Chapter Thirteen: Hiding

The Doctor was overwhelmed by the explosion of the Force Lock that he and Sidious had initiated. He flew across the Grand Convocation Chamber in the Senate building back onto the podium. He hit the side of it with a SMACK and rolled off, not even reacting quickly enough to grab on and continue the fight. As he hit the ground, injuring his arm in the process, he could hear Sidious laughing with glee, sheer and unadulterated glee, and that was when he realized that he had failed. The Doctor had failed to kill the man who had brought such evil and misery to the galaxy.

He needed to run. He needed to hide. He had just tried to assassinate the Emperor of the galaxy. Security forces would be looking for him. He had to get out of there.

The Doctor ran out as fast as he could, using his good arm to pull out his communicator and contact Bail Organa.

"Yes, Doctor?" said Senator Organa.

"Hurry," said the Doctor, trying to be as quietly urgent as possible. "We're going to need careful timing in order to get out of here."

"Okay. I'm in my speeder right now," informed Bail. "Activate your homing beacon when you're ready."

"Where's Jennara?" asked the Doctor.

"She's with me. I told her to get down once we land to get you," said Bail.

"Good. I'll be in touch."

The Doctor cut off communication and ran around through the Senate building, warding off any potential attackers who may have come his way. He could sense that there were clones on his trail, but they were already too late. The Doctor had reached the entrance to the Senate building, and he was running down the entrance hallway when he activated the homing beacon attached to his belt.

As he reached the threshold of the entrance hallway, he saw the red speeder of Bail Organa descending towards him. He stopped running for a moment to let the speeder land, then jumped in, landing beside Jennara, who had resurfaced from underneath the speeder's seat once the Doctor had successfully boarded. The three were soon on their way to the Sundered Heart.

"What happened, Doctor?" asked Bail. "Did you kill the Emperor?"

"No," said the Doctor. "I failed."

Bail was silent and somber for the rest of the journey. The Doctor knew he was upset that Darth Sidious was not dead, and he felt the same way. He had tried his best, but it seemed that his best wasn't good enough.

I failed, he thought to himself, repeating the words he had said to Bail mere moments before in his head.

Fear not, Doctor, Qui-Gon Jinn's voice suddenly rang out to him. There is hope yet.

Qui-Gon, what hope is there? asked the Doctor, but he received no answer. Instead, he felt a small tugging on his sleeve. Jennara wanted his attention. The Doctor looked at her and sensed her strong capability in the Force. He was surprised. One so young should not be as strong in the Force as she was, yet here she was. Strong in the Force. Not quite as strong as Anakin Skywalker had been when he first arrived at the Temple thirteen years ago, but still very strong. She was an enigma. A mystery worth solving. Perhaps Jennara Oswin was even the hope Qui-Gon Jinn spoke of.

In any case, whatever she was, the Doctor had already decided that he would take her on as a Padawan. A young Jedi without a Master could mean trouble, especially now that the surviving Jedi were going to be hunted by the new Empire. She needed protection, and the best way to give her that protection was, in the Doctor's mind, to train her to full Knighthood.

He smiled at her, and she smiled back as the speeder pulled in to the dock containing the Sundered Heart. Bail, the Doctor, and Jennara all disembarked from the speeder and left it on the docks.

"There's a chance that some clones saw it," explained Bail. "I've erased all record that it ever belonged to me, and they certainly can't trace it back to you or Jennara, so we're all covered."

"Good," said the Doctor, taking Jennara's hand. "Let's get out of here."

The three boarded the Sundered Heart, and Bail told Captain Antilles to make for a system of asteroids in the Outer Rim known as Polis Massa. Once a barren planet home to the now-extinct Eellayin, Polis Massa suffered a mysterious cataclysm that fragmented the planet. Another species called the Kallihadin settled a small base on the largest of the asteroids about five hundred years ago, and they had had little contact with the galaxy since then. The Doctor congratulated Bail for his knowledge of the galaxy and for the intuition to say that Polis Massa would be a good hiding place for the Jedi for now.

The Sundered Heart entered hyperspace. The Doctor retired to a small room to think about what had just happened. He had failed; that was what happened. He had failed to kill the most evil man in the universe, and now he might never get the chance to try again. The Doctor hoped with all his might that Obi-Wan had had more luck dealing with Vader.

The Doctor sighed. He had hoped to end the tyranny of the Sith by killing Darth Sidious, but it seemed that the Force had other plans. He tried to subvert the Chosen One Prophecy, going against the will of the Force, in order to save the galaxy. But maybe the Force didn't want it to be saved, not yet. It was a strange thought, but the Doctor was thinking that perhaps the Jedi should bide their time until...sometime. He wasn't sure when. But there was something coming, a hope for all the galaxy to rally behind.

A knock on his door brought the Doctor out of his thoughts.

"It's unlocked," he said.

The door slid open, revealing Jennara Oswin, holding something behind her back.

"Hello, Jennara," said the Doctor softly, not wanting to be too loud and scare the child.

Evidently, she wasn't afraid of him, and she walked towards him and extended her right arm. In her hand sat a little machine that whirred and clicked. The Doctor took it and examined it. It was really quite a well-made machine. It was a rectangular box with a handle on one side and what looked to be a small scanner on its front. Several blinking lights and other various attachments were present all around the rectangular frame.

"Did you make this?" he asked her, and she nodded her head, obviously proud of herself. "What does it do?"

Jennara took the Doctor's comlink from his belt and held it up to the machine's scanner. The whirring of the machine slowed for a fraction of a second, and then it made a DING sound.

