Chapter Two

Location: Unknown

The room was dark, except for the walkway that was held halfway over the middle of an endless pit of darkness. The figure whom stepped down the path, stopped at the end and knelt down, bowing to an invisible being.

"My lord. They have returned."

There was a rumble. I wasn't sure what it was, but it made me open my eyes. I found myself staring up at sky scrapers. I shook my head, and blinked twice. How the hell did I go from seeing… wait. Where the hell am I? I sat up quickly, and looked around me. I was lying on a walkway. I rubbed the back of my head and got to my feet.

It was so strange. I turned to my right and found myself being thrown against the wall of the building. I looked around, and realized I was in an alleyway. "PIG!" I heard a hiss from in front of me.

And then the figure to which the voice belonged to came out of the shadows. I became alarmed as the alien lizard I called a Trandoshan stared at me. It had a metal helmet on it's head, a flight suit on, and held a gun at it's waist that was aimed at me.

"Who the fuck are you?" I blurted out. The lizard laughed. "A warrior. Someone you… don't really want to meet in a dark alley."

I cocked an eyebrow. "So what? You just go around killing random people?" I asked. The Trandoshan nodded slowly. "It is part of the brotherhood." It raised the gun and aimed it at my head. "You just happen to be the unlucky wet skin to be the next victim."

There was a charging sound, and the Trandoshan froze. "Listen carefully, lizard. If you don't move, I will blow your brains out all over this sorry sap that's in front of you. Surely you don't want that…"

"Ahh, not particularly."

"Good. Then get going. If I see you again, I will not give you a warning." The Trandoshan snarled at me, before ducking to the right and vanishing down the alleyway. I watched as a clone trooper stepped out of the shadows. "Kid, what are you doing back here anyhow?"

I sighed. "I honestly don't know." It wasn't a lie. "One moment I was visiting the filming site of Star Wars, where Luke Skywalker's home was, the next I'm being held up in a dark alleyway by a lizard!"

The Clone Trooper had a helmet on, but I could tell he was giving me one of those looks, as if I was crazy. "Sure kid. Just, get home, will you?"

"Uh…" the trooper turned, and walked away from me. I gritted my teeth and followed him out of the alleyway. "So, do you just do this for fun? Did I end up in some sort of RPG town or something?"

"Kid, what are you going on about?"

"Well, it's not like people wear that everyday."

The trooper stopped and looked over at me. "What exactly do you mean? I'm part of the Republic army. Of course we wear this everyday!"

I paused, thinking, and then nodded, with a smile. "I hear you now! Okay. It's cool!" The trooper just stared at me with his faceless helmet. "Listen kid. Do I need to take you home?"

"Um. No. I'm going…"

I turned and suddenly froze in my tracks as I looked out into the city. The sky scrapers were massive. But one tower stood out in particular. It was a large one, surrounded by four other smaller ones, each connected to a large base at the bottom.

"The. Jedi. Temple." I breathed. Suddenly a speeder flew by, merging with more speeder traffic down the air-lane. "Oh, wow…" I said, as I fell to the ground, seeing darkness yet again. The trooper looked down at me and sighed.

"Oh, boy... another one of those."

The rumble force Kirsty to wake up. She practically flopped out of the cot as the building shook around her. She stumbled onto her feet, only to be thrown forward into the wall. She looked around for the door, and found it. She looked for the handle. There wasn't one. Instead, she saw a control panel. She moved over and hit the button on it, and the door slid open in a blink of an eye – literally.

She glanced around, and just shook her head. Where am I? She questioned herself. But, she had no answers. As she stumbled down the hall, barely able to remain standing from the shaking of the building, she saw a group of Clone troopers race down the corridor, where they all suddenly stopped and began firing their blaster rifles at something she couldn't yet see.

But soon, she saw the platoons of battle droids. "What the hell are they doing here?"

"Get back, Ma'am!" One of the troopers shoved her back, and got blasted because of it. Kirsty was on the floor, staring at the dead clone trooper who'd sacrificed himself for her. A young woman he'd never seen before. He probably didn't even know her name. And yet, he laid his life down for her.

She shook her head. This had to be a dream. She closed her eyes, and shook her head. She opened them again, and the battle was still going on strong. The dead soldier still lay in front of her. She glared. She had no time to think. She snatched up the soldier's blaster rifle and peered around the corner, only to duck again as a blaster bolt scorched the wall next to her.

She ducked down, her heart rate panicking. She had chills down her arms and her knee was throbbing. Suddenly there was an explosion, sending the remaining troopers backward, killing them.

"NO!" She screamed, stepping out into the corridor, sending several shots from the rifle at the droids, and yet missing all of them. Suddenly there was a loud mechanical alien voice shouting, "Destroy them all!"

