The Rebel Faction

Ah, the things that cross your mind when you just don't want them to....

Leia's mental pictures, along with her emotions was not something Amalia needed at that very moment. Leia's voice echoing in her mind did not seem to help too much either.

The obvious. Was it not all obvious already what she was to do? What she should do?

The Jedi Master was trying hard with grave determination to concentrate on the task that she had long before set out to do before Leia had so suddenly entered her mind with her thoughts, pictures, and emotions.

Though it could not be seen, a look of disappointed began to sweep across Amalia's face as she frantically and frustratingly tried to push Leia away.

She had to push Leia away, it was just something she needed to do. Leia's timing could not have been more off for Amalia. Yet somehow all this pushing away from Amalia only seemed to make Leia more dazed, making her press on to try harder to enter Amalia's mind.

Amalia rolled her eyes for a short moment before closing them, intent now on getting one simple message across to Leia. She reached out with the force, entering Leia's own mind like a ton of bricks. One simple word uttered, but tied with so many emotions.

Quiet!

Frustration, regret, determination, disappointment, shame, but those were only just a small fragment of emotions that rain through Amalia's mind.

Her voice had not been trying to plead with Leia, but it had instead, demanded something of her.

She had demanded something of her teacher, the one who had taught her everything she knew. Never once could she recall demanding something of Leia, not once.

A command, she had given a simple command...and it was so unlike Amalia....

Yet she had regretted that one simple word the moment it had escaped her own mind and poured right into Leia's own stream of thoughts.

A choice of action she had made on her own. Too much was happening on Amalia's end. All of it, all too much for her to bare. Between Leia's own actions, and Amalia's own action about to be set into place just as Leia had reached her, both of these things had collided at once in Amalia's busy mind. Not to mention that the Jedi Master still had to remained focused on what was going on around her.



That one word and energy of emotions had taken all but nothing of a few mere seconds and Amalia had her eyes back open once more. Leia was gone.....

"I'm sorry, " She whispered into the wind, but it was not anywhere near audible enough to hear by anyone, not even to the one person whom she needed for to hear.

She let all of her thoughts go. As much as she wanted to correct, (or she shamefully felt, in her mind, needed correcting) what she had said and done just now, she knew now was not the time to do so.

The time now was for helping Leia. She was in danger, not just Leia, but everyone....

She needed to create her diversion and she needed to create it now if she was going to have any chance of saving anyone.


She concentrated upon the force, just like she had done so many times before on many other different occasions.

Who would be prepared for what she was about to do though? Would Leia? Would her so called diversion startle Leia as well? She did not know, but she had no choice. A diversion was a diversion, and sometimes a diversion diverted everyone's attention, like it or not.

Pyrokinesis...

That was one distraction if any, right?

The dais...

First however, she needed to remove Leia from there, and then quickly get to work after that. She could start to do two things at once, after all, she had done it before.

Amalia's lips twisted to one side, her eyebrows rose, a look of wonder crossing her face. She knew how much energy this would drain from her, but she also knew it would work, it had to...

Hope you don't mind floating about for a bit, Leia...

If not, oh well. It was not as if Leia had much of a choice anyhow.

Amalia concentrated her entire being right onto the dais and on Leia.

Here goes nothing...

Amalia first reached out to Leia's being. A very simple enough task in itself, but requiring a great amount of concentration. Size mattered not, and surprisingly, Leia felt light. Too light, really. She knew Leia was not doing well, just from this sheer observation.

The Jedi Master floated into the air, out of reach of anyone.

Though Amalia had not thought about it, what she had just done was a very bad mistake. It left Leia open for view and in a very bad spot. She'd be made for target practice soon, but this had never crossed Amalia's mind...

Now came the most difficult part of all. Setting the dais on fire. Not one of those small light fire's either. No, one of those raging fire's that could possibly become out of control.

Another thing Amalia had not caught sight of, but she was causing destruction, on purpose. However, it was for good reason, at least in her mind anyway. She could have thought of no other options at that time, except for just one. Her ever popular wall of light fix, but there was always room for something more. This situation, she felt, had called for more drastic measures than just her wall of light. Fire instead.

Don't move!

She hoped Leia would be able to take heed of that message. It was vital that she did.

She centered her concentration on the dais now while still managing her best to keep a firm grasp upon Leia.

