Chapter Three
You shouldn't have come.
Don't say things like that. I had to come. Did you think that we would just let you die?
Jayla tried to move her head, but found the effort not worth it. Better me dead then all of us,she sent back, her mental voice gaining a little strength. They've kept me alive only to capture you.
What do you mean? Who are they? Why do they want me?Kyran finally managed to regain his feet, wincing at the pain from the damage the lightening had done.
They'll tell you,she sent wryly. Trust me. They've been planning this for years.
Years?he echoed. He racked his brains trying to think of who could possibly have a grudge against him for so long. He shrugged. He had several enemies, but the only question was which one was it.
The six aliens just then approached the cage where Kyran was kept in. The spokesalien grinned, showing four rows of sharp and pointed teeth. "Well, finally, Jedi Josel, we meet at last."
Kyran arched a brow. "I've been here a lot sooner, if you'd just given me directions."
All the aliens made a funny cackling sound that he took as laughter. Then the leader said, "Well, we knew this would get you here quicker than anything else would." He gestured to the shivering, battered Jayla.
"Well, you have me now, what do you want with me?" he queried in a hard voice.
"For you and your padawan to die," the alien hissed. At his words, two of the aliens—the ones with Force whips—went over to stand over Jayla, who didn't even seem to see them.
"There is no reason to torture her. You have me. Kill me if you must. Leave her alone, she's done nothing to you."
"Oh, but she has," the lead alien hissed at him. "She helped convince you to add the provision in the treaty eight years ago that forever stopped our livelihood. Without her influence, you were going to forget about that one little section in the treaty to let the planetary government handle later on, if ever." He spat at Jayla and the warm saliva dripped off her cheek. She gave a low moan.
"If you're so pathetic that you haven't managed to gain some way of earning money in the last eight years, then that's not my problem," Kyran said coldly.
The alien's little beady eyes glinted. "We found other ways to fulfill our time...revenge." He nodded to the two others near him with the blasters. One of the furballs hopped up and down with excitement and fired off a few wild shots. "Not at me, idiot!" The leader hissed. "At the Jedi in the cage!"
Kyran laughed at that. "No wonder you never earned any money. One of your men is trigger happy. That kind of puts a damper on things if you start shooting randomly at customers."
With an angry cry, the spokesalien jabbed at the device in his hands. Burning hot water shot out with missile force and slammed into Kyran.
Kyran gasped and cried out as the hot water threw him back into the cage. He cried out again as the cage shocked him and flung him forward on to the floor where he lay panting for breath. The water had burned some of the skin off of his stomach and chest when it had hit him in the gut.
"Now, as fun as it is to watch you suffer," the lead alien sneered. "You are behind on what's been happening to your precious Jayla." He nodded and the two aliens with Force whips started beating Jayla with them, adding jolts of electricity to her punishment.
"Thanks for that demonstration," Kyran snarled, "but I figured it out for myself." He reached out a hand and used the Force to shove the aliens away from his former apprentice.
The furry aliens started hooting once they had regained their footing and the leader gazed at Kyran for a moment. "You do like to make things difficult," he remarked at the Jedi.
Kyran smirked slightly at that and reached out to the Force, projecting all of his power on the alien's mind. "You will put down your weapons."
The alien made its funny laugh again. "Do you forget so easily that our species is not susceptible to mind control? Just for that..." He turned the voltage on the cage up to full power.
Kyran cried out as the electricity shot through him at full strength. He fell to his knees panting for breath. He was dizzy but still the electricity continued to flow through him.
The alien chuckled and gestured to the two with Force whips to work on the young woman while Kyran was preoccupied. Kyran was helpless in the pain of the electricity. His muscles jerked and spasmed, and he flopped on the floor of the cage like a fish out of water. Desperately, he sent through the Force to his best friend, Hurry with what you're doing!before blackness closed in around him.
Qui-Gon glanced up sharply, feeling Kyran's pain flood through him. Devin's eyes widened, also feeling it.
"We need to go in after them. But doing so without a solid strategy is foolish. We'll get further away deeper into the woods and plan how to get them out. Agreed?" Qui-Gon commanded.
Devin nodded and turned to Obi-Wan. "Focus on the Force to help you jump higher. Like this." So saying, he focused in the Force and suddenly shot upward to grab onto the lip of the door that they had used to get down there. His voice called down. "Piece of Ithorian cake."
Obi-Wan had his doubts and so looked to his master.
Qui-Gon smothered a laugh at Devin's wording expression by hastily turning it into a cough. "Go on Obi-Wan. I'll follow directly behind you."
Obi-Wan took a deep breath. He'd never done this before so he wasn't entirely sure on what to do. Focusing in the Force, he pictured in his mind the lip of the door. He crouched, gathered the Force to him, and jumped. His heart dropped as the Force helped to shoot him up farther than he intended and Devin had to catch him. He slammed into the older Jedi and they fell to the grass in a tangle of arms and legs. He scowled as the Jedi laughed and brushed himself off.
