The Adventures of Nomi Darklighter

Chapter 87 - The Catastrophe

Luke had intensified the training as he was obsessed with the idea of making Nomi a perfect Jedi.
One day he chased her through the undergrowth until she collapsed from exhaustion.
She lay panting on the ground and looked up at him. Instead of letting her rest for a while, Skywalker activated his lightsaber.
"Get up and fight. Your father wouldn't let you rest either. He would use any weakness to his advantage. I can't leave you alone, Nomi. Try to understand, only as a fully trained Jedi will you survive a fight against your father."
The young woman envied her sons because Luke was not so relentless with them. For them, learning to use the Force was just another interesting game. The little ones had made great strides, their mastery of the Force near perfect. They levitated huge boulders with ease and used the Force to ignite fire. Nomi was almost certain that if the triplets hadn't been too young, Luke would have shown them how to use a lightsaber by now.
Eventually she stood up with a growl, ignited her lightsaber and assumed a fighting stance, waiting for her friend to attack. The attack came quickly, but she blocked it and launched a counterattack. They exchanged blow for blow and no one could gain the upper hand. After a while, Skywalker deactivated his lightsaber and hooked it to his belt.
"That's enough for today," he said, waiting for Nomi to deactivate her weapon as well.
With a relieved sigh, the Jedi followed her friend's example, deactivating her lightsaber and wiping the sweat from her forehead.
"I'll see you tomorrow afternoon," Luke said, smiling.
Nomi just nodded and made her way to her quarters.

As she entered, she was greeted by a weeping Tasherit and a reproachful Leebo.
"Your daughter is hungry," the droid said in his mechanical voice.
Without a word, Nomi went to the crib and picked up Tasherit. Then she sat on a chair and began to feed the baby. A few minutes later, the young mother sensed Dash standing behind the door.
"Come in, darling. I'm feeding our daughter right now."
Rendar entered, went to his wife, bent down and kissed her.
"How did you know it was me when the door was closed, love?"
"You're forgetting I'm a Jedi, Dash," Nomi replied, laughing.
Dash Rendar stroked his baby daughter's head, who didn't mind the touch while being fed.
"Our daughter has grown quite a bit. Let me guess, Nomi, special Jedi milk?"
His wife laughed even more at his funny idea.
"No, Dash, I don't think there really is a difference. Shouldn't you be in the command center?"
"No, not today, darling. I have good news for you, your brother's better. He's slowly recovering from his severe wound. I knew a Darklighter wouldn't be killed that easily. Unfortunately, we still don't have any news about Corran Horn. He's still nowhere to be found. Nobody knows anything about him. I hope he's still alive."
Nomi sighed.
"I hope so too."

Tasherit was now full. After a while her mother put her in the crib. The triplets were in the kitchen with Leebo and would be busy there for a while. Nomi tenderly hugged her husband, who looked at her in astonishment.
"Hey, Nomi, do you want to seduce me? What about your training with Luke?"
Instead of answering, his wife kissed him and pulled him with her.
"C'mon, Dash, let's go to the forest lake."
Her husband hesitated.
"But Luke..."
"What do I care about Luke? I want to swim and have fun with you. The triplets and Tasherit are in good hands with Leebo. C'mon, Dash."
Eventually, Dash willingly allowed himself to be pulled outside where the speeder bikes were parked.
After mounting their bikes, they started the engines and rode away.

