A/N: Okay. So. Apparently I fell off the face to the planet for a couple of weeks. Actually, I took an impromptu trip to Seattle and then got really lazy about editing which meant no posting. But now I'm back (from outer space?) and we can move on past the cliffhanger. Woot.

--

Chapter Nine

Maia opened her eyes and closed them immediately. Even the dark was too bright. She opened them again and realized that it wasn't the dark that was too bright, it was the light. She blinked several times and brought a hand up to block it out.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Mical answered. "I think Zeta found the Sith."

"And?"

"And they haven't found us yet," he replied.

"I see that. Where are we?"

"Atton found a cave above the passageway and I dragged you up here. He's off looking for Zeta, now."

"You make me sound like a burden." Maia sat up and had to steady herself against cold stone as the world spun in a dizzying twirl around her head. Her mind swam; her ears buzzed. When they stopped, she opened her eyes again. The cave was little more than a hole just big enough to fit the two of them. A little glowrod giving off hardly enough light to see by was sitting next to Mical's hip.

She watched her Padawan a moment longer while allowing her brain to fully adjust to consciousness before she rolled onto her belly and pulled herself to the edge of the cliff. The floor was hidden in shadow; there was no way to tell how high up they were.

"How the hell did you get me up here?" She paused. "No. Belay that. How in the hell did Atton find this place?"

"I suspect it has something to do with his talent for finding hideaways when you need him for something he doesn't want to do," Mical said. "He also turned on a glowrod to illuminate it, muttering something about just knowing it was here when I asked how he found it."

Maia chuckled as she sat back. "Maybe I should insist a little harder on training him, too. Create myself an army of Jedi. One who can heal, one who can hide. We'd be unstoppable."

"I think he's about as Force sensitive as this cave. In fact, I think the cave might be edging him out."

But Maia shook her head. "No, he's as strong as you, Mical. Maybe stronger. It's why he was so good at what he did." She frowned. "He doesn't want the training, though. Not everyone dreams of being a Jedi when they grow up. Some just want to forget."

Mical didn't say anything except, "Oh."

"Yeah, but don't tell him I told you. I don't think he would like you very much if you knew."

"I don't think he likes me very much anyway."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." She looked at him and pointed at the glowrod. "Douse the light. You need it anymore."

"Atton told me to keep it on so he could find his way back."

"It also makes it easier for the Sith to find us. Besides, he's almost here."

As she said it, an arm appeared, and then the top of a head.

"Stop talking about me when I'm not around," Atton said as he climbed into the little cave, panting. Lying on his back, he propped his feet on the wall by Mical's head. "Some people might take it as a glove slap."

Maia looked at him; his head was pillowed in the palm of one hand, the same elbow resting on her knee. "Are you looking to walk ten paces, then?"

"Nah. I believe too much in self-preservation to ever challenge anyone to a duel. Especially you." He smiled and propped himself up on his elbows. "You feeling alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Because you seemed pretty bad off when he insisted that I go off to find Zeta."

"Really, Atton, I'm fine."

"Though, I don't know why he couldn't go find her."

"Of the two of you, he was probably the most qualified to stay here."

Atton opened his mouth to thank her when he seemed to think about it. Narrowing his eyes and sitting up completely, he frowned. "That was a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one."

"No, it wasn't. Did you find anything?"

He just looked at her a moment longer before answering. "Yes and no. Zeta wasn't around and there was a pretty good drop off about a hundred meters from where you went down. I couldn't tell how far the path continued, but there was a body down there. Human, by the looks of it. No lightsaber burns that I could see."

Maia frowned. "I'm sure I heard one, though."

"Well, I didn't say anything about him not having one, which he did. A lightsaber, that is. At least, that's what I think the cylindrical thing in his hand was." Atton shrugged. "Like I said, he was kind of far down and my muscles are tired enough from the climb we did this morning that I wasn't about to climb down some ten meters, back up the same bloody cliff, get up here to see if you had survived and still expect to be of any use for the next month, let alone the rest of today." He looked at Mical. "He should have gone snooping around. I think he might be a little better at fighting Sith than I am. But only by a fraction."

"I won't argue you on that point." Maia said. "Too bad there aren't two of him."

"Hey…"

"You said it, not me." She turned to Mical and gestured with her chin. "We should probably get going and see if we can't find her."

Neither man responded as Maia crawled over Atton's legs to reach the cliff descent; there wasn't nearly enough room to stand. She looked at them as she lowered one leg over the edge.

"You sure you're up to it?" Mical asked as she lowered her other leg, her fingers gripping a little crack in the stone. "You did just pass out."

"Hell of a time to ask," she said as she found a perch for her foot. Crouching and straightening her arms to lessen the strain on her muscles, her chin level with the floor of the little cave, she looked from her Padawan to Atton and back again. "I'm shaky, but good. My brain doesn't like it when someone tries…that and it can sometimes short out, which is a real pain, as I'm sure you noticed. Something about faulty wiring, I think." She paused with a frown. "I wonder who it was. That certainly was an impressive noise they created."

