“War has spanned the galaxy, but now it is over. We can never forget the dead, but we must also not forget the future. We must trust in the force. As long as there are jedi knights, there is hope.”
Arbro City, Telos - 3974 BBY
Those immortal words of Grandmaster Sunrider’s still echoed potently in his mind. He could remember the conclave as if it was yesterday. Ten years past the close of one of the darkest conflicts the galaxy had ever known, the Great Sith War, and here it was, just over another decade later, and her words still rang as true as ever.
Dorsk Karnz, Jedi Master, looked down to the sleeping child before him. Thin wisps of the lightest blonde fell about the girl’s chubby face, disturbed only by her rhythmic breathing. Innocent as she was, she might easily be mistaken for an ordinary toddler, but he could feel something special about her. Even as she slept, it was apparent. He knew she was strong in the force, and that made this trip here very important.
In the wake of the war, even twenty years later, the order still had not fully recovered. It was just as the grandmaster said. As long as there are jedi, there is hope. This girl may very well be the next generation of jedi, she, and others like her. They were the future of their order, and they would be needed, because he could not shake the feeling that there was something else on the horizon, something just as dark as the last war.
The woman beside him motioned him back out into the hallway. He followed her out of the room, and only after he quietly closed the door did she speak in hushed tones.
“Well? You felt something, didn’t you,” she murmured.
Dorsk gave a solemn nod. “I did.”
“I told you, I saw her myself! it was as if she was speaking to the animal with her mind, and then it came right up to her and ate out of her hand. That’s not normal.” The woman was starting to raise her voice in excitement, clearly happy to have her suspicions confirmed.
“You were right to contact us, Ms. Tolanni. You say she has no family to speak of? When did she come into your care?”
“She came to the orphanage about a year ago,” she replied. “She was just a baby. The medical examiner said she was barely a year old.”
“Is anything known about what happened to her parents?”
“There wasn’t a lot of information TSF was able to share with us, just that they died in an attempted robbery. The Renathis were running a bakery down on level five. We all just assumed it was a mob hit. They weren’t able to pay protection money or something like that. That sort of thing isn’t uncommon in the lower levels.”
The aging jedi considered her words. It was possible. It would require looking into. The council would need to be informed he would be staying on Telos for a bit longer. TSF would have to put up with him a bit longer. He was already getting the sense that they did not like his being here, at least the officers in this district that is. Could be a sign of a deeper issue, or just more post war mistrust of the order. The council had been noting much of that since the sith war, and that was a different problem entirely. People were losing faith in the Jedi, but that was why it was so important to focus on building something better for the future.
He looked to the door, stretching out his senses to feel within the room. It was unmistakable now. She was indeed sensitive to the force.
“So you’ll take her?” The caretaker broke into his reflection. “Please, you have to take her. We overcrowded here as it is, and the system is not the best here for orphans and foster care. At least with you, we know the order will take care of her and provide for her. She won’t have much of a life here with us, but with you…”
The jedi held up a hand to silence her. “She’ll need to remain here for the time being, while I investigate the implications of mob activity, but when I am finished, she will come with me and be taken to train with the other younglings. You must make certain that you tell noone of my mission here, because if there is Exchange activity here, as I suspect there is, it will make them all the more difficult to track down and expunge.”
The woman’s eyes grew wide in excitement as her face became a window of hope. She nodded emphatically and reached for his hand, half hidden by the sleeves of his robe, and took it in hers. “Yes! Yes, whatever you need, master jedi! I won’t tell a soul!”
She shook his hand excitedly, Dorsk’s expression growing serious. She ceased the shaking and let go of his hand with an embarrased flush of her cheeks. He placed a calming hand on her shoulder and murmured, “Do not worry, Ms. Tolanni. The order will take care of her.”
She seemed to settle down from his reassurance. The jedi did have one last question for her, though.
“What did you say her name was,” he asked.
“Tara, Tara Renathi.”
A cloud car speeds past the tower, momentarily breaking the view of the vast cityscape beyond the chamber’s windows. In the distance, several lanes of civilian traffic crisscross the sky between buildings. Dimly on the horizon, the sun begins to set, although it does little to change the level of lighting. There was so much light polution in this place, one might be given the impression it was daytime even in the dead of night. No, there was no such thing as dead of night here. This was a perpetual city that knew no rest. Not just a city that never sleeps, this was a whole planet that never sleeps.