When they reached their destination, Dash lifted his wife off her speeder bike and kissed her tenderly.
"Now show me if you haven't forgotten anything. Let's swim."
Nomi nodded and slowly began to undress while her husband did the same. Shortly afterwards they waded hand in hand into the cool water of the lake. Nomi let go of her husband's hand and began to swim. Dash watched his wife and smiled.
"Do you know how proud I am of you, my love?"
Then he slipped into the water and swam towards her. When he reached her, he kissed her. After that they swam side by side and had a lot of fun.
"We should get out of the water. I'm cold, Dash," said Nomi after a while and swam to the shore.
"I know how to warm you up quickly."
Dash grinned mischievously as he followed her. Then he lifted her out of the water and took her in his arms. When Dash was out of the water, he laid his wife on the blanket before lying down next to her. Tenderly he began to dry Nomi and let his hands wander over her body.
Suddenly, Nomi sensed danger.
Dash noticed that his wife was no longer responding to his caresses and paused.
"What's the matter, darling? Did I do something wrong?"
Nomi sat up.
"Somehow there was a disturbance in the Force. I felt cold and death."
The young Jedi reached out with the Force to touch her children. She turned pale when she felt nothing.
Her husband looked at her worried.
"What's the matter with you, Nomi? You've turned deathly pale."
"We have to go back immediately, Dash. Our kids are gone. I can no longer feel their presence," his wife replied with panic in her voice.
Hearing this, Dash jumped up and hastily began to dress. Nomi did the same, struggling with the jammed zipper. Finally she managed to fasten her coverall.
Then they ran to the speeder bikes, mounted them and sped back to base at full throttle.

Back at the base, Nomi jumped off her speeder bike before it could even stop and ran to their quarters. She walked in and didn't bother to close the door behind her.
"Junior! Biggs! Corran!"
When there was no answer, she hurried into the bedroom where Tasherit's crib was.
To her dismay it was empty.
Meanwhile Dash had entered her quarters and went to the kitchen.
"Nomi!"
Hearing her husband, Nomi left the bedroom and rushed into the kitchen, where she saw Dash standing next to a deactivated Leebo with a restraining bolt attached to his chest plate. Nomi's husband activated the droid and removed the restraining bolt.
"Thanks the maker, you're back," the droid said, followed by a noise that sounded almost like a sigh.
"What happened, Leebo? Where are our children?" Dash stared at his trusty droid and clenched and unclenched his fist.
Leebo turned his head and scanned the surroundings.
"They're not here, Dash," he finally said.
"Indeed they aren't here, Leebo! So what happened here?"
The former mercenary was on the verge of losing his temper as the droid seemed to think.
"There was a tall man," Leebo finally began. "I had never seen him before. He wore black Mandalorian armor with a black hooded cloak. The face was hidden behind his helmet. A lightsaber dangled from his belt. Then I don't know anything anymore. He must have deactivated me."
Nomi and Dash looked at each other in horror.
Mandalorian armor and a lightsaber could only mean one thing: Ulic Bel-Baal had found them and kidnapped the children.
Her worst fears had come true. Nomi blamed herself. If only they hadn't gone to the forest lake. Maybe she could have prevented their children from being kidnapped by the Dark Jedi. She had to find them at all costs. Nobody, not even her father, was allowed to take them away from them.

Nomi went to their bedroom. There she changed into her Jedi clothes and hooked the lightsaber to her belt. Her husband followed her.
"What are you up to, Nomi?"
"I'm going to bring our children back, Dash."
"Where are you going?" Rendar looked at her seriously. "You don't know where they are. Where will you look for them in this vast galaxy?"
"The Force will guide me," she replied, more confident than she felt.
She wanted to leave but Dash held her back.
"Wait, Nomi, I'm coming with you. It is too dangerous for you to go alone."
At that moment Luke walked in. Nomi felt like he already knew what had happened.
"I sensed a disturbance in the Force, Nomi. Ulic Bel-Baal found you and kidnapped the children," he said.""But he doesn't just want them, he wants you too. He wants his daughter, whom he wants to convert to the dark side. Therefore, he will allow you to find out his whereabouts. If you're within his reach, there's nothing I can do for you, Nomi. In this fight you are on your own."
Dash came up behind his wife and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Nomi will not be alone. I'll accompany her and do everything in my power to protect her."
Skywalker looked at him with pity.
"You won't be able to do much against a Dark Jedi, Dash. Your attempt to protect Nomi could cost you your life."
Rendar nodded.
"I'm aware of that, Luke. But I swore at our wedding to stand by her. I'm serious about this vow and I'll keep it even if it costs me my life. Without Nomi and the children, life would be meaningless for me anyway."
"Of course it's your decision what you do, Dash," Luke sighed. "I hope you succeed. May the Force be with you both."

After receiving permission from General Madine, they were on their way with the Outrider to...
To where? That was the question.