Disclaimer: I own nothing. The disclaimer is short, so the chapter is long.

MornieGalad

Chapter Four: The First Mission part II

I awoke to the sound of the infant crying loudly. "Shh," Qui-Gon gently tried to quiet him, rocking the child in his arms. Slowly, the baby hushed and I rose.

"Can I hold him?" My master smiled, illuminating his eyes, and placed the babe in my arms. His tiny blue eyes looked up at me from the tiny folds of his blanket. We knew nothing of each other at that moment, oblivious to what the future would hold for either of us. Our eyes looked into each other for an instant. I wondered what he was thinking.

"What is his name?" I asked, turning my attention back to Qui-Gon as the child sucked my finger.

"We don't know, but we can tell he's a human child. We're going to have to run a search for any reported kidnappings in nearby systems."

"How do we know he's not an orphan?"

"We could see in his mind that he had memories of being taken from his parents, but he's too young to remember his name."

"Can I help?" I asked eagerly. Little did I know how important this search would be. The baby had fallen asleep and I handed him back to Qui-Gon.

"Master Windu and Master Owen are already on the planet's surface and Kavai insisted on accompanying them," Qui-Gon told me as we walked to the main computer.

"Isn't there something we can do?" Alkabar, Master Owen's apprentice complained, coming up beside us. The concern in his black eyes, which gave his dark skin the illusion of the soil of a planet in the night, showed my master that his thoughts weren't born of impatience, but from caring for the rest of the quest. Therefore, Qui-Gon did not reprimand him.

"Begin a search for all recent human kidnappings in this system. Enter this boy's description," he instructd. After a few commands to the computer, Alkabar sat back.

"There's nothing to do now but wait," he said and wait we did. The child awoke and Naomi, Mistress Cruvi's apprentice, somehow managed to get him a bottle. Still we waited. Then the computer flashed a red sign: No results.

"How is that possible?" I wondered. The child was in my arms again. Alkabar gazed frustratedly out at the stars, while Qui-Gon looked at the screen, deep in thought. Before he had time to think much, Virn, Master Sifo-dias' apprentice called to us.

"Incoming message from Veta!" The same spidery figure that had originally greeted us appeared on the viewscreen.

"Alien persons, the negotiations have finished," he declared and then he was gone.

"He's very angry," Qui-Gon observed, and I drew the infant close to me. The baby started to whimper and Qui-Gon put his arms around me. Alkabar took the helm and set a course back to Veta. The others went off to other duties. The infant continued to whimper, but didn't cry.

"It's all right, little one," Qui-Gon whispered and I could tell he was speaking to both of us, the child and me, for I was feeling increasingly uneasy about this mission. Suddenly, my master's blue eyes dialated as if enduring some invisible pain.

"Master!" I exclaimed, nearly dropping the child in my arms.

"I'm all right, Tahiri. Something bad has happened on Veta." The boy in my arms was bawling now and I quickly passed him to Qui-Gon.

The remainder of the voyage to Veta was silent and solomn, as if we were all holding our breath, waiting to discover what awaited us on Veta. A small vessel greeted us and was soon docked alongside our vessel.

"Tahiri, you and Alkabar stay here and look after the child," my master ordered. Both of us suighed, but even I knew it was no use arguing.

"It's okay, Kendi," I whispered to the child, using the nickname I had given him for the time being. To his credit, Alkabar didn't say anything or laugh at the childish name I had given the infant. We sat in overall silence until the others returned.

"Kavai!" Alkabar exclaimed when they entered the room. The masters who had gone to the planet were not with the group. "Where are the others, Kavai," Alkabar demanded, exercising his authority given by his age, which was superior to both mine and Kavai's.

"They are still on the surface, being held hostage. The Vetamians sent their demands through Kavai," Mistress Cruvi informed us. "They want us to declare the military surrender of Ganed V."

"Don't they know we don't have the power to do that?" Alkabar asked.

