Chapter 15
Jacen woke with a start, remembering the last thing he saw was the ground rushing up to meet him. He quickly looked around, feeling the solid ground beneath his back. As his hands searched the ground, it came across a feather.
Jacen picked it up, looked at the gold shine it gave off, then wondered which one of Kat's morphs did it come from. He sat up, looking around the forest that surrounded him. He saw his silver cloak hang from a branch and got up to get to it. Then he saw a glint of gold a hundred meters in the forest in the distance.
Jacen silently went from tree to tree, watching whatever it was that gave off the shine. When he was less than thirty meters away, a quiet voice floated toward him.
"It's all right, Jacen," Kat's said. "I'll come to you." Kat came from behind a tree with her gold wings hanging down her back, the tips slightly dragging along the grass.
"Is that one of your. . ."
"Morphs?" Kat finished for Jacen. "No. This is my true form." She looked back at her wings, then to Jacen, tears in her eyes. "The first morph that I learned was to hide them."
"What's wrong?" Jacen asked, suddenly feeling a pain in his back.
"The longer I stay in one morph, the harder it is to get to my other form. And more painful. If I had stayed in my Antooannaian morph for a few more weeks, I'd been unable to go to my true form."
A streak of blood suddenly started across the grass where Kat was standing. She reached out to the tree beside her to hold on to. Jacen ran to her to help her back to the spot where he woke up. He glanced at her back, seeing Kat's white shirt streaked red from blood.
Within a few minutes, they reached the river where Jacen told Kat to sit down at the river bank. Jacen waded into the river, tore a stripe of cloth from his shirt, soaked it in the cold river, and made his way back to Kat. He sat at her back and took the cloth, wiping away the blood from her back. Then he tore two more stripes from his shirt and wrapped them around the place where the wings was connected to her back.
"There," Jacen said after fifteen minutes. "That should stop the bleeding."
"Thank you." She got up and stretched her wings to their full eight meter span, the gold in them shined brightly in the sun. Her wings suddenly dropped and she became more alert.
Jacen was about to use his Force sense when Kat stopped him.
"No! Don't use the Force!" Kat quickly looked around and headed for the trees, motioning to Jacen to follow.
"What is it?" Jacen asked as soon as they under the leaves.
"It's that Sith," she said. "He's looking for us. But if you use the Force, he'll for sure find us." Kat led Jacen farther into the forest.
By the time they stopped, Jacen could hear a soft humming noise coming closer.
Kat pulled Jacen closer to her, their bodies touching. She wrapped her wings around them both so that their white Jedi outfits did not show. Then she brought one wing up over their heads, bring their faces closer together.
"But what about the gold?" Jacen whispered, looking down to Kat.
She just smiled and her fire stone glowed red as her wings went from gold to a mixture of greens.
"But wouldn't he detect that?" Jacen whispered.
"No. My morphing powers are not fully connected to the Force." Suddenly, a small black hover craft flew into view, stopping almost above them.
Jacen and Kat held each other tighter as the craft came closer, then the craft flew on. Jacen breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at Kat.
Kat's eyes were closed in concentration, her red stone glowing slight. *She looks so peaceful*, Jacen thought. Kat opened her eyes, looked into Jacen's and smiled.
"He's gone," Kat said as she brought down her wings and took a step back.
"Can you morph?" Jacen asked, looking around.
"No," she said as she stretched her wings once more. This time, they flashed with a metallic green instead of gold. "Not until my wings fully heal." Kat wrapped her wings around her shoulders so they wouldn't snag on a stray branch. "And the only thing I'm able to do with my morphing powers is to change the feather color or small things."
Together, they started back to the river. As they got closer, Jacen noticed that Kat's wings grew a lighter green to match the grass instead of the leaves.
"There's something wrong," Kat suddenly said as they neared the river.
"With what?"
But before she answered, the river came into view. The whole river was frozen into a thick layer of ice.
"It was that Sith," Kat said as she stepped up to the ice. "Did he say who he was?"
"Yeah. He said he was Drake Sucli."
"Sucli. An Antooannaian name," Kat said softly. She looked around as if to get a better clue of who he was. "What did he look like?"
Jacen thought back to the beginning of the fight with him. "Drake was almost like you, but his hair was black and silver. He also had a stone on his forehead like you."
"What kind of stone?"
