Beyond - Legends The Journal of Talon Tantiss: Jedi Knight and Reluctant Vornskr Owner: Complete [DDC 2015]

Uh-oh! Ben and Talon are in trouble - those mind-witches sure are sneaky!

 

Ysalamiri....? Oh dear.

 

The biting Skywalkers are a fearsome and terrible lot...

Mara and Luke terrorizing their kids with mushy stories is basically the show in this Skywalker-Tantiss world, and I LOL every time.

Nibbles the ysalamiri, that is adorable. I appreciate how so many of these characters keep pets. You'd think that Jacen as a little kid wouldn't be the only Skywalker-Solo to ever own a pet.

Mara has no clue, does she? Ignorance is bliss.

Interesting discussions on how to catch a mind-witch. Yeah, I bet Jedi visions don't hold up in court. They'd better not! (Example 1: Anakin Skywalker) Rather creepy theories as to how the mind-witch might be able to dispose of her victims. That's so easily passed under the radar, no wonder nobody's noticed.

Well, let's just hope that they don't use that question.

Can't imagine why Luke would think you're reckless, Mr. I Hope This Mission is Dangerous and Exciting.

And now they've got a herd of mind-witches with ysalamiri in tow. Well, Talon got his wish.

 

Looks like they're in deep trouble

more soon

 

You'll have to keep reading to find out.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

They have to be sneaky to survive. They're like vampires, but not the good kind (ask ginchy about my crush on Eric the Vampire! Ha!).

It's not good when a bunch of mind-witches know about ysalamiri.

Nibbles saved the galaxy from Palpatine. Mark has a soft spot for her.

Yeah, they are in deep bantha dung right about now.

Since Talon is writing the journal we know he doesn't die. Maybe he just gets hurt...and Ben dies. No, I think I would lose all my readers if I hurt Ben in any way. Despite the lack of story tension over Talon dying, I hope you guys like the story.

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Entry 13

The blackness slowly lifted and I could see evidence of light through my closed eyelids. I tried to lift my head, but my body was paralyzed. I couldn’t even manage to open my eyes. I have heard about body paralysis when a person is hit with multiple stunbolts. It takes time for your brain to start communicating with your body. At least I was conscious, albeit a bit groggy and with a blazing migraine. I tried to reach out to the Force but I couldn’t touch its healing energy. The ysalamiri must be in the room. The Force was silent, but the muttering of voices around me became clearer and I started to follow their whispered conversations.

“What the Kriff are we going to do with them?” came a male voice from behind me.

A second male voice responded. “We should have left them there. Their Jedi friends will come for them.”

From my front a third man spoke. He sounded younger and extremely panicked. “We should kill them. They know who we are. They know what we are. We can’t have the Jedi knowing of our existence. You know what they’ll do. You know what they’ll all do.”

“Calm down Jarod.”

“How the kriff can I calm down! Grand Master Skywalker and his kriff’n wife…who is not only a Jedi Master but Former Imperial assassin have been seen in the area. The two deadliest Jedi in the galaxy are searching for these idiots!”

“You know why, don’t you?” The question came from a female standing somewhere to my side. “The redhead is their oldest son. I recognized him. It’s Ben Skywalker.”

“Oh fraken kriff!” the younger sounding man moaned. “Kriffity, kriffity kriff! We are so kriffed!”

“Calm down Jarod,” the man behind me repeated.

“I’m not sure who the big guy is.” the female voice came closer and I felt a hand brush across my shoulder. I tried move away from her touch but only managed to jerk my head slightly. “Uhh ohhh, the big boy is coming to.”

I could hear a movement behind me and the soft whine of a blaster charging. “We can’t have that. Orders are to keep them out until the boss gets here.”

There was a discharge of a blaster and then blackness.


Entry 14

I don’t know how long I was out. The Force still eluded me, but this time I sensed my abductors weren’t in the room. I listened for a long time, trying to pick up movement, breathing or anything that would indicate I had company. I eventually did hear something. To my right there was the soft sound of breathing. I was fairly sure I was hearing Ben. I struggled to open my eyes. It took a few minutes, but eventually my eyelids fluttered open. I grunted as the pain intensified from the brightness of the overhead lights. I managed to turn my head and saw Ben tied to a chair, head slumped down, with a line of spittle making a path from his mouth and down to his thigh. We must have been here for a while because there was a palm sized puddle of saliva on the leg of his trousers.

“Ben.” I whispered dryly, my voice cracking. I swallowed a few times trying to get moisture into my mouth before I tried again. “Ben.”

When he didn’t answer I turned my head slowly, examining my surroundings. We were imprisoned in what looked like a large storage room. There were no windows, just gray duracrete walls with a metal door as the only hope of escape. Ben and I were secured to sturdy wooden chairs using plastic tie down straps and heavy-duty adhesive tape. I could feel bindings around my ankles holding my legs to the chair supports. My wrists were bound in the same manner to the armrests. I turned back to Ben to make sure he was all right. I could see his chest rising and falling in a relaxed manner. I didn’t notice any bruises or cuts on him. At least our kidnappers haven’t tortured us…yet.

“Ben.” He didn't wake, but remained silently drooling. I braced myself for the pain and used all of the energy I could gather to scoot the chair centimeter by centimeter closer to my cousin. “Ben.” This time a moan escaped his lips. “Ben, wake up.”

He grunted before his eyes fluttered open, then grimaced as he turned his head in my direction. “Talon?”

I smiled despite the hammering in my head. “Are you okay?”

Ben’s head dropped down as he drew in a deep breath. “It hurts to breath.” He turned back to me. “We got captured by the mind-witches…didn’t we?”

I sighed shamefully. “Yeah. This is my fault.”

“No, I agreed to follow the male witch. I’m senior Jedi. I should have known better.”

“Did you hear what they said earlier? While we were in this room.”

“No, what did they say?”

I frowned and let out a shuddered breath. “One of them wants us dead. They're scared because your parents are searching for us.”

“They won’t find us if we're blocked out by the ysalamiri.” He spit and shook his head trying to dislodge the thin line of drool from his lips. “It’s too bad you didn’t develop your father’s immunity to those Force void lizards.”

“Yeah.” I sat silently, pondering our situation. I brought my head up and twisted it to the side as far as I could, trying to see what was behind me. “If we can kill the ysalamiri, we might escape.” I flung my body against the restraints in an effort to turn the chair. Pain burst through my head at the harsh movement and I cringed when the legs of the chair screeched against the tile floor. I managed to turn enough to see a cage in the corner of the room. Unfortunately, it appeared to be made out of heavy metal with air holes drilled around the side. If the ysalamiri was inside I couldn’t kill it unless I could get my hands free and open the cage door. “Frack! He’s in a heavy metal container.”

