Reaching Through Darkness

Ch 22
Mirmo

“Gone? Whoa, slow down Mirmo. She was here just a minute ago. She could not have gone far. She must have seen someone and could not have told you before she left.”

I wanted to believe him so badly. I wanted to think Karen was just a few hallways away. I wanted to believe she was safe. The trouble was the Force did not back up any of these theories. The horrible truth was the Force me my apprentice was no where to be found. IT was like I could not sense her Force signature at all which meant two things. She was shielding her self or she was unconscious. She had been successful at shielding against me before, but I could see no logic in why she would do such a thing. Therefore Karen had been captured and was drugged as she was carried off and that was why I did not hear her high pitch scream behind me. Was she beaten or worse, taken advantage of? Such thoughts made me mentally race in panic.

“Mir? Buddy?”

Nea’s worried voice broke through my circling thoughts and brought me back to solid ground.

“Have you tried to contact her?”

I told him yes. There was the first thing I did when I notice she was gone.

“Hmm. I would suggest we go looking for her, but I do not think we could get very far with just the two of us and the Force not helping you. I am going to contact Ven and have him send his men over to search the building. Maybe they can find something the Force of yours can not.”

At any other time I would have snorted at the Force failing where men succeed. Yet, I was desperate to find my apprentice. Nea’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“We will find her. She will be ok.”

I nodded silently and gave him the code to Ven’s comn link. I wondered how Nea could act so calmly and together. To lose Karen was like losing a daughter I never had. I was responsible for her safety and I had failed miserably. Ten minutes later Ven and one of his best dressed men joined us in the hallway, not far where Karen disappeared. He quietly reinsured us his men were furiously working through the building, looking for her or a clue to where she was carried off. I retold him all the details leading up to my apprentice absence. Ven held his chin with chin left hand, thinking hard.

“May I see that data pad? It might have a clue you all did not spot.”

Vent read the information so fast; I wondered how much he was taking in.

“By any chance have you seen this young man?”

I paused before answering. In my mind, I saw the gentle, pale hand of the dark haired man hold her head, deeply kissing Karen. Their passion for each other seemed real at the time. She welcomed his touch, as if asking for more. He held her with such care and honor, like she was a beautiful, fragile thing. I wondered if this was the same man. Was he the one who swished her so sneakily? Perhaps they had made plans to meet up and get to know each other better? Would Karen do such a thing without confiding me? She did try to hide her crush on Roan from me. It hurt to think I had not gained her trust after all we had been through. I shook my head and answered Ven by telling him of the man that had kissed Karen so tenderly.

“He may well be the one, but that is not enough information to arrest him on. I suggest we track this mysterious figure and see if we can question him about his doings.”

Ven was interrupted by the arrival of two of his men.

“Dawner Ven, we have managed to secure a holo cam and have seen two medics carrying an unconscious young woman that looked much like Danwer Mirmo’s girl. There was a tall figure, dressed in white with blond hair following them. The only clip we were able to find was them entering a docking bay on the west side on the twenty first floor. We were not able to enter the flight records of the docking computer.”

Ven nodded.

“Very good. I will take over from here. Your next assignment is to find any information about this blond man. Be secret about your method. We do not want the senate getting word of our search.”

The men put their fist to their forehead, slightly bowed their heads, and left.

“See Mirmo what I have trained my men to be?”

I nodded but did not respond. In my day, they would have hacked into the computer before coming to me. Ven held more power and pride than I did and I did not like that. Nea grunted to break the silence.

“Alright men, let us find Karen before Mirmo loses his Jedi calm.”

“Right. I say we go to the docking bay computer and see what it can tell us about this man and where he is going.”

Ven lead the way to the twenty first floor and contacted the flight manager. The manager was a fat, dumpy man who did everything slowly. He walked slowly, talked slowly, even blinked slowly. He was not one to be bothered with our trivial request and was stubborn about letting us peak at the flight record.

“That is right gentlemen. My orders to only hand over the records to my manager and you are not my manager. So if you will excuse me sirs, I have to get back to my station. If you want, you can talk to my manager, but I would not advise it. He is a grumpy man who will throw you out the moment you walk in.”

This slow man was pushing my tolerance. He would not stand in my way of finding my apprentice when she was in real danger. I stepped forward and dipped my head down to his squat height. I whispered him I was recording everything he said and would report this to my boss who was best friends with the Chancellor, who was fully supporting this search. I asked him who he would like to report the bad news to if he did let give us the records. His eyes slowly grew wide with shock and he stumbled back to door.

“Well if you put it that way, it would not hurt for you to just look quickly and keep this to yourself.”

I wondered how many more times I could use Leia’s support like this before she would get word. The three of us, plus the manager entered his small station. I sat down and accessed the records. As I read through the log, my heart fell. According the computer, there were two ships that left in the last twenty minutes from the bay and the one who looked like belonged to the blond man had a license with no ship number. The ship itself was a common, plain one with no identifying marking or other ways to separate it from millions of others flying all over the galaxy. I got up from the chair and walked out of the crowded room to pace in an empty hallway. I would never forgive myself if Karen was harmed. I tried to reason with myself that Karen could not be dead. It was depressing thought, but if Karen had died, I would have been in far more agony that I was already.