Mission 5: "Death By Deception"

Epilogue Supplemental


"The Alternate Path" By Korey Robinson

An explosion rocked the plaza near the heart of Cloud City as a larger military droid wheeled into the area turning its heavy repeaters and grenade launchers on the citizens of the fledgling mining town. Everywhere pandemonium reigned as droids of every kind turned on the living and began to kill them with anything they could use. Appendages normally used for welding or hammering or drilling were now used to batter torch or skewer their prey. Hands that once were programmed never to harm were now grabbing heavy objects and smashing vital organs or simply gripping the necks of their victims and squeezing them like a vice.

It was into this scene that Kazzra’an found himself. He was a young Wookiee with deep brown fir with white or gray highlights. A streak of tan colored fir dominated the hair on his face and streaked down the center of his chest with some traces of white and gray as well. Other patches of a deeper brown seemed to mar his face stemming from his nose down the right side of his face and from the left corner of his mouth to his neck. The left side of his face around his eye was also a deep brown, and unusual to most Wookiees that eye was also a deep brown while the other eye was a light blue.

Beneath these already rather odd features Kazzra’an was hiding the terrible scar tissue that marked his time in the Trandoshan torture facilities. There his right hand and the left side of his face had been terribly burned and looked very shriveled and withered. Due to the aid of Master Orruwarr and some Republic physicians, whom Orruwarr had taken Kazzra’an to, new skin and fir were grafted in the place of the damaged skin, at least as best as they could manage. Still some patches of scars remained, but for the most part the new darker fir covered it. It now seemed to be more of an odd fashion statement than a deformity.

As for the eye color being different physicians could not determine the cause. Since the eye had been discolored when Orruwarr found him in the Shadowlands some time ago no one could be certain when this change occurred or why. All they could speculate was that the tormentors must have caused this change or that some chemical within his body had altered the color of his eye for some reason.

Kazzra’an dove under a table he’d just tipped over and considered how best to survive this terrible scene. Everywhere people were screaming and fleeing for their lives. No one could figure out why everything was falling apart. Explosions were shaking the streets as vehicles driven by droids smashed into buildings or other vehicles and disappeared into a cloud of fire and debris. Other vehicles mowed down fleeing citizens like blades of grass. It was horrifying, and Kazzra’an would never get the images or shrieking voices out of his mind as long as he lived.

The military droid shot a Sullustan female down right in front of Kazzra’an as he pulled out his bowcaster. Using the table as cover he took several shots at the droid, but he did little against its energy shield except catch its attention. Now the droid had labeled him as a threat, and it began to focus more of its attention on him. Wheeling in his direction it began to blast holes in the table. Kazzra’an knew he had nowhere to run, and he was seriously doubting he could succeed in defeating the droid in a one-on-one match. His only hope was to improvise.

The droid wheeled closer as more and more of the table was blasted away. It wouldn’t be long before it either blasted enough of the table to hit him or was able to come around the table to hit him at point blank range. Still, he bided his time waiting for just the right moment. If he succeeded in his plan he’d live. If not at least the civilians in the area had been given the chance to escape.

The droid stopped moving as it continued to pummel the table boring holes in it like a drilling machine. Then, all at once, Kazzra’an grabbed the table, gave off a battle roar, lifted it into the air to cover all but his legs, and charged at the droid. The droid continued to blast the table, unable to compute a different course of action. He smashed the table into the droid’s shield unit and began to shove it backward towards an open manhole which one of the fleeing citizens had managed to open in his attempt to escape. The droid had unwittingly wheeled right around in front of it before it stopped, as Kazzra’an had hoped.

The droid slowly moved backward as it continued to fire at point blank into the table. One shot managed to hit Kazzra’an in the side, but he ignored it and kept pushing harder. Finally, the droid’s right rear wheels hit the hole, and just as he’d been hoping its square base tipped into the hole causing the droid to flip onto its back. Not wasting any time he grabbed his bowcaster, plugged it into a hole in the table, and began to fire nonstop. The droid’s shield held only for a short time, but at last he managed to penetrate it and blow the droid to smithereens. With the droid’s base partially stuck in the manhole there was no way it could push itself into a position to strike back.

With the military droid gone Kazzra’an finally had a chance to escape. All about chaos still reigned, and he saw that there was no avenue of escape in the streets. The manhole into the sewers would be his best bet. Shoving the droid’s base out of the way enough to squeeze himself through he dropped into the sewers and took off down the tunnel to his right. He only hoped he could find some place to hide until he could figure out what was going on.

