Rand is leaning against one of the tree branches, twined to make a pole, a few yards away from the Rwookrrorro Council Chambers. With a bang, Waroo opens the door, and stalks out of the chambers, his shoulders hunched, and frustration and anger pooling off of him. Waroo looks around, and catches sight of Rand, and ambles over to him.
"So, how did it go?"
The young Wookiee growls something about old timers who like the status quo, and turns away, walking down the broad wooden path, which hangs between two of the great woshyr trees. Rand falls into step beside him, quietly keeping him company.
They make a few turns, which appears somewhat random to Rand, but as they enter a darkened stretch of the path, a massive, shaggy shape looms up out of the night.
Rand lets out a yelp of fear as the shape finally resolves itself into another Wookiee. Waroo introduces him as Pollitichuk, and then goes on to explain that he is another Wookiee who believes as Waroo does.
Rand grins. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Let's go find a nice cantina to talk."
Pollitichuk growls that Ackmena's Catina is around the corner.
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Noelani sighs as she looks at the literal-minded security droid standing watch over her and Chase, his metal form standing just outside the energy bars to their cell.
"I'm a Jedi Apprentice, please let me get in contact with Ossus."
The droid's photoreceptors focus on her, glowing with a yellow internal light. "This unit is programmed to recognize all active Jedi Knights. You are not in my databanks."
She lets out a growl of frustration. "Listen you tin can, I'm not a Knight yet, now as an Alliance citizen don't I at least get to speak to a lawyer or something?"
"Pursuant to the Treasonous Activities Act persons caught illegally traveling on any spacecraft are classified as terrorists to be held for interrogation by the Galactic Alliance Guard. You are being detained without communication until a Galactic Alliance Guard unit can arrive to collect you."
She can feel her anger growing, a tight ball settled in the pit of her stomach. She turns her head, to see Chase lounging on one of the wooden cots provided in the cell.
"Do you have any more bright ideas?"
Chase's head twists towards her, a solemn look on his face. "Not right now. You?"
She clenches her fists, and stomps her feet, letting out another burst of frustration, this time directed towards her cell mate rather than the security droid. She looks down at the bacta patch placed over her broken arm, and works it back and forth happy that the sharp shooting pain has been replaced by just a dull ache.
She probes the healing break with the Force, and growls as she notices that the knit has happened slightly off-center.
"What's wrong now?"
She looks up from her arm, her features twisting into a scowl. "I'm in jail and now I find out that my broken arm healed wrong so they're going to have to re-break it when we get out of here."
She turns back to the droid. "I want to contact the Jedi Order. And I mean now!"
The droid impassively watches her, driving Noelani's anger higher and hotter. She begins pacing, walking back and forth the eighteen steps from one wall to the other.
Finally she stops in front of the cell, growling at the door. A part of her is aware that Chase is sitting up on the cot now, looking at her with worry-filled eyes.
She can feel the Force gathering around her, clear and clean, begging to be used. Whispering how easy it would be to escape, if she would just let go of her control.
"Last chance, tin can. Let me contact the Jedi Temple or else."
"Threatening a security droid is a class-three felony, punishable by a minimum of one year in a maximum security penitentiary."
Noelani screams in anger, and stretches out her hand, calling the Force to her. She wraps the droid in a tight embrace and begins to squeeze, happily watching as the machine's arms and legs crumple in towards the torso, the head slowly being crushed down – all while she clenches her hand into a tight fist. The sound of stressed metal squeals in the confined detention area and electricity arcs out from the droid striking the walls around it.
Finally the sound stops, and Noelani has a ball of useless metal gripped in the Force. The exterior door opens, and two Wookiee security officers step into the room, looking at the floating orb of metal and Noelani can feel their shock at what they're seeing.
She flicks her fingers and the former droid shoots down the hall slamming into the Wookiees, knocking them both back through the door, and taking a large part of the door frame with it.
Stepping to the side, she swings her arm towards her stomach, and the ball comes shooting back towards them, crashing through the cell's door, the electrical beams erupting in a small explosion.
She holds the crumpled ball of metal and energy in mid-air in front of her for a few heartbeats, smiling at it. Then she hurls the ball into the back wall of the cell. It warps slightly, but the ancient wood stands up to the onslaught. Noelani growing even angrier pulls the ball back into the hallway and sends it slamming into the wall again. The wood buckles, and gives way, allowing the hunk of metal to careen out into the night air.
She walks to the edge, looking down into the black abyss of the jungle, and allows the ball to drop into the depths. She watches the silver orb as it disappears from sight, and then turns to find Chase staring at her, a mixture of awe and fear painted on his face.
She looks up to see an YVH entering the detention block, and she regrets dropping the ball. Edging closer to the hole, she stretches out her hand towards Chase.
"You coming?"
His hand grasps hers, and she can feel electric fire running up her arm at the touch. She smiles for him, and then takes a running leap out of the hole, dragging him out into the abyss after her.
His scream echoes through her ear, and she reaches out with the Force, anchoring it to a platform – a broad expanse of wooden boards, a large square between a few buildings built into the tree trunks – a dozen meters away and a bit further than that down. She pushes against the platform; even as she drags them closer – using the platform's own inertia to slow down their fall.
They land, and she drops Chase, tucking herself into a roll to absorb the remaining kinetic energy of the jump. Standing, she looks back towards the detention center, and can just make out the glowing red eyes of the YVH droid staring at them.
As Chase stands, the eyes disappear and then a flash of metal appears in the distance, following their trajectory – coming towards them.
Noelani grabs Chase's hand and begins running away, once again dragging him behind her. He stumbles trying to keep up with her.
"Hey! Slow down a bit would ya?"
She shakes her head, her blonde hair billowing around her. "No time. That Hunter is gaining."
The droid lands on the platform, causing it to ripple from the force of its impact. The sudden movement knocks both teenagers off of their feet, sending them skidding across the walkway.
The droid's step sound heavy in Noelani's ears and she looks up to see the hunter closing, his repeater blaster being raised as he draws near.
A deep masculine voice speaks out in Basic. "Halt. Surrender yourselves or I will be forced to fire."
She looks from the droid to Chase, noting that he's already reached his feet, and clambers to her own.
Then a flash of metal bisects her vision and Chase is flying away from her, the droid taking up position where he had just been. She takes a couple of steps backwards, running up against the railing with her butt. She takes a last look at Chase where he's lying on the far side of the platform, his face bloodied from the strike he took from the YVH droid, and then she flips herself up and over, letting gravity take its course.
