Kashyyyk
Vau was still, no comment, no undercurrent of superiority; it was unnerving the Wookiees. Enacca produced some water, they were struggling for supplies, having to hunt for food, which took them away from the fighting.
"So where did you see him last?" A'den asked Mefrid; he didn't look like a fighter, or a professor. He had an old fashioned whip coiled at his hip and wore that battered soft hat. He was an unknown quantity but the wookiees trusted him.
"Near the old Czerka Corporation ruins; we're using it as an arms dump. Fairly inaccessible except for the Wookiees. Your boy may have been using it as a hide at one point but I think we disturbed him."
"He didn't attempt to take you out?" Vau finally spoke.
"No." He shook his head, "didn't leave much behind either but I could see someone had been there."
"How?" A'den wanted to know.
"I'm an archaeologist. I was studying the ruins. I knew exactly what was there, and where, before we converted it."
"So why aren't you with the Empire? They like humans." A'den pushed, as diplomatically as he could.
Mefrid sipped his water, the Wookiees turned to him watching carefully.
"My husband is non human." He adjusted the soft hat he wore. "They have him. Enslaved with Wookiees. He's not a fighter or a labourer. He's an anthropologist. They have him pulling carts, working with little or no rations. It's killing him. Slowly."
"How's my boy? Is he injured?" Vau asked.
"He looked good, considering. Nobody escapes injury here. But he's a survivor."
"I made him one."
"Well, you did a good job. He's pissing off Tolruk so much, that there's a price on his head."
"Price?" Asked A'den.
"Like I said Tolruk hunts, anything, including sentients. He prefers that and he's surrounded himself with like-minded killers. That's feeding through to the Stormtroopers. A certain kind seem to get assigned here."
"Clones?"
"Not many from what I can see. There are a few left, they seem to get the more menial or dangerous duties. Ones they probably won't come back from."
"Not the fighting they're used to." Muttered A'den, shaking his head. Not just Sev byt then there's the chips.
Enacca handed around some roast meat; A'den accepted his, not asking what it was. He learned from previous experience on Gaftikar and other places, and neither did anyone else.
Vau ate, chewing slowly, finally he swallowed.
"I want to see where he's been."
Mefrid turned to Enacca. "Tomorrow! First light. It's a way."
Vau nodded. "Then the Garrison."
.
Kyrimorut.
Jaing had already started trying to dismantle the droid, when she arrived.
"Kriffing thing," he cursed. "It's locked down tight. Can't find any way to start it up— yet. It may be like your datapad."
"I thought you were the genius slicer?" She said, teasing him.
"Got to get in it, to slice it." he muttered.
She walked around the remains of the droid, studying the scorch marks on it.
"The Empire?" She asked, pointing to them.
"Coric said so."
The thought of Coric unnerved her; they had spent all that time in the Hunting Lodge, just the two of them after escaping the Empire; her hand went to her side, the scar from a blaster bolt, Mij said, Coric treated her, helped her survive.
We must have been close. She thought. They went all the way back to Coruscant and yet she had been drawn to A'den. She turned back to the droid, not wanting to dwell on that thought.
"It looks vaguely familiar, but it's not the same as the one I had as a child."
"Probably repurposed several times." he muttered from the region of its power core.
"I suppose so."
"How did you switch him on?"
"I didn't. He was on all the time, he was my caregiver."
"Oh. I thought you had a Mother."
"I did. But there was just the two of us; she had to work."
"Father?"
"He was around, a little, I think, at the beginning, but I can't remember him."
"Oh. So the droid was on all the time."
"Yes. I don't remember him being turned off."
"Mmm." Jaing was fascinated with it. "Might have to get TK0 and Gaib onto it."
She frowned at him.
"Sub contractors." He explained.
Ryssa reached out and touched its head, "Coric said it protected me inside the Empire?"
"Huh uh."
"And I refused to leave it behind?"
"HuHuh"
She shook her head, "I hate droids. They killed my mother."
"Not this one." He answered. "Perhaps you should talk to Coric. He could fill you in a little more."
"I said I wanted to remember things myself."
"It's not working, is it? L'leth wants to see you as well. You should visit."
"Yes. I should." She'd been putting it off, being so wrapped up with A'den. "Is there anything she would like? I don't want go empty handed."