Galactic City, Coruscant - 3967 BBY
Inside the tower windows, the Jedi High Council called a close to their session, a young man stood in the center of the chamber holding his severed braid in one hand was motioned over to speak with two of the masters. On the other side of the chamber, a much shorter being began making its way over to Master Karnz, who gave the young man a final nod of approval and encouragement.
“Wish to speak to one another, we do,” said the familiar voice, grabbing the much taller master’s full attention.
“Of course, Master Vandar,” Dorsk said with a nod, and then motioned to the nearby doorway.
Hopping on his floater waiting outside the chamber, Vandar joined the other and they walked the hallway in silence. They both had things to say to the other, but neither seemed to be the one to want to go first. Vandar finally broke the silence, however. “Done a good job with your apprentice, you have, Master Karnz.”
“Thank you, Master Vandar,” Dorsk replied, affording him a solemn nod.
“Trained a fine jedi, you have. Well he did, in his trials,” the small green-skinned jedi offered.
“I did my best to prepare him. I am fortunate he takes to his lessons so well, he makes a master look good.” Karnz cracked a small smile, glancing over at his peer.
The much older master gave a short but spirited chuckle. “Help us, it does, when they make us look good,” he returns, as if passing some private joke back and forth between them. “See, I do, finally turned you grey, the boy has.”
Dorsk reached up reflexively and stroked his full grey beard, then quirked a grin as he shook his head. “I merely stopped dying it. Finally accepted I’m an old codger like yourself.”
Vandar’s shoulders lurch in a silent laugh. “Looks good on you, it does. Suits you.”
“I could only hope to age as gracefully as you, Master Vandar.”
“Oh, but the way to advancement, flattery is not.”
Karnz smirked at that. He allowed himself the momentary indulgence, but he knew where this was going to go. He paused, taking a deep breath and turned to the other master.
“Needed in your case, it is not, however,” Vandar continued. “In agreement, the council is. Come, the time has, that you should join us.”
Serious again, Karnz shook his head. “You know how I feel. I can do much more, make a greater difference if I’m out there,” he nodded in the general direction of the sky. “The order has done well in this time of restoration, but I feel it will not be enough. What I have been feeling for years looms ever closer. I know you’ve felt it as well.”
Vandar’s expression turned grim. “Indeed I have, Master Karnz. All the more reason it is, that you should join us.”
Karnz shook his head. “My work is not finished out there, this I know.” He paused before continuing, Vandar not interrupting. “In fact, that brings me to my request.”
“Wish another padowan learner, do you.” It was a statement, not a question. They knew each other all too well.
“I do,” he answered. “How does Renathi progress? She should be about the age to start her apprenticeship now.”
The smaller master seemed to eye Karnz, as if to evaluate him. “Indeed she is. Well, she progresses. Yet know this already, do you. Knows as well, the council does, that timed the trials of your padowan for this, you did.”
“He was ready…”
“Ready he was, months ago,” Vandar cut in. “Wanted to be here, you did, when time for her to graduate, it was.”
Karnz took a deep breath. Vandar was right. He did schedule his apprentice’s trials to coincide with her advancement, but that was because he knew he was supposed to be the one to train her. She was supposed to be his next…no, his last apprentice. If they wanted him on the high council, there was one last thing he needed to do first. Not for some sentimentality of being the one to find her, but because the force told him so.
“Worried, the council is,” the green-skinned master continued, “yet benefit of the doubt, I wish to give you.”
“The council asked you to talk to me, didn’t they, because I was your apprentice. This is coming from them, not you,” Karnz asserted.
Vandar remained silent, not confirming or denying him. Dorsk sighed.
“Matter, does it,” Vandar finally asked. “Formed an attachment to the girl, have you Master Karnz?”
He took a deep breath, shaking his head. “No more than I have to you, old friend.”
The small master gave another small chuckle then leveled a crooked finger at him. “As I thought, it is. Difficult on your master, you were purposefully.”
Karnz held up his hands helplessly, “What can I say, I could never fool you, Master Vandar.”
Vandar let out an amused chortle, betraying a rare flash of mischief. “Much less than you think, indeed.” Vandar put his floater into motion again, motioning Dorsk to follow.
The old jedi master lead him down the lift and to the youngling wing. As their destination became apparent, Dorsk paused. “Where are we going?”
The floater halted and turned to let the little master face him. “Hurry we must, if in time for Renathi’s graduation we wish to be. Keep waiting your new padowan, we cannot.”
Dorsk was taken back a bit. “Already? I thought you would have to speak to the…” He stopped short.
