Welcome in 2020! At this point, I'd like to thank all of you who have been with me since the beginning and those who joined me along the way. I'm very grateful to all of you who were kind enough to leave a review. At the same time, I ask the rest of my readers to write your thoughts for me to improve. Also, I'll try to end this story this year and most certainly your reviews will help me in achieving this. With that said, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 19

Somewhere down the corridor, Meetra found the container. Having nothing but her underwear on herself, she decided to check if she could find something useful. Luck was on her side. She found a miner's uniform that fit her, a few medpacs and a vibrosword. She quickly put on the clothing and attached the weapon to the belt.

"I've found the emergency supplies" she informed Atton via the commlink.

"Good" he replied. "It might be useful if you continue further down into the mining tunnels."

"Yes," Meetra confirmed. She smiled wickedly after a certain thought entered her mind. "And it looks like there are some clothes in here" she added.

"Dammit" Atton commented quietly. Apparently, he didn't realize that he was still online. "Uh… I mean, good, good to hear it" he tried to get himself out of the situation he was in. "No sense in you running around half-naked. It's… it's distracting…" Meetra smiled again. He was just getting himself deeper and deeper. "I mean, for the droids." He added. His voice was indicating that he was nervous as hell.

Meetra giggled a little. Soon enough it turned out into full laughter. Luckily for her, she deactivated her communicator. She wouldn't admit it to him, but she enjoyed making Atton nervous.

"You're still there?" she heard after a few minutes of hysterical laughter. Meetra wiped away a tear that was running down her chin and took in a few calming breaths.

"Yeah, what is it?" she asked.

"I did some scanning and found out that with the miner's uniform there should also be a safety harness and a survey gear," Atton informed her. "You should check the crate again, it could be useful to have it with you. The miners wear them when staking claims on the asteroids. The survey gear is designed to spot and protect against sonic mines… and the safety harness can be helpful if you try to disarm them."

"I understand" Meetra replied and reopened the crate. Just as Atton said, she found the gear and the harness. "It's here" she informed him. "There's some kind of mining energy shield in this crate too" she added.

"Yeah, it's like a military-issue energy shield, except it's designed to protect the miners against lasers… and heat. Should work against the droid mining lasers" he informed her. "It won't last forever" he quickly added. "And certainly not against multiple laser hits – but it may buy you some time if you get ambushed by a battalion of droids."

"It will be useful" Meetra deducted, examining the shield in her hands. She quickly put on the gear and the harness and attached the shield to her arm.

"All you have to do is attach it to your arm" Atton explained to her. "If you have to activate it, you simply…"

"Atton" she interrupted gently. The man cleared his throat.

"Thank you for your concern, but I've been at war" Meetra informed him. "I know how to use an energy shield" she added with the same wicked smile as before.

"Okay," he replied. Once again he sounded nervous and once again Meetra couldn't help but giggle at that. "Uh, just one more thing" he added just as she was about to turn off the communicator.

"What is it?"

"I've narrowed down some of the ID signals, and if the numbers are right, you're sharing those tunnels with a battalion of mining droids." That didn't sound good.

"Can I sneak by them?" Meetra asked hopefully. She wasn't a coward – she simply knew when she shouldn't risk too much. It's been a while since her last battle and she woke up from a coma recently. Back in the Mandalorian Wars, when she had her lightsaber and the Force, Meetra wouldn't hesitate and would rush against the droids, taking them down one by one. But now all she had was a cheap vibrosword and a mere echo of what used to be the center of her life.

"You could" Atton replied. "If you have the skill and a stealth field generator" he added, crushing her hopes. "Those droids rely on thermal sensors, primarily to detect fuel deposits. The good thing is, that explosion down there kicked up so much heat and steam it may blind them… a bit, but not too much" he added quickly.

"So what do you suggest I do when they spot me?" Meetra asked. It wasn't to tease him. She used to be a General and the General knows when to listen to her men.

"Well, these are construction models… they shoot like a moisture farmer militia" Atton informed her. "Since they rely on ranged weapons, get in close with that vibrosword and start bashing them. In close combat, the guy with the vibrosword has the edge over the guy with the rifle, droid or not. Otherwise, just drill them from a distance – if they're not shielded that is" he explained.

"Shielded?" Meetra repeated.

"Yeah, it's possible some of the droids models have mining shields on. If so, the shields may absorb laser fire. If they activate a shield, the best thing you can do is hit them with the vibrosword or try to burn out the shield with continual fire. But that could take a while, and it leaves you a target" he added.

"Then it's a good thing I'm way better with swords than blasters" Meetra commented. With that, she turned off her communicator.

Trying to remain cautious, Meetra proceeded further down into the mining tunnels. It wasn't long before she reached a room where the path split in three. Luckily for her, two of the paths were blocked by the collapsed rocks so she didn't have to think much about where to go next. She turned left and soon noticed that the corridor quickly moved over for a tunnel drilled in a raw rock.

