Deep inside the Sith Temple on Korriban, Darth Sidious was meditating. This was not the serene, peaceful meditation of the Jedi, who sought to commune with the Force and find inner peace and enlightenment. No, this was the meditation of the Sith. Sidious sought to bend the Force to his will. To impose his desires upon it. He had once thought that he had succeeded in doing so. But events at the Jedi Temple had shown him how far he truly was from forcing the Dark Side to do his bidding. Now, he was trying again.
It was while he was meditating that he felt his Apprentice's fear spike through their training bond. That was followed by a short burst of panic that she quickly, and ruthlessly, crushed. "Now, what could make Darth Aella feel like that?" Sidious wondered. Extending his presence through their bond, something he was very careful to make sure that Aella could not do, he allowed himself to feel what his apprentice felt. It was the Jedi. Hundreds of them. Cursing himself for a fool, Sidious realized what he should have known a month ago. The Jedi could never ignore an event like Caamas. They would have to respond, to prevent it if they could, to save as many innocents as possible if they couldn't. He had been thinking far too much like a Sith of old. That the Jedi would ignore the innocents to strike at him, reasoning that killing the Sith would stop the bloodshed and save more lives in the long run. But that wasn't how the Jedi operated. Oh, he had molded Skywalker to think that way, but Skywalker likely wasn't on the Council and couldn't influence the Order as a whole. And that was assuming that he even still thought like that.
On the other hand, this was a golden opportunity. If he could get more of his fleet in place, he and Aella could deliver a crushing blow to the Jedi. A nearly feral grin crossed Sidious' ruined face as he contemplated what he could do. Rising to his fleet, he quickly commed his fleet and ordered Grand Admiral Josef Grunger to prepare to enter hyperspace immediately upon his arrival.
_
On board the assault shuttle, Clone Captain Rex, Grand Army of the Republic, went over the mission one more time. This one was a little different from what he was used to. Technically, they weren't expecting to have to fight. They were here to evacuate as many of the Caamasi as possible. Of course, doing that in the middle of a Base Delta Zero strike wasn't much different than any other battle he'd been involved in. Just maybe more dangerous. And of course the Imperials had begun their bombardment over the most heavily populated area of the planet. And that was exactly where they were headed to as well. Several turbolaser blasts had flashed right by their shuttle already and rocked it as they went.
Looking at Commander Ky, he noticed that she was breathing pretty heavily and seemed a bit frightened. "That's odd," he thought. "Surely, by now she should be used to this kind of thing?"
"Are you alright, Commander?" he asked the Padawan. He wasn't prepared for her response. When she looked up, she looked scared.
The question from the Captain startled Seryana. She had been trying, and failing, to meditate, to calm her nerves. She knew how she looked to the experienced officer. Making a concerted effort, she flippantly responded, "Oh, sure! What's there to be worried about?"
"Not good," Rex thought. It was worse than he thought. Deciding to try and get her mind off whatever it was that was bothering her, Rex tried to engage her in some small talk.
"So who were you with before General Skywalker?"
"No one. I was in the Jedi Service Corps as an Explorer. I was just made Master Skywalker's Padawan yesterday."
Rex momentarily froze and felt his blood go cold. "Well, that explained the General's worrying about her." For the life of him, he couldn't understand why General Skywalker would send someone so inexperienced with him on such a dangerous mission.
Seeing and feeling Rex's reaction, and realizing the blunder she had made, Seryana quickly tried to put him somewhat at ease. "I'm not as raw as you might think. I've already fought and beaten a Sith onTatooine. Sliced his hand off and took him captive. I can handle myself. I've just never had to do something like this is all." Seryana saying that last part with a vauge gesture towards the planet below.
For his part, Rex was only partially mollified. While he was relived that she at least had some fighting skills if they were needed, he was worried about her judgement otherwise. He decided on an old policy, one every officer in every military in the galaxy used, "Trust, but verify." He'd trust her to do the right thing, but he was sure as hell going to check everything she did. Assuming both he and General Skywalker survived the next few hours, he intended to have a very pointed discussion with his general when he got back.
"No problem, Commander. Just stick close and listen to what we tell you and you'll be fine."
"Thank you, Captain. I will."
