Chapter Four
Obi-Wan, Devin and Qui-Gon all jerked their heads up right outside the bunker as they heard Kyran's mental cry of anguish. Obi-Wan turned to his master, his face tight with worry. "Master?" he hissed.
Hold on my friend,Qui-Gon sent a wave of healing and comfort through the link he shared with Kyran. "Devin, link with me." He ordered. He opened up the bond he shared with Devin and the two combined their energies. Then Qui-Gon opened up to Obi-Wan. You're turn, Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath and then plunged into the Force. Quickly, he found his master and Devin's linked presences. He jumped himself into their sea of power and was instantly surprised by how much clearer everything around him seemed. Ready.
Qui-Gon nodded tightly and, with the help of the Force and their bonds, began to project his illusion of a grand army to the guards who were surrounding the bunker. "Capture is unavoidable. Surrender or flee. Those are your only options. We are prepared to fight. On this day we will take back what's ours."
The ten guards, who had been milling about, took one look at the 'army' and then fled for their lives. Obi-Wan would have laughed had he been able to spare the concentration. Well, that worked very well,he thought to his master and Devin as they separated themselves once again.
Qui-Gon nearly collapsed from exhaustion that the amount of effort his mental illusion had taken. "At least it worked." He straightened after a few minutes. "We will take back what's ours," he echoed, a steely glint to his eye.
Obi-Wan and Devin both nodded, identical looks of grimness on their faces.
Kyran, barely conscious, stared at his captor. He tried to push himself up to a sitting position once more, but the pain in his legs was so fierce it kept him from being able to move at all. He sighed, knowing that if his friends didn't arrive soon then he would be killed, and Jayla, too. He figured revenge was the only reason they weren't dead already.
Across the room, two of the aliens picked Jayla up while another untied her wrists. Some time while he was passed out again the aliens had brought in a stone slab and some flame throwers. Jayla was unconscious again and did not notice the aliens take her to the slab and tie her down to it. The leader came up to Kyran. "Ah, awake again though barely I see. Well, maybe this will help you stay awake. I was thinking about what you said and it had the ring of truth to it for me: about perhaps Jedi Jayla not being our main target of revenge. So I've decided to get rid of her. Now, according to our religion, virgins can be sacrificed for the atonement of sin. I'm sure as a true Jedi she is a virgin so for the sin I'm about to commit—killing you—I'm going to sacrifice her." He gave his funny laugh. "I'm not normally religious but this could be fun!"
Obi-Wan shoved his braid out of his face, sweat gathering on his neck. He heaved another shovel of dirt out of the tunnel they were making. With the Force to help them—and a matter distributor—it was going along really quickly. It would be a lot more quick if his master wasn't so tired and had to take a break to meditate, leaving only him and Devin to shovel the lose dirt out of the distributor's way.
An hour later, Qui-Gon, feeling tired but somewhat better, knew that he had to get up and help Devin and Obi-Wan shovel a path to the underground bunker. He was doing too much too soon he knew, but he had to help get Kyran out. Doggedly he continued shoveling side by side with his apprentice.
Finally, another hour later, the three Jedi had a hole that they estimated to be deep enough. They stood shoulder to shoulder in the small space but it was adequate for their purpose. All of them turned on their lightsabers at the same time as they face the curved, rough round outside of the wall that held Jayla and Kyran.
Qui-Gon stared at the wall blocking the path to his best friend and immediately plunged his saber into it, starting to cut a makeshift doorway for them.
Kyran stared at the alien as he held a torch in his hands and turned to set fire to the wood on the altar to which Jayla was bound. "No, please don't do this!" he pleaded. "She's innocent." The alien had waited for Jayla to wake up, wanting her pain to be extreme, knowing that it would further torture Kyran to see her burn to death.
Jayla moaned and started to wake up from the darkness that kept all pain away. She blinked her sore eyes and realized with a start that she was no longer tied upright to the wall. She was happy for a moment...and then she saw where she was now. She gasped and tried to sit up but ropes held her down. Panicked, she glanced at all the flamethrowers and the screamed, "Kyran! Somebody, help me!"
Tears poured silently down Kyran's cheeks. He tried to stand again but he could not. He had to do something to help.
One of the aliens tossed a lit flamethrower on Jayla and she tried to blow it out, with little success.
A chunk of melted wall fell in where Qui-Gon, Devin and Obi-Wan had finally cut through. Qui-Gon stepped forward, his blade ignited. "You asked for help?"
Jayla, tears running down her face, nodded earnestly. The fire was on her stomach and eating through the thin clothe she was wearing. "Help, help, help!" she whimpered. Obi-Wan flipped over two aliens and threw the flamethrower to the other side of the room. Frantically, he patted the flames out.
Qui-Gon raced over to where Kyran was laying on the cold floor. "Can you stand?"
Kyran shook his head 'no'. "Fuzzy over there broke both my legs," he explained. "I can't go anywhere on my own."
