Chapter 22: Only option I
Dariba is a hero to the Twi'lek people all over the galaxy. She has an entire race behind her. Speaking to her isn't going to be an easy thing to do. I look in front of me, and I'm on Sateles tail. "Do you think this Dariba will be willing to listen to us! She probably really resents the republic for all the things it's done!" The Twi'leks have been screwed time and time again. Some probably see Taris as a new start to their race.
I can sense that there is a debate going on in Satele. She is probably trying to think of an angle to get them to accept the republics' help. "She will eventually have to choose between the empire or us, Nate. She is a great leader and will see the threat of the empire!" So it's going to be an ultimatum. The republic that betrayed them or the empire that will enslave them. "Many Twi'leks will see us as enemies! So be ready to defend yourself if need be!" Twi'leks are fantastic fighters too. They had to be to survive this long.
I look at the swamps as we pass old destroyed buildings. This type of damage is something common among sith. Darth Malek sounds like a powerful sith lord. These old sith lords are something I should learn about. I wasn't able to learn much about sith history in the youngling library. What I did learn came from what Masters have told me. We continue riding for a few minutes, and we reach an outpost.
Satele stops at it, and so do I. This is a republic outpost and republic soldiers. I guess that means we are walking the rest of the way. A regular trooper comes up to greet us. "Captain sent word you were on your way here. The Twi'lek camps are in the old city 2 clicks out west. Do you want an escort there?" Satele shakes her head no and turns to look in the western direction.
She begins to walk, and I walk at her side. "Why do you think they set up camp in a ruined city? I get the strategic value, and it's easily defendable. The republics and empire's interests would be centered in cities. That is where old databanks are anyways. Make me question what's worth taking the risk." Dariba isn't stupid enough to set up camp in an old city. She is definitely playing some angle, maybe looking for a way to use the information she found as leverage.
Satele gives me a calming wave through the force. I really am overthinking things. I'm looking for things that aren't even there. I want to be on the safe side. "We'll find all the answers to our questions when we meet her. You don't have to worry about what might happen. That's my job, Nate." I nod my head and clear my mind. Satele knows what she's doing, and she probably already has a pretty good idea of what's going on.
I sense something through the force, and I stop. Satele notices I stopped and looks back at me. "What is it, Nate?" I don't really know. I feel like something is watching us.
I spread my senses out to be sure. Nothing pops up as a threat. "I feel like we are being watched. I can't sense anything nearby, though." Satele walks up beside me, and I feel her start searching. I wait for her response, and she looks back at me. "You don't sense anything either?" She shakes her head and looks out into the vast swamps.
She turns and continues walking. I follow beside her and push what I felt to the back of my mind. Whatever it was, neither Master nor I could sense it clearly. "How about a race, Nate? I know you excel at physical force augmentation." I smile at Satele and leap far forward, making sure I get a head start. "Just like Caleb..." I hear her say as I begin running fast.
I look behind me, and I see she is keeping pace with me. I notice we have rough terrain coming up, and instead of running and maneuvering through it, I leap over the entire section. I look down and see that Satele is keeping up even though she is going through the rough patches. I land on the other side and start running extremely fast. I look behind me, and I'm starting to pull away. "Okay, Nate! You win!" I slow down to a stop, and she catches up. "That was incredible, Nate... I didn't think Caleb would teach you so much..." To be fair, he only showed me the basics. I learned the rest on my own.
We both look west and see the crumbling buildings of a city. "Looks like we are getting close. I hope I don't have to use violence with Twi'leks..." Satele puts her hand on my shoulder and smiles at me. We run the rest of the way there with a moderate pace. It's easy for me to keep up when Satele is leading. After we step on the first road, many Twi'leks come out with their blasters pointed at us.
We both raise our hands, and the leader of this squad slowly approaches us. "What does the republic want with our camp?!" These Twi'leks are on edge. They probably had a run-in with the empire already.
Satele keeps a calm look on her face. "We just want to talk to Dariba about letting us officially aid the colonization and drive out the empire from this system." The squad leader gives us a suspicious look. He barks orders to someone behind some cover in their native tongue. "We don't mean any harm," Satele emphasizes that point. He gives us one more look and lowers his weapon.
Most of the weapons aimed at us are holstered too. "I'll take you to Dariba. We have already suffered attacks from the empire." Way to make this easy. I swear if they weren't so racist, they would have won this war.
Satele lightly bows to the man, and so do I. We follow him into the city, and he takes us to a massive repaired building, but it looks to have taken some damage in an attack recently. He leads us inside, and I see countless injured Twi'leks. Empire doesn't know mercy. "She is on the second floor in the command room. She knows your coming." Satele nods her head, and I follow her upstairs. Meeting the infamous Dariba for the first time is kind of exciting. I'm a little fan of her work.
We enter the command room, and she looks at us hard. She is missing one eye and has an eye patch. "So the republic wants to help us. You'll have to forgive me if I don't believe it for a second." What seems to be her right-hand man speaks first. Dariba holds up her hand and silences him.
She continues her hard stare and looks at me specifically. "Welcome, Grandmaster Satele... What brings you to our camp today?" Now I'll leave the talking to Satele. She is the expert here. All I got to do is sit back and learn from her.
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