Chapter Six—The Red Crystal

So, this is what it's like on the eve before battle?

Kasey found himself even more nervous than he had been before, when they had simply been discussing a battle tactic with Captain Rex and Commander Cody. He had consciously kept his silence, though he longed to be part of the conversation, like Ahsoka Tano had been, leaving her own two-cents in the discussion. The idea had been quite simplistic in its composition, and Kasey had to marvel at his superiors' quick thinking.

The droid factory was on a jungle world, hidden by the dense foliage to create a pseudo-fortress. The natural vegetation would make it difficult to fight the droids as they made their way to defend the factory, but Kasey was more concerned about General Skywalker's idea of using only a four-man team to apprehend General Grievous. At first, he thought that he had only misheard the general's suggestion, but there was no mistaking it. Every trooper except two (Rex and Cody) were to be on the front lines under the leadership of Ahsoka. Meanwhile, Skywalker and Kenobi with Rex and Cody would sneak into the factory, hopefully unseen, and confront the general inside.

Now, in the hangar as the troops were rallied and assembled, he found himself afraid. He wouldn't have his own squadron, who had been barred from joining the fight as they were still only cadets. They had been ordered to remain behind, under the watchful eye of Admiral Yularen. And to top it off, he wasn't going to be using a blaster, but a lightsaber, a weapon that was unfamiliar and awkward in his hands. He'd have preferred even a pistol to this strange energy blade.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked a female voice and Kasey looked up at Ahsoka.

"I'd be lying if I said I was, ma'am," he replied. "I've never been in a real battle before. And I'm still not sure about using this lightsaber."

"Everyone's scared during their first battle, even some of the best," Ahsoka answered. She sat down on a crate across from him. "Listen, I know it's weird for the first time. And I know using a lightsaber isn't the weapon of choice for a trooper."

"We don't normally get the chance to use them."

"True," Ahsoka admitted, "but give it time. Eventually, it'll be the go-to weapon for you. And you'll be glad you have it. Listen, I want to be careful. Survival comes first always. If you get injured, retreat and get some help."

"Don't worry about me, Commander," Kasey said.

She smiled. "You don't have to call me 'commander'. I'm just Ahsoka, okay?"

He nodded. This was a habit he would have to get into, not using such formalities with equals.

"Also, I'd like you to be able to do something for me. To destroy the factory, we'll need to set explosive charges and I want you to handle half of them. According to one of our scouts, we'll need to put charges on level four, five and seven. In order to do this, we're going to separate into two smaller groups, one led by you and another by me. We'll each have about ten troopers with us to help, but—"

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Commander Ahsoka," Kasey said. "I'm not much of a—"

"Alright, kids, we're moving out," said General Skywalker as he approached. "Snips, wait for my signal to blow the charges."

"I know the plan, Master," she said.

"Are you ready for a real fight, Kasey?"

"Yes, General," Kasey replied, his voice remarkably weak.

"Don't be so nervous. You can trust Ahsoka."

"Yes, sir," Kasey repeated.

First impression of battle: droids were either remarkably weak or Kasey was much better than he thought. Moving through the foliage of the forested planet leading the way with Ahsoka, Kasey found himself not only dodging the fired lasers, but slashing with remarkable precision against the droids that came in front of him. He wasn't advancing nearly as fast as Ahsoka was as she cut a swath through the enemies, but he was advancing and with the cover fire from the troopers behind him, this seemed to be almost too easy.

Then more droids flooded out of the factory, and they had to take cover behind the trees as steadily, more and more droids marched out, blasters blazing as they attacked.

"You, trooper!" Kasey shouted, pointing to one of the troopers he could still see. "Throw me your blaster."

The trooper hesitated slightly before tossing his blaster. Kneeling and peering around the tree as he took careful shots. Steadily, the droids began to fall, but not fast enough. This wasn't working... then Ahsoka made a move, jumping out from behind the tree she was taking cover behind. Within seconds, she was moving forward again, and Kasey knew he had to keep close behind her.

Tossing the blaster back to the trooper, Kasey reignited his saber, following closely behind Ahsoka, destroying the droids she had happened to miss. Following her was difficult, but within a few minutes, they had approached the factory's entrance, sealed completely shut.

"Alright, we're here, so how do we get in?" Kasey asked, his breathing heavy and slightly difficult.

Ahsoka lifted her lightsaber and carefully pierced the metal door, sparks flying as she brought the saber around in a carefully made design of a circle.

"This is Fives to Captain Rex," said CT-5555 (Fives to everybody) into his com. "Entrance has been taken. I think we've got the enemy's attention."

"Understood, Fives," said Rex's voice across the com. "We're making our move."

"Commander, they're beginning their move to capture General Grievous," Fives reported, even though she clearly heard it.

Carefully, Ahsoka finished the circle, creating a hole in the metal door large enough for them to get through. She turned to the troopers and spoke carefully. "Okay, everybody, we need to hurry up. Explosive charges on four, five, and seven. Fives, I need you to take a small team to try and download any information that could still be of use in their systems."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," said a voice, dripping with malice and as cold as Hoth.

They quickly backed away from the door as two beams of bright red energy approached, which Kasey quickly recognized as lightsabers. Ahsoka and Kasey ignited their sabers, ready to battle the approaching person. A woman, bald with blue eyes, stepped out, two red lightsabers ignited. She smiled a sly grin, ready to fight them.

"Hello, you hairless harpy," Ahsoka stated.

"Hmm, you're here," the bald woman asked. "I wonder where Skywalker is."

