"Serana? Serana?"
She drifted. She must be alive. Dead people didn't hurt this much.
"She's awake! She's awake! Somebody get Mira!"
She opened her eyes. She was in a hospital bed. S17 was standing beside her, beeping happily.
"What happened?" Serana groaned. Her head was pounding like the mother of all hangovers.
"You appeared in Mira's room," S17 beeped. "In a big flash of light. Nobody could wake you up, so we moved you to the hospital."
"Urgh... How long?"
"Almost a week."
"A week!" She jerked bolt upright. "They have Ashla! I need to go and get her back!"
S17 beeped furiously. "WHAT? They have her?" To her relief, she didn't argue. "Your stuff's in the cabinet. I'll go and get you something to wear, and warm the ship up. I assume we're leaving immediately?"
"As soon as I've said goodbye to Mira."
Right on cue, Mira stormed into the ward. "I was so worried!" she exclaimed. "Don't ever scare me like that again!"
"It's probably a bad time to bring this up, then," Serana started awkwardly.
"I know," Mira said. "S17 was streaming the whole conversation to me." Serana glared at the droid, who had the decency to look abashed. As much as a droid could, anyway. "When do we leave?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's this 'we'?"
"I'm coming with you."
"Since when?"
"Since now."
Serana gritted her teeth. "Name one reason why I'd let you do that."
"I have an armada of starships crewed by people trained to fight Jedi."
S17 beeped in agreement. "You've got to admit, that's a pretty good reason."
Serana slumped back against the bed. "There's nothing I can say to dissuade you?" Mira shook her head. "Fine. Go get me some clothes. S17, go warm the ship up. We're leaving as soon as I get dressed."
She checked the cabinet beside the bed after they'd both left. Both her lightsabers were inside it, as well as her necklace.
She began dressing when Mira came back with her clothes. Black shirt, black trousers, boots that came halfway up her calves. She paused as she saw the coat that Mira had brought.
"I thought it appropriate," Mira said quietly. "After all this time."
She pulled it on reverentially. A long duster of black leather that swirled around her ankles. Scuffs and scratches covered it, and the bottom was stained with flecks of mud. It fit her perfectly. She finished by strapping her lightsabers to her belt and tucking her necklace under her shirt.
"You kept the ring," Mira said, as they walked towards the docking site.
"Of course I did," Serana replied. "Why wouldn't I?"
She shrugged. "You didn't seem best pleased when we parted ways. I thought..." She trailed off as they reached the ship. A group of ten of Clan Ross's elite warriors were milling around.
"What's this?" Serana asked.
"I thought it might be a good idea to have some backup," Mira said innocently.
She sighed. "Fine. All aboard. We don't have any more time to waste."
"So," S17 asked, as Serana entered the cockpit, "what exactly is your plan? The whole Coruscant system's surrounded by an interdiction field, we can't get there via hyperdrive."
"I teleport us in," Serana said. "We take out the interdiction beacon, and the rest of the fleet jumps in."
"Go back to that first bit," Mira said. "You teleport us in?"
"That's how I got here from Tython."
"And it knocked you out for a week. How're you going to teleport an entire starship?"
"I have a plan. Get us into space."
"Wait!"
Terrel Ross strode towards the ship. He looked angry.
"What were you thinking?" he demanded. "Did you think I wouldn't find out? You're taking my entire fleet, and you're not taking me with you?"
"Why'd you think we're waiting?" Mira called. "Hop on."
The ramp closed up behind him and they started lifting off the ground. The dome opened up to allow them out. They rose quickly into space.
The radio burst to life as ships started calling in. It wasn't just Clan Ross. Clan Fett, Clan Saxon, Clan Wren, Clan Rook, Clan Djarin, Clan Rau, even ships from the Imperial Clan Kryze. Everybody wanted in.
"Exactly how many people are coming with us?" Serana asked.
"Erm... Looks like all of them," S17 beeped. "Time to execute your cunning plan."
"Tell the fleet to travel to the Alsakan system and monitor the interdiction field. As soon as it's down, commence the attack on Coruscant."
S17 relayed the instructions. The ships started jumping into hyperspace. Within minutes, they were alone. Serana pressed her hand against the console. It wasn't all that different, really. Life was smooth, chaotic, free-flowing, whereas the energy flowing through the circuits was regular, ordered, predictable, but underneath it they were essentially the same thing. She pulled at it, absorbing power from the ship. The reactor compensated by directing more power to the console, so the energy pulsed stronger and stronger the more of it she drew.
She closed her eyes. She could see the stars, the world outside the world. Every one was the same, and every one was different. One of them pulsed strongly. She grabbed hold of it, forced the power she'd absorbed into it and bent space and time around the ship.
They vanished.
Coruscant appeared before them. A massive fleet of Jedi ships floated in front of the planet. As they appeared, they began focusing on them, locking weapons.
"How are we going to get through that?" Mira breathed.
"It's impossible," Terrel said. "You'd need Jedi reflexes just to avoid getting hit, let alone actually get anywhere."
S17 laughed. "Oh, ye of little faith." She pulled a disc from a drawer under the console and slotted it into a player. Music started coming out of the speakers.
Serana grabbed at the seatbelt. "Here we go again..."
