Shattered Mission, Chapter 7

She kept her hand out and waggled her fingers at him. "Oh," he said, smiling and taking her hand. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm a little slow; my head's a bit foggy. I am..." He stopped, staring up at her, his mouth open. "I..."

She looked at him with concern. "Are you all right?" He dropped his hand and stared up at the ceiling. "Hey." She touched him lightly on his shoulder. "I can't remember my name," he said, almost with a sense of wonder. Turning his gaze back to Janelle, he gave a small chuckle. "Isn't that strange? I don't know my name." She watched as worry crept into his expression.

"It must be because of your head wound. You may have a concussion, and temporary amnesia. I'm sure it will come back to you," she said straightening and smiling down at him.

"Head wound?" He reached up to his head and felt the bandage wrapped around his head. "How did that happen?"

"I guess you don't remember that, either," she replied. Thinking, she pressed her lips together and then decided. "Why don't we talk about that later. You need to rest, let your wounds heal."

"Wounds?" he asked. He touched his face and felt several small pads apparently put there to cover cuts or abrasions. There were bacta pads on his arms, as well. "Well, I guess—" He had lifted the bedcovers to check the rest of himself. "Oh!" he exclaimed, seeing a dressing bandaged to his right side, as well as others on his legs.

"I'm sorry, but we had to remove most of your clothes to get at your injuries. They were pretty torn up anyway." She turned to a dresser and indicated a small pile of folded shirts and pants. "These are some of my father's. You can wear them when you're up and about." He stared at the pile of clothing and then back up at the ceiling. Then he sighed and closed his eyes.

She patted his hand and turned to leave. "Thank you for helping me, for bringing me here," he called out. She turned back and smiled. "We could do no less. You rest now. We'll talk later." He watched her leave and close the door behind her. He could hear voices and assumed she was talking to whomever lived there with her, probably her father. Glancing at the shirts and pants on the dresser, he sighed. He closed his eyes again, straining to think, to remember what had happened to him, but all that did was cause his head to hurt. Finally he fell into a troubled sleep.

...

The door above Oren's head creaked open and slammed against the barn floor. He looked up to see a basket being lowered to the packed dirt of his prison. "'Ere's some food for ya, Jedi," a gravelly voice called down to him. "Guess the Chairman don't want ya to die on us." The speaker cackled loudly as he closed the door, as if he'd made an exceptionally funny joke. Oren heard his footsteps fade to silence. Peering into the basket, he could see what must be some kind of local vegetable or fruit. Briefly, he wondered how they expected him to eat with his hands cuffed behind him. But he didn't feel like eating anyway, so he leaned back against the straw bales and closed his eyes, hoping to fall asleep.

He began to dream, or at least he thought he must be dreaming. Someone called his name. Oren. He could see no one in his dream. Whoever it was spoke again. Oren Kendrel, wake up! It's Anakin Skywalker. He blinked his eyes open and sat up. "What?" he muttered. Oren, are you awake? He looked around and asked, "Who... who's there?" Oren, it's Anakin Skywalker. I need you to pay attention!

It finally dawned on the young man that Master Skywalker was contacting him through the Force. He'd never experienced that before. "Master Skywalker?"

Finally! Yes, it's me, Oren. Are you fully awake now?

"Yes, Master, I am! Where are you?"

We're on our way to Muunilinst. I am glad you are alive. Can you tell me what happened? Where is Master Kenobi?

He closed his eyes as fresh tears formed. "He's dead, Master." A cruel wave of pain came through to him, followed by silence. Then: Are you sure? What happened? What did you see?

"We were ambushed by people with blasters, and Master Kenobi was shot and fell off a cliff."

So, you didn't actually see him dead?

Oren thought for a moment. "No, but I can't feel him anymore."

I know. I can't feel him anymore, either. Oren wondered at that. Where was Master Skywalker? He must be close. I don't accept that he is dead, and neither should you. Sikka and I are coming, and we're all going to look for him. We will find him. Where are you?

Guilt-ridden, Oren replied. "I'm in a barn. I was captured and taken to this rich person's estate; it is west of Harnaidan, the capital city. They kept calling him the Chairman... It's my fault; I should have been able to help him, but... there were so many of them..."

Stop! Guilt will do no one any good, Oren. Anakin paused to think. Oren, can you use the Force on the weak-minded? To make them do what you say?

"I've done it a few times. Just simple stuff, as practice."

Good. Try that on your captors. We need you to get out of there, if you can. Once you're away from there, activate your beacon and we'll find you. Do you understand, Oren?

"Yes, Master Skywalker."

