Summary: Seven girls trained by a surviving jedi of the old republic, exist under the oppressive rule of the empire. Seven individual lives connected by a shared past and unique skills are bought together once again for a chance to prove to themselves that they can be more than they are. The path wont be easy. Loss comes with gain, and deceitful lies can bring things undone, but if they survive perhaps they will find their true selves along the way.
Rainbow Warriors – Light though a Prism
Disclaimer: As always– any characters/places you recognise are the creation of George Lucas and I don't make any money from it. If you want to pay me, pay me in reviews :)
Authors note: Well this is my first attempt at a fanfic so any sort of reviews are welcome. I haven't finished writing the whole thing yet (though some planning has been done) so if people keep reviewing I'll keep writing.
As a note on the character of Mara: it is not meant to be a 'young Mara' and is not likely to bear much resemblance to her character as I have not read any of the EU stories. Basically all I have done is used the name.
The same thing applies to the name Callista.
Prologue
From the moment the message came through on the ships systems I felt a great unease. The message commanded all Jedi to return to the temple immediately. I could think of no reason such a command would be necessary or practical. Jedi were spread right across the galaxy co-ordinating the war. What could be more important that this command would be issued to cease all missions?
Despite my unease I had complied with the instructions and was hurtling through hyperspace on the way back to Coruscant. With hours of travelling still ahead of me I closed my eyes and opened myself to the force in an attempt to settle my uneasy feelings. What I found only increased them.
There was great disturbance in the force. I could feel the ripples of death. Of course the ripples of death in the force had been numerous from the start of the war when large numbers of soldiers died. But these were different. Focusing on a single large ripple, I used the force to delve into it. What I found shocked me. The ripple was not representative of a group, but of a single person. Which meant it could only be a being strong in the force. Each ripple a Jedi? How could this be? I jolted my self from my meditation, mind reeling and scrambled frantically with the ships controls, bringing it out of hyperspace into the nearest system. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
I began the descent into the nearest planets atmosphere. I would lie low for the time being, and collect my thoughts until the force prompted me to take action.
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I stood watching the lowering sun cast shadows over the run down city I had come to. I had spent a whole day in this place on my ship and mere hours ago had checked the message from the temple to find that it had changed. The new message warned all remaining jedi to stay away from the temple. My darkest suspicions had been confirmed, it had been a trap. On the holonews an hour later I had seen the senate broadcast where Chancellor Palpatine declared all jedi enemies of the republic.
I was greatly disturbed by this turn of events and my mind continued to demand how such a thing was possible. The force itself still echoed with pain and when I thought of the slaughter that had occurred, the deaths of my friends, my only family, my stomach churned unpleasantly. With the identity of a jedi putting me in danger I would have to go into hiding. Where, I was not sure yet, but somewhere.
The sun had fully set so I pulled up my hood and wandered out of the docking bay, along the main street past the market stalls. As I wandered lost in thoughts and emotions I was not yet ready to release, I heard a shout from up ahead, and jerking my head towards the noise I was knocked over as something collided with me. I pulled myself to my feet to find various brightly coloured fruits scattered on the ground and an angry stall keeper clasping a struggling girl by one of her pink streaked pigtails.
"I've got you this time you little thief!" the stall keeper spat, "when I'm finished with you you'll never steal from me again!". He yanked her backwards and the girl gave a whimper of pain and fear. My Jedi instincts kicked in, the result of years of help and negotiating.
"Excuse me" I said stepping in, "what seems to be the problem?".
"The problem!?" he ground out, "this little mongral and her friends 'ave been stealing from my stall! Now I've caught this 'ere little runt and I plan to make an example outta 'er". He grinned nastily, "like I said, she won't never steal from me again".
"Be as best to let it go," I tried to reason. "your fruit's still here and only mildly bruised".
"Oh yeah?" he growled. "and what about the stuff her friend took off with huh? What about that?". The girl cried out as he yanked her head up, allowing me a view of the tears making trails through the smudged dirt on her face.
"I'll pay you for the missing fruit. Please just let her go". The stall keeper threw her down on the ground at my feet and spat in the dirt by her head. Then he turned and tried to claim a ridiculous amount for his missing produce.
"All I have is 20 credits" I said, "will you accept that?"
"I accept credits yes, but my missing fruit is worth three times that amount!" he raged. I sighed and took a quick glance around to see if anyone could over hear.
"20 credits is enough" I said, re-enforcing the point with a small hand gesture.
"20 credits is enough" he grunted. Then he grabbed the money and headed back to his fruit stall.
I crouched down by the girl who still lay crumpled in the dirt and pulled her up gently by her shoulder until I looked her in the eyes.
"Are you alright?". No response. I tried again. "Do you speak basic?". The girl bit her lip and nodded slowly. She was obvious distressed. Or acting it at any rate. The force fluttered strangely around her as I reached out to her mind.
"It's ok, you're alright now" I soothed, sending small tendrils through the force. Scooping her up, I moved her out of the middle of the street and set her back down near the side where we were half hidden in shadow.
"Do you have a name?" I asked.
"Is it any of your business?" responded a voice. I looked up into the sight scope of a blaster. Behind the blaster was another girl of about eight. She had her hair down, but similar to the girl near my feet her hair was streaked with a colour, red. Further behind her a pair of wide frightened eyes scrambled back into the shadows.
"Get up" said the red haired girl, indicating with the blaster. I wondered where she had got the thing and if she actually knew how to use it as I slowly stood up and backed away. How did one so young even know how to hold a blaster? Whispers came from the dark alley behind her and when I craned my neck to see she anticipated my move and moved to block my view. Stretching out with my senses I found that this girl, as well as the two or three hiding in the shadows, also fluttered strangely in the force, like their pink haired friend. They're force sensitive, I realised, they can feel it but they don't know how to consciously use it.