"It looked like a really light blue."
"Light blue." Kat thought to her self for a moment to figure out the facts. Her red stone glowed brightly as she discovered the connection. "His stone is light blue. Or in other words, an icy blue. Right?"
"Yeah?"
"That means his stone is an ice stone. So that means he was the one to freeze the river," she said. She got up and walked over to where Jacen's cloak was hanging. Making sure that it was dry, she tossed it to Jacen. "Drake's really close by. We need to get going if we want to get back in time."
Kat and Jacen turned toward the forest and something flashed in the sunlight, attracting their attention. Jacen snapped his cloak around his neck and started into the forest. Kat jumped into the trees, using her wings to balance herself as she jumped from branch to branch.
After a few minutes, they reached a tree with something silver hanging from it. Kat jumped higher into the tree and found what she was looking for, hanging from a branch.
"What is it?" Jacen called up.
"It's my cloak," Kat said as she landed in front of Jacen with it in her hand. Once again, she brought her wings around her shoulders and they turned their natural gold color. Kat took her cloak and snapped it around her neck, hiding her wings completely.
Kat and Jacen started toward the direction of Theed, both hoping that they will not run into Drake again.
Chapter 16
By the time Jacen and Kat got back, it was dark and Jacen's father was already waiting for them at the palace. They had also gone through what had felt the longest rain storm they had ever seen.
They walked into the throne room soaking wet and tired. They attracted the attention of the three beings in the room at the time, the Queen, dressed as Jessie, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker.
"Where have you two been?!" Han asked as soon as he saw them. Jade and Luke was more quiet, realizing something more wrong.
"Is there something wrong, Kat?" Jade asked.
"No," Kat said quietly. "My back hurts a little. That's all."
But Luke wasn't convinced as easily. "I think we need to get back to Coruscant."
"I think we need to, too," Han said in response to Luke. He turned to Jade and thanked her for waiting with them. Five minutes later, the *Millennium Falcon* made it's way out of Naboo and into hyperspace.
"What is actually wrong?" Luke asked from his seat in the lounge.
Across from him, Jacen sat, wearing his Jedi outfit, and Kat, standing straight and still wear her cloak, looked at each other. "We were attacked," Jacen said after a moment of silence.
"Attacked?! By who?"
"A Sith named Drake," Kat said. "He was after me."
"He wanted to make Katie his apprentice," Jacen said, using Kat's real name. "He was also an Antooannaian. We fought for a few minutes, then we fell off a cliff."
"But what. . ."
"Happened?" Kat said, finishing Luke's question. "I jumped down after them. Drake got saved by a hover craft while I saved Jacen."
"Did you morph into a bird of some kind?"
"No. I found my true form."
"Your true form?"
Kat looked at Jacen and he nodded. She took a step back from the table and reached up and undid the clasped of her cloak. The silver cloth slid down her shoulders to the floor and she stretched her wings so that they hang from her shoulders, slightly opened.
At that moment, Han decided to come in. "Did any of you. . . Whoa!" said Han, having an amazed look on his face as he nearly ran into Kat's wings.
Kat turned around to face Han, bringing her wings closer to her body so she wouldn't hit him. As she did so, one of the bandages on her wing came loose and fell to the floor, letting some blood flow down Kat's back.
Jacen immediately got up and reached for a first aid kit that hung on a wall. He pulled out a strip of cloth and rebandaged Kat's wing.
"Thank you, Jacen," Kat said, smiling. She picked up her cloak and hung it on the wall beside Jacen's.
"You need to get some rest," Jacen said to Kat.
"Both of you," Luke interjected.
Jacen gave Luke a hurt look. Both Kat and Luke smiled.
"Oh, all right." Jacen turned to Kat. "Let me show you to your sleeping quarter."
But Kat had a different idea. "I'd prefer if I can sleep in here."
"But. . ."
"No but," Kat interrupted. "There is no way that I can sleep laying down with my wings trying to heal."
"She's got you there," Han said from behind Kat. Jacen glared at his father and Kat tried to hide a smile.
"Besides, I'll feel more comfortable."
"All right, all right," Jacen said. Han and Luke turned toward a different corridor to go to the Millennium Falcon's quarter's. Jacen looked down the corridor, but turned back to Kat, gave her a passionate kiss good night on the lips, then went down the corridor after the two older men, leaving the dumbfounded Antooannaian behind.
