Survival: A Star Wars The Clone Wars Story

Chapter 10

Barriss rarely had dreams when she slept, which wasnt as often as other beings in itself. Even rarer was that one of them would be a Force-vision. They were usually just insignificant fragments of recent events, jumbled together in a way that made them barely recognisable. She could possibly argue that they had become slightly more frequent with all that was going on in the war, and along with this, the Force visions were also an increasing occurrence.

The dream she just had was probably brought on by the torture she had just experienced, as that was where it had started. A ghastly echo of the aching pain of electricity through her bones, her mouth torn open in a silent scream, well at least she thought there was no sound. All around her the startling blue electricity bolts danced, until all she could see was a blinding white light. Then somehow, the dream had shifted and the white light subsided to reveal one of the roof-top practice areas on the Jedi temple. Her feet were thudding rapidly along the floor: she was being chased, but by whom or what she did not know. Running back inside, she darted through the seemingly endless corridors, swinging the lightsabres she was holding aimlessly around her. Tall windows let light stream in, however it was slowly fading in intensity with each window she passed. Along with the light, her pace began to slow until it felt running through treacle and she could no longer place one foot in front of the other. Just before her head hit the floor as she collapsed, her mind snapped awake, and her eyes found themselves staring at a dank, water-stained ceiling.

Barriss allowed her mind to mull over what had just happened in her dream. It would have seemed like any other she had had, if it werent for just one little detail. Barriss only had one lightsabre, and it certainly wasnt red.

She could hardly imagine herself running about with a red lightsabre. It didnt seem like a force vision. It couldnt simply mean that she would turn to the dark side, could it? Not when she had been taught from birth that the dark was evil, and the light was good. She didnt think she had it in her to betray Luminara and all her fellow Jedi anyway. But for what other reason would she be holding a red bladed weapon? It was just a dream, she had decided, although she couldnt shake the gut feeling that the Force was trying to tell her something through all this. She resolved that perhaps it was because the Jedi had become no better than their Sith adversaries. The Clone war had caused dark, grey storm clouds to shroud her view of the light, and every day that passed made it harder for her to distinguish between the two sides of the force.

Before she could go any further down that downward-spiralling hover-train of thought, she was jerked out of her musings by a cough escaping Luminaras lips. It was then that Barriss fully came to terms with where she was again. Focusing her eyes upwards, she saw Luminara gazing down at her, with an expression that was something along the lines of warmth mixed with guilt. The spluttering lightbulb attached to the ceiling was casting a halo effect around Luminaras head. Gently, she helped Barriss up so that she was leaning against the wall facing the door.

"How... are you feeling?" Luminara spoke with an uncharacteristic hesitation.

"Fine, it aches, but thats nothing unusual." Barriss calmly replied. I dont blame you. She wanted to add, it was for the greater good. But was it though? In the end, the droids still got what they were after and they were still imprisoned in the Citadel. The chances of escape were not looking promising either.

Luminara had no reply to this, and averted her eyes. "Do you feel well enough to move?"

Barriss nodded, weakly. Move in this case meant escape. Although it was unlikely that their cell was being constantly monitored, (the Separatists were confident it was escape-proof, even for Jedi), they couldnt be too careful.

"We'll only have one opportunity, when they move us again. You'll know what to do, wont you?"

"I think so." Said Barriss, less confidently than she had hoped.