Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt
The area around the wall glowed red and threw off sparks as the glowing green-white blade sliced through it. With one final motion of withdraw a booted foot kicked in the wall and stepped through the makeshift doorway, flanked by two more figures.
Once they were sure the coast was clear Aida burst forward ahead of Qui-Gon, her blaster in one hand and a flash grenade in the other.
Qui-Gon put a hand on Aida's shoulder to stop her, "Be careful we can't just rush into this."
Aida brushed his hand aside, "We were trained to use the Force, and most situations where I can't use it were completely difference from this."
"Yes which means we have to be extremely careful, we have to think instead of act." Obi-Wan interjected.
Aida braced herself against a wall and stared up at the ceiling, a dual feeling of emptiness racing through her. Here she was in a situation without her Master, her mentor, her father, and now to ad to it the warm feeling of peace and purpose that flowed through her from the Force had abandoned her as well, "It's just unnatural, the hole in there is unbearable and the only way to deal with it is find my Master and then nuke this hell hole."
With that she grabbed the doorframe and swung herself into the hallway, scanning it quickly and moving on when she was sure there was no one in the immediate vicinity, "It's clear." She whispered, "Hurry up."
Every room they entered she left behind a curse in a different language, the emptiness of the building only adding to the uneasy feeling that raged inside her.
Finally they hit home, Obi-Wan eased over to the next door and slowly opened it. He was met with a set of brown eyes staring back at him.
The man looked at the blaster trained on him and a wide smile spread across his face, "Lost little child doesn't know what it's doing."
Letting out an ear splitting scream he lunged forward and was met with twin lances of ruby red energy striking him in the chest.
Qui-Gon was there immediately, "What happened?"
"I found one." Obi-Wan replied dryly.
A scream filled with agony cut through the moment and drew their attention, Aida recognized the voice, "Master!"
She reacted instantly and in a burst of speed she dashed toward the scream.
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Obi-Wan moved to follow Aida but was stopped by Qui-Gon's hand clamped firmly on his shoulder, "She needs to go alone, all we can do is make sure that nobody follows her."
They moved on, clearing out the building. The entire time they found only four more Dark Jedi and something was nagging the back of Obi-Wan's mind, "Am I the only one who thinks this is too easy?"
Qui-Gon shook his head, "They aren't stable, they're actions are irrational and desperate, without the Force they are nothing more and crazy men with guns."
Obi-Wan opened the door and slipped back in time to just miss a blaster bolt. Leaning by the door frame he saw a Dark Jedi behind an overturned table, and he withdrew again as the man fired another blast.
Qui-Gon leaned in and squeezed off two shots that unfortunately went wide.
Obi-Wan smiled wryly, "For one the orders best duellists Master, you are one of the worst shots I have ever seen."
"Now is not the time Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon said as he fired another shot into the room.
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Aida ran as fast as her legs could carry her, as fast as she had ever remembered running, even the doors in her way only slowed her down slightly.
The place was like a maze, from what she could tell there were large rooms all over the place but the walls seem to have been placed at random maybe a hint at the insane minds of those that placed them, or a testament to their cruel genius by forcing any enemy to run around like a rat in their little maze, a pawn of their little game.
Aida shook her head firmly can't start thinking like that, it'll only slow me down she thought.
Finally she stopped at a set of double doors and the prize she had been looking for, the main core of the warehouse, striding forward, taking a deep breath to affirm herself of her confidence she kicked the twin doors open and stepped forward.
A Twi-lek female turned her head for a moment to look at Aida before waving her off, "No time for trivial matters the little warrior needs to be broken, he's stubborn but he won't be able to hold out forever, everyone breaks."
Aida stood gaping as the Twi-lek produced a vibroblade and held it against Nevan's throat.
Aida raised her blaster and squared the sights on the Twi-lek, "Don't move."
The Twi-Lek only laughed, "Aww the little apprentice Jedi wants to save her master."
Aida stared at her, not taking her eyes off of her for a moment, if she had she probably would have noticed the glowing set of silver eyes back away and disappear through a nearby exit.
A small grin crossed Aida's face, "Now you see there's your problem." She wagged her finger in disapproval, "You assume I'm like all other Jedi and that I won't just gun you down, now you see I am a Shadow Jedi and we do things a little differently." She spoke as though she were talking to a child.
The Twi-lek cocked her head to the side in question and was answered by a blaster bolt between the eyes.
The body hadn't even hit the ground before Aida charged over to her Master, "It'll be ok Master I promise." She pulled her lightsaber and carefully cut the bonds, without the Force to guide her movements she was afraid she'd just take off his arm, "We'll be out of here in no time."
Seeing skin bubbling at the heat she moved back and to her surprise he didn't even seem to notice, she was barely sure he knew she was in the room.
She looked around and caught the light of her lightsaber glinting in reflection from the vibroblade. Closing down her lightsaber and clipping it to her side she bent down to pick up the vibroblade and cut loose the bonds holding her Master down.
Once he was free she got a chance to really take a look at him, he was covered in scars and dried blood, very badly burned, one eye would not open, and he had suffered several broken bones.
She eased him off the table as he muttered something unintelligible and slung his arm around her shoulder and helped him walk.
As they made their way out of the room he stopped her, "What is it?"
Taking the frag grenade from her belt he mumbled, "Sorry little guys but it's you or me."
With that he pulled back his one (relatively) good arm and lobbed the grenade to a tree growing in the back of the room.
She watched as the grenade exploded, taking most of the tree, and a few salamander like creatures with it, "Whatever that was I hope it was worth the loss of time." She mumbled to her Master as she half walked, half dragged him away, grabbing his lightsaber off the nearby table in the process.
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They were nearing where she had taken off from the rest of the group when it hit her, like a heavy blanket being lifted off of her shoulders and a blindfold being removed from her eyes at the same time. The warmth of life flowed through her and strengthened her and as quickly as it came she wished it hadn't returned as her Masters agony tore through their bond, normally he probably would have shut it down to protect his Apprentice but at the moment he probably didn't even completely know what was going on.
A snap-hiss and a scream was silenced as soon as it began and moments later they turned a bend to find Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan not very far from where she left them, "What took you so long?"
Obi-Wan pointed to the room behind him, "We found someone who wasn't very cooperative."
Aida suppressed a laugh, "Still I wasn't gone very long, you two most both be horrible shots." Her face quickly turned grim though, "Now come on we need to get my Master to the ship."
"Maybe we should just stop here, put him into a healing trance and move on when he's on better shape." Obi-Wan suggested.
Qui-Gon shook his head, "No it's too dangerous if any more are left, we need to get out of here soon enough."
Aida held out her lightsaber and smiled, "And of course we all remember the easiest way is to do some...cosmetic remodelling of the building."
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A/N: Hooray Master's back, so what happens now? Tune in next time, same Jedi time, same Jedi channel (P.S. The laws of Jedi time can be bent if enough reviews are accumulated, HINT HINT) god I love shameless self promoting.