Grievous Bodily Harm

Ree tells the Council she wants to tell Dalt about his history. They agree, so she volunteers Kedrihm'Val and Oola for it. He likes them, after all.

Dalt’s skeptical about the information. He doesn't like the idea of being related to the crackpot woman on Dathomir, so he insists on double-checking the evidence to prove it. They let him coordinate scientists in running some verifying tests on Jude’s DNA, and he's disappointed to learn it's true.

He tells them more about Mora: she’s feral, believes that the way of Force is to kill or be killed. She’s been trying to fix the Infinity Gate, but he scoffs that she can’t do it without him. It’s Architect technology. How does he know so much about Architect tech? asks Kedrihm. Dalt shrugs and says he’s just a genius. It comes to him. He goes on briefly about what a great gift to the galaxy he is. Kedrihm agrees (quite honestly) that Dalt is certainly unique and has changed the galaxy, which pleases Dalt. Dalt wonders aloud what Ree’ll do about Mora (he's pleasantly surprised when they say Ree hasn’t said anything about redeeming her), and wants to go to Dathomir with them.

Ree does intend on trying to redeem her aunt, of course, but she hasn't spoken to the others about it.

Speaking of whome, an intruder on her balcony wakes Ree up that night. The person tags her with a dart then flies away with a rocket pack. The armor reminds her of Mandalorian armor, but it isn’t. She goes to med bay to get checked. The dart had some kind of tracker fluid in it. The medics are able to clean most of it out of her, but it takes a couple of hours.

Ree goes back to bed. When she feels odd lumps under pillow, she leaps up and finds that it's a mine. She tosses it out her window, where it explodes in a shower of confetti and a party horn. This is so weird it makes Ree nervous.

She tells the others at breakfast. No one knows what to make of it. Z thinks it’s just to shake her up. He suggests that she check temple security tapes, where he recognizes it as ARC trooper armor: a full set, in good condition. He’s upset someone got past his balcony traps. Wants to put deadly animals on her balcony. Maybe a Mynock. Ree: “Mynocks don’t breathe air!” Z: “C’mon, one dead Mynock.” “No!”

Anyway. Ree wants to go to Tatooine and get the buried thing.

They get there to find a hole where the gizmo was. Ree: “Is there any way to track this thing?” Z: “Well, I am a bounty hunter.” The tracks lead to the old Skywalker place. Ree reminds them that Luke sold the place to neighbors, and they might not like intruders.

And speak of the devil. Danger sense! Someone shoots at them, but not well. Ree charges the building to draw fire while the others come in behind. Z rams the guy with his jetpack. It’s the stupid Rodian. He hid the core in the kitchen, where it’s stuffed into the breadbox. He also raided the fridge. Happily, no one’s at home.

The Rodian says soldiers at the cantina hired him--Thule soliders, by his description. He keeps begging them to give the core back. Oola and Z have a plan: plant info on a fake computer core that’ll lead the Thule into a trap. The Rodian’s fine with that, so long as he gets paid. Kedrihm’s worried about the Rodian remembering them, so Ree does the honors, and Rodian trots off in happy oblivion.

The fake core tells Oola what the Thule are doing with it. They’re looking for particular files: Infinity Gate, Uncharted Territories, Count Dooku. A memo that Palpatine had stored in the Senate that the jedi found just before the Purge.

Oola digs that last one out of the real core: on Utapau, in a cavern, there’s a duplicate Grievous body. They don’t know if it auto-activated or if someone would have to go down and boot him up (maybe this is what Obi Wan said the Sents dug up).

Ree calls Kyp, who’s happy about the core...til he hears what the Thule are after. He says he’ll call together the Council-- Kedrihm'Val halts him and asks how Thule knew where to find the core. Only they and the Council knew about it. So is this the leak they’d theorized about? Kyp keeps it in mind, says to rendezvous with people he’ll send to meet them on Utapau.

The Utapaui really like Jedi. The crew hangs out, waiting for Kyp's people. On the second day, Ree’s comm beeps with an incoming text message. It says there are Thule agents on location on Utapau. No sign of who sent it. Oola traces the signal and finds it's coming from Bimm. Could be Zann, but whomever it is, SARR points out that they went to quite a risk in sending that message.

Ree calls Kyp, who’s in transit. Oola checks the Starwind and their own comms to make sure no one snuck listening devices in or anything, but they’re clean. Then Ree sets Z and Kedrihm on the Thule agents.

Z and Kedrihm find six Thule operatives taking orders from an ominously hooded type. Another hooded, ridiculously large (8 foot tall) person behaves like the first one’s apprentice. He looks kind of like a wolfman and has a lightsaber. The Thule have a map with 3 locations, one of which is right. Z goes ahead to plant mines while Kedrihm heads back to tell the others. Ree briefs Kyp, and realizes he’s on the Falcon. Lydia thinks they’d better tell Z to use stun mines, because he’ll probably use explosives otherwise.

They catch up with him in the tunnels ahead of the bad guys, and hide to ambush them in case stun mines don’t bring them down. Z says he planted explosives beyond the stun mines as a backup plan, to block the entrance.

The bad guys come in—-the big Sith and two soldiers. One gets knocked out by the mines, the second is staggered. The big thing is unfazed. Z blows the secondary mines, caving in the tunnel beyond them. Kedrihm telekineses a rock at the second soldier’s head to knock him out. Lydia and Ree move in on the big Sith, who throws an unconscious soldier at Kedrihm, then telepathically sends a message out. Probably for backup, since three more troops come in. Oola, hiding by the cave mouth, puts up an electrified wire: one soldier gets knocked out, one trips, he third makes it. She knifes him. Z motions “watching you” to him.

