One week later...

Qui Gon had done very few things in his life that were harder than leaving this little girl in the care of strangers. He had barely known her a week, but he couldn't help but care for her. Kaylia had been one of his closest friends. Sharing their loss of her only brought the Jedi Master closer to the girl.

Qui Gon knelt in front of Nerinika and placed his hands on her shoulders. The little girl had tears trickling down her cheeks. "You'll be a good girl, won't you Neri?" Qui Gon asked.

"I promise, Uncle Qui Gon." The girl vowed fervently, nodding her head.

Qui Gon smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes with one big hand. "Hey, no more tears, I will only be a few hours away. Tara and Remi said I could come visit every day if you want me to."

"Actually what I said was if you don't bring that apprentice of yours and come visit us every week I am going to have to tell Master Yoda to drag your sorry behind down here by your ear." Tara interrupted him softening her words with a hug. "I am sorry to interrupt you, but my transport leaves shortly and it's the last one of the day. I would hate to have to make these goodbye's all over again."

"You are quite right, I have held you up far too long as it is." Qui Gon picked the little girl up and tossed her into the air, effectively stopping her tears and bringing forth a giggle of delight. He then slung her over his shoulder and carried her to the open door of the waiting transport setting her down on the steps. "I will stop by next week to see how you are settling in Okay?"

"Okay" Nerinika said beaming at him. She took Tara's offered hand and clutched it tightly as she turned away from the closing door.

Qui Gon watched the shuttle leave until Obi Wan came looking for him. Together they left the station and returned to the temple.

Over the next ten years, Qui Gon and Obi Wan visited Nerinika frequently, if not regularly. The three of them, along with Tara and Remi, became like family to one another. Neri learned to read young, motivated by the need to learn what she could of her mother. She never forgot the woman who had given her life, but with time the pain and the memories faded some. Tara and Remi never became Mother and Father, but they did become Aunt Tara and Uncle Remi.

Nerinika learned of her mother from her 'Uncle' Qui Gon, and Obi Wan helped her learn about her mother's home world. She decided that, although her mother was Najerian, Neri was 'from' Coruscant. Coruscant was where her mother had lived, Coruscant was probably where her father was from, who ever he had been, and Coruscant is were Nerinika was growing up. Tara And Remi had beamed when their ten year old foster daughter had declared this and Qui Gon could not help but be proud of her self assurance

Neri found out that she liked learning about different places and peoples. She studied the news holos everyday. She devoted one entire wall of her room to hard copy prints of news articles that she found interesting. She also spent a great deal of time learning about the Jedi. Not studying the force, but studying the Jedi themselves. Their history, their ideals, their ceremonies, she started learning to find out about her mother, and she had just branched out from there. For their part, the council, and Yoda in particular, encouraged her. She was allowed the same access to the temple libraries that would be granted to any knight when she was only six.

Nerinika soon learned that the temple library contained almost any information she could possibly want on any subject. After only a few weeks, the girl knew the library better than many who had been using it for years. Many temple residents were treated to the sight of the six year old human child climbing the shelves to reach a dusty book on the planetary geology of Alderaan, or any number of other similar works. Master Yaddle, who was responsible for the care of the great library, took pity on the tiny child and assigned a droid to follow the girl around and retrieve anything she needed. The droid, which was bronze colored and about the same size as Nerinika's head, had been used to reshelve the hard copy books for years and was due to be retired from service, so when the small droid, LU 43, took a liking to the girl Yaddle gifted it to her.

Tara worried when Neri started spending so much time at the temple that they had been wrong not to have trained her. She couldn't help wondering if the girl wouldn't have been happier there. She couldn't have been more wrong. Nerinika set her straight saying "I do not want to be a Jedi. They just have really great books there Aunt Tara. Plus, the kids there are loads of fun and they never cheat at holochess like the kids at school do." Who could argue with that logic?

Nerinika was much loved, it seemed, by everyone who met her. She had her share of problems, like every other child, everywhere in the galaxy, but in all she was a good kid. That made it all the more terrible when tragedy struck.

The events leading up to the speeder accident could be blamed on many things, but the accident itself could only be blamed on fate. Only fate could have pushed the speeder off the road in exactly that way, at exactly that location. Only fate could have brought Kinyen Quayde to the accident scene at exactly the right moment, and it was fate that his lab was only moments away.

Quayde was too late to help the mother, and the father had been dead before the speeder hit the ground, but the girl was still holding on when he found her. Being a medic, he took her to his lab where he had the facilities to try and help her. He did his best, but her life was fading fast. He had called for help, but it would be too late. Quayde could see her chest rising more slowly with each breath. He could hear her heart slowing, and he made a decision. He readied his equipment, it was still experimental, but it just might save her life. He kept the sensors recording as he programed the freezing chamber.

