Chapter 6 Planning to Survive
Twelve Hours Earlier
Zak was right, Devan was no longer the beauty she had been four years previous; her nose, broken by Boba Fett, had never healed properly and was now unflatteringly crooked, the harsh climate of the Kessel system had left the skin on her face wrinkled and pock-marked and her once long blond hair had been cropped severely short.
"Thanks to you and that bounty hunting friend of yours, Zak." Devan retorted accusingly.
Zak laughed, "You must be joking; I don't remember Boba asking you to kidnap him, or Master Kenobi forcing you to hunt him just for sport. And now you're at it again, Devan; are you going to take us back to Myrkr and hunt us like animals?" He asked.
"As appealing as that idea is, I'm sorry to say that's not part of the plan." Devan answered, "What Melak has planned is far more interesting."
"Taking orders from someone else, Devan? That doesn't sound like you." Zak replied.
"I owe him for getting me out of that hell hole." Devan informed him as she slipped a hand around Melak's lower back.
"Oh, now I see; and where does that leave you, Kien?" Zak asked.
"You talk too much, boy; I say it's about time to get this tub in the air." Kien said.
"Right you are, Valier." Malek replied and then turned to Zak, "You might just as well get them all settled because it's going to be a long trip."
"You're making a big mistake here, Melak." Zak said.
"No, you made the mistake interfering in Belarid's affairs in the first place." Terak interjected, pointing an accusing finger at him.
Zak only shook his head as Melak gestured for the others to head out, "I don't want any trouble from you, or your friend's part in this will end; do I make myself clear?" He threatened.
"Yes, perfectly." Zak answered.
"Good; now, once we're in hyperspace, we'll come back and explain exactly what's going to happen." Melak replied.
"And where you're taking us?" Zak wondered.
"No; you won't find out about that until we get there." Terak answered with a nasty smirk.
Zak waited until they had gone and the cargo hold sealed, "Alright, gather around, all of you." He instructed.
Without a hint of hesitation, the younger Jedi did as Zak asked, seating themselves in a semi-circle in front of him, "Where will they take us, Zak?" The Initiate asked.
"I don't know, Shel." Zak answered.
"Why are they doing this?" A youngling wondered.
"They think we should be exiled." Zak replied.
"What does that mean, Zak?" Another asked.
"It means they…they think we have to be separated from everyone else." Zak told him.
"But why? Have we been bad?" Another asked.
Zak sighed, "No, Kylin." He assured her.
"Then what did we do?" A third asked.
Again Zak sighed, wondering just how he could explain why this was happening, "That's a very long story, and I will explain it all very soon; but right now, it is very important for us to get ready for this, alright?" He answered.
They nodded in Jedi-like acceptance and waited for him to begin; Zak smiled, trying to give them some sense of assurance, "Good; now, in a way, we were lucky because Ferri and I still have our utility belts. But they may take them away when we get to wherever we're going; so, we're going to trick them." He began.
"How?" Shel asked.
"By taking everything out and hiding it on all of you." Zak answered.
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The younglings who witnessed Master Horan's death were escorted by several Knights to the Healers' ward along with the injured Padawan, Galyn. After a brief examination and discussion, it was decided that her injury was not serious enough to warrant transferring her to the medical center; and that it would be better for her if she were to regain consciousness in the familiar surroundings of the Temple. The younglings were given sleep suggestions and left to rest, two to a bed to draw comfort for each other; however, one particular youngling, a Zabrak, seemed more traumatized by the rest and was only finally induced to sleep with a sleeping draught. The reason for his higher level of agitation was puzzling, and would need to be addressed; but for the time being, he, along with the others, needed to sleep.
At the same time, the Council members present in the Temple called for an emergency meeting as soon as all members could be present. Council Masters, Eeth Koth, Stass Allie and Plo Koon were on separate missions off-world, and so the meeting was set for late morning; the soonest the absent members could return. Yoda, himself, contacted the Chancellor, who had just retired for the night; and would now spend the remainder of it in restless uncertainty along with the populace of the Temple.
The younger Padawans, Initiates and younglings were gathered together in the dining hall to explain what had happened and assure them all that measures had been taken to prevent it from happening again. Anakin and Obi-Wan spent the rest of the night in silent meditation together, trying desperately to connect with their missing apprentices to no avail.
Present Time
"If Kien and Devan are involved, they will probably feel they have a score to settle with Boba." Obi-Wan pointed out.
