Adi sighed as the ship finished docking procedures and offered her companion a tired smile.
They were both coming off their own difficult missions.
Finn returned her smile with a commiserating look of her own.
Neither of them had thought to ignore the call for help, it wasn’t the Jedi way to ignore someone in need.
The ship they’d attached their own to was still blaring a whining distress signal. The fact no one had turned it off once they’d finished maneuvering to assist was not something that gave Adi much hope of finding survivors.
They didn't have much time. There was only so long they could afford to keep the two ships linked before they risked drifting into the debris field nearby.
Finn took a steadying breath of her own at the threshold between the ships, lightsaber unlit but ready in her hands.
“You think it may be a trap?” Adi asked.
They had little way of knowing what they were about to walk into, their ship not designed for extensive scans and there was no sign of a struggle as far as either of them could tell.
Finn took a moment, visibly calming her mind before answering.
“I’m not sure, but…” she hesitated, “don’t you feel it?”
Adi closed her eyes, probing the Force a little deeper only to find it strangely clouded.
“Yes, the Force is…” She searched for the right words. “Unclear, distorted. I have never felt anything like it.”
Finn nodded gravely.
It was a worrying thing for two knights, with generally different areas of expertise, to be going into a situation so blind. Even worse knowing that something was going on in the Force.
“A darksider, perhaps?” Adi wondered aloud.
“I do not know. May the Force be with you, Knight Gallia.” Finn opened the door separating the ships and stepped inside.
“May the Force be with you as well, Knight Ertay.” Adi returned quietly and followed her companion into the ship.
The emergency lights flared with warning, casting the ship in an eerie red glow before turning dark again. High-pitched warning shrieks from alarms rang out in the direction of the cockpit.
Their scans had indicated the life support systems were functional so they went without any support gear, something Adi was beginning to regret.
The emergency lights continued to flare.
Finn gestured in the direction of the cockpit and Adi nodded silently. The Force was buzzing, almost vibrating with an anticipation that sent shivers down her spine, the oppressive muddy feeling made it almost impossible for her to examine the feeling further. She followed her companion without a word.
The cockpit was empty of life. There was a pilot droid, seemingly overloaded by whatever or whoever it was that had sent the ship floating helplessly through space.
Finn leaned over to examine it closer, only to shake her head pensively. Her lekku twitched with concentration and nerves.
“I’m afraid it is beyond my expertise.” She said softly.
Adi had to stop herself from jumping, the alarms still shrieked between breaths and yet the words seemed so loud in the space between them.
Adi examined the pilot droid herself but, as she expected, had no special insights into the cause of its destruction.
She turned to Finn, a suggestion to check the living spaces of the ship on the tip of her tongue.
Their world plunged into darkness.
There was something to be said about the glow of a lightsaber in a dark room, Adi took comfort in the whirring glow of her own saber as well as the continued existence of Finn’s at her side.
The alarms went off the same moments the lights cut out and they stood for a moment in tense and ready silence.
Nothing came.
She took a moment to breathe, seeking guidance from the Force and getting nothing but shadows.
It wasn’t… darkness exactly. It was… like struggling against a swift current of water.
Adi had never known the Force to be clouded like this.
Finn moved behind her, fiddling with wires and equipment as best she could.
Adi dedicated herself to keeping watch.
A triumphant sound from behind her and the lights flickered back on, proper lights this time, not the emergency warning lights.
Adi relaxed minutely, she did not need the light to defend them but… the strangeness of the Force was unsettling.
“Shall we go on?” Finn asked, already moving.
Adi nodded in agreement, content to search elsewhere for answers.
The halls were still and Adi quickly realized the entire ship felt empty, as if no being had spent a moment inside since its construction.
There were no dishes in the small kitchen, no rations in its cupboards, no hastily abandoned datapads on the tables.
“This is not an automated cargo ship…” Adi observed slowly.
“It is not.” Finn’s face pinched in thought.
They moved on.
