Mission of Justice 6

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MISSION OF JUSTICE: Part Six

By MasterHawke, 1999

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DISCLAIMER: By now we all know the drill, Lucas owns the boys, I own the girls, let the fun commence........

RATING:PG - for now........

Shan-Dowe Kwai stood and walked slowly across the brightly lit plain in front of her. In the distance she could see two figures standing, *they're waiting for me* she realized with a smile as one of the figures started walking in her direction. As they neared one another Shan-Dowe recognized the other person, "Master Brancala!" she called out excitedly.

"Shan-Dowe!" The tall Caamasi Jedi Master smiled as he hugged her, "You've grown up, Padawan."

Shan grinned impishly, "It's been four hundred and eighty-three years, Master."

"Shan-Dowe, you are a Master in your own right, you don't need to call me Master anymore, KenDahl will do fine."

"It doesn't matter what I call you, you will always be my Master."

"Come, there is someone else waiting for you." The two Jedi walked toward the waiting figure.

"Master Lokar!" Shan-Dowe greeted the other Jedi.

The Corellian woman smiled as she hugged her former Padawan, "It's good to see you again, Shan-Dowe." Lokar turned and motioned to someone behind her, "She's here."

Shan-Dowe gasped in surprise when she saw Garrick T'on, "Garrick!" She flew into his arms as the stocky Chandrilan picked her up and spun her around in his arms.

"I've missed you too, Shan." Garrick smiled as he put her down, "It's been a long time, my love."

"Too long, Garrick." Shan smiled as she hugged him again, then she noticed his sad smile, "What is it, Garrick?"

"You still have a destiny to fufill, Shan-Dowe Kwai. It isn't your time to be here." Garrick glanced her left shoulder, "Take care of her for us, she is loved by many."

"I will." A quiet, deep voice answered from behind Shan-Dowe. As she turned she already knew who she would see, "Qui-Gon?" her voice was low and questioning. The Jedi Master held out his hand and as Shan-Dowe took it she was overwhelmed by an intense wave of pain. As Shan started to fall Qui-Gon caught her and held her to his chest, "She will be safe with me." He promised the other Jedi, then he turned and walked back the way he had arrived.

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LEVEL O -- SECTION 74

Obi-Wan and Jareth ran around the corner, lightsabers flashing as they blocked blaster bolts. They quickly overwhelmed the distracted security droids and burst into the adjacent room, sliding to a stop as they observed a scene that froze them in their tracks, Jesson and Anakin stopped as quickly as they could but both of them bumped into their Masters. Obi-Wan laid a steadying hand on Anakin's shoulder as the boy gasped at the sight in the room.

Shan-Dowe lay across Qui-Gon's chest, the two Masters were barely breathing. Deain was standing guard over them as the last of the droids were disabled.

Jareth ran over and knelt beside Qui-Gon and Shan-Dowe, he glanced up at Obi-Wan, "They're alive, barely."

"Can we move them?" Commander Tunai asked quickly, "We're running out of time."

Keira shook her head slightly, "Master Shan-Dowe is injured too seriously to be moved."

Jareth frowned, "We can't stay here, Keira, the metri cleansing system is about to start, it'll kill all of us if we aren't out of the mine."

"How much time do we have?" Deain asked as she knelt beside her Master.

Jareth looked up at Tunai.

"Less than ten minutes." The commander frowned as he looked at Keira, there was something familiar about the girl.

Keira moved slowly to sit beside Shan-Dowe, reaching out she laid her uninjured hand on the Jedi Master's chest. Sinking into a healing trance she inspected what she could feel of the chest wound, <Master Shan-Dowe, can you hear me?> When she got no answer she went deeper into her Master's mind hoping to find an answer of any kind. Kiera finally felt a small flicker of emotion from Shan-Dowe, emotion but not awareness. She moved her hand to rest it on Qui-Gon's forehead, <Master Jinn, can you hear me?>

<Kiera?> The reply was faint.

<Master Jinn, please, follow my voice, come to me.> Keira held out her mind for the Jedi Master to follow.

Qui-Gon slowly surfaced, still keeping his hold on Shan-Dowe. When he felt the hold slipping he dropped back down slowly until he had a firm hold of his new bondmate. <Keira, I can't surface, I'll lose her.>

Kiera shook her head, <Stay there. Can you hear me okay?>

<Yes. What is going on?>

<It's not safe, Keira, she's too weak.>

<It's not option, Master Jinn, the mine will be metri cleansed in less than ten minutes.>

Qui-Gon shuddered slightly, he knew what metri cleansing would do to living flesh. <What do you want me to do?>

<Yes.> Qui-Gon nodded mentally, <If you can do something for my leg in a hurry.>

<I'll see what I can do.> Keira pulled away from his mind to send her healing abilities surging into full force, concentrating on his left leg.

