| Kat sat in the pilot seat, her feet up on the console, and took out her lightsaber. She fought back the tears that sprung in her eyes. So much had happened, and the memories flooded back. Her friends, her family, everything... Kat stood outside the room, the door cracked just enough for her to see. Her father and mother were sitting on a couch, their backs to her. "We have to protect her! She's our daughter!" Kat heard her mother say. "We can protect her! We've both been trained as Jedi!" her father argued. "And that ability will get both of us and her killed if we don't hide her somewhere!" "Maybe we can train her-" "How? She's three standard years old! She's too young to understand the force! If we train her we'll call the Hunters right to us! And then none of us will survive!" "There has to be some other way!" "I love her just as much as you! I wish there was, but there is no other way. If we really love her, we must act soon or we'll all wind up dead!" Suddenly the wall in front of Kat's father caved in and shattered. "You're dead anyway!" a male replied stepping into the hole. Kat's parents ignited their lightsabers, her father sent her a telepathic message to climb out the window and escape to her grandfather's house. Kat obeyed. She didn't know what else to do. Her mother and father were back there fighting for their lives and hers. Kat never made it to her grandfathers. Someone had thrown some sort of stimulan to knock keep Kat from waking up into her room. Kat inhaled only a little, but that was enough. She ran for several blocks collapseing in a alley. Seven years later . . . "And what do you think you're doing here?" Kat exclaimed. "I'm sitting back and relaxing, what dose it look like?" the older male replied not budging. "Get outta my shelter now!" The male got up and led Kat outta the small shelter Kat had built out of broken blocks of duracrete, and stood in the 'doorway.' Kat prepared to fight, she may be only eleven, but she would not let this guy get the best of her. A heavy hand rested on her shoulder before she was able to do anything, though. "Let it go, little one, you will need it no longer," the old male said in a calm soothing voice... one that sounded vaguely familiar, and lead her away from the only place she'd known all her life. Three years later... "Ha! I got you now!" Kat exclaimed and leaped and the tall older male standing in front of her. "Nice try," he side-stepped her easily, "but you still need to learn to use the full force and not just the scraps you've been using." Kat lunged again, flipped, landed and flipped again catching the male's midsection with her practice saber. "Ack!" he mocked dying. Kat laughed. "Gotcha that time!" "Yea, you did! Now I'm gonna be numb 'till supper!" he laughed. "You're getting good at that Kat." "I almost think it's because I'm younger than you," Kat replied "That may be a factor, but I think it's something more. I think your skill is the best I've seen in all my years." "Ha ha very funny" Kat replied. He smiled. "It's true! Now go take the rest of your energy out on that ship of yours!" "Yes sir!" Master Ja'kan smiled again. Kat had come such a long way from the street cub that he had found her. And a quick study too! Three years and she had learned faster than any Padawan he had ever had during the good times. She didn't have the discipline, but that would come in time. Kat ran out to her ship, the Star Dancer. She had built the ship from scratch, and even made a few improvements. The one thing that she had insisted on was a star cube. In other words in the back of the ship was a cube or pure plexiglass on five sides and the side you enter on the wall was completely smooth, projecting the star patterns from the front of the ship, making her feel like she was standing in space, not in her ship. Other than that she was a regular yacht/freighter. A few remotes were added to a couple rooms and the galley was stocked full. Just a few more tweaks and the Star Dancer would be ready for her first flight. "Hey, girl! How ya been?" Kat asked the ship. "Just gotta fix a few things and you'll be up in the air in no time!" Kat had spent hours working on that ship, all her free time for the past three years had gone into that ship or her studies, so the next few hours were really nothing different from what had become routine over the past few years. "Kaaaat!! Dinner!!" Master Ja'kan yelled. "Coming!" Kat replied and hurried off to clean herself up. She had just barley finished on her ship when he called and she was preparing to head in anyway. Kat skipped into the house, "HAHA! I finished my ship! She's ready for her first flight!" Kat exclaimed. "After dinner, Kat, I have some things I want you to do," Ja'kan smiled. "And then we'll see how well your ship flies!" Dinner passed quickly for Kat, she was excited to be able to fly her ship for the first time, the chores that Master Ja'kan wanted her to do would be done easily. She knew that the sooner she got them done the dooner she could test fly her ship. After dinner, and the completion of her chores, she raced out to the maintenance shed to see her ship, chattering away at her master over her shoulder. Kat broke off. There were two males standing in the doorway, blasters pointing at her, lightsabers hanging from their belts. "Who are you?" Kat asked. "That is not for you to ask Jedi," one of them replied. Kat looked quisicly at her master and then back at the two men. "Ummmm, okay, what are you doing here then?" "What else would we be doing on some backwater planet in the middle of no where?!" the other mocked. "We're hunting Jedi." Kat agian looked at her master questions written over her face. She didden't reply. "There are no Jedi here," Ja'kan replied. "Don't tell us that! We can feel your presences as your standing there! You can hide them from us," one of them replied. Kat suddenly understood; there was a bounty on all Jedi. These were Jedi Hunters. They woulden't get outta this one with out a fight. "There are no Jedi here," Kat replied trying to use the mind trick, either she didden't do it right, of it failed to effect them. One of the males shok his head and fired at Kat. Kat ignited her lightsaber at the last second defelcting the bolt trying to send it back at the attacker. They brought up their own lightsabers, deflecting the bold away from them and attacked Kat. Ja'kan ignited his lightsaber and blocked one of the cuts while Kat blocked the other. Kat and