The ticking in Lexi's ears drowned endlessly on until the feminine electronic voice in the clock announced it had been thirty minutes since she had last checked. Lying in the lower bed of the med room, she found herself lost in the thin strips of clean, white light shining through the glass above. She'd always had a certain affinity for this room and what it contains. At times like this, where patience was a virtue, it was always easier to pass the time her then anywhere else in the Crimson Raider. Unfortunately, it wasn't working as well then normal.
It had been weeks since Ben left with that head-tail lightsaber-wielding witch. And still she had no heard anything of him, despite her trips around Dreshdae.
When Port Authority came and demanded a rental fee, she had nothing to give, until she noticed the dead speeder in her ship's hull. Turns out, it was worth enough to get her by for months, though Lexi worried that she may need it for more then that.
Swinging her legs over the edge, she propped herself up. But kept her head ducked down to avoid the short roof.
Over the time of a few, long minutes, her bored gaze switched from machinery around, to the chairs, to the few cases of supplies, and finally Ben's lightsaber resting atop her pillow.
Ignoring the pops and creaks in her joints as she reached for it, Lexi brought the hilt closer to examine. Simplistic and straightforward, yet different from the others she had seen. It took no time to find the activator stud.
The brilliant yellow blade jumped out the emitter, but Lexi did not flinch. Staring at the weightless sword, memories from days gone past came pouring back in. She could almost feel a faint vibrating emanating from the center of the hilt. Even at a young age, she knew her lightsaber, had she ever gotten the chance to construct one, would have a yellow blade. Like Lyrisa's was.
And with the lightsaber hanging motionlessly, a smile crept onto her lips.
Ben's breathing seemed to slow as he followed the of students, led by Master Uthar, from the warm, humid outside into the cold, dank cavern just outside the Valley of the Dark Lords.
A series of thin, claustrophobic circular tunnels with a few open areas along the way, the group remained in mostly single-file, with Ben and Yuthura at the very end. He reached up and ran his fingers lightly across the right half of his face, cringing as he quickly pulled it away. Days ago, Yuthura insisted on giving him something to better improve his appearance with those in the academy; a marking of some kind. He let her apply it; a series of round dots under the eye like hers, but unlike her markings, a long diagonal strike that started at his temple, crossed over his eye, and stopped just before his nostrils. The skin around it was still sensitive, but he did get a few less glares from students and teachers alike.
An ancient creature supposedly dwelled in these caves, a beast Uthar had spent years hunting to no success. But each attempt he mapped out the twisting and turning of the caves onto a datapad, and he now believed he had found its resting area. Though why he brought every student in the academy was a mystery to Ben.
A few minutes of walking through the tunnels past and they reached their first open area. The group did not even slow, piling through the adjoined tunnel on the other side. But when Ben and Yuthura reached the path, Ben grabbed the Twilek's arm and swung both of them out of sight of the others against the wall next to them.
"What the—" Yuthura never got to finish as Ben planted his lips against hers, making the remainder of the question nothing soft, muffled gurgles. He finally broke off, staring into her hungry eyes with his own. Her lip raised a little.
"You're going to get us caught you fool." Yuthura whispered.
He inched closer. "But master, I thought through passion I gained strength?"
Yuthura looked as if she was going to continue the arguing, but to Ben's surprise, she relaxed, throwing her arms around his neck and running her hands through the scattered strands of his hair.
"Perhaps you can learn." Now it was she who leaned forward and resumed the kissing.
His hands eventually found themselves resting on the side of her ribs, traveling down to the bottom of her waist and around. . .
Abruptly, she pulled away. "No," Yuthura breathed, wrenching free of Ben's grasp and charging down the tunnel. Wide-eyed with a raised eyebrow, Ben followed, wondering what was wrong.
It took a minute for him to hear the faint voice echoing from down the tunnel, and realized that they had fallen behind. Far behind. Sweat glistened from his forehead as Ben called on the Force to bolster his strides, barely keeping up with Yuthura up ahead. After three turns and two open areas, the voice grew stronger and stronger in their ears. He watched her turn another corner, and a handful of heartbeats later, he did the same.
