Kiss Tahiri For Me
© Kaz, 2003

"Anakin!"

Her voice pierced through the all the noise, through the roaring of the Force inside my body, like a scream. As much as I would've loved to turn around and run off with her, my brother Jacen, and my friends --- Tahiri, most especially --- I knew that I just couldn't. I had to stay behind, to make sure that they were going to get their mission accomplished in time. Go! I compelled her, using the Force as my communicating device once again. She's getting away!

As more Vong came into my line of sight, I let the blaster in my hand fire as much as it could and as much as it would. I had to keep them away. Away from my siblings and friends, who I care for a lot. I might not show it the way some other people do, most especially towards Jacen --- we might have different points of view about the Force but that doesn't mean I care for him less --- but I do. More than words could ever manage to convey.

A second later, a razor bug came my way and planted itself on my shoulder. My jumpsuit, which was already torn and tattered from the Force that radiated from my body ever since I opened myself to it, got itself damaged even more. Despite that, I continued to fire, countering the Vong's assault of thud bugs and amphistaffs.

I switched weapons in mid-air, dropping the blaster and igniting my purple-colored lightsaber. The battle went on in a repeating cycle of slashes, parries and leaps --- with Force-assisted cartwheels and back flips once in a while --- but they kept coming. Even so, I fought on, the Force doing wonders for me aside from making me glow like an extremely bright lightbulb, such as discarding the poison from my system before I could even feel it when an amphistaff sunk its nasty fangs into my flesh.

Suddenly, two of the members of the Vong squadron dropped dead --- one with a head-sized hole, and the other with a fist-sized one. I knew immediately who did it, even without the use of the Force. Jaina was peering over the pit wall, in tears; Jacen was in the same condition, only that he was trying to pull his twin, our sister, away. Go! I once again said through the Force, pleading that they leave before the Vong break through the barrier I managed to build for them.

The Vong charged again, and Jaina, stubborn as she was, fired, knocking one of the aliens with her longblaster. The warriors arrived again, and I had to defend myself while I tried to keep track of the Jedi impostor that was creeping along the far wall of the grashal. Whoever he was, I won't let him get away, not with the cargo he was carrying towards the makeshift opening our Jedi strike team created.

I decided to go even further back, to see where the impostor came from --- a work area near the voxyn queen's pen. Dozens of tendrils lay spread on a workbench, each ending in a cloning pod that was a part of a tissue transfer station. Everything then, fit into place. I knew, without doubt, what the impostor was hauling.

Voxyn tissue, enough to clone a million.

And with that, the Jedi stand no chance. The voxyn were vicious creatures, already killing more than enough Jedi to paralyze their defenses. I can't and won't let that happen --- and there was only one thing left to for me to do. In spite of the fact that I was practically fading back into the totality of the Force, feeling myself melt like wax, I pulled out the last thermal detonator in my possession and riffled through the timer three times.

Go now, I ordered, knowing that they were still watching me.

"Anakin, I can't!"

I raised the detonator, so my brother and sister could see, so they would know what I was planning to do, and why they had to go and leave. They had to get away. They must get away. Thirty seconds, I relayed through the Force, touching the minds and hearts of my siblings, before I released the trigger of the contraption that would seal my fate. Take her, Jacen. Kiss Tahiri for me.

The Vong were closing in on me again, and I had no choice but to hurl the detonator across the grashal, rather unconsciously, if I may say so. I closed my eyes, letting the Force take over me once again --- and stealing a few seconds from my last remaining moments to think about all that I've done, all I could've done, and all I would've been able to do. Most importantly, I thought of the people I loved and cared for, the people I would surely miss, especially for a certain blond girl who enjoyed running around barefooted.

I hate shoes, she had told him when they got reunited at the ruined Jedi Academy. I only wear them when I have to. Shoes were invented by the Sith to keep our delicate toes in anguish and misery, I'm sure of it. Did you think just because I grew a centimeter or two I'd start torturing my feet?

And I would never see her again. I would never hear her voice, her mocking words and stubborn complaints that never failed to make me smile despite of the seriousness of the situation. And we would never be able to go about with our plans to find a way to blame the Vong and the Empire on ourselves --- that would've been so much fun.

I'm going to be leaving her. Again. And this time, there would be no reunion for us. She would not be able to meet me with her hands on her hips, barefooted, greeting me with the classic, "Hi yourself, great hero-from-the-stars who's too good to keep in touch with his best friend," nor would she be able to meet me with her lightsaber, slashing and cutting a lock off my hair while accusing me of not being real, for being a lie.

I love you, Tahiri. I'm sorry I'm leaving you again.

At that, I opened my eyes, realizing that I was down on the ground after catching an amphistaff that came soaring towards my ribs, unable to do another cartwheel or back flip that would bring me away from my foes. By then, I saw the impostor gather himself up --- I unknowingly hit him with the detonator when I hurled it over the grashal --- and recognized who he was from the misshapen eye orbit and broken nose that decorated his face. It was Nom Anor.

As he bent down to examine the contraption, I nudged it away with the Force, further and further away from his reach. I waited for the last time that I would call upon the energy that shaped who I am today, when the executioner would be close enough --- and when he was, I reached out one last time, rolling the thermal detonator towards the cargo pod.

Goodbye.