_
"Well, that was a wonderful start." Seryana thought. She saw Rex stiffen when she told him that she had only been a Padawan for a day. "Great, now I'm going to have two people watching me." She really did try not to let herself feel resentful about it. But if she was being honest with herself, she still was. A little anyway. Just then another turbolaser blast rocketed by the shuttle. Would have hit it too if the pilot hadn't jerked them out of the way at the last instant. Seryana gasped as the shuttle jerked hard and then hung her head. "Who was she kidding? She was terrified. She had to get control of her emotions. She could practically hear Yoda telling her clan all those years ago that 'Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. The path to the dark side that is.'"
Taking a deep breath, Seryana did her best to center herself and calm her mind and her racing thoughts. They would be landing at any moment. Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, who was commanding the ground forces, had already begun broadcasting a signal to the surface. Warning that the Empire was conducting a Base Delta Zero strike that would reduce the planet to molten slag in a matter of hours. The message included instructions on where to assemble and to be prepared to board shuttles as rapidly as possible. Once they landed she and her troopers would have to quickly exit the shuttles, cram as many people into them as they could, get them back in the air and prep the next group for evacuation. On top of that she, or rather Captain Rex, would have to detail some troopers to clear her assigned section of the city before it got slagged and get everyone back to the evacuation zone.
As the shuttle came in for a landing Seryana looked out and saw a massive crowd clamoring to be evacuated. And it was getting larger as the fires all around them grew. Stealing herself as the ramp began to lower, she thought to herself, "Master Skywalker was right. It was going to be hell."
_
The noise was practically unbearable. The turbolaser blasts impacting the city. The screams from those fleeing in terror. And worse, from those trapped and dying. Jedi Master Cin Dralig had never heard, seen or felt such utter fear, pain, suffering and hatred before in his life. And the smells! Smoke, plasma, dust, sewage, blood and burning flesh mingled together to form a noxious miasma that was practically enough to make him retch. Already too, he could feel the heat from the firestorms that would sweep the planet very soon. If there was a hell, Caamas was surely doing an admirable representation of it.
In the sky above, if he looked hard enough, he could see the flashes and explosions as Skywalker's fighters clashed with the Imperial Fleet. The bombardment had lessened noticeably since Anakin had launched his attack. He assumed that the Admiral commanding the fleet above had repositioned his fleet to deal with the incoming threat. But some ships were still firing at the surface. Though from significantly higher, reducing the effectiveness of their strikes. A small blessing, but he would take what he could get.
In the time since they had landed the crowds, if anything, had grown. And this despite the fact that the dozen shuttles under his command had already made one run up to the waiting frigates and were halfway loaded again. Though their Theta-class shuttles normally only held sixteen passengers, they had crammed nearly sixty into each one, using every inch of available space to do it. They had evacuated seven hundred from the planet so far. The frigates had flown here with skeleton crews on board, so could hold more than normal. In addition, the hangers would also be used for space for the refuges. And so would every other nook and cranny they could find. All told, they were expecting each frigate to cram several thousand beings into them. Master Dralig felt sorry for the less than hospitable conditions they would have to endure on their circuitous route back to Tython, but reminded himself that being cramped for a week or so was far better than being dead for an eternity.
Across the landing field, he could see Master Skywalker's new Padawan working with Captain Rex. She looked like she had her hands full. Several times he saw her put her hand on the Captain's shoulder as if to restrain him from rushing off. Thinking on it, that made sense. Rex had just had his leg replaced a few weeks ago. By rights, he should still be back on Tython. But from all he had heard about him, the man was as stubborn as Anakin and could not be kept away. If that was all the young Padawan had to deal with, he would have left it alone. But she was also trying to organize the Caamasi around her into some kind of order to make loading the shuttles easier. Families, young people and scholars had priority for the shuttles. Of course, that was in an ideal situation. And this was anything but. Sighing to himself, Cin Dralig made his way over to the frazzled Padawan.
_
Seryana was growing desperate, and the evacuation had only just started. They had evacuated seven hundred terrified Caamasi from the planet so far. But the crowds were larger than before they started. And all of them were clamoring for a spot. Master Skywalker's warning to her was all too true. She was being forced to decide who got a space on the shuttle and who didn't. It was terrifying. And the Force! The Force was screaming in a way that she couldn't remember since the night the Temple fell. And even then, she hadn't felt it as strongly. Probably because her connection to the Force wasn't as strong or active then a small part of brain told her. But now, she could feel the pain, suffering and death around her intensely. She was doing her best to block it out, but everytime she tried, she felt her connection to the Force dim and weaken as well. She was still too clumsy with some of her shielding techniques to do what she needed to.
