A Father's Blade: Chapter Ten

Chase lies on his back, staring at the aged ceiling tiles. He notices that certain portions of the white tiles have begun to turn yellow along the edges. An indicator of how old this particular cell is, how long it has been since it has been refurbished.

He turns his head, looking at the door, an electrical state field, currently set to repel and opaque. He knows from experience that the door at this power setting will raise blisters with a pass of his bare skin. It is an experience he would rather not have again. He returns his attention to the ceiling, a plan forming in his mind.

Smiling he glances around the small cell again, and sits up from his bed. Another quick visual confirmation of his cell. He closes his eyes, and listens, trying to hear anyone moving on the far side of the doorway. Finally satisfied that no one is around; he bounces up and jumps onto the bed. He reaches up to the ceiling, and begins prying away at the yellowed ceiling tiles, digging his fingers into the edges between two tiles. Getting his hand wedged above the tile, he pulls in a savage downward thrust and the material snaps apart in large chunks. Reaching up, he pulls another chunk down. And then another. As soon as he has a big enough hole, he jumps up, pulling himself into the small crawlspace between the ceiling and the floor above.

He suppresses a chuckle as he begins scooting through the cramped space, following the HVAC components, hoping that they lead to a way out of the building.

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Noelani finds herself standing on top of a building at the edge of the city, staring out at the reddish brown desert, longing for the binary sunsets of her own homeworld as she watches the pale version of Ambria. She brushes away the latest set of tears, tears caused by her own failings as a Jedi.

She had wanted to kill the Yuuzhan Vong.

She had liked it.

She hears the crunch of a foot against the small stones spread over the roof of the building. She glances behind her, and sees Drago standing there. His fur seeming to blend into the darkening sky and his yellow eyes glitter with intelligence and compassion.

"You're hard prey to track, young Noelani."

Noelani nods her head, and turns back to the sunset. The crunch of his feet against the roof tells her that the Cathar is approaching. He stops beside her, watching the sun alongside her.

"Do you wish to speak of what ails you?"

Noelani frowns, and decides to try to dissuade the older alien from prying into her problems. "I thought Cathar were aggressive hunters. Why do you want to talk so much?"

Dargo bellows a laugh. "Oh we are little one. Have no fears on that. But even for the best of us, as we grow older, tend more to philosophical pursuits than aggression."

She looks at him, one eyebrow cocked. "So as you get older, you talk more?"

"Yes, little one. That is exactly what I'm saying. And we can take a hint. I will intrude upon your problems no more."

Drago turns around and begins walking away from her. As the crunches of his feet fades into the distance Noelani feels a pang of guilt and regret. She knows that he was just trying to help her.

Sighing, she turns away from the sunset towards him. "Drago! Wait!"

He glances over his shoulder, his ears flattening in an expression which Noelani hopes mean that he's curious.

"Yes, little one?"

"I'm… I'm sorry." She closes the distance, lowering her head as she does so. "I know you were just trying to be helpful. It's just… it's painful. What they did to me. I was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong on our last mission. I know I'm not supposed to hate, that it's not worthy of me as a Jedi, but it's just so hard."

Drago nods his head slowly. "You will not find judgment in me, youngling. I too wished to see him dead. He has often come to my shop making veiled threats as to taking my daughter from me. We have often fought – usually to a draw- and have been told by security to stay away from one another. His less than veiled threats directed towards you were just yet another excuse for me to attack him."

They stand in silence as night continues to fall around them. Finally Drago raises his snout, sniffing the evening wind. Without looking down, he says, "Come, join me an Lyrvar for the evening meal."

Noelani is slightly startled as she realizes just how late it has gotten. "Oh! I'm late. I'm supposed to meet my Master at the hotel for dinner."

"Then I will accompany you."

Noelani shakes her head. "No. You go to dinner with your daughter. I'll be fine."

Then she rushes to the ladder which leads to the ground, sliding down it and landing with a low thud. She glances up to see Drago still on the roof, looking down at her, his eyes shining a bright yellow from reflected street lamps. She waves in farewell and darts through the nearly deserted streets.

Within minutes she arrives at the hotel, and notices that a light is burning in the window of the rooms she shares with Tahiri. Smiling happily she rushes forward, and pushes open the door, stepping in without hesitation as she calls out, "Hey! Master! Sorry I'm late, but I was having this-"

She stops in mid sentence as a burly Yuuzhan Vong and a tall lanky Wookiee step out of the 'fresher. She takes a step back and spins around as she hears the door behind her open once more. Standing there is another Yuuzhan Vong warrior and a woman wearing a BioTech Industries jumpsuit.

For a second, Noelani wonders if they could have found out just who it was who killed Rulmon Yah earlier in the day.

