--Gah, I posted this on my fic journal and TFN in October (but, like, right at the end). Sorry it's taken so long to get it up here. And no, I haven't written more after this (that's a lie -- chapter 11 is almost complete, and chapter 10 is fully outlined -- chapter 9 is giving me many many difficulties.)
--still don't own these guys, I'm afraid.
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Kyp deflected all the blaster bolts aimed at him with a practised ease, though only a few could be sent right back at the group. He was trying not to be too shocked that Anakin and Tahiri had just jumped down a turbolift shaft – after all, what had he expected them to do? Run down the stairs he had just come from? Well, yes, actually. But he supposed that would have led them outside, not to the other two students – and it wasn't nearly dramatic enough an exit for a Solo.
The Peace Brigaders were getting bolder, perhaps thinking that since he hadn't moved to attack them yet, he wasn't going to. Obviously, they'd been reading about all the wrong Jedi.
As two of them ran towards him, blasters and stun batons in hand, Kyp shifted his weight forward a little, then jumped. He flipped right over his two attackers, landing behind them, then disarmed them as they spun round to face him again. One of them, staring at his useless blaster lying on the ground beside him, whirled round and escaped towards the outside stairs. The other stepped backwards, two grenades in his hand, and Kyp prepared to throw them back at him with the Force. But instead of throwing them at Kyp, the man dropped them into the lift shaft, then spun and followed his companion.
Kyp swore and whirled round to deflect a fresh barrage of blaster bolts, stepping back towards the turbolift to see what he could do about the grenades. Suddenly, they appeared right in front of him, and Kyp grinned. Before Anakin's control faded completely, Kyp grabbed them with the Force and gave them a push towards the group of Peace Brigaders, who were starting to approach him again.
The men and women paused, then scattered, running back the way they had come from to try and escape the grenades. But the floating orbs followed them, round the corridor, and as Kyp spun round to try and remember where the next turbolift or set of stairs was – he didn't feel quite up to the Solo escape route – he heard the explosion behind him, and crossed ten more Peace Brigaders off the current threat list in his head.
Which still left a rather long list – and those were only the ones he knew about.
Taking a second to lean against the corner and figure out what way to go next, Kyp unhooked his comlink from his belt. He thumbed the switch, suddenly thankful he had instructed his astromech to stay fully-powered. "Teet," he muttered into the comm, holding it at an angle he could read the display from. "Do you read me?"
FAR TOO LOUD AND CLEAR, KYP DURRON. The droid's whistles and tones accompanied the scrolling text, and Kyp quickly muted the comlink's output.
"OK, good," he thought out loud, ignoring Teet's sarcasm. "Report on the situation in the hangar."
DIM LIGHTING, BELOW AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE CURRENT SEASON ON THIS MOON—
"Right, right. Anything unusual, I mean?"
BESIDES THE TEMPERATURE AND LACK OF INSULTS FROM YOU?
Kyp grimaced. He really should have given that droid a memory wipe when he got him, a few months earlier. An R5 unit like his previous astromech, Teet was old, worn, and very susceptible to bitter cynicism. As soon as I get back to Coruscant, he told himself. "Yes," he answered simply. "And quickly."
THERE ARE FIVE LIFEFORMS AT THE FAR SIDE OF THIS HANGAR. THREE HUMANS, TWO DEVARONIANS.
"Hmm… Are they approaching you at all?"
TWO OF THE HUMANS ARE HEADED IN THIS DIRECTION.
Kyp frowned. "Make sure all systems are powered down and put yourself in stand-by mode…"
I DO NOT THINK IT IS THIS FIGHTER THEY ARE CONCERNED ABOUT.
That instantly made Kyp suspicious. Obviously there was something Teet had failed to mention. The only other ship in that hangar was Anakin's X-wing… "What's concerning them about Anakin's fighter?"
POSSIBLY THE FACT THAT ITS REPULSORS HAVE JUST ENGAGED.
Well, that would worry them a little. But the last time Kyp had seen Anakin, he was jumping down a turbolift shaft, and not in the direction of the hangar. "His droid's flying it?"
