Last Stop

by CommanderConrad

Though the Yuuzhan Vong have surrendered, many warriors have chosen death over shameful defeat. Kenos Ossinian and Olar Lusak, two soldiers who had been fighting the war since day one, are given their last mission before retirement. It will prove to be a

"Grenade!"

Kenos Ossinian dropped behind a downed tree and slapped the right side of his helmet. His light-amplification system shut down, saving him from being blinded by the flash of a concussion grenade. The night sky of Coruscant's new Northern Forest was already lit with blaster bolts and flaming trees, but the luminosity doubled when the grenade exploded five meters away from the Jedi.

The explosion knocked the air from his lungs and smacked his body with the force of a racing landspeeder. Calling upon the Force to keep himself conscious, he flopped onto his back and tried to catch his breath. Suddenly, an Alliance soldier ran to him and sat him up.

"Sir," the soldier started. "Major!" he said more loudly when Kenos didn't look at him. The soldier snapped his fingers until Kenos finally focused his gaze on him. "Are you all right?"

Kenos—still breathing hard—was a moment in answering. "Damn it!" he yelled. "Didn't they teach you how to throw grenades in training! Stang, you throw like Kowakian Monkey-Lizards!"

The soldier grinned and slapped his company commander's arm. "He's fine," he announced to someone to his right. The soldier picked up a rifle and handed it to the dazed officer. "Here you go, sir."

Kenos shook his head and grasped his rifle. "Thanks." With the Force, he swept away the thudding in his head and turned back to the fight. Laser blasts were crossing a small river running through a forest that had once been the Northport District of Coruscant. He had been making a sweep of the forest with the reformed 1534th Special Operations Company when they'd stumbled upon a group of Yuuzhan Vong warriors establishing a small outpost. He'd expected the Yuuzhan Vong warriors to charge like they usually did, but this group seemed content with hurling bugs across the river.

After reactivating his light amplification system, he gazed across the river only fifteen meters in front of him. He spotted a Yuuzhan Vong warrior crouching behind a tree. Before he could draw a bead on his target, the warrior sprinted across open forest to another tree. There, the warrior hurled a razor bug and ran back to his original position. Kenos immediately grasped the pattern and aimed at a spot in between the warrior's first and second positions. One shot was all it took for the Jedi to burn a hole in the dashing warrior's temple.

With macrobinoculars he found in the dirt, he looked across the river. Sporadic fire pierced the night at irregular intervals, but no one seemed to be crossing the water. "Lusak," he called.

The Givin soldier was next to him and loading another power pack into his rifle. "Yes, sir?"

Kenos had to reach out with the Force to find him; the Givin had painted his exoskeleton black to blend into the night more seamlessly. "Why are the Vong just sitting there?"

Lusak shrugged. "Don't know, sir. They have the Cardooinian chills and they don't want to pass it on to us?"

Kenos shook his head. "Considerate of them, but doubtful."

"They've all had just a little too much Lomin Ale?"

"Try again."

"Oh, I know. They're terrified of the almighty Jedi warrior who's come to send them back to Yun-Yuuzhan."

The Jedi considered this. "I like that. I should have that inscribed on my lightsaber." He turned to his right and rapped a knuckle on the helmet of the trooper next to him. "Get air support on the line, Waden. I'm tired of waiting for the scarheads to move and I'm not getting men killed by charging them."

The soldier nodded and began speaking into his comlink. Lusak looked to Kenos. "Just going to smoke them out?"

Kenos nodded. "That's right. With all the other companies making sweeps around here, the warriors will have nowhere to run."

A tap on the shoulder made him turn right. "Here's the air support, sir," said his controller.

With a nod, Kenos took the comlink. "Kath Hound One here," he said into it. "Who am I speaking with?"

"Rapier Lead, that's who," said a pleasant female voice in the not quite Coruscanti accent of Corulag. "Have a little respect."

Kenos snorted and shook his head. Of all the fighter pilots in the Alliance… "Please forgive me. We need a little help over here—about two platoons worth of Vong are across the river. Could you take care of that for us?"

He heard Rapier Leader laugh. "Again? This is the third time this week. You have to buy me a drink now."

"Listen, just don't get me killed and I'll buy you a wedding ring."

"Oh, I'll hold you to that. Coordinates?"

"Incoming. Thanks for the help, Rapier One." Kenos gave the comlink back to his controller.

Before Lusak could make a joke about Kenos and his way with women, the major opened a channel to his platoon commanders. "Everyone okay?" They all replied in the affirmative. "Good. Just sit tight for a moment. Help's coming on a pair of Novaldex engines."

In the distance, he could hear the whine of approaching A-wings. As the noise grew, his men pulled back farther from the riverbanks and spread out. The Yuuzhan Vong, hearing the noise and knowing what it was, began to do the same.

It was too little, too late, however. On the first pass, each of the dozen A-wings in Rapier Squadron launched a pair of concussion missiles. The missiles slammed into the jungle at barely sublight speeds, crashing through trees and warriors. They exploded, swathing the forest in fire. Three-story tall trees burst into flames in an instant, becoming a beacon for a second pass. Thinner trees burned and tumbled to the ground to crush Yuuzhan Vong warriors like battering rams. Others shattered and littered Yuuzhan Vong bodies with hundreds of splinters. Howls of pain split the night as the chemically accelerated fire swept over the warriors and incinerated their blue skin. Whatever structure they'd been trying to erect was slag now. Melted and liquefied, it dripped onto burning corpses, mixed with Yuuzhan Vong blood, and became a blended puddle on the forest floor.

Though across the river, Kenos could feel the heat from the explosions on his skin. While other soldiers were hunkered down behind cover, he sat, transfixed, even as debris flew by his head. Careful, whispered a voice to him. In his mind formed a picture of something crashing into his face. Reflexively, he ducked his head and barely managed to avoid a particularly dense piece of tree bark. Pay more attention next time, said the same voice that had warned him earlier, but Kenos didn't feel that he was being admonished. If anything, the voice seemed to be amused.

Knowing that someone was communicating to him through the Force, Kenos tried to respond. He closed his eyes and settled his mind, stretching out his consciousness to the Force around him. The emotions of his men assailed him, but they were not what he was searching for. He kept expanded his feelings, probing the Force for any lingering presence, but found nothing. With strong mental calls, he beckoned to whoever had contacted him but received no reply.

He gave up when, over the comlink, he heard Rapier One announce her readiness for a second pass. Quickly, Kenos grabbed the comlink and called her off.

"Are you sure, Kath Hound One?" she asked. "There could be some warriors left."

"I'm sure," Kenos said. "We'll take care of the rest."

As Rapier Squadron headed back to base, Kenos gathered his men. Third platoon, with its large number of Yuuzhan Vong specialists, crossed the river to search for survivors and inspect the building while the other platoons reported to Sergeant Lusak. After the report, Lusak addressed Kenos. "No survivors found, sir."

The Jedi nodded. "Losses on our side?"

Lusak sighed. "Three. Two from first platoon and one from second."

Suddenly weary, Kenos took off his helmet and knelt on the ground. "The war's been over for eight days and people are still dying."

"Evidently, not all the Yuuzhan Vong have gotten the message that they lost."

"That, or most of them have chosen to die rather than surrender." He grunted as stood up. "All right, let's get everyone back to base."

A few hours later, Kenos was at the only bar on Dodonna Base. He was sitting with his back to the entrance and his eyes deep in his glass of Whyren's Reserve. The telepathic episode of earlier that day was still on his mind. He'd never been contacted by any non-living entity through the Force before, not even his late Force-sensitive father. The whole occurrence left him a bit rattled and curious as to who had died recently and would want to talk to him.

Lusak was standing next to him, leaning against the bar and gazing at the crowd, but he wasn't interrupting Kenos and his thoughts. Across the bar, a slight, dark haired woman in a bright orange flightsuit entered. She spotted Lusak, waved to him, and began crossing the bar.

"Uh, oh," said Lusak, finally deciding to disturb Kenos. He nudged the Jedi with an elbow. "Your girlfriend's here."

Kenos shook his head but didn't look up from his glass. "She's not my girlfriend."

Lusak snorted as well as any Givin could do. "Well, she should be. You know, I've been asking around, and apparently she's what you humans consider very attractive. She's funny, smart, and she likes you more than Hutts like buffet lines. You like her, too; I know it. Sure, she's a fighter jock, but you were too, so I think you two can work through that."

Kenos smiled but didn't respond. He knew that everything Lusak had said was true but he still couldn't bring himself to think about starting a relationship with his pilot friend. Though the pain had dulled over time, Numa's death still haunted the Jedi. Every time he and Alema Rar saw each other, they were reminded of what had been taken away from them by the war. Besides, with the galaxy still such an unstable place, the last thing Kenos wanted was to have to relearn the lesson of losing loved ones.

The pilot, Rapier Squadron commander Jasila Volova, had crossed more than halfway across the bar. She wasn't looking at Kenos—her gaze was sweeping across the crowd to make sure she didn't trip over anyone—but the Jedi could fell her intention to speak to him. With a sigh, he motioned for the bartender to pour him another drink.

"I'll let you kids have your fun," said Lusak as he began to walk away.

Kenos made an obscene gesture with his hand and pointed it at the retreating Givin. He felt Lusak say a few words to Jasila then continue on his way. A moment later Jasila was next to Kenos.

"Hey, there," she said cheerfully. She looked down at the empty bar in front of her and held up her hands. "What's this? I thought you owed me one."

Kenos smirked and ordered her a Lomin Ale. With a smile, she accepted the frothing mug and downed small portion of its contents. "Thank you." She held out her left hand and waggled her third finger. "Now where's the other part of our agreement?"

