Jaden awoke with a start. She was laying in an uncomfortable position on her bed and realized that she must have fallen asleep meditating. She stood up, stretching and hearing parts of her body crack satisfyingly, easing the stiffness. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at her chronometer on her bedside table which told her it was morning, but too early for anyone else to be up. Then she saw the pendant Rosh had made for her lying next to it, the cord warped neatly around the medallion. She reached out and picked it up carefully as though it were a precious and fragile treasure. She gently ran her finger over the smooth surface admiring the words carved in Aurebesh there. She tied it around her neck.
Still in her clothes from yesterday, she changed into something more comfortable but didn't lay back down. She felt wide awake, the thoughts and information of the previous day racing through her mind. She couldn't stay in her room any longer, she needed air and space outside.
Without any preconceived direction, Jaden turned left out of her room and headed down the hall, intending to go straight to the lift, but stopped, staring down the hall leading to the men's dorm. She made a choice and went straight. She stood outside of Rosh's door, similar to a moment not too long ago, but this time didn't hesitate. She examined the keypad, it was standard, nothing special someone with basic Force or hotwiring capabilities couldn't handle. She let her hand hover just over it, willing its mechanisms and wiring to work and do as she asked it. It beeped faintly, and the door slid open, creaking once. Not too loudly, but in the silent hallway Jaden winced and stepped inside, promising herself she'd leave quickly before too much time had passed.
She walked quietly over to Rosh's bed, which was a mess and hadn't been made the morning he got his assignment to Byss. Without knowing why, she started adjusting the sheets by hand, making it as nice as she could, setting the pillow at the head and fluffing it a bit. Next she moved around the bed to his small table, which was still filled with all kinds of junk and spare parts, but his new lightsaber hilt was missing. He must have finished it and took it with him. But why didn't he show it to me? Guilt and shame filled her. You were too busy giving him the cold shoulder Jaden, that's why he didn't trust you to show something precious he's been working on. And besides, he probably thought it wasn't good enough to compare to yours, he was always commenting on it. He was probably jealous.
"No!" Jaden whimpered aloud. Sometimes her own thoughts were her own worst enemies. She tasked herself with lining the spare pieces on Rosh's bedside table up in neat rows and making it look somewhat organized. She didn't even hear when the door behind her opened until it creaked softly. She froze, one hand still on the last piece she was lining up on the bottom shelf. A male sounding sigh was released behind her.
"I kind of figured I'd find you here since you weren't in your room." Jaden almost sighed with relief, still holding the last scrap piece, she stood, feeling stiff in her back from kneeling for so long. Kyle's arms were crossed, something he usually did when upset about something, but his eyes were soft, just as his tone had been. He let his arms drop to his sides. "How are you holding up?" Jaden held herself together as best she could.
"I miss him, I- I'm just worried something terrible has happened and that I'll never see him again."
"You two didn't part on good terms after Luke's meeting in the Audience Chamber, did you?"
"How'd you know? You left before we did."
"I can sense guilt a mile away. Look, something I learned, when I was heavily tempted by the dark side, is that often, self-hatred, rather than just hatred of others, is often the quickest path to the dark side."
Jaden bit her lip, she didn't want to cry in front of Kyle, or anyone. She just nodded her head. "Thank you." Her voice was a strained, gravelly whisper.
Kyle noticed she was holding back, but knew all too well that pushing someone to let things out was often more destructive than good.
"Well, listen," he said, staring at his feet a moment before looking her in the face. "I'm taking the Raven's Claw to go look for Rosh, I'll be gone for a few days and I think you should take it easy. Get some training in, I already talked to Tionne about having you join her and her students, they're doing really well and you'll be trained on the same level. They're excited to have you join them. I've also told Tionne that you have permission to access more of the archives now that you're an Apprentice. So learn all you can, alright? Cause as soon as I get back, I've got some more missions for you."
Jaden agreed, she knew it was useless to argue about going with him to look for Rosh, and having a few days to train with her friends seemed like a good idea. Kyle said goodbye one last time and Jaden quietly exited Rosh's room, placing the last spare part back on Rosh's end table.
Back in her room, she rubbed her fingers against the smooth metal of her custom pendant, the only thing from Rosh she felt she had left. No, he's not gone. He's just… missing.
She wasn't really one for jewelry, but she did like the comforting feel of something there that she could grab onto, and it had been so long since she'd had a pendant of her own.
She let go of the necklace and took out her lightsaber, feeling the smoothness of it. She looked at it as if she were staring deeper into its heart and said fondly:
"It reminds me of when you were just a tiny crystal on my neck, and I had no idea the trouble you would cause me; or the adventures you'd pull me into."
Jaden trained with Tionne and her apprentices the next few days, and she slowly began to feel better. She also got to do a lot more reading and studying than she'd ever done before. But mostly, she became closer friends with Arta-Mess and Kalil, who was referred to by her last name by her master and everyone else except Jaden. Since that night after Blenjeel when Arta-Mess ana Kalil had invited Jaden to spend time with them and talk, Jaden just stuck to calling her by her first name.
They started doing nearly everything together and not just by eating at the same table. At first Jaden wondered if they hung out with her because they knew she was missing Rosh, but that proved a worthless anxiety the more they spent time with each other. From studying in the archives, cleaning equipment together, to practicing combat skills; Jaden was almost never alone at any given moment. The others who'd ridden the shuttle in with her that first day seemed to stick close as well.
That first morning after Rosh was declared missing, they all gathered at the same table she sat at in the dining hall and expressed their sorrow for her and wished for Rosh's safe return. Jaden had merely smiled and thanked them, but secretly wondered if they felt relieved now that their prime source of annoyance was gone and really wished he'd never come back. It was a harsh thought, but she remembered how they left him sitting alone on the shuttle. Things had definitely changed and they had become more friendly and tolerant of him, but… was that just it? Tolerant? Maybe not.
