The Mission to Rakari, Part 2

TITLE: The Mission to Rakari, Part 2
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*

The first day and a half on the transport were uneventful. On the afternoon of the second day, Master and Apprentice were in Cargo Bay Delta practicing dueling when, without warning, the ship dropped out of hyperspace. The sudden change in speed caused Obi-Wan to lose his rather precarious balance, and he fell forward, knocking Qui-Gon off balance as well. The two ended up in an undignified heap on the floor, lightsabres flying from their hands. The Princess and her nurse had been watching them, for lack of anything better to do. Aya applauded sarcastically. "Well done!"

Qui-Gon disentangled himself and rose. He bowed mockingly to the two girls. Obi-Wan merely blushed. He'd hoped to impress Aya with his skill. The match had ended badly.

"What's happened?" asked the Princess.

"I'm about to go find out," Qui-Gon said, heading for the door.

He returned a few moments later. He beckoned to his apprentice and spoke softly, "The hyperdrive generator's intake is polluted. It'll take them awhile to clean it out, but it's nothing serious – nothing they can't fix in a day or so. We're going to land on a nearby planet to take a look at it. From what I could gather, the planet's not inhabited by intelligent life, or if it is, only sparsely, so we shouldn't have anything to fear from those that want to kill the Princess. Plus, the atmosphere is breathable so we'll be able to get some fresh air. "

The four of them watched the descent out a side window. The landscape was largely prairie, with tall grasses, which bent under the pressure of the transport. It was dotted sporadically with rocky outcroppings. Aya referred to the outcroppings as 'kopjes' – which she pronounced "cope-ees". Obi-Wan had never seen such landforms, so he took her word for it. Once the ship had landed, Qui-Gon announced that they would all go out and
get some fresh air. Aya nodded and she and the Princess disappeared into their cabin, saying something about proper footwear. The two emerged a few moments later, wearing sensible hiking boots instead of the sandals they'd had on earlier. The little group strode down the ramp with some of the other passengers - few of them of species Obi-Wan recognized – and stepped out onto the prairie grasses. Aya looked apprehensively up at the sky. It was a bluish gray in one direction and a sickly green in another.

"You are worried," Obi-Wan said. It was not a question. He would have known that from her manner, even without the Force.

"Yes," she said. "On my home planet when the sky turns that green color there is usually a storm of unimagined magnitude."

"Maybe that's the normal color for this planet," Obi-Wan said optimistically.

"Perhaps," she said. But she continued to watch the sky, clutching her arms protectively about her. Princess Talisa, as if sensing her nurse's mood, did not stray far from Aya's side.

Obi-Wan turned from her. He had never seen so unspoiled a planet. Wildlife was abundant and birds and insects of unknown variety fluttered overhead and all around him. A few grazing beasts could be seen in the distance. He flopped down on the lush grass, sneezing as he upset a cloud of dust and pollen. The Life-Force was so intense here – he reveled in its glory for several minutes. Qui-Gon was affected as well by the intensity
of the planet's sheer energy.

Both Jedi felt the atmospheric disturbance at the same moment. Almost simultaneously, Aya gave a shout. "Funnel cloud!" She screamed at the Jedi.

"Get back on board!" The ship's crew shouted. The passengers hurried to obey. Qui-Gon would have followed, had not Aya grabbed his arm.

"NO!" she exclaimed fiercely. "The funnel will rip the ship to pieces.

Please, Master Jinn, if you would take my word for this, if you want to protect the Princess from all harm, you must not get on that ship."

Qui-Gon stared at her. He did not doubt that she was sincere, but he doubted her knowledge.

"Please, Qui-Gon," she begged, clutching his arm. "We must get to the kopje if there is any chance of surviving this at all."

The Jedi made up his mind. To the kopje they would go. With one smooth motion, he lifted the little princess in his strong arms and began to jog towards the rocks about 300 meters away. Obi-Wan shook his head, but he dutifully followed his Master. Aya ran alongside him.

The storm was loud, terribly loud. Obi-Wan had once witnessed a horrible collision between two cloud-cars on Coruscant. This sounded ten times louder. His eardrums beat fiercely. Just when he thought it was as loud as it could be, a great rending groan split the air. He turned, without pausing his stride. The transport ship was no more. There was a great mass of twisted metal where it had been. More pieces were flying though the air as the funnel wobbled drunkenly across the plains.