"Perhaps it would be better if he were not involved any further than researching where they may have gone." Ki-Adi Mundi suggested.
Bail shook his head, "If I know Boba, he will not settle for that; Zak and Ferri are his friends and some of those younglings are among those he helped rescue." He countered.
"But still, Master Mundi has a point; there is his own safety to consider…" Luminara argued.
"Yes, however, as Boba has reminded me on many occasions, he is not a child and is capable of protecting himself." Bail replied, "And he will certainly not wish to hide from the likes of those two."
"I must agree with the Chancellor here; Boba will not allow us to exclude him." Obi-Wan concurred.
"You are probably right." Ki-Adi conceded.
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"I appreciate you telling me, Master Kenobi; but I'm certainly not going to hide from them." Boba answered after hearing Obi-Wan's news.
"I rather doubted you would; however, the Council thought it only fair that you know what you will be up against." Obi-Wan replied.
Boba nodded, "Consider me warned." He said, "Now, would you like to see what Dena and I have found?"
"Something for us to go on, I hope." Anakin interjected.
"Well, I think so…." Boba began as he brought up the first moon, "This is Ignia; very dry, with almost constant sand storms. I don't think they could safely land there, so if they chose it, they would have had to use life pods."
Obi-Wan scratched his beard, "Which is a distinct possibility." He countered and then sighed, "And if so, it will make it almost impossible for us to get to them."
"Actually, that's not entirely true; I've seen some heavy transports that are used to extract men from some of the mining colonies through some pretty rough atmospheric storms." Boba informed him and then moved to the next moon, "Then there's Ridian. Another dry moon, but not quite as stormy as Ignia; however, the atmosphere is barely breathable." He looked over at the masters, "I guess if they wanted to get rid of someone, this would be the place to do it."
"Either of them would be a good place to get rid of someone; on Ignia, they would probably suffocate in the sand storms, and on Ridian they would just plain suffocate." Anakin deduced.
"That is why we don't think they were taken to either one." Dena answered.
"Yes, I see; that would defeat the purpose of exile. They might just as well have killed them right here rather than take the trouble to exile them where they would not last more than a day." Obi-Wan concluded.
"I guess that makes sense; and it does give us more to hope for." Anakin added, "So what about the others?"
"Well, there's Bella; but the climate there is almost pleasant." Boba replied, "Although there are some pretty nasty predators."
"Are there any colonies there?" Obi-Wan asked.
"No, and I'm not sure why; so there must be something unrecorded there to discourage settlement." Dena told him.
"Alright, that's one real possibility then. What else have you got?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Azrak; very cold, but with some plant life and native animals." Boba answered, "And Telia which apparently used to be a mining colony until the ore petered out."
"Two more possibilities; and the other two?" Anakin asked.
"Vorcik and Irgen; but neither of them has any atmosphere at all." Boba informed them.
"And the nearby systems?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Well, Belarid has a sister planet with three moons of her own; and the neighboring system contains four planets and five moons." Boba replied.
Anakin shook his head, sighed and slipped out of the room, "I'm sorry, Master Kenobi; I know it seems like a lot, but I know Bail will put all the men he can on this." Boba assured him.
"You have done well, Boba; why don't you transfer all the possible locations onto a data pad so we can start to assign teams to check them all out." Obi-Wan answered.
"We've already started to do that, Master Kenobi." Dena replied.
"Good; when you have finished, find one of the Council Masters and we can get started." Obi-Wan instructed.
Boba nodded and Obi-Wan left them to finish; he found Anakin leaning his head against one of the windows in the hallway, "Focus on one location at a time and it will not seem so overwhelming." He advised.
Anakin sighed, "I'm trying; but the odds just seem to be against us." He answered.
"I know; but we have beaten the odds many times before." Obi-Wan reminded him as he laid a hand on the younger master's shoulders, "We must trust in the Force and have faith that we will beat them again."
"If it weren't for Ferri being injured, that would be a much easier." Anakin replied.
"I know that too; but if you allow yourself to be paralyzed by worry, it will do Ferri no good." Obi-Wan said.
"You're right, of course; why is it that, sometimes, I still feel like your Padawan?" Anakin wondered as he turned, leaned back against the window and smiled.
"The same reason I still sometimes feel like Qui-Gon's." Obi-Wan answered, "We are never too old to sometimes need the advice of others."
