A/N: As always, thank you to anyone who's reading this for your patience and the occasional review you bless me with--manna in the wilderness, friends. I've got a much better idea of what will happen over the next few chapters, so I should be able to crank them out a little more quickly . . . as long as I know there are people out there who care (ahem *cough* REVIEW *cough*).



P.S. Apologies to anyone who couldn't spot the cameo last chapter--I guess it wasn't as obvious as I'd thought. It was a nod to 'Laura's brother', the guy that bugged Krista and Danielle while they were out shopping. Just FYI. More cameos are coming, but not in this chapter (sorry).



Without further ado . . .













ELEVEN







It had been a very, very long day.



For some amount of time, things had been moving too quickly for Danielle to comprehend at all, so she'd chosen to sit in the corner and just *be*. Clutching a mug of hot coffee in her hands, she sat curled up in a nice comfy chair, watched people flit by through heavy-lidded eyes, and thought about sheep.



Her topic of pondering was not nearly so random as one might be led to think. She'd originally chosen this exceptionally comfy chair with the intention of sleeping; then, when sleep had been impossible to achieve, she'd reverted to the classics: namely, counting sheep. It not only didn't work, it was a highly disturbing thing to be thinking about: an endless line of fluffy white sheep, soaring over a nice fence, flying almost, and several of them were smiling . . . This, of course, got her thinking about Giles. Giles had been her sheep back at home, an adorable stuffed animal she'd received for a birthday president and was now helping campaign for a cabinet position. She wondered what Giles was doing, if her cat had eaten him yet, if he missed her. It was a strangely depressing topic.



"Danielle?"



She looked up, surprised, at the sound of the hesitant voice. Krista stood there, looking uncomfortable and more than a little frazzled. "You all right?"



Danielle shifted in her chair and let out a little sigh. "Define 'all right'."



Krista sat down next to her, looking very much like she wanted to hug her. "I . . . I'm sorry I didn't stop by sooner. First I was with those Spanish Inquisition goons who asked me a million questions in fifty different languages, and then barely changed the sentence structure and asked 'em all again. Then I talked to Amidala and the handmaidens, who were pretty confused and alarmed about the whole deal. I had a helluva time convincing Rabe she wasn't going to be ravished in her sleep." She snorted gently, then sobered. "Not that it hasn't been a really bad experience for everybody involved," she conceded, casting a wary glance at Danielle.



She just clutched the mug a little tighter in her hands and thought harder about sheep.



"Danielle . . . are you feeling up to any explanations yet?"



"I told you," Danielle's voice cracked a little, "I don't know. I don't know anything. I just . . . I don't even remember what happened. It's all blank, don't you believe me?"



"I do." Krista's voice was unwontedly soothing. "I really do, Danielle, it's okay. It's just . . . all the Jedi are really freaked, even Obi and Qui. You . . . you shouldn't have been able to do that, you know. It's way advanced . . . I don't even know if any of *them* know how to do it. Danielle . . . it might not even *be* a Jedi thing."



Danielle looked up at her, the her dark hair falling around her face like a curtain and her eyes huge and somber. "Then what *is* it, Krista? That's what they all want to know. What if . . . what if *none* of it has been a 'Jedi thing'? What if it's all . . . God, I don't even know."



Krista looked at her sympathetically. "I understand, Danielle. I . . . I heard her too, remember? In my mind?"



"Yeah." Danielle looked at her intently. "Has . . . anything else . . . unusual been happening to you? Like, suddenly developing superpowers or something like that?"



Krista cracked a wicked grin. "What, apart from my normal ones?"



Danielle shot the patented Danielle-look-of-disapproval, usually reserved just for Krista. "I'm serious."



Krista shrugged, refusing to be repentant. "Except for being able to dance, and behave myself in public, and remember which fork is for what, and learning weapons, and . . ." Suddenly she stopped. "Frickin' a, you're right. Something *is* happening to me. I . . . I'm becoming a HANDMAIDEN!" With an overdramatic howl, she flung her hands over her face and began making huge, ridiculous sobbing noises.



