JEDI PURGE
Anakin and Obi-Wan. Skywalker and Kenobi. Their faces were all over the HoloNet. Heroes of the Clone Wars. Blast if she hears those names again. Kiana allowed that one thought to enter her mind before she mentally kicked herself for thinking those things. They were her comrades. Colleagues, to be precise. She teamed up with them a few times over the course of the Clone Wars. She first met them on Ansion, after their mission was over. She even fought with them in the skies above Coruscant days ago, when they had boarded Grievous ship and rescued the Chancellor. Now she was assigned to work with Ki-Adi Mundi on distant and cold Mygeeto.
She shivered beneath her all-purpose traveling robe, while nearby, Mundi and the commanders were laying out ambush plans. She was glad she was here for only another couple of hours. Kiana couldn't wait to get back to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. Master Mundi walked over after a serious discussion with the troopers.
"This plan is going to go well,"he started, "The groundwork is laid. I'm going to go over to the bunker. When are you leaving for Coruscant?"
"I don't know," she shrugged, "I was going to leave in a couple of hours, but I might stay around. Nothing really to do once I get back to the Temple anyways. Maybe I'll help with the attack . It depends." There was silence for a minute or two. "I just can't shake the feeling that something is not
right. Dark...mysterious...it feels strange. Something is going to go wrong."
He smiled at his former student, then it dropped from his face. "The dark side shrouds the Force in mystery. It has for years. But let' s meditate on the present. We should rest while we can." He turned from her, exiting the HQ the clones set up. What could she do? She left for her own makeshift bunker. Once she reached it, she sat cross-legged on the floor, and closed her eyes. The outside world, the cold, even the faint hint of the dark fear slipped away from her mind. She focused on the light, the optism and felt her tired body heal itself through the Force.
Morning found Kiana deep in her meditative trance. She opened her eyes when Ki-Adi spoke to her through the door.
"Kiana? Are you ready?"
"Yes, Master." She stood and smoothed out her robes. She found she was doing that a lot lately, especially when she was nervous. She opened the door to her bunker and stepped out. Her skin shivered when the cold air hit it.
"The troopers are ready to move out. If you're going to head to Coruscant, you better go now, while there is a lull in the fighting."
"No." the younger Jedi answered. "Just let me know what the plan is."
Moments later, Ki-Adi and Kiana were creeping around an abandon shelter. Up ahead, they could see the super battle droid encampment. It looked like they were preparing formation. Battle plans of their own, no doubt, Kiana thought out loud. The Jedi Master motioned with his hand for the troopers to halt. They surveyed the scene.
"Let's go." Mundi led the charge foward, followed closely by Kiana, lightsabers ignited.
"There they are," one droid spun around, triblasters firing at the same time. The rest followed suit, and soon the encampment was filled with the sounds of blasters and lightsabers as troopers jumped down from the building. They managed to rout the camp, pushing them back. The droids however, had a different idea. They regrouped, and started fighting as one unit. There was a lull in the fighting after they finished off the last of the droids.
Kiana sat on a piece of scrap metal while Ki-Adi went looking ahead. A scout trooper came trotting up to the Master.
"Looks like they have the facility surrounded. Just across the bridge. We're going to storm it."
Bridge. The bridge... She shook her head.
"While you're doing that, I'm going to see what news the Council has from Coruscant. "
Her former Master only nodded. "I'll see you at the hangar in a couple of hours, after we secure this facility."
Kiana Treeno started the long walk back to where her starfighter was. The fighting had started up again. She got fifty meters away when she paused. The dark foreboding she had felt earlier returned, stronger than ever. She listened. Closing her eyes, she opened up her mind to the Force, to Ki-Adi Mundi's presence.
"No..." she turned around. Starting to jog back, she stopped twenty meters away. Ki-Adi Mundi had rushed the front lines, lightsaber weaving back and forth. The four front most clones stopped, aimed their blasters at his back. He turned around. They fired. He deflected the first couple of shots, but there was too many. His body fell. They had to wait until his back was turned. They had heard stories of him. He was a great Jedi, but even the greatest Jedi can fall.
Kiana reached out towards him in the Force. Nothing. A void was all that was left. First, came the shock. The confusion. Then came the turmoil. Anger. She could feel it boiling in her. Wanting to be unleashed. The more she reached out in the Force, the bigger the void became. Almost like hundreds of voices being silenced. At once. She came to her senses minutes later. It all happened so fast.
"There's one more." she heard the commander say. "Find her." She turned and ran. Not just a light jog, but a full Force-assisted dead run. Back towards her ship, which seemed so far away. She knew they would come after her. Jumping over debris, and scattered parts, she came to her Delta-7. She hadn't even time to stop as she jumped in the cockpit. Her astro whistled a comment.
"Yes. We're leaving. NOW." she strapped herself in. Engaging the reverse thrusters, she took off from the cold planet Mygeeto. Once they were clear of the atmosphere, she put in the co-ordinates; 0-0-0 for Coruscant before attaching to the hyperdrive ring.
