STAR WARS: Knights of the Old Republic

Chapter 31

"It's worse than we thought," Juhani said, looking at the data they'd procured from the Czerka office.

With the remote spike, they now had access to their security systems and logs as well as any files and schematics that might be on their system. Right now, they were looking at a blueprint of the layout of their mining operation.

"Now it all makes sense," Carth said. "We've seen very minimal infrastructure from Czerka since we got here."

"Which is very unlike them," Juhani added.

"To anyone else it looks like just a trading post, but it's so much more than that."

After looking over the schematics they had discovered how exactly Czerka was mining the planet. They had assumed, wrongly, that Czerka was only interested in the Wookiee slave trade. Kashyyyk was full of undiscovered minerals and elements, just waiting to be mined.

"Why bother with the secrecy though?" Carth mused. "They wouldn't normally care about observation."

"Using the root system has other advantages," Juhani explained. "By hollowing out the trees and building elevator shafts through them, they have their own safe and easy access to the forest floor. It would be too dangerous to descend through the trees any other way, with all the large insects and predators."

"And then the hollowed out roots of the trees act as pre-made tunnels and access points to the crust where they can start mining all they want," Carth said in disgust. "The secrecy is just a bonus."

Juhani flipped to another diagram, highlighting the massive network of shafts and tunnels they had burrowed.

"There's no telling the damage they've done already," she said. "These schematics show them having drills that go almost as far as the planet core."

"I assume destroying the shafts at this point would do more harm than good," Carth mused.

"Any explosion in the mines could cause a chain reaction and spread back up to the roots. If even one tree catches fire..."

"It could mean a planet-wide disaster." Carth sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Exactly."

"So what do we do?"

She hesitated for a moment. Unsure, really, how to proceed herself. She felt there was still so much to learn about being a Jedi. She wondered what her Master, Quatra, would've done in this scenario. Or even the very first Jedi she had seen on Taris.

She had been filled with such awe when the Jedi had arrived on Taris. She remembered pushing through the throng gathered on the street as several Jedi, their robes trailing behind them, walked through the valley of people gathered. The crowds had parted as they made their way to the government center.

She knew then, as a little girl, that she wanted to be a Jedi. She often imagined what it would be like to be one, that feeling of helplessness gone, replaced by a sense of duty and authority. She would have the power to fix any problem in her way.

Of course, those feelings had turned out to be more fantasy than reality. She knew, too, that it was those desires for power and authority that had lead to her fall back on Dantooine. She wondered how Quatra was doing.

"How many elevator shafts are there?" She asked.

"According to the schematics," Carth replied, "There's five, all spaced out evenly around the compound on the level below us."

"Are they cable driven?"

"Uh... one moment..." He tapped the screen and pulled up the specs on the elevator shafts. "Yes they're cable driven, guess Czerka didn't wanna spend the extra money on grav lifts."