Chapter 4

On Coruscant, get choice of duties

1.) Chief Zalbaar asks for Jedi assistance with creature in Shadowlands (Shan, Asheemi, Jakk, Kal) 2.) Follow up on Sith datapad referring to Iridonia (Zev, HanK, Arlynn, Shan, Asheemi) 3.) Follow up on Sith datapad referring to Dorin (Zev, HanK, Arlynn, Filly, Kael) 4.) Follow up on Dantooine computer hack reference to Lehon, connect with Rakata enter temple (jedi only ‐ Zev, Arlynn, Shan, Asheemi)

After training with Zhar’s holocron on Dantooine, Zev and Arlynn had returned to Coruscant to complete her lightsaber trial. Under his supervision, she performed the trial perfectly. Without her fingers ever touching a component, each fitting, screw, circuit, and crystal slid into perfect position with each other. She performed the test blindfolded, and when she was done, the top of it was ringed with perspiration. Although she was becoming a very powerful padawan learner, almost a jedi knight, she was still fighting her own insecurities.

Zev left his student to train with her new lightsaber and bond with it. As with most jedi; Arlynn was more in tune and accurate with a blade of her own making. Zev wandered the halls of the Jedi Temple until he found himself at a familiar door. He pressed the access button and entered a perfect replica of Atris’ office on Telos. The great desk she built on that planet was a perfect replica of the original that sat here. When he was a student, he remembered lining up with his fellow younglings in her office to watch holovids of the great Jedi Masters and on special days, they would get to see one of her prized holocrons. Her office was always a place of discovery and self‐improvement, which is what he needed from her now. The elder Jedi Master was seated behind the great desk, studying old parchments recovered from Yavin.

“I want to learn to control my dreams,” he told her. It was a difficult decision for him to ask for instruction. Zev’s life as a Jedi Knight was now all about learning from within. He thought he needed to bond with the Force itself, and proceed down a unique path. This was true to a degree, but there were techniques and teachings within the Force that even the great Masters learned from each other.

“You still see Padawan Ghorr while you sleep?” she asked. Her voice was softer than usual, a voice he remembered from his youth. While others remembered her as a stern taskmaster, he always thought of her as a maternal mentor.

“I do,” he confided, “but only when I sleep. My waking mind is strong, in control, and at peace. I know he exists… well, I think he still exists, but it doesn’t affect me like it used to. I no longer look for him in the docking bays, streets, or battlefields. I am past the fear of him…, now I want to be past the sight of him.”

“The mind is not two, it is one. While your waking focus is commendable, and your lack of fear is as well, you are not over him. Kata was a friend to you, and you to him. You may have blocked this out, but the two of you were like brothers around here. You always chose a seat close to him, and when the other youngling would attack him for his appearance or mannerisms, you defended him. There is no greater betrayal than that of a friend.” At this last revelation, her voice trailed off. She gathered herself, and continued.

“I can appreciate that you sought me out as a teacher,” Atris admitted. “It is well‐known, if not often spoken of, that I became the Betrayer. Like you, my dreams were filled with General Surik defiling the center stone of our temple with her lightsaber at her trial. She walked out so confidently, so beautifully, accepting her punishment with no emotion. I hurt more than she showed. I wanted her to hurt as badly as I did. Like you and Kata, she was my sister‐in‐arms and in friendship. I was going to miss her, and I wanted to know that she would miss me. When I assumed she wouldn’t, that drove me to darkness.”

“Even when the Council was slaughtered on Katarr, I still dreamed of her. Protecting the Order was on my waking mind, but asleep I felt nothing but the need to hurt her like she hurt me. My dreams turned from the reality of the past to me striking her down for her insolence in the Council Chambers. This duality caused me to lose focus while awake. I missed my chance to end the Dark Wars when Kreia stood in my own academy held in a Force cage. One press of a button could have saved Masters Dorak, Kavar, and Zez‐Kai Ell, perhaps even Lonna Vash, from death.”

She paused again, working past the lumps in her throat to continue.

“One is either focused, or not. You have either forgiven him, or you have not. This is a question that only you can answer, and the answer must be the same both awake and asleep. While you still have doubt, I can confirm your former friend is alive. He is more powerful than the being you fought and now goes by the moniker Darth Gore. Visas has seen this, and she has also seen that you will face him, alone. Darth Gore must be defeated to protect the Order, and you must be the one to do it. But know this…, defeating him is not part of your destiny because you deserve revenge.”

“Once I saw the Exile again, my heart knew that she had returned so I could destroy her. Even as she told me of her altruistic intentions, I heard nothing. While she sought out the end of the Triumvirate, I plotted to kill her and be whole again. In spite of all I did, conspiring with Kreia and striking down Brianna in anger, she still decided to saved me. But, you are not Meetra Surik. Destroy him or not, the upcoming confrontation will decide your path… Light or Dark.”

