"Yes, sir."

The mercenary set the comm aside and turned toward the pilot of the small assault craft.

"We're in business," he instructed the pilot, "Round up the others. Make sure those ships don't land!"

The pilot nodded and sent the signal to the other four small crafts around them. The attackers were in formation when the Duchess's transport vessel and the two escorts were dropped out of light speed in front of them.

"Talla," Nadine spoke quietly, looking up at her caretaker, "Is it a long trip?"

"No, dear," Talla smiled warmly, "We'll be there soon. Don't you worry."

As they spoke, the ship jerked to a halt, causing Talla to look around nervously. She quickly disguised her expression for the sake of Nadine.

"Something's wrong…"

"No, child," Talla assured her, "I'm sure everything's fine."

"No! Something's wrong!" Nadine repeated more intensely, "I know it!"

"Shh! Calm down! Everything's fine."

"It's not! I can tell!" the girl insisted, pulling away, "I can feel it! You believe me, too! You know I'm right, even if you don't know why."

Talla was shocked by the girl's insight. While, it was true Talla suspected there was something wrong, how could the child possibly know with this type of certainty?

"We have to move the ship!"

Nadine took off down the corridor, ignoring the calls from Talla for her to return. She didn't stop until she found her way to the main bridge of the ship. Without waiting on approval, she ran onto the bridge. The ship's captain turned around quickly.

"Your highness," he greeted her, smiling politely.

"Captain, we're in danger. We have to move the ship!" she insisted.

"Now, now. We're only having some trouble with the hyperdrive. That's all. No need to worry. We'll be on our way in-"

"The hyperdrive? On all three ships? At once?" she asked.

Nadine didn't pretend to know one thing about the starships she barely ever saw, but anyone knew that three identical problems on different ships is a big coincidence.

"Well…" the Captain replied, pausing to think about it.

"It's not an accident. I don't know how, but...it's bad!"

"We will handle this," he assured her, "Just go back to-"

"Captain!" on of the small crew called to him, "We're picking up five ships headed this way. Mandalorian."

"There, you see," the Captain sighed, "Help is already on the way."

"Did you call for help?" the child wondered, "They don't look nice…"

As she looked over the captain shoulder, the five approaching ships appeared into view, already firing at the transport. Nadine took off running back down the corridor, hearing the Captain should defensive maneuvers behind her. She was nearly thrown off of her feet when the ship violent shook from the impact of enemy fire. The lighting went red as an alarm blared in warning to the passengers and crew. Talla still stood in the hall, frozen with the panic that was spreading around her. Nadine grabbed her hand and pulled her along, attempting to get her to follow.

"I told you!" the child shouted, "We have to run!"

Talla silently followed along behind her, a blank expression of fear keeping her responses from ever leaving her lips.

As they fled down the hallway, a pipe burst from the wall, shooting heavy grey steam in front of them. Talla stopped and turned back to see behind them. Sparks flew from the panelling, cutting through the corridor itself.

"We're being boarded," Talla mumbled in fear, realizing the full gravity of the situation.

She turned to Nadine and grabbed her shoulders.

"Listen to me, Adi," she instructed, "You cannot outrun them. Go. Find a place to hide!"

"No!" the girl protested, grabbing Talla's arm again, "I'm not leaving you! Come on!"

Covering her face with her sleeve, she ran through the steam, pulling Talla along with her.

"Nadine! You have to listen to me! Hide!"

"You promised you'd stay with me! You need to take me back to my mother!"

Talla could see the tears on the child's face as plainly as she heard heavy footsteps running down the hall behind them. Boots heavily smacked against the grates, showing that they were near.

"I know. I know what I promised. I'm sorry, Adi."

She opened a storage panel behind the girl and pushed her inside, slamming it shut and effectively hiding her. Talla didn't make it three steps before a blast to her side caused her to scream out and fall to the grated floor. Nadine was helpless but to watch through a fine grate at the blurry shapes in the hallway.

"That one!" one of the dark figures of the attackers called out, as another two grabbed the fallen women and lifted her to her feet, "You! Where's the child?!"

Talla didn't answer, so the man drove the back of his armored hand against her face harshly. The slap left a gash on the side of her face, but she didn't react to it.

"She got away!" she spat resolutely.

"No. She didn't," the mercenary stated, pulling a blaster off his side and aiming it at her face, "Tell me where she is and maybe we let you live."

"I won't tell you!"

"Three…"

No response.

"Two…"

No response.