Quayde paused, for just a moment, wondering if what he was about to do was right. He had not been given permission for this. He didn't even know if she would be able to be cured once she was revived. His decision was made for him as her chest stopped rising. He worked for three minutes to resuscitate her, barely succeeding. Quayde knew he couldn't help a dead body, and she was getting very close to that point. He picked up the small girl, clothes, jewelry and all, and lowered her into the chamber. He slid the top closed and started the process, and Nerinika was frozen.

The help he had called for was another forty minutes arriving. There had been another accident and the entire staff of the small med-center had been busy. Quayde explained everything that had happened since he had witnessed the accident from his window, and the emergency response team reassured him that he had done the right thing. Learning that the girl was no longer in immediate danger, they returned, sending a doctor out as soon as one was free.

The doctor looked over the data, both from the freezing chamber and from the life support machines that had kept her alive, and reported that there was nothing he could do. He would not be able to stabilize her and if she was revived, she would die.

"What shall we do?" Quayde asked timidly.

"There are new advances being made all the time in medicine. We shall wait. One day, when we can save her, we will do so." The doctor stayed to help young Quayed set up the long-term care for the girl.

They started by contacting the Jedi Temple, as per the instructions in her medical files. Qui Gon and his apprentice were both off planet so Yoda came to help with the arrangements. The little green troll had gone to the girls home on the way to the scientists lab to retrieve a few things. He had known this would happen. He had see that the girls destiny would be great. And that it would be quite a while in coming. Together, the Scientist, the Doctor, and the Jedi Master arranged for the child's care. For the next forty years little Nerinika slept and waited for her time to come.

Fifty-one years later, eight years after the battle of Endor.

Wern Boyte was bored. He hated science class and was confounded by history, and consequently could not keep his mind on a field trip to a dead scientists former home. The twelve year old was idly wandering throughout the home turned museum when he spotted the open door. He poked his head through and found a switch on the inside. Turning on the light and stepping onto the stairs he thought, Wizard, a basement. He wandered into this restricted area with a thrill running up and down his spine. The basement was unfinished, with a duracrete floor and walls. The ceiling was low, he could easily brush the supports for the floor above with one hand, and the floor was uneven.

This part of the house had not been made part of the museum, and he now knew why. "There's nothing down here!" he moaned pitifully, his one chance for excitement gone and probably his privledges for the next month along with it. In frustration, he kicked a loose stone and turned to go back up the stairs, hoping no one would notice his absence. He heard the stone hit the far wall, followed immediately be a rumbling noise as an ancient mechanism moved a portion of the wall away to reveal the secret room where Kinyen Quayed, in his increasing age and paranoia had hidden the coffin like prototype cold sleep chamber, where his first test subject still lay on the brink of death, just as she had lain for the past forty-one years.

Wern was not punished, as he had thought he would be. Instead, he was celebrated. Although there had been rumors, stories, most of the scientists who studies Quayed's work had finally decided that his prototype had never existed. They had decided that the stories were just that, stories. They were wrong.

The discovery of the hidden chamber was kept quiet. A wise scientist realized very quickly what this discovery could mean to the reputation of the beloved man whose birth on the tiny world of Najeria had meant many scientists and their credits were brought to the world. Until they knew this child's story, they could not risk anyone knowing the scientists secret. Bren Faran had been managing this museum for three years now and he know all the stories. He also knew, that if they were all true, this discovery could mean the death of all that trade.

Bren continued business as usual the rest of the day and promised not to tell the boys parents and teachers if he didn't. Wren was just relieved he wasn't in trouble. Bren then closed the museum the next day to allow a very small group of trusted colleagues access to the hidden room. They read through the data chips, and dusted the equipment, and studied the shielding around the room that had kept them from noticing it before.

After sixteen hours of reading and studying, they determined that they could now help the fourteen year old who had been waiting for so long to be revived.

All of the child's medical records had been stored in the hidden room along with the cold sleep chamber. In the wardrobe where they found the files there was also a large bag that contained, among other things, clothes that could belong to no one other than the child, several holos, a few real books, and a small wooden box.

Kinyen Quayde had never told anyone about the secret in his laboratory. He hadn't wanted her to become a display piece for the tabloids. After MasterYoda had left he had hidden the girl where only he could find her. Years later he came down with a wasting illness. He had meant to tell his colleagues about her before he died. He wrote down all the information he could remember. Everything the Jedi Master had told him about the girl, which wasn't much at all, was now printed in the medical files he had locked in the wardrobe.

Not sure how to proceed, the scientists sorted through the items and data chips stored in the cabinet. They read the information Quayde had left them and followed the directions therein. There was no longer a Jedi Temple on Coruscant, but there were Jedi.

In a small dark room, hidden deep inside the old imperial palace, an old man sits and waits. After a few moments, a timer beeps and he opens the lid on the collection grid of a distilation chamber. He carfully drains out the clear liquid and pours it into a vaporizor. Soon, my friend. Soon I will have my revenge.