She stretched out with the force, grasping a hold onto the dais, feeling it, reaching out to it. She concentrated on the air molecules around, near the dais, manipulating the molecules. She quickly rubbed at the molecules, rubbing them together rather quickly. She did not stop. What produced? Destruction at its best. Not really all that grand on the big scale of things. Not something you could really say a Jedi Master could be proud of. However, if the end results turned out the way she wanted them to, all would be well, and people would be safe.

The fire began to quickly cascade out of control, not only was the dais on fire but the terrorists were trying their best to put it out, thus in turn, catching themselves on fire.

Amalia no longer paid any mind to the dais, at least for the time being, as she centered her concentration back on Leia once more. It was a good thing she did, because she felt the Jedi Master stir slightly through the force.

Don't move!

She'd almost dropped Leia, but managed to grasp onto her a split second before she felt she would drop her. She reached out to Leia via the force, creating a protective perimeter around the Jedi Master.

Now that Amalia had finished the task at hand, she had a more clear mind about her. She figured out just in time that Leia could possibly be used for target practice and wanted to protect her at all costs.

The force field could not be broken, not unless Amalia broke her concentration upon Leia, and she would not, not for anything....

Center of attention, huh, Leia?....

Amalia smiled lightly, though it quickly faded as she glanced around the room for a moment. What would happen now?.....

Blast it! I told her not to move!

It all simply just did not want to go well.

She had completely forgot about just how stubborn Leia could be.

She narrowed her eyes, looking towards Leia's general direction. She was in deep concentration, still trying to keep a hold on the Jedi Master, despite her vigorous movements.

It was her own fault, she'd been stupid enough to leave important information from Leia. Though she assumed that maybe Leia would know better. That perhaps Amalia was thoughtful enough and careful enough not to leave Leia in open air like that, in such grave danger.

A few of the blast bolts ricocheted off of Leia, causing her no harm at all, but she did not seem to notice.

She knew Leia was going to fall, even before it happened. She rolled her eyes, shaking her head a bit.

Well, so much for that bright idea!

On top of all that had happened, she'd lost Leia.

Way to go...way to go...

She could not shake her disappointment, and it carried on with her no matter what. She still let it settle in the back of her mind though, allowing it to come back into play when something did not go well.

She'd just have to figure out another way out of all this mess, that was all. Just how to do that though, that was the tricky part.

Amalia tired by now, rubbed across her forehead with the back of her hand. The fire was causing much more heat than need be, and her body was feeling it.

She did not know if it was the heat or the frustration she felt that was making her so irritable, but she was now growing impatient. Not the Jedi way to be.

Aww shoot, Leia! Where the frell are you???

She could not really feel Leia through the force like she had been able to do so earlier, before. This implemented even more frustration and impatience from Amalia, making her clench her teeth together, a very evident sign if there ever was one that a Jedi Master was none too pleased. Her thoughts were none too pretty either.

Bah! Come with me! I don't know what they want from me, but I'm sure it's nothing....NOTHING MY FOOT!

Well, even a Jedi Master like Amalia was entitled to lose her mind every now and again, though Amalia seemed to be losing her mind over something so simple and much too quickly.

Amalia let her head fall back lightly against the large pole she was still standing behind. She wanted to let out a breath of fresh air, to relax herself, but couldn't, not wanting to be discovered.

So she calmed her nerves, really wishing though that she could go into a state of emptiness. Emptiness was so hard to get out of though, and she could not afford to do that here of all places. She meditated instead, clearing her mind of all thoughts. It seemed like she was doing this for a long time, but not really, it was rather one of the short versions, like one would do when they needed to ever so quickly.

She knew the room around her quite well, after all, they'd all been here for an hour or more at least. She'd had plenty of time to look around.

Her minds eye was what she needed right now, not just hers, but Leia's as well.

Alright you stubborn woman, where are you....

Amalia had to delve deeply into her own mind to catch her mind's eye. She had to trace back to everything that she had seen earlier, only without all these swarms of people.

She remembered now...

She reached out to Leia, trying to connect with her. What she found and connected with was not at all pleasant.

Leia was resting, but she seemed out of it. That explained why she'd not been able to really feel Leia through the force. Well, she'd felt her, faintly. She'd have to hurry up with this though, before Leia faded all together and there would be no hope of finding her at all, well at least before the so called bad guys did.

Don't find me on this at least....

