Enroute to Kashyyyk
Danika
Carth came out of the cockpit to grab a bite. I was sitting with Sasha, showing her how to play a game. I saw his face fall, and he started to turn.
"Maybe we need to talk." I said.
He sighed. "Don't you ever give up?"
"When I'm dead." I said. He laughed sadly at that.
"You're thinking about Saul."
"Hey, don't tell me we're bonded now too! I don't think I could handle Bastila's thoughts."
"You show a lot of your emotions in the way you stand. When you remember Saul, your right hand clenches. Like you have a gun in your hand."
"You're right." He admitted.
"Why is he your personal vendetta?"
"He betrayed the Republic, slaughtered the people of my home world Telos. Is there anything more he needs to have done?"
"Carth, I have seen the type of anger you speak of. Half the people in my unit at Zanebra were like that. But yours is an obsession. There is more to this than you have said up to now."
"I'm sure you don't want to hear this."
"I asked."
"Yeah, right." He poured a cup of ale from the cooler. "When Saul went over to the enemy, he tried to talk me into joining him like I told you. The task force we were part of was on maneuvers. After we talked, Saul took his ship out supposedly on a solo recon. When he didn't come back we looked for him. Then we got the call from Telos. Saul's ship was there blasting the colony apart. They had brought a Sith fleet with them.
"We came out of hyper, and as we approached, we could see his bombers pasting the ground. The entire orbital infrastructure was already gone. Our fighters dived in and he withdrew.
"Millions had died already, and the worst was to follow. They'd blown every dam and dumped toxins in the water. I was allowed to go down because my family lived there. Or did before the attack. My wife Morgana, and my son Dustil. My shuttle landed in the colony center and I ran all the way to my house. It was a shattered hole in the ground. My wife was torn apart by shrapnel, and I held her," He put out his arms as if holding a child. "I held her and screamed for the med techs to come. But she died in my arms."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"How could you considering I've never told anyone this? I spent the rest of the time the relief teams were there trying to find Dustil. There were always rumors, that he had been here or there, even that he had been taken when the Sith troops had occupied the main city for a time. But I never found him, or what happened to him. Finally I had to go back on duty.
"Then the years passed. I heard less and less, and finally I gave up. I can still see him. He'd be what, seventeen now? But he's dead somewhere, lying in an unmarked grave if they even bothered to bury him. Saul has so much to answer for.
"I know killing Saul won't bring her back, or give me back my son. I won't feel any better when he's dead. It's just something I have to do. I am going to pay him back for all of the suffering he's caused. It's all I have left to my life."
I hugged Sasha. She understood enough to know that Carth needed some sympathy. She slipped from my lap, walking over, and climbed into his lap. For a moment, he wasn't sure what to do. Then she hugged him, and he found himself hugging her back.
"I can almost see you and her holding Dustil." I said. "What was she like?"
"My wife? She was courageous, stubborn, more stubborn than you are sometimes. I never could talk her out of anything she set her mind to." He blew on Sasha's head, then buried his chin in her hair. "She hated it when I re-upped. I had decided to ask my Commanding officer to let me resign, but... Telos got attacked, and the new war had begun."
"Anything at all on Dustil?"
"I've scanned every report from the relief efforts. After a while though I stopped. I couldn't go on knowing that he might be there, alive trapped in an orphanage or something. I thought that maybe if I stopped looking, I'd hear that much faster."
He sat there until Sasha went to sleep in his lap. I left him watching her sleep.
The next days were peaceful. Sasha gained more strength in the Force. She became more relaxed with the crew, even taking to exercising with Canderous watching. He pretended to ignore her, but when she did an exercise wrong, he would correct her. For such a huge and terrifying man, he was gentle. Almost as if she were his daughter.
One evening after dinner I spoke with Juhani. The more time we spent together on the ship, the more relaxed she became as well.
"I wanted to thank you again." She looked down shyly. I have been thinking of our mission, of what we face. I am grateful and honored to be a part of this."
"Juhani, we needed someone like you on this mission."
"Like me." Her voice tightened.
"The Cathar are renowned for being great hunters, and fierce warriors. If we must fight, I cannot think of anyone I would rather have at my side."
She relaxed. "I have never felt such unbiased acceptance from anyone. It is, curious to me. We Cathar do not make friends easily. In our language there are only four words that mean friend, but over fifty that mean stranger or enemy. Those that might claim to be friends tend to drift away from us. They cannot accept our way of looking at the world, at life. Even on Dantooine among the Jedi I remained alone. Not ostracized, or rebuked, just... different."
"Tell me more of your people." I asked.
"You know so much already! What can I tell you that you do not?"
