Guess what! After this, all we have left is the Epilogue! Aren't you glad it's FINALLY over?? LoL! Well, as always, thanks so much for the FB, I'm thrilled that a few of you are reading and enjoying this! It's always nice when people like your stuff!
My Place is at Your Side
~ Part Eleven: Loyalty ~
Obi-Wan:
As soon as I left Qui-Gon's hospital room, I found a quiet place to meditate. I felt lost, defenseless, and incapable of saving him. At least with the bomb, I had known where to find him. Now…now he could have been well on his way to one of the moons, for all I knew. All I really knew was that he was in life-threatening danger, I could feel that like a cold, creeping sickness washing over me.
My heart was pounding with worry, and my mind was flashing me images of things Qui-Gon and I would never get to do if I couldn't find him in time. I would never get to tease him about his cooking again. I always did that, even though he was about ten million times a better chef than me. I would never get to listen to his exaggerated comments about my appetite. I would never get to do anything with him again.
Regrets also filtered through my thoughts.
I never had apologized to him for what I had said when he asked about going on a vacation together. What if I never got another chance? I would have to live with that, and the knowledge of all the other things we'd never get to do again, if I failed.
I couldn't fail.
Even though the very blood pumping through my veins was telling me to rush forward and save him, my mind knew better. I couldn't just go gallivanting off into the city, hoping that I would just happen upon him. I had to know where he was. I had to hope that I could find the answer in the Force. Most importantly, I had to do it soon. He didn't have much time left. I could feel that too.
So instead, I found a forced patience and meditated, just as I had seen Qui-Gon do during so many times of trial and worry.
The Tarcalian ship. The words popped into my mind out of nowhere, but I could feel that they were imbued with the touch of the Force. When I had been in Revelc Cainam's office, I had heard those two men talking about the Tarcalian ship that had been found in the abandoned transport station. That's where he was. On the ship.
In the time it took me to open my eyes and get up, I already had doubts. Why would our saboteur take him there? How could I be sure that he was there? What if I went and I didn't find him, and then Qui-Gon was killed because I wasn't there to save him? What if…
Force, there I went again. Doubting my instincts. I was always doubting my instincts. And I couldn't. Not now. Not when I didn't have much time. I would have to go there, and hope that I was right. I had to be right…I didn't want to think about losing Qui-Gon this way. I didn't want to think about him being killed by some crazy man who couldn't move on with his life. I didn't want to think about not being able to at least say goodbye to him.
I couldn't let Qui-Gon die. Not like this.
~~~~~~~~~~
It was easy enough to find the abandoned transport station – all I had to do was follow the howling sirens of the police shuttles. Unit after unit was being sent to handle the Tarcalians. I could only surmise that this was one of the planets that had outlawed their presence. If they were caught, the Tarcalians would be imprisoned for trespassing on Ceerus soil.
However, right now, that was no concern of mine. All I cared about was finding and saving my Master.
~~~~~~~~~
The abandoned transport station actually consisted of several small buildings and a very large field where hundreds of old-model transports sat, rusting. Most of them probably couldn't have been made to fly even if saving the whole universe depended on it. They seemed glued to the ground.
In the middle of the maze of decaying ships, was a relatively small, sleek looking Scamper class Speeder. It lived up to its name well – that vessel was probably the fasted, most maneuverable, well-armed ship to ever fly about the stars. Once the Tarcalians took off in that piece of craftsmanship, the police troops would have no living hope of ever catching them. That's why they were putting up such a resistance on the ground – to make sure they captured the Tarcalians now.
They were indeed putting up a resistance.
Hundreds of policeman had formed a perimeter around the Speeder. By using the old vessels as cover, the troops were well hidden, and very difficult to hit with blasterfire. From what I could see, they had formed groups of four, and were stationed every five meters. Every few seconds, one of them would poke themselves up over the ship, and take a shot at the Tarcalians. They had the Tarcalians surrounded, and vastly outnumbered.
From what I could see, three of the Tarcalians had already been shot down, and the three remaining ones didn't have good chances of survival. See, although they were hidden inside one of the old ships that had been abandoned close to their own Speeder, they had to abandon that cover to make it to their Scamper. During that time, they'd be wide open to the blasterfire.
