Jedi Adept: A Path in the Dark Ch. 14

Previous Post

---

Tahiri stood in the observation blister above the operating theater. Zora stood a few steps behind her, as Tahiri had assigned the young private as her assistant. Yet Zora was not the focus of her attention. What she was focused on was the doctors operating on the feral beneath them.

She frowned as she felt the feral's pain radiating through both the Force and her nascent ability to sense the Yuuzhan Vong's shaped lifeforms. She blinked, disturbed slightly by the distorted echo that the feeling caused in her soul.

Glancing quickly at Zora, she said, "What exactly are they doing today?"

In the glass reflection, she saw the young girl pull out a datapad and quickly began to read. A pang of guilt and sadness washed over her quickly; once more this young girl reminded her of her own daughter. For a moment, she wondered where Noelani was; what she was doing, if she was being a good apprentice to Tionne.

Zora's reply drew her from her ruminations. "They're testing the feral's innate telepathic ability. From my understanding the docs want to know how much the collective feels when a single feral is under intense stimulus."

Tahiri frowned at that; it reminded her of a similar experiment that the Jedi had carried out on a Killik just a few short years ago; specifically, experiments that were performed on a Killik of the nest that she had begun to form a joining with.

She glanced over at Zora. "So, that means there's another feral in the same colony somewhere under observation?"

Zora nodded her head. "Yes, it's a few sectors away, but we have a Guard research unit monitoring them for reactions."

Tahiri turned away from the window. "And we have a mission today?"

Zora pressed a few commands into her datapad. "Yeah. We're to go out and patrol sector A and destroy any ferals that we come across."

Tahiri glanced at the younger girl. "Destroy? Not capture or restrain in some way?"

"Nope. The orders say we're to kill them."

Tahiri sighed, and then walked out of the observation chamber. A second later Zora followed her, the girl's heavy boots falling loudly on the linoleum tile. Tahiri glanced down at her own bare feet and sighed.

Then shaking her head she walked towards the area of the building where her squad's quarters were. Zora went into one room, while she entered her own and quickly donned the Guard uniform. Straightening up, she stepped lightly into the heavy combat boots, getting used to their weight as she strapped her utility belt back around her waist.

Anakin's saber hung at her hip, a comforting weight. She caressed the hilt with the Force and felt the tiny bit of Anakin that was at the heart of the weapon's living crystal.

Then she confidently strode out into the hallway. A few minutes later Zora and the rest of her squad appeared; hidden and anonymous in the full body armor of the Guard. Tahiri frowned for a moment, some part of her instinctively not liking the uniform, despite the fact that having grown up a Tusken, covering every inch of skin was almost second nature.

She shook her head, and slipped her own helmet over her head. Data swarmed across the interior of her visor, and Zora's voice sounded close and intimate from the helmet's speakers. "You all right, boss?"

Tahiri nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

The squad turned and headed towards the lift at the end of the hall.

Within a half hour they were patrolling the undercity. The black armor they wore glinted coldly in the dim light. Yet from within the confines of the helmet, Tahiri was able to see clearly—almost as if it were the middle of the day. The squad moved with precise steps. Zora walked on her right, Lys and Sera, the other two members of her squad, were on her left and in front of her respectively.

As they moved through the area, Tahiri noticed something: there was no one around. On a planet with the population which Coruscant boasted, she found it amazing that there was literally no one there.

She reached out with the Force, hunting for someone and felt only a slight tingle a short distance away. Frowning, she stopped walking and closed her eyes, and then she stretched her Force powers further.

It felt odd to her. Not right. It felt like an abomination; something almost aware, yet almost a Yuuzhan Vong biot. Underneath everything though, there was a strong set of desires; animalistic urgings to eat and mate.

Zora's voice whispered in her ear, "Boss?"

Tahiri's eyes snapped open, and she shifted her head to find Zora's helmet looking towards her.

Then she lifted her head and looked to the west, where she could feel them. Raising her arm, she pointed. "We need to go that way. There are some ferals over there."

After a moment's hesitation, Lys spoke. "Yes sir."

The other three began jogging in the direction Tahiri pointed, and after taking a deep breath, Tahiri began chasing after them.

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

Noelani stood on the balcony right off her bedroom. She lifted her face, and watched the dome ceiling for a moment. Sighing, she wished she could see the stars. She missed them, and all that they represented.

Finally, she lowered her face and turned back to look into her bedroom. Curled up on the bed was Huff. The young Bothan had not taken to sleeping in his own bed, and would routinely find his way into either her room or Asyra'mata's.

"Hey Noelani."

She turned back to the balcony and saw that Chase was standing on his, watching her. She found herself blushing, as she walked to the railing closest to him.

