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Jedi Heritage I: Trouble on Chandrila: Chapters 6-9
-Chapter 6-
The shadow of a man continued walking towards Obi-Wan and ShiriKei with his lightsaber ignited. ShiriKei looked at Obi-Wan out of the corner of her eye. He did the same. Then, the orange blade of the lightsaber touched the ropes and burned through them. The man helped ShiriKei up and she helped Obi-Wan up. Their hands were still bound together. The young man just touched the ropes gently with the blade and burned through the ropes of both of them.
Obi-Wan reached down for his lightsaber and noticed that it wasn't there. He looked at the young man and went into a defensive position. ShiriKei did the same. The young man deactivated his lightsaber and put it back on his belt. He held up his hands to show that he was on their side and that he wasn't going to hurt them. Obi-Wan and ShiriKei went out of the defensive position and stood in front of the person that stood before them.
"I'm Jedi Knight Jarni Zant."
"I'm Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and this is Jedi Knight ShiriKei Celisoe. I was not aware that a Jedi was already here."
"That's because the Council has said nothing to anyone about my being here. I was sent here undercover to check things out."
"What's going on here? What's with the army of battle droids?" ShiriKei asked, looking at the droids.
"The leadership here has been overthrown by a gang called 'The Chandrilian Free Fighters'. They wish to rule the planet. The locals are afraid of them, so the gang will succeed in taking control of the planet. The droids are to insure that the gang will rule over Chandrila. The one thing that don't make much sense is where they are getting the droids from."
"I've seen droids like these before. I can't remember where though." Obi-Wan said, taking a closer look at the droids.
"Why can't we access the Force here?" ShiriKei asked.
"Because of that." Jarni said, pointing towards a machine.
"What's that got to do with it?" ShiriKei said.
"The machine uses an animal like thing called Ysalamiri. Ysalamiri blocks the Force from Force users."
"I've never heard of Ysalamiri. Where did it come from?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Now, that I'm not sure of. I've never heard anyone say where. Listen, we better get out of here before Gemma and Dominic show up."
"Gemma and Dominic? Weren't they the pilots of the ship that brought us here?" ShiriKei said, looking at Obi-Wan.
"Yeah. Strange. We need to make contact with the Jedi Council. Tell them what we know so far."
ShiriKei nodded and looked at Jarni. He nodded and began running. ShiriKei and Obi-Wan followed. When they got outside, ShiriKei stopped and realized that they didn't have their lightsabers. Obi-Wan, who was a few paces ahead of her, stopped and turned around. He walked over to her.
"ShiriKei?"
"We don't have our lightsabers."
"Oh... We'll be fine, until we need them. Come on." Obi-Wan said with a smile.
They began running again and caught up with Jarni. ShiriKei wondered why the Council wouldn't have told them about him. He was strong in the Force, there was no doubt about that. She saw Obi-Wan out of the corner of her eye. She was falling in love with him. She then looked straight ahead and tried not to think about it. She had almost confessed it to him earlier. Jarni stopped in front of what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse.
"What's this place?" ShiriKei asked, standing next to Jarni.
"This is home. For right now. It's a good hiding place from Gemma and Dominic." Jarni said, stepping to the building.
Obi-Wan took ShiriKei's hand and followed Jarni into the building. There were some busted windows along the ceiling, but there wasn't much light coming into the building. It looked like it was just him that had been living there. Obi-Wan let go of her hand and walked around the room a little ways.
"You don't happen to have a way where we can contact the Jedi Council, do you?" ShiriKei said, looking up at the ceiling.
"No. No, I don't."
ShiriKei only nodded. She knew that they needed to make contact with them to let the know the situation has become a bit more serious. She looked around for Obi-Wan who had seemed to have disappeared. She was feeling better. She could access the Force again.
"Obi-Wan?"
"I'm right here. Don't worry. I think that I remember now. It was five years ago on Naboo. The Trade Federation was blockading the planet. Qui-Gon and I were sent there as ambassadors to the Supreme Chancellor. The droids are from the Trade Federation."
"That's impossible." Jarni said, "There is no trace of them here. If there were I would know."
"The Trade Federation doesn't have to be here for their armies to be here. From what I saw, the armies aren't ready yet. They could be on their way to help in the takeover of the planet." ShiriKei said.
