REVENGE OF THE SITH

Part V – Reunited

 

 

 

“Why are you receiving messages from Mandalorian soldiers?”

The quartet of Bastila, Carth, Revan, and the newly added Mission Vao had gone back to the Ebon Hawk to find nothing amiss, until Lynsel met them within the main hold. She asked her question to Revan, her eyes darting to look at the blue Twi’lek as they stopped.

“I’m popular?” Revan asked, jokingly. “I have no idea as to why Mandalorians are calling me, but if you will so kindly point me in the direction of the offending message, perhaps I can find out.” He went to the transmitter, before turning and saying, “Oh, LB, meet Mission Vao. Mish, this is LB. She’s with Republic Intel.”

“So you’re like a spy?” asked the young woman. “Cool.”

Lynsel was taken aback by the Twi’lek — not to mention the annoying nickname Revan had given her — that she just blurted, “You’re a kid!”

“Well, now you’ve done it,” muttered Carth.

“Kid!?”

“You sure you’re with Intel?” Revan asked, turning from the transmitter to look at Lynsel. “I’m just assuming you’d have a little more, I don’t know. Intelligence?”

“That’s a bit rude, Rev.”

“I don’t need you to defend me, thank you very much, Admiral.”

T3 made a wailing sound.

“Will you shut up?”

“Hey, you can’t speak to T3 like that! Can she, Rev?”

A loud whistle stopped the ensuing argument. Revan stood, facing them. “Are you all finished?” The group said nothing, but looked very embarrassed for their behavior. “Thank you.”

“State your business for communicating with this station,” came a voice over the transmitter.

“That’s a fine thing to say friend, when it was you who contacted us in the first place,” Revan replied. “Mind stating which station we’re in contact with?”

“As soon as you tell me who you are.”

Revan smirked. “This is the Ebon Hawk,” he said. “Currently about to leave the planet of Nar Shaddaa. I was under the impression that someone had left a message for me.”

The person on the other end gave a dry chuckle. “The Ebon Hawk,” he said. “I must say that ship gets around. This is Zuka, head technician here. Sorry to bust you, but not too many people know about this outpost and we’d like to keep it that way.”

“I can respect that.”

“Glad you could get back to us,” continued the man named Zuka. “Mandalore would like a word with you. We’re stationed on the moon of Dxun. Know it?”

“I know it very well.”

Zuka gave a surprised laugh. “I guess you would, wouldn’t you?” he joked. “I’m sending coordinates of where you can land your ship. A guide will be waiting for you and he’ll show you to our camp. Any questions?”

“Just one,” Revan said. “What’ve I done to gain the attention of Mandalore the Great?”

Again, Zuka just laughed. “I think I’ll let Mandalore tell you when he sees you,” he said. “Zuka out.”

“Well,” Revan responded, smiling a bit. “That was quite unexpected, but it does fall into the plan and the sooner, the better.”

“Mandalore?” Lynsel asked. “I thought the Mandalorian clans were all gone and forgotten. There hasn’t been a Mandalore since…well, since you defeat the last one at Malachor.”

Revan smiled at her, impressed she knew at least some of the war’s history. When he turned to look at Carth and Bastila, their faces were of grim shock.

“No…” Carth groaned.

The knight patted the admiral on the shoulder. “Come on, Carth,” he said, doing a half skip towards the starboard dorms. “Haste makes waste and all that. I need us on the way to Dxun, then maybe we can discover what’s going on with Onderon.”

The pilot shook his head; he didn’t know if he should be angry or gleeful at this turn of events. “Damn it, Rev,” he said, exasperated. “What other surprises do you have up your sleeve?”

The former Jedi master turned to look at the group. “You know,” he said, a thoughtful look on his face. “I’m not sure. I guess we’ll find out as we go.”

The last bit was accompanied by a shrug, before he turned and headed down the corridor. The pilot turned admiral shook his head again and motioned for Mission to accompany him in the cockpit, the Twi’lek looking just as confused as Lynsel Belyn felt.

The Intel officer didn’t know what to make of the situation. Earlier, while Revan, Bastila, and Carth had been out on the planet, she had again contacted her superiors on their location.

She was then startled not long after by a holo transmission from a Mandalorian soldier in full Mandalorian armor. He told her that the leader of the Mandalorians wished to speak to the owner and captain of the ship and she was instructed to forward the message.

