Chapter 4
Pain and Suffering
Two days later, Sarina's husky and slightly accented voice came over the intercom.
"Attention all hands! We have arrived at our destination. Master Kenobi and Young Skywalker, please report to the bridge."
Master Kenobi and his padawan were in the quarters going through some exercises when they heard the order. Anakin looked at his master with excitement in his eyes. He jumped up off the floor and ran to the door. Obi-Wan shook his head in mock disappointment, and rushed after him.
They both arrived on the bridge breathless. Sarina and Gaff looked at them with questioning looks. Obi-Wan pushed the feeling of embarrassment away and walked up to the view screen, drinking in the magnificent image of the planet. It puzzled him that a planet as beautiful as this one could harbor such danger and mystery.
As he stood there, Obi-Wan suddenly felt dizzy. He swayed back and forth with his hand on his forehead. Sarina rushed to his side and tried to steady him.
"I'm alright." Obi-Wan said. Even after all his reassurances, Sarina was still very concerned.
"What happened?" Sarina asked after she had calmed herself down a little bit. She led him to her chair and gingerly sat him down.
"I was overwhelmed by something." He whispered. "It felt like a cry for help, but it is gone now."
Sarina stared with a confused face. "How could you feel something like that?"
"All things are possible through the Force." Obi-Wan replied matter-of-factly. He shook his head and then attempted to get up, but Sarina restrained him.
"Did it feel like someone human, or what exactly?" Gaff asked, taking a step closer to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan looked at up at the excitable man.
"It felt like something-" Obi-Wan paused, trying to think of the best possible description. "Ancient. That is the only way I can describe it." Sarina and Gaff looked at each other with concern and puzzlement.
"I know it is not much," Obi-Wan said, interrupting their thoughts. "But it is the best I can think-of how to describe it. It felt like a cry from an ancient time. Pain and suffering covers that world like a blanket. Something terrible happened here."
Sarina felt a shiver run up her spine as she heard Obi-Wan speak. What could that mean? She asked herself. What happened here?
Obi-Wan continued to sit a few minutes longer to make sure he was alright. When he stood, Sarina looked at him with fearful eyes. Obi-Wan sighed and walked toward her. "I'm alright. I promise." He reassured her. "What is your plan for exploring the planet?"
Sarina stood looking out of the view screen to the mystery planet thinking of what to do. "I was thinking that we would probe the unusual wreckage to see what kind of threat it would pose to us." She said finally. "After that, we will scan the atmosphere to see what we need to gear up for ground deployment." Even through her apparent calm, Obi-Wan could feel her uneasiness as she tried to think of what to do. Obi-Wan caught her hand at her side and squeezed it. She looked at him and beamed. She then stepped forward with a renewed feeling of authority. She began to spout out orders to all the officers, and everyone started to run this way and that trying to comply with her wishes.
Sarina walked into her waiting room and started to make out a work schedule. Try as she might, she could not concentrate. Her gaze kept falling on the planet that lay out beyond her windows. All she could think about was Obi-Wan. How his lips felt against hers. So warm and soft, and the soothing look in his eyes. She knew that Jedi were not supposed to fall in love with anyone, but she could tell that he didn't care. Is it wrong to fall in love with him? Even though he might find out? Sarina asked herself these questions all day. But she couldn't answer any of them.
Her happy thoughts were interrupted by a small beeping noise from the door, indicating that someone wished to see her. "Enter." she called from across the room. The doors opened with a smooth whoosh! Gaff entered with a forced, misplaced smile. Sarina pointed to a chair for him to sit down in.
There was a long pause before Gaff spoke. "Well, do you think he knows?"
"No." Sarina answered. "If he did, he would have done something about it by now." She stared out of the windows with concern.
"Well, let's just keep it that way." Gaff retorted. "Well, let's discuss how we are going to chart this planet..."
Three hours later, a small shuttle left the hangar bay of the Smooth Flight to investigate the wreckage with Gaff and Obi-Wan aboard. They began to run sensor sweeps and they all came back negative. "Well, whatever was here is gone now." Gaff remarked as they were about to turn back. He noticed that Obi-Wan had not said anything and turned to look at him, only to find him staring out the window, as if in a trance.
"You okay?" Gaff asked, shaking Obi-Wan on the shoulder. Obi-Wan stirred and looked at him, puzzled as to why Gaff was shaking him so vigorously. "What's wrong?" He asked.
Gaff looked as though he wanted to laugh and hit him at the same time. "You were looking outside as if you saw a ghost. I was... concerned."
"I might have." Obi-Wan replied. "I was seeing this planet. Thousands of years ago when it was still inhabited. It was beautiful, and the race was very advanced. Then... well, lets just say that someone woke me up." Obi-Wan smiled as he finished his sentence.
