Talis watched in horror as two dark mean leapt from a speeder that had just pulled up in behind her fairly large home on Tatooine. She looked at the first, both with her senses and with the force, and found nothing familiar about him, except for the dark waves of energy that seemed to emenate from him like the heat off of the twin suns of Tatooine.
She looked at the other, and gasped. A dark billowing cloak shrouded his body like death himself, but she could recognise his presence anywhere.
It was Karik, her husband.
His visage struck fear in her heart as she backed away, back into the rear entrance she had come out of. As soon as Karik was out of her sight, she turned tail and ran straight for the living quarters up stairs. "Olan!" she cried as she fled up the stairs, "find Jastiss! His father is here!"
Almost as soon as she reached the top of the stairs, she found Olan, of nearly thirty-nine years of age, and her son, Jastiss who was eight years old. He looked bewildered up at his mother, but she looked back down at him sternly, then at Olan. "Take him out the front, there's a speeder outside. Take it to that new colony Anchorhead which is just north-west of here. I have a hide-out there that you will stay at until I manage to get rid of his father."
She watched as Olan nodded quickly and grabbed a protesting Jastiss. He sped off out the front door, and soon a repulser lift could be heard, whining to life.
Satisfied, Talis ran to her room, and began to rummage through her storage containers. Soon, she came out with a cylindrical, metallic object. [i]Please,[/i] she thought desperately as she heard soft footsteps begin to slowly ascend the staircase, [i]Let there still be some charge left.[/i]
"Talis," came a voice from the doorway.
Talis whirled around, at the same time hitting the trigger stud on the object. With a snap-hiss a shimmering orange blade sprung forth and lit the room.
The figure in front of him was Karik, his hood now resting against his shoulders. He had a look on his face that frightened Talis. He stared grimly at her with two steel grey eyes, and his lightsaber held, but not ignited, in his right hand. "Where is Jastiss." The phrase was more of a statement than a question, as if he knew where Jastiss was, but he still had to go through the formalities.
"He's safe," she spat, lifting her saber to a defensive position.
For a moment Karik stood, then all of a sudden he stumbled back, like something hit him. And, almost as suddenly as it happened, it stopped, and Karik had a new look on his face.
A look of anger.
Karik shouted in a mad rage as he whirled around, his cloak billowing in Talis' face. She stepped back in surprise, and in the split second it took her to recover, Karik was gone.
Quickly, she ran out of her room and down the stairs, where she found Karik standing at the doorway, watching a small speck of a speeder heading toward the horizon. In a mad fit, Karik bent over and ripped a peice of debris from the sand, and hurled it toward the speck with super-human strength.
Olan Tennaris glanced nervously at the small child sitting next to him, who was now quietly in his seat, staring straight ahead.
The Jedi Knight looked over his shoulder at the house he had just left, which was now over two miles away. [i]I shouldn't of left her,[/i] Olan thought bitterly, [i]She doesn't stand a chance against Karik.[/i]
Suddenly, the speeder rocked violently forward, then a small racket could be heard coming from the main engine behind him. Olan quickly turned forward, and tried to regain control of the vehicle. [i]What the devil-[/i] the racket was suddenly interrupted by a loud thunk, then the stress of something blocking the engine. Almost immediately after, a loud explosion rocked the speeder, and sparks rained down on the two passengers.
Olan desperately tried to steer the vehicle as it began to careen into a nearby sand dune, but to no avail. In a cloud of sand, the small vehicle plunged deep into the dune, nearly pouring overtop of the passengers. Olan glanced behind him, and swore when he saw that the house was still in view, although it was quite small.
[i]Karik saw the whole thing. He's most likely on his way now.[/i] Olan thought as he pulled himself out of the speeder, then helped Jastiss out of his harness. He looked behind him again, and his blood began to chill in his veins. A small speck of a speeder was rapidly getting closer, and there was three figures in the speeder.
Frantically, Olan turned and grabbed Jastiss by the collar. Without a word, he heaved Jastiss into the air and over the sand dune. He could hear Jasitiss wailing on the other side, so Olan placed an image in his head that made him want to run like he had never run before.
Soon, the speeder pulled up, and out came Tennaris, and his accomplice. Olan's fists clenched with anger as he saw Talis tied up in the back seat of the speeder. "Let her go, Karik," Olan said menacingly, drawing his saber, "I will not let you have either of them without a fight."
Karik raised his eyebrows, then motioned to his partner, who was standing silently beside him. "Are you willing to fight both of us, just to save a child and a woman you have known for as little as a year?"
"That's still longer than you've known them! You have become a maniac and a monster. You are not the Karik I once knew." Olan took a step toward Karik as he ignited his saber, a deep green blade.
Karik swiftly pulled his saber, followed by his partner. "You are no match for us, Olan. Don't make us have to kill you. Hand over the child."
Without a word, Olan charged the two, and lightsaber blades began to hum through the afternoon air. With a crack, Olan's saber connected harshly with Karik's, sending him back into his speeder. He immediately jumped back, and before Olan could prepare himself for a defense, he found himself trying to dodge a blow from Karik's partner.
