A Father's Blade: Chapter Twenty

Noelani can feel herself being lifted up, a sense of flying, and she pulls the lightsaber hilt in towards her chest, curling her body around it. Yet even with that sense of weightlessness, of being lofted through the air, she cannot force herself to open her eyes. There is welcome respite in the void. It is a place – a state of being – where she doesn't have to think about killing the terentatek.

It is a place where she doesn't have to consider the fact that she enjoyed killing the terentatek.

Then there is a feeling of movement, a bouncing, as if she is once more a mere babe being carried around by her mother. Instantly the open vistas of the desert, of endless sand, and melancholy songs flicker through the void. Memories of another life.

Then she is being gently set down onto something hard and unyielding, and she can hear the roar of repulsors as they activate. For good or for ill, someone has found her.

She opens her eyes, wincing slightly at the bright light of the cargo area where they have placed her. Uncurling herself she stretches and notices that she still has the saber hilt grasped tightly in her hand. Giving a guilty glance towards the cab and the two Wookiees sitting within it, she tucks the hilt into one of her pockets. She unsteadily climbs to her feet and stumbles over to the side of what is effectively her cage and looks out the barred window, watching the tree limbs flicker past as they steadily climb. She frowns, wondering just how it was she managed to survive such a fall.

The words of her Master flicker through her mind. With the Force, all things are possible.

The wooden tree houses and platforms which make up the Wookiee city finally start appearing. Large sprawling complexes built into the trees themselves with broad wooden avenues stretched out from tree to tree.

Noelani had missed this sight during her first trip to the detention center and on her subsequent escape she had been too busy to look around and just admire the beauty of the Wookiee's handiwork.

The transport she is in twists around the cables and bridges, and in the distance Noelani can make out the detention center she escaped from earlier. For a moment, she feels chagrin flush through her at the damage to the building which she wrought – but then remembers her ire at the fact that they would not let her contact the Jedi Temple.

To her surprise, they bank away from that detention center, heading towards another, larger complex. As usual a massive tree is the centerpiece of the building, with windows and columns wrapping around the massive trunk. Exterior stairs provide external access to the multiple levels. Off to the side is a landing platform, and if she had to guess she would assume it was nothing more than a limb the Wookiees had cut off to create a flat horizontal surface. Noelani can make out a dozen speeders parked on it. And then they're touching down, landing in a cordoned off section of the platform a short distance from the other speeders.

A few moments later the door at the rear of the holding pen opens, the two Wookiees standing there with their bowcasters pointed towards her. One makes a quick gesture with his weapon – a universal symbol to come out, and Noelani does so. As soon as she steps off the transport that Wookiee puts stun cuffs around her wrists and ankles.

"Hey, I'm just a kid. Do you have to shackle me like this?"

To her surprise, when the Wookiee speaks she can understand his growls and barks. She knows a little bit of Shyriwook from a few days spent training with her Master's friend Lowbacca, but she had not thought it was enough to understand the language – and she had a hard time understanding the Wookiees earlier. [You have already escaped from our detention center. We do not wish for you to be given the chance to escape again. Now you will come with us.]

The two Wookiees take up positions on either side of her and together they begin walking towards the building at the edge of the landing platform.

She looks around, wanting to keep silent, to not talk, but finally the words come bubbling out of her. "So, why can I understand you when I can't understand other Wookiees? And is this landing pad really just a limb that you cut off? Where are we going anyways? And can I finally call the Jedi Temple? My Master is getting very worried about me."

The second Wookiee's harsh bark cuts into her speech, and she swallows quickly. She looks at the first one, and notices amusement shining in his eyes. Then she sees Rand, the Corellian whose ship she had snuck on board to get to Kashyyk. He was following behind two Wookiees, walking with purpose – long, confident strides. In takes a second, but she recognizes one of those Wookiees as Rand's passenger.

She can feel a frown twisting her features. Something about the scenario sends warning bells flaring through her head – a sense of uneasiness straining against her stomach.

"Uhm… There's something wrong about those guys over there. The human and the two Wookiees."

The second Wookiee gently cuffs her upside her head, and barks at her again – a command she assumes means to stop talking.

Yet the trio still pulls at her senses in the Force. The mystical energy field is telling her that something is wrong. She gives a quick glance at her two guards and allows a mischievous grin to tilt one side of her face. Reaching out with the Force, she quickly disables the stun cuffs, popping open the mechanisms which kept her ankles and wrists bound to one another.

As soon as they fall away, she turns and sees the trio entering the ornate building, what Noelani assumes is a governmental complex. Pulling the Force to her again, she runs to that building, becoming a slight blur as she does so.

She almost laughs at the surprised growls that come from her guards as they realize that she had effectively disappeared from between them.

