Strong Bonds; Chapter 4

Here it is!! Atton's Chapter!!

Strong Bonds; Chapter 4

Atton Rand watched as the Ebon Hawk lifted off its perch outside of Mos Eisley. The twin suns glinted angrily against the Hawk's hull, and the whine of the engines reverberated eerily through the desert like the distant howl of the sand people. He was too late, and that alone made his blood boil. It hadn't taken long to search all of the local fueling stations near Dantooine and find the Hawk's most recent stop and from there learn from a local Twilek merchant that Whinter intended to travel to Tatooine.

Now he stood upon the sands and stared out at the endless sea of gold as it traveled away from his sight into nothingness. Whether she knew it or not, Whinter had just left him behind again.

He felt the sting of Betrayal. His life had been full of betrayal. Perhaps it would have been a different life for Atton Rand had he not seen so much of it, but he had, and the sad part was that he had become used to it, and immune to it, even a contributor in it. A flash of memory caused him to flinch and turn away from spot where the Hawk had disappeared. He blocked the thought, and began series of tricks he had learned to fend off those troubling strands of memory.

Why had this betrayal hit him so hard? What made Whinter so different from his father, from Alenna, from all the others who had in some way or another hurt him. How had she broken past his emotionless wall and into his heart?

He couldn't help it then; the flash of memory broke through his defenses and attacked...

(~)

The tall figure loomed above him mad with fury. Fifteen year old Jaq Rand coward in the corner of their small apartment, his hands raised above his head in defense against the blow that he knew would come. He could hear Alenna's cries of distress in the other room. She was scared for him, and rightly so. Jaq Rand had done it this time.

The years after his mother's death had been difficult for the small family, especially his father. At least that was how Jaq justified his patron's actions. But when he went after Alenna, he had gone too far. Jaq had interceded, throwing the little girl out of harm's way and placing himself between her and his raging father. He could now feel the bruises beginning to form on his arm where his father had grabbed him and dragged him across the floor.

Now he could smell the acrid scent of liquor on his father's breath, and he could see the venom in the man's eyes. The man kicked viciously out at Jaq's ribs knocking the breath from his body. Again and again he lashed out until Jaq couldn't handle it anymore.

With some hidden strength he had not thought he could muster, he rose to his feet and with all his might hit back. His fist met his father's face, but he didn't stop there. He kept on hitting, tears streaming down his face. He fought back for all of the times that he had been hit; he fought back for all the times he had had to lie about the bruise that shines so plainly upon his face, he fought back for Alenna.

When at last he stopped, his father lay face down on the floor, unmoving. Jaq's breath came in gasps, he turned away from his unconscious father. Alenna's terrified face peered out at him from the doorway beyond, he took a step toward her but she flinched away from him and her fear sent shots of pain through his heart. He stood forlornly in the center of the room, staring down at Terim Rand, his fists clenched into balls his hands covered in blood. The tears that had been streaming down his face were now dry; he felt no regret, only anger, cold and uncaring.

Suddenly, his father changed, it was as if his father was being peeled away and in his place lay Whinter, her ebony hair splayed out around her, and her face distorted with blood and bruises.

(~)

Atton shook with the power of his vision. Why were his memories playing tricks on him? Still, like that day so long ago, he felt no remorse. The anger that had afflicted him upon Whin's departure came upon him again, this time it was cold and stark.

Like his father, Whinter had betrayed him, and she would pay. He would make her understand his pain.

The force vibrated angrily through him. He peered through it reaching within its confines for the twinkle that belonged to the Ebon Hawk. The ship itself had been imprinted with the force image of all the Jedi that had lived in it, and that imprint called to Atton. It didn't matter whether or not Whinter was devoid of the Force; Atton was going to find her.

A thin smile played across Atton's face, as he located the Hawk through the Force. He was on the trail.

(~)

Dustil Onasi was mystified by Whinter Averrod. While on Tatooine she had been exuberant and full of life, but here upon her own ship she was resigned. She said hardly three words to him, and stayed mainly to herself. Once, curious about her whereabouts, he went in search of her and found her curled up amongst old crates and boxes in the Cargo Hold, fast asleep.

