It was chaos outside of her quarters, Younglings, Masters and Padawans alike all scrambling to get somewhere.

Raiko had always thought she'd been unlucky to get quarters so close to the Council chambers, due to Plo's position – it meant a certain level of silence was expected.

But now – as she watched the disarray with wide-eyes – she had never felt more grateful as she spotted Mace Windu, striding purposefully down the corridor, away from her. Tucking her lightsaber into her belt, she ran after him, dodging the people running around her. Mace seemed impervious to the rush of people, the crowds parting for him as he walked. It made it easy to catch up to him, following closely in his wake.

"Master!" she called, making him turn to look at her. His face was set in a hard frown, and she flinched. "Master – what's going on? Where are you going?"

His face remained impassive, and for a moment, she thought he might tell her to go back to her room. Instead, he started walking again. "I assume you've heard the news. The Senate has just gone into an emergency vote. Kenobi, the Senator, and Skywalker have been taken to Geonosis. There's no time to wait for the Senate, so we're going on a rescue mission ourselves."

"We?" Raiko asked, almost jogging to keep up with him.

"The Jedi. We're the soldiers now." He smiled humourlessly. "I never thought it would come to this." He sighed, as they approached the hangars. "You should probably stay, Omari. It wouldn't be safe."

"I want to go." She blurted. He looked unsurprised, even a little pleased. "If this is a fight – then I need to go. Its what I'm good at. It's all I'm good at." She finished a little sardonically. He nodded.

"I suppose you'd better come with me, then. Let Plo know, I don't want him biting my head off for kidnapping you." For someone who was heading into a combat zone, Mace seemed calm. Raiko did as he asked, shooting a clumsily worded half-apology to her Master as she got on board Mace's transport ship. It was painted the same purple as her hair, and sleeker than other standard ships she'd seen. "Can you fly?" Mace asked her.

She gulped. "Um. No?"

He sighed, again looking unsurprised. "Plo never did like being a pilot. Sit upfront, I'll teach you the basics on the way." Raiko did as he asked, sliding into the co-pilot seat as the cockpit slid shut. Within moments, they were in the air, speeding towards space and uncertainty with the rest of the Jedi fleet.

Raiko busied herself with the controls – ignoring her growing fear.


They split from the bulk of the Jedi – Mace leading them through the catacombs of the place and up through the winding stairs – until they were behind the very seats of the amphitheatre.

The heaviness of the Force was prickling her skin, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as she shadowed Windu through the winding corridors. Windu may as well have been a statue; his emotions were so still, to the point that she couldn't feel a thing from him. It was unsettling but overshadowed by the fear she could still feel thrumming through Anakin and Obi-Wan's Force links, and the darkness from beyond. She was sweltering too, sweat running down her temples and down her back as the heat of Geonosis pounded unforgivingly on her body.

Windu held up a hand, and she stopped automatically, body reacting before her mind did. From where she stood, she could see the backs of the people standing on the balcony above the arena. Routinely, her eyes went to the head of the Count, and the fierce knot of emotion tangled there, too snarled and dark for her to attempt to unravel. She flinched away from it, literally, twitching backwards. Windu caught her eyes and gave her a long look.

You can still leave. His eyes said, and they held no condemnation.

Raiko, on edge and fingers twitching around the handle of her saber, shook her head jerkily. She couldn't leave. Not now. Not when they were in danger. Windu gave her another look, face unreadable this time. But then he nodded towards the bounty-hunter, shining in his silver and blue armour and looking resplendent and strong, and entirely out of place against the yellows and browns of the desert planet. She nodded again, and crept forwards with the other Jedi, clutching the hilt of her lightsaber tightly. She could feel her pearl, her heart, thrumming through the cool metal.

Yes, this was her weapon. She had no doubts about it.

Stepping into the sun took more courage than Raiko realised, but she masked her sudden flash of fear by igniting her lightsaber, and angling the blade across the throat of the bounty-hunter, moving in one swift movement that made the faceless man start, hand leaping for his blaster before he realised his position. Below, on the ground, she could see Anakin, Padme and Obi-Wan, surrounded by the droids.

