A/N: Alright, welcome to my first fanfic. I've been writing this over the course of about four months and it still isn't done, but I'll slowly but surely post all the already written chapters while I write more. It revolves around an original character I created around four years ago.

I don't own Star Wars, George Lucas does. I own Shanti and the other OC's in this story, a pair of thirty euro headphones, and a piano, but not Star Wars.

This story is told from three different people's points of view: Shanti Stefan (my OC), Shaak Ti, and Luminara Unduli. In the chapter title it will be indicated who's POV the chapter is written in. LU stands for Luminara Unduli, ST for Shaak Ti, and SS for Shanti Stefan. I hope that makes sense to you, reader.

I feel it is only fair to warn you that this story will contain major changes to the original plot line of Star Wars. It will contain a few OC's and an extremely OOC Boba Fett. It will also contain themes of abuse and love between two females.

That said, if you choose to continue and are not put off by the contents of this story or this painfully long author's note, please enjoy!


Help me…help me…

My head snapped up as I jolted from my meditation. What was that? A call for help? From where? I struggled to collect my scattered concentration and focus on the voice.

Help me…please…help…me…I am-

The voice was cut off by a sickening crunch I felt more than heard. What in the name of the force was wrong? I did not feel anything out of order, but I had heard the voice in my head loud and clear.

"I understand your concern, Master Ti," Mace Windu said. "I know if I received a sudden call for help I would want to rush off and do whatever I could too. But you have a duty here, Master."

"I agree." I turned to face Master Gallia, a close friend of mine. "With all due respect, Shaak, you are currently the youngest master on this council, and I do not want you to run off on a wild Kantha chase and never return."

"You do not understand," I said. "If you had heard her voice, you would know! I have to find her! She is hurting!" I remembered the weak voice. I could not leave her alone.

"Master Ti, seem very sure the creature who seeks help is a female, you do. Why?" Yoda asked.

"I-I do not know. She just seems female to me." Yoda smiled.

"Understand, I do. Go, you must, and find this person, you will." I dipped my head.

"Thank you master!"


This was her, the one I was looking for. As I got closer I could feel the dark side; this section of space had it in spades. However, I could feel one little pinprick of light reaching desperately for air. That was her.

When I first saw her, I knew it immediately. She used the force. She could lift small things, nothing larger than a water glass, but I found it astounding. The Republic did not know this planet existed. It's state made it obvious that this place had never known peace.

She was in so much pain. It should be obvious, but no one saw it. No one but me. Every day, she left her house early in the morning to take a walk. She would collapse not far from her front porch, and gasp for air. Eventually she would get up, and keep walking. She would not make it very far before she doubled up in pain, and tried again to fill her lungs. Then she would turn around. She would return to find her father cooking pancakes, and her older brother glued to his computer. Like every morning, she would complain to her father about her headache and shortness of breath. Her father chose to ignore her, telling her to drink a glass of water and take some kind of medicine that would supposedly help. She would sling her backpack on over her shoulders, and leave for school. There, again, she would complain. Every time her complaints would be written off as an attempt to get out of lessons. One nurse who was new at school believed her, but found nothing wrong. The other children there were merciless. They called her terrible names, poked and prodded her, and hit her. The teachers looked on indifferently. It didn't matter what happened to the students as long they were paid. They were as filthy as the planet.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

She had been adopted by her parents, which put her on a level lower than the other children since she didn't know who had really created her. Some of the older males, most in their late teens, used her to satisfy their disgusting urges. I had never seen such abuse in my life. Verbal, mental, physical, sexual, they gave it all to her, at least four times a week. She didn't tell anyone about this. She probably thought no one would believe her, just like her complaints about her health. This vicious cycle continued for four months, standard time.

Her condition worsened. When I first came to observe her, she had little trouble breathing and her headaches were far and few between. But soon she started collapsing from lack of breath two, then three, and then four times a day. At last, people started believing her. She told them of older boys at her school, and this was looked into. Her abuse was brought to light. Few people cared, but eventually her plight got to the few that did. She was taken to a hospital.

But I could tell it was too late. She was going to die, and I would have done naught but watch and research.

"What can I do to help her?" I said aloud as I looked through the window into her house. No one was home, and I stood in the patch of trees in front of her house in order to conceal myself.

"My best bet is probably to find a cure. Soon."

So I started working, day in and day out, with the fleeting hope that I could find a cure. What was once a simple curiosity had become my project. I had spent far too much time here already, but I could not leave. Not when she was in such critical condition. I sent a message back home about my predicament. Luckily, the Council approved, and I was allowed to stay away from home for two months to conduct research-not only on her and her strange affliction- but the whole planet, which was equally strange. The people were cruel. Their planet was a constant civil war, and they killed each other by the thousands. No wonder a delicate, sweet girl like her was dying after ten years of exposure to this…this…I do not even have a word for it.