"Just yourself. She'd be so happy."
"Ow!" She moved her hand quickly away from the droid.
"What? I never touched you." Jaing protested.
"I just got a shock from it."
"You sure?"
"I know what a shock is." She glared at him.
Jaing carefully tested the energy pack.
"Still seems dead."
She reached out, touched it again and pulled her hand away, wincing.
"So it recognises you." Decided Jaing.
Ryssa looked at it sceptically, "I'm not sure that's a good thing, if it gives me a shock like that."
"I've got a few other things to try but might still have to outsource it." He grinned, "And don't worry, A'den will be fine. Vau's a hard shabuir and my vod's one of the best. I should know, I'm one of the others. But better looking, no wrinkles."
She rolled her eyes, "Is it that obvious?" She smiled, he was trying to cheer her up.
"Yes. Chin up." He lifted her chin up with his forefinger.
.
Kashyyyk
A'den pulled on his buy'ce; they had come to find Sev but instead of laying low he was fighting his own one man battle against the Empire and was a target, that made this much more difficult.
His thoughts went to Ryssa, wishing he was with her; he didn't want her struggling, he understoodsome still didn't trust her but he had given his word to Vau. He headed to the platform for some food, rations were so bad here, he was hungry again.
They were travelling at ground level again, apparently there were a few patrols around, scanning the tree tops. The cover was better below the tree canopy..
Enacca and one of the Wookiees led the group. "Where exactly are we going now?" He asked.
"Czerca Corporation building where he left his remains. We drop off some more ordnance there. Then we can take a look at the Garrison."
He stepped over a dead animal. One of the Wookiees behind him, kicked it out of the way, growling.
It wasn't something they could eat; A'den was getting better at the language. He still learnt things quickly but felt distinctly uncomfortable relying on people he met only a few hours ago.
The sweat ran down the the middle of his back, his flight suit and armour struggling with the heat, humidity and the exertion he was putting on it. It recycled but was struggling today. He would have to make some adjustments, he wondered if Vau was having the same problems. He had not said much since they found out about the Empire hunting Sev.
One of the Wookiees raised their hands signalling a stop; the next moment they were up in the trees again. A'den wished he could use his jet pack, instead of being pulled up everytime.
They walked through the the paths intertwined among the top growth, the sound of machines, humming in the distance increased in volume, when suddenly the forest opened up and sunlight flooded in. A'den's visor darkened to accommodate it. He looked down into what appeared to be a valley but not a natural one.
Enacca spoke, there was sadness in her tone; he understood better now what she was saying, he had become attuned to the language.
"Before the War, this was all woodland but first they —the Republic— harvested the mineral deposits clinging to the fungal nodes on wroshyr trees." She pointed to the mushroom shapes between the branches. "These contain wroshite, a hard flinty crystal, used in the manufacture of beam weapons."
She looked out along the Valley, "That was fine, the trees still grew, more fungus grew. Now the Empire wants both. And more and more of each. Soon they will all be gone unless we fight."
In the valley, there were gangs of Wookiees, interspersed with a few other species but mainly Wookiees; A'den magnified the image, all had collars on. A couple tried to break away, he watched as they ran, powerless to do anything - they didn't get far, dropping to the ground just before reaching the perimeter. The guards let them get that far before activating the collars.
Something had to be done about the Empire.
They couldn't ignore this, despite what Kal said.
Enacca nudged him pointing into the distance, there was a green hue to the cleared ground.
"What are they growing?" he growled.
"Not sure of the name but it's to supply the army. Some of the rescued slaves had worked on it and overheard the Imperials in charge. They say it takes all the nutrients out of the soil, so nothing will grow there again, not for a generation, a Wookiee generation."
"Shab!" Muttered Vau, "They're killing the planet."
"Then there's those." Enacca pointed to the Imperial building built into the side of the mountain. A Transport ship had just landed on the top. A'den magnified his image again.
"Zygerrians." He scanned the area around the landing platform. "Vau!"
"I'm seeing."
They watched unable to help from this point, as Wookiee after Wookiee was led, chained and collared, to the transport.