Jas had given her an awkward hug and pat on the shoulder, telling her how he enjoyed working with Rosh down in the shop, tinkering with wires and mechanics and helping him design his lightsaber.
"He wanted it to be a surprise for you and Kyle," he'd said. It was nice that someone else enjoyed Rosh's company. She wondered if maybe Rosh had opened up to Jas, and if Jas had gotten to see the real Rosh too. She wanted to ask him this, but wasn't sure how to breach the subject, she didn't feel as close to Jas yet.
"C'mon Jaden! You've gotta pick up the pace if we're gonna beat Jacyyn's team!" Kalil yelled from several paces ahead of her.
"Coming!" They were in a small arena-like training room, with obstacles and things to hide behind as the midmorning sun streamed through the arena's open top. They had split into teams: Jaden, Kalil and Arta-Mess versus Jacyyn, Jas and Raltharan. Their goal: To capture their opponent's flag and return to their respective starting point with their own flag safe and secure. Jaden had managed to get Jacyyn's flag, a bright red bearing the Academy Insignia, and now she and Kalil were racing as fast as they could back to their team's base.
"The red team has stolen the flag!" Announced Master Horn from the observation box, the sound of other students behind him cheering. It had become a bit of a spectator sport at the Academy with nearly every available student who didn't have any prior obligations standing to watch the game unfold.
"Kalil, take the flag, I've got Jacyyn!" Before she could protest, Jaden shoved the flag into the young Zabrak's hands and rushed off to where she spotted a speck of blue flashing above the arena's obstacles.
Jacyyn meanwhile was smiling coyly to himself, it was the perfect plan, really, he'd take the blue flag while his teammates searched for Jaden and Streen to get his flag back. Easy.
Not ten seconds later, something slammed into him from the side and he hit the ground hard, rolling onto his back with someone on top of him. He stared up as his blue lightsaber and Jaden's purple one crossed in front of his neck. He never lost his grin. At least their sabers had been turned down to stun by a master before entering the arena.
"Way to go Korr, way to go." Jacyyn laid on the charm. Jaden rolled her eyes.
"Do you ever stop trying to charm your way out of something?"
"It hasn't not worked before." His brows arched, amused, bringing on a bigger eye roll from Jaden.
"Just hand over the flag Di'kut."
"Since when did you pick up Mandalorian slang?"
"Since the time I met you and needed a term to best describe you." Jaden turned off his saber, briefly admiring the work he'd done to make it his own. It was subtle, but having seen his blaster on their first day at the Academy, Jaden recognized the barrel had been repurposed for the blade's emitter, the handle cut into long strips and spaced out evenly along the bottom of his saber's handgrip, the trigger made smaller to become the activation switch.
Jaden stopped her unintentional admiration of her friend's work and held it over her head. "You want it? Fetch!" She tossed it as far as she could, quickly Force wrenching the flag from Jaccyn's hands and full out sprinting away as soon as she did.
That was another thing that seemed to be happening, their witty and playful banter. Arta-Mess and Kalil had teased her about it, saying that it was because he liked her, but she always denied it, hoping it wasn't true. She didn't like him. Not in that way at least. He was more like the brother she'd never had. Besides, if she ever did want to be with someone like that, she wanted him to be a bit more mature and have something else in common than just sassing each other.
She glanced at the time she had left, they'd been given thirty minutes and it was down to the wire. She ran up the steps and down a corridor that'd been the perfect spot to set up their base and crossed the threshold, placing the flag staff into its holder just as the timer in the arena went off.
There were cheers and rapturous applause from all. Even the competition cheered for them as they entered and gave each other slaps on the back as well as veiled, playful threats to "get them" next time.
Tionne came down to congratulate her students and Jaden.
"Good job everyone! Now go on, you all have the day off, so relax!" She turned to Jaden and whispered, "Kyle messaged me to say he wants to talk to you, I'll empty out the box so you two can have some privacy."
Jaden entered the box, expecting to see Kyle in person, but instead was taken aback when greeted by a blue, hologram version of her master from the torso up.
"Hey Kyle," she said awkwardly, remembering their last encounter. "Any news about Rosh?"
"I'm afraid not kid, not yet anyway. But listen, we have a new assignment, and since I'm close to the area it comes from, I'll be assisting you,-" Something like an elbow jabbed him in the side, "-err, we'll be assisting you."
"We?"
"Uh, yes, um Jaden, meet Jan. Jan, meet Jaden." Jaden had never seen Kyle behave so strangely or awkward, in fact she believed it almost impossible, except for his reaction to her questions about the mysterious Naboo assignment that is. And here he was, scratching behind his head, almost not sure what to do with his hands. If the hologram didn't show only blue, she'd be convinced he was blushing.
"Hi Jan, I've heard a lot about you, Kyle's told me a lot of stories about your adventures." She squinted at the hologram, still only seeing Kyle until the image expanded and she could see a woman, close to Kyle's age but fairly pretty and good humored looking, came into view. She was dressed simply, in pilot fatigues with goggles perched above her forehead.
"I bet he has," Jan said. "It's lovely to meet you too Jaden. I really wish I could've met Rosh as well, but that's why I'm here. When Kyle reached out to me about who I could contact, I volunteered to join him in the search. I'll also be joining you two for your assignment."
"Oh," Jaden wasn't sure what to say really, "Okay, that'll be great! What's the mission?"
Kyle finally seemed to find his voice: "We've received word from a mining guild on Nar Kreeta that a number of elders are being held captive by a local Hutt crime lord. The slimebag's name is Grutta, Grutta the Hutt. These elders had gone to negotiate a treaty with him, but never returned, and now Grutta's claimed that no one ever came to see him."
