Death of a Jedi
by Spyre [egotantrum@yahoo.com]rated as :
pg-13 [action violence]how it goes :
a crash landing on a wilderness planet puts kenobi in a precarious position with his prisoner.genre :
action/adventure/angst/humornotes :
star wars stuff, not mine. as ever, no beta. pre-tpm AU.created :
02.02.02edited :
09.20.03"When I saw the Temple first, I was young. I didn't really understand what was happening, why I was there. You tell me you want the truth and you want it as plain and unbiased as possible. Impossible. I'll try, but I've been programmed to see the world a certain way. I killed the Jedi for one reason: my freedom. He was going to imprison me. Unfortunately, I was too human to remove myself completely from it, but I did it. I murdered him."
This is where the sentient paused, taking a draw from the glass of water we had set out for her. It was just Yoda, Thurin, Qui-Gon Jinn and I listening to her description of the events that had so recently taken place. Being of a peace based situation, the story of Hoija would be heard and she would be judged accordingly through evidence, circumstance and law. This session, however, wasn't exactly what it seemed -- at least not to the speaker. That is what gave us the benefit of a more objective hearing.
She continued in a strong voice:
"Truly, he fought with a passion I had never seen in the calm Jedi. I'd faced Jedi before briefly, but none like this. He had a bite to his grace, all motion and less patience," she shook her head once, blinking at the imagery her words called up in her mind. It had been another state entirely where he existed.
She gave a long pause, her odd eyes going distant as she spoke just so, "It was true that he was not the best with the lightsabre, though he was skilled. He was merely a padawan, though; so in this area at least, I got what I expected. I was an apprentice as well, so we were a gorgeous match."
A smile ghosted on her ice pink lips, "We dueled and it seemed like forever, each of us wearing the other down in the same increments as we ourselves were. Each time, we would both decide at the synchronized point that we would have to end it... changing tactics, but to no avail. We were going no where fast... He was blunt enough to voice this."
.......................................
Locked sabres, one scarlet, the other green, faces inches apart over the crackling of their weapons, "You know..." he started in that accent of his, "We're getting no where."
And with that, he Force shoved her, using his sabre as extra leverage. She hit the column of rock nicely, numb lightening dodging around her nervous system. She growled and lifted a gloved hand, sending the thick desk behind him flying at his posed form. He barely got out of the path of the barreling piece of furniture, getting hit solidly on his right side, enough to send him crashing forward, sabre skittering away.
She had her own blade at his head before the desk even hit the marble floor to splinter in its destruction.
"Want to try that again, Jedi?" her breath was coming fast. She'd had a workout with this one.
He was still and quiet for a moment, palms pressed to the cool stone beneath him. His eyes remained hidden for what seemed an eternity before he lifted them to her, fathomless shards of gray and green sparkling at her; and without warning, the laser from her saber blinked out and she was holding nothing but the hilt, leaving her merely staring down at him.
He wasted no time, Force calling his own weapon and activating it just to her throat, on his feet in a second's time.
She felt the voltage singeing her skin, at least that's what it seemed like. She could hear it hum -- a promise of death. This was a Jedi, though; he would not kill her unless made to.
"You're coming back with me to Coruscant and you're giving answers."
Her tone was flat as she handed him the rod of metal workings that'd failed her in battle, "At least we got the foreplay over with."
He was itching to ask and so he did, his own breath just coming down, "Why did you surrender? You could have killed me. Tell me, why?"
"I didn't surrender. My weapon shorted," she returned in a monotone voice, eyes ever locked on his.
He was laughing, but it was not one of joy. He'd been nearly as strung up over the encounter as she. Then, "Any motives you might have by doing this, know now that they won't be carried out, mercenary."
"Name's Hoija. And you are?"
"...not at a dinner party. Let's go."
She glared.
His voice snapped ice: "Move."
.......................................
"I'd never been in a crash before that. It was exhilarating. For what it was, though, it was more violent than I thought it should have been. I actually wondered if we'd make it. More than half of me thought it in my best interest if he'd die. I'm supposed to be an apprentice to a Sith."
"Who was your master?" I asked pointedly, watching her every movement and critically receiving the patterns she sent out from her mind.
"My master was Riad. He nabbed me after my visit to the Temple when I was young, after you rejected me. He saw something in me. I'll never know what. He was not kind nor was he understanding. He was a teacher and a slave driver. I hated him, but was loyal, as is the way of the Dark Side."
"Why did your ship fail? Were you attacked?" I asked simply, knowing before she answered what had happened.
"Auto-pilot is dangerous, and although your padawan was watching the controls, I had his attention pulled somewhere else. There's room to be eccentric in the Dark Side, though, and I taken full advantage much to Master Riad's chagrin."
"You distracted him on purpose?"
There came a strange smile on her face, "He started it."
.......................................
"Are you going to have your friends go through my mind?"
