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.
Obi-Wan's heart burned as he quickly dashed through the caverns, slipping and sliding across the wet moss and stone. His mind flailed through the Force as his body ran through the darkness, desperately seeking Qui-Gon. Either he was unconscious, or... dead. Obi-Wan shoved away the last thought as he burst into the cave, gasping and panting.
Myla rose to her feet at the sight of the sodden, wheezing Jedi apprentice. "What happened?" she asked, concerned. "Where is Master Jinn?"
Obi-Wan stared at her, trying to catch his breath. "There's something down there," he said slowly. "Something huge and... I don't know whether it was a fish or a reptile. It apparently ate Caspo and Chumba, and it..." His voice caught slightly at the memory, "it dragged my master under with it. I'm not certain whether he's still alive."
He knelt down and began to go through the few things salvaged from the sinking, waterlogged boat. Finally, his fingers closed over a thick strip of leather: Qui-Gon's utility belt. He felt along the length of it, until he found a small hard object, and pulled it out. He surveyed the breather critically, then set it down and began to strip off his robe.
"Where are those blasters?" Obi-Wan asked, glancing back at Glusher. It went against his Jedi training to use offensive weapons, especially ones he was not comfortable using, but his lightsaber would not work underwater, and would leave him worse than defenseless.
The Callinon snorted. "No! None of my blasters-"
Myla reached behind a rock and held out a small blaster to Obi-Wan. He smiled at her gratefully, then checked the breather. His heart sank as he saw that the tiny device had only a half hour or so of air left in it.
He pulled out his comlink and altered the frequency, then slapped a ship's comlink into Myla's blue hand. "Glusher, will this signal carry underwater?" he asked.
Glusher glared at him with fishy eyes. "Probably," he said sullenly.
Obi-Wan picked up the comlink and fastened it to his belt, then checked the energy readout on the blaster. "Myla, in exactly thirty minutes, I want you to signal me with a distress call. I have at least that much air in this thing..."
He paused, as Myla took in his tortured expression. It was the hardest sentence he had ever spoken. "If I haven't found Master Qui-Gon, we'll have to leave this place. I can't risk the three of you for one."
Myla nodded solemnly, and Tr'rok clacked encouragingly, as the young Jedi slowly made his way into the deadly, dark tunnels.
Water.
Qui-Gon awoke on a rock ledge, slick with slime and brine. He was coughing, gagging, hacking salt water as he fought to empty his lungs of the foreign fluid. He finally relaxed, gasping and pressing his hands to his aching chest and stomach. His head pounded with oxygen deprivation, and his arms and legs felt like rocks. The cold water soaked him to the skin, and now seemed to be soaking through him.
The darkness was no longer absolute, and as he slowly turned his head, he saw that he was against a rock wall, full of nooks and crannies. Before him was a long stretch of water that vanished into the darkness, with a single stone island in the middle of it.
And in the middle was a pair of red, glowing eyes.
Qui-Gon's skin crawled as the thing surveyed him with mild interest. It looked snakelike, with a diamond-shaped head, a thin cylindrical body, and a long slimy tongue that flicked out every now and then. But the scales were that of a fish, and the red eyes were glowing, their true color almost hidden.
Its steady, unblinking gaze spoke, "I'm not hungry... yet."
Qui-Gon kept as still as possible, his breathing growing shallower, but keeping his body poised to leap upright and into a fighting stance if the situation called for it. His leg slowly eased off the rock, and into the water. He winced slightly at the coldness of it, and slowly began the slide off the rock and into the water. Not to safety, but to a different fighting ground, and possible escape.
Still, the creature did not move...
Obi-Wan awkwardly fitted the breather between his teeth, feeling the odd weight of the blaster on his hip. It still felt... wrong to be carrying it, but Obi-Wan had no desire to be eaten by a giant water-dwelling animal. He also didn't like the idea of leaving the two lightsabers up with Glusher, Myla, and Tr'rok. Especially Glusher... he simply didn't trust the Callinon.
He waded into the water, then began inhaling through his mouth, from the tiny air tanks. As he plunged into the murky depths, an involuntary shiver ran down his spine. He half-expected to come face-to-face with the monster itself...
But there was nothing there, except water and silt... and a dark, gaping hole, carved and worn into the stone.
Bubbles tickled Obi-Wan's cheek as he began to awkwardly paddle down towards the hole. One hand went down to pull the blaster from the holster and hold it tightly, ready to blast the thing. As he swam slowly into the hole, the darkness covered him like a deadly shadow. Obi-Wan had the fleeting, panicked feeling that he was being eaten alive.
He felt tiny sparks in the Force ahead, though the darkness was almost absolute. Tiny, colorless fish swam past him, pale eyes staring curiously.
He swam for what seemed like years, down the single tunnel that seemed to lead on forever. His eyes hurt from straining through the darkness, and his skin was beginning to crawl from the salt water that washed over him and through his clothing.
Then he inhaled, and felt nothing.
Obi-Wan stopped, suspended in the water, and shook his head. The air was gone.
He slapped a hand against the silent comlink on his belt, then grabbed a stalactite hanging from the ceiling, and began pulling himself, hand over hand, back through the tunnel. His strong arms pumped faster and faster as his lungs burned, the breather falling from his lips as he swam frantically.
If he lost consciousness, in a tunnel underwater, he would die in a matter of seconds.
His strokes became faster, longer, and more frenzied as his vision began to blur, the only thing in his starving brain the pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel. He was running out of time... his mind was fading in and out, as his body obeyed the terrified commands almost automatically.
Almost there... almost to the light... to open air...
Obi-Wan burst above the water with a wheezing pant, his loud inhalation echoing in the cavern. Drained of energy, oxygen, and adrenaline, he slowly stumbled from the water to the shore, and flopped down face-first. The roaring in his ears began to abate as he closed his eyes and began to simply breathe.
Then, he slowly slid to his knees, feeling sand seeping down his boots, and got to his feet. He trudged into the tunnel with a heavy heart...
"Myla!" Obi-Wan shouted, as he burst into the cave. The Twi'lek woman jumped and fell sideways, onto her shoulder, looking up at him in surprise as he unclipped the comlink and held it in front of her. "You were supposed to call me when thirty minutes were up!"
"I did!" Myla protested, in a hurt tone. "I did!"
"Did," Tr'rok grated. "Did, did. I saw."
Obi-Wan took a deep breath, then whirled on the fishy-smelling figure in the corner. "Glusher!" he said warningly. "You said that the comlink would work underwater!"
"Said 'probably,'" Glusher replied sulkily, as if offended that the Jedi would not notice the detail.
Obi-Wan shook a little as he regained control of himself, fighting back the urge to scream in frustration and pain. "It doesn't matter," he said quietly, his fingernails digging into his palms. "We have to try to get the Seaspray seaworthy again. We're leaving this place."
There was silence, broken by a disgusted snort from Glusher and a gasp from Myla. "What about your master?" she asked, putting a hand to her lips. "Is he still alive? Did you find him?"
Obi-Wan swallowed hard. "I didn't find him... and I'm not certain whether he's alive. What I do know," he said, looking around at the three others, "is that you are all in danger, and Qui-Gon would not want you to remain here if it meant being eaten by a sea monster." He swallowed hard, ignoring an acid look from Glusher and a chitter of excitement from Tr'rok. "Let's get moving."
As he began the trek to the surface, he whispered into the Force, Master, where are you?