And stopped cold along side her. They had reached the target zone, and everyone was there, glaring at them in the entranceway. Uthar was in front of the group, eying the two suspiciously.
"Hello you two," Uthar greeted. He threw a glance over to Ben, and the Padawan forced down the cold shiver in his spine. His eyes then narrowed on Yuthura. "Why did you fall so far behind?"
Ben looked over at Yuthura. Her thoughts and feelings were unreadable under the cold, emotionless mask that was her face.
"While you were entering another tunnel, the apprentice and I sensed something inside, like a faint vibration in the air."
Uthar's brow rose a bit. "Strange that I did not."
"Strange indeed, Master Uthar." Yuthura agreed. "Our search led us to a mangled corpse holding a crystal in a hand with large teeth imprints." Ben noted that while she spoke, her arms folded behind her back were moving slightly.
Her hands and fingers working like an intergalactic puppeteer's, her lightsaber floated just behind the swell of her back, coming apart slowly piece by piece until the weapons heart was exposed. The almost glowing ruby gem fell from its place and into her palm as her hand wrapped into a tight fist. The weapon quickly reconstructed itself and landed in her other hand.
She stepped forward and dropped the crystal into Uthar's already waiting hand. He glanced down at it, and then let out a soft chuckle.
"Very good," Uthar said, turning his back and depositing the gem into one of the small pouches on his belt.
Stepping back, Yuthura threw Ben a quick glance and despite the barrier's she'd thrown up, he could feel the resentment bubbling under the surface. Quietly chiding himself, he moved with the rest of the group, staying in the back while Yuthura pushed her way through.
This was the largest room he'd seen of the cave. They stood on a rock walkway wide enough for eight or nine people at one time, the same sickly grey color as the rest of the cave and forcing the group to remain more or less in single file. An almost exact duplicate of the walkway rested on the other side a crevasse, with only a thin rock bridge Ben would rather not trust to get across. In and beyond the crevasse, it seemed to go on forever, the bottom shrouded in a strange combination of mist and darkness. A cold chill went through Ben's body, lingering in the soles of his feet long after it dissipated.
Uthar stopped at the foot of the bridge. "And there it is." He announced, looking straight across the bridge.
It took Ben's eyes a long pause to find the outline of the beast inside of a large pocket of space in the opposite wall, consumed in darkness. Glimmers of light caught against the creature's smooth claws and massive form. Small bright specks were all he could see of the eyes.
Uthar gestured and twin Twilek's came up to where he stood, each holding a large piece of metallic equipment. Their lime-colored skin stood out from the rest of the students and the cave itself. Bending down, the two began work assembling the portable launcher.
Uthar extended a hand toward the creature, palm open. "Now, my children reach out with the Dark Side and grasp the monster in your mind. Keep it restrained." Ben saw through the group Uthar's lips raised. "It will not escape this time."
Almost in simultaneous union, a dozen and a half robed and tight-knit uniformed arms rose, Ben's following in suite. The air churned and grew thick as the creature slowly realized what was happening, and in response tried to rank free of the intangible grip, only to end in frustrated fury.
Beside Uthar, the Twilek's finished the launcher with a clear click. And as they reached for the two pellet missiles, a voice called out to Ben through his mind mind: Alone. . .
"What?" Ben whispered.
Alone. . . The Voice repeated. With a flash, Ben realized it was the creature. His stomach felt like it was wrenching off in all directions. The specks of light were centered squarely on Ben. A feeling of dread washed over him. Please. . .
"Ready," Uthar said, his voice with an edge of anticipation.
But Ben could not disrupt even one of the currents of energy around him, much less them all at once. But the missile itself was another story.
Please!
"Fire!"