"If that's what it comes to," he answered absently, those penetrating peepers sweeping over the controls of the tiny vessel.
"You know, I was to be Jedi once. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."
"What're you babbling about?" he queried sharply, disgusted by her idea of conversation.
"A Jedi, yes. Me..."
He stared at her now, a flicker of a copper toned brow, "What happened?"
"Well, I went in there when I was a child, and all these deadbeats put me through a series of short, little tests and simply said I was 'imbalanced' and my future held nothing but hatred and fear."
He turned then, looking out at the stars, "I dare say that makes sense."
"I was picked up by a Sith Lord only a week thereafter," she appended almost as if to defend herself in some way.
"A Sith Lord..." the padawan shot her an incredulous glare.
She simply gave a slow nod, chin tilting up a fraction, "Yes, a Sith Lord. No telling how he found me or why he recruited me, because I was -- most definitely -- not amongst the strongest in the Force." She still managed to sound impressed with herself.
"But you were trained... And you are still an apprentice?"
"Yes, I am. If I was not, then how could you have beaten me?"
His mouth set in an unreadable line, "I did not beat you. You surrendered."
"My weapon malfunctioned."
"You have other resources at your disposal," he interjected abruptly, not liking her denial.
"I did not surrender, Jedi, and that's the truth of it."
"And you're one to tell me the truth?" disbelief lacing his timbre.
She grinned broadly, "Watch the screen, Wise One. We're about to be captured."
He pivoted in the chair, but it was too late even for his Jedi reflexes.
.......................................
"Pirates, origin unknown, had spotted us and saw us as easy prey. They took us, but not the way they wanted. Your padawan made sure of that. He rolled the craft as best he could, spotting Fianta in all its regalia."
"Fianta's uninhabited. It's a desert," I pointed out, trying to keep the facts straight.
"It seemed a haven at the time. Being sucked out and torn apart by space vacuum was still no where near an inviting demise compared to a chance."
"Try to call for aide, he did," Yoda put in after being silent for the previous duration.
"He did, but there was no answer..." She looked either notably grim or vaguely bored.
.......................................
"They're blocking communication signals!" he bellowed, furiously trying to keep the ship righted and away from any paralyzing electromagnetic blasts.
"Of course, they are," she drawled gratingly. Her thoughts jumped from being kept prisoner to having the chance of freedom. Being captured by pirates, though, meant sure doom, "Try the left rutter blasters and fake a dive."
It was a sound idea. He followed through mechanically, hoping under his breath.
This gave them a reprieve from the volley of fire and the rubbing of the massive, junkyard of a ship against their hull. Their tractor beam's range was relatively weak, but if they got within some distance of it, there'd be no way to escape.
She damned the Force restraint collar at her throat.
"The ship's out of control," he announced in a rather ridiculous, official tone.
The gravity of the planet had finally claimed them just as the wave of magnetics sent their electronics into overdrive, sparks bouncing off cramped interior walls.
He shot her an unsure glance. He'd have to relieve her of her restraints if she was to survive. Force knew they needed the information she stored in her head. Furthermore, she was to answer to crimes she committed. Justice demanded to be met.
Seeing the brief expression on his face along with hearing the impending roar of metal groaning over the ship's skeleton, she stood as best she could and braced herself against a compartment that was shaking violently in tandem with the rest of the vessel: "I want to live as much as you do, Jedi. Release me."
"You'll run, Hoija. Lives depend on what you know," he answered, clasping his sabre to his belt along with her own. The surface of the planet was rushing up to meet them. He already had the escape hatch opening. Air pushed in savagely, bringing her to her knees without use of her hands.
She shouted over the deafening sound, "Release me! We've no time for this!"
Her fear had taken a foothold and he saw it there, their gazes locked in a moment of eternity.
The craft jolted as chunks began to fall apart and away in the atmosphere. The Jedi was thrown to his knees as well.
A brutal bank to the right jerked them face to face...
She hissed viciously: "Release me… or your precious information will be lost forever."
.......................................
"Seeing their possible cargo burn up in Fianta's pull must have put the pirates off. We didn't have to meet them again. Our crash was on land, unfortunately. He'd surrounded us in some Force web and we'd jumped as the ship careened and jetted for the end of the plateau that'd doubled as our landing pad."
"Was he injured?" Qui-Gon asked in his steady voice.
She gave him a calculating stare, "No. No, he was fresh as a daisy compared to me. See, he didn't have time to release me from my bindings before we'd set down. I suffered the worst of it. The damned Force suppression collar was still on, so there was no way to heal myself and run."
"What did he do first among all things?"
"He went for his comlink, of course, but it was busted. He then sought after his master through the Force, but it seemed his strength in that area was not great enough to cover the expanse of space between them. I must admit, I was just a little upset."
.......................................
"Get me out of this blasted thing right now! I'm choking! Or can you even do that, you pitiful excuse for a Jedi Padawan?!" she ground out, her leg bleeding profusely from a gash, her arms aching, entire body shivering with the trauma.
