This is another one of those scenes that I've had in my mind for a long time, probably since season 2 of Rebels. Always knew i wanted to explore Kallus vs. the Partisans and now that Soniee is back from her little trip to Dxun she can be involved as I always imagined she would be.

It had been a week since he had seen her, heard her voice, and what had she told him? "Promise me you won't do anything stupid."

This probably counted as stupid. Saw and Zal and a few others, those who were left, were pinned down in the morass that had once been the eastern jungles. At least he had remembered what Steela had always said about drawing the fight away from the civilians in the city. Like they even deserved it. Most of them had welcomed the Empire with open arms.

He was glad Sanya wasn't here to see this, as the rain pelted down on them. The rain had been their one saving grace. Those shiny new walkers were sunk to their knees in the mud. That would teach them for burning out the ground cover that had held the topsoil in place during the Clone Wars. But they were still coming.

Saw didn't know how long it would be till the Empire called in air support. Then it would all be over.

He wished he could have seen her one more time. He should have kissed her goodbye when he had the chance.

"Thinking about her, aren't you?" the Lasat's voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"That obvious?"

"Nah," Zal shook some of the water from the soaking fur on his head. "I was just thinkin' about Chi'ann. Hoped I wasn't the only one."

Saw frowned. "Sorry about getting you mixed up in all this. Two of you might have been really happy together."

"Doin' it for them, aren't we? Trying to make the galaxy a better place, I mean?"

"Maybe you're right." Is that why Saw was doing this? He looked up, blinking in the torrent.

There was a break in the clouds, a ship. Well, that was it. They had taken care to keep out of the line of fire of Agent Kallus's troopers on the ground but the last of the Partizans would be mowed down easily from above.

But it wasn't an Imperial fighter, just a little freighter, a B-7 model. She was back!

One of his own men down the line raised his blaster rifle at the craft. Not that he could have done much damage. Looked like the ship had already taken a beating. Maybe that's why it took her so long to get back.

Saw waved at the soldier to stand down.

Osik ! Panic suddenly seized him. If they weren't shooting at her than what were the Imps likely to think? The friend of my friend is my…

Sure enough a rocket powered plasma grenade shot up towards the freighter, coming from a much closer position than the last time Saw had peeked out from his hiding place.

"Fly away, Nya!" He willed her or maybe he said it aloud. Though she veered away from the projectile, it was obvious she was coming in for a landing. "No!"

He was standing now, a fact which he realized at the same moment as the Imperial troops. After that he didn't have time to think about the ship or the girl flying it. The battle had been rejoined and it was going to be a fight to the finish. It didn't matter as long has he could keep the attention on himself for a little while. Maybe she could get away before they turned their blasters again in her direction.

"Kriff this storm!" Saw swiped rain out of his eyes between blaster shots. Thunder rolled some distance away and then there was a flash of lightning much nearer.

Only it wasn't like any lightning Saw had ever seen before. The crackling blue electricity wasn't coming down from the clouds. It was wreathed around a figure standing on the hilltop a few meters away. The battle forgotten, he couldn't take his eyes from her.

Sanya Kira, child of the prophecy, had come home to Onderon.

She had a short dark blade in her right hand and this she pointed towards the Imperial soldiers along with her empty left hand, fingers spread. She seemed frozen there for an endless moment and then arks of blue lightning streamed from both her hands, engulfing the white plastoid armored troopers.

Saw heard their screams, he watched as they tore at the plating, as they were cooked alive inside. They crumpled to the soggy ground in charred and smoking heaps. Others were thrown back, dead or dying. The wouldn't be putting up any more of a fight today if ever again.

Sanya's arms slumped to her sides and she surveyed the field. She located Saw and their eyes locked. Then she was running towards him.

They crashed together and immediately both began speaking at once, "When we hadn't seen you in so long…" "When I saw that battle…" "I thought you were…" "And now… You're alive!"

He pulled her close and kissed her deeply. At first she leaned into the kiss just relieved to feel his arms around her again but then she pushed him away.

"What was that for?"

"I told you I'd kiss you when you got back. Don't you remember?" he drew her close to him again and in her drained weakness she let him. "What happened to you up there? A week! We'd nearly lost hope!"

"A week? No," she protested. It couldn't have been that long.

"I didn't understand but I can see now, why you had to go? You had to come into your full power. Gods, Sanya, you're amazing!"

He kissed her but she pushed him away again "Saw, I-I can't do this. I…"

"Shh… You've just been through a battle. It'll be alright. We'll figure it out. We don't have to talk about it now."

"Th-the…" she rubbed her head. "The survivors."

"Zal's taking care of them." Saw assured her. "No one will take stories of what you did back to the Empire."

"He's what?!"

…

When Agent Alexsandr Kallus came to, a sharp ringing in his ears was all he could hear. He tried to remember what had happened. They had been so close to winning the battle even despite the rain.

He had studied the records of the past fighting in this area. The walkers he had requisitioned should have quickly brought the Partisans to their knees, especially with the jungle removed from their path. He hadn't counted on the autumn storms transforming the terrain into a swamp.

Even so Kallus and his men closed in on the insurgents. His enemies were pinned down and if he could only flush them out of hiding he could finish this and report his victory back to his superiors on Coruscant. Flush them out of hiding or… if only they had a few of those tie fighters that were exhibited at the Empire Day festivities. Maybe they hadn't left the space port yet.

