Chapter 14

Into the Dark Spaces

Zekk tossed a stone against the wall with his hand. He had managed to loosen the "handcuffs" the Yuuzhan Vong put on his wrists because he rammed the creature that made the cuffs against the edge of the rock he'd thrown. Tenel Ka sat against the wall not far from Zekk, silent and sober.

"Jacen's going to be fine." Zekk said. Even though he didn't have a close bond with the warrior girl he still knew where her thoughts probably were because he had a similar mindset.

Zekk wanted to know if Jaina had managed to survive the fight without being captured as well. If she was, he wouldn't be able to help her. He knew she was okay at least, because he'd have felt it if she wasn't.

"I am not worried." Tenel Ka stated. Zekk glanced over at her. Even though it was obvious to himself and to Jaina, and he'd thought it was obvious to Tenel Ka, but apparently Jacen and Tenel Ka had not yet accepted the possibility of being in a relationship. The idea of their denial made Zekk laugh though not very hard because his head still hurt from where the Yuuzhan Vong had hit him to knock him out.

"What is so funny?" Tenel Ka narrowed her eyes at Zekk.

"Nothing." He shrugged. She scowled at him, her granite colored eyes fixing Zekk with a cold stare.

"You are a horrible liar."

"So are you." He arched an eyebrow, "So why don't we both fess up? We've got nothing but time and we're not getting out of here any time soon."

"You don't know that." Tenel Ka pointed out. In essence, Tenel Ka was right, they didn't know if they were or weren't getting out. But Zekk knew it wasn't going to be any time soon.

"It'll be a while before we get an opportunity." He countered, jerking his head towards the door where two warriors stood outside.

Tenel Ka sighed, she had to admit Zekk was right. "This," She said reluctantly, "Is a fact."

Zekk stretched his legs out. "So let's talk a little."

"I have nothing to say." She closed her eyes and began to meditate, closing out the pain in her head.

Zekk didn't believe her for one minute. While Tenel Ka usually told the truth, it made it ten times more obvious when she was lying. Though he didn't really mind since he wasn't the one Tenel Ka should be talking to about the subject and he wasn't one to lecture because he hadn't said anything to Jaina in recent months that was of much value.

"Kinda cold in here. You'd think they'd want to keep a prisoner alive, right?" Zekk commented. Tenel Ka continued meditating. Of all the people Zekk got captured with he had to be with Tenel Ka who rarely relaxed or took a joke. Even when it was Jacen who told it.

Zekk settled into his own meditative trance. He wasn't as good at being calm as Tenel Ka but he knew that it was probably best that he at least try to meditate because it was only a matter of time before the Yuuzhan Vong guards returned to take them for more "tests." Sickos, Zekk cursed. Nothing in his mind seemed more logical than to feed the creatures some of their own medicine and not in a low dose. But his friends would never agree to it. Zekk wasn't satisfied with the lack of effort on the part of the JedI to fight the Yuuzhan Vong. No matter how much they did, it was always not enough. At least not in Zekk's mind. He knew that Master Skywalker was more of a gradual and peaceful person and would never resort to mass violence.

Zekk found himself frustrated as the only one who wanted to just raid every single Yuuzhan Vong base and not leave a single one of the villains alive. What would Jaina think of him? Zekk wasn't sure what Jaina thought at the moment but he still regretted having been the reason the Academy was attacked and left in ruins. If she thought him a completely evil person and still wanted to keep her distance, Zekk wouldn't blame her for thinking that about him. He deserved it. Every time he thought about someone else disturbing what the Jedi had built for themselves, he became irritated. Nothing mattered more to him than making sure that what happened to the Academy during the Second Imperium's attack never repeated itself. If that meant he had to become a mass killer to rid the galaxy of the Yuuzhan Vong, then so be it.

At the end of the day, Zekk wasn't doing it because he hated them, he just didn't want anyone at the Academy to be hurt again. He was a Jedi too, so he was responsible. A Jedi always was.

