A shifting in the shadows
- Jen Sahara -
The voice was slightly gravelly, as if dry from disuse. As he came closer I could see he was, in fact, a male human of advanced years. He lacked any hair on his head, but there was a thick smattering on his chin. There was no colour to him, not through my Force-sight – he was nothing but an etching of blue and black lines.
He was staring at me.
There was no Force aura around him at all. He felt… dead in the Force. Much like Dustil, when he hid. And as the man stood perfectly still, I could not pick him out from the rest of the shadowy environment.
"Jolee Bindo?" Zhar managed, after a noticeable pause. He sounded both puzzled and incredulous.
"Were you expecting someone else?" the stranger replied in a dry tone, his gaze moving to settle on Zhar.
There was a slight look of unease on the Jedi Master's face. "It has been some time, my old friend. I did not expect to find you so quickly."
Neither did I. Jolee Bindo's surprising appearance put paid to my conversation with Zhar for the meantime, and that was enough to increase my ire. Certainly it wasn't the old man's fault – by all accounts, we needed him – but he could have sodding well waited a few hours.
Jolee snorted. "At my age, time ends up being a slippery thing."
"I do believe I am older than you by a few years, Jolee," Zhar returned, his voice mild and amused. "This is Jen Sahara, a Jedi of the Order who is travelling with me."
I noticed the complete lack of rank, and my eyes narrowed.
"Let's get a move on," Jolee declared. "What you seek is this way."
The old man turned abruptly, as abruptly as his words had been, and began walking in the same direction we were headed earlier. Zhar glanced at me, his brow slightly furrowed, before following the stranger. The ground was hard-packed and free of any obstacles in this area, and yet the Jedi Master did not speak. I wondered if he was trying to wait the old human out. But Jolee Bindo looked wholly unconcerned and uninterested as he strolled through the Shadowlands, his eyes fixed ahead into the gloom. I'd put my credits on Zhar breaking first, I thought with some amusement.
Sure enough, after minutes of silence, Zhar finally cleared his throat. "So, you know what we seek?" he asked. His voice was cautious and low.
There was a creasing around Jolee's eyes, as if Zhar's question entertained him. "The Shadowlands holds many secrets, or so I've found over the years. But there's only one relic around here that would be drawing all you Force users to a remote world like this one."
"All us Force users…" Zhar frowned. "It has been decades, Jolee, but you were one yourself. How is it I cannot sense you at all?"
I quickened my steps, moving to flank the stranger. "How can you see in the Shadowlands without a light source?" I added. He shot me a speculative sideways look.
"There's more than one way to kill a kinrath, young pup," he countered. I raised a brow, but the strange old man didn't elaborate. If he held no Force, then he couldn't be using it to assist with his vision. There was no obvious visor or light-source, and off-hand the only solution I could come up with were occular implants.
"You are completely dead in the Force, Jolee," Zhar said quietly. "What happened?"
The old man didn't answer at first, and the only sound I heard for some time were our quiet footsteps squelching into the moist forest floor. The humidity was thick down here, where the light never reached. Many species native to Kashyyyk had developed vision advanced enough to make their way through the Shadowlands – Wookiees included – but for us off-worlders, it was nothing more than pitch-black.
"Are you not able to conceal your own Force presence, then?" Jolee Bindo said finally.
I glanced over to Zhar, who was walking on Jolee's other side with a slight frown. "Certainly, one can dim their Force signature to a near imperceptible spark, so one cannot be sensed unless nearby… but you are completely absent from the Force, Jolee. More so than a non-Force user, more so than a common forest creature. If I could not see you with my own eyes, I would not know you were there. Are you suggesting this is some use of the Force itself?"
There was the slightest touch of disbelief in Zhar's voice, and it was enough for me to clear my throat, my mouth twitching in a half-grin. Zhar looked over to me as I reached out, striving to emulate the trick Dustil had shown me. With a mental flick, I inverted the Force weaves around me.
My vision went instantly black.
There was a bit of balancing, at first, to keep the inverse energy in place as it repelled the Force away. It didn't work as a shield, as such – I imagined any Force attack directed at it would sever the weaves in a blink – but it did hide my presence from being sensed, even as it cut me off from the Force. It was a passive use, too, and one that could be held for some time with minimal effort.
In the Shadowlands, though, my lack of sight was disorienting, and I was quick to drop the weaves. I glanced over to Zhar; the startlement on his face showed me this was new to him - a Jedi Master.
So where the frell had Dustil learned it?
I'd not managed to emulate Dustil's physical invisibility, though. That was a shame. The two tricks coupled together were a powerful tool indeed.
Jolee Bindo wore an inscrutable expression as he continued walking; stripped from the Force the way he was, he wouldn't have sensed what I'd done. But Zhar had, and the curiosity was paramount on his face.
Zhar's composure had been slipping a bit, since we'd met the enigmatic Jolee Bindo. And I had to admit, I relished the idea of knowing something Force-related that the Jedi Master – who knew my secrets – didn't.
"I'm not suggesting anything," Jolee said, at last answering Zhar. "You're welcome to draw your own conclusions."
