{{ urbania's void - chapter 39
...slipping away (day forty / +40)
Jacen’s teeth were clenched, his head slammed against the back of the chair. He hoped the worst of it was over, his whole lower half was numb from pain and his mouth tasted of metal and blood, like he took a blaster bolt between his teeth. Even worse was feeling the pain beside him, from Tenel Ka.
In the midst of it all, he realized they were back open to the Force and tried to call out to his friends, begging them for some sort of help. Little did he know, they were already on their way.
That was when all the pain stopped, the machine slowed, the noise died down, except for Tenel Ka’s whimpers, which were quickly transforming into growls of rage. Jacen knocked his head back, tilting it upwards. He saw a grinning Jagged Fel at the window above. The door to the chamber slid open and Jacen’s head lulled back down to look, where a pinched face Kyp Durron bolted through and over to the machine. Jacen knew their pain was spreading to all the other Jedi – which is probably a reason that Jag had been so quick and all uncharacteristic smiles above them. He was an extremely important asset to this mission, Jacen realized. He also wondered how in the Corellian Hells Kyp and Jag had gotten there to begin with. But he figured he would save his questions for later.
“How’d you guys… get…” Forget later. Jacen’s head lulled to the side, his eyes lazily locking with Kyp’s.
“Come on, Solo,” Kyp grumbled, ignoring his question and fiddling with the straps around Jacen’s wrists and ankles.
“Help Tenel Ka.” It was all he could murmur, his voice cracking.
Kyp finished with Jacen and quickly moved to Tenel Ka. Jacen watched for a moment, trying to push the sudden dizziness out of his head. “Where is everyone?”
Once he was done with Tenel Ka, Kyp helped her out of the seat and pulled her up, throwing her right arm around his shoulder. His eyes stayed on her for a few moments to make sure she was alright before they turned to Jacen. “Jag and I came here to get you guys. We came up here with your sister, Lowbacca, Tesar and Tekli – but once Welk, Lomi Plo and Raynar realized what was happening, they bolted out of the room and tried to make some sort of escape. Tesar was able to destroy the console that controlled whatever was holding our Force powers back before he and Tekli, along with your sister and Lowie, began to chase the three kriffsticks.”
“What about the others?” Jacen finally stood from his chair, his hands going straight to his head.
“Tahiri and Alema snuck out, hopefully, to go prepare the ships to get out of here. And Gadell and Zekk went to try to look for Ryled Mirdele. They figured that was the place to get any answers about Welk and Lomi Plo and their new best buddy.”
“What do we do?” Tenel Ka croaked.
“Jag and I are going to go look for all of our possessions that got taken when we got here. Weapons, datapads, all that stuff. What are you guys up for? Maybe you should get cleaned up or something.”
“There’s no time.” Jacen shook his head. “This place has to be crawling with Quadripdici.”
Kyp nodded solemnly, throwing a quick glance up to Jag, who gave him a thumbs up. The control room was still safe. “Maybe you should get the Mindmaps…” Kyp let his eyes lock on the floor, his mind racing back to all the distress they had caused. “Those things need to be destroyed.”
“You’re right.” Jacen had been thinking it all along, but he wasn’t looking forward to it. Anything relating those horrible devices sent a shudder up his spine.
“Come on,” Kyp began to walk with Tenel Ka, Jacen rushing up to her other side.
Gadell turned back to look at Zekk, who had his head stuck in a room. “Hey,” he hissed.
Zekk pulled himself back into the hallway and looked at Gadell with wide eyes.
“Come here…” Slipping into one of the open doors, Gadell waited for Zekk to come in before he began to speak. “Check this stuff out.”
The two of them had taken off from the hallway their rooms had been in, instantly knowing that the man who ran the Urbania and lived in the tower they were prisoner in -- he had to know something. So they both set off to find him, running up stairs and ramps to floor after floor of corridors. Using the turbolifts would be too dangerous; they knew Welk and Lomi Plo could probably shut them off. After minutes of wandering and hiding from random Quadripdici, they had stumbled upon a hallway that didn’t look like the rest. All the other parts of the tower that they had seen were lined with durasteel -- cold, drafty, lifeless. But this one, in this one the walls were wooden, the floor covered with dark carpeting. As creepy as it seemed, it had been a bit of a welcome sight to the men, who were tired of seeing metal hall after metal hall of nothing.
