Family Found: Chapter 7

The four teens stood in front of the steps leading up to the ruins of the Jedi Library. It was a massive structure and prior to the supernovas that had left Ossus a desiccated husk of a world, it had contained the combined knowledge of thousands of Jedi Knights and millennia of Republic and pre-Republic history.

When Luke Skywalker was trying to rebuild the Jedi Order this was one of the places where he had found some of the information he needed to do so. In the decades since then, the Jedi had worked tirelessly to gather as much information from the Library as possible, finally leaving it empty, barren and alone. Merely another set of crumbling ruins at the foot of the Echo Mountains.

Noelani glanced to her right, seeing Ben's blue eyes focused intently on the wide double doors which hung off of their hinges, his jawline firming slightly; as if he was debating on whether or not they should actually go in there.

At least that was what Noelani was wondering as she turned her attention back towards the ancient building.

Poll coughed slightly, the sound echoing back to them louder. The sense of history, of the ghosts of the past, rested heavily on their shoulders.

Giving her shoulders a slight shake, she took a step forward, putting her foot onto the first of the steps, and gently lifting herself upwards.

Then she took another step.

From behind her, she could hear her friends climbing up the steps quickly and she continued her upward climb until she reached the double doors. She slipped through the doors and into another world.

Shafts of bright blue-white sunlight filtered in through the windows set high into the walls. Motes of dust hung in the still air, sparkling slightly – small diamonds spread around them. Noelani took another step into the massive room, her footsteps echoing back loudly at her.

She glanced up and noticed an image stretched across the ceiling, a motif of stylized Jedi Knights wearing robes and welding lightsabers – very old style sabers with external powerpacks on their belts.

"Wizard."

Startled, she dropped her gaze from the ceiling and spun around to find her friends staring at the image, the awe she felt expressed on their faces.

She took another few steps into the room, walking into one of the shafts of lights, watching as the dust motes swirled around her.

Finally, she turned back towards Ben. "This is a pretty room and all, but I thought you promised me something a bit darker."

Poll burst out laughing, and Noelani looked at him, a frown creasing her forehead slightly. Confused she looked towards Kor, and noticed the wry amusement on the Bothan girl's face. Then she turned towards Ben and noticed that his cheeks had taken on a slightly red tint.

"What?"

Ben shook his head quickly, and turned to glare at Poll for a moment. He returned his gaze back towards her and said, "Don't worry about it."

Poll's laughter seemed to slow down, but the amusement stayed in his eyes. "Don't worry, 'Lani. I'm sure Ben will get you somewhere nice and dark just as soon as he's able to."

Suddenly the Force whirled through the hall and Poll slammed into the floor face first. Noelani jumped back, her yelp echoing in the cavernous room.

Ben with an innocent smile on his face walked further into the library, his passage being marked by the swirl of the dust motes.

"So," Ben called out over his shoulder. "Are we going to explore the towers or try to find our way into the subbasements?"

Noelani turned away from the other two, chasing after Ben. "Let's go to the basements. All the fun stuff will be down there probably."

Ben turned towards a set of stairs, and disappeared into the darkness. Noelani glanced once more at her other two friends, and grinned at them. "Come on you slowpokes; let's see what we can find."

Then she darted down the stairway after Ben, her feet clapping loudly on the smooth marble. Darkness closes around her and she slowed down as she reached into her pack to pull out her handlight.

Finally getting it free, she pressed the activator, and played the beam of light across the walls, noticing that they were covered in a mural of Jedi.

"Wow," she said breathlessly.

Though they had faded with the passage of four millennia, they still held color and were easily identifiable. She walked down the steps slower now, the light flashing over the mural, as she went backwards in time. The Jedi were of all sorts of species, Ithorians, humans, Bothans, and a host of others, some she did not even recognize. The deeper she went, the more ornate the outfits, the larger the lightsaber powerpacks which started attached to the belts but by the time she had traveled around a hundred steps had moved to massive backpacks.

Then she reached the end of the stairs. The air was colder down here, with a bite to it that seemed strange and alien to Noelani. She allowed her light to play out around her, discovering that it was another large room, one with a hallway to the right and the left, and on the far side of the room, another set of stairs leading further down. In the middle of the room were the remains of an ancient fountain, smashed marble blocks, and a statue of a stylized Jedi holding a lightsaber above its head.

Standing there, looking at the broken remains of the fountain was Ben. His back ramrod straight, hands at his side as he waited for them to get down the stairs. She could hear laughter behind her, and turned as Poll and Kor stepped off the stairs, their own handlights flashing over the walls before finally settling on Ben and Noelani.

Noelani turned back towards Ben, watching as he approached the group. The shadows seemed to cling to his face, giving him a dangerous air. She frowned for a second as she considered that he seemed at home here in the dark rooms – like some aspect of himself was more comfortable here than in the bright, airy and cheerful hallways of the Jedi Academy.

A cold shiver raced down her spine and she realized that she was actually a bit afraid of Ben. She laughed to herself, chalking the feeling up to nerves. Another shiver gripped her body as she looked around, the darkness and the sense of just being underground brought up the memories of her capture and torture at the hands of that Yuuzhan Vong warrior and the nightmares she had suffered since.

"Welcome," he began with an eerie tone to his voice. "To the Chamber of Antiquities."

Poll's voice was thoughtful, as he asked, "I thought that that was in sublevel 2?"

Ben laughed. "Yeah, but it just seemed creepier to say it here."

Noelani shook her head at their antics, dispelling her concerns and fears of Ben. "Come on you two, the really interesting stuff should be either in sublevel 2 or 3 – and we still got to find out where the caverns and catacombs connect up to the sublevels."

Ben smiled at her and Noelani could feel her heart hammer a bit harder. "Noelani's right. Let's get going."

As a group, they crossed the room, and began going down the next set of stairs. Three beams of light play over the walls – but while the previous stairwell was ornately decorated, this one held no decorations, just blank stone walls.

She ran her fingers along them, feeling the cool, rough texture.

"I wonder why these weren't decorated."

Ben answered. "Probably because they didn't want people to come down this far. It's the Chamber of Antiquities – probably some pretty important stuff was held here. Stuff not for the average Jedi."

Noelani considered that for a moment, and then nodded her head, before asking another question. "Do we know what's on sublevel 3? Or what's supposed to be in the catacombs?"

Ben glanced at her over his shoulder, and then towards Poll. "You're right Poll, she does talk a lot."

Kor and Poll barked a laugh, and Noelani fumed, glaring at Ben and then turning to Poll, giving him a harsh shove.

She turned back to find Ben once more looking over his shoulder at her, amusement on his face.

Noelani could feel her face turning red from his attention. She crossed her arms over her chest, dropped her chin to her chest and tried her best to ignore the three of them.

She felt a small, almost imperceptible nudge in the Force, and lifted her chin to look at Ben. He gave her a lop-sided grin and a quick wink before turning back to face the darkness.

---

Chapter 8

I Want to be Your Knight Chapter 9

Previous Chapter

I watched as Jys' face softened for a moment. Then she stood up and took a couple steps away from us. Standing there with her back towards us, she hung her head, and clenched her fists. She seemed so lost and broken.

And I knew that I was responsible for it.

That my actions while blindly obeying Jacen was the root cause of her pain and misery.

Silently, I stood up, and walked over to stand behind her, placing my hands on her shoulders. "We can do this. All of us, together."

She shrugged her shoulders, pulling herself away from me, and took another three steps forward. Then she turned around so that she could face us both, anger shining brightly in her eyes.

"Fine. We'll do this, at least until Ben here realizes that he can't. And then we can all blame him for getting us a failure."

I smiled at Jys as Seha said, "Thank you, both."

Jysella helped Seha onto my back, and I carried her that way. Our progress was even slower than before. Between the time we started, and when Seha had been attacked we had covered around 20 klicks. After her injuries, we were lucky to get 10 klicks in a single day, most were closer to 5 or 6.

After the tenth day, and us still being 30 klicks from our destination, I could only imagine what Kyp was thinking. In truth, the thought amused me a bit. Especially, since he had hidden those refreshment techniques from me.

Fourteen days after we were dropped from Kyp's shuttle, we stumbled out of the forest and into Hyllyard City.

As we emerged from the Force bubble of the forest, Kyp came running out of one of the buildings. Apparently, after we didn't show up by the deadline, he had called in some searchers and a full medical team from the Jedi Temple. The medics took one look at us, and then hustled us up the well in a shuttle to a Defense Fleet medical frigate in orbit. Once we got there, we were given a hydration drip and then dumped into Bacta. No "Welcome home," or "Glad to see the lot of you alive." All they were concerned about was getting us in that Bacta.

Not that I'm complaining or anything.

Our tally of injuries included two broken arms-apparently on one of Jys' tumble while she was cutting us a path, she broke her arm and didn't tell me about it-one broken leg, and innumerable scratches. We were all malnourished and bordering on dehydration. Additionally, the scratches on my face had became swollen and red on the third day. Later I found out that that was due to a time released venom and seed combination. If we had taken another week or so getting to the city, a plant would've sprouted from my face.

When Jys found that out, she had told me: "I should have dragged my feet more. I would've liked to have seen that."

Anyways, I spent the full three days of our trip back to Coruscant in the Bacta, Jys only needed one day of the trip, and Seha got all three days, plus another two once we arrived.

On my first night back on Coruscant, I stretched out on my bed, luxuriating in the feel of the mattress. The first real one I had slept on in around 20 days.

I was comfortable. I was stretched out on my soft bed. The lights were turned off, the only illumination came from the dying sunlight which streamed in through the window, and I had an Alderaanian waltz playing softly in the background.

