Kowani watched with growing enthusiasm as the ping on her wrist comm beeped more feverishly.
“You may want to disarm the ones actually on you.” T’zar spoke to her. “Otherwise, I’ll pick us out a nice peaceful plot together with a wonderful view of the loveliest Force current imaginable and we can discuss how utterly foolish this whole plan was from the beginning as we spend eternity in blissful ignorance.”
Kowani chuckled openly as she fidgeted with the controls on her wrist comm, bringing up the appropriate menu, and, just as quickly, deactivated the thermal detonators she had slung over her body. A resultant extinguishing of the small red flashing indicators granting immediate relief from certain doom. ‘You really do know how to charm a woman’ she thought for his benefit. The beeping had flatlined and she was both ecstatic and heartbroken. “I wish I could have seen that.” She said.
“You really need to meet Sabine.” Ahsoka said, her voice a little more distant than Kowani had anticipated.
She turned to face where she’d been and saw her ten meters distant feeling around with her free hand on a jutted outcropping of the black rock, her other hand holding the black cylindrical hilt. She paused momentarily to gauge her friend, through both the bond they had clearly formed and more objectively through the Force itself. As close as she felt at times to the Togruta she also realized there was so much more she didn’t know about her than she did. All Kowani ever needed to know about a person was one thing, were they trustworthy. Was Ahsoka trustworthy? Definitely. She would never question that. What she did not understand was the saber and she wasn’t even sure why she had never asked about it, or its purpose. The woman only had two hands after all.
“Help me find this vent hatch Ani.” Ahsoka asked, snapping Kowani out of her thoughts. She walked over to her side, silently curious about many things but focusing on their surroundings. The rock beneath her feet was both porous and dense in pockets, exhibiting traits of cooling from intense heat at wildly different intervals. The heat was intense, yet she found a certain peace in its embrace, having no moisture within the air whatsoever, it did not feel oppressive. Reaching Ahsoka’s side, she eyed the issue her friend was having. The face of the outcropping was identical to the rock under her feet, having been reduced to surface slag and cooled many times over it seemed.
“If it’s here Ahsoka it’s well hidden.” Kowani found herself almost shouting the words, realizing how loud the place was. The violent nature of the rock itself being ripped away at intervals by a rushing flow of its own liquid state sent an auditory report with great frequency. That the same was happening across the globe created an ominous rumble that never ceased with frequent interludes of loud cracks and bangs that left her somewhat disoriented and partially deaf at all times.
“Use your gift Kowani. I cannot see what she is looking for, but you can.” T’zar said.
‘I don’t understand,’ She thought, ‘how?’
“Channel the flow leading either to yourself or Ahsoka and disperse it forward. I believe it may expose the entrance.”
‘But it flows through all things T’zar.’
“But also around, the difference will be extremely subtle, but it should be present.” He replied.
Kowani focused intently on her own small channel, she saw three diverse sources flowing into herself at various degrees, one up from the ground through her feet, a second coming from Ahsoka and the third emanating slowly from the rapid flow of lava in the small canyon to her right. “Ahsoka, stand back a little bit.” she said, her friend replying with three steps back. Kowani poured her intent into finding what she was told should be ahead of her, willing the Force forward in an arced fan. The projection was uninterrupted and continued in all its intended directions without deviation. ‘Did I miss it?’ she thought.
“Quite possible, I did say subtle.” T’zar reminded her. “Again.”
She quieted her mind, as reasonably as possible, shut off the input to her other senses and closed her eyes. She felt time itself slip away, was aware of her slowing heartbeat and her own blood quieting in her veins. All she could hear was her slowed deep breaths inhaling and exhaling. The Force was all around her, she could feel it swirling around her legs, wafting in and out of her at her waist and cradling her head in a comforting embrace. She decided against simply using it this time and asked it, coaxingly, to aid her in an important task. The tendrils of embracement flowed directly into her arms and hands without hesitation.
“Very good Kowani.” T’zar whispered into her thoughts.
