CHAPTER I: Awakening

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Fragmented memories floated around her mind, coming together and breaking apart. She was vaguely aware of herself ebbing away, floating in some water-like substance. Maybe she was dying, after all. The slow wearing away of each nerve ending, until there was nothing left to feel with.

And right when she was drifting off into the nothingness she so desperately wanted, a voice echoed within her:

"Awaken."

She felt herself awakening, every fiber of her body tensing, testing to make sure everything was secure and ready. Then she had the discreet sense of being lowered, and, just for a moment, she crawled forward into a lower piece of ground, and very nearly passed out.

However, everything began piecing back together, and all the memories swirled like a thick cloud...and Kiray Fett awoke. Computers were beeping all over the place, and every tank behind her held others – but their life-support readings were in the red. Kiray glanced around in sudden fear; where was she, after all? Almost experimentally, Kiray stepped forward, and, knowing that her legs still functioned normally, she walked out of the medbay.

Kiray opened the door before her, and saw several options; however, the door to her right was effectively locked, and the one directly ahead of her was broken. That left the left-side door, and it opened at her touch. Kiray saw a container and quickly opened it, finding two medpacs and felt her lip curl. She didn't need any medpacs; Kiray Fett was a Mandalorian, albeit an exiled Mandalorian. And an exiled Jedi, matter of fact. Kiray shook her head as she approached the terminal. All she needed to do was open the door across the hallway and the one behind her, but there was one last thing she needed to check. Kiray scrolled down to the "Patient Treatment" file and opened it; it appeared that a delayed sedative had been administered to everyone, including her. However, unlike her, the other men in the bay did not survive. Kiray didn't have a spike on her, so she had to settle for picking up some chemicals and more medpacs before crossing over to the other opened room, which the computer had identified as the morgue.

Kiray paused at the dead old woman dressed in a brown robe before approaching the other corpse and rifling around in the body. There was a plasma torch in one of his hands, and Kiray took it, seeing it as an easy way to open the final door, when the strangest thing happened. The brown-robed corpse slowly sat up and fixed her hood before standing and approaching Kiray.

"Find what you're looking for amongst the dead?" she inquired in a very familiar sounding voice. Kiray stared at the woman for at least thirty seconds before trying to get her vocal cords to work, but when they did, they spoke Mando'a:

"Jorad! That voice – it was heard in the kolto tank. I heard it in the kolto tank." The old woman gave her a strange look and nodded. "Hm, yes. I have slept too long. It may be that I reached out unconsciously, and your mind was a willing one – or perhaps you have been trained for such things?"

It was a question, and Kiray was afraid to answer, hoping not to speak Mando'a again. Thankfully, she didn't, and she said in an abnormally clear and concise Basic, "And how would I be trained to have an always open mind?"

"Your stance, your walk, tells me you are a Jedi. Your walk is heavy, as if you are weighed down with many burdens." Kiray turned away and said softly, "The Order of the Jetii and I have a troubled history."

"Indeed? And would that be because you are a Mandalorian as well?" Kiray straightened and gave the woman an odd glare; how could this dala possibly know that? But the old woman kept her from speaking as she continued, "But let us not dwell on the past. We should focus on the now."

"So you know who – and what – I am, and can feign death," Kiray began, and then challenged, "Tion'cuy?"

"I am Kreia, and I am your rescuer, as you are mine. Tell me, do you recall what happened?" Kiray held her chin in her hand for a second or two, thinking. "I was on a Republic ship, the Harbinger. How did I get here?"

"I do not know what this place is, or how we got here. But we must leave quickly before our enemy arrives."

"We? What makes you think that there's a 'we' here?" Kiray shot out. This old woman was infuriating enough without trying to make themselves a team.

"Neither of us can escape this place alone. And there must be others, still alive, in this place," Kreia replied coolly. "And I leave you to the explorations of this place. I must remain and center myself."

"All right, so we need a ship, weapons, information...anything else?"

Kreia glanced at her coldly and answered icily, "Perhaps you could extend your search to some clothes, if only for proper first impressions."

"All right. I guess I'll come back to see if you're okay." Kiray held the plasma torch firmly as she marched out of the morgue, leaving Kreia to "center" herself. Must mean meditation. I was never good at that, she thought before slashing at the door, burning the broken lock away and overriding the lockdown.

Kiray tossed the torch away and began searching the corpses and the broken droid, locating a vibroblade in one of them. It's better than nothing at all, she concluded, practicing a few katas. Sadly, the blade was not kad or jetii'kad, but it would suffice. She proceeded through a door and began her explorations of this unfamiliar facility, starting off by bashing two droids and recovering a weak blaster pistol, which she stuffed into her light belt.

Another pair of droids waited for her on the other side of the next door, and then a security locker needed to be picked so she could recover more chemicals, components, and... two ion grenades. Kiray almost jumped up and down in happiness in having grenades, and passed to the next corridor. A sudden whisper stopped her, and Kiray paused to listen:

Beyond this door, there is a danger...yet not from anything that lives.

"Kreia!" Kiray yelped in alarm, looking around fearfully, "Wha-"

Quiet! Can you not sense them? Cast aside your sight, cast aside what you...see, and reach out with your perceptions. Kiray was afraid, afraid of what would happen if she reached out. And yet she did, and felt three droids, waiting with their eternal patience, but not the droids themselves.

Ah, you can feel them. The slight oscillations of energy, echoing outwards, Kreia's voice whispered once more, causing Kiray to shake her head. Kiray stepped forward and carefully opened the door, a grenade in her hand. Sure enough, three droids were before her, and Kiray quickly threw the ion grenade at the center of the group, causing a huge explosion that destroyed all three droids. And then it was there: a familiar rush of strength, of a special power that Kiray knew all too well.

Kreia must have felt it too, because she made contact yet again. You can barely feel it, but it is there!

"What is it?" Kiray whispered, trying to keep Kreia off-guard. "Are the sedatives wearing off?"

It is the Force you feel. It has not been so long for you to forget, has it?

Kiray's lip curled as she growled, "Munit tome'tayl, skotah iisa. But it has been too long, and I nearly forgot..."

Do not turn away from it. Feel it in you, pulsing, giving you strength. Kiray felt it, and yet it was not the same. "It is not the same. More like an echo..."

Come, I shall guide you down the familiar paths, and once more can you become Jetii, as well as manda. Kiray's heart leapt as Kreia retreated. She could become both a true Mandalorian and a Jedi? It was almost too good to believe. But she could not trust anyone, not Kreia, and most definitely not herself.

Wondering at her new situation, she flexed her fingers, feeling the life of the Force pulsing around her, although it was weak, and she could barely act upon it. Kiray slowly lowered to her knees, and felt it as she awoke for the second time that day.