"What I know of your people I learned from books, from other people's opinions. One of my officers always complained that we didn't have Cathar in our unit. He said a Cathar warrior was worth ten of us sometimes."
She shrugged. "Truth to be told, I spent almost my entire life in the Republic, away from my people. I remember little beyond the stories of my parents. I never saw another Cathar beyond them. We are not what you would call a diplomatic people. We do not deal well with groups. This," She waved around the ship. "Being part of something larger than a family, this is different.
"It is new to me. I feel warm, accepted. You make it so. You are the Clan mother of our tribe aboard this ship. You direct, and those among us do as told. I have needed someone like you in my life for a long time."
"I'm not the leader!" I laughed, embarrassed by her words. "I keep picturing myself running behind all of you shouting, 'but I'm in charge'!"
She laughed the coughing grunt of the Cathar. "I can almost see what you describe."
"Whoever is in charge, we have to work together. This is something we will succeed in or fail in because we don't cooperate."
"That is my point." She said solemnly. "I find it difficult to explain. This is so different from what my life was like before. Thank you for accepting me. You have accepted, and the others follow your lead in this as well."
Canderous and Carth continued their war stories sometimes. I was asked, but I hadn't seen a tithe of the combat that even Carth had seen. I listened as Canderous would describe a raid where they went into a cometary ring in hard suits, only to discover an alien ship frozen within it's head. Of Carth talking of maneuvering a scout ship through an asteroid field at full throttle being chased by a dozen Mandalorian fighters.
Even when they spoke of the same battles, when they themselves had been trying to kill the other, the acrimony of their first discussions was absent.
"Maybe I should tell of the more recent war." Canderous said one evening.
"When Revan and Malak fought you?" I asked.
"No, before that. We started conquering planets along the rim. We did it quietly, because the Republic wasn't even paying attention. Finally we had taken everything we could outside, and the Republic still ignored us."
"Try working inside our system." Carth demurred. "Any idiot knew it was coming, but the Senate just argued about what to do."
"The weakness of democracy. Finally we hit along three axes of advance in adjacent sectors. If anyone fought, we obliterated them. The worst was the Republic's strategies. We found planets with minimal weapons, and force field shields! You have to understand that we don't defend anything we can't support.
"If we had to build a depot on a planet, but didn't have fleet units in support we didn't even shield them! We always built such bases away from the civilians because if we were attacking, we wouldn't worry about their casualties. Our workers knew this, and also knew they weren't to blame if they ended up captured.
"But the Republic! Their cowardly tactics caused untold suffering."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Shielding cities. Putting their bases in the hearts of cities! Hiding behind their civilian populations as if that would deter us!"
"Again, it's the system." Carth admitted. "The civilians remembered the Sith wars, and the Sith would have bombed the cities or used them as hostages." He waved toward to outside world in general. "The people wanted to be protected."
"So you put shields over places you can't support, and we assumed there must be something important to defend." Canderous agreed. "Why do you think we attacked them? Do you know how many worlds were smashed in the first years because we thought they had something of value or worth fighting for? If we had to destroy the city to defeat the shields we did. It was as simple as that. Necessary force to beat the opposition we thought was there."
"You could have found another way." I said.
"We did after a while. But we still had to smash some of those cities because the Republic wouldn't come out of them and fight like men! There was little honor in killing them like pests in the Cahval. But some of them were honorable and brave. We were honored to face them. Especially later."
"Later?"
"When Revan began to lead them. But that is for another time."
"What do you know of Revan and Malak?" I asked Carth one evening when he was on watch.
"I can't believe that I thought they were going to be our saviors." He shook his head. "I used to think that they were the best humanity had to offer. Now all I want is to put a blaster to their heads. Although it's only Malak now, isn't it? Turned on his own master and killed her. Typical of the Sith mentality. Not that she didn't deserve it."
"You knew them personally?"
"No. I don't think anyone really knows a Jedi personally. At first they were what we needed. They were heroes. They saved the Republic from the Mandalorians. They turned a losing war into a winning one just by being there.
"We in the fleet didn't see much of the Jedi. I only met Malak once and he impressed me. I guess that shows how you can't know what a person will be like until it is too late."
"Do you know why they turned to the dark side?"
"I don't think anyone does. Revan was always going on about how the Republic was sometimes its own worst enemy, from what I heard from Saul. The Senate has so little authority that slavery abounds, even though it is illegal. Commerce ruins planets and doesn't care about the aftermath. The Corporations like Czerka are so widespread and powerful that there's no way to punish them. The Senators can debate all they want, and it still occurs because 'every planet is a separate entity with it's own rules and rights' which means that if they want to fight a war, hey, go ahead." He had quoted the 1st codicil of the Republic constitution sarcastically. From what I have seen, it wasn't far from the truth.
