A Jedi's Survival

19 BBY: Pantoine

THE JOURNEY

was long but sweet. The children played around the ship with their little toys and their large groups. The Ciffians never space travelled and never had a way of life, but behind the scenes of slavery, they had a community. A sense of connection deep within themselves.

The community was headed by several chiefs who created council among the people meeting privately to help each other in their hardships. The droids wouldn't mind until now. No droid had to, they were free. She met with the council of chiefs at her quarters where they discussed her heritage. She knew nothing of their past and history even her ancestors.

"What do you really know about our people?" one of the members asked.

"I know we're a sort of Mirialans but the brown kind," she replied attempting to remember all her parents taught her, "oh, we do tattoos. But that's about it!"

"That's it?"

"Yep!"

They sighed but took the opportunity to teach her about it. "The tattoos have meaning to us!" one of them explained. "Take my friend, Damma here for an example...he risked his life to keep a family from getting executed. He took a tattoo across his nose to symbolize his scar of a beheading. His tattoo means 'sacrifice'."

"Can I get one?"

"Well, now that you came back for your people and liberated us, yes you can get one!" Damma spoke. "Let's get you fixed up!"

The members revealed a pocket bag with a bunch of tools to use; ink, pen and a bunch of drawings that she could pick of. One of the members picked one with many triangles in a rectangular bar that could be separated for her cheekbones and she selected a patriotic one that would be tatted vertically on her forehead.

With the three tattoos, they represented selflessness and patriotism. They lay her down on her bed and performed meditation rituals for her and she drifted to sleep. After she began breathing, they began the process and began tattooing her without her feeling any pain.

-

Goldie and Xido sat side by side on the holo table in the empty briefing room. Alone and in a particular mood, they hadn't had a moment together for a while. They were both busy with the Jedi and the army but they were rebels. Xido could've easily been kicked off the order, while Goldie would be court-martialed...probably.

The hum of hyperspace sang through the ship, quieting the footsteps of the people outside the room. It was lightly dim and a blue hologram behind them shone brightly. They initiated the talk mocking each other on whose combats skills was the worst. It was all laughter with Goldie's eyes gleaming and Xido's cheekbones flashing red. As always. "Obviously I'm way better, I'm the Jedi here!" Xido laughed.

"Just because you're a Jedi doesn't mean you're good," Goldie sat with his grey off-duty uniform opposing her comments. He would casually scratch his bald side that was covered by laid mohawk dreads. "Only a soldier like me does the job,"

"Oh, yea? Remember when I saved you from getting obliterated by a blast!"

"I wasn't looking," he gasped trying to act shocked.

"Well since I'm a great friend, I got it for you!" she patted him as he kept scratching.

"A friend?" Goldie laughed.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Maybe, something else?" she gazed into his eyes swinging her shoulder side to side before they stood still close to him.

As they sat close to each other, Goldie smelt her subtle perfume running his eyes from her neck to back to her eyes. She kept her gaze at his lips and they leaned in. BOOM!

"The bed is ready commander," a droid busted into the room.

"Ugh, you stupid droid." Goldie whispered in a chuckle, "let's make sure we wipe that droid or we're in trouble!"

"I will after whatever this is," she laughed. "What's the bed for?"

"This thing in my head, it's like poking out!" he showed her a spot on his bald side that bulged out. "I thought it was a cranium piece, but then it doesn't really hurt."

They headed to the medical bay of the starship and into one of the rooms, where the droid had its tools ready. Goldie lay at the bed ready to remove the bulge, but before he lay asleep. She placed her soft hand at the spot and attempted to feel it.

"I can't quite notice it but it's for sure not a bone!" Xido chuckled.

"I will check it and if I find anything unusual I'll remove it!" the droid informed Xido before she patted Goldie a goodbye. He then drifted to sleep as the droid began working on him.

-

Kema made her way into the main hanger where the ships were parked near the walls to leave room for the civilians. She looked around for Kema but was found by one of the other Jedi. "Hello, young padawan," Master Hela greeted her from a distance.

"Hello, master!" she smiled respectfully.

"What's with the new look?" Master Hela wondered.

"I got these new drawings on me, they'll stick probably forever!" she chuckled.

"I sense, agony in you. Are you alright?" she slowed to check up on her while Kema explained. Meanwhile, Clone Captain Sharpe sat close to the two where he tended to Commander Goldie's transponder. As it beeped, he planned to beep the commander but with no avail took it himself.

"Ah, my lord," he received the call from the Emperor himself. "Oooh! You don't look so good,"

"There's no time, only the time for the empire to rise!" he exclaimed in a dark tone hidden under his hood. "Execute Order Sixty Six!" Recording it he sent through the army's comms.

"Yes, my lord!" his eyes twitched rapidly before he could gain control of himself. Putting his helmet on, he cocked his gun and shot Master Hela straight on the back. Before he could do the same to Kema, she swiftly swayed to the side and dodge the bullet. Then she ran.

The troopers who also got the transmission, also shot any Jedi close to them. She ran within the halls of the starfighter trying to find a way out but found clone troopers emerging from each corner. "Stop right, there!"

