Chapter 81
The Darksaber slashed through skin, muscle and bone with a searing finality.
With a steady cadence of breathing, I let my body relax somewhat and lowered my blades to survey the battlefield's aftermath.
ARC troopers were emerging from cover and began to check bodies, though in many cases there weren't any bodies to mark as they'd been largely incinerated.
To one side, River dumped himself onto his backside and seemed to look disappointed that there were no more trandoshans to smash or shoot. He also looked at the Z6 rotary cannon and gave it a good shake, it had long since run out of ammo and wasn't looking in good shape as the savrip had used it as a club.
At my side, both Jinx and Chewie were scanning their surroundings, still searching for threats and targets.
I eased my hold on the Force and relaxed the blanket of Battle Meditation I had thrown over the fortress.
Anakin approached and extinguished his own blade, "Well done, Ahsoka. You as well, Padawan Zetik."
Jinx was visibly nervous and somewhat awed at the sight of Anakin. "Yes Ma- I mean, thank you, Knight Skywalker, for coming to rescue us."
Anakin nodded and then gave Chewie an assessing look.
"Master, meet Chewbacca. Chewbacca, Anakin Skywalker."
Chewie lowered his rifle and thumped his chest, "An honor to meet the one who mentored such a warrior."
Anakin was clearly amused, "Well, we don't exactly consider ourselves warriors, but I understand what you're saying, it's a pleasure to meet you. Ahsoka, just received word from R2, there are twenty ships decellerating hard to enter into a landing trajectory straight for this island."
"Given you're not being all grim and gloomy, I take it these are our wookiee reinforcements?"
"It's the only thing that fits, but they're keeping com silent," Anakin raised his palm and a holo of the ships in question appeared.
The largest of them were what I'd call a frigate and their design lineage was all over the place; Corellian, Kuat and Fondor. Someone had taken these ships, clearly intended for civilian applications and turned them into warships bristling with laser, plasma cannons and even singular spinal mounted turbolasers. It wasn't true capital ship size but I could imagine together they'd take out a Munificent or two easily.
"Those are General Tarfful's ships," Chewie confirmed.
"Good," Anakin said evenly, though I could sense he was very relieved. Putting the ARC troopers and Blades through another ground battle so soon was not ideal at all. We had lost another six troopers and a Blade, Ursa Wren had also been wounded. I could hear the medics amongst the clones were hard busy attending to the casualties over the company frequency. "We have also heard from the Clarity, they'll be in orbit within the hour."
"Any official response from the trandoshans yet?" I asked wryly.
"None, though I imagine the armed wookiee fleet in orbit of their moon will change that quickly."
Chewie growled, "Their cowardly government will be screaming in rage at both King Grakchawwaa and the Republic as soon as they can."
"Oh, they won't like the fact that you've got a fleet?" I asked in amusement.
"No, the peace in the Kashyyyk system between our planets is always resting on the edge of an orga-vine. Now that the Separatists have forced us to create a military, I can see the trandoshans running straight into their arms. The fact that they were equipped with CIS heavy fighters means it has already happened to an extent."
"A fact we'll take all the way to the Senate," Anakin declared. "Ahsoka, get everyone off that ship and into the Fortress. I've got an idea."
"I know that tone," I pointed a finger at him. "This is either going to be good and crazy."
"You'll just have to wait and see."
For all that the wookiees were relative novices in modern military ops, there was something quite awe inspiring about watching nearly a full company of big hairy, wroshyr armored warriors descend on cables from their equivalent of a big assault transport. Each one was armed with a bowcaster that was as unique to the warrior as a lightsaber was to a Jedi. They generally fired a metal quarrel that was enveloped in plasma energy, to give them enough kinetic stopping power to easily fell the many dangerous beasts on the lower levels of Kashyyyk's forests. Those weren't the only weapons they carried, as many other warriors carried Repeaters and long barreled blaster rifles on their backs, all modified to be used by wookiees.
Half of their ships had descended to hover menacingly over the island and the floating fortress, whilst the rest remained in orbit to keep the space above us secure.
Anakin, Rex, Chewbacca and myself stood outside on the fortress' outer decks and watched the spectacle unfold.
Prominently approaching us, as all the warriors dispersed across the platform to examine and secure all the dead trandoshans, was a wookiee who stood well over two meters tall. He was clad in ornate wroshyr armor over his chest, pauldrons on his broad shoulders and it was all joined by utility belts similar to the one the Chewie used. His fur was deep brown with blonde streaks radiating outward from his eyes that gave him an especially fearsome appearance.
