Chapter 1

Two quick beeps sounded. Katiara Orrin's blue eyes snapped open, but instead of twinkling with energy, they were darkened with fear. These reacquiring nightmares were starting to disturb her. She took in a deep breath and sighed, looking up to find she had fallen asleep at her controls. Rubbing her head with one hand, she looked out the cockpit window to see her ship approaching a planet: her destination. She grunted as she sat up all the way. She wasn't ready to go down just yet.

Ever since Katiara had joined the rebellion that was silently resisting the Empire, she had been kept on her toes, moving all around the Galaxy. Though she often wondered why the Emperor hadn't put his foot down in the beginning, she was glad he ignored the rebel leaders even though many of them were signers of the Petition of 2000. She had joined the alliance hoping to right the galaxy again and, at least avenge her parents' and mentor's deaths.

The young woman stood and stretched her arms over her head as she let out a small yawn. She grabbed a string of leather and quickly tied her messy, blonde hair up into a ponytail. Though she knew she would have to tame it later, she didn't care much to worry about it now. She headed towards the back of her YV-664 light freighter to check on her cargo, despite the fact that she was certain that it was safe.

In the small storage room there were several crates, but none of them caught her attention. She dropped to her knees and slid one of the metal tiles out of its place in the floor. Inside the small, smuggling compartment were two diminutive storage units. She reached down and opened the top of one. Her gloved hand slid over the DH-17 blasters as a reassurance that they were really there. She closed her eyes and wondered how she got into this illegal business anyways. Not that the blaster was illegal, but she was supplying a resistance against the Galactic Empire. That was reason enough for her execution. She closed up the crate and moved the panel back in place to once again hide the weapons.

Katiara walked out of the room and back to the cockpit, and sat down at her controls once more. Sighing, she sent a signal down to the small planet, hoping her contacts would send her coordinates for their location. After a few minutes she grew restless and was about to send her signal again, but then a voice came over her intercom in response.

"Avalon, do you copy? This is Chandrila 'Alliance' base," the voice of a man came over saying. The tone was cautious and alert. These two traits were vital to their organization. Any misplaced trust or hastened steps might cause the resistance to be trampled.

"I copy," she replied but then skipped past the formality, wanting to get out of her vulnerable spot, sitting like a duck in the middle of space. "I have a shipment from our contact in BlasTech. Requesting coordinates to land and deliver shipment," she said, tapping her fingers impatiently on the control board. She knew that they would have to verify her, even though she had been to the Chandrila base on several occasions.

Finally the reply came. "Verified, Avalon. You should be receiving our coordinates," the man said and she checked to make sure her ship was indeed receiving their location. It was.

"Copy, Chandrila base, I'm receiving the coordinates," she said as she engaged the Avalon, preparing to head for the planet. "See you in a bit," she said with a smile as she started for the planet.

The YV design freighter glided down into the make shift hanger of the Chandrila 'Alliance' base. The secret base was deep in one of the jungles on the agriculture planet and, though a perfect place to hide, it was hard enough to find even with coordinates and even harder to land in. But Katiara had minimal troubles landing. She soon as she was safely on the ground, she pushed a button to open the door and walked out on the boarding ramp as it slid out from the ship.

A woman with short, red hair and a friendly smile greeted her. A man stood beside her, Katiara seemed to vaguely recognize him, though nothing registered at first. He had graying brown hair, stern eyes and a mustache. A small group of rebel recruits approached her as well. "The cargo is under third tile back in the storage chamber," she said with arms crossed, nodding her head towards the ship, giving them permission to board and retrieve the crates hidden within.

As the small group passed into her ship, the young, blonde woman walked the rest of the way down the ramp and nodded her head respectfully to the retired senator in front of her. "It's a pleasure to see you again after so many years, Mon Mothma," Katiara was with a smile, recalling the last time she had seen the woman. It had been many years ago, before she went to the academy. Her mother, Cacilya Ky'Varm, was meeting with the redheaded woman about something, but Katiara never knew what.

"And you, Katiara. You have surely grown, I wish your mother could see you now," the woman said, and though Katiara smiled back, she wasn't sure if she was really what her mother would have wanted in a daughter. Cacilya had been a respectable, beautiful senator who was always mannerly in Katiara's mind and would never think of letting her only daughter being a smuggler for an illegal resistance. Though she was sure her father wouldn't have objected.