The fresher was the same, no obvious signs of use.
The small medbay contained only a few bandages covered in dust.
It was like examining a tomb.
No sign of violence, no sign of a fight, no sign of life.
No sign of anything that once moved but the pilot droid.
But what was the cargo?
Ships did not travel without reason.
Ships especially did not travel to planets like Naboo without reason.
The cargo hold contained a few crates, parts and technical equipment but… nothing that would explain the trip. The items were in no short supply on Naboo, Adi could not imagine a trader would waste the money for such a small amount of merchandise.
The next door they came upon was locked from the outside, something that had not happened on their search so far.
The lock did not keep them out long, it was meant to keep things in, after all. The door revealed living quarters, similarly abandoned, although unique in that Adi could actually see signs of use. A cheap blanket left slightly crumpled on the bed, as if someone very small had tried to tidy it. The layer of dust found in other parts of the ship was also absent in this one.
Finn scrutinized the empty drawers while Adi closed her eyes and reached out once again, asking the Force to guide her.
It was sluggish, slow and nothing like it should have been but there was a nudge, the slightest push towards a small storage closet.
She moved slowly towards it and easily opened it to look inside.
Adi had to suppress a gasp.
The closet was mostly empty, just like the rest of the ship. A few boxes, probably empty if they bothered to look inside.
That wasn’t what had Adi’s attention.
Life.
There was something alive, alive and hiding in the ship.
Big eyes, she absently noted they were slightly reflective, pressed back as far as they could go.
“Greetings.” She whispered, not wanting to frighten whatever or whoever she’d found. “I am Jedi Knight Adi Gallia. Who are you?”
A hissing sound, raspy and frightened. They were no threat, so close she could almost taste their fear in the Force. She opened the door further, the light allowing her a better look and crouched down so she wasn't looming.
It was a little Zabrak, barely old enough for his first tattoos, from what little she knew of those traditions.
She heard Finn shift behind her, attracted by Adi’s whispers. She quickly retreated at a particularly distressed hiss and sent Adi a muffled sense of support and wish for success before backing off completely.
Adi offered the little one a kind smile and held out a hand.
He snarled, showing off adorable baby teeth.
“That was just my friend Knight Ertay. We won’t hurt you, I swear. We heard your distress beacon, the loud noises from earlier? Do you know where the adults have gone?”
No answer.
Adi settled back on her heels to wait.
The little Zabrak growled, high pitched and more afraid than angry.
Adi didn’t react.
The youngling was obviously hoping they would leave, leave and abandon him to a slow death on a ship with no food that couldn’t do more than briefly maintain life support systems before finally even those slowly failed one by one. That was, if the debris field didn't finish the drifting ship off first.
They were Jedi, it was never going to happen. Adi would drag him out of there and suffer his little teeth if that was what it took. She hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.
“You know, Finn, that is, Knight Ertay, just got back from a planet with lots of water. Have you ever seen an ocean before? I have, they’re very blue and huge and there’s all sorts of creatures in them…” It was much harder to engage with this one, the younglings at the Temple would have been pestering her with questions long before she introduced the idea of animals that lived in the water.
She didn’t mind the quiet glaring though, really it was a little like negotiating with someone who just would not visibly engage with her. Adi noted the way his eyes sharpened at certain descriptions and he perked up at large predators and she made sure to tell him everything she remembered about those things. Eventually, she even got Finn to start adding her own recollection of the creatures that lived in the depths.
“Do you think you can come out now?” She held out her hand again and he bristled, shoving himself back even further.
Adi decided to take a chance, she wasn’t sure how long the life support systems would hold and shifted a few inches closer.
He shoved her, as hard as he could manage.
She stumbled back a bit and worked to regain her balance.
It took a moment to realize he had used the Force.
Oh, this was definitely going to need further investigation.
The Force, so strange and clouded, not fully dark as far as she could tell but definitely… something. The Force sensitive child, locked away seemingly without a soul to care for him. The itching under her skin, telling her something was wrong.
