IN THE SHADOW OF THE MANDALORE

A SCI-FI FRIDAY release: Chapter 7 part 2

(Taken from Pinterest)

It’s SCI-FI Friday again, and this is part 2 of CHAPTER 7. This only goes up to Chapter 8. There’s 5 parts to that, well, 4, part 5 isn’t finished. I promise I will be coming back and finishing this, but I want to Finish THE SHIELD OF LOCKSLEY first. I’ve given myself four months to do that.

I don’t know how long this is going to be, or how long it will take to get it done. Maybe I can get a little bit done and keep it going, but I might miss a week here or there if I do it that way. I’ve got a lot of shit going on. I’ll be starting a new story for STORIES, AFTER EIGHT in about three or four weeks, and that one’s not finished either. It’s a novella and takes place in the South during Civil Rights.

In the meantime, this is short. Sometimes it just works out that way…

ii

“Maybe we should take a break? I mean, I’ve figured out when the suit was made, even where it was made—the Battle Droid, too. But going through all these files and trying to find the dealer who sold the suit is giving me a headache. It might even be Off-World, the way it’s looking. I don’t know. I’ve been looking at this screen for so long, my eyes are leaking.”

“Well, perhaps a cup of d’Alaquan tea,” she said with a sigh.

“That’s the same tea Kashiefi drinks.”

“Is it? I can’t remember,” Dyatha-Lun said, shuffling across the floor to her small office.

Dax pushed his chair back and stood up, following her to a distant corner of the Archives. It was a large carpeted office, dark and crammed full of old books and manuscripts, with data files spilling out of various boxes lining one desk, and three computer terminals with blinking screens on a second, extended desk. There were old, antiquated droids used for propping up bookshelves, and artefacts from distant planets hanging up on display. Awards and certificates lined one wall, along with pictures, and holographic displays that looked like empty sconces on the other walls.

Dyatha-Lun waved a hand and the lights came on. Dax watched a duster droid scooting along the floor, its gentle hum filtering in with the sounds of the other computers and air vents. Dyatha-Lun pointed him to a chair, telling him to move things around if he had to as she began preparing the tea. Dax placed four boxes of data files on the floor before sitting, and then watched her boil the water, measuring the herb into a small urn before pouring the water into it.

After she poured the tea, she sat behind her desk holding the cup in her hands, relishing the pungent aroma.

“How long have you known Master P’oh?” Dax asked.

“Alyssa? I met her when she was Setti’s padawan.”

“She doesn’t talk much about her time with him. I wonder why?”

Dyatha-Lun smiled over her cup and nodded. “You don’t know? I suppose there’s a lot about her you don’t know. She claimed she was fourteen Standard years the first time I met her, but I found out later she was only twelve. I should’ve known what she was like, right then.”

“I can’t even begin to imagine what she would’ve been like.”

Dyatha-Lun smiled. “Oh, I think you can. The woman she is now, is the same girl she was then. Beautiful and self-assured to be certain—though I’d venture to say she’s more beautiful now—but I’m afraid she was just as head-strong and secretive back then, as she is today. Setti was convinced she’d never pass her tests. She was having a hard time concentrating—what with everything that was happening back on her Home-World. The gods only know how she ever became a Journeyer.”

“What was happening on Ryloth?”

“Twenty years ago, Ryloth was under siege.”

“I don’t remember hearing about that?”

“We don’t teach you those things, so there’s a lot you don’t know—purposely—and it’ll probably stay that way.”

“I don’t understand why not.”

“We might not be at war right now, but there’s been a lot of little battles and uprisings going on—for over a thousand years now.”

“That’s no reason the Council shouldn’t be telling us.”

“Twenty years ago, a small Sith Army led by some unknown Sith Lord, decided they wanted to conquer Ryloth. It came at us like a bolt out of the sky. No one was expecting it. It was in direct opposition to the signed treaty, and quickly put down, but it was almost two years. The Dark Council admitted that one of the Sith Lords had attacked of his own volition, without approval of the Council. Nobody believed them. How could we afford to considering our history? Of course, Alyssa wanted to fight for her Home-World, even though she hadn’t been back in more than a dozen years and had yet to complete her training. But her family was still there, and by that time she was in contact with an older sister. That’s how she found out her brothers died—”

“How many?”

“Three. Her mother and sister were taken Off-World and sold into slavery. She never heard from them again.”

“What about her father?”

“She barely remembers him. According to what her sister told her, he died fighting for independence.”

“You don’t believe it?”

“Ryloth wasn’t at war at the time.”

“So what do you think happened?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? He abandoned the family for whatever reason he had. Her sister probably made up the story because she wanted to believe it herself. A girl wants to believe in her father, even if it’s not true.”

“And you never told Kashiefi the truth?”

“There was no way of knowing if it was the truth, was there?”

“Then how did she find out?”

“I let her stumble across some files. I suggested Setti let her research the attempted conquest. I thought, maybe we should let her sort things out for herself.”

“Did she?”

“She became a Journeyer as soon as she passed her Jedi-level entrance exams. She’s an intelligent woman,” Dyatha-Lun nodded. “She was going to be a Kilian Ranger.

Dax sat silent for a moment, studying the leaves in the bottom of his cup. The tea tasted sweet, in spite of its pungent aroma, and he found himself thinking how Kashiefi had kept in contact with her sister when she was a padawan. It helped to understand why she felt he had to keep in contact with his.

Except, her family had died.

“Did she ever find her sister?”

Dyatha-Lun shook her head, studying him over her teacup.

“It’s not the same,” she said, reaching out a firm hand and squeezing his arm.

“What isn’t?”

“Your sister; we’ll find her. Then you and Alyssa will fly out and rescue her, because that’s what Jedis do. We protect the innocent.”

Dax nodded, knowing she was right, but wondering all the same what the old Rhodian knew about single combat, or warfare. He sensed that she knew he wouldn't rest until there was an end to it.