Never Going Back

Chapter 1- The Hunt For Vader

Noelle Smith had never been more alone in her life. Not when she was a nine-year-old kid back on Earth under Gandalf the Wizard's training, not when she had been a Jedi, or fought in climactic battles where Good and Evil clashed for control. She had always had someone by her side, whether it be her cousin Bern, her mentor Gandalf, or her old friend Anakin Skywalker.

Fifteen years ago the Jedi and the Republic lost. They lost because they had strayed from their path and allowed Evil to reside right in front of their faces. The clones turned against the Jedi accusing them of treason under the decree of "Order 66," issued by the new Emperor Palpatine.

Only for Noelle, it had been one year and not fifteen.

She had been onboard the Republic cruiser with Ahsoka Tano and the 332nd Legion on their way back from Mandalore to escort Darth Maul to Coruscant. The clones turned against the two Jedi Padawans, and the two had barely escaped with their lives. After parting ways with Ahsoka, Noelle was picked up by Gandalf, who took her back to Middle-earth.

Time passed differently for Noelle than it did for this vast galaxy. While she had stayed one year in Middle-earth, fifteen long and difficult years had passed here in the Empire.

Noelle had a lot of catching up to do.

The young woman sat huddled under a shack on Level 1313 of the underworld of Coruscant, trying to keep out of the rain, her cloak wrapped tightly around her head and back. She had landed on Coruscant suddenly after Gandalf had transported her back not three days ago, and had learned quickly that here, in Palpatine's new Empire, you were either a hunter or the hunted.

Even the word"Jedi" was dangerous and forbidden. Even people who still believed in the Jedi were punished. And it didn't matter if you didn't call yourself a Jedi- as far as the Empire was concerned, if you were a Force-wielder who carried a certain colored lightsaber: you were a Jedi.

Now Noelle was on the run for her life after making a perilous mistake yesterday morning.

Or had it even been a mistake? Was it merely a coincidence?

She had originally landed on the very first level of Coruscant, not far from where the Jedi Temple used to be. She had spent the whole day trying to find a way to earn herself credits, when a group of three or four Clone Troopers- no, their voices weren't the same- different troopers Noelle hadn't seen before, randomly surrounded her and asked for her identification.

Noelle was in a bad position. They would arrest her if she didn't answer. She couldn't necessarily mind-trick four troops at once, nor was she very skilled at talking her way out of situations like Obi-wan had been. That left one option.

Noelle had Force-pushed two troopers to the ground, and leapt over their heads and onto a roof of a nearby building. Pretty soon, there were blaster shots fired, and murmurs of a living Jedi running loose on the streets of Coruscant.

After that incident, Noelle immediately retreated to the underworld, where all the scum and criminals hung out.

She was the hunted.

Noelle slumped back against the wall, a slide down into a crouched heap. This was exactly the reason she had decided to leave this galaxy in the first place: she didn't want to spend the rest of her life running away from the Empire. The reason she haddecided to come back though, was because there was someone whose life she was trying to save. Sniffing, Noelle wiped away the salty tears that were streaming down her face along with the dirty rainwater. She shakily got to her feet. Now was the time to step up and do something. If she was the only one left willing to fight and die, then so be it. She couldn't stay down here any longer- not now.