Judgment of a path: Observer's reckoning

Chapter: 3

It seemed like an eternity that Vonta floated in the dark void of her shapeless, lightless, prison.

She could not move one muscle in this...other place. Perhaps it truly was some other dimension, like the one that she used to phase her body slightly into when she used the force skill phase-shift. Perhaps this was a consequence of using such a power? It was as likely an answer as any that she had thought of.

All at once there was a familiar tingling sensation in her body. She felt the energy that pulled her from the middle of Otta Gunga flowing in her again. She felt it slowly empty from every molecule of her body, like a vase slowly drained of water. She gained more consciousness of her body with each increment of energy that leaked from her. Synapses in her mind reconnected with the body; first her bones, followed by her nervous system, the internally organs, muscle fibers, and finally her outer epidermis layer.

The energies were nearing the empty point. When her body held no more, in the moment that she felt the energy leave completely. She felt an atmosphere form around her body. She materialized in mid-air, and when solidity was accomplished gravity took its hold on her and she fell hard to the ground, crumpling under the weight of her own body. Ungracefully placing her on the floor with a painful thud that resounded with an echo through the accommodations.

Immediately her injuries became apparent with jolts of pain all over. She used the force to bring her senses into focus and to dull the effects of her injuries so that she remained able to face this new unknown.

The place she landed was light by only a single beam that only lit the area immediately around her. Every thing around her was pitch black. Her robe was a mess, one shoulder was hanging by a few threads and it was covered with slash marks left over from light saber and dagger cuts. Concealing lacerated skin beneath the ragged folds.

She pushed herself up from a face down position she crawled to her feet. Each boot step echoed in her new accommodations as she gained footing. She was in some kind of cavernous room. That much she could surmise from the echo. The area around her was dimly lit. All that she could see was the ground around her and that was stone like and colored a brick red.

From the darkness around her she heard a soft rustling. Signifying things that were moving in the dark.

"Who is there?" She said out loud, although quite weakly.

No answer came. Only unfamiliar sounds of animal like noises. She felt danger from behind. Instantly she drew her Teepo blaster. She was too weak to manage any other defense. She pointed it in the general direction of the threat. Hand poised to pull the trigger when she felt the blaster becoming incorporeal in her grip; it sparkled briefly and then vanished.

She stood there in battle worn clothing. With her hand, curved to conform to a gun, holding only air. Bewilderment showed in her eyes. Realizing in an instant that she was at a huge tactical disadvantage. The captors were able to teleport matter, or disintegrate it with a precision that she had never seen before, she thought that the latter was implausible seeing as her hand would have been lost with the weapon. Cautiously lowering the lightsaber in her other hand and making sure that she was careful to be as non-threatening as possible. Holding it with only two fingers, she laid it on the ground closely followed by her Aiki Akendo wooden sword that had been sheathed on her back.

She came up from kneeling and her weapons disappeared. From all around her she heard the echoing of clicks, clacks and other variable, high-pitched noises.

"I have no quarrel with whoever you are." She holds her hands up to emphasize her passivity, "I am a Jedi, sworn to protect the innocent. To harm another without provocation is not in my code of conduct."

She had no idea if they understood her but she had to say something.

"You are a Jedi?" An unknown voice spoke in basic.

She looked curiously at the group. No, she still only heard the curious noises all about her and there was no echo in the voice she heard. They were using telepathy. A force power to be sure, but there were races that could use telepathy as well. She was not sure if these people were force users. She felt nothing from the living beings around her to indicate any force sensitivity. Then again, this could just mean that they knew how to mask them selves with the force.

"Yes, as I said, I am a trained Jedi." She answers.

The voice continued. "But are you not also a member of the Jensaarai and of the endangered Aiki tradition?"

There was a moment of hesitation from Vonta before she could find her voice again. Whoever her captors were, they had been well informed. She could not lie about such things. She turned to face the speaker.

Or where she felt that the speaker's voice came from.

"I am a member of those orders as well." She answered yet again.

There was a louder chitter around her that was silenced by a more powerful one.

"You claim to be of many orders and yet you answer to Jedi? This is not possible to be all and yet one." Came the rhetorical remark.

Vonta was tired of this questioning game, "Yes I study the old ways and make them my own. That is my way and my mission as a Jedi...uhhh..." She trailed off as her injuries caught up with her, causing a wave of dizziness to pass over her.

Regaining her composer, "I...I am a seeker of the old ways as it is demanded of me by the force. Now I well not answer any more of your questions until you tell me who you are and why you have brought me here!"

There was silence for a moment. Vonta stood in the spotlight that surrounded her and prevented her from seeing anything out side of a ten-meter boundary set by the light. The light was restored to normal settings used by most sentient and, for a moment, she was blinded. She blinked at the light as her pupils dilated to accommodate the heightened intensity of the light.

What came to focus was a strange sight. In her journeys she had never seen such creatures as those that sat in the seats before her.

These beings looked more akin to animals then sentients. They looked as if they were built to be quadrupedal, though they sat up right in their seats. Their heads and bodies were generously covered in bone-like plates that seemed to be natural. Their eyes were large, easily the size of her fist. Large eyes meant keen night sight. No wonder they did not mind the darkness. She saw that each had a third appendage that was only just visible behind them, flapping about in some fashion, as covered in bony plates as the rest of the body. It could be a tail or another arm. Several tongue like appendages around the mouth area seemed to be making the noise that she heard.

There were ten of them, total. One in particular stood up from its seat, the rest regarded him with quiet respect. A long, white beard and a certain nobility of posture set him apart from the rest. Beside him sat her light saber and other weapons that were teleported away.

"We are the Aing-Tii, guardians of the Kathol rift and defenders of the force. We have been watching you Ms. Horn from the first time that you felt that your calling was to seek out the old ways. Seeking them out and finding them with, shall we say, far too much success." He looked at her weapons, all devices that were as deadly as they were advanced through the force, before continuing. "Some secrets from the past are best left buried. With that in mind we brought you here to learn if you are worthy of wielding the secrets you may find in the coming days."

The Aing-Tii! She thought with great surprised shock. She had heard whisperings about them in her studies but she never expected to find any. But why bring me here...

She wanted to ask them but she felt the last of her force stamina waver and she fell forward into unconsciousness.