This seemed like a personal place, and they figured it would be the perfect place to start looking for Ryled.
The room that Gadell had pulled Zekk into had flimsiplast thrown all over it. Piles of it by the door, discarded pieces covering desks. The neon light that spilled in from the window seemed dimmer than normal, and once Zekk bounded over to it and looked out, he realized why.
“Oh, well…”
“What?”
He waved the Hapan over, and once Gadell got to the window and looked out of it beside Zekk, the same expression of wonder was pasted on his face.
They were near the top of the tower, they had to be. The city was far below and shone like a sick and broken rainbow gem from Gallinore and caused Gadell to shake his head. “I hate this place.”
“You aren’t the only one.”
They started poking around the stacks of flimsiplast, figuring out their next move when Gadell stopped, pulling an article off of a shelf. The pictures on it had caught his eye and for a good reason too. Two faces of torture were staring back at him from the sheet, except they looked a lot calmer and more sincere.
Nexus and Tenk Mirdele.
“Zekk,” Gadell whispered, pressing the small of his back against the table he had been standing near.
The other man looked over, waiting for Vessau to continue.
“Remember Lomi Plo and Welk using Mindmaps of these two? Ryled’s kids?”
Zekk nodded.
“Ryled killed them.”
Sure enough, Zekk swiped the article from Gadell’s hands and read it for himself. Ryled killed his children and was serving time in a Galactic Alliance run prison – until he made his escape that is. And came to the Urbania. “He’s supposed to be in jail. And he’s out here running this place.” His eyes scanned the sheet once more, moving slowly back to the pictures of the beaming faces beside it. “How could anyone do something like that?”
“Especially to their own children…” Gadell’s eyes were roaming the shelves again, a sudden pit in his stomach. This man they were dealing with was ruthless. Just like Welk and Lomi Plo.
And just like the man they had all been talking about rescuing. Raynar.
Meeting up in the control room with Jag, Kyp helped ease Tenel Ka into a chair where Jacen kneeled and began wiping the traces of blood from her lips and skin. She waved his hands away.
“We have no time for this,” she said.
Jacen just stopped and stared at her.
Kyp and Jag were already by the exit. Kyp was pointing to his head, moving his finger from his temple to point at Jacen. “I’ll let you know when we find our stuff.”
With that, the two men were gone, leaving Jacen and Tenel Ka alone together.
For a few moments, they stared into each other’s eyes, both sets narrowed and determined. Jacen broke the link, pushing to his feet and stalking over to a section of the console where he pulled open the top drawer. It contained a tray of small, clear circles, curved at the middle. They were all in separate little containers, labels scrawled across the edges. Names he recognized jumped out at him. Lusa, Eryl Besa, Numa Rar, Ganner Rhysode, Anja Gallandro…
So she actually is dead…
He frowned, remembering the dinner where he had seen her with Raynar. He was hoping maybe she had just joined them, and it wasn’t a Mindmap… that she could possibly be saved – but this shot that thought out of his mind. Glancing around, he spotted a small satchel on one of the chairs and yanking it to him; he opened it and dumped the contents of the tray inside.
“Let’s get out of here.”
“Did you get all of them?”
“Each and every one of them in the machine.”
Tenel Ka found the strength to push herself out of the seat and follow Jacen, who was traipsing to the door and peering to the left and right outside of it. Once they were out in the hallway, Tenel Ka flanked Jacen on the left, her eyes never leaving him. She could tell by his profile that he was bent on fixing this. His eyebrows were furrowed, jaw stiff, teeth clenched. He was set on capturing the Dark Jedi, set on finding out what went wrong with Raynar, set on getting rid of the Mindmaps. He was ready to leave the Urbania.
They all were.
When they heard sets of feet coming up an adjacent hallway, Jacen pushed Tenel Ka back against the wall, his arm pressed across her midsection. They both held their breath only to exhale it loudly one they saw who the feet belonged to.
“We lost ‘em.” Jaina said, angrily, once her eyes landed on her brother and Tenel Ka. Lowbacca grumbled a curse.
“Where’s Tesar and Tekli?”
