Chapter 22
I would like to thank my reviewers, those who added my story to their alerts and favorites, and to all anonymous readers.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Prototype.
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Alex Mercer might have looked like an average man, but Mission soon learned that he possessed recourses she could only marvel at. First, he had defeated Calo Nord in a duel. Second, he had somehow survived and won a wrestling match with a Krayt dragon. Third, he knew codes and ciphers she had no hope of slicing. For a few hours after leaving Tatooine, he had sat behind her in the jump seat, tapping madly into the keyboard and sending rapid-fire messages to unknown destinations. Once in a while she would glance back and try to read in secret. All she saw on the screen, however, was gibberish. Whatever he sent and to whom, he was keeping it very much to himself.
"Can I help?" she finally asked him.
"No." He leaned back into the seat and pushed the keyboard away. "I'm done."
"Prepare yourself." Voren said, leaning in close from the copilot's seat. "You're coming with me once we hit the surface."
"And where is that?"
"Our destination is Kashyyk."
"The Wookiee homeworld?" Alex groaned in his seat. "Do I have to?"
Voren nodded. "It'll be dangerous. The planet has many predators on the surface floor."
The shapeshifter smiled under his hood in a smug manner. "The entire galaxy is dangerous to most beings," noted Alex, before asking wearily, "I suppose our own Wookiee will be joining us?"
"Zaalbar," said Voren, emphasizing the name. "will be our guide."
Alex nodded and reclined the seat, putting his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Voren checked the vessel's systems and told her that he was going back to his room to prepare. Now she sat with Alex beside her, wondering how she could prepare for exploring a new world.
The warped perspective of hyperspace slid rapidly by, a corridor of bluish-white flares. It might be beautiful to look at, but the environment was explicitly hostile to human life. So was life on the run. Only by being surrounded by competent and trustworthy people would allow someone to survive with this kind of life. To her great joy, she had both now. The empty days with Big Z, trying to survive the best way they can, was over. But it wasn't all without a new kind of danger.
Mission told herself not to be ungrateful. They'd all been through a lot, and it wasn't as if she had much of a choice. She had seen firsthand how Darth Malak treated enemies. Returning to her scavenging days of exploration would be meaningless as long as that planet-killing monster was still around. That experience had turned her life upside-down, taking away her sleep and filling it with terrible nightmares. Until a few days ago, the return of her brother had been like a beacon in the dark, bringing her back into the light. Griff already had a new idea involving synthesizing Tarisian ale; her brother always had some scheme in mind. She left him on Tatooine, knowing he would be alright, and she had Alex to thank for it.
He never talked about what was going on inside his head, but he always had a funny or smart comeback to just about anything. In fact, his social skills were lacking. Mainly revolving around two basic definitions, what was boring, and what was not boring. He never talked about his feelings, his past, or anything too serious. She had stopped trying to find out more about him, he had after all saved her life on Taris and reunited her with her long-lost brother. If he wanted privacy in return, she would give it to him.
She jumped when she saw Alex sitting up in his chair, staring amusingly at her. For a moment she feared that he had read her thoughts, but then realized such an action could only be performed by a Jedi.
"Why are you here?" Alex asked.
"I'm great at exploring." She began, with a nod. "I can also be really sneaky and I'm a good slicer."
"I meant in the cockpit."
"Oh…" Mission could feel the color rise in her cheeks. "Carth talked with Voren about not being betrayed again or something, and then stormed off."
"Interesting," the shapeshifter mused. "Republic usually gets his panties in a bunch when he's not flying the ship."
Mission smiled awkwardly as Voren entered with Bastila in tow. "Are we close?"
She checked the instruments. "We'll arrive any second now."
The words had barely left her tongue when the view blurred and shifted into a more familiar sight. Kashyyk, a sphere of green and blue hanged off the starboard bow. It was a beautiful world, but she knew from Big Z that it had seen some hard times. Wookiees had been enslaved due to their great physique and stamina for a long time now. Mission employed the Aerith's sensors to scan the planet and several large concentrations of signals appeared. She pushed the vessel down into the atmosphere, directing it towards the capital city Rwookrrorro.
