Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt
Aida helped Nevan over to the wall of a condemned building that they found nearby. Slowly he transferred his weight from her shoulder to the wall, then slowly he slumped to the ground.
Qui-Gon looked between Nevan and Aida, "It wouldn't be wise to stay here very long."
Aida leaned back against the wall, "He needs a break, we'll only be a minute."
Aida took a step forward and turned around, "Master Jinn?"
"Yes Aida?"
"Could I have a moment alone with my Master."
Qui-Gon looked at her for a second and without responding he and Obi-Wan left the room.
Aida moved over to Nevan and crouched down in front of him smiling weakly, "It's all going to be ok now, your safe."
He lifted his head from the wall and opened one eye.
Aida continued on, "And soon enough we can get you back to the ship, you can go into a healing trance and we can get you into the bacta tank."
A tear streaked down Aida's face, trying to comfort herself as much as her Master, but the just knowing the condition he was in was bad enough. Nevan would live, Aida knew that, but to be injured in the ways he was he must have been in constant pain, she couldn't even imagine what they must have done to him to put him in such a condition.
She felt more tears following the first, "Don't worry soon everything will be ok."
"Aida." Came Qui-Gon's voice.
Aida quickly blinked away the tears and stood up, "Ok we can go."
Qui-Gon helped Nevan up through the Force and Aida put her arm around his waist and resumed helping him walk.
It was another twelve minutes into the walk before Obi-Wan suggested flagging down a speeder.
"Look at the skies above you Padawan." Qui-Gon had instructed him.
Obi-Wan craned his neck to look around and it hit him, there was no speeder traffic anywhere near them.
Qui-Gon nodded, "When I was in contact with the governor, he said people more or less know not to go near here, some know it is Dark Jedi, others simply know they shouldn't and since the entire factory automated there's little to no life anywhere near here."
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It was around the time they were nearing the ship that they became aware of a disturbance in the Force.
"Master?" Obi-Wan questioned.
"I feel it to." Qui-Gon drew his lightsaber and scanned the are, "Obi-Wan help Aida carry Master Coronis, I think speed is of the essence."
Obi-Wan immediately obeyed, supporting Nevan's other side.
Qui-Gon kept his senses stretched as they made their way to the Demons Foe. They were nearing when he felt it, turning around he ignited his lightsaber, "Keep going, get the ship ready I'll be there in a moment."
Aida and Obi-Wan looked at each other before speeding the pace up as fast as they could.
Qui-Gon made sure they were gone before he turned to look around, "Show yourself."
As if on cue a robed man stepped out from the shadows of an alley, a man with glowing silver eyes.
Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow, "Orinis, you should be dead."
The man waved his hand, "Oh he is, I simply needed a new vessel after what your friend did all those years ago."
Qui-Gon frowned at the comment, wondering what it meant.
Orinis had a vicious smile on his face, "No don't try to decode it, you might hurt your little mind, and I would prefer to be the one that hurts you."
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Aida looked over, past her master, at Obi-Wan, "Do you know how to fly a Corellian Twilight-class light freighter?"
He grunted as they lifted Nevan over a rise in the path, "No."
She rolled her eyes, "Do you know how to fly at all?"
He nodded, "Of course."
"Then you shouldn't have a hard time the controls are fairly basic unless you plan on pulling something fancy."
Obi-Wan frowned, not liking where this conversation was going, "Just me?"
"Yes you, I have to help my Master when we get there." Aida said with a hint of defensiveness in her tone.
They reached the dockingport minutes later, Aida throwing the door open with a little nudge from the Force.
Aida threw her head to the right, motioning to an entrance with her chin, "We're over there, bay ninety four."
"Ninety four." Obi-Wan repeated.
The second Aida could see the ship she reached out through the Force and triggered a small switch inside the ship, something only a Jedi could get at and only if they knew where to look. With a whirring noise the hatch opened and the ramp extended, "I'll take him from here, you get the ship ready." Aida said as she shifted most of Nevan's weight to herself.
Obi-Wan let go and run up the ramp ahead of them, making directly for the cockpit.
Aida looked over at Nevan as she helped him up the ramp, "Looks like it's just us."
They turned left and headed towards the small medical facility on the ship. On a Jedi ship obviously not much was necessary in the ways of medical items so there were only a few meager supplies, a bio-bed, and the item she came for, something she thought her Master had been insane to install, a bacta tank. Aida had no idea how he had obtained it and she didn't care, all she knew was it could help her Master. One hand stretched out over his body as Aida concentrated, "I'm going to put you into a healing trance ok? With that and the bacta you should be back on your feet in no time." Aida forced a weak smile as she slowly put her Master into a Jedi healing trance.
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Obi-Wan looked over his shoulder as Aida stepped up behind him, "We should be ready to take off in a moment."
Aida nodded, "Good, I'm worried about Qui-Gon, I thought I sensed something but I was too distracted with my Master, as my connection to the Force returned so did our bond, he was in tremendous pain, at first I could barely handle it."
Obi-Wan looked at the pained look in her face, he realized that no matter what shield she put up their Master-Apprentice bond was so strong that even in a trance she could still feel it, "You're right, there was a presence following us, Master Qui-Gon didn't seem very urgent, but I think we still need to get to him as soon as possible, he is in danger."
Aida put a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder in comfort, "Don't worry he'll be fine, I'm going to go check on my Master."
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Qui-Gon parried and brought his blade down against Orinis' who just deflected the attack with ease and went back on the offensive.
Out of the corner of his eye Qui-Gon noticed two Dark Jedi just standing of to the side. He was so distracted with the others that he barely had time to block another blow from Orinis.
Three more stepped out of the many shadows that the empty street seemed to have, and as they did Orinis seemed to push even harder, move even faster, and attack with deadly accuracy.
The presence in Force of the others seemed weak to Qui-Gon, and Orinis' seemed to overwhelm the others. 'Or' Qui-Gon thought steadily as he blocked blow after vicious blow, 'Could they?' The realization hit him, he wasn't fighting Orinis he was fighting all of them, they were combining their Force powers in one body.
The boom of engine roar brought his attention from the fight, and with a quick Force push he turned and jumped onto the entry ramp and made his way up as the ship took off.
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A/N: Sorry 'bout the delay again, my best friend moved to the US a few years ago and he just got up here and I've been hanging out with him a lot. Anyway hope you all enjoyed, please review I write for the sheer pleasure but a good review now and then does us authors a world of good. And as usual if I made and spelling or grammatical mistakes and didn't catch them on my second read please point 'em out.