A KNIGHTS TALE
by ardavenport
**** **** Part 2
The two Guardians seemed transfixed by the tale, so Emoh prompted her shipmate to continue. "What? Who else was there? More droids?"
Zon shook his head. "Jedi. And they'd all felt the same thing I had. Go down and stay down. Play dead."
"Cowards." The larger Guardian finally spoke, anger rising. "You hid. You let other Jedi die so you could escape with your worthless lives. You betrayed the Jedi. You betrayed the Force!"
Zon shrugged, unaffected by the insult. "I can't disagree that we were all glad to be alive. We could see this was the start of a war, and we weren't going to fight it. We weren't going back to the Temple. The only thing we could do was disappear.
"We left our lightsaber behind, hid until a team of clones came to collect the dead and influenced the team leader to put our names on the rolls of the dead - - - it was ridiculously easy, since those clones were bred to follow orders. The dead were cremated that night in the arena - - - Jedi aren't very sentimental about things like that; pay your respects to the fallen and move on.
"Then we went our separate ways. I won't tell you who they were. And even if I knew where they went, I wouldn't tell you that either. It's safer that way."
"Now you're hiding again." Mabus snarled. "I did not know that a Jedi could be such a sath licker. I would never have offered to help anyone like you - - - "
"Baze, peace." Chirrut Imwe held up a restraining hand, but his friend just whirled around as if to storm away, but he did not. None of them knew how to get out of their underground refuge, except Zon.
"Well, that's a big blow, Zon," Emoh said sarcastically. "You ran away from a fight." Emoh was not impressed with Zon's confession or the Guardian's outrage. "That's pretty small diblies on our crew. But what are we going to do now? And why are they suddenly after you now after you've been crewing on our ship for years?"
"It was when we were on Coruscant. I - - I went to go look at the Jedi Temple. I just wanted to know what happened. I grew up there after all. But I should have known there would be someone watching. Even after all this time."
"What did you see?" Imwe asked, his blind eyes wide with curiosity.
"Not much. I didn't get very close. But I could feel it . . . . it's . . . been occupied by a Sith for years now. It's completely defiled." Zon slowly shook his head. "I shouldn't have gone. Curiosity got the better of me."
"Fine. The Empire ruined your childhood home. A Temple on Coruscant. Is that what you meant by having a 'strict religious upbringing' whenever anyone asked where you're from? Well the Empire has ruined a lot of people's homes. What happened when you went to go look at this temple?" Emoh prompted.
"It was a darksider. A Force-user of the Dark Side. Red lightsaber and body armor; I couldn't tell the species, but Humanoid in shape. Whoever it was had too many Stormtroopers for backup. That's how I spotted the trap. But they got a look at me and I spent the next quarter rotation trying to get away from them. Barely made it back to the Yuritti in time."
"Yeah, Kajer was just about ready to leave you behind, except Wabbi came back drunk again."
"And then we went straight here. I didn't even know we were going to Jedha." Zon rolled his eyes. "I stuck my nose back into it and the Force grabbed hold and it's not going to let go."
"I don't care, Zon, unless the Force is telling you how we're going to get out of this."
"The Force is never that helpful." He turned back to where they had been going. "This leads to the Temple of the Kyber, but that's the first place they'd look for a Jedi. That darksider is probably waiting for me to show up there now.
"I'm hoping there's another exit to the street, even out of the city." He pointed toward the long dark corridor. "It know it goes to the Kyber Temple and it goes past that. I've just never been that far."
"Then what? We need to be off this planet, Zon, not hiding out in a wilderness."
"We need to not get caught, first, Emoh. Then work on getting offworld," he answered back.
"There are resistance fighters in the hills. They would take you," Imwe told them, but his fellow Guardian scoffed.
"They won't take him, even if he's supposed to be a Jedi. They fight the Empire."