The area was alive with blasterfire. There was a constant stream of shots being exchanged back and forth between the Tarcalians, and the troops. Bullet-sized balls of light and energy were whizzing back and forth, making everything come alive with the fury of color and sound. There wasn't a single instant of silence, nor a single moment when shots weren't being fired.
The Tarcalians were making a fighting retreat. They were firing as they fell back, obviously hoping to jump into their vessel and fly out of there before they were all killed. How the three of them had managed this long was a mystery to me, and I wasn't giving them high odds on surviving long enough to get in their ship.
The police also realized what they were doing, and began to tighten their circle of men and close in on them. However, the Tarcalians were getting close to their vessel, and were still firing off enough rounds to keep the men from storming them.
Assuming the Tarcalians weren't shot down, the police wouldn't be able to stop them from taking off. I would have to take action myself.
Grimly, I ignited my lightsaber and ran out from behind the ship I had been using as cover.
"Hey!" a woman yelled at me loudly, "Kid! Get back here! You're gonna get yourself killed!"
No, I thought, I have absolutely no intention of getting myself killed. In fact, I had very different plans. I planned to not only stay alive, but keep my Master alive too.
Running out into the middle of a field of blasterfire probably didn't seem like the best thing to do, but I had my lightsaber, and the Force, and I felt confident that I could reach the vessel in time to hitch a ride.
The loud hissing of blaster shots sped and zoomed by me from every direction, and my lightsaber was a blur of light as I swerved and sliced it a graceful dance around me. Deflecting countless shots as I sprinted forward, I ate the distance between me and the Speeder.
To both sides, it probably looked like I was charging the Tarcalians. That fact didn't make the troops fire any less, but it certainly made the Tarcalians a little more eager to get on their ship. When I had started running, all three of them had still be standing outside it, but one had already managed slipped in through the open doors, and the second one was rapidly making his way towards doing the same thing. Only one of them was standing his ground, doubtlessly to prevent the troops from charging them.
Quickening my speed, I leapt forward into the air to avoid three blaster shots that were all flying at me from three different directions. Then I used the Force to somersault in mid flight and felt a dusting of cold air hit my skin as a stream of shots passed within millimeters of my shoulder. As soon as I landed, I cut my lightsaber across in front of me, and deflected yet another shot. Without the Force I would have been dead three steps into the firing zone, but with it I could sense the danger with enough anticipation to defeat it.
I was about ten feet away when the remaining Tarcalian began to retreat towards his vessel's entrance. He was about a meter in front of it, and in a few seconds he would be close enough to turn and scamper into safety. Then he would close the door and cut off my only means of reaching my Master.
Speeding up, I pushed against the ground with my feet and, with a touch of the Force to assist me, went sailing in the air towards the open hatch of the ship. Holding my weapon in just one hand, I extended my other arm in front of me, so that I could grab onto the ship as soon as I was close enough.
The Tarcalian, seeing what I was doing, quickly jumped up into the ship and slammed his hand down hard on controls for the door, which automatically responded by beginning to slide shut at an alarmingly rapid rate.
I hit the side of the ship hard, my stomach and chest ramming into pure unyielding metal. The wind was knocked out of me, and I was gasping for breath, but with my one free hand I managed to grab onto the outer rim of the door and slither my way through the shrinking opening just as the doors slid shut behind me.
Dropping my lightsaber, I fell to my knees. My vision was dark and spotted red and my head pounded out its dizziness. I was breathing hard, my stomach was stiff and throbbing, and my heart was racing, but I had made it.
For a few moments I could hear the loud, echoing ricochet of blaster shots harmlessly bouncing off the hull of the ship, but those sounds were washed away by the humming purr of the vessel's engines. Scamper class Speeders were so well designed, that seconds later, when the vessel hurtled up into the sky, it didn't so much as tremble.
Clicking my weapon onto my utility belt, I forced myself to climb to my feet. I could have gladly sat their all day, recovering the energy that had been sucked out of me, but I had a job to do. A job that wouldn't wait.
