Ken was stunned. He had just witnessed Ornan Mereel himself coming out of the bushes in front of them. The man who was jointly responsible for the fate of his friends and comrades, whom he hardly knew and yet loathed. And now he was standing in front of him. Just like nothing happened.
"Good evening, gentleman," he said calmly. His hands were raised as if he wanted to surrender. Strangely, however, he was not dressed in his armor, but in one of the Neo-Crusader armors.
He wanted something from them. That was clear. Otherwise he wouldn't come alone. Ken didn't think he was that stupid. He didn't have a secret army in tow, Ken would have sensed that long ago. But the ease with which he appeared in front of them just made Ken angry. He mentally grabbed his throat and cut off his air supply. Ornan clutched his throat and fell to his knees. Ken was well aware that it was not a method a Jedi should resort to. However, he didn't want to take the risk of first capturing him and then subjecting him to questioning. He had to force him to explain quickly now. That's how you usually got the truth.
"Please," Ornan gasped. "Let mercy prevail. I didn't even have time to explain myself."
"What I'm doing here is mercy enough," growled Ken. "You now have time to explain yourself until you run out of breath." He tightened his grip a little more. "If I were you, I would hurry up."
Duke and Cuyaes grabbed his shoulders from behind. "I think it would be unwise to let him live," Duke whispered. "Let's kill him now, while we have the chance."
"We can't take the risk that he might lead an army here."
Ken ignored her and stared back at Ornan, gasping for air. "Go ahead!", he asked him one more and final time.
"Please," Ornan croaked. "Take me to… your leader." His panting became more and more intense. "I just want to talk."
"And what exactly is there to talk about?"
"I have... information that could... be... useful for you." He squeezed out the next words with his last effort. "And... a... suggestion."
Ken thought again. He actually wanted to avoid any risk from now on. But within Ornan he felt no darkness or evil intentions. That could only mean there was no risk. He then let him go. Ornan gasped frantically and fell to the floor. The lack of oxygen must have made him dizzy. Duke and Cuyaes approached Ken.
"What's this supposed to mean now?", the Fallen asked.
Ken waited a moment. He found it unbelievable that he thought like that. "I believe him."
"Are you serious?" Cuyaes asked. "He is one of the highest men of Mandalore. We should put everyone on alert immediately. I'm sure we're already surrounded."
"If it were, I would have felt it long ago," Ken assured him. He then walked a little closer between the two and whispered to them. "Aside from that, I don't see any mendacity or other bad intentions in him. On the contrary, an aura of truth emanates from him."
"You're crazy," Duke said. "Now is not the time to act on intuition."
"It's not just intuition. The Force can give me insight into a being's soul and thoughts. And I didn't see anything on him that looked like an ambush."
"But…" Cuyaes wants to contradict again. Ken cut him off with a raised finger.
"Now put him in chains, search him and then we will take him to Iasa. We will then discuss everything else with her."
….
With Ornan in tow, they approached Iasa's room. Duke and Cuyaes led the way and Ken kept an eye on Ornan. He had voluntarily taken on this before the two hotheads could come up with stupid ideas. Duke then stopped at the threshold of Iasa's room. Since there was no door, they had to make themselves known in other ways than by knocking.
"Iasa?" Duke asked.
"Come in!" Ken heard from inside. They entered. He had a really bad feeling about it. Iasa was already angry with him because of what happened earlier. And now he had to convince this hot-headed woman not to kill an arch-enemy, but to take him in. But he was prepared for everything. In an emergency he would intervene.
She turned to them. "What's the...?" Her face froze in shock. Of course she recognized Ornan. He was the reason they were here in the first place.
"Hello, Miss," Ornan greeted her mischievously.
"What is this bastard doing here?" asked Iasa, still horrified.
"We picked him up in the bushes when he just stepped out," Ken replied.
Iasa looked at Ken. "Then why didn't you just kill him and drag him here?" Her gestures showed her anger more than her aggressive voice.
"That was Ken's idea," Cuyaes defended himself. "We were in favor of killing him straight away."
Iasa seethed. "Can I already assume that the Jedi are working together with Mandalore's people?"
Ken shrugged. "If it serves to obtain important information to ensure the success of this mission, then yes."