It began to rain then, heavy, cold, pelting rain. They did not slow their pace. The wind whipped at Qui-Gon's long hair, but he ignored it. The little princess in his arms was crying. He could do nothing to comfort her and his heart ached at the thought of her suffering. With the rocks still a hundred meters distant, Aya suddenly shouted, "Drop!" Obi-Wan obeyed
without thought, as did his Master. Something large and dark and metallic swooshed over their heads, missing them by centimeters. Qui-Gon realized belatedly that it was part of the ship. Obi-Wan could hear the Princess wailing in Qui-Gon's arms. He was frightened himself and he wondered how the little girl would be when this was all over. She would need therapy for years, he imagined. They rose and continued their race for the rocks.

When they reached the kopje, Aya ordered them all flat once more. Qui-Gon covered the Princess with his body, and Obi-Wan lay partially on top of Aya. For once, his lust for her was gone and he thought only of the Jedi's vow to protect and serve. The rain continued to lash at them, and the powerful suction of the funnel tore at their clothes and hair. Then,
just as suddenly as it had appeared from the clouds, the funnel disappeared back into the sky, leaving only disaster and death in its wake. The rain continued to pelt at them, and when large chunks of hail began to fall, Aya suggested finding more shelter than the base of a rock formation.

"Perhaps there is a cave," she said hopefully. They searched hurriedly, for the hail was becoming painful.

Qui-Gon, still carrying the child, found a cave deep within the formation. The cave smelled of animal life, but neither Jedi could sense anything presently living in it. A flash of light and a resounding boom split the silence of the cave and Obi-Wan was nearly startled out of his wits. "What was that?" he asked, terrified.

Aya regarded him skeptically. "Haven't you ever heard thunder before?"

He shook his head. He'd read of thunder before, but hadn't realized it was so ear splitting.

Qui-Gon turned to Aya. "Coruscant's climate is controlled. There are no storms. Obi-Wan has spent most of his life in the galactic capital. He has little first-hand knowledge of weather patterns."

"How boring," she muttered dryly, looking out of the mouth of the cave at the raging storm. Qui-Gon grinned at her. She smiled back. Aya began to look around the cave, the tearful Princess in tow.

"Droppings!" She exclaimed joyfully.

"I've never seen someone so excited by excrement," Qui-Gon remarked sarcastically.

She looked up at him and grinned crookedly. "We can use them to start a fire," she explained. "Obi-Wan, take some of the loose stones and arrange them in a circle near the mouth of the cave. Talisa, come and help me gather the droppings. Find the driest ones you can. They'll burn better."

"Eeewww, that's icky," said the Princess.

"You can help, or you can freeze. Take your pick, child." Aya's ultimatum worked wonders on the little girl and she immediately began to hunt about the cave.

Qui-Gon had the sense that if he didn't find a task to occupy himself, Aya would find one for him. He didn't fancy being ordered about by a nursemaid, so he decided to rig a clothesline for them to dry their wet garments. He removed some rock-piercing tools from his belt and fitted them into the walls of the cave opposite each other. He strung a length of
twine between them and pulled it taut. He then removed his wet cloak and hung it over the line, testing its strength. It held firm. Pleased with himself and his handiwork, he then set about helping his Padawan gather rocks for the fireplace. The girls had established a goodly pile of dung in the center of the stone circle. Aya stood up straight and rolled
her shoulders, eliciting a popping sound. Obi-Wan grinned at her. "We don't need the thunder outside, if you keep doing that, it'll be just the same."

She laughed at him. "Thanks Padawan," she said with a smile. "Talisa, I think we should go rinse our hands off, don't you?"

The Princess agreed with alacrity and they walked to the mouth of the cave, holding their hands out in the torrential downpour. The mud and dung was whisked away by the pouring rain. Turning, Aya beheld Qui-Gon's clothesline for the first time. Obi-Wan had hung his cloak alongside his Master's. She smiled pleasantly. "I hope you gentlemen will respect
our virtue if we remove all but our under-things to dry them."

Qui-Gon bowed to her, utterly serious. "You have my word on my honor as a Jedi, you will be safe regardless of your apparel – or lack thereof."

