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.

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

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.

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

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.