IN APPROXIMATELY TEN POINT TWO SECONDS, ITS ACTIONS WILL QUALIFY AS FLYING, YES.
"All right, Teet. Follow him out, wherever he's headed, until I contact you again. Hopefully soon. Durron out."
There was a brief pause, presumably as Teet started the pre-flight routines, then:
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU, KYP DURRON.
Well. Maybe he wouldn't give Teet a wipe as soon as he got back to Coruscant.
That was assuming he ever got himself and the droid off this rock in one piece, of course. The first step in doing so would be to join Anakin and the others, wherever they were. All Kyp had as a direction was 'down', assuming Anakin and Tahiri hadn't climbed up the lift shaft.
Clipping his comlink back to his belt, Kyp spun round to face the empty corridor, where the nearest working turbolift would be. As he ran towards it, hoping there were no Peace Brigaders in it, he reached out to try and sense Anakin. It wasn't hard: Anakin and Tahiri still had their bond open, and they were shining a brighter beacon in the Force than anything Kyp had felt before.
The two of them were far underground, in a chamber Kyp knew as well as anyone who had attended the Academy. He could just about sense three other presences in the room, too: Ikrit and the two children. Not a bad hiding place for them, temporarily – Kyp had to give Anakin that. But with a total of six people and only two X-wings… they would have to steal a Peace Brigade ship.
Easy enough to say, but how were they going to do it?
First thing to do would be to find one. That part was easy – there were three out on the landing pad in front of the temple, plus however many had been hiding from the Dozen out in space. A fair few undoubtedly – but hopefully not once Talon Karrde arrived.
There was that, of course. They could just all wait until Karrde got here… but he wouldn't be able to stop at the temple and the cave the kids were hiding in. As soon as Karrde found the students, Kam, and Tionne, he would get them out and far away from the Peace Brigade – and rightfully so. Even Anakin Solo wasn't worth risking the children's lives to save, let alone Kyp Durron.
So if they wanted to leave with Karrde, they would have to make their way to whatever cave the students were in. Getting through the forest would be fine: Kyp knew the jungles of Yavin 4 like he knew the cockpit of his fighter, and he was willing to bet that Anakin, Ikrit and the kids – and Tahiri – did too. But along the river – and from the temple to the river – was another story. They would be clearly seen from the air, and probably the upper levels of the temple, too. Traversing round to be fully under jungle cover was too slow…
No, they would have to steal a Peace Brigade ship, Kyp decided. Probably one of the ones already out on the landing pad, if they hadn't moved them – and they probably hadn't. He could do that himself, then pick up the kids – there was enough room to get a ship down there. A small one, anyway.
Oh… but he had promised Jaina to look after Anakin, and the others came under that promise too. Anakin could look after himself, as could Tahiri – in fact, they could look after each other. But what about the other two, whoever they were? And what if Anakin or Tahiri had been hurt? They'd just jumped down a lift shaft, after all. He would have to check on the group first, then go and commandeer a Peace Brigade ship.
Kyp sighed. He would have to remember to not make promises to Jaina Solo in future. Making them would probably ruin all his plans like this.
But he knew he'd do it anyway.
That realisation unsettled him slightly. Not a good thing… The last person I promised anything to is dead.
He shook his head and refused to think about that. He had a task to do here – make sure the kids were safe, and then steal a ship. Thinking about Alli would just get him killed – and then he'd be breaking his other promise to Jaina.
Kyp allowed himself a rueful smirk, then returned his attention to the present. He had reached the turbolift door, and was relieved to find it on this floor, and empty. He hit the call button to open it and stepped in, quickly pressing the button for the lowest basement level.
Fortunately, the lift reached the bottom without interference from any Peace Brigaders. Unfortunately, that probably meant they were all on the bottom level already.
Kyp's suspicions were confirmed a second later, when the doors opened and a blaster shot pinged past him, hitting the back of the turbolift at an angle and bouncing back out. He ignited his lightsabre, its familiar snap-hiss drowned out by blaster bolts, and stepped out into the corridor.
