"Sentinel Portland what's wrong?"
"Blue Shadow Virus, it's been released into the Federation and we need Reeksa Root if we can't find a viable substitute here, Starfleet Medical will do it's best but we could lose thousands of lives before then you know that we don't have a lot of time with that virus"
"But it takes six and a half months just to get there"
"But if you give them the properties of the root they might be able to synthesis it here and help that much sooner unless synthesizing does something but it's worth a shot, but they need the information on the root first, plus everything else that's needed to make a cure"
"Understood, we'll send that information right away Sentinel, and let's hope that a cure can be made quickly for the Federation"
"Copy that Sentinel Portland out"
Well they get underway again and six and a half months later they finally reach Coruscant where the Romulans start to undergo testing at the temple to see what was causing their abilities to go haywire and they soon got the answers they were looking for
"You know now that I'm seeing these test results the situation that happened on Romulus makes perfect sense, I mean with these hormone levels it's no wonder they lost control over the Force, the problem is the fact that the Vulcans don't have the same problem even with their pon farr every seven years, I should know T'vran recently went through one"
"You know it almost seems as if these hormonal changes aren't natural and if that's the case then it's no wonder they're having issues controlling other aspects of their lives"
"Looks like we're going to have to bring those hormone levels down before they regain control and then it's up to the Federation to figure out whose tampering with the Romulans"
"On top of the Blue Shadow Virus issue?"
"Oh didn't they tell you that they found the solution five months ago?"
"Oh yeah they did now that I think about it and soon after that they also found a plant substitute which will work should it ever pop up again because it turns out that it is very hard to synthesize the Reeksa Root and make it viable for the cure"
"Good to know, now then on to helping the Romulans regain their control"
It would take several specially designed treatments but eventually the Romulans were able to control their Force abilities and other biological issues once again, unfortunately by the time they were ready to return home Ashland was missing and presumed dead once again
"Captain Picard what happened?"
"An attack on the Senate three days ago"
"What was she doing there?"
"Taking over protection detail seeing as how one member was down with the flu"
Three days earlier
"Sentinel Portland I just got a call saying that one of the security detail members for our Federation Representative's is down, I want you to take over for that member"
"Understood Captain, what's wrong with the downed member?"
"Just a touch of the flu Sentinel he should be up and about by tomorrow considering the medicine he's been required to take today"
"You know as well as I do that the flu still takes a bit of time to recover from"
"Yes but the Republic has medicine that will keep him from making anyone else sick while he recovers and unfortunately he has to continue work because there aren't a lot of other people available"
"I understand but maybe the Jedi Council will help, and why are they under protection again?"
"Seems they've recently received more threats and they're being taken serious, but it's not only our representative's that are being threatened, there are others under special protection right now as well"
"Understood Captain, when will I be needing to report in?"
"As soon as you arrive at the Senate building"
"On my way sir"
She is teleported to the Senate building and reports in for protection detail
"Well Sentinel I have some meetings first and then the entire Senate is meeting over a recent bill that will either give more trade between the Republic and the Federation or keep things the same, besides we also need to discuss what items would be traded"
"Well then I will stand in the corner and simply observe unless there's trouble"
Ashland does indeed stay in the corner for several hours when they are signaled that the meeting was ready to start. When they headed to the meeting is when they ran into bounty hunters which meant a fight was on without provocation. Everyone followed the plan to the letter and while Ashland fought off the bounty hunters the rest of the security detail started getting the representative's to a safe room and also sounded the alarm that the Senate building had been breached. When that happened other security personnel started to activate their own plans of both building protection and also the protection of the Senators under threat or otherwise, the alarm also alerted the Jedi to the situation and they informed the Enterprise in turn and both started sending people to the Senate building to help deal with the bounty hunters. When reinforcements arrived however they were already too late, the bounty hunters had already decided that if they couldn't grab their targets they would simply kill as many people as possible and detonated the bombs causing confusion and panic. By the time calm and order were restored enough to start searching for survivors the bounty hunters were gone but that didn't matter to anyone and while searching Riker found a vital discovery to both Starfleet and the Jedi
"Captain over here"
Several people go over to Riker's position and he holds out Ashland's lightsaber and commbadge both heavily damaged, however they would never find her body and would be forced to presume that she had been killed and turned to ashes but they had to officially declare her as missing until they had further proof of her death
"We'll try and find her but for now she's officially MIA" (Missing in Action) "but presumed KIA" (Killed In Action)
Several Jedi jump down two flights of stairs to check out something and even though Starfleet was now pretty much used to Jedi abilities after a good three years or more they were still sometimes in awe of just how much more capable they were and how easily it was for them to fall farther without getting themselves hurt seriously
Present
"We'll have people continue looking for her body but we don't have much hope of it ever being found"
"We're ready to go home Captain, all but one of us"
"I presume they want to get Jedi training first"
"Yes, through the accelerated plan the Council made when the Federation and Republic first connected to each other"
"How will you explain this to his family?"