Danielle swatted her furiously. "You--stop that! People are staring--*more* than normal!"



With a huge gulping sob, Krista subsided. "Geez, so serious! Come on, crack a smile for me. Please?" When Danielle unwillingly shot her a kind of forced grimace, Krista relented with a sigh. "Whatever, that'll do. No, I haven't gone all Krista Almighty or anything just yet. Apparently, as always, you're a special case."



The remark Danielle was about to make would have been rather pithy had the door next to them not opened, admitting a very solemn Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. They came and stood in front of the two girls, looking at them in worry.



Danielle couldn't bear the look of mistrust on their faces, when only yesterday they'd felt like family. Blinking back something that absolutely was not tears, she turned her head away, silent. In response, Obi-Wan crouched before her and wrapped his arms around her, catching her in a warm and comforting hug. Within only moments, she melted, relaxing in his embrace and even hugging him back a little, trying not to spill her coffee.



Krista, deciding to seize the moment, shot a pointed look at the hugging couple, then turned an absolutely diabolic grin on Qui-Gon. He merely stared at her, aghast, until Obi-Wan released Danielle and stepped back. "Are you all right?" he asked softly.



Danielle smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm all right. Just . . . really weirded out."



Obi-Wan nodded, looking relieved. "Well . . . good." He and Qui-Gon exchanged looks, then the older Jedi said softly, "The Council dispatched us to question you."



"Again?" Krista said drily. "Oh, no, wait, of course. There's *bound* to be something new this time around."



Qui-Gon sighed. "Look, we know you've told us everything you know. We're just gonna run through these questions one more time, for formality's sake, and then we can *tell* them it's done. All right?"



"All right," Danielle said, a little irritably. "Fire away."



"You were awake, talking, when you heard a scream."



"What is this, Jeopardy? You're telling us the answers, and our responses must be in the form of a question?" Krista asked snidely.



Qui-Gon released a little huff of air. "Once again I'll pretend I understand that obscure reference and just move on. Here: What were you doing when you first heard the screaming?"



"Sitting awake and talking," Danielle said, loudly, before Krista could come up with something else to say.



"Then what did you do?"



This time Krista beat Danielle to it. "Well, first we waffled around for a few minutes, painted our toenails, talked about the weather--we went to *help*, duh!"



"How did you know where to go?"



Danielle and Krista exchanged glances. "We . . . uh . . . we followed the sound of the screaming. It was like a beacon or something," Danielle confessed.



"And it led you directly to the girl?"



"Well, we ran around for a long time, generally managed to fart around for about ten or fifteen minutes, and then we actually *heard* the screaming," Krista said, annoyed. "You know the drill."



Obi and Qui, however, were giving her very strange looks. "What?" she finally asked, uncomfortable.



"It took . . . ten or fifteen minutes, you said?"



Krista and Danielle exchanged another glance, then both nodded in concurrence.



"You hadn't mentioned that before," Obi-Wan said. "Well, yet another revelation."



"Why?" Krista asked, surprised. "Why's that so important?"



"According to the girl's story," Qui-Gon said gently, "by the time you arrived, the man had only been assaulting her for about two minutes. So the screaming that you 'heard' in your minds wasn't even happening by this point."



There was a little silence.



"And the fun just keeps on comin'," Danielle said drily.











Moonlight spilled like liquid silver across the bare surface of the floor, illuminating eerie figures of furniture and art, shimmering on the water in the fish-tank and glowing from the eyes of a levitating fish. Everything else was thrown into shadow, shaded an absolute ebony in the total absence of light.



As silently as she was capable, Danielle crept across this unreal landscape, stealthily making her way toward the balcony, her hands full of a random assortment of objects. Sweetums intercepted her halfway there, his feline face concerned as he rumbled against her, begging attention. Danielle shushed him away with a few quiet words, promising him extra walkies tomorrow, then continued out onto the balcony.



