CHAPTER SEVEN

LUX

Never in the history of outposts has one been packed up faster than ours. It mainly entailed grabbing our stuff and making a mad dash into the ship.

"Sierra said something about a Jedi in trouble?" Ahsoka asks, helping me stash our belongings in our cabin.

"I know as much as you do." I throw the bedsheets onto the bunk in a bundle. "Is Steela done moving herself and Sierra? Can she help us?"

"Steela is not my favorite person right now." Ahsoka says testily, stowing our suitcase under the bunk. "Whatever she can do, I can do anyway."

I take a step back. "…Okay."

Huh? I thought those two were best friends. They managed to share a room for a year, and Hero says that their arguments never got serious.

Whatever's causing this one, it's got to be really bad.

I quickly make the bed, then go with Ahsoka to the ship's small living area where Hutch is trying to set up the computer again.

All seems normal until Steela walks in, and takes a seat as far away from Ahsoka as she possibly can. Unfortunately for her, said seat is right next to Tandin.

Tandin looks at me, and nods.

Whatever they were fighting about, it's major.

Hero works a kink out of her neck and announces: "We think we found some fugitive Jedi. And from the sound of it, they're younglings."

"How did you find them?" Ahsoka asks.

Hutch's monitor finally boots up.

"I'm monitoring the frequencies for the Jedi Temple." He says. "One second there's nothing but static, and the next there's a voice. Little girl, can't be any more than ten years old."

"Ten?" Mina rubs her temples. "Oh, Lord."

"Hero got on the line," he says. "We figured a kid might trust a woman. It worked."

"There are two of them," Hero says. "A boy and a girl. They were on a training mission with their clan, and their clone escort turned on them."

"Did you get a name?" Saw asks.

Hutch nods. "Katooni."

Ahsoka's eyes widen. "Katooni?"

"Yeah, do you know her?" Hutch asks.

Ahsoka's hands clench with fear. "I took her and her clan on the Gathering! Is she okay?"

"For now. I don't know how much longer she will." Hero admits.

Saw bristles. "Why?"

"Because when I was talking to her, another line opened up. The voice on it sounded…wrong. I told Katooni to hang up and crush the comlink, but she's not out of the woods." Hero bites her lip.

"Katooni didn't know to mask her signal," Hutch says. "We have her location locked down, and it's not that much of a stretch to assume the other person does too."

….

"What was she thinking?" Ahsoka demands.

I load my blaster. "I guess Endor is as good as any when you're running from the Empire."

Saw checks his holster. "Katooni says their ship was leaking coolant and they had to make an emergency landing."

"They had the sense to stay in the ship, right? The last thing we need to deal with are hungry Ewoks."

"Do you know who the other youngling is?" I ask, changing the subject.

Ahsoka sighs. "I'm willing to lay money it's Petro. He's Katooni's best friend."

"Petro," I mutter. "Is that the punk who was chatting up Sierra at the wedding?"

"No," Ahsoka says, smiling at the memory. "That was O-Mer. Petro was the one who practiced his swordsmanship with the cake server."

Ah, I remember him now. Mom had stalked up to the human boy, hand outstretched, and cleared her throat. Petro had gulped, and placed the cake server in her hand without a word!

"They could do it," I say. "I'm sure we'll get there in time. We have a head start."

Hutch pulls up a sound recording. "You guys might want to listen to this."

When he presses PLAY, all there is for the first few seconds is static. Then a child's voice, a young girl's voice.

"Jedi Temple, come in." she says. "Our clone troopers attacked us and severely damaged our ship. Please respond!"

"Hello? Young Jedi?" Hutch asks in the recording.

"Jedi Temple?" The girl repeats. "Jedi Temple, is that you?"

There's a pause, and then it's Hero's voice on the recording.

"No. Are you all alone?"

"Who are you?" The little girl demands. "Are you working with the clones?"

"No, no! My name is Hero and I'm from Onderon." Hero explains. "Are you alone, sweetie? What's your name?"