Blades clashed through the air with deadly presicion, cracking and humming. Karik brought down an overhead strike that forced Olan's saber into the sand, melting it into a fine glass that lumped around the super-heated blade. Olan brought it back, and struck at the other swordsmen before blocking another attack from Karik. This went on for what seemed like forever, until Olan landed a well placed Kick to the nameless swordsman's abdomen. As he went stumbling into the sand, Olan looked frantically for Karik.
He was no where to be seen.
Suddenly, from the speeder, Talis cried out. Olan looked, and realized that it was a warning.
It was too late.
There was a sudden flash of light, then Olan turned to look at Karik, who had his saber deignited and was smiling.
Olan raised an eyebrow, as he watched Karik's perculiar behaviour. [i]Now![/i] Olan thought, [i]Now is the time to strike, when he is not ready![/i] Olan began to bring his saber up to bear, when, he came across a horrible ralization. His saber wasn't there.
And neither was most of his arm.
Olan stared at the sickening stump that used to be his arm, the looked at Karik accusingly.
Suddenly, Karik brought his fist back, and landed it straight in Olan's Jaw.
Olan snapped painfully around, and fell face first into the sand, blood pouring from his nose. As he rolled onto his back using his one arm, he heard Karik laugh.
"And now, I will allow you to see one more thing before you die." Karik said slowly as he walked toward his speeder, where Talis waited.
[i]No,[/i] Please[i]no![/i] Olan thought desperately as Karik reached into the speeder and pulled Talis out by her hair.
Karik brought the stumbling Talis before Olan, who was now wrought with pain from his missing arm.
"The last thing you'll ever see," Karik said as he ignited his saber once again and forcing Talis to her knees, "is the execution of one of those you hold dear!"
Jastiss Otonna clambered desperately back up the sand dune as he heard the sabers start up. Olan had told him to run, but he knew he couldn't leave him, or his mother, who he knew was right here. He could sense it.
Just as he reached the top of the dune, he saw his father, the man his mother was always so scared of, force his mother to her knees and ignite his saber. Olan was on his knees, and seemed to be pleading with with his dad about something. Jastiss felt a huge lump in his throat as he looked closer at Olan. He had only one arm. He couldn't see the rest of it, but Olan's smouldering stump was showing through his torn up clothes. Luckily sabers immediately stop you from bleeding if they cut you. But, Jastiss knew, you usually die from the shock of a saber wound anyway.
Suddenly, he saw his father push his mother into the sand, and raise his purple saber high. [i]Ohmigosh, no![/i] Jastiss thought desperately as he saw what was happening. "Mother!" he shouted as he sprang from the top of the dune, and began to tumble down the hill, kicking up sand as he went.
Karik looked briefly at Jastiss, but then turned back to Talis. "It's good that you see this, boy! It will be your first step into a whole new world!" With a hideous laugh, Karik brought his saber down on Talis' neck, and at that point Jastiss turned away and tried to bury his head as far into the sand as possible.
[i]This isn't happening,[/i] Jastiss thought sadly, [i]Mommy's okay, and Olan still has his arm. Father never came, and never hurt mommy. Mommy's okay.[/i]
A sudden cry of anger and then a loud booming explosion caused Jastiss to look up. Karik and his friend were gone, and Olan stood in front of his mother, his arm stretched straight out from his body, and what seemed like a silent scream escaping from his lips.
After almost a second, Olan collapsed into the sand. Jastiss scrambled to his feet, then ran to Olan, trying to keep his eyes off of his mother. She wasn't okay. "Olan?" he whispered hoarsely.
A small grunt assured the Olan was alive, if just barely. "Jastiss...." he croaked, "the speeder."
Jastiss glanced at the jet-black speeder his father had come in, then back at Olan. "I can make it Olan, but I don't think I can carry you."
"Go!" Olan shouted in a hoarse whisper as he rolled onto his back, "I'll be okay."
Jastiss shook his head as he looked at Olan's wound. "No, you're coming with me or I'm not going. It's not right. You saved my life."
Olan turned his head away from Jastiss, averting eye contact. "But at what cost, Jastiss?"
Jastiss wasn't sure how to answer that question. "Please Olan, try to get up. I'm not going to lose you too."
Olan was quiet for a moment, then Jastiss heard him grunt softly. "Okay, Jastiss, help me up. It seems I'm not going to be able to get you to go without me."
Jastiss hugged Olan slightly, then began to help him up. Soon, they were limping through the sand toward the speeder. "Jastiss," Olan winced as he eased himself into the passenger side of the speeder, "you're going to have to drive."
Olan nodded silently. At any other time, he would have been more than extatic at the fact that he would get to drive the speeder, all by himself. But now, he just wanted to get away from there, as quickly as possible. Jastiss punched the ignition, and the engines in the back hummed to life. Soon, they were off, away from the scene of death and carnage.
As they swept over the dunes, Olan looked slowly at Jastiss. "Jastiss," he wheezed, "promise me something."
Jastiss never took his eyes from up ahead as he leaned up over the steering yoke of the speeder. "What?"
"Promise me... that you'll lead a normal life."
Jastiss had been around Olan long enough to know what that meant. "Don't worry, Olan, I don't want to ever be like my father." Jastiss watched as Olan laid his head back against the seat, and soon his eyes fell shut. "Don't worry, Olan. I'm here, and I always will be."