Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Star Wars Universe.
Chapter Two
Nikita covered her mouth with her hand, trying to muffle the "ow!" that escaped her. Obi-Wan glanced at her before turning his attention back to listening to the voices coming from outside the crate they were in. She tried to shift as quietly as she could, hoping that her back would stop hurting from earlier. By the time she had found a more comfortable position the voices had moved off, leaving them in silence.
"So, still think this plan of yours was brilliant, master?"
Obi-Wan shot her a glare at her sarcasm before answering, "It was still a better idea than yours, padawan. At least mine had less chance of us getting killed."
"Oh yes, because cramming ourselves into a cargo crate and getting brutally thrown around the hold is so much more fun," Nikita retorted. "Now can we please get out of here?"
Obi-Wan obliged, pushing the lid off the container with his force powers. They both climbed out and looked around. The cargo hold was dark, but they could faintly make out the shapes of boxes stacked in haphazard disarray around the room. Nikita looked at one such stack that their container had been sitting on top of and groaned, remembering her smarting backside.
"You still have much to learn about patience, Nikita," Obi-Wan said in a stern tone as he ignited his lightsaber.
"I know that, master," Nikita replied as she drew her own saber, making the room a bit brighter and more navigable. "But it's hard to learn patience when you're being bounced around in a crate."
"On the contrary, padawan. There's no better time to learn."
Nikita answered that with an eye roll and began making her way through the hold. Obi-Wan hung back for a moment, studying his padawan. It had been a little over four years since he had first brought her to the temple, and in that time she had come a long way from the meek, shy girl he had encountered on Tatooine. Though the council was hesitant to accept another child that was well beyond the normal age for admittance, Obi-Wan had managed to persuade them in the end.
Nikita did not disappoint. She threw herself into her studies with vigor, and had reached the rank of padawan in only a year. Now she was well on her way to start her trials; she only needed to learn a few more lessons.
Like patience, Obi-Wan thought as he watched the girl skim over the various crates, the purple hue from her lightsaber casting a faint glow over her features.
"I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary, master. Everything here looks to be standard issue cargo."
"Well my young, impatient padawan, do you really think they would place volatile cargo on the bottom shelves within reach of the entire crew?"
"No," Nikita sighed and gave Obi-Wan an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, master. I got ahead of myself."
"No need to apologize, Nikita. I'm just trying to teach you to be more patient and aware. Now, let's see if we can find a way to get access to those top shelves."
The two Jedi walked down the narrow corridor between crates, looking for a ladder or some other way to access the top shelves. The cargo bay was pitch-black except for their lightsabers and they cautiously made their way forward. Obi-Wan was the first to hear it: a low snarl.
"Nikita, do you hear that," Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes," the girl said, squinting into the dark.
The snarling came closer, followed by the sound of claws and heavy shuffling. The silhouette of a hunched figure became visible, shuffling closer until it reached the edge of light cast by their lightsabers.
Obi-Wan stilled, realizing how dangerous their mission had just become. He reached out, trying to sense just how many of the creatures there were. What he felt troubled him.
"Nikita," he said in a low tone. "Get behind me."
The young padawan gave him a sideways glance and he felt her nervousness. He realized that he hadn't been able to keep the strain from his voice.
"What are these things," she asked as she slowly inched backwards toward him.
"They were people once. They were infected by a plague; One that exists only on Taris. They're called rakghouls."
"Rakghouls," the girl questioned. "I've only heard about them. I thought they were a myth."
"They're very real," Obi-Wan said, silently willing the girl to move faster. "They're highly contagious. There is a cure for the virus, but it's so uncommon to encounter we don't carry it, so I don't have any antidote with me."
"Which means?" No sooner had the words left the girl's mouth than more of the creatures dropped down from the upper shelves, surrounding them. The one they had encountered first let out a snarl and lunged.
"Don't let them touch you," Obi-Wan shouted as he leapt forward and sliced the creature in half. "Even the slightest scratch can infect you!"
"What! Are you serious," Nikita yelped as she dodged a swing from another rakghoul before slicing its head off. She spun around and dispatched two more before calling back to Obi-Wan.
"That was four! How many of them are there?"
"I counted ten," the Jedi master replied as he leapt over another of the creatures and landed behind it, slicing it straight down the middle. He looked up to see another rakghoul, a bit larger than the rest, sneaking up behind his padawan.
"Behind you!"
The girl jumped out of the way but the rakghoul grabbed her robes, ripping long gashes in the cream colored fabric. She gave a startled cry and Obi-Wan, worried she had been hurt, summoned the force and blew the creature across the cargo bay, slamming it against the far wall and killing it on impact. He rushed to his padawan's side and began looking her over for any wounds.
