Calo

Tatooine:

Danika

When we got back aboard, I went to the berthing area. Bastila was crouched there, trying to meditate. I knew she was only trying because I couldn't feel the flow of peace I usually did when she was meditating.

'Yes.' She almost snarled at me.

'We have the location of the star map. It is in a cave with a Krayt Dragon.'

'Then we should leave immediately.'

'No, we'll wait until tomorrow.'

'Why?' She glared at me.

'Bastila, your emotions are pouring over me like a cold shower. Even if you can't meditate, I have to before we go out there and chance being killed.' I sighed. 'Bastila, maybe we should break this bond before it gets worse.'

'But what if the bond is the only thing holding you from falling to the dark side?'

I knelt, and brushed a stray hair off her face. 'Bastila, I can feel your pain so deeply it's my pain. I would help but you won't let me. Don't you understand how frustrating that can be? If you were Kalendra, I would have taken you into the tub and massaged all that pain away. But you're not.' I stood, walking away. Sasha came running up, hugging me, and I returned it gladly. The girl had become the focus of my off time. We went together into the cargo hold, and I began to spar with her in hand to hand combat. She was fast, wiry, and willing to hurt her opponent if she had to. All good in martial arts. I felt refreshed, and meditated, then took a bath with Sasha and went to bed.

I found myself in the jungles of home. For once I felt myself alone, and it worried me. Then I heard crying.

I found Bastila standing over a corpse. She was wailing like a child that was inconsolable, trying to straighten his limbs, talking to him as if that would make him arise from the dead. 'Come on father, it's morning and there is so much we should be doing! There is treasure to find, money to earn...' She touched his face. 'Please, if you love me you'll get up!' I watched in horror. The so prim and proper Bastila falling apart before my eyes. She saw, me, and gave a rictus smile. 'Father, we have a guest! You have to get up!'

'Bastila, come with me.' She ignored me.

I caught her from behind, holding her against me. She fought, screaming and clawing to return to the body, but I wouldn't let her go. 'Bastila, it won't work!' I begged. She finally stopped fighting, merely standing there as I held her. 'We will get through this together. All you have to do is trust me.'

She started laughing hysterically, trying to push away again.

We ignored each other the next morning. Canderous seemed in a good mood, and decided to start one of his 'breakfast battles' with her. 'So, From what I heard, Bastila, you went down pretty easy when the Vulkars grabbed you on Taris.'

'They caught me off guard.'

'Off guard? I remember the Jedi we faced, how did anyone catch you off guard?'

'Leave it, Canderous.'

'Why? Because you aren't half the woman they were? Because if they had been all like you we might have won?'

'Canderous.' I said. 'Please, leave it.'

'Strong words from a broken down mercenary who had to find scum like Davik Kang to work for!' Bastila shrilled.

'When it comes to insults, you're not too bad.' Canderous said. 'But if you're a Jedi, I'm the King of Alderaan.'

'Enough.' I let my irritation push through. Bastila looked worried, but Canderous merely shrugged. He had decided i was the commanding officer, and an order had been given.

I decided to take Carth with us. He piloted the land speeder with the same Panache he had shown flying the Ebon Hawk.

'Bastila, did you ever consider joining the Jedi when Revan went?' He shouted.

'That was over five years ago, Carth. I was still an apprentice then, and my ability with Battle meditation had not yet come to light. Yet even then I had the wisdom to stay instead of fighting.'

'Fair enough. But maybe if the Council had backed them, Revan and Malak might not have fallen to the dark side.'

'Don't blame everything on the Council! It was your Senate that saw only the threat of the Mandalorians. The Council's wisdom saw beyond that.'

'What did they see?' I asked.

'Something was lurking out there in the depths of the force. Something dark and hungry waiting for us to get close enough for it to touch. Something that devoured Revan and Malak along with almost all of those Jedi that had gone with them. If the Council had thrown their weight behind that stupid war how many more might have fallen before we knew what we faced?'

'So the Council decided that we should have done nothing? Just let the Mandalorians roll right over us?'

'The Republic has survived worse, Carth.'

'Sure. If they didn't mind becoming workers under Mandalorians. Mandalorians who weren't even worthy of the name, their kids learning Mandalorian instead-'

'If Revan and Malak had not gone, the order would be at full strength rather than the tattered remnants that remain!'

I was wishing I had come by myself.

We dropped over the hill, and I saw a speeder already there. A Twi-lek was standing there, looking into the cave.

It could have doubled as a hanger for the Ebon Hawk from the opening. We stopped beside his speeder, and he waved toward us.

Komad Fortuna.' He introduced himself. 'I don't know if you have heard of me-'

'I have.' I said. You made three trips to my home world of Deralia.' I said.