“I told them to head on out of here and make an escape. They’re going to get to the hangars where we put our ships when we got here. Alema and Tahiri should be there already--”
“Go,” Jacen nodded towards them.
Lowie growled a question.
“We’ll be fine,” he responded, throwing a quick glance to Tenel Ka. She was nodding in agreement. “Just both of you go. We’re gonna find Zekk and Gadell and then we’ll get out of here and follow you guys. I don’t know if there’s anything we can do about Raynar now. We need to get out of here and regroup before we can have a solid plan – now that we know what’s going on.”
Jacen gulped slightly. He knew Jaina wasn’t one to leave people behind, especially in a time like this. But he also knew that she trusted him. She had a look of worry on her face, as did Lowie, but after a few moments hesitation, they both nodded and took off down the hallway.
Once they vanished down the corner, both Jacen and Tenel Ka felt a presence flare in their mind. It was Kyp, and rushing down the hallway in the other direction they followed his beacon. The ascended a couple floors – floors that all looked the same – and stumbled upon Kyp Durron and Jagged Fel in a storage closet, rummaging through weapons and clothes and equipment.
“That was fast,” Jacen grinned weakly.
Kyp stopped fiddling with the storage unit their weapons were in and peered up to the couple, tilting his head and shooting them a smarmy grin. “Hey, it’s us.” He finally got the unit open, and tossing Jag a couple of blasters, Kyp gathered up everyone’s lightsabers in his arms and held them out slightly for Jacen and Tenel Ka to take theirs.
She reached out for hers, but Jacen pulled her hand back. Three sets of eyes instantly went to Jacen.
“No, just give us a couple of blasters.”
“Why?” Tenel Ka’s brow scrunched up, her eyes narrowing. What was he thinking? Since they had the Force back, their lightsabers were their best bets, right?
Jacen didn’t answer; he just looked to Jag and waited. “Four, please.”
Slowly, Jag nodded and reached into the unit, pulling out four blasters of different shapes and sizes; he was still favoring the wrist that hadn’t been injured in the whole ordeal. He stacked them in Jacen’s hands before helping Kyp stash all the lightsabers and equipment in the bags they had with them. Jacen gathered them all under his right arm and hesitated for a moment and then he spoke up over the soft clatter of the equipment.
“Can you give us some repulsor boards too?”
Looking up from the quick job the two of them were making out of stealing weapons back, Jag turned and grabbed a few in his hand. Jacen was thrown four small cubes, which he tucked in his satchel with the Mindmaps.
“Thanks.”
“Anytime, Solo.” Fel stood, clapping him on the shoulder. “Good luck, both of you.”
“Thank you,” Tenel Ka nodded.
Jag shot a small grin to Tenel Ka and looked back towards Kyp, throwing one of the bags over his shoulder. He winced as it knocked into his wrist, but quickly regained his composure.
“We’ll meet you back at the ships,” Kyp said. “They’re in Hangar 260-A down near the Vina Lidrina.” He had no idea what Jacen was planning but he saw the look of determination in the kid’s eye and he trusted it. “And don’t take too long.”
Nodding, Jacen turned and stalked out of the storage room, Tenel Ka in tow. She could feel him bubbling in the Force, voices zipping through his head. She couldn’t deal with it anymore, stopping in the middle of a durasteel ramp, nondescript doors all around them; she reached out and grabbed his arm, spinning him around. His eyes looked tired and his cheeks were gaunt, his hair was a mess of chocolate on his head and he was still dressed in parts of the green uniform he worn to dinner. “What is going on?”
“You have to trust me. I have an idea. We need to find Gadell and Zekk first.”
“We’re right here,” Zekk shot a chuckle from above the ramp, on the next level. “We’ve been following your Force signature. Seems as though you were doing the same for us.”
Crackling the shadow of a small smile, Jacen nodded up to the two black-haired men who peered over the railing. “I have a plan.”
“Come on! They’re up here! I saw it on the holoscreens!” Lomi Plo led the boys behind her, all three with their lightsabers in hand. They had watched the others get away from their security chamber and hadn’t bothered sending Quadripdici to go after them. They had messed with their minds enough – plus, they still had four of the womprats scurrying around the premises – and they were about to be cornered on the only place with nowhere to escape to.
