19 BBY

An alarm sounded throughout the temple that Linon Orva had never heard in his short, eight year life. "Linon! Quickly!" His master rushed into the room to wake him. "You must hurry!" His expression was one of deep concern.
"What is it, Master?" Linon asked, throwing aside the loosely woven blanket and touching his bare feet to the cold floor at the edge of his cot.
"The Temple is under attack." His master answered on his way back out of Linon's room. Linon flew from the bed and snatched up his training saber.
"Master Sevell! Who?" He called as he quickly dressed, pulling on his boots as he exited the room.
"A Dark Jedi with an army." Linon felt himself fill with fear and reached out to his Master where he normally found calm.

Jedi Knight Luca Sevell was a master swordsman and specialized in negotiation and psychology. He was always an oasis of understanding, serenity and comfort for all the Jedi the Temple. But not today. Linon touched his Master and found barely covered fear, remorse and anxiety but only a very little, very strained sense of calm. He looked up and met Linon's scared blue-grey eyes. "We must hurry." He said gently. "Every Jedi is needed to defend the Temple. All the younglings are being sent down through the lower levels to escape. You will go with them." Linon felt panic swell up from his gut.
"You're not coming with me?"
"No, Padawan, I must defend the Temple. Many of the Jedi are off world because of the war. We all must do what we can."
"Then let me fight too!"
"No, Linon. I need you to help protect the younglings." Sevell pushed him out into the chaotic hallway. Linon had never seen the Jedi Temple as anything but quiet- a place of learning and growing in the Force. Now, younglings, padawans, Knights and Masters rushed through the halls. The Force was permeated with fear and anticipation.
"Master Tireon! Take Linon." The Twi'lik Master paused and reached for Linon, gently pressing the back of his shoulder towards the group of younglings standing at the corner.
"Master Sevell!" He called, distressed to be separated from his master.
"Stay strong. Use the force- protect the others. May the force be with you, my Padawan." Sevell called as he turned to run towards a waiting group of Jedi in the opposite direction. Linon fought back tears as he joined the others. Many of them were already crying. He squeezed the shoulder of a little human girl, trying to send her encouraging feelings, though he barely felt any himself.
"Come along, younglings, this way." Master Tireon led them though the residence halls then around the last corner to the second floor balance overlooking the open entryway of the Temple. "Quickly, younglings!" The urgency in Tireon's voice combined with the nervous twitching of her headtails propelled them forward, then another sound caught their attention.
"Master?" Linon called uncertainly. A dark presence was growing larger in the Force. Linon concentrated, trying to pin point where it was coming from. It was below him, coming into the Temple? His eyes widened. The loud clanking of footsteps echoed though the entryway and the force. The younglings, having already slowed to a crawl, stopped to look over the ledge. Linon grasped the stone rail with white-knuckled fingers.

The Dark Jedi marched in, hood up, robes billowing, a lightsaber swinging menacingly at his side. Behind him came a legion of Clone Troopers, fully armed. Linon's eyes widened as the sith suddenly flew forward to meet the small sea of Jedi Knights waiting for him. They were no match him and he cut through their ranks as though they were a room of statues. Linon saw his own master rush forward to defend an older padawan.
"Master!" He called out over the den. The Sith paused and looked up at the balcony, his yellowed eyes locking onto Linon's for a moment, then he turned and after a brief exchange of green blade clashing against red, Master Sevell was viciously struck down. "NO!" Linon's call ripped through the force and again the Dark Jedi met his gaze, but this time Linon recognized him. "Master Skywalker!" The sith scowled and turned, swiftly taking down two more opponents with added vengeance.

"Younglings!" Master Tieron insisted. Some of the younglings were crying so hard they couldn't move for their fright. Linon shoved them into motion from behind then heard something else- blaster fire. He turned to see clone troopers were on their level making their way across the balcony, laying down a curtain of fire and they were cutting down younglings.
"Run!" He screamed over the noise, "Just run!" They took off, the little ones running as fast as they could. Master Tieron, holding one of the smallest already, stopped to grab the hand of another and was struck through the abdomen by a stray green bolt. She went down hard and the younglings immediately stopped. "No! Go! Keep going!" Blaster fire began pelting the group as Linon tried to pull the two younglings out from under Tieron's body. The girl moving to help him was suddenly struck down, then another behind her.