That sent the Twi'lek Master back into silence. I found myself liking this strange old man. He certainly wasn't quick to explain himself. He's unnerving Zhar, though. So much for them being old chums.
"How long have you lived down here?" I asked in curiosity. We walked through a section of thick-bladed grass that was a little above chest-height. I felt the moisture on my hands as I swatted the plants away, and wondered if light clothing was a sensible choice down here. The temperature was ambient, though – I was unlikely to suffer from the cold here. "Why make this place your home?"
"You want to play question and answer, kid?" he returned, glancing at me sideways. I felt a stirring of empathy with Mission – that moniker was irritating, particularly when I'd left my childhood behind decades ago. "Fine. I'll go first. I've found Kashyyyk is a good place in which to retire. People leave you alone. As for how long… well. I stopped counting a long time ago. Let's just say when I first came here I was a strapping young man with a head full of hair, and Coruscant was a small town with a well. Heh heh."
Zhar snorted. "You didn't have that much hair, even back then."
Zhar's irreverence surprised me, and I saw a fond smile on the Twi'lek's face. Jolee, however, ignored him to continue staring at me. "Your turn. What do you know of this relic?"
The question was blunt and straightforward… and Jolee hadn't named it a Star Map. So maybe he had absolutely no idea what it was. Although, he's asking me what I know of it. That doesn't necessarily mean he's ignorant. "It's a navigational map," I replied. Jolee hadn't completely answered my first question, and I wasn't sure how comfortable Zhar would be with me divulging all the details to someone who had left the Order decades ago. "We don't know what it points to."
Come to think of it, it wasn't like I knew that many details myself.
Jolee hummed, Zhar remained silent, and I thought on what to ask next. "Are there more off-worlders down here in recent times?" I questioned. "I have reason to suspect there's a second elevator down to the Shadowlands. Have you seen anything?"
Jolee's forehead furrowed with speculation, a bunching of blue-black lines in my Force-sight. He appraised me out of the corner of his eye as we walked on, out of the grass and through a leaf-strewn area that slipped and slid under our feet.
We were moving slower, now, than Zhar and I had earlier. Jolee had no Force – and whether that was intentional or not was going to be one of my next questions.
"You've heard something about Czerka interests, and are sticking your nose in – or thinking about it," he surmised. "But which side are you on? The profitable one, or the honourable one?"
"You didn't answer the question, old man."
"Huh," he harrumphed. "Impatient one. You don't want to be just another fool with a big impatient chip on their shoulder."
I snorted. "And you don't want to be another geriatric who no one listens to because you keep talking in circles."
To my surprise, Jolee laughed. "Alright, alright. Yes, Czerka have two lifts down here now. Hidden in their control towers, I believe. Paid a pretty credit to the Wookiee chieftain, although I doubt most of his people know about them. It's taken them years before they were finished, the second one's only been operational for a fistful of months."
"How can Czerka hide this from the Wookiees?" Zhar asked, a note of disapproval in his tone. "Building an elevator down here – surely that must be common knowledge."
"It's my turn for a question," Jolee said. His voice was mild, yet resolute. He was keeping his cards close to his chest, and considering his past history with Zhar, that surprised me not a little.
"The Wookiees keep to themselves," I murmured in an aside to Zhar. "And it sounds like they're not allowed to roam freely through the Czerka starport. If the lifts are concealed in the towers, then the only place the Wookiees could conceivably find them is the Shadowlands."
"Hmm," Zhar acknowledged, likely thinking on my conversation with Canderous earlier. I'd been surprised to hear that Czerka weren't allowing unrestrained Wookiees walking around. This was Kashyyyk, for frell's sake. I couldn't imagine any Wookiee standing for that.
It's to stop them seeing the slaves. Czerka must turn them away at the entrance. Still, it was hard to believe. Maybe that was part of the reason there were a hundred of them in a transport ship – some had found out the truth.
"Here's a big one, and I'm looking for your honesty here, young pup." Jolee drew my attention by halting, turning to stare at me through narrowed eyes. "Where does your loyalty lie, Jen Sahara?"
Jolee was keeping a close eye on me, as if attempting to gauge my sincerity through sight alone. Certainly, the ability to read someone through body language or intonation was useful, but it wasn't exactly an infallible science.
His question, though… it was an interesting one. Despite myself, I was intrigued enough to truly consider it.
I sighed, closing my eyes briefly to the indigo lines of the Shadowlands, broken up here and there by yellow sparks of smallish insects. I would be glad to see proper light again, and briefly considered activating a lightsaber just for the sheer radiance of it.
Where did my loyalty lie? To my crewmates, obviously. To Carth, to Bastila – even if I felt conflicted over her secrets, to Mission and Juhani and Canderous and Zaalbar. But, beyond that?
I followed Bastila's mission, now. I hadn't, at first, but somewhere along the line my loyalty had truly swung in favour of her objective: to stop Darth Malak by tracking down the source of his power. His expansion and destruction were a threat to the stability of the Republic, to the Jedi of the Order, and to billions of people around the galaxy.
I'd been a Jedi Knight, once. It was obvious where my loyalty lay.