Atton snorted.

Maia looked at him. "Were the walls shaking?"

"Maybe we should rest a little longer," Mical said, cutting in and watching her closely as if waiting for her to lose her grip. Maia just sniffed.

"The longer we wait, well…" she pressed her lips together. "I don't know. I'm guessing she's been captured since she hasn't come back looking for us. And I'm not leaving her behind, so don't even think about saying that out loud, Atton."

"Stay out of my head," he said, probably more viciously than he intended to. He didn't apologize, though, and Maia just lifted her brow before she started the descent.

Unlike earlier, Maia was spoiled with choice for hand- and footholds, the wall sloping less than perpendicular, which made it an easier climb on her fatigued legs. Wiping her hands together once she was off the wall, she watched the men for a moment or two before starting down the path, not quite waiting for them to catch up. It was wider here.

Maia didn't make it very far, though, before her senses prickled. She put out a hand behind her and waited for one of the men to bump into it. Atton.

"What's the deal?" He rubbed at his chest. There was no light this deep and without a lit glowrod there was no way to see. Still, the wind whistled somewhere above their heads; there had to be an opening somewhere.

"Sith," Maia hissed.

"We must be getting close then," Atton whispered in her ear. He had drawn up right behind her, his hand touching her hip in the dark. "Because there weren't any here the first time I came through."

"Obviously not, laserbrains. You'd be dead."

"Real supportive, thanks."

"I try."

"Where are they?"

Atton got his answer in the form of a sharp elbow to the gut as Maia reached around to retrieve her lightsaber from its place on the back of her belt. She hadn't meant to hit him, he was simply too close. And she didn't get a chance to apologize as a red lightsaber appeared out of the dark, hers activating a split second later to catch the blade as it slashed towards her neck.

Maia side kicked as well as she could in the narrow space and was pleased when her foot met with soft flesh rather than hard stone. The Sith grunted and stepped back while Maia threw her body into a back flip and caught the man in the chin with her toes, breaking his neck as his head snapped back.

Reaching out into the darkness in front of her, Maia waited for the other Sith to attack. There were a few of them in the passage ahead of her, each waiting for his chance at her, but none moved, perhaps stunned. Maia didn't know, nor did she care, so long as they didn't make her come for them.

The next one rushed forward without activating his weapon and Maia leapt as he approached, landing on his shoulders and breaking his legs under the enhanced force of her drop. She struck his temple with the hilt of her deactivated weapon as she stepped off him and had just enough time to reactivate it for the next Sith. He was quicker, though, and parried her attack with a slash and a kick to the chest, throwing her back towards her party. She skidded into Atton she went so far.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Mical said.

"Not really, no." Maia sent a Force wave in the direction she had come. "I'd rather not get shot in the back." The red blade went tumbling away from her as its owner was caught in her attack. And before the Sith could stand back up, Maia grasped for him in the dark and slammed his body into the wall. The lightsaber deactivated.

Another was there to replace him the moment Maia released the unconscious Sith. She ducked under the attack and deactivated her lightsaber once more to bring the hilt down hard on the unseen foot in front of her. The Sith cried out and Maia rolled backwards as he stabbed at the ground. Leaping to her feet, Maia ricocheted off one wall and spun midair as he nearly found her once again. With barely a touch to the ground, Maia lunged herself forward to pierce the Sith in the gut with her extended blade. He only blocked her, pushing her into the stone, a hand around her throat, the other slamming her sword arm into the wall several times and forcing her to drop her weapon. She gasped, hardly able to breathe, hardly able to think, and brought her knee up between his legs, hoping her opponent was, in fact, male.

She got her answer when he grunted and bent over in pain, though without releasing her throat. Instead, he leaned more weight into her, using the Force, too, to crush her airway. Maia's eyes rolled back into her head.

She gasped again and gripped at his arm, trying to force him off.

And then his hand tore away from her throat and out of her grip as he suddenly disappeared from in front of her, his nails leaving trails on blood on her skin. Maia doubled over, half-collapsed against the wall and gulping in air. Fighting back her sudden nausea, she hardly heard the sharp crack of a neck being broken and the silence that followed. That was the last of them.

A moment later, one of her companions turned on a glowrod. Mical. Looking away from him, she watched as Atton stood from where he was kneeling on the Sith's back, wiping his gloved hands together, blood staining the tips of his exposed fingers.

"Are you okay?" he asked, holding a hand out for Maia. She took it despite the blood, gripping his wrist with the other hand and looking over his shoulder at the fallen Sith, their bodies close. He put his other hand on her arm.

"I'll be fine," she said quietly. "Thank you."

He only answered by dipping his face towards her neck, the tip of his nose to the curls that had fallen out of their restraint. She looked at Mical over the other shoulder.

