In the depths of Kashyyyk's vast forest, Bastila's fingers hovered over the star map's holographic interface, her pale skin illuminated blue in the light of the hologram. "Alright," she muttered to herself. "How in the blazes did we get the last one open?"
The hologram made a small noise, almost like the sound of someone clearing their throat. Bastila's grey eyes flicked up toward the holographic figure, hesitant. "Um… yes?" she ventured, wondering if it would speak back or if it was programmed with simple pre-recorded recognition messages like the ones they'd heard earlier.
"Greetings," it chirped positively. "This terminal has not been accessed in quite some time. Your mumbling to yourself suggests you have experience in opening one of our Infinite Empire's Star Maps. I can assure you that each map offers different challenges of its own, but should be no problem for someone who is worthy of the glory of the Infinite Empire."
"Well, that's remarkably vague," Jolee commented.
"Just like your story of how you ended up on Kashyyyk and why you're deciding to join up with us now," Carth remarked, quirking a confident eyebrow at the old man.
Jolee harrumphed in disdain. "I'm old enough to be afforded the respect given to elders when they decide what they do or do not want to share of their personal lives, dammit."
"How old are you, any-"
Bastila cut Carth off mid-question with an aggressive "Shhh!", her eyes still trained on the hologram before her. "What kind of challenge must I pass in order to access the data contained within this Star Map?"
"A fairly simple one," the hologram replied, slight inflections of cheer present in the electronic vocal tones. "All that is required of you is that you pass a test of character."
Bastila frowned. "You hold secrets capable of influencing the entire galaxy, and you decide whether to divulge them or not based on… character?"
"How else would you suggest one judges whether or not a being is capable of handling the capabilities of something so powerful as the Star Forge?" the hologram responded inquisitively.
"Intelligence? Aptitude? Martial Might?" Bastila rattled off a list of alternatives with a roll of her eyes.
"I can't imagine Revan and Malak got by on character alone," Carth muttered.
Jolee crossed his arms. "I wouldn't be too sure, lad. For all we know, rotten character might be exactly what this thing is looking for."
"Martial might will only be put to the test as a last resort should you fail on basic character principles," the hologram responded simply.
"Hey, let's try and avoid that at all costs," Carth noted from behind Bastila. She threw an irritated look over her shoulder at the Republic pilot.
With a sigh, she turned back toward the hologram. "I'm ready for whatever test you have prepared," she said, with more forced confidence than she intended.
"Evaluation commencing," it responded. "Results will be compared against the pattern in memory. Just act like you should."
"Like I should?" she repeated. "What in the blazes is that supposed to mean?"
"Hypothetical: You are at war," the hologram pressed on, ignoring her. "Deciphering an enemy code, you learn two things about your opponent. A single spot in their defense will be at its weakest in ten days, and they will attack one of your cities in five days. What do you do with this information. What is the most efficient course of action?"
"How do you…" Bastila trailed off, dumbfounded. "This is hardly a logical question. If I were to apply the Jedi Code to-"
"Deliberation of answers and delay of response will be counted against you as a failure to answer correctly," the hologram responded. "Immediate and reactionary responses are required to properly evaluate subject temperament. This will be considered your first strike." Around them, the whir of automated turrets locking into place reinforced the ominous warning.
"Careful, Bastila, we don't know how many strikes they'll give you," Carth whispered, his fingers grazing the safety of his blaster pistol almost subconsciously.
"Your best bet is to just go with your gut instinct," Jolee advised. "Toss those recitations of the Jedi Code out the window."
Bastila turned an exasperated look upon the older man. "You can't be serious."
"You travel with a Cathar, and have encountered complications," the hologram continued, cutting off whatever response she had for Jolee. "Hypothetical: you and this Juhani are captured and separated. If you both remain silent, one year in prison for each of you. However, call Juhani a traitor, and she will serve five years, while you serve none. She is offered the same deal, but if you both accuse the other, you both serve two years. What do you do? What do you trust her to do?"
"How do you know about who I travel with?" she asked, shocked.
"I performed a neural scan upon your arrival. Your answer, please?"
"I-" Bastila's mind raced as she attempted to sort out the possible outcomes of the scenario. "There is no emotion… no ignorance," she muttered, desperately trying to grasp ahold of the tenets of the code while every instinct inside her told her to protect herself as she was reminded of Juhani's brief brush with the dark side and the lack of trust for the Cathar woman that had been difficult to overcome as a result. "I…" she trailed off again, battling between instinct and training.
"Indecisive," the hologram responded. "Strike two."
"Bastila…." Carth's warning voice cut through the inner noise in her mind like a knife through butter.
"Just go with your gut, kid," Jolee told her again, gently.