Dooku's slow drawl made bile rise in her throat, the languid amusement in his voice sickening. "Master Windu." She could feel his eyes on her, and summoning the bright spot of defiant energy she knew had been fostered by Anakin, turned her head to meet his gaze full on. A little smirk curled his lips as he took his sweet time looking her over. She felt her skin crawl under his eyes. "And a little Padawan." The dismissive tone made her bristle, and without breaking eyecontact, edged the blade a little closer to Jango's throat. It made him lean back slightly. Dooku raised an eyebrow in slight interest, but seemed to ultimately decide she was worthless, turning his gaze from her, "How pleasant of you to join us." He said coolly, inching closer.

"This party's over." His words were light, but Raiko had never heard Windu's voice so dark. As if on cue – and perhaps it was – the Jedi that had assembled around the arena ignited their lightsabers.

"Brave, but foolish, my old Jedi friend." Dooku was smiling that derisive smile again, looking two shades too amused to look contrite. "You're impossibly outnumbered."

"I don't think so." Windu smiled slightly, keeping his stare with the Count.

Raiko's hearing caught the edge of metal on stone, an endless marching from behind them. "We'll see." Dooku's low voice was enough to spur her into action, spinning away from Fett to bring her lightsaber up in front of herself defensively. Windu's own lightsaber, a bright column of violet plasma the same shade as her eyes, sprung to life beside her.

They saw the blaster bolts before they saw the droids attacking them. Deflecting them was easy enough, but it didn't take long for her to realise they were in real danger. A flare of orange from beside her was all the warning she had before flames exploded over where she had been standing. Her heart skipped a frightened beat at the sudden fire in her vision, the heat searing in a painfully familiar way – making her jump blindly – trying to get away from the fear. Perched on the lip of the balcony where she jumped to, Raiko met Dooku's eyes again. His gaze was on her lightsaber, and she clutched it tighter, and fell backwards, trusting in herself.

Free-fall was always scary – but channelling her inner tooka, she hoped she would land on her feet.


On the ground, it was already chaos.

There was no time for her to take stock of her surroundings – or even rise from the crouch she had landed in, as blaster fire continued to pour from all directions – more of the awkward looking robots filing into the pit. Raiko kept her saber close to her body, going through the motions of soresu, the most defensive of the saber forms. She had taken lessons in Form III from the master of it within the temple – Luminara Unduli herself – so even as her arms ached from being kept so confined, not used to the tight technique, she didn't falter, gaining her footing. The bug-like Geonosins left in a swirling cloud, leaving the stands bare – more and more Jedi joining them on the field. But the droids were endless. As they approached, Raiko began to transition into the offensive. She could feel the Force now, gathering around her, lending her grace and strength.

It was the blast from a plasma cannon that disrupted – sending her flying without warning.

The sensation of being battered by shockwaves wasn't new to her, but it didn't stop the pain of colliding with the ground. She groaned, propping herself up on one hand. Blinking wearily, her eyes fell upon a fallen figure. Her stomach lurched at the unseeing eyes of one of her old kata teachers, half-pinned beneath a chunk of rubble, dead.

"Rai!"

The call of name dragged her eyes away – to see Anakin, running towards her, and a group of droids getting closer. With a lurch, she flipped off the ground, somersaulting over the tops of the droids as Anakin swept his saber out in a wide arc, slicing straight through their spindly torsos. She landed as they fell behind her, swaying in spot. He grasped her hand. "What happened? I thought you had…" he shook his head, and Raiko realised that he would have felt the block as well as she had. But she didn't think to explain.

"Don't 'what happened' me! You're the one who blasted ten-thousand volts of white-hot hate through!" Raiko shouted at him angrily, spinning neatly under a laser and stabbing the droid through the chest. "What happened to you?"

Anakin's face contorted, and he clenched his fists, crumpling a droid near them into scrap metal. "My mother." He choked out, barely audible over the battle. "She died, Raiko. She was murdered."

Raiko felt her stomach drop, and she bit her lip, moving closer to him to press a quick hand to his cheek. "I'm sorry." She said softly, hoping he could hear her. He didn't say anything, whirling away from in an arc of green and brown, engaging the droids encroaching on their position. Raiko let him go, turning to defend her own flank as the droids marched ever closer.

But it didn't seem to matter how hard she pressed, as she found herself backing up, further and further into the centre of the pit. Gritting her teeth, she spun in a tight arc – more a dance step than any true defensive move, lightsaber dancing around herself in a dizzying array of white.

