Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created by George Lucas and Lucasfilm LTD. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. This disclaimer applies to all chapters of this work.

Tarryn Kael frowned at the chaos before her. The battle was going very badly--the enemy forces outnumbered hers several to one. She grimaced, and steeled herself for one last run. Then--

"Game over?" she grumbled, glaring at the datapad she'd been playing on. "What in the hells of the Sith is that? Sweet Force, I'm getting rusty." She shut it with a snap, and tucked it in her pack before flopping over backwards on the deck.

"Someone please remind me exactly why we are here in the middle of the night again?" Tarryn demanded, sullenly, from her position at the top of entry hatch of the Jedi cruiser Serenity. "Because my brain is telling me that I should really, really be sleeping right now."

"There is no sleep, there is only caf," intoned Piyara Una, a green-skinned Twi'lek woman, as she clambered back up the gangway. "Still no sign of them. I don't know what could possibly be keeping them. It's not so far away, and there shouldn't be much traffic at this time of night--"

"Well, Pi, my dear, there is the matter of our little celebrity..." drawled Syr'la, a brown-furred Bothan, who was leaning against a bulkhead behind Tarryn. "If the People's Inquest got wind of this, they'd be all over the spaceport. It's not surprising the council would want to be hush-hush about this, really. I mean, look at what happened when she came back the last time..."

"I wouldn't mind being secretive during the kriffing daytime," muttered Tarryn. "And what, can't they get a contingent of clonetroopers to guard the stupid ship instead? I mean, why us?"

"That would be because I, Daven Vaaris, am obviously adequate, nay, the best defense for anyone or anything," said a dark-haired human male, returning from the bridge. "Of course, I would not go anywhere without you, my friends, my loyal companions--"

Pi gave him a swift smack on the side of his head. "Oh, you stop. It's probably just because we're the newest, youngest, Jedi, so we get all the bum jobs that no one else wants to do. Like, for example, waiting for hours in the middle of the--"

"Shh!" interrupted Syr'la, suddenly, his long ears twitching.

Tarryn laughed lightly. "What, is the People's Inquest coming for us?" The self-proclaimed Jedi watchgroup and their regular protests and petitions on the Jedi Order were something of a joke among the younger Jedi, although the Jedi Council rarely found any of their shenanigans very humorous.

"No, I--" He frowned, cocking an ear toward the entry to the docking bay. "I just thought I heard something. Like blaster fire."
Frowning as well, Daven gave him a sideways glance. "Are you quite certain? But what--"

"No, I hear them too," Pi cut in, now looking concerned. "It's a lot clearer, now, you should be able to hear it in a couple seconds. It's definitely... well, but the People's Inquest wouldn't do something like this, would they?"

"No, they wouldn't," Tarryn agreed, trying to keep her tone light and even. "Pi, why don't you prep the ship for takeoff? And, let's see--"

"I'll go ahead and find out what's going on," said Daven, confidently, although Tarryn detected a slight quaver in his voice.
"I'll go with you," said Tarryn, quickly, and Daven nodded, but didn't say a word. "And Syr'la, Pi, if you don't hear from us in five minutes, close the hatch and bring up the shields. We'll be sure to check in if everything is fine, which I'm sure it is, but..." She trailed off, not sure how she would finish the sentence. She wasn't completely sure that she wanted to finish it.

They set off quietly, trying to keep the noise of their boots on the cold durasteel floor to a minimum, but every step seemed as if it was loud enough to be heard on the other side of the planet. Tarryn gripped her lightsaber tightly, turning her knuckles white. She could hear the blaster fire clearly now, the sound echoing off the high ceilings of the spaceport. Then--

The sound of more footsteps grew from around the corner, with the laser fire not far behind. Tarryn could sense several presences, but their identities were clouded by the strong feelings of panic radiating from them. Daven motioned to her to stay where she was, and Tarryn pressed herself against the wall, finger on her lightsaber's activation button.

Poised to defend herself, Tarryn readied herself for action as the footsteps curved around the corner, only to nearly drop her lightsaber in surprise as her training master, Master Serran, rounded the corner, carrying a youngling on her shoulders and trailing several more, two of whom were deflecting blaster bolts with their small training lightsabers. "The--ship?" Serran gasped, faltering slightly as she repositioned the young girl perched on her back.

There was a cry of pain behind them, and Serran blanched. Before she could turn back, Daven pointed down the corridor. "Down that way, straight ahead. Tarryn will lead you. I'll keep them occupied."

"Daven--" protested Tarryn, but he silenced her with a solemn glance.

He swallowed hard. "If I'm not back--if I... well, if I'm not right behind you, take off. Don't wait. The safety of the younglings and all of you is more important, and--" Cutting off abruptly, he leapt out in front of a youngling that had fallen behind, absorbing a laser blast with his hand. "Just GO!"