Aya nodded to him and pealed off her heavy woolen dress and a cotton underskirt. She stood before them in a chemise that had two small straps over the shoulders and fell barely to her knees. The Jedi noticed for the first time that she had a blaster strapped to her calf. Obi-Wan swallowed hard, trying to avoid staring at her body. The chemise was damp as well, and left little to the imagination. She rang out the clothes near the mouth of the cave; the water from them running in rivulets to join the rest of the droplets. She hung the clothes over the twine and then repeated the procedure with the Princess. Talisa's little body shivered in the cold and Aya suddenly remembered the firepit. As she buffed the little girl's arms, she turned to Obi-Wan. "Light the fire, please."

"How?" he asked. "I don't have a firestarter with me."

"Use your lightsabre," she suggested.

"But the lightsabre's a weapon of honor," he protested. "I can't use it to light a dung-fire."

"Fine," she snapped at him. "I'll just fire the blaster at it and splatter burning shit all over the walls."

"Point taken," he said, shamefacedly. He ignited the lightsabre and touched the tip of it to the dung pile. The fire burned cheerfully for a few moments and then died down to a healthy smoldering glow.

Aya sat down near the fire, pulling the Princess into her lap. The Jedi sat as well and Qui-Gon removed his boots and his heavy stockings, tossing them over the clothesline. Obi-Wan followed his Master's example. He was exhausted. He was prepared to battle enemies, but not the weather. Yes, he'd had survival training at the temple – every initiate had – but this was real. He was so tired, so very, very tired. He was too tired to care that a near-naked woman sat less than a meter away, too tired to care that their only transport off this planet had been destroyed. He sank lower and lower until he was stretched out alongside the fire. The stone floor of the cave was cold, but the fire was warming him slowly and he was becoming more comfortable. When Qui-Gon chanced to glance at his young Padawan a few moments later, he found him fast asleep. He smiled wryly. The
Jedi Master looked across the smoldering embers at Aya. She was rocking the little Princess in her arms and humming softly. She seemed to notice she was being watched and looked up at him. Aya smiled at Qui-Gon, she set Talisa down on the ground near enough to the fire that she would not get cold, but not so close that she might be burned.

"I must apologize for my earlier behavior, Master Jinn," she said. "It is not my place to issue orders to the Jedi."

Qui-Gon didn't know if she was referring to the scene at the ship that morning, or the fact that she had yelled at his Padawan. At this point he didn't really care.

"Mistress Aya," he began. "You seem to be the only one among us with any knowledge of what kind of weather this planet can throw at us." He gestured to the raging storm just outside the mouth of the cave. "You may act in any way you see fit if you get us out of here alive." He smiled at her. If he was to admit it to himself in the deepest corner of his
mind, he did find her attractive. he told himself fiercely. Another corner of his mind was telling him that a scarcely clad, extremely pretty young woman was sitting just across the fire from her. His apprentice and the Princess were both asleep. He forced his libido into submission with some effort.

"You should get some sleep Aya," he said finally. "Tomorrow promises to be…difficult."

She nodded and yawned. "Good night, Master Qui-Gon."

"Good night."

She curled around Talisa's little body, wrapping her arms protectively around the tiny Princess. Qui-Gon sat staring into the fire for a long time before he too lay down on the stone floor.

*

It was the cold that first woke Obi-Wan. He shivered, wondering momentarily where he was. Then the memories of the previous day washed over him. The apprentice sat up, stretched painfully, and looked about him. The first thing he noticed was that the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. The next was that Qui-Gon was stretched out beside him on the stone floor. Across the firepit the two girls lay intertwined. The blaster was still strapped to Aya's calf. Obi-Wan's stomach rumbled. He wondered if there was any edible game on this planet and if he could shoot it with Aya's blaster. As if she knew she was being watched, she opened her eyes.

"Good morning, Obi-Wan," she said groggily. She struggled into a sitting position, demurely pulling the chemise so that it covered more of her legs. "The fire's gone out."

"That would account for the cold," Obi-Wan said with a smile.

"Help me get more fuel," she said, rising.

The two of them moved farther back into the cave, seeking more droppings. When their arms were full they returned to the firepit, placing the fuel in the center of the stone ring. Obi-Wan lit it again and Aya bent, blowing on the embers, until the healthy glow returned.

"Do you know how to hunt?" Obi-Wan asked Aya. He'd never really had that much experience with wild animals.

"Sort of," she said smirking. "On my planet, it's not considered a suitable task for women. I know only of techniques that my male relatives spoke of – I have no direct ability."