Once there, she slid the door shut behind her and sank into one of the chairs. Silently, she spread an assortment of items out on the table beside her and regarded them silently for a moment. Then, with a tiny gesture, she focused . . . and one of the flowers rose slowly into the air, hovering at eye level.



Letting out a little sigh, Danielle let the flower fall back to the table and concentrated on the next item: a candle, significantly heavier than the light flower. For a moment she felt certain a monster of a headache was developing; then, in the flicker of an eye, the candle rose only slightly unsteadily into the air and froze in spot as if glued there.



Letting the candle drop, she focused on the last item: a little pewter-like statuette from the living room, a small piece of bric-a-brac that would never be missed. Concentrating, she levitated it into the air, then set it spinning in a leisurely circle, watching it carefully. With another thought, it started dancing back and forth like some crazed disco gnome, still orbiting an invisible sun and actually developing a fairly jazzy rhythm.



"Oi, Magneto!"



With a little shriek, Danielle lost her hold on the metal. It hit the balcony with a resounding clang, causing both girls to wince.



Whirling, Danielle faced Krista with an evil expression. "Krista--!"



Krista just grinned at her sheepishly and stepped further out onto the balcony. "Hey, Danielle. That was some nice . . . telekinesis . . . you had going there."



Danielle shrugged uncomfortably. "You saw?"



"Kinda hard to miss, really." She plopped down easily in the other chair. "It looked fun, so I decided to come out and join you." She looked at Danielle calmly, amazingly unfazed by all she'd witnessed. "So . . . seein' what all you can do now?"



"That's right," she agreed, somehow calmer about it now that Krista was here, making everything sound so . . . normal . . . with her dry tone and easy grin. "I'm seeing if I can do . . . yeah, all sorts of things. And you just decided to drop in?"



Krista smirked. "Why not?"



"These moonlight chats haven't been going too well for us recently. It might end up nasty."



"Pessimist," Krista accused gleefully. "There's no need to be coy; just tell me if you want to be alone. I wouldn't want to interrupt any special late-night meetings." She eyed the contents of the small table. "On second thought, this does look kinda . . . Wiccan. I'm not intruding on anything, am I?"



At first Danielle was surprised, then she looked again at the objects on the table: a candle, a flower, and some small pewter figurine. She surprised herself by laughing. "No, not at all. I was just practicing. I suspected that I might be . . . abruptly better at it."



"And obviously you were right," Krista said with interest, smirking again. "So . . . what's your evaluation? Are you omniscient?"



"The word you're wanting is 'omnipotent', and no, I don't . . . think so." She wavered a little at the end. "I just do seem to be moving a little too quickly all of a sudden."



"And why couldn't you do all this before?"



Danielle thought about this a while. "I think it's a matter of intent, really. Before, when I thought it was all Force-talent, like any Jedi has, I thought I had to go slowly, that there was no way I could do anything so quickly. Now that I know otherwise . . . it's just a matter of willing it to happen and trying really, really hard to call on the Force . . . or whatever else I really am calling on."



"Sounds kinda witchy to me," Krista remarked. "Hey, bet you weigh the same as a duck."



Danielle responded without thinking. "Or very small rocks."



"Or churches."



Danielle paused in the action of picking up the dropped figurine to ponder something that had never really occurred to her before. "Don't you wonder *how* he knows that?"



"Getting off the subject here," Krista reminded her.



"Oh. Yeah. Right." Danielle retrieved the figurine and sat back up. "But that's not all there is to the experiment. See--" She extended a hand, and the flower floated, serene, then dropped back to the table. "Now, watch this." Slowly and deliberately, she reached up and removed her pendant, setting it with obvious reluctance on the table beside her. She looked at the flower, stretched out a hand . . . and nothing happened.



"Holy crap," Krista breathed, staring intently. "So you're not really a Jedi. It's the *necklace*?"