"Hey yourself."

"Do… do you want to talk for a while?"

Noelani grinned and quickly nodded her head. She looked into her bedroom for a moment, wondering if Huff would wake up if she opened the door. Deciding it wasn't worth the chance, she took a few steps backwards and then pulled the Force to her, as she jumped.

She landed on his balcony, and he wrapped his arms around her, steadying her.

Smiling, for what seemed to her like the first time in ages, she wrapped her own arms around him, and leaned her head against his chest.

Surprise raced through her. She felt safe and comfortable in his arms; almost like she belonged there.

It scared her.

The feeling created a deep, cold knot of abject terror that raced up and down her spine. She blinked and wondered about it; quickly realizing that she was afraid that Luke Skywalker would appear and take him away.

Her fear was that she would lose him to the Jedi.

The same way that she had lost every thing else in her life that she had considered important.

He ran his hand over her hair, and she sighed. A moment later tears sprang to her eyes, and a shudder raced through her body.

"Shhh," Chase whispered into the top of her head. "It's not your fault. There was no way you could have known they'd change how they attack."

"I know… but it's not just that. I've been having bad dreams… nightmares really."

"What is it?"

"Remember the day we first came here. How I told Asyra'mata about my mom and the Jedi? How you thought it wasn't everything?"

Chase frowned and slowly nodded his head.

"Well, the person who took my Mom away was Luke Skywalker. He mind-rubbed her so that she wouldn't remember me being born or even her being pregnant." Noelani felt a shudder race down her spine. "In my nightmares, I feel him coming after me, and yanking those that I love away from me, stripping them out of my life; one person at a time."

She pulled away from Chase, stepping closer to the railing, and leaned out over it, once more lifting her eyes to the ceiling, and wishing for the stars.

After a few moments, Chase put his hands on her shoulders. "You don't have to worry about it. I'm here and the Jedi can't keep me away."

Noelani turned back to face him, tears burning her eyes and blurring her vision. She nodded her head slowly. "I know… and that scares me too."

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

The Festering Wound dropped through the atmosphere of the Jeedai homeworld. She could feel the light side of the Force permeating the entire environment. It sickened her.

Yet the Dark Side of the Force drew her here. It wanted her here on this world. As her ship settled to the ground, she closed her eyes, and focused on the swirling energies which became the future. Everything told her to simply wait; that what she was searching for would come to her.

She left the ship, the living implants which were the sign of her rank before learning of the Force writhed in almost ecstasy at the taste of this new world.

Ulya Tu just walked forward, following a whirl of the Force. Suddenly she realized that she was no longer alone. She watched as a young infidel, a Bothan if her memory served her, was standing in a doorway of one of the buildings.

The Bothan hissed at her. "What are you doing here, Vong?"

Ulya Tu's mouth twitched in amusement. "I'm waiting." She polled the Force, trying to determine if this creature was the one she was here to find. No, she's not the one. After a moment, she continued speaking. "What are you doing here youngling?"

The Bothan's eyes narrowed. "I… I'm just here."

"Then we have nothing to fear from one another, do we?"

"This world belongs to the Jedi. You shouldn't be here."

Ulya Tu laughed slightly. "I see no Jeedai here. Only a scared little girl, hiding from the galaxy that she believes treated her wrong."

The Bothan bared her fangs. "I'm not scared."

Ulya Tu walked closer to her. "Oh, but I think you are. I can taste the fear rolling off of you. You burn with it in the Force even."

Ulya could feel the shock rolling off the young girl. A shock which quickly shifted to anger.

"What do you know of the Force?"

Ulya Tu smiled. "More than you ever dreamed possible, youngling."

Ulya Tu closed her eyes, and stretched out with the Force; once more hunting for that call, that awareness. She felt it, a dim, far off wavering in the Force. It was a call that told her two things. The first was that she must wait here for her apprentice to come to her.

Second that she needed this young Jeedai trainee.

Ulya Tu opened her eyes, and reached into a pouch attached to her armor at the waist. She pulled out a wad of blorash jelly and threw it at the young Bothan. The jelly struck the girl and bound her in place.

Fear and anger rolled off her, a wailing in the Force. Ulya Tu grinned and closed the distance between them. Then she placed a finger against the girl's forehead and pulled the Force to her.

With a flash of bright lightning, Ulya Tu scrambled the girl's neural synapses. She knew enough about infidel biology to know that the girl would survive, though she'd be comatose for the next few weeks.

Still grinning, she turned around and made her way back to the Festering Wound. Her apprentice would come to her, and somehow, in some way, this young Bothan would help her bind her apprentice to her, and to the Dark Side of the Force.

---

Next Post