Qui-Gon leapt up behind him. "Good, Obi-Wan, but next time be more mindful of where you intend to be after jumping," he said, grinning slightly. "You did well. Just a little too well. We'll work on it more when we get back."
Obi-Wan cleared his throat and mumbled, "Yes, Master," trying to ignore the chuckles coming from both his master and Master Devin. Once they got their bearings, the three Jedi crept into the foliage and drew their cloaks around them.
Qui-Gon headed away from the prison where his friend was being held. It hurt to leave him behind but he knew that they didn't have a good way to rescue them yet. He sat down after they were several meters away from the bunker in a spot well concealed by foliage.
"Okay, what's next?" Obi-Wan whispered, listening to the animal calls around them.
"I have an idea. It's risky but it might work," Qui-Gon said as he quickly outlined his plan to fool the guards with a Force illusion. He glanced at Devin. "What do you think?"
Devin pondered for a moment. "As long as they are not the same species as those aliens, it could work. I remember now that when I did a paper as a padawan about species of aliens that have no effect with the Force, these aliens were included. They are called dwigians. Any Force suggestions used on them will be useless. So, unless the guards are also dwigians, it could work very well."
Obi-Wan nodded. "I did a similar paper, Master Devin, and I know remember them as well." He glanced at his master. "The plan is good, Master."
Qui-Gon nodded. "Good. Devin and I will link then, Obi-Wan, you will join us. In order for this to work we must be completely focused and linked together. The slightest break in concentration could cause the illusion to fail."
Obi-Wan swallowed and then nodded. "Yes, Master. I can do it."
Qui-Gon arched a brow. "Then I suppose we'd best get started."
Jayla fought against the pain to stay awake. It was almost the fifth day that she had gone without food and water. Her mouth was parched and with all her blood loss she was extremely weak. After the second day she had stopped trying to get free. The pain they put her through kept her from concentrating on the Force to get away. The first day she had tried to escape and had earned broken and bruised ribs for it and a broken leg. Now she couldn't walk to get away even if she wanted to. She groaned and forced one of her swollen eyes opened. The leader was still standing outside Kyran's cage. With supreme effort through puffy lips, she said, "Leave him alone."
Kyran groaned as he came too and his eyes fluttered open. Everything hurt—even his hair hurt from having electricity shoot through him for so long. Dizzily, he wondered where he was, and then he heard Jayla's voice and remembered—he was captured. He blinked and tried to push himself up to a sitting position.
The alien was scowling at her. "Stay out of this...unless you just want more before you die?"
Jayla sighed and shook her head, though she determined to find a way to help her former master.
:The alien slowly approached Kyran. He peered at him, and then snapped at another alien. "I don't want him able to escape. Do to him what we did to her." He gestured at Jayla. The other alien grinned and then, before Kyran could react, shot out an arm, grabbed his leg at the knee and twisted it all the way around with superhuman strength.
Kyran screamed at the pain in his leg as it was viciously twisted. He barely heard the snap of breaking bone through his haze of pain. Sith, but that hurt! He panted for breath, suddenly having more appreciation for what Qui-Gon had gone through recently at the hands of Syfo Dias, having been tortured. Pain was not easy to control—but he had to. He had been trained to.
Jayla winced in sympathy at his scream. Her right leg throbbed along with his cry.
The alien smirked. "That's better. Now, what should I do to you next? I have soooo many ideas!" He cackled.
Kyran pulled himself back up to sit and look calmly at his captor. The pain in his leg was excruciating, but he had to look past it. He winced as he shifted position and it pulled against his broken leg. He knew he wouldn't be able to get out without help now. Perhaps his friend had been justified in stowing aboard their ship.
"Now, for what I've been waiting for," the alien murmured. He touched a button and the cage retracted, though Kyran could still go nowhere. He chuckled and then started to kick Kyran where he sat.
Kyran curled in a ball to protect himself. He tried to pull his leg out of range but he couldn't move it an iota. He screamed as his broken leg was savagely kicked.
The alien hopped up and down. This was more fun than beating the woman Jedi. After four hours of beatings she had become quiet and unresponsive. It had been too long since he had heard real screams of pain. Feeling a rush, he aimed for a space near Kyran's arm. He was satisfied to have his foot sink into, and break, what he believed to be a rib...but then again, he wasn't very strong on human anatomy.
Kyran cursed violently as the bone in his left arm snapped. The pain was fierce and brought tears to his eyes, but he did not let them fall even as he struggled to sit up.
The alien was having a very good time. He randomly chose places to kick or stomp, and got even more excited the more things snapped or cracked inside Kyran's body.
Kyran ignored the torture as best he could, yet it hurt so badly. He yelped out in pain as he heard bones in his other leg snap. Qui-Gon!!!!