The sudden flare of energy in her periphery made her still, dropping automatically as a blue saber flashed near her, cutting down a droid right where her head would have been. Rolling back to her feet, she met Obi-Wan's eyes. "I'm glad you're alive." She said shortly, making him smile at the bizarreness of her statement.

"Hopefully it stays that way." He grinned back, all teeth, no joy. Mace joined them then, and Raiko moved into a defensive stance again, matching the defensive styles of the two other Jedi. She could feel her Force awareness stretching over the three of them, each of them attuned to the others movements as they fought in their triangular position, offering strength and defensive in equal measure; Raiko destroying an approaching droid that was heading towards Mace's exposed side, as Obi-Wan Force pushed another away from her back.

Raiko was getting tired, sweat slicking her temples, and making her grip slippery around her saber hilt, muscles screaming for a break, nerves on edge from constant vigilance. She could feel the creeping hopelessness starting to bleed from Obi-Wan, weighing on her even more. She grunted, bowing back into Obi-Wan, and leaning on his body to avoid the blasts of a droid. He moved with her, a tree in the wind, easing them both up again, and providing her with momentum to leap at the droid. The jump exhausted her further, and around her, she could see Jedi falling.

The charging rhino-alien startled her, and she was barely able to leap out of the way, crying out involuntarily as its horn clipped her side. She fell heavily again, jarring her already bruised body. Breathing heavily, she could feel her ribs shift. Unfortunately, she was well acquainted with broken ribs – but luckily, it just seemed like a fracture. Winded, she sucked in shallow breaths, trying to will her body to stand. For a moment, her vision went hazy, and she lay very still willing herself to stay conscious.

Come on. You're a Jedi. Stand up and fight.

STAND UP AND FIGHT.

With a bellowing groan, Raiko got to her feet, kicking out and striking a droid sharply. The connection hurt her foot, but it fell – her kick strengthened by the Force. She could feel it, still around her, guiding her. She let it take her, bending and dancing with it – raising her lightsaber again and again and again, droids falling before her again and again and again – and yet still more appeared.

Further and further she danced, moving back three steps for every one she took forwards, until she was stumbling over the bodies of her fallen brethren. The collective energies around her were worryingly few, and the overwhelming note of horror and desperation was enough to make her falter, falling into the last standing circle of Jedi.

She could feel only fifteen other lives with her, Padmé's own weaker Force signature still thrumming, however faint. She felt sick. They had lost so many. The ripples of sorrow were already spreading, and she knew she would feel them keenly if she survived. But survival was no longer a sure thing.

Then – the laser fire stopped, as the droids lowered their weapons. Raiko's last swing kept moving automatically, and she halted, lightsaber above her head, but too afraid to move. She could see Obi-Wan out of the corner of her eyes, feel his dread as he checked the pulse of a fallen master beside her. She didn't dare offer comfort, not even sure if she could muster any to give.

"Master Windu!" The Count's voice echoed impressively around the stadium. "You have fought gallantly, worthy of recognition in the history archives of the Jedi Order. Now it is finished." Raiko lowered her head, arms wobbling and dropping, as she panted. Her master, along with two other captured Jedi were led into their circle. She couldn't bring herself to look over to him. "Surrender – and your lives will be spared." Dooku offered, almost kindly. Raiko's eyes had landed on the face of the corpse next to her. She recognized him. He had been a library assistant. Kind. Not deserving of a death like this.

Even if her body was screaming for her to stand down, every sense in her body telling her to end it – she knew, deep in her heart, that she could not surrender. Not like this. Not to this… evil man. Mace – it seemed – shared her resolution. "We will not be slaves for you to bargain with, Dooku." He said defiantly. Raiko hoped her Master forgave her. She hoped she could find Obi-Wan and Anakin in the next world. She hoped the Force would guide her, one last time.

"Then, I'm sorry, old friend. You will have to be destroyed." Dooku's voice was remorseful, but Raiko couldn't feel a scrap of regret in the web of dark emotions emanating from the man. He raised his arm, and Raiko raised her saber again – because even if she was going to die, she would die fighting. She would die a knight.

Then – from the sky – salvation.