ALIVE

By Serena

A/N: Yep, no updates for a while - sorry about that. I have too many stories going at once. Sowwy. :D

"So, what's the deal with you, huh?" Jix asked as the droid set platters of food on the table in front of us.

"What do you mean?" I said, picking up some food and putting it on my plate. I didn't notice the sudden silence until I looked up to see Jix watching me carefully. "What?"

"You eat like a lady."

"Well, I should hope so," I said, confused.

He fixed me with a scrutinizing gaze. "No, I mean you eat like you're royalty. The way you handle the food and your utensils."

I blinked. "I didn't notice."

He shrugged. "Never mind. So, how'd you get here?"

"An accident," I said, looking down at my food.

Screams. Blood running down my face. Pain. Fear.

I shuddered. "My ship was attacked. During the confusion, I had an accident… and now I can't remember anything before that."

Jix sat up straighter and stared at me. "You're serious."

"Yeah."

I wish I weren't.

"You have… amnesia? For real?"

"Yes, for real."

"So you don't remember nothin'… before the attack."

"I don't remember anything," I corrected, cutting my food up into pieces. "That's correct. I didn't even know that I was attacked until Vader told me." Glancing up at him, I said, "Speaking of Vader, why do you call him 'Uncle Dee'?"

He shrugged. "Codename for missions. Just stuck, I guess."

Curious, I said, "How long have you known him?"

Jix shrugged again and stuffed some food into his mouth. "Dunno. A few years. Ten? Five? Been a while."

"Do you… like him?"

He let out a bark of laughter and shook his head.

"What's so funny?" I asked, annoyed.

"Coz, there's one thing you need to know about Vader. He's not a nice guy. In fact, I'm one of the only people in the kriffing galaxy he can take for more than ten minutes, and even I push it, I know. You do one little thing wrong, and snap – you're gone."

I stared at him in horror. "He… he murders people? Just because they do something he doesn't like?"

Jix froze mid-chew and swallowed. For some reason, I sensed dread fill him – as if he'd just told something he wasn't supposed to. "Well, uh," he stammered. "Vader just cuts 'em loose," he hastily added, stuffing more food into his mouth. "He just… he's not a guy to suffer fools, know what I mean?"

"I'm sure I don't," I said, my mind spinning. "What if I do something wrong? Will he kill me, too?"

Jix said, "Look, coz, Vader only gets rid of the guys that deserve it. More than half the officers are here because they know a guy. Most of 'em don't deserve to be here – and they mess up big time, lose a lot of men for no good reason."

"Oh."

"But trust me, coz. He won't hurt you."

I looked down at my plate and wondered just how little I really knew about Darth Vader.

"So, anyway," Jix spoke, "How long you been here?"

"A few weeks," I said. "Vader's been looking after me."

"You know any self-defense? Know how to handle a blaster?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. I don't remember." My hand clenched on my fork.

Jix looked at me, sympathetic for the first time. "Don't worry about it. A few weeks with me and you'll be set. Promise. I used to teach back at the Academy on Carida. I've been doin' this stuff for years – you're in good hands." He threw me a smile.

"Let's hope so," I said with a small smirk. "When do we start?"

"Whenever you feel like it," he said lazily, leaning back in his seat. "You all right from that accident?"

"I had problems with my legs," I informed him. "But they're fine now. I'm actually feeling better, so I'm ready to start when you are."

"Good," he said, nodding in satisfaction. "We'll get started right away, then. We'll work on your defense moves then move to higher-level stuff. Eventually, you'll be able to infiltrate a palace and do your thing."

"You mean kill someone?" I demanded sharply.

He shrugged. "Dunno. Whatever Vader has you do. But he saves yours truly for the more dirty work. Getting rid of corrupted officials, that kinda thing. I think you might be more of a recon girl. Stealth, probably."

"Oh, good," I said, trying to hide my relief. "I don't want to be an assassin."

He took another bite of food. "Don't worry about stuff like that this early in the game. First we gotta see how you can hold up against basic training. See if you got any real learnin' at all."

