I really thought this chapter was going to be delayed because Chapter 12 required an extensive rewrite (as I've mentioned before, I'm trying to stay four chapters ahead) but somehow I managed to finish writing Chapter 12 "on time" (in quotations because I'm not adhering to any kind of schedule, it just so happened that almost every chapter so far has gone up on Sunday night) regardless of the fact that Chapter 12 is quite a bit longer than any other chapter I've written thus far, so...go figure.

To my knowledge, it has never once been spoken in any Star Wars movie or tv show, but I have seen it in a number of Star Wars novels, so before you reach it in this chapter and become confused (like I was the first time I ran across it) let me address it now:

In the Star Wars universe, bathrooms are called "refreshers", sometimes shortened to "'fresher."

Now you know.

Coruscant's industrial district stretches on for many kilometers, the entire area a tangled web of pipes, cables, conduits, and walkways amidst the various facilities. A good deal of it is entirely automated. Some of the massive facilities are but remnants left behind by out-of-business companies, leaving large areas completely void of any kind of activity.

And, if you can find a spot to land, that makes it a great place to hide out.

Janna was familiar with one such place, just barely large enough to squeeze her YV-560 light freighter into. The landing pad had once been where tankers would arrive to unload raw liquid Malastare fuel for processing, but the company had moved off-world and left the bulk of their equipment behind. Now, hidden inside a structure that housed long-silent syphoning equipment, it was basically free parking that could not be seen from the air. With all systems except for the interior lights powered down, theRaventalon was all but invisible.

Marco was unconscious. The ship's medical kit didn't have any pain killers, and since his leg was going to require some further attention and the medkit did contain a sedative that would knock him out, that's what Star and Tom had chosen to do. When he'd lost consciousness, they carried Marco into Tom's quarters and gently laid him on the bunk.

Once Janna had landed the ship, she joined them.

"Okay, what's the damage?" Janna asked as she briskly walked in.

"Marco got shot in the back of the right leg," Star quickly explained.

Janna snatched the medical kit from Tom's hands and set it on the foot of the bunk. "Lucky for you, I've dealt with blaster wounds before and they really aren't that bad as long as they haven't hit anything vital. Good call knocking him out, by the way. I would have done the same."

"I can help," Star said. "I had a few Force-healing lessons as part of my Jedi training."

"Excellent," Jana said drolly as she pulled on a pair of gloves. She handed a second pair to Star. "Let's get to work."

"Anything I can do?" asked Tom.

"Yeah, go watch the scanners with Pony Head and make sure no one tracked us here."

"Oh...I meant, like-"

"I know what you meant. Go watch the scanners. Be ready to take off in a hurry if anyone finds us."

Tom was about to protest, but simply sighed and said, "Alright," and left the room.

Twenty minutes later, Janna threw off her gloves. "Okay. That'll do."

"He'll be okay, won't he?" Star asked worriedly.

"He'll be fine. He just needs rest. Come on, let's leave him be." Janna strolled out of the room, leaving Star alone with her unconscious best friend.

"Oh, Marco," Star whispered, sitting down on the edge of the bunk beside him. She stroked his hair and found it gritty, speckled with duracrete dust from when the skywalk was blown up by the rocket launcher, and flecks of metal debris from the exploded gunship. Yikes, if there's this much junk in Marco's hair, I can only imagine how much is in mine, she thought, thinking of her own long, blonde hair that reached down to her legs.

For a few minutes, she sat with Marco, gently stroking his hair. Then she sighed and stood up, figuring she should rejoin Janna and Tom. She paused at the door as she left, turning to look at Marco one last time. "I..." She whispered only loud enough for herself to hear, but left the thought unfinished and switched off the lights before closing the door, leaving Marco still unconscious, the scorched area of his leg covered with a carefully applied bacta patch and wrapped in gauze.

Tom and Janna were in the galley when Star found them. Janna was washing her hands, and Tom was sitting backwards on a chair, munching on a piece of bright blue fruit that Star did not recognize.

"There you are!" Tom said. He noticed the dejection on Star's face. "You doing okay?"

Star let out a long exhale. "Yeah, I'm okay. Pretty tired, I haven't slept since last night and now the sun is coming up."

"Well, you can rest now," Tom said.

Janna threw the towel she was drying her hands on over the side of the sink. "Not yet, you can't. Not until you tell us what the heck is going on."

"Yeah." Star rubbed the back of her neck. "I guess I probably should...fill you in. Gosh, I don't even know where to start."

Janna folded her arms and leaned back against the bulkhead. "Pick a place, Star."