"But she was right, wasn't she?"
"Yeah, but where does the line between freedom and security lie? If the Republic had a full time military beyond the peacetime fleet, where would the money for it come from? Money has to come from somewhere, and taxes would drive the citizens to rebel. This isn't much," He waved at the Ebon Hawk. "But it costs a bundle in the long run.
"Besides, how can you say she was right?" He looked at me askance. "They won the war, marched off supposedly to find the 'phantom fleet' as it was called, then came back. When they left they were Jedi. Now?" He shrugged. "What are they beyond being the enemy?"
"How did they get away with that? Taking a third of the fleet on a wild goose chase?"
"They were heroes. Every hero in legend has gone the extra kilometer to make sure his or her people were safe. If I had been on one of their ships when they left I would have charged into hell with a cheer. This time, they went too far.
"When they came back, they had a lot of alien ships in designs we had never seen before. Not big ones mind you. Frigates, corvettes, and those snub fighters you've seen. The bigger ships aren't even that heavily armed or fast. If it were one on one the Ebon Hawk can outrun even the largest of those ships and outgun almost all of them. But there are a lot of them and every year there are more as our forces dwindle and theirs gets bigger.
"As for getting away with it, Revan is no longer a problem is she? We would have rehabilitated her. Malak just killed her. The dark side is it's own worst enemy."
"Why do you say that?"
"You've seen how things are run on some planets. Take Taris for example. I always thought all the maundering about the dark side was just a fancy way to explain what we see every day. Corruption, greed, abuse. All of the stupid and horrible things people inflict on themselves every day. But when it comes to the Jedi..." He checked the controls. "I think for them it's much worse. That maybe Bastila was right. That the dark side is this predator sitting in the shadows, waiting for an unsuspecting Jedi to come close enough for it to pounce.
"Now that I have seen what it could do to Malak and Revan, I can see you doing something like that. Like the flip side of a coin. You're brave, intelligent, and caring. Haven't you pictured seeing a mirror image of yourself doing everything bad instead? It's not just you. Bastila is... Intense. Focused. I may not know what the Force is, but I can almost see her turning to evil."
"Do we have so little trust from you still?"
"No! I'm sorry, I might sound like that, but it's like the old saying 'with great power you have great responsibility'. For me, all I have to do to turn to the dark side is stop caring about everyone. But for you and her, it's like the difference between stepping off a curb, and stepping off the Senate Tower on Coruscant. Both will drop you to the ground, but only one is spectacular."
I imagined what he described. "I can imagine."
"I can't even dream of knowing what you must be going through every day. Bastila is always worried and I can see that neither of you is really ready for this. I'm just concerned about what might come."
"I didn't know you cared." I chided.
"It's not that! It's... Well... I just don't want to see you kids get hurt is all."
"Thanks father."
"Stop that!" He protested. We laughed together.
Bastila avoided me. It was as if she had made a pass at me, and been embarrassed by my incomprehension. Finally I cornered her. "Our last conversation bothered me." I said.
"Yes, I did end that rather abruptly." She admitted. "The problem was all on my side. Perhaps a Master could have couched my questions better, without sounding so confused. I should never have brought it up, especially with you."
"Why am I different?"
She hesitated. "Part of my mission with you was to be a guide, a rock for you to stand on when the dark side tried to rise within you. But I feel I have failed in that task. I know now that I was not the one that should have been guiding you. I am no master. If it were possible, I would have us return to Dantooine and forswear this mission until you were ready."
"Why do you say that?"
"I have always had problems with my emotions. I have little skill at controlling myself as you well know. With this bond we share, I find I have even less control. You have maintained your commitment to the light, but it has been in spite of me, rather than because of any help I lend. It has become increasingly obvious that I am not guiding you, and could never guide you."
"You're doing the best you can."
"My best is not good enough. It is kind of you to think well of me, but I have made a grave error in coming along with you. I simply hope that you will not pay the price of my hubris."
I took her hand. "Bastila, we can always help each other. I will support you as much as I am able."
She squeezed my hand. "That is a kinder response than my efforts deserve. There is wisdom beyond your training in them. Very well. We can help each other, and keep ourselves from the darkness. For our own sake, and for the mission."
I stood among trees so great that even a cruiser's cannon would have had trouble cutting them down. A path lay before me, and I knew that my goal was there. I walked down it, past hulking droids of an alien design, stopping before a dais. It glowed, and an alien appeared. It was another of the ones I had seen in the ancient statues on Tatooine. It reached out, and spoke-
I came awake. Sasha lay beside me, and whimpered in her sleep. I kissed her hair, wrapped my arms around her, and went back to sleep.
