Esinon jolted upright, gasping for air like a fish out of water. She grappled at Cody's arms trying to figure out where she was, what was going on, where Rex was.
"Hey, hey, hey, deep breath, deep breath," Cody said, holding her shoulders and held her to the sleeping mat.
"Where's Rex? I need to see him," she panted, hanging on tightly to his gauntlet,
"Look at me, look at me," Cody said, trying to catch the panicked brown eyes, she finally came to rest on him, "Esinon, Rex isn't here,"
"Then we have to go to him, now. Right now," she said, already trying to get up off the sleeping mat. Cody held her in place,
"Hey, hey, back at me, we can't go to Rex right now. We have a mission here, remember?"
"No! Something's wrong! I have to save him," she struggled against Cody, finally getting into a sitting position, everything was falling apart. The grief, fear, and anger that she had been stuffing away for so long to keep functioning were flooding up and out. "I can't- I can't lose anybody else!" She cried, her eyes welling with tears. Her head fell, her forehead resting on his chest plate, her shoulders trembling with heaved sobs and tears dripping down her face. "I can't lose anyone else," she whispered, Cody wrapped the young Jedi up in a hug. He didn't say anything, because he didn't know what she could sense, he didn't know what she had seen, and he didn't know if Rex was ok. And that scared him.
After nearly two weeks of long and hard-fought battles, they'd actually done it. They'd actually taken the capital. Esinon had never been so relieved or pleased with herself… she only wished Obi-Wan had been around to see it happen. She was currently smirking at the Umbaran king who was scowling at her,
"I really appreciate the surrender," she said, holding up a pair of cuffs with one finger.
"Jedi scum," the king sneered, she shrugged, tossing the cuffs to Wooly.
"I've been called worse," she said, trying to keep up the facade of a smooth talker, a Negotiator. Fact was she still was rattled by the daggers of memories that had ripped her mind. She wanted to try and get to the 501st as soon as physically possible, but before that, she was going to Waxer's last known location, because none of his platoon was picking up. She would have tried to reach out to them through the force, but her head was pounding and all of her senses were scrambled. Wooly cuffed the king, "Take him down to the brig with the others,"
"Yes General," he said, giving her a nod before another trooper helped him drag the king off. The smile faded, remembering they had yet to find the tactical droid. Tomorrow there would be more work to do, always more work to do. She sighed, looking around the throne room, she pressed her comlink.
"Cody, I'm going to Waxer's last known position. I'll be back soon," she said,
"Copy that sir, we'll hold down the fort here," he said, his voice happy but tired.
"Make sure you get some sleep," she said softly, Cody chuckled on the other end,
"Same goes for you," he said, she smirked,
"No time to sleep like tomorrow," she joked, "I'm gonna go,"
"Stay safe,"
"Always," she replied, ending the transmission. She took off at superspeed, glancing down at her comlink every once and a while to make sure she was still on course, after all, she was running halfway across the planet. She finally arrived at her desired destination to see only decimation, bodies. Bodies everywhere. Discarded, cold, everything was still, so still. Some were still holding onto weapons, others had been set together against plants, and that was when she saw it, Waxer's helmet. Her foot barely tapped it and her mind warped into a memory,
She could see Rex sprinting through the battlefield with his helmet off, waving his arms wildly. She peered over her weapon in surprise, what was he doing?
"They're clones!" he yelled, what was the 501st doing here? They weren't supposed to be here! "Everyone stop firing Cease fire! We're shooting at our men!" She tore her helmet off looking around, and that's when it happened. A bolt tore through the arena of brothers, nailing her straight in the chest. She collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, and she heard the last thought Waxer had before he blacked out, rip through her mind.
'Why would Krell do this? Why would he pit me against my brothers?'
Esinon sunk to her knees, her breath tight in her chest as she reached for Waxer's helmet, fingers brushing over the small picture of Numa that was painted on the side of his helmet. She remembered how excited he had been to show her, and how proud he was of himself for painting it. She remembered teaching him to say different words in twi'lek so that he could go back to Numa one day.
She pulled the helmet into her lap, clutching it tightly. She remembered when she was little and would get bored during waiting time during missions so Waxer would give her his helmet to play with. She loved running her fingers through all the grooves, scratches, and dents that he received during battles.
When she'd received her first scar from battle she'd been upset. She didn't want the scars, they were ugly, was what she had complained. Then Waxer had proceeded to show her his first scar, a blaster bolt to the forearm.
