Chapter Four

A day ago, Ulli and the others decided to split up in order to cover more ground. Since then she's drawn strength from the presence of the other two in her thoughts. Especially as she's been falling back into her past behavioral habits, and as such has started drawing the attention of the more human aliens on Kashyyyk despite her best efforts to avoid them. Especially the Empire.

More than once she'd fled from a group that made noises about her being an escaped slave, and what they'd to do her if they recaptured her.

That brings her to now, as it's just started getting dark, and Ulli is starting to look around for a discrete place to return to the Hive for some rest and refreshments. The problem is that there's always some human, or near human, nearby and she's getting flashbacks to some of her days as a slave.

Suddenly, a visibly pregnant human walks around a corner and right up to her, "There you are fillia, I thought we said to stay put and we'd come and get you."

Ulli shakes her head violently, "There are men."

The woman leans into the hug and whispers, "I know, play along… Crikk, you're force sensitive."

Ulli starts to shiver as the woman leads her to a nearby aircar, "Don't worry fillia, I have friends watching out for us, so we're be home before you know it."

After a little bit of encouragement, Ulli is sitting in the passenger seat of the aircar while the woman sits in the drivers seat. As the aircar smoothly takes off, the woman looks over at Ulli, "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself, I'm Mallie Marek, and some wookie friends asked me to help after you neatly avoided the men they sent to contact you."

Ulli suddenly feels an immense sense of relaxation and peace as her queen starts to pay attention to her.

Taking her body language to mean she feels safe now, Mallie asks, "Were you a slave?"

Ulli nods uncertainly, her body language tensing up slightly. Despite her queen's presence, her answer still comes out in a small voice, "I was."

Mallie nods, "Do you mind me asking how long you've been free for?"

Ulli shakes her head, "A few months."

Mallie sighs, "For Arcan's sake. Your master probably freed you to save themselves from the emperor once the bounties started being placed."

Ulli tenses up again and shakes her head, "I didn't know. I didn't even know I could be force sensitive until I was freed."

"That sounds about right, you can't attract Jedi attention if you don't know they could help you." Mallie slams her hand on the steering wheel, "Fine, you're coming home with me. Kento can just deal with it."

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By the time Ulli sees lights in the distance, the sun is well and truly below the horizon and the true night has settled in. Below them, the canopy of the forest isn't even a dark shadow in the night, just an inky black void that is devoid of stars.

Through the multi hour journey, Ulli has slowly relaxed under the reassurance of her queen as well as some of the other slaves she's helped.

At the prompting of her queen, Ulli asks, "Do you normally fly so far at night?"

Mallie shakes her head, "No, it's dangerous, as sometimes things come out of the lower levels. But for you, it's safer than if we'd sought shelter from one of the settlements nearer the spaceport. None of the people likely to want to claim you would dare to fly this deep into the forest during the day, let alone at night. Especially without running lights."

Ulli looks confused, "What do you mean?"

"I've flown the entire journey on instruments, relying on them to avoid the odd taller than average tree. That's because many of the things that hunt at night are attracted by light."

Ulli considers that for a moment, "Doesn't that mean that settlement is at risk?"

Mallie nods, "It would if the wookies didn't patrol the forest down to level 4 on a regular basis. I need to concentrate for a moment, as we're coming in to land."

Over the next minute, Mallie skillfully brings the aircar in to land on a small landing pad. Her running lights switching on at the last minute, to give her a clear view of the pad.

Once they've landed, Mallie doesn't hesitate to jump out of the car and make her way round to help Ulli out of the other side. "Come on, lets get you inside and some food into you."

Ulli is able to honestly say, "Thank you." As she's invited into the cosy home that's built into a tree branch.

As the door closes, there's a flash of light on the forest side of the landing pad, and a scout smoothly climbs over the edge of the landing pad, and starts to make its way down the tree to the surface.

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While the house Ulli is shown into has obviously been built for Wookies, the furniture and furnishings are all the perfect size for humans and humanoids like herself.

