Chapter Four
It was early morning. Sunlight filtered through overgrown foliage and scattered onto the ground around Jaina in shimmering patterns. She sat in the midst of them, her legs crossed and her arms folded in a position of meditation.
The Force flowed through her – around her. She was the Force. It was rare for her to reach this level of connection to the Force when she wasn't flying. She needed that depth of connection at this moment, however. Her mental defenses had been battered the day before and her shields had slipped lower than they had in ears. She needed a chance to rebuild them before she saw Lowie. Her friend was all too perceptive about her emotions at times, and she did not want to discuss Jag.
Jag was in her past, now, and it would do no good to bring her past up again. It had been a mistake. That was why she had volunteered to guard Syal while the woman toured the lush gardens on Borealis. It would give Jaina time to repair her mental shields and center herself in the Force.
As Jaina dove deeper into the currents of the Force, she kept a small corner of her awareness reserved to focus on Syal and the area around the other woman. Even with Syal less than five meters away from her, wandering in the same mostly deserted corner of a garden, it wouldn't do to take chances with Baroness's safety.
Suddenly, the Force was calling to her, calling her even deeper, but shimmering like the sun, impossible for her to actually grasp. With each moment that passed, her sense of focus grew more and more single minded, and Jaina fell into it, seeking after it. The flow of the Force seemed to be leading her to something even as it slipped away, eluding her once again. She refused to allow it to slip away from her with a stubborn tenacity that she usually reserved for arguing with her mother.
Jaina pushed and pushed, always moving closer to her intangible goal, but never reaching it. At last she was stretched deep into the Force. Just for an instant, she stopped trying to fight her way through the current of the Force, and just went with it. She was more in tune with the Force than she had ever been. What had been eluding her before, simply slipped into place now with a rush. Images and information flew through her mind a blurred jumble that didn't make sense. It was as if someone had flashed an incredibly bright light at her and thrown hundreds of holoimages that were of vital importance all at the same moment. It was an undecipherable chaos that was rapidly rushing into focus for her, but wasn't quite visible yet.
"It's a lovely morning, isn't it? This is one of the things that I've so missed on Csilla- sunshine, and gardens – plants that are green and grow in the heat."
Jaina jerked from her Force induced trance and gasped. For a fraction of an instant, she sought to find her way back into the depths of the trance that she had been startled from, but it was gone.
Disoriented, Jaina rose slowly to her feet to stand beside Syal. She stared at the stem of the Corellian rose that Syal was holding loosely between two fingers. The stem of the rose seemed to be more alive and full of the Force than anything she had seen before. Jaina could almost see the Force flowing through the plant's slender stem. It was vivid and bold in her perception while everything else still appeared disjointed and surreal. She reached out to touch it, fascinated by it and gasped as its presence in the Force seemed to ripple under her touch. As she watched, the plant seemed to change, slowly shifting. Underneath her fingers, a blossom unfurled.
It was Syal's turn to gasp. The woman's face was pale and she took a step back from Jaina.
"What- "
Jaina shook her head, "The Force is capable of many things. It wasn't my intention to fri-"
A wiry twist of vine whipped out away from the shrub that it was twisted around and slashed towards Syal. Jaina dove in front of Syal. As she slipped into a somersault, Jaina called her lightsaber into her hand, igniting with a hiss. With a twist of her wrist as she fell, she twisted the loop of vine around her blade and yanked her wrist down with her.
The vine hissed and sizzled against the blade of her lightsaber, but didn't disengage or cut in two. With another flick of her wrist, Jaina threw the vine clear of her blade and back towards the shrub that it had originated from.
The vine held still for a moment and then came waving slowly back out towards her, as if blowing in the breeze.
No wind touched Jaina's cheeks as she snapped her lightsaber up into a high guard position. She took a step back from it and held out her other arm, easing Syal further back behind her.
The vine quivered in the air, dancing from side to side. It feinted at her high, and then slashed towards her low and from the opposite direction. It split apart into thinner tendrils until almost two dozen of them were slashing towards Jaina in a wildly thrashing mass.
With her lightsaber flashing, she quickly slashed them aside, deflecting their attacks even as she pushed Syal back towards the door. She didn't even bother to try to search the Force for guidance. This organism was different, but definitely of Vong origin. Jaina deflected several more slashes with her lightsaber. For an instant her blade became tangled in the writhing vines, leaving her open to attack.
Another trailing tendril whipped up to attack her. It sliced Jaina's cheek open with the sharpness of a vibroblade. The tendril whipped through the air again, this time targeting her throat. Jaina caught the razor sharp tendril of vine in her hand and twisted it around her hand twice. Her hand was screaming with pain and blood dripped down her fingers.
With her other hand, she yanked her lightsaber clear with brute strength, throwing the other tendrils of vine away from her. She pressed her lightsaber to the middle portion of the tendril of vine and held it there. It hissed and spat, but remained the same.
She held.
Slowly, achingly slowly smoke began to curl up slowly from where the lightsaber and vine met.
A dozen dancing tendrils flew at her from her opposite side. Jaina barely had time to duck and throw herself down to avoid them. She thumbed her lightsaber off even as she rolled to her side and then gained her feet. She ran the few steps towards Syal and pushed the woman out of the gardens.
As the group of tendrils surged out after them, Jaina snatched an all too familiar substance out of a special pouch on her belt and threw the blorash jelly at the attacking vines. She had a hatred for all Vong technology, but it was never wise to let hatred stand between a Jedi and a useful weapon.
The harder the tendrils struggled to be free, the more that they were caught in the sticky substance.
Jaina continued to push Syal in front of her as they exited the garden at a run.
"Lowie!" Jaina called for her friend out loud, but added a mental call to her verbal plea for backup. Something told her that this was not a mere coincidence or bad luck.