So of course, just as I was about to drift off to sleep, the door buzzer sounded... but rather than the simple musical chime that I was used to, what came from the hidden speaker was an ear-piercing screech. "Come!" I screamed over the noise, even as I mentally cursed Jysella's pranks.

The noise disappeared as the door opened, and Kyp walked into the room. He pulled my desk chair over closer to the bed and dropped into it. Then he leaned back in the chair and propped his feet up on my bed. For a moment, I felt the urge to kick his boots off of my blankets, but in the end felt that it would take to much energy to do so.

"I was worried about you."

Startled slightly, I twisted my head to look at him. His dark eyes glittered in the dim light of the room.

"Nice to know you care," I said, then I smirked at him. "Consider that worry payment for not teaching me how to use the Force to refresh myself."

Kyp tossed his head back and laughed. "I was afraid one of them would let it slip. Knew I should have told them to not say anything about it. Oh well, I guess this means we'll have to find something else to do with our mornings."

I shook my head, and turned my focus back towards my ceiling. We sat in silence for a while. Listening to the soft music as the waltz faded away to be replaced by a Kuati sonata.

Finally, Kyp spoke up again. "I have orders from the Council that you're to remain in chambers until Seha gets discharged and your entire group can be taken before the Council. And before you ask, Jysella is confined to quarters as well. Your meals will be brought to you, and the ability to send messages from your holonet terminal will be turned off."

I sighed, and turned to face him again. "It was my decision."

Kyp arched an eyebrow at me. "What was?"

"To not use the recall. I didn't want to fail Jys again. So I talked them into letting me carry Seha."

Kyp chukled, and I frowned. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," he replied with a smile. "It's just that, Jysella told me that she had talked you into carrying Seha and to not use the recall."

I stared at him for a moment more, wondering why Jysella would have done that. Why she would have tried to protect me. I was used to myself doing such things, after all every time one of her pranks put me in the medward, I had defended her to the Council.

Kyp dropped his feed from my bed and then stood up, tossing me a sloppy salute. "Well, I'll see you in a few days then."

Then he walked out of the room, and I turned my attention back to the ceiling. Preparing myself for a long wait.

Though I know it was only two days, it felt like forever. All I had to do was read or meditate or run through what few exercises could be done inside my room.

Finally, the news that Seha had been decanted came, and I was ordered to appear before the Jedi Council that afternoon, along with my teammates from the survival training exercise.

I arrived at the Council Chambers about fifteen minutes before our appointment, ecstatic to be out of my room, and found Jysella and Seha already waiting. I walked up to Seha and smiled at her. "Glad to see you up and about."

She smiled in return and dropped her head, trying to hide the blush that was easily visible on her pale skin. I pretended to not notice, and turned to look at Jys, who was staring at me with cold eyes. I smiled at her, and for a moment her lips twitched.

Then I shook my head, and asked her, "Why?"

"Why what?" was her response.

"Kyp told me what you said. Why would you try to protect me."

She looked away from me to stare at the corner of the room. "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

I watched her for a moment, and then decided it was a mystery I could figure out some other time. I walked over to one of the couches and dropped onto it.

A short time later, the doors opened, and Kyp's voice called out. "You three may enter now."

Jysella was closest to the doors, so she entered first, with Seha right behind her and me trailing them both. As we stepped into the center of the Jedi sigil, the doors behind us closed.

I was interested in the distinct lack of hostility I could sense in the Force, and I allowed my gaze to flicker across the chairs. That was when I discovered that Valin Horn and Tionne were both in attendance via holocam.

We stood still in the center of the sigil, as Kyp and the rest of the Masters stared at us. After a moment or to of tense silence, Kyp began to speak. "The three of you have each told us your own versions of the events which occurred on Myrkr. Especially, explaining why you were so late to arrive."

I frowned as I didn't remember quite telling Kyp everything that had happened. Before I could respond, Kyp continued speaking.

"As you know this was a survival training exercise. What the three of you were not told was that it was also a team-building exercise. While the three of you did less than ideally on the survival training portion, you excelled beyond this Council's beliefs on the team aspect of the exercise."

Kyp stood up, and grinned at the three of us. "Congratulations. Your group is one of three who passed both aspects of this exercise."

I glanced over at Jys and Seha, noticing the same shock on their faces that I felt. I had expected to be chewed out for not activating the recall. I had expected to fail due to taking so long to get to the city. I definitely did not expect to come out of this scenario actually passing it.

Kyp nodded his head in our direction, and then grinned at us. "Your restrictions have now been released."

He turned and sat back down in his chair, and pulled out a datapad. We bowed and then turned to go, as we reached the door, Cilghal spoke up. "Master Durron, are you not forgetting something?"

We turned in unison, once more facing the Masters. Kyp had a mischievous grin on his face. "Oh yes, Thank you Master Cilghal. Since the three of you have done so well on this initial exercise, the Council has decided to perform an experiment with our training methods. The three of you will form a team. Much to my annoyance, I will be your primary instructor. We get to live, breath and eat together. Additionally, succeed or fail, your success in becoming Jedi Knights will be shared by your teammates. You either all succeed, or none of you do. Your new quarters assignments are being downloaded to your accounts now."

I blinked, not quite believing what I had heard. We had succeeded beyond their expectations, so they were using us as test subjects. What's more, we were now having to share quarters. I slowly looked at my new roommates, seeing the slight confusion and fear on Seha's face and the annoyed anger on Jys'.

Sighing, I bowed to the Masters and spun back around, leaving the room before they could spring something else on us.

Next Chapter

Themed Drabbles, set Twenty-one

Smooth

Ben leaned against the counter, a grin plastered to his face. Quickly, he tossed a glance behind him, at his Uncle Lando who sat at the table, urging him on. He turned his attention back to the girl behind the bar. A pretty blond, around his own age; bright, inquisitive blue eyes stared at him.

She smiled at his grin, and for a moment, words fled him.

Then he spoke, "How you doin'?"

From behind him, he could feel Lando's chagrin and embarrassment. He fought the urge to look at him again.

But her smile turned brightened up a notch.

---

Rough

Ben knew the punch was coming. He could feel it in the Force before the Devaronian ever decided to throw it. He let it connect, and heard the girl behind him scream his name.

The force of the impact spun him around , knocking him down to the rough ground. Bits of gravel and dirt abraded his chin.

He sat up, and used the back of his hand to wipe away the blood. It stung and he knew he needed to get bacta on it or risk infection.

Standing, he grinned at the Devaronian, and said, "Now, it's my turn."

---

Dry

The Tatooine heat blasted down on him, leaving him parched and thirsty. Heat waves shimmered in the distance, as he climbed yet another dune, nearing the edges of the Juudland Wastes. Ben knew his father was out here, hiding away in a hermitage; probably the one that his mentor hid in all those decades ago.

He wiped his brow, cursing his father for coming here.

Finally, he crested the ridge and saw the stone hut.

Warmth that had nothing to do with the dry heat filled his soul as he could feel his father's presence glowing brightly in the Force.

---

Wrinkled

Ben looked down at his wrinkled, withered hand. Made useless by some arcane power of his cousin.

Darth Cadeus laughed, igniting a fire in Ben's soul.

He clenched his good hand, and looked around for his saber, as his eyes fell once more on her form. She was lying a few meters to Jacen's left, a black burn slash running down her chest.

He stretched out with the Force, called his saber to him and screamed, as he charged Jacen.

Lightning flared to life, caressing his skin. He continued advancing, his anger and hate giving him power to go on.

---

Weathered

It had been a number of years since he had last been to this worn, weathered, beaten hut nestled in Tatooine's Juudland Wastes. Since that time, his father had returned from it, his wife killed by Jacen, and he destroyed Jacen.

Yet he had touched the Dark in order to do so.

So now, he was here once more. Determined to hide and live and die away from the galaxy. Away from everything.

He didn't need it anymore. The galaxy had taken away everything he had ever cherished. He had weathered his storms, and now he only wanted to rest.

Family Found: Chapter 6

Noelani stopped off quickly at her quarters to change from her Jedi robes. Soon she and Kor stepped out of the Temple squinting in the bright, harsh light of Ossus' sun; off to the side stood Ben and Poll. Noelani noticed that Ben was still dressed in his GAG uniform, the black and white duty uniform he was wearing a sharp contrast to the browns and tans which Pol wore.

She could feel a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth as she wondered if he was, just maybe, trying to impress her with the uniform; raising her hand over her head she waved at her two friends. As Ben hesitantly returned her wave, she grabbed Kor's hand and dragged her towards the two boys.

As they neared, Ben grinned at them mischievously. "I did something a bit bad."

Noelani frowned. "What?"

"I changed the requisition form my dad gave me, so rather than a single transport, we get four speeder bikes."

Poll cried out in elation. "Wizard! I so wanted to ride one."

Ben tilted his head towards the motor pool, and Noelani turned that way to see four speeder bikes at a rest. She felt a thrill of anticipation as she made out the barely audible hum of the well maintained repulsors that kept them off the ground. A small pack was slung across the saddle of each bike and it was then she noticed that these weren't just any speeder bikes - they were the military versions: fast and agile, capable of handling nearly any terrain. Noelani couldn't contain the low whistle that escaped her lips as the four teenagers each inspected their vehicles appreciatively. Noelani unslung her pack, and shuffling through hit, noticed that it contained a couple of glow sticks, a lambent, a length of cord, a canteen and a handful of ration packs.

She secured the pack in the small hold set to the back of the speederbike on the right side of the engine.

She hopped onto the bike, getting herself situated comfortable. She then picked up her headset and slipped the small speaker into her ear, and attached the throat mic to just below where the throat meets the lower jaw. Flicking on the com, she heard Ben's voice warm and inviting in her ear.

"Test. Test." Then his voice took on a slightly teasing quality, "Sabre Leader to Sabre Lance. All bikes report in."