"Despicable," Jan spat.
"I'll say, what are we gonna do?" Jaden asked.
"You're gonna meet us on Nar Kreeta and we're to meet with some locals from the town, one of the elders' sons I believe, and discuss a plan of action, though Jan and I have already been brainstorming a bit."
"Alright, so you want me there immediately?"
"As soon as you can get an X-wing checked out of the hangar," Kyle affirmed.
Jaden nodded. "Done, I'll see you as soon as I can." She was out of the room before the hologram had fully dissipated, barely hearing a snatch of dialogue from Kyle:
"Nice save hon-" Jaden stopped short just outside the door. She leaned back and glanced inside. Nothing, the hologram transmission had ended. Had Kyle thought that they were off the transmission? And what did he mean? What was he about to call Jan?
Something secret was going on with those two and this time, she was going to find out. Having Naboo as a forever secret was hard enough. Well, I guess I'd better get going. Maybe I can find out what's going on with Kyle and Jan when I get to Nar Kreeta.
"This is my father's rescue team?" The son of the mining guild's head elder said as soon as he set eyes on Jaden. He was somewhere in his mid forties with a semi permanent scowl on his face. He cocked his eyebrow and looked her up and down, clearly unimpressed with what the New Republic had sent.
Jaden clamped her mouth shut in a hard, firm line, determined not to say anything unpleasant. If you've got nothing nice to say, then don't say it at all. She repeated the mantra her aunt always spouted again and again in her head.
"Well, if you'd like no help, then I can just take my apprentice and go," Kyle said. It was better to leave the saying of not so nice things to him.
"What my partner here is trying to say," Jan interjected, putting her right hand (Jaden noticed it was her only hand that was covered by a black glove with copper wires crawling over it. A cybernetic enhancement no doubt) on Kyle's arm and stepping in front of him. "Is that a small team is just what's needed to execute this rescue mission."
"How do you mean?" The son, named Otiss, asked.
"Our plan is to drop Jaden-," she gestured to the young apprentice who fought to not look stunned. "-off at an access pipe that comes out the side of the canyon wall the Hutt's Palace is built into."
Otiss was still skeptical. "And you know of this pipe how?"
"We know a guy who once escaped with his life through it after getting caught cheating. Kyle and I scouted the area before Jaden's arrival and… well lets just say that we'll be picking up the elders in our ships because it's a pretty nasty drop."
Otiss was silent, considering. "Well, you'd better be, and be extra careful! Our elders are advanced in years and shouldn't be jumping off anything!"
"Understood," Jan said. "Now, we'll leave you. If all goes well, you shall see your father this evening."
Otiss simply grunted and turned to walk away with the other elders' sons and daughters, who were worried out of their minds.
"Well that was… Unpleasant," Jaden said.
"Exactly why I let Jan do all the talking," Kyle said, smirking, eyes practically glowing. Jaden clocked this. He's almost giddy! She wanted to laugh but knew that would lead to questions she wasn't ready to answer, and she certainly had a few of her own. She hoped she'd get to spend more time with Jan and maybe learn some juicy details about Kyle or unfiltered versions of their adventures.
Now that Jan wasn't some blue holographic image, she saw that she was much prettier in person, with brown eyes that sparkled with humor, hair so dark brown it was almost black. Jaden decided she liked her, it was nice to have three in a team again.
"Okay, here's what's gonna happen," Kyle said once they were alone. "I'll take you in the Raven's Claw and drop you by that access pipe. Jan can take your X-wing and will be standing by for your signal, that way we can save a couple of trips and pick up the elders quicker." Jan and Jaden nodded, glancing at one another to share a friendly smile, then they moved out.
The sun was making its descent in the sky, lengthening the shadows over the valley as Kyle flew the Raven's Claw low, heading for the pipe Jan had mentioned. Jaden spotted it and he hovered closer. She stood up, lifting the cockpit window, the wind whipped up through the valley and off the canyon walls, causing her to struggle slightly for balance.
"This is as close as I can get her!" Kyle shouted, and Jaden made a leap for it. The pipe opening was large but her nearly ten foot leap was almost too much distance and she hadn't compensated with Force power. She missed the pipe, her fingers grasping and scrambling. Finding purchase, she grunted as she strained to get higher. She closed her eyes and focused. Kyle watched speechless, in shock before moving to help her, but by that time, Jaden had righted herself and used the Force to push up and swing, almost like a backflip, onto the pipe's inner edge, safe. She turned to face the front of the Raven's Claw, still hovering close by. She crossed her arms as she stared Kyle down from the inside.
Kyle chuckled as he called on their coms. "Y'know, normally I'm the one going into danger while Jan flies the ship. But this'll work too. Once you find those prisoners, bring them back here for pickup."
Jaden waved at him and turned to walk into the pipe's tunnel. It wasn't very long and she soon found a very old and rusted looking fan at the back of the tunnel, she guessed it was once used for circulating air but had long been in disrepair.
Leave it to a Hutt to not get things fixed around his own palace.
Noticing an even more decrepit vent off to the side, she bent to pry it away from its hinges and looked into the duct. It was large enough for Kyle, or someone even bigger than him to crawl through. She got down on her hands and knees and crawled through it, coming very quickly into a small section that she could stand up in. She stopped the moment she saw that the grates in the floor had a view of the top of someone's head below. She was in the ceiling of the Hutt's Palace, or some section of it. She silently crouched down to get a better look. There were two men, mercenaries of course.
"Did you put your bet in?" One of them asked with a gruff voice.