As soon as he finished speaking, Iasa pulled out her vibro knife. "That's enough now. Then I'll just kill him." Determined to slit his throat, she attacked the tied up Ornan. He appeared very unimpressed. But before she could reach him, Ken intervened. "Out of the way!" snapped Iasa.
"Now think sensibly again," Ken appealed to her common sense.
"The only sensible thing to do is to kill him on the spot, before he becomes a serious danger!"
"At least at the moment he isn't."
"That's exactly why we have to kill him now!" She tried to force her way past Ken. The other two did nothing, but simply watched while Ornan knelt on the ground, completely relaxed.
"Let's at least listen to him first! He could have important information and even turn out to be a possible partner."
Now Iasa backed away to throw her horror right in his face. "You're really not quite sane anymore! We can't possibly work with him! After all, he's the reason we've been rotting on this planet for weeks!"
"I know that and I can understand your anger at him, believe me. I also lost something because of him. But we must not let our feelings influence us." He took Iasa's arm. "If he really doesn't have anything useful for us, then we can always deal with him later. But for now we should listen to him."
Iasa's look revealed that she still didn't agree.
"We have nothing to lose," Ken reminded her.
She angrily tore herself out of his grasp and walked towards Ornan, knife still drawn. Ken hoped she wouldn't do anything stupid now. He was ready in case of emergency.
She stabbed the knife out and stopped just a few millimeters from Ornan's throat.
"Better speak now, before I change my mind." Ken was a little more relieved for the moment.
Ornan laughed a little. "It's nice of you not to kill your prisoners straight away."
"Come on!" Iasa warned him again.
"I'm here to make you a suggestion." Before he could continue, Iasa's knife tip moved a little closer. "And why should I accept a suggestion from you?"
"Very easy. We're all in the same boat."
Ken wondered what he meant by that.
"Explain that!" Iasa asked him again. "Why do you dare compare yourself to us."
"Quite simple: we have the same ambitions." He took a deep breath. "I rebelled against Mandalore too! I also planned to overthrow him and save the Mandalorians from his madness!"
Actually, that should bring relaxation. But Ken noticed how the mood continued to fall.
"Oh?" said Duke angrily and walked towards him. "And yet you danced to his tune for years, killed hundreds in his name and fulfilled orders for him!"
"If it was really like that and you knew about us, then why didn't you just join us?" Cuyaes asked incredulously.
"Because you simply did it the wrong way! Facing Mandalore in an open rebellion is pointless, he is too strong for that. You have to destroy him from within his own ranks."
"And now you come crawling to us anyway!" said Iasa.
"I had no other choice, because I was exposed!" Silence fell across the room. After a short pause, Ornan continued. "That's why I said we're all in the same boat now, and that's why I also have a suggestion for you."
Ken felt how everything finally seemed to calm down again. Iasa even put away her knife. The angry expression still stuck to her. She turned her back on Ornan.
"We need to have a quick consultation. Come with me," she ordered the three and they briefly retreated to the farthest corner of the room.
"So?" Ken asked the group. He hoped they had now come to their senses.
"I still think we shouldn't go into that," Duke answered first, and Ken's hopes were dashed again.
"Let's at least listen to his suggestion," Ken pleaded.
"No," Iasa said stiffly. "Duke is right. We can't be sure he isn't a spy after all. We need a guarantee first."
"I told you, I know he's telling the truth. The Force told me."
"Unfortunately, your gut feeling is not a clear guarantee, Ken."
"As we said," Cuyaes agreed.
"Then let me ask you a question," Ken turned to Iasa. "Why did you decide to rescue a handful of Jedi to help you on this mission?"
"Because I originally thought that the Jedi, because of their powers, were strong and determined fighters. I had no way of knowing that this was just a bunch of intuitive know-it-alls."
"You're wrong about that too," said Ken. "Because we are not intuitive. That's why we are so strong. The Force allows us to glimpse the feelings and thoughts of others, allowing us to predict our counterpart's intentions. Just like now. I sense in him that he doesn't want to betray us. Even more. I feel like he wants to do the right thing."
Iasa flipped him the bird. "You're completely crazy."
Ken grabbed her upper arm but she immediately pulled away again. "Please, finally forget your hatred and think rationally about what would be best for everyone here."
"I knew that from the start," she said belligerently. "I've wasted enough time now." She pulled out her knife again and walked towards Ornan. Ken felt it. This time she was really determined to get rid of him. He stood in her way.