Slipping into the building which the trio had entered, Noelani spies them turning down a corridor. With a burst of Force speed she runs to the corridor, sliding to a stop at the corner. She peeks around the corner and sees them enter one of the rooms.

She creeps forward, and places her ear on the door, using the Force to enhance her hearing.

All she receives are the growls and barks of Shryiwook.

But the Force pools animosity.

A furry paw slaps down on her shoulder, and she gives a yip of surprise, twisting away from the grip. Behind her are her two guards – neither of who look overly happy with her.

Making a decision, she pulls out her saber and slices away the locking mechanism of the door and slams it open, darting in – the two Wookiees quickly following her.

She pulls up short as she finds Rand pointing a blaster at her, and the two Wookiees pointing their bowcasters at a third Wookiee who is standing behind a desk.

She can feel the tension, a palatable thing hanging in the air of the room.

She slowly brings her saber up, holding it in line with Rand's blaster.

Her voice is hesitant. "What's happening, Rand?"

The Corellian shrugs. "Wookiee politics. What's with the glowstick?"

"Uhm. You're kind of pointing a blaster at me."

In the background she can hear the Wookiees all barking at one another. The tension begins to grow, becoming a tidal wave of pressure within the Force, one that tries to drown her.

She drags her eyes away from Rand, glancing at Waroo and then at the other two Wookiees.

Exhaling slowly, she closes her eyes and stretches out with the Force. Feeling the aggression and anger and the general darkening of those around her. She allows her saber to drop lower, and pulls her hand back.

Rand speaks up, a nervousness creeping into his voice. "What are you doing?"

She does not reply. Just keeps her eyes closed and slings the saber away from her. Allowing her Force senses to take over - relying on them to judge who her target should be. Tingles of nervous energy dart up her spine and she dives to the side – her eyes still tightly squeezed shut. The flash of a blaster bolt warms her skin and in the Force she can see her blade bobbing and weaving as it flies to the far side of the room and strikes home at the center of the tension, anger and betrayal in the room.

She sticks her hand out and recalls her saber, just as a blaster bolt strikes her in the shoulder. The force of the impact spins her around, dumping her to the floor. From behind her, she can feel the Wookiee's shock at her actions – their amazement and with a burst of silent frustration she realizes that they still had not believed that she was a Jedi apprentice.

She feels the warm, smooth handle of the saber hilt slap into her palm and opens her eyes, taking a quick look around. One of the Wookiees lay on the floor with a smoking hole in his chest and her guards have their bowcasters pointed at Waroo and Rand. The last Wookiee is growling into a comlink.

Feeling the urgency draining from the Force, she places her head against the ground, and allows herself to go to sleep.

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Tahiri follows Cere out of the BioTech complex to find Kyp and a number of planetary security officers standing around out front, herding scientists into prison transports. Grouped together near a school transport are the children she had rescued.

She gives Cere a hard shove to the security forces as Kyp steps up to her, holding his comlink out towards her. "Hey Tahiri, it's the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. They say they got something important to tell you."

Tahiri quickly grabs the device from him and speaks into its microphone, "This is Jedi Veila."

The voice that issues from the device is wavering and filled with static. "We were just contacted by the authorities on Kashyyk. Apparently they found your apprentice and an unidentified male hiding on an incoming transport."

Tahiri looks at Kyp for a second, a grin splitting her face. "Thanks!"

Spinning quickly on her heel, she turns off and then tosses the comlink back to Kyp. "Can you finish cleaning up this mess? I've got to go to Kashyyk and pick up Noelani. Apparently she's taken up being a stowaway."

Kyp laughs. "Well from what I know of some of your friends that probably shouldn't be that much of a surprise."

Tahiri shoots him a hurt look. "Hey, Uldir isn't that bad of a guy. He only stowed away a couple of times anyways."

"Go get your apprentice. I expect you on Coruscant in a couple days to give the Council a full briefing."

She nods her head once again, flashing him another smile and then turning away from him, she asks one of the security officers for a quick ride to the space port. Within a half an hour is sitting behind the controls of the Stolen Star and lifting off of the surface of Ambria, heading towards deep space.

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Chase is leaning up against the wall of his cell. He feels the biting cold of the metal behind his back even through his jacket and tunic. He closes his eyes, and allows himself to drift off to sleep.

"Chase."

He frowns and turns his head slightly squinting his eyes shut tighter, the voice almost sounds like Noelani's. Light. Musical. Happy.

"Chase!"

He continues to ignore the sound of the voice. And then he hears the sound of the lock being disengaged from the door, tumblers rotating out of alignment with a heavy clank. He opens his eyes and sees Noelani stepping into his cell. Her hair is disarrayed, her clothes filthy and torn and a burn mark evident on her shoulder.

