Serana dreamed.

She floated in the place that was not. The darkness stretched out all around her, speckled with stars and constellations she didn't recognise. Paths led between them, black on black. The only thing that was missing was –

SAVE THE GIRL.

– the voice. It rippled out of the darkness around her, from every direction at once. Her head jerked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

Save the girl.

It was much quieter the second time, and more focused, coming from a single point above and behind her. She could feel it, looming over her. Its breath puffed down the back of her neck. She didn't dare turn around.

Look at me.

She shook her head mutely. She couldn't make herself look.

LOOK AT ME.

The force of the voice almost knocked her over. Slowly, terrified of what she was going to see, she turned around.

An enormous wolf loomed over her. It was over twice her height, with silvery fur that rippled slowly and shimmered in the faint starlight. It snorted as she met its eyes.

"Who are you?" she breathed.

You have to save the girl, it said. Everything depends on it. She is the future. She is the one they are looking for.

"Why should I?" she demanded. The wolf growled angrily, but she continued. "I didn't want this! I never wanted this! Make somebody else do it!"

THERE IS NO ONE ELSE, the wolf thundered. All the others are dead, thanks to those filth who dare to bear the name of the Jedi. Me and mine cannot intercede. You must do this. It snuffled softly, bowing its head. I'm sorry, it said, more softly. I don't want to force you into this, but I don't have a choice. The fate of the galaxy is at stake.

"Serana? Serana?"

The wolf dissolved as she jerked awake. She was lying on the table in her booth at the cantina. The bartender's son had shaken her awake. He looked concerned. Jorin, that was his name.

"I'm OK," she groaned. "I'm OK." She managed to push herself upright. Her head was killing her. "Do... do you have any more of this stuff?"

Jorin's father glared at her disapprovingly. "I'd say you've had enough," he said. "Get her out of here, before she starts making a mess."

The door hissed open and somebody burst in, a young woman with aquamarine hair. She tripped over the doorframe and fell face-first onto the floor.

"Help me," she begged. "Somebody, anybody, please, help me!"

People started getting out of their seats when two Jedi walked in.

Serana glared at them with utter hatred. One of them sneered disdainfully at everybody as they hauled the woman up, despite her protests, and started to drag her out of the cantina.

Save the girl...

"Hey!" she yelled. "Hey! Let her go!"

One of them glanced at her and ignored her just as fast. Neither of them stopped.

A bolt of crimson lightning tore through the crowd and slammed into the door panel. The door slammed shut right in front of the Jedi. They turned, shocked.

"I said," Serana growled, drawing herself up to her full height, "let her go." Sparks of electricity crackled between her fingers.

They drew their lightsabers. One of them ran at her, jumped, kicked off a table, and she knocked his sword arm to the side and punched her fist through his chest.

Several people puked. The Jedi choked on his blood as he died. She dropped him to the ground. Green flames coursed along her arm, burning away the blood. She smiled wickedly at the terrified expression on the other Jedi's face.

"Come on, then," she said quietly. Her lightsabers leapt off her belt into her hands and ignited, bathing the cantina in crackling red light. "Bring it."

He came at her and she blocked his attack with absurd ease, sliced his hand off and ran him through.

"You're really a Jedi?" she laughed. "I seem to remember your kind being better at fighting." She brought her other saber around and beheaded him. "Guess you're not going to get any better."

The cantina was completely silent. People stared at her in shock and horror as she made her way to the door. She stared at the destroyed control panel for a moment before cutting a hole through the door with her lightsabers.

"Wait!"

She paused. It was the woman that the Jedi had been after. Whereas Serana was tall, bald and lithe, the woman was shorter, curvy, with hair down to her waist. She wore a pale yellow dress that looked as if it would billow at the slightest gust of wind.

"Thank you," she said. "You saved me."

Serana nodded and climbed out the hole in the door.

"Wait!" the woman called. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"I'm going home," Serana grumbled.

"What about me?"

Serana looked back at her. "What about you?"

The woman looked down at her feet, embarrassed. Serana felt a twinge of guilt.

"Look," she said. "There's a shelter a few streets over. They'll take care of you, if you don't want to go home. The Jedi won't find you there." Before they could say anything else, she turned and strode away.

The city seemed smaller around her. It was drizzling softly, the kind of misty rain that gets in everywhere and soaks everything. She didn't care. Everything seemed faded around her, sounds muted, like she was there, but not, at the same time.

She made it back to her ship. That, at least, felt real. Long and shaped like an arrowhead, made out of panels of black metal that shimmered in the rain. Her droid, S17-X33, met her on the ramp.

"What did you do?" S17 beeped angrily. She spoke in Binary, but Serana had learned to understand it.

"What are you talking about?" Serana yelped as S17 zapped her.

"I'm talking about the two Jedi that somebody slaughtered at your favourite boozer. What. Did. You. Do?" She zapped Serana again.

"I – Aargh! Knock it off! Yes, I killed them, OK? They were trying to kidnap somebody!"

"Killing somebody is a little bit disproportionate to kidnapping, isn't it?"

"Says you, you little psychopath. Didn't you once wipe out an entire town because they ran out of your favourite brand of motor oil?"

S17 did the closest she could to a shrug. "I forget the details. Where are you going?" she added, as Serana walked off into the ship.

"Bed!" Serana called. "Don't wake me up unless we're under attack."

She locked the door behind her just to make sure. She felt drained of energy all of a sudden. She couldn't even summon the motivation to undress before falling into bed.