What surprises her the most is the lack of visible technology in the home. The lighting in the main room comes from a simple metal bowl with notches for wicks. By the smell, they seem to be burning oil or fat of some description. In the kitchen area there seems to be some technology for storing food, but the cooking surface is more like the hives memories of a magical household than anything she'd have expected in the republic.

"M46, stop trying to poke me and look at our guest, she needs a full diagnosis."

Ulli spins around at the sound of Mallie's voice, to see a medical droid turning away from Mallie and advancing on her. Cautiously she backs up first one step, and then another, deeper into the room.

Mallie calls out, "Don't worry, he's a medical droid the clan put together for us when they found out I was pregnant. He's just going to scan you and take a blood test."

M46 stops a few paces away from Ulli, "Please take a seat and state your name for my files."

Ulli looks at the comfortable looking sofa, before carefully stepping over to it, and perching on the edge. "Um, I'm Ulli."

As the droid starts it's scans, Ulli clenches and unclenches her hands. Just as she feels her queens presence start to leave she asks, "My queen, may I tell them about you, and how you rescued me? Only, I don't think my scans are going to come back normal."

Aayla's focus snaps back to Ulli. After a long, considering moment, Aayla sounds curious as she says, "Do whatever you feel is right."

Ulli feels adrift as Aayla's attention moves to the scouts that are exploring the forest below the settlement. She's a slave, that's the only life she's ever known. A pleasure slave if she's honest with herself, dancer if she's being more forgiving. Yet her queen is trusting her to make the right choices, as if she knows anything of those affairs.

Obediently, she lifts her arm as M45 asks for it, well used to the ministrations of such droids.

"Mallie! You're back!" a male voice causes Ulli to glance upwards without lifting her head. "How did it go?"

Mallie sighs off to one side, "I got there just in time it seems. Ulli there was about to be recaptured when I turned up. Kento Malek, don't! She was a slave, and she's only been free for a few months."

Ulli hears the sound of a chair being pulled out, and Kento speaks up, "Mallie…"

"She's force sensitive Kento. She didn't even know before she was released. I think she was cut loose by her previous owner before he was accused of harbouring a Jedi."

"He Mallie? Really?"

"Yes Kento, he. Look at her. The wookies say that she was happy and carefree when they first saw her. They only called me in after she avoided several of their own male helpers, and ran from a few wookies she tried to talk to after they spoke back. Yet I was able to walk straight up to her and hug her."

"Mallie, we can't do this. We have Galen on the way, we can't afford to have a high profile here."

Ulli finds herself saying, "I can help."

Mallie softly says, "Ulli, we don't need your help. I brought you here so that you could heal and recover from your slavery."

Ulli bites her lip, before saying, "That's not what I meant. I, can help you like you helped me. I…I was a slave, but I wasn't freed. I was rescued by my queen. She killed our owners and removed the control implant." Ulli touches the back of her head where she still has the scar from the removal.

As Ulli risks raising her head slightly, Mallie looks at her in disbelief, "If you were rescued, why are you even here?"

Ulli smiles, "After Master Shaak Ti arrived, my queen came back to herself and started sending out teams to scout out backup locations for us to retreat to if we are ever threatened with overwhelming forces. I was chosen to find a way into the deep forest here on Kashyyyk. A task that I've now completed, and our scouts are already investigating the forest floor."

Kento shakes his head, "And how were these scouts supposed to get here?"

"Magic."

Kento sighs, "Ulli, I believe you about being rescued. But I think you've been following force visions to get here. How and why I don't know, but we can help you learn to control the visions."

Ulli shakes her head, "No, it's not force visions, I can prove it."

Mallie touches Kento gently on the back of his hand, "Ulli, how would you prove it?"

Ulli frowns before she takes some small metal plates from an inner pocket, and pushes some magic into one of them, causing a stream of water to arc over to the sink.

Kento nods, "Interesting force artefacts, where did you get them?"

Ulli smiles, "Felucia, my queen saw them in her memory and I made them from that."

Kento looks at Mallie, "Felucia's native population are all force sensitive aren't they."

Mallie nods, "That's what I read. What are you thinking?"

"The queen led her in a force vision, and Ulli made those with the guidance of the force."

