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The Tablets of Russon

Jedi survivors Coltar Tenagi and Dash Wetwalker, Jedi-trained Clone Trooper Gale Owassa and Trandoshan pilot Drace Ragbar—all suddenly renegades after surviving an attack by Clone Troopers attempting to execute Order 66—landed on Nar Shadda, the smugglers’ moon. Their goal was to find a contact of Tenagi’s who might know of other surviving Jedi.

The Package

They quickly found Tenagi’s contact, Salek Baskalar, fixer, information broker and inveterate Sabacc fan, at Dza's Sabacc and Drink. Baskalar offered to tell Tenagi what he knew in exchange for a job that he needed done on behalf of crimelord Beel Acton. Another crimelord, a Twi'lek named Ulac Goyle, was having an artifact flown in that had been recovered from Korriban, the ancient Sith homeworld, and Acton wanted it. Tenagi took the job, privately reasoning that at the very least they could learn more about the artifact and deal with any danger it might pose.

The group went to Goyle’s headquarters, pretending to be mercenaries looking for work. They interviewed with Razarra, Goyle’s lieutenant, who gave them a simple job of shaking down some tenants for overdue rent. They pretended to take the job, but on leaving Razarra they talked their way past guards and went upstairs to the computer center.

In the computer center they used the Force to convince two guards that all was well, and Tenagi distracted the technicians, browbeating them into thinking he’d been sent by Razarra to check their security procedures. Meanwhile Ragbar used an expensive slicer’s datapad, which Tenagi had bought from a disreputable shop called Banacc's, to crack into the network. He learned which dock was expecting Shanador’s Revenge, the ship bearing the Korriban artifact, and changed its dock assignment to a less busy dock near the tenements.

The group went to the tenement block, but headed for the dock instead. Shanador’s Revenge touched down and they stepped out, claiming to be Goyle’s men come to collect the delivery—with blasters drawn. The smugglers refused to tell which package in the hold contained the artifact, so the Jedi team took the ship and left them tied up on the dock. The smugglers laughingly welcomed them to it.

A Dark Dilemma

The Jedi found an isolated, unused warehouse to hide the ship while they searched it. Finally they found the artifact, a set of rune-carved stone tablets that describe the Battle of Ruusan, an ancient conflict between Jedi and Sith. The tablets were infused with dark-side power, and the companions argued endlessly over what to do with them.

Wetwalker argued for destroying them. Owassa wanted to keep them and study them further. Tenagi wanted to turn them over to Baskalar, arguing that by doing so they would know where to find the tablets later, and they could maintain a contact who may be valuable in the future. Eventually Owassa agrees with Tenagi—there was a chance they can recover the tablets later—and the others went along with them.

Owassa and Tenagi set out for the meeting place to scout it before bringing the tablets. On the way Tenagi detected that they were being followed by a man in dark robes. They stepped into a bar and called their friends for backup, then approached him when Ragbar and Wetwalker arrived.

The dark man said his name is Set Harth, and he claimed to be the creator of the tablets—which were thousands of years old. He said they not only tell the story of the battle of Ruusan but described the dark-side techniques used there by the Sith. The Jedi naturally refused to turn them over, so “Set Harth” turned and walked back to where they left the ship.

Ragbar rushed into a speeder-bike shop and stole one, flying it ahead to the warehouse, where he flew the ship to a different part of the city. The other three nervously walked along behind Harth until he reached the warehouse and found it empty. The thwarted darksider turned toward them and ignited a crimson lightsaber.

"Next Time?"

The two Jedi and the Clone Trooper adept spread out and rushed the darksider. Harth parried their initial attacks and launched a deadly barrage of blows at Tenagi, whose expertise barely deflected them. Then a devastating flurry from Wetwalker’s double-bladed lightsaber knocked Harth’s blade aside and cut him down.

“You’re better than I expected,” he told them, dying. “I’ll remember that next time.”

The companions met Baskalar and, despite many misgivings, turned over the tablets. He told them that he’s heard rumors of Jedi survivors on Tattooine and Correllia. He suggested they talk to a friend of his on Tattooine, Elav Kairn in Anchorhead.

Baskalar also set them up with false identification and papers showing them as the owners of Shanador’s Revenge, which they renamed The Kestral. He even helped them repair the ship—its hyperdrive activator had been removed by the smugglers, which is why they weren’t concerned about turning it over.

Tenagi took the time to reconfigure Harth's red lightsaber for Owassa to wield it left-handed. The Force-sensitive clone now could wield a pair of sabers, blue in his right hand and sinister red in his left.

The Jedi and their friends flew off again, this time in a real ship, setting a course for Tattooine.

October 22, 2006