The Sith shoots an electrified net from the pommel of his lightsaber, which catches Lydia. Z takes out the soldier. While Kedrihm knocks out a soldier who was getting up, Ree takes on the Sith, who’s really annoyed about the useless ‘help.’

Ree: “Sure you don’t want to surrender?”
Sith: *eloquent look*
Ree: “Just being polite.”
Sith: “I thank you for that.”

Oola conks out the soldier who was thrown at Kedrihm, who’s getting back up. The Sith sighs, then rushes Ree, who gets knocked back. Lydia cuts herself loose. Oola's knife-droids latch onto the Sith's ankles and start stabbing.

Then someone from outside catches up the three soldiers lying at the cave mouth and hurls them about the room like blowing leaves. One crashes into Kedrihm, who lobs him into the big Sith, who’s staggered back. Ree takes the opportunity to attack, cutting the Sith nearly in half. Startlingly, that doesn’t kill him, though he’s pretty well incapacitated.

A thermal detonator rolls into the cave. Z throws it back out. It explodes, but the tunnel roof holds. Lydia Force Stuns the big Sith while Ree peeks outside. Two lightsabers swing at her from the cloud of dust. It’s the second cloaked figure: a freaky-looking bald lady in a black leather skirt. Oola rolls droids at her, which nail her but good. Seeing her staggered, Kedrihm Force Lights her, which catches her off guard and knocks her out.

They cuff up the Siths. Lydia makes sure the big one won’t die. Another of the soldiers is also a Force user, so they wrap him up, stuff the three Force users in the med bay for SARR to watch over, and call the Utapaui authorities to take care of the rest. Ree recognizes the girl: Asajj Ventress, a Dark Sider who served as Dooku’s apprentice for a time. Apparently she ran to hide out on Thule.

Kyp, Han, and Chewie arrive, and they head out to deal with Grievous.

On their way through the tunnels, they encounter MagnaGuards: three of them. Kyp leaps over them to take one on. Ree and Lydia confront the other two. Han blows the crap out of one, though it doesn’t quite go down. Z throws two blue, blinking balls at the droids: ion grenades. One succumbs. Kedrihm drains energy from the other, which Ree nails again. Oola’s knife droid finishes that off, and Kyp takes out his. Z and Kedrihm each grab one of the staves those things carried.

They head further in, down some rock-hewn stairs into a huge cybernetics lab. Looks like it’s where Grievous and his people hid out. As they pass, a destroyer droid falls off its pedestal. Startles them all, but it’s not activated. Kyp: “That seems ominous.” Oola scopes the place out. It’s still in working order. There’s an old message from Palpatine on the comm system, warning that Obi Wan is headed that way. Apparently they never got it. She digs up a map of the cave and shuts down the active security systems.

Living quarters on the left housed the techs. On the right are opulent quarters that Grievous apparently used, for whatever reason. Four lightsabers still hang in the wardrobe. Ree grabs those. The next lab is specifically for Grievous’s use. Kedrihm finds cloned organs for him and is horrified at the idea of a living being trapping itself in technology that way.

The final room holds what they came for: a Grievous chassis in a tank, organs and all. As they enter, his eyes shift toward them: he’s awake. Ree: “Oola, make sure that doesn’t get out.”

Too late! He comes busting out of the tank. Lightsabers ignite all around. After Grievous pulls out four, Kyp TKs two more from his own belt, setting them hovering above him, and pulls out a fourth, attaching it to his saber’s hilt to form a dual blade.

Ree cuts off one of Grievous’ arms. While he’s preoccupied with the three Jedi, Han blasts him three good shots in the chest. Kyp runs him through with one of the telekinetic lightsabers.

The others hear something coming from behind. It’s the dumb Rodian again, being chased by a big cave lizard. Z shoots the beast while Oola slips around it, heading for the destroyer droid back in the corridor.

Up front, Grievous fires up his repulsors and picks up lightsabers in his feet. Onna: “He’s got ass lifters?” She grabs Z’s ion rifle and misses with it.

Kedrihm calms the cave beast, but then the Rodian shoots it again. Chewie picks him up to keep him out of their way.

Grievous starts spinning his blades. Ree chucks a crate at him, which knocks him off-balance, then Kyp bounces him off the ground with the Force, knocking him over. Onna stuns him with the ion rifle, giving the Jedi an opening. Ree takes off his left shoulder, Kyp gets his right.

Kedrihm can’t whammy the beast again, so Z shoots it with pepper spray, which drives it off. Kedrihm: “Oola, make way!” Oola: “Yeep! Should I pursue?” Kedrihm to the Rodian: “What did you do to it?” Rodian: “I was just stealing some eggs.” Kedrihm to Oola: “Leave it alone.”

Grievous gets back up, balancing on one foot. Kyp: “That looks ridiculous.” Grevious doesn’t like to be mocked. He nails Ree and Kyp, then Kyp takes control of one of his arms and makes him start stabbing himself, which finally takes him out.

Ree has them take the remnants back, says he represents great advances in cybernetics that could be used to help people. They set the Rodian loose and head back to Coruscant with two Sith, five operatives, a Grievous carcass and Oola’s new pet destroyer droid.