Disclaimer: I can claim no ownership of the Star Wars franchise, as much as I love it. I am a fan, not the creator.
Author's Note:
Hello everyone! I'm sorry that the amount of time between my updates hasn't been the best, and that the first few chapters have been a bit rushed. I've been waiting to get Summer off of Earth for what felt like ages. Now, I hope that you all will enjoy this as much as I am enjoying it, because this is where the real fun begins.
Red and blue. Azure and crimson. Dark and light. The thousand-generation old dance began again. The battle is not glorious, nor is it fulfilling. It is simply an act of desperation even though it would be interpreted as so much more.
The blue one stood her ground, her blade a whirlwind, the Force whispering the tendrils of music as the steps of the dance wove around her. Dancing with her was the red one, coming closer and closer until it was too late, the final notes were played, and the blue one fell.
Red and blue. Azure and crimson. Dark and light. The dance never ended. Not really.
She didn't know how long she sat in the cockpit, her mind numb from the wave of the Force she'd felt when Ashara had died. Summer didn't even know if her mind was willing to accept what had happened. Now, she could only hope that she would happen upon the galaxy she was looking for, and that everything else would go as planned. Something told her it wouldn't happen that way. She couldn't stop thinking about how Ashara had risked everything to get her away. She knew that if she hadn't gotten away, dozens more Force users would be able to locate the planet, but there were probably others like her. What made her so different that she had to actually leave the planet to keep everyone safe?
Many of the lights on the dashboard started flashing, and she sharply stood, swearing as she hit her head on the low ceiling. She couldn't read most of the labels, as they were in the Aurebesh alphabet. While she considered herself quite a major Star Wars fan, she never had found the time to completely memorize it.
Something to her left sparked dangerously, and she swore again (she didn't remember swearing so much in her life). The stars rushing past the ship suddenly stilled as the ship jumped out of hyperspace. There was a planet there, alright, but the ship was aimed for empty space. Vaguely remembering Ashara telling her that the ship was going to tear itself apart, she bolted out of the cockpit.
"...Escape pod!" she whispered to herself, rushing around. She was thrown against the wall at least ten times, and she must have passed the cursed thing twice before she found it, but she eventually found herself jamming her fingers frantically at the controls before slipping inside. She gave a sigh of relief as the pod sealed itself, and she felt it begin to move. Then she began to panic again as turbulence informed her that she was entering the planet's atmosphere. She was going to crash.
The heat inside the pod began to rise significantly, causing sweat to form on her hairline and underarms. Summer was sure for a moment that she was going to catch on fire. Then there was a sound, a sickening crunch, and the momentum caused her body to jolt forward. She felt her head slam hard into the side of the pod before the entire reality around her seemed to flicker and become blurry. The air became shallow and she knew that the only thing she could really do about her situation was lapse into unconsciousness.
Before this happened, she had enough time to groan into her hands. "The Force is definitely not with me."
Ian was just beginning to realize that the situation he had found himself in was serious, as strange and maddening as it seemed to him. He thought back to the last night. Originally, he had thought that Summer had pushed him into the wall after a moment of not paying attention. Now, the idea that she had done this without even touching him didn't seem as ridiculous an explanation as it normally would be. The lump on his head throbbed as he thought about being suddenly taken.
This creature, straight out of a classic Sci-Fi film, had suddenly taken him from his parent's medicinal care and threatened him with a giant red glow rod. He suddenly was glad that he hadn't said anything important. As much as he hated Summer for making a hot girl like Alice suddenly break up with him, there was an urgency in her eyes that he couldn't ignore.
Now she'd passed that urgency onto him. For some reason, it was worth the death of a Jedi to get Summer off of Earth. He doubted that Miss Gallwood-Ashara-would have done it otherwise. The only problem now was the fact that there now was a Sith Lord running around the planet, and if he found out what secrets they hid, more lives would be at risk.
He knew what he had to do, but he didn't know if he could stand it.
He knocked on Alice's door.
Even after she opened her eyes the world seemed dark. For a moment, Summer expected her mother to call her downstairs, berating her for getting up late. Slowly she took in the dimly glowing lights and curved architecture, slowly remembering where she was. She couldn't move her arms.
She sat up, wincing as she felt at least a dozen bruises and scratches all over her body cry out in protest. Her hands were bound by some advanced technological device. It became obvious that she had been captured. She didn't want to think about who. If she'd been captured by imperials, she would have already failed her mission.
Right on cue, a door snapped open, and someone stepped in the room she was being held in. His face was wrapped up in a brown scarf, so all she could see was his dark eyes staring at her through the gloom.
"Up!" he snarled at her. She stared at him, surprised that she could understand him. "Come!"
"W-where-" she coughed, trying to clear her throat. "Where am I?"
The man simply glared at her, pulling her roughly to her feet. She yelped, struggling a bit, but his large frame made him stronger than her by far. "Come!"
