The Knight and His Queen

Chapter 14

"Master!"

Obi-Wan felt the haze of unconsciousness disappearing and he opened his eyes. Slowly the image of his padawan standing over him clearly came into focus. Anakin looked very concerned and so did Ferus, who walked up behind him.

"Are you all right?" Anakin asked, sitting on his haunches.

"Yes, I think so," Obi-Wan replied breathlessly.

"What happened?" Anakin asked.

Obi-Wan tried sitting up, but he saw stars. He sighed and lay back down, rubbing the large bump he now had on the back of his head. Besides his head, he also felt the burning pain in his shoulder where the blaster bolt struck him.

"Where is Master Siri?" Ferus questioned.

Siri! Obi-Wan sat up this time, despite the wave of dizziness he felt. Anakin reached a hand out to keep him steady.

"She was captured," Obi-Wan said clearly upset. "There were too many of them; they captured her and knocked me out."

"Who?" Anakin asked.

"I'm not sure," Obi-Wan replied sadly. "But all they wanted was Siri."

This can't be happening!Siri thought as she was being hoisted out of the palace by those strange assassins. Her head was covered by a stuffy hood that left her totally blind. She stretched out with the Force, but all she could feel was herself being pulled farther away from her home and Obi-Wan. She was extremely worried for Obi-Wan; she knew he was alive but his Force signature had weakened. Siri hoped he was all right.

Siri tried to read the intent of her kidnappers, but it was cloudy and she couldn't be sure what their intent was. She felt strongly that this was happening just because she was now Queen. She promised herself that she wasn't going to endanger her people in any way, but she also had to think about her unborn baby.

After a long while she was set down in a chair. She felt engines thudding beneath her and knew that she was on a ship. She drew in the Force once more and tried contacting her husband. Siri finally reached him and sent him the reassurance that she was alive. He queried in return, asking where she was. Telling him all she knew; Siri tried to get comfortable in her chair.

A few hours later Siri was roughly grabbed again and carried off the ship. The person carried her for a good five minutes and then set her in a chair. Then her blindfold was removed.

"Hello, Siri," came a cool and confident voice.

Siri nearly felt her blood run cold as she spotted the speaker. She hadn't seen him for over ten years, but she could never forget his face. "Xanatos," she spat angrily.

"There is no need to get upset, Your Highness," Xanatos replied mockingly.

"What do you want?" Siri asked.

"Don't worry, you'll find out," Xanatos said with a grin. The he made a hand motion and someone walked out of the shadows of the dim room. "Meet my associate, Jenna Zan Arbor."

The woman wore an elaborate gown and she looked as if she once was very beautiful. She appeared to be trying to cover up the signs of age by using a great deal of makeup.

"I've heard a great deal about you, Siri Kenobi," Zan Arbor said.

"I haven't heard of you," Siri countered.

"Pity," Zan Arbor replied. "Because I am the leading geneticists in the galaxy and I'm renowned throughout."

"And why is that?" Siri asked, her heart beginning to sink.

"I've created new vaccines that have saved worlds, despite the fact that I was the one who introduced them in the first place," Zan Arbor bragged.
"I'm not surprised," Siri snapped.

"You, in fact will be testing my newest drug," Zan Arbor stated.

No!Siri thought. She looked up, her face showing no sign of her apprehension. "And what exactly is this drug?"

"In short," Zan Arbor started, bored. "You will lose your memories."

Siri gasped and tried not to show fear. But this was incredibly terrifying. If she lost her memories then she would forget so many things: Obi-Wan, her children, her parents, Adi, and not to mention forgetting that she was a Jedi and Queen.

"Why?" she asked.

"Isn't it obvious," Xanatos said, rolling his eyes. "With you out of the picture, your planet will be thrown into a chaos."

"And you expect to benefit from it?" Siri asked upset.

"No, I will benefit from it," Xanatos boasted.

While Siri had been speaking with Xanatos, Jenna had been bustling around the room preparing her equipment. She then walked up to Siri, with a wicked looking syringe in her hand.

"As my medical scan showed, you are pregnant," Zan Arbor stated, then she smirked at Siri. "This solution is highly toxic for embryos, just so you know. This will hurt."

Siri had barely a second to consider Jenna's words before she felt a piercing stab at the base of her skull. She had to do something; her baby couldn't be killed. Then out of nowhere she remembered something that Obi-Wan told her a long time ago. When he was thirteen someone tried to memory wipe him too, but by using the Force he was able to save his memories. Could she do the same thing?

She tapped into the Force and felt it move through her; slowing the poison trickling down her spine. When Obi-Wan was memory wiped it was using machines, but this was a chemical and Siri wasn't sure if it would work. Instead of drawing the Force as a sheath over her mind, she instead brought it to where her underdeveloped child was growing. She had to save the baby at all costs.

Dizziness overcame her and Siri's mind became fuzzy. She was loosing consciousness fast and if that happened then she would lose her access to the Force. Her child would then be subjected to those fatal chemicals. She couldn't let that happen.

Siri's strength was waning and the dizziness increased. Black spots formed on the edges of her eyesight and she knew it wouldn't be long now. She could still feel the Force, but she didn't have any sense of where it was. And then it happened…Her world went blank.