Jedi Adept: A Path In The Dark -- Ch. 21

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Noelani stepped away from the window, a frown coming to her face. She sighed, wondering exactly what she should do next.

Deciding, she turned and stood next to the doorway, listening for movement in the hall. After a few minutes of not hearing anything she stepped out and rushed back towards the entrance which she had came into the base through.

Since the guards had not come this way, then the other direction had to lead towards where they were keeping Asyra'mata and now Chase and the others.

Anger flashed through her quickly, as she pushed herself to run faster. As she rounded another corner, she stopped suddenly and glanced around. A frown formed as she realized she had no idea where she was at.

Sighing, she began checking the doors which lined either side of the hallway.

The third access panel she touched the door swung open, and a gust of wind blew past her and into the room, startling her slightly.

She stepped forward and walked into something from one of her nightmares.

Cells lined either side of the hallway, reminding her vaguely of Tahiri's description of the BioTech holding area on Ambria. But what truly frightened her was the Ferals.

There were hundreds of them, some dead in their cells, some, the most horrifying looking, where the ones whose coral implants were literally melting off.

What replaced the implants was a mass of boils and welts, in an array of colors ranging from bright yellow through the greens and oranges all the way to a fiery red.

She stepped closer to the glass of one spectacularly disgusting specimen, and the Force suddenly cut off. She stumbled and reached out to the glass to steady herself as she looked around. Frowning she took a step back and the Force flooded back into her awareness.

Frowning, she stepped closer to one of the other cells, and as she neared the Force once again shut down.

"That's odd; I wonder why they did that."

From the darkness at the far end of the room, came the reply. "Why? To hide all of this from you Jedi of course."

Noelani frowned. She had heard that voice from somewhere before. She knew it, but that memory refused to come. The woman advanced from the darkness, and stepped into one of the circular lights close to Noelani.

She was older than Tahiri, even older than her Aunt Jaina. Her black hair was cropped short, and she was almost skeletally thin. Her cheekbones were high and stuck out, causing her face to be composed of all sharp angles and hard lines.

Vaguely, it reminded Noelani of old holos of Grand Moff Tarkin.

Instinctively, she took a step backwards. "Who… who are you?"

The woman laughed. "I'm not that surprised you don't remember me. We really didn't get a lot of time to play with one another before young Chase stole you away from us."

She frowned as she processed the woman's words. "You… you were on Ambria?"

The woman laughed. "On it? I ran it! And now, look what I get to do."

Noelani realized that her saber was in her hand the moment that it snapped to life. "I know exactly what you get to do."

The woman laughed again, further enraging Noelani. "Ah, so is the good little Jedi-trainee going to kill me now?"

Noelani darted forward, and the woman had a moment to scream in shock as she shoved the blade into her shoulder, and yanked up.

The arm hung uselessly at the woman's side--held on merely by a length of muscle and flesh. Grinning, Noelani pressed her hand against the woman's chest and then pushed with the Force.

The woman screamed as she flew through the air and slammed against the closest of the feral's cages. The clear material splintered into a spider web of cracks around her impact site. The woman slid to the ground, leaving a trail of blood on the glass.

Noelani reached out with the Force and twisted, and both of the woman's ankles snapped loudly as she screamed in pain.

Then Noelani closed the distance between them, standing over here for a moment. "Maybe you didn't hear, but I'm not a Jedi any more."

The woman gaped at her, as the ferals began hammering on the glass. The cracks began to grow. Noelani looked at the glass for a moment, and then looked back down at the woman, a vicious snarl appearing on her lips. "I'll leave you to your work."

Then she turned and started walking away.

It took five steps before the woman processed what Noelani was doing, and then she called out. "No! You can't do this to me! Pleases, at least kill me first!"

She reached the door and held her hand over the activation plate. "But, it's as you said, I'm a good little Jedi. I can't kill you in anger. Just consider this a daughter's payment for what you did to her Mom."

She pressed her hand against the door's activation plate at the same time as the glass wall shattered.

As Noelani left the room, the woman's cry shifted from a yell of disbelief to another, louder scream of pain.

The door closed behind Noelani and she paused, leaning against it for a moment, collecting her thoughts. With a moment's hesitation, she shoved her blade into the activation plate. With a sharp retort of an electronic explosion, the door behind her snapped open slightly.

Noelani smiled, and thought; at least they'll be able to go back to the rest of their colonies now.