She was about to go further when she felt something in the tunnels. Something was out there, waiting for her, yet the presence stood from nothing that lived. After taking in a few shaky breaths, Meetra did her best to stretch out her senses, attempting to get a better understanding of what was waiting for her. Just as before, she felt the electrical circuits and heard the metallic footsteps. Droids, she realized.

Despite what Atton said, Meetra didn't draw her sword immediately. She handled a couple of droids earlier on, using only the Force. And if she wanted to regain full control of it, it would be best to use it against the obstacles ahead.

After taking in the last deep breath, Meetra went out of her hiding, allowing the droids to locate her. Four mining machines charged at her at once, firing at her. Meetra had no problem in avoiding the blaster shots, using only her agility that she developed during her Jedi training and later perfected in the countless campaigns against the Mandalorians. The blasts hit only the air and the wall behind her.

After avoiding a dozen or so shots, Meetra stretched out her hand, summoning the Force. Just like before, she felt the energy surge in her palm and then it erupted with a flash of bright lightning, hitting the machines in front of her. They all went down immediately, their electrical circuits burning beneath their metal armor. No shield was capable of protecting them from it.

After every single one of the droids collapsed on the floor, Meetra proceeded further, entering a large cave.

She never was inside of an asteroid; she only saw them from the bridge of the ship or from her fighter. They always seemed so small to her – like stars in the night sky. But now, going deeper and deeper in the asteroid, Meetra realized that she was wrong. It was huge. She guessed that it could fit a full Hammerhead Cruiser inside and still have some space left in it. She chuckled humorlessly. After the battle in the Jaga's Cluster, she should be aware of just how big the asteroids could be.

An enormous heat was radiating from the only path she could go. She felt the sweat run down her face and back.

"Hey, watch out" Atton contacted her. "That explosion has super-heated the tunnels ahead. That steam will cook the skin off your bones" he warned her.

"That I realized" she replied.

"Switch on the mining energy shield" he advised. "It should protect you against the heat if you move quickly enough."

"Understood. Meetra Surik out" she said and turned off the communicator.

Meetra immediately activated the shield that was attached to her arm and quickly felt the difference. It was still hot, but now it seemed bearable enough. She quickly launched into the tunnel, running as fast as her legs could carry her.

When she reached the end of the tunnel she was all sweating but it was far better than being cooked alive. She didn't have much time to rest as she had to jump forward to avoid being hit by the mine that she accidentally stepped on. After rising to her feet, she found herself facing the mining droid. It didn't notice her at first as it wasn't turned in her direction. She used it to her advantage and drew her vibrosword and cut the droid down. It went down in a small explosion.

The heat was still enormous in the chamber she found herself in. Meetra decided to go further cause the shield was about to wear off. She quickly spotted another tunnel and headed in its direction. The further she was from the way she came from, the more heat was going down.

"You're getting close to something big – I think it's the main ventilation shaft" Atton contacted her again. "The central droid controller should be somewhere nearby. Keep an eye out for it. I'm picking up a lot of droids. If you still have a mining energy shield, I'd equip it and switch it on."

Ever watchful, she mused.

"There aren't just mining droids down here – there are sensor balls, too" she replied after scanning the area ahead.

"Sensor?" she queried, obviously taken by surprise. "Must be maintenance drones" he commented and then the realization hit him. "Watch out, those little pests will try to repair the mining droids if you don't take them down first. Still, it's odd they're still active after the explosion" he mused. "They don't have the same shielding as the mining droids… be careful of those droids, I don't like this" he warned her.

"Copy that."

Following Atton's advice, Meetra turned the shield on again and entered the large chamber. Inside, she found a few rotting corpses, yet thanks to the enormous size of the room she was in, the smell didn't hit her nostrils as it did on her way from the medical bay. She approached the console that was located in the middle of the room.

She used the terminal to her advantage and turned off the droids. The console obeyed her instructions. Deciding to use it further, she entered the camera controls, hoping to get a better understanding of what was ahead. But something caught her attention and she completely forgot what she was going to do in the first place.

'Unidentified Holorecord Camera: Work Claim 12-34' it said. She clicked it and after a few seconds of loading, Meetra was presented with a camera record. It turned out to be a recording of the miners.

"Everybody here?" one of the men asked.

"What's up Coorta?" another one asked. "We're supposed to be sinking fuel siphons into the 32-18 asteroid shelf right now."

"Forget the siphons" the man called Coorta scolded him. "You know that young female survivor they pulled from the freighter? One of the miners said they served with her on Malachor V."

"Malachor V?" the third one asked. "So she's one of the survivors – or worse, a Mandalorian. So what?"