Tarryn, despite her misgivings, didn't need to be told twice. Scooping up one of the straggling younglings in her arms, she turned and ran for the ship with as much speed as she could muster. She was tempted to look back over her shoulder, but she made herself stare straight ahead at the ship. Almost there, almost there... and Daven's right behind me.

And then the hatch began to close. "Dammit, Pi, I'm here!" she muttered under her breath, and sped up, drawing energy from the Force to move her legs faster. This is going to hurt tomorrow, she thought to herself. Thankfully, ahead of her, Master Serran was just dashing up the gangway, and Tarryn herself managed to get there just moments later. It was only then that she allowed herself a look back through the closing hatch.

As the hatch latched closed and the thrum of the engines kicked into full gear below her, Tarryn barely reacted, still staring towards the end of the hall. But then there was a rustle of fabric, and Tarryn blearily realized, coming out of her reverie, that someone had taken up a seat next to her on the durasteel floor. It was one of the younglings who had survived--a little blonde girl who looked about five or so.

"What happened?" she asked, drawing her knees up to her chest. "Why were they trying to kill us? We're just kids."

"I don't know," said Tarryn, shaking her head. "I don't know." She bit her lip. "I wish I knew. It's like the galaxy's turned upside down and I can't figure out which way is up. We're the guardians of peace and justice--why would they kill people like, like..."

"Daven?"

Tarryn turned sharply to look at the girl, who ducked her head sheepishly. "Sorry--Master Serran says I has... have trouble turning off my tel-e-pa...pa-thy when I'm tired. And, um, upset." She twisted a lock of hair around one finger, and shuffled her small feet around on the durasteel. "I'm going to miss Cera and Faren and Jarell."

"Well, they're one with the Force now--" began Tarryn, before cutting off abruptly, shaking her head. "They sure are, but that doesn't help anything, does it? I can talk about how there is 'no death, only the Force', but it's not going to feel better for us, having lost them."

"It's really hard," said the girl. "But I'm happy the war is over. I used to be excited about it, but now I don't think I would be anymore. I don't think I'd like fighting. Too many people get hurt."

"I wish the war really was over," said Tarryn, staring up at the durasteel ceiling. "I really wish it was. But I think our war is just beginning now. I don't think they're going to stop there. But sometimes--sometimes, you have to fight wars. Because what you're fighting for is just and right, and because if you don't, even more people are going to get hurt. And sometimes you have to, even if you don't want to."

"How do you do it? Keep fighting, even if you don't want to anymore?"

Tarryn gave the little girl a wry smile. "We do the best we can," she said. "Now, off to bed with you," she added, shooing the little girl away.

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. But you need your rest. Off with you."

The little girl stared at her for a few moments, but turned and left Tarryn sprawled out on the floor, staring at the ceiling. But it wasn't the ceiling she saw; all she saw in her mind was that last image of the brown robe sprawled out on the durasteel. Eventually someone came and carried her away.

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Tarryn awoke later to the sound of Pi's voice: "... arrive in the Borleias system in a couple minutes. We'll change course from there to throw off pursuit. I was thinking we'd head for Ord Mantell or maybe someplace on the mid or outer rim, somewhere with a lot of crowds where we won't be easily noticed--"

"Hey," Tarryn said, stretching, and blinking her eyes to clear them. "No making devious plans without me." She sat up straight from her makeshift bed across a few seats on the bridge--someone must have put her there while she was sleeping--and turned to face the others.

"Good morning, sunshine," said Syr'la, giving her a wave from his position inside the door frame. "We were wondering when you were going to wake back up." He tugged at the sleeves of his tunic a little bit, and shifted slightly.

Tarryn tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a gurrcat that was being strangled underwater. She hurriedly turned it into a cough. "Hello, everyone," she said, feeling a bit embarrassed, but the feeling quickly turned to confusion at the whole situation. "Good..." She frowned. "Whatever it is. Now, will someone please tell me what in the Hells of the Sith is going on here?"

Master Serran's expression was somber. "We were preparing to leave when the alarm went off in the Temple. The Republic Army--" She shivered. "The Republic Army came, and they... they turned on us. As far as we know, most of the other Jedi that were in the Temple--are dead."

Dead. The word seemed to echo in the small bridge, or, Tarryn thought to herself, perhaps it was just echoing in her head. Daven, lying there, like a child's doll broken and discarded on the floor--

She realized that her hands were shaking, and took a deep breath. There is no emotion; there is peace, she mentally recited to herself. There is no ignorance; there is knowledge. There is no passion; there is serenity. There is no death... there is the Force. Although the words were no comfort to her, the living, now that she was a little more calmed down it was easier to imagine that the dead were in a better place, one with the Force.