He pulled her through the doorway, out into an alleyway. He put his mouth to something at wrist. "Gor. I have the cargo."
The alleyway had a number of lights dotted over doorways and walls, reminding her of graffiti.
"Where am I?" she asked the man, trying again.
"This is Nar Shaddaa." he explained shortly, not slowing his pace or allowing her to slow down either.
Nar Shaddaa…"The Smuggler's Moon?"
No answer.
Of all the places she could have ended up, Nar Shaddaa was the last place she expected. But, she supposed, the Force worked in mysterious ways.
Coming up out of the alleyway, she suddenly found herself gawking at the enormity of the place. While she'd seen animations and drawings of the place, she never could have prepared herself for the absolute chaos the entire planet seemed to emit.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
She thought about trying to escape the mysterious stranger leading her through the crowds swarming about the terrace, but something held her back. For whatever reason, someone had decided that she was worth capturing, and she hadn't even done anything in this galaxy yet. She wanted to know why.
The locals kept sparing her either odd or pitying looks, but none of them seemed to mind her presence. They didn't even look at the stranger with her, instead attempting to avoid gazing at him. They were afraid. She could feel it without even trying to look through the Force.
She was surprised when her captor suddenly pushed her through a door she hadn't noticed him opening, and slammed it shut behind him.
She didn't have her glasses, and her contacts were giving her a hard time, so it took a bit for her to take in the figures in the haze surrounding her.
Like her, their hands were bound. Some of them were alien (which was so cool!), and some of them looked like they hadn't seen the outside of the room in days.
"Um...hi?" she offered. A few of them nodded, but some of them just stood there, staring at her mournfully. "Anyone care to tell me what's going on?"
For a moment, she thought she would get the same answer as the man who brought her here gave her, but then-
"You're in the custody of some of Jabba the Hutt's agents, kid." the prisoners stepped aside, making way for another woman. She was human, tall, and dark-haired. Her face had a multitude of scars and scratches. It was obvious that the others had a great amount of respect for her. "You don't look like much, but you must have done something unusually idiotic. Most of us women aren't thrown in with this lot."
"I haven't even done anything!" she protested. "I just crashed here!"
The woman's eyes widened. "You crashed? So you're the one that landed that old republic space pod on that gold Hutt statue."
"I…who are you all?"
The woman's teeth flashed in a hint of a smile. "They call me Ghedhrew. You?"
"Erm...Summer."
"Good to meet you, kid. Do you think you'll be good to fight?"
"Why?"
"We're going to fight to escape." said Ghedhrew, smirking. "We're done being the Hutt's slaves."
Summer stood up, looking around at the others. The plan didn't seem that unreasonable, now that she looked at everyone else. There were at least five wookiees around the place, a group of hardened rodians, a quiet trandoshan sitting in the corner. Ghedhrew herself looked more intimidating than all of them.
"How?"
Her smile widened. "You don't need to concern yourself over the details. Can you fight?"
Summer sighed. "I've never been in a fight in my life…" aside from what happened with Ian.
Ghedhrew sighed. "Come on. I'll show you the basics."
"My hands are bound."
"That won't be a problem."
There was no discouraging her, so Summer supposed that it would be best to go along with it. It seemed a bit of a coincidence, though, that she had almost immediately come across someone willing to teach her how to fight. Perhaps she'd been wrong earlier about the Force not being with her.
Ghedhrew was a good teacher. It was obvious that she had a natural talent, and many years of practice under her belt. She started simple with her, teaching her some basic maneuvers, which surprised her because most of them seemed to take up a lot of space in the tiny room. She showed her how to use her bound hands against an opponent. Summer had never worked herself so hard in her life, and she soon felt fatigue. Ghedhrew didn't care about this, so she put on a brave face and pushed herself through it.
"Good." Ghedhrew crossed her arms, examining her as she ran through a combination she'd taught her. The woman didn't seem to offer praises much, so Summer took what she thought was a bit of a compliment, nodding back at her teacher. "That should get you through what we need to do. None of us can afford to keep an eye on you, so you'll be on your own once you're out."
Summer didn't have a problem with that, so she nodded again.
Ghedhrew nodded back. "Falwin!" she barked, and one of the wookiees stepped forward. "Continue running Summer through some basic combat drills. I have to inform the others of the plan."
The wookiee let out a bark of agreement, then said something to her.
"I'm sorry. I can't understand you." Summer told him. "You're Falwin, right?"
The wookiee gave an affirmative nod, then indicated to Ghedhrew, saying something to her.
"She can sleep on the ship." Ghedhrew said sternly. "It's better she learns what she can right now instead of minutes before the operation."
Falwin protested a bit more, but it was obvious that Ghedhrew wouldn't hear it when she turned away silently and sauntered away.
Summer stared after her, feeling the grim determination wafting off of the older woman through the Force. Sighing, she went back to work. Ghedhrew was right in the fact that she should learn as much as she could in the short amount of time she had.