Bastila
"Another vision." I said to Danika when she entered the mess hall at breakfast. "The Force is guiding us, leading us in the footsteps of Revan and Malak. Ever closer to the Star Forge."
"I never saw such trees before."
"Wroshyr trees, the largest trees in the galaxy. Kashyyyk is known for them. It is a simple and undeveloped world. I would never have suspected that something as technologically advanced as the Star Map would be here."
"All I saw was huge trees. But there was soil. Perhaps it is on the forest floor itself."
"Possibly. The native species are called Wookiees. They live in villages in the upper branches, going to the forest floor only on ritual quests. Only the bravest among them dare the Shadowlands as they are called. Considering that, it is not surprising that the Star Map could have remained hidden.
"No matter, once we have found the Star Map, the situation will become clear."
The ship dropped through the atmosphere, and suddenly we came out of the cloud cover. Below us stretched the Forest.
To say that Kashyyyk has a forest is like saying an ocean is a body of water. Kashyyyk had been discovered only about fifty years earlier, and it was nothing but forest. All of the intelligent life lives as far up the huge trees as they can climb safely. The Wroshyr trees reach as much as four kilometers into the air, towering above the oceans.
Czerka Corporation had set up the operations in a half-kilometer square area, and building landing stages and warehouses in the treetops. I would have never considered trying to land a ship such as the Ebon Hawk, over 200 tons of mass in what amounted to an oversized tree house, and I winced as Carth did it with aplomb.
"We are getting a call from Czerka control. They asked who owns and commands Ebon Hawk." Juhani reported.
"Tell them Danika Wordweaver on a mission from the Jedi Council is registered owner and commander." Carth ordered.
Juhani spoke, then listened. "The Czerka Company police request a file on all persons aboard. They are looking for several people that are considered criminals. No one on the list is aboard." She looked at me. "They include Davik Kang.
"Send them what they asked for."
I stood walking aft. Danika was sipping a mug of tea. "Well?"
"We'll stay minimal for the moment. I'll take Carth and Zaalbar. Have Mission see about supplies. If she can get herself and Sasha some candy, I won't complain. Have Canderous stand guard."
"Agreed."
Kashyyyk
Danika
The smell and sights reminded me of home. Of course we didn't have Wroshyr trees at home, but there is a fecund smell in a jungle that reaches into the primal mind. There is also the constant noise of life in the forest. After a while it fades into a subtle background. I felt at home immediately. A jungle is living and dying at the same time. The living devours anything that dies almost instantly. Everything alive is being hunted by something else. Even the trees. On Kashyyyk, the Wroshyr grow straight up for almost a hundred meters before branching out. The limbs intertwine so tightly that a tree will die and not even fall. It merely begins sinking slowly into the depths as rot and scavengers weaken and devour the lower limbs.
The pad we were on was linked by a walkway large enough for cargo loaders to maneuver on. I discovered later that the Wookiee built these walkways themselves. The nearest village, named Rwookrrorro, was the largest on the planet. The walkway from the Corporate sector to the village was called the Great Walkway. It was larger than the ones before me now.
I turned to ask Zaalbar how it felt to be home, but he looked nervous, almost embarrassed. "Is something wrong?"
"I honor my life debt." He growled. "But I see no reason to discuss this further."
"You don't trust me?"
"It is not that. There is nothing personal in this, but I feel you would never understand. The ways of my people are not for outsiders to see. You will have to accept that."
"You are going to have to tell me eventually."
"The sun will also die eventually. That doesn't mean it will happen today."
I shrugged.
An Ithorian came toward me holding the ever-present data pad. "I am Janos Wertka, chief of operations for this facility. Welcome to G5-623." He looked at the pad. "I do not see you on my list of scheduled arrivals. The Czerka Corporation will see to you needs, of course, but as an unscheduled arrival you must pay the 100 credit docking fee in advance I fear."
I looked at him, and from within I felt an upwelling of the Force. "But I have already paid the docking fees."
He looked at me for a long moment, then at his pad. "I see that you paid your fees on a previous voyage. I am sorry." He made a notation on his pad. "I see there is a Wookiee in your party. Can I assume that you understand his language? If not Czerka Corporation will supply translator earplugs for a modest fee."
"There is no need for that." I answered.
"If you say so. I have found that very few people not from this planet can understand their yowling. If there is anything else you require, I will be in my offices." He turned and walked away.
"Next time, you could think about the rest of us. Neither Canderous nor I speak Wookiee." Carth said.
"I'll pick them up for you before we leave." I demurred.
