"Ah hello there Aria it's a bold day indeed isn't it?" Ken said smiling at Aria as he looked down at himself and chuckled as if he couldn't believe it himself that he was here. In fact he still believed he shouldn't but saying that now wouldn't exactly be the best thing ever. "I'm here because a few of the fellow knights convinced me it was needed that I come. That many innocent people, and soldiers could get killed without my abilities. I am not too fond of war, and combat but if Master Gle taught me right he taught me that the best warrior didn't wait for the enemy to establish a good foothold before going in for a counter-blow. The council will wait and wait until there's next to nothing less. It'd be more advantageous for us jedi to go on the offensive before things get too bad for us to do anything. I'm proud to stand by you and the other jedi here in order to protect that average man." Ken said with a proud smile as he adjusted his belt and coat. And then looked over to the other jedi whom Aria had decided he should meet before offering his hand out to the new comer. "Ken Grant, Jedi Knight, a pleasure too meet you. I'm not much of a fighter but I do what I can. I'd much prefer a role as a medic than a combatant."

“Oh, well I don’t think I’d have the courage to openly stand up to the council, but after hearing you, I knew that I had to come and help with this war.” She said enthusiastically, knowing that upon her return she was probably going to be reprimanded, but she’d cross that bridge when they came to it. Her attention soon turned to another Jedi that Aria called too, impressed that even Jedi Knights who were meant to be almost as calm and level headed as masters were there as well.

“Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you too master, I’m Xeviiy Sinclair.” She extended her hand out, shaking his, “Oh, well I haven’t even seen combat yet and to be honest, I’m not much of a fighter either, but I will fight if I have too.” She added eagerly and either not knowing or rather lying to herself, she was a bit eager to face the Mandalorians, that strange conflict continuing in her, whilst it may not have reflected on the outside, inside she was looking forward to the fight, some Padawans and Knights sharing the feeling with an outward expression.

Leon looked over the Jedi and soldiers that were eagerly waiting to take the fight to the Mandalorians, whilst he was grateful the Jedi were here, he wondered what sort of trouble it would cause for them when they returned to the Council, he remembered how the Jedi Masters urged for caution and assessment of the situation first but far too many had been inspired by Aria to listen to them. He was broken out of his thought when Arren spoke to him, “Right, this war ain’t going to wait for us.” He responded before speaking into his communicator, “This is Major Athos, begin lift off.” There was a pause for a moment before the pilot responded, “Yes sir.” The ship soon beginning to rumble as the engines turned on and then slowly lifted into the air, exiting the planet and soon went into hyperspace.

Everyone was starting to settle in as the ship traveled through hyperspace, some conversing with each other whilst others found a seat, Leon saw Xeviiy go over to a fairly empty spot and decided to head over next to her, “So how you doing kid? You ready for this?”

“I wish you’d stop calling me that, old man.” She said as she smirked to him.

“Well when you’re my age, I will stop calling you that.” He chuckled in return.

“Yes Major, I’m ready for the fight, I feel...better having reflected on my training before,” She spoke, pausing for a moment when she noticed his lightsaber hanging from his belt, “I thought you had given up being a Jedi, so what’s that?” She smirked once more, pointing to his hilt.

“Well that’s good, can’t have one of my favorite Jedi dying now can we?” He gave a gentle smile to her and then looked to his belt when she commented on his lightsaber, “Oh this, well it’s always good to have a backup with you and plus it’d be too much hassle to disassemble it.” He lightly chuckled.

“Well that’s clearly not true Major, surely you could have a vibrosword or something if you wanted a backup, I think you want to be a Jedi again and you’ll jump to your blade the first chance you get.” She grinned to him, feeling he was hiding the actual reason for carrying his saber.

“Seems you’ve gotten a bit more bold with your words than when we last spoke,” He chuckled once more then added, “I do miss the Jedi, but I’m a Republic dog of the military first and foremost, but having my old blade with me is comforting, just knowing that it’s there puts my mind at ease a little more.”

“I can understand that Major, but since this is a war, shouldn’t we be using our best abilities possible, such as you using your blade and the force?”

“Whilst you are right, I also have the soldiers of the Republic to lead, if they see me entering combat as a Jedi and not as a soldier such as them, they could feel threatened by this war, compare themselves to me and not bother trying before we get started.”

“But wouldn’t you being a Jedi as well as a soldier be even more inspiring?” She asked, confused that they would view their leader less so as a Jedi than not.

He decided to speak a little quieter, “Some soldiers in the Republic don’t view the Jedi as great heroes, they view them as people who do nothing and get all the credit whilst they work hard and get little in return sometimes.”

“What? They view the Jedi as less than them?” She asked in shock, looking to some of the Republic soldiers and then back to Leon.

“Sort of and not all of them, they view the Jedi as people who have it easy and just wave their hands and cast magic to fix the problem, meanwhile they have to train and work hard to advance in their career, I don’t see it as such, then again I was trained by them, so that might have something to do with it, but still, those are my reasons and even though there are many Jedi, this war will need the Republic or it’ll be over sooner than expected.

Well Xeviiy started to understand his reasoning a little better, though there was some slight anger in her now, learning that some of the Republic soldiers thought the Jedi had it easy when she knew that training their bodies and minds the way they did was much more difficult than simply running drills and studying combat tactics.

Leon could sense the slight anger swelling in her and he gently rested his hand on her shoulder, “Hey, relax, it’s only a very few individuals that feel that way, the Republic is appreciative of the Jedi just as I’m sure the Jedi are of the Republic, I just wanted to be honest with you, you seem like you take truths well.” He gently smiled to her, Xeviiy looking at him before she inhaled deeply and then exhaled slowly, calming herself, she was glad to have Leon on this trip, he felt like a second master to her and would do her best to please him as well as the other Jedi that were with them.

---

Iri sat at the cockpit of the transport vessel, going over the calculations that the ship was displaying and seeing how long it would take to get there, she still didn’t believe that the Jedi were heading to war along with the Republic against the Mandalorians, she could see the Council’s plea to have more time and view the situation, but in the same light, she also couldn’t sit still and let innocents be slaughtered by the Mandalorian menace and she probably would’ve done the same thing, or someone else would’ve, this was definitely one of those times where it didn’t matter who spoke out against the Council, this war involving the Jedi was bound to happen.

She let out a yawn and stretch a bit, she had woken up early to get all this stuff repaired and figured that she could catch a bit more sleep before she ended up at Cathar. She began making her way through the ship when she started to hear barely audible sounds coming from some containers.

“Hey, move your leg, it keeps hitting me.” Vras spoke to Noka in a slightly loud whisper.

“I can’t, it’s cramped in here and there’s not enough room.” She responded, wincing as they continued to press between one another and the containers.

“Well then just push some of the boxes away to make some room.” He grunted to her, the spot they were hiding in being a little smaller than they had initially thought, all of them able to fit, but not with a lot of room between them.

“If I do that, then there will be enough of a gap that Master Iri will see us.”

Vras was about to speak up when the small containers they were hiding behind began to shift, soon lifting into the air and then set down next to them until they were finally revealed, Iri standing before the four of them.

“Oh, uh master, fancying seeing you here, heheh.” Vras spoke as he quickly stood up, rubbing the back of his head.

“Well this is my ship, so it’s expected I’m here, the question is, what are you four doing here?” She asked as she folded her arms, an arched brow on her face, though she already knew why they were on the ship.

“Oh, we’re on a ship? We thought this was a simulation room, for training.” Vras responded once more with a nervous laugh.

Noka let out a sigh, “Just drop the act Vras, master Iri already knows that we sneaked aboard this ship.”

“Well she does now that you blathered your m-” He was in the middle of speaking when Sanjun rested his hand on Vras’ shoulder, “That’s enough, just relax, besides we have master Iri to address first.

“They’re right Vras, so you mind telling me what you’re doing here, although I have a pretty good idea.” Iri responded in a slightly stern tone.

“Well we heard about what had been going on with the Mandalorians and then that Padawan we had been speaking with gave that speech and we knew you were going to go and we had to come too, we had to be by your side to help you.”

Iri’s face softened a bit and then she let out a sigh, walking over to them and rested her hand on Vras and Noka’s heads, “I know you all are happy to have me as your teacher and the gesture is nice, but where I’m heading is dangerous, you all are still in training, not even padawans yet.”

“But we can help, we can f-” Noka spoke up, however was cut off by Iri, “No, you four will not be fighting, it may be too late to send the four of you back, but when we arrive on Cathar, you’ll be staying at the Republic base that’s set up, understood?” She spoke in a stern tone once more, she couldn’t have their deaths on her conscience, as much as she disliked being strict with them, she knew she couldn’t budge on this.

“Yes master.” They responded, clearly disappointed that they wouldn’t be allowed to help their master fight.

“Good, we’ll discuss this more when we arrive, right now I’m going to catch up on some more rest, the four of you stay out of trouble and don’t mess with the cockpit, alright?” She asked, the four responding with nods before she left and then headed into a room with a bed, laying down and starting to drift off to sleep, wondering how she was going to explain that four learners sneaked on board and were on Cathar with her.

The four of them went over to a small table with a curved seat for multiple people, resting their elbows on the table, “This sucks, we can help her fight, I know we can.” Vras said as he strummed his fingers.

“We can, but master Iri has the final say on what we can do.” Sanjun responded, “Although perhaps we can set up a battle plan when we get there, follow her again if you all want too, barring the consequences of course.” He added, a slightly devious smirk on his face, he was clearly the brains of their little group, always having strategies and plots that would help them with whatever they needed.

“Well we’ve come this far, no sense in stopping now.” Vras responded with a smirk.

“But what about master Iri, I know we all want to help her, but our help could put her in danger, we need to be careful with this.” Noka then interjected, she was all for helping Iri, but she didn’t want their presence being a burden on her.

“I know Noka, that’s why when we go with her, we’ll follow her lead, I’m thinking the same thing as you and we won’t get in her way, but this is going to be a war and even the masters that would fight would have a difficult time against the Mandalorians, plus the Republic needs all the Jedi it can get, even if were technically not any type of Jedi so far.” Vras responded, he may have butted heads with Noka from time to time, but he understood her concerns on this and wouldn’t really fight her on the matter.

“First thing we need to do is when we get there, find out the battle plan and then we’ll head out with master Iri, but we’ll also need to set up some battle strategies should master Iri need our assistance.”

They were all in agreement so far, until Noka spoke up once more, “Wait, what about our lightsabers? They’re just training models and even at their highest setting, they won’t do much damage to the enemy, if at all anyways.”

Sanjun rested his chin between his thumb and index finger, “That is a good point and were nowhere near ready to construct our own lightsabers...hmm, wait there might be a way, there’s supplies that most likely will be heading to the landing spot, they might have some spare lightsabers for when inevitably some of the Jedi’s weapons get damaged or destroyed.”

“Is that really it, rely on hopefully a shipment of supplies and then steal some lightsabers? I want to help, but not if it involves indirectly harming our fellow Jedi.” Noka responded.

“It won’t be stealing, they’re meant for Jedi and we’re with the Order, so we’re Jedi as well, besides I have a good feeling there will be some spare lightsabers and when we’re done, we’ll return them, so no harm will have really been done, just a borrow.” Sanjun answered back, he knew they were going to have to do some things that fell in the grey area of morality at best, but they had no other means to obtain a lightsaber.

“It’ll be okay Noka, we’ll borrow them and then return them, but our training sabers won’t cut it, you even said so yourself.” Vras jumped in as well, resting his hand on her shoulder, Vrol giving a slight roar to her as well, a small smile appearing on Noka’s face, “Okay, I guess if it’s the only way.”

They continued their planning on the table, a small holographic display put on the table to give a visual idea of some of the strategies they could implement, all the while Iri rested, unaware of her ambitious students’ plan to join her in the fight against the Mandalorians.

---

The Crimson Phoenix continued on through hyperspace, streaks of blue, white and purple going by as he stared out of the cockpit windows, tapping the arms of his chair before spinning the seat around then got up, “Think it’s about time I got myself a drink, hard working pilot needs to stay relaxed, especially during times of war.” He spoke to himself, letting out a chuckle.

His astromech followed beside him, giving various whistles, “That’s not true Six, I work very hard, flying a ship through hyperspace is tough business, not everyone can do it ya know.” He smirked to the droid as he got a drink from the small bar he had on the ship. Six making furious whistle and beep sounds, “Oh relax, I’m not going to get in trouble with the Exchange again, well at least not so soon anyways, beside it’s just a simple package, we go to Cathar, drop off whatever the hell that thing in there is and then leave with no problems.”

Six continued to make his case with more whistles coming from him, “Yeah, I know the Mandalorians are attacking the Outer Rim, but the news says the Republic is confronting them, so we’ll have it easy, were so small anyways that we won’t be noticed, now stop bothering me and tune up the ship or something.” Six let out a low woo, equivalent to a sigh and then went to the engine room where the hyperdrive was, checking to see if it needed any tune ups whilst his master had a drink.

He glanced over at the cargo that was tied down yet was starting to rattle a little, banging against the inside of its walls, it eventually starting to get on his nerves he went over to the container, tapping his foot on the side, “Hey, quiet down in there, don’t need you being noisy the entire trip there.” It seemed to have worked and he began walking away from it until there were louder bangs against the container, he let out an irritate sigh, pulling out his blaster he went over to the pad, entering the combination to open the box, “Fine, if you don’t want to behave, then I’ll just knock you out for a few hours.” He spoke quietly to himself, setting his glass down and set his blaster to stun.

“Last warning, you don’t settle down in there, I’ll blast you.” He spoke once more, figuring that the animal would at least hear the intimidation in his voice, that seemed to finally cause it to settle down and remain quiet. “Well at least you’re not being a pain anymore.” He said to the box quietly, holstering his weapon and then went into his room, turning on the holo-projector in his room, seeing the news the Republic was giving, discussing the Mandalorian threat and if their attacks were to reach the Core worlds, Antares just let out a chuckle, “More business for me should they come, plenty of services and people needing to be smuggled, let them come, it’s not like the Republic’s had a good challenge anyways.” He chuckled, swirling his drink in his glass.

After finishing his drink, he eventually fell asleep, his droid Six continuing to check about the ship, making sure it was in top shape, it would need to be should they exit and end up in a firefight, not that Antares expected such things, but with two armies raging war in the galaxy, anything could happen, oh well, wasn’t his concern, just dropping off the cargo and getting paid was his main concern.

The adoration and praise was addictive, and Aria felt a bubbling sensation of pride rising up when she heard the sense of awe that seemed to come from Xeviiy as she spoke about the famous moment in front of the council. Despite the feeling, Aria tried to suppress it. Arren Kae’s teachings of avoiding pride and ego remained with her, and the truth was as Aria saw it; she was no hero. Here she stood amongst Republic soldiers who have trained for battle most of their lives, even many of them who were veterans in the previous conflict. Major Athos was one of those heroes, and idol she meant to talk to more about his experiences. For now, for now it could wait.

Jedi and soldiers boarded their transports, and the transports proceeded onward to capital ships. Assault cruisers shot into hyperspace warp towards Cathar, lead by the capital ship The Harbinger.

Aria learned while she sat on the transport, that the long wait before plunging into battle was the worst. She had never felt more unease in her entire life, an unspeakable force tingling at the back of her mind. She took a deep breath and watched her fellow Jedi around her.

She looked at Xeviiy, studying her face, wondering if the padawan was feeling the same stir of emotions. With a glance, she looked over at Ken and then Leon. Of all of them, it seemed to her Arren Kae was the most calm. Even now, there was no way to read her master. How could the old woman seem so at peace when Aria wanted to throw up?

And she did.

Embarrassed, Aria looked around at the other Jedi. “Sorry.” Was all she could muster. Arren laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s good to be nervous.” The Master could see concern etched on the faces of the Jedi around them, if the girl who gave the rousing speech was rattled they too would be rattled. “You’d be stupid if you weren’t.”

With the words of wisdom, signs of relief appeared on many Jedi’s faces. A soldier came down from the cockpit. “Five minutes to landing, get yourselves ready boys, we’re about kick some Mandalorian ass! For the Republic!” There were cheers amongst the soldiers, and Aria found herself voicing out her thrill along with them.

In the last moments before they touched down, Aria wanted to talk to Major Athos. Ask him a question. Learn something. But, the words didn’t come. She felt troubled by the lack of them, as if she always needed to be speaking or learning something. But, it was then she understood that there were times where quiet was the best.

