Chapter Twenty
Disclaimer: I do not own KotOR.
"I'm waiting on the ship," Zaalbar announced as the Ebon Hawk touched down on Kashyyyk.
Revan's eyes lit up. "Are you? Does that mean that we're going to get to avoid having to deal with whatever issues you have here?"
"If fate is kind," Zaalbar replied. "So it's about fifty-fifty, really. Just make sure not to mention even knowing me, much less the fact that I came here with you. It won't end well and I kind of sort of was exiled anyway so am not legally allowed to be here."
Bastila frowned. "If you were exiled then why did you return with us here?"
"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Zaalbar challenged. "Stay behind on Korriban with all the slave-happy Czerka and the Sith?"
"You knew we were going to Kashyyyk at some point since Dantooine," Canderous pointed out. "You could have made other plans."
"Mission insisted on tagging along," Zaalbar said with a shrug.
"Suggestion: You could have always killed the blue meatbag and thus solved your problem," HK put forth.
T3 beeped something quickly.
"Realization: Oh, right. If he were willing to kill her then he wouldn't have had any problem just leaving," HK said. "Sulking addition: Although that would still be a good plan."
"Big Z owes me a life debt," Mission piped up. "So he can't kill me."
"No, I haven't yet reached Hanhaar levels of lunacy yet," Zaalbar agreed.
"You know, if the whole planet's going to be one big conversation that I can only understand, at most, half of then I'm waiting in the ship, too," Carth decided. "I'm not a masochist, after all."
"But what about not leaving me alone with Revan?" Bastila demanded. "That's what you said to get me to come to freaking Korriban with you."
"Look, Revan was left completely by himself in Naga Sadow's tomb back on Korriban and that worked out for the best," Carth reasoned. "Besides, Zaalbar's staying here as well so it won't be all that bad."
"But…but Zaalbar's never been my biggest concern when it came to influencing Revan," Bastila protested.
"Sorry, Bastila, but I just can't come," Carth said virtuously. "Someone has to stop someone from discovering Zaalbar and kidnapping him or attempting to kill him."
With that settled, Mission, Canderous, Bastila, Revan, HK, and T3 exited the Ebon Hawk and were quickly greeted by an Ithorian Czerka representative.
"Welcome to G5-623," the Ithorian greeted.
"Knew Republic would get us lost," Canderous complained. "We were supposed to be heading to Kashyyyk!"
" 'Kashyyyk' was the former name for this planet," the Ithorian admitted. "But when Czerka came to this planet, we decided that it was spelled weird and so we changed it."
"And so now you're calling it G5-623?" Mission couldn't believe it. "You can't just call a planet G5-623!"
"We realized that," the Ithorian assured her. "And so we polled our shareholders. This planet is now colloquially called Edean. Now, I'm going to need to collect 100 credits as a docking fee-"
Revan looked him straight in the eye. "Not happening."
"On second thought, maybe not," the Ithorian readily agreed. "Would you like the services of a translator during your stay on Edean?"
"There's a translator?" Bastila asked. "I guess Carth could have come after all."
"But we're not actually going to bother to go tell him even though the ship is literally right behind us, are we?" Mission asked knowingly.
Bastila shrugged. "I blame Revan. This is his influence, no doubt."
"Hey, don't look at me!" Revan said, holding up his hands defensively. "I don't care what you do. Well, as long as it doesn't involve me."
"Tell you what, how about you go tell him?" Mission invited.
Revan snorted. "Please. Besides, I never know when he'll randomly decide to be suspicious of me again and I'm not really in the mood to be shot at."
The Ithorian coughed. "About that translator?"
"Indignant reply: They do not need some substandard translator since they have me, the galaxy's single finest translator droid!" HK cried, outraged. "Embarrassed admission: And they can all speak Shyriiwook anyway."
"Hey, I just realized something," Mission said. "If Revan built HK and he was such a talented linguist then why did he need to program HK to be a translator?"
T3 beeped something.
" 'That's just how he rolls'?" Revan repeated. "I was going to go with 'because when he was sent on assassination missions and masquerading as a protocol droid the ability to communicate unfettered would be useful' but, by all means, let's go with that other one."
"Sounds good," Mission said cheerfully.
"Um…I'm going to go now," the Ithorian told them, backing away slowly. "Feel free to do what you want but remember that once you leave this port you are no longer under the protection of Czerka corporation and we will not tolerate interference with our slaving operations."
"Slaving operations?" Bastila asked, frowning. "It's really a good thing Zaalbar isn't here to hear that."
"Yeah, he'd probably be pissed," Canderous agreed, not really caring one way or another since Mandalorians were known to take slaves as well. "Hey, look! Supplies!"
He rushed over to two men standing near a kiosk and everyone else had little choice but to follow him.
"Greetings," one of them said brightly. "My name is Matton and I'm being virtually enslaved by Eli here since my friends incurred a huge debt with him and then mysteriously left me behind when they skipped out on the bill."
Bastila shot him an odd look. "And you don't find anything odd about that story?"
