Nightmares in the Past - Chapter 4

 - chapter 1 - chapter 1 (part 2) - chapter 2 - chapter 3 - chapter 4

“Bottom left screw out first, top right screw out sec-”
       Keith shook his head, screwing the left one in quickly.  “No, top right first, bottom left second, bottom right third, top left fourth.  Got it?”
       Kian blinked at the half-taken apart practice lightsaber, then recognition flushed his face with a smile.  “Oh, okay.”  He went to work busily.
       Keith grinned and slapped his son on the shoulder reassuringly, then moved over to Kim, who kneeled beside him.  Her face was burning red.
       “Why do we have to do this again?!” she shrieked.  “This is pointless.  I already know how to take apart a saber.”
       Keith stopped her feverish work, rearranging a bolt.  “Apparently not smoothly enough.”  A smiled, amused.  “Besides.  You need to know this if ever you are in a situation as you were the previous day.”  He eyed both the younglings.  “But you must know to be responsible with them.  They are not toys, nor are they even practice weapons - they are the real thing.  With these adjustments, they do not just burn or bruise, they sever and kill.”
       Kian’s eyes widened and he gasped.  “K-kill?”
       Keith wrapped an arm around him.  “Let’s just hope it will never come to that again, ever.”
       Kian glanced back down to the pieces of the saber.  He picked up a spring on the floor.  He knew where to put it, but his hand shook.  He stared at it, his gaze drifting to the saber.
       Killing - even just the word - it held a hidden meaning.  Terrifying, yet alluring.
       “Master Keith,” Djo’s deep voice beckoned, breaking Kian’s thought.  “The mission members are gathering in the hangers.  Two hours ‘til takeoff.”  Djo stood at the door to the small work room.  He glanced over at Kian and Kim.  “What are you two doing?” he demanded.
       Keith quickly rose to his feet and led Djo outside the room.
       “This is the least I could do after nearly losing them,” said Keith.
       “You’re violating the laws - it is a shame and a dishonor for a Jedi to have a family.  And it breeds evil.  I-” Djo cut himself off and slammed the door to the work room shut.  The voices from outside, though now muffled, rose louder.  Kian wedged himself in a corner, anxiously listening to the argument outside.
       Kim walked over to him, laying her small hand on his shoulder.  “Why’re you afraid?”
       Kian only hesitantly looked up into Kim’s eyes.  “They’re fighting.”  For once, Kim didn’t say anything, confusion plastered her complexion.  Kian clamped his mouth shut.  A whine slipped out his mouth.  “They’re fighting . . . over me.”



Kian and Kim walked alongside Keith as he made his way to the special missions hanger, a smaller dock adjoining the main ship harbor.
       “Where are you going this time, Daddy?” Kian asked.
       Keith took in a painful breath.  “I’ll be back soon.”
       “Daddy . . . ?” moaned Kian.
       “It will all be okay, son,” Keith comforted.
       Keith walked to the ID pass.  He leaned in, a mechanism scanning his eye.
        “Clear.”  Came the automated voice.  The blast doors hissed open.  Keith glanced back to Kian.  He stood with his arms crossed and a creased brow.
        Keith laid a hand on his shoulder, bending down to him.  “What’s wrong?”
        “Why were you and Master Pollick arguing like that?” Kian demanded in his childish way.
       Keith did not respond for a long moment.  “Kian, there are some things that you are not ready to understand.  Some very dangerous things that could harm you.  And I do not want to harm you - it is my duty as a father to protect you.  Do you understand?”
        Kian stared into his father’s deep brown eyes - they were alive, filled with spirit.  The Force.  “I . . .” Kian dropped his gaze to the floor.  “I think I do.”
       Keith smiled.  “Good.”  He brought himself up to full height.  “Now I must go.  I will be back soon, I promise.”
       Kian’s gaze dropped to the floor.  He promised it.  And yet something within urged Kian to jump through that door after him.
       Kim watched for a moment.  “Okay, I’m bored,” she announced.  Grabbing Kian by the shoulder, she began to haul him across the hanger.
       “Hey!” Kian shouted, struggling to move of his own accord.  “Lemme go!”
       “Not ‘til you tell me why you’re so sad,” defied Kim.
       “Sad?  I’m not sad?”  He wasn’t.  At least, not in the straight sense of sad.
       “You can’t pull that one off on me, Kian Saman Shekk.  I knows you too well.”
       Kian huffed.  Maybe she did . . .  “Don’t call me by my middle name!”
       “Why not, Saman?” Kim taunted, a smile twitching her lips.
       “I said don’t!”  Kian squirmed.  “I don’t like it.”
       Kim shrugged.  “Whatever.  So are we going after your dad or not?”
       Kian looked up as if the thought hadn’t even passed through his mind.  “Well, um, well, you know, we probably shouldn’t-”
       “We shouldn’t have gone out of our clan house earlier.  But we saved your dad’s life.”
       Kian frowned.  She was putting up a good argument.  How could he refuse her like that?  “But we can’t sneak into the ship anymore.”  He pointed to the sealed blastdoors.
       Kim put a finger to her chin and wrinkled her brow, deep in thought.  Kian cocked his head.
       “We’ll have to figure it out!”  Kim pronounced.  “But I’m hungry.  “No use thinking over an empty stomach!” as good Masters say.”
       Kian sighed.  “I guess so.  What are we having today?”
       “Weta and anchovies!”  Kim grinned wide, just imaging scoffing down pounds of the foods.
       Kian doubled over, sticking out his tongue in disgust.  “Ewww!  Maybe I’ll just figure things out of an empty stomach, if there’s no difference to y-”  In a moment Kim grabbed Kian by the ear and pulled him to the younglings’s cafeteria.  Just as Kim said, the food bars were stocked alone with weta and anchovies.  At the far end was one last slice of Kibi.  Kian brightened, eagerly snatching up a tray.  He fixed his eyes on it, unwilling to let it be taken.  A large togrutan stormed up and blocked the way.  When he jumped away again . . . the Kibi was gone.
       Kian looked despairingly down at the anchovies.  He would have to empty his stomach later anyway if he did try to eat them . . .


Kian and Kim were once again in their youngling clan house.
       “My daddy’s probably gone by now.”  Kian frowned.
       Kim shrugged - she was putting on makeup, as if a youngling needed it.  “We can still go after him, I’m sure.  Just steal a ship and-”
       “Neither of us know how to drive on of them,” Kian cut her off.
       “Hm.”  She put a finger to her chin.  “You’re right.”
       And the planning began.