"I'm not here to fight an Empire." Emoh poked a finger at Zon's chest. "You got me into this mess. You get me out." Twos bleeped an agreement and a blat about their current situation.
He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. "I tried getting everyone off the ship, but the Imperials moved in faster than I thought they would and then everybody scattered. And if any of those troopers told them they were looking for a Jedi, half of them will be looking for me now for the bounty."
Emoh almost asked how much the reward was, but she kept her mouth shut. She did not want to know. Turning someone she had known for years over to the Imperials felt just too mercenary for her.
"Look, let's just keep going for now, and see if we can find a way out. Okay?"
"Let us out anywhere in the city," Malbus told him.
"No," his blind friend held up a hand to his friend. "I want to help."
"Why? He's a coward. He left the Jedi."
"The Force is still strong with him. Can't you feel it?"
"He will not use it to help us reclaim our Temple. He will leave us, while the Imperials continue to desecrate our holy places!"
"If what he says is true, that the Emperor truly wields the Dark Side, one Jedi will not be able to reclaim the Temple of the Kyber for us."
"If what he says is true," Malbus hissed, "then what good is there in being a Guardian at all." He seized the red and black drape over his robe, ripped it off and threw it to the ground.
"Baze," Chirrut extended a hand to his friend, but the big man stepped back, just out of reach, which seemed to cause the blind man even more distress. "Baze . . . "
"He's useless! And so are we if we think we can drive out the Empire! Is your spirit as blind to the truth as your eyes?"
Malbus's mouth snapped shut, as if he knew that his last insult had gone too far. Imwe's hands gripped his staff hard and he lowered his head.
"I am still a Guardian. I do not know how to be anything else. And even though I may not drive the Empire out, I will still fight them. And I have no better place to fight than from the holy city. But if you need to fight them - -", he paused, his voice cracking, "and I know your will - -", he paused again, taking a few audible breaths, "from another place, I would not stop you."
They continued facing each other for a long moment. Impatient as she was to get away, even Emoh could not break into the confrontation. Malbus stared down at his companion and one fat tear rolled down his cheek.
He finally wiped his face and moved close enough to touch his friend, placing one big hand on Imwe's shoulder. The smaller man immediately reached up to place his hand over it. Malbus's voice was rough when he spoke.
"We can do more damage to the Empire together. Wherever we are."
Imwe smiled his thanks up toward Malbus, his face full of innocent thanks.
"Get us out of here, Jedi. We cannot go anywhere if we stay here," Malbus demanded.
Zon almost jumped. "Oh, ah, yes." He whirled around and pointed at the void in front of them. Twos rapid bleeped, a droid version of a snicker, and its motors moved it forward with Zon. The others followed.
Several steps later, Zon stopped. He looked around, his head jerking in different directions as if catching a scent. Then he turned toward one wall and waved Twos aside. He took a deep breath and raised his hands, palms forwards. This time Emoh silently waited with the Guardians.
When Zon drew one hand over and across the air before him, a door-sized section of wall sank back and ground aside. Twos's light only showed a very small alcove with a round hole in the floor. They all leaned forward, but there was no bottom to be seen. Zon reached under his orange robe and fished out a small metallic bit from a pocket and tossed it in. A few seconds later a loud wet 'plunk' echoed back to them.
A well? None of them knew, but it was not useful. Zon closed the door and moved on.
The corridor led them down a very long set of stairs and another long length of plain claustrophobic stone hallway before Zon stopped again. The next door he opened was another alcove, but this one had a ladder leading down. Even with Twos's light, they could not see the bottom.
"We want to go up, not down, Jedi," Malbus reminded him.
"No argument there. But map this one for us, Twos," Zon told the astromech, "just in case we need it."
They followed the corridor a long way until it made a right turn. A short way past that, Zon stopped again and opened another door.
"Aaaaaaaahhhh," Zon took in a long breath and moved forward into the room beyond. Two's light revealed a high tables and cabinets on either side of the door. They all cautiously went inside.
