Chapter 55
Deeper into the shadows
Jolee was introspective as they left his tree house, sensing his mood the four gave him his space. His mood lifted somewhat as they strolled through the remnant of the Czerka camp, a smirk fleetingly crossed his face.
He came to a stop where a pathway had been carved through a wroshyr tree
"Why are we stopping?" Bastila asked
Jolee ran a hand along the bark of the tree before turning to face them
"This is where the true shadowlands begin, but before we step in I want some questions answered." Jolee stated firmly
"Go ahead, ask your questions." Bastila replied
"What did you promise Chuundar to be allowed down here?" Jolee asked
"He has one of our crew as a hostage till we perform two tasks for him." Melissa answered promptly
"That being?" Jolee probed
"Finding and dealing with an alleged madclaw and deal with a human interfering with his Czerka buddies." Melissa answered
"And what is to stop him from killing your friend publicly now that his friends are running for the trade station?"
"The moment they lift a weapon to Zaalbar, the one lifting it will die as will the one ordering it." Melissa said with utter certainty
"What makes you so sure?" Jolee insisted
"The assassin droid I left in overwatch on the village, plus there is the fact that Czerka will stonewall him till they have done their own internal investigation. Their insistence on tedious bureaucracy will buy us the time we need." Melissa said, looking him straight in the eyes.
Jolee nodded on hearing her out
"What brings you down here?" He asked
"An ancient artefact called a star map." Bastila answered
"That old piece of junk?" Jolee replied, surprised
"So you know where it is?" Juhani responded
"You could say that." Jolee evaded a straight answer
He pointed through the archway
"If you had thought this place is dangerous, let me assure you, you have not seen the real shadowlands. Be on your watch always."
Jolee led the way through the archway. The area was lit by the bioluminescent plants, no light filtered through from above from the sun. The sensation of being under the eyes of some predators niggled at their senses. Melissa held her bow ready, a serrated arrow in hand. Behind her she heard the snicks of safety catches being released on rifles. Jolee nodded in approval his lightsaber in hand. Melissa moved the arrow to the hand holding the bow. She pulled her spare blaster from beneath her rucksack and handed it to Jolee
"Ask me later for power cells and tibana cartridges." She said
"Never used these much." Jolee replied
"Welcome to our group, we will use anything to get the job done." Terri said
They followed the path forward till the roads started diverging into smaller paths. Juhani paused as her foot struck something metallic. Moving the plants back she revealed a protocol droid with two blaster holes in its chest chassis. No signs of rust were present on it
"What is this doing here?" Bastila asked.
Terri motioned Melissa to it.
"See if you can find anything?"
Melissa lowered her rucksack and pulled her essential toolkit from a side pouch
"I am going to detach the head, the major memory core should still be intact. Can someone dig out my powerpack? We will need that to review the last memories."
Juhani scouted a little deeper and came back after a few minutes, her movement almost unheard and unseen.
"I found a trial that someone tried to hide poorly. Tracks are too degraded to say for certain the number of users" She reported
"Heads loose." Melissa reported
Connecting the head to the powerpack had them reviewing the droids last memories minutes later. The droids receptors dimmed and eventually died as Melissa unclipped the attachment to the powerpack
"So not only is Eli a pervert and mynock oil salesman, he is also a murderer." Bastila remarked.
"We need to get this head back to Matton, he should know what happened to his crew." Melissa stated firmly
Terri bit her lip deciding on whether they could afford the delay of further investigation, Making her decision she looked at Juhani
"Can you take us to where the trial was hidden and backtrack from there? I believe we should find more evidence there." She asked
"Easily done." Juhani nodded, leading the way
They followed the trial till they found a shuttle craft, the foliage was already doing its best to make the craft a part of the forrest. Terri found the access pad and sliced through it. A fetid smell erupted from it as the door slid open. Three bodies were dumped in the bay. Melissa and Terri went to the bodies and retrieved the ID's of the deceased. Melissa pulled her datapad from a leg pocket and ran the ID's against the latest Bounty Hunters list she had downloaded. All three bodies had hefty bounties on them. Melissa wanted to slam her head against the bulkhead when she saw who the bounty poster was.