Obi-Wan looked at her. He knew what she was talking about. Either the Trade Federation was helping "The Chandrilian Free Fighters" or they were getting ready for something big. He watched as ShiriKei began walking around the building. He knew that she was trying to make sense of it all. Some of it was confusing to him. If the Council already had a Jedi here then why did they send both Obi-Wan and ShiriKei. This raised a lot of thoughts into his mind. He watched ShiriKei as she walked into a shadow. She could feel him watching her. She turned her head and looked at him.
She stood there in the darkness and watched him. She realized how she felt towards him, but knew that it was wrong to have these feelings. She had heard it many, many times how love was forbidden for a Jedi. For a brief second their eyes locked. For that second, it seemed like they were the only two there. Like the whole world was theirs. She wished that she could tell him how she felt about him. She only sighed and continued watching him.
-Chapter 7-
Jarni sat down on the floor and meditated. ShiriKei sat on the floor with her back up against the wall. Obi-Wan sat on the floor in front of her. ShiriKei thought about her Padawan on Coruscant. She wondered what she was doing and hoped that she had been practicing her saber skills like she had instructed her to. Obi-Wan was thinking of a way to get off of Chandrila. They had already done what the Council had asked them to. They had found out what was going on. *Personally, I would very much like to get my lightsaber back.* He thought.
"I agree." ShiriKei said, looking at him.
Obi-Wan looked at her and smiled. *Good. We are on the same page here. How about we go for it?* Obi-Wan said through the Force to ShiriKei. She didn't respond. She only looked at him. They didn't even notice that Jarni had walked up to them and sat there.
"I know what you are thinking, but if you decide to take on Gemma you will have to take on Dominic. He won't let anything happen to his wife."
"We also have to destroy the droids before they are ready." ShiriKei said, still looking at Obi-Wan.
"This is getting serious. We really need to contact the Council."
ShiriKei closed her eyes and called the Force towards her. *Master Yoda? Master Windu?* She said in her mind. *Yes, Master Celisoe.* She heard. It was Master Windu's voice. *We are safe on Chandrila. We have established what's going on. The Trade Federation is building an army of their droids here. It turns out that there is a gang called 'The Chandrilian Free Fighters' that has overthrown the government. The Trade Federation is trying to further help them gain control of the planet. We have made contact with a Jedi Knight named Jarni Zant.* There was a long pause. *Okay. Take care of it and come back when you are done. May the Force be with you.*
ShiriKei opened her eyes and saw Obi-Wan and Jarni sitting there. It was unusual for any of the Jedi to contact anyone through the Force. She quietly sighed and stood up. She looked out of a small hole in the wall. It was already night. The sun had set hours ago. The stars were out and twinkling. She wished that she was back on Coruscant or rather her home planet of Alderaan. Not many Jedi remembered their homes, but ShiriKei never forgot the beautiful terrain of Alderaan. She had heard that Naboo is just as beautiful, but she hasn't made an attempt to go there.
"How are we going to do this?" ShiriKei asked.
"How soon are you wanting to get back to Coruscant?"
"As soon as possible." Obi-Wan stated.
"All right. I have a few blasters, but no extra lightsabers."
"That's fine. As soon as we get to Gemma and Dominic we will get our lightsabers back. Jarni, you take Gemma and I'll take Dominic." Obi-Wan said.
"Whoa. Wait a minute there. I'm perfectly able to fight and I will. I'll take Gemma. You two can argue over Dominic." ShiriKei said, looking at Obi-Wan.
"We need to think rational about this. Both Gemma and Dominic will be tough to beat. One of us will have to make an attempt of destroying the droids."
"I'll do that." ShiriKei said.
"But I thought--" Obi-Wan started.
"That's what you get for thinking. Besides destroying the droids should be easy."
"All you have to do is destroy the main machine and the droids and other machines will explode." Jarni said.
"You sound like you've made an attempt to do this." Obi-Wan said.
"I have. Only once though. It'll be easier to have three people trying to get them, then just one."
"I have to agree." ShiriKei said.
"Well, if it's settled, I'm going to go to sleep. This time tomorrow night we will go through with the plan."
Obi-Wan and ShiriKei nodded as Jarni stood and walked off. ShiriKei also stood up and walked away from Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan just sat there watching her walk away. He couldn't help but think about her. If he kept this up, he would surely end up dead. He could see in her eyes that she felt something for him, but she was hiding it just as he was doing. If anything became of these feelings between them they would get into serious trouble and more than likely expelled from the Jedi Order.
