Obi-Wan laid there, his sweat intermingling with the rain water that poured over his body, though he had begun to notice it dissipating. His breathing was heavy, his adrenaline still pumping from the death-defying battle he had waged mere moments ago. As he stared up at the sky, he watched a familiar face come into view from over the edge of the platform above.
"Obi-Wan?" Ahsoka asked, a hint of caution in her voice.
"I'm alright," the man replied, a hand resting on his forehead when he glanced over at the lifeless body of Maul, whose empty eyes remained open.
Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief when she realized their greatest enemy was dead, but noticed concern on Obi-Wan's face. "What's wrong?"
"Maul has a bomb beneath the Senate Building," Obi-Wan answered. "We may only have minutes to find it before it goes off."
"That's not enough time!" Ahsoka exclaimed, her eyes wide as she came to realize their dilemma. They were too far from the Senate Building to make it there in time, much less find the bomb in the levels beneath the structure.
"Then it's up to the others now," Obi-Wan stated, his faith going to all those still fighting beyond their skyline view.
#
A Pike was sent over the railing of a rickety outer walkway on the levels below the Senate Building when a laser bolt plowed through his face. Saw lowered his rifle as he took a moment to marvel at his perfect shot, when he felt a nudge from his comrade.
"Come on, Saw," Lux said as he and several Onderon soldiers continued on their way. "We may not have long to find this bomb before it goes off."
"I hope that electromagnetic tracker of yours was worth the price you paid for it," Saw grumbled as he followed close behind the man.
"It seems to be working," Lux pointed out when he raised a finger in the direction it was sending them. According to his device, the bomb was resting in one of the repair bays owned by Republic representatives in the lower levels just below the towering Senate Building. They were rarely used, but when a senator needed repairs to their ship, the bays were there for them.
"I hear voices coming from within," a soldier spoke up as they drew near. "We may need backup."
Lux then turned to Saw. "Radio for a gunship."
Saw nodded before turning to his wrist comlink.
Lux and the others eased their way forward toward the entrance of the repair bay while Saw made the call. The voices inside made him believe Pikes were behind the bomb, but it also meant the explosive would not detonate soon since they were still inside. Lux was about to signal for the men to enter when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to see Saw right in his face.
"I saw her plant one on you back at the square," Saw remarked with a smirk as he came to stand by his friend's side.
"Is now really the best time for this?!" Lux stammered.
"I just wanted to say I'm happy for you," Saw replied, his hand inadvertently going to his neck as he thought about the subject matter. "Wasn't long ago I thought you'd end up with Steela."
"Saw…"
"No, it's fine," the man replied, but a grimace crossed his face when he thought about his dead sibling. "I failed her, and that's all there is to it. That's I'm with you all the way, so we can make sure everyone walks away this time."
"You didn't fail her. You didn't fail anyone," Lux was quick to correct. "She knew the risks involved with her duty. We all did. No one makes a sacrifice without knowing the cost of their decision."
"But she didn't sacrifice herself!" Saw abruptly snapped. "She didn't die valiantly in battle! She died with a gun to her back," he said, gritting his teeth as if someone had rammed a blade through him.
"But she knew the price of war," Lux argued. "That's what made her such a great leader."
Saw wanted to object, to say his sister had no idea what she was getting herself into, but held his tongue; he knew everything Lux said was true, even though he wanted to act as if his sister was too naïve to see the real savagery of war. "You're right. She's what kept me in line for so long, who kept my head on straight. Now… everything just sits like a layer of fog in my mind."
"Well let me clarify everything," Lux said, his tone becoming stern. "If we don't get in there and shut down that bomb, we're all going to die."
Saw blinked, then his mind snapped back into focus. "Right… right. Let's get those scumbags," he said, his sister's rifle firmly in his grip as he raised it to his chest.
Lux nodded to him before pushing past the others to the edge of the doorway. He then held up three fingers, and began to count down.
#
"No word's come in from Maul," Fife grumbled, concern growing beneath his mask as he stood guarding the behemoth of a bomb that laid within the repair bay.
"Then we prime it for detonation anyways," Ziton Moj said as he began tapping away at the bomb's console. "We knew there was a risk of our communications going haywire when we took out the tower."
Marg Krim appeared the least enthused of the three. "Let's just hurry this up and leave. Clones are popping up all over the place, and I so dislike getting my hands dirty."