"they refuse to believe we don't and they've threatened to kill one of the hostages if the Ganedians don't surrender within thirty six hours," Kavai spoke up, his voice quavering. As if he understood what Kavai was saying, Kendi started to cry and I spent a few moments hushing him. That must have been quite a sight: a six year old calming a screaming infant who was slightly more than a quarter of her size.

"So what do we do?" Alkabar asked once Kendi was silent.

"Obviously negotiations between the Vetamians and the Ganedians are out of the question, at least if they are in person. We cannot put Ganedian lives at more risk than necessary," Master Sifo-dias stated. "This should be a matter of the Federation."

"Nonetheless, we are here and we must do our duty," said Mistress Cruvi, straightening her slender neck. Beside her, Naomi looked pale, her long blonde hair curling around her catlike ears.

Virn, too, loked serious, his blue-grey face unmoving, but his oragne eyesd darting everywhichway when they weren't concealed by his long black hair that reached like a mane down to his tail. Finally, after a long silence, he spoke. "We must try to rescue the hostages."

"There are so many places they could be, though. The Vetamians have thousands of prisons. There were so many hopeless faces from so many species," Kavai was on the verge of tears at the memory and Qui-Gon put his hand on the child's shoulder. Kendi started bawling again, louder than before, and Naomi scooped him up from my arms, but he would not be comforted.

"Enough!" Master Sifo-dias declared. "Kavai, Tahiri Keira, take that child elsewhere so we can actually think here." Naomi handed the screaming baby back to me and Kavai and I progressed to a more remote section of the vessel. We agreed that the sleeping quarters would be ideal. They were deserted, since everyone was on the bridge.

"I should ble there," Kavai complained loudly enough so I could hear him over the howling infant I was struggling to carry. "My master is on the surface and I was down there."

"Master Windu and Master Owen will be fine," I asssured him, plopping Kendi on a bunk. "I care about Master Windu, too. He's looked after me since the day I came to Coruscant."

"I know," Kavai said. "He's a strong man with the Force." I nodded in agreement. Kendi was finally calming down and being overcome by sleep.

"How did you get on that ship?" I whispered to the infant. He didn't answer, of course, but I hadn't expected him to.

"What are they going to do?" Kavai whispered and snuck over to my side as if he didn't want Kendi to hear what he was sgoing to say. "We're desperately outnumbered by the Vetamians and the Federation doesn't have an army. Even if they did, qwho is to say whether they would us it now because of all their political nonsense."

"What if we could get all the people in the prisons free? There might be enough of us then."

"They have a lot of security guards . . ." Kavai broke off his sentence and looked down to see baby Kendi's wide blue eyes looking straight at him. "Those eyes . . . They look like the eyes of a woman I saw in the jail. They're exactly like hers." He thought for a minute. "Could she be his mother?"

"That's why none of the searches for kidnapped children matched his profile. His mother couldn't tell anyone who cared that he was kidnapped when she was in jail!" I exclaimed, getting excited. Kendi awoke, cooing from the bed as Kavai and I embraced as if we'd just achieved the greatest victory possible.

"His mother was in the building where they had the negotiations, which were really just a nice name for an arrest," Kavai said. After that, the wait for someone to comd and speak with us seemed eternal. Finally, as Kendi slept and Kavai and I were dozing, my master entered, looking exhausted.

"We're planning to go to hte planet. Half of us will create a diversion while the others surround the essential leaders."

"Master, Kendi's mother is in one of the prisons," I told him excitedly. He nodded neutrally, not pleased that I had interrulpted him, but glad to know that Kendi wasn't an unparented child. Kavai had detected the tone in my master's voice, though, that I had missed.

"Where have we been assigned?" Kavai asked, as if he already knew the answer.

"You will be tracking both groups and watching Kendi. don't think badly of this assignment. It is very important." It was obvious my master wasn't lying.

"Master Qui-Gon, I've been to the surface. I know where everything is," Kavai protested, trying to remain respectful.