"Enslaved." He muttered. It was a reminder of the feudal Society Vau left, as a young man. Sev didn't deserve this, he didn't train them to survive for this. he had to get him out before he was led into one of those ships or worse.
A'den saw Vau was itching to get moving but it was slow going in this heat and terrain. And now there was another problem.
"You humans need to get clean." Said Enacca. Vau raised an eyebrow at that.
"It's a little difficult to do that around here, my dear." He replied, in his best patrician voice, the one that A'den recognised.
"The humans stink." One of the Wookiees said, there was growled agreements from the others.
"Can't argue with that but there's no showers or sonics around here." A'den replied.
"We would have to return to my ship." Vau pointed out, "and that would waste time. Why is our refresher habits so important?"
"Ah but there is. We had one made. The Wookiees, especially the young ones can smell you, smell any being who is not one of their family and they get agitated. That warns the Troopers and guards and we'll be caught sooner rather than later."
A'den and Vau looked at each other, "Sev…"
"Not sure how your wild man managed so long, avoiding them."
"As I said before, I trained him to survive and he was one of the best. But if that is what is required, where do we go?".
"It's rudimentary but does the job. Then you mix in with the Wookiees, their scent will cover you for a while but it still won't give you much time."
"Let's get to it then." A'den wanted to spend the least amount of time on this planet, that he had to, needing to get back to Ryssa.
"This way then." Mefrid indicated the way, and headed through the trees towards what appeared to be a clearing, with an intricate puzzle of pipes. That was where the similarity to a normal shower ended. No cubicles simply rudimentary overhead sprinklers.
"The sooner we do it, the sooner we look for him." Mefrid started stripping.
A'den looked to Vau who was removing his plates; he followed quickly, piling them up in the corner of the platform. He had not yet worked out how these refreshers would work.
Mefrid threw a pieces of something slimy to them both. A'den caught it, twice.
"Soap. Doesn't smell very good it but it will help to disguise your natural smell."
The water started dropping, not too fast and it was surprisingly warm; he scrubbed at his body, he really did smell bad. He turned around to see Vau's thin body next to him doing the same. He had never thought what he looked like other than he was still strong and that was born out by what he saw. Muscular, whip thin and covered in scars, especially his back. Old scars, years old. He had heard the stories of the old chakaar's Father and why he left his planet, ending up on Mandalore. A'den stared at the numerous white lines, blaster scars and burns, criss crossing his body; more than he had seen on any clone.
Vau turned and faced him, "Impressive selection aren't they." There were more on his chest and stomach, "All courtesy of the Count of Gesl. Can't call him father anymore, he's disowned me, although he wasn't aware but that was years after I disowned him."
"I heard what Kal said about him."
"All true. He was a great believer in spare the rod, spoil the child, or in his case spare the rod, whip, stick and finally sword. From the age of six."
It seemed to A'den that sometimes having a Father was not always the best option; they could still do things to your head and that had worked well on Vau. But eventually he had found the Mandalorians; even now A'den thought he was still taking his revenge on his father.
Mefrid had stopped washing, overhearing this. "Count of Gesl, that's an old noble family, isn't it."
"Noble isn't a word that I would use to describe my Father, or any of my ancestors." He continued scrubbing unselfconsciously.
"I noticed your band on your wrist. Irmenu gold design, antique isn't it?" Mefrid continued.
"Reminds me of what I left behind." Vau answered.
A'den stared at it; he had seen that pattern before. Around Ryssa's neck. He remembered everything. He finished his own shower.
.
Kyrimorut
Ryssa watered the seedling in the plant pot; tiny buds were beginning to grow. It was from the blossom that Den had given her; she had noticed it had tiny roots after the blossom had dropped. She was hoping now it was planted in soil that it would continue to grow. She packed her bag ready to set off for Rav's. Jaing was walking with her to go and see L'leth and Casey, even though she could not remember them. She had her datapad ready to take with her to help.
She commandeered part of the kitchen for an hour and made Warra Nut cookies. Ordo confirmed they were good, he pinched six before she managed to rap his knuckles with a wooden spoon; he grinned. She found the recipe on her datapad and following Laseema's advice upped the recipe to almost industrial proportions. Must be a foolproof one, she didn't remember doing much cooking before and didn't want to go empty handed to Rav's but she had nothing else. And they smelt good.