Her shoulder took the worst of the impact, dislocated and bruised beyond tender, shredded. Scratches ran up her face, bits of rock and dirt stuck amidst the blood. The Force collar was strong in build, but it'd dented and was pressing dangerously into her neck, making her light headed. Pain had been among the top two things one of her station had to learn to deal with. Control was the other. Right now, control was tentative.
The Jedi did look concerned. He'd took to trying to contact anyone first and now he had to tend to his irate, wounded captive. Upon initial inspection, he knew she had cause to be ornery.
"You couldn't expect me to free you so quickly, Hoija," he said uniformly as he leaned her back up against a rock outcropping in half-shade.
"Ha! Don't think using my name puts you any better in my graces. You know, I would be dead if it weren't for my training. I'm close to dying right now without my Force. This collar will kill me soon enough! I thought the point was to keep me alive!"
"Calm down," he nearly growled.
"And be docile, ready for my... fucking son of a Jedi!" she hissed as he went to touching her wound, removing the destroyed cloth that'd once covered her arm and shoulder. The bruising and odd angle gave it away.
"It's dislocated," he muttered and, without warning, drove it back into place.
Her jaw dropped and her eyes rolled back as lids drooped, the pain diminishing immediately; she panted in relief, "Gods."
He eyed her through his lashes as he tended to her leg, "Are you committed to your master?"
She looked down at him almost lazily, but the sharpness in her deep amber eyes returned, "Why?"
"Your presence in the Force is not as Dark as it... well..." he studied her knee, pulling back the material that had protected it, "...it's not as Dark as it should be."
She grinned wickedly, resting her head back onto the jagged rock, gathering her strength back together in a set pace, "I'm not the embodiment of Evil."
"I know that," he assured impatiently.
"Mmm..." was all she answered, accepting the searing agony that shot through her at his ministrations.
"It's not broken. It's just a flesh wound. I've managed to stop the bleeding. Anything else?"
She watched him almost passively, "The collar."
He considered her for a long moment.
"The collar, Jedi! It's suffocating me!"
"You'll try to escape," he replied blandly.
The solution came to her within an instant, "I'll give you two days. I will not run. I will not harm you."
"After that?" he prompted.
"After that, I will try to escape, but you'll be prepared."
He scoffed, "Why give me that chance? Do you know you're practically surrendering? Defecting, even?"
"I'm loony that way. Your precious Jedi Masters should have already told you as much, or you at least should have surmised as much by now."
"So, you did surrender at the Senate House?"
She gave a lopsided smile, "No. My weapon shorted. There's a difference."
He grumbled at her and considered the options. Why did he even trust her enough to regard her offer as a possibility?
Her words broke his thoughts, "Trust me."
.......................................
"There was nothing else he could do. We were stranded in the middle of a wilderness with no resources but our Force abilities and he had the sabres."
"Did you try to run?"
"Of course I did! Are you kidding? When he took off the collar, it came apart in his hands. The thing was holding on by a few circuits."
"Why didn't you get away?"
"Well," she shifted noticeably in her seat, eyes averting, "He was chasing me. Now, I'm fast. My legs are longer than his, and we both had the Force going for us. I shot out over this canyon thing and he came flying after, but he came up short."
"He fell?"
"No, he managed to grab the opposite side, barely. The ground was giving way, however, to his weight. I had turned at his cry and was there just in time, taking his hands in mine. It was a straight shot down, there was no Jedi trick that could have saved him."
"You saved him? Why?"
She sent me a glare, "Might as well ask a person why they breathe. I just did it. It was in my nature."
"Apprentice to the Sith, you are. Pledged to the Dark Side, you have been. What say you?"
"I took the opportunity to be an apprentice to Riad because the Jedi would not have me. I had no where to go."
"Parents, family you had."
"They weren't worth anything. Besides, Riad had taken me without anyone's consent. Within a month, he owned my admiration."
"Where is Riad now?"
"Mmm... finding a way to kill me as soon as possible."
.......................................
He stared at her from over the fire, watching her unreadable face in the orange glow. They had been making their way down to the ship to see what they could salvage. Why had she saved him? It bugged him and he let it bug him.
"You look like you're about to explode, Jedi."
"Why did you save me?" he blurted. He'd been silent for hours now. He had to know.
"It was an accident," she answered, eyes locked with his.
He waited for her true answer, but none other came, "Why the Dark Side? You seem a good enough person."
"When the Jedi reject you and a Sith Lord abducts you, ya really have no choice."
"Does he know how far into the Light you are?"
"I'm not 'into the Light'. If I were, I'd be slaughtered by now. I use the Dark Side, nothing else."
"Why don't you leave your master?"
"And go where?" she clipped him with her gaze.
"Anywhere but killing innocent people."
"I have no trouble killing innocent people. I have no trouble committing evil things, bad things, injustices as you might call them."
"Then why did you save me?!"