"Not a survivor, idiot" Coorta scolded another one of his companions. "She's one of the Jedi from Malachor V" he informed them.

"If she's one of the Jedi… Hell, we can't have her walking around here! She'll… why, I don't know what she'll do."

"I thought all the Jedi were wiped out in the Civil War. Weren't they?"

"Guess they missed one" Coorta replied. "But it gets better – I did some checking, and that bounty on Nar Shaddaa's still alive," he said with a lecherous voice that caused Meetra to shiver unwillingly.

"Wh… you want to sell the Jedi to the Exchange?" one of the miners asked, clearly not believing what he's just heard. "Coorta, have you been chewing spice?"

"Look, you know how big that bounty is? That Jedi's our ticked off this rock."

"Coorta, there's no way the officers will go for that. They'll lock us up for sure."

"Then we'll improvise." With that, the recording ended.

Meetra took a step away from the console. Suddenly, checking on cameras what was ahead didn't seem so important to her anymore. Atton was right. There was indeed a bounty on the live Jedi.

"Hey, I'm picking up some strange readings – what are you doing there?" Atton contacted her, interrupting her thoughts.

"What kind of readings?" she asked.

"The containment fields in the mining tunnels are shutting down" he warned her. "You need to get out of there before they vent fuel to the surface of the asteroid through the tunnels."

"How much time do I have?"

"I may be able to keep it contained until you get the turbolift to the fuel depot, but not for much longer" he replied honestly. "I'm locking down the turbolift to the administration section now to keep the blast from spreading" Atton informed her. "If you've got anything left to do down there, make it quick, because where you are is going to get real hot, real soon" he advised.

Meetra didn't have to be told twice. She went into a full sprint once again, heading in the only way possible. Luckily for her, that route took her to the turbolift. She pressed the doors to open and kept pressing the button until it obeyed, allowing her to enter. As soon as she did, the whole level shook and she was forced to jump forward to avoid the explosion from behind. Luckily for her, the door of the turbolift was closed before she could get harmed in any way. The lights in the lift gleamed a few times.

When the door to the turbolift opened, Meetra found herself standing right in front of a corpse. This one couldn't be dead for long, she deducted, because the flesh didn't start rotting yet. From what she remembered from the record, the man lying in front of her was none other than Coorta. She came closer to examine him.

Before she could do anything, she heard metallic footsteps. Meetra cursed herself for being caught so off-guard and turned around to face the droid.

"Greeting: It is a pleasure to see you alive, Master" a silver droid in a humanoid shape greeted her just as Meetra was about to attack it. "Provided my receptors are not off-focus. How may I be of assistance?"

"How do you know me? And who are you?" Meetra asked, still having the vibrosword in her hand. "I'm not your Master."

"Introduction: I am HK-50, a protocol droid. And I am a survivor of the Harbinger, just as you were, Master" the droid replied. Meetra couldn't help but notice a large blaster rifle in its hand, luckily not pointed at her. "With the unexpected termination of my previous Master, you are the only organic, which I may now serve."

"Who was your previous Master?" Meetra queried, still looking suspiciously at the droid.

"Answer: The captain of the Harbinger, Master. I was in transit to Telos to facilitate communications and terminate hostilities… However, we did not arrive at our intended destination."

"What happened?" Meetra asked, even though Kreia told her already.

"Irritated answer: Oh, Master, it is such a long, dull story" the droid replied. "And not terribly relevant to our current situation."

Meetra didn't know if the droids could do that, but she had a feeling that this unit was deliberately hiding the information from her.

"Why don't you tell me anyway?" she demanded.

"Hesitant explanation: That has been the subject of considerable discussion since our arrival here, Master. Many have attempted to claim you and this unit as a salvage" the droid explained. "I was crudely interrogated concerning our brief history together onboard the Harbinger… before its communications, weapons, and engines suffered the cascade failure that disabled the ship."

"How come I don't remember any of this?"

"Speculation: It is possible you were incapacitated and locked in the well-shielded cargo compartment as the Harbinger was being systematically crippled, Master" the droid explained.

"Incapacitated?" she repeated.

"Clarification: Yes, Master. No doubt the flurry of destruction onboard the Harbinger somehow drugged you into a stupor from which you could not awaken. Most curious."

"Drugged?! What do you mean drugged?" she asked, instinctively lifting her hand to the spot where she had wounds from syringes.

"Placation: Merely a turn of phrase, Master. The implication that your state was due to the result of ingesting large quantities of juma juice was unintentional. I meant to communicate only that you were somehow rendered unconscious before you were locked securely in the cargo hold."

Now Meetra remembered some of the events that took place on board the Harbinger. She was drugged by a man that entered her dorm. Yet she doubted if she was indeed placed in a cargo hold. "Care to explain how I was locked in the cargo hold?"

