Rosalie blinked at the dim lights in the room and felt how stiff her body was. She did however find that she was no longer sitting in the chair but was lying in the bed, covered in a red and black jacket. As she had only ever seen Captains wear such jackets she assumed it actually belonged to Picard.
Slowly she sat up and groaned at the pain in her back and neck. How long had she been sleeping in that chair?
"How do you feel?"
She looked up and saw Obi-Wan Kenobi leaning against the doorframe.
"Honestly, no matter how sore I am the appearance of you standing there makes it all the better", she said, then grimaced as a certain nerve in her neck hurt.
"I don't know what you mean by that", Obi-Wan said and sat down on the bed as well. "May I?"
"Go ahead."
He then carefully started to massage her neck and shoulders, slowly working off the tensions in her muscles.
"Better?" he asked after a while.
"Yes", Rosalie answered. "Thank you."
Obi-Wan gave her a soft smile, before he rose and walked back out into the other room. When she walked after him she found him standing in front of the replicator.
"Are you trying to decide what to eat or figure out how that thing works?" she asked.
"It's more like the first option", Obi-Wan answered. "I never knew that there would be so many differences between universes; none of the dishes I have tried work."
"Well, let me try and come up with something, then", she said and walked up to him. "Hold on, are you a vegetarian?"
"No, I'm not."
"Alright then. Let's have two plates of Pasta Carbonara along with two glasses of sparkling mineral water, Swiss."
There was a blue shimmer and a few moments later, the two plates and the two glasses stood in front of them. Obi-Wan nodded.
"Impressive."
"Hope you enjoy it", Rosalie said and carried her own plate and glass to the table. "It doesn't taste exactly as the real thing, but it's the best you can get."
"Is this how you pay someone for giving you a massage?" Obi-Wan asked as he sat down opposite her.
"No, this is how I pay for a good story", she answered.
"What story?"
"The one that you will tell me", Rosalie said. "About why you were running."
Obi-Wan paled somewhat and looked down, stirring the pasta with his fork.
"There's no story in that."
"Of course there is. You are Obi-Wan Kenobi; wise, honorable, kind… there's got to be a reason for you running away."
Obi-Wan sighed and put the fork aside, then rose and walked over to the large windows.
"The war started two weeks ago, with the battle on Geonosis. We were unable to stop Dooku from getting away and he quickly gathered his forces. Five days ago we received a coded message telling us of a droid squad that had taken up position on Keldara, close to one of the outlying villages. The Council asked me to lead the clones sent there."
"Why you?" Rosalie asked.
"I asked myself the same thing", Obi-Wan answered. "But then again, I was very familiar with the clones thanks to that I watched them on Camino, the factory where they were created. As Anakin was preparing for the trials I decided to accept the position and left Coruscant."
He turned around slightly, but not all the way; he was too ashamed of himself to retell the story straight to her face.
"I had a bad feeling about the battle before it had even started. Me and the clones did defeat the droids with ease, however, and I started to relax. And then there came more droids, having been hidden in the nearby caves, and they were accompanied by droideks. There were hundreds of them and I saw how my men… one by one they fell. We were pushed back and Captain Cody told me to leave. I promised him that I would bring back reinforcements, but we both knew that by that time he would be dead. Still I did as he asked; I jumped into my ship and left."
He then stared out at the stars in silence. Somewhere out there, in another universe, Captain Cody was now dead and he had given Keldara to the Separatists. He was not worthy to be a Jedi, not with so many dead because of him.
Suddenly he felt a pair of arms encircle his waist.
"I'm sorry", Rosalie whispered as she leaned her head against his back. He wasn't sure how to react to both that statement and the fact that she was holding him so close; no one had ever held him like that. In the end he just stood there until she released him; then he turned around and looked at her.
"I don't think I'm the man you thought I was", he said.
"No, you're not", she admitted, then smiled. "You are so much more."
At that he managed to force a smile in return.
"Tell you what", she said and led him back to their now cold food. "I'm going to try and help you save Cody. Once we find a way through to your universe, I will be your reinforcements."
"It will be too late by then", he pointed out.
"Who knows?" Rosalie said with a new smile. "Maybe we are just in time."
"There we go!" Ten yelled, then ran down the ramp and out of the TARDIS, facing the surprised crew on the Bridge.
"Sorry, keep working", he said, then banged the door on the second TARDIS in the room.
"Yeah?" Eleven said and stuck out his head.
"The TARDIS has been able to recalibrate the malfunctions and is able to go down to the surface thanks to a trace of void-stuff", Ten rapidly explained.
"What?" Eleven said. "Show me."
The two men disappeared into the first of the TARDISes just as the doors of the turbolift opened and Rosalie stepped out, accompanied by Obi-Wan.
"How do they do that?" they heard Riker ask.
