A/N: Friends, readers, countrymen: You all share an interest in the mysterious, the unknown, the occult. That is why you are here. You have faithfully followed this tale of terror and woe until now, the most recent installment in our enthralling story, the fifteenth chapter of this very poorly named fanfiction (which, if no one has gotten it by now, is supposed to be a pun on the hockey term 'five for fighting', which until recently I very grossly misunderstood. Yeah, it's bad, I know. Hence all the apologies.) And now, your reviews, chillingly supportive to starving authors, have reached my ears and your encouragement has spurred my continuing narration . . . until now I present you with another spooky spectacle: Chapter Fifteen. Read at your own risk. (Halloween draws near, y'all. Boo.)
Soundtrack: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, anything from Dark Side of the Moon, and always, always Pirates of the Caribbean (or, if you wish, Werewolves of London. Warren, baby, we'll always remember you. Let's hear some howls for the man, everybody.)
FIFTEEN
For a moment, there was absolute silence. Then:
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto."
Naturally, it was Krista who broke it.
All around the ship, the bleak gray landscape stretched into the distance. It was as though the entire planet had been leached of color: the grass was a sullen brown, the foliage of the plants a dull ash, and the sky a leaden gray.
"Actually, this is more like Kansas, before she went into Oz," Annie pointed out.
"Well, fine. Just ruin my analogy then."
"Sure thing."
Dru, who'd remained silent during this exchange, shook her head slowly. "It certainly is a cheerless place."
"Whoa," Krista breathed, a thought striking her. "Do you suppose the people here are colorless too?"
"It's like America in the early 1900's," Annie said.
Krista looked at her blankly. "It is?"
An extremely wicked look crossed Annie's face. "Didn't you know that up until the twenties the entire world was black and white? Just like in the pictures?"
Krista was as inherently gullible as Laura herself, and her friends had long ago discovered it. "It was?" Suddenly realizing what she'd just said, she smacked herself on the head and scowled at a now grinning Annie. "Bite me, Annie."
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Dru said decisively. "Let's head out, ladies."
Outside the ship, the three visitors headed warily along the path, glancing at the uninspiring scenery around them. "Where *are* all the people?" Annie asked, unnerved.
"I don't know," Dru shrugged.
"How are we going to find them?" Krista demanded. "And what will we say when we do?"
"I don't know."
Annie and Krista exchanged glances. "So . . . do we have any kind of plan at all?" Krista asked, dawning suspicion in her voice.
"Not really."
"Oh. Okay then." In an aside to Annie, she whispered, "We're screwed."
Annie, however, was focused on other things. They were drawing ever nearer to a forest, and she stared at it, fascinated. "Those are the most warped trees I've ever seen."
Krista looked; the trees were indeed very . . . disturbed. They rather resembled the evil-apple hurling trees from the Wizard of Oz; the number of parallels to that movie was growing unnatural. "They're definitely not your normal, huggable deciduous types," she agreed. A particularly evil specimen drew in sight and Krista drew in a gasp of awe. "Look at that one!"
Annie and Krista stopped walking to better behold the tree's awesome wickedness. "Whoa," Annie breathed; then, in an eerily accurate imitation, she whispered: "It's a *scary* tree; I'm afraid!"
"It looks . . . alive," Krista pointed out. "Or like a headless horseman might come popping out at any moment."
Annie frowned. It just hadn't been long enough since she'd seen that movie for her to appreciate that comment. "That's not a fun thought."
Krista eyes lit up. "I want to touch it!" she announced with fish-like fervor, moving toward it with hands extended.
Annie eyed her warily but made no move to stop her. "I'm not sure that's the smartest--"
Krista's hand touched the tree's bark, and, with a howl, it began to shake, limbs rattling threateningly; Krista stood frozen until one long limb reached out and smacked her soundly, sending her reeling backward.
"--idea," Annie finished, glumly.
With another evil moan, the tree lunged forward, and both girls launched themselves in the opposite direction.
Within a matter of moments they caught up with Dru, who stood motionless, seemingly waiting for them. "Dru!" Annie panted. "You're a Jedi; you've got to protect us! There's this evil tree--!"
She halted her tirade when she noticed Dru didn't even seem to be listening; instead, she stared fixedly at something in the shadows up ahead. "Dru? What's wrong?"
"Shhh!" the Jedi whispered fiercely. "Freeze!"
Both girls instantly obeyed. They peered intently into the shadows, but couldn't see any hint of what held Dru transfixed.
At last, after several minutes of painful motionless in which the enraged tree could still be heard howling and thrashing in the background, Krista whispered, "Dru, what is it?"
Ever so slowly, the Jedi raised a single trembling finger and pointed.
From the gray foliage where their gazes were directed emerged a small, inky black creature with eyes like twin points of flame. Its gaze was locked directly onto the Jedi's.
For a moment the silence endured, then Krista gave an incredulous bark of laughter. "It's . . . Dru, it's a *squirrel*!"
Annie gasped in affected terror. In a very bad Scottish accent, she tolled, "That's the most vicious rodent you ever laid eyes on. 'E'll rip your throat out! DEATH awaits us all with nasty big pointy teeth!" She raised her hands to her mouth and mimed wicked fangs, eyes rolling wildly.