"Are we ever going to be rid of that Hutt?" She demanded to the air
"Which Hutt are you referring to?" Jolee asked
"Sakara, the current ruler of the Hutts." Melissa replied
"The last ruler I knew of was Jabarta." Jolee said
"He was eaten by Marasta who in turn was later locked in a furnace and slow cooked by Sakara when she took over." Terri brought Jolee up to speed
"How does Sakara come into the picture here?" Bastila asked
"She posted the bounty on them and Matton, the problem is the database notifies the poster if someone accesses the data on a bounty. In the absence of an active tracking fob number, the poster gets given the name of the hunter and a comlink number to contact if they wish." Melissa explained
"So Sakara will soon know where we are. And she will be certain to call." Terri finished
"As soon as the datapad synchronises." Melissa confirmed.
Terri stepped up to the ladder leading to the flight deck and grabbed hold of the rungs
"Might as well check the databanks for any further information." She said, climbing up
The rest stepped out in the relative fresh air of the forest. Terri joined them an hour later.
"I found the navigators diary in the databanks. Seems they were contracted to bring an unspecified type of cargo to Eli from Sakara. They delivered it and the Eli convinced the captain to join him in poaching some tachs down here. Matton was to be paid to fix some equipment for Eli. And well we know how it ended."
Melissa looked thoughtfully at the shuttle, an idea starting to form in her mind.
"Does this shuttle have a hyperdrive?" She asked
"A class one hyperdrive, why?" Bastila answered
"I was thinking of inputting coordinates for Tattooine and overriding the navigation system. Anyone getting into it gets a one way ticket to Tatooine and Sakara."
"You want to trap Eli and deliver him to justice." Terri realised
"As he is the most likely to come down here, yes. He deserves it as much as Griff did." Melissa answered
Terri considered the idea before she nodded and stepped back into the shuttle. Another hour later she stepped out and closed the boarding ramp.
"It is done. Let us get back on track." She said
Hours later they were still following Jolee along the winding tracks. About to call for a rest and water break they paused as the clash of weapons came to their ears. Cautiously they moved forward weapons ready. A Wookie was fighting of two men in Mandalorian armour a third was standing back wearing a familiar red and black armour, a fourth figure was down on the ground wounded. Several dead Wookies scattered the area. Melissa moved forward with a snarl, firing her bow. One of the attackers stiffened as the serrated arrow punched through a weak spot of his armour. Melissa ignored him as she dropped her bow and pulled her lightsaber from her belt, the snap-hiss adding a new sound to the clearin
The red and black armoured figure produced a dull grey vibrosword and took a ready stance.
"Jetti? Finally some worthy prey. I was getting bored" He said
"There is no prey here, only rotting demagolka." Melissa replied
"You should watch your anger Jetti, I was told it leads to the dark side." The vesalik taunted
"At est Mandalore. You are not facing a Jedi." Melissa snapped
"I see no armour, are you perchance Dar Manda?" The vesalik replied
"You face Melissa Aliit Wren, and you are not worthy to see my armour." Melissa snarled
The Vesalik flourished his blade before pointing the tip at Melissa's face
"You face Bobar Aliit Vesalik, formerly Aliit Djarin." He stated
"And today you die." Melissa answered
Terri stopped Jolee as he moved to intervene with an arm to the chest. She shook her head.
"We can only step in if she is about to lose, they just made it an honour thing."
The Wookie finally finished his opponent and dropped to his knees, heavily wounded. Bastila and Jolee made their way to him medpacks in hand. The Wookie recognised Jolee and allowed him to proceed to treat the wounds he sustained
The vesalik struck first. Melissa met his blade and parried, her blade making an unusual sound after contact
"Cortosis blade, really?" She remarked
"Spoken by a weak belly using a Jetti tool." The Vesalik replied
Melissa closed of her blade and pulled the vibrosword of one of the fallen to her. Terri groaned and suppressed the urge to rush out there and pull her back by her ears.
