Chapter 21: Tragic Misunderstanding

47 years before the Fall of the Republic

"Luminara!" shouted Nioman as the golden carriage collapsed and was engulfed in a haze of smoke and fire. As a second gunship descended for its attack, Nioman reached out his arms and clenched his fists, calling on the power inside him to crush the metal frame and send the gunship crashing into the forum.

Then, Nioman summoned the excess force of that move into his legs and leapt skyward, flipping in mid-air and landing a few meters away from the blazing chariot. Through the thick, black smokescreen, Nioman could make out a small figure stumbling towards him.

"What's going on?" coughed Luminara as she reached Nioman, "I thought those were Republic ships."

"They are," said Nioman, picking the child up and holding her to his chest, "I don't know what's going on but I need to keep you safe."

"You need to help the others," she said, her eyes boring into him.

"I'm not leaving you again," Nioman protested.

"You won't have to," Luminara said, climbing onto Nioman's back.

"Be careful," warned Nioman as he advanced towards the wreckage, a protective hand over his face, "I don't want you being hit while I'm distracted."

"The only reason you'll be distracted is if you keep arguing with me," Luminara pointed out.

"Point taken," sighed Nioman as he reached the remains of the chariot, empty save for a few unmoving and charred bodies, corpses that he very much hoped did not belong to Reyna or Enoran.

Nioman would have liked to have been able to search more but he could hear the rumbling of another gunship swooping in and it was more important right now to defend his remaining comrades then to worry about Enoran and Reyna. If they were still alive they would need to keep it that way without help from Nioman. He dashed out of the flaming rubble in time to see armored Republic militia entering the plaza. But how? The Republic didn't keep a standing army of any kind...these must have been special recruits or something. Worse yet, they were accompanied by the royal guard of Queen Rianna. If Nioman didn't do something and fast, the whole rebellion would be wiped out before the sun set.

Then he saw Reyna; her cape in tatters and one arm tied to her chest, the other still holding one of her pistols as she fired from the head of a bedraggled cluster of rebels. Nioman ran to join forces with them but was forced to amend his course in the wake of another volley from the gunships overhead. If there could be any hope of salvaging a victory, or even escaping this deathtrap, the gunships would need to be his top priority, if he could take those out the foot soldiers would be easy pickings...at least until Rianna's main army returned, which was sure to happen at any moment.

Nioman sprinted towards the statue he had stood underneath earlier. If he could get enough height, he would have a possibility of jumping to one of the gunships and using it to fire on the others. He leaped onto the base of the monument, then, without ceasing his motion, began to climb, using the Force to cover distances that he otherwise would have been unable to. However, as his hand grasped the head of the statue, he heard a blast below and felt the structure rumble. Next thing he knew, the massive bronzium construct was tipping over as pieces fell and crashed all around. Nioman's own hold slipped and he fell, tumbling among the statue's remains.

He turned about in midair, pulling Luminara from his back and using the Force to halt her own fall and make her hover slowly downward. This concentration, however, caused his own landing to be hardly softened and he smashed into the rubble, soon followed by Luminara who plopped right on top of him. As he tried to stand, Nioman realized that his leg was pinned, also that a heavily armed Seletian guard was closing in on him. Oh Sith, of all the times to be attacked. He attempted to raise his lightsaber but his arm was responding too slowly, he'd never be able to parry the oncoming blow. He heard a blaster rifle going off and the soldier fell, in his place stood a blond-haired man in a red coat.

"Enoran!" exclaimed Nioman, "I feared you had been taken out by the blast."

"Not quite," chuckled Enoran, before his frown returned and the light left his eyes, "now let's get you out of here and back into the conflict."

Enoran, his jacket stained in blood and dust and his face haggard, helped Nioman free as Luminara reached into the medkit she had been given and began poking around in it. At first, Nioman was unsure of what she was doing until pain seared up his leg as he put wight on it, nearly forcing him back on the ground.

"You should both get bandaged before going out to fight again," said Luminara, even as she began wrapping Nioman's wounds."

"No time," grimaced Enoran and even as he said it, his point was punctuated by an approaching band of Republic militia.

"Look, there's the Jedi!" shouted the leader of the group, causing the uniformed men to alter their course and advance towards Nioman.

Nioman lifted his lightsaber in defense but no shots were fired towards him, "Stop!" he shouted at the Republic men, "you don't know what you're doing. You're fighting on the wrong side."

No response came. Instead, the militia lifted their rifles and fired, but not at Nioman. Beside him, Enoran fell, his body riddled in blaster fire. Nioman heard Luminara screaming behind him as he charged. It was over fast. Stun bolts flew around Nioman on all sides and in his fury he wasn't fighting properly and he felt the impact as several of the blasts connected with him. Soon, his lightsaber had been wrenched from his grasp and there were stun cuffs around his hands and his vision flickered. His last sight as we was thrust into a gunship was of a burning square, littered with the bodies of his comrades. As everything went black around him, his eyes focused on Reyna's desperate and betrayed face, staring up at him as she staggered away from the battlefield. Then everything went dark and the world stopped.

Blaster fire...a chariot-consuming blast...men falling...the hum of a lightsaber...Reyna's agonized face as she stalked away...and...

Luminara!