“Suggested, I did. Your new padowan, Renathi should be. Agreed, they did.” The little master cocked his head to the side as he waited for Karnz to catch up.
“Then it was from you after all,” he blinked as he slowly worked through the realization.
“See now, do you?. The attachment, thought to hide from yourself, you did?”
Dorsk shook his head in wonderment. So many years after his initiation, and his master was still three steps ahead of him. The council had never asked Vandar to speak to him. They weren’t even aware of his duplicity in setting up his trainee’s trials to coincide with Tara’s graduation. It had been his old master that figured it out alone and convinced the council to grant his request before he’d even made it. All so he could get him alone and point it out and make him aware of the attachment he had unknowingly formed with the girl. Just so he could be aware of it and not be disarmed by it. Yet another lesson from his former master.
“How is it,” he shook his head again, “we have spent so much time apart, master, yet you still know me better than I know myself,” he mused.
“Not the only one, are you, to form attachments. Strong, can the bond between master and apprentice be, even after parting,” Vandar explained as they continued on their way down the hallway to meet the young Renathi.
“A great source of power, can it be, but also a great source of pain. Mindful, you must always be.”
“Desolation”
The lifeless tunnel stretched on indefinitely, populated only by the single light transport speeding through it.
“Hunger”
The passage pulled the little ship along, swallowing it into the distant nothingness.
“Cold”
The deep freeze of space crept in, trying to find purchase at all corners of the the vessel.
“Despair”
A growing sense of dread was the only other thing besides the ship that filled the lonely tunnel, and it was emanating from the dark exit that seemed to draw closer and closer.
“Death”
The dread convalesced into an utter lifelessness, a void, absent of the force. The hollow feeling permeated into the heart of the ship, threatening to suck it dry, leaving nothing behind but husks of the lifeforms carried within it.
But the ship continued on. Unto the breach, the transport flew. Anticipation growing. Uneasy. Undeterred towards its fate. The end was drawing near. So near. So little time left. So little…
"Something is coming."
Eyes flashed awake
The Hydian Way, en route to Katarr - 3952 BBY
Jedi Knight, Tara Renathi lay in her bunk aboard the private charter ship. Beads of sweat had collected on her forehead and her breath came fast. Her eyes blinked away the groggy disorientation. She focused on the bunk abover her, allowing the sight of the physical to anchor her and bring her back to the present. Finally, her breath slowed and controlled, she soberly sat up and turned to place her feet on the floor.
It was cold
A shiver ran through her, bringing back the cold of her dream, and everything else in a flash. She closed her eyes and pressed her hands to her face and pulling them down, as if trying to wipe away the uneasiness. She took a controlled breath and stood up from her bunk. She crossed over to her quarter’s refresher and ran the water, over her hands, and then pressing them to her face again.
She stood there before the sink, continuing controlled breaths and opened her eyes again. She was still in her tunic, typical garb for a jedi of the order. Looking herself in the mirror, she took another calming breath and reached for her hairbrush. Slowly, methodically, she began brushing out her long hair, starting at the bottom and then working her way up. This was at least calming, if perhaps a bit cliche.
Familiar acts, she thought. She set the brush back down and left the refresher. She found her boots and sat down to pull them on. Her robe was where she’d left it, hanging on the hook next to the bunk recess. The quarter wasn’t built for comfort, but it sufficed for her needs. She took the robe off the hook and donned it. She found a band lying on top of her travel case and used it to tie her hair back in a simple long ponytail.
She started for the door, but paused, the window catching her eye. She moved over to it and peered out at the bright mottled backdrop of hyperspace as it flew by. She took another controlled breath, fighting off another shiver. She couldn’t help but think about the dream. It was just like it. There was that same sense of foreboding in the background. And then, the voice. She knew that voice well. Not just that, but the words. Something is coming, he would tell her countless times. We must be prepared. As long as there are jedi, there is hope. Her master’s words echoed in her mind. It was so long ago, but the words felt so fresh as she recalled them.
She took another calming breath and turned towards the door. He had also told her that with peace, comes true knowledge. Worrying about it now was going to do no good. She must calm herself and only then will she be able to divine what her dream could have meant.
The uneasiness remained, however.
She walked out into the small transport’s common area, to her right not far up was the cockpit. Her four-armed ardennian pilot, reclined in his seat, completely unaware that anything might be wrong, from the looks of it.
“Danvil,” she called up to him. “Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary?”
