Author's Note: Hello again. New chapter, same ol' characters unless someone Correlian happens to be introduced. Otherwise, you all know that Lucasfilm owns the original Star Wars characters; I still don't. ;)
Twins
--sparkvallen
Suburbs of Coronet City, Correlia. Dusk.
The three Jedi - dressed in inconspicuous attire - had passed through the local planetary customs area without incident. A landspeeder taxi carried them from the urban sprawl of Coronet City out to the outlying districts that were far more rural.
Kenjiro considered the droid driver then turned and whispered to Jana and Spark, "What do your senses tell you?"
"Nothing yet," Spark admitted. She glanced at Jana, who then nodded in agreement.
"Are you sure you're--"
"Yes, Kenjiro, I'm fine," Jana insisted through gritted teeth. She had only returned to consciousness moments after entering Correlian space. It had taken nearly a half hour before she was fully cognizant again and two hours total before Jana could convince Spark and Kenjiro that she'd be able to retain her balance and move about.
He nodded, still concerned. The mission was confusing for him; he trusted his fellow Jedi implicitly, but it was still hard to know what to do and when since he failed to sense any of the disturbances they felt.
"Oh stang! Would you look at that!" Spark hissed, pointing out the taxi's window at a holograph ad.
"What did it say?" Jana asked, having missed the ad.
She rolled her eyes. "'Tour the hometown of Spark Vallen, Jedi Master! Discover her early Correlian roots. Follow the path of the farm girl to Jedi!'," she recited. "I had no idea they were giving tours."
Kenjiro and Jana giggled at her exasperation. Several Jedi who'd not been traditionally trained - rasied at the Temple since infancy - were heralded by their home regions in such a way, they all knew.
"Maybe we should take the tour," Jana suggested, smiling. "It might be interesting to learn more about you, Spark."
"We can save that fun until after our mission," she smirked.
Consulting his datapad, he signalled to the droid taxi driver. "Anywhere in the next kilometer that you can stop would be fine, please."
The droid replied, "Received" and proceded to change into the right lane to bring them closer to the edge of the road. As the sun receded beyond the horizon, Kenjiro, Jana and Spark disembarked and looked around.
"The kidnappings," Jana said from the memorized news holos, "have been taking place in a radius of eight kilometers from nearly the point where we stand. The children's ages range from three months to nine standard years. All different species of creature and both genders have turned up missing. No financial distinction except that they resided in this general farming community area."
Spark pointed toward the village that they would come across with a few minutes' walk. "Up there, on the outskirts of town is a small university. I almost attended it, back before Garren came," she said thoughtfully. "It - and town itself - are within the eight kilometer range, of course.
"This is a journey home for you in the truest sense, isn't it, Spark?"
"Welcome to Sparklerville," she said sarcastically. "Now. Since we don't want to announce ourselves, we have to find information that wasn't on the holonews carefully. We can't alert the... 'natives' that we're here nor do we want to tip off local law enforcement. Any suggestions how we proceed?"
Jana closed her eyes to concentrate.
"I think that the university is somehow important in this, Spark," she said after a moment, her eyes re-opened. "What is out that way?" Jana pointed to the west, across the road from them.
"When I still lived here, it was nothing but farms," she said. Drawing on the Force and extending her field of responsibility to the west, she immediately picked up on the dissonance that Jana had sensed. "Ah, I understand why you asked."
"I don't sense anything," Kenjiro offered.
"No?" they asked in unison. To Spark and Jana, the anguish and stress was palpable.
"No, I'm sorry. Does it feel anywhere near as... urgent as the incident on the ship?"
"Not nearly," Jana said quickly, "but its still there. Suffering. Much suffering."
"What if we split up? You two head toward the farmland and I'll scout around the farmland?"
"What if... we have another incident, Spark?" Jana asked.
"I was quicker to recover on the ship," she pointed out, "and this way, you'll have Kenjiro there as back up if you are hit as hard as before."
"I also don't like the idea of you going alone," he added.
Spark held out her hands placatingly. "Look. Jana, you know we don't have that much time. This goes well beyond concern for our own well-beings when the lives of children are at stake." She paused and smiled. "Trust me."
To Jana, Kenjiro said, "Never trust a Correlian when she says that!"