Ulli almost shouts as she pushes to her feet, "I did not, my queen is real and it wasn't a force vision. I can prove it."

Gently, Kento asks, "How would you do that then?"

Ulli pauses in indecision, "I could take you there."

"Ulli wasn't it. Ulli, it's a long way from here to Felucia, even if we weren't in hiding it's still not a journey that could be done without leaving a trail."

Ulli shakes her head, "No, I mean take you now. If you take my hands, I can introduce you to my queen."

Kento looks at Mallie, who says with a sigh, "I can't feel any darkside taint around her."

Kento nods, "I'll do it, we don't want to risk the baby."

With a sigh, Kento stands up and walks over to Ulli and takes her outstretched hand, "Ok I'll meet your que…"

Mallie looks on in disbelief as the two of them disappear in a pillar of fire, from the force as well as sight. The only thing that stops her panicking is that she can still feel him at the end of their force bond.

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Kento's voice trails off as he's engulfed in flame. As the flame clears they appear in a primitive communal area, with a small fire burning in the centre of a large pit. "…en… Where are we?"

Instead of answering, Ulli just pops to where she can feel her queen talking to a couple of people.

In a clearing on the surface of Felucia, Aayla and Shaak both look up from their conversation with Maris. At the point they're looking, Ulli and Kento both appear.

Ulli smiles at all three of them, "My queen, I have brought Kento to see you, as they didn't believe me about looking at your memories."

Aayla sighs as her tail twiches behind her, "Ulli, you know you don't have to call me your queen. I'm quite partial to Aayla, or Master Secura you know."

Ulli nods, "I know, but I want to call you my queen."

Shaak shakes her head, "Master Secura, you are being quite rude to our guest, Knight Nion."

Kento pulls his light shirt away from his chest, where it's already soaking through with his sweat, "Master Ti, it's just Kento Marek now, Mallie and I got married two years ago, and gave up our vows to the order."

Shaak bows her head in a brief meditation, once she lifts her head again she asks, "Did you know that the old order allowed both marriage and children?"

Kento looks at Shaak in surprise, "It did?"

Shaak nods, "It's something that was changed by the Ruusan Reformation. I'd have to check the archives for everything they changed, but that is one thing I remember."

"But isn't marriage an attachment?"

Shaak sighs as she glances at Maris, who has an 'I told you so' look on her face, "It seems that we should have been paying more attention to the teaching of our history and philosophy, rather than on our martial prowess, in the last decade. Attachments are a possessive thing, a feeling of this is mine. That is what is against the Jedi code. Love, friendship, and even marriage are not against the code. Indeed, they are to be encouraged as long as they are selfless. If Mallie was to leave one day, and you tried to force her to stay. That would be against the code. If instead, you supported her and accepted that she had just drifted away from you, that would be working with the code. I'm sure that you've read 'The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force'. In fact, I know you have as it's required reading for all padawans."

As everyone nods, Shaak continues, "If you remember, the Jedi Code is dealt with on one page at the very beginning of the book, with one very brief interpretation of the code included with each line. A code that is thousands of years older than the current, the republic that has just been overthrown. Everything else in the book is about the rules, regulations, and other teachings of the Jedi Order."

Maris shakes her head, "Master, why didn't you mention any of this before?"

Shaak smiles serenely, "Because I didn't remember my studies, as I looked further into the history of the Jedi after I was made a knight. Since then, other things have taken my focus. It's only in the last few days that it has become a simple matter to review my own memories without bias."

Aayla pushes herself to her feet, "I'm going to return these two to Kashyyyk before Kento passes out from heatstroke."

Taking Kento and Ulli's hands, Aayla pops back to the area outside her home.

As Aayla walks into the nearby building, Kento looks around confused, "Where are we now?"

Ulli points, "That is the queen's home. Over there is the egg chamber. It's off limits to anyone that's not in the hive. Over there is my house, and next to it is the communal space for the slaves that are still dead inside. Down the path over there is the communal space, and housing for guests. Shaak Ti will probably be building a house near here once Maris joins the hive. If you follow the path past the queen's home, that's where the other sentient hive members live. On the other side of the communal area is the home of the local chief, and shaman, along with those of that caste."

