A New Player in the Force (SW/Lite Gamer)

[MandTeKad]

Important? Yes. Necessary? That is highly debatable.
And why is it that I can never enjoy one of your chapters in peace? Something always happens by the end to leave me conflicted or upset me. Which sure, if it happens every now and then is the mark of a good storyteller, I guess. But every chapter?

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Eh, we'll have a slice of life or rousing celebration chapter eventually, actually we did after the verd'goten

 

[Commedia]

I flicked my wrist, wanting to send the pair of Vong flying back, but like with the glob, neither seemed to even realise I'd struck them with a direct Force attack. "Fuck!" I muttered before the second Vong charged at me.

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my only gripe about this chapter is that this doesn't make sense to me. The bong were susceptible I force push and can be affected by telekinesis. It's just a bit harder without the instinctive understanding and insight the Jedi get from the force. The vong were horrible matchups for Jedi because they could not read them or mentally affect them and precog became hampered. Full force null seems weird.

 

[MandTeKad]

my only gripe about this chapter is that this doesn't make sense to me. The bong were susceptible I force push and can be affected by telekinesis. It's just a bit harder without the instinctive understanding and insight the Jedi get from the force. The vong were horrible matchups for Jedi because they could not read them or mentally affect them and precog became hampered. Full force null seems weird.

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Um no, the Vong could barely be effected with TK, like Luke had to strain to do it

 

[Metabolicjosh]

Um did you not read the NJO books, Vong are not countered with projectile weapons. . . .

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Biological force fields for the win

 

[GrandmasterEli]

Eh, we'll have a slice of life or rousing celebration chapter eventually, actually we did after the verd'goten

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Yeah, but it's starting to feel like the author keeps trying to one-up himself in terms of angst and drama.

"Oh, you thought Cam was a badass? Nope, he gets captured and tortured to the breaking point and those super special powers of his? Yeah, they don't work(not that he ever really uses them). Oh, you thought he had grown and started to heal from his traumatic experience? BAM! Beloved Mentor dies! Oh, and I'm going to end it on a cliffhanger for bonus angst points."

Do you get it now? And sure, the author tries to explain and give his "valid" reasons for these decisions. But just like with politicians, it starts feeling like bullshit, no matter how well thought-out it sounds. Especially when it feels like it's happening back to back.

 

[Bobbery]

I am usually kinda pissed about whatever Cam loses because he is being an idiot or due to author fiat, but this felt less cheap. Vong are an OCP that totally should smack down any unprepared Jedi. Every damn arc feeling like a Pyrrhic victory where he survives by the skin of his teeth is getting kind of old though. Can't say I am sad about Faye if she stays dead, I find her and most of the more peaceful Jedi to be quite irritating.

 

[MandTeKad]

Yeah, but it's starting to feel like the author keeps trying to one-up himself in terms of angst and drama.

"Oh, you thought Cam was a badass? Nope, he gets captured and tortured to the breaking point and those super special powers of his? Yeah, they don't work(not that he ever really uses them). Oh, you thought he had grown and started to heal from his traumatic experience? BAM! Beloved Mentor dies! Oh, and I'm going to end it on a cliffhanger for bonus angst points."

Do you get it now? And sure, the author tries to explain and give his "valid" reasons for these decisions. But just like with politicians, it starts feeling like bullshit, no matter how well thought-out it sounds. Especially when it feels like it's happening back to back.

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Your saying the author and do I get it like I'm not directly involved in all the planning for this story

 

[Ayashi]

I'm sure this was supposed to be a highly emotional moment but... Fay always felt like a holier-than-thou bitch so, meh.

 

[FractiousDay]

So I'm still interested in this to see what happens in the clone wars for example, but yet again you're introducing unecessay angst and nerfing the MC. Just like with the dragon Cam is being an idiot for some reason. They're immune from the force you know this why try using je force on them? He's supposed to be an SI of a commando, if you're going to forget that to create drama then what's the point?

 

[MandTeKad]

So I'm still interested in this to see what happens in the clone wars for example, but yet again you're introducing unecessay angst and nerfing the MC. Just like with the dragon Cam is being an idiot for some reason. They're immune from the force you know this why try using je force on them? He's supposed to be an SI of a commando, if you're going to forget that to create drama then what's the point?

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Did you not read the chapter? He has barely entered combat, didnt know they were immune to the force, didnt know that was possible and was slightly shocked, and even then he only tested it once he didnt keep trying

 

[Amrynel]

If anything this is one of those times where I wish a fanfic author didn't pay attention to canon; I always felt the Vong were far too Mary Sueish in Star Wars, what with:

Spoiler: RANT! SPOILERS!

The Vong being invisible in and immune to the Force, and they've got weapons and armor that no-sell lightsabers, blasters and slugthrowers alike in ways that make even beskar look second-rate, and their ships have super gravity drives which also let them destroy planets and project basically void shields as point defense, and their technology is so good it lets them super-terraform planets and quickly breed anti-Jedi super-predators, and ... so on. And of course all of this is 'organic' because that's auto-magically better than 'inorganic' at everything simultaneously, and of course the protagonist figures out how the Vong are Still Part Of The Force If We Only Tilt Our Head Just So... which ties into the revelation that the Vong were supposedly "cut off" from the Force long ago because they were Sadistic Warmongers, which of course utterly failed to actually accomplish anything besides making them even more sadistic while somehow letting them make all this stuff that no-sells the Force rather than being more vulnerable to it.

And I'm not even going to touch the schoolyard dumbassery galactic politics or how they killed Chewbacca off, despite that last one being the salt cherry on my salt sundae.

Like if you thought Star Wars 7-9 were bad, they could've used this.

Yeah, for anyone who didn't read the spoiler, basically the canon Yuuzhan Vong storyline in the Legends continuity really pissed me off.

Um. Anyway, Cameron again shows he hasn't made much (any?) headway in getting a grip on his anger issues? Like seriously, dude, Cam, friend, if the supernatural techniques of a twenty thousand year old monastic order still aren't working out for you, have you considered supplementing with a more mundane prescription from a medical professional? Or asking Yoda if you can try some of his personal stash?

More seriously, I was a bit surprised at the seeming lack of discussion between Cam and Fay over the inability of the Force to sense their opponents and what that might mean, and/or possible spitballing on tactics to deal with it, in the time between when they first realised it was a problem and them actually getting into melee.

 

[Osiris]

The Vong's nonsensical villain sue stuff is only necessary in an environment where Jedi and Sith are ripping apart capital ships and making stars go nova. Cameron Shan, who's IQ seems to drop about 30 points every time combat starts, doesn't need to be dealing with this.

My man can't go one mission without encountering something immune to the force or lightsaber resistant. I guess we should count our lucky stars he didn't get bullied too badly by that coruscant street gang.

 

[Moran]

As my mind returned to the Temple, I frowned as my mind lingered again on not getting to talk with Serra. She'd contacted me yesterday and to say she wasn't happy that I'd been back at the Temple when she'd not been, having arrived back hours after I left, would be a slight understatement. While we both accepted that as Padawans of the Order we couldn't control where we went and when it was annoying how closely we'd missed each other.

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Either the Force is at work here, i.e. enjoys toying with them, or the senior Jedi are trying to….spares Serra the….distractions by separating them. Or…

He'd[Fenrir] been irritable in the Temple, though thank the Force he hadn't tried to attack, or eat, anyone there.

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You could have mention this part on the last chapter. Otherwise, some of us would've spend less time wondering how he fares in the Temple or whether he spent the last 7 months in the Sartr with a deadly combination that is Bo and HK for company

I wished I had my beskad, or even my secondary lightsaber, as a backup, but both were on the Sartr.

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He's military in his former life, he spent a year training with Mandalorians and after what happened with Bando Gora, I would expect him to keep them at his person all times, bar at the Temple; tuck them to away on his belt by his back OR put(hid) them in his Inventory (not to mention the other blaster pistols & rifles); he could've look as though he draw either one from within his robe/cloak. But given Bo's suspicion about the grenades, it's almost understandable why he didn't.
Or upgrade his Mando gauntlets, like say an equivalent to a Hidden Blade from Assassin's Creed. Preferably made of Phrik


If Bo's helmet records everything that's going on, hopefully Cam might use the recording of his encounter with a mysterious, hostile, Force-immune sentient species as proof to the High Council and the Senate that the galaxy should prepare for war. He could lie that they are preparing for a massive invasion. If they refuse to believe him, Cam could simply turn to the more militaristic factions, like the Tarkins and the Mandalorians.
Heck, he might need to warn Plagueis to disrupt Sidious' plans in some way. I'm not surprised if he, a scientist with an obsession with midi-chlorians, held the Vong in equal fascination and abhorrence and think of numerous way to study(dissect) them to understand the cause of their Force-immunity.

 

[ClassHole]

Crap... I was really hoping you weren't going to do the Vong at all.... frankly I think they suck ass and are the most ridiculous part of all the Legends canon. They're so beyond broken that it's not even fun to read about them. I pretty much stopped engaging with Legends material once it was obvious they were sticking around long term to become a big deal. In my opinion they just reek of subpar creativity and writing. Rather than putting some effort into writing a complicated and nuanced villain within their existing world, the writers seemed to just make a bunch of shit up, and then once that got old, continued to make new shit up, to the point where it barely makes sense and doesn't even fit with the established world anymore. Maybe the only pure positive of the Disney Canon for me is that it wiped them out.

Anyways, I'm hoping you can maybe mention at least why they show up 4 years earlier than canon here.... since the answer "because it was needed for the story and Cam's development" isn't a great answer. Maybe the really strong seed bonding somehow alerts them? Since they showed up shortly after Anakin did something similar in canon.

Also, do you plan on having the Vong become a major part of this story? Or just this one incident, and then they fuck off for 40 years like in canon? Just curious on where the story would be potentially headed.

I enjoyed the Cam/Bo interactions this chapter, fun to see them dancing around each other like that. I'll be interested to see where it goes.

While I'm not a massive Fay fan or anything, I'm kind of hoping she doesn't actually die here.... it seems like Cam is allergic to things going well for him... ever. Obviously protagonists will always be getting into situations, but jesus it would be nice if he could just cleanly win the occasional situation, rather than just outright lose every time or earn a pyrrhic victory at best. Characters can develop and grow from things besides torture and painful loss.

 

[USSExplorer]

one-up himself in terms of angst and drama.

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Not sure why you think that, but that's never been the intention. Heck the last arc the drama was minimal with the gangs being an easy fight and the Taozin escaped from easily enough via some quick thinking.

Especially when it feels like it's happening back to back

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Lets see...

The krayt dragon was at the end of book 1, a year ago. Vosa was 4 chapters back. So they're not back to back, though I do admit that things haven't gone Cam's way in this book, which is intentional to show the galaxy isn't as safe as he thinks.

those super special powers of his

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You mean Observe and Inventory, because those are the only ones that would qualify. The first he uses still, and the latter isn't something to use publicly without getting a lot of questions. Though both being blocked by the Sith mask Vosa had was different.

Cam and Fay over the inability of the Force to sense their opponents

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When would they have time for that? In the few seconds from Cam, using Observe until they attacked? The whole point there was that they didn't have time to react. Hence why Cam used barrier as just because the Vong have no Force Potential, why would he think/know his standard defensive power wouldn't work? Or that he used what was familiar to him on instinct.

As for Cam not sensing them easily up until the appeared, there is maybe time to voice that, but not to discuss it. Or how, if the Force can't sense then that he can.

canon Yuuzhan Vong storyline in the Legends continuity really pissed me off.

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They are diversive I know. But they are a part of the EU. And this won't be their invasion. This is just taking an EU event and altering it due to Cam's presence.

The Vong's nonsensical villain sue stuff is only necessary in an environment where Jedi and Sith are ripping apart capital ships and making stars go nova

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In my opinion, exactly. The things Force users can do in the EU mean they generally are untouchable. A race like the Vong generates a problem that forces Force users to adapt.

the last 7 months in the Sartr with a deadly combination that is Bo and HK for company

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I'd say that's the perfect place to leave a Sith-bred war hound.

I would expect him to keep them at his person all times, bar at the Temple; tuck them to away on his belt by his back OR put(hid) them in his Inventory (not to mention the other blaster pistols & rifles); he could've look as though he draw either one from within his robe/cloak. But given Bo's suspicion about the grenades, it's almost understandable why he didn't.

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Except Fay won't let him carry it currently. Dooku would but Fay doesn't. Which is why it's back on the Sartr. As for the Inventory, yeah he's being cautious around Bo for now about hidden weapons.

If Bo's helmet records everything that's going on, hopefully Cam might use the recording of his encounter with a mysterious, hostile, Force-immune sentient species as proof to the High Council and the Senate that the galaxy should prepare for war. He could lie that they are preparing for a massive invasion. If they refuse to believe him, Cam could simply turn to the more militaristic factions, like the Tarkins and the Mandalorians. Heck, he might need to warn Plagueis to disrupt Sidious' plans in some way

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Bo's recordings are going to be useful for the fallout after the arc is over for sure. And as for your other suggestions, they certainly have merit.

protagonists will always be getting into situations, but jesus it would be nice if he could just cleanly win the occasional situation, rather than just outright lose every time or earn a pyrrhic victory at best. Characters can develop and grow from things besides torture and painful loss.

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Yes, but not every situation can be resolved easily. Otherwise, there's no growth. I grant that Can last few major battles (I don't count the gangs/taozin) haven't gone his way. But he's learned from them and that will, I hope become clear as the arc passes (over 5 chapters in total).

 

[USSExplorer]

Forgot this one, my bad.

, I'm hoping you can maybe mention at least why they show up 4 years earlier than canon here.... since the answer "because it was needed for the story and Cam's development" isn't a great answer. Maybe the really strong seed bonding somehow alerts them? Since they showed up shortly after Anakin did something similar in canon.

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They didn't turn up 4 years early. Having Zonama Sekot in story was 4 years early, but not the Vong. They were long gone by the time Anakin and Obi-Wan arrived on Z-S m, which, iirc, happened during or before Naboo. There, the Sekotans took time to drive the Vong away. The antagonist for Anakin and Obi-Wan was Tarkin, not the Vong.

So basically, the Vong have shown up, perhaps, a year earlier than canon, but otherwise the timeline is the same.

 

[ClassHole]

Forgot this one, my bad.



They didn't turn up 4 years early. Having Zonama Sekot in story was 4 years early, but not the Vong. They were long gone by the time Anakin and Obi-Wan arrived on Z-S m, which, iirc, happened during or before Naboo. There, the Sekotans took time to drive the Vong away. The antagonist for Anakin and Obi-Wan was Tarkin, not the Vong.

So basically, the Vong have shown up, perhaps, a year earlier than canon, but otherwise the timeline is the same.

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Ahh, you're right my bad, just looked it up, and they attacked in 32 BBY, I thought it was in 30 or 29 BBY when Anakin & Obi visit, I guess this makes more sense then, if its only like a year or two early.

I mentioned this in my previous comment, and if its a big spoiler you can just ignore me, but I was wondering if the Vong are going to become a much larger piece of the story than they did in canon for this time era? As I mentioned before, I'm not a big fan lol so I'm just hoping I'm not setting myself up for heartbreak continuing to read this story haha.

 

[USSExplorer]

I mentioned this in my previous comment, and if its a big spoiler you can just ignore me, but I was wondering if the Vong are going to become a much larger piece of the story than they did in canon for this time era?

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I do plan to bring the Vong into the story, but not for a long, long, LONG time. (As in 30+ yrs in verse, if I write that long)
Dropping them into the current galaxy would be... well bad, lol.

These Vong are the same Vong (for all intents and purposes) as those that attacked Z-S in the EU timeline. So a large recon force. Not the main fleet, or even its advanced units.

If it was... Cam would be deader than the dodos.

 

[alec_potter]

Enjoyed the chapter except the ending cliffy.
Hope we get to see the next scene soon.

 

[Lone-sith]

About a month after arriving back in the Temple, the grapevine – because even the Jedi had one – was rife with stories of Yoda being seen riding around the Temple late at night on the back of a great black beast. I knew the rumours were false as I'd never sensed anything from Fenrir to suggest he was running around late at night and because Yoda was wary of the tuk'ata. That said, I didn't say anything to discourage the rumours as I couldn't deny the idea of imagining Yoda riding Fenrir around was too funny to shoot down.

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i'm so happy you managed to put my Omake in there

 

[USSExplorer]

A/N:
As always, thanks to those helping me write and plan out this story and checking it for continuality and logic errors.

This chapter was released at least 2 weeks ago to my Patreons (with them seeing a draft version around 2 months ago) and on the story's Discord server (in GDoc form) about a week ago.
Links for both are at the end of the chapter.
Hopefully, all the little mistakes have been found and removed.
...
ALSO
1: Yes, the Vong divide opinion but they exist in the EU which this story is based around.
2: This is not a full invasion. For more details read the novel "Rogue Planet" or just skim the wiki pages about it.
3: Cam doesn't know about them. He only knows the movies up until 2018, TCE series/miniseries and some odd games like KOTOR 1+2.

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Current Date: 2 years until the Invasion of Naboo​

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The Living Planet 2
…​

(Bo-Katan's POV)
…

She leaned back, avoiding the strange weapon these aliens used as it whipped around toward her. The snake-like head hissed as it passed by, a glob of venom being spat out and missing her shoulder by millimetres. While her scanners said her armour could take the hit, it was wiser to avoid the risk.

The snake-head of the alien's weapon twisted, likely to shoot another glob of whatever it was at her. However, Bo-Katan was having none of that. As the mouth opened, flames leapt from her gauntlet, engulfing the snake in flame. While there was no outward indication of damage to the snake when the flames died, Bo-Katan's sensors recorded damage internally. Even as her sensors recorded that, she unloaded a trio of bolts from her blaster into the stomach of her foe. While they left scorch marks on whatever served as armour, that was all the damage they caused. Well, besides irritating the alien.

She was sent tumbling as its free hand, moving in a frightening blur, slammed into the side of her head. Her jetpack auto-engaged to help right her motion, and then, once her knees had set on the ground, another burst of power from the pack launched her back toward her opponent. She slammed into it hard, the jetpack giving her extra momentum to lift the thing off its legs, but even as she gained that small advantage, her armour warned her the snake-staff was wrapping itself around her leg.

When it yanked on her leg, it caused her to lose control of her momentum, and both she and the alien slammed into the ground hard and then bounced apart with Bo-Katan barely avoiding landing on an exposed root from a nearby tree.

"Shabuir." The curse slipped from her lips as she pulled herself to her feet and discovered the alien had done the same, but faster. Her scanners had already hinted at the aliens being faster, and the rattling of her skull even inside her armour let her know they were stronger than most beings. She felt a smile spread across her face at the challenge; every Mandalorian lived for moments like this.

As she readied herself for the rapidly closing alien, her blood sang in joy at fighting a worthy opponent. She'd been denied the chance with the taozin, and the months of travelling to and being on this planet had been a bore, save for Cam. Now at least, she had something besides him to focus on and excite her.

Yet before it could reach her, she felt the air shift. A coldness seeped through the air and chilled her to her bones as it felt like the gravity magnified to that of a gas giant's core. Which was odd as her sensors showed no change in atmospheric pressure, either in or outside of her armour.

From one corner of her sensors, blackness raced outward. A moment later, it struck the alien only a metre from her, sending the ugly shabuir flying. Remembering where she'd last seen such a thing, all thoughts of her opponent forgotten for the moment, her head snapped toward Cam, though they stopped midway as she saw something between them. On the ground, blood rapidly pooled around her, with an alien standing over, was Fay. Even without the sensor package in her armour, Bo-Katan could tell that the ancient Jedi Master was badly wounded and would likely die without rapid treatment. Which explained why Cam seemed to have stopped holding back.

The alien standing over Fay though wasn't going for the kill. Instead, according to her sensors, it appeared to be flickering in and out of perception as malevolent darkness danced around it. The alien's mouth was open, yet no sound slid out.

She saw Cam as he moved, so fast her sensors struggled to track, the darkness rippling around him. He collided with the alien standing over Fay so violently it was smashed through a nearby tree. Yet before she could move to assist, the alien near her pulled itself to its feet.

Its movement was sluggish, as was that of its strange organic weapon, suggesting the Force attack Cam had struck it with had done serious damage and still was as wisps of the black energy sparked over its body. While part of her was angered that Cam had weakened her opponent, she understood he'd not done so intentionally. Plus, one never looked a gift bantha in the mouth.

She raced toward it, her jetpack granting her extra speed as her blaster unloaded. While the shots weren't doing a large amount of damage, they were forcing it to defend. The snake-staff flexed, readying itself to fire a glob of venom at her. She'd expected that and rolled in mid-air, letting the glob sail harmlessly past her, and shot past the alien, feeling her non-blaster hand brush against its waist.

Once clear on the other side, she turned in the air and landed facing the alien as it snarled at her. Once her eyes locked on it, she pressed a button on her vambrace. A single bleep was the only warning the alien got before the thermal detonator – the only one she'd had on her due to the locals' insane rules of weaponry – exploded, obliterating the alien and its bizarre weapon.

With that threat neutralised, she raced over to Fay and as she moved, took in the overall fight. Zarkos and Simvyl were holding their position near the downed transport, using it as cover as they held off three aliens. Two more aliens were pinned down, one under a tree not too far from Fay with the other partially impaled by the door from the transport. Given the methods, it was easy to tell which Jetii had trapped each alien.

In the bushes, her sensors saw Fenrir snarling as he wrestled with the alien's odd-looking beast. Fenrir had several scratches on his side along with one of his spinal spikes missing, yet the other beast looked in worse shape. One eye was gone, having been lost to a slash from Fenrir's claws, while its right rear leg was struggling to keep it upright.

As for Cam…

She spotted him just as another burst of black energy poured from the fingertips of his free hand, engulfing two of the aliens that were engaged with the Rangers while his blade danced against the chest of another alien. That one had to be a leader as, unlike the others, it wore an odd-looking shell over its body that was able to survive the flurry of strikes from Cam's blade.

Bo-Katan slid to a stop beside Fay even as she realised the alien that had wounded the Jetii Master was now nothing more than a smoking pile of flesh no longer for the living world. Bo-Katan pushed aside the surge of excitement she felt at realising what Cam had done as she examined Fay.

The wound was through and through with no hint that it'd left shards inside Fay. Plus, the blow hadn't been to a critical area, though that was only due to Fay's Sephi biology. For a human, that strike would've ruptured a kidney leading to a very quick death. Putting aside thoughts that these aliens knew the best way to kill humans and the unknown poison in Fay's bloodstream, she got to work. A handful of bacta patches were applied to both entry and exit points while she gave the Jetii an injection that should help stabilise her heart rate.

"How is she?" The question came from Zarkos as the Togrutan slid down beside her, his blaster firing at a nearby enemy to keep them suppressed.

"Bad." Until now, Bo-Katan hadn't known what to make of the Rangers. She knew of them, and their stated aim to work with the Jetii to keep the galaxy safe, but she'd never dealt with any of them before. Plus, one of them was a Cathar who still held resentment toward her people for actions taken millennia ago. The dumb beast needed to let go of that as it wasn't her fault his species had been too weak to stand against her ancestors. Still, the pair of them were fighting beside her and Cam, and as her father had loved to say, you could only judge a being by how they fight when the time comes to do so. "We need to get her to cover."

Zarkos took a moment to look at Fay. "I'll move her, you cover." Bo-Katan was fine with that. While the Togrutan was older, she had better armour and firepower. To not use her to the best of her abilities was a waste of resources.

As Zarkos holstered his blaster, she turned, drawing hers and seeking out targets. The familiar sound of the twin WESTAR-34 blasters filled her ears as they unloaded their fury on the nearest alien. While the alien was able to avoid most of it, when combined with the Cathar's fire, it was enough to keep them pinned down. Which would do for now.

As they moved, she heard a triumphant howl, which she hoped meant Fenrir had won his battle. Her hopes were confirmed when Fenrir leapt from the bushes and slammed hard into the side of an enemy trying to attack Cam from behind. According to Fay, Fenrir still had a lot of growth to do – which was an exciting thought to Bo even if Fay didn't entirely agree – but he still had enough strength and mass to send the alien he'd struck into a tree, making leaves fall around them and the trunk crack.

"Fenrir! Here!" She called out in hope, as while the tuk'ata did sometimes obey her, it was always reluctant. That meant when, after biting the downed alien hard enough that his teeth drew black ichor from the alien as he ripped out its throat, he raced over to her, she was caught by surprise.

Beside her, as he carried Fay, she heard Zarkos mutter something, likely about Fenrir, which was only made worse she suspected as the beast raced toward them, blood dripping from its maw. Yet while the Togrutan was seemingly put off by the violence, Bo-Katan revelled in it. Fenrir was deadly now, and would only become more so as he grew, making him a worthy companion for Cam.

Once he reached them, Fenrir dropped the chunk to the ground and looked up at her. "Having fun?" Fenrir flicked his head in an approximation of a nod – or at least that's how Bo-Katan saw it – as he exposed his teeth; the black blood of the aliens stained them and made him even more intimidating. That was accompanied by a growl that sounded satisfied. "Good, but we need help. Fay's down and we need to keep her safe." Fenrir looked at Fay, who Bo-Katan knew he'd never been comfortable around, then over to Cam. She did likewise and was in time to see Cam, in a particularly effective move, jam his lightsaber blade into the mouth of a snake-staff while he hurled rocks with the Force into the face of the staff's wielder. The rocks weren't massive, but their supersonic velocity – according to her sensors – was enough to explode the head like it was nothing more than a melon.

Her body shivered at the scene, but she forced the feelings aside. It wasn't the time nor place to act on them. "He can handle himself. We need to keep Fay safe." She spoke again to Fenrir even as she examined the readings from her sensors. A spinal spike was gone, though the blood flow from the wound was already slowing. Yet, apart from that and a dozen or so scratches and bite marks over his hide, he appeared no worse for wear. Plus, the way he carried himself made it clear to her that he was proud of his first kill in battle, something she understood and agreed with.