"Padawan, you look like you could use some assistance," she heard a voice from behind her say. Turning, she saw it was Master Dralig. With a sigh, she sagged with relief.
"Yes, Master. I do. I'm drowning here..." she said. Unfortunately, she couldn't finish the thought as the shuttle besides her closed it's ramp just then and the shuttle itself rocketed up into orbit to deliver another precious cargo. The sound of the engines had drowned out the rest of what she said.
Lucky for her, Master Dralig had gotten the gist of what she said. Bending down and looking her directly in the eyes, he grabbed her upper arms and told her, "Breathe, Padawan. Keep your focus here and now. Concentrate on what you're doing and how many lives you're saving. These people are looking to you now. They don't see a frightened young Padawan. They see a Jedi. A symbol of hope. That is what you have to be now. They look at you and they see hope. The robes and lightsaber you wear mark you as something different, something special. And those around you will draw strength and comfort from you because of that. Remind yourself constantly of the good that you're doing here. Think of how many will be alive tomorrow because you were here today. Be strong for them now."
Before Seryana could even respond, Master Dralig had turned and walked away back to where he was needed. But his words stuck with her. Heeding his advice, Seryana took a deep breath, well, as deep as she could considering how fetid the air around her was, refocused her mind and got back to work. That's when she realized that Captain Rex was no longer there. The first thought to cross her mind was, "Anakin's gonna kill me."
_
Rex knew he shouldn't have run off the way he did. And he knew he was going to hear about it later from both the Padawan and, more importantly, General Skywalker. But what choice did he really have? One of his squads had radioed in that they were pinned down by burning debris and needed help. On top of that, this particular squad had just evacuated an orphanage and was loaded down with kids. There was no way he was just going to abandon them. He supposed he could have sent a couple of his men to scout out a path and get the missing squad back, but they were already short handed at the evacuation point. Better for him to do it himself. At least that was what he had told himself.
But that had been six klicks ago. And his leg was hurting now. But he was a soldier. And a damn good one. No way would he quit now. He thought he had found a way through to his trapped squad, but there was a massive mound of debris between him and them. Judging by the position indicators on his helmet display, his squad and the kids were only separated from him by about ten meters. He thought he saw a path, sort of, that led to the top of the mound. It looked like the debris narrowed there, they might be able to dig through to each other. Rex nearly jumped out of his skin when a hand landed on his shoulder.
He had been so absorbed in trying to figure out a way to get to his people, and doing his best to ignore the pain in his leg, that he had completely failed to notice anyone coming up on him. He made up for that with his reaction. He spun towards the figure while simultaneously leaping backwards and swinging his blaster up. The only thing that stopped him from instinctively pulling the trigger was the familiar brown robes and lightsaber of a Jedi. Afterwards, he would find the shocked the expression on the Padawan's face at his reaction hilarious. But at the moment, he was trying to get his heart rate back down.
"Kriff, Commander! Try not to sneak up on me like that. I almost put a bolt into you!" Rex told the Padawan.
"Sorry. But what are you doing out here?" asked Seryana.
"Trying to rescue a trapped squad with a bunch of kids, Sir."
"I know that. What are you doing out here? Master Skywalker gave us both strict instructions Captain."
"Yeah, I know. But I'm not leaving my brothers behind. And the rest of my men were needed at the evac point. Question, Commander? If you're here, who's in charge of the evacuation?"
"Sergeant Fox. You do realize that Anakin is going to kill us both when we get back, right?"
"Probably."
"Alright. Just so you know. They're on the other side of this?" Seryana asked, nodding her head towards the mound of debris.
"Yes, Sir. Looks to be a bit narrower up top. And the Squad Leader on the other side says the debris stops about the same height as the roof in here."
"Ok. Lets go take a look."
As they turned to climb up to the top, Rex felt the pain in his almost double. "Kriff, he should have listened to those damned medics back on Tython." Grunting with each step, he slowly made his way up. When he saw the Commander giving him an odd look, he waved it away and told her simply, "Old injury. Don't worry about it."
