Jedi Adept: A Path In The Dark -- Ch. 15

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Evir stood over them, his cold eyes flicking between Noelani, Chase and Asyra'mata. "I need you three to go to area 4 and clear out as many of the Ferals as you can find."

Neolani frowned at the request. "We're not trying to capture them now?"

Evir shook his head. "No. The group in Area 4 has mutated slightly; and for whatever reason they've become even more aggressive and virulent."

Noelani glanced over at Chase who merely shrugged his shoulders. Focusing back on Evir, she replied, "Okay, we can do that."

Evir smiled broadly. "Wonderful. See Gorn, he'll provide you with maps and a transport."

Evir turned away from them, leaving their house. Noelani watched the closed door for a minute, and then shook her head. She allowed her gaze to flick between Chase and Asyra'mata. "Well, we have a job to do. Let's get ready."

The two nodded and headed upstairs. Noelani looked towards the door for a moment. Something was bothering her, a niggling sense of wrongness in the Force. She frowned as she tried to focus on it.

Finally, the wrongness left, and she shook her head, sighing. Then she went upstairs and got into her own jumpsuit. It was as much battle armor as jumpsuit. After what happened with Gorn she had insisted that everyone on her team have them.

A knock on the door drew her attention and Asyra'mata stuck her head in. "You ready, Mom?"

Noelani frowned at the younger Twi'lek. "Just because I put up with that from Prilla and Jena doesn't mean that I'll put up with it from you."

"I understand," Asyra'mata replied even as she grinned maliciously. "Of course, I do have to know… should I call Chase 'papa?'"

Noelani felt a blush burn against her cheeks. "I… I don't know what you're talking about."

Asyra'mata laughed, as she turned and left the room. "Sure you don't, Mom."

Noelani frowned at the door as it closed; part of her terrified that Asyra'mata might be right. Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention and she shifted that way—to find herself staring at her own reflection in a mirror.

For a moment, she could have sworn it was Tahiri watching her out of the black body armor. Her eyes seemed to flicker between green and blue, and Noelani got lost in them. A shiver raced down her spine, even as Noelani thought, I wonder what mom's doing right now.

A few minutes later, the door opened again, and Chase stepped into the room. He too wore the black body armor, and she felt a blush flash to her cheeks as he stood just inside of her doorway.

"Hey, you ready to go? Me and Asyra'mata have been waiting for you downstairs."

Noelani blinked and glanced at the chrono by her bedside. She frowned as she realized that she had been up here changing for nearly forty minutes. "What happened to the time?"

Chase chuckled. "Not sure, you seemed pretty out of it when I stepped into the room. Is everything all right?"

Noelani shook her head again, and walked towards the door. "Question for another day I guess. We need to go take care of those ferals now."

Chase smiled at her. "Sounds good to me."

He held his hand out towards her, and she grasped it as she headed downstairs.

A few hours later, Chase set their speeder down at the outskirts of their assigned area. Noelani jumped out of the speeder, and stretched out with the Force, trying to find any ferals in the region.

"Anything?" said Asyra'mata.

Noelani shook her head. "No. I can't feel any in the Force."

Chase chuckled. "Then I guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way."

Noelani sighed as she reached back into the speeder and pulled out her blaster rifle. "That's gonna take so long though."

Chase laughed. "Of course it is. Now, let's head North-west first."

Asyra'mata spoke up, "Why that way?"

Chase looked over at Asyra'mata, and replied, "Well, it looks cleaner that way."

Noelani smiled and wrapped the strap of the rifle over her shoulder. She then reached back into the speeder and pulled out a helmet. According to Evir, it was Stormtrooper surplus armor from the Galactic Civil War that he had purchased and then painted back. Yet, as she pulled the helmet down, she wondered once again just who Evir really was. It wasn't often, but occasionally she'd get a bad feeling from him.

"'Lani?"

She blinked and then shifted her head so she could see Chase through the helmet's visor—only to find that he had his helmet on as well. A pang of disappointment sliced through her.

"Something wrong?"

"No… I was just thinking."

She watched his helmet for a moment.

"Gotcha," he replied and then gestured towards the North-west.

She sighed and then started walking in the direction he pointed. Her eyes scanned the dimly lit alleyways and streets, picking out landmarks the way Tahiri had taught her a lifetime ago.

Asyra'mata walked on her left with Chase on her right. She knew that both of them were scanning their surroundings the same way she was. She could feel their focus in the Force, and her helmet had small view screens on it which showed her what they were looking at.