Shaking the distracting quality of his voice from her thoughts, she responded to him and then cranked up the engines. With a deep rumble that settled into a low pitched hum, the speeder bike rose up lifting its skids off of the hard-packed ground. Noelani gunned the engines twice, getting used to the throttle.

She heard the others gunning their engines and she turned a grin towards each of them, ending with Ben to find him watching her once again. As their eyes meet, he quickly shifted his gaze, focusing his attention onto the console in front of him. A few seconds later, a waypoint appeared on the small directional display of Noelani's console, and Ben's voice sounded again in her ear.

"I've programmed in a waypoint for the place where we're going to be exploring. But it'd be better if everyone just followed me and didn't get lost."

"Hey, if I remember right, you're the one that got lost last time, Skywalker," Poll teased.

"Only because I was following your directions, Poll. Now any real questions?"

Noelani grinned at the boys' banter as she tied her hair back into a single long tail. She then bit at her lower lip for a second, wondering if she would get laughed at for asking what she was about to. Finally, her curiosity won out and she asked, "I'd like to know exactly where it is we're going."

She could hear the amusement in Ben's voice even over the comlinks. "That's a secret. You'll find out when we get there. All right, let's move it."

Then he gunned his engine once more, and darted out through the speeder entrance, Kor and Poll flashed past Noelani as she stamped down on the throttle, her engine roared to live, and then she was darting through the wide gates of the Temple.

Trusting in the guidance of the Force, they weaved themselves in and out of traffic. In the back of her mind, where the Force constantly resided as a rolling maelstrom, she could feel the shock and anger of the drivers of the speeders and transports that they flashed past. A part of her was amused by their reactions to a speed which Noelani wouldn't have hesitated traveling at on her home world of Tattooine.

And before long, they were zipping past the last of the buildings, edging into what passed for a rain forest on Ossus. A forest of short, thick-trunked trees with wide grey-green leaves interspersed with thinner, longer trees with thin needle-style leaves, and low scrub bushes which produced a tasty, yellow berry.

Noelani glanced down at her display, and noted that Ben was pulling away from the pack even as Kor and Poll started to slow down as the path through the forest became filled with the debris of life.

She almost laughed as she realized that Ben was trying to show all of them up. Letting it be known that he was the best here, by outdistancing them, outperforming them – by relying on the Force more as he effortlessly flew through the trees which the rest of them were more hesitantly navigating.

She took a deep breath and held it for a second, and then slowly exhaled it. She closed her eyes even as she cranked the speeder bike's throttle down. The engines revved louder and the wind whipped at her hair. She reached out with the Force, feeling life all around her and grabbed a hold of Ben's familiar presence, tracking his movements in the Force, ensuring that she would stay on the same course as him.

Then she went faster.

In moments, she flashed past Kor and Poll, her grin grew wider as their Force presences flooded with shock at seeing her rip past them.

She could feel a tree closing in her path, and twisted to the side, that low niggle in the back of her head indicative of danger flaring brighter as she did so. She frowned and dropped the speeder closer to the ground, leaning down against the console and felt the brush of the thin needles of one of the yikora trees slashed across her back.

Then she was pulling the bike hard to the left, dodging one of the thicker trunked qwo trees.

Shutting down all of her awareness of life in the Force, except for a single thread keeping track of Ben, she focused entirely on her danger sense and that awareness of the immediate possible futures. That precognitive ability which allowed Jedi to deflect blaster bolts and in general perform acts which common people viewed as miracles.

She twisted the throttle more, feeling the wind slapping against her face even harder, tugging at the long braid of her hair. The speeder bike sliced back and forth to the left and right dodging trees, bushes and low hanging branches.

Then crosswinds slapped at the back of her speeder bike, and she struggled to keep it running in a straight line. Opening her eyes, she realized that she had left the forest behind and was now on the open plains.

In the distance stood the sharp, jagged mountain peaks where the Ysanna lived for millennia. Noelani knew that at the foot of those mountains rested the former Jedi Citadel that stood on this planet until the Cron Drift supernovas.

She glanced around, and saw Ben still a few hundred meters ahead of her. A quick look behind her showed the rapidly dwindling forest yet no sign of her two friends. Stretching out with the Force, she reached for Kor and could feel her presence in the distance. Finally, she noticed two plumes of dust as the two stragglers left the forest.

Happier knowing that her friends were out of the woods, she twisted the throttle the rest of the way down, smiling slightly as the engine took on a high-pitched whine.

She watched the small speck which was Ben as it grew larger and closer.

She turned her com on so that only he would receive her transmission. "I thought you were good with these things, Ben?"

She almost laughed as he cast a sharp glance over his shoulder at her, his speeder wobbling slightly as he split his attention between piloting and staring at her.

"Well, I didn't realize it was a race. I was just going out for a nice, leisurely ride."

Noelani laughed. "Yeah. Keep telling yourself that Skywalker."

She looked past him, and noticed that the mountains were closer, larger. The display on her console began flashing, and she frowned, focusing on Ben again, noticing belatedly that he had stopped.

She twisted the throttle down to zero with one hand, and gripped tight the brake with the other. Her speeder bike lurched to the side, and as she was almost thrown from the saddle, Noelani uttered a short curse, one she had often heard her dad use while growing up.

The bike rocked up on its side, threatening to tip over and spill her to the ground. She pushed against the ground with the Force, leaning away from the ground and let out a sigh of relief as the bike dropped back to its landing struts.

As she regained control of her heart rate, slowing the pounding thunder in her chest which echoed in her ears; she heard Ben's laughter.

She glowered at him, as he slipped off of his bike, walking towards hers.

Between chuckles, he managed to ask, "Are you all right, Noelani?"

She watched him for a moment, and then nodded her head, turning away to look at the ravine she had almost driven off of. She gasped as she looked down at a two thousand meter drop to the ravine floor. A little over five hundred meters away stood the other wall of the deep ravine. Noelani eyes started at the bottom and traveled up, looking at the various strata of rock which made up the opening – a stunning display of geologic ages drawn on the ravine wall in glorious oranges and browns.

Finally she looked across the ravine, and saw the ruins of a magnificent city. Large crumbling temples and a few stone obelisks were the only thing recognizable from this distance, but it was still a sight which awed Noelani. The sense of antiquity was nearly overwhelming. Ben's voice sounded incredible close to her ear, and she had to force herself not to turn towards him.

"That used to be Knossa. But where we're going is over there."

Her eyes followed the direction he was pointing and she saw a massive building with four tall towers stretching up towards the sky.

She frowned knowing that she had seen that building before, that it had played a part in one of her history classes, but she could not quite place it.

Ben supplied the answer. "It's the great Jedi Library. The floors above ground held the normal run of the mill histories and datacards, but the interesting stuff was stored in the sub-basements and the kilometers of catacombs beneath the Chamber of Antiquities."

She finally turned to face Ben, finding him, as she expected, standing right behind her. "So, we're just going to go explore the caverns beneath the ruins?"

He grinned, a lop-sided slash of the mouth which caused flit-gnats to appear in her stomach. "Exactly!"

I Want To Be Your Knight: Chapter Eight

We got through our first night on Myrkr without any problems, with each of us taking a three hour shift as a watch, standing guard while the other two slept. I volunteered for the middle shift, so that both girls would be able to have an uninterrupted six hours of sleep. Surprisingly, I found myself happy, in a way that I had not been in a year or more. I traced it to the fact that it was a type of camaraderie that I hadn't felt since I had left the Guard. For the moment, I belonged with these two girls. I trusted them and they trusted me. I hadn't realized just how much I had missed that.

The next morning, it started raining-which slowed our travel speed down considerably. Both of the girls trudged on behind me as I found what I thought was the best passage through the undergrowth.

By noon, I was tired and hurting, and sporting numerous scratches from some type of thorned bush down one side of my face. My left hand had also touched some stinging plant, and I had an extreme topical allergic reaction to the contact-basically painful blisters covered it, turning the skin red, mangled and inflamed. That hand looked as if I'd let an acklay chew on it. Fortunately, as long as I didn't pop one of the blisters, there was very little discomfort after the initial burst of pain.

I felt the rain slacken slightly, almost stopping. I glanced up into the grey sky and then I turned to face the other two. "Are you both ready for lunch?"

Seha silently nodded her head, and dropped down, collapsing against a tree. Jysella frowned at me, "'Bout time you decided on a break."

I sat heavily onto a nearby stone, and arched an eyebrow, a smirk coming to my lips. "You could have called for one at any time, Jys."

She stared at me for a moment more before settling herself into a cranny formed by two tree roots.

I lifted my arm and activated my map. It glowed a bright orange in the dim, almost twilight light of the rainy forest. I pressed a few buttons, tracking our progress and determining how much further we had to go. I sighed and looked back at the girls. "We've still got 102.8 klicks to go."

I pulled my bag to me, and dug around in it until I found one of the ration packs. I opened it up and snapped half of it off. I then proceeded to slowly eat it. Staring at the ground next to my feet, I chewed mechanically, wishing that I didn't have taste buds.

"Hey, Skywalker."

I looked up from the ground over towards Jys. "Yeah?"

"Where do you think the vornskrs are?"

I shook my head, and slowly looked around us at the trees. "I'm not sure, but I'd be perfectly happy if they stayed wherever it is that they are. Rather not have to deal with any of the things."

She rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand, and I realized how muddy she was. A streak of it was across her cheek, and it coated one side of her jumpsuit from when she had slipped and fell during our hike. Her hair hung limp against her head and was matted with more mud.

Seeing her hair plastered to her face like that brought back memories. Bad ones.

They were very specific memories of another blue-eyed brunette who's hair was plastered to her head in much the same manner. Jys' mom.