"I wasn't hurting her." I said, "I was just trying to help…" The girl interrupted.
"We don't need anybody's help. We're fine on our own". Her fiery courage seemed like it belonged to someone twice her age.
"On your own?" I questioned "Are you street kids?".
"He's a cop!" said one of the shadow kids, "he's after us!"
"No, no" I responded quickly, "I'm not a cop, I don't want you to get in trouble". A girl with green hair stepped out of the shadows.
"Why all the questions then?" she said, "why would you care if you're not a cop?"
"I care because I want to help" I replied truthfully.
"Why?" asked the red haired girl, "Why would you want to help a bunch of street kids? No one else does." She had lowered the blaster and it pointed at the dirt.
"Because it's my job". I sighed and muttered, "or at least it was my job".
"So you're from the orphanage?" the blaster was raised again.
"No" I replied thinking carefully, "look you can trust me. I'll tell you my secret and then neither of us can tell on the other". I looked towards the other girls who had come out of the alley enough that I could see the colours in their hair, blue and purple. A symbol of association I mused, like gangs or exclusive clubs.
"Excuse us" said the green haired girl and they all stepped back and formed a huddle which issued whispering sounds. The decision came after a few minutes and a stamped on foot when someone whispered too loud.
"Alright then, what's your secret?" said the red haired one who seemed to be their main spokesperson.
"Well, I'm a jedi" I said. Then I paused. Was it still true? Could I still be a Jedi when there was no jedi order left?
"That's not a secret that would get you in trouble!" the green haired one burst out. Her feelings of anger swirled in the force. She felt cheated.
"Yes it is Meridith" said the blue haired one speaking quietly for the first time, "we heard people talking earlier…..jedi have been declared enemies of the republic".
They all looked at me with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. I felt a few of them probing me with the force and reconsidered my earlier thought. Perhaps they do know a bit about how to use their special abilities after all.
"Perhaps we can help each other" the pink one said. As she spoke I unintentionally caught a stray thought. He has nothing now, just like us.
Meridith and the red haired girl looked at each other and came to some unspoken agreement. The blaster was secured onto a belt loop that passed as a holster.
"Well its around dinner time", said the blue hair one, "would you like to come eat with us?". As she spoke she held up some fruit which looked disturbingly like the stall keepers missing produce. I eyed up their expectant faces.
"I'd be honoured" I answered. The red haired girl smirked.
"Keep up if you can then old man!" and she turned and ran into the shadows of the alley with the other girls at her heels.
Well I always said I enjoyed a challenge, I thought dryly.
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I raced through the shadows following the brief flashes of coloured hair and stretching out with the force to anticipate obstacles.
After nearly fifteen minutes of running through the maze of dark shadowy alleyways, of which I was sure we had run through some more than once, the girls stopped by a rickety ladder attached to the side of a old abandoned factory building. The red haired girl looked back and seemed disappointed to see that I had managed to keep up.
"Mara doesn't trust people easily" whispered my little pink haired friend from the markets.
"Was all that running really necessary?" I asked her.
"Of course" said the blue haired girl overhearing, "You'd have no idea how to get back here again would you?". Then she turned and started climbed the ladder which the red haired Mara was already scaling the top of. The pink haired girl went next and then Meridith. I gingerly put some of my weight on the bottom rung, worried that it wouldn't support my weight but it seemed to hold ok so I started to climb.
When I reached the top Meridith ushered me through the roof entrance of the building.
"Come on, come on, the others will be interested in meeting you". I followed her further into the building which to my assessment was very unsafe and on the point of collapse. After carefully treading to avoid gaping holes in the floor we reached a big relatively undamaged room in which the other girls were waiting. I surveyed the room which seemed to be designated into four different areas. There was a bedroom area, which consisted of a circle of mattresses, pillows and tattery blankets; as well as a kitchen area, which was not much more than some cardboard boxes containing assorted foods and a battered portable cooker which looked liked it had seen better days and was most probably stolen. The remaining two sections seemed to be a living space with more pillows and boxed objects, and a dining area that shared a sink with the kitchen, and consisted of something covered with a blanket for a makeshift eating table. I decided that the hallway leading from the room was most likely the way to the factorys public freshers..
"Its not much," said Meridith, seeing me looking round, "but at least it's something".
I smiled and joined her in the living area as the girls gathered round to be introduced.
"Well firstly I'm Meridith and this is Mara" she said indicating the red haired girl,
"We're pretty much the leaders of the group". Slowly she went round the group of seven proudly introducing each girl and her main position. I learned that the pink haired and blue haired girls were twins, Jessie and Eliza, and their main job was food collection. The purple haired girl was named Callista and was mainly in charge of collecting non – food items. The last two girls I hadn't seen yet. Obviously they had stayed home while the others were out. A girl with dark skin and yellow streaked hair was introduced to me as Aisha, in charge of "fixing stuff" like the cooker. Then I was introduced to the last girl, Starlet, who had orange streaked hair and had the job of organising "things" and planning food rations and such.
I stared in awe at them and their rainbow coloured hair as they stood in a semi-circle in front of me. These girls were definitely fighters. No. Fighters isn't strong enough, I thought, Warriors. Rainbow Warriors.
"I really think there's much we can learn from each other" I said. The girls smiled and ushered me to the table.
And that was where I found myself making the decision that determined my fate.
Im not a jedi anymore, I told myself, I cant be a jedi, Its not safe. But that doesn't mean I cant continue to follow the will of the force and if this is where it wants me then so be it.