'Yes. Here I hunt game worthy of the name for once.' He waved toward the entrance. 'Not only a Krayt Dragon, but one twice the size of the one my grandfather killed here a century ago!' He handed me his electro binoculars. I couldn't see anything, and i said so. 'Ah, believe me. Such a beast comes only once in a lifetime!' He went to his vehicle, and pulled out a heavy blaster that Canderous would have carried with ease. Komad however set the small gravity generator, and moved it into position. 'My only worry is that this toy of mine will only irritate it. The scales of an average Krayt Dragon are thick enough to turn a regular blaster. But I have a plan. For it to work, however, I need your help.'

'My help?'

'Yes. The chosen prey of the Dragon is Bantha and the occasional stupid hunter. As you can see, I didn't bring any with me.' He waved toward a distant herd. 'However if you can entice them over here, we can get this over with.'

'But why kill it?'

'Ah, a conservationist like that Dayso Cooh back in the town. Well I have the same answer for you that I had for him. The reason so many of the animals here are huge is because their life cycles are so long. A Bantha lives to over fifty standard years, and this beast by my estimates has been alive almost a thousand years. Think of something that has grown to the size of a ship, that eats perhaps ten tons in a meal. When it was much smaller. The Bantha are large enough only for a single meal, and Dragons do not die, they just merely grow larger. Soon it will grow large enough that it cannot eat enough Bantha to stay alive. Then it will have to find food, and Anchorhead is what, twenty kilometers away? It can out run a Bantha and if it comes to Anchorhead, will devastate the population. When that happens, no one will be alive to complain that I should have killed it.'

That made sense. 'I understand.'

'Danika!' I spun, and Carth was pointing toward the horizon beyond which lay Anchorhead. Three speeders were escorting a shuttle, and a pair of swoop bikes paced them.

'Hunters?' I asked.

Fortuna shook his head. 'If they were, they wouldn't have brought that shuttle. The sound stampedes banthas, and makes the dragon angry.'

I swept the vehicles, and hissed. 'Carth, the second speeder.' He took the electro binoculars. He froze, then lowered them slowly. 'Calo Nord.'

'Who?' Bastila asked.

'Supposedly the best bounty hunter in the Galaxy.' Carth said. 'I don't think it's chance that he's coming here. The Sith must have hired him.'

We had better hide.' I looked around. 'Komad, how close can we get to the cavern without disturbing the beast?'

'It is in hibernation during the hot part of the day.' He waved toward the blistering suns. 'For a few more hours, we could hide right in the mouth of it.'

Without words we all sprinted toward the cave. There was a pair of berm made by the beast hollowing out the inside with a flattened area between them. They were high enough that we could lay down and fire at the approaching vehicles. That is if anyone but Komad had a long-gun. However they were small, so I ended up hiding behind one with Komad, Bastila and Carth behind the other.

The shuttle landed behind our land speeders, and the speeders with it settled down beside it. The swoops kept a circling pattern to watch for attempts by our party to break out into the desert.

Nord climbed out of the speeder, and took a microphone. His voice blasted. 'We know you're there, Bastila. Your friends are bought and paid for, but you're worth more alive. Me, I don't care, but if you want to live, I would suggest you stand up and come here.'

'Well, it's nice to know we're not important.' I said loud enough for Carth to hear.'

'I never was that valuable.' Carth replied. 'What's the plan?'

I looked at the hundred or so meters between us as almost a full dozen mercenaries formed into a line. I might be able to run that distance, deflecting blaster bolts all the way, or Bastila might. But both Komad and Carth were going to die if we tried that. I could see at least four Sith sniper rifles. They could kill us from where they stood. I looked back. 'Komad, what would happen if we ran in there?' I asked.

'You are mad!' He said. Then realized that he had almost shouted, and looked at the cave in alarm. He lowered his voice. 'If we go in there, we are a meal, nothing more.'

'No, I want you to consider our options.' I jerked my head toward Calo's men. 'They will definitely kill us. But the beast only might, correct?'

He looked at the men, then at the cave, then gulped. 'Yes there is that. Ready?'

'Are you ready, Carth?'

'You're insane! We're going to die!' Then he grinned manically. 'After you!'

I laughed, leaping to my feet, facing Nord's men. I deflected a bolt, then another as the snipers took us under fire. Bastila had stood as I did, and while I covered Komad, she covered Carth in that mad scramble.'

'All right, have it your way!' Nord's voice bellowed. 'Bikes, educate them!'