Zev sat transfixed. He both heard and felt Atris’ words. His mind formed the image of those yellow eyes and scarlet tattoos on his flesh. The Sith apprentice that attacked him was so different than the youngling he had known so well. For years he hoped that Kata, Darth Gore, only lived in his dreams. If he ever faced the Zabrak again, Zev knew he would be driven to kill him and just like Atris, it would bring him full circle to the Dark Side. If that happened, like Ulic Qel Droma, Revan, and Atris… he would become an instrument of destruction. Still, how could destroying evil, the way they had destroyed the Sith on Manaan or the Beast Master on Dantooine, be unequivocally wrong? Was it because he had a motivation to kill? “This weight is heavy,” Atris continued, reading the knight’s emotions, “and I do not envy you having to carry it. Know that your destiny also reaches far beyond yourself and your link with Darth Gore. Your confrontation will be a mere turning point in your path, not the apex of it. You will be able to do a substantial amount of good, or evil, once the confrontation is resolved. What you ask, I cannot teach you, but I can only hope that you will not follow my choices. If you do, it will fall to Arlynn to destroy what you will become. When a jedi falls, it is always those closest to him that attempts redemption.”

The mention of his padawan’s name caused a new sensation within him. For so long he fought alone and for his own survival. He kept to himself knowing that if he ever did give into the Dark Side, a solitary evil was easier to defeat than a cult of followers that dark power always attracted. But now he wasn’t alone. Arlynn was more than a student, she was like a sibling or a child which he protected and taught. Like he was bound to Darth Gore, and Arlynn would be bound to him. If he failed, she would bear the responsibility to succeed. He didn’t want that. His conversion, his forgiveness of his enemy, could not be in his words only. He must believe that Kata Ghorr could be redeemed. If his friend couldn’t be saved, then he had to destroy Darth Gore without passion or pleasure. If he had to kill the Sith, it must pain him to do so.

“Can she stay here until it is done?” he asked, knowing the answer.

“No distance can protect her, Zev,” Atris confirmed. “If you hide from him or seek him out in the wrong places, he will find out she is bound to you, and seek her here. You already know he is capable of infiltrating the Temple.”

“Surely he hasn’t become that powerful,” Zev said. He then thought about his own exponential increase in ability since rejoining the Order. Kata would have had the same opportunity, and no similar break in his training.

“Your destiny will unfold as it must,” Atris told him, “and only your choices can alter its course.”

“I’m not ready,” Zev admitted, dropping his head. To his surprise, Atris walked around the desk and took his chin in her hand. She met his eyes with hers.

“Now you are,” she told him.

The grinding of the landing gear was unsettling.

“Is it supposed to make that sound?” Asheemi asked her master. Both of them were strapped to their seats tightly, unsure that the vessel they were in would survive the planet’s atmosphere entry.

“Most ssssships don’t,” he replied. She couldn’t tell if he was trying to reassure her or warn her they were about to become one with the Force.

“God, I love that sound!” Jakk called over the intercom. “We’re comin’ in!”

The Rhoba Steak Express was not your typical freighter. Well, perhaps it was, but most of the time the Jedi dealt with a higher class of ally or foe. The smugglers they tracked and arrested spent thousands of credits outfitting their ships with secret hyperdrives and weapon systems. Those that tried to outrun local law enforcement in a heap like this never attracted the attention of the Council. Then there were the allies like Filly and her Darkhorse Courier. It was sleek and top‐of‐the‐line. She had food stores from the finest distributors on Coruscant and all the creature comforts twelve passengers could ask for. Shan also believed she was significantly more experienced a pilot than Jakk based on the roughness of his landings.

To the Jedi Knight’s surprise, the gear held the weight of the bulky transport and held firm on the landing pad. They were down, and safe. The depressurizers fired as the Kashyyyk atmosphere mixed with the recycled air in the ship. The scent of evergreen and dew filled the Cathar’s sensitive nostrils. He closed his eyes and reached out for the environment. The tree tops were calm and inviting. They were filled with leaping simians and playful birds. The wookiees going to work on securing the ship were industrious and organized. As he expanded his reach, the vision turned into a shadow. Although they were kilometers from the true ground, he couldn’t feel anything below him. The Shadowlands were masked, full of predatory stealth and creatures driven by survival instinct alone.

“It’s unsettling,” Asheemi said aloud. Again, she was following his lead, and drawing his conclusions. She did this so often now he wondered if they hadn’t created some kind of Force Bond. Without care, these bonds could be detrimental between master and student. Just to be sure, he yanked out a tuft of hair on his wrist. She didn’t yelp, although he wanted to.

A large, black form filled the doorway and growled. Ishhkalwarr was home for the first time in years. He’d escaped Kashyyyk when it was still called Edean and under the control of Czerka Corp. His friends and family were sold to slavery right before his eyes, and all under the protection of Chief Chuundar. He felt enormous pride when he heard his people had risen up and destroyed their captors, but his path never brought him close to home until now. When the Jedi Council asked for volunteers for this mission, he immediately stepped forward.

“Don’t wait on ussss,” Shan told him. “Go and make our entrance. I am comfortable that you will represent us well on your home world.” He wanted to give Kal, as they called him, his homecoming moment, but he also couldn’t release the latch on his belt. Noticing her master’s plight, Asheemi called her lightsaber to her hand, flipped it around in her palm, and ignited it. The screech of the azure blade leaping out was immediately followed by the sound of it extinguishing. The beam neatly cut the strap, leaving a small black trace of carbon scoring on his armored hip. She holstered the weapon and grinned a sharp grin at him.

