defensive position, about four stories tall at its shortest point, with a commanding view of the surrounding area.
An area that had been cleared out, all the trees around the original open area that had surrounded the rocky outcropping to just beyond blaster range. A lot of the tree stumps and trunks had been left where they had been knocked down, but even so, the amount of overhead cover was minimal.
That wasn't good, as was this sudden change of style. Vizla's instincts warned him that this was some kind of trap. Yet despite that, he decided to move forward, something inside him urging him on despite the number of people he was going to lose. After all, most of them weren't really his people, were they?
So he ordered the chekar (scum) forward, pushing the mercenaries in after them, but letting that part up to their own leaders. He kept his own Death Watch back, pushing them forward slowly in squads, telling them to keep as mobile as possible, while also looking for an opening to close.
Watching for a few moments as the defenders opened up, he nodded his head grimly. They were doing just as well as he thought, but there didn't seem to be any more of those portable concussion missile launchers. That pointed to there being some truth to their needing to change their style of warfare due to running out of supplies. And without them, our starfighters will rip that position into pieces.
He was about to order the starfighters in from where they had been hovering out of weapons range when things began to go wrong.
OOOOOOO
A bare few seconds later the Wild Light roared over the attacker's landing area, where a few injured and malingerers who had remained behind began to run for their ships. Too late however. With a deft hand HK sent the ship into a barrel roll, allowing him to fire downwards from the two Quad laser turrets. His attacks destroyed the parked ships as they roared overhead, their targets exploding one after another.
By the time they were he was done with that, the starfighters providing air support for the assault on Ranma and Bo's position had roared back in a desperate attempt to save their transport ships regardless of Vizla's orders. By the time they entered weapons range however the destruction was done, and HK gleefully turned his attention to them. He used two proton torpedoes to destroy the first two starfighters coming towards them, their shields unable to stop that kind of impact. Then he used his quad lasers on the next two, their shields dimming then dying under his fire before they could break off.
The final three each peeled off in a different direction, trying to divide his attention, but with Tune doing the driving, HK was free to do the killing. Tune twirled them around on a dime, the two quad cannons targeting one ship first, it's shields dimming within seconds, then the plasma rounds perforated it. A second proton torpedo locked onto the second to last ship, and another ship died.
The third had gotten behind them for a moment, but broke for space as Tune completed his maneuver, the Quad cannons coming around to face in that direction again.
"Should we pursue?" Tune asked, his assumed voice emotionless.
"Crisp professionalism: Negative. We have targets on the ground below. The aggressors have had air superiority for this entire fight, now it is ours and it is time to, as humans often, say do onto them. Exultant warcry: Let's get killing!"
With that the Wild Light plunged down to the fight going on around the rocky outcropping.
OOOOOOO
The attack on Bo and Ranma's position came apart almost immediately after the starfighters had tried to turn towards the landing area in an effort to save the transport ships. Hearing what had happened over the radio a lot of the pirates and other groups broke off almost immediately en-masse, racing back to see if they could save their ships. Even some of the mercenary groups did, but some, along with the Death Watch were made of sterner stuff than the rest, and continued to battle on.
The Mandalorian warriors swooped here and there through the air, trying to flank the defenders only to be conquered by their fellows, who knew how they thought and fought. The heavy weapons couldn't find a target among the rocks, but also continued to move frequently with only a few falling to the defender's fire. Mobility was the hallmark of Mandalorian warfare, and it showed now even among the defenders, who routinely took to the sky as well or shifted position among the rocks.
Ranma had remained standing in front of the rocky outcrop out in the open since the fight begun, a target and a symbol. Her light pike flashed deflected blaster bolts as she practically danced in place, her hair flying looking like some kind of ancient goddess of war. More than one of the Night Owls and other Mandalorians had to remind themselves that Ranma was really a man with a weird Force curse watching this. A very, very weird Force curse, which served as a warning to most Mandalorians that the Force was much more trouble than it was worth.
From where he was taking cover and shooting up at the rocky outcrop, Vizla heard the roar of a ship's engines in the air above him, and he knew that it wouldn't be their own starfighter returning. Looking out into the practically open ground around him, he cursed before activating his helmet's communicator. "Death Watch close with them! We'll lose less troops to their fire than we will to that ship!"