Ziton laughed. "Always the biggest of wimps, you are."
"Take heed your tone!" Krim snapped, his guards raising their blasters as if they would fire. "A man needs not dirty his fists when others can do so for him."
"That's why you're a coward," Ziton growled, when he heard a beep emit from the bomb. He looked down at its console, and smiled. "Bomb's armed. We'd better get out of here."
Krim nodded for his men to return to their ship when he spotted a figure round the corner to the repair bay. It was a human, and then he spotted another, and another, and heard gunshots ring out. "Republic scum!" he bellowed, pointing to the soldiers as he backed away toward his ship, only to trip over a wire that laid behind him. Ziton was quick to turn his weapon on the bomb's control panel, lest the Onderon soldiers disarm it.
Fife rolled behind a small crate before taking aim, and fired moments later. He struck a soldier on the shoulder, causing her to spin on her feet like a ballerina before crumbling to the ground in pain. He took aim at another, but found his shoulder erupting in blue flames before he could squeeze off another shot.
Lux sent another round screaming into Fife, and watched his body collapse on the ground as other Pike enforcers stepped up to fire on his men. He somersaulted forward, below the line of laser fire as he prepared to engage the remaining enemies. Once back on his feet, he turned to his right and fired, allowing another bolt of blue plasma to rip through an enforcer. He then turned to his left, only to find a savage Falleen blasting through what few men he had brought along.
Ziton's double-barreled blaster shredded through a male soldier's chest before cutting through a woman like her body was made of little more than tissue, when he spotted Lux turning to face him. He pointed his weapon to the man, when he heard the wind crackle around him. A searing pain struck his hand, and he dropped his weapon as a result. Glancing about, he spotted another soldier near the entrance to the repair bay, along with a smug look on the man's face.
"I don't think so," Saw remarked as he pointed his rifle in the Falleen's direction, this time aiming for his head.
It was then that Ziton revealed a small device from his hip, and chucked it toward the ground at his feet. The device erupted, sending smoke in all directions before his enemies could strike a killing blow to him.
"I can't see him!" Saw called out, a hint of concern in his voice as he desperately searched for the enemy. He knew the longer it took to find him, the more likely another of his comrade's would end up dead.
"I'll get him," Lux replied as he threw himself into the mist, the flashlight on his pistol illuminating the haze while he attempted to find their adversary. He looked all about, his body low to the ground as he tried to keep out of the line of fire. He whipped about in each direction, making sure his flanks were covered, when he heard a loud, thumping footstep from nearby. He turned with his pistol raised, only to feel a hand grab hold of his throat. He was lifted off his feet, and forced to look into the sinister eyes of Ziton as the Falleen brought him out of the mist.
Ziton stomped into the middle of the repair bay, Lux held within his grasp like a trophy. "Drop your weapons!" he demanded of the Onderon soldiers.
Saw shook his head in frustration at Lux, though he knew he would have done the same were their roles switched, and began lowering his weapon when he heard engines come up behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted one of the U-wings they had used for defense at the plaza arriving at their position, its side doors opened to reveal a manned E-Web inside.
Lux smiled at the newly arrived help, and upon noticing Ziton's distracted expression, pushed against the Falleen's body with his legs. He shoved himself free of Ziton in the span of a second, and stumbled across the ground as he tried to get clear. By the time Ziton had turned to reach out for him, laser fire from the E-Web had already begun to tear through his body.
When Lux returned to his feet, the repair bay was theirs. The only enemy left was Marg Krim, whose arms were up in surrender. Lux was quick to approach the figure and direct him toward the bomb. "How do we stop this?"
Krim quaked in fear. "You can't! My associate blasted the only way of disarming it."
By then Saw had arrived at their position, and a look of horror was on his face. "Well… well what do we do now?"
Thinking on his feet, Lux pointed a finger to the ceiling as if he had an idea. "We evacuate the plaza."
"No time!" Krim snapped. "The bomb will go off any minute. The only people we can save are ourselves!"
Saw sneered in the Pike's direction. "You just don't wanna be left behind when this thing goes off."
"Look, none of us want to die today," Krim said while at the mercy of Lux's blaster. "There is no way of disarming it, and no way of blowing out its systems. Nothing short of a rocket will pierce that device's plating."
