The forests of Myrkr are not for the faint-of-heart. The dangers that lurk under the shadowy canopy cannot be underestimated. Not even the Force can protect you from the dangers of the forest. The jungle air hangs humid. Foliage rustles and crunches underfoot of both man and beast that enter, sounds of wildlife permeating from dusk till dawn.

Myrkr is a dangerous world for nearly all sentients. Although once settled by the fabled Neti, it has long since evolved from those days. The flora of Myrkr have a high metallic mineral-count, making it easy to hide from sensors and the perfect spot to set-up a pirate base or other criminal operation. What also made this world perfect for all manner of seedy individuals is the presence of ysalamiri—creatures with the ability to neutralize the Force.

The ysalamiri are located deep within the forests of Myrkr. The creatures have evolved to create bubbles that nullify the Force to protect themselves from the dangerous predators called vornskrs. These vicious, canine-like predators hunt using the Force, and as such are highly attracted to anything that is Force-sensitive.

The fire hissed and sputtered. The huge gash that the downed Star Courier had torn through the jungle canopy opened the view to a bruised and turbulent sky. The wind-whipped rain did nothing to abate the flames that wreathed the craft, nor did the elements deter the cloaked Pau’an. Boots squelching through mud, he turned back to the crash site and climbed up to reach a darkened tear in the side of the starship. He could feel the heat of the fire lick one side of his face and the chill rain lash at the other. He leaned in and tugged. The limp body of a humanoid appeared over the lip of the rumpled bulkhead.

A distant rumble, below the fizzing of the fire, made the Pau’an pause. He looked up into the rain and saw the cloud layer billow and churn, finally resolving itself into an escort shuttle. Good. The sooner we get back to Daleem, the sooner I can get dry. With copious grunts and slips, the Pau’an dragged the Sakiyan’s dead weight down and over to his comrade. The rain pattered on the slick black leather of their Inquisitorius uniforms. Both the supine forms were breathing, but unconscious. The Pau’an knelt beside the Sakiyan and extended a hand to his bulbous head. The ethereal light of this being flickered and ebbed, much like that of his Human comrade. Both of them would likely need a few days of medical care at the Pathfinders base before they were transferred into the tender cares of the Sentinel Network interrogators.

Behind the Pau’an, in the rut of mud and severed roots left by the crashed ship, the newcome shuttle made its descent. No sooner had the pilot set down than the ramp extended and an unexpected presence appeared on the parapet.

“Korroth.” The Pau’an stood to face his interlocutor.

“Commander.” Korroth raised his voice to be heard over the downpour.

“I see you caught the fugitives. Well done.” The platinum-haired woman briefly looked up to the sky and pulled a cowl over her head. The outline of her figure was broken up by bundles of grass and jungle vegetation. She certainly came prepared.

“I just waited for them planet-side, as Iode instructed. The storm did the rest,” Korroth spoke as Archenksova made her way towards him. “Though I wasn’t expecting a Councillor to come all this way just for the pickup.” He quickly added, “A pleasant surprise though it may be.”

“Flattery doesn’t suit you, master Jedi,” Alethia replied with the shadow of a smirk. Her hand shot out for a moment as she walked, to steady herself on the sludgy, waterlogged ground. “I’m here so that we can get the business over and done with before we return to Daleem.”

“I’m afraid these two require greater medical attention than I can give them here.” The Jedi peered at the shuttle. “You probably don’t have a sick bay in there, do you?”

“I haven’t made myself clear. Our mission is to extract what the Inquisitorius knows about the Kiast system, nothing else. We only need them awake for a couple of hours.”

“That won’t be possible.” Korroth stepped over the unconscious Human so that he stood between the prisoners and Alethia. “If I attempt to revive them here they likely won’t survive for long. I don’t have the proper equipment.”

“I know you’re just pretending to be obtuse, Ranger. You’re perfectly aware of what’s at stake for the Clan. If these Inquisitors know what we think they know, they are not leaving this planet.”

“That is unnecessary.” Korroth saw the Commander’s hands hovering over her camouflage suit, though he could not tell what she held under there. “We can keep them securely as prisoners.”

“You’re letting your scruples put the Clan in danger, Korroth. Just follow my orders.” Alethia advanced towards the captives. “You can revive the Human first. We’ll do them one at a time.”

“No further, Commander!” The Pau’an raised his hand. Alethia stopped, but she didn’t seem surprised. “You know I won’t let you do that.”

“Of course. What I don’t know is how far you will go. You’re a wildcard, Korroth, and I don’t like that in my deck. What are you prepared to do to save your Jedi virtues?” Her hands disappeared beneath a bundle of sticks in her suit. “Are you prepared to swing a lightsaber at your own Councillor?”

Alethia’s arms whipped out holding a blaster rifle. The Jedi’s emerald lightsaber came to life at the same time as a salvo of blaster bolts issued from the Director’s weapon. The first shot went wide; the others he caught on his blade. Alethia kept up the barrage, advancing step by step, while the Jedi stood his ground. The Commander suddenly dropped her rifle to its sling and touched her belt. She leaped forward, hovering over the muddy ground that separated her from Korroth. The Pau’an deactivated his lightsaber, but he wasn’t in time to catch the fist aimed at his midsection as Alethia crashed into him. The muscles of his trunk spasmed. His face twisted into a rictus of pain and he doubled over. The Force cut through the shock just long enough for him to turn the fall into a roll, putting some distance between him and Alethia.

