Darkness and dust. Sounds of fighting, but far away, muffled. Miriah became aware that she was alive, but struggled to breathe, feeling her heart racing. What had happened?
Magdalane dropped the heavy plate she was carrying, littering the galley floor with food as she rushed to the airlock. Caly could only gape at her as she ran through the small landing area and toward where the welcome center opened into the market. Mags had felt the fear Miriah had, as well as Maura's desperation, and nothing else mattered. Stopping for only a few seconds, Mags found her direction and ran, using the force for speed, until she could see Aric, who stood over where Maura was sitting, braced on a wall that had been half blown away.
"She's down there," Maura moaned, holding her hands on either side of her head.
"Are you hurt?" Mags saw how pale and shaken Maura was, and wanted to make sure that she was not injured first.
"No, I'm okay. The usual, tired and a little dizzy, but okay." Mags considered the meds Maura was taking for her virus and nodded.
"Mir will be fine," Mags cooed, holding Maura close and infusing her with force. She felt Maura steady and pulled Aric down to sit beside his wife. "I'll go see if I can see her."
Corso had tried to grab Miriah as they fell, but only grazed his fingertips on her arm, and he knew she'd fallen hard. He had only just regained his breath when he rolled to where he thought she was, wiping blood from his eyes. A gash on his forehead had a steady drip of the red stuff going, and he hastily pushed against it as he struggled to find Miriah. Finally, after what felt like hours, he heard her take in air and knew the direction he was going was correct. Behind him, Torian groaned and he stopped moving for a second, torn between who to check on first. After a second, he heard Torian speak.
"Over there," he said, and Corso nodded. He reached Miriah's side and felt his own heart settle as he reached to feel hers beating beneath his fingers.
"Easy, Mir. You took a nasty fall," he whispered, and saw her silver eyes blink. "Are you hurt?"
Miriah did a quick inventory. Her arms and hands were fine, and she reached to touch Corso's face, wincing at the cut that continued to bleed. "I'm okay," she said soflty, still trying to overcome the loss of air she'd had pushed out of her lungs when she'd hit the stone floor on which she now lay. Moving her knees, she was testing her feet when she cried out. "I'm not entirely okay," she said, her eyes closed. Her ankle was not responding, and she reached for her kolto gun before remembering she had nothing, at Aric's request.
Corso pulled Miriah against him and helped her stand, her left foot limp and swelling. Kneeling, he pulled the long throwing knife from it's sheath on her boot and cut through the leather, freeing her foot. "There, that's all we can do right now."
Torian made his way to them, and other than dirt he looked unharmed. "Torian, any injuries?" Miriah asked, and was reassured when he shook his head. "Thank the force. Cor, cut some of this undershirt for a bandage for your head," she instructed, and saw him pull the tail of her shirt from under her tunic and cut a swath of the cloth, then the end of it again, folding the square and pressing it against the wound while she pulled the long piece around his head, securing it with a square knot. "There, my pirate love,' she teased, kissing his nose and getting a slight grin. There was a dot of sunlight at the top of the chamber they'd fallen into, but it was far away. The light they could see was coming from some wall units, and it appeared to be part of an underground network that ran under the palace. "Maybe we can follow this and get out?" she asked.
Corso had ventured forward a few feet and saw that there was a main path and several smaller tunnels going out from it. "Possible," he murmured, and tried his relay.
Aric had been trying to call out to them, to no avail. Finally he tore the relay from his ear and smashed it on the ground, taking his frustration out on the device. "I don't know what to do now," he growled.
"I can always talk to Mir through our force link," Mags said, putting her hand on Aric's arm. "She says she hurt her ankle and Corso has a large cut, but Torian is fine. They see an underground tunnel system, can you elaborate on what it is and where it goes?" She saw the light in Aric's eyes when he realized they were all okay, and when he turned to his holo to find Lana.
Lana had just stretched out on her sofa when her holo rang, and it was across the room. Struggling to her feet, she finally made her way to it to see Aric, and he appeared flustered. When he explained what had happened, she took a deep breath. "Hold on, I'll bring up my datapad, I have the specs on the building there, maybe they extend to the underground level." She pulled her datapad out of her bag, flustered when it took finding the third one before the detailed schematic was viewable. "Here, I have it. If they go north from where they are, they should come up under the throne room. Are you sure they're okay?"
"Mags is, she's communicating with Mir through their force link," he explained. "I'll update you when we recover them."
"Please do," Lana said, her voice soft. Her friends were in danger, and here she was napping, she thought.
"Lana, don't take this on yourself. You know you couldn't have predicted this," Aric warned, seeing her expression change. "Just let Dev know, and we'll be in touch, okay?"
"Absolutely," Lana said, and the signal was lost. She hurried to the elevator down to the main floor and was halfway across the war room when Devin intercepted her. He already knew, from his Aunt Mags, and wanted her to sit. He pulled an empty chair to him with the force and when she had caught her breath, Lana looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
"They're all okay, Lana. Even Mom just has a minor injury. They'll go down the tunnel and come up in the main building, and then go from there. It's okay, really." They heard a small cry and turned to see Nico with Tali, who had insisted that her teacher call him. Tali knew something had happened, and was worried about her mother. She rushed to where Lana sat and hugged her tightly.
"Mama, you and the baby are okay?" she asked when she pulled back to look in Lana's eyes. Lana explained what had happened, and Tali grew still.