It was fifty-two hours after my squad had arrested Mirax Horn, and it had just been announced that she had had a brain aneurysm while in protective custody of the Galactic Alliance Guard.

For some reason, I had not really believed the official story. Maybe it was just because I still remembered sitting outside the door of the cell where Jacen had tortured that bounty-hunter, Ailyn Vel, to death. Maybe it was because I remembered all the other Corellians who had died under mysterious circumstances while in GAG custody. In the end, it didn't really matter, all I knew, all I needed to know, was that it just did not feel like the truth.

So I hacked into the archival video footage of her interrogation by Jacen.

I had watched the seven hours of torture. The first four hours were physical. He mangled her, using knives, cords, a stick, his fists and a brand. The last three, he just leaned against the wall as she writhed and screamed. By the end, her voice had been used so hard, for so long, that it was just a breathless wheeze that could barely be heard over the audio pickup.

But the image I was thinking of, the scene which seeing Jys with her hair plastered by mud like that reminded me of, was right at the time when Jacen switched from physically hurting her to standing against the wall and really torturing her. He had asked her his last question: "Where are Corran and your children hiding?"

She had spat a mouth full of blood at him, and snarled, "I'll never tell you."

That scene was burned into my memory at that moment. Mirax's defiance and righteousness burned through me. She had been abused, her body sliced and burned. Her hair hung limp against her head, held there by sweat and blood from where Jacen had bludgeoned her early on in the torture. Yet she was still defiant. She defied him. In the end, I think that defiance was why he really tortured her.

I just wish...

"What are you staring at Skywalker?"

Jys' voice sliced through my memories and I blinked my eyes, pushing those memories back into the depths of my subconscious, back into that dark hole in the back of my mind where I stored all of those horrible things I had learned and seen and did under Jacen's tutelage.

"N-n-nothing," I stammered, noticing the flush on her cheeks as she quickly averted her face, to stare out at the woods.

The rain began to pick up again, so I stood up, lifting my face to the rain. Then I lowered it, and smiled at the girls. "You two ready to get started again?"

Jysella harrumphed and leveraged herself into a standing position. Seha slowly nodded her head and began to stand as well.

And that was when disaster struck. In the form of a 115 kilogram vornskr.

Seha had just stood, when it dropped out of a tree and slammed onto her shoulders, driving her to the ground as she screamed.

I had my saber in my hand in an instant, and was running forward. The tail slashed in, and I dove, shoving my blade forward, catching the venomous spikes in mid-blade.

The creature snarled, and twisted to stare at me, as the three claws of its front right paw rotated deeper into Seha's shoulder.

Slowly I stood, and snapped forward with the blade, touching its tip to the vornskr's nose. It released Seha and backed up a step.

I tapped it again, and it snapped at my blade. When it did so, I lunged, shoving my saber through the creature's throat. It's snarl was cut off into a gurgling groan, and its tail slashed forward towards me.

I closed my eyes, bracing myself for impact, knowing I wouldn't have time to move, not without the Force.

The snap-hiss of another saber igniting caused me to open my eyes, and I saw Jys' silver blade as it sliced through the creature's tail.

Grinning, I thrust my saber in deeper, sawing down, then up. The head plopped off, and rolled away.

Turning from the vornskr, I took the two steps which separated me from Seha and knelt down beside her. I reached out and brushed my hand down the side of her face. Her eyelids fluttered open, and as they did she cried out in pain.

I inspected her wounds, and discovered that in the scheme of things, they weren't that bad. The worse for Seha was the group of puncture wounds on her right shoulder. They were deep, when I cleaned them, I could see the white hint of her collar bone, though I didn't tell her that. The worse for our group was the fact that her right femur was broken. Luckily, it didn't rupture the skin, but it was close. In between those two extremes she had two broken ribs and a greenstick fracture in her right arm.

I told them both about most her injuries, and Seha started crying slightly, saying over and over again, "I'm sorry."

Jys frowned and dropped onto a rock, holding her head in her hands.

I pulled out my knife and my blanket and quickly cut it into strips. I then used those to bandage her wounds. I then field-dressed the vornskr, stripping the meat from its femurs to create splints for her leg and her arm.

Jysella looked up at me. "We've got to ask for a recall. We can't go on like this."

Seha sobbed, and said, "But that means we fail."

I leaned back against the tree and grabbed at the bridge of my nose.

Jysella sighed. "I know, Seha. But what other option do we have? The practical is all or none, and you need to go back to get medical treatment."

Seha looked between us both, a stubborn light appearing in her eyes. "I don't want to be the reason we failed."

I turned away. This discussion on failure rankled. Reminded me of the past. An occurrence that had been happening too often lately for my own piece of mind.

Then, I surprised myself. I reached out and grabbed Seha's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as I said, "You won't be the reason we fail, if we do."

"What are you saying, Skywalker?" Jysella yelled at me. "We have to do a recall so she can get checked by the medics."

I shook my head. "She's in no serious danger. We got those wide-spectrum antibiotic shots before we came on this stupid camping trip so the scratches shouldn't pick up an infection, and as long as she doesn't walk on that leg, then it won't get any worse either."

Seha looked at me, a frown coming to her lips. "If I don't walk, then how would we get to Hyllard City?"

Jys smirked at me. "Yeah, Skywalker. Answer that. It's not like we can use the Force to carry her."

I sighed. "I... I don't know yet. I'm still working on it."

Standing up, Jysella began pacing. "It doesn't really matter if we fail. We'll get to try again."

"No!" I yelled at her, with more force than I had meant to. Jys' eyes snapped open wide as she looked towards me. A look of shock was on her face, one which mirrored my own emotions rather perfectly. I gave my head another quick shake, and in a more reasonable voice, continued speaking. "No, I'm not going to let us fail. I've already failed too many people, too many times. I, I don't want to fail again."

Jysella sat down next to Seha again, staring at me. "Skyw... Ben, it's okay. I know you don't want to fail. Kriff, neither do I. Neither does Seha. But how are we going to get her to Hyllard City? It's a 100 klicks from here.

I slammed my hand down into the ground next to me. "I know, I'll carry her."

Jys arched an eyebrow. "You'll carry her a 100 klicks?"

I nodded my head. "Yep. We'll all get to Hyllard City, and if we do end up having to use the recall, then it wouldn't be Seha's fault, but mine."

Jys rubbed at her temples, and Seha quietly looked between the two of us.

I moved to kneel in front of Jysella. "I know you hate me, Jys, but I'm not going to fail you again."

Family Found - Chapter Five

Noelani sighed as she looked around the common room of the quarters she shared with Tahiri. Noting that everything was put away perfectly in place. Neat, tidy, clean. She dropped to the couch, and glanced at the low table in front of her. An empty expanse of wood and metal. She frowned as she realizes that it was too neat and too tidy for her.

And that empty table annoyed her.

She looked around again, and then stood up walking into her room for a moment. She felt more comfortable here, happier at the organized mess she kept her room in. The droid and console parts spread over her work station. The two vibrobrains surrounded by droid ocular sensors on her nightstand. She grinned as she pulled out a box of items that her adopted father had sent her a few months ago; digging through the stuff until she found what she was hunting for. A large metal plate with a few buttons situated on the side.

Returning to the common room she placed the plate in the center of the table and presses the activator button. A holographic image of the Juudland Wastes flickered into existence above the plate.

She looked at the chrono and realized that she was almost late for her lesson. Grabbing her datapad she rushed from the room, running through the halls until she came to her class.

She was the last to enter the room, moments before the lesson was scheduled to begin. She slid into one of the seats near the front ignoring the stares from the rest of the class as the instructor began to teach.

Within a half-hour she was bored.

Noelani let out a sigh, trying her best to pay attention to the instructor. Today's lesson was on using the holonet to discover information about their missions. She glanced down at the terminal in front of her, frowning as she realized that she was about four steps behind the instructor. She quickly punched the various keys and icons on her terminal, until her screen showed the same information as the instructor's display.

As the teacher droned on, Noelani's attention once more drifted away. She decided that she would rather be going on missions, even with all the inherent danger and fighting, than sit in a class.

Then an icon popped up on the corner of the terminal screen. Noelani glanced around the classroom, surprised at receiving a message on this terminal during class. Her eyes found Ben's blue ones, and she noticed a mischievous light in them.

She pressed the icon, and a text message pops up on the screen. Noelani quickly read it, and then read it again to make sure she understood.

I heard there's a bunch of ruins here on Ossus, and these ruins have some wizard caves. Me and Poll were going to go explore some of them, you think you and Kor will want to join us?

She cast another glance back over her shoulder, he grinned for her, bumping one eyebrow up slightly. She could feel a blush cropping up on her cheeks as her head darted back around to the front of the class. She tilted her face down, allowing her hair to cover her cheeks. She exhaled, trying to regain control of her physical reactions, willing the blood to flow properly in her cheeks.

She quickly replied that she would love to and that she would ask Kor after the class.

Then she spent the next fifty minutes, trying to pay attention and trying even harder to not cast glances back over her shoulder towards Ben.

Finally the class was over, and Noelani stood up to looking around the room. She frowned as she realized that Ben had already left. She could feel a pout coming to her lips, even as she wondered why it was there. Shaking her head slightly, she walked down the aisle of desks, and left the classroom. Stepping from a scene of learning into one of the many hallways of the Jedi Temple.

As soon as she cleared the doorway, she felt a hand grab onto her shoulder, and Ben's Force presence flooded her awareness. For a second she frowned, as there was something familiar about his presence. As if it was one that she had known for years. Shaking her head, she put that familiar feeling up to him being the Grand Master's son. She turned to look at him, noting that he was dressed in a pair of black pants with a white tunic and a black jacket over that. Hanging at the collar of his jacket was a series of small gold pins; rank designations for the Galactic Alliance Guard.

