No Other Choice ( JA, Obi, Qui, angst, h/c) - Promise kept, updated (1-30-03)

I'm going to lapse into catatonic schizophrenia.

I swear I'll do it!!

 

Wow, you guys are grea- no, i'm gonna go with psychotic =) tehehe. Wow, hampsters...::runs and hides:: LoL, well, I've surfaced and, while the Darth WB that I have is still not totally abolished, I will throw to you what I have. Hope it's enough to tide you over until then next on (much shorter wait implied =)

::checks replies:: hey! In the 100's! wooohooo...errrm, well, yeah, here's your postie!

 

Oh and one more thing (incoming shameless self promo) I have a new fic out ? the beginning chapter at least ? see, writers block is good for somethings =) but if you want, check it out ?Depth of Obsession??k, I?m done.



?No. No deal, Samaron.?

The small man scoffed, ?I think that I am being *more* than reasonable, brother. After all, we both know that none of the planet actually belongs to you. I just made it appear as if you were leader of that land to appease the small minority bent on having you as their chief.? Samaron leaned forward, his hands clutching the edge of the small crystal table, his dark eyes fixed on the man sitting across from him, ?I am offering you ? and, mind you, I don?t have to offer anything ? everything you had. The only difference is that I would mine the Yarik. You would not have to pay the cost of labor and machinery, and you would still get a hundredth of a percent of the profits. It actually works out to your benefit.?

Polusti shook his head, ?No. I will not do that. Our treaty gave me full rights to that land. At the time, you thought you were giving me the planet?s most inhabitable area. It?s not my fault that you did not anticipate it to be the planet?s largest asset. No, I will not give in.?

?Oh, come off it, Polusti! You know I will have that land, one way or another.? Samaron?s voice had lost its semblance of calm, ?With the amount of credits I would give you, you could live ten lifetimes without want!?

?But what about my people?? Polusti stood, fists clenched, ?How will they *benefit*? Yes, it is enough to give me and mine a life of luxury, but what about them??

Samaron laughed, ?Do they really matter? Each of us is in this for ourselves, not for everyone else. To ensure our own survival, we cannot be overly concerned with the lives of others.? He smirked, ?Hell, as long as they pay their taxes, I couldn?t care less if they spiced themselves into a stupor daily. Did you learn nothing from our childhood? Sometimes, to get what is best for you, you have to,? he paused, ?put your own progress in front of the progress of others.?

?Like you did our mother?? Polusti growled, unsuccessful in removing ten years of hate from his voice.

?Exactly.?

Both leaders were now standing, glaring at the other ? and Obi-Wan paused for a moment to thank the Force for that table between the two. The two Jedi stood against the wall, silently observing ? as they had been rather forcefully instructed. Samaron, before he entered the conference room, called the two aside and ? with a group of bodyguards equipped with blasters strapped on in painfully obvious places ? suggested that they might wish to be, as he put it, ?flias on the wall.?

They had both suspected that their presence was mainly for show by then, anyway. An intimidation tactic ? not a very successful one, considering Polusti trusted the Jedi to protect his daughter, the fragile, but impossibly stubborn girl who insisted on attending the negotiation ? and a form of decoration which he had shown to his adoring advisors, without fail, every dinner meal for the past three weeks.

The girl sat next to her father, face placid, but emotions raging. Fear, the predominant one, rolling off of her in waves; fear for her father, fear for the bodyguards poised behind her, poised to defend both father and daughter, fear for her people, fear for her uncle and his bodyguards, even fear for the Jedi, but ? surprisingly ? no fear for herself.

An uncomfortable silence blanketed the room as the brothers, without words, vied for dominance over the other. In the end ? and Qui-Gon would never be sure which side broke the quiet ? the smallest sound, preceded by a screeching warning from the Force, shattered it.

With a click ? signaling the activation of a blaster ? a new war had begun.

 

Ok, the hamsters go back to their lair for now... but you did leave us with a cliffhanger (hamsters don;t like cliffhangers, do they Swede ?)

 

- - Squints irately - -

I find your lack in posting disturbing. Post soon... or the hamsters will be out...

 

lol, aren't hamsters great? At least they are when they're not chasing you. *looks at Kitara*

Good post, short but hey it's better then nothing. But of course, like any good reader, I want more. And I have plenty of hamsters that I can divert over here so don't think you wouldn't get away.

~Swede

 

O Good! I'm glad that there are still people lurking around on this thread...It was quiet - too quiet - and I was a bit concerned. I mean, who wouldn't be when threatened with rabid hampsters? For all I know, they could be hiding in between the threads riiiighhhht noooowwww...::grabs mongoose:: Hey, they work on snakes...

Does it count for me that it was an unintentionally cliffie? It was supposed to end later...at another cliffhanger, but that's besides that point. But, if it's unacceptable, I guess I could just go and rework tomorrow's post (yes, gasp, I did say tomorrow...or today, depending on where you live - and I actually mean it, having some concrete ficage on my computer already ) I mean, no one actually WANTS to see Obi in massive amounts of pain, right? And Qui getting something through his thick skull...naw! I can get rid of that part, right? tehehe...

 

:a shimmer occurs on the thread:

"Don't worry, its just me delurking!"

great story so far... Post soon though ok?

 

Woohoo! A post! This was a great birthday gift

 

Happy Birthday Naeva

Did I hear a new post was on its way??

 

up

 

Up!

 

First off, Happy Birthday Naeva!