"HUSH!" Dru said fiercely, trying vainly to shut them up.
It was too late. The squirrel's head whipped around to look at Annie, and it strolled closer to them along its branch. It drew within sight . . . and smiled, revealing a set of fangs easily as long as the girls' fingers.
"*See*?" Dru hissed angrily.
"Oh," Annie whimpered. Krista gulped.
After a moment, Krista rallied and said, "Well, there's only one of it, and it's really little. We can just . . ."
Something rattled overhead. The girls looked up--only to realize the branches of the trees all around them were black with the nasty rodents.
"Oh, bugger," Krista whispered.
They stood there a moment in a classic showdown, Dru's hand hovering over her lightsaber and Krista and Annie scrabbling for weapons, the assorted masses of squirrels glaring at them through beady little eyes--then, the first squirrel gave a shrill, bone-chilling squeak, and they all attacked.
"RUN!" Dru yelled, and all three sprinted as quickly as they could for the edge of the wood, a black wave of killer squirrels running after them and chittering madly.
None of them had much recollection of their flight afterward; they knew only that it was in utter terror, the little squirrels pounding after them in gleeful pursuit, their own feet pelting the ground beneath them as they struggled for every ounce of speed they could muster. The whole event couldn't have taken more than thirty seconds, but as in a nightmare it slowed to terrifying unreality, every movement seeming bogged in mud while the indomitable squirrels loomed closer and closer . . .
Then they were free of the woods and they shot several meters farther down the path, gasping and panting in relief as they realized the squirrels were reluctant to leave the vegetated area. Krista, however, discovered she had two stowaways resolutely clamped onto the hems of her pants and began shrieking and stomping madly, screaming, "Get them off me, get them off me!"
Dru ignited her lightsaber with a dazzling flash and the two squirrels were quickly dislodged; with threatening chitters they raced back to their comrades in the woods and soon once more became one with the inky black mass of rodentia.
The three girls stood panting and gasping on the path, still a little shocked to be alive, the terror of the event slowly fading. "That," Annie finally said, "was the scariest thing that has happened to me yet--and believe me, that's really saying something."
"Funny," Krista gasped, "but--it's SQUIRRELS. *Why* was that so terrifying?"
"It's just--death by squirrels. That's not really how I want to go," Annie explained.
"Good point."
"They don't seem willing to leave the woods," Dru observed, her voice still shaking as well. "I think we're safe, for the time being."
Krista noticed something for the first time. "Look: a town! A very drab town, so it looks like we're in the right place."
"No time to waste," Dru said, apparently having pulled herself together. "Let's head in."
"How can we be sure they'll be friendly?" Annie asked. "That Abjer--the little alien guy seemed really shifty about this. I think it might be some kind of trap."
"Nonsense," Dru said. "I'm a Jedi, you're a prophet, and Kristae's . . . well . . . smart."
"Gee, thanks," Krista muttered.
Obliviously, Dru continued. "I'm sure we'll be able to take care of ourselves."
"Just like we did against the killer squirrels," Annie pointed out. Dru ignored her and began walking briskly toward the village, leaving the two girls with no choice but to follow her.
As they drew nearer, they noticed that the town was decidedly un-modern for Star Wars; it seemed to have even less technology than Earth. The town itself was designated by a few outlying buildings which slowly developed into clusters of them packed side by side along cobblestone streets. Scraggly, colorless bushes lined the streets, and dangerous-looking iron fences blocked off each individual lot. The buildings themselves were narrow, somewhat crooked affairs with slitted, barred windows and extremely slanted roofs. They seemed to be about three stories high on average, but, strangely, the doors were all approximately the same height as Krista.
"I take it this isn't a planet populated by humans?" Krista asked Dru.
Dru frowned. "I'd been under the impression that there were scattered human settlements about twenty or ten years ago, but they all disintegrated within a few years of their founding."
"Disintegrated?" Annie asked, suddenly very unhappy.
As they spoke they'd drawn nearer to the town, and now were within its borders. The first thing to strike each of them was the utter silence of the place. No living things excepting the bushes were in sight; nothing moved anywhere. They stepped hesitantly onto what seemed to be the main avenue, the cobblestones underfoot uneven and rather tricky footing.
"Where is everyone?" Krista asked.
Dru's honey-colored eyes closed briefly as she extended her Jedi senses. "There are people here," she informed them a moment later, opening her eyes again. "They're just playing least in sight."
Somewhere, some wild creature made a forlorn yipping sound, and they all exchanged uneasy glances. As they continued down the street, a chill breeze tugged at their clothing, and they all jumped as over their heads a shuttered window suddenly slammed closed.
"I'm not getting the impression that we're very welcome," Annie said quietly.
"We don't mean them any harm," Dru said evenly. "All we want to do is talk. They'll figure that out soon enough."
"Until then . . . what do we do?" Krista asked.
Dru pointed. Ahead of them, a domed, slightly larger building dominated the end of the street. "That place looks important. We'll go there."
Before they'd taken more than a few more steps, however, a harsh shout stopped them in their tracks. As they waited, untold dozens of figures suddenly boiled out of the nearby buildings and into the street, soon forming a ring around them.