Nioman shot up, only for his vision to dim and lightheadedness overcome him as he fell back onto the cot. His mind raced but his body was slow to cooperate, though after a few moments he sat up again and surveyed his surroundings. At first glance, it looked like the sleeping quarters of a starship, with a small cot, a dresser, and metallic walls that signaled that Nioman was no longer in Selete. His connection to the Force was a little dim but he could tell from that, too that he was no longer in the city, or even on Andmeria at all. He was definitely on a cruiser.

The attack! Reyna! Enoran! Nioman thought back to the last thing he could remember...he had charged after the the Republic soldiers that had killed Enoran...then he'd been hit by stun rays...that meant...he was on a Republic ship. In all other circumstances, that would have relieved Nioman but after what had just happened, it worried him. Chances wee, Luminara was here too, so Nioman needed to make finding her his top priority. In spite of all that had happened, she was still his charge and returning her safely to the Jedi was still his primary mission.

Nioman got up and hobbled to the door, his legs still a little shaky. Fosh, his body was reacting badly to the stun bolts. Fosh? That wasn't an expletive, if he recalled correctly it was some sort of avian species, then why was he using the word in such a way? From the look of things, it wasn't just his body that was affected. Never mind, even in this condition, Nioman could still complete his mission. He punched the open key next to the door but it flashed red and said access was limited. Upon inspection, Nioman decided that it was locked from the outside and that there was a key-card slot on that side of the door. Fine, there were other ways to get past a door. He reached for his lightsaber but the hook on his belt was empty. Fosh, that was not good at all. There was that word again...why couldn't he concentrate? He needed to focus yet his mind kept wandering, that wasn't like him.

Nioman was in the process of summoning a Force-blast when the door slid open, revealing a man in a Republic Senatorial Guard uniform. Nioman was caught off-guard enough that he nearly gave the officer a telekinetic blast. As it was, Nioman just lost balance and crashed onto the cot...not the most dignified greeting.

"Who are you and what the fosh am I doing here?" Nioman demanded to know, somewhat hoping to compensate for his less-than-intimidating first move.

"I'm Senate Commander Marik Grendyll and you, young Jedi, are under arrest for the assault of Republic officers."

Great. Just wonderful. So Nioman was under arrest for protecting his friends. How in the Force was he going to get out of this? Could he use his Jedi status to work his way out of it? Maybe throw his master's name around? In the end, he didn't say any of that, at least not very well.

"You can't arrest a Jedi." he said pointedly.

"Ha," scoffed Commander Grendyll, "your Jedi position doesn't put you above the law!"

"So you think the Jedi Council will just let you do this?"

"The arrest has already been cleared with the Jedi," informed Grendyll.

"What about my master, Ramo Batrorio? He would never agree to this." stated Nioman, hoping very much that he was right.

"In his last report, Master Batrorio informed that you had gone missing and, in all likelihood, had been captured."

In his mind, Nioman sighed. Leave it to Ramo to say something stupid like that. Then Nioman picked up on something else, something even less pleasant.

"His last report?" questioned Nioman, "What do you mean by that? Has something happened." Force, Ramo hadn't died, had he? Even in his preoccupied state during most of his time in Selete, Nioman still would have been able to sense something that big.

"The Jedi lost contact with Master Batrorio two weeks ago," said the Senate Commander, "or so I've been told. Given what we know, as well as theories from reliable sources, it is safe to assume he was killed on the orders of King Gombare."

"He wasn't killed," Nioman said defiantly, then adding, "and what source are you talking about? Senator Galidran?"

"The Senator has gone MIA as well. No, I was referring to Queen Rianna of Selete, she has been quite a beneficial ally."

"The Queen? You can't be serious, she's a tyrant!" shouted Nioman before realizing that of course Rianna was in the good graces of the Republic. The injustice of it sickened him but he continued anyways. "She captured Luminara because of a grudge and killed Jedi children. That alone should be enough for Republic intervention, without even looking at what she's done to her city!"

"So you did indeed side with the rebels, then?" probed Grendyll, taking notes on his datapad.

"Against an enemy of the Jedi, and by extension the Republic, yes." Replied Nioman. It was unlikely his argument would win this man over but maybe others. His reputation with the Jedi Council may not have been good, but right now Nioman had to trust they the Jedi would stand by one of their own, even him.

"Save it for the trial," said Commander Grendyll, turning to leave.

"Wait," said Nioman, "is Luminara here? I need to see her."

"And force your version of events into her mind? I think not. We'll see how your stories match up during the trial, assuming she is called as a witness, which, her being an unreliable child, is unlikely."

Grendyll then strode out, leaving Nioman fuming. Part of him wanted to blast open the door and scour the ship until he found Luminara but that would only seal his fate in the long run. This was another test, he decided. Would he make the rash, unthinking choice and go after Luminara now, or would he wait and save his case for the trial, or whenever he could come in contact with the Jedi? Logically, the decision was obvious but he still spent a while deliberating it. Finally, though, reason prevailed and Nioman settled back down on his cot. He was in the right in siding with the rebels, after all. So long as he presented his case properly and shed light on the real situation in Selete, there was no way he could be convicted. Encouraging as the thought was, Nioman doubted it would be so easy.

A/N: Nioman really is in a bad spot now, isn't he?

Please review and tell me what you think, especially about the first half. Were you ever confused? Did I make that scene long enough? Let me know in your reviews.

Thanks for reading!