Peace. These final minutes were a time to reflect, and prepare.

Boom! The ship shook.

“Hold in tight, we’re taking heavy anti-air fire!” Came from the intercom. Aria braced herself, holding tight to the bars that hung against the walls.

“Xeviiy, Ken. Let’s stick together out there.” That was all she could say. The ship landed and the docking bay opened to a hailstorm of blaster fire.

Republican soldiers were getting butchered running up a beachside hill trying to overtake a heavy gun placement. A few were already crossing blades as artillery blasts sent sand flying into the air. One came extremely close to their group and the blast sent Arren and Aria flying into the dirt.

She came up, and the sounds of battle were drowned out around her. Her ears rang as the chaos unfolded.

Ken felt slightly nauseous his stomach clenched not with fear, fear was the mind killer to have fear meant to indulge in one's own emotions too much, especially in battle, according to his masters. He was dressed for war this time around before docking he had put on some republic armor, lightweight orange and red with a helmet and visor. He had his hands clenched to a nearby bar too steady himself. His eyes were closed and his breathing was steady. In the force he felt Cathar's pain and he felt the many writhing in agony the suffering being endured by the countless amounts of people dying around him. But he let it go...he let it flow through and out of him. He had to understand the circumstances he would be going into. The battle rage of the mandalorians who were close too victory, the Cathars who feared for their world, and the circumstantial dread faced by the republic soldiers around him. On his belt he had his trustworthy lightsaber always at the ready. It felt...comforting knowing that he had his weapon with him. His stalwart ally, and protector. With it he would defend Cathar and everyone else he could. It wasn't a matter of killing it was a matter of protecting. How many lives were lost was still relevant in Ken's opinion.

The Wookies on Kashyyyk knew the true value of lives. People were honored and remembered even by their more brutal kin. Ken respected the wookies for their reverence of nature and the value of their kin. In that way Ken hoped to save as many as he could...if he had the chance. This was war after all and even though he needed to protect himself as well. It was just another horror, and pain Ken would need to suppress. When Aria spoke up Ken opened his eyes and let his senses die down slightly. "We have our own reasons for being here. You don't need to apologize. Focus on being the hero you know you can be. Chaos, yet Harmony. Young Jedi." Ken commented with a reassuring smile. Hopefully he could steer Aria in the right direction with his own dedication to the code. "Trust your instincts, trust the force. Don't stray into panic." Ken stated further before he slid down his visor on his helmet and breathed in deeply and then breathed out preparing for his entry into real combat. As the door opened however Ken heard the noise drown out around him and he heard the screams and shouts of nearby soldiers. Ken prepared himself he let go of his panic and he let the force into him hardened himself. The battle sense pounded into him by his indomitable former master calmed him and let him see through the initial panic. The control, and primal instinct of the Wookies whom taught him as he ventured into the bottom of their forests with them hardened him. He grabbed his lightsaber and held it in his hand tightly. He didn't ignite it at first. However a shell nearby exploded and sent a lot of them flying. However Ken hunkered down and dig his heels into the dirt quickly. He remembered the kinrath down in the forests of Kashyyyk would jump on him and if he let them overwhelm him he'd be dead. The blast did send him on his back foot and nearly toppled him over despite his instincts. He rushed over to the others too make sure they were fine and then went to Aria Blair. "Aria! Aria calm yourself! Breath, and remain calm panic will get you and everyone else killed. I am with you lead the way. This is your battle and you need to lead it not me, and not anyone else here." Ken said firmly and loudly as he gripped Aria by the shoulder.

Xeviiy felt her heart race as they traveled through hyperspace, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before they arrived at Cathar, where war would be waiting for them, she could see how some people were nervous and took quick notice when Aria was sick, though she didn’t blame her, Xeviiy’s own nerves were ablaze, she felt like she’d jump out of her skin at any moment. It wasn’t just the thought of her having to fight and kill others, it was also what it would be like with others dying around her, would she be able to handle it? Would she freeze up like when she had sparred with Leon? No she wouldn’t let that happen, she couldn’t, not with so many people depending on her.

Leon too noticed how the others were nervous and also took notice when Aria became sick but didn’t say anything, he remembered when he first went into battle, he had felt the same as a lot of them, nervous, unsure, even slightly scared, but what remembered was that he wasn’t alone, that there were others that were there he could rely on. He glance over at Xeviiy, seeing her shivering a bit and placed his hand on her shoulder, “Hey, it’s alright, you don’t need to worry, you’ll have the support of your fellow Jedi and Republic troops aiding you.”

Xeviiy glanced over at Leon, giving a small smile, her shivering dying down slightly, “Thanks Major, I know that I’ll have the others with me, but it’s still a battle and my first at that.”

“Well the way I see it, it’s always better to be nervous than over confident because that will kill you faster than any blade or blaster ever will.” Leon responded, returning the smile.

Xeviiy nodded and returned her attention to the window, the ship she was on jumping out of hyperspace and the planet Cathar appearing before them. “Well, I guess this is it, time to see what I’m made of.” She spoke quietly to herself, listening to the announcement from the pilot and then the cheers of the Republic soldiers, she couldn’t help but smile at how energetic and determined they were, it was quite admirable.

She stumbled as the ship was fired upon by anti-air emplacements, she braced herself against the wall, trying to keep her balance, her nervousness once more increasing, she heard her ears beating in her ears, but she wasn’t going to let her fear get the better of her, she was determined to be an asset and not a liability. Xeviiy turned to Aria when she spoke to her, giving her a nod and then looked to Leon, “Be sure not to die out there Major, I still want to finish that sparring match we never got to finish.” She gave a determined smirk to him before making his way over to Aria.

Leon closed his eyes, smirking for a moment, “Don’t worry kid, I wouldn’t dream of getting the chance to trounce you like I was going to when we first fought.”

Both Xeviiy and Leon watched as the docking bay opened, blaster fire flying through the air, Republic troops dying around them, Leon was quick to pull out his rifle on his back, beginning to fire at the Mandalorians in front of them, trying to hold them back. Xeviiy pulled out her lightsaber, that familiar turquoise blade ejecting out from the hilt as she held it with the grip style of Djem So, deflecting blaster bolts that flew near them.

She too was sent flying through the air and into the dirt from the artillery fire, her vision slightly disoriented and her hearing momentarily deafened, looking up at the chaos around her as Republic troops were falling from the enemy fire, looking to Leon who was shouting to her, the ringing in her ears fading as her hearing returned, “Get up Xeviiy! You have to move!” Leon shouted as he shot towards the enemy once more.

She shook her head to fully clear it, getting back up and igniting her weapon once more, helping defend more troops that were exiting out of the ship they were on. Anna slid in to a barrier that Leon was taking cover behind, her heart too was racing, her hands shaking as she held her blaster pistol in her hands, she knew that war was intense, but experience it first hand was another matter, the smell of death and the sounds of screaming as people die around them, she didn’t know how Leon could’ve done it the first time.

Leon ducked behind the cover once more, sensing Anna’s fear he placed his hand on her shoulder, “It’s alright Lieutenant, I’m here with you, I won’t let anything happen to you, promise.” Anna felt better knowing that Leon was by her side and calmed herself enough to stop shaking, exhaling before finally appearing from cover, shooting at any Mandalorians that came into her sight.

---

The ship Iri and her students were on alarmed as it began to exit hyperspace, Iri waking from her rest, sitting up giving a stretch and a yawn, “Well it looks like we’ve finally arrived, didn’t take as long as I expected.” She spoke to herself as she got out of the bed. All she had to worry about now was her students, they were quite a mischievous bunch, but she did admire that they wanted to come onto the mission and join her, even though they were too young to fight.

“Okay, so we all have the plan down, right?” Vras asked as they looked out the window when the ship exited hyperspace, the other three giving nods as their master came out of her room, rubbing her head as she gave another yawn, looking to the four of them as she quirked her brow, “What are the four of you up too?”

Vras being startled by Iri jumped, nervously laughing, “Oh nothing at all master, we were just talking with one another while we waited for you.”

Not believe him for a second, she simply said, “Mmhm, you guys better behave when we land, we’re entering a war zone and it’ll be very dangerous and I can’t having you all getting hurt.”

“We understand master, don’t worry, we’ll behave.” Noka reassured Iri.

She gave a nod as she went to the cockpit, a light flashing on the control panel, she pressed the button and then a voice came through, “Republic vessel, state your business for being here, this is a war zone and unauthorized vessels will be destroyed.”

“This is Jedi Knight Iri Asichi, I’ve been assigned by the Council on Dantooine to provide additional supplies to the Jedi that are already planet side as well as assist them.”

There was a moment of silence before the voice responded, “Please send clearance code to confirm.”

“Right away.” She responded, pressing another button which sent the code given to her which would confirm her ship and identity.

After another brief moment of silence, the Republic officer on the other end spoke once more, “You’ve been cleared Master Jedi, apologies for the delay, can never be too careful with a war going on.”

“It’s quite alright, I understand.” She simply said, heading down towards the planet.

She landed at another spot that the Republic had control of, it was a few klicks from where Xeviiy and the others had landed, but she was to meet up with their group as multiple squads progressed, so it didn’t matter they all weren’t at the same LZ. The ship’s ramp descended down, revealing a temporary HQ for that small group of soldiers there, there were multiple soldiers and officers running through the tiny camp, sending and retrieving orders as the sounds of battle happened off in the distance.

She soon got up out of her seat, heading towards the supplies and then activated the repulsor trolley they were on, beginning to push them as she looked to her students, “Come on, let’’s go and remember what I said.” She spoke to them as they exited the ship. They nodded, following close behind her, looking at the camp in awe at all the soldiers and officers.

“Hurry up and send those orders, we’ll get crushed if they’re not delivered right away.” An older officer shouted, a low rank soldier saluting, “Right away Captain Harluk.” Then started to sprint to deliver the orders of his commanding officer.

Captain Harluk then noticed Iri along with her students, “And who let them land here? This is zone is for combatants only!” He growled before heading over to her, “Listen lady, this is a restricted area, not a place to have mommy time with your kids, now clear out of here.”

“What did you say? I’ll-” Vras spoke up before Iri extended her arm out, cutting him off.

“I apologize for bringing children with me, though I didn’t have much of a choice, they sort of took it upon themselves to come with me, by the way, I’m Jedi Knight Iri Asichi, the Council sent me with these supplies and to help the other Jedi and soldiers that have already landed.” She responded calmly, chalking it up to the stress of war.

His expression quickly changed to one of shock, “Oh, Master Jedi, forgive me for my rudeness, it’s been very hectic here and I wasn’t expecting a Jedi to bring children with them.”

“It’s quite alright Captain, I understand that, don’t worry, they won’t get in the way, actually I was hoping they could stay here in the camp until transport can be obtained to send the back to Dantooine.”

“Oh, of course Master Jedi, they can stay in the HQ Tent, it’s large enough for them to not be in the way, plus there will always be someone watching them.” The Captain responded more humbly compared to his previous demeanor as some troops came to take the supplies off of Iri’s hands.

They soon headed into the tent he mentioned, various computers and communication equipment lay inside with various officers hovering over them, receiving and sending information. “As you can see Master Jedi, it’s quite busy here, most of the troops were deployed at the center flank, and were barely holding our own on the left flank, let alone being able to push up.”

“Yes, I understand, I’ll try and help in anyway I can Captain,” She then paused for a moment, looking to Vras, Noka, Sanjun and Vrol, “You four stay here, understood?”

“Yes Master, we’ll stay here.” Vras simply spoke, though they all had their fingers crossed behind their backs.

Iri then returned her attention to the Captain, “I’ll head out and try to assist your troops and the other Jedi that landed here. “Thank you Master Jedi, we could use all the help we can get.” Captain Harluk responded as Iri gave a nod and then exited the camp, beginning to head towards the where the battle was taking place.

---

Alarms soon went off in Antares’ ship, it indicating that they were about to exit hyperspace. Antares was quick to awake, he usually was a light sleeper and then stretched as he sat up, “Wow, thought I’d get to sleep a bit longer than that, guess a speedy trip is better than a slow one.” He spoke to himself as he continued to wake up a bit, heading into the cockpit his eyes widened as he saw where they exited, right in front of the Republic, “Damn it Six, you were supposed to exit behind the planet, now were right in front of the ‘glorious’ Republic.” His last part of his sentence having some sarcasm to it.

He soon noticed a transmission light flashing, the Republic ship nearby trying to contact him, “Ah great, thanks for your excellent navigation charting, I love talking to Republic mutts.” He shouted to Six once more who made furious whistles to him as it came into the cockpit, “Ah save it, I’ve got to deal with this first.” He waved his hand in front of the droid to dismiss it and then pressed the flashing button, “Uh...hello?” He answered cautiously.

“You have entered a restricted area, state your business for entering the Cathar system or you will be fired upon.” A woman responded from one of the Republic cruisers responded.

A smirk appeared on his face, “Well I was figuring I could get a date with you, you sound pretty cute.”

There was silence for a moment, “Please state your business here or you will be fired upon, this is your last warning.” The woman responded once more.

“Alright doll, don’t get your panties in a bunch, I was sent from the Republic to deliver relief aid for some of the people down on the planet.” He responded, trying to bluff his way out of his current situation.

“Please send your clearance codes for confirmation.”

“Ah, I’d love too, I really would, but I’m having a few issues with my ship, so some systems are down, I was planning to repair it here after I made the delivery.” He responded, a little nervous, but all he had to do was believe his lie and they would as well.

“If you cannot provide clearance codes then you must exit the system.”

“I’ve got my codes, I just can’t transmit them as I’ve said, I can just deliver them when I get down to the planet.”

The woman clearly wasn’t having whatever he was selling, “Since you cannot provide your codes, you are instructed to leave.”

“Look, all I’m trying to do is deliver some supplies that you guys are paying me to do.”

“You are an unknown entity entering a system that has a war going on it, unverified ships will not be permitted to land without proper clearance.” The woman responded, a little more irritated.

“Yeah, I know, I was the only one crazy enough to take this job, like I would have a reason to enter a war ridden system, come on, I’m already here, do you really want to send these supplies away?” He responded in a slightly smoother voice, one trick he always tried to do when speaking to a woman to get what he wanted.

“Well...our troops do need those supplies, one moment,” She spoke, there being silence for a second, “You have been given temporary landing permission, you’ll be escorted to the planet and then searched and verified, please proceed.”

“Thank you.” He simply said with a smirk, figuring it was either his luck or charm that got him out of that and then proceeded to head towards the planet, two Republic fighters soon approaching from behind.

His luck however quickly changed when his ships ID had been read as he was making his way to the planet, he was in slight trouble with the Republic and with his already shady responses earlier, another transmission quickly came in, “Crimson Phoenix, you are wanted by the Republic for smuggling, stay where you are and wait to be picked up.” The same woman soon spoke, Antares quickly cutting off the transmission to her.

“Yeah, like that’s going to happen,” He spoke to himself, smirking all the while and then shouted, “Hey Six, find something to hold on to, things are going to get a bit bumpy!” He then fired his engines up, the Crimson Phoenix jutting forward as it raced to the planet, the two fighters that had been following him started their chase as four more left their cruiser and assisted, blaster firing streaking across the darkness of space as they tried to stop him.

“Let’s just see you try and keep up.” He spoke to himself, spinning through space, pulling up to avoid their fire and then hid behind a stray asteroid.

“Okay where’d this guy go?” One of them spoke up as they searched around the asteroid to find him.

“I don’t know, it’s not like he jumped, we would’ve detected that, he’s got to be around here somewhere.” Another responded.

Slowly the Crimson Phoenix came up behind them, the targeting system on his ship highlighting the six of them.

“Wait, I’m picking up something, he’s...behind us!” One of the Republic pilots shouted, the rest quickly trying to turn around but it was too late.

“Catch ya later.” He simply said before he fired his shots, rapid streaks of red shot out from his guns hitting the engines of at least four of them and then he bolted for the planet once more, their ships would still be intact, but they wouldn’t be able to pursue him, he wouldn’t kill them unless he had too.

The remaining two fighters pursued him once more, the atmosphere of the planet causing their ships to rumble as the air impacted against them, anti-air guns shooting towards them, “Well this mission just gets more and more fun.” Antares grunted as he tried to avoid both the Republic and the AA guns that were on the ground, he would ask for double after this, he knew a war riddled planet would be difficult to land on, but this certainly wasn’t worth what he was being paid for, even with the bonus he tacked on.