The roof.
Emerging from the opening at the top of the highest ramp, Lomi Plo, Raynar Thul and Welk stopped. The artificial breeze toyed with their hair and drifted around their skin, their weapons sizzling in the silence. A hazy and dull neon glow tried to creep its way over the lip of the building, but the city was so far down that it wasn’t succeeding too well – there were also a number of shapes blocking the light. Four of them, human in build.
Once his eyes adjusted, Raynar sneered, cracking his neck. He recognized them instantly.
The one on the far left, a man with shoulder-length black hair, a green streak running down the right side of his face. He had two blasters in his hands, narrowed gray eyes and a permanent smirk. His arms were down by his sides and he was lazily bouncing the blasters off of his legs, his right hip cocked out to the side.
The one beside him had wide brown eyes and a messy cut of dark red hair. He was licking his lips, two mismatching blasters in his grasp as well. He was in a dirty off-white shirt and a pair of crimson pants that matched his hair.
A man beside him, he was third in the row. He was cracking his knuckles with an expression of muted excitement on his face. Straight blonde hair was shaken from his face as he tossed the newcomers a viridian wink.
And on the far right, the hazy light drifted around curves, a female. She had long cerulean hair, violet eyes, and her head was tilted slightly to the left. She only had her right arm, the hand placed on her hip. Her left arm ended above the elbow.
“So we’re gonna play this game?” Raynar snickered, raising his lightsaber. What were they thinking? Blasters against Dark Jedi with lightsabers and the Force? Hells, two of them didn’t have any visible weapons at all.
“Awww,” Kaidin Serasai moved forward, twirling the blasters around in his fingers. “I like games. You mean you don’t want to play?”
The four had rushed to the roof and dug around in the satchel for the Mindmaps they had become so familiar with and Jacen had relayed his idea to them. He had faith he could keep himself at the surface of the Kaidin Mindmap – enough to use the Force – and he knew they could too. He figured with the Force, they could sense the dark Jedi’s movements and dodge them. If they had lightsabers, the dark Jedi could do the same – figure out their movements ahead of time. But with Kaidin and Tessick’s skills when it came to blasters – and Khee and Rez’s surprisingly fluid Hapan kickboxing moves – the dark Jedi would have a harder time sensing and blocking. He told them to remember to use the Force as themselves and whatever skill their Mindmapped being was the best at.
“Of course I want to play.” Raynar spun his lightsaber and began moving across the roof towards the four, his eyes narrowed and a sneer set on his lips. His right arm swung out widely and would’ve caught both Kaidin and Tessick’s necks, had they not simply ducked, crouching to their knees. Their blasters were out after that, safeties off, and as Raynar was recovering from his missed swing, they both sent off shots towards Welk and Lomi Plo, taking them by surprise.
They dodged out of the way though, their lightsabers back up in a heartbeat. Welk lunged for Khee, while Lomi Plo was busy taking care of Tessick and Kaidin. Raynar was occupied with circling Rez, taunting her by waving the weapon around between them.
“What do you think you’re gonna do, huh?” Raynar snotted.
Not impressed by his display of skills at all, Rez grabbed his wrist once the lightsaber was away from her face and pulled him towards her, quickly moving to kick him in his side. He stumbled, but only for a moment before he was back in front of her and sneering.
“I’m gonna do that.” She motioned with her head to his side and flashed a coy little grin before ducking and dodging a sudden swing by him – she felt that one coming in her mind, and the next, which she jumped away from. While she was focused on his weapon and his thoughts concerning that, she didn’t realize his empty hand had balled into a fist, which came barreling towards her face and connected with her nose, knocking her back and leaving it bloody.
Khee tackled him after that, taking Raynar to the ground, while Rez was back up on her feet, instantly dodging slice after slash from Welk. He flinched when he felt a blaster bolt slam into his right ankle and stumbled over onto his hands and knees, crawling away from the approaching Tessick. He checked to make sure Rez was okay before following Welk across the flat expanse that made up the roof of the building.
Kaidin was still physically arguing with Lomi Plo, Jacen using his Force powers to feel her movements and shift around them. Whenever he could manage, he would sneak a shot off aimed at her hand. They would land, because Kaidin rarely missed shots, and Lomi Plo would flinch – Jacen felt it in the Force. He was chipping away at her hands and he could tell her grasp was getting weaker and weaker.
