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A Blow for the Rebellion

The light transport ship Kestral approached Kashyyyk, the beleaguered Wookiee homeworld, with the great imperial star destroyer Assailer in orbit between freighter and planet. Its crew debated how to accomplish their mission. Two Jedi, Sia-Lan Wezz and Ma’Kis’shaalas, were held prisoner aboard the star destroyer. The crew of the Kestral were here to free them.

Coltar Tenagi, Gale Owassa, Drace Ragbar and Dash Wetwalker finally settled on a plan.

First they would land on Kashyyyk posing as three bounty hunters bringing Wetwalker, a captured would-be resistance leader, in for a bounty. On the planet they would steal clone trooper outfits so Tenagi and Owassa could, in disguise, escort the prisoner to the Assailer’s brig. There they would liberate the captured Jedi and haul them out in storage containers to be picked up by the Kestral.

The Assailer hailed the freighter and demanded its business on Kashyyyk.

“We’re bounty hunters,” growled the Trandoshan Ragbar. “We’re here to collect Wookiee pelts.”

“Land on Pad 3, Shryiwook.”

As the Kestral passed the Assailer, the Force-users aboard each could feel the dark side of the Force lurking in strength aboard the star destroyer.

Letting the Wookiees Win

In Shryiwook they put on their best act as bounty hunters, with Tenagi playing the part of the team’s agent and fixer in order to gain information. They learned that supplies, prisoners and slaves were coming in and out of the star destroyer constantly on independent contractors’ ships. With low-value prisoners the overworked clone troopers didn’t even bother escorting them to the brig.

The team traded their swoop bike for a broken-down freight airspeeder, and Ragbar and their new astromech — R4-Q7, a combination astro, medical and protocol droid, a veteran of the Clone Wars with a lousy attitude — spent a couple of days repairing it.

They learned that the Wookiees were still fighting in countless pockets of resistance throughout the forest world, including one area only a few miles away. Ragbar managed to decrypt imperial communications and learned exactly where: A squad of clone troopers was even now attacking a rebel hideout.

The Jedi and their friends flew to the site in their new freight speeder. The clone squad, one of them wounded and unconscious, was huddled against the wall of a stout Wookiee building high in a tree, on a wide walkway. They landed the speeder around the corner from the clones and came out armed. Tenagi walked ahead, acting like the troopers were horning in on his team’s bounty. That got him close to the squad before they threatened to open fire.

Four of the troopers went sprawling backward with a wave of the Jedi’s hand as he drew his lightsaber. Their captain, standing apart from the others, opened up with his blaster but Tenagi blocked the blasts with his saber, and those of the other clones as they staggered to their feet.

Ragbar’s repeating blaster opened up and Owassa and Wetwalker charged in with their lightsabers. Owassa for one couldn’t help feeling conflict within him as he helped kill his brother clones, driving his left-hand red lightsaber into the throat of a trooper.

“Jedi! Jedi everywhere!” the clone commander shouted into his comm unit. Then Tenagi’s lightsaber flashed, wounding his arm, and he fell sprawling.

The Jedi and their allies had their droid come out to tell the Wookiees that clone reinforcements were coming, and that they should dispose of the clone squad. They hauled two troopers with all their weapons aboard the speeder and fled.

On the way, Owassa used Ragbar’s access to the imperial channels to pretend to be the clone commander. “Forget that last report of mine. The Wooks had us surrounded and, uh, blaster fire made me think it was lightsabers.”

The imperials were dubious but seemed to buy it. “Come in and we’ll sort this out.”

Owassa and the Jedi were confident the Wookiees would allow no traces of the clone squad to be found.

Aboard the Assailer

The team holed up in the Kestral for two days to rest and recuperate from minor burns a couple of them had gotten in the firefight. When they were ready to depart, they decided against using the clone armor as disguises. The commander’s report would draw too much attention to these particular suits.

They went to the imperial office with Wetwalker in chains. Tenagi talked up the value of their “captive” as a shady fixer would, and the imperial official scoffed. He handed over a ticket to be turned in aboard the Assailer.

They flew to the star destroyer. In the hangar bay Tenagi turned in his ticket. The hangar officer was similarly unimpressed by their “prisoner,” and told them to find the brig themselves.