The bikes swooped down, and just as I reached the entrance, they fired. I deflected their fire madly, and grinned as one of the bolts hit one of those distant land speeders and caused it to explode. Then we were out of sight. Carth and Bastila scrambled up the slope on their side, and Komad was doing the same, so i shut down my lightsaber. I ducked, diving to the side as one of the swoops dropped low enough to fire right into the cave. I heard bolts hitting, sand screeching as it crystallized into glass, stone shattering. And among them a drumfire of hits that sounded, meaty.

I lay on the sand floor, and right before me was a wall. Then an eyes a meter across opened in that wall. I froze, my eyes tracking down to the left, where only part of that huge body was visible. Unable to stop myself, my eyes followed the other way, down a head and snout large enough to park one of those land speeders on. The vertical pupil widened, and I knew it saw me for the first time. Then it lifted that massive head, the neck a column large enough to support a roof on.

Calo Nord saved me that day. One of the bikes made another firing run, and I saw bolts smack into the beast's nose. It flinched, then turned its attention on the opening. Behind us, Nord and his men had charged, firing manically at the cave. They were almost to the berm when the beast started forward.

I rolled up into a ball, and pure chance kept it from stepping on me as it charged. I stood to witness the most one-sided battle I have ever seen.

The mercenaries had charged expecting to find only four people. Instead they suddenly faced almost one hundred tons of angry and hungry dragon. They were brave; I'll give them that. They began firing in a pattern that would have gutted the Ebon Hawk. Against the dragon it was rain falling on a roof. The dragon snapped up one man, pinning another as it ripped off his arm and head, smashing another with his tail, then it was through them, and only Calo Nord stood between it and the desert. One of the swoops dropped down firing, and the dragon smashed it to the ground with his forepaw, the explosion scything through the men on the ground. It turned and ran toward Calo Nord. I saw him reach for a grenade, and saw him activate the thermal detonator as the jaws closed on him. The head came back, the tongue wrapping around Nord, then it swallowed.

An instant late the detonator went off. The huge neck bulged, then exploded outward. The blast swept us off our feet. When I staggered back up, the only thing I heard was the wailing of a badly wounded man. Carth came up beside me, and in pace we walked out into the hell ground. We didn't know how many had survived, though all of the vehicles were gone. We could see the lone swoop and the shuttle passing over the distant dunes, and nothing else.

We looked at each other in amazement. Behind us Komad Fortuna came out, looking at the carnage. Then he flicked on his wrist com. He spoke, then came up beside us, looking at the dead dragon.

'A pity.' He said.

'Yes, it was a beautiful beast.'

'No not that.' He looked at me askance. 'The story I could have told at the Hunter's club! Instead?' He took a heroic stance, waving toward an invisible audience. 'There I was, facing a dragon twice the size of any that had ever been seen. I wasn't sure my Heavy blaster rifle would kill it!. But before I could fire, a dozen mercenaries led by Calo Nord charged!'

I held my sides, trying to keep from laughing.

'Imagine it! Men firing weapons with no more affect than snowballs as I dived for cover!'

'Please, stop.' I said in a strangled whisper.

'Then Calo Nord was eaten and his well-known thermal detonator gave it a case of terminal indigestion!'

I fell to my knees, and roared with laughter. I was alive, Calo was dead, and the relief was so great I couldn't hold it in. Fortuna looked at me quizzically, which caused me to laugh even harder.

Finally the laughter died. I stood, looking around.

Inside the cave, Bastila was kneeling by a huddled form, and my good humor vanished. I walked in, standing over her. She held a holocron, and she rocked back and forth, silent tears streaming down her face. This is the moment when you realize someone is finally dead. The body before you, the first shovel of dirt hitting the coffin, the first flames touching the corpse. The person you hoped might stand up again is gone forever, and all that remains is the grief. I knelt, and wordlessly enfolded her in my arms from behind. She sobbed, and I could hear words in it.

'I wouldn't even speak to him the last time I saw him. I was hurt that he would send me away, and he tried to make me understand. But I wouldn't listen. When the Jedi came for me I turned my back on him, and boarded the ship all angry and hurt, and I never knew if he waved to me, or even said goodbye.' She held up the Holocron, and I saw the scene she had described. A small girl with pigtails walking stiff-backed away from him. He was waving, shouting, trying to get her to turn, to wave, anything. His shoulders slumping as the ship lifted, Helena holding him as he cried.

'Maybe she'll forgive us later.' Helena said. Whether Bastila saw it or not, Helena did not appear overjoyed by her departure.

She spun in my arms, and held to me desperately. I merely held her, lending her my strength as she cried.

'Danika is this the Star Map?' Carth asked. I glared at him until he left us alone. All I could feel was Bastila's misery.