"Heh why bother? The odds are terrible. Most prisoners don't even get ten meters before the rancor eats em. It's a waste of credits." The second one had a voice with a tone that tinged on constant boredom. Jaden felt all the warmth go out of her. A rancor? The monster Jabba the Hutt would feed his dancers or anyone he was bored with or didn't like to? There's one here?
"Maybe, but if one of them ever does get away, I'm gonna be rich!" Gruff Voice said.
"Yeah, yeah, keep dreamin'," the King of Boredom answered.
Jaden weighed her options, these men probably knew where the prisoners were kept, but more than likely were just patrons of whatever sick game Grutta the Hutt had set up here. The mercs started to move and Jaden thought that perhaps she could jump down through the vent. The moment her fingers touched it, it dropped onto the floor below, landing with a crash!
"Hey! What was that?" The gruff voiced merc turned and stared into the ceiling, looking right at Jaden. "Hey, we got ourselves a pretty little caged bird up here. Looks tough too." An ugly, slimy smile spread across his face.
Jaden ducked to the side as the merc fired at her. There wasn't anywhere for her to run really, but she stumbled upon another vent and took advantage of the opportunity. She dropped through it, saber drawn and deflected their bolts, followed by a move that she'd taken some training to get used to, she threw her lightsaber. It came at them horizontally, end over end and sliced right through their abdomens. She caught the hilt in time to turn and see some newcomers, a couple of Trandoshan bounty hunters.
The place she'd found herself in was a long hallway with two open doorways further down, the closest one was what the Trandoshans had come through. After clearing them out she headed down the hall and looked in the second open doorway, also noting a closed door at the end of the hallway. She opened it.
Inside was a large arena with walls creating pathways that had arrows of different colors painted on them. There were piles of bones in some of the corners, picked clean. Jaden shuddered and went back to check out the first doorway. It led into a hallway that went up and stopped at a door guarded by two Gran grenadiers.
They immediately threw a pair of thermal detonators at her. She reflexively pushed them back towards the Grans and took cover behind the corner. Once the coast was clear she came out of hiding, not looking down at the carnage as she tried the door. There was a keypad. Maybe one of these scum has a keycard. She sighed and had to look down, finding it on the bottom half of one of the grenadiers and opened the door. To her surprise, it led right inside the pipe tunnel. Guess they learned their lesson after Kyle and Jan's friend escaped. She called Kyle on coms.
"Kyle, I'm in, and I found a hallway leading right into the exit pipe! It'll be so much easier to get the elders out this way."
"Great work Jaden! Keep us posted once you've found the elders."
"There's just one problem."
"Problem?"
"I overheard some mercs saying that the Hutt feeds prisoners to his pet rancor for sport and people bet on it!"
"That slimy Hutt! And I thought Jabba was the worst of them!" Jan interjected.
"I'm worried the elders have already been put in the arena," Jaden continued.
"That is a sad possibility," Kyle said after a moment's thought. "But we don't know for sure yet. Keep looking around and see what you can find. I believe in you kid!"
"Me too!" Jan called.
Jaden swelled with pride and a new feeling of confidence. She'd do her best. She signed off and made her way back through the hallways and to the second doorway at the end of the hall near the arena entrance. It was only one room and there was a lift that went up a shortways to a door at the top. Another door in the room was locked that seemed to be another lift as well, but she needed a security key to open it. She decided to check every guard, mercenary and bounty hunter she came across for it.
She took the small lift which led up into a small viewing room that she assumed looked out into the arena, but there were shutters over the slits in the wall. There was no one in the room, just chairs, tables covered with Pazaak cards, and leftover booze bottles that hadn't been cleared away. And by the smell of it she didn't think cleaning was a top priority here anyhow. A video monitor in the corner near the shutters caught her eye and she turned it on, giving her a view of several rows of cells just off the arena along a wall closest to the entrance she'd found earlier.
"There are the cells, but how do I open them?" She mused aloud, looking around the room. On the other end, almost hidden by an overturned table, was a lever. She went and pulled it, hoping her hunch was correct.
The metal shutters opened, then down, near the arena's open entrance, four prisoners were pushed out of their cells automatically. Jaden guessed grimly that that was what happened when guests paid for a box. They got their own block of four prisoners to force into the arena whenever they saw fit.
She went up to the open viewing slat, deciding it was the quickest way to get down into the arena to meet the prisoners. She squeezed through easily and dropped several feet to the ground, landing gracefully on her feet. Turning towards the prisoners, she rushed over to where they gathered, close to the entrance, but probably afraid they'd be shot down if they tried to go through it to safety.
As Jaden ran over to them, a man who seemed to be the lead prisoner called out to her, "Hurry! Get us out of here before the rancor comes!" Now that she was closer Jaden could see the family resemblance between him and Otiss. But his skin was wrinkled and far more pale than it should have been. In fact being kept prisoner, waiting to be thrown in the arena to certain death had taken a toll on all of them.
Jaden glanced around nervously. "Rancor?! Where is it? When do they-" But she was cut off. Somewhere off in the distance, behind the many man made walls, there reverberated the sounds of low growls and large claws scratching at something, begging to be let out. Then…
Boom!
Boom!
Booom!
Footsteps, like a giant walking towards them from some invisible place. Jaden turned towards the sound and spotted it first. A large, brownish-black four clawed hand reached around the corner, gripping the wall as it pulled its body forward and around, giving Jaden her first sight of a real life rancor, far bigger and more frightening than any images in the Jedi Archives could've prepared her for.
"The rancor!" Another of the elders yelled and, afraid of being shot or not, they ran for their lives shouting "Run!" "Look out!" and "Help us!" as they rushed through the entrance of the Arena and into the safety of the hallway. Jaden shook herself off and followed close behind, counting the four prisoners again and again to be absolutely certain she had them all safe and sound.
