Not a lot of readership and reviews as I was hoping for. To be fair, this probably my fault for making a gap between stories, but I'll accept whatever comes my way. Knowing that people are reading this from around the world should be enough to inspire. With that said, here's your next chapter.

Bookreaderninja: Thanks for reviewing and your support

Panda: Hey there, guest... You forgot your commas in your grammar. I first would like thank you Bookreaderninja and Johnt12345 for reviewing. After all it was a I suppose great pleasure to read your opinions yeah yeah yeah. Also um you um make me happy to know um um um that someone like you is er out there reading my stories. Keep it I say up.

Johnt12345: Thanks, but do you think the story or the length of the story is pretentious?

Count Mallet: Sorry if the opening was too dark, but it was to set straight that Durge was an ordinary being who was easily corrupted by the idea of destruction. I found it scary because many people like seeing fire or like to burn things, so, yeah... Just to add a real-life element to a seemingly irrelatable setting.


Lux's POV

The war was coming. I held my breath as wind whipped through my hair like I was standing in front of a giant propeller, but still it was calm at the same time. I didn't have to squint as much as I thought I should. I just hung out with my head held high, to try to see over my Ruping's more gargantuous head.

The place I stayed at was like a mild version of Haruun Kal, whose vicious beasts in a viscous jungle was enough to shudder any alien on that planet. But I wasn't any alien. I was an Onderonian. Sure, we had the comforts of home but we also had the temerity to rise up against challenges. To build walls around our gigantic cities. To keep such beasts out of the way or embrace the jungle with all its obstacles.

But then I remembered one person who I have wronged, whom I have quarreled with, yet still express feelings for her. She was one person I may not deserve, as any other outside person may see. I just couldn't change the glaring mistakes I have made in the past. I look back on the past very often, but never have embraced the present to something as equally important. I still wronged that one Jedi.

"Ahsoka?" I sounded out.

The steady flapping of the Ruping's wings didn't bear much of an obstacle on us. A bigger obstacle was heading our way: The Droid Army.

Ahsoka breathed a sigh. "Lux, focus on what is in front of you, not what is behind." She said metaphorically.

"Yes, I just... If I die before gaining a chance to form another real conversation with you, I wish to say this: I apologize for mistreating you, in any way, shape, and form. I apologize for being stupid and losing my golden chances to be in your better nature. Just know that I am sorry..." I smiled faintly. "Steela also..., um..." I sighed, remembering that one time I was alone with her in the Workshop's basement (a temporary safehouse) when Steela acted jittery by being around me. Acting like she had feelings for me... And there was Cello, who acted similarly when giving me a vocal emulator. So many oddly placed people of the opposite gender that...- I didn't know. I could just be more of an ignoramus as ever. But either way, I decided to continue with my talk. "S-she acted like she had feelings for me... You're the Jedi, the boss... What should I do a-about that?"

I lifted my head over my shoulder to gaze at Ahsoka, but she jerked her head away from me. "Lux, stop looking up to me for help. I'm sorry, but I'm not perfect. Being labeled as such puts a weight on my back that I-I just don't want."

I turned away, not wanting to make her feel any more awkward. "Ahsoka, I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do. And I'm not labeling you- NEVER... I..., I just want help..." I sighed again, almost an annoying one. "We both pretended the same thing before. That being together will not work out, but we have tried before when the other wasn't ready. I'm sorry, once again, for letting my golden chance to be with you, after that Carlac incident... What I'm saying is that I'm sorry I let that chance of a lifetime slip through me. I shouldn't have. But, now, never in a million days with you would I consider passing up another opportunity with that. If you can give it to me, I'll accept without a doubt. If we're through..., then just say so."

Despite the cool breeze brushing past my face, I tried to keep my eyes from heating up; tried to keep my throat from getting another bothersome lump. I failed at both.

Ahsoka just held my shoulders and placed her head on my back, very briefly. "You just don't understand." She mumbled. "Forget me... Not forever. Just forget about me until the war on this planet is over."