Linon ran. He rounded the corner and slid to a halt. Another line of troopers were coming back up the hall towards them. They were cut off! Linon wrenched his training saber off his belt and turned it up as high as it would go. It wouldn't do any damage but it could at least deflect their bolts. He stood his ground; determination furrowed his brow and set his lips in a line. Suddenly presented with a defiant target, the clone troopers began shooting directly at the young padawan. He dodged and leapt through the air, deflecting every bolt he could. He channeled every bit of the training his Master had drilled into him. Bolts were redirected everywhere- into the floor, the walls, though the open doorways of the meditation rooms- one somehow making it back to the trooper it came from, taking him down. Finally, his luck ran out and a bolt landed solidly just under his left knee. He cried out and clutched at his leg all the while trying to continue defending himself one handed. The effort was too much and another shot took him in the right shoulder. This time he only grunted, too busy concentrating on the blaster of the fallen trooper. He was never very good at telekinesis but now was not the time for a lack of faith. The blaster started to slowly skid across the floor bit I would never make it in time. Linon abandoned the effort and dove into the nearest meditation room. He flew to the far corner and slammed the end of his saber into the air duct grating until it gave enough for him to scramble inside.

He crawled for what seemed like hours, the effort making both his leg and shoulder scream. Reaching a large fan leading into the cooling unit in the lowest levels of the Temple, he finally stopped and hugged his knees to his chest. The force was riddled with death. He tried to block it out, tried not to feel the Dark Jedi as he moved through the Temple with his army, destroying everything Linon knew. He had to get out and quickly. It wouldn't be long before the troopers made it down to his level. Taking a few deep breaths to steady his shaking hands, he took the training saber in his left hand and began banging it against the metal bracket holding the air shaft together. It slowly bent but at a rate so slow he was sure he'd be found before he got out. The thought frustrated and angered him and suddenly his blows had more power. The bracket finally gave way and he fell out through the crack several feet to the floor below. He landed hard and his already shrieking right shoulder gave way to the floor with a harsh crack. He rolled from side to side, holding his arm and screaming, unable to control the pain for several minutes, before finally laying quiet. His took one breath, then two, finally able to focus on the center of the pain and suppress it long enough to push up to his knees. He hauled himself to his feet and limped through the large maintenance room that serviced the Temple. He heard the clang of clone trooper footsteps on the service catwalks above him.

"There!" Green bolts began raining down on him, forcing him to move faster. He ducked behind a large tank causing their shots to splang against machinery. The shooting stopped, the whine being replaced by their clanging footsteps again. Linon ran further, sliding under a row of pipes to huddle in the shadows as their steps grew louder. They seemed impossibly loud before finally stopping. He glanced out from his hiding place, hoping desperately that they weren't using infrared sensors, as watched white-clad boots move back and forth in front of him. "This quadrant is clear, the target is not here. Report to Darth Vader then move to the next quadrant." The mechanical voice seemed so loud to him; louder than their steps. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. Vader?

Linon waited until the harsh sounds of the troopers' boots finally faded away, then reached out though the force to see if any had stayed behind. When he was convinced he was again alone, he hauled himself out of his hiding place and limped to the end of the wall in search of a way out. Finally, he came across an exhaust duct leading to an alley outside the Temple's foundation. Slowly, painfully, he pulled himself up onto the lip of the exhaust port and carefully squeezed his way between the first set of slats.

"Hey!" He jumped harshly, panic quickly setting in, "Captain! I found him, he's over here!" He quickly wormed his way through the slats, just barely escaping the reach of the clone. Without pausing, he threw himself into the second set of slats as the trooper, too big to follow, began slicing away at the first set. Just as he got through, the first set broke and the trooper lunged after him. A gloved hand grabbed hold of Linon's ankle.

"No! Please!" Linon cried out as he kicked as hard as he could against the trooper's grasp. The third managed to connect solidly enough to loosen the grasp on his ankle enough for him to pull himself through the slats. He fell down into the alley. His bad leg caused him to roll upon landing, but he came up running in a half-jog half- hop down the alleyway. The sun had come up sometime during the attack and cast long shadows as it tried to reach past so many obstacles on Coruscant's crowded surface. He would need a way to cover his tunic, to blend in. He slowed, glancing around the corner to see if there were any waiting clone troopers, and saw instead four Jedi- two masters and two padawans, lying dead before him. Choking back a rush of fear and panic, Linon quickly stripped a padawans of his cloak, belt and lightsaber. He gently touch the brave Jedi's shoulder in a thank you, then turned and fled as far as he could, moving through and down the levels, avoiding anything white that came into view regardless of what it actually was. He traveled for what felt like days, his fears refusing to let him stop until the sun was high and his surroundings were considerably less appealing. Finally, he stepped out onto a street that was nearly as dark as night and severely unkempt. He'd never been this far down on Coruscant's levels. He didn't know how far he'd gone, he just hoped it was far enough. Finding a small alcove between to crumbling buildings, he tucked himself in, wrapping the battle-work robes tight around his shoulders, and finally, painfully wept.