"One…"

"Wait!" Adi cried out, pushing the door to the storage locker open, "I'm here! Now you know! Just let her go!"

"Adi! No!" Talla cried out, too late, as the mercenary pulled the trigger.

Her body fell limp to the floor, as Nadine's shriek echoed through the metal halls and the world seemed to blur around her.

"But...but…" she stuttered weakly, "You said you'd let her live."

"I said "maybe"." the man chuckled venomously, "Take her!"

Nadine screamed once more as the other two attackers grabbed her arms and forced her along with them.

"No! Leave me alone!"

"No can do, little runt! You're worth a fortune!" the man on her right laughed.

She looked up at the familiar armor design with sudden recognition. Mandalorians.

No matter how she fought against the grip, she was much too small to escape even one of the mercenaries. She had no choice but to be loaded onto one of their ships, watching her own vessel fall away from them into space, barely staying intact.

"Sir," a man on the ship called to the mercenary who had so brutally murdered Talla, "What about the rest? We can salvage-"

"No! We got what we came for. Her royal highness here wants us to let them go, so...let 'em go."

Nadine didn't like the sickening laughter that followed from everyone after. She pulled herself free from the distracted men and ran to the nearest window in time to watch the blast reach her escort ships and blow the three of them into scrap metal.

"NO!" she sobbed out, causing her to be grabbed by the back of her dress and pulled away.

"Is there a problem, your highness?" the leader of the rabble asked, kneeling down in front of her and tilting his head.

The cold black of the visor and red and grey of the armor made for an unsettling appearance far away and an even worse one close. Regardless, Nadine mustered any strength she had to answer him.

"You didn't have to do that! You got what you wanted! They were innocent!"

"Lesson one, Princess," he replied, grabbing her face with one gloved hand and forcing her to look at him, "No one is innocent."

He stood and gestured to the others.

"Someone get her in the cargo hold and make sure she doesn't scream. I can't stand a noisy flight."

The cargo hold that Nadine was thrown into was cold and dark. It was little more than a metal box with a few locked containers inside. As she landed onto the ground, she immediately crawled over into the far corner, hugging her knees to her chest and trying to keep from crying even harder. When the man that tossed her in hit the door panel, the box was shut completely and barely any light at all could find its way in. Unable to hold them off any longer, sobs finally broke free of her chest and the pained noises then echoed around in the metal walls. She silently wished to herself that she had never wished to leave home. The world wasn't like all of the adventures that she'd read about. This wasn't an adventure; it was a nightmare. All she wanted for years was to leave home, just once. Now, she wondered if she would ever be able to go back.

After what felt like an age of crying into her folded arms, Nadine pulled her body tighter into a ball to try and keep warm enough. Her thoughts raged on and on about how she should never have left, how she might never see her mother again, and about how she might die in this box. More than any other thoughts, she sat there blaming herself for what happened to Talla. The woman swore to protect her until her dying day, but it came far too soon. Eventually, adrenaline faded away and exhaustion took its place, forcing her to find her way into a restless sleep.

Prime Minister Almec made his way to Satine's office, remembering to appear to have some sense of urgency. As he entered, the tired Duchess looked up at him hopefully.

"Have you heard from the transports yet? Why haven't they arrived?" she began questioning immediately.

"I'm afraid no word has come from them," he sighed, "And none will."

"What? Why not?" Satine demanded, standing and walking up to him.

"I am so sorry, Duchess. It seems the route they took was being watched. It was mercenaries. They overtook the transport."

"No…" Satine gasped, "What ransom are those murderers asking for?"

"That's just it," Almec explained as his shoulders sank, "They aren't calling for ransom. The ships were all...destroyed. None were left alive."

"No…" Satine choked out once more, "No...no,,,no…"

"I'm sorry, Satine. I know this is hard to hear."

"None? Not one survivor?!"

"They destroyed everything. There was barely a trace of the ships left."

"Thank you...Almec...for telling me this," she struggled out.

He placed a hand on her shoulder in false comfort.

"This may not be the best time to address it, but there were rumors that this was the work of the Death Watch. We know that they have ties with the Separatists. I am afraid, Duchess, that this may be an act of war against us."

"They wouldn't dare do something like this…"

"They have. You know that I support your campaign of neutrality," he reminded her, "But there is now much to consider."

"Please, Almec. Not now. Go."

Without question, he left the room. Satine stayed behind as the weight of what happened fell on her shoulders. Slowly sinking to her knees, she let her tears fall freely to the marbled floor.

"No…" she pleaded, "Not my baby…"