Raene Lightspace walked through the halls of the Jedi Temple, her head slightly hurting. She had felt this before, once, when she was eleven years old; back on Naboo during the battle against the Trade Federation for the planet. Her first master, Dran Kelbier, had been killed when he was leading in the battle against the Droid Control Ship in space. She was then trained by Jedi Master Mace Windu, who was on the Jedi Council, and who was like a father to her.
A few hours ago, he had been going with some of the other Jedi on the council to interrogate Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, whom was believed to be a Sith Lord. But now, she didn't feel his or the other Jedi's presence through the Force. Just loss. Not only that, but she felt a dark presence replace a friend's Force signature. That friend, she had felt, had been slowly going towards the Dark Side. His name was Anakin Skywalker; they had been best friends since they had met on Tatooine, when he was a slave just before he had won his freedom by winning a pod race.
"Master Lightspace, are you ok?" Raene looked over her shoulder and saw one of the younglings, a boy who looked to be about seven or eight, who lived at the temple. She nodded at the boy.
"I'm fine, young one. Just a bit of a headache. Nothing a little meditation can't handle." She said, reassuring the young boy. Like most of the other younglings, he was still a child, but had a good heart. The youngling nodded, then ran to catch up with an other group of children. They were heading to the Council's chamber, where the council met, probably to wait for one of the many teachers who would be teaching them a lesson in the Force.
He was still too young to understand about death, even in this time of war. Of course they knew people could die, but they didn't know how it could affect others. She hoped they could survive this battle. Their lives haven't even begun, and they should deserve a chance.
Raene looked out the window. The sun had set by now, Corosaunt's city lights glowed in the distance as life continued in the planet that was practically taken up by one huge city. She gasped at what she saw on the ground, heading towards the temple. clone troopers were marching up the steps, being led by a robed figure. A Jedi robe, it was Anakin; she could sense it. He was the one leading them.
She grabbed her both lightsabers off of her belt and ignited them, a green blade glowing in one, neon yellow in the other. She heard other blades ignite throughout the building as other Jedi probably either felt or saw the clones coming. Raene heard blaster shots as they entered the temple's walls. Some came towards her, she either blocked or deflected them back, as she walked backwards. They just marched forward like machines.
When she saw no more come after her, Raene ran to her room in the temple and quickly grabbed a few belongings into her backpack. She had to grab as many Jedi or Younglings she could and find a way out of the temple, away from the clones, away from Anakin.
Anakin... He was long gone. They had been best friends since they first met, their love of piloting instantly catching them in conversations whenever they saw each other. "Ani, why? Why would you betray the Jedi, your friends, your family? What's the point?" She said, a few tears escaping her eyes.
She knew Jedi weren't supposed to have attachments, but she had lost so much since the Sith had started showing. First Dran, then the Jedi, Clones, and civilians on the battlefield, then Ahsoka Tano, whom had left the Jedi Order and was never heard from again, along with Master Windu, and now him. How many more friends was she to loose? No not friends, family. She never knew her biological family, so the people she had become friends with just filled that void.
The Twi'Lek/Human put the pack over her shoulders and headed towards the door. She could hear footsteps coming down the hall. She ignited her green lightsaber and walked out of the room. She saw a lone clone trooper, whose armor she recognized. Rex. He had fought alongside her and many other Jedi on the battlefield; the two became friends on a mission on Alderaan to destroy a droid supply factory near the beginning of the war. He raised his blaster, aiming it at her.
She raised her lightsaber on a defensive position. As the clone fired, he seemed hesitant. Although she managed to block the blaster fires, one of them hit Raene's left shoulder. She winced at the pain, having felt much more during the battles she was in. Raene looked at Rex. Even with the helmet on, she could see through the Force conflict going on within the clone. She stretched her mind and saw that he wasn't the only one. A few of the troops scattered throughout the temple seemed to be wondering it it was right to go through with killing the Jedi.
"Rex, I know you don't want to do this!" Raene yelled, blocking another blast.
"I'm sorry, Sir, but orders are orders. None of us clones have a choice." He said, not putting his blaster down, but the firing stopped. It seemed he was contemplating on whether or not to keep shooting at her.
"You don't have to do this, none of you do! Sure, you may have been created to follow orders, but you still have a choice! I remember you and the other boys telling me about a clone that was one of the first to be shipped out to Geonosis, but the ship was struck down. He was the only survivor, but instead of going back to the Republic, he chose to stay on the planet he crashed on. You and the other clones have a choice on this too!" She yelled, Rex put his blaster down, and turned away. Raene ran off in the opposite direction, understanding. 'Thank you, Rex, maybe I'll see you again someday.'
She thought.
Morning had come, and somehow, she had managed to survive. Yoda and Obi-Wan had found her, still fighting some of the clones who had remained. They had gone through the security cameras and saw Anakin killing the Jedi, including the younglings. Raene had begun to walk off.