Amalia was finding it even more difficult to find Leia's projection of thought and view. She was not really thinking of much of anything at all, except for maybe being found. She prodded the Jedi Master's mind, really searched it. She knew Leia felt the prodding because Amalia was feeling just a tinge of a struggle from her.

Grrr...No you!...Stop it!

She did not like being fought against. She knew when and where not to overstep her right to do anything, something. However, she had to take measures into her own hands sometimes. This was that time. She did not know it, but just these simple actions would help her to carry on stronger, and know how to lead when she was supposed to.

After what felt like minutes had passed, Amalia finally found what she had been so desperately seeking. She did not know if Leia had helped in all of that, but she was glad for her success anyway.

She was seeing what Leia had seen just moments before. She saw the crowd of people that had trampled all over her. She watched Leia as she struggled to pull herself forward, through the crowd of people....

Amalia saw all white, and it confused her for only a moment of time, thinking that she had lost Leia's visions. That was not the case however, as more pictures came into view.

She watched as the Jedi Master struggled to keep moving forward, toward the white thing...whatever it was, Amalia still could not identify it yet.

Amalia must have missed a few images because she came to an end rather quickly as she found Leia. The white thing had been a table cloth, and Amalia could now see very clearly where Leia was. Under a table, but which one, that was uncertain. Amalia had missed a few images, images that were now supposed to be very important to her.

Well, it's one of those tables. I'll go to each one if I have to, until I find her.

Ever so slowly she began to make her way toward the first table, and then the next. Quite easy for her to do, considering no one was really paying attention.

Well almost everyone....

Uh oh...

She lifted the tablecloth from the table she was now under, just ever so slightly. She saw black boots, she remembered those voices.

"She's not anywhere in sight, start looking under tables!"

Oh boy....

This certainly was turning out to be rather interesting...

"Find her!"

Amalia let her hands cover her face from with underneath the table, she shook her head lightly, and silently thought jokingly.

Oh please! Let me become one with the force already! Please!

She made a very silent cry and then uncovered her hands, only to move them toward the table cloth, lifting it up slightly once more to look around.

The terrorists were scattered out again, looking everywhere except for where Leia and Amalia were, for at least the moment.

There were only two more tables that Amalia could see from her point of view.

How to get to point B from point A. If I...

Amalia smiled to herself, she had a perfect idea.

Force manipulation.

She looked to the terrorist who appeared the most further away from her view, stretching out with the force toward his mind as she did this.

A lightsaber, if he saw a lightsaber, or at least Amalia would make him think he saw one, he'd be more inclined to look around within that area. Possibly, he'd even get the others to look in that direction too.

It did not take but a few minutes to get this accomplished, the man did not exactly have a heavy mind barrier.

He cried out the moment he saw Leia's purple lightsaber, of course which was not really there to begin with. He was made to believe that it was near another table within the middle of the hall.

"Over here! She's over here somewhere, she could not have gotten away so far! All of you start looking!"

Not much time now...

She waited until they all scrambled away from her area and then quickly dived off to and under the next table, but no Leia to be found.

figures.

Well, Amalia knew by logic that the next table had to have Leia underneath it, she knew Leia was in this area.

She was finding it difficult to concentration on the man's mind now. She could hear all the other terrorists yelling in the background, screaming to him that there just was no lightsaber where he had suggested it to be. The man kept protesting though, this left a small moment of distraction of arguing.

She dived to the last and final table in her area, making contact with not the floor but a body, a very limp body. She thought sarcastically.

Oh hey! We're getting better by the minute! Boy, let me tell you that things just could not be better than they are right now!

She nudged Leia a little, trying to get her to move a little, but she was only greeted with a grunt and a groan in return. She entered Leia's thoughts delicately.

Yes, yes, ok, you can thank me later, just please try and wake up. I can't do this on my own, work with me here, Leia...

Now that she had found Leia, she only had just one problem....

She had no idea what she was going to do.

Um, guess I was supposed to plan ahead, that's obviously not what I...

Her thoughts were cut short as she felt something hard and sharp hit her arm, or bite her arm rather.

Amalia tightened her teeth together, pain reflecting on her face as she closed her eyes.

Wholly nurfherders! Stop that!!!! Oh!!! For the love of bacta tanks all over the universe, STOP!!!!

She entered Leia's mind hard and quickly.

Leia! Wake up!