Gaff looked down at the console in front of him in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry. You just looked so weird, I was worried about you." He apologized.
Obi-Wan looked at the man and said, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure this mystery will be solved in due time. Until then, I think it will be safe to explore the planet's surface."
Gaff nodded in agreement and then plotted a course back to the Smooth Flight.
Sarina, Obi-Wan and Anakin were in the hangar bay preparing to board the first shuttle to the surface. Anakin could barely restrain his excitement about being able to go with his master. They all walked up the ramp to the shuttle's cockpit with the other crewman and scientists that were assigned to this shuttle. Sarina took her place at the helm and Obi-wan and Anakin sat on either side of her looking on. Sarina waited a moment before lifting off. She looked around seeing the other three shuttles filled with crewmen and scientists that were waiting their turn to exit.
Sarina heaved a sigh and then started to go. The shuttle exited the Smooth Flight smoothly and started to descend to the planet's surface. All the other shuttles had also exited and were now flying single file behind her. She looked up from the console and gazed among the stars. Dad, are you here? Sarina called out with her mind. What am I doing? She asked herself scoldingly. It's not like he can hear me.
Obi-Wan jerked as he heard Sarina's cry through the Force. His suspicions about her being Force-sensitive were growing rapidly. How can I be sure? He asked himself. He dismissed it, promising himself that he would do something about it later.
Shuttle 1 was surrounded by flames as it entered the higher atmosphere. It looked as though it was bathed in fire, an incredible sight to see. The other shuttles were also entering and were running scans to see what kind of turbulence they would encounter in the lower atmosphere and what kind of surface they might find. Shuttle 1 circled the sky looking for a suitable landing strip for it and the other shuttles. As they were circling, Anakin gazed out the window to see the ancient ruins that covered the surface—all those that had survived the decades of deterioration, that is. Even still, they were most impressive, and the architecture was amazing. The race that had lived there was indeedvery advanced.
Sarina announced that she had found an acceptable landing strip and began to set down. The shuttle hit the ground with a thud and then the engines started to exhaust vapor as it stood in stand-by mode. Sarina nodded in satisfaction and activated the ramp. She and the other crewmen stood up and started to walk down the ramp with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Obi-Wan scanned the terrain with a hard stare. He saw the ruins that had braved the storms that this planet had regularly. The ruins were worn, and yet held such beauty. There were two pillars in front of them with pictographs on them. They looked like animals and 'stick' people. They had not been on the surface for fifteen seconds before the scientists and their strange scanners were probing the pillars, trying to unlock their secrets. Obi-Wan could not hide a smile as he watched them. They looked children with new toys.
The air was breathable, but not as easy to breathe as Coruscant's atmosphere. It tasted stale and old in the back of Obi-Wan's throat.
The terrain was rocky and sandy, but not like a desert. More like, he decided, the crumbling ruins of some primal mountain range; once forbidding, the ravages of time and the buffeting winds had reduced the landscape to mere piles of sand-hued rocks and dust that littered the area, rather than dominating it. Obi-Wan studied the sky to find it a pale orange color that was beautiful in appearance. There was no sign of wildlife or vegetation of any kind. Whatever had happened to this planet had scorched it permanently. Surrounding the decaying city were rolling sand dunes that seemed to reach to beyond the horizon. It was hard for Obi-Wan to imagine what it might have looked like back when it was inhabited.
Anakin opened his mind to the Force and tried to scan the area, then suddenly stumbled back as he found something. Obi-Wan glanced at him with concern. "What happened?"
Anakin glanced around, as if looking for what had 'hit' him. "I was using the Force to see when something... I don't know what, was trying to warn me to stay away. It was muffled, but loud enough to hear. It was a man, I think."
Obi-Wan looked at his padawan, trying to assess what he had just been told. He opened his mind also, trying to sense what Anakin did. "Whatever it was is gone now."
"I know what I felt, Master!" Anakin persisted. Obi-Wan looked at Sarina and then back to Anakin. "I believe you."
Just then, there was a roar from behind the clouds. They all looked up to see more shuttles from the Smooth Flight preparing to land.
As they sat down, dust rose and began to blow in small gusts, stinging the eyes of everyone on the ground. All the shuttle craft ramps lowered simultaneously and out flooded more crewmen and scientists. They all gathered around Sarina as she stepped onto a fallen pillar with an air of authority surrounding her. She held up her hands for silence.
"I am glad to see all of you landed safely," she began. "I will be handing out work assignments to all of you. We have only two weeks to explore and chart this planet. So, let's get started!"
