A/N: Well, here you go. Another chapter. This chapter takes place a day before the first chapter of Padme Evenstar's story War of the Dimensions: Shadow.

Chapter 2: Dented Hull

The day seemed to last an eternity for Barriss. She spent a good portion of the morning stretching, and practicing her lightsaber forms. She spared with Luminara for a few hours after lunch. Around sixteen hundred, she decided to take a look at their surroundings.

She gathered the Force around her, coiled her body like a spring, and released the Force while she launched herself upwards. She landed expertly on a limb ten feet up the nearest tree. She leapt from branch to branch, maneuvering around the forest, taking in their surroundings in a one kilometer radius.

As she headed back to the ship, she heard someone running through the underbrush beneath her. She immediately jumped to the lowest branch of the tree to her right, and looked in the direction of the sound. Andrew was running through the forest with an expertise she hadn't expected from him. He bounded over roots, and rolled under branches. His speed indicated an acute knowledge of his surroundings. He would be quite formidable in a fight with this sort of knowledge, she thought to herself.

Suddenly, he leapt onto a low branch, only three feet above the ground, and turned. He began scanning the forest with nervous apprehension, and a smile of twisted enjoyment. Then he dove off the branch, and rolled to a stop behind a tree. On the trunk of the tree behind him was a spot of a wet, colored liquid goop.

Andrew opened his backpack, and pulled out two clear, blaster-shaped objects, and gripped them tightly. He replaced the bag on his back, and jumped out from behind the tree, using the branch for cover. He pulled down on the triggers of his weapons, and began sidestepping around the branch. His attackers had just come into view from behind trees. They were tall, burly, and dressed completely in camouflage. They wore masks on their faces that concealed their faces, though whether it protected their identities or their faces, she wasn't sure. They suddenly began to dance around as if being stung by hundreds of unseen insects.

They eventually began fighting the urge to react to the pain, and brought their weapons to bear. They were much like blaster-rifles, but they had a large crescent-shaped tube attached to them, and they hurled small marble-sized balls that burst into painted splotches on impact.

Andrew was doing everything in his power to dodge the staining missiles. He launched himself against the trunks of trees, only to launch himself unpredictably towards his attackers. He was hit by a couple of his opponent's ammo, but only on the arms.

Then, without warning, the leader of the group convulsed as if being stabbed in the back by a lightsaber, and collapsed to the ground. Soon after, his four companions followed suit. They quickly gathered their weapons, glared at Andrew, and rushed off into the woods.

Barriss scanned the area behind the group of assailants, and found a blonde-haired young man, about Andrew's age, in a prone position on a wooden platform she hadn't seen earlier, holding a clear sniper rifle. He scrambled to his feet, slung the weapon over his shoulder, and clambered down the branches of his tree, dropping the last few feet to the ground in front of Andrew.

He grinned wildly. "We showed them today, didn't we?" he asked victoriously. His voice was slightly higher pitched than Andrew's, and not quite as rough. He clearly had a brighter outlook on life than did Andrew.

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered with a shrug. "They'll only be back with more intensity next time."

Andrew's friend shook his head in disapproval. "Joy-kill," he said in a sing-song voice. "But seriously, what say we go grab a burger, I'm starving."

Andrew shook his head. "No thanks, I'm not in the mood."

"Tacos?"

Andrew sighed. "No, I, look, I've got something I've gotta do right now," he replied, glancing in the direction of the ship.

The friend shrugged. "Alright, I'll see ya later; I'm going to go get a burger." With that, he sped off through the forest with slightly more agility than Andrew displayed.

Barriss dropped to the ground as Andrew headed in the direction of the downed fighter. Andrew jumped slightly, and frowned. He hadn't enjoyed her greeting. "Who was that?" Barriss asked casually.

Andrew shrugged. "He's a friend of mine. His name's Henry."

Barriss nodded. "And who was that other group?" she asked.

Andrew grimaced. "Just some guys. They don't like me much, but then again I don't like them either, so it all works out nicely," he grunted, clearly trying to bury unpleasant memories.

Barriss shrugged. "Maybe you should try a less violent approach," she suggested.

Andrew snorted half in disgust, half in an attempt to keep down a mocking laugh. "'Less violent'?" he echoed incredulously, "I already tried. This is what I've been forced to resort to. Now, I believe you needed my help to repair your ship so you could leave?" The emphasis on the last word was not lost on Barriss. She'd clearly touched a sore spot with him.

She nodded silently, and strode off in the direction of their fighter. Andrew followed close behind, sometimes even slightly ahead, as he bounded from root to rock, to tree branch. Barriss couldn't help but admire his balance and familiarity of the forest. "You spend a lot of time here?" she asked out of curiosity.

Andrew nodded. "Yup," was all he said in reply. They continued on in silence until they came to the clearing. Andrew whistled. He hadn't seen the spacecraft in daylight yet, and was clearly more than slightly daunted at the prospect of repairing the ship.

He returned Luminara's greeting, and quickly appraised the ship's damage. The starboard wing had been broken off, and the bottom of the hull had been severely dented. The protruding spire at the bottom of the nose had been pressed flat against the hull. Thankfully the engines were both intact, and upon investigation (after being directed to it's location from the Jedi) he determined that the power core was still intact.

He related his findings to the two Jedi. "And you're S-foils are jammed, but hopefully, you won't need them. You're also going to need to weld the wing back in place, and the damage to the hull will probably slow you down while you're in the atmosphere. Other than that and the fact that you've lost your starboard laser cannon, you're OK."

Luminara was impassive as he related his findings, and then said, "You do intend to help us, do you not?"

Andrew grinned wildly. "I thought you'd never ask." He dropped his backpack onto the ground, and pulled out a hammer. "Now, if you two ladies would lift the ship…"

Barriss stared at him, a look of shock on her face. Luminara's face remained blank, but her emotions were clearly not too different. "How long do you intend to take?" she asked calmly.

Andrew nodded to himself. That's right, Yoda was exceptional with his Force use, he thought to himself, then replied, "Well, probably a few hours, but if you don't think you two can hold it that long, we can find something to support its weight, and you can just set it down on that."

Luminara nodded. "That will be acceptable," she replied evenly.

Barriss then began cutting branches that were thick enough to hold the ships weight, and Andrew began arranging them into a tent shape. When they had enough, the two Jedi reached out with their minds, combined their wills into one, and began to lift the fighter, shakily at first, and then steadily, until it was slightly higher than the stilts they'd built. While they held it in place, Andrew wedged the stilts against the wings so that the ship wouldn't fall to either side, and then placed another under the nose of the craft. The Jedi slowly lowered the ship onto the stilts, and released it. The three of them waited for a minute as the ship settled. Andrew grinned as the fighter stayed put. He quickly began hammering at the nose, trying to straighten the spire on the bottom. Luminara and Barriss instantly began helping wherever they could.

Andrew spent most of the day working on the nose, or explaining the purpose of the various tools in his backpack. By dark, they had repaired all but the broken wing. Andrew stood up, and brushed the dirt from his hands and pant legs. "Well," he said, his breath coming in quick bursts, "I have to go, but I will return in the morning somewhere around twelve hundred or thirteen hundred hours tomorrow. Then we can get to work on that wing."

Luminara nodded. "Goodnight then, Andrew."

Barriss placed a screwdriver in his backpack, and handed it to him. He put the straps around his shoulders, waved, and jogged off into the forest. Barriss sagged against the hull of the starfighter, and let out a deep sigh. Luminara sat next to her. The two of them sat there for several hours, resting their tired muscles before pulling out their bed rolls, and going to sleep.

A/N: Thank you for reading, I really appreaciate reviews!