Fall of the Jedi

Chapter 8

The night was dark and full of terrors. The stars above did nothing to light the forest. Everyone was on edge but there was little they could do but wait until morning. Kira paced back and forth, her previous exhaustion and chills forgotten. She didn't want to wait until morning to search for Jense, she didn't even want to wait ten minutes. The longer they waited the harder it would be to find him and she so desperately wanted to find him.

"How can you all just sit here and wait around?" Kira asked impatiently. "You're all Mandalorians. You should go out there and destroy all those who oppose you... or have all the rumors about you been exaggerated?"

Mij Gilamar, the Mandalorian in purple armor, frowned. "You don't understand, Girl. Those things that took Jense... they were... unnatural."

Kira pursed her lips in frustration. "How so?"

Wad'e interjected this time. "We've all been around the galaxy more times than you can imagine, we've all seen every kind of human, alien, Jedi or otherwise and everything in between. These things were nothing like anything we've seen before and they held a power I can't even explain."

"I'm a Jedi," Kira said. "If anyone knows anything about unnatural power here, it's me so if we have any chance at finding him at all we have a better one with me. I could sense them before everything happened. I bet I could sense them again."

Jango actually felt sorry for the Jedi. Her desperation hung in the air like smoke and suffocated her the longer she waited. She wasn't wrong though, she might have been able to sense them but even with her abilities she would likely end up in the same position as Jense was in now if she went rampaging through the dark forest because she was too impulsive.

"I think it is safe to say that whatever took Kenvor were the targets you've all been hired to eliminate." Jango said, trying to at least get some questions answered, hoping to satisfy Kira's hunger for action. "What do you know about them?"

Kira stopped pacing long enough to watch Jango as he asked his question then her attention turned to Wad'e as he spoke. "All we were told was there were a group of indiginous beings kidnapping townspeople."

"Did they say why?" Kira asked. "Or if any of the townspeople had anything in common? Maybe there's a pattern to their victims."

Wad'e thought for a moment. "The governor mentioned that it was their most talented people first, then eventually anyone who went outside city limits were a target."

That caught Kira's attention."What do you mean by talented?"

Wad'e shrugged. "I didn't ask."

Kira touched her chin pondering what exactly it meant and had an idea of what it could be but she didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet. "Anything else?"

"Well, he said they first called in the Jedi," Mij said. "But they never showed up. Maybe you've heard of something?"

That caught Kira's attention. She hadn't heard of anything of the sort back at the temple but then again she was preparing for her trials and before that she was on Tooma. "I haven't heard anything of Jedi being sent to Mes Cresta..." She then, more to herself than to anyone else, said. "I mean I'm here, but I'm not supposed to be..." Her voice returned to her normal pitch. "but what if the Jedi did show up but were also taken and the Council just doesn't know it yet." Kira suggested.

"I suppose anything is possible." Kal said.

"Before Jense was kidnapped, I sensed something strange in the Force."

"What did you sense?" Jango asked.

"I don't know for sure but whatever it was, was Force sensitive and it wasn't friendly." Kira hesitated a moment before deciding to voice her inclinations about the townsfolk. "Do you think there is any possibility that the people who were kidnapped may have been Force Sensitive?"