It was a good, quick response, but that just brought them within range of Ranma, who leaped up into the air. The Mandalorians tried to get away, but one of them made the mistake of frying his gyro rocket at Ranma, who somehow slid his body over it, then used the wire like a tightrope, racing along it. The warrior cut the wire, but Ranma was already close enough to leap forward, her light pike smashing out with its plasma beam off at present.
That blow gave Ranma enough momentum to twist and turn up to attack another while her first victim fell to the earth, his rocket pack broken right behind the fuel tank. Now among them, the Mandalorians had to try and fight her in close as she had a field day, bouncing from one to another, her mastery of air combat serving her in good stead and flummoxing the Death Watch. Both Ranma and the defenders had a field day, and over a hundred Death Watch died before the others touched down.
Vizla touched down, his vibro-blade out and stabbing, killing one of the kriffing traitors as his blaster came up, killing two more, whose clan markings, subtle marks on the shoulder plate among their jungle camo, he didn't recognize. Then he was forced to roll forward along the small rocky ledge, activating his rocket pack to travel up to another as Bo-Katan slammed down where he had been standing. He turned, his blaster coming up only to lose it to a gyro rocket shot from another angle.
Bo's own gyro rocket trailed straight on toward his chest, her blaster gone, lost somewhere in the battle. Vizla dodged that to the side, but the gyro smashed into the rock behind him, bouncing off and into his back. Vizla stumbled slightly, but got his hands up quickly enough to smash Bo's punch aside. His own punch crunched into Bo's side, carrying her out into space. "Die traitor!"
"I'm not the one who's betrayed the Resol'nare!" Bo grunted, activating her rocket pack and slamming back into Vizla, smashing him back against the rock behind him. "Slaving, drug dealing! You and your clan betraying everything we hold dear, acting like common pirates and reavers!"
"Bah! All that honor osiikis nothing! All that matters is power, money and making war!" Vizla grunted, activating his crush gaunts and trying to punch down at Bo's collar bone from where she had actually lifted him up slightly against the rock.
But Bo replied, her own crush gaunts, which Vizla didn't realize the girl even had, smacking his punch aside. She didn't block the next blow however, a knee to the chest that knocked her back despite her body armor.
Rocketing up to a higher and larger outcrop the two began to circle around one another. Taking a brief moment to look around them, Bo saw the rest of the Death Watch found themselves overwhelmed by the defender's. Bo grinned inside of her helmet. "You've lost Shae, surrender and you might be granted an honorable end!"
Of course that was more taunt than real offer, and when Vizla roared forward, she dodged to one side. Vizla however dodged with her, and they grappled, gaunt to gaunt, muscles straining. Bo found herself surprised by the other man's strength and speed, she had thought her training with Ranma would have brought her a greater advantage. Could that Kun ghost be helping him along somehow?
Ranma landed nearby, one eyebrow raised in query. "Yah need any help Bo?" Behind him the Wild Light continued to assault the now broken raiders. They had lost their ships, they had lost thousands of their friends and most of them hadn't really anticipated a battle like they'd been facing since arriving anyway.
Elsewhere in the jungle the other Mandalorian ships rose from where they had been hidden, heading for space. No new contacts had arrived that day or the day before, but better safe than sorry.
"Kriff off!" Bo growled, then grunted in pain as Vizla took advantage of her momentary distraction, taking her legs out from under her with a sweep kick, pushing at the same time. Bo didn't let go of where their hands were locked together, but with her on her back Vizla quickly gained the upper hand. He tried to let go with one hand, but Bo kept their gaunts locked tight, forcing him to use his elbows and knees.
This was fine by Vizla. At a particular twist of his leg a knife popped up from his knee. But before he could bring it up to stab underneath her chest armor, Bo allowed him to overpower her arms for a moment. This threw off his balance, and he found himself hurled over her head as she bucked underneath him.
Vizla rolled, but Bo simply twisted her body around, activating her rocket pack and slamming into him before he could set himself. He was however able to turn toward her, and now as Bo slammed into him Vizla punched hard with his crush gaunt, shattering Bo's shoulder plate and shoulder. But his own ribs screamed at him a second later as Bo did the same.