He said he treasured the scars he received because scars told a story and the same went for her scar. She'd started to love her scars in the same way he did. They were markings of all she had survived.
She remembered the cadets on Kamino had been fascinated with her scars, especially the large one on her side from Sarrish. While they were sparring, sometimes her tunic would fly up flashing her scar.
Sharkbait had finally gotten the courage to ask where she had gotten it from. Sharkbait… she finally looked up from the ground and the silent tears of shock and grief that had been spilling from her eyes. She looked around and saw Sharkbait's still body lying not far from her, the familiar teeth on his shoulder bell. He was dead. Her cadet was dead.
She scanned the bodies, she found the cold bodies of
Push,
Rainstorm,
Zoom,
Fidget and Cosmo,
Chopper,
Sketch,
Jester, and Punch. So many of her friends… they were gone. Grief, pain, anger, and regret washed over her in unforgiving tidal waves. The electricity surged, shooting up a beam into the sky, the grief, the pain, the anger… it won.
Rex needed time away from everything. He needed a minute to breathe, to think. So he didn't know exactly why he was going back there. He remembered getting on a speeder and heading back towards that godforsaken place.
He was doing it to get Waxer's helmet for Boil, he deserved that much. So he revved the speeder faster, letting the hell hole of Umbara fade away. That's when he saw it, a brilliant beam of light shoot up into the sky, coming from the direction of the battle that had claimed so many brother's lives.
He pushed the speeder faster, someone was there. He finally reached his destination to find the person responsible for the beam.
"Esinon?" he asked. She was on her knees, sitting on her feet with Waxer's helmet clutched tightly to her stomach as she finally met his eyes, tearing her gaze from the dozens of bodies that were strewn across the field. Her stare was hollow, empty, she looked broken- no, shattered. Rex knew that look. He was used to seeing it on shinies after their first battle, gaping at the remains of their brothers strewn out before them. It was the look of pain so great that the body and mind simply couldn't comprehend it and shut down, the look of being shocked into oblivion.
"Rex?" she whispered, her head tilting slightly like she was seeing a ghost.
"Esinon, what are you doing here?" he asked in shock kneeling down in front of her. She stared at him for a moment, reaching a hand out tentatively towards his chest plate.
"Are you alive?" she whispered, touching his chest plate almost in the assurance that he was actually there.
"Yes, I'm alive, what are you doing here?" She looked around, fingers tightening around the helmet in her arms.
"I- I went to find Waxer… because he wasn't answering me, and he- I don't- I don't understand. What- what happened?" Tear tracks were still fresh on her face. Rex opened his mouth to explain, tell her everything, about Krell, the suicide missions, Fives and Jesse's almost execution, Dogma's arrest, Krell's execution, except nothing would come out. The only noise that escaped his mouth was a strangled gasp, "Rex I don't understand!" She shouted, as strangled sobs escaped from her throat. He did the only thing he could do which was wrap her in a hug, "I-I'm sorry I-I shouted,"
"It's alright, I've been wanting to do a lot of shouting myself," he said, she shuffled a little closer.
"I saw memories," she said softly, "I've been trying to put the pieces together, but I don't understand." Rex had been thinking that same phrase a lot of times,
'I don't understand.' He hadn't understood a lot of things that had happened during this mission. He thought Jedi were supposed to be the good guys, then he would look down at the small Jedi in his arms and remember he still had friends who were Jedi, who would never hurt him, who would always be there for him. General Skywalker wasn't like Krell, Ahsoka wasn't like Krell, Esinon wasn't like Krell.
"Come on, let's go back to the airbase, and I'll… I'll explain everything…" he pulled Esinon to her feet, holding onto her hand, hoping to keep her from making a decision to bolt. She was unpredictable, but she didn't look like she was going to run, instead, she stared out at the multitude of bodies. She bowed her head,
"Ni ceta," she whispered, Rex froze for a moment at the mando'a apology. One he knew but never had any use for. It was the highest form of apology one could give, this was not her fault. This was NOT her fault. Except she would always take the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders, always. He had seen it. He tugged gently on her hand,
"Come on," she finally conceded and followed after him, still clutching Waxer's helmet. He drove back to base where an agitated Fives was waiting,
"Rex where have you-" he stopped seeing a grief-stricken Esinon sitting on the speeder, "What in the name of the force is she doing here?" he asked a little panickedly, she glanced up at him as Fives came to her side. Fives gently wrapped his little sister in a hug, she didn't even have the strength to hug him back, she just sat still with her head tucked against his chest plate.