She heard and acknowledged the remark but just as quickly let it pass, maintaining her focus on the buildup of energy making its way to her fingertips. She outstretched both hands to assist in the flow, then, of that energy and watched very closely as it penetrated the variegated stone before her slowly. She noticed slight arcs in its flow at four exact points, one meter across, two meters in height. “There.” She said, and slowly flitted her eyes open again, shocked at the immediate scene. Somewhere in the process, unknown to her, she had retrieved the lightsaber Ahsoka had tasked her with, ignited the blade and plunged it into the points the Force had arced around. She dropped the saber hilt and rocked back on her feet stumbling somewhat in the process. The saber disengaged at the loss of pressure around its hilt as she brought her hands to her face in surprised awe, inspecting them both as they came into view. She turned to Ahsoka to see the same expression she knew she was exhibiting on the face of the Togruta.
“Kowani...that was impressive!” Ahsoka managed.
“For the record I had nothing to do with that Kowani, that was all you.” T’zar said.
Kowani could not decide what to focus on and kept swiveling her gaze between the saber, the puncture points in the stone and the face of her friend. She had opened her mouth several times to speak but words eluded her. “Hhhh...hhowww?” was all that managed to escape.
“You’ve taken one hell of a step Ani.” Ahsoka said. Kowani looked at her, seeing the pride on her face. The warm look she had come to appreciate as Ahsoka’s genuine admiration and respect. She truly was ‘proud’ of her, and Kowani knew it without question. “I don’t know what you did Ani, therefore I cannot explain it to you, but you will come to understand it yourself in time. Your path will always be your own.” She finished with her smile as she ignited the black hilt and buried it into the upper left corner point Kowani had uncovered. The rocky surface before her began a transition from its black hardened state to varying hues of red and orange as Ahsoka connected the points, bright white rivers flowing from either side of her saber. As she completed the rectangular geometry, she outstretched her free hand and yanked the newly freed ‘door’ clear of the passageway that was now exposed. Kowani raced into the cavity without prompting, picking up and igniting the white saber en route.
“Ahsssssooookkkkaaaa.” Came a slight whisper as Ahsoka had made to follow the Mirialan. She paused at the entry way and scanned her view in all directions. The voice was hollow, echoing all around her, yet Ahsoka could not determine if it were in fact real or imagined. She looked back into the passageway, seeing Kowani moving forward with the saber in hand, lighting her way. ‘No,’ she wasn’t the source, nor had she appeared to have heard it Ahsoka thought to herself.
“Ahhhhhssssooookkkkkaaaa.” It came again, and again, seeming to reverberate and echo from every rocky surface surrounding her. This time the voice had familiarity to it, the same familiarity she had felt upon entering atmosphere. The same familiarity she had felt as they passed close to Vader’s fortress. And again, that familiarity was not of Anakin, not of Vader...it was distant, and the voice seemed female.
“….” They were not words this time, it was a playful chuckle, female. She looked back into the passageway, this time Kowani was looking back at her, her face screwed up into a questioning expression.
“Are you coming?” She asked, her hand gesturing with an open palm.
The whispers were not coming from Kowani she surmised and headed into the passage after her.
The confines were tight but not oppressive. A slight decline gave way to level ground as the passage led into a wider hallway that extended to her right and left.
“To the right Ani.” Ahsoka said softly behind her. A sense of freedom washed over Kowani as the bags at her sides were no longer brushing up against the sides of the passage and she dispelled a breath in conjunction with the thought.
“Gear up now you think?” She asked Ahsoka as she dropped the bags to the ground.
“Not yet, I think, but lightly arm and grab that slicing kit you scrounged from the ship.” Ahsoka responded, emphasizing ‘lightly.’
Kowani padded the outside pocket of her pants with a wink. “Never leave home without it.”
Ahsoka dropped the bags she had been hauling as well and kicked them over to rest next to Kowani’s. “Let’s go.” She said, blindly grabbing her right arm, the Mirialan collaring one last blaster out of her bags.
They padded forth, the light from the raised saber illuminating piping above them and to either side, various control devices and panels came into view sporadically, waiting until the last second to materialize into definition. The air was bland, having no property beyond itself, there were no offending scents but there were also no identifying scents that air usually carried with it. Kowani found it odd but understandable given the seal they had just broken. It was however much cooler here. “What is this place? It had some serious power requirements at some point.” She pointed out with an upward glance.
