Thanks to NYCitygurl for the beta. Here ya go guys.
Part II: Dathomir
Chapter 7: The Off-Worlders
One Year Earlier
The pirates had come upon them suddenly, when they'd come out of hyperspace briefly for a course change. They weren't well armed, but then again, Jaina and Kev weren't prepared. The pirates had gotten in a few solid shots before the Kestrel had jumped away. There had been damage to the hyperdrive, and now a rather intimidating number of red lights were visible on the consol. Kev was frantically searching for a place to set down for repairs on the navcomp while Jaina paced back and forth. They'd jumped to a safe distance, but they weren't out of the woods yet.
"Found one!" shouted Kev. "Dathomir. Privately owned, property of one Omogg, but apparently the Imperials have a base there anyway. We'll have to be careful."
Jaina turned to him. "We can do careful. Lay in a course."
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The hyperdrive died at the edge of the Dathomir system, and they spent the next few days cruising toward the planet. Jaina and Kev spent the time performing diagnostics, checking out the engine manually, and being incredibly bored. They played sabaac. They improvised a derjack board and played that. They made out. Kev took his dreadlocks out and put them back in. The two of them got uproariously drunk on the black-market Corellian ale they'd been planning to sell on Ord Mantell. They were still bored.
Eventually they reached the planet.
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They began repairs on the hyperdrive immediately. It was a fairly simple problem, caused by a leak in the coolant system.
"This engine has gotten way too delicate," said Jaina. "We're going to need to get a new one soon."
Kev came up behind her and hooked his arms around her waist. "It's a miracle it's kept going so long, Jaina. You're really good at what you do."
She turned and linked her own arms around his neck. "I've had help." She brought her lips up to meet his for a quick kiss.
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About three hours later there was a banging at the front hatch. Jaina, her sleeves rolled up and covered to her elbows in engine fluids, looked up and met Kev's eyes. She walked to their cabin and grabbed her blaster and blastsword. Kev followed her, getting his own blaster.
The two of them walked to the hatch in silence and Kev, as part of their well-practiced routine, took up a position against the wall where he would be out of sight from the perspective of anyone standing outside the hatch. Jaina, for her part, aimed her blaster for where the torso of most humanoids standing at the level of the hatch would be located and hit the release button.
A single woman wearing shining blue-green scaled armor and a headdress hung with small animal skulls and other primitive baubles stood outside, a sharp looking spear held in her right hand.
The woman, obviously an aborigine of the planet's primitive civilization, proceeded to speak in clear, slightly accented Basic, "I am Tenel Ka Djo of the Singing Mountain Clan. You have entered our territory without permission. You must come with me to the Singing Mountain, where our council will determine your fate." Jaina was on the edge of pointing out to the woman who had the superior weaponry – and asking her how the hell she knew Basic – when she caught sight of an enormous bipedal monster entering the clearing where they had landed. She immediately brought her blaster up and began firing at it, but before she could get off more than two shots, the Djo woman's spear whipped her blaster out of her hand and sent it skidding across the corridor. Jaina immediately drew her blastsword and pointed it threateningly at the savage. Kev simultaneously let out a shout of "Jaina!" and spun into the doorway, blaster angled at the strange woman's chest. Another movement of the spear and both of their weapons joined Jaina's blaster on the floor.
"You will," she said, "come with me."
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The monster, it seemed, wasn't some wild animal bent on devouring them all. It was Djo's beast of burden. She rode on it, Jaina and Kev following behind, bound with wooden boards which had holes in them for their wrists and which were fastened with primitive metal locks. The boards were tied to a rope, which was in turn tied to the "rancor."
"Look," Kev shouted to the woman atop the giant beast, "we had no idea we were in anyone's territory, and all we're trying to do is get our ship fixed so we can leave!"
"The Imperials have undoubtedly tracked your ship by now. It is likely they would have come for you within another hour." She turned to look back at them. "They would have killed you. They do not wish any other off-worlders to know of their presence here."
Kev snorted. "Too bad for them. The data in our navcomp is three years old, and whoever put that together knew about the base."
"Prison," corrected Tenel Ka. "It is a prison."
"That's the Karrde network data, Kev," said Jaina, "and they only started selling intel four years ago. Not too many people will know about this place. Not yet."
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"How do you speak Basic?" Jaina asked their captor perhaps half an hour later, out of boredom.
"My father taught it to me," said Djo. "He was from off-world."
"An Imperial?" asked Kev.
The woman turned back to give him a nasty look. "He fell from the sky," she said.
Jaina decided that the woman had probably learned Basic from an Imperial, probably a captive. The chances of an ejected man being found on such a sparsely populated planet were virtually null.