"We all talked about that possibility before we left the planet Captain, we can tell them the truth"
"Very well then we'd best be saying our goodbyes, though I am leaving some of my officers here until things are more stable"
"Who ordered that?"
"No one, I gave those orders right after it became obvious that Ashland was most likely dead, and after that I contacted Command requesting a replacement group which was approved"
"Very well Captain, shall we get going then?"
"We shall, Picard to Enterprise seven to beam up"
Those leaving were teleported out of there and were soon on their way home. While that was going on no one realized that Ashland had been captured by the bounty hunters three days earlier and was now their prisoner on their way to Nar Shaddaa more commonly known as the Smuggler's Moon, she was also weaponless and had a very painful Force inhibitor on her at the moment because they knew she was a Jedi and was dangerous even without her weapons
"Once we reach Nar Shaddaa we will make sure to find a way that you will never be found, but trust me even if I don't kill you someone else will"
"Oh just you wait, I will get myself out of this situation and then return to the Republic, I won't be a prisoner forever"
"Ah but you see you've been declared missing but presumed dead and I have the proof right here"
Her captor enters a chip into a special port and she sees Picard and the Chancellor side by side
"People of the Senate as you know there was a most brutal attack on us yesterday afternoon and they were most likely after the Federation representative's. Due to the efforts of Sentinel Portland though they were unable to get their goal especially considering that she had no backup due to the plans made by the security group initially. We are still repairing the damage done in the explosion but we have identified all our dead and wounded...except one"
Picard takes over next
"Sentinel Portland is missing and presumed dead, having most likely been at the center of the explosion and we have proof of that"
With that Picard holds up her lightsaber and commbadge while the Chancellor holds up her torn cloak and phaser both of which had been found later that same day
"As you all know a Jedi is never without their lightsaber, at the same time unless so ordered a Starfleet Officer is never without their phaser if they assume they might be heading into trouble, she also would have kept her commbadge even damaged as a means to identify her and possibly try and fix it to contact the right people. As for the torn cloak Sentinel's have a uniform slightly separated from the rest of Starfleet because they are different, oh and she also doesn't have a commlink on her because of the fact that she would have been in range of the commbadge"
The transmission is ended but her captor just looks at her with a grin
"As you can see no one will come for you because no one thinks that you're alive and with that Force inhibitor on you, they can't sense you through the Force either, oh and I wouldn't try and take it off because it's designed to blow up if you try anything"
She's then left alone in her cell but unfortunately the bounty hunters didn't realize something even having heard it openly stated, she wasn't just a Jedi she was a Starfleet Officer and Starfleet Officers were trained to think no matter what the situation was, they were also trained in interrogation resistance and also in escape plans just in case something like this should happen. When she was left alone the bounty hunters didn't stay long enough to get a good look at her determined face because she was planning something and making alternate plans in case her main plan didn't work
"You know she was in a strange outfit, maybe we should keep a close eye on her in case she has had extra training that Jedi don't typically get, after all that one person declared her a Starfleet Officer"
"Don't worry, she's harmless without her weapons or the Force as for the uniform Jedi do work undercover sometimes and those clothes were part of it, that person was probably lying about her being one of them"
"Well hopefully we don't have any more problems"
