Chapter 7

As the year comes to a close, the wookie village all pack up their supplies, and begin the several day trek through the forest to the gathering place of the five tribes. This year there were going to be three males going through their Hrrtayyk, their Test of Ascension. Additionally, this year they would also be celebrating Life Day, and a tribal council to judge the pirates that were caught.

With so many events, the normally one week long gathering was being extended to almost an entire month. As such even people who would normally stay behind, like nursing mothers, are being helped across the trees.

For a moment, Mallie stops on a wide branch in order to catch her breath as she's been trying to avoid pulling on the Force as much as she can. Lifting her head, she can see that Ulli has stopped on the second branch that's ahead of her.

As she struggles for breath, Kento lands lightly on the branch next to her and hands her a canteen of water. As she's drinking, Toe Toe, so named because it makes Galen giggle, appears next to her with Galen strapped securely to her back.

"Thanks, I think I'm out of shape."

Kento shakes his head, "You're still recovering from child birth. On top of that, you're still nursing Galen. Why didn't you take the sky car?"

Mallie waves vaguely towards Ulli, "Because she isn't, I know it's stupid I just wanted to know that I could still keep up with a civilian."

Kento sighs, "Mallie, I love you. But sometimes you can miss the things happening around you. Where do you think she gets the wood for her projects?"

Mallie takes another drink and shrugs, "I figured she traded for it."

Kento shakes his head, "I've seen her occasionally when it's my rotation for patrolling the lower levels of the village. She's up and down the trees looking for the perfect branches. That's not counting the time she spends practising her dancing."

Mallie nods, "I knew about the dancing, I've even joined her when I can. Do you know where she got the staff she's always carrying these days?"

"Some of the warriors say she went into the shadow lands with two of the scouts from her hive. That was when Galen had colic."

As Galen wakes up and starts to cry, now his ride has stopped rocking smoothly, Mallie's breasts start to leak reflexively. Removing her pack, she hands it to Kento with one hand as she starts to unbutton her top with her other hand. "Look after that while I feed the little monster won't you?"

Kento nods and turns to scan the forest as two warriors from the hive land on the branch with them, as well as two of the wookie warriors. Each of them taking up a defensive position while Mallie's vulnerable.

Soon enough they're all on the move again, on the way to their 4th campsite.

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Rhrillullosh grins as another warrior looks at the bio mask and wrist computer she's managed to put together. Nothing about it is new to this galaxy, but so far as she can tell, nobody has ever put it together like this before.

Unlike the Yautja, wookies don't have the mobile tusks that allow them to use so many of the mask's functions without touching the wrist computer. However, she came up with a system that allows them to use their tongue and lower canines to get almost the same level of functionality.

Leaning against the table is the targetting harness that she's fitted her own bowcaster to.

The warrior puts the bio mask down, "Good workmanship, I would like the helmet without the electronics."

Rhrillullosh slumps, as yet another warrior only looked at it because she made the exterior out of woshyyr wood. "I'm sorry honoured warrior, but I seek to become an engineer, not an artist."

The warrior just nods and walks away.

As a slightly disappointed wookie turns back to the smart disk she's building, Ulli leans over from her table, "Hey, I think it's really good, and if I was a warrior, I'd be wanting one myself."

Rhrillullosh waves a hand at Ulli's table, "Yet they are far more interested in your taps than anything except the asthetic of my helmet."

Ulli looks at the pile of skins and animal parts that's sitting in a large basket she wove, and a couple of good knives that are on the furthest edge of the table away from her she can put them. "Only the cold water one. They don't care about the hot water taps, or the fur drying pillar."

The sun is three quarters of the way across the sky when a wookie warrior, with white streaks in his fur, makes his way to Rhrillullosh's table and picks up the helmet curiously. Looking inside the helmet he moves the control mechanism around curiously.

Finally, he tries to put the helmet on, only for it to not fit. Slightly frustrated, he looks at the helmet again, before looking at Rhrillullosh. "Young one, what does this helmet do?"

Rhrillullosh smiles and takes the helmet from the warrior before turning it over, "On the front there are a pair of multi-spectrum cameras combined with a pair of ultra high range microphones. Below that are the intakes for the respirator, which will filter good air from almost any planet side environment. It also has a five hour air supply if the intakes are blocked, or your in an oxygen-less environment. There is also an audio generator in the same area.