The rocket blasted out of the launcher's firing nozzle in a flaming burst. Ben reacted, reaching out with the Force and knocking the projectile off its course and sending it almost directly up. It eventually came in contact with rock, the normally deafening explosion nothing more then a muffled echo in the distance. The ground shook for just a moment as large pebbles rained from above down into the crevasse.
Nobody spoke. Whispers started to arise only after a student pointed out the empty pocket of space across the bridge. And as the enormity of it all began to sink into Ben, Uthar turned to the boy, and for the first time in almost a month he saw the Sith Master without his overlaying mask of calm.
And it was like something out his nightmares.
Before Ben could apologize though, he was thrown into the air, stopping and staying suspended high over the crevasse, his body immobilized in place and feeling like his chest and organs were caving in on themselves. Pebbles bounced off his head, but he didn't notice. Eventually, he was released, bouncing once off the edge and forcing the group to dive out of the way as he landed in the center of the walkway. His eyes were half-open when Uthar was on him, igniting and stabbing the back end of his lightsaber at the young man's head, missing it by an eight of a centimeter.
His mind lost momentarily in the pain, Ben dug in and forced it down, only to realize Uthar had missed on purpose. Nothing would--or should--have caused the Sith to miscalculate. The sound of his hair sizzling was loud in his ears.
Uthar's breathing slowed through the twisted snarl that was his mouth. Ben could even see the red vanes in the edges of his wide eyes.
Then, the hot hate disappeared. The feeling of sorrow and dread seethed with the quiet breath he took in.
"No," Uthar breathed, extinguishing his lightsaber as he stood. He turned his head toward the scattered crowd. "Thalia"
The woman—Thalia May—emerged from the crowd. Like most of the apprentices, she took to wearing the uniform then the robe. Unlike most of the apprentices though, she had actually shown Ben a sort of kindness. Her soft, dark skin was dirty and her hair a mess. Something born of the commotion, no doubt. The lightsaber hanging on her belt rattled as she approached.
When she stopped next to Uthar, he looked down at Ben, emotionless. "Kill him."
Ben reacted just as Thalia did. "Master," She gasped. "I—"
"Kill him." He said flatly.
Thalia glanced down at Ben, then with a quiet sigh, plucked her weapon off her belt and ignited the red blade. Ben struggled to move, but his arms and legs were bound to the floor. Air was sucked out of the cave as everyone held their breath, all eyes on the blade. Ben could see the turmoil in Thalia's eyes, a small war waged within her mind. Thalia's cheek twitched slightly.
And she struck.
Uthar caught the blade before it reached him, his lightsaber blades barely out when the energy swords clashed. At that moment, Ben's body was released and the young man did not waste the opportunity, propelling himself back and landing in an awkwardly angled crouch just behind the remnants of the crowd. There was just enough of a line of sight through the people to watch everything.
She should have dead by now, Ben knew. And would have been, had it not been for the intervention of her two Twilek step-brothers. Still kneeled next to the launcher, one of them launched the second and final capsule at the Sith Master. The man stepped back, though, deflecting the small explosive upward with his palm alone. But unlike Ben's, the rumbling of the ground stayed for a good long minute. Uthar didn't wait. He whirled around and sent his double-bladed weapon out wide, only to slice air.
"Jarsa! Ne'dolo!
Everybody turned to the source of the call, and found Thalia charging down one of the tunnels, lightsaber still active with her step-brothers scrambling to follow. One of them sent the launcher itself at Uthar, but it was too, deflected.
They were in the tunnel in just a few long strides. And like a mirrored image of the same man, they both turned while running and extended their hands toward the tunnel's mouth. Ben felt the tremor rumble beneath his hands while the entrance collapsed in on itself. A cloud of thin dust rose up from under the jagged rocks. Ben glanced over at Uthar, after he had taken an involuntary step toward the pile. But it was too late. They'd escaped.
And in their wake, had awakened a nest of Shyrak's.