Spark chuckled and offered a bow from the neck. "Keep comlinks open," she suggested, "and buzz me if you find anything. I'll do the same if anything on the campus pans out."
"May the Force be with you," Jana whispered.
"Likewise."
++++++++
"Nothing out here but vegetables and more vegetables!" Jana whispered in the near-total-darkness.
"That's generally what you find on a farm," Kenjiro replied quietly. There was laughter evident in his hushed voice.
She continued to reach out through the Force, feeling drawn by an invisible rope toward some yet unseen destination in among the tall rows of vegetable plants. They'd been walking for over an hour, making their way down the narrow rows that were normally kept by field workers and simple farming droids.
"I keep wondering why someone would kidnap farm children," Kenjiro wondered aloud. "And moreso, why they wouldn't demand a ransom of some kind."
"And why they would purposely alert Jedi too?" Jana asked.
"Well, yes, that too."
"I think that the first 'message' Spark and I received was from the children themselves," she said thoughtfully. "They were calling out to us for help. The situation on the ship... I think that was the captors, letting us know that they knew we knew. If that makes sense."
Kenjiro nodded. "That would lead both parties to be Force sensitive, you realize."
"I have thought of that. Strange."
Jana stopped walking and froze to her spot, her traditional and Force senses on alert. Kenjiro - still unable to sense whatever had caught her attention - stood silently and at attention, as prepared as he could be.
//We're here.//
//Here? In the field?//
//Yes. There are children nearby.// Jana frowned, realizing that her Force communication seemed ludicrous. They still stood in the middle of acres upon acres of vegetables! Unable to see well with the sheer darkness of night, Jana used the Force to enhance her sensitivity and reached out with her empathic skills - carefully - to root out where the children were.
Just a little closer, she thought, edging her awareness further than she'd ever let her empathic abilities go. Jana dropped to her knees and frantically tore at the dirt with her hands. She scraped away soil and shallow roots with her fingers, clawing at the earth.
"Jana! What is it?" Kenjiro whispered, falling to his knees a row over from her.
She failed to respond. Her focus had become engrossed in digging.
Closer... closer...!
Her hand clamped around a large antique metal door clasp as she collapsed.
Twins
--sparkvallen
Suburbs of Coronet City, Correlia. Dusk.
The three Jedi - dressed in inconspicuous attire - had passed through the local planetary customs area without incident. A landspeeder taxi carried them from the urban sprawl of Coronet City out to the outlying districts that were far more rural.
Kenjiro considered the droid driver then turned and whispered to Jana and Spark, "What do your senses tell you?"
"Nothing yet," Spark admitted. She glanced at Jana, who then nodded in agreement.
"Are you sure you're--"
"Yes, Kenjiro, I'm fine," Jana insisted through gritted teeth. She had only returned to consciousness moments after entering Correlian space. It had taken nearly a half hour before she was fully cognizant again and two hours total before Jana could convince Spark and Kenjiro that she'd be able to retain her balance and move about.
He nodded, still concerned. The mission was confusing for him; he trusted his fellow Jedi implicitly, but it was still hard to know what to do and when since he failed to sense any of the disturbances they felt.
"Oh stang! Would you look at that!" Spark hissed, pointing out the taxi's window at a holograph ad.
"What did it say?" Jana asked, having missed the ad.
She rolled her eyes. "'Tour the hometown of Spark Vallen, Jedi Master! Discover her early Correlian roots. Follow the path of the farm girl to Jedi!'," she recited. "I had no idea they were giving tours."
Kenjiro and Jana giggled at her exasperation. Several Jedi who'd not been traditionally trained - rasied at the Temple since infancy - were heralded by their home regions in such a way, they all knew.
"Maybe we should take the tour," Jana suggested, smiling. "It might be interesting to learn more about you, Spark."
"We can save that fun until after our mission," she smirked.
Consulting his datapad, he signalled to the droid taxi driver. "Anywhere in the next kilometer that you can stop would be fine, please."
The droid replied, "Received" and proceded to change into the right lane to bring them closer to the edge of the road. As the sun receded beyond the horizon, Kenjiro, Jana and Spark disembarked and looked around.