The Vesalik nodded at Melissa and attacked again. The clashing of blades filled the air as they moved up and down in the clearing. Melissa twirled away as the Vesalik slashed down, over extending himself. She stabbed into his leg where the armour did not render protection. He swung his blade back angrily bellowing in pain. Melissa was a bit to slow too parry and a thin line opened up on her face
"You must wish you had your Buyce now, don't you." The vesalik taunted
"I will take comfort in that I drew first tal." Melissa replied
"Ast ori'shya talagar." He snarled
"Ko'lar." Melissa snapped
The two reengaged in a flurry. This time Melissa had a slight advantage as the leg wound hampered the Vesalik as well as the fact that he was losing more blood than Melissa. The lack of armour also helped in the stifling heat, not mentioning Melissa having the greater mobility. Melissa managed to exploit another weak spot in the armour and struck another blow. Slashing his sword desperately the Vesalik fell back to create space. He looked behind him as if to judge if he could run away
"You won't make it." Melissa promised him
He dropped his sword and pulled a blaster. He found himself in the air as avice closed over his throat.
"No you will die as ahut'uun as well." Melissa stated
She twisted her hand and the snap of vertebrae was audible, the body dropped like a puppet with its controls cut off. Melissa dropped the vibrosword before touching the cut on her face and looked on the blood on her hand.
Terri was upon her in a moment. Roughly she spun Melissa around to face her, concern written large on her face as she twisted Melissa's head to see the wound.
"What in the nineteen hells of Elvenhal were you thinking?!" Terri shouted
"That the cortosis blade could very well short out my lightsaber leaving me without a weapon." Melissa replied
"And you did not bother shooting him first why?" Terri snapped back
"That it is a matter of honour." Melissa replied
Terri grabbed her face with both hands forcing Melissa to look at her
"You honour is of no use if you are dead. Stop taking unnecessary chances, I will not survive losing you. Get it into your thick head."
Terri pulled her into a smothering hug. Bastila turned her attention back to where Jolee was tending to the Wookie and questioning him in Shirrywook.
After tending to Melissa's wound Terri led the way to where the Wookie had been made comfortable. The Wookie looked straight at Melissa
"You spoke the language of those cowards." He stated
"Yes, I speak the language." Melissa replied
"They are your people." He tried to clarify
"They are the madclaws of my people, but they are much worse than madclaws. I am bound by my honour and that of my clan to hunt them." Melissa answered.
"Chuundar says your species do not have honour." He continued
"Then judge us by our actions." Terri broke in
"You have healed my wounds and fought my enemies, but my hunting party is dead and call for justice." He continued
"Then I will hunt if there are more of them." Melissa stated
"We will hunt." Terri corrected.
Melissa nodded at Terri and brought her attention back to the injured Wookie
"Tell me of their attack?"
"They waited till we were getting ready for the night, they only attacked when our weapons were not in our hands. There were many more than the two you slew and the wounded one over there."
Melissa looked over to where the wounded had propped himself up against a tree, he was applying pressure to the wound but blood kept seeping down the side of his armour. She walked over to him and knelt down. She reached for the helmet. The man let go of his wound to capture her hands
"Deathwatch?" Melissa asked
"I was." He gasped
"Then I will not expose your face if you answer my questions." Melissa said
He let go and replaced his hands on his wounds
"I am Ver'alor Melissa Aliit Wren. What is your name?" Melissa introduced herself
"Why does my name matter?" He asked
"So that I know to whom I must return your armour. You know the price to be paid for dealing with a Vesalik." Melissa replied
"Spoken like a true Nexu bitch of the Ruugs." He spat out
"Do you wish to die Dar Manda?" Melissa snapped
"If only to spoil you, elek."
"Then you leave me no choice." Melissa stated, sadness prevalent in her voice
"Going to torture me? A dead man."
Melissa shot out a force paralyze and the man locked in place. She pulled his helmet off and made eye contact forcibly
"Where is your base?"
"Not going to tell you." He snarled back
Melissa stepped back and pulled her blaster. A single shot rang out. The Wookie nodded in appreciation of what he witnessed, Jolee was visibly shocked. Terri and Bastila slowly approached Melissa. Juhani, having been keeping watch, shot her a sympathetic look. Melissa slowly holstered her blaster
"Ash'amur Dar Manda." She said to the corpse
Melissa looked at the two approaching her, before rapidly moving to a bush and vomiting. She felt two hands rubbing her back and another holding back her hair as she emptied her stomach. A canteen appeared before her once she stopped, gratefully she sipped a mouthful and spat that out to rinse her mouth
"We need to search the bodies and take pictures of them so that I can notify the Clan Heads, someone will know who they were." She said, her voice dead
"We will do that, go sit down, you need to meditate and find your balance." Bastila replied, soothingly
Melissa jerked her head and moved away, before sitting down in the middle of the path, hunching up. Terri shook her head at Jolee as he was about to walk to her.
