Thank you for the reviews!!! Nike (Good, I'm glad you're catching on to the mood swings here. You're lucky, every move I ever made was absolutely HORRIBLE! I think in every one we at least lost one box…of course I always needed that box…heheh.) Shen Panda (You liked it? YAY! Wow, why didn't I think of that move? That would have been so good! I'll have to add something like that in here next chatper…mwhahaha. Don't worry, there will be plent of saber action coming up. Ice cream? Yippeee! Urgh, I mean yay!) Oxymoron to the 4th Power (I know!!! You know it too! I hurried with this chapter. Not very long but next one will be…ehehehheheh, full of action..heheheh. Mwhahahaha! Enjoy!)
Well, we didn't get up to 4 whole reviews but heck, it was close enough for me! Lol! Let's try again. Go 4!
You don't really have to understand the first load Jesi says about the computers, it should be easy to understand in the second explanation. If it's not tell me and I'll explain it some more some how. At any rate, enjoy! A few quick twists are in this chapter. Last twist will be significant. Hehehehe, I'm evil! *has everything planned out in that head of her's…be afraid! Be very afraid!*
Happy Reading!
Ch. 11 Treading Dark Waters
Jesi looked at the Jedi before her and glanced at Yoda.
"Tell them what you told me, you will." Yoda said quietly.
Jesi took a breath rethinking what she had said. She had at least a dozen Jedi around her. More so even. Most of the Council and Qui-Gon along with Obi-wan and a few other Knights.
"The team I brought in today has discovered some..'missing pieces' down in the waterways. Everything in which we've done, searches, technical scans, Force scans, they all lead to only there as the last option. Grifth, or who ever he is, must be down there…or no where in the building. That's the last place for him to be." She said.
"How do we know he's not already gone? He can't block all of us, and we can't sense him near." Adi told her leaning forward on her knees.
"That's the other..flaw. When Lt. Cpt. William Gairce and myself were in the venting controll computer we found something. A computer, laptop to be exact. It was connected to a small satellite, I believe I have come to conclude just what that satellite is doing."
"Then what is it doing?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked.
"It's an Atmospheric Equation and Expression Computer. It's a system the IGPG has used many times. On every planet that has gases in it's atmosphere or some other sort of natural resource, it's air equation is different than that of another planet. Let's take a planet that is Anti-Force Sensitive. In that planet's air is a small miscalculation and it blocks any user, or any Force presence, from it. We can easily decode that equation and recode it into that of another planet's air."
"What?" Three different Jedi asked at the same time. Jesi sighed trying to think of how to explain it.
The Jedi looked at her utterly confused.
"All I'm saying is that there's a planet called Rickiri, it's an Anti-Force planet and it's atmospheric equation is being sent here, to the temple. It's slowly beginning to block your senses of the Force. It's like a gas you can't sense being pumped into the air and it will eventually block you out completely while it's still there." Jesi prayed they understood. She remembered when her boss tried to explain the computer system to her.
"Why didn't you say that in the first place? We understand that." A young Knight said with a smile to lighten the mood. A few other smiles broke out but quickly disappeared.
"What do we do about it?" Mace asked raspily.
"I can reput the system. Make it back track." Jesi said directly to him.
"Why don't we just go down there and unplug it?" Obi-Wan asked.
"You can't do that. The computer has sent these equations into the air, the only way to get things back to normal is to make it back track and therefore the air will return to it's natural state." She told him.
"And I'm guessing that no one in here has ever handled that type of system before?" Jesi said looking around at them. Silence stood.
"That's why I have to go back down there. If it's not handled correctly, things could go Very wrong."
"How wrong?" Plo-Koon asked.
"Wrong as in it could totally back fire and pretty much eliminate any oxygen in the air making everyone suffocate and die." She told him blankly.
The Jedi looked at her.
"Who would go with you?" Obi-Wan asked.
She looked at him square in the eye, "A member from my team, and that's it. The more people, the more complicated."
"Then take one Jedi instead of a team member." Qui-Gon said quietly.
"I need someone who's familiar with the system. Like I said, any mistake could lead to disaster." She replied.
"You need someone familiar with the Temple passages." Qui-Gon corrected.
"I'm plenty capable of getting there and back."
"And if something happens in the process?"
"Then I'll wing it! That's all I can do. Now either I do this and help all of you get your senses back or you can keep me here and argue with me while Grifth and who ever he's with stroll right out of here with two very powerful children." Jesi retorted sourly.
The Jedi looked amoung themselves but Qui-Gon just kept an icy glare on Jesi, but she didn't look away.
"I have to do this." She said.
"What's one more person with you? A Jedi at that." Mace asked.
"I don't want to risk anything Master Windu. No innocent lives will be taken on my account." She told him but still kept a steady glare on Qui-Gon.
Mace looked away from her and to Yoda. "Master Yoda?"
Yoda sat silently for a moment, his dark eyes blinking slowly looking from person to person in the small room.
