Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any of the characters, that's just a dream. This does contain a small spoiler of Revenge of the Sith right at the start, but after that it deviates from the film.
Anyway, this is my first fan-fic so any ideas, hints etc. are welcome, as are reviews, so here goes.
Dragon's Blood
Chapter 1
Master Obi-wan Kenobi looked on in horror, his mouth hanging open loosely as his eyes were locked to the image in front of him. If he had noticed, it would have seemed to him that time had slowed to a crawl as his mind looked over and struggled to comprehend what he had just seen. His body felt numb and heavy, as if the sudden realisation of what he had seen were a weight on his shoulders.
On the small holo-viewer in front of him, was Anakin with bodies strewn around him, small wisps of smoke from their freshly burned robes could just be seen. Most of the bodies he noticed were small in comparison to Anakin's adult frame, then it dawned on him what they were.
Younglings.
As he had watched them attempt to defend themselves against the ferocious slaughter that Anakin easily dispensed, a tear had escaped his eye to roll down his cheek. The thought of the man he had come to call his brother, who he had trained, lived and fought beside for a good portion of his life did not ease the anguish on Obi-wan's face as he gazed at the expression of raw hate on Anakin's.
Holding back a second tear, he reached for the display and quickly turned it off.
"I can't watch any more."
Yoda sighed, believing that it would bring some resolve to his mind and help to ease his companion, to show that he also did not want to watch the display anymore.
"Destroy the Sith, we must."
Obi-wan thought for a moment, weighing his options, before replying.
"Send me to face the Emperor, I cannot fight Anakin, he is like a brother to me."
"To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough, you are not."
"I cannot do it Master Yoda, I cannot face my brother."
Yoda turned away from Obi-wan, his gimer stick tapping on the smooth floor, hiding the sadness in his eyes.
"Twisted by the dark side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is…consumed by Darth Vader."
Yoda slowly shook his head, his face downcast towards the floor.
"Unfortunate, this is."
Obi-wan turned to face the speaker, his eyes narrowing slightly as his gaze rested on the old Jedi Master.
"Unfortunate? Master Yoda, that word hardly sums up this situation!"
Yoda sensed the underlying hostility in his voice and glanced up to meet Obi-wan's glare with his own.
"Unfortunate that this foreseen it could not, a great tragedy for the Jedi it is, to have our friend fall to the Dark side"
"So, what can we do? with Anakin against us, we have little hope in defeating the Chancellor, let alone the clone army."
Yoda lowered his head, closing his eyes to give him some reprieve to clear his mind so guidance from the Force could reach him. After what seemed like a small eternity, his voice was merely a whisper in the quiet halls.
"Send a warning we must, then help we will require, from an old friend"
Obi-wan looked puzzled for a moment, he could think of no one that could help them stand a chance against the combined forces of Anakin and his Sith Lord master, not since the murder of Master Windu. He carefully re-calibrated the message to warn any remaining Jedi away from the Temple.
His puzzlement did not cease when Yoda jumped onto his shoulder and pointed him towards the doors leading to the medical level of the Temple. There, Yoda collected as many containers from the cold room as he could gather into a carry bag. Handing the bag to Obi-wan, he jumped onto his back yet again.
"Beyond the lower levels, go now we must"
Obi-wan barely gave a conscious effort to control the direction his legs began taking them, he had learned a long time ago that when the Force wishes to guide you, it was best to let it. But still, it did not ease the feeling of unease that nagged in the back of his mind, as they both made their journey through the maintenance levels.
After what seemed like a few hours of walking through the maze deep beneath the Temple, they had found themselves in a small storage room. The room was poorly lit but a few crates could be seen. One of which, Yoda was inspecting until a nod of satisfaction could be seen. With the Force, Yoda lifted the crate and rotated it onto it's side, then angled another side towards a nearby wall. Slotting the crate into the corner, a small control panel revealed itself on the side facing them. Yoda hobbled over to the panel to press a sequence on the scarlet, crystalline buttons on the panel, causing the floor next to the crate to lower into a series of stairs leading down.
Beyond the stairs, Obi-wan stood in awe at the sight of the cavern they had entered. It could easily hold the uppermost levels of the Temple within it, if it were not for the centre of the floor raised to the middle of the chamber. The cavern looked entirely natural and a thick layer of dust had settled on the walkway that extended from them to the centre. Large crystals embedded in the rocky walls dimly illuminated the cavern, seemingly focusing their light on the centre.