Fenrir moved forward, toward the transport, which Bo-Katan took as him agreeing to her request. "What are these things?"

Bo-Katan was glad her armour was on so that the Cathar couldn't see her roll her eyes at his jare'la question even as Zarkos lowered Fay to the ground. "The enemy." That was all that mattered. These beings had attacked them and wounded Fay. Now they would die for their foolishness. If the Cathar didn't understand that then it was a miracle of galactic proportions his species had recovered after her people had decimated their world.

The Cathar glared at her for her retort, but she didn't give it much thought. What was he going to do? Die to a Mandalorian weapon like his forebearers?

A glob of venom struck the side of the transport, doing some damage to the already weakened frame of the downed vessel. In response, Bo-Katan leaned out and fired off a small rocket from her vambrace. The alien leapt forward in a roll to avoid the rocket but its speed was just barely enough to avoid the shrapnel from the tree, her sensors pegging it in the smoke it was using for camouflage using body heat.

Bo-Katan lined up a second rocket as the alien slid to a halt. It'd taken cover behind a boulder to recover, but that wasn't going to stop her from sending the soulless thing to the deepest pit of whatever hell it believed in. Yet before she could launch the rocket, a blurred movement caught the attention of her sensors.

Cam surged into view, and barely ten seconds later, moved off, the alien now lay dead on the ground. The boulder it'd used for cover had moved, crushing the snake-staff of the alien whose arms and part of its skull were lying beside its body.

A thrill raced through her body as she took in the chaos Cam had unleashed in only a handful of seconds, and after taking cover behind the transport, she pulled up and slowed down her helmet's sensor recordings.

In the time it'd taken for Cam to enter the dust cloud and leave it, he'd simply overwhelmed the alien. There were gaps in her sensors, showing just how fast he'd moved, but each time his lightsaber had clipped the alien, the heat burst was tracked. Over two dozen strikes had dotted the alien's body and weapon before first one arm, then the other was removed by a single elegant backstroke to its elbows. Then, before the snake-staff could realise that the hand holding it wasn't attached to the body, Cam had pushed the boulder over, crushing the living weapon under the heavy rock. At the same time, Cam's blade had moved around in a measured flourish, thrust through the alien's right eye the sliced up through the top of the head – and brain within – splitting it as if it was an overripe meiloorun fruit.

Bo-Katan ignored the way her heart raced at seeing Cam eviscerate one of the aliens in the playback, and the heat growing in her lower regions. There was still a battle to win no matter how her blood burned from what she'd just seen. And once they were of this world, she'd make sure to send the recording to her father. He needed to see this. Every Mando'ade needed to see the Revan'ade unleashed. Though she was glad the faint moan that'd slipped from her lips as she watched Cam's handiwork wasn't in the recording.

"Spirits."

Zarkos' muttered comment, likely from seeing the remains of the alien as the dust cleared, drew Bo-Katan's attention back to the here and now. Cam was engaging the aliens' leader while the only other one that was mobile was pinned down by the combined fire of the two Rangers. Her sensors easily located the alien's hiding spot, and then with a few quick commands calculated a few scenarios. With that done, her jetpack roared to life.

The moment she could see over the top of the transport, her vambrace released three missiles in quick succession. As she'd expected and planned for, the alien moved to avoid the first. It also managed to escape the blast of the second, and the third, however, stuck it clean in the chest. The resulting explosion, combined with the still-travelling shockwaves of the first two rockets, turned the alien into not much more than mush that stained the ground black.

With that alien and its staff neutralized, Bo turned in mid-air, wanting to provide support to Cam. As she did, a glob of venom crashed harmlessly against her armour. The armour's sensors confirmed that while the glob would've been dangerous to any with low-quality or no armour, against beskar, it wasn't a threat, not unless she took over a hundred strikes in the same area in a short period.

Knowing the venom wasn't a problem, she quickly found Cam. He was engaged with the alien leader. This alien wore something approaching decent armour and was stronger and quicker than the others. Yet even as it moved at a speed that would challenge Bo to keep up with when using her armour's advantages, it was struggling to block and evade more than half of Cam's furious barrage of attacks. Haran, once more her armour was struggling to track Cam's movements, something that had only happened against the Bando Gora after his rescue.

Bo-Katan knew this meant Cam was drawing on the Dark Side of the Force, fuelling it with his rage, as he'd done against… Vosa. She recoiled a fraction as she caught sight of his eyes. Gone was the vibrant green that she often found herself getting lost in, being replaced by the red of a star about to go supernova. Almost as if the fury he was drawing on was burning him from the inside out.

The alien leader was fighting valiantly and even managed to land a glancing blow on Cam's forearm. However, that failed to do any damage as Cam used the attack to slide his blade inside the alien's guard and land a flurry of slashes near the inner part of the alien's elbow: Where most armours were traditionally weaker. The snake-staff softened and twisted, looking to wrap around Cam's arm, but he slid one foot with a grace Bo had seldom seen from any bar him or his Jetii Masters to avoid the snake. At the same time, Cam's lightsaber moved fast enough that her armour registered at least four strikes against the alien's leg near the knee before he slashed the tip of the blade across the face of the snake.

Both combatants and Bo-Katan knew this duel would end soon, but she could give the alien its due. Even though it was outmatched and overwhelmed, it continued to fight. As any true warrior would when faced with no option of withdrawal.

Yet, as the snake-staff snapped back from Cam's attack, and it looked like Cam would soon end the duel, another snake-staff had slithered over. It wrapped around his foot and threatened to bite down, injecting Cam with the same venom Bo knew was coursing through Fay's veins. Before it could, Cam thrust a hand downward, black, malevolent Force lightning slamming into the open maw of the snake.

As the snake screeched in pain, and Cam landed a trio of quick thrusts against the alien leader, Bo-Katan pondered on why Cam's lightning was black. The records she'd seen mentioned and showed Force users using blue and purple lightning. There were even a few unverified accounts of red Force Lightning, yet she couldn't remember a single instance of even a hint of black lightning. Still, as the snake-staff getting pounded by Cam's Force attack went rigid as the energy pouring into it overloaded whatever allowed the weapon to live, she realised that might be that none who'd encountered such lightning had lived to tell the tale.

Yet as the snake-staff breathed its last breath, the alien leader launched a counterattack. His staff swung around, catching Cam in the arm that was barbequing the snake-staff at his feet. The blow was a solid one, forcing Cam to end the flood of energy into the snake-staff, but Cam used it to rotate away from a follow-up attack by the alien leader. Cam dropped low and pivoted, the rigid form of the leader's staff passing close but harmlessly by Cam as he generated some space between them.

The snake-staff on the ground hissed weakly at Cam. Before it could do anything more, Cam thrust his shorter lightsaber into the beast's maw, then flicked it up, cutting the skull in two. Bo-Katan frowned even as Cam removed the shorter lightsaber, smoke rising from the blade where it met the hilt. She thought Cam had left that back on the Ne'tra Sartr. Haran, she was all but sure he'd not had it on his belt at the beginning of the battle, so where had he hidden it?

Before she could truly think about it, the alien leader stepped forward, its weapon in a staff configuration. Cam blocked the attack with ease with his main blade even as the secondary one fell from his grip, smoke still rising from the hilt making Bo wonder if the snake's venom had damaged it.

Cam brought his now free hand up in a brutal palm strike. Darkness spilt out, engulfing the alien in lightning. Even from this distance, Bo swore she could feel the twisted, sinister nature of the lightning as it raced to cover the alien's frame even as it was sent hurtling back. It slammed into a tree, which instantly set ablaze as the lightning raced over the bark and leaves. The trail of power led back to Cam, his hand still where it was when it had struck the alien. Bo-Katan knew what he was doing was inflicting pain for revenge, possibly even for fun, yet she couldn't bring herself to do anything but savour the moment. Cam pulled his arm back and then thrust it forward, increasing the streams of energy flowing into the alien and Bo-Katan felt pain in her lip.

The alien was lifted up the burning tree, its eyes wide and mouth open. Yet no sound spilt out. Though that might've been because the lightning, as if feeding off Cam's rage, slammed into the mouth and eyes. Smoke rose from the mouth even as the eyeballs exploded as they offered no resistance to the energy surge that continued inward to fry the brain.

Bo-Katan knew the alien was dead, even before that final surge of power, with the only movements from the body being spasms as whatever it had for nerves reacted to the foreign energy coursing through the lifeless body. Below her, she heard someone gag. More than likely it was the Cathar. They were a weak people. Yet her focus stayed on Cam, on watching him announce to the galaxy that he had the power; that he was a threat to any who dared cross him.

This was the power of the Revan'ade.

Tremors rippled through her as she watched the alien's flesh turn the colour of its blood. Her skin tingled as armour hardened and began to break off, falling in a pile on the ground. Some part of her knew she needed to stop this, needed to get Cam under control and get away from this battle before more aliens arrived. Yet as she landed and started to move toward Cam, her heart pounded with delight and desire. This was a Mando'ade worthy of her.

When she was about halfway to Cam, he ended the energy pouring into the body. It slumped to the ground, limbs cracking as they landed even as what remained of the tree behind continued to burn. The alien, now burnt to a point it was hard to tell what species it had been, was no longer impressive. No longer a worthy opponent. Not that it ever was for Cam.

She stopped mid-step as he turned to face her. His eyes burned with the fury of a hundred stars going supernova. Something moved near her, she felt movement against her arm, but her focus was on the danger, the power in front of her. She took a step forward, drawn to the fire like a moth to a flame.

A beep from her sensors forced her unwillingly from the furnace in front of her. An alien was still alive. The one missing a leg at the knee. She turned to face it, but Cam was already aware. His hand rose, and blackness surged forth and enveloped the alien. The ground burned for a second before it was dead. The alien's vitals spiked, it spasmed as spikes of darkness pulled back and then stabbed into its flesh.

Cam closed his hand, the body slumped to the ground. Its back rose as it drew in air. Cam unleashed another blast of lightning at it. Bo-Katan's body fought with itself. What Cam was doing was a waste. They needed to leave. Yet she was enjoying watching his power in action.

Behind her, she heard sounds. The Rangers. She shook her head. They needed to go, needed to help Fay, but Cam was lost in his rage over what had happened to her. Even as part of Bo-Katan wondered if he'd react the same way if she'd been the one who'd gotten hurt, she knew she needed to end this. There'd been three other ships that had been with the one carrying these aliens. They'd come looking when this lot didn't, couldn't, report in.

In the time it took her to reach Cam's side, he'd kept pouring energy into the dead alien.

"Cam, tha…" the words died before they touched her throat as his head snapped to her. The fury of an entire galaxy as it raged in death burned into her soul through his eyes. Judging her. Deciding her fate.

For the first time in her life, Bo-Katan felt true, unrelenting terror. Nothing else compared. Not how she'd felt on her verd'goten, not when her mother had died, nor the waiting until her brother was pulled from the rubble could come close to the fear gripping every nerve in her body. She was prey before a true apex predator, and Manda help her, it excited her.

This Cam… this was the one her father had wanted. The one with the power of Naast be Me'suums. The ability to shatter worlds with but a word. Yet through it all, even as her body fought the conflicting terror and excitement that threatened to break her mind, she sensed his hurt. Felt his pain. A single misstep and that was it. She'd be gone. The Rangers and Fay would be gone. The entire world would burn as he lost control of his rage.

He took a step toward her, black, perverse energy dancing around his free hand. She braced even when she knew it would do nothing to save her. The air inside her armour grew cold, restrictive. Beskar was said to be able to survive Force Lightning if properly insulated, yet she knew that if Cam struck her with his, she was gone.

Something large and dark stepped between them. She blinked as Fenrir cut into her eye line, breaking her hypnotic fall into Cam's eyes.

The tuk'ata moved toward Cam, a soft growl rumbling from his belly. It pushed against Cam's arm, the one holding his lightsaber. That made Cam blink, the redness of his eyes dulling. "F-Fenrir?" The question was weak, coarse as if he'd not drunk in a week. Fenrir patted his head against Cam's arm, somehow making him look back at her.

She watched as he blinked again, more of the red fury sliding away and allowing the green to return. Yet even as the colouration of his eyes returned to normal, she felt something was still missing. Some joy or wonder at life had been extinguished by what had just happened. An urge to find more aliens, to kill them brutally for taking away part of him, bubbled forth within her. "Bo?" A single word, the simple almost pleading use of her name squashed that urge. Replacing it with something else.

Slowly, not wanting to risk his anger returning, she lifted her hands to her helmet. With over a decade of practice, she removed it with ease, letting her eyes fall on his without anything between them. Confusion reigned in his, along with hints of the rage he'd displayed and grief. Almost as if he wasn't sure where or who he was. "It's me, Cam." Her words were soft, a tone she'd not used in years for any but her nephew before his death. "W-we need to get going." She glanced at the nearest alien body, her nose wrinkling at the charred smell. "I know you want to keep hurting them, I understand. But Fay… she needs your help."

At that, his eyes left her and sought out his Jetii Master. A blade of anger at him discarding her for Fay stabbed her heart, along with a dagger of pain at him so easily turning away from her. "We need to get her to the Sartr." Provided it was still in one piece, though she didn't mention that. "More of the aliens will be here soon and she can't defend herself."

Cam nodded slowly, as if in two minds about something. He turned back and glared at the alien leader. Or at least what was left of them. "Vong."

Bo-Katan frowned. "What?" She'd never heard that word before and unless the sounds coming from the aliens had been too faint for her sensors to pick up – possible but unlikely – then where could he have heard it?

He looked at her and blinked, almost as if, for a moment, he'd forgotten she was there.

"It's what they're called." He explained as he returned his gaze to the charred body of the alien. He didn't explain how he knew, but she'd been around him long enough to know he could be like that. Knowing a name or something about a person just by looking at them. It had to be some sort of Force ability that Jetii didn't speak about as it was so common to them that it never occurred that others couldn't use it.

"Okay." She slid her helmet back on even as her mind played the moment Cam had pulled his second lightsaber from somewhere. She'd have to review the recording from before the battle to be sure, but this felt like another instance where he was drawing objects from somewhere she couldn't find. Much like how he'd turned one thermal detonator into five in the depths of Coruscant. She trusted him, but him keeping secrets rankled her. After everything they'd been through, everything she'd risked for him, why was he hiding things from her?

Cam walked past, giving her a weak smile as he did. That alone broke her from those thoughts. Fenrir followed behind, though he stopped at her side. She turned to see Cam moving quickly toward Fay and the Rangers. A faint sound slipped from Fenrir's maw, and Bo rested a hand on the beast's neck, making sure to avoid the fresh wound. "Aye, he's going to need us on this." Fenrir leaned into her touch, bringing a smile to her lips. The tuk'ata disliked everyone else, save young Anakin Skywalker, yet it accepted her enough to listen to her. It felt she was one of its pack, and perhaps, once they had time, she'd see about getting Cam to realise that as well. "Come on. While he checks on Fay, we'd better check their ship. No point missing one of those osi'kovide and letting it sneak away."

Fenrir snorted at that, and she felt a rumble in his flesh making her think he was laughing. She knew assigning human emotions to beasts wasn't smart, but Fenrir was far more than any simple beast. He was bred to fight and kill Jetii, as her people had done for millennia. In him, she felt a bond for battle, one that Cam shared, even if he didn't yet embrace it.

Though hopefully, he would before they left this world. In her bones, she knew this battle was just the start. These Vong might've started this war, but Manda, she, Cam, and Fenrir were going to end it. Littering the way with the bodies of the di'kute dumb enough to stand in their way.

… …

---

… … (Cam's POV)

I looked at my minimap as we walked, something I'd done every few minutes since our battle with the Vong. As with every glance before, no hint of the null-zones left by the Vong were showing up. Which was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing as I was concerned that I'd fall back into a mind-consuming rage if I saw one soon and a curse as, because of how heavily I'd wrecked the ones we'd engaged, we had almost nothing to go on about the species bar the scans taken by Bo's armour.

Well, that wasn't entirely true as, once I'd regained control of myself and stopped drawing on the Dark Side, a new quest had appeared.

Spoiler: Invaders from the Void

Invaders from the Void [֍]
The peaceful, critical world of Zonama Sekot is under threat.
Rating: S*
Objectives:
:a: Ensure the survival of all members of your group, including the Antarian Rangers for the length of the quest.
:b: Protect the planet from the Vong by either driving the Vong from the planet,
Or eliminating the entire occupation force.
Rewards:
:a: 1000XP per being that survived [-/7]
:b: 8000XP
Or 12000XP
+ Combat XP
Failure:
:a: Death of everyone close to you on Zonama Sekot.
:b: The Vong gain Zonama Sekot as a beachhead into the Republic.
Accelerate the timeline of their invasion by up to 50 cycles.
...

​

Everything about that quest screamed how important it was. From the rating to the objectives, the rewards and failures, I knew fucking this up would have major consequences. And to be clear, this wasn't a quest I'd been allowed to reject. That meant the odds of finding the Ne'tra Sartr in a condition to withdraw from the planet were practically zero. And had me concerned about HK's fate, along with all the gear I had stored on my ship. Something made worse as I felt HK wasn't one of the seven that I needed to protect.

The rewards were obviously impressive as this was my first S-rated combat quest – if you discounted Tremors of the Ancient Sith Empire – and then there was the combat XP, which was interesting. Even after party dynamics came into play, just for taking out eight Vong I'd gotten north of 900XP. Since the average sentient gave around 10XP per level, either the base Vong was at level 30, which was highly unlikely, or they were worth more per level; possibly up to twice that of most sentients. I was inclined to believe it was the latter as the Vong were stronger and faster at a base than, possibly, any species I'd encountered. While I didn't allow myself to be driven by reaching new levels as much as I'd used to, as learning that there was more to the Force than simply 'maxing out' a power, level 28 would grant me a new perk. If I succeeded in driving the Vong from the world, and kept everyone alive, at a rough estimate, we'd need to kill around fifty or so Vong to reach that milestone.

Yet even if that wasn't something to consider, or allow to factor into my future decisions, the fact that failure meant a sooner invasion of the Republic by an alien race no one seemed to know about was stuck in my thoughts. Fifty years from now, in the canon timeline, would be long after Return of the Jedi. That had me wondering if Sidious, after discovering the threat of the Vong, had built the Death Stars because of that threat. While it was unlikely, the idea that he felt he needed stations capable of destroying entire planets to potentially take on a Vong invasion fleet was… well fucking scary didn't even cover one per cent of the danger.

I turned my thoughts from the quest and the Vong as I felt the now ever-present pool of fury within me begin to boil. In the hours after the battle, I'd had to use Player's Mind to keep a lid on that rage, but now, a few days later, I'd reached a point where I could contain it. But I wasn't willing to release it.

On Tatooine, I'd touched the furthest edges of the power the Dark Side offered, and against the Bando Gora, I drew on that to keep myself going. Here, on this world that radiated the Force everywhere, from the smallest blade of grass to trees that put redwoods to shame, I'd not only drawn on it when Fay had fallen, but I'd drank deeply from the ocean before then leaping into it with open arms.

I understood now, possibly better than I think many Jedi did, just how dangerous it was. How easy it could be to accept it into you, let it whisper of how to use it and take control of it, bending it and the world to your will. Yet, with the danger that the Vong posed, I couldn't risk letting go of that power. Until I'd lost control, even as I pushed my Force powers to their system-defined limits, I'd been struggling to handle two Vong. After drinking in the Dark Side… well, the aftermath looked like the Vong had picked a fight with a thunderstorm, which given my liberal use of Force Lightning, wasn't too far from the truth.

Before I could dwell on my actions, I felt the faintest of shifts in the Force to my left. Looking down, I saw Fay resting on a hovercart I and Zarkos had hastily fashioned from the wreckage of the transport. I knew, both from feeling it within the Force and using Observe, that she was in a deep meditative trace to conserve her strength as she fought against the Vong's poison. Said poison was, unsurprisingly, not one known to the database in Bo's armour, nor one on which Force Heal could do anything to help as I simply wasn't skilled in the power as much as needed. Now, I'd always understood that a battlefield medic was useful, but I'd spent years focusing on more offensive powers over it, though even then, I'd never felt the connection to the healing elements of the Force that I was told Jedi Healers held. Still, from using Observe on Fay every few hours, I knew the poison didn't appear to be spreading, which left Fay reminding me of Sleeping Beauty.

The idea of adapting that story, and the other Disney/Grimm fairy tales for this galaxy had served as a welcome distraction for a short while. They'd work, and while they likely wouldn't generate anywhere near as much as the Lord of the Rings trilogy had – to say nothing of how much I'd hopefully earn once the first holomovie was completed – there was nothing in the story that I could be concerned about the Sith, or others, adapting to create new horrors for the galaxy. Like the Spartan program in Halo.

A soft grumble drew my attention to Fenrir. He was walking on the other side of Fay's hovercart, which was where he always was when he wasn't off on patrol. It was a little odd. I knew he wasn't friendly toward her, or anyone bar Bo and Anakin, but I'd sensed over our bond that he regarded her as part of our 'pack'. As my eyes looked him over, they once more lingered on the missing spinal spike. The wound had healed quickly once a bacta patch had been applied and while it seemed to give him phantom itching, he didn't mind. From what I'd felt – and Observed – he was frustrated at losing the spike, but that was easily outweighed by the fact he'd fought and killed in battle for the first time. If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect he regarded the wound as a mark of his prowess. Though I'd prefer if the next time we encountered the Vong and one of their beasts he could defeat it without such an obvious wound.

In front of the hovercart walked Zarkos. The Togrutan was all business with a blaster in his hand as his eyes continually scanned the bushes near us. I'd expected him to try to assume command of our group after the battle, but instead, he'd deferred to me, which felt odd until he explained his logic. The Rangers were there to help and assist the Jedi, meaning they would follow the orders of any member of the Order, even a Padawan. Though I'd made sure to consult him on making this trek before we'd set out. While I was in charge, turning away experienced help was always a mistake.

Simvyl, who was currently acting as the forward scout due to his race's inherent advantages in doing so, hadn't been happy about Zarkos' acquiescence to my command. At first, I'd thought that was due to him not liking Bo and how close I was to her, or that he was unnerved by how brutal I'd been to the Vong after Fay had gone down. Observe had confirmed that wasn't the case, with his unhappiness being at my age and, in his eyes, lack of combat experience compared to even him. Depending on how long it took us to either get off this world or eliminate the Vong, I'd probably end up regaling him with a few battle stories from my time with the Jedi. That should help ease his concerns about my apparent lack of experience. Still, that'd do little to ease his dislike of Bo, which wasn't helped by how close she was to me.

As if on cue, a rustle from the bushes beside me was accompanied by Bo walking back to the group. She was in her full armour and while she could use her jetpack to scout, doing so had a few issues. The most obvious was the chance we'd not have a way to refuel the pack if the Ne'tra Sartr and Longstrider had been reduced to rubble. The other major issue was that, about a day and a half after we'd left the crash site, we'd been forced to take cover when a Vong ship had buzzed overhead. We'd quickly made plans for a fight as while we'd tried to cover our tracks when we'd left the crash site, any competent tracker would've been able to follow. Though to counter that we'd trekked toward Middle Distance for a few hours before slowly swinging around to head to the landing area.

I wasn't sure if that had worked, but no scout force had come after us. Or at least they hadn't in the nearly two weeks we'd been trekking, we'd not come across any hint of the Vong beyond the odd distant sonic boom as one of their ships flew by. It was an odd thing as if a unit had been ambushed in Afghanistan or Iraq, significant resources were diverted to finding those responsible and taking them out. Either the Vong didn't value their warriors the same way, or they had higher priorities for their occupation. Yet until I learnt more about them and their goals, I couldn't make assumptions on which way to lean. That sort of thing is what got people killed in war, and I was under no illusions that this wasn't a war.

Still, none of us were dropping our guard and even when we rested for the night, two of us stayed up on watch. Bo and Zarkos set up some simple trip sensors if anyone approached our camp and we avoided using any light to give ourselves away to a night patrol as it flew in the skies above.

"All clear." Bo's voice, as it had been since the battle, was modulated by her armour. While that removed much of her emotion from the tone, it was easy to sense how tense she was. Even with me actively not reaching into our bond, once I'd regained control and the high of battle had worn off, the link had been flooded with anticipation and desire. All of which were aimed at me. Now, I couldn't say I wasn't interested in returning that desire but having her feelings floating around my thoughts as we moved, with a threat of Vong attack hanging over us, was a distraction. Plus, there was the fact that she'd grown this excited after I'd lost control and willingly drawn on the Dark Side to brutalise those Vong warriors. I wasn't sure how I felt about her liking that, not when, even after nearly two weeks of hiking, I wasn't yet sure how I felt about it myself.

What I'd done had been a step too far. Now, I didn't regret killing the Vong, nor how willingly I'd done it. They'd wanted to kill us – that much was apparent when I'd reviewed my memories of the battle, never mind what'd happened to Fay – and appeared to be the perfect race to fight and, I suspected at the higher ranks, defeat Force users one on one. No, it was how brutal I'd been after they were defeated, how much I'd enjoyed it, that had me off-balance. I'd lost control, I'd willingly embraced the Dark Side – something I was concerned had been felt by many people throughout the galaxy, including Anakin – and come very, very close to being so lost in my fury that I almost struck down Bo. That would've made me no better than the Sith, and that wasn't a path I wanted to go down. Yet, I understood that, while the rage that I wasn't willing to let go of was dangerous, once I'd drawn upon it, the Vong had been, seemingly, an easy opponent to take down.