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The platform didn't look nearly large enough to handle a ship the size of the Aerith, but a quick glance over the city itself showed that the apparent smallness was simply a trick of the tree's scale. By the time Mission put them down on the blackened wood, it was clear that the platform could not only support the Aerith, but probably full-sized passenger ships as well. Alex half expected the Wookiees to send a delegation to meet them, and it turned out he was half right. But instead of being greeted by a large hairy ape, an Ithorian wearing a Czerka outfit stood waiting beside the ship as Voren lowered the entry ramp. The man took a step forward as they headed down the ramp.
"Greetings, while I am pleased to welcome you to planet G5-623, I do not see your ship on my docking schedule."
Zaalbar growled to himself, his hate for Czerka being evident. They were just the latest party to enslave his people, and to his great sadness, probably not the last.
"The Czerka Corporation will see to your needs, of course, but there will be a 100 credit docking fee. In advance, I fear."
Canderous and Alex looked on with little interest as Voren engaged the Ithorian in a conversation. Alex blocked out the exchange and focused on the surrounding area. Humans wearing Czerka outfits were working at their stations, and as a bonus, not a single Wookiee in sight. Except for Zaalbar and he hoped to god other Wookiees were like him, staying in the corner and not making a sound. That's the kind of Wookiee he could tolerate.
"Tell me something interesting about Kashyyk?" Alex asked.
"Well," Canderous began. "it has big trees, in case your eyes don't work anymore."
Alex scowled. "Something else?"
"It's actually a lot like Dxun, its ecology can best be described as a layered deathtrap." Canderous traced his jaw-line. "Actually, I think I'm going to like it here."
Voren wheedled them out of paying Czerka's docking fee with a small push of the force, and sent the Ithorian on his way. His dislike for the organization first began on Tatooine, but here it grew to hate, they even openly supported and practiced slavery. Going so far as to sign an agreement with the Wookie leadership in supplying arms in exchange for a steady supply of Wookiees, Czerka makes a profit and an agreeable leader is kept in power.
"Kashyyk… my home." Zaalbar said in Shyriiwook. "I should have prepared you for coming here…" he added. "but I don't know if I've prepared myself."
Voren observed the surroundings with caution. "Prepare me for what?"
"I didn't leave Kashyyk voluntarily." Zaalbar admitted. "Mission must have told you how I was fleeing slavers… but there was more."
Zaalbar lowered his gaze, a few seconds passed before he forced himself to say. "I am an exile. The slavers on Kashyyk only took me after I was forced to leave my village home, twenty years ago."
An exile? Voren thought, wheels turning and coming up with several possible reasons. "Why were you forced to leave?"
"My brother made deals with the slavers and allowed them to get a foothold. I found out and attacked him." Zaalbar blew out a forceful exhale. "The fight was stopped, but my father did not believe me when I told him about my brother's actions. I was made an exile, disowned by my home and people."
"I should not be here," he noted, before adding wearily. "They will not accept my back."
"Why wouldn't you're father believe you?" Asked Canderous.
Zaalbar's chin dipped to his chest, shoulders hunched down, and eyes drawn to the distance. "I was so mad… I used my claws."
"Mad-claw." Canderous noted.
Zaalbar bowed his head in shame. "You don't know what the means to a Wookiee. Our claws are tools, not weapons. To use them in battle is becoming an animal. It is madness without honor. In their eyes I'm a mad-claw, forever. Nothing I say is to be trusted. They were right to cast me out."
"Time has passed." Voren mused. "Things will have changed."
"The slavers are still here… this dock is theirs." Crestfallen, he continued. "I doubt anyone has risen to try and fight. Nothing has changed. I just hope I can prove myself to my people. It will be difficult to make them listen. I just don't know."
"We'll deal with that if we have to." Voren said strongly, inclining his head. "Let's go."
Voren continued on the path from the landing platform, followed closely by Zaalbar which received several ugly stares by the Czerka employees.
"So what did we talk about?" Alex asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Come on!" Alex demanded. "Tell me!"
Canderous snickered. "Secrets."
"Ass." Alex exhaled forcefully. "I really need to learn Wookiee talk, don't I?" He put up a finger. "Just wait a minute."
His gaze went over the platform and stopped at a human working at a console by the Aerith. Strolling over he asked.
"Do you understand Wookiees?"
The man shrugged back at seeing Alex. "I uh… Yes I understand them."
"Good." Alex said sweetly, firmly planting his tendrils in the man's chest and letting his feeder tendrils draw the man in. Normally he wouldn't consume someone in public, the attention was unwanted. But here he guessed no one cared, and looking around proved him right. As his gaze passed them over, the nearby workers tried their best to look at everything but him. Satisfied, he ventured back to Canderous.
