Title: Lost Light
By: Cassia
Email: cassia_a@hotmail.com
Category: Story, Drama, Adventure, Hurt/Comfort, Angst
Rating: PG (violence)
Spoilers: Minor ones for the JA books
Archive: Jedi Apprentice, Early Years & Qui-Gon Fic
Disclaimer: All recognizable Star Wars characters are the
exclusive property of George Lucas. All others belong to me.
I have no official permission to use these characters, but
I'm not being paid for it either, so that's okay.
Feedback: Yes Please!
Time Frame: 10 years before TMP. Obi-Wan is 15.
Summary: What was supposed to be an investigative mission goes
terribly awry, leaving Obi-Wan blind and Qui-Gon injured.
Having survived the harsh Drojan Death Camps, the two Jedi try get off
planet, as well as aid the one person who might be able to make the Republic
see that they must put a stop to Driosnia's actrocities. But nothing is
simple and everything that can go wrong, will...
LOST LIGHT
PART TEN:
Qui-Gon jumped to put himself between Sheena and the attacking guards, parrying their shots with trained efficiency. Wielding his saber one-handed was awkward, but his right arm was the only one that had near enough alacrity and movement to attempt it. The cast on his left held it basically immobile from the shoulder down.
Sheena watched the scene before her unfold in a kind of unreal slow motion. The big Jedi returned every shot sent at them, sending them flying back into the midst of the soldiers, scattering them like chaff on a windy day. Suddenly she saw Brun pull a concealed blaster from under his jacket and aim it at Qui-Gon's back.
Before Sheena's lips could form a warning or her mind could even tell it to do so Brun pulled the trigger.
Qui-Gon whirled around at the last instant, turning and blocking the shot in one graceful movement. Brun moved sideways at the same moment, inadvertently moving into the path of the reflected shot. His own bolt caught the young man in the chest, throwing him backward. He was dead by the time he hit the ground.
Sheena felt the big Jedi's good hand close around hers, jerking her out of her shock and pulling her urgently to her feet.
Qui-Gon's brow was creased in concern and his blue eyes were steeped in anxiousness. By the sound of it, a fight was going on down by the hangar, and Qui-Gon could hear Obi-Wan calling out to him for help. "Stay with me," he ordered Sheena, starting back towards the landing field at a dead run.
Verjl held his breath as he scanned his pass card through. The
first time he put it through too fast and the light flashed
red. Trying to steady his hand and slow his heart, he let the
computer scan it again. This time, the door swished open.
Looking around he saw that Obi-Wan was still standing in the doorway, but falling slowly back under the sheer volume of the attack. Hurrying to the cockpit he started the engine warming cycle. It would take five minutes for the cold engines to be ready for lift off. Five minutes they did not have.
Obi-Wan danced backward, saber spinning. There was a sudden lull in the firing and Obi-Wan's senses perked up, scanning intently for the cause. The silence was more unnerving than the attack. What was happening? Where were they? A trickle of terror tried to run through him, but he banished it firmly. He didn't need to see to know what was happening, he could feel...
Bringing his saber up he jumped to the left, evading a shot that came from behind, and above him. Some of the attackers had made it up into the service catwalks that ran across the ceiling of the hanger. He could feel more of them coming from the rear of the building. Meanwhile, the rest of the soldiers had resumed their forward charge on the hangar door. Obi-Wan was caught between the two ground forces on both sides and the snipers in the catwalks above. The situation was not good. Trying to fight two fronts at once, he deflected both the oncoming shots and the one's from above.
*"Why don't the soldiers behind us open fire?"* he wondered. He could feel them there, but they had not yet...
"Administrator!" Obi-Wan shouted urgently as the realization hit him. "Seal the doors! They're trying to sneak up on you!"