"General Tarfful, thank you for coming," Anakin bowed his head in Jedi custom.
"Jedi General Skywalker, I see we missed the fun," Tarfful's growl-groans of Shyriiwook, rumbled from his chest and mouth like the strongest bass instrument I'd ever heard.
"These were actually their reinforcements."
Tarfful raised a hairy inquisitive brow, seemingly quite impressed, then glanced at Chewbacca. "Chewie, you wyyyschokk, how did you let these hairless reptiles catch you?"
"I was just-"
Tarfful raised a dark hand and shook a finger, "No excuses. Your father is going to rightfully tan your hide when you get back, though I think your mother will beat him to it."
I could sense poor Chewie's dread and fear at the mere thought of it.
"In any case, we're grateful you came anyway because I doubt the trandoshans are going to like what we're going to do next," Anakin said quickly.
"How can I help?" asked Tarfful immediately with a wookiee smile that would send most species of the galaxy running in the other direction.
"We need the extra hands to clear the fortress' exterior decks and some of your best people who can work in an engine room. The rest of your warriors for security and using the fortress' guns."
Tarfful looked astonished, "You sound like you want to fly this thing somewhere."
"That we do, it'll be too easy for the trandoshans to simply destroy or demolish it when we leave, but this entire place is a noose we'll hang around their necks. That's why we're going to take it into orbit and fly it to Kashyyyk."
"These things are spaceworthy, true, but it'll be slow."
"If you could perhaps use your fleet to help tow it?"
The big wookiee general thought for a moment then nodded, "Yes, could work. My ships to provide security and hopefully the trandoshan scum will try something."
"We'd like the fortress in one piece at the end of the day, general."
"The scum are hunting all over the galaxy, Skywalker, a message must be sent," Tarfful growled.
"It will."
"In a language they understand, which is not the honeyed words of a senator or politician, but rather flowing from the barrel of a bowcaster."
"If it comes down to it, we'll do so, general, but we will not be pulling the trigger first."
The big wookiee frowned at Anakin, looming over him.
"Then it will be done." Tarfful whirled around and started growling orders at his warriors as he stomped off.
"He likes you," Chewie stated.
"Yes, I sensed that. Any particular reason why?"
"Most aliens and wookiees when faced with someone of Tarfful's stature, physical and social, will back down or try to appease him. You stood up to him. That is a rare thing, General Skywalker. The king chose him for a reason."
I felt the command deck of the Ubrikkian Floating Fortress shuddering under my feet as both Chewie and I wrestled with controls that hadn't been used since the fortress had been originally been placed over the island, which according to the logs, was over twenty three years ago.
There was no yoke, column or steering arrangement, everything was done via direct operator input to the computer, which was very unintuitive and reminded me why Ubrikkian was a minor player among the starship companies of the galaxy.
Chewie handled the power distribution, shields and acceleration, whilst I had to focus on steering the ungainly fortress. It felt like I was trying to balance a bottle on the sharp end of a knife. Overcompensate in any direction and the fortress would flip over, which would've been a disaster while we were still in the atmosphere.
Anakin would've been the first choice ordinarily for something like this, but his precognitive abilities and technical talents were needed in the fortress' reactor room just to keep the power stable, so we didn't drop out of the sky.
"Chewie, more power to dorsal shields!" I shouted over the rumbling din.
We could count our lucky stars that the moon's gravity was two-thirds of standard, any higher and the old engines wouldn't have the power to escape the atmosphere at all. That atmosphere was also our biggest problem in any ascent, and we needed our shields to smoothly punch through. The probability lines where they failed was bad enough that I didn't spend more than a moment watching the exterior decks being torn off before pulling away from that future.
"Got it!" he growled back.
I next altered our ascent to avoid a nasty pocket of high altitude turbulence.
The rattling got so bad at this point I had to keep my wrists against the console panels in front of me, just so I had a stable base to press the correct buttons.
Chewie growled in anger as he fumbled a few controls and button pushes, causing the shields and power flow to yaw close to disaster. He managed after a few moments to correct it though and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good work, Chewie, we're at sixteen kilometers in the local stratosphere, things should go smoother from here."
He barely acknowledged it with an absentminded grunt, his shaggy hands whipping back and forth across the controls.
It was only when we reached forty kilometers and the mesosphere that I started to feel like we weren't in a constant 'earthquake'.