Did he just raise his voice? He calmed himself, disturbed at his conflicting emotions.
She smirked at his waver in control, "The Force called me to save you, as it called me to surrender."
"Then you did surrender in the Senate House."
"My weapon shorted..."
He gawked at her, but she continued.
"...because I made it do so. I did surrender."
"Why would you listen to the Force when it tells you such things?"
"I trust no one and no thing except the Force and myself."
"Not even your master?"
"Especially not him."
Then came his voice, softer, but no less ringing, "Thank you, Hoija, for saving me."
"Thank the Force, Jedi, not me."
A corner of his mouth flickered upward for a split second, "I am called Obi-Wan Kenobi."
She observed him for a long moment and then decided to smile, "Hello, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I'm Hoija Ginemi. Interesting to meet you."
.......................................
"We were civil enough to each other from then on. It was a matter of three days before we found the ship. It had been harder to find than we'd thought. We'd argued and spat at each other over trivial things along the way. We weren't bosom buddies. It seemed we simply tolerated each other."
"Your two days were up, Hoija. Did he attempt to restrain you?"
"Of course he did! But after he saw I wasn't going anywhere, he knew it was pointless. Besides, he hadn't the means to do so unless he paralyzed me via the Force, but that would take much of his focus."
"It was in your best interest to stay with him."
"Exactly. Plus, I'd begun to take a shine to the Jedi spawn. He was difficult and stubborn. He was naturally swayed toward having a quick temper, but his training prevented him from following such a course. I thrived on watching him squirm. Of course, he trusted me as far as he could throw Coruscant. That was his undoing."
.......................................
He hadn't slept in days. She hadn't seen him even meditate. He didn't trust her. She'd had many an opportunity to escape by now, but hadn't taken any since the first. Also, there was no food or water. The plants that were there were inedible. The animals were few and as appetizing as the rocks. Of course, both could go on for weeks without food, but it didn't help their situation. They needed water.
She awoke abruptly. She couldn't remember why, but what she saw made her go absolutely still.
He was leaning against a large boulder, the fire low before him and his eyes were closed. His breathing was almost nonexistent. His face was peaceful. She felt every muscle in her body tense at the sight. He was beautiful in his dirty clothing, skin and hair.
She instinctually reached for the Force and pulled it as close to her as possible. Using every talent she had, she crept up to stand. She then turned quietly and began to stalk silently away from the breathtaking scene. She expected him to call her back at any moment, but it didn't happen.
She had her mental shields up and her footsteps became the mere sound of wind on dust.
As soon as she was out of the sight of fire, she headed toward the stand of needle leafed trees, boots meeting a bed of soft straw below the zebratic canopy. She took in a deep breath and listened intently. She calmed her pulse that had managed to leap from steady to erratic and quick. She walked for what seemed like an eternity in slow, composed strides.
The night was black as ever, but the stars became sprinkles of light for her. Breezes were brought up from the valley they'd circumvented the past two days. She swore she could hear music just then and her hopes spiked. She followed the sound for over an hour, though the rate at which it became louder was achingly sluggish.
She came to the edge of a ravine and her gaze darted down to the source of the tinkling tune. It was not music. It was a stream, a stream that ran over rocks and broken logs and it was heaven. She almost fell to her knees at the sight. The nastiness of days of being away from what she knew, from being submersed in the company of that Jedi spawn that she'd been taught to hate, from being tossed around like a child's play thing slapped her in the face.
She leapt from the edge and down onto the rocky steam bed, rushing into the icy water with an animalistic gasp. She fell back into the water and could have breathed the purity in if she wasn't inclined to live. Up she came and she could feel the grossness slough from her. Her clothes were soaked. She'd let impulse lead her to this.
"Gods..." she breathed and sank into the pristine waters, gloved hands running over her matted face, removing bits of dried blood and glaciers of earth.
Her boots became instantly heavy and she pried herself on the shore just long enough to peel them off and toss them onto the pebbled beach.
She followed the path of the water with her eyes and saw it ended at a sloping waterfall that obviously fed into the valley. She knew happiness and it filled her as she lay on her back in the placid current, half floating and watching the stars spin overhead. Lazily, she excavated her gloves from her pale white hands and flung the pair beside her boots two yards away.
He eyed her uneasily from beside the large tree trunk. The weariness of not sleeping, of never resting or meditating, shown on his grim face. Presence of water, however, lifted his spirits. He was actually a bit unnerved that he hadn't realized his spirits needed lifting until now. She didn't seem to be running, just reveling.
She was too relaxed to raise her hackles at his presence. She sensed him there, letting her shields fall from about her mind, letting the tranquility sound off into the wilderness.
He carefully made his way down the ravine wall, using a large root protruding from the pinkish mud. The peace she emanated allayed his fear of her trying to flee.
Gods, he was thirsty.