She continued down the hall, trusting her Force senses to guide her in the direction she needed to go.

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Tahiri stepped out of her office as waves of aggression and anger began washing over her. She frowned as she spun in a quick circle, trying to discover what was happening.

Before she was able to reach out to the Force, one of her soldiers rushed up and saluted. "Jedi Viela, the Ferals we had in Area 33-Jenth seemed to have escaped from their containment labs."

Tahiri frowned for a moment, and then pulled her saber to her hand, and started jogging towards the stairs. The soldier fell into step beside her, as Tahiri said, "Then, I guess we need to round them back up before they escape. Do we know the status of the intruder?"

The Guardsman was silent for a moment and then she shook her head. "Sorry, ma'am, but there's been no sighting of her."

Tahiri shrugged and with a slight chuckle, replied, "That's all right; we're probably heading towards her handiwork anyways."

"Ma'am?"

Tahiri laughed again, a bitter, harsh sound. "Don't worry, Private, we'll have plenty enough to do soon."

He words were prophetic, for as soon as they turned the next corner; they were faced with a wave of ferals rushing towards a half dozen of her soldiers.

Tahiri let loose a Tusken War Cry and then had her blade in her hand and was rushing forward.

She closed with the Ferals and began slicing through them. From behind her she could hear the near constant chuff sounds of her soldier's blaster rifles, accompanied by the bright flashes of red light as they slashed past her.

Slowly, an odd sound intruded into her awareness. Something which she did not expect to hear in the midst of a raging battle: laughter.

As her blade slashed through the neck of the next feral another realization appeared fully formed in her mind. The person laughing was herself.

Startled, she took a few steps back away from line of ferals, and gave her head a quick shake.

This isn't right, she thought to herself as she looked around. The remnants of her handiwork littered the ground.

Tahiri looked around, and then spun to the ground, vomiting. A hand touched her shoulder, and she looked up at the Guardsman standing over her.

"Ma'am, are you all right?"

Tahiri wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and then slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, just… just a shock for a moment is all."

The helmeted Guardsman watched her for a moment longer and then nodded her head. She turned away from Tahiri and once more began firing into the mass of ferals.

Tahiri sat back onto her haunches and scrubbed a hand over her face. What's wrong with me?

Turning away from her soldiers, she left them to the destruction of the Ferals.

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Chase leaned against the far wall, watching the door. He had already tried a dozen of the things that had allowed him to escape from the cells on Ambria, but this was different. The rooms he had been held in weren't designed to keep him in them.

If they had been, he'd probably still be there.

He sighed, as hung his head slightly, wondering if he'd ever get out of here; if he'd ever see Noelani or the kids again.

He decided that the answer to both questions was probably going to be no. The Guard had been trying to capture him for months now, ever since he left the Jedi Temple and descended into the Coruscanti Undercity. He'd been one step ahead of them that entire time, but his luck had ended.

Now they had him, and he doubted they'd ever let him go.

He lowered his head slightly, staring down at his boots.

When the door opened, he didn't bother to look up. He heard the guard's boots stepping into the room, but was startled when a pass key was dropped to the ground between his feet, with a blaster following quickly behind it.

His head snapped up, and he found Noelani standing over him, a smirk on her face. "I thought you were going to get the kids away from the Guard."

He felt himself grinning, despite everything. "Well, you know how it is. You get them all into the speeder, and then they start begging for toys and snacks and bathroom breaks."

Noelani giggled, and she held out her hand towards him. He grasped it and she helped pull him to his feet.

Once he was up, she refused to let him go, but instead pulled him into a tight hug.

He found that he couldn't stop smiling, and then kissed the top of her head. After holding her for what he was certain was not long enough, he pulled away, holding her at arms length. "Come on, let's get the kids and get out of here."

Noelani grinned at him, and nodded her head. "Sounds like a plan."

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Jedi Adept: A Path In The Dark -- Ch. 20

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Tahiri watched as the crash foam was washed away from the insurgents in the speeder. He knew he was a dangerous one as he had single-handedly killed a number of her soldiers. She could feel the anger seething just beneath the skin, a festering boil of rage.

Even though she knew intellectually that Jacen had stacked her command with soldiers who bore a strong resemblance to Noelani in order to keep her off balance, she still saw each of those deaths as a strike against her daughter.