“Proud of yoursssself?” Shan asked.

“Yes, master,” she replied, still smiling. Although her path to adulthood started earlier than Arlynn’s, she was as full of youthful innocence as the other padawan they travelled with. Shan and Zev realized that Arlynn displayed significantly more self‐control and her youth manifested in constructive curiosity. Asheemi’s playfulness was inherently more dangerous. While sparring, she would tumble with her opponent like a katarn cub. As she saw it, the point of the game was to dominate. She assumed that her playmate shared her total commitment to the game. Any act of self‐restraint was an insult to your opponent. Hesitate during a hunt, and at best you did not eat. At worst, you did not live. To a predator, preparing for life is what play is for.

“Wait until I assssk,” Shan replied. He was taken so young that although he possessed his race’s hunter instincts, he had tamed it under Master Vandar three decades ago. What he knew and remembered now was an appreciation of his nature, but not submission to it. Asheemi still needed to learn this.

“Yes, master,” she replied, disappointed. She intended to honor her pack leader through imitation and assistance. This was how a second was chosen on Shili, and she desperately wanted to be his second. To be trusted as a second meant she would be trusted to lead her own pack. She longed for the responsibility and honor of this position, and it got in the way of her training.

“What are you waiting for, food service?” Jakk called out while walking by the door. “Let’s see what these hairballs have to eat!”

Asheemi jumped up to follow the Iridonian. She was over her disappointment; her short memory a blessing of her undisciplined mind. Shan polished off the carbon stain from his armor and followed the others down the loading ramp. The forest‐world was just as he’d felt it. It was teeming with life above and below. One was open and welcoming to them and the other was suspicious and scared. In between these two extremes, were the wookiees. Some wore utility belts and others only straps to hold ammo or weapons like Kal preferred. Each stood in excess of two meters and was and intimidating presence.

“Take us to your leader,” Jakk barked to the closest wookiee. Since Kal understood him perfectly, he assumed Basic was taught to all of them fairly early. This walking carpet seemed to ignore him.

“Kal is there, with the chieftain’s delegation I asssssume,” Shan pointed out. He turned to look for Asheemi and for once, she was within arm’s reach. She was still dressed in her jedi robes and her lightsaber hung conspicuously at her belt. She looked, and was acting like, a proper jedi.

Kal walked back to the Rhoba and introduced the delegation to his compatriots. They were formally greeted and escorted to the chieftain’s hut. Once inside, they immediately noticed two natives. One was covered in gray fur. He was older than the rest, and he looked it. His shoulders were bent with age, and while at one time he was as tall and strapping as the others, he was now only slightly taller than Shan. He still bore a two‐bladed weapon on his back, a symbol that he was still part of the hunters and not yet the hunted. The other figure had a rich, brown coat and a bright red harness. On his back was a great two‐handed sword. The hilt extended far off his back and was ornate. The sheath only covered the middle of the weapon, and the exposed blade looked as if it was fashioned out of a metal foreign to this natural world. It had been sharpened, dulled by war, and sharpened again. Kal knew the significance of this weapon, and immediately bowed to its holder.

“My chieftain,” he said in his native tongue while the rest of his friends followed his drop to one knee.

“It is good to see you, Shadow Wook,” Zalbaar replied with a long trill. “Some thought you were lost to us, but I believed you to still be hunting.”

“I survived as I knew how,” Kal responded slowly, measuring his responses. Leaving the planet was strictly forbidden under Chuundar, and the Holder could still prosecute him for crimes under the previous regime.

“My brother was corrupt,” Zalbaar said bluntly. “You have done your family proud by surviving to hunt again. I am glad you have returned, Shadow Wook. Your skill will be needed in our clan’s future.”

“I travel with the Zabrak,” Kal replied. “My return is in the service of the Jedi.”

“Do you carry a life debt to him?” Zalbaar asked.

“I prefer that business to be my own, chieftain,” Kal responded, “but I will say that after we have been of service to you, I will leave with him.”

“I honor your terms,” Zalbaar replied, choosing not to conscript Kal into his service. This was the chieftain’s right for as long as any wookiee could remember, but Zalbaar had never acted on it.

“Chief Zzzalbaar,” Shan began, sensing the end of Kal and Zalbaar’s exchange, “we come at your invitation. We understand the Jedi Order can ssssserve you in some way.” His impaired speech pattern made it difficult for the wookiees to follow, so Kal began to translate for him.

“A ritual beast has reappeared in the Shadowlands,” Zalbaar explained. “When I was a captive of my brother, the one I followed, Revan, killed a similar creature to reclaim Bacca’s Blade. He did this with the help of the jedi Jolee and the jedi Bastila Shan. My father witnessed the battle.”

He referred to the gray wookiee who nodded at the jedi. Clouds covered his eyes, so Shan was sure he was not able to see them. This proud creature was close to becoming one with the Force.