I watched, and she got worse and worse. At last, I gave her around two weeks left to live, and doubled my efforts. As I flipped through a medical book, a page I had never seen before fell from between two other pages and drifted to the ground. I picked it up and read it, squinting because it was very small print.

The piece of paper was exactly what I needed to come to a plausible conclusion.

It was the environment.

Her planet, which the inhabitants called Maix, was rotten and dying. The humans who lived there left a trail of pollution everywhere they went. No one cared about health anymore, only money. The atmosphere had been changed, again and again and again, and her hypersensitive body hadn't liked it. She had been diagnosed with hypersensitivity when she was young, before I had started observing her. But after observing other children with hypersensitivity, I noticed two differences. Other children with the same affliction were averse to touch, but she craved it, and none of the other children were dying. There had to be something more to it, to her. But she was going to die if action was not taken soon.

So I took her. Just like that, I went into her room as she slept, her breath coming in labored gasps, and took her in my arms. Her skin was deathly cold. Human skin is supposed to be warm; I know that for a fact. She did not wake. My ship was small, but still large enough to fit her inside. As I carried her, I noticed her condition worsening. Her face became flushed and she started to shake. I wrapped her in the emergency blanket, placed her on the floor, and took off. It was now or never. I could tell that if my theory was incorrect, she would not survive the next few hours. As we left the atmosphere and her planet behind, the oxygen in the ship changed from the dirty air on her home to the clean and pure stuff in the tanks.

I realized I did not know where to take her. My organization might accept her, if she were younger. They like to start us out at an early age. I had joined when I was four years old. She was eleven, and I had not even checked to see if she had any potential. I turned my focus to the girl in the back, allowing my ship to drift a little. I almost bent over with shock. Then I smiled, and stood up to face the lump on the floor.

I walked over to her and laid my hand on her cheek. Her skin was warming up, and she had stopped shaking. It looked like my theory was right after all, and it was the planet! I could have danced for joy. Until I felt something cold touch my hand. A single tear leaked from her eye, and muttered in her sleep,

"Daddy…"

I suddenly felt like a kidnapper.

"I'm sorry…" I whispered to her unmoving form. "It was for your own good." Suddenly she stirred, and her big green eyes opened. When she saw me, she jumped. I can't blame her, having never seen something like me before. I suppose she should be glad it was me, and not someone of a species that looked even stranger.

"W-wha-um, wh-who are you?" She asked shakily. She was breathing extremely hard, as if trying to make for the amounts of breath lost to her when her lungs were filled with pollution. I smiled. She jumped backwards, shedding the blanket. I forgot that many species find sharp teeth frightening. I closed my mouth and tried to look friendly.

"My name is Jedi master Shaak Ti, and I don't mean you any harm."

"Wha-" she broke off, taking a deep breath, and then started again. "What are you?"

"I am a togruta. You must think I look strange. I am sorry if I frightened you."

"N-no. You didn't. W-where am I? Where have you taken me?" I took a deep breath. She had every right to be angry with me, and to demand to be taken back. But if I did, she would die. I had to present the problem tactfully.

"You are aware that you were-are, I mean-very ill?"
"Ah, yes."

"You were dying."

"That's what I thought…Kind of scary that I was right." She shivered and rubbed her arms.

"I have been watching your planet for four of your months. You-"

"Your species isn't planning to invade us, are they?" She demanded. I laughed.

"No. We do not invade. I am a Jedi, a follower of peace."

"I guess I've been watching too much Star Trek." I frowned.

"What is that?"

"A movie." I frowned again.

"A what?"

"…Never mind."

"Anyway, I was interested in your strange condition. I watched you and tried to figure out a cure. I came to the conclusion that the pollution was killing you, but this was only a theory. Your world is dying. I realized tonight that your condition was peaking. I gambled on my theory and took you off the planet. My organization, the Jedi, agreed to test you and see if we could take you in." That's a lie. "Is...Is that okay?" She was fidgeting, wringing her hands and closing her eyes. Then she took a deep breath.

"I...I hate Maix. I hate the planet and everyone on it. My dad doesn't care about me and my brother never pays any attention to me, my mother has better things to do, and all the kids are so mean…" she trailed off, a few tears trickling out of her eyes. "If you could take me away from there that would be nice." She started to cry softly. I pulled her close to me and wrapped her into my long robes. She made very little noise, even as she cried. Eventually she stopped crying, and looked up at me with her teary face.

"Your name is Shaak Ti, you said?"

"Yes. I do not know your name, though, little one."

"My name is…my name is Shanti. Shanti Stefan"