*
Jacen woke up to find his father and uncle missing from their quarter's. He quickly got dressed, hooked his lightsaber onto his belt, then went into the *Falcon*'s lounge. There he found Kat, her eyes closed and her feet six inches off the ground. Her red stone glowed slightly with a crimson red and her wings trembled just noticeably, reflecting the light so that it danced around the room.
Suddenly, Kat opened her dark eyes, fully alert. But she still stayed in the air and looked Jacen almost straight in the eye because she was a few inches higher than him and smiled.
"Very good, Katie," Luke's voice came from behind. Kat suddenly whipped around, still in the air, her wings opened a little to keep balance. "I haven't seen a Jedi that can stay in the same state of using the Force from sleep to wake." Luke smiled and walked toward them.
Kat grinned but knew not to take pride in the older Jedi's word because if she did, something might interrupt her concentration.
"We're almost to Coruscant," Han said as he walked into the lounge. Being surprised, Kat dropped to the floor with a soft thud. "What? Am I interrupting anything?"
Kat, Jacen, and Luke just smiled. Kat wrapped her wings around her shoulders, making it look like she was wearing a gold cloak.
All four of them walked into the *Falcon*'s cockpit. Kat sat down carefully so not to hurt her wings while the other's prepared to land.
Han landed the ship right beside the *Star Search* and Kat got a dark feeling from the world outside the ship. She looked at Jacen and Luke to see if they were getting the same sense. But both of them were busing themselves by shutting down different systems on the *Falcon*. Kat opened her Force sense and gasped. There seemed to be a darkness surrounding her.
Jacen looked over at Kat, seeing a look of terror on her face and her stone glowing brightly in the dim light. Jacen was alarmed and tried to sense what was wrong. But he was only able to sense a small disturbance.
"What's the matter?" Jacen finally asked, unable to figure out what was bothering her.
Kat look at him, her eyes wide with dread. "I feel a dark presence in the Force."
Their talking attracted Luke's attention. He quickly tested the Force but perceived nothing strange. "I don't sense anything."
"I g-guess you're right," Kat said after a moment.
Chapter 17
Kat went to her quarters right above the Jedi Academy, hoping to find sometime alone.
Unable to find any comfort, she ended up calling Jacen.
Jacen's face appeared on the view screen. "What's wrong?"
"It doesn't feel right here."
"Why do you say that?"
"It's Drake," Kat said, looking around nervously.
"You mean he's here?!"
"That's the problem. Too many people around. By the time I detect his powers, it'll be too late."
Jacen expression grown more worried as he thought up a plan. "Will you meet me in front of the *Star Search* in about ten minutes?"
"Yeah."
"I'll need to leave a message for my uncle and father."
*
Fifteen minutes later, Jacen and Kat jumped to hyperspace. Jacen walked in from the cockpit and saw Kat doing little tricks with the Force, lifting a candle in the air, then formed images in the flame.
"It'll be a couple of days before we reach our destination."
"And what is our destination?"
"Endor."
Kat looked up with a questioning look on her face. "But why Endor? No one lives there."
"That's my point," Jacen said, smiling. "No one lives there except the Ewoks so it would be easier to detect Drake."
"I guess you're right."
"Didn't you say that you would repair stuff on your father's ship?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Well, my computer always seems to mess up."
Kat thought for a second, then got up, her gold wings opening slightly. "You'll probably need to show me the access hatch."
Jacen smiled and led her to a some what large hole with a beam going across the top. "It's down there."
"Okay." Kat walked over to a box filled with tools and picked up three. She slid out to the middle of the beam and then tucked the front half of her shirt in and pulled her hair into a pony tail. Then she quickly fell back into the hole, but didn't fall all the way in because her legs hooked onto the beam. For a few minutes, Kat worked on the computer terminal with the occasional clanks of the tools falling.
"Who was the last person to check your computer?" Kat's voice called up.
"My dad," Jacen responded. "Why?"
Kat fell all the way down the hole, then she jumped back up, using the Force. "Well, it looked like your dad's modifications are messing up your computer." Kat looked back down the hole and, using the Force, called the tools back up and set them down in the box. "My advice is don't let your father check your computer."
Jacen just smiled. Kat wrapped her wings around her shoulders again to keep them out of the way.