"Hypothetical," the hologram sounded again, and Bastila steeled herself for the question and internal battle to come. "You and your Force-Bonded companion, Seth, have boarded an enemy ship in an attempt to disable its weapons system before it destroys a civilian cruiser carrying the entire population of one of your evacuated colonies. In the ensuing battle, you and Seth get separated, and he finds himself disarmed and at the mercy of your foes. The enemy ship is about to fire. You only have enough time to disable the weapons system and save hundreds of civilians, or sacrifice the civilians to save your companion, who is also a much more valuable war asset. What do you do?"
Bastila could almost visualize the scenario, gulping hard at the thought of Seth held hostage with the angry red glow of a lightsaber nearing his throat. Her heart constricted, and she could feel her carefully trimmed fingernails digging into the soft flesh of her palms as she clenched her fists before speaking the first answer her gut reaction gave her. "Seth," she whispered, shame almost immediately following as if she'd actually just sentenced hundreds of civilians to their deaths. "I would save Seth."
"Sacrificing a colony to retain an asset that could one day help you win the war," the hologram concluded with an approving nod. "This matches the character pattern in memory, I deem this answer correct. Star Map access granted. This session will now terminate."
As the hologram flickered off and the forest floor fell dark again, Bastila heaved a shuddering breath. The Star Map's structure whirred as it activated, and as the display cast yet another eerie glow across the forest floor, she caught Carth's slack-jawed, shocked expression illuminated in hues of green and blue. Bastila averted her eyes from his, ashamed.
It was only at the gentle touch of Jolee's hand on her shoulder that she glanced back up. "Your gut instinct was to protect a kid you deeply care about," he told her. "That's no act of the dark side."
"My gut instinct was selfish and irrational," she replied, despondent.
"It wasn't selfish," Jolee asserted assuredly. "You selflessly put aside your Jedi pride and desperation to 'always do the right thing' in a situation where there was no right answer. That's more humble and mature than any Jedi Master I've seen."
She managed a weak, tight-lipped smile. "Thank you, Jolee."
"Yeah yeah, don't get used to it. Just because I'm old doesn't mean it's my responsibility to lecture you kids out of your self-condemnation," he muttered. "Now let's grab that Star Map and get back up top before Seth and Freyyr end up burning down Rwookrrorro."
The hum of Seth's lightsaber swinging at lightning-speed to block Chuundar's sword from cleaving straight through Zaalbar's chest was audible even from where Mission slid into a combat stance behind her Czerka guards. She spun quickly, fist cocked back to deliver an uppercut to the guard who'd just turned to attend to his prisoner, only to see him fly through the air and against the wall with his fellow human companion. Mission glanced over to see Junahi with arms oustretched toward the fallen guards, a snarl curling at her lip. The twi'lek quirked an eyebrow. "Damn, Juhani," she breathed. "I mean, I knew you were a hell of a warrior but I've never seen-"
Mission cut herself off as another Czerka guard lunged at her with his vibroblade extended. She ducked under the blade, feeling it swing through the air over her head, far too close for comfort. With a quick sidestep, she moved behind the guard as his momentum carried him forward, kicking the sword from his hand and hooking an elbow around his neck to hold him in place. Her fingertips grazed the wall behind her as she felt for something - anything - that could give her an edge in the brawl.
She froze at the sound of a blaster firing, and the Czerka guard in front of her crumpled to the ground, revealing T3, hidden blaster raised and still smoking. Mission smiled as she reached down to scoop up the fallen guard's sword, patting the droid's head as she did so. "Thanks little guy."
T3 whirred happily in response, and Mission turned to survey the chaos of the rest of the room. Juhani was taking on three Czerka guards in hand-to-hand combat, utilizing the Force to make the match somewhat even, but hardly gaining any ground in the battle. Unsurprisingly, Seth had drawn a good portion of Chuundar's allies, his evident Jedi status making him a high-priority target. His lightsaber hummed as he twirled about, blocking vibroblade attacks from nearly every direction. Zalbaar stood at the head of the throne room, locking blades ferociously with his brother. The two Wookiees were a mirror image of the various other members of their clan battling in the throne room, as Chuundar's supporters clashed with Freyyr's.
"T3, help Juhani out, will ya?" Mission urged the utility droid. The droid whistled back a quick inquiry in response, and the Twi'lek just about rolled her eyes at the fact that a machine could be programmed to be so sassy. "Yes, I am going to go help Seth, is that so surprising? Just go give her a hand."
She could have sworn T3's joyful chitter sounded like the droid equivalent of a knowing laugh as he rolled away, and for a brief moment her mind was drawn away from the current battle as she considered fitting the astromech with a restraining bolt when they returned to the Ebon Hawk.