Qui-Gon's anger and concern surged at what they'd done to his friend and he gently lifted him in his arms. "Alright. I think I can carry you back to the ship." He stood with his friend in his arms. Devin was carrying Jayla after having put out the flames with Obi-Wan and untied her. "I think this is a good time to leave."
All of the aliens were standing, stunned, at the fast rescue that the Jedi had started. The leader was furious. His revenge was getting away. He grabbed a blaster from the nearest alien to him and ran at Qui-Gon. He screamed in rage and fired, point blank, but tripped so his blaster was pointed lower than he wanted and hit Qui-Gon's leg instead.
Qui-Gon gasped at the burning pain in his right leg as he lost his balance and staggered, almost dropping his friend to the floor. Panting from the effort of control, he managed to regain his feet. He walked out of the room, pushing past the rest of the stunned aliens through the makeshift door they'd created. His leg was screaming fire at him as he walked, carrying his friend who had lapsed into unconsciousness.
Obi-Wan saw that, since Kyran was now out of his reach, the alien was spinning around to track Jayla—whom Devin was leaving with also. He felt a hardness around his heart. He did not want to have to do what he needed to do...but he would to save his friends. Quite calmly, he walked over to the alien. The alien never saw him, his attention was so fixed on revenge. One lightsaber slash and it was mostly over. Obi-Wan stood there, tears running down his cheeks, but firm. It was not the first time that he had killed a living being, but having to kill anything tore at his spirit—though he was prepared to do it again if any of the rest threatened his friends. He stared at the aliens. One by one, they raised their hands, giving up. Obi-Wan nodded and pulled out his comlink to call planetary security.
Qui-Gon headed back to their ship that they'd come in, trusting Devin and Obi-Wan to follow him. He'd go ahead and get preflight checks started so they'd be ready to take off as soon as the other two got aboard. He secured Kyran in a spare cabin and strapped him down to the bed gently so he wouldn't fall out during take off. Then he limped heavily to the pilot's seat to get the ship warmed up.
Devin quickly followed Qui-Gon to the ship and then placed Jayla gently on the couch in the lounge, since there were no more bunks. He sat down beside her on the floor to keep her from falling and stroked her bruised and battered face as she struggled to remain conscious. "Go...we'll wake you when we reach Coruscant. You're safe now," he said to her soothingly. She sighed and obeyed gratefully. Devin sat there a moment and then hit the intercomm with the Force. "Is Obi-Wan up there with you?" he asked his friend.
"No." Qui-Gon replied worriedly. "I thought he was with you. Sith. That means he's still out there. If you'll come finish preflight, I'll go back and look for him." Qui-Gon stood, wincing at the sharp pain that flashed through his leg as he did so.
Devin glanced at Jayla. "On my way." He bounded up to the cockpit, meeting Qui-Gon near the ramp. He glanced at his leg worriedly. "Let me go. I'm not wounded."
Qui-Gon shook his head. "You don't have as strong of a bond with him as I do. I'll be alright."
Devin looked worried, but nodded. "If you aren't here in ten minutes, I'm coming after you," he promised.
Qui-Gon shook his head. "No. The most important thing is that Kyran and Jayla get back safely. If I don't come back in thirty minutes, take off with out us and I'll find another transport home."
Devin looked very unhappy but he nodded in agreement. "I'll leave in forty minutes. Go and find Obi-Wan." He went to the cockpit and readied the ship.
Qui-Gon headed out of the ship, trying very hard not to limp on his wounded leg. If he met trouble alone in these woods, he would need to present a strong front to his enemy and not a weakness. Thorns and foliage cut into him as he hunted for the boy. Obi-Wan?
Obi-Wan kept his lightsaber out as he watched the aliens. He had to wait for the local law enforcement to arrive before he could leave. When he heard his master call for him, he sent him a mental picture of where he was and tried to shield his master from his emotions.
Qui-Gon sighed gratefully, getting a mental projection of where Obi-Wan was. He stumbled into the bunker where Obi-Wan was keeping guard on the aliens through their makeshift door. "Padawan," he said softly.
Obi-Wan did not look at his master. "Master," he greeted, keeping his eyes on the five aliens still standing against the wall, the bisected remains of the leader down at his boots.
Qui-Gon glanced around and saw the remains of the leader on the floor and knew instantly what had happened. He reached out to touch the boy on the shoulder and sent a warm wave of comfort through their link.
Obi-Wan made no sign of feeling what his master was doing to help him. Guilt and remorse already ate at him. Before he could say something, twenty or more local law enforcement officers poured into the small bunker. With a sigh, he closed down his lightsaber. "They're all yours." He turned to his master and noted the cuts across his face. "I'm ready to go now, Master."
Qui-Gon nodded slowly and gently began the long trek back. He stumbled slightly over a root in his path, and winced at the sharp pain that ran through his wounded leg. We're on our way,he sent to Devin.
Devin sent back an acknowledgement. We're waiting. Be careful.
Obi-Wan saw how much trouble his master was having and, without a word, put his shoulder underneath his master's arm to offer support.
Qui-Gon accepted Obi-Wan's support gratefully, leaning heavily on the boy as he limped back to the ship where Devin was waiting for them.