"Human?" I turned. Coming toward us, a wide smile showing pointed teeth, was Komad Fortuna. "I see that the call of the hunt has brought you here as well!" He looked around. "The katarn are said to be magnificent!"
"Komad! What are you doing here? I'd almost think you were following me!"
"Perish the thought. There are enough amateur hunters of people that I fail to see the need for a true professional. Though I admit you would make an interesting hunt. Dayso Cooh was bound here from Tatooine, and he asked me to accompany him. I think he really wanted a story for his news feed. The 'Great Hunter out of his element'. If I had known you would bound here, I would have booked passage with you." He sighed. "Then again, if I had known the political situation, I might have merely gone somewhere else."
"Political situation?"
"If you are on an unscheduled ship, they assume you must be from one of the civil rights or animal protection organizations. Their operations here have been under intense scrutiny, though the Republic Senate still refuses to hear the cases."
"Slavery."
"And genocide. They discovered a small primate of the planet called the tach. The animal has a chemical in one of its glands, which heightens the affects of alcohol. The main drink using it was Tarisian ale until recently. Since Taris has been destroyed, they have been trying to find other outlets. But they have slaughtered millions of them, and there is no end in sight as long as tach still live." He sighed. "I can go into the Shadowlands; Czerka doesn't care what you do here as long as you pay their docking fees. But you also have to get permission from the chief of Rwookrrorro village and he demands that you hunt a crazed Wookiee and bring proof of his death back first."
He sighed. "I do not hunt sentient beings. Worse yet, I am at least in part, a conservationist, as is any good hunter. It is madness to kill a Krayt Dragon if it is also the last of its kind! I had hoped to gain the trust of the locals, discover how they hunt, and what they hunt so that my activities would not cause injury to the ecosystem. But too many people, like Czerka, have come saying they were friends, and lying about it.
"I have heard there is an out worlder actually living down in the Shadowlands for some years now. But that might be hunter's tales." He looked around, and smiled gently. "But even this, the view of something that is not desert has cleansed my spirit. I so wish to run down among the life that feeds upon the great trees. To witness it! It is a shame the planet was discovered by Czerka! Their only appreciation of nature is what it will pay their corporate bottom line."
"If they had not, then whom would you deal with?" I asked.
"I would have been the one to discover the planet myself. The Wookiee have a rich culture and society, but it isn't seen by off worlders. I can't understand why they allow Czerka to get away with what they are doing."
"Perhaps they had no choice." Zaalbar growled.
Fortuna turned toward him. "If it had been my planet I would have fought even if it meant dying instead!" Then he shrugged. "But I am only another off worlder. I fear that someone among your own people is complicit in this, my large friend. I just want to know why." He turned, thrusting out his hand in a firm grip. "Perchance we can hunt together before you leave. It will be glorious!"
We continued on. I noted a sign for the corporate offices, and motioned toward them.
It was a busy place, half a dozen people were busy routing cargos to the half dozen Czerka owned and independent ships that were there. Janos Wertka saw us, and motioned for us to approach. "Welcome to our local headquarters. How may Czerka help you here on Edean?"
"Edean? I thought the planet was Kashyyyk. And you called it G5-623 when we arrived."
"Kashyyyk is what the Wookiee call it. But since they did not discover it, we labeled it by it's catalog number G5-623. However I have just been informed that at the last stockholder's meeting they voted overwhelmingly to name it Edean." He looked toward Zaalbar. "However considering your traveling companion, I feel you must be familiar with this world."
"I have been away from home for a long time." Zaalbar replied.
Wertka looked surprised. "You let the beast speak for you? You allow it far more liberties than most of our clients."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"Slavers and those that buy slaves don't let us talk if they can avoid it." Zaalbar said.
"Slavery is such an ugly and untrue word. We bring Wookiee from their homes, train them in essential skills, and hire them out to companies and people across the Galaxy."
"Whether they want to go or not." Zaalbar growled.
Wertka looked at him then at me. "Your Wookiee seems to be bothered by this arrangement. But I fail to see his concern. You appear to be a satisfied customer at least."
"I am not his owner. Zaalbar has pledged a life-debt to me."
"Ah, I see." Wertka said sagely. "So difficult to arrange, but it is much better than a restraint collar."
Zaalbar roared in anger. "Do not defame the life-debt! Do not!"
"I must warn you that any damage he does, or injury he causes, will be your fault as owner. Call the beast off."
"Zaalbar, later." I said. He growled, then nodded sullenly. "Why do the Wookiee accept this, arrangement?"
"It isn't only me. We have seven other stations on the planet. As for the arrangement, the chief of Rwookrrorro village signed an accord with us five years ago."