There were ten Peace Brigaders here, all holding blasters, and all out in the open, cocky expressions on their faces. Suddenly, the blaster fire stopped for a second, and the cockiness fell away.
"Wait a second," a blond-haired young man – boy, really – yelled in surprise. "You're not a kid!"
"You're right," Kyp answered, slightly amused. "I'm not."
"But he's still Jedi!" cried a woman across the corridor.
Kyp held up his lightsabre and gave it an appraising look. "Well, you caught me. I guess the lightsabre wasn't a great disguise."
"He's Kyp Durron!" another man yelled to his comrades. "Worth almost as much as the Solo brats!"
"Almost? I'm hurt." He shook his head and sighed. Obviously these people intended to take him to the Yuuzhan Vong, probably for a decent price. But they weren't doing a very good job of it so far. They better hurry up and – ah, there we go.
They were firing at him again – some to stun, some to kill. Well, they wouldn't be doing that for long.
Kyp moved away from the turbolift and advanced on the group slowly, deflecting all the energy bolts into the walls or back down the corridor. The men and women kept firing, backing away as they did so, at the same pace as him. With a smirk, he suddenly ran forward, surprising three of the Peace Brigaders enough that they stumbled and fell over each other – right into the path of another's stun bolt. Kyp called their dropped weapons to him with the Force and sliced through them with his lightsaber.
One of the bolder ones still standing – the blond boy from earlier – rushed him, obviously hoping to get a close range shot in past Kyp's lightsabre.
"What an idiot," Kyp muttered, stabbing at the boy's blaster with the edge of his blade – just as he fired. It exploded in his hand, eliciting a cry of pain from the boy as he stumbled into a wall and collapsed to the ground.
Four down… Kyp glanced round and noticed with annoyance that two of the Peace Brigaders had run away, round the far corner to the turbolift. Or the stairs, since that lift was now out of commission, he reminded himself.
He couldn't let them get away. Not to the stairs, when Anakin and the others were down there. They already had enough to think about without two idiots with blasters getting involved.
Kyp ran forward again, deflecting a stun bolt back at the woman who had fired it and yanking the blaster out of her hand using the Force. She fell back against the wall, unconscious, and the man beside her fired at Kyp as he ran past. Barely glancing round, Kyp swung his lightsabre at him, wincing slightly as the blade sliced off a couple of fingers along with the blaster. Well, that would hurt the guy the next morning.
Letting his instincts deflect the shots from the other two Peace Brigaders behind him, Kyp tried to concentrate on the men in front of him. They had skidded to a halt, staring at the wrecked turbolift in dismay. Then one of them nudged the other and pointed at the stairs. Kyp grimaced. Bringing the blaster up to aim in his left hand – his right still holding his lightsabre and deflecting shots back round the corner – he fired a stun bolt at the man closest to the stairs.
As he dropped and fell partway down the stone steps, his comrade spun round and fired at Kyp. Kyp dropped to the floor and rolled, unable to deflect simultaneous shots from two different directions, and came up in a crouch a metre or so to the left. He brought up his blade to deflect another shot from the man at the stairs, and sighed when the scarlet bolt hit back at him right in the chest. And he'd managed so well without killing anyone up to now.
The two Peace Brigaders behind him had stopped firing for a moment, and Kyp pushed up onto his feet and spun round to face them. They were approaching warily, blasters held ready to fire, then stopped about a metre away. Kyp stared at them for a second, then frowned. "Is this the part where you two try to subdue me on your own and get the whole prize for yourself?"
One of them – a dark-haired man in his early twenties – scowled and nodded, moving to step forward. His female companion, a few years older than him, whacked him on the back of the head and took the blaster from his hand. "No," she answered, glaring at her partner. "This is the part where we give you the blasters and you let us go without killing us."
Kyp pretended to consider that for a moment, lowering his violet blade slightly – but not switching it off. "Interesting proposition, but I think I'm going to go with 'no'." He waved his lightsabre at an open door to his left, and the woman stepped back from the blade nervously. "In there," he ordered them.
The dark-haired man glanced at his partner, a hurt expression on his face. "You said he'd let us go!"
