Chapter Three: Chuundar and Deigo Fight

“Here.” The Deigo came into view once again. She dragged a dead kinrath behind her. Carth cringed at the foul smell.

“What is she doing?” He asked, coughing. Ignoring a language she couldn’t understand, the Deigo continued to pull the large kinrath spider’s body to the three Jedi.

“She’s going to draw out the monster.” Jolee informed. He waved a hand across his face. “Phew!”

“Tarentatek…. Here.” The Deigo insisted, hanging up the kinrath body on specific vines in the area.

“So now what?” Carth asked, thoroughly disgusted. The Deigo stopped, and a strange sound came out of her mouth.

“She’s trying to say something.” Salvi interpreted. He crouched down beside her. “What are you trying to say?”

The Deigo fell over herself trying to hide behind Bastila’s legs. Salvi stood, raising an eyebrow. Bastila looked down at the Deigo, who didn’t look happy.

“I don’t think she likes you, Sal.” Bastila giggled.

“Yeah, yeah,” Salvi waved her off. “Why me?”

“Well, this lass has a good memory, now don’t you?” Jolee guffawed loudly.

“A good memory?” Bastila asked, paling.

“Of course! Just because she’s been living with the animals for some twenty years doesn’t mean she’s as stupid as they are. She can remember people.” Jolee grinned. Bastila wasn’t as happy to hear that as Jolee was.

“But that means she could—”

She couldn’t finish her sentence. The smell of the dead kinrath had found it mark. The tarentatek came close.

The large green monster with spikes on his back and arms didn’t seem to affect the Deigo as it did the others. She stared at it with contempt; just as a thing that needed to be brought down and nothing more. To the others, it was a different story.

Carth didn’t know why the three Jedi looked at the monster with such despair. It didn’t look that powerful. Yet the three Jedi were almost petrified. They stood rigidly, their hands clenched into fists. Salvi could feel his fingernails digging into the palm of his hands.

“You see what I’ve been talking about?” Jolee whispered. “There are dangerous things in these lands.”

“You’d think the Twi’Lek on Dantooine would have warned us that they looked so… intimidating.” Salvi winced.

“No one has seen a tarentatek for over forty years, you recall. I doubt that our historian friend in the Enclave has anything over twenty.” Bastila pointed out. “There’s no way he could have known.”

Known what? Carth wondered. He didn’t like being left out of the loop, which—unsurprisingly to Carth—happened a lot. He wished they would clue him in on what they were talking about.

By now the tarentatek knew who had called it out into the open. It charged the group. The Deigo flew at it, circling the monster and barely avoiding a stab from its claws.

“She’s distracting it. Now we can attack it from behind.” Jolee surmised. He unsheathed his sabers and leapt into the battle.

“Carth, I think it might be best if you stay out of this.” Bastila turned to the captain. Carth puffed up.

“I can fight just as well as any of you.”

“Yes, but we’re dealing with an animal made to counter people using the Force. For an animal like this, no mere person can win.” Bastila explained. Carth chuckled.

“Oh yeah? Then what’s the Deigo doing?” He pointed to the battle. Salvi and Jolee were making use of their lightsabers and were hacking away at the tarentatek. The Deigo sat on top of the monster, snapping off sharp spikes from its back. The tarentatek couldn’t get to the person making the pain on its back, so it simply ran in circles. Carth laughed.

“It seems she has everything under control.” He observed. And she did. In a few moments, the tarentatek had toppled over onto its side and Salvi cut off its head.

Green blood spattered everywhere as the head disjointed from the neck. The Deigo slid off of the back and next to the dead beast. She rested her hand on its side and began pulling at something.

Carth ran to her side. The Deigo backed off; pointing at the place she’d been trying to get to.

“Here.” She stated. Carth inspected the area. He could see a golden glint. He grasped onto it and pulled.

It was stuck. Jammed. He was unable to get it out.

“Salvi, come help me.” Carth called. As Salvi came over, the Deigo backed even farther away.

Salvi and Carth hung onto the hilt of the sword and pulled with all their might. The sword dislodged itself from the side of the creature. Carth and Salvi were caught unawares, so they went flying. The sword jumped from both of their hands and began sailing through the air.

The Deigo caught it. She shot into the air and grasped the hilt tightly, landing on her two feet and standing straight for a moment. Everyone stared, shocked, as she looked around and wondered why everyone had shrunk to her level. Then she realized she was standing on two feet. She screeched, falling over.

Carth couldn’t help it. The dismayed look on the Deigo’s face was priceless. She stared at everyone, squinting as if she knew something was different. Then she looked down and saw herself standing up. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes became much wider. It was adorable. Carth burst out laughing.