He had been perplexed, but had not pushed the subject. He had met many quirky people in his days, he knew better than to pry too much into their business. The ship itself was familiar to Dustil, almost too familiar.

Everything about it reminded him of Revan. His father had often told stories of his days upon the Hawk, with her. And at first he had been jealous. He was envious of their relationship, of his father spending more time with her than with his only son. Now though he was saddened. He had often wondered why she had just up and left. He had seen what her absence had done to him and had had to fight off the anger that threatened to break through his Jedi mask.

Every imprint she had left behind hurt Dustil. The Hawk was like a time capsule, it encased old memories and it evoked old feelings that should have been faded and dampened by time but instead were stark and fresh. He wondered if that was why Whinter hid herself away in the Cargo Bay. Was she also afflicted with memories? Or was he projecting his own feelings onto her? Could she even feel what he felt without the Force? He didn't know, but he did know that the sooner he left the Hawk the sooner he could compose himself.

The shuffle of feet behind him was the only warning he had of Whinter's approach. She stood beside him for a long time staring out at the kaleidoscope of stars that whirled past the view port.

Dustil's eyes were drawn to her face. She was sickly pale, and bags gathered beneath her eyes. She looked as if she had not slept in weeks. She leaned up against the co-pilot's chair wearily, her whole being seemed weighted down with exhaustion. She must have noticed his scrutiny because she turned toward him and smiled, but even her smile was drooping and tired looking.

"Less than an hour before we reach Telos," she said her voice sounding more chipper than Dustil would have given her credit for, "Are you excited about seeing your Father again?"

He smiled and nodded at her, but he knew that she could see through his act. His father was a war hero, an exemplary pilot, and a husband of the most legandry Jedi (and sith) in history, but when it came to fatherhood he was less than perfect.

Dustil had tried to see past those flaws, to put himself in Carth's boots, but he could never completely forgive his father. There was a tension between them that never healed. It had been hard enough before Dustil's acceptance into the Jedi order, but with Revan's departure and the exile of the few remaining Jedi, even communication had become scarce and finally nonexistent.

He had often turned on the holo viewer to see his father at a banquet, or giving a speech, but he was not the same man. He looked older than his years, his eyes seemed to peer into the camera deep and sad, but what hit Dustil the hardest was the loneliness that he sensed in the man. Even with all of the past mistakes and arguments, Dustil found it hard to see his father this way. The Jedi side of him rejected the pain it caused him, but the son in him cried out for his father. Still he had found no way to reconcile both sides of him, and so he had eventually given up and completely turned off the holos.

Something yanked the young Jedi out of his worrisome thoughts. It was like a blaring siren had gone off in his head, the Force vibrated with nervous energy. He opened himself to the Force, reached out of himself and toward the source of alarms that were being sent to him. The instant he did he touched something cold and sinister, like the first frosty touch of ice upon his skin; it caused him to shiver through the force.

He could not pinpoint the source, but he could feel it directed towards them, as if the creature emanating such cool collective anger was coming, and it was coming for them.

'Man the guns,' he said quietly directing his intense gaze toward Whinter, 'We have company.'

Without hesitation or question, Whinter took off towards the guns, and left Dustil alone, still searching for their attacker through the force.

(~)

Atton aimed the guns, no regret, no guilt, and no indecision. He took a deep breath and shot. The two beams of light shot forth from the ship and straight into the side of the Ebon Hawk. And explosion threw sparks of gold into the ebony black of space.

He smiled, it was just enough to scare them, he didn't want to win the cowards way, he wanted to face her, to let her see his pain and then to feel it. And so he banked the small ship, and left the Ebon Hawk to flounder on toward Telos alone and vulnerable. He would see her again, and when he did he would show her the truth. He would make her understand. As he left the Hawk behind, he saw the ship's guns light up, but they were too late. Atton was already gone.