The woman scowled up at Kyp, her dark blue eyes narrowed. "He's a Jedi. He's supposed to let us go."
Kyp rolled his eyes. "I'm not supposed to do anything. Now get in the storeroom and drag your little friends in with you. I'll take those," he added, snatching the blasters from the woman's hand before she could argue back.
Once the nine remaining Peace Brigaders were crowded into the storeroom – most of them still unconscious, and all with their comlinks confiscated – the woman spoke up again. "Are you just going to leave us here?" she asked, incredulity creeping into her voice.
"Sure," Kyp answered with a shrug, leaning against the doorway for a moment, his lightsabre disengaged but still in his hand. "There are enough rations in here for a couple days, then your Vong friends'll pick you up."
The woman stared back at him, genuine fear in her eyes. "You're going to leave us to the Vong?"
"Like you were going to give the kids to them," Kyp shot back, trying to ignore her terrified expression. "With a little luck on your part, maybe you'll break out of here before they arrive – but after we leave."
The woman swallowed and glanced at her partner. The man scowled again. "You're scum, Jedi," he spat out. "Hypocritical scum."
"Sure," Kyp repeated, false cheer in his voice. He pointed to the pile of ration packs in the corner. "Now be a good little boy and eat up all your dinner. Maybe you'll find some rations from after the Alliance base was here, if you're lucky."
He ignored the rest of the man's insults as he stepped backwards out of the room and let the door slide shut. When it was securely locked, he let out his breath slowly and clipped his lightsabre back onto his belt. Time to head down and check on the others.
He hoped that was the last of the Peace Brigade this far down in the temple. He didn't like to leave terrified young women to almost certain death.
She was here to take the students to the Yuuzhan Vong, he reminded himself forcefully. She's scum, just as much as all the others.
But her eyes, dark blue as the deep end of a Mon Calamari ocean, were Alli's eyes.
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As soon as Kyp stepped into the underground chamber, he knew something was wrong. Something was… missing. He looked round carefully, thankful for the shaft of light that banished most of the shadows, and frowned.
The Jedi Master Ikrit lay atop a smooth rock by the hot spring, Valin Horn sat leaning against it on the floor, and the young Melodie girl Sannah sat opposite, her back against the far wall. She seemed to be levitating a small rock about a foot above the ground, while Valin tried – and failed – to hit it with pebbles.
So there was Ikrit, Valin, and Sannah. But… Kyp groaned. "Where are Anakin and Tahiri?"
"Nice to see you too, Master Durron," Sannah called to him cheerfully. Her concentration slipped and the rock fell, almost crashing into Valin's leg before he rolled out of the way.
"Right, yeah. I'm glad you're all OK." Kyp shook his head distractedly, mildly annoyed that he'd just allowed himself to be chastised – however subtly – by a girl barely in her teens. "But where are they?"
"They are climbing up to the surface," Ikrit's solemn voice informed him. "To procure us a ship."
Kyp let out a sigh of relief. "So they're OK." Then he frowned. "Wait a second… They're getting us a ship?"
"Yes," Ikrit answered simply.
"No. No no no. I was going to do that." Kyp scowled. If it wasn't a promise to Jaina ruining his plans, it was her little brother's initiative. Solos. Huh.
"You wouldn't be able to climb up there." Valin's voice was full of scorn. "You need two people to climb up there. Who'd catch you when you fall?"
Kyp scowled again. "I wouldn't fall. I can climb up there just fine. Dorsk 82 and I did that a few times…" He trailed off, partly because the realisation that Dorsk 82 was dead – because of the Vong – was a bitter one… and partly because he'd just proven Valin's point. Climbing to the surface from this room was risky on your own. It required two Jedi, with a close enough bond that they could reinforce each other's strength for the climb, and Kyp didn't have that kind of bond with anyone anymore. "Just… whatever," he muttered. "I'm not getting into an argument with a ten-year-old."
"I'm twelve!" Valin cried indignantly.
"They're waiting up there until it's dark," Sannah told Kyp, shooting a warning glance at Valin. "Then they'll steal-"
"Commandeer," Valin corrected her.