Once she entered hyperspace, she allowed herself to think, and to mourn for the loss of Ki-Adi Mundi. She openly cried. He was her teacher, mentor, and father figure. She closed her eyes, and tried to meditate. Tried to seek some comfort. Em-Two wondered what was happening.
"I'm going to back to Coruscant, M-2. I'm going to find out what is happening. Put it on auto-pilot please." She closed her eyes once again, the entire trip to the galactic capital.
Several hours later, M-2 woke her up with a whistle. Kiana sat upright.
"What is it?...A message from the Temple. Put it through." she listened closely to the message telling all Jedi Knights to return to the Temple.
"That just seems too strange. I'll find out. We're just entering the Coruscant system right now." She put it back on manual, and slowed down to sublight. Her senses telling her not to risk being seen, she parked her fighter in an empty hangar close to the Temple itself. She jumped out, pulling her hood over her light blond hair. She walked along the street, approaching the Temple doors. The dawn was just beginning as she climbed up the steps into the Temple. She stopped short when she saw four clone troopers standing at the entrance. They spotted her at once.
"Stop, Jedi." the first one said. "Men? You know what to do."
"Yes, sir." came their answer. Blasters leveled, they didn't have a chance. With a Force push, the one flew backwards into his commander, knocking them both over. At once, she called her lightsaber into her hand. The yellow blade shot to life, and she jumped to the third one, stabbing him clean through the chest. She threw her lightsaber to the last one, taking off his head in the process. The two still alive, she tied their hands together with electrocuffs. There had been enough killing for one day, she decided. Stepping inside, all she saw were a few bodies laying around. Signs of a battle. She stepped neatly around them, looking for signs of what had happened here. As she passed one room in her search for answers, she notice the crumpled body of Cig Drallig, who taught her lightsaber combat. His Padawan also lay nearby. Behind them, lay numerous children.
"They died protecting them from something." she whispered, afraid somebody would overhear her. "I must find out." She couldn't bear to look anymore and hurried from the room. She didn't stop until she reached the security room. She fiddled around with the holorecorder for a bit, until she heard voices and hid in the shadows. It was two voices, both male.
They entered the room and continued straight to the back. It was Master Yoda, and Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"...transponder code. We can change it. Tell the remaining Jedi to stay away from the Temple." came Obi-Wan's deep voice from down the corridor. Kiana stepped out.
Both Obi-Wan and Yoda turned around. They had sensed her there for a while.
"Masters." she bowed, first to Yoda, then to Kenobi.
"Ah, bring you here, what does, young Jedi?" Yoda spoke, looking up at her.
"I thought you were on Mygeeto." Obi-Wan said.
"I was." Kiana replied. "I've only just came back."
"You've heard the message then? To all Jedi Knights?" Master Kenobi asked.
Kiana nodded, "When I was coming in-system. I thought I would come here. I shouldn't have."
The two Masters continued on their way inside. Kiana fell in behind them.
"What is happening?" she asked after a while.
"That's what I intend to find out." Obi-Wan answered as he re-wired the code. He stepped back, "There. I finished it."
On their way out, the younger Master stopped them. "I must find out."
"No use will it be. Only pain will you find." Yoda cautioned him.
"I have to know for sure." He began to fiddle around with the recorder, playing back security footage.
It definitely showed Anakin. Killing younglings. Kiana was shocked.
"Did Anakin go to the dark side?" she asked, whispering.
Yoda only looked at her. She could see the sadness in his face. "It is as we feared, then." Turning to Obi-Wan, "You know what you must do."
Obi-Wan only looked at him. There was a few muted whisperings, then Obi-Wan left, leaving Yoda and Kiana.
"Tell me, Kiana. Master Ki-Adi Mundi...with you he is not?"
"No." she replied, then shoulders sagging. "I felt him...die. I knew it when I turned my back. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. I was going to leave earlier, but I stayed. The clones turned on him. On us. I fled from them and came straight here. I have no where else to go. Even if I stayed, I don't think it would have mattered."
"Hard to do, forgive ourselves is." Yoda replied. "But safe somewhere you must go. Find a place of refuge. To hide."
Kiana nodded. "I will." She already knew a place she would go. Her home planet of Corellia. Her first stop anyway. Yoda escorted her outside to her fighter a couple of blocks away.
"Wish you well I do. " Yoda stood off to the side as Kiana climbed in. "May the Force be with you."
"And you," she replied as the cockpit closed over her head. She lifted off, exiting the hangar. She sighed as she rocketed outward, beyond Coruscant. Once outside of the atmosphere, she rendezvoused with her hyperdrive ring. She punched in the coordinates for Corellia. She didn't even glance behind as she sped away. He knew she would not come back here for a long time, if ever.
"Well, Em-Two," she said, "Let's head for Corellia."
She silently said good-bye to her former life. It was only the beginning of the Empire's Jedi purge.