I began angling the fortress for a gravity turn, using the rotation of the moon to aid in building up enough speed for an orbit. If the thing's engines had been in better condition I could've just bulled straight through to reach that speed. A probability line showed that the engines would've failed before reaching the required velocity and we would crash back down to the moon. Now I had to do things the 'old-fashioned' way, as if I was flying a chemical rocket.
We finally reached the void of space and it felt like my body was still shaking in the aftermath. I had to spend a moment in the Force to regulate my montrals and rebalance my physical senses.
"Chewie, turn off artificial gravity, we need everything for inertial dampening and particle shielding."
The wookiee grunted and he was a massive example of zero gravity as his fur floated everywhere around him and moved in wave-like motions in response to his own movements. It was rather bizarre to look at. Anyone unprepared walking onto the deck would get a bit of a fright.
"Thank goodness that's over," Rex shook his head as he unstrapped from the commander's chair, taking the time to activate his mag boots to stick to the deck.
I was keeping a close eye on our velocity numbers as I powered the fortress into a direct escape trajectory for Kashyyyk. It was very slow going as we could only operate the engines at forty percent of what they were once rated to handle.
"General Tarfful, could really use a bit of push," I said mildly into my comlink.
The reunited wookiee fleet approached soon after, intercepting and merging with the fortress' course in a coordinated display of multiship navigation that screamed to me that there were Claatuvac Guild navigators on board those ships.
The cruising fortress was carefully approached on all sides by the largest of the ships, where invisible tractor beams latched on.
M8 was hooked into the sensors and quickly began building for me a performance profile of the wookiee ships.
The tractor beams were far from what you'd expect of any mainline Republic Venator, but with the sheer number of them latching on, it'd have enough strength to achieve what we needed.
"I'm showing good locks on my end, general. Hull stresses are within tolerance, you can begin."
The fleet around us began slowly increasing their velocity.
I could feel a slight sympathetic vibration in the deck beneath my feet, but it was stable and didn't seem to be increasing or causing any problems.
The velocity indicator began ticking over faster at a steady rate.
"M8, R2, what speed do you think our particle shielding can handle based on performance figures so far?"
R2 was plugged into the navicomputer at one side of the deck and both droids had a conversation at computer speeds before giving an answer.
"No more than 360G, mistress."
"Seven hours and twelve minutes to Kashyyyk orbit at that speed," R2 reported.
"That's an eternity to be intercepted in, who knows what else the trandoshans have to throw at us," Rex stomped over to the main sensor station. "We'd be lucky to see them with this mess or we're going to have to rely on the wookiees to be our eyes."
"R2, see if interfacing with the cargo ship can't help that."
It was currently bolted down onto the port side deck of the fortress, as the wookiees wanted to get a clear look at the stealth technology it used. The larger ship we had left behind on the island.
It didn't take the astromech more than a few minutes to patch the far more modern sensors into the displays of the command deck.
"Anything from Trandosha that looks like it's chasing us yet?" I asked.
"Normal ship traffic patterns towards the Uyter hyper point, civilian orbital traffic, nothing alarming I can see, commander," Rex reported.
I tapped my comlink, might as well at this point, since secrecy was a moot point. "Tano to Clarity, what's your ETA?"
"19 minutes, commander."
"I'm sending you our escape course, the instant you're out of hyper, match it in escort."
"Roger, commander," replied the clone captain.
"M8 give me a countdown."
In my HUD the droid intelligence displayed an arrival clock for the Clarity.
"Ahsoka."
Hearing my first name in Shyriiwook was odd and almost funny, since wookiees couldn't really form any equivalent of the 's' sound. Chewie had mostly been using 'Tano' for me up to this point. In Shyriiwook, my first name sounded like 'Ah-ooo' followed by a tongue-click, then a short 'ah'. I also had to bury my amusement at seeing his serious face surrounded by a floating mass of fur.
"Yes, Chewie?"
I was buffeted by the Force, as a major line of destiny slammed into my perceptions like a RKKV hitting a planet. It erupted from the wookiee with the force of a nova. My eyes closed as I had no choice but to weather the temporal storm. I had figured something like this was coming ever since I understood just who I had saved from the island. I had thought that this wasn't something that younger wookiees did, but clearly Chewie was old enough.
He thumped his chest twice, then crossed his arms over it. "My life was not my own and forcibly taken from me. You returned it into my hands at the risk of your own. A debt has been incurred and must be repaid. I will stand by your side forever, through all the trials that the Great Forest will throw at you. Do you accept it, Ahsoka Tano?"
He spoke in Shyriiwook, but it was very formal, with words that I had to use the Force to gain proper context for as he spoke them.
