Disclaimer: Lucasfilm, Bioware, Disney, et al. and whoever they sell the rights to next own Star Wars and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I write this for fun and not for any monetary gain.
Chapter 18: A Wookiee Confrontation
Kashyyyk was not far from Manaan. In only a few hours, the Ebon Hawk—or the Lucid Lynx, as far as the rest of the galaxy was concerned—arrived at its destination. The crew slowly descended into the vast jungles in darkness, lit only by the stars, landing in a Czerka spaceport. Revan chose the location based on proximity to the Star Map as he remembered it, despite his intense dislike for the slave-trading corporation. Once they landed, he gathered the crew in the main hold for a quick meeting.
"We are going to have to make a decision on who goes and who stays to guard the ship," he told the assembled crew. "I think it's fair to say that Bastila and I will be going to find the Star Map."
Mission was quick to voice her opinion. "I think Big Z should go. He knows this planet better than anyone."
Zaalbar started growling, "Kashyyyk, my home. I don't know if I am prepared to be here, to be honest."
"What do you mean, Big Z?" the Twi'lek girl asked.
"I didn't leave Kashyyyk voluntarily. I told Mission how I was fleeing slavers... but there was more. I am an exile. The slavers on Kashyyyk only took me after I was forced to leave my village home… 20 years ago," he paused, refusing to go further.
"So why were you forced to leave?" Revan encouraged him to continue.
Zaalbar reluctantly continued, "My brother made deals with the slavers and allowed them to get a foothold. I found out and attacked him. The fight was stopped, but my father did not believe me when I told him about my brother's actions." He sounded much more sombre as he continued, "I was made an exile, disowned by my home and people. I should not be here. They will not accept me back."
"Why didn't your father believe you?" Bastila asked with a hint of anger.
The Wookiee responded shamefully, "When I attacked my brother… I was so mad… I used my claws. You don't understand what that means to a Wookiee. Our claws are tools, not weapons. To use them in battle is to become an animal. It is madness without honour. I am forever a madclaw in the eyes of my people. Nothing I say is to be trusted. They were right to cast me out."
"Don't be so harsh on yourself," the Sith Lord tried to cheer the Wookiee up. "When the truth comes out, they'll see you were right all along."
"I don't think my people forgive easily," Zaalbar disagreed. "We hold to our traditions, and they say I must not be trusted. I doubt my people learned the truth either. The slavers are still here, and this dock belongs to them. It will be difficult, I think, but I don't know."
"I still think you should go. Things won't get any better if you don't go, Big Z," Mission noted.
"It could also get worse," the Wookiee countered, "but I am willing to try. I don't think too many of us should go, however. My people don't like outsiders. It will not look good if I brought a whole band of you."
"So I guess only me, Bastila and Zaalbar are going then?" Revan proposed.
"Are we going to stay on this ship for however many days it takes for you to find the Star Map?" Canderous asked with a bit of annoyance.
"It should be fine for you to go around the Czerka landing port, play pazaak, or whatever. What we want to avoid is going outside the spaceport," the Sith explained.
"Hope something exciting happens up here," the Mandalorian muttered, not realizing he was tempting fate.
The rest of the crew agreed without argument—save for HK-47, who was greatly saddened by the loss of the opportunity for slaughter and mayhem. They quickly packed supplies for the expected journey ahead, while the Sith couple donned a quick disguise on their faces with the Force.
As they exited the ship, they were confronted by an Ithorian, whose name tag showed "Janos Wertka." He greeted them, "Greetings to you. Err... while I am pleased to welcome you to Edean, I do not see your ship on my docking schedule. The Czerka Corporation will see to your needs, of course, but there will be a 100 credit docking fee. In advance, I fear."
Revan nonchalantly waved his hand and intoned, "I don't need to pay the docking fee."
"Perhaps you don't need to pay the docking fee," the Ithorian said in a daze. "I see you have a Wookiee with you. Can I assume you understand their language? For a fee, Czerka Corporation can provide a translator for you during your visit."
