Staring at the stark white helmet laying on its side just out of reach he grimaced in confusion. Everything around him was a haze of blaster fire, the cacophonous sounds of battle, and a searing pain that started from his midsection and radiated outward. Shifting against the jagged rock at his back he lifted himself with one arm before something sent a sharp wave of agony through his body. Reaching down he pressed his hand against his abdomen and lifted it away. He wished he had the ability to curse but all that comes out when he tries is a gurgling cough of red foam. Closing his eyes he lets his head fall back to the ground, gathering his resolve. There's no way anyone is coming to save him, even if he could be saved.
'All I want is to live. Live and see my brothers safe.' He wonders if it's too much to ask, if he even has the right to wish for it. Darkness clouds the edges of his vision and a startling cold is slowly creeping through him. It isn't enough to make him feel completely numb but it is almost comforting.
Just as he's finally beginning to accept his fate, giving up on the hope of anyone helping him, a bright flash of light distracts him from his spiraling thoughts. Pure white fills his vision and he wonders if he might have lost his ability to see altogether. Then he feels a hand against his head and he lets out a choking gasp. It was one of his brothers, they'd found him. He has no doubt that he won't make it, he'd glanced down at the absolute ruin of his digestive system, but at the very least he can be with a brother in his final moments. Someone who will remember him not as a random clone but as a person who had fought and died on the battlefield.
He thinks they may have placed a hand on his chest as well but he can't be sure, everything feels so distant. A gentle voice calls out to him, sounding unfamiliar but clear as a bell. "Shh, be still. I won't let you go, I've got you." Slowly a feeling he can only describe as a warm cloud chases away the cold numbness in his body and he wonders if this is what the final moments of death are like. If maybe his brothers passing had been peaceful in the end.
The warmth becomes a scorching heat and he cries out in pain. Gasping he opens his eyes and is confused by his ability to see. Hovering above him with a stern expression of concentration is a humanoid of a species he's never seen before. With skin a milky white and pale rose-gold hair that flows long over slender shoulders. Glowing lavender eyes, a sharp splash of color on an otherwise blank canvas, catch his gaze and hold him captive. As if noticing his newfound lucidity the humanoid gives him a small smile that is both reassuring and kind.
"You won't be dying today, little light." There is a gentleness in that voice he has never heard before in his life and it is both beautiful yet unsettling.
"What is your name?" Focusing on the voice and words he comes to the conclusion that the one holding him is a woman. Or maybe it is the feeling in the air around him. He can't quite decide.
"C-Clip, Sir." The smile he receives in response makes something inside his chest curl in embarrassed shyness.
"I'm Liera. Nice to meet you Clip." Slowly the warmth begins to leave him as she takes her hand away from his head and chest. Around him the sounds of battle suddenly reassert themselves as his awareness snaps back into place.
Movement behind the woman catches his eye and he has no time to think about why he's suddenly able to focus. A super battle droid comes around some of the scattered debris and aims its guns at them. Clip's eyes go wide and he grabs his gun, pulling it up to aim at the enemy. "Look out!"
What happens next completely boggles his mind.
Before he's even able to finish his warning the woman is on her feet, turned to face the threat. From her hands blinding light erupts as the droid opens fire. With the strange woman in his way he didn't dare take a shot and now his gun lays forgotten in his lap as he openly gapes. One moment she'd been right in front of him and the next? She was carving the droid into multiple pieces after deflecting its attacks.
Clip had seen Jedi on the field before, from a distance. But never had a chance to watch one up close like this. His gaze went to the weapons in her hand and he had a moment of confusion. In all of the stories he'd heard about the Jedi their weapons had one of two colors. Blue or green. But the twin sabers held by this one were blindingly white.
Turning off her sabers he woman clipped them to her belt with a look of disgust at the pile of scrap that was once a super battle droid. Turning back to him she came closer, eyes appraising him carefully. He couldn't help straightening under her gaze, trying to sit up as straight as he could. Her eyes dart down to the helmet at her feet and she hesitantly picks it up, dusting it off as she does so.
"Do you need a hand up?" She asks him, sounding hesitant and a little lost.
