Jedi Adept: A Path In The Dark -- Ch. 21

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Noelani stepped away from the window, a frown coming to her face. She sighed, wondering exactly what she should do next.

Deciding, she turned and stood next to the doorway, listening for movement in the hall. After a few minutes of not hearing anything she stepped out and rushed back towards the entrance which she had came into the base through.

Since the guards had not come this way, then the other direction had to lead towards where they were keeping Asyra'mata and now Chase and the others.

Anger flashed through her quickly, as she pushed herself to run faster. As she rounded another corner, she stopped suddenly and glanced around. A frown formed as she realized she had no idea where she was at.

Sighing, she began checking the doors which lined either side of the hallway.

The third access panel she touched the door swung open, and a gust of wind blew past her and into the room, startling her slightly.

She stepped forward and walked into something from one of her nightmares.

Cells lined either side of the hallway, reminding her vaguely of Tahiri's description of the BioTech holding area on Ambria. But what truly frightened her was the Ferals.

There were hundreds of them, some dead in their cells, some, the most horrifying looking, where the ones whose coral implants were literally melting off.

What replaced the implants was a mass of boils and welts, in an array of colors ranging from bright yellow through the greens and oranges all the way to a fiery red.

She stepped closer to the glass of one spectacularly disgusting specimen, and the Force suddenly cut off. She stumbled and reached out to the glass to steady herself as she looked around. Frowning she took a step back and the Force flooded back into her awareness.

Frowning, she stepped closer to one of the other cells, and as she neared the Force once again shut down.

"That's odd; I wonder why they did that."

From the darkness at the far end of the room, came the reply. "Why? To hide all of this from you Jedi of course."

Noelani frowned. She had heard that voice from somewhere before. She knew it, but that memory refused to come. The woman advanced from the darkness, and stepped into one of the circular lights close to Noelani.

She was older than Tahiri, even older than her Aunt Jaina. Her black hair was cropped short, and she was almost skeletally thin. Her cheekbones were high and stuck out, causing her face to be composed of all sharp angles and hard lines.

Vaguely, it reminded Noelani of old holos of Grand Moff Tarkin.

Instinctively, she took a step backwards. "Who… who are you?"

The woman laughed. "I'm not that surprised you don't remember me. We really didn't get a lot of time to play with one another before young Chase stole you away from us."

She frowned as she processed the woman's words. "You… you were on Ambria?"

The woman laughed. "On it? I ran it! And now, look what I get to do."

Noelani realized that her saber was in her hand the moment that it snapped to life. "I know exactly what you get to do."

The woman laughed again, further enraging Noelani. "Ah, so is the good little Jedi-trainee going to kill me now?"

Noelani darted forward, and the woman had a moment to scream in shock as she shoved the blade into her shoulder, and yanked up.

The arm hung uselessly at the woman's side--held on merely by a length of muscle and flesh. Grinning, Noelani pressed her hand against the woman's chest and then pushed with the Force.

The woman screamed as she flew through the air and slammed against the closest of the feral's cages. The clear material splintered into a spider web of cracks around her impact site. The woman slid to the ground, leaving a trail of blood on the glass.

Noelani reached out with the Force and twisted, and both of the woman's ankles snapped loudly as she screamed in pain.

Then Noelani closed the distance between them, standing over here for a moment. "Maybe you didn't hear, but I'm not a Jedi any more."

The woman gaped at her, as the ferals began hammering on the glass. The cracks began to grow. Noelani looked at the glass for a moment, and then looked back down at the woman, a vicious snarl appearing on her lips. "I'll leave you to your work."

Then she turned and started walking away.

It took five steps before the woman processed what Noelani was doing, and then she called out. "No! You can't do this to me! Pleases, at least kill me first!"

She reached the door and held her hand over the activation plate. "But, it's as you said, I'm a good little Jedi. I can't kill you in anger. Just consider this a daughter's payment for what you did to her Mom."

She pressed her hand against the door's activation plate at the same time as the glass wall shattered.

As Noelani left the room, the woman's cry shifted from a yell of disbelief to another, louder scream of pain.

