Lights flickered around them. Alarms sounded off on every floor spurring retreat for all players of the battle. Only two souls remained alive on the bridge of that doomed structure floating catatonically above a god-forsaken planet. They had tried to get out, tried to escape. However the fortress they sought to destroy had fought back.
Waves of attack droids ran thick in the corridors as that place of evil pitched violently, groaning with each damaging hit to its construct. Fire after fire, the ships that swarmed like flies over rotten flesh picked at what few defenses remained in the enemy shields, only to be bombarded by a new squadron of fighters defending the infected sectors as fast as they could destroy them. The Forge would not go down easily. Somehow though, one lone pilot managed to break close enough and strike a lucky shot below the bridge allowing for critical effects to spread throughout the system.
The nearby explosion fractured the support beneath the platform on which they stood. It jolted violently, forcing one over, tumbling towards an abyss from which survival was a useless hope. But the other did not forsake. Sending himself after her he slid to the edge of the failing platform, catching her hand in his just shy of her precious life being out of reach. His free hand grabbed a nearby railing saving them both from the fall. Even as she dangled precariously over the great emptiness the Forge still had one last cruel trick to play before it breathed its last and finally shut down, leaving them in the dark. Their lifeline, their weak but fleetingly stable ground cracked and groaned, giving in under their weight and sagging dangerously. Drawing on the Force, she realized it would not hold them long. Unless it only had to hold one.
"Carth, please, let me go! It can't hold us both." The platform sank further beneath him, nearly loosening Carth's iron grip on her hand. Shaking his head he tightened his lock on her. Through grit teeth he managed to speak.
"I'm not losing you." Her heart swelled at his loyalty, but immediately sank as the sound of bending metal reached her ears and the platform sagged again. Carth held them by a railing that had yet to come loose. She could feel his arm muscles flex trying to pull her back up to him. Without warning the rail snapped away from its top hold, now only half a saving grace. He had slipped closer to hanging dangerously over the edge. His face gleamed with sweat and she could see his hand on the rail begin to tremble. Reaching out with the Force she felt his weakened muscles about to give out. Any moment now and he would slip and they both would be lost. He would be lost. Looking up at him, tears stinging her eyes, they locked their eyes together. He could see the plan forming in her mind. Anger played across his already strained features. With a dampness in his own eyes he forced the words to come clear.
"Don't you even dare." But his voice faltered to a whisper before he could finish, cracking at the end. Her heart nearly broke knowing what she had to do would tear him apart. But she knew he would survive; she could not let herself be swayed.
"I'm sorry." Using the Force she began pushing his hand off of hers only to feel him tighten his grip, fighting her. The anguish in his eyes spilled down his cheeks and into his voice, choking his one worded plea.
"Don't" Tears streaked unrelenting down his face. She felt cruel for doing this to him, but as his hand slipped closer to losing the rail she set her mind, willing her heart to continue. You have to live. She choked her final words through a sob, still pushing away his fingers. He shook his head slowly, never taking his eyes off her, mouthing a silent 'please.'
"I love you." With one motion of the Force she opened his hand from hers and shoved him back onto safer ground. She could hear him scream for her as she fell into the abyss. She saw him rush back nearly falling as he reached to grab her, only to be pulled back by the unmistakable Mandalorian arm belonging to Canderous. The thought crossed her mind that if she had held on a second longer… But no, she knew his strength was failing and peace settled in her mind about her choice. As she fell quicker and quicker into the darkness of that collapsing fortress she thought it was ironic that she die this way. Where once she would have died to protect it, now she died to destroy it. Perhaps, now, all the wrongs she committed were reconciled. The battle had been won. Malak was dead, as soon would she; the causes of this foul war. And with the destruction of the Star Forge it would soon fade into memory and all would be set right.
At least for a few hundred years. Jolee's voice echoed in her mind as Carth's screams finally faded into the blackness surrounding her. His voice, his beautiful voice filled her mind until nothing else existed around her but his memory. The way those few stubborn strands refused to stay put when he brushed them from his forehead, how when he got irritated with her he drummed his fingers into his palm to calm himself down, and that Republic issued jacket he'd never get rid of. His smile when he looked at her. His heart beating in pace with hers even when they were miles away. When he said 'I love you' and she could feel his love through the Force crash against her like gentle waves. He was all around her, standing in front of her with an outstretched hand. There was so much peace in her heart that she seemed to float to him as she extended her hand to take his. His lips moved to welcome her to him, to say 'you're safe' and hold her with those strong arms that she knew she would never have to fear. She was inches away from him now. Their palms brushed across one another, fingertips dancing to a soft, unheard rhythm when…
Suddenly, pain shot through her entire body as the fall ended abruptly. For the short second it lasted she was afraid of it, but peace closed back around her spirit as she held onto the memory of the man she had, indeed, died to save.
Darkness.
And then nothing.
Nothing but quiet.