She is falling through the trees, flying past the various levels of the Wookiee city – flashes of wood and light barely perceptible as she falls. Then she slams into a branch, her abused body screaming in pain. Something heavy lands on the same branch, causing it to sway from the sudden increase in weight. Just enough movement to start her sliding again. She begins slipping off, and she rolls over casting her arms wide. Her hand clasps around an unexpected protrusion from the wood – a pommel of metal. It halts her slide for a moment, until the pipe starts to work itself loose, and she realizes that it's not firmly seated into the branch. A warm, masculine voice seems to whisper in her head, a calming voice, telling her to center herself, to not panic. To reach out with the Force.
She opens her eyes, and looks down at the abyss of darkness beneath her, suddenly afraid.
She glances up to see the red-eyed, skull-faced hunter droid standing half a meter away on the branch. It takes a step towards her, and the branch shifts, bending downwards slightly.
The metal pipe pulls out, and she is falling once again.
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Kyp brings his saber up even as the warrior dives towards him. He bats the amphistaff away, and slams his fist into the warrior's side – ecstatic that the warrior isn't dressed in the usual vonduun crab armor.
The warrior grunts, and twists with the blow, bringing his elbow up and into Kyp's ear. The blow jars his head, and he can feel a tooth trying to work itself loose. He rolls away from the warrior, bringing his saber back up just in time to catch the amphistaff once again.
Kyp's foot darts out, aiming for the warrior's kneecap, hoping to break it, but instead, the warrior dances out of reach, and then darts in once again, the scales of his weapon flashing in the arc-sodium lights which line the landing area.
Kyp dances back a few steps, creating a space between himself and the warrior. The angry buzz of his blade and his own slightly labored breathing are the only sounds on the landing field.
He slashes in, and the warrior flicks his wrist, transforming his amphistaff from bladed weapon to whip. Kyp backpedals as fast as he can, and throws himself to the side, but the warrior is faster and the whip slashes in, slicing down Kyp's sword arm.
He drops his saber, cursing as it rolls in the opposite direction he himself goes.
He lands, and uses the Force to push himself into a backflip. Landing once again, he drops to a crouch, watching the warrior advance. He looks around for his saber, and then glances down at his feet – noticing for the first time, the odd blaster which the warrior dropped.
And notices that it is slowly inching its way back to its owner.
Without hesitating, he reaches down and picks up the weapon, frowning as it squirms in his grasp. He points it towards the Vong and grins as the look of shock appears on the warrior's face.
Kyp squeezes what he hopes is the actuator and the animal spits out a ball of plasma which strikes the warrior in the middle of his chest.
The warrior flies backwards, and lands in a heap, a thin wisp of smoke coming from the smoldering hole in his chest.
Kyp looks in disgust at the blaster biot and then tosses it away. Shaking his head slightly, he asks himself, "Why the kriff can't they use real blasters?"
Calling his blade back to hand, he notices the blue and white logo barely visible above the burn marks on the tunic which the warrior is wearing. The logo for BioTech Industries.
He looks up, and sees the gleaming building off in the distance, towering over the other structures in the city. That same logo outlined by spotlights adorning the side of it.
He reaches out with the Force, and can feel Tahiri off in that direction, and without stopping to think, he begins running that way, looking for a speeder he can commandeer.
Monday, April 30, 2007
A Father's Blade: Chapter Sixteen
Sunday, April 22, 2007
A Father's Blade: Chapter Fifteen
Rand sits in the cockpit of the Nicholas, his Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1930. It really is not his ship, but is the one provided him by Corellian Intelligence for his mission. He watches the blue swirls of hyperspace, an almost hypnotic twisting of light and color. The navicomputer beeps, and he looks down, watching the numbers scroll down from five. He reaches forward and grabs hold of the hyperspace levers, pushing them forward as the countdown hits zero.
The lights and colors vanish, replaced by the stretched lines of stars which compress back down to single, cold pinpoints of light. Hanging off to port is the viridian jewel which is Kashyyk.
He sighs and shakes his head, cursing his luck once again for having been assigned this mission. He brings the sublight engines online and feeds them power – causing the entire ship to shudder.
His eyes widen in surprise as a half dozen indicators switch from green to red, and a dozen more indicators which should be red flicker to green. He presses a few buttons on the console and a display flickers to life – showing the sublight engines, and the problems associated with them.
The ship lurches again, and Rand unbuckles himself, standing up and turning towards the interior of the ship. He sees a flash of blonde hair dart towards the common room from the direction of the cabins and then a Wookiee howl of surprise.
He rushes forward, turning towards the common room, just in time to see the blonde – a young kid – yank open the pressure door to the engine compartment, a billow of black smoke pouring out from the room.
The girl darts into the smoke and Rand yells out, "Hey kid! What do you think you're doing?"
From behind him, he can hear an unfamiliar voice, "Noelani!"
He turns to see a dark-haired teenager standing near the corridor that leads to the crew cabins. He turns to the Wookiee.
"Do you know what these two kids are doing here?"
Waroo growls a negative, and he sees the soot covered blonde stick her head out from the engine room.
"Do you have a hydrospanner? I need one now!"
Growing angry, Rand steps forward into the engine room, coughing at the smoke. He strains his eyes, seeing a flash of yellow near an open access panel to the sublight engines.
"Just what the kriff do you think you're doing to my ship?"
The girl throws a quick glance over her shoulder at him, disdain easily evident on her oil-smudged face. "Saving us. Haven't you ever heard of engine maintenance? Now, where's the hydrospanner – I can't tighten these things enough by hand."
Rand turns away, wondering about the wisdom of listening to the girl, and then rushes to a cabinet and pulls out a hydrospanner. He returns to the engine and sticks it into the opening, where the girl is leaning into the inner workings of the machinery.
"Here," he brusquely states even as he wonders at the girl's sanity as she pokes around a live engine the way she's doing.
He tries to see into the dim engine compartment as she yanks the tool from him, unable to see anything save the occasional flash of blonde hair. "I hope you know what you're doing in there."
"Me too, now go try to restart the engines."
Rand frowns as he considers what the girl is saying, finally stating, "That could kill us."
She pulls out of the engine and turns on him, fire flashing in her blue eyes. He notes that she is young, at most thirteen standard.
Her voice is filled with annoyance. "Crashing will kill us. Now go!"