If Dooku was here, even with how cold he was to others, I knew he'd have been concerned for me. Not because I'd killed them sadistically, but for allowing my emotions to get the better of me, if only for a short time, but also for revelling in how I'd killed the Vong.

I glanced at Fay and sighed. I knew how she'd feel. How worried and ashamed she'd be with what I'd done, how happily I'd embraced my rage and sunk into the Dark Side to gain revenge. If… No, when she woke, I knew I had a long, long talk coming about my actions in that battle; and probably about what I'd do once the war of resistance began. And it would be a talk that would, I felt, without doubt, be one that would persist for years to come.

I'd had it explained to me multiple times over the years how dangerous, how insidious, the Dark Side was, yet even after the Bando Gora, I hadn't fully grasped that. I wasn't even sure I did now, not in the way the Jedi believed it was, yet I understood how easily it altered your perception of events when it took control. There was no doubt it'd altered how I appeared in the Force, meaning that apart from my masters' concerns when I next spoke to them, interacting with the High Council was going to be a fucking nightmare. At best, they'd kick me from the Order, at worst – and far more likely I felt given the strength of connection I had with the Force – they'd imprison me for life in a place like the Citadel. While the former I could recover from, even if it'd cost me the chance to work with Dooku and access to the holocron vaults, the latter would be a major fucking problem for what was coming.

Because of that, I'd thought about how to suppress my Dark Side taint. I'd generated a new Force Power for that – Dark Side Masking – which was like Force Suppression except it only hid any Dark Side taint I bore instead of my entire Force presence. However, the kicker was that while I could train the power up by having it running, it carried a hefty fifty per cent penalty until I was taught more about the ability by a Darksider. That little nugget had turned my attention to one of the other things my mother had left for me in the vault on planet Ordo; a Sith holocron.

The problem there was just who the holocron had belonged to. From the moment I'd discovered it in the second crate from my mother, I'd thrown it into my Inventory and kept it there. Something about it had felt very dangerous, yet I wasn't willing to give it over to my masters and have it locked away in the Jedi vaults. According to what Observe told me, just before I'd dropped it in my Inventory, the holocron had been created over twenty-seven thousand years ago by someone called King Adas. During my sabbatical in the Temple, I'd risked searching for the name in the Archives, yet nothing had come up. Since no one had spoken to me about searching for the name of a Sith from nearly thirty thousand years ago, I had to assume that meant they didn't know of him. Which was not encouraging, and why I'd done my best to not think about the holocron until about a week ago.

"Cam? Hey!? Are you there?" I stopped mid-step, thrown from my thoughts as they once more turned to Adas' holocron. Not only was Bo talking to me, but she'd started clicking her armoured fingers in front of my face. I could sense her annoyance, likely because I'd ignored her when she'd returned to the hovercart, mixed with some concern.

"Yeah. Sorry. Was just thinking." That caused a spike in her concern, so I gave her a reason. "About what we might find when we reach the Sartr."

Bo stared at me, which was always a little odd as I couldn't see her face under her helmet before she turned away. Her concern had fallen, but there was now some scepticism radiating from her into the Force. "I'm sure HK's fine. That droid's survived much worse than being shot at by jumped-up aliens who think they can kill us."

I chuckled very weakly. Until Fay had fallen, and I'd engulfed myself in the Dark Side, the Vong likely had the upper hand. "Aye, I'm sure he's fine." I didn't doubt HK was in one piece, but the same couldn't be said of the Ne'tra Sartr. Without either her or the Longstrider this war was going to be far more drawn out than I'd like. It'd take us, at best, a month plus to hike back to Middle Distance, and in that time, the odds that the situation didn't deteriorate were slim.

And of course, the chances that we'd get to Middle Distance unimpeded were even slimmer. From what we knew, there were only a handful of large settlements on Zonama Sekot, which would allow the Vong to congregate their forces in a few places. Plus, the longer they held the cities, the more time they had to prepare for the rest of their forces. I doubted they planned to hold the planet with only a token force, not when the quest hinted that Zonama Sekot was critical in some way.

Regardless, at some point soon, we'd be engaging aliens that were stronger and faster than most races. To make matters worse, I couldn't boost my physical stats anymore. Strength was my lowest at 21, while Agility and Vitality were at 22, taking me to the physical stat limit of 65. All I could do was hope that I'd get to level 28 before the quest was over – unlikely but still possible – and gain a perk to lift that limit.

If that didn't happen, I'd likely dump most or all of my built-up Stat Points – 22 – into my mental stats. While tempting to do the same with my skill points, which stood at 385, I was less inclined to do that. I was fast approaching the end of the You Can't Hurt Me quest and was running the risk of needing those skill points to avoid having my damage resistance skills locked for five years at their current levels. Though that might not be a major issue as even Damage Resistance [Energy], which was my highest at Savant 5, only granted around a twenty per cent reduction in damage. That might seem like a lot, but against a lightsaber or blaster set to its highest setting, it wouldn't stop me from being killed by a blow that should be fatal.

… …

---

… …

"Statement: All in all, the vessel cannot be salvaged."

I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes at HK as he finished a run-down of the final state of the Ne'tra Sartr. To say she came off the worst against the Vong ships would be like saying the Jedi and Sith don't like each other. For all her abilities, from the report HK had just given, the Sartr was outclassed and outflown by the Vong. Plus, there was the odd fact the Vong's ships fired what had appeared to HK on the scanners to be some form of plasma weaponry, that their hulls showed no ill effects to the Sartr's laser cannons or missiles and that when one flew close to the Sartr, the shields on my ship fell by over five per cent in a matter of seconds.

That had resulted in the Sartr losing badly and crashing to the ground around a hundred metres from the tent I was now in listening to HK's report. While I'd have liked to put out the fire, Bo and I had decided against it and warned the Rangers not to do the same to the Longstrider which had crashed about a klick northeast. Doing so might alert the Vong as the fires and smoke would be monitored from orbit by any halfway decent commander. Thus, I was forced to watch my ship burn.

But by the Force, I was going to make the Vong pay for destroying her, and almost killing Fay.

I heard various objects in the tent begin to vibrate around me, as the memory of what'd happened to Fay merged with those of my time under Vosa's tender care. The urge to just give, embrace that anger, that pain, and strike out against everything around me, to burn every Vong on the planet, or in orbit above to ash, was very, very tempting.

"Cautionary: Before he placed me in that… location, the creator spoke to me about you and the dangers you would face, Master. I cannot speak as to how the Force works, but the creator was worried about the trials you'd face regarding the Dark Side, and how control of it would be a life-long struggle." As HK spoke, I slowly focused on him and not my memories, while taking long, deep breaths. "Conjecture: For me, I fail to comprehend the Creator's concerns. He was at his most gloriously destructive when he drew on this Dark Side and cared little for the social niceties you mea-… organics observe. Something that, I believe, was also the case for you when you embraced the Dark Side. Contemplative: I suspect the reason he restrained himself in later years was because of the presence of the snivelling former Jedi he insisted on travelling and procreating with."

A weak laugh escaped my lips as HK tried, and failed, to hide his disdain for Bastila. Even after the battle of the Star Forge, it seemed the pair never found a happy medium beyond both wanting the best for Revan. Even if they'd had very different opinions on what was best for him. That also highlighted how he saw Bo as, since she'd learnt the truth about HK and started helping plan out his rebuilds, HK had become… well, not nice, but more tolerant of her place at my side.

"Ignoring your feelings on my great-grandmother, Revan knew far more about the Force when he built you than I do now. Which is saying nothing of when he placed you in the vault." I sighed, shook my head, and then stood up and placed HK under my arm while taking in the campsite near the Sartr. Three tents were set up, the first for me and Fenrir, the second for Fay and Bo and the last was for the Rangers. Between my tent and Bo's, a tarp was covering the supplies she had pulled from the Sartr.

HK would stay with the equipment, which so far, included both beskads, Bo's crushgaunts, a dozen replacement clips for blasters, a dozen spare rockets for Bo's vambrace and enough food to keep us going for a month or so. While that was a good haul, it was barely a third of the equipment Bo had stored on the Sartr with no replacement fuel for her jetpack surviving the crash, and about a quarter of our remaining foodstuff. Honestly, if Bo hadn't argued with Fay about how heavily to stock up before we'd begun the last leg of our journey to Zonama Sekot, we'd have likely not had anything beyond the beskar weapons left over. Fay had only relented when Bo had pointed out the fact that bar the meditation retreat, every place I'd travelled had involved osik hitting the fan in some way. Just as it had on this voyage.

"Agreement: Of course, he was, Master. He was my creator."

That made me laugh again, with more conviction. I knew HK wasn't actively trying to distract me or lift my spirits, but his behaviour was still doing that. "Yes, HK, he was." I placed HK under the equipment tarp and attached him to a small generator. When we'd found him, his internal batteries had been running low which wasn't a surprise. Nearly three weeks turned on while stuck in the wreckage had drained his batteries heavily.

As I walked from the tarp to my tent, Fenrir being out and about as he guarded the campsite, my thoughts turned to Revan's quest. Promise of the Fallen was such a strange one as there were no objectives, no hints as to what I had to do, or what would happen if I succeeded or failed. Yet it continued to intrigue me. Revan had been a person who had been both Jedi and Sith, saviour and destroyer. I wanted to understand how he'd done that and kept coming back to some form of balance, how he'd reached a point of understanding of the Force as a whole and not the narrow-minded dogma of the current Jedi and Sith orders. And as much as I'd love for his Force ghost to appear, I knew that wasn't how the Force worked, and even if it did, it wouldn't be Revan's way to do so.

I slipped my cloak off as I entered my tent, then pulled my robes over my head. The scars from my verd'goten were still there, serving as a constant reminder – which I wanted – of how close I'd come to dying. The same couldn't be said of the Bando Gora ones as, since I'd been in a bacta tank far longer than after my verd'goten, they'd healed before I had the choice to keep them or not. I unclipped my lightsaber, and then placed it under my robes, which I'd rolled up to make a pillow.

I turned as the tent flap moved, confused as to why Bo was entering instead of Fenrir as Bo was meant to take the first watch. "I've set up sensors around the encampment which should give us some warning if the Vong appear." As she spoke, she removed her helmet, making her tone change as it stopped being modulated halfway through her statement. Her braid slid down her back, not falling freely as weeks in the armour had, even though it was air-conditioned inside, matted it to her head, yet I found I didn't mind the look. It wasn't as appealing as seeing her braid flow around behind her, but it gave her a more worked look that suited her. "Fenrir's going to take first watch," while that explained why she was back in the camp, it didn't explain why she was in my tent and in the process of removing her breastplate. "I'm not sure if he truly understands me, but he gets what I'm implying better than most sentients I've met." I chuckled at that even as she laid her breastplate down near the entrance to the tent.

"Not a surprise," I began as I did my best to not let my eyes wander over her chest, which was now only covered by the familiar black skin-tight underweave she liked to wear. That damn thing revealed nothing but everything at the same time and imagining what was under it had haunted my dreams – in a good way – for several months now. "His species were engineered by the Sith to guard important sites like tombs of former Sith Lords."

Bo paused as she leaned forward to unclasp her cuisses - the part of her armour that covered the thigh - and looked at me. That left me unable to avoid seeing the heave of her breasts as they were sitting just under her eyes. She still had a few more years of growth to go, but at seventeen, she was already gorgeous. "Really? Know where any of those tombs or sites might be?"

I laughed and shook my head. "First, we've got to get off this world. When we manage to do that, and if you still want to, I'm sure there are a few worlds that we can visit." Dromund Kaas came to mind, but the quest had suggested taking three other Force users with me. While I didn't doubt Bo's combat ability, that was a risk I didn't feel willing to take with her life. Still, my suggestion earned me a smile, one that sent a tremor up my spine.

"It's a date then." Before I could respond, she stood and removed her second cuisse, and then turned around. As she bent down to remove her greaves, her arse was forced back toward me. It was very hard to not enjoy the close-up view I was getting, and my mind wandered – as it often did – to wondering what, if anything, she wore under the suit. "What's the plan for getting off this rock?" As she asked that, she stood and caught me ogling her. That drew a large grin for her even as she turned back to face me now standing in her underweave suit.

"The Rangers should be back tomorrow. While we wait, I want to see about salvaging the parts to make a second hovercart." As I spoke she started unclipping her vambraces. "Otherwise, we'll be forced to trek with all the gear on our backs, which would be a problem if we're ambushed."

"Aye, that'd be an issue." She placed the first vambrace next to her helmet at the foot of my sleeping bag. That brought into focus that there was only one bag in the tent as I'd not seen her bring the spare on from the other tent. "While you do that, I'll scout the area. Make sure we're still secure here."

"Kay." I watched quietly as she removed the second vambrace and placed it down next to the first. "So, um, there's only one bag…" I left the statement open, wondering how she'd reply to that. My body was reacting to her being this close in that underweave and I was glad I still had my trousers on otherwise things would be very, very awkward.

Bo smirked and knelt on my bag. "Yeah about that..."

"Wh-oof!"

Instead of finishing her reply, she leapt forward. Her lips caught mine as she pushed me down onto the ground. A small part of me felt this was wrong, that she was just acting on her desire after what I'd done to the Vong. Thankfully the larger, more instinctual part of me realised that was only the final nail for her to act on her feelings.

As my tongue pushed against her lips, my fingers interlaced with hers, stopping her from dragging them to my side even as she straddled my waist. She ground her hips, making me moan as she rubbed against a rather sensitive spot. I felt her laugh through the kiss, which flared the desire in my blood.

Using the slightest amount of the Force to help, I pushed my hands up, gripped hers tighter, and then rolled my hips. We rolled from the bag, onto the hard ground where Fenrir was meant to be sleeping before Bo changed the plan. A gasp slipped from her lips as I pulled back. Her eyes were alive with fire, with desire. A need to take her, claim her flowed through me as her passion easily overwhelmed our Force connection, mixing with my own.

"Are you sure?" I all but growled out as I fought to keep control for just long enough to be sure about what we were doing.

Instead of replying verbally, she lifted her head off the ground and then bit the scar on my shoulder even as her fingers dug in deeply to my hand, drawing blood if the new notice was anything to go by.

I could feel her fighting me, trying to take control, as her legs slipped around my waist, trapping me against her. Yet I also understood that she wasn't fighting as hard as she could. She wanted this to happen but was surrendering control without it being too obvious.

I pulled back, removing my chest from her reach. She looked up at me, some confusion creeping out from behind the fire in her eyes. I could sense her trepidation; her fear that I didn't want this. Not now.

To make things clear I pushed with my hands, forcing hers above her head. Once they were there, I held them in place with one hand as the other slipped free. As I dove down to capture her lips, to take her, that hand slid behind her neck, to where I knew the clip to the underweave suit was.

If she wanted this battle, this ageless war to begin, then I was happy to meet her in combat. And I had no intention of losing.

… …

---

… …

When I woke the following morning, there was an odd weight on my shoulder and chest. I lifted my head enough to confirm that, yes last night – and most of the early morning – hadn't been a dream. Bo's arm lay possessively over my chest while her head rested on my shoulder. Her hair was no longer entirely in the braid as parts had been pulled during our activities and my eyes happily travelled down her back, taking in her smooth flawless skin of hers until I reached her taut arse. That was still red, as I'd discovered, rather enjoyably, that Bo favoured a more aggressive form of coupling. The only parts of said arse that weren't red were covered in stains from one of the multiple rounds we'd engaged in.

With the high of last night having worn off, my mind wondered what this meant for us which drew the talk I'd had with Fay before we'd reached this world to the forefront of my thoughts. Bo might not be as traditionally minded as most Mandalorians regarding sex and marriage, but what we'd done could be seen by others as us joining. I played over the previous night, ignoring the way my body reacted to those memories, looking for any moment where she'd muttered anything in Mando'a that could be seen as a wedding vow. Thankfully, none came up, but it was something I'd have to talk with her about. If she didn't consider us married, then I'd happily seek a repeat of the last ten hours. If she did… we'd have to handle that before we got to Middle Distance, but since that was several months of trekking away, it should be manageable. I hoped.

My eyes caught sight of her armour, still somehow, in the same place that she'd left it last night. If I didn't know better, I'd think she'd placed it there to ensure it wouldn't get knocked over during our tussles. Her leg moved, running her toes up my shin and I returned my attention to her head as she slowly lifted her head.

I chuckled softly as she blinked, almost unsure of where she was. "Morning." A few more blinks followed before she focused on me, and a cheeky smirk came to her lips.

"That's all you've got to say? Morning?" her tone lacked any venom, and how much she enjoyed last night was obvious by the glow radiating from her. And the fact that once she'd finished speaking, she leaned down and bit my nipple.

I hissed in annoyance as the bite didn't hurt, though it did entice. "Would you prefer I ask if you're up for another round?" her smirk grew, and the bite turned into a kiss. Her nails dragged over my stomach as her kisses crept up my chest.

She nibbled on my ear. "Shab, yes." Her tone made the hairs on the back of my neck tingle with delight. Though she pulled back and looked around the tent, which was slowly filling with morning light. "Do we have the time?"

I nodded even as I checked my minimap. Fenrir was about five hundred metres south, on a seemingly lazy walk around the camp while the Rangers were still beyond the range. Critically, there were no null-spaces and none of the sensors Bo had set last night had gone off.

Seeing my nod, Bo resumed her kisses even as her hand trailed lower. As she reached my chin, just grazing again my lips I used my free hand to lift her head away. "Why?"

That one word was loaded with so many things I wanted and needed to know. I didn't regret last night or the early hours of this morning. Nor was I against another round or three. but the need to know why this had happened now was still strong.

Instead of answering, she tilted her head and pulled my fingers into her mouth. Her chest pushed against mine as her hand reached its destination at my waist. I gasped as her fingers slid around their target and my fingers were slowly teased by her tongue.

"You want to know now?" She asked once she'd let my fingers slide from her lips.

Desire flooded through me as my hand slid round to her hair. I pulled her head to mine, capturing her lips even as the arm trapped under her body wriggled its way lower, seeking her burning core.

As she slid on top of me, I realised the question could wait. Something far more important had risen and had my full, undivided attention.

… …

---

… …

I watched as Bo stepped away, heading into the brush for a patrol. It was hard to keep my mind from wandering back to our time at the wreck of the Sartr, but I managed it. Though watching her armoured arse as she moved, and picturing how good it looked as she jiggled it for me, didn't exactly help.

A soft growl-chuckle from Fenrir worked to get my mind out of the gutter and I turned to see him walking on the other side of Fay's hovercart. Since that night and morning, Fenrir had seemed pleased, almost as if he felt it only right the leaders of his pack had mated. At least he was amused by the change in our dynamic in the week since we'd left the wreck and begun the long trek to Middle Distance.

Behind us, Zarkos was escorting the second hovercart that was loaded with the supplies from the remains of both ships, though there'd been less to salvage from the Longstrider as, unsurprisingly, the Rangers travelled lighter than a Mandalorian. HK was also on that cart, and while there was a power source to charge him from since we didn't know how long it'd take to reach Middle Distance, and what condition the settlement would be in once we arrived, I'd generally kept the droid turned off. Though his regular complaining about being treated as nothing more than scrap wasn't helping the general mood, nor allowing us to move at least partially stealthily.

As for Bo, things had settled back into the old arrangement easily enough. There was still some teasing and light flirting, but it had dialled back as we knew it could lead further if we weren't careful. To some, it might seem like Bo had just used me as a release but given I could sense her feelings through the Force and get a further read with Observe, I knew that wasn't the case. She wanted a repeat – I didn't need either power to know that as the way her eyes lingered on me spoke volumes – but understood that the mission came first.

Bo, like myself, was a warrior. Once we were outside the wire, so to speak, and had to stay focused on the mission. Everything, from repeats of that night to talks about what the change in our relationship meant for us long-term, was on hold until after the mission was over. Once it was… well, the victory or survival party – depending on the quest outcome – was going to be an enjoyable way to unwind. Even if it might leave me with more scars than battle would.

Simply put, Bo was as ferocious in bed as she was on the battlefield. While during our first time she'd let me have control, from then on, the gloves came off and each round of our night had been a war in of itself. She always looked for dominance and while I'd come out on top far more than she had, I don't think either of us lost. Not if the looks of sheer ecstasy that had come over her multiple times were any indication. Or the numerous bites and scratches she'd left on my body before I'd healed them all with Force Healing.

Movement on the minimap let me know Simvyl was coming closer. The Cathar knew something had happened between Bo and me. Either he smelt things since Cathar were said to have a superior sense of smell compared to Humans, or had picked up on the subtle shift in how Bo and I acted around each other. While he hadn't commented on it, Observe had confirmed my suspicions that he wasn't happy about the new arrangement. That said, over the last week and a bit since we'd left the wreckage, he'd accepted Bo was part of our unit and, at least outwardly, listened to each suggestion Bo had given him.

What probably helped with that was me ordering Bo to be more civil – for her – toward Simvyl. We were all in the same boat and needed to work together to get off the planet alive. I knew Bo didn't think highly of Simvyl, because of both his attitude toward her and his species, but I didn't have the same moral high ground as I'd once had on the matter. Every time I saw a Trandoshan I had the urge to think of them as nothing better than a walking handbag and had to fight off a desire to see that happen. All thanks to the dumb fuck who'd almost killed me on Tatooine.

Zarkos hadn't commented about Bo and me, and, according to Observe, saw it as none of his business. Still, I'd spoken with him about it, wanting to see his feelings on the matter, but he'd waved me off and said 'who I mated with was my choice, even if it was unusual for a Jedi to mate with anyone'. That wasn't entirely true, but I didn't feel a need to explain and defend the oddity of the Order regarding sex.

"Why her?" Simvyl asked after he'd exited the bushes and come to my side. It seemed that after six days he'd finally worked up the courage to voice his issues on the matter. Though at least he'd waited until Bo was out of sight, even if I suspected her helmet would overhear the conversation.

"Ignoring that I think I like redheads," I began with a smirk, "Bo and I have known each other, and fought together, for a few years now." I was keeping things simple as Simvyl simply wasn't important enough to be worth giving the full story to. Maybe, if we made it off this world, things might change, but I doubted that. "This between us, which her father I feel hoped would happen, has been building gradually for a while. With Master Fay… wounded, I think she felt I needed a distraction, one she might also have wanted." And given I was still finding my thoughts drifting back to that ten-hour stretch where we'd shared a tent, what a distraction it was.

"I…" Simvyl stopped before he even began and looked away. Hopefully, that meant he'd bitten off any vitriol he had for Bo. He stared off in the direction she'd left, almost as if wanted to be sure she was gone. That did nothing for my growing irritation at his feelings toward Bo. He then looked at Fay and sighed. "I, I understand what's it like to lose someone."

The sudden shift in tone, or expected, tone, caught me off-guard and all the building irritation toward him bled away.

"Wh-when I was young, barely a cub really, my… my parents were killed. At the time I thought it'd been a Jedi who'd done that as he'd wielded a lightsaber, and I'd been consumed by rage." He clenched his fists, mimicking something I did when my anger threatened to overwhelm me. "I… I'd wanted to find this Jedi, any Jedi, and make them pay for what they'd done. To rip them apart with my claws in the manner my ancestors had done to murderers before we'd joined the Republic." He looked down at his hands, at his claws, and inhaled deeply. "The elders of my clan could see I was consumed by rage, by a need for revenge. They tried to reason with me, but I hadn't even reached double cycles when my parents had been murdered. So, they placed me under the care of the entire clan. I was watched for years by them as they wanted to make sure I'd not do anything rash. They hoped, I think, that I'd move beyond my rage. However, that wasn't the case. Instead, I'd spent those years becoming stronger, faster, and smarter. Learning how to fight from as many Holonet files as I could." His eyes drifted over the trees around us as if he was trying to not focus on anything as he told his story. "Then, barely half a cycle before I reached the Age of the Hunt, when a Cathar is considered an adult and free to choose their destiny, another Jedi, another Human, came to our world."

At this point, he stopped walking or talking, instead choosing to look skyward. I stayed silent, though kept walking beside Fay's hovercart. A few moments later, Simvyl resumed walking and returned to my side. "That Human... he told me that the one who'd come to our world years before had fallen to the Dark Side. Not only that, but that he had killed him." He shook his head as if to clear the memory. "I- I was lost after that. My life for the last five or so cycles had been geared around getting revenge and killing the one who murdered my parents. Yet that honour had been denied me. For a time, while he remained on our world, I considered killing the Jedi who'd robbed me of my kill. The man and his Padawan, a cub not much older than you I think, were kind to me though. They spoke of the dangers of allowing my anger to guide my actions. They spoke of what led the one who'd killed my parents to fall, and how, in the case of the older Jedi, he saw the Fallen Jedi's actions as his fault. He had been the one to train and miss the signs in the Fallen Jedi, and he felt the blood of all those killed by the Fallen Jedi was on his hands."

When he finished, we walked in silence. I was curious about who this Jedi was, and when this all happened, but I knew prodding about it was the wrong choice to make. About a minute or so later, Simvyl got his thoughts in order and looked at me. "Anyway, I just… I wanted you to know I understand the need for revenge. The way it alters your thoughts. While I'm, fine, with how you killed those aliens, I just want you to know I, I understand." I nodded at that even as he made sure to hold my eyes. "That said if you… fall, I won't hesitate to put you down."