"Seems to be," Danielle concurred, putting it back on again. She sounded a little disappointed that the awesome power did not, in fact, originate from herself. As soon as the pendant touched her skin, the flower wafted serenely into the air and hung there, listing slightly.



"Wow, that's . . . freaky. But what does this tell us? Laura's a *really* good bargain shopper? The antique mall is a place of wonder? Our old Celtic knots may be cooler than we ever suspected?"



"Actually . . . this," Danielle said, unable to restrain a little note of glee from entering her voice. As she spoke, she hefted the little figurine--then threw it point blank at Krista.



With a yelp, the other girl flung both hands up in a warding gesture--and the pendant obediently stopped a few inches from them.



There was another pleasant silence.



"No," Krista said at last. "Oh, no no no!"



"And yet it floats," Danielle returned with a kind of savage triumph. "Welcome to the land of magic necklaces, Krista."



"No," Krista repeated, as though hoping that if she said it enough, it would become true. "I don't effing *believe* this! Me, too?"



Danielle gestured magnanimously. "Behold." The figurine continued to float quite happily before Krista's hands. She let them drop, and it fell with them, again hitting the balcony. "Oh, bollocks," she muttered, looking quite unhappy.



"What? You don't *want* to be magical? What's up with that?"



"I . . . I just . . ." Krista tucked her hands into her lap in a strangely vulnerable gesture. "Doesn't it scare you at all, Danielle? I mean . . . all of this." Her expansive gesture took in everything--the magic necklaces, the psychic fish currently making evil faces at Krista through the glass doors, the simple fact that they were in the Jedi Temple.



Danielle rose and walked to the balcony, thoughtful. "Yeah, I guess it does, a little. It still feels so surreal most of the time, or--even worse--like this is how it's *supposed* to be, and wanting to go home, or wondering how we got here . . . like *that*'s what's unnatural. Don't you feel it?"



Krista looked at her with interest. "Not as strongly as you, apparently, but yeah, I feel it a little. What's it mean?"



Danielle turned to face her again, face solemn. "Krista--can you remember how we got here?"



Instantly Krista had a throbbing headache. "Ach--*ow*. Now my head hurts, dammit. No, I can't--and it hurts to think about. The last thing I remember . . ." Her brow furrowed in concentration. "Something about . . . Panera Bread?"



Danielle raised a single eyebrow. "Well, that's more than I've got. I remember life in general, but the last really clear thing is the end of the school year. It's like--the longer I'm here, the less real my *real* life is. It's eating away at my memories."



Krista's face went white. "You don't think--it isn't going to take them all, is it? Blast it all," she smacked her hand on the arm of her chair, "we don't even know what this frickin' 'it' is! We don't have a sodding clue, Danielle!"



"Exactly." Danielle un-leaned from the rail and swished the hem of her dressing gown absently. "It's time to stop goofing around. We have to figure out why we're here and how to get back before we get stuck here forever."



Krista's expression as she looked at Danielle was inscrutable. "Would it really be that bad?"



"Now THERE's whatever is influencing us talking," she said savagely, and Krista's eyes widened in realization. "Crap," she muttered again. "You're right. I didn't . . . okay, this whole mind-control thingy has *got* to stop. Seriously."



Danielle grimaced. "I agree. It may look like home and it may quack like home, but it ain't home, Krista." She gave a strange little shudder. "It may feel like belonging, but it still feels wrong, in some strange way I just can't place. Probably because--hello!--we're in STAR WARS."



Krista shrugged. "True. But how are we ever going to find out all this stuff? Who knows the answers to any of this?"



"Someone. Someone out there knows everything, including how to get us home, and I plan to find that someone." Danielle's voice took on a steely determination. "So I'm a Jedi, huh? Well, there's got to be a reason for that too. At any rate, considering I seem to unexpectedly develop superpowers in the face of adversity, I should be able to take care of myself. And there's got to be a *reason*. All this insane stuff isn't just happening for the heck of it."