The planet's natives were small, bewhiskered, munchkin-like creatures that stood about a foot below Krista. They were all toting pitchforks, bows and arrows, or some other form of weaponry, and leveling them directly at the newcomers. At first glance Krista expected them to hoist their weapons and proclaim themselves representatives of the Lollipop Guild; on second thought, they had an air of nastiness true Munchkins decidedly lacked.
"Peace!" Dru said, extending her hands carefully in front of her. "We mean you no harm! We just wish to speak with your town leader." When the natives made no response, her expression faltered slightly. "Do you . . . speak Basic?"
"Halt!" A voice gruffer than the rest echoed from near the back of the crowd, and they all turned expectantly toward it. A small figure with an air of great importance stepped forward, eyeing them unpleasantly. "Who are you, and what is your business on Del Majeeco?"
"We are travelers from Coruscant. We wish to speak with your town leader or authority," Dru explained calmly.
He studied them a moment more, furry brows knitted, tail lashing behind him. "I am the town leader. All right. Bring them to the town hall," he informed the mob in general, and the three girls suddenly found themselves prodded by various instruments as they were encouraged to move forward.
"This is starting off just great," Krista muttered to Annie, who nodded in agreement.
After a few minutes' travel, they arrived at the town hall, ducking to fit in the small doorway. Inside, thankfully, the roof was vaulted, enabling them to stand upright. Their fierce escort came in with them, and the large room was soon packed with the small furry creatures.
"You!" The leader pointed at Dru. "Why have you come here?"
Dru spread her hands. "We are representatives of the Jedi Temple. We visited Kamino--"
The rest of her words, however, were cut off by a general uproar. "Jedi!" the leader thundered above the rest. "We do not tolerate Jedi on our planet!"
Dru's eyes narrowed. "Well, then, as soon you tell us what we need to know, we'll be on our way. What dealings have you had with the cloners of Kamino?"
"Whatever dealings we have had with Kamino, we will have none with Jedi!" another creature spat contemptuously.
"What is your quarrel with the Jedi?" Dru asked sharply. "I assure you, we mean *you* no ill will."
"Sorcerers! Witches!" the leader hissed. "We do not tolerate such evil on Del Majeeco. Jedi are abominations."
Annie and Krista could tell Dru was struggling to reign in her anger. "Very well. We will trouble you no longer. Come on," she said to her companions, "we're leaving."
"Leaving? I don't think so," the leader informed her. "You are our prisoners."
Dru looked down several feet at her opponent and significantly pushed her cloak back to grasp the hilt of her lightsaber. "Trust me, my friend, you don't want to begin a confrontation with us."
"You will not go," he insisted, not heeding her warning.
"Then you leave me no choice," Dru said somewhat sadly, drawing her lightsaber and igniting it. As the long violet blade extended, their guards scrambled back to avoid it. Annie and Krista also drew their blasters, leveling them unwillingly at their captors.
"Put your weapons down!" the leader demanded angrily.
"Only if you agree to let us go free," Dru replied.
Krista, watching their captors intently, noticed something disconcerting. "Uh . . . Dru? I'm not sure this is such a good idea."
"What are you talking about? Look at them--they've no real weapons and they're half our size," the Jedi returned imperiously. "What could they . . . possibly . . ." Her voice trailed off into a whisper.
As she spoke, the Majeecans had lowered their weapons. Most of them were growling now, and the sound filled the room menacingly. As they stared at the leader, however, his nose began to elongate, jagged teeth bared in a snarl, and black fur bristled all over his body. Wicked saberlike claws extended from now-rounded hands, and his back arched and stretched out, pushing him down onto all fours. His expanding torso shredded the clothes from his body, but the black fur sprouting all over him made it unnecessary.
Within thirty seconds, instead of a small furry munchkin, standing before them was a five-foot, vicious, wolf-like creature with slitted green eyes and extended, grasping hands.
When they glanced around them, they realized all the other townspeople had undergone the same transformation.
"Oh, God," Krista whispered, her gun shaking in her hands.
"Get them!" the leader roared; and, with snarls of rage, the dozens of bestial creatures attacked.
It was like drowning. The creatures were all around them, claws shredding clothing and flesh, wicked fangs snapping at any limb that was too slow to evade them. Worse, their hands still grasped weapons, and many came at them with pitchforks and spears. Dru moved like a flurry, lightsaber whirling at supernatural speed, and every creature who leapt at her was cleaved neatly in two by the violet blade. Krista and Annie desperately tried to shoot as many of the creatures as they could while keeping from being mauled by the others. The air was filled with snarls and howls of the injured wolves, but there were always more, and they surrounded the three girls, attacking them simultaneously from all sides.
"Try to make for the door!" Dru screamed. "If we get outside, we might be able to outrun them!"
Krista and Annie tried to follow these instructions, but there were simply too many of the wolfish townspeople. They fired blindly into the black masses but with every turn was a slashing claw, the deadly snap of jaws. Eventually they simply backed up as close to Dru and each other as they could, trying to stay alive.
