Rescue and Revelations

Captain Eran Tomryck saw everything.

He and his crew had gone to Felucia to look for some exotic plants for his current client. Apparently these plants could be refined into pleasurable substances that catch a high price in the market on Nar Shaddaa. They knew it would be dangerous to travel to Felucia with the war, but that would only drive the value of the plants higher; it was an opportunity Eran could not pass up.

While they were picking said plants they heard approaching footsteps. Eran saw them first, since he was keeping lookout and had a pair of binoculars. He motioned for everyone to take cover and wait of the procession to pass. Eran watched them the entire time; he could see a small squad of clone stormtroopers and a little further back there was a troop transport, all led by a Jedi with a deactivated lightsaber in hand.

The army was taking its time in marching through the jungle and would take a couple minutes to pass the group of smugglers. But as they reached a small clearing the stormtroopers suddenly stopped walking, but the Jedi took a few more steps until she noticed something was wrong. Eran couldn't believe his eyes as the clones raised their blasters and shot the Jedi. He saw her collapse and the stormtroopers surrounded her, shooting some more; about half a minute later the troopers marched on like nothing had happened.

Now, Eran didn't care much for the Republic, or the Separatists for that matter, since both hindered his smuggling; and the war wasn't helping matters. As for the Jedi, they had more important matters to deal with than to prevent petty smuggling; Eran didn't have a problem with them. He wasn't a stupid man; he knew what the Jedi contributed to the galaxy and that without them things would become unstable. With how much the Republic needs the Jedi, it's strange that their soldiers would fire on them.

Eran looked around, making sure the stormtroopers had left before signaling to his crew. "Vadlin, follow me." A human male turned from his duties to follow Eran, "The rest of you keep picking, and try to speed it up. We need to get off this rock soon."

The two men walked over to fallen Jedi. They took in the numerous wounds over her body, and Eran crouched down to check for a pulse.

"She was overwhelmed Captain, she couldn't have survived that many bolts."

"No, I guess not, but we should at least check." He said, carefully examining the Twi'lek's body, "If she isn't alive we might find something of value of her … like this." He said, hefting the Jedi's lightsaber.

"Here, let's turn her over." Said Vadlin, moving to assist his captain, "Be careful."

"Alright, on three." Said Eran, getting a good hold low on the body while Vadlin went high, "One … two … three." Making sure to not damage her any more, the two gently turned the Twi'lek onto her back.

Looking her over again, the first thing they noticed was that she had a lot of dirt covering her. But what stood out was her face; it had an unexpectedly calm expression. Something didn't add up. Eran thought that something was off about this picture: anyone just betrayed and shot at shouldn't have a calm expression. He looked for a pulse again, but still found nothing. A thought came to him; Eran put his cheek up next to the Jedi's slightly parted mouth. It was faint, but it was there; she was still breathing.

Eran's eyes widened, "She's still breathing."

"You're kidding?" said Vadlin, not believing that someone shot that many times could live. "There's no way she can be alive."

"Remember, she's a Jedi. They can pull off some impressive things."

"Yeah, I know, but I didn't think surviving a barrage of blaster fire was one on them."

"Me neither, but I think she just proved us wrong. But with her wounds it probably won't last without our help." Said Eran. He wasn't one to go out of his way to help someone, but he was going to make an exception this time. "Do you have any bacta one you?"

"No, its back where we were working."

"Go get some, I'll get her ready."

As Vadlin ran back to get some bacta patches, Eran rolled the Jedi back onto her stomach. He pulled one of the straps to her top aside to get access to her wounded shoulder; he also had to remove her pants to get to the wound on her thigh.

Sorry, but I have to; well at least she's wearing underwear. Damn, bacta patches might not be enough to heal her.

A few minutes passed before Vadlin returned with the bacta, by then Eran had the Jedi ready. The pair applied the patches to all her wounds and made sure they wouldn't come off. They then carefully lifted her and brought her over to where the rest of the crew was still picking plants.

"How's it coming?" asked Eran

"Good, we have more then enough." answered a male Rodian

"Alright. Get everything packed and get back to the ship, we need to leave." Said Eran. I have to find out what is going on here.

----------------------------------

Aayla woke up with a groan. She couldn't believe that she was still alive, but the pain let her know that she was. The room was dark, so she had no idea where she was; but Aayla could feel movement and knew that she was on a ship. Even though she just came out of a healing trance, Aayla was very tired; she managed to fall asleep, despite the stiff bed.

Hopefully someone can explain what is going on.

It was him, even though he looked like all the rest she knew it was him. Commander Bly. They had been together on many missions and became friends; she trusted him with her life. As she fell to the ground she saw his blaster pointed at her.

Aayla woke up with a start; she was breathing heavily and covered in a light sheen of sweat. When she got a hold of herself she noticed that the lights were on and there was a man standing in the room. He appeared to be in his mid-forties with a stocky build and dark hair that had turned grey along the sides. His brown eyes and slightly wrinkled face spoke of years of experience and knowledge. Reading his aura, Aayla could see he wasn't a bad man, but he wasn't an overly kind man either; he did what he wanted to do.

"Ah, it's good to see you awake. I didn't think you would ever wake up." Said the man, "Let me introduce myself, I'm Captain Eran Tomryck."

Aayla just looked at him for a minute before replying. "I'm Aayla …. Aayla Secura." She said timidly. After all that had happened in the last day, she was a little wary of Eran's intentions and she didn't know where she was.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm still in a lot of pain."

"I'll get someone to look at your wounds." Said Eran, "I have a question; how did you survive those stormtroopers shooting at you?"

"I .. I put up a barrier with the Force and then went into a healing trance." She said, "Do you know what's going on?"

"After seeing what happened on Felucia I looked into things." He began, "Well, for starters, the Jedi have been called traitors of the Republic."

"What!" exclaimed Aayla

"Yes, apparently the Jedi were trying to take control of the Republic."

"We .. we would never do such a thing."

"From what I know of the Jedi, I agree." Said Eran, "Well, to stop the Jedi from doing this clones stormed the Jedi Temple and killed everyone."

Aayla just stared at him in disbelief.

"Also, Palpatine said that the Jedi across the galaxy would be hunted down and brought to justice."

"How could the senate allow this?"

"Palpatine had an emergency senate meeting and explained everything." He said, "His face was scared terribly and he blamed it on a Jedi attack. And, to prevent any more rebellions and lapses in power the Republic will become a Galactic Empire. The senate applauded his convictions and promises of a better galaxy."

"No." whispered Aayla on a choked sob

"I'm afraid it's true."

"The … the Jedi …. they are all gone?" she asked, looking up at Eran with brown eyes filled with tears barely held in check.

"I don't know." He said, "Is there anything I can do?"

"N … no. I'm just very tired. Please go."

"Of course."

After Eran walked out the door, the tears Aayla held back came pouring out. She was trained to repress her emotions, but this was too much.

How … how is this possible? They can't all be gone, they can't.

She sat on the bed and wept for a long time before she couldn't any more. Physically and emotionally tired, Aayla fell into a restless sleep haunted by visions.