On and on he went through the sewers as the hellish echoes of destruction and death surrounded him. In the Force he could sense life forms being snuffed out, and suddenly, without warning, his eyesight became clouded as the sewer melted away and he found himself in the Shadowlands, the name given to the bottom of the massive forests of his home world. All around him blasters were firing, and he found himself strangely firing his own bowcaster. A Trandoshan popped up in front of him, and he fired, cutting the Trandoshan down with a single shot to the head.

Then a searing pain struck him from behind. He collapsed to the ground, and his vision began to swim before his eyes. He rolled himself over with a great deal of difficulty only to find his best friend, Chal’grahar, standing over him with a smoking bowcaster in his hands. “I’m sorry, Kazzra’an,” he roared. “You’ll understand soon enough.” Then he kicked Kazzra’an in the face sending him into unconsciousness.

The vision cleared and Kazzra’an found himself stumbling and shaking his head to clear it. He was back in the sewers, but he had no idea where he had gone. He didn’t know which direction was the way he’d come or the way he’d been going. Therefore, he stopped to try to collect himself.

The vision wasn’t the first he’d ever had, and he knew it wouldn’t be the last. Master Orruwarr had helped unlock some of his memories during the time he’d spent with him on Kashyyyk and since. The Jedi had told him that he was uncertain as to why those memories were gone to begin with, but he was certain that the Force was the only way to restore them. The more Kazzra’an learned of the Force the more he would remember of that time in his life that was blank.

According to what he remembered he was a warrior from the village of Worroroo on Kashyyyk. During the Trandoshan-Wookiee Conflict Kazzra’an remembered being sent on some sort of infiltration mission to the Shadowlands to discover how the Trandoshans had so easily set up outposts there and how they were able to break through Wookiee defenses to get fresh arms and supplies.

The next thing he knew he was in the Shadowlands surrounded by Kinraths, strange insect-like creatures that were about as tall as humans with six long, spindly legs like spiders. They were very dangerous, especially the Viper Kinraths that were all about him. He was swinging at them with a large branch, but the creatures were clearly unafraid of it.

One of the creatures lunged at him and attempted to end it quickly, but his branch sent it flying backward with a bruised head. At the same time, however, another two attacked from behind and injected him with their poison bites. He took a swing at them, and it was then that he had noticed that his hand was terribly burned and hairless. With no time to really consider what had happened he continued to swing about trying to keep the creatures at bay. The poison, however, would do him in soon, and he knew he was done for.

But none present were expecting an attack from behind. Suddenly, a great beast the Wookiees called Sacred Beasts, lumbered out of the underbrush and attacked the Kinraths with a vengeance. The creatures no longer thought of Kazzra’an as they turned their attention to the Sacred Beast. Seeing his opportunity to escape Kazzra’an shot off through the forest as fast as his legs could carry him. The poison continued to weaken him, but he pushed himself all the harder. Something was wrong with his left eye, he could tell based on the fact that his vision was blurring, and his sense of balance was thrown off. He stumbled and tripped over every branch and vine, and he suddenly found himself on the forest floor.

But then the Sacred Beast was coming from behind him. It appeared as though the Kinraths had either scattered or been little opposition against it, and it was still hungry for blood. Kazzra’an pushed himself to his feet and forced himself to stumble forward towards the nearest tree. Although the Sacred Beasts could climb the trees it was much more difficult for them than for the Wookiees, and Kazzra’an knew it was his only hope. He scrambled up the tree and climbed as fast as he could in spite of the pain he felt in his right hand.

Up and up he went not looking back, but the Sacred Beast was faster. Its three-clawed hands and feet dug into the massive trunk of the tree as it pulled itself upward after him. It looked much like a rancor except much smaller (about Wookiee height but about three or four Wookiees in width) with massive tusks jutting from both sides of its massive, razor sharp jaws. It was truly a terrifying creature, and it always hungered for anything it could get its claws on.

Kazzra’an still didn’t look back even though he could feel the tremors in the tree indicating it was pursuing him. Up and up he continued as his vision continued to blur more and more. He couldn’t see anymore. The poison was working its way through his body to his heart, and unconsciousness would soon overtake him. He felt his way upward as his sense of direction and balance began to fade. His life was ending as the Sacred Beast pulled itself up so that its jaws were almost touching Kazzra’an’s feet.