The door closed behind Noelani and she paused, leaning against it for a moment, collecting her thoughts. With a moment's hesitation, she shoved her blade into the activation plate. With a sharp retort of an electronic explosion, the door behind her snapped open slightly.

Noelani smiled, and thought; at least they'll be able to go back to the rest of their colonies now.

She continued down the hall, trusting her Force senses to guide her in the direction she needed to go.

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Tahiri stepped out of her office as waves of aggression and anger began washing over her. She frowned as she spun in a quick circle, trying to discover what was happening.

Before she was able to reach out to the Force, one of her soldiers rushed up and saluted. "Jedi Viela, the Ferals we had in Area 33-Jenth seemed to have escaped from their containment labs."

Tahiri frowned for a moment, and then pulled her saber to her hand, and started jogging towards the stairs. The soldier fell into step beside her, as Tahiri said, "Then, I guess we need to round them back up before they escape. Do we know the status of the intruder?"

The Guardsman was silent for a moment and then she shook her head. "Sorry, ma'am, but there's been no sighting of her."

Tahiri shrugged and with a slight chuckle, replied, "That's all right; we're probably heading towards her handiwork anyways."

"Ma'am?"

Tahiri laughed again, a bitter, harsh sound. "Don't worry, Private, we'll have plenty enough to do soon."

He words were prophetic, for as soon as they turned the next corner; they were faced with a wave of ferals rushing towards a half dozen of her soldiers.

Tahiri let loose a Tusken War Cry and then had her blade in her hand and was rushing forward.

She closed with the Ferals and began slicing through them. From behind her she could hear the near constant chuff sounds of her soldier's blaster rifles, accompanied by the bright flashes of red light as they slashed past her.

Slowly, an odd sound intruded into her awareness. Something which she did not expect to hear in the midst of a raging battle: laughter.

As her blade slashed through the neck of the next feral another realization appeared fully formed in her mind. The person laughing was herself.

Startled, she took a few steps back away from line of ferals, and gave her head a quick shake.

This isn't right, she thought to herself as she looked around. The remnants of her handiwork littered the ground.

Tahiri looked around, and then spun to the ground, vomiting. A hand touched her shoulder, and she looked up at the Guardsman standing over her.

"Ma'am, are you all right?"

Tahiri wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and then slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, just… just a shock for a moment is all."

The helmeted Guardsman watched her for a moment longer and then nodded her head. She turned away from Tahiri and once more began firing into the mass of ferals.

Tahiri sat back onto her haunches and scrubbed a hand over her face. What's wrong with me?

Turning away from her soldiers, she left them to the destruction of the Ferals.

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Chase leaned against the far wall, watching the door. He had already tried a dozen of the things that had allowed him to escape from the cells on Ambria, but this was different. The rooms he had been held in weren't designed to keep him in them.

If they had been, he'd probably still be there.

He sighed, as hung his head slightly, wondering if he'd ever get out of here; if he'd ever see Noelani or the kids again.

He decided that the answer to both questions was probably going to be no. The Guard had been trying to capture him for months now, ever since he left the Jedi Temple and descended into the Coruscanti Undercity. He'd been one step ahead of them that entire time, but his luck had ended.

Now they had him, and he doubted they'd ever let him go.

He lowered his head slightly, staring down at his boots.

When the door opened, he didn't bother to look up. He heard the guard's boots stepping into the room, but was startled when a pass key was dropped to the ground between his feet, with a blaster following quickly behind it.

His head snapped up, and he found Noelani standing over him, a smirk on her face. "I thought you were going to get the kids away from the Guard."

He felt himself grinning, despite everything. "Well, you know how it is. You get them all into the speeder, and then they start begging for toys and snacks and bathroom breaks."

Noelani giggled, and she held out her hand towards him. He grasped it and she helped pull him to his feet.

Once he was up, she refused to let him go, but instead pulled him into a tight hug.

He found that he couldn't stop smiling, and then kissed the top of her head. After holding her for what he was certain was not long enough, he pulled away, holding her at arms length. "Come on, let's get the kids and get out of here."

Noelani grinned at him, and nodded her head. "Sounds like a plan."

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