"So, are you ready to go?"

Noelani laughed. "I still got to ask Kor and my Master."

"Ask your Master what?" Both teens jumped slightly at Tahiri's voice, and turned to face her.

Noelani noticed the sly amusement which had risen to her Master's face. As if Tahiri knew something that Noelani didn't. For a second, she considered bugging Tahiri until her Master told her what it was, but recent experiences had proven that Tahiri probably wouldn't cave under such pressures.

"We'd like to go test our spelunking skills over at the old ruins on the edge of the Temple property. My dad's already approved it, and I was asking Noelani if she and her friend Kor would like to join us."

Noelani smiled at her. "Please, Master?"

"I'm going to be making another run to Rhen Var, you sure you want to stay here and go exploring some dirty caves?"

Noelani looked horrified. "You're going back to that ice cube? Please don't make me go there…I'm sure it's bad for my arm or something."

Tahiri laughed and shook her head slightly. "I see. No appreciation for the different planets out there."

Noelani danced closer to Tahiri, her smile returning to her lips. "So I can stay here?"

Tahiri nodded her head. "Yes."

Noelani bounced up and wrapped her arms around Tahiri. "Thanks, Master!"

As the young apprentice dropped back to the flats of her feet, Tahiri placed a hand on her shoulder. "You behave while I'm gone, understand?"

"Yes, Master."

"Good. I'll see you in a few days." She looked from Noelani towards Ben. "Good bye, Ben."

Then she strode away, her bare feet shuffling against the cool marble floors. Noelani noticed Ben shaking his head slightly. "I don't see how she can wander around the Temple without shoes on. Shouldn't her feet get cold? Or dirty?"

Noelani huffed sharply, planting her elbow into Ben's stomach. He clutched at it as he doubled over slightly from the impact. "Don't talk about my Master like that."

Ben laughed as he straightened, one hand still rubbing at his stomach slightly. "Seems like that's a sore subject."

Just then, arms wrapped around both Noelani and Ben, and Poll's face shoved between them. "Hey you two! So, are we going on this little jaunt?"

Ben took a step away from Noelani, and Poll stumbled into the widening space between them. He turned a glare towards Ben for a second and then hugged Noelani a bit tighter. "So, 'Lani when are we going to go have a date?"

Noelani jabbed her elbow into his rib, causing him to stumble once again. She glanced over at Ben and noticed the look of annoyance that had risen to his face. Grinning, she quickly adverted her face.

Noelani smiled at them, glancing between her two friends, noticing that Ben had once more schooled his features into one of calm unconcern.

"I've gotta go find Kor and see if she wants to go, want to meet at the main entrance to the Academy in an hour?"

The two boys nodded their heads, and Noelani stopped, watching as they continued down the hallway laughing to each other.

Noelani allowed a small smile to come to her lips for a moment, and then turned around darting back down the hallway towards the quarters Kor shared with her Master. Within a few moments she was standing outside of the door. She pressed the anunciator and the door opened to reveal Kor standing there.

"Hey, Noelani. What's up?"

Noelani grinned happily. "Ben and Poll want to go exploring some of the caves and want us to go with them. Can you?"

Kor grinned mischievously. "Ben and Poll? I can understand why you wouldn't want to be alone with the two of them."

Noelani frowned at her friend. "Oh? So you don't want to go?"

Kor laughed. "I definitely didn't say that. Wait here, and let me go ask Master Thann."

Noelani nodded her head as Kor disappeared back into her quarters. A few minutes later, she reappeared with a big grin on her face. "Looks like you don't have to be all by yourself with those two boys after all."

Noelani grinned at her friend. "As if there was ever any doubt about that. I did mention that Poll was going to be there."

Kor's eyes narrowed slightly. "You better not tell him anything, Noelani Darklighter."

She laughed, holding up her hands slightly. "Hey, it's me. Besides I don’t understand what you see in him, and can't see why you like him."

"Yeah, well…at least he's not Skywalker."

Noelani frowned slightly. "Ben's not that bad. Now, let's go meet the boys."

She ignored Kor's chuckle as they walked down the hallway.

I Want To Be Your Knight: Chapter Seven

I was awakened by a hard slap across the face.

My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself looking at a seriously ticked off Jysella Horn. Behind her, Seha was wringing her hands worriedly.

Something was wrong. It felt like I was hiding underneath a wet blanket. Like everything was dulled and blurred. Then I realized that I couldn't feel Jys or Seha in the Force. That I couldn't feel the Force.

That's when I remembered that I was supposed to have been ejected from our shuttle in orbit above Myrkr. Since, I was on a planet, I figured that I had been ejected, but I was having trouble recalling actually leaving the ship.

I frowned, and asked, "What happened?"

Jysella rolled her eyes, and turned away. "Kriffing Skywalker..."

My eyes shifted to Seha who stepped forward, that odd half-grin on her face. "According to the biometeric sensors that are interconnected between these things, you hadn't gotten yourself sealed into the capsule when we were launched."

Jysella turned back to me, coming closer. "Yeah, and we've spent the past two hours hunting for your capsule. You had enough time to get in your capsule. Why weren't you sealed?"

I remembered helping Jys into her capsule, but it was a blank after I activated it. My face screwed up, as I thought hard about it. Then I remembered seeing the bags under the table still. I opened my arms and allowed the three bags to fall out. "These! I saw these and figured we'd need them."

Jysella shook her head in disgust. "You risked your life for the bags?"

I nodded my head, and she turned towards Seha. "Told you he was just being stupid."

Before I could defend myself, her fist snapped out and slammed into my stomach. I gurgled as I was pushed further into the cushions behind me, doubling over slightly from the force of the impact. Fighting back the urge to vomit, I glared at Jysella who smiled back at me.

"You promised."

I decided that I didn't need to fight back the need to vomit anymore, and leaned towards her shoes. Unfortunately, the nausea passed before I could expel my last meal in her general direction.

Seha grabbed one of my arms and helped me to stand upright. I smiled down at her, and said thanks. She nodded in reply and let me go. I stretched, working each muscle group in turn, checking to see if there was any damage. Satisfied, I picked up my bag and looked towards the two girls, noticing that they had already picked up theirs.

I looked around at the trees that surrounded us, noting that they seemed to shimmer with a slight silver tint in the morning sun. I guessed that effect was due to their high-metal content.

Seeing them standing there in the light armor was kind of breathtaking. I was amazed at how their opposing features could both be so alluring at the same time. Jysella with her wild, passionate nature seemed to embrace the inherent chaos of our situation. She stood, staring off into the distance the wind pulling at her hair, flicking it in front of her face.

Seha, on the other hand, still had that calm thing going on. She would have made dad proud with her Jedi control. Her hair was pulled into a tight braid, as she stared intently at the small computer built into her right wrist. A miniature holographic map hung in the space above her wrist, and she poked and prodded at the controls as she studied it. Then she turned a bit to her left and lifted her head.

I stepped forward, and asked, "Where to now?"

Seha pointed in the direction she was facing, and replied, "123.4 kilometers that way is our destination. We have four and a half days left."

I simply nodded my head and unclasped my saber from my belt, wanting it easily accessible. Then I started walking in the direction she indicated, slipping through the brush as quietly as possible. Behind me, I could feel Jysella and Seha following.

We walked towards the city, only stopping occasionally to drink from the streams that sliced through the undergrowth.

Finally dark fell, and we dropped our bags and collapsed to the ground. For the first time, I was happy that Kyp had made me take all those horrible runs. My calves and back hurt, but I felt that I could go on if needed.

I glanced over at Jysella and saw her rubbing the muscles of her leg

Then I turned and saw Seha leaned up against a tree, her expression one of pain, as she panted slightly.

Standing, I crossed over to her in a couple of steps and knelt down in front of her. "Are you okay?"

Her eyes opened, and her lips twitched slightly. "Just out of breath. Not use to not having the Force to refresh me when I'm tired."

I frowned at that, and scratched at the top of my head. "Refresh?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah, refresh. You mean you've never used the Force to wash away exhaustion and tiredness before?"

I felt myself gaping at her, and pivoted slightly towards Jysella, to find her staring at us. When she saw me looking at her, she burst into laughter.

I turned back to Seha. "You..." I paused, and closed my eyes, exhaling slowly. "You mean that you can use the Force to keep you from getting tired, while doing something like running?"

I opened my eyes to find her nodding her head, her brows bunched up in confusion. I looked to Jys again, and she was all but rolling on the ground from her laughter.

I had finally discovered how Kyp managed to have more energy than me on those torturous runs of his. I heard myself mutter, "I'm going to kill Kyp when we get back."

I didn't think it was possible, but Jys laughed harder.

Seha's eyes opened wider, as they flickered from me to Jys and then back. I don't think she knew exactly what to make of either of us.

I stood up and stalked a short distance away, gathering up some brush and branches to build a fire with. By the time I had returned, Jys ' laughter was mostly under control. She had another smile for me, a bright and cheerful thing that both warmed and annoyed me. I dropped my bundle of burnable stuff, and began setting it up in the proper order to get a fire going.

Seha looked at me, worry shining in her green eyes. "Uhm... are you really going to kill Master Durron?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm not. I might hurt him though. Maybe break a leg. Or stab him once or twice with my lightsaber, but I don't think I'm going to kill him. There's no reason why he couldn't have told me about those refreshment techniques while we were doing those runs of his." Jys chuckled again, and I turned towards her, "At least someone finds this amusing."

As I turned back to the kindling I was putting into a neat little pile, she grabbed up a stick and threw it at me. It slapped me in the back, and I glared over my shoulder at her for a second. She stuck her tongue out at me, and I turned back to the pile, pulling out a pack of matches from my pocket.

