A Father's Blade: Chapter Five

The blue swirls of hyperspace dissolve as Noelani pulls the levers towards her. Her grin is bright enough to be classified as a new star, and she glances towards her Master in the pilot's station. Tahiri gives her a quick nod of the head, and Noelani leans closer to the co-pilot's panel, shifting power from the hyperdrive to the ion engines. A low thrum - felt more than heard - runs through the ship as the sublight engines come online.

Noelani looks out the viewport, and sees the planet Ambria hanging like a jewel there in space. The tan and brown and red clouds are almost the like flaws of the jewel. Stretched around the planet are the wide blue-grey rings of ice and stone glittering darkly like billions of small diamonds reaching around the planet.

She lets out a small whistle of amazement. "It's beautiful."

Tahiri nods her head slightly. "Yes. If you like these, you should have seen the rainbow bridge on Yuuzhan'tar before Zonoma Sekot ripped it away."

Tahiri reaches forward and grasps the control yoke, banking the Stolen Star slightly, bringing them in. They break into the yellowish atmosphere.

"Master, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Well, remember when we came back from the mission to Lorrd. After you had bought the Star?"

"Yes."

"Didn't Master Skywalker ask you to change the name?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you?"

Tahiri shrugs her shoulders. "If I had to give a reason, I would have to say because he asked me to."

"Oh." Noelani's face scrunches up in thought, and she turns her attention back out the viewport. A few minutes pass in silence, and then the Stolen Star flashes over a sprawling city. One which Noelani thinks resembles Mos Eisley or Anchorhead. Low domed buildings, made from stone. Everything colored in browns, reds and tans. The major difference being Ambria's palette is a few shades darker as a base color, a burnt orange as opposed to the yellow-white of Tatooine sand.

She hears Tahiri murmuring into the throat mic and unbuckles her harness so she can get that much closer to the view port. She watches the buildings and landscape, harsh angles of stones and bunches of hardy desert grasses, as they overfly the main settlement. A glitter attracts her attention, and she turns her head slightly, seeing a gleaming compound, its silvery exterior shining, reflecting the golden rays of Ambria’s sun. Then she sees the blue and red of the BioTech Industries logo, a symbol etched onto the side of the tallest of the buildings. She estimates that that symbol is taller than she herself is.

Tahiri banks their ship towards the south and the compound is lost from view. Noelani leans back in her seat, something - an uneasy feeling - gnawing at her stomach.

“Master? Do you feel anything out of the ordinary?”

“Nope. Nothing. Why?”

Noelani bites her lips, suddenly wishing she hadn’t mentioned it. She lets out a small sigh, hoping that her Master wouldn’t notice her hesitation. “It’s just that…well, I have a bad feeling about this.”

She notices the hardening of the eyes and the slight frown which flickers across Tahiri’s face; it is an expression which Noelani has grown used to, one she has learned to recognize as what occurs when something has reminded her Master about Anakin Solo. For a moment, a pang of pain hits Noelani, sorrow and heartache that even after all the years since Anakin’s death, she sees that expression on Tahiri’s face way too often.

Finally, Tahiri speaks. “Keep your mind focused on the Living Force. Let it guide you, if you don’t then you can get too bogged down in the details of the Unifying Force.”

Noelani nods her head and says, “Yes, Master.”

With a gentle thump, the Stolen Star lands, and Noelani can hear the hiss of the coolant system, and the gentle ticks of the engine switching over to standby mode. They are a subtle music to her, one which tells her that the ship is functioning perfectly, even if she is not entirely certain how she knows that.

She unbuckles her restraints, and jumps up from the seat, heading towards the door when her Master’s voice calls out from behind her. “Wait.”

She pauses at the door, and slowly turns around, to find Tahiri watching her, one eyebrow hitched in expectation. “You’ve been begging for piloting lessons. Well the first thing you learn are the checklists. Now sit back down so you can do them.”

Noelani nods her head and sighs as she returns to her seat. “Checklists are no fun though.”

Tahiri laughs. “Maybe. Maybe not. But they are a part of piloting, and if you ever want to pilot, you’ll learn them.”

She lets out another long sigh and says, “Yes, Master.” Then she pulls up the post-flight checklist on her terminal and begins quickly going through the list of things to do. Finally she is finished, and shuts down her terminal, turning towards her Master.

"I'm done!"

Tahiri gives her a small grin. "Good. Now let's go."

Together they leave the bridge, and leave the ship. Standing at the foot of the ramp is a severe looking woman dressed in a BioTech Industries uniform and an older Twi’lek dressed in simple robes of state.

The Twi’lek bows at the waist, and then smiles for them, a happy grin showing off the rows of sharpened teeth.

