Title: Ruin
Author(s): darksideyesplease, FelsGoddess
Timeframe: Post-TPM
Characters: OCs
Genre: Romance, action
Keywords: Jedi, refugees
Summary: A young Jedi and a refugee from the doomed planet Ennth cross paths. One must choose what is the correct path while the other must decide what they want and if it's worth the price.
Notes: I thought up the main plot and she was able to think up some great details to solidify the plot for me. This is going to be mainly original character driven. Sometimes we will rotate chapters, sometimes we will both write parts of one chapter. It is just all going to depend. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 1
Hundreds were in line to evacuate Ennth. Ships had been flown in by the Republic to take those whom could not seek refuge on the orbiting space stations above the planet's atmosphere.
"You there, you're on ship number one." A member of the Republic Navy instructed a resident of Ennth.
The same soldier then pointed a woman holding a small infant to ship number two.
"I'm sorry, sir, no exceptions!" The soldier instructed the man whom was to board ship one.
"But she is my wife!" the man exclaimed.
"No exceptions, sir, I have to follow orders. You will see them as soon as we land on Coruscant. We are running short on time as it is."
In a couple of hours, the planet of Ennth was expected to go through catastrophic natural disasters as it did every seven years. Geologists from around the galaxy who studied the planet on a regular basis were predicting this to be the worst event in five-hundred years.
"I will be waiting for you at the Capital!" The husband cried to his family.
The separated family was soon ushered along and safely aboard their respective ships, yet the line only seemed to grow larger and larger.
"I don't think we will have enough room for them all," a soldier commented to his superior.
"Shut it, soldier! You don't want anyone overhearing that; you'll cause a riot."
"Faster gentlemen, faster!" A young woman's voice came from behind the bickering soldiers. "We haven't time for idle chit-chat."
"Sorry, Master Zafii." The ranking officer replied, turning back to the large line that stood in front of him.
Zafii didn't bothering telling them for the one-hundredth time that she was still very much a padawan learner. Instead she used her quick reflexes as a studying Jedi to catch someone's belongings before they fell to the ground and caused a delay boarding the ship.
"Thank you, young Miss!" The elderly man said surprised but happily.
"It's no problem," Zafii replied. "Can I help you aboard the ship, Sir?"
"I've got him," yet another soldier said, taking the man by the arm and leading him up the ramp of the ship.
Zafii's attire was normal for a Jedi. She wore a white tunic and a brown, hooded cloak over it. In her hair was a padawan braid that was nearly a foot long that extended to the middle of her back. It was a sandy blond, the same color as the rest of her hair that was tied in simple knots as to not get in the way of her work.
She bustled along from ship to ship, making sure everything was proceeding in a timely fashion. She would stop to help mothers or fathers holding infants, or just to comfort toddlers who were crying and their parents were unable to console them.
"All clear," a Republic geologist gave her a thumbs-up as she checked in with them.
T here were several well respected geologists from all around the galaxy who had agreed to help come survey any seismic activity with their high-tech computers and equipment. Ennth was an anomaly in the galaxy. Any good geologist made at least one trip in their career to observe it.
"I think we have another couple of hours before we even get a tremor." The geologist reassured the young Jedi.
Zafii nodded but did not reply. She walked away and made sure that the scientists could not overhear her, or anyone for that matter. She quickly reached for her comlink and brought it close to her lips.
"Master," Zafii whispered.
"Yes, Padawan?"
"I feel something," Zafii said quickly. "The geologists say everything is fine, but something tells me we don't have as much time as they say."
"Are you sure it is not your compassion for all of these people that you are trying to help? There is a sense of hopelessness in the air, I have felt that much. But your mind at ease and concentrate on helping these people out of here." her master instructed.
"Yes Master," Zafii reluctantly agreed. She couldn't shake the feeling, but she wasn't as in tuned with the Force as her Master was. She could admit that. Zafii had not yet come to trust her instincts as a Jedi. Reacting to her instincts could be irrational. She had heard too many stories about other Jedi acting in such foolish ways.
Several minutes passed and Zafii had taken her Master's advice to heart. It seemed as though he was right. The more she interacted with the refugees the more the burden lifted from her shoulders. Soon, she had completely forgotten that she had been worried at all.
As she bent over to help an elderly woman with her belongings, she felt a great pain in the pit of her stomach. She then began to see flashes of a terrible image in her head. She dropped the woman's bag and ran back to the ship which housed the geologists.
"Master Jedi?" They said in confusion as they looked at her panicked face.
"What do you see?" She asked hurriedly.
"Nothing; it is all clear just like before," one geologist said, looking to his peers for reassurance.
Zafii stepped up into the open cockpit area where they had all of their equipment setup and began hovering over their shoulders. She looked from one screen to another, trying to find what was causing her so much pain.
"There," she pointed to a screen that showed a rather simplistic graph of the recent seismic activity.
"I don't see anything," one geologist said, while several others moved closer to the screen.
Zafii didn't have time to argue with them. They would figure it out soon enough when all of their equipment was in ruins on ground and they were holding on for dear life. Zafii used the Force to amplify her speed. She ran at a dizzying pace to get to the barricades that signified the very front of the refugee lines.
"We have to get all of these people on these ships now. No more lines!" Zafii commanded in her deepest voice.
"That would be utter chaos. What is happening? Did the scientists find something new?" A Naval soldier said.
Zafii shook her head; she knew it was too late. The ground beneath them began to shake.
"QUAKE!" Several people yelled, causing completely anarchy of the situation.