"What was this arrangement?" I asked.
"The internal workings of Czerka Corporation are not open to-"
I leaned forward, that upwelling of the Force was a torrent. "You will tell me what I wish to know."
His eyes glazed. "He has been supplying Wookiee trackers to help us in our harvesting. This has eased our problems, and made our harvesting more humane. It also stops the harvesting from being a running firefight. In return we supply the village with such modern conveniences as weapons. The bow-caster your servant carries was made in one of our factories."
"Who is this leader?"
"His name is Chuundar I believe. I didn't negotiate with the accord personally. The smell bothers my nose."
"Chuundar." Zaalbar growled. "That was a name I did not want to hear again."
"It seems your servant has issues with this Wookiee. But it doesn't matter. The Corporation needs to maintain the arrangement. We don't even meddle in their disagreements between themselves. We just make sure that leader is supported wholeheartedly. Any dissent is, dealt with."
I released the grip on the Force, and Wertka's eyes cleared. "Well if there is no further information you need, I am really rather busy. Feel free to shop our concourse. However I would suggest caution if you go onto the Great Walkway. We do not have the personnel we would need to assure safety, and we do not have the money for rescue mission."
"Thank you." I turned. Zaalbar looked as if he wanted to rip off the Ithorian's eyestalks. "Zaalbar, let's go back to the ship."
He nodded, and we left. I found a quiet nook where no one would overhear, and stopped him. "Talk to me, Zaalbar."
"My home. I should have prepared you better for coming here I will now admit. But I didn't think I would have to prepare myself for how much it has changed."
"Prepare me for what?"
"I did not leave home voluntarily. I know Mission has told you that I was taken by slavers, but there is more. I was already an exile from my tribe when they took me. That was before the arrangement the Ithorian spoke of."
"Why were you exiled?"
"My brother made deals with small teams of slavers and helped them gain their first foothold. When I discovered this, I attacked him. My father and his advisers stopped the fight, but he did not believe me when I told him the reason."
"Why not?"
"I was so angry with him that I broke our most honored taboo. I used my claws." He stretched out a hand, and the claws came out. They were at least 30 millimeters long, and went down to needle points. I had seen him delicately lock those claws on a jammed nut, and twist it out with just his wrist instead of using a hyper spanner. They could hold something the size of my head, or as small as a pin with the same delicacy. The Wookiee were considered among the premier mechanics in the Galaxy.
"You don't know what this means to my people. Since Bacca the Great our claws have been tools, never weapons. We dragged ourselves out of the Shadows far below by always remembering that." He looked at me sadly. "To my people I am a Mad-claw. A monster that walks as a Wookiee. Even if I told them what you have learned, they would not believe me. I am tainted, evil. I deserve to be banished."
Carth
I was kinda glad I didn't speak Wookiee when Danika talked with Zaalbar. She sent him back to the ship, and as we walked, she filled me in. Zaalbar might have been a Wookiee, but he had always struck me as an honorable being. I wondered what I would have done if my brother, if I had one, had done the same thing. I think I probably would have beaten him to a pulp. A good thing my family-
Carth? Carth Onasi! I thought that was you!"
I turned, looking at the smiling man approaching me. "Jordo!" I leaped forward, catching him in a bear hug.
"I thought you'd be out there painting your name across the stars! What happened, your ship crash?"
"Actually yes it did."
Jordo roared. "I didn't think anything would tie you to the ground." He looked toward Danika. "It might be your attractive friend that finally got you on soil again."
"I assume you're a friend of Carth's." She looked at me with a twinkle in her eye. "I didn't know he even had any."
"Best friends in the world, missy! Joined the Militia the same day back on Telos. That was back during the Mandalorian Wars."
"So what are you doing here, Jordo? The last time I saw you was... Well it was on Telos after the attack."
"Yeah, it's a shame about home. It still hasn't recovered from the attack. The relief efforts were a joke. The Senate was screaming about the cost, and handed it over to a Corporation. That corporation decided to make ends meet by convincing the planet to dragoon anyone with space flight experience into their commercial fleet."
"Let me guess, Czerka?"
"You got it. Anyway, I didn't find out until after you'd left about Morgana. I'm sorry, man."
"Nothing can be done about it, Jordo, but thanks."
Trying to lighten the mood, he turned his attention back to Danika. "But I can see why you keep this one around. Morgana's hair, her eyes, but not her..." He juggled as if holding two melons chest high. "Upper body strength."
"Hey chill your jets. That's the owner of my ship."
"No spit? Then if I keep it up she'll dump you?"
"Out of the airlock in hyperspace." Danika said smoothly.