I looked around.
I was alone and I was in a storage room of some sort. There was a door on either side of me. One no doubt led to the bridge, and the other to the sleeping quarters. I could hear the Tarcalians voices reverberating from my right, and to my left I felt nothing but stillness.
I turned to my left.
The Tarcalians didn't realize I had made it onto their ship, and I preferred to keep it that way. Besides, wouldn't they have noticed Qui-Gon if he was on the bridge? I was betting that Revelc Cainam had put him somewhere less out in the open, somewhere that he wouldn't be obvious.
The doors were motion triggered and opened for me as I approached them. Stepping through them, I found myself in a small hallway. On either wall of the passageway, were three doors, which no doubt led to the sleeping chambers, and at the end of the hallway was a small dome shaped orifice with five circular hatches. Escape pods.
Qui-Gon was probably in one of the rooms. If he was here at all, a little voice inside me quipped. I ignored it. He had to be here. The Force had drawn me here, and if he wasn't here…well, I didn't want to think about the 'if he wasn't here' option.
~~~~~~~~~~
I was beginning to feel slightly uneasy when I exited the fifth room. I hadn't found any trace of Qui-Gon, nor could I sense his Force-signature anywhere. There had been several storage crates in the storage room, what if Revelc Cainam had stuffed Qui-Gon in one of those? No, I shook my head, that was impossible. If he had, my Master surely would have suffocated by now, and I knew he wasn't dead. That I would have felt through the Force and through the bond, no matter how strong Qui-Gon's shields were.
If I hadn't been so distracted by my worry for my Master, or if I had happened to remember more than passingly that our saboteur had left the Tarcalians what he called an 'extra surprise' for their work, maybe I would have sensed that the danger I felt was not only directed at my Master, but at everyone in this vessel. However, as it was, that didn't occur to me until later, and I was completely surprised by the deafening boom of shattering sound from within the room I had just left.
Before I could even think about moving, I heard the room's doors slide open behind me, and felt the sweltering wave of heat and power that sent me reeling into the bulkhead. It felt as if I had been hit with a wave of wind as hot as fire, and as solid as a wall. Smoke billowed around me, and orange-red flames danced in my peripheral vision, but I was too dazed by the impact to even realize what had happened. Instead, I felt myself slipping away from reality as the blanket of unconscious nothingness descended over me.
~~~~~~~~~
Tarcalian ship… Save Qui-Gon… Fire and heat… Smoke…
Vague, half-thoughts formed in my head as I slowly drifted back into consciousness. At first it was like being suspected halfway between a dream and reality, but then sensations began leaking through to me.
The first thing I felt was pain. My stomach was of course still sore from being kicked so many times, but the stinging, burning, pounding against my head told me I had a concussion. My lungs tingled slightly. I was having trouble breathing; the air was thick and warm against my skin. Every time I sucked a mouthful of air in, I had to resist the urge to gag on it and cough it back up.
Groaning, I opened my eyes and pressed my hand against my head, as if seeking to relieve the pressure and pain that were built up there.
Everything was obscured by thick clouds of smoke. Squinting, I pawed at the smoke with my hands and managed to clear some of it away so that I could see a few feet in either direction.
Suddenly, I couldn't see at all.
The room in front of me was nothing but a pit of leaping flames and bulging heat. A red-hot fire had completely consumed everything within it, and slithering tentacles of the inferno were bounding through the doorway and into the hallway where I lay. Patches of fire had already ignited in the hallway, and I knew it wouldn't be too long before this section of the ship was completely uninhabitable.
Standing up, I felt a wave of dizziness attack me. My vision swam and I felt like I was wavering on my feet, about to fall. Forcing several deep breaths of the smoke filled air, I concentrated on releasing the pain of my concussion. Slowly, the pounding in my head lessened and the disorientation fled with it.
What had happened?
I had been leaving the room when I had heard this terrible sound and… An explosion! There had been a bomb somewhere in that room. Revelc Cainam had told the Tarcalian that his payment would be on the ship, along with another surprise. This was it. The bomb hadn't been powerful enough to destroy the vessel, but it most certainly had been powerful enough to be in inoperable.