Then, all at once, the beast roared in pain after a whirling lightsaber flew past Kazzra’an to imbed itself into the creature’s head. The beast fell from the tree as the lightsaber flew back to its master higher up on the tree. Kazzra’an opened his eyes just enough to see some blurred image of a Wookiee descend to catch him just as he felt himself letting go of the tree and slipping into blackness at last.

When he awoke he found himself in Master Orruwarr’s hut built on a very low level of Kashyyyk. In fact it was seldom heard of that any Wookiee would build their home so close to the Shadowlands, but Master Orruwarr was an exception. He was perhaps one of the only Wookiees to occasionally travel into the Shadowlands even during the night when it was most dangerous.

Kazzra’an had actually heard of him prior to their first meeting. Most in his home village called him Old Crazy-Wook. Old Crazy-Wook was a story often told by the younger Wookiees, and it was one that his own brother loved to hear about all the time. The story always changed, but many would tell of the adventures of Old Crazy-Wook and later of his side-kick Outsider apprentice. “Lost in Shadow they fight to keep the terrible Great Sacred Beast and his minions from ascending to the treetops,” many a young Wookiee would say. “Discovering ruins long lost and battling beasts so strong and powerful they could devour an entire village with a single gulp Old Crazy-Wook and his Apprentice stood ever-vigilant against the tides of darkness.”

But Orruwarr and Geldar were not like the super-heroic individuals of legend. They were gentle, friendly individuals who seemed could never harm a tach rat- a monkey-like creature that inhabited the Shadowlands and bred like a rodent. Orruwarr and Geldar nursed Kazzra’an back to health, and he spent several months in their care. During this time Orruwarr informed Kazzra’an that he had an affinity for the Force, and that he was surprised that no one had noticed it before. Besides this he noticed that something wasn’t quite right with Kazzra’an, and it wasn’t just because he had been horribly burned on the left side of his face and on his right hand. He also suffered from a strange wound in the abdomen that left a jagged and nasty scar, and the discoloration of the left eye unnerved the Master of the Force.

So Orruwarr felt the intense need to help Kazzra’an remember those memories lost to him. From what he could gather from the surrounding villages Kazzra’an and his team had indeed vanished after going to infiltrate Trandoshan outposts in the Shadowlands. Chal’grahar, his best friend, was the only one that survived to tell the tale. He said the Trandoshans had killed everyone, and that he had been forced to flee or die. Same time later Kazzra’an was rescued when a large force of Wookiees broke into the base he’d been kept in, and they rescued him from the torture chambers.

But according to the story Kazzra’an had not been himself. The moment he awakened he saw his friend standing over him, and he attacked with such a rage he used his claws, an extremely dishonorable act in Wookiee society. Anyone who used their claws in battle against another Wookiee was considered to be so enraged that they had lost their mind. These individuals were called Mad-Claws, and they were considered unstable Wookiees and dangerous. Once he had attacked his friend he was sentenced by the Ritual Keeper of the village to wander the Shadowlands for the rest of his life, as was customary in their culture. It was said that Chal’grahar even stood up for Kazzra’an during the trial, but Kazzra’an attacked some of the guards trying to hold him. This gave further evidence that due to the torment he had endured he was no longer stable.

Some memories had returned to him of these events after Orruwarr had helped him gain a closer connection to the Force. He remembered Chal’grahar standing over him while in the Trandoshan torture chamber and asking him to join him in helping the Trandoshans. He remembered some dark masked figure standing over him as well some time later as he mocked him and tortured him. Lastly, he remembered attacked Chal’grahar in a rage knowing that his best friend had been the one to betray them.

Orruwarr had brought all this to the Wookiee leaders, and they began to investigate the matter closely. All evidence that would have convicted him, however, seemed impossible to come by, and Master Orruwarr was planning to look himself. However, a particular incident disrupted these plans before Orruwarr could really get involved.

In the meantime Orruwarr tried to see if he could get Kazzra’an some training. Being that the Wookiee was too old to begin training and believing that since he was a Mad-Claw he might be dangerous to the Jedi Order he was rejected. Although Orruwarr couldn’t train him, however, he told Kazzra’an that he could continue to teach himself the ways of the Force as long as he remembered to remain true to the Light. If he began to feel himself falling into the trap of fear, aggression or hatred he must then reject the ways of the Force and flee from it. “The Dark Side is a powerful destroying energy, and it can take even the best of individuals and turn them to evil,” he once had said to Kazzra’an, and the Wookiee remembered those words still. Since then, in spite of his feelings of betrayal and rejection he tried to desperately avoid hating his own people, especially Chal’grahar, and he wished to ever recall those memories lost to him to better piece together what had happened.