But it was Bo who collapsed to the side, Vizla's knee blade having somehow come up to slam into her thigh, the vibro-blade cutting through the cheap Mandalorian armor they were all forced to use these days with Beskar so rare. Vizla stood over Bo and Ranma made to move forward, only to stop as Vizla suddenly stumbled, his legs somehow wilting under him for just a second as Shaak appeared on the scene.
The Togrutan Jedi stood there her hands clear for the moment as she stared at Vizla, her eyes serene. He had been nearby preparing for this confrontation as best she could, which wasn't very good truth be told, but Shaak knew it had to be done, and she would do it. "Exar Kun, I know your name."
Despite the danger of attempting to take over a Force user, Exar Kun could not turn away from the challenge inherent in Shaak's words. He was powerful now, far more powerful after the days of death and hate and rage felt by the Death Watch and their allies during this campaign. I can overcome her! And a Jedi of such power, her body will be the perfect conduit for my revival. I could have hoped for a male body, but that will come in time. Certainly better than that freak with his odd Force curse. The spirit of Exar Kun solidified suddenly in the air in front of Shaak and then zoomed forward into her body, invading her spirit and soul, leaving Vizla behind.
Not seeing any of this Bo had taken advantage of the opportunity Kun's sudden exit afforded her, punching up hard. Her blow caught Vizla in the guts, crushing his armor and then his guts. Vizla gasped in agony and then Bo was on her feet, another punch slamming into the visor of his helmet, and Vizla of the Death Watch died, betrayed himself in the final moments of his life. There was a bit of ironic justice in that.
But if the physical battle was finished, the mental combat was just beginning.
OOOOOOO
Shaak found herself now standing in a grey, blank plane, with nothing around her. "Interesting," she murmured, then concentrated, imagining her lightsaber in her hand. The mental representation of her weapon appeared. She activated it, looking around her thoughtfully a small smile appearing on her face. Oh good, It's going to be an actual battle, not an abstract one.
"Come out! To take my body you must defeat my mind, my spirit. My body is not big enough for the both of us!" she said with a laugh. Beyond even Ranma's earlier aid, for the first time since the death and the killing had begun here on Yavin Shaak felt almost free. This was a fight that she as a Jedi she could fully embrace. I am a Jedi, I stand against the Dark, come what may.
In front of Shaak a man coalesced. Taller than Shaak by a few inches, slightly broader in the shoulders as well, he was dressed in formfitting black clothing, with a black cloak about his shoulders falling to his ankles. He had black hair, gleaming yellow eyes and some kind of tattoo on his forehead. In one hand he held a long hafted lightsaber reminiscent of the one Ranma had reported 'Dark Clown Face' had used, the nickname coming to Shaak's mind just then making her smile widen even as the man spoke.
His voice was a deep, almost hypnotic baritone, commanding the listener's attention. Shaak could tell it could have been a weapon on its own under other circumstances. "You are a fool to challenge me here. Better to have surrendered meekly and lived on as a ghost young one. Do you think a mere Knight such as you is any challenge to a master of the Dark Side like me? That is the most arrogant thing I have ever heard!"
"I might not be a master," Shaak said, her lightsaber coming up into the en-garde position. "But I think you'll find that I am not as weak as you believe. Else you would have tried to take me over long before this."
"We will see." Exar Kun scoffed and with that he attacked, his lightsaber blades flashing in a modified style of Ataru and Makashi perhaps, the speed of the attack almost catching Shaak by surprise. Almost. In comparison to fighting Ranma Exar Kun was merely fast, not frighteningly so even on this mental plane.
A second later her lightsaber came up and around in a tight arc as she batted aside both blades one after another. The last riposte threw her around and she went with it, bringing her blade around to almost take Exar Kun's leg off at the thigh in a Shii-Cho riposte.
Kun disappeared for a moment, blinking away to appear elsewhere, and she huffed irritably. "Of course, never trust a Dark Side user to play fair."
"That was indeed quite good. I can feel the power in you, you're right, you are powerful…" Exar Kun said almost respectfully now circling her lightly his pleads humming as he whirled his double-bladed lightsaber in his hands, letting his voice do the work for a moment. He was surprised the Togrutan had enough mental strength to imagine her physical skills so accurately here on the mental plain. "Tell me, have you already run into the jealousy of your peers? Their fear? Despite their attempts to ignore the Darker emotions Jedi always fear those who become powerful 'before their time' or who stand out from the mold."