Kenos turned to her and gave her a sad expression. "I had the ring all ready to give you, but Lusak ate it. He said it was a Givin religious tradition. I'm sorry."

Jasila laughed. "Next time, then." Her smile faded and she became quiet for a few moments. After taking another sip of her drink, she took a deep breath and turned to him. "Hey, Kenos?"

He felt her anxiety and knew exactly what was coming. He rotated in his chair to face her directly. "Yes?"

"You and I met a few months ago, and over that time, I've grown to like you. A lot." A wave of nervousness wafted off of her. "Ever thought about us becoming more than just friends?"

Kenos placed one of his hands over hers. He didn't like having to give her bad news, and the fact that she was so nervous made it even more heartbreaking, but he knew it had to be done. "I have and I think we should remain friends." The hurt he felt from Jasila made his heart go out for her. "Maybe you and I would work out in another time, but I don't think it would be a good idea to start a relationship in such a violent time in the galaxy." He glanced at the floor for a moment, then back up. "That would just lead to pain."

She seemed to take the rejection well. To the Jedi's surprise, she didn't jerk her hand away and attempt to flee, as he would have done. Instead, she leaned forward a bit and peered at him more intensely. "You've lost someone, haven't you? Because of the war. Someone close."

He blinked in astonishment. Instantly, he threw up a mental shield to block any Force probes she may have been using. "How'd you know?" Could she feel that? Is she Force sensitive?

"The words you said seemed to be born of experience." She smiled weakly. "You notice those things when you have a degree in human psychology."

Returning his gaze to his mug, he brought down his mental walls. "Yeah, I guess," he mumbled as the old ache seeped back into his chest. Slowly, he pushed his mug away; he didn't feel like drinking anymore.

She put down her drink. Obviously, she'd brought back memories that Kenos would rather not have relived. As a way of penance, she put a hand on his and squeezed it. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring back any unpleasant memories."

"Don't worry about it," he said curtly. "It's all right."

Her comlink chirped. She answered the call, then shut the comlink off. "I have to go. I'll see you later." Kenos could feel that she wanted to say more, but she decided against it. She just patted his shoulder before walking away.

Lusak, conversing with a friend in another corner of the bar, spotted Jasila as she walked out. His wide-eyed gaze moved from her dejected expression to the pensive Kenos sitting at the bar. Lusak was not a genius, but it didn't take one to realize something had happened between the pilot and the Jedi. After excusing himself from his current conversation, he walked to his friend.

"Hey, Ossinian, are you okay?" he asked. While not in the field, rank was not used between the two soldiers.

Kenos nodded. "I'm fine. Jasila just asked me out."

"And what did you say?"

"I turned the offer down, as tempting as it was."

Lusak looked shocked. "What? What the hell's wrong with you?" He pointed to the entrance. "No sane humanoid male would turn her down."

Kenos pursed his lips and gave Lusak a warning glance. "I have my reasons."

Lusak saw the major's look and decided to drop the topic. He and Kenos had gotten to know each other well over their tours of duty, but sometimes the major decided to remain tight-lipped about certain subjects. Fine, thought Lusak. That's his business, I suppose. He can work it out as he sees fit.

Rather abruptly, Kenos raised his mug and downed the rest of its contents. "I'm going to my room," he said as he put some credit coins on the bar. "And taking a nap. See you later, Lusak."

"Later."

Kenos left the noisy bar and walked down the empty halls of Dodonna Base to his room where he quickly fell asleep.

The next day, after giving himself a physical pounding in the gym and a run-in with Jasila that wasn't quite as awkward as he'd expected, Kenos returned to his room. Once inside, he found his red-trimmed R7 unit waiting for him. She beeped that she had messages for him. "A few messages for me, babe?" he asked the droid. "It's about time you started hauling your weight around here. Ever since we stopped flying, you've become nothing but an expensive datacard weight."

Tina electronically chirped a return insult but still displayed the first message via her holographic projector. It was all text and from Master Luke Skywalker. He was calling for all Jedi to convene on Sonoma Zekot to discuss the future of the Order. Kenos dictated to Tina a brief reply that he would make his way to the living world as soon as possible, though it could take more than a week.

With the first message out of the way, Kenos had Tina show him the second. An image of a uniformed Ishi Tib swam into view and focused in the air in front of the Jedi.

"Major Ossinian, I am Colonel Talil, Special Assistant to General Kapp Dendo. The general has requested you and your company's first sergeant to meet with him this evening." The colonel continued with the time and place of the meeting, then signed off.

Tina kept her holoprojector active even after the Ishi Tib's image faded away. She beeped a question to Kenos and the Basic translation appeared in the air. WHAT COULD THIS MEETING BE ABOUT?

Kenos grimaced and shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they're moving us to a contested world, giving us a new mission—" his breath stopped as a new thought struck him—"or letting us out of the Army." He patted the droid's head. "We'll find out later. What I do know is that now I have to get my dress uniform ready. I can't see a general looking like a greasy wrench-turner."

At the specified hour, Kenos entered the waiting room outside of General Dendo's office. Lusak was already there, waiting patiently in a padded seat. Kenos checked in with the general's secretary before sitting next to the Givin. "Any idea what this is about?" he asked.

Lusak shook his head. "I would guess, sir, that they're briefing us on some upcoming operation." He shrugged. "But I don't know why General Dendo would want to speak to us personally just to give us new orders."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," said Kenos. He looked up as the secretary called his name and told him that the General was ready for them. "I guess it's time to find out just what General Dendo has in store for us."

Both Kenos and Lusak marched into the general's office, saluted smartly, and Kenos reported in. The Devaronian general returned the salute and had both soldiers sit at ease. As he took his chair, Kenos noted that Colonel Talil was in the room also, standing behind the general with a strange expression on his face. As Kenos was not well versed in Ishi Tib body language, he couldn't tell what emotion the colonel was feeling visually, but he could feel a slight amount of nervousness through the Force.

"Good day to both of you," said General Dendo. "I bet you're both wondering why I've called you in here." The general smiled and showed his sharp Devaronian teeth. "As you both know, some elements of the Yuuzhan Vong warrior caste have decided to keep fighting despite the truce that was established over a week ago." General Dendo tapped a few keys on his datapad. The lights in his office dimmed, and a holoprojector on his desk turned on. Above the desk came a holograph of a green planet that Kenos and Lusak instantly recognized. "Gyndine is still very much in contest. A few thousand Yuuzhan Vong warriors have entrenched themselves in scattered areas of the world." On the holograph, red dots representing Yuuzhan Vong strongholds appeared across the planet. General Dendo tapped on particular dot with a stylus. The holomap zoomed in and showed a more detailed holograph of the area. A building in the rough form of a T sat as the only complete structure in the picture. Surrounding it were the ruined remains of dozens of buildings that had been smashed by the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Kenos didn't know why, but there was something familiar about one particular pile of rubble. He shot a gaze to Lusak and received a nod that showed that the Givin had been thinking along similar lines. It was probably the apartment complex they'd retreated to when Gyndine had first been taken.

"Now, none of that is particularly sensitive information," the general said as he leaned forward. "But this is: certain elements of the garrison on Gyndine want to defect. The current Vong commander on Gyndine wants to fight to the last warrior, but we've been contacted by a group of warriors that wants to follow the surrender order of Nas Choka." He zoomed the map in more until the holo hovered over a specific building. "However, there was a small coup. The new Vong leader has declared this group heretical and thrown them into a Peace Brigade compound."

General Dendo shut down the holoprojector and reengaged the lights in his office. "Admiral Sovv is sending a small fleet to deal with Gyndine as a whole in a more direct fashion. He's also told us to send in a team to free this group in the hopes that it will tell other warriors that we're not going to enslave their entire species. This is a good will mission that will hopefully smooth over the Galactic Alliance's relations with the Yuuzhan Vong." With a sharp gesture, the aging general sent a datacard that held everything he'd just verbally explained across his desk. Kenos took it and placed it in one of his coat's pockets. "You and three other soldiers of your choosing will be that team. You'll free these warriors, see them to a predetermined landing zone, and return home. The Peace Brigade compound is in the ruins of one of Gyndine's cities, so there aren't any Vong in the building itself, but there is a small garrison nearby. Try not to attract too much attention from them. Any questions so far?"

Kenos shook his head. "No, General." Lusak said the same.

"There's more," said the colonel, his first words of the meeting. "We've received reports from forces all over the galaxy of a strange group of soldiers who help fend off Yuuzhan Vong attacks. These men interest us, and we would like to…speak with one of them, if possible."

Kenos frowned. "So you want me to keep an eye out for these men, sir? Maybe try to make contact?"

The colonel exchanged an amused glance with General Dendo. "Um, no, son, not quite. We know they'll be on Gyndine when you're there. If you see these men, you will use any means necessary to capture one of them."

Kenos nodded slowly, understanding dawning on him. "Ah. Got it, sir. Who are these men?"

"You'll recognize them," said the colonel. "They'll be in Mandalorian armor. They should be easy to spot." The colonel narrowed his eyes and gazed at Kenos and Lusak a little more intensely. "I don't think I have to tell you two that these objectives don't leave this room."

Lusak nodded. "Understood, sir," he said for himself and Kenos.

General Dendo nodded and stood. He walked around his large desk and stopped in front of Kenos and Lusak. With a small sigh, he leaned against his fake Cardooine wood desk. "I've reviewed both your records extensively. You two have been fighting this war tooth, nail, and lightsaber." He smiled slightly at his joke. "That's why after you return from this operation—and I'm sure that you both will return—your company will be rotated out off the front lines. Also, you two will be given your honorable discharges from the New Republic Army." He spread his hands wide. "This war will be over for you permanently."