Yet her grin for him is brilliant, a light which makes his heart beat faster. He bounces up and rushes to her, throwing his arms around her, lifting her off her feet and swinging her around.

She giggles as he puts her down, and he slides a hand down the side of her head. "I was worried about you."

She tilts her head to the side slightly, leaning into his palm, a lop-sided grin drifting onto her mouth. "I told you I was a Jedi."

A Father's Blade: Chapter Ninteen

Noelani looks around the clearing, trying to find some escape from the hunter droid and the stream of blaster bolts it continually sends her way. Her arms have begun to quiver and she is growing weary of the constant twisting and turning needed to keep the blaster bolts from connecting.

Then she feels a coldness seeping into the Force.

An ague runs through her body, and she gives herself a brief second to glance around again. Trying to discern the sense of uneasiness and fear which clings to her.

She uses the Force to fling herself up and backwards, trying to bat the blasters back towards the Hunter – and failing miserably at it. She lands and then dives to the side as another blaster strikes where she had just been standing, showering her with clods of dirt and burnt leaves.

Then the droid gives out an ear-shattering electronic scream, and Noelani looks that way, her heart clutching at her throat.

A massive creature – nearly six meters tall, with large tusks and two powerful arms ending in four-fingered hands, with each finger sporting a sharpened claw. The thing holds one of the hunter's arms in each of its hands, and Noelani can see the pressure the creature is exerting on the droid.

With an explosion of sparks and sound the arms come free from the torso, and the Hunter collapses into a pile.

The wide ridge brow twists, with the short eyestalks focusing on Noelani – and she feels her fear and despair jump as the thing locks gazes with her. She stares back at the thing, and amid her fear, she realizes how much it resembles a rancor, except for the tusks and the spines extending from the back. She wonders what it is going to do next. Some part of her thinks she has seen this creature before.

She is hoping that it is not going to want to eat her.

Then she remembers where she had seen it. It had been during a discussion of the Sith Wars, and some of the Dark Side creatures which they released on the galaxy four thousand years ago. The terentatek. Master Tionne had called them "Jedi Killers" and noted that they seemed to reappear whenever the galaxy tips towards the Dark.

It roars at Noelani, and takes a single step forward – sniffing at the air.

Noelani swallows hard and raises her saber, letting its soft hum calm her, allowing its clean light to dispel her fears and anxieties. She calls on the Force and lets it refresh her sore muscles and drive the last of her fear and despair away.

Then the creature attacks. Noelani lifts her saber, and slices at the terentatek, frowning as the blade seems to bounce off of the creature's claws. She dives to the side, narrowly missing being raked by the other paw.

She darts forward, sliding her blade forward towards the monster's unguarded flank. A dark score follows where her blade had sliced through the creature's tough hide. The creature roars and a massive fist strikes her – flinging her backwards towards the undergrowth.

She lands, sliding to a stop, and slowly stands. As she gains her feet, the thing's paw wraps around her, gripping her. It yanks her up off of her feet, and she lets out a short yelp of surprise mingled with pain as the tips of the claws begin to dig into her skin.

She struggles managing to work one arm free, but the creature squeezes tighter.

Noelani looks at the beast, her heart hammering in her chest – as despair and hopelessness wash through her. The saber in the hand of her still trapped arm hangs uselessly by her side as she is unable to twist enough to use the blade against the paw holding her.

She closes her eyes and exhales, feeling that little nugget of rage – almost a coiled snake in the pit of her stomach – expand and grow. She trembles – angry at the unfairness of the situation. Despairing and at a loss for how to proceed.

The creature lifts her closer towards its mouth, the massive maw opening wide, revealing rows of carnivorous teeth in addition to the two giant tusks. Its fetid breath washes over her, and she nearly gags from the stench of decaying flesh.

Then her eyes pop open. She does not want to die. The red tide of her anger washes over her and she glares at the creature. She knows there must be some way to stop the beast; that it must have some weakness she can exploit.

Closing her eyes, she probes the creature with the Force, feeling its heart pumping, the simple chemical and mechanical processes of respiration. She feels its life.

She tries to push into its mind with the Force – tries to tell her that she's not prey. Yet her mental probes run afoul of massive mental shields like those she finds on fully trained Jedi.

Next she tries to pinch off its airway, and she growls in anger as her telekinesis has no effect on the beast. She had better luck with the Force affecting the Yuuzhan Vong.

She runs through these options in a heart beat. One second to the next, and opening her eyes again she finds herself about to be bit into.

"No!"

Her scream rings out in hate and anger even as she flails her arm out towards the descending teeth. The memory of the lightning which the Yuuzhan Vong, Ulya tried to electrify her with flashes through her mind. Electrical fire arches from her outstretched palm slamming into the roof of the terentatek's mouth.