"I found her where Krell sent us last, she went out looking for Waxer and his platoon." Rex explained, "I told her we'd tell her what happened, she needs to know."
"But what are we supposed to do about… this," he motioned down at Esinon who didn't appear to be paying attention to their conversation. Rex sighed,
"She'll come out of shock soon enough, I'll go get some meds from Kix. Just get her to the briefing room, don't let her stop to talk to anyone. She's already trying to take all of the guilt of the situation on herself." Rex left for the medbay if he was honest with himself, he was almost glad Esinon was here. She was someone to take care of, she was a distraction from all the swirling thoughts in his head. He took care of other people, that's how he coped. Would Esinon be there for him if he fell apart later, yes she would, she was always there when people needed her most.
Esinon hadn't interrupted once, she sat and listened quietly the whole time. Either she had no questions, was trying to fill out the flashes of memories with the new information, or had been stunned into silence. Rex wasn't exactly sure, he'd let Fives take the job of explaining most of what had happened. He needed to talk about it. Rex was watching Esinon, trying to gauge her reactions, reigning Fives in when he needed to take it down a few notches. Fives finally finished everything, the only thing they didn't explain was who killed Krell, only that he was dead. She looked down at the helmet in her arms that she had refused to let go of.
"Where's Krell now?" she asked in a quiet voice.
"Still in the brig," She got up,
"I'll go alone," she said, starting her walk, quite quickly, towards the brig. Rex put out an arm in front of her,
"Slow down kid, you shouldn't be going down there at all," he said, she shot him a look.
"I'm going whether you like it or not," she said, "You don't have to come, but… I need some closure." Rex removed his arm from in front of her as she began her walk again, Fives shrugged, following after the young General. Rex sighed, he didn't want to see Krell's body again, but Esinon was headed down there now and he'd rather she not go alone. Esinon finally made it to Krell's cell, where the body hadn't been moved or touched, still splayed out on the floor. She stared at the body, a mix of emotions rising up inside her, she mostly felt conflicted. This Krell was not the Krell she remembered from her youth,
"Now hold it like this, there you go," Krell said, adjusting her grip on her lightsaber. Esinon stuck out her tongue in concentration as she grounded her feet.
"Like this?"
"Scoot your feet together a little bit more you're going to fall into the splits," he teased, Esinon, who was no more than five-years-old, scooted her feet together, looking up at the Besalisk Master in anticipation. "Alright, now do your basics," she shifted into first position, then second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, as Krell watched as nodded smiling as the youngling concentrated. She finished and turned to him watching expectantly, "Very good, very good!" She grinned,
"Wait! Can I try your lightsaber?" she asked, looking at his two double-bladed sabers that lay at his side.
"Maybe when you're a bit older," he said, ruffling her hair,
"So you're saying I will get to one day," she said mischievously, Krell chuckled,
"One day little one, one day," he crouched down in front of her holding up all four hands, "Now high-fours all around." she slapped each one of his hands, reaching up on her tiptoes to reach the last one. "Good job!" Nadar entered the training room,
"Master Krell, I've come to fetch Esinon," He said, Esinon ran over to him as he scooped her up in his arms. Krell grinned at the youngling as she babbled to Nadar.
"And when I'm all grown up I want a big double-bladed lightsaber!" she said, throwing her arms up. Nadar chuckled,
"I see you had fun, thank you Master Krell,"
"Of course Nadar," he replied, watching the two leave the room. Esinon tucked her head on Nadar's shoulder,
"I like Master Krell," she said, with a yawn, Nadar glanced from her to his chrono.
"I see, it is naptime for you,"
"Awwww, come on Nadar," she whined, "Can't we play a game or something instead?"
"After you take a nap," he said, she finally conceded, closing her eyes.
"Remember I want a double-bladed lightsaber when I'm big," she said, with a yawn.
"I'll remember for you, don't you worry."
"Why would you do this?" she whispered, a hand over her mouth as she stared at Krell's body,
"Because he's an evil-"
"Fives," Rex chided, Esinon glanced back at both of them.