I started to shift my chair side-to-side towards the cage when I heard voices in the distance. “Stang! Ben, pretend you are still unconscious or else they’ll blast you again.” I frantically tried to shift my chair back to its original position, but didn’t quite succeed. I could only hope they wouldn’t notice as I dropped my head, closed my eyes, and feigned unconsciousness.

The heavy metal door opened with a creak. Two sets of footsteps moved from the entrance to a position in front of me. I was a little surprised when I heard someone snickering.

“You know, even if you got back to where you started you left scuff marks all over the floor.” The voice was of one of the calmer males that I heard earlier.

I was content to continue my charade. I didn’t want to interact with my captors and face questioning.

“He’s scared we will stun him again,” came a woman’s voice. I startled when I felt somebody flopping down in my lap. “Wakey, wakey.” I reluctantly brought my head up to find a very young woman—probably a teenager—stretched out across my lap. She was wearing a black outfit and dark sunglasses to disguise her identity. My other captor was a dark haired man with tinted ski goggles over his eyes. I let out a sigh of relief. If they’re hiding their identities that could mean they didn’t intend to kill us.

The woman wrapped her arm around my neck and brought her face close to mine. “You are one large hunk of Jedi. I can see why Lita wanted to suck you dry.”

The man groaned. “Damn it, Sissy, no names.” He grimaced when he realized his mistake.

The girl glared at him. “I’ll try to remember that Terk.”

“Kriff. Why don’t we give them our identification cards while we’re at it.” The man unholstered his blaster. “Stand back or you’ll get hit…not that I mind stunning your sarcastic butt. It'd be real funny to see you flat on the deck and drooling like a moron.”

She put up her hand in a halting gesture. “Your boss is in the building. He’ll want them awake.”

He frowned before returning the blaster to his holster. “He’s your boss also.”

The girl laughed before she turned her attention back to me. “I’d like to get this one alone. Tie him down to a bed and have my way with him.”

The man scoffed. “Yeah. You talk big, but I know you’re a virgin.”

She turned in my lap causing her buttock to pivot over my groin painfully. “That’s not true…exactly.”

I made a sound of disgust. “Can we not talk about your adolescent love life while you are crushing my bits and pieces?”

She grinned and made and extra effort to bounce on my lap before leaning in and licking the side of my face. I pulled my head back forcefully causing my vision to swim. The young lady laughed at my discomfort before she let out a squeal of pain. I large hand with meaty fingers and gold rings had grabbed her by the earlobe and roughly yanked her off my lap.

“Owww, that hurts!” She jerked her head free as she gave a pouting glare to her attacker.

The owner of the hand was a large, muscular man dressed in tan work trousers, tunic and leather jacket. A knit cold weather mask--allowing only his mouth and eyes to be seen--covered his face. “It’s supposed to hurt!” he yelled at the woman. “Get out of my sight.”

Her face grew hot with indignation and I could see her jaw working as she gritted her teeth. “Fine.” She stomped out of the room and tried to slam the door behind her, but the heavy rusted door refused to be slammed. She left it partly open, mumbling and cursing under her breath as she walked down the hall.

The newcomer turned to the man in the snow goggles. “You too.” The smaller man scurried out of the room leaving the door open. The masked man turned to face us. He clasped his hands behind his back and rocked back on his heels while scrutinizing us.

“I must apologize for my daughter’s behavior. She’s seventeen and thinks she doesn’t need to listen to her father.” He looked over to Ben who continued to feign unconsciousness. “Stop pretending you're asleep Jedi Skywalker.”

Ben let out a breath before raising his head slowly. The giant of a man went over to the door and reached for something out of sight. I was relieved when he pulled out a small, armless chair from the hallway. He returned to our location setting the chair down backwards. He swung his leg over the seat, straddling it, while resting his arms across the top back support. “I am in a bit of a quandary. My family and friends foolishly decided to capture you two. Their thought process was if we let you go you would hunt us down and murder every mind-witch you could locate. They want to kill you to keep our secret.”

“We don’t kill innocent people,” Ben assured him.

The man gave a caustic laugh. “Mind-Witches have been hunted down and persecuted for thousands of years. We’re nearly extinct!” He stood abruptly and paced the length of the room. I could see his lips pulled back exposing his white teeth while his eyes burned with hatred.

This is not going well.

Ben starred back at the man defiantly. “We were trying to capture a mind-witch that attempted to trick and draw me into her clutches.” Ben motioned his chin toward me. “Talon had visions of her luring men into her apartment and draining their life energies until dead. She was a murderer!”

The man stopped pacing and rolled his eyes. “Yes, and that is why we were trying to capture her, but dumb-kriff here,” he gestured in my direction. “Shot my man before he could apprehend her.”

“You were hunting her?” There was a tinge of disbelief in Ben’s voice.

He sat down, resting his hands and chin on the backrest. “Yes, we were hunting her. Why do you think we had something that could shut down the Force? She uses the Force for defense and mind-witches can be deadly when cornered.” He heaved a frustrated sigh. The fire had burned out of his eyes and now only a haunted gaze remained.

“Why were you hunting her?” I had to ask.

The man slapped his palm to his forehead and gave a snort. “Gods, you must not be the brains of this operation. I already told you. She was killing people and we wanted to stop her.” He waved his hands at us in a frustrated gesture before he took a couple deep breaths and settled down. “I know it might be hard to understand, but we don’t want predatory witches as much as you don’t want serial killers.”

“Don’t you all kill?” I was a bit confused with the entire situation.

“Not anymore.” He drew in a deep breath and blew it out. “A hundred years ago, after a thousand years of our people being slaughtered, we decided the only way we could survive was to assimilate with humans. That meant we had to drastically change the way we…fed.” He scratched at his knit mask while mumbling about it being itchy. “As I was saying, we needed to change, become invisible, and we couldn’t do that if we were killing people. So all the clan leaders decided no individual would drain a person dry. We will take small amounts of life energy from dozens of people a day. Not enough for most of them to even notice. All it would do is make them feel tired. The clans would stay nomadic so not to prey on the same people constantly. It works, but every once in a while we have a witch that wants to go back to the old ways. And when that happens we hunt them down.”

I cleared my throat. “And kill them?”

The man rolled his eyes again before looking at Ben. “Does your friend think killing is always the answer?”

Ben gave me a sideways glance. “He’s a Void Jumper. He works for the military probably more than the Jedi…so he might have a little different mindset.” He paused for a second. “He did stun your comrade.”

“You’re lucky. I think my men would have left two dead Jedi in that alley otherwise.” He looked down while scratching the top of his head through the cap. “What am I going to do with you two?”

“I vote that you let us go.” That sentence came out more sarcastic than I intended.