"The 'Mander hurt her foot but she feels good everywhere else," Tali said, and her tiny force aura receded. Lana had forgotten their force bond, but it made her smile that her daughter was so force aware. Devin noted the aura too, and thought about Merida, who had started to show her force aura only a few days ago. Tali's was a soft yellow, but Merida had an almost ice blue aura, telling Devin that no matter what he or Mia wished, she would be a guardian, a protector of the highest order. Like himself. Now, he knelt on the floor.
"Tali, thank you for looking out for the Commander," he said gravely, seeing her blush. "She's my mother, and I worry about her. Now, I know that you're keeping an eye on her too, and it makes me feel better."
"She wants to come home," Tali said softly, and Devin hugged her gently.
"I want her to come home, too. Maybe soon." Nico helped Lana stand, and with a wave, the family walked toward their home, leaving Devin watching them and wishing for his parents.
Corso shook the dizziness out of his head and pulled Miriah close. "Darlin', you just take your time. Between me and Torian, we can support you all you need to get down this tunnel."
Miriah hugged Torian as he approached them. "I'm in good hands, sugar. Mags just said if we stay north, we'll end up under the main building. Then, we can figure the rest of this out." She tried to smile at him, but she was already tired and wasn't sure how long she could hobble along. Gingerly, she stood and balanced with a hand on Corso's arm. When her leg didn't give away, she nodded. "Let's get started, then." Slowly they made their way toward the first light, but they saw beings materialize from the darkness.
"I don't think these are friendlies," Torian said, and pulled his blaster. Miriah reached for hers, and sighed when she realized she didn't have any weapons, except her knife. Corso bent to pull his small blaster from his boot, and handed it to her with a grin.
"Here, darlin'. This should be okay," he told her.
"Now, you know I love it when you hand me weapons," she purred at him, and he laughed. He should have known she'd try to make the best of things, and hugged her to him again. Torian grinned at him over her head, but turned as he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.
"We've been spotted," he said quickly, and fired. For the next several minutes, they defended themselves against the men in the tunnel, and then a group of mangy, hungry beasts. When they were the only ones standing, Miriah leaned against the wall.
"Well, here's hoping there are too many more groups like that," she said, her eyebrow raised.
"Let's find out," Corso said, taking the lead, Miriah on his arm.
"They're being fired on!" Mags squealed, and Aric immediately looked down the crevasse, even though logically he was aware he wouldn't be able to see them. Caly had finally been updated, and she sat with Maura, holding her hands. Maura still looks pale, Mags thought, but she's not going to be better soon. Instead of worrying, Mags concentrated on what Miriah was thinking. "They're okay now," she told the others. "Maybe we should move up to the main building, meet them when they surface."
Aric stood slowly. "Good plan, Mags. I just hate to leave the spot I saw them last, I guess."
"We'll be ready with kolto and hugs," Caly said, standing up and pulling her aunt up with her. They made their way around the palace guards and emergency medical teams who had appeared to deal with the citizens in the area. Caly wondered why there was so little uproar, and wondered if they were all just used to the skirmishes and ground quakes and such. I'm already ready to go, she thought, and hoped that Torian was safe.
Miriah was cold and shivering, which didn't help her balance, and more than once she'd stumbled into the cold water, making the situation worse. Corso helped her up and took her in his arms. "Just hush," he told her when she started to protest, and they made their way toward the north. He was just fine carrying his love, and much preferred it to her being miserable. Torian was leading, and he was watching the young man closely. Without the splashing of Mir, and able to move faster, he was feeling more confident that they'd reach the palace quickly. Suddenly Torian stopped and signaled that there were more hostiles ahead. Shifting Miriah to his back, he raised his blaster and joined Torian in firing. Miriah got a few shots in as well, he saw, over his left shoulder. When all was quite again except for their breathing, they cautiously started forward.
Lana had been pacing, and assured Nico that it was not due to practice contractions. No, Lana thought, I'm just anxious. "I'm going down for some dinner for us, try to sit and rest, at least a little, love," Nico told her, his face reflecting his own anxiety.
Lana smiled and slowed. "I will, I promise," she replied, and when she did sit, the fatigue of the day enveloped her. Closing her eyes, she felt Tali's force slide over her, and smiled. Tali, love, thank you. I love you so much, she told her daughter, and felt the warmth soothe her. She was sleeping when Nico returned, and Tali was doing the classwork she had abandoned when she had felt her mother's fear. He looked in on Lana and saw Tali put her finger over her closed lips, and couldn't hide his smile.
Devin cleared the desk and made his way home, just wanting to hug his wife and kids. Mia knew what was happening on Onderon, but was hoping to keep it from Merida until he was home to help her deal with it. As he approached the house, he knew they'd failed, and Merida was crying as if she was injured herself. He took the little girl in his arms, and she started to try to communicate in the force. All he could make out was that she was afraid for Mimi and scared she'd never see her again. Pulling on his own force connection, he saw the amazement on her face when time slowed around them and his voice came from the force itself. She is fine, and they will get home, I promise, Merida. Your Mimi loves you and I am in contact with them as well. Merida's very light blue eyes bore into his and she knew it was true. Just like that, she settled in his arms and he released the force he had called. She snuffled on his shoulder as Mia approached them, hugging them both. Declan played on, not noticing or not caring that there was so much drama around him. Maybe, Devin thought, he was just trying to lend some normalcy to Merida's temper. Whatever the reason, Devin sat and Declan crawled into his lap. Merida gave up to sleep, and Declan talked to his dad about speeders and playing outside in the smow. Devin focused on his son and soon they were both napping. Mia slid into his arms then, and Devin connected with his mom.
Ready for you to be back here, he told her. Are you all out of the tunnel yet?
Not yet, she replied, but I think I see the end of it ahead. Little did she know that the end was only the beginning.