The pain only seemed to grow, her efforts being made useless.

Leia was in some type of deep trance, wanting obviously to be left well enough alone. However, Amalia was not willing to abide by this, wanting to get Leia out from under the table and out of the area, quickly.

All she could do was wait, her concentration already completely broken due to the pain she had gathered up so quickly. Jedi were not really supposed to believe in luck, but in this instance and at this very moment, Amalia believed in it....

Amalia suddenly found herself being back in the present once more. She'd felt her uninjured arm being squeezed lightly, knowing that it was Leia and that she had come to, at least for the moment. She was trying to say something. She looked down at the Jedi Master, bringing her head down slightly so that she could hear Leia better.

"I'm awake, but... I don't feel so good. We have to... get out quickly..."

Amalia just nodded her head up and down lightly at first in response. She then reached out with a gentle hand to close Leia's eyes once again, mutter something softly as she smiled lightly down at the Jedi Master.

"Thanks Captain Obvious..."

She could feel, once again, Leia's body going limp before her. The Jedi was out like a light once more....

....And Amalia was growing weak. She had not used her force abilities as wisely as she could have, so it seemed.

Leia could not move, and to make matters worse, they were under a table. Amalia would have to do the moving...for the both of them.

How was the problem....

She'd have to move Leia, and the only way to do that was to carry her. To do that, she'd have to lift her, under the table and out into the open again.

Amalia just could not see that happening, she could not picture it. It seemed down right impossible to her to scoop the Jedi Master into her arms and still be able to get out from under the table, and even then, she'd have to run for it.

Her problem would be fixed and all so suddenly too....

She felt a slight tapping sound, someone was rasping on one of the table legs, and not a bad someone either, she could feel it.

Slowly yet cautiously Amalia lifted the table cloth up slightly only to have revealed to her one of Leia's bodyguards that had been assigned to her for the evening.

She smiled lightly, relief settling into her face for the time being. He silently smiled to her, pointing off with his hand toward his left.(which from Amalia's viewpoint would be her right)Following the guard's hand with her eyes, Amalia could see what appeared to be a side door.

She nodded to the man, signaling that she understodd. She'd wanted to ask just how she and Leia had been found, but she decided against it, knowing that this was not the time nor the place for doing so.

Without asking, it was almost as if the guard had read her mind, he carefully inched his way underneath the table a bit and scooped Leia into his arms. He whispered into Amalia's ear ever so silently as he did this.

"One of the other guards managed to come with me without getting caught. He's hiding just near the dais..."

Amalia watched him as his gaze was directed toward his left, she saw his right leg swing out slightly before him as he kicked something underneath the table.

A gun.

"I'm sorry, but whatever weapons you have on you right now...they won't help you. Seems they've resorted to more drastic measures. Good luck..."

..And With that. the guards was gone, leaving Amalia alone to think on her own musings as her eyes fell onto the gun.

She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, something fierce. She did not fear for Leia's safety now, but for her own. Something inside herself, she felt it.

Fate would be dealing her a pretty bad hand in less than a few minutes time...



The Jedi Master quickly snatched the gun up into her hands. She felt her hand touch the trigger lightly as she wrapped her fingers fully around the gun. Her touch to the gun was firm, and she was holding onto the weapon for dear life.

I'll do what I have to...I don't have anymore options. I've done all I could. This is all that I have left. I'm alone, I'm too weak to use my abilities now. I'm only one person against who knows how many people...

Slowly she inched her way out from underneath the table and stood up, her back facing the sidedoor. She watched in horror as two terrorists looked her way and fired. She did not wait as she fired her gun as she ran backwards. She could feel something warm hit her skin, it was blood. She'd been shot, twice, not knowing where.

She felt herself being lifted by two firm arms. The Intel officer. He had her in his arms now, he was carring her.

She felt tears sting her eyes, she cried.

"I'm sorry, tell her please....I did not mean to let her down....."

She fainted just as she felt sunlight hit her face...It was the last thing that she remembered.....

Amalia awakened several hours later, the pain that flowed through her entire body could easily be distinguished on her face as she opened her eyes. Her eyes did not set specifically on anything yet but the ceiling.

She looked up at the ceiling for a long while, her facial features meeting impassiveness after some time, yet she seemed to be fighting back something.

Who knew if it were by some odd occurance, or if it were just coincidence to be made as Amalia turned her head slightly to her right just in time to see Leia turn her head off to her left to look onto Amalia too.