Within only a matter of moments the futility of their efforts became apparent. The monsters outnumbered them twenty to one, and no matter how many they killed or wounded, more always appeared, seemingly from nowhere. Krista continued to fire, desperately trying to think of some sort of plan. Even as she fought she heard Dru scream as one got through her guard and raked its claws down her leg, and behind her Annie cried out as another knocked the gun from her hands. She staggered, losing her footing, and one of the creatures was at her throat in a flash.
Krista turned, intending to shoot the creature, and realized instantly that she would not be in time to save her friend. Her entire body was electrified with rage, and something truly terrifying flooded her veins, sweeping aside common sense and overflowing to make the air around her crackle with energy. Hands extended, she screamed, "NO!"--and from her issued a wave of such power that it knocked every creature in the building away from the three girls in a ten-foot radius, including the one that had been atop Annie.
Surrounded by a ring of scorched corpses, Annie and Dru stared at Krista as she looked at her hands blankly, watching the electric power still crawling there, before her knees folded underneath her and she crumpled into a heap on the floor.
"Krista!" Annie screamed at the same time Dru shouted incoherently, diving toward their friend.
Around them, the remaining wolf-creatures were clearly astonished by this impossible feat. "So," one snarled, "another witch!"
"They're all of them sorceresses!" the leader snarled. "Get them!"
Dru instantly flung herself into motion again, trying to fight her way through the masses of black creatures to Krista's side, her violet lightsaber cleaving through both air and flesh. Annie dove for her gun, trying to reclaim it, but one of the creatures cut her off with a sneer. She kicked it in the throat with her boot and rolled away, scrambling to regain her feet. As soon as she did, however, another creature knocked her to the ground again and pinned her, claws imbedding into her shoulders. As it positioned its fangs at her throat, another pointed a blaster at the motionless Krista and cried, "Hold, Jedi! We have your companions!"
Dru, seeing the truth of the situation, froze, and reluctantly disengaged her lightsaber, allowing it to fall to the floor. "Are you all right?" she asked Annie, and the other managed a weak assent.
"What do we do with them now?" a wolf inquired.
The leader stalked forward, green eyes burning with triumph. "They're all witches," he said grimly. "And we do not suffer witches to live." His glance turned to another of his lackies. "Throw them in the cells and keep a close eye on them. Tomorrow, they meet the same fate as all witches." He paused, letting his delight seep into the words, and when Annie and Dru looked at him they could see the fanaticism burning in his inhuman eyes.
"Tomorrow, they burn."
********************************************************************************
The world spun around Danielle as she opened her eyes--only to immediately wish she hadn't. Nausea and a pounding headache washed over her, and she clutched her skull with a moan.
"Awake at last?"
The voice shocked her into awareness, and Danielle sat up in spite of the pain. She was on a hard leather divan, and harsh fluorescent light beat down on her. Blinking back the blurred vision, she scanned her surroundings. The room was a sparsely outfitted reception room of some sort, with scattered tables and the occasional chair or couch.
On the couch across from her was a being straight out of nightmare.
Danielle scrabbled backward with a scream, and the figure laughed softly. Reaching up to caress its deformed flesh, the hideously distorted human smiled at Danielle. It was the most horrible thing she'd ever seen, and she turned her head away, fighting not to be sick. "Too much for you, my dear? Ah, well; another form will suit just as well."
A shiver of ebony light crawled over the other and the burnt carcass suddenly became a benign little old man, beaming at Danielle from behind owlish glasses. "Better?"
She stared at him, horrified. "Who . . . *what* are you?"
He gave a delighted little chuckle. "Why, my dear, I'm the one who's been arranging all this fun. Didn't you know?"
Danielle felt instinctively for her lightsaber and wasn't surprised to find it was no longer on her person. "You killed Professor Roux."
He clucked at her reprovingly. "That's hardly the worst of my crimes. Come, come; you can do better than that."
Something inside of her shifted, and dread swamped her. "You . . . you attacked me and Krista. Both times."
His brow wrinkled, barely noticeably. "*Both* times, you said?"
Danielle realized, to her shock, that apparently Darth Maul had not been affiliated with this person. Well, great. Now they had two completely different villains to deal with. Desperately, she fumbled for an answer. "Well . . . you didn't exactly attack *us* both times. That man, in the Temple, that I . . ."
He beamed again. "Yes, that was my work as well. That man was one of my trusted servants." His expression soured a little. "And, as I understand, he has not yet awoken from his coma. You are proving to be more troublesome than I expected--you and all your companions."
"'All my companions'?" Danielle echoed unhappily.
"Certainly. Surely your little diva friend from Tatooine mentioned her encounter with me?"
Danielle stared at him. "But . . . that's impossible. That's decades in the future. You couldn't possibly even know about that."
He chuckled. "Your friend isn't the only one who can time-travel, you know. In fact, she couldn't do it at all without my aid. And now she's in the time I wanted her, if not exactly the location."
Danielle shook her head, wanting it to not be true. "She's . . . *you* sent her back?"
"Didn't she tell you? No? Ah, well, perhaps she herself didn't realize." He shrugged. "I'd intended both of them to be with you, for the ritual, but I suppose one death is just as good as another. I'll take the pendant from their corpses and their blood will serve just the same purpose."