The large man laughed. “You do, huh?” He looked back up, his blue eyes staring me down. “All of Kuat is looking for you. It would be smart to kill you both.” He stood and folded his arms across his chest. “But according to my daughter, I’m not very smart.” He moved to the door, pausing before exiting. “I need to talk to the other clan leaders. I would like to find a solution that doesn’t involve pissing off the Grand Master of the Jedi Order.” He slipped out the door leaving Ben and I bound and confused.

I looked over to Ben questioningly. “Do you think he’ll let us go?”

He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. “That would be his best choice. I don’t think he wants my mother coming after him. My dad might bring him to justice, but Mom…” He trailed off not wanting to verbalize what I already knew--mothers are the deadliest creatures in the galaxy when their young are threatened or killed.

I struggled with my bindings. I wasn’t going to wait for some witch to determine my fate. “Then we better escape for everybody’s sake.”

 

terrific update with the ' nice' witches

 

Ah, I liked seeing some "light-side" mind-witches and finding out about their history. Hopefully they can work together with Ben and Talon to capture the evil one. Great updates!

 

How the kriff can I calm down! Grand Master Skywalker and his kriff’n wife…who is not only a Jedi Master but Former Imperial assassin have been seen in the area. The two deadliest Jedi in the galaxy are searching for these idiots!”
“You know why, don’t you?” The question came from a female standing somewhere to my side. “The redhead is their oldest son. I recognized him. It’s Ben Skywalker.”

“Oh fraken kriff!” the younger sounding man moaned. “Kriffity, kriffity kriff! We are so kriffed!”

He knows of Mara Jade's reputation I see

I think it's in everybody's best interest to let them go, then they can work together hunting down the mind witch.

More soon

 

Thanks. I don't know much about the mind-witches, so I am making up stuff as I go along. It is no longer canon anyway, so I guess I don't need to sweat getting things right.

Thanks! I'm glad you like it. I appreciate you reading.

He sure does. You don't want to piss off the Grand Master and his equally dangerous wife.

Thanks everybody for reading. I really appreciate all the comments.

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ENTRY 15

Talking about escape is easy…actually doing so is difficult. I spent about twenty minutes gnawing at the heavy-duty tape securing my wrists to the chair. The end result was a saliva soaked tunic sleeve and strands of tape embedded between my teeth. Ben was faring a little better. He was able to get the end of the tape unfastened and pulled out about ten centimeters, but he was unable to loop it up and around the armrest. The loose tape hung down completely out of his reach. “Talon, maybe you can maneuver next to me and get the tape with your mouth or hand.”

“I’ll try.” I scooted my chair over to Ben’s until we are sitting side by side. I stretched out my fingers and miraculously managed to grab the tape. “Now what?”

Ben motioned his fingers in a circular motion. “Try to push it under the arm rest toward me and up and I’ll see if I bend down and grab it with my teeth.”

I tried to do as he asked, but couldn’t stretch my fingers far enough to do anything helpful. “I can’t do it in this position. With my hands secured to the armrest I can’t loop it under.”

Ben stared at the tape for a moment. “Maybe if you get in a position in front of me, so we are face-to-face, you can lean into me and grab the tape with your fingers and pull it up.”

I understood what he was saying, but for that to happen I would have to pivot forward on my toes and practically fall into Ben’s lap, but it might work. “I’ll try.” I inched my chair to a position in front of Ben so our knees were touching. “So…you want me to bend forward, balancing on my toes, rest my head against your chest and reach out for the tape with my fingers, pull it up and over. Is that right?”

“I think that’ll work.”

I blew out a breath before standing up on my toes and slowly bending forward while stretching my hand and fingers out toward the tape. The back legs of the chair came off the ground forcing me into an uncomfortable bent position. My toes started to ache and my calves cramped as I tried to maintain my balance while reaching for the elusive tape. I got close to touching it, really close, but then I lost my balance and fell forward, my head striking Ben’s chest. I looked down to see how close my hand was to the tape, but I could no longer see it in my current position. “Can you see the tape?”

Ben looked around my head to the armrest. “You are close. More to the left.” As I adjusted my fingers Ben clarified. “My left.”

I reached out blindly, my face buried in the folds of Ben’s tunic. Eventually I felt the tape and captured it precariously between my fingers. “Got it.”

“Can you pull it up?”

“No, not without standing up or leaning back a bit. Can you try to stand and push forward and this way I will fall backwards. I’ll keep my fingers on the tape and hopefully when I drop back to the sitting position it will unravel some more.”

“Sure.” Ben tried to lean forward but despite his best efforts he remained stubbornly stationary. “I can’t lean forward with the weight of your body pressing to my front. Try to push your head against my chest and push off and fall back.”

I rocked a bit, bouncing my head against his chest and trying to propel myself backwards, which, unfortunately, resulted in all four legs of the chair slipping out from under me. I ended up on my knees, my head resting on Ben’s thighs. “Kriff!” I struggled to get out of that awkward spot but was stuck. “I swear if you tell Valla or Zylie that I ended up in this embarrassing position, I will kill you.”

I could hear a hint of amusement in Ben’s voice. “The witches are probably going to kill us, so I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

“If you truly thought that I doubt you would sound so unperturbed.” I struggled to push myself away from my cousin and get out of this humiliating predicament, but I had little success. “I swear, if the witches do kill us, knowing you you’d find a way to embarrass me from beyond the grave. I could see you telling this story to the Force ghosts of old Jedi Masters.”

Ben chuckled. “I can hear Yoda now. ‘Horrible position to be found in that is. If not already dead, die laughing I would be. Hmmm…yeesssssss. Embarrassing it is.”

“Shut up and scooch backwards! I don’t want anybody walking in and thinking we are into some strange man-love bondage.”

Ben snickered before he juddered his body side to side, scooting the chair rearward until my head slipped off his thighs and down to the hard floor with a whack. That is the second time in a week that I got my forehead bashed in! Now all I need is a pissed off pregnant vornskr shoved into the room and I would have successfully recreated last week’s painful debacle. With a groan I managed to roll to my side so my face wasn’t painfully planted against the cold tile.

“Well, that didn’t work.” Ben remarked.

“You think?” I struggled at my bonds frantically at I gazed at the cold, dusty floor. “Gods I hope there aren’t any spiders around here.”

Ben guffawed. “We’re probably going to get killed and you are worried about spiders.”

I jerked on the restrains until I saw blood where the plastic bands dug into my wrists. I turned my head so I could meet Ben’s gaze. “Must I remind you that a few months ago I was traumatized by a kriff’n Sithspawn Rhak-skuri putting nightmarish arachnid images into my head.”

Ben grimaced. “Sorry. I forgot what that dream singer did to you.”

“Yeah, well, that’s something I’ll never forget.”