"-a ship and fly it down here to get us," she finished, ignoring her friend's interruption.
"So we're supposed to just wait down here for them?"
"Yeah."
"No," Kyp said firmly. "I can't just wait down here."
"That's what war is," Valin said wisely. "Hours of waiting and five minutes of action."
Sannah frowned thoughtfully. "Isn't it long stretches of boredom and short bursts of fighting?"
"Nah, my dad said-"
"OK, kids, shut up." Kyp stared at them for a moment, trying to remember how you were supposed to deal with kids of this age. He wasn't really sure – by this point, the Solo kids had already gone to the Academy. He shook his head. "I don't care about quotes. I care about plans. What did Anakin say he'd do when he got you out of here?"
Sannah shrugged. "I don't know. That's all he said."
"He'll have a plan," Valin added quickly. "He just won't have told us it all."
Yeah, probably a plan involving flying real fast and hoping the bad guys don't catch us. Kyp sighed. "I think I'm getting a bad feeling about this…"
"Trust in the Force," Ikrit told him. "It will lead us to the path we must follow."
"That's real nice and cryptic, Master Ikrit, but doing something will get us there a lot faster." Kyp sighed again and leaned back against the nearest wall, letting himself slide down to sit on the stone floor. "How long is it until nightfall?"
"Um…" Sannah glanced at her chrono – or rather, at the point on her wrist where her chrono should have been. She frowned and scrambled forward, pulling at Valin's arm and checking his wrist-chrono. "Well, actually, about now. But it won't be dark until Yavin sets, in about three, four hours."
Valin snatched back his arm and rubbed at his wrist as if there were some kind of irritant there. "You could have just asked me, you know," he said, glaring at Sannah.
She shrugged. "This was faster. And more accurate."
"Are you saying I'd lie?"
"No, I'm saying you'd get the times all wrong because when you're supposed to be paying attention to basic geography and astronomy lessons, you're daydreaming about being a fighter pilot."
"It's not daydreaming, it's visions, because I will be a fighter pilot. I'll be a great fighter pilot, in Rogue Squadron, just like my dad was, and I'll go out fighting the Yuuzhan Vong, and win all my battles, and-"
"Seriously, kids, shut up." Kyp glanced over at Ikrit. "Are they always like this?"
"Usually," Ikrit yawned. He shifted to get into a more comfortable position.
Kyp stared at him in disbelief. He was going to sleep. He was going to leave him to listen to the kids' argument and sleep-
"You should, too, Master Durron," Ikrit murmured, half-asleep already. "There may not be an opportunity to do so for quite some time."
Kyp blinked, then shrugged. Well, that was a fair point. "Kids," he called out, interrupting their argument – now about how much rain fell on Yavin Four in the average month. "Get some sleep before Anakin and Tahiri get back."
"We have names, you know," Valin said, in the same indignant tone as before. He was quite good at that tone, thought Kyp.
"Fine," he said, shrugging again. "Valin and Sannah, get to sleep."
"No."
"Yes."
"No way. We're not tired." Valin glanced sideways at his friend. "Are we, Sannah?"
She dutifully shook her head. "Not tired at all, Master Durron. Valin and I should stay awake anyway, in case Anakin or Tahiri needs to contact us."
Kyp stared at her. "They've got comlinks."
Sannah stared back stonily, not replying, and Kyp sighed. "Fine, fine, don't sleep. I guess I won't either." He glanced belatedly over at Ikrit for support, but realised the older Jedi Master was already asleep.
"Don't you trust us, Durron?" Valin asked. In that same indignant tone.
"If Anakin and Tahiri need to contact us," Kyp started, dodging the specified question, "it'll be because something's gone wrong. Which means I'll need to deal with it. And that's Master Durron," he added, frowning slightly at Valin.
Valin let out an irritated hmph. "You're not my Master."
"No," Kyp agreed, silently thanking that Force that this was so. "But I can still teach you, and you seem like you need a few lessons in respect."
He tried not to think about the hypocrisy of that.
"I don't need lessons from you about anything. My dad'll teach me everything I need to know."
"And Master Ikrit," Sannah pointed out.