Behind, the rancor growled, ripping off pieces of the walls. It took several steps forward and let out a massive roar, then rushed the arena door, sticking its arm through but not able to do much. Jaden and the elders backed far away and Jaden used the Force to close the door, inciting a cry of pain from the rancor as it was forced to retract its hand. The door slid home, cutting them off from the hideous creature, its howls still loud through it.
"Thank you," the first elder, Otiss's father, said. "That was too close. Listen, there are three other cell blocks full of prisoners, we have to free them!"
Jaden nodded, knowing the original plan was to just get the elders out. But she would not leave others to the fate of that monster.
"Okay," she said. "I'll get them out. You all go and take the access tunnel down the hall and someone will be there to pick you up."
"Is the way clear?" The head elder asked.
"Yes," she answered. "Now go, I'm sure your son would be happy to see you safe and alive."
"You've met Otiss?"
"Yeah."
The elder smiled. "He can be a bit much can't he?"
Jaden shrugged, not wanting to insult him. "I don't think he was very impressed by our rescue operation."
"He isn't impressed by anything. Exactly why I had to arrange his marriage!"
That poor woman.
The elders turned to go, but their leader turned back again. "My name is Mathiss by the way, and here, I swiped this keycard from a guard. I hope it comes in handy."
"Thanks Mathiss, now go, all of you!"
The elders took off down the hall towards the access tunnel and Jaden ran back into the room next to her, with the lifts, wondering if the keycard could unlock the other lift.
"Jaden, what's your status?" Kyle asked through her comlink. She pulled it from her pocket.
"The elders are on their way to the access tunnel, but there are other prisoners here that I need to rescue." There was a pause after she spoke.
"Alright, Jan and I will pick em up as they come. Be careful Jaden."
"I will."
Jaden swiped the keycard over the pad next to the door and it opened up into a lift with luxurious designs inside it. This is obviously for the more credit heavy clientele. She stepped into the lift and her stomach dropped as it suddenly lurched down. When it reached the bottom she was greeted by a bright and colorful sight. A bar wrapped around the half moon shaped room, stools pulled up to it, tables lining the outer wall. Cards littered the ground where fights had broken out over cheating individuals.
This whole place is set up as a betting parlor! At the moment, the bar was mostly empty. Mostly. Its few clients stood staring in shock before fumbling with their weapons at their sides.
There were very few of them and Jaden had the element of surprise. When she cleared the room she suddenly heard whimpering behind the counter. Approaching slowly, fearing a sneak attack of some kind, she leapt over the counter and aimed the tip of her lightsaber at the blue skinned Chiss bartender's throat.
"Pleeeaaaaasseeee doonn't huuurrrrttt meeeeeeee!" His high pitched voice dragged out. She pulled her saber away a few inches.
"I won't if you stay down and tell me how to free the other prisoners," she said.
"B-b-but the Hutt! He'll Keeeeeeellllll me!"
"Oh calm down, if you stay put then maybe, after I've freed the others, I'll come back for you. Deal?" The bartender nodded slowly and pointed to the door at the end of the room.
"Through there."
"Very good. Now stay down, and don't forget that stabbing a Jedi in the back is worse than poking a rancor in the rear end." She hurried to the door, not very proud of her empty threat. Revenge was not the Jedi way, but she didn't like the idea of trusting this guy and had a feeling that it might come back to bite her.
Just inside the door, to her immediate left, was a lift. She decided to take that one first.
This viewing box however, was not empty like the first one. A couple of human and Rodian mercenaries had settled down with their drinks ready to watch the show. They never even got close to opening the shutters once the young Jedi entered the room.
Jaden glanced at the monitor which showed where this batch of prisoners would be released, she knew she wouldn't have much time to get down to them and figure out how to distract the rancor. She went for it and threw the switch, waiting until the shutters were barely open to squeeze through.
She landed harder than anticipated, nearly knocking the wind out of her. She stood and half stumbled over to the prisoners, wasting no time with pleasantries.
"Head to the arena entrance!" She yelled. "Follow me!"
The prisoners hesitated, but after seeing the lightsaber at her hip, realizing she was a Jedi, they started following her. After several twists and turns in the arena Jaden stopped, unsure which direction to go. There were numerous arrows painted on the walls that pointed in different directions.
Some rescue this is turning out to be.
"Shut up!" She muttered to herself.
"What?" Asked the prisoner behind her.
"Nothing, I'm trying to remember where the entrance is."
"Some rescue this is turning out to be!" One of the prisoners further back said, echoing her thoughts.
"Follow yellow and not be a dead fellow!" A man in the back cried. Jaden whipped around, staring at him.
"What?!" She cried.
"It's something I overheard a guard say!" He said quickly.
Jaden glanced up at the wall, a bright yellow arrow with some chipped paint pointing to the right. She took it, the prisoners in tow. As they rounded the corner that put them in sight of the arena entrance, she skidded to a stop at the sight of the rancor, waiting as if the door would open back up again.
The door! I forgot to reopen it! She hurried the prisoners back behind the wall and peeked out again. The rancor hadn't noticed.
"If you are a Jedi, can you open the door?" The first prisoner asked.
"I think so, does it open from this side?"
"Supposedly, if a prisoner can reach it before the rancor gets them, that button should open the door, allowing them to win their freedom."
"I'll try it!" She reached out her hand towards the button near the door, hoping, praying it would work. It pushed in seemingly by itself like magic. The rancor growled in confusion.
"Quick! I'm going to distract it, as soon as I lead it out of the way, go through the door, down the hall to the access tunnel. My master and a friend will be there to pick you all up!"
The plan worked. Jaden ran towards the rancor, shouting and yelling at it as she ran past it and down a different path of the maze. By the time it started following after her, Jaden had already looped back around and made it just inside the safety of the arena entrance.