Eeeergghhh!
It was as if my brain started processing sound again all at once, overwhelming my ears with the horrible screeching of an alarm that was loud enough to wake the dead and make them wish they were dead again.
The shrieking toll sounded four more times in rapid succession and then fell silent just long enough for an even louder, grating, computerized voice to announce; "The ship will self-destruct in five minutes exactly."
A chill grabbed my heart it its icy clutches of despair. This was the danger I had sensed that Qui-Gon was in. Tarcalians always destroyed their ship when they were forced to abandon it. Revelc Cainam knew that. That was why he had left my Master here. He knew that the explosion would 'cause enough damage to make the Tarcalians leave their vessel, and that my Master would be killed when the engines ignited and caused a massive explosion that would paint the sky with the remaining smithereens of the ship
I was exhausted, but suddenly reserves of energy I didn't even know existed within the confines of my body pumped through my veins. Qui-Gon and I didn't have much time, and that gave me motivation enough to get going even though sleep was a very appealing thing indeed.
Plowing through the smoke, I charged into the one room I hadn't searched yet.
Thankfully, there was much less smoke in this room than out in the hallway. Right now it was only floating around vaguely near the ceiling, and although the air was warm and humid, I no longer had to fight for every breath. The fire, as of yet, hadn't reached this room, although I could feel the heat emanating off the walls. I also could hear the crackling of the flames from outside, barely audible in the silent gaps between the blaring of the alarm, and I knew I didn't have much time before this whole place when up in flames. Of course, then again, I didn't have much time before this entire vessel was floating debris in the planet's atmosphere.
The room was all but barren. There was an extremely large bed pushed up against the center of the far wall, and a proportionately big dresser perched next to it. Other than that, there were absolutely no pieces of future or personal processions in here – even the top of the dresser was clear. It looked exactly like all the other rooms I had searched.
Maybe Qui-Gon was on the bridge after all.
I turned to leave, but paused a few feet in front of the doorway. This room looked the same, but something felt different. A soft flickering in the Force was pulsing against my mind. It was a familiar sensation, but very weak. Not weak enough, though, to not send relief shooting through my mind. It was Qui-Gon's Force-signature.
Exulting, I rushed to stand in the center of the room and looked around. I had found him! The question was…where was he? There was no closet in the room where he could be hidden, no space under the bed, and no sign of him anywhere.
I frowned. What had Revelc Cainam done now? I could feel that he was here! Where in the Force could he possibly have been hidden?
Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh!
The piercing cry sounded distant in my ears, but the warning that followed it did not. "The ship will self-destruct in four minutes and two seconds."
When no apparent answer is evident, consider options you normally never would. Even though Qui-Gon wasn't here with me – at least nowhere that I could see – his lessons never abandoned me. He was here; there was just something I wasn't seeing.
Thoughtless instinct drew my gaze upward and seconds later I was gagging and choking on the air that was thrown from my mouth in a coughing gasp. My throat grew tight, and my stomach churned. I felt like throwing up; it was disgusting.
There, tied up and suspended in a box of glass, was my Master.
He appeared to be floating in the center of the large, rectangular container. His feet, bound together, were about a foot from the ceiling, his arms, hanging down past his head and wavering graying hair, were about a meter above me.
The revolting thing wasn't that he was just hanging there like some ghastly decoration, but the fact that even though his eyes were closed, even though he was unconscious, convulsions were still ripping through his body. The heaving of his chest, followed by the jerking movement that opened his mouth, told me he was coughing. He was shaking violently, and every few moments his arms would flail out and soundlessly smack into the glass that encased him. Streaks of blood decorated the inside of the prison.
Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh!
"The ship will self-destruct in three and a half minutes."
That jolted me. Before I even knew what I was doing, I stepped to the side of the room and called upon the Force to help me. Using its gentle power, I encased the box in waves of mental energy and carefully brought it down from the ceiling, where it had somehow been rigged to float. Setting down with a soft thud, it landed a few feet away from me.
