Chapter Sixteen: No one to save

"Don't you understand what I'm trying to say
Can't you feel the fears I'm feeling today.
If the button is pushed there's no running away
there'll be no one to save with the world in a grave."

Barry McGuire, "Eve of Destruction"

Yavin IV, Landing Pad

The Hawk hadn't even fully set down on Yavin IV and he already knew something was wrong. Horribly wrong. He couldn't really pinpoint it, but he felt a strange pressure in the back of his mind. It was even almost overshadowing the humming that was Né.

When the ship had set down, he gathered the crew in the main hold. "Okay, uh, people, I guess it's time for a pep speech, huh?"

"Not if I had to say anything about it.", he heard Mandalore mutter but chose to ignore it.

"Well, uh, I think it's best if Mira and Mandalore come with me. Bao-Dur, Mical and Visas will be the other group. We'll enter the temple together and part ways on the first fork. Visas, it's your group's job to make sure you end this job if my group fails." He wondered if anyone apart from Visas noticed the slight wavering of his voice at the last sentence. If it was the case, they all seemed to think it wiser to keep silent about it. "Which we won't. Anyway, Adana, you're gonna stay on the ship…"

"No." The girl raised her chin defiantly. Great.

"Yes. No debating about this. You stay here until we get back, period." Atton folded his arms before his chest.

"No. You need me in the Temple. You need me to bring her back." Now she also folded her arms in front of her chest.

"No, we don't. 'Sides she'd kill me if I brought you with me. You stay here, end of story. Guard the ship, Adana, that's what we need you for." He still wasn't very good with talking to children and he just hoped that he had hit home with his appeal at her sense of duty.

"No, you don't. You need me to get her back. End of story." How he hated it if women turned his arguments around to use them as their own.

"Adana, please be sensible. There is mortal danger in this temple and we do not want to risk the death of innocents. We are fully capable of locating her on our own. Just for once do as you are told." Visas was talking as quietly as ever, but there was an edge to her voice you just couldn't ignore.

"But I…"

"Please, gizka. Don't question this. Do us and yourself a favor and stay here.", Mira chimed in, her voice a lot quieter than usual. Maybe that was what finally gave the impulse to Adana. Her face fell and her stance faltered.

"I'll… stay here. But don't come back without her." Atton gave her a half smile.

"Never had anything else in mind."

Temple Hall

They were here. She could feel them, everyone. Visas calming presence, Mira's fierce aura, Bao-Dur's steady loyalty, Mical's light, Mandalore's bloodlust, Adana's annoyance at being left behind… and Atton's single determination to get her, no matter what. And she was sitting here, playing the bait for Atris. Atris who was standing at the door, patiently awaiting her prey. Atris and the Sith ghosts. If she had any strength left to do anything more than breathing, she'd have thrown up right on the floor before her.

If she could just tell them that all of this was one big trap and that they were walking directly into it… "Every attempt at warning your friends – and thus spoiling my fun – will get you a punishment. And by now you should know my kind of punishments well enough." Instead of answering, Né just made a face.

She needed every ounce that was left to her to keep on staying calm. The alluring voices of the dark side were whispering to her louder than ever before now. She felt like standing on an abyss, only inches away from the edge. One small step would lead to an endless fall into the dark… "You can't escape it, Neeneá Tekal. Once you touch the dark side, you are forever tainted. So why not fully embrace it? What would be easier than that?" She was again taunting her, adding her own voice to the voices belonging to the temple itself.

"The easiest way is not always the best."

"You are still clinging to those hollow principles the Council taught you…"

"A Council you were once part of, Atris." Dammit. She had promised herself she wouldn't let Atris lure her into a conversation again. Already she felt the anger and hate welling up inside of her again. Not caring about being watched anymore, she took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. She needed to keep a cool head. And find a way to warn the others.

Temple Interior

They had been walking through countless tunnels and everything was quiet up to now. The feeling that they were walking right into a trap grew more and more intense with every step they took.