“He tells me that when this beast lived here before, it killed many of our hunters, and does so again. Revan called it a terentatek. Decades before Revan came to Kashyyykk; another jedi entered the Shadowlands with my father’s permission and never returned. I hope that you are able to destroy it. If you do this, my clan will be in your debt.” “We will seek out this creature and see that it bothers your people no more,” Shan replied with a formal bow. With the lull in activity from the Dark Side, these abominations were bound to spring up like weeds in a garden. The Force must be in balance, and at the moment the Light was tipping the scale.

“I will send my cousins with you,” he said, referring to a pair of identical creatures standing in the back. They had long, curved blades latched to their backs. These were unlike Bacca’s Blade, they were the traditional ryyk blades of the wookiee people. “They will guide you safely in and out of the Shadowlands and protect you from the predators there. If they must give their lives, they will do so.”

“I hope that will not be the casssse,” Shan replied with Kal interpreting. The hunters nodded to the Cathar who returned the acknowledgement. They were a serious pair and he could feel they were experienced hunters. If Zalbaar was sending them, he was honoring the jedi with the decision.

“May the Force be with you,” Zalbaar yowled.

The trip to the Shadowlands was uneventful. The group walked along the Great Walkway for two kilometers before reaching a basket which acted as a lift to the forest floor. The Walkway was impressive, constructed out of logs and vines and built to withstand hundreds of years of use. As they walked there was barely any movement out of the woven wood. The engineering skill of the wookiee people was awe‐inspiring. Several workers were repairing places where battle or weather weakened the Walkway, but most of them stood guard against predators that might make their way to the higher ground for an easy meal.

The twin scouts, Gronnaar and Zornnaar, operated the lift to descend into the Shadowlands. As they dropped farther and farther below the Great Walkway, the artificial light from torches faded to black. They didn’t light any of the torches attached to the lift to avoid detection on the way down. Any predator would have the advantage on them while they descended, and a stray kinrath might attack the rope and cause them all to fall to their deaths. Once at the bottom, the four off‐worlders let out a sigh of relief. Even Kal had let himself forget the exhilaration from fear of the Shadowlands.

Once off the lift, the group activated glowsticks and attached them to their battle harnesses. Shan activated his lightsaber which lit the path. Asheemi shed her robe and activated her own lightsaber. She was dressed as she would have hunting on Shili. Her body was minimally covered with tight bands of cloth as wide as her hand. Her breasts were bound to her to prevent discomfort during a fight or chase and she wore a short loincloth of the same material for her modesty. Tied around her biceps, forearms, thighs, and calves were straps of leather and falling off of these straps were several strips of fringe. She moved to an open space and whipped around her lightsaber, practicing the beginning stances of Ataru form that Zev was teaching her. The fringe and loincloth flowed away from her and out, giving her the appearance of a much more substantial target.

After she loosened up, Asheemi deactivated her lightsaber and walked around the area close to the lift. Feeling the grass under her bare feet, she reached into the ground, feeling the burrowing animals and insects beneath her. She reached into the trees and shrubs, touching the predators watching her and the mothers nursing their young. She breathed in the air, thick with moss and the exhale of thick vegetation. She walked further away from the group, leaving behind their energy and absorbing the feeling of her new environment. She felt several pairs of eyes on her, stalking her. Her bright red skin and black and white montrals were perfect camouflage on Shili, but marked her as a target here where the ground was black and the trees were a dull gray. She projected strength through the Force to prevent an attack, and bared her teeth to any creature with sharp enough vision to see. She was here to hunt, and those like her needed to stay out of her way.

Shan watched her carefully, reaching out for her feelings. This was the part of her training that he was the most attuned to. In his youth on Dantooine, he could feel the same call of the wild. At the academy when he ate and drank meals prepared by a food processor, he never noticed his own fangs. When he was in the wilderness, they naturally bared. His muscles were tenser and his hair stood on end. It was a natural acceleration of his strength to prepare for chase or battle, but it was too fast and unfocused. Like a wookiee in a rage, a hunter consumed by the chase will run until he is exhausted, opening himself up to attack. A jedi could not afford to do this, nor could he afford to abandon those he traveled with to pursue and enemy. Worse yet, if the enemy was seen as prey, a hunter will continue to the death and not spare a helpless foe. This too, was against the teachings of the Jedi Code.

As he kept all of this in mind, he tried not to judge her for lessons only recently taught. He reached out to touch her emotions, which she did not guard from him. She was calm and watchful for attack, not thrilled by the prospect of it. She projected danger, but did not invite it. By signaling that she was a predator to those she knew watched, she prevented attack and death. Given her small frame and bright coloring, if she wished to kill, she would invite attack by acting meek. Instead, she protected her attackers from death. She was learning her lessons well.

“Asheemi,” Shan called, “time to go.”

Her communion was over. She dutifully sprinted back to her master’s side, but did not dress. She needed her connection to her surroundings and to be free of her robes to be effective here. Jakk and the two wookiee scouts took in her feminine form. The huntress was young, muscled, seductive, and dangerous. There was a line between companion and object of affection that was now extremely blurred in their minds and as with most young women unaccustomed to their sexuality, she was oblivious. Shan noticed these feelings and hoped they would not interfere as danger approached. He thought about making Asheemi cover herself as he did in more social situation, but the problem was theirs, not hers. In this environment, she was right, not convention. No one asked wookiee females to cover themselves. Still, he would make sure their focus was on the task at hand, and not the young Togruta’s curves.