He reached for his comm unit and punched in the frequency for headquarters. Damn this storm! He couldn't get the connection.

"Sir, there's a ship," one of the troopers informed him.

Kallus glanced up. "Is it ours?"

"No, sir, looks like a civvy freighter."

Now he desperately wanted those ties. "Shoot it down! They might have called in support!" He tried to focus on making the comm connection leaving the soldiers to their jobs.

"The rebels! They've broken cover!" The trooper shouted again.

This got Kallus's full attention. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go! Go! Let's finish this!" He wasn't sure if the trooper heard him over the fresh peal of distant thunder.

There was a bright light. Were they charging some sort of energy weapon? How did these rebels get a hold of something like that?

That was Sandr's last thought before he was thrown by the power of some terrific blast and smacked the back of his head on a rock.

He sat up now and pulled off his helmet, hoping that would rectify his hearing, but it was still just the ringing. The helmet had a deep dent in the back. It had saved his life. He tossed it aside and tried to focus on making sense of his surroundings.

He felt more than heard the pulse as a weapon was discharged a couple of meters to his left. When he turned that direction he saw the purple furred monster lower his bow-rifle from the point blank shot and the storm trooper slump in death.

Kallus watched in horror as the Lasat moved on to the next trooper, checked to see if that one was still breathing, and then made sure he never would again. He must have cried out in protest because then the murderer turned to look at him.

Their eyes met and Sandr shrank back from the advance of his foe. He felt around him on the ground for a weapon of his own but before he could lay a hand on it the Lasat kicked the blaster out of the way.

He said something that Kallus couldn't make out and then raised the bow-rifle for the killing shot.

Sandr closed his eyes and waited but the blast didn't come. He opened his eyes again and saw that the Lasat seemed to be looking back over his shoulder to where someone was speaking to him.

This could be his chance. He could get away while the beast was distracted. He could make a lunge for his own blaster and fight back. He could… endure helplessly as the Lasat turned back to him with a frown of disappointment and knocked Sandr out cold with the butt of his bow-rifle.

…

Sanya dropped to the ground beside the unconscious agent and began to check his lifesigns as best as she knew how. She lifted his head carefully feeling first the bump on the back of his skull and then gently touching the bruise that Zal had just added on his temple. There was a trickle of blood from the wound but he seemed to be breathing normally.

"We can't just let him live." Saw paced agitatedly behind her. "What if he tells the Empire what he saw?"

"Did you even ask if he saw anything?" She directed the question at to Zal but the Lasat backed off dreading the thought of her wrath being turned toward him.

"It was a battle!" Saw answered with a growl. "He's the enemy, in case you've forgotten! He would have killed any of us if he got the chance!"

"And if he dies the Empire will send even more troops against you!" she shot back at him, but the worry was evident in her tone. She gently laid the injured man's head back on the ground and stood.

"And if he tells the Empire there's a Force user on Onderon?" Saw took her by the shoulders. "They'll tear the place apart looking for you!"

She spoke with full confidence. "He won't." Then she dropped her gaze. "He won't remember it that way."

Osik! Saw thought. She was gonna mess with his mind. She has the power to do it!

Sanya turned away from Saw. Was she ashamed by what she was about to do?

"Zal could you carry him to my ship? Be careful with him!" She admonished as the big lasat bent obediently to follow her instructions.

…

When he woke again Kallus was able to hear voices speaking softly over him, medical workers strapping him to a gurney. "Where… How did I get… The Lasat… my men!"

A familiar face swam into his vision. "You're in my ship. You need to be still. You're hurt. I brought you back to the city."

"Dara?" He thought he'd never see her again. But wait … he panicked. "Your ship?" He'd given orders to fire on a civilian freighter! "Were you there during the battle?"

She shook her head. "Can you tell me what you remember?"

He didn't particularly want to tell her about how he had been attempting to track down and kill her… friend . But he had to tell someone, "They have some sort of weapon." He squeezed her hand. "It's like nothing I've ever seen before! But you're okay! Y-you flew me back here? How?"

"Sandr, there was no weapon." She explained softly but deliberately. "It was the storm. The lightning was attracted to troopers uniforms. It must have blown you back and you hit your head."

"No weapon…? The lightning…" He shook his head, confused. "No no. The Lasat, Gerrera's accomplice, he was shooting my men with that bow-rifle. He left me alive."

"I flew over after it happened. Your enemies had run away. There was scorching on your men's armor but… it was the lightning."

The medical workers told her they were ready to take him.

Kallus didn't want to let go of her hand. "At least you're okay, Dara. And now you see why I didn't want you to get mixed up with Gerrera! He's dangerous! You should leave this place! Get away from him!"

"Maybe it is about time for me to move on." She squeezed his hand one last time and nodded for them to take him away.

Lux's Sister, with whom i co-wrote the story "Polaris", and I have been working hard on the sequel for that story, which will also continue the events of this one when it's finished. We have also taken a little detour and started to compile the high seas adventures of Soniee's namesake Sanya Harkon. Melaana's childhood heroine who sailed the waterways of Onderon 1000 years before the Clone Wars, battled pirates, befriended Kiras and Blackwells and made a name for herself that has lived on in legend ever since. So, drop us a line! Would you like to see that story posted? And what are your thoughts on Soniee's adventures up to this point? You know I love the comments! Let's have a chat. I'll put the shig on to boil.