I took a few moments to hold his gaze as I considered his words. If I fell, if I gave into the Dark Side, Simvyl wouldn't stand a chance. Yet the fact he was willing to say that was brave. "I hope it doesn't come to that," I began slowly. His story was missing a lot of detail, but just from what had been revealed, it gave me an insight into him, and possibly why he'd joined the Rangers. "What I did to the Vong," I paused and shook my head to prevent that memory from resurfacing, "I went too far, I know that. I'm not saying that if I hadn't lost control, I wouldn't have killed them, just that, I enjoyed it. Far more than I know I should've." I sighed and, mirroring his earlier actions, looked skyward. "I'm certainly not happy with how easily I let the Dark Side in. Not after the things that have happened to me in the past few years." My eyes drifted to the bushes, where I knew instinctively where Bo was. "Those things… I only made it through the last one because of Bo. She risked a lot to find me, save me. I didn't act on it then. I simply wasn't in the right state to do so." I chuckled softly as I looked at Fay. "I'm not sure I am now, in all honesty. But it was the event that I feel, changed how I saw her, and she saw me, and set us on the path we've taken." I stopped talking for a second as images of Bo, and how I'd felt when I saw her in the Bando Gora base came flooding back. The relief, the surprise, was still strong in the memory. "So, yeah, I get your point. And thank you for telling me about your past."

Simvyl held my gaze as we walked beside Fay's hovercart, before nodding. With that, he slowed his pace so he could drift back to the second hovercart and Zarkos. That left me alone in my thoughts, something that – outside of the time at the wreckage – had been my default state since I'd killed the Vong.

My eyes drifted to Fay, as they often did. Her Force presence, while still weak, was stable. The wound to her stomach was healed and the poison coursing through her, while it wasn't doing any new damage, was taking all of her effort to keep it at bay. I had faith that she'd recover, but I hoped that in Middle Distance we'd meet someone who could accelerate her recovery. Zonama Sekot was a world with an incredibly strong tremor in the Force, and unless I missed my guess, the Sekotans used that in their daily life. Including, I suspected, healing.

As much as I feared the conversation, I'd have with her when she woke, I needed Fay back on her feet. Even with Bo and Fenrir here to keep me close to centred and focused, I knew that if Fay died there'd be no place safe on this world, or in this galaxy, for the Vong to hide from my wrath.

… …

---

… …

In the end, it took a little over two months to reach a point where we could, if we climbed a tree, see the buildings that marked the edge of Middle Distance. While we still had a week or so of trekking to reach that point, we'd still made better time on this trek than the one to the landing area. Of course, the last leg of this trek was going to take longer than I'd like, something punctuated by the sonic boom of a Vong ship, one that appeared to be the same size as the one that'd shot down our transport, raced away from the small city. The only time we'd monitored anything different was when a larger one, easily twice the size of the Ne'tra Sartr, had landed in the settlement. That one, which landed yesterday, had spent the day in Middle Distance before withdrawing that evening.

"All clear."

The words came from Bo as she used her armour to watch as the Vong's vessel withdrew in a south-easterly direction. That would take it, roughly, toward Far Distance suggesting the main occupation force was based there. Since that was the place where the Sekotan starships were designed and seed-partners selected, it made sense it was the main holding of the Vong scout force.

With Bo's notice, we all stood and moved toward the hovercarts. Both were covered in tarps we'd made about a week ago when we'd first heard a sonic boom. While they only hid the hovercarts from visual sight, when coupled with the carts being on low-power settings as we began to map out the Vong patrol schedule, it did help them less likely to be spotted from the air.

"If they stick to their pattern, we should be safe until nightfall."

"True, but until we learn how often they alter their patrol flight schedule, we can't make that assumption." Zarkos countering Simvyl's remark before I could.

While it was unlikely the Vong would alter their flight patterns during a day, they were warriors and, I had to assume, not as predictable or stupid as some of the Republic's judicial forces could be in engagements. When reading over the more recent incidents to happen within the Republic, it'd become obvious that the Judicial Forces, and the Jedi when they'd worked with them, stuck to a strict set of rules that made their behaviour predictable to any with access to said rulebook. As my first drill instructor had said, in combat, becoming predictable to an enemy meant you were signing your death certificate. That had been driven home when, during the early months of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, local insurgents had mercilessly picked off patrols because the unit COs were textbook planners with no battlefield experience. Of course, that had meant my unit, and our similar units from our allies had been overworked in the early months striking back at those same insurgents.

And yes, the irony that I was now the insurgent was not lost on me, even if I'd rather not focus on it. Though I was thinking about the fact that the moment we engaged and eliminated a ground patrol, we'd likely have Vong special forces – which was a scary concept – on our arses.

Still, we had, at our newly slowed speed, three to five days until we reached Middle Distance. The odds were high we'd run into at least one patrol in that time, which is why Bo and I had begun planning out how we would ambush and remove them. For a time, I'd felt like skirting past the patrols and entering the city to find Gann, Sheekla or another Sekotan we knew for what they knew about the Vong occupying their world. Bo though had rightly pointed out that peace lovers like them, though she called them something far worse than that, wouldn't be thinking about how to resist. Only about how to continue their daily lives while under occupation.

Because of that, I'd agreed that taking out a patrol and, hopefully capturing a Vong alive for interrogation, had more hope of providing useful intel.

Of course, that meant finding a spot in a patrol route to ambush them, taking them down quickly and quietly enough that they couldn't call for backup, and then withdrawing stealthily to a location – which we still had to locate – to conduct the interrogation and autopsy.

After that, infiltrating Middle Distance would be the objective.

… …

---

… …

[Targets approaching. Wait for my signal.]

I sent the words telepathically to Bo. She couldn't respond as even if I tried to teach her how she was unnerved about speaking into someone's mind and lacked the strength in the Force to even attempt it. However, even with me having an earwig in, I didn't have the tech to speak without my voice travelling on the wind. Thus, I had to communicate the ambush this way.

"Copy." Bo though could reply audibly since her helmet could cut out external signals. Once more I was pissed about having to fight without any armour bar my vambraces and dragonhide cloak and, provided we survived this war of occupation, and I was knighted, I planned to return to Mandalore and get some armour made. Probably not a full set of Mandalorian armour, but enough that I had protection for my more vital areas.

Haran, if the durasteel armour that I'd worn a year ago had survived the destruction of the Ne'tra Sartr, I'd have found a way to wear that. It might've been small for me the last time I saw it, but it'd offer more protection than Jedi robes and Force powers that didn't work directly against the Vong and, I suspected, any of their technology.

Still, as we'd trekked to Middle Distance – which we were still perhaps twenty klicks from – I'd asked Bo if she could upgrade my vambraces. While non-lethal options were, generally, useful, in an insurgency campaign, I'd feel better with a trick or two up my sleeve. Surprise had rippled off Bo when I'd asked – which was confirmed by Observe – though I'd expected that. Altering armour was a very personal thing, and outside of asking an armourer, doing so was only done between people with complete trust in each other. While I wouldn't say Bo and me were at that level, I would trust her with my life; kriff, I already had in a way.

While Bo couldn't do much with the supplies on hand, she'd promised me that as soon as she could, she'd at least see some blasters added to the vambraces. I'd have loved some rockets or a flamethrower, but as the supplies for those were limited, I knew that wouldn't happen. At least for now.

I sent a similar telepathic message to Fenrir, and while he couldn't reply verbally, I sensed his agitation at having to wait. He wasn't happy about waiting but understood, I felt, that we'd be in battle soon enough. Though I'd been saying that for the last two days.

That was when, as we came close to Middle Distance, Simvyl spotted a four-sentient patrol. After that, we'd located a nearby cave to act as a base, and Zarkos and Fenrir had stayed as guards while Bo, Simvyl and I had scouted out the Vong patrol. Or patrols as there was no way they could be coming passed out vantage points so regularly. That was confirmed when Bo was able to gain recordings of nearly two dozen patrols over a day and a half.

From those, we determined that six specific patrols passed in a repeating order. The gap between each was three to three and half hours and they followed the same rough routes every time. Since they'd been occupying the planet for about three and a half months by now and had settled into regular patrol routes, it suggested they'd grown bored of the guard assignment and that the locals weren't causing any problems. This only made Bo's idea about ambushing a patrol for intelligence far more appealing than sneaking directly into the city.

There was a risk in taking them down, though that was mitigated by the time between patrols and their distance from the edge of the city. Plus, there was no regular air cover. Those sorties had stuck to the same cycles for nearly two weeks now, so with all that in mind, and Zarkos having some experience in anatomy and Bo more than willing to interrogate a Vong – I wasn't going to ask questions about how she planned to do that if it got us any actionable intel – we'd set up this ambush.

The wind blew regularly from the direction the patrol came, meaning they'd not be able to detect us that way. I didn't doubt that, after months in the jungles and forests of Zonama Sekot, we all needed a long bath. Yes, we'd stopped at a few smaller lakes and rivers as we'd trekked for fresh water and washing, but those were too likely to be monitored for us to risk staying long, and something told me the longer we took to begin the insurgency, the less chance we had of driving this expeditionary force from the planet before more of their forces arrived.

As the null-zones came closer on the minimap, time seemed to slow. Not just because the Force was accelerating my reaction time, and thus making the world around me feel slower, but because I could feel the building anticipation and excitement within me. I wasn't willing to admit it entirely, but I was looking forward to this. The rage for what the Vong had done to Fay still flowed within me, and while I didn't want to let it overcome me during this engagement, the desire to make these ugly motherfuckers pay for what they did to her was there. As was a need to impress Bo again as I wanted her excited the next time – whenever that would be – that we could enjoy ourselves.

The first of the deformed figures came into view and I prayed the Force would work in masking my scent and sounds from them. It wasn't a directed power like Telekinesis or one that reacted to their contact like Barrier so I had no clue if it would, but since this was a small engagement, it was the safest place to test that theory.

The lead Vong slowed and sniffed the air. My hand tightened around my lightsaber's hilt. Even with the Force to help, I'd still need three or four seconds to close the distance between me and them after my opening move. If they were on edge, the shock and awe of this ambush wouldn't be as effective as I hoped.

The lead Vong muttered something that sounded not much different from Fenrir's growls and kept moving, his eyes scanning the bushes and trees. The others, as they came into view, they too scanned the area. They knew something was up, but not what. Still, I'd planned for this.

My free hand rose slightly, and I felt the two-dozen fist-sized rocks I'd brought with me levitate off the ground. A flick of my wrist sent them cashing out of the bushes around me. The Vong tensed as one spotted the incoming projectiles. That one ducked down while two more dodged enough to only take one or two strikes. The lead Vong was the unlucky one as he took four rocks to his chest, taking him off his feet violently.

Even before the rocks struck, I was moving. The faint howl of my lightsaber echoed the roar of my rage as it rose within me even as I pulled my beskad into my other hand.

The Vong who'd seen the rocks first was my initial target. He brought his snake-staff up. I watched it harden and straighten as he did. Yet I was on him before he was ready. I slipped to the side, my beskad flicking up with Force-boosted strength. The blade struck true, hitting him at his wrist where any armour should be weaker. I was rewarded as the beskar blade slid through, with some difficulty, the limb.

Even as its eyes widened in shock, and the snake-staff fell to the ground with the severed hand still gripping it tightly, my lightsaber flicked around. Whatever armour the Vong were wearing was simple, like that of the easier kills in the first battle. Still, not wanting to chance it, I aimed the tip of my blade for a ridge in the chest piece, where the bottom of his ribcage should be. The blade sunk in easily. I lifted my arm, pulling the plasma of the blade upward and rupturing whatever internal organs the Vong had.

Not wanting to slam into the Vong as I delivered the killing strike, I spun. That moved my blade further and it emerged from the Vong's opposite shoulder. The head and handless arm fell back as the rest of the body slumped to the floor, a burnt black scar marking my lethal attack.

As I ended my pivot and found myself amongst the other Vong, I saw Bo had attacked. The Vong on the ground was being pounded by blaster bolts from Bo. The other two, once they'd regained their balance from the rock strikes, had split their focus. One had turned toward Bo, its staff spitting out globs of poison – not that they'd do any damage to her armour – and was moving toward her while the second Vong turned my way. That was when Fenrir announced himself.

With a worryingly loud roar, the tuk'ata leapt from a bush. As my lightsaber deflected the first attack for the Vong engaging me, he raced over the battlefield, leaping over the headless body near my feet, and slammed into the Vong moving on Bo. I leaned back to avoid the snapping snake head of the Vong I was fighting, a glob of poison catching a few strands of my hair that'd come loose and burnt them off. At the same moment, as the Vong he'd slammed into crumpled to the ground, Fenrir's maw opened, and he clamped down hard on the heel of that Vong.

I knew Fenrir could keep that Vong pinned for a while, but I couldn't be sure for how long. The Vong would have training for countering attacks by beasts, so it was only a matter of time until the Vong gained the upper hand. Those thoughts went through my head even as I slid under a thrust of the Vong's staff, guiding it away from my lightsaber, and slammed my shoulder into his side. Even with the Force boosting my abilities, I felt my teeth rattle even as I pivoted. My beskad came around, slicing the Vong across the chest and expelling black ichor over the blade.

As the Vong stumbled back, I rolled my shoulders, moving around my blades. My lightsaber pushed up, driving the snake-staff into the air as I rolled my other wrist. My beskad came back around, digging in deep at the Vong's armpits. I felt the strength of his grip slip meaning I'd caught the muscle, even as the beskad continued its slash. The blade travelled over the Vong's upper chest, aiming for his neck. However, the Vong was just fast enough as he pulled his head back enough that only the very tip of my blade drew blood. The wound was too shallow to do any damage, but as it stumbled back, I saw rage and disbelief in the Vong's eyes.

With its balance off, and the snake-staff up in the air from my lightsaber pushing it there to create the opening for my beskad, I saw my chance to end this duel. My lightsaber swept around, using the open air to my side, with me aiming for the Vong's neck. Yet before I could land the killing blow, I felt something wrap around my ankle, followed by a faint hiss.

A glance down confirmed the snake-staff of the first Vong I'd killed had wrapped itself around my ankle. Its head reared back, likely planning to inject me with the same venom Fay was combating. Not wanting that to happen, I altered my balance. My lightsaber missed the Vong as I lifted the leg the snake-staff was around, then landed a kick to the Vong's side. The blow forced it back further even as the snake-staff became groggy from slamming into the Vong. I kept rotating until I'd completed a full circle, brought my foot down and slashed at the snake-staff. It hissed as the blade slid along its armoured hide, and while the blow didn't wound it, it was enough to force the thing to release its grip.

Seeing a chance, I drove my beskad down, taking pleasure as the metal blade did what the energy one couldn't and broke through the armour and sunk into the snake's skull. The beskad hit the ground, yet when I tried to remove the blade by standing on the dead snake-staff, it wouldn't slide free, instead lifting the dead organic weapon with it.

Before I could think of a way to free my beskad, the Vong rushed in, having recovered from me driving it back. Its staff was thrusting forward, aiming for my side. Not wanting to deflect the blow with my lightsaber and risk the staff shifting and coiling around my remaining weapon, I shifted plans.

The moment my hand slipped from the beskad's hilt, twisted, foul red energy surged from my fingertips. It slammed into the Vong and its weapon, stopping the attack in its steps. However, unlike the previous battle, the Force Lightning attack, apart from being a different colour, didn't drive the Vong back or lift it from its feet.

Putting aside the questions of why that was, I kept the energy flowing as even if it wasn't as dangerous as the black variant, red lightning worked. Given how fucked up the faces of the Vong looked, it was impossible to tell if the Vong was in pain, but the opened mouth and wide eyes that hinted at pain satisfied me.

A smile came to my face as the energy contorted over the Vong's body, slowing its movement. My lightsaber surged forward. The lightning stopped a split second before the blade struck the Vong, giving the alien no time to counter. A deep, brunt gash appeared on one thigh and then another on its side as I pulled back my blade. Before it could respond fresh, corrupted energy slammed into its chest. The tendrils of Dark Side-infused chaos sought out the fresh wounds, making black ichor seep from them.

The snake-staff reared back, opening its mouth to unleash its venom. Before it could, I ended the torrent of lightning slamming into its master and redirected the energy to the open maw. The snake-staff twitched as I delighted in seeing smoke rise from the still-open maw. Yet before I could enjoy the thing's death, the Vong pulled the staff back.

Its free arm came flying, a fist bound for my face. I shifted one foot, watching as the hand, and the spikes on the outer part of the hand, ones that reminded me of a knuckle duster, missed my face by inches. At the same time, my lightsaber moved, finding the weak spot under the Vong's arm. A moment later, the arm began to fall; its momentum no longer countered by the body it was formerly attached to.

A small glob of venom splatted harmlessly against my vambrace. The beskar easily ignored any corrosive elements to the snake-staff's shot. Before it or its master could attack again, my lightsaber slapped the staff on the side of its head as my free hand surged forward. As I felt the wound on the Vong's neck under my grip, I called forth my rage.

Red light danced in the gap between my fingers as the Vong's eyes widened. It slapped away my arm, and then stumbled back and fell to a knee. Its throat, decidedly harder feeling than I'd expect from the Vong's skin, was charred black; residual flickers of red energy stood out as they died on the wound.

It knew it was about to die, I could see that in its eyes, yet still it attacked. I could respect that, even as I leaned to avoid a wild thrust from the still-smoking snake-staff. At the same time, my lightsaber jabbed forward. The tip clipped the Vong's chest, then as it rushed me, slid up his chest until it reached the neck. The fresh wound did nothing to stop my weapon and the energy blade sunk into, and then through, the Vong's neck.

In one last desperate attack, it slammed its staff-wielding arm into my side. I was knocked away even as the Vong slumped over, the last embers of life draining from its eyes.

I hit the ground and rolled, not wanting to allow another Vong an opportunity while I was down. As I finished in a kneeling position, my lightsaber already up to defend, a burst of pain echoed in the Force. It was followed a second later by the sight of Fenrir being thrown across the battlefield; slamming spikes-first into the falling body of the Vong I'd just killed.

The rage within, rippling just beneath the surface flared. As I stood, Force Lightning danced between the fingers of my free hand before racing to strike the Vong. The Vong was knocked back, struggling to keep his balance.

I surged forward, wanting to kill this Vong. I heard Fenrir right himself and snarl behind me. My lightning darkened, shifting from a bright, blood red to a darker burgundy. The Vong set his feet and used his staff to take the incoming torrent of Dark Side-infused energy. The snake-staff hissed out in pain, which only heightened my need to hurt it and its master.

A black blur raced past me, sliding under the torrent of malignant power I was throwing at the Vong. I felt Fenrir's delight as his teeth sunk into the ankle of the Vong. The Vong lost its balance and, not wanting to wound my beast, I cut the Force Lightning. Fenrir's jaw yanked back; black ichor sent flying as he ripped the foot of the Vong from the leg. The snake-staff was sent flying as the Vong fell back. To help it on its way, I lifted several of the rocks from my opening assault and hurled them as violently as I could. Most missed but one entered the mouth, making a sickening squelch that made my blood sing as it travelled down the snake-staff's gullet.

Fenrir pounced, his mouth now free, and clamped his jaw around the Vong's neck. A wet crunch soon followed, and I felt Fenrir's satisfaction at his kill.

Another grunt of pain rippled in the Force, though this one lacked the intensity of Fenrir's. Knowing it had come from Bo, I turned to see her engaged in close-quarters combat against the remaining Vong. The one she'd peppered with blaster bolts that I'd knocked down with my initial rock onslaught.

Bo had lost her beskad, though intentionally as I saw it in a tree; the snake-staff of the Vong she was fighting was pinned there. Black blood flowed down the scorched tree – a sign Bo had used her flamethrower – as the last embers of life trickled from it. Bo dodged a nasty-looking hook, only to take a gut shot. The Vong followed it up with a haymaker that caught Bo under her chin.

She was sent back, only avoiding tumbling thanks to a quick burst from her jetpack, which was also used to generate some distance. It was hard to get a read on Bo's injuries, but I made out discolouration all over the Vong's chest and upper arms, meaning Bo's blows were landing and doing damage. Still, I felt my fury bubble through the block I'd placed on it. I knew Bo could handle herself in a fight, but she was mine and no one touched what was mine!

As the Vong rushed her, I flung my free hand toward it. Force Lightning, bending to my demands, surged forth. The core of those tendrils of power had darkened considerably, and as they struck the Vong, it was lifted from the ground slightly. It wasn't as impressive as during the first battle but it was enough that when its feet returned to the ground, it took a step back to try and stabilize its balance. That failed though when said foot caught an unearthed root and stumbled into a tree.

Bo was on it like Fenrir attacking a rare bantha steak. I could feel her rage as her fists slammed into the sides of the Vong before it could raise any blocks. Its head snapped back as Bo landed a vicious hook. Another blow rocked the Vong again before one of her hands closed around the throat of the Vong.

Her other hand slid to her side. "BO! Do…" The words died on my tongue as Bo pulled a small vibroblade knife from her belt and slammed it into the eye of the Vong, killing it instantly as the blade sunk into the brain. "Fuck!" The curse spilt from my mouth as, with the rage inside returning to its container, I realised that while the ambush had been a success, as had most of the strategies we'd employed, we'd failed to take a Vong alive for questioning. While there was still one snake-staff nearby that was alive – remembering about it I picked up a large rock and slammed it down on the thing's tail, trapping it in place until we were ready to withdraw – it wasn't the same as having a sentient being for intel extraction.

As Bo pulled her blade from the Vong's skull, and the twitching body slumped to the ground, I shook my head. Not quite a five-by-five operation, but one that, given the lack of intel we'd had going in about the Vong's abilities when I wasn't blitzing them while in a Dark Side rage, overall, it was a successful mission. Still, we'd have to remove one of the bodies, likely the one Bo had just killed as it was the only one still with all its limbs. That was going to be a pain as the Vong were immune to the Force and I'd rather not leave drag marks the next patrol could follow back to our base of operations.

Also, while we'd won this battle, it'd been harder than I'd have liked with me drawing on the Dark Side a little too readily. These were, in my mind at least, simple Vong foot soldiers yet had proved a harder challenge than anything but the Death Watch leaders I'd fought when I'd unintentionally saved the public persona of Darth Plagueis. There was no way their entire occupation force was composed of them and at some point, we'd come up against far more skilled combatants. A thought that oddly enough excited me more than it discouraged me.

… …

---

… …

The sound of footsteps from within the cave drew my attention from the ration pack I was chewing on. While they were better than the MREs from Earth, that wasn't the highest bar to clear. From deeper in the cave where we'd set up our base, emerged Zarkos and Bo. The Togrutan looked a little light in his cheeks while Bo seemed fine, a slight spike in desire radiating from her as our eyes met.

"So, what did you learn?"

Zarkos glanced at Bo before speaking. "Ignoring the fact that we used a vibroknife and armour lights to conduct an autopsy, I'd say we learnt a fair amount." I passed a canteen of water to him, which he happily gulped down before continuing. "For starters, we already knew the Vong were stronger than most sentients, faster too. That was confirmed due to the density and complexity of their muscles, which we only got to after having to fight to cut their skin. If the Vong you brought back is, as we suspect, a simple soldier, then the fighting is going to get a lot harder. There are… grafts over critical locations of external flesh that adds protection. I can only assume that altering a body is a part of the warrior's culture and that, if they kept doing this the longer that they're in their species' military, the number of improvements would increase."

"So senior Vong will be better protected, got it." That added some weight to my theory, but without dissecting a squad leader – or whatever they called a small unit commander – we couldn't confirm it.

"Yes, but that's understating the matter. Their skin, even where it hasn't been altered, can resist a grazing cut from most weapons. Like Trandoshans." I bit my tongue to avoid growling at the reference as I didn't need another reason to hate the Vong after what they'd done to Fay. "And then there's their internal biology. Their heart is more centralised than a Human's and encased in bone, while the other critical organs either have backups, are larger than a Human's, are partially protected by bones, or a combination of all three. Even if a normal vibroblade was able to pierce their skin, it'd struggle to take out a major organ with a single thrust; and that's if it could get through the bone structure."

"Good thing we don't use vibroblades as a first choice." Bo's words were likely meant to reassure but they didn't work. While she and I had weaponry that could break the Vong's skin or implanted armour, and Fenrir's bite had enough strength to do so, the Rangers didn't have anything that could do them much damage easily. That'd mean altering some basic tactics I'd been developing ever since the ambush.

Bo sat down beside me and picked up a ration pack I'd preheated for her. While we'd found some local fauna and flora we could eat, mainly near freshwater sources, I'd avoided killing too many at a time. It had felt as if the Force, acting through the planet, had guided us and I didn't want to disrupt the almost harmonic balance that existed on this world.

"Yes, but even then, we can't engage them in single combat. Well, outside of Cameron." Zarkos offered as he closed the canteen and moved toward the supplies on the second hovercart. Fay's hovercart was off to one side, behind a small rock outcropping. In the event the Vong found our base camp, it'd provide her with some protection while we fought off any attackers. "To engage the Vong we'll have to stick to counter-tactics; perhaps the use of mines or explosive traps."

"That should work, but we've got a limited supply of anything that might kill a Vong." Outside of Bo's rockets, we only had about a dozen thermal detonators and three spare blasters that'd come from the Longstrider. Well, that was if I didn't add the weaponry in my Inventory to the pile which was an issue that I'd been debating for over a month.

The Rangers would likely not question it if I passed it off as a Force ability I had, but Bo would. I'd already drawn from the Inventory twice in the last few months – against the taozin and during my rage-fuelled rampage at the start of this war – and while she hadn't brought the matter up with me, I did suspect she was curious. Something further hinted at by the sidelong glance she gave me as she chewed on her rations.

"What about their weapon?" I asked, changing the subject. Thanks to Observe, I knew it was called an amphistaff, but I had to be careful to not let that name slip as I'd done with the Vong's. That was another little thing that Bo had caught on to. If not for the fact we were at war, I felt she'd have pulled me aside and interrogated me about these moments.

"Shabyr wrong."

"That… is something." Zarkos paused, ignoring Bo's comment, almost as if he was considering his words. "It's alive, that's undeniable. The venom they excrete is highly dangerous," at that I glanced over at Fay as she rested on the hovercart, "and capable of damaging durasteel for a slightly corrosive effect it holds. The skin, well armour, it's covered in can harden with, I think, an internal elector-chemical signal and can resist glancing strikes from lightsabers and beskar; though a direct strike with the point of a blade of either can and will pierce the skin."