"Are we the last, then?" Tarryn asked, hesitantly, banishing the image of Daven's corpse from her mind. "Are we all that's left?"
Pi shrugged. "There are hundreds of Jedi out returning from the war. I'm sure some of them have escaped somehow."

"What I can't understand, though," said Syr'la, "is why. Why would the Army of the Republic be killing Jedi?"

"Well--" began Serran, and then stopped abruptly and frowned. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you now. There's been a lot of tension between the Jedi and the office of the Chancellor. Just before I started going around to collect the younglings, Mace and a couple others went out to find out if the Chancellor was going to give up his emergency powers. My best guess is that something went... badly wrong."

"Master Serran," said a familiar voice, "you told us to tell the truth all the time. That was an understatement, I believe."

Master Serran grinned wryly, and rolled her eyes in the direction of the door. "Well, Ludi, sometimes there are no words."

Tarryn, Pi and Syr'la looked at each other. "So this is the famous Ludi?" Syr'la asked, at last.

It was the little blonde girl from before, poking her head around the doorway. A supposed orphan of the birth name Ludi Billane had been the subject of a heated custody controversy several years ago between her mother and the Order. Only recently had the news fully lost interest in her. This is her? thought Tarryn, with some mixture of disbelief and amusement.

The girl scowled at Syr'la, crossing her arms over her chest and sticking out her lower lip. "I hate that name. That's what they always call me when they follow me around with the big hol...holocams, and I don't like those people. I'm Aris-Del Wari. Aris-Del, or Aris. Got it?"

She looked so serious that Tarryn almost giggled, though she thought better of it at the last moment. "Lu--er, Aris, how old are you?" she asked.

Aris looked rather suspicious for a moment before speaking. "I'm four years old," she said, proudly. "And six months."

"And quite precocious," said Serran, drily. "And precocious little younglings need their sleep. Come on, let's get you to bed, shall we?"

After Serran had shuffled Aris off to bed with no small protests, the group returned to their conversation. "I still can't believe this," said Tarryn, leaning against the bunk. "How could--how could any of this happen? We're supposed to be the protectors of peace and justice in the galaxy? Why would they turn on us this way?"

"There are a great deal many questions that none of us can answer, I believe," said Serran, slowly. "We may have to search for the answers."

"There's something, at least: a mission," said Tarryn.

"And we must train the younglings," Pi chimed in. "No matter what, the Jedi Order must carry on, in some way. And I think we may have the best chance of making that happen."

There was a grim silence. Although the thought of a future for the Order was heartening, that they were possibly the only ones left who could provide that in the galaxy was not something any of them wanted to think about in depth.

"Well, all right," said Syr'la, breaking the silence at last. "But where do we go from here? Our cause may be noble, but how are we going to eat? Jedi we may be, but we still haven't discovered the secret of drawing nutrition from the air. And I doubt we'll still have access to our credit accounts."

Serran stifled a laugh. "That's my Syr'la. Well," she said, thoughtfully, "I can't really be sure. But we have a ship, and a bunch of able workers--that's a start. There's a high demand for cargo haulers these days, and we can pick up some jobs in the ports. We can start there."

"Sounds all right," said Tarryn. "But, well..."

"Hm?"

Tarryn sighed, and then let out a short, barking laugh. "I just never expected to find myself as something other than a Jedi."

"We're still Jedi," said Pi. "We may not have the same duties or the same ability to move about in society, but that doesn't change who we are inside. Jedi we are, and Jedi we will forever stay."

"'Sright," said Syr'la. "We'll be secret protectors of peace and justice. It'll be even more fun. Don't you remember watching Hawkbatman on those long hyperspace flights?"

"How could I forget?" said Tarryn. "And we'll get elaborate costumes, and Ludi can be my sidekick. That would be a blast."

"Now, younglings, peace and justice are serious business!" mock-scolded Serran, before taking a more serious tone with her former pupils. "But I think that's where we ought to start. And someday... someday, when whoever is responsible for this--be it Palpatine or someone else--when they fall, we'll be ready to re-establish the Jedi Order."

Pi grinned. "Sounds like a plan."

"I agree wholeheartedly," added Syr'la.

Smiling slightly, Tarryn nodded. "I'm in. Here's to surviving--and resurrecting that which we've lost. May the Force be with us all."

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Quick Author's Notes: Ludi "Baby Ludi" Billane, or Aris-Del Wari is a canon character, though from the official AotC HoloNet tie-in articles. She was taken to the Jedi Temple after surviving an earthquake that the Jedi rescue workers presumed killed her parents. After it turned out that her mother was still alive, her mother, Jonova, launched a very public campaign to get her daughter back despite the Jedi's refusal, sparking a wide controversy.

Now that that's cleared up, I'll just say quickly that I appreciate constructive reviews and that I appreciate advice--this is my first time posting in this fandom, after all.