"I don't like it.", he heard Mira voice exactly what he had been thinking.

"Yeah, me neither. Stay sharp. Someone's trying to play a game…" Abruptly he shut up. There had been a sound, not far a way further down the tunnel, just around the next corner. He signaled Mira and Mandalore to stay quiet and back against the wall. Then he told Mira to switch on her stealth field generator and round the corner and come back to report what she had seen. For a moment, the air around Mira shimmered, then she disappeared.

Closing his eyes and putting his forehead against his raised blaster, he tried to find his center and calm himself. He hadn't told the others, but as they had continued their way down into the tunnels, he had felt the dark energy growing stronger and stronger around him. Adding to that the fact that the feeling that something was wrong was growing more intense also and that he now seemed close enough to feel the constant string of pain that seemed to hurt Né, he was really not in his best condition to wage a battle against four Sith Lords.

Before him, a stealth field flickered and Mira became visible again. She kept her voice very low, when she said: "Three Sith guards, two Artillerists, one Handmaiden. And no way of getting by them without being noticed."

He nodded towards Mandalore. "How's our status with explosives?" The Mandalorian went through his inventory.

"Three thermal detonators, five frag grenades, five poison grenades and three adhesive grenades. And some mines." Atton nodded.

"Alright. We're gonna use two of the frag grenades. Mira's gonna sneak back again. When you're at the entry of the tunnel, arm the grenades and roll them as quietly as possible into the crowd. Get away as fast as possible and wait for the bang. Then we're gonna take out everything that's still moving. Understood?" Mira and Mandalore nodded. The Mandalorian handed Mira two grenades and she disappeared again.

Again they waited. Then two loud explosions told them that Mira had been successful with her mission. His soldier instincts kicking in, he charged around the corner. His blaster pointed towards a heap of severely wounded or dead Sith and the Handmaiden. Behind him he could hear a light saber hiss. In a corner of his mind he wondered when exactly Mira had started to use it as her primary weapon, but he didn't give it much thought.

He was in full battle mode now, carefully eliminating the targets that were still moving and that Mandalore couldn't reach from his position. In the end, only the Handmaiden was left. She had defended herself against their laser blasts with her light saber. When her last guard was down, she obviously saw no other way than attacking them directly. She came charging toward him, aiming a swing at Atton, but suddenly her light saber was blocked by Mira's blade.

"What are you waiting for, Rand? Draw your damn 'saber.", she shouted at him and he was acting almost instantly. His blade sprang to life, crashing down on the Handmaiden. She lifted her hand and instinctively he knew that was a bad sign. Whirling his light saber, he managed to cut off the hand. For a moment the Handmaiden looked at the stump, disbelieving. Which was a big mistake since a well timed laser beam from Mandalore penetrated her chest only microseconds later. She fell to the ground.

Switching off his light saber, Atton turned to nod at Mandalore. "Good shooting, old man."

The soldier just shrugged, saying: "Yeah, well, I aim to please."

Ebon Hawk, Smuggling Compartment

Adana was sulking. She had been left behind again and she really felt insulted. What did they think she was? A silly child that would get herself killed at the next best occasion? Well, she grew up on Nar Shaddah, she knew how to stay out of trouble.

Yeah, that's exactly why Visquis could kidnap you., a treacherous little voice said in the back of her mind, but she chose to ignore it. Folding her arms, she leant against the wall of the little smuggling compartment. If they didn't want her help, fine. Then they wouldn't get it if they needed it, either.

Trap!

She blinked. Huh? She could have sworn she had heard Né's voice. But that was impossible. Visas had taught her how to block the bond and she had been very good at it, hadn't she?

Trap! Flee!

Again. It couldn't be. She was blocking her. She was even making herself invisible in the Force again. Né couldn't have been able to reach her.

TRAP!