"It didn't get me, just my robes. Don't worry, master. I was just startled."
The older Jedi let out a sigh of relief. He had grown quite attached to Nikita since he had begun her training. She was only sixteen, and she was already about to become a full-fledged Jedi. He couldn't help but think of her as a daughter, and he would be damned before he let anything happen to her.
The two Jedi looked up to see the remaining rakghouls slowly backing away from them.
"Are they retreating," Nikita asked.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "Rakghouls don't retreat. Something else must be—" The Jedi master was thrown across the room without warning by an unseen force. He hit the opposite wall with a sickening crack and slid down it in a daze.
"Master," Nikita shouted in alarm, pushing herself up to run to him. She hadn't taken more than three strides when a cold, rasping laugh stopped her dead in her tracks. She turned to see a new rakghoul, larger than the rest, walking upright on its hind legs and wearing…something.
Is that armor, she thought as she watched it walk forward, the other rakghouls in the room closing to form ranks on either side of it.
"It can't be," Obi-Wan groaned behind her. "I didn't feel anything through the force!"
They felt it now though: a dark, heavy presence that seemed to make even the air weigh down on them. Nikita felt like she had just walked through a sandstorm and a marsh all at once. She felt grimy and as if she needed a shower as soon as possible.
The hulking creature set its sights on her and began moving forward.
"Nikita," Obi-Wan called. "You mustn't engage it! I'll—ungh!" He had been trying to push himself up, but fell back with a grunt of pain, clutching his side.
"I don't think I have much of a choice," Nikita muttered as she readied her lightsaber. The rakghoul stopped, studying the glowing purple energy before turning and thrusting its fist through a nearby crate. When it withdrew its hand she saw it was now holding a very sharp vibroblade.
She was pretty sure her confidence had just pooled into her feet, but she assumed the Shii-Cho stance nevertheless.
It became apparent immediately that the rakghoul, no matter how advanced it was, wasn't into finesse. It let out a roar and lunged at her, bringing down the vibroblade with sheer, brute strength. The padawan blocked the strike and had to plant her feet to keep from being knocked back.
She drew from the force and pushed back against the rakghoul, causing it to stagger back just as the other creatures lunged at her. In one fluid motion she twirled her lightsaber in a figure eight flourish and dispatched the remaining rakghouls.
"Now it's just you and me, big guy," she said, readying her saber again. The rakghoul let out a low growl and she felt an invisible hand tighten around her neck and pick her up off the ground. She tried to gasp for air but no sound came out. The creature smirked, making its features even more ghastly, and squeezed its hand tighter, causing the pressure to increase to an unbearable level. The padawan clawed at her throat, trying in a desperate attempt to get air.
"Nikita!" Obi-Wan's voice sounded miles away and she tried to focus on it even as her vision began to tunnel. She heard her master's lightsaber ignite and then her vision was filled with nothing but blue as the guardian's lightsaber went twirling past her face and took off the creature's arm before boomeranging back to its master. She fell to the floor coughing and gasping as the rakghoul roared in pain over her. A clawed foot caught her in the side and kicked her onto her back in time for her to see the vibroblade on a downward swing toward her mid-section. She managed to roll out of the way and pull her lightsaber to her, slashing up in a lilac arc. She felt her saber hit home and the rakghoul let out a wet gurgle as its torso separated from its hips and toppled to the floor.
Master and padawan sat and stared at each other, trying to catch their breath.
"What was that thing," Nikita panted after several minutes. Obi-Wan slid down the wall from the standing position he had forced himself into earlier. Nikita picked herself up from the floor and moved to her master's side. She moved his hand away from his side and pressed her fingers into the damaged area as gently as she could. It still wasn't enough, however, as Obi-Wan sucked in a sharp breath and grimaced.
"You have two cracked ribs," the padawan stated in a calm voice. She placed her hand flat on his side and closed her eyes, focusing the force through her fingertips and into Obi-Wan's damaged ribs. She heard him suck in another breath as his ribs mended under her concentration. When she was certain he was well enough to walk she backed away and found him watching her.
"You've been spending time with Vokara Che again, I see."
Nikita shrugged. "Just some simple healing techniques I picked up. You should be well enough to walk now, but take it easy."
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes as he pushed himself up to his feet. The girl spoke as though what she had just done was taught to younglings on their first day of training. In reality it took years to master the healing arts. The body wasn't a simple subject to manipulate.
"Well I don't know what that thing was, to answer your earlier question, but I doubt our little fiasco went unnoticed by the crew. Let's—" The Jedi master didn't get to finish before the door to the cargo bay slid open.