"Above, and to the right of the right eye is a range finder that is accurate out to five clicks. On the other side I've managed to fit a tiny droid brain that can translate Shyriiwook and Thykarann to Basic as well as run the basic functionality of the helmet.

"On the inside you have a screen for each eye with a refresh rate 100 times faster than we need, and as close to a 1 to 1 resolution I could get, it also has eye tracking. Below that you have the inside of the respirator mask, a microphone, and a control stick that we can bring forward with our tongues, and operate with our canines and tongues to allow us to switch the audio generator to the translator, our own voice, or off.

"My version also has internal speakers, however, depending on how you want the mask to look, that may not be possible. Without the wrist computer, the droid brain will allow you to see our native spectrum, infrared, ultraviolet, active and passive sonar, and the most common parts of the spectrum that are used for communication, all translated down to what we can normally see.

"The wrist computer adds a targetting overlay, along with options to mix sight modes."

As she finishes her explanation, the warrior nods thoughtfully and picks up the helmet again, before turning it over in his hands. "Can I try it?"

Rhrillullosh looks down at the crate of supplies, "I think so," reaching into the crate, she pulls out a mass of leather straps that she used to take the measurements of her own head and eyes.

Glancing up at the sun, she says, "Give me till sunset, and I should have something you can try. It won't be quite as good as a fitted helmet, but you should still be able to use all the features."

The warrior nods, "Till sunset then, I will watch." Pointing at her smart disk he asks, "What will that be?"

Rhrillullosh starts to spread out the leather and pick out the components that need to be mounted onto it. "It's going to be a smart disk, a bladed weapon that is thrown and then self guided after that. Like the harness on beside the table, it will be linked to the mask and wrist computer. If I can get all the components to fit properly, you should be able to designate up to five targets within maybe 100m, and the disk will automatically strike those targets, before returning to you. There will also be a switch on the grip so that you can expand the blades while you're holding it to use as a hand to hand weapon. Ulli, would I be able to have one of your blanks, as I need to create some mounting points."

Ulli just tosses her a small log as she talks to a wookie about the taps.

A few hours later, Rhrillullosh has converted her measurement setup into an ugly looking adjustable harness, with all the wiring completely visible, and small screws for adjusting the position of the eyes and respirator. She's also carved a custom control stick for the old warriors mouth.

After making sure the whole thing powers up, and is linked to a wrist computer that doesn't have a casing, she looks up. "It's ready if you are."

The warrior nods, "There is a practice area over there where we can fire weapons without endangering anyone."

Rhrillullosh nods before putting her own gear on, and nudging her crate over to Ulli's table.

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At the training area, Rhrillullosh is disappointed to see the old warrior simply try on the harness she made, and fiddle around with some of the vision modes before taking it off again.

As her shoulders slump, the warrior points at a target, "Shoot that target."

Behind her mask, Rhrillullosh blinks in surprise, before selecting activating her bow caster rig with her teeth, and selecting the indicated target. With the familiar whine, her weapon fires and hits the target dead centre.

"Now that target."

Again, she blinks as the warrior points at the furthest target on the range. A target that is far outside the normal range they'd use a bowcaster at. A couple of twitches of her jaw has the target selected, and the bowcaster fires, causing her to stagger back slightly, as she wasn't braced for the increased energy.

Next the warrior points at 6 targets in succession, "Hit those in that order as fast as you can."

Rhrillullosh winces, "I'll need to reload first, as I only made my bowcaster to hold 6 quarrels."

The warrior looks impressed, "You made it? Go ahead."

Rhrillullosh nods as she touches an icon on the computer to bring the bowcaster to a refilling position. "I can vary the strength of the magnetic bottle so the plasma lasts longer at the cost of the number of shots it can make before recharging."

As she's putting two bolts into the magazine, the warrior nods and walks over to a wookie on guard duty. When he comes back, he's holding a pair of electro binoculars.

As he returns, Rhrillullosh asks, "Honoured warrior, would you indicate which order you wanted the targets shot in."

The warrior simply nods and points at five of the targets rapidly. At the same time Rhrillullosh selects each target. Once she's selected the last target, she braces herself and triggers the bowcaster.

When she turns back to the old warrior, he doesn't seem to have even looked at the targets, instead he had the binoculars to his face. A slight movement catches her eye, and she turns to look behind them, only to startle at the small crowd that has gathered to watch.

