Revered and Reviled

"Well, that was easy," grinned Patience as they watched the Wookiee stride away. "With the sacred blade, he can become Chieftain again!" She smiled at Jolee. "That was a great idea!"
Jolee chuckled. "Well, I wouldn't have been able to beat that giant bug myself, so I guess the credit should go to you." He shook his head, as if laughing at some private joke. "Okay, the Star Map thing is just over here somewhere. I will warn you, it's not going to be as easy. The damned thing has some kind of security on it."
"Oh, I'm sure we'll figure it out. Come on, Bastila!" Patience excitedly ran down the path that Jolee had indicated.
"Oh, Patience, wait! I swear, she's so bubble-headed," grumbled Bastila, and started after her.
Jolee took her arm. "Mind if we have a quick talk, Jedi Princess?"
Bastila looked up at him in surprise. "What, now?"
"Yes," said Jolee grimly. "Now. She won't come to any harm without you watching her for a few minutes."
"You don't know her very well, if you really believe that," Bastila laughed.
"I know her better than you think," said Jolee calmly. "Or at least, I know what she used to be."
Bastila straightened herself. "You – you know her?"
Jolee nodded. "I left the Jedi Order after the war with Exar Kun, for reasons I won't get into. I've been living on this planet for a long time."
"So… you were here… before."
"I was here when two giddy little nutjobs came down here with a crazy story about Star Maps and saving the galaxy, yes. I didn't know what was going to happen after they left. I thought they were telling the truth when they said they had asked the Wookiees for permission to come down here. They sure didn't look like bloodstained murderers, or Sith Lords, for that matter."
"Malak? Giddy?"
"He spent half an hour trying to teach one of the little primates to walk on its hands. If that isn't giddy, I don't know what is. The Star Map here is protected by a weird holocron, like nothing I've ever seen before. It refuses to talk to people it can't identify. Somehow, Revan and Malak got it to work the first time they were here."
Bastila looked around nervously. "Well, hopefully, she'll be able to activate it again."
"What's the point of this? What does the Jedi Council want with the Star Maps?" demanded Jolee. "They aren't the smartest people in the galaxy. They weren't back when I was in the Order, and it doesn't look like they've gotten any better."
Bastila glared at him. "We need to know what Revan and Malak did, so that we can undo it. We can't just charge blindly into space after his invincible army. Where is Malak's army coming from? Where did they get all those ships, and the weapons? What did they find in the Unknown Regions? We need answers, and this is the only way to get them."
"You'd be better off trying to figure out the right questions to ask," muttered Jolee. "Come on, let's catch up to her before she breaks something, or worse."
They followed the path, and found Patience eagerly talking to a large geometric holocron, rotating slowly in midair on an elevated dais.
"So, you have a self-repair and learning program. That's amazing," exclaimed Patience. "Tell me some more about the Infinite Empire!"
"Forty-four percent match," droned the holocron, and slowly scanned her again while it started talking in a strange language.
"Do you think I could open one of these consoles and take some notes? Oh, hi, Bastila! Did you know that the wroshyr trees don't actually come from Kashyyk? They were planted here. Ow!" Patience jumped and pulled her hand away from the self-defense mechanism of the holocron's control unit. "I was just looking."
"Forty-six percent match. New organisms detected." The holocron scanned Jolee and Bastila. "Zero percent match. Access denied."
"What are you doing?" asked Bastila curiously.
"It won't let me get to the Star Map data. It will answer all my other questions, though. The match percentage keeps changing, and it keeps looping back to needing to verify my identity. Its programming is just incredible. I wish there was some way to take a copy with us."
"Sixty-three percent match. Scanning."
Patience grinned, and checked her pocket. "Maybe I could – wait. Oh, no." She took off her jacket, and turned it upside down and inside out. "No! No, no, dammit!"
"What?" Bastila walked up to her. "What's wrong?"
"Do you have the datapad? I can't find it," said Patience worriedly.
"Fifty-one percent match."
"You, shut up," snarled Patience. "Bastila, where could it be? I thought I had it!" She checked her pockets again.
"Sixty-seven percent match."
"I don't – what did that benighted machine just say?"
"Who cares? Bastila, check your pockets! And your bag. If we don't have it, that means we're going to have to walk all the way back to the ship, and then back here again!"
"Sixty-eight percent match."
Bastila looked at the holocron in confusion. "What is it measuring?"
"Bastila!" Patience yelled. "Are you listening to me?"
"Seventy-two percent match."
Bastila quickly checked her pockets for the precious pad.
"It's not there! Dammit! How could we have forgotten it?" Patience raged.
"Seventy-seven percent match."
Jolee looked curiously at the holocron. "I really hate to sound like that little green freak, but, that's interesting."
