Aftershock

Chapter Two

At first, Mach's voice was muddled, as if Koya was listening to him through water. It came into focus slowly, and when it snapped into clarity she was shocked to hear the amount of desperation in it. "Commander? Commander, do you read? Damnit! General, did you see where she went down?"

"I didn't. I… I can't seem to find her with the Force, either. Her signature is usually so clear…" Master Plo's voice was quiet, barely audible above the cracking of the comms system.

Her heavy, painful coughing drowned the rest of his sentence out. Smoke was rapidly filling the small cockpit, obscuring her vision and coating her lungs with an ashy residue. The fighter was on fire. The heat was almost as bad as the smoke, pushing through the thin metal of the fighter and warping it.

"Commander Wolffe, do you copy?" That was Captain Jag, she realized.

"Yessir." Koya tried to unbuckle and nearly screamed aloud when the pain shot through her hands. Although she couldn't see an inch in front of her, Koya knew immediately they were burned, and badly – if that was the worst of her injuries, she couldn't say. She could feel her hands throbbing with her every heartbeat. Gritting her teeth, she tore off the straps quickly, ignoring the pain.

"Send out a search party for Commander Koya-"

"Captain. I can't sense her anymore. She must've been killed on impact." Master Plo spoke with such intensity that it shocked the men into complete silence for a moment. All Koya could hear was the crackle of the comms on her wrist as she struggled to free herself.

"…Are you sure we shouldn't send someone out to look for her?" Mach's voice was quiet.

"Yes. My Padawan… Commander Wolffe, you must get those medical bases set up. I will look for her myself, after we are done."

Koya pushed her hands up and heaved off the heavy glass cockpit cover with the Force. The cold air of Cato Neimoidia rushed in, and for the first time today Koya was thankful for the heavy fog – it masked the smoking remnants of her fighter. She heaved herself out with an unsteady jump, and collapsed into a fit of vomiting as soon as she touched the ground.

Her lungs felt as if they were coated with fire. Clutching her stomach, Koya struggled to her feet. She looked behind her at the flaming wreckage of the fighter.

Miraculously, Koya had landed on one of the bridge cities, tearing up many of the abandoned buildings in the process. A path of destruction lay behind her, but the fog masked it well from the men in the sky. She knew that she was lucky to have hit the bridge city where she did – a clean crash landing, straight down the middle of it. Otherwise, she could've spiraled down into the abyss, and actually died.

It was silent in the city. Commander Wolffe had already evacuated many of the citizens before Master Plo authorized a strike team to fly in. While the citizens were traveling up to be relocated, Master Plo, Koya, and their men had been going down to protect their home. The strong winds whipped through the empty homes and stores, moaning eerily. Only the occasional blaster shot could be heard of the dogfight above her.

Koya started to walk along the main road, keeping to the shadows of the buildings. Bright skin like hers would be a beacon, even in this dense fog. Once she was clear of the crash zone, she crouched and mustered the courage to check over her injuries.

She had been right – her hands were extremely burned. Blisters filled with pus and blood covered her palms. Small fires seemed to be blazing in her blood, and it looked as if her skin had melted right off, leaving the sensitive muscles exposed. The smell that emanated from them was almost enough to make her vomit again. As she turned them over for inspection, she realized that there was no way for her to defend herself if she needed to.

Even though she had never been properly trained in the medical arts, Koya knew that she needed to clean her hands immediately. Luckily, nothing else was hurt worse – just a few cuts and bruises from the impact. What are the chances that these buildings still have running water? Stumbling into an empty house, she made for the refresher and nearly jumped when cold water came out of the faucet, responding to her Force push.

She almost threw her hands in before she realized how much it would hurt to clean them. Burns were notorious to clean, because they made the body too sensitive to anything stronger than a puff of air. I can't make a sound. Although she wasn't exactly sure what Master Plo had seen, Koya knew that she had to trust him, and hide. No help from the men either, although a soak in bacta sounded heavenly right now.

Gritting a piece of thick cloth in between her teeth, she inched her fingertips into the cold water, and chose to ignore her shaking.

Keeping her screams silent was the most difficult thing she had ever had to do.

By the end of it, she was on the floor of the refresher, completely soaked, shivering too much to focus on turning off the water. She spat out the shredded cloth in pieces, grateful that they had muffled her cries.

The worst is over. Koya sat on the floor of the home and bandaged them with the few pieces of sterilized cloth she had in her belt. As soon as she hooked the cloth closed, disgusting yellow and red stains started to ooze through the white material. Koya was sure that when returned to base, Nate, their medical officer, would give her one of his looks that said, "What the hell were you thinking, Commander?"

Koya decided now was the time to try to contact Master Plo, through the Force. There was no way she would risk trying to get him through comms – who knows who could be listening?

Master? She pushed her mind as far as she could, trying to pinpoint her Master's location. After a few minutes of silence, she suddenly felt his familiar signature.

Koya. I am glad to see you are all right.

Master Plo, what is going on? Why was that necessary?

It is difficult to explain now, young one. But… I fear the days of our Order are quickly approaching their end. Even with his strangexs answer, Koya still felt comforted by his Force presence.

…That's a rather strong statement to make, Master.

Perhaps it is the fears of an old, tired, Jedi, Koya. I can see you – I'm flying directly above you. Conceal yourself better. Were you injured during the landing?

She frowned as he changed of subject. My hands were burned, but that's all. I'm fine. You know, you're a pretty good actor. You have them fooled – they really think I'm dead.

Good. That will buy you some time.

A feeling like a tidal wave suddenly hit her, throwing her to the ground in its force. She knew in an instant what her Master had been so afraid of. Images, terrible images filled her head – a number, some sort of signal, had been uttered, the doors of hell breaking down. Younglings being butchered, clones killing their Jedi Generals, a tall man marching into the Temple at the head of a squadron...

No!

She watched in horror as all of the Republic fighters suddenly slowed, and got into formation behind Master Plo, every last gun aiming for… Gasping, she reached out for her Master in a panic.

But it was too late.

Koya! RUN-

She felt her connection to her Master shatter as Captain Jag personally shot the Jedi down. It spiraled out of control, hitting a mountain and exploding into fiery shrapnel. Black smoke drifted from the impact point, and the Force was silent.

There was nothing to quiet her screams this time.