He blinks his eyes as he realizes that he's jogging down the corridor towards the cockpit, having already ran through the common room. For a moment he wonders what happened, and then decides it doesn't matter as he slides into the pilot's station. He pulls the engines offline, and notices that they are quickly falling in towards the planet. Only a few dozen kilometers from the atmosphere with that number rapidly dwindling.
Uttering a prayer to whatever higher powers the blonde in the engine compartment believes in, Rand brings the sublight engines back online, feeding them power.
The ship lurches as she comes back under control, and the warning indicators all flash away from red – with a worrying large number of them staying yellow. Yet he still lets out a sigh of relief, he can happily handle yellow.
They pull up out of their uncontrolled descent, assuming a more safe entry vector. Rand contacts the space port at Rwookrrorro, asking for permission to land. As he receives it, he turns control of the craft over to the automated landing system and then shakily gains his feet, and walks back to the common room.
He finds Waroo towering over the two teenagers, and crosses his arms, frowning at them. The boy has reddish-brown hair and brown eyes, and appears more wary of Waroo and himself then the blonde does. Finally, he asks the first question, "And just what should we do with the two of you?"
The two share a quick look between themselves and then the blonde replies, "Well, since we saved your lives, you could always drop us off whatever planet we're landing on and forget we exist."
Waroo growls a question at them, and though the two look at him, neither go to answer it. After a moment, Rand translates.
"He wants to know why you think we should let two stowaways loose on his homeworld."
Again that shared look, and the blonde speaking, "Because we saved your lives?"
Rand frowns for a second, and then goes to the weapon locker. He pulls out two pair of stun cuffs and a blaster. Turning back to the stowaways, he trains the blaster on them, while tossing the cuffs to Waroo.
He laughs at the look of outrage and indignation which crosses the blonde's face as the Wookiee places the cuff on the boy. He frowns as she yelps when he grabs her arm to put them on her.
The boy speaks, "Be careful you hairy oaf! She's got a broken arm."
The Wookiee growls at the boy, a response that needed no translation, and Rand's admiration of him notches up a bit as he doesn't back down from the Wookiee's aggression. Yet Rand notices that Waroo is gentler with the girl now that he knows she is injured.
Once they are both in the stun cuffs, Rand gestures with his blaster towards the holotable. "Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable. Kashyyk security will be here to pick you both up soon."
Then he walks back towards the cockpit, to contact planetary security and tell them about his two stowaways.
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Kyp leaves hyperspace. The blue and orange ball of Ambria, with her massive network of stone and ice rings, lies dead ahead of him. He accelerates towards the planet, reaching out once more to Tahiri in the Force. She still feels muted and blunt in the Force, but there is more of her presence and he can feel her control of her Force presence now. She acknowledges him in the Force, a quiet prompting which equates to "hurry."
Kyp pushes down the throttle and his X-Wing jumps forward quickly breaking the atmosphere, ignoring the startled cries of planetary control. He can see the red and orange from flames licking the sides of his spacecraft as he breaks the border between space and air, coming in at a slightly too sharp of a trajectory. He flashes over the single settlement on the planet. A sonic boom traveling in his wake, rattling some of the older buildings.
He sees Tahiri's ship settled on the tarmac, and banks around it, firing his braking thrusters and repulsors simultaneously, coming to a halt in mid air and drop the last five meters to a landing. Even as the ship is falling, he pushes open the canopy and uses the Force to fling himself up and out of the X-Wing. With a back flip he lands in a crouch beside the Stolen Star.
He looks towards the ship, trying to figure out what to do now, as the Force suddenly screams out in warning. In an eyeblink his saber is out and the blaster bolt is being sent back towards the landing strut from which it came from even as the sound reaches his ears.
He rushes towards the rear landing strut, and grabs the tunic of the human writhing in pain from the blaster wound to his shoulder, kicking the odd looking blaster away from him. He growls as he hauls him up off of the tarmac.
"Who are you?"
The man coughs up blackish blood, and grins as his face splits down the middle rolling backwards and down the body. In surprise, Kyp drops the man, who rolls and stands up, towering over Kyp, as the masquer finishes as a pile of empty flesh as the warrior's feet. An amphistaff uncoils from the warriors arm, hardening into blade shape.
Kyp reignites his saber as he takes a step backwards and says, "Oh."
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Tahiri rocks back on her haunches at hearing his neck snap - her eyes focus on his dead, lifeless gaze and the shock of taking a life with barely thinking about it rolls over her. She shakes off the shock, and quickly strips him of his uniform and dresses in it. She frowns as it conforms to her body as if it were a living shift of the Yuuzhan Vong. Then she hefts his body up onto her cot, pushing his dead form into the same shape that she usually made. Covering him with the sheet, she turns away and walks towards the door, calmly stepping through as the energy field flickers into non-existence.
She pauses at the unfamiliar corridor and looks back and forth.
Sighing, she opens herself to the Force, and feels the bright, shining presence of Kyp Durron. She sends a feeling of urgency, and then focuses on where she should be heading. Shrugging, she turns left and confidently walks down the hallway. Coming to a cross corridor, she turns right and walks on.
She comes to a large blast door. Frowning, she walks closer and her badge glows for a second and then the doors slowly rumble open. Tahiri cautiously creeps forward, wishing she had her lightsaber. She finds herself in another long hallway, this one darkened and filled with viewing windows.
She steps up to the first window and looks in with a deep sense of horror slamming into her. Within the room is a young, blue-skinned Twi'lek girl – not much older than Noelani. One of her lekku has been amputated, and scars adorn half of her face, and dance down the arm closest to Tahiri.
Images that she had ripped from Thesim's head flash through her mind's eye and she knows that this is one of the people who he violated and tortured.
Anger rips away the last of the fog which has clouded her brain since awakening in the cell. An anger based on her experiences at being captured and shaped. Anger due to the fact that this innocent girl is being tortured in the same way.
Growling, she reaches out with the Force and grabs a hold of the window and then yanks. With a squeal of stressed metal and the roar of crumbling ferrocrete, Tahiri pulls the window from the wall. She clenches her fist, and the transparisteel window partly shatters and partly crumbles into a ball which she then drops. She looks into the room to see the girl huddled in the corner- she stretches out her hand, making a "come here" gesture.
"It's okay, I'm a Jedi, come on we're getting out of here."
Saturday, April 14, 2007
A Father's Blade: Chapter Fourteen
Noelani steps out of the small diner, Chase's hand twinned tightly in her own as he follows behind her. She looks up and down the street, happy that there's no BioTech personnel within sight. She turns to Chase.
"So what now?"