“Hey, good morning princess!” He replied, “Nope! Everything’s ship shape. Hyperspace is as boring as ever!”
“Are you sure?” She paused, “And I told you to stop calling me that.”
“Yeah, yeah, you wanna see for yourself?” He waved her up into the cabin, pointing at several readouts with two hands simultaniously. “See? Relays still transmitting all clear, The meeting’s already started, but you knew you’d be late. Other than that, nothing’s wrong. I swear, you jedi are always worrying about…” he started rambling on.
So the conclave’s started, she thought. She knew there wasn’t much hope of getting there on time. She had gotten delayed at Ossus. The ruins of the jedi library had been dealing with some less-than-scrupulous scavengers lately. It was bad enough that it had become a target in the recent war, the recovery team did not need to add pirates to their list of problems.
At any rate, she had hoped that she might still manage to make it on time, but it seemed Danvil had not quite been able to follow through with all his boasting. She had to give it to him, though. He had taken them through some shortcuts and goosed some extra speed out of his little ship. That had shaved off quite a bit of travel, so they had still made pretty good time. With any luck, she would still be able to get there in time to hear Master Atris speak. The Echani jedi master was well known and respected, and if she was calling this conclave, now of all times, when any gathering seemed to be drawing unwanted attention, then there had to be something big going on.
But there it was again.
Uneasiness when she should be feeling reassured. What was going on with the meeting? It was clear to her that between the dream and this feeling, the force was trying to warn her about something.
“Danvil…”
“C’mon, call me Danny”
“Danny…is there anything you can…”
"Something is coming."
It hit her like a tidal wave all at once. Her head was screaming. No, not her head, the force itself!
Tara fell to her knees holding her head. It was too much! Her chest hurt. She could barely breathe.
Desolation. Hunger. Cold. Despair. Death!
She let go of her head and wrapped her arms around herself, clutching at her sides.
“Princess!” The ardennian was off his seat in less than a seccond, two arms still on the controls while the other two tried to calm the jedi. “Masterr Jedi! What’s wrong,” He urged.
A light started blinking on the control panel. Danvil spared it a quick look. “See? Relax, we’re already here, everything’s going to be fine,” he tried to reassure her.
Pained, Tara looked up, gasping for breath, looking to the blinking light and to the toggles as the pilot reached for them to bring them out of hyperspace. Something’s not coming! It’s here! Her eyes went wide. “No!”
She reached out to stop him, but it was too late. The ship left the mottled tunnel of hyperspace and starlines unstretched back into stars, and there it was. Katarr, superimposed by a huge ship between them. “Oh shit!” she heard him say, but suddenly all she knew was ravenous endless hunger. Her head screamed as something sucked the very life from the nearby planet. No, not something. It was coming from that ship.
Tara gasped for breath, trying to regain her senses through the pain. “Dan…Danvil…get…get us out of here!”
But he couldn’t. He was already unconscious on the floor. She looked back out the viewport. Katarr…she could see it, but she could no longer feel it. All that was left was a gaping hole where life used to be. Whatever she’d intruded on had just sucked the very last drop of life from the planet, leaving a hollow husk of a world. She felt nothing from it.
And yet, she could feel something just beginning to take notice of her. Her eyes darted to the looming ship. That hunger, she could feel it reaching out for her. They had to go now! She reached out for the ship’s controls and squeezed the toggle for the hyperdrive. A light started flashing. “I don’t care!” she yelled at the ship as she punched the override"
Stars stretched back to starlines and suddenly they were away, back in the relative safety of hyperspace. Tara let out a breath, but her relief did not last long. “Crap!” She shouted. Hyperspace was not something you wanted to jump into without plotting a course first! She jumped back at the toggles and brought them back into normal space and quickly checked the scanners.
They had gotten lucky. The ship appeared to be adrift in the dead of space. The force had protected her today. But what now? What the hell had just happened?
The events replayed themselves in her head. She knew the make of that larger ship and it did not bode well. It was a Centurion class battlecruiser, widely used in the Mandalorian wars. Revan and Malak’s fleet. But this one was decrepit and falling apart. And what had it done to Katarr? It was as if all the life had been sucked from it. It’s entire population.
“Oh no…” she murmured. It dawned on her. All those masters. All that was left of the Jedi Order. They were there. On Katarr. Where she was supposed to have been. And now…now there was nothing left alive. Master Atris, Master Vandar, Grandmaster Sunrider…all gone…
Tara slumped back to the floor, her head banging against the control panel. What was she going to do? In one fell swoop, her entire order had been decimated. She closed her eyes. With Danvil still out, she was alone in the silence with her thoughts. With peace comes true knowledge she heard his voice again in her head.