"Me neither," Obi-Wan admitted. "Coruscant doesn't have any wild animals. Not anymore, at any rate. I guess there were wild animals at some point in its history."

"What a strange place you come from," she said. "No thunderstorms, no funnel clouds, no animals. Whatever do you do for excitement?" The latter was said sarcastically, with a gesture out the mouth of the cave.

Obi-Wan smiled again. "You have these storms often on your planet?" he asked, curiously.

"Most funnel clouds on my planet are bigger than the one you saw yesterday. Some have been recorded at nearly two kilometers across on the ground.

The one yesterday was just a wee baby compared to some storms."

"Two kilometers!" Obi-Wan exclaimed in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding."

"Alas, no. Sometimes whole towns have disappeared and even the pavement on the streets has been sucked into the maelstrom. But let us talk of more cheerful things. You mentioned hunting. Are you hungry?"

"Starving," Obi-Wan said.

"It's the curse of the adolescent boy," said Qui-Gon from behind them.

"I didn't realize you were awake, Master Jinn," said Aya. "Have you been awake long?"

"Long enough," Qui-Gon said. "Are the clothes dry? You really should put more on Aya. If you don't, I have a feeling you'll catch more than a chill." He smirked at her. Obi-Wan nearly choked. Had his Master really insinuated what he thought he had?

Aya walked over to the clothesline, trying to hide the fact that her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. She tested her dress. The woolen dress was still damp, but the cotton underskirt was dry enough. She pulled it on. Princess Talisa was awake by this time and her nurse pulled the girl's dress over the little Princess' head. Aya also pulled on her boots,
and then helped Talisa lace hers up.

"I'm hungry Aya," said the Princess.

"We all are, bairn," said Aya. "We'll figure something out though, don't you worry."

Obi-Wan thought.

"I have some food capsules," Qui-Gon said. "But we've nothing to cook them in."

"That does sort of put a damper on things, doesn't it?" Aya said.

"I saw some grazing beasts yesterday before the storm hit," Obi-Wan offered. "Maybe we could eat them."

"Obi-wan, why don't you and Aya climb up to the top of this kopje and have a look about. I'll try to contact the council. Maybe they can send some sort of transport for us."

Qui-Gon watched his apprentice and the young woman disappear out of the cave mouth. Princess Talisa looked up at him with big, frightened eyes. The Jedi Master smiled at her. "Don't worry little one. We'll be fine soon enough." She nodded at him, her eyes so full of trust that his heart lurched.

Qui-Gon tested his com-link. The atmosphere was still heavy with energy from the thunderstorm the day before, but he was able to get some reception. He punched in the coordinates for Yoda. The holographic image was very bad, but his voice came through clearly. Qui-Gon explained the situation and asked for a ship – any ship – to get them off this planet. The difficulty was, Qui-Gon had only a rough estimate of their position. How many planets there were that fit this one's description near the hyperspace travel lanes he had no idea.

"Worry not, Qui-Gon. Find you, we shall," The transmission ended. Qui-Gon willed himself to remain calm and not scream aloud in frustration. Instead he turned to the little girl with silver hair who stood regarding him shyly.

"Come Princess. Let's go find out what the other's are up to." He took her small lavender hand in his own large one and led her out of the cave.

*

Three days later, when the requested transport arrived, the pilot found two rather dirty and unshaven Jedi, one little lavender-skinned princess, and one human woman with auburn hair. They were sheltering in a rough cave in a rock outcropping on an endless prairie. The well-picked carcasses of some grazing beasts of undetermined species were piled up not far from their cave. The little party was extremely grateful to see the pilot, who was rather embarrassed by the welcome he received. They were even more excited when they found he had refresher rooms on board his little ship. In fact, there was something of a brawl as to which one of them got to use it first. There was a heated discussion as to whether the Princess outranked the Jedi. The pilot finally settled it by making them draw straws.

Two days following their rescue, the Jedi made their report to the council. Word had been sent to the King of Caidoj so that he should know that his daughter and her nurse were safe at the family's home on Coruscant.

As they exited the council chambers, Qui-Gon turned to look at his apprentice. "Well, Padawan, for a diplomatic escort, it had its excitement, don't you think?"

"Adventure, excitement, a Jedi seeks not these things," Obi-Wan intoned with mock-solemnity.

Qui-Gon laughed heartily, and clapped a hand on his apprentice's shoulder. "You'll do, my boy, you'll do fine indeed."