"It was war… he wasn't like this before the war. He wasn't cold or calculating. That's why Jedi have to be emotionless because the power can go to our heads," she muttered, "I have that power," she looked down at her hands, where electricity had sparked so many times. She knew what power she had, powers of the Sith. Powers that she tried to shove back downward, "I could become that,"
"No," Fives said firmly, walking over to her, "Now you listen to me. You are not Krell, you will never be Krell, got it?" She nodded, Fives was never one to beat around the bush.
"Sir, what would you like us to do with the Jedi's body?" Bravo asked, "He is no Jedi." Esinon spat with such venom in her voice, Rex wasn't even sure it was her anymore. She recomposed herself, her hands falling to rest behind her back. She walked over to Krell's cell, closing the door and slashing the control panel with her lightsaber. She knew that the angry troopers would try to get to the cell, so she was going to lock off the body forever. She turned around taking a deep breath, scanning a row of cells, and saw Dogma sitting in one, "Dogma? Rex… why is Dogma in a cell?"
"He's-"
"I shot Krell, General," Dogma said, standing up,
"No, it was me, I shot him. Krell is dead because of me. If there is punishment to be given it is to be given to me." Rex said, stepping forward,
"General Windcaster, Captain Rex is attempting to take blame for actions that were clearly mine. If there is punishment to be given, I ask it be placed on me." Dogma interrupted,
"Dogma!" Rex barked,
"Both of you stop!" she shouted, Rex swore he saw electricity crackle around her hands. She took a deep breath, "I'm sorry I yelled." She walked towards Rex, "I'm getting to the bottom of this," she placed her hand on Rex's shoulder, closed her eyes, and reached for the memory.
The elevator descended into the brig, she stared at where Krell was standing, smiling at her. Her hands clenched, as she tried to keep a calm composure. Fives walked over to Dogma's cell and opened it, and led the new trooper over behind her with Jesse. Dogma looked broken, and hurt, his eyes lifeless. Why was Dogma in that cell now? Krell was still alive, she refocused her attention back on the memory. She stepped forward and grabbed her pistol from its holster,
"Turn around, and step towards the wall," she commanded, trying to keep her hands from shaking as her heart pounded up into her throat. I have to do this. He made me kill my brothers. This is for them. I have to do this. Rex's thoughts pounded in her mind, made him kill his brothers? What did he mean? Krell rolled his eyes before obeying, she stepped towards him, gripping the DC tightly. "On your knees." Jesse pressed the button to open Krell's cell, and the rey shield fell. The besalisk chuckled, he could sense her growing fear,
"You're in a position of power now, how does it feel?" he asked in a sickeningly sweet voice. Her hands tightened their grip on the blaster,
"I said, on. Your. Knees." she growled, enunciating each word, leveling the blaster with Krell's heart. The besalisk finally obeyed, sinking to his knees.
"It feels good, doesn't it? But I can sense your fear." Her ice-cold expression faltered for a moment, her hands shaking, this went against everything she had ever been taught. I pledge to be the best soldier I can be. I will fight for the Republic and all it stands for.
"You're shaking, aren't you?" Krell said, she tightened her grip, trying to pull herself back together. I will follow without question, all orders that are given to me. I will fight to save the Republic from harm and occupation. "What are you waiting for? The Umbarans are getting closer." I will fight for my brothers, and my future Generals.
"I have to do this," said trying to convince herself, For my brothers, for my brothers, for my brothers… Good soldiers follow orders, good soldiers follow orders.
"You can't do it can you?" Her finger came to rest on the trigger, debating on whether to lower her weapon, I will fight for my brothers. "Eventually you'll have to do the right thi-" Krell gasped as a blue bolt went straight through his heart, and he crumpled to the floor. She looked at her own blaster, wondering if she had unknowingly fired, she heard panting behind her and turned to see Dogma holding Fives's smoking DC.
"I… I had to." he gasped, his hands shaking, "He betrayed us." Fives gently removed the blaster from Dogma's hands, she turned back to the still body of Krell. Good soldiers follow orders.
Esinon fell out of the memory, all of the troopers staring at her. She thumbed the inside of her sleeve, her hands still shaking and her heart pounding. She heard an echo through the force, "A Jedi? I am no longer naive enough to be a Jedi. A new power is rising. I have foreseen it. The Jedi are going to lose this war, and the Republic will be torn apart from the inside." She blinked a couple times,
"You alright?" Fives asked slowly, she nodded,
"Yeah- yes, I'm fine," she replied,
"What did you see?" Bravo asked,
"It is valiant to try and protect Dogma, Rex. And I know why you did." Esinon said, finally turning her gaze up from the ground. "But lying to me, doesn't help me help Dogma."
