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Reaching Through Darkness
A Walk in the Dark
Ch36
Mirmo
We approached our landing. I could feel everyone’s tension like a physical breeze in the air. Everyone was silent, serious, and focused. Everything was real, if not to the point of being surreal. The danger was real. The possible outcomes were real. The speeder was real. Even death itself was more real than life. This was a real mission. We knew our mission and we knew our cause.
I found myself almost missing this rushing feeling, my blood pumping harder through me, my muscles taunt and ready to spring. Every sense was ten times more alert. The Force flowed through me, keeping me aware of all movements and any sense of danger to be found. There was a Jedi by my side, armed and trained as I was. Then there was Karen.
There was something about her presence that ruined the feeling of the mission. She was an extra fear, an extra person to worry and watch over. She was armed, but did not have the training I wanted to her to have. She did not know the mindset and the things to do. She was uncertain and distracted. She did not constantly sweep her surroundings with a careful glance. I did not feel the Force flowing through her. In fact, I could hardly feel our bond. That is what bothered me the most. She was scared and she was starting the doubt her decision. There is no room for fear in a mission.
The vehicle stopped in the darkness of the roof we landed on. We were not far away from our destination. Luke, Karen, and I got out of the rented cloud car and quickly trotted over to the edge of the roof. There, Master Skywalker pulled out his cable launcher and aimed it at the side of our sith infested building. There was a zing in the air as the cable flew and caught its target. After testing the cable, Luke handed the cable to me to hang on to as Luke pulled out a small triangular device and hooked it on the cable. He took two running steps and flung his body off the building, flying through the air, managed to stop himself from promptly and painfully smacking straight into the building. Both my apprentice and I winced at the thought we shared. I told Karen it was her turn and saw her gulp.
She pulled out the same device, hooked it up to the cable, and looked at me. Her face was a look of pure terror. I told I would count to three. Whenever anyone actually counts to three, they do not mean on three, but really on two. They mean this because the time you get to three, you will never get the person to do something that they might die doing. So when I got to two, I Force pushed her body to start the running process. She began to protest, but a second later she was off the building and wildly flying rapidly into the wall of our mission. She screamed the whole way and if were not for Master Skywalker and his use of the Force, I was sure she would have smacked into the building, let go, and fall to her death. I shook my head, remembering why I did not want to bring her.
It was my turn to go. I pressed a button so the cable would retract as I fell. This was something one did not do at home or really anywhere else. I did not run or jump, but simply stepped off the building and trust the Force and the device this was not the last time I did this. It was a heart pound dare I did, but all the same, I hauled myself onto the roof, ignoring Luke’s hand and Karen’s swearing.
Once I was on my feet, we began to move again. This was a tricky mission because we had to be fast and we could not be noticed. Nea had provided a layout of the building to thoroughly study and I made Karen go over the exact route and backup routes ten times from memory before we left. We opened a roof hatch after disabling the security. We had about five minutes to get in and hidden before the security team would notice. We followed the same pattern as before of Luke, then Karen, and finally me climbing down the latter and closed the hatch.
We were in a very dark room, so dark I could not see my hand that I knew was in front of my face. I felt through the Force, Karen had frozen up. I put a hand on her shoulder and whispered to her to find and follow Luke and treat this like an exercise. Beneath my hand, I felt her shoulder slightly melt the tension away and her awareness in the Force grow. She started moving and I followed.
The room did seem to be a long one, but eventually we reached a door and Luke ever so slowly opened the heavy, creaking door to reveal a blinding light. I closed my eyes before the door was opened, a trick I had long ago learned to help with light blindness, and went on. We were in a long, curving, narrow hallway that was completely white with bright white lights. Luke led the way, walking so fast he was almost jogging. Poor Karen with her short legs had to jog to keep up and nearly bumped into Luke as he abruptly stopped. I looked over Karen to see Luke with his ear to a white, blank door. He opened it quickly and went in. The two of us followed into a staircase. We climbed the stairs to the next level and opened the door. I noticed Luke caste us a caution look, one that warned us people were in this hallway. I nodded and proceeded inward.
Again, I found myself in a white, bright white hall. We walked a slower pace to a different door. This door was different because it was black and had a grey panel with several buttons. It was a heavy, thick door that spoke of authority and power. This was the door to the sith chamber. I saw Karen grow white. Her hands were near her belly, where the baby was growing, and as I observed, her fingers were trembling like mad. It was a horrible scene to watch. She was just like when she replayed memories of her father to me back at the Jedi academy. I could not comfort her now as much as I wanted to. There was no time to settle her nerves. We had to get in and we had to get fast before the alarm went off, which was due in about a minute and thirty seconds.
Luke closed his eyes and his hand hovered over the buttons. I knew he was feeling to see which ones to press and in what order. Karen saw this after a moment and bluntly pointed at a big red one. I almost smiled at the irony. Luke gave me one last look and I put a hand on my lightsaber. He reached over and pressed the red button. There was a nerve wreaking silence that went on for far too long.
“Why, hello Jedi. We’ve been expecting you.”
The voice in the speaker on the panel gave me the creeps. It was a low, smooth sounding voice. It was a voice that was drenched in darkness of the soul. Then the door hissed and opened into an empty darkness.