The AA guns eventually managed to hit all three ships that were in the air, the Republic fighters having flames appear on them before falling away from the Crimson Phoenix and crashing into the ground, followed by them exploding. The Crimson Phoenix itself was a bit luckier, though not by much as it started a crash landing towards the ground, one of it’s engines was hit and it was struggling to stay in the air.

“Come on baby, you can hang in there, just a bit more.” He spoke to the ship, avoiding additional fire from the air defense guns, managing to just slip past them and then pointed its belly to the ground, skidding across the ground as trees and dirt were shoved aside when the heavy ship plowed through them, finally stopping and Antares let out a sigh of relief, “Well, I’m not dead yet.” He soon got up, twist his neck and cracking it, the landing causing minimal injuries to body.

He then headed towards where the container was, activating the repulsion on the crate and then began to carry it out towards the docking ramp, Six came rushing up, furiously whistling and shifting from side to side, “Yeah yeah, I know, just see what’s damaged on the ship and how long it’ll take to fix it, I’ve got to make this delivery and then I’ll be back to get the Phoenix up and running again.” The droid let out a sigh and then started to check on various parts of the ship to diagnose it.

When the ramp descended, he exited the ship and took a look around for a second, then continued on towards his destination, it probably wouldn’t take more than an hour or two for him, what he didn’t realize however was he was right in between where Aria’s group and Iri was, hopefully his luck wouldn’t have him crossing paths with them, last thing he needed was to get caught up with more of the Republic.

The battle had been raging for hours before Aria and her team had even arrived. This was the second wave as the first was sent to establish an element of a hold for the beachfront. In the skies, the Mandalorian fleet defending the planet had been broken through yet still proved to be a capable opponent; taking down a few Republic ships in the battle above. How entrenched the Mandalorians were entrenched within the jungles of Cathar, no one knew for sure; but they knew the main outpost was within the primary city of Cathar itself. But, hundreds of anti-air defense systems prevented a surge strike at the heart.

They had to go the long way, through the hailstorm of fire on the beach, and then the deathtrap of the jungle.

Aria darted her head back and forth, surveying the destruction all around her. The sounds came back to her slowly, and then she heard a familiar voice barking over the explosions and screaming. Ken. She listened to him close, her heart beating frantically in her chest, yet his words soothed her. Immediately, Aria nodded to him in acknowledgement and found cover in a large crater where heavy blaster fire indented the earth. There were quickly made defensive palisades, scrapped up from ship debris shielding the troops. Heavy soldiers with durasteel shields also came out to form a protection barrier around Aria, but mostly because she was close to Major Athos.

Leon took priority to the Republic soldiers, seeing him as the man who could lead them amidst the frantic battle. And they needed it.

The Republic was getting butchered. Troops were falling from heavy chain gunfire from heavily defended turret placements at the high end of the beach at the tree-line of a vast jungle.

Luck was on their side early on when one of the three placements was shattered into dust by a well-placed shot from a gunship – until that gunship was brought down in a flaming heap.

Her eyes adjusted to the sight, the hardest thing to absorb were familiar faces. She noticed one, two people she’d grown up with on Dantooine face down in the sand. Blood around them, burn marks where they’d been shot. Lightsaber hilts like stone, lifeless on the ground. Aria pushed them out of her mind, glancing to the two turret posts. She ignited her violet saber, entering into a fighter’s sense, but before she rushed foolishly; Aria caught glimpse of Alek leading a team of Jedi and Republic soldiers behind him.

In a fierce battle with a Mandalorian soldier, she saw Alek’s true power at work. He impaled him in the chest and let the crusader drop into a heap. Alek kept moving forward, unflinching. She’d heard the stories about him bringing down a criminal group on Tatooine. Killed them, but she didn’t know what it meant to kill. Alek did it with ease, and kept moving forward.

Perhaps that was the key, not to stand still, find the next problem and solve it. If she wasn’t so focused on everything else, she would have taken time to appreciate one of the most impressive feats performed with a lightsaber she’d ever seen. Alek talked about the power core of his personal weapon, and now she knew why. Alek cut clean through a vibrosword, the kind designed to prevent it from happening. But, the bright azure pulsing out of his saber burned with a flickering power not found in most Jedi’s sabers.

Aria blocked a blaster bolt coming her way, deflecting it off. She went over to Leon. “Major! Can you go with Alek and the heavy troopers and loop around the left towards that turret post?” She pointed out the plan, sweeping her hand over in the direction she intended. With heavy shields, Alek’s saber as a battering ram, and the Major, Aria believed they could take it out. “You’ll take heavy fire, but with them we can do a quick run and take the right side before they have time to re-focus!” She pointed at Ken, Anna, and Xeviiy. She intended to separate them into teams of speed and power.

It happened before Aria thought it would. Three Neo-Crusaders with their azure armor leaping over the palisade where a brief opening had come. Arren was too far from her position to provide support, but she began running to her student’s aid as quickly as possible. The warriors faced Ken, Xeviiy, and Aria alike. Their war cries pierced their defensive circle, and quickly after their vibroblades sung down upon them.

Aria had never killed someone in her life until that moment. A whirl of violet, deflecting the Mandalorian’s arcing strike away, and then a pirouette. Smooth, almost beautiful. But, the beauty was marred by a guttural choke of the clansman who took Aria’s sweeping blade across his neck. Throat slit, burned, he collapsed in front of her.

Ken was sickened deeply the more he took in the more he found war even more repulsive than he'd thought it'd be. Nothing but death, destruction, and crying dying men and women. It was an awful sight to beheld. He ignited his silver saber in his hand. The silver glow beautifully flickered and hissed as the weapon prepared too do what all weapons are bound too do. But this weapon was made not for blood or combat but for protecting innocents. However Aria, not doubt from his thrashing of her during their duel, thought him too be something he was not: a warrior. A talented combatant, a skilled defender, and a wielder of the force. Ken followed her none the less his eyes looking around prepared for anyone who might try to sneak up or shoot at him. Of course any jedi could make a mistake at any moment. He couldn't afford too be wrong in this particular moment though. Too many things were now forced upon his shoulders. How he had gone from tutoring younglings too this...it made him feel even more disappointed in everyone around him.

Alek's offensive just confirmed his knowledge of the man. He was a brute nothing more nothing less. And as Aria gave her orders he made sure he would follow them. He prepared himself too follow Aria into battle after taking his eyes off Alek only to find that three mandalorians were charging at them. Ken sighed and resigned himself to what he must do. He raised his hand, "I'm not a killer I'm a consular." Ken mumbled to himself as he let the force flow through him and then he unleashed it in a powerful wave of force power from his free hand sending the mandalorian tumbling forward towards him flying back with enough force to break his bone. But hopefully enough that he would survive if given medical attention. His way was not combat and his way of dispatching these cretins would follow that. "All too easy."

Leon continued to lead his fellow Republic soldiers along with Aria, having a few mixed teams of heavy and light infantry, it was better than them just being clustered together and being one large target for them. He kept glancing at Anna and Xeviiy, making sure that the battle wasn’t overwhelming them and although she was merely deflecting the attacks, for the most part, Xeviiy seemed okay with the conflict.

His attention soon turned to Aria when she shouted to him, giving her a nod at her plan, “Alright, don’t worry about us, just make sure you guys stay safe.” He shouted in return, whistling for a few of heavy soldiers from each squad to come over towards him and Alek. He made sure to not pull too many from them, even with them attempting a flank, it still wasn’t wise to put all of their eggs into one basket, plus they would remaining soldiers would hold the line until his team and Aria’s advanced and pushed forward.

Anna looked a bit nervous when some of the heavies and Leon started to move over to the left, whilst she had known war wasn’t something easy, she had never experienced something this intense and it was starting to rattle her nerves. Xeviiy listened to the plan that was being discussed but didn’t say anything, she was still focused on deflecting the incoming fire, but she would attempt this plan with them. She dove behind the cover where Anna was when a streak of red shot near them from a laser cannon, knowing that it’d be impossible for her to deflect that many bolts without getting hit.

She noticed that Anna was shaking a bit as she held onto her blaster and Xeviiy placed a hand on her shoulder, “Hey, you’ll be alright, just stick close to me and the other Jedi and we’ll protect you, I promise.” Anna’s shaking subsided a bit as she said, “I knew it was going to be intense, but I never expected this, pretty silly for me to be scared, huh?” She exhaled some air through her nostrils with a smirk. “Not at all Lieutenant, I’m sure everyone here is scared, but like the Major said, everyone has each others’ backs, so we can count on one another, so trust in us.” Xeviiy responded, giving a small smile, Anna returning it and then took a deep breath, popping up and firing at the enemy on the other side.

Xeviiy was ready to get back into the action as well when she heard the war cry of the Neo-Crusaders, three of them charging Aria, Ken and herself, she just managed to defend against the Mandalorian as his attack crashed down against her turquoise blade, sparks coming off as their two weapons clashed. His strength was intense, though she shouldn’t have been surprised, they tended to train their warriors very well; she tried to find an opening to no avail, either his attacks were too quick or any openings he made were quickly adjusted.

His unrelenting assault soon cause Xeviiy to not only be disarmed, but also knocked off her feet, moving backwards as she tried to make some distance between the two of them, this wasn’t good, she had promised she wouldn’t be a liability and here she was, with her life in danger. The Mandalorian let out a chuckle as she raised his blade up, ready to strike her down, “Hey, over here!” A voice shouted, followed by a blaster bolt hitting him in the shoulder, causing him to stumble a bit, his gaze turned to who shot him, it being Anna, “You’re gonna have to go through me before you get to her!” She shouted once more as she got ready to fire at him again.

The Mandalorian soon started to charge her with his blade, her blaster fire deflecting off either his blade or armor until finally he was at her, quickly striking his blade down but she managed to block it with her blaster rifle, his repeated hits however knocked the weapon out of her hands, leaving her defenseless as another one of his attacks came crashing towards her. In that instant, time seemed to slow down as Xeviiy watched the man ready to strike down Anna, “No!” She shouted as she extended out her hand, sending a wave of the force towards Anna, pushing her out of the way as his blade hit her right shoulder.

Anna winced as the blade hit her and she fell to the ground, but she did appreciate Xeviiy’s assistance, no doubt that attack would’ve been serious had she not intervened. With another quick movement, Xeviiy drew her weapon to her, re-igniting the blade and then sprinted towards the man, she slid between his legs as he tried to attack her on her approach, hastily popping up and then swung her blade at him, only to be blocked.

She couldn’t waste time with him, not when she had to help Anna and then assist the others, she soon remembered her sparring match with Leon and then figured she could use that to best him; the weapons clashed against one another multiple times until she finally got an opening when he went to slash her at the waist, following what Leon had done on Coruscant, she twirled her body around his, just narrowly missing being cut and then as her back met his, she stabbed him through the back, her blade piercing the armor and then exiting out of the front, “I won’t ever let my comrades die.” She said as she glanced at Anna, extinguishing her weapon and then the Mandalorian falling onto the sand face first.

“Thanks kid, really saved my butt.” Anna chuckled as she gripped at her bleeding shoulder.

Xeviiy made her way over to her, kneeling down and then started to examine her wound, “Hey, don’t worry about me, the Republic medics can fix me up.” Anna added as she watched Xeviiy, impressed that the girl she met only a few weeks ago and seemed distressed from training was now fighting in this war with them and wasn’t seeming to really be affected by it.

“Nonsense, they’ll take too long as will your recovery, oh also I’ll let the kid remark slide this time, but don’t call me it again.” She responded with a smirk and then held out her hands over the wound, closing her eyes as she started to use the force to heal it shut. Anna looked on in amazement, the force and the Jedi were truly remarkable, she could understand how Leon was so respected in the Republic if he used powers like these in the Exar-Kun war.

“There, all done, does your shoulder feel better?” She asked, snapping Anna out of her thought as she then started to move her arm, her wound completely healed and no pain coming from it, “Yeah, thanks Xeviiy.” Xeviiy gave a nod and then used the force to retrieve Anna’s rifle, handing it to her she said, “Come on, we need to regroup with Aria and the others.” Anna gave a nod and then started to run with Xeviiy to where Aria and Ken were.

---

Vras, Noka, Sanjun and Vrol watched as Iri then headed off for battle, they knew that they couldn’t delay, otherwise they would miss their chance to help her. They looked to one another and then nodded, Vras and Sanjun soon started to ask everyone questions, messing with various computers in an attempt to distract the officers, which it did as they tried as politely as possible tell the to stop.

Whilst they did that, Noka and Vrol slipped out from under the tent, looking around the camp before making their way over to the tent where the supplies Iri brough was placed, sneaking under it they were amazed at the amount of supplies in it, “Wow, this is a lot of supplies.” Noka commented, Vrol giving a few small roars in return, “Right, I guess with the amount of troops here it isn’t really a lot, come on we need to find those lightsabers.” She responded and then the two of them began looking through the various containers.

The two of them continued to search the various bags and containers to no avail, “Come on, where are they?” Noka whispered as it seemed like they wouldn’t be able to find any. She let out a sigh, “I don’t think there are any here Vrol, we’ll need to get back to the others and let them know.” She spoke as she got ready to exit the tent when Vrol called to her, showing two silver hilts in his hands when she looked over at him, “Wow, you found them? Awesome!” She exclaimed before quickly covering her mouth, “Alright, we need two more and then we can give them to Vras and Sanjun.” She added, taking two sabers and hiding them in her robes.

Once they had them and all the containers were in their proper place once more, Noka lifted up the side of the tent, checking to make sure the coast was clear and then motioned Vrol to move, she quickly following soon after. They soon made it back inside the main tent where their friends were, “Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.” Noka whispered to Vrol.

“Hey what are you two doing?” A voiced suddenly spoke to them, Noka nervously turning around to face the woman that addressed them.

“Oh, uh, we just wanted to see how amazing soldiers of the Republic worked.” She fibbed, trying to appease any ego she might have.

“Well that’s very admirable of you, but our men need to stay focused, so I can’t have you two over here, okay?” The woman responded more gently.

“Right, sorry about that, we didn’t mean any harm by it.” Noka responded with an innocent expression.

The woman let out a chuckle, “That’s quite alright.” She then lead them back to where Vras and Sanjun were, “So, did you two get them?” Vras asked, Noka smirking as she opened her robe a bit, revealing one of the lightsaber hilts. “Wow, I could kiss you!” Vras quietly exclaimed, a hint of a red blush going across her face, “Right, well save it for after the war.” She joked a bit, her and Vrol subtly handing each of them a hilt.

“Okay, now we need to get out of here, Master Asichi couldn’t have gotten too far.” Vras added, then motioned for the three of them to follow, heading over to Captain Harluk.

“Excuse me, Captain?” Vras spoke as he gently tugged on the man’s sleeve.

“Hmm, what is it now young one?” He responded, his tone slightly stern from previous pestering, but he tried to stay relaxed for the most part.

“Sorry to bother you again, but we were wondering if there was a refresher nearby, we didn’t go before we arrived.”

Captain Harluk figured a bathroom break for them would give him and his men a small reprieve and said, “Sure, there’s a small one nearby,” He paused for a moment, looking to one of the men standing guard, “Private, over here.”

The man quickly made his way over, “Yes, sir?”

“The four of them need to go to the bathroom, escort them please.”

The private tried to not show his disappointment as he saluted, “Yes sir!” Then started to escort them to the nearby bathroom, “Now you four don’t take too long, alright?” The private asked when they finally got there.

Vras and the others nodded, heading inside the small bathroom, there being two doors, one for male and one for female, “Alright, now let’s find a way out of here and get to Master Asichi.” Vras spoke as the four of them tried to find a window or vent that would allow them to sneak out of there and then the camp. Their search however revealed that both the vents and few windows there were too small for any of them to fit through, “Ugh, we can’t get through any of these.” Vras commented, “Well I guess there’s only one thing to do.” He added, pulling out the lightsaber given to him; it was slightly larger than their hands, but they for the most part could still wield them with little effort.

Noka quickly grabbed his wrist, “No, don’t do that.”

“What? Why not? It’ll be faster this way.”

“Think about it, you turn that on and start cutting through the wall, they’ll hear us and then take these away and we’ll be stuck here.” Noka responded firmly.

Vras lowered the weapon, knowing she was, “Alright, so what do we do then?”