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They were an hour from the clan fortress when Tenel Ka sensed it: danger, stronger than she'd ever felt before. She knew what it was immediately: the Nightsisters had come to the Singing Mountain Clan's home. She reined Hosa, her rancor, up immediately.
"What's going on?" called her female prisoner.
"My home has been attacked."
"How can you know that?"
"I am a witch, off-worlder. I can sense these things, at least at times."
The two prisoners looked at each other. They obviously did not believe her.
Tenel Ka jumped down from Hosa's back and directed her to sit down.
"I will return soon," she said, and set off at a run towards the Singing Mountain.
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It had been two hours since the so-called "witch" had left. Kev was currently pulling vainly on the rope.
"That's not going to work, you know," said Jaina in a bored voice. The knot securing them to the creature was, they had quickly discovered, located on its underbelly, and thus out of reach.
"I know," said Kev. "I'm just incredibly bored."
The rancor yawned.
"Oh gods!" yelled Kev. "Will you please shut your mouth?! That is the worst breath I have ever smelled!"
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Tenel Ka had met the refugees an hour out. They were mostly craftswomen, men and children, accompanied by a few mounted warriors.
"What has happened?" she asked the lead warrior.
"The Nightsisters came for us," said the woman, Kirana Ti. "They have made an alliance with the off-world prison masters. They brought their machines upon us and we were nearly defeated when your mother sent us through the secret way to bring the men and children to safety."
"My mother? Should it not have been – "
"Your great-grandmother is dead."
Tenel Ka closed her eyes and grimaced. She had felt something, but still she had dared to hope.
How could Augwynne Djo be dead?
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Tenel Ka reentered the clearing at a pace that was, if anything, faster than the one she'd left at. Jaina and Kev looked at her, surprised.
"We must go. Now," she said, jumping onto her rancor's back, "and quickly. You will have to run. The Nightsisters will be pursuing my people, and the others who have escaped from my clan hall wait for us."
"Nightsisters?"
"There is no time to explain!"
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Jaina considered herself to be in decent shape. Running behind the loping rancor taught her different. The creature half dragged her the last of the perhaps three klicks they ran.
Their journey paused briefly when they met up with a large crowd of people, consisting largely of children.
"Refugees," said Jaina between gasps of air.
Kev nodded. The expression on the peoples' faces was a universal one, and one both Jaina and Kev had seen almost every day of their lives until four years ago.
There was a sharp tug on their rope and the whole procession began moving, thankfully at a more reasonable pace. Jaina imagined it was so the children could keep up.
She eventually lost track of how long they had been walking, but they didn't stop until long after it was dark. They slept in the open, and Jaina and Kev huddled together for warmth.
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The following day, Tenel Ka released Jaina and Kev from their bonds.
"Why?" Jaina asked her captor.
"We need your help," replied Djo.
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Tenel Ka translated as Kirana Ti spoke to the female prisoner. Kirana Ti could have used a speech spell, but since the Nightsisters had risen to power it had been seen as supremely unwise to reveal such spells to those outside the clan.
"Firstly, off-worlder, I would know your name," said Kirana Ti through Tenel Ka.
"I'm Jaina Draygo. Captain Jaina Draygo." The woman tried to glance at her male companion, who had been allowed to watch with the other men. She failed.
"Captain Draygo," Kirana Ti spoke on, "we have need of your aid. We would never require one who is not a witch to stand against the Nightsisters, but we wish of you your aid against their off-worlder allies.
Jaina Draygo tried to hide a smile, again with little success. She knew she was now in a position of power, but she did not immediately exploit that power, instead choosing – wisely, Tenel Ka thought – to investigate the situation which granted her that power.
"Who exactly," she asked, "are the Nightsisters?"
"Sisters of the Dark," Tenel Ka translated to Draygo, "who use the forbidden spells and use the acceptable spells in anger." The captain, she could see, did not believe her.
"And they've allied themselves with the people who run an Imperial prison."
"Indeed."
"And you want us to do what, exactly?"
"We wish you, Jaina Draygo, to lead us in the sabotage of the Imperial machines."
"To lead you?"
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What in the galaxy was up with these people? They took her and Kev prisoner for violating some tribal barrier they'd had no way of knowing about, didn't even bother to ask their names, dragged them along behind the fart beast from the seventh hell for who knew how far, and now they wanted them – or her, at least – to lead an attack for them?! Jaina was suddenly reminded of some of the wilder stories about the Battle of Endor, specifically the ones involving "Ewoks."
But Djo was translating for the Kirana woman again.
"You have the knowledge we need. We have the people required. We would be rid of the Imperial machines. You," Tenel Ka translated gravely, "would gain your ship back." Jaina hoped her elation didn't show, but she doubted it. She looked to Kev, who nodded. It was the only way they were getting off this planet.
"We'll do it."