Carth had never noticed that the Deigo was actually very tall. She towered over Bastila and could almost stand as high up as Salvi, who was a good three inches taller than Carth.

“Come, now, there’s enough of that.” Bastila snapped. She’d found the whole thing utterly and completely naïve. “We have to get this sword to Freyyr as quickly as possible.”

-----

Why me? Carth asked himself as he stood on the pathway. He and the Deigo had gone up on the Great Elevator first, and now they were waiting for the others to come up. Carth stood next to the Deigo, who was squinting from all the light. He looked down at her and grinned.

“I guess you’ve been living in the dark for a long time, huh?” He said. The Deigo cocked an eyebrow, tilting her head sideways.

“Huh? Dawka?”

Carth shrugged, kneeling down to the Deigo’s level. He covered her eyes with his hands. “Dark.” He said.

“Dawka.”

“No.”

“Da—Dark.”

“Good.”

“Good!”

Carth smiled. He pulled his hands away.

“Light.”

“Light?”

“Yes.” The Deigo nodded. She pointed to a torch hanging from a tree.

“Light?”

“Very good!” Carth stood, rubbing her head. The Deigo reached the flame and tried to touch it. She recoiled before she touched it, whimpering.

Carth stared, amazed. She was now trying to ask him how to say things. He pretended to touch the flame and said, “Hot.”

“Hawt?”

“Close.” Carth said. “Hot.”

“Hot.” The Deigo repeated. Carth then took out one of his swords and touched the flat side of the blade. The blade felt cool in his hands.

“Cold.” He said as the Deigo touched the blade.

“Cold.” She repeated. Carth nodded, and the Deigo smiled. “Good!”

Then the Deigo grabbed a hold of the whole sword and stared at it wonderingly. Carth worried that she might not be able to hold the whole sword.

“Vibrosword.”

Carth was astounded. She’d just said vibrosword! There’s no way she could possibly have known that word.

“How did you know that?” He asked. The Deigo shrugged.

“I think she’s starting to understand you more, Carth.” Carth jumped at the new voice. He hadn’t even heard the elevator come up behind him, and now there stood Jolee. “Maybe she can pick some words out of your vocabulary now.”

“Lee-lee! Good!” Deigo smiled. Jolee wrinkled his nose.

“Lee-lee?” He repeated. “It’s not what I would call a nickname.”

“We’ll work on it later.” Bastila insisted. “There’s a Wookie heading this way.”

And there was. A tall, gray-haired carpet was walking toward them. Salvi smiled.

“You’re the one we helped with those spiders.” He said. The Wookie nodded.

“Freyyer came to us. He told of how you have saved him from the Shadowlands, and how now you’re going to help him take back his leadership rights.” The Wookie stated. Salvi nodded.

“What happened to the rest of your hunting party?”

“Some were loyal only to Chuundar. We had to fight. The rest of my party went ahead with Freyyer to gather more support.”

The Deigo started making worried sounds that no one could make out. The Wookie stared at her for a moment before crying out with joy.

“The Deigo!” He exclaimed. “You’ve come back! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“She came backwith us to help you.” Bastila clarified. The Wookie nodded.

“Of course, of course. Come, I will take you to Chuundar at once.”

The Deigo sneezed.

-----

“Salvi!” Zaalbar called as the team walked through the door. “You’re alive!”

“Zaalbar!” The Deigo smiled. “Zaalbar here!”

Zaalbar seemed shocked that she was speaking Basic.

“I’m here.” Zaalbar told her.

“But so am I.” Chuundar’s cold voice rang loudly. “I see you’ve managed to do the one thing I’d hoped you wouldn’t do.”

Salvi shrugged.

“What can I say?” He asked blithely. “I’m a troublemaker.”

Freyyer stood beside Chuundar, and now he roared.

“My son, too long have you oppressed your people. This ends now.”

“Why? Because you have the hilt of Bacca?” Chuundar challenged. “Well I have the blade. Even you claimed it to be all-important. It seems we both have our trinkets of nobility; it is only a matter of who will follow whom.”

The Deigo stood next to Freyyer. She had a cold, hard stare set on her face, pointing directly at Chuundar.

“Ah,” Chuundar said, acid coating his tongue. “I see you’ve brought up the little flea from the Shadowlands. I wonder how you got her to leave.”

The Deigo growled, daring Chuundar to attack her.

“He didn’t.” Salvi said. “Carth did.”

Carth stared in wonder. What had he done? What a good time to keep his translator implant tucked safely into his other jacket. He couldn’t understand anything of what the Wookies were saying.

“Salvi….” Zaalbar whispered. Salvi turned to regard him. “Chuundar has been saying things…. They make sense. I don’t know what I should do.”

“Why do they even have to fight?” Salvi asked. “Talk them through it!”