Jordo laughed. "Well it isn't all bad is it? Dustil's alive-"
"What?" I felt as if someone had punched me in the gut.
"He's alive on Korriban." Jordo looked worried. "You mean you didn't know?" He looked from me to Danika. "Yeah. He's a student at the Sith Academy there. I saw him in uniform and everything."
"No, I didn't know. He's been missing since the attack. The Sith must have captured him when they landed."
"Maybe. But he's spouting the same garbage the Sith always do-"
"A word." Danika interrupted. "What is a Republic Corporation doing dealing with the Sith?"
Jordo looked around. "When Czerka picked me up, I found out there's a whole lot going on. They've signed an agreement that Czerka carries all of their trade and sells it in Republic markets as coming from somewhere else. They're even trying to negotiate with the government of Manaan to carry all Kolto to both sides so the Selkath can kick both off the planet." He dropped his voice. "I can drop a datapad with all this information off at your ship before I return upstairs. We're in orbit."
"What's your cargo?"
"Coming out of here?" Jordo asked sardonically.
"Yeah. Thanks for letting me know. Take care." I watched him walk away. "He's alive." I looked at Danika. "After all this time, he's alive!" I thought of his face, only a dim memory now. "He'll be a man by now."
"We'll find him." Danika promised.
Danika
Carth and I left after making sure Zaalbar got aboard. I was in a hurry to complete this mission. As much as a Republican company buying from the enemy, carrying slaves in contravention of law and making secret deals with a neutral planet was important, I had to finish what we had started here. The Czerka guards were surly, but allowed us to pass onto the Great Walkway.
There were three landing stages, and as we passed one a shuttle landed. A dozen Wookiee in restraint collars were chivvied aboard, and it lifted. Part of me was coldly furious. To treat anyone this way was an abomination.
We were almost to the village when my com squealed.
"Danika, they came and took him and we couldn't do anything!" Mission wailed.
"Calm down, Mission. What is it?"
"It's Zaalbar! A couple of Wookiee showed up with half a dozen Czerka bullyboys, and arrested Zaalbar on the orders of some guy named Chuundar!"
Carth cursed. "Interesting timing. After you're gone. Only the captain of a ship can demand proper extradition procedures."
"What about Janos?"
"Bastila talked with him. He said the Wookiee deal with their own when it comes to criminal acts. He doesn't have any authority."
But enough to help them take someone off a ship. "All right, Mission, I'll deal with it. Put Canderous on."
"Just a minute."
"Canderous."
"Report."
"Just as Mission said. Two Wookiees, half a dozen Czerka with Janos taking up the rear. He stated that if we didn't turn Zaalbar over, they would blow us off our landing legs. They had two anti-ship cannon mounted on lifters and brought them out as they were trying to get past me. Bastila said to let them go, and we'd get him back."
"In a moment I want you to put Bastila on. But before you do, I have orders."
"Chu!" Canderous shouted the Mandalorian word for 'Sir!', meaning he would obey anything I said.
"No one comes aboard that ship except for our crew from this moment on. If anyone attempts to come aboard, you are to stop them. Peacefully if possible. But if peace will not serve, blow them to hell. That goes for those damn guns if they man them."
"Chu!"
"Put Bastila on."
"Danika-"
"I don't want to hear it, Bastila." I said wearily. "You may have saved the ship and the mission, but it might cost us Zaalbar's freedom and life. When I get back, we'll discuss it."
"I am sorry, Danika."
I cut off the communication without speaking. "Come on."
We ran the rest of the way.
There was a guard at the village gates, and he roared at me. "Stop where you are, Outsider!"
I wasn't in the mood. "Who dares stand in my way?" I roared right back at him in Shyriiwook. "What mother whelped such a pup!"
He shrank back, surprised at my vehemence. Then he stiffened. "It is to Chuundar that you must answer for bringing a Mad-claw exile back among us! Come!"
The Wookiee village was beautiful. A work of art created by people that had only rudimentary tools until a century before. The common village level was broad and airy; nets laid to block Mynar Hawks and Web crawlers. The village runs up the trees for half a kilometer, with the nurseries at the very tops.
I just wish I had come without mayhem on my mind.
An elderly Wookiee stopped us at the door to the residence, slamming his staff down and shouting, "Step forward and address the Mighty Chuundar! Ruler of Rwookrrorro!"
I stormed forward, facing a slim Wookiee sitting on a huge chair.
"It is normal courtesy to bow." He said calmly.
"It is common courtesy to ask before boarding a ship." I gritted back. He looked surprised at the fluency of my Shyriiwook
"Ah but I did. Dear Janos assisted me."
