Disparate Jedi
by ardavenport
- - Part 3 - -
"AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEOOOOIIIIIEEEOOOIIIIIIIIIEEEEEAAAA!!!!!"
Rolling onto his back, away from Dyuda, Obi-Wan pressed his hands and thick folds of his sleeves over his ears. Above him, Qui-Gon was turning around in circles, uselessly trying to get at Kokom, who had his arm pinned to his back while she clung to his body, her legs wrapped around his thigh. The Jedi Master's free hand groped through two robes, unable to get a grip on the tiny Padawan underneath.
"EEEEEEOOOOIIIIIEEEOOOEEEEEAAAA- - - -!!!!!"
Qui-Gon immediately stopped spinning as soon as Narimoyak's hand clamped tight over Kokom's face. The older woman stood tall in the doorway; the rest of them had fallen or stumbled into the corridor.
Kokom's face bulged outward; Narimoyak's long, pale nails dug into her cheeks. She bent forward and pointed a finger between two extremely attentive eyestalks.
"Padawan. Stop making that noise," she commanded, her voice low and threatening. Kokom's bright blue eyes bulged back at her.
"I realize," Narimoyak continued, "that your Master told you to stop us. We shall speak with her about that. But for now, please detach yourself from Master Qui-Gon." A tiny squealing sound came from Kokom. Narimoyak increased the pressure on her face. The green coloring of the scales on Kokom's cheeks paled around the fingertips pressing into them.
Kokom slid down off of Qui-Gon's back. Narimoyak did not release her until her feet were on the ground and Qui-Gon had stepped away, stumbling over the robe that was half pulled off of him. Obi-Wan and Dyuda helped each other up off the deck. Seizing the hood and collar of Kokom's robe, Narimoyak marched her down the corridor. Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Dyuda followed, straightening their clothes as they went.
Tekta was standing in front of a closed fresher door. One of her eyes looked at them with disgust as she pounded on the door.
"There isn't any place for you to go to, so you might as well come out now!" she yelled. They heard muffled sounds inside, nothing distinct, but it sounded like weeping.
The heads of various species were peering out of the doors of other first class compartments along the corridor.
"Tekta, what are you doing?!" Narimoyak hissed in a low voice. She released Kokon, who rushed to stand behind her Master. The Zakrak woman glared at the elder Gran with furious, pale eyes.
"And what are you wearing?!" she finished, looking up and down at Tekta. Obi-Wan stared. They all did.
Over a pair of sturdy, dark brown Jedi boots, Tekta's stout body was draped in a swirl of brightly colored layers of floating fabric. It bulged and sagged unevenly over her bumps and curves. It was cinched at the waist by two belts that practically glowed a florescent green over the multi-colored dress. Her lightsaber hung from them, dragging them down on one side.
"Oh, do you like it?" Tekta challenged sarcastically. "It's the popular style on the islands on this planet. Everyone wears one. You should try it. Might brighten up that dour mood you always have."
Behind the two arguing women, Obi-Wan saw people in uniform appear from the ship-forward end of the corridor. The heads of the other passengers ducked back into their compartments at the sight of the advancing official presence.
A purple-skinned male in a fitted gray uniform stopped short of the locked fresher, his painted face dismayed. Two lower-ranking crew flanked him.
"Master Tekta, you said that you would do this quietly," the ship's captain almost pleaded.
"I AM doing it quietly!!" The captain jumped back into his subordinates. Tekta whirled back to the fresher and opened it with a curt sweep of her arm. Paralyzed over the basin, Toolay looked up at the Jedi at the door.
"Time's up." Tekta seized the woman by the back of her hair and dragged her out. Toolay wailed piteously. "Have her luggage brought to out compartment." Shocked, the captain stared back at her. "Now!" He jumped and backed away, his crewmates already ahead of him.
Appalled, the four other Jedi stared and then went after Tekta as she hauled Toolay down the corridor. Kokom right behind her Master, cast fearful, blue-eyed glances back at them.
When Tekta let go of Toolay back in their compartment the woman dove toward the chairs, taking refuge in Tekta's seat by the viewport, as far away from the Jedi as she could get. Shocked, Obi-Wan watched her cry uncontrollably, clutching a white fresher cloth to her face. With her graying, gold-tinted hair and now blotchy face, she looked much older. She had pulled her legs up into a huddle in the seat, her tailored, pink suit bunched up around her. Dyuda Plum looked equally shocked. Kokom, standing behind her Master, looked miserable.