Horror choked Danielle's throat. "Death?" she said. "Where are they? What's happening to them? Dru's with them--they're all right! What could be happening to them?"
The other figure just smiled.
Danielle could feel herself shaking. "So . . . so you did all this, then. You brought us here."
The smile vanished. "No. That, at least, I did not do. I think it's safe to say you did that to yourselves."
Danielle looked at him blankly. "Ourselves?"
"Indeed. But I have orchestrated everything else to the best of my ability. And now, at last, everything is coming into alignment. Soon my task will be complete."
Danielle forced herself to face him fully and swung her feet to the floor. Her head throbbed and she felt sore all over, but otherwise, she didn't seem to have been harmed. She was unarmed, but she was still a Jedi . . . and this being apparently had unlimited powers at his resource. "What is your task?"
"Haven't you figured it out by now?" When Danielle simply stared at him, he sighed. "The total annihilation of this galaxy, of course."
This was too surreal to comprehend. Danielle shook her head slowly, feeling as though she were lost in endless swirling mist. "Annihilation? How?"
He shrugged. "The old-fashioned way. I intend to break down everything that is good in it, see that it doesn't rise again, then set myself up as absolute ruler. Once that was my only goal, but now . . ." His smile was terrible. "Your presence has made me realize my ambitions can reach far higher than that."
"Me?"
He laughed softly. "Surely you realize I've discovered by now that you are not of this galaxy-- that you are, indeed, from a galaxy I did not realize existed until very recently. And, with those lovely charms of yours, I can travel there when I'm finished here--and deal with it as well."
She stared at him, horror closing her throat. "My--my galaxy? I--I don't know what you're--"
"Oh, come now, we're past the point of mindless dissembling. I know that you traveled here from a different galaxy, and I even know how and why. I also know that if you can travel here from there, I can do the same."
"How--?"
He shrugged. "It's all a matter of knowing whom I banished and why--and then, when you showed up and assumed your places, the rest was simple deduction."
Danielle put a hand to her forehead. "I don't understand."
"Of course not. I don't require you to understand." He smiled beatifically. "All I require of you is to die."
She looked up, fear and hatred entwined in her gaze. "Why me?"
"Because of that pretty necklace you're wearing, of course."
"But--"
He laughed heartily. "My dear, I'm hardly the sort of villain to spill all my secrets in time for you to escape and thwart them. You don't need to be educated to die, and so you won't be. You also won't escape, by the way. By all means, try if you wish, but I assure you it will be futile."
There was a rap on the door. He called an assent and it swung open, admitting two familiar figures. Danielle gave another cry and shrank back as they drew near, willing them not to touch her.
Accepting a sheaf of papers from one and a mug of some steaming liquid from another, he shot Danielle a look of pure evil. "Ah, so you like my little creations?"
Danielle fought to keep her voice from shaking as she stared at the inhuman things before her. They should have been human, but their features were gone, eradicated as though worn away by erosion, and only half-formed lumps remained. Their skin was bleached of all color and so translucent she could see in perfect clarity the tracework of their veins and arteries and even a great deal of muscle and bone. They had no hair or fingernails, and their ears were as malformed as their faces. "What . . . what are they?"
"If you think about it logically, my power--primarily my ability to shapeshift--has to come from someplace. These particular pets lent me their faces, their minds, and their souls--so this is all they're left with." He patted one fondly on the hand. "This one, I believe, was this--" He morphed, becoming a striking young man with russet hair and green eyes, "and the other, this." He changed again, this time becoming a young woman with a homely face but a charming smile.
Danielle looked away, nauseated, as he resumed his former features. He sent the servants away and watched her intently. "Frightened, my dear?"
Unable to summon a denial, she simply shook her head mutely even as she trembled. "Is . . . is that what you're going to do to me?"
"Oh, no. I told you, your death is very important. I need you as you are for everything to go as I've planned." Another rap on the door made him turn in irritation, and when it opened, a normal-seeming young woman stepped in and nodded at the old man curtly.
"Ah." He rose and gave Danielle an inscrutable look. "It seems that . . . a complication has arisen that requires my attention. I will return as I may. Don't go anywhere," he added teasingly, and Danielle stared at him mutely. "Until then, my dear." He exited, and the door clicked shut softly behind him.
Danielle instantly leapt to her feet and raced to the door after him, trying the knob to no avail. Turning, she studied her prison rapidly. The door behind her seemed to be the only way in or out; there were no windows and not even any air ducts, which she would have thought would be appropriate given that she was in Star Wars. There were a few chairs and sofa-like objects scattered around along with some low tables, but otherwise the room was completely empty.
Desperately, she tried to gather her thoughts. The only possible exit from the room was the door, since her lightsaber was no longer present to make an exit wherever she desired. Therefore, she ought to find some way of getting out through the door.
Well, she was the heroine in this situation, after all. Any minute now a plan was going to hit her, a perfect plan, clear and true as a bolt of lightning.
Aaaaaaany minute now.
Despondent, she slumped back onto the couch, cupping her chin in her hands. She'd managed to get out of every scrape so far--albeit, most with a little help from various other persons. She was a Jedi. She could get out of here.