"Not really," Matton cut him off. "I never did have the most morally upstanding or responsible friends in the world. It is a bit weird that they didn't take me with them but perhaps they simply forgot about me and don't want to risk coming back and being forced to actually pay off their debt."
"I'm sure that this is really no concern of yours-" Eli began to say nervously.
"Nonsense," Bastila disagreed. "There's something suspicious going on here and I won't rest until I find out what!"
"That's really not necessary," Eli told her uncomfortably.
"I agree," Matton said with a nod. "Don't think I don't appreciate the concern because I really do but it's my mess – or rather my friends' – and so it's my responsibility to handle it."
Revan sighed at how determined Bastila looked. She really was so predictable sometimes. It was actually part of what he liked about her. No matter how pointless it all got sometimes, she was still determined to help people and to do the 'right' thing. Not that that meant that he was willing to waste his time looking for actual evidence, of course. "Eli?"
Eli glanced Revan's way. "Yes?"
Meeting his eyes, Revan commanded, "Tell me what really happened to Matton's crew."
"I found out what a talented mechanic Matton was but I couldn't be bothered to try to actually hire him and so I lured his friends down into the Shadowlands and killed them," Eli obediently revealed. His eyes widened once he realized what he'd done and he took off running.
"You son of a bitch!" Matton cried, anger twisting his features. "I can't believe I didn't question such an idiotic story!" He pulled out a blaster.
Bastila grabbed his arm. "Don't!"
"I can't just let him get away!" Matton said, struggling to pull away. "Not after what he's done!"
Canderous calmly pulled out a blaster of his own and shot the fleeing kiosk-owner in the back of the head twice. "I agree. But now you get to feel all more superior because you were 'better' than him and he ends up dead anyway."
Matton thought about it. "You know, you're right! That really is the best of both worlds! For saving me, I'm going to offer you guys a discount."
"Maybe there is something to this do-gooding thing after all," Canderous mused.
"Okay, I get that these people are from an insular community and don't want us here but you'd think that at least one of them would have something more interesting to say than 'Go talk to our chieftain'," Revan complained as they explored the Wookie village of Rwookrrorro.
"We could always try taking their advice and going to talk to their chieftain," Bastila suggested.
"I guess…" Revan said with a sigh. "I don't see why we need his permission to go get ourselves killed by exploring the Shadowlands area, though. I still say you should have let me persuade the guards to take us down anyway."
"I told you why that was a bad idea," Bastila reminded him patiently. "It might get us down but there's no guarantee that they wouldn't just leave us down there and good luck convincing them if we're all the way at the bottom of the Shadowlands and they're up at the top with their lift."
"You! Outsiders!" a guard standing in front of the building they were just about to walk by called out. "The hut behind me belongs to Chieftain Chuundar. He wants to see you. Go."
Looking very put-upon, Revan did so. Upon entering the hut, he saw Zaalbar (or at least he was fairly certain that it was Zaalbar) sulking in a corner of the room. "Didn't Carth stay behind to prevent this very thing from happening?" Revan demanded. "And for that matter, how did you beat us here?"
"Carth was busy going through your things because he's worried that you're about to reveal yourself to be a secret Sith," Zaalbar explained.
"Again?" Revan asked, annoyed.
"And I wouldn't have beaten you here if you hadn't taken the time to ask every other Wookie you met if they'd talk to you," Zaalbar told him pointedly. "I saw you on my way here. Although I do have to wonder how they even knew I was on the planet…"
"The mighty Chuundar knows all!" the Wookie sitting on a cushioned throne in the center of the room declared loftily.
Zaalbar rolled his eyes. "You haven't changed at all since we were children."
"Would somebody like to explain what's going on?" Bastila demanded.
"Not particularly," Chuundar replied.
Zaalbar sighed. "I'll explain, I guess. My father was the chieftain of this village and so Chuundar is actually my little brother. I was supposed to become the new chieftain but one day I discovered that Chuundar was selling our people into slavery with Czerka-"
"There is no proof to substantiate this ridiculous allegation," Chuundar interjected.
"Except, of course, for the heavy Czerka presence and the fact that they openly speak of slave-trading," Canderous spoke up.
Chuundar ignored him. "But by all means, ex-brother, carry on."
"I got so mad that I tried to kill him…with my claws," Zaalbar said, bowing his head in shame. "And so thus I was exiled and bid never to return."
"Wait…" Revan said slowly. "You paused before saying that you tried to kill him with your claws as if that were the part that people had a problem with. Are you saying that if you had tried to kill him with a vibroblade or a blaster then it would have been okay to attempt fratricide in the eyes of your people?"
"Revan, don't be ridiculous," Bastila chided. "Of course he's not saying-"
"Absolutely," Zaalbar cut her off. "Especially once I had explained about Czerka. Sadly, even though I had irrefutable proof of Czerka's dealings at the time – though I've since lost the papers – no one would listen to me because trying to kill somebody with claws is just uncivilized and therefore I was condemned as a 'madclaw.'"
"That is seriously backwards," Mission opined.
"Mission! Try to be more culturally sensitive!" Bastila told her, sounding shocked.