He circled to the right, launching a series of attacks more to probe Shaak's defense than anything else. Shaak however attacked strongly, forcing him to backpedal, matching his Ataru with her own. Even so he kept his voice soothing, comradely almost as he tried to weaken her conviction. "You are different, I can feel it within you, your love for your friend. That will turn against you, just as the Order will because they fear those which rise too high."
"The Order is not as flexible as I might like," Shaak said with an eloquent shrug, though Exar's use of one particular word there had caused her to stumble for a second. "That does not matter to me much. I am loyal to people, rather than the Order itself. As for my … my love, what would you know of love?"
"I know much. Even the Jedi in my time were allowed to feel love. But it was passion that they could at not understand, the power of it. We Sith though, we have always understood that from powerful emotions can come great power. I could show you such wonders…" Exar nearly crooned even as their lightsabers locked, sizzling and crackling, both their spirits imagining the sound into being here almost absentmindedly.
"Tell me, have you felt jealousy? The jealousy you feel when someone else looks at your paramour… yes, I can feel you have. He will betray you, you know, love always betrays you unless you are powerful enough that the one you love would not dare to try. I can show you such power, power to forever bind this Ranma to you. Power to possibly even lock him in one form unless you wish it."
As Kun spoke, he pulled images from Shaak's mind to play in the nothingness all around them. While their duel went on the memories replayed: the times Shaak had noticed Bo or someone else checking out Ranma, the times he had noticed Aayla or Luminara, the times Bo had flirted with him or just talked or sparred with him.
But to Kun's surprise, Shaak was able to divert enough attention from their battle to replay some memories of her own. Her first meeting with Ranma in the Temple's garden was first. Then a few memories from their time together on Dac. Their first kiss. Their date in Coronet. The times they had laughed together, sparred together, argued, talked, and held one another. And finally the memory of that morning, with Ranma singing to boost Shaak's spirits going into this battle.
Kun flinched at this, the emotions searing at him and Shaak laughed, shaking her head as she disengaged, a Force Push separating the two of them. "What could you show me, oh mighty ghost? Ha, the Sith know naught of love! The Sith's promise of power and glory is nothing to what can be achieved by the Light."
Enraged at his ploy failing Exar Kun charged forward, his lightsaber staff flashing for a direct thrust then whirling into a series of arcing blows as he flashed all around Shaak, trying to keep her on the ground. But Shaak was fine with that, having fallen back into a defense from Soresu, mixing up a few attacks from Makashi occasionally, simply absorbing Exar Kun's attack and not allowing her own balance to falter.
"You know nothing! Many of my followers had lovers, even I toyed with the idea. But in the end, such things are ephemeral! Only power matters, power and the will to seize it! There is no dark, there is no Light, only power!"
"You only know the way of hate, anger, and self-deception. Power is the true illusion, it alone matters not at all." Shaak said calmly, never allowing her attention to waiver from the fight, their lightsabers slamming and slashing against one another in an endless tumult of sound and fury. Despite Exar Kun empowering his body further and further away from the level his physical body had ever attained, Shaak matched him. "I am a Jedi, and you will not tempt me."
"one way or another, I will still win! I am immortal, the ritual I'd used bound me to the Force in its entirety! Now that I am in your mind, you cannot get rid of me. Eventually you will falter!"
"I will not," Shaak said still calmly, a faint smile on her lips. "The river does not falter, the river does not even band. It simply flows."
Enraged beyond all reason at his words being either ignored or simply turned aside by Shaak, Exar Kun attacked with more and more rage fueling his style and speed.
Yet even as she spoke Shaak knew the apparition was right. Even if she fended him off this time, Exar Kun could simply dissipate back into the Force, either to try and leech off her or to return to the Force of Yavin and remain there, waiting for his next victim. But this is my mind, and in my mind I wonder if I can do something about that, as I did to bring up my memories before.