"Don't, a lecture is the last thing she needs right now" Terri told him
"That was murder." Jolee hissed at Terri
"Not under Mandalorian law. To which she is oathbound" Terri replied.
Terri stood solidly in his path
"As much as you may not like it, the republic accepts that each culture has their own laws and can not interfere in the execution of said laws." Terri continued
"Under both Republic and Mandalorian law, the Vesalik clan and those that help them are under immediate death warrants." Bastila added
"And as Jedi we just let it be?" Jolee retorted
"As Jedi we are not above the laws we have to enforce, as much as some feels themselves to be. We do not get to choose which laws we enforce and which we ignore, all are equal under the law." Bastila snapped back
"And her execution of that man was legal." Terri added
Juhani looked at Jolee for a moment before speaking
"Can you honestly say that you have never killed?" She asked
"Yes, I have killed before." Jolee replied
"And what or who gave you the justification to do so?" Juhani asked in a persistent tone
Jolee's shoulders dropped and he stood back.
"Let us agree to discuss the morality later when we are safe to do so." Bastila stated diplomatically
Terri moved over to the nearest body and began to remove the armour, the helmet chip revealed a set of letters which she recorded on her datapad. She piled the armour to one side after recording the face. She noticed the Wookie watching her actions.
"Do you have a question?" She asked
"Why do you move their armour to one side and not just leave it for the forest to claim?"
Terri pointed to Melissa where she was in a kneeling meditation position.
"Her people believe that the armour must be returned to their family." Terri explained
"And we should recognise their ways when they disregard ours, why?" He demanded
"If it makes you feel better, all of the clans of her people will know that they died in dishonour. The families will have to make amends in some way to regain that honour." Terri added
"So their shame will be known to all?" He asked
"Yes, everyone will know of their shame." Terri answered
"Good. I can agree to that." He huffed
Bastila had been searching the body of the Vesalik when she found something in the knapsack he had been carrying. She turned the object over in her hand, not knowing what it was, a flickering LED showing it was active
"Found something!" She called out.
Terri made her way to Bastila. Bastila held the device up.
"Looks like a beacon device for a swoop bike." Terri said
"If we find the swoop bikes, we can slice their navigation program." Bastila said
"And find their base." Terri concluded
"The bikes will not be too far from here." Bastila pointed out
"I still have that spool of marking rope, tie it to a tree and we can search deeper into the forest without getting lost." Terri added.
"Do you really have time to waste with another distraction?" Jolee gave his input
"Where were you during the Mandalorian war?" Terri asked
"Here." Came the gruff reply
"Next break I will give you something to read, then you will see why this is so important." Terri stated
After helping the Wookie into a tree to give him a secure place to rest, they moved deeper into the forest. The tracking beacon flickering more as they got closer. Sensing and approaching presence they took cover. Another mandalorian was moving closer. Terri got up behind him a piece of plasteel flex in her crossed hands. She threw it over the helmet and pulled. The flex finding the mans throat just below the helmet, Placing a knee against the back plate she pulled back and strangled him.
Bastila pulled the helmet off and recorded the face. She looked at the helmet
"Is it just me or is Melissa's helmet more advanced?" She asked, speaking softly
Melissa took the helmet from Bastila and gave a closer look at the helmet.
"This is war issue, they did not customise the helmets for the ground troops. Due to a resource shortage only officers or those from the clans could have their helmets customised, but even then it was very basic" She explained.
She dropped the helmet
"Not going to retrieve the armour?" Terri asked
"This is not made from Beskar, it is made from durasteel. This armour will not belong to a specific family." She stated
Juhani looked up at the branches running along there path
"May I suggest taking the high road from here, it should be a lot more quiet and quicker for us to use." She suggested
Moving through the branches did proof to be quicker. They found a clearing where several swoop bikes had been parked. The area appeared abandonded. Reaching out their senses they felt a large number of presences close to the vehicles. Terri made the gesture to fall back.
They regrouped a decent distance from the clearing after checking their surrounding they huddled close to one another. Terri looked at Melissa
"This is your mission, what is your call?" She said
"The way I see it we can move in and place the beacon in the right bike, at which point we get swarmed." Meliisa answered
"That is my take as well, options?" Terri nodded
Melissa held up her last grenade head.