“It was a control monitoring station for the perimeter stasis fields.” Ahsoka said. “During the Clone Wars, this was a very industrious planet and provided raw material to the Separatists.” She gave her head a slight shake, ‘when did I become the history teacher.’
“How does that even relate to Force sensitive children...I don’t understand.” Kowani asked unapologetically.
“It doesn’t relate at all. There was far more going on than anyone had realized at the time, the Chancellor’s reach was infinite, his methods a mystery.” Ahsoka said. “Just up here.”
The hallway gave way to a half open door, sheared from its hinge at the top, stuck fast into the twisted metal the flooring had become of the room it opened into. “Let me go first Ani.”
“Good plan.” Kowani responded.
“Careful, the floor is pitched...severely.” Ahsoka said seconds later as Kowani heard a slight whoosh and a small breath escape her friend. “It’s also covered in dust and debris, were going to have to work quick, this isn’t entirely stable.”
Kowani had a quick retort ready to sling but decided against it, she didn’t want to be in here any longer than they had to be. The hallway, and even the room were neither confined nor constricting, but she felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding, nonetheless.
“This room opened into an atrium of sorts beyond, “Ahsoka said with her hand outstretched, as Kowani was struggling to get a foothold against a twisted metal stanchion just inside the mutilated door. “The last time we were here…. the last time I was here, “she corrected herself, “I very nearly didn’t make it back.”
Kowani stared at the naked rock, illuminated an eerie shadow pocked gray by Ahsoka’s blade. “Doesn’t open into much of anything now.” She pointed out as she stared at the wall of rock and twisted metal Ahsoka had been motioning toward. “How did that happen?” She asked referring to the mixture the wall had become since of rock within metal and vice versa.
Ahsoka returned her gaze to the wall, “We’re sitting above a caldera formed by the rivers converging, the heat must increase then cool periodically to create that.” She returned to look at the bank of control consoles along the wall to the left, “Over there.” She said, pointing to the farthest one from the rocky metal wall. “I hope you have that slicing kit Ani, there's a terminal under the monitor.”
Kowani, taking all the information in, was sure ‘logic’ equated to turning right around and finding another ship. “Ahsoka, slicing in isn’t the problem, I could do that in my sleep...and this,” she gestured around the room, “is ages old.” She paused for a moment to regain her footing as she swung her left foot into place against a girder that should not have been where it was. Something shifted within the structure of the room and a loud snap echoed throughout, deafening both inhabitants for a few seconds. “I’m not even going to ask.” Kowani said, moving ever closer to the terminal, her head ringing. “I do have some power cells with me, should be able to link a few together to power up the workstation at least. Didn’t think of that did you?” She yelled, not realizing how much of an effect the noise had had.
In fact, she hadn’t, “Those issues generally take care of themselves. Well, mostly.” Ahsoka said with a shrug. “Droid would be handy.”
Kowani, swinging her hands in front of her, reached the monitor, snugged her right knee between the two console units and set to work with the slicing tools on the terminal power conduits. “Take care of themselves?” She said to herself. She removed the cover and fed two of the power cells from the duffel into auxiliary slots. “Hold that thing steady will you!” She almost shouted at Ahsoka, “I can’t see what I’m doing.” A tremor, slight at first, grew in intensity and began vibrating through the room. The door screeched its way a little further from its hinges and an exterior panel dislodged from one of the other workstations, banging loudly on its journey toward the rock and metal wall toward the bottom of the canted room. A green light cascaded from within the confines of the conduit housing and the monitor above the data terminal began booting up.
Ahsoka was trying to get a little closer to Kowani to assist with lighting and slipped for an instant banging her arm on a power housing that had long since seen its final days. Wincing in mild pain she held her saber hilt higher for Kowani’s benefit.
The screen was beginning to provide its own backlight in front of the Mirialan and she started easing a long metal terminal jack into the port in front of her with one hand and fumbling for her data pad in the other, deftly snapping in the link cable between the tools of her craft. “I’m in.” She said.
Ahsoka wasn’t sure she had heard that right as she was rubbing her elbow, “Already?”
“Hey, it’s what I do.” She responded, “Well, part of what I do.” She was concentrating heavily on the data pad, working through security measures, encryption parameters, bio access authentica…. “Bio access authentication?,” she said to herself. ‘Easy enough to circumnavigate, sheesh, how old is this stuff?’