Kenos smiled at the prospect of being able to stop fighting. After five long years of it, he was eager to return home to Sullust or to visit Yavin IV again. Only weeks ago, the end of the fighting seemed impossibly distant, but now it appeared that peace was at hand. "Thank you, General," he said excitedly.

Lusak was excited also. Kenos had to shield himself to keep from being overwhelmed by the emotion. "When do we leave, General?" he asked, his emotion hidden from his voice.

"The Harbinger leaves in two days. You'll be on her. You should get to Gyndine in three days. The operation will commence in four." He raised an eyebrow. "Any other thoughts or concerns?"

Kenos and Lusak exchanged questioning glances, but neither had anything to add.

General Dendo nodded and clapped his hands. "Good. Well, that'll be all. Dismissed." Kenos and Lusak stood and saluted. After the return salute, they began to march out of the office.

Once outside, and once the door closed behind them, Kenos broke his bearing with a laugh. "Our last mission, Lusak, then we go home."

The Givin laughed and nodded. "That's right, sir. By the way, who are we taking with us?"

Kenos thought for a moment. "I was thinking Waden, Kortasha, and maybe Jorik. What do you think?"

The Givin shook his head. "Not Jorik. We'll need someone with more experience."

At the intersection of two corridors, Kenos stopped. "Well, make the list up and notify who we're taking. Then message me and we'll set up a time to brief them."

Lusak gave a thumbs-up. "Got it, sir. Have a good night."

"You too," said Kenos as he turned away and traveled back to his room.

Early evening of the next day, Kenos and Lusak were sitting at a table in the Dodonna Base bar with three other young troops. Corporal Kortasha and Privates Waden and Nit were fidgeting in their seats across from the veterans. Evidently, the three soldiers had never been in the presence of such high-ranking comrades before and being under the stares of their company commander and first sergeant was making them nervous.

"So that's what's going to be happening in the next few days," Lusak said after explaining the mission to the young trio. "Go ahead and get your affairs in order. Dismissed."

The Devaronian, human, and Twi'lek stood and left the table. Kenos saw that the privates left the area while Corporal Kortasha headed to the bar. With a smirk, Kenos gave the soldier a nod. Good thinking, kid, he complimented. Enjoy yourself all you can before you go off to fight. He really wanted to do the same, but responsibilities kept him hard at work.

Returning his mind to his job, he opened up the datapad General Dendo gave him. "They'll all be getting their affairs in order, Lusak. The whole company will be going with us to Gyndine. The rest of them will be part of the main assault. Be sure to remind the lieutenants of that."

Lusak typed that down in his own datapad. "Right. Anything else?"

Kenos shook his head. With a groan, he leaned back in his seat and laced his fingers behind his head. "Nope, I think that's it."

"Well, I'm going to turn in, then. We only have twelve hours until we leave, and I'd like to spend some of those sleeping."

Kenos nodded. "All right. Have a good night." Deciding to stay a little while longer, he motioned for a server droid. When the droid came over, he placed his order for a drink and received it a minute later. For the first time since entering, he glanced around the bar. Almost immediately, his eyes fell upon a distressed looking Jasila.

Frowning slightly in concern, he stood up and walked to her with his drink in hand. Jasila didn't look up as he approached; she kept her eyes on a datapad on the plasteel table in front of her, seemingly oblivious to everything else around her. "Hey," Kenos said lightly when he neared her. "May I sit?"

Jasila looked up at him for a brief second before lowering her gaze again. "Sure," she said blandly.

Kenos sat himself next to her and stretched out with his feelings. Fear radiated from her strongly but what captured his attention was the fact that the feeling was fuzzy, as if coming through a filter. She's been drinking. Kenos tried to reach out and soothe her mentally but doubted he had any success. "What's wrong?" he asked, keeping his tone delicate.

Jasila tapped the datapad in front of her with a mug of ale. "That's what."

Tentatively, Kenos reached out for the datapad. Jasila didn't seem to mind his reading it, so he pulled it close. The format of the first line of the message was very familiar to him, and after two more lines he realized what it was. These are orders to Gyndine. "You're being stationed on the Sullustan Shield." He smiled. "Sounds like a good ship."

Though she was looking away from him, he could see her lips turn up slightly. "Shut up," she said. After sniffing, she turned to face him. It didn't require the Force for him to notice that she was close to crying. "I don't want to go back to Gyndine."

He frowned. "Why not?"

She hesitated. "I don't want to talk about it." From the quaver in her voice, Kenos could tell that tears would be coming soon.

"Come on," he said. He took her hand and stood her up. She almost tripped as she stood, but he kept her upright with a steady hand. "I'll take you home."

After paying off both his and Jasila's tabs and picking up her datapad, he led her out into the halls of Dodonna Base. With her slightly slurred guidance, they made their way to her stateroom. It took a few attempts, but eventually Jasila was able to type her code into the lock and open the door. "Have a good night," Kenos said from her doorway.

He turned to leave, but Jasila grabbed his arm. "Don't go," she said hurriedly. "Please don't. I'll tell you why I'm so upset." She wiped her eyes and turned an expression on Kenos that left him with only one answer.

"All right," he said and entered her room. Looking around, he was surprised by how spacious it was. He began to ask her how she managed to procure such nice lodgings but remembered that as a commander she outranked him. "Nice place." Finding a small couch, he sat.

"Thanks," she said and staggered over to him. Once at the sofa, she plopped herself down. "For staying. I've never really told anyone else about this."

She took the datapad that held her orders from Kenos and tossed it across the room to her bed. "I don't want to go back to Gyndine because of what happened there last time I was there." Her gaze took on a distant quality as she recounted the events of her first visit to the planet. "I was just a lieutenant then. The Vong showed up right when we expected them to, but the fleet we had to defend the evacuation wasn't anywhere near the strength of theirs." Kenos nodded, memories flooding back to him as well. Looking up from his post on Gyndine's surface, he could see flashes of the battle raging above. It was obvious early on that the Fleet wasn't going to be able to buy much time and that the forces on the ground would have to stall the Yuuzhan Vong to get people off the planets.

"The Admiral in charge tried his best, though. I'll give him that," she continued. "He had eight A-wing squadrons and he told us all to try to pry the skips away from the fleet while the X-wings and B-wings made runs on the capital ships." Her eyes glossed over and her lip trembled for a moment. "But the Vong saw that coming. They only launched half their skips to meet us. Ten minutes after the furball started, the second half jumped us." Tears were streaming from her eyes and she sobbed forcefully. The memories flashing through her mind were so vivid and strong that Kenos was seeing images of exploding fighters brought to his mind by the Force.

After a moment used to throw up a mental filter, Kenos put an arm around her shoulders. She buried her face in his chest and continued to cry. "By the time we knew what hit us, there were four of us left in Rapier," she said after a minute to compose herself. "I took command and ordered everyone to jump out. But I was the only one who made it out of there. After that, I got bounced around from squadron to squadron until I got promoted to captain and they re-commissioned the Rapiers."

"I'm sorry," Kenos murmured, not know what else to say. He continued to hold her as she cried for another five minutes.

As her sobs tapered off, she sat up. "Sorry," she apologized. "But that's why I don't want to go back to Gyndine. I don't think I'll make it out of there again."

"There's no need to apologize," he said. "I have bad memories of that planet too."

She frowned and wiped her nose. "Is that where you lost your…close friend?"

He pursed his lips. "Well, she was more than a close friend." He shook his head. "But, no, that wasn't on Gyndine."

"What happened?" she asked as she sidled up to him and laid her head on his chest.

Kenos hesitated; he didn't really want to rehash the old, painful memories. But she confided in you something just as painful, he told himself. Besides, you don't talk about it with anyone else besides Alema. Maybe it'll feel good to get it off your chest.

"All right," he started. "Back before Borleias, before Coruscant fell, I was at the Eclipse base. Kyp Durron—yes, that Kyp Durron—asked me to fly in some weapons for a resistance movement on New Plympto and I agreed. Once I got there, I met the movement's leaders Alema and Numa Rar." He smiled and chuckled a bit. "The second I saw Numa I was in love. Maybe I'm giving myself too much credit, but I think she felt the same way.

"Anyway, she and I hit it off immediately. Because Vong search parties were sweeping the planet looking for me, I had to stay on planet. The resistance was using underground bunkers for bases, but they didn't have any extra rooms. Numa let me stay on a couch she had in her room. On my second night there, we both announced our intentions to… take our relationship to the next level. For the next sixteen days we did our best to carry on like most couples do, and we actually did pretty well considering the circumstances."

The smile that Kenos had on his face as he recounted the tale melted away. "Five days after I left, the Yuuzhan Vong decided to slag the planet. Numa and Alema tried to escape, but the Vong boarded their ship. With their voxyn, it was easy to track down the Jedi sisters. Alema got away; Numa didn't. I was back at Eclipse when I heard about it from Jaina." His mind slipped back to the moment Jaina had broken the news to him. The usual ache grasped his heart again and threatened to wear his mental shields down, but over time Kenos had learned to control the pain.

"Oh, that's terrible," Jasila said. "I'm sorry."

Kenos didn't say anything; he just shrugged and looked away.

"Thanks for staying," she said again, finally breaking a minute long silence. She sat up and brushed black hair from her face. "You didn't have to do that."

Kenos smiled, not because of her words, but because of the ale he could smell on her breath. "It was no problem, really. No problem at all."