"Shoot one of the birds in that flock that just took off."

Surprised Rhrillullosh spins around and tries to see the flock. When nothing is apparent, she glances at the warrior and looks in the direction he's looking. Not seeing anything, she zooms her vision until the flock becomes apparent at just over 2,000 meters. Marking the flock as a target, she looks down at her wrist computer and quickly does some calculations.

In theory, a bolt from a bow caster should just about be able to cover that distance, but the magnetic bottle would normally break well before that, allowing the plasma to disperse and destabilising the flight of the bolt.

Glancing up, her mask smoothly zooms in to allow her to see the flock, and where it's moved to. At least they're moving predictably. A couple more seconds, and she's written a quick link to the range finder that should detect the wind eddies.

Glancing up once more, the flock seems to be descending to another tree, so she only has at most 30 seconds before they'll be in cover. Zooming in further until she can pick out the individual birds, she picks one at the edge and designates it as her target before firing her last bolt.

The whine from her bowcaster seems to go on for seconds before the trigger fires, sending the bolt arcing high into the air. Almost as soon as the bolt's left, her helmet shuts down, with only a small red light indicating that the droid brain has enough power to maintain it's memory.

Pulling a concealed lever, Rhrillullosh removes the helmet as quickly as she can before scanning the sky to see if she can tell if she hit or not.

The warrior lowers the electro binoculars with a nod, "Dishonourable. A very dishonourable weapon. But more honourable than droids. But not all fights are honourable after all. I would like a complete set, and a smart disk if you get it finished before the meet ends."

Rhrillullosh looks at the warrior in disbelief, "Really?"

The warrior nods, "Yes. Will I be able to change the outer helmet later?"

Rhrillullosh nods, "Yes, as long as you keep the mounting points. Would you like a specific design?"

The warrior shakes his head, "Use your own design for now, I am not so old I can't make my own if needed."

Rhrillullosh nods and mumbles, "I'll need to go down to find the right wood, then there's the bowcaster…" Looking up, she asks, "Do you have a bowcaster I can modify for the system, or the parts to make you one?"

The warrior chuckles, "We haven't even discussed the cost of this. Yes I have the parts to make a bowcaster."

Rhrillullosh looks down bashfully, "Um, I need to work out what I need, would we be able to discuss the price while I'm checking the fit of the helmet?"

"Of course. Off you go then."

Rhrillullosh runs off, her mind already going over ways to prevent the micro-reactor from being overdrawn and shutting down.

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At dawn on the second day of the three day 'Day of Life' celebration, Mallie and Kento are both rudely woken by the sound of turbo laser fire clearing the temporary landing pad.

As they both roll out of their hammock and rush to their respective packs, Mallie shouts, "Kento, you have to take Galen and run!"

Kento shouts back, "He needs you more than me!"

Mallie is about to respond when Ulli appears in their room holding her staff, "Toe Toe has already taken him to Felucia! We'll help where we can, but we're not ready to be known to the wider galaxy."

Neither Mallie or Kento say another word as they grab their lightsabres, one yellow, and one blue, and head out to find the vulnerable wookies.

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Rhrillullosh only just has time to grab her gear, including the untested smart disk, before her mother is dragging her off to the only permanent shelter in the camp.

"Mum! I can fight!"

Her mother only tightens her grip, "Not while you are my daughter you can't. The last thing your father needs is to be worrying about our safety while he's fighting off slavers."

As soon as she's let go, Rhrillullosh fits her helmet and wrist computer, before strapping on the harness for her bowcaster, and connecting it to her helmet. With her equipment on, she pushes her way to the entrance.

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Ulli confidently makes her way out into the battle with her spell staff in her hand, and her old spell disks shrunken into a necklace. A mild elven notice-me-not hangs over her as a comforting cloak.

Her goal is to skirt the edge of the fighting to find wookies that have been cut off from the rest of the camp, and help them get past the attacking trandoshians.

For the first couple of groups, the cordon of attackers is still very new, so a couple of uses of her water spell sees a few trandoshians swept off the branches into the depths below.

As she reaches the third group, she lowers her staff to direct the water, and freezes. In front of her a trandoshian has just pulled out a slave collar, and placed it around the neck of a stunned adult.

As she starts to shiver at the sight, she's so focused on the collaring process that she doesn't register as a slaver raises their rifle, and fires a stunning shot at her.