Krista cupped her chin in her hand. "I dunno. If I were God, I'd sure as hell stick people in nonexistent worlds and watch them flail around just for the sheer entertainment value." Her eyes widened, as if in sudden realization. "Or maybe we're both stark raving mad and smacking repeatedly into padded walls somewhere."



"I thought of that already," Danielle said, making a face. "And yet--can't you feel--the pace is picking up. Things keep moving faster and faster. Everything's gonna come to a boil eventually, and I think it's a lot nearer than we might hope. We need to be ready."



Krista shrugged. "Well, obviously you're psychic-er than I am, 'cuz I'm not feeling any of that. All I get is 'hey, hot Jedi' or 'Dude, that fish is frickin' evil'." A strange expression crossed her face. "Danielle . . . if somebody really did do this deliberately, why haven't they come to claim us yet? Are they just getting entertainment from sitting back and watching the chaos?"



Danielle stiffened a little. "I don't know. That's a really good point. What if--?"



A crash suddenly sounded somewhere below them, and both girls started nervously. "What was that?" Krista asked in a hoarse whisper.



Danielle shivered, suddenly cold despite the warm air. "I . . . I don't know. Let's go inside, all right?"



"Sounds like a plan," her friend agreed hastily, and without another word they gathered their belongings and hurried back into the apartment.



Neither of them saw as below, in the garden, a shadowy figure regarded them for a moment, the only indication of its presence the glowing ash at the end of a very non-Star Wars cigarette. Bringing the fag to its lips to inhale again, it pondered what it had just heard. So, they'd decided to get curious? They wanted to know why they were here and who'd brought them? Happy to oblige . . . all in good time, of course. In the meantime . . .



The figure dropped the cigarette to the ground and let it burn, then disappeared in a shimmer of crawling ebony light.



Let the games begin.











#!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$

(*More fun that little stars, isn't it?*)











Annie was soaked to the bone, barely able to see through the haze of rain and fog, clutching a gun she certainly didn't know how to use, surrounded by a hail of gunfire and probably in more mortal peril than she had been so far on this whole adventure.



She was also having the time of her life.



Apparently, the Jedi were equally unfazed. Above the din of gunfire, she heard Dru yell, "What took you so long, Wes?"



"Ah, you know, the usual--hung around in some bars, picked up chicks, played some Rummy . . . I was trying to *find* you, you nit. You skipped from dive to dive faster than I could follow."



"Excuses, excuses."



"Yeah, look who's talking." Wes's head whipped around to look at Annie. "And . . . who's the girl?"



"I dunno. Just some girl I met."



"So you decide to bring her along for the ride and condemn her right with us?"



"Er . . . something like that."



Annie had been listening to all this with great interest, but she quickly realized that one of the armed evil men was coming at her, so she almost gleefully pointed her gun at him and watched with limitless satisfaction as he threw himself underwater for cover, shrieking like a little girl. Smirking, she turned and yelled over her shoulder, "So, Jedi, do we have a plan?"



"Now we do," Wes replied. "Run!"



They took off, sloshing through the water at an inhuman speed, very nearly leaving Annie behind. After only a few moments, however, Wes doubled back and simply picked her up, then shot off after Dru at that insane Jedi sprint.



Some time later, they finally stopped, panting, in a dark alley. As she caught her breath, Dru said, "So, Wes, what now?"



Still holding Annie, he shrugged, looking harassed. "We've got to get to the ship, obviously. My findings must be reported to the council immediately."



Annie considered pointing out to the Jedi that he was still holding her cradled to his chest like some sort of rag doll, then decided against it. It was, altogether, a far from unpleasant sensation, and the gleaming of blonde hair and sapphire eyes helped it edge into very nice indeed. So she simply settled back, content to wait until he noticed her again.



"Well," Dru sighed, "we have a problem."