She lay there for a long time before she fell asleep.

"Alright," she sighed. "Let's get this over with."

The wolf chuckled. Why? Do you have somewhere to be? Besides trying to drink yourself to death.

"What do you want?"

I told you to save the girl.

"I did save the girl. Would have been nice to know it was the Jedi who were after her."

You didn't think this through, did you? What do you think happens next?

"Not my problem."

IT'S EVERYBODY'S PROBLEM, the wolf thundered. What do you think is going to happen to her? The Jedi will catch her. You know what they'll do.

"They don't know where she's gone to."

The wolf shook its head. She is a beacon to their kind, it explained. She has a strength in the Force unseen for millennia. Anybody who knows what they are doing will be able to track her from across star systems.

Serana sank to her knees. "Why didn't you tell me this before? I could have done something! I could… I could…"

I told you to save the girl, the wolf pointed out. Was that unclear to you?

She took a deep breath. "I don't have a choice, do I?"

No. The wolf shook its head. But not for the reasons you think. Not because of fate, or destiny, or the Force. You don't have a choice because you know that you can't live with yourself if you don't try. Now that you understand.

She jerked awake. She could hear rain pounding against the hull. The ship was pitch black as she dashed through it, heading towards the cargo bay. The ramp hissed as it opened up. A gust of cold air blew in out of the night.

"Not this again," S17 beeped. "Where are you going now?"

"I've got to save the girl!" Serana called as she ran out into the darkness. "Get the ship ready for launch."

"Great," S17 muttered. If she'd had eyes, she would have rolled them. "Here we go again."

Serana sped through the streets. Wind whipped at her clothes. Rain pounded the streets in time with her footsteps. She hoped she wasn't too late. She couldn't be too late.

Lights bloomed through the rain ahead.

She charged. She could hear the girl screaming, see the Jedi waving their lightsabers around. One of them saw her and started to shout a warning and she fired off a lightning bolt that threw him backwards and burned a hole through his chest. Then she was in the middle of them and her lightsabers were out and she attacked with a fury, slashed one across the chest before they could defend themselves, blocked a strike from another and stabbed him in the neck before he could disengage. The two remaining Jedi circled her warily. One of them tried to push at her with the Force and she slammed a push right back at him. The air rippled and warped. She stumbled backwards, almost tripping over her feet. The Jedi was flung backwards and slammed into a wall with a sickening crack. The remaining Jedi was on her as she stumbled and battered at her defence. His strikes came dangerously close and then she was a second too late and his blade bit into her leg before she manged to stop it. She yelled in pain and fell to her knees, dropping one of her lightsabers. He loomed over her.

A brick flew out of the darkness and smacked into the back of his head. He fell without a sound.

Serana winced as she forced herself to her feet, clutching the wound on her leg. The girl hurried out of the darkness.

"Are you alright?" she asked breathlessly. "Did he hurt you? Did I get him in time?" She noticed Serana limping. "Your leg…"

"I'll be fine," she grunted. "I've had worse." She pulled her dropped lightsaber into her hand.

"I'm Ashla," the girl said. Serana had to stop thinking of her as "the girl", they were about the same age.

"Serana," she replied. "I'm sorry I left you behind, that was pretty stupid of me."

"It's alright," Ashla said. "You came back, that's what's important."

Something brushed against Serana's leg. She looked down to see a white Loth-cat purring as it rubbed against her.

"Oh, don't mind him," Ashla smiled. "He hangs around sometimes."

Harsh white light shone through the rain. A pair of spotlights focused on them, pinning them down. Jedi poured out of the night, filling both ends of the street.

"Don't move!" came a voice over a loudspeaker. "You are surrounded. Drop your weapons and prepare to be taken into custody."

A hail of laser fire erupted through the darkness. The Jedi ship exploded as its shields failed under the assault. Serana's ship hovered over them. The cargo ramp extended.

"Get on!" Serana yelled, as the Jedi started charging towards them. Ashla grabbed the cat and jumped upwards, barely managing to land on the edge of the cargo ramp. Serana jumped up beside her and pulled her onboard. The ship started pulling upwards and the ramp closed.

"Why aren't we going anywhere?" Serana growled, barging her way into the cockpit. Her leg was killing her.

"They're trying to pull us down," S17 beeped. "If you could –" She stopped as she saw the cat. "I thought we were rescuing a girl, not a cat."

"We are," Serana grimaced. "It's her cat."

"If the damn thing tries to pee on me, I'm chucking it off and using it for target practice." She turned back to face the window. "A little help, please?"

"Can't you just shoot them?"

"Oh, if only I'd thought of that! They're doing something to the guns, I can't aim properly."

"Can we still spin around?" S17 beeped in the affirmative. "Point the engines at them and fire up the afterburners."

"What's happening – ahh!" Ashla yelped as the ship slewed around, throwing her into a wall. The force of the afterburners pressed Serana back in her seat. The sky leapt towards them.

"We're clear," S17 beeped. "Where to next?"

"New Alderaan," Serana groaned.

"Course set. Hyperdrive cloak engaged. Entering hyperspace." The stars blurred around them as they jumped into hyperspace.

"Now that that's done with," S17 beeped, "care to make the introductions?"

"S17, this is Ashla," Serana said. "She's on the run from the Jedi. Ashla, this is S17-X33. She's the ship's pilot."

She groaned in pain as she got up and started making her way to the medical bay. She needed to see to her leg before they landed.