Seryana had just opened her mouth to call him out on the bald faced lie, but at the last second thought better of it. She needed him right now, and unnecessarily pissing him off wouldn't help her any. As they reached the top, they could see where the debris mound narrowed from ten meters to about seven. That still left a lot of material to move though. "Unless..." thought Seryana. Looking up, she realized that the ceiling of this room was nothing more than the floor of the one above it. She could cut a hole in the floor between the girders with her lightsaber, have Rex give her a boost and then cut another hole in the wall above the debris and pull everyone up. Of course, that's assuming the floor above them was clear and not piled with debris. If it was, and she cut through it, she'd bury them both alive. "Kriff, she hated decisions like this."
"Problem, Commander?" Rex asked.
"Well, we've got two options," replied Seryana. "We can try and dig through about seven meters of debris made up of Force knows what, or I can cut a hole in the ceiling with my lightsaber and we pray that that the floor above us is clear. Opinions?"
It was at times like this that Rex was very glad for his helmet. He was pretty sure the young Jedi Padawan wouldn't much appreciate the grimace on his face right now. Giving the Jedi a noncommittal grunt, he held up a finger and commed his cut off squad to see if they had a better view. But as it turned out, they didn't. What they did have was an approaching firestorm and the need to get out of there yesterday. His Commander didn't look pleased when he told her the situation.
_
Seryana heard the report from Captain Rex with mounting apprehension. She needed to decide and decide now. When it came right down to it, she really couldn't risk it. They'd have to get through the rubble. She and Rex began yanking as much debris out of the way as they could while the squad, and even some of the kids, did the same from the other side. Seryana was finding new uses for her lightsaber too.Whenever she came across a chunk too big to handle, she took her lightsaber to it, slicing it through, breaking it into smaller, more manageable pieces. Between all of them, they'd managed to dig through about a meter and a half of debris when the trapped squad radioed in and said the firestorm was almost up on them.
When Rex told her that, Seryana's heart sank. It wasn't enough. They couldn't get through to them. There was just too much debris and not enough time. She looked at the wall with despair in her eyes, tears starting to roll down her face, leaving streaks in the dirt, dust, soot and grime that coated every inch of her.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She screamed. She was not going to abandon them! She would not let the Sith get away with this. Looking at Rex with an almost feral look in her eyes, she told him, "Tell the other squad to move clear. I'm not very good at this, but it's their only shot."
With that, she stood in front of the debris and braced her feet apart. Calling upon the Force with all her might, she pulled her right hand back and then threw it at the wall, blasting at the wall with every ounce of Force Energy she could muster. The debris creaked and shifted, dust flew up from it, small pieces poured down like rain. Twisting her body, she threw her other hand it, hammering at the wall with the Force. The debris started to shudder and lurch. Sucking in a great breath of air, Seryana drew both hands back, arched her back and then violently threw her body and arms forward, the Force making a tremendous boom when it hit the wall, pieces of debris, some as small as a hand, others as large as a speeder flew out and away, hurled nearly a hundred meters across the open, cavernous space. And there, before her, a small hole, just big enough for one being at a time to climb through was open.
Sagging with relief and exhaustion, Seryana smiled at Rex. "Get them through," she panted.
"Already on it, Commander," Rex told her. "Catch your breath, eh?"
Nodding and giving him a half hearted wave, Seryana found a somewhat level spot and dropped down on it, sitting to catch her breath. As she watched, the first of the rescued children came through the hole she had blasted in the debris. The Clones were certainly hurrying. In no time at all the rescued children and the Clones had all made it through. And just in time too. The flames from the approaching firestorm were practically licking at their heels as they came through the hole. The troopers and Seryana scooped up the children in their arms and started to run. They had to stay ahead of the flames and get back to the evac point as soon as possible.
Panting with exertion, the troopers and Seryana made it back to the evacuation site. Behind them, the city and the very ground it stood on burned. Smoke was choking the air. And as the ships in orbit continued firing, moving ever closer, the air was getting hotter. The superheated plasma of their turbolasers blasting the world apart, vaporizing dirt and dust, making water flash to steam, and slagging rock, durasteel and everything else in their path into rivers of lava. The only saving grace so far had been that only a few ships were firing at the surface. The rest were in a defensive posture to counter the attack Master Skywalker had launched.
After seeing the children placed safely on the transports, Seryana and her troopers had gotten back to the task at hand. In the time they had been gone, nearly two hours, over three thousand had been evacuated. In addition, several shuttles and private ships had been found, ones that the Empire hadn't already blown apart (their first blasts had targeted the space ports), and been pressed into use, letting more Caamasi be evacuated. But the crowds were still enormous. And it suddenly dawned on Seryana that they wouldn't be able to save everyone. That in another few hours, at most, she would be forced to either evacuate more Caamasi and consign herself and her men to their deaths, or order her troopers onto the last shuttles and abandon anyone left to their fates. It was enough to make her cry.
