Chapter 15

Kai kept to the side streets, trying to rack her brain.

She had knocked out all of those guys, but they were sure to wake up pissed off and ready for vengeance. Kai hoped to have found her only two allies by then, but this town was a maze. It was a miracle that she found the hospital that one time that she ventured into town. She couldn't read this world's language, so she had to take a guess based on the signs.

"Come on. Come on." She muttered to herself.

The teen feared a heart attack with all the stress she had gone through that day.

The Jedi had been betrayed by the soldiers that had fought, that had died, that had laughed, that had cried with the Jedi. Kai held no delusions that the Republic would be doing anything, if the swirling Dark Side was any indication of the Sith takeover, and if it was a Sith takeover….

Well, there's very little a lone Jedi, and a Padawan at that, could do against a fully trained, highly dangerous Sith Lord that managed to play both the Separatists and the Republic for the longest time.

Kai needed to focus right here, right now though.

She needed to find Doctor Hynek and Captain Quinn. And fast.

Kai stretched out with the Force, feeling for the two beings in this world that she was connected. Well, besides the thing she called Bud.

And they were close. Maybe about a block away at best.

Only question was how was she going to make it there.

The streets were out of the question. Despite it being still early, there were people going about their business. The rooftops were a viable option but there wasn't much of a camouflage up there, where all the people could see her if they just looked up. Kai again cursed her luck. Her eyes drifted to what looked like the man who shot at her who knows how long ago. He had pulled up in a brand-new looking vehicle, especially compared to the other vehicles that drove through the town, and parked literally right out of the alleyway that she was hiding in.

Kai licked her lips, smirking.

Maybe her luck was finally turning around.

She tensed, preparing herself to pounce. Kai watched as the man leisurely stepped out of the vehicle, and, without locking the doors, wandered off.

Oh, her luck was definitely turning around.

Kai waited until the man had walked off, counting to ten before pouncing. The vehicle was weird, but it was similar enough to a land speeder that Kai thought she could figure it out. Of course, she hadn't really driven a land speeder enough times that she saw any differences straight away. It had a gas pedal, a brake pedal, and a round thing that she took to be the steering wheel. With a quick turn of the keys, the vehicle roared to life.

Without thinking, Kai slammed her foot on the gas pedal. She gripped the wheel in panic as the vehicle took off down the street. It would've been hilarious to see all the people dash out of the way in a panic as she struggled to keep control of the vehicle. Closer and closer to where the two humans were, Kai prayed to all the deities that she knew that she wouldn't die in a fiery ball of death before she reached them.

When she reached where the two men supposedly were, Kai yanked on the steering wheel and slammed into a red thing sitting on the sidewalk. The front of the truck bent like plastic, water spewing upward in all direction. Kai's head hit the steering wheel painfully.

There was a worry that so many head injuries would do her more harm than good, but with the adrenaline pumping full force through her veins as she stumbled out of the vehicle, Kai figured that she would have to worry about that later. Doctor Hynek had stepped out of a building, probably to investigate the sounds of panic. He caught her eye, the teen noticed the slight panic in them, before dashing through the door that ajar behind him. A moment later, she ran smack into Captain Quinn and the two tumbled to the ground with an 'oomph'.

"Kai?" she heard Doctor Hynek ask as he slammed and locked the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Military…men. They were, eck, they'd probably come to investigate the crash." She glanced up, blinking the dark spots away as she took in the two men's troubled expression. "What?"

"Are you sure they were the military?"

"Had the stripes and everythin'. Urgh." She leaned against the Captain, feeling a bit queasy.

"Looks like you hit your head." Captain Quinn announced suddenly.

"No kriffing shit." She growled out. "The room's spinnin'."

"I'll go get a cold cloth." Doctor Hynek said before dashing to another door inside the room.

Kai tried to steady her breath, her head throbbing in time with her pounding heart. "Two head wounds in one day….mmmmm, now I ain't a doctor but I'm pretty sure that this isn't good."

"No. It's not."

Hynek returned with a block of ice wrapped in a cloth which he pressed up against her head wound. "What about your ship?"

"Buried it behind several pounds of rubble. No way they're getting through."

"Eh, I beg to differ." Captain Quinn stood and quickly shut the blinds as sirens started to be heard. "We may be primitive compared to you, but we do have dynamite."

"Dynamite would only cause more rocks to cover the entrance and the destruction of my ship." Kai hissed in pain as she shifted. "No, to get to the buried treasure, you'd have to be Force-Sensitive. And…...there aren't any more of those around."

"What do you mean?"

Kai didn't say anything. She couldn't.

Voicing it, voicing her suspicions could easily make it true. And she wasn't sure she was ready to turn down that road.

"I'll tell you later." She forced out. "I need to get out of town."

"Right well, lucky for you, we're just about to head on out." Captain Quinn said. He gathered a suitcase, throwing things into there with no regards of his clothes getting wrinkled. "The generals did stop by this morning, telling that they had it under control."

"What did you tell the town?"

"We told them that the first crash was a meteor that released a type of spore the caused mass hallucinations." Doctor Hynek said as he packed up his own things. "I don't know what they're going to say about the second crash."

"Since there're bodies, I'd bet they're going to say it's the Russians or something."

"How are you going to sneak me out?" she asked. Kai leaned up against one of the beds, placing the cold compress the bump on her head. She wanted to fall asleep, and let this day fade into obscurity, but she had to be awake.

She had to be aware.

"Well, you're not going to like it."

Kai didn't particularly care at that point. Anything to get her out of this town and somewhere safe.

Though, as the man told her the plan, she had to agree. She really didn't like this plan.