DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognisable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc and 20th Century Fox. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
Dinner was a subdued affair aboard the cruiser. Obi-Wan found that the sea air had sharpened his appetite, despite the fact that he disliked fish.
He glanced down at the rather spiny-looking fish on his plate and wondered how he was supposed to eat it. He glanced over at the insectoid creature, who claimed his name was Tr'rok. Tr'rok was casually eating it, spines and all; Obi-Wan shuddered and glanced around the room. The royal Rubossian couple, Lord Caspo and Lady Chumba, had rejected their meals on the ground that seafood gave Lady Chumba hives. The pilot, Glusher, wasn't even in the room.
The Twi'lek woman, Myla, was currently sitting next to Qui-Gon, talking softly. Qui-Gon nodded every now and then, seeming not to notice the blue hand caressing his arm, or the sensuous glances she threw him every now and then.
Qui-Gon looked at his padawan, then sighed. Obi-Wan flushed a little at having been caught staring. It is the nature of Twi'leks to be this way, he whispered quietly, though the Force. It's best to ignore the overtures and concentrate on the conversation.
Yes, Master, Obi-Wan replied.
Myla glanced between the two of them, and then at the lightsaber hanging on Qui-Gon's belt. "Is it true," she cooed, running her long-nailed fingers over the metal cylinder, "that only a Jedi can construct a lightsaber?"
"Yes," Qui-Gon replied, casually snapping off a spine off his fish with a loud crack. "We use the Force to align inner crystals, too delicate for any machine."
As Myla marveled at the idea, Lord Caspo roared, "Pilot! Pilot! Where are you?" Obi-Wan almost fell out of his chair.
Glusher stuck his fishlike head into the room. "Yes?" he gurgled.
"My food is not properly warmed."
Glusher thought about it for a moment, then snorted. "Too bad." He vanished back into the helm's cabin at the prow of the vessel.
Caspo's round, orange face seemed to swell and redden. Lady Chumba fluttered, "Terrible, terrible service."
"You get what paid for," grumbled Tr'rok, slashing his mandibles viciously onto another spiny fish, and sending a fin smacking the wall next to an increasingly-alarmed Myla, who quickly retrieved the rest of her meal and ran out on deck, where waves occasionally washed over the side.
"I am a member of the royal Rubossian family!" roared Caspo, making the pictures on the wall rattle as he slammed meaty fists against his chair. Again, Obi-Wan almost slid to the floor at the vibrations coming from the man. Was Caspo always this difficult, he wondered.
"Not on my ship!" Glusher called from the cabin.
By this time, Qui-Gon was edging away from the Rubossian lord, his large frame tilted to the side at the thunderous noise. "Padawan," he said, rising and heading for the door that led to the cabins. "Down. Now."
Obi-Wan balanced the plate with the spiny fish on one hand and followed Qui-Gon down the stairs, the doors whooshing shut behind them. As soon as they were both out of sight from the dining hall, Qui-Gon groaned softly and rubbed his ears. "Obi-Wan, I'm going to spend the rest of this voyage in my cabin, meditating. You are free to do what you want-"
"I'll probably do the same, Master," Obi-Wan said, then glanced at the fish. "After I finish my dinner."
"Just for that," Glusher's enraged gurgle came from the deck, "no dessert for you!"
Qui-Gon groaned again and slipped into his cabin, the panel beside it flashing the word "Locked" repeatedly. Obi-Wan stood there a moment, then walked into his own cabin and began to gingerly eat the fish.
BWOOSH!
Qui-Gon landed hard on the floor, snapping back to consciousness as he hit it. He rolled over and got to his knees, swaying as the boat rocked back and forth violently. The few items left around the cabin were thrown around the room, or hanging crookedly on some article of wedged furniture on the floor.
Water sloshed just outside the sealed window, occasionally swelling downwards to reveal a darkened sky full of roiling clouds. He grasped the windowsill and looked out. He wasn't certain, but a gray object on the horizen looked suspiciously like a waterspout.
Qui-Gon dropped to hands and knees, crawling up the tilted deck and pulling his tunic from a post where he had hung it the evening before. He yanked the shirt over his head and neck, then slid back a few feet.
There was a faint knock on the door. "Master?" a worried voice called. "Master?"
Qui-Gon used the Force to hit the door panel, and the doors slid open. Obi-Wan was clinging to the doorframe, somehow having managed to muss his short hair. A faint green bruise on his left cheek bespoke of a similar incident. He broke into a relieved smile. "I was afraid you'd been hurt."
Qui-Gon grasped the doorframe and slid out into the hall. Tr'rok was slowly crawling on his six limbs, in the direction of the only window that opened. "Abandon!" he screeched again and again. "Abandon!"