Good. May the Force be with you, Oren.

Then there was silence. He thought for a bit and then centered himself with deep breathing. When he felt ready, he called out, "Hello! Is anybody there?" There was no answer. Counseling himself to be patient, he waited quietly, every now and then repeating his call. Eventually, someone answered. "What do ya want, Jedi?" I hope this works. He inhaled deeply, focused on the being above, waved his hand as well as he could, and said, "Open the trap door!" There was no sound for a moment. He dropped his head, thinking he'd failed. Then the door creaked open and he saw a face peer down at him. Calming himself, he said, "Jump down here." The Muun-doh landed near him. "Here I am," it replied.

Oren stood and walked over to the short native. "Remove the binders from my wrists." The Muun-doh blinked and then said, "I will remove the binders from your wrists." Once they were off, Oren rubbed his wrists and said to the waiting native, "You are a very good worker." Grinning, the native replied, "I am a very good worker." "Now you will go to sleep," Oren said, waving his hand slightly. "Now I will go to sleep." And the Muun-doh curled up on the floor and began snoring.

Oren leaped up and caught the edge of the floor above. He looked around and, seeing no one inside the barn, pulled himself up. Very quietly, he closed the trapdoor and then flattened himself against the inside wall. "So far, so good," he muttered. Creeping to the barn door, he peered around it, scanning the area. People were here and there, exercising some riding animals, trimming greenery, talking amongst themselves. He wondered if he could just blend in, although there didn't seem to be any other humans about. Surely, someone would notice him. He moved back into the barn and pondered his situation for a bit. Then he spied some smaller bales of hay stacked inside one of the stalls, and an idea came to him. Hoisting one of the bales onto his left shoulder, he approached the door again. Scanning the area again, he got his bearings, recognizing where they had brought him onto the estate.

Figuring it was now or never, he took a deep breath and stepped out of the barn, turning to his right to follow along its wall and around to its side. The bale of hay effectively hid his face from anyone who might happen to look his way. As he neared the end of the building, he could see that about 100 meters straight ahead, manicured shrubbery grew against the fence enclosing the estate. If he could just make it to those bushes... Without breaking his stride, he dropped the straw and gathered up some tools lying on the ground, shovels, rakes and other gardening implements. Keeping his head down and the business ends of the tools over his shoulder, he headed straight for the fence, prepared to run for it if necessary. When he reached the bushes undisturbed, he dropped the tools, vaulted the fence and ran as fast as he could, trying to keep the shrubbery between himself and the estate.

Oren didn't slow down until he'd run past some wild scrub trees and jumped down into a shallow gully. Holding himself still, he listened for sounds of pursuit, but heard none. After catching his breath, he crept further down the gully, eventually emerging near to where he had parked their rented speeder. As he expected, it was gone. No matter. He retraced their steps from yesterday and finally arrived at the drop-off where they had made their stand. Hesitantly, he peered over the edge of the cliff. Obi-Wan was not there. He craned his neck to see as much as he could, but still could not see his master. Perplexed, he stood, wondering what had happened, why Obi-Wan wasn't down there. "Oh, blast!" he exclaimed, realizing he'd forgotten to activate his beacon. He did so and hid himself in a thicket, waiting for Master Skywalker's arrival.

...

Janelle carried two steaming mugs of coffee to the kitchen table and placed one in front of her father, Willem Jurgen. She sat across from him and they both blew on the hot liquid before starting to take tiny sips. He was the first to speak.

"So, how is he? I heard you talking to him."

"Well, he seems to be lucid and able to speak all right, but... he can't remember who he is," she replied, raising her eyebrows at him.

"That's not too surprising, I guess. His head wound was pretty bad." He thought for a minute. "Janelle, I don't think we should ask around about him for awhile, yet. I expect it was San Hill's people firing at him and they may be looking for him. From what we saw the other day, I don't think they want to throw him a party."

"You're right, Pop," she said. "I can't imagine they'd come here looking for him, anyway. Why would they think he'd be this far away? Hey, maybe they think he's dead... which is no surprise, since he ought to be, after a fall like that."

"I'm just glad those murdering Muun-dohs didn't climb all the way down to check on him. I'm expect they believed him dead, since he didn't move, even after they pelted him with rocks, the foul creatures."

She nodded in agreement, and they sat in silence for awhile, savoring their morning coffee. Eventually, she rose and placed her mug in the sink and headed for the door to the outside. "I'm going to take care of the horses, Pop. They need to be turned out to get some exercise. Then I'll clean their bedding." She waved on her way out.

...