So: what could she, as a Jedi, do in these circumstances? If she had her lightsaber, all sorts of things, she groused silently. Without it . . . well, she could send a nice telepathic call for help into the utter emptiness of the space around her. However . . . a thought struck her. Could she, perhaps, contact Obi or Qui, or even any Jedi who might be within range?
Taking a deep breath, she gathered her mental skills, and sent a shout into oblivion. *Hello? Is anyone nearby? Help me!*
There was, quite expectedly, no answer. If anyone had heard her, she had no way of knowing.
She tried again, a few more times, before she abandoned that plan out of sheer frustration. So; what else was there? She could levitate things--joy, she could float around and entertain herself at least. She could mind-trick--
Danielle's thoughts froze. And there it was: the bolt of lightning. She could mind-trick someone. She wasn't especially good at it, but it was the best option she had.
Reaching out with her mind, she picked up a nearby coffee table and launched it with the force of a sledgehammer at the door.
The door barely bent under the assault; it would undoubtedly take continual battering for more time than she had to get it open. However, the result she desired was soon achieved. She could sense stirring and agitation outside.
Come inside, she thought as fiercely as she could, directing her thoughts toward the closest life form. Come in, now, silently, alone . . .
Her head was aching a little, sweat forming on her brow, when the door finally opened, slowly. In stepped one of the nightmarish former-humans, features distorted, limbs so fragile Danielle could have snapped them with her bare hands.
Swallowing down her revulsion, she tried to maintain her tentative grasp on the other's mind. Don't lock the door. Don't lock the door. Close it behind you, but don't lock it.
The figure eventually obeyed, movements stiff and unwilling. It seemed to be resisting her, but Danielle couldn't tell without being able to make out any expression on its eroded face.
Now, walk to me and hand me the keys, she thought, projecting the thought so hard her head ached. Walk to me and hand me the keys. Walk to me and hand me the keys.
The figure started to move forward, then stopped, vibrating in place.
Danielle was panting now with the effort and with fear of being caught. Walk to me and hand me the keys. WALK TO ME AND HAND ME THE KEYS!
For a moment it seemed that the figure would do as she asked; then, out of nowhere, it gave a wordless, shrill cry of defiance, then turned and scrambled for the door.
"No!" Danielle shouted; then, desperately, she picked up another table with her mind and slammed it into the other's head. The figure instantly crumpled, soundlessly, and Danielle brought the table to a screeching halt before it hit the floor. She then lowered it gently, soundlessly, next to the fallen guard.
For a moment she simply stood there, shaking, before she gathered her wits. Hurrying over to the fallen guard, she forced down her disgust to frisk the creature for the keys. When she found them she snatched her hands free hastily, then crept silently to the door.
Probing outside to ensure no life forms were within sight, she slowly opened the door and slipped outside, then shut and locked it behind her. She was now in a carpeted hall lined with officious-looking doors on either side, rather like one of the office buildings on Coruscant. She hoped, rather desperately, that she was still on Coruscant--she needed to get back to the Jedi Temple as quickly as possible and talk to Obi and Qui. Clearly this was way more serious than she'd ever imagined. It was time they knew what was going on.
As for now, she didn't have the faintest idea where she was or how to get out of this building, so she might as well just charge ahead and hope for the best. Stepping forward as silently as possible, she tried to get an idea of what kind of building she was in or who else might be in it. As far as she could tell it was completely run by the forces of her captor, so there was no hope in obtaining help from anyone; there were also no windows, so she had no idea of the building's location or even the time of day.
At the end of the hall there were two other hallways she could take and an elevator. Deciding she didn't want to be trapped in an elevator if she were discovered by her captors, she tentatively went to the right, her mind scanning the halls ahead of her. The rooms to either side of her brimmed with life, but what kind, she didn't know.
Her thoughts focused on the beings around her, she turned a corner . . . and found herself staring at an entire group of mixed faceless creatures and normal humans, all armed and looking at her extremely suspiciously.
She considered trying to play it off until someone near the back yelled enthusiastically, "It's the prisoner! Get her!" At that point, she decided dissembling was a moot point and just ran for her life, gunshots spattering after her wildly.
When she reached the junction, she decided it probably wasn't the smartest idea to head back down the hall she'd originally come from, because her room was at the exact end of that and it had no exit. Trying to take the other way, however, resulted in her smacking into another group of armed folk coming from that direction, so she doubled back yet again, decision made for her. Elevator it was, then.
When she reached the elevator (which was actually called a turbolift in Star Wars, she remembered), she decided she might as well be optimistic and pushed the down button a few times for good measure. When nothing happened and the two groups hunting her charged around their respective corners, yelling, she took more drastic action. Summoning the Force yet again, she used her mind to pry the doors open. Then, trying very hard not to think about what she was doing, she leapt into the empty turbolift shaft.
For a few moments she comprehended little but the dark walls flashing by around her and the steel cable pulling the turbolift in front of her. Then, jarringly, her booted feet struck the top of the actual lift, and she swayed in relief.
After only a minute, however, she realized her troubles weren't over yet. The elevator was going back up the way she'd come to where she come from; undoubtedly, her pursuers meant to either ambush her or crush her against the ceiling.