"Where are you going?" Obi-Wan called out to her.
"To the look around. I think there may be some survivors, fighting like I was."
"But there might not be any others-"
"I still have to try to search." Raene said, running off. Obi-Wan looked at Yoda, sighing.
"She's going to get herself killed one of these days." Yoda chuckled.
"The same about you, Qui-Gon said."
Raene fell to her knees at the sight she saw. The youngling she had been talking to hours before, along with the other children he was with, was lying in the Council Chamber, dead. Their faces showed fear, lightsaber cuts showed on their bodies. Raene felt more tears fall. No matter what she did, she couldn't save any of the Jedi in the temple with her at the time. Not even the children, who were innocent of any crime the Sith had told Anakin and the clones.
"Freeze!" Raene turned around to the doorway to see a few clones pointing blasters at her. "Don't move." One of them said. Before anything else happened, a blaster bolt was heard and one of the clones fell, dead.
The others turned around, but were soon shot down. She saw who had shot down the clones; Rex. He walked to them and looked down on those he killed, his brothers.
"Shinnies... They're always the ones who never react fast enough." He mumbled. Obi-Wan and Yoda were behind him.
"Why'd-" Raene began, but the clone cut her off.
"You were right, Sir, us clones do have a choice. Unfortunately, none of my brothers saw eye to eye. I didn't want to kill them, but they started to fire at me when I began to protect the Jedi."
"Rex, can you get us to a ship?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I can, but it'll most likely be guarded."
"I think we can take our chances. After all, the Jedi are concerned outlaws. I had managed to look at some holos while you two were checking the security cameras, and what i saw doesn't look to good. Palpatine was just crowned Emperor, and he's started to create a Galactic Republic. He told everyone that the Jedi betrayed the Republic, and attempted to assassinate him." Raene explained as they began to head to the docking bay.
"Rex, come on!" Obi-Wan shouted as he, Raene, and Yoda got onto the ship. A few clone troopers had begun to fire at them, and the former Captain shot back, but didn't follow the Jedi.
"Go on Sirs, I'll hold them off!" He said.
"Go, we must. Chosen his own path, he has." Yoda said to Obi-Wan and Raene. Looking back once more at the clone, Raene followed. As the ship began to take off, they saw Rex shot down by another clone who had yellow armor; Cody.
"What's this galaxy coming too? A brother killing a brother isn't right..." Raene murmured, watching as the temple shrank from view. She just knew, nothing would be the same.
Hours later, Raene gasped at what she saw. Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan's old master, and Dran Kelbier stood before her as ghastly looking figures. She was waiting for Yoda to get back with a Senator after facing the new Emperor, and Obi-Wan from tracking down Anakin.
"M-masters?" She asked, not believing her eyes. The two deceased humans nodded.
"Don't worry, Raene, it's us." Dran assured her.
"But, y-you two are s-supposed to be dead."
"We are. But we became one with the Force. That's how we're able to talk to you." Qui-Gon said.
"Master Qui-Gon, I need to ask you something. About Anakin, you said he's the chosen one who would bring balance to the Force, but he went to the Dark Side. Are you sure you were right?"
"I'll admit, I never saw him becoming a Sith lord named Darth Vader when I met him as a nine-year-old boy all those years ago, and to tell the truth, there's still hope that he can be turned back. It has, after all, been done before."
"How can you say there's hope? Most of the Jedi are gone, and the Republic fell. As far as I can see, there's no hope left."
"But hope will come. Even though you are a knight, you still have a lot to learn, my former apprentice." Dran spoke up, "It isn't the same hope you used to know, but a new hope. It may not come soon, but in time, it will. He may be gone, but Anakin still lives; not only in Vader, but in his family."
"Family? But master, his mother's been dead for a long time now."
"Well, if even you hadn't noticed, then Anakin must have been a great secret keeper."
"Secret keeper? Wait... Padme? Anakin's the father, isn't he?" The two Jedi masters nodded. "I knew something was going on between them, but I didn't think that he would disobey the code- Never mind." She said, remembering all the times he had disobeyed normal orders during his time as a padawan and knight. She looked around and saw that the two masters had vanished.
Raene looked out the window and saw a ship land, Yoda and Senator Organa coming out. "A new hope, huh?" Raene said, seeing a Naboo ship land a few minutes later, "Let's hope you're right, masters. The only thing I hope for is that the fighting will stop, and the Jedi can return." The Twi'Lek/Human walked down the hall towards the landing platform, "But it looks like, it'll become the galaxy's only hope."
She stopped walking as a vision came to her. It showed in about two decades, that hope would come and help her old friend back to the light. She couldn't see the faces, but she new better than to look into the will of the Force. She smiled, knowing that at some point, all this that had started since she was small, would finally end.
A new hope was coming.