On the way, they detoured to a storage bay to find a boxlike cargolift, and Ragbar hacked into a terminal. He hoped to disable the destroyer’s tractor beams but had no luck and didn’t want to risk getting caught. He discovered that the captive Jedi were being held under heavy guard in the medical bay.

The team next found a medical storage area, and hauled out an emergency personal skiff to carry Owassa, who would pose as a wounded clone trooper. Tenagi pushed him while Wetwalker pushed the cargolift with Ragbar inside. They set out to pose as orderlies.

Two clone troopers stood outside the medical bay. “We’re from a medical center on the surface,” Tenagi told them. “This clone was hurt in a training accident and they told us to bring him up here for treatment.” He called on the Force and looked meaningfully at the two clones. “You don’t need to verify any of this story.”

“Take him in. We don’t need to verify your story.”

Inside the medical bay, four more clone troopers stood near each of the Jedi captives, who were badly hurt. Wetwalker called on the Force next, talking to the doctors. “There’s been an accident on the other side of the ship. Better go help. No time to call in about it. Hurry!”

“No time to call. Let’s go!” The doctors ran off.

Tenagi turned on the squad of clones, calling on the Force again. “Didn’t you hear him? No time to call in a report. Go help.”

“You’re right. We need to go.”

Ragbar hacked into the medical bay's security cameras and ran a loop to show the prisoners still resting under guard.

They unhooked the nearly-unconscious Jedi and loaded them into the cargolift, along with Wetwalker, who had ostensibly been dropped off at the brig.

The Survivor

Halfway to the hangar bay, moving through and empty corridor with empty storage and control rooms alongside it, they saw a slight, dark-clad figure blocking their path.

Tenagi recognized him as a former Jedi, Kestens Frovon, who had been captured by Separatists in the war and never seen since. Twitchy, hateful and pale, he looked thoroughly unhinged. A crimson lightsaber gleamed in his hand.

Tenagi did his best to talk him down. “Come with us. We’re not your enemies. Your new masters lied — we would have come for you if we had known. The Jedi Order is extinct, now. It’s just us. Come with us.”

“No! You abandoned me. You all abandoned me. Only my master found me. You didn’t come for me — he did. All Jedi must die.”

Owassa reached for his lightsabers. “There’s no reasoning with this one. I’ve already seen my own people betray their allies, the Jedi, and have had to kill my own brothers because of it. I have no patience for this.”

Tenagi lit his own blade and stepped forward. Wetwalker came out of the cargolift. They advanced on the darksider as Ragbar jogged into an adjoining room, looking for a way to the other side of him.

The darksider, fueled by rage and the power of the dark side, was frighteningly skilled. His first flurry very nearly disarmed Tenagi, and he kept all three of his attackers on the defensive. Tenagi attempted to knock him down with a push of the Force, but barely moved him.

Then Ragbar appeared in a broad room adjacent to the corridor with a full view of the darksider. He opened up with his repeating blaster, wounding Frovan badly. It only seemed to drive the insane ex-Jedi, who continued to parry and slash in a bright red blur. The Jedi and Owassa got in each other’s way and Tenagi fell, barely avoiding Frovon’s flickering blade as he got back up again.

Then a final blast from Ragbar’s repeating blaster tore into the darksider, killing him.

Stunned and exhausted, the friends returned to their cargo. Wetwalker climbed back in, and they covered him and the other Jedi with spare parts and bits of old armor gleaned from the warehouse bay. Tenagi discarded his lightsaber-slashed cloak, wiped the sweat from his face, and collected Frovon’s lightsaber, now damaged from blaster fire. And they headed back to the Kestral.

On the way, Owassa could be heard castigating himself. “I can’t believe I forgot to use my flamethrower on him!”

A New Course

The hangar officer listened to their story — “That was the deal, we drop off the prisoner and we pick up a bunch of old parts that our people are buying from you. Don’t tell me it’s not all on that ticket!” — for only a minute before giving in, bored. He waved them aboard the transport.

They launched, headed toward Kashyyk — and once they were well away, headed into hyperspace.

They set a course for Naboo, Emperor Palpatine’s own homeworld, where it was said they could find an ally in the queen.

July 28, 2007