When she went back through the betting parlor bar and lounge, the bartender wasn't there. This isn't good. She didn't have much time and picked up her pace. She ran past the first lift that she'd already taken and went to the end of the hall towards two other lifts, one on the left and the other to the right.
"Loth-rat, Loth-cat, Loth-wolf, run. Pick a path and all is done." She recited a Lothalian poem she remembered from one of her classmates years ago.
This is stupid. She thought. I'm on a mission reciting nursery rhymes! She looked down at her finger, it'd landed on the left hand route. She shrugged and ran to the lift it pointed to.
The Raven's Claw lifted off from the mining platform. Kyle and Jan had just dropped off Jaden's second batch of prisoners.
"We make a good team, us three," Jan said over their private frequency. "Your student's come a long way from where you said she started. You must be proud."
"I am," Kyle agreed.
"But?"
"But what?" Kyle said, exasperated. "Who said I had more to say?"
"I should think that I've learned your cues by now, my love." Jan gave him a raised eyebrow and her winning smile through the cockpit windows of Jaden's X-wing.
"You know, if we were in closer proximity, I'd almost be tempted to kiss you." Kyle's face looked twenty years younger and Jan swore he was blushing like a schoolboy.
"Almost?" She teased.
"Almost." The silence that followed was palpable. Kyle was almost tempted to have them land the ships right there and pick up where they left off before he'd received that damned transmission about the assignment here.
"Kyle! Kyle, are you there!" The silence was shattered. Kyle and Jan became serious again as they switched back to a frequency Jaden could hear them on.
"I hear you Jaden! What's your status?" Kyle said.
"I got the next batch of prisoners, we barely got out of the arena and came upon some mercs waiting for us. I was ahead of everyone so thankfully they didn't shoot any of the prisoners. We're about to head up the access tunnel to make sure that Hutt hasn't placed more guards there. Please say you and Jan are there and ready for another pickup?"
The couple shared a look. "Yes, Jaden. We'll be there," Jan said and they moved out, flying faster than they would've deemed safe.
Everything was starting to fall apart. Jaden knew the bartender had betrayed her. That slimy blue bastard, if she saw him again… She didn't finish the thought, too dark, too dangerous. She had to keep going. The access tunnel was blessedly clear and she left the prisoners with some weapons that had been scattered on the floor from the surrounding dead bounty hunters and mercs.
"Hold onto these until help comes," she'd instructed. She was now back on the fancy lift, headed back down to the hopefully still empty beating parlor. The sight that greeted her was less than ideal. Blue laser trip mines were spaced evenly along the bottom of the bar as well as at least half a dozen mercs and bounty hunters. I don't have time for this, the Hutt's just gonna send more and more until I'm overwhelmed!
Staying inside the lift, she looked at the back of the room. There, crouched behind the bar, holding what looked to be a sniper rifle, was the bartender. She narrowed her eyes at him. I'll deal with you later. She glared at the mercs in front of her as they raised their blasters to shoot. She Force pushed them into their own trip mines. Jaden closed the lift door as everything went to chaos. The small mines set off an explosive chain reaction around the room.
Jaden was thankfully shielded from the blast. The lift automatically took her back up. She waited, and let it take her back down. As the doors opened a destructive scene came into view. The bar was certainly emptier and in desperate need of repair, but there were still living enemies, less than half now. Her saber came out as the bartender tried to snipe her. The deflected blast didn't hit him back. She took down the others that tried to shoot her down and then walked head on at the Chiss bartender who repeatedly fired at her and she deflected, pulling his weapon out of his hands with the Force. The rifle came into her free hand and she fired without a second thought, sending several bolts right through his chest. The annoyance and anger of being betrayed made her bristle and she stared down at him with anger bordering on hate filling her eyes.
"Consider yourself lucky," she spat. "I could've fed you to the rancor!"
This did nothing to calm the former bartender, he breathed his last as he stared up at her with a horrific expression on his face, as if he were looking up at the rancor.
Jaden stumbled back, a half sob choking her throat. What have I done? She dropped the rifle and her lightsaber. She looked at her open palms, as if she'd find answers there. What is wrong with me? What is all this anger and hate? Where's it coming from?
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!" She was up and screaming her lungs out. Every single bottle behind the bar that hadn't been broken, shattered into a million pieces and Jaden fell back to her knees, utterly exhausted, unsure if she could keep going, not sure if she wanted to.
"Come on Jaden!"
"Come on, you've got this!"
"I believe in you kid."
"Get up, come on, let's go!"
Voices, all familiar but none she could place for some reason, floated around her. Did they belong to her friends? Maybe. She felt she was in between sleeping and waking. Then, there, an unfamiliar voice, mechanical but fading slowly into human:
"Stand up Jaden, that's it, stand up." The voice was soft, kind, but sorrowful.
She couldn't feel her legs but was somehow standing. She was in a bar. Why? She didn't drink. She didn't even like bars. Oh wait, that's right, she was trying to save the Hutt's prisoners and got sidetracked. There, there was the body of that slimy bartender that'd betrayed her. But did he deserve that gruesome fate? Probably, but it hadn't been up to her to decide.
"Revenge is not the Jedi way."
Then what do I do with all this pent up anger? Her internal voice asked.
"Just release it, just let it go."
How?
"That, my young Apprentice, is a part of the long journey of being a Jedi. Listen to your master. Trust him and you will go far."
Okay, I will.
"But now, you must go, get back and help who you can. Remember, the Force will be with you. Always."
Jaden gasped as if she'd just surfaced from deep water. Somehow she'd made it through the bar and down the hall to the last lift. She shook her head to clear it and stepped onto the lift with a determined stance.