And I wasn’t exaggerating. I still have nightmares about the Rhak-Skuri that Ben and I encountered. It is a Sithspawn scorpion-like creature that exudes hallucinogenic pheromones that can drive a man mad. Luckily for us my son Marcus was trained by the H’drachi seers to read the time streams. He glimpsed our deadly predicament and sent my father to rescue us. I wonder if the seers foresaw out current dilemma or was the ysalamiri blocking them from observing our fate?

I heard a scuffing noise and looked over to see Ben shifting his body weight and scooting his chair toward a far corner.

“The ysalamiri is in the opposite corner,” I reminded him.

“I know I’m trying to see if I can get out of its Force void bubble.”

"Good idea. You do that and I'll see if I can get to it and take it out." I tried to move toward the ysalamiri, but now that the chair was on its side it was slow going. Ben had made it to the far corner by the time I moved only ten or fifteen centimeters. “Are you out of the bubble, Ben?”

“No. I still can’t touch the Force. Unless we can break our bonds we have to hope the witches decided to let us go. At least they’ve continued to hide their identity. That is a good sign. It means they haven’t decided to kill us.”

“Yep, that’s great.” I said bitingly. I tried to move using my foot and hand pressed against the floor, but I couldn’t get any leverage. I was almost relieved when I heard the door to the holding area open. I was hoping it was the leader of the witches, but instead it was his annoying bespectacled daughter and her male friend with the goggles.

The young female laughed when she saw Ben sitting in the corner of the room like a censured schoolboy and me lying on my side still firmly secured to an incredibly sturdy wooden chair.

“Oh, are you two no longer friends?” Her voice took on that maddening mocking tone that teenage girls master soon after their thirteenth birthday. She walked over to me and laid down on her side facing me, mirroring my position on the floor. She made a pouty face. “Did the big Jedi fall over and go boom.”

Her male friend laughed before he came over and struggled to prop me upright. After a lot of grunting and groaning he succeeded in righting my chair. “Damn he’s heavy.”

“He’s a big boy." She gave her friend a teasing smile before she once again sat on my lap. “Did you miss me stud?” I turned my head away, not wanting to encourage her. It was then I noticed her male friend didn’t look too happy about her fawning all over me.

“You are going to get in trouble. Your dad told you to leave him alone.”

She flipped her shoulder length blond hair away from her face as she smirked. “Jealous?”

A deep frown creased the young man's face. “No.”

The teenager caressed my face with her fingers. “Liar.”

Both witches jumped when a voice boomed out at the doorway. “Sissy! I told you to leave him alone!” The young girl’s father stormed into the room, fists clenched, and shoulders hunched forward. He was still wearing full face knit mask but I could see the anger in his eyes and the snarl that twisted his lips.

She quickly jumped off my lap and stood next to me fidgeting. “I wasn’t hurting him.” She grinned as she looked over to me. “He’s just so cute.”

Her father folded his arms across his chest as he glared at his daughter. “I’m glad he meets your approval because the elders and I have come to a decision. The Jedi can live if they become part of our clan. You are officially betrothed to his one.” He threw his thumb in my direction.

“What?” everybody but the clan leader cried out in unison.

“Daddy, I was just joking. I don’t want to marry him.” She glanced back to her goggle wearing friend who appeared heartbroken. I finally figured out this young girl’s motive for her seductive manner. She was trying to make her male friend jealous…and it looks like she succeeded.

“What’s wrong with the Jedi?” her father asked as he slapped a hand on my shoulder. “He is a huge, muscular man with strong facial features. He’ll make fine breeding material.”

The young lady’s jaw went slack with shock. “Fine breeding material? Only if I wanted to give birth to a ten kilo baby!” She made a sound of disgust. “I hope you’re joking.” She motioned to the young man. “Come on Terk!”

The two moved to the exit. I noticed Terk gave the leader a sad backwards glance before he exited the room with the young lady. Her father closed the door behind them before turning back to Ben and me.

“Listen,” I sputtered. “I am all for not getting killed, but I have to tell you, Ben and I are already married.”

The large man cocked his head to the side questioningly. “You two are…mates?”

“What? What would give you that idea?” Ben choked out in surprise as he gazed toward the ceiling searchingly. “I don’t know if you have security holovids in this room, but what happened earlier was an accident.”

The man looked back and forth toward Ben and me. “What? We don’t have security cameras in here. It’s a supply room. What are you talking about?”

Ben blew out a relieved breath. “Nothing. When he said we are married he meant to two different women…sisters actually. We’re married to women. We’re already taken.”

I saw a hint of a smile on the witch leader’s lips. “That’s okay, were polygamists.”

“Yeah, but my wife isn’t.” I said emphatically. “I’m fairly sure if I bring a teenage witch home as my second wife my life span will be drastically reduced to a few minutes after the announcement. You might as well kill me now.”

I could see his mouth draw to a thin line and his eyes harden. “As you wish.” He then reached up and pulled off his mask revealing his face. I was expecting a brutish looking fellow to match his rough manner and booming voice, but I was surprised to find a clean-shaven man with pleasant unassuming looks, sandy brown hair and bright blue eyes. The only evidence that he was possibly dangerous was a slight scar running down his left cheek until it tapered off at his strong square jaw.

I steadied my nerves for what was coming next. Ben had said we were probably safe as long as they hid their identities…and now he was unmasked. He pulled a vibroblade out from a side sheath and activated it. “You don’t want to marry my daughter, huh? Even if it means death?”

I blew out a nervous breath. “I won’t betray my vows. Even if that means death.”

He brought the vibroblade up and smiled. “I don’t blame you. My daughter is truly a witch in every shape and form. I feel sorry for the man she marries.” He carefully cut the bindings holding my right arm. I looked at my free hand in shock and then up to him. He smiled at my confusion. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you marry her...and we're not polygamists. I just wanted to put a little scare into my daughter. That poor boy she’s with has had a crush on her since they were children…and she knows it. I can’t stand how she teases him. I thought it would be nice to give her a taste of her own medicine.” He stood back before cutting the other bindings. “I’m going to release you two and I want to talk like men. Do I have your word that you won’t take this opportunity to attack me?”

I nodded. “I swear.”

He looked over to Ben. “I promise also.”

The leader grinned. “Good. You are obviously men who take their vows seriously.” He cut my other hand loose. I rubbed my raw and chaffed wrists as he sliced away my leg bindings. “Besides, I have my men outside in case there’s trouble.” He stood and walked over to Ben and freed him from his bindings. “But I don’t think I will have trouble with you two once we get a chance to talk.” He offered Ben his hand. “I’m Jonnar. I'm the leader of…I guess you can call us the enforcers. My group ensures all witches obey the covenant.”

Ben stood and shook his outstretched hand. “Ben Skywalker and my friend is Talon Tantiss.”

Jonnar walked over and shook my hand before frowning at the small cuts and scraps on my wrist. “I’ll get a medkit in here for you.” He looked at my forehead where I’m sure a nasty looking lump was forming from my impromptu head dive into the floor. “Did my people do that to you?”