"I don't need him, Ventress," Ahsoka replied. "I can handle you on my own."

"Oh, but who's this?" Ventress asked, pointing her saber at Kasey, who flinched. "I see that Skywalker found a new pet..."

"Kasey, everyone, get back," Ahsoka ordered as she charged at Ventress. "Set the charges. I'll handle Ventress."

Ventress kicked Ahsoka in the stomach and snapped her fingers. A secondary door lowered from the ceiling behind the first, blocking the circular hole that Ahsoka had made. Already, Ventress had engaged Ahsoka once more and Kasey hurriedly pulled out one of the many charges they had. Hurriedly, he activated it and threw it at the door. Ventress pulled away from Ahsoka, holding her hand out to the explosive. The explosive flew back at Kasey who held up his hand, praying that he could actually deflect it.

The explosive flew back towards the secondary door, exploding damagingly. The detonation blew a hole the secondary door and Kasey dashed for it, only to be stopped by a crimson blade in front of him. Ventress was moved in front of him, kicking him back away from the door.

"This isn't working, Ahsoka!" Kasey stated. "How're we going to—?"

"Fives, move up! You can set the charges. We can take care of Ventress."

Fives approached carefully and to cover him, Ahsoka tried once more to occupy Ventress's attention. When Ventress forced her back, Kasey moved in, striking as best as he could, but Ventress parried with little effort, using the Force to push him back. Just as Kasey landed on his back, Ahsoka hurried in, giving Fives and just three others enough time to get into the factory.

"Oh, well," Ventress murmured. "Three lab-grown rats are hardly worth the effort."

She dashed back into the factory, and within mere moments, Fives and the three others were forced out, their blasters sliced cleanly in half by a lightsaber blade. Ventress smiled, and Kasey saw it in her hands; the satchel that Fives had carried the explosives in. She grinned her icy grin before retreating into the factory once more. Ahsoka was going to chase after her, but a voice crackled over the com, stopping her. The voice was hardly discernable over the sounds of combat.

"Full retreat!" Obi-Wan's voice ordered. "Separatist reinforcements incoming!"

"Sir, we haven't set the charges yet," said Kasey into the com. "We got distracted by a Jedi with red sabers!"

"Count Dooku is here?" Anakin gasped.

"It was Ventress," Ahsoka corrected. "She's in the factory somewhere."

"Retreat," Obi-Wan commanded again. "We're don't have the manpower to defeat the incoming Separatist forces."

"Yes, sir," Kasey sighed. He turned to the troopers. "We've got to go. Retreat!"

This is awful, Kasey thought as the flagship zoomed away from the planet. Just as they left, Kasey saw the Separatist ships come out of hyperspace, forming a small ring around the planet: a blockade.

"I'm sorry, sir," Kasey said to Obi-Wan as he followed him away from the bridge. "I should've been more proactive in stopping the Jedi with the red blade."

"She wasn't a Jedi," Obi-Wan corrected. "She is known as a Sith. They employ the Dark Side of the Force in order to achieve their goals. And I honestly can't blame you for failing to defeat Asajj Ventress. She is extraordinarily powerful with her lightsabers and the Force and she was trained by Count Dooku himself."

"But not only did we not defeat her, but we failed to destroy the factory and we failed to capture Grievous."

"We'll have another chance, believe me," Kenobi assured him. "Right now, just lick your wounds and be ready to get back to training."

They turned a corner and an arm wrapped around Kasey in a brotherly fashion, pulling him into a rather uncomfortable hug. It was Barker and approaching them now was Goth, Murk, and Fury.

"So," Barker said, "tell me how you completed the mission!"

"We didn't," Kasey admitted, shaking off his arm. "We were beaten, badly. We didn't even make it into the factory."

Barker's enthusiasm vanished almost instantly. "Sorry to hear that."

"You suck at fighting," Fury scoffed.

"You might be even more upset to hear this," Kenobi stated. "You're going back to Kamino immediately. A trooper has agreed to take you."

"Already? But we haven't even had our first battle!" Fury shouted.

"Until you graduate and become troopers, you won't have a real battle," Kenobi stated. "I wish we could keep you, but you're just cadets right now."

"Brothers," Kasey stated, "I don't want you here." They looked at him in amazement. "We actually lost troopers today, and now... This isn't like training. The enemy's weapons are going to just stun you. They're shooting to kill. I might not have a complete training, but at least I'm a Jedi. You guys need to finish your training."

Their looks of amazement faltered, changing into looks that might've been interpreted as fear.

"Well, if you say so," Goth sighed.

"Stay safe, mate," Murk added.

Kasey smiled at them. "We'll meet again."

Watching his squad leave was painful, and he felt a strange sense of sadness as he watched the ship carrying them disappear into the distance. It was as if the final bonds that kept them as brothers was broken, as if they had been his final link to the rest of the clones. Now, he was truly a Jedi.

Sadly, he stepped back to his room, closing the door behind him as he reclined on his bunk. He stared up at the ceiling for a short while, simply reminiscing on his days on Kamino with his squadron. In the back of his mind, he wished he was going back with them, but he knew going back to Kamino as a clone cadet was impossible. He was a Jedi Padawan now and forever.

He shifted slightly and felt something press against his chest. Slightly worried that it might be a blister, he reached into his shirt, withdrawing what wasn't a blister, but a strange red crystal. He looked at it carefully.

"A lightsaber crystal," he murmured to himself.

Okay, everyone, here's chapter six. Hope you like it. Enjoy.