"Nobody's abandoning anything," Obi-Wan said, grasping one of Tr'rok's claws. The insectiod screeched again and tried to bite him, but the apprentice began dragging him away from the window.
Myla ran out of her own cabin, and immediately slammed into a wall. She looked surprised, but not hurt, as she began to stumble towards the stairs. "What's going on?" she cried.
"It's a hurricane," Qui-Gon said grimly, following her.
"Stay here," Qui-Gon advised Obi-Wan, the confused Myla, and a cowering Tr'rok.
Rain poured down, almost solid as Qui-Gon dashed through it. The deck was slippery, and he fell several times, grabbing the railings to keep from being washed overboard. The rain ran down his face and into his eyes, almost blinding him. Finally, he found a doorpad and slapped it, dashing in as the doors opened.
Glusher was sitting at the controls, his usual frown on his face as he turned. "What you want, Jedi?" he asked.
Qui-Gon pulled a a few strands of sodden hair from his eyes, wiping them to try and clear his blurred vision. "I... wanted to know... what's happening... where are we?" he panted.
Glusher snorted. "The ocean, storming, idiot."
Qui-Gon swallowed, inhaled deeply, and tried again. "Are we almost to port?" he rasped.
Glusher sighed. "No, we not almost to port. We being blown off-course by big storm. But no worry."
"No worry?" Qui-Gon asked incredulously. "I almost got swept overboard, and you say, 'No worry'?"
The controls went dark and dead beneath Glusher's webbed hands. The cabin fell silent, except for the steady pounding of the waves and rain. "Worry now," Glusher said with remarkable calm.
Qui-Gon heard the roar of the antigrav engines grind to a halt, right before the huge wave hit.
There was a crashing jolt, slamming Obi-Wan against the wall like a rag doll. The dull roar of the engines had stopped, and Obi-Wan had the horrible, sinking feeling that the boat was not designed for water travel... if it involved being in the water.
"We die!" shrieked Tr'rok, flailing his long crusty limbs.
Myla began to crawl toward the door, but Obi-Wan grasped her wrist and shook his head. "No, you can't risk jumping overboard. You'd drown in a minute."
She looked up at him, fear in her crimson eyes, but she clamped down on it admirably and simply held onto a bolted-down table leg. Obi-Wan's respect for her went up a notch.
"What is going on here?" boomed an all-too-familiar voice, as a round figure appeared in the doorway. Obi-Wan winced. "Where's that idiot pilot?"
Obi-Wan managed to get into a kneeling position as Caspo lurched into the room like a sinking spacecraft, followed by his nervous and somewhat green wife. "We've encountered a storm," he said, hoping that the understatement wasn't too obvious. "For your own safety, please get-"
"Engines gone!" screamed Tr'rok, clacking his mandibles. "We die!"
Caspo's orange face went pale as he stared out at the pouring rain, then at the Jedi apprentice. Obi-Wan thought about kicking Tr'rok, but only shouted as Caspo headed for the door, "Do not panic! Everything is going to be all right, but no one is to panic. Everything is under control!"
They all looked at him nervously, but apparently he had gotten through. Glancing out at the waves that now swamped the deck, he just hoped that everything was under control.
"Is there any other way to guide the ship?" Qui-Gon shouted above the roar of the waves as Glusher slid to the helm.
Glusher shrugged, seeming casually irritable even under the dire circumstances. "Perhaps we use thrusters to go a little way," he said coldly. "But where we dock?"
Qui-Gon took a deep breath, held onto the doorframe, and shut his eyes. He reached out with the Force, feeling for anything in the storm that might be able to shelter them. A dark silhouette appeared in his mind, thrashed by wind and waves but standing strong...
His sharp blue eyes snapped open. "There's a rock island not too far from here," Qui-Gon said, pointing out the window. "It's small, but we might be able to run aground there."
"Run aground? You crazy?" Glusher gurgled, his pale eyes widening. "My ship?"
"You won't have a ship if we sink out here," Qui-Gon replied, tensing.
Glusher thought for a moment, then turned back to the controls sadly. A few flickered as he fiddled with them, and a faint noise was heard from the back of the boat.
"Look out!" Obi-Wan shouted as a huge, black wall appeared before the Seaspray. He grabbed a doorpanel and held it tightly. "Grab something solid!"
The jolt nearly threw him across the room, followed by a disturbing crunching noise as the ship tilted away from the island, leaving a part of the blue hull behind. It rode along the mountainside, the thrusters dying as the Seaspray slammed into shallower water, the bottom grinding against the stone. It slowly halted.
Then there was nothing more to be heard than the wind and waves.