But Orruwarr would not help him further. As they were considering leaving Kashyyyk to take Kazzra’an to a medical facility on Rios to mend his wounds Orruwarr’s apprentice, Geldar, fled from the master’s home in pursuit of his Jedi mother, Kylarra. When Orruwarr returned from the incident he was changed. He’d found something at the Trandoshan facility that had greatly troubled him. With Geldar wanting to leave to tell his father of his mother’s death Orruwarr decided it best to take Kazzra’an with him in search of something he would only describe as “Urgent Business.”

So they left Kashyyyk and stopped first at Rios. There Kazzra’an received the treatment he needed so he could look as he did currently. When Kazzra’an asked why this was so important Orruwarr only replied that he needed the Wookiee as fully functional as possible to aid him in his quest. “Geldar has chosen a path apart from ours, but they will both end the same,” Orruwarr told him. “Though the journey is different the alternate path will lead him back to us soon. Both paths are rewarding, for they will produce different fruit that will aid us in our journey’s conclusion. We, however, must be ready to face the trials ahead of us.”

And so it was that they left Rios and headed for Calin II, a planet on the other side of the galaxy near Sullust. There Orruwarr said they were searching for some information about a shipping company that had been supplying goods to the Trandoshans during the conflict. Orruwarr believed they had some connection to a Dark Jedi he had encountered on Kashyyyk.

The results of their search on Calin II turned up a clue that led them to Bespin. According to the shipping records supplies that had been being shipped to Trandoshan space came from Gluug Corporation which shipped their supplies through Bespin. Orruwarr believed that Gluug Corporation was only a dummy name for the true enemy, but he wasn’t sure how they would find that out. After traveling to Bespin’s only civilization of Cloud City they discovered that Gluug Corporation didn’t really send anything through Cloud City. Some sort of other trade organization, known as the Metatheran Cartel, was the only trade organization that did any kind of business with them. Even though they were a rival of Sprillious Corp they sometimes did business for mutual benefits.

But then Orruwarr awoke from a terrible dream just two nights ago. Something drove him out of the hotel they were in during the dead of night. He could only tell Kazzra’an that it was something terrible, and that the Dark Side was growing ever stronger. A terrible evil was being unleashed in the universe, and if it wasn’t stopped it could consume the galaxy. Kazzra’an was to remain behind to continue his investigation of the Metatheran Cartel while he went on his own. When Kazzra’an asked to come with all Orruwarr could say was, “Another split in the path must be made, my Son,” he told him. “But our destinies will reunite again. Geldar, your brother, will find you soon. Tell him all that has happened, but tell him he mustn’t try to follow me. I go into a danger I may not return from, and if he follows he will be consumed by evil. Find out more about the Metatheran Cartel and its involvement. I will see you again soon. May the Force be with you.” And he was gone.

So Kazzra’an had gone to the headquarters of Sprillious Corporation just that morning to find out more about the Metatheran Cartel when the droids began to go haywire. Now he was stranded in the sewers with no real idea where to go, and in such a desperate situation like this he now recalled a vision of his best friend betraying him. Why? It didn’t make sense. Was there some connection with his friend and the droids going crazy? Perhaps the chaos of the moment alone brought about the memory. Perhaps the emotion of fear and bewilderment caused him to recall that moment when he couldn’t comprehend why his friend would do such a terrible thing.

It didn’t matter. The only thing that was important was to run. He had to find a good place to hide, and sitting in the sewer wasn’t the right place. Any moment now droids could descend into the sewers to find him. Feeling alone and desperately unsure as to why he was on Bespin in the first place, Kazzra’an headed down the tunnel in the direction he hoped was the right one. Why didn’t you see this? he wondered as he thought again of Master Orruwarr. Why did you leave when this city could have used you the most?

He abandoned you, a dark voice told him inside his head. Kazzra’an was taken aback. What was this voice? He’d never heard it before. Was it some sort of dark voice within himself? He left you to die here. He knew this would happen, and he wanted to get rid of the useless Mad-Claw. He deceived you because he knew just how powerful you really were. He knew you could kill him. He’s nothing but a weak, old fool!

Kazzra’an shook himself. Where did these thoughts come from? He respected Orruwarr and trusted him. There was no reason why he shouldn’t. Orruwarr had done nothing but treat him with care and concern. He would never do such a thing. He forced the thoughts from his mind as he ran. He would never believe it.