Analyzing her foe's style, she nodded her head internally, and then as Exar Kun deflected her lightsaber aside with one blade before thrusting forward with his other, Shaak ducked underneath it instead of trying to correct and bring her lightsaber around to block. Shaak's offhand flashed forward, her palm pressing against Kun's chest and suddenly, her love for Ranma and her friends poured out of her in a never-ending torrent of bright piercing light as Shaak, at least in her head, re-created Force Light.
"GYYAHHAH!" The spirit of Exar Kun screamed as the Force Light ate into him. Desperately he tried to escape, tried to flee from Shaak's body, but Shaak reached out, a Force Grab holding him in place as the attack continued.
He tried to bring his mental version of his lightsaber to bear, but Shaak's lightsaber, now wielded entirely by her mind rather than by her hands, blocked his assault while Shaak added another hand to her Force Light assault.
Exar Kun screamed. "No! No! I cannot die! You cannot kill me!"
"You have been a leech on the Force for some time, I think it is past time that you finish your journey to the afterlife." Shaak said grimly, now forcing more of her Force power into the attack even as she felt her concentration beginning to waver.
"NOooooooo!" Exar Kun screamed, and, finally, died, the Force Ghost unable to keep his form in the face of Shaak's attack.
Coming back into her physical body, Shaak slumped forwards only to be caught by Ranma. "Well that was interesting," she said, frowning thoughtfully as the redhead stared at Shaak then over to the body of chief Vizla, which Bo had just finished off. "Let me guess, that wasn't nearly as easy as it looked out here."
Shaak chuckled, raising her hand up to touch Ranma's face lightly. "Oh yes my love, you can assume that."
As Ranma blushed at the word 'love', trying and failing to form words to respond in kind, Bo chuckled weakly, shaking her head. Yep, I lost that fight, no way would I be comfortable with showing that kind of affection to Ranma in that form.
With the death of Vizla and Exar Kun, though most of course didn't realize Exar Kun was part of it, and with the Wild Light overhead, the fight was over. Most of the surviving attackers ran, or threw down their weapons and surrendered. There weren't many however who lived to do so. Most of them were among the scum of the universe type rather than the mercenaries and the Death Watch, possibly as few as a hundred men. Far more escaped in small groups into the jungles, but with no intact ships, they might well be stranded here for the rest of their lives.
Of the four mercenary companies that had joined the Death Watch, nearly 15 people tried to surrender, and they would be returned to the nearest Republic planet for trial. Others, including a group of fifty or more Trandoshans, broke off the attack as soon as the Wild Light arrived, racing off into the woods. Only 10 Death Watch made it out of the fighting alive. But over 250 had switched sides along the way, giving Bo a decent fighting force in terms of the Mandalorian clans, and the single largest complement on the planet.
Ranma, Shaak and the other leaders decided not to spend any energy trying to finish the escapees off. Let them try to escape if they wished, if they were able to the tales of this battle would spread and hopefully convince other criminal gangs not to try for Ranma's bounty. If they didn't then they could live out their lives here and no one would be the poorer for their loss. Even the Barabels didn't care enough to hunt them down.
That evening they sat around several dozen scattered campfires in a large clearing made when one of the starfighters had crash landed. The groups had split up for the most part, the Mandalorians dominating a large swath of the clearing as they celebrated the victory, telling tales and bragging or just drinking.
Elsewhere the Wookies were laughing and talking with the Barabels with Tune doing the translation through a few portable speakers. The two clans had bonded somewhat over how both races were hunters, if very different types.
Richard and his group were more somber, sitting around a single campfire and singing sad songs to themselves, man and Twi'lek alike happy they were alive and the battles done, but sad for those who had passed. The Nova Guard were somber too, but also extremely proud. Few in number they had lost fully half of their number in the campaign, but had acquitted themselves very well against the better-known Mandalorians and other mercenary groups. The fact at least seven mercenary groups had been wiped out in the fighting here would also be good for the Ailoni in the long term.
Ranma felt him/herself… ambivalent about the entire thing as she/he had throughout the fight. There was a part of Ranma that had loved the battles, the fighting from beginning to end. Then there was the side of Ranma who had hated it, hated having to kill, hated having to watch his/her friends die.
At least it's over with for now. This universe is a lot bleaker at times then I was used to back in Nerima. Or was that just because I was too damn naïve to read much into the news from around the world? It wasn't the first time Ranma had asked herself that question, and she knew it wouldn't be the last.
