Revan's Shadow: Chapter Sixteen

Zaalbar had been right when he spoke of how his presence among the group would affect the reaction of the Wookiees in his home village, Rwookrrorro; but he had underestimated his brother. Their father Freyyr was missing, Chuundar was now chieftan, and he was now holding Zaalbar prisoner until the rest of the group did his dirty work by slaying a madclaw in the Shadowlands.

"Cowers in the Shadowlands," Canderous seethed as he repeated Chuundar's words. "Cowers! Noone that survives alone in the Shadowlands cowers! We should have killed him on the spot!"

"That was my first thought too, Canderous," Obtena admitted, "But we'd probably have to fight every Wookiee in the village. I don't want to pit Zaalbar against his people. He'd probably defend me to honour his lifedebt, but it would break him. I don't want a repeat of... what happened on Tatooine; and this time there's a whole planet, an entire culture at risk..." She glanced across the room to the door of the cabin which had been provided for them. If the Wookiee and Czerka guards posted outside weren't eavesdropping, someone else probably was. "I don't want to talk about it..." she silently finished her statement by mouthing the word 'here.' Everyone understood.

Mission considered not saying anything after this, then decided it would be out-of-character not to. "What are we going to do about Big Z? Are we really going to go down into the Shadowlands to kill the madclaw?"

"Perhaps. We need to go regardless, what we came for is down there." A thought struck Obtena, and she started searching the pouches on her belt until she found what she sought. It was a datapad, given to her by some bizarre stranger after they had killed Calo Nord. "But I want you to stay here, Mission. Keep Zaalbar company, if Chuundar will let you."

"But..." as Mission watched, as Obtena began tapping keys on the datapad. She was writing something, and Mission guessed it was further instructions. She wanted her to do more than keep an eye on Zaalbar... but staying meant she wouldn't be able to get any tach glands for Griff. Well, it's not like the bantha-brain deserves anything after what he did, anyway, she decided. "...O-okay. If you say so, Obtena. I don't know if the Shadowlands are worse than the Undercity was, but I don't think I'd want to go without Big Z, anyway."

Bastila changed the topic as Obtena focused on what she was writing. "I wonder if the Wookiees are as loyal to Chuundar as he claims. They're not happy we're here, obviously, but there's something about the way they tolerate our presence..."

"They feel like they've been conqoured without a fight," Canderous opined. "Having slavers in their midst is an unwelcome reminder as it is. We're making it worse. Maybe that's how we should get them to start fighting back."

Carth shook his head. "I don't think we want to be responsible for that. I'd bet the best way to solve a Wookiee problem is a Wookiee solution. If we could somehow reverse Zaalbar's dishonour, he could take his brother's place as chieftan."

"I'm afraid that would be impossible," Bastila told him. "Zaalbar was justifiably dishonoured, according to his peoples' ways. I can't imagine anything to reverse that except his brother's forgiveness, and I doubt Chuundar would ever oblige. Besides, the Wookiees' predicament is not why we are here."

Canderous snorted. "That doesn't mean we're not going to do anything about it."

"What do you mean?" Bastila asked suspiciously. To her surprise, Carth spoke up before the Mandalorian could reply.

"I think even Canderous is noticing a pattern in the way we go about finding the... things we're looking for. It's our mission to find them, but that often seems secondary to helping the people we come across along the way. We find them as a consequence of the things we do on whatever planet we visit, rather than actively looking for them."

"Or do you think your precious Force isn't taking us exactly where we need to be to get the job done?" Canderous added.

"Do you think you're here by the will of the Force, Mandalorian?" Juhani asked.

Canderous shrugged. "Probably. Just because I can't see it or feel it doesn't mean it isn't there. I've been places you've never seen, seen things you'd never believe. The thought that some mystical energy field is influencing my life isn't as hard for me to imagine as you seem to think." He lay back on his cot, hands under his head as he stared up at the ceiling. "Whether or not it's actually true, I'm doing what I want to be doing, so I don't have a problem with it either way." He closed his eyes, seemingly oblivious to Juhani's continuing stare.

"He's been thinking too much," Carth muttered to Bastila.

"It's Obtena's fault," she replied.

*

Obtena woke to find Mission crouched beside her cot, gently gripping her arm. "Mission..." she blinked, looking around herself, and lowered her voice to a whisper. "It's still night. What is it?"

"I wanted to ask you to do something for me. There's something I had to do, in the Shadowlands. I thought Big Z would be going down there with us, that he'd help and we wouldn't have to bother you, but now... I don't want to leave Big Z, y'know?"

"What is it you need to do?"

"I need tach glands..."

Obtena frowned. "Tachs are small, furry animals, right? Herbivores, barely violent. Why would you-"

"It's for Griff."

"...The last time you spoke of your brother, you used several words I was surprised you knew."