"The Republic," I said, my voice slow and wondering as the words came out. I opened my eyes to see them both staring at me. Zhar's eyes were wide. "My loyalty is to the Republic, the ideals and the foundations it was built on."
"That's an interesting answer for a Jedi," Jolee commented. He began walking again, at a slower pace, and Zhar and I followed.
"Is it?" I countered. This felt familiar; like I'd had to defend this particular viewpoint before. "The Jedi are guardians of the galaxy and mediators for peace. The Republic is meant to be an empire that strives for harmony amongst all its members, no matter how diverse."
"A Jedi's first loyalty is to the will of the Force," Zhar cut in. His voice had returned to the damnable neutral tone of earlier. "And second to the Jedi Order."
"And what if you don't know what the Force wants?" I said. For some reason, Zhar's comments made me feel overly irritable. "Do we sit back, meditate for years, and try to guess? And what if the Order itself is wrong?"
There was a slight noise as Zhar breathed in quickly. "Do you realize quite how egotistical that sounds, Jen?"
I sighed. Yeah, I did. And I didn't think it was coming from the echo of Darth Revan, either. If I'd followed her into the Mandalorian Wars, then I must have put the Republic above the Order at one time.
She must have, too.
I clenched a fist, hard enough to dig my nails into my flesh. I wasn't going to excuse that sorry piece of destructive Sith crap. She may have had a way with words to convince so many to follow her, but there had to be something innately flawed with her to begin with, to fall the way she did.
"It's not meant to, Zhar," I muttered. "Look, I'm not saying I know better than the Masters. All I'm saying is that just because we wave a glow stick around and wear brown robes doesn't necessarily make us right. Or that we should seat ourselves apart from everything in the damn galaxy."
"There are many reasons Jedi do not involve themselves directly with societal injustices, Jen," Zhar replied. I had the feeling we were getting off-topic, and Jolee appeared more than content to let us go at it. "We are advisors only because of the very power we wield. We cannot have a jealous eye being turned on us, or any claims against our impartiality, if we wish to help the people you want to protect. And then there is the Dark Side, and the overwhelming damage it can do-"
"I know," I interrupted. "I understand the tightrope the Order has to walk – politically speaking - if they truly want to aim for peace for all. But the Republic… Look, I'll not deny it has its corruption, its blind-spots and its inherent bureaucracy that borders on stupidity, at times. But it's the best model the galaxy has come up with, so far. Surely that's worth fighting for?"
"At what cost, Jen?" Zhar murmured. "War is damaging for all sentients. It is worse for Jedi, who feel the very fabric of life with their senses. So much death and suffering has an enormous effect on one's soul."
"That's why the Order sat back from the Mandalorian Wars?" I asked. My voice had dropped in volume, much the same as Zhar's. "The Council was worried about the Dark Side?"
"That was one reason amongst many. But, as you know, the best and the brightest of us did, in fact, fall in the end. Our gravest fears were proved true."
"Well, the Order was divided, wasn't it," I said quietly. "Who knows how it might have played out, had the High Council actually supported the Republic."
Zhar had not been expecting that one, I could tell by the way his shoulders tensed up. I hurried to keep speaking. "The alternative was to sit back, and let the Mandalorians reach the Core," I said. "I don't know enough-" I don't remember enough- "about the Wars to give an expert assessment, but the Republic was close to falling. Opinions are pretty widespread about that."
The silence that followed was tense. For once, Zhar's emotions were apparent through the Force; more than anything, he felt conflicted. Some part of him, at least, agreed with me.
I still couldn't sense Jolee at all. I recalled, then, that it was my turn to ask a question - but a few flickers of life nearby drew my attention.
Jolee looked up from a device attached to his wrist. "A small group of katarn," he muttered. He brushed the sleeve of his garment back over his arm, and it was hard to tell exactly what he'd been looking at. A bioscanner, likely. I thought I'd seen the interleaving of scale or mesh armour, too, which was an interesting choice for a Force user.
If Jolee was still one. He pulled out a vibrosword, then, and I wondered if he'd lost his connection to the Force permanently. Whether that was even possible.
Yes. Yes it is.
I scowled, and pushed the dark voice to the back of my mind.
We edged forward, toward the rustling noise of animals moving in the underbrush. Jolee wielded his blade expertly, confident enough to lead two Force users against the predators of the Shadowlands.
There were four of them; decent-sized reptomammals that turned at our approach, the nearest launching forward from a four-legged jump aimed straight at Jolee. My 'sabers flared to life, and the Force swelled in my grasp, boosting an instinctive strength and speed into my muscles. I ran, overtaking Jolee with ease, and sliced through the neck of the nearest katarn.
It was practised instinct, now. I could sense the movements of the enemy, position myself in the exact spot to dodge a swipe, land a blow, and spin to face the next one. Calculating precision, a lifetime's worth of experience that was bedded deep into my senses, my psyche, my very being. With a final leap, I landed next to the last surviving reptomammal, the cyan 'saber already scything deep into its underbelly.
I looked up, realizing that four warm corpses were sprawled around me in a haphazard fashion, and Jolee was some metres back, wearing a faint smirk.
"You young things always like to show off," he commented.