"How are your wings doing?" Jacen asked.
"A couple more days and I'll be able to morph," Kat said, looking down to her wings. "How long while it take to reach Endor?"
"We should arrive within a day."
"I remembered that it took about a week to go from the Core Systems to the Outer Rim Territory." Kat rubbed her hands together underneath her wings, trying to warm them. Her shoulders trembled under her wings as they tried to warm themselves.
"What's wrong?" Jacen asked.
"Nothing," Kat said, looking down toward the floor, fidgeting with the ring on her finger. "I just miss my father."
"Why don't you tell me about your life?" Jacen asked, leading Kat toward the lounge and sat down at the table there.
Kat sat right beside him, snuggling against his shoulder, her wings still wrapped around her. Jacen put his arm around her, holding her close like she would disappear if he did not feel her touch.
"Well," she started, "I was born on Tatooine and my mother died shortly after. My dad taught me how to use my fire powers and morphing abilities. He had a deep blue water stone on his right wrist and had very little power in the Force. I would fly or run to Mos Eisley to get supplies.
"When I was about ten, we moved to Naboo. My dad taught me about the galaxy and everything I needed to know. There, I made friends with Jade and she was the only one that knew about my father's and my abilities.
"But when I was almost nineteen, we left Naboo to go to Alderaan. My father had some friends there and hoped to start a new life. Half way there, I turned nineteen and, well, you know the rest," Kat finished and looked up to Jacen.
"What was your father's and mother's name?"
Kat thought for a moment, trying to remember. "My father's was Kev, after my great, great grandfather, and my mother's was Alexandria. Dad said that mother had the powers for a Jedi but never embraced it. Now tell me about you," she said tiredly.
Jacen smiled. "I was born on Coruscant. I guess I'm the middle child. You've met my older twin sister, Jaina, but you haven't met my younger brother, Anakin." Jacen looked back down at Kat and saw her eyelids fall slightly and her breathing become shallow as she fell asleep.
Jacen didn't mind. With all this running around and the discovery of a Sith, Jacen wasn't the least bit surprised. Quietly, he went and found a blanket in one of Star Search's closets, covered Kat, then sat back down beside her and fell asleep.
Jacen woke with a start, remembering the last thing he saw was the ground rushing up to meet him. He quickly looked around, feeling the solid ground beneath his back. As his hands searched the ground, it came across a feather.
Jacen picked it up, looked at the gold shine it gave off, then wondered which one of Kat's morphs did it come from. He sat up, looking around the forest that surrounded him. He saw his silver cloak hang from a branch and got up to get to it. Then he saw a glint of gold a hundred meters in the forest in the distance.
Jacen silently went from tree to tree, watching whatever it was that gave off the shine. When he was less than thirty meters away, a quiet voice floated toward him.
"It's all right, Jacen," Kat's said. "I'll come to you." Kat came from behind a tree with her gold wings hanging down her back, the tips slightly dragging along the grass.
"Is that one of your. . ."
"Morphs?" Kat finished for Jacen. "No. This is my true form." She looked back at her wings, then to Jacen, tears in her eyes. "The first morph that I learned was to hide them."
"What's wrong?" Jacen asked, suddenly feeling a pain in his back.
"The longer I stay in one morph, the harder it is to get to my other form. And more painful. If I had stayed in my Antooannaian morph for a few more weeks, I'd been unable to go to my true form."
A streak of blood suddenly started across the grass where Kat was standing. She reached out to the tree beside her to hold on to. Jacen ran to her to help her back to the spot where he woke up. He glanced at her back, seeing Kat's white shirt streaked red from blood.
Within a few minutes, they reached the river where Jacen told Kat to sit down at the river bank. Jacen waded into the river, tore a stripe of cloth from his shirt, soaked it in the cold river, and made his way back to Kat. He sat at her back and took the cloth, wiping away the blood from her back. Then he tore two more stripes from his shirt and wrapped them around the place where the wings was connected to her back.
"There," Jacen said after fifteen minutes. "That should stop the bleeding."
"Thank you." She got up and stretched her wings to their full eight meter span, the gold in them shined brightly in the sun. Her wings suddenly dropped and she became more alert.
Jacen was about to use his Force sense when Kat stopped him.
"No! Don't use the Force!" Kat quickly looked around and headed for the trees, motioning to Jacen to follow.