"This is Senator Garm Bel Iblis," Mon Mothma introduced, motioning to the older man beside her. The name rang clear in Katiara's mind but she only came to full recognzation of who he was when the woman leader finished introducing him further. "He is the current senator of Corellia. Senator Iblis took your mother's place after she stepped down from office." So that was how Katiara knew him, though she wondered why Senator Mothma was so interested in bringing up her mother continuously.

"Pleased to finally met you, Katiara Orrin," the aging man said, taking Katiara's hand. Though she was sure he intended on kissing it, as was Corellian formality, but she wasn't a lady like her mother. She shook his hand firmly, but he didn't look surprised and welcomed the handshake warmly. "Shall we go inside?" he offered, waiting for Mon Mothma's response.

"Yes. I'm sure the men can get the cargo on and off without any trouble," she said as she began to lead the way toward a small building that was only one story high. Katiara was sure that most of the establishment was under the ground for security reasons. She followed the two older people towards the building, looking around her but not recognizing any changes to the base. Men and woman, both young and old were still scurrying around, most of them repairing damaged equipment.

The door to the building opened and the three walked inside it confidently. Just as she had expected, Katiara found them on a small platform with a lift beside it. Below them was a large warehouse-like room. Though there wasn't a lot of people, there still seemed to be a lot going on. The trio boarded the lift and took it down to the main floor. She wasn't sure why they wanted to talk to her, but the blonde smuggler was sure that something was up.

They walked down through a row of transmitters and other communication items until they came to a door, which slid open with a hiss when Mon Mothma approached it. They all entered the small office; still no one spoke a word. There was a small round table in the room and a counter on the wall, but not much else. "Please, take a seat," Mon Mothma encouraged as she herself took a place in on of the cushioned chairs. Though Garm Bel Iblis sat next to the Alliance leader, Katiara sat down across from the two.

"So, what is this about? A special shipment or something?" Katiara inquired. She had only ever done smuggling for the resistance and doubted they had any other use for her. Or maybe they would if they wanted to risk blowing her cover.

"Katiara, you are smart enough to know that we are meeting to talk about more than just a smuggling mission," Mon Mothma said. The young woman sighed, knowing that it had to be more than that. She never really thought that the leader of an organization would need to talk to one of their suppliers about something like that anyways.

"That's what I figured," Katiara said, her tone was a bit disappointed. She merely hoped they didn't want her to do anything big that would risk her own safety. Her kind was still being hunted down like rats and she didn't want to deal with the Empire in any big ways.

"Well, we are in need of your more…unique qualities for this assignment, Katiara," Mon Mothma replied, obviously trying to choose her words carefully. But she still seemed to be avoiding the main question: what was the assignment? "I believe that your force-sensitive abilities would be better put to use in a more personal field. We have plenty of trained and able smugglers for the time being, but, as I'm sure you are aware, no Jedi. They have become extinct in the Galaxy."

"Yes, I've noticed," Katiara replied stiffly. Wasn't that the whole reason she was trying to keep a low profile? Even though the Jedi Purge was over, the Empire kept its eyes out for anyone who was force-sensitive. Then, once they were found, they had to either commit their services to the Emperor or be killed.

"Well, we would like to put your abilities to better use. Trying to stay on the Emperor's good side, Garm Bel has submitted to most of the Galactic issues sent out and sent in his dues to the Emperor. To the naked eye it would appear that Corellia would appear to be a loyal planet to the Galactic Empire, but he is one of its strongest opposers in secret. He even helped start up this Alliance to Restore the Republic. Unfortunately, Senator Iblis' close friend Fang Zar of Sern Prime was recently murdered and we fear that it was both a threat and a warning to Corellia," Mon Mothma said. Katiara could only guess that they wanted her to be Senator Iblis' bodyguard and this wasn't the most appealing idea to her.

"For several weeks, maybe a month or two even, we have been receiving…disturbing anonymous notes. Though we are certain no one knows for sure my standing is on the rebellion's site, I still fear that we are suspected as traitors. But the notes that have been sent to us have been threatening the safety of my youngest child, Lizabea. She is seven and, though we have security, I fear that these threats have been coming from the inside," Garm Bel finished up for the redheaded woman and paused for Katiara to take in the information before he finished. "I…We would like you to come to Corellia to investigate the matter but mainly to protect my daughter until the mole has been found and these threats stopped.."

So she was to be a bodyguard Jedi protecting some little brat of an seven year old? But then again, she had said many times of late that she was more than ready for any kind of change. Even if the assignment wasn't something extremely exciting, it would be a change. Perhaps just the kind of change she needed. But she doubted it. "Well see how it works out," she said, confirming that she would do the job.