Even as the rage burned in her veins, she wondered if that was Jacen's purpose. To make her angry and filled with hate; and not for the first time she wondered just how Dark Jacen has become. Between the anger and the almost unconscious need she had been feeling to once more Flow Walk to see Anakin, she felt herself being wound tighter and tighter into Jacen's web.

A shudder slashed through her at the image of Jacen as a giant, bloated black spider; much like a purella.

She squeezed her eyes tight as the memory of that particular adventure. Tears burned at her eyes for a moment before she blinked them away.

Zora gestured that the last of the crash foam had been washed away and she stepped forward to look at the insurgent.

Shock raced through her as she recognized the driver of the speeder. Although it had been weeks, if not months, since she had last seen him, she knew him. He had after all, saved her daughter.

"Chase," she muttered under her breath.

"Ma'am?" Zora inquired.

She quickly shook her head. "Nothing, Zora." She glanced at the three children also rendered unconscious by the sedatives in the crash foam. "Take them all and place them in cells near the Twi'lek. Then make sure they receive some medical attention."

Zora saluted and made a gesture towards some of the other soldiers. They began pulling Chase and the children from the wrecked speeder, and just as they pulled Chase out a flash of hate and anger rolled through the Force.

Tahiri's back went ramrod straight at the sensation, her entire body tense and filled with adrenaline from her Danger Sense.

A twang sound reverberated throughout the landing pad, and Tahiri turned around and looked up at one of the windows of the compound.

For a second time, shock slammed into her. She felt her mouth dropping open as she recognized Noelani standing in the window, her fist planted against the plassteel plating--dead center of a network of cracks.

Their eyes met, and Tahiri could feel all the hate and anger just drain from her; leaving her emotionally empty and void. She felt no passions, no stirring of the heart.

The only thing she felt was regret and longing. She regretted not hugging her daughter, and she longed to do so.

But she knew that if Jacen felt either of those emotions, he would either kill her or Noelani if not both of them.

Quickly, she pushed her emotions deep down into her heart of hearts. Hiding them beneath the pain of Anakin's death.

As Noelani stepped back away from the window, Tahiri gestured Zora over. "We have a guest in the compound. We want to be on a level 2 alert."

"Level 2 ma'am? That means that we won't be able to send a status update to central."

Tahiri nodded. "I know exactly what it means Private, and believe it or not, there's a reason for it. Now, get inside and post a guard on the young man we just took to the cell."

"The newest prisoner ma'am? If you'll pardon my asking, but that doesn't make sense. We just brought him in; there should not be any type of jail break attempt this soon."

Tahiri shook her head. "Don't question the Force, Zora. You'll live longer. After you place the guard, come find me."

Zora saluted smartly; Tahiri ignored it and walked towards the compound, a heavy weight on her shoulders.

She reached to her utility belt and unclipped Anakin's lightsaber. She still hadn't built herself a new hilt to house her crystal, but before now she had been happy using Anakin's. Suddenly she felt unworthy to be holding his weapon.

She felt tainted. Dirty.

Arriving at her ready room, she went over to her desk and dropped the blade onto it. Then she went around it and dropped into her seat. It molded itself to her body, and she covered her face with both hands.

She wanted to cry, but the tears refused to fall.

Instead she reached down and opened the bottom drawer of her desk. From the very back, she extracted a bottle of Reta, the brand of Corellian Whiskey which Jaina's old boyfriend Jag had always preferred.

She grabbed the empty caf mug from her desk and splashed some of the whiskey into it. Looking into the whiskey for a moment, she swirled it about, then downed the entire contents of the cup in one quick swallow.

Fire burned down her throat and she coughed, even as she felt the Force automatically going to work at breaking down the poisons and alcohol she had just consumed.

She sighed and wondered why Luke taught his Jedi to do such things unconsciously. It made it hard for her to get drunk.

The door opened and Zora was standing there at attention. Tahiri looked up just in time to notice the frown appear and disappear from the younger girl's face.

She shook her head. "Go ahead and sit down, Private. Also, don't bother to include this in your report to Jacen."

Tahiri smiled, not surprised when the girl did not respond to it; outside of a slight hardening around her eyes.

"If I may ask Ma'am, what gave my mission away?"

Tahiri laughed as she poured a shot of the whiskery for Zora and another for herself. Pushing Zora's share towards her, she replied, "Nothing. I'm a Jedi, I just know these things."

Zora's eyes hardened again for a moment. "Do you mind telling me who the intruder is, and who that young man we arrested is?"

