"Fi, no!" Fi paid no attention to the shouts of his ner vods. They were in trouble, and right now, he was the only one who could save them. "It's better if only one has to die, Sarge. The generals would throw a fit if it were otherwise."

Fi had to fight not to panic. People often thought of commandos as biological robots—the clones themselves were taught to behave as mechanically as they—but anyone who really knew a clone would know otherwise. They were men, flesh and blood. They felt everything that a 'normal' person would, from fear, to intense cravings for something other than tasteless protein cubes. Right now, it was fear that Fi was feeling—intense fear.

His brothers, his ner vods, were pinned down, and unable to return adequate fire to the opposing force. He, Fi, was the only one who could feasibly save them.

"Fi, don't make me order you to stay-"Fi cut the long-range audio, since it was only another distraction.

They had just successfully completed their mission and were heading to the extraction point when disaster struck: An ambush of twenty battle droids, with a splattering of super battle droids thrown in.

In the chaos that ensued, Fi had gotten separated from his brothers. And since the droids' attention was on his other mates, he was safe for the moment.

He blamed himself for this happening. He was supposed to have been keeping a sharp watch at point, and he thought that he had: But then it happened… Fi brushed away the dangerously distracting thoughts, and tried to fall into his 'soldier mode'. This mission would most likely be his last. But he would make it count. He switched his long-range audio back on.

"Hey, Niner? You guys better duck: I'm about to throw a little party for these tinnies." Fi heard Niner curse eloquently.

"Fi, if you do anything stupid, so help me, I'll kill you."
"That won't be too hard, considering I'll already be dead," Fi retorted with forced cheerfulness. He would miss his brothers. No doubt about it. He wondered what it would feel like when he was actually dead…

"Hey, Fi?" Fi perked up when he heard the different voice on his comm.

"If your mind's made up, try not to do any unnecessary, stupid things. I know it'll be hard, considering you are an absolute di'kut when it comes to heroics, but-" Fi heard Atin swallow hard, "just get out of there alive, you hear me?"

Fi blinked hard, trying to will away the unexpected watering of his eyes. "I hear you, Atin, loud and clear. Darman? You there too? I want to tell you all that if we don't get out of this in one piece, I sure had the time of my life with you, ner vods. Fi, out."

Fi took his trusty DC-17 rifle and hurriedly snapped it into the grenade launcher setting. "Alright. Firing on One. Three, Two, One.."

Blam.

Fi saw five tinnies fall.

Blam. Blam. Blam.

The droids had definitely been alerted to his presence now. Fi ducked as the Super Battle Droids aimed at the incoming fire and began saturating his hideout with blaster fire.

Okay, and had pinpointed his position. Fi doubted that even his advanced Katarn armor could protect him from a Super battle droid's sustained fire for long. The droids had almost reached his position.

Time for evasive action.

Jumping to his feet, Fi started sprinting for a small ditch he had seen when he had reconnoitered. Wham. Fi's visor blacked out, trying to compensate for the overwhelmingly bright light that followed the explosion. But Fi didn't notice any of this—he was out cold.

"Hey Fi, you okay, Buddy?" Fi opened his eyes groggily, acutely aware of the pounding in his head. "Fi?"

"Yes. I can hear you. Go away," Fi heard a snicker. "You can't get rid of me that easily. When I got that round in my chest back on Qiilura, you doctored me up, and now I get to return the favor," Fi heard the evil anticipation in Atin's voice. "Hey. Sarge. Couldn't you get Darman to do it instead of Atin? Darman's gentler."

"Ah, come on Fi. All you got is a couple of cracked ribs. That Katarn armor of yours kept the rest out. Remind me to thank Procurement for the upgrade, will you?"

"Sarge?" Fi implored.

Niner turned around and looked at Fi. "No, Atin's going to do it—that's punishment for giving us all a bad scare."

Fi sighed in resignation.

"Well, we did it, Brothers."

Fi craned his head to look at Darman. "Did what?"

Darman looked up from his DC-17. "Got out alive, no casualities. A complete ace—except for your little fiasco, of course."

Fi eased off his helmet and grinned at him. Nothing could dampen his spirits right now. They were all alive. And their mission was a success. "Hey Sarge, when we get back to base, maybe you could convince General Zey to give me medal for 'unparalleled bravery in the face of overwhelming odds'…"

Whack.

It was good to be alive.