The woman steps forward, her face hardening slightly. "Come with me child. Life will be better for everyone involved if you do. Your Master is not here to help you now."

Realization sets in. They are here because of something Tahiri did rather than Noelani's actions. Noelani stares wide-eyed at the woman for a moment, hoping that if she doesn't make a move, they will give her enough time to figure a way out of this mess. Give her a way to find out what happened to Tahiri.

"What did you do to her?"

The woman smiles – to a non-Jedi it might appear warm and comforting but it scares Noelani. The woman's Force presence does not match it. She pools coldness and hate and deceit through the Force. Enough to cause Noelani to take an unconscious step back away from her.

The woman steps forward as she says "Don't worry about that. You'll be reunited with her very soon."

Then tight arms snap around her shoulders, picking her up off the ground. Noelani lets out a short yelp and looks down seeing the tattooed, grey-skinned arms around her. She kicks her feet and feels them flail uselessly against the strong legs of the warrior holding her.

She twists her arms slightly, one hand slipping under the sleeve of the other arm. A moment later she pulls out the collapsed staff. It's a simple weapon, compressed flow-metal, the same technology used in Tendandro battle droids for their self-healing armor, extends from the length of a lightsaber hilt to just over a meter and a half long - equal extension from both ends. Noelani raises the staff, positioning it as close to the warrior's face as possible, and then depresses the small button to extend it.

The weapon extends into the warrior's eye and he bellows in rage, dropping Noelani. Without hesitating she twists the staff around and slams it against the side of his head. He crumples to the ground bleeding profusely from where she had struck him.

She hears the Wookiee behind her growling, and the woman in front of her screaming, "Get her!"

Without waiting she jumps up on the bed and grabs the warrior with the Force. Hefting him, she grunts as she throws him through the large window. She is moving that way even before the warrior breaks through. Jumping through the window, she lands on the warrior she threw and trips over him. She tosses out her arm trying to break her fall and can hear the sickening crack of her arm breaking.

She screams but stands up rushing forward, trying to escape. Trying to figure out where she can go.

With the back of her hand, she scrubs tears from her eyes as she runs from the hotel. The Force tingles, and she drops to the ground and rolls forward, biting back bile as her roll takes her across her arm. With a solid thunk-a thud bug slams into a speeder parked a few meters away. She goes to slap the bug with her staff and realizes that she has dropped it somewhere.

Muttering a curse that she has heard Tahiri use, she dives down an alleyway, hoping to loose her pursuers. The short bark of a Wookiee lets her know better, and the Force prompts her to dodge again as a thud bug flashes past her ear.

Spying a door along one wall, she skitters to a stop, her feet sliding slightly on the dirt which covers this particular section of alley, and presses her hand against the door beside her. She pushes with the Force and the door flies inward, crashing into some metal shelving. Without hesitation she darts forward into the darkened shop, enhancing her night vision with the Force.

Chewing her lower lip she looks around, trying to figure out what to do. A low growl startles her and she turns towards the door. Backlight by light from the street she can just make out a dark shaggy form standing in the doorway. She reaches out with the Force, and picks up the door hurling it at the figure standing there.

She smiles viciously as a Wookiee howl of pain rings out as the door slams into him. She turns away and rushes further into the store, heading towards the front. Arriving at the front door she uses the Force to break it down as well and steps out of the store, casting a glance over her shoulder making sure her pursuers haven't caught up with her yet.

She is smiling and turning back to face forward when something warm and sticky slaps against her face, covering her mouth.

Her eyes pop open wide in surprise as she struggles to scream, and she raises her hands to pry the goop away from her face, realizing as soon as she touches it that she can no longer pull her hands away. She tries to inhale but can only feel the jelly bulge into her nostrils and she almost panics, realizing that this is how Rulmon Yah felt as he died.

Rough hands grab her and push her down to the ground and she collapses to her knees and elbows. She can feel her skirt and tunic ripping on the harsh pavement and burns erupt on her knees and elbows as she is dragged backwards slightly.

Pain from her broken arm flares through her consciousness, driving the edges of her vision black. Then she can feel more of the cold, slimy gel being applied to her ankles and then they're pressed together so that she can't move her legs.

Hands pull her face sideways, sprinkling some bitter smelling salts near her nose, and suddenly she can move her hands.

Before she can react though, they pull her arms back nearly dislocating her shoulders in the process, applying more of the jelly to them, keeping them straining that way. Sickened from pain, she realizes that she can feel the edges of the broken bone as they grind against each other.

The woman in the BioTech Industries uniform walks up and looks down at her, that cold, heartless smile still there on her face.

"You should have been a good girl."

She nods her head, and pain blossoms in Noelani's forehead, driving her into the black oblivion of unconsciousness.