Chapter 1: Knightfall

The boy moved as quickly and quietly as he could, sidestepping the bodies of his friends that lay scattered across the temple floors. Danger was ever present as he could still hear the shots from Clone blasters and the screams of the other Jedi still being hunted. He had only one goal on his mind, to get to the temple's hangar and fly as far from Coruscant as possible. Simple in theory, but made difficult by being forced into taking several alternate routes to avoid the large Clone platoons that were searching for survivors. A fireteam or a small squad the boy was confident in being able to handle on his own, but the Clones made sure to use their superior numbers and firepower to their advantage.

Moving down one of the corridors he heard shots behind him, quickening his pace, until he heard more shots in front of him. Knowing he would be seen if he stayed, he quickly moved into one of the small dormitories in the hallway. Turning around after shutting the door behind him, he found a pair of bodies on the floor. He looked for a place to hide, but under the bed or the closet seemed too obvious. Hearing the Clones approaching and not seeing a better option, he dropped to floor and tried to remain as still as he could. He heard the door open behind him and a pair Clones enter the room, the hand torches that were mounted on their blasters slowly scanning the room.

"Another squad already got these ones." One of the Clones said.

"I told you we're wasting our time, 2nd platoon already cleared this hallway." The second one said.

"You're probably right." The first one sighed. "Let's finish up this area quick and head back to the atrium, been hearing plenty of em' have been trying to sneak out as soon as our backs are turned."

The boy heard the pair leave, not daring to move until he heard the door shut behind them. Waiting a moment before pushing himself to his feet, he froze when he heard the closet door start to open, his lightsaber flying to his hand. The door opened, and he saw a familiar face look around, and when both of their eyes made contact, they went wide with joy.

"Scout?" The boy whispered. "Is that you?"

"Jaydal!" Scout whispered back, running to embrace her friend.

"Thank the Force you're okay." Jaydal whispered. "We need to get out of here. Did you see if anyone else made it?"

Scout lowered her head.

"They're gone." She said sadly. "Whie, Bene, they're all gone."

Jaydal's stomach churned as he realized the last of his friends was standing right in front of him.

"Are any of the exits open?" Jaydal asked trying to keep focused. "Or any that aren't as heavily defended?"

"No." Scout said shaking her head. "Before I had to hide here, they had already locked down all the exits, no one in or out unless they want you to."

"Come on, let's head for the hangar and fly out of here."

Scout nodded and followed Jaydal out the door. They moved as quick and quietly as possible down the hallway towards the hangar. Most of the clones had moved to other parts of the temple, and the sounds of blaster fire had grown farther away. The two reached the second-floor entrance of the hangar with relative ease, only needing to move into hiding twice. Staying low, they moved as close as they could to the balcony overlooking the main hangar without being seen.

"They're all over the place." Scout said, her eyes darting between the several squads of Clones that were patrolling around the ships.

"There's no way we're going to be able to do quietly, but I think we might have a chance." Jaydal said, pointing at one of the airspeeders. "They're not guarding the Praxis as heavily as the fighters, we can use that to get clear of the temple."

"Then what?" Scout asked. "Ditch it and find another way offworld?"

"Exactly." Jaydal smiled. "Only thing is, it doesn't have any kind of shielding. We take one hit and we're dead. And they're gonna know we're here the second we power it up."

"I actually have an idea for that." Scout said, using the Force to pull a thermal detonator off of one of the fallen Temple Security agents.

"Okay." Jaydal nodded, grabbing one for himself. "Wait until they notice us to throw it. Let's go."

The two dropped down behind one of the pillars holding the balcony up and crept towards the speeder. Scout took cover behind the speeder, thermal detonator in hand, as Jaydal hopped into the pilot's seat and began to power the engines on. The Clones immediately noticed, but by the time any of them could fire a single shot, Scout's thermal detonator had already exploded at their feet. Scout jumped up into the passenger seat and the speeder took off into the Coruscant skyline. Almost immediately a pair of ARC-170's started to move to intercept them, and Jaydal frantically dove the speeder into the city streets in an attempt to lose them. As the pair of righters closed the gap, Jaydal banked as hard as he could into a narrow street, slamming the ground and skidding down the street, until finally screeching to a stop. The two Jedi jumped out, and Jaydal used his thermal detonator to destroy what was left of the speeder. The pair fled into the chaos of the streets, and after moving a few blocks from the crash, paused to rest for a moment in a small alley.

"Why'd you destroy the speeder?" Scout asked panting.

"Because it'll look like we exploded on impact." Jaydal said, breathing just as hard. "Hopefully they'll assume we're dead and focus their attention on the rest of the temple. And if they do decide to check for our bodies, they're still gonna have to put out the fire before they can get close enough to check. We'll be long gone before then."

"We're not gonna get far looking like this." Scout said, pointing at their robes.

"There's got to be a clothing vendor somewhere around here, hopefully within a few blocks." Jaydal said. "We can get changed and head for the spaceport."

The pair moved down through alley, cutting across the streets and using the crowds as cover in case of any Clone patrols. Eventually after moving through several blocks, they saw a clothing vendor, and made their way inside.

"Welcome! How can I help you two today?" The vendor said enthusiastically.

