I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS!

Rishy's breathing sounded loud in her own ears. The silence was deafening. I want to be home. She felt her way along the tunnel, her hands passing over rough and cold stone walls. The bumps and ridges made pictures under her fingertips. They told her stories, or at least they seemed to. Whether she was imagining it or not, it was comforting to her.

The tunnel seemed to go on forever. Maybe it does. Rishy felt her heart rate go up. She tried to calm herself, but it seemed impossible. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare. No, this reality. At that thought, Rishy stopped walking. She stopped and considered where she was. She couldn't see, so she listened. Soft sounds began to tickle her ears. Whooshing sounds passed overhead. Rishy concentrated on it, tried to place it… It's airspeeders! I'm underneath the roads of Coruscant. Rishy looked up, a soft circle of light fell on her face, someone had removed the cover of a storm drain! A way out, but it was too high up. A good head above what her arms could reach—when she jumped. With a sigh, Rishy walked away from the opening. About fifty paces along, she noticed a change, the ground was tilted upward! Sucking in air, Rishy began to run.

"Have you found where the youngling went?" Darth Vader growled. His face was twisted into an ugly grimace.

"No, not yet sir." The clone replied.

"Notify me as soon as you do." Vader threw over his shoulder as he walked—that word didn't quite seem to fit what Vader was doing—away.

"Where are you going my Lord?" The clone asked.

"She was six years old, she wouldn't have known to 'play dead', which means someone stunned her." The Sith snarled in reply, as if that answer should be obvious.

Is he suggesting a clone stunned her? Instead of killed her? That would be disobeying orders! It was inconceivable to him that any clone would turn traitor. The Republic really is falling apart.

Rishy knew she had been running for awhile. Finally, she felt her figure slam into something. She took a step back, and turned to the right, she smacked into a wall. Panicking, she spun to her left, and smacked into a wall. No! It was dead end, she had no way out. It would only be a matter of time before the clones discovered the secret entrance, and she trapped in the tunnel, she would die in its confines. Pressing her little back against a wall, she slid down it and tucked her knees to her chin. Then she began to sob. Stomp. Thunk. Clunk. She could hear them coming for her. She started shaking, and her sobbing grew louder. I don't want to die! She was on the verge of wailing when a hand gripped her shoulder. She stopped, all her tears and sadness dissolved.

The hand was unarmored.

That fact registered with the six-year-old before she even looked into the face of a man. He was human, with soft green eyes and red hair. Rishy sniffled, and looked into his eyes, "You're not a clone trooper." She sighed with relief.

"Ah, no." the man chuckled, "I'm not a clone trooper. What are you doing in a storm drain little one?" He smiled bemusedly.

"This is a storm drain?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yah, for flash floods, what'd you think it was?" He shook his head.

"A tunnel." Rishy replied.

"So what are your doing here?" the man pressed.

"Running from enemies." She answered, using one of the bigger words she knew.

"Oh?"

"They used to be nice. They used to be friends." She shrugged, now that her adrenaline rush had passed, she was beginning to feel sleepy.

"Are you running from clone troopers?" he tilted his head to the side, and crouched down on her level. She nodded. "Are you a Youngling?" She nodded again. "What's your name little one?"

"Rishy." She mumbled.

"Rishy?" She nodded. "Well, if you want to live, that's not your name, and your not a Youngling." At first, Rishy didn't understand the man, then realization clicked—if she wanted to live, didn't want the clones to kill her, she had to change. She couldn't be a Youngling anymore. It's so hard to ask an adult to leave their life behind, all their memories—their past loves, their possessions, and even if they were Jedi, their personality. Rishy had no such things holding her to herself.

So as she looked into the man's eyes once more she answered, "I understand."

He nodded, "Your name is…" he looked up, searching for something, then he looked down at her, "Hope."

She nodded, "My name is Hope."

The man smiled sadly, "And you're my recently departed wife's daughter. My step-daughter."

Hope stood up, "And I got lost. I ran into an open opening chasing after a…" she trailed off.

The man stood up as well, "An armored rat, you've always liked odd critters." The little girl smiled, she was only six, and yet she understood the risk this man had just taken by protecting her. "Come on."

Teri wasn't sure what he was doing. He was a reporter, trying to get the latest scoop. And he'd gotten it! The problem was, if he did anything with what he knew about operation Knightfall, then this little girl would die.

In essence, it didn't make a whole lot of sense, he was adopting a little girl who he didn't even know. But…She looks just like Elice. The fact that this little child looked so much like his late wife, perhaps the Force was guiding him to help her. So it was without regrets that he put his life in danger, "Come on." He held out his hand to the little six-year-old. She grinned.

"Okay father." Her little face warmed into smile that was so out of place with their surroundings. It seemed to him that she'd done what only young children can do, she'd considered him family after knowing him for just over a minute.

They walked back the way they'd come. They didn't hear any footsteps until they reached the opening. "Up you go." He whispered to the child. He picked her up and lifted her through the hole, it was technically nighttime, though really it was always nighttime in the Undercity of Coruscant. Next, Teri propelled himself through the opening, and then placed the cover on swiftly. He could hear the steps of the clones as they ran past. He looked up to see Hope sitting there patiently. He met her eyes, it had surprised him at first—and now it seemed that it would surprise him for the rest of his life—how much intelligence was held within eyes so young. They were not wise eyes, for wisdom comes with age, but they were intelligent.

"Where are we going now?" Hope asked.

"We're going to see a friend of mine, he'll help us get your story straightened out."

"I thought we had a story." The child tilted her head to the side inquisitively.

"Yes, but you see, we need proof of that story. In that Temple, was an entire file on you, that has a picture of you, your age, and your health records. Unless we get rid of that, and give you a new file, the clones will find you." He explained patiently, and somehow he knew the child understood what he had said. And if not all of it, well, then enough that it was impressive to say the least. Suddenly, it struck him that they were sitting in the middle of a walkway, in the Undercity of Coruscant, talking about what they were going to do next. "Let's get going." He stood up, and then helped up Hope. He felt her grip tighten on his fingers. Then, little hand clasped in big hand, they made their way to his speeder. I hope I know what I'm doing. He muttered in his thoughts.

A thank you to My Lady Vader and darkangel1994 for your reviews!