She really hadn't intended this to be some sort of loyalty test, much less a drill for her own combat skills. No, Alethia had flown down to this forsaken jungle with the expectation that she'd spend the next week stalking a pair of Inquisitors, hoping that the metal content in the trees would keep them from calling for help long enough for her forces to deal with them. But alas, if the Jedi were devoted to anything it was complications. Do everything the hard way seemed to be as much as part of their Code as the prohibitions against violence and romance — but far more rigorously obeyed.

Life had been so very much simpler without them.

Nevertheless, Archenksova took advantage of the lull to run a finger over the toggle on her blaster's frame and double check that the weapon was set to stun. Korroth was insubordinate, sanctimonious, and liable to get his comrades killed — but he was one of hers, and far too useful to the cause to leave dead in the muck just yet.

Slowly and deliberately, Korroth managed to arrange all of his limbs underneath himself and push his body upright. The Pau'an had an eerie sort of grace to him — a stillness, even in motion. In other contexts, the Jedi's forced serenity had been immensely frustrating, but perhaps it would keep him open to reason.

"So tell me, master Jedi," Alethia began, savoring the irony of the formal address, "what exactly is your plan?" She punctuated the question with a short burst from her rifle. Korroth's lightsaber snapped to life in time to deflect all three bolts harmlessly into the forest. His face remained impassive save for the slightest hint of a scowl.

"Of course. You don't have one, do you?" Archenksova squeezed off another two shots, and Korroth's blade intercepted both of them with ease. The Commander began to advance towards him slowly, step by step, continuing to fire off short bursts as she drew closer.

"You don't know where we would even treat two injured prisoners." Two shots were deflected into the dirt. She was perhaps five meters away from him.

"You don't know where we would keep them after treatment." Three shots, four meters.

"You don't have to decide which understaffed unit has to give up personnel to guard them." One shot. "Which of your colleagues will go without food or medicine because we gave it to the enemy." Two shots — she was within three meters now. "And you don't even care, so long as you can sleep easy at night," she continued with another shot, "do you?"

The Human's advance quickened as the Pau'an tried to back away. Deflecting blaster bolts from five meters away had been child's play for a Jedi of Korroth's skill, but the closer she got to him the more he had to lean on the Force, and the more likely he was to miss a bolt or deflect it back at his commander. At this rate, pinned down by blaster fire, he wouldn't be able to back away quickly enough to maintain a safe distance.

Archenksova's words, and her shots, came more quickly as she drew nearer. "You won't — can't — kill me but you don't have any other way of stopping me." The blaster fire was almost constant now, her weapon so close to him that the Jedi's limbs were a constantly blur of motion to keep up with the sustained fire. Korroth was completely submerged in the Force, letting it fill him and single-mindedly redirecting the bolts off into the distance.

She lunged across the last meter, bashing him across the face with the butt of her rifle as he deactivated his lightsaber to avoid skewering her. Reeling from the blow, Korroth staggered back as his commander struck him again. This time he was better prepared, and managed to raise an arm up to protect his head as the Human continued to flail at him. Sucking in the jungle air, full of life and the Living Force, the Pau'an let his lightsaber fall to the ground as he drew upon the mystical energies around him. Moving with preternatural speed, he ripped away her blaster with one hand and caught his commander by the throat with the other.

"That will be enough, Commander," he growled. The Jedi's words trailed off, however, as he realized he was holding the woman a hand's-breadth off the ground. He took a deep breath to recenter himself, but it caught in this throat as his eyes met hers. There was no fear there, nor hatred. Alethia's gaze was cold, determined. Calculating. Was this was she had been trying to force him into?

Korroth didn't get long to ponder it. Lost in his own thoughts, he didn't catch the tingling sense of danger until her knee had slammed into his crotch. His grip around her throat loosened as she dropped to her feet, but Alethia's hand closed around his, pulled it to the side, and held it firm against her collarbone as she jerked her shoulder back. Following his pinned hand, the Pau'an staggered forward, into Archenksova's other hand as she punched him across the nose before latching onto his shoulder and yanking him further off balance. Holding his arm at both ends, the Commander was easily able to steer around and fling him back into the clearing.

Coughing and sputtering, the Jedi willed the pain and nausea away. He was battered, but it was — with the possible exception of his nose — merely bruises and scrapes. The Force had not left him. It would dull the pain for now and restore his flesh after the fight. Korroth was not concerned about that; his concern was that Archenksova was correct. He would not kill her, regardless of the morality of her orders. Nor would he be able to talk her down.

Alethia was, for all her faults, a dedicated servant of Odan-Urr. It was unfortunate that Korroth was going to have to hurt her.

Once again, the Pau’an rose up to his full height, reigning in his thoughts and emotions and resetting his breathing. "I'm sure that would end most of the fights you've been in, Commander," the Jedi said. The blood filling his nose distorted his voice, which seemed to echo throughout his head as he spoke. "You will find that I am made of sterner stuff that the miscreants that plagued your Empire."

Archenksova seemed more affected by his words than Korroth had anticipated. The Pau'an knew that some Humans found his species intimidating, but the Commander hadn't been frightened of him before, not even when a lightsaber filled the gap between them. Her wide eyes seemed to go from the Jedi, not to her blaster, which was on the ground within reach, but Korroth's lightsaber, at the edge of the clearing.

"Turn around," she hissed, as her blue eyes snapped back to him. Something in her tone convinced the Pau'an to do so, eye gaze sweeping across the clearing torn out of the jungle by the shipwreck.

"Ah," the Jedi remarked, suddenly very conscious of the empty place at his hip. "The vornskrs."