Noka paused for a moment, closing her eyes as she thought, “Aha, that’s it.” She spoke as her eyes shot open with a smirk appearing on her face and then walked over to door, cracking it open and seeing the private standing near it as he awaited them. She then used the force to make a noise nearby, the soldier going over to investigate the sound and then the four of them quickly rushed out, heading towards the path where their teacher went.

“Vras, we’re going to be in so much trouble when we catch up to her, you know that right?” Noka asked as they were running.

“Probably, but I care much more about Master Asichi than whatever trouble we might get into, you can always stay here if you’re worried.” He responded with a smirk.

“Not on your life, just wanted to make sure you understood the potential consequences.” She smirked back to him.

Meanwhile up on the front, Iri was busy assisting the troops and few Jedi that were fighting the Mandalorians, they were slightly outnumbered but they could win this. “You four, assist the other Jedi over there, the right flank is weakening.”

“But sir, what about here?” One of the soldiers responded.

“I’ll be fine, it’s not that bad, go and assist the others, now!” She shouted to them as she deflected the incoming fire.

They quickly rushed over to the weakening flank, reinforcing it with their small numbers and that helped push back a few of the Mandalorians that were trying to advance forward.

Iri continued to deflect the incoming fire, then rushed in towards the enemy’s left flank, fluidly moving her body to either deflect or entirely avoid the incoming fire and then struck both their weapons and them, either their arms or legs being entirely cut off, she was going to try and avoid as many casualties as possible, but knew simply disabling their weapons wouldn’t be enough to stop them.

Vras and the others soon made it to the battlefield, they quickly found some bushes to hide in, knowing that both the Republic and the enemy would be surprised to see children on the battlefield and they could be used as leverage. They instantly spotted Iri, watching in awe as she moved with grace against the enemy, impressed by how she seemed to easily fight against such brutes without much effort, this was why they wanted to assist her.

Four Mandalorians surrounded her, pulling out their blades, “It’ll be a joy to make you my first Jedi kill, you should consider it an honor.” One of them spoke to her.

“You hardly know about honor, willing to slaughter innocents in such an unneeded war to prove what? That you’re strong, but I shouldn’t expect any less from brutes such as yourselves.” She glared at them, the calmness in her voice not leaving.

They obviously didn’t like this, “Just for that, we’ll have a little fun with you first before we kill you, quite an exquisite Jedi you are.” The same Mandalorian spoke as he eyed her up and down, his words clearly implicit.

She gave a small smirk, “Like I said, just a bunch of brutes, guess you four are the weakest of your clan if that’s the only way you can get a woman.”

This seemed to anger them more and then they let out a battle cry, charging her and just like when she fought her students, she twisted the center of her hilt, splitting them into two and then blocked the two men at her side, “Now we’ve got you!” The Mandalorian shouted as he and his comrade behind her raised their blades over their heads, ready to crash them down on her. In an instant with the assistance of the force, she slid her blades against theirs as she turned her body, making a small whirlwind against them that sent them flying, then blocked the other two that were attacking her.

“You were saying something about having me?” She spoke as she turned her head to the Mandalorian struggling to push against her lightsaber.

“Smug, we like the ones that fights back at first, makes it more fun.” He responded with a chuckle, the two of them slashing at her rapidly as the two she pushed away got up and returned to fighting her as well.

Vras had a look of worry on his face, he didn’t like seeing Iri outnumbered and went to move out of the bushes to assist her, only for Sanjun to grab his shoulder and stop him, “What do you think you’re doing? I need to help her.” He spoke as he faced Sanjun.

“No, we need to stay here and help only when it’s necessary, right now she’s fine, just look.” He pointed at the fight going on, Iri was still fending them off with moderate ease.

“Sanjun’s right, Master Asichi isn’t in any danger at the moment, so we need to be patient.” Noka chimed in.

Vras let out a sigh, “I know you guys are right, I just don’t like her being outnumbered.”

The four Mandalorians all charged her once more, all at the same time, figuring even if she blocked two, she wouldn’t be able to block the others, however rather than blocking, Iri used the force to leap into the air and then used the force once more to to pull them towards one another, the four of them crashing into one another and then falling to the ground as Iri gently landed on her feet.

“Guess I was right, you guys are the weakest of your clan, surrender now and the Republic will see you’re treated fairly.” She spoke as they struggled to get up.

Then the same one that threatened her started to laugh, “What’s so funny?” She asked as she quirked her brow.

“Such an arrogant Jedi, it’ll be your downfall.” He responded and then a fifth Mandalorian that got behind her grasped both his hands and slammed them into Iri’s back, sending her stumbling forward but she managed to regain her footing.

She winced as she straightened her back, he had some serious power to his hits; another Mandalorian then surprised her once more, coming in with a kick that she barely managed to block with her arms but it sent her into a nearby rock, letting out a gasp as her injured back slammed into it. She collapsed to the ground, struggling to get up, coughing as she tried to get air into her lungs.

“See Jedi, I told you that arrogance would be your downfall.” He chuckled as the six of them surrounded Iri.

“Come on, we have to help her out now.” Vras urged, wanting to move but Sanjun still wasn’t letting him leave.

“Don’t count Master Asichi out just yet.” He responded, figuring this fight was far from over.

The six Mandalorians all raised their blades up and were met with resistance when they all crashed down against Iri’s, three on each of her blades, she then lifted her head up, her eyes shooting open and a blast of the force sent the six of them flying away from her. “I’ve faced a lot in my life, so don’t you brutes dare underestimate me.” She glared at them, extending out her arms and used the force to pick two of them up by their throats, choking them.

Vras, Noka, Sanjun and Vrol’s eyes widened when they saw their teacher choke two of the Mandalorians with the force, “Th-That’s a dark Jedi power.” Noka said in shock, not believing what she was seeing.

“I-I can’t believe it, I never knew that Master Asichi could use the force like that.” Sanjun responded, clearly they were all stunned their teacher who preached the ways of the light was using the force in such a negative way.

The two men that were struggling slowly stopped, mere moments away from death until Iri realized what she was doing and quickly let them go, “No, I promised my master I wouldn’t use the force like that anymore.” She spoke to herself, distracted by what she had almost done with the force and didn’t notice one of the Mandalorians come rushing up, slamming his fist against her face and sent her into the rock once more, knocking her weapons from her hands as well.

“What’s the matter Jedi? Afraid to kill?” The same Mandalorian that taunted her before said, picking her up and setting her against the rock, then slammed his fist into her gut, the other three Mandalorians that were still conscious ran up to assist their comrade, punching and kicking her nonstop, blood being coughed up by her as it pooled in her body.

Then he went over to where their vibroblades were, picking them up and handing it to each of them, ready to deliver the final blow, “I know I said we’d have our fun with you before we killed you, but you wouldn’t be much fun now.” He chuckled, then the four of them raised their blades up as Iri closed her eyes, ready to accept her impending fate.

There was a sudden sound of sparks as the weapons came down, Iri curious why she wasn’t dead yet, opened her eyes and saw her four students with lightsabers, all blocking the Mandalorians’ blades, “You four...w-what are you four doing here.” Iri weakly asked as she coughed some more blood. Vras glanced back at his master and then to the Mandalorians, “You will not harm our master.” A look of anger on his face as well as the faces of Noka, Sanjun and Vrol.

“What they’re sending children in to fight now? The Jedi have truly become pathetic.” One of them said and then the eight of the engaged in battle, although since the Mandalorians were trained warriors, they had the clear advantage in height, power, strength and even fighting prowess. The four students just barely managing to block their attacks.

“No, run.” Iri spoke to them hoarsely, knowing her students were too young to be fighting in a war such as this. It wasn’t long before they were overpowered, first Vrol as he was disarmed and then kicked away, followed by Noka and then Sanjun, leaving only Vras who received a hard right hook that knocked him to the ground.

“Thought you were going to stop us boy, what happened?” One of them taunted, Vras angrily getting up and then slashed at him vigorously, the man easily blocking all, until Vras got a lucky shot in and hit him in the shoulder, “Agh, you brat!” She shouted as he disarmed him and then slammed his foot into his chest, sending him skidding a few short feet away.

“I’ve had enough of playing with these tots, let’s hurry up and end them.” He growled as he held his shoulder.

“N-No, please don’t, they’re just...children.” Iri struggled to say as she tried to crawl towards them.

“If they’re old enough to fight, they’re old enough to die, shame too really, few more years and they could have been excellent warriors, oh well.” The four of them then separated, going to each child on the ground, turning their blades downwards.

“No, you can’t...” Iri spoke again, trying to crawl towards them once more.

“Watch us.” The man grinned under his helmet, the four of them raising their blades up, Iri’s eyes widened and in an instant, pulled her blades to her, using the force to help her up and then rushed towards them, “No!” She shouted, plunging her blades into the two that were standing over Vrol and Sanjun, using the force once more to assist her, spinning and then flinging the two men off her blades and into some nearby trees.

This sudden action caused the other two to hesitate and then quickly charge her to avenge their fallen comrades, her heightened senses thanks to the force allowed her to easily dodge by sliding under their blades then turned around, quickly twirling her blades, then a few seconds later the two men dropped to the ground, their heads rolling from their bodies as the ground absorbed some of the blood. “No one, harms my students.” She panted, Vras, Sanjun, Vrol and Noka having watched in complete disbelief.

“Are you four alright?” She asked, continuing to pant heavily, they simply responding with nods, “Good.” She spoke with a smile before her blades extinguished and she collapsed herself.

“Master Asichi!” The four of them shouted and then got up, rushing over to her, “Hey, someone help!” Noka shouted as the last of the fighting soon began to finish, two medics quickly came running up with a stretcher.

“Children? What are children doing here?” One of them asked.

“Never mind us, just help our master!” Vras growled at them, looking back to Iri as they rolled her onto the stretcher and then began rushing her back to the nearby camp, Noka grabbing their master’s lightsabers and then the four of them ran with the medics.

---

Antares continued through the jungle with the container, he hated that his ship had been shot down but AA, but from what he could at least see, it didn’t seem that serious, but still it would’ve made transporting whatever was in the container a lot easier, plus he didn’t really know how long it would take to walk to his destination, probably a few hours at the very least.

There was some rustling from a nearby bush, he quickly pulled out his blaster and aimed it at where the sound was coming from, a small rodent went running by and Antares let out a sigh of relief, “Heh, getting startled by a small rodent, I need to relax, no one even knows where I am.” He then heard another noise, glancing over, he saw a squad of Mandalorian soldiers near where he was, ‘Just great, I had to open my big mouth,’ he thought to himself, looking around and eventually found a cave, rushing with his cargo in toe, he entered the cave just as the squad started to go through the area.

“Remember, search everywhere, Republic dogs could be hiding anywhere.” One of the men spoke up and then they spread out a bit, one of them heading towards the cave he was in, “Course you’d want to check over here.” He spoke quietly to himself as he got his weapon ready, this would be a difficult fight if he gets discovered.

Just then blaster fire started to go off, the other Mandalorians went rushing off to where the blaster fire was coming from, it had been a group of Republic soldiers waiting to ambush some of the Mandalorians. It was good for him, at least they would be able to distract them whilst he continued on towards his destination, once more it seemed like his luck was still in place, though everyone’s luck ran out sooner or later, his more often than naught was the latter.

"I want so much to be right, to do the right thing, that I don’t look to see if another answer would be a better answer. Judging yourself right is a destination. I’m just on a journey."

The Long Way Down
The Aundus-Valay, Above Zetrea
Outer Rim
Two Weeks Ago

Distant thunderclaps of shearing stress echoed through command deck, rushing up through the deck plates from collapsing sections of the once-proud jewel of the Zetrean foundries. Above and beneath that ominous, terrifying noise rang the eternal klaxons of alarm that still warned any who yet lived that the enemy marched upon them. At sporadic intervals the emergency lighting kicked back in and painted the bridge in shades of red, but it passed quickly into darkness and fluorescent ambiance, then back again.

The Security Force soldiers trained their weapons upon the door, their fingers on their firing pins, each measured breath an entreaty to whatever gods they believed in to keep them safe, to ward them against the fell and implacable enemy who had devoured the ship from the inside out.

Minutes passed. And more.

Until at last the waiting turned to violence. They were as prepared as they could have possibly been, but their mistake was watching the door.

Staccato fire swept the command deck the instant the wall beside it erupted outward, searing through the defenders without a moment's hesitation. Half of them were dead before they realized what'd happened and the others followed moments later as the Mandalorians advanced, their ragged band more than a match for the disarrayed soldiers who still struggled to reorient themselves.

A pair of warriors in blue armor took up positions on either side of the breach as their crimson-clad commander took point. He tracked his rifle up and dropped three more with a single shot each, then neatly fixed the weapon to the mount on his back as his hands found the detonators on his belt. He tossed one to each of the Mandalorians that flanked him and tapped a pair of fingers out towards the bank of computers that lined the expansive bridge.

“Keep moving!” he barked, marching towards the causeway that linked the bridge's door to the captain's command center.

The rest of his squad fell in behind him, mirroring his confident stride as the final line of the Aundus-Valay's Security Force took firing positions and tried to rally, just in time to eat a wave of concussive force as the Mandalorians unleashed another salvo, ripping them apart. Only the captain remained, now – a man of advancing years and a hairline that preceded him, his close-cropped white mane flecked with the blood of his defenders – and as the enemy approached he did the only thing he could think of.

He raised his hands in surrender.

“The ship is yours!” he said, trying in vain to keep his voice from shaking. “Do as you will with it. The vaults – the wealth of whole planets – are my gift to you, in exchange for my life. You need only let me go.”

Oleg Trankan removed his helmet for the third time that day and tucked it into the crook of his arm. His squad fanned out around him and moved to secure the weapons of the fallen Security Force troopers and to ensure – with single shots to the chest and head – that they were as dead as they seemed. It was of questionable honor, but extreme necessity. Only an idiot would trust the appearance of death without confirmation. As the old maxim said: Trust, but verify. Especially now.

As the last of the fallen were … verified … the Rally Master took a deep breath and enjoyed the moment of (relative) silence that followed, enjoying the peace while it lasted. Then, with deliberate care, he handed his helmet to the emerald-skinned warrior to his right and swept a hand across his brow, wiping the sweat from his eyes. His touch lingered a moment on the wicked scar that mottled his face and it brought a smile to his lips.

Then he laughed. “Where would you run to?”

The captain's groan was audible. He gestured toward a row of recessed portals near the bridge's main door. “Escape pods. There are escape pods…”

A knife – dark brown, shimmering red where the light touched it – buried itself in the captain's forehead.

Oleg lowered his hand and strode to the fallen official, stooping low to tug his blade from the dead man's skull. A few jerks loosened it enough to free it. He wiped the blade on one of the ribbons of cloth that dangled from his belt and tucked it back into the brace with the rest of his cortosis knives. Then, after considering the corpse for a moment longer, the Rally Master crouched down again and closed the captain's eyes.

As he straightened he turned to face his warriors.

“Will someone turn that damned alarm off?”

One of his soldiers made haste to the array of controls lining the command platform while the rest took up positions nearby. Oleg stepped clear of the dead captain at his feet and ascended to the massive chair which dominated the bridge, seating himself into its cushioned embrace with a heavy thump. As the crimson lights flickered and returned to the soft glow of proper florescence – and the endless cacophony died down to silence.

True silence, at last.

He took a long breath, filling his lungs, exhaling slowly. And again. Then with deliberate care he tapped the datapad strapped to his gauntlet to wake it from its slumber, feeding it the proper code to drag out the meaning buried in the encrypted data within. A steady stream of updates told him all he needed to know of the battle beyond the Jewel of Zetrea and when he was done devouring the news he wore a smile that spread from ear to ear.

“The battle is won,” he told his troops. “Zetrea is ours.”

Cheers broke out amongst the ranks and he permitted it, basking in the sound. They deserved this moment.

But he saw, too, the look that still haunted his daughter. She stood at his side and her very presence seemed to darken the bridge, feeding on the delirious celebration around her. Was she so haunted by her first kill? Did she truly believe herself lessened by the vagaries of fate? He would need to disabuse her of these ideas, these twisted fears.

On the field of battle there was life and there was death. She had lived.

And more, she had fought as a Mandalorian should fight. A storm of blades, a whirlwind of carnage that swelled his heart with pride. What lessons she had learned had served her well and more besides; on this day she was a recruit no longer. She was a soldier. One who had earned the azure armor and the rank, and so much more beside.