"Clarification: By locked, I meant 'sealed', Master. My vocabulator seems to be malfunctioning."

"Fine – what happened next?"

"Recitation: Following the unusual set of coincidences that led to the cascade failure in the Harbinger's systems, we were boarded by a small freighter with unknown ID codes. Your cargo compartment was breached, and you were taken on board the freighter before the Harbinger's systems began to go critical. I, too, managed to board the freighter before the Harbinger's destruction. We were most fortunate to have survived, Master."

Meetra didn't know what to think about the droid's words. One thing was sure – someone lied to her. Either Atton or the droid in front of her. "Any idea what had attacked the small freighter?"

"Evaluation: Master, I do not know. Judging from the damage, it had been attacked by a much larger vessel. And when it attempted to escape the Harbinger with you on board, it was fired on. Addendum: It does seem odd that such a small vessel has a high probability of attracting the attention of a much larger vessel. Not a welcome trait in a freighter, to be sure.

"What was this freighter that boarded the Harbinger?" she asked.

"Explanation: I believe it was a smuggler's vessel by the name of the 'Ebon Hawk" HK-50 informed her. At least this goes along with what Atton and Kreia said, Meetra mused. "Speculation: As for its purpose, I do not know. Perhaps it was always its intention to play dead, then kidnap you off the Harbinger and rob me of my bounty." That caught her attention.

"Bounty?" she asked.

"Clarification: By bounty, I refer to your life, Master. It would pain me to see you damaged in any way. That is why the arrival of this 'Ebon Hawk' caused me considerable distress" the droid explained.

"And the Ebon Hawk came here?"

"Apology: My memory core cannot provide a clear answer on that point, Master. Suffice to say that once we arrived at this floating rock, our situation became much clearer."

"How so?"

"Explanation: Despite my market value, Master, the miners were far more interested in you. It did not take long for me to ascertain the reason for this. While an HK protocol droid is a valuable piece of property, Jedi are worth much more in certain… exclusive markets across the galaxy." At this point, Meetra was already preparing for a fight. The droid's words unsettled her. She carefully moved one of her hands behind her back. "Painful Admission: I must confess to feelings of inferiority at the speculated difference between my value and the price for your capture. I was forced to remind myself it was not due to a failing of my model or function, but because you were a Jedi."

The hand behind her back sparkled with electricity. Despite how careful the droid was with choosing its words, Meetra was able to see through the lies. In a quick movement, she outstretched her hand, aiming to destroy the droid in the same way she dealt with the mining droids.

She was surprised that the unit in front of her didn't go down like the others. She looked at her hand with wide eyes before she was pushed a few meters back by a strong punch in the ribcage that took her breath away. She thought that the blow broke a few of her ribs. Meetra struggled to regain her breath as she was lying on the floor, coughing violently.

"Resigned statement: Oh, Master, why do you have to complicate things?" the droid asked, slowly approaching her. Meetra saw that the blaster rifle HK was carrying was now pointed at her. "Clarification: I truly did not want things to end this way."

In the last second possible, Meetra activated her shield and rolled to the side. A shot hit her in the shoulder, but thanks to the shield, it slid instead of dismembering her. It still hurt, though. She forced herself to her feet, drawing her vibrosword and preparing for a fight.

"Threat: I have killed many Jedi, Master," the droid said with gleaming eyes. "I advise you to surrender. Now."

"You might have killed many Jedi, droid" Meetra replied, eyeing her opponent. "But I'm not one of them."

With that, she charged at the HK unit, delivering a series of blows. The droid turned out to be much more agile than she anticipated, avoiding almost all of her strikes. The only time she hit it, she cut off its hand in which it was carrying a blaster.

In response, HK delivered his own series of punches and kicks that were strong enough to break her bones. Meetra managed to avoid them, rolling to the side. She quickly stood back up to not be taken by surprise. Luckily for her, the droid was walking rather slowly.

She tried to use the Force against it once again and only managed to push him less than a meter away from her. But that gave her an opening that was enough for her. Meetra dashed at the droid, swinging the blade above her head and aiming it at the HK unit. The droid was clearly taken by surprise and it did not see her next attack that severed its head. The metallic ball rolled on the ground a few times before stopping. Its eyes gleamed a few times before going dark. The droid's body fell to the floor with a loud thud, nearly crushing her foot.

"Atton" she contacted the man via her communicator.

"What is it, darling?" he asked.

"Was there an HK unit with us on the Ebon Hawk when we arrived here?"

"No" he replied immediately, not wondering for a split second. "The only droid was that T3 unit. Why?"

"I think we have been found."

Okay, I know that with my previous chapters I wrote that HK-50 units were used by Revan but be patient. It is not a mistake and it will soon be explained. As always, leave a review and see you in the next chapter.