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."