Luke Skywalker was just leaving his first 'on the job training' lesson with his sister when the messenger found him. Leia had spent the last few weeks teaching Luke the finer arts of diplomacy and had decided that he needed to see some actual negotiations in order to understand what he was learning. Luke decided that senators could try a Jedi's patience and that his sister was the bravest, most patient person in the galaxy. He was still scowling, which was making Leia giggle, when the messenger stopped him.

The young girl was breathless when she finally found the conference room, she had run all the way from the lifts in hopes that she could find Master Skywalker before he left the building. She had been told it was urgent. "M-Master Skywalker?" The girl stuttered breathlessly.

"Yes?" He carefully did not snap a the messenger.

"Th- There is a c- call for you sir. The D- Doctor said it was urgent."

"Doctor?" Luke was puzzled. He couldn't think of any reason why a doctor would be calling him. "Where can I take it?"

"There is a small conference room at the end of the hall that is empty. I'll show you where."

"I'll meet you in my office when you're done Luke." Leia said firmly before turning in the opposite direction.

In the conference room, the messenger girl turned on a holo terminal and entered a series of numbers. A few moments later the image of an older human male filled the screen. "Doctor Faran? I have Jedi Master Luke Skywalker here." The girl said by way of introduction before instructing Luke to simply turn off the screen when he was done and quickly leaving the room.

Luke sat in front of the terminal. "Doctor Faran, is it? What can I do for you?"

"Well, I'm not really sure. I have kind of a strange case here and the medical files say" he read from datapad on his desk " 'in case of emergency, contact the Jedi Temple on Coruscant' and it includes directions on how to do that," He sighed sadly and shook his head. "You can see my dilemma?"

Luke could. There was no more Jedi Temple. There hadn't been one since before he was born. "Do you have any idea why you are supposed to contact the Jedi?" Luke assumed the doctor was speaking of one of the elderly, but couldn't for the life of him figure out who it could be.

"As near as I can determine, the Jedi are the girl's guardians. Her foster parents are dead and she has no other kin. Her files list a 'Master Qui Gon Jinn' as her uncle but it also lists him as deceased..." The doctor trailed off leaving Luke even more puzzled than when he had taken the call.

"Just a moment. You said the Jedi are the girls guardians? What girl, is she a minor?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you wouldn't know. I am curator of small local museum devoted to the scientist Kinyen Quayde."

"The man who invented cold sleep?"

"The very same. You are familiar with his work?"

"Every fighter pilot is. His work has saved a great many lives. I spent several years trying to incorporate his technology into the life support systems of the X wings." Luke had never personally had to use a cold sleep equipped escape pod, but he had helped rescue several. This conversation was becoming more confusing with every sentence.

"Oh my, well maybe it was a good idea to contact you after all. We almost didn't bother, after all you are a very busy person but we weren't sure how the girl would react and I figured it never hurts to ask right?"

Understanding hit Luke like a turbo laser. "You found a child in suspended animation? And her medical information said to contact the Jedi?" The doctor nodded in response. A million thoughts raced through Luke's mind and he knew he had to be there when the child woke. "Where are you?"

"You want to come here? Oh my! I am on Najeria, Kinyen Quayde's home planet."

"I know where that is. The child, she is still in suspended animation? There are no complications?" The doctor nodded again, clearly flustered. "Good, I'll be there in three days, don't do anything until I arrive."

Luke broke the connection and made a very undignified sprint down the hall to his sister's office.

"What do you mean I don't have time to change the air filters," an older man in dingy coveralls was waving a clipboard in the face of the young Rodian in charge of the shuttle bays.

"This shuttle has been requested by Master Skywalker and Chief of State Organa Solo. They wish to leave immediately."

"And I'm telling you this will only take five minutes. If I don't get this filter system fixed, Master Skywalker and the Chief of State will asphyxiate before they reach their destination. You are wasting more time by arguing with me than it will take to do the job!" The maintenence worker slammed the clip board on the table just as the main floor supervisor walked in.

"Is there a problem here?"

"This sorry excuse for a..."

"Watch your language!" The floor supervisor warned.

The old mechanic started again. "This... young man... is refusing to allow me to finish repairing the air filtration system on this shuttle."

"The chart says the work has already been completed and this shuttle has been requested for use by Master Skywalker and Chief of State Organa Solo." The flustered Rodian was flipping back and forth through several flimsies on his clipboard.

The mechanic turned to the FloorSup. "I tell you, I'm not finished yet! I don't know who marked that chart but it wasn't me! We ran out of the number eight filters and I had to go to storage and get one. I was only gone a minute. See," he held up a small white box, "Here it is. All I have to do is go drop it in place, tighten two bolts, and I'm done."

"Go, take care of it. But hurry, I saw the passengers on the way down and they are in a hurry." The FloorSup turned back to the Rodian and the mechanic smiled as he ran to the shuttle. Who would have thought he would have his opportunity so soon?