He touched his fingers to the scar that marred his face once more and his grin grew wider. She'd always been a fighter, that one. But now she'd proved it. Now she was one of the Mando'ade in more than just name. Now she was truly blood.

“Soldier Zeti,” he growled, careful to conceal his pride.

She stood straighter despite the fatigue which plagued her. Sweat shone on her and there was a deepness to her eyes that spoke of utter exhaustion, but still she stood, still she obeyed, and quickly at that. “Rally Master.”

“You know the code. Signal the Field Marshal.”

In moments the air snapped with the sound of the com hissing to life. At the sound of the voice that followed each and every soldier on the bridge stood even straighter, held themselves more tightly. Paragons of the battlefield. As well they should. It was a voice of serpentine shadows and coiled rage, the silent fire waiting to erupt; soft and tinged with cybernetics, but unmistakable in its power.

“Report, Rally Master.”

Oleg turned the captain's chair to face the wall of screen that showed him the starry void beyond the Aundus. “The ship is taken, Field Marshal Ransiir. I do not know if it will hold together indefinitely – it has sustained extreme damage in some of the upper sections of the hull – but it is yours to command until its last breath.”

A long pause followed, then: “Burn it. Scuttle the Aundus. Its use was as a symbol, one of many. Even now Mandalore strikes a resounding victory of his own across the stars and the Jewel of Zetrea pales in the glory of what he has done.”

“Field Marshal?”

“Feraxis has fallen at the hands of the main fleet. Hellfire Levalle himself is slain by Mandalore's own blade. We have taken a firm step into the Republic and now they will have no choice but to retaliate.” A hint of something approaching excitement filled that pallid, hissing voice. “Our war is upon us at last.”

Then what was all of this for? Oleg thought, but he let that moment go. “Your will, Field Marshal. We will reposition the Aundus-Valay and scuttle her-”

“No, Rally Master,” came the reply. “Mandalore has need of us as quickly as we can be rallied to his side. A blow was struck against his fleet and he requires strong warriors to replace them. You will burn the Aundus where she is and join us; a garrison will remain to secure the shipyards as you make your way back.”

“Field Marshal … there is a chance that the Aundus will be caught in Zetrea's orbit.”

“Then let her fall.” Again, the taste of wry amusement. “The shipyards lie deep beneath Zetrea's surface, after all. Our prize will not be harmed. You have your orders, Rally Master.”

And the line fell silent.

Oleg Trankan rose, his eyes still full of the stars that shone through the wreckage littering the darkness above their conquest. When he'd had his fill he tapped a sequence of keys on his datapad to signal to those who still roamed the guts of the Aundus that the time to leave was upon them. He would give them ample time to rally and retreat before executing his orders; no pressing need was dire enough to necessitate the unnecessary and dishonorable deaths of fellow Mandalorians.

“Alright, soldiers! You heard the Field Marshal,” he boomed, rounding the chair to face his soldiers once more. “Set the charges and let's get...”

His voice failed him. At the far end of the bridge, with his hands held up in a gesture of surrender and every single Mandalorian blaster trained on him, was the thrice-blasted Jedi Knight who'd slain Ducar and nearly taken his daughter's life as well.

Red clouded his sight until he mastered himself, stepping down from the captain's dais and onto the platform that connected him to his uninvited guest.

The dark-clad Knight raised his eyebrows and assumed a look of commiserate humor.

“Hey.”



A half-heartbeat passed, and then the bridge was alive with the light of blasters and the smell of burning ozone. Kujata's lightsaber leapt to his hand with the barest nudge of Force, a spinning whirlwind of crimson energy that drank deep of the torrent of blaster fire and returned it even as he darted forward, directly into the storm. Over the din he could hear the enemy commander shouting but could not see him, trusting only that the sound was true and that he was heading in the right direction.

Once more the mantle of peace threatened to fall upon him, but this time he fought it. Fought the urge to release himself, to relinquish his waking mind and sink into the dark. There was no room for that, not with the rattling chains snaking round his bones to drag him forward, ever onwards. Each and every bolt he caught he returned, but he did it with precision, casting them above and to the side of the soldiers who sought his death.

There had been enough bloodshed. Enough for one day, perhaps enough for a lifetime.

His bones shook and his blood hammered, his muscles straining. Fatigue wore at him and he did not posses the healing capacity that many of his brethren did, so could not banish the weariness from his body. Meter by bloody meter he advanced and each step took a deadly toll on his reserves of strength. How many of these blasted bastards were there? How many of these faceless killing machines still infested the Aundus?

Then he let the thought go.

No room for that. Stay alive, wait for your moment.

Another meter. It felt like miles, and by the end of it he was nearly on the verge of collapse. To maintain this focus, this careful deflection, was something he'd almost never done before, and by the Force's bloody beating heart it really fucking hurt, and if he lived through this he'd regret his impulsive decision and curse himself raw. But he reached his distance – a length at which he could be heard – and stopped all motion save that of the saber in his right hand.

He raised his left with an open palm, then took a deep breath.

“Parley!” he roared.

Another salvo of fire.

Then silence and curling smoke.

“What arrogance,” the red-clad commander laughed, his voice threading in and out of the ringing in Kujata's ears. The expression on his scarred face was grim and utterly without mirth. “What utter disregard for your own life. Do you seek to stop us? We've already won, Jedi.”

“I caught the tail end of your conversation, yeah,” Kujata said, struggling to regain his breath. “But I'm not here to stop your fleet. I'm not even here to fight.”

The man clad in crimson armor waved his soldiers down with a sweeping arm. They did as they were bade, but remained standing at the ready. “I'm afraid that's a choice you've already made. You shouldn't have come back. Should have left well enough alone.”

Kujata felt a wistful smile play at his lips. “I tried. Believe me.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“Not unless you believe in destiny,” the Knight replied, shrugging. “And if you do, that makes one of us. Though I'm starting to feel like the only conscientious objector in the galaxy … and I'm having a bit of a lapse.”

The commander brushed this aside. As if Kujata had never even spoken. Instead he trained his eyes on the Jedi as a predator would eye its prey.

“Difficult to kill a Jedi with blasters,” he said. “Difficult to kill them with grenades, even if you know what you're doing.”

Oh. I don't like where this is going...

“Let me explain--”

“Have to do it the old-fashioned way. If you want results, you have to get in close. And get bloody. It's a lesson we learned in the war, burned into those of us who had cause to cross blades with your kind.”

Kujata frowned. The war? Exar Kun's war?

With care, the Rally Master began to unclasp the belts and buckles which sealed his armor in place. He set aside the red plates and the weapons which adorned him. He set aside the weight which bore him down, and in the threads of the Force which bound Kujata to this man he could feel the settling of an immense focus upon the venerable warrior. It chilled him despite the warmth of the bridge.

This was a man like few he'd ever faced. And the calm that he felt when he allowed himself to descend into the Force was echoed here, too, in the one he faced. It was like staring into a cold mirror, frosted with ice. Deeply unsettling. Deeply. But he did not yet rekindle the saber in his hand.

A familiar figure strode to the old warrior's side. The Mirialan, the one he'd come for. He could feel her presence in the Force now, more strongly than before. Could feel the resonance there. The siren call. That bright light which danced within him at the thought of the strength she bore, glimmering out from beneath the mass of shadows which shut themselves across her heart. It hurt to look upon her and to feel the weight of the chain of events which had dragged him here, to this moment, inch by bloody inch.

But it was far too late to turn back now.

“I will fight him,” she hissed to the older warrior. But her commander shook his head.

“My soldier demands your blood, Jedi,” he growled, eying Kujata. “She wishes to finish what she began. I'm of half a mind to allow it, but it is not a commander's task to ask of his soldiers what he is unwilling to do himself.”

Yet there was something in the way he said it, something in the voice – Kujata reached out, trying to unravel what it was he sensed. And found … concern? Why would he be so concerned?

She's as exhausted as I am. He knows it, and will not allow her to get herself killed. And it's more than duty. It's deeper than that. The Knight blinked. He actually cares for her.

Interesting. And it would make this either much easier or infinitely trickier.

The Mirialan frowned. “Father...”

“You will use my title on the battlefield, Soldier Zeti,” the old warrior snapped. “I will not tell you again.”

The girl – Zeti – kept her mask in place but in the echoes of the Force Kujata could feel her recoil. It was as if he'd applied pressure to an already weeping wound, drawing out a sharp spike of pain. It drew the shadows closer about her, a darkening of her presence amidst the glaring light of the bridge. Oh, he could feel the way she drew on her anger. Could feel the way she'd begun to cling to it as a balm, as a way of covering over the hurt. Pushing it away.

She kept her silence and the warrior – her father? – finished removing his armor. He stood now in only the black pressure suit that underlay the distinctive armor of his people, a skintight rubbery material that Kujata could only guess at the purpose of. Was it meant to act as a suit to safeguard them against the void beyond the ship's hull? Did their helmets seal them into a self-contained life support system? A pilot's suit, perhaps? But why would each soldier wear one?

Unless every single one of them was meant to be as an army unto themselves. The only reason he could think of to equip each warrior with every aspect of protection for every sort of battlefield was if one expected each of them to fight everywhere, against everyone.

That was … sobering.

And it sparked a memory somewhere in the back of his mind, one he couldn't quite place.

But he had no time to dwell on it. The commander reached down to his pile of discarded armor and weaponry and retrieved from it a brace of knives which he buckled around his waist. The unease that tingled in the back of Kujata's mind grew even deeper. Was it time to gamble? Maybe it was time to gamble.

“Your, uh, daughter. Zeti?”

The old warrior snapped his eyes up to the Knight who very nearly flinched at the malevolence he saw there. But there wasn't any sense in stopping now that the ball was rolling very quickly downhill.

“She is strong in the Force. I have been called to train her.”

And for an impossibly long second the warrior hesitated. Every single soldier in the room seemed to hesitate alongside him, baiting their breath. The Mirialan girl beside her father, too, seemed to freeze.

A grunt broke the moment. Followed by a dry chuckle.

“Of all the things you could have said to try to save your life, you pick the most ludicrous.”

“Would have said the same this morning,” the Knight conceded. “But it's true. Ask her. Ask her if she's felt it, felt the way the galaxy seems to ebb and flow around her. How she can sometimes sense things just before they happen. How when she's exhausted and on the verge of collapse, she hears something out there, something that echoes the feelings in her heart...”

“Very poetic.”

But even as he spoke, he sought out the eyes of the warrior's daughter and saw in here a flicker of … something. Something she did not express. Or could not express. Something that spoke right to the core of her.

And he knew in that instant that it was impossible to deny that everything really had led to this. That for once in his blood-soaked life he'd been called to something more than himself, more than the taking of life and the hunt which once drove him. It was terrifying, and it opened a deep pit in his stomach he hadn't even known was there, but he did not bother to deny the truth of it.

That the Force had spoken to him. And that he'd had the ability to listen.

Ice flooded him a moment later as the old warrior gripped two of the wicked daggers at his waist and drew them. Kujata knew the distinctive glimmer of that metal. Cortosis. In sufficient quantities it could sever a lightsaber's feedback loop in an instant; in smaller amounts – the quantities at which a weapon would still be serviceable – they would allow one to meet a saber's edge without shearing.

Which were these? And how had he accrued so many?

Unease flared into outright concern.

Then the old warrior bared his fangs.



They moved faster than Zeti had ever seen anyone move in her life, nearly impossible to follow.

The Knight's single-saber style fell back against the knifeplay of her father, who kept closing the distance to cut off the Jedi's reach, slashing and tearing with an animal ferocity. She'd never seem him fight like this. Not once had she seen the venerable Rally Master truly show his claws and now she understood why those old enough to remember his scarring could hold him in such lofty regard.

They were a hurricane of red lightning and flashing metal, quick slashes and kicks followed by eyes in the storm as they pulled back, only to clash more fiercely when pulled back together. Her heart was beating out of her chest and she ached to launch into the fray, to prove herself once more to her father, to show him that she was a warrior and not a failure, not bound by a fatal flaw … but she knew, knew with every fiber of her being, that to step into their battleground was to court instant death. No ounce of hesitation existed in their duel, not a single slip of focus. She'd only be in the way.

But, slowly, the tide of the battle shifted to her father's favor. The knives drew blood. Wounds bled across the Jedi's body and a full blade bit deep into his thigh, drawing a scream from the wounded Knight. The Force is not all-powerful, she thought, mind aflame. This man – this Knight of the Republic – who had bested Ducar, who had shown her what it is to be truly helpless, found himself in a losing fight with a real warrior at last.

A warrior who strode the galaxy like a conqueror. Who had torn down every enemy he'd ever faced. Who had soaked his hands in the blood of her own colony and cut down the deadliest of the blademasters they'd offered, taking only a single wound.

More blood blossomed across the Knight's tattered coat, and in a single moment of reprieve he threw it off him and drew from his belt another of the sabers that hung there. A topaz beam ignited alongside the crimson, an alternating lightning flare of whirling blades to crash down against her father and push him back. A swift kick threw Oleg back a faltering step and in that instant the blood-red saber spun out in a vicious arc, parried only at the last instant as her father regained his poise.

The blade slammed into one of the consoles at the head of the bridge and at once the chamber was bathed in red light, the warning klaxons crackling to life once again. Even as the whole of the Aundus shuddered the last of the Knight's blades erupted in his hand, a pale magenta that warred with the lights around it, seeming to grow darker for the contrast as it hummed and sang in the Jedi's hand.

Somewhere below their feet another explosion rocked the ship. An answering call to the damage done to the console?

All thoughts scattered as her father fell back again, and again, wounds burning their way up and down his arms as he twisted and bent to avoid them, failing to parry now, failing to step quick enough …

Another explosion. Something had gone wrong. Something bad.

But the warriors paid it no mind. They could not. There wasn't any room between them for the galaxy beyond their opponent, no room for anything but the fight. Fear gripped her tightly then, choking her, even as her father took saber to the shoulder and howled in rage. She should fight. She should help him! She shouldn't stand here, helpless, lost …

Two more muted booms and the viewport began to swim drunkenly, the stars drifting up and to the right as the ship's engines kicked in, driving it now towards the planet below. Fear turned to terror. But a soldier does not fear. A soldier does not panic. She remains calm and in control. Nevermind that dark weight in the heart, that growing, gnawing, aching impotent fury, that shaking horror …

“Soldiers!” she shouted, voice like a stroke of thunder. Loud. Too loud. “Evacuate! Get back to the-”

A deep quake rocked the deck, and she lost her balance. A handful of the remaining Mandalorian soldiers didn't bother to question her orders nor did they wait for her to finish; they were gone in the blink of an eye. Only two remained. They stood witness to the battle, as she did. True Mando'ade.

A concussive wave of force threw her father from his feet and a cold look came upon the Knight, both sabers flipping in his hands to a downward position even as he readied himself, then leapt …

… and she saw in her mind's eye what would come, the blood and the agony, and the death of her father …

… and she refused. She refused! This monster would not have him! Would not take from her the only thing that would bring her out from her failure, the only man who could redeem her, who could offer up his hand and guide her back …

… and she pushed, screaming without words, unchaining all that weight in her, all those fears, those failures, that darkness which festered in her heart, and it flowed out in a tidal wave of force …

… and the Jedi was thrown to the side just before he buried his blades in his foe, crashing into one of the banks of panels lining the bridge. A sharp crack sounded over the din of the klaxons and the Jedi did not move from where he lay upon the deck.

Her hands still outstretched, Zeti found herself trembling, shaking, as if every single moment of every single act of the siege of the Aundus was flooding into her all at once. Tears lined her eyes and she lowered her arms, sinking to her knees.

One of the Mandalorian soldiers who'd remained strode to the fallen Rally Master. Zeti's heart ceased all motion, waiting, watching, hoping … and her father staggered to his feet, gripping the soldier's arm. Gashes littered his pressure suit and blood ran slick across half his body, but he drew breath after ragged breath. He lived.

The other soldier crossed to the fallen Jedi, blaster rifle at the ready.

Oleg heaved a mouthful of blood onto the deck at his feet, then turned to stare at the planet expanding with alarming rapidity in the viewport. But he did not doubt. It was not in him to doubt, or to worry. He remained like a mountain. Calmly and with immense gravity, he turned to what remained of his squad. Then he gestured to the escape pods at the far end of the bridge.