"The kidnappings," Jana said from the memorized news holos, "have been taking place in a radius of eight kilometers from nearly the point where we stand. The children's ages range from three months to nine standard years. All different species of creature and both genders have turned up missing. No financial distinction except that they resided in this general farming community area."
Spark pointed toward the village that they would come across with a few minutes' walk. "Up there, on the outskirts of town is a small university. I almost attended it, back before Garren came," she said thoughtfully. "It - and town itself - are within the eight kilometer range, of course.
"This is a journey home for you in the truest sense, isn't it, Spark?"
"Welcome to Sparklerville," she said sarcastically. "Now. Since we don't want to announce ourselves, we have to find information that wasn't on the holonews carefully. We can't alert the... 'natives' that we're here nor do we want to tip off local law enforcement. Any suggestions how we proceed?"
Jana closed her eyes to concentrate.
"I think that the university is somehow important in this, Spark," she said after a moment, her eyes re-opened. "What is out that way?" Jana pointed to the west, across the road from them.
"When I still lived here, it was nothing but farms," she said. Drawing on the Force and extending her field of responsibility to the west, she immediately picked up on the dissonance that Jana had sensed. "Ah, I understand why you asked."
"I don't sense anything," Kenjiro offered.
"No?" they asked in unison. To Spark and Jana, the anguish and stress was palpable.
"No, I'm sorry. Does it feel anywhere near as... urgent as the incident on the ship?"
"Not nearly," Jana said quickly, "but its still there. Suffering. Much suffering."
"What if we split up? You two head toward the farmland and I'll scout around the farmland?"
"What if... we have another incident, Spark?" Jana asked.
"I was quicker to recover on the ship," she pointed out, "and this way, you'll have Kenjiro there as back up if you are hit as hard as before."
"I also don't like the idea of you going alone," he added.
Spark held out her hands placatingly. "Look. Jana, you know we don't have that much time. This goes well beyond concern for our own well-beings when the lives of children are at stake." She paused and smiled. "Trust me."
To Jana, Kenjiro said, "Never trust a Correlian when she says that!"
Spark chuckled and offered a bow from the neck. "Keep comlinks open," she suggested, "and buzz me if you find anything. I'll do the same if anything on the campus pans out."
"May the Force be with you," Jana whispered.
"Likewise."
++++++++
"Nothing out here but vegetables and more vegetables!" Jana whispered in the near-total-darkness.
"That's generally what you find on a farm," Kenjiro replied quietly. There was laughter evident in his hushed voice.
She continued to reach out through the Force, feeling drawn by an invisible rope toward some yet unseen destination in among the tall rows of vegetable plants. They'd been walking for over an hour, making their way down the narrow rows that were normally kept by field workers and simple farming droids.
"I keep wondering why someone would kidnap farm children," Kenjiro wondered aloud. "And moreso, why they wouldn't demand a ransom of some kind."
"And why they would purposely alert Jedi too?" Jana asked.
"Well, yes, that too."
"I think that the first 'message' Spark and I received was from the children themselves," she said thoughtfully. "They were calling out to us for help. The situation on the ship... I think that was the captors, letting us know that they knew we knew. If that makes sense."
Kenjiro nodded. "That would lead both parties to be Force sensitive, you realize."
"I have thought of that. Strange."
Jana stopped walking and froze to her spot, her traditional and Force senses on alert. Kenjiro - still unable to sense whatever had caught her attention - stood silently and at attention, as prepared as he could be.
//We're here.//
//Here? In the field?//
//Yes. There are children nearby.// Jana frowned, realizing that her Force communication seemed ludicrous. They still stood in the middle of acres upon acres of vegetables! Unable to see well with the sheer darkness of night, Jana used the Force to enhance her sensitivity and reached out with her empathic skills - carefully - to root out where the children were.
Just a little closer, she thought, edging her awareness further than she'd ever let her empathic abilities go. Jana dropped to her knees and frantically tore at the dirt with her hands. She scraped away soil and shallow roots with her fingers, clawing at the earth.
"Jana! What is it?" Kenjiro whispered, falling to his knees a row over from her.
She failed to respond. Her focus had become engrossed in digging.
Closer... closer...!
Her hand clamped around a large antique metal door clasp as she collapsed.