Confused, though highly intrigued by the message and the speaker giving it, she again reported in to her superiors. They also wondered why Revan was being contacted by the warrior race, especially when he had killed their previous leader, Mandalore the Ultimate.

They told her to continue her quest and report back when she had the information they needed. By the time she had finished, she heard the group return, this time with the blue Twi’lek introduced as Mission.

Snapping back to the present, she realized that Bastila was currently going down the corridor to get Revan, which left her alone in the main hold. Sighing at the frustration of seemingly being left in the dark, Lynsel headed towards the port dorms to input this in her journal.

 

---

 

It took about an hour to reach to the jungle moon of Dxun. For the first time in the trip, the ship seemed quiet as everyone seemed to be off somewhere. Actually, four of those crew members were in the cockpit, but Lynsel was safe within the port dorms.

She again contacted her superiors, telling them they were meeting with a Mandalorian leader off the planet of Nar Shaddaa. When they had asked if she knew where they were headed, the lieutenant lied and said she had no idea.

That had been about twenty minutes ago and Lynsel herself couldn’t understand the reluctance of telling her superiors everything she knew. That wasn’t like her.

She always reported in the correct information as she knew it and had always gotten praise for her observations and detailed notes. So why now was she doing everything possible to keep key information from her high-ranking bosses?

Could Revan have placed her in some sort of…Jedi mind trap, where she would only tell what needed to be said? But if that were possible, that would mean that the former knight would have to know she was in truth spying on them. Did he? Did they think her offstandish approach was suspicious?

In the past she had been rather outgoing, but after her divorce she changed that; there were some people that could not be trusted and certainly the former dark lord of the Sith and a dark apprentice were those kinds of people. She just…she just didn’t understand the whole situation they were in.

If Revan was correct in that there would be a new dark lord of the Sith and that the ancient race of the Sith were indeed returning to take over the known galaxy, then why wasn’t he contacting the proper authorities to be ready?

Perhaps she was correct in her assumptions — that this was all a ploy for Revan to come back as head of the Sith, with Bastila as his apprentice. Okay, if that was true, where did Adm. Onasi and the Twi’lek fit in? And what about the Mandalorians?

Everyone else seemed to know who the new Mandalore was and it wasn’t a surprise, at least to Revan, when he had heard about it. Was he planning on using the Mandalorians to help fight the Republic? When she thought more about it, it did make sense.

The Mandalorians had a ritual where if their leader was defeated, the victor would be the rightful leader of the clan. It was survival of the fittest for sure and the brutes lived that notion.

But where did the other Sith come in? Lynsel may have played it off, but she was a very good observer of emotions and mannerisms and it seemed to her there was more going on between Revan and this Jedi exile turned Sith Lord. His voice seemed to sadden when he spoke of the new dark lord. Had they been friends at one time?

If so, what had made them fall out of that friendship? The war? That could be possible. Maybe the exile disagreed with Revan going to war with the Mandalorians. Then why was he exiled from the Jedi Order? She knew the Jedi to be strict; hell, if one breathed the wrong way, they were on the path to the dark side.

She never understood the Jedi and their weird rules, but she also didn’t get why so many of them fell to the dark side. This whole war between good and evil was started by the Jedi and whatever happened back in the olden days of the start of the rule only continued on and on.

 

---

 

The Ebon Hawk made a graceful landing within the tall grass of Dxun. They weren’t startled to see a man dressed in dull yellow armor waiting for them. This was their Mandalorian guide. “It’s about time you showed up,” he stated gruffly.

“Sorry,” Revan said, walking towards the guide. “We had to stop and get a lovely house warming gift for the Mandalore.”

“Funny,” the guide said, obviously not finding the joke funny all. “I’m to guide you through the jungle to the Mandalorian camp.”

“Why exactly do we need a guide?” Lynsel asked.

“The jungles of Dxun are quite formidable,” the guide responded. “These jungles belong to the beast that reside here and they don’t take kindly to us walking around.”

“So then why set up a base here,” Carth asked, “If the jungle is so dangerous?”

The guide laughed. “We Mandalorians find it a challenge.” He chuckled. “Only we’re brave enough to handle the beasts.”

“Or stupid for antagonizing them,” Bastila muttered.

“Do you need anything else or are you ready to go?”

“Lead on,” Revan said.

The group trekked through the high grass, only coming in contact with two large bomas and a maralas. They reached a clearing where the guide led them to the right. In front of them were two large shields that were set apart from each other.