Ja'kan defended themselves from the two males. They were overconfident of their skills, and didn't have much Force senseitivity, so Kat took advantage of that letting her opponent back her to the wall then leaping over him, and backing him into a corner. It took a lot of work, but she finally gave a fatal blow to the male attacking her. Ja'kan did similar, but he didn't have a chance to do much of anything before he was cut down. Kat felt her master's pain, but didn't react; there would be time for that later. She blocked blow after blow from the other attacker. He was good, but he, like the other didn't have as much feel for the Force as she had she force blasted him and he flew across the room and slumped in the corner he was unconcious. Kat spent the next few minutes crying and trying to get up. She hurried around the house and gathered her clothing and the rest of the foodstuffs in the house. She didn't know where to go, so she decided to go back to her home planet Corellia. "Ok," Kat said to herself sitting down at the controls in her ship. "Let's see." Kat ignited the engines and took off. In the next couple of minutes Kat left the planet and prepared to enter hyperspace, where she'd be home free. No one would know she had been there, and no one would know where she was going. She pulled the lever and the Star Dancer leaped into hyperspace. "There were two Jedi here," Luke said anger clearly in his voice. "But we only found one and he's dead! Coulda died shortly after the fight . . ." one of the storm troopers replied. Luke force-griped his throat and was starting to crush it. "I . . . I. . . I'm . . . sorry . . . my . . . Lord . . ." "You'd better be," Luke hissed. "He was killed during the fight . . . and his apprentice did the rest. I want our best Jedi hunters on this one . . . And I want the Jedi brought back . . . alive!!" "Yes, milord," another trooper answered and went off to send the order. Luke gave a grim smile. Soon he would have this Jedi. Very soon. Most of the trip to Corellia Kat spent taking her frustration out on her remotes that she installed in various parts of the ship, or meditating in her 'star' room. It took a week, but Kat was glad to get out of hyperspace and set down on a planet again. "Corellia Traffic Control, this is the Star Dancer, request permission to land," Kat asked. "Star Dancer, this is Corellia Traffic Control you can set down in landing bay 43," a voice replied. "Thank you," Kat replied and prepared to land. The landing wasn't particularly smooth and Kat reasoned that it was because she had never landed a ship before, but even she had to admit that it probably would of been much rougher if she didn't have the Force to guide her. "I think I'll go see if home is still there," Kat said to her self as she entered the city. She headed towards the alley where she first met Ja'kan. Her home was still there, and inside were two kits huddled in the corner of it. They had every right to be scared with all the gangsters in the area. "It's alright," Kat said to them in a soothing voice. "I won't hurt you. I just came back to see if this place was still standing." "Thank you," the female kit replied shyly. "I'm glad you have it now," Kat smiled. "Here," Kat held out her hand and gave the two kits a small parcel of her food. "Well, well, if it isn't Kat! Where ya been all this time?" "You!" "Yea me! Ya know I never understood you Kat. All those years you were here with us you never joined a gang." "With idiots like you it's no wonder why!" "Well you're about to get the beating that you shoulda gotten long ago!" "Don't count on it!" Kat answered sharply. "Where you been? Don't you know that you're on our turf now?" "This was once my turf too! Now if you're done, I'll be on my way." Kat started to walk away, but two of the young males stepped into her path. "Out of my way." "Move us yourself!" one of them countered "You really don't want me to, please move." "Ha! You couldn't move a brick!" Kat didn't hear the last comment; she had let herself fall into the Force and was already starting to move the two males her own way. The two males were throwing insults at Kat when they noticed that they weren't touching the ground. They panicked and started kicking and punching the air. "Let me down!" one of them yelled. "Don't get in my way again," Kat replied calmly letting them down. "Understand?" They didn't answer as they ran to the safety of their group. "Get her!" their leader ordered enraged by Kat scaring his friends. Several of them pulled blasters on Kat and fired; Kat deflected them easily with her lightsaber, absorbing the energy from the shots that actually hit her. "Cam! She's gotta lightsaber!" one of them yelled. "I see! I see!" another replied. Kat decided to end this little game and nudged the group into a trance and leaving the alley. Kat went back to the good side of the city and started looking for a place to buy supplied and spare parts. "Kat? Kat Kariena is that you?" Kat spun around and found a speckled brown and black cat like face in front of her. The female had a brown stripe from her forehead. "Tabby?" Kat replied. "Where ya been girl!?" "Well . . . a . . . it's kinda hard to explain but a . . . well you remember when I disappeared three years ago?" "Yea . . ." Tabby rolled her hand to get Kat to continue. "I've been training to be a Jedi for the past three years." "Uhh, Kat?" "Yea?" "Do me a favor and don't tell me that again. There are bounties out for Jedi, hope I don't remember because I might turn you over, kay?" Kats eyes grew wide. "Ok." "Come on! Lets get you some fresh clothes and I'll take you where you can somewhat hide," Tabby answered and dragged Kat off. Tabby pulled a top off the rack and sized it up to Kat. "Tabs, I don't have the money for this!" "Don't worry I'm gonna pay for it," Tabby replied and threw the top in the basket. "Ok that's all for now. Next time you pay!" They went to the check out counter and paid for the clothing and supplies. "Ok lets get to your ship," "I don't have any room for you-" "I've got my own ship, don't worry bout me, now let's go!" Next thing Kat new she was orbiting the planet and receiving the navcomp coordinates. "Just outta curiosity, where we goin'?" Kat asked. "Nar Shadda," Tabby replied casually like it was a normal place where normal people went. "Oh," Kat answered and threw the hyperdrive switch, her ship leaping into hyperspace when sudden realization dawned on her. "Where!?" |