The bat-like creatures emerged from the holes where the rocks broke off, their almost flesh like wings flapping and terrible high-pitched, grainy squeals completely overbearing the sound of a dozen lightsabers flaring to life. Around Ben, apprentices slashed and hacked, yet more just kept coming. Even Uthar was having trouble.
But Ben had yet to receive a lightsaber. So instead created a swirling barrier of Force-Energy around him, wincing slightly as each Shyrak bounced off with the symphony of thud-thud-thud; the only sound in the bubble other then his ragged breathing. Wings flapped everywhere.
It was seconds later when he realized he was not the only one without a lightsaber. Seeing past the creatures bearing their rows of sharp little teeth and apprentices trying to exterminate them, Ben found Yuthura. She was at the edge of the crevasse, fighting for her life. Without her weapon, she'd taken to her talent with the dreaded Sith Lightning. The tips of her gloves were burned off down to just below her fingernails. A collection of still-smoking Shyrak bodies was around her feet. With her focus entirely on the Shyrak in front of her, she hadn't even noticed the group swarming from above.
"No!" Discarding his barrier, Ben threw his arm toward the Shyrak. The hold-out blaster Kane had given him slid from the confines of his sleeve and landed firmly in his palm. Calling on the Force to bolster his speed, Ben aimed and pulled the trigger, aimed and fired, and aimed and fired until the small battery pack clicked empty. For the most part, the bodies fell into the crevasse. He'd gotten them all, save for one.
It swooped down before either he or Yuthura could stop it, slamming foremost into her chest and knocking the Twilek back toward the crevasse. Ben was moving before his mind could think it, diving and gasping her hand in his just before it could disappear from view.
The pop in his shoulder almost caused him to let go there and then. But, his teeth grinding against each other, he forced the maddening pain down and out of his mind and began pulling. He didn't notice his blaster had slipped over, falling into the shrouded mist without a whisper. Behind him, there was a savage roar followed by something that sounded like geyser's of rushing water and suddenly the flapping ended, and the hair on the back of Ben's neck was standing tall.
With a final agonizing grunt, Ben brought Yuthura over the edge. His good hand was already cradling the dislocated shoulder. Around them, the Shyrak's lied dead on their backs, wings nothing more then dried flesh or dust with a wide whole in the center of each, almost as if the life had been sucked out of them. And looming over the two was Uthar, lightsaber in hand but not active.
"Your action are odd for a Sith," He said at last.
Ben managed a swallow. "Some would say the same about you," He paused. "Master."
Uthar said nothing. His face did not betray his emotions as Ben's had. After a moment of gazing down at the boy, Uthar turned back to the cave they had come in from, clipping his weapon back to his belt as he strode off. Everyone else followed his example at the same instant, re-forming the almost single-file line and stepping over the Shyrak corpses. It was over an hour before Ben and Yuthura got up and left the caves, heading back to the academy.
In Uthar's report, he stated they never saw the beast. A group of alien-loving miners had gotten wind of their mission and arrived at the creature's lair moments before the group, scaring it to run with powerful, non-lethal flash mines. He ordered Thalia and her brothers to execute the traitorous civilians on the spot, but the woman had refused, bending the wills of a group of Shyrak and forced them to attack. She and her brothers used the distraction to flee into the labyrinth of tunnels. And rather then submit to the Sith Master, the group of activists jumped into the crevasse, chanting while holding hands as they fell to their inevitable deaths.
The false ordeal allowed Uthar to restrict the off-world miner's to just the Valley of the Dark Lords alone without dispute, with armed guards around each of the perimeters and around the workers themselves.
Ben's arm recovered quickly, but the fractured ribs did not. With much helping on Yuthura's part, he barely made it through his daily training sessions after returning, only to fall into a dreamless, pain ridden sleep at the end of it all, waking in a half-scream as he rolled on his side wrong. The best part was yet to come; he thought to himself as he listened to the leather footsteps echoing in the halls, in which he got to start it all over in the morning. He knew he wouldn't have to wait long.
In the end, it was just another day.