Prompts: Defending Each Other & Time Travel
Sometimes, the universes collide; the Living Force makes no sense.
One moment Qi'ra was fleeing from the Imperial who'd caught her stealing his code cylinders, the dingy streets and back alleys of Corellia's industrial district flashing by around her. The next, a sun beat down on her and sand pelted her face.
She glanced up—then ducked as a gunship swooped in over her head. She stared up and followed its swerve; it descended rapidly a few hundred metres ahead in—
An arena.
A battle.
This was—
She threw her gaze around. It was a desert—ish?—planet, with stone walls or caverns, it seemed. She was in a sink hole, the stands directly above her carved out of the rock, and a few hundred Geonosians flickered their wings as they stared down.
Geonosis. She didn't know much about Geonosis, but she assumed that was where she was. However she'd got here.
Animals roared, laser weapons buzzed, and all sorts of cacophonies rang out from the central conflict in the arena, but she didn't have time to stare at that. Even as three humans leapt onto the bumpy, scaled back of what looked like… a reek.
She crept along the edge of the arena. She still had that random Imperial's code cylinders in her pocket and she clutched at them for some semblance of normality, following the wall towards one of those side tunnels.
She just needed to get out of the battle. She just needed to get out of firing range.
A clanking on her left stopped her. She stared in horror: flanks upon flanks of pink Clone Wars era battle droids marched out of the tunnel she'd been aiming for, hides gleaming under the beating sun. They each had a blaster except—
Except one.
One had lost its blaster, and creeping along behind it, sticking to the shadows of the caverns, was a short-statured girl, her hair knotted into two cute buns at the back of her head.
She looked less cute when she lifted her stolen blaster and fired, taking out a row of battle droids in quick succession.
The remaining ones stumbled and squawked before they turned on her. She grinned and ran—towards the arena, the idiot, the droids giving chase.
Qi'ra didn't complain. She went for the blaster of one of the fallen, palmed it in her hand—Lady Proxima had given her some training with a blaster, thankfully—and turned towards the dark tunnel—
"Hey, watch out!"
Shots shattered the air above her. She ran zigzagged to escape them, crouching low, and heard return fire behind her. She didn't look back until she'd paused in a cranny for cover.
The girl was coming back. Several droids trailed her, shooting; one even clipped her arm and set her gasping, clutching her bicep as she ran, but she still went. The droids aiming at Qi'ra hesitated and turned around to survey the new threat.
Qi'ra took her chance. She shot their heads off while their backs were turned, and that girl sailed right through.
"Come on!"
Qi'ra hesitated, then followed her deeper into the tunnel. She took a sharp left into shadows just where the light from the arena proper faded, and the moment Qi'ra was in with her, she slammed a door shut behind them and locked it.
"Thanks for that," Qi'ra said. "I was in a tight spot."
"I could see that. I wanted to help."
Qi'ra would've just kept running, but that was the girl's problem.
"You're not from here either, are you? You look different. Dressed different."
"So are you." Qi'ra eyed her. She was wearing a dress.
"Yeah. One moment I was in my bedroom at home, the next I was in this room here." She gestured around. "I'm Leia, by the way."
"Qi'ra." She supposed one should offer more than that, so she added, "I was running from Imperials on Corellia when I found myself running from battle droids instead. I thought that type were decommissioned."
Leia lit up. "You're from the Imperial era as well, then? I thought so."
"What do you mean, the Imperial era, we're—"
"In the Clone Wars."
Qi'ra gaped at her, suddenly doubting her saviour's intelligence. "What?"
"Haven't you studied history?"
"I'm a Corellian scum rat!" Qi'ra snapped. "No, I have not!"
"Ah." Leia did flush a little, then. "Sorry. Well, this is the Battle of Geonosis, the first battle of the Clone Wars. Did you see the Jedi fighting? All those old battle droids? We're in the past."
Qi'ra stared. How? was the first thing she thought to say. Then it was, What?
What she said, though, was, "How do we get back?"
"I don't know. But"—Leia's eyes lit up with a strangely enchanting fervour—"we have an opportunity."
Despite herself, Qi'ra was intrigued. "How?" If there were Jedi, she supposed they could steal a lightsaber or two. Those went for millions on the black market and she'd not only be set to get off Corellia, but set for life.
Or, these battle droids were easily hacked. She could employ a couple of them, sell them as bodyguard droids…
"The Clone Wars led to the increase in Chancellor Palpatine's power and eventual creation of the Empire," Leia said. "If we can stop the war here, we can stop the Empire from rising altogether. We can save billions from death and trillions from tyranny!"
…or they could be fools.
Qi'ra blinked. "Are you insane?"
"Not at all. The Clone Wars were orchestrated by a puppetmaster, my father taught me; all we have to do is reveal the truth to both sides before they all die. The Jedi are there, they'll sense we're telling the truth, and—"
"It's a warzone," Qi'ra snarled. "We'll die before we get near them. If we want to live, we have to flee. That's the only way to stay alive."
Leia looked at her like she was empty. "We could save the galaxy."
"Or we could die." She was so naïve, so idealistic, Qi'ra wanted to shake her. Didn't she know she was mortal? Didn't she know you could try, and try, and always fail? All you could do was live to try another day.
Even if Leia's fervour made her want to stay. Even if Leia surged forwards and grasped her hand. "Come on, Qi'ra. We could change the future for ourselves and others."
Qi'ra hesitated, looking at their joined hands.
Then she ripped hers free. "The Republic or the Empire. It doesn't affect me." She tried to keep her bitterness at bay. "I'll still be stranded on Corellia with thugs and gangsters." She met Leia's heartbroken look with scorn. "Who are you, that you think things will ever change?"
Leia's face hardened.
"I am the Princess Leia Organa or Alderaan," she declared, gripping her blaster. "My parents have not risked so much fighting the Empire just for me to abandon their cause now like a coward."
Coward. It was true, even as it hurt.
"Die, then," Qi'ra said. "The same way they inevitably will."
Leia let out a scream of fury and shoved past her, running out of the room and towards the arena.
Her touch stung, but Qi'ra shook it off, lifting her own blaster. She needed to get out of here and she was going to find a way to do it.
