SCARY-SUE
by ardavenport
- - - Part 1 - - -
There was a disturbance in the Force.
Twenty-two year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi stared out over the forested hills below, his senses reaching as far as possible, his eyes unfocused. He felt no center, no place for it. It was something otherworldly and elusive. He looked down toward where his Master secured their ship, the tall grasses and twisted dark green bushes that clung to the hillside obscuring his view. He took out his com.
"Qui-Gon?"
"Yes, Obi-Wan," came the answer immediately.
"There is a disturbance in the Force."
". . . . . . Yes. Yes, there is. Be mindful Obi-Wan. I am not picking up any life forms or technology in the area on our ship's sensors and the Segoreth are not expected for several days, but there may be other unwelcome guests who wish to invite themselves to our meeting. I shall be up presently with the rest of our things."
"Understood."
Obi-Wan put the com back in his belt pouch, feeling better for the confirmation of the acuity of his senses, but concerned that Qui-Gon Jinn did not see its source any more clearly. Closing his eyes, he tilted his head back and inhaled deeply through his nose. This disturbance had a taste to it. Organic but of otherness, distinct from the scented air of grasses and moisture and the growing things of the planet.
He turned around and looked through the open door of the simple cabin that he and his Master would occupy until their meeting with the Segoreth. He saw nothing changed, but somehow. . . . he knew that something occupied space there that hadn't been a moment ago. Unclipping his lightsaber, he cautiously went up the three steps of the cabin, his boots thumping quietly on the pre-fab material of the covered porch. His weapon held ready, he entered.
He saw nothing except the pile of their equipment, his robe on top, in the middle of the cabin's single main room, daylight pouring in from large windows from the front and both sides. A light breeze blew in behind him from the open door, cooling the back of his neck. Closed doors lined the far wall, a fresher and three full length storage compartments. Taking a few more steps into the room, he extended his hand, the Force pushing outward, finding the right hidden catch.
The fresher door whooshed open.
Nothing. Just the usual fixtures, the small compartment well lit with tall frosted windows.
He extended his hand to the compartment on the right of the fresher.
Nothing. A shallow cabinet with naked light blue shelves. Not even dust.
He extended his hand to the compartment on the far left.
Nothing. An empty alcove, half as large as the fresher with bare, pale yellow overhead shelves.
He extended his hand to the middle compartment, with the largest door, just to the left of the fresher.
Nothing.
Obi-Wan stared wide-eyed at an unnatural and empty darkness, black and impossibly deep. Like a door into space itself, but devoid of stars and stellar dust. The edges of the door blurred, as if the blackness were creeping out toward him to consume the light of the world.
He whirled, his lightsaber hissing on, defending against the motion behind him.
" - - bif-FAAAIIIII!!!!!"
Something unseen slammed into his whole body, stunning every stinging nerve, paralyzing him. His lightsaber went out, flying out of his hand. He heard it thunk against a wall. As his body flew back into the enveloping blackness, he glimpsed a short black clad figure, hazy around the edges from the light of the front window behind it, its arm extended toward him.
Then the blackness claimed him.
His last thoughts grasped at one certainty.
Whatever had struck him, had not been the Force.
- - - to be continued - - -