Two other Mandalorians shimmered into solid forms as the guide walked towards the entrance. They nodded at the guide, apparently allowing him and his party to enter into the hidden sect of Mandalorians.

Lynsel had never seen anything like it before. They now entered a large camp where there seemed to be hundreds of Mandalorians, just walking around. They were all fully dressed in their traditional armor and some turned at their appearance.

Their guide turned to them saying, “Mandalore wants to see the three of you.”

“My, aren’t we special?” Bastila commented, giving a look to Carth.

“The big nerf,” Mission muttered. “Not like I wanted to see him or anything.”

Revan gave the young woman a pat on the head. “I’m sure he doesn’t even know you fell into our company once again,” he soothed. Looking at the guide, he said, “Lead on.”

The guide continued down the path, while the group looked around. Lynsel saw a fight up ahead to her left, a smaller group of warriors standing on the outside watching. The guide pointed the upcoming right.

“This is our command station,” he replied. “Everything we Mandalorians need to know can be found in there.”

“What about those men fighting over there?” Lynsel asked.

The guide chuckled. “That’s our smaller battle circle,” he said. “It’s there to train the younger students so that when they are ready, they may tackle some of our more worthy opponents within the battle circle.”

They continued their walk until they reached an outlet and then turned right. There seemed to be a blockage, but the guide didn’t seem worried as he used his shoulder to push part of the stone wall to the side.

“These are our huts.” He said, walking through. There was a medium sized community, with several medium sized dwellings. They were non-descript, with few decorations.

“Mandalore is in that hut over there,” he continued, pointing to his left at a much larger dwelling than the rest. Like the entrance to the camp, there were two shields in on either side of the doorway. “You two follow me,” he instructed to Lynsel and Mission.

The guide led the two women to the right, while Revan headed off to the left, with Bastila and Carth behind him.

The door slid open almost immediately, as if the trio were expected. Walking in, Revan smiled at the man who sat there, awaiting them. Though still in his Mandalorian armor, the helmet was off, allowing the visitors to see the man they had traveled with years ago.

His hair held a little more gray and he now sported a heavy black beard, but they would know Canderous Ordo anywhere. And though on this day, he was happy that his comrades were safe and sound, he wasn’t in the mood for a happy reunion.

“Hey Canderous,” Revan began, watching as his friend and comrade stood from his chair and walked towards the trio. The former bounty hunter stood before the group, a grim smile on his features…all before he pulled his arm back and punched Revan in the face. The knight, not expecting that, actually staggered from the impact.

“Ow!” he exclaimed. “That really hurt, you dumb son of a…”

He wasn’t able to finish when the Mandalorian again hit him, this time sending the younger man to the dirt floor of his home. “If you hit me one more time…”

“I don’t think you’re quite in a position to be challenging me, Junior,” the Mandalorian huffed, towering over Revan.

Bastila and Carth were just as stunned at the former Jedi master; they knew there wouldn’t be hugs all around, but they didn’t think Canderous would go and attack them.

“Five years, Revan,” the leader continued, a slight bitter and vengeful tone in his voice. “Five years and no word. That’s not friendly, is it?”

“And what exactly did you expect me to do, Canderous?” Revan snarled. “Send a ‘wish you were here’ holo from the depths of the Unknown Regions? Yeah, that be a laugh. I could send it through secure channels, like Sith R Us transmission.” The knight stood, brushing himself off. “You never were the brightest bulb in the box.”

The Mandalorian was the first to react, grabbing Revan by the front of his flight jacket. “Cut it out, Canderous!” Carth demanded, trying to pry the two apart. He succeeded in pushing Revan away, but was still holding an arm out to contain the current Mandalore.

“Did you do what I asked?”

The Mandalore smirked, using an arm to indicate their surroundings. “I didn’t do all this in a standard hour,” he replied, sarcastically. “Unlike you, some of us actually managed to do something productive with your five year absence, instead of going off for a vacation.”

The words had just left his mouth when Canderous felt his throat begin to close, as though a large hand had grasped his neck and was choking the life from him. His hands immediately went to his neck, desperately clawing at the unseen force.

Then just as suddenly, he could breathe again, however the sudden change caused him to cough. As his air ways cleared, he looked up to see Revan, with a somewhat confused look of an apology written on his face; Bastila stood at his side, hands clutched around his right arm to prevent it from moving. She was looking at Revan in a horrified manner, as was Carth, as though they couldn’t believe themselves what had just happened.