Zhar was staring at me in shock. "That's- that's Karon's lightsaber," he whispered. "Isn't it?"
I thumbed off the 'sabers, and clipped them onto my belt. Zhar's gaze was intense, even through my Force-sight. I nodded slowly. "I came across her, dying from the fight with Kylah. If I'd been earlier-" I frowned. "I was too late to save her. I scared Kylah off, but I was too late for Karon. She told me to keep her 'saber."
Zhar swallowed, and raised a hand. "May I?"
I felt attached to the pale blue lightsaber, more so than the short red one I'd picked up from a random Sith corpse. The weight of it, the balance - it felt right somehow - and the idea of releasing it into the hands of a Jedi Master I still didn't entirely trust wasn't appealing. But there was a yearning in the lines of the Twi'lek's expression that I couldn't quite ignore.
With some reluctance, I unclipped the 'saber once more and tossed it to him.
Zhar activated it, giving a few exploratory swipes in the air. The faint hum of Karon's old weapon reverberated through the air, and I realized then it had become a familiar sound to me.
"Did she- did she say anything else?"
I failed you. Forgive me. "No." I heard the curtness in my voice, and Zhar did too; his gaze shot to mine and he flicked off the 'saber before handing it back.
"It's a good weapon, Jen. Take care of it."
I nodded, and Zhar turned to look at Jolee. "You haven't asked about Karon," he said. His voice was almost accusing.
Jolee's gaze was drawn to the katarn corpses, and he didn't answer Zhar at first. "We should move from here. Fresh blood draws other predators." With that, the old human once more began striding into the shadows.
We followed, on either side. Zhar, however, was still staring at Jolee pointedly. Long after the silence had edged into awkwardness, Jolee gave an irritated huff.
"I've been here for more of my life than I'd care to remember. The past is exactly that. I figured if you wanted to tell me about Karon, you would."
Zhar retreated back into silence, a slight frown on his face. The three of them had been Padawans together, he'd said. But Jolee was plainly uninterested in the past, while Zhar, in contrast, was still grieving for his – for their - old friend.
I kept quiet, at first, wondering if I should give them a chance to speak, give Zhar an opportunity to coax Jolee into conversation. I had the feeling that this reunion wasn't going at all like Zhar had expected.
In the end, the silence began to grate, and I realized it was my turn anyway.
"What about you, Jolee Bindo? What are your loyalties?"
There was a faint twitch at the corner of his mouth. He veered to the right, avoiding a gigantic wroshyr that was directly in our path. There was a massive hollow in the base of it, at least two metres wide, and a faint flare of yellow life deep within. "Much the same as yours, young pup. I favour peace and stability. You could say my loyalties are aligned with the continuation of the Republic."
That wasn't quite the same as loyalty to the Republic, but I was beginning to suspect Jolee was a slippery sort of character when it came to conversation. I was mulling his response over when he cleared his throat and once more took up the reins of dialogue.
"I'd like to pose a theoretical one for you this time, Jen Sahara," Jolee said. There was a patchwork of hanging vines up ahead, and he motioned for us to walk around them rather than through. Above, I could see a shifting in the shadows, and I wondered if the vines were the home of yet another deadly predator. "Say there's someone out there trying to kill you. Doesn't matter who, but they've tried and failed. Now they come up to you, and claim their reason no longer exists. They're not a threat anymore. Do you move on or claim vengeance?"
"What's the point of these questions, Jolee?" For it hadn't escaped my notice that he was more interested in talking to me than his childhood friend. He knows something about me. He must, I realized with a chill. He's trying to figure me out.
"Why, merely to get a measure of your character," he returned, sounding vaguely amused. "I already know Zhar's. No need to sound so suspicious. At my age, and especially on this planet, there's not too much to keep us old folks amused. Now, answer the question."
"What was their reason?" I parried swiftly.
"Is that important?"
"Absolutely," I countered. "I need to know how genuine they are, and for that I need the reason they wanted to kill me in the first place. Did I wrong them? Did they have a genuine grievance against me?"
"It's an impartial motive – nothing personal."
"Impartial?" I scoffed. "Charming. If it's impartial, then what's to stop them impartially changing their mind again?"
"Hmph," Jolee murmured. He sounded vaguely irritated. "Not quite the point of my question, young pup. Let's just say you're convinced they will no longer be a threat. I'm interested in your response to their previous actions, not their potential future ones."
I took a moment to think it over. "Well, assuming they hadn't caused any collateral damage or hurt anyone else in the process, I don't think I'd be particularly interested in revenge."
He hummed. He was still shooting me considering glances from the corner of his eyes. "You don't think you deserve something in return for the attempt on your life?"
"Well, now you're talking about compensation, not vengeance." I frowned. "And that depends on, again, what other damage they may have caused-"
A faint buzzing on my wrist-comm halted my words. I half-raised my hand at Jolee, and answered the incoming message.
::Jen,:: Carth's voice emitted from my wrist, and I felt myself smile. ::How are you doing?::
"Fine," I spoke softly. "We've found Zhar's contact, and are on our way to our objective."
::That's- that's fantastic. How far away is it?::
That was a good question. I turned to frown at Jolee, and he stopped walking.
