Luna was blind.
Her heart beat so hard that she was sure that it would burst from her chest. That the quick, deep thumping could be heard by Lehman, who must have been standing just a foot below her.
After he had called out, Lehman had charged at the door, and it was only down to the fact that they hadn't been able to fix the door that they weren't found out. As he pounded his fists on the door, scratching at it, yanking it open by sheer force of strength, she and Hoshi had barely enough time to close the cover up before the door opened and the General charged out, wielding some sort of blunt object. That was all that Luna had been able to see before her eyes went dark. She felt her body being lifted up into the air and crammed into the corner above the door, felt what she thought was Hoshi's arm across her chest, and there she stayed, trapped, as she heard Lehman prowling up and down the corridor below her. She didn't know how she couldn't see, and couldn't understand how he didn't see them.
It was a lie that your other senses became more accute when you lose one sense. Her hearing was the same. Her pulse beat loudly in her ears, and she could just about hear his steps.
'Whoever you are,' the General yelled, 'come out at once!'
'Ken-Gera, what is it?' called Keti'van. 'Should I call security?'
'I don't need some whelp to do my job for me,' he growled. Luna felt something brush against her foot and it took all her strength not to pull it away, sure that the sound of her boot scraping up the wall would attract attention.
'Power's out,' the General grumbled, and then louder. 'If you don't come out, I'll not be held responsible for my actions once I find you!'
How could he not see them? she thought to herself, trying desperately to calm herself. I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me. And then, as if a light had turned on, her vision came back to her. She could see the empty corridor below them, the General nowhere in sight, the woman moving about in her bedroom. Luna looked to her left and saw Hoshi beside her, straining hard, sweat beading down her forehead, her teeth gritted, as she held them both up in the corner above the bedroom door.
Luna needed answers, but she couldn't ask Hoshi, not while the door was still open and Keti'van possibly within earshot. Luna heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs, felt Hoshi tense and once again the darkness took Luna's eyesight from her. She understood now. It was Hoshi doing it. Hoshi was using the same ability that her mother used as a sort of comfort blanket to hide herself. Hoshi whimpered softly beside her and Luna dared to move her hand, reaching out blindly, slowly, to grasp Hoshi's waist, giving her a comforting squeeze.
'No one there,' Lehman told Keti'van. 'Doors are locked. Couldn't see any tampering.'
Well done, Amoya, Luna sent silent thanks to the Nautolan. She may not be a professional soldier, but she had the discipline of a professional thief, knowing to cover her tracks even though she would be back soon enough.
'Was it a power outage, do you think?' Keti'van asked him, confused.
'The power's on downstairs, and in here. Must have blown a fuse. I'll check in the morning. You go back to sleep, Ketika.'
'You're not joining me?'
'I'll stay up a little while longer, make sure there's nothing else. Just to be safe.'
'My dashing General,' the woman laughed softly. Luna gagged.
'All in the service to my princess,' Lehman purred. 'Now, sleep. I'll keep you safe.'
Luna's vision cleared, and everything looked as it had before, except now Hoshi looked close to passing out. Luna felt them both slipping down wall. Luna shook her hard and Hoshi's eyes jolted wide, her body tensing again, their downward movement arrested.
There they stayed, could only stay. Luna couldn't even check her chrono to gauge how long they hung there. Keti'van's quiet snores emanated from the room, but from Lehman there was nothing, and Luna had to assume that he was still awake. At some point, an hour, maybe two hours later, Amoya returned, quietly sneaking up the stairs, pausing mid stride at the top as she saw Luna and Hoshi suspended in the corner, hanging there like Loth-bats, or the childhood monster lurking in the corner of your room. Given how Amoya took a quick step back upon seeing them, Luna could guess which simile came to her first. As Amoya crept slowly towards them, Luna shook her head vigorously at her, trying to convey the problem at hand, wishing that she had given the young woman a primer on visual signals. Thankfully, Amoya stopped on the other side of the open door, resting her head on the door frame, letting her head just barely peak in, before snapping back into cover. She shook her head. No good. She held up the security cylinder, looking quizzically up at them.
Luna thought fast. She wondered if Hoshi could float the cylinder into the room, but dismissed the idea. It was starting to lighten outside, and they couldn't risk any of the weak light glinting off of it for Lehman to see. Besides, she doubted that Hoshi knew where his jacket was to even know where to put it. She looked at her girlfriend, at her weary, strained face. The continued use of her power had drained her, and she was at the end of her tether, she knew. She leaned close and pressed her lips to her ear. 'Can you make him go to sleep?' she whispered. Hoshi frowned, then shook her head sadly. Luna felt her body sag, but she shouldn't have been disappointed. If that was a possibility then Hoshi would have done it already. Still, she couldn't help but hope. They could do nothing but wait.
It was starting to lighten into the false dawn, the grey light before the true dawn, when they head the General's soft snoring.
'Take us down,' Luna whispered into Hoshi's ear. 'Gently.'
If she weren't so tired, Hoshi's glare would have looked exactly like her mother's. Slowly, inch by inch, they slid down until Luna felt the soft carpet underneath her feet and she pressed herself flush against the door frame, pushing herself forward just enough to see into the room. Keti'van was happily asleep, spread over the entirety of the bed. Lehman was sat in a chair in the corner, facing the door, his head slumped on his chest. She gestured at Amoya, who wasted no time in darting into the room, heading straight for the discarded uniform on the floor and slipping the security cylinder into the loop on the left breast, before silently, swiftly, slipping back out.
'Find the fuse box,' she whispered to Amoya, 'break the one for this corridor only.'
The young woman looked at her quizzically, but left to do as she was told, as Luna herself pried off the door frame cover and re-affixed the batteries to the motors. The door started to slide shut but a quick hand from Hoshi stopped it, and together they held it in place until they no longer felt any resistance, telling them that Amoya had succeeded in finding the fuse box, cutting power to this area of the house. They rushed down the corridor and down the stairs, out the back door and into the garden, over the fence and down the road, just as the new sun touched the horizon.
A few minutes after they had reached their safety position, where they had lain in wait the night before, they saw the General's landspeeder hover past them. As he did so, Luna could see his face through the transparisteel windows. He looked tired, but otherwise hadn't a care in the galaxy.
