Mada, Vi, and Jonas stroll into the cave as Raine and Neeka called out their interesting finds. The jawas at the entrance called this place The Heap, but what they really meant was the covered remains of an crashed starship that had buried itself decades ago. The small group of jawas sing prayers and praise to The Heap for its protection. Jawas aren’t normally built for the harsh dangers of the Kashyyyk forest floor and something in them had clearly snapped. What little could be gathered implied that they had come to Kashyyyk as slaves of the Empire and when the moment was right they fled into the forest working their way to the deep forest floor. A few of their number had fallen prey to the beasts the lived here but they had found The Heap pretty early in their journey and had lived here for years; never venturing far for supplies. At their most fearful they would retreat into The Heap and had rigged a crud lighting system from the depleted energy of the down ship. Something keep them from living in the ship permanently though. It could have been the bodies still on the down ship, but the jawas reverence for the ship felt born from something else, perhaps in the Force.

Mada and Vi both shiver slightly as they cross the threshold into the cave ship. A bitter sadness fills the Force in this place and the overwhelming emotion tugs at Mada and Vi the same as Neeka. Conflicting their hold on the Light Side of the Force. Jonas feels unnerved as well straches his chin and heads to the cockpit where he finds Raine. Raine is standing of the desiccated remains of the pilot and co-pilot. The pilot is a rather short form of a wookiee, a midget or perhaps adolescent. Next to him is a smaller then average mummified Rodain. Both are wrapped in the tattered robes of Jedi. Jonas leans in for a closer look at the Rodain and finds a beaded necklace behind an ear.

Looking up at Raine, Jonas breaks the silence in the air, “saw some of these in the clone wars.” He points the beaded necklace. “It means this was a Jedi in training. Most braided their hair but some without would ware these necklaces.”

Raine nods and looks again at the wookiee, “likely this one was trainee as well. They are both smaller then you’d except from a full grown member of their species. However, that leaves the question ‘where were their masters during the crash?’”

Mada and Vi catch up with Neeka who has looked over the engine room and cargo hold. She excited explains that she thinks she can boost the power remaining on the ship and possibly get shields up and running and can even set up a crud solar relay to keep those limited functions going. Just as her audience begin to bore with the techno-babble she points to a crate in corner labeled “training lightsabers”.

“I’m pretty sure I can trade this work for the crate, but we should take a look inside and see if any survived the crash.”

Looking inside the lightsabers were a jumbled mess. Several had shattered crystals, others hilts were snapped, others still were completely shorted out. After testing the group is unable to find a single working saber. However, Neeka estimates that she can repair a couple scavenging parts from the more damaged hilts. She finishes putting about 8 in her bag when they hear a call from Raine.

Following the direction of Raine’s voice, Vi begins to walk the corridors more confidently. He explains that this ship is similar to the one that took him to the Jedi Temple long ago and how he had just disembarked as the great Jedi Massacre was taking place. As they enter the next room to join Jonas and Raine, Vi freezes and stands still as stone. His voice trails off. The group stood at the entrance of the passenger section. In the seats sat the mummified remains of children of many species. Their bodies twisted and disjointed from the ships impact with the ground. Their faces twisted is terror and fear and pain.

“These are younglings. Children of the jedi order.” Vi states gravely.

All stand in silence amongst the dead.

After a few minutes Neeka sniffles and Mada strides forward to the closet child. His sliding foot steps echo deafeningly amidst the silent room. Bending down to one knee he looks the body in the eye and says in small voice, “where were you going? what happened to you?” He then gently reaches out to straighten body to give it some final dignity. As he crosses the arms across its chest a burst of white light blinds the group.

Blinking Mada turns to see the rest of the Womp Rats doing the same. Standing slowing he takes in a new view. They are standing in an ornate room. Around them are a group of children holding yellow training sabers and helmets with which they can cover their eyes. At the center of the room stands a tall man giving instruction. Mada shakes his head for a moment as the man seem unusually large and imposing but realizes that he, Raine, and Jonas, are of equal height to these children. He tries to communicate that this vision must be through the Force and in the perspective of a child, but he finds he has no voice. However, hand motions seem to work and all begin to look around for the reason of the vision.

The voice of the tall Jedi booms, “younglings stay here”. The command is firm but wavering and he runs from the room drawing his lightsaber. Looking in the same direction he you see an army of white armored soldiers marching through the main entrance of the Jedi temple being lead by a hooded figure.

The younglings cry out and hide as the troopers begin their war a few floors below. The jedi are being slaughtered before their eyes. The younglings lay on the floor and behind small furniture, but there is nothing to help them in this room, no where to truly hide.

A small voice calls out from another room, “Master Skywalker! What are we going to do?”

Hum of a lightsaber and screams are the only reply to be heard.

Suddenly your room is bathed in light. A man in white armor stands in the doorway. He speaks into his wrist.

“I’ve just got younglings in here.” and then after a brief pause “Roger that, sir.”

He raises his gun and beings to firing in to the crowd. Children slump to the floor. One children ignites his training saber and blocks a couple of shots and the rest crowd into the corner of the room, but this child’s bravery is halted by the ruthless precision of the trooper.

A flash of light come from behind the trooper and his head falls to the floor and the body crumples. A young wookiee howls into the room and motions for the group of child still alive to follow him. A young rodian force pushes a group of troopers down the hallway.

You and the children rush out of the room and follow the wookiee. Legs pumping, lungs aching, eyes stinging. There’s no time for questions. Laser blasts zip past you. You’re small. You can’t run fast enough, but you break out on to a landing pad. There two other jedi have just finished clearing a path to a small transport. One calls out to the wookiee.

“Gungi. Get the younglings out of here. You and Ganodi must hide the…” blaster fire interrupts the message as you run full speed on to the ship.

Once inside you recognize the interior of The Heap. You sprint to the passenger section and strap in with the rest of the children. You go through the motions but prepare yourself as you know the outcome. You have no voice to warn them. This is history, it can not be changed.

You feel the ship jump to hyperspace, and then back out again. The ship rocks from laser fire. You must be over Kashyyyk now, but fighters will be ordered to shoot you down. The young pilots weave you through several maneuvers. You get thrown about in your seat as gravity changes locations. Then the ship is rocked hard and thrown into a tight spin. Weeping fills the hold. Weeping and fear. All the children turn their hearts to fear, the dark side, in their final moments. Your voice returns as you join the chorus of screams. The ship pitches end over end and then everything goes black.

As the light returns to your eyes you are standing in the cockpit. The young wookiee and rodian stand before you in pale blue light. The rodian, Ganodi, speaks faintly.

“Thank you for baring witness to our story. The dark cloud of the force had trapped us here, but you have free us now.”

The force ghosts begin to fade. The wookiee, Gungi, smiles and points at Mada and then to his seat before completely disappearing. Looking, Mada is able retrieve Gungi’s lightsaber. The crystal is shattered, but the hilt is Superior and could be a good starting point for a new lightsaber for Mada.

You take a few minutes to gather yourselves before heading out of The Heap. The jawas’ madness seems to have cleared up as well and you are able to inform them of the tale. They are relieved the Empire’s hold on the planet is nearly ended and decide to strike out for their home planet. Though dangerous they seem determined and reassure you they will be fine.

You stand back in the dangerous woods to continue your quest.