"We need to find a way off world. Which one really doesn't matter. We just need to get out of here."
She frowns, concern for Tahiri blossoming in her chest. "But what about Tahiri? I can't just forget about her."
"We really can't help her though. The longer we stay on the planet, the faster that some of those BioTech goons get us. And we don't know anyone with a hypercomm transmitter that's not part of BioTech. We need to go somewhere else so that we can even hope to call for help."
Noelani sighs, and turns towards the spaceport. "I know. I just don't feel right about leaving Tahiri. She risked her life to rescue me. I should do the same."
Chase shrugs his shoulders. "If she risked her life to rescue you, do you think she'd want you to throw yours away trying to rescue her?"
Noelani silently shakes her head and begins moving towards the spaceport. "Then I guess I should tell you about the Star."
Before long, the two teens are hiding behind some crates, a short distance away from the Stolen Star. Noelani frowns, a feeling of danger hanging over everything. She shakes her head slightly. "This is no good. They have to be watching her."
She can feel Chase nodding his head. "Yeah, in fact there's one on the far side of the landing strut."
Noelani leans against the crate slightly, straining her eyes, and can just barely make out movement around the rear port landing strut. She sighs, and looks towards Chase. "Any ideas?"
He gestures with his head towards the left. "Come on."
Together they crawl through the landing fields, checking on every ship in the port. They finally stop at a medium-sized Corellian transport, where a human and a Wookiee are arguing as they load supplies into the hold.
Chase grins at her roguishly and says, "Looks like they're going somewhere."
She shakes her head. "I don't know…that is a Wookiee."
"It'll be all right. Trust me."
She sighs. "Okay, but if I get my arms ripped off I'm not talking to you any more."
She grins as he barks a short laugh, and admits to herself that she kind of likes the sound. He takes her hand and they creep towards the transport, quickly closing the distance between them and the two. For a second, Noelani has the feeling that she should be listening to what the two are arguing about, but she pushes the feeling away to the more immediate concern of sneaking aboard the spacecraft.
Noelani suddenly has an idea, and makes a gesture towards a stack of boxes on the far side of the ship, pushing them with the Force. The top one tumbles to the ground with a loud bang, and both the man and the Wookiee look over.
The man pulls his blaster and both go to investigate. With their backs turned towards Chase, Noelani and the main hatch, the two teens dart forward, and quickly climb aboard the transport. The look around, and Chase drags them to the common room – a large room with a holotable offset from the exact center, and a small galley set off to the side. Grabbing her hand again, he pulls her towards the corridor leading deeper into the ship and comes to a cross way – one path leads to the cockpit the other leads to a gunnery well. Looking up and down the hallway, he pulls her further into the ship. He glances into the first room they come to, and notice that there is a travel bag sitting on the bed. Then they go to the next room and find that it is empty.
Frowning, they go further down the hall, and enter the room furthest from both the cockpit and the ramp, and find it in use. Chase presumes it is the captain's quarters as it is larger than the other two rooms and with more personal paraphernalia than the first room. Chase quickly backtracks and enters the second room, pulling her in as well, shutting the door behind them.
Noelani looks around the small cabin, and realizes that it is designed for only one person and contains merely a cot, a small dresser/desk and a half refresher – basically just a toilet and a sink.
She drops to the bed, happy that it doesn't creak or make a sound as she does so. Then chase is brushing her hair away from her ear, leaning in close to it. His breath is warm and she has to suppress the urge to giggle and twist away as he whispers in her ear.
"We're going to have to be very quiet in here."
Noelani nods her head and then stretches out on the bed, the events of the past day and a half quickly catching up to her. She rolls to her side, and cradles her broken arm.
Then to her surprise, the bed shifts and she can feel Chase stretching out beside her, and then his arm wrapping around her stomach, sending flutters through it. She snuggles back against him, feeling safe and warm in his embrace, and then closes her eyes allowing sleep to claim her.
She jolts awake when the ship shudders as it jumps into Hyperspace. She frowns as she tries to get her bearings, trying to remember how she got here. She groans as the dull ache from her arm reasserts itself, and can feel the arms wrapped around her grip her tighter in response to the noise that she made.
That is when she realizes that she's wrapped tight in Chase's embrace, nearly laying atop his chest. Blushing, she tries to extricate herself from his arms, the movements causing him to cling to her tighter.
Giving up, she lays her head back down, and allows the drumming of his heart to lull her.
The next thing she knows, she can feel someone gently running a hand through her hair. She keeps her eyes close and her breathing even, just enjoying the feeling of contentment which runs through her at the simple caress.
She reaches out with the Force, feeling Chase's focus as his attention seems directed towards the top of her head, and she can feel both a blush cropping up on her cheeks, and her lips twisting into a lopsided grin.
Then she reaches out further, feeling the human and the Wookiee in different parts of the ship. The Wookiee closer to them, just a few meters on the other side of the door to the unused room they're hiding in. Then she reaches further, stretching herself, trying to touch Tahiri's presence, sending her awareness down through their training bond.
She finally gets a flash of her master, feeling the anger and outrage which rolls back to her through their training bond. Then Tahiri clamps down on the training bond, cutting Noelani off – not allowing her to feel what her Master is feeling.
She opens her eyes, and twists her head to look up towards Chase, blinking back the tears that have already sprung to her eyes.
The movement seems to startle Chase slightly, and he stops petting her hair, and just frames her cheek with his open palms.
He whispers, "What's wrong?"
"Something's very wrong with my Master. And she's hiding it from me."
Then the she feels the gentle tug in the pit of her stomach which indicates the reversion from hyperspace to real space. Turbulence causes the ship to shudder slightly, and Noelani sits up suddenly, looking off towards where the sounds of the engines have suddenly become very strained.
She closes her eyes, and stretches with the Force, with that part of her that has such an affinity with mechanical devices – and can feel the wrongness in the engines. Instincts tell her that they have not been properly maintained.
She jumps off the bed, landing in a slight crouch, and starts to the door. Chase grabs her arm, and hisses, "What are you doing?"
She pulls away and palms the door release, darting through, calling back over her shoulder, "The engines are going to blow if we don't do something."
She hears the startled roar of a Wookiee as she brushes past him, and opens the door to the engine room. As she does, black smoke billows out, and she utters the first thing that comes to mind, "Sithspit."
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Tahiri hears the energy door flicker off and then back on again, and then the soft steps of someone wearing soft-soled shoes of the type preferred by the technicians and scientists employed by BioTech. She can feel a grin stretching her lips, and knows that this is the time to try to escape.