Tahiri watched her for a moment. "Off of Jacen's little record?"

Zora frowned for a moment, and then nodded.

"She's my former apprentice, and the young man is, well he rescued her from what would have effectively been biogenetic testing, if not worse things on Ambria. I assume Jacen filled you in on my previous missions before I left the Jedi?"

Zora nodded her head again.

"Good, then you know what I went through at the hands of BioTech Industries. That young man, Chase, rescued my d… apprentice from the same. Additionally, Chase is one of their experiments. From my understanding of the files, he's basically a living, breathing, human-equivalent of a battle droid."

Zora's eyes widened a moment. "Then, shouldn't I gather more people on guard duty?"

Tahiri shook her head. "No need. The guards are just there to be distractions. To make Noelani think we're serious about keeping Chase and those kids in. She'll come to me when she's finished."

Zora frowned, and glanced down at her datapad. "How do you know?"

Tahiri smiled, and stood up, walking around the desk. As she moved, Zora shifted and turned off the datapad on her lap.

"I thought this little conversation wasn't going to go to Jacen."

Zora smiled slightly. "I couldn't help myself. This type of information is why I am here."

Tahiri nodded her head. "I know, and really, once he reviews the security footage, there's nothing there that he wouldn't know."

Zora frowned. "Then why ask me to keep it off the record? Why reveal that you know about me?"

Tahiri smiled at her. "To see if I could trust you, despite you being Jacen's lapdog."

Zora bolted to her feet. "I'm not a lapdog!"

As the girl was rising to her feet, Tahiri's hand shot out behind her, and Anakin's blade slapped into it. She thumbed it on, and shoved it forward in a single smooth motion.

Zora doubled over where the blade entered into her stomach. She coughed, splattering blood all over Tahiri's desk.

She turned off her lightsaber as Zora collapsed to the ground, and then knelt down beside her. She picked up the datapad and used the Force to destroy the delicate electronics within.

Smiling down at Zora, she dropped the smoking datapad beside her. "Didn't you notice that I never did answer your question, as to how I know Noelani would come to me?"

Zora's eyes shifted to Tahiri, and she tried to speak, but all she did was spit up blood on the carpet.

Tahiri glanced towards the door, and then leaned down close to Zora's ear. "I know because, she's my daughter. That's the relationship that Jacen was trying to figure out between Noelani and myself. That's why you were down here. To protect her, that's why you had to die."

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Chase rolled over, as pain echoed through his head. His mouth felt like he had been shoving cotton balls into it. Smacking his lips, he tried to sit up, and was rewarded for his efforts with a headache and a wave of dizziness.

"Jena? Huff? Prilla?"

None of the children responded and he tried to stand. Another wave of dizziness washed over him, and he quickly gripped the edge of the sink to keep from collapsing back to the ground.

Sighing, as the last thing he remembered was the ground hurtling towards him, he assumed that they had all been captured. He stumbled towards the door, and began to beat his fist against it.

After a few moments of this, it snapped open, startling Chase and causing him to drop onto his butt. A girl, at most just a few years older than he was, stood in the doorway, irritation marred her features, but that's not what shocked him. What shocked him was how closely the girl resembled Noelani.

"What do you want?" the girl snarled at him.

"I just want to know if my kids are all right, and where they're at."

"Prisoner's don't get to know things like that."

He frowned and shook his head, reactivating his headache. "Please, let me know about them, and I'll not give you any trouble. I promise."

"You killed my friends."

He looked up at her, and realized that she would have been part of the same Guard Company that had attacked him. "In my defense they did attack me first."

"Not a reason."

Chase shrugged his shoulders. "I was protecting those kids. That's all the reason I need."

The girl continued to frown at him for a moment, and then she glanced behind her. "I didn't tell you, but the girls have a couple of bumps and bruises, while that Bothan pup is mute."

Before he could tell her thank you, she kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling into the back of his cell. "Stay there and stop asking questions."

Then she was gone and the door slammed shut behind her.

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Decisions

The decision to leave behind the only life they had ever known in exchange for one of running and fighting began as most decisions do; over selecting the best kind of appetizers. At least Ben Skywalker thought that the most important decisions should be made at that time.

He wasn't certain where exactly he had picked up that particular thought, but he knew that it did one of two things to most people; drove them to distraction or amused them. After all, he was the son of galactic heroes, people expected him to put more thought into his decisions, and actions.