"Let me be in peace!", Adana shouted at the walls and pressed her hands to her ears in a futile attempt to block out the voice. It had been very clear that it was Né's voice indeed, there was no denying. And she was obviously telling her that this was a trap. Could she be deceiving her? Adana hadn't forgotten how much darkness had found its way through the bond at Né's last outbreak. And weren't dark Jedi supposed to be deceiving bastards? Weren't they always betraying their friends and everything?

FLEE!

But then, why would she tell her to flee, if she wanted to harm her? Wouldn't she rather be telling her that everything was okay and that there was no threat at all? Wouldn't she?

But if this really was a trap… the others needed to be warned. How in the Force could she do that? Atton had told her unmistakably that he absolutely didn't want her to leave the ship. Somehow Adana had no doubts that he wouldn't tolerate it if she left the ship. He hadn't said anything to threaten her but that was only because he hadn't needed to. She wanted so much to gain his approval that she'd do anything for him, even if she had put up a fight when it had been about her staying on the ship. But in the end she had known even before she started that she would stay.

And now Né had somehow managed to get through her barriers and had told her that everything was a trap. She closed her eyes and hugged her knees. What was she to do? What? On one side there was the man that had grown to be a kind of big brother to her, the man she looked up to and didn't want to disappoint. On the other side was the woman who had rescued her, who had shared her dreams, who knew her inside out. And who had just told her that they needed to get away from here.

Wasn't rescuing her surrogate family more important than pleasing Atton alone? Wouldn't he do the same if he was in her position? Wouldn't he expect her to do something about this? Even if she was only eleven years old, she knew she had to make a decision. A decision that could save or destroy more than only her own life. A decision that could also cost her life. She closed her eyes and some of her mother's words came to her: Sometimes, Adana, you need to sacrifice one thing to save another. Remember that, Adana, always remember that.

Taking a last deep breath, Adana made the toughest decision she ever had to make in her yet short life.

Temple Interior

Atton had been right. Something was very wrong with this place. Visas could very strongly feel the dark energy this place was throwing at them, but it was not only this. It was the fact that on their whole way since entering the Temple they had not encountered any hostile forces yet. The whole place screamed "Trap!" at her, but she knew she had to keep on.

"Visas?"

She turned around, facing Bao-Dur. "Yes?"

He looked at her, uneasiness being displayed on his usually stoical face. "This place… something's wrong with it."

She nodded her head. "I agree with you. We need to be careful."

They neared a corner. Visas could feel a slight disturbance in the Force and held up her hand. The men behind her stopped and she gestured for them to take out their light sabers, but keep quiet. Inching forward step by step, she felt their anxiousness grow. Especially Mical grew more nervous with every step.

Taking a last deep breath, Visas rounded the corner first, expecting a whole attack group of Sith. But she saw… nothing. She furrowed her brow. Nothing to see, yet the disturbance was still there. Why…

All around them, stealth fields began to flicker. If she had been prone to swearing, her words would sure have made Atton or Mira blush. But as it was, only her light saber flared up and found its way through more than one assassin's body. As always, she focused on the battle, the presences of her companions pushed back to the edges of her perception. But suddenly – she was about to finish her last assailant – she felt a sharp pain shoot through her. At first she had thought it was Neeneá again, but when she turned around after giving her opponent one last slice, she saw Bao-Dur lying on the ground.

Upon coming nearer, she saw that the Iridonian was half sitting, half lying on the ground, breathing hard, his almost blue blood seeping through his fingers from a wound at his side. Driven by a strange impulse, she rushed to him, crouching down. Touching his shoulder lightly, she said: "Hold still, Bao-Dur. Let me take care of this."

To her surprise, he shook his head. "No. Too… too much for you. Need… too much… energy. Will only… slow you down. Leave…me… here." The blood kept flowing and for the first time maybe ever in her life Visas felt something like nervousness growing inside her. She knew that theoretically he was right. Even if they did manage to dress the wound and heal him with the Force, all of them would be drained out. He would slow the whole group down, either because he couldn't move fast with a fresh wound or because they had used precious energy to heal him. But still the need to do something became greater. It was startling her, for a moment even paralyzing.

