The three had hardly been separated fifteen minutes when Jax's voice rang through the house. "Hey, guy, I think I've found the parts we need. Could I get a hand in here?"
Nelkf bounded down the stairs and nearly crashed into Cail in the main room. She noticed he had something in his hand just before he hid it behind his back.
"What did you take?" she asked, trying to see around him.
Cail moved so she couldn't see behind him. "Nothing," he replied calmly.
"Cail," she unsheathed her lightsaber and held it menacingly. She held out a hand. "Give it here."
Cail moved nose to nose with her. "You wouldn't kill me."
Nelkf was about to reply that blood on her hands was not a problem, but then her sensitive nose smelt that smell on his breath. "Cail!"
"What?"
"You're drinking again!" she hissed.
"No, I'm not."
"I can smell it."
"Uhhh...it's your imagination."
"Then what's behind your back?"
Cail rolled his eyes in thought. "Paper starfighters?" he asked hopefully.
Nelkf looked at him coldly. "Give it too me. You're not supposed to have that."
"No way. It's mine."
"It belongs to Ky's family."
"Well, the Imps got Ky, and she said she left me something, maybe this is it."
Nelkf hissed, feeling the thin line of fuzz along her back rise in anger. "How much of that did you drink anyway?"
"Uh..just a little."
"You're lying."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes you are!" Nelkf was beginning to lose her patience.
"I'm only taking a few creative liberties."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
Just then, Jax appeared. "Nel, I asked for a hand..." his voice trailed off as he saw the half-empty bottle in Cail's hands. Cail only grinned sheepishly. Jax turned to Nelkf. "Told you."
"He stole it!" she protested. In her culture, that was punishable by the Labyrinth.
Jax shook his head, not wishing to get involved in another argument. Cail just looked at her curiously, wondering what she would do now.
Nelkf threw up her arms in disgust. "Oh, forget it! You're both impossible."
Cail seemed to snicker. Nelkf was debating whether or not anyone would care if Cail walked away from here with a broken leg. No, she finally decided. He's your friend, and you don't get your friends hospitalized. At least not on purpose.
"If you two are finished," Jax said with a sigh, "I still need a hand with these parts in the garage."
"Why are you always in such a rush?" Cail wondered.
Nelkf hissed at him, managing to keep her temper under control and still sound angry. "Because those goons will figure out we're here eventually. Notice they're a step ahead of us and head back."
Jax nodded. "Right, and we have to see if we can get out of here in the few minutes between the time they're coming here and we're going away. Okay?"
Cail lowered his eyes. "Okay." he muttered.
The three friends headed into the garage, still a little uneasy. It was hard to walk about calmly in a place where a friend once was, until kidnapped by a devious adversary. Even the Sklinth found herself slightly jittery.
Jax stopped by an open crate of parts that Nelkf could make neither tails nor heads of. "Here," Jax said, giving the box a swift kick. "These are the parts we need to patch up the Casino."
Nelkf moved around the front of the box. "Need a help lifting it?" she asked.
Jax nodded. "That was the general idea."
Nelkf gripped the sides of the crate, wishing for the thousandth time in her life that her species had claws. Jax did likewise. "Come one Cail," he called. "Aren't you going to help us out?"
Cail sighed and then he too, crammed his hands beneath the box and began to lift.
All three strained, the box moved just a little. Nelkf and Jax looked at each other. Yes! They just might be able to lift it.
The Sklinth's muscles were being strained, and her lungs felt as if at any moment they would implode. The box lifted a little more....
At last, the box crashed back to the floor. All three gasped, trying to regain their breath. Their muscles ached, their lungs seemed to be on fire, their fingertips felt as if they were being burned by acid. It was no use. The box was too heavy.
Cail shook his head. "Guys, there's no way we can lift this."
Jax raised his eyes to Nelkf. She could tell what was meant in them. The problem was, could they get away with it? Yes, he thought they could. But did she?
A strange smile crept across her face. Maybe they could. She looked towards Cail. "I don't know. We might be able to."
"Nelkf, are you sure you want to try this?" Jax asked. "I mean, the Force is supposed to be dangerous when you aren't trained with it, right?"
Cail looked from one to the other as if they were insane. "Force? Nel, Jax, have you both lost your minds completely? There's no such thing!"
The Sklinth narrowed her eyes into dark green slits. "We're going to find out about that."
Jax put his hands back on the crate. "Let's get on with this." he said calmly.
Nelkf, too, placed her hands on the top of the box. "Now we're going to see exactly what we can do with this Force thing." She turned to face Cail. "Are you going to help?"
Cail looked puzzled. "Me?"
Nelkf nodded. "I think you can. Jax can, and no one had to give him a lightsaber and tell him."
"Yeah, I might have found out sooner or later. Nelkf, I don't think she would have." Jax told him.
Cail shrugged and put his hands on top of the box as well. "This'll never work."
"Neither will your brain unless you give it a try," Nelkf hissed.
Jax glared at her. "Quite making wisecracks and concentrate, Nel."
Alright, don't worry, I will. The Sklinth shut her eyes and focused on the crate's image in her mind. "Picture it," she whispered.
A moment later, Jax's voice replied back. "Think it."
Nelkf thought of the box, lifting. As if she had placed her hands underneath it. As if her hands were stronger then any three of them together. "Lift it," she whispered softly.
Cail shook his head, he didn't think it would work. But as Nelkf and Jax told him what to do, he could begin to see exactly what they meant. Maybe he could lift it...
Again, the box began to lift, but slowly this time. The three were surprised, and their concentration almost broke, but someone -none of them knew who- hissed not to loose the image. The box stayed in the air, and stepping silently around, they managed to guide the box out into the night air. Not one of them noticed that they were holding their breath.
"In the speeder," Jax instructed. It was uncertain whether or not he was talking to the box or them. "in the speeder."
In an instant, the crate dropped into the speeder. All three opened their eyes and looked at each other in puzzlement. Nelkf shuddered and felt as if she was going to faint again. No, she snarled at herself. Not again. Not if you expect to be Jedi you don't. How can you train if every time you use the Force you go faint? Now get a hold of yourself! She managed to keep herself from blacking out.
Jax turned to her and shook his head. "Nelkf, I think we should go to Yavin Four."
She nodded solemnly. "Yeah," she said, at a loss for words. "yeah, I think we should."
Cail blinked and looked more baffled then he had ever before. "Did we-" he said, unable to figure out how the event that had just happened, happened.
"Use the Force?" Nelkf suggested.
Cail simply nodded. "Did I-?"
"Use the Force too?" Jax put in.
"Uh, yeah."
Nelkf shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know if those were your Force powers. But, yeah, you did use the Force, essentially."
Cail shook his head. "No," he laughed. "I don't think I did. Nah."
Jax motioned towards the speeder. "We've got to get moving. We need to be able to get the Casino patched up before those goons catch up to us."
Nelkf nodded. "Right. Then to Yavin Four."