The creature and Noelani release matching screams of pain. The beast drops her, and she falls to her knee, dropping the saber and holding onto the wrist of one hand with the other. A burned circle rests there in the middle of her palm, a twist of oily smoke rising from it along with the stench of charred flesh.

She lifts her head, and through tear-filled eyes sees the beast pressing its mouth into the dirt, scrunching itself along while its pain echoes through the Force.

Exhaling, Noelani calls her saber back to her hand, and jumps, using the Force to propel her higher and guide her landing so that she drops neatly onto the beast's neck. Once more igniting her blade, she quickly shoves it into slight curve where head meets neck. The saber slices through the skin and she nearly decapitates the creature with one smooth slice.

It collapses into the dirt unmoving and Noelani collapses on top of it - worn out by both the battle and her rage. Closing her eyes once again, unconsciousness quickly claims her.

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Chase stares at the Wookiees surrounding him; they cradle their bowcasters in their arms. The black metal an odd offset to the ginger-haired aliens. He looks down at the stun cuffs wrapped around his wrists and ankles and sighs once again.

He looks to who he thinks is the Wookiee in charge of the guards. "Please, send someone to get Noelani. She could be hurt or dying down there."

The Wookiee growls something, and a protocol droid in the corner speaks up. "Master Ralthal says that you must remain here. They have dispatched a warrior to search for your accomplice."

Chase sighs, feeling a weight being lifted off his shoulders.

"Thank you."

After another series of growls, the protocol droid again speaks. "We did not do this for you, but rather to retrieve the prisoner which the Galactic Alliance Guard is expecting. They will be here in a few days."

Chase nods his head, and then looks at the wall – wondering when this nightmare will finally be over.

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Tahiri slides into the console, and begins typing in a few commands. Within a few moments she has pulled up a map of the BioTech complex on the display. With another few key presses, an icon begins blinking and she traces the best way to get there from where she is currently located.

Kyp leans in over her shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going after the person in charge. She's the one who did this to these kids." She turns around in her chair forcing Kyp to step back away from her. "Do you happen to have an extra lightsaber?"

"Sorry, no."

Tahiri sighs and stands up. "That's all right. I have a blaster rifle. You want to get these kids out of here?"

She watches as Kyp looks over the children standing against the wall of the hallway, noticing a frown flickering on his face. "I'd rather go with you – or have us both get these kids somewhere safe. We can get the person in charge later you know?"

Tahiri grits her teeth, thinking for a moment. "No. She needs to be stopped now. Besides I'm hoping that she knows where Noelani is."

She notices that Kyp's mouth drops open slightly. "You don't know where your apprentice is? Luke's not going to like that."

Tahiri snarls and turns on him. "Luke's not here – and I don't much care if he likes it or not. I got drugged and dumped into this place naked and alone while Noelani was safe in our room. All I know now is that she is off planet somewhere."

Kyp holds his arms up in a conciliatory gesture. "Hey, I'm just saying that Luke's not going to be happy. You know he questioned if you should keep an apprentice after your last mission."

Tahiri can feel her anger deflating and turns away. "I know. I'm sorry I snapped at you like that. I am worried about her – I know she's alive but that's about all I can feel."

Then before Kyp can say anything else, she begins jogging down the hall, heading towards the part of the building where the manager's offices are.

Kyp steps forward, and calls out, "Tahiri! Wait!"

Tahiri pauses and turns to look at him.

"May the Force be with you."

She nods her head and turns away once more, jogging deeper into the complex. She follows what she remembers from the display, taking turns and corridors until she finds herself standing outside of an office. The name "Cere Hollista" is stenciled in black aurebesh lettering to the side of the door.

She pushes open the door and steps into a dimly lit office, and sees the woman who was watching her when she first woke up in this place. And there on the desk is her lightsaber.

Tahiri holds out her hand, the weapon jumps from the desk and slaps into her palm and she feels herself grinning. She exhales and schools her features.

"Cere Hollista, by order of the Galactic Alliance you are under arrest."

"I know, Jedi. You've already ruined my research. I'm willing to surrender–but I want a deal. I'll provide all the data of BioTech's operations here in exchange for a commuted sentence."

Tahiri growls slightly in the back of her throat. She feels sickened by Cere's request, considers it an affront to justice–even as she knows it is probably a deal that the Justice Department will accept.

"That's something between you and others. I'm just here to arrest you and to find out what happened to my apprentice."

Cere leans forward. "Before I tell you about your apprentice, I want your word as a Jedi that I'll get the deal."

Tahiri's eyes narrow and she ignites her saber, allowing the blade's end to come to a rest centimeters from Cere's nose. "I'm not talking about the deal and have nothing to do with that. You'll tell me about my apprentice or else I'll rip the knowledge from your head by force, leaving you an empty shell of a human being. Or maybe I'll just torture you until you're willing to tell me what I want. You know about my shaping-that taught me a lot about torture."