Verjl saw them a moment later, swarming towards him openly now that their cover was blown. For a brief instant he hesitated, fearing that if he sealed the doors, he sealed Obi-Wan's fate with them. No matter how good Obi-Wan was, the ex- Administrator doubted that there was anyway the boy could escape this trap alive. Verjl set his jaw grimly and keyed the doors shut, keeping the guards out, and trapping Obi-Wan out with them. The young Jedi knew what he was doing, the Driosnian told himself. He knew as well as Verjl did just how long he could expect to last out there.
The soldiers pounded on the hatch, attempting to blast it open with their hand weapons. However, the bolts were not strong enough to pierce the thick armor of the spacecraft.
Obi-Wan knew he was in trouble. Diving behind one of the ships he tried to put some distance between himself and the attacking soldiers in front of him. He could sense them on the other side of the ship, rushing through the now unguarded entryway.
A shot from above grazed by his ear, narrowly missing him. Obi-Wan brought his saber up again, desperately seeking some vantage point that would offer him better protection. Before one could present itself, he had to spin around to face the violent barrage of shots that whistled around him as the soldiers followed him between the ships. Obi-Wan parried all the shots, sending them back until the air smelt of charred flesh, but still they kept coming.
Again the hail of shots from above, this time, nearly clipping his right arm. Obi-Wan threw himself to the ground, rolled under the low belly of a ship and popped up on the other side. He momentarily lost the ground pursuit, but the shots from above followed him, and they were increasing in rapidity, more soldiers were taking to the catwalks.
*"Come on, come on!"* Verjl silently urged the ship, tapping his hand on the console urgently as if he could coax the cold engines to rev-up faster. He could no longer see the Jedi boy, but over half the solders were still off chasing him, leaving only a handful to concentrate on the Administrator's ship. The boy was buying him precious time, he only hoped Obi-Wan wouldn't have to pay for it with his life.
Obi-Wan wound his way further and further back into the maze of ships, with the soldiers in hot pursuit. Half of him was glad; the more soldiers who followed him, the better chance Verjl had of standing them off long enough to get the ship warmed up. On the other hand, his chances of surviving this encounter decreased with each passing moment. He could only evade them for so long and he was already beginning to feel himself growing weary.
*"Where are you Master?"* Obi-Wan thought, pressing his back tightly against the smooth hull of a ship as blaster fire whizzed by him. During a slight lull in the barrage, he made a break for the next covered spot. His spinning head served as an unpleasant reminder of what Brun had done to him not too many hours ago. His body had not yet had time to recover, and it was now informing him of its displeasure with the demands he was placing upon it. Obi-Wan forced his leaden legs to move, his right one was beginning to lag. Amid everything that had happened to him at Brun's hands he had barely noticed the injury he had sustained to his right knee, but it was there, and it was making itself known. His arms ached from swinging his saber and his lungs were beginning to burn.
Dodge, roll, duck, parry... Obi-Wan was slowly being forced into the back corner of the hanger. He could tell that that was where his assailants were trying to drive him, but he hadn't figured out what he was going to do about it yet. *"Better think of something fast Kenobi,"* he told himself. He was running out of space and cover. Fast.
Suddenly he found himself confronted with a large open space where a ship had been removed. Obi-Wan pressed his lips together tightly, but quickly eased up when he found out how much that hurt his swollen mouth.
*Dang! Dang, dang, dang!* Crossing that would leave him wide open to attack from above, and yet with the soldiers coming up quickly behind him he had no choice.
Sprinting out across the open area he ran as fast as he could, zigzagging to dodge the blaster bolts that rained down on him from above, scorching the flooring a few centimeters away from his boots.
He had almost made it to the shelter of the next ship when he felt his knee twist wrong under him as he put his weight on it. The knee held, and Obi-Wan faltered for only a moment, but it was a moment he could not afford. The momentary distraction cost him the time he needed to dodge or block one of the shots aimed at him from above. Obi-Wan felt the searing blast rake across his ribs, burning through his clothing and scorching his flesh.
Obi-Wan went down with a cry.
TBC...
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