I pressed my hands against the casing, running them over its smooth surface and realized that this was not glass. It was Veraxian mecosa – the only completely see-through metal to ever be manufactured. It also happened to be one of the strongest metals in existence, so strong that in the time remaining, my lightsaber most likely wouldn't do much of anything.
Stubborn determination flooded my system. I had not come this far to find my Master, and still not be able to save him. No way. I was getting him out of here alive no matter what it took, no matter what I had to do. He was not going to die here, by some crazy man's hand. I wouldn't allow him to.
Concentrating, I sent a pulsating electric shock to my Master through my end of the bond. All my will was gathered behind that one action because no mental shields, no matter how strong, were going to stop me. Then, in the strongest Force-command I had ever mustered, I yelled, You will wake up now.
Qui-Gon started and gasped, his head jerking slightly from where it floated about six inches from the bottom of the container. At that same instant, his shields came crashing down and I was flooded with the agony that was thrumming through his body, as well as his disorientation and utter confusion.
"Obi-Wan," I saw him mouth, but the sound didn't penetrate the mecosa.
Drawing my lightsaber, I activated it. Then, holding it so that the beam pointed directly at the mecosa, I decided to cut him free. No stupid type of metal was going to keep me from saving him, not if I had any breath left to argue about it.
Don't worry, I sent him a pulse of reassurance, I'm going to get you out of there.
I felt a surge of power and movement within the Force and watched as Qui-Gon used it to flip himself over in the container, and land on his feet. He remained standing for about two seconds before falling to his knees and leaning back against the mecosa behind him.
Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh!
"The ship will self destruct in two minutes and fifty seconds."
Obi…wa…w-what is going on? he asked, sounding so incredibly weak that it brought a sheen of tears to my eyes.
I gritted my teeth and pushed my lightsaber beam further into the mecosa, which wasn't giving way in the slightest. The beam had yet to even begin to penetrate the metal, but I refused to give up. I was scared – terrified was probably a better word, actually – and worried beyond belief, but I was also determined. Determined to get us the hell away from this ship before it blew.
He put you in this box made of mecosa, I told him, I'm going to cut you out. I bit my tongue, hoping he wouldn't sense that I was holding something back. Honesty was valued above all things in our relationship, and to Qui-Gon, a lie of omission was still manipulation of the truth. I never lied to Qui-Gon. The few times I had had seen me more severely punished than my friends believed. Lying – Qui-Gon simply would not tolerate it. This time, however, I had to. As soon as he found out how desperate our situation really was, he would order me to leave him and save myself.
That was something that I was not about to do.
Qui-Gon, still pale and trembling fiercely, gave me a look and raised his eyebrow at me. His gaze was strong, penetrating, and severe. When he spoke, his voice was firm and reprimanding. Obi-Wan, Force, my name alone was a chastisement, tell me.
I looked down at the blue beam of my weapon, which was working furiously against the mecosa and getting little accomplished. There was no way I could refuse an order given in that tone of voice, so I gulped down a deep breath of air, and speed-talked him through everything I knew about our current situation.
Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh!
"The ship will self destruct in two minutes and twenty seconds."
As I predicted, a millisecond hadn't even passed before he was ordering me to leave. Obi-Wan! his voice was joltingly harsh, Don't be a fool! You have to go now!
I cringed. His desperate urgency made him sound almost angry.
The thing about Qui-Gon was that he could look strong and intimidating, or he could easily blend in with a crowd. Usually, around me, he revealed who he truly was – a calm, gentle, caring man. He didn't try to seem daunting, even though he was still about a foot taller than me and twice as strong. Now, however, despite the fact that he was huddled against the mecosa, with his knees pulled up against his chest, he made himself seem powerful, and fierce. How he was combating the pain of the disease and the shock, I didn't know, but right now he was radiating strength.
My heart skipped a beat and I felt very nervous at disobeying him suddenly. I would not, however, allow myself to be intimidated so, keeping my eyes fixed on the hilt of my weapon, I did my best to ignore him.
Unfortunately, Qui-Gon did his best to convince me to abandon him.