After crossing the walkway, the centre held a large dais with ornate circular patterns carved into the rock. Here, the floor was smooth and showed signs of age. Obi-wan could no longer contain his confusion.
"Master, may I ask what this place is?"
Yoda, having made his way over to a small cylindrical pillar extending from the floor, looked back towards Obi-wan.
"Resting place this is, an old friend of mine we have come to awaken from her sleep, help us she can"
Nodding with some understanding, Obi-wan watched as Yoda turned the top of the pillar, which split into four pieces before retracting away. In their place, a large scarlet crystal, similar in size to a lightsaber, glowed faintly.
Using the Force, Yoda gently twisted the crystal until it glowed a vibrant red, before retracting into the pillar. A loud rumbling was heard as the floor in the centre of the dais began to retract away to reveal an opening. Jets of vapour plumed into the air around the centre as a monolith could be faintly seen rising from the opening.
When the vapour had cleared, Obi-wan gasped at what he saw embedded inside the shining monolith. He had seen someone in carbon-freeze before and could clearly remember the horrified look on the victim's face. But on closer inspection, the figure of the young woman had no such horrified look, with her arms neatly crossed over her chest and her eyes closed, her face relaxed as if she were merely sleeping inside the carbonite.
While Obi-wan was unconsciously examining the woman's face, Yoda had removed the containers from the bag and began pouring the contents into a nearby pillar that had risen next to the monolith. The aroma of which shook Obi-wan out of his trance.
"May I ask what you are doing Master?"
"Special considerations she does require, when awoken from the carbonite she is, very weak and thirsty she will be"
Thirsty? Obi-wan thought, as he watched Yoda return to the small pillar. A pair of smaller crystals had now sprouted from the top, which Yoda held with his small hand.
"Come away you must, or much danger you will be in"
Obi-wan joined Yoda at the small pillar, as Yoda pulled the two crystals together with his clawed fingers. The carbonite shimmered before it began to glow slightly as the surface around the woman began to evaporate, until with a thud she landed on the floor, shivering violently. Obi-wan began to walk towards her, until Yoda latched onto his leg, preventing him from going to help her. Glancing down at him, confusion swept over Obi-wan's face as Yoda shook his head, his eyes carrying a warning. Turning to look back at her, he now could make out some of her features.
Her body was clothed in skin-tight black leather, with buckles on her gloves and heeled boots to hold them in place. The top was cut low enough to not be too revealing and more buckles could be seen across her stomach. Her face couldn't be seen through the long bangs of white hair that hung in front of it. As she crouched on the floor, Obi-wan could make out a few small black ties that bound her hair in an elaborate style as it flowed down her back to her waist.
Slowly, the woman shakily climbed from the floor and lurched towards the pillar containing the liquid Yoda had poured into it. It's metallic aroma had wafted over the dais and filled Obi-wan's nostrils, his eyes widened as he recognised it. Blood? That is what we were carrying here, but why?
His eyes widened further as the young woman leaned towards it and began drinking from it. Obi-wan recoiled in disgust at the sight of her drinking, never before had he seen someone do such a thing, he staggered backwards forgetting that Yoda was still holding his leg. As he tumbled backwards, he let out a small yelp of surprise before he fell ungraciously onto the rocky floor.
Yoda, apparently taking all this in his stride, walked up to the young woman as she finished drinking and produced a small handkerchief for her. She let a small smile as she took it from him and wiped the remaining fluid from her mouth.
"How feel you, my old friend?"
"I have felt better, how long has it been?"
"Too long, it has"
Yoda smiled as they walked over to Obi-wan . Yoda noted how quickly she had recovered from the ordeal of being un-frozen, each of her movements now growing less stiffly as her strength returned. He smiled in satisfaction before quickly suppressing a small laugh as he watched Obi-wan climbing from the floor, rubbing his head where it had connected with the small control pillar.
Obi-wan found a black gloved hand being offered to him, he extended his own as the strong arm pulled him effortlessly from the floor.
Straight into a pair of deep red, feline eyes.
Obi-wan quickly carried out a quick mental reality check on the events thus far before coming to the conclusion that he was not hallucinating from his head contacting the pillar. Her pale complexion further made her eyes more prominent, her young face framed with a pair of long streaks of hair. He found himself stumbling for words as his eyes were locked on her mysteriously enchanting image.