A male voice intrudes on her awareness. "Hello Tahiri."
She clenches her jaw, not responding, keeping her body still, and ignoring the man.
Then the sheet which covers her is ripped away, she inhales sharply as the warmth of the sheet is suddenly replaced by a blast of cold air. Her eyes pop open and finds herself staring at a middle-aged man. His hair is greasy and limp, and heavy jowls frame a pair of dull blue eyes.
She narrows her eyes as he grins.
His voice has a nasal whine and says, "You will speak when spoken to. Hello Tahiri."
She snorts and wonders for a second what sort of spice the man has consumed, if he thinks she is going to answer him. Then she hears something which catches her off guard. A feminine voice, with a very slight Tatooine accent. Her voice.
"Hello."
She can feel her eyes widen, and she wonders what could have possessed her to actually speak.
Then the man speaks again. "That's right. You must obey me. Now stand up."
She throws her legs off the edge of the bed, toeing the floor for just a moment, before shifting her weight forward and standing up. She rocks on her heels, trying her best to sit back down – but her body refuses to obey her wishes. She lifts her head to look at the man and can feel anger cut through the fog which the tranquilizers create in her mind.
Then she notices the smile which touches the man's lips – her anger growing as his grin grows wider.
"I see you're beginning to understand your plight. Don't worry, I'll probably order you to enjoy yourself, but we have introduced a series of chemicals in both your food and your air which makes you obey every order you're given. Now don't move."
She grits her teeth, wanting nothing more than to slam her fist into his meaty face, and watches him as he steps closer. As his hand runs down her arm, she struggles to move. To twitch even so much as a single finger.
He walks behind her, his hand trailing around, caressing her butt.
Her anger and outrage erupts in her chest as the trailing finger crosses her body, coming back around to stop in her belly button.
She focuses inward, pulling the Force to her, delving into her body. She can find the various tranquilizers and sedatives in her bloodstream, and bypasses them, hunting for the other chemicals that have been introduced into her body.
She quickly begins purging the toxins from her body, setting that task on automatic as she once more focuses on the world around her. As she does so fire blossoms across her arm, and she looks down at the thin slash across her forearm. She looks to her other hand and finds herself holding a laser scalpel.
Then his voice calls out from behind her, "Sit."
Tahiri hesitates, and grins as she finds that she is able to, and then she drops to her haunches. Thick fingers snatch the scalpel away from her, and she curses under her breath, having hoped that he would leave it with her.
She can feel his fingers twinning themselves into her hair, and she has to stop a shudder of revulsion from his touch. Then pain blossoms throughout her scalp as he pulls back on her harshly, dragging her head backwards. Tears rise unbidden to her eyes, and she opens them, seeing the vague, blurry outline of the man's face above her.
His voice sounds thicker. "We're going to have some fun now."
Tahiri utters a Tusken curse and bounces up, hearing the sickening crack as the top of her head collides with his face and a dull ache blossoms across the top of her head. She spins on her heel, facing him to see him sprawled across her cot, holding his nose, blood staining the white tile of that wall.
She can feel her lips part into a smile as she stalks forward. She straddles him, settling herself on his chest, gently laying the tips of her fingers on his temples.
He moves his hand and looks at her with venom in his eyes. "You Jedi whore! I'm going to get you for this."
Tahiri just sadly shakes her head. "Oh, I don't think so. Now show me what BioTech is doing here."
Then she steps into his brain, ripping the knowledge that she seeks from him. She opens her eyes in horror as the images of his treatment of the test subjects flash through her mind's eye. The desire to vomit rears its head and she forces the bile back down.
She leans forward, moving her hands from his temples to wrap them around his thick neck. He starts to come around, and for the first time she sees a genuine emotion in his eyes. Fear.
"This is for all those little girls you sick monster."
Then she squeezes, and with just a touch of the Force, she hears the clean, clear snap of breaking bone.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
A Father's Blade: Chapter Thirteen
Tahiri raises her head, poking it out from beneath the sheet. When she hasn't been eating, exercising or taking care of hygienic needs, she has been beneath this sheet, with it pulled up over her head, for the most part motionless. At first, they would come in and check on her. Two or three different people – usually one of them was a big burly warrior. Finally they seemed to realize that she was just sleeping or hiding and it started only being a single person coming to check on her.
Then they had stopped.
They had come to expect her to be beneath the sheet and she could feel in the Force the flicker of surprise at those times when they stop at her window and saw her out from beneath it.
For a moment, she wonders what it was that prompted her to poke her head out. Was it a sound she had heard? Or maybe a prompting from the still elusive Force. She gives an internal shrug – the drugs in the air still making it hard to focus and concentrate or even care about anything.
It is mainly pure intellectual desire – plus the horrifying memories of her own shaping – which drives her to escape. She gets up, pushing the sheet away, prickles rising over her body in the cool air of her cell. She steps into the simple refresher area – a toilet and a shower. It was more of an alcove than a room, a tiled section of her cell – even the shower lacking a curtain to keep the sprays of water confined.
She turns on the water now, stepping under it, allowing it to flow over her as she considers her next move.
She reaches out with the Force, stretching for Noelani and can barely feel her – a small brilliant candle in the back of her mind, just enough awareness for each of them to know the other is alive and for the most part unhurt – but not nearly the usual strength and clarity of their training bond.
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Kyp Durron rests his head against the flight couch of his X-Wing, wondering once again how he managed to get roped into going to Ambria to check up on one of the Jedi Knights. Of course he can understand Kam's concerns.
Both Tahiri and her apprentice, Noelani, were seriously injured on their last mission. And though Cilghal has given them both clean bills of health the Council was still hesitant on sending the pair on this mission.
The navicomputer beeps and he goes about the task of dropping from hyperspace, changing course slightly and then once more entering hyperspace. That chore done, he closes his eyes and begins to meditate, stretching out trying to feel Tahiri.
Yet the harder he pushes, the more his frustration grows. For all he receives is the mental image of a fog.
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Chase leads Noelani away from the open air market, wondering what the people there make of the two of them. Two kids, a boy and a girl, obviously too young to be out on their own, and to top it off the girl's clothes are ripped and bloodied. He sighs, and casts a glance behind him, hoping no one is following them.
Happy that he doesn't see anything suspicious, he turns a corner, leading them further away from the market district and towards the industrial area with all of the abandoned buildings located there.
As they walk, he finally notices a change in the upkeep of the buildings – the ones around them now are decidedly shabbier and unkempt. Some appear on the verge of falling down on themselves.