He knelt beside the flow and washed his hands, seeing them clean before scooping up drink to his mouth. Coarse hairs had already begun to grow around his jawline and chin, shadowing his features into something more than the boyish look his culture commanded of him.
There was a passage of time. They had both changed in a tiny increment, and they'd changed together.
"I would have you as my friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi," she spoke with a sigh lacing her tone, not bothering to look at him, not needing to, "But you're sworn to hate my kind."
He considered her, arm propped up on a bent knee, water dripping from a dangling fingertip, "I'm sworn to protect the innocent and to defend what is right, never to hate, Hoija."
They were both silent after this. Her eyes were closed and her lips were parted in relaxation.
He began to carefully remove his boots, sand tumbling from inside.
.......................................
"And it seemed that was enough for us. We were set to fight on opposite sides. That was Fate's humor."
I watched her as her eyes came back from their distanced gloss and returned to the present, face tilting upward a fraction as if to deny her emotional attachment to the story she was relaying, "When did you encounter the natives?"
I could almost feel her relief at the change in subject. Ever since she'd let her shields down, reading her emotions was unavoidable. She looked the neutral Sith apprentice once again. We had to keep in mind what she was. We all did.
"I almost forgot about them amongst all the hustle of this... misadventure. They were a minor problem we ran into many hours later. They'd hunted us down after finding our craft or seeing us crash. We couldn't know for sure. They didn't know Basic and their minds were so primitive that we couldn't make out more than impulses and feelings. 'Execute' was the only thing they knew at the moment."
"You got away easily, then?"
"Yes. It was a relative walk in the skyport," she replied with what could have been a sage nod, but was most likely an amused one, "What really was the kicker was Obi-Wan Kenobi relinquishing my weapon to me."
.......................................
"Obi-Wan! We cannot keep on the defensive like this. We must fight our way out."
"There are too many," he claimed stubbornly over the hail of stone tipped, crossbow ammunition.
"Give me my sabre, Kenobi. We can do it -- together."
He eyed her dubiously and opened his mouth to respond just when an arrow landed between his feet. He simply handed her the sabre, his own already humming over the squeals of the dark violet aborigines, "Together, then. But, Hoija..."
"You still don't trust me. I know," she offered an affected smile as she went to power her laser sword up.
.......................................
"There were hundreds of these brats swarming us. I admit I was blood thirsty. One had gotten him in the side as we had fled to the canyon. Two grazed my head. They needed to feel the burn of our sabres, it seemed," she grinned and it was a genuinely unsettling thing to witness, "Of course, nothing ever goes as planned. My weapon didn't work; it didn't come on and we were trapped, or so we thought."
.......................................
"What do you mean by 'it's not working'?!" that incensed expression on his face would have been comical any other time.
"It's not working! What more can I say?! It's DEAD... like we're gonna be if we don't move soon. They're closing in; their fear of your glow stick is receding; their confidence gaining," she rattled off the list, the painful reality of their situation.
They were both trained for this, though.
"Then we do this my way..." he glared at her, speaking in an accent exaggerated by his tinged state.
"And just what is your way?!"
"Stay behind me..."
"Oh, hells no! I'm not hiding behind you like some Jedi scum."
He gave her a withering stare and then there was no room to debate it as the padawan stood from their hiding spot without another word.
.......................................
"We fought through the horde..." She cleared her throat then and corrected herself, "I did as much as my position allowed, you know. I pulled my weight. He did do most of the work, but I saved his -- our -- hide a few times with a well-placed rock, a kick, or a nice li'l Force shove. We didn't stand a chance though. Their arrows turned to ash on the sabre, but there were too many.
"We were being overwhelmed and surrounded. There was no place to skyrocket ourselves up to, no cliff or ledge. We were caged by towering walls of stone. Then we literally stepped into our salvation... at least that's what it seemed at the time."
.......................................
"They're no longer advancing!" she called over her shoulder as they pressed back to back, both sweating heavily under the exertion and the fierce, orange sun.
"I see that," he commented with a grunt, blocking the barrage none too easily, though fluidly.
The arrows came stronger than ever and Hoija took the brunt as one buried itself in her flank. She sought her training, knowing Kenobi needed the focus he was drawing on himself. She broke the shaft and worked the arrowhead out as best she could.
Then the ground started to shake, "Oh, gods."
"What's that?!"
"Well, I don't know," she hollered gratingly over the gathering roar, chafed he'd even waste breath asking her the damned question -- a pause, a ragged breath, "But it looks like they do!"
Obi-Wan watched as the purplish, leathery beasts were retreating, the volleys of fire ceasing almost simultaneously. The earth beneath them became abruptly soft and within an instant, they were plummeting down into a cavern of icy darkness and void.
.......................................
"We fell for what seemed like forever. I was hyperventilating there for a minute, couldn't breathe, but it took us so long to land that I actually had time to calm myself and seek the Force. Light became weaker and the pieces of rock and dirt were actually above us, weighing less in their decent. Lucky us."