Slowly, she began to calm herself. She went through her breathing exercises, sitting back up straight. As long as there are jedi, there is hope. Master Karnz had said it many times in her training. It was the last thing he said to her before sending her to track down that strange feeling on Viscara all those years ago. That was the last time she’d seen her master. The jedi way is to allow oneself to let go of attachments, but she had no family to speak of. She was an orphan and had only ever known the order. It was the closest thing she’d ever had to a family, so when she was on Viscara and felt her master die halfway across the galaxy, that was the first time she’d ever had to really deal with loss.
Her eyes unfocused as she recalled that day that would eventually lead her into the life that would ultimately forge her as a jedi and cement her into the person she’d grown into today…
Galaxy City, Coruscant - 3959 BBY
Jedi Temple
There was a swish as the High Council Chamber’s door slid open, breaking the silence of the anteroom. There were a few aids and officials waiting to speak to various members of the council, but Tara was the only member of the order there. She could not help but feel anticipation. The time of her trials grew near.
Master Karnz didn’t say why they had returned to Coruscant, but why else would they have come? Her master didn’t much favor the core, much less the capital itself, and he had praised her before returning. The padowan took a deep breath to steady herself. She could not show she was ready by letting her feelings rise and fall like a simple schoolgirl. She was more than that.
She pulled her excitement under control as the various waitees rushed at the door, hoping to catch their various quarries as they exited. She remained standing in her spot. The masters would come to her when they were ready. She would show them the patience she’d learned.
She occupied herself with breathing exercises until finally, Master Dorsk Karnz appeared in the doorway and made his way towards her. Master Zez-Kai caught up to him and stopped him halfway. The two shared a few hushed words and the mustached master continued on his way.
Karnz finally made his way over to his young apprentice. The older jedi was balding, but still sported his trademark grey beard. “Walk with me, Padowan,” he said.
There was something strange going on, she could tell that much. Her master lead her out of the waiting room and down the adjoining windowed hallway that wound around the exterior of the structure. While not the highest structure in the cityscape, the tower was still high above much of the bustling city below and the walkway afforded quite a view at any time of the day.
He still hadn’t said anything. Was he testing her again? Seeing if she was patient enough to let him bring up the council session? These tests were such a bother, but she forced herself to remain quiet, following dutifully behind her master.
They reached the end of the hallway where they boarded a lift going down. They stood silent in the lift. It was nearly unbearable, but she stayed her tongue. She swore he enjoyed making her squirm like this. To her surprise, he actually broke the silence.
“There is a lot going on these days. Much concern spreading amongst the council.”
“I would have thought things would be quieting down, now that the Mandalorians have been beaten,” she replied.
“The council has its concerns about even that,” her master said. “In fact, I’m being sent to look into some things on Mandalore.”
“Just you?” she asked. Did that mean she would be staying behind to take her trials? A light frown creased her face. Trials or not, she didn’t like the idea of him going alone to Mandalore so soon after the war ended.
As if guessing her thoughts, he spoke up. “I will not be alone. We are never alone, Padowan.”
“Yes master.”
The lift reached it’s destination and the doors slid open. The two jedi strode out into the temple’s private hangar deck. The two made their way towards Master Karnz’s ship, but he paused at the boarding ramp.
“I guess this means they’ve given up on getting you to join the council.”
This got a smirk out of her old master. “No, I don’t think they’ve quite given up on that yet.”
Tara smirked at his response, but she grew serious as the master and pupil lingered below the ship.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright, master? If it means delaying my trials, I don’t mind. I don’t…”
Karnz stopped her with a raised hand. “You won’t be staying here to perform your trials, Padowan.”
Tara frowned. Why was she not here for her trials then? Wasn’t she ready? And why were they splitting them up if she wasn’t taking her trials?
“I sense you have questions, Tara, but be patient. All will become clear in time. Peace brings true knowledge.”
Tara bowed her head, and took a breath. She almost expected the saying out of him at least once during every conversation. It seemed like his personal mantra, which as mantras go, she supposed it was fitting. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind of questions.
“There are many things going on right now,” she repeated his earlier words, prompting a nod from her master. Tara’s eyes opened and she looked up to the older jedi.
“I’m being sent on a different mission.”