Tunai felt himself pulled into dark whirlpool of emotion as he slowly collasped beside Keira. He shook his head, trying to clear the strange feelings, but it was too strong and he found himself following the faint trail of emotions. He felt the strange, and unique touch of a Jedi's mind. <What is going?> he questioned.

<Yes?> He answered more confused than ever.

<It's Keira. You got pulled in as I went into a healing trance, you must be a Force sensitive.> Her voice was amused.

<No. Just stay where you are and I'll get you out in a moment.> Keira returned to her healing.

Tunai could feel her healing power surge and before he could stop himself he let his mind follow hers.

Keira gasped audibly as his power augmented and increased her power.

Obi-Wan knelt beside her as Tunai tensed.

"What happened, Master Jareth?" Anakin's voice was soft and worried.

"The commander is a Force sensitive. He got pulled in by her healing trance." Jareth kept a light touch on Keira as he reached over and laid a hand on Tunai's shoulder, <Relax, Commander. You'll be safe.> He felt the tension drain out of the young man's body.

Soon Keira regained her senses and grinned at the shaken commander, "You're pretty good, Commander. You should have taken medic's training instead of going into security." She stood and removed her arm from the sling, "With your help I was able to heal my injuries as well." She turned to Jareth, "Master Tra'ske, Master Qui-Gon will carry Master Shan-Dowe. I'll keep in touch with him, and he knows we have to move her immediately."

"Good." Jareth stood and with Obi-Wan's help they got Qui-Gon and Shan-Dowe up without injuring the Jedi any further. As the group turned to leave Jesson reached up and grabbed her Master's hand. Jareth looked down at his Padawan, "What is it, Jesson?"

The young girl's face was concerned, "There's not enough time, Master."

"We can make it." Deain smiled reassuringly.

Jesson shook her head, "No, we won't." Her voice was certain.

Jareth kneeled, "You've had a vision?"

Jesson nodded, "We all die here."

Tunai frowned, "What is she talking about, Master Jareth?"

"Jesson is a dreamer, Tunai, she dreams the future. That's how we knew that we would find our friends here." He glanced up at Obi-Wan, "Any suggestions, young Knight?"

Obi-Wan frowned, glanced down at Anakin, then he nodded, "We can have the transport blast a hole in the side of the asteroid near here and we can get out on it."

"That won't work with your transport, Jedi Kenobi. It doesn't have hard-docking capabilities." Tunai shook his head.

"Starhawke does." Keira spoke softly.

Tunai glanced at her, "Are you sure?" At Keira's frown, he nodded, "Of course you're sure. The only problem is that Starhawke is orbiting Mlori 5 at the moment."

Jareth pulled out a comlink, "Starhawke, this is Master Jareth."

"Starhawke here, Master Jareth. What can I do for you?"

"How soon can you get to Mlori 7?"

"I'm already in orbit, I was waiting for a signal from Shan-Dowe."

"Shan has an active comlink with you?" Jareth grinned for the first time in what seemed like hours.

"Yes. I picked up the signal about twenty minutes ago and now I'm in as close as I can get."

Jareth turned to Tunai, "Where's the closest airlock?"

Tunai turned and pointed, "Two levels up and three sections over."

"But can we make that distance in time?" Obi-Wan frowned.

"No, we can't." Jareth shook his head.

"But Starhawke can make an airlock for us." Deain walked over to the commander, "Which wall is the outside one?"

Tunai pointed to her left, "That one there."

Deain nodded and walked over to the wall, "Starhawke, are you reading my signal?"

"Loud and clear, Deain, what'd you have in mind?"

"Hard-dock on my count, then I'll cut a hole in the wall to let us out. And hurry, Starhawke, we only have...." She glanced at Tunai.

"Four minutes, twenty seconds."

"Did you copy that, Starhawke?"

"Caught it, timer is started. Standby."

Barely thirty seconds passed until they all felt the slight shudder as Starhawke hard-docked, "Docking collar is in place, Deain, any time you're ready."

Deain nodded, lit her saber and slid it into the wall to begin cutting. And stared in shock as the blade sputtered and died.

Obi-Wan frowned as Anakin stared in surprise, ~lightsabers weren't supposed to do *that*~ the young boy thought quickly.

"Cortosis ore?" Jareth raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at Tunai.

Tunai nodded quickly, "The ore runs throughout the asteroid."

Jareth frowned, "Starhawke, can you blow a hole in this asteroid?"

"Yes. But it'll be messy, you'd better duck and cover."

They moved across the room and into the corridor as Starhawke's voice counted down. The Jedi gathered around Qui-Gon and Shan-Dowe, offering them as much protection as possible. With their cloaks drawn over their heads they waited for the explosion while Deain's comlink with Starhawke calmly counted down the dwindling time until the cleansing started. A loud explosion ripped through the room, pelting the Jedi with falling rock and sending a choking cloud of dust past them up the corridor. The sound of escaping air was loud as the dust cloud was drawn swiftly back toward the gaping hole in the asteroid's surface........

~~~~~ TBC~~~~~