Wes looked at her sharply. "You didn't get the moderator?"



Dru looked miffed. "I tried! The local scum wouldn't sell anything to me! They must have gotten word to avoid some offworlders unless they wanted to get on Ixian's bad side."



Wes stiffened a little. "Well, that complicates things. Now how do we get off this rock?"



Dru's eyes raked the nearby area. "There are other shops. We could always try one of them, and steal something if absolutely necessary. There's a fairly decent one nearby, just over in Mos Espa--Watto's--"



Instantly Annie jerked to full attention. "No!"



They both looked at her, as though they'd forgotten she was there. "No?" Dru asked, surprised. "Why not?"



Before Annie could answer, Wes cut her off. "Er . . . who are you, again?"



She beamed at him. "Just a friend. One whose life you probably just saved, by the by. You really do know how to sweep a girl off her feet."



In the dimness, it was hard to see, but he might actually have blushed a little. Setting her down, he eyed her warily. "Er . . . you're welcome."



"Besides, I'll vouch for her," Dru added, smirking a little at his discomfort. "She's with me, for the moment at least."



Wes looked wary. "Wait a minute, Dru. We don't really have any idea who this person is."



"I have an idea," Dru said defensively. "She helped me, in the store. And we talked a little. Then when Ixian's thugs came in, they thought she was with me, so I had to take her with me."



Wes looked at her appraisingly. "What's your name?"



"Annie."



He waited, obviously expecting some sort of surname, then apparently realized that was all he was getting. Unfazed, he continued, "What do you do for a living?"



Annie contemplated several answers (time-traveler, professional-evil-fiend-attracter, galaxy-hopper, Jedi magnet) then settled on the one she liked best. "Oh, I'm a diva."



There was a little pause. "Beg pardon?" Wes said, as Dru looked extremely amused.



"A diva. A professional singer. A celebrity. Well, I was, anyway." Annie frowned. "Or . . . I will be. In about fifty years. Now . . . well, since I'm not fifty, I'm not even born yet." Another thought occurred to her. "Not that I was born *here* anyway, but, you know--" At this point she realized the Jedi were giving her extremely odd looks. "It's complicated," she summed up, grinning a little.



"So," Wes said slowly, "why exactly did you aid Dru in the shop?"



Annie shrugged. "I didn't have a particular reason," she confessed. "She just . . . looked lonely."



Dru merely grinned wider, but Wes looked suspicious. "And what do you intend to do now that you have been incriminated along with us?"



She hadn't thought about this. Now that she did, however, the answer seemed obvious. "You two are going to Coruscant, right? Take me with you."



Dru blinked. "With us? To the Jedi Temple?"



Hey, coolness! Annie thought, but aloud she just said, "Yeah, sure. Sounds like a good time. Might as well see all the sights."



They obviously decided to just ignore this comment. "Why should we trust you?" Wes asked. "How are we to know you aren't some sort of spy?"



"Do the mind-whammy," Annie suggested. "I mean, you are Jedi and all. Couldn't you just *tell* if I were evil?"



"Smart girl," Dru said with a grin, and Annie returned the expression.



"All right," Wes said, conceding defeat. "You can come with us to Coruscant. But why did you say we shouldn't go in Watto's shop?"



Annie flinched. "That's . . . a little harder to explain."



"We know you'll try your hardest."



Annie fought back an evil comment. "I . . . you just shouldn't, all right? Bad things would happen. Bad, naughty, wicked, *evil*--"



The list might well have gone on forever had not Wes spoken. "We get the point," he cut her off in a tone of voice that really meant 'You're psycho'. "You don't have a better reason than that? And how do you *know* bad things will happen?"



Annie realized she might have just really put her foot in it. "Uh . . . I just . . . do?"



They both just looked at her.



After some time, she relented. They were Jedi, after all. If they couldn't handle it, who could? "I . . . sometimes I just know what's going to happen, in the future. It's . . . a long story, really, I can't control it, it's really random, and shouldn't we be fleeing or something? Aren't there bad guys on our tail?"