"Um...okay." Star took a deep breath and then began talking as fast as she possibly could. "Anakin Skywalker and an entire legion of clones marched on the Jedi Temple and started killing everyone so Marco and I escaped by cutting a hole in the wall and jumping out onto a gunship and then they started shooting at us and neither one of us knows how to fly so we didn't get very far before they hit us and we crashed, and then we got some new clothes to make us look less like Jedi and then we went to the Senate building to try to find my Aunt Eclipsa and ask her for help getting off Coruscant but Marco felt a disturbance in the Force, it was really weird, so we went upstairs to the Chancellor's office and it turns out that Palpatine is actually a Sith Lord and he's been controlling both sides of the Clone War as a plot to get rid of all the Jedi and he took Master Skywalker as his new apprentice." Completely out of breath, Star sucked as much air into her lungs as she could and went on. "So then we had a really harrowing escape from the Senate building and I stole a guy's commlink to contact you guys to see if you could help us get off-world, but I guess he must have had some way of tracking his commlink or something and he found us and chased us and then he shot at me and I had to block the shot with my lightsaber and some clone troopers saw me do it so they started shooting at us, too, and then we ran and they chased us and one of them shot Marco in the back of the leg, oh, and at some point he dislocated his shoulder for, like, the third time tonight, maybe fourth, I've honestly lost count, and then he couldn't walk so we hid inside that kiosk on the skywalk and then you guys showed up and saved us and here we are."

Janna and Tom stared blankly at Star as the Padawan caught her breath, unsure what to even do with the story they'd just been told.

Janna put a hand on her temple in confusion. "So...wait-"

"What's this about Palpatine being a Sith Lord?" Tom yelped.

"Yup. And a realllllllly powerful one, too."

"No kidding! He has control of the Senate and the Courts!"

Star blinked. "I...I meant...like...his Force-powers...are really...powerful...but, yeah, I guess that, too."

Janna kicked a chair over to Star and sat down in one herself, leaning back and casually folding her arms. "Honestly, it seems obvious in retrospect."

Star and Tom both frowned. "It does?" Star asked as she sat down

"Sure. I read articles on the holonet about Palpatine. Apparently, he's got a whole bunch of Sith artifacts in his office, and he decorated it like the Sith used to decorate their Temples."

Star gave a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, sure. And the Jedi who were in his office alllll the time like Yoda and Mace Windu never noticed."

"They did. Apparently, they just didn't think anything of it." She looked off somewhere in the corner at nothing in particular. "Honestly, I don't think the members of that dumb Order you're a part of are...were...very smart."

Normally, Star would have agreed. In the past, she had often vented about her frustration with all of the Jedi's rules when she spent time with Janna. Having just watched Kit Fisto sacrifice himself to save her and Marco, however, she didn't appreciate Janna's comment very much. Conflicting feelings developed a reply that neither agreed nor disagreed with her friend. "Well, there is no Jedi Order anymore," she said, and that's where she left it.

Janna let out an exasperated sigh, not seeming to notice Star's annoyance. "Probably for the best, if you ask me."

Tom watched Star's face contorting in aggravation and thought perhaps he'd better change the subject before the conversation went any further. "So, uh, Star, you said you and Marco were trying to get off-world. Did you have a destination in mind? We'd be happy to take you."

Star shook her head. "We never even had a chance to talk about where we'd go."

"Well, we'll be safe here for a little while. We've hidden out here a couple of times. Right, Janna?"

"Uh-huh. Hardly anyone even knows this place exists. We'll be safe." She stood up. "Why don't you get some sleep? Wait for Marco to regain consciousness. Then you guys can pick a system and we'll make sure you get there."

"Sleep does sound...good." Now that the constant adrenaline that had been circulating through her system had worn off, Star was beginning to feel the beckoning of slumber.

"I'll get you a blanket and see if I can find you something to lay on," Tom said.

"Uh...I...I think I'll just..." Star's gaze drifted in the general direction of Tom's quarters.

Tom smiled. "I think Marco would appreciate the company."

Star blushed and stood up. "I'll, uh, see you guys after I get some sleep, I guess." She started to leave, but stopped halfway through the door and backtracked. "Oh, and...thank you guys so, so much for coming to rescue us. We'd for sure be dead right now if you hadn't come."

"Hey, don't mention it, St-*hurk!*" Tom gasped as Star gave him a crushing hug.

Then she turned to Janna. "Hey, I'm glad we just happened to be here when you needed us," Janna said. Star gave her a hug, too, but not nearly as hard or as long, still a little bit salty about Janna's comments about the Jedi Order.

Then Star headed for the door again. "Well, goodnight...or, good morning at this point."

Tom and Janna chuckled and each took a turn saying goodnight, then Star left the galley.

"Well, Lucy," Janna said standing up and stretching, "We should probably get some shut eye, too, after that long haul from Felucia and subsequent rescue mission."

"You know I hate it when you call me that."

"Why do you think I do it? Now come on, I can't have a sleepy copilot."

"Well, seeing as how my bunk is currently in use..."

"Mine isn't."

"But then where are you gonna sleep?"