Seha's and Jys' mouths both dropped open at the sight of the package. Jys then said, "Hey, you're not supposed to have that."

I glanced over my shoulder at her, a smirk on my lips. "Who says?"

"The rules. We're only allowed to bring the stuff in our bag."

I laughed. "Read the rules again, you're allowed to bring items that you commonly carry with you in addition to the survival pack. A book of matches is one of the things I commonly carry with me. In addition to about a dozen or so credits, a comlink, a penlight, two extra vibroknifes, and then a couple of packages each of sugar and salt."

I ignited the kindling, and watched it burn for a second before putting some of the smaller sticks onto it. A few moments later I added some of the larger pieces of wood I had gathered, and then sat back, enjoying the warmth from the fire.

I allowed my eyes to flicker from Jys' face to Seha's, and I noticed the confusion on her face. When she saw me looking at her, she asked, "Why do you carry that stuff around?"

I looked at her for a moment, and then smiled and tilted my head to look at the stars. "It's because of a month I spent on an uninhabited planet about the time I turned fourteen. Do you remember the first time we met?"

She slowly shook her head.

"Well, it was about four years ago. My parents had requested that I take a leave of absence from both GAG and Jacen, and stay at the Temple on Coruscant with them. At the time, I didn't want to, but Jacen had insisted. After a week or so, you came and delivered to me a letter from Jacen, giving me orders to sneak out of the Temple to retrieve a Sith artifact from some third rate rim world." I paused and looked at Seha again, noticing the complete lack of recognition of those events. I chuckled, and smiled at her. "I'm not surprised you don't remember. Jacen was very good at mind-rubbing people."

Jysella spoke up. "I remember that. There was a big fuss when the Masters discovered you had disappeared. I don't think anyone ever actually told us why you were gone though."

I nodded my head. "I can imagine. As for why, it was to do something for Jacen. He sent me to some third-rate star on the Outer Rim, and I tracked the artifact to the Sith homeworld of Ziost . Once there... well, I made a mistake or two, and ended up in charge of a little girl, only 6 years old. We spent a month crossing the wilderness of Ziost, running from some pirates who were happy enough to shoot at us from starfighters. I later found out that it was all a test. I was supposed to do the pragmatic thing and abandon the little girl there, allow her to die."

I realized that a tear was running down my cheek, and I brushed it away. My eyes flicked from Seha over to Jys, and I saw matching looks of worry and concern directed my way. That unnerved me slightly, seeing Jysella concerned about me, but at the same time I was oddly happy about it.

After a moment, I turned my attention to the crackling fire and continued my story. "I, I was supposed to just let her die there alone. That's what Jacen and his Sith Master expected of me. Wanted of me. Ultimately, I couldn't do it. Despite the ghosts on that planet telling me to do so, I knew that I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had left her to die. What really scares me, even today, is just how close I came to doing so. There was one point when I actually walked away from her." I shuddered then as a chill settled across me, which the fire could not drive away. "Eventually, we found a Sith ship, and were able to leave Ziost. I took her back to her homeworld, and then went to find Jacen."

I looked up at Jysella as she began to speak. "If Jacen sent you on that mission, why did you go back to him after you escaped the planet? Why not go to your parents?"

I frowned, trying to remember what I was thinking at the time. I knew Jacen had sent me there, and I knew that it was a test. I had no doubts that Jacen knew exactly where I was and what I was doing. The tracking device that had been in my datapad told me that. I turned my attention back to the fire, staring at it, while I wondered why I would have made the decision to go back to him.

Ultimately, I didn't have an answer for her.

I didn't have an answer for myself.

It was a decision which I had often pondered. And one that made me question, just how things might have changed had I done so.

Instead, I shrugged, and glanced back up at her. "I was a stupid 14 year-old kid, who had just spent a month on an uninhabited planet, with ghosts in his head telling him to kill a six year-old girl. I'm surprised I made it back at all."

Family Found: Chapter Four

Kor Res'sal scratched at the black spot in the tan fur at her neck as she watched her master, Thann Mithric. The Falleen Jedi Knight twisted and turned, his blade slicing and probing, testing the defenses of Kolir Hu'lya – a Bothan Jedi Knight who was not related to Kor, though she was related distantly to the former Chief of State of the New Republic, Borsk Fe'lya.

She watched the two Knights, admiring the form of both her master and his opponent.

The clean concise movements of Thann's Form III combat versus the aggressive attacks of Kolir's Form IV.

Kor scratched at the nap of her neck, wondering which lightsaber form she should adopt. She sighed, and looked off to the side as the door opened. She could feel a smile coming to her face as she saw the two blondes stepping into the training room, instantly recognizing one of them as her friend Noelani.

With a quick glance towards her Master, she flipped her feet over the bench she was sitting on and stood up rushing over towards Noelani.

She launched herself at her friend, tackling her in a large hug and laughing as she did so.

Then to Kor's surprise, she found herself on her back, a forearm pressed tight against her neck, and the cool touch of a metal pommel against her forehead. After a second, she focused on the face that was a few centimeters from hers, and recognized Noelani's features. Even as those same features seemed alien, different, to her.

"Noelani?"

Noelani shook her head as Kor spoke, and then climbed off of her, a blush coming to her cheeks. "Sorry, Kor. You kind of caught me off guard."

Kor frowned slightly. "If that was you off-guard, I'd hate to see what you do when you're ready for action."

Noelani laughed slightly, tugging at a lock of her hair. "Yeah. I guess I have changed a bit."

Kor watched as Noelani glanced towards her Master, and then faced her again. "Well, you can tell me all about it. I've just gone on a single, stupid supply run with Master Thann. What have you been doing since you left?"

Noelani's smile was a bit wider this time. "Well, I was kidnapped and tortured by some rogue Yuuzhan Vong. Met a cute guy named Chase and then got arrested by Wookiees. Stopped an assignation attempt designed to bring the Wookiees in on the Corellian side of the war. And then we found a cache of holocrons on Rhen Var. Oh, and I met Ben Skywalker."

Kor could feel her mouth as it dropped open slightly. "You've been busy. Kind of makes me jealous. But Ben's been here for a few weeks now; he's a bit of old news. In fact he's taking a couple of the advance classes, so if you join any of them, you'd probably be in one with him."

Noelani blushed slightly. "Oh. I hadn't realized all that."

Kor catched the slight blush, and began to grin. "Noelani Darklighter! You have a crush on him!"

Anger and embarrassment flashed in her eyes. "Hush, Kor. Someone will hear you. And no I do not have a crush on him."

Kor giggled lightly. "Keep telling yourself that 'Lani."

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Ben Skywalker sat on one of the low wooden benches scattered throughout the meditation gardens which were spread around the outskirts of the Jedi Temple. Supposedly they were places where one could go to find serenity and peace for meditation and focusing on the Force.

For Ben Skywalker they have become a place to get away from the stares of his peers.

He felt like he was an outsider here. He was no longer a mere trainee. He had been out in the wider galaxy doing things. Running operations with Jacen. Going on raids with the soldiers in GAG. He had been shot at numerous times, nearly stabbed twice and almost blown up once.

This life of safe, secure lightsaber training and boring classes was enough to drive him insane.

He sighed, wondering when his dad would let him go back to Jacen and the Guard. Then a Force presence filled his awareness. He glanced up to find Poll Syth dropping onto the seat beside him. Poll was born during the Yuuzhan Vong war around the same time as Ben, and had been in training on Ossus since the end of the War when his father reopened the Academy on Ossus.

During the times when Ben was on Ossus, Poll had often been his playmate, and as he watched Poll settle onto the bench next to him, he realized that he was probably the closest thing to a friend that Ben had on Ossus.

He grinned at his friend, giving a terse nod of his head in greeting.

"Ah, the great Ben Skywalker comes back to visit, and doesn't even make time to come see his old, forgotten friend."

Ben laughed slightly. "I'm sure there's an airlock around here somewhere you can shove it out of."

Poll grinned at him. "Ah, now that's the Ben Skywalker I know. Loud and annoying not this pouting mass of bored flesh that has been moping around here for the past few weeks."

Ben lifted one of his eyebrows as he looked at his friend. "You've expanded your vocabulary while I was away. You insulted me without a single expletive. I'm impressed."

"Yeah, I guess this education your dad is shoving down my throat is sticking. So tell me what crawled up your bum and died?"

Ben shook his head. "Just bored is all."

"Well, let's go do something?"

"What?" As he said that, he could feel Poll's amusement and excitement, and almost regretted asking the question.

"Well, I always wanted to go explore some of the ruins. Why don't you ask your dad if we can go? I'm sure he'll give you permission."

Ben nodded his head, considering the request. "Sounds like a good idea. I wonder if Noelani would want to go."

"The cute blonde that doesn't shut up? When did you notice her?"

Ben frowned slightly. "I…uhm…I met her the other day. Why? And what do you mean 'doesn't shut up?'"

He could hear the amusement in Poll's voice, and began to regret telling him about Noelani.

"Don't worry, Ben. Your secret's safe with me. But if you want to ask Noelani to join us, you'd probably want to invite Kor as well."

"Kor?"

"Yeah, Kor. Bothan fem. Tan fur, black spot on the neck, kind of cute in a furry sort of way. Our age. I think she was in lightsaber tactics with us a couple of years ago. Before they got paired up with Masters, they spent almost all of their free time with one another."

Ben rolled his shoulders in a shrug. "I'll ask them both. This should be a bit of fun. How about we go to the old Jedi Library?"

"Sounds great."

Ben stood up, a grin touching his face for the first time since his lunch with Noelani the previous day. He waved over his shoulder. "I'll go ask my dad to see if we can go tomorrow, I'll see you at class in the morning."

Without waiting for a response, Ben walked towards the entrance to the Temple, and the quarters he shared with his parents.