"We'll rest here for a bit, have a bite to eat," he said, motioning toward a fallen log that looked a perfect size for seating. Small sparks of green-yellow flared on one end, while the rest of it was nothing more than a bunch of blue-black outlines. Much like Jolee. "Tell your friend it's a handful of days away. You might get there in a single day using the Force."
I relayed the message to Carth, who at least seemed pleased with the progress. His news, however, wasn't quite so great.
::Neither Juhani nor Zaalbar have returned,:: he told me, a note of worry evident in his voice. ::I guess I didn't expect Zaalbar to. Ordo's concerned he might end up a slave rather than an exile.::
"Juhani's probably still tied up with the Masters," I said haltingly. I'd expected her to check in with the 'Hawk by now, but maybe they had other things on their mind. Like the swift departure of Zhar and myself.
::Ordo is keeping himself busy, trying to find some intel on… well, I'm not exactly sure what he's doing.:: Carth sounded vaguely irritated. I frowned, wondering what Canderous had and hadn't told Carth. I expected Canderous to involve Carth in any plans, but maybe the Mandalorian hadn't gotten that far yet. ::I'm going to be tied up for a bit, Jen. There's a couple of Republic freighters docked next to us, and I'm going to find out what they're doing on Kashyyyk – and check in with Dodonna while I'm at it."
I felt my brows lift in surprise. What the frell are the Republic doing here? Had the Order contacted them? Carth had been assigned to Bastila, even though he reported to his Admiral. Maybe someone in Republic HQ desired a closer eye on our progress – and, when considering the importance of this mission, that probably made sense.
"Okay," I said, feeling uneasy regardless. "Possibly someone wants a personal debrief from you rather than a comm'd one. Take care, alright?"
He gave a brief chuckle. ::I'll be fine, Jen. It's you I'm worried about.::
"There's three of us now, Carth. We'll find what we need in no time."
::I hope so, Jen. Be careful. I, uh-:: he paused, like he wanted to say something more. A public communicator was hardly discrete, though. ::Be careful.::
I felt myself smile wistfully. Once more, I longed for his presence at my side. "I'll see you soon, flyboy," I promised.
I switched the comm off, and looked up to see Jolee snap open a plastifilm covered ration-pack, before pouring a minute amount of water from a canteen into it. Somehow, I'd expected him to be living off the forest, not armed with off-worlder protein meals.
Zhar was sitting on the log, rifling through his pack as I went to join him. After a moment, he tossed me a thick energy bar of some description, and ripped into a similar one for himself. It tasted heavy and grainy, and I longed for the day I could actually consume some real, unprocessed food.
We ate in relative silence, passing around a gourd of water as the sounds of the Shadowlands permeated the air around us. It was fairly quiet: a faint rustling from further ahead; a clicking noise of some insectoid; and the caw of a flying creature a distance away.
I was beginning to feel a heavy lassitude sink through my body. I was tired. We'd been walking for hours. And at some stage, my awareness of Bastila had dimmed and I'd dropped the psychic shield without consciously realizing it – either she was now blocking me, or she'd fallen asleep. Despite myself, a brief yawn escaped me.
"A few hours rest would be a good idea," Zhar said quietly. He moved to sit on the ground, leaning back against the log and closing his eyes. I felt the Force retreat around him, to centre in his being, and realized he was lapsing into a meditative state. "I shall awaken if anything comes nearby."
I moved to copy him, expecting some semblance of sleep to overtake me quickly.
It didn't.
I'd hoped, by now, to have some concrete answers from Zhar. Jolee's fortuitous appearance had scuttled that, and I had the feeling that Zhar wouldn't be overly keen to talk about my history in the presence of company.
And Jolee was trying to figure me out. I wasn't sure if he was merely testing my character, or trying to pull secrets from my head. What would he think, should he find out sodding Darth Revan had taken up residence in my head? Was it possible he already knew? Zhar hadn't seen him for decades – an odd forty years, he'd mentioned, since Jolee had disappeared.
My eyes opened, to see Jolee staring at me again. A blue-black eyebrow raised in my Force sight.
"Got something on your mind, do you?" Jolee murmured.
He certainly was an enigma, that one. Jolee had implied decades of his life were spent down here, and yet the human hermit still preferred to use technology – 'scanners, synthetic food – rather than living with nature the way I'd expected him to. And he knew something about me, at least – enough that I was far more interesting to him than Zhar Lestin, a Jedi he'd trained with in his youth.
Had I met Jolee Bindo before? He didn't seem at all familiar.
But Revan had come here once before, to get the Star Map. It's entirely possible she met him.
Zhar wasn't at ease with Jolee, not really. They'd been good friends, once, but there was something about Jolee Bindo now that put Zhar on edge.
Zhar had also expected Jolee to be using the Force - much the same as us. It could be that Jolee was hiding his strength from us both – but why? Much more likely that Jolee had lost the Force, somewhere along the line. That would explain why he was equipped with a vibrosword rather than a lightsaber, why he had what I thought was armour under his loose clothing.
Yet the Masters who came down here earlier sensed a Force user.
