Vedere and the rest of the Jedi strike team had finished carving their way to the quake shelter where Doctor Lemda Avesta was being held. From the moment they first spoke to the young doctor, Vedere was instantly smitten; even from their brief conversation over the holos, Vedere knew the two had a lot in common. But she couldn't think about her crush on the girl now; she and her team had to rescue the young doctor before anything else could be done.
Once they had reached the door and Ragdat had moved forward to the panel to open it, Vedere heard blaster fire, followed by the young doctor screaming "No!" Vedere's heart skipped a beat, the thought that the key to saving this planet was slipping through their fingers.
"Get that door open!" Vedere shouted, ready to throw it from its hinges. However, her concerns were unfounded, since the doctor was unharmed, though not out of danger. The doctor was uninjured, but the man protecting her was not, having been shot dead at her feet. A group of mercenaries was advancing toward the doctor, their weapons drawn and aimed at her.
"You got a lot of our friends killed today," the leader said. "Grevin said I could return the favor."
Vedere threw one of the mercenaries against the wall when she noticed the body of the doctor's protector. "You shot a man who was protecting a defenseless woman. You will all pay for that!"
The other three Jedi backed up Vedere's statement, all advancing forward and activating their weapons as the mercenaries turned toward them.
"He got what was coming to him," the leader, a Nautolan, said. "How many of us have you killed?"
"Not nearly enough if you think you can take us," Kira shot back.
It was that moment when the shelter began to rock.
"The shelter's collapsing!" the young doctor shouted. "We have to get out!"
"Don't do this!" Nadia pleaded. "If this shelter collapses, we'll all be crushed!"
The Nautolan was not impressed. "You've got bigger problems!"
Vedere took matters into her own hands, and, reaching out to the Force, erected a bubble around the room to keep the shelter from collapsing. "Finish them quickly! I can't hold this forever!" She shouted.
The team leapt into battle, making short work of the mercenaries who thought they could handle three Jedi.
"We have to get out of here!" the doctor again shouted, panicking over the situation.
"Move!" Vedere shouted. "I'll cover your way out!"
"But master…" Nadia protested, but was quickly cut off.
"I didn't come all this way to die! Now go!" Vedere said, as her Padawan and the doctor were grabbed by the arm by Ragdat and Kira.
When Vedere could sense them all most of the way to the entrance of the shelter, Vedere dropped her bubble and used the Force to enhance her speed. She also erected a kinetic bubble around her, so if something dropped on top of her or got in her way, she could just power through it. She got to safety just as the shelter collapsed behind her.
"There's never been a quake like that in Makeb's history!" The doctor said when Vedere came into view. "Geologic instability has increased a thousand fold since the Hutt takeover."
"That doesn't surprise me," Ragdat said. "Hutts don't care about others as long as they benefit."
"Are you alright, Doctor Avesta?" Vedere added as she came into view.
"Seismic readings and core stability fluctuations both indicate impending catastrophe," Doctor Avesta said. "These ground quakes are the direct result of Hutt deep core mining that's going to destroy Makeb." She turned her head to Vedere. "And it's Lemda. No need for titles."
"The moment the Hutts sent the Regulators here, it was obvious that the Hutts had something to hide," Ragdat added. "Now secret's out."
Lemda went on to explain how the data she had collected proved that the planet was falling apart, eventually becoming completely uninhabitable. Nadia asked of the Hutts knew it, and Lemda answered in the affirmative, and how they didn't care.
"But I think there's a way to save Makeb, but I need you to work with me," Lemda added. "But I'll warn you now, I'm snappish. Everyone says so. It's nothing personal."
"Don't apologize," Vedere said. "You hold your own and you're not afraid of anyone. You're my kind of woman, Lemda."
"You're…a lot more interesting than I thought," Lemda said, blushing.
It was that moment that the reinforcements that the Jedi had met when they landed in this sector showed up, having followed their tracking signal. Everyone took stock of the situation and headed back to the shuttle they would use to go back to the city. And during the shuttle ride back, Vedere could not get Lemda out of her mind; she was beautiful in ways that only a Miraluka could see, and she couldn't wait until she'd get a chance to talk to Lemda at length in private. And while they would have little time to do that until they either stabilized Makeb or evacuated the populous, Vedere could tell that the young doctor was moderately interested in the tone of her voice and her body language. For now, the best Vedere could do was give the young doctor a reason to want to talk to her in the future while doing all she could to protect the people of Makeb.
Author's Note: Yes, I am doing the lesbian romance. Anyone who has a problem with this can kiss my ass. It is 2014; YOU are the one who is wrong for having a problem with it, not me for "promoting it." Homosexual people exist, they are part of society, and they should not be judged negatively for their choice in gender when looking for love. They are people first and foremost, and anyone who gives me crap for that in the comments will be blocked.