"What is it?" Jacen asked as soon as they under the leaves.
"It's that Sith," she said. "He's looking for us. But if you use the Force, he'll for sure find us." Kat led Jacen farther into the forest.
By the time they stopped, Jacen could hear a soft humming noise coming closer.
Kat pulled Jacen closer to her, their bodies touching. She wrapped her wings around them both so that their white Jedi outfits did not show. Then she brought one wing up over their heads, bring their faces closer together.
"But what about the gold?" Jacen whispered, looking down to Kat.
She just smiled and her fire stone glowed red as her wings went from gold to a mixture of greens.
"But wouldn't he detect that?" Jacen whispered.
"No. My morphing powers are not fully connected to the Force." Suddenly, a small black hover craft flew into view, stopping almost above them.
Jacen and Kat held each other tighter as the craft came closer, then the craft flew on. Jacen breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at Kat.
Kat's eyes were closed in concentration, her red stone glowing slight. *She looks so peaceful*, Jacen thought. Kat opened her eyes, looked into Jacen's and smiled.
"He's gone," Kat said as she brought down her wings and took a step back.
"Can you morph?" Jacen asked, looking around.
"No," she said as she stretched her wings once more. This time, they flashed with a metallic green instead of gold. "Not until my wings fully heal." Kat wrapped her wings around her shoulders so they wouldn't snag on a stray branch. "And the only thing I'm able to do with my morphing powers is to change the feather color or small things."
Together, they started back to the river. As they got closer, Jacen noticed that Kat's wings grew a lighter green to match the grass instead of the leaves.
"There's something wrong," Kat suddenly said as they neared the river.
"With what?"
But before she answered, the river came into view. The whole river was frozen into a thick layer of ice.
"It was that Sith," Kat said as she stepped up to the ice. "Did he say who he was?"
"Yeah. He said he was Drake Sucli."
"Sucli. An Antooannaian name," Kat said softly. She looked around as if to get a better clue of who he was. "What did he look like?"
Jacen thought back to the beginning of the fight with him. "Drake was almost like you, but his hair was black and silver. He also had a stone on his forehead like you."
"What kind of stone?"
"It looked like a really light blue."
"Light blue." Kat thought to her self for a moment to figure out the facts. Her red stone glowed brightly as she discovered the connection. "His stone is light blue. Or in other words, an icy blue. Right?"
"Yeah?"
"That means his stone is an ice stone. So that means he was the one to freeze the river," she said. She got up and walked over to where Jacen's cloak was hanging. Making sure that it was dry, she tossed it to Jacen. "Drake's really close by. We need to get going if we want to get back in time."
Kat and Jacen turned toward the forest and something flashed in the sunlight, attracting their attention. Jacen snapped his cloak around his neck and started into the forest. Kat jumped into the trees, using her wings to balance herself as she jumped from branch to branch.
After a few minutes, they reached a tree with something silver hanging from it. Kat jumped higher into the tree and found what she was looking for, hanging from a branch.
"What is it?" Jacen called up.
"It's my cloak," Kat said as she landed in front of Jacen with it in her hand. Once again, she brought her wings around her shoulders and they turned their natural gold color. Kat took her cloak and snapped it around her neck, hiding her wings completely.
Kat and Jacen started toward the direction of Theed, both hoping that they will not run into Drake again.
Chapter 16
By the time Jacen and Kat got back, it was dark and Jacen's father was already waiting for them at the palace. They had also gone through what had felt the longest rain storm they had ever seen.
They walked into the throne room soaking wet and tired. They attracted the attention of the three beings in the room at the time, the Queen, dressed as Jessie, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker.
"Where have you two been?!" Han asked as soon as he saw them. Jade and Luke was more quiet, realizing something more wrong.
"Is there something wrong, Kat?" Jade asked.
"No," Kat said quietly. "My back hurts a little. That's all."
But Luke wasn't convinced as easily. "I think we need to get back to Coruscant."
"I think we need to, too," Han said in response to Luke. He turned to Jade and thanked her for waiting with them. Five minutes later, the *Millennium Falcon* made it's way out of Naboo and into hyperspace.
"What is actually wrong?" Luke asked from his seat in the lounge.
Across from him, Jacen sat, wearing his Jedi outfit, and Kat, standing straight and still wear her cloak, looked at each other. "We were attacked," Jacen said after a moment of silence.
