Jedi Adept: A Path in the Dark - ch. 7

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Leia Organa-Solo stared out at the snow storm. They had remained on this frozen planet for months, while Han slowly made repairs. Only the occasional visit from Tahiri or Lando had interrupted the monotony of their days; and it had been a while since either of them had shown up.

She reached out with the Force, and found her husband's presence deep in the bowels of the ship. He was focused, intent, and she smiled. That was just one of the many reasons she loved him. Despite his lackadaisical exterior, he was truly dedicated to those things he believed in.

Then the events of the past few months crashed in on her againl; Jacen growing more and more dangerous, the civil war between Corellia and the Alliance, and Luke's betrayal.

For a moment, she wondered just what there was left in the galaxy to believe in. Her lips compressed into a thin line and she stood up, and walked from the cockpit. Her footsteps were even on the metal plating, a bare echo returning to her ears with every step.

Finally, she arrived at the common area and sat down at the holonet terminal. She stared at it for a moment, and then reached out and flipped the machine on. A few moments later, message headers scrolled into view.

Sighing, she began to cull the unnecessary ones from the list. Her eyes widened as she saw one from Luke. A message addressed to her personal account rather than the official Jedi account.

Opening it, her eyes began to water once again as she read his request that she speak at Mara's funeral in a few weeks.

She read the message once again, and then looked away from the holonet terminal, dropping her face into her hands.

It was the first communication from her brother since Tahiri had told them about Noelani's parentage. She still remembered how broken and distraught the younger Jedi had seemed that night; disillusioned with the Jedi in a way that neither Anakin's death nor The Swarm War and her exile had caused. This seemed to be the ultimate in betrayals from an Order that has been a source of pain and suffering for Tahiri for nearly two decades.

What Leia found even more disappointing was the fact that Luke made no mention of Tahiri or Noelani in his message. No hint that Leia had a granddaughter out there that Luke had hidden from them all. No sign that he considered what he did wrong.

No apology to either her or Han.

Her shoulders shook, pain welling up in her chest, threatening to consume her. It had been years since she had felt this bad; fourteen to be exact.

A large, calloused palm dropped onto her shoulder, and she lifted her face up to find Han standing behind her, concern etched in his brown eyes. His eyes flicked to the message she still had pulled up, and she watched as he quickly scanned it.

After a moment, he turned back to her. "You okay, Princess?"

Nodding her head, she allowed a weak smile that she didn't feel to flicker onto her face, and gestured to the message still displayed on the terminal. "Can we go?"

His eyes flicked to the message for a second, and then back to her. She knew he hurt as bad as she did over the gulf between them and Luke. That he felt as betrayed as she did from Luke hiding their granddaughter. "Of course we're going. She's family. Luke's family."

Leia turned back towards the message. "But the warrant…"

Han barked a short, brittle laugh. "The day that Coruscant can keep me out of their airspace will be the day…. Well, it'll be something… And there's no way that Jacen would dream of using Mara's funeral to arrest us. No matter how dark he's gotten, he wouldn't sink that low."

Leia looked at him, a cold, unsettled feeling, deep in her gut. "I just hope you're right."

Han smiled smugly. "Of course I am."

She shook her head, laughing bitterly. "Now, comes the real question; do we really want to go? Especially after what he did to Tahiri and Noelani."

Han scowled as he looked away. She felt his Force presence waver, flicker with suppressed grief and rage. "We need to face him sooner or later about it. Besides, I… I'd like to see the kid again."

Leia felt a smile touch her lips, one not quite as fake as earlier. "Now, that sounds like a good reason to go to Coruscant."

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Chase crouched low, hunkered down behind a rusted hulk that he believed at one time had been a speeder. A dozen paces away were three ferals; their slave seed coral glowing dimly in the dingy light, their stench almost overpowering his sense of smell.

They were loud, and he was certain they were hunting him; for they had appeared around him four times in the past two days. Their movements were jerky as they ambled around the area, overturning containers, and trash bins.

He raised himself up a little, so that he could look out over the top of the speeder at the three. He frowned as they moved about the area. Their movements seemed different than the ferals he had ran into when he had first fled to the undercity after leaving the Jedi. Now they seemed more coordinated than before.

Behind him, someone stepped into one of the ever present puddles of water. The freezing liquid splashed up, and splattered his back. Gritting his teeth, Chase spun around to find a fourth feral—this one looked like at one time it had been a Givin. It moaned in a low note of pain, and its bony hands lifted; reaching out for him.