_
On board the Perseverance, Commander Tel Daggoth watched from the bridge as thousands of Caamasi streamed onto his ship. Under normal circumstances, an Acclamator-class Assault Ship could carry sixteen thousand Clone Troops. But his command, and the circumstances, were anything but normal. With the modifications that had been made to the ship, and considering the fact that they were conducting an emergency evacuation, both General Yoda and Commodore Sykes were expecting him to fit over fifty thousand on board. It was doable. Just. If he assigned three Caamasi to every rack, rotating who got to sleep in eight hour shifts, that would give him room for forty-eight thousand. Doing the same with the crew would give him another fourteen hundred. And that still left the entirety of the hanger bay, the classrooms, the simulators and every other space that wasn't absolutely critical to the operation of the ship.
Privately, he wanted to fit between sixty and seventy thousand onboard. He thought he could do it. His only concern was having enough provisions, especially water, for everyone. He'd run the calculations, and if they fit everyone on that he wanted to, they'd have to be on very strict rationing to stretch their supplies until they arrived back on Tython. But if he pulled this off, not only would it go a long way towards ensuring the survival of the Caamasi as a species, but it would do his own career and chances for promotion no harm either. A year ago he'd be a junior lieutenant on a corvette. Being outspoken against the New Order had earned him a jail cell on Carida. But then, in just a few short months, he'd gone from a junior officer to being the Executive Officer of the fleet flagship, and now he had a command of his own. And as much as he liked having his own ship, what he wanted was a Star Destroyer. And sooner or later, he knew that their little fleet would be getting some. When that time came, he wanted to make sure he was the first person thought of to command one.
Turning his mind back to his task at hand, he asked his XO, a young Deveronian woman that had been imprisoned with him, what the status was on the loading. He was pleased at the reply. So far, over twenty-thousand were aboard. One third of the way there. He only prayed that they would have enough time to complete their mission before the turbolaser induced firestorm swept over the entire planet.
_
Jedi Master Djinn Altis was up to his eyeballs in refuges. And he wouldn't have it any other way. He had brought his ship, the Chu'unthor down to the surface to load as many as possible as fast as possible. He had also detailed his lone shuttle craft to help with the general evacuation, giving Master Yoda an additional ship to help speed things along. And rescue a few more at the end. While his ship was nowhere near as large as the Assault Ship that the Order had managed to lay their hand on, he could fit perhaps six or seven thousand on board. Coupled with the four thousand that each of the frigates were expected to have and Force knows how many the Perseverance was going to fit, quite a few Caamasi would live to see another day. Enough to at least ensure the survival of their species.
Djinn had to remind himself that at the moment, he was walking a very fine line. While he always was and always would be a Jedi, he did not agree with the Order's stance on emotion. And at the moment, he felt nothing but revulsion and anger at the Empire for what they were doing. It was very hard to keep that from spiraling into full blown hate. While he liked to tell himself that he was still on the side of the Light, if he was being completely honest, he knew he was more Grey than anything else anymore. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Some of the greatest Jedi to ever live had been Grey. Revan and his wife, Bastilla Shan for example. They had most certainly both been Grey Jedi. So was one of their closest companions, Jolee Bindo. In fact, one of his most prized possessions was a text written by Bindo detailing his journey with Revan and his philosophy on the Force. He used it to show his students that there was a vast distance between the rigid light and dark philosophies normally espoused by the Jedi and Sith. That it was possible to exist in that space, while still upholding the ideals of the Jedi. He had to remind himself of that now. To keep himself from slipping too far and letting the negative emotions he was feeling take root.
Shaking his head as if to clear his melancholy thoughts, Master Altis redoubled his efforts to save as many as possible. Several of his students, he preferred that term to the more formal "Padawan," were outside busily organizing the refugees into some kind of order. Turning on his heel, he headed out himself, seeing what his followers did not. The refugees were on the verge of panic as they, one by one, realized that there wasn't room for them all. For Djinn Altis, he would don the mantle of Jedi Master one last time and do his best to calm those present. Even if that meant staying behind with them to show that that they were not alone.