"Oh, it scans for mechanical devices," said the Doctor, amused by the dinging. "And then it goes ding. Ha! I like it. It's quite good."

Jennara opened her mouth as if she were going to say something, but she decided against it and left the room without a word. After she left, the Doctor put the machine by his side and lay back on the small cot he had been sitting on, and he thought. He thought about everything. His duel with Sidious, Anakin's betrayal, Order 66, his dead comrades.

Of all the people who died because of Sidious's machinations, the Doctor was most upset by Stass's death. She had been a close friend to him explicitly, and even more to him implicitly. To know that she was dead and to have watched it happen broke his hearts into too many pieces to count. He loved her; that he could not deny. Now, she was gone. That feeling of loss permeated his very being, cut deeper than any wound he had ever received. He had lived for nine-hundred and thirteen years, and not once had he ever felt a pain like this. It was a punishment worse than death. It was surviving.

His dark, brooding thoughts were interrupted when Bail Organa slid open the door to the room he was using.

"We've arrived at Polis Massa, Doctor," he reported.

"Good," said the Doctor. "I'll be down shortly."

Bail left the room, and the Doctor slowly stood and gazed at his surroundings. Noting that the room felt empty and considering it a metaphor for himself, he began to feel as though he were alone in the universe. It made sense. He was among the last of the Jedi and the very last of the Gallifreyans. Everybody died, yet he kept on surviving, left to wander the galaxy alone. The Doctor quickly concluded that he should never be alone. He needed a companion, someone to keep him in check, especially when he got angry.

Jennara. Jennara could be that companion. Maybe not at first, but as she got older, she would grow to be able to keep his anger and sadness in check. It was perfect, the Doctor thought as he exited the Sundered Heart.

The Kallihadin were very kind to their visitors, offering them shelter when Senator Organa explained what was going on. After they had established themselves, the Doctor told Senator Organa to wait for contact from Obi-Wan. He felt confident in Obi-Wan's ability to at least survive an encounter with Darth Vader, if not to win the duel outright, so some form of contact from Obi-Wan was definitely bound to occur. When it would happen was the question.

The Kallihadin also took Jennara to a bedroom where she could lie down and rest from her exhausting ordeal. The Doctor was extremely grateful to the Kallihadin for this act of kindness. She had been through a lot, and some rest is exactly what Jennara needed. Of course, what the Doctor needed was answers. And he would do nothing else until he got them.

The Doctor found a quiet room that overlooked some of Polis Massa's asteroid landscape. He could see the stars twinkling in the blackness of space distant light-years away from Polis Massa. On the surface of the asteroid planet, Kallihadins worked to maintain the base they had set up and study its archaeological history. The Doctor found a little bit of amusement at the archaeologists, but he put it away in favor of concentrating on the Force. He knelt down, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

Qui-Gon, he thought. I need answers.

And you shall have them, my friend, said Qui-Gon. What do you wish to know?

Why? asked the Doctor.

Everything that has happened these past few days has been the will of the Force. Nothing more. Nothing less. These events are paving the way for a new hope to rise in the galaxy. A hope of which you, my friend, will be a part.

What hope is there? The Jedi are mostly extinct. The ones who haven't been killed yet are going to be hunted down.

Yet there is still hope.

In what?

You've met a part of that hope already.

The Doctor knew instantly who Qui-Gon was talking about. The image of a young human female flitted through his mind. Long, dark brown hair and a small smile which betrayed innocence that had long since been shattered.

Jennara, he thought.

Yes, said Qui-Gon. The young girl you found in the wreckage of the Jedi Temple came to you through no coincidence. Nothing happens by accident.

You said she was part of the hope, thought the Doctor. What, or who, makes up the other part?

You shall soon know.

The Doctor wondered what Qui-Gon had meant by that remark several hours after the disembodied voice of his long-dead friend disappeared once more. You shall soon know, he had said. Clearly, it meant that the hope was arriving soon. Was it Obi-Wan? It would make sense. Obi-Wan and Jennara were the ones to travel with him through the Temple. Perhaps they would help him to rebuild the Order. But something was telling the Doctor that Qui-Gon had not been referring to Obi-Wan. He couldn't quite place it, but Qui-Gon seemed to be speaking of a new hope. While Obi-Wan was a very gifted Jedi Master, but he wasn't by any means new. No. There was something else coming the Doctor's way. He could sense it just beyond the horizon, coming ever closer, lightning fast, until...

"Excuse me, Doctor," called a voice from behind him. The Doctor opened his eyes and inclined his head to see Bail Organa standing happily in the doorway. Clearly, he had good news.

"Yes, Senator?" asked the Doctor.

Bail Organa smiled for a moment, as if the news was still making him joyous even as he relayed it to the Doctor.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi has made contact."

We all know what coming next, folks! A new hope for the galaxy at last and stuff! WOOHOO!

Alright, so, Episode III is drawing to a close, and I want to know what you thought of it! Leave your thoughts in a review/private message. I love hearing from you guys! Hopefully, you liked it, and hopefully, Episode IV will be just as good.

No Doctor Who news, but there is Star Wars news.

*ahem*

OH MY GOSH, THE TEASER FOR THE NEW STAR WARS MOVIE JUST CAME OUT AND I SAW IT AND I'M SO EXCITED OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

*clears throat*

Sorry about that. Yes, the teaser for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is here, and let me say that it is totally awesome! Don't care what the haters say! I loved it! What did you think of it? Let me know!

And that about does it for this author's note. Until the next chapter, my friends!