"We spring our own trap and hope there is a survivor to question." She said
"We risk losing their trail if we do it this way, you know that." Bastila remarked
"Then we loose the trail. Walking into the trap is too risky." Melissa shrugged
"Or we can leave them be and move along. There is no need for unnecessary conflict" Jolee interjected
"The moment their men don't return, they will go looking and we will be hunted. These men are not the type not to want vengeance." Juhani replied
"Also if we leave them be, on whose conscience will the deaths of the next group they ambush be?" Melissa asked Jolee
"We are not asking you to participate, you can fall back to where the Wookie is and guard him if you want no part of this." Terri said
Jolee stood up and moved back on the trail they had left. The quartet held back the urge to roll their eyes at his actions.
The arrowhead crashed against the fuel tank of the swoop bike. The detonation of the explosive head triggered sympathetic detonations as the first bike blew in a fireball. Stealth belts shorted as they were overloaded or damaged by explosions. Four figures dropped in from overhead and fell onto those still standing like a pack of firaxan sharks. The fighting was brief and brutal, leaving only five alive in the clearing. The black and red armoured figure crashed to the ground as the levitation holding her high in the air suddenly stopped.
Moments later she was immobile except for her head. Invective in both basic and mandolorian filtered through her helmet. Bastila pulled her helmet off and grabbed her head, forcing eye contact
"Where is your base?" She asked
The woman bit down on a tooth, a vicious smile on her face. Melissa grabbed Bastila by the shoulders and pulled her back fast. Nearly stumbling in her haste to get clear
"Back up, nerve agent." She warned
The quartet moved back hurriedly, using the force to increase their escape speed.
"Adrenal shots now." Melissa ordered
Medpacks were hastily ripped open. The four applied the hyposyringes against their necks and pressed the actuators. Four hisses erupted. Terri dropped her syringe, hand clamped to her neck, leaning forward gasping, feeling jittery as the adrenaline hit
"Kark, that hurts." She hissed
Bastila pointed to where the Vesalik was lying. She was spasming uncontrollably, blood tinged foam erupting from her mouth. Black blood was pouring from her ears, eyes and nose. Her back arced in a way that no human spine was ever supposed to be in.
"Better a pain in the neck than going through that." Bastila said, rubbing her own neck
Terri pulled a thermal detonator from her grenade pouch and was about to arm it when Juhani grabbed her arm. Juhani pointed to a swoop bike that had been pushed back during the chain explosions
"Try to miss that if you can." She said
"Better push it back we have to saturate this area with fire." Terri replied
Juhani used both hands to use more pressure in her force push. The swoop spun in circles as it was pushed back along the trial. Four thermal detonators dropped in the already well charred area. The superheated plasma scoured the earth clean, flames flickered along some branches before dying out.
"Is it possible to start a forest fire in a wet rainforest?" Terri asked musingly
"We can throw another set of thermals to see." Juhani replied lightly
The others snorted and the tension lessened slightly.
They approached the swoop bike. Char lines ran up and down the fuselage. Sacrifising the anti bacterial swabs and surgical gloves from their major trauma kit, the navigation computer was wiped down before it was sliced. Terri gave a relieved grin as she managed to extract a starting point from the last trip.
"Looks like we have a possible nav point for their base." She reported
Juhani pushed the swoop back into the charred cleaning, another thermal detonator went sailing in shortly thereafter. Curiously they watched as flames flickered among the branches again before dying off
"Finally finding your inner pyromaniac?" Melissa teased, grinning
"Merely being thorough." Juhani loftily replied
"I guess that means we probably are going to need baradium charges to trigger a fire." Bastila replied
"Ladies. We have our pyromaniac." Terri said, lifting Bastila's right arm
Backtracking to where they had left the Wookie took less time as they sped along the branches instead of trying to push through the foliage. They found Jolee and the Wookie sitting next to a fire as they approached
"Sure, light a fire when there is people in the bush ambushing campers. Nothing can go wrong from that." Terri muttered, sarcastically
They ignored Jolee's disappointed glare. Terri gave her full attention to the Wookie.