“Are you sure?” Zaalbar questioned. “They seem pretty set on it….”

“They’re family.” Salvi stated. “Would you let family destroy each other without trying to talk through it?”

Zaalbar seemed to be deep in thought. He turned from Salvi and the team to Chuundar and Freyyer, who were still arguing about how many people follow them. The Deigo stared back at him, her eyes sharp and pleading. With a vigorous howl, Zaalbar broke the attention of the bickering pair.

“Enough! This ends now!” He called. “You’re both acting like younglings, fighting over control. Can’t we talk this out? Surely we can come up with a plausible answer.”

His outburst had shocked even the humans in the room. The two Wookies stared at him then at each other. The Deigo was beaming.

“I guess…. I guess I have been a little youngling-ish.” Freyyer admitted. “What say you, son? Is there hope yet?”

Chuundar seemed uncertain for a moment. He gripped his blade, staring from Freyyer to Zaalbar, and finally to the Deigo.

“What do I say?” He repeated. Freyyer nodded. “I say you’re both madclaws! And I have Czerka on my side.”

“Then so be it,” Freyyer seemed disappointed. Chuundar lunged for Freyyer.

The Deigo held up a hand, screaming. Chuundar flew into the air and started spinning in circles.

Salvi started. “Isn’t that a Force power?” He asked. Before anyone could reply, Czerka and the other Wookies set themselves upon the group.

Carth fought his way to the Deigo, slashing through Wookies under Chuundar and Czerka corporation members alike. He found the Deigo on the ground, tumbling all over the place with Chuundar. Freyyer and Zaalbar attempted to make their way to separate the two, but couldn’t get close enough. Every time they came close to the pair, they’d roll away or other enemies would come up.

Finally the Deigo pinned down Chuundar. She spat in his face and knocked his head into the ground. He pushed her off and grabbed for a vibroblade.

Carth got to her just as Chuundar’s blade would have dealt a death blow to the Deigo. She closed her eyes and braced herself, but nothing happened. Carth had out his own vibroblade and had blocked the hit. The Deigo sprang up and leapt at Chuundar again. His vibroblade missed her by inches.

Every one of Chuundar’s allies was now dead. The three Jedi and Carth had killed them all. Chuundar was the only one left.

Chuundar circled the Deigo, his sword twisting through his fingers. The Deigo stayed on all fours, watching the blade intently. Chuundar struck. The Deigo dodged. This went on for minutes.

“Enough.” Zaalbar growled. “You can’t win against all of us.”

“Oh?” Chuundar cackled. “And who said I wanted to win? What if I just want to make sure this one never sees the light of day again?”

The Deigo shrugged, sitting down. She closed her eyes. Her muddy brown hair swung in her face as she concentrated.

“What?” Chuundar asked. “Are you giving up already?” He shrugged. “Very well, then.” He held his sword high above the Deigo’s head.

The ceiling cracked. A small piece of debris clipped Chuundar on the head. He held it out to himself, cocking an eyebrow.

“Uh-oh.” Jolee said. “Move back.” The old man pulled Salvi and Bastila away from Chuundar.

“Why?” Salvi asked. “What—”

The roof caved in. The rock on the ceiling collapsed over Chuundar and large boulders fell onto him. He was crushed.

The Deigo opened her eyes and smiled.

“Good!” She told herself.

Carth stared, shocked. Had she made the ceiling fall?

“I never liked that roof,” Freyyer said, chuckling.

Bastila turned to Carth. “Carth,” She addressed. “Go, take the Deigo to the Ebon Hawk and ask Mission to clean her up. Most of what’s going to happen next is mainly going to be in Wookie, so you’ll just get more lost if you hang around.”

Carth shrugged, turning to the Deigo. She had dust sprinkled over her hair and face from the ceiling she’d just made to fall.

“Come on,” He said, heading for the door. The Deigo followed.

-----

“You want me to what?”

“I need you to clean up this woman for me,” Carth repeated. Mission raised an eyebrow.

“Why can’t she do it herself?” Mission asked. She crossed her arms.

Carth sighed. “Watch this.” He knelt down to the Deigo and said, “Dark.”

The Deigo put her hands over her eyes and smiled.

“Dark!”

Mission giggled. “I see….” She rubbed her head, kneeling down to the Deigo. “My name is Mission Vao.”

“Mai naim is Misheeon Vayoh?” The Deigo squinted, tilted her head, and raised an eyebrow. Mission hugged the Deigo.

“She’s adorable! Can I keep her?” Mission asked.

“If you clean her up.” Carth answered.

Mission nodded. “My name is Mi-ssi-on V-a-o.” She pronounced her name for the Deigo.

“Misheeon-vayoh?” The Deigo repeated.

