Repercussions
Chapter 29
The rest of the trip to C'lasi was fairly uneventful. Apparently the bounty hunters had other things to do besides tormenting their prisoners. They apparently had other things to do besides feeding them, as beyond a canteen of water that had been thrown at them, they had received nothing. Qui-Gon and Kyran had shared the water, more or less equally, after a brief squabble where each tried to get the other to take the lion's share. Together they had managed to summon enough energy to repair Qui-Gon's shoulder enough that he had very limited movement in his right arm and hand. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing. The two were meditating, working on releasing Qui-Gon's growing anxiety into the Force, when they felt the distinct shudder of the ship exiting hyperspace and entering a planet's atmosphere. Kyran could see his friend nearly shaking with the effort to control his panic as the ship landed.
"Qui-Gon," Kyran said softly, stretching out his hand to his friend. They had discovered if they both extended their arms full length they could just barely reach each other. "It will be all right. Trust in the Force."
Qui-Gon swallowed a large lump in his throat and tried to speak but couldn't. His hand visibly shaking ,he reached out to Kyran.
Kyran squeezed Qui-Gon's hand reassuringly. The door to the hold slid open, Yomar striding through. Several of the bounty hunters followed, blasters trained on the two Jedi.
Qui-Gon tensed at the arrival of their captors and tightened his grip on Kyran...refusing to let go.
"Awww, isn't that sweet," mocked Yomar. "Hate to break you two lovebirds up, but its time to go." With a pair of heavy bolt cutter in his hands, he approached the two. "Either one of you tries anything, and you get fried. Understand?" Slapping another pair of cuffs around Qui-Gon's hands, Yomar then cut the chains binding Qui-Gon to the floor. Grabbing him by the back of the hair, he shoved him towards the door.
"Hey, what about me?" demanded Kyran when it became apparent they had no intentions of releasing him.
"You're being picked up a bit later, scum. Gaikusan wants to attend to you personally." Yomar replied. "You should be honored, he's going to take you to the palace's own dungeon rather than Tuvlat, like your friend here."
Qui-Gon's eyes widened at that news and he began to fight, struggling hard against those who held him, determined not to let Gaikusan get to his friend...
Yomar pulled a dagger from his belt and held it to Kyran's throat. "Your worth far more to me than him, Duursema! Keep fighting and he dies."
Qui-Gon stopped, frozen, staring at his friend, and at the dagger held to his throat. He eyed it warily wondering if he could use the Force to grab it from Yomar quickly enough that Kyran wouldn't get cut.
Yomar increased the pressure on the dagger slightly. A thin trickle of blood flowed down Kyran's throat. "It's a very sharp knife. Won't take much to cut his throat. And we'll blast you anyway, so the only thing your struggle gets you is killing him."
Kyran stood very still, thinking. Perhaps it might be better if Yomar's dagger did its work, then Qui-Gon would not have to restrain himself. This might be his opportunity to escape, if Kyran could keep Yomar's attention for those few precious seconds.
Qui-Gon caught the gist of what his friend was thinking and gave him a sharp look No. I forbid you to get yourself killed because of me.With a deep sigh he forced himself to relax and surrender...
Yomar pulled the dagger away from Kyran's throat, then lashed out with a vicious backhand. Only the chains that restrained him kept Kyran from being flung across the room. "Get him out of here," ordered Yomar, signaling his men to drag off Qui-Gon.
You stay alive, too, Qui-Gon. Devin will come for you, survive until then. Remember, the Force will be with you.
Kyran struggled to his knees, trying to get one last look at his friend as he was taken away.
Qui-Gon stopped with an effort and looked at his friend. But you...
I'll be alright. I'm warned ahead of time what Gaikusan wants, I'll be prepared for him. You've got to be strong. Hold on, Devin will know where you are. He'll come for you. Always keep that in mind.
The Force will be with you, brother
Qui-Gon gulped and gave one last tug at his chains, trying in vain to free himself. No amount of preparation can get you ready for him...
Yomar, oblivious to the silent conversation, signaled his thugs to drag Qui- Gon out of the hold.
Qui-Gon gritted his teeth as he was dragged by his hair out of the hold, forcing himself to focus beyond it he reached out to Kyran. Force be with you......