Ryled Mirdele had emerged onto the roof at some point during the fray and was watching intently, his arms crossed over his broad chest. He was proud of his children, the three he had found on the Urbania and taken in. They were strong and smart and he knew when they took over the Urbania one day from him, they would use it to their advantage – which was the exact opposite of Tenk and Nexus, his two biological children. They never liked what he did with his life and the Urbania and he was happy he was able to replace them. His mind had been wandering to future plans for his newest children when he watched as the blonde male delivered a crushing kick to Welk’s neck, Welk’s lightsaber flying backwards and off of the roof of the tower.
The girl, the one with the blue hair, had knocked Lomi Plo off of her feet with a sweep of her right leg – only after one of the males had shot a blaster bolt into her shoulder. Ryled couldn’t tell which man the blaster bolt had come from, because both were now occupied with Raynar, dodging his lightsaber advances and knocking him with the handles of their weapons, when they could manage. They overpowered him, herding him towards the edge of the roof, the artificial breeze creeping up over the edge and whipping their clothes and hair around wildly.
Ryled could only growl. The two that had hurt Lomi Plo and Welk were standing over their bodies, while the two working on Raynar had him pushed over on his back, his neck craned over the lip of the tower. The black-haired male had pulled Raynar’s lightsaber from his grasp – with the Force – and was hovering it right out of Thul’s reach. Raynar was wide-eyed at the sight and his shaggy blonde hair, matted with sweat, was pasted against his face, almost blocking his field of vision.
“Jacen,” Raynar growled.
“Who?” Kaidin snickered, shifting the lightsaber out over the vast expanse of the city with a flick of the wrist, the blaster in his hand clinking with the movement. He broke his concentration, dropping his hand to his side and let the weapon fall, a mock expression of hurt on his face as he looked back to Raynar. “Oh dear, I apologize for that right there.”
Thul growled and pressed against Tessick, who was holding him down at the edge with a mixture of brute strength and the Force.
“Ah ah ah.” Kaidin shook one of the blasters in Raynar’s face, like he was a scolding mother shaking her finger at a misbehaving child. And seconds later, he pulled the blaster back and shoved it from side to side. The butt of it smacked across Raynar’s head and knocked him out cold.
He and Tessick backed away from him and turned in unison, both taking in the sight. Ryled Mirdele, jaw clenched and angry, with Rez Nyena and Khee Verelen standing over the bodies of Welk and Lomi Plo. They couldn’t tell if the two sprawled out were dead or not, nor did they care. They just knew they had to get out of there with Raynar.
Minutes seemed to pass as the four of them stared to Ryled, his rage slowly building with each passing second. They could each sense it under their Mindmaps and they could feel their muscles tensing up – they knew he was about to try something.
“You killed my children!” Mirdele shouted, suddenly rushing forward towards them, face red and tense hands out. He stopped only when Kaidin’s arm shot up, blaster aimed perfectly at the bridge of Ryled’s nose.
“No, you killed your children,” Tessick claimed, Zekk’s thoughts beaming through the Mindmap. He moved back towards the edge of the roof, near Khee and Rez.
Ryled looked shocked, his hands balling up in nervous fists on either side of him. Kaidin stepped forward, his side towards the man, and raised his right arm, planting the blaster muzzle against the man’s forehead.
The universe stopped as Kaidin pulled the trigger, the man instantly thrown backwards.
“Bounty claimed.”
Behind him, Tessick threw small cubes to Rez and Khee, keeping two for himself. “Come on, Kaidin.”
He turned just as Tessick threw him his own, catching it at arm’s length. Khee and Tessick already had their repulsor boards out and were on them, hovering over the roof. Tessick had Raynar Thul’s unconscious body slung over his shoulders. Rez had her head tilted towards Kaidin, her eyes locked on his. She could feel Jacen in there, shining brightly – and Jacen could feel Tenel Ka. They smiled at each other, violet eyes still meeting a set of tired grays.
Tessick and Khee tossed each other a sly glance before kicking their boards into gear and speeding off, the men inside the Mindmaps trusting the two on the roof to follow.