"Then get stuck," Bo added since that'd happened to both our beskads during the ambush. Which was a problem as the amphistaffs needed to be killed along with the Vong for the battle to end.

"What about the poison?" Zarkos' face slipped.

"I'm sorry, but without dedicated equipment, there's little I can tell you that we don't already know because of its effect on Master Fay." I nodded in understanding. I hadn't expected that they'd learnt anything useful, but I had to ask. Bo's hand came to rest on my forearm. I turned and smiled at her, finding some solace in her eyes.

"Where's Simvyl?"

"He's out with Fenrir on patrol and, I think, checking the traps." Zarkos looked toward the cave entrance.

When Bo, Fenrir, and I had returned to the cave, with the Vong body carried on branches I was moving with the Force and the snake staff held firmly in Bo's armoured hand, we'd discovered the Rangers had been busy. I hadn't planned on the cave being our base of operations for anything more than a short time, but the Rangers had decided otherwise. Motion and heat sensors had been dotted all around the entrance, along with, inside that perimeter, a few dozen simple hunting traps. They likely couldn't take out a Vong, but they'd at least slow them down. Plus, as they were made from elements in the forest, there was nothing to hint we weren't anything but locals hiding out from the occupation.

"When do we strike next?"

I looked at Bo, seeing the hunger for battle in her eyes. I knew she wanted to strike again, try and catch the Vong off-balance, but that wouldn't work. We were facing an occupying force that, unless I missed my guess, wasn't based primarily near Middle Distance.

"Not now. We need intel from inside the city. Provided that is actionable, and the Vong aren't, as I suspect, holding the city in a tight grip, we can begin to plan out our next move. They'll undoubtedly change their patrols: the frequency, routes, and size. We'll need to adapt to that and refine our tactics."

Bo rolled her eyes. "I know the doctrine. I've been learning it longer than you," I doubted that as I had another life to draw on but didn't comment as such, "I'm just… eager to get back in the fight."

I lifted my free hand and placed it on the one still resting on my forearm. "I know." That brought a smile to her face. "Once we're ready, we'll strike out again. Harder this time. It'll take work, but I'm not leaving this planet until they run away, or all lie dead at my feet."

Lust pulsed from Bo as her eyes locked on mine. "Now you're talking." For a moment, I thought she was going to start something, but she didn't. Possibly because Zarkos – conveniently or not depending on how I wanted to see it – chose that moment to cough gently.

Part of me wanted to throw him out of the cave, to see if Bo would take things further. However, the logical, less primal side of me won out and I returned to my rations.

Though if he left soon, I was going to see just how far Bo wanted to take things this time.

… …

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… …
A/N:
As always, this story is crossposted on Fanfiction.net and Archive of our Own and you can find me (and the backroom team who help with this) on Discord at:
For this series: Heart of the Force
For general chaos/Gamer stories: Shiro's Gaming Omniverse

If you wish to support my writing, gain access to 1st drafts of chapters (where every level bar the lowest has access to at least the first draft of the next chapter and all got the redraft ~2 weeks early), consider supporting me on Patreon:
USSExplorer

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Regardless if you join the discord or support my writing, I hope you enjoy the story and suggestions, valid criticisms, and ideas are always welcome.
And of course;

May the Force be with you. Always.

 

[Ayashi]

3: Cam doesn't know about them. He only knows the movies up until 2018, TCE series/miniseries and some odd games like KOTOR 1+2.

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i'm bit surprised at this part. I mean, i never even read any SW books, or even played any games, but even i know about the Vong, it's the kind of thing you just pick up by cultural fanfic osmosis. Like the Ones/Aboleth(sp?), the Grey Jedi, the Cathedral Ships or the project to fly outside the galaxy (can't remember the name but the thing was basically six bigass spaceships glued together and piloted by a (fanatical Jedi) )... or the black light saber.

[edit] I meant not knowing everything about them (or these events) but at least knowing about them in the general sense.

 

[MandTeKad]

i'm bit surprised at this part. I mean, i never even read any SW books, or even played any games, but even i know about the Vong, it's the kind of thing you just pick up by cultural fanfic osmosis. Like the Ones/Aboleth(sp?), the Grey Jedi, the Cathedral Ships or the project to fly outside the galaxy (can't remember the name but the thing was basically six bigass spaceships glued together and piloted by a (fanatical Jedi) )... or the black light saber.

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Who said Cam ever read fanfics?

 

[ClassHole]

Some solid fights this chapter... the different coloured lightnings are cool... interested to see where you will take that.... maybe he eventually finds a balanced version of that skill?

Glad to see him finally progressing with Bo, though timing is rough lol

I'm glad Fay isn't dead, I think Cam's had enough terrible shit happen to him for about 6 lifetimes already, we didn't need another one. Awesome to see Fenrir kicking some ass too!

The only part of this chapter I found a bit off was their ambush at the end. The ambush itself was good, but the idea that they wouldn't have pre coordinated a plan to take one of them alive and just killed them all then said "whoopsie!" seems a bit convenient.

I am surprised by how much time this arc is chewing up... I may be misremembering the original story, but were the Vong on this planets for months in the original story? I feel like they got chased off a lot faster than this is showing.... the longer the Vong are on the planet, the more likely they figure out what this planet means to them historically... and if they figure that out, they'd come after it with all they had.

Also, this has nothing to do with the chapter, but god I hate the Vong lol... reading this chapter and the battles with them just reminded me of back in the day when they were introduced to Legends canon and how much I disliked them the more we got to know about them. I hope whoever came up with them was launched into the sun via catapult by George at some point.

 

[MandTeKad]

I am surprised by how much time this arc is chewing up... I may be misremembering the original story, but were the Vong on this planets for months in the original story? I feel like they got chased off a lot faster than this is showing.... the longer the Vong are on the planet, the more likely they figure out what this planet means to them historically... and if they figure that out, they'd come after it with all they had.

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In Rogue Planet? They weren't even there, it was after they left but ya they had been there for quite a while when they were

Also, this has nothing to do with the chapter, but god I hate the Vong lol... reading this chapter and the battles with them just reminded me of back in the day when they were introduced to Legends canon and how much I disliked them the more we got to know about them. I hope whoever came up with them was launched into the sun via catapult by George at some point.

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Sorry but I loved the Vong and when we get to the Vong War in this story(y'know in a decade) it'll likely take up multiple books

 

[Moran]

Farewell, Ne'tra Sartr.

Your services may be short and battles seen too few, the accomplishments you took part will have significant impact to the wider galaxy to come; the liberation of the Chosen One, the fall of the Bando Gora and among the first to engage the Yuuzhan Vong. You may not be a 'Millennium Falcon' but your still a one of a kind.
So she's gone, and I… we wish she would have many more adventures yet with our protagonists.

We will miss you, our beloved Pearl.

 

[Sandsforever]

Noice like the development on the bo front

Fay isn't gonna like him going Lil dark tho

 

[Prognostic Hannya]

Huh. It'll be interesting to see Ho Chi Cam.
Also, I don't think any interrogation will work. The Vong canonically worship pain and enjoy being made to suffer.

 

[EVA-Saiyajin]

I like the Vong as a concept (mysterious approaching galactic calamity with several tantalizing hints of their approach, a threat to the whole galaxy, extinction and extermination to the Galactic Empire's domination, utterly alien to the point of almost being OCP, etc) if not necessarily parts of the execution. So it's cool to see the original conflict between Sekot and the Vong explored.

 

[USSExplorer]

A/N:
As always, thanks to those helping me write and plan out this story and checking it for continuality and logic errors.

This chapter was released at least 2 weeks ago to my Patreons (with them seeing a draft version around 2 months ago) and on the story's Discord server (in GDoc form) about a week ago.
Links for both are at the end of the chapter.
Hopefully, all the little mistakes have been found and removed.

---

Current Date: 2 years until the Invasion of Naboo​

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The Living Planet 3
… …​

"After they destroyed all our flyers and transports, the aliens withdrew to the base they'd made on the southern outskirts of our settlement."

"They do still come through the streets," Sheekla cut in as Gann gave me a run-down on the situation in Middle Distance. I'd been in his residence for the last hour, first detailing what we'd been up to and now listening to them giving me some updates on the situation within their city.

"Yes, but so long as our people make sure to stay out of their way, the aliens don't interact with us. At least not until a few days ago." He paused and shared a look with Sheekla. Both looked and felt apprehensive, and I suspected the Vong had done something to the Sekotans in retaliation for the ambush we had launched. "They started rounding up seemingly random citizens, taking them to one of the gathering sites. There, one in strange clothing barked something in their tongue, and then shattered the arms and legs of those they'd gathered." As he detailed the Vong's retaliation he glared at me, but given I knew he'd do nothing to back it up, it did not affect me. Still, since he and Sheekla were my only real contacts in the city, I felt it better to respond.

"It wasn't our intent to bring harm to your people, however, we needed to take a group of the aliens down in a situation we controlled." I avoided calling them Vong to the pair. While it was unlikely that they'd use the name outside of this building, there was always the chance the name would propagate among the Sekotans and then get back to the Vong. If the invaders had any intelligence, they'd realise my unit was the likely source of the name and come down hard on the Sekotans believing they were collaborating with us. "Yes, we can and have slipped into Middle Distance without arousing their suspicions, but before taking the patrol down and carrying out an autopsy, we knew exactly nothing about the aliens. Now at least we have some ideas about them, though not their motives."

"And yet your actions have brought pain and suffering to our people!" Gann snapped back, his anger bleeding into the Force. Sheekla placed a hand on his shoulder, which seemed to help mitigate some of his fury. "Forgive my outburst. It's just that since the aliens arrived, things have been tense in the settlement. We've got no communications with the other settlements and now our people are being targeted for things they had no hand in."

"No, I understand your feelings, and again, it wasn't our intention to have them retaliate against you and your people. However, simply allowing the aliens to control the planet and disrupt your people's normal routines is against everything I believe in." As I replied my hand drifted down and stroked Fenrir's spinal spikes. I easily felt the gap where the missing spike was, but Fenrir was fine with the wound and shifted around so that my hand could reach his ears. Amusingly, like other canine-like species, he enjoyed being scratched behind his ears and leaned into my touch. The only downside was that he was massive and if I was unbalanced, could be knocked over by his bulk. Bo found that incredibly amusing, which drew my thoughts to her.

She was easy to find on my Force-boosted minimap and was in the same spot she'd been before I'd entered Gann's residence. She was acting as my lookout while I spoke with Gann and Sheekla, though given it was still a few hours before sunrise, the chances of anyone being on the streets were slim. Still, I knew not to take chances. Even in the villages in Iraq and Afghanistan that were the most opposed to the occupations, there were always people willing to sell out their neighbours for a quick buck. While it seemed unlikely that was the case here, learning that the Vong were now targeting the Sekotans for our attacks made the decision to insert into Middle Distance covertly even more logical.

Yet, from what Gann and Sheekla had told me about the Vong around the settlement, and the rough size of their garrison to the south, I was beginning to downsize my initial estimates for their forces. Taking and holding a country back on Earth generally only worked when the numbers were less than fifty civilians to one soldier, yet it seemed the Vong force in Middle Distance was only a few hundred. While still a dangerous number, it wasn't enough to hold the city. Which made the choice to stick to patrols around the outskirts more logical. Yet, as far as I knew, there were only a handful of settlements on Zonama Sekot that were town-sized or greater. Of all of them, Middle Distance was one of, if not the, largest on the planet, from the impressions the locals gave. If they could only hold the settlement with a few hundred, then either their forces were far smaller and stretched further than I'd expected, or they had a different objective than just occupying the planet for the rest of their military.

I'd need reconnaissance on the Vong base to not only gain more details of the planetary situation – Sheekla had revealed that the base received larger transports about once every eight days – but on the exact disposition of the local enemy forces. The other thing I needed to check was if any of the transports or flyers could be, if not salvaged, scrapped for parts that could be made into a makeshift vessel. Not one to escape to orbit, but one that would allow us to at least reach out to Far Distance, the Magister's tower, and other settlements on the planet.

"We came to this world to live in peace, free of the chaos in the rest of the galaxy. To study the wonders of Sekot and the teaching of Potentium. Yet now, not long after the Jedi arrive, that chaos arrives. The aliens are here because of you, and if not for Sekot's blessing, I would demand you leave our world and people to deal with the aliens ourselves!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose with my free hand. Mainly to hide the roll of my eyes. Gann, it was clear, was a pacifist in the mould of the New Mandalorians. At least Sheekla wasn't as negative toward me, though that might just be because of the faint sliver of hope I sensed from her when she spoke of her husband in Far Distance.

"While the timing isn't ideal, I highly doubt the aliens were guided here by the Force, not least because they appear to be absent in it," I responded firmly. With a gesture, I lifted the cup of water I'd been offered upon arriving. "I can't do this to them, nor any other ability that directly interacts upon them nor can I sense them. That is… unusual, and something that I wish my master was able to explain." I paused, letting my thoughts drift to Fay and wondering if there'd been any change in her condition while I was here.

"That said, the aliens' first action upon entering your planet's atmosphere was to attack the Magister's tower," I'd mentioned this before but since I lacked proof, they didn't entirely believe me, "they then targeted my ship, and that of the Antarian Rangers, and the transport taking us to those vessels. Those are not the actions of customers, but conquerors." Gann seemed entirely unresponsive to my words, though thankfully Sheekla wasn't. "Your world… it's special. Both my master and I felt this the moment we approached, and that sense has only grown stronger in the time we've been here. If I had to bet credits on the matter, I suspect that is why the aliens are here. Not because two random Jedi decided to turn up on your world."

"Why do you think they are here?"

I shook my head at Sheekla's question. "Sadly, since this is a species neither I nor those with me know anything about, all we can do is speculate."

Which was something Bo, I, and the Rangers had done in the months of trekking to and from the landing area. Several of those ideas had fallen by the wayside after the ambush and autopsy, with more dropping off as I'd spoken with Gann and Sheekla. However, I still lacked anywhere near enough intel to have even the faintest inkling of the Vong's plans.

"As I have said, and as you are both well aware, Zonama Sekot is an important world. Both in the Force, and I suspect in general. There is likely a correlation between those two that drew the alien's attention. It's just that, for now, we don't know enough to even make an educated guess."

"How can you be so sure of yourself? You are but a child. A Jedi one, yes, but you are but a learner. Not even one allowed to wander the galaxy without supervision."

An urge to laugh at Gann's words rose inside me, but I resisted it. Up until this moment, neither he nor Sheekla had shown any issue with me being the point man for the small resistance group. Since he was bringing my age up now, I could only assume he was trying to find a new avenue of attack after the last one had failed.

"I may be just a Padawan, but I've already gotten into a few battles. Some have gone well, others not so much." I closed my eyes for a moment and stilled the need to recall my time with Vosa. "Bo, while being older and having seen more combat than me, is more inclined toward fighting and not concerning herself about the larger details. While you'd expect the Rangers to assume command, their leader has defaulted to me simply because that is how their organisation is set up. That said, Zarkos has been the one I've been leaning on the most for help in leading our little group and is responsible for planning out the ambush."

"I thought the Jedi sought out peaceful solutions."

I gave Sheekla a rueful smile. "We do. However, there are often times when issues cannot be settled with a few honey-coated words and the Force. Like when first contact involves shooting at us, then when we ran into them on the ground they attacked without any warning. Not even an offer to surrender." I leaned forward, my hand slipping from Fenrir's ear. "To me, actions such as those make things very clear. The aliens don't care about the Jedi, the Republic, or the people on this world. The only possible way to negotiate with them is from a position of strength. Taking out a single patrol of low-level grunts isn't going to do that. No, we must keep hitting, keep hurting them until their leaders notice. At that point either they come down on us with overwhelming force, and we'll likely die fighting, or they'll respect our strength and be willing to talk."

A growl slipped from Fenrir's maw as I realised the anger that was now ever present within me was slipping out. Not wanting to scare my contacts, I leaned back and returned my hand to Fenrir's ear. As for what I'd said, I seriously doubted the Vong would ever want to negotiate, but by putting the possibility on the table, it should placate the Sekotans, at least for the time being. "The problem though is doing enough damage that they notice us without you and your people suffering for our actions. We'll do our best to ensure their focus is on us, not you, but I can't promise they won't lash out at your people. Yet if we do nothing, we let these aliens secure their foothold on your world, then when the rest of their forces come – and trust me when I say this is nothing more than a strong reconnaissance force – there will be nothing to save you from enslavement or death." My eyes locked on Gann, making it clear to him, I hoped, that what I'd said was the only plausible outcome.

"And if we don't support you?" Gann asked after nearly a minute of silence.

I shrugged. "That is your choice, and your people's choice." I suspected that even if they chose not to even support us, others would. Perhaps they'd even be willing to fight with us, but I'd have to wait and see on that. "We'll do what we must to continue the resistance without you, though I do hope that never becomes the case. We won't target your people, unless they actively work with the invaders, but I won't sit back and watch your world fall to invaders simply because your beliefs won't allow you to defend your homes."

The Sekotans looked at each other as I scratched Fenrir, earning a happy whine from him. For a moment I thought Gann was going to outright reject supporting the actions I had planned, only for an odd breeze to blow through the room. A window was open, as that was how I'd slipped into the residence, but there were no other openings I could see. Then, before the Sekotans could respond, my vambrace beeped.

"Six neverde inbound in three." Bo's voice drifted through the commlink.

"Understood." I closed the commlink and stood, my eyes staying on the Sekotans. "It appears you've got some early morning company. For the time being, it's better if no one knows you're speaking with me. If I can, I'll return tomorrow, that way you have time to think over what we've discussed and make initial decisions." As I spoke, I moved toward the window, Fenrir at my heels. "I'd much prefer if we could all remain on the same page about what's going to happen. That said, if you can't or won't help, I understand."

"What if we can't meet you tomorrow night?"

I paused at the window even as I opened it wide enough for Fenrir to leap through. A glance around the room gave me a few ideas. "That plant," I pointed at something that reminded me of a spider plant with bright blue flowers, "if you're free to talk, place it in a window near your front door. That'll tell me you want to talk. And leave this window open to let me know you're inside." It wasn't perfect, but for now, it would work.

The pair didn't need to know that Bo's sniper's nest gave her a clear view of the front of Gann's house from a few hundred metres away and that she should've set up a remote camera to monitor the comings and goings from the male's house. Later, if things went well and both came on board, I'd consider granting them a commlink and establishing some simple code phrases to use.

I didn't give either time to respond as I followed Fenrir out of the house. According to the minimap, the six beings approaching might not be heading for Gann's house, though all were Sekotans. Still, it was better to play it safe. There were also several hundred more Sekotans within range of the Force-boosted minimap, but no others within a hundred metres were moving in ways that suggested they were inbound for Gann's house.

Using the map to guide me – I already had the back alleys and blind spots mapped out from observing the place for the last two nights – I activated Force Cloak and Silence. That would help mask both Fenrir and me as we slipped out of the settlement, though we'd have to be quick as the first rays of light from the morning sun were creeping over the domed tops of nearby homes.

… …

---

… …

"Here," I looked up from cleaning Vong blood from my beskad to see Bo approaching. Her helmet was off, being carried under one arm, but she still wore the rest of her armour. Her non-helmet-carrying-hand tossed something at me and I caught it. "The recording you wanted."

"Thanks." I slipped the data storage device into a slot on my belt and would add it to the Inventory later. It would contain a recording of our latest ambush on Vong forces – the third overall – where I'd made sure to not engage the Vong with any Force power that might be termed Dark. I knew that without proof of combat, the High Council wouldn't believe me about the threat the Vong posed, so I needed at least one recording from Bo's armour. However, using Force Lightning in that battle would be all but admitting that I was actively drawing upon the Dark Side of the Force.

Now, the Council might still not be willing to admit the Vong were a threat, but I needed something to show them once we'd either killed all the Vong on the planet – something looking less and less likely with each passing day – or driven the Vong from the planet. Regardless of which way I took to complete Invaders from the void, I knew that afterwards, I'd have to speak with the Council about the threat the Vong posed, thus the need for documentation.

"I still can't believe that you expect those jagyc'kovide to not believe you, but I get why you wanted it… and why you limited yourself in the battle." Even though her words were supportive, I could sense frustration at how the last ambush had gone. Suffice to say but the more common Jedi Force abilities, at least the ones used against other sentients, were of limited to no use against the Vong. The only one that did have much effect was Telekinesis, but even there it required using it indirectly which for most Jedi wouldn't be the reflexive way to use the power. "Though if you ever use that weak osik blue energy I'll kill you myself!"

I chuckled. "I know it wasn't as effective, but what I used before was a Dark Side ability." Calling Electrokinesis ineffective compared to Force Lightning was much like comparing a domestic cat to a sabre-toothed tiger and saying they were both felines.

"I don't shabyr care what your Council thinks. The red and black energy hurts those shabuire while the blue stuff doesn't." Bo shook her head. "Though the idea your Council will dismiss these Vong… I don't understand it. My father and Duke Torrhen won't dismiss the threat."

"I'm not saying that all the Jedi Order would dismiss the Vong, I'm just not sure they'll do much as a whole to prepare for the threat." I countered, feeling the need to defend the Order in general even if I had little hope that the High Council would give two shits about my report on the Vong. "Though I'm surprised you care about the politics of the Jedi."

"I don't. I care about you." She knelt near me, placing her helmet carefully on the ground. "Just because I'd rather be out fighting than dealing with the boring stuff that you, your council, and my father deal with, doesn't mean I don't understand its importance." I placed my beskad to one side, the ichor finally removed from the blade.

"And here I thought you were nothing more than a pretty face and a deadly warrior," I commented, knowing the remarks would draw a response.

"Well, now you know me better." A feral grin spread across her face. "And I think it's time I learnt more about you."

I was barely able to steady myself before her lips slammed into mine. As we fought for dominance with our tongues and bodies, concerns about the Vong, the High Council, and the rest of the galaxy were pushed from my thoughts. All that mattered as my hands raced to remove her armour was Bo and the fire burning inside both of us.

… …

---

… …

"I know why you want to try this," Bo began as we moved down one of the main thoroughfares in Middle Distance, "but I still think it's a bad idea."

While it was nighttime like the previous times we'd come into the settlement, it was dusk and to hide our appearance, even though there were some Humans among the ranks of the Sekotans, we were wearing large robes provided for us by Sheekla. While they helped us mingle in the reasonably quiet street, Bo was unhappy as she'd been forced to move without her helmet on as the shape of it stood out too much under the robe.

I looked up, spotting the large domed building Gann had pointed out on a map as our destination. "I know, but we need the help." The ambushes had slowly grown more and more difficult. They were increasing in size, altering their routes, and coming more regularly and air cover was prominent. A point made that was reinforced as a Vong fighter buzzed low over the city. "Someone needs to stay at our base camp, meaning we're limited to no more than four attackers. Even if it's just to have bodies to divert the Vong's counterfire, we need more blasters in the fight." I knew that was a slightly cruel thing to say, but I remembered the early days of the insurgency in Iraq. While there'd been many skilled fighters on their side, just as many had lacked anything more than the most basic of training with their firearms. Still, quantity had its uses and I needed that here.

Bo scoffed, possibly thinking that the Sekotans would be more of a hindrance than a help. While I didn't disagree, if we ever wanted to move against the local Vong base, which had seen an increase in transports coming and going in the last week, we'd need the manpower. Now, if all five of us in the current resistance attempted to attack the base, we might well manage to remove it. However, there was no plan I could come up with based on our limited intel, that wouldn't end in at least two of us dying in the process. While the Rangers were less important to me than Bo or Fenrir, they weren't expendable.

Thus, after some soul-searching, I'd decided to approach Gann and Sheekla about gaining permission to speak with Middle Distance's elders. Gann hadn't been keen on the idea, but Sheekla had managed to somehow convince him, though he was still reluctant about the thing. To be clear, Sheekla was against Sekotans engaging in violence as, like Gann, she felt that ran contrary to the will of Sekot, but she had been willing to let us speak with the elders. Because of the overall reluctance of both, I was watching every person moving around us as if they were suicide bombers. Yes, it made me twitchy, but I'd take that over walking into a trap any day.

The Vong had stepped up their reprisal attacks on the Sekotans because of our ambushes with Sheekla saying they now sent random patrols through the city. If any Sekotan accidentally got in their way, the Vong had one of their amphistaffs bite that being, who then died a slow and painful death. While that was bad, the news that the Vong were abducting locals and removing them to their base never to return was worse. As were the screams of pain and torment that echoed over the city near that base.

All of that was indirectly my fault, but it was something I was going to use in this meeting to try and get the elders to at least allow me to speak with any Sekotan interested in joining us.

"I'll find an overwatch position," Bo whispered. I nodded and moved off only for her hand to grip my arm. "Remember the protocol and don't shabyr die."

I smiled back, sensing her feelings for me under her concern that something was going to go wrong. "Don't worry, you're not getting rid of me that easily." As I spoke, I patted her hand and pulled her robe back down to hide the crushgaunts she was wearing.

For a moment, I thought Bo was going to say something else, and I felt a spike in her desire and fear, yet she didn't. Instead, after returning my squeeze with one of her own – which hurt slightly due to the crushgaunts – she gave a nod before sliding from my grasp and then moved away.

After watching her walk away for a moment, I turned back to face the large building I was heading to. While it wasn't the largest building that I'd seen on the planet, it was one of the bigger ones in Middle Distance. I suspected it served a similar function to a city hall, but there was nothing externally that marked it out as such beyond its size. Thanks to the Force, my minimap showed around fifty beings inside. The one that felt familiar would be Sheekla, as Gann had met us not long after we'd arrived in the city but had departed to handle business elsewhere about five minutes ago. That had put us on edge, but given no null-spaces were appearing anywhere within range of my minimap, I felt safe in thinking that those inside weren't going to attack me the moment I entered. Though that didn't mean as I moved toward the door that my hand wasn't hovering over my lightsaber hilt.