To 'forget' was something really hard to do, but I had to keep a wary eye on the horizon and realize my true focus should be on the War, as everyone else was. I took a deep breath, scrunched up my eyebrows, and leaned to the side to get a look ahead. I saw green trees rising high, a jungle milling as far as the eye could see, with an air ripe in the good grounds that laid far below. But still a baking heat that had nothing to do with the noon sun was rising in the West, burning the skin with an ominous miasmas.

Something sinister was coming that had more to do than just the droids of the Confederacy's own 'rebel' forces. It was an evil that may rival that of Dooku, both coming from ordinary people. And when the wave came again, it felt more than evil...

But then I heard it, our match. Down upon us appeared, going down the Great East Road with the resonating pinch of thunder. Very few fears come from nothing short than a giant wave of Separatist droids... Boy, was I in for a shock.


Steela's POV

My icy glare caught the march of the droids as they came directly our way. Every step they made was like a thud against the very essence of humanity, yet still kept a rhythm like the sound was a noise of a mechanized heart.

Thunk-clunk thunk-clunk thunk-clunk thunk-clunk.

The sound was invigorating and intimidating.

I landed on top of pinnacle and carried a solemn look towards my fellow countrymen and countrywomen. "The Droid Army is almost here... Everyone, get ready." I told the others, but from the echoing clanks, they all knew what was on the way. Many of the rebels started to feign forward to the sounds, hanging on the sidelines for the Royal Onderonian Guard (aboard their trained dirt-stained Dalgos) to prepare the initial charge.

General Tandin Bonteri was at the helm of all that, just wanting what any clone in the Grand Army of the Republic would want: win the battle with precise accuracy. Behind him stood nearly a hundred other Guard members atop their mounts.

"Ready men!" Tandin made a prep-cry.

I looked down at the army that we had.

Just volunteers who wanted Onderon to breathe free again. Who wanted Onderon to live a life of isolationism from all the distress of the Clone Wars. There was enough bloodshed on the planet without anymore coming offworld. Plus, the land of my home cannot ground the machinations of the Separatists, whose goal was same to the Republic. They wanted our land as tools and equipment, not as an art.

We won't have that.

Rebels were preparing guerilla stances, taking visual cover in the bushes along the Road. They were as quiet as a vine cat. Just as deadly. Everything was coming to place. I would see to it that the turning point of this war begins now, miles from the sanctuary of the city of Iziz. Almost a coward's sanctuary, now.

I lifted my comm to my mouth to speak with my brother, now leader of the Beast Riders (most of whom were part of Tandin's militia), in order to start the real war for our home. The men, other than Saw, wore large crests that hung up like the headfin of an ankkox. Either way, Saw picked them out for being experts in throwing shrapnel at enemies. And they were quick learners on their Rupings, as if it weren't a challenge at all. It was like they were revisiting an old memory that their ancestors once had, causing them to think, 'Oh, yeah... I remember that nicer time.'

"Saw, begin your attack." My hand knotted into a tight fist, twitching slightly, ready for a saving grace of the droid's own destruction.

The Rupings launched from a nearby pinnacle, taking to the sky as their limit. They traveled higher and higher to get over the droid's photoreceptor oculus, as high where the wind trails in a breeze before disrupting the peaceful landscape with Saw's furl of a grenade into the middle of the first wave.

Shots rang out, first coming from the rebels as they blasted at the droids there. The droids fired back, but many of them were quickly shot down by repeating turrets hung on the domesticated fambaas and rocky steppes that hung on each side of the trail... Spurts of blaster residue and tibanna gas stench the air as the Dalgo riders charged with a sounding war cry as they, too, attacked the droids using their laser lances. On each side of the Road was also shots from the guerilla rebels as they took out the droids from the sidelines.

But that was only the first wave.

AAT's were coming from behind the first wave, so I did what my sniping skills taught me, ever since I killed that fambaa so many years ago. I hit them right in the head, directly narrowed on their photoreceptors. They fell like dummies as their heads rolled off the open-air tanks. I smiled to myself as I kept on firing down with the second wave of droids...