"I would have expected more," Mical said, ignoring his companions' proximity. "This can't be the entirety of their security."

Maia shrugged lightly and stepped away from Atton. So much for keeping it a secret now; she glanced at the Sith around her. Two of them were still breathing. "Then we'll deal with that threat when it finds us. There's no point in dwelling on it if we're not certain it's there, Mical. Remember that. Paranoia has no place in a Jedi's mind."

Mical nodded. "Of course, Master. Forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive." She narrowed her eyes at Atton who wasn't doing a very good job at hiding his laughter. "Let's go find their friends. Maybe we can talk them out of causing any real damage."

But she wasn't sure she would be able to. These Sith had attacked without provocation. There was no saying what the others would do once they entered the base.

--

After that, it didn't take long to reach the pit Atton had found, though it was less of a pit than it was a large and rather deep cavern. There was a spot of light far above their heads, the wind blowing a symphony over the crags and columns. A few of the walls glittered, but the team focused more on the decent than on anything else, all exhausted.

The first one off the wall, Maia approached the body slowly.

"You were right," she said to Atton when he joined her, crouching next to the dead man. "It was hard to tell anything from up there." In fact, it was hard to tell anything from the cavern floor as well. They did notice, however, that there was no obvious way out. The path Atton thought he saw was merely a deep crevasse.

"You doubted me?" Atton said, standing over her and holding a glowrod to help her inspection.

"Not really. Just trying to mend your ego. You operate better when you're confident." With the dead man's lightsaber in one hand, Maia touched his cheek and rolled his head to the side. She made a small sound in the back of her throat. "His neck's been broken."

"Is that significant?" Mical said. She looked up at him before standing and clipping the lightsaber to the back of her belt next to her own.

"I just expected her to use her lightsaber."

"How do you know she killed him?"

"Her trace is on him," Maia said softly. She furrowed her brow. Why hadn't Zeta used her lightsaber?

Atton looked at her and thumbed the glowrod off. "What's the plan?"

"There's got to be a way out of here. Besides back, I mean."

"There's an idea," Atton said. Maia gave him a hard look. "Well, I mean, obviously there's way out. It's not like they just dematerialized through the walls or climbed out through that skylight."

Maia's expression changed and she shook a finger at Atton as she turned back to the crevasse. "That's brilliant."

"Thanks. What is?"

She didn't answer. Pausing just outside the narrow crack in the stone, Maia touched both the interior and the exterior walls and closed her eyes. A smile spread across her lips. "It's not stone. Not really."

"Um…?" Atton.

"Sorry?" Mical.

"Synthstone. Maybe treated duracrete."

"How the crap did you come up with that?" Atton asked. He walked over to her and put his hands just above hers. "There isn't any difference."

"It's subtle but if you shut out everything else and pay attention to only the two walls, you'll notice the one inside the crevasse has a different texture." She watched Atton closely to see if he would follow her instructions. When he smiled, hers widened.

"Yeah, I feel it," he said so only she could hear. "What do we do now?"

"Walk into the shadow." She looked at Mical and gestured him over. "I've seen these before, back during the wars. It's a cloak and a clever one at that. It only gives with a fair amount of pressure, though. We usually had to run at them to get through."

"You're kidding me," Atton said, dropping his hands. "You want us to run into solid rock?"

"Weren't you listening? It's not solid. It's physics. Watch me."

Stepping back and telling the two men to move out of her way, Maia dug into the ground with her toes and sprinted for the rock. Atton cringed as she neared the wall and barely saw her disappear in what the men had assumed was just a shadow, the edges rippling slightly. They looked at each other.

"Well, crap." Atton lifted his brow. "You do it first."

Mical didn't argue. He also didn't look happy but retreated to the same spot Maia had started from. With a little hop, he ran at the wall and disappeared in the same spot she had.

"Hot damn," Atton said before suddenly feeling extremely alone in the large cavern. Glancing over his shoulder, sure there was something watching him, he went to the same spot the two Jedi had started from. Studying the wall and convinced that he was seeing things and possibly even dreaming, Atton took the path with a little less gusto and closed his eyes the moment he touched the shadow.

--

Elsewhere…

She stalked the corridors of her ship, angry. He had broken his promise more than once now and she was beginning to wonder if he had been telling the truth at all. She wanted to believe him, desperately and inexplicably. His way of speech was so smooth, so much like a song that she hung on every word of it, anxious to know what would come next.

He could soothe her where few others were ever able to.

She had no explanation for it, but her every emotion was met and thwarted by one of his; she hardly noticed it happening most of the time. So they hadn't found them yet. Next time, surely, the meeting would take place. It was no matter that they had been wandering around the galaxy under a constant cloak of darkness for months now on an unfulfilled promise.

Even the thought of him calmed her and she stopped at one of the many plants that filled her dreadnaught, stroking its soft leaves between her fingers. Little of the life on her ship was sentient. It was simply better that way.