“Sorry Canderous,” the younger man muttered, averting his eyes from the Mandalorian.

The strangled silence was interrupted by beeping that came from the computer console on the left side of the wall. Canderous gave a sour look to Revan before walking over to answer. “This had better be important,” he stated to the caller, as soon as he picked up the line.

“And a glorious hello to you as well, all powerful leader,” retorted a voice.

“Dustil!?”

The young Jedi on the other end chuckled. “I’m glad you finally arrived safe and sound,” he replied, “I thought you might have gotten lost.”

“Where are you?” Bastila asked, curious as to where the young man was.

“I’m on Onderon.”

“What the hell are you doing on Onderon?” asked Revan.

“Building a castle,” came the gibe, “What do you think I’m doing on Onderon?”

“I don’t know,” Revan said. “Building a castle?”

Dustil laughed at that. “I’m glad you’re here actually,” he began. “I can’t go into details at this moment, but I could use a hand with getting all these crates back.”

Canderous looked at Carth. “I think I could send someone up there.” The pilot smiled and nodded.

“Great,” was the response. “I’ll meet you at the landing docks. I’ll…tell the guard at the gate I’m expecting someone. Hopefully there won’t be any questions asked.”

“And if there are?” questioned the woman.

“I’ll manage,” was his cryptic answer, though the room’s occupants knew what it could entail. And with that, the transmission ended.

“All right,” the former bounty hunter replied. “I have one volunteer. Who else?”

“I think Revan and I will stay,” Bastila said, looking at her lover. Though no words passed between them, the former knight knew the reason for them not going to the moon’s planet with Carth. Revan nodded, solemnly.

“Who’s going with me then?” asked the pilot.

“Ask Mission,” Revan said. “Better yet, take LB. Then you can see her in action and that will ease your doubts on her talents.”

Carth raised an eyebrow at his friend. “You know,” he began. “I think she hates it when you call her that.”

Revan smirked. “I know. that’s why I do it.”

 

---

 

True to form, Carth decided he would indeed ask Lt. Belyn to accompany him to Onderon in order to meet Dustil. He had been shocked and surprised that the young Jedi had managed to get under the radar of the shadow Sith, especially well hidden within Republic space, but Carth knew his son, and he knew Dustil didn’t take chances that could get him killed.

When the pilot had signed back on with the fleet, he knew he couldn’t give away his position to Dustil; it was too risky. Likewise, his son couldn’t exactly tell his father where he was either. All Carth knew was that he was safe and he was with Canderous, which had possibly shocked him more than receiving his transmission did.

However, he knew that the former bounty hunter, no matter what their differences had been, would watch over Dustil like his own. He knew that, that’s why he hadn’t been as concerned as he had been about Bastila.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t looking forward to seeing his son again.

So he had discovered where the rest of their party was and had asked Lynsel to go with him, not surprised that Mission had ditched her in favor of exploring the camp. Apparently he had caught the young Intel officer in the process of doing that herself. Canderous had directed him to one of the hangers that would be across the way to the left and there they would find a shuttle.

Once they were strapped in, Carth began making the proper inspections before launch. “Is this a good time to ask you more questions?”

Carth smirked. He couldn’t help but compare the young woman to Revan. She always seemed to want to know more about him and asking questions. He figured she landed the perfect job as an Intel officer, as they seemed to always have the need to know more and learn more in their field.

And he could admit, he wasn’t as shy as he had been when Revan had been asking him questions. It hadn’t been a good time in his life and he always felt the need to be guarded, cause he never knew when someone would betray him.

While he still had that sense to keep closed about some things, he felt he could trust the lieutenant; he didn’t know why he felt that way, though something told him it had to do with the fact that she was a woman and a very pretty one at that.

He always did have a weak spot for brunettes and redheads — which could explain his sudden infatuation with Bastila — and the fact that Lynsel seemed to have both of those traits in her auburn coloring…

“I’m all ears, beautiful,” he said with a smile. A compliment here and there wouldn’t hurt, and his wife had always said he was quite a flirt.

Lynsel looked over at him. She was, of course, used to being hit on by senior officers, but she didn’t think the admiral was one of those horny bastards she tried to avoid. “Beautiful?” she asked. “Isn’t that a little inappropriate?”

He began to put the shuttle in the air before turning to look at her. “Is there something else you’d prefer I call you?”

“I’d prefer you didn’t call me anything,” she stated. “It’s demeaning.”