She watches the older woman swallow hard, her eyes locked on the blue tip of the blade. "We… uhm… we had captured her and she was in transit to BioTech to be included in our group of specimens. But as she arrived one of our escaped subjects stole the truck she was in and left the compound."

"And?" Tahiri allows the blade's edge to drift slightly closer to Cere's nose.

"And that's all we know. We had been scouring the city looking for them but haven't seen them in the past few days."

Tahiri sighs as she shuts down her saber, and makes a quick, short hand gesture. "Come on.

A Father's Blade: Chapter Eighteen

Noelani's world is darkness. Unending, perfect darkness. There is neither pain nor pleasure, love nor hate, good nor evil. No worries or responsibilities. No concerns over who her birth parents are. No memories or awareness.

It is a comfort to no longer worry over such things.

A large part of her relishes the darkness, the void. The unyielding emptiness.

Yet if there is anything her short life has taught her it is that such comforts rarely last.

Existence once more intrudes into Noelani's awareness. At first it is subtle, the introduction of smells. Warm compost. Mildew. The heavy scent of water and life and death.

Next existence makes itself known in a much more tactile way, the subtle jab of a stick poking in her back, a network of dull aches and pains across her entire body.

Finally, everything that has happened slams into her like a bolting bantha. Tahiri's disappearance. Her capture. Chase rescuing her. Escaping the prison where they were held.

Groaning, she opens her eyes in the deep gloom of the forest floor, her hand still tightly clasped around the metal pipe. A comfortable warmth seems to seep from the very metal of the device. She lifts it up and looks at it closer, recognizing it finally as a lightsaber hilt. Frowning she rolls over, getting to her knees and pushes herself up, trying to figure out what a lightsaber was doing stuck in a tree branch on Kashyyk.

She looks around the deep forest, nearly as dark as night on Ossus. A perpetual fog seems to blanket everything, muting even the sounds of the animals she can sense through the Force. Surrounding her are the various branches and vines which slowed her down enough so that she survived her fall through the trees. She shakes her head, getting the leaves and small twigs out of her hair.

Looking down at the hilt in her hand, she presses the ignition button and with a snap-hiss an indigo-colored blade flashes into existence. Something nearby squawks at the sudden onslaught of sound and light, and the undergrowth rustles as it darts away.

She waves the blade around experimentally for a few minutes, getting the feeling of the weapon, a sense of its weight and construction.

Then she shuts off the weapon, and wonders just how she can get back to the Wookiee city in the treetops.

Looking up, all she sees are trees, and leaves and the occasional vine stretched between branches. For a moment, she almost gives into despair, but the warmth from the saber seems to keep her from doing so.

Frowning, she begins to slowly walk forward, hoping to find some means of escape from the depths of the forest.

She sees a flash of polished titanium and a dim red glow. Frowning, she steps towards the underbrush, wondering what manner of thing this could be – and lets out a yelp as the Hunter stands up, its eyes flashing to life, brightening.

She takes a couple steps backwards, looking around for a means of escape, or a weapon to defend herself.

"You have disobeyed a direct order to surrender, and as such have been reclassified as an escape risk. Surrender now or this unit will be authorized to use class-3 measures."

Suddenly remembering the lightsaber hilt grasped tightly in her hand, she snarls at the droid, "Shove it, you walking trashcan!"

The droid's eyes seem to take on an ominous tint as it raises its right hand, pointing the blaster attached there towards Noelani.

She stretches out with the Force, feeling the microcurrents of energy collecting in the droid's blaster, readying the tibanna gas to be transformed into a blaster bolt.

Everything pushes her to move her saber up and level the blade with her heart. She does, and a second later the discharge of the blaster booms on the forest floor. Noelani can feel the pressure of the bolt striking her saber, and watches in amazement as it careens off on a wild tangent.

She twists her saber up and over so that the blade is leveled above her right shoulder just as another bolt strikes it.

She jumps forward, her saber slicing in, scratching a long furrow down the droid's chest, even as the gun-arm tracks her movements. She lands and immediately pushes herself up and backwards into a flip, a blaster bolt landing in the ground where she had just been.

She looks at the droid, and notices that metal is filling in the deep furrow which she had just cut.

In outrage she yells out, "Hey no fair! You're not supposed to do that."

The droid doesn't respond, just merely sends another blaster bolt towards her. To her amazement, her blade is there once more, but she can feel the muscles in her arms quivering from the exertion of deflecting the blasts and her half-healed broken arm has switched from a dull ache to a sharp, biting pain.

And for the first time since landing on Kashyyk, Noelani begins to despair.

