Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt
Nevan screamed as the searing hot blade of metal pressed against his flesh. For three days they had been at it and for three days they had asked no questions, made no demands, they were doing it for the sheer love of pain as far as Nevan could tell.
In all the pain Nevan found a sort of irony in it, back in the same position he had been so long ago.
"Having fun?" A green skinned Twi-lek female asked with a toothy grin.
Nevan reached out for the blade but found that once again he could not do anything, since he had been captured it was almost as though he had been cut off from the Force.
A deep, maniacal laughter came from the shadows, "You'll find that you're connection to the Force is gone Shadow Master."
The Twi-lek grinned and pointed to a nearby tree, Nevan followed his gaze and with a half hearted attempt tugged at his restraints, giving up when something caught his eye, something he hadn't noticed before, a furry, salamander-like creature no larger than 50 centimeters long with claws that seemed to extend right into the tree.
"They're called Ysalamiri." The voice from the shadows spoke, "As a defence mechanism they naturally create a bubble in which the Force does not exist."
Nevan strained his vision trying to locate the source of the voice.
"Yes it does put us at a distinct disadvantage, but it in this case it also makes you completely helpless."
The Twi-lek once again presented the blade, glowing red with the heat and cut into his chest. She only laughed at his cries of pain and began talking to thin air, "Oh he likes that, maybe we can break the little Shadow Jedi when the Master is through."
With that she began to cut once more.
Nevan let out a feral scream that resonated throughout the building.
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Aida paced back and forth, trying to calm herself. She had waited as Qui-Gon had told her but she couldn't take it much longer.
She knew he said not to do anything stupid but she had been getting more and more nervous since the moment she lost her Master.
The Master-Apprentice bond was a powerful thing and she would have felt his death through the connection, but it wasn't like that. Nevan wasn't dead she knew that much but it was almost as if he no longer existed in the Force.
She tapped her foot and stared impatiently upwards as though it would speed the Jedi Master and his Apprentice.
With one last angry sigh she grabbed her lightsaber and headed for the exit hatch and mumbled, "You know most Masters always have to go around saving their Apprentice, I'd better get overtime for this."
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Qui-Gon peered out the viewport into the stars, "What is it Obi-Wan?"
His seventeen year old Apprentice stayed silent for a moment before he spoke, "What is it that happened to Master Coronis?"
Qui-Gon inhaled deeply, "They broke him, they tortured him for over a month, they killed the other three right in front of him, all six of us chosen were very strong in the Force."
Obi-Wan nodded in understanding, any death was painful to a Jedi large-scale death could do serious damage to any but the strongest and wisest of Master, fortunately death on that scale at one moment had not been seen for centuries. But for multiple people very strong in the Force to die a brutal death at the same moment, in close proximity to him would have felt like his own life had been stripped from him and left him a shell that it would take months maybe even years to heal fully.
Finally something clicked in the back of Obi-Wan's mind, "You said he witnessed three of them killed but out of six only you and Master Coronis survived."
Qui-Gon nodded, "He loved her you know, but they managed to convert her, in the end he had to kill her."
Obi-Wan frowned, "Master Hayes?"
Qui-Gon shook his head, "This is not my story to tell, you'll find out when we rescue Master Coronis."
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The skin of his face burned and peeled away, the blinding gray-white of the lightsaber held so close to his face. Through the pain Nevan figured his only way of withstanding was to find something to focus on and hold it. Try as he might he found his mind always coming back to the same memory.
I held my lightsaber up in a defensive posture as the man turned to face me. The moment he did a wide grin crossed his face, "Your not one of them." He said in more of a statement than a question.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"No one you need fear, put away your weapon." He motioned to my lightsaber as he deactivated his own.
I reached out to his mind, to see if I could find some answers , but I found only powerful mental walls instead, "You have been trained in the ways of the Force."
He nodded, "Yes I have had instruction in one of the ways."
"One of?"
He laughed, "Yes one, do you believe that in the entire galaxy the views were so narrow as to be constricted only to the dark and the light."
I opened my mouth to respond when something finally hit me, something that had been nagging the back of my mind since I had seen him. Even from the distance it was visible, his eyes were glowing, and they were like polished chrome, "Your an Aranis!"
He smiled, "Yes my friend, as are you." His face turned grim, "Now come with me, we have much to discuss.
I don't know why, but I followed him. As we entered a small room at the back of the building I continued to ponder the words that would eventually change my life 'do you believe that in the entire galaxy the views were so narrow as to be constricted only to the dark and the light.'
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Over the next several hours Master Orinis told me of how he alerted to governor to the presence of the insane Jedi when he first sensed them on the planet, and he began to teach. Initially Qui-Gon and Kaitlyn both contacted me, worried about having not heard from me, I told them not to worry and I was making progress with Orinis. By that time I was in fact making progress, but of a different sort, he had began telling me about the Shadow side and in that short time he had almost become like another Master to me.
I finally decided to break the lesson, "Time is of the essence here, I'm sorry Master Orinis but we need to continue with the mission."
"Patience young Knight Coronis, all roads lead to the same goal, it all depends on how we choose to walk them."
I looked at him, puzzled by what he said, "Master?"
In response he turned his head to the doorway, standing there were the forms of five black clad intruders.
With an intense howl of pain, Nevan was brought out of his thoughts by the sensation of a lightsaber burning his chest.
Time stood still for Nevan, and every torture they tried lasted a dozen lifetimes.
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Aida stalked the side of the building that Qui-Gon had said he'd tracked the man to. She reach out to try to find any piece of her Master, even a lingering impression in the Force but still all she got was an empty feeling like everything in the building was devoid of the Force
"Come on." She whispered, as if her urging it on would make it work.
Suddenly she stopped and a shiver ran down her spine, whatever was going on she was definitely getting the feeling she should turn back. Of course being her Masters Apprentice of course that wasn't going to happen, silently she drew her lightsaber and made her way towards one of the entrances to the warehouse.
'Turn back now.' A voice commanded inside her head.
At first she just shrugged it off as her own common sense telling her not to but the voice came a second time, 'Please turn back.' The voice pleaded.
She focussed her attention on the whisper, trying to find where it was coming from Why? She sent back to the voice.
'It's dangerous, you can't do this alone' it replied.
Well then help me. She thought.
She could almost feel the laughter from the voice as it replied 'I'm not quite in the position to do that.'
Can't you tell me anymore? She asked.
'I'm sorry young one but at the moment there is nothing I can do.' She felt genuine regret as the voice replied.
Aida quickly looked around to make sure there was no one else present and slipped into a nearby alley. She stood there for hours, keeping a solitary vigil on the building that claimed to hold her Master. After around two hours she found her gaze drawn to a statue outside the building. It was of a man who looked to be in his early fifties, hardened features, a relatively long, hook shaped nose, the robes of a Jedi and at his side was a lightsaber. Something about the statue unnerved her and she couldn't figure out what.
The persistent beeping of her comlink finally drew her attention, plucking it from her belt she thumbed the switch and said, "Hello?"
"Aida, I tried the ship but you weren't there." It was Obi-Wan.
"Yes, it's a long story, important but long I'll tell you when you get here, so what did you want anyway?"
"Qui-Gon told me to contact you, were in the system and we'll be landing shortly."He replied.
"Good, tell him I'll met you at the Demons Foe." Aida said, turning it off before Obi-Wan had a chance to reply.
Taking once last look at the statue she turned around and headed for the ship.
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A/N: There ya go, not as long as I had originally planned, anyway hope you all liked it.