I felt some nausea with the continuous river of enemy forces but I took a deep breath and continued on with the shooting. Easy, Steela. At this rate, it will be an easy battle. There was a feeling of dread inside me as I thought how easy this battle was.

But I realized I was not alone for some of the guerrilla warriors came out of the bushes, shrewdly quiet so that the second wave didn't notice them. They climbed onto the nearby ATT's and did the repeated maneuver that General Skywalker showed us: Drop one EMP grenade into the first hatch the side turrets, and then another on the higher hatch, the one that controlled the main gun. As soon as they slipped back as quickly as they came, a spark of blue energy came out and zapped the entire tank into a standstill, with the their controls (and controllers) fried.

The furl of the second wave kept coming as Saw rounded a corner and threw another grenade under an MTT with ease. As it exploded, shards pierced the oncoming ATT's and droidekas. The explosion inspired the guerilla fighters down below for they gave a decent cheer for their friends to the sky.

Saw was leading the three other riding militiamen..., when it happened.

In the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a blue cloud against a blue sky, but I dismissed it as a far away bird... What I didn't see was four novel gunships came in as the Separatist sneak-attack, as they fired on a straggling Beast Rider who then fell from the sky...

Then they swooped down and destroyed Lorry Jaco's turret with their electromagnetic pulses..., along with her. It was then that my eye caught her death; when I gave a shout of grief, "NO!"

I didn't know what hit them and it appeared that Lux had the exact same thought. "Where did that come from!?" He shouted out, scouring the sky for an aerial droid. I too looked right to find the missing weapon that ambushed us... I saw nothing.

Then I heard the Jedi point ahead, high above the Road. "There!"

It was a new gunship that the Separatists decided to use on us! The gunship had a circular design with two blasters on each flat end of its body. The head had the menacing shape of a bug, perhaps a Killik, and carried two ball-jointed turrets with a main turret in between. All in all, it was a menacing sight, especially its telltale warbling sound of an internal propeller (which I presumed is what helps keep it off the ground).

But regardless of the design of the ship, I started to fire at it, aiming for its photoreceptors. Unfortunately, they did nothing but dissipate into the shield with a purple varnish. I growled and kept firing, feeling my end was coming. Come on, Steela! Charge the shot more longer, don't just squeeze the trigger repeatedly!

Either way, it did nothing for the gunship continued to block every bolt I gave it. "Any ideas?" I sound with infinite worry.

"Yeah..." Ahsoka glared at the danger that was racing towards us. It was a decision that seemed entirely logical for the pressing situation. "Run!"


Third Person's POV

At first, chaos erupted with the rebels continuing to fight against the droids, but spiked by fear of the newcoming gunships. Lux and Ahsoka sprinted to their Ruping, Lux clamoring first as he aided Ahsoka directly afterwards. Steela had a more daring task since her Ruping was already flying to try to avoid the gunships EMP as it blasted its way into the wall, trying to destroy the edges to knock them down. But despite its look, the whimsical rock formation would not falter.

Steela jumped off the cliff, grabbed onto the leg of her Ruping like a pull-up bar, and swung with its movement as she held on to dear life. Seeing their leader falling back (and the fact that the menacing threat was to much to bear now) the rebels started to retreat with Steela...

A second Beast Rider tried to avoid the programmed machine with her steady training, but it wasn't enough for the one gunship shot her down. Saw was still flying as he tried to regroup his Ruping at a nearby pinnacle, with the reptavian giving a weary holler.

"It's okay, girl. We're going to make it out of this." Saw tried to calm the Ruping, but he was in distress too. And having to dodge an incoming EMP blast was not helping the throe... He ducked from the falling rocks of the pulse's miss before looking up to glare at his oppressor, as the droid went on to aim for the third Ruping-rider, blasting him like a fly.

Saw took a sigh as he realized that the rebels were suddenly losing this battle. 'I may not be a leader, but I'm leading this fight'. Saw thought to himself.

At first, Saw was planning on getting revenge on the droid, but instead heard a scream off to his far right... The rebels were in full retreat from a fourth gunship, but even that one droid was electrocuting most of them down, while blasting others with their five blaster emplacements. Saw, like Steela, growled under his breath. 'We are not cannon-fodder! We will win this day!'