The mercenaries at the top were waiting for her, but so was she and they didn't stand a chance. She rushed over and pulled the lever without even checking the monitor's screen. As soon as the shutters opened, a huge, clawed hand reached in. Screaming, Jaden sliced it clean off and, in a fit of inspiration, grabbed up two blasters that lay nearby, slinging their straps over her shoulder and quickly squeezed through the open space, making a hard, but better landing than earlier. The rancor was roaring with pain and clutching its severed hand. There wasn't much time. She ran towards the last batch of prisoners, screaming for them to run, to follow the yellow arrows to the arena entrance and handed out the guns to those who said they could fire a blaster well enough to hit a target. She un-holstered her own and shoved it into another's hand. They made all speed through the winding maze of the arena, the loud stomps of the rancor's feet close behind.
When they were twenty yards from the entrance, two things happened. First, a small group of guards waited at the open door, ready to fire upon them. And second, the rancor managed to grab the lone unarmed prisoner that'd fallen behind Jaden who took up the rear. She slowed, shouted for the rest to fight and shoot, then turned back to face the rancor. The hideous creature had the prisoner by the arm and was tugging and pulling. It let him go, only to grab him around his waist and bring him close to its large, disgusting mouth that dripped saliva. This prisoner looked to be her age, his brown hair getting in his eyes. He screamed in terror. Jaden ran behind it, thinking hard. The poor boy screamed again, but this time from pain as the rancor bit right into his arm, severing it from the shoulder blade. Jaden screamed too and leapt into the air, landing on the rancor's back and held on for dear life as it began to flail. Holding onto the creature's shoulder, Jaden jammed the front of her lightsaber hilt to the monster's head and turned it on. The rancor screamed and fell silent, slumping to the floor with a heavy crash.
Jaden tumbled off and hurried to the young prisoners' side. His shoulder was bleeding profusely, he'd be dead soon if they couldn't stop the bleeding.
"Please be alive, please, please!" She begged. The young man was semi conscious. She looked up to see one of the other armed prisoners running back to her.
"We must go now! More are coming!" He saw the wounded prisoner. "Astor! No please! No!"
"Help me!" She yelled. The man rushed over, looping an arm under Astor and helping him up. He groaned, more blood poured from his gaping wound.
"He's bleeding too much," the prisoner cried. Jaden got an idea, it was risky, but she had to save him, she had to try.
"Quick put him down again." They set him back down and Jaden grabbed the strap from the prisoner's blaster and put it between the young man's teeth. "I'm so sorry, this is gonna hurt." She turned her saber on and slowly dragged the edge of the blade across the open wound, barely grazing the skin. The young prisoner screamed in agony as the glowing blade cauterized the wound and he passed out. Jaden and the other prisoner nearly passed out from the smell of burning flesh, a scent that planted itself firmly in their brains. Jaden replaced her saber to her side, grimly checking over her work.
"Done, now let's go!" She and the other prisoner picked him up and hurried to the arena entrance where the others waited and they hurried through the hallway to the access tunnel where several armed and dangerous bounty hunters waited. Jaden released her grip on the young man and hurried forward to help the others. Shots were fired on both sides, they were outnumbered, but having a Jedi to help evened the odds a bit. She cut down all the bounty hunters and mercs in their way.
Got to get them out. Have to get them all out. She called Kyle on coms.
"Kyle, this is Jaden, that's all of 'em."
"Good! Get back to the access pipe. I'll pick you up there."
Jaden turned to her last group, elated. She'd done it. Then she saw him, one lone merc hidden crouched behind a crate. Before she could process her next action, he moved, firing off one shot. She didn't have her blaster, instead she shoved him back with the Force hard into the far wall, hearing a loud crack.
She returned her gaze to the prisoners. One, two, three… She looked to her fourth, the one who'd been holding up his wounded brethren. He had a blaster mark right over his heart. Jaden yelled something incoherent and rushed to his side, pleading that the others help the still unconscious one. She held his head in her lap.
"Go," he said faintly. "You've already freed me." He breathed his last. Jaden didn't have time to react, the others were urging her onward and she did the last thing she'd wanted to do. She left him behind.
I couldn't save them all. I lost one. That single digit was all it took to take what was otherwise a very successful rescue mission, and make it all seem worthless in Jaden's mind.
She sealed the access tunnel door and hurried to the edge of the pipe, helping the others load their wounded brother into the extra seat of her X-wing where Jan waited. Then came Kyle in the Raven's Claw and the last two squeezed into the small area behind the front seats. Kyle quickly beckoned Jaden into the copilot's chair beside him. It was an already tight fit, but they managed as they flew back to the mining guild's colony.
"Nice work, Jaden!" Kyle said as they landed. "The elders have been returned and you got all those prisoners out safe and sound. I wish I could've seen that slimy Hutt's face when he found out all his prisoners had escaped and that his pet rancor had been killed! Hahaha!"
"Not all of them," Jaden muttered quietly and they stayed silent even as they unloaded the rest of the prisoners, who gave their names: Ashner, Astor, and Arto. Jaden learned from Arto that Alder was the name of the one they'd lost. Lost. Like how I lost Devvyn on that tram. How I couldn't save him.
She stood off by herself near her X-wing as the last of the rescued prisoners were ushered to the clinic or to food and shelter and a change of clothes rather than the dirty green jumpsuits they'd been forced to wear. She rubbed her arms as if to ward off a chill that wasn't there, as if holding herself and squeezing could keep her from falling apart. Astor's face, twisted in agony from his arm being bitten off, flashed before her eyes, reminding her of… something… something familiar about his face, his… Well it wasn't his appearance but something about him reminded her of Rosh.