"Next to you," Janna said as if it should have been the most obvious fact ever.

"...I think I'll sleep in the cargo hold." Tom stood and made quickly for the door.

Janna shrugged. "Suit yourself, but you're missing out."

Tom froze, afraid to even ask. "...on what?"

"On my bunk. It's really comfortable."

Tom stared for a moment longer, trying to read the unreadable expression on Captain Ordonia's face. "I...am going...to sleep...in the cargo hold."

"Whatever." When her copilot had gone, Janna smiled to herself. She relished the chance to make others uncomfortable, especially Tom and Marco, and she felt a rush of satisfaction for a job well done.

Before heading off to bed, Janna made her way to the cockpit where PY-HD was still monitoring the scanners. "Still all-clear, Pony Head?"

The droid replied, sounding very bored.

"I don't care if your bored, keep me posted." PY-HD complained noisily as Janna leaned over the controls and looked out the forward view screen, her eyes looking over the sky outside the roof of the fuel siphoning station. "If they find us, we're trapped here, so I sure hope you stay bored."

Star crept quietly back into Tom's quarters. Marco hadn't moved since she'd left. For a few moments, she stood beside the bunk, watching his chest rise and fall as he slowly breathed. She kicked off her boots and placed the bag containing her lightsaber inside one and one end of her horn headband in the other, then gingerly climbed over Marco to the empty space on the bunk beside him. Laying on her back, Star let out a sigh.

Maybe I should have told him I wanted to leave the order sooner, she thought as she looked over at his sleeping face. We would have been far away from Coruscant by now and Marco wouldn't have gotten hurt.

Woulda, shoulda, coulda, I guess.

At least no one will be wondering where we disappeared to...because there's no one still alive to notice that we're gone.

You know, except the guy who wants us dead.

Star rolled onto her side facing Marco, watching her best friend's chest continue to rise and fall. She felt considerably more calm just knowing that he was alive and right there beside her, and in a few minutes, her exhaustion overtook her emotions and she fell asleep.

There were screams. Lots of them. Blaster fire. A small explosion in the distance. Everything around her was a blur...or maybe it actually just was blurry.

"Star!" A familiar voice was calling out to her, one she knew very well, and yet, she could not quite place its owner.

"Star! We have to go, Star!"

Someone took her hand, but she could not see who it was. They were trying to lead her somewhere.

In the distance, there was a shriek of terror, suddenly cut short.

Star abruptly awoke from her dream. Marco was still asleep beside her, breathing steadily.

What was that about? She sat up and looked around the dim room as if checking to be sure that everything was still as it should be, and found nothing she could see out of place. She laid back down for a minute, but sprang back up when she realized that she desperately needed to use the refresher.

Star rinsed her hands off in the sink, and splashed some water on her face. A few crumbs of rubble fell from her hair into the sink and she remembered all the debris she had found in Marco's hair earlier. When she'd dried her hands and face, she ran her fingers through her long blonde hair. As she expected, it was not it's usual silky self. It was full of grit from her various adventures the past night. She happened a glance in the mirror. Star had nearly forgotten about crashing the gunship into the fountain and ending up soaked to the skin, and her messy and frizzy locks reminded her.

"Bleh..."

There was a storage compartment beside the mirror, and Star found an elaborate comb made from a some sort of mollusk shell inside. A few strands of red hair in it told her it was Tom's, and Star thought to herself that she was not surprised. She grabbed it and leaned her head over into the shower stall. For almost ten minutes, she ran the comb through her hair, the shower pan gaining a thin layer of duracrete dust and a few specs of metal debris in the process. When she ran her fingers through her hair and didn't feel any grit, she rinsed off the comb and returned it to the storage compartment, and then rinsed the shower pan, too.

Now Star was wide awake. She wasn't sure how long she had slept and sure didn't feel like going back to sleep, so she wandered up to the cockpit so that she could see outside.

The Raventalon's cockpit was fairly spacious as cockpits go, with a second set of two seats behind the pilot and copilot's chairs. On the ship's port side was a terminal with an astromech access port.

Star's eyes lit up when she saw the droid plugged into the computer. "Pony Head!"

PY-HD's head swiveled around and the droid squealed excitedly, disconnecting from the terminal and bouncing up and down as it raced over to Star. Star dropped to her knees to be at the droid's height and wrapped her arms around it as affectionately as she would any of her flesh-and-blood friends. "It's so good to see you!"

The droid continued to chitter on happily.

"I know! It has been too long!"

Questioning beeps came next. Star ceased her hug and folded her arms. "Pony," she said scoldingly, "you promised you would stop calling Marco that. It isn't nice."

The droid gave a shrill bloop in apologetic reply, but Star didn't think it sounded very sincere. She nonetheless answered PY-HD's question. "Yes, Marco is here with me. We had to knock him out to treat his injuries, and he's still asleep."