“No, I was trying to escape and toppled over in my chair.” I looked over to the ysalamiri cage. “Don’t worry about the medkit. I’ll be able to start healing myself once I am away from the cage.”

Jonnar nodded before opening the door of our makeshift prison. “Let’s go to my office and talk.”

Ben and I stepped into a corridor lined with heavily armed masked men. To my relief none of the weapons were pointed in my direction. As we moved further away from the ysalamiri I could feel the Force returning. It was as refreshing as a cool drink on a hot day. As we followed Jonnar we passed his daughter standing next to her male admirer. She looked at me warily, her face pale as she nervously bit her lower lip. She obviously believed her father’s threat. I couldn’t help myself--I looked her up and down before I smirked and gave her a playful wink. An expression of pure mortification crossed her face before she buried her head into her friend’s shoulder. I wonder if her father will ever tell her that I opted for death over marriage? That should bring her teenage smugness down a notch.

Jonnar opened a door at the end of the hall and ushered us inside. He sat down at the head of a conference table and motioned for us to sit. Leaning back in his chair he stared at Ben for a long moment. “You father encountered a mind-witch on the planet Seidhkona, is that correct?”

Ben gave a nod of the head.

“He later killed her on the planet Tarnoonga.”

Ben’s lips drew to a tight line. “Yes.”

“She was another one of our rogue witches. Another clan hunted her down and exiled her to Seidhkona. It was an uninhabited planet. My people thought she couldn’t hurt anybody there. We didn’t count on an Imperial exploratory team finding her…and later your father.” He shifted in his seat and tapped his fingers on the table. “Although she had killed people we dislike meting out the death penalty when a witch feeds in the way nature intended. We are asking our kind to change our behavior in a substantial way and some witches cannot adapt. Killing her would be like killing you for breathing air. We exile our rogue witches to uninhabited but livable planets.”

“I’m surprised that there are so many of you. We thought S’ybll—the witch my father encountered—was the last of her kind.”

Jonnar’s eyes closed briefly. “That’s what we want people to believe. I don’t know how many individuals you told about our existence, but I would like to reinforce the belief of our extinction.” He looked to Ben and then me. “I would like your help in doing so.”

Ben gazed at the man. “Do we have a choice?”

Jonnar laughed. “Matter of fact, you do.” He gestured to the exit. ‘”You are free to walk out that door.”

My eyes narrowed, suspicious of this easy out. “What’s the catch?”

The witch leader shrugged. “No catch. The clan leaders have determined the damage is done. We assume you weren’t dumb enough to go after a mind-witch without telling your superiors. Killing you will do nothing but make matters worse for my people. If I can’t rectify this situation…then we are to scatter and hide.” He ran a hand down his face and sighed. “We’ll live like hunted neks once again.”

I know his people abducted me, but I am starting to like this man. I am not fond of his daughter, but I remember how annoying Zylie was when she was a young teen. I guess annoying and teenage girls go hand-in-hand. I looked to Ben. “What do you think?”

He let out a slow and controlled breath. “I think we should hear him out.”

 

Hilarious chapter! And interesting twist with Jonnar - it looks like they can all work together.

 

Fun with the trying to escape conversation and love to see the nice mindwitch. They can work together

 

on the escape attempt and Jonnar's "test" of Talon and Ben's trustworthiness. Yup, definitely a reduced lifespan there if Talon came back with a second wife in tow. Looking forward to the plan.

 

loved the update and the attempted escape how embarrassing

Working together is their best at this point.

 

Thanks! Talon had one heck of a time moving about while secured to a chair. I was trying to figure out how hard it would be to move around like that so I tied my feet to a chair and grasped onto the armrests. You can move but your center of balance is all off.

I figure predatory humans would need to adapt. I sort of got the idea from the TV show True Blood where vampires tried to integrate in with humans.

He could not only have to worry about Zylie killing him, but Valla and the girls' father would probably help her hide the body.

Thanks! I enjoyed writing the chapter but it was difficult describing what was going one so a person could visualize the action. I hope I did a good job.

Thanks everybody for reading. I am sorry that this update is so late. The pollen has been killing me. I cough all night, I cough all day. I have a headache from my allergies and the coughing has caused back spasms. The last thing I could do was concentrate. I finally had to sit down and force myself to write. Thank you for your patience!
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Entry 16

Jonnar cleared his throat to speak but was interrupted by Ben.

“Before you start, I have to warn you. Once we moved away from the ysalamiri my parents might have sensed my presence. They could be on their way here. I really don’t want any unneeded…complications. Will you allow me to contact them?”

The witch leader blew out a long, deep breath before he reached into his pocket, pulled out a comlink and tossed it to Ben. “I hope this isn't a trap. You said earlier that you don’t kill innocent people. I know my people committed a crime by abducting you and you could demand justice for that wrong…but please keep in mind that if the existence of our species becomes known to the general public a galaxy-wide witch hunt may ensue. It could end up in genocide. Our kind has never been trusted and therefore, to most people, the only good witch is one with a blasterbolt in his head. I trust you, Jedi. I hope my faith in the Jedi Order hasn’t condemned my species to extinction.”

“If what you say is true, you have nothing to fear from the Jedi.” Ben keyed on the comlink and punched in the proper code for his father and pushed the send button. The call was answered almost immediately.

‘Ben!’ came the panicked voice of Luke Skywalker.

“Hey dad, I just…”

‘Thank the Force you’re alive. When you disappeared in the Force your mom and I thought the worse.’

Luke’s comlink must have been abruptly grabbed out of his hand because the voice of Mara Jade Skywalker replaced his. ‘Ben! What happened? Are you alright?’

“I’m fine Mom, don’t worry.”

I leaned over to the comlink and said sardonically, “I’m okay also Aunt Mara…you know…just in case you were interested.”

‘Thank the Force.’ I don’t think my aunt picked up on my sarcasm. All I heard in her voice was relief. ‘Where are you? Did you capture the witch?’

Ben chuckled. “Not exactly. We sort of got captured.”

‘How did a witch capture two Jedi?’

Ben looked at me and smirked. “Well, Talon was my backup. That put me at a disadvantage.”

I punched him in the shoulder.

Luke’s voice came back on the comlink. ‘Where are you? We’ll come get you.’

“Dad, give us about an hour. We’re safe. I didn’t want you tracking us down and coming in with lightsabers blazing. Talon and I are doing negotiations with a group of people pertaining to the mind-witch.”

‘What exactly is your status?’

“Our status is optimal.” That was a term used to reassure the Jedi that we were not under duress. If Ben answered with anything else it would be an indicator that we couldn't talk freely.

There was a long pause before Luke spoke again. ‘An hour?’

