Visions of darkness (Jedi X Clones)

Chapter 25. - Kashyyyk

Word Count: 5611

I still felt tired fifteen hours later when our transport shuttle descended towards the planet all covered in green rain forest.

I excused myself from the celebration shortly after my troopers decided they wanted to share a birthday with me, mainly for the sole reason that I wasn't able to keep my eyes open. I was woken up several times during the night by my commander and also by the nightmare. I sort of hoped that getting myself exhausted would at least stop the bad dreams but apparently my brain still had enough energy to come up with horrible scenarios of things that didn't happen. And of those that did.

"You should take your fighter, general," it was Zany who suggested that when I was about to get on the transport.

"No!" I said. Too quickly, with too much emphasis.

"You would be less vulnerable in it and we could use air support, general," my sergeant opposed.

"I'd rather fight on my feet, Zany," I shook my head. I haven't driven anything for years and I would probably just kill myself and everyone around, I added in my head.

"But it would give us adv..."

"I will not be flying anything," I said getting into the transport. Maybe I was a bit hard on him, because he didn't say another word after this exchange.

I suppressed yawn when our ship landed on a small landing pod near the entrance to the city built in trees and then all of us - me and my CO's - walked out towards the Wookie delegates, while our gunships with the supplies and troops began to land all around.

The general introduced himself with the name Tarfful and we briefly shook hands before we went ahead towards one of the towers of the tree residence. It was the heart of their settlement as the general explained in the series of growls. I politely asked about their defenses and he described most of it in detail that was impressive for a commanding officer that high up. He excused himself after leading us towards a place a short pace of walk from the giant tree where we could set up the base camp.

"Do you speak wookie, general?"

"It's called Shyriiwook, Zany," I turned around to see my sergeant who was patiently following me around the whole time, while Blitz and Pace coordinated the legion camp setup,"And yes, but only the basics. There was an old wookie master called Burryaga who was in charge of the crèche I was in when I was a youngling in the temple."

Another howl and I turned around to almost bump into another wookie, this one with a tad lighter coat than Tarfful and he growled friendly.

"Nice to meet you, chief Harryoka," I offered him a hand and he shook it, careful to not hurt me, "I am general Hinnly Sharr. Would you come with me? We need to agree on how to combine our forces."

For the rest of the morning I was using my basic grasp of the wookie language to an extent. Turned out several of the wookie officers actually knew old master Burry and it really helped to break the ice between us. I was also lucky, they all came from the same clan as him and therefore spoke the same dialect. Else I would have been completely lost and would have to wait for a protocol droid to be delivered.

A strange feeling of disdain hung over the whole jungle even during the evening. Most of the planet was occupied by the droid army and different clans pulled back to the giant ancient tree as a last place to defend. The war wasn't there yet, they were able to keep the fights in the forests and lakes, but It was only a question of time.

When I walked towards the tent where we set up a small mess area, I was surprised to find Chase seated on the forest floor and surrounded by a group of younglings. He was gesticulating wildly, obviously telling an adventurous story, which was all the more amazing, considering that wookie kids that young probably didn't understand basic much.