Not really thrilled with either of those possible outcomes, Danielle scrabbled around on the top of the lift and found, to her immense joy, an emergency trapdoor leading into the lift. Hauling it open, she dropped inside heavily, the impact jarring her once more. As the trapdoor clanged shut above her, Danielle frantically pushed the button for the lowest level she could see, and the lift smoothly changed direction and began traveling downward.
It seemed an impossibly long trip, for at every level Danielle expected the doors to open on a fully armed and ready group of guards or the horrendous faceless beings. Somehow, though, she made it to her chosen level without mishap, and when the doors opened she sprang out immediately, already running before she was fully out of the shaft.
She was in the sub-sub-basement, three levels below what she could only assume was the ground, or whatever passed for it on this planet. If she were on Coruscant, this was certainly in an area less populated than the main cities, for in them the basements of the buildings were so ancient and overrun turbolifts no longer traveled there. She tried to get her bearings as quickly as possible, registering a vast, dimly lit storage area with numerous pipes and electrical cables lining both ceiling and walls. In the shadows at the far end of the room she could see little, and she approached it swiftly but cautiously, hoping to find some sort of exit.
She hadn't made it halfway before she heard a creak of resisting metal and whirled to see a pair of emergency stairway doors be kicked open and the guards chasing her spill out of the stairwell. "There she is!" one called, pointing at her. "Stun her, but don't kill her!"
Deciding caution was better left for other times, Danielle launched herself away at a dead sprint.
Unarmed and overwhelmingly outnumbered, Danielle's only chance was to use her wits and the Force. The huge cables and misshapen lumps of metal that littered the room made for excellent places to dodge and hide, and she wove through them at a breakneck run as the gunfire spattered all around her. Sensing that the others were drawing too near, she gathered her focus and reached out to the Force. Concentrating intently, she snapped the cables on one of the huge metal pipes that hung suspended from the ceiling and sent it crashing down in front of the guards, making them scatter, cursing. "A Jedi!" one snarled. "Look out; they're crafty devils. Try to get her unconscious as quickly as possible."
Danielle, meanwhile, had taken the opportunity of their distraction to dive into a nearby cluster of empty packing crates, hiding herself in the debris. Closing her eyes, she drew on her focus once more. Ignoring the fatigue that was already gnawing at her mind, she found a nearby barrel of screws and other metal fastenings and tools. Opening the lid with her mind, she waited until the guards, searching more cautiously now, came within an arm's length of her, then called on the Force again.
The nails and screws flew out of the barrel at the guards like a barrage of bullets, piercing flesh and driving them back with screams of agony. Before the assault was over Danielle was in their midst, swinging a huge metal wrench-thingy she'd found lying on the ground next to her. Her first blow knocked one of her alien pursuers unconscious; a kick to the groin doubled a nearby man over in agony.
Danielle got in two more good blows with her wrench before they recovered their wits and knocked it from her hands, then she began to run once more.
Desperate for ideas, she sprinted headlong across the room as the stun bullets from the gun grazed dangerously close to her. She needed at least one more trick if she was going to--
Her mind barely warning her in time, Danielle flung herself to a stop with a gasp of terror. Just inches away from the toes of her boots was a yawning chasm, unbound by in rail and unmarked in any way, that stretched down into the darkness of infinity below. Two more steps, and she'd have fallen headlong in.
In that single moment of hesitation the guards caught up to her, and one grabbed her arm, yanking her back from the edge to stand with his gun pressed painfully into her throat. "Hold, bitch," he snarled, panting. "Don't try anything unless you want to lose a lung or your spine."
Glaring at him, Danielle frantically sought some way to escape, but now all the guards had ringed her and all their weapons were trained on her. Defeat rose sickeningly in her throat. She'd made it so far, and now she'd be hauled back to wait until that horrible old man decided it was time to kill her . . .
"What do we do with her now?" the man holding her inquired.
A hard-faced woman gestured importantly. "She's to go back to her room, but I don't think anyone would care if we roughed her up a little first."
Grinning evilly, the guard shoved her away from her, the rifle in his hand raised for a blow--
--and all of the lights in the room went out. Danielle could hear the whine of the turbolift and every other electronic device powering down, and the sudden silence made her release she could no longer her the air circulation systems running either.
There were muddled shouts of confusion, and in the pitch blackness Danielle felt herself shoved away in a direction she vaguely suspected the pit lay. Trying to figure out what on Earth was happening, she heard one of the guards say, "'Ere, grab the Jedi, the power'll be back in half a minute."
Danielle twisted away from the arm that reached for her, and even as she considered just going for the pit and taking her chances, she heard a gruff voice yell, "Get down!"
For some reason, Danielle obeyed instantly, dropping bonelessly to the floor. It was a good thing she did, for as soon as she hit the ground she heard the unmistakable whine of a blaster and a brilliant flash of green bit into the chest of a nearby guard, momentarily illuminating his horrified expression. He slumped to the ground, and Danielle could only assume he was dead. The others yelped in panic and confusion, leaping away from the body, when another blaster bolt came out of nowhere and struck another guard, catching this one in the shoulder. Yet more bolts continued to fly and the guards cried in panic, milling about in an attempt to evade the shots.