“No choice,” he gasped. “No time.”

But the soldier who stood guard over the Jedi remained where he was. “He's still breathing,” he said.

Oleg Trankan, supported now with his arm across his subordinate's shoulders, looked to the Knight and then to his daughter, the wheels in his mind turning rapidly. Zeti did not know what passed through him then and did not much care. She hadn't the strength to move but even that did not matter. He lived. That was what mattered.

Wasn't it?

Then finally, with a snarl: “We take him with us. Alive.”

What was it like, what would it be like, how was it like... to kill a person? The multiple variations of that particular question revolved through Aria's mind on more than one occasion. Over, and over, again and again. It was a question she grappled with on moral grounds yet never found a foothold. She studied the Sith and Exar Kun, the fall of Ulic Qel-Droma and then his redemption. Every single time, Aria struggled. The baby kath hounds screaming resurfaced in her nightmares. If killing those animals on Dantooine caused so much pain to her inner self, how could anyone possibly murder another person? It didn't seem possible, it didn't seem human. There had to be a lack of conscience that she did not have.

But, like all strange things Aria found herself at war. At the center of a conflict that defied her beliefs about violence. Could she kill a person?

The answer was yes. But, could she deal with it?

One problem with war and battle was that Aria had not even a second to deal with the fact that it was her blade that carved a hissing cut across the dead Mandalorian's throat. The smell of smoking blood brushed against her. Blaster fire rained down. Her saber glided from one hand to the other, spinning and deflecting the bolts back at the clansmen firing. She saw Ken and Xeviiy had handled their opponents -- keeping them at a distance away where they would not be a threat. A flash of concern for Anna crossed her mind, but Aria suppressed it.

"Move, move, move, move!" Aria waved her arm, directing her group and the Republican soldiers that followed them. She wasn't an expert with it, but the power would come in handy. A burst of speed from the force allowed her to accelerate on the sand, rounding in a curve towards the right-side battlement. Adrenaline, nerves, worries, they spun with her in a battle mixture. Her violet saber weaved through Mandalorian enemies, and Aria within the heat of battle looked far different from the Aria in the dueling ring. She dodged blaster fire, deflected another bolt, twirled to cut down two of them before jumping to a cover point which would be used as the attacking point on the battlement.

She scanned ahead to see one side of the battlement was loaded with low rank Neo-Crusaders. The other had a few of them, but also a rally master.

On the other side of the battle, Alek led the way towards the left-side battlement. Most of the Mandalorian guns trained upon them and fired with seemingly endless volleys. With a shield troop at the front, heavy casualties were avoided but Republican troops still fell at an alarming pace. Alek cleaved a Mandalorian in two, leaving yet another corpse on the bloody path behind him. He looked back and found Leon.

"We can't slow down, Major! Give the command and we'll all charge. It won't be pretty, but I don't think this Mandalorian scum has enough men to take down you and me!"

Back with Aria she looked at Ken and Xeviiy along with Anna. "We need to split up. There's a rally master up ahead. If you three can take a few soldiers and hit the main defense, I can try and take him down. Ken, you can provide support. Break up their defenses and cause confusion. Xeviiy, I need a Jedi leading the charge. Can you do this?"

Xeviiy shared the same doubts as Aria when it came to killing someone, although with the current battle going on, it was difficult for her to take in the first life she just took, adrenaline from a mixture of excitement and fear ran through her, making her feel like she consumed a dozen cups of caf, wiring her and making her feel jittery.

She deflected the incoming bolts along with Aria, glancing at Anna to make sure she was still alright, which for the most part she seemed to be, she was sticking fairly close to her and the other soldiers and she would do her best to make sure that everyone survived. Anna was still a bit scared of the firefight that was happening, but she saw how the Jedi and her fellow soldiers were advancing and that gave her the courage to move along with them.

She was concerned about Xeviiy and Aria, they both were still young and war could have a profound effect on their minds, her concern was also on Leon, she knew he could handle himself, but there was still a chance that he could end up being killed in combat and she didn’t want that to happen.

Xeviiy followed close to Aria, going after some of the Mandalorians that made it past her, she wanted to keep hold of her idealism, to keep her way of not taking a life, minus the Neo-Crusader she killed, with Anna’s life in danger, she had no time to think about incapacitating the man and acted on instinct. However, even when she tried to only incapacitate them, something inside her yearned to kill these monsters and her blade went for killing blows such as slashing them across the chest or stabbing vital areas.

Xeviiy’s attention was once more grabbed by Aria when she started issuing new orders, she saw the rally master Aria was talking about and then gave a nod to Aria when asked to lead the charge, “You can count on me.”

She glanced back to Anna, “Lieutenant, stay close behind me, I’ll need you for long range attacks, don’t worry about the up close stuff, I’ll be your shield.”

“Alright, you got it Xeviiy.” Anna simply responded as she got closer to Xeviiy’s back, the other soldiers forming up before being lead into battle.

Xeviiy kept her word to Anna as they rushed through the soldiers, cutting down the Mandalorians that got close whilst Anna took out the ones firing in the back, mostly snipers, but at the same time, they were also losing men on their side, war never had casualties on just one side.

Over where Leon was, they were having difficulties as well, he had forgotten how tough Mandalorians were, even with the defense of their troops they were still taking losses. He looked over at Alek when he suggested they charge, it was a dumb idea, they would be sure to take some heavy losses, but they couldn’t just hold out forever, they would have to make an advancement sooner or later.

Leon let out a sigh and then shouted, “Alright, everyone push forward, we have to get past them!”

They all began their charge, men more quickly being shot down than before, but they were also gaining more ground, he just hoped that they could advance far enough without suffering too many casualties, it was already a mess with Republic soldiers and Jedi lying dead or injured, the screams of war and death that were all too familiar with Leon.

One of the Mandalorians came out from some hidden cover, surprising Leon as he slashed at him with his vibroblade and knocked his weapon out of his hands, forcing him to dodge as he continued his attack. Damn it, this wasn’t good, Leon knew that they were trained especially well in close quarters combat and he’d die faster by their blades or hands than he would by their blasters. The Mandalorian feigned a slash and when Leon went to dodge it, he slid his leg out and across at Leon, tripping him up and sending him onto his back.

Leon winced as he back slammed into the ground and then his eyes widened when he saw the blade coming down at him, he raised up his arm, a loud clang sound being made as his prosthetic blocked the attack.

“Impossible.” The Mandalorian spoke before seeing the cut his blade made on Leon’s sleeve and saw the metal underneath the fabric, “Ah, I see, so you’re a veteran, you’ll be an excellent kill.” He added, once more slashing at Leon who continued to block with his metal arm.

His prosthetic was heavier and used stronger metals than most, but he could feel it being damaged and eventually it would break, that would put him at a slight disadvantage. He glanced over at his gun but there’s no way he’d be able to reach it without being cut, he then remembered that he had his lightsaber; waiting until the man went for another slash, he used the force the best he could to push the man away from him, it wasn’t a lot of space, but it allowed enough of a reprieve for him to draw his hilt and then activate it, his golden blade ejecting out and catching the man’s vibroblade.

“A Jedi as well?!” He exclaimed with a laugh, “Oh you will be a most worthy kill indeed.”

“The only one that will be dead is you.” Leon replied as he stood and the two fought with each other once more.

Their weapons slashed against one another, not giving an inch to the other, Leon narrowly being cut a few times, he knew that he couldn’t waste anymore time on the man, the other troops were advancing and they needed their leader to guide them. When he and the Mandalorian clashed once more, he used the force to embed in him additional strength that allowed him to push back against the man and then slid his blade down, pushing it away from the man’s center and then spun, slamming his own blade into the man’s chest, the Mandalorian toppling over after Leon removed his weapon from the man’s chest and then rejoined the rest of the troops advancing.

Back at Xeviiy, she had been continuing her push forward with some of the soldiers they had as well as Anna, but she had become slightly distracted when she saw Leon fighting up close with one of the Mandalorians. The small worry she had subsided though when she saw him use some of his Jedi powers as well as his lightsaber to best the Mandalorian, however with her mind being unfocused at the current moment, she missed deflecting one of the blaster bolts and it hit her in the shoulder, knocking her to the ground.

“Xeviiy!” Anna shouted to her, firing at the Mandalorian that shot her and killing him before kneeling down at the Miraluka.

“I’m fine...we need to keep going.” She panted as she gripped at her shoulder before standing, re-igniting her weapon and then took the lead in front of the soldiers.

“You’re injured, it needs to be treated.” Anna spoke up with concern as she got behind Xeviiy once more.

“It’s not that serious Lieutenant, besides if we stop for something as minor as this, then we’ll be slaughtered and I can’t get all these men killed just for a shoulder injury, now let’s move.” She responded back with determination in her voice, blocking the incoming fire once more, pushing through the pain she felt in her shoulder when her arm moved her weapon.

Anna was impressed with Xeviiy, not just because she was a Jedi, but the fact that even with her being so young, perhaps too young for such conflict, yet here she was, enduring the hardship of it, fighting to help keep the Republic as well as the rest of the galaxy safe, she just hoped that whenever this war ended, it wouldn’t damage Xeviiy and not just physically.

---

The medics and Iri’s students arrived back at the camp a few minutes later, they took her into a medical tent, beginning to remove her robes and then raised up her shirt that was under them, revealing black and purple bruises leading up to her chest. Vras and the others showed up in the tent a few seconds later, looks of concern their faces, they had never seen their master look helpless like she was now, it unsettled them, mostly because they thought such a thing like this couldn’t be done to her.

“Hey, you four can’t be in here, you have to leave.” One of the medics said after noticing them.

“Were not going anywhere, that’s our master there!” Vras shouted angrily to the man.

“We understand, but in order to concentrate on helping her, we need to be free of distractions.” He responded, understanding that she was someone they cared about but they couldn’t be there.

“Could you at least tell us how she is?” Noka asked, her hands grasping each other against her chest.

The medic let out a sigh, “Well from what we’ve examined, she has heavy internal bleeding and perhaps a few broken ribs.”

“Hey, you have to leave, I mean it.” The medic added when Noka went over to them. She knelt down beside Iri, extending her hands out over her, “I might be able to help her.” She responded, trying to use the force to heal Iri.

“What are you doing?” Vras asked as he, Sanjun and Vrol made their way over to her.

“I’m trying to heal her.”

“You can do that?” Vras asked in genuine surprise.

“I...don’t know, I’ve not had a lot of practice with it.” She responded with concern in her voice.

It was starting to work at first, the noticeable bruising on her stomach was fading, but Noka could feel the amount of damage that had been done to her body and she didn’t know if she had the endurance or even the ability to fully heal her. She had to soon stop, panting as she tried to gain some of her energy, part of the wound she was healing opened up a little, causing Iri to cough up some blood which only concerned her students even more.

“We know you’re trying to help, but if you can’t heal her fully, you need to leave so we can help her.” The man spoke up once more to them, Vras starting to argue with the man again in return.

The medic was about to call for someone to escort the four of them out when a female Twi’lek entered, she had a beige tunic with brown pants and a brown robe, a lightsaber hilt hanged from her belt, her skin was light grean with bluish green eyes and her figure was slim and slightly tall, “Hello, is there a problem in here?” She asked in a soft and gentle voice.

“Miss, you can’t be in here, we’re busy taking care of the injured,” He responded without looking at her, “Same goes for you children, please leave, otherwise I’ll call someone to escort you out.” He added as they prepared to deal with Iri’s internal bleeding.

“We’re not going anywhere and I’ll-” Vras spoke up, interrupting himself as he watched the newly entered Jedi went over to Iri, kneeling down beside her, “Do not worry my friend, you’ll be well soon.”

The medic looked up when he saw another figure appear next to his patient, ready to say something, until he realized it was a Jedi, “Oh, forgive me Master Jedi, I didn’t know it was you.”

She gave a small smile, “It’s alright, if you’ll permit, I would like to heal my friend.”

“Oh, if you can Master Jedi, that’ll really help, we have other injured and we’re low on medics.” He responded, having much more faith in a full fledged Jedi rather than a child.

The Twi’lek then held a hand over Iri, she glanced at Noka, “Young one, would you assist me in healing her?”

Noka looked surprised but quickly nodded her head, taking a spot next to the Jedi and held both her hands over Iri, the two of them then closed their eyes, Iri’s injuries rapidly healing, first her injured organs, then her ribs and then finally the bruising that was on her torso cleared up until her natural blue skin returned to it’s original color.

“Thank you, you were very helpful.” The Twi’lek Jedi spoke once more to Noka, a hint of rose coloring appearing across her face at the compliment, she knew that the Jedi probably could have done it on her own, but Noka was still glad she got to help her master.

A few seconds later, Iri’s eyes opened and she sat up, looking around the tent before her eyes fell onto her students, “Hey trouble makers.” She said hoarsely.

They turned their heads when they heard Iri speak and then hastily hugged her, “Master Asichi, we were so worried about you!” Sanjun exclaimed, Iri giving a small smile as she returned the hug.

“I’m grateful to you all for the help, but that was dangerous.” She added as the hug ended.

“Well we couldn’t watch you die Master, it goes against what you’ve taught us.” Vras spoke up.

“You have some loyal Padawans, although I thought you were only allowed to have one?” The Twi’lek woman spoke up, Iri turning her attention to her and her eyes widened in surprise, “Quala? Is that you?”

The woman gave a small nod in return, “Yeah, been a long time, didn’t think I’d see you on the battlefield, least of all Cathar.” She responded. The woman was Qua’laiask, she and Iri had been padawans together and were practically like sisters, when they had become knights, they had been assigned to different systems and rarely talked as a result.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think anyone really expected a war,” She paused for a moment, noticing her body didn’t hurt and then looked down to see that her injuries had been healed, “say, did you heal me?”

“I had help from that young one there.” She pointed to Noka, “Speaking of which, why are they here on Cathar?”

“Thank you for helping me Noka,” She said with a smile and then addressed Quala, “well they were stowaways on my ship, didn’t notice the little rascals until we were in hyperspace.”

“I see, so how exactly did they help you?” She couldn’t help but ask.

“Believe it or not, these four actually defended me from some Mandalorians.”

“Really?” Quala responded as she raised her brow in genuine surprise.

“Yeah, wouldn’t believe it either had I not seen it for myself.” She gave a small chuckle.

“Yeah, we were pretty great.” Vras boasted as he puffed out his chest.

“Careful young one, pride is a dangerous thing, can easily lead to the dark side.” Quala spoke back with a chuckle, joking for the most part.

The mention of the dark side caused Vras to ask, “Master, when you had been fighting, you used a dark Jedi power, right?”

Iri’s expression turned to one of slight surprise, she hadn’t known they had been there for so long they saw her use a disdainful ability such as that.

“You used that again? But I thought you agreed with your master that you wouldn’t?” Quala interjected, understanding what power Vras was talking about.

There was a brief silence before Iri finally decided to respond, “Yes, it was a dark Jedi power, it’s called force choke,” She paused, turning her attention to Quala to answer her question, “I did say I wouldn’t use it, but the heat of battle pushed me and I did it without thinking.” She lowered her head, closing her eyes.

“But aren’t Jedi forbidden to use the force in such a way?” Sanjun interjected with a question of his own.

“It is and most Jedi don’t...I however had used it when I was younger, I don’t tell many people this, but before I became a member of the Order, I was a slave, was one for as long as I could remember.”

“You were a slave?” Vras asked, completely shocked by this revelation.

“Yes, I was, however one night my master came and saved me and all the other slaves in my master’s palace, he trained me in the ways of the force, but I also had much anger in me and one day on a mission, I had used the force in such a horrible way, ever since then, I’ve tried to avoid using the force like that, I’m sorry you saw me reach such a low point.” She responded, truly displeased with herself that she would do that, knowing how much her students idolized her and didn’t want to ruin their ideal vision of her.

There was another brief moment of silence before Vras gave a smile, “It’s alright Master, we don’t care about that, we’re just glad that you’re alright.”

“Yeah, we can understand it was out of desperation, we don’t view you any differently.” Sanjun added.

Iri lowered her head, a small smile appearing on her face as she closed her eyes, “I really do have the best students.” She responded, beginning to rise to her feet, although a little wobbly.

“Master, you should rest for a bit.” Noka said with concern as she went to assist Iri.

“I’m alright, but there’s still a war going on and I have to get back out there.”