Kento holds up his hands, "Woah, woah, I get the picture. How comes your home is here?"

Ulli frowns, "It's so that I'm nearby if any of the broken ones need help. It also makes it easier to help them find themselves again if I can just walk in."

From behind them, making them jump, Aayla says, "And she decided to do that all by herself. She was also instrumental in understanding how to convert wand spells to Norse spells."

Ulli shakes her head, "I didn't do that much, and I couldn't get the water conjuration charm working without help."

Aayla shakes her head as she puts a limb on each of their shoulders, before flaming back to the Malek's home.

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Drake stands next to Ekria as they both watch Zonder's funeral pyre. Off to one side, Maris Brood also stands and watches solemnly. A creature out of a nightmare delivered her in a burst of fire just as they reached the area they're in.

As the wrappings around Zonder's body start to catch, Drake asks, "What are you planning on doing now?"

Ekria gives a hollow laugh, "I'm still a padawan remember. I'm going to continue to learn the way of the Jedi. I'm also going to be a smuggler come legitimate trader. But that's all a cover for my real mission of visiting as many worlds as I can, and transporting components to Felucia. What about you? You're in the imperial databases again, but this time you're officially deceased."

Drake shakes his head, "I don't know, I'm not like you with your skills at slicing and math. All I'm good at is swinging a lightsaber, and gambling." Raising his voice, he calls out, "Hey, Maris. What about you? What are you going to do now?"

Maris tears her eyes away from the pyre, "I'm Master Shaak Ti's padawan. She decided I needed to see the consequences of drawing attention to ourselves as force users."

Ekria laughs bitterly, "Drawing attention to ourselves. I suppose we did, didn't we. We were just trying to get to safety, and then we discovered the temple was a trap. After that, we tried to live by the code in the underworld, and that was our undoing, as we tried to help someone buy their freedom. Crikking Vader himself came to deal with us, and we weren't making waves. Honestly, after all this, if I could I'd probably go somewhere on the mid rim and get a job as a slicer and never touch the force again."

Maris looks at Ekria absolutely aghast, "Never touch the force again?"

Drake nods and gestures to the pyre, "Look at what it cost us. Not just Zonder's life, but the memories and scars that we have to live with. I'm saying this as someone who was captured by Vader, and he tried to recruit me."

Ekria nods, "Jumping down to face him was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Even though I'd planned everything out. I feel a little better about it now I've got a get out of death free chit. Not great, just better."

Both Maris and Drake look at Ekria, "Chit/death?"

Ekria laughs at Maris's question, "Yes, chit, like the ones used in Sabacc."

Drake looks confused, "Do you mean the cards?"

Ekria shakes her head, "No, the things you bet with."

Maris shakes her head, "I was asking why you called it a chit."

Ekria smiles, "Cos after you've used it, if you get away, you get another one right back."

Maris nods as she tunes out of the conversation.

Drake shakes his head, "I still can't believe it, and I was taught that everything's possible with the force, same as you."

Ekria nods, "I guess, but then the Jedi have been around for so long that some of our history is actually archeology."

Drake shakes his head, "It's what now?"

"Archeology, oh… Um, so far in the past that nobody knows of it anymore, and it needs to be carefully uncovered so that nothing is damaged or triggered."

Drake nods, "Ok… Anyway, that whole not dying thing is making Master Secura's offer sound even more inviting. I'm just worried about the whole females only thing."

Ekria slaps Drake on the chest with the back of her hand, "Hey, it's not like you're ever going to use your dangly bits. So you might as well join to keep me company, and then we can go hunting dangly bits together if you ever start to miss them."

Drake winces, "That really doesn't appeal to me at the moment. Do you mind a passenger for a while, while I sort my head out?"

Ekria slaps Drakes chest again, "Of course you're welcome." Grimacing she adds, "Do you want to come and meet the masters while I take Maris back to Felucia. It's not the surface, so there's no jungle."

Drake shakes his head, "Not really, but I'll come anyway to keep you company."

Ekria grunts a laugh, "Yeah, that's how I feel about the place too. Well, hold on and we'll be there in a jiffy."