At last, they got their heads together enough for one to say, "Look, they're coming from over there! Shoot in that direction!" As one, they aimed their still numerous guns at the origin of the shots and began firing wildly.
Danielle watched, but in the pitch blackness she could see nothing but the bolts scorching the metal wall on the far side of the pit. Whoever the elusive attacker was, he was no longer where he had been.
She nearly screamed when, out of nowhere, a gloved hand clamped over her mouth, stifling her cry. "Shh!" the same voice whispered harshly. "Come on, follow me." Before she could protest, the hand removed itself from her mouth and grabbed her own hand, then hauled her to her feet.
"Where--?" she asked dazedly, but then she felt herself hauled forward and had no choice but to comply. As they continued to sneak across the floor, the guards still firing pointlessly at the wall, a thought struck her. "Aren't we a little close to the pi--"
Her words were cut off with a shriek as the floor suddenly disappeared beneath her feet and she was falling, her question answered for her. Instead of the endless drop she'd been expecting, however, she stopped rather abruptly on what seemed to be some fragile metal construction only about fifteen feet below.
Heart hammering wildly in her chest, she gasped, "A little warning next time! And who are you? Where are we?"
"We," the harsh and yet now strangely familiar voice replied, "are on construction scaffolding that extends across a pit nearly three miles deep. We really don't want to fall off, so keep hold of my hand and follow close behind me. They'll get the power back on in a minute, and by then we want to be as far away as possible."
Danielle opened her mouth to repeat her questions, then her foot slipped slightly and the fact that their narrow little bridge had no handrails was brought forcibly home to her. Deciding she didn't really want to distract her mysterious helper right now, she kept her mouth shut until a better time.
After a heart-wrenching thirty seconds of careful forward shuffling, she felt her feet hit more solid ground and knew they were off the bridge. At almost that exact same moment, she heard a sort of strange lurching noise, a hiss of electronics, and the lights overhead flickered back on as the power re-engaged.
She didn't have time to marvel at this phenomenon for long, however, because another tug on her hand and they were running again. She had a chance to get only the hastiest impression of her rescuer--a long black cloak with a drawn hood, black gloves, and the light gleaming off long black boots, all presumably to better blend in with the shadows during the planned power outage--before her attention was drawn elsewhere again.
They were in a normal hall leading away from what had once been some for of turbolift shaft but was now a blank hole in the ground framed by a crumbling metal arch. This hall seemed only relatively used, but she was hardly surprised when a door opened at the far end and an annoyed-looking young man scurried out. Upon sighting the two intruders charging down the hall toward him, however, he jumped backward and pulled a gun from its holster around his waist.
The figure with Danielle wasted no time in dropping her hand and pulling up its own weapon. Never breaking stride, it neatly shot the gun from the other's hand, and in the interval it took him to recover from the shock they were upon him. The cloaked figure clocked him neatly on the head with the blaster, sending him sprawling bonelessly to the floor.
Danielle, meanwhile, had noticed activity at the other end of the hall. The guards, having wised up to their location, had also leapt down onto the construction bridge. They had orders not to harm Danielle; clearly this did not apply to her faceless rescuer, for even as she watched they aimed carefully and loosed the first volley at her helpless comrade.
Unthinking, Danielle bodily tackled the other, knocking them hard onto the metal floor. As the deadly wave of bullets passed directly overhead, so close she could feel them sear the air, she realized how close they'd both come to death and a blinding wave of rage and fear swept over her. At once her fatigue and uncertainty was erased, giving her the same horrible clarity of thought as she'd had when she saw the man looming over the cowering girl in the Jedi Temple. Propping herself up on an elbow, she drew the Force once more, focused her thoughts, and extended a hand. From it rippled a wave of malevolent energy that rocketed down the hall, shattering the windows in its wake, and eventually striking the men who were readying themselves for another volley on the precarious bridge. Unable to resist the power behind it, they all toppled backward, falling unknown depths into the darkness below.
In the sudden silence Danielle was eerily aware of the sound of her own harsh breathing, and realized they had a moment to figure out what was going on. Rolling over, too exhausted to stand, she stared at her rescuer. The figure, hood still shadowing its features, had propped itself up on its elbows and was staring at her with an obvious air of incredulity. "You just saved my life," it said, surprised, and the voice was still strangely familiar to Danielle's ear.
"All right," she snapped, losing her patience. "I'm very glad for the rescue and all, but what the hell is going on? Who are you?"
Sitting upright, the figure pushed back its hood with an almost Vanna White-ish flair, and suddenly Danielle found herself staring into a pair of unmistakable, sparkling hazel eyes.
"Hello, darlin'," Laura said cheerfully. "Miss me?"
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A/N: What ho, another author's comment? How unheard of! Just wanted to mention, since I didn't previously, to drop me a line. Anything unclear? Any dastardly typos we wish to shame me with (ahem cough *Cello*)? Want to commiserate with me about the passing of Mr. Zevon? As 'they' say, you know what to do. (YOU, Krista? YOU're the 'they' in 'that's what they say'?)
Happy Samhain. I'll see everybody on the other side.
~the Author