Ben looked to Jonnar who nodded. “An hour should be fine. We’ll call you then.” He turned off the comlink and handed it back to Jonnar. “Thank you.”

“Your welcome.” He dropped the comlink in his pocket before clasping his hands together on the table in front of him. “We can discuss how we are going to handle the knowledge of our existence a little later. My foremost concern is finding my rogue witch. I think you two can help me find her.”

I smirked knowing what was coming next. “You want to use us as bait?”

Jonnar leaned back in his seat and spread his hands out in a gesture acknowledging my statement. “Witches are highly attracted to strong Force users. I assume she accosted you earlier and that was the reason you were following her.”

Ben nodded. “She tried to make me think she was my wife and lure me away from the dance club I was in. We tried to catch her but she got way.”

“How did you eventually find her?” Jonnar asked.

Ben shifted in his seat looking uncomfortable. “You are not going to like this, but we contacted the local authorities and were provided security recordings from the club and the public areas.”

Jonnar groaned as he dropped his head in his hand. “The police know about us.”

“I don’t think you need to worry. They never heard of a mind-witch and thought we were simply looking for some dangerous Force user. I doubt they will even ask us for an update on our investigation.”

Jonnar nodded. “That’s good.” He looked up at us excitedly. “Do you know where she lives?”

Ben nodded. “We know what building and where she works, but I doubt she will return to those locations now that she knows she's hunted by Jedi and an enforcer group of witches.”

“We can request updated security vids,” I said. “We run them through face recognition software. Maybe we can determine where she went to ground. It should be simple enough to find and capture her.”

Jonnar shook his head. “Capturing her will be anything but simple. She had to know her disobedience would be discovered and we would come for her. I suspect she has been feeding, gorging herself on the life-forces of others, to get stronger. A mind-witch can do more than illusions. We have strong psychokinetic abilities. She will try to feed again so she can fend us off. Since we don't feed normally, she knows we live in a weakened condition.” He looked over to Ben. “She will want to gain power as quickly as possible. She will want to feed off of a Jedi.”

“I guess we need to go back to reviewing public surveillance video,” Ben said while standing. “Unless you want to talk about something else.”

The man shook his head. “I’ll have one of my men retrieve your weapons and I will give you a ride to wherever you were staying.”

He stood and walked to the door, opening it and ushering us into the corridor. Outside was his daughter holding onto Terk’s arm possessively. Both had removed their disguises and I couldn’t help but notice a huge grin on the young man’s face. When the leader’s daughter saw her father she rushed up to him pulling Terk with her. “Daddy, I can’t marry your Jedi. Terk and I are dating and I want to be with him.”

I didn’t think Terk’s grin could get wider but he somehow managed. It looks like the boy got all of his holiday wishes answered today. Through the Force I could feel his underlying joy over the situation.

Jonnar scowled at the couple as he moved his arms out to his side, his fists balancing on his hips. “Oh, you are, huh? When did this happen?”

Before his daughter could answer Terk jumped into the conversation. “Sir, I have been in love with your daughter for a very long time. I beg you not to marry her off to a…” He gave me a scornful look. “…stranger and a man who is not of our kind. You and I both know Human/Witch hybrids are often sterile. I would assume you would want grandchildren and a continuation of your bloodline.”

The elder man scoffed. “You make a lot of assumptions.” He turned to his daughter. “Do you feel the same way about Terk?”

The girl looked at the boy and smiled softly. “Yes father. Please allow us to court one another and forget this forced betrothal.”

Jonnar made a great production at contemplating her daughter’s suggestion. He rubbed his hand over his jaw before making his decision. “I will allow it, IF you truly care for him.” He walked over and put a hand on Terk’s shoulder while gazing at his daughter. “Don’t put his heart at risk. I discovered the Jedi are both married, Therefore your betrothal is off. Do not enter into a relationship with Terk unless you truly mean it.”

I almost laughed when I saw the crestfallen look on Terk’s face. I am fairly certain he was convinced his chance at romance with Sissy was only because she wanted to get out of an engagement. I was relieved when she turned to Terk and said, “I’m sure, Dad.”

Jonnar waved the young couple off. “Fine.” Before they could leave the father grabbed the boy by the shoulder and gave him an evil glare. “She’s only seventeen. Go slow and keep your pants on.”

“Daddy!” the girl shouted in disgust before she grabbed Terk by the arm and pulled him down the hall and away from her father.

He turned to us and smiled broadly. “I like that boy. She better treat him right.” He turned and spotted one of his men down the hall. “Kaken! Retrieve the Jedi's lightsabers and blasters.”

He motioned us to follow him down the hall. Before we reached the exit his man Kaken ran up to us and held out our weapons. Ben and I holstered our blasters and and clipped our lightsabers to our belts.

Jonnar pushed open a pair of large double doors leading out to the street. We were following behind him when he suddenly stopped causing me to actually bump into his broad back. “It’s a good thing I let you call your parents, Jedi Skywalker.”

Ben and I looked around Jonnar to see Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker on the sidewalk leaning against a rented speeder. Luke made a production of looking at his wrist chrono. “You had forty minutes before we came in.”

Mara ran up to Ben and gave him a warm hug. “We were worried sick.” She looked up to Jonnar, her eyes narrowing. “Are you the man who kidnapped our Jedi?”

“Ahhh…”Jonnar cleared his throat, but didn’t continue what he was going to say. Instead he stood very still. He didn’t run or reach for his weapon, but I could tell he wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. I put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. “You are safe. I promise you.” I smiled at my Aunt. “His people captured us, but we were treated well.”

She stepped away from Ben and gazed at me intently. “Then why does your forehead have a huge upraise welt and is turning black-and-blue?”

I made a face, not wanting to tell her this story. “I sort of did that to myself. I had a little accident.”

Mara rolled her eyes. “Of course.”

Ben turned and motioned toward Jonnar. “This is Jonnar. He was hunting the same witch as we were. Our capture was a misunderstanding that was quickly resolved. He wants us to work together to capture the witch that is killing people.”

I notice my uncle’s brow rose incredulously.

Ben must have also noticed his father’s disbelief. “It’s true Dad. Can we go somewhere to talk?”

Jonnar threw a thumb in the direction of the building we just left. “You can come to my office if you like.”

The Grand Master shook his head. “Why don’t we go to our ship?” His brow furrowed as he gazed at the building. “I sense more than one witch inside.”

“We have a group of eighteen. Probably ten are inside now.”

“Eighteen witches!” Mara gasped. “So many?”

Jonnar laughed. “We are more numerous that that.” He gestured towards Ben. “Your son says you don’t slay innocent people…and my people are innocent of murder. I want to avoid the genocide of my people. I am hoping we can work with the Jedi in capturing rogue witches, but also figure out a way to ensure the safety of my people.”

