Incident at Saris

Chapter Twenty

"Lock and Load," said Rik looking at the mass that was the Storm-Maker " may the Way be with me!" he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, giving himself fully over to the Way and entered the mass which shook his small starfighter around like a toy ship and started to 'feel' his way towards the primary source.
**Use the Way Rik, trust in it ** came Ren's voice into his head ** let us be One again! **
"Ren?" he said.
** I'm here Rik ** said Ren and Rik could see Ren in his mind's eye, standing over him, his hands on his shoulders and he started to sing, surrounding them both with a protective field.

"Master Ren?" Kayla asked up on the Serendipity as Ren had closed his eyes and started to sing.
"Master Ren Ok?" came Kimmie's voice from her turret as she fired upon the enemy.
"I don't know! He seems out of it!" Kayla said concerned "it's like he's copped some backlash or something! We lost one of our own!"
"We didn't lose Rik, did we? If we lose Rik, we'll probably lose Ren as well! Ren will die without Rik!" said River.
"No, I don't think so..."Kayla said "but the last I saw of Rik's starfighter was when he entered the Storm-Maker! Maybe he's lost consciousness or something".
"Assuming control" came Sera's voice then "do not worry Kayla, River and Kimmie...Ren is safe within the Force; he's helping Rik".
"But I didn't think that they were strong enough to do that yet," said Kayla.
"As I have said before, with each other they are!" said Sera appearing then " you don't understand yet...Ren is fine as is Rik, they are just well, One, I guess at the moment, one mind, one soul, together in the only way they can be, Corran pairs..." she paused and continued " my former owner and I" she stopped in mid-sentence.
"Gorta-Trellian twin pairs can as well!" Kayla said with sudden insight and understanding "I understand! There were these twin Gorta-Trellians in my class; one of them was my best friend! The one good with animals as I mentioned, she and her twin brother, they could link up and think and move as One sometimes. Master Ren and Master Rik...their doing something similar, right?"
"Close enough," Sera said with a smile "Ren and Rik, they are in communion at the moment with each other".
Kayla said "I've never been able to do that, never been able to imagine it, I always wondered how it felt to be so close to someone, that they are the other half of your soul...soulbonded couples would understand it too. As an orphan, I never knew that my mother, she died when I was five; she was shot down in the street by some of the gangs that roam the underbelly of Saris 4, I think I only survived because I hid. I spent about a year or so after that alone, with all the other orphans and street kids, until Master Ondrina and someone else from the Academy found me, hiding under a pile of rubbish from the Gangs my inner voice was quite loud, and Master Ondrina heard me".
River said " almost sounds like me...I was sold into slavery or something...".
Sera chuckled " and you feel things more because you are a healer Kayla".
"Yeah," Kayla said, " but are they going to be Ok?"
Sera said, " they should be, seeing they're done this before, you probably know them better than I do at the moment, seeing your spent more time with them".
"Yeah, the Order tends to do that" Kayla said " but I have never seen them do this! We've had some lunches together, and they sat in on a few of my lessons and training sessions lately when it was confirmed that I was going to be their apprentice. They get you to spend some time together to confirm whether you're a good match, I love Rik and Ren, especially Master Ren, he feels so safe and gentle and kind and I don't want him hurt!"
"Ren is fine," Sera said "Ok I'm assuming control and Kimi, River, man your turrets, Kayla stay here! I want you to fire another barrage onto the Stormship, make it easier for the starfighters fighting around it and inside it, they need it" a hologram appeared which they could hear as well and Kayla could see the fighters fighting near the Stormship, above it and around it, as she watched a Sarisian Bomber dropped its load of bombs and winced as one of the Starfighters took a hit.
"We lost Ripper!" Jojo said, "Oh Gosh, he was trying to cover me!"
"JoJo get out of there!" her Wing Commander ordered, " your trailing smoke and flames and your wing is damaged and possibly one of your engines!"
"RIPPER!!!" she cried out, her pain and grief evident "Oh Gosh! I felt him die!"
"Hmm," Sera said, " someone's a sensitive it seems".
"Or she was in love with him," Kayla said softly wiping tears away, that final 'Ripper' had wrenched her heart it had been agonising!
"Out of there now, JoJo! Time enough to mourn him later, he knew the risks as well as anyone!" her Wing Commander ordered, " or we'll lose you too!"
"I will cover you" another ship flew in and fired at the T'ron as another Starfighter, probably JoJo's limped away.
"I will sing for them," Ren said softly then, making Kayla jump.