"Attacked?! By who?"
"A Sith named Drake," Kat said. "He was after me."
"He wanted to make Katie his apprentice," Jacen said, using Kat's real name. "He was also an Antooannaian. We fought for a few minutes, then we fell off a cliff."
"But what. . ."
"Happened?" Kat said, finishing Luke's question. "I jumped down after them. Drake got saved by a hover craft while I saved Jacen."
"Did you morph into a bird of some kind?"
"No. I found my true form."
"Your true form?"
Kat looked at Jacen and he nodded. She took a step back from the table and reached up and undid the clasped of her cloak. The silver cloth slid down her shoulders to the floor and she stretched her wings so that they hang from her shoulders, slightly opened.
At that moment, Han decided to come in. "Did any of you. . . Whoa!" said Han, having an amazed look on his face as he nearly ran into Kat's wings.
Kat turned around to face Han, bringing her wings closer to her body so she wouldn't hit him. As she did so, one of the bandages on her wing came loose and fell to the floor, letting some blood flow down Kat's back.
Jacen immediately got up and reached for a first aid kit that hung on a wall. He pulled out a strip of cloth and rebandaged Kat's wing.
"Thank you, Jacen," Kat said, smiling. She picked up her cloak and hung it on the wall beside Jacen's.
"You need to get some rest," Jacen said to Kat.
"Both of you," Luke interjected.
Jacen gave Luke a hurt look. Both Kat and Luke smiled.
"Oh, all right." Jacen turned to Kat. "Let me show you to your sleeping quarter."
But Kat had a different idea. "I'd prefer if I can sleep in here."
"But. . ."
"No but," Kat interrupted. "There is no way that I can sleep laying down with my wings trying to heal."
"She's got you there," Han said from behind Kat. Jacen glared at his father and Kat tried to hide a smile.
"Besides, I'll feel more comfortable."
"All right, all right," Jacen said. Han and Luke turned toward a different corridor to go to the Millennium Falcon's quarter's. Jacen looked down the corridor, but turned back to Kat, gave her a passionate kiss good night on the lips, then went down the corridor after the two older men, leaving the dumbfounded Antooannaian behind.
*
Jacen woke up to find his father and uncle missing from their quarter's. He quickly got dressed, hooked his lightsaber onto his belt, then went into the *Falcon*'s lounge. There he found Kat, her eyes closed and her feet six inches off the ground. Her red stone glowed slightly with a crimson red and her wings trembled just noticeably, reflecting the light so that it danced around the room.
Suddenly, Kat opened her dark eyes, fully alert. But she still stayed in the air and looked Jacen almost straight in the eye because she was a few inches higher than him and smiled.
"Very good, Katie," Luke's voice came from behind. Kat suddenly whipped around, still in the air, her wings opened a little to keep balance. "I haven't seen a Jedi that can stay in the same state of using the Force from sleep to wake." Luke smiled and walked toward them.
Kat grinned but knew not to take pride in the older Jedi's word because if she did, something might interrupt her concentration.
"We're almost to Coruscant," Han said as he walked into the lounge. Being surprised, Kat dropped to the floor with a soft thud. "What? Am I interrupting anything?"
Kat, Jacen, and Luke just smiled. Kat wrapped her wings around her shoulders, making it look like she was wearing a gold cloak.
All four of them walked into the *Falcon*'s cockpit. Kat sat down carefully so not to hurt her wings while the other's prepared to land.
Han landed the ship right beside the *Star Search* and Kat got a dark feeling from the world outside the ship. She looked at Jacen and Luke to see if they were getting the same sense. But both of them were busing themselves by shutting down different systems on the *Falcon*. Kat opened her Force sense and gasped. There seemed to be a darkness surrounding her.
Jacen looked over at Kat, seeing a look of terror on her face and her stone glowing brightly in the dim light. Jacen was alarmed and tried to sense what was wrong. But he was only able to sense a small disturbance.
"What's the matter?" Jacen finally asked, unable to figure out what was bothering her.
Kat look at him, her eyes wide with dread. "I feel a dark presence in the Force."
Their talking attracted Luke's attention. He quickly tested the Force but perceived nothing strange. "I don't sense anything."
"I g-guess you're right," Kat said after a moment.