My uncle stared at Jonnar for a long moment. I believe he was trying to judge the veracity of his words. He must have passed muster because my uncle nodded and gestured to the speeder. “Get in. I look forward to hearing this story.”

 

Luke and Mara were waiting right outside the building. It's a good thing Ben did call them to avoid any potential conflicts.

More soon

 

I'm caught up. Loving this! Looking forward to more; hope they can catch the bad witches.

 

Love that they are now working together on the bad witch hunt

 

Great - now there's teamwork and everyone's on the "same page." Best of luck concquering the allergies!

 

The society of mostly not so deadly mind-witches is an interesting wrinkle to this situation! Had to laugh at how utterly done with this Jonnar is in every scene (and then there's his matchmaking with his daughter and Terk in the middle of it all. )

 

I really like Jonnar - and a funny moment with the young witch couple!

Great that the Jedi have a code to make sure all is well - the Skywalker and Tantiss family units work so well together.

 

I love how L/M were just cooling their heels, though I'm sure Luke had to keep Mara from knocking some heads and slicing some walls to get to her baby boy. hahahahaha I also love how you write Jonnar and the reasoning behind their working together. You always have a way of making me see a side of a story that I never would have thought of. And you know I love Talon.

 

I figured as soon as they could be sensed in the Force they would immediately go looking for Ben and Talon no matter what reassurances they gave. They are parents after all.

I'm glad you caught up. Hopefully they will find that evil witch before she finds them.

Thanks. I would think they would make a good team. These good witches want to live in peace and they have the use of the Force. They are a little like Jedi.

Thanks. My allergies are terrible. I have had a persistent cough for a couple months. I am coughing up small amounts of liquid from my lungs. So I may be dealing with post-nasal drip or the pollen is aggravating my lungs and they are over producing mucus to capture the allergens. Either way I hate this cough. Hopefully I can get writing regularly and have Ben and Talon catch this witch.

I see Jonnar as a big teddy bear. He is big enough to intimidate people into listening to him, but he is level headed and can see the pros and cons of his actions. I think he has a lot of respect for the Jedi, although he fears what they could do to his people. He knew the Jedi were chasing a witch and therefore they knew of their existence, so killing Ben and Talon was a useless task and could only infuriate the Jedi. The guy is not stupid.

Thanks. I have been dealing with my teenage son and his first girlfriend. I can commiserate with Jonnar. Young love is a pain in the butt...for parents.

Thanks! I could imagine them standing outside and wanting to rush in so badly. I can't imagine how horrified they would be when the two blinked out of the Force. They didn't know if they were dead or not. It would be a terrible experience for a parent.

Thanks for reading guys. I have a short update and then they will start their hunt.
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Entry 17

My aunt and uncle did a soft interrogation on Jonnar while in the speeder.The man was open to discussing just about anything except the number of witches in the galaxy and the locations of the various clans.That is understandable.When a race is nearly wiped out one cannot afford to risk the lives of the surviving members.I knew Jonnar could trust the Skywalkers, but with my Uncle Luke being the last person known to kill a witch, I don’t fault the man for being distrustful.

I am fairly sure my uncle and aunt were not going to take Jonnar’s story at face value either, but the fact that he could have killed me and Ben and did everything possible to avoid that possibility made me believe he was exactly who he says he is.

We arrived to the docking bay and parked the speeder next to the Jade Shadow. As the ship’s ramp lowered I could feel Jonnar’s anxiety increase. He kept looking around nervously, searching for something.

The Grand Master smiled. “Your friends are here. Hanging out in the fringes.” He started to climb up the boarding ramp and waved for us to follow. “You must be a well-respected leader. Your people are very concerned for your safety.”

Jonnar gave a curt bob of the head. “I sensed them out there. I didn’t order them to follow me.”

Luke led us to the galley where Ben and I slid into a booth seat with Jonnar sitting across from us. My uncle sat at the end of the table. “Feel free to call them or invite one or two in if that makes you feel more comfortable.”

“I’ll tell them to stand fast and don’t do anything reckless.” He pulled a comlink out of his pocket and activated it. “Rokey?”

After a couple seconds we heard a voice over the speaker. “Here boss.”

“I know you’re out there. I’m safe. Keep a leash on the others. I don’t want anybody doing something stupid…again”

“Can we do periodic comlink checks on you, boss?”

“Yeah, but I’m sure you will sense if I am under duress way before I miss a comcheck.”

“Affirmative. Rokey out.”

The witch put his comlink back into his pocket and then folded his hands on the table. “So, let’s discuss business. I would like to keep the existence of my people as secret as possible. Do you have to make an official report to the Galactic Alliance? I don’t want Chief-of-State Mokk Streke to go on a genocidal campaign to wipe my people out. I don’t trust the man.”

My Aunt Mara gave a snort as she sat down next to my uncle at the table. “If Streke is going to go on a warpath the Jedi will probably be his first target. He probably would trust a mind-witch over a Jedi any day.”

My aunt is right. The chief-of-state has repeatedly professed anti-Jedi rhetoric. He even has my father on his watch list. For some reason the Chief-of-State thinks my father is secretly working with the Jedi Order and the Indupar monarchy in an effort to overthrow the Galactic Alliance. Which is nonsense…I think. My dad is definitely not working for the Jedi, but I am not quite sure the reasons behind the impressive build up of military forces on Indupar. I hope my son, King Marcus, is the driving force and not the H’drachi seers. I’d hate to think the seers have foreseen a war.

Jonnar and my Aunt continued to talk through my musings as I became acutely aware that I haven’t eaten or used the ‘fresher since I was stunned in the alley. I stood and excused myself.

After relieving my bladder I went to the galley to find something to eat. There I bumped into my Aunt getting drinks for the group.

“Aunt Mara. You said earlier you thought we were dead when we blinked out in the Force. Did you notify my family? If so, do they know I’m alright?”

She turned and gazed at me intently, one eyebrow raised slightly. “We contacted your father and told him our concerns. We thought there was a possibility that something was blocking the Force such as a ysalamiri. We asked him to come to Kuat because of his immunity to the animal’s effects but he demurred.”

I frowned at that statement. “My father demurred?”

My aunt obviously misunderstood my confusion. “It means balked or objected.”

“I know what demurred means. I just don’t understand why my father wouldn’t offer to help you.”

She shrugged. “I don’t understand why your father does what he does anymore. All I know is I told him you were missing and possibly dead and he wasn’t concerned. He said you and Ben would turn up eventually. Why would you father do that?”

I cleared my throat and glanced away. I was fairly certain my son was monitoring the time stream and let him know Ben and I were in no danger. Although my aunt and uncle are aware of the existence of the H’drachi seers they are unaware at their accuracy or the fact that I have a son who is a seer in training. I couldn’t tell Aunt Mara that, so I simply lied. “I guess my father is confident in my abilities.”