Quala let out a small chuckle, “Same old Iri, always going for duty first, even at the cost of your health.”

“Yeah, well blame the Jedi Order for that, they’re the ones who gave me all these morals.” Iri responded with a smirk.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” Noka spoke up, pulling out Iri’s lightsabers and handing them to her, “I picked up your lightsabers for you.”

Iri gave a smile as she took her weapons back, combining the two hilts into one and then placed it back on her belt, “I haven’t forgotten about those lightsabers you all have, young ones.” Iri said after she finished sorting herself out and then dawned on her robe.

“Oh, we would’ve thought you’d forget about those.” Vras said with a nervous chuckle, rubbing his nape.

“Nope, kind of hard to forget my students defending me and I know your practice sabers aren’t strong enough to hold back vibroblades; I take it you got them from the supplies that I brought with me?” Iri answered back calmly.

“Well...we did, but we are only borrowing them, we wanted to help you, we know it was wrong, but if we didn’t...you may not be here now.” Noka spoke up for the four of them.

“Guess we need to give them back now, huh?” Vras asked, figuring their time of helping was over.

Quala gave a small smirk, “They remind me of you, especially like that time on Tatooine when-”

“You hush right now!” Iri interrupted with a cocked grin, she then turned her attention to her four students, “No, you can still keep them for now, you’ll need them if you’re going to come with me.”

Vras, Sanjun, Noka and Vrol looked completely stunned by Iri’s words, “We’re going with you?” Vras had to ask, just to confirm what she said.

“Well if I don’t take you with me, you’ll just follow me again and at least with this way, I’ll be able to keep a better eye on you four, but you do exactly what I say, this is a war, it can’t be like on Dantooine where you question me, what I say is to keep you all safe and alive, understand?” Iri responded, a more serious tone in her voice.

The four of them gave a nod, Quala moved over to Iri, “You can count me in as well Iri.”

“You’re coming along? Figured you’d have to get back to a different part of the battlefield.” Iri asked with a quirked brow.

“Well having four eyes to watch over the tikes is better than two, yeah?”

“Can’t argue with that, well guess we better head back out there.” Iri said as she started to exit the tent, she knew that it was most likely a bad idea for her students to go with her, but she was right in assuming that they’d just follow her again, plus she had her friend with her as back up to help keep them safe, so that put her mind a bit more at rest.



Antares figured he was nearly at his destination, just another kilometer or two, he’d have been there sooner, but with all the fighting going on, he had to make a few detours, loop back a few times in order to avoid the conflict. He wasn’t opposed to fighting, but with having a decent sized container with him, he needed to prevent it from being damaged, as well as the cargo, otherwise he could kiss his payment goodbye.

“Hey six, how are the repairs coming?” He spoke into his communicator.

There was a small delay before the droid on the other end responded, “What? They damaged the hyperdrive too?” Antares responded in surprise and frustration, then added, “Well how long will it take to repair that?”

The droid responded with a few more beeps and whistles. “A few hours? Just great, I wanted to leave as soon as I delivered this thing, oh well, just try and get it done as fast as possible.” Antares responded with a sigh, putting his communicator away soon after.

“Well well, what do we have here?” A voice suddenly spoke out, a small group of Mandalorians in blue armor appearing out of the bushes.

Great, just what I needed, to run into some of these Mandalorians, He thought to himself as he tried to keep a calm look on his face. “Oh, hey fellas, just...passing through, you know?” Antares finally spoke up with a nervous laugh.

“We can see that, the question is, what you’re doing here and what’s in that box?” The leader of the Mandalorian squad asked.

“Oh, uh, nothing really, just a shipment that someone wanted, nothing truly important, must be going however, was nice meet you all, good luck with your war.” He responded a tad hastily, beginning to push the container but it was stopped by one of the Mandalorians.

“We’ll be more then happy to allow you to leave, all you have to do is leave the box.” The leader responded.

“Well I wish I could oblige, truly do, but my employer wants me to deliver this, burned them a few times already, can’t really have that again.” He gave a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his head.

“It wasn’t a request.” The Mandalorian responded as he and the others pointed their blasters at Antares.

“Well, I tried to be civil.” Antares responded with a sigh, hastily pulling out his blaster pistols and fired six rapid shot, hitting four of the Mandalorians and then sprinted with the container behind some cover as the remaining Mandalorians fired back at him.

He peaked behind cover, there were at least six Mandalorians left, he didn’t know how he was going to deal with them, “Well, how am I going to get out of this fine mess?” He spoke to himself quietly. He suddenly remembered that he had a thermal detonator, it may not kill them, but it would provide enough cover for him to escape.

“Can’t give you guys my delivery, but here’s a consolation prize!” He shouted from behind his cover before tossing it over, it rolling a few feet towards them, “Everyone, look out!” The leader said as the thermal detonator went off, sending them a few feet away, Antares taking this time to run with the container as fast as he could away from the threat, blaster fire being shot in random directions through the dirt cloud the explosion kicked up.

Antares managed to get away unscathed, or so he thought, until the container gave out, the repulsionlifts disabled and the container opened, causing Antares to trip over it. A few seconds later a yellow Twi’lek appeared out of the container, she looked at her surroundings, noticing Antares, she speedily bolted through the nearest brush, far too afraid to find out if he’d help her or not.

“Of course it’s a slave, I don’t know why I thought they’d deal in something less despicable, I can’t let her get away though, the Exchange will have my head if I mess up this delivery.” He spoke to himself as he began to chase after the Twi’lek.



Whilst Iri, Quala and Iri’s students walked through the jungle, Vras gushed about the fight that happened between them to Quala, telling her how impressively Iri had defended against six enemies and then how he, Noka, Sanjun and Vrol jumped in to save her when the Mandalorians were getting ready to finish her off.

“Well, that’s quite the impressive story, I must say that Iri trained you all very well then if you survived an encounter with Mandalorians.” She responded to Vras with a smile, finding his excitement to be amusing.

“Yeah, Master Asichi is the best teacher ever!” Vras said with a wide smile.

“The best teacher ever would have students who listen to her rather than sneaking onto her ship and joining her in a war.” Iri interjected, a small smirk on her face as she said that.

“Oh come now Iri, they’re just admiring you.” Quala teased.

“Don’t encourage them.” She chuckled back before she turned her attention to some rustling bushes, drawing her lightsaber and then activating it, preparing for whatever was about to come through them. Suddenly the Twi’lek appeared in front of them, still looking back as she ran, skidding to a halt onto the ground when she looked ahead and saw Iri with her weapon drawn, she quickly began scooting back until she bumped into a tree, still afraid of where she was.

Iri instantly deactivated her weapon, placing it back on her belt as she slowly approached the scared woman, “Hey, it’s alright, relax, I’m a Jedi, you’re safe.” She said as she continued to approach.

The Twi’lek started to speak rapidly, trying to get up and run away once more, but Iri kept her down, “Hey, just slow down and tell me what you mean, who’s after you?” Iri spoke to the Twi’lek once more.

“What?” Iri asked when the Twi’lek woman repeated herself a little more slowly this time, motioning to the collar around her neck; Iri lowered her head, hiding the look of anger on her face.

“What did she say, master?” Noka asked, noticing the change in her master.

“Just keep her safe.” Iri simply responded, helping her over to Quala and her students whilst she prepared for the woman’s pursuer.

Antares eventually caught up to the woman, resting his hands on his knees, hunched over as he tried to catch his breath, “Finally...you stopped running.” He panted before looking up, noticing Iri as well as another Twi’lek and four children.

“Oh, uh...hi, my friend there got startled by the fighting that's been going on, I was trying to calm her down, but I didn’t do a very good job.” He lied with a facade laugh.

“Is that so?” Iri spoke up, still hiding her face a bit under her hair, “Funny because she says that you captured her.” She added, drawing her lightsaber and then activated it, two amethyst blades coming out of the hilt.

Oh shit, a Jedi? That’s just perfect, first the Mandalorians and now her, He thought to himself. “Oh well it’s probably just the shock from the fighting that’s been going on around the planet.” He lied once more, trying to keep the situation from escalating.

“I don’t think so,” Iri responded before lifting her head up, her angry glare piercing like a dagger, “If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s slavers.” She added, beginning to charge at him.

“W-Well now wait a minute, we can discuss this civilly.” He responded shakily as he drew his blaster, backing up hastily.

“Civility is for people who aren’t scum, unlike you, slaver!” She shouted as she started to swing at him with her blades.

He narrowly avoided her first volley of attacks, then shot at her in return which she was easily deflecting. He tried to further his distance between the two of them but she still kept coming, his Echani training helped, but this was a Jedi and even his training wouldn’t hold up forever against a lightsaber.

“I’m not...a slaver.” He struggled to say whilst focusing on the fight, rapid firing his blaster which she continued to deflect, one of his bolts deflected back to it, knocking it out of his hand.

“Yeah right, that’s why you were holding this Twi’lek in a box, right?” She growled back, continuing to slash at the now weaponless smuggler.

Antares eventually managed to find an opening in her form, blocking her attack with his forearm, grabbing her wrist and then twisting it, forcing her to drop her weapon, then engaged her in hand to hand combat, gaining a momentary advantage over the Pantoran Jedi when he pressed her against a nearby tree, her arm twisted behind her back.

“Look, I’m not a slaver, I was just...hired for a job.”

“Lying won’t save your pitiful life.” Iri responded with a venomous tone, pushing against the tree with her feet until she got enough leverage to flip behind him, press him against the same tree with the force and then drew her saber to her.

She ignited the double bladed weapon, raising it up, “Now you die.” She said, her dagger like glare still on her face and then her blade came swinging down; Antares closed his eyes, preparing for his death.

Her attack suddenly came to a halt as a hand grabbed her wrist, “That’s enough, Iri!” Quala shouted to her, keeping her from completing her attack.

“He has to die Quala, he’s a slaver!” She growled to her, glancing back at her friend and then to Antares once more.

“I know how you feel Iri, but he’s beaten and defenseless, any further would be unjust, it wouldn’t be the Jedi way.” Quala responded more calmly, resting her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“But...” She gritted her teeth, her hand shaking as she struggled between killing him or not.

“Think about your students as well, you want them to follow your example right? Well is this how you want them to act?”

Iri glanced back at her students who looked scared and saddened at the same time, “Please don’t do it Master Asichi.” Noka said, understanding her teacher’s anger but still didn’t enjoy seeing her like that.

Iri closed her eyes, letting go of her anger as she deactivated her weapon and then released Antares from the grasp of the force.

“I’m sorry.” She said to Quala and her students, ashamed at how she let her anger take over so easily, especially in front of the ones she was supposed to teach.

Vras, Noka, Sanjun and Vrol went running up to Iri, embracing her in a hug, “It’s okay master, we just hope you don’t feel that way again.” Vras responded, seeing how much of a problem she had with slavers.

Antares was glad the fighting was finally over, he still couldn’t believe he managed to survive against a Jedi, looks like lady luck was still on his side. “Yeah, we’re all sorry, now can I explain myself without having my head cut off?”

“Very well, explain why you’re here and why you were transporting a slave.” Quala answered back in a stern tone.

He let out a sigh of relief, “I was hired to transport her to Cathar, only I didn’t know she was in there, I thought it was just an exotic animal or something like that, I was told to deliver the container to it’s destination and that’s it.”

“And you didn’t bother to check what was inside said container?” Quala asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“They said to not look inside so I didn’t, I’m just trying to make a living, had I known that she was in there though, I never would’ve taken this job.” Antares responded sincerely, not wanting to lie again and potentially start another conflict with the Jedi.

“Well we’ll need to sort this out, so you’re coming with us.” Quala said as she got him up, placing his hands behind him and then placed binders on his wrists, Iri went over to the Twi’lek slave, activating her weapon and then used the tip to cut off her collar, “Don’t worry, you’re safe and we’ll get you home when we arrive at the next camp.” Iri said to her with a small smile, the Twi’lek giving her thanks in her native language along with a hug before all of them continued onward.

Just above the planet of Cathar, where blood was spilled and lives were cut down, a small ship zoomed out of hyperspace and cruised toward the planet. Inside, Sola was watching the recording of the now famous (or infamous to some) Aria Blair, taking charge after the masters refused to help the republic and the inhabitants of cathar. The young Jedi Knight frowned as she insulted a master and went into a speech. Idiot, thought the Zabrak, turning off the PDA and tossing it to the side. "We'll be entering Cathar shortly, you ready love?" spoke a sultry voice from the cockpit. Sola couldn't help but smile at the voice, the woman who flew their ship was Jem Drowe, a gorgeous green twi'lek and former lover of Sola. They met on Coruscant while Jem was still in training and shared a very lovely night together. Sola's master found out the next morning and quickly ended it, but Sola couldn't help but feel extremely affectionate towards the young woman.

"Always." replied Sola, getting to her feet and securing her lightsaber, which lay in a holster horizontally across the small of her back. She picked up her cloak and shrugged it on, effectively hiding everything but her face. "Thanks again for flying me in, J."

"Oh anytime darling, I was worried that ol' Molindi wouldn't be happy with me flying you, but I'm glad she came around." said Jem, glancing at Sola as the 19 year old joined her at the cockpit. Sola plopped down into the co-pilot's seat, leaning back and crossing her arms. "Moli can be strict sometimes, even though she is pretty liberal for a Jedi. But she knows the importance of the mission the council gave me and she realizes you're one of the best pilots around," Jem look scandalized. "One of the best? I am the best! And aren't you a little informal talking about your mentor? I know the Jedi are all about respectfulness, but then again, you always had a taste for...older women." Sola looked at her and was half-irritated, half-amused to see that the young Twi'lek was wearing a roguish grin.

"Pfft, older women? You're only two years older than me, J!"

Jem laughed, a beautiful sound like a song. But it was cut short by the ship suddenly jolting and space was slowly transforming to sky. "We're entering the atmosphere, buckle up beautiful!" shouted Jem as the roar of the ship grew louder. The vessel was slicing through the sky with precision towards the planet and as soon as it started the rattling and rocking of the ship stopped and it was smooth flying. Sola leaned forward and saw the mixed Savannah and jungle landscape of Cathar and as they drew nearer, the sounds of battle became greater. She saw hundreds of dots moving, many firing red beams, some wielding multi-colored sticks of light. "This is it, I didn't expect us to find the battle so soon." said Sola, getting to her feet. An explosion rocked the ship and the co-pilot window of the ship cracked, the glass fracturing like a thousand little rivers. Sola stumbled backwards as Jem swore and pushed down on the controls, sending the ship into a dive towards the firefight below. The Jedi Guardian gripped onto the back of the co-pilot seat as the ground rocketed towards them, then Jem yanked on the controls and they were flat, skimming just above the battle. The back door opened and wind buffeted the two women.

"See you soon, J!" shouted Sola with a smile and she sprinted towards the door and jumped out, plummeting into the battle below.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Aria Blair has led many Jedi to Cathar to fight with the republic, you are aware this, I'm sure?"

"Yes, Masters."

"She is a foolish girl, unable to control her emotions, but charismatic, playing upon many of the order's frustrations with council decisions. She will no doubt get many Jedi killed if there are not some in place to keep her in line. We are confident that some of the Jedi that went with her will serve such a purpose, but not many can handle her."

"And you believe I can?"

"We know you can, you are well known throughout the order and your personality will keep her in check, as well as her supporters. We want as few dead Jedi from this as possible, Guardian Jansen."

"I understand, Masters. I won't let you down."

"Good, now go, and may the force be with you..."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was louder than Sola could have imagined, blasters screeched, soldiers and mandalorians screamed their battle cries, the sobs of the wounded and the silence of the fallen. A few stray blasters flew her way and she whipped out her lightsaber, the purple blades igniting with a metallic roar and deflecting them into the sky. Her cloak billowed in the wind as she searched the battle and she saw her.

Aria Blair. The padawan was directing Jedi and Soldier alike in the siege of a mandalorian installment. The battle raged around the girl, but she was remaining cool and collected as she issued orders. A natural commander. The thought that had sprung into Sola's mind was cut off by a pair of yelling mandalorians charging with vibroblades. Sola turned on her heel and dug her back left foot into the dirt as she reeled back her arm and pushed forward towards her attackers. The force flowed through her like an electrical current and she was the strongest conduit around. The mandalorians were blasted off their feet and sent tumbling into a withered yet surprisingly sturdy tree where they crumpled into a heap together. The zabrak turned back toward Aria, who was still issuing orders and deflecting the occasional blaster bolt. But what she failed to notice was the small team of mandalorians flanking them, preparing an ambush. Amidst all the choas, fear, anger, and hatred, it was hard for anyone to know what was going on, especially the force sensitive Jedi who felt these emotions much stronger than the average being.

