An Unthinkable Alliance

Chapter 17

Nightmare's Land

A purple mist was raising over the tall dark trees of the forbidden land. The most fearless Kaleesh were already tremblimg in their boots , scared of whoever may attack them. In contrast to their emotions, Grievous and his droid army were silent and ignorant of their surroudings. Karjal approached his mastet who was riding a speeder bike at low speed.
'My lord?
'What is it, Karjal?
'This place gives me the creeps... he said that with feat in his eyes. We are going towards our doom!
'Shut up already! I want you to show me a demon that scares you right now!
The Kaleesh didn't know how to respond and Grievous continued.
'See? It is only your imagination. We are almost at the point where I want to build our bases.
'Any reason why in that place?
'Actually, yes! I have searched some data files and Sith informations and there is an ancient temple there.
That made Karjal's eyes widen in horror.
'You mean we are going towards a tomb of some kind?
'Yes! Hopefully there are creatures there who will help us.
The scout backed away and went back to his group frightened. One of his squadmates noticed it and asked:
'Why are you so scared?
'Our God of War is insane! We are going to our doom!
All of the Kaleesh looked curious at him and listened to what the General said...

Kalee
A few dozens of kilometers away, some squads of clone troopers , led by Obi-Wan were searching for footprints of a certain Kaleesh girl. Cody was reporting to the Jedi.
'Sir, there is no way that native could have ran away like that without proper transportation. She must be somewhere around the base or with General Grievous.
'No! Cody, Grievous isn't stupid. He has hidden his daughter. But where?
'We have dispatched several squadrons along the perimeter...
'Then she should be found by nightfall. Obi-Wan finished.
The clone commander nodded. A shot was sudennly heard and both of them raised their heads surprised. Cody pointed his blaster in the direction the bolt came from. The clones formed a formation and took cover. Obi-Wan just put his hand on his beard intrigued. He raided his hand peacefully and went ahead of his soliders.
'Whoever is there, I come in peace!he shouted towards the bushes.
Some hidden movement was heard and Obi-Wan raised his lightsaber and deflected a blaster bolt coming for his head. The Jedi used the Force to sense who was hiding and she felt the girl. He pushed with great force some bushes away and , in addition, Qalisha into a tree. She fell down and dropped her gun. The clones were quick to form a circle around her, blasters pointed at her. Obi-Wan pulled her rifle away and the girl glared at him.
'Who are you, child?
'I am Qalisha jei Sheelal!she said pridefully.
'Interesting. Would you mind coming with me?
'I would rather die than surrendering to a Jedi!she said that while gritting her teeth.
She suddenly jumped over and tried to strangle Obi-Wan but Cody shot her with an electric bolt that made her lose her conscience. The Jedi used his hand to clean his shoulder and said:
'Good job, Commander! Let's go back to base now!
The clone soliders picked Qalisha up and went to a landed gunship a few hundred meters away. They entered it quickly and flew back to the their Forward Base. Obi-Wan observed that many other ships have landed and thousands of clone troops were deployed on the ground. If it weren't for General Grievous tactical genious, Kenobi knew they would have won easily with those numbers. However, he had to have an ace in his hand. Mace Windu appeared at the door to greet him. He saw the unconsciois body of Qalisha and frowned disgusted.
'Is this that spawn of evil's daughter?
'Yes, she was very reckless to attack us.
'Well, she has more courage than Grievous, I give her that. That coward ran into the what the Kaleesh call Nightmare's Land. It is a veru dangerous place with powerfull creatures. We can't send scouts so we'll have to move our entire army the same time.
'Well... why is it called like that?
'I don't known, but I sense much darkness coming from there. I will be surprised if we won't have to deal with the dark side here.
'Do you think Dooku is here? Or his unknown master?
'Maybe. We need to find out. But I am sure Grievous will lead us to the bottom of this.
They both remained silent for a while until the bearded Jedi asked:
'Any news from space?
'Yes, the Invisible Hand is still up there fighting tooth and nail for his master. Grievous has made sure that he has the best ship in the entire CIS! It's shields and armory are sustaining all we've got to throw at them.
'Well, then , the quicker we capture the General , the faster that ship will be destroyed, let's not waste any more time.
'Agreed.