ShiriKei walked up some rusty old stairs that she found. She noticed that she was standing on a catwalk above the bottom floor of the warehouse. She walked a few yards ahead of her and stood in front of one of the windows. There wasn't much moonlight coming from the blacken window, but she stood there anyway. She could sense someone coming up behind her. She knew that it was Obi-Wan.
"ShiriKei..."
She didn't say anything. She just stood there. Obi-Wan took a few steps forward and stood beside her at the window. He waited a few moments before speaking.
"From the first moment that I saw you, I loved you. I know that it's forbidden, but we could keep it a secret. We are Jedi. We can bury our feelings so deep that no one, not even Master Windu or Master Yoda, would know."
"Obi-Wan... It's not possible because we are Jedi. It's unheard of. Even if we did pursue this, we would never be together. We would be on missions with our Apprentices."
"But when we do return from the missions, we could be together."
"Obi-Wan, think this through. It will not work."
ShiriKei turned and looked at him. He was hurt by it. He knew how she felt about him. He looked down at the floor and then looked up at her.
"ShiriKei, it's possible. Anything is possible."
"Obi-Wan. No. It's not possible."
"I love you, ShiriKei."
ShiriKei turned and walked away from him. She did love him, but she couldn't tell him. She didn't want to admit it. She could feel him inside her very soul. She walked back down the stairs and sat up against the wall in the shadows. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
-Chapter 8-
Gemma sat in a chair behind a desk. Dominic stood off to the side behind the desk. A small hologram stood on the middle of her desk. It was Viceroy Gunray. His lieutenant, Rune Haako stood beside him.
"Viceroy, we have the Jedi. We are awaiting your arrival."
"Ah. Yes. We will be there soon." The Viceroy commented.
"Yes, sir."
Gemma shut the com down and looked at Dominic. She smiled. It was going exactly as she had planned. She stood up just as a young man ran into her office. He had a nice looking face but with a few battle scars. He stood in front of Gemma's desk and saluted her.
"Yes?"
"Ma'am. They have escaped."
"What?!"
"They have escaped."
"Yes. I heard that part. How?"
"That's unsure right now."
"Idiots!"
Gemma walked out from behind her desk and stood in front of the young man. She reached back and punched him in the face. The force of the punch made him fall to one knee. Then, she kicked him in the face. He went flat on his back. His face severely bleeding. She stood over him and laughed.
"Let that be a lesson to you." She said.
"Yes ma'am." He barely said.
He slowly stood up and walked out of the room. Dominic, still standing behind Gemma's desk, looked at her. He had the usual look on his face. The "why did you do that?" look. Gemma looked at him and sighed.
"Gemma, there was no sense in that."
"He was told to keep an eye on the Jedi. He failed, so he was punished."
"But--"
"Dominic, show some backbone." Gemma said, walking towards the door.
Dominic shook his head and quickly walked to catch up with his wife. He was growing sick of the way that Gemma treated people. She even treated him the same way. He was tired of it. He continued following Gemma to the warehouse where they left the Jedi. What Gemma messed up this time was she had left the Jedi in the warehouse with the droids for the Trade Federation. He still had the female Jedi's lightsaber in his pocket. He was pretty sure that Gemma had the other.
They stopped just inside the warehouse. The machines were still producing the droids. Dominic saw the ropes that held the Jedi together. They were on the floor. He noticed that they had been burned through. He picked a piece up and looked at it. Gemma stood beside him looking at the piece of rope.
"We have a traitor somewhere."
"What do you mean?"
"These robes were burned through with a lightsaber." She said, looking at Dominic.
"Don't look at me. I didn't do it."
"Oh, come on. I know that you still have the lightsaber of the Jedi female. You freed them."
"I did not. I wouldn't do a thing like that."
Gemma reached back and smacked him across the face. His face was already battered and bruised from the earlier beatings that she had given him. But he just stood there and took it. Not once in the five years that they had been married had he laid one hand on her. But for the last 3 and a half years, she had abused him. She was treating him like a slave. He was getting sick of it. A smile came upon his face. Gemma didn't like it, so she punched him.
"Don't ever smile like that again." She ordered.
Dominic laughed to himself. He knew just how to get back at her for the way that she had treated him and the other people that worked with and for them. Then he made the decision to help the Jedi. He knew that they would come back to try to destroy the droid army. He silently hoped that it would be soon. Gemma walked out of the ware house, leaving Dominic standing here. He felt his bottom lip. It was bleeding slightly. He reached for the lightsaber that was in his pocket. He looked at it. The shiny black handle reflected his face. He walked over to one of the machines. It was in the shadows of the building. He set the lightsaber on top of the machine. He then turned off the machine that used the Ysalamiri.
