“So, what is your plan now?” Jolee kept an easy pace as Dan glided between the vast wroshyr trunks. “There is a group of poachers in the area… perhaps we could move to…”
“They’re already dead,” Dan shrugged. The Mandalorian’s in question had chosen to attack a group of symbiote enhanced wildlife. “Czerka’s camps and hunting parties have also been dealt with, so there’s nothing between us and Freyyr.”
“Freyyr… what do you want with him?” Jolee frowned and shook his head. “His pain has turned to madness… some wounds cannot be healed.”
“Zaalbar’s father can be brought back from the edge,” Dan’s eyes flashed as he carved a more direct path for the landbound hermit. “All we have to do is convince him that we can evict Czerka from this world for good and he’ll pull himself together.”
“Evict Czerka…” Jolee raised an eyebrow as he followed Dan through the freshly carved hole in the trees. “How do you plan on managing that?”
“There are a lot of ways, but I’ve settled on letting the planet itself reject them,” Dan led the way into a walkable section between the trees. A wave of his hand drew the Jedi’s gaze to the branches above. “There are a half million members of the local fauna under my command already, with more on the way every second.”
The trees were filled with reptilian incarnations of Venom. Thousands of predators, all under the symbiotes command. It would take little effort for this army to purge Czerka from the forests of the world. Jolee paled at the sight of countless predators, hand rested on his lightsaber’s hilt.
“Who… what are you?” the old hermit motioned for Dan to stop as they locked eyes. “I helped you, followed you, because the Force can’t decide what to do with you… I can’t decide what to do with you!”
“You don’t have to DO anything with me,” Dan laughed. Force users loved to meddle, but so did he. “Like I said, come for an adventure… help me save Kashyyyk, then the rest of the galaxy!”
“The rest of the galaxy… what are you going on about?” Jolee sighed and waved his hands and Dan’s words. “Do you plan to destroy Malak and his Empire? If so I think you…”
“Malak is already dead, and his ‘Empire’ is a hollow shell that one of my companions can reclaim at any time,” Dan interrupted the hermit with a sheepish grin. “The enemy I speak of is hidden in the dark… I’ll have ten years in this galaxy, ten years to dethrone two Sith Emperors and prevent a series of galactic wars.”
Silence fell between them. Jolee had no doubt turned to the Force to gauge the truth of his words, while Dan returned his gaze to the forest. Freyyr was just ahead, surrounded by a legion of Venom possessed katarns. The half-mad Wookie was at the end of his rope, exhausted after a drawn out battle with the black and white creatures.
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“KILL ME!!!” Freyyr roared out in his native language, translated by Venom as it entered his ears. The Wookie swung his double bladed sword in heavy arcs, prepared to die in battle and end his painful existence. ”Take my life, demons, I have nothing left… WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!”
“They’re waiting for me,” Dan floated over the heads of the possessed katarns, while Jolee edged nervously between. Dan lowered himself to stand before the grey-furred Wookie and seized the tip of the man’s heavy blade between two fingers. “Greetings, Freyyr, Father of Zaalbar and Chuundar… tell me, when did you know that you had exiled the wrong son?”
Fire flashed in the old Wookie’s eyes as he wretched his weapon with all his strength. It remained trapped, pinned by the smaller man with an unnatural grip.
“Zaalbar was exiled for a crime he certainly committed…” Freyyr snorted as he placed another hand on his twin bladed sword and pulled with greater force. “Chuundar… his crimes deserve greater punishment than that…”
“Dogma is a dangerous thing,” Dan jerked Freyyr’s weapon from his hands and tossed it beyond the encirclement of reptilian katarns. The Wookie eyed his emptied hands, numbed to the point that they dangled limp on the ends of his arms. “You exiled the son who was best suited to rule, and empowered the one dark enough to sell his own people into slavery.”
“I HAD NO CHOICE!!!” Freyyr roared, claws extended as he lunged forward, prepared to grapple Dan to the ground. “THE LAW IS…”
“The only part of the law that matters is its spirit,” Dan gave the Wookie a gentle tap between the eyes and sank the man to his knees. “You let a slaver manipulate the rules, but I’m here to give you another chance…”
Dan waved his hands and projected a string of holograms. Various scenes depicted Chuundar in despicable acts against his people. Freyyr blinked in horror, as if he had still held out hope that his son had been manipulated into his crimes.
“Another chance at what?” Freyyr shook himself and tore his eyes from the holograms. “How can a crazy old man challenge the Chieftain…”
The ground trembled, in line with a large shadow’s approach. Three and a half metres tall, semi-humanoid with a draconic skull. A Terentatek, leftover from a bygone era of ancient Sith. Wrapped in one of Venom’s symbiotes, the huge beast knelt down beside Dan and lowered its head. Buried in its hide was an age worn sword, a blade without a handle.
“With this blade - a relic from your tribe if I’m not mistaken - you’ll have grounds to challenge Chuundar,” Dan pulled the wedged relic free and tossed it to the stunned Wookie. “Combined with the evidence I’ve shown you, and the power of this army around us, we’ll evict him and all those who work with Czerka from the planet.”
----------------------------------------
“Greeting, young Bastila… and greeting to you, Revan,” Jedi Master Vrook Lamar passed his gaze over May as well, before he returned his focus to the fallen Jedi. “Tell me, why have you decided to return here?” The bald, elderly mad squinted into Revan’s eyes, as if he could pull the truth from their depths. “Have you come to face the judgement of this council for your crimes… or do you have a darker purpose here?”
“Indeed, your presence here, with your memories intact, is a great surprise to us all,” Master Vandar, a short statured alien of the same species as Yoda, shook his head and let out a sigh. “The future is clouded… yet I think you’ve not come with vengeance in your heart?”
“I came to tell you that Malak is dead,” Revan set her shoulders and looked to the four Jedi Masters she’d known since her childhood on this world. “The Empire we built together will soon leave Republic space, never to be seen again… but I will not accept any judgments from you.”
“I bid you to listen to reason, Revan,” Master Zhar, a red skinned Twi-lek in a blue robe, took a half-step forward. “You have caused great harm to the galaxy, countless deaths in your needless war… we cannot let you walk free from here, not with your memories intact…”
“Sorry, but I won’t let you guys do whatever you want,” May tapped her staff on the ground and drew the Master’s attention. Runic scripture flickered behind her eyes, even as a smile spread on her lips. “We don’t need your permission to leave, and you won’t be meddling in anyone's memories today!”