"You ready?" Jaing's voice came from the door.
"Yeah." She sat down to pull on her boots, the only other footwear she had were soft indoor shoes. A'den had wanted to take her into town to get boots, cetare, that fit well.
"You're not wearing those are you?"
"Yes, what's wrong with them?"
"Holes, vod'ika, holes."
She frowned, pulled one off and looked, "Shit! Oh well. Let's hope it's not wet out there."
He shook his head, "We need a trip into town to get some for you. Unless one of the other ladies have a spare pair that fits."
"Keldabe?" She asked, it was the nearest Imperial Garrison. "Is there nowhere else?"
"There's Enceri. It's closer, I suppose you may get something there. Although probably not much choice."
"I don't care so long as they fit and don't hurt. Nothing worse than ill fitting boots."
"Very Mando."
"No. I just spent a long time on my feet when I was training and hospitals always have long corridors. Long, long corridors."
"Okay. Tomorrow then. Mer'ika can take you and some others may need things. We'll get you some armour, so you don't have to show your face. Although Enceri doesn't have a garrison."
.
Rav's Homestead.
It didn't take long to walk and it was fine but there were parts of the path that were still wet and by the time they reached Rav's her feet were cold and wet, despite two pairs of socks. L'leth and Casey were standing there to meet them, together with the ubiquitous member of Yayax squad, Dev; Jaing thought there was an element of possession in his stance.
Jaing frowned, then plastered a smile on his face, he was here for Ryssa not L'leth but it was still good to see her.
Casey came running out towards him, and skidded to a halt, when he saw Ryssa. She smiled at him.
"Su'cuy." He said, watching her closely.
"Su'cuy." She answered as Jaing lifted the child up and swung him around, until he was full of giggles. L'leth came out and she thought they were going to hug but then both put distance between them. Ryssa watched them, A'den was right they looked good together. They looked right together.
As she watched L'leth, there was no recognition, although she did feel comfortable with her and Casey; he was such a lovely little boy, a real live wire. He had his father's nose and eyes, a clone's.
"Ryssa, come in. Shig?"
"Yes Thank you. I brought these."
"Cookies. The boys will love those. Come on let's get in from the cold. Rav's waiting to see you too."
Ryssa swallowed, Rav Bralor, she sounded formidable; a Mandalorian female warrior, who spent ten years on Kamino training little commandos, and years later, those same commandos deserted for her. That was loyalty. A'den said even Kal was scared of her, and she was sure he wasn't joking.
"Boots off!" a female voice shouted, from inside. Ryssa practically jumped to attention, as L'leth produced some furry indoor shoes for her. Ryssa also pulled her socks off they were sodden. They went through and you could immediately see it was smaller than Kal's but similar layout. L'leth led them to the large seating area and Dev brought out the shig. He was very quiet but he smiled a lot, especially to L'leth but not to Jaing.
"Thanks for the cookies. Ordo likes them so they must be good. Jaing tells me you need some new boots." Dev lifted them up, "Ah, I can see. We're going into Enceri in a couple of days. You're welcome to join us, if you can cope with Tay'haai. We're meeting him there."
"I'd love to. I haven't been anywhere else, not that I remember."
She looked at Jaing, "You said Mereel wants to go too."
"Yeah. We could have a shopping trip. See if anyone else needs anything."
Rav shook her head wondering where he got the idea of a 'shopping trip' from, perhaps Laseema or Besany.
"Let's have a look at that datapad, Ad'ika, see if we can get that memory going." Rav instructed her.
She still couldn't get used to people calling her Ad'ika — child. She felt ancient, but she dutifully brought out the datapad and opened up the holo images; it went quiet, as she scrolled through them showing a galaxy that had ended.
"There we are," pointed L'leth, "I sent those to you not long after Casey was born and you kept them." L'leth was beaming.
"A'den tells me I had a soft spot for Hardcase; he did too. They met on Malastare; I've looked it up, the battle that started the Zillo beast problem on Coruscant.
L'leth looked down and even Rav, looked a bit sheepish. Jaing looked away.
"Have you met my niece and Fi yet?" Rav asked changing the subject too quickly for Ryssa's liking.
"Did something happen with the Zillo beast?" She had to ask.
.