Eventually, the clones who she had been serving with almost her whole Jedi career turned on her. She came to a four-way intersection with the clones surrounding her ready to fire. Looking upwards she checked for an airshaft, force grabbed two of the trooper's weapons and opened the seal leaping inside.

"Attention all troopers, board the shafts. We have traitors aboard!" Captain Sharpe spoke over the comms. "Find the commander, get all the weapons you can!"

-

"Master! I need you to hop up the airshaft and meet me above the ladies room. East Wing" Kema spoke through her comms, "and before you speak go-to channel zero please!"

"Okay," she laughed. "Channel zero secured. What are we doing?"

"Follow the signal, I won't talk loudly!" she whispered as she crawled through the shafts towards the ladies room with her signal on stand-by. Xido opened a tight seal in the medical bay, and just before she could close it the door was knocked to inform the commander of the new objectives.

"Commander Goldie," a clone troop knocked on the door waiting for a reply with no avail. He repeated one more time before a droid came before the doors, "Commander Goldie is under surgery please wait here until he heals up!"

"Alright, make sure he's up after!" the clone ran to his next objective as the droid went back in with the door closed.

Xido crawled quietly but quickly making sure she wouldn't make any noise whatsoever. She met Kema on an intersection but before Xido could utter a word, Kema shushed her. She motioned for her to follow to the ladies room, and they jumped below hiding to one of the stalls.

"What is going on?" she whispered.

"They're killing us," Kema uttered quickly. "Captain Sharpe got this transmission and shot Master Hela through the back!"

"What?" she couldn't believe what she heard but Kema would cover her mouth in silence.

"They are looking for us next, so stay quiet!"

"What about Bothka?" Xido asked before they heard a flush next door. Bothka had just finished his business in the refresher and whistled his way to the sink. He got his hands pretty wet but before he could walk to dry them a clone stood at the door with its rifle pointed at him.

"Woah, what's going on?" he paused.

"Traitor!" the troop claimed but before he could pull the trigger, a gun fired and he fell on the floor.

"What's happened?" he stood in shock of the stunned trooper.

"Our men are attacking us!" Xido began explaining out loud before Kema slapped her for being too loud.

"We need to stay quiet or we'll die here!" she warned. "We need a way to take out the troops and not harm the civilians,"

"How are we gonna do that?" Bothka was left puzzled, "there's a legion of troops in a star-destroyer. A Star Destroyer!" They lingered for a while thinking of what to do next.

"Well, we need to think of something f-" Bothka continued before the bathroom door would be knocked. Kema used her fast reflexes and chucked her ignited lightsaber to the door switch locking it in place.

"Oh my, Kai!" Kema was suddenly struck by the memory of his old friend who laid in the medical bay asleep from injuries and shock. "I need to get him safe!"

"Don't forget, Goldie!" Xido chimed.

"He might be the same!"

"What about the clones?" Bothka asked.

"I got an idea!" Xido began, "we can stun them with the comms! Using the common channel, we can temporarily deaf them with a ring!"

"Then stun them!" Bothka added, "well we need more blasters! I'll sneak into the armoury!"

"It'll take longer, but hopefully we make it!" Kema finished before they lept into the airshaft and crawled to their spots.

Kema crawled into the medical bay and made her way into Kai's room and checked up on him. He looked better but was still under a great deal of stress. His eyes were drenched in tears and created a layer of dark under bags beneath his lower eyelid.

"Hey buddy," she smiled as her heart warmed in his sight. "How are you feeling?"

"Ugh, like I just saw a ghost!" he awoke from a psychedelic slumber but would startle when he saw Kema. "Oh, Kema it's you thank goodness!"

"C'mon buddy, we have some work to do!"

"What? I was just brought in here!" he insisted not to.

"Yea, an hour ago. This is a matter of life and death,"

"Alright," he sighed. "What do we need to do?" Kai asked before the door lifted open and in came Commander Goldie. In a quick reaction, she lifted her sabre and stood in front of Kai.

He looked disoriented, "um, what's that noise?"

"Uhh, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm alright. Who's firing?"

-

"Alright Kema, standby!" Xido whispered into her comms waiting to drop down from the airshaft and stun as many troopers as she could.

"Standby," Bothka also waited with Xido holding a rack of blasters.

"Now!" Kema signalled as Xido began blowing their comms. The troopers fell to the ground wailing on their hurting ears. "Let's do this, don't kill anyone!" Round after round they stunned wave of troopers and went on to the next. Bothka made his way to the command bridge and stunned the troopers there. But the remaining humans kept the ship afloat towards Pantoine. After the clones were taken care of the civilians helped restrain them safely.

"Good job everyone," Kema smiled as they restrained the last trooper. "Hopefully Sap can get them help!"

"What made this happen?" Bothka inquired.

"I don't know, but it was some type of transmission Captain Sharpe received," she made his way to a restrained Sharpe and took his transponder. "Let's check his history!"

After clicking about in his transponder, she found a recording of a hooded man who uttered the words, "Execute, Order Sixty Six!"

"What does it mean?" Xido asked.

"Who knows," Bothka answered.

"This might be the end of Jedi's everywhere!" Kema froze.