Jasila returned the smile. For a moment, she just grinned at him with her hand gripping the back of the sofa to keep her from falling onto the floor. Before he could be too unnerved by the stare and tried to escape, she wrapped her arms around his neck. She fell forward forcefully and pressed her lips to his.

Intoxicated people, because of their spur of the moment decisions and clouded judgment, were very difficult for the Jedi of the old Order to predict and placate. Apparently, not much has changed since the old days, Kenos thought as he was thrown backwards by Jasila's weight. The back of his head hit the sofa's armrest, and after his rearward motion was ceased his forehead collided with hers. She giggled, but Kenos—now with a pounding headache—didn't think it was funny.

"Whoa," he said as he gently pushed Jasila away. "We shouldn't be doing this."

"Why not?" she asked coyly. Not put off at all by his comment, she bent back down and began placing kisses along his neck, cheek, and ears.

"Because…" He had to take a moment to remember just why they shouldn't be doing what they were doing. "Because you're drunk, that's why." He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her up. That only solved half of the problem, however, as she was still sitting on him. With a gesture of his hand, Jasila rose three meters into the air and hung there while Kenos stood up. "And you need to get some sleep." He moved her over towards her bed and gently lowered her onto it. "You have about eleven hours until you have to leave. That's just enough time to get rid of a hangover."

She rose to her knees while pouting and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You don't want to stay with me?" She flopped onto the bed with a sigh. "What is it about me that's so repulsive?"

Kenos gave a slightly vexed sigh. "Don't say that. I really do like you, and I know millions of people have said this, but it's not you. It…really is me." He rubbed his throbbing head; having to justify why he wasn't taking full advantage of the situation wasn't helping his headache at all. He walked to her and placed a hand on her knee. "I'll figure it out soon, I promise. I just need some time."

She was trying to avoid eye contact with him. Nodding, she put her hand on his. "Okay. I understand. Take as much time as you need."

"I will. Have a good night." Kenos walked to her door, hit the opening switch, and walked out. Jasila waved goodbye to his back.

As soon as he'd entered his room and the door had closed behind him, Kenos closed his eyes and thumped his head against the wall. "Tina," he called to his droid, the only other occupant of the room. When the R7 wheeled herself to Kenos, he gave her an anguished expression. "Why did I just turn down a night with Jasila Volova?" Tina spun her dome left and right, wheeled around, and rolled back to her recharging socket. She'd learned long ago to stop trying to answer the rhetorical questions humans always asked.

"Because you want to be with her, stupid, and you know it," he answered for himself. At once, guilt assaulted him. What would Numa think? He smacked his forehead. "Nothing," he mumbled in answer to his thought. "She's gone." But you still miss her, chided the voice in the back of his head. "Shut up," was all he could muster as a retort.

Cursing himself, he decided to just head to bed. I'll figure this all out on the way to Gyndine. Fully clothed, he laid himself onto his bed and curled onto his left side. He tried to sleep naturally, but his mind was abuzz with the events of the last hour. With assistance from the Force, he cleared his mind and shut his body down.

"Wake up, Kenos," a female voice whispered.

Kenos kept his eyes closed and frowned. Who the hell is in my room? With a groan, he rolled onto his back. "You better be a very attractive woman, or I'm calling security," he told the intruder.

The woman chuckled and ran her fingers through his hair. "You used to call me beautiful all the time. Don't you remember?"

Before his memory told him whose voice he was hearing, the slender fingers in his hair told him just who had come into his room. But that's impossible…no, it can't be. Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling; his frown deepened. Instead of the smooth cream-colored ceiling of his room only four meters high, he was looking at a tan tile pattern almost ten meters away. This is a resistance room on New Plympto, he realized with wide eyes.

"Good morning," said the familiar voice to his left. Craning his neck over, Kenos found his eyes resting on Numa Rar.

With a jolt of surprise and a yelp of shock, he sat up. He threw his sheets off of his body and scuttled back a meter. "Numa?" he asked, panting. "What? How are you…what is this?"

The Twi'lek woman sat at the edge of the bed and patted his leg. "Relax. It is me, Numa. Don't worry; I'm not here to hurt you."

Kenos withdrew his leg and sat on his knees. "Why are you here? You're…gone." Dead. "And where am I?"

Numa silenced any more questions by holding up her hand. "Just sit here, and I'll explain everything," she said and patted a spot on the bed next to her. Hesitantly, Kenos sat on the indicated point.

"Master Skywalker always told us about his visions of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda after their deaths," Numa said. "Is this really so unbelievable?"

Kenos studied her for a moment before responding. She looked just as she did during his time on New Plympto, even down to her clothing. She was wearing the dark blue gown she usually wore to bed; he remembered that it was her favorite because of its contrast with her light blue skin. Visually, he couldn't detect any hazes of light around her that would make her similar to the spirits Master Skywalker said he saw. "But he said they were translucent hazes. You look normal to me."

"Stretch out with the Force," she suggested.

After taking a deep breath to calm his still thumping heart, he slowly spread his consciousness outward. When it spread over Numa, a bright light exploded in his head, stabbing his mind harshly. Gasping in pain, he shut down his senses and rubbed his temples. "Too bright," he strained to say. "Couldn't handle it."

"Sorry," Numa said as she delicately stroked his forehead. "I would have warned you but I wanted to get the point across that I'm not just a figment of your imagination."

"You certainly did that." He gestured around the room. "So, you…all of this…none of it's real?" He sounded disappointed.

She took his hand and squeezed it. "As real as any other dream before you wake up."

"So this is only a dream?"

"That's only half-right, but it's close enough to the truth for now." She sighed. "I'm visiting you for a reason, Kenos. I've come to tell you to let me go."

He froze, caught of guard by the changing of the subject to something so sensitive. "What do you mean?"

She looked right into his eyes. "You know what I mean. I've been gone for almost two years, but you act as if I died last month. There was a time for grieving, but it's over. It's time to move on."

He turned away; his eyes were starting to mist and he didn't want her to see it. "But I still miss you."

Just as she used to do in life, she moved forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. She leaned forward and rested her chin on his right shoulder. "And I miss you," she whispered into his ear. "But that won't change the way things are. What you're doing right now isn't healthy. Before we'd even met, I'd heard rumors about you. That you were something of a flirt and that you liked to have fun. Since I've been gone you haven't so much as glanced at another woman, which is not like you at all. You've even turned interested women down.

"Don't stop living your life because I had to stop living mine. You still have your whole life ahead of you." She smiled. "I've seen glimpses of it. I've seen you and Jasila laughing together and sharing more good times than we've had. You can have all that, Kenos, if you're willing to try. We both know Jasila is."

He turned his head slightly to speak directly to her. "I know. Now that the war's almost over, I've been thinking of her more. I'm just scared of starting something that could end…" he trailed off, not knowing how exactly to put his thought into words. "Well, you know, the way we did."

"End with death? I can sense that it scares you." She squeezed him for a moment. "I understand that. My death hurt you because there was no closure on our relationship. It was just an open end in your life that would never be tied up. But remember that fear is of the dark side, and if you let it control you, you're letting it win."

Kenos nodded with eyes wide in astonishment at her insight. Though he'd never admitted it to himself in the way that she'd put it, it was true that what hurt most was the fact that they'd never had a farewell. "Is that another reason why you're here?" he asked over his shoulder. "To finally say goodbye to me?"

"Yes."

"Well, don't leave yet. I have a few questions."

She grinned. "I thought you would. What do you want to know?"

"Now that you're one with the Force, do you miss life?"

"Certain aspects of it, yes."

"Am I one of those aspects?"

"Of course."

He threw a smile over his shoulder. "Good. Okay, second question. After you leave here, will I ever see you again?"

She kissed his cheek. "If you pay really close attention to things around you, you may notice me," she replied cryptically.

He grimaced. "I don't think I like that answer."

"Sorry, but it's the best one I can give."

"Okay, last question. Was that you who contacted me on Coruscant?"

She smirked and stood up. "You better start paying more attention to what you're doing if you want to survive this war." She extended a hand, which he took, and with a strong tug, she hauled him onto his feet.

"Am I leaving?" he asked, finally becoming conscious of the fact that he was wearing the same clothes he'd fallen asleep in on Dodonna Base.

"That's half right," she said. After sweeping her lekku behind her shoulders, she engulfed him in a hug. "We both are."

"Oh," he replied disappointedly. "This is that goodbye, then?"

She nodded and nuzzled against him. "Yeah." The familiar feeling of being in his arms caused her to close her eyes in remembrance. She knew she had to leave, but the temptation to indulge herself was just too strong. Eventually, the call to return overpowered her resolve to hold him and she pulled back slightly. "Okay," she said sadly. "I have to go." Rising up to the tips of her toes, she kissed his cheek lightly. "Remember what I said." She reached one of her hands behind his neck and stroked his hair as she spoke. "I may not be around anymore, but I still love you and want to see you happy. If being with Jasila makes you happy, do it."

"Thank you," he said. "You've really put my mind at ease."

Numa flashed him the smile that she'd used to win his heart when they'd first met. "Good." She returned to the tips of her toes and the couple exchanged the last kiss they would ever share. To Kenos, it felt as electrically charged as the very first one they'd had in Numa's room on New Plympto.

Slowly, she lowered her feet back to the floor and took a step back. "This is it, Kenos." She looked at him glumly. "Goodbye."

Kenos reciprocated the sorrowful gaze. "Goodbye, Numa."