Yomar jabbed a sharp claw into Qui-Gon's wounded shoulder. "Hear they got something special planned for you. You're the first person in the history of Tuvlat to escape, even if it was for only a few months. Warden wants to make sure that everyone knows what the reward for that is."
Qui-Gon gasped at the pain as Yomar jabbed his wounded shoulder , gritting his teeth at the fire that ran through it he wondered how badly he'd be beaten this time.
"Warden decided that a simple whipping, even like the one you got for starting the riot, wasn't good enough. From what I hear he's planning on peeling your skin from your body one inch at a time. Then he'll start cutting bits off. They say he's brought in a med droid to make sure that you survive it. That he plans to make it last for a long, long time. You're going to be his new hobby."
Qui-Gon's stomach turned over at the thought of enduring something like that and he was almost sick at the way Yomar grinned at him. Sweat broke out on his forehead and he tried not to panic, knowing Kyran needed him alive if he was to survive Gaikusan...
"If Warden is going to skin you anyway, maybe we'll start now. It's a couple of hours ride to Tuvlat. We wouldn't want you getting bored during the ride." Yomar pulled out his dagger, slowly moving it towards Qui-Gon's face. He was thrown backwards as the ground transport crashed to a halt, as the sounds of a loud explosion filled the air
Qui-Gon gasped as he was thrown backwards hard, wincing at the pain in his wounded shoulder and he tensed as the transport stopped. Reaching out to the Force he located another very strong Force-signature. Devin!
Devin had carefully measured out the explosives he had planted in the road. Enough to disable the transport without destroying it. As soon as the front end of the transport moved over the hidden mine, he ignited it with the Force. Leaping onto the transport, even as it swerved dangerously with the driver now dead, Devin ignited his lightsaber, cutting through the section of the roof under which he could sense Qui-Gon. Dropping down into the transport, Devin brought his blade down, slicing off the hand of the large being holding a dagger that lunged towards him. Not pausing to see the results, he grabbed Qui-Gon and Force leapt back up through the hole he had created.
"Can you run? My ship isn't far from here," asked Devin as he quickly cut through the binders on Qui-Gon's wrists.
Qui-Gon gasped as Devin jerked him out of the transport. He glanced at his friend. "I can try... "he sighed in relief as the binders around his wrists were cut and he moved his arms in front of him, trying his hardest not to cry out at the sharp pain in his right shoulder. "I'll be alright. I think. It's Kyran I'm worried about. Let's go."
Blaster bolts filled the air as the two fled into the woods. They could hear the bounty hunters running after them. They dashed up the ramp of the small shuttle Devin had parked in a clearing. Devin quickly put up the ship's shields and lifted off.
"Where's Kyran. I lost track of him about an hour ago. I could still feel you, but not him."
Qui-Gon let out a long, slow breath as they were safely in the air. When he spoke his voice was tense. "Gaikusan has him. They separated us. They were going to take me back.. and take him to the palace dungeon."
Devin pointed to the data screen on the control consul. "There's a map of the area on there. I've got your landing area marked, figure out the most likely route back to the palace."
Qui-Gon narrowed his gaze as he studied the map. "Then we should take the least likely route...they'll be expecting us along here." He pointed a finger at a way back and traced it
A alarm sounded. "Sithspawn, fighters coming in fast. They must have called in air support." swore Devin
Qui-Gon fought down his rising panic, he had to concentrate or both Devin and Kyran could be lost, "Sensors are picking up a second group of fighters coming in from the north. "
Devin swore under his breath a low curse in Rodian. "Initiating evasive maneuvers, we've got no offensive weapons on this thing!"
"Third group of fighters will be here in about two minutes," announced Qui- Gon.
"We have to retreat. We can't last out here much longer, prepare to make the jump to hyperspace." Devin said.
Qui-Gon looked up at that. "But what about Kyran? We can't just leave him!"
"We stay and we're dead. We won't be much use to him then." Devin said shortly. He hated the idea of leaving Kyran behind, but knew that now was not the time for a rescue.
Qui-Gon flinched at those words, knowing that Devin was right, still feeling like he'd abandoned his friend and knowing what he would endure made it ten times worse.