As stated, most people reacted in one of those two ways. Occasionally, Ben had found some beings who reacted differently, but they were few and far between. The only other exception he knew, was the one person who reacted with both distraction and amusement.

Jysella Horn.

So, as the fried krill claws arrived at the table, he tossed his best "Uncle Han" grin at her, and waited for her answer. As he waited, he watched. She was a beautiful girl, just a few years older than himself. Her heart shaped face, was constantly framed by thick, wavy black hair, and intelligent blue eyes flashed with warmth and amusement.

Well, usually, they were filled with warmth and amusement. At this particular moment, they shone with what could only be described as incredulity.

"It really is a big decision," he said as he picked up one of the claws and started removing the shell and pulling out the meat. "It's only fitting that I give you at least until dinner arrives to think it over."

She sighed as she watched him for a moment, the incredulity sliding to something a good deal harder emotion-wise. After a few moments, she rolled her eyes, shook her head and said, "Ben Skywalker, this has got to be the craziest, stupidest, most inane idea ever. What makes you think either or our parents would agree to it?"

He chuckled, and allowed his grin to grow a bit wider. "Why in the Force would we tell them?"

"Well, someone has to tell them when we run off and become pirates, forsaking our Jedi heritage. Otherwise, they'd try and come find us."

"That's the beauty of being pirates," he replied with a shake of his head. "They can't find us."

She raised a hand to her head, and closed her eyes for a moment. "Did you forget who our parents are again? Former assassin? Corsec? Rogues? Generals? A smuggler from a long line of them? And then your dad."

He chuckled, and waved his hand in the air. "Unimportant. We can hide in the Force. Besides, we learned all our tricks from them."

"Exactly!" She replied as the wait droid came by and refilled their wine glasses. "We learned everything we know from them. I doubt for a second that they've taught us everything that they know though."

Ben grinned again and ate another of the krill claws before saying, "I'm counting on it."

"Counting on it?"

"Yep, it's all part of my plan," he said as she took a bite of one of the claws. A comment timed perfectly so that she would cough over it.

She glared at him for a moment, a wry twist appearing on her lips. "A Skywalker with a plan? I do believe this is a first."

"Maybe," Ben said as he grinned mischievously. He leaned back in his seat and watched her for a moment. "So, what's your answer?"

"You're serious? You want us to quit the Jedi and run off and join the Morlick Pirates?"

"Right."

"The same pirates who are wanted in about forty systems for murder, piracy, and other very non-Jedi like things?"

"Right."

"You do realize that they are pirates."

He chuckled. "What, you didn't want to be a pirate when you were younger?"

"No, because I knew pirates when we were younger. I learned early, that Pirates tend to not groom themselves very well."

"Well, I'll make sure to continue my grooming habits once we become pirates."

"To be clear, one, your grooming habits could use some sprucing up at their current state and you want us to be pirates rather than Jedi."

Laughing, he nodded his head. "I'll try to remember to take more baths and yes."

"And you don't think that either of our parents will have objections to this?"

"What the baths?"

She barked a laugh. "No, the pirate thing."

"Oh, I think they would, but that's part of the plan you see."

"Ah, yes, this mythical plan. So, tell me Mr. Skywalker, what is this plan of yours?"

Ben glanced from side to side theatrically, before leaning in close; she instinctively moved closer to him, smiling slightly.

"We move to Tatooine," he whispered.

Ben could actually see the vein in the middle of her forehead start to throb. Closing her eyes, she rotated her neck, as if she was under a lot of tension.

"You're giving me a headache Ben," she muttered. "Why do you think that our parents wouldn't be able to find us on Tatooine?"

He grinned. "Well, there's a precedent."

Her eyebrow arched slightly. "A precedent?"

"Yep, a precedent. After Vader killed all the Jedi, Obi-wan took Dad to Tatooine. Once there, did he change Dad's name? Nope. Yet for all those years, no one, not even Vader, ever found Dad."

She laughed as she shook her head. "There's a flaw in your plan."

Ben frowned. "What's that?"

"We'd have to stay on Tatooine. Can't be pirates if we stay on Tatooine. We could be moisture farmers or moisture farmers, but we can't be space pirates."

Ben scratched his chin for a moment, thinking. Then he nodded his head sharply. "I see you're right. It might be time for a new plan then."

A look of incredulousness appeared on her face. "A new plan? Does it still involve us being pirates?"

"No, no, no," Ben replied, waving his hand in the air. "That was the old plan! This is the new plan."