Contrary to the young man's expectations, Numa did not fade away. Nor did the room around them dissolve into darkness. Instead, he felt a slight mental tugging that he resisted at first. The tugging only became stronger until her felt his mind moving backwards. His mind began moving through a tunnel of light that he couldn't see, but feel. The Force pulled him back to the Coruscant system, through the patrolling Fleet, past the healing Zonoma Sekot, and into roiling Coruscanti atmosphere. He vaguely felt storms brewing and dying as he fell to the surface; he plummeted past squadrons of fighters making their rounds until he fell through twenty decks of Dodonna Base. He decelerated in the last second and delicately landed back on his bed.

With a violent jerk, Kenos jolted out of bed. He swept his head left and right, taking in his surroundings to confirm that he was indeed back at Dodonna Base. Once certain of his location, he laid back, but not to return to sleep. Too unsettled by what he'd just experienced, he stared at the ceiling and tried to puzzle out what had just happened to him. He was still contemplating hours later when exhaustion took hold of him, and he finally returned to slumber.

Early the next morning, Kenos awoke feeling strangely…good. Sure he had overslept, the water in the shower was cold, and his breakfast tasted like boiled womp rat, but for some reason nothing could put a dent on the good mood he was in. As he walked through the corridors of the ship, he was smiling broadly and enthusiastically returning the greetings of junior officers and enlisted personnel.

His men, loading the shuttle that would ferry them to the Harbinger, were surprised by the jovial attitude of their company commander. Lusak decided to ask about it. "What happened to you, sir?" he asked, walking Kenos away from the other men.

Kortasha heard the question. He nudged a soldier next to him and grinned. "That's not hard to figure out. I saw the major leave the bar last night with a pilot. A really pretty one, too. Maybe that's why he's got those bags under his eyes."

Kenos heard the comment and whirled around. "Unlike the girl you were chatting with, Kortasha, at least Commander Volova can squeeze herself into a cockpit." As the other men howled laughter and pointed at the embarrassed corporal, Kenos smiled, hoping to soften the blow of the jibe. "Be careful what you say about her, Kortasha. She outranks me, so if you make her angry, I can't help you."

Lusak turned a surprised expression to Kenos. "Did you…"

"No," he interrupted, know what Lusak was going to ask. He poked is chin towards the transport. "Keep the loading going. I'll be back."

He headed away from the transport and walked deeper into the hangar. Just past a pair of damaged freighters and a blue striped squadron of E-wing fighters rested a dozen A-wing interceptors. Kenos headed to them and walked to the nearest pilot, a female Bothan. "Excuse me, Flight Officer," he said. "Is Commander Volova here?"

The pilot shook her head. "No, sir. She's on her way, if you want to wait for her."

Kenos shook his head. "I can't. Could you just pass a message along to her?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Tell her that Major Ossinian came to see her, he's figured it all out, and when he gets back he wants to talk to her personally. And tell her to be careful. Thanks." He turned away and headed back to the 1534th.

Within an hour and a half, the shuttles were being unloaded on the Harbinger. Two hours after the 1534th reported to a particularly snotty naval lieutenant, the large Calamarian Cruiser and her battle group left Coruscant orbit and entered hyperspace. After twenty hours of faster than light travel, the flotilla decanted in perfect formation around the planet of Gyndine. Only fourteen hours before his mission, Kenos called together the five men tasked with freeing Yuuzhan Vong captives. They gathered in a small, unoccupied room on the Harbinger's officer's office deck.

"All right," said Kenos, beginning the meeting. "Here's what's going to happen tomorrow." On the table in front of him rested a holoprojector, which he turned on. A three-dimensional representation of the T-shaped Peace Brigade building floated in the air. "We're going to be dropped via repulsorpack onto the roof. I don't know how Intelligence knows this, but they say that there are two villip choirs on the seventh floor. They also say that floors eight through ten are unused and should be empty." Kenos grimaced. "We all know that that means there will be guards on these floors, so we'll have to keep a sharp eye out."

With the touch of a button, the picture shifted to a top view of the seventh floor. "Kortasha, you and the privates will silence the villip choirs and anyone else you find. Be sure you get them quickly; we don't want Vong reinforcements making this mission any more difficult than it already is." The Devaronian nodded, so Kenos continued. "Sergeant Lusak and I will be on the sixth floor, freeing the warriors. You guys will meet us there when you've swept the seventh floor.

"Once we've got the warriors, we're just going to walk right out the front door. Floor by floor, we're going to stun—that's right, stun—any Brigaders we find. The regulars will come in about two hours behind us and take care of them." The image returned to show the whole building, but only for a moment. It zoomed out further, then headed in the direction that a small legend indicated as east. "This," Kenos said as he pointed to a red cross on the holoprojection, "is where we're being picked up. It's only about a kilometer from the building. When we get there, we call in the shuttles, sit tight for about twenty minutes, and head home." Then I get to go home, Kenos added mentally. "Any questions?" No one at the table had any. "All right, good. Well, we've all got about fourteen hours, so get your stuff wired tonight." He stood. "Good night, gentlemen. That'll be all."

As the meeting broke up, and the men began to head their separate ways, Kenos thought about what he would do for the rest of the night. Two hours later, he was still deciding on what to do, even after hitting the gym, meditating, showering, and eating. Since the Harbinger seemed to be a particularly boring ship, Kenos decided to just call it a night. After checking his mail to make sure there weren't any last-minute administrative duties to take care of, he found a comfortable position on his bed and dropped into a trance.

Hours later, Kenos stood in the cargo hold of an empty assault shuttle with Lusak, Kortasha, Waden, and Nit. Wind whipped into the hold from the open ramp and knocked everyone but Kenos off balance. With balance honed with years of Jedi training, he carefully shifted his weight to remain upright. He could feel the envious glances the others were firing at the back of his head and fired back with a smug smile.

"One minute, Major," said the pilot over the comm. "One minute."

"Thanks," he replied. He half turned to the other men and raised an index finger. They nodded and busied themselves with final equipment checks.

After a mental count to sixty, he waved the first man forward. Without hesitation, Private Nit put a hand on his helmet and jumped out of the transport. Kortasha followed next, then Waden, Lusak, and finally, Kenos.

Kenos couldn't even hear his own breathing as the air lashed at him. It didn't matter, however, as he was concentrating on the altimeter on his wrist. He watched the number continue its plunge to zero with extreme caution; hitting his repulsorpack's engines at the right moment was imperative to landing with all bones intact. It wouldn't do to splatter myself all over Gyndine on my last mission, now would it?

At five hundred meters about the surface, he reached down to the small control pad on his left thigh. The largest switch, once hit, would engage the repulsor engine strapped to each of the troopers' backs. After activating his repulsorpack, Kenos left his stomach during the few moments of sudden deceleration. It came back a moment later when he got his aerial bearings. Looking around, he found his other men floating around him and perfectly on course.

It was only a minute's fall before they landed on the roof of the Peace Brigade building. An instant before his boots hit the ground, Kenos cut his engine and began unbuckling it from his body. No more than five meters from him, the other men were doing the same. When the whole team had disengaged themselves from the cumbersome repulsorpacks, Kenos pulled out his weapon—the T-25, a smaller laser rifle designed for shorter range combat—and led the team to the edge of the building.

"You three take the seventh floor," he reminded his troops as he swung his legs over the edge. Only a meter below him was the wire scaffolding used as a fire escape for the building. It shook and rattled when he landed on it and began descending it to the sixth floor. "Stay alert to anything, and may the Force be with you."

With a sharp pull on the ancient door, Kortasha opened the entrance to the seventh floor and entered with Nit and Waden. Kenos continued down the metal stairs until he reached a door with a six marked on it in a multitude of languages. He took a moment to spread his senses out to encompass the hall beyond the door and felt nothing but lingering bits of fear and anxiety. Since he didn't have time to think about the origins of those emotions, he opened the door and entered the hallway. Lusak followed him into the empty hallway, then took the lead. Together, he and Kenos set out to clear the southern wing of the floor.

Sweeping his rifle right and left, Kortasha kept himself ready for a trap. After three rooms, he and his fellow soldiers had encountered no Peace Brigaders. No Brigaders in what's probably the last compound they have? I don't like this at all. He gritted his teeth as the team neared another door. But I guess it's too late to worry about it now.

They were lined abreast in the hallway, but as the door came closer Kortasha took the lead and stopped at the doorjamb's edge. Waden stood close behind him, so close that their armor touched, and Nit lined up behind him. Kortasha, at the front of the compacted column, located the door's opening mechanism quickly. After he found it, he leaned back against Waden to signify his readiness. Waden did the same to Nit.

Pushing forward with his own weight, Nit propelled the group forward. Kortasha opened the door and swept into the room. He headed to the right most corner, stunning two Peace Brigaders that stood in shock. Once at his position, he swept his rifle across the room to keep his comrades covered.

Waden pushed straight through the door for the far corner. On the way, he put down another Brigader with a stun shot. He reached his point and turned to cover Nit as the Twi'lek headed to Kortasha's corner. The Devaronian moved to take the corner opposite the door and all three converged fire on the three Brigaders caught between them.

When the fire subsided, Kortasha spoke. "One, clear."

"Two, clear," said Waden.

"Three, clear," announced Nit.

Kortasha let his rifle's muzzle fall to the floor. "All clear. Let's clear out these bodies."

Taking a few steps into the room, Kortasha looked over the bodies on the floor. Two of them were bleeding slightly, but all were merely unconscious and would wake up with nothing more than headaches. One of the bodies seemed to be pointed at the room's large closet. Curiosity took hold, and on a whim, Kortasha opened the closet door. Inside was a mass of leathery balls that seemed to pulsate on different rhythms. Though he'd never seen one of them personally, he knew what they were.