Neither Jedi paid any attention to that. "You see the future?" Dru said, amazed.



"Only a little. And only on some things. It's not really reliable," Annie confessed, feeling a bit like a fraud.



"Well, we definitely need to take you back to the Temple with us, then," Wes concurred. "So, I guess we take your word for it--no Watto's." Thank God, Annie thought silently. No dealing with the annoying Demon-Child and starting the apocalypse today. "Where, then?"



When she realized they were both looking at her, Annie put her hands in the air. "Whoa, whoa. Now that I don't know."



Wes gave a little irritated huff. "All right, then. Dru, did you--"



His words were cut off by a sudden spattering of gunfire from the street, and without a word Dru grabbed her arm and they were on the run again.



The chase was rather hazardous; they ducked down narrow alleyways and splashed through puddles just as they had a few minutes ago in the opposite direction.



After only a few minutes, however, they ducked rather unexpectedly into a nearby shop. Before Annie could fully comprehend what was happening, Dru had kicked the door shut while Wes whipped out his lightsaber, menacing the cowering shopkeeper with it. "You! Do you carry moderators for Model 2100 Jeryian Star Cruisers?"



When the little alien merely nodded, Wes roared, "Go get one, NOW!"



The little alien was gone in a flash, in which time the door began to sizzle under the heat of multiple blaster shots. Annie eyed it, mildly worried. "Er . . . Jedi? They've caught up with us."



"Really?" Dru responded sarcastically, fingering her lightsaber. "I hadn't noticed."



Annie was about to make a pithy comment on whether or not Jedi were supposed to be so sarcastic, but she was cut off by the return of the small alien with the desired part. Wes snatched it, then suddenly they were all Gung-ho once more, taking off at a purposeful sprint and leaving Annie to try her best to keep up.



The Jedi's haphazard escape route took them out a back door, out onto the main street, and through what had to be the filthiest waist-high puddle on the entire planet. After splashing their way through it, they turned into a narrow alley and leapt over a low fence, losing their pursuit in the process.



Opponents duly shaken, they recovered their breath for a moment, then got their bearings and promptly made a beeline for a sort of docking pad on which sat a small, gleaming spacecraft, presumably the Jedi's. Before they could reach it, however, a contingent of guards boiled out of a nearby tank-like contraption like ants from a hive, surrounding the craft.



Wes and Dru threw themselves to a stop, Annie smacking ungloriously into them from behind. "Damn," Wes muttered under his breath. "We appear to be outnumbered."



Dru shook her head, looking aggravated--no small wonder, considering she was soaked to the bone, exhausted, and growing very frustrated. "There's no way we can outmaneuver so many. What do we do now?"



Annie raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have some sort of plan?"



They glares they shot at her were answer enough.



"Some Jedi you are," she muttered.



This was obviously too much. "And you're contributing how?" Wes sniped back, fairly enough. "Come on, Miss Precognition. What do we do now?"



Before Annie could reply, however, there was a loud commotion in the distance, and the entire squad took off toward it, leaving the ship unguarded.



"Behold the power of the Force," Dru said a little smugly. "This is our chance; let's go!"



Annie started to follow, but was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of dizziness and disorientation unlike anything she'd ever felt. She staggered, the world blurring out around her, and to her astonishment a sudden flicker rippled through her, transporting her to another reality. She saw herself and the Jedi going to the ship and getting aboard, then flying away . . .



. . . only to return to the present with an unpleasant jolt.



Her little gasp of shock caught the Jedi's attention, and they both gave her a concerned look, Dru catching her and keeping her from falling. "What?" she asked, worried. "What's wrong?"



Annie shook all over--whether from shock or terror or possibly elation, she didn't know. "I . . . I think I just had a vision."



The two Jedi stared at her. "What?" Wes said at last, obviously stunned.



