I DON'T OWN STAR WARS!

"Our identifications? We don't have them on us at the moment." Her fa-father stuttered nervously.

"Oh really?" The trooper snarled.

"I'm really very sorry—"

"So are we. Perhaps we can look you up in the system. Your names?" the second trooper snapped.

But my file hasn't been changed yet! Hope swallowed her panic and said, "My name's Hope." In a bright and cheery voice.

"Hope what?" The first trooper demanded. Hope didn't know her last name. She also didn't know anything about last names. So instinctively, she tried every answer she could think, to see if it would placate the white-shelled monster.

"I like armoured rats. Have you ever seen a armoured rat? They're so cute! Hawk-bats are really cute too! Why do people eat their eggs if they're so cute? Do you like Hawk-bat eggs? Have you eaten them? Why are you wearing a shell? Can you take off your shells? My friend Liam had a pet and he, his pet not him, could take off its shell. Do you like shells? Do people eat shells? Why are you wearing hats inside? I never wear hats inside. Ma… ma, my mama says its rude. Or she did, she's dead now. What's dead? Where do people go? We're going to her wake. What's a wake? Does it mean she'll wake up again? Cause' last time she wouldn't, no matter how many times I asked her to. Do you know why she wouldn't wak—"

"You're heading to a wake?" The second trooper shifted uneasily. "The one on the second level?"

"No, her mother's wake isn't until… a little later this evening." Her father looked down sadly.

"They must be legitimate." The second trooper turned to the first, "If they'd been lying, they would have said they were going to that wake, that nonexistent wake."

"Yah, all right. Move along, move along."

Her father gently clutched Hope's shoulder, and they continued down the hallway they'd been going down. Something Hope didn't know, both hallways led to the same place. He walked swiftly down the right hallway, and they reached a turbolift. "Now Hope, we're going to see a good friend of your mothers." He said as the door slid shut. Outside, Hope could hear the clone troopers entering another room. She stretched her primitive Force senses through the room. It wasn't just one room, it was many connected rooms, and every one radiated love, and safety. The people inside had cocooned themselves in a shelter of trust, then the troopers entered. They were like a storm, fear ran rapid through the rooms. Love and safety died on the doorstep.

In the elevator, Hope jumped back, and bumped into someone. She turned around and saw that she had bumped into a female sullustan. The sullustan was her height, with four lips and large black beady eyes. But Hope was not frightened. Back at the Temple, there had been many sullustans. She had been friends with sullustans. What Hope did not know, was that a normal human child of six years would not have seen many non-humans. As it was a popular belief that human children who were too young, and were around too many aliens, would grow up to be criminals and crooks. Most human children would by now be backing up into their parents, and hiding their faces. Hope just smiled and said, "I'm sorry miss, I'm not used to riding turbolifts yet. It's so hard to stay standing." Hope grinned at the shocked sullustan, who was thankfully, the only other person on the turbolift.

Teri gaped at Hope's reaction to the sullustan, and as soon as they reached the next floor, he ushered Hope off quickly. Oh Hope, you don't make this easy do you? He whisked Hope into his arms, and spun to his left. Teri began to jog, trying to get away from the turbolift. How many times is this going to happen? How many times in our lives will I be reminded that she isn't a normal child? He raced through the corridor. When they came to the next turbolift, he was relieved to find that it was empty. As soon as the doors closed, he set Hope down and punched in their floor. Amazingly, the turbolift didn't stop at any floors on their way to their destination. When the doors opened on the bottom floor, Teri picked up Hope again. The child didn't protest, he could tell that she knew they were in a hurry. When Teri came to a certain section of the building, he went in the back door of a cantina. It was one cantina in a chain, but this was where, at this time of day, you were likely to find the owner. The door was often unlocked, as it was now. Teri burst through the entrance sucking in air.

"Teri? How good to see you!" the waitress droid smiled. "We haven't seen you since Elice died. Very sorry about that by the—"

"I need. To talk. To Dex. Now!" Teri gasped as he set down Hope.

"Oh, okay dear. You want anything to drink?"

"No!"

Hope gave a cursory glance to the room she'd just entered. It was a small back kitchen that smelled of foods Hope had never dreamed were edible. But although it smelled bad, in the Force it felt good. Like her favorite dish, or a lazy morning watching a history holofilm—Rishy liked those mornings, where the Younglings would get dressed in their "comfy" clothes and gather round the holo projector on cushions. But Hope knew that although the Force was lulling, something important was happening. She looked up in time to see a rather large creature coming in. The creature wore a grease stained apron shirt and pants. He had two airsacks under his jaw. All-in-all, just like the sullustan, he should have been intimidating to a child like Hope.

"Teri! Good to see you, how have you been?" The creature asked. Hope decided that this creature was friend.

"Here and there. Dex, I-we, need your help."

Teri? Hmm, his name must be Teri, the creatures name must be Dex. Hope decided.

"What can I do?" Dex asked looking at Hope, she smiled and waved. Teri didn't get a chance to respond before Dex frowned, "Oh, I see."