"I found the villip choirs," he told his companions, who were policing the stunned bodies.

Nit looked up from his work at the villips. "Good. Let's destroy them so we don't have to worry about Vong breathing down our necks."

Kortasha nodded. "Good idea." From his belt, he pulled a small Nergon charge. A loud click—the sound of a rifle's power level being changed from stun to kill—stopped him from arming the bomb. Slowly, he turned around to find Waden pointing his rifle at him. "Waden, what are you doing?" he asked.

"My job," Waden replied. He smiled slightly. "My real job. My Peace Brigade duty." With no further delay, he fired a fully powered bolt into Kortasha, then sent another right between Nit's surprised eyes. As the two bodies hit the floor, he sat himself down at the villip choir and roused the nearest ball. After the image of an angry looking warrior formed on the villip, he began speaking in fluent Yuuzhan Vong.

With his arms wrapped around two small water pipes, and his feet tucked into the space between two more, Kenos had been hanging six meters above the sixth floor's southern facing hallway for a full two minutes when his wrists began to ache. While readjusting his grip on the roof piping, he wondered for the thousandth time why the Peace Brigader patrolling below him was radiating nervousness like a star emitting heat. As far as Kenos knew, his team's insertion had been totally clean, and none of the team members had done anything to alert any guards. Maybe he's just having a stressful day at the office, he thought sarcastically. And it's about to get worse.

As the man passed by his temporary hiding place, the Jedi slowly pulled his feet from the space in which they'd been resting and let them hang. In a quick motion, he let go of the pipes and pointed his palms at the deck. Opening himself to the Force, he gave a strong telekinetic push against the ground that slowed his fall to a speed that let no noise betray his presence. A Force bubble cast around him prevented air displaced by his steps from carrying sound to the Brigader as he neared the unsuspecting soldier. Once only centimeters behind the Brigader, Kenos covered his enemy's mouth with one hand and placed the other on the Brigaders forehead. He quickly forced his way into the other man's mind and rendered him unconscious; after the man went limp, Kenos gently lowered him to the ground.

Feeling someone approach behind him, Kenos whirled around. He sighed in relief when he realized it was Lusak; the black-painted Givin was wiping blood from his vibroblade. Kenos approached him with a frown. "You know, we're supposed to be stunning these guys," he whispered.

Lusak nodded. "I know. I couldn't avoid it, though."

Kenos nodded as well and looked at the T-shaped intersection twenty meters away. Around that corner were the captive Yuuzhan Vong warriors they were sent to rescue. "That's okay. Ready to free the scarheads?"

Lusak gave Kenos a concerned look. "Not yet, sir. I have to tell you that, while clearing a room back there, I found a dead body."

Kenos snorted as he looked at the Givin's bloody knife. "Yeah, I bet you did."

"Sir, you should come see it," he said.

Something in his tone made Kenos very curios. He nodded and let Lusak lead him to where he'd seen the dead body. Instead of one cadaver, to his surprise, there were two. One was in a sitting position against the room's wall, and the other was lying on his face only a meter away. After spotting a hole undoubtedly created by Lusak's vibroblade in the second, Kenos concentrated on inspecting the first.

It only took a moment to discover a disturbing finding. It took a sharp pull, but Kenos managed to wrench a small dart from the dead human's neck. Looking it over, certain markings identified the origin of the dart. "Mandalorians," he mused. "They hit this place before we did." Sudden understanding blossomed in his mind as he realized why the man he'd just taken out had been so nervous and why the building was lightly coated in a film of fear.

"I was wondering why this place seemed so empty," Lusak commented. "Do you think they beefed up security around the prisoners because of the Mandalorian attacks?"

Kenos stared off into space for a moment while he spread his senses throughout the floor and the levels below. "No," he told Lusak. "There's only two more of them alive in the building, and they're on the third floor."

If Lusak had had any eyebrows, they would have risen. "Well, then let's free those warriors while the going's good."

With a nod of agreement, Kenos unslung his rifle and led Lusak to the main intersection of the floor. A quick Force sweep of the area confirmed the absence of Peace Brigade members, so Kenos rounded the corner. He staggered to a stop a moment later when, only thirty meters distant, ten Yuuzhan Vong warriors standing outside the prisoner's cell turned to face him.

Kenos and Lusak fired multiple shots as they backpedaled towards the cover of the perpendicular hallway. By the time they reached it, three warriors had been downed permanently, and another had been injured. Once in the relative safety of the southern hallway, Kenos tried to catch his breath. "What the hell are they doing there?"

"I don't know," Lusak said around a mouthful of a grenade's safety pin. "Cover me."

Kenos slung his rifle around his shoulder and pulled his lightsaber from his belt. "Arm another one of those." Lusak gazed at him for a moment in obvious bafflement. In response, Kenos ignited his blade. "I'll cover you with this."

Kenos stepped around the corner and immediately intercepted a thudbug with his glowing blade. Lusak hid behind him and tossed the grenade as far down the hallway as he could. A charging Yuuzhan Vong warrior kicked it forward a few meters before it blew and sent five more warriors to their deaths.

Realizing that the warriors were too close for another grenade, Lusak pulled out his pistol and prepared to fire. A quick mental calculation told Kenos that the two warriors would be upon him and Lusak before the Givin could burn them both down. And I'll never be able to defend us both from two warriors. Knowing there wasn't any time to shout the order—and that Lusak would never obey such a command—Kenos shoved the Givin away. He brought his blade up into a middle guard and readied himself for the incoming warriors.

Three meters away from Kenos, one warrior tucked himself into a ball and rolled along the durasteel deck while his counterpart continued charging with his amphistaff held high. Kenos knew that the rolling warrior intended to jab his amphistaff forward after coming out of the roll, but Kenos didn't let him. With a quick step to the side, the Jedi brought himself out of both the warriors' paths and avoided a high slash. Instead of raking his lightsaber uselessly against the vonduum crab armor that protected the charging warrior's back, Kenos snapped a kick to his enemy's thigh. Unbalanced by the blow, the warrior fell face first into the ground and skidded to a stop two meters away.

With one warrior temporarily out of the fight, Kenos concentrated on the other, who was even then standing up in preparation for a duel. The warrior took a moment to center his balance before swinging a heavy blow intended to cut Kenos from left shoulder to right hip. Kenos met the amphistaff with his lightsaber, then brought his blue blade across the warrior's knee. Snarling in pain, the tattooed zealot took two steps back, giving Kenos time to hammer his heavy boot on the back of the first warrior's head. Lusak followed up the heavy hit with a stun shot from his rifle.

Now only facing one warrior, Kenos moved closer and took the offensive. While his lightsaber danced around the air, trying to find a hole in the warrior's defense, he took every opportunity to kick the warrior's burned knee. Not surprisingly, the warrior handled the pain well, but it was obvious that it his joint was wearing away. After a particularly potent kick, the warrior sank to the ground with a loud growl of defeat. Solemnly, Kenos ended the warrior's pain by plunging his blade through his enemy's exposed neck.

As he shut his blade down and returned the hilt to his belt, he looked around for Lusak. He found the Givin checking on the warrior that he'd stunned a moment earlier. "Lusak, let's get those prisoners out of that cell."

Lusak nodded and stood. "Right."

Corporal Kortasha groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Finding himself in unfamiliar surroundings—as nearly as he could guess, he was in the room next to the villip choir's— he tried to recount the events leading up to his awakening. He could remember finding the villip choir, hearing a noise, then…then Waden shot me, he thought with a snarl. Despite the burning hole in his left side, Kortasha managed to stand up and draw his pistol.

After hobbling out of the room, he found that his guess as to his locations was correct. In the next room, he could hear Waden speaking in Yuuzhan Vong. Though Kortasha was no linguist, he'd picked up enough words of the extragalactic language to understand the general idea of Waden's words. "He's reporting our location to the enemy," he whispered to himself. His anger suddenly doubled, he moved the power selector of his pistol from stun to kill and prepared to enter the villip room.

With rifles at the ready, the two walked to the cell door. It was only a moment's work to open it up and liberate the score of Yuuzhan Vong warriors inside. While the blue-skinned aliens filed out of the hold, Kenos went searching for the leader. "Who's in charge here?" he asked one of them.

"I am," said a gruff, heavily accented voice. "I am Commander Slak."

Kenos craned his neck back to look eye to eye with the tall Yuuzhan Vong. "I'm Major Ossinian. Get your people ready to move out, Commander; we'll be leaving in a few minutes."

The extragalactic warrior nodded. "I will do it."

When the Yuuzhan Vong turned away, Kenos dialed a communications frequency into his wrist communicator. A moment later, Colonel Talil picked up. "Kath Hound One, calling with a situation report, sir," said the Jedi. "We have the prisoners and the building is almost totally cleared. Also, we've uncovered evidence that those Mandalorians you want us to find hit this building before we did."

Kenos could almost feel the colonel's surprise over his headphones. "Really?" The colonel mumbled something. "Hold a moment," he told Kenos. After two minutes, he came back. "New orders, Major. Secure that building, and stay there. We're speeding up our invasion timetable, so the regulars will relieve you in about an hour. In the meantime, you tear that building apart looking for those Mandalorians. Got that, Major?"

Kenos rolled his eyes. "Got it, sir," he replied blandly.

"Don't forget that we're looking to capture those Mandalorians," the colonel reminded him. "If you can do it, there can be a promotion in your immediate future."