"Oooooooh, listen to that." With a big smile on his face, Zon turned around in a circle, his arms out as if he basked in warm sunlight. "Music for my soul."
Emoh felt along a wall and found a control panel. To her surprise it buzzed under her fingers and then yellow-white lights came on from ceiling fixtures.
They were in a tidy work room of some kind, or maybe a laboratory. It smelled of dust and disuse, but there was no clutter or damage. They could not tell if it was abandoned or perhaps the only people who knew of it had been executed by the Imperials. The walls were lined with cabinets of equipment, boxes and canisters. Long tools hung in a display along one wall and tall tables with inset computer terminals and controls dominated the center of the room. A layer of dust covered everything and scattered on shelves and on the tables were clear crystals in sizes as small as tsik-peas up to one half as big as Emoh's head and mounted on a shelf high on one wall.
Emoh jumped when she stepped away from the door and it slid shut behind her. But a quick check with a touch on the control pad again confirmed that they could still get out without Zon's magic touch and she let it close again.
Zon still had his arms up with an ecstatic grin on his face as if he had reclaimed a lost love.
"Oooooh, I forgot how I missed this!" He rubbed his hands up and down the sides of his body under his robe as if he was scrubbing himself in bliss. "Aaaaaaaaa!" He paused long enough to notice Emoh's long face. Cylindrical body compact on its two leg struts next to her, Twos blatted like an organic expelling wind.
Zon was undaunted. "Oh, don't you feel it?"
"No, Zon, I don't. All I feel is a huge need to get out of here. Better yet, off the planet and away from the hordes of Stormtroopers who are looking for you."
"I feel it." Imwe spoke with wonder, stepping forward, one hand feeling along the edge of a table. But Malbus just averted his eyes from something he did not want to admit.
His annoying happiness undeterred, Zon just sighed. "Thank you, my new friend. But my old friend, Emoh, here has a point. We need to figure out what to do before the Empire tears this whole city up to find me. So," putting his hand on one table, he nimbly swung his legs up onto it and after making a space for himself sat cross-legged on the cleared surface, "time to think about what to do next."
Dismayed, Emoh gaped at him. "Zon, we don't have time for you to nap - - "
She turned toward the blind Guardian who had silently crept up on her and put a hand on her arm. "Peace. He must meditate on what path we are to follow."
Emoh scoffed. "Meditate? He's not meditating."
One of Zon's blue-gray eyes opened. "What did all of you think I was doing?"
"Wabbi and the rest of us thought you just figured out how to sleep on your shift sitting up. And Wabbi didn't care as long as you still jumped when he called."
Zon just sighed and closed his eye with a mutter about the 'joys of meditating in hyperspace.'
Imwe touched her arm again. "Come. Maybe there is something useful for us here." Still annoyed with her shipmate, she turned away and helped the Guardians search.
Twos found a working power outlet right away and greedily plugged in. There was nothing in the way of food supplies for the rest of them (and Emoh didn't know if she'd trust anything as old as the state of the abandoned lab implied it would be) but there was a basin and spigot. After they let the water run for a few minutes, the stream went from reddish/brown to clear enough to drink.
Malbus prowled the room for weapons and was disappointed to find nothing better than the 'traditional' bow weapons that they already carried though he did fill a small sack with what amounted to 'ammunition' and spare parts for their bows and then slung it over his shoulder with the weapon.
There were tools that Emoh thought that some of her other shipmates (wherever they were hiding) would happily pilfer, but since escape was her highest goal, she did not want to burden herself with anything bulky. There was nothing small and useful to take. Except for the obvious.
The kyber crystals.
The crystals that practically littered the room had to be kybers since there was a huge temple (probably right above them) devoted to their veneration that dominated Jedha City. Emoh blew the dust off an attractive trio on a shelf and raised her hand.
A hand swiftly clamped down on her wrist.