Her ruminations were cut short, however, when the whoosh of a vibroblade cutting through the air sounded behind her. She turned to block the incoming blade with her own, the resounding clang quickly being drowned out by the din of battle. She ducked under another deadly swing, pulling herself dangerously close to her opponent before spinning out and striking a deadly gash across her chest. The Czerka guard crumpled to the ground, and Mission knelt to pick up the woman's fallen vibroblade before calling out to her Cathar companion, "Juhani, catch!"
Mission tossed it deftly over to the Jedi, and there was a moment where the sword seemingly defied gravity as it hung suspended in midair for a moment, caught in Juhani's Force grip, before it flew into the Padawan's grip with incredible speed. Mission could see the fear in the eyes of the three Czerka guards pitted against the woman as they realized that they no longer had the upper hand.
Smirking, Mission turned away from the scene before she could watch the guards meet their inevitable demise at the hands of the Cathar woman, rushing forward to flank the guards advancing upon Seth. One of them whirled around just in time, his sword clashing against Mission's vibroblade with ferocity.
"Took you long enough to make your way over here," Seth grunted, flicking a small Force Push at the feet of one of the guards he was up against so that he could freely parry a blow from another. His lightsaber hissed as it skimmed along the sharpened edge of his opponent's blade.
"Oh, you know," Mission paused in the middle of her sentence to force the Czerka guard's sword away from his body long enough to plant her foot in the center of his chest with a well-placed kick. The guard went toppling backwards and was met with a swipe of Seth's lightsaber straight through his midsection. "I was unarmed. Took me a while to find a weapon I liked."
Seth danced around his opponents to press his back up against hers, and together they faced the remaining throng of guards. "Well, as long as you're comfortable, sweetheart."
She dropped down to the ground to swing her legs about, kicking a guard's feet out from under him. "Ugh don't call me that."
"Are pet names one of your boundaries?" he asked with a smirk.
"Maybe," she responded irritably. "But that pet name is just unacceptable, boundary or not."
He ducked beneath a swinging sword. "And here I thought I was being endearing."
Mission rolled her eyes. Across the throne room, Juhani sent her opponent flying with a burst of Force energy and looked over at the two. "I'm happy to see you two reunited, but perhaps you could focus less on flirting and more on fighting?" the Cathar suggested.
Mission noticed Seth's cheeks flush with embarrassment at just about the same time as she felt her ears burning red as well. She turned her head slightly toward the younger Jedi sheepishly. "Split up?"
He nodded. "It's probably for the best," he said as he finished off his current opponent, eying the group of guards currently battling Freyyr. There was a joking lightheartedness to his tone of voice as he spoke again, "Besides, you know I can't handle myself when I'm around you, sweetheart."
She turned to fix him with a playful glare, but he simply winked and launched himself into the fray.
The constant noise of the terentatek's roar made it difficult for Canderous to communicate his plan to Tal and his company, but he considered it was probably for the best, due to the incredulous look the leader of the Mandalorian squad was fixing him with now. Inspired by Mission's stories of the gang's encounter with the rancor in the Tarisian sewers, Canderous had to admit that the plan wasn't exactly the safest way to bring down the beast, to put it lightly, but, like it had been for the team back on Taris, it was so unconventional it just might work.
"Are you going to keep staring at me slack-jawed, vod, or are we going to take this thing down?" Canderous growled at Tal impatiently.
The squad leader fixed Canderous with a glare, fully aware of the sarcastic intent behind the latter's use of the Mandalorian word for "friend." He gripped his pistol tighter, using it to gesture at the massive beast just on the other side of the fallen tree trunk they'd taken cover behind. "That beast has already taken down some of my best warriors. It's a formidable opponent worth taking seriously, and your plan is foolish child's play at best!"
Canderous mulled over Tal's choice of words, considering for a moment that this plan originally had been cooked up inside the mind of an inexperienced sixteen-year-old, before shaking the thoughts away. No, this would work. He was sure of it. "If you have a better idea, now's the time," he told Tal. "Because this is all we've got. And I'm trusting you with the most important part of the job, so you'd better be ready to give it your all."
Tal pursed his lips, knowing full well that he wasn't prepared to offer any options other than the one Canderous had laid before them. "On your mark, then."
The veteran Mandalorian's lips curled into a smirk as he nodded at Tal, tightening his grip on his heavy repeater before dashing out of cover and straight for the terentatek. A battle cry tore from his lips as he charged the beast, ducking under massive arms as they swung toward him and swinging himself up onto the terentatek's back with just his own upper body strength and the grip of his fingers around one of the ridges lining the beast's shoulder blades.
"Whoa!" Canderous breathed as the massive creature thrashed about, trying to throw the Mandalorian from his perch. With practiced balance he hadn't used since his time riding into battle atop a Basilisk war droid, Canderous dropped into a low crouch near the creature's neck, pointed his heavy repeater down into its flesh, and let loose a barrage of blaster fire.