Movement catches Chase's eye and he sees a pair of speeder bikes idling near one of the buildings, on their engine housings is the blue and gold logo of BioTech.
Without thinking, Chase reaches over and grabs Noelani's hand, pulling her towards him, as he darts towards one of the buildings which appear ready to be condemned. With a solid kick, he busts open the door and pulls her in as well, quickly closing the door behind them.
"What's wrong?"
He looks at her, noticing how wide her eyes have grown and wondering how they can be such a clear blue. Then he shakes his head, focusing on the problem at hand.
"BioTech security"
"Oh!"
Chase turns around, and cracks open the door, peering out, watching the speeders bikes. After a few minutes, he can feel Noelani tugging on his jacket. He glances back over his shoulder at her, and sees the look of fear etched on her face. He raises a finger to his lips – a universal symbol for quiet and then turns back to the cracked door, watching the speeders.
Finally two BioTech security officers walk up to the bike, conversing about something. He lets out a sigh as the pair climb aboard their bikes. Their engines roar into life, a rumble which shakes dust loose from the ceiling, raining it down on them. Chase continues watching the street until the noise has gone and then closes the door, turning back to Noelani.
"I think they're gone now. Hurry up an get change so we can eat." As he says this he turns back to the girl, almost surprised to find her unbuttoning the line of buttons which run down the front of her shirt. He can feel his mouth drop open, and knows that he is staring.
"Uhm…"
Noelani's head bounces up, and she finds him staring at her. He notices a blush cropping up on her cheeks as fire flashes in her eyes. "Do you mind?"
Chase is taken aback slightly, and quickly averts his gaze even as he turns back to face the door. "Oh! No. Yes. Sorry. I… I didn't see anything or nothing."
Chase hears the shuffle of clothes and fights the desire to turn around to watch her. After what feels like an eternity, she announces, "Okay. I'm done. Help me with this."
He turns back around, and sees her pressing one knee down onto her old skirt, as she works a vibroknife down the tough cloth, apparently trying to cut it into thin strips even as she favors her broken arm. Ducking down, he takes the blade from her, and quickly cuts the skirt into strips.
She points towards three pieces of metal just a bit shorter than her forearm. "Use those and re-splint my arm."
Chase quickly starts to work, and not for the first time wonders how he knows to do this as he ties the three metal bars around her arm. Once he's done, she settles cross legged on the ground, and closes her eyes. He scratches the top of his head, wondering what she is doing.
Almost as if she's read his mind, her eyes pop open, and she looks up, catching his gaze. Amusement seems to flash through her eyes. "I'm trying to get in touch with my Master."
"You've said you had a master before, are you some type of slave or something?"
The amusement quickly fades away from her eyes, replaced by some darker emotion. "No! My master is the best Jedi in the Order."
He feels as if someone has slapped with and he rocks back slightly, suddenly very untrusting of the cute blonde in front of him. "You're a Jedi?"
Her head rises quickly, as she looks at him, and he now has to wonder if she has done something to him, caused him to let her follow him around using her Jedi tricks. As he watches, her face seems to fall, and she drops her eyes, looking away from him.
"You don't like me now, do you?"
He kneels down beside her. "I didn't say that."
"But I could feel the suspicion and fear when I said I was a Jedi."
Her body begins to shake slightly, and Chase looks around bewildered, trying to figure out how to fix the situation.
Her shoulders hitch, and he can hear her sobs. "I can't find my Master, I know only two folks here, one's an old Cathar and the other one hates me."
Chase drops down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, I don't hate you."
She looks up at him, her eyes wide; a tear runs down the side of her face closest to him. "Y-you don't?"
He grins, and shakes of his head. "Of course I don't."
Then to his surprise, she twists around and leans into his embrace, resting her head against his shoulder, pressing her face into the crook of neck. Startled, he wraps his other arm around her into a tight hug before he realizes that is what he was doing.
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Thesim stands and watches the lump on the metal cot covered by the thin sheet. His greedy eyes trace the curves and bulges, telling him that he's most likely dealing with a female human. He plugs his datapad into a socket next to the large window, and a moment later it pings.
He pulls it out, and reads over the information about the Jedi specimen. He frowns as he notices that she had been shaped by the Yuuzhan Vong, and as he reads what was done to her realizes that her shaping should have no effect on the mind control drugs. Next he pulls up an image of her, and licks his lips as he stares at the image of a pretty blonde, the three vertical scars on her forehead somehow enhancing her beauty. He notices the note in her file, saying how all she does is spend time under the sheet and one of the psychiatrists believes that she has given up hope, saying something about how she feels safe beneath the sheet, and that she will not now try to escape her cell.
He reads her name. Tahiri Veila. Smiling, he speaks it aloud, "Tahiri." He likes how the sound of it seems to roll of his tongue.
Movement within the cell draws his attention and he looks up to see the girl from the picture staring towards him, her green eyes dull from the tranquilizers and mind control drugs being pumped into the room. He watches her, and almost as if she feels his scrutiny, she pulls the sheet up and back over her head, lying back down on the bed.
He chuckles slightly, and walks around the corner to the entrance to her cell. He approaches and his badge lights up slightly and at the same time the door to her cell flickers away to nothingness. He steps through and the door turns back on.
He takes a step or two into her room, his eyes glued to the form lying still on the cot.
"Hello, Tahiri."
She makes neither sound nor movement. No indication at all that he had even spoken. He closes the distance to her cot, and yanks the sheet off of her, and stares, startled by her already being nude.
He grins. "You will speak when spoken to. Hello Tahiri."
"Hello." Her eyes widen slightly, and he can see the confusion pooling in them, as if she can't believe she had just spoken. He grins, glad that she is beginning to understand her fate.
"That's right. You must obey me. Now, stand up."
She swings her long legs off the edge of the bed, and stands up, rocking back and forth slightly on her heels. Graceful, feminine movements, which Thesim enjoys watching. Anger rolls up from the fog in her gaze, and Thesim licks his lips once more, realizing that he's going to really enjoy this.
Friday, April 6, 2007
A Father's Blade: Chapter Twelve
Thesim Gra looks in the mirrored window, knowing that no one stands on the far side watching his actions. And knowing that even if there were, there is nothing they would do about it. His eyes take in the jowls of fat hanging from his cheeks, eyes that are dull and almost appear grey. Wisps of his thinning hair flicker around from the breeze of the air circulation system.