"Hey, you were the one who couldn't actually believe that Wookie society would operate that way either just two minutes ago," Mission shot back.
"So I hear that you would like access to the Shadowlands," Chuundar said loudly. "I'm willing to allow this…under one condition. There is another madclaw who lives down in the Shadowlands named Freyyr. He keeps disrupting all the Czerka slaving operations and I want him out of the way. Kill him and you can go down there for…whatever reason you have to go down there."
"Seriously, it's like nobody's even listening," Revan marveled, eying the several Wookies who were just casually listening to all of this. "It's not like he's even trying to be discrete."
"We're not paid to get morally outraged," one of them explained.
"Father?" Zaalbar couldn't believe it (although he really should). "You want Revan and the others – well, mostly the others – to kill Father, Chuundar? Do you really have no soul?"
"Czerka credits is more useful than a soul any day," Chuundar said brightly. "So do we have a deal? Zaalbar would have to stay with me for now but you'll get him back once you leave this place."
"Why does Big Z have to stay?" Mission demanded.
"Because he returned to this village despite his exile," Chuundar explained.
"Please, you were the one who had your thugs drag me back here," Zaalbar scoffed. "I was planning on waiting on the ship."
"I don't believe the terms of your exile were 'you must never return unless someone else forces you to'," Chuundar sniffed. "The law is completely on my side here."
"As chieftain you could simply rewrite the law if it wasn't!" Zaalbar cried out.
"You catch on quick," Chuundar mocked. "Now will you do it or not? And don't even think about trying to kill me. I regularly have my attendants go throughout the village announcing that I'm not dead and so if that doesn't happen in the next five minutes then they'll know that something is up and attack you en masse."
Bastila looked annoyed. "Fine. We'll do it."
"We will?" Revan asked, surprised. "Isn't that a little, you know, evil?"
Bastila leaned in close to him. "Have you never heard of lying?" she whispered.
"Ah, yes," Revan said with a hint of a smirk. "The Jedi way."
"Excuse me," Revan said. He had been waiting for the three Wookies in front of him to move but they didn't appear to notice him.
"Sorry," one of them said. "I was just trying to petition our Holder of the Laws, Worrroznor, to launch some sort of investigation until the death of the greatest hero ever, Rorworr."
"I keep telling you, Woorwill," Worrroznor said tiredly. "That that's not quite how my job works. I'm a judge. I judge the legality of actions and what punishments should be given. I don't go out organizing search parties for wayward hunters no matter how heroic. Jaarak, can't you talk any sense into the boy?"
"I've tried," Jaarak said defensively. "Who do you think kept him from coming to pester you when Rorworr first went missing three weeks ago?"
"What's going on here?" Bastila asked, concerned.
"Finally!" Woorwill exclaimed. "Someone who cares! The greatest hunter in the world, Rorworr, went missing three weeks ago in the Shadowlands and nobody is doing anything about it!"
"You really should just forget all about that," Jaarak urged. "Just move on with your life."
"You know, we're just about to head down to the Shadowlands-" Bastila began.
Revan groaned. "Let's try something else. Hey, Jaarak, look at me."
"Why should I?" Jaarak demanded hostilely even as he did just that.
"Tell me everything you know about Rorworr's disappearance," Revan ordered.
"Three weeks ago I saw Rorworr meeting with Czerka slave-traders and I recovered this datapad that shows proof that Rorworr was capturing hunters from other villages and selling them," Jaarak declared, holding up said datapad. "I killed him for this. He's such a hero, though, especially to Woorwill that I didn't ever want anybody to find out. People need their heroes and I'm old. If they ever found out what I did I intended to just let everybody think I was the type of person to just randomly go around murdering people."
"Let me see that," Worrroznor said, grabbing the datapad and scanning through it. "Yes, this does appear to be irrefutable evidence that Rorworr was a slaver."
"Why would you lie to me?" Woorwill asked, heartbroken.
"You needed a hero," Jaarak said wearily. "I was trying to protect you. I'm sorry."
"You didn't use your claws to do the killing, did you?" Worrroznor asked seriously.
Jaarak looked shocked. "Of course not! What do you take me for, a madclaw?"
"Of course not," Worrroznor assured him. "But you know I had to ask. Well, since Rorworr was a slaver that means that I don't feel the need to punish you for killing him. Woorwill gets two thirds of his estate since he was an admirer of Rorworr and happens to be here and we'll give that human who somehow managed to ferret out the truth the other third."
"So…the fact that he committed murder doesn't matter because the guy he killed was kind of evil?" Mission asked, surprised. "Backwards, much?"
"Mission!" Bastila exclaimed again.
"I know, I know…" Mission said with a sigh.
"We don't like shades of grey," Worrroznor explained. "So Jaarak either dies or he gets completely freed. Since Rorworr was a slaver, I think the latter is more appropriate."
"Is there any point in wondering if now that we have irrefutable proof that slaving is being done by Czerka we could take this to Chuundar and force him to acknowledge it?" Revan wondered.
"No, not really," Worrroznor replied. "Besides, chieftains get the final say on what is and isn't part of reality."
Mission coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'Backwards.'
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