Kenos felt his eyebrows rise slightly at the prospect of retiring as a lieutenant colonel instead of a major. But all it'll take is the capture of a Mandalorian, he thought sarcastically. "Understood, sir. Kath Hound One, out." He killed the transmission and waved Lusak over to him. He had barely finished explaining the situation to Lusak when his earpiece crackled again.

"Major," said a weak voice. "Major, this is Corporal Kortasha."

Frowning at the feebleness of Kortasha's voice, Kenos reached out with the Force. Almost immediately, he felt Kortasha's injury, along with lingering emotions of betrayal and surprise. Before activating his microphone, he addressed Lusak. "Kortasha's injured, and the others are dead. Get up there and try to help him." He tapped his microphone to turn it on. "Kortasha, what happened up there?"

"When we found the villip, Waden shot me and Nit," said Kortasha. "He's Peace Brigade and he told the Vong everything—where we are, and where our extraction is." He stopped speaking for a moment and grunted in pain. "I burned him down, sir, but chances are the scarheads will be here soon."

Kenos felt his blood run cold; having of a company of Yuuzhan Vong warriors charging him and his two companions was not what he wanted on his last day before retirement. "Kortasha, Lusak's coming to you, so don't try to move. Just relax and let him patch you up."

"Got it, sir." He sounded relieved. "Standing by."

Now to find out how much time we have. Spinning around, Kenos looked for the Yuuzhan Vong in charge. When he found him, he tapped his shoulder. "Commander, how long was the march here from the Yuuzhan Vong damutek?"

The blue-skinned alien frowned, remembering. "About one half of your standard hours."

Kenos felt his heart drop to the level of his knees. Even with fifteen minutes to mobilize a task force, the Vong will be here before Alliance troops can help us. "Commander, we have a large problem." He took a deep breath; this was not something he'd ever expected to say to a Yuuzhan Vong. "And I need your help. Many enemy warriors are headed this way, but we have nowhere to run."

After hearing the words, the commander barked harsh-sounding words to his own men. Snapping to the orders, the warriors began collecting amphistaffs, thud bugs, and razor bugs from the dead warriors on the ground. "I told my men to arm themselves," explained Commander Slak. "So that we may assist in our own defense. I hope I was not too presumptuous in giving that order."

Kenos narrowed his eyes and frowned. Why was the warrior being so…subservient? "That's fine. In fact, that's what I was going to ask of you."

"What more would you have us do?"

The question, the type of question a servant would ask, prompted one from Kenos. "I don't mean to sound rude, Commander, but why are you asking me for commands?"

The Yuuzhan Vong warrior took on a look of confusion. "You have bested my race in battle. We are defeated, and so must be enslaved by you as we did to the Chazrach." He gestured towards the lightsaber on Kenos's belt. "You Jeedai warriors own our species now."

Kenos would have laughed if it hadn't been so inappropriate in the situation. "Commander, you've got it all wrong. My people—my galaxy's people, not just the Jedi—don't do things like that to our enemies. We're saving you as a sign to the Yuuzhan Vong that we want to share this galaxy with you as equals, not as slaves."

The Yuuzhan Vong was quiet for a moment. Kenos had no doubt that the warrior was having trouble trying to wrap his mind around the very alien thought of forgiveness. "I see," said Commander Slak, though Kenos doubted that he truly did. "But because I am the one being saved, I will yield command of this mission to you anyway."

Kenos shrugged. "That's a good reason." He returned his mind to the subject at hand. "Now, Commander, let me tell you what I need from you."

The Yuuzhan Vong warriors were disciplined and efficient; Kenos had to give them that. In only twenty minutes, they'd secured and barricaded every ground floor entrance into the building as well as placed the two remaining Peace Brigade members in the prison that had once held them. It was reported that in another three they would be finished with cutting away the fire escapes of the first three floors to prevent Yuuzhan Vong entrance through those levels. Though only about half of the warriors were equipped with amphistaffs and none of them had armor, all were armed with thud or razor bugs and a desire to live through the situation. The defense was starting to come together pretty well, so Kenos was starting to feel better about his chances for survival.

"The warriors at the base have no flying creatures, so without the fire escapes they have no way of entering floors above this one," Commander Slak was telling Kenos. "With the north and south facing entrances barricaded so well, they will have no choice but to enter through the eastern corridor."

"Which is right where we want them," said Kenos as he stared down the long hallway. The eastern corridor was a fifty-meter stretch of rooms that would allow the Yuuzhan Vong warriors little cover. With three soldiers armed with repeating blaster rifles stationed at the main intersection, the eastern hallway would quickly become a graveyard. Kenos was counting heavily on the Yuuzhan Vong's ability to retreat from a hopeless situation—a lesson only recently learned—and he knew it, but it was the only real chance he and his men had. "If we bloody their nose enough on the first charge, maybe they'll pull back. Then we can just sit tight until our guys get here."

"Are our tactics really so predictable?" asked Slak. "It is no wonder, then, that we lost this war."

"There are other factors that contributed to that," Kenos said curtly. He wasn't trying to be conciliatory; he'd seen too many atrocities committed by the Yuuzhan Vong to make one feel better about losing the war. He was merely speaking the truth.

"Yes, I suppose there were. Still," the warrior grinned. "We gave you an honorable fight, did we not?"

Kenos didn't answer. Lusak approached him and whispered something into his ear that made his jaw drop. "Take me to her," he told the Givin.

"You've got be sithing me," Kenos said as he entered the cell with Lusak. "You know, when we didn't find you on Ylesia, I was afraid that someone had already killed you. I'm glad to know I'll still have my opportunity."

Ilan Nai'tura, sitting in a corner next to another Peace Brigader and dressed in a stylish business suit, narrowed her eyes. "Lieutenant Ossinian, it's so nice to see you again. How's every little thing?"

"Better for me than they will be for you," he replied. He jutted a shoulder forward. "And it's Major Ossinian now, thank you."

She applauded as best she could with hands bound by blorash jelly. "Congratulations on your promotion, Major."

"What should we do with them, sir?" Lusak asked.

"Yes," Ilan said, "what are you going to do with us? Why are you even here?"

"I have some idea of what I'm going to do to him," he said as he pointed at the other Brigader. "I'm going to let Lusak handle him. Lusak?" The Givin raised his rifle and fired at blue stun shot at the man. The stunned Brigader convulsed once as all the nerves in his body fired, then he settled on the floor. "Thank you, Lusak. As for you, you're staying awake until the invasion force gets here."

She nodded once. "That is appreciated, Major Ossinian. I suspect by your presence here that the New Republic is coming to reclaim this planet and that you'll just pass me off to stand trial for what I've done."

"Maybe," Kenos replied. He felt anger creep into his thoughts. "Or I could just kill you here and save the Alliance the cost of a trial. Death by a blaster bolt to the head may not be glamorous, but it's more than you deserve."

Clicking her tongue, she shook her head. "Such hostility, even after all these months? It was only what I had to do to survive this war. Now that it's over, however, what's next? Are you going to devote your life to defending a galaxy of people that wanted to give you up to save themselves?"

The anger was growing, so Kenos decided to leave before it escaped him in an inappropriate manner. He turned away and took a step towards the door.

"Things don't have to be that way," Ilan continued. "You can go to work with someone who appreciates a man with your skills."

Stopping suddenly, Kenos turned a disgusted expression over his shoulder. "Are you offering me a job?"

She held up her trussed wrists. "I'm sure I can find a position to your liking in my organization." She looked to Lusak. "For both of you."

The Jedi's jaw muscles bunched for a moment. Turning to face the woman, he gestured to her jelly bonded wrists. "Lusak, could you take care of that blorash jelly for Miss Nai'tura?"

"I sure can," Lusak said cheerfully. After producing a capsule of powder from his belt, he sprinkled it on the gelatinous material. The jelly dried out, eventually falling dead to the floor.

"Thank you," Ilan said as she rubbed her wrists and stood.

Kenos moved to a pace away from her as Lusak grabbed her wrists and held them behind her back. "I'm nowhere near a perfect man or Jedi," Kenos said to her. "Like most Jedi of my generation, this war has brought out the worst in me. I've even lost myself to the dark side. But there's still one thing I never do: break my promises. And on Vortex I made a promise to myself and to all the men that died because of you that I would not rest until you get what's coming to you." He stared laser bolts into her eyes until she turned her gaze away. "Lusak, lock her up."

"Yes, sir," the Givin said enthusiastically as he snapped metal binders on her wrists and tightened them to their highest setting. "I hope you enjoy your stay here at the Hotel 1534, Miss Nai'tura. If at any time you want to check out, ask either myself or Major Ossinian, and we will gladly supply you with a blaster bolt."

A few moments later, Kenos was observing the preparations back in the hallway. Behind him, Kortasha was sitting against a wall, grunting with pain while Lusak did his best to check the blaster wound. "No, Sergeant, I don't want it," Kenos heard Kortasha say.

Kenos frowned and turned. "You don't want what?"

Lusak sighed and looked up at the Jedi from his knees. "I want to give him contophine for the pain, but he doesn't want it."

"It'll knock me out," replied Kortasha. "I don't want to be unconscious when the Vong start banging on the doors."

With a nod, Kenos waved away the syringe Lusak held in his hand. He understood the sentiment of the Devaronian completely. "If we give him the drug, he'll make us less mobile."

"But if I don't, his tissue will deteriorate because of the movement, and he'll be in constant pain," Lusak countered.