"The kyber is sacred," Imwe told her, his blind eyes aimed somewhere past her right ear. How did he know what she was doing?
She let her hand drop and he simultaneously released her. Kybers were contraband anyway, hard to sell if you did not know the right people. And Emoh did not. And since they stored energy, they were ridiculously easy to spot with a scanner. And even worse, a charged one could look exactly the same as an uncharged one, so you could not be sure if you were carrying something that could potentially discharge and kill you without warning. Unless it was scanned first . . .
Emoh casually looked about and saw at least three devices that would do just that. She moved toward the nearest one, picked up the hand held cylinder and activated the sensor. Blue gleamed off the square end. . . .
. . . and kept getting brighter. She rapidly flicked the switch. OFF-OFF-OFF . . . before she realized that the glow was not coming from the device. It was reflected from the rest of the room.
Looking up, she saw the light shifting to blue . . . no. The illuminators from above were the same warm color. Something else was shining blue-white. And getting brighter. She backed away from the neared table. And then away from the table that she bumped into behind her.
The kybers were glowing. Cool bluish-white now emanated from all of them, little stars of light flaring to life in all the cabinets and shelves around her. The big mounted one on the wall made Emoh wonder if she could make it to the door before it blew. Or would all the crystals just arc out to each other in one huge group discharge? Catching everyone in the room in a deadly mass electrocution? Unfortunately, the quickest way out was blocked by the others.
Chirrut Imwe went to his knees. And Baze Malbus followed.
"Do you feel it?" Imwe asked, his voice husky with wonder.
"I see it," Baze replied, eyes wide.
Emoh quickly pulled her arms in, trying to make herself smaller. The crystals were now floating upward, as if gravity no longer applied to them. Twos's head swiveled back and forth and it whistled. The whole effect might have been magical except for Emoh's fear about a sudden, deadly discharge. She looked toward Zon . . . .
He, still cross-legged, was floating above the table with the crystals.
Something small and bright whizzed past her head and she ducked back away from it. Zon snatched it out of the air.
"Oooooooooh," Zon cooed to his unfolding hand, a bright crystal glowing in his palm. "Look at yoooooou." He made little kissing noises at it, the way he did when one of his 'babies' from the Engineer's toolbox got a fresh battery installed. "Ooooooh, you're so good-looking, aren't you - - - "
He suddenly lifted his other hand to his ear.
"What's that? Do I hear . . . ?" He closed his eyes and straightened. A small light flashed at him from the side and Zon snatched it out of the air like the first one. Opening his palm on his new prize, he inhaled like a kid getting a new present. The light from the little crystal glowed brighter for a second as he brought his nose right up to it for a big sniff.
"Ooooooooh, you're so pretty, too. But what are you doing here? I really suck at two saber combat," he sing-songed to this new 'baby'.
"Eee-eee-eee-eee-eee-eeek!" Zon made little squeaky noises before gasping at whatever his 'baby' was telling him. "What's that you say?" He held the crystal up to one ear.
"Eee-eee-eee-eee-eeek!"
Emoh rolled her eyes; she had seen this act before. Imwe was tilting his head while Malbus turned to look from the man floating in air to Emoh.
She let out a sigh. "He talks to his tools that way on the ship, too." She might have said something to Zon about how talking to inanimate objects just made him look crazy to the Guardians, not amusing or cute. But she was still concerned about a fatal crystal discharge and Zon obviously knew what was going on. This had to be Jedi stuff.
"Eee-eee-eee-eeek - - Eee-eee-eeek!"
Zon opened his eyes wide and held the second crystal up like a proud parent. "Of course! You are sooooo smart!" He made more kissing sounds. Then he lowered both crystals and closed his eyes. The glow in the room faded and Zon and all the crystals slowly descended.
"Hhhhhhhuuuuuuhhhh." He let out a long happy sigh and then held up his two kybers, one in each hand. "Well, it looks like I'm back in the game."
**** **** End Part 2