"Do what?" Rosalie asked and walked down the ramp.
"How do they fit a ship each into those two boxes?" Riker clarified.
"Those are spaceships?" Obi-Wan asked in surprise.
"Time And Relative Dimensions In Space", Rosalie said. "Shortly known as TARDISes. And have you not been inside one of them?"
The question was directed to Riker.
"No, I have not."
"Well, no wonder you find it strange", Rosalie said. The next moment there was a triumphant shout from the TARDIS up by the turbolift and the two Doctors came out, grinning.
"That is brilliant!" Ten stated. "Absolutely brilliant!"
"Of course it is; we were the ones who came up with it", Eleven pointed out.
"What is brilliant?" Rosalie asked, to which Ten came over and scooped her up in his arms.
"You, you clever, clever girl!" he said and spun her around.
"Alright, I am not following", Rosalie said as he put her down. "What is going on?"
"We have been unable to move the TARDISes thanks to some malfunction in the machinery…" Eleven begun.
"But then Captain Picard reminded us of the fact that you were found down there…" Ten continued.
"And since you have void-stuff soaring around you…"
"You left a trace that the TARDIS can follow to the surface!" Ten finished. "Oh this is brilliant!"
He spun her around again.
"Wait, the TARDIS is able to go down to the surface?" Rosalie asked once he had put her down once again.
"Yes", the two doctors asked, both of them grinning.
"Best news we have had during this whole day", Riker said and looked pleased, then tapped his combadge. "Captain Picard to the Bridge!"
"Acknowledged, I'm on my way", Picard answered.
Once the Captain had been briefed on the situation he called a meeting with the senior officers. Also Rosalie, Obi-Wan, Ten, Eleven, Rory and Amy attended.
"How many will you be able to bring with you down?" Picard asked.
"As many as there are needed, I suppose", Ten answered. Picard frowned, then shook his head.
"Let me rephrase that; how many can your ship take?"
Ten and Eleven looked at each other, then turned towards Rosalie who was smiling.
"It's bigger on the inside", the three of them said at once.
"Captain, according to the laws of physics, an object cannot have a larger inside area than its outside area", Data pointed out.
"Well, the TARDIS is not really following the laws of physics", Rosalie said.
"I'm glad it doesn't; do you think I would like being squeezed in with these two the whole time?" Amy pointed out.
"Amy!" Rory exclaimed.
"What? It's true!"
"Anyway", Ten said, interrupting the couple's discussion, "I'll be the one going down as the TARDIS is protesting rather loudly at taking both of us. Whoever wants to come with me is free to do so."
"I will go", Obi-Wan said, his voice as calm as ever.
"I will as well", Rosalie also said. For a moment, Ten looked relieved, before he turned towards the Captain. Picard looked at Riker.
"Number One, assemble your away-team."
"Aye, Sir", Riker acknowledged. "Geordi and Worf, you're with me."
"Excuse me, Commander, but isn't it…" Data begun.
"We will need you on the Bridge, Commander Data", Picard interrupted. "If the team manages to find traces to the holes that they were all brought through, things up here might get harder to control."
"I see", Data said.
"Very well", Picard then said, as no one seemed to have anything else to add. "We'll proceed at o-eight hundred hours. Until then; dismissed. Rosalie, would you mind staying here for a moment?"
Rosalie raised an eyebrow at him, but remained in her chair as the others left.
"What is it, Captain?" she asked once the door had closed behind Amy and Rory.
"I am a bit worried about sending you down as well", Picard admitted and rose, tugging the hem of his jacket.
"And why is that?"
Picard sighed and turned away from her, looking out through the windows.
"When we brought you onboard, we ran a few scans. Standard ones, confirming your injuries, your biological race… and your identity."
"My identity?" Rosalie said in surprise.
"Every citizen on Feltan III is registered and the Federation can access that data in case of emergencies, like this one", Picard explained. "The scans are based on the DNA and tell of the age, sex and home village of the person in question, and there is also a picture."
He turned around towards her again and pressed a few buttons on the display behind his chair. In the next moment an identity pass showed up. Rosalie slowly rose, staring at the image of herself.
"How can that be me?" she asked as she stood next to him, having walked up to him to get a closer view.
"I don't know", Picard answered. "I asked Mr Data to run a few tests to compare the two of you and they said that you two were the same person. The only difference was that the person on this image…"
He pressed another button and the image turned into a 3D-model.
"This person has a scar, beneath her right ear."
He pointed at the ugly line of malformed flesh that ran from the right ear and back to the neck.
"It can easily be hidden by the hair", Rosalie said. "Is that why you did not want me to go down? Because people might think that I'm her?"
"Yes. Because if they confuse the two of you, you might not be coming back."
Rosalie frowned.
"The government has confirmed that she is one of the terrorists", Picard continued.