"You used the Force to land, then?"
She simply smirked at first, reaching for her glass, "We got what we should have gotten when we crashed. We got a body of water."
And taking a long draught of the clear liquid, she set the empty container down, "It was an underground river, very deep and very fast."
"Was he lost in the fall?"
"No, not at this point, not that easily. I was doomed to spend time with the waif, to go through Hell One itself. We were washed into this grating type thing, where the rocks formed tall teeth that clamped to the ceiling. We were caught there. The water was brutal, but the least of our worries."
…....................................
"Hoija?! Hoija!" his shouted voice was dulled severely by the booming water that thundered somewhere below.
Her legs were being dragged with the current as she clung to the rock with all her might, "What?!"
He dropped dangerously, his grip loosened by the power of the onslaught and trying to hold onto his lightsabre, lower into the water where he couldn't breathe. He clambered up on the pillar of stone. He sucked in breath and called out: "Hoija! I'm comi…"
And then a sickening sound of something tremendous cracking drowned the rest out as the brittle stalagmite broke at the added weight.
Hoija's hand clamped down on his wrist just in time and she panted a triumphant: "Gotcha."
Abruptly, a massive block of earth from their fall came lumbering toward the toothy spout. The collision shook the rock enough to let the slimy surface overcome her feeble, one armed grip to her salvation. They both tumbled down in the viscous cascade of debris and ice cold water, Hoija's grip on the Jedi ripped away.
…....................................
"By the time we'd gotten to the bottom, there was no light left and there was only the sound of the water. We'd been washed so far from the waterfall that it was just an echo and the flow wasn't even close to as strong."
"How did you find each other?"
She looked as calm as a placid lake, but the uneasy feeling suddenly racing in her announced itself to any Force sensitive creature within the confines of the room. She knew she couldn't lie to us. She knew she'd have to tell us the truth, "At first, we both popped up out of the water, there was no shore to latch onto, no protruding surface, and we both called for the other. It was so confusing, the voices bouncing off everything.
"We used the Force, searching for a strong life source around us, because we hadn't imprinted each other. Each of us had kept our shields up. We didn't recognize the other… In short, we formed a link."
Even Thurin appeared taken aback. In Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi's report, there was no mention of a link.
She took a nearly imperceptible swallow and a breath, "We formed a link. We were both hurt pretty badly by the fall. Fortunately, I could use the Force this time, but it was slow work. Using the link…"
"Wait. What sort of link?"
"Nothing substantial, a link used among soldiers… for location purposes only, mind you."
…....................................
As they were carried along in the languid current, they found each other mid pitch black, "How the hell do you propose we get outta this, Great Jedi?"
Her voice was drenched in sarcasm.
"I didn't see you coming up with any ideas back there."
"Yeah? Well, I saved your scrawny ass -- again… sort of."
"That's your fault."
Hoija became infuriated. What a total jerk! She'd saved his life -- in a way. Wait a minute… was he joking? The Jedi scum was joking! There was an actual smile in his voice. She smirked proudly, "A mistake I won't make again."
"I guess we ride it out," he answered after a moment.
"I'm not letting this thing suck me under some mile long tunnel with no air!"
"That is a possibility."
"Anything's a blasted possibility, Kenobi. We gotta get outta this thing or else…"
"How do we do that?"
"Well…" she began, mulling it over. She gave a long pause.
"I'm assuming you suggest we snag the next rock formation?"
"Take out your glow stick, padawan. Let's see what we have to work with."
The echoing should have given it away. The cavern was enormous, the ribbon of flow they were riding being a mere vein in comparison.
"There's got to be a shore somewhere."
"We could go back."
She considered it, shook her head as the shadowy images passed them in green reflection, "We've been carried gods know how far."
"Then we follow the flow."
She tossed him a level stare, "Unless something else presents itself."
He formed a frustrated face out of a grim mouth and tucked brows. He didn't like the choices, but at least they had some. He had to get Hoija back to the Council.
…....................................
"So, we rode that out and did eventually end up finding a shore. We took that and followed the river for what seemed like miles. The ledge got narrow, but nothing dangerous happened along the way. We did find an exit, though, and that was just a hole in the side of a cliff. It was too far down to tell how the landing would be if we jumped. We could end up killing ourselves; so, we took to climbing the face of the cliff. It was early morning by then, so we had enough light. It was hard, tedious work, but we managed it. Once on the topside, how ironic it was that we'd find the ship and once again meet up with our aborigine friends."
"How many were there?"
"It seemed they'd left some sort of entourage there. There were about a dozen guarding the wreckage. We made short work of them and Obi-Wan went to finding anything we could use for communication. I had second thoughts, though, as I saw him sifting through the debris."
…....................................
"Looks like we can salvage the com properties of the standby communiqué," Obi-Wan commented absently from within the split hull.
Hoija watched from some odd feet away, the bodies of the locals lying as limp rubber on sand.