"No General, I'm fine." Her face scrunches slightly in confusion as she holds out the helmet for him to take with trembling hands. Getting a closer look at her he wonders if all jedi look as strange as she does. Her hair is pulled back, using a braid on either side of her head to keep it out of her face. He doesn't see the typical braid he'd been taught to associate with a padawan commander so he assumes she is either a knight or a master. The robes he's been trained to recognize are nowhere to be found. Instead she is wearing a white blouse with sleeves cuffed at the wrist, a pale cream colored vest that hugs her slender curves, and fawn colored pants to match the sash-belt around her waist. A brighter color draws his attention to her left arm and he blanches at the streaks of dark red soaked into the white fabric.
"General! Are you injured?" He blurted out, getting to his feet with a helmet in one hand and weapon in the other.
"What? No. The blood isn't mine." She's staring at him in concern and he can't figure out why. It takes him probably longer than it should to finally clue in. Looking down at his own body he gapes at the missing armor and large gash in his black undersuit. Blood stains the entire area but he feels no pain whatsoever. Where once he'd been able to clearly see his own insides there is nothing but perfectly unharmed flesh. Like the last ten minutes never even happened.
"What?" The sound that comes out of his mouth is a wholly undignified squeak. His mind reels in confusion, trying and failing to comprehend the new situation. "How?" Tearing his eyes away from his healed abdomen he gazes down at her with no small amount of awe.
"I used the Force. I'm sorry about the pain. I had to extract shrapnel from the wound and I don't have any medical supplies right now." He supposed that made sense. The force wasn't something he really understood so he just nodded.
Staring off to his right she frowns as her eyes begin to give off a faint light, as if lit from within. If she hadn't just saved his life he might have been disturbed by it. But her focus was clearly elsewhere. Her eyes flicked back to him then away again. "I can feel more weakened life forces nearby."
Letting out a small sigh she looked at him fully, eyes apologetic but determined. "I'm sorry I cannot fight with you. But I have a duty to the injured and the dying." In Clip's opinion that's not necessarily a bad thing.
"Don't worry yourself, General. We can handle the fighting." Her brows knit with a frown and she looks at him as if he's mistaken. He's surprised how expressive her face is considering the jedi are supposed to be calm and serene at all times.
"Force be with you." Nodding at him she turns away and begins running off, in the distance he can see another fallen brother is her target. For a moment he hesitates. He should be rejoining the battle fighting the seppy clankers. But… if she was going to be helping injured brothers she wouldn't be able to protect herself at the same time. The urge to protect the jedi overrode his urge to fight. Ramming his helmet on his head he followed behind her at a slow jog, eyes peeled for danger.
Kneeling next to the wounded trooper she placed her hands on his helmet to remove it but had to back away when the man startled. Catching up Clip crouched in front of his brother. "It's alright, Slick. The General is here to help." Relaxing when he recognized he was in no danger his brother allowed his helmet to be removed without fuss. Giving him a curt nod of approval he stood and kept watch on the surrounding area while the jedi worked.
From this side of things there was nothing special to see as the jedi placed her hands on Slick's forehead and chest plate. Only her eyes and the feeling in the air seemed to change at all. The feeling of warmth he recognized from his own healing but now there was an undercurrent of something else he couldn't quite place… Glancing down at his brother he took in the expression of awe on his face and it clicked. Hope. The feeling she gave off was hope. A lump formed in his throat and he had to swallow multiple times to force it away.
When was the last time he'd felt this hopeful?
A minute or two later the jedi was pulling her hands away, giving Slick a small smile. "You're good enough to move now. I've fixed the worst of the damage but I need to save my energy. You'll need a medic later for the more minor injuries." Getting to her feet she stepped back to give him room and turned her focus back to the battlefield. Like before her eyes began to give off a faint glow as they went slightly unfocused, as if she was seeing into the very fabric of reality. For all Clip knew- she was.
"Alright Slick?" He asked, reaching down to help his brother to his feet. The awed crossed disturbed look he got in return made him grin behind his helmet.
"What the fuck was that?" Clapping the man on the shoulder he looked back at the jedi with a shrug.
"I don't know, the force?" Slick gave him an unimpressed look. "All I know is that she's helping our brothers, and if she's doing that then I'm going to watch her back." Slick nodded thoughtfully and slipped his helmet back on before picking up his own weapon.
Without another word the jedi was suddenly off running again. If she'd heard their conversation she gave no indication of it. But she wasn't giving them any orders to stay away or return to the fight so they took her silence as acceptance.
They made their way across the battlefield, meandering and sometimes backtracking. It honestly made no sense to Clip but he supposed he wasn't the one with the mysterious powers so he couldn't be sure what she was seeing that he couldn't. Sometimes they would pass a wounded brother and her face would become sad. "I'm sorry, I can't help you right now." The words sounded as if they pained her to say. But they all understood, it was triage.