Two probability paths slammed into my mind. I couldn't explore one of them that far before the consequences became unbearable…
The current point in time stood out like a massive lighthouse, hammering down that I was truly venturing into uncharted waters.
I had thought Chewbacca's presence in the Force was a reference to his future at the side of Han Solo and the Skywalkers.
Going that far into the future with my Prescience was always a problem and felt like I was walking on a slippery, ever-shifting surface whilst looking into dozens of kaleidoscopes.
Yet now I gained the clear sense that Chewie would remain with the Skywalkers, but just through a different vector.
But what of Han?
Again, the future was too nebulous at that range to lock onto a single human in the dizzying kaleidoscope, no matter how important he was and I had no connection to an eleven year old boy living somewhere on Corellia at the moment. I could only be content with the knowledge that if it was meant to happen by the Will of the Force, it would.
My knowledge of wookiee culture also told me I had one thing to do at this moment.
I turned my seat to face Chewie properly and pulled off my helmet so that he could see my face properly. I let it float beside me and met his deep blue eyes, letting him see I fully understood what the significance of this was.
For an alien who didn't know, it generally wasn't needed, but I did know.
I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "I accept your debt, Chewbacca. Our paths are now entangled through the Great Forest. Where I go, you follow. Where I send you, you go. Where you go, I follow. This bond can only be broken when one of us enters the Great Shadowland."
The Force shifted and I felt the Bond form even before I had finished speaking.
Chewie bowed his head in acceptance and relaxed his arms, even as I could sense his confusion clearly at the strange feelings he was getting from somewhere that he knew wasn't from himself.
I turned back to the helm console of the fortress.
"Uh, commander," Rex looked uncertainly between me and Chewie. "What was that?"
"That was a wookiee tradition, nothing you need to worry yourself about," I said firmly, giving him a hard look.
He quickly nodded, "Understood, commander."
"Chewie, we will have much to talk about soon. I have many responsibilities that go beyond just being a Jedi padawan. And don't think this will get you out of meeting your father," I said sternly, wagging a finger at him with a mock evil smile.
Chewie knew that and would never entertain the thought of using a sacred life debt for such a banal reason, nevertheless there was a small part of him that had hoped otherwise.
The Clarity burst out of hyper at last and the Venator wasted no time in opening its dorsal bay doors. It turned and burned on a new course heading right for the small wookiee fleet in escort of the ungainly flying fortress.
"Frak," I breathed as the lines of fate shifted. "Tano to Clarity, go to Condition one, now! Launch your ready squadrons! That is an order!"
"At once, commander."
"General Tarfful, you need to spread your fleet out, leave four ships towing the fortress and go to full battle readiness."
"What?"
I had to stop my instant anger and impatience at the question.
The Clarity launched two squadrons of Torrent starfighters at that moment.
Just in time to greet four squadrons of Belbullab heavy fighters that shot out of hyperspace beyond the mass shadow of Trandosha.
"Does that answer your question, General?" I asked wryly.
He swore something in Shyriiwook that I couldn't understand but nevertheless obeyed my order a few seconds later as the small wookiee fleet dispersed.
The Belbullab fighters orientated and began a 1100G burn straight towards us.
I keyed up the PA of the fortress so I could reach every ear. "This is Commander Tano, we are about to come under attack. Everyone behind a cannon, check your fire and protect the ships towing us at all costs. Those who are in vac capable gear, grab a disruptor rifle and head to the nearest airlock. We need every gun out there." I turned to the clone captain, "Rex…"
He nodded, "I'll get it done, commander."
The ARC trooper stomped towards the turbolift.
"Chewie, it's going to be a fine balance. We need our shields, engines and life support, but with the cannons as well, we risk overloading the power grid on this old bucket."
"I'll be careful, Ahsoka."
I changed comlink channels, "Skyguy, tell me I'm going to have a working reactor through all this?"
"We'll do our best down here, Snips, would really prefer if we could pull back on the throttle a bit."
Despite myself I laughed, "Really? The universe is ending, Skyguy wants to go slower?"
"Funny, but yes. I'd prefer that to having a reactor blow up in my face."
My fingers slowly swiped the controls of the engines and I reduced throttle by 20Gs. "That better?"
"Yes, I would prefer another 40G but I know the problem. We'll keep this thing stable."
"Targeting emissions, we're being locked by missiles from those fighters!" R2 screeched.
The enemy fighter squadrons erupted with the blue contrails of concussion missiles, which streaked towards the Torrents and the wookiee fleet.