The girl chokes on a sob. "Katooni! My name's Katooni."

"Katooni. That's a nice name."

"What's going on? Why are the clones killing us? We were only on a training mission. Zatt and I are the only ones left."

"My friends and I are coming to get you. Where are you?"

"Endor. We had to land. The ship needed repairs, and Zatt's hurt really, really bad so he can't fix it, and I don't know how!"

"Okay, we're getting ready to leave right now. Help will be there soon. What's your favorite food?"

Katooni sounds confused, but she says "Cake."

"Cake. I can make that for you when we come. What kind do you like?"

"Vanilla."

"Vanilla. That can be arranged."

The last voice isn't Hero's. It sounds friendly at the surface, but underneath you can hear the danger in it.

Whoever that is, is sick. Sick in the way serial killers are.

There is silence.

"Listen to me," Hero orders. "Hang up, and crush the comlink. Do it now!"

There's the sound of one of the comlinks cutting out, and the transmission ends.

"I swear to God, that voice sounds familiar." I say.

"Because it is." Ahsoka says, worry creeping into her voice. "That's Barriss."

Steela mutters from the other side of the room. "I should have broken her nose when I had the chance. But no, I had to go taunt Tarkin. Should have punched her right in the kisser."

Ahsoka ignores her.

Everybody else in the room locks eyes with me and a silent "Uh-oh" passes among us.

"Okay," Saw says. "Here's the plan. We leave some people outside as sentries while the rest of us look for the kids. We get in, we get the younglings, we get out before the Empire can find us."

"Solid." Steela comments.

Tandin clears his throat. "Hero and Hutch, you're going in for sure. So are Saw, Rex, and-."

"John," Mom volunteers Dad.

The look of surprise on Dad's and Tandin's faces tell us this was not in the original plan, but they go with it.

"Right," Tandin says. "The rest of you have sentry duty."

Ahsoka and Steela aren't going to be too happy about that. At least they know how to put their feelings aside and focus on the mission. The same couldn't be said for Saw and I during the rebellion.

"Questions, anyone?" Tandin asks.

"Yes," I say. "What if the Empire's already there?"

"Then we're in deep, deep trouble."

….

Our plans for rescuing the kids basically boil down to three rules.

One: Get in, get the kids, get out.

Two: Don't die.

Three: The teddy bears will eat you. No matter how cute they look.

And if you're listening to Sierra, which no one is, there's a fourth: Don't be stupid.

But our little group probably needs that guideline. According to our little sisters, Saw and I should dress up as Dumb and Dumber for Halloween.

It's only fitting that we pair up for the rescue mission.

"Do you think they stayed on the ship?" I ask.

Saw shrugs. "If I was a kid, on a planet with man-eating teddy bears, I would stay on my ship. It sounds like the best possible idea."

"Point taken," I agree, and we start toward the ship. "So…do you know what's up between Ahsoka and Steela?"

"Ha, nope. Steela doesn't tell me anything when she gets mad. She just growls at everything."

"Ahsoka hasn't told me anything either. Think Tandin's picked up on it?"

Saw blinks.

"How couldn't he? Lux, I don't think you understand how tuned in he is with Steela. It's like they're on the same wavelength ever since she got that kidney. If she's hungry, he knows what she wants. When she had her mental breakdown, he sensed it before it happened. If she's mad at Ahsoka, he knows."

"Do you think he knows the exact reason?"

"Nope. He would have brought it up already if he did."

I sigh. "We'd better find the kids. Deal with this…whatever it is….later."

The younglings' ship managed to land in a clearing, more or less. It sort of hit a tree on the way down, but otherwise it's undamaged.

Hero and Hutch come up from the other side of the ship.

"It's all clear there." Hutch says, turns the handle on the door hatch, and pulls.

It doesn't budge.

He tries again. Zip.

"Let me," Saw grunts, and they both pull on the door.

Their combined strength still doesn't budge the door. And I can see why.

"You know, maybe Steela and Sierra were on to something." I mutter, walk up to the door, and push it. It opens without a problem.