"Dominic!" Gemma called.
"Coming." He sighed.
He walked out of the building, heading for the main office area where Gemma and offer people that worked for them stood. Gemma was shouting out orders as usual. He stood there awaiting her to instruct them to go. He knew what he was to do. It was obvious. He had to help her fight the Jedi, if they made it as far as the office building.
****
Jarni handed Obi-Wan and ShiriKei two blasters each. Jarni activated his lightsaber just to make sure. Obi-Wan and ShiriKei stood there looking at the orange blade. There wasn't many Jedi with an orange bladed lightsaber. Obi-Wan then looked at ShiriKei. He silently hoped to himself that ShiriKei wasn't mad at him for what he said the night before. He watched her as she placed the blasters on her belt. He did the same and stood there beside her. Jarni looked up and nodded.
He peaked his head out of the door of the warehouse and noticed that no one was in the streets. Which was unusual for that time of day. He stepped outside and Obi-Wan and ShiriKei followed. Jarni stood up against the building and gestured for Obi-Wan and ShiriKei to do so. He then looked at them.
"ShiriKei, remember to go to the same warehouse as before. That warehouse houses the most of the army. Go in the back way and watch out for the Ysalamiri machine. Obi-Wan, you will go with me to the main office building."
"Okay." ShiriKei said, nodding.
"Okay."
Jarni gestured to ShiriKei to run on. She nodded and ran off the opposite direction. Obi-Wan watched her run. Then, turned his head when Jarni touched his shoulder. Jarni and Obi-Wan began running towards the main building and noticed that no one was there. Obi-Wan then looked to his left and saw people in the shadows of the building. He reached for a blaster as Jarni took his lightsaber from his belt and ignited it. They just needed to hold them off long enough to get inside the building.
ShiriKei reached the warehouse. She noticed that she still had the ability to use the Force. She reached up for the window above her and pulled herself up. She could see the droids from the window. There were about half as many more as the day before when they escaped. Using the blaster handle, she broke the window and cleared away any glass that would cut her. She eased her way through the window and dropped to the floor as softly as she could.
She stepped closer towards a few of the machines and noticed that she still had the ability to use the Force. Then, she saw something familiar to her. It was her lightsaber. She reached out with the Force and called it to her. She pressed the activation button. The silver almost white blade lit the warehouse. She quickly deactivated it, as she heard some people running past the building. She placed it on her belt. She smiled. She had gotten her lightsaber back.
"Now." She whispered. "To destroy the droids."
-Chapter 9-
Jarni and Obi-Wan tried running past as many of the people as possible. They didn't want to have to kill innocent people. Using the Force, they ran quickly up the steps and into the building. There wasn't any turbolifts like Obi-Wan was used to, so they found some stairs and began running.
"Gemma and Dominic will be on the top floor. Be ready."
"Okay." Obi-Wan said.
They made it up to the top floor and saw only one set of doors. They were pretty big doors to be for an office. Obi-Wan grabbed the other blaster from his belt. Jarni kicked in the doors and ran inside followed by Obi-Wan. They stood in the middle of the room. They saw Gemma and Dominic standing there like they were waiting on them. Dominic fired some shots at Jarni, but Jarni just deflected them with his lightsaber. Obi-Wan fired some shots at Gemma. She dodged them.
"I guess that you are wanting this." Gemma said, holding Obi-Wan's lightsaber.
"Yes. Very much so." He replied.
"Well, then. Defeat me."
"What? Gemma?" Dominic exclaimed.
She just ignored him. Obi-Wan knew what it would be hard to defeat her with only two blasters. He needed his lightsaber now. Gemma sat Obi-Wan's lightsaber down on her desk and started towards Obi-Wan. He stepped back a bit. Jarni stepped off to the side and Dominic stood beside the desk. He watched Gemma. She wasn't paying any attention to him. So, he grabbed the lightsaber and threw it Jarni. Jarni caught it and then looked at Dominic. Jarni then threw it to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan caught it and ignited it. Gemma turned her head and looked at Dominic.
"I knew that you were the traitor."
"No. I'm not the traitor. I'm just tired of the abuse that you give me."
"Dominic, you will pay for this treachery."
