Hope you enjoy the next chapter. Make sure you leave a review.

Thanks,

Zoe Maddox

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Chapter Two: Watch My Back, And I'll Watch Yours

My eyes shoot open as soon as my alarm goes off. I check my sleep stats. Four hours of deep sleep. Enough for now. I pull my boots back on and exit my quarters. When I open the door of the Mess Hall, I am met with laughter and the buzz of conversation. Looks like I've made it right it in time. I pick a tray and join the line for food.

"Riz!" Ril says as I walk up.

Ril and Stone are best friends. Ril has his hair a little longer than regulation allows, but no one busts him for it. He has a small scar on his cheek from a fight with a commando droid. His armor is scuffed and used, the red and white of my squad.

"Hey, Ril. How you doing?" I say.

"I'm doing great. You?" he says in a happy voice.

"I'm okay." I say.

"I'm sorry about General. She was the best. But you'll do better." His happy voice suddenly has an angry edge to it.

"I hope so."

We get our food and sit with Stone, Lyri, and Sixes. They are all laughing at some joke that Sixes just cracked.

"Hey, guys!" I say, trying my best to sound happy. It's not hard. I love these guys. They are my brothers.

"Hey, Riz." Sixes says.

"Fire Girl!" Lyri pauses. "I mean, General Rizolé."

"Lyri! Call me Fire Girl."

"But..."

"I command it!"

We all laugh, but I'm serious. I don't want them to call me something different. I don't want them to act different. Suddenly, my comlink goes off.

"General Rizolé. There is an urgent message from the Council for you."

I sigh and push my tray away. I can't even finish my meal. Great.

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Saleucami. That's where I've been assigned to go. Apparently there is a skirmish that we need to take care of. We are closest and the ones most able to. Plus, it's a great way to start my position as General. Of course that's what they say. They don't know what to do with me yet. I'm close to my Trials, just not close enough yet. And the war doesn't exactly leave someone to finish my training.

We land on the planet's surface- a dusty rock with huge craters. Oases spot the planet. We land next to a caldera full of huge, green plants with giant leaves. This is where the Separatists were spotted. It looks risky. I send out two scouts. I turn to the rest of my men.

"We are here to find out why they are here and if necessary, remove them. Understood? We will split into three groups. My group will have a frontal assault and the other two groups will come in behind and help us take them out."

Almost immediately as soon as I'm done speaking, one of the scouts runs back to us.

"They killed Ryiot. They know we are here now. There is only a small group, about six squads. A few tanks, also. I'm not sure how effective that will be into all the foliage."

Then we hear a tank shooting. I nod and deploy my troops. We run straight into the forest. They aren't hard to find. B1's, about twenty of them. I ignite my lightsabers, the blue glow just a flash as we take down the squad within five minutes. Stone shoots the last droid and the forest falls into silence. Suddenly, we hear a fight break out to our right. And then to our left. It must be our other squads. I hear a gunshot behind me and suddenly they are everywhere. B1's, B2's, commandos. Everyone is shooting everywhere. The darkness is lit with red lasers and blue lightsabers. I try to cover everywhere, but there is just too many. Sixes falls to my left. I destroy six more droids. Odd tumbles to the ground in front of me. I kill eighteen more droids. No matter how many droids I watch tumble into the dark mud, I watch at least three more droids replace it. I slice and block and slash and destroy just as a blur of light. But we are still being overwhelmed.

The squad to our right bursts through the vegetation and joins our fight. They help us pull through. We find the third squad with only three men left. I send half of them to set up camp on a cliff overlooking the caldera. I rest of us find at treat the wounded. Sixes' arm is bloody but healable. We save many, but still too many lay quietly in the mud.

The camp is set up simply. We care for the wounded and eat. I set up a watch for the night and retire to my tent.

How could I have been so careless? I could have tried harder. I shouldn't have rushed into battle. I bit my lip. I enter the stats from the battle and pass out with my head on the crate I'm using as a desk.

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I stand at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the caldera. If I don't look carefully, I just see green and flowers. But of course, my brain reminds me that isn't what I really see.

Stone walks up and stands next to me. He stares down into the green also. We stand together, looking over the battlefield. Bodies of our own men are white against the dark, black mud. We stand in silence, taking in the damage of yesterday.

My master plan was shattered to pieces just as soon as the battle started. How stupid am I? I wish my Master was here. If she was here, we would have won. If she was here, I would have never messed up. I bite my lip until I taste blood.

"It was all my fault. I should have known they would have reinforcements. I should have had a back-up plan. I shouldn't have rushed into battle. I should have…" I break off, pain stretching across my chest so I can't breathe.

His cool, gloved hand surrounds mine. He holds me together, steading me. He holds us together. We stand like this until he pulls away and turns back to camp. I look one more time at the white among the mud and leaves, and turn to follow him.

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Hope you enjoyed! Is Ao'zia's pain believable? And how daring is Stone? Leave your thoughts in the review section below.

Thanks,

Zoe Maddox