The two looked at one another for a long time in silence. The expression set on Leia's face was one of concern, regret, and perhaps some guilt, all mixed in together.

Amalia's expression however was very different. Her face was settled in a hard glance. If one did not know Amalia well enough, they might would have mistaken her look for one of anger, her features were outlined that rough and hard.

She was not angry though, just in pain, and she was still fighting back something....

She looked down past Leia's face, and slowly down toward her beside.(though she was aware that Leia still had her eyes on her)She found that Leia had a food tray settled on her lap, yet Amalia could distinctively tell that the food tray had not been touched.

Her expression remained the same, though she seemed to look about her ever so slowly. Her eyes moved away from Leia's bedside and onto her own bed, starting at the foot of her bed. Everything was white, up until she began to glance upward.

She too had a food tray settled on her lap, but she did not pay any attention to it as her eyes quickly swept over it to glance over the rest of her body.

Blood...

She was covered in it, despite the bandages that protected her wounds.

What had happened to her? At first she could not remember, the pain made to subsequently block any recollegtion that she had for a moment.

Slowly yet surely though, it all came back to her....

The ceremony....She'd been shot. Not once, but twice....

She let her eyes fall onto her own tray that she had seconds before, so quickly looked right over.

Food?!...

She was not hungry, how could anyone expect her too eat.

She'd almost been killed today.

Not just today, but once before.

She was still holding something back...


She turned to look at Leia once again, the same expression she'd seen Leia with was still there. The Jedi Master almost seemed frozen to her.

She looked away quickly, looking back onto her bed as she closed her eyes. She did not want to be here, anywhere but here.

She wanted to be alone, by herself.

She did not need anyone. Nobody...

She wanted it all to go away, every memory. She was not blocking anything out, and she wanted to. Her mind would not let her though. Her mind wanted her to be tormented, it wanted her to suffer with her pain...

She could remember now, not only the ceremony, but so much more. She remembered something that she had locked away so long ago.

She remembered her almost fatal accident....

The ship....

She'd been meant to die then. The aftermath of it all though. What happened after the accident. What it had done to her personally. It had changed her completely.

She'd sworn to herself that she would never let that happen to her again. That she would never feel that way ever again.

She swore that she would not feel lost and alone. That she would not be made to feel isolated again. That she would not feel that anguish, that anger, that loss, that torment, the loneiness....

Most of all, that she would not feel like she did not want to be comforted. To be told that she was cared for, that someone was there to help her through her pain....


Yet there she rested, looking down at her blood stained clothing, having those feelings again.

...Of not wanting to be comforted, just like before, not to be cared for, not to have that support...

She'd been holding back.

Her eyes were fixed on the tray.

I'm not hungry, damn it!

Her eyes drifted from the tray and over to Leia, she was still looking at her with that same expression.

Stop it! Don't look at me, please don't look at me!

That was what her mind was shouting, but in never reached the Jedi Master resting in the other bed.

Back and forth her eyes would look, just for a few seconds. Her painful memories continued to flow through her mind.

Holding back...

She tried, it was not good enough, not anymore. It hurt too much. She wanted to let go.

That was it..

The Jedi Master violently reached for her tray, taking it frimly within her two hands.

She threw it roughly, anger displayed within that toss. She watched as it hit the end of Leia's bed, though that had not been her place to direct it, just to throw it.

She screamed. A scream filled with such hurtful emotions.

She was not looking at Leia, but her expression had finally changed. Shock and confusion had now replaced her previous expressions.

Quiet filled the room once more, yet no one seemed to enter the room to check on the situation that had occured. Perhaps they had, but Amalia had not noticed.

No one could begin to fathom the severity of her pain.

Her eyes fell onto Leia again, but the expression she saw on Leia's face now could not be registered as anything to her. She could not read her face.

Shame and embarrassment hit her.

She looked away from Leia, the pain never left Amalia's face as she reached for her blanket as she shrunk deeply within her covers(Almost like a child would react after they'd been scolded for doing something not tolerable).

She turned away, turning toward to fully face the left side of her bed.

...And for the first time, in a very long time, the Jedi Master had herself a good cry...

Her first so called near brush with death only mounted on top of all that had happened to her at the end of this day.

Yet her cry would not be enough for her, no where near enough for her.

Just the beginning...