The Sith Lord was somewhat impressed by Janos's persistence in trying to get credits out of his pocket, but he politely refused, "That will not be necessary."
"Very well," the Ithorian looked disappointed. "If you change your mind, we will still be happy to assist. Please, follow me to our information centre."
From Zaalbar's account, the slavers had to have been here the last time you were here, Bastila observed on the way to the Czerka information centre.
Yes, they were, but Malak and I couldn't just move openly against Czerka's entire operation by ourselves, her Master explained. I landed in a different outpost and all the other nearby Wookiee villages were selling their own, so I had no local allies either. We had to settle for more covert means of resistance and avoid enriching Czerka when possible.
I suppose that's understandable, she agreed. Couldn't you have moved against them with the might of the Star Forge though?
That would have won us the battle but lost us the war, he noted with regret. With the Star Forge, we could have trashed Czerka and liberated the Wookiees by force. And then what? Kashyyyk was indefensible on its own, and far from the base I'd built in the Outer Rim. The Republic would undoubtedly intervene against us. And Czerka would most certainly take such a direct attack on their own operations as a declaration of war.
What can a corporation do against a government? she wondered.
Don't underestimate their power, Bastila. Galactic conglomerates, such as Czerka, have absolute strangleholds over multiple key industries with their everlasting patents. It's impossible to avoid dealing with them. Alternative suppliers don't exist and it'd take years to get all the supply chains set up, even if we were to ignore their patents. If they had a full embargo against my empire and used their full power to prop up the Republic, it'd be almost impossible to wage this war. We had to exploit their greed to get them to hedge their bets with us, even if we avoided Czerka as much as possible when there were other alternatives.
That's terrible, his apprentice decided. Is there nothing we can do?
If the Wookiees were willing to rise up and fight, I could covertly support them. But I haven't seen any of that, he recalled, shaking his head in bitter disappointment. My plan was to annex this planet into my empire and declare the Wookiees as full citizens. Czerka would have been a bit upset at me, but at least I could say I was just enforcing the law and it was nothing personal. Unfortunately, that was derailed by Malak's betrayal…
What can we do in the long run though? the apprentice asked, desperately hoping for something. How can we bring about our vision of a free galaxy with all these massive corporations trying to do the opposite?
When the Republic is conquered, the full might of our empire can be used to break their everlasting patents and shatter these galactic conglomerates into more reasonably-sized enterprises in competition. Until then, we have to rely on proxy wars and legal excuses… he sighed.
I can't wait for that day to happen, Master, the apprentice declared.
As they continued on, they ran across two humans running a store.
"So, new spacers have come to wild Kashyyyk?" one of them started. "Please, look well upon the wares of Eli Gand. I live to serve your needs."
The other man interrupted, "Just be sure to pay in cash. The interest on his loans will drain you like a Deluvian fatworm on a Hutt's backside."
The first man, whose name was apparently Eli Gand, protested the comparison. "First off, Hutts are all backside. Secondly, I don't much like the comparison. No need to get personal. It's just business. Poor Matton Dasol, he's been waiting for his friends to return with my money for a standard month now." Turning back to business, he continued, "Ah, but you don't need to hear of this. What can I get you?"
"Do you always enslave your debtors?" Revan asked with a hint of disgust.
"Enslave? I resent that!" Eli protested. "Simply fair business. This man's fellows left without settling their debts, so he must make up the difference."
Matton tried to defuse the situation. "I know, I know, it's standard trading rules. I just want to know where my crew went. I was only gone for two days. This isn't like them."
"Yes, very sad that they would abandon you, especially while you were doing me a favour and helping repair one of my freighters," the shop owner said somewhat insincerely. "You think you know someone, and they turn out to be a cheat. Oh, not like you, Matton. You honour your deals. A word is a bond in trade."
"An honest man and a good mechanic. Seems like you got a good deal," Bastila commented. Something smells fishy, she commented to her Master.
"You'll get your money. My crew will be back," Matton declared with conviction.
"Of course, they will," Eli said as if he didn't believe it. "Until then, however, I can make use of you as a mechanic. Very rare to find skills of your kind out here," he commented rather smugly.
