this chapter takes place a few years later and several star systems away but i promise it does relate to the story and the main character(s) will find their way there eventually. i was planning on having Soniee go looking for the history of her birth parents at some point but with the news of Saw Gerrera joining the cast of Rogue One i got the idea for this scene in my head and had to go ahead and write it. Maybe i'll go back and put all the chapters back in chronological order some day.
Agent Kallus mentions in Rebels that Saw Gerrera was working with a Lasat Mercenary but so far in canon he doesn't have a name. I liked the name Zal so i decided to name him after Lovin' Spoonful Guitarist Zalman Yanovsky. I think Zalyanov Skimanos sounds like a fine Lasat name and maybe he can sing protest songs for the other rebels. *shrug*
So here you have it, on Onderon, deep under Iziz, sometime after order 66, during the purge.

More refugees. It hadn't been compassion that had led Saw to start taking in the organic detritus of the Empire and housing them in the tunnels under the city. There were two reasons. First, they were an excellent cover for what was hiding even deeper in the caverns that honeycombed the ground below Iziz. The head quarters for the rebellion had delved under the surface after the Empire had started to burn down the jungle and left them exposed. The ancient tunnels had provided the perfect barracks for his fighters and storage for the munitions they had gathered, even if a few of the Onderonian natives worried about the ghost stories they had grown up hearing about the place.

Secondly, Saw thought as he looked into the faces of the beings seeking refuge, was the chance that some of these fugitives might have the spirit in them to fight back. Mostly the expressions were those of fear or relief at having found a relatively safe place to lay their heads, but the campaigner knew by the look in the eyes of a few that they were thirsting for revenge. He made a mental note of each of these and would approach them later to offer an opportunity to join the cause. His secret hope, that he hadn't even shared with his most trusted generals, was that among all of those who showed up, he might come across one of the Empire's most wanted. As the purge continued, however, that dream grew fainter everyday.

Suddenly, a low rumble shook the ground beneath his feet. There were screams from some of the women and children but Saw didn't stop to offer anyone comfort. He raced for the steep stone stairway that led down to the next level. Men and women were rising from their bunks asking if there was an attack and what they should do but Saw continued past them, down another flight of stairs. Shelves lined with blasters and explosives seemed to be in perfect order.

It wasn't until he had gone down to an even lower level that Saw began to see the smoke and dust in the air and knew that the blast had come from one of the tunnels they had only recently discovered. He heard coughing and then laughter and then through the haze he saw a pair of blue eyes and heard a deep rough voice, "Excuse me."

"Are you still with us, Zalyanov, my friend?" Saw asked crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back on the cavern wall.

The Lasat mercenary patted down his arms and torso and stroked his singed beard. "Yeah, I think I'm all here." He laughed again which turned into a cough because of the still swirling dust.

"What the osik are you up to?"

"Down to, more like." Zal jerked his thumb toward the still settling dust. "Just gotta feeling there's something behind that blocked tunnel but it's shut up tight."

Saw walked toward the section of wall to study it. There was quite clearly an arch that would seem to indicate a doorway to a passage of some sort. It could have just been a niche that had been the intended resting spot of a statue in the distant past, but as Saw looked at it closer he could see the recently scattered dust swirling around a draft at the edge of what seemed to be a stone panel. "I think you're right."

He placed his hand on the stone and drew it away again. "It's cold."

"Yeah, weird." Zal brushed his hand against the surface feeling the temperature and also the uneven texture, "I think there's somethin' written on it." He brushed a little more of the dirt away and then staggered back. "Karabast!" He made a sign with his hand over his heart as if to ward off evil.

"What is it?" Saw looked at the symbols that had been uncovered. He couldn't read the ancient writing but it did have an air of menace about it. "Have you seen something like this before?"

"Not exactly." The Lasat regained some of his bravado and edged closer again. "Reminds me of some of the stuff the old seers on Lasan would conjure up when they were calling on the Ashla. Gives me the same kind of tingle down the back of my neck."

Saw thought about the old stories he had heard growing up, about what might be lurking down below the city. They said that sorcerer kings from the times of the Old Republic used the tunnels in their worship of dark deities. He had never believed tales. Inquisitively, he began to feel around for some sort of mechanism to open the door.

"I don't know if you should..." Zal warned and then cleared his throat not wanting to appear afraid.

More dust fell away from the slab revealing more of the runes carved into the surface. "Maybe I can read some of this..." Saw tilted his head to one side and then the other. The text was older than anything he had ever seen before but it did seem to be related to the old Onderonian he knew. He sounded it out but it still didn't make any sense to him, "Free-" he brushed away a bit more dust. "Freedun Nadd. That's what it spells but I don't know what it means. Might be a name or..."

Saw laid his hand flat against the slab again and for just a moment thought he felt what Zal had described, a tingle down his spine, and suddenly it remind him of something. "Ahsoka," he murmured. "What was it you said, Zal? On Lasan, what did the old witches call on?"

"The Ashla. It's like a... spirit of the galaxy, flows through everything living, makes stuff happen."

"Hmm..." Saw pushed back the eerie feeling that he got from the doorway and continued to look for a way to open it. "Sounds kind of like how the Jedi explain... explained," he switched to past tense. "The force." A memory came to him of a conversation he had overheard.

The three Jedi and the clone trooper were sitting around a campfire on their first night in the jungle.

"Master," Ahsoka asked. "Ever since we arrived here I've felt something, like it's just under the surface, something dark."

Anakin laughed. "Didn't we tell you about the ancient Sith Lord who was buried on Onderon?"

"Ooooo," Captain Rex moaned in a ghostlike quaver and Ahsoka batted at him with the back of her hand.

They had all seemed so at ease with each other in their respite from the 'real' war.

"Obi-wan, tell them the story," said Anakin.

The older Jedi set down his cup of caf and cleared his throat and began to tell it like a true storyteller. "It was thousands of years ago, a young Jedi named Freedun Nadd grew dissatisfied with the teachings he had received at the temple and embraced the path of the Sith. He sought out the tomb of Darth Naga Sadow where he found the Dark Lord's holocron. It is said that he not only learned the ways of the dark side but in fact absorbed Sadow's spirit before coming to Onderon. Here he used what he had learned to stay alive and rule for hundreds of years. When he finally died he was buried below the palace of Iziz and from there his powerful spirit continued to influence and corrupt every being with which it came in contact."

Anakin suddenly grabbed Ahsoka's shoulder and shouted, "Boo!" causing the female Jedi to jump and curse and then they had all laughed.

Saw touched the engraving on the slab again. "Freedun Nadd," he said again. He had heard the name before. It had sounded different in Basic and in Kenobi's posh Coruscanti accent but it was the same name. "Wouldn't mind having that kind of power on our side when it comes down to it."

"What?" Zal asked. "A Jedi fighting beside us? Sorry, mate. I think the Empire's taken all of them out."

Finding no way to open the ancient doorway, Saw stepped back. "Maybe that's what it takes to open this thing," he wriggled his fingers at it. "Some kind of Force sorcery."

"Could be." The Lasat shrugged.

"Who knows maybe our very own Jedi will be on the next transport o' exiles."

"Ha. I wouldn't count on it."