Sola channeled the force and dug her heels into the earth, she felt the force stimulate her thighs, legs, her lungs as she tore off in the direction of the young leader. She had recalled her lightsaber as she flew through the battle, jumping over bodies and barreling into mandalorians. The squad was almost upon Aria Blair, Sola had to act now! The Jedi leaped through the air, flipping over Aria and her companions and landed between her and the squad, who had readied their blasters. Purple became a whirlwind as Sola pushed forward against the fusillade of blaster bolts, several of the reflected bolts slamming into one of the attackers, sending them crashing to the ground. The last two mandalorians closed in, abandoning their blasters and drawing their vibrobaldes.

It was as if Sola had been fighting wars her whole life. She was a byproduct of her years of training, her saber blades clashing with the mandalorian virboblades. It was two-on-one and the two were losing, Sola slammed at them with controlled, disciplined, righteous ferocity. She could sense the fear growing in the warriors and that fear turned to pain as she feigned an attack at one's face, instead twirling low and slicing off two legs of two different warriors. The smell of burning flesh was rancid. One right and one left, she utilized this chance and pushed outward with the force, sending the enemy combatants sprawling, both missing a leg. Neither of them got up and whether they were dead or not, Sola had no time to check. The fight was only getting thicker and heavier. She ripped off her cloak, which was now tattered with singes and cuts and tossed it aside. She rushed to Aria, sending a blaster bolt back to its owner on her way there.

"Sola Jansen. Looks like you need some help, we take that installation and these mandalorians will retreat and regroup. But if we're doing this, we gotta do it now, otherwise we'll join the casualty list."

@Dark Wind

Well, this was unpleasant. Reality and the imagination of war proved to be immensely divisive in their two planes of existence. As the ambush of neo-crusaders swept upon Aria’s path and her unsuspecting troops, reality proved to be far less forgiving than the imagination. Battle cries of her enemies stirred Aria into sudden action, spinning around with her saber tilted into a defensive position. She was prepared for the worst, whether it was blades or a bombardment that could be result in her monotonous demise.

Clouds of dust splashed into the air, blinding her. Aria squinted through the haze of dirt and the swarms of bodies clashing across the ruined strip of beachfront. Gravel already had stained her robes, and fresh blood streaked over her cheek. She was ready to lunge into the oncoming attack until a Jedi whom she did not recognize skillfully dispatched the Mandalorian warriors. Keeping her blade held in front of her, Aria warily scanned the chaos for any new sudden threats.

There were none, and the ambush was promptly scattered by the Zabrak woman. Sola Jansen moved with an otherworldly grace with her saber in hand, and Aria seemed fixated upon each cut and slice of her blade. It seemed an odd thing to be rather enamored by a war companion’s skill with the sword, but Aria was drawn to watching. If only for a few moments before she re-directed her saber to deflect a tiresome barrage of repeated blaster fire.

Aria enhanced her senses with the force, a wash of calm blanketed her. She glanced over to Sola, and her intense violet gaze flickered over to the defensive installation. For the first time during the fight, Aria had the audacity to laugh.

“Forget the body bags, I’m not all that keen on being sent home smelling like roasted meat.” Her fingers tightened around the hilt of her saber. Its violet glow burned away at the air, like it had a soul of its own. Fight, it said. Kill the enemy. There was a new rush of energy to the girl. “On my count and we’ll finish this fight.” She raised her other hand. Three. Two. One.

In a flash, Aria took off waving forward the soldiers sweeping right around to attack the central force of the battlement. A blaster bolt ripped hard against her shoulder and sent the young Jedi to her knees. Well, there goes not smelling like roasted meat. She leapt up from her feet and charged again, unflinching from the wound. Neo-crusaders tried to meet her, but a quick force push sent one flying and then Aria jumped towards the other spinning her blade in a fan-motion. Her attacker met a swift, brutal demise.

Hesitation faded. The crimson-clad rally master lifted a tremendous vibroblade and seemed much larger than his underlings. Aria pondered the Jedi code and the ideas of passion or chaos. Fear, thrill, anger, the burning sensation brought forth from flooding emotions betrayed the code. Once, she may have taken a step back. But now, there was no choice but to cross that line.

Aria dove head first into the battlement. It would be her and Sola against one of the more skilled fighters in the Mandalorian army.

----

Leon and Alek’s charge was a bloodbath. Republic soldiers fell like flies, but if they didn’t move forward all progress would have been lost. Alek and his frontal unit provided a heavy shield covering, but with Alek in the lead they were also an impressive battering ram. Hosts of Mandalorians smashed into the ground by violent blaster hits. With a sweeping blow, his saber cleaved a blade in two, and subsequently a Mandalorian helmet with head inside rolling through the sand.

“Now’s the time, Major! Move, move, move!” Alek’s vibrancy and natural war command quickened the feet of the soldiers behind them. “They killed innocent people, burned down homes, and they’ll kill us too if we don’t MOVE!” A roaring charge lifted and his heavy armed unit reached the battlement. Blaster fire could no longer be solely directed on the charging armies. Swords were drawn.

“Space these Mandalorian fuckers!” To that, a violent upsurge of enthusiastic Republican soldiers yelled out in answer. Alek proved to be exactly what Aria needed within her commands. Leon as well with his skill in the force and strength. The two of them combined were a seriously useful blunt weapon to break through bulky enemy lines.

With the men in front of him, Alek sat behind waiting for his moment. He witnessed Leon’s impressive use of the force just moments ago.

“Not a bad kill, Major. Remind me when this is over to spar with you.” Alek grinned. Some men were cowards, others went through battle with a grim seriousness. The towering Jedi guardian was not one of them.

--

The rally master was prepared for Aria. Already a heavy swing smashed against her violet blade. His strength knocked her onto her heels, but luckily she was able to keep her saber up in time to avoid being cut in two. Despite his raw strength, the Mandalorian beast proved to have eyes as well and suddenly jumped back when he saw the Zabrak as well.

“Finally.” His voice muffled underneath his mask and the cries around them. “I’ve been waiting for someone worthy to fight me.” In that moment, the warrior reached down and pulled out an equally large vibroblade for his other hand. He was at least a head taller than both of them, carrying a great deal of power and speed behind him.

Idly, behind her façade of calm Aria began to wonder. If this was who the Mandalorian’s kept on the front lines, then how powerful were the men commanding them?

Xeviiy continued to help the troops with her advance, she saw Aria up ahead and she wanted to rush up along side her and help her, but she knew if she did that then the soldiers she was leading would be cut down, well more of them would be cut down anyways. She soon saw another Jedi leap over to Aria, Who’s she? Xeviiy pondered in her head as she saw the Zabrak display her combat prowess, both with the force as well as her lightsaber.

Xeviiy returned her attention to the fight that was on her front, slashing at Mandalorians, cutting their chest or their limbs off, not killing them, her usual restraint returning, she didn’t like having to fight, but at the same time, that hunger in the back of mind was enjoying, something that she was beginning to fear a bit, even if it was just the rush of battle, she knew that not a single part of her was supposed to been enjoying this conflict, but it was.

“Xeviiy, look out!” Anna shouted to the young padawan as a grenade from one of the Mandalorians landed near her, she leapt back best she could, but the blast still managed to partially hit her, sending her back and tumbling into the ground.

She laid motionless for a few seconds, slowly becoming conscious, everything around her was deafened and her ears were ringing, plus her vision was out of focus; her hearing slowly began to come back to her after a few seconds, the sounds around her muffled as she tried to process what was going on. She winced at a pain on the side of her head, gently touching it, she felt a warm, slippery liquid coming from there, right away she could tell it was her blood..

“-vi…-viiy!” A muffled voiced called out.

Huh? Who is that?

“-viiy...Xeviiy! You have to get up!” The voice called out again, it being clearer this time as her hearing came back to her.

Anna?

Xeviiy glanced over to where she heard her voice, Anna was attempting to go over to her, but nearby blaster fire was keeping her pined down. “That’s right, I got hit by a grenade...I need to get...back into the fight.” She quietly spoke to herself as she got to her hands and knees, her head injury was still making her feel dazed.

Just as she was about to push off of the ground, a sudden kick knocked her a few inches away and onto her side, she let out a sharp yell as she gripped at her side. She weakly glanced up at who kicked her, one of the Mandalorians had broken off from the group the was being attacked, no doubt trying to earn some honor points.

“Guess it’s my lucky day, here I was thinking I wouldn’t get to kill a Jedi and I get one all to myself,” the man chuckled under his helmet, “don’t worry though, I’ll give you a sporting chance.” He added, Xeviiy feeling the grin just beneath the helmet.

She panted as she turned onto her front, once more getting to her hands and knees, then another kick came to her side once more, a loud cracking noise being heard as the impact broke one of her ribs; she coughed up some blood, just barely holding back her screams, she wouldn’t give this monster the pleasure of hearing her cries of pain.

“Oh you almost had it, come on, try again.” The Mandalorian taunted her, enjoying himself as he watched Xeviiy squirm.

She panted heavily as she pushed herself up until she was resting on her legs, she felt like hell and this was just one battle, what would others be like? She didn’t know if she had the will or endurance to continue on in the war, perhaps going to Cathar was a mistake.

“So, you going to get up small fry?” The Mandalorian asked as he approached her, Xeviiy not saying anything as she kept her head down.

Guess this is it...my end.

‘No, this scourge must die, not you,’ her inner hunger for conflict spoke to her.

“But...I’m beaten, I can barely move my body,” she spoke aloud, something that made the man before her raise his brow.

‘You have all the strength you need.’

“No, I don’t, I’m weak, I can’t do this like the others can.”

“You playing a game to try and get out of this or did you finally crack? I wanted a fight with a Jedi, but I guess I’ll have to find another, oh well, at least I’ll have a Jedi kill under my belt, say your prayers while you can.” He said to her as he approached, his vibroblade drawn, ready to strike her down.

‘You are strong, remember when you got here, how killing one of them felt, it was exhilarating, use that feeling’ That primal hunger spoke to her, trying to convince her as the armored warrior approached, placing his blade on Xeviiy’s shoulder.

‘What about what you said to Leon? You said you wouldn’t be a burden or a hindrance,' It spoke a little more desperately, causing Xeviiy to perk her head up.

“That’s right, I said I wouldn’t...” She trailed off, thinking about what she promised to Leon and then started to shake as she opened herself up to that desire for conflict and killing.

“Well would you look at that, guess Jedi do died scared after all, no need to shiver, your death will be quick,” the warrior chuckled, raising his blade above his head and then sent it crashing down towards Xeviiy.

Her lightsaber that was a few feet away went flying to her hand, igniting as it just managed to block the man’s attack, “Who said I was afraid? I’m shivering because,” she lifted her head up, a wide grin on her face, “I’m excited!” She hit him with a blast from the force, pushing him away to allow her to get to her feet and charge him.

“Guess I’ll get to fight a Jedi after all, bring it you runt!” He shouted back as Xeviiy charged him, the pain in her body dulled as a result of the adrenaline rushing through her body.

Xeviiy wasted no time in getting in close, the Mandalorian already swinging his blade down at her, but missed when she stopped in front of him and then darted to the side, the went in quickly for multiple slashes and then darting away again. He was blocking her attacks currently, but it wasn’t her intention to hit him, not yet anyways, with her rapid movements, she knew it would keep him guessing as to where she would be and he would eventually slip up.

“Stand...still...you brat!” He shouted to Xeviiy who kept up her strategy, it clearly flustering the man as he either tried to defend against rapid slashes or attack her in return only for her to stop short and then leap out of the way.

“What’s wrong? You wanted to fight a Jedi and now you seem to not be having any fun,” she taunted back which only infuriated him more.

His rage getting the better of him made him slash at her more wildly, just what she had wanted him to do, it was even easier to avoid his attacks. She saw her opening when he went to slash behind himself, slashing at his extended up, it slid through the metal and flesh as though it were butter, severing his arm off completely, not giving the man a moment to react as she spun low to the ground, cutting the man’s legs off from under him, toppling him to the ground.

The warrior let out a loud scream as he gripped at the ground, gritting his teeth as the young Miraluka approached him, “Y-You b-bitch, I’ll ki-kill you for that!”

Xeviiy extinguished her blade, satisfied with her work, there’s no way he’d be a threat anymore, now she could get back to Anna and the others.

‘No, not finished, not satisfied,’ that inner hunger spoke to her as she tried to rejoin the fight.

“He’s beaten, no need to kill him,” she responded aloud to the voice.

‘You aren’t satisfied, look at your hand.’

Xeviiy looked down at her hand holding her saber hilt, it was still shaking like crazy, that hunger she delve into wanting more, “What? But I beat him, I don’t need to kill him,” she responded, trying to hold her hand steady to no avail.

‘Only death can sate us, besides, he’s not worthy of life and if you let him live, he could cause more harm.’

She seemed to focus more on that, soon remembering her training weeks earlier and how she was told that she would have to kill to keep others safe, the man just a few feet away wasn’t a threat currently, but what if he were to survive? He could kill innocents after the war was over and it would be her fault for not killing him then and there.

She slowly made her way over to the downed Mandalorian, looking at him with a wicked grin on her face, “What d-do you...want, bitch?” He grunted through his pain as he stared up at her.

“You’re right...he can’t be allowed to live.” She then ignited her lightsaber, pointing it down towards the man’s chest, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure this is nice and painful,” she chuckled as she slowly pushed the blade down, into his body, the metal plating beginning to glow orange as her weapon bore a hole through it, easily piercing through it and then began burning his flesh once it bore through that as well, Xeviiy being sure she didn’t go too fast, he would suffer before he died. The man continued to scream and grunt in agony until finally the blade pierced his heart, instantly silencing him, forever.

Xeviiy removed her blade from the fresh corpse, extinguishing it and then returning it to her belt. She didn’t move for a moment, rather she took in the death this time, looking down at her hands they weren’t shaking like before, but they were still twitching, she didn’t know why, but she was enjoying this feeling, enjoying how she tortured the man and then snuffed out the small flame that was his life. She wanted to be disgusted with herself, hate herself for what she did, but she didn’t, instead she craved more torture, more death, she wanted to make the Mandalorians feel what they made other systems felt when they assaulted them.

“I...can have more of this feeling?”

‘Yes, more of them are up ahead and no one will think it wrong of you for killing them.’

A thin smile came across Xeviiy’s lips, “And no one would know I’m enjoying myself as I slaughter these beasts, right?”

‘Precisely.’

“Then what am I waiting for.” Her smile turned into a grin as she made her way back to where the rest of the conflict was taking place. She halted and dropped to a knee however when the pain in her ribs returned, the adrenaline had died down enough for the pain to come rushing back.

She went behind some broken metal from ships that had been shot out of the sky. She couldn’t be out in the open when she healed herself, she’d be too easy a target; she began mending her ribs with the force, it was going to take a bit of time however, between her fatigue and the fact she took longer with larger injuries, she didn’t know when she’d be able to get back into the fight or if she’d have enough energy left to participate in it further.


Leon gave a slight nod to Alek when he commented about the man he just killed, war wasn’t the place to gloat about kills, not that he would ever do that, sure when he was younger he might have, but now, there was nothing glorious about the bloodshed that was happening between the two sides, it was just senseless, but the Republic had a duty, to protect it’s citizens and end this war as quickly as possible.

He caught a glimpse of Xeviiy and couldn’t help but want to go and assist her with the man that had been assaulting her, but he couldn’t leave Alek nor the other troops, they were being mowed down with this reckless assault and that was with a Jedi, two if you were being generous and included Leon in that. If he left, he was sure Alek would have an almost impossible time pushing through and there would probably be little to none of their troops left, no, for now he had to focus on his objective and hope that Xeviiy survived.

It seemed like their numbers were endless, but they were soon going to break through the wall of enemies and hit the turret post that Aria had mentioned before. Again a glance back and he saw Xeviiy, she had just killed the Mandalorian and was staring at her hands, “I know it’s hard kid, but this is war, you have to persevere through it.” He said quietly to himself, not knowing that she was excited with what she had done, rather than troubled by it.