Hey guys! So I've recently been rewatching The Clone Wars, which has prompted some fanfic ideas to rattle around in my head. But when I opened my Pages to start a new story, I found this little piece in the depths of my computer, and I thought, 'hey, let's post this and see where it goes!'. So that's exactly whats going to happen.
Anyways, I hope this story doesn't completely fail, but it's up for you readers to decide. Please leave a reply for me, even if it's just a little 'go ahead' to signal for me to continue; however, any input or comment will be greatly appreciated. Your feedback is going to be my deciding factor whether to continue this story or not.
Ricochet will follow the lives of three young Jedi during and after Order 66. Throughout this, you will see the appearances of some beloved charries and some new ones.
Without further ado, I humbly present to you, Ricochet.
-Prologue-
It felt like a renewed slugthrower wound, torn open and burning as if jabbed savagely with a deadblade.
Well, Maeve had never been injured by a slugthrower, or jabbed with a deadblade, but the teen imagined it felt very much like this.
Her lightsaber, which had been slowly turning in her slim fingers, fell to the ground with a metallic clatter that echoed throughout the rounded room with a tinny reverberation. Her eyes sprung open, pupils dilating to adjust to the dim lighting in the meditation room, blowing up and thinning out the dark brown irises. After a moment they settled on the cylindrical weapon leisurely rolling away from her. She moved from her cross-legged position on the round cushion and timidly set a booted foot on the ground, nervous as to making any more sounds.
The sudden movements after sitting for so long sent tendrils of pain shooting through her stiff body that stumbled her exertions. Her hand came up to her chest then, just below the left shoulder, palm flat against the thin material of her tan robes. Her heart ached with each increasing beat, shuddering throbs searing across her entire body, making her breathing suddenly come in short rasps.
Something was wrong. So terribly and utterly wrong.
And it had been so for a few minutes, she knew. But Maeve had decided to stay stubbornly seated, aware of her Master's at-the-time infuriated threat if she dared to move from the meditation room. So instead, she had shut her eyes tighter, using her diminishing anger and energy of their heated argument to instead focus on the pain and try to pinpoint its origins.
But now, oh now it was erupting tenfold. And it had become so hard to concentrate.
The padawan learner bent to pick up her lightsaber, despite the protests of her body, then straightened to face the door opposite her. An unsettling feeling set in her stomach. Unconsciously the device turned in her hand before settling in the all-too familiar spot with the activation button just under her thumb. She might need it, she realized.
A slender hand came up to push shoulder-length dark brown hair behind her ear as she tilted her head to the side, eyes studying the durasteel door. Her fingertips brushed along the thin braid tied off with a leather strap, the most recent source of the master-padawan arguments, but she paid no attention to it.
Instead she waited, absorbed with the furling and unfurling Force signatures within the area, and the eery silence became deafening to her human ears.
She predicted it, but still the snap-hiss just outside the durasteel enclosed room had her nerves jumping and muscles flinching before she was able to mentally strain herself to calm down. Her body acted separately from her brain, involuntarily shivering, and she realized she was at a complete lost as of how to react to this kind of situation. She just listened past her shallow breathing and thundering heartbeat, which was still pulsating with aching ripples of emotions she didn't want to acknowledge, to the corridor outside.
Buzzing and humming, purring and droning, the laser sword killing, oh Force killing, was almost visible to Maeve, meeting its targets perfectly, deadly strokes taking out the most prepared and skilled Jedi Knights. The thumps after each swing made her shudder, and she once more had to strain her mind to stay relaxed. The pain in her chest kept escalating, threatening her almost-calm demeanor. She shut her eyes tight.
Think.
A moment, then her dark eyes opened, before going straight up to the air-duct to her left.
-oOo-
Treegan was too young to recognize the pain.
He was far too young, far too inexperienced, to feel the trembles in the Force, pulsating and twisting like a dark, constant drumbeat. It was an older Initiate who felt the waves first, just after the Jedi Masters of course, and glanced around the fluorescent-lit hallway with a surprised countenance that rivaled his previous melancholy one. His eyes landed on Treegan, who just looked back in confusion.
Master Tele, the current Jedi Master in charge of the transportation branch of the Council of Agricultural Corps, stopped her pacing in front of the two teenage boys, both of whom looked up at her questioningly. She ignored them however, green eyes narrowed instead at the columned, wide corridor winding out before them. She vaguely heard the light chatter of the Initiates surrounding her come to a stop, followed swiftly by the silencing of the beeping datapads that had been taking attendance. The distinct sound of blaster bolts replaced the brief silence.
Knight Ten-See emerged at the Jedi Master's side, one hand coming to rest on the lightsaber hinged to the cloth belt wrapped around her hips, while the other coiled more tightly around the datapad she was holding. She threw an anxious look up at the leading Master, blue eyes going wide as tightly spiraled curls haloed her head and brushed across the tops of her shoulders. During the short introduction of the Initiates and the the Knights, Treegan had grown fond of her the quickest, deciding that her wild, curly hair matched her wild and brazen attitude. But now, that boldness and confidence had been leaked from her pretense, and instead a pallid alarm took over. The older woman sent an equally alarmed glance back of the younger, who nodded in silent assertion.