“I’m sorry for scaring you.” She hesitated before continuing. “This ship isn’t safe anymore, we can’t leave you here.” She hadn’t wanted to tell him that, better to convince him slowly.
It wasn’t long before his lip started to wobble, clearly upset by the reality of his situation. Adi instinctively sent soothing waves of comfort in the Force without thinking about it.
He froze, staring at her with shocked eyes.
Had this child never been comforted before?
She could imagine a lack of Force-based comfort but… a Force sensitive child should have felt even a Force null's muted feelings of care in the Force.
Apparently not, she sent more calm comfort, wishing they were on a ship with less unsettling dullness in the Force.
It was all too much for the overwhelmed youngling, who started to cry.
He was almost completely silent in his distress, hitching breaths and sniffles the only sounds she could make out.
Adi could do nothing but attempt to mitigate the discomfort and unease radiating through the ship from her place at the door.
Finn tapped her shoulder from out of the youngling’s view, a signal they only had another hour at the most before more systems started failing.
It would be enough time to convince the little one and if, somehow, it was not, they could handle whatever fight he put up.
She hoped it would not come to that.
The youngling’s tears petered out surprisingly quickly, the thick dread he was exuding told Adi the likely reason why.
Adi didn’t react, didn’t change the comfort she was projecting, didn’t smile kindly or frown. She had no idea what he would take as a sign of coming punishment. It was obvious that was what he expected and her mind was reeling from the little signs and blaring warnings they’d discovered.
This was no simple rescue.
From one moment to the next his dread faltered and his expression became confused.
Adi endured his pointed staring without comment. He glared and showed off his teeth but she could tell he was actively considering her now, she hoped he trusted whatever he found.
“Jedi?” She brightened up at the words, she hadn’t been sure he could speak.
“Yes, little one, we are Jedi.”
“Hurt me?” He shrunk back in terror, as if the question itself had guaranteed it.
“No, no, we won’t hurt you.” Adi rushed to reassure him, what a horror that he even thought that. “I promise, we only want to keep you safe.”
He sniffled again, resigned this time.
Adi wanted desperately to get him away from this place that clouded the Force, it couldn’t be healthy.
She blinked in surprise as his hand edged forward, creeping hesitantly towards her. She quickly offered her own and he took it, tentative and still so very frightened.
She made sure to keep her grip gentle as she pulled him out of his hiding place. He dropped her hand and hid slightly behind her when she turned to Finn.
She placed a hand carefully on his head and hoped he found it reassuring.
He stiffened but relaxed after a moment, almost drooping with poorly hidden exhaustion. She added yet another concern to her growing list.
They left the ship, slowly out of worry for their little companion.
Adi had to suppress a shiver as they crossed the threshold between the two ships.
Finn left for the cockpit of their ship with a departing smile, leaving Adi alone with the Zabrak youngling.
“Are you hungry?” She asked.
He shook his head, fear wrapping around him again, so much sharper in the unclouded Force of Adi and Finn’s ship.
She could almost see it. This innocent fear, this terror brought about by experience and pain. She could almost see his path. His fear, always correct, always justified.
It would be so easy to twist to resentment, so simple for those he cowered from to turn him to anger. To tell him there was nothing good in this galaxy, only pain and suffering. It would be so easy for hatred to take root, she could almost see it.
She could also almost see another path, a new one. It wouldn’t be easy, the foundations of misery and fear would make certain of it.
But she could almost see it, a little Initiate eager to learn, the burden of second guessing his every action forgotten. She could almost see a Zabrak Knight, wise in his own way and free of the chains now only starting to claim him.
She handed him a ration bar and did not acknowledge the way he flinched back before taking it.
“Do you have a name, little one?”
He paused in his cautious nibbling to look up at her, big eyes growing brighter.
“Maul.” He mumbled and Adi smiled.
“Well, I’m glad to meet you Maul.”