They proceeded toward the ritual point, picking their way over rocks and under roots. The scouts were careful and efficient, guiding the team past obstructions they never would have seen on their own. They covered three times the ground with the scouts they would have alone, in spite of the fact that Shan and Asheemi were accomplished trackers. Jakk hung back, covering their rear with his blaster, and Kal stayed near the front, remembering more and more what it was like to live and hunt in the Shadowlands. It was horrible and exciting. He was both glad he no longer had to deal with this live or die, zero tolerance lifestyle, but also realized how much he missed it. Asheemi stayed on his elbow, sensing the forest in front of them with the Force and her hollow headtails.

The vibrations bounced around in her head, and she read the sounds like small transmissions of code. She put a small hand on her pitch black guide and stopped him. She nodded ahead to three small sets of eyes in the distance. Not yet used to the darkness the way he used to be after weeks of existing in the Shadowlands, Kal had almost missed them. A small band of katarns were directly in front of them, meaning that more had to be flanking them to the left and right. Asheemi located them all, nine of them moving in for the kill. At first they were being tracked by only three, and were not in danger, but now with numbers on their side, an attack was imminent. Shan felt Asheemi’s change in mood and ignited his lightsaber. Alerted to the danger, the scouts sprinted off to spread out the targets for the predators and Jakk readied his blaster. Kal fired the first shot, and the battle was joined.

“You can’t be serious!” Jakk exclaimed. The beast was like a bolder with legs and fangs. He thought he was seeing things when he first spotted the wookiee wearing a robe and brandishing a lightsaber. That was the strangest thing he’d ever encountered, until he saw the terentatek. He squeezed off a shot that deflected harmlessly from its armored shell into a wroshyr tree.

Shan charged the beast and his lightsaber found flesh. It howled with pain and turned its focus from the strange wookiee that had joined the fight to Shan. It gnashed its jaws and swiped at him, but missed its mark. Kal howled a battle cry and scampered into place for a shot. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, depressing the trigger. The creature heard the bolt fire and turned into the blast. It caught the beast in the eye, dropping it to one knee in pain. The shot disoriented the creature and left it in anguish. Jakk watched Asheemi dashing to get into position while Shan and the wookiee jedi poised to strike.

“Now or never old Jakk,” he said to himself, drawing a bead. If the wook knew the only unarmored thing on this monster was its eyeball then he’s got one more to lose. He snapped off a shot… and it landed. No one was more surprised than the Iridonian. Falling down to its hands for balance, the blinded creature had no fight left. The robed wookiee leapt into the air and landed on its back. He drove the blade of his yellow lightsaber into the skull of the creature to the hilt. The natural armor of the beast glowed orange as it melted away. The death rattle of the terentatek rang out among the trees. It collapsed under the dead weight and shook leaves from the trees and rocks out of centuries old resting places. The wookiee’s coup de grace might have been more dramatic, but Jakk had done it…, the creature was dead.

“What tha!” Kal yowled turning toward Jakk after his amazing shot. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Since knowing the Zabrak, Kal had always bailed him out of trouble. Although he talked like a master privateer, he never backed it up in a fight until now. Even underwater in Manaan he was more ineffective than effective, but in the depths of the Shadowlands, Jakk hadn’t missed a shot.

“What?” he responded. “I was just following your lead. Besides…, it’s all in the reflexes.”

The wookiee shook his head back and forth and chuffed. He had another question he wanted answered.

The new wookiee who stood before them hadn’t come with them from Rwookrrorro village like the chieftain’s cousins. Both had succumbed to katarn attacks, fighting bravely to the death to protect the jedi team. But this creature had swung into action, lightsaber blazing like Shan and Asheemi. He even wore a crudely woven robe, made of thick threads to look like a jedi. While he wore the trappings and carried the weapon of a jedi, he fought like a wookiee, howling curses and attacking the beast head on in a furious rage. Stories of an avenging jedi ghost had been around since Kal was barely a hunter. Surely this apparition would disappear as he got closer, but it didn’t. It stood firm, with its hands clasped, and a moment later, was completely calm. Each of them considered the being with wonder.

“Are you the Ghost of Saresh?” Kal asked. The jedi who had come to fight the creature was called Guun Han Saresh. It had been decades since he was last seen, and Jolee Bindo confirmed he’d been killed. But, as Jolee was known for, the actual message he delivered was cryptic. What he told Freyyr was that Saresh was dead, but he would ‘live on to protect the wookiees’. Hunters were sometimes saved from life threatening situations by a blaze of yellow light and a robed figure. It charged quickly and was gone as fast, never staying to share in the prizes of the hunt. The hunters rescued described the impossible and were usually so injured that the words were assumed to be tainted by pain. But here was the Ghost of Saresh… a lightsaber wielding Son of Rwookrrorro.

“I was a student of Saresh,” he explained. “He found me during my Great Hunt, and noticed I was different. I am Kyybecca, son of Worrroznor the Holder of Laws.”

“You were a runt, a poor hunter,” Kal said. “When you didn’t return, we thought you’d become prey.”