"Well, we'll be sure to come by if we need anything," the Sith Master stated and quickly left. Yes, Eli is probably cheating Matton somehow, he confirmed to his apprentice.
Meeting Janos in the information centre, Revan started asking questions. "So can you tell me about Kashyyyk?"
"I am not sure what you are talking about. You are on planet G5-623, which is the numerical designation. The galactic Basic name is 'Edean,' chosen by corporate ballot among stockholders," the Ithorian explained.
Ahh yes, I forgot they tried to rename this planet… the Sith thought to himself. As if corporations or their shareholders have any right…
"It would seem you are already acquainted with this world, given your choice of travelling companion," the Ithorian continued.
Zaalbar growled, "I have been away for a very long time." It was doubtful if any Czerka employee actually understood his words.
"You let the beast speak for you?" Janos asked, surprised. "You allow it more liberties than most of our customers."
The Sith sent him a death glare that frightened him rather badly. "Zaalbar here is not a slave. He follows because of a life debt."
"Ah, a Wookiee life debt, a very difficult thing to stage," the Czerka representative commented, trying to defuse the situation. Zaalbar let out a terrifying growl at the insinuation, and the Ithorian flinched. He instantly tried to backpedal, but his next words only made Revan angrier. "Much better than relying on restraining collars like you do with your slave girl." It seemed that she'd lost the illusion on her collar moments ago. She most likely was angered by the treatment of Zaalbar, as attested by her turbulent anger in the Force. Her features shifted also, but the Ithorian thought he had simply imagined it, never quite mastering the art of human facial recognition, instead relying on clothing.
Revan's temper boiled over this attitude. Treating the life debt as a form of slavery and equating him to a slaver was bad enough, especially one who tricked the Wookiee into swearing it. He had won Zaalbar's loyalty fair and square. However, what really offended him was the comment about Bastila's collar. To them, a collar was a representation of the ultimate trust that existed between a dom and a sub, or in their case, a master and a willing slave. The very idea of putting such a collar onto another sentient being by force… to pervert their beautiful symbol of love and trust into a device of subjugation… was beyond offensive to them. Combined with the maddening thought of not being able to intervene all these years, it was truly upsetting. If he had been less angry, he might have tried to keep a low profile here, but right now he just needed to unleash his anger, throwing caution to the wind.
"Disgusting slaver!" the Sith shouted, fully enraged. "She's my girlfriend!"
"I am sorry for offending—" the Ithorian started before the Dark Lord interrupted him.
"You've enslaved so many Wookiees that it doesn't matter to you, does it? It's all the same to you now," he raged. "Tell me, why do you deserve to live another day?"
"I am merely a servant of the corporation!" the Czerka representative protested. "The Wookiee leadership is in agreement! Harvesting is made as delicate as possible!"
Bastila was embarrassed that she lost control over the illusion on her collar. In her defence, the way Janos had treated Zaalbar was outrageous and she'd let her illusion slip in the moment. She quickly put the illusion back on and tried to keep her blush under control. She blushed harder when her Master defended her honour. When it felt like he was going to snap, she intervened, trying to prevent a further escalation, even though she too was very angry. She sent out an order with the Force, "You wish to tell us more about this arrangement."
"We supply arms in exchange for a supply of healthy Wookiees. We are kept profitable and an agreeable leader is kept in power. It keeps the process from becoming a constant firefight," Janos explained emotionlessly.
"And who might this leader be?" Revan asked dangerously.
"I believe his name is Chuundar," the Czerka representative answered. Shuddering, he continued, "I don't deal directly with them, thank goodness. Far too brutish."
Zaalbar growled angrily, "That is not a name I want to hear again."
"Why not?" Revan asked.
"This is not something I want to talk about," Zaalbar answered. "Not yet."
With his anger unleashed, he realized that antagonizing Czerka might not have been the best move in the long run, especially given their stranglehold in key industries. Well, he just had to pin the blame on someone else… "As a Jedi, I am afraid I can not allow your operations to continue, slaver," the Sith continued menacingly, flashing his lightsaber as he spoke. With luck, Czerka would stop supporting the Republic, but that was just a pipe dream.
