Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts: Chapter Eleven

Tahiri comes to with a weight pressing against her chest, something fibrous tickling her nose and bands wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

She lifts her head slightly as she opens her eyes into a mass of blonde hair.

“Noelani?”

The girl makes a short grunting sound in reply. Sighing, Tahiri speaks again, a bit louder this time. “Noelani.”

Noelani bolts upright; her face a mask of fear and shock, and a short yelp echoes in the cavern. Tahiri slowly sits up, and as she does, Noelani nearly tackles her in a hug, squeezing her tightly.

“Oh, I was so worried. They told me that they had killed you, and they were going to apprentice me to a Sith. I-I killed them. I didn’t mean to, but I had to do it to protect you. Please don’t be mad at me.”

Tahiri pries the girl off of her, and holds up her hand, silently prompting her to stop her rambling.

She smiles for her. “I’m not dead, and you did wonderfully.”

Tahiri then looks around the cavern, noticing the three dead warriors. Frowning she gets up, and walks over to the nearest one.

“This one died by amphistaff. Were you using one?”

She turns to see Noelani still kneeling on the floor, her head lowered. When she replies her voice is weak. “Yes.”

“Can I ask how?”

“I asked it to form a Gaderfii, and used it like that.”

Tahiri almost asks how she managed that, but then decides it doesn’t matter. She looks around again, this time searching for her saber. Spying it against a wall, she recalls it to her hand and then snaps it to her belt.

She looks back to Noelani and notices the tattered state of her tunic; Tahiri slips off her outer cloak and puts it around the girl’s shoulders, and then helps her up.

“Come on; let’s find our way out of here.”

Walking in silence, the two girls leave the chamber, and once more find themselves in the darkness of the tunnels.

The wander through the tunnels, letting the Force guide them, hearing the occasional scratching sound of something hanging from the ceiling.

After a while, they find the tunnels lightening once more, and step into a large cavern. Bright lights shine down from above, a thin carpet of grass extends out, and the sound of a fountain is calming to them. But the most surprising thing in this cavern is the house, situated in the dead center of it. A two-story mansion, with wide open windows, everything about it looks inviting, but its very presence sends chills through Tahiri’s heart.

Slowly, cautiously, they begin opening doors, and peering in rooms. Tahiri pauses to look at the marble busts that line the hallways, as Noelani looks into yet another room. A burst of surprise and horror, draws Tahiri’s attention away from the statue, and has her dashing into the room.

It’s a well-appointed medward, complete with diagnostic station, ancient but working medical droids and a full bacta tank.

Floating in the bacta tank, is a woman around Tahiri’s age, her black hair flared out around her, partially obscuring her features, but what Tahiri can see is enough to identify her as Nelani Dinn.

Tahiri slowly walks over to the control panel on the side of the bacta tank, and pulls up Nelani’s vitals. As she is reading them, a machine hums to life, and she can hear a single retort of an electrical arc. Then the bacta fluid begins to bubble, Tahiri looks back into the tank, as she can see waves of energy fluctuating through the vicious medium, and inside Nelani is writhing.

The Force sings a song of agony.

Horrified, Tahiri ignites her saber and shoves it into the machine; the resulting explosion throws both her and Noelani backwards, and shatters the front of the tank.

The bacta flows out, carrying Nelani out of the tank. She comes to a rest in the middle of the floor, and Tahiri rushes to her side, brushing her hair out of her face.

Nelani looks up at Tahiri, pain clouding her eyes. Her voice is a hoarse whisper, “Thank you.”

“Shh. Don’t talk, we’ll get you out of here.”

Nelani gives an abbreviated shake of her head. “Not going anywhere. They made sure of that. Shira. Lumiya. Ja-”

Then the Force sings a melancholy song. A funeral dirge for one of its own.

Tahiri bows her head, and picks the dead Jedi up; she turns around, and sees Noelani behind her, unshed tears glistening in the young girl’s eyes.

Together they leave, never looking back.

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Five days later, Tahiri and Noelani stand before the Master’s Council, giving a report of their mission. As Tahiri finishes talking, she wonders for a split second why Master Skywalker refuses to look at her.

Finally Master Horn looks up from a datapad. “What is your suggestion that we do next Knight Viela?”

Tahiri glances down for a moment. “We need to find out who was torturing Knight Dinn. Before she died, she made mention of some names: Shira, Lumiya and someone else. We need to know what she was talking about. We know Lumiya is a Sith, as my apprentice saw her.” Tahiri looks towards Master Katarn. “And that she is working in connection with a Force-sensitive Yuuzhan Vong. We also need to send a team to find out more about that asteroid or destroy it.”

Master Skywalker nods his head once, sharply. “We’ll look into that. But tell me Knight Veila, how do you feel about having an apprentice? When she was captured, did your first thoughts turn to rescuing her, or how best to serve the Order?”

Tahiri frowns slightly. “I feel perfectly fine teaching my apprentice. And frankly, in that scenario, I thought about rescuing her. After all, you were the one who told me that I was responsible for her.”

She sees the frown which flickers across Luke’s face and wonders about it for a moment, but then the Grand Master is speaking again. “I’m just wondering if we might have been a bit…reckless in assigning one-on-one apprentices again.”

Tahiri shakes her head. “I don’t know about that Master Skywalker, but it is done now.”

Luke sighs and nods his head. “Yes, yes it is. You are dismissed, but please stay on Ossus, the Council is working up your next mission. You will also retain possession of the Stolen Star for use as a Jedi. Please think about changing the name.”

Tahiri and Noelani bow, and then Tahiri says, “Thank you, Masters.”

---------------------------------------------------

Two weeks later finds three of the Council standing in a large chamber in an abandoned mining complex on an asteroid deep in the Outer Rim.

They are three of the most capable, powerful members. The three most skilled members of the Order at finding things and at working their way into places where they’re not really wanted. They are Corran Horn, Kyle Katarn and Luke Skywalker.

Kyle looks between the other two. “We’ve been through every tunnel of this place, and can’t find anything. Nothing like what Tahiri and Noelani described.”

Corran shakes his head. “Not exactly. Look closely at the ceiling; you’ll see where support struts used to be. I think this chamber is the one that contained the house that they saw.”

Luke sighs, turning around in a circle, his glow sending a shaft of light which plays against the various walls. “It doesn’t matter that much anymore. We know the Sith have returned. We know Lumiya is out there. I think that’s more important than what may or may not have been held here.”

Luke looks around one more time, and then shakes his head. “Let’s go.”

The three turn without saying another word, and leave the chamber, heading back to the hangar where their ships are stored.

If they had turned away at that moment in time, then they would have found part of what they were looking for. They would have seen the ghostly form of a human female, one sheathed in a dull silver suit of armor.