"What exactly were you that I felt, a Jedi in trouble or just a quick minor disturbance in the Force?"

The Jedi meditates and soon gets their answer because they managed to touch Ashland's mind while she was meditating, but that was only because Ashland was pushing herself knowing she didn't have much of a chance but she felt she had to try again having already been on Tatooine for two months, and Ashland manages to get a message out this time though it was very brief and would cost her three days energy she felt it would be worth it

*Portland...alive...Tatooine*

The connection is cut right after that, Ashland passing out and the Jedi opening their eyes very shocked and not quite believing what had just happened

"I think it best I contact the Council about this"

The Jedi contacts the Council and reports the contact with their mind but are told that it would have to wait until they were in front of the Council because of the nature of the situation. Three days later both groups were talking to their respective leaders. With Ashland on Tatooine

"Portland what exactly caused you to pass out for three whole days?"

"I managed to make contact with that Jedi again and this time managed to get out a short message, hopefully by now they are in front of the Jedi Council and relaying my need for help and the fact that I'm alive, and I'm sure once they get here they might be able to help you out too depending on the situation, in the meantime though I think it best that we continue work to hopefully manage to make enough money to either get off this planet or at least be able to make contact with the right people"

"Let's get to it then because we have a large order to complete"

"Right, have I mentioned just how much I hate large orders especially when I have to hide the fact that I'm a Jedi?"

"Plenty of times Portland, plenty of times"

"Well best get started then"

While Ashland was working in the shop the Jedi was indeed in front of the Jedi Council relaying both the long mission and the brief touch in their mind

"Now then what exactly did that presence say when it made contact with your mind?"

"Portland, alive, Tatooine, those exact words Master Skywalker"

Luke touches the mind of the Jedi and senses only the truth he also tries to sense the situation through the Force and gets the feeling that Ashland was alive through that as well

"She is alive, but how and why did we not know until now?"

"Who knows Master Skywalker, but I think for now we should send a rescue unit to Tatooine and get Portland back where she belongs, in Republic space"

"Yes, though she won't have any weapons on her, she'll at least be at one of her homes"

"So we go and pick her up and bring her home, fine but what about the Federation?"

"Don't worry we'll tell them ourselves, besides we need to give them a progress report about something we're doing for them"

Three days after that they land on the outskirts of Mos Eisley which is where Ashland and her employer actually worked and they quickly found her through detecting her Force signature

"Just a minute, I'll be right out to help you, hey boss we have some more clients"

She comes out and instantly recognizes them as fellow Jedi and her boss soon follows her out

"How may I help you?"

"Actually we're not exactly here to have some repairs done we're actually here for your comrade"

"Ah I presume you're fellow Jedi then go right on ahead and take her home, I should be able to buy a ship and continue my slave freeing activities within the next two to three years"

"How long have you been stuck here?"

"Three years, I was attacked by pirates on my way to Naboo to do get some supplies for a common trade route I run whenever I'm not freeing slaves, was forced to land here and lost my ship gambling for the parts I needed to repair the ship, as it is I'm lucky I didn't lose my freedom"

"I think I remember hearing about that actually, you managed to get one message out before losing contact near here, it was presumed you that you were either dead or a slave but since that option was out you were never declared dead so that means you can easily get started up again after explaining things to the trade group you belong to"

"Works for me let me find people to sell my shop to and we'll get going"

Two hours later they were in hyperspace and headed back to Coruscant

"By the way Sentinel by now the Federation and more importantly Starfleet will know that you're alive I heard Master Skywalker talking to the right people to make contact with them as I was leaving"

"Good contact Starfleet Command directly I need to speak with them about something I heard while in town getting more supplies for the repair shop and yes I did buy the stuff"

She's quickly able to contact an Admiral in Starfleet

"Admiral this is Sentinel Portland, I need you to contact DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, Yoshimaru, Melbourne, and any other ship that has Jedi serving aboard there vessel because there is a plan to attack those vessels by bounty hunters that have managed to get to the Federation, they will be in small, fast space craft, faster than shuttles and more maneuverable than X-Wings and don't ask me how that's possible because I have absolutely no idea"

"Understood Sentinel we'll inform them right away and hope that they haven't been attack yet, when did you hear this anyways?"

"About two days ago so you might be too late but let's hope they've delayed their attack hoping for the advantage that ways everyone will still be safe and alive"

"Copy that Sentinel Command out"

Communications are cut and two days later they finally arrived at Coruscant and landed at the Jedi temple where the Council was waiting for her with a new uniform for her, because years earlier when she had finally designed the new uniform for Starfleet Sentinel's they informed the Jedi Council about the uniform change and helped them by sending schematics and materials so that they could make spare uniforms in case something like what had happened to Ashland happened to any Sentinel that happened to be in the Republic and loses their uniform for whatever reason

"We have a spare room available for you while you wait for a pickup and of course as you can tell a new uniform for you, and don't worry the uniform is a recognized uniform for you because you are a Sentinel, and we've showed everyone the new uniform for Sentinel's just in case any had to come here"

"Good to know, now then I am going to clean up in my temporary quarters and then I think for the rest of the time unless otherwise told I will protect the Federation representative's because I don't know if they are still threatened or not and even then I think it best I stay with them in case of any hidden threats that we don't know of"

"Granted, but tomorrow, they aren't meeting today and let's face it you need to report to us and us to report to you what you've missed these past two months, not to mention you need to build a new lightsaber seeing as how your old one was damaged, somehow your phaser came through the explosion fine, but not the commbadge which also needs replaced"

"Fine, and just for your peace of mind I will go to the healers for a physical after I change out of these clothes that my captors forced on me"

She is brought to her temporary quarters and eventually gets checked out by the healer and is given a clean bill of health, though they did notice nutrition levels were down a bit but considering the situation she had been in it was only natural. A few days later after she replaced all the damaged items she had to she went to the Senate and informed the Federation representative's that she would stay with them until it was time for her to return home which they gladly accepted because they were still in need of protection and the Starfleet officers left behind were exhausted and needing a slight break

"By the way Portland we're glad to know that you're still alive, but what happened? the Jedi Council couldn't tell us"

"Well as all of you know I was fighting the bounty hunters when the explosion happened where I was supposed to be, however at the very last moment I managed to sense the bomb was about to be detonated and managed to get away from the main blast in time. The problem came afterwords, I didn't get far enough away to avoid being blasted into a wall and unconscious and thus injured and unable to do anything I was taken captive. When I got to Nar Shaddaa I managed to escape fairly quickly but when I wound up on a ship that was headed to Coruscant their plans changed because of a Force inhibitor collar that was designed to blow if taken off incorrectly, thus how I wound up on Tatooine for a little over two months"

"You wound up on Tatooine? I'm surprised you weren't forced to be there for a long period of time"

"Same here I was bought by someone who actually does his best to free slaves whenever he isn't transporting cargo over the galaxy"

"That would do it then, so we have a Senate vote in about five minutes so let's get going"

"Agreed"

Unfortunately they were under attack yet again, the problem was these were smarter bounty hunters than the last group that tried to kill Portland so Ashland decided to reveal something she had never revealed before, something deemed so dangerous it was only practiced in secret and without authorization from the Admirals

"OK that's it, I have had it with pirates, bounty hunters and anyone looking for quick cash considering what I've been through these past few months. You. Are. Not. Getting. These. Representatives. I am only going to say that once and once only"

Suddenly she brings out her phaser seeing as how she already had out her lightsaber and danced and it was a dance that no one recognized as a fighting style but man was it effective, though very rough from what they could tell. Eventually though the bounty hunters were knocked out cold and taken into custody and Ashland put her weapons away