“What is bio acce….” T’zar began.
‘Not now T’zar’ Kowani thought. Her hands diligently working the monitors keypad and her own data pad simultaneously, she eased up on her left for a moment to take the pressure off her aching knee.
The room was suddenly rocked by another jolt of tremors, cascading both occupants in a fine layer of dust, stone, and scree. The top hinge gave way on the thick metal door, and it screeched with painful authority toward Ahsoka holding the saber above Kowani’s head but gouged itself into the floor to stop within a few centimeters. They both clenched their eyes shut to absurdly staunch the aggravating sound.
“Ani, were running out of time.” Ahsoka said.
“I know, I know, I’m into the mainframe...need to know what I’m looking for.” Kowani said.
Ahsoka looked over Kowani’s shoulder and pointed to a grouping of files off to the right of the screen.
“Power settings?” Kowani responded, seriously doubting that could be correct.
“No, behind it. Delete the overlaying file Ani.”
Kowani shrugged and deleted it, uncovering, “blank screen.” She said. “Hang on.” She trusted her friend’s intuition and had a few more tricks up her sleeve. She relayed her data pad to the terminal core and refreshed the screen.
“There.” Ahsoka said with a little more authority that was intended.
Kowani hurriedly tapped on the newly exposed datalink and was congratulated by a boot screen and loading bar.
“What novelty! These, now these I am familiar with!” T’zar was ecstatic.
‘Just how old are you anyway,’ Kowani thought. The screen refreshed yet again to multiple files. “Ahsoka?”
“I don’t know, they aren’t even labeled in a language I am familiar with…. just grab em all!”
Kowani looked at the scrawling text block to the side of each data file, unsure what the language was herself she jammed the data cylinder from the pad into the terminal cylinder port and copied everything. “What is Aborah?” She said.
“Where do you see that?” Ahsoka asked.
“Second file in.” Kowani responded, “Sorry I thought you understood Muun.”
“Muun? Muunilinst? That doesn’t make any sense.” Another tremor rocked the foundations of the room. Another loud snap was followed by a cadence of thunderous booms as the room pitched forth another five degrees, sending Ahsoka sprawling into the rock metal wall and wedging Kowani’s prone knee between the two control stations again. “Ahhhh.” She growled furiously, feeling the pressure her kneecap was enduring. Swiveling, she pulled the cylinder, yanked out the terminal jack and stashed her data pad back into its pocket, tossing the other contents of her hand into the duffel slung over her head. Turning to Ahsoka who was shaking her head, she heard the door begin to squeal against the floor in protest. She looked from Ahsoka to the door then back to Ahsoka. “Ahsoka!” She yelled, then watched absently as her friend was still shaking off the effects of the fall. The squealing turned to a raucous grating as another tremor rocked the room, then there was no sound at all. The door was freefalling right where Ahsoka lay. “Ahsoka!” Shouted Kowani, closing her eyes. She stretched out as far as she could to no avail. She had no time to concentrate on the Force.
“Oh dear.” T’zar said.
Kowani felt her right wrist kick back in recoil, then heard a cacophonous metallic slam and unmistakable crush of bone. “Ahsoka!” She screamed again and pulled her knee with all her might, feeling the kneecap give way, tearing cartilage in the process with a stomach-churning gurgle. “Ahsoka NO!!” Tears were streaming down her face and all else was forgotten as she slid her way down to the door and came to rest against the rock. The room had pitched so far that the rock and metal wall were almost the floor as she got her feet under her favoring her left side. She had to peer over the door to see where Ahsoka lay but in her fall the saber had extinguished. Kowani felt for Ahsoka’s other saber at her own hip but realized she was already holding something in her right hand. It felt like a saber hilt, but it was neither of Ahsoka’s. She tried playing her fingers around its surface but was inhibited movement by something at her right wrist. She tried to inspect by fumbling with the fingers on her other hand and was shocked to feel a cable running from under the bottom side of the vambrace on her right arm. She grabbed the hilt with her other hand and found it easier to navigate. Although she was given to find an actuator of some sort, she could not help but notice how light the thing was. How smooth and warm it felt in her hand. Finally, she found the switch and activated it, filling the room with a brilliant purple hue.