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Waroo sniffs the air as Pollitichuk settles into the seat across from him. He sets a tumbler of bloodwine in front of Waroo and one in front of himself. In his other paw is a glass of some generic whiskey for Rand.

[So, why does the son of the mighty Chewbacca now speak for the Corellians?]

Waroo bares his fangs, and replies, [Do not attempt to dishonor or mock me. The reason I speak for the Corellians is because the Honorable Han Solo believes in their cause. That is reason enough for me.]

Pollitichuk chuffs with laughter. [Good, I had hoped that your spirit had not been broken by too many years away from the Forest.]

[Tell me why you have brought us here.]

[Because I too believe that it would be in our best interest to side with the Corellians. If we can convince Jowdrrl to accept that, then we can take it to the Council of Elders.]

Waroo takes a draught of his bloodwine, glancing at the human sitting to his left. He knows that the human can understand Shryiiwook, and for a moment wonders why he has not spoken up or offered his opinions.

[How do you propose we convince Jowdrrl?]

Pollitichuk leans forward, lowering his voice to a bare whisper, [She will either listen to reason, or we shall remove her from her office.]

Waroo can feel his eyes widen as he leans back in his seat, his mind racing as he considers the implications of Pollitichuk's thinking.

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Tahiri creeps forward, her commandeered blaster rifle held loosely in her hands as she peers around the corner, hoping to not run into any more of the guards. She glances behind her, looking at the two dozen children ranging from eight standard years to a few years older than her own apprentice, and representing a multitude of species, everything from human to Twi'lek to Zelosian.

She closes her eyes, centering herself, dispelling the hate and anger at the type of people who would torture innocents such as this.

Then she reaches out to her apprentice, trying to find her in the Force. Feeling how far away she is from her. Tahiri frowns at that, for a moment she wonders why Noelani feels so small through their training bond. Then she realizes the reason. There are interstellar distances separating the two of them.

She feels a niggle in the Force, and spins around, raising her rifle just as a trio of guards come jogging around the corner. Before they can bring their own rifles to bear, she has pulled the trigger twice, shifting the gun slightly each time.

The bolts strike true, burning a hole in the chest of two of the guards. The third manages to get his rifle up and fires a shot.

She ducks to the side as the bolt flies harmlessly past her head, and fires her rifle again without aiming. Her bolt strikes the guard in the shoulder, spinning him around and dropping him to the ground.

She straightens and notices a couple of the older kids arming themselves. For a second she almost tells them to not too, but then shrugs her shoulders, and turns away, once more looking around the corner.

Seeing no one there, she goes forward, relying on the Force to guide her, hoping that it is leading her towards an exit.

What she finds instead is a blast door that will not open. Cursing she slams the butt of her rifle against the door, and turns around in a circle, looking for another direction to travel.

Then she catches the scent of molten metal, and spins around to look at the blast door. There in the middle of the door, the metal has begun to glow orange.

She takes a step back, watching as the door melts and stretches out with the Force, feeling Kyp on the far side.

Before long, there's a large hole in the door, and Tahiri darts through, ignoring the slight burn she gets from the still hot metal.

She grins at Kyp. "'Bout time you showed up Durron."

"It's nice to see you too, Tahiri. Want to tell me who your friends are?"

Tahiri glances at the group of kids who have slowly came through the blast door. "They're what BioTech is doing here."

Kyp looks at her, the confusion evident on his face.

She cocks an eyebrow at him. "Do you want to talk about it now, or discuss it in Council where it's more appropriate?"

Kyp coughs slightly. "Probably Council."

"Good, now get on your comlink and get us some reinforcements from the Defense Fleet and close down the spaceport while you're at it."

Kyp gives her a look, as if he's about to argue with her, but then pulls out his comlink and begins quietly speaking into it. While he does that, she turns in a slow circle, looking around the corridor, wondering where the next set of guards are going to come from.

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Cere stares at the holocam monitors, switching her attention between two in particular. One shows the blonde Jedi, Tahiri Veila escaping from the holding pens, followed closely by the two dozen of the most promising specimens. The other monitor shows a middle-aged man – a Jedi – as he slices his way through their security with an utter abandon and ease.

She tightens her lips, suddenly afraid of what is going to happen to her. Sighing, she turns away from the bank of monitors and sits down at her desk. She pulls up the command system for the compounds central computer – and quickly begins typing away at her keyboard.

The command flashes on the screen before her, asking if she is certain she wishes to format the central core.

Her hand hovers over the key to accept the command, as she wonders if there is some way that she can trade the knowledge found in the core for a lighter sentence.

And Cere has no doubt that once the Jedi are through with her that she will be sent to some penal colony out on the Outer Rim. And that that is probably a best case scenario.

