Fight for Freedom

Jim couldn't believe his ears or eyes. What he wanted to happen was for Kim to grin and say, "Got ya! Let's go!" But what did happen was totally different. Kim moved into a position facing the door, eyes focused and determined, and no trace of humor anywhere on her face.

"The story…it was real." Jim realized.

"Yes." Kim talked, still facing the door with her lightsaber at the ready. "I'm sorry, Jim. I would have told you sooner, but I was forbidden to. Now," she said, looking at the door, "you must go. They'll get through here in about 57 seconds. Silver's got a really nice blaster."

"NO! I'm not leaving you to face him alone!" Jim made as if to stand next to her, but was pushed back gently by an invisible force.

"No, Jim. Go."

The Doctor jumped through the hole, followed by the Captain. "Jim! Come on!" The Doctor frantically called.

Jim went over to the hole slowly, but turned around one last time. "Kim, be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I know, Jim. I want you to be safe, too. But this was meant to happen. Go," she said a bit more frantically, still facing the door. Blasters were beating mercilessly against the steel lock. They didn't have much time. Still, Jim stood there.

"Jim, GO!"

The invisible force hit him again, knocking him into the hole. Kim knew he wasn't hurt, but still regretted shoving him through. No time for regrets, now, she thought, and, as she felt what was going on, extinguished her lightsaber. She jumped up to grab a rafter and swung herself up just as the door burst open.

Silver stormed in, almost hoping Jim and Kim were out of danger. He lost track of thought though, when two feet came swinging out of nowhere to knock him backwards. Kim dropped down from the ceiling, and, without missing a beat, rammed into Silver with the hard bone of her shoulder, pushing the entire gang backwards in a stumbling, cursing heap.

Silver suddenly found himself lying down on the deck. What had hit him? As he got up, he saw Kim in the doorway, a small metal tube in her hand.

One of the pirates behind him snarled, and, without warning, a shot sped towards the seemingly unarmed girl. Silver almost cried out in warning.

Kim moved faster than the pirates would have thought possible. A brilliant blade of light blue light shot out of the tube, and Kim reflected the bolt, hitting the pistol that had fired it. The pirate stared in shock as his weapon crumbled through his fingers.

It didn't take Silver long to put it all together. Blade of light…unbeatable warriors…defenders…"You're a Jedi!"

"Yes, Silver. I'm glad you paid attention. Because," she said, bringing her lightsaber up, "now you know what you're up against."

Rage built up in Silver, to think that his charge would rise up against him. Unable to control what he saw as an unforgivable betrayal, he shouted, "FIRE!"

Shots sped towards the Jedi, and the blade of blue light came into play. Kim spun it around expertly, reflecting all the bolts. She jumped higher than humanly possible, and even reflected the shots they aimed at her as she flipped through the air. Landing right in the middle of the angry pirates, the lightsaber swung out, and havoc ensued.

Wherever she hit or kicked, the pirate that had received the blow was knocked off. A few, including Silver, ran for the door to the cabin. Eyes flashing, she struggled to fight her way over, but the sheer number of pirates forced her to settle for staying alive. Her lightsaber gleamed as she cut through a gun, not really wanting any bloodshed.

A pirate swung down from the rafters, a knife in his tentacle. The lightsaber deftly cut the knife in half, and Kim jumped up to let her foot connect with his head...hard. He let go of the rope, and with a scream, fell over the side of the railing.

The pirates didn't really care about their companions, but the sight of one of them being bested by a child re-energized them. A new volley of shots erupted. Kim, running, dodging, and getting a kick in wherever she could, did her best to fend them off. Most of her blocks sent the shots right back to destroy what had fired them, but a few blasts were sent out into space.

When all the weapons had been destroyed, Kim switched off her lightsaber and stowed it quickly in her belt. Since she was here, she might as well get a little hand-to-hand practice in.

She ran head-on into the mass of pirates, taking them by surprise. Spinning, she flipped on her hands to kick two thugs with her feet, sending them flying into two more pirates. For at least three minutes, all thought was lost except defense. Blocks, kicks, punches, flips…all of them rolled into one thought. I've got to keep them busy. They can't get to the map!

She heard the glorious sound of a launch, of her three friends getting away to safety. Still fighting, she noticed Silver stagger up steps from the skiff hangar. As her fist connected with a pirate's jawbone, she saw Silver dashing (as quickly as he could with his injured leg) over to the blaster that had been used to blast small rocks during the trip. The gunman was currently aiming for a small boat that was streaking away.

No.

That one thought flashed in her mind. Defiance roared through her muscles as she flung the attacking pirates away with power born of desperation. She didn't see Silver trying to turn the gun away, shouting, "We'll lose the map!" All she saw in her mind's eye was Jim, smiling, holding the precious map. If that shot was launched, she would fail her mission. If that shot was fired, she would lose the object that she had come on board to protect.

If that shot actually hit, she would lose one she loved.

No more "if's".

She leapt on the railing, eyes focused on her target. Just as the enormous cannon was fired, a body slammed into it, knocking it aside with a horrible crunch.

Kim slumped onto the railing, her left shoulder dislocated. She pushed the agonizing pain away, determined not to cry, and helplessly watched the shot speed down towards its target, leaving a red-gold tail of fire in it's wake.

The blast only clipped the boat, but that was enough to send it down. Not in flames, thankfully, but to eventually skid into the trees. Kim felt no life go out. Her friends had not been killed in the blast, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Her Jedi sense screamed danger, and she automatically reached for her lightsaber and ignited it.

As she painfully stood up on the rail, left arm hanging uselessly at her side, she noticed she was looking right into the mouth of the cannon. A glow spread rapidly up from the center, and Kim brought her lightsaber up in front of her just as the blast was released.