"Ready to go?" Alex asked.
"Just one thing." Canderous began. "Would that man be alive if I had just told you?"
"Most likely, yes."
Canderous grunted.
As Zaalbar guided them towards his home village, Voren couldn't help but marvel at the large platforms which upon they walked. Say what you want about Wookies, but their craftsmanship truly was admirable. This metropolitan center of the Wookiee homeworld was a kilometer-wide platform nesting high atop the huge wroshyr trees. Most of these trees reached 300-400 meters in height, some even reached several kilometers. In fact, they were so big entire communities could live within their hollowed-out trunks.
"Come." Zaalbar growled, gesturing toward one of the three paths ahead. "The village is this way."
"Alright." Voren said. "That reminds me, I was going to ask how you keep the village in place. Do you use repulsorlifts?"
"Come." Zaalbar said, walking over to the end of the platform and leaning over the edge. "I will show you."
To Voren's surprise, the village was not, in fact, held up by repulsorlifts. Nor was it held with tractor anchorlines, unipods, or any other piece of modern technology. The entire city was held up by branches, almost resembling a giant spider web. He tried to not think about the kilometers of empty space beneath them, instead calming his mind with the force and asked.
"How do you mesh them together?"
"We did not. The trees have grown together," he explained. "When two wroshyr branches meet, they grow into one which in turn sprouts new branches in all directions."
Voren nodded silently. Is it possible all wroshyr trees in this area are a single plant? If so they have a unified root system. He still had more questions about this marvelous city, but three Czerka employees up ahead stopped him from raising them. Now they were just a hundred meters away, and what he saw disturbed both him and Zaalbar. The three of them stood around a dead Wookiee, blood still oozing out from under its large body.
Upon entering within earshot, the captain in charge of the three said. "This isn't good. I can't afford this."
"You think I can?" The other said, gesturing angrily at the dead Wookiee. "You know what they get for a healthy one of these things?"
"We'll work it out later." The captain said, noticing the approaching group. "We've got company."
The captain observed them and turned to Voren.
"What do you want, spacer?" he greeted him. "I'm Patrol Captain Dehno and you're interrupting Czerka Corporation business."
"I'm Voren. What happened here?"
"This Wookiee slave got a little rebellious." Dehno explained, eyes shifting all over the place. "We had to put it down."
"You put it down? We're not animals!" Zaalbar roared.
"Careful now," the one on the right said. "That growl sounded pretty threatening. Keep your slave on a leash or we'll have another accident."
Voren's eyes narrowed, muscles quivering as he tried to contain the building rage. They not only willingly worked for a corporation supporting slavery; they were even content with performing outright murder without even the slightest of regret. His pulse sped up to deafening levels, blocking out any other sound as he stared at the body of the dead Wookiee.
"No." He said firmly. "You won't hurt anyone ever again."
The hum of his lightsaber echoed throughout the platform, casting a blue hue over the brown wood. He was over them in an instant; the first didn't even raise his blaster as Voren cut him down. The shock of seeing their companion being killed spurred them into action, showering Voren in a rain of blaster bolts. Voren charged, intercepting several bolts as he closed in. With a quick series of sequences, he ended their lives. The exhilarating rush died down and he took a deep, pained breath and closed his eyes. Voren pawed a hand through his hair, fear rising in his chest at what the others would think. Turning around, he saw a view he never could have anticipated.
Zaalbar stood amazed, glad that someone had stood up for his people. Canderous gave a small nod in acceptance, seeking conflict and attaining glory was the Mandalorian way. Voren had done just that, what little glory could be achieved by defeating these low-lives, anyway.
"I'm impressed!" Alex said, sprouting a massive grin. "I didn't think you had it in you."
"Well," Voren began, shoulders hunched. "They were slavers. They deserved it."
"Yes," Alex agreed. "slavery is wrong."
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Au
So, Zaalbar got some screen-time and Voren tasted the Dark side of the force. And isn't Alex a sneaky little schemer? Saying what others want to hear.
On another note, I'll be working part-time and studying from now on. This means my updates will be more sporadic. Don't worry too much; I will finish this story. I do have plans for a sequel after all, and hopefully I have the time and motivation to write it.