“I’ve lived five tens in the Shadowlands,” Kyybecca told him, “longer than any other wookiee. I’ve survived two masters and two ritual beasts. This one was the bull, the one killed by Jolee and his jedi was the mate. She consumed Saresh, but this one lived on. It was my destiny to protect the people from him, as foretold by my master. Now it is fulfilled.”

“You are obviously a sssskilled jedi,” Shan replied, “if you are no longer needed here, might you conssssider returning with us?”

“For what purpose?” Kyybecca asked, “there are many other dangers in the Shadowlands.”

“I’m sure Guun Han and Jolee told you your training would not end with their passssssing,” Shan told him. It was not the way of jedi who found students in their travels to leave them to train alone. Guun Han’s death and Jolee’s travels with Revan interrupted their teaching, but they must have laid the groundwork for another to pick it up. Jolee remained with the Order for twenty years after the redemption of Revan. Surely he would have told someone about this being.

“It is true that the hermit told me more would come,” Kyybecca remembered, “but I assumed that he spoke of the ones he left with. I stayed to protect the clan from the beast as he asked.”

“The beast is no more,” said Kal, picking up on Shan’s cues. He knew part of their mandate was to bring back Force sensitive beings where they found them so the Sith wouldn’t take them instead. Of what little he knew of the Force, he knew using its power while enraged was a dangerous proposition. He decided to appeal to the honor of this wookiee.

“You can protect a galaxy with your power.”

“True,” Kyy agreed. It was still hard for Kal to believe his eyes and ears. Here was a wookiee, standing in clothing and wielding a lightsaber, as calm as the winds through the tops of the wroshyr canopy. Kal found that raging, as his brothers did in the heat of battle, was not useful when he was trying to use his bowcaster. Although it was less ancient than the ryyk blades, it was a truly unique wookiee weapon and deadly in his hands. As Shan described the Order in short detail for the stranger, Kal continued to stare quizzically at this enigma. The wookiee finally admitted to himself that there was still more in this universe than he would ever understand, even on his own world. “Let us return to give Zzzzalbaar news of our victory, and of his cousins’ passsssing,” Shan said. “Then we will assssk his permission to take you to the Jedi Order.”

Kyybecca guided the group even more effectively past danger than their previous guides. They ascended back to the level of the village easily. After a brief reunion with his father, Kyybecca stood before the chieftain. It felt like a trial, as he stood gallantly in his makeshift jedi robes. He was unlike any other wookiee in the village, possibly in history, and he knew it. He was different from birth, and in his youth he was ostracized for it. As Zalbaar questioned him now, in front of their fathers, it was revealed that he’d saved a hundred wookiees with his jedi powers. The Ghost of Saresh had been on the mouths of wookiee hunters for decades. The Ghost gave them new confidence to brave the Shadowlands, and to know the Ghost might no longer protect them would harm the clan and lower the confidence of the hunters. But he also had seen firsthand the danger a renegade jedi could do: Juhani on Dantooine and Bastila on the Star Forge. Kyybecca could turn their world into a wasteland if he wasn’t properly trained.

“Jedi Knight,” Zalbaar addressed Shan, “will you take responsibility for this Son of Rwookrrorro? Will you keep him from danger until he learns to traverse the pathways of his heart as well as he knows the pathways of the Shadowlands?”

“It will be my honor, chieftain,” he replied.

“Go then, Honored Defender,” Zalbaar proclaimed, using the translation of Kyybecca’s name. “When you have mastered yourself, you will be welcome back to Kashyyyk. And go Shadow Wook. Both of you are tasked with bringing honor to our clan among the stars. Always return to your people when they need you, and you will always be able to call on us when your need is great. I am honored to remain a friend of the Jedi. May you never hunt alone.”

“You are the first jedi to visit here since the Dark Wars,” the Kel Dor guide said. The Jedi Academy on Dorin was now the home of the Baran Do Sages. Zev, Arlynn, HanK, the Mandalorian Kael, and their twi’lek pilot Filly followed him through an almost exact replica of the Coruscant Jedi Temple. It was amazing, with tall columns and many rooms off the main hall for various training sessions. The primary difference between this hall and the Temple were the beautiful murals on the ceilings, walls, and floors.

“Who painted all these murals?” Filly asked. They depicted various figures throughout the past and future of the Jedi Order. Some of the faces were familiar, like Ulic Qel Droma and Exar Kun, and others like the strange Dark Lord made of black metal.

“Most of us have the sight, but it manifests itself in different ways,” he explained. “With this gift comes others, such as artistic ability.”

“They are amazing,” said Arlynn, soaking in all the visions. There were more of great storms and Kel Dor historical figures. The tour was like a visual history of the Sages.

“I believe you will be most interested to meet one of our artists,” the guide told them, bringing them to a room full of carvings, busts, and more painted depictions. However these were more familiar.

“Filly, that’s you!” Arlynn exclaimed rushing over one of the statues. It was a perfect image, right down to her pistols ‘Honey’ and ‘Baby’.

“I look good,” she cooed. “I need to meet this guy.”

“Me too,” Kael responded. He was still wearing his Mandalorian armor including the helmet to filter out the helium gas of the Dorin atmosphere. The rest of the group were wearing personal gas masks.