"I'm sorry, sir," Rex said, she could feel shame radiating off of him,
"It's ok. I just want to do my best to protect you. All of you." she sternly, looking around at the troopers in the room. "It's about kriffing time someone protected all of you. I want to say that I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I wasn't there when you needed me most." She gave a nod to Bravo to return them to the surface. Rex wished everyone could have heard that speech, because those who didn't know Esinon, didn't want to get within a klick of her.
A few hours later…
No reinforcements were coming, they didn't exactly need any, but now Esinon was acting General of the 212th, 501st, and 673rd, it was a lot of troopers to keep track of. The 673rd had returned to their cruiser and were probably having the biggest party of their lives since their abuse was over. Esinon felt guilty that she didn't realize how abused the men in Krell's legion had been.
It was hard to not feel guilty about all of this, she should have been here. She'd heard the things that the troopers had been saying about her, the constant watching of her hands and lightsaber as if she would strike them down at any second.
She was currently attempting to come up with a plan for tomorrow. They still had to find the tactical droid, and she had triangulated a possible position. Working kept her distracted from all of the thousands of emotions swirling in her mind.
Fives had disappeared to go be angry somewhere else and find Tup. The two had quickly become friends, Tup had just lost his entire squad and Dogma… Dogma.
She got up from her chair in the command center and headed down to the brig. She averted her eyes from Krell's body before she headed into Dogma's cell, she fogged Krell's cell. She entered Dogma's cell, sitting on the other side of his cell to make sure he didn't feel suffocated. Dogma didn't get up, he barely spared her a glance, keeping his eyes on his feet.
"I still can't decide if I made the right choice," he said quietly, shuffling his feet. "Part of me feels like I did…"
"And the other?" she asked gently,
"The other part thinks I deserve what's coming to me," Esinon's muscles clenched, clones didn't get trials, he would either be executed or reconditioned.
"You don't Dogma, you did the right thing,"
"That means a lot coming from you," he said quietly, she nodded giving a soft smile, "But I guess this is goodbye, considering everything,"
"Dogma," She said firmly, "I am not going to let anything bad happen to you, I promise." Dogma looked at her and then back to the floor, feeling there wasn't anything Esinon could do even if she tried.
"I- just make sure someone looks after Tup, please? He was always there for me, and there have been a lot of stupid things that I did during this siege that I wish I hadn't. I hurt a lot of my brothers, and I shouldn't be excused from those actions."
"Everyone makes mistakes, Dogma, and I will make sure that Tup stays safe. I promise," she said, she'd made plenty of mistakes, as Commander and a General.
"I hope that something that I did during my service made you proud," she stood up, walking over to Dogma and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Dogma you made me proud every day," she said, he looked up at her smiling softly. "I need to come up with a plan, and brief everybody, but I will be back," she said firmly, Dogma knew the look in her eyes. It was the look of she had just set her mind to something. Dogma didn't want to hope, he knew it was already over for him, but something deep, deep, down knew that Esinon didn't just mean coming back after the briefing, she meant that she would come back for him wherever he went next.
"Thank you General," she nodded before exiting the cell.
A few hours later…
Esinon hadn't realized how much of her adrenaline had faded until she fell asleep during her own briefing.
"General, Esinon, wake up," Rex said, prodding her shoulder. She shot up her features guarded, "You're alright," he assured, she blinked her eyes,
"Oh sorry, that wasn't very General-like," she rubbed her eyes, "Anyways, now that we have the plan more or less laid out… I- I think I should stay here tomorrow."
"Why?" the hologram of Uno asked,
"I've seen the way the troopers look at me, how can I lead them if they don't trust me?" she asked, she was hurt to say so. Troopers who normally looked to her for inspiration were cowering away from her. She felt broken, but she needed to be strong for all her troopers, like Obi-Wan would have been. The great Negotiator, brave in the face of danger, and the rock that held the 212th together. Now she was trying to be that rock for three battalions… but she just wasn't Obi-Wan.
"Sir, respectfully, if anyone has a problem with you being our leader, they'll have to go through us first," Uno said, fiercely, Esinon sat up a little bit more. She had never heard Uno talk like that, he was usually so quiet and reserved. Maybe it was because Krell was gone.