Ten Hours Earlier
"Z...Zak?" Ferri murmured.
Zak, who had been rebandaging Ferri's leg, stopped and put a hand on Ferri's shoulder, "I'm right here." He answered.
Ferri struggled to sit up, "No, lie still; let me finish." Zak said.
"How bad is it?" Ferri asked as obediently lay back.
"Bad enough." Zak replied, completing his task before helping Ferri to sit up.
Ferri put a hand up to his neck and tugged weakly on the collar, "Is this why I can barely feel the Force?" He asked.
Zak nodded, "It was that or let them kill you." He answered with a sigh.
"Oh well, I'd rather not be dead." Ferri decided, then looked around and noticed the younglings gathered around them, "Where are we?" He asked.
Zak sighed, "We are all being exiled; I'm sorry."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for; it's not your fault." Ferri replied, "Besides, the reason I'm here doesn't really have anything to do with Belarid; someone else wanted me, I found out that much after you were zapped."
"I'm sorry all the same; if I had just listened to Fiel, and gone alone, they would never…." Zak began.
"As if I would have let you do that; it isn't your fault these fanatics allied themselves with one of my enemies." Ferri countered, "Who are they, Zak?"
"Well, they are just as you said, fanatics; the leader appears to be my father's brother, and my own brother, Terak is among them." Zak answered.
"Nice family you have; but your brother is supposed to be on Kessel, isn't he?" Ferri asked.
"Yes; he was until my uncle freed him." Zak replied.
"Wonderful; and who is my 'friend'?" Ferri asked.
"There are two, actually; Kien Valier and Devan Carlyle." Zak told him.
"Oh lovely." Ferri retorted, rubbing his hand over his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Ferri." Zak said.
"Stop apologizing, Zak; anyway, does it really make a difference now?" Ferri said.
"No, I guess not." Zak admitted, "All that matter now, I guess is getting ourselves, and all of them out of this."
"Exactly; so, what's the plan?" Ferri asked.
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When Melak and two of his men returned to the cargo hold, all the younglings were seated in a circle surrounding Zak, "What are you doing?" He demanded.
"You wanted me to settle them." Zak answered calmly, "We're meditating."
"Right; well, I just came down to see if your friend was awake." Melak replied.
"Which I am; so what?" Ferri said sarcastically.
"So, a friend of yours wants to see you." Melak answered with equal sarcasm.
"Thanks all the same, but I'm not interested in seeing him." Ferri told him.
Melak laughed, "I don't remember giving you a choice." He said and then gestured to his companions.
Knowing he had no alternative, Ferri did nothing more than hiss in pain as the Belaridians hauled him to his feet. Zak stood up and was roughly shoved back down by his uncle, "Not you." He ordered.
"If Kien wants to see him so badly, then why doesn't he just come here instead of forcing Ferri to come to him when he shouldn't even be standing?" Zak protested.
"Because that's the way we want it; and you aren't in any position to object." Melak answered as he pointed his blaster at the younglings, "Are you."
"It's alright, Zak; I'll be back before you know it." Ferri assured him as he was shoved toward the cargo door.
"You make me sick, Melak." Zak retorted.
"Not as much as you and all the rest of you freaks make me." Melak replied before he turned to follow his cohorts.
"Will they kill him?" Shel asked when the cargo door closed behind the extremist leader.
"I don't think so; at least not yet." Zak answered.
"Zak, what's a freak?" One of the younglings asked.
Zak sighed, "That's a good question, Doyen; that's what Melak thinks we are because we're different than he is." He answered, stalling as he gathered his thoughts to answer the inevitable question to follow.
"Because we can feel the Force?" Shel surmised.
"Yes." Zak confirmed.
"But why? Why are we freaks, Zak?" Kylin asked.
"We are gifted, Kylin; only Melak and his followers think we're freaks." Zak told her.
"They're 'fraid of us, aren't they." One of the younger ones guessed.
"Yes; something happened a very long time ago, something so terrible that it caused them to fear anyone like us." Zak explained.
"But we don't live on Belarid anymore; and anyway, we didn't do anything to them." Doyen protested.
"I know it's hard to understand; but they don't know any better." Zak answered.
"That's too bad; I think I feel sorry for them." Shel decided.
"As you should." Zak replied.
"Will someone be looking for us?" Another of the younglings wondered.
"Yes, they probably already are." Zak assured him.