Their ship broke atmosphere, speeding away from C'lasi gravity well, the fighters in close pursuit. The stars turned to thin lines as the ship jumped to light speed.
Qui-Gon swallowed hard as they headed for hyperspace and said in a thick voice "Well. I suppose that's that. I'm going to the lounge to think and meditate."
Devin glanced at his friend sorrowfully as he left.
Devin walked into the ship's small lounge sometime later to check on his friend. Qui-Gon was sitting on one of the bench like chairs next to the table bolted in the center of the room. Devin sighed. He hadn't seen Qui- Gon looking so . . . hopeless, since that night weeks ago when he and Kyran had found him cowering in the corner of the bedroom. It just wasn't fair. Things seemed to be finally getting better and this had to happen. "We've come out of hyperspace. We're sitting in pretty much empty space, no charted systems anywhere near us. That ought to shake our pursuit," Devin sat next to Qui-Gon.
Qui-Gon continued gazing out into space. He didn't look up as Devin entered the room. His thoughts were on Kyran. He hated leaving his best friend behind, in Gaikusan's hands knowing what he was going through. Qui-Gon bit at his lower lip
They sat in silence for several long minutes. Devin could guess where his friend's
thoughts were and the guilt that Qui-Gon was no doubt burying himself in. "We did the best we could. We're not going to leave him behind. A few hours to let the
search die down and we'll go after him." Devin put his hand on Qui-Gon's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.
Qui-Gon sucked in his breath sharply and jerked away.
"Qui-Gon?" Devin asked, startled. Realization hit, Devin reached over to pull Qui-Gon tunic away from his shoulder.
Devin gasped at the purplish-black bruise that covered Qui-Gon's shoulder. "What happened?"
Qui-Gon gritted his teeth and jerked out of Devin's grip and tugged his shirt down. "Nothing." he said harshly.
Watching the awkward way that Qui-Gon moved, Devin narrowed his eyes. Taking Qui-Gon's right hand in his own, he demanded, "close your hand on mine, hard as you can."
Qui-Gon scowled as he tried to squeeze Devin's hand, trying to not gasp out loud at the pain.
"I figured as much." Pushing Qui-Gon's tunic aside again, ignoring Qui- Gon's protests, he examined the shoulder. "Hold still, blast it. Feels like its shattered. Tell me what happened."
Qui-Gon gasped as Devin gently probed his shoulder. He swore. "Sith, Devin, that hurts." He growled. "They beat me when we were recaptured."
Devin sat back heavily, his mind spun. Now what? He knew that Qui-Gon's left hand was only about half functioning and now his right was useless. He studied Qui-Gon face, noting for the first time the exhaustion that lined it. There was no way that Qui-Gon would be able to go on a rescue mission. "Qui-Gon, I'm going to go after Kyran alone. You'll stay here on the ship."
Qui-Gon shook his head and his eyes darkened. "Absolutely not," he snapped, flatly. "It's far too dangerous. I couldn't take Gaikusan on my own. Neither could you especially if one of us has to help Kyran out and believe me chances are he wont' be able to make it out on his own.
"Gaikusan and his guards ambushed you, this is different. I'll find a way. You're in no condition to be doing anything except keeping a healer busy." Worry made Devin's tone sharp.
"We are not going to a Healer. We don't have time for that. I'm going with you whether you like it or not."
Devin stood and drew his lightsaber. "Want to go? Fine. Disarm me and you can go."
Qui-Gon stood and drew his lightsaber with his left hand. "Devin, I don't want to fight you."
Devin lunged forward without replying. The bright orange blade sweeping towards Qui-Gon's injured right side.
Qui-Gon tried to turn and block but missed. Devin's blade got through his defenses even as he tried to dodge to the side.
Devin pulled back on his strike so that Qui-Gon suffered only a slight burn on the leg rather than getting it sliced off. His stomach twisted at further injuring his friend, but sometimes Qui-Gon was so stubborn that hard measures were needed to get him to see reason. Devin followed through the leg strike by bringing his saber up, easily avoiding Qui-Gon's clumsy efforts to block. The blade now rested centimeters away from Qui-Gon's throat.