More brothers joined their group and Clip wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it, they were nearly a whole squad now.
There were a few times where they had to stop and fight off an unexpected attack from droids but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. While the jedi wasn't as skilled as Generals Kenobi or Skywalker she was still a jedi and able to hold her own. The fact that she wielded twin lightsabers like Commander Tano and cut down the droids with an almost vicious intent just boosted the troops approval of her.
The only thing that seemed a little odd was when she asked them to help her move a large chunk of debris. She'd seemed almost bashful when she explained her control of telekinesis was sorely lacking. So while she could lessen the weight of the large metal slab she could not actually move it out of the way. It took them a moment to coordinate but the slab was soon being shoved out of the way, freeing three trapped brothers.
The moment the slab was out of her way she bolted inside the wreckage and fell upon a trooper who was covered in blood. Immediately she removed his helmet and was closing her eyes to focus as their freed brothers eyed them curiously. Clip let the others explain as he watched the general, concerned by how desperate she seemed. His suspicions were sadly proven right as her hands fell away from their fallen brother and she stared down at him with a profound sadness that he could practically feel.
It was their first loss. Gently she closed the man's eyes, placed his hands over his chest, and placed his helmet on the ground above his head. She bowed her head and clasped her hands together, as if in prayer. "Faas nihar juehaa. Meialhaas hiif aouul lalleea." The words were spoken in a soft reverent voice and meant absolutely nothing to him. Looking at his brothers he wasn't surprised to find they had no idea what they meant either. When she was done speaking she gracefully rose to her feet. Clip noticed that her clothes were even more drenched in blood but she didn't seem to notice.
"If you have respects to pay then please do. But I cannot stay here any longer. There are more lives that need to be saved." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." In those two words he could hear the depths of sadness she felt for the loss of one clone and it left him absolutely speechless. But even as he and his brothers were trying to wrap their heads around it the jedi was already on the move. Her eyes burning with determination.
By the time the battle came to a close the jedi had saved forty-one of their brothers from the jaws of death. They lost three. He could tell that each loss affected the jedi deeply but she didn't let it stop her from moving on to the next life that could be saved. If there was anything that could convince Clip the jedi were the uncontested good guys; this did.
Orders came over the comms and they all relaxed when they realised it was over. They'd won the engagement and were all expected to report in. The medics were already collecting the wounded. Relief swept through them. Even the jedi gave them a quick smile from the ground before she was finally pulling her hands away from her latest patient.
Sidling up next to her Clip took off his helmet and clipped it to his belt, holding out his hand to help her up. "Thank you, General. My brothers were saved because of you." Looking up at him she gave him a kind smile and took his hand. As he lifted her up he felt that something was… off.
"I'm glad to help. Now then, we should… be…" From one moment to the next her presence diminished and she was falling.
"General!" Reaching out he caught her before she could hit the ground. Carefully he lifted her into his arms, sharing worried looks with his brothers. Her body was completely limp, head lolling to the side. Placing his head against her chest he could hear her heartbeat and feel the rise and fall of her breath. Letting out a relieved sigh he cradled her unconscious form to him.
"What do we do?" He wasn't a shiny but Clip was still fairly new to the 501st. He didn't know what the procedure was for a jedi suddenly falling unconscious for no damn reason. Thankfully Lieutenant Rotor was among the group who had decided to stay back and protect the jedi. Already he was barking orders and calling in for a transport back to the Resolute.
Someone offered to take the general off his hands, Clip refused to let her go.
"Don't worry, General. I've got you."
Notes:
Liera's race is one I created myself. They are a naturally force sensitive people that see the world through the force. Unlike the Miraluka the Haasufeilians don't just see a persons force signature, they see into their very being. There is no such thing as dishonesty to them because they can see directly into someone's soul. This manifests in colors and sensations that are interpreted by the individual. Haasufeilians also revere bonds, especially family bonds, and are very free with their emotions.
The people of Haasufeiliah are all milky white skinned with light hair ranging from pale blonde to pure white and have vibrant eyes of all colors. In the dark their bodies actually give off a faint glow as they are naturally bio-luminescent.
If you don't enjoy stories with OC characters as the lead then this might not be for you. I will also be quite mean to the Jedi in the beginning, so please bear with me.
This fic will have Spoilers for Truth and Valor in later chapters. You have been warned.