"Spare me the histrionics." I snarled. "You have kidnapped one of my crew, and I will have him back."
"Kidnapped?" He laughed. "No, captain. I merely brought my dear brother home for a consultation. There has been no injury. Yet." He waved languidly, and a pair of Wookiee dragged Zaalbar in. One wielded a restraint collar control, and pressed the button. Zaalbar screamed in pain, collapsing to the floor.
"Touch that again, and you die." I hissed. He looked at me, then at Chuundar. What he saw in my eyes must have convinced him. "As I said Chuundar, spare me the melodrama."
"Did you think you could wander the upper boughs of the forest without me knowing my dear brother had returned?" Chuundar laughed.
"That Janos is working with you was more interesting."
"Of course he works with me. I am his pet Wook!" He laughed again, this time an ugly sound. "We work very closely."
"You work with slavers! You betray your own people!" Zaalbar roared. The one with the control box wisely left it alone.
"Oh not our people, dear brother. There are a thousand tribes. Each of our enemies can say I have punished them instead of selling off our own."
"That is worse." I snapped.
"Really. Your race is the biggest market woman. Your kind love to see us having to bow and scrape to you." He looked at Zaalbar. "As for you, brother, you shouldn't use that tone with me. Things have changed here. You are a Mad-claw without honor or name, while I? I am Chieftain." He looked back at me. "And my people agree with me on this."
"A tidy nest of lies." I said. "Right up to the part about your people backing you."
"Ah but they do." He grinned. "With Zaalbar a Mad-claw, and our own father enslaved, Mighty Chuundar stepped up and we have been at peace ever since."
"Mighty Chuundar?" Zaalbar laughed. "You were the runt of the litter!" Then all of his words came through. "Freyyr enslaved! When?"
"We have much to discuss, brother, but that can wait until I am done with your friends." He turned back to us.
"What do you want?"
"Ah sweet words now? Well let us say I have taken your knight, and you must kill my bishop." He motioned toward Zaalbar. "I have a use for him, but there is another Mad-claw below. One that has gone insane. He is interfering with the business of my allies, and must be stopped. But as my brother can tell you, we dislike killing our own except in the heat of battle."
"So someone still stands against you?"
"What of it? Like my brother he is declared Mad-claw. No tribe would dare give him shelter for fear of being declared so themselves. This one is mad and in misery, and you are going to hunt him down and kill him.
"My brother shall stay here and we will reminisce about old times, and times to come that he can share if he is willing."
"You are insane." I snarled.
"Really? You won't need his assistance. All of the people of my village and all the closer villages understand your Basic. They think it is so they can understand our enemies, but it is really so they can better serve. The local villages play tribute so we will take those from farther away. No one can stand against me here. Only someone of the royal family can stand against me, and the only one left is my dear Mad-claw brother. They will not support an off worlder against me."
"There is one that can!" Zaalbar roared.
"I assume you speak of our dear enslaved father. If he were here perhaps. He went mad when he discovered that you were right about me. Swore to lead our people against them. But without the Sword of Bacca, he could not challenge me. I do know our laws so well." He reached behind him, taking the hilt of a vibroblade from a chest by the chair. "A pity someone lost the blade itself. But as long as I hold it, I am Chieftain. That is the law." He threw it contemptuously back into the box. "Let our departed father go Zaalbar. The Wookiee will go forward into the future, but at a pace I set."
"Patience, Zaalbar." I said.
"Enough words from you, Off Worlder. Go with my warriors. They will take you to the way down into the Shadowlands. Gorwooken my best warrior will take you down and bring you back up when you are done."
Carth and I were escorted by a full dozen of Chuundar's people to the lift car. Using unbreakable kshyy vines, it took us down into the depths.
"What is this I heard about a human that lives down there?"
Gorwooken snorted. "You should avoid him. He is crazier than even the Mad-claw. He has been here for a long time, twenty of your years or more.
The car stopped at a wooden platform, and Gorwooken waved. "Go."
We started through the darkness. The Shadowlands are well named. Enough light filtered through that you could see, but it was a perpetual twilight. We avoided animals as we went. There were katarn in plenty, and we had to kill a few to get through. As we came around a corner a few hours later I heard the roaring hiss of a katarn.
An old man stood against a tree, facing four katarn. Before we could draw our weapons he leaped forward. A lightsaber blossomed to life, and he leaped, cutting the head of one of his attackers in half as he flew over it. He landed on a branch above the survivors. They hissed in frustration then fell to feeding on their dead companion. As soon as they did, he leaped to another tree, then down again. While ready to fight, they ignored us as well.
"Well, come on out, you two. You're about as subtle as a Cantina on a Saturday night."