The ever thickening smoke clotted her nostrils and blocked the droids from their line of sight. The only inkling of the enemy's whereabouts, was the occasional flash of blaster fire zipping overhead. Her fellow Shilli soldiers manned wheelbarrows, flipping over carts as makeshift cover with their laser tipped spears peaking just over the top. A few farmers armed with pitch forks crouched beside them, shaking with each thunderous boom.
Their montrals enhanced the sound of the explosions ten fold. Some of the villagers were obviously suffering from the overwhelming noise. Her and her fellow soldiers were trained to withstand the sheer volume with protective gear. Some just dealt with the possibility of partial hearing loss.
Whatever their circumstance, they stood as a united front to save their village. No more pointless waiting for Republic reinforcements. No more thankless rescue missions for arrogant Jedi. She scrunched her nose at the memory of the briefing with them in the bunker. After everything Shilli had sacrificed to save them, let alone stay their ally, they had asked for more. Righteous anger fuelled her. Today, they fought for nobody but themselves. And they fought alone.
"Pull back! They're taking control of the ridge!"
A couple of soldiers stumbled out of the black clouds. They waved their hands, coughing and spluttering, desperate to reach cover.
"We won't stand a chance, full retrea-" the man was gunned down by blood red lasers before he spoke another word.
The clicks and creaks of machinery grew louder. Solid metal feet pounded the earth. The smoke billowed around the expressionless seperatist soldiers. Her commanding officer cursed before shouting, "Open fire!"
The guns behind her covered the front row of skinny stick droids with electric yellow blaster bolts. Her grip on her spear was iron. She watched as the droids fell with more replacing them, simply marching over the bodies of their fallen allies. The oncoming wave had reached her cover. With a splitting battle cry, she charged the nearest droids, twirling her spear in an arc of yellow light.
She knocked blasters out of mechanical hands, zapped their heads and watched as the droids collapsed in on themselves. One after the other, she held firm. One after the other, she knocked the droids on their backsides. And one after the other, they kept on coming.
Her breath was ragged, huffing out her energy reserves with each landed a hit. They wouldn't stop coming. There was no halt to recover felled droids. There was no reasoning, no bartering with them. These monsters were programmed with instructions to kill without a thought for themselves and without mercy.
They'd even turned her into a machine. She was so caught up in the fight, in the motions of defending the point that she had failed to notice her surroundings. Shilli soldiers either side of her lay motionless on the ground. The last remaining foot soldiers were a full 10 paces behind her. She was overextended. Out in the open. Alone.
Shock ripped through her with a blaster bolt. Her arm exploded in pain as she fell to the ground. Her headgear must've been ineffective as a piercing ringing encompassed the sound of her world. Smoke burned her eyes. That must've been the reason she was crying as the droid stared her dead in the eye and raised it's blaster.
She had expected her last sight to be of red laser.
Instead, green blazed in front of her.
The whipping green light danced around a girl. Through the smoke and tears, it looked like she had wings of green light. Suddenly, a pair of hands yanked her from under her arms, dragging her back to cover. Somehow, she was still gripping her spear. The tip of it dragged alongside her legs. She pulled it closer as whoever was carrying her, turned the corner.
The figure who had carried her to cover was a young Togrutan man with yellow skin and semi-formal garbs. His face was stern, almost conflicted. The crouched position he held indicated his intention to run back into the fray.
"Get the civilians and the injured to safety! The tunnels may still be protected but travel carefully. My friend tells me she should be able to help you deal with the rest," he said to her, looking back to the droid forces.
She followed his gaze, only now realising that the angelic figure who saved her was in fact the Togrutan Jedi. She ripped through the front line of droids, all their fire now solely focused on her. It was hard to tell what a droid was "feeling" but for the first time that battle, she could almost register their fear. Her own awe was doubled by the fact that as she fought, she was protecting the trail of soldiers behind her, helping to retrieve their fallen comrades. The Jedi would point to the ones in critical condition all the while redirecting blaster bolts to the droid army.
And suddenly, the Jedi was marching forwards.
The droids stepped back.
"Uh, re-retreat! Fall back!" a fearful B1 battle droid called back. A chorus of "roger roger" followed the order but the Jedi kept following up, leaping onto B2 battle droids and slicing through them with ease. A cheer erupted from all around her as the rest of the warriors of Shilli leapt over their covers to join the young commander in battle. They flanked her from either side, crying "For Shilli! For the Jedi!"
Her jaw was slack. Their power and grace she had dismissed from the previous night was presented in full. This was what it meant to fight alongside a Jedi. This was what the legends spoke of.
"Your friend is incredible..." she whispered.
The young man nodded solemnly. "I know."
He balled fists around the small weapon in his hands and she had enough time to wonder how close they actually were. "Now go. I've got it covered here."
She stumbled in retreat, falling into step with a village mother acting as a medic. She risked one last look back to the smoking village. The ridge just above it was beginning to catch fire and she could only hope that it didn't spread to the rest of the forest let alone, Kohma's hut.
But the image lingered of the young Togrutan man, standing still amongst the smoke, a pistol clasped tight in his hands and carrying a sombreness that might've chilled the flames.
Hey everybody! Thank you for reading, I appreciate your support - something's gonna go down and ya'll aren't prepared. Until next week!