Sighing Ranma moved toward where Bo stood, having heard the Mandalorian woman shout her name. She smirked as she saw Bo standing a little wobbly on her feet, waving her hands wildly in the air to signal Ranma.
Ranma made his way over, only to flinch back as Bo grabbed her arms leaning close, her breath reeking of some kind of alcohol. But when Bo spoke, there was no slur or any other sign of her being drunk. "You need to make a speech of some kind."
Ranma nearly pulled away, but Bo didn't let the other short woman go, still whispering into the true redhead's ear. "Seriously, remember why I wanted to be here in the first place. Gaining honor is all well and good, but it won't matter if this faction doesn't become a real entity from now one. Your words will carry a lot of weight."
Staring at the other woman, Ranma saw she was serious and sighed, nodding. Moving forward she stared around at the Mandalorian leaders and their seconds, smirking a little at Tanner, who looked a little green around the gills as he looked at her. Bo had told Ranma about the other Mandalorian's reaction to hearing about Ranma's curse and it had both amused and relieved Ranma.
Setting that observation out of her mind, Ranma thought for a moment, then spoke. "I'm not good at speeches, but then again you lot aren't the type to like them anyway."
That won her some laughs and Ranma grinned before sobering. "I know why you're all here, and why Bo-Katan's messages about trying to form a third faction to challenge these New Mandalorians drew so many of you. I won't reiterate the discussions me and 'Carla' had about that…"
Again that won a few chuckles, especially from the Night Owls present in the wider audience.
"But know this. I have no respect or liking for warmongers, for warriors who don't care why they are fighting only that they fight." That statement sobered them and Ranma went on more quietly. "There is honor in the defender, in the warrior who searches for opponents to challenge himself against. There is no honor, no glory in the warrior who preys upon the weak, the defenseless, who wishes solely to conquer for the 'glory' of victory. Become that type, and I will stand against you. My own Code would demand no less."
Ranma's bright blue eyes stared around her, and spines stiffened or broke among her listeners as they tried to meet that gaze. Few succeeded, save Clento and two other clan chiefs. Eventually Ranma went on. "But if you make this new faction, if you retain the warrior ways of your ancestors but take them in a new direction, then I will be glad to call you friends. And I would be happy to help my friends get stronger."
The carrot and the stick, ugh, I hate politics, but I suppose quasi-politics has its place in moment's like this.
"Does that mean you will come with us back to Mandalore?" Bo asked, her eyes earnest. Ranma as a willing ally or even as a symbol with his/her skills coupled with Bo's own new skills and her pet would be a key to a possible bloodless coup among the Mandalorians.
"In a few days or a week, sure, but not right away." Ranma said, then grinned. "But for now we party!"
Bo laughed as cheering erupted from the Mandalorians beyond the circle of leaders and turned away, nodding once at Ranma to indicate her words had been enough. Relieved Ranma turned away moving off for a moment until she saw Shaak. She had distanced herself from the groups after the battle ended, wanting to make certain no hint of Exar Kun's spirit remained.
Now Shaak moved through the crowd, and Ranma smiled much more naturally at the sight of her, seeing Shaak's face, the lines in it from the constant fighting gone. Moving through the crowd the redhead held her hands out to her. Shaak took them, and as the music rebounded around them, some kind of techno-pop thing that Richard had chosen they danced through the fire lit night.
Over the next two days all of the disparate groups began to leave. The Nova Guard was first. They had a report to make. Ranma had told them they might be able to learn some of his tricks back on Eshan, and now having seen them in a wartime setting knew they had not been a fluke or a trick. Ranma and Shaak Ti of the Jedi had proven themselves strong, and the Nova Guard would continue to ally with the strong, as they always would.
To the surprise of everyone, Shaak and Ranma were in no hurry to leave the planet just yet, though they did tell everyone they planned to move away from this area of said planet. There'd been too much death and destruction here, but neither of them was looking forward to getting back to civilization. They both wanted some time to themselves.
Ranma had something planned, Shaak didn't know what, only that he had mentioned wanting to make something, but what that was she had no clue. She did notice him leaping out over the treetops however while carrying a tree trunk over his head. He was now a 'he' again, his period having ended that morning to the relief of both Ranma and nearly everyone around him. The redhead's humor had been rather uncertain and no-one wanted to get on her bad side with no enemy around for her to take said bad side out on.