They eventually reach Nar Shaddaa and Ashland is quickly put into another room that was essentially a cell while her captors discussed further what to do with her, unfortunately they were idiots not taking in the clothes she initially had on as more important than just simply clothes and the fact that Picard stated she was one of them (Ashland was forced to change clothes right before leaving the ship). She finally managed to get the cuffs off and also escape the room, once she reached an area that held ships she stowed away on one that she knew was headed into Republic space because while practically everyone on the planet were criminals some did have side ventures that were technically legal to cover their illicit businesses. While in hyperspace though she was discovered
"Well what do we have here? a stowaway"
"Look I'm just trying to get to Republic space, I don't care if you turn me in at the first place you stop off at as long as I can get at least to inside Republic space, but if necessary I will understand being in the Outer Rim and will figure out transport from there"
"We're taking you to Coruscant then, by the way let's get that collar off of you"
"Sorry but unless you want to kill everyone you can't take the collar off, it's set to blow up if tampered with trust me I've seen these devices before"
"Well then we're gonna have to change our plans we're selling you to the highest bidder on the nearest planet that accepts slaves, and I believe that is Tatooine"
So she is instead dropped of at Tatooine and is quickly bought. At her new "owner" home
"Okay first thing you should know is that I only bought you because you don't look like you belonged there, I don't normally buy slaves instead I do my best to hijack slave ships and free slaves, unfortunately I lost my ship almost three years ago due to gambling for parts I needed since my engines were damaged. I've set up a repair job as a means to make enough money to buy a ship but it's not easy and I think if you help I will get more work done faster and that ways we can both leave"
"Fine by me, but if that's the case can you get this blasted collar off of me without setting off the detonation device?"
"Sure, just let me scan the thing first so that I know the design"
"Let's hope that doesn't set it off"
Which actually it doesn't, and over the next two days her "master" looked over the schematics so that he could get the collar off of her which he finally succeeded at
"So now that you no longer have that collar on you who are you I can't keep calling you slave because technically you aren't one but I also can't keep calling you Jane"
"My name is Ashland Portland I'm a Sentinel in Starfleet, unfortunately due to bounty hunters several weeks ago I am now considered dead, killed in the defense of the Federation representative's"
"And no means to contact them to let them know otherwise huh?"
"Well maybe not, lately I've been thinking about another means of communication due to a special connection I have with another officer, but that is due to unique circumstances. If I meditate hard enough I might be able to reach a Jedi whose Force signature I know, however this technique is not guaranteed to work and we still might be forced to find another way to contact people who can help"
"Well we'll try it your way first and then after that we'll do things the old fashioned way"
Ashland goes into her meditation form and starts going deep into the Force and also her bond with T'vran to try and make contact with anyone she could and actually succeeds in touching the mind of a Jedi not that far away but before being able to truly make contact she was forced to end things because she was severely exhausted doing that
"Were you able to make contact?"
"Not...exactly...I...managed...to...feel...another Jedi's...mind but...couldn't maintain contact" (deep breath) "I know it works now but unfortunately for me it drains too much of my energy to do it constantly or for long, maybe with training and practice I might be able to reach further distances but right now it's just not possible, plus I may never be able to reach the distances I must even with the one person I have a bond to"
"What about the mind you touched?"
"Who knows they might have recognized my Force signature despite the very brief contact they might not have, plus they might have just thought they imagined it"
"Well looks like we're stuck doing things the old fashioned way then"
"Yep, what do you need help with?"
"For now, some beat up droids but who knows what I will get next so let's start getting to work, before we really get busy"
"Got it boss"
The two of them started to get to work while the Jedi she touched minds with finishes their mission and on the way home starts to meditate what they had very briefly felt two months earlier