"I think if you talked to the men, it might ease their minds a little," Rex said,
"What do I say?" she asked,
"Whatever you want," the hologram of Cody replied, she sighed,
"Ok," she pressed the PA button, "Attention all troopers, this is Esinon Windcaster." She took a deep breath, just let it flow. "Tonight, I am not speaking to you not as a General, but as a friend. I know that what Krell has done has left scars on you, it's left scars on me too. He was one of my people, but he is no longer a Jedi. I know when you look at me, all you can see is the angry flash of a lightsaber and the sick feeling of death, but I am not him. I am my own woman. A woman who cares about you, who wants to see you live, and be the amazing troopers you all are. Krell demeaned you, by calling you by your numbers, making you feel like you are expendable. You are not expendable to me. You are men. The bravest men I have ever seen. I know that what Krell has done will not heal easily, or anytime soon, and I don't expect it to. If there is one thing you can take away from this, know that I will fight to my last breath to protect all of you." She didn't know how much she would mean those words until tomorrow.
A few hours later…
She couldn't sleep, how could she? Even though her body cried out for it, her mind didn't. She walked around the empty halls of the base, everyone was asleep at this point, at least she thought they were. As she walked past the hanger she heard an angry and sorrowful scream, she stopped, backed up and poked her head inside. She saw Rex standing in the middle of the hanger, a datapad clutched in his hand. He sighed, letting out one last scream just for good measure,
"Feel better?" she asked, standing in the doorway, Rex turned around, slightly startled by the presence of the Jedi. He shook his head, and then looked back down at the datapad in his hand. She called it to her hand, a casualty count, name after name after name, Waxer, Chopper, Sketch, Jester, Punch, Sharkbait, Cosmo, Fidget, Zoom, Rainstorm, Push. Her stomach clenched, she felt like she wanted to throw up. All of Gus's squad was gone. Tup and Dogma were the only remaining members of their squad, and so were Anchor and Bean. She wished she could comfort everyone, protect everyone, these deaths were on her. "This is to fill my head. Not yours," she said, shaking it slightly. Rex looked like he was wishing he could call the pad back to his hand, but unfortunately he wasn't a Jedi.
"You shouldn't either. Especially at your age," he said, sitting down on a couple of ammo crates,
"And you should?" she shot back, coming over and sitting down next to him.
"Yes. Every single man on that list… died because of me." he said, rubbing his hands over his head, and inhaling a sharp breath.
"Rex…"
"Fives and Jesse almost got executed. And I didn't say anything. I didn't say anything ever. And all those men died because of it," he whispered, burying his head into his hands. She knelt down in front of him, resting a hand on his knee,
"Rex, look at me," she said softly,
"I have to be strong enough, I have to be strong enough," he continued to mutter, shaking his head.
"You don't have to be,"
"They trusted me, Esinon. I let them down. They're dead because of me. I failed,"
"No,"
"I failed them," he continued to mutter, his voice threatening to break into sobs, "They were my responsibility, and now they're gone. All of them, they're all gone." She pulled her older brother into a hug and the dam finally broke, Rex continued to blabber nonsense in basic and mando'a as he sobbed into Esinon's shoulder, she rubbed his back gently. Just like he had for her all those years ago on Saleucami.
She'd never been exactly good at finding the best words to comfort other people, she was better at being there. So she hugged Rex tighter, there was no point in trying to be strong for his sake anymore, they were far beyond that point. She let herself cry, for everyone she couldn't save, for Krell's betrayal, and even for Obi-Wan's death. All the emotions she thought she had been working through- correction pushing away had come right back. She missed him, he never would have let any of this happen.
The next day…
Esinon flinched as another explosion roared on the field, even though battle took her mind off the gaping hole that Obi-Wan had left in her life, she still hated all that death that replaced it.
Explosions, blaster fire, and the screaming of her men was the only thing that pounded in her head. She tried extremely hard to act like she wasn't drowning in grief and sorrow, each morning she put on a brave face and walked out among her peers. She was handling it like a Jedi should, releasing her emotions into the force, but she had a lot more emotions than the force seemed to want to take.
But she had more pressing matters to deal with, another battalion of droids was on the horizon, one last-ditch effort in an attempt to slow the Republic's imminent victory.
She'd reunited with the 212th that very morning to lead the assault from the front. She'd sent the 501st to the north taking out Separatist pods. She ignited her lightsaber giving Cody a nod, he understood,
"The General's gonna cover while we attack," he explained, the rest of the clones nodded, she jumped off the ledge, lightsaber blazing, she deflected the volley of blasts, swiftly destroying the unfortunate droids who stood in her way, she became enveloped in what she was doing, trying to let all her pent up anger out into ever swing that came down on a droid.