"Seriously, shut up! I can't believe this. We have to walk all the way back?" Patience took a deep breath, trying to control her temper, then sighed miserably. "This sucks."
"Seventy-three percent match."
She glared at the holocron. "There's no point in talking to you, we can't get the data anyway."
"At last. My search is over. I was beginning to fear that someone else had already killed you, and deprived me of the pleasure."
Three Dark Jedi emerged from the path behind them. Their leader wore black robes over the armor of a Sith Marauder, and he looked vaguely familiar to Patience.
"You may have defeated the pathetic bounty hunter that my Master sent after you, but you are no match for me," he sneered. "I have studied at the foot of the Dark Lord himself!"
"You're Malak's apprentice," Bastila gasped. "Darth Bandon!"
"Really? I can't say I'm impressed," said Patience calmly. "After all, Malak never beat Revan. How good can his student be?"
"Insolence! Your words mean nothing to me," hissed Darth Bandon. He stepped forward, menacingly, and met Bastila's eyes. "Unless you wish to beg for your miserable lives."
"Wait! I remember you now," said Patience brightly. "You're the jerk that killed Trask, back on the Endar Spire!"
Bandon glared balefully at her. "You pathetic worm. Very well, I will try to make this both quick and painful. Try to take Shan alive. The others are meaningless." The Dark Jedi drew their lightsabers, and charged.
Patience jumped, using the broad tree trunks to launch herself over their heads, and landed behind their attackers. Unlike the other Dark Jedi that they had faced, these were not half-trained students sent out to prove themselves or die. She engaged one of Bandon's sidekicks, and was surprised to find that they were skilled with their lightsabers, and fairly powerful in the Force. She heard Bastila cry out, and quickly blocked the Dark Jedi's attack, then raced over to defend Bastila while her attacker was off-balance.
Bandon was viciously attacking Bastila, and had just broken down her guard. Patience got between them just in time, blocking his furious swings and keeping him away from Bastila.
"My Force attacks don't seem to work on him," gasped Bastila as she sagged down, cradling her wounded arm.
Bandon smiled. "It's a special talent of mine, Shan."
Behind them, Jolee cut down one of the Dark Jedi, and fought his way back to stand with Patience and Bastila.
"What now, Shan? You're not good enough to take me down with your pathetic combat skills." Bandon's smile widened. The blast of a heavy blaster slammed into his back, and Bandon staggered. "What?" A grenade exploded, knocking him from his feet and throwing his companion into the underbrush.
"HK!" exclaimed Patience joyfully. "What are you doing here?"
Bandon whirled around and stared at the rust-colored droid emerging from the path. "Wait, you? Then – " he turned and looked at Patience, who had just engaged the other Dark Jedi. "It can't be!"
HK made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, and shot Darth Bandon again. The supercharged blast shattered his shields, and Bandon went flying. Before he could get up, HK had switched to a sniper rifle, and fired a high-explosive round that slammed into Bandon's head, right between his eyes.
With a horrible cry, Malak's apprentice crumbled to the forest floor, and Patience swiftly dealt with the remaining Dark Jedi.
"Ninety-eight percent match. Identify verified. Please select data for download."
Patience stopped, and stared at the holocron. "What? What do you mean I match? Match what?"
"Combat prowess and psycho-kinematic pathing correspond to previously accepted data."
"Greeting: Hello, Master. Statement: The impertinent meatbag indicated that you would require this datapad." HK handed over the datapad with all the Star Map data that they had already collected.
"Oh, thank you, HK!" Patience connected the datapad to the holocron, and started downloading the newest Star Map.
"Why didn't Carth just come himself?" asked Bastila curiously as Jolee healed her wounds.
"Statement: Remaining crewmembers are currently involved in dealing with the current situation. Clarification: There is violence involved."
Patience sighed. "At least it wasn't my fault, this time."

Order was finally restored on Kashyyk. Freyyr was Chieftain again, and Zaalbar was again the heir. Chuundar and his fellow slavers were all dead, and Czerka driven from the planet. The money that they had recovered from the Czerka office would go towards rescuing the Wookiees that had been sold off-world, and returning them to their home.
"That was a really good idea, Canderous," smiled Patience. "I didn't expect it from you."
"I don't like slavery," said Canderous bitterly. "It's a crutch, and has no real place in Mando'ade."
"Oh." She wondered if she should ask, but the Mandalorian didn't look like he wanted to talk. They continued walking back to the Ebon Hawk. She laid her hand on his arm, and walked with him in companionable silence.