Chase let out a short, sharp curse, and scuttled out of his hiding spot. He ducked under the outstretched arms, and felt the feral's bony fingers trying to get a grip on his jacket. Fortunately, he was faster than the Feral. He stood up, and quickly scanned the area around him, hunting for something, anything that he could use as a weapon. He knew from painful experience that the only sure-fire way to kill a feral was to destroy its brain.

Anything short of that, and they kept coming for you.

Spying a length of metal pipe, he dived for it, and came up in a roll, holding it out in front of him like a sword. He wished he had a blaster.

The other three ferals turned to face him, all of them making that low moaning noise. It was right at the edge of his hearing, and he frowned at it.

Movement in the distance caught his eye, and he saw another feral ambling towards them.

"Shavit," he muttered, as he realized that the moaning was a form of communication. He knew there were a number of species that communicated using some form of harmonics, and wasn't really surprised that the ferals had developed it after the death of the World Brain.

Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology was nothing if not aggressive and ingenious.

The Givin ambled towards Chase, and he tightened his grip on the length of pipe. He pulled back his arms, raising his fists to just above shoulder level.

Finally, the feral was close enough, and Chase thrust the pipe forward, slamming it hard into the Givin's ocular cavity; ramming the point deep into its brain.

Convulsing, the feral dropped to the ground, ripping the pipe from Chase's hands.

Cursing, Chase looked up at the other ferals, two former humans and a Twi'lek, noticing that they had gotten closer. Dangerously close. He grabbed the pipe and pulled. It popped out of the Givin with a sucking noise.

Chase snarled as the moans grew slightly louder, changing pitch and tempo.

He pulled back his arms again, and swung forward once more. The metal pipe slammed into the closest of the ferals, one of the humans. Yet as he had stepped forward, he had slipped in some slime that coated the ground. His attack landed, but rather than a strike dead to the head, it was a glancing blow to the shoulder.

The feral howled in pain, and stumbled under the force of the impact. Chase swung the pipe horizontally, and heard the crack of coral and bone breaking as the length of metal slammed into the next feral.

Something tugged on his pants leg, and he looked down to find the first human there, her clawed hands hooked into the cloth of his pants.

"Duwin-tiu, bar" he snarled as he yanked his leg away from the woman. With the distinct sound of ripping cloth, he pulled his pants free, and then kicked forward as hard as he could.

The steel toe of his boot met her nose with a sickening crunch. The feral convulsed and then went still. Movement drew his attention, and Chase focused on the Twi'lek that was ambling towards him.

He was a massive being, outweighing Chase by at least 50 kilograms, and all of it appeared to be muscle mass. Chase raised his makeshift weapon into a ready stance and took a few steps backwards.

The feral seemed to disappear and then reappear right next to him. A coral-encrusted arm slashed out, and to Chase it felt like a bag of bricks had just slammed into his chest.

He flew backwards, and landed hard on the ground. Squeezing his eyes shut from the pain, he rolled over and climbed to his hands and knees.

Just in time to be kicked in the stomach.

The thin, liquidly remnants of his last meal erupted from his mouth as he folded around the foot.

Chase felt something pull at his jacket. Within moments, he had been hauled to his feet, and the feral screamed at him. His eyes narrowed as he fought against the instinct to clamp his hands to his ears. To do that, he would have had to drop the pipe.

He swung the metal pipe laterally, slamming it as hard as he could against the arm that was holding him up off the ground. Shards of coral broke off from the feral's arm as the pipe bent slightly.

The feral's pulled his arm back and then casually flung Chase across the street. He slammed into a building, and slumped to the ground.

He shook his head, trying to clear it of the ringing noise, and then noticed that he still held the pipe in his hand.

He staggered to his feet, and saw the feral racing towards him; moving faster than any feral he had ever seen. When did they become so fast?

Not knowing what else to do, he lifted the pipe up and thrust forward just as the feral closed.

It slid neatly into a fleshy space between two coral outgrowths, aimed for the back of the feral's neck perfectly. There was a slight pressure, but the feral's mass and speed pushed it further onto the pipe.

With a crack, the feral dropped to the ground, its body twitching slightly.

Startled Chase looked down at it, and saw an end of the pipe poking out the back of the creature's neck.

He stared for a long moment, and then turned away, heading once more towards the Jedi Temple.

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