Grenade in hand, Saw glided down to the gunship and threw his weapon at its shell, like he did with the MTT.

However, the grenade (despite being more potent than a blaster bolt) was not enough to pierce its shield... The gunship recognized the attack, with so little touching it, and started firing EMP at Saw, quickly knocking him off his ride.

With his Ruping dead and nearly all of the militia falling to the gunship's might, his only hope was Tandin. He rode to Saw's aide once more, succinctly gave his laser lance to grab, and pulled him on to his Dalgo. The two rode off with the rest of the restless retreat.

The Rebel Army was falling and although they would have made corrosive damage on the droids, they could not gain success that time because of the gunship's arrival... It was a failure for the ones out in the open; even the guerilla fighters that hung inside the brush were wiped out by acrobatic BX commandos.

The attack was a fail.


Durge ordered the gunship to place him down on the ground as he relished the sight of the destruction before him. He lifted his comm to give orders on the leading automaton out there.

"Droid, friend... I see your status was a success... These drones are proving effective in wiping out those terrorists."

The BX-series commando carried a monotone vocabulator. "Yes, sir. The rebels were not trained to fight our Heavy Missile Platform gunships. They are proving to be most useful."

Durge chuckled in his robotic voice, to quite suddenly shifting the subject. "I ordered EMP for a reason... It's meant to knock them out, not kill him... I'll be arriving at the battlefield shortly to..., take care of them... Other than that, progress your counter-retreat... This world will burn!"

There was no way the droid could comprehend such bloodlust, but Durge has outlived even Yoda's wise years. He knew what he was doing and he loved every second of it.

"Yes, sir." The droid simply stated.

Once the comm piped, Durge looked out in the distance as he saw the rebels carry out their restless retreat. Before he knew what he was doing, since he usually acts on instinct, Durge changed the dial to call his recently-cured assassin.

A couple beeps went by as he waited for him to pick up his comm. Obviously, Kidd Kareen was hesitant, but he knew he couldn't keep the maniacal Gen'dai waiting. "Mhm, yes, M-my L-l-lord." He stuttered in his boyish voice, deftly afraid of dealing with Durge.

"Ah, Kidd... You're such a kid. Don't be worried around me... We are on the same omniscient side, are we not?"

Kidd was much more quicker to answer that time. "Yes, Durge. Of course, Durge."

Durge smiled. If anyone could see his mouth under his mask, they would see a slim fracture full of needles. "Good boy... So how would you want me to bring her to you...? Your mate?"

"Would - you - stop - calling - her - that!" Kidd roared on the other side.

Durge gave a mocking sigh. "Of course, my boy. I wouldn't wish you to feel uncomfortable of your current preoccupation... How do you want me to bring her to you? Alive, I'm guessing? Scarred- now that would be a prize for me."

Kidd held back tears in his eyes as he finally realized what he put himself in. Whether out of despair or desperation, he took on the job with the idea to split Lux up from Ahsoka. Now, however, he saw that as fool's errand. Ever since his disguise was revealed to Ahsoka, he felt like his purpose was a failure. There was nearly no way for him to win her back anymore, so his enslavement to the evil warlord was fruitless... So it would appear...

"Actually..." Kidd started out. "Let me get her. Let me capture her." Whether he was planning on deceiving or upholding Durge was unknown to Kidd, but he tried his best to make his tone sound genuine. "Let me teach her of her mistake." Kidd slammed his mouth to a tight close as he grabbed his lekku for what little comfort he can possess.

"Ah..." Durge resounded. "A predator for his prey? Your rising to my level, young one. Welcome."

And with that, Durge silenced the device, strapped it back on his belt, and looked for unconscious rebel stragglers to prey on. To his eyes, what was waiting for him could only be compared as a feast.


Oh, you must hate me by now... You must hate me for my cliffhangers in every chapter. Yeah, yeah. It's a fetish. I'll say that before you do.

Anyhow, hope this chapter was insightful and enjoyable to read. If it was, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! If it wasn't..., *hesitates*... REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!