Carth chuckled. Well, compliments were obviously not going to fly in this ship. “Don’t get yourself in a twist over it, gorgeous,” he said. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“There you go again!”

“Oh for crying out…” They hadn’t even left the moon’s orbit and already they had gotten into it and over a freaking compliment. Women! “Fine,” he huffed. “If it makes you feel better, you can call me something.”

When he didn’t hear anything, he turned to look at her, surprised at the complete look of horror on her face. “Go ahead, come on,” he said. “I can take it.”

“Are you crazy?” she sputtered. A high-ranking officer had just told her to tell him off. The admiral obviously wasn’t playing with a full deck, she knew that right now. “Don’t be ridiculous!”

“What?” he asked, challenging her. “Are you afraid you’ll hurt my feelings? Come on, spit it out. You can do it.”

“How about sexist worm?”

“Is that it?” he laughed. “You can do better than that.”

“Sexless marsh-toad!” she exclaimed. “Hairy, two bit…spice snorter! Lobotomized Gamorrean!”

“Ouch.” Carth chuckled. He hadn’t expected the last one. “That is better. I bet ‘beautiful’ doesn’t sound so bad in comparison, now does it?”

Lynsel gaped at the officer. She had never before in her life told off a senior member of the Republic Fleet, even if he wasn’t her superior officer within her specialty. In fact, this whole trip seemed to be one after the other of things she would normally never do. And then she surprised herself — and Carth — when she began to laugh.

“You’re such a pain, you know that?”

The pilot smiled, glad they wouldn’t have a repeat of the other night. “Guilty as charged,” he replied, steering their small shuttle towards Onderon. “I bet you still have those questions.”

Lynsel nodded. “First things first,” she said. “Why are we going to Onderon?”

“I have it on good authority that something rotten is going on up there.”

“This authority wouldn’t happen to be the new Mandalore, would it?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Matter of fact it does.”

“But how are we going to get around?” she asked. “I’ve never been to Onderon. We’ll need a guide. Have you ever been?”

Carth shook his head. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We have a guide.”

“Who?”

“Good guy,” he said. He turned to look at her, a wide grin on his face. “Goes by the name Dustil Onasi.”

Lynsel couldn’t help letting her jaw drop at that bit of information. His son was on Onderon? And he would be their guide? Before she could formulate a question about it,

Carth was bringing their ship into the port of the capitol city of Iziz. Her pilot turned to her, saying, “It’s going to be hostile walking in, I know that much. I say we leave things up to Dustil for the time being, okay?”

She only nodded.

The two left their shuttle and entered through the walkway of the main city hub. Immediately, the Intel officer felt a chill of…she didn’t know what it was, but it left her feeling apprehensive. Looking at Carth, she could see walking into Iziz had the same effect on him as well.

Outwardly, she didn’t see anything…off about the planet, but then again, this was her first time being on the surface of such a planet full of history and including recent events, all of it bad.

“You there!” called a voice, which came from a man dressed in military uniform. “I don’t believe I have your ship number on my charts.”

“They’re with me,” replied a voice, coming from a hooded figure that stood next to the uniformed man. Lynsel was quite surprised at his appearance, as she hadn’t seen him approach, but now that he was in her line of sight, she took the short time to study him.

He was dressed in a dark robe, with a hood that covered his face. It wasn’t his clothing that stuck, but the mere fact that as he announced his presence, she had seen his hand move slightly.

The uniformed guard’s face took on a slight glazed expression before he said, “Yes, I can see these two are indeed with you. Hurry along and make sure you hold on to your star pass. Don’t want to let the riffraff get to it.”

Carth smiled as the mysterious figure walked over to them, removing the hood from over his head. His was a young man, in his twenties — possibly mid twenties — with dark brown hair and eyes that he had obviously inherited from his father.

Lynsel could easily see the resemblance between father and son. She watched as the younger Onasi gripped his father’s hand in his in a handshake, while Carth’s other clapped on him on the shoulder.

“Hello, Dad,” said the younger man, just as glad to see his father as the elder Onasi was to see him.

“It’s good to see you, son,” replied the pilot, giving his son another affectionate pat on the arm. He then turned to face Lynsel, nearly forgetting she was with him. “Dusty, I want you to meet, Lt. Lynsel Belyn. Lieutenant, this is my son, Dustil.”

“So Revan got you roped into this too, huh?” the Jedi asked, shaking the woman’s hand. At her surprised look, Dustil chuckled. “I figured he was behind this.”