"Yeah... this is part of the reason why," Mission sighed. "He did leave me behind on Taris. It all happened like Lena said. She was right about everything, and I was so mean to her for it. I hope she's still on Dantooine when we get back, so I can say sorry."

"What does Griff want with tach glands, anyway?"

"It's part of his latest get-rich-quick scheme. He thinks he can use them to concoct a synthetic Tarisian ale and sell it off as the real thing. It's worth a lot, now that Taris is... I wouldn't have had anything to do with it, but he's already made a deal... with the Exchange."

Obtena groaned. A loser like Griff getting mixed up with an interstellar crime syndicate... it wouldn't be long before he got himself killed. Even if the fool did pull it off - which Obtena doubted - they'd probably kill him anyway. "Idiot," she muttered, half to herself.

"I know, I know... maybe if they broke his legs or something when he doesn't come through, he might finally learn something. But what if they just kill him? I've lost count of the number of times the stuff he taught me saved my life. I guess I feel like I still owe him, and he is my brother..."

Obtena patted her hand. "You stay here with Zaalbar," she said, as her other hand pulled out the datapad she had been using earlier. "Help him however you can, even if it just means being with him. I'll do what I can to get the tach glands." She pressed the datapad into Mission's hand, and the Twi'lek slipped it into her shirt.

"Thanks Obtena. You've done so much for all of us... even Griff..."

"I'll try not to make a habit of it."

Mission smiled, spontaneously hugged Obtena, and slipped back to her own cot. Pulling the covers up over her head, she curled up underneath and switched on the datapad.

Mission, it read, you're the youngest of us, and the least human in appearance. Some of these Wookiees may even have learned that many of your people have ended up in a similiar situation to their own. I want you to be our emissary here.

Stay safe.

*

The morning after, the Jedi, Carth and Canderous were taking the walkway that led to the platform down to the Shadowlands.

"I've just had a disturbing thought," Obtena spoke.

"Oh?" Carth responded. "What's that?"

"I knew Zaalbar was a Wookiee from Kashyyyk, the moment I saw him. I understood his language from the start. At the time, I simply figured I'd done some scouting here before..."

"And?"

"I was wondering if it might have been Czerka who paid for the job."

"I doubt it," Carth assured her. "Czerka was here since before you started scouting. Professionaly, I mean."

"The outpost we're parked at wasn't there when Zaalbar was last here. He said so. I could have scouted this very area, given Czerka the location of his village. I could even be responsible for his exile and his presence with us now."

Carth considered this, then shook his head doubtfully. "The chances of that are practically ludicrous, but I suppose it's possible..."

"No," Bastila interjected, "It isn't."

Obtena looked to her with her trademark crooked smile. "You say that with a comforting certainty," she remarked softly. Suddenly, Bastila wished she'd kept her mouth shut.

"I just mean... well, even if you can't remember it, you're not the kind of person who would ever take a job from slavers."

"As I am today, I'd agree with you. But I may have been more different than you think, before the memory loss. I've read about it. Some people remain the same, others turn out to be drastically different from before. There's no way I can be sure."

Seeing Bastila flounder as she tried to come up with a reasonable explanation, Juhani spoke up. "Nevertheless, I agree with Bastila. You are a good person, Obtena. I don't think any injury you could have sustained in that escape pod crash would change that."

"I didn't hear a bad word against you on the Endar Spire," Carth continued, though he did glance suspiciously at Bastila as he spoke. "I think you still are who you've always been."

"We'll just have to be certain about it, for you," Bastila finished, grateful for the save. Obtena's smile widened in thanks, and it strained Bastila's mental discipline to shove the sudden pang of guilt to the back of her mind before Obtena could become aware of it.

The ambush was swift and without warning. If Obtena had refused the Jedi training on Dantooine, she would never have had the necessary precognition to avoid the initial strike. In retrospect it was the first time she had been thankful that the Jedi masters had been so stubborn about training her, even though it irked her that they had been right. Still, noone had ever mentioned that dark Jedi could disguise their presence in the Force.

Each dark Jedi attacked from a different direction, two from trees on both sides of the walkway, one from above; all aimed at Obtena. Her companions sprang aside as she ducked and rolled in the blink of an eye, lightsabers in her hands and igniting as she rose to her feet. The dark Jedi leapt again immediately to avoid being surrounded, regrouping in their path. The surprise lost, the adversaries took a moment to size each other up.

Their appearance was almost identical to the trio they had encountered on Tatooine. These, however, had a no-nonsense air about them. There would be no pointless banter this time. Their presence in the Force was now unveiled as well, and she got the impression that they were evenly matched.

"Keep the one in blue alive if you can," the lead dark Jedi informed his apprentices; obviously Malak was still intent on capturing Bastila and corrupting her in order to use her battle meditation for his own purposes. "Kill the others."