"Are you injured?"
He quickly re-checked that his conclusion was correct when he noticed her long fangs as she smiled gently. Her voice was soft and gentle, with an undertone of confidence in each word. Slowly shaking his head, he decided that he had best introduce himself before she considers him a next meal.
"Erm, pleased to meet you, I am Master Obi-wan Kenobi and this is…"
"Jedi Master Yoda, yes I know, a pleasure to meet you. I am Guardian Talia Shirikari, I trust that there is a dire situation that you require my assistance in?"
"Attacked the Temple, the Chosen One has, one with Dark side he is now."
Talia cocked an eyebrow at this.
"So, he has finally been found, what do you propose old friend?"
"Escape we must, gather what Jedi we have left, before deciding on our next action, to take"
Talia let out a small sigh before turning to the dais. Raising her hand, a pair of small pillars emerged from the floor, a silver hilt on the top of each. Both hilts were identical and held a scarlet crystal at their base. With a flick of her fingers, the hilts leaped into her hands before being neatly attached to the sides of her thighs. Turning back towards them, she gave a small nod of readiness.
"We should take my ship, it would be most suitable for our needs"
With that, Talia bowed down to allow Yoda to climb onto her back, as the three crossed the walkway out of the cavern. As they walked through a long corridor, their boots echoing along the rocky hallway, Yoda informed Talia of Anakin and what had happened, Obi-wan recounting of what he knew of the relationship between Sidious and Anakin.
Eventually, the corridor opened into another cavern, equal in size and design to the previous one. In the centre stood a dagger shaped ship, Obi-wan noted it was similar in design to the recent Jedi starfighters, but on a much bigger scale and was much more sleek and lethal looking.
The pair of forward wings were tipped with large blade-like sections of hull which were highly polished and shined brightly in the dim light. The outer wings were crescent-shaped and were curved inward and forward, the panels of which pulsed scarlet energy dimly. Behind the ellipse-shaped cockpit, the hull flowed back into an egg-shaped section, presumably for the engine and living areas. The whole ship, except for the bladed-sections and the wings, was painted white.
As they neared the ship, Obi-wan summarised that it was apparently a small cruiser, of similar size and graceful lines to the Nubian cruiser he travelled on with Qui-Gon and Padme so long ago. But this ship was clearly designed for combat instead of peaceful transport. Passing underneath the cockpit, Talia opened a small panel and keyed in a code on the small crystalline console. A ramp slowly lowered from behind the cockpit, leading into the aft section of the ship. When the ramp had lowered to the ground, the interior of the ship brightened, as if the ship was coming back to life.
Once inside, Talia lead them to a seating and control area behind the door to the cockpit. The room was roughly circular-shaped, with a pair of crescent-shaped seats facing the control consoles, which were covered with crystalline buttons and holographic displays.
"There isn't sufficient room in the cockpit for you to accompany me, however you can contact me from here if you need to."
Yoda and Obi-wan both nodded and seated themselves down before familiarising themselves with the controls. Talia stepped into the cockpit and closed the door behind her.
"Aria, are you ready for us to lift off?"
"Yes milady, the main drive matrix is activated and stable, all systems are in standby mode and ready for operation, it is good to see you again."
The soft, feminine voice of her ship's computer brought her a small smile of satisfaction. She stepped forward and grasped the control yokes suspended from the ceiling and floor, at once, the yokes extended her to lay suspended in the centre of the cockpit. All around her, she could see the exterior of the ship, the outlines of the cavern being displayed as a wireframe projected onto the large transparent bubble around her.
"It is good to see you too, are our passengers ready?"
"Yes, i have adjusted their control language to basic and they seem to be familiar with me now."
"Good, could you open a comm line with them for me, Yoda? Obi-wan? where are we headed?"
"Meet with Senator Organa, we must, hearings from the Senate meeting we require, a plan of action we can then form."
With a nod of her head, Talia raised the controls, lifting the ship from the ground, the wing panels glowing with energy. She manoevered the ship to a small cave in the rocky cavern that was hidden in shadows, but was illuminated on her display. Gracefully guiding the ship through it, the cave opened into a deep gorge. Rolling the ship sideways, she floated the ship between the narrow walls and into another cave that lead out into the evening Coruscanti sky. Talia increased the engine power with a push on her leg controls and soon they were in the darkness of space.