They walked slowly around the room and took in all the artwork. The pieces had been brought to this room specifically from around the temple and the artist’s personal collection. There were depictions of them all including their allies that were currently on Kashyyyk… Jakk, Ishhkalwarr, Shan, and Asheemi. While they observed the pieces, the artist entered. Since none of them were familiar with the subtle difference between them, the two Kel Dor could have been twins.

“I am Koth Drii,” he said in Basic. The voice was smooth and comfortable. “I am the artist.”

“Love your work,” Filly said.

“Thank you, Bene,” he replied.

“What?”

“As we have not had the pleasure to meet until now, I have given my artwork names based on their, your, auras,” he explained. “It is that aura with which I address you now.”

“I assume ‘bene’ means ‘beautiful’?” she said smiling. “It means the Feint,” he explained. Kael laughed under his breath. The Kel Dor was the first one who put Filly in her place, and he didn’t even mean to.

“I am Zeven Thanas,” Zev introduced, “you can call me Zev.”

“Yali,” Koth replied. The other Sage nodded. “And Sayyadina,” he said in Arlynn’s direction.

“Arlynn,” she corrected politely. She was sure this wasn’t a negative term, but she liked being called by her name. Often the jedi referred to her as ‘padawan’ and Filly called her ‘sticky buns’. Being called Arlynn reminded her of her mother.

“Arlynn,” he said back.

“How long have you been having these visions?” Zev asked.

“I sculpted this at least ten years ago,” he said referring to the statue of Filly.

“Wow, I just got Baby two years ago,” Filly said referring to her heavily modified hold‐out blaster. She still hadn’t fully grasped the way the Force allowed the Sages to see the future. Even Zev and Arlynn, who had limited visions themselves, didn’t understand the clarity they were looking at in these depictions.

“This is all very fascinating,” Zev responded, “but unfortunately we are here for a more dire purpose. The Sith believe this Temple holds an access point to the Jedi Archives. They are seeking information held within. We believe they will be attacking in force, and doing so soon.”

“Yes,” the Sage agreed.

“Will we win?” Kael asked rhetorically.

“The future is in motion. It changes with our actions,” Koth replied, “but you will bring a great storm.”

“Cool,” Kael replied.

The battle in the canyons went as expected. Although some of them were a little worse for wear, most of the team held their own against twice their number in Sith Troopers. Returning to the temple was the part none of them saw coming. The Sith Lord, Darth Chimera, was waiting for them. He hadn’t had time to execute many of the Sages, but they were securely locked away to keep from helping. The jedi and their allies fought feverishly against the dark jedi and his minions; armored Sith warriors attacked with lightsabers, although their lack of sensitivity to the Force kept them from being truly effective.

Chimera was a well‐known fallen jedi. He was a Chiss, a being from a frozen planet in the outer rim. It was thought he was killed by the Triumvirate during the Dark Wars. While he served the Order, he was a talented dual wielder. He was also a talented strategist. His loss was a great blow to the Order and might have helped turn the tide in the Jedi Civil War. Now they faced him as an enemy. Chimera was a master, and he was going to be a difficult opponent.

The Sith ran into the action, slashing at Zev and Koth with each blade. Zev tried to parry the blow but missed and was seared by the weapon. Koth saw the attack the same as he saw it during his morning meditation, and dodged the blow easily. Zev was growing in skill with his own second blade, but he still had difficulty concentrating when trying to move and attack at the same time. Since Chimera had made the mistake of getting too close, he didn’t have to. Zev counterattacked with both blades simultaneously, landing both hits against Chimera’s blades. He was forced to his knees and twin bolts burned through his collarbone. Filly stood on the other side of the smoking blaster, smiling. A blink later, Chimera was on the ground with a hole in his chest, and it was Kael that was smiling.

“Body count,” Zev said loudly. He knew no one had been seriously injured.

“Here master,” Arlynn replied. She had already check out everyone visually to make sure no one needed attention.

“Acknowledgement!” HanK responded.

“In one fine piece,” Filly chimed in.

“Ditto,” Kael announced.

“Amazing,” Koth said, “to see you in action was better than in my dreams.”

“That’s what ‘he’ said,” Filly chirped. Arlynn had to suppress a giggle.

“Clarification: Are you referring to your Mandalorian lover or to the master who often dreams vigorously?”

“WHAT!” Filly exclaimed. “Zev, I had no idea…”

“It’s not what he means,” Zev clarified, “but I’m glad you are all in a light mood. Koth, where would they have imprisoned your brothers?” “I will release them,” Koth said with his eyes closed. It was his priority as well and he was looking for them through the Force.

“I hope he can teach me how to do that,” Arlynn said. Zev felt a familiar pang of shortcoming as a teacher.

Once all the Sages were freed, they thanked the jedi for their intervention. The assassinations of the Kel Dor knights during the Dark Wars had made the Sages suspicious that the affiliation with the jedi brought death to their planet. With this latest assault from a rogue dark jedi, it was clear that the Sith did not discriminate.

“What will happen to you, Koth?” Arlynn asked. “Will you stay here and continue your art?”

“Actually, Arlynn,” he said, using her name as she had requested, “I plan to come with you.”