“Indeed you are, Padowan. Your insight serves you well, when you are calm enough to listen to it. Trust it where you are going. You have taken to your lessons well. Remember them and you will be fine.” Karnz reached out his hand to his pupil’s arm. Her head had lowered at hearing the compliments, but she looked up at the touch. “You are ready for your trials, Tara. But you must be patient, and trust in the wisdom of the council.”
“Yes master,” she said quietly. “What is my mission, then?”
“Viscara.”
“Viscara?” There was an unmistakable disbelief in her tone. “So this is about that weird feeling you got when we stopped at that Czerka outpost months ago in Hutt space?”
“It is,” he confirmed, “but not just that. Others on the council have concerns about it as well. They have gotten…strange reports about it, and they wish to separate fact from fancy.”
“Well I guess it could be worse,” she mused, “I could be going to a planet of warmongers in the outer rim.”
“Take this assignment seriously, Padowan,” he chided. “There is much more going on here than meets the eye. Go there, find out what Czerka’s interests in the outpost are, and…if you discover anything else out of the ordinary, investigate and report it to the council. I will most likely be out of contact on Mandalore, but I will join you on Viscara as soon as I am done.”
“Yes master.”
“Keep your calm. Listen to your insight. Trust it to lead you to the truth. And always remember. You, and others like you are the future of the order. Something is coming, I do not know what it is, but it is out there, and there will be a need for the Jedi. As long as there are jedi, there is hope.”
She bowed her head again as he spoke. Her master let go of her arm and turned to head up the ramp. Tara lifted her head just in time to see her master disappear within the ship. The boarding ramp began to retract and close, prompting her to step back. She saw him come into view in the cockpit and he looked back at her, giving her a firm nod.
She returned the nod, saying her silent farewell and turned herself to leave. She could feel her heart quickening. As annoying as she found her master, he had been her mentor for the last eight years, and was probably the closest thing she’d ever had to a father in her life. This was not the first time they had been apart, but why did he always have to make it sound like each time they parted would be their last? Each time was always just as difficult as the time before.
Tara took a breath and steeled herself. Looking up, she found a rodian staring at her. She gave a curious tilt of her head back at the alien, which prompted him to come up to her.
“Forgive me, master jedi,” he said in that typical rodian buzzing voice. “You are Tara Renathi, yes?”
“That’s me,” she responded.
“I am Lomaa. I am supposed to take you to Viscara system.”
“Ahh, nice to meet you, Lomaa,” she smiled. “I guess we’re stuck with each other for the next few days.”
The rodian stared at her with his huge bulbous eyes, his antennae twitching in uncertainty.
“Sorry, that will be fine. You can lead the way, Lomaa,” she gestured for him to go ahead.
The trip to Viscara system had been largely uneventful, with the days spent getting to know Lomaa. Once he started to relax, he actually seemed like a pretty nice guy. He seemed to like talking about his homeworld of Rodia, so she was happy to ask him all about it. She even thought she might like to see the jungle planet sometime.
She enjoyed passing the time speaking to him. She hated that so many people acted fearfully towards jedi and often went out of her way to put them at ease. But eventually she would say her goodbye to the rodian and embark on a new chapter in her life.
Viscara, to her surprise, had turned out to be an important time in her life. Her mission there lasted much longer than she’d anticipated, but she’d never found out how important it was until much later. Viscara was to be her trial. That was what her master hadn’t told her. But things went much differently than either of them had imagined.
Her master never made it to Viscara, and her…well, it was no time to dwell on what happened there. Be mindful of the present, he often reminded her growing up.
Unknown - 3952 BBY
Danvil was beginning to stir. Something on the dash panel was beeping. He blinked his disproportionately large eyes open, disoriented at first.
“Thank the force you’re alright,” she smiled, but even as she did, a familiar sense of dread was filling her.
Danvil, finally returning to his senses, looked to the beeping dash. “Where the heck are we?” He got up and climbed back over into his seat.
“What is that beeping?” she asked.
“Proximity alarm…”
The two slowly looked at each other.
“Proximity alarm!” he shouted as there was a thud against the hull. The ardennian fliped a couple switches then kicked the throttle, hard. The light transport lurched as it shot forward, scraping against whatever was just trying to latch onto them. Tara cried out momentarily as she slammed into the cabin’s doorway, jarring her back. The pilot brought them around and there it was again. The same ship from Katarr.
“Oh no,” Tara murmured as she layed on her side, the memory of that hollow feeling still painful in her mind, she fought to keep her jedi calm as she stared up at the looming vessel.
“They found us, princess…”