"Belbullabs with missiles," I muttered in thought. "M8, analyze these fighters."
Scans of the fighter appeared in my HUD.
"90% identical to the Belbullab-22 model, two concussion missile launchers in the nacelles, additional bulge on the ventral side indicates a proton bomb launcher with 82% certainty."
"Chewie, if possible put the fortress shields into double-rear mode."
He worked his console for a while before nodding, "Done."
The Torrent fighters released their own missiles at the enemy, sending a reply of 48 concussion missiles towards them.
I breathed in and out, calling on the Force.
Then stretched a Battle Meditation over the entire wookiee fleet… pushing further until I felt the Torrent fighters… and the Clarity… beyond them…
That every enemy fighter had a trandoshan pilot wasn't a surprise.
The how and why would come after this battle.
Space erupted with plasma and flack from the wookiee fleet as the enemy missiles entered range.
Missiles died in droves and it was actually to the wookiees advantage now that they didn't have big capital guns. The concentration of sub-capital fire they were putting out was far greater than an equivalent Republic frigate or corvette.
What also really helped was that we were in a stern chase scenario and the missiles had to catch up to our ever increasing velocity from one direction.
Only nine managed to make through our defensive fire and slam into the shields of the fleet.
These weren't torpedoes so the wookiee engineered shields held up amazingly well, none made it through to the fortress.
Then the Torrent's missiles closed range and began terminal runs on the enemy fighters, who evaded and jinked with middling skill, throwing out grav countermeasures frantically.
35 enemy fighters were hit, 18 were destroyed utterly, the rest managed to survive with broken and depleted shields.
I winced as the true clusterfuck of the battle began.
The Torrents merged with the Belbullabs just short of the fleeing wookiee fleet, then the battle spilled directly over us.
I felt the fortress' guns open fire, swiftly joined in by the wookiee ships as they targeted the enemy fighters.
"Chewie, balance our shields!"
He did it just in time for our dorsal shields to take a concussion missile hit.
The fighter responsible was blown apart into debris by every gun on the fortress firing on it.
The yellow orange beams of disruptor fire from the clones standing anchored on the decks with their mag boots joined the battle.
They could only fire on fighters passing close by, but every little bit helped at this point.
A dozen beams scythed right through the shields of a Belbullab - its engines and power systems died immediately, leaving it on a purely ballistic trajectory through the wookiee fleet where it was easily destroyed by concentrated fire.
A brief eruption of light and energy heralded its death.
I dearly missed my command interface aboard the Resolute.
If I'd had more time, I'd use M8 to link back to the Clarity, then setup a command and control using my HUD.
Now it was all down to using Battle Meditation and the Force to subtly nudge here and there; draw attention of a wookiee gunner to a certain target, direct a clone pilot's attention to another enemy fighter that was about to drop a proton bomb on the fortress.
Thankfully I didn't have to tussle with Tarfful for command of his fleet as he had realized that this battle only had one goal; getting to Kashyyyk orbit with the fortress intact.
The Clarity was now catching up to the battle, the range now closing that its anti-fighter armament could be brought to bear.
It wasn't decisive though as the trandoshan fighters kept the range tight.
They either had a good commander or they naturally understood that to flee now was suicide.
Whilst they were in and among the wookiee fleet, the Clarity's guns couldn't fire freely.
I felt a wookiee ship die on the right flank as multiple proton bombs bracketed it and tore through its shields like a wet paper bag.
To the left flank another ship cracked in half, spilling debris and wookiee crew into space as multiple hull breaches were further torn open from a strafing run by two trandoshan fighters.
I tried my best, but couldn't resist it as their deaths seemed to tear into my heart.
My teeth gnashed as I fought for equilibrium. I reached out to the Force and coordinated every wookiee gun to converge their fire onto the enemy.
They promptly blew apart into debris and explosions that were swiftly left behind by the constantly accelerating fleet.
If it had been the Resolute behind me, it would've swept space clean of these murderous bastards in no time flat with a massacre of anti-fighter missiles.
Torrent fighters now finally seemed to have their enemy's measure, falling onto the rear of the trandoshans and sending cannon fire straight up their tailpipes.
It didn't take much longer after that, as the final trandoshan tried to suicide ram the fortress, only for it to be vaped by the towing wookiee ships that still had tractor beams locked onto us.
"Captain, take station over the fortress, lock all tractor beams and pull us into the ventral hangar bay," I said urgently.
"It's going to be a tight fit," the Clarity's clone captain warned.
"It has to be done. As long as the fortress is vulnerable, it'll remain an enticing target. The trandoshans will keep attacking."