“The Order could use the help,” Zev agreed. “Is this permitted by the Baran Do?”

“We do not limit the actions of our members,” the leader told him. “Koth is an important member of our circle. He is highly skilled, but learning the higher arts of the Jedi will strengthen our brotherhood. If you would permit it, we would as well.”

The jedi gathered around the Darkhorse Courier’s encrypted communicator. After explaining the situation on Dorin, Atris agreed that Koth should be invited to join them with full rights to the Order.

“There is another issue we wished to discuss with you,” she continued. “Arlynn, step forward.”

Arlynn usually stood back away from the screen in case Filly or Kael needed to chime into the conversation. Atris intimidated her, and she preferred to listen and not speak. She obeyed the white‐ haired jedi master and put her face nearer to the viewscreen.

“You have become very powerful, Arlynn,” she said. “Visas has felt your power grow, and everything Zev has reported back exceeds our expectations. As with your master, defeating a Dark Lord is a task reserved for Jedi Knights. Thanks to your participation in the defeat of now three denizens of the Dark Side, it is my pleasure to promote you to Jedi Knight.”

“Ha!” laughed Filly out loud. “Go girl!”

Arlynn was shocked. She just assumed that it would be years before she was promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight. With the exception of Bastila Shan, it took all of the contemporary jedi years and years to prove themselves. Arlynn had been with the Order less than a full year now, and already she was being promoted?

“I don’t want to question this too much,” Arlynn began, “but I thought there would be a great trial?”

“The Jedi Trials include three primary parts,” Atris clarified, “the lightsaber, the Jedi Code, and the Final Test. You have accomplished all three to my satisfaction Arlynn. You are the most gifted padawan I’ve seen since Bastila Shan. We lack a proper master for you that can unlock your tremendous abilities, instead you will now look inward. A Jedi Knight stays open to instruction, but must draw from the Force itself to continue to improve. It is a very personal and individual experience, and one that you need to pursue immediately. Therefore, there is no clerical error… you are now a full Jedi Knight.”

Arlynn beamed, as did her master. His padawan was now a knight, just like he had officially become just months before. His ascension was different, it was a culmination of years of study, confirmed in the eyes of the Council. Arlynn had started from nothing, not even an awareness of where her power emanated from, and was now his equal in rank. She looked at him, and then fell into his arms in a large hug. Even though the jedi normally didn’t approve of such familial attachments, no one objected to her spontaneous show of emotion.

“Great work, Arlynn,” Zev whispered to her.

“Thank you, master,” Arlynn said back happily.

“Now you have to call me Zev,” he reminded her. She pulled back and looked at him.

“Not ever, master.”

Koth Drii watched through the pristine screen of the Darkhorse Courier as the only world he’d ever set foot on grew smaller. He had seen this moment before, but visions were paled in comparison to experiences.

Filly piloted the ship with ease past orbit into the space lane to plot their course through hyperspace. She wasn’t truly in a hurry, but the sooner they made lines, the sooner they would be back at Coruscant. And the sooner they were back on Coruscant, the sooner they would be rested and ready for whatever else the universe decided to throw at them.

Filly swiveled her chair to get a better look at him. He didn’t stand in the cockpit, but at its threshold. His hands were in front of him, enveloped in the sleeves of his robe, and likely clasped as well. She watched him for another half minute.

She could glean nothing from his demeanor. His eyes were now covered with opaque goggles and his hideous nose and mouth cavity area were covered by a breathing apparatus. Whatever signals his species gave off, she was not tuned into.

Finally, she spoke up. “Leaving home for the first time isn’t easy” she said, faking a memory in her head she had long ago forgotten.

“Parting with friends and family is a sadness” he began, his voice oddly not sounding much different through the breath mask, “but a place is only a place, even if it is home.”

“Home is where the heart is” chirped Arlynn before quickly closing her mouth as tight as she could. She stood behind the Kel Dor and next to her mentor and until very recently, her master, Zeven. She ducked her head a little when everyone moved their heads to look at her.

“Indeed, Jedi Arlynn” he said, looking down at her. He waited until she looked up at him before returning his gaze to the view screen. “I said goodbye to Dorin long ago. I am prepared to appreciate what I meet.”

Koth turned from the stellar scenery and nodded at Zev. The handsome Jedi nodded back and led him to where they would be seated for entry into hyperspace. As he passed by her, he gently nudged Arlynn and winked at the newly christened Jedi Knight. She smiled at his approval. He constantly told her to be more assertive; that she would not always be a padawan learner and regardless of her own misgivings about herself, others would view her as an authority.

“Boy,” sighed Filly, “he must not be been able to see into the past, or he wouldn’t be so welcoming of the trouble we get into”.

Her Mandalorian beau and co‐pilot smiled and nodded as she waited for her passengers to secure themselves before hitting the button that transformed stars into lines.

Kyybecca promoted to knight after killing Terentatek

Asheemi still waiting

Yulaaz passed his tests, serving Shasa on Manaan

Go to Lehon (Shan, Asheemi, Zev, Arlynn, Koth, Kyybecca)

or Iridonia (Zev, Arlynn, HanK, Filly, Kael)