I knocked on the door in a pattern Gann had taught me before I'd arrived here, and a few moments later the door opened slightly.

"Finally," Sheekla muttered before reaching out and dragging me inside. The door closed before I'd even turned to face her. "What took you so long?"

The irritation in her voice was matched by that radiating from her within the Force. I smirked at that as, while there was little amusing about the overall situation, in that moment I found it oddly reassuring. "Trust but verify." She frowned at my reply and as I pulled back the Sekotan robe to expose my face, I explained. "While I felt both you and Gann were genuine in supporting this meeting, I couldn't say the same about anyone else. Thus, I took some time to scout the area before I entered." Unless she had a communication device on her that I couldn't see, she shouldn't know about Bo, so not bringing her up gave me a card up my sleeve if things went sideways.

"Fine, but you'd better hurry. The elders are growing impatient as they aren't usually made to wait on others, particularly outsiders." She stepped past me and headed deeper into the building. "The invaders are also targeting any gathering they come across. Locations such as this are prime targets for their patrols to pass by and if they encounter a grouping they don't like, they disperse it. Violently."

"Ah." That wasn't something she or Gann had mentioned before, if they had I'd have come earlier to scout the area and arrive on time for this meeting. As it was, I was around fifteen minutes late. Still, if the Vong were now actively targeting any gathering, that was another avenue I could use to get the elders to at least not interfere with other Sekotans joining the resistance. Of course, those that did would be getting Observed. That should help mitigate the chance that any were joining simply to try and turn on us so as to curry favour with the Vong later on.

As Sheekla opened a large set of doors, the eyes of the gathered Sekotans came to rest upon me. Within the Force, I sensed a range of emotions. Distrust, anger, and concern were some of the stronger ones, but I was heartened to sense that curiosity was what I was sensing the strongest.

"Bond-partner, Sheekla and Gann say you wish to speak with us?"

The one who spoke was female with lines on her face, yet like all Ferroan females, she retained the dark colouring of her hair, unlike the males who turned grey with age. The first use of Observe for the meeting revealed she was the chosen spokesperson for this group. To buy time as I Observed those closest to her, I smiled and bowed. "Yes, honoured Elder. I hope that by the time we finish tonight, an understanding between us can be achieved."

… …

---

… …

The sound of blaster fire rippled around the section of the forest we were in. Yet, instead of a resounding clang as those bolts hit the metal sheet set up as the target, the sounds of branches being blown off, tree trunks singed, dirt being kicked up and rocks being blown apart echoed around me. I barely stopped myself from sneering at just how bad the first fourteen Sekotans that'd joined the resistance were. I mean, I didn't have high hopes, but three strikes against the target out of nearly a hundred bolts was bad. Atrociously so.

"This… even Satine is a better shot than this lot." I chuckled at Bo's comment even as I looked over at her. While I was disappointed in what we were seeing, she looked insulted.

"That's not gonna help them." Though at this point I was already adjusting my plans for future ambushes to use the Sekotans as diversions. I mean, I hadn't planned on them ever being placed in close combat with a Vong, but I'd hoped they'd be useable as ranged fire support. Though it looked like that wouldn't be the case for several months at least.

Bo shrugged as the Sekotans slowly stood up, the latest round of practice over. Thank the Force. "It's not li…. STOP!" Bo stormed forward, rage flowing from her like a burst dam. I followed behind even as she started screaming. "What the shab are you doing?!" She yanked a rifle from the arms of one recruit, a young Sekotan who while taller than Bo by about a head and a half, cowered in terror at the furious redhead.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose to clear my headache after getting a look at the recruit's rifle. The damn fool had ignored every lesson on rifle safety that Bo and I had given. Instead of turning off the power clip limiter and engaging the safety, he'd done neither and had instead been pointing the rifle at another recruit. The slightest squeeze on the trigger would have resulted in us losing one recruit before the end of the first week of training and me being forced to kick another. Or, in the worst case, the rifle would have continued to draw power and exploded if set down too roughly, which would've done even more damage to the Sekotan force.

"No!" Bo hollered, her eyes trying to burn the recruit to ash. "Get back here!" The Sekotan slowly inched forward as Bo turned her glare to the rest of the recruits. "All of you listen! These rifles are not toys, they will kill you just as easily as the enemy if you don't treat them right! If you cannot give them the respect they deserve, I'll kick your arse so hard they'll hear it from orbit and then drop you back with the others! Haran, I'd feel safer with you fighting for the Vong than guarding my back!"

Bo was a beacon of fury in the Force, reminding me of a star waiting to go supernova. Every recruit took at least a step back while the one she'd yanked the rifle from had fallen onto his arse. While Bo was coming down like a falling starship on them, they needed to toughen the fuck up if they were to be of any use. Still, there was no need for us both to play bad cop.

"What she means is that, while we know you're all new to this you need to think. By the Force, a blaster is not a toy nor a tool. If you survive this boot camp," and the odds of any of them doing so were slim even with the low bar I'd set for taking a recruit, "then you'll spend the rest of this fight with your weapon by your side. I don't care if you're eating, sleeping, or relieving yourself, your rifle will be within easy reach. These weapons, which are all we've got, are the only things you have to help defend your world from the invaders." I made sure to not refer to them as Vong and hoped they didn't catch Bo's slip and start asking questions. Until they were full recruits, I didn't want the race name being used around them. "Put your weapons down carefully, after making sure the safety's engaged, then head over to Lieutenant Zarkos." I pointed into the trees in a south-westerly direction. About a klick away, Zarkos had set up the next lesson for the recruits, this one being on the Vong's anatomy and possible weak points.

If Fay was here, she'd have accused me of being too harsh on the Sekotans – to say nothing of Bo's behaviour – but by the Force, were they fucking useless. I mean, even when I first joined the army at seventeen, in a country where most guns were illegal, I knew the simple basics about a rifle. Hell, at this point I'd willingly take a group of New Mandalorians instead of the Sekotans. At least they knew how to shoot, even if they only ever used stunners.

I watched the Sekotans slowly amble away, since they were still new, I wouldn't point out the fact they weren't moving quietly or being mindful of their surroundings. I'd just have to make sure when we returned to the base camp – which was five klicks to the east, I made sure they did and then used the Force to hide our path as best I could. The one who'd fucked up pulled himself to his feet and then ran after the others, which made me chuckle. Hopefully getting ripped a new arsehole by Bo would make him straighten out. Though if not, I'd happily kick his arse to the curb, if Bo didn't do it herself.

As I picked up the first of the discarded rifles I took a few deep, calming breaths. While not as blaster-obsessed as Bo, seeing how haphazardly the Sekotans had placed the blasters infuriated me. Most had been dumped on their sides while one had been placed down muzzle-first into the ground. Since most of them had come from my Inventory – we'd only had a handful of spare blasters from the wrecks of the Ne'tra Sartr and Longstrider – I was angered at the disrespect for my possessions. So far, it seemed the others had bought my excuse of Gann and Sheekla finding the blasters in Middle Distance, but I felt Bo had her doubts.

"Might just be easier to use them as decoys. Or give them a grenade and order them to run and throw it at the Vong." I laughed and turned to see Bo examining one rifle carefully as she wiped some dirt from the casing. While the idea broke dozens of rules from my former life and made a complete mockery of the Geneva Convention, this wasn't Earth. The rules of warfare in this galaxy were far more… relaxed regarding attacking civilian locations or acting like what people on earth would consider terrorists. Which was a good thing since this little resistance would certainly be seen that way by my former COs.

"While amusing, that'd be a waste of our limited explosives." As I spoke, I picked up the last rifle and placed it gently with the others on a down tree. Save the one that'd been dropped muzzle-first, none appeared in need of detailed cleaning. "Knowing them, they'd find a way to blow themselves and others up before we could attack, leaving the rest of us kriffed." A gesture with my hand brought the metal target over to us.

Bo laughed as the metal sheet reached us and then turned around so we could use it to carry the blasters. She muttered something under her breath as she saw the dirt-clogged muzzle and I felt a slight wave of disbelief radiate from her. "Shabyr di'kute." As she placed the last of the blasters she'd gathered on the sheet, she looked up at me. "At this point, I'd trade them all for Tedra and Anakin. They might be young, and far from trained Jedi, but they know how to shabyr use a blaster!"

"While I don't disagree with the sentiment, if we could choose reinforcements, I'd rather have a few Jedi Knights or a squad of Mando'ade with us." My reply came as I placed the last of my blasters on the sheet, and then glanced off to see the last of the Sekotans had disappeared into the trees. "Though if we had other Jedi here, I suspect most would've died given how much they rely on the Force for attack and defence."

Bo shook her head and gave me a 'gentle' shoulder tap. "Normally, I'd say that was the protocol droid calling the astromech a machine, but you're far from a normal Jedi. Thank Manda." We started walking toward the base camp, the sheet floating behind us as I held it up with the Force. "That said, it sure was lucky the Sekotans had so many weapons just lying around their city. Before today we'd have only been able to arm four of those… recruits, yet I'd honestly feel happier about that than what we just saw."

I could feel Bo's gaze focus on me as she mentioned where the blasters had come from. She might've had her helmet on, but that didn't mean I couldn't tell when she was glaring at someone or something. "Yeah, it was a lucky find."

A snarl slipped through her helmet's speakers before she stepped forward and moved to block my path. "You're seriously going to keep this osik up?" I frowned at her tone as she jabbed me in the chest with a finger. Her other hand pointed at the sheet behind me. "When we left the Ne'tra Sartr there were only three blasters with us, two from the Rangers and one from our ship. Then, a day or so after speaking with the first group of possible recruits, you claim the Sekotans had a dozen blasters floating around their city? Bantha-osik!" she continued to jab me as she spoke, each stab being more forceful. "You're lying to us, to me. Just like you did with the Taozin!" I frowned at that being brought up, then realised what she was on about just before she explained. "You used a half-dozen grenades when you only had one on you. Then against the Vong, after they shot us down, you pulled out your shoto, which wasn't on your belt when we crashed!" She leaned forward until her helmet was pushing against my forehead. "Where the shab are you getting all this osik?"

Various possible answers flew through my head, ranging from saying she simply missed that I had my secondary blade, or that the explosions weren't from thermal detonators all the way up to a full reveal of how I'd had those weapons. My thoughts turned back to the various warnings I'd gotten from the Interface, and I felt my brow rise as I realised it hadn't once said I couldn't reveal the existence of it to others; only that future knowledge was forbidden. With that, I saw a way that I could explain things to Bo. Though I doubted it would work with a Force user.

With a sigh, I took a step back and lifted a hand to gently ease her jabbing finger away from me. It should look like I was relenting under her fury. "Fine. I'll explain it to you, but not here." I looked around at the forest. "Once we're back at the cave, and these rifles are cleaned, I'll send Simvyl out on patrol and then explain everything." Or enough of things that she'd be willing to accept where the equipment was coming from.

"Fine," Bo said after a few moments. "But if you don't, by Manda, I'll beat you so badly no one will recognize you." With her threat made, she turned and stalked away. Biting off a chuckle at the empty threat – more because if it came down to it, I knew she couldn't defeat me without laying an ambush beforehand – I followed along behind. Though I kept my pace as slow as I could to give myself time to work out how I'd explain things.

…

I watched Bo's eyes as I slowly pulled out various bags from my Inventory. The confusion spreading in them drew a chuckle as I placed the bag of grenades on the ground between us.

"What?"

"Sorry, you're cute when you're confused." That turned the confusion into a scowl, which made me laugh again. "And when angered." Her hand moved toward her helmet, possibly thinking about putting it on and hiding her reactions from me, only to stop as I opened and placed the bacta patches in front of her. While there was a limit to each slot of twenty-five items, I'd discovered a few years ago that I could get around that by placing things into a bag that'd fit in an Inventory slot and filling it to the brim. Something proved by the nearly fifty patches in the latest bag.

"So, that's all that I think you need to see today," I said as Bo stared at the medicine. "There's more I've got stored, but none of it is important to what we're doing now." Which was true as three bags of gems wouldn't be much use, though I needed to find a way to sell them for credits as they were doing nothing but taking up space. "Also, before I explain all this," my hand swept over the various bags, "I need you to promise that you'll never mention this to anyone. Not Naz, your father, Serra, or any Jedi."

"Why?"

I smirked as I pulled the Mantle of the Force from my Inventory and held it in my hand. Currently, I had it at ninety per cent alignment with me, but the closer I got to removing the last of its alignment to Revan, the harder it was to do. Which was saying something since I'd had the crystal for several years, though it was only during my time in the Temple that I'd spent nights meditating on the crystal and nothing else. Oddly, since passing fifty per cent, the only way to improve the alignment was to not try and use any Force power other than Force Attune while meditating. "Because as far as I know, no Jedi, or any Force user, has ever used the Force like this." With a thought and twist of my hand and the Mantle slid back into the Inventory. "If people discovered I could… store things in what I've termed a pocket dimension, I'd be locked up, studied and possibly dissected to learn how." She nodded slowly as the implications of what I'd hinted at dawned on her. "Now, I don't entirely know how this works, or why, but it started when I was eight, but what I can store, and how, has slowly grown greater as time has passed. Which is why I've got so much stored that might be of use to us now."

"This… That's… osik! With this you could…" she paused as she hesitantly reached out for the bag of bacta patches only to stop and turn her attention to me. "When you said you'd explain things, I wasn't expecting… well, this."

"I can guess."

She laughed and ran a hand through her hair, a sign of her trying to get her thoughts in order. "I mean, I had a few ideas, but a… hidden Force pocket dimension wasn't something I considered. Well, not seriously." She laughed once more and leaned forward. "What else have you got in there?"

Smirking, I figured one of the bags of gems would work best. Based on the way her eyes almost leapt from her skull as I held the bag open for her to see, I'd been right. She reached for the bag, her hand shaking slightly. I heard her breath hitch as her hand slipped into the bag and rummaged through the various gems. Most of these, and the other two gem bags, had come from when I'd been pretending to be Palpatine's nephew, having conveniently gone missing before the slaver ship I had discovered Bultar Swan and Jon Savos on had been impounded by Republic security.

Bo pulled one large emerald from the bag, turning it over in her hand as I saw the colour matched her eyes. "Keep it," I said as I closed the bag before she could reject the gift. I then slid the bag back into my Inventory. "I've got another bag like that, plus some stuff from my mother including her holocron, and a few other things. But nothing that will help with the Vong."

"Why didn't you use any of this while that… woman had you prisoner?" she asked even as her hand pulled the emerald toward her waist.

"Force ability, remember," I replied as she slid the jewel into a secure pocket. "I wanted to, but that kriffing mask prevented me from using the Force." Which was true, from a certain point of view. Though I was glad that the mask blocking my Inventory hadn't forced all my stuff to magically appear at my feet, or worse, be lost into a void from which it'd never return.

"Right." Bo opened one of the other bags and her eyes bugged out again. "Y-you… you've had all this food and we've been forced to eat rations and forage for months?"

I slid back as her eyes burnt holes through my skull. Bo had never been happy about eating the Republic-standard rations we'd recovered from the Ne'tra Sartr, so her getting angry about the food bag wasn't unexpected. Though the strength of that anger was. "It wasn't like I could drop them on a hover cart, or say they came from the Sekotans." Bo continued to glare even as she pulled a Mandalorian orange from the bag. I stayed quiet as she ripped back the skin and then sunk her teeth into the fruit. A quiet moan slipped from her lips as she savoured the taste.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've had one of these?" She asked after swallowing that first bite.

"Um, a few months?" I asked, which brought back her glare.

"Try over a year!" She snapped back. "With the war, shipments out of the sector are limited, making the price insane. And here you've been, wandering around all that time with this and Manda knows what else is stored away and still fresh thanks to your damn Force!" She snarled at me before taking another bite of the orange. "You owe me for this."

"I know." I laughed nervously, hoping that payment wouldn't be too painful. "Soo, about these supplies." As I spoke, I opened a smaller bag that I'd placed next to the grenades to reveal my cache of thermal detonators. "Oof!" The sound slipped from my lips as she punched me hard in the chest, getting juice from the orange over my robes.

"You… argh!" She snapped before taking another bite of her orange. I was thankful she'd done that instead of commenting on the fact I had a half-dozen thermal detonators and I'd only revealed them months into a guerrilla war campaign against a powerful enemy. "Months, it's going to take you months." She muttered and I nodded in agreement as I realised that I should've started with the weapons and then revealed the food. "Once we're off this shabyr planet you're going to make it up to me for hiding all this." She stood after taking another bite of her orange. "I'm going. I need to redirect my anger." As she spoke, she picked up her helmet with her free hand and then marched toward the cave entrance, only to stop after a few steps. "You're sure there's nothing else you're got squirrelled away that might be of use?"

"No. At least not to anyone but me." She frowned and I explained. "I've got a few holocrons, including two Sith ones, that might have instructions on powers I could use against the Vong. But other than that, and parts of my lightsabers, there's nothing else of use."

"Fine." Without another word, she resumed walking, leaving me to place the various bags back into my Inventory. As I started to do that, my mind turned to the holocrons. The Sith holocron that I'd gotten back when my grandfather had been killed was next to useless, only really being for indoctrination of Sith Acolytes and teaching the most basic of powers and how fuelling their use with anger made them stronger. The three Jedi ones from under the temple had been essentially diaries used by knights who'd died down there.

That left my mother's and King Adas' holocrons for sources of new powers, though I doubted there would be anything useful in my mother's, in terms of battle applicability here. Yet even knowing it might be useful, I was hesitant to even touch King Adas' holocron, as it radiated danger. I just had to hope my decision to not activate it didn't come back to hurt me.

… …

---

… …

"Status," I whispered into my commlink as I sat high in a tree waiting for the incoming Vong patrol covered in a simple ghillie net that, while not perfect, would make it hard to spot me from the ground. We knew they were coming as two Sekotans were acting as advanced scouts. They'd called in the approach with the assigned phrase, followed up soon after by the signal that they were withdrawing to the rendezvous points about two klicks south. Yet even though the calls had come in clearly and they'd moved off as expected – I could fully track them as they were outside the range of the minimap – something felt off. I wasn't getting any hint of a warning from the Force, but I had a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right.

"Anvil, set." That came from Zarkos who, along with a group of ten Sekotans, was serving as ranged support for the ambush in the kill box we were waiting around. Oh, it wasn't an obvious kill box, being not much more than a slight depression in the land with decent sight-lines from a nearby hill where Zarkos and the Sekotans were, but based on the patrol patterns of the Vong over the last few weeks, this was the best location – both by terrain and distance from other potential Vong forces – for this ambush to take place.

Eight null-zones had entered the range of my minimap about thirty seconds ago, and while that was the largest patrol yet, with the slow improvement in the Sekotans' aim – it wasn't like they could get much worse from their starting abilities – this patrol would be manageable, if the largest one we'd yet taken on in the months since we'd started the resistance. There'd been some teething issues, and of the initial twelve Sekotans that had survived boot camp, we'd lost four. However, those deaths had ignited something in the younger Sekotans, and our forces had grown to about thirty volunteers. Though admittedly, most weren't ready for field work and were currently back at either our base camp or the training location – which we'd set up a few klicks away from the cave – with Fenrir.

To say the tuk'ata wasn't happy about missing a fight would be an understatement, but he'd been wounded by a Vong in the last ambush. While the wound wasn't infected, thank the Force, I still wanted him to rest and heal, and had gotten him to stay by Fay's side after some cajoling. While the Sekotans at the base camp couldn't follow his orders, I knew he'd keep them in line with his presence alone. And probably take out his frustration at missing a fight by growling at anyone who so much as looked at him funny.

Bo had wanted to increase the number of Sekotans we recruited, but I'd been hesitant. With most of our support coming from the younger generations, we'd had about twenty Sekotans who'd wanted to join that I'd rejected. While Bo had no issues with using teenagers as soldiers, she was after all a Mandalorian, while I did. Or at least taking them away from their families when they'd never held a blaster before. Another ten had been rejected for simply being, like the two from the first group of Sekotans, a danger to those around them when given a blaster.

Since we had a limited supply of weapons, and Bo was still referring to me holding out on my inventory at times, most of the guards at the base camp or training centre were armed with vibroblades that I'd had stored in my Inventory. Hopefully, in the months ahead, that issue would be overcome as some Sekotans had begun developing blasters made locally. So far, the process hadn't moved beyond a single practical failure, which thankfully hadn't been fatal, but it did give me hope that with time we'd have the firepower to engage more than just a patrol every few weeks. Well, so long as the Sekotan elders didn't shut down the weapon research program being led by the younger members of their society.

"Hammer, set."

I shook my head as Bo's confirmation came in, but not because of her. The elder Sekotans, while having permitted me to speak with pockets of the populace, were still preaching that peaceful coexistence with the Vong was the correct path.

It had made both Bo and myself think longingly of the preaching of the New Mandalorians in comparison.

While that would have been annoying as fuck on its own, they'd continued to believe this even after the Vong had grabbed one of the elders and along with three other Sekotans – with the youngest being a pre-teen – locked them in the most deranged torture device I'd ever had the misfortune to have seen. It'd taken all my self-control, which was heavily frayed currently, and a firm hand from Zarkos, to not rush to the torture sight and obliterate the Vong present. According to Sheekla, the screams of those Sekotans had echoed around Middle Distance for several days. Though the one upside was that afterwards, as the elders still preached peace as Sekot's way, they'd lost influence among the general populace. Not by much, but I'd take any shift that would bring more Sekotans into a position of being willing to help us.

Still, that was a matter for another day, as the null-zones slowly approached, I turned my thoughts to the present. Zarkos' unit would open fire first, pinning the Vong down for a moment. It wouldn't be long as the Vong were well-trained and highly skilled and had reacted to blaster fire in previous ambushes with scary speed, but Anvil was simply a distraction. Once the Vong turned their way, I'd drop down into, hopefully, the middle of the Vong patrol and remove one or two quickly before Bo and Simvyl attacked. There was the chance one of us would be accidentally shot by the Sekotans, but so far Zarkos had been keeping them on a tight leash about when and where to fire.

Still, I wasn't happy about using essentially untrained civilians in a guerrilla war, even if I understood that that was often the case in such wars. At least until the civilians that survived the opening months learnt how to fight by simply surviving battles. And after nearly two months, we were beginning to see that happen, though I was still wary about being in the firing zone of the Sekotans.

The lead Vong came into view, and I frowned. This Vong was armoured like the squad leader we'd encountered after being shot down, and while having one or two of those in a patrol was a more common occurrence, they'd never been taking point. My frown deepened, and that sensation that something was off grew, as the next two Vong came into view, and I saw they were also armoured. By the time the fifth Vong had appeared, I'd realised that this patrol was more heavily armoured than any we'd seen before. Something the fifth Vong made clear.

Unlike the other Vong, this one was covered in a hard shell-like armour that, from what my Force-boosted sight could tell, covered almost every weakness an armour might have. The hands weren't encased, but part of the vambrace stretched out in a way that'd cover the top of the hand from a strike. While that might normally limit movement, since I knew they could shift the shape of their amphistaffs with seemingly nothing more than a thought, I doubted it was an impediment. Something made even more likely by the odd claws that seemed to have replaced the fingers on one hand. This Vong also had a helm made of the same shell armour, though its face was uncovered which made it the most obvious weak point. Still, the Vong would know this and fight to avoid a facial strike. Of course, there was always the small chance the Vong had shielding technology similar to what Bo and I had with our Vambraces to protect their faces, but I felt that unlikely as it didn't fit with their behaviour or technology.

As the sixth Vong came into view, and I offered a silent thanks to the Force that this one wasn't armoured like the fifth, I started rapidly altering my attack plans. I'd have to take out two if not three of the standard armoured Vong before engaging this new one for Bo and Simvyl to have a fair chance. While Bo would be safe in her armour and could do damage with her beskad and crushgaunts, Simvyl was another matter. Yes, he had armour, but it was durasteel and as had been proven in an early battle to be less than ideal. There, Zarkos' armour had been hit by a glob from an amphistaff and while the armour had held, it had grown brittle quickly.

The other issue that stood out was that the Vong were far more attentive than usual. Now, that wasn't to say the other Vong patrols weren't cautious, but this group was visibly on edge. They were scanning the forest for any hint of movement and when the clawed Vong barked out orders in their language – which always sounded guttural and wrong somehow – the whole patrol slowed. As they gripped their amphistaffs tighter, my concern grew that they knew they were walking into a possible ambush. I used Observe on the clawed Vong and had that confirmed, and as I opened the commlink to call off the ambush, the Force flared.

A scream ripped through the forest, sending birds into the sky, as pain and terror flooded the Force.

"Ambush!" Zarkos' voice came through the comms as I saw one of the Sekotans vanish from the minimap and blaster fire erupt from where Anvil team were, though none of it was aimed at the Vong patrol below me.

As a second Sekotan blinked out at the extreme edge of my minimap, I knew I had to act, and dropped down. The world seemed to slow down as the Force powers I used for combat were pushed to their limits, making me a far more dangerous fighter than I'd been merely a second earlier.

The Vong below me was tense, but he hadn't expected an attack to come from above. The faint howl of the lightsaber – something I always enjoyed hearing as it reminded me that I'd taken down a greater krayt dragon – was the only warning the Vong heard. His head had barely started to move up as my blade slammed into and then sliced clean through his skull. My beskad came down as well, and with the now partially headless Vong's amphistaff still in its whip configuration, the beskar blade slid between a small gap in its scaled armour and removed the head from the body.