Then Mical suddenly came from behind, with a med pack in his hand. Ignoring Bao-Dur's protests he did what he knew best: healing. First he gave the Iridonian a shot of something stimulating, then he started to dress the wound. Coming out of her short reverie, Visas placed her hand on his shoulder. She focused on her inner strength and drew energy from it, letting it flow through Bao-Dur. She could feel how burst blood vessels closed again, how his body fought possible infection, how torn flesh and skin closed. Then it was done.

She opened her eyes and drew in a deep breath. That was the utmost outer sign of exhaustion she allowed herself to show. "You shouldn't have done this, Visas. Nor should have you, Mical." If she had been Atton, she might have scolded him that obviously her effort wasn't even worth a "Thank you.", but being Visas she just shook her head and said: "It was nothing. Now come and let us pursue our quest again." And indeed she didn't mind the fatigue that using a Force heal always brought over her, especially such a taxing one. She was just satisfied that Bao-Dur would survive the wound.

Because he is a valuable member of your party or because he is Bao-Dur, a little voice whispered in the back of her mind. For a moment she thought of answering it, but then she chose to ignore it. There was a danger that this wasn't her own mind speaking but some dark influence trying to distract her attention from the task at hand and she didn't want to give into it. But still… if the Zabrak hadn't made it… wouldn't there have been a void in her heart, missing the calm and gentle ways of the Zabrak? She shook her head almost invisible. If there was one it wouldn't be any different from the void Neeneá's death would leave behind. Or would it? Enough of this!, her mind rose up to speak and with finding her focus again she managed to silence such disturbing thoughts, at least for the time being.

"Are you ready?" Mical and Bao-Dur both nodded. She tightened the grip around her light saber. "Very well. Let us continue."

Temple Hall

"Ah, how I love it when a plan works exactly as it should." Atris was gloating. There really wasn't any other word to describe the glee that seeped through her voice with every word. But as it was, Né was way beyond caring. The first two tries at contacting Adana had been undetected, but the third didn't pass by Atris' attention. And as promised, she had punished Né. Looking back, it was almost a kind of wonder that she was still breathing.

She knew she could have fought against it, just by opening herself to the dark energies around her. If she did, if she started feeding on them, feeding on Atris' energy, on the energy of the Sith ghosts, there would be no one able to defeat her. And no one to save her. In the end it was only the thought of what falling would do to her crew – most importantly Atton and Adana – that kept her to stay away from the dark.

"Oh, I can feel them. They are coming nearer. And they are already vulnerable. It will be almost too easy to make them fall. Quiet a pity." Well, now it's official: Atris has lost the last bits of her sanity., Né thought a little sardonically, but was clever – and weak – enough not to make any loud comment on it.

"I would have loved to break them slowly, one by one. It would have been delighting to see it. Especially that assassin of your's… or the child… or Visas…"

"Why don't you do us all a favor and shut the hell up?" It was out before Né had thought about the consequences. Expecting another wave of pain, she shut her eyes and braced herself, but the pain never came.

Instead, Atris said: "I would give you another dose of lightning if there wasn't something a lot more rewarding. Our first guest has joined the party."

Her pain-fogged mind needed a microt or two to process what Atris had just said, but then she found the strength to pull herself up. The first thing she saw was the smug satisfaction and a kind of anxious expectation on Atris' face. But the second thing almost terrified her even more: A surprised Adana that looked at the whole scene with a mix of confusion and diffuse terror on her face.

A/N: Oi, it's gettin' hot in here. Um, okay, you know what I mean. Anyway, I apologize for needing so much time to update, but that was mostly due to technical difficulties at ff. net. But seeing as I've gotten a mighty step nearer my internet access at home, I think updates are going to be a bit more frequent now.