The dark Jedi nearest Bastila gestured in her direction, and she was rendered immobile in a stasis field. The trio then charged the other two, shrugging off the Force attacks Obtena and Juhani threw at them. The melee again, but Obtena discovered that while Bastila could not participate, she remained aware of her surroundings. As the adrenaline and the Force began to flow through her, Obtena could feel Bastila observing the battle.

As one of the dark Jedi kept Juhani occupied, the other two circled around Obtena, one of them always trying to keep behind her. The leader intended to keep her attention focused on him until the one behind could deliver the killing stroke. Obtena defended herself against three lightsaber blades as she willed Bastila to check on Juhani. The Cathar's opponent was human, but almost as agile. Their duel took place in bounds and leaps about the walkway or into the trees, each maching their opponent's moves, taking care not to stray too far from the others.

Bastila returned her attention to Obtena, and a flicker of fear registered as she saw the dark Jedi behind her prepare a lethal strike.

Obtena locked blades with the opponent before her. Their faces mere inches apart, she thought she could see him grin cruelly at her from behind his mask. Obtena smiled charmingly back at him... then spat in his eye. In the moment's distraction that followed, she shoved him back with one lightsaber, twisted her body away from the other's lunge and beheaded him with her free blade, all in one move.

The leader's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed in anger as they shifted to Bastila. Apparently realising the silent communication between them, he raised a hand to incapacitate her in a more thorough fashion. Lightning flashed from his fingertips and struck her full-on, releasing her from the stasis but throwing her dangerously close to the edge of the walkway. Obtena's heart leapt up into her throat, but her fellow padawan tumbled to a halt, her robes burned and smoking, with only a meter to spare.

Fury quickly replacing fear, Obtena reached toward the dark Jedi, intending to throw him back and out of range of Bastila. For some reason she was not clear-headed enough to fathom, instead of an invisible wall of energy, lightning of her own arced forward to strike him in the chest. As Bastila, he was thrown back, convulsing as he hit the tree around which the walkway wound with a painful thump. As he struggled to get back to his feet, Obtena propelled one of the slain dark Jedi's lightsaber forward. It ignited just as it reached him, not leaving time for so much as a gasp of surprise before it impaled him through the heart.

Juhani, her sharp feline eyes noting the situation on the walkway, bounded back down from the trees to rejoin her companions. The remaining dark Jedi was hot on her heels, furious that she had not been able to land a single blow on her opponent. Raising her free hand, Obtena waited for Juhani to land and roll out of the way before catching her pursuer midair in a Force choke. The momentum of her jump carried the rest of her body forward, and her neck promptly snapped, killing her instantly. Obtena tossed the body over the walkway before rushing to Bastila's side. Carth had reached her first, a hand cushioning her head against the walkway.

"What... was... that!?" Bastila gasped as Obtena approached, still having difficulty drawing enough breath into her spasming lungs to speak.

Seeing she was mostly alright, Obtena relaxed and answered, "It wasn't intentional. I just wanted to push him... but I guess after seeing him do it, and-"

"And after getting emotional, you drew on the dark side of the Force," Bastila finished in as scolding a tone as she could currently muster. She didn't quite manage it. While the others may have passed it off, following the lightning attack, Obtena could feel that the usual arrogant conviction was missing.

"You're just saying that out of habit," she said, offering Bastila a hand up. The singed padawan took it and struggled to her feet.

"If I am, it's only because you've made a habit of giving me cause to do so."

"As I recall, you were afraid for me before I was for you."

"Nonsense! ...When?"

"Right before the attempted backstab?" Obtena clarified with a raised eyebrow, knowing Bastila would have to concede that point.

"An instinctual reaction to the sight of you almost getting yourself killed," Bastila countered. This only served to provoke a quick hug from Obtena.

"And it saved my life. Thanks."

"You're welcome," Bastila muttered, flushing, and tried to straighten her robes. Obtena couldn't help but grin.

"You know, you're lucky you're so well endowed. If you weren't so... lumpy, horizontally-speaking, you might have rolled right over the side."

"Her breasts saved her life?" Juhani asked, laughter in her voice. It was a rare occurance for the solitary Cathar to share a joke, but she was obviously enjoying Bastila's embarrassment as much as Obtena was.

"If you say so," Bastila finally replied, knowing better than to argue. Unfortunately, that didn't grant her a reprieve either.

"What, no snappy comeback? You're no fun."

"I can't think of anything that wouldn't be construed as insulting."

"Say it anyway! I know you won't mean it!"

"I will not!"

Obtena rolled her eyes. "Well, we can't let you do anything to ruin that prim and proper demeanour of yours, can we?"

"No. No, we can't," Bastila agreed with a deliberately imperious air before walking off, her robes trailing smoke behind her.