"It's not up to you," the Ithorian protested. "This planet is not a member of the Republic, and its backward citizens hold no rights. I'm sorry you are offended, but this operation is very humane. Even the Wookiee leadership knows it is more beneficial to work with us." After a moment, he continued, "Besides, even if you did do something drastic here, the Czerka Corporation has other outposts on Edean. It would change nothing."
"I am done speaking with you. Let's go." The Sith gave the Czerka representative a final glare before leaving. I am going to make you eat your words once I conquer the Republic and can bring my full might onto you…
A few minutes later, they ended up near a gate. A Czerka guard challenged the party as they approached.
"Hold there, spacer. Czerka Corporation doesn't recommend travelling in wild Edean," he stated.
Revan glared at him with glowing yellow eyes. "You want to get the hell out of my way," he ordered.
The guards stepped aside immediately and let them pass. The Sith Lord did not even use the Force. His anger and unnaturally glowing eyes were sufficient.
After walking some distance, they noticed three Czerka guards standing near a dead Wookiee. As they approached, they could hear the three men discussing in panic.
"This isn't good. I can't afford this!" one of the men shouted.
"You think I can?" another man asked back angrily. "Do you know what they get for a healthy one of these things?"
"We'll work this out later. We've got company," the last man said before turning to the approaching party. He tried to intimidate them. "What do you want, spacer? I'm Patrol Captain Dehno and you're interrupting Czerka Corporation business."
Suspecting nothing good has happened, Revan asked with a glare, "What happened here?" His eyes still had a yellow tinge to them.
"This Wookiee slave got a little... rebellious," the captain said completely unapologetically. "We had to put it down."
"You mean you murdered him?" Bastila interjected. The treatment of Wookiees as animals instead of sentient beings offended her greatly, and her eyes were turning yellow as she spoke.
One of the guards answered her pompously, "That's right! We had to kill it and it shouldn't come out of our pay!"
Zaalbar growled angrily, "You 'had to kill it?' We are not animals!"
The other guard responded with a threat, "Careful now... that growl sounded pretty threatening. Keep your slave on its leash or we'll have another accident."
"Any last words before your execution?" the Sith Lord asked coldly, unwilling to deal with these murderers any longer. He surreptitiously applied a shield against blaster fire to deal with any returning fire, just in case.
"What the hell?" the captain shouted. "Blasters ready, men! This fool wants to die!"
Revan silenced the captain with a Force choke, lifting him into the air. Zaalbar quickly advanced, ripping an arm off one of the slavers as if he was an insect, before throttling the unapologetic murderer to death. The other guard tried to fire his blaster at the rampaging Wookiee, but he was already writhing and screaming under Bastila's Force Lightning before he could pull the trigger. When the screams ended, the Sith Lord dropped the lifeless body of the guard captain to the ground, completing the execution of the three murderers.
"That felt good," Zaalbar growled. "If only more of us would fight…"
"I swear, Zaalbar, Kashyyyk will be free one day," Revan promised. "We will see what we can do this time, but I guarantee you, once we take back the Star Forge and kill Malak, we will wipe such depravity from the face of this galaxy!"
"And I will stand by your side every step of the way, Master," Bastila added proudly.
As the Wookiee took a step down the walkway, the Sith Lord remained still. "I can feel your doubt and it's quite distracting," he announced to the air.
"What's he talking about?" Zaalbar growled in curiosity.
"Juhani is spying on us," Bastila explained, annoyed. "Show yourself and say what you are dying to say." She was rather displeased by the Cathar, who had stalked her the whole time while she searched for a hotel for her mother. In fact, she had stalked the Sith couple when they initially set foot on Manaan and raced ahead of Bastila when the latter returned to the ship to pick up her mother, pretending she had been there the whole time.