The door to the cell clanged open and two guards stepped in. Zekk grimaced.

"Looks like the welcoming committee is here."

"Come with us, Jeedai." The guards ordered Zekk and hurled him to his feet, leaving Tenel Ka alone in the cell.

"We're here." Kirk walked down the dark street and stood at the entrance to an alley. James and Tahiri glanced down the alley and exchanged looks of misgiving.

"Are you sure you have the directions right?" James asked for what felt like the third time that day. They had been down several different streets, all very isolated, dirty, and run down. Kirk seemed to want to conserve some of his pride because he didn't relinquish the job of finding Claus' location.

"Look," James said, holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture, "Why don't we each split up. He's a JedI, he's bound to be around here somewhere. We can search and if we find him, we'll call each other on our comlinks."

"What about you?" Tahiri asked, "You can't sense people through the force."

"I've got experience searching for people, trust me. I did enough of that with the Peace Brigade."

"Don't mention that to Claus if you do find him." Kirk warned and tossed the map to his students.

"I've got the force, you can have the map." Tahiri told James who grunted his consent, albeit grudgingly. The three split up, James taking the left street and following the map's directions. Tahiri took the right street, following her sense through the force and Kirk made his way down the center street, heading straight out of the alley.

Tahiri walked slowly so she didn't miss any presences in the force. It was hard because there didn't seem to be anyone around period. She sighed, her misty breath coming out in tiny clouds. Being so low on Coruscant was colder than she thought it would be. Tahiri kept going, glancing around and reaching out with the force at every corner. After ten minutes there was still nothing.

She then felt a twitch in the back of her mind and whirled around, "James-" She found herself face to face with not James but a tall man around twenty with piercing all over his ears and a large scar down his face running into his neck. His dark clothing and the shadows of the streets hid his face, but she could see red paint on the side of his face that wasn't scarred. He had black gloves on and walked with a loose stride that reminded Tahiri of a giraffe.

"What's a girl like you doing down here?" The man's cool voice asked. His red brown eyes watched her unwaveringly. Tahiri felt herself shiver inside but didn't outwardly show it.

"Don't mess with me." She snapped. Her hand went to her lightsaber then she realized it wasn't there.

"Nice weapon you've got here." The man grinned, as he crouched on top of a trash can, examining her lightsaber. "Could get a good price with the Peace Brigade." Tahiri's mind raced. This guy was a pick-pocket and a pawn seller. Tahiri's insides seethed with anger that the Peace Brigade would accept sales from a person like him. Normally it was a crime but apparently the Peace Brigade didn't care about that.

"You a Jedi?" The man looked over at her, an almost childish excitement in his eyes. He leapt down and came closer to her. His breath smelled of liquor and faintly of smoke. The man kept coming and Tahiri used the force to push the man against the wall then broke into a run.

The man followed behind her, leaping from roof to roof, he was nimble and quick. He dropped in front of her and grabbed her arm before pushing her against a wall. He played with a lock of her hair and Tahiri couldn't move. The man had a firm grip on her arm. He leaned forward, pressing himself closer to Tahiri who turned her head away as much as possible. She searched her head for something the force could do to get rid of this guy but she didn't know how far away Kirk was and James couldn't feel her through the force.

She felt stupid for being so helpless. For letting this guy steal her lightsaber. That she couldn't defend herself without it. Tahiri kicked the man but he didn't move an inch. She punched his with her free arm but he grabbed it. Then leaned closer. Tahiri sent signals of distress through her mind, though she knew that only Kirk would be able to feel them.

A blur of motion came to the side of the man and he was on the ground, blood trickling from a gash in his head. She lost all feeling in her legs and dropped to the ground. Tahiri saw a hand reaching over and it pulled her to her feet. She looked up into James' face.

"Are you okay?" He held her lightsaber in his hand. She nodded slowly, still staring at the man on the ground. James kicked him to make sure he wasn't going to get up. He didn't. His eyes came around to look at Tahiri.