You know that mecosa is very resilient, you won't be able to cut through it in time, especially since I don't have my lightsaber, every word was firm and emphasized.
Want to bet? I snapped a little more defiantly than I had intended, in a tone of voice that Qui-Gon never would have allowed under normal circumstances.
Padawan! it was a controlled yell in my head, and I jumped, my heartbeat pumping faster than it already was, Don't sacrifice yourself for me! If you don't leave, we'll both die! Your life isn't worth giving up for me!
Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh!
"The ship will self destruct in two minutes exactly."
I flinched at the sheer anxiety I heard in his voice and sensed through our bond. He was truly scared for me. It frightened him to think I might die with him. He wanted me to go so badly that it was a tangible ache in his heart.
You know I won't leave you, this time it was a soft whisper I spoke in because it was humbling to know he cared for me enough to be this scared. Besides, I couldn't imagine being harsh with him when all he was worried about was my own safety.
Then Qui-Gon did something I never would have guessed he would do. He tried to use the Force to make me do something I really didn't want to. He had, of course, Force-suggested me to sleep, and stuff like that, but he had never even attempted to do something like this. Obi-Wan, you will leave me and use an escape pod to save yourself.
I had never had the full force of my Master's will pitted against me with the Force to back it up. It caught me by such surprise that I found myself moving to obey even before I figured out what he had done. It felt like everything in my body was screaming at me to do what he said, and I had to grit my teeth and use all my own resolve to combat his. I literally had to force myself to freeze.
No! I wasn't going to let him do this to me. I could and would save him!
By body had gone tense in my struggle, and I was shaking when I finished fighting off his Force-suggestion. He had managed to make me move my lightsaber so that only the very tip of it was still working to melt the mecosa, and I quickly shoved it back to where it had been before.
Glaring up at Qui-Gon, I couldn't help but feel a little angry. Don't ever try and do that again! I hissed, You can punish me for disobeying you when we return to the Temple, but my place is at your side, and I will not leave you!
Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh!
"The ship will self destruct in one minute forty seconds."
Qui-Gon sagged back against the metal, and released a ragged breath. Through our bond I felt his intense grief and the feeling of bitter defeat, as well as a rising surge of despair that I would die here with him. Please, Obi-Wan, he murmured, sounding exhausted as he pleaded with me, Please go. Don't die here with me. You have so much left to do in your life. You could do so much good in the universe, don't throw it all away now.
The words were spoken with such bitter sincerity and love, that the tears that had been pooling in my eyes now trickled down my face. It was like a knife in the heart to feel how frantic he was to get me to go. His sorrow for me flooded our bond with such force that it made my own heart clench and ache with his emotions.
Qui-Gon, I whispered as tenderly as I knew how, You were willing to die for me when you used your energy to initiate a healing trance. Then you refused to leave me when the Tarcalians captured us, even though there was every chance that they would kill us both. How could I do any less for you?
A trickle of gratitude reached me through the maelstrom of other emotions, and he smiled a little sadly at me. I couldn't ask for a better apprentice or friend than you, he sighed regretfully.
I felt myself blush deeply at that, and I smiled as well.
Don't worry, Qui-Gon, we'll make it, and I spoke it with a resolve that I didn't know where I was getting from. There was so little time left, and yet I didn't let myself consider the possibility that we wouldn't make it. We had to.
Such determination, he lamented weakly, I almost believe you.
Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh!
"The ship will self destruct in one minute ten seconds."
Lightsabers had different settings. There were training settings that would cause little to no damage, and then there were settings that would kill. The highest lightsaber setting was never used because it would make the weapon short out and become inoperable, but something inside me was telling me to risk it.
You should believe me, I sent him waves of hope as I pushed the lightsaber setting up to the highest one.
You'll short it out! he warned, and I could feel his disbelief at the recklessness that was driving me to risk my life so insanely.
No it won't, I won't let it, I filled the words with all the will I had inside me.
A wave of pain cut through our bond so abruptly that I wasn't able to block it. Instead I had to close my eyes and work to release it into the Force. When I opened them again and gazed down at where my lightsaber was cutting into the mecosa, I felt my heart leap in ecstatic joy.