"As you wish, commander."
"General Tarfful, you can instruct the ships to let go. Thank you for the tow."
The fortress shuddered slightly, then I felt a loud thump as the exterior hull was grabbed by the Clarity.
I immediately powered down the engines and the star destroyer pulled us in smoothly.
When we were somewhat settled inside the bay, the adaptable docking arms came forward and tried to physically secure the fortress, but the geometry was clearly too different from the normal design limits. The only thing that the docking bay master could really do was keep the tractor beams active and send out a docking tube that could mate with one of the fortress airlocks.
"Rex, bring in your men, good work. Chewie, bring the reactor to low power, give us life support, gravity and sensors only."
The wookiee's hands rapidly played over the controls, "What now?"
"Now we see if the trandoshans want to take on a fully prepared star destroyer with wookiee escort ships." I tapped my com to get a direct line to the clone captain. "Captain Zancit, I'm giving you General Tarfful's frequency, coordinate a max speed burn straight to Kashyyyk."
With the fortress no longer slowing things down, the combined fleet now pushed itself into a 2550G burn that would see us reach Kashyyyk in just under three hours.
Four squadrons of Z95 Headhunters were launched to further bolster the fleet.
The three padawans and all the former captives were hurried to the medbays of the ship to begin receiving treatment for all sorts of problems that came from malnutrition, injuries and possible disease vectors. I had to all but drag Chewie into the medbay using the Force, but he relented on getting checked out fully as well. He hadn't spent any time on the island and his captivity with the trandoshans had been mercifully short, but it was better safe than sorry in this case.
Anakin, Rex and myself were all standing on the upper observation bridge of the Clarity, whilst Captain Zancit stood rigidly at his post between the two crew pits and snapped orders left and right, whilst also talking to Tarfful over the com.
We let him get on with it, as our show of force and their combined losses had sufficiently discouraged the trandoshans… for now.
"I'd just like to know where those fighters came from," Rex grumbled.
"R2 is analyzing their arrival vectors, we'll soon have a direction to look in at least," Anakin said.
"It's clear that they either bought or were given these fighters by the CIS," I said, belatedly wishing for my comfy command chair. "I've also been looking over the scans of these new model Belbullabs. They're definitely a refinement and iteration of the older model, with a conversion into a new role as a hyperspace capable strike bomber."
With that in mind, I had already ordered Zancit to make random, unpredictable course changes. The last thing we wanted now was these new strike bombers pulling a hyperspace bombing run on us, by just predictably burning forward on a least-time course towards Kashyyyk. We wouldn't be safe until the ships were all within a mass shadow.
"It's safe to say that any notion of a continued peace between the wookiees and trandoshans in this system is a thing of the past," Anakin closed his eyes and I felt him reach out to the Force. "Whether the trandoshans are getting CIS fighters officially or not, it can't be ignored. Either their government is complicit or they're simply allowing these rogue elements to operate as deniable assets. We'll have to speak to the Council about stationing a clone legion to operate out of Kashyyyk, along with maybe a half-squadron of star destroyers."
"We'll be lucky to get even half that, Skyguy. The GAR is getting stretched thin."
"Then it will also be up to the wookiees to also shoulder the burden of their defense. Their combat fleet was impressive in terms of how it performed given what they had on hand, but against the CIS and trandoshans, sheer numbers will always be against them."
We lapsed into a comfortable silence at that point, just staring into the cold void of space and listening to the din of a Venator's bridge at high alert.
He then frowned at me, "Say, what is up with you and Chewbacca?"
I only had to answer two words, "Life debt."
Anakin's shoulders slumped and he looked at me sternly. "Snips-"
"Master, have you ever seen what happens when you deny a wookiee something they give you something of their own free will? Especially a gift like this?" I asked, smiling wryly.
Anakin blinked, "Oh, yes. Never mind then. Consider my objection withdrawn."
"What do they do?" Rex asked curiously.
"It is considered a huge insult, the human equivalent would be spitting in someone's face. They will then proceed to rip your arms off, leaving you to bleed to death."
"Obviously, I wouldn't let Chewbacca even get that far," I wiggled my fingers in a mock mystical manner. "A Stasis and Sleep would stop him. However, I would make an enemy of his tribe and eventually the wookiee people in general. I'd never be able to set foot on Kashyyyk."
"At least Master Yoda will be understanding. I'm pretty sure he's been on the receiving end of a life debt as well, given how well he's regarded by the wookiees ," Anakin theorized.