For the first time since taking this position, she wonders how she managed to allow Kar Illam talk her into doing what she does here. She knew it was against the Alliance's Ethics rulings. Yet to be honest with herself, the thought of the cutting edge research appealed to her. And Illam played to her vanity.

She shifts her hand over away from the accept key, and quickly jabs the key to cancel the command. She grins, knowing that there is enough incriminating evidence in the central core to indict everyone in BioTech's upper management. She starts to work on an encryption algorithm – something that should allow her to barter this information for some type of lighter sentence.

A Father's Blade: Chapter Seventeen

For Geoff Il today is just like any other day.

He leans back in his chair, his feet propped up on the desk in front of him, part of his mind idly drifting, while he pretends to watch the series of closed circuit cameras which are situated throughout the complex.

While he knows he is supposed to be alert – he trusts the computer to actually alert him if something happens.

And in the six years he has worked for BioTech Industries here on Ambria, nothing has ever happened.

He enjoys his job because it is a quiet job. Peaceful. And nothing ever happens.

Unfortunately for Geoff Il, today is not his day.

The computer barks an alarm, startling him, and he tips back in his chair, toppling it over, and cracking his head against the hard tile floor.

Uttering a curse, he stands up, and punches a few keys into the console, to discover that Thesim Gra has wondered into the observation area of Black Sector. And though the computer says he has access to those test subjects, he is expressly denied access to the observation corridor.

Geoff shrugs at the seemingly conflicting orders, but turns on the camera for that section of the building. He frowns as the person in the video is a young woman, only a few years younger than he himself is – with blonde hair tied back into a tight pony tail. He frowns for a second, and checks the profile for Thesim Gra, making sure it says male.

He is reaching for the microphone to tell her that she needs to report to personnel because of an error in her badge when she holds her hand out towards the wall and to his surprise the window suddenly rips out of it.

He curses out loud in his surprise, and slams his fist on the alert button. Then he picks up the commlink and taps in the code for the guard's station. "We have a Jedi in Black Sector."

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The Twi'lek girl hesitatingly steps out of the cell, her red eyes locked on Tahiri's face, the girl's own face angled to hide the hideous scars which run down one side. Confusion and distrust sing in the Force.

And Tahiri nods her head, flooding the Force in return with feelings of comfort and good will. Her hand is still stretched out, palm up, fingers open. A sign of trust, a request for trust.

"I'm not going to hurt you, and I won't let them hurt you anymore either."

The girl slowly slips her hand into Tahiri's and she helps the girl take the step up out of the cell and into the hallway where Tahiri stands.

"My name's Tahiri. What's yours?"

Her voice is hoarse from disuse. "I'm Aseem'lya"

Then the door which Tahiri had entered the hallway through slams open, four guards stepping through – two of which are Yuuzhan Vong warriors, and the other two feel human in the Force.

Aseem'lya steps behind Tahiri, hiding behind her.

The two humans drop to a shooter's crouch and level blasters at her. Their plasteel armor is glinting in the dim lighting of the hall – the full face visors giving them an anonymous air and reminds Tahiri of things she saw in old holograms of Rebel soldiers during the Galactic Civil War. The Yuuzhan Vong warriors take up position on either side of the humans, their amphistaffs uncoiling from around their arms – their vonduun crab armor glistening.

One of the humans calls out, "Get on your knees and put your hands on top of your head. Now!"

Tahiri looks down and back, looking at Aseem'lya's face. "Step back into the cell and wait for me to come back. Okay?"

"You won't leave me will you?"

She smiles at the girl. "Of course not. I promise."

The human calls out again, "Now! On your knees!"

Tahiri hears the clicks of safeties being turned of as she watches Aseem'lya scampers out from behind her, dropping back into the cell she came from, scurrying back into the corner which Tahiri had first seen her. She turns back to the guards and hunkers down slightly, acting as if she is dropping to her knees.

With the Force, she grabs the remains of the transparisteel window and hurls it down the hallway, aiming towards the humans.

She quickly follows, and notices as a pair of guards, one Yuuzhan Vong and one human, jump to either side of the hallway, out of the way of the chunk of transparisteel. She is already running that way, heading towards the guards on the left. As she draws near, she touches the Force, and jumps, flipping once, she sticks her feet straight out, and lands squarely on the stomach of the human.

She can hear him retching inside his visor, and grins as she grabs his blaster rifle, dropping into a roll as the warrior slices his amphistaff where she had just been.

She stops and aims the rifle across the hall, firing off a quick shot – striking that warrior in the face. He flies backward, slamming against the wall, his countenance now a blackened smear.

Then an amphistaff slices in again, taking off the front half of her blaster rifle. She glances towards the other warrior, and hurls the useless gun at him, speeding it up slightly with the Force.