Chapter 17
Kat went to her quarters right above the Jedi Academy, hoping to find sometime alone.
Unable to find any comfort, she ended up calling Jacen.
Jacen's face appeared on the view screen. "What's wrong?"
"It doesn't feel right here."
"Why do you say that?"
"It's Drake," Kat said, looking around nervously.
"You mean he's here?!"
"That's the problem. Too many people around. By the time I detect his powers, it'll be too late."
Jacen expression grown more worried as he thought up a plan. "Will you meet me in front of the *Star Search* in about ten minutes?"
"Yeah."
"I'll need to leave a message for my uncle and father."
*
Fifteen minutes later, Jacen and Kat jumped to hyperspace. Jacen walked in from the cockpit and saw Kat doing little tricks with the Force, lifting a candle in the air, then formed images in the flame.
"It'll be a couple of days before we reach our destination."
"And what is our destination?"
"Endor."
Kat looked up with a questioning look on her face. "But why Endor? No one lives there."
"That's my point," Jacen said, smiling. "No one lives there except the Ewoks so it would be easier to detect Drake."
"I guess you're right."
"Didn't you say that you would repair stuff on your father's ship?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Well, my computer always seems to mess up."
Kat thought for a second, then got up, her gold wings opening slightly. "You'll probably need to show me the access hatch."
Jacen smiled and led her to a some what large hole with a beam going across the top. "It's down there."
"Okay." Kat walked over to a box filled with tools and picked up three. She slid out to the middle of the beam and then tucked the front half of her shirt in and pulled her hair into a pony tail. Then she quickly fell back into the hole, but didn't fall all the way in because her legs hooked onto the beam. For a few minutes, Kat worked on the computer terminal with the occasional clanks of the tools falling.
"Who was the last person to check your computer?" Kat's voice called up.
"My dad," Jacen responded. "Why?"
Kat fell all the way down the hole, then she jumped back up, using the Force. "Well, it looked like your dad's modifications are messing up your computer." Kat looked back down the hole and, using the Force, called the tools back up and set them down in the box. "My advice is don't let your father check your computer."
Jacen just smiled. Kat wrapped her wings around her shoulders again to keep them out of the way.
"How are your wings doing?" Jacen asked.
"A couple more days and I'll be able to morph," Kat said, looking down to her wings. "How long while it take to reach Endor?"
"We should arrive within a day."
"I remembered that it took about a week to go from the Core Systems to the Outer Rim Territory." Kat rubbed her hands together underneath her wings, trying to warm them. Her shoulders trembled under her wings as they tried to warm themselves.
"What's wrong?" Jacen asked.
"Nothing," Kat said, looking down toward the floor, fidgeting with the ring on her finger. "I just miss my father."
"Why don't you tell me about your life?" Jacen asked, leading Kat toward the lounge and sat down at the table there.
Kat sat right beside him, snuggling against his shoulder, her wings still wrapped around her. Jacen put his arm around her, holding her close like she would disappear if he did not feel her touch.
"Well," she started, "I was born on Tatooine and my mother died shortly after. My dad taught me how to use my fire powers and morphing abilities. He had a deep blue water stone on his right wrist and had very little power in the Force. I would fly or run to Mos Eisley to get supplies.
"When I was about ten, we moved to Naboo. My dad taught me about the galaxy and everything I needed to know. There, I made friends with Jade and she was the only one that knew about my father's and my abilities.
"But when I was almost nineteen, we left Naboo to go to Alderaan. My father had some friends there and hoped to start a new life. Half way there, I turned nineteen and, well, you know the rest," Kat finished and looked up to Jacen.
"What was your father's and mother's name?"
Kat thought for a moment, trying to remember. "My father's was Kev, after my great, great grandfather, and my mother's was Alexandria. Dad said that mother had the powers for a Jedi but never embraced it. Now tell me about you," she said tiredly.
Jacen smiled. "I was born on Coruscant. I guess I'm the middle child. You've met my older twin sister, Jaina, but you haven't met my younger brother, Anakin." Jacen looked back down at Kat and saw her eyelids fall slightly and her breathing become shallow as she fell asleep.
Jacen didn't mind. With all this running around and the discovery of a Sith, Jacen wasn't the least bit surprised. Quietly, he went and found a blanket in one of Star Search's closets, covered Kat, then sat back down beside her and fell asleep.