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

Tahiri settled down at her console, the device coming on as she did so. She plugged in a second, smaller device into the side of the machine, watching as a light came on on the small device.

Within a few moments, an image resolved on Tahiri's console, displaying Princess Leia's smiling face.

"Hey, Tahiri. How did things go when you got back to Ossus?"

"That stuff Noelani found was great distraction, and I've been asked to go get another load of it. Is there anything else you need that I can bring you when I make my run out to Rhen Var?"

"No, Tahiri. You've done enough. We don't want you to get in trouble with Luke."

Tahiri smiled and shook her head slightly. "Leia, you and Han are the only family I have left. The only parents I ever really knew. Don't worry about any trouble I might have or get into. You're family. That's more important."

A Stitch In Time

Anakin felt his lungs burning, his heart pounding, his blood boiling, yet he fought on. He twisted and twirled, slashing in and out of the Yuuzhan Vong warriors effortlessly. It was surprisingly simple now that he could feel them in the Force. Now that he had opened up to all of existence. Even as he felt that existence burning out his cells, shredding his body on a cellular level.

He could feel himself dying, one cell at a time.

As each cell ruptured and burst from the massive energies flowing through the microscopic symbiotic lifeforms that lived within each of his cells.

He pushed the thermal detonator away from Nom Anor one last time, sending it to rest next to the cases of genetic samples.

With a flash of light, the cases and the storage area of the cloning grotto disappeared. Anakin stumbled to a stop, and looked around. Frowning as he did not find anyone to fight. He turned and looked down the hallway which Tahiri and Tekli had fled, even as the Force seeped from his cells.

He took a step in that direction, and collapsed. He wanted to get up and move, but he just did not have the energy to move. Or breath.

And as the battlefield fell into calm silence, so did he.

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

Tahiri hurt.

It had been five years to the day since Anakin's death, and as always at this time of year, she made her way to Hapes. A quiet visit to an out of the way glen in the Royal Forest. This year though was different. This year was not quite the same as the previous five.

For while she still hurt, while a part of her still grieved and mourned and cried, there was another part of her that soared with new life, with hope and laughter. And with love.

This year was different, because this year she was not alone. Standing beside her was Doran Tainer, his hand clasping hers, offering his comfort and love, offering her his strength and loyalty. Being for her, what Anakin would have been if he had lived.

She stared at the simple mound that at one time had been a funeral pyre, then in a halting voice, spoke.

"Hey Dummy, it's that time again. I still miss you... but, I found something. Something that I thought I wouldn't have after you... after you left. Doran and I... well, we're getting married next week. I, I hope you're happy for me, for us. I love you, and I'll never forget you."

She brushed away a tear, squeezed Doran's hand and looked up at him, smiling brightly. He leaned down and gently kissed her lips.

"You ready to go," he asked.

She glanced quickly at the mound before looking at him again. "Y-yes. I think it's time that I moved on. I'm glad you came with me. After all, this will probably be my last trip here."

Doran nodded his head, and grinned. "I'm proud of you, Toes, and I love you."

She smiled bright and happily for him, even through the tears that trailed down her face. She squeezed his hand tighter in hers. "I love you, too."

Together they turned away from the mound, away from the glen, facing the forest path which led to the Palace and the Royal Hangers.

Without looking back, and with her hand clasped tightly in Doran's, Tahiri walked from the glen, her soon to be husband by her side.

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

Darth Caedus snarled as he stared at the reports he had been given. He had hoped to corrupt Tahiri by Flow Walking with her to the past, so that she could visit Anakin. But she had gotten married while he was on his voyage to learn as much about the Force as he could. She had went and gotten over the death of his little brother.

He stood and began to pace around his office, ignoring his security droid which stood calmly in one corner of the room, merely watching him.

He knew, that he had to find a way to bring another Jedi to his way of thinking. He needed someone to warn him about Luke's plans. He scrubbed at his face with one hand, and once more cursed Tahiri and Doran Tainer. She was still supposed to be filled with grief and pining after his dead little brother, she was still supposed to go to Hapes on the anniversary of Anakin's death, the way she had during the final years of the war. Yet, now he had found out that she had not been in eight years. He knew that he needed to punish her.

He suddenly stopped in mid-step. A malicious grin, came to his lips, and he ordered his personal shuttle to be prepped for launch. He knew what he could do to destroy Tahiri now; how he could punish her.

Two days later, he was in a pressure suit, floating in space in an orbit around Myrkr. A thin tether linked him to his shuttle craft. A tether that provided safety and a steady supply of oxygen and energy to his suit all while carrying away his wastes. A tether that would allow him to stay outside in the cold vacuum of space nearly indefinitely.

Closing his eyes, he began to meditate, drawing the Force to him. Slowly, he disconnected himself from the flow of time, willing his essence back into the past. Drawing himself to this point, thirteen years ago. To that fateful day when his little brother was killed.

An explosion sounded close to his ears, and he finally opened his eyes.

The white of a baradium explosion was slowly fading, and he saw his brother standing there in the cloning grotto. A brilliant golden light slowly fading from his skin and hair, even as blood flowed from the numerous wounds across his body. Anakin was staring down a hallway, a look of yearning on his face.

And then he collapsed, slamming hard into the cold ground, laying in a pool of his own blood.

Jacen went over to him, and opened up to the Force. Reaching for a set of abilities he had not used in years. His innate healing abilities. He allowed his power to wash over his little brother, repairing the damage which Anakin's final stand had caused to his body.

That finally done, he opened his eyes to find Vergere and Nom Anor standing over them both. Vergere cocked her head slightly. "You've aged a lot recently."

He laughed. "And you've not aged a day since I last saw you."

She nodded her head slowly. "Be that as it may, why have you come here?"

He grinned, and replied, "You expect me to tell you that? Besides, you have no reason to believe me, after all, everything I tell you would be a lie."

Nom Anor looked down at her, "Who are you talking to, you foolish bird?"

Vergere cocked her head at him. "Only a fragment of the future." She then gestured towards Anakin, "What of this one?"

Nom Anor snarled and gestured towards a pair of warriors. "Take this Jeedai and place him in a cell. Ensure that there are ysalamari around him to prevent his escape."

The guards dragged Anakin's unconscious form away. After a moment, Nom Anor followed after them. For her part, Vergere stared at Jacen.

Jacen chuckled, "Make sure to tell me later where they've taken him. I'll need to know when I get back."

Vergere nodded her head, and Nom Anor snarled over his shoulder. "Come along, Familiar."

Caedus watched as Vergere hopped after Nom Anor, going to fulfil her destiny, and ensure that he, Jacen, takes his first step on the path of the Sith.

He then allowed his mental self to fade from the past, allowed his consciousness to flow down the river of time to the when where his body was floating in space. He snapped his eyes open, and new memories flooded his awareness. Pulling himself along the tether, he climbed back into his shuttle, and pulled from his new memories, a recollection of one of his more confusing conversations with Vergere. One which she had not told him the first time he lived through those events. She had simply said, "The prize is on Althos 3."

Despite repeated questions, she had never spoken of Althos 3 again. Had never told him what the prize could have been. During his five year sojourn for obscure Force powers, he had visited Althos 3, but because he did not know what to look for, he had not found a thing.

Now he knew.

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

Anakin Solo hung in his cell. His arms pulled taut over his head, his thin, wry frame, stretched and pulled by the bindings attached to his legs. Some type of slug crawled across his back occasionally stopping to take a bite from his flesh.

He does not know how long he has hung here. All he knows is that before this, he was tied around a ball, which alternated between blistering heat and searing cold. Before that, it was some other torture. And something different before that.

He does not know how long he has been without the Force. It has been gone since that fateful day on the worldship around Myrkr. He does not know if it is some trick of the Yuuzhan Vong or if he had burned out all his abilities. What he knows is that the warm river of life, that connection to Tahiri is lost to him.

He does not know how long he has been a prisoner. There is neither day nor night in his cell, just a soft, diffuse greenish glow, and he has long since lost the number of times that he has fallen asleep and woken up.

The only thing he knows, the only thing that keeps him sane, that keeps him from giving up and dying, is that he loves Tahiri. That he promised Tahiri that he would return to her.
What he does know is that he has felt his body aging. He has grown older while a prisoner of the Yuuzhan Vong, and he often wondered why they have yet to sacrifice him.

For the first time in his memory, he hears something new. Something that he had never heard on this planet before. The eruption of explosives.

There are cries of pain and misery on the far side of the door. Cries from his Yuuzhan Vong captors.

Then explosive charges rend his cell door from his frame, and through the smoke, three black-clad stormtroopers step into the room. Their heavy blasters wave around, finally settling on him. Silently, he stared at them, wondering if they were going to shoot him or free him.

His throat felt too raw and burned with pain, so he decided to not bother asking.

Then movement through the smoke cloud drew his attention, and he shifted from the stormtroopers to the smoke. Someone stepped through, dressed in similar black body armor, but lacking the helmet while wearing a cape. Anakin frowned, knowing that he had seen this man before, but not certain where.

The man smiled at him, and then in a soft voice said, "Anakin..."

Anakin's eyes finally meet the man's. They were a harsh brown color, the exact shade of the wood beneath a wroyshr's tree bark. If there had been any warmth in them at all, he would have characterized them as the color of brandy.

Then recognition dawned. Even through the pain, he whispered the man's name. "Jace?"

Jacen either grimaced or smiled, Anakin was not sure which.

Then several more blaster bolts went off, and awareness slammed into Anakin. The full glory of the Force wrapped itself around him, lifting him up, infusing him, becoming a part of him once again.

Without thinking, he stretched out for Tahiri, reaching for her through their long atrophied bond. He felt her jerk of surprise and awe, and then to his surprise a wave of grief, fear and guilt. Her emotions finally settled on confused disbelief.

