Star Wars: What if?
A/U: This is simply what the title says, a what if story. Basically, what if Aayla Secura managed to survive Order 66 and like Yoda and Obi Wan. Yes it features my own little O.C. so without further a do here is 'What if?'
Chapter I:
'Ugh, my head… My whole body for that matter… What happened?' questioned the young Twi'lek woman as she slowly dragged her mind out of the fog that had been unconsciousness and the feeling in her body slowly began to come back to her. Aayla Secura took some test breaths and was glad to find that she wasn't in any great danger or anything like that, her body was in pain but her Jedi training would be enough to keep it at bay for the time being. So at the moment she focused on trying to recall what had been responsible for her current condition, although there was something in the back of her mind that told her that she really didn't want to remember what had happened.
'The Clone Troopers… They… They betrayed me… Shot me and left me to die… Why?' she thought as she pulled herself to her knees, breathing heavily as she got her body moving once again. A couple of wounds on her back protested harshly as she did so but she managed to put it out of her mind as she began to formulate something of a plan to get off of this planet.
'There has to be some sort of transport, something here. It may not be a great place on the list of spacer hangouts, but there's always some tourist company running a transport here.' Aayla thought as she climbed up to her feet and took a shuttering breath, calling on the Force to steady her body and mind. She could not afford to be week or let herself be in pain until she was off of Felucia and sought out any Jedi that may have survived what happened to their powerful order. "Better get going. No point in staying around here anymore. Too many bad memories here." She muttered bitterly as she located her lightsaber through the Force and called it to her person and took off as fast as her injured body would allow her in a direction that wasn't a guarantee of safety or the like.
"So, you don't mind doing this Mal?" asked the form of a young woman with worried look on her face. To be honest she wished that the youth that she was talking to would reconsider this whole thing.
"Look, I already told you Ras, I don't. Besides, I think it'd be a good test for me. Don't worry; I won't go getting into trouble, not like there's any trouble to get into out here in the back of nowhere." Mal said as he swept his white blonde hair out of his face. His astro mech droid chirped and whistled its agreement.
"If I can't talk you out of this fool stunt, all I can ask you is that you don't get in the way of Empire, we can't afford another brush with them so soon alright?" Ras asked as the alerts that signaled Mal's entrance into the atmosphere of Felucia.
"Yeah whatever Ras, I'm cutting this short, I'm on my way planet side. Later." Mal said cutting off the communication and putting his focus on the task in front of him. He couldn't explain it but he had the curious ability to foresee things before they happen, or at least something close to it. Ras O'Cowell, his adopted older sister had on more than one occasion commented that he might be a Jedi using the Force to help him and the Rebel Alliance and Mal Valdaran didn't exactly decline that idea, but he didn't want to accept it either. If he accepted it now he would have to admit that it had been his fault that his birth parents had given up their lives to save his, not that he wasn't grateful for that, but he wasn't so sure that he could handle that. The BTL-Y fighter that he was flying managed to make it into lower atmosphere of Felucia and he instinctively reached out, hoping to whatever gods would heed him that there weren't any Imperial fighters or forces on the ground. He didn't feel anything, although he did find something interesting, a presence that was similar to his own, something that could tap into, and he had to give it to this incident, the Force as well.
"Hey Four T, looks like we're not alone out here buddy, not by a long shot. It's not the Empire, but I don't want to make things too out there so we're going to play it safe. Got that?" Mal asked his droid.
"Understood. Activate weapons systems?" the droid asked curiously.
"Not this time buddy, but you might not want to put it too far off. In the mean time help me find some place to land this bucket of bolts would you?" Mal said looking at the sensor read outs scanning for a place to set the Y-Wing.
"Affirmative." Four T said as it tapped into the sensor data to help his owner out.
Aayla Secura paused for what seemed to be the fourth in the last half hour that she'd been keeping track, although it could have been something like the tenth, not that it mattered. She'd made some serious headway into the direction that she'd been heading, although she wasn't sure that she should be continuing on in this direction. Just as she was going to stay put and let sleep she felt something in the Force, something that surprised her greatly. It was someone in the Force, albeit a young presence in the Force and not one that belonged to someone like fellow masters Yoda and Obi Wan, both of whom she had hoped would have survived that horrible act of betrayal by the Clone Troopers. She reached out with her mind to the other presence in the Force, hoping to glean some sort of information off of it, and more importantly if this person had any sort of intention of hurting her or if they knew that she was here.