"And Master Ikrit, too," Valin conceded.
"And Kam and Tionne and Master Skywalker."
Valin sighed and shot a betrayed look at his friend. "And them too," he agreed.
Kyp was now more amused than anything. "And apparently Sannah as well," he pointed out.
"All right, all right, I get it already." Valin glared at Kyp, frustrated now. "But there's still nothing you can teach me that they can't."
Kyp found himself thinking about that for a second. Was there? What could he teach Valin, or Sannah, or Anakin, or anyone, that someone else couldn't teach them just as well? He could teach them lightsabre skills – but so could Kam, or Master Skywalker. He could teach them mind tricks – but without even thinking of the moral implications of that, so could Corran. He could teach them to fly an X-wing – but so could Master Skywalker, or Corran, or even Anakin.
"I can teach you to think for yourself," he decided.
"What?"
"Tell me, Valin. What do you think about me?"
Valin stared at him, then snorted. "I think you're an arrogant pompous idiot who thinks he's always right."
"Don't hide your feelings," Sannah murmured. "Brutal honesty, now."
Kyp couldn't help but smirk. "No, Valin, tell me what you think of me. Not what your dad thinks."
"I told you, I think…" Valin hesitated, then shrugged. "I think you're a good pilot," he admitted.
"Great pilot," Kyp corrected him, smirking again at Valin's glare. "What about the Yuuzhan Vong? What do you think of them?"
"I know they're nasty and evil and always lie. And break promises. And we need to get them out of our galaxy."
Kyp let out his breath slowly. "Have you ever met one?"
"I- no." Valin frowned. "Of course not. I've been stuck at the Academy the whole time."
"Right. So how come you 'know' all that about them?"
"Because-" He hesitated again. "Because my dad told me so. And I heard your pilots talking about them."
Kyp nodded. "It's mostly true, of course. But you don't know that for yourself." He frowned. "And to be honest, I hope you never have to know. Maybe that's one thing you should just trust everyone else on," he conceded with a sigh.
There was a few moment's pause, and then Valin sighed, frustrated. "Is that it? All you're going to teach me?" he demanded.
Kyp looked at him, more than a little bemused. "You said you didn't want me to teach you anything."
"Yeah, but you can't give me half a lesson and then not tell me the point behind it."
Kyp gave him a rueful smile. "The point is, Valin, that you need to form your own opinions. You can't trust other people to tell you things objectively – that's how things like falling to the dark side happen. Think things through for yourself, and trust your own instincts. Lesson one over," he added in a slightly mocking tone, and shifted back into a more comfortable position against the wall.
Another moment passed, then Valin nodded reluctantly. "I'm still allowed to listen to other people though, right?"
The kid was taking this far more seriously than Kyp had thought he would. "Of course you can," he replied, carefully studying Valin for any signs of mockery. But he couldn't see any – just a little doubt in the boy's face. "Just don't treat their words like the only truth there is. No one in the galaxy is a hundred percent right about everything."
"Even my dad?"
Especially your dad, Kyp thought, smirking. "Even the mighty Corran Horn," he told the boy, nodding seriously.
"Oh." Valin frowned and shuffled sideways, back against the rock he had been leaning on.
Sannah, who had been leaning half-asleep against his shoulder, jolted awake just as she fell to the floor. She rubbed at her head and glared up at Valin, then yawned and shifted up beside him again. "Bantha brain," she murmured sleepily, yawning again and trying to make herself comfortable against the rock and her friend.
Valin yawned as well, and closed his eyes as he rested his head back against the spring-warmed stone. "Sorry," he muttered.
So they go to sleep bafter/b annoying me. Kyp rolled his eyes, but couldn't help a slight smile. They were almost cute, sleeping against the rock, leaning on each other like that. Highly annoying, but cute. How deceiving sleep could be.
Well, no harm in catching some sleep himself. Ikrit was right, he might not have a chance for a while. He'd wake up if anything were happening.
He closed his eyes and shifted against the wall again. Within minutes, he was asleep, warm and comfortable in this familiar setting. If only it could last more than just a couple of hours.
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