"I presume you have an explanation for this," Qui-Gon warned darkly. He towered over Tekta, but the Gran was completely unintimidated by her fellow Master's size.
"I've never known you to be cruel, Tekta. Rude, yes, but not cruel," Narimoyak glared at her.
"It was an act of kindness to get her out of sight as quickly as possible." Tekta scowled at them.
"I assume this has something to do for that 'special assignment' you're supposed to be doing for the Council," Narimoyak continued.
"Oh, yes." Tekta glowered at Toolay, whose volume of crying had begun to subside. The older Gran huffed and went to lean on a chair armrest. "I didn't want to do this at all until we got back to Coruscant. But that damn Council decided that I needed help," she complained loudly.
"You didn't want to do what?" Qui-Gon asked, stepping forward. Tekta was still unimpressed by his height.
"Arrest her, of course." Her three eyes glared up at the larger man and then at the young Padawan at her side. "You'd better not have hurt Kokom. She was only doing what I told her to."
Qui-Gon rolled his eyes. "I assure you, Master Tekta, that your Padawan was far more in danger of causing us an injury." Tekta grinned up at him.
"Ha! After she gets the knack of putting the Force behind that unholy siren yell of hers, she'll stop you in your tracks in an instant." She patted Kokom's shoulder and poked at Qui-Gon's middle.
"Arrest her for what, Tekta?" Narimoyak demanded, exasperated by the delay.
The door chimed.
It slid aside revealing a nervous and junior crew member with a droid. They all stepped aside as it pushed in a lifter cart. There were three, plain black travel cases. Tekta raised her eyes.
"Well, that was quick."
"We stored them separate from the other passenger luggage, as you requested," the purple-hued crew member said from the safety of the doorway.
"Oh, yes. I did," Tekta muttered to remind herself. She had the droid push aside the middle-sized case by a wall, leaving the largest one standing before the table with the smallest case on top of it. The droid and the crew member left.
"Could you please move all that stuff, Kokom?" Tekta asked. The young girl went to the table and pushed back the remains of their meal while Tekta clicked open the closures on the smaller case. They crowded close, looking over her shoulders. The Gran rummaged through bottles of body wash and tubes of other personal hygiene gels, a jewelry case, a folded hat and small accessories.
"Ah," Tekta said. From the bottom of the case, she pulled out a lightsaber.
It had a silver body with a black emitter shield, a rough, silver hand grip with gold switches and a scratched pommel. Tekta turned it over, her dark, skinny fingers tracing details on it. Her fellow Masters' expressions changed. Both of them now looked critically toward the woman huddled by the viewport.
Obi-Wan frowned. It wasn't illegal to own a lightsaber, but there were Republic laws against buying and selling any saber made by a Jedi, and it was absolutely forbidden by the Jedi Code as well. This one looked authentic, though a good counterfeit could fool even a close inspection.
"The Council wanted us here to help you track down a stray lightsaber?" Narimoyak asked.
"You haven't seen it all yet." Tekta handed the smaller case off to Kokom, who put it by the wall. She put the saber down on the table and then nudged them all back to open the largest case. A panel slid open at the top and Tekta began pulling things out. A green blouse, red slippers, underclothes, leggings. It all landed around the two cases by the wall. With her arm all the way in, Tekta grunted with satisfaction. She pulled out a boot.
It was tall and medium brown, with a heavy sole and calf straps. Dyuda looked down at his own feet and Obi-Wan saw immediately that his fellow Padawan's boots were very similar to the one Tekta held up. The Gran fished out the first boot's mate from the case. She put the pair of them next to the lightsaber.
Tekta next began pulling out heavy faded brown fabric. More and more of it emerged in a big pile, spilling over the edge of the case. When the last of it had been pulled free, Tekta shook it out and held it up. Dyuda and Narimoyak stared at it, open-mouthed and Obi-Wan was quite sure that his expression was equally surprised. Qui-Gon folded his arms before him and looked down on it, his brow crinkled with concern.
It was a Jedi robe.
"Administrator Gelemas Toolay, in the name of the Republic, you are under arrest," Tekta announced. "For impersonating a Jedi."
- - end Part 3 - -