"I was gonna do that." Saw says.

"Yeah, sure." I mutter and lead the way into the ship.

"John and Captain Rex should be coming in the other side about now." Saw says, pushing me aside to take point himself.

"What are we going to do?" Hutch asks. "Call their names? If I were them, I wouldn't come."

"We'll just wait for John and Rex to mess up, and we'll do the opposite." Hero says.

The comlink buzzes to life.

"You all realize we can hear everything you're saying?" Dad asks, his voice piping through my earpiece.

Hero's face falls. "I just said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Search the ship," Rex instructs. "We'll be there in a minute. If we find anything, we'll let you know."

Luckily for the galaxy at large; Hutch, Hero, Saw, and I are competent enough to know how to search a ship.

Saw kicks the door open. Hero and I rush through, checking behind furniture, in shadowy corners, anywhere a kid could hide.

"It's clear," I announce, a little confused.

Hutch walks in through the door. "Oh man, they must have left. They better not have found those killer teddies, because..."

He doesn't finish his sentence because at that moment, a blue lightsaber ignites behind him and swings. Saw yanks him out of the way just in time.

"Holy kriff!" I shout.

Hutch spins around, a look of sheer terror painted on his face as he and Saw raise their blasters, ready to shoot whoever tried to cut Hutch in two.

"Who are you?" The person (no, the child) holding the saber shouts. "Leave us alone!"

Hero puts a hand to her chest. "We don't want to hurt you. I'm Hero, from the phone. Are you Katooni?"

The lightsaber stops moving.

"Are you Katooni?" Hero repeats. When no answer comes, she says "If you are, it's okay. We can help you take care of your friend. Where is he?"

Katooni looks at Hero, then at the rest of us.

The lightsaber blade retracts, and Katooni hooks it onto her belt.

"He's in the other room," she says, voice shaking. "Please help him! He's getting worse."

"What's wrong with him?" I ask, lowering my blaster.

"He was shot," Katooni whispers, eyes fixed on Hero.

"Where?" Hero asks.

"The side."

Hero offers her a hand. "Take us to him."

I lift a hand to my ear, activating the comlinks. "Dad, we found Katooni. She says the other youngling is hurt."

"We know, Lux." Dad says. His voice is tight, barely audible over a rattling sound in the background. "If you have Katooni, keep her away. Take her back to the ship."

"Why?"

"Because we found him."

It dawns on me what that rattling sound is.

"Is he-?"

"It's a miracle he held on as long as he did. Rex is giving him something for the pain."

I take Katooni's other hand, flashing a look to Hero. "On second thought, let's go back to the ship. My dad says he's taking care of your friend."

"Yeah, let's." Hero suggests, helping me steer Katooni out the front door.

Unfortunately, Katooni doesn't buy it.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Hutch lies.

"Hey, Ahsoka's on the ship. Do you want to go see her again?" Saw baits.

Katooni might have gone with us, if a groan hadn't echoed through the ship walls, followed by Rex's sigh of "Damn," through the comlinks.

"Zatt!"

A tiny, booted foot stomps on top of mine, prompting me to release one of Katooni's hands. Before I can make a second attempt, Hero flies into me, propelled by the Force.

Katooni shoots down the hallway, the rest of us in hot pursuit. She takes a hard left, making a beeline for a small door off to the side.

But when she opens the door, Dad is there.

He swings her over his shoulder, using one hand to keep her head down as he steps through the door. Behind him, Rex draws a sheet to cover a Nautolan boy.

It's when he turns, and she can see his face, that Katooni loses it.

We can only hold her still until Rex manages to inject a sedative into her arm, letting us take her back to the ship.

A/N: At least nobody was attacked by homicidal teddy bears. (Those were the Ewoks)

Thank you to Beth, starwarshobbitfics, StarwarsRulz, and CT-3488 for your reviews. And speaking of reviews, please leave your thoughts in the box on your way out.

Until next time,

Lux's Sister