"Sorry I am, that it has come down to this. Better than this, we are. To argue amongst ourselves while life is threatened by every moment, is shameful. Do what we must, correct Master Qui-Gon?" Yoda said looking at the Jedi Master. Qui-Gon didn't look away, only met the wise gaze.
"Do what we must. Jesi, along with her choosen team mate, will go to the computer. Disable it, you will. Master Mace and Master Qui-Gon, choose people among you to go find the missing infants, you will in the mean time. Dangerous this is, but darkness swells around us, threatening to over come us. Risks we must take." He nodded to Jesi who quickly stood leaving the group.
"Jesi." Qui-Gon called moving to catch up to her.
"Just take someone with you. I have a bad feeling about this. Take anyone with you." He said following her a ways until she stopped and turned to face him.
"Get my children back Qui-Gon. Forget about me, just get them back." Jesi said softly turning back down the corridor and walking away.
"Qui-Gon." Mace called for him to enter the room again.
***********
"Jes, you ok?" A female member of the team, named Kavera, asked entering the fresher.
Jesi splashed water on her face again and grabbed a paper towel. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You don't look all that fine Captain." Kavera said gently. "You know Macrus is pleanty capable of doing this on his own."
"No, I need to do it myself. I'm sure there's trick wires throughout it." Jesi said pushing off the sink counter and looking at her. Kily studied her.
"Macrus can do it Jes. He's the best there is behind you." She said softly. "Don't risk your life for a cause that could be easily dealt with."
"Who says I'm risking my life? It's a simple job for a person who knows how to do it. Nothing's going to happen down there." Jesi assured her throwing the balled up paper towel in the waste bin.
Kavera took a deep breath, obvisiously not agreeing with this. "Just keep this close." She handed her a small blaster.
Jesi gave her a half smile. The Jedi were supposed to unarm them completely when they took them in.
"I will." Jesi told her moving past. "I'll come back, don't worry so much."
Kavera sighed. "Maybe you just don't worry enough…" She thought back to a small instant in which Jesi took the blaster, her hands were white and shaking badly. Something wasn't right with her, but if she wasn't going to tell anyone, then nothing could be done…
**********
"Jesi said she should have the system down within 10 minutes. The natural air will be reput within 15." Obi-Wan said softly to his Master as they moved down the stairs. With them were Mace, Adi, Siri, Knight Kigal Endoran, a team member from Jesi, Commander Geriti, and the two of them. Not a big party, but enough to sink the boat.
"Good, that should give us enough time to get far enough inside the waterway itself." Qui-Gon replied quietly.
"Master, do you sense something I don't? You seem uptight." Obi-Wan asked.
"Something's just not right Padawan. More so now then ever, I can feel it. The Council is around the boy right?" His master replied as Mace and Kigal opened the hatch to the waterway.
"Yes Master. Those left are with him." Obi-Wan told him.
"Drop down one by one." Mace said. Adi stepped up to be first.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shit." Jesi hissed.
"What is it?" Wesly Macrus asked. He was a rather large Epinton. Blue in color, powerful arms yet slim fingers, and kind of stocky build.
"System needs a pass word." Jesi told him going back through the lines of outside memory. A small trick she'd learned over the years.
"Can you get in?" He asked hovering over her shoulder.
"Yeah, give me a second." She said, equations and codes flashing over her eyes.
"Anything?" Macrus asked a few minutes later.
"Maybeeee….Got it! Go over to the power system, those switches over there." Jesi instructed pointing to a large switch box.
"When I tell you, start with the green one to your left and move every time I say go, got it?"
"Yes."
She typed in a few figures, "One, two, Go."
Macrus flicked the switch and gears within the venting moaned and the rush of air blew through.
Typing, "One, two, go."
Again.
Typing, "One, two, go."
Again.
Typing, "One, two, go."
Again.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The 6 Jedi and one team member waded through the water on the member's lead. At times they had to dive under in particular areas to get to the hatches below. After nearly 15 minutes of this wading, and swimming, and following, Obi-Wan felt a small tingle around him. He paused and looked around.
"What is it?" Siri whispered from the left of him.
"Can you feel that?" He whispered back.
Siri was silent a moment. "No. I don't feel anything."
"Someone knows we here." He said quietly.
"Very good young Obi-Wan!" A voice called out making everyone freeze turning around and looking for the voice that seemed not to originate from anywhere.
"You're a little quicker than the rest of them aren't you?" It called. It was Grifth, Obi-Wan was sure of it.
"Show yourself, Trace." Mace ordered.
"Demanding aren't we Master? Oops, Former Master." A chuckle filled the air.
"No thank you though, I don't like to swim, you know that." A rumble throughout the tunnel made Qui-Gon look down a passage they had just went through. Water suddenly slammed around the corner and rushed towards them.
"Dive under!" He shouted.
Each person did so but never-the-less they were ripped apart from eachother as the water upturned everything else. Whirl pools spun them around dizzily. Sudden currents forced them one way, and another the other way. All they could see were bubbles and once and a while a hand or a form of another person before they were swept away again.
~~~~~~~~
The controll room shook and gears back turned as Jesi was closing down the computer system.