I felt a tingle of awareness, and my gaze narrowed on him.
"You're not Jolee Bindo," I said, my voice quiet, watching him intently.
I wasn't sure, not until I saw the complete lack of movement on his part. He could have faded into the background of my Force sight, had I not known exactly where he was sitting.
"And you're not Jen Sahara," he murmured. "Are you?"
He was preternaturally still, the same as me. I knew exactly where my lightsaber was, and held onto the Force tight, ready to strike at a moment's notice. "What are you after, old man?" I demanded. "Are you even leading us the right way?"
"Oh, yes," he confirmed. A small smile curved on his face. "Continue in this direction, and you shall find what you seek. As for what I'm after, I should have thought that would be obvious."
His intonation had changed, somewhat. His voice was neutral, his manner a touch more formal than before. He seemed less a wry self-deprecating ex-Jedi, and more a detached observer.
"All I've figured out is that you're trying to figure me out."
He gave a quiet chuckle. "You are an interesting character, I'll give you that." He said no more, as if trying to make me lead the conversation. It was irritating.
"And what have you concluded?"
"Your interests align with mine, for now."
Interests… He was affiliated with the Republic, or – more accurately – loyal to the stability the Republic offered. He must know who was bouncing around in my head, which explained some of his queries. The fact that I'd shunted the Republic above the Jedi Order had likely appeased him.
Which also meant he had great faith in his own ability to spot the truth, to read people – and that suggested either over-confidence or training. I was willing to bet my last credits he was some sort of intelligence agent.
And he looked enough like Jolee Bindo to have fooled Zhar, to some extent.
That spoke of technology or surgery – resources behind him, anyway. His other line of questioning – about vengeance - made less sense, unless it was purely to see how Dark Side I was with Darth wacko in my head. For the only impartial attempt on my life I could recall was from the GenoHaradan, which in reality was no more than a trumped up bounty hunter organization – just more secret and expert at it than the Exchange.
Unless there was more to them. My eyes narrowed.
"You're with the GenoHaradan," I guessed. The stranger who called himself Jolee Bindo completely failed to react at all, and I knew then I was right. "Which means two things," I continued slowly, even as my muscles tensed. Scenes flashed through my mind in rapid fire: the slaughter on Rii'shn, the quiet corpse outside the shyrack caves. "You've dropped the contract on me, and there's a lot more to you all than just assassination attempts."
"You're perceptive," the old man returned. He folded his hands in his lap, but his gaze didn't stray from mine. "Can't say I'm surprised at that. But I'm not an agent, not anymore. In all honesty, I'm retired, although one doesn't ever truly retire from the GenoHaradan. But I was far enough up the ranks that I've autonomy, of a sort. Let us just say I owed Eridius a favour."
He paused, then, like he expected me to react.
"Should that name mean something to me?" I questioned.
He shrugged. "I wondered, but evidently not. As to your questions – yes, we are far more than an organization that posts out contracts on sentients. That is our front, to the few who know of our existence. Our cashflow, if you will. But our main purpose is the stability of the galaxy – and, for the most part, that means the ongoing existence of the Republic."
"The most part?"
"Well…" He paused for a brief moment. "There was a time when we believed that perhaps the Republic was not sufficient, shall we say, to the continued order that we desire. But our… contact, in those dealings, was lost. So for now, we wait and we watch. Perhaps our contact will return, and explain what is still a mystery – even to an organization such as ours."
He hesitated over the word contact, which was intriguing in itself. But I had other questions to ask, first. "Had I answered you differently, would you have killed me?"
He shrugged. "I don't dally in what-ifs, and nor should you. I work toward the goals of my people, and a Sith Empire led by an insane Dark Jedi is not an outcome we desire."
I snorted. "Don't think it's a desire of many people, to be honest."
"We wouldn't normally take such an interest, if it wasn't for the armada Malak has gathered. More ships than he has people, or so our intelligence suggests. Tell me, you who call yourself Jen Sahara, are you ready to put an end to Darth Malak?"
I raised an eyebrow. "That's a bit of an assumption, to think it's going to come down to me and him."
"Is it?" he questioned, and I found I had no answer. I shifted uncomfortably.
"Look, all I know is that he's bent on destroying the Republic, and has a gratuitous disregard for sentient life. If I have the chance to stop him, I will."
"Interesting," he murmured, and said nothing else. There was a faint buzzing on my wrist-comm, and I thumbed the ignore button.
"So, that contract's been lifted. I can't imagine that was ole Malak's decision."
"We had little knowledge of your quest, then," he said mildly. "If you are, indeed, the Republic's best chance – and we believe you may be – then we have every right to pull the contract."
That was a fairly weighty thing to state – especially considering it had been all of us, every single member of the Ebon Hawk, who'd had a part to play in our success so far.
My eyes narrowed on the stranger. "And how do I know you won't reinstate the contract?"
He gave a short laugh. It echoed in the shadows. "You don't. But I spoke of compensation, earlier, and I was genuine. If you are content to leave us alone, then I shall give you two warnings in return and leave you to your mission."
"I have no desire to hunt down the GenoHaradan," I said quietly. "You guys have made enough of a mess in my life. Speak."