As she falls to the floor, she's vaguely aware of a collar being placed around her own neck.

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Mallie leaps over a line of slavers that have a mother and two pups cornered. Lying on the floor are 3 wookies who have all been shot multiple times at close range.

Her yellow lightsaber sweeps up smoothly to block an incoming blaster bolt, sending it bouncing into the air high above the battle. The shout of "Jedi!" seems to spread like wild fire, drawing eager slavers like moths to a flame. Presumably to cash in the standing bounty for Jedi.

As the number of incoming shots starts to increase towards her limit, she tries to sidestep into a more protected area. However, whenever she does, she quickly has to step back again, as at least one slaver takes a shot at the mother or pups.

At some point, the incoming fire slackens off as Kento leaps over the attackers as he ignites his own lightsaber and blocks a bolt that would have taken her in the back.

As he lands, Kento calls out, "Help's on the way."

Mallie doesn't say anything, as she's too busy trying to stay alive.

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As the first of the warriors guarding the shelter falls to blaster fire, Rhrillullosh slips into the cover he was using, and quickly designates two targets for her bowcaster.

As the two slavers drop, she suddenly feels the need to throw up as her stomach clenches. The only thing that stops her is the knowledge that she's wearing her helmet. Fortunately, the slavers take the death of two of their own as a sign to take cover.

After the first slaver leans out to return fire, her perception of what's going on becomes a blur as she designates her third target. At some point, she doesn't remember, she switched to a combined vision mode, one where the slavers stand out amongst the background.

A desperate slash of her smart disk is all that saves her freedom as she hadn't noticed a slaver sneaking around the building until he tried to stab her with a shock baton at the same time as she leans out to take shots at the slavers that had just popped out to take shots at her.

It feels like minutes after that, when her bowcaster runs out of quarrels, all six shots having hit, and at least crippled their marks. As she desperately tries to reload the magazine, a group of three slavers break cover, and run towards her with glowing shock batons.

Desperately, she designates her targets, and throws her smart disk. As it was designed to, it flies out and strikes the attackers, only for another slaver to lunge around the doorway with a shock baton, and jab it into her side.

As she convulses on the floor, he jabs her again and slips a shock collar around her neck. As she lies there convulsing, she can see that the rest of the women and pups have all been knocked out with some sort of gas. Outside, the sound of a freighter burning for space blots out the sound of battle for a few seconds.

Desperately she reaches out into the hive for a solution to her predicament.

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A moment's inattention is all it took.

As the first freighter pulls away from the camp and burns for space, Mallie glances behind her to see the blue glow of ion engines. A fraction of a second later a shock ripples through her bond with Kento as she misses a single blaster shot.

Kento manages a few more deflections before the wound takes its toll and he slumps to one knee. As he does, Mallie desperately gives herself over to the force in order to defend him as well as the mother and pups behind her.

As she takes a shot in the leg, the underside of the camp starts to flicker, as though a yellow lightning storm had spontaneously begun. Seconds later a wave of darkness seems to boil over the edge flattened tree branches, and the incoming fire dies down and then stops as the slavers first try to attack the incoming threat, and then dying to the incoming hive.

With no more enemies to watch out for, Mallie allows her lightsaber to drop to the floor. Staggering the few steps needed to reach her husband, she ignores the pain in her leg where the blaster has burned through her skin and muscle, though fortunately not reaching bone. Kneeling down, she pulls Kento's head into her lap and starts to cry, as the shot he took caught him in the ribs on the right hand side.

As she cries, Kento opens his eyes one last time and, with his last breath, says, "I love you Mallie, I'm not dying, I'm joining the force."

A couple of seconds later, a young human appears beside them in a pillar of fire, before immediately kneeling down and crying, of all things, onto Kento's wound. When nothing happens the human looks at her sympathetically, "I'm sorry, he's already gone. May I try and heal your leg please?"

Mallie just lifts her head uncomprehendingly, so the hive member says, "Because of the phoenix in our ancestry, for those of us that can cry, our tears can heal even fatal wounds as long as the person is still alive. Please can I heal your leg."

Numbly, Mallie nods as a feeling of self loathing overtakes her. When someone lifts her gently, and transports her to a bed, Mallie's thoughts are still spiralling around the fact she had the chance to become part of the hive, and Kento is dead because she didn't.