Kim was flung off the boat, the blast merely pushing her, thanks to her lightsaber. With her last bit of strength, she flung the bolt back, consuming the cannon and its gunner. Then, she fell.

Silver watched in shocked fascination as the brave Jedi plummeted towards the trees. Her face was a mixture of calm, brave, and at peace. He didn't understand it.

Jim was knocked aside from the blast, but otherwise alive. The sound of another blast made him look back, to see if it really was the end for them. He saw a small explosion on the ship, and a figure attached to a beam of light fall from the ship.

No matter how painful it was to see it, he couldn't look away. Not even as the figure fell through the sky, not even as the figure disappeared into the canopy of trees, not even as an anguished cry ripped itself from his throat. First his father, now his friend.

Kim was not ready to die, and already knew which trees to grab to stop her fall. But she somehow saw and heard with incredible clarity. She saw Silver's face, in a mask of horror at what was happening. She heard a cry filled with longing, love, and unbelievable defiance split the air. She hated to cause Jim pain, but she couldn't stop her fall like that one time on Tatooine. The pirates had to believe that she was dead, and only plummeting seemingly to her death would convince them.

As she broke into the many branches and grabbed the one she knew would support her, she remembered her shoulder. I'll have to fix that when I get on the ground. She let go of the branch, her downward motion stopped.

She landed effortlessly on the ground and looked up. The RLS Legacy wasn't moving. That was to be expected, after what had just taken place. Closing her eyes, she cautiously reached up with her mind. The general feeling on the ship was confusion, followed closely by a mixture of anger and frustration. Dangerous combination, she thought to herself.

She took in her position and stretched out her consciousness to sense where her friends had landed. Before long, she felt the familiar...well, being of Jim and the two others. That taken care of, she turned her attention to her arm. I sure can't fight with it like this, she thought. Bracing herself, she used the Force to pop her shoulder joint back into place. It hurt terribly, but then a throbbing relief replaced it, and she focused on carefully binding the loose muscle back together.

Her work done, she set off to the east at an incredible speed, determined to make it back to her friends before too much time passed. She wasn't that far off, and the energy she drew from the Force would more than suffice. She just hoped that she could get to them before the pirates did. Already she could sense the search parties they were sending out.

She skidded to a stop just before a clearing, and, peering through a gap in the trees, instantly spotted the fallen boat. But she didn't see anyone. Staying out of sight (it wouldn't be good if the pirates saw her, and Silver had a spyglass to do so), she circled around to the other side of the boat. She saw Jim, looking lost and quite pale. The Doctor was propping Captain Amelia up, who, she felt, had been badly burned in the side.

Taking a breath, she stepped out of the brush.

Jim looked without really seeing for a moment. His mind was on his friend; the one he had never told how he truly felt. How could she be gone? It was only when Dr. Doppler hid a gasp that his mind realized what was in front of him.

Kim walked out of the brush, looking a bit scratched but otherwise fine, hunching over to get to the boat. Jim was stunned. Then the stun turned instead to unbridled joy. He barely held himself down as she walked over. Only when she knelt down next to him did he move at all.

The Jedi, too, was stunned momentarily as she was swept into a tight hug. Then she snapped out of it, and returned Jim's embrace, savoring the fact that he wasn't hurt. Jim pulled back, his eyes searching hers intently. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

She was then pulled into another hug, this time from Dr. Doppler. "It's a miracle you're alive. But I am glad that you are."

"I'm sorry I made you worry."

Captain Amelia sat up slowly. "Oh, pooh. You gave us enough time to get out of there."

Kim smiled. "I'm glad I could help. And," she checked both her feelings and the sky, "it's safe to come out. The pirates haven't got a clue where we are."

They all crawled out. Amelia turned her gaze painfully to the burry outline she thought was Jim. "Mr. Hawkins—" A double take cleared her vision, and revealed a bemused Dr. Doppler standing in front of her. Kim frowned, and closed her eyes for a moment. Amelia's sight cleared, and the pain in her side lessened considerably.

"Mr. Hawkins," she continued, turning this time to Jim, "the map, if you please."

Jim pulled it out of his pocket with a sigh of relief. The small golden sphere started floating upwards. Jim looked at Kim. She shook her head. They all returned their gaze to the ball. Pieces started coming off…and came together again, turning pink and loosing their shape. Morph shook off the last bits of his disguise and laughed hysterically at his prank.

"MORPH!" Jim was loosing his patience. "Where's the map?"

Morph split in two. One half formed a rope, which coiled up. The other half formed another replica of the map, and zoomed into the coil.

"Are you serious? It's back on the ship?" Jim gestured wildly towards the ship, and Morph nodded.

"Well," Amelia said skeptically, "if we're to have any chance of getting that map back, we'll need a better defense. Mr. Hawkins," she pulled out a pistol and handed it to him. "Take Miss Kim and scout around. See if you can find a more favorable area."

Kim stepped forward. "Captain, I feel I should warn you. I can't heal you with the Force. I've only begun to learn how to heal myself. You're going to need medical attention, and keeping your pain away is draining."

Amelia nodded. "Very well. Save your strength. I can deal with it. Besides, we'll need you at your best if the pirates come around."

"Okay. I can keep the pain away while you get your injuries treated, and then you'll fall asleep for a while. Is that acceptable?"

Amelia nodded. Kim's eyes glazed over, and she seemed to be looking inside Amelia instead of at her. Finally, her eyes snapped back to normal. She addressed Dr. Doppler. "When you finish, she'll fall asleep. Don't worry about it. It's perfectly natural."

Jim stepped towards the forest. "C'mon Kim. Let's go." Together, they stepped into the unknown world.