Tossing his cube upwards and letting it land in his palm once, Kaidin slinked over to Rez, a lopsided grin on his face. The tips of a lock of green hair brushed the upturned corner of his lips as he pocketed the cube for a moment and gently placed his hands on Rez’s shoulders. She responded by placing her closed fist against his chest, her repulsor board still a cube in her hand. They leaned into each other and their lips met – and Tenel Ka could feel Rez jolt for a moment, which shocked her. Why was she kissing this man? The one who had caused her so much grief that night, the last night she danced at the Exa Sendra…
Tenel Ka noticed at this point, she could feel Rez in her mind. Had they meshed so much with these Mindmaps that the people they were modeled after were actually coming out of these devices and seeping into their minds? Was this what was happening to Jacen throughout the whole mission to rescue Raynar?
Kaidin was masking Jacen, swimming around in the man’s mind. Jacen felt him there, begging for the power he used to have over Solo’s mind before. Except now, Jacen knew he had a Mindmap on and he knew he could take it off. The bounty hunter was persistent though, and Jacen could feel him permeating his thoughts. One of his hands slid down Rez’s side. If only he could just…
Breaking the kiss, Jacen ripped his right hand away from the woman’s side and squeezed the bridge of his nose, letting the Mindmap fall into his palm. He pulled all the way back from her, offering up a blush and a grin, along with a small kiss to the tip of her nose.
Tenel Ka felt a warmth spread through her body at the sight of Jacen, along with the genuine feeling of gratitude from Rez.
Rez Nyena had never known what it was like to be loved by someone other than a family figure. And now that she had felt Jacen’s love through Tenel Ka, the dancer smiled inwardly, the expression spreading to the Queen Mother that had her Mindmap on.
“Come on,” she chuckled.
Opening her hand, she threw the cube down and let it spread out before jumping on it and taking off, tilting her board over the edge of the towering building.
She vanished from Jacen’s view, over the side, her dark blue hair whipping out behind her. He hesitated a moment, letting his own repulsor board warm up before jumping onto it. He didn’t leave yet though. He stood on the board and stared down at the small clear circle in his hand. The device that had caused so much trouble and pain; the man that had hurt so many.
Using the Force to raise it from his palm, he narrowed his eyes, concentrating on it. It shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces, all of them settling back into his hand. With that, he sped off into the Urbania’s endless night and overturned his hands as he moved, the dust from the Mindmap raining far down into the city below.
“Sleep tight, Serasai.”
Leaning further forward, Jacen slammed his foot onto the pedal at the back and sped up, attempting to catch up with his companions ahead. He finally did, when they were almost to the Vina Lidrina and hopping from his board to the streets, he grabbed it and cubed it back up, jogging towards the hangar. They were still ahead of him, he could make out their bobbing heads of burgundy, blonde and blue in the crowd as his gaze scanned the surroundings.
He stopped though; his eyes had caught something in an alleyway. Jacen stood in the middle of one of the busiest walkways of the Urbania, at a dead halt, his friends waiting for him in the hangar. They were so close to leaving.
There was a man in the alleyway next to the Vina Lidrina. He stood with his back to the building, arms crossed over his chest, one foot planted against the wall while the other held him steady on the ground. He was staring at Jacen. Wide gray eyes, black hair. The green streak. There were people passing between him and the man and Jacen had to keep moving his head from side to side to see the man.
“Kaidin…” Jacen murmured.
It was the exact man Jacen had looked at in the mirror at so many times lately, except there were a few differences here and there. Exact hair length, the arch of the eyebrow, the shape of the lips. It was him.
Seconds after Jacen saw him, the man pushed off of the wall, bowed his head slightly towards the gaping Solo and winked, vanishing into thin air seconds later. Jacen had to hold himself back from bolting into the alleyway, searching him out and uncharacteristically punching him repeatedly for everything that he had done. He had watched Kaidin disappear mere seconds ago, but all he could see himself doing was finding him somehow and paying him back for the life he had led and the people he had hurt.
“Jacen!”
He turned from the suddenly empty alleyway and saw Zekk, who had taken his Mindmap off, waving at him wildly towards the hangar. With a sharp inhale, Jacen took off towards his friends and his freedom.
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