Thesim smiles at her and licks his lips as he walks over to her and kneels down beside her. Sitting the case he carries on the floor he pulls out a syringe and tourniquet and grabs her arm, pulling it away from her legs. He ties the tourniquet around her upper arm, and waits a second for one of her veins to begin throbbing – and when it does jabs the needle in, drawing out a vial of her blood.
He sets that to the side, placing it carefully in the appropriate pocket of his case and then pulls out a hypodermic injector. He presses this against the side of her neck and shoots the cocktail of drugs it contains into her system. An involuntary shudder runs through her slight frame.
He grabs her face, and drags her so that her eyes are staring at him and smiles as she tries to scamper back further into the corner, fear flickering life into her eyes.
"Your name is Tsup. Do you understand me?"
The girl nods her head quickly, her lekku twitching slightly and he drops her chin. Then he stands up and walks a few steps away from her. "Tsup, come here."
The girl looks at him, her eyes bulging in fear as she stands up and takes hesitant steps towards him. Thesim nods his head and pulls out a datapad taking a few notes. He looks back up at her, and points towards the far wall –the one with the one-way window on it. "Tsup, run into that wall."
With less hesitation, the girl turns from him and takes off at a run right into the window, rebounding back slightly as she hits it. She leaves a small smear of blood on the glass from her nose, and when she stands back up is holding her hand against her nose - trying to staunch the blood flow.
He makes another few marks in his datapad. "Tsup, return."
More hesitation as the girl slowly walks towards him, fear and worry coloring her face the closer she comes. Finally she stops a step or two away from him.
Reaching into his bag, he pulls out a laser scalpel and hands it to the girl. "Tsup, cut your arm."
She hesitates, and then runs the small laser down her arm, whimpering slightly as blood oozes through the wound.
Happily, Thesim makes a few notes, and then pulls out a dermal bonder, and motions her to come closer. When she does, he takes back the scalpel and then seals the small wound at the edge of her nose and the cut from the scalpel.
He puts away the medical devices and smiles at her, once more licking his lips. "Now Tsup, we are going to have some real fun."
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Cere stands outside the door to one of the specimen's rooms, waiting for Thesim to finish within it. She watches as the door opens, and Thesim steps through, casting a malicious grin back through the doorway. Cere can hear the whimpers of the young Twi'lek within and shakes her head in disgust, before focusing fully on the scientist.
"How goes the mind control research?"
"Doctor Gast's research is brilliant, and though we were unable to recover all of the necessary research what we do have has allowed us to control this Twi'lek at least. One problem is that her will is not entirely subsumed by the drugs. Things she fears she will still hesitate to do."
"Is that a problem?"
Thesim slowly shakes his head as he replies, "I don't think so. The important thing is that she still does them. She's just a bit slower at it then when she is doing something which she doesn't fear."
Cere nods her head, and begins rubbing her chin and pacing back and forth, three steps away from Thesim in each direction. She smiles as she realizes that this might be a perfect solution to their problem with the Jedi Knight.
She looks up at him. "Are you ready to start on humans?"
"I could probably figure out which of the drugs would work on human metabolism within a few hours. After that it's a matter of administering the drugs."
Cere smiles happily. "Good. There's a subject in room Aurek-9, she's currently being kept sedated and tranquilized because she's rather…" Cere pauses here, thinking of an appropriate word to describe the young blonde woman
Thesim grins, and nods his head. "I'll get right on it."
Cere waves her hand absently at her. "Good. Give me a status report when you have results."
Thesim turns away from her and begins walking down the hall, calling out an affirmative over his shoulder. Cere watches him for a moment, and then sneering with disgust she turns around, walking down the hallway towards her own office.
-------------------------------Kyp Durron and Kam Salousar are slowly walking the halls of the
Kam shakes his head. "I'm telling you Kyp, we told her to keep in touch, and she hasn't contacted us in days and neither of them are responding to our hails. We need to send someone to check on her."
Kyp sighs, and lowers his head. "I understand your concerns Kam, but who should we send? I don't think we have a Knight who isn't an instructor left in the
Kyp stops at one of the rooms, and pushes open the door revealing a dozen flight simulators arrayed in a circle around a lectern. Standing behind the podium, is a human male around the same age as Master Skywalker – his blonde hair and goatee are cut short and his lips are moving slightly as he speaks into the headset microphone strapped to his head. He glances up at the two Jedi Masters in the doorway, and nods his head, and then returns his attention to the podium. Kyp knows that there is a display there, showing a tactical feed of what those students in the sims are doing. He points towards the instructor. "See, that's Tycho Celchu. We dragged him out of retirement to teach this course so we could send Doran Tainer out on a mission."
Kyp sighs as he notices how set Kam's face has become. The elder Jedi speaks slowly. "Tahiri is like a daughter to Tionne and myself. I say we need to send someone to check on them."
Kyp runs a hand through his long black hair, sighing once again. "Fine. Tell me someone we can send without harming or stopping any of our current operations and I'll approve it."
Kam smiles, almost as if he already has an answer for Kyp. And to Kyp's dismay, he does come up with an answer which meets Kyp's requirements.
Kam simply says, "You."
-------------------------------------Noelani watches as Chase leans against the side of the building, twisting out so that he can see around the corner. She winces slightly, her arm still throbbing from the break despite the makeshift splint which Chase fashioned for her. She touches the Force once more, turning off the pain receptors in that arm. She focuses on Chase again, noticing that he has inched closer to the corner and is focused on something on the far side of it intently. From that direction, she can hear the shuffle of sounds and muted voices. Frowning, she inches closer and touches her hand to his shoulder.
Her voice is barely above a whisper, as she asks, "What are we doing?"
He glances at her, confusion flickering over his face. "I'm going to get us something to eat."
She frowns for a second. "Why are we acting like spies then?"
He looks at her, and she can feel an odd tingle in the Force, or the pit of her stomach – she isn't sure just where it is coming from yet.
"Because I'm going to steal it."
Noelani rocks back on her feet slightly, her mouth opening in shock. "Why?"
Chase shakes his head, letting out a sigh. "Because we don't have any money for anything – let alone for food."
Noelani giggles slightly. "Yes we do, dummy."
She sticks two fingers into the waistband of her skirt, and pulls out a small credit chit, holding it up towards Chase. She almost laughs again as he slaps his hand against his forehead.
"Why didn't you tell me you had money? And next thing you're going to tell me is that you know just who your parents are, and they're still alive."