Realizing she was caught, Juhani revealed herself. "I want to see for myself how you are handling things on our mission, see whether you are as good as you claim to be," she confessed. "And I am struggling to decide whether those guards deserved death or not, especially a painful one. A part of me thinks all slavers deserve death, but that's also against what I've been taught…"
"The Jedi's inaction is what allows slavery to flourish," Revan stated simply. "These slavers were caught red-handed murdering a sentient, and the punishment for that is death under the laws of the Republic and the Sith Empire. They deserved nothing less."
"I know… And yet, they were regretful, weren't they?" the Cathar observed. "I could feel it in the Force… Perhaps in time, they could have repented? I don't know…"
"The slavers were regretful, yes, but not for the reason you think," Bastila explained. "Through the Force, you can sense emotions, but not necessarily why they feel them. I met a scammer on Tatooine who pretended to be a poor widow desperate for money to get her children off the planet. I sensed fear and desperation from her, but in the end, she feared getting caught in her lies and was desperate for us to believe them."
"Precisely. The Force speaks the truth, but the truth can also be misleading," the Dark Lord confirmed. "The Jedi say to trust in the Force, even over our other senses, but that is foolish. If you heard their words, you'd know their regret was not for the sentient life they took, but for the credits they'd have to pay for destroying the 'merchandise' they were transporting. A wise person uses all their senses, not just the Force."
"Exactly," she agreed. Her Master really summed it up nicely with that maxim.
Meanwhile, Juhani thought back to what the slavers said before their execution: "This isn't good. I can't afford this!" "That's right! We had to kill it and it shouldn't come out of our pay!" That hardly sounded like they regretted killing the Wookiee, or even respected the life they had taken as sentient. "I think you have a point," she admitted at last. "Perhaps it was foolish of me to blindly trust the Force. Still, is taking a life truly the right thing to do? To pay for blood with more blood? I know it's not the Jedi way, but I don't know what's right anymore…"
"What would you have us do, Juhani?" Bastila asked. "They were murderers! They had to be punished. And we don't exactly have the means to imprison them."
"Perhaps we could make them pay a fine to the victim's family?" the Cathar suggested, thinking about what the Jedi might do.
"Are you serious?" Zaalbar growled. "Is that all a Wookiee life is worth to you? A bunch of credits? You are no different than Czerka in this regard!"
"If Xor paid you a bunch of credits, would you feel justice was served for your father's death?" Bastila inquired.
"Definitely not," Juhani decided. "But I don't know if I did the right thing, killing Xor in anger… Our personal feelings shouldn't come before more important things like deterring crimes, shouldn't it?"
"Do you really think money will deter crime?" the Dark Lord questioned. "Doesn't that just teach you that you can buy anyone's death if you had enough credits? It's effectively paying a fee for killing. Besides, Czerka was already going to punish those slavers monetarily."
"Maybe… we could use the Force to persuade them to transfer off the planet and to never do such a thing again?" she proposed uncertainly.
"No way are we ever doing that!" the Sith apprentice rejected vehemently. "No way are we messing with the minds of sentients! No way are we subverting their free will!"
"Why not? It's for their own good, no?" the Cathar wondered, feeling totally confused as she stared into those grey eyes that were acquiring a yellow tinge as they spoke.
"How dare you?" Bastila hissed. She still couldn't quite forgive herself for her role in her Master's mind-wipe. She could never forgive the Jedi Council for the heinous crime itself.
The Dark Lord cut in at this point. "Remember what the Jedi did to me, Juhani! That's what they'd say too, if we asked why they raped my mind and tried to turn me into their puppet. The idea of having my free will stolen and being forced to follow someone's else's ideals is simply abhorrent! I would much prefer to die as myself instead of being turned into someone I am not!" he declared.
"I am sorry," she apologized and backed down immediately. "Forget what I said. I suppose there's no way around executing these men then."
"No, there isn't," the Dark Lord agreed. "Now, Juhani, please do us all a favour and return to the ship. We don't exactly have supplies for you to camp out in the Shadowlands while we search for the Star Map."
"I am sorry," she apologized again. "I really didn't think this through." And she disappeared from view.