"She's a Youngling. Has word gotten around to you from all your sources yet about—"

Dex cut him off, "The massacre? Yah, word's reached my ears. What can I do to help."

"She needs a new identity, preferably that of Elice's daughter." Teri spread his hands placatingly.

"That won't be a problem. I have a friend who can help us, a Jedi." Dex rubbed where, on a human at least, his chin would be.

"Won't he be dead? With the massacre and all?" Teri asked.

"No, this is Kenobi we're talking about. I trust he'll still be alive." Dex then turned around, and opened a door, "Come into my office." He tossed over his shoulder as he entered the room. Hope and Teri followed him.

The office wasn't spacious, but it was cozy. Holo-pics lined the walls, showing friends, and family, and accomplishments. One that Hope found rather sweet, was a holo of Dex when the restaurant was first opened, he was proudly holding up some kind of cooking tool, and in the top right corner of the picture, you could see someone's thumb. Hope thought it told more stories than any perfect picture could. Then she shook her head and brought herself back to the current situation.

"Master Kenobi! I'm glad to see you're all right." Dex was saying. Hope looked over to see a holo of Master Kenobi on Dex's desk. She gasped.

Behind the Jedi Master was the inside of the Temple. She could see bodies of friends carelessly strewn about. Blaster marks lined the walls. There were hardly any clone bodies, either that or they'd all been taken away by now.

"Well, I suppose I'm all right. How are you? I know there's another reason you've contacted me Dex. Because this isn't the best time…" The Jedi Master tiredly rubbed his temples.

"There is. We have a Youngling here." Dex beckoned her over, and so Hope stepped in front of the holocam.

"I can see that." Master Kenobi looked surprised, the Master pulled his eyebrows down, "I'm afraid we really can't stop by and pick her up..."

"That's not necessary, we have arrangements for her, we just need you to help us make them legitimate." Dex shrugged.

"You mean you want me to send you the access codes to her file?"

"Exactly." Dex nodded.

"I can't, if I do, the troopers will track it. I'll have to change it right here. Tell me, what information, besides the obvious—that she's a Youngling—do you want me to change?" The Jedi Master seemed to be fiddling with something, then he gave a nod and turned back to the holocam. "What's her name?"

Hope answered him, "My name is Rishy Kishtam." Rishy piped up.

"I don't suppose you know how to spell it?" The Jedi master frowned.

"Uh, no." Rishy felt her face form into a frightened expression.

"Not a problem. I've found your file." Kenobi seemed to squint at something, then jerked his head back up, surprised, "Oh my."

"What is it?" Dex asked.

"Nothing, just tell me what information you want me to change."

"We need you to make her the daughter of Elice Sein." Teri put in. Hope noticed the Jedi Master didn't click or touch any buttons.

Weird. She thought, but that thought was lost rather quickly.

"And if you could change her name to Hope Sein." Teri finished. This time, the Jedi seemed to be clicking some things.

"Done." The Jedi Master turned around behind him, "I'm sorry but I've got to go, I can't send the file to you, but I've erased her from the Jedi archives. That should give you some time Dex to find a good hacker and have her file codes transferred to wherever—" the transmission cut.

Teri had never ventured to the under city of Coruscant in his whole life, until he'd decided to get the scoop, and now again for Hope. Elice had once told him that if he ever needed a dirty job done, and done right, that there was only one person to choose. She'd also told him where to find said person.

He could still remember her words, "You'll find him sulking at the Blue Bantha, every night after most folks have gone home. He'll be the blue duros in the corner booth."

Teri entered the Blue Bantha, it was, to his surprise, that he found a blue duros sulking in the corner booth, surrounded by far too many empty glasses to be a good sign.

Elice's voice continued to whisper in his ear, "He never got over her death."

Teri remembered this conversation well, and what he had said, "Someone he loved died?"

Elice had laughed, "Someone he loved? Oh no." Elice had sighed and shaken her head, "She was his enemy, and he wasn't the one who killed her."

Teri had gulped, as he did now. This is a man who was upset because he's not the one who killed his enemy…

"Who was she? How did she die?" Teri had asked, he hadn't, in all honesty, expected Elice to answer. His wife had a habit of withholding information.

He had been surprised when she had said, "She was a Jedi, a young Padawan of seventeen. The Padawan of the Hero With No Fear." Elice had absent-mindedly waved her hand, "Her Master had been assigned on a mission where she couldn't follow. She had been too skilled, too young, and promoted too fast." Elice had looked down sadly, "And it killed her." Then his wife had tossed her head back in laughter, "Or more accurately, Count Dooku killed her."

Now, Teri cautiously approached the corner booth where the blue duros bounty hunter sat and asked, "Cad Bane?"

At some point, the story will jump forward a couple of years... it took me forever to post this chapter! I had to rewrite part of it, because my computer lost the story, thank goodness for backing things up!

A side note: Hope in her rambling almost says "Master" but corrects it to mean "mama"

A thank-you to My Lady Vader, darkangel1994 and The Name is Unimportant for reviewing!