*Whistle bleep-bop?*

"Oh, you know, the Chancellor turned out to be a Sith Lord, ordered all the Jedi killed, so we're just trying to get off Coruscant. You know how it is."

The droid almost seemed to laugh.

Star stood up from the floor and strolled over to the copilot's seat, hoping to be able to judge the time by the sun, but her view outside was obstructed by the structure the Raventalon was hiding beneath and though she could see blue sky, the sun's position was behind her where she could not see. She sat down and scanned over the dark control panel. Most of the ship's systems had been powered down to keep scanners from picking it up, but she did find a chronometer that was still lit. It was early afternoon. She'd slept for at least seven hours.

"Oh, Pony..." Star said. "What are we gonna do?"

*Boop boop bleep. Bzzt rrt wee-oop.*

"I mean, I guess that could work, but growing a clone of myself to fake my own death with just isn't really practical."

"Plus you'd feel bad." Star looked toward the voice and found Marco standing in the cockpit doorway. "Even with the accelerated growth of clones, you'd still have to raise it, and probably train it so that it would be convincing, all the while knowing it was eventually going to be shot full of holes."

Star rushed to her best friend and wrapped him in a hug, nearly knocking him over.

"That happy to see me?"

"I knew you'd be fine, but...I just...I'm really glad you're okay." She released him. "How's the leg?"

"Sore. Very sore. I can walk on it, it just hurts. I've got a decent limp."

"That's cool."

"My shoulder is still dislocated, though."

"Drat, I knew I forgot something. I even mentioned it to Janna and Tom when I was telling them about everything that happened to us last night, and I didn't even think to fix your shoulder." She raised her hands. "Here, hold still." Star raised her hands.

"Nononowai-AAAARRRRRGH!" Marco cried as Star used the Force to pop his arm back into its socket. He gave a small whimper in pain. "I really wish you had done that when I was still unconscious."

"Well, if I ever dislocate anything, you can have the honor of popping it back in and making me scream in pain."

"Deal."

A second later, Janna and Tom appeared in the doorway. "I knew I heard Marco screaming," Janna said. "Oh, good, you two are together."

"Hey, Janna," Marco greeted. "Thanks for patching me up."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever. Shut up. Look." She produced a small holoviewer where a news broadcast was streaming and held it up for Star and Marco to see. They could see an interior shot of the Senate chamber as a broadcaster talked over the video recording.

"...again, for those of you who may have missed it, an important message from Sheev Palpatine this morning on the current state and future of the galactic government. Here is a recording of the historic speech."

A close up recording of Palpatine appeared. He stood at his usual spot at the center podium of the Senate chamber, a dark red hood shielding anyone from seeing the deformed face that Star and Marco knew to be underneath.

His voice echoing through the loudspeaker system, he spoke. "The Jedi rebellion has been foiled." A loud round of applause followed.

"Rebellion?!" Marco whispered angrily.

"The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated!" More applause.

"'Hunted down?'," Tom echoed.

"I think he means us," Star said.

"Shut up!" Janna scolded. "Listen!"

"The attempt on my life has left me scarred...and deformed. But I assure you, my resolve has never been stronger!"There was another round of applause. "The war is over. The Separatists have been defeated and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled! We stand on the threshold of a new beginning!"

The four young friends hung on every word, hardly daring to breathelest they prevent a single one of Palpatine's words from being heard.

"In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire!" His words were met with excited applause.

"Did anyone else just get a chill?" Star asked.

"Empire?" Marco said nervously. "Like...ruled by an Emperor?"

For several minutes more, they listened as Palpatine laid out his plan for a completely new government, one that gave him most of the power. He closed with, "The New Order of peace has triumphed over the shadowy secrecy of shamful magicians. The direction of our course is clear. I will lead the Empire to glories beyond imagination.

"We have been tested, but we have emerged stronger. We moved forward as one people - the Imperial citizens of the first Galactic Empire. We will prevail. Ten thousand years of peace begins today."

Janna turned off the holoviewer. There was a general feeling of somberness in the Raventalon's cockpit.

"So..." Tom began slowly. "No more Republic."

"And no more Jedi Order," Marco added.

Janna sank into the chair behind the pilot's seat. "So...what do we do?"

Everyone, including PY-HD, looked at Star.

"Why are you all looking at me?"

"You're the only one who hasn't said anything yet," Marco said with a shrug.

Tom added, "Plus, whenever the four of us were together in the past, you always sort of assumed the role of unofficial leader." He shrugged. "Or at least I thought so."

Marco put a hand on her shoulder. "You are a princess, after all."

Star looked at each of her friends. They waited for her to speak with hopeful eyes.

She sighed. "Right now, the most important thing is getting somewhere safe. As much as I hate to do it, right now, we don't have a choice.

"We run."