"Not even ten seconds. What good will you do Kyran dying?"
Qui-Gon turned away at that, feeling like Devin had punched him in the gut. "But...Devin..."
Devin placed his deactivated saber on the table next to where Qui-Gon had placed his in surrender. "You'll stay with the ship. With your left hand you can keep things ready so we can take off as soon as Kyran and I get back. I'll find a way to get Kyran out of the palace. Some how."
Qui-Gon closed his eyes, briefly in frustration. If anything happened to either of them he would never forgive himself. " But you need some backup. There's no way you could get him out alone. Things were different when you rescued me in the prison. You had Kyran with me and even then you both got injured. You're also exhausted. Gaikusan is well ready for us. There will be no way you can do this alone. "
"Have some faith, Qui-Gon. He can't be that ready for me. After all, he just got hold of Kyran. As for being tired, yeah, okay, it was a bit of a work out on just a few hours sleep in the past couple of days. But I'll get a few more hours sleep while we're waiting and I'll be fine."
Qui-Gon shook his head and narrowed his gaze darkly. "You have no idea the number of people he has at his disposal. He's the deputy of an entire planet Devin. This will not be easy even if you were at full strength.
"What choice do we have, besides me going in alone?" Devin cried out in frustration. "If you went in with me you'd be signing your own death warrant."
Qui-Gon growled harshly, "Then so be it! I should have died already. To the rest of the Order I am dead!"
"What are you talking about? The Jedi know you are alive, know that the C'lasi lied. They've just got to abide by the decisions of the Senate. The Council will get them to declare that, eventually. And don't even think that throwing away your life is an acceptable action. Don't you realize what it would do to Kyran, to me, to know that we let you go to your death when we could have prevented it? Sithspit, Kyran's soul is already bleeding enough from knowing the horrible things you suffered because he wasn't there when he should have been. And me, I . . . I know I should have been there too. Or gotten you out far earlier than we did. We should have ignored the Council and gone as soon as we knew what Gaikusan had done." Devin's voice broke.
Qui-Gon looked away at that. "I'm sorry Devin. I just... I'm so tired of hiding and not being able to help. Please, I need to do this."
"I know. I'm sorry too. I never meant to tell you all that, I know that doesn't help how you're feeling. But you can't go. And there isn't anyone else. I'll have to go alone."
Qui-Gon hated what he was about to say. The words had to be forced out of his throat, but he knew that anything else meant Devin would likely be killed or captured. "Then we wait, until I'm healed enough to back you up."
Devin couldn't believe what his friend was saying. He'd seen first hand the results of Gaikusan's methods in the massive scars Qui-Gon wore across his back, heard the accounts of the attempts to break Qui-Gon and turn him to the Dark. "You can't be serious?"
Qui-Gon gritted his teeth. "Yes I am serious. Would I ever joke about something like this? Kyran's life is in danger every moment he's in Gaikusan's hands. If I thought you had a chance to get him out by yourself, I wouldn't hesitate to encourage your plan. But you don't. All that will happen is you'll get yourself killed or end up chained next Kyran in some Force forsaken prison cell."
That gave Devin pause. If it was dangerous enough that Qui-Gon was willing to wait, knowing from his own experience what Kyran was likely going through? Devin closed his eyes and opened himself up to the Force, seeking guidance.
At last he opened his eyes, the deep brown orbs now full of sorrow. "We wait. We'll find a healer and go after Kyran as soon as you're able."
Qui-Gon sighed deeply. "How do you propose we do that? I'm a wanted man. I can't just walk into a healer's clinic. We know that from before."
"We're not the only criminals in the galaxy. Eventually they need healers too. We'll make some contacts, ask around, and find a back alley hack that will be able to help us out."
Qui-Gon sighed. What he wouldn't give to be back at the Temple and under the care of Han'yaie, the Chief Healer." If they can heal me so that we can save Kyran, I won't say a word in protest."
Devin gave a half hearted grin as he headed back towards the cockpit to get them headed towards the nearest inhabited star system. "I think I want that recorded, that has to be a first time ever."
Qui-Gon gave Devin a very odd look before realizing what he'd said and then he half-smiled. "Make sure you write the date down too."