She can feel her jaw tighten, at the taunting tone his voice has taken, and she glares at him. "You didn't ask me if I had money. And yes I know who my parents are… at least my adoptive parents. My real ones died in the war. Why would you be mean like that?"
Chase frowns. "You know who raised you? Are they still alive? Everyone else that BioTech has picked up has been unwanted street kids like me. Why would they grab you?"
Noelani shakes her head. "I don't know anything about that. Me and my Master came here to investigate BioTech and I went shopping and when I came back found these guys going through our rooms. They said they had captured her and I ran. But they got me, and that's when you found me."
She notices the Chase is watching her oddly, and frowns as she cries out, "What?"
"Do you breathe while you're talking?"
She makes a small noise of annoyance and then stands up, walking around the corner and into an open-air market. She smiles happily, and turns around, looking at the various wares, and finally spies a small booth selling clothes. She rushes over and picks out a new shirt and a pair of trousers that look like they would fit, and quickly pays for them. She turns away from the booth, and runs into Chase standing there behind her, gritting her teeth as awareness floods back into her arm.
He glances down at the clothes, and then back up at her. "You ready to get some food now?"
She smiles happily for him, and bobs her head in an affirmative motion twice. "Sure. Let's find a place for me to change, and then we'll go get something to eat."
The Droid and the Little Tusken Raider
Tahiri stuck her head out of her quarters - the quiet of the Yavin night hanging heavily around her. She smiled mischievously as she heard the slight rolling noise. The sound of plasteel wheels being run across the stone of the Great Temple. She frowned, her eyes narrowing in anger and disgust as the metallic being rolled towards her door.
Father had warned her of these unholy machines. These mockeries of life and existence. Right before she had went away with Tionne, Silven had laid his large hands on her slim shoulders, and knelt down in front of her.
"When you are in the outlands," he had began. "You will see many wondrous things. Amazing things. Do not let them fool you. Do not let them take away who you are inside. You are a Tusken. You are my daughter."
She had nodded her head and said, "I understand father."
But at the time she hadn't trully understood. Only after she had arrived on Yavin, and been introduced to the short, barrel trunked mockery of a sapient creature, had she understood her father's words. She knew what a droid was - she recognized it. And as a Tusken Raider, she knew it was her holy duty to destroy those machines which pretended life.
She darted back into her room, and dove under her sleeping mat, pulling out the gaderffii which she had fashioned from a fallen branch. It was not as strong as the metal one that Tionne had taken away when she arrived, but it should work for her purposes.
Then she stuck her head back out, looking to the right and the left. She focused on the corner, just as Artoo turned the down a secondary hallway, heading towards the cafeteria and the boys' dormitory.
She slipped out of the room, running through the halls, her feet a steady slap against the stone. She grinned - there was something exhilarating about the hunt. The movement of her legs pumping up and down. The coolness of the stone in the night air. She skidded around a corner, her bare feet slipping slightly due to condensation on the stone. It was one of those little things that she still did not understand about this strange, mysterious place. How the cold stones could pull water from the warm, humid air.
Then she spied her prey and she shook those concerns away. She launched herself through the air, a Tusken war cry ripping from her throat, and slammed her gaderffii on to the curved dome of Artoo's head.
The droid squealed in shock and surprise at the attack, and Tahiri yelped in surprise as the wood staff splintered.
Tahiri landed and slipped, falling hard onto her rump. She looked down at the remains of her weapon, a few hand-spans of wood, ending in a ragged, broken mess. She flung it at the droid, hoping it would do something. The wooden remains bounced harmlessly off the metal body. Gulping, she looked up at the droid and started skittering backwards. Pushing herself away from Artoo with her hands and feet. The droid followed, rolling forward, towering over her. It emitted a mournful dirge as it drew ever closer.
Suddenly a panel on the cylindrical body popped open and a thin shaft of metal, with two prongs at the end shot out. Tahiri focused on it as blue energy arced between the two prongs.
She swallowed hard. "Uhm... sorry?"
Artoo sang an series of melancholic notes, as if to say, "I know."
Then electrical fire shot out of the shaft of metal, striking Tahiri's legs.
She yelped in shock and pain and scooted backwards faster.
Then she rolled over and gained her feet, and starting running down the hall, back towards her room. Behind her, she could hear the droid's wheels as they rolled over the ground and the musical trilling it whistled after her.
Two noises which were growing ever closer.
Then fire raced across her rump, aggravating the bruise from where she had fell earlier.
Yelping in pain, tears flared in her eyes, and she slipped once more on the moist stone floor. She crashed onto the ground, skidding a half meter before inertia stopped her, giving herself a friction burn across her right cheek.
The droid towered over her, electrical energy racing over his arc-welder.
A calm voice, comprised of the clear, concise tones of a Tatooine accent, interrupted the scene. "What is this?"
Tahiri looked up to find Jedi Master Luke Skywalker standing behind his droid, looking down at her. Artoo's head whirled around to focus its optic sensor on its master and began singing a song filled with chirps and whistles.
Luke's eyes flickered between the young girl and Artoo. "Now, I'm sure she really didn't mean to hurt you Artoo. Isn't that right, Tahiri?"
Tahiri mutely nodded her head, as Luke patted the droid on the dome.
"Why don't you go finish your rounds, while I talk with young Tahiri."
The droid whistle acceptance and rolled off, the metal shaft retracting back into its body as it did so.
Luke knelt down in front of her, smiling at her happily. "I understand that the Tusken Raiders do not like droids, but that's not a reason to attack Artoo. If you truly wish to be a Jedi, you need to grow beyond the preconceptions that you were raised with."
Tahiri hunched her legs up together, wrapping her arms around. "But father told me that I need to hold to what he taught me. To not let the wonders of the outlands change who I am."
Luke nodded his head. "And I can understand that. But did he tell you to attack every droid that you saw?"
She slowly shook her head.
"Being friends with a droid won't change who you are inside. That is what your father wanted - for you to remain who you are - in spite of learning about the outlands. In spite of befriending people and things that are not part of the tribe. Do you understand?"
Her face screwed up in thought, as she considered his words. Finally, she nodded her head once decisively.
He smiled at her and stood up, holding his hand out towards her. "Good. Now it's past your bedtime."
She took the proffered hand, and allowed him to help her up. Then she returned to her room. As she closed the door behind her, she glanced around, a frown on her face.
"I understand," she whispered to herself.
Then she clambered beneath her bed again, pulling out another long branch and a knife. She then settled herself onto the floor, and began carving away at the wood, sharpening one end into the wicked looking spike of a gaderffii.