The eyes of the other Vong turned to me, yet before any could attack, one fell, smoke rising from his face where a trio of blaster bolts had struck. Three Vong that I could see moved toward where that fire had come from as Bo and Simvyl emerged from their cover even as the other Vong, including the clawed one, rushed at me.

An amphistaff came thrusting in and while I could block it, I'd be leaving myself in close quarters with three Vong, all of whom had the advantage. I vaulted back, the Force boosting the height and distance I covered and once in mid-flip, thrust my hand toward the Vong that launched the first attack. Twisted red energy raced from my fingertips and struck the Vong in the chest, knocking him back into a nearby tree.

As I landed a scream echoed in the Force, causing me to stumble. I still had my blade in a defensive position though as the clawed Vong reached me. I had covered more ground than the first Vong in less time and its amphistaff flicked toward me rapidly even as it shifted from a whip to a spear. I pivoted, deflecting the staff away with my lightsaber, then as the staff shifted back to a whip, I pulled my blade back and brought my beskad up, slashing the snake head over the snout.

While that drove back the amphistaff, the move to attack had shifted my stance. The third Vong attacking me took advantage and stabbed forward with its staff. A roll of my wrist allowed me to slap away the attack with my lightsaber clipping one of the amphistaff's eyes, but as I did something slammed into my other shoulder.

I tumbled away, though I quickly regained control, only to find the clawed Vong closing rapidly; its staff coming forward in a dangerous-looking twisting thrust. Not wanting to try to block it head-on, I instead used the Force to flick the dirt at my feet upward, into its face. The dirt got into the Vong's eyes, and its attack went haywire as it lost sight of me. Taking advantage of that, even as I slipped to one side to avoid the staff as it shifted into a whip and snapped at me, my lightsaber flicked forward, catching the Vong near an organ Zarkos had determined was important. Yet my blade failed to do any damage as the shell armour resisted the plasma of my blade and the tip slid over the armour; a slight darkening of the shell, the only hint I'd even struck it.

Before I could alter my attacks and strike the clawed Vong again, the other two were upon me. The one who I'd blasted with Force Lightning stabbed at me with its staff, forcing me to lean back to avoid the snake head. As I directed it away with my beskad, the blade caught the thing's eye and sent black ichor flying. Yet even as that staff reared back in pain, I'd moved back and regained my footing, just in time to block an attack from the other Vong with my lightsaber.

That staff shifted even as I pushed the weapon away. Realising that I couldn't pull my blade back before the staff had shifted and wrapped around my lightsaber, I did something potentially foolish. Tràkata was a lightsaber trick that Dooku had shown me several years ago yet warned me against using unless I had no choice as if done wrong it left one exposed and without a weapon. The power to my blade vanished in an instant, sending the snake-head flying through nothing and toward me. It snapped at my arm as my blade reignited, catching the Vong holding it on the hand, removing several fingers. As the Vong yanked back its staff, I felt the teeth rip into my skin and saw a health notice appear in the Interface.

I couldn't give the notice anything more than a passing thought as I rolled back my other shoulder, letting a thrust from the burnt Vong pass by. Taking advantage of the Vong's extended state, a flick of my wrist had my beskad slide across its scarred chest. The cut wasn't deep enough to be fatal, mainly as the Vong had just managed to shift its stance by removing one hand from its amphistaff. My blade dug deep, exposing the Vong's ribcage, but slid out of the body before it reached the throat.

As I stepped forward, wanting to finish off the now injured Vong, movement to my side drew my attention. I turned just in time to see the snake-head of the clawed Vong's amphistaff – which up close looked larger and more dangerous than those of other Vong – rushing toward me. With my body awkwardly twisted to meet the on-coming Vong, I knew trying to even deflect the attack would be foolish, meaning I had to do something dangerous.

I stepped back, sliding inside the reach of the sliced Vong and its staff, and drove my shoulder into its chest. The impact rattled my teeth, but it further unbalanced the injured Vong and allowed me to drop under the forearm of the Vong and then bring my arm back up and slam my elbow into the arm holding the amphistaff. The snake-head snapped at me as I moved, but it couldn't reach me as its Vong stumbled away from me, right into the open maw of the clawed Vong's amphistaff.

As the injured Vong snarled in annoyance – and I hoped pain – my lightsaber came up and clipped its spine, severing the brain's connection to the body from below its mid-back. The Vong slumped forward onto the clawed Vong's amphistaff and took that out of play for a moment.

However, any chance I had to finish off the injured Vong or attack the clawed Vong was removed as the scarred Vong rushed at me. Its amphistaff was close, too close for me to block or deflect before it reached my face. Forced to react, the world shifted to silver.

As the light faded, I found myself about ten metres from the trio of Vong, though the injured Vong was now a heap on the ground. An amphistaff was suddenly thrusting toward my face, and I slid a foot back to set my stance, yet my foot caught an upturned root. That unexpected event caused me to stumble to one side, ironically making the scared-Vong's amphistaff miss me. I took advantage of that by bringing my beskad up in a powerful sweep, severing the head of the weapon as I let myself fall back, rotate and land on my feet.

An instant later the Vong was engulfed in flames. Even as its flesh darkened the Vong seemed unaffected still, it made it pause for just long enough that I could steady myself. As I did, the flames stopped, and I felt a grunt of pain echo within the Force.

Behind the now unarmed Vong, I saw another member of the species slam into Bo, sending her flying into a tree. Logically I knew she was still safe in her armour, but emotionally, I felt my fury rise. The world around me darkened before spears of burgundy energy surged forth, seeking out the Vong who'd dare lay a hand on that which belonged to me, the rage-fuelled lightning never reached its target though as the unarmed Vong had the misfortune of stepping into its path.

The Vong was sent hurtling away, dark-red energy coursing over its body, and slamming it into a tree. The wood went up instantly, engulfing it and the Vong in flames enriched with dark, malevolent energy. Before I could take any further enjoyment from the now burning Vong, Danger Sense warned me of something behind me which was a relief as the Force failed to offer any warning about the Vong.

I turned to see the shell-armoured Vong rushing toward me with the other one from the initial three a few steps behind. The shell-armoured Vong's amphistaff's snake-head rushed toward me. My lightsaber flicked up, catching the snake on its snout, and diverting the attack, yet that didn't do anything about the Vong's momentum.

"Oof!" The air fled from my lungs as the Vong's shoulder slammed into my gut. The force of the impact easily lifted me from my feet. It stopped, letting me fly back and as a gap reappeared between us, the clawed hand slashed in front of me. My robes were rippled with ease, and I was lucky that the attack only grazed my skin, likely leaving deep cuts across my stomach and chest.

I landed and stumbled back, struggling to get my footing as the Vong brought its clawed hand back around, this time planning to skewer me. My beskad barely came up in time, though I found some pleasure in slicing off two of the claws before striking the vambrace and diverting the attack away from me. That enjoyment was short-lived, however, as the other remaining Vong from the initial trio arrived to help the clawed one.

I was forced to leap back from the clawed Vong to have the space to defend against the other Vong, which I did by using my lightsaber to divert an attack of its amphistaff. Yet the Vong was prepared for that and twisted its arms to bring the tail of the staff around. I shifted my weight and slid one foot back, letting the attack sail through the air though the Vong started to counter by rotating its shoulders.

To prevent it from striking me with the flat of its staff, I brought my beskad up and pushed the amphistaff upward. The pressure against my blade suddenly lessened, meaning it was shifting from staff to whip form, but the movement I'd made had left the Vong's side exposed. My lightsaber found its mark, burning a hole into the Vong's side just under its armpit. A flick of my wrist had the energy blade rush from the Vong's chest, rupturing several internal organs and sending smoke caused by the instant cauterization of the cut into the air.

My beskad caught a chink in the amphistaff's armour even as I turned, and the beskar blade bit down on the living weapon as its wielder slumped to the floor. Yet as the Mandalorian weapon sliced into the amphistaff, I had to flick it away. The clawed Vong had swung at me with its odd hand, and while the attack didn't impale me as it planned, two of the remaining three claws caught my side and drew blood onto my robes.

Rage boiled up and I brought my lightsaber up rapidly, only for it to be blocked by the shaft of the Vong's amphistaff. The weapon shifted, trying to wrap around my lightsaber. I shifted my stance to avoid that only for the Vong's arm to slam into my gut. As I stumbled back, turning as I did, the Vong used the moment to grapple me. The amphistaff came around, snapping toward my face. My blades were both stuck facing downward as my arms were trapped by the Vong in a bear hug. I could hear its disturbing voice chatter in my ear, seemingly revelling in having caught me.

The remaining blocks on my anger uncorked. "Fuck you!" the air around me turned a sickly dark red and in an instant, I was freed. My robes were singed, as was my hair, but I was free of the Vong's grip.

As I turned, I saw he'd been sent hurtling into a boulder, cracks rippling outward from where the Vong had struck it. Seeing that the Vong was still alive made it hard to retain control, but after shaking my head a few times I regained enough to not rush him.

"Just fucking die already," I spat out as the Vong pulled itself upright, ignoring the metallic taste in my mouth. I took a step to set my stance, only to wobble and bring a hand to my side. The cuts there, while not deep, had bled heavily, though that only further fuelled my rage.

The Vong shouted something at me in its fucked-up tongue, but I didn't care to understand what'd said. Only that the fucker was still standing even as its amphistaff slithered over the boulder toward the non-clawed hand. I channelled my rage into my beskar-wielding hand, readying myself to unleash another blast of Force Lightning only for the commlink to crackle into life.

"G-get ou-t of he-re!" Zarkos' voice was weak, broken and behind it, the sounds of screaming, blaster fire and inalienable snarling could be heard. "Fi-ight ag-gain."

Before I could respond an explosion rocked the forest, sending dust and debris hurtling around me. Even before it settled, I'd realised the blast had come from the direction of Anvil unit. A glance at my minimap to see that almost all of them were gone, including Zarkos, was accompanied by what sounded like a barking laugh from the Vong.

The laugh enraged me, but the sight of a dozen null-zones racing from the former location of Anvil unit toward where I was focused my mind. "Fall back!" I shouted into the commlink. I didn't want to run, didn't want to give the motherfucker in front of me the satisfaction of winning, but I knew we'd already lost. If we didn't bug out now, we'd either join Zarkos or be captured and tortured by the Vong. Memories of my time with Vosa slipped into my thoughts as I promised that I wasn't going to be captured again and that Zarkos wouldn't have died in vain.

"But…"

"NO! Get going!" I continued to glare at the clawed Vong as we faced off against each other even as the dust settled. He seemed willing to wait, likely for his reinforcements to arrive, before attacking again, which gave me the time I needed to prep a hastily developed escape plan. "I'll cover you!"

"Cam." Bo sounded winded, if not wounded, and I could hear the confusion and concern in her voice. And the rage that burned within her through the Force, yet I knew her concern was aimed squarely at me.

"I'm not falling here, just going to buy you some time. Get Simvyl and bug out." I closed the link and depowered my lightsaber. The clawed Vong snorted at that and then banged its fist against its chest, yet I paid his reaction little attention as I hooked my lightsaber and sheathed my beskad. No, all I wanted was to draw on all the rage within me, on the hurt and pain I'd felt over two lifetimes. With that, I dove into the Force, turning it to my will, and embracing the Dark Side. I knew this was dangerous, but it was the only way I could see for us all to escape.

The corners of my vision twitched red. The Vong roared, then charged even as the first of its allies slipped into view. The blood on the armour of the first four Vong, all armoured like the clawed Vong, though only two had similar hands, further fuelled my fury.

"Burn motherfuckers!"

Fire and twisted, dark red energy erupted from my hands, slamming into the Vong and the ground around them. The rage-empowered destruction spread rapidly, filling the forest around me with an ungodly heat. Snarling screams echoed behind the sound of wood exploding under the heat and power being unleashed.

I smirked as I lowered my hands and stepped back, taking in the carnage I'd unleashed, though I didn't allow myself to savour it, instead letting the world be enveloped in silver as I used the Force to teleport away.

… …

---

… …

I winced as I leaned over and ran the rag along the blade of my beskad. While the cuts I'd taken from the clawed Vong hadn't been infected nor deep, they were a nuisance. Even though they were only, for the most part, minor, it was harder to heal them with the Force, likely a result of them being made by a species and technology that not only seemed unaffected by it but also appeared to actively repel or hamper the semi-mystical energy field that bound everything together. Or almost everything it seemed. Which would explain why wounds caused by such weapons would be less easily healed by Force-based techniques. All the Force could do was accelerate my healing and numb the pain, which meant wearing bacta patches to help as well. Even though they were working, it was taking longer than I'd like to heal and my injuries flared with pain sporadically.

Still, I was doing better than Simvyl was. While the Cathar had only taken some superficial wounds, which I'd been able to help accelerate the healing of, and he'd managed to kill what I was referring to as a squad-leader Vong, he was struggling with the loss of Zarkos. After reviewing the recording from Bo's armour, we realised the Togrutan had used his thermal detonator to take out several Vong instead of being captured. It was, all things considered, a good way to go, but Simvyl was struggling to cope.

In the space of half a year, he'd lost both Rangers that'd come with them, including the one who'd been training him. While the pair hadn't commented on it often, it was clear they had a bond similar to what I shared with Fay and Dooku. Not as deep or profound obviously, but just as important to them. Thus Simvyl, in the days since the disastrous ambush, had been unstable and prone to emotional outbursts.

The Sekotans were doing worse. With the best-trained members of them now dead – I hoped none had been captured – those that remained were wavering. About half had asked to return to Middle Distance to spend time with their friends and family and while I hoped they'd all come back; I expected some not to. Bo had left this morning with that group and would be back by nightfall unless she had to move slower due to increased Vong patrols.

A gentle growl from Fenrir drew my focus. Since I'd returned Fenrir had been my constant shadow, and if I didn't know any better he was doing so not just to keep an eye on me, but to remind me that he felt things would've gone differently if he'd been there. Though his constant presence had made last night a little awkward when Bo came to sleep with me. We hadn't done anything beyond sleeping, which was different from every other time we were together, it had turned into a battle for dominance, which she seemed to enjoy losing even if she never made it too easy on me. Still, I'd been grateful for the company, and I suspected she felt the same way. When I'd woken, she'd already left to escort the Sekotans home.

"No matter how much you think otherwise, you being there wouldn't have changed anything," I muttered to Fenrir, which drew a snort and a shake of the head from the large beast. While he couldn't speak, he was scarily intelligent and when combined with what I could sense from him within the Force, I rarely had any difficulty understanding him. "Doesn't matter how much you think otherwise, it's the truth."

Fenrir stood, did a full body shake, the type that reminded me of a dog before he walked around in a circle. Eventually, he dropped back down, his head resting on his front paws. Seeing that he didn't want to argue anymore and was going to return to just sitting by my side – to hide that he was trying to guard me – I resumed cleaning my beskad. While it wasn't a rifle from my former life, cleaning it brought me the same sense of calm and centeredness that rifle-cleaning often brought. While Alchaka worked better for centring myself within the Force, cleaning a weapon was an older and more stabilising, habit for me in times of crisis.

Time seemed to melt away as the rag moved methodically over the blade, soaking up the black blood of the Vong though I was always careful to avoid the razor-sharp edge. Neither the rag nor my finger would survive sliding over that, something I'd discovered by accident not long after getting the weapon.

Eventually, I sensed someone approaching. A look at my minimap and reaching out through the Force let me know it was Simvyl. While my bond with him wasn't on par with someone like Serra, never mind Bo or my masters, it was growing stronger and that allowed me to sense more of what he was feeling. He was still angry, but there was determination overriding it.

"Morning," I said as he came closer. A quick use of Observe let me know he was hungry – hardly a surprise as the only ration pack opened before I got to the hovercart storing them was from Bo – and was conflicted about things. Not wanting to pry, even if I knew he needed to talk, I kept silent and returned to cleaning the blade.

Simvyl moved closer, gave Fenrir a wary look, which was ignored by the lazing tuk'ata, before sitting down nearby. Still, I kept cleaning my blade. If he wanted to talk, he would, and if he just wanted silent company, that's what I'd give him. Anything else would likely result in him pulling back.

"How'd you manage it?" He asked after nearly ten minutes of silence.

I stopped cleaning the blade, though I was glad to see the last of the blood was off it and looked over at him. I had an idea of what he was asking about, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"When… When Master Fay was almost killed, you lost control, you-" he paused and looked away. When he looked back, I saw the lack of sleep in his eyes and the haunted expression he wore more clearly along with the matted fur around the eyes. "You went dark, stopped being a Jedi. I remember the eyes." He shivered involuntarily. "I've seen them when we've fought the Vong since."

He found some inner strength and looked me in the eyes. "I swore to you that if you turned, I'd kill you. Yet Zar… Kekda said it was fine." A sleeve came up to wipe his eyes. "He said Master Fay was the closest thing you had to a mother. Seeing her badly hurt and lashing out as you did was a perfectly normal reaction, even if it wasn't how a Jedi should behave. Yet I- I've seen that rage, that anger in your eyes in every battle since then. You lose control, yet don't. And around the camp, you seem fine."

I chuckled and shook my head. "If someone says they're fine, then they're likely using the word wrong." The fur around Simvyl's eyes tightened. "If someone who's gone through what we've gone through says they're fine, then they'd better mean Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional because otherwise, they're kriffing lying."

I suspected he might bring up my behaviour since Fay went down, as it was close to what he was dealing with regarding Zarkos. Though dropping the acronym meaning of F.I.N.E. wasn't something I expected to ever do in this life. I was also surprised to hear Zarkos was so relaxed, at least outwardly, about me channelling my anger in battle. He had to have known that wasn't the Jedi way, but he had allowed it. Possibly that was due to him being Togrutan as, while humanoid, they weren't human and thus had differing moral standards. That said, it did explain why Zarkos had offered to listen if I wanted to talk about what had happened to Fay. I'd never taken him up on it, mainly as we'd never been that close and I had Bo to rely on instead, but it was generous of him to have made that offer.

Still, I knew I needed the anger burning inside me to fight against the Vong. They were a league or two above anything I'd dealt with before, and while channelling the Dark Side so willingly was dangerous, the one time I'd relied on more common Jedi Force techniques the battle had been a hundred times harder than those beforehand. To say nothing of those since. I knew the Dark Side was dangerous, and I knew I was playing with fire, but in the simple maths of this war, I knew I had no chance but to keep doing so and do my best to not let the Dark Side consume me.

"As for each day, it's a challenge. Every night before I close my eyes, and every morning when I open them, I see Fay on the ground, bleeding with a Vong standing over her." I closed my eyes and pushed away the memories as I didn't need to draw on them now, nor let anyone know how much those were mixing with the still occurring ones regarding Vosa and making my nights hard to manage if I didn't use Player's Mind or have Bo beside me. "The rage inside, when I see any Vong, screams at me to hurt it, kill it, to burn this entire planet to ash to ensure I kill every last one of them." I blinked as a soothing aura flowed through me. Looking down, I saw that my fingers had subconsciously moved for the necklace Fay and Dooku had given me for my thirteenth birthday. The aura contained within the gem helped push down the fury that burned within me. At least enough that I could continue without any risk of losing control.

"I know it's wrong to have these thoughts, that it's the Dark Side trying to twist my mind, but I know I need the power the rage grants. I'm sure once Master Fay recovers she'll take me and spend weeks, if not months, talking with me about my actions on this world, but to tell you the truth, I don't regret anything I've done to the Vong." My gaze drifted from Simvyl toward the cave entrance. A gentle flame in the Force, one growing stronger, let me know Bo was on her way back. She was still outside the range of my minimap, but she would soon be back at the camp, back at my side.

I continued as I turned back to Simvyl. "I'm sure that once we're off this world, once it's safe from the Vong, I'll have to figure out a recompense for using my anger. To learn to let go." Or at least some method to hide its use from other Force users as the High Council would have kittens if they sensed my current Force aura. "But for now, I need the edge the rage provides." Realising I'd waffled slightly, I shifted focus. "Now, what I'm doing, in using my rage to give me an edge, might not work for you. Or it might. I honestly can't say. All I ask is that, over the coming weeks and months, you remember Zarkos' teachings, take them to heart and not let the anger consume you. Now, that's not to say that, once we're free of this world and these damn aliens, you should hold onto the anger, but trying to ignore it or cut it off, especially while the wound is still fresh, would be like cutting off an arm or a leg. You can't deny it, but you can't let it define you. You have to, somehow, learn to focus it, when needed, to give you an edge against those responsible for Zarko's death."

With my piece said, I leaned back, my hand still clutching the gem in my necklace. Simvyl looked away from me, picking a random spot on the ground to focus on. While I'd rambled a bit, I felt the message I'd been wanting to get over had reached him, now he just had to take it in, understand, and then apply it.

"You're not what I expected from a Jedi," he finally muttered. I laughed at that.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." I considered just letting the comment slide, only to remember that months ago, when we were trekking to Middle Distance, he'd revealed a little about his past. "Then again, how I ended up in the Order is pretty far from the norm." I sensed his curiosity, along with the faint hope of a distraction as I continued. "I only joined the Jedi when I was eight and I reached the temple by flying the ship my grandfather's killers had used when they'd come to our house." His eyes widened and I laughed. "Aye, that's most people's reaction. But honestly, that's the least crazy part. You see I was born in the Old Republic and, technically, I'm nearly four thousand years old. Plus, long before I was born, my great-grandfather turned to the Dark Side and almost destroyed the Republic, only being saved from that fate by the woman who'd eventually become his wife."

"That's, uh, something?" I laughed hard at his reaction. The combination of his face looking like he didn't understand what he'd heard mixed with the tonal shift as he spoke was amusing as hell. Beside me, I felt and heard Fenrir's chortle, though the sound from him, as always, sounded more like a threat of violence than him finding something amusing.

"Aye." I shifted my beskad to place it across my lap. "I can tell you more of my story. Though I'll warn you that it doesn't exactly get normal." As I spoke, I pulled a small stone from my belt. While the beskar blade kept its edge easily, I still felt a need to sharpen it when I could. The action, much like cleaning it, brought me a sense of peace that didn't rely on the Force.

Simvyl laughed, though there was some nervousness in the chuckle. "At this point, I'd take that over…" his words died off as his mind was brought back to what was dominating his thoughts. The small spark of fire in his eyes that'd come out as we'd talked about something other than the war faded, but I wasn't willing to let it go completely. As Fenrir rubbed against my leg, annoyed I'd stopped scratching him so I could sharpen my blade, I decided to keep going with my story. Perhaps tales of my time in the Temple would distract him from his troubles long enough he'd gain some peace. And maybe it would allow my mind to focus on something more than the debacle of an ambush from a few days ago.

… …

---

… …

I sat in the cave, though in a different section from where Fay was resting and stared at the holocrons resting on my bed. Most of them had offered nothing of interest, or even hinted at having useful data, which was why my attention was on the pair in front of me. One had belonged to my mother, and while I enjoyed listening to the few stories she'd placed on it, many of the files were restricted by her gatekeeper – the term used for the representation of a person within a holocron – until I was at least a knight. Even if I could convince it I was a Knight, I doubted the restricted files would be of any help with the Vong, which is why most of my focus was on the other holocron. That of King Adas.

Normally I wouldn't risk bringing out the Sith king's holocron as it had a presence that affected others, but given I was alone in the cave – if one discounted the comatose Fay – this was as good a moment as any to examine it.

Currently, Bo and Simvyl were away carrying out recon on the Vong base to the south. While I doubted that we'd be attacking it at any point in the future, not least due to our recent losses, it gave Simvyl something to do beyond mope around the base camp with a chip the size of Alderaan on his shoulder. Oddly, Bo had spoken to him about focusing that anger, mentioning how Mandalorians are taught to harness it and not let it harness them. While I was amused that her words sounded similar to my thinking on using the Dark Side, the bigger shock had been how Simvyl actively listened without commenting on the issues between their people. Hell, Bo had even opened up slightly about her feelings when her sister-in-law and nephew had been killed by Death Watch in the Battle of Sundari and how that rage, that drive for revenge had needed focusing to be of any use.

I'd spoken with her before they'd left about opening up to Simvyl, as it was a rare thing for her to do even with me; save during some post-sex moments. She'd waved it off by saying the Cathar needed reassurance and guidance, otherwise he'd be a liability to us. While that was accurate, it didn't feel like the whole truth. Still, instead of using Observe to confirm that, I'd taken her at her word and dropped the matter.

Fenrir had wanted to go with them, but I'd not let him. I knew he was feeling cooped up, but the tuk'ata had even less control than the Cathar and would likely attack any Vong that came too close, placing them all in danger. To let him feel better, I'd told him to go explore the surrounding forest. He'd bounded off almost immediately and from the feeling of satisfaction I'd felt about ten minutes ago, he'd likely found and killed himself a meal.

That had started after our first battle with the Vong, and I had to suspect it was because we were now regularly seeing combat; drawing out his inherent nature as an alpha predator. So far, I hadn't sensed anything within the Force to hint that the planet was unnerved by this, but it was something I'd have to keep an eye on as a feral tuk'ata would be a problem for any bar me to control.

Still, with me having had peace and quiet in the cave – the Sekotans around the base camp knew not to disturb me – I'd still not opened Adas' holocron in the hour I'd been staring at it. I'd tried to look him up in the Jedi Archives during my recovery in the temple, but there'd been nothing to find. Not even a brief mention of him. That meant that either he was such a dangerous Sith that knowledge of him had been restricted to all but the highest members of the Order, or he was someone they knew nothing about. Of the two, I felt the latter was more likely as if information about Adas was restricted, someone should've asked me about my research, which hadn't happened.

Like the Sith training holocron, Adas's was shaped like a triangular pyramid which made it far different from the cuboid shape of most Jedi ones. In fact, the only Jedi holocron that wasn't a cuboid was the Great Holocron which was much larger than any other holocron I'd seen and a pentagonal dodecahedron. This holocron also stood out as the edging was made of something that looked and felt like obsidian with engravings in it. Those had to be Sith runes, but I had no idea what any of them meant and no way was I going to search for information on those in the Jedi Temple. And then there was the presence the holocron radiated.