After an hour's march, Noelani called for a break. She pulled off her helmet, her hair sticking to her forehead. She glanced at the other two, and shook her head. "I don't think there's anything in this area."

Chase looked around, a frown on his face. "I don't know… I, I kind of feel like we're being stalked."

Asyra'mata shrugged her shoulders. "If you want to stay, I'll stay, if you want to go, I'll go. You're leading us Noelani; it's your decision. But I do find it odd that there are no sounds here. Almost like all the creatures have fled the area."

Noelani nodded her head, and was about to tell them that they should pack it up, when the Force wailed in warning.

She spun around, and pulled her saber in one smooth movement, the blade's snap-hiss shattering the peaceful silence which reigned over the abandoned undercity.

A chunk of rock flew from an upper window and shattered near them, showering them with shards of ferrocrete. A moan from behind them alerted them to the presence of ferals, and Noelani turned that way to find a dozen of the creatures ambling towards them.

"Kriff," Chase muttered under his breath. "We were suckered into a trap."

Asyra'mata snorted in sarcastic amusement. "You don't think?"

Noelani sighed as she rushed forward. "Less talk; more freeing these poor souls from their pain."

Then she was in the midst of them. Brilliant red bolts of energy flew over her shoulders striking the ferals, as she sliced them down with her lightsaber. Yet she felt safe—she knew that neither Chase nor Asyra'mata would shoot her.

Within moments, all of the ferals were dead, and she stood in the center of the gore. Frowning for a moment, she knelt down beside one of the corpses, and broke off a chunk of the coral in order to get a better look at the face.

It was a child, a few years younger than she herself was, around Asyra'mata's age; and it was a child she recognized. It was Threll.

Noelani looked up and over at Asyra'mata. She could feel the young Twi'lek's shock and grief in the Force; a palatable feeling that resonated with Noelani.

"I'm sorry Asyra'mata."

She shook her head quickly, her lekku twinning around themselves. "He made his choices."

Noelani nodded and glanced past her to where Chase was scanning the buildings around them. "That doesn't mean that we can't grieve."

"When the mission's over."

She stood up and walked over to Asyra'mata, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure you're not older than me?"

Asyra'mata chuckled. It was weak, and filled with pain; but it was a chuckle.

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Tahiri gripped her saber tighter in her hand, squeezing the shaft of metal as hard as she could. She didn't like being down here. It felt oppressive and dead; feelings which affected both her Tusken upbringing and the implanted memories of being born in a Yuuzhan Vong Crèche.

She glanced over at Zora for a moment, and then raised her hand and gestured forward sharply. Zora raised her rifle and slowly moved forward.

As the rest of her squad advanced, Tahiri took a moment to look around. This deep in the bowels of the city-planet brought back other memories. Memories of the war and the two missions where she infiltrated the deep undercity of Coruscant, when it was the Yuuzhan Vong homeworld.

A quick click rang out on her comlink, and Tahiri lifted her head and advanced with more purpose. A few minutes later she found Zora and the other girls standing on a railing overlooking a lobby.

Beneath them, huddled together in the darkness, was nearly a hundred of the Ferals.

Tahiri stood in shock for a moment. She hadn't expected to actually find a group of the creatures. After blinking for a few minutes, she glanced around, and made a circle motion. She watched as her squad spread out around the railings.

Then there she heard the distinct clicks and whirls of their weapons powering up.

The first discharge was loud and echoed for a moment before the rest of the girls poured terawatts of energy into the unsuspecting Ferals.

Tahiri watched, and a chill raced down her spine as she picked up a new sound. It was an inhuman wail of pain and terror; one that reached deep into her mind and seemed to plant itself there.

Then silenced descended upon the chamber--interrupted for a moment by the ticks of cooling weapons.

Tahiri walked forward, and gripped the railing to look down and see the death she had just ordered on unsuspecting, living creatures.

She glanced down and instantly had to bit her tongue at the scene beneath her. She closed her eyes and quickly said a prayer to Yun-Shuno on the hope that the Ferals would be taken care of in the after life.

Then the stench of burnt and charred flesh and coral reached her nose and she had to fight back the urge to vomit. She clutched her hand over her mouth and took a step back away from the railing.

Noise on the upper level drew her attention and she lifted her gaze. In the shadows she could make out three figures, what appeared to be a male and female human and a female Twi'lek.

As she stared at them, the female human stepped forward and into a beam of the dim lighting.

Tahiri's heart jumped in her chest. Standing up there was her little girl; her Noelani.

Emotions flickered across the girl's face: disgust, sadness, pity and disappointment.

Then just as suddenly as she appeared, she was gone again.

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