"Speaking of, I need to have a little chat with Chewie."
I gave both men a languid wave and walked off.
"Snips, are you going to bring him on board the Conspiracy?"
"Yes."
"So soon?"
"Skyguy, at this point Chewie would throw himself off the tallest wroshyr tree on Kashyyyk before he'd do anything to hurt me or those I cared about. He's effectively family now."
"Stupid droid!"
"Please Mr. Chewbacca, if you're going into the greater galaxy, you will need this," the medical droid droned patiently.
"I am not human, do not call me by the term mister."
Chewie glared down at the insufferable spindly droid holding the hypo injection in its right claw.
"My apologies, Chewbacca, I've made the relevant correction in my programming for wookiees. As I said-"
"You've poked me enough!"
"Those were just some supplements to correct some deficiencies that were detected in your diet, this is for immunization to common ailments that spread themselves throughout the galaxy. Commander Tano indicated that you haven't left your home system in your lifetime."
"My people know medicine, we get offworlder tourists who bring their diseases. I was-"
"Chewie, let the poor droid do his job."
Chewbacca didn't show his surprise that Ahsoka had managed to get into the medical bay without him hearing or smelling her. She was Jedi. He turned and saw her leaning against the now open door, with folded arms and a patient smile.
He huffed in annoyance and sat down on the bed. He'd give the engineers who built the ship credit, they had at least made provision in the medical bays to cater to a variety of species - including those who were naturally larger and heavier. The whole room was designed for it, which was why he was quite alone in the space, with only the Shadow cursed droid for company.
The droid stepped forward and pushed the injector to his shoulder, through his shaggy fur… there was a slight pinching feeling, a hiss and he could immediately feel the foreign substance as his veins bulged slightly with the sudden greater volume of liquid within them.
"If you're going to be at my side through the galaxy I don't want you getting sick of some preventable disease you're not immune to. Kashyyyk doesn't get enough tourism for your people to be exposed to everything out there. 2-1BC give us some privacy, please."
The droid obeyed wordlessly and closed the door behind it.
She walked to the bed and hopped up to sit next to him, her eyes looked intently around the room.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, just checking something. Don't be startled."
Chewbacca frowned, about to ask what she meant, when everything around him changed.
He wasn't sitting on a bed in a medical bay aboard a Republic warship.
He was standing on a different planet; the sky above was dirty with pollution, as far as the eye could see, only flat plains of mud. His mind struggled to deal with the fact that such a place could exist, with not a single tree or growing thing anywhere in sight until beyond the very horizon.
Yet, there was movement, just a few feet away was a deep trench, which seemed to be hewn out of the very ground in a plainly unnatural manner - the work of machines and sentience. Inside the trench, humans in heavy coats and crudely built industrial armor, carrying blasters, walking awkwardly with their heads down.
"Where… Ahsoka!"
"Over here, Chewie."
He whirled away from the trench towards the sound of her voice.
She stood out like a colorful patch of light and life in these alien Shadowlands. Gone was her armor, instead she wore simple colorful wraps over her chest and tight trousers with armored boots.
He stumbled in fright towards her, his feet sinking awfully into the mud and staining his fur.
"Where are we? What is this place?" he groaned, making sure to use the proper tonalities to voice his displeasure.
"We are both still sitting on the bed on board the Clarity. However, I've brought both our minds to a different place, a different time. This is a planet known as Mimban, a place once renowned for its jungle beauty and nature, its near constant rainy weather. What do you think of it now?"
She gestured grandly around them.
"It's cursed. There's nothing here. Only death, humans and war."
"Not just humans," she disagreed and gestured behind her. "Take a look."
He walked awkwardly through the mud to her side and noted that she wasn't even standing on the ground, instead her feet were hovering just a few centimeters above it. Probably using some Jedi power to float.
There was a deep circular pit here, dug out of the ground. Some of the trenches seemed to lead to it, but there were solid steel doors regulating access to the pit.
He squinted down into it but the light was poor and what he could see was just yet more mud at the bottom. Then there was a commotion as a large group of trench coated figures pushed a captive human towards one of the pit doors. Everyone was jeering and screaming "Deserter!" in Basic and occasionally cheering, "Beast, beast, beast!"
Chewbacca found it very confusing, why were they treating one of their own like this? The captive was wearing their uniform, though he had been stripped to only be wearing a body glove.
The door opened and the prisoner was unceremoniously shoved into the pit. He desperately tried to lunge back through the door, but was stopped by a wall of hands who shoved him back, before the door slid closed in his face.
