Chapter Three (Darth Shadie: Lady of the Force)

They met with Kelbourn and his team at the mercenary camp where his ancestor had served Mandalore the Preserver on Dxun itself, as had been appointed.  If Sith were still roaming the moon, there was no need to broadcast the location of the new Mandalorian camp.  That was assuming there was a new camp on Onderon’s moon.
‘Are you all right?’ Knarf whispered to Shadie.
‘I’m fine,’ she replied dryly.  ‘I’m…just a little anxious.’
Shadie felt in turmoil actually.  The Jedi code versus the new sensations Knarf had made her experience, added to everything else going on at the moment, caused her much confusion.  Was it wrong because it went against the Jedi code? Or was it right because it felt so good?  The sweet taste of Knarf’s lips was still on hers.  Oh, he really could kiss well.
Shadie banished the thought and tried to use a Jedi calming technique for her shaking body.  She’d barely eaten at all since the previous night; her stomach was causing her as much torment as her mind.
‘It seems I have troubled your soul,’ Knarf said to Shadie.
‘No, you haven’t, Agent Knarf.  My soul was already troubled before you entered my life.  My emotions don’t revolve around you.’
‘And now I fear I’ve upset you.’
‘Perhaps we should discuss this later.’
Shadie cursed herself for replying so dryly to Knarf.  He’d only been kind, receptive of her emotions, and he truly made her smile.
They followed their guide into the abandoned warehouse where sat the rest of the Mandalorian team.  At the head of the conference table sat Kelbourn the Fifth.
It was difficult to read Mandalorians.  It was easier through the Force, but with their faces completely hidden behind their helmets, it was rather disconcerting and distracting.
‘I am told you are searching your former Sith Master, Mando Jedi,’ said Kelbourn.
‘I am.’
‘So how can the Mandalorians help you?’
‘You are mercenaries, spies, bounty hunters.  You have certain resources and skills…’
‘And why should the Mandalorians help you, Jedi?’ interrupted another Mandalorian.
‘The man I hunt, the Sith Lord I hunt, came to your planet, on Mandalore, killed my parents, Mandalorians, and kidnapped me, all because I was Force-sensitive.  And he did this in the hopes to forge me into the perfect Sith pupil.  I never knew my parents, I was but a toddler.  But if any of you did…’ she probed the room and found her quarry and looked him straight in the eyes, or helmet’s eyes, ‘…now’s your chance to exact revenge.’
The Mandalorian stirred, so did his female warrior friend sitting next to him.
‘Have a seat,’ said Kelbourn.
The Jedi and their friend sat down.  Kelbourn hit a switch and a three-dimensional projection of the Sith sphere appeared.
‘What do we know of this Sith ship?’ asked Kelbourn.

Continue reading Chapter Three.

Start reading from the beginning of Story 1.