Mirmo
We approached our landing. I could feel everyone’s tension like a physical breeze in the air. Everyone was silent, serious, and focused. Everything was real, if not to the point of being surreal. The danger was real. The possible outcomes were real. The speeder was real. Even death itself was more real than life. This was a real mission. We knew our mission and we knew our cause.
I found myself almost missing this rushing feeling, my blood pumping harder through me, my muscles taunt and ready to spring. Every sense was ten times more alert. The Force flowed through me, keeping me aware of all movements and any sense of danger to be found. There was a Jedi by my side, armed and trained as I was. Then there was Karen.
There was something about her presence that ruined the feeling of the mission. She was an extra fear, an extra person to worry and watch over. She was armed, but did not have the training I wanted to her to have. She did not know the mindset and the things to do. She was uncertain and distracted. She did not constantly sweep her surroundings with a careful glance. I did not feel the Force flowing through her. In fact, I could hardly feel our bond. That is what bothered me the most. She was scared and she was starting the doubt her decision. There is no room for fear in a mission.
The vehicle stopped in the darkness of the roof we landed on. We were not far away from our destination. Luke, Karen, and I got out of the rented cloud car and quickly trotted over to the edge of the roof. There, Master Skywalker pulled out his cable launcher and aimed it at the side of our sith infested building. There was a zing in the air as the cable flew and caught its target. After testing the cable, Luke handed the cable to me to hang on to as Luke pulled out a small triangular device and hooked it on the cable. He took two running steps and flung his body off the building, flying through the air, managed to stop himself from promptly and painfully smacking straight into the building. Both my apprentice and I winced at the thought we shared. I told Karen it was her turn and saw her gulp.
She pulled out the same device, hooked it up to the cable, and looked at me. Her face was a look of pure terror. I told I would count to three. Whenever anyone actually counts to three, they do not mean on three, but really on two. They mean this because the time you get to three, you will never get the person to do something that they might die doing. So when I got to two, I Force pushed her body to start the running process. She began to protest, but a second later she was off the building and wildly flying rapidly into the wall of our mission. She screamed the whole way and if were not for Master Skywalker and his use of the Force, I was sure she would have smacked into the building, let go, and fall to her death. I shook my head, remembering why I did not want to bring her.
It was my turn to go. I pressed a button so the cable would retract as I fell. This was something one did not do at home or really anywhere else. I did not run or jump, but simply stepped off the building and trust the Force and the device this was not the last time I did this. It was a heart pound dare I did, but all the same, I hauled myself onto the roof, ignoring Luke’s hand and Karen’s swearing.
Once I was on my feet, we began to move again. This was a tricky mission because we had to be fast and we could not be noticed. Nea had provided a layout of the building to thoroughly study and I made Karen go over the exact route and backup routes ten times from memory before we left. We opened a roof hatch after disabling the security. We had about five minutes to get in and hidden before the security team would notice. We followed the same pattern as before of Luke, then Karen, and finally me climbing down the latter and closed the hatch.
We were in a very dark room, so dark I could not see my hand that I knew was in front of my face. I felt through the Force, Karen had frozen up. I put a hand on her shoulder and whispered to her to find and follow Luke and treat this like an exercise. Beneath my hand, I felt her shoulder slightly melt the tension away and her awareness in the Force grow. She started moving and I followed.
The room did seem to be a long one, but eventually we reached a door and Luke ever so slowly opened the heavy, creaking door to reveal a blinding light. I closed my eyes before the door was opened, a trick I had long ago learned to help with light blindness, and went on. We were in a long, curving, narrow hallway that was completely white with bright white lights. Luke led the way, walking so fast he was almost jogging. Poor Karen with her short legs had to jog to keep up and nearly bumped into Luke as he abruptly stopped. I looked over Karen to see Luke with his ear to a white, blank door. He opened it quickly and went in. The two of us followed into a staircase. We climbed the stairs to the next level and opened the door. I noticed Luke caste us a caution look, one that warned us people were in this hallway. I nodded and proceeded inward.
Again, I found myself in a white, bright white hall. We walked a slower pace to a different door. This door was different because it was black and had a grey panel with several buttons. It was a heavy, thick door that spoke of authority and power. This was the door to the sith chamber. I saw Karen grow white. Her hands were near her belly, where the baby was growing, and as I observed, her fingers were trembling like mad. It was a horrible scene to watch. She was just like when she replayed memories of her father to me back at the Jedi academy. I could not comfort her now as much as I wanted to. There was no time to settle her nerves. We had to get in and we had to get fast before the alarm went off, which was due in about a minute and thirty seconds.
Luke closed his eyes and his hand hovered over the buttons. I knew he was feeling to see which ones to press and in what order. Karen saw this after a moment and bluntly pointed at a big red one. I almost smiled at the irony. Luke gave me one last look and I put a hand on my lightsaber. He reached over and pressed the red button. There was a nerve wreaking silence that went on for far too long.
“Why, hello Jedi. We’ve been expecting you.”
The voice in the speaker on the panel gave me the creeps. It was a low, smooth sounding voice. It was a voice that was drenched in darkness of the soul. Then the door hissed and opened into an empty darkness.