Fall of the Jedi

Chapter 3

"Hard truths are better than soft lies."

Mace had been trailing the dug for over an hour when he got a ping on his comlink from Kira, he stopped momentarily to check it. He cursed. She was miles away. How she'd gotten that far that quickly was beyond him.

"How in..." He muttered to himself. "Oh, Kira, you're going to get yourself killed one of these days." Sometimes his young apprentice took things into her own hands even when it wasn't necessarily the wisest of decisions. He hoped she hadn't gotten herself killed or captured in the meantime. While Kira was headstrong and had a wild impulsive streak that was near impossible to temper, she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

Mace debated for a few moments before deciding that Kira must have found what they were looking for and decided to abandon the dug. He pulled out his datapad from his satchel and looked more closely at Kira's location, trying to find out exactly where she was. It looked like she was on the far west side of town and decided he should get there sooner rather than later; she might need back up. He looked up at the stars and knew he would be heading into the rougher parts of an already rough planet. He looked at Kira's location again and found a message from her. He could have throttled her then and there.

Found the fighting ring, might do something I'll regret later... Force be with me, Master. – K

"I'm going to kill her when I get there." He growled and quickened his pace. The time he'd wasted following the dug had only created more distance between the two.

Mace flagged down a taxi speeder and climbed in. He gave the driver Kira's location and the driver headed off in that direction. It took over two hours to reach the location and when they got there, the only thing around was an empty field and a river. Mace felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. He got out of the speeder and paid the driver.

Mace was one of the most skilled Jedi in the entire Order because he followed the Jedi code to a T. He was able to connect himself to the Force in ways many other Jedi would never be able to. He refrained from any attachments... but Kira. By the Force, he loved her. She was his first apprentice and like the daughter he would never have. In so many ways, she reminded him of himself. There was a fire in her that burned so brightly that he could not help but love her. Now he feared he would find her body thrown in the river.

He followed the riverbed; the water was heavily polluted. Trash filled the water, trapped against rocks or stuck beneath the dead brush. He wandered until he came to where Kira's location beacon pointed to, but found nothing. He ran a hand over his head in confusion until his eye caught something glittering on a rock, he trudged through the water until he reached it and picked it up. It was Kira's entire wrist gauntlet. Mace felt nothing but dread, he was in the middle of nowhere with no leads to his padawan.

Mace dragged himself out of the river and sat on a boulder. He couldn't allow himself to panic, he needed to meditate. Let the Force guide him to her. He would find her, he always did.

Kira awoke with a start; she felt the bite of the cold against her skin, the only bit of warmth at her back. Her head spun and she could barely see straight as the sleep gas began to wear off, after a few minutes she began to see a little clearer and her head felt less foggy. She looked around and hadn't a single clue where she was. Wherever she was, the air was cold, stale and smelled slightly of mildew. Water leaked through a pipe near the ceiling and had created a small puddle in the corner. Kira tried to reach up and rub her forehead but soon realized that she was tied up with her hands pinned behind her back.

"Have a nice nap?" An accented voice asked sarcastically behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and found the Mandalorian, Jango Fett, back-to-back with her. She let out a sigh and felt herself shiver.