"Most of the time, you don't remind me of her, but then you go and do little things like that," he said in Mandalorian, his voice hoarse as if he were holding back rage, or possibly tears. "We grew up together. Everyone assumed we would get married, but we never said the words. When I was ready, she wasn't. When she was ready, I wasn't there. I was off fighting. And then Ordo was taken by the Republic forces, and everyone was scattered. I searched everywhere," he said, choking back a sob. "I scoured the galaxy looking for her, and found her in a slave market. I couldn't save her. I watched her being taken away to a Hutt's ship, and thought about what it really meant to be a slave, for the first time in my life." Canderous shook off the memory. "Since then, I decided I won't have anything to do with the slave trade. I couldn't save her, but I could save others."
"Is that why you never have any money?" asked Patience curiously. This was a new side of Canderous, and it fascinated her.
He smiled wryly. "Yeah. I have agents buying any Ordos, or any other Mandalorians they can find."
"Where do they go? Ordo is still occupied."
Canderous grinned. "I can't tell you all my secrets, can I?" He looked down at her. "Well, not yet, anyway. I'll show you someday. Maybe when all this is over, and you can ditch Republic boy for a bit. I don't think he'd be able to keep the secret."
Patience smiled. "I'd like that! Oh, here," she handed him the chit that she had taken from Darth Bandon's body. "Take it," she urged. "It's from Malak's apprentice, so it's like Malak is paying you back."
"Oh, you can't do that," he protested. "Shouldn't that go to the common fund?"
"I'll just spend it all on droid parts anyway. Take it," she smiled. "Anyway, we're your clan now, aren't we?"
Canderous stared at her, then swore under his breath, and pulled her into his arms for a breathtaking kiss. She was shocked, but before she could stop herself, she had put her hands around his neck, and was pressing her body against his hard, muscular chest, her lips passionately against his.
Patience and Canderous had been trailing behind everyone else. Juhani was closest, and it was a moment before she noticed what they were doing, and at first was too shocked to say anything.
"Maybe you should stop that before Carth sees you," whispered Juhani urgently. "Or Bastila."
Canderous reluctantly let her go, and Patience pulled away, blushing furiously.
"I feel like I should say something, but my brain keeps singing Mandalorian love songs," muttered Patience.
Canderous laughed, trying to pretend he wasn't shaken from the intensity of her embrace. "Anything good?"
"I'm just going to go over here," Patience walked away from Canderous, and tried to concentrate on the real world, and not the crazy fantasy world where she reunited the Mandalorian clans, destroyed the Sith, and forged a new Mandalorian empire with Canderous at her side. "I probably shouldn't ever tell him about that," she said to herself.
"Tell who about what?" Bastila asked curiously. She had paused on the walkway so that she could talk to Patience.
"Bastila, am I really that interesting?" Patience blurted out. "I don't get it!"
Bastila laughed, and gave her a friendly hug. "If you knew, you wouldn't be nearly as interesting." She patted Patience playfully on the head. "Just keep being yourself."
Patience sighed. "But which one?" she whispered under her breath. She sighed, and walked with Bastila to the spaceport.
Carth was already there, laughing at the other ships as the beaten Czerka employees were being ejected from the planet. "There you are," Carth grinned, and put one arm around Patience and one around Bastila. "Look at them go," he laughed.
"You shouldn't mock them," said Bastila sternly. "Where is Jolee?"
"He's on the ship, helping Mission clean the galley so they can cook a homecoming feast for Zaalbar."
"Oh, that's so nice!" smiled Patience. "I'd go help, but – "
"Please stay away from the kitchen," said Bastila, holding her hand to her head, as the mere thought of Patience running around in the galley gave her a headache.
Patience laughed, and looked around the spaceport. "Oh, there are those Mandalorians we ran into. The ones who were hunting the Wookiees. Dar'ijaa! Honorless dogs," she suddenly snarled.
One of them heard her, and turned. The man staggered back as if struck. "It is you! You're alive! Murdering traitor!"
Patience stared at him in surprise, then realized that he was looking behind her.
"Jagi?" Canderous walked up to the stranger. "It is you."
"You know this guy, Canderous?" Patience looked from one to the other. They didn't look pleased to see each other.
"He was a warrior under my command. I had no idea – "
"You thought I was dead, didn't you?" demanded Jagi. "You thought we were all dead," he said bitterly. "You sent us to die while you directed your real forces – your precious Ordos – to attack elsewhere. You sacrificed us over the skies of Althir for your glory!"
"That's not what happened," Canderous protested.
"No? You mean you didn't change the plan in the middle of the battle so that you could have the honor of being the first to engage the enemy commander?"
Patience looked up at Canderous. "Sometimes, you have to make hard choices in war," she said calmly. She could see the truth in Canderous' face. He hadn't meant to abandon his men.
"I was reacting to the field of battle," Canderous explained. "I saw an opening, and I took it. If I hadn't, the battle – "
"The battle would have been won anyway," snarled Jagi. "Your excuses are meaningless, Canderous. I tire of this. I have spent years hunting you. Even though the clans were banished and broken, I still clung to the hope of finding you so that I could have my vengeance!"