"He must be lying," Saw accused, ready to shoot the Pike himself when Lux intervened.
"Why would he lie when his own cowardly life's on the line as well?" the man questioned.
The group heard beeping from the bomb, and Saw stepped toward the device to check its timer. Color drained from his face when he realized what little time they had left. "If we can't evacuate the plaza, then we need to get this thing out of here."
"How?!" Lux questioned.
Saw's face was devoid of emotion as he pointed to the U-wing. "We'll use that." He then ordered the soldier on the E-Web to dismount and give him a hand. "We'll tie the tractor cable to it, and fly the thing on out of here." He and the soldier went to work wrapping the cable around the bomb, and activated the vessel's weak, yet effective tractor beam system. It was only then that concern began to peek out on Lux's face.
"That's a one-way trip."
Saw failed to make eye contact with him while he finished attaching the bomb to the U-wing.
Lux's jaw was left agape as he realized Saw's plan, and he was horrified. "Saw…" When the man did not look at him, he tried to intervene. "Saw, you don't have to do this."
"Yes, I do," the man said, his back to Lux as he prepared to step inside the ship.
"No…" Lux uttered, devoid of emotion as he tried to figure out an alternative. "No, I won't let you."
Saw whipped around, a pistol in hand as he raised his arm to Lux. His arm was shaking, his teeth gritted as he tried to control himself. "There's no time to discuss this!" he snapped. "The bomb's got less than a minute on its clock. I need to go, now!" He then had the pilot step out, and was about to climb inside the cockpit when he looked to his other hand, which still held his sister's rifle. He turned back toward Lux for a brief moment, and allowed Steela's rifle to crash against the floor of the repair bay before he took to the U-wing's cockpit. Once inside, he fired the engines on full power, and pulled away from the hangar with the bomb in tow. At first, it did not budge. It took Saw firing the ship's engines on full power to bring about any change in movement from the bomb, and even then it skidded harshly along the ground before tipping over the edge of the repair bay, and nearly yanked the U-wing from the sky when it fell. However, Saw was able to gain control of it, and began climbing through the sky.
Once his friend was gone, Lux kneeled down on the ground at the entrance to the repair bay, his gaze toward Steela's rifle. A drop of water crashed against the weapon's barrel, and Lux was forced to wipe away tears as he came to terms with what was about to happen. He had lost one dear friend fighting for Onderon, and now he was about to lose one more fighting for the Republic.
It was then that Lux activated his comlink. "Saw, why?" A moment later, a static-filled voice answered from the other end of the line.
"This is what I want, Lux. I'm happy for you, for everything you've got. But me?... All I have are the men and women I call my family. I wasn't about to let anyone else take the fall for this one. It's gotta be me," the man said, his voice slightly choked up, but committed all the same.
Lux stepped to the railing outside the repair bay and watched as Saw's U-wing ascended higher into the air, far beyond the reach of the plaza. A brief glimmer of hope filled him when he realized Saw could detach from the bomb if he made it to orbit, but realized how unlikely that was. Still, he felt the need to say it. "Make it to orbit, and you can drop the bomb."
He heard Saw laugh on the other end. "Always hopeful to the bitter end, I see."
Lux felt his tears returning to him as he looked into the open air. The dark, gloomy clouds that had once coated the skies of Coruscant were beginning to dissipate, allowing him to see the U-wing clearly, even as it flew higher and higher through the atmosphere. Knowing the time was nearly upon them, he looked to his comlink one last time. "Steela would be proud of you, Saw."
"Steela would be proud of all of us," Saw replied, and swallowed on his end as if to prevent getting choked up. "You were the best comrade a guy could ever have, Lux." Saw smiled to himself, a tear in his eye as he came close to orbit. "See you on the other side," he said, when his comlink cut out. He had almost made it to orbit, so close, and yet so far.
Lux looked up at the sky, and watched a flash of light blot out the world above him. The detonation sent clouds tumbling across the sky, with gusts of wind blasting against the walls of skyscrapers, causing them to sway in the violent aftermath of the explosion. Yet, despite the size of such a bomb, no harm inflicted the city. The bomb had gone off high enough in the atmosphere that its only effect on people was temporary blindless from the light.
Yet, despite what he knew to be true, Lux found himself going to his comlink. He selected Saw's frequency, and called out to him. "Saw?" he said, his voice shaky. Nothing but static. He knew he was gone. "You did it, Saw." He smiled as a tear dripped down his cheek. "You did it."