Unlike any other holocron, this one radiated power in a way even the Great Holocron failed to do. Due to its age, I knew that Adas must've been one of the Sith species and possibly, one of the very first holocrons ever created. Certainly older than the Great Holocron, which was over ten thousand years newer. And then there was the feeling it generated every time I pulled it from my Inventory. An overwhelming urge to activate it flooded my mind whenever it was in the open, calling to me in a way I simply didn't understand. Whispering promises of the power contained within that I could bend to my will. Which was why until now, I'd rarely ever removed it from my Inventory, never mind considered opening it. Still, it was the only option I had to learn any power that'd help with the Vong, or even, I hoped, with removing some of the restrictions on Dark Side Masking.

That was a power I'd discovered a few days ago when considering how to remove or hide my usage of the Dark Side from others. While it would do exactly what the name implied, it had a nasty restriction. Until I was shown by a skilled Dark Side user how to properly use the power, I was looking at a massive penalty to XP growth. I'd had the power running non-stop since I'd discovered it, and in the days since, only gone two levels. At that rate, I'd have to be away from other Force users for years before I'd feel comfortable about them not sensing my Dark Side taint.

With that in mind and having felt I'd prepared myself against the influence of the holocron for long enough, I closed my eyes. My mind reached out into the Force, easily finding the dark abyss close to me and pushed against it. Activating this holocron was unlike any I had before. Even the Sith training holocron only needed a gentle rub with the Force, Adas' holocron seemed to actively fight me. It swatted away my push aggressively, which irritated me. I pushed back harder, but again it rejected my presence. Realising this was a test, I pushed at it once more, letting some of my bottled fury empower the attempt. That seemed to do the trick as I felt a reaction from the Holocron. Not letting me in per se, but more accepting I was at least worthy of speaking with its gatekeeper.

"Ja'ak!" my eyes shot open at the alien word, and I saw the gatekeeper, though I couldn't be sure it was Adas. It was impossible to determine height from such a small hologram, but the figure looked imposing. He was clad head to toe in armour that, if seen in the flesh, I instinctively knew would seem to draw in the light. There was some different colouration on the crest of the helm which matched the cloak that bellowed in a fictional wind behind it, and in one hand was an axe that looked to be about sixty per cent of the figure's height. "Naugast. Aras tu jidai ax jen'jidai?"

I blinked in confusion at the strange, yet oddly powerful, words the gatekeeper was using. Worried the thing couldn't speak Basic, I activated Comprehend Speech, only for its next words to be in Basic. "You are powerful in the Force, yet you are not a Sith, that much I can tell. Nor are you a Rakatan." My brow rose at hearing that race mentioned. "Hmm, you know about the Rakatans? Unexpected and interesting. So tell me, are you one of the weak-willed Jedi that Nadd spoke of, or someone drawn to my knowledge by a desire to learn how to properly use your gifts?"

While the words had an odd accent to them, possibly from learning Basic the last time it'd been active – whenever that was – they were spoken with a regal grace and power one would expect of a king or emperor. Yet, before I could ponder that, or consider my reply, a warning notice appeared in the Interface.

WARNING!
Mind manipulation field detected!
...
​

I snarled at realising the holocron was trying to manipulate me and slammed on Player's Mind. With my emotions suppressed and the influence, weak as it was since the field had only just appeared, blocked, I felt the unnatural calm engulf my mind.

"What blasphemy is this?!" The gatekeeper raged, not giving me time to wonder why the holocron felt a need to attempt to manipulate me. "You dare dull your senses in my presence!"

I knew that if my emotions weren't under lock and key, I'd have responded aggressively. Yes, the holocron could, like Jedi Masters, sense when I used my special ability, but the fact it reacted like that revealed something about it. "I do so dare when I sense someone, or something, trying to alter my perceptions and manipulate me into actions I might not otherwise choose." Logically arguing with a twenty-seven thousand-year-old holocron was likely not the smartest choice, but I knew subservience also wasn't the way to go. Perhaps responding calmly was also a mistake, but it was the better choice. "My mind is mine alone, and not for others to influence. Particularly those whose time has long since passed."

I felt the air around me grow cooler as cold, hardened fury emanated from the holocron. "Were I still living, I would rip your bones from your body one by one, taking time to ensure you felt every second of the action, and then grind them to dust in front of your eyes. I would then savour your blood before feasting on your still-warm corpse, before turning your skull into a goblet to remember your foolish behaviour."

That was a very dark response, and if I hadn't been using Player's Mind, might've drawn an instant, and illogical reaction from me. I could tell this first meeting with Adas' gatekeeper was going south, but I understood that being the one to shut off the holocron would be seen as a sign of weakness by the gatekeeper. "If you were living, I have no doubt you'd attempt to do as you threaten, though I doubt we'd ever speak given your race has long since left the galaxy. Since you aren't alive, I will instead make clear that I am not, like those you may have taught before, a puppet to control and live vicariously through."

The gatekeeper glared at me. After years of facing Bo, I knew when a helm-wearing figure was doing that. If it could, I was sure it would use the Force to burn me to ash where I stood. "Until you are ready to listen with an open mind and show the respect a child should give to their elders, our conversation."

The holocron blinked out as the cold feeling in the cave slid away. "Wonderful," I muttered as I released Player's Mind. That had gone bad, though, in retrospect, it could've been worse. The fact the gatekeeper expected another talk meant it was at least intrigued by my strength in the Force. Still, I needed time to decide how to handle that next meeting. If I wished to learn from King Adas, I needed a method beyond Player's Mind to help me stay in control.

… …

---

… …

A few days later, I removed Adas' holocron from my Inventory once more. Bo and Simvyl were due back in by the end of the week, and if I wanted to learn anything from the holocron, I needed to start now.

I activated a timer on my vambrace, setting a clear limit to how long I was willing to allow the holocron to manipulate me. Then, after taking a few deep breaths to prepare myself, I closed my eyes, brought forth the rage boiling deep within me and pushed against the holocron inside the Force. While there was a challenge, it wasn't as blunt as before, meaning either the gatekeeper recognised my Force Aura, or because I was drawing on my anger straight away, it was less inclined to reject my demand that it open.

"So, you have come grovelling back in understanding that your knowledge pales in comparison to mine." If it was possible for a hologram to look smug under armour, Adas' gatekeeper pulled it off perfectly.

"I admit that there are things I wish to learn about the Force that I can't learn from a Jedi. Nor risk by trial and error." I ignored the warning from the Interface as I spoke. "That said, I'm not going to become your minion, nor follow the teachings of the Sith Order."

Something that sounded like a growl came from Adas. "What is the status of those imposters?"

I took a moment to consider his reaction. I'd hoped drawing a line between him and the Sith Order would let him know I suspected he was a true Sith, but the reaction was unexpected. "They last fought openly a thousand years ago and lost. Since then, while most Jedi and the Republic at large believe them to be dead and gone, I doubt that to be the case."

"How so?"

"For thousands of years, the Sith Order fought against the Jedi and Republic and always, in the end, lost. Now, I believe they've gone underground and are working from the shadows to destabilize the Republic. Or perhaps even take it over from within." As I spoke, I could feel the rage from the holocron grow as a strange, almost debilitating wave of power surged outward.

"Those cowards!" Adas snarled, the holocron seeming to visibly vibrate in fury. "To hide in the shadows, to feign non-existence. This is not the way of a True Sith!" I stayed silent, holding my ground under the onslaught of corrupted power that emanated from the holocron as it raged at what had become of those who took the name Sith. "If I was alive I would…"

"Forgive me, but you're not." Its helm glared at me, and I felt as if the weight of a thousand suns was pushing down upon my shoulders. "I, however, am. And I've made it my goal to defeat these Sith, whatever it takes." There were lines I wasn't willing to cross, and I hoped I never had to approach them, but failing to stop Sidious and Plagueis – assuming my being here altered his fate – would mean the death of myself and everyone I knew and cared for.

"While I don't believe you are willing to go as far as you must, I can sense the strength of your conviction. And the raw, untrained power you wield." His helm looked over me slowly as if grading me for the slaughter. "If you had been born Sith, I would've considered you as a potential apprentice. Perhaps, given time, even a worthy heir. Sadly, you are not, being nothing more than a weak, powerless Human."

I knew he was goading me, that he wanted me to prove my power. While part of me wanted to not give him the satisfaction of getting a response, I knew that failing to prove myself here and now, after the disaster of our first conversation, ran a real risk of destroying any chance I had of learning from a true Sith. Of potentially learning techniques lost to the aeons that even the Sith of this era knew nothing of.

"I have power," I replied slowly, letting my anger rush forward and summon Force Lightning, "and I can wield it. However, I know that there is much I don't understand, and I won't allow the twisted whispers of the Force to control me. I will control it." As I spoke, I kept unravelling my anger. Toward the Vong, the High Council, Vosa, Palpatine, everyone. Until the corners of my sight drew dark as the light within the cave was swallowed by my lightning. I could feel my control slipping, could hear the faint, inaudible whispers of the Force mixing with the darkest recesses of my mind. They wanted me to use them, use my power, and bend all to my will.

Yet I was the one in control, not it.

Slowly, fighting against myself, I reined in my fury, my darker, more unhinged self, and light slowly returned to the cave.

"Hmm, yes. You have… potential. You have impressed me, young Human, and earned the opportunity to study at my feet. But you are still far from proving yourself worthy to be my apprentice."

I had no intention of letting that happen, of letting him mould me into what he wanted. Yet at least now he was willing to, I hoped, teach me, at the very least, how to hide the savagery within.

… …

---

… …

I looked over the holographic map projected by Bo's helm on the ground before me. It showed the Vong base, and frankly what I saw was concerning. We'd scouted it out early in our campaign, mainly to get an idea of the Vong forces and how regularly patrols left. At that time, it was beyond us taking, but seeing what it'd become since made it clear that even if we'd escaped their counter-ambush unscathed, we were losing this war.

Initially, there looked to be support for maybe sixty Vong with only a simple outer wall and four cannon emplacements on the corners of the base. Now, months later, the place looks to be around three times the size, with buildings for, potentially, four times the number of Vong. The walls had risen to nearly ten metres, appearing to have grown in a manner similar to the Sekotan buildings. Though where the Sekotan buildings felt inviting and natural, the Vong's felt wrong. As if something terrible had twisted nature into its darkest possible form.

The four cannon emplacements had expanded to twenty, with each cannon having grown to a larger size than the initial four. The base only had two entrances, with each guarded by four cannons and, from what the hologram suggested, a minimum of four Vong.

"This is… well, to call it not good is an understatement," I muttered as I moved my attention to the base's interior. The central building looked more like a starship. Or at least one that'd been taken and thrown in a blender then covered in growth after being left abandoned on a world for centuries. Around it were other buildings, but their functions were impossible to tell simply from looking at them. "How well-manned are the cannons?"

"Single Vong units, though there are regular patrols outside the walls that work to keep the local vegetation back," Bo replied even as the hologram shifted as she controlled it with her vambrace. "The closest we saw the forest get was around fifteen metres and the area was littered with the dead remains of dozens of animals and at least four Sekotans."

"This is good, great even, but we can't act on it," I spoke slowly, my focus shifting to Simvyl. Ever since they'd returned, I hadn't even had to try to sense the rage burning within him. Before he'd left, it'd been wild, almost uncontrolled, but now, it was focused, burning white-hot. I knew even without Observe – which I'd used for confirmation – that he wanted to attack this base; the sooner the better.

Bo's eyes shifted to Simvyl for a split second, but that was enough to confirm she was concerned about his anger as well. "I, we were thinking a raid would be a smarter choice. Just something to show them we're still here, still fighting."

"And how would that work? Even with Fenrir, we'd be four against, what a hundred? Two?" While there were no Vong marked on the map, based on its size alone, it could hold, if they billeted anything like I'd done in Iraq and Afghanistan, up to four hundred in those various buildings. Though that would mean supplies being brought in on regular transports, which was something we'd been seeing for months.

"Couldn't you do as you did in Tantajoc?"

I shook my head at that. "There's a multitude of reasons why that wouldn't work here. First and foremost is that the Vong are leagues above a group of backwater pirates and slavers. They'll be far more attentive and prepared for an attack. Second, that base had reasonably common laser cannons, meaning a few strikes at key locations guaranteed their destruction. The Vong weapons… even with recordings of them firing on local fauna, we lack an understanding of how they work. Or even if they'd explode if I attacked them." Bo seemed to be accepting of this, but my rejection was doing nothing for Simvyl's growing anger. "Now, if we had a few more months to observe them, we might be able to attempt a hit-and-run attack. However, even if, by some miracle, we managed to breach their walls and disable enough defences, where exactly would we attack?" As I spoke, my hand drifted over the base's interior. "While the central building would logically be their command centre, can you confirm that it is? And where do the Vong bunk?" Normally, I'd have asked about their weaponry, but since their main weapon was organic and seemingly connected to them, and we'd not seen any use of grenades or heavy explosives, I felt they didn't have any, at least not at this base.

"That seemingly overgrown ship has the largest footfall. We've tagged on average fifty different Vong going in and out from it." Bo pointed at two buildings near the central location. "These two see more footfall and given their location and the fact the Vong going into it are generally the lowest tier of warriors we've faced; I feel these are their barracks. And possibly a canteen." She paused and smirked. "Given we had a few weeks to monitor them, my armour was able to start tracking the slight variances in their armour and markings to help pin down that there's somewhere in the region of a hundred and thirty Vong in the base. Most are the rank and file, with fifteen per cent being the – as you designated them – squad leaders. The new ones we encountered in the last ambush," I glanced at Simvyl to see him baring his teeth – "only number around a dozen, including the one whose claws you cut. On top of that, there are two others with another set of armour, those must be the base commanders."

I nodded along as she spoke. While it was a relief that there weren't too many of the shell-armoured Vong in the base, one was one too many with the overall number of Vong. And then there's their commanders. Those, if I was judging the Vong correctly, were probably just as skilled as the shell-armoured Vong, if not more so. All in all, the base was too well-defended and manned for even a lightning raid to work. Not without at least two of the three of us here dying in the attack.

"We need to hit them! They need to pay! For what they did to Zarkos! And the Sekotans!" Simvyl all but hissed out, his ears leaning back as he bared his teeth. From the look Bo gave me, it was clear she wanted me to handle this.

"We do, and we will. But I'm not going to throw away lives in an attack that, given our current strength, would all but destroy our forces." I kept my tone soft but firm, not wanting to shout back at him but, I hoped, making it clear I was putting my foot down. "Throwing away our lives, and the people we're trying to help, for simple vengeance, isn't something Zarkos would've wanted."

"They have to pay!" He moved toward me, stepping into the hologram. From elsewhere in the cave, I heard Fenrir growl even as Bo slid one hand to a blaster.

Seeing no way out of this but to confront him, I stepped forward, though I made no move to grip a weapon. Mainly because if he did anything stupid, I'd have him down on the ground faster than he could blink with the Force enhancing my actions. "They do, and as I said, they will, but until you can learn to control yourself, to focus that rage on those that deserve it, you're banned from both any potential base assault and ambushes." His eyes narrowed, making the slits in them even more prominent somehow and reminding me once more that I wasn't dealing with a human. "If you've got a problem with my orders, we can go outside right now, and I'll beat the shit out of you until you understand who's in charge." As I spoke, I activated Force Aura. That was one of the two things I'd learnt from Adas – the other being how to hide my Dark Side taint which removed the restrictions on Dark Side Masking – after I'd done enough to earn the change to become his apprentice. Force Aura allowed me to let my power in the Force wash over an area. With time, it would reach a point where, according to Adas, all but the most powerful Force users would feel uneasy near me – if I so wished – but for now, it was still Novice level.

Simvyl stepped closer, his fingers flexing to expose his claws, and I pushed more of my barely restrained fury into Force Aura. That seemed to do the trick as, rather unexpectedly to anyone else, the Cather stopped. He blinked and widened his eyes, though they stayed focused on me. For a few moments I felt he might still attack, but instead, he started moving back. He never turned, not until he was far enough from me that we couldn't attack each other, and even then, kept his eyes upon me until he'd slipped out of the cave.

Once that happened, I pulled my rage back inside and deactivated Force Aura. While I was impressed that it'd worked so well, I hoped this moment didn't cost me too much of his loyalty.

"What was that?" I turned at Bo's words. Her eyes were wide, a fire burning in them and as her chest rose and fell impressively, her cheeks turned rosy. Even without the Force, or having learnt her intimate secrets, I'd be able to tell she was turned on by my little display of dominance. Just as she'd been, in hindsight, after each of the battles I'd fought in where she'd been present. How I'd missed them until Observe had revealed her feelings for me was embarrassing, but now they were as clear as the lone cloud on a clear day.

Bo being turned on by battle and prowess, both in combat and in situations like what'd just happened, fit her perfectly. So far it hadn't developed at a moment where she couldn't control it, or at least suppress it long enough to get me alone to scratch her itch. Yet, I worried one day it would.

I pulled Adas' holocron from my Inventory, enjoying that I didn't have to hide the action by reaching into my robes or belt pouches first. "Something I learnt from this, a Sith holocron." There was a part of me that felt I might be revealing too much to Bo, but I felt safe in her loyalty. The last time I'd used Observe on her – just before she'd left on the recon mission – she considered me an Honoured/Confidant/Lover. The first two of those were the second highest levels I could get to with my reputation and friendship and based on the names of the highest levels – Worshipped and Follower – I wasn't sure I wanted her to reach those levels. Not if the names hinted at blind obedience. "I only managed to get the gatekeeper, basically the intelligence that runs a holocron, to reveal that and a basic method for how to hide the fact I use the Dark Side."

For a brief moment, Bo looked confused. "The Jedi." The words weren't a question, meaning she understood my concern.

"Aye. When we get off this rock and return to civilization, they'll sense what I've done here. How I've done it. And either they'll lock me up or, given my family history, have me executed." To be fair, I wasn't sure if they'd do the latter, but it's what I'd do in their place. Better to remove the threat now than lock it away and let it fester into something far, far worse.

"If they do that, I'll kill them." Bo stepped toward me, the fire in her eyes drawing me in like a moth to a flame. "You're Mando'ade. We'd go to war with the Jetii if they did that." The conviction in her voice was complete, which was downright scary. And sexy as hell.

"I know you would," I replied, taking a step toward her as we both walked through the hologram of the Vong base. "But I don't want you dying for me." I stopped as we came close enough that I struggled to not grab hold of her and claim her once more. "Besides, if what I've learnt from King Adas can help, they'll never know what walks amongst them."

Her lips twitched before she licked them enticingly. "What else has it taught you?" one hand came up, gripping the front of my robes.

I stepped closer, letting my breath caress her face. "Let me show you."

… …

---

… …

I gently dabbed the cloth over Fay's face as she kept herself in a healing trance that mimicked a coma. Even without using Observe, I could feel her slowly growing stronger in the Force, though that special power was giving me a rough timeline based on how slowly her health was creeping upward. There'd only been a few percentage points of increase in the near month since the counter-ambush, but any change was a massive encouragement for me. Particularly since the previous half year or so since she'd been attacked, there'd been no change in her status.

Provided her rate of recovery held, it would be at least another month, possibly two, before she woke, which was more of a good thing than bad. It was good in the sense that it'd give me at least a month of running Dark Side Masking to further improve the power. It had been active constantly since I discovered it, and with the restriction removed, it was going up at about three levels per day. If given another thirty-five or so days, I'd comfortably have it to the Master strata - if not just into Savant - which, I hoped, would be enough to hide most of my Dark Side usage from even her.

After making sure her face was clean, and then doing the same for her arms and legs up to her knees – I refused to go further as it felt like an invasion of privacy – I stood and walked toward the cave entrance. As I grew closer, the sound of movement from outside filtered in. Currently, we were working on training another group of Sekotans. While it wasn't something I felt happy about, due to the lives we'd lost, since the Vong's counter-ambush had gotten back to Middle Distance, we'd seen a large uptick in recruits. With only Bo, Simvyl, and myself to train them, we couldn't take them all on, but Bo had found a use for those not taken yet.

While we didn't want them causing trouble with the Vong inside the settlement, that didn't mean they couldn't watch and track the Vong that moved in or near their homes. Those with any mechanical expertise were shifted to help with developing Sekotan blasters with, according to the last meeting I'd had with Gann and Sheekla, a working prototype likely ready for us to take the next time I met them. I knew there'd be issues with this new weapon, but it was a massive step on the path to arming the Sekotans properly. Not least as we'd lost almost all our blaster rifles in the counter-ambush.

As I stepped into the sunlight, I saw Bo was overseeing the current training. Which was something she did every day she wasn't on recon. Several Sekotans had complained that Bo was pushing them too hard, and while I was sympathetic to their concerns, I didn't move to reassure them. That fell to Simvyl, who even with a desire for revenge burning within him, had calmed down enough to understand that we needed the Sekotans to have at least basic competence before we could strike back.

Bo turned and I saw a scowl on her face as she looked over her recruits. Behind her, I could sense Fenrir who was moving slowly around the edge of the base camp, acting as a sentry. Or at least an inner sentry. Outside the range of my minimap, there were various dots of lifeforms from Sekotans. They were serving as sentries, at both fixed locations and roving patrols and while they knew of each other's location, they weren't to interact to make it harder for Vong scouts to use one setup to find the other. It wasn't foolproof, but it was sufficient since we were over a dozen klicks from Middle Distance. Simvyl was also outside the range of my minimap, having left that morning with a few of our remaining trained Sekotans to meet up with the scouts inside the settlement and monitor the actions of the Vong patrols outside Middle Distance. This was the first scouting mission he'd gone on since the little incident, and while I wasn't sure he was in control, I told him that if he engaged the Vong while out, then if he somehow survived, I'd hunt him down and end him myself. It was a decidedly un-Jedi-like thing to say, but he'd accepted the condition quickly, making me think he was squared away enough to be of use again.

Suddenly, a being rushed onto my minimap. Since they were showing up it meant they weren't a Vong, yet they were approaching quickly. Plus, they shouldn't be alone as every sentry or patrol worked in pairs or groups of four. As I moved in the direction the runner was coming from, I reached out through the Force, concentrating on them. I felt an urgency, along with determination but thankfully no worry so nothing had gone wrong. Or at least not that this runner knew.

On the way to meet the runner, which I could sense was female and around my age, I pulled a canteen to me with the Force. As they broke through the last set of bushes before reaching the base camp, my brow rose as the girl, who was a head taller than me, slid to a stop at seeing me. "Dudala?" As I said her name, the girl bent over and started breathing heavily.

Dudala was the daughter of one of the main growers in Middle Distance and had been clamouring to join the resistance since we'd lost our first Sekotan, who'd been her cousin. However, her father had denied her request and since she wasn't considered an adult in Sekotan society yet, she'd had to obey. Still, she often worked as a runner for Gann, Sheekla, and others inside the settlement and had joined the scouting units I'd developed to monitor the Vong movements inside Middle Distance.

"Bond…partner." Dudala's reply came out between breaths even as I passed the canteen to her. I waited patiently as she gulped down some water and calmed her heartbeat. I knew she had something to tell me as there'd been a spike of relief when she'd seen me, but since there was still no fear emanating from her, I felt there wasn't a rush to find out why she was here.

"I bring news." As she said that, she pulled a datapad from her belt and passed it to me.

My brow rose as I read the message. According to Gann, he was still in contact with the Jentari, the ones building my new ship. While they'd been working around the clock to make fighters to engage the Vong with – which was a surprise as Gann hadn't mentioned that to me at all – their most recent message stated that my vessel was ready.

Gann had included a note of where the Jentari were based on the planet, and while it was a three-month trek, getting access to a new ship could change the course of this war. So far, we'd been limited to engaging the Vong around Middle Distance, meaning they could, conceivably, concentrate their combat units here while moving to secure other locations on the planet they deemed worthy.

Since Gann wished to speak with me before we departed and, if I was reading between the lines, he might have a way to accelerate our travel time.

"Something's got you in a good mood." I turned at hearing Bo's voice and passed the datapad to her. As she looked it over, I looked back at Dudala.

"Thank you for this." The girl smiled and lowered her head even as her cheeks turned a darker shade of green. "Head over to the cave and rest. We'll escort you to Middle Distance at first light tomorrow."

"Yes, bond-partner." The girl moved away from us even as Bo looked up from the pad.

"This is…" she paused and looked around for a moment before continuing. "Are we going to run?"

I could sense her concern at her words, meaning she wanted to stay and fight, as I knew Simvyl and Fenrir did. "No. While I'd love to get some support for this war, there's no way the Vong don't still have vessels in orbit, and until I get an understanding of this new ship's abilities, I'd rather not get it into a dogfight." I looked over at the recruits, who'd moved to intercept Dudala before she could reach the cave. "Besides, we started this resistance, and by the Force, I intend to see it through."

"Parjai ra kyr'am."

"Victory or death." I returned the affirmation in Basic. "And I plan to make sure it's theirs."

… …

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… …

A/N:
As always, this story is crossposted on Fanfiction.net and Archive of our Own and you can find me (and the backroom team who help with this) on Discord at:
For this series: Heart of the Force
For general chaos/Gamer stories: Shiro's Gaming Omniverse

If you wish to support my writing, gain access to 1st drafts of chapters (where every level bar the lowest has access to at least the first draft of the next chapter and all got the redraft ~2 weeks early), consider supporting me on Patreon:
USSExplorer

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Regardless if you join the discord or support my writing, I hope you enjoy the story and suggestions, valid criticisms, and ideas are always welcome.
And of course;

May the Force be with you. Always.