It strikes his shoulder, knocking his weapon wide for a moment – just enough time for Tahiri to fling herself backwards and into a standing fighting stance.

He brings his weapon back around and charges, the amphistaff held near his waistline as he uses it like a spear.

Tahiri touches the Force and jumps, flipping up over the warrior, and can feel a line of fire running down her back where the warrior's blade has nicked her. She lands and twists around, kicking her foot our, slamming it into the back of his right knee.

The force of the impact causes him to bend at the knees and she reaches up and pulls him down over her, slamming his head into the tiled floor. Grunting, she rolls the heavy warrior off of her and the Force screams in warning. She hops out of the way as a blaster bolt tears through the air where she had just been standing.

She spins and looks across the hall to see the other human lining up a second shot. Stretching out her hand, she sends a wave of telekinetic energy at the human, slamming him into the wall. He crumples to the ground, he head lolling at an odd angle.

A massive fist slams into her lower back, sending her stumbling forward and crying out in pain.

She turns around to see the final warrior bending over to retrieve his amphistaff.

Casting her hand behind her, she calls the blaster rifle to it from across the hall.

The muzzle slaps into her outstretched hand and she rears it back, her other hand joining the first as she rushes towards the warrior.

He straightens and she slams the stock into his head, right beneath his ear. He spins with the impact, dropping to the ground. Exhaling slowly, she flips the gun around, and puts the muzzle to his ear, quickly pulling the trigger.

She looks at the blaster rifle for a moment, and then returns to the cell where she had left Aseem'lya. Stopping in front of the broken window, she jerks her head towards the doorway. "Come on, I don't know how much more time we got – and we need to get everyone else out of their cells."

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Chase skids to a stop and does not want to move. He can feel warmth trickling down his face and knows that he has a bloody nose, and the pain which radiates out from it, probably means that it is broken as well.

Finally he opens his eyes, to see the skeletal droid walking towards Noelani, its arm raised, pointing at her. He notices that she's settled herself on the edge of the railing.

And then she's gone.

"Noelani!" His scream is out of his mouth even before he realizes it, and he struggles to stand, his bruised body complaining as he does so.

He gets to his feet just in time to see the hunter droid going over the edge as well.

Cursing, he rushes towards the edge. Grabbing onto the railing, he leans over, trying to see her.

But all he sees is the deep darkness of the forest. He is not even able to make out the forest floor from this height.

"Noelani!"

He climbs upon the railing, fully intending on jumping down himself when a pair of strong, powerful, furry hands grab him and pull him back away from the edge.

He kicks his feet and struggles against the being holding him. "No! Let me go!"

The Wookiee tosses him aside, and for the third time in the past five minutes, Chase is skidding along the wooden planks which make up the platform.

Chase looks around, and sees three more Wookiees surrounding him – and recognizes one of them as part of the security detail who took him off of the Corellian's ship. He sighs, as they stand him back up and once more put him into stun cuffs.

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Kyp drives his commandeered speeder wildly through the streets. Dodging pedestrians and other transports, ignoring the yells and shouts from those he swings past. A short distance from the main entrance to the BioTech complex he slows to a stop, watching the gate and the four guards standing around there. Navy armor. Full face helmets. Blaster rifles slung over one shoulder.

He frowns for a second, watching their actions.

Closing his eyes, he reaches out to Tahiri once again, feeling her closer, clearer, and decides she's definitely still inside the complex. Shrugging, he pushes down on the accelerator, causing the speeder to jump forward; he swings wide and aims towards the gate.

As he closes, he has to admire the guards who rather than bolting, drop into shooter's stances and lift their blaster rifles. When he's a dozen meters away, they open fire – Kyp tries to dodge the bolts, but there's too many.

Suddenly, the speeder lurches to the left, and Kyp has to struggle to keep it aimed towards the gate. He glances in the rear viewer and sees the smoke coming out from it. Then the speeder dips down, running a large furrow into the ground, slamming against the gate.

For a moment, Kyp wonders if the gate is going to come down, but then it collapses, slamming atop the speeder. He looks to the left and the right, noticing that the guards are recovering, and slowly advancing towards the speeder, the rifles aimed towards him.

Grinning, he ignites his saber and slices away the roof and the gate. Then he uses the Force to push himself up out of the whole. The guards track him, letting loose a hail of blaster fire. The bolts that come to close, he bounce back towards the guards, but most he just ignores as he flips and lands within the complex.

He faces the four guards, and they fire.

His grin falters as he bounces the bolts back towards their senders, each of them striking home, burning a hole in chestplates or visors. He shuts down his lightsaber, and darkness claims the area. Startled, he looks up at the light that was shining above the gatehouse, wondering when it was hit during the fight. Giving an internal shrug, he shakes his head, and then dashes to the building.