Master Tele turned to catch the attention of the final jedi of the escort group, Knight Kano, to find that he had frozen in place, one finger held slightly above the touch screen of another datapad. His jaw was slack, the tips of his teeth visible behind facial hair-hidden lips, and his grey eyes flickered between his two comrades and the hallway past them. The Initiate he was no longer talking to returned a draw-string bag to his right shoulder as he stared questioningly at the shell-shocked adults.
That was when the first blaster bolt appeared.
The boy next to Treegan threw out his arm, pinioning the younger to the cool ceramic wall as the blue bolt whizzed by, only to be deflected back down the hall by Master Tele. Knight Kano jumped in front of the Initiate with the draw-string bag, lightsaber burning to life in front of him, deflecting another bolt back down the hallway. It narrowly missed Ten-See, who jumped back just in time, her own lightsaber activating and glowing azure by her side.
That was when the chaos erupted.
The full scale of what was happening hit the Initiates a moment later. Three screamed, four tried to activate their own lightsabers, and seven of the nine remaining scattered from their seats on the plasteel benches. Knight Ten-See tried to calm down the ones closest to her, only to be interrupted by another wave of blaster bolts coming her way.
Some of the children dodged behind the nearest columns, heads ducked and arms raised in a beeline towards safety. Treegan was included, but he was actually pushed behind it by the older boy who had sat next to him. He started to mumble out a stuttered 'thank you' but was shushed by the older boy when he activated his lightsaber and joined the Knights and few other Initiates.
"What's going on?"
Treegan's gaze was torn away from the boy's retreating back to the hiding Initiates scattered around him. It was a Togruta girl standing about three columns away, staring at him with startled brown eyes. Shuffled closely to about four other Initiates who had darted to the same hiding spot, she was the one closest to him, her side and right lek pressed against the column, while her left hand laid palm-down against the ceramic surface in front of her face. Treegan ducked as his column rumbled against his back, then shouted out a hoarse: "I don't know!"
The girl let out a petrified scream as one bolt skimmed across the column about an inch from her hand, nicking the smooth surface. It ricocheted askew, hitting another column and sending those kids into equal hysterics.
"Is everyone alright?"
Knight Ten-See's voice sent Treegan's heart pounding. A few 'yes's came from the kids who still had some control over their shocked selves. Risking a glance around the column towards the disembodied voice, Treegan was happy to see all three Knights and five Initiates still standing, backs to them, lightsabers ignited in different defense forms. Blue and green blades buzzed in excitement, flashing back the bolts that now came in a slow trickle. Knight Ten-See cast a glance over her shoulder, hair bouncing, and she made eye contact with Treegan.
"Go."
His mind worked slowly, the simple word tossing and turning in a brain that refused to register the command. At last it clicked, sending a wave of shock through his small frame.
He couldn't.
Looking past them, Treegan noticed the white glow of figures in the darkened hallway. They were clumping together, forming a mass, and Ten-See turned back to face her approaching opponents. The air filled with the ozone of new blaster bolts, most of which started to hit their targets with precise accuracy.
Treegan pulled back, aghast, and another couple of bolts made contact with his column. Hands trembling, he managed to pull out a pair of spectacles hooked into the 'V' of his robes and jam them onto his face. He looked back around the column's edge.
But it couldn't be true.
They were troopers, clone troopers, lining up along the width of the corridor, the first row kneeling down and leveling their blasters while another group filed in behind them. The jedi flanked together, forming a 'V'-like defense, but every once in a while a bolt got by them.
It was a mistake, his mind rebuked as he hid himself once again behind the column. They must be frauds, disguised bounty hunters who had hidden on a transport to the Jedi Temple.
Next to him, an Intiate crumpled to the ground, felled by a ricocheting blaster bolt. The Togruta girl softened his fall, catching him in her thin arms just before his head hit the floor. She stared at his face for a moment, then her brown eyes once more met Treegan's.
"What do we do?"
Treegan numbly shook his head. A feeling passed over him at that moment, a sudden grieving sensation that made him want to curl up in his bedroom and cry.
Peering around the column for what was hopefully the last time, his eyes landed on the fallen Ten-See, and for some reason it made him know the truth, understand what really was going on as all the unwanted pieces lined up. Crumpled on the floor in a mass of blonde curls and brown robes, Ten-See's hand was outstretched, lightsaber in the process of rolling away. Her eyes were still wide open, staring blankly at the high ceiling, and her mouth ghosted the last words that she had said.
"Go."
So he did.
So that's the beginning. As you can see I have only introduced two of the three going-to-be main charries. (It's actually because it's the only completed part on my computer). Remember to leave a reply because the continuation of this story hangs on you, my beloved readers.
Love, from Jay.