"That is exactly why we need you here. Believe me, we thought of that, but the Vetamians would aslow be likely to recognize you. You can track us and give us a more accurate idea of our relative location than anyone else. Besides, you and Tahiri Keira appear to make a good team," he said, smiling at me, but I found I couldn't smile back. A feeling of terrible unease had overtaken me.

"He nearly got captured on the ship because of my," I whispered, trying to hide the tears that threatened to show themselves.

"Tahiri," my master whispered. "That wasn't your fault, nor was it Kavai's. You cannot put the weight of the world on your shoulders." His hands brushed over my cheeks, drying the tears that had spilt from them, unbidden. Then he gave me a brief hug and smiled. "Everything will turn out fine." I could tell that was a promise.

"When do you leave?" Kavai asked.

"As soon as the sun sets on the capital side of the planet -soon. Come. You can see us off." Kendi was sleeping soundly, so we left him on the bunk and walked the short distance to the shuttle pods. Qui-Gon, Alkabar, and Mistress Cruvi climbed into one pod and Master Sifo-Dias, Naomi, and Virn disapopeared in another. Before following his companions into the small pod, my master patted me on the shoulder and smiled. Then he was gone. The doors closed behind him and the noise of the pods launching echoed through the deserted ship. Then there was only silence.

"There aren't any droids on this ship," I realized. Kavai nodded and began to usher me oward the sleeping quarters to retrieve Kendi.

"The Vetamians don't trust droidcs. That was one of the few things the Jedi Council know about them. I guess they would be afraid of the droids gaining consciousness and taking over of their planet."

"Conquering- just as they intend to do," I whispered. We had reached the sleeping quarters and, as if he understood what I had said, Kendi began to whimper.

"It's okay," I whispered. "We're going to the bridge. You get to see the stars." Kendi brightened, but Kavai's eyes still seemed sad and serious. He said nopthing for quite some time.

"They've landed!" I declared just after we sat down at the bridge computer. "There's Qui-Gon's group." I pointed to the Eastern side of the city, "and there's the other group on the western side." Then I thought of something. "How are we tracking them?"

"We're entitled to disobey a government's demands when they take innocent hostages."

"Why don't we just use the Force?"

"I guess they weren't sure we could keep track of them all. Master Sifo-Dias's team will be splitting up. Look! There they go!" Three little red dots divided in three separate directions from the large red mass.

"Switch you com links on," I heard my master's unmistakable voice say. "Tahiri, Kavai, can you hear me." Kendi responded with a loud cooing sound.

"Affirmative," Kavai answered. One by one, the other members of both teams checked their communications with us. They were all in working order. Qui-Gon's group was upon the capital.

"What is the look of the land, Kavai?" Mistress Cruvi asked.

"They have a few sentinels posted atop the capital itself, but you shouldn't have a problem with them."

"I'll distract them," I heard Alkabar whisper and his dot separated slightly from the other two. He must have gotten up on the roof, for two blue dots that I hadn't noticed both chased after him and the rest of his group snuck into the capitol building. Then they disappeared from our radar. Kavai and I exchanged worried lookes.

"Alkabar, do you copy? This is Kavai."

"Yes, I hear you. Go ahead," Alkabar's voice came from the comlink. He'd gotten off of teh rooftop ahnd was heading toward the entrance of the building.

"We lost visual and audio contact with the other members of your group when they entered the capitol building," Kavai reported.

"The building must be isolated somehow so that our technology doesn't work. They're all right, thiough, I can sense that. You two will just have to use th Force to keep track of us.

"Three of us," I chided him as he disappeared into the building. Kendi smiled.

"I'll keep track of Master Sifo-Dias's group, since I know the terrain. Look after your master's group." I nodded in response. "Naomi's to the prison where Kendi's mother is," Kavai said. The child in my arms looked out at the sky as if he knew exactly what had just been said.

"Okay, Kavi, how do I get in?" Naomi whispered through her comlink.

"You're going to have to put a hole in the side of the building."

"Thank goodness for lightsabers!" Naomi said. Seconds later, she disappeared into the capitol.

Author's note: I finally updated. Please review.

MornieGalad