"He should be just ahead, Padawan," Anakin said to Sikka as they crept from thicket to thicket, following Oren's beacon signal. He kept his senses alert for possible trouble. She could think only of her friend, and how glad she was that he was alive. She hoped he was unhurt, too.

They found him kneeling in meditation; he lifted his head as they approached, and then stood and bowed respectfully to the Jedi Master. "Master Skywalker," he said, nervously.

Anakin nodded once and replied, "Oren, it's good to see you free. Are you injured?" Standing slightly behind her master, Sikka kept her eyes on her friend and smiled encouragingly at him.

Oren flicked his eyes to her and then replied, "No, Master, I am fine." He kept his eyes down, afraid to look up and see accusation in the other man's gaze. Anakin could feel his trepidation, but chose to ignore it, for now.

"All right, Oren, show me where he fell." Oren nodded and led them to the edge of the cliff. "It was right here," he said. Pointing off to his right, he said, "I was over there. They already had me pinned to the ground and Master Kenobi was taking heavy fire. A shot hit him and it knocked him over the side... He's not there, now." Anakin looked down the side of the cliff, and then turned to them and said, "Wait here. Watch for bad guys." With that, he leaped out into the canyon, surprising both of them. They watched him land easily on the canyon floor, and then they turned to each other, eyes wide.

"I've never jumped that far down before," Sikka said. Then she took Oren's hand and said, "I'm glad you're all right, Oren. I was worried about you." He looked down and smiled at her. "Thank you, Cee." She hugged him, saying, "I hope Master Kenobi is all right, too. Master Skywalker is very worried; I can feel it. They're very close."

Anakin landed lightly on the canyon floor, using a Force-push just at the end of his fall. He gazed around at the ground, looking for clues, indications of what might have happened here at the base of the cliff. Filing away his observations, he walked carefully around the area searching for anything else that might help them find his brother. Something caught his eye several meters away, something dark. He walked over and recognized it as Obi-Wan's utility belt lying flat along its length on the ground. As he leaned over and retrieved it, he realized that the ends were black and shredded and the buckle was still clasped. Obviously, something had ripped it from his friend, hard enough or powerful enough to tear through the thick leather, probably the blaster shot. Holding it tightly, he sighed and turned his head to the right. Then he saw something glinting in the sunlight in among a small pile of deadwood. He tilted his head and stared at it for a moment; it was practically right where he'd been standing before. He realized what it was before he bent down to pick it up; it was Obi-Wan's lightsaber. As he attached it to his belt, he knelt down and reached out to the Force one more time.

"He's picked up something else," Sikka observed as they watched from above. "I wonder what it is." Oren just shook his head. Then they saw that he appeared to be meditating. A minute or so later, he rose and followed the canyon to their left past where the gully emptied into it; he disappeared from view for a short while. Finally, he reappeared and looked up at them, gauging the distance; then he leaped up to land easily beside them. His eyes were bright and piercing as he looked at Oren.

"I searched the Force again, Oren, and this time I felt something." The young man's mouth opened slightly as he dared to hope what Master Skywalker meant. "It was the faintest of feelings, almost not even there, but I believe that Obi-Wan is alive! I get no sense of where he is, but I'm sure it is his presence." Sikka squeezed Oren's hand and he looked down at her, his glistening eyes meeting hers and a smile beginning on his lips. "Now, all we have to do is find him," Anakin continued. He looked at both of them. "The Council is allowing us only three days. Then we have to finish your mission, Oren."

"Only three days, Master?" Oren asked.

"Yes," Anakin answered, rolling his eyes. "The Council was very explicit about that." He thought for a moment. "All right, now I saw down there two different sets of footprints around where he landed, and some drag marks. I believe two beings found him and dragged him over past where this gully joins the canyon. Where the marks and footprints ended is out of sight from here. I think they took him away in a speeder."

"What shall we do now, Master?" Sikka asked. They both looked at him expectantly. He stared back at them. It dawned on him that they expected him to have a plan, that he was the one in charge. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Two padawans were depending on him to make the right decisions, to be in control. He suddenly felt inadequate. He walked a few steps away and tried to regain his composure. Obi-Wan had always been so self-assured, always on top of things. He had always known the right thing to do, in any situation; at least, that's how it seemed to Anakin.

He took a deep breath and blew it all out. Well, I'm not Obi-Wan. So, I guess they're stuck with me. He returned to the two young people and said, "Padawans, I don't—" Then an idea occurred to him. He thought for a moment and then said, "You two stay here, out of sight. Maybe I can kill two gundarks with one lightsaber. I will return shortly." They stared after him, and then looked at each other and shrugged.