"Then tell me, oh great maker of plans, what is the new plan?"

He grinned and pulled out a small piece of jewelry. A simple ring with a moderate sized precious stone--an item which Mirax had both helped him pick out, and had told him was an appropriate symbol of betrothal for Corellians.

"The new plan is you marry me and we spend the rest of our lives together."

Tears lined her eyes as she took the offered ring and slipped it onto her finger. "I think I like the new plan."

"So, that's a yes?"

She leaned across the table and kissed him. When their kiss ended, she replied, "Of course it's a yes."

The droid rolled up and delivered their entrees, and Ben's grin grew even wider, breaking out into a full-fledged smile. "See, another life-altering decision made over appetizers."

Jedi Adept: A Path In The Dark Ch. 19

Previous Chapter

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He neared the gate, and sent the command to activate the doors. They rolled open slowly, even as he accelerated towards the opening. The explosions near the main gate had gotten louder, and he needed to get the children to safety—so he could come back and help Noelani.

Frowning, his eyes flickered around, and instantly he recognized the numerous machines on the far side of the entrance as hostiles.

There were at least a dozen speeder-bikes and around half that many military-grade air-speeders.

He blinked for a moment, weighing his options. When he realized that he had none, he punched the throttle. The girls in the seat behind him yelped in surprise as the speeder rocketed forward. Acceleration pushed them all against the back of their seats, and suddenly they were through the gates, and past the military blockade.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw two of the speeders and around 5 of the bikes racing after him. He knew he could out-run the speeders; while they did have military-grade engines, they also had all the additional weight of their armor and weapons to carry.

It was the speeder bikes that would catch him.

Facing forward, he wondered what he could do; how he could fulfill his promise to Noelani and make sure the kids were safe.

A proximity alarm started beeping from the in-dash console, and he sent the speeder into a sharp dive. The beeping grew more insistent, and he glanced behind himself to find a pair of missiles heading towards him.

"Kriff," he yelled, as he twisted the yoke. Angling close to the nearest building, he skimmed its surface, and let out a sigh as two explosions erupted behind him.

Pushing the throttle forward, he darted ahead, and suddenly he pulled the throttle all the way back and swung the speeder around so that it hovered in the traffic lane; his door facing the oncoming speeders.

Raising his blaster he fired three times, and watched as one of the riders fell away. Grinning, he focused on the next speeder and fired twice more.

Then he noticed movement, and his eyes flicked over just as a rider-less speederbike slammed into the side of his vehicle.

There was a squeal of stressed metal, and his speeder went up on its edges. The bike that had rammed him, careened upwards and towards a building, and his blaster pistol fell down towards the ground beneath them.

Sighing, he pushed the throttle and leveled out the speeder, hunting for a way to escape. Only to find the remaining two speeder bikes coming towards him.

Chase cursed as he swerved the speeder around. The latest in a series of explosions rocked the vehicle up on its side, and he glanced upwards at the military-grade speeders advancing towards him.

His lips pulled back in a snarl, as he pushed down on the stick, and pulled it to the right, sending his speeder into a sharp dive. The girls strapped into the seats behind him screamed, as Huff, bounced up and down in his own seat next to him.

Chase shook his head, realizing that this was the most animated he had ever seen the young child.

Another air-burst rocked the speeder, and he twisted the yoke, sending them spiraling around.

An action which caused Prilla and Jena to scream even louder. He winced as their shrieks dug into his skull.

He leveled out the speeder and set it to hover, and then stuck his hand behind him. "Give me a blaster rifle."

"All right," Jena called out and a moment later the barrel of his rifle slapped into his palm.

He quickly pulled the weapon around, and rested it on the doorframe. He squeezed off a handful of shots, catching one of the speeders in its front air-intake. A smile came to his lips as the speeder careened out of control, heading towards the ground beneath them. Dropping the blaster into his lap, he pushed the throttle forward and once again, almost laughed as Huff started bouncing in his seat.

Suddenly, there was the sharp screech of metal being sheared apart, and the controls in his hand became unresponsive. He looked forward and noticed that they were hurtling towards a walkway. He grimaced, and glanced over at Huff, noticing that he was no longer bouncing in his seat.

Then they hit the walkway, and the impact foam flowed around them.

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Noelani cradled her wounded shoulder as best as she could, while still hanging onto the undercarriage of the troop transport as it flew through the warrens of the Coruscant undercity. She had pulled her Force presence as close to herself as possible, trying to hide herself from the Jedi that she had watched board the next transport over.

