Allies and Enemies

Chapter Ten: Destruction

"Well, at least he didn't say no," Rowan sighed. "The least he can do is talk to his mother."

"I knew it was going to be hard to convince him," I said. "Bracken's got a good heart, but he can be a bit... realistic in these situations." There was a beat of silence.

"Incoming holo message," Rowan said, pressing a button on the console next to us.

"Kianna!" a voice cried out. I heard blaster fire, and I recognized the voice.

"Katooni?" I asked, surprised.

"I need your help. I need you to get me out of here," Katooni yelled into the holo.

"What's happened? Where are you?" I asked urgently.

"I don't know how, but someone's activated Order 66," Katooni informed me. "I'm on Onderon, and I was doing a quick sweep, but the clones turned on me. I'm transmitting my coordinates now." I was silent.

"How?" I asked, shocked.

"Kianna, you must go to the Jedi Temple and the Senate to see if they're safe. Something tells me they're not," Katooni said quickly. "I have to go. Please hurry. I fear for the future of the Order." The holo turned off, and Katooni's voice was gone. I sat down hard and put my hands on my temples, not believing what I heard.

"I cannot believe this is happening," I groaned. "I just had such a false sense of security about Coruscant... I should've known."

"Listen to me," Rowan said, putting her hands on my shoulders. "It's not your fault. I'll pick up Katooni, and you should go to Coruscant, save as many people as you can."

"If the Temple has fallen, I'll have to scout the galaxy for the remaining Jedi."

"Which is why you must hurry."

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I landed slightly unsteadily outside the Jedi Temple. With a pang in my heart and a gasp, I realized within a millisecond that it was burning. Sure, I had my reasons why I didn't join the Jedi and stayed as independent as I could, mostly because of belief differences, but I never wanted the Jedi to collapse. If that happened, I knew that it would not be good. Plus, Jedi had been my life when I was younger. I'd followed the Jedi way based on what I'd learned from the books and the EU. It was why I was calm when I learned that my adoptive mother was planning to kill me. I steadied myself, then plunged into the Temple with ice and a shield as protection. I checked around every room in the Temple and found no one alive. Whichever villain had done this was thorough. I limped slightly out of the burning building in sadness. I had wished to find some of my Jedi friends alive, but no one was recognizable. I looked to the south, and I could see the Senate Building go up in smoke. I hurriedly teleported there and checked out the damage. The Senate was done for. I could tell it had burned longer than the Temple, so no one had survived. I sat down hard in front of the wreckage, processing what had happened to my life. My life had changed in about an hour, and I had a feeling that it would not stop.

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"Katooni!" I exclaimed, hugging my friend in relief. "I'm so glad you made it out."

"I am happy to see you too," Katooni smiled, then her face became serious. "We should send out a distress signal, a message to the surviving Jedi out there. I'm sure that there are some left."

"The sad thing is, I don't know how many," I hung my head.

"We'll find them," Katooni said with determination. She had grown so much since she was a little youngling. I nodded back. Rowan came up to us.

"I'm guessing..." she trailed off.

"The worst," I confirmed. Rowan sighed.

"I used to wonder whether something like this would ever happen," she admitted. "I had denied it back then, thinking that it was not a possibility, but I suppose anything is, at this point."