Maybe it was the sheer force of my determination, or some miraculous gift from the Force, but the beam had cut through! Now that I had sizzled through in one area, it was a simple thing indeed to swerve my blade about and cut a hole that was big enough for my Master to crawl through.
Deactivating the 'saber, I grinned at Qui-Gon, who looked about as surprised as I had ever seen him look. So surprised that I felt his shock slamming into me. So surprised that he was rendered speechless, and motionless.
"Qui-Gon," I spoke aloud now that he could hear me, "I didn't cut through that thing so that you could just sit there while we're blown to bits." Under normal circumstances I would have gloated and jibed about actually managing to render him speechless – which I had never before done – but we really didn't have the time now.
Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh!
"The ship will self destruct in forty seconds."
My Master blushed a little sheepishly and hurried to crawl through the provided space. Then, pausing, he reached through our bond and drew on some of my own energy to revitalize himself and fight off the pain he was in. Seconds later, he had sprung to his feet and pulled me up with him.
Together, we turned and sprinted from the room.
In my distraction, I had somehow managed to ignore the fact that the fire had spread substantially and that the air was practically a cloud of smoke. I had also somehow managed to breathe. Now, however, Qui-Gon and I were coughing violently and fighting the sweltering heat to make it down the hallway down the orifice where the escape pods were.
We had charged about halfway down the hallway when I felt a wave of blinding agony claw its way through my Master's head and down his body. With a strangled shout, Qui-Gon tripped on a burning piece of the bulkhead, and fell down hard. Then he tried to grab hold of the wall and pull himself out, but hissed loudly and immediately pulled his hand, now red and slightly swollen, back. I knew why. The ship was burning up and the fire had made the metal hot. Very hot.
Desperately, I grabbed hold of Qui-Gon's hands and pulled with all my strength to get him back on his feet. The pain that tore through him was excruciating, and despite all his will and power with the Force, he couldn't fight or release it enough to do more than stumble along with me.
Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh! Eeeergghhh!
"The ship will self destruct in twenty-five seconds."
My Master shot a disoriented glance my way but before he could tell me to leave him, I pulled his arm around my shoulders, and then stretched my right arm around his. Doing my best to support most of his weight, I called upon the Force for strength, and nearly dragged him the rest of the way into the orifice where I saw that three of the five escape pods had already been launched by the Tarcalians. The remaining two had automatically been opened by the self destruct system, and I quickly pushed Qui-Gon through the opening, and then crawled after him myself.
Hitting the panel just next to the hatch, I waited until the entrance had slid shut and then keyed in the default launch sequence all escape pods were manufactured with. Silently thanking the Force that all of the pod's systems had been initiated by the self destruct, I held on tightly to the railings on either side of the small pod that barely had enough room for the both of us, and braced myself as we were sent rocketing away from the Scamper class Speeder.
Through the small window in the pod, I watched as we flew further and further from the vessel. Then, no later than five seconds after I could see the whole ship in the tiny window, there was a horribly bright flash of light as exploding balls of fire enveloped the ship in a terrible fury of destructive power.
The light stung at my eyes and I clenched them shut. Holding my breath and waiting for the shock wave to reach us, I desperately hoped that we were far enough away to not be blown to particles of dust along with the ship.
Through our bond, I could feel Qui-Gon reaching past his pain to send me comfort and reassurance through our bond, and I latched onto those emotions gratefully and sent them back to him.
When the shock wave of energy hit us, it was like a wall had been sent slamming against the pathetic little pod. We went hurtling back so fast and so abruptly, that both Qui-Gon and I were sent crashing against the back section of the pod. The severity of the impact had us both groaning and gasping for breath, but once the flash of sudden pain settled down, I laughed, realizing that although we were spinning out of control, we hadn't been destroyed.
We would make it! Once the shock wave dissipated, we would slow to normal velocity and be all right! All of the anxiety, tension, and panic that had built up within me since realizing my Master had been kidnapped came rushing out of me and I felt light enough to simply jump into the air and go soaring above the world.