“As happy as I am at seeing you, son,” Carth begin. “Your message didn’t sound pleasant.”

Dustil took a deep breath. “Right,” he said. “Let’s head over to the cantina. I think I need to start things at the very beginning at least.”

The Jedi escorted his companions to the walkway that would lead them to the Merchant Quarter. However when they entered, they discovered it nearly empty. They could see the remains of what used to be merchant shops and a large fountain in the center, which no longer flowed with water. The section seemed to be completely deserted.

“Where are all the people?” Lynsel asked.

Dustil sighed. “I’ll get to that,” was all he would say.

He led them further back and to the left, where he said they would be entering the Western Square. While that too didn’t seem lively, at least there were random people wondering around.

“These are mercs who’ve been hired to…keep the peace, so to speak,” their guide told them. “Only authorized personal, basically. A few know who I am or at least who I’m speaking for, so they pretty much leave me alone.”

He led them to the cantina, which seemed to be the only place that had activity on the planet. Though there was a slight crowd, Dustil still managed to get a somewhat private lounge towards the back and to the left. There was a holorized Bith band and well as two Twi’lek dancers. The young Jedi motioned to a table with three chairs.

“How much do you know about Onderon?” he asked, as soon as his companions sat. He ordered three drinks, which Lynsel declined, before watching as their waitress left them.

“I know it has a history of war and corruption,” the Intel officer replied.

“That’s putting it mildly,” Dustil muttered. “Quick history lesson — the problems of Onderon start with the conflict between the citizens of Iziz and the Beast Riders. The Riders were criminals who had been exiled by Freedon Nadd.”

“He was a Jedi, correct?” Lynsel asked. Dustil nodded.

“He had been on the verge of knighthood,” he continued. “But when he didn’t receive it, he killed his master and went in search of the former worlds from the Sith Empire. I guess the True Sith, if you want a distinction. Anyway, Nadd ends up finding the spirit of former Sith Lord Naga Sadow, who teaches him. He then headed here to Iziz.

“Once here, he began to rule the planet. Upon his death, his spirit still managed to teach his descendants the ways of the dark side. Long story short, his spirit appeared to one of the queens of the planet, whose husband was a descendant. Nadd told her if she didn’t fix the problem between the Beast Riders and Iziz, she’d be destroyed.

“Well, naturally, she freaked out and got in contact with the Jedi, who sent three knights to the city. The plan was to move the former king and Freedon Nadd’s coffins off world, as they seemed to be influencing the planet. The knights ran into trouble with followers of Nadd. Big battle takes place, but in the end, Freedon Nadd is transported to Dxun.”

A small gasp escaped from Lynsel’s mouth before she could stop it. “Don’t worry,” the Jedi replied. “The solution to that problem will be coming up soon enough. Anyway, while all this is taking place, two cousins have stolen some Sith artifacts and are just newly graduates of Freedon Nadd before his coffin is transported. These two cousins set about making a new order called the Krath.”

“As in the Krath who tried to take over the Empress of Theta?” Carth asked, to which his son again nodded.

“I’m sure you learned the rest in military history,” Dustil said. “In essence, you have the beginnings of the Exar Kun War. Skipping ahead many years, we get to our current problem. I know you both have noticed the streets of Iziz are quite empty. Last year, a Jedi exile came to Iziz and helped overthrow the Queen. I know the two of you can’t feel it, but I can and I bet Revan would as well, which is probably why he sent the two of you instead of himself and Bastila.”

Lynsel unconsciously rubbed one of her arms. “What’re you talking about?” she asked.

“The planet of Onderon has probably never truly been free from the dark side energy of Freedon Nadd,” the young Jedi replied, taking a sip of his drink. “I mean, you do know that despite being someone who wanted change for the better, Queen Talia is…was…a descendant of Nadd’s.”

“Are you saying the dark side still permeates this place?” questioned Carth.

“I’m saying…” Dustil again took a drink, a long one this time. “I’m saying I find it highly suspect that our friend the exile made sure to destroy the tomb of Freedon Nadd, yet the dark side is still heavy here.”

“But why is that?” Lynsel asked.

Dustil sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I’d like to think it’s because Gen. Vaklu is currently in power,” he said. “But I have a feeling it’s more than that.”

“So what do we do?”

The young man gave her a look before looking at his father, who smirked at him.

“I have a feeling we’re going to try and overthrow the current monarchy,” Carth answered.

 

 

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