"No! Let me out!" he screamed, bashing futilely against unyielding durasteel with his fists.
Then Chewbacca saw movement in the shadows of the pit.
It happened quickly.
A very familiar roar resounded, a large hairy wookiee caked in mud all over rushed forward.
Two quick steps, a blur of limbs, the wookiee had seized the human by neck and leg, raising him into the air..
"Noooo! Arghl-"
Chewbacca could only close his eyes as the scream was cut off abruptly, the wet tearing of flesh followed, the sound of a body slamming into the mud.
He opened his eyes and glared at the back of the Madclaw as it retreated back into the shadows, leaving the body behind.
"Why are you showing me this?"
"We are seeing a possible future at the moment, roughly ten years from now, where the current course of events are heading." She gestured to the pit. "That is you."
"That is not me!" he roared in return.
She wasn't fazed at all by his anger. "Correct. Not yet, anyway."
The world of mud around them vanished, placed by the beautiful forests of Kashyyyk.
They were hovering in the air above a village situated high in the wroshyr trees. It didn't take more than a few moments to recognize it as Wukooos. The village where his mother had lived before she joined in union with his father, Attichitcuk.
He had visited many times as a young pup and just before his adulthood rites in the Shadowlands. It was normally a place of serene contentment, with wookiees going about their day as they had been for millenia.
Now it was a wreck.
Treehouses reduced to cinders, their remnants falling into the cavernous depths below all the way to the forest floor. The only things that remained in good condition were the bridges, upon which rows of wookiees were being marched, cuffed with thick manacles and collars around their necks.
They were escorted by armored soldiers, much like clones, but no, the armor was different. Pure white, with no distinct unit markings, rank colors or anything. They were also in different sizes, it was clearly humans or humanoid species under the imposing visages of the helmets. Also standing and supervising the transfer of his people were trandoshans, sneering and evaluating each wookiee that passed by them.
Occasionally, they would point and gesture, speaking to a gray uniformed human officer. Orders were relayed and the soldiers would pull a wookiee out of the line - the tallest and the strongest.
The world changed again.
Now they were on one of the beaches of Kashyyyk and Chewbacca saw himself along with a company of thirty other wookiees committing the unthinkable sin of cutting down an ancient wroshyr tree, processing it with giant machines dropped from a carrier ship hovering overhead.
In the sky overhead, a giant delta shaped ship that looked like a Venator but was even larger, more armored, pure white with no Republic logo or coloring.
More scenes followed, of wookiees loaded into ships with other aliens.
Battles against the white troopers all over Kashyyyk… so much death.
Towering four legged walkers, stomping uncaring through the low lakes, turning their mechanical heads and unleashing cannons and missiles on the wookiees below - their bowcasters unable to meaningfully damage the thick armor. Other aliens; humans, mon calamari and twi'lek in scruffy armor and uniforms, were also fighting the giant walkers.
Those giant ships in orbit of his home, raining turbolaser fire down onto the surface.
He saw wookiees, an insectoid race and droids building a colossal spherical space station.
Wookiee slaves in the spice mines of Kessel being worked to death.
"Understand this, Chewbacca, son of Attichutcuk. The CIS, their droid armies, the trandoshans who are spoiling for a war with your people, are but one hand of the true enemy I fight."
He belatedly realized that at some point during the awful vista of the future that she was showing him, his claws had extended and his fingers were curled as if he was prepared to…
No! He roared in defiance, his rrakktorr surging from within his heart. He was not some Madclaw! To the Shadowland with that beast in the pit, the defeated, pathetic Chewbacca of the future!
"If you stand beside me, you stand against him and as much as I wish it, this is not someone you can just unleash your bowcaster on, Chewie."
He pulled in his claws and closed his fists.
His eyes burned and he stared at the Jedi who held his life in her hands. "Tell me of this foe, Ahsoka Tano."
I stood from the large biobed and Chewie's eyes pierced mine before he nodded gruffly. "I swore my life to you, Ahsoka. Your enemies are worthy and powerful. I am your blade."
My hand found his shoulder and I bowed in thanks.
The blasted comlink on my wrist chirped for attention. I slapped it with annoyance, "Yes, Master?"
"Just thought you and Chewbacca should know, we've achieved orbit over Kashyyyk and King Grakchawwaa is on his way to the Clarity to see the captured fortress with his own eyes." Chewie's eyes widened. "If he would be so kind as to help us with any last minute preparations we should make, that would be very appreciated."
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A/N: rrakktorr - Shyriiwook meaning 'inner strength'.