I sent Qui-Gon my exuberant joy through our bond, and he sent me back his gratitude for not leaving him, as well as his own relief and happiness.
~~~~~~~~~~
It took about ten minutes for the pod to slow down from getting hit by the shock wave, and as soon as we had stopped tumbling about, I let go of my handholds and turned to look at Qui-Gon.
My Master, who had managed to hold himself still by using the Force while still working to release his pain and not lose consciousness, was curled up on the floor of the pod, with his eyes closed. His breathing was slow, if a little shallow, and he was obviously trying to meditate.
I scooted forward and sat cross-legged so that I could pull Qui-Gon's head and shoulders up into my lap. Gently stroking my Master's hair, I reached through our bond and started sending him all the Force-energy I could spare so that he could more easily let the pain flow through him.
Clutching his hand tightly in my own, I smiled when he groaned and opened his eyes.
For a few moments I could see the pain in them, but then he reached past it and fixed shockingly cold eyes on me. "You should have listened to me – your actions could have brought about both our deaths," he reprimanded me severely.
My heart began to thud against my chest again. A mix of nervousness, fear, and shock filled me. Whenever I had done something wrong, I never could keep myself from feeling a little apprehensive and scared as I listened to Qui-Gon lecture and then hand out punishment. Even though I knew that he still cared for me, I hated to know that I had disappointed or frustrated him. Now, however, I felt that same uneasiness, but also a swelling of surprise.
Meeting his gaze squarely, I spoke with a confidence that the look in his eyes didn't allow me to have, and said, "I will accept any punishment you see fit to give me, but I do not see how you can fault me. I saved your life."
I swallowed hard and waited for him to answer. Could he really discipline me for doing what he himself had done for me on this very mission? Could he really be disappointed that I had refused to leave his side, even though I might have died? Could he really fault my loyalty to him?
"What if you hadn't freed me in time – you would have lost your life in a foolish attempt to be noble," he returned sharply.
I shook my head helpless, fighting back the urge to feel hurt by his rebukes. No matter what Qui-Gon said, I had done the right thing. If our positions were reversed, he would have done the same for me. "I could not leave you behind," I defied softly.
For a few moments we continued to stare at each other, and I felt myself growing more nervous and uncomfortable. Then, however, I felt a twitch of mirth through our bond, and watched as his stern eyes softened and began to twinkle with amused joy.
I let my mouth dropped open and realized with something close to exasperated relief, that my insufferable Master had been joking. Not only that, but he had gotten me good. I had really believed that he was annoyed with me.
Sighing, I closed my eyes and shook my head. How in the Force could he have done that to me? I wanted to be angry at him for fooling me so, but when I opened my eyes and saw the grin that had lit up his face, I found I couldn't be. Instead, I smiled as well and nodded, grudgingly admitting that he had had me completely tricked.
Our smiles gradually grew into a loud, rich laughter that was as much an expression of sheer relief to be alive, as it was of humor. Our guffaws must have wrung mirthfully in the air for at least a couple of minutes before we both quieted down and returned to smiling at each other.
"After five years, one would think you'd know my sense of humor by now," Qui-Gon playfully teased, sounding incredibly pleased.
I grinned, "Perhaps if I had a Master who wasn't so gleefully rebellious and difficult to figure out, I would."
My Master closed his eyes and relaxed wearily back into my lap, squeezing my hand. "Just don't think that you can disobey me whenever you want," he warned, quite seriously this time, "You're still my Padawan, and you have much to learn."
I nodded, "Yes, Master."
"But," Qui-Gon added, his eyelids fluttering open to reveal his intense blue eyes, "Your loyalty humbles me. Thank you, my Padawan, thank you for not leaving my side. Thank you for always standing with me."
A thick lump formed in my throat and I felt my cheeks burning with my pleased embarrassment. Qui-Gon held so much of my respect, admiration, and love, that any time he complimented me or showed me how much he cared, it made me feel indescribably happy.
I gently caressed my Master's cheek, "I will always stand with you, my friend," I leaned down to place a gentle kiss on his forehead, then I wrapped my arms around him and gathered him close, "for my place is at your side"
TBC… (on Thursday)