The wind tugged at her tunic, and she shifted her head, so she could once more look down. The apparently unending depths of Coruscant flashed by, and she wondered, not for the first time, just how crazy she was to be doing this.

Yet, she needed to be taken to the Guard's base in this sector, as that was the most likely location for where Asyra'mata was being held.

As the other troop transport pulled away, she let out a short sigh of relief. She was certain if that Jedi had sensed her he would have stayed.

She closed her eyes, and stretched out, trying to feel Chase or one of the kids. When she received nothing from the Force, she frowned and once more opened her eyes. Looking ahead, she saw a squat, grey dome directly ahead.

A portal began to open on the top of the dome, spilling warm yellow light into the perpetual smog of the undercity. The transport she was riding in swerved towards the opening, and began descending.

She felt herself grinning slightly, trusting the Force that it had led her to the correct Guard headquarters where Asyra'mata was being held prisoner.

As they passed into the dome, she stretched out once again, this time hunting for Asyra'mata. When she felt the familiar mental patterns of her friend, it was all she could do to not let out a scream of joy.

Instead, she sent a wave of reassurance towards her and then shut down in the Force; knowing that either her mother or that Jedi would be around somewhere.

Finally, the transport's landing gear rolled out; they were long skids on either side of the transport. The repulsor engines began to whine, and jets of smoke erupted from the sides as columns of superheated steam flashed outward.

Almost losing her grip on the underside of the transport, Noelani grimaced as the steam instantly both soaked and burned her.

Then the transport was safely on the ground. A ramp lowered at the rear of the vehicle, and the Guardsmen and their prisoners stomped down the gangplank, heading deeper into the compound.

Finally, the pilot and co-pilot left the cockpit, and disappeared, and Noelani allowed herself to drop to the ground.

The sudden impact aggravated the burns on her back, and she yelped in instinctive alarm.

Her hand slapped over her mouth, and she stretched out with the Force, trying to see if anyone had heard her. When no sense of alarm came back to her, she rolled out from underneath the transport and glanced around.

She spied three cameras between her and the door way, and as she started running, reached out and sent a surge of energy towards them.

She reached the door and gently touched the keypad next to it. Her hand hovered there for a moment as she felt the keys, sensing the different amounts of use each key had suffered.

Hoping that her luck holds out, she quickly punched in the sequence that she had constructed in her head from what the Force told her.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she hit the last key, fully expecting an alarm to begin wailing. When instead the door in front of her snapped open, she stumbled back a step in surprise.

Quickly recovering she darted into the room, and instantly reached out with the Force, hunting for any surveillance equipment. She found some, and flash-fried it with the Force--she wanted her arrival to be as much of a surprise for her mother as possible. Glancing to the left and then the right, she turned left and headed deeper into the complex.

As she neared the first corner, her hand slipped to the hilt of her saber that hung from her belt. In a smooth, quiet movement, she unhooked the weapon, and allowed her fingers to caress the activation switch.

She stuck her head around the corner, and just saw another corridor. Spying a doorway halfway down the hall, she rushed that way, and entered the room.

It was empty, but provided a view of a second landing pad. She watched as two military speeders entered the compound, a third, wreck speeder dangling between them.

The damaged speeder was dropped to the ground, and a group of guards rushed out of the door that Noelani had entered the compound through.

Quickly, they began spraying a dissolvent on the crash-foam. Noelani stared transfixed. She wasn't certain why, but she had to watch. She had to see. Absently she noted that the other two transports had landed. Movement from one caught her eye, and she saw her mother get out of the transport.

Cursing under her breath, she focused once again on the wrecked speeder.

Her mother got closer, and was standing there as the last of the crash foam was dissolved and washed away.

Then the rest of Noelani's world crumbled. She slammed her fist against the plasteel window as she saw Chase, Jena, Prilla and Huff being dragged from the speeder. Their bodies hung limp between the guards as they were dragged away.

Noelani gulped at the air, trying to catch her racing heart.

She slammed her fist against the window again, and it reverberated in its frame. Noelani looked at it, and saw the spiderweb of cracks radiating out from the spot where she had struck it.

Horror sunk in as she realized that she had drawn on the Force when she had hit the window.

Her gaze shifted towards her mother once again, and found her staring directly at her.

Noelani swallowed, and backed away from the window.

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