"You want to lock the doors and close your shutters." Jaydal said, waving his hand in the vendor's face.

"I want to lock the doors and close my shutters." The man repeated in a monotone trance, moving to do exactly what he said.

"You want to go to the back room and give us our privacy." Jaydal said, waving his hand again after the vendor had locked the building up.

"I want to go to the back room and give you your privacy." The vendor repeated and left the room.

"Okay that should give us some time." Jaydal said turning to Scout. "Grab whatever fits as quick as you can."

The two gathered their new clothing and went into the changing rooms. Jaydal was the first to appear from the rooms, dressed in brown jacket, black shirt, dark blue pants and black boots. Scout followed soon after in a dark red jacket, black shirt and pants, and brown boots, and had removed her Padawan braid and tied her long red hair back into a ponytail. The two looked like the average smuggler to most, putting their robes and lightsabers into their own duffel bags that slung over their shoulders, leaving the store on their way to the spaceport.

After travelling on foot for an hour, the two arrived the base of Eastport, the oldest and busiest of the three major spaceports on Coruscant. The two entered the building, moving through the bustling crowd, entering the elevator and starting their ascent that would take them up to the docks.

"What's our plan once we get to the docks?" Scout asked.

"Either buy passage off world, or stowaway on any of the freighters." Jaydal said.

"And if either of those don't work out?"

"Steal a ship and fight our way out." Jaydal said grimly. "No matter what we can't stay here, otherwise we're dead."

The doors opened and the two were immediately met with a line leading into the docking bays. At the front were a squad of Clones checking the identification of everyone trying to leave, with additional Clones patrolling up and down the lines hoping to spot anyone trying to leave. Additional elevator doors opened behind the two Jedi, and the crowd forced them into the line. Jaydal looked around for any kind of exit away from the Clones and saw that every one of them was guarded. Worse yet, he noticed a woman sitting off to the side, watching them intently.

"What're we going to do?" Scout asked. "We don't have any ID, and if they search us and find our weapons…"

"Our only chance is some kind of distraction." Jaydal said. "Even then that might not work. We're being watched."

"Who?"

"On our left, woman sitting down with the brown hair."

Scout feigned stretching to get a better look, her eyes going wide as the woman stood up and started to make her way towards them.

"Jay, she's heading straight for us." Scout whispered.

Jaydal slowly turned his head to see the woman walking towards them, her stare not leaving Jaydal's face. He pulled his bag from over his shoulder and started to reach inside for his lightsaber.

"When I start fighting you run." Jaydal said not looking at Scout.

"Are you out of your mind?" Scout angrily whispered.

"They'll be too focused on me to notice you slip out." Jaydal said. "Find a ship and get out of here."

"There's no way I'm leaving you here."

Before Jaydal could respond the woman got in line in front of the two.

"Shut up, stay behind me, follow my lead, and you both might get out of here." The woman said.

"Who the hell are you?" Jaydal asked.

"A friend of your mother's." The woman said.

"How do you know my mother?"

"Not now. Now shut up." The woman said through her teeth.

The three moved through the line, eventually making it to the front where the Clones were waiting.

"Identification, please." One of the Clones demanded.

"Got it right here for you." The woman said pulling out her identification. "The kids are a spur of the moment thing. Their mother got a little nervous with the attack and all and couldn't apply for any sort of ID for them in time. She just wants me to get them offworld until this all gets sorted out."

"No one leaves without any ID." The Clone said. "If they don't have any, we'll detain them until we can clear them, and then they'll be sent home."

"Look they're just kids, you really can't just let them slide?"

"No, we can't." The clone said, motioning for the others to take the Jedi. "Take them to the holding area."

"That won't be necessary." A voice said behind the Clones. A man was walking towards them, wearing a Republic uniform.

"Sir!" The clone said immediately snapping to attention.

"Nyreen is a friend, and I know these children. They are no threat, you can let them pass." The man said.

The Clone hesitated before waving them through, the three following the man down the hall towards the docking bays.

"Don't ever put yourself in a position like that again." The man said. "Next time I might not be around to bail you out."

"Appreciate the save, Dak." Nyreen replied. "I'll be back soon with another run, just got to drop these two off first."

The group stopped in front of one of the docking bay doors.

"Be careful, they're hunting them down like dogs." Dak said, motioning towards the Jedi.

"Will do, take care." Nyreen said, and Dak proceeded down the hallway without them.

The three moved through the dockingbay door and towards a YT-1250 freighter parked inside.

"How do you know my mother?" Jaydal asked again.

"Kid, I swear I'll answer all your questions when we get clear of the planet." Nyreen said. "Please just get on the ship."

"Where are you taking us?" Scout asked.

"To his mother, on Mandalore." Nyreen said looking towards Jaydal.

The three boarded the ship, Nyreen heading to the cockpit while Jaydal and Scout sat down in the crew lounge. The two sat next to each other, both mentally unpacking all that had occurred that day. The loss of their friends, their home, their very way of life had started to hit them now that they were able to rest. Jaydal felt Scout lean onto his arm and raised his to wrap around her and pull her close, both of them silently promising to themselves that neither of them would ever let anything happen to the other. They felt the ship clear the atmosphere, and then the lurch forward from finally entering lightspeed to safety.