"The best thing now would be to collect information and use it to plan an attack," he corrected her. He returned to a whispering tone. "Just think about it. If Ornan really wants to help us, then he is an irreplaceable resource."
Iasa's angry look didn't look like she had changed her mind.
"I beg you, trust me just this one time."
She pushed Ken aside and continued toward Ornan, although not with the knife raised.
"Tell me!" she asked him as she stopped in front of him. "What is your suggestion?"
Ken could finally breathe. He felt that she was now ready to at least listen to him.
"My base has a very dense and strong defense network, as you probably already know," Ornan explained with a devilish smile. Ken felt the anger rising in Iasa again. He just couldn't believe it. Now it was Mereel himself who destroyed his efforts. He gestrued to him that he should leave off the provocations.
"With your small numbers, you'll never make it through there. So you have to deactivate it first," he continued quickly to get back to the point.
"Then you better tell us how it works if you don't want to die."
"Alright, alright. There is a small bunker just a few kilometers away, which we use as a data archive. All sorts of technical data from the base, including the codes for disabling the defenses, are stored there."
That all sounded well and good. But Ken still sensed the uncertainty in Ornan. "What's the catch?" he asked.
Ornan gave a small laugh. "You Jedi really are as sharp as they say. The problem is that the control terminals are still in the base. This means that a small squad has to go in and disable the defenses before the rest can attack."
"Then we would at least have a rough plan now," said Duke. "But one thing is not entirely clear to me. Now you've already told us everything. Then why should we take you with us instead of just killing you now?"
"Well, I'm the only one who can give you access to the security rooms in the base. After all, they are all secured with voice controll. It would also definitely be an advantage to have someone there who knows the building inside and out."
"And what is the suggestion now?", Iasa asked.
"Let's join forces," Ornan growled. "Let's take back the base, take away Mandalore's new weapon and use it for its original purposes. To overthrow Mandalore! I'll help you with this, all I ask in return is that we do this together."
Everyone finally seemed to relax. But just now something was making Ken uneasy.
"What kind of weapon are you talking about?"
Ornan just looked at him in surprise. "Don't you know that yet?"
Ken began to feel increasingly uneasy. He looked at the others, who only shrugged their shoulders. Apparently nobody knew. "What kind of weapon do you have?", he repeated the question. He hoped he hadn't done anything stupid, although he wasn't so sure about him.
"Well…" Ornan hesitated. He was obviously uncomfortable, which only fueled Ken's bad premonitions. "I was there the night the station on Belkadan was raided. However, contrary to Mandalore's orders, I did not destroy the blood samples but took them with me."
When Ken heard this, he briefly had the thought of agreeing with Iasa and simply killing him. But he comes to his senses again.
"How many copies do you already have?"
"Just one at the moment, from…"
"Then it shouldn't pose a threat," said Ken optimistically. "Even if he's deployed."
"Yeah, I thought that too. So I made some changes."
Bad thoughts returned to Ken's head once again. "What have you done?"
"I crossed the Duinuogwuin's genes with those of a krayt dragon," Ornan admitted. "This beast combines the intelligence and obedience of the first one with the strength and bestial behavior of the latter. The duinuogwuin part also makes it vacuum resistant and gives it the ability fly. I have thus created an ultimate weapon to crush Mandalore and its armies."
Now Ken lost his temper again and grabbed Ornan by the collar. "You crazy scumbag! What were you thinking!"
"We still have time," Ornan wheezed. "It will take a few months until it is fully grown. The base, on the other hand, is only a few days' walk away from here."
Ken let him go again. "We're still running out of time," countered Ken. "Especially because your escape couldn't possibly go unnoticed. "I'm sure everything has already been put on alert."
"Then we should slowly stop distrusting each other and act instead." He addressed these words particularly to Iasa.
Ken looked at her too. He still felt her reluctance. "He's right," he told her.
She bit her lips angrily. Then she finally put her knife away. "Yes," she gasped. "Seems so."
"I still don't like it," Duke grumbled. "Excuse my distrust."
"There's nothing to apologize for," Iasa assured him. "After all, I still can't quite believe it myself." She turned around and turned on the holoprojector, which showed the forest with the base. "Come on, we have a plan to work out."