"What the hell was that?" Macrus asked as everything stopped shaking.
"I don't kno-" A signal flashed across one of the large computer screens. Section B28 of Location B9 was steadily flooding. "That son of a bitch."
"What is it?"
"He's flooding the water tunnels. He's going to drown them." She said standing from the laptop and going to the large computer.
"Who's 'he'?" Macrus asked.
"Grifth, the man responsible for all of this." She said entering the computer access. Readings filled the screen and she lost herself in them. Not even looking at Marcus. Selecting one area she recoded the directions. The area shook again and the gears changed.
Flooding was now spreading, allowing there to be space from them to surface and breathe.
"We're done here. We sho-" Jesi froze looking at Macrus. He was about 6 inches off the ground…and he wasn't moving. It looked like someone had a grip on his neck, his throat.
"Grifth isn't the only man resonsible for all of this." A rusty voice said.
Jesi didn't move. She didn't know who he was, where he was, or what he was doing.
"Then who's the other man?" She asked quietly.
A dark figure stepped out from behind a shadowed computer panel. Jesi subconsiously took a step back bumping into the computer.
Then who…or what…is my problem?
I am…
"You're…" She trailed off.
"Xanatos, the person you should fear most right now." He said dropping Macrus from his invisible grasp. Macrus landed in a heep, lifeless.
"You were smart to put the entire Council around your last son, but see now that leaves me with a problem. I have to have three different systems of blood with Quire's blood within them. You see my problem here? I only have two…and the third is a little out of my reach."
Jesi watched him pace back and forth infront of her. Something about him made her uneasy. Who was she kidding? Something about him scared her. Scared her to death. He wasn't like Grifth…he was different. Something else was there.
"But, now I have a solution to my problem right infront of me. You see, when you carried those children, they became apart of you. Quire became apart of you. So, you see, you have the blood I'm looking for. You're exactly what I'm looking for, and it's a buffet right here. None of your Jedi friends can help you, not that they'd do anything to stop me. You're stuck in this small little area, just with me." He glanced down at Macrus and tapped him with his boot.
"Though, I do have a proposition to make you. You could join me. You have Quire's power now, I could help you tame it..use it. With you at my side we could rule the entire galaxy." Xanatos said moving towards her.
"Go to hell." Jesi growled pulling out the blaster she had tucked away behind her back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obi-Wan surfaced to be nearly the last one. Spitting water out of his mouth he coughed shaking his head.
"Is everyone alright?" Adi called from nearly the other side of the tunnel.
"I think we have everyone." Qui-Gon called back looking around the large area between each person.
"I don't have my saber." Mace said suddenly feeling his belt while treading water with the other.
Siri pulled her's out of the water. The main power expression had been broken off when she was slammed against one of the walls.
"Mine's broken." She called holding it up.
Obi-Wan felt for his, he had it thank the Force and it was intact.
"Where's Geriti?" Qui-Gon asked looking around. Geriti was no where to be seen.
"Swept away, the poor little bugger." Grifth said from where ever he was.
"Would have happened to the rest of you had someone NOT been in the computer system…I wonder who that could have been? How long do you think a person like..oo..how bout your former apprentice Master Jinn, Xanatos, to rid the universe of her?"
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon looked at eachother.
"Find her." Adi ordered.
Master and Padawan quickly began to swim down the tunnel.
A chuckle echoed out. "As for you good Master…you'll have to catch me first." The sound of material snapping the the wind was heard and quick footsteps. Mace quickly swam to a ladder leading out of the water and climbed up, soon followed by Kigal, Adi, and Siri.
~~~~~~~~
Xanatos moved to the side like he was just by passing a stranger as the blaster shot zinged by him. Before Jesi could fire again he had moved with frightening speed and grabbed the blaster from her hand, nearly breaking her wrist in the process.
"Been there and back, thank you." He growled twisting her arm back making her turn to face the computer rather than him.
"And he said you put up too much of a fight." He hissed in her ear. Jesi looked at the dim reflection in the screen. A large computer panel was behind them.
"I don't give up very easy." She said quietly then pushed off the computer infront of her throwing them both back into the other one.
Xanatos accidently released his grip on her as they hit. Both of them sprawled to the ground as the panel tittered. Jesi scrambled up and ran, not looking back, only hearing the crash of the panel on the ground.
She didn't stop running until she came to the door leading out. She palmed the access but nothing happened. Power was still out, it wasn't going to open unless she had a power card like the Council members did.
"Not so fast." Xanatos fumed turning her around then throwing her back into the door itself. As Jesi slid down the door she reached for the metal hilt of her blade at her side…then she remembered she had given it to Obi-Wan and hadn't replaced it.
"You're not going anywhere." Suddenly it felt like a cold hand had slid along her back and everything became dizzy. Her head exploded in pain and her vision shifted. Other thoughts over ran her own as the world around her dimed terrifyingly fast.
Tbc….
Well? Ok, not ok? Review!
Love yaz! Update asap!
Till later,
Elli