He stared at me. "First: we are not alone in the Shadowlands. Between here and your objective are two Dark Jedi. Proceed with caution."
I tensed. Two Dark Jedi… but then there was me and Zhar, a Master of the Jedi Order. We should be able to avoid them, or stand our ground.
"Who are they?"
He shrugged. "I have my suspicions, as I am sure you will, too. I didn't get close enough to confirm their identity. I usually keep my distance from Force users."
Obviously I was the exception. I raised an eyebrow. "And what of Jolee Bindo? Does he even exist? And if so, does he know you like to run around impersonating him?"
The stranger gave a brief chuckle. "He exists, he's around here somewhere. But not even Jolee Bindo knows all the secrets of the Shadowlands. Oh, he's aware of my presence - his continued tampering of my comm arrays is evidence of that – but, as I said, I've no interest in making friends with Force sensitives."
Exactly why someone would bother setting up a comm array in the Shadowlands was a question I didn't bother asking. Probably, this stranger desired extensive contact with the rest of the galaxy, given his affiliations.
I gave him a tight nod, and he continued.
"Two: the Republic presence on Kashyyyk has orders to capture you, Jen Sahara. If you wish to put an end to Darth Malak, then you had better find a way of avoiding them as you leave this planet."
The Republic… what the frell? The shock was like a bucket of ice water had been tipped over me, and the Force shook in my grasp, blue-black lines of Force-sight disappearing momentarily before I grasped it again. That meant… that meant someone high up in Republic HQ knew what the Jedi had done to me, knew Darth Revan was entrenched in my mind. The Republic… and the sodding GenoHaradan.
But the GenoHaradan believed I was worth a shot, where the Republic obviously didn't. That burned.
"Understood," I bit out. "Don't suppose you can give me any good news?"
The old man chuckled again. "We're not looking to kill you anymore. Isn't that enough?"
The GenoHaradan believed in the Republic's continued existence – which wasn't the same as agreeing with their objectives, otherwise this stranger would hardly be leaving me alive and free. Sun and stars, he'd told me a lot more about the GenoHaradan than outsiders likely knew. He stood, then, his knees cracking as he flexed his back. He was still looking at me with a vaguely interested expression.
"You can find us again, should you have reason to," he said quietly. His voice was matter-of-fact, like he expected it to be a distinct possibility. "You have the recruitment point on Manaan. Drop the name Rulan Prolik, and someone of import will meet with you."
I had no idea why I'd want to do that, but I nodded anyway. "Is that your name?"
"What's in a name?" he countered. "You, of all people, should know a name can mean absolutely nothing. Or everything. I'll leave that with you."
He turned from me, then, and began to walk away, into the blue-black shadows of my Force sight. And just as he was about to disappear, his entire outline shifted somehow, merged into a form smaller and leaner, less humanoid than before.
And then he was gone.
"Well." Zhar's voice was soft. "That was interesting."
"You're a master of understatement," I muttered, leaning back and closing my eyes. It didn't surprise me at all that Zhar had been awake the whole time. "Did you know?"
"That he wasn't Jolee? I wondered. He didn't say my name, until after you had. And yet, he had Jolee's mannerisms."
"Did you see him change form?" I asked. "That's pretty advanced technology." I frowned. I'd heard of belt-morphs that could change someone's appearance via a photo-electronic field generator, but they were notoriously finicky – and I should have been able to sense the electrical oscillations.
"I do not think that was technology," Zhar mused. "I have heard of shape-shifters, before; a race of sentients with the ability to change their form at will, through some sort of bio-mental process. I did not believe in their existence, but now I am not so certain."
I sighed. Somehow, I didn't think I'd ever get to the bottom of Rulan Prolik – or whatever his name was. And, frankly, there were more important things to think on. "The Republic are after me. Fantastic. We need to have our talk, Zhar."
"Indeed," he murmured. "But the Sith in the Shadowlands are what I'm concerned about. We should not use the Force, Jen, no more than simple Force-sight. Anything too overt can be sensed from a distance."
"You don't think we can hold our own against two Dark Jedi?" I raised a hand to rub at my temple. There was a headache forming, and I wondered if I felt the faint stirrings of Bastila waking up. In pain. Zhar didn't answer at first, and I opened my eyes to stare at him. "Who do you think they are?"
"If they eluded Vrook and Vandar, then they will be a threat we cannot take lightly," he warned. "It will not be Malak himself, but someone near his strength. Bandon Stone. Yudan Rosh. Nisotsa Organa. Sharlan Nox. Any one of those names should worry you, and two of them together is enough to make me consider returning to the others."
Kel had mentioned Darth Bandon to me once, back on Korriban, but they were all faceless villains in my head - as anonymous as the spectre of big bad ole Malak.
The names meant nothing to me. But Zhar was staring at me like they should.
Damn Darth Revan. Maybe they were all her best mates, but they were still out to kill her – through me – weren't they?
And Rulan – or whoever the frell he was – wondered if I knew the name Eridius.
Panic flashed through my mind, then, as quick and electric as lightning shearing through a night sky. It was Bastila, waking up with a jolt, and the Force flared wildly from her before ricocheting through our bond. I winced.