“Welcome, Master Jedi. I am Cutiva’nen, administrator of Ambria, and this is the assistant to the local head of BioTech Industries, Thera Holsom.”

Tahiri returns the bow, and smiles warmly for the Twi’lek. “Thank you, Cutiva’nen. I am Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila and this is my apprentice, Noelani Darklighter.”

Thera speaks up here, her voice grating slightly on Noelani as she says, “Now, that all the niceties are out of the way, why don’t you tell us why you’re here?”

Noelani rankles slightly at the imperious tone of the BioTech official, but before she can say something feels a gentle touch through the Force from her Master. A reminder to be on her best behavior. She drops her head slightly to hide the blush, and then tunes out the adults, allowing her eyes to flicker around the starport, allowing the Force to guide her gaze.

Off to the east is a large, dilapidated hanger, the burnt orange of its stone construction seems dangerous to her, as if there is something wrong with the building. Something not quite right in the Force. She frowns, and turns to look to the west and sees another of the hangers, the exact same color as the first building, but this one doesn’t send bad feelings racing down her spine.

She turns back to the east, allowing her eyes to flicker over the various parts of the building. Then she notices movement, a flicker of a shadow in one of the upstairs windows. She takes a step forward, the Force urging her onward to investigate that building.

“Noelani, are you coming?”

Startled, she lets out a small yelp of surprise, and spins around to see her Master and the other two adults – they are a half dozen paces away from her, all of them looking at her strangely.

“Oh..uhm..sorry, Master. I...I’m coming.”

She glances once more at the hanger, and then rushes to catch up to the adults, the fire to explore that building still burning brightly inside of her.

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Chase Polliska can feel his lungs burning; a stitch cropping up in the side of his chest tells him that he has been running for too far, for too long. In the distance he hears the chuff of a plasma weapon, and dives to the side just as he feels the heat of the plasma ball slicing through the air where his chest had just been. The superheated matter splatters against the ground a few yards away, melting the cobblestone of the street into a small glass depression before cooling and hardening.

Chase scrambles back to his feet, and rushes into an alleyway, his eyes scanning the sides of the buildings for an escape route.

From behind him, he can hear the harsh guttural barks of his pursuers. He glances over his shoulders again, and sees the pair who are chasing him turn the corner.

"Shavit," he mutters beneath his breath, barely aware of the fact that he had spoken at all. Facing forward again he pushes his body harder and faster. He darts around another corner, and finds himself faced with a wall about three meters high. Growling another obscenity, he darts for the corner and begins to work himself up to climb over the top.

Pain erupts in across his shoulder and pressure slams him forward against the wall, dislodging him. He falls the two meters to the ground, crumpling into a ball. Something wiggles in his shoulder, the pain driving deeper against the bones in his shoulders; he squirms against the sensations, grinding his teeth to hold in a scream.

A guttural bark sounds above him, and he shifts around, looking up at the mountain of muscle which towers over him. The battle armor he is dressed in glistens sickly, pulsing slightly with a life of its own. Tattered lips stretch to create a rictus of a smile, and Chase can make out the outline of a tattoo twisting around the left eye, claws of some animal clutching at his eye. It sends an instinctive fear crashing through his heart, a fear driven in part by the agony screaming in his shoulder.

A massive hand reaches down and pushes him forward, and pulls at whatever is digging into his shoulder. Chase can taste blood in his mouth as the pain spikes a wave of white agony which tries to wash away his consciousness.

Finally the pain recedes, and Chase looks up, his chest heaving with pain, his sight wavering slightly-still dark at the edges. The hand latches onto his neck, and jerks him upright.

Guttural words erupt from his throat, "mon-mawl rrish hu camasami!"

His eyes widen as he realizes that he spoke in an alien language. Even more surprising is that he knows what it means. Leave me alone.

The hand pulls him around, dragging him down the alley as the warrior barks a command in his language, "Guvvuk!"

Instinctively he translates the alien command, Move. Chase wonders what has happened to him that he can understand their language. What have they done to him? The hand on the neck pushes him forward again, twisting him back the way he came, heading towards the main thoroughfare for ground traffic.

Chase tries to drag his feet, but the warrior's other hand jabs into his hurt shoulder and pain erupts through Chase's body again. The hand on his neck still directs him, forcing him out of the alleys. They arrive at the main street, and the hand directs him to a waiting transport with enclosed sides.

They push him forward and he stumbles into the cargo area. Chase struggles to his feet, and turns around just in time to see the doors slam shut, shutting the cargo area into darkness. He drops to his knees, lowering his head and slams his fist into the metal floor in frustration; growling another curse as he struggles to not give into his despair.