Bo held out her hand to Shaak, pulling Shaak's attention back from the retreating form of Ranma even as several of the Mandalorians stared at the man as he went shaking their heads and muttering about wanting to get to that training as soon as possible. However they had to change some of their ways of thinking. That training would be well worth it if it was at all possible to learn. And even if not, simply the experience of fighting against Ranma would pay off tremendously, as it had for Bo.
"Ranma said you two would be coming to Mandalore after this." The orange haired woman said.
Shaak sighed, but nodded. "I will have to take some time to get in touch with the Order, see what their opinions about the New Mandalorian faction is, and what the Republic's stance on it and your planet in general is like at the moment. My place within the Order is a little rocky at present save for Master Yoda's backing, so I have no wish to add to the number of toes I am stepping on."
Bo nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense, you don't want to trample over old allies in order to make new ones no matter how powerful you are or how dissatisfied you are with your old ones."
"I wouldn't put it exactly like that, but I suppose in a way, yes." Shaak said with a faint smile. The fact that she personally felt the New Mandalorians were probably closer to the ideal the Jedi Order would wish to see from the Mandalorians was something she wasn't willing to say aloud.
Nor was she wiling to say that it really wasn't the Order's place to approve or disapprove one way or another. Shaak was willing to give out rulings in cases of law and justice, but this case was about a full societal change, and one which didn't seem to be in that much in favor with said society. That was an area no Jedi was qualified to make any kind of ruling on.
"You might want to get in touch with a few Jedi in particular, I don't know their names but I know that there was an assassination attempt on the Duchess' life a few years back that was foiled by a few Jedi. There were rumors that she got a little close to one of them actually, though before I met you I would've dismissed those out of hand." Bo said.
"I'll look into it," Shaak said with a nod though she too found that idea unlikely at best.
For a moment the two women stared at one another. Finally Shaak simply nodded, and turned away as Bo did the same. There was a lot they could say to one another, but at this point, little of it would've been polite. While they were somewhat friendly to one another, Bo's attraction towards Ranma was still between them, even if Bo had realized she would never be comfortable with Ranma's curse.
"We will see you in a week or so," Shaak said at last, and backed away as Bo did the same, turning her head to shout at her warriors.
The next group to leave was Richard and his people, along with the Wookies with whom Shaak exchanged many back slaps and hugs with. The Wookies were very touchy-feely as a people with those they cared for, and Shaak had become quite popular among them over the past few weeks.
Then came the Barabels. S'luk approached Shaak, bowing his head, his claws clacking together in an intricate display that conveyed some meaning that she didn't quite understand even with the Force helping her. "Much honor hasss bee won in thissss campaign, much honor it hassss been to sssserve along the Jedi. We will remember and we will continue to honor Jedi in the future. Call on ussss if you have further need of hunterssss."
"I will. You and your brethren proved to be the most excellent hunters we knew they would be, and we thank you for your aid."
S'luk nodded, and as one the surviving Barabel slammed their hands to their chests bowing formally. Shaak returned the gesture, and remained in that position as the Barabels stood back up and turned away without another word heading back to their ship.
Shaak straightened up and watched the ships go one after another rising up into the air and up into space before disappearing as bright dots, each ship going into hyperspace as quickly as they could. She remained there for a time, before slowly sinking into a meditation pose.
She meditated her way through all that had happened here, not just the fighting and what it had done to her spirit, but the death of Exar Kun, how it had happened, and how close she had come to falling to his blandishments. She then conjured up the same feeling she had done in her head when she attempted to use Force Light on the creature, and came back into her body smiling faintly as her hands began to glow a solid , bright white. "I want to be white, white Light…" She sang softly, her voice cracking. Shaak, unlike Ranma's female form, did not have a good singing voice.
With the a sigh she let it go, and turned in the direction Ranma had gone. As she had known he was via the Force she saw him now leaping his way towards her. He landed a second later, smiling at her and putting his arms around her shoulders. "So the last of them left?"