“She doesn’t understand last names, Mission.” Carth said. “She’s trying to put it all into one.”

“Oh!” Mission smacked herself on the head. “Mission.”

“Misheeon.”

“Close enough.” She began to walk to board the Ebon Hawk. “This is called a ship.”

“Ship.”

“Good!” Mission said. “Who are you?”

“Deigo. I am Deigo.”

“Well, Deigo, let’s get you all clean, huh?” Mission dragged the woman on board and closed the ramp.

-----

“We’re back!” Savli called. He showed up at the foot of the Hawk with Bastila, Zaalbar, and Jolee in tow.

“Well, Mission won’t let anyone on board,” Canderous snarled. “She even kicked me and T3 off.” T3-M4 beeped in annoyance.

“Why?” Bastila asked.

“She and Juhani are giving the Deigo a bath and they don’t want anyone to disturb them.” Carth said. “They’ve been in there for over an hour. How much grime can one woman get on herself?”

“Twenty years worth.” Jolee said.

“Twenty years?” Canderous repeated. “She’s been here as long as you have?”

“When I first came to live here, I’d heard rumors from the Wookies about there being a strange animal among the others. For the first few months, I thought they meant me. But after a while I started to see a little girl with the animals. The Wookies started calling her the Deigo.” Jolee said. “She’s been here a long time.”

“And you didn’t do anything about it?” Bastila asked. “You just let her run free with the wild animals?”

“I’m old, okay?” Jolee snarled. “And she’s quick. I tried to catch her for a long time, but she wouldn’t come anywhere near me for the first few years, and after that she was too feral to do anything with but put some clothes on her.”

“Fair enough.” Salvi shrugged. “But now what do we do?”

“We wait for Mission to let us back inside.” Canderous growled, crossing his arms and leaning against the ship. “But if she takes longer than ten minutes I’ll break the door down myself.”

“No you won’t!” Salvi argued. “Do you know how much a customized door costs?”

“Why don’t you tell me, smuggler?” Canderous chided. Salvi puffed up.

“We prefer to be called Legally Challenged, thank you.” He corrected.

The door to the Ebon Hawk burst open.

“Okay!” Mission’s voice rang around the hangar. “You can come back inside now. We’re done!” Then she added, “Carth, you won’t believe this!”

Carth was the first one up the ramp. He stopped in the main hold and stared.

Where was the Deigo?

There stood Mission, curling one of her lekku around her finger and grinning, and then there was Juhani, grinning from ear to ear. In between them stood a woman Carth didn’t recognize. It took him a while to realize that this was the Deigo.

It seemed that the two women had taught the Deigo how to stand, because she was doing so without any support. Her face was clear and grime-free and her hair—now blonde—ran down to her waist.

“And you thought she was a brunette.” Mission giggled. “She’d had so much dirt on her you couldn’t tell it was blonde!”

Carth was speechless. Mission and Juhani had even found some new clothes for the Deigo to wear; ones that fit her better than Jolee’s clothing. She wore a suit identical to Mission’s, with a holster on her waist and everything.

“She’s big enough to wear my clothes!” Mission thought this was hilarious. “Does she look all right?”

“She looks like she’s been human for her entire life,” Bastila commented, obviously as impressed as Carth was.

“She looks nice.” Canderous insisted.

“Can she walk?” Jolee asked. Mission turned to the Deigo.

“Well?” She asked, smiling. “Lee-lee asked if you can walk. Can you?”

Jolee frowned at the nickname. Obviously the Deigo had been telling stories about Jolee to the two women.

“Yes,” The Deigo said haltingly. “I can walk.”

“You taught her to speak?” Salvi asked.

“Not totally,” Juhani admitted. “A few sentences here and there. We’ve spent most of our time teaching her things she needs to know about herself.”

“Well, you both did a great job.” Bastila nodded. “I think it’s time we head out now. Carth, set the coordinates to Dantooine.”

“What?” Carth asked. “Why Dantooine?”

“What?” The Deigo couldn’t keep up with all the talk.

“Deigo,” Zaalbar started. “They want to take you to Dantooine. There you can learn to be a human and learn to speak Basic.”

“Dantooine?” The Deigo repeated. “No Kashyyyk?”

“No, we have to leave Kashyyyk. We’ll be back someday, though.” Zaalbar answered. The Deigo paled. “But I’m coming with you, so don’t you worry.”

Hesitantly, the Deigo agreed.

“Excellent,” Bastila stated. “We’re off to Dantooine.”

-----

This is the only one I remember emailing to myself so I could work on it in school. And then they went and blocked from school! So I might have to email it back to myself and then get it onto the web, but yeah. The next chapter they’re already on Dantooine and they’re going to show the Deigo to the Jedi Council. Please review!

Amme Moto