#
Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were sitting on the roof of the Senate Offices when Anakin and the others finally arrived.
"You're both alright!" Anakin exclaimed as he leaped out of his gunship and ran to them.
Hunter and the others watched the trio embrace each other, his mind filling with the memories of comrades he could no longer share a moment with like the Jedi could. In one day, two of his men had been stripped from him, and though he never showed it to the generals, it hurt more than any plasma bolt ever could.
Anakin pushed away from the pair when he remembered the enemy they had faced off against. "Where's Maul?!" he uttered, a look of surprise on his face as he realized the Sith likely escape, again.
"Dead," Ahsoka answered, but there was no smile on her face. They were peacekeepers, not killers, and therefore no joy could be had for the death of another.
As for the clones, a miniature celebration broke out aboard their gunship when they overheard the generals. Ahsoka simply rolled her eyes at the men as her gaze returned to her friends, men who had been by her side since the beginning.
Anakin kneeled down before his former padawan, and a bright smile on his face emerged. "I am beyond proud of you, Ahsoka. You saved the lives of countless today, including my own."
"I could be saying the same thing," Ahsoka replied, and a smile of her own emerged.
It was then that Anakin broke eye contact. "If only I could have saved Padme…" The roaring engines of a gunship approached the group, and they all looked up to see a 332nd vessel circling the building. A moment later, Anakin saw his comlink light up.
"General, this is Gaz," the pilot said as he circled the area. "I have news on your wife."
Anakin's smile evaporated, his mind attempting to cope with the sadness he knew he was about to experience when he heard Gaz's words. It was one thing to believe his wife was dead, but it would be a whole other struggle to deal with when someone confirmed the source of his greatest pain. "She's dead then, isn't she?" He closed his eyes as he braced for the truth.
"What?" Gaz asked, his voice conveying genuine confusion when he spoke. "No, sir. She's in perfect health, and has finally given birth."
"What?!" Anakin's eyes shot open, a shocked look on his face as he felt his body go numb. Emotion poured over, and he wanted to shout at the top of his lungs with joy. "Is it a boy or a girl?"
"Both."
"What?"
"She's given birth to twins, sir," Gaz reported.
The skies were clearing, and gunships were racing all about in triumph when Anakin's smile returned to him. "She's alive…" he uttered, grinning ear to ear with happiness as he crumbled to his knees, tears of joy streaming down his cheeks as he broke down. "I'm a father."
#
Broken to the core by the chaos of fighting their own brothers, the remnants of the Coruscant Guard threw down their weapons as their conflicting emotions of defeat, loss, conflict, duty, and survival overwhelmed their minds. What remained of Crimson Dawn did the same, and with Commander Doom finishing up his sweep of the streets, the battle for Coruscant was finally over. They had won.
Rex found himself standing atop a fall statue as his men surged forward to round up the prisoners, and felt a presence by his side a moment later while he looked out on the world. "We did it," he said, knowing well enough that the man beside him was Cody.
"Yeah, we did, didn't we?" Cody remarked, his blaster on the ground as he removed his helmet. His scar was still as prevalent as ever when he turned to his comrade. "Against all odds, we took back our home, and we stopped the greatest evil this galaxy's ever known."
Rex pulled his helmet over the top of his head and held it in his hands, his gaze to the ground while his mind raced. "To think, though, that we'd come so close to losing everything. If not for Echo, the Jedi would never have learned of Order 66 until it was too late."
"We can't worry about what might've happened," Cody tried to argue, but Rex seemed to be in even more disarray than before.
"But now I'm beginning to think of all those who gave their lives for this," Rex said, his voice becoming weak as he spoke. "So many brothers pointlessly killed, and so many more killed by one another, for what? I mean, look around us." The pair glanced about the battlefield, only to find the corpses of fellow brothers in every direction. There were thousands of them. "To think, if we'd have just stuck to the script, our brothers would still be alive." He heard a sniffle come from Cody, and turned to face him.
Cody looked to his friend, his eyes watery as his lips quivered. "But our family wouldn't be." He was on the verge of tears, yet no tears fell. Instead, he puffed out his chest as he inhaled, and looked out toward Coruscant's star as it rose over the edge of the horizon.
A new day. At last.