Aayla's eyes snapped open. Instantly she knew she wasn't alone in her room. It was still nighttime, the surroundings enveloped in pitch darkness. But she didn't need her eyes to see the intruder. She could feel his presence. He was just meters away, watching her. She didn't reach for the blaster pistol which she was almost certain was no longer there beside her. She stared into the darkness and waited.

"You thought you could run, didn't you, Aayla Secura?" the man said, finally breaking the silence. "You thought you could outmanoeuvre the entire Empire, run away with your friend, find a quiet little world, start over again. Well I'm here to tell you, that's not how the universe works." His voice was low, soft, but his words had a diamond-hard edge to them. Aayla's breath quickened. The force was with her still but she was struggling to control her fear. Her worst nightmares were coming true.

"You're a wanted women, Aayla Secura. You're wanted alive if that's any consolation, alive and unharmed for questioning. But I should certainly like to kill you if I get the chance. Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness and Aayla could just make out the broad outlines of the intruder, almost certainly an Imperial agent judging by what he had said. He was sitting in her chair facing her, pointing what was most likely her own blaster pistol directly at her chest.

None of the options looked good, Aayla thought bleakly. She could use the force to try and wrest the blaster from his grasp but if he had help, and Aayla suspected he did, they would almost certainly be alerted by the flash if she tried to then turn the blaster on him. That was assuming she was quick enough to even make the blaster leave his hand before he had time to pull the trigger. She decided to stall for time. "The Empire wants me alive?"

"Alive and well" he sniffed. "I'm to take you back to base. And if you've got any sense, you'll come quietly." He rose abruptly. "Enough of this. Lets get going. Hands above your head and no sudden movements or you know what will happen."

Trembling, Aayla put her hands up and slipped out of the bed, stumbling slightly in the darkness as she did so.

"I said no. sudden. movements" he hissed angrily.

Aayla didn't reply. She couldn't. She felt sick, her heart was hammering in her chest, she was drenched in a cold sweat. This man was going to take her to goodness knows where to be tortured and then presumably killed. She didn't believe the Empire would let her live for long. And that was if this Imperial agent didn't snap and kill her here and now. She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, moving steadily, in a rhythm. The more predictable her movements, the better she decided.

Soon she reached the front door, noticing immediately that it was open ajar. The Imperial agent was following close behind, staying back by about half a meter. Aayla imagined the blaster pistol pointed at the small of her back.

"Push the door open" he breathed. "Nice 'n easy."

She did so and stepped across the threshold into the night. The air was freezing cold and the mist so thick it felt like rain. Already, her thin nightclothes were becoming waterlogged. Aayla shivered violently and the Imperial agent must have noticed for he jabbed the barrel of the blaster in her back. "You do that one more time ..."

But he never got to complete his sentence. A single red blaster bolt streaked past Aayla, passing so close to her face that she could feel its heat, and hit the Imperial agent. He dropped to the ground behind her, killed instantly by the shooter who was now emerging from the bushes ahead. Aayla could sense him now and wondered why she hadn't been able to sense him earlier. She ran to meet him.

"Oh Bly!" she whispered, holding him in a tight embrace. They kissed. "I thought that was the end of me! How did you know?"

"Good timing, that's all. I got off shift early tonight and they were entering the house just as I arrived."

"They?"

Bly nodded towards the house. Aayla turned and it was only then that she saw the second body, sprawled under the bedroom window.

"I was just about to go in there myself when I saw you."

They embraced again and Aayla put her hand to Bly's face. "We have to leave Bly" she said urgently. "We have to leave now."

Bly put his hand to hers. Then he frowned suddenly, peering over her shoulder.

"What is it?" Aayla asked.

Bly walked over to the corpse of the Imperial agent, stooped, and picked up the dead man's comlink. He waved her towards him. "Listen to this."

She hurried over. "… repeat, this is Commander LaPlatt of the CDF. Do you copy? … You've not checked in, we're sending backup. Standby ..."

Aayla was shocked to her core. She'd always thought LaPlatt was a good man. They'd never been friends as such but he was always pleasant, amiable. And now here he was, working hand in glove with the Empire, seemingly coordinating their attempts to capture and kill her. The more she thought about it, the less sense it made. Why would the Cerenas authorities be working so closely with the Empire? More to the point, when did the Empire even establish a presence in this region of space? And most naggingly of all, why did the Empire want her alive? She glanced back at the comlink but it had gone dead.

Bly pocketed it, then he looked at her, his face twisted with worry. "We'd better get our things. We've got minutes at most before they get here."