"There's nothing more to fend. Wait, here're some rations,"-- said as he tossed a green bag down behind him, landing near her booted feet.
She stood with her arms crossed, odd eyes darting down to the satchel.
"Good," was all she remarked as he continued his search.
They were both pretty damp from their prolonged swim, but they were steaming in the silver sunlight by now.
"You know, I think we might be rescued by tonight," he exclaimed, so obviously relieved he'd found a solution to their problem.
His lightsabre was hanging on his brown belt at his right hip. It was swinging so enticingly. It was the only weapon really usable against a sophisticated enemy. She eyed it intently under brooding brows.
"If only I could find the…" words lost as he bent further into the gutted, metal shell.
She went for it, faster than a blink, her gloved hand darting for the weapon in an instant, grasp brushing the steel-like casing just before he spun on a heel and grabbed her forearm, blocking a sweep of her lithe leg by jumping, landing and elbowing her hard in the breastplate. She stumbled back only slightly, her free hand finding the sabre and wrapping fingers securely around it. His remaining hand came to clamp down on hers as she tried to free the thing, despite his attempts at disabling her through the Force.
And down they both went, her grip never loosening on her prize and his on her arm tightening painfully. They fell side by side, her knee stabbing upward for his groin, dirty fighting, but he blocked it and rolled to pin her to the ground, deflecting her Force shoves within an inch of losing domination.
She glared up at him, her face sheened over in sweat, "The Force brought me this far, Kenobi. I followed its stupid will. It's my time to leave you. Let me go."
He looked human for once: smirk, amused voice and everything, "You could have at least talked with me about this first."
She smiled wanly, "That's not the way to get you to listen, Jedi spawn, and you know it. You're as hot headed as I am. The Jedi have beaten the spirit in you. They've tried to tame you, but, Kenobi…" she panted, her tone straining as she gave a powerful thrust with the side of her hip and the rest of her body followed with help from the Force, nearly tipping him, but he had her pinned securely. She huffed and continued, "…You're better than this. Let me go. Be Obi-Wan for once and not just an apprentice to the Jedi."
He gave a breathy laugh, taut though it was, "You don't understand the Jedi, Hoija. I pledged my life to serving the good in everyone. You're forfeiting innocent lives by refusing to come to Coruscant, by being an apprentice to a Sith Lord."
"I don't want to be locked up like an animal, Kenobi. I couldn't survive in a cage like that. I could not live. You know it as well as I do that I'll die." -- the fear was claiming her, choking her, her throat turning to dust -- "You want me behind a laser field. You want to see me suffer. You're a gods damned Jedi, for blasts' sake! I don't want to live like that."
He stared at her for what seemed like an eternity, the confession echoing off the canyon maze around them, their eyes locked. He breathed her in: sweat, dirt, blood, terror.
His words came then in a patient cadence, "Renounce your old life, Hoija, and you won't have to live like that. You could be free. You could help the Jedi save people. You could fight with us."
She leered at him, incredulous, dubious and disbelieving, still latched onto the sabre.
He placed his forehead to hers without warning, electric eyes closing after a moment, "You could fight with us. You could help us."
Her breath came like liquid silk threads in her lungs at the contact, strangling her and making her lightheaded as she let heavy lids drop to blacken her vision, "Damn you, Kenobi."
…....................................
She gave a tight lipped smile, "He never gave up. It was an admirable trait, though annoying beyond telling. He was also a lucky bastard that he was so damned strong. His master had trained him well. He was uniform and thorough, but there was something always lurking just under his skin. It was brilliant and I finally admitted to myself that I saw it. The situation I now found myself in was precarious at best."
The room was silent as she spoke, filled with her voice. Even though we could feel her passions wash over us, see things before she told them, and already knew what the outcome would be, the story enthralled us all. Her eyes were steady, sometimes shifting. Her body was rigid, sometimes restless. She continued, and I noticed I was tenser than I should have been.
"Kenobi proved to be happy in his life. I wanted that. Of course, everyone does unless they're tremendous masochists. A huge part of me, though, was screaming that his personality, his soul had been trampled by the infamous 'Jedi calm', but then I started thinking that it wasn't much unlike the Dark Side's absence of any other emotions than hatred, anger, jealousy, ambition -- limiting as much as the Jedi did. The truth was, though, that I wouldn't even be considering these facets, these things unless I had Obi-Wan Kenobi at my side or pressing against me, demanding me to listen."
"Padawan Kenobi, it was, that you respected more than the Jedi. Responded to him more than others you did --mmm-- but content before?" Yoda shook his head tiredly, "…you were not. You were rejected when you were young. Your knowledge and guidance we need at this moment more than anything. Information on Riad, on the Tricumverant, we seek now from you. Join us in our struggle, you still can."
Hoija glowered at the small, robed, green figure that was more wrinkles than planes, "Using me, you are. Kenobi's lost and all you do is ask for my help?"