She didn't notice when a droid pulled out a rocket launcher and fired upon a group of troopers not far from her position.
Crimson and searing white flashed in front of her eyes, as her body flew into the air.
As her vision came back into focus, she immediately screwed her eyes shut again, searing hot pain ripping through her body, with high pitched whining in her ears making it extremely hard to regain her bearings. She could feel something warm and wet at her side, she instinctively put her hand there, she could feel blood seeping out all over her, if she survived, Drummer was gonna kill her.
She opened her eyes finally, looking down at the crimson blood that was spilling out all over her shredded, tan, robes. She placed her hand on a nearby rock, forcing her body upward, despite its cries of protests, she called on the force, pushing all the blood back inside her body, she gritted her teeth and continued. She noticed how many of her men were injured, they needed attention more than she did,
"Cody!" she shouted, with the strength she could muster.
"General!" he shouted back, she could see his armor was stained with red, blood she could tell wasn't his own.
"Get the injured to the medical bay, there's a Seppie outpost not far from here. Round up some men, we're gonna take it." he nodded, before running off.
Luckily she had managed to cover her wound with the brown cloak that was just a tad bit big for her, and in the chaos, Cody hadn't noticed the large gash that was spanning her side.
She made her way to the medical tent, finding a bottle of painkillers. She swallowed a few dry, she grimaced in pain as she waited for them to kick in, just a little more, the finish line was in sight.
She limped back out of the tent to meet back up with Cody and a group of about ten troopers. They began making their climb towards the base, the painkillers were starting to take effect, and each step was becoming less painful. They soon made it to the base, they all plastered their backs to the walls,
Esinon hovered her hand over the blast door button and numbered off three on her fingers. She pressed the button, darting inside, she stabbed and slashed through the droids as the rest of the droids were destroyed by the clones.
They quickly pressed on to the control room, they burst through the door blasters blazing, taking out the poor droids still manning their stations. Esinon used the force to ram the tactical droid into her blade, slashing it pieces in seconds.
A few commandos came flipping around the corner, one of them tackling the Jedi general, Esinon struggled trying to push it off, losing her lightsaber. She gritted her teeth, as the commando's hand dug into the wound at her side, it took all her willpower to keep from screaming. The troopers were too enveloped in trying to take out the other commandos to help their struggling Jedi.
The commando pulled a blaster out trying to aim for her heart. She managed to grab the nose of the blaster, diverting it from her heart, but she only made it to her shoulder before the droid fired, she screamed in pain, calling her lightsaber and stabbing it up into the droid's chest.
It collapsed on top of her, and she just laid there underneath the droid as she concentrated on trying to push the large amount of blood that was currently soaking her robes back into her body.
Cody rushed over pushing the droid off of her, eyeing the blaster wound in her shoulder, "I'm fine," she grunted, pulling herself back to her feet, "Let's go, I'll cover our flank." Cody nodded, as they packed up and headed back down the mountain. He didn't have room to argue since there wasn't a medic among them. The only reason Esinon offered to cover their flank was so she could hide her growing pain, she limped slowly down the side of the mountain, trying to staunch the bleeding in her side while her arm was going numb.
Each step became more and more painful as white dots continued to swim in her eyes, they finally made it back to the camp, she saw troopers still being rushed to the medical bay, they needed more help than her, she was a Jedi.
She could do this, she needed to suck it up and get immediate care to the troopers who couldn't survive like she could. "Just get to the gunship, and back to the Negotiator, then you can rest." she murmured, her arm fully numb, as she continually struggled to keep her blood inside her body.
She saw Cody waving in a gunship that was headed back to the Negotiator with those who weren't severely injured, she started to walk towards the ship, but never made it that far.
Umbara isn't over yet. The battle is just beginning.
Two cliffhangers in a row! I know, I'm mean but I've got writers block
Next up on let's make this canon corner: Not related to the chapter but, when Esinon got tired of doing push-ups with Gregor she would go sit on his back and read while he did push-ups. When she did that, Gregor quit counting how many push-ups he was doing, instead he counted how many pages Esinon had read.
'Kid, what page are you on'
'200,'
then later when Alpha would ask how many push-ups he did Gregor would say something like 'around 20 pages.'
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