'Well they know I'm here now. I just hope they don't want to kill me, in my current condition they might actually accomplish that goal if they really put their heart into it.' Aayla thought grimly as she subtly nudged the pilot of the ship closer to where she was, if she was lucky she wouldn't have to harm the pilot, and she might be able to get a simple ride to somewhere and then maybe try and search out Obi Wan or whoever might have survived this mess.
"Four T, I've found a place to set down buddy. Hang tight." Mal said as he brought his fighter down into a clearing close to where Aayla Secura was waiting. She would not reveal herself just yet; if her ride was someone that would sooner hand her over to the very people that had tried and failed to kill her there would be little good wrought from exposing herself. She had no idea how long she had been here, but it was clear that she had been here for some time now, even though she didn't know exactly how long she had been here. The craft set down in the clearing, it was a BTL-Y, a two person bomber unit and a very sturdy fighting vessel in the right hands, young Anakin Skywalker had proven that several times in several tight spots. Somehow something told her that Anakin had been part of what had happened, the council knew that he was far to comfortable with the Chancellor, and that he would easily be swayed by the words that came out of the mouth of that politician. However that didn't mean that it was his fault entirely, but she wasn't going to take chances and would wait to see who it was that came to her aid. Soon a young man climbed out of the main cockpit with a blaster pistol drawn, the very same one that Captain Rex of the 501st Legion wielded, a DC-17 and she expected that another one was at his hip and was just as ready and primed as the one in his hand was.
"Whoever's there, come out with your hands up and weapons you might have where I can see 'em. I don't want any surprises!" called the young man as he removed his piloting helmet and shook loose his white blonde hair. He looked like he was no older than eighteen years old, yet his actions were those belonging to someone older and more serious than one his age should ever have been, even as a Jedi Knight. Deciding that his request was acceptable, Aayla stepped out of the forest line with her blue hands up palms facing him, her lightsaber on the front of her waist, which swayed gently as she revealed herself to him. Every few paces her face contorted in pain, she was a Jedi Guardian after all so physical pain was nothing new to her; in fact the blaster bolts that had attempted to do her in had hurt like hell, and their wounds still hurt even though they no longer were there to cause pain physically.
"I mean you no harm, my name is Aayla Secura. I was, and perhaps still am, a Jedi. I am in need of…" Aayla started before the exhaustion that she'd been putting off for some time now finally caught up with her. This was fine by her, she would take this time to commune with the Force, and to let herself rest and recover for what little could be done without the help of the bacta tanks or any such other technologies to help her along.
"Frakk it… Four T, make sure the engines are idling, we're gonna be splitting as soon as we get things all sorted." Mal said hopping from the cockpit and rushing to the fallen twi'lek, slipping his blaster into it's holster and picked her head up in his arms, as he scanned her face for any signs of damage or injury that would call for his immediate attention. He couldn't find any although there were several burn wounds on her lower back and up to her shoulder blades, they were old and had long since healed, but there was no doubt that she was telling the truth about her status as a Jedi, after all Obi Wan Kenobi had told the budding Rebel Alliance that there were three other Jedi out there, and lady luck had been with Mal Valdaran as he managed to find one of those other three Jedi that Obi Wan had mentioned. "Well, it won't do much good unless we get off this plant infested rock will it Lady Jedi?" he asked standing and cradling Aayla in his arms and heading back to the BTL-Y to leave the planet Felucia behind, unaware that another Jedi, Shaak Ti had taken refuge on the planet and had been the one keeping Aayla alive even though she kept herself out of sight and touch with her fellow Jedi.
As Mal loaded Aayla into his BTL-Y, he grabbed one of Aayla's lightsabers and clipped to his own utility belt, wondering why a Jedi would be caring two lightsabers. It wasn't his place to ask her, nor would it matter to him why she chose to use two lightsabers as he would hold onto one. After all if he really was a Jedi then there would be no problem with him carrying a lightsaber with him now, and it would be possible that Aayla wouldn't mind him carrying around one of her lightsabers, if for no other reason that she wouldn't be wielding two lightsabers let alone one anytime soon.