I can beat this. I shall wield the Force, I shall!
She wasn't talking to me, but convincing herself, I realized. The Force was fluttering like a frantic wisp-fly in her mental grasp, slipping through her fingers like sand, bleeding back through to me-
"Jen," Zhar said sharply. "You're reaching out to the Force. Pull back."
Bastila?
There was a renewed sense of determination from her, and she either ignored me or could not hear. I felt her lunge out frantically, her psychic grip clumsy and unwieldy and completely failing to hold onto anything.
Are you drugged?
I- yes- stop talking to me, Jen! This is what he wants- you must stay away from my mind!
Zhar was frowning at me, and I tried to draw back into myself, to hold only the smallest amount of Force required for sight. It was difficult, open the way I was to Bastila, for her wild attempts were akin to a rancor picking up a dust-ball, and the flashback was hitting me.
Look, I'm safe now, alright? I'm with the Masters-
Don't tell me anything, Jen! Her voice had turned quasi-hysterical, then, although there was a thread of frustration there, too. Don't you see, he'll just rip it from my mind?
I stilled; understanding at last. Was Bastila being used, to get at me? No, no, Bastila was a prize in herself. If her gifts could be turned against the Republic, it might be the final blow. Like I'd told Carth, hurt anyone long enough and they'd do anything to stop it.
I couldn't let her deal with it alone, no matter the risk to me… but it wasn't just about me and Bastila. The key objective was getting to the Star Map, first and foremost. I had to leave Bastila until that was complete.
The shame tasted like ash in my mouth.
Zhar was standing, his brow furrowed. "We should move," he said quietly. "If someone is tracking us through the Force, they may have felt you just now."
I felt my lips thin as I realized he was right, and rose to my feet. I may not have slept, but the few hours downtime would be enough to keep me going. I have to stay shielded from Bastila, I realized with gutting disappointment. I gathered in a small amount of energy, about to erect a psychic barrier when one last message slipped through:
Stay away from the Shadowlands, she whispered. Do not tell me where you are, just stay away from the Shadowlands.
Uh-
No. No! It was a scream of fright, of hysteria, as she understood my hesitation. You cannot be there already! It's a trap, Jen, get out of there!
Her emotions were savage, completely unrestrained and utterly unlike her. She was there, abruptly, in my head; fearful and unhinged. And the Force echoed in response, a wild surge of energy with a backlash like a terentatek's claw-
"Jen!" Zhar yelled. "Stop it!"
I slammed down a shield that blocked the bond, and Bastila's panic faded to a distant whimper in the back of my mind. I heard the sound of my own breaths, quick and shallow, an echo of Bastila's frenzy.
"Come," Zhar ordered, hoisting his pack over a shoulder, and striding fast into the shadows. There was no Force under his feet, it was pure muscle driving him on, and I hurried to catch up. He wasn't walking in the same direction as Rulan had, I noticed, but slightly to the left.
"Bastila. She's hysterical."
"And she made you panic," he said, his voice unnaturally curt. "You must keep her at bay for now, Jen. For both our sakes."
"I will. But that wasn't me panicking, that was all her." Drawing through the bond, clutching at my Force. She hadn't meant to, she likely had no idea – but it was the edge of her hysteria that had called to my Force-senses. Sithspit. I can't let this happen again.
Zhar stumbled, a slight misstep of his hurried pace. "That bond," he muttered. "It's too strong. I don't know of any Force bond in existence that is as open and powerful as yours appears to be."
I frowned. "So there's other Jedi out there, with mind-links like ours?"
"A handful I know of," Zhar murmured, veering further to the left. "And not all Jedi, either. Although-" He halted mid-sentence, his head cocking.
"What?" I demanded. "Do you sense something?" I didn't dare draw the Force out beyond the shield and the small amount required for sight.
"This way. Now!"
And he broke into a run.
I caught up, jumping over an exposed root, the both of us sprinting unaided by the Force, veering around clumps of undergrowth and beneath spindly kshyyy vines that dangled free from the wroshyrs they grew upon. The blue-black of the Shadowlands blurred as I struggled to hold the psychic shield tight and small, aimed to draw only the smallest amount of power needed for sight-
"Throw me a visor," I panted. He had a spare, he'd said. I could use that, cut myself off from the Force, and then no one would be able to sense me-
Zhar came to a sudden stop, and I stumbled sideways to avoid slamming into his back. He threw his pack off in a hurried move, and turned to stare into the shadows.
"It's too late."
I heard the thrum of a vehicle nearing, and my stomach coiled into tight knots. Without realizing it, my 'sabers were back in my grasp. I heard the hiss of Zhar's activating.
A jumpspeeder spat out of the shadows, before skidding sharply to an abrupt halt some metres in front of us. A loosely clothed humanoid figure jumped from the one-man vehicle.
My mind cleared; the fear faded away, replaced by calm, cool precision.
The figure stared at me, and a smirk grew on his face. He was young, and bald, and confident. Behind him, a second jumpspeeder screeched to a stop.
"Well. You certainly took your time," he drawled, and a bar of evil hissed alive in his grasp.
xXx