The remaining trio continued their journey, dealing with the many forest kinraths, mykals, and katarns as they marched forward. The Sith duo unleashed their anger at the slavers on those violent creatures. Their path was littered with lifeless bodies of such creatures, either drained of life, or burnt beyond recognition with Force Lightning.
"So how did you get the Star Map the last time?" Bastila asked as they were on their way.
"A few years ago, Czerka was sending a ridiculous amount of expeditions to the Shadowlands, searching for treasure. I posed as an adventurer and convinced them to allow me and Malak to head an expedition down there," the Sith Lord explained. "That was a very unpleasant experience, seeing Czerka's 'delicate' operations firsthand. It was no better than what we just saw, but to avoid drawing attention, I did not act openly." Lowering his voice, he continued, "I can't guarantee the slavers did not suffer unfortunate and completely unforeseeable accidents, however."
"Mind telling me more?" the apprentice asked.
"Let's just say that every member of my expedition that bragged about their murders and other outright cruel acts suffered very regrettable and unfortunate accidents in the Shadowlands," Revan commented impishly, filling Bastila's mind with images of various vicious monsters devouring slavers, including a legendary terentatek. "And every Wookiee in chains I walked past somehow managed to break free and kill all the slavers before escaping."
"That's very unfortunate indeed," she agreed with a smirk.
Soon, they saw a camp with a few Dark Jedi, who did not immediately react due to their disguise. Nevertheless, seeing what sparing the Dark Jedi did on Tatooine, he decided to move against them. However, surprise was paramount, since if any sign of distress reached Malak, he'd undoubtedly send reinforcements. So while the Dark Jedi were distracted, the Sith Lord channelled the Force, and with a sudden attack, paralyzed the three enemies with insanity. He intended to make it look like they died from their wounds after fighting wild animals. However, Zaalbar would undoubtedly object to acting like a madclaw, so the Sith drained the lives of the Dark Jedi instead. He then ran down the walkway and lured a few mykals and katarns around, and with the Force, forced them to rip apart the corpses. When that was done, he blasted the animals with Force Lightning, completing the scene.
A while later, they came upon a fork in the road, one branch of which was guarded by a group of Wookiees.
One of them growled angrily, "You are not permitted to pass into the Shadowlands! Only Chuundar may allow you entry!"
Another of them continued, "Especially when you bring filth such as this with you. The madclaw has no place here!"
Zaalbar growled back equally angrily, "Who are you to question my place? You follow Chuundar into the arms of outsiders!"
"And yet you travel with outsiders yourself! Speak no more! Chuundar will decide if you are permitted to enter the Shadowlands!" the lead Wookiee growled. "Or even if you shall live." They soon surrounded the trio. Revan opted to not kill the Wookiees, and instead allowed his party to be escorted to the village to meet Chuundar.
"Step forward and address the mighty and wise Chuundar, outsider!" the leader declared pompously. "I don't often allow visitors of your kind."
"You are flanked by Czerka slavers!" Zaalbar growled back angrily. "Are they not outsiders? Or have you sold all of Kashyyyk to them!"
"Ah, my brother Zaalbar," Chuundar said in a fake friendly voice, "I've been waiting for you since Janos reported your presence to me. He has been very cooperative. Things are different now after so many years. You are a madclaw without honour, and I am the chieftain. What can you do? The village trusts me, the mighty Chuundar. Even with my brother insane and father enslaved, I rose to protect my people despite it all."
"Father was enslaved? 'Mighty Chuundar?' What are you talking about? You were the runt!" the exiled Wookiee growled back angrily.
"I am no runt!" the chieftain growled back, sounding offended. He cleared his throat, "A lot has changed, my brother. We will discuss this soon enough."
Revan interrupted at this point, seeing things going nowhere. "Is there some point to this?" he asked impatiently. "What do you want, Chuundar?"
"A simple thing," he answered. "Another Wookiee has suffered the same fate as Zaalbar, gone mad and been exiled. He now lurks the Shadowlands. More importantly, he's pestering my Czerka allies during their Shadowland expeditions. It's not good for business."