"What are you planning to do?" Patience asked quickly.
"I challenge you, Canderous Ordo, to face me on the field of honor. Fight the battle that you fled that day. Face the spirits of the warriors that you abandoned to their deaths, or be cast out from the clans for all eternity. Sword and spirit shall be dar'Manda if you refuse this challenge."
Canderous gasped. "You're not serious."
"I am," said Jagi firmly. "I have spread the word of this challenge to every clan that I could find. Since Althir is not available, I shall wait for you in the Dune Seas of Tatooine." He turned his back on Canderous, and walked away.
"Sword and spirit? What is he going on about?" asked Bastila.
"If Canderous doesn't show up, he won't be considered a Mandalorian anymore," Patience explained. "Guess that means we're going to Tatooine next."
"You don't have to do that," said Canderous humbly.
Patience looked at him, and didn't bother to answer.
"Thank you." Canderous followed her onto the ship.
"Just don't kiss me again," she whispered.
Canderous smiled and Patience ran off to go find Mission and Jolee. Canderous sat down at the table and tried to think about what he would do when he met Jagi for their duel, but all he could think of was an old Mandalorian love song about a toy soldier who fell in love with a beautiful doll.

The Ebon Hawk left Kashyyk, and Carth set a course heading back to Tatooine. "So, are you going to tell us what happened with Jagi?" asked Carth as he sat at the table. Patience handed him a beer and a tray of food.
Canderous sighed. "Honor. I think I did the right thing, he doesn't agree with me."
"Perhaps you could be a little more vague?" suggested Bastila acidly. "Or perhaps, you don't trust us with your Mandalorian secrets?"
"Don't be like that," said Canderous quietly. "That's really all there is to it. I was in command, and I made a change in the battle plan. Some people died, but the battle was won."
"And naturally, the fool thinks you did it on purpose," said Jolee. "Ah well, you can explain it to him and we can get back to doing whatever it is we're supposed to be doing."
"Yeah, we have to go to Manaan after we get done with our little side quest," said Patience. "That'll be fun. Think they'll let us swim in the kolto?" Patience set down her cider and looked around. "Do you hear that?"
"No, and we won't hear it for the next five seconds," muttered Carth, and ran back to the bridge.
Jolee looked at him strangely, then the ship dropped abruptly out of hyperspace. "What the hell is that?" He looked at Patience, trying not to stare.
"Sith Interdictor!" shouted Carth. "We're caught in their tractor beam. They must have been waiting for us."
"Waiting for us?" exclaimed Bastila. "But how?"
"It's the Leviathan," said Carth grimly. "Karath's ship." He leaned back and stared at the now useless controls. "There's nothing we can do to escape."
The Ebon Hawk slowly started being drawn backwards, to the patiently waiting Sith vessel.
"I thought the Leviathan was Malak's ship," said Bastila.
"It is, but Karath runs it."
Canderous looked at Carth. "Didn't Saul Karath used to be a Republic officer?"
"He was." Carth looked down. "He taught me everything I know about being a soldier. He was my best friend, and my mentor, until he betrayed us all and proved his loyalty to the Sith by bombing Telos."
"Well, this is your chance for revenge," grinned Canderous.
"Carth." Patience looked at him, saw the pain in his eyes. "Don't do anything you'll regret."
"Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid," said Carth with a calm that he didn't feel. "I won't throw our lives away, or risk the success of our mission. But you can't ask me to just let him go. You can't."
"I understand," said Patience softly.
"We have bigger problems, kids. We're almost at the Leviathan now," said Jolee. "What are we going to do?"
"It is going to be somewhat difficult to make a plan," said Bastila, "but we must do something."
"Karath's no fool, and he won't make the mistake of underestimating us. He knows me too well."
"But does he know how many of us there are on board?" said Patience suddenly. "Depending on when he got that information, his numbers would be off by one," she explained, as she looked at Jolee. "We could hide someone on the Ebon Hawk, and they could come and rescue us later."
"You think fast," said Jolee approvingly.
"I'm fairly certain that Karath will know about Carth and me," said Bastila, "and you're almost certainly on their list now, if you weren't before. One of the others will have to do the rescuing, as we three will most likely be the guests of honor."
Patience looked at Juhani. "Your camouflage ability has come in handy before. That, and the fact that you're a Jedi, offers the best chance of success."
The Cathar blushed slightly, and pulled herself up proudly. "You speak the truth. I am honored that you would trust me with your safety. I will not fail you, Patience."
The ship shuddered, and there was a loud scraping sound on the hull.
"They're dragging us into the docking bridge," Carth explained the noise. "Juhani, you'd better get ready."
"May the Force be with you, Juhani." Patience gave her a quick hug, then went to the loading ramp to wait for the intruders.