Aayla nodded. Already, she thought she could hear the whine of repulsorlift bikes in the distance. She picked up her blaster pistol that the Imperial agent had dropped and then they ran together back into the house. Aayla changed out of her nightclothes and into fatigues at top speed, Bly was throwing together a kit bag of supplies. Then before she knew it, they were back outside again. Aayla took one last look at what had been their home for almost four years. Then she closed the front door behind them.

"Lets follow the brook" Aayla pointed. "If we walk in it, we won't leave footprints and it runs quite close to our shuttle."

They hurried into the undergrowth, struggling to cut a path through the thorns and branches. Aayla wished she still had her lightsaber. She'd lost it five years ago on Coruscant when she'd been captured by the Empire and taken to the palace. She could have constructed a new one in the years since but had held off from doing so, in part because it would be a constant reminder of the life and the world she had lost to the Empire. But on occasions like this …

The whine from the speeder bikes had stopped and Aayla knew they must have reached the house. She looked behind her. Faint yellow lights were shining through the leaves and the mist, sweeping from left to right periodically. Searchlights. She could hear the CDF officers speaking very faintly but couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Get down!" she hissed. "Keep low." They inched forwards, crouching. Aayla kept her right hand on the butt of her blaster, ready to draw in a split second. Ahead of her, Bly stopped.

He looked back at her. "This is it" he whispered. Aayla drew level with Bly and looked down. The water only came up to your ankles Aayla knew, she and Bly had spent many a summer day here, but it looked much deeper at night when the water was an inky black and you couldn't see the bottom. Even the sound of the trickling water took on a menacing quality in the darkness.

She eased down the bank into the brook and it was all she could do to stop herself gasping as her feet entered the icy cold water. Bly moaned softly and Aayla look around. The beam of a searchlight was now clearly visible, even through the mist, and it was getting brighter by the second. Wordlessly, Bly pointed towards an overhang on the near side of the brook, adorned by a clump of ferns and they made towards it. Every fibre in her body was screaming at her to run for cover but she knew she couldn't risk making any splashes. That would surely attract the attention of the CDF.

Finally, they reached the overhang and settled into the space. Aayla could feel loose, wet soil clinging to the back of her head and neck and water dripped periodically from a fern frond onto her face but she forced herself to keep still. She had drawn her blaster, holding it at the hip. No need for accuracy when the enemy was so close. Then she stiffened. The unmistakable squelching sound of a boot stepping in wet leaves…

The CDF officer was directly above them, so close she could hear him breathing. His comlink chimed but he didn't seem to answer it. He was slowly moving his searchlight across the far side of the brook, the beam of light illuminating every inch of the bank. Then the searchlight swooped across the water, coming towards them. Aayla drew her lips back into a silent scream. The light passed so close it practically grazed her leg. She drew them in even tighter to her body, so tight she almost couldn't breath. The light passed over them once, twice, and for a third time before it disappeared altogether. Aayla heard the footsteps of the CDF officer moving away from them. He had turned around, he was leaving and Aayla let out a breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding.

Bly grinned and squeezed her hand. But they stayed put for several more minutes, just in case the CDF officers decided to return for a second look. But none came. They got up slowly, painfully. The cramped conditions, the damp and the cold had caused their joints to seize up. In silence, they continued following the brook until they reached the point where it passed the hiding place for their shuttle.

Aayla motioned, Bly followed and they climbed up the bank and back onto dry land. There was no trail, Aayla and Bly had deliberately avoided creating any sort of paths to or from the hiding place but instinct told her where to go. At fifty meters, she could start to see the dark outline of the Imperial shuttle through the trees. Then she stopped dead. CDF officers. A whole party of them. Aayla crouched and motioned for Bly to do the same. It was difficult to see what they were up to. They were carrying heavy boxes of some sort, placing them next to the shuttle and unpacking them. A superior was pointing and waving, barking out commands at his subordinates and suddenly Aayla saw what was going to happen before it did.

She turned to Bly, her eyes wide. "Bly! Run!" she whispered hoarsely. They had almost made it back to the brook when it happened. The sky lit up with fire and the ground beneath them rocked, throwing them off their feet and into the freezing water. The shockwave of the explosion shattered trees and hurled rocks and pieces scolding metal towards them. Using the force, Aayla created a protective bubble surrounding herself and Bly. It wouldn't stop boulders but it would protect them from small rocks and pieces of shrapnel. After what seemed like an eternity, the assault subsided and calm returned to the forests of Cerenas. For a long moment they just looked at each other and Aayla felt a powerful surge of despair. The CDF had just blown up their only way off this planet. They weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

– Notes:

Sorry again for the delay. I didn't mean for this to take ten months! I hope you enjoy it anyhow, I very much enjoyed writing this chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to write more soon but I'm not going to make any more promises I can't keep regarding timing. Until next time.