━━━━━☆☆━━━━━

THE INSTRUMENTS ON THE DASHBOARD spun out of control as Eerie's starfighter spiraled down to the planet. North was south, left was right, and the horizon was vertical.

The ship fell into a thick deck of clouds and everything turned grey in an instant, causing Eerie to feel sick to her stomach as she no longer had a point to focus on. Everything looked exactly the same and the gravity of Ilum pulled her in so many directions that her nausea only grew stronger and stronger.

'Damn it,' she cursed, grabbing the steering wheel once more to try to get the crashing ship steady. If only she could keep it straight, then maybe she could turn the crash into a bumpy landing.

However, the ship shook too violently for her to hold on, let alone steering the ship out of its spinning state.

'No!' Eerie screamed out in frustration, but she cut off her scream when she smelled smoke.

She glanced of her shoulder, meanwhile fighting the urge to throw up, and saw that the fire in the engines crept towards the cockpit. She coughed while strings of smoke twirled into the compartment.

Soon the inside of the ship would almost be as grey as the outside.

But those thoughts faded quickly; the deck of clouds disappeared just as unexpectedly as it had came. She was no longer trapped in a fog-like nightmare but a part of her wished she could return, because what she saw wasn't very comforting.

The ground closed in with a rapid speed, and Eerie feared the snowed-over forest would be the last thing she would ever see. She raced to her death, with an unyielding finish line at the very end of it.

For a split second, Eerie closed her eyes. This could not be happening. She still had so much to learn, and in a flash she remember the lessons of her Master Bluelv. His voice rang through her mind as she recalled part of the Jedi code.

There was no emotion, only peace. There was no death, there was only the Force.

Eerie pushed all her fears and thoughts aside, focussing on the present in stead of her emotions. With a calm mind, she grabbed the steering wheel again and clenched her jaw as she refused to let go.

The starfighter stopped spinning, the sky stayed up and the forest down, but the nose of the ship was still too low to make a somewhat proper landing.

Eerie reached for the handle of the brake while she pulled the nose up as well. The ship still vibrated and it shook her very core, so badly that she wouldn't be surprised if her heart ended up in the right-side of her chest.

No, she shook her head, she had to focus. She was one with the Force.

Her luck hadn't ran out completely, she thought while she spotted a clearing in the forest below her. She could do this, she could make a semi-controlled crash landing.

The ship soared over the tree tops and Eerie grimaced as some branches brushed against the metal. The clearing might be too far away for her to reach.

'I got this,' she muttered, waving away the smoke of the fire and pushing back some short strands of her black hair before grabbing the wheel with both hands again.

Just when she could no longer hold the starfighter in the air, the trees beneath her made place for the clearing. She allowed the ship to descend even faster as the clearing wasn't very big, and her breath was knocked out of her lungs when the belly of the ship made contact with the frozen ground. With another harsh bump, the nose touched down but the starfighter didn't seem to slow down.

Her eyes grew wide when a thick tree trunk appeared right in front of her and though she tried to steer the ship around it, it was in vain.

With a deafening crash, Eerie collided with the tree. Her head shot forward and all she remember was a sharp pain traveling through her neck before the darkness consumed her whole. . .

✧✧

VERENA GROANED as she slowly started to wake up. Her body felt as if it was struck down by lightning; everything was sore and the nerves under her skin were on the verge of breaking.

She tried to move her hand to her eyes as the light around her was too blinding, but then she noticed she couldn't move at all. Something was restraining her arms and legs. It was cold and inflexible. 

'What. . ?' she mumbled confused, blinking a few times to sharpen her eyesight. She wasn't in a bright room at all, it was in fact only dimly lit by a simple bulb hanging in the middle of the ceiling.

She strained her memory and flashes appeared in her mind: the imploding star, General Grievous on board of their Star Destroyer, her lightsaber fight with the cyborg, but after that -- nothing at all.

'Ah, General Meadowdancer. You're awake, again,' the robotic voice of Grievous sounded at the other end of the room.

The reality of what happened dripped into Verena's foggy mind like droplets of blood. She had lost the duel; Grievous had taken her captive, but it was beyond her why he just hadn't killed her.

The cyborg breathed with difficulty and coughed a few times while he stepped forward into the light. His metallic fingers clanged against each other as he grabbed his cloak and showed his lightsaber collection to Verena.

'What do you think?' he asked, a hint of amusement shimmering in his yellow and blood-shot eyes. 'It is a fine asset to my collection, don't you agree?' His robotic hand pointed at the hilt of her lightsaber.

'Give it back,' Verena ordered between gritted teeth. It was her very first saber and during all her years as Jedi Master she had never lost it once, and she was not about to start now.

'No,' General Grievous said with a struggling breath. 'No, I do not think I will. You have lost, Jedi, and your faith is entirely up to me.'

He paused for a moment to let his ominous words sink in, and Verena couldn't ignore the bad feeling she got by his next words.

'And I know just what to do with you. . .'

━━━━━☆☆━━━━━

A/N:

yikes, it has been over a week since my previous update. I'm so sorry, but with everything going on right now I didn't really feel like writing. I hope you understand.

but can we take a moment to realise this is the sixteenth chapter already? I'm on a roll, guys and gals.

anywho, I hope you liked this chapter and don't forget to comment your thoughts so far! :D

━━━━━☆☆━━━━━