"And what do you want me to do about him?" the Sith asked.
"You want to go down to the Shadowlands, yes? I will let you go down there, if you remove him," Chuundar explained. "Now, just in case you get silly ideas, I will keep Zaalbar here until the task is done. You can flee if you want, Czerka won't let me hold you, but they don't care about Wookiees."
"You do realize it's much easier to get the job done with Zaalbar, right?" Revan tried to reason with him. It was a bit of a lie, however, since he knew the Shadowlands well enough. He had no intention of doing Chuundar's dirty work and it was not like Zaalbar had any idea where the Star Map was.
"What makes you think I want this to be easy?" the chieftain asked back nastily. "Besides, my people are trained to understand Basic, you won't need a translator."
"I'll still need a guide in the Shadowlands," the Dark Lord reasoned. "You wouldn't want me to get lost in the Shadowlands and not find the madclaw, would you? I really need the guide." He laced his words with the Force, just to be sure.
"Perhaps you do," Chuundar decided. "However, Zaalbar hasn't been around for 20 years. I doubt he'd remember the way around the Shadowlands. Rorworr, would you escort these outsiders and make sure they don't get any strange ideas?"
"Yes, chieftain," the Wookiee warrior responded.
"Is that agreeable then?" the chieftain asked.
"Fine, we will do what you want," the Sith agreed reluctantly, seeing no other option at this point that did not involve excessive violence. He doubted Zaalbar would like it if they killed a significant number of his fellow villagers during their escape.
"I am glad you are being reasonable," Chuundar growled pleasantly. "Zaalbar stays until you kill the madclaw." He motioned for Revan and Bastila to be escorted out to the lift to the Shadowlands.
Maybe I should have just killed those Chuundar followers blocking the walkway… Revan mentally complained. This is becoming a real problem. Why do I feel like we'll end up killing even more Wookiees in the end? I assign a conservative 80% chance to Chuundar reneging on the deal, requiring us to fight our way through the village anyway, leaving a trail of Wookiee corpses in our wake…
I can totally see that happening… Hopefully something will work out… Bastila replied. I don't really want a bloodbath, not when it's the blood of the Wookiees deceived by their own chieftain. But I am really tempted to say we should have done it the quick and easy way…
Sometimes, when trying to do good, you cause a greater evil… the Sith Master observed, shaking his head.
We could not have foreseen this, his apprentice noted. I don't think we did the wrong thing—that would have been trying to do "good" while knowing the outcome is likely a greater evil.
You are right, of course, he agreed. It was only in hindsight that the likely outcome became clear.
And now we are saddled with one of Chuundar's agents, which will just make our lives so much worse… she complained.
"What are you two doing looking at each other?" Rorworr asked, proving Bastila's point. "You are foolish if you think you can defy Chuundar's will."
"Nothing," the Sith Lord replied. Now that they were outside of the village and alone except for their lone Wookiee escort, he simply put his arms around his love. "I just want to be close to my girlfriend."
"You outsiders are very strange," their escort noted, shaking his head. While he was distracted, Revan seized the opportunity to look into his mind. What he saw inside was horrific. As far as everyone knew, Rorworr was a great hunter, respected by all in the village. Yet, he sold his entire family into slavery so that he could inherit all their wealth. He also made a deal with Czerka to sell his fellow Wookiees into slavery by leading them onto hunting expeditions and letting Czerka kidnap them. Then, he built up his own reputation by claiming that they died from the dangers of the Shadowlands and emerged as the great hunter—surviving all the challenges while everyone else perished. He quickly shared his findings with Bastila.
We should execute Rorworr for his crimes, she noted.
We can't kill him without the village turning against us, her Master noted. None of them are going to believe outsiders over their "hero." And what would happen to Zaalbar then, bringing in people who killed him?
Bastila mentally sighed. I suppose he'd have to suffer one of those accidents in the Shadowlands that he arranged for his fellow Wookiees then…
May the Force be with us then, Revan stated. He had no idea how the Force intended to grant his wish…
A/N: Let me know what you think of the story so far.