People stumbled and trampled over each other, causing much more chaos at first than the tremor was.
"Stop!" Zafii yelled, to no use. "Please stop!"
She looked into the distance and near the end of the line she saw the ground shaking even harder. The ground beneath was giving way. Once again, Zafii used her Jedi speed, but this time she had to dodge people along the way.
It seemed to be too late, as she slowed down and began to gather herself, the ground had started to split into a huge canyon. People were falling to their death; some already had. Suddenly, the heat became unbearable. A volcano had erupted at the bottom of the canyon and was spewing lava high into the air.
As people fell to their death, the intense liquid consumed some.
On top of everything else, there was a river nearby that had now been split into two and was falling into the canyon like a broken dam. Several people were hanging onto the newly formed cliff's edge.
Zafii fell to her knees and began to help as many people up as she could. She felt as though her skin would just crinkle like cellophane from the heat.
More and more people started to lose their grip and began to freefall. She saw the water from the west hurdling their way, but it would not save them from that distance to land in it. Closing her eyes, Zafii began to conjure up every ounce of the Force she had ever felt run through her body. Some of the water lifted from his rushing herd and was now under her control. She whirled it as if she were a Goddess of the sea at the projectile lava bursts, which almost instantaneously turned them into stone.
Zafii could now feel another presence in the Force join her, one she knew to be her Master. He began to use the Force to control the newly formed stones so that people could grab on, saving them from death.
Zafii continued to control enough of the water that the rain of lava had ceased. Then, she heard a faint cry from her left. A young girl had now fallen into the canyon. She used the last of her strength to send a bolt of water to stop the girl's freefall momentum, which shot her against gravity and back to safety.
Zafii crumbled to the ground, completely exhausted from her use of the Force and the terror she had felt surround her from all of the death. She caught a glimpse of the young girl she had saved. She had a badly broken arm and was crying in agony. No doubt the speeding water sent to save her had broken several bones in her body.
It was then that Padawan Zafii's head hit the steaming, hard dirt below and she passed out.
_
A young man leaned against the bulkhead of the main hold of one of the transports. His little sister was curled against him as he held her in a protective embrace. Soot and ash colored her normally porcelain skin. To the man's left sat his mother, father and older brother.
Kyn Fuller glanced down at his sleeping sister. Kyra's dirty black hair hung in a loose braid down her back. Her green eyes had lost their normal sparkle. She was staring at her hands in silence.
Kyn closed his eyes and leaned his head back. His family had lived on Ennth for generations. His father, Tyon, hated the planet, but was never able to leave. His mother wasn't a native. She came with her father at the age of seventeen to help the refugees. She met Tyon on one of the orbiting space stations and never left. The destruction on Ennth occurred roughly every seven years when the moon that orbited so close it entered the atmosphere. Every seven years, towns were destroyed and citizens died. The citizens left the planet to seek shelter in the orbiting space stations. After the planet calmed, everyone would return and rebuild.
Kyn hated it. He was fifteen. This was the second time he had endured this. He saw no point in returning to the forsaken rock. He was glad his immediate family was able to leave. His grandparents, aunt and uncle had stayed.
"Where are we headed?" his mother, Rayna, asked a nearby officer.
"Corellia, then Naboo, and then Ruan. We'll hit Coruscant soon enough," he replied, and then walked off towards the cockpit.
Rayna nodded in thanks, her red-gold hair swishing. Everyone said Kyn looked like the male version of his mother. He suspected they were right. His own red-gold hair was cut short and he had the same blue eyes.
No one else spoke. Some of the refugees would disembark on the other planets; they would not. They were going to Coruscant. Kyra had dreams of attending an acting school on-planet. Cole, Kyn's older brother, was planning to join the Republic Navy.
Fortunately, for his parents, the Republic Refugee Foundation promised jobs for them. Kyn was looking to finish his schooling. After that, he didn't know. All he knew was that nothing in the galaxy would make him return to Ennth.
"Did you see what those Jedi were doing?" Kyra asked, breaking the silence, green eyes blinking.
Tyon looked at his daughter, "Yes."
"Have you ever met a Jedi?" she asked her parents.
"I have, once. I don't know his name. I was very young," Rayna replied as the rest shook their heads.
"Did you see the girl? She wasn't very old," Kyra observed.
Kyn nodded, "It was impressive. I doubt she's a full Knight, though. She's too young."
"Since when do you know so much about Jedi?" Cole asked.
"I paid attention in school, unlike some big oafs," Kyn said with a smirk.
"I was surprised the Republic sent Jedi," Tyon stated. He opened up the bag next to him and pulled out rations for the family. He passed them around to each member.
"Why?" Kyn asked, opening the tray. He wrinkled his nose at the dish in front of him. Military rations were never good, no matter who ran the government.
"We're out of the way, nor are we a real economic asset," Tyon stated.
"But they went to Naboo; they aren't that important," Cole retorted.
"You forget, had that queen of theirs not called Valorum out, he'd never sent Jedi," Tyon pointed out.
"Oh, right," Cole nodded, slightly embarrassed.
"Plus, we are Outer Rim, not Mid-Rim," Kyn added with a roll of his eyes, "Jeez, Cole, you're never going to get into the navy if you don't know star charts."
"Shut up."
"Boys, enough. This is going to be a long enough trip without your fighting," Rayna admonished, "finish your dinner and then we all need to get some sleep."
The three children nodded and finished their meager dinner in silence. Clean-up was quick and within the hour, the five family members were huddled together in the crowded hold, attempting to slip into the blissful oblivion of sleep.