Annie's certainty grew. "Scratch that; I *know* I had a vision. We can't go on the ship. It's a trap. They've disabled the hyperdrive and there's a fleet waiting for us in orbit. If we get on it, we're sealing our doom." When both Jedi merely stared at her, stunned, she turned away uneasily. "Just . . . trust me on this, all right?"



"Well." Wes gave himself a little shake, looking at her with something like awe. "How do we get off this rock, then?"



Annie gave him the look she usually reserved for simpletons or Krista. "We take another ship," she said slowly, being careful to enunciate clearly.



Wes glared at her again. "Obviously," he snapped. "But how--"



"Can it, Wes, I have a plan," Dru cut him off. "There's a decent little cruiser right over there, just begging to be taken."



"But the fleet in orbit--"



"Need I remind you that we're Jedi? We can elude them long enough to jump to hyperspace, and then we're home free."



Wes and Dru engaged in a momentary staring match, and not for the first time Annie wondered what exactly their relationship was. Was one of them a master, or were they merely partners sharing a mission for better success? Whatever the relationship may be, it was obvious it didn't exist without its fair share of friction. Unbidden, she felt herself grin. She looked forward to contributing to the camaraderie as well as the dissension in the near future.



Finally, Wes conceded. "Fine. We'll take the cruiser. But if we get caught, *you* get to explain to the Council."



"If we get caught," Dru pointed out sarcastically, "we won't *be* explaining to the Council, Wes."



There was another poignant stare-down, then Wes said, "All right, on 'three'. One -- two -- *three*!"



As one, the three renegades took off, splashing across the flooded sands to the nearby ship. They made it about three-quarters of the way before anyone even noticed them, and the Jedi deftly blocked the shots as soon as they started firing. They reached the ramp without injury, and Wes covered them while Dru hotwired the entrance pad. She got them inside successfully, and all three pelted up the ramp with the thugs hot on their heels.



In the cockpit, the two Jedi worked in silent tandem to swiftly bring the craft to full running mode as Annie watched, feeling rather useless. For a moment she simply stood, feeling dread rising in her stomach--until suddenly she collapsed into the chair behind her, her hands flying to her head, grimacing in pain as another series of too-bright images flashed before her eyes. Neither Jedi noticed until Annie said, strangled, "Take off--NOW!"



The quickness of their response was admirable--the cruiser instantly lurched into flight, soaring upward at what was undoubtedly an unsafe angle and knocking everyone back into their seats sharply. They didn't accomplish it a moment too soon, however--in the spot they had just vacated, a hail of artillery suddenly pierced the air. Two tank-like vehicles which had lain in wait had just pulled into view, and the gunfire would have ripped them to shreds if it had caught them.



There was no time for thanks or astonishment; the threat was far from over. Their unwieldy craft arced madly across the sky, listing a little to the right and making suspicious whining noises that Annie fervently hoped didn't mean something important was about to break off. Then, just to make things more fun, as soon as the stars became visible, a whole host of enemy ships appeared as well, moving toward them menacingly.



Annie just closed her eyes.



Several extremely tense minutes later, after the ship flung itself wildly about and rocked under severe fire, she heard the incredibly beautiful sound of the engines straining, and opened her eyes to see the stars streak into starlines as they leapt into hyperspace.



For a moment silence reigned in the cockpit as everyone absorbed the fact that they were still alive. Then, as one, both Jedi turned to stare at Annie.



There was another little pause as she met their composed but inquiring stares. After some time, she said the first thing that came to mind. "See? I *do* contribute."



"You just saved all our lives," Wes said softly, his blue eyes boring holes into her.



Annie just gave him a sheepish grin. "Well, it's mutual."



Dru was still looking at her in open astonishment. "You really *do* see the future, don't you? Oh, Force, wow. The council is going to be astonished. I can't wait for them to meet you."



"Oh yeah," Annie agreed, somewhat half-heartedly. "I can't *wait*."