But the thoughts came to his mind. Perhaps Orruwarr believed he was nothing after all. He hadn’t done anything really profound to aid Orruwarr the entire time they had been together. In fact all Kazzra’an had done was kind of be a nuisance. He had forced Orruwarr to stop on Rios to help fix his face and hand. He had helped out against the assassins on Calin II who had tried to keep them from learning about Gluug Corporation, but Orruwarr had done so much more in the fighting than he had. On top of that Rios had been his idea.

But since recovering you have done nothing profound, the dark voice returned. You’ve been useless. Orruwarr fed you those lies about him heading into darkness just so you wouldn’t try to come with. He wanted to get rid of the worthless Mad-Claw.

“NO!” he roared loudly, and the echoing of his roar bounced off the walls of the sewer in every direction. At that moment he realized two things. Not only did he have some sort of split personality but that split personality also managed to just coax him into revealing his location to any droid within a mile of his location.

And it wasn’t long before something responded. Kazzra’an had gone but six yards before suddenly a patrol of military droids came at him from down the tunnel ahead. Ducking down a side tunnel he ran as fast as he could with the droids right behind. The moment he found a ladder up to the streets he took it, and before long he was racing down a darkened alley as the sun’s peak just dipped below the surface of Cloud City.

The droids were not far behind. With sensors now on full alert they had no problem tracking him. Over a fence he went and down another alley until he was in the street a block over. Two flying droids were coming in his direction from his left, and his bowcaster quickly took out one. They were simple surveillance droids with no weaponry or shields, and one shot was all it took to take them out. Before the first even showered down to the ground in a cloud of debris and smoke the other was incinerated.

Down the street he went until he found a parked vehicle with the window smashed in. Kazzra’an jumped into it just as the military droids rounded the corner behind him, and he worked frantically to hot-wire it. It seemed to take forever to get the engine started as the military droids pummeled the speeder with blasterfire. Finally, as the first came within five feet of him the engine started, and he hit the accelerator hard.

The vehicle shot off like a rocket through the street as the droids continued to fire at him. Finally, he rounded a corner and left them behind, but it didn’t take long before he was discovered again. The droids obviously could communicate to one another, and a starfighter flew overhead dropping proton bombs all over the street as he swerved this way and that. Another pass of the starfighter brought another barrage of bombs, and Kazzra’an knew he couldn’t keep this up for long. The streets were already littered with vehicles and debris as well as dead bodies and broken sections of buildings. With the bombs dropping at him he would likely become an addition to the scenery before he reached the next intersection.

The starfighter past again and was turning around for another pass when Kazzra’an pulled to a fast stop and scrambled across the street into a building. As he did he was shocked to find himself staring into the barrel of a blaster rifle. At the other end, to his horror, he saw a Trandoshan with a wicked sneer on his face.

Another vision flashed before his eyes. A Trandoshan interrogator laughing in his face. He saw the Trandoshan stab him in the abdomen with some sort of strange wedge-shaped dagger. “Wraith wants you to have this,” he chuckled venomously. “He wants you to know what it’s like to be torn in two. Forever of the Light yet forever of the Night!” Then he laughed all the more and twisted the tool so it created more pain.

In that moment Kazzra’an’s vision past, and he found himself lying on the ground. The back of his neck hurt terribly, but someone was crying out to spare him. Kazzra’an looked up to find, to his shock and amazement, Geldar standing over him. “Kazzra’an,” he said to the Wookiee. “Is that you? What are you doing here? What happened to you? Where’s Master Orruwarr?”

Kazzra’an was just as shocked to see Geldar, but before any questions could be asked or any answers given they were interrupted by another member of their group, a Sullustan, who announced, “It’s a patrol! They’re heading this way.”

“They followed him,” the Trandoshan said shooting a scowl in Kazzra’an’s direction.

“The whole place is going to be crawling with droids now,” said a female human standing near another human dressed in Jedi clothing. “It looks like our time to rest is gone. We have to get out of here.”

And so it was that Kazzra’an was lifted to his feet by Geldar as the young Jedi said, “Give him back his weapons. He’ll need them to help us.”

“Fine,” said the Trandoshan that Kazzra’an now recognized as Tarrsk, the one Geldar had saved on his mission to rescue his mother. “As long as he doesn’t try to attack me again.” Then the weapons were thrown back to him, and for a moment they all paused wondering just what they should do to escape.




Mission 5 (Part 2)

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