Kirsty felt a hand touch her shoulder and she turned to find Obi-Wan Kenobi standing there. "Hurry! I'll hold them off." Kirsty shook her head. "Oh, no! Let's go! You're coming with!" She grabbed his arm and yanked him down the corridor. "I just watched a dozen clones get killed. Won't watch you do the same. Where's the escape pods?"

Obi-Wan looked at her, an eyebrow cocked. He was thinking. She could tell that much. "Alright. This way! Quickly."

They both turned and moved down the corridor. Kirsty glanced back, and gasped as the large mechanical alien that they called General Grievous stomped around the corner, in hot pursuit of them.

"Kenobi!" the droid commander bellowed out. Obi-Wan stopped as he tried to open a blast door. It was locked. "Blast!" He took out his light saber and turned it on. The blue glowing blade hummed to life, before he jammed it into the control panel. The doors switched open, and he pushed Kirsty through them, before waving the doors closed with the force.

There was a loud clank as Grievous slammed into the doors from the other side, to no avail. "Come on." Obi-Wan said, as he opened the last escape pod. "Is everyone else off the ship?" Kirsty asked. "We'll have to hope so. Now get in." he replied, waving her into the escape pod.

As she strapped herself in, she heard a loud crash. Obi-Wan jumped into the escape pod and hit the controls. "Hang on!" He shouted dramatically, as the pod jettisoned out of its holding bay and shot out into the dark of space.

The doors slid open. I heard them do so. I felt a shiver roll down my entire body. The air was freezing. I could smell something like an anti-bacteria wash of sorts. I opened my eyes, and let out a gasp as a flash of what had happened before. The Trandoshan. The Clone Trooper. The Jedi Temple.

I sat up on the bed I was lying in, to find a blue skinned female Twi'lek standing at the foot of the bed. "Stay calm." She said. "Where am I?" I muttered, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and leaning forward, putting my head in my hands.

"Coruscant."

"I… I figured that out. But how?..."

"I don't follow." She said. I looked up at her, and I swallowed hard. "I know you…" I said, without thinking. But to my surprise, she didn't flinch at my words. Instead, she responded with, "I know."

I stood up. "Why are you here?" I asked her. She looked over at me. "The Jedi Council sent me to check up on you."

I blinked, and looked down at the ground. Why? I looked up at her. Our eyes met. "You were in trouble. When the CT-1566 brought you to the medical center, we knew something was wrong."

"How?" I questioned. Aayla Secura smiled briefly. "The clothes you wore. They were not of this galaxy."

I looked down, now realizing I was wear simple tan Tunics. "So then… I'm okay. You don't have to hang around if you have other… more important duties."

"I do not." She replied.

"What? There's not a war going on?" I asked.

"There is."

"Then why are you here with me? Surely General Grievous needs capturing…"

"How do you know of Grievous?"

"I…"

"That… is why I've been assigned to look after you until further notice."

"WHAT?" I said, looking at her.

"I was assigned by the council…"

"I heard you. Why?"

"Because. To be frank, they need to know what your story is."

"I don't have a story…" I said, turning away and stepping over to the window. I heard Aayla sigh, as she stepped forward. "Everyone has a story. For you though, you might be right." I looked over at her, and she quickly added, "Sort of." She looked past me, out the window. "I believe your story may just be starting…"

The pod drifted along. It had been at least an hour since they'd gotten off the capital ship that had been overran by Grievous and his pathetic droids. "What exactly are we waiting for?" Kirsty asked, almost annoyed. She couldn't figure it out. One moment she'd been visiting film locations for the star wars movies, the next she was thrown into the star wars universe itself. Perhaps this was all one big bad dream.

Perhaps she'd wake up and never like star wars again. She decided it must be true. She suddenly pinched herself as hard as she could. The only effect it had was to make an imprint on her skin of her nail. She frowned. No. This was not a dream. It was real. She was sitting in an escape pod with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"We're waiting for the council…"

"Skywalker?"

Obi-Wan just stared at her. "Skywalker is dead." He said suddenly. She stared back at him now, in shock. "What? Already?" She regretted the last part immediately. "Already? What do you mean?"

Kirsty thought for a moment. No. She'd better not say anything. "Nothing. I spoke out of turn." Obi-Wan eyed her, but nodded slowly. Suddenly there was a shudder. Obi-Wan's comm went off. He answered it and Jedi Master Yoda appeared in a small hologram on his wrist. "Arrived, we have. Bringing you in, we will."

"Thank you, Master Yoda."

It was only moments before the escape pod was brought into the hanger bay of the Republic Assault Ship. As they exited the ship, Yoda was waiting for them. "Mmm, Who be this one?" Yoda asked, pointing his cane at Kirsty. Obi-Wan nodded. "Master Yoda. Meet Kirsty Harrington.

Yoda just smiled at her. "Very good. Come, come. Inside we must go. Debrief we must. Found your friend, we have."

Kirsty cocked an eyebrow. "Friend?"

"Yes, yes. Come now." He said, turning his small green body, and making his way toward the door that led deeper into the ship.