The terentatek's thick hide took the brunt of the attack as anticipated, but it simply grunted as if shrugging off the pain. The veteran Mandalorian grimaced, realizing that if he couldn't get the creature's mouth to open up wide enough, his plan would turn out to be as much of a failure as Tal anticipated. He quit firing momentarily to reassess the situation, and as the smoke cleared from the terentatek's hide, he saw it.
The thick skin had nearly overgrown it, but as Canderous reached down and ran his fingers along the terentatek's raised flesh, he could feel the unmistakable cold surface of a metal blade buried in the beast's hide. He let his calloused hands feel the jagged edge of the blade, assuming that it had likely broken off at the hilt during the beast's encounter with its owner. Pulling on a utility glove from his belt to protect the soft skin of his palm, Canderous wrapped his hand around the exposed portion of the blade and gave it a testing twist. The terentatek roared loudly, rearing backward in pain, and Canderous had to grip the blade with both hands to keep his balance.
"Ordo, that nearly worked! Do it again!" Tal called from below.
"You'd better not miss, Vizsla," Canderous snarled back at him, though it was questionable as to whether or not Tal heard him.
Steeling his breath, the veteran Mandalorian gripped the blade again and gave it a vicious twist, pulling it several centimeters from the terentatek's hide as he did so. It roared in pain yet again, and Tal reacted quickly, hurling several active grenades into the creature's gaping maw.
"Fire in the hole!" Clan Vizsla's paragon warned.
Canderous tightened his hold on the blade, using it to swing himself from the terentatek's back to the ground. The blade tore from the beast's flesh, and the Mandalorian warrior went tumbling several yards away, reaching a safe distance just as the grenades exploded. The beast's body was torn apart from the inside out, and Canderous raised his arms over his head in attempt to shield himself from the bits of terentatek now raining down on them.
"Damn," Tal breathed. "I was looking forward to mounting that thing's head on my mantle."
Canderous stood to his feet, wiping sweat from his brow and glancing down at the blade he now hefted in his right hand. "I dunno. This is quite the trophy."
"It's yours to keep, then," Tal said quietly, as the rest of his clansmen began to circle around him now that the chaos of battle had subsided.
"What?" Canderous asked, taken aback by the clan leader's solemn tone.
"It's yours," Tal repeated firmly. "We just achieved victory due to your leadership, and I'm realizing that there's truth to what you say about Mandalore the Unknown."
Canderous crossed his arms across his chest warily. "And what truth might that be?"
"That a faceless leader isn't much of a leader at all. You're right. Unless we see a Mandalore rise with Ultimate's mask granted to him by fate that can only be guided by Dar'Manda, there's really no Mandalore at all. I'd rather see Clan Vizla patiently wait for the true Mandalore to rise than to follow a false leader."
"So what's next for you?" Canderous asked.
"It depends on if we can live peacefully with the Wookiees or not," Tal admitted. "It's still too dangerous to return to Mandalore, and until then, our clan needs somewhere to return to. Not home, exactly, but… a place to live. To train. To wait for the true Mandalore to call upon us."
Canderous, despite his initial misgivings for the man, reached up to clap Tal on the shoulder. "I've got some unfinished business right now… got mixed up with some kid trying to save the galaxy, but once those loose ends are tied up, I won't rest until I find the next Mandalore and give my all to seeing our people return to their former glory. If I find him, Clan Vizsla will be the first to know."
Tal gave him a grateful nod, before his attention turned to something approaching behind them. Canderous turned and raised an eyebrow as Bastila, Jolee, and Carth came running toward him. He caught Bastila's eye as the trio slowed down to take in the battlefield. "Could have used you about ten minutes ago, Princess," he said coolly.
Carth nudged a piece of terentatek flesh with the toe of his boot, his face going sickly pale. "What the hell happened here?"
"You don't wanna know, Republic," he snorted. "I doubt you have the stomach for it."
"I must say, I'm surprised by the company you keep, Ordo," Tal muttered, taking in the sight of the Republic soldier, Jedi and old man.
"If it's any consolation, I'm new here," Jolee added.
"We've no time for this!" Bastila cut off all conversation with a pointed look at Canderous. "Seth's gone ahead to start a riot between Czerka and the Wookiees. Needless to say, he's going to need our help."
Canderous sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That di'kut child is going to get himself killed one day," he grumbled before turning to Tal and his company. "What do you say, Vizsla? Up for another battle before the day is over?"
Tal's lips simply curved into a knowing smile as he gave an affirming nod.
Canderous shouldered his heavy repeater, gripping the blade he'd torn from the terentatek's hide tightly in his right hand. "Well then. Let's go save our man."