Shaak nodded, burying her head lightly against his shoulder, one of her montrals scraping against his shoulder lightly as one of his hands trailed down her other lekku. "Yes, they're gone."
Squeezing her shoulders slightly he gave voice to what had heretofore been an unspoken agreement between them just to make certain. "So, do you want to stay here for a day or two? Just the two of us."
"That sounds delightful," Shaak murmured, then smirked at him. "So what have you found? And what did you do with that tree trunk you were carrying? The Mandalorians thought that was most impressive by the way."
Ranma leaned down and slightly kissing her on the lips before pulling back. "Why don't I just show you?"
After telling HK to help Tune back to the Wild Light, the two of them leaped away over the treetops, a feeling of near-gaiety filling them after the days of violence. Shaak followed Ranma, then stopped, staring at what he had found: a tiny inlet connected to the ocean beyond by a tiny-seeming stream, with deep blue water. On the shore of the inlet was a small wooden ship built for two people to sit in complete with oars.
"A date on a lake really?" Shaak laughed, shaking her head and leaning up to kiss Ranma's cheek before stepping into the ship looking at him expectantly. Ranma grinned, and began to push the ship out into the water before leaping after her, landing lightly so as to not rock the boat.
For a moment, all they did was eat some of the leftovers from the last evening's party, staring out over the lake into the jungle. This area of the planet had not been touched by the battles, except possibly a few of the local animals having been scared away by the noise in the distance. Nor was there any sign of the few scattered deserters having come this way.
After they finished eating Ranma began hesitantly. "You, you said my love earlier, after you've finished with Kun's ghost. Did, did you mean that?"
Shaak leaned away slightly from Ranma pushing herself up and away from him to turn so she could look into his face. She saw worry there, though worry about whether or not she had been exaggerating or had not meant the words she couldn't tell. After a moment she nodded her head slowly one hand moving to gently caress his cheek.
"I meant it," she said simply. "I don't know if I would have said it if… well I told you about how Exar Kun tried to weaken my resolve. But while those memories might've brought that feeling to the fore, love has been building in me for some time. I just didn't know how to say the words."
"Me too," Ranma said quickly, his own hands coming up to gently cup Shaak's face, rubbing his thumbs along the white markings around her eyes which closed to near slits at the sensation. "I mean, I thought I was in love once, and it wasn't love just infatuation. I didn't know how to, I, I love you too! It's been building in me too, I just I just couldn't figure out a time to say the words, I thought it had to be this kind of perfect moment, and the words just wouldn't come."
"I suppose with words like that saying them at all is more important than saying them at the perfect moment." Shaak murmured, then fell silent as Ranma's lips from hers and his arms moved down from her face to her shoulders and then to her sides pulling her in. Shaak went willingly, her lips parting, her tongue question out to find his as their bodies began to move together.
They were interrupted then as a giant creature barreled out from below them in the lake, capsizing the boat. It then chomped down on the bit that suddenly didn't have them in it, both of them having quickly kicked off and away, Shaak via a Force Push and Ranma with his own two legs.
Neither could reach the lakeside however and fell into the water where the beast began to circle. As it reared up, attacking the piece of prey with red fur Shaak began to laugh, as Ranma shouted, "Oh come on, why'd the Force not warn you about that huh!?"
End chapter
The song Ranma sings in this chapter is White Light from Tales of Zestiria, the translation of which is by Sapphire.
A reviewer mentioned a while ago that they thought Sidious wasn't humanocentric - ie racist, or sexist. Um… have you read the SW books? The only women in places of real authority had to sleep with him to get it: Ysanne Isaard, Mara Jade, the other Hands… As for being humanocentric, I believe that was proven in the books too: how very few aliens were allowed into the Empire's higher echelons, how he sent his greatest general, Thrawn, out into the Outer Reaches rather than keep him close, how his propaganda detailing the fall of the Jedi pointed to how they had begun to fall when they started to take non-humans into their ranks.
Anyway, to the actual chapter. I have to say the trap sort of kept on growing, and kind of ran away from me for a bit. This will however be the last giant battle chapter for a while in this book. Most of the action from here on will be smaller and more scattered. And unfortunately for Ranma there will be more politicking too, and a return of a problem from his past, Nya. Next month I intend to put out the next Magic of the Force chapter.