"Tell us, apprentice, when you killed Kenobi… Tell us the story, you will."
"Now wait just a…" she started, straightening in her seat.
Yoda thumped the end of his gimmer stick on the arm rest of his sleek chair, "Tell us, you will! Argue, you will not."
She shot him a glare and I couldn't help but feel apprehensive at what was to be said during the next few minutes.
She droned on, chin tilted downward in drudgery, "Needless to say, I didn't get a hold of the sabre and the Jedi urchin had found a deactivated Force inhibitor in the safety box that had rolled yards away along with both wings and what had been our navigating console."
…....................................
"You're not putting that on me, Jedi," she announced viscously.
"I'm not?" a brow raised as he held the small hoop in a hand.
"No," she replied with a curt shake of the head.
"How can I trust you to stay put after that last fiasco?"
"You can't. I'm just telling you that you're not putting that contraption on me. It's as simple as that."
"Please don't make me resort to violence, Hoija," somehow, that sentence coming so nonchalantly from him made her spine tingle and her hackles raise.
She glared at him, "You're not gonna put that thing on me. I won't let you," -- and with that, she suddenly Force shoved him and bolted.
He cursed in multiple languages as he jumped from his landing spot and darted after her.
…....................................
"Here we were, back where we'd started, with me running and he after. We both used our abilities at the maximum, but it simply evened us out in the end except that I had longer legs. I even ran into the aborigines that were coming back from their attack on us the day before. I soared around them as best I could and went down a sloping canyon wall. Kenobi was slowed by the arrows following him.
"Within moments, I'd be faced with the same decision I had been put to only days earlier, because I'd stopped abruptly at a cliff edge and Kenobi caught himself with one hand after he'd gone over. He was still clinging to that damned inhibitor. I strolled right up to the edge and watched him for only a moment before crushing his fingers beneath my boot and giving a Force shove as I lifted it away. Within a second's time, he fell, looking at me with blameless eyes..."
The crack of Yoda's gimmer stick on the seat barely made her jump, "Lying, you are!"
She stared fiercely at him, "You asked for the truth."
"Truth you have given - until now. Lying, you are. Argument on this, there is none."
She became instantly incensed, "Now listen well, you troll, you may be a Jedi Master, but I know what happened. I saw. I was there."
I watched her as the others did, as her nostrils flared and her back was fixed straight, shoulders tense.
The door hissing open at the other end of the room didn't distract her glowering at Master Yoda, even when he turned to regard the visitor.
"Padawan… feeling better, are you?"
"Much better, Master Yoda. Thank you," came a cultured voice that made her head jerk to see who it was.
There, standing freshly shaven with new robes, was Obi-Wan Kenobi, a nearly imperceptible smile at his lips.
I studied her reaction as did Qui-Gon Jinn. She simply sat there for a long moment, steeled and disbelieving.
"What is this?" she breathed.
"Hoija, Obi-Wan Kenobi was not killed in the fall," Qui-Gon Jinn explained softly.
She stared unblinkingly and the impulse was so purely and forthwith carried out that we had a split second's wasted. She stood in a twinkling of an eye and took a step toward him. By now, she was locked firmly in place by Yoda's Force powers. So, she simply stood there, jaw working, eyes turning almost watery.
"You can tell them the truth, Hoija," Obi-Wan assured quietly, approaching.
"I tried…" she whispered, taking him in, swallowing the fact that he lived, that he stood there before her even then, "But you slipped…"
"I know," he uttered warmly, "You can't get rid of me that easily."
She seemed to half right herself, to regain her sense of composure, "Maybe next time."
His brows flickered upward minutely before settling back down into place, "Watch with the threats. They might not let us work together on this."
She eyed him, beyond uneasy, "And wouldn't that be a tragedy?"
He was close to smiling, but did not. He was back at the Temple, back in his element.
But she did, she smiled rather broadly.
…....................................
As the two were dismissed so that the Council could discuss what was to be done, my own thoughts reflected those around me. We were all in agreement, however general it was.
"I would not be surprised to learn that Riad was not the master."
"Whoever he was, he was master of Hoija. Her mind is in such a disorder as to confirm that."
"But obviously he wasn't committed to it. We have proof enough of that."
"Then Hoija was merely an assignment for an apprentice to a Sith. She was created to fill a long-term purpose."
"What is there meaning to a mediocre Force conduit who is not totally assigned to her bonds?"
"Hoija's capture may or may not have been an accident, but we are sure she is being used by the Sith. Her actual knowledge then may not be what the Council needs, but what the Sith wants us to accept."
"They can't underestimate the Jedi that much. One would have to be blind to see Hoija is merely a tool."
"That does seem too great a folly. Perhaps it was Hoija they underestimated."
"Then we learn of what Hoija has been led to believe and decipher their purpose from that."
…....................................
MORE differences faced...
"Good for your ego, am I?" she mirrored the glitter in his eyes.
"Quite the opposite in fact."