"Not as much as you will." Obi-Wan said, pointing the blade of his lightsaber at her.
"Please do not kill her, Jedi." Dominic said.
"It's not in the nature of a Jedi to kill. We will just return to Coruscant."
"Agreed. Dominic said.
****
ShiriKei took the lightsaber from her belt and ignited it. She stabbed and slashed at the machine in front of her. The machines and droids began exploding one after another. She ran towards the doors to leave the building before it exploded. The doors were locked. She couldn't open them with the Force. The only other way was out the window that she entered in. The fire from the explosions was already at the window. She sighed and tapped into the Force. She created a small shield around her and made a running jump for the window.
With the Force giving her a bit more airtime, she grabbed the seal of the window and climbed up the wall to get out of the warehouse. She took one last look in the building and then jumped to the ground. She then made a running break for the main office building she knew that Obi-Wan and Jarni would be. She made her way up the steps and into the building. She noticed that their were no turbolifts like most of the buildings on Coruscant. She saw some stars and began running up them. She got up to the top floor and saw that there was no door. It had been kicked in.
She saw Obi-Wan and Jarni standing there. She walked into the room and stood beside Jarni. She saw that Obi-Wan had his lightsaber. He was still standing there with the blade of his saber pointed towards Gemma. She saw Dominic standing beside Jarni. She looked at Jarni.
"So, what now?" She asked.
"We are going home." Obi-Wan said. "Let's go."
"How?"
"There is a ship in the hanger behind this building. We can take it to Coruscant." Jarni stated.
"Okay. Let's go."
Obi-Wan deactivated his lightsaber and placed it on his belt. He grabbed Gemma by the arm and gestured for her to walk. She did with some resistance. Jarni took Dominic by the arm and gestured him to walk. He did willingly. ShiriKei held the hilt of her lightsaber in her hand and followed them. They made their way towards the hanger. When they got inside, Obi-Wan and ShiriKei noticed that it was the same ship that brought them to Chandrila. They stepped into the ship. ShiriKei headed for the cockpit to get ready for take off. Jarni and Obi-Wan stayed in the back tying up Dominic and Gemma.
Within a few minutes, ShiriKei had the ship in the orbit of Chandrila and putting in the coordinates in for Coruscant. She sat in the pilot's seat and thought about want Obi-Wan told her the night before. She had told him that it was impossible because they were Jedi. She was beginning to doubt herself. She was very much in love with him. That much was true, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him that she did love him. A few minutes later, Obi-Wan walked into the cockpit and sat down in the copilot's seat. ShiriKei pressed the button to take them to hyperspace.
The stars became starlines as Obi-Wan looked at ShiriKei. He looked at her beautiful red hair and smiled. ShiriKei could feel him looking at her. She looked at him and smiled. Then, she looked away from him. He reached over and took her hand. He kissed her hand and let placed it back on her leg where it was. She tilted her head and looked at him. She wanted to tell him, but she decided to wait.
A few hours later, they came out of hyperspace and after sending the information that they needed they descended through the orbit and the beautiful blue skies of Coruscant. ShiriKei landed the ship in the hanger of the Jedi Temple and cut off all power except what they needed to get off. ShiriKei and Obi-Wan stood up and headed for the back where Jarni was guarding Gemma and Dominic. Obi-Wan and Jarni helped them up off of the floor and walked down the ramp. ShiriKei followed them down the ramp.
****
ShiriKei stood on one of the balconies that overlooked the busy skies of Coruscant. The sun get beginning to set. The sky began turning beautiful shades of orange and purple. It was a very beautiful sight. She then heard footsteps approaching behind her. She turned her head and saw Obi-Wan. He walked up to her and stood beside her. She then looked back at the sky. The sun was half way set.
"Gemma will be imprisoned, but Dominic has been pardoned for helping us. He will return to Chandrila to help build the government back to what it once was."
"That's good to hear." She whispered.
"Yes. I would have to say so. It's great to be back on Coruscant."
"Yeah." She sighed.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No. There's nothing wrong."
"Something has to be wrong. You have said hardly anything to me or anymore since our return."
She didn't say anything. She couldn't. Not just yet. The sun finally set as ShiriKei looked at Obi-Wan. She smiled. He smiled too. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest. He kissed the top of her head. She then looked up at him and engaged in a kiss that would be their first as a couple.
-The End-
©ShiriKei Celisoe and AdmiralTreyDavid
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