"You friends have been avenged, all your attackers are dead." She informed him
"I can smell fire on you." The Wookie remarked
"We burned their bodies." Terri answered
Jolee looked up sharply at that, a look of censure on his face
"The last one chose suicide by biological agent rather than being interrogated." Melissa said tightly
"The area has been cleansed by fire, but for safety should not be approached for at least a month as we do not know what it was." Bastila added
The Wookie looked at the four contemplatively for a long while before speaking
"I believe you, I do not see deceit in you. I will tell the other hunters to avoid the area for a moon."
He slowly got to his feet and grabbed the Vesalik's vibrosword and his own bowcaster and set off down the path. He paused
"You may call me Gorwooken, you four will be welcome in my house, fellow hunters." He said over his shoulder.
The Wookie merged in the darkness shortly thereafter. Terri pulled her datapad from her pocket. Selecting a file she tossed it to Jolee.
"You can read that while taking first watch, we need to get some rest before pushing on." She informed him
Terri woke not feeling very rested. The gentle snoring to her left let her know that Bastila was still asleep. She heard a slight whimper. Melissa had her arms straight and her fists balled. Running her hand through Melissa's hair had her relaxing slightly and the whimpering stopped.
Jolee was still up and she found him staring at them, the datapad forgotten in his lap. Terri gave him a questioning look. He tapped the datapad
"How accurate is this? It feels like propaganda I have read before." He said
"Not very." Terri admitted
"Then why give it to me. Showing me propaganda is not going to bring me over to your viewpoint." Jolee stated
"What you read is the sanitised version released to civilians following the war. Both sides decided that the civilians should not know the full horrors perpetrated by the Vesalik clan and Demagolka. The Jedi Enclave Archive has the unsanitised version. To read it you need permission from Master Dorak. The first thing he hands you is a bucket so that you do not make a mess on his floors. I never got past page five of the report." Terri informed him
Terri threw another branch onto the fire feeling cold despite the humidity
"I would suggest that the next time you want to judge Melissa or us for our actions that you find the reason for those actions first before you say something that can not be taken back." She said softly
"All of you are too emotional and impulsive for Jedi. The lot of you are teetering on the edge of the dark. If any of you should fall the others will fall as well, and considering the power of this group it will be catastrophic." Jolee chided
"As Grey Jedi the edge between dark and light is where we belong." Terri replied, calmly
"Bah. Grey is just an excuse to indulge in your whims while holding up a respectable veneer." Jolee objected
"You are entitled to your opinion." Terri shrugged
"Youngsters, never listening to their elders. Always convinced they are right, questioning that which has proven reliable." Jolee retorted
"Not standing up against stagnation, you mean." Terri shot back
"Never thinking of the dangers their actions trigger." Jolee went on
"Then why not talk to us about your fears instead of preaching to us? Find a common position instead of blanket condemnation" Bastila asked, sitting up.
Jolee tried to reply but found he had no answer to Bastila's question. Bastila went on.
"Once I believed the code and the way I was taught was the way all Jedi should be. Then one day someone asked me how we can serve the beings in the galaxy if we can not relate to them. Yes we may be emotional or impulsive, but speaking for myself I can feel the force clearer than ever before."
"If you could see what I see you not be so cavalier about the risks." Jolee said less heatedly
Bastila looked sharply at him
"You are a sensor aren't you?" She asked
"Sensor?" Terri asked
"A rare gift among the sentinel class, sensors can see the relative strength of force users. At a time when they were more numerous no padawan would be assigned to a master if the power levels between the two were too diverse." Bastila explained
"So what do you see?" Terri asked
Jolee sighed before pointing to Terri.
"You are like a whirlpool in the force, it swirls and eddies around you like I have never seen before." He said
His finger shot to Bastila
"You are like the waves crashing on the shore, powerfull yet gentle, but like the sea the potential for destruction is there being held back." Jolee continued
"Juhani and Melissa?" Terri asked
"Your Cathar friend feels more primal like this jungle, dark and light mingled, between the four of you she is the one less likely to fall as she had achieved her balance." Jolee sighed, falling silent
"And Melissa?" Bastila prompted
Jolee shook his head before speaking
"If Terri is a whirlpool she is a tsunami beating against a shore shield, less in power, currently contained but just as dangerous should the shield fail."
They sat in silence after his statement. Eventually Terri checked her chronograph
"We have been here long enough. Time to get up and move on." She suggested