She scoffed as she placed the drinks on a tray to carry out to the eating area. “Is that the story you’re going with?” She picked the tray laden with fizz drinks before shaking her head and giving me a disappointed look. “One day I’m going to figure out the secret.”

My jaw dropped in shock. “What secret?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I said one day I will figure it out. I do know you and your father are hiding something….something big. And what really bothers me and your uncle is you don’t trust us with the knowledge.”

I looked around to make sure Jonnar couldn’t hear our conversation. “Aunt Mara my family doesn’t have any secrets involving the Jedi or the Galactic Alliance except for the cover up involving Jacen and his brush with the darkside. There are things I haven’t told you but they are family issues and confidences. I think even Jedi deserve some family privacy.”

Her green eyes bore into mine, but I refused to flinch. Finally she gave me a nod. “Fair enough.” She left, leaving me in the galley to forage for food. I found some cold cuts and bread and made myself a sandwich before snatching a cold fizz drink out of the cooling unit. When I returned to the galley I found the Skywalker family laughing and joking with Jonnar like he was an old friend. For a moment I wondered if the mind-witch was projecting some soothing illusion to put my family at ease, but quickly dismissed the possibility. The Grand Master was on high alert and would pick up any type of mind tricks.

I slid into my seat just as the four burst out in laughter. “What’s so funny?”

My uncle grinned at me. “Jonnar told us the story about your fake betrothal to his daughter and how you said you would rather face death because Zylie would do worse to you if you showed up with a second wife.”

I blushed as I took a sip of my fizz drink. “Zylie would send her Vornskr to eat me.”

My aunt chuckled before she turned her attention back to Jonnar. “You said your wayward witch is named Lita? How long have you been searching for her?”

The large man counted on his fingers. “Almost two weeks. We don’t have access to public security holos to narrow our search. We mostly roam around the city and try to sense her presence. When we do we call in the swoop bike with the ysalamiri and try to get her within its Force void. That makes it easier to subdue her without violence. She knows banishment to an uninhabited planet will be her punishment and she will fight to the death to prevent that.” He leaned back in his chair and gave us a sad smile. “We are a very social species. To be left in isolation is often a fate worse than death.”

My Aunt Mara found humor in his words. “You’re a social species because you need people to feed. Wont she slowly starve on an isolated planet?”

He shook his head. “She is capable of sustaining her body with food like you do…it’s just…the craving for the taste of a life force is always there. Even now, I’m having problems being around you. I’m like an alcoholic at a wine festival.” He glanced around the table. “Everything looks so tasty.”

I gave a shudder at the sound of his voice. “Jonnar, do you realize how creepy that sounds.”

He chuckled with a blush. “Sorry. I’ve never been around so many Jedi. It’s almost like I can taste your life essence in the air.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t stay too long. The craving becomes almost like a physical pain. I can understand why Lita pursued you.”

Uncle Luke gave a sympathetic nod of his head. “Understandable. How do you want to proceed?”

The mind-witch ran his thick fingers through his hair as he thought about the question. “Why don’t you go back to looking at security vids and let us know if you located her. We’ll take over from there. Meanwhile I’ll leave a few people to stake out your ship. She might try to lure you away once more. Four strong Jedi in one area has to be alluring.”

Ben frowned. “Do you trust your people not to decide to break into our ship for a midnight snack?”

He spread his hands in an ‘I don’t know’ gesture. “My people are trained, but we don’t know what causes witches to go rogue. I assume it is just like any other addiction. They cross the line and draw too much life force at any one time and then they get addicted to the high. Mind-witches are just as prone to addiction as any human would be around alcohol or spice. I would hope their training would keep them from straying…but you never know.” He looked at the four of us. “Can any one of you tell me for sure you would never fall to the darkside?” He looked my uncle straight in the eye. “Are you one-hundred percent confident that your Jedi would never stray?”

The Grand Master nodded slowly. “That is a good point. Hopefully we won’t have a problem. We will go to the Public Security office tomorrow and try to find her using the facial recognition software. Can we contact you on the comlink number Ben used earlier?”

“Yes, he used my comlink.”

Luke and Mara stood and reached over the table to shake Jonnar’s hand. “I’m glad we had a chance to meet and talk.” Uncle Luke looked toward Ben and then me. “Thank you for keeping a cool head and not harming Ben and Talon. I realize the discovery of your people’s existence is troubling…especially knowing my history with mind-witches. I would never condone the genocide of a people and I fully support your efforts to capture homicidal witches. With your skill at illusions, perhaps we can work together in the future on different types of missions. You have a skill that would come in handy when it comes to Jedi Sentinel missions…which is basically law enforcement and undercover work.” He pointed to Ben. “That is my son’s specially.”

Jonnar looked to me. “And what is your specialty? Your friend said you were a Void Jumper.”

“I’m a Jedi Guardian, like my father was before me. We are the warrior class. I mainly do combat missions.”

He looked me up and down. “That figures. You got the build and the intelligence of a grunt.”

“Thanks,” I said with a smile, but then wondered if that was a backhanded compliment. When I saw my aunt smirk I was positive Jonnar wasn’t praising my intellect.

He smiled at my aunt and uncle. “I will wait for your call.”

He exited the ship and disappeared around a corner where I suspect one of his people was waiting with a swoop bike or speeder.

Uncle Luke closed the ship and locked it up tight. “We might as well get some rest. You have a long day of watching security vids tomorrow.”

I inwardly groaned at the prospect. “I would rather wander around town and hope to attract Lita.”

“Sure,” Ben said sarcastically. “We can put you in an undershirt that says ‘One-hundred percent pure Jedi’ on one side and ‘Taste the difference’ on the other.”

“How about a shirt that just says ‘Bite me’, this way I can wear it around you when you get obnoxious.”

“Children, please stop fighting,” My aunt said with a roll of her eyes. “I don’t know how your wives tolerate you two.”

I gave a big shavit-eating grin. When I opened my mouth to talk my aunt’s hand popped up in a halting motion. “I don’t want to hear it.”

My face dropped. “But it’s a great come back.”

She laughed. “I bet it is. I also know it's probably disgusting.” She walked over to my uncle and wrapped an arm around his waist. “I think we all need to get some rest before tomorrow.” My uncle grinned as they walked down into the corridor and disappeared into their cabin.

I turned to Ben. “They’re not going to sleep, are they?”

He rolled his eyes. “Probably not for a while.”

I gave a shiver. Those two were in their sixties and still doing mattress gymnastics. Yuck.

This is going to be a long night.

 

Wonderful. Looks like we may have the beginnings of a plan set. Now, let's get it in motion!

 

wonderful update and I'm looking forward to more

 

Great chapter! Loved Mara being Mara.