Secondly, I am all too sorry about the delay in posting...The last few days I've been enlisted to strip and sanatize this small room in my house, taking up all the time that was not already occupied by job and, well, job. Not to mention the accident I was in...fender bender, really, and no where near my fault as the girl behind me didn't pay attention to my car and rather the light when it turned green - the car in front of me had stalled and so I didn't move, but she did. THEN her mother that was sitting in the passenger's seat got in the driver's seat and when the policeman came, she told him she was driving...When they confronted her later, she rudely denied it (once over the phone and once when the cop went to her house) for at least 10 minutes...until she was threatened with arrest.
I'm not saying that I am anywhere near a fully competant driver yet, but, come on! You don't lie to a cop, and definitely not twice.

Anyway, with that off my chest, I give you the second part of the chapter...chapter 10, i think...

 

All occupants of the chamber were acutely aware of the origin of the sound, but there was a slight hesitation ? from both parties. It was as if no one came to the meeting with the actual intention ? or conscious thought ? of using their weapons, that is, sans one.

Samaron glanced around the room ? from his bodyguards, to his brother?s, to the Jedi standing apparently quite calmly against the glassy wall ? anxiously awaiting someone ? preferably from his entourage ? to make the first move.

He was soon sorely disappointed as no one, not even one of Polusti?s men ? which would have at least prompted the exchange of fire ? made any gesture vaguely resembling a threat. The sudden stalemate seemed to absolutely infuriate the diminutive man as he snatched a blaster from the holster strapped diagonally across the guard to his right and, momentarily fumbling to turn on the weapon to which he was infinitely unaccustomed, hastily raised it to eye level and took a sort of blind aim. His shot ? though, missing the target of his brother by a good four meters ? still posed the need for retaliatory response and, almost before the Jedi had ignited their ?sabers, the small room was engulfed in blaster bolts.

?Obi-Wan,? Qui-Gon voice rose over the deafening roar of the combined weapons, ?protect Nariba.?

The padawan nodded slightly and began to inch across the chamber, deflecting innumerable bolts as he went. His aim had to be precise; the beams, if rebounded to the crystalline walls ? or floors, ceilings, table and chairs for that matter ? would simply ricochet off in another direction and undoubtedly cause more problems in the long run. Instead, he had to either hit the shooters ? preferably with a debilitating and not mortal wound ? or hit the once fine, now scorched tapestries draped down the walls. They would not last forever, though, and with every shot, the target cloth was burned away, leaving sentient marks ? and rather small sentient marks, at that ? the only other option.

And all these difficulties were in addition to his own steadily waning strength.

He had recently tried to limit himself to three painkiller ?breaks? a day ? two or three hyposprays per ?break,? ? and when he could, maybe two, but the pain was increasing exponentially with every passing day. The hyposprays helped as he could not seem to release much into the Force, but they left his muscles slack, ill equipped for any type of battle ? a point which, until then, hadn?t been much of an issue. He silently thanked whatever gods might be listening for his lack of painkillers that day ? though while searching through drawers, shaking empty containers, hoping to find a blessed full one, it was the same gods he had cursed.

Yet despite the lack of nerve-numbing substances coursing though his veins, his body was tiring. Be it from pain or lack of use, Obi-Wan knew that he could not go on fighting forever. Get the girl and get her out. That was the only way to end this ? or, at least, his part in this. The padawan inwardly smiled despite the situation. Perhaps this would end their mission. Perhaps the Council would deem the planet unsuitable for Jedi contact and he and his master could go back to the Temple ? and he could resume his normal weekly schedule.

Either that or they would be staying indefinitely.

Turning so to better see the girl, Obi-Wan thankfully noted that Polusti had the same idea as the apprentice and was attempting to discretely usher his daughter from the fighting. She, however, refused to leave the room. This decision led, inevitably, to a subdued argument between the royals; the petite girl, hand on the hip of her burned dress, angrily brushing strands of hair from her face as she told her father ? who was in a similar shape and whose face had taken on an interesting shade of grawa fruit red ? quite plainly that she would not leave his side.

All the while, Obi-Wan was slowly closing the gap and mentally preparing a way to get her ? well, them, as it appeared ? out. He was at his last few mete

 

When I actually heed the threats and churn out another, everybody leaves! LoL =)

Up!

 

Thanks thanks thanks for the great post!!!!!!



can't wait for more......




UP again

 

Hey, so the hamsters actually worked? Sweet. Maybe I should use them more.

Good post. So now Obi's finally going to a healer right?

~Swede

 

What a place to leave us. Dead princess, hurt Obi-Wan...please don't leave us dangling.

 

Blinks::: rereads the post and blinks somemore. Wow, I didn't think you would kill Nariba. I guess this means the peace talks are off, no doubt all Polusti wants is his brother dead and who can blame him.

Obi shot. Not good. Need more.

 

Two or three more posts, eh? Are they goes to come faster? [face_hopeful]

Excellent chapter! But you shot Obi... That's alright though, in my book.

 

Hmm... so now Obi-Wan's apparently addicted to two substances (or at least massively addicted to one) and shot... hmmm

MORE!

CK

 

I'm glad that you all found your way back! And I'm glad that killing Nariba wasn't blatenly obvious from her introduction...though I thought it might have been from Polusti's little speech about how he's lost so much...but all the better! But, who says that she's the only one that will be killed off? I'm sure not. Wouldn't it be funny if Obi-Wan just died and you never found out what was actually wrong with him? hehehe

But I'm not *that* horrible and so I will tell you for sure that you will find out what the hell is going on in 2 posts. And they will be out quickly - both have been floating around in my head since before I even had a plot, they were there, poking me.

 

Yeah..
new post coming



I have a feeling Obi is in for a world of hurt!

 

Great posts Antigone. Full of tension and superb writing skill. Love your touches of humour Perfectly balanced with the more serious stuff.

Looking forward to more

 

Great posts and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAEVA!!!