Then he sent her a message, forcing their bond open even further. I promised you that I'd be back.

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

Tahiri snuggled deeper into Doran's arms, the weight of the heavy down comforter weighing on her bare arms. A thin wind from the air cycler, brushes across her exposed shoulder, evaporating the sweat that had popped up on her skin. Shivers raced down her body, as she sighed into Doran's chest.

Sleep tugged at her, and she was just about to give in, when Doran spoke. "Hey, didn't you want to tell me something?"

She blinked her eyes a few times, looking up at him, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

"Something about Jacen," he prompted.

"Oh! Oh, yeah," she replied, feeling a blush crop up on her cheeks. "He made a point of finding me a few days ago. On... on the anniversary of Anakin's death. He seemed almost mad that I no longer went to the glen on Hapes. As if he had wanted me to do so."

He ran a hand through her hair, and she had to fight back the urge to purr. The things she had been through at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong and then the Killiks, the changes each had made to her biochemistry, had altered her physiological responses especially how she would express emotions. It often bothered her, even though Doran was amused when she purred. Besides, she could feel him thinking, concentrating, and she didn't want to distract him from that.

At least not yet.

Doran shook his head. "I can't think of a reason he would have wanted you to still do so. He certainly never visited in the past, so he wouldn't want you to go with him for one. And everyone can see how he's dragging Anakin's name through the mud with that Star Destroyer of his."

Tahiri sighed, and closed her eyes, getting ready to drift off to sleep again.

As she did so, the Force wavered. Ripples stretched across her awareness, waves crested and crashed down upon her shields. She bolted upright into a sitting position as a wave of familiar warmth, like a ratty, old worn out cloak, settled across her shoulders.

"Anakin," she whispered, her voice barely audible even to her, as her heart pounded in her chest and tears sprung to her eyes.

Doran touched her shoulder. "'Ri? What's wrong?"

She clutched her hands to her chest, feeling her heart breaking all over again. "I, I can feel him. Whole. Alive. He's alive."

"Who?"

She could hear his voice in her head, as if he was there beside her once again, whispering in her ear. I promised you that I'd be back.

She buried her face in her hands, the sobs shaking her body.

"Who? What's wrong?"

She did not look up at him. She could not face her husband. Not now. Not now that the love of her life had came back from the dead.

"He's back. I don't know how. I remember that we burned his body, but he's back, and he's alive."

"Who?" Dorran insisted.

She lifted her face from her hands, feeling the tears streak down either cheek. "Anakin."

I Want To Be Your Knight: Chapter Six

Kyp piloted us out to Mrykr himself. Three days locked up tight in one of the Jedi Order's shuttles. Why we couldn't have taken my ship, the Jade's Scion, Kyp never told me. Just said that he was piloting, so he'd pick the ship.

If I had to guess, I would have had to say that it was because the Scion had five cabins, while this shuttle only had two. Which meant that we were all tripping over one another the entire way there. Kyp was just cruel that way sometimes.

Three days crammed into that tiny shuttle with the girl who would love nothing more than to skewer me with her lightsaber and the girl who wanted to do nothing more than ignore me. Of course my Master was less than useless, what with spending all his time in the cockpit. Grumpy with me at the best of times, by the end of the second day Jysella's hostility was barely contained. If I got even too close to her personnel space she'd growl dire threats in my direction.

And honestly, I wasn't that much better.

I'd purposefully invade her space to get a rise out of her, to cause her to snap at me, so I would have a reason to snap back. The rest of my time, I spent trying to pick all the electronic locks on the shuttle.

By the time we dropped out of hyperspace near Myrkr, even the normally calm and collected Seha had begun to fray. She had snapped at me twice and Jysella once for the snide comments we were making towards one another.

Of course all of this was perfectly understandable. After all, it's one thing to be shoved into the cockpit of a starfighter alone for days on end, it's an entirely different thing for three people to be shoved into room that's designed for two for days on end.

Finally, Kyp put us into a standard orbit around Myrkr and we quickly got dressed in our outfits, gathered our supplies took up our seats around the small table. A few minutes later, Kyp emerged from the cockpit and came over to stand beside the table where we were all sitting.

Our outfit for this outing was a type of light armor. While not skin tight, it left little to the imagination, but it breathed and was supposed to keep us at a perfect temperature. Additionally, there were armored pads at various places on the body, which would be helpful if we ran into any vornskyrs.

Our supplies were stashed into a shoulder bag not much bigger than an attache case. We didn't need a lot of room, because we weren't allowed to take a whole lot of stuff. No medical supplies. No spare water. All we were allowed to carry was a blanket, a handful of ration packs, a knife, our lightsabers and a blaster, if we wanted one. I opted to carry everything we were allowed to.

He grinned at us, and dropped a holocube onto the table. It sprang to life, displaying a map.

"That's Hyllard City," he told us. "Your insertion should be somewhere between a hundred and a hundred-fifty klicks from it. You have a week to make it to the city. Most dangerous predator out there is the vornskyrs. They like Jedi a lot. I'm not going to lie to you three, you got the hardest planet there is. You'll be in the deep jungle so there's no Force powers. The metallic trees keep sensor sweeps from finding you. You each have an emergency recall button. Remember though, if you use it, you fail the practical."

Then he turned away, and pressed his thumb against the lock to a hold beneath the deck. I had wondered what was in there, as that was the only locked area on the ship that I had failed to gain access to. The door sprang open, and he pulled three seed-like things out. Grinning, Kyp dragged them into the middle of the room.

Once he was down, he gestured to them and with a smile said, "These are a gift from the Wraiths." At this point I had noticed that Jys pulled an odd face, something between a grin and a grimace, as if she wasn't certain if she should be amused or disgusted. "You have five minutes to get into them, and then the cabin will be depressurized and then you'll be falling towards the planet below."

He walked away, and went into the cockpit. We looked between one another, startled slightly by his abruptness. Suddenly, we all heard the pressure seals for all the doors being activated. Jysella uttered a less than feminine phrase, more than likely something she had learned on her grandfather's ship. We scurried out of our seats, and rushed over to the pods.

These things were just a bit over two meters tall, and a little wider and thicker than Artoo. I vaguely remembered hearing about them when I was in GAG. They were insertion capsules, designed during the Vong War, the original units had a rock exterior, but these appeared to be a simple metal alloy, probably the same stuff that the Scion's hull was made of. When I pressed the activation button, two seams appeared, one running down the middle of the capsule vertically, the other horizontal mid-line. The four leaves swung open to reveal what looked like a padded coffin.

Jysella cursed and I looked over at her to see her scampering backwards away from her capsule. When she reached the wall, she curled her legs up, and wrapped her arms around them, and a shudder raced through her body. "I... I don't think I can do this..."

I looked at her, and saw the fear in her eyes. Bright, shining, and quite irrational. It suddenly dawned on me that she was claustrophobic. I frowned and glanced at my own capsule, and then the chrono strapped to my wrist. We had two minutes before Kyp expelled us from the cabin. "I know it's hard Jys, but we kind of have to."

Anger flared in her eyes as she focused on me. "I wasn't asking for your opinion, Skywalker."

I shrugged. "I realize that, but we're about to experience explosive decompression. So unless you want to do so firsthand, get in there."

She rattled off a dozen words, two of which I could pronounce again, only one of which I had ever heard before. Though I didn't know the exact meaning, it didn't take an genius to figure out she was telling me to go kriff myself. Or something equally as bad. Correct that, it was probably something much worse. That one word I had heard before was Hutt.

Anyways, I ran my hand through my hair and looked over towards Seha for help and found that she had already gotten into her capsule, and the leaves were already closing. She looked at me apologetically, and then the leaves closed with a snick and a hiss of compression. She was in there, and utterly useless now. Jys was stuck with me to encourage her. Kriff.

I went over to Jys and knelt down beside her, looking into her eyes. "It's a fear. Hard and nasty to face, but I believe that you can do this. I know it." Then grinning, I said, "Tell you what, I'll let you hit me a couple times once we get down to the surface."

She chuckled, which made me realize that she was a lot more scared than she was letting on. I glanced at my chrono, and found we had 50 seconds left. It had taken Seha's capsule about 15 seconds to close up, so we were quickly running out of time. I held my hand out towards her. "Come on, we don't have a lot of time."

She grasped my hand and I stood up, pulling her up as well. Then we walked her back to her capsule. She laid down, and looked up at me, and I could see the fear still there, could feel it clouding her Force presence. Her voice quivered. "Promise I can hit you when we get planetside?"

I grinned and nodded my head, "Promise."

Then I reached in, buckled her safety harness and slapped the activation plate. Her eyes darted around, widening a bit as the leaves of the capsule closed around her, and with that final snick and hiss it was sealed. I glanced at my chrono again. Twenty seconds.

I rushed over to my own capsule, and a niggle of worry wormed at my heart. I paused and looked around, seeing the three bags still sitting beneath the table. Muttering a curse I dived for the table and grabbed them, at the same time as the decompression alarm starting blaring. The room's illumination suddenly switched from a bright white, to a murky red. I glanced at my chrono, and cursed again. Five seconds.

Running back to the capsule, I jumped in, and slammed the button, pulling the three bags to my chest even as I was straightening my legs out. I cursed again, as I realized I didn't even have enough time to buckle the straps.

With a loud clang the doors shot open, and I felt the capsule rattle and shake as it was pulled towards the exterior by the burst of wind. I inhaled deeply, and closed my eyes, praying to the Force that the leaves would close in time.

Then my capsule was ripped out into space, and it tumbled end over end. Bright squiggly spots danced in the darkness behind my closed eyelids as I suddenly felt the sensation of being in space without a suit.

Then I lost consciousness.