"How come he had your lightsaber?" He handed it back to her and she fumbled to click it back into her belt. He reached over and clipped it for her.

"He stole it while I wasn't paying attention. I can't believe I didn't sense him."

"You should use your street smarts here, not the force." James said, glancing around. "We should go find Kirk." He walked with her back the way she had come and past the alley where they turned to walk up the street Kirk had taken.

James looked over at Tahiri, "Are you sure you're okay?" His gray eyes were serious and genuinely concerned. Tahiri shook her head wordlessly.

"Slimy hutt." James spat on the ground as though spitting on the man. "It's creeps like him who give the Peace Brigade a bad name."

"They don't all do sales?" Tahiri asked, managing to find her voice.

James shook his head. "Not the group I was with. We only did supply runs and exchanges."

"Of prisoners." Tahiri added pointedly.

"Yeah… but I'd never do anything like that." He added in a hushed voice. James didn't say anything else for a while. He honestly wasn't proud of the fact that his surrogate family had traded Jedi for his life but he was grateful to be alive and had them to thank for it. What else could he have done? Staying in the Yuuzhan Vong slave camps wasn't an option, no more than continually stabbing yourself until you bled to death. It wasn't worth living in a place like that. You were better off dead.

"How did you find me?" Tahiri's thoughts suddenly jumped to how James had found her in the midst of all those alleyways and at the right moment too. It was too coincidental that he happened to find her right then.

"Gut feeling, I guess. I just followed my instincts and then I found you." He kicked a rock absentmindedly. Tahiri was still perplexed. It was still too strange that James had managed to find her, especially when there were a million streets to go down in Coruscant. He also wasn't going in the same direction she was. But she decided to leave it at that.

"Thanks." She said, smiling at him for what seemed like the first time since she'd first met him.

" Um, you're welcome." He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and continued to focus his attention on the streets around them. Kirk then appeared around the corner.

"Tahiri, are you okay? I felt that you were in trouble."

"Can't you see she's fine?" James said, exasperatedly. Tahiri felt gratitude towards James for not telling Kirk what happened.

"Oh, I must've felt something else." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, let's stick together, I feel like I've got a lead now." Kirk lead the way down the street and reached out with the force to guide him back to where he was before.

Tahiri and James followed behind Kirk, both felt somewhat guilty not telling Kirk about Tahiri's encounter with the street thug but in the end it didn't matter. Tahiri felt better walking beside James than walking alone like she was before. It was a strange feeling and she pushed it aside as Kirk stopped at a small building that had boarded up windows, had peeling black paint and a sign that said "Raven's Lodge." Kirk gestured for James and Tahiri to follow him. They opened the door and as soon as they entered, someone fired a blaster at the wall near the door.

"Oh, sorry about that." Said the only man in the room standing with his blaster out. He shoved it back into his belt next to a metallic cylinder. He had a frightening appearance despite how soft and friendly his voice sounded. He had an eye patch over his right eye and short wavy brown hair that didn't go past his ears and stuck close to his head. He had sharp golden colored eyes and a clean cut beard. He had brown gloves on his hands and was wearing a red vest over his black shirt. On the bar was a brown robe that Tahiri knew belonged to a Jedi. It was probably Claus' since the man seemed like he loved to flaunt his status as a Jedi rather than hide it. Many wouldn't feel the same because of the Peace Brigade but Claus looked for the Peace Brigade to get annoyed and attack because that gave him an excuse to kill members of the Peace Brigade. Tahiri figured this because of the packet profile on Claus and because she felt his intense passion against the Peace Brigade emanating from him.

"Claus." Kirk nodded to the man. Tahiri found herself unsurprised by the man's appearance. He certainly looked the part of a man who did not take loyalty lightly. Those around him also had lightsabers or blasters or both. Their vests were the same as Claus', red with a small symbol of a silver lightsaber etched into the front.

"Kirk Dekim." Claus replied as though amusing himself by saying Kirk's name. He came over to Kirk, his sharp eyes burning into Kirk's. "What can the Silver Blade Squad do for you?"