Part 2 - Kashyyyk ~ Chapter 2: The Surface of the Abyss

“A Wookiee.”

The Wookiee immediately began to emit a series of complicated, guttural cries, yelps and howls as if to punctuate that two-word sentence.

“He understands Basic,” said Gidrea.

“Oh,” said Renora. “Oh. Sorry.”

“He’s the old friend I was telling you about, Padawan,” Gidrea said, letting a tinge of annoyance creep into her voice.

“He must not be that old of a friend, because I don’t remember befriending him.”

“His name is Chewbacca.”

“Oh!” This particular monosyllable was pronounced with greater enthusiasm than the other two. “Then he is an old friend. A friend of the Alliance.”

Chewie bellowed from deep within his furry torso, gesturing around him.

“What’s he doing on Kashyyyk?” asked Renora.

“As you so brilliantly pointed out, he’s a Wookiee,” answered Gidrea. Renora glanced at her quizzically. Her Master’s typical good humor seemed to have soured like the remnants of an overripe fruit in the sun.

“Yeah, and I’m a human. I’m not on Coruscant, or wherever scientists think humans originated from this week.”

“Yes, well, he’s the Rebel Alliance’s Wookiee liaison for this particular mission.”

“Which you still haven’t told me about. And which must be quite a killer judging by the way you’re about to have a baby bantha here.”

Gidrea didn’t even crack a smile. Her eyes seemed very dark within the shifting, multihued shadows of her cloak’s hood.

“Patience, Padawan. Not yet.”

=========================

It was an ordinary cliff, extraordinary only in its moderate elevation and abrupt, almost obscene incline with small tufts of dust wafting slowly up and down its surface. Renora had seen a million similar precipices before, in a dozen different varieties -- rock, dirt, snow, mud, packed soil, rutted sand, white water.

“We’re going to climb it, aren’t we?” asked Renora, feeling the color draining from her face, and with it, her nerve. “It’s steep. Really, really steep. If we fall, it’ll hurt.”

Gidrea said nothing. Sighing deeply, the echoes of a weariness Renora had never before detected in her Master almost palpable in that racking breath, Giddy sat down on a massive, aged, time-polished stone.

“Why don’t we just grab the ship and fly over it? Isn’t that what a ship is for? Flying over something that no civilized being would ever even glance at without feeling like they’re about to take a long drop with a sudden stop?”

Chewie growled a question, tilting his head to one side inquisitively.

“No, Chewie, I haven’t told her yet.”

Running a hand through her short hair, Renora sat down roughly on a patch of trampled, overgrown underbrush. “Kriff. It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Worse,” said Master Lightksy. “We can’t take the ship because if we do, the Imperials will detect us.”

“But there aren’t any Imperials on this part of Kashyyyk. They only congregate near the settlements so they can keep track of their slaving enterprises.”

Giddy nodded approvingly. “So you did read the data pad I gave you.”

“What did you think I was going to do with it, eat it?”

“You’re more likely to eat your work than to actually do it.” Gidrea chuckled at her weak joke. “But you’re wrong, Padawan. There are Imperials on this part of Kashyyyk. About two thousand klicks north of here, actually.”

“Two thousand clicks? They could be on us in just under an hour,” said Renora, leaping to her feet as if she had sat on a stormtrooper.

“Yes, but they won’t come after us. They have something else in mind.”

“Is this the something else you haven’t told me about?”

“It is.” Giddy sighed again. “A crystal. A crystal imbued with dark side energy. A nexus of dark power that’s capable of harnessing and channeling the Force, and warping every living thing around it.”

Renora gave a low whistle. “I don’t believe this. You’ve been reading my holo-comics. They’re giving you bad dreams.”

Giddy laughed. “I wish it were all a bad dream. But it isn’t.”

“And the crystal’s on the other side of that…that…monstrosity there?”

“Yep.”

Renora blinked as if she had just awakened from a deep sleep. “This crystal…it’s full of dark side energy, right?”

Gidrea nodded.

“So it must be broadcasting like a great, big, purple neon sign that screams ‘Hey!! Dark side!! Right here!! Tall, dark, and really evil!!!’ Right?”

Gidrea nodded.

“Uh huh. And that’s why you’ve been so on edge for the entire mission.”

“Yes.”

“You mean it wasn’t because of me? I’m wounded.” Renora smiled thinly, but neither of them laughed. Renora noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Chewbacca had his bowcaster tightly gripped between his large hands.

“Here we have a big, purple, neon rock--”

“It’s blue, actually,” interrupted Gidrea.

Renora shrugged. “Blue, purple, same thing. We have a big, blue, neon rock, just busting with dark side goodness, that anyone with the Force sensitivity of a drunk Gamorrean should have been able to pick up before we hit dirtside. Right?”

“Just about.”

“Okay, good. One problem, though. I couldn’t sense it.”

“I know.”

“I know you know. Why couldn’t I sense it, Master? Why can’t I sense it?”

“Because.” Giddy hesitated. Renora couldn’t remember ever seeing her Master hesitate. “Because of the darkness you carry with you, Padawan.”

“The darkness I carry with me? What’s that supposed to mean?” Renora paced back and forth, her hand opening and closing on the hilt of her lightsaber. “And no ‘certain point of view’ stuff, please, Master.”

Giddy’s voice was very quiet. “It means that if we’re not extremely careful, you’ll be utterly consumed by the dark side of the Force in under 24 hours.”

“Okay,” said Renora, her face and voice impassive. “Okay. What’s the alternative?”

“You’ll be dead.”

Giddy and Renora’s eyes went wide as Chewbacca whipped his bowcaster towards the cliff and rumbled menacingly, his mattered hair ruffled by a slight breeze.

“Well, at least I can still sense something,” said Renora. “We have company.”