Rosh. Devvyn reminded her of her friend too but he was different as well. Maybe I'm just missing him. She felt sadder, lonelier. She sank down onto a nearby crate and let the tears stream down her face, still restrained. She would not break down, not here.
"Hey kid." Kyle's gentle voice followed by a reassuring hand. She looked up, tear stained cheeks and all. Jan was there too, holding out a clean and dainty handkerchief, something she didn't expect her to own but somehow, it made sense. Jaden took it and gingerly wiped the tears away, not able to keep the white cloth clean from the dirt and grime from this long, hard day. Jan came around to sit beside her while Kyle settled on the other.
"What's wrong Jaden?" Jan asked. Jaden took a long, steading breath.
"Astor, he got his arm bitten off and… and, I tried my best but, I don't know if he's gonna make it. There was so much blood. And, and Alder. We… I… I lost him. I couldn't save them all." It was almost too much to bear.
"Look at me, Jaden," Kyle said. She slowly looked up, afraid she'd fall apart, but somehow, having Jan there at her side helped strengthen her in some way, like the mother she never knew. "Listen to me, I once told you and Rosh that you'd fail and that it's my job as your master to help you learn from your mistakes so that you can get back up again. Failure may not seem like the best teacher right now but it is. This is what I meant by failing." Jaden squirmed under his eyes, those intense, kind eyes, but she kept contact with them. "You didn't do it intentionally, you did your absolute best and instead of being stuck in thinking about what you could've done, should've done or would've, I want you to focus on applying what you learn from failure into whatever it is you do next. Can you do that?"
Jaden nodded slowly. "I don't think I can do it alone." She wiped her eyes with the handkerchief to hide from his intense gaze. Holding during his monologue had been the longest she'd ever done so and it was draining, vulnerable. Kyle clapped a hand lightly on her shoulder, bringing her gaze back to his. "It's what I'm here for. Now, why don't you come with me? There's something I've gotta show you."
Jaden stood stiffly, Jan did too and embraced her before she handed back the handkerchief. As Kyle led her to the clinic, Otiss passed by and stopped them.
"I wanted to um… to thank you, for your bravery and leadership today," he said awkwardly. "Without you, my father wouldn't be here now. Thank you."
Jaden didn't know what to say, she felt just as awkward and undeserving, but at Kyle's gentle nudging, she said, "You're welcome," and followed her master into the clinic.
Inside was a small but organized operation of rows of beds and cabinets of medicine. Kyle took her down to a private room at the end of the rows of beds, letting her in first. The sight of Astor, alive and breathing and awake startled her. The stump of his shoulder was banaged and color had come back into his face. Tubes of medicines, including one pumping new blood into his veins surrounded his bed, a sight that would've been horrific if he looked the same as he'd been earlier.
"Jaden? That's your name right?" He said, his eyes brightening at the sight of her. Something about that gesture made her heart skip a beat, the similarity to Rosh flooding back.
"Yes," she said shakily. "I'm so glad to see you're alive."
"I'm more than that. I'm gonna be okay. Because of you. I'm alive because you saved me."
She was in trouble of tearing up again. "Thank you. I needed to hear that."
"I've also been told that they'll be able to get me a cybernetic arm, I think that might actually be cooler than a real one, so I have you to thank for it."
"You're welcome, I guess," she laughed. Astor laughed too and then Kyle. A release of relief settled over her. Kyle started to guide her out of the room, she needed to return to the Academy and he and Jan had to get back to searching for Rosh.
"Jaden?" Astor called and they turned. "I won't forget him. Alder I mean. He saved me too."
Jaden bobbed her head. "I won't forget him either."
"That's how we keep them alive, the fallen. We remember and carry them with us." Astor's eyes were misty. "Please don't blame yourself."
"Did you get to know him while you were trapped in there?"
"Didn't have to." Astor shrugged, trying to bring in a little lightness to the mood. "He was my older brother."
Jaden thought she was going to lose it again the way she had back in the beating parlor, but a voice, the voice spoke again as clear in her mind as if it were spoken right beside her.
"Young padawan, it was not your fault. He was glad to give himself in place of his brother. Let it go, and the Force will guide you."
"Kyle?" Jaden pulled her master outside of the room.
"What is it?"
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"That voice."
"No." Kyle shook his head, then seemed to think twice. "Who is it you heard? What did they say?"
"It was a man's voice, encouraging me to stay strong in the Force. I heard him earlier as well… back in the palace, I'd…" She'd already shown Kyle enough of her pain. "I'd felt like I didn't know what to do and a voice spoke to me and helped me to keep going."
Kyle nodded slowly. "It's always wise to be careful of the voices that speak to us. But sometimes the voices of Jedi past, those who've become one with the Force, they return to advise us and show us the way. They always have a lesson to share if we're willing to listen."
Jaden sank onto her bed and sobbed. This information from Astor had both relieved and cut her down. It wasn't her fault, she knew. Kyle's words of comfort and encouragement, as well as the voice of the mysterious Jedi were racing through her mind trying to bring her back down to earth and sooth the panic.
She also knew that Astor was not the least bit resentful or angry. But she still needed an outlet for her pain, and letting Kyle in on her process would only distract him. He needed to focus on finding Rosh, another loose end that she felt guilty about. Unsaid words screaming to be let out, she screamed them into the pillows muffling as much sound as she could.
It was the middle of the night when she finally slept fitfully, dreams filtering in and out of her stream of consciousness. Dreams of the arena, of Astor, but he looked like Rosh and his arm was being bitten off, then sliced off with a lightsaber, hers. Then she was back on the tram in Corellia with Devvyn, but he also had Rosh's face. She pushed a button and his whole body was consumed by blue electricity until there was nothing but a burnt, blackened husk.