I pushed away my plate and inhaled deeply. "Let's get started, then."

"We'll start out with simple target practice," Jix told me as we entered a private training center. Moving up to a long glass case hanging on the wall, filled with guns, he opened it and inspected the different blasters. I came up beside him and stared at one particularly large rifle.

"That'll be a sniper rifle," Jix said. "Used primarily for assassins." He sounded amused, and his eyes gleamed at me as he gave me a smirk.

I quickly switched my gaze to a small blaster pistol.

"Here." Jix pulled a pistol off the wall and tossed it to me. I fumbled with it clumsily before dropping it on the floor. Jix raised an eyebrow; and I blushed and quickly picked up the gun.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Coz, you'd better be a better shot than you are a catcher," Jix quipped as he activated the targets. "Because if you ain't, I don't see what Uncle Dee's gonna do with you."

I swallowed and looked at the floor.

How can I do this?

But when a finger tilted my chin up, I looked up through depressed eyes to see Jix gazing down at me sympathetically. "Hey, chin up, coz. That's what I'm here for." He gave me a friendly fist to the shoulder and stood back. "Now, we'll start out easy. Ten feet. Hit the target." He motioned to the target in front of me. "It ain't even moving, so this should be easy."

I nodded hesitantly and moved up to the target. I pointed my blaster at the target, narrowed my eyes, and shot.

Blam!

The shot hit the target directly.

I stared at the target, then to Jix, who looked pleasantly surprised. "All right," he said with a half grin. "Beginner's luck. Let's give you something a bit harder. Back up five feet."

I did as he asked, aimed at the target, let out a deep breath, and focused all my attention on the target.

Blam! Blam!

Both shots hit the target in the dead center. My mouth fell open slightly as a burst of exhilaration shot through me.

Whoa.

I glanced at Jix, who frowned. "All right," he said, a bit more skeptical. "Not bad."

"Not bad!" I protested. "That was perfect!"

"Yeah, well, try shooting from another ten feet back, and then we'll see how you do," Jix said.

I stepped back and fired again. The shot hit the center once more.

"What about that?" I demanded. "Beginner's luck?"

"Exactly."

My jaw dropped. "What? You can't call that luck! In my experience, there's no such thing as luck." I suddenly felt odd after saying that but shook it off and blinked.

"Right," Jix grinned. "Sorry if I'm brusin' your precious ego."

"Ego?!"

Now he laughed. "Musta hit pretty close to get you all riled up like that, huh, coz?" Jix teased.

What?

A wave of anger, frustration, and warmth spread throughout my body; and I inhaled sharply as my eyelids fluttered shut. My fingers trembled; and before I could control myself, the gun slipped from my hands and landed with a clunk onto the floor. I stumbled back uncertainly as my vision grew muddled. Voices murmured in the back of my head – and blurry figures moved around in my sight.

One was tall and brown… the other sitting in a bed, dressed in white. And the last… he was clearer than the others. Yes, it was a he. He was tall… dressed in navy, white, and black…

And his voice… his voice!

Musta hit pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh, kid? He bent over the person in the bed.

Why couldn't I see his face?

Before I knew it, my legs filled with pain, and I collapsed to the floor. But two strong arms caught me as I fell and gently lowered me to the ground. As I dizzily opened my eyes, I looked up into Jix's concerned gaze.

"Hey, coz! Aisha! You all right?"

"What?" I murmured. "Yeah… I'm fine."

He snorted. "Sure you are."

"Just a little… dizzy…"

Picking me up, he rose to his feet and strode out of the training center. "No, you ain't. I'm takin' you back to your room. You need to rest."

"No… fine…"

"Don't argue, coz. You need some sleep. We'll pick up with this tomorrow. But Uncle Dee won't want a fainting agent. You had a bad accident – people like you go into shock and take a while to recover." He entered my dark quarters and gently set me on my bed.

The last thing I remembered was his warm, calloused hand smoothing over my forehead before I surrendered to unconsciousness.

She's gettin' more memories... hehehe!! No Gang in this one, but they'll probably be in the next chapter. :)

- Serena