While taking off his gloves, Kenos checked the wound. The right side of Kortasha's torso was mostly a charred black, but bits of pink could be seen. "Let me try something," he said. Gingerly, he laid his hands onto the injury and closed his eyes in concentration. Reaching out with his senses, he grasped the flow of the life energy around him and used his body as a conduit through which he channeled the healing energies of the Force. He did his best to make sure that nerves scorched by the heat of the blaster bolts were cooled as the Force washed over them. Some nerves, however, were too burnt to be soothed; Kenos used the Force to shut them down temporarily. "That should take care of the pain for a while," he said, suddenly short of breath and sweaty. "But without a full tank of bacta I can't do much else."

Kortasha, who was breathing noticeably more easily, nodded. "Whatever keeps me in the fight, sir," he said as Lusak began placing bacta patches over the wound.

Kenos patted the Devaronian's shoulder and stood. "Don't worry. This fight's going to be nearly impossible to avoid." Suddenly reminded of the situation, he began wondering just when the Yuuzhan Vong were going to arrive—the suspense of waiting was beginning to wear on him. Battle, though terrifying and tumultuous, was also very exhilarating and exciting. It wasn't that he enjoyed combat—as a Jedi, he never took pleasure in taking life—he just preferred it to the anxiety filled moments before the fighting began. Moments like now.

Before he could become too nervous and begin second guessing his plans, a rushed Yuuzhan Vong warrior clipped his shoulder. Not slowed by the Jedi's relatively low mass, the warrior continued his run until he reached Commander Slak. Panting and sweating, the warrior snapped fists to opposite shoulders in salute while barking words in his native language. When he was finished, Commander Slak gave an order that sent the warrior running back to his post.

Kenos quickly walked over to the Yuuzhan Vong commander. "What happened?"

"Warriors were seen approaching. I've told all the spotters to return here."

"Good thinking," Kenos said with a nod. He gestured towards Lusak and Kortasha to get their attention. "Let's get everyone into their positions." Lusak nodded and headed to the cell that held Ilan.

After a nod, Commander Slak began yelling commands in the harsh, guttural language of the Yuuzhan Vong. Subalterns added their voices—Kenos guessed they were relaying the orders, and if they were anything like the Alliance's non-commissioned officers, were screaming insults to accelerate the readying process. Nine warriors hustled into nine different rooms on either side of the eastern facing hallway while the remaining eleven lined up in the intersection. Once in position, the warriors and Alliance troops began checking their weapons.

"I will go to my position," said Commander Slak. "I will see you again after the battle." The tall alien's amphistaff uncoiled from his arm and snaked its way to his hand as he sealed himself in his room.

Kenos nodded. "If we're lucky," he mumbled.

Lusak returned with Ilan in front of him. "Where do you want her?"

Kenos took her arm forcefully. "I'll take care of her." He led her to the southern barricade and had her sit. "You can run if you want," he told her. "But there's no where to go. Besides, it would break my heart to not be the one who throws you behind bars."

She didn't respond with a quip. She just nodded. Kenos didn't feel the usual air of confidence and haughtiness about her. Instead, she was honestly scared. Kenos didn't bother offering any assuaging words; he didn't particularly care about what she was feeling.

Walking back to his position, he checked the charge in his rifle's magazine. He found it full, so he let the rifle's tip sag back towards the ground as he leaned against a wall. Though he appeared calm on the surface, inside he was abuzz with the nervous energy that usually flowed through him before combat. Closing his eyes, he sank into meditation to rid himself of the apprehension.

The peace that usually came, however, wasn't anywhere to be found. He found his attempt to clear his mind constantly invaded by thoughts of Jasila that replaced his tenseness with a type of excitement. I can't believe it, he thought to himself with a smirk. It's been years since I've had a crush. The giddy sensation in his stomach that came when he thought of Jasila made him feel like he was thirteen years old again, but he greeted the feeling as a welcome change from the dark emotions that seemed to have clouded the whole galaxy since the war began. And now, with the war finally over, I can act on the emotions that I had to put on hold.

At the edge of his consciousness, he felt a strange hollowness in the Force approaching. As he expanded his senses, he detected more holes in the Force all around the building. That is, if I live through the day.

Down the hall, near the light barricade that had been erected to slow the entering warriors, Commander Slak came out of his room. He tapped the dedicated villip on his shoulder that he'd recovered from one of the dead guards and returned to his position. Kenos nodded and looked around for the warrior with the other villip. Not surprisingly, it was the most tattooed and disfigured warrior standing near him. "Hey, you," Kenos said to the warrior. "Do you speak infidel?"

The warrior scowled. "I speak your language," he snarled.

"Good. Tell your men to ready their weapons." As the warrior did so, Kenos looked to Lusak and Kortasha. "That goes for us, too." In a flurry of practiced motion, all the men traded the magazines in their rifles for new ones and placed the old power packs in a recharging port on their belt. With their rifles fully charged and primed to fire, the soldiers dropped to one knee and trained their weapons on the eastern barricade. The Yuuzhan Vong warriors around them, all with a razor bug in hand, likewise watched the doorway.

The first sounds that gave away the Yuuzhan Vong presence, however, did not come from the eastern hallway. Bumps and grunts were heard coming from the northern and southern hallways, but Kenos wasn't worried. We dumped so much junk in front of those doors, it'll take them a year to cut through. After a few moments, the Yuuzhan Vong attackers realized that and the sounds ceased as the warriors outside gave up trying to enter the northern and southern doors. "Get ready," Kenos told the men around him. "They'll be coming."

"When's backup coming, sir?" Kortasha asked.

Kenos, sensing the young man's fear, gritted his teeth; the answer was not going to allay Kortasha's anxiety. But I'm not going to lie to him. "The hour's not up for another fifteen minutes."

Obviously frightened, but resigned to the terrible situation he was in, Kortasha took a shaky breath and tried to ready himself for the fight.

Loud thumps resounded through the hall as the Yuuzhan Vong began breaking through the pile of junk that blocked the eastern entrance. The eastern pile was not so solid, so the enemy warriors took only a minute to create holes in the barricade. Spotting a brief flash of blue skin, Kenos began to slowly squeeze off shots through the gaps in the barricade. Lusak and Kortasha followed suit, but none of the men were sure they had hit anything until more demolishing of the barricade revealed a few dead Yuuzhan Vong bodies. Knowing that the small casualties he and his men had caused wouldn't be enough to deter the Yuuzhan Vong, Kenos began firing faster, barely pulling the trigger before setting his sights on another warrior. As larger and larger chunks of the barricade were cast away and exposed more enemy warriors it became easier to gun them down, but Kenos knew that this battle wasn't going to be won by the three Galactic Alliance troops. Lots of Vong are out there, he thought. And they're going to kill a lot of people in here before we manage to repel them.

Next to him, the Yuuzhan Vong subaltern in charge of the bug-throwers impatiently shifted his weight from foot to foot. Kenos hoped he would maintain discipline and not waste the small amount of bugs the warriors had by throwing them when the enemy was out of range.

With strong throws, the enemy warriors brought down the last of the barricade and began pouring into the hallway. Depressing his trigger, Kenos walked fully automatic blaster fire across the faces of the helmeted enemies. Lusak and Kortasha did the same, stopping only to reload their weapons when their power packs were depleted. A score of warriors had fallen after the first ten seconds of the fifty-meter rush, but the falling dead bodies did little to slow the warriors behind them. Hurtling over their fallen comrades, the warriors passed the first four rooms of the hallway.

Kenos saw the leading warriors pass the fourth doorway and recognized that as his cue. He slapped the warrior next to him; the subaltern readied his villip and spoke into it. A moment later, ten doors—five on each side of the hallway—opened and uncovered ten warriors armed with amphistaffs. Commander Slak yelled in Yuuzhan Vong and led his men in a charge into the unready flanks of the enemy formation. His warriors slashed at the unaware enemy warriors, dropping fifteen before their enemies began to fight back. The middle of the Yuuzhan Vong formation turned into a roiling sea of blue skin and swinging amphistaffs as Commander Slak and his men tried to delay the flood of enemy warriors that was spewing through the open entryway.

Left with forty or so warriors to deal with on his own, Kenos gave the order to fire the bugs. The Yuuzhan Vong warriors on either side of him let loose with two volleys, one each of razor and thud bugs. As jagged and sharp as their name suggested, the razor bugs dug deep furrows into crab armor and enemy faces. Many Yuuzhan Vong warriors were felled and slowed the progress of the rest, making them easy targets for the Alliance troops. Between the three non-Yuuzhan Vong and the razor bugs, almost half of the approaching warriors were killed.

Then the second volley hit.

More solid and massive than their jagged counterparts, the thug bugs hit Yuuzhan Vong chests with enough force to send them flying backwards. Some of the thud bugs that hit bare flesh exploded and sent shrapnel-like fragments through blue tinted limbs or faces. Those that didn't immediately kill their quarry damaged them enough for Kenos and his men to pick them off with blaster bolts. When the whines of blaster fire tapered off, there was nothing left of the front end of the Yuuzhan Vong formation. All was clear at the intersection, but there was much fighting in the middle of the hall; Commander Slak and his warriors were fighting with a zeal Kenos had seen fade away from other warriors in the recent year.

Out of bugs but not out of the fight, the subaltern dropped his villip and charged forward. Though not armed with any weapons, the warriors were content with using their fists or dying in honorable one on one combat. Not well suited for that kind of combat, the Alliance troops stayed at their position and tried to pick off enemy warriors with well-placed shots. It was easy to spot the bad warriors; for the first time since the early years of the war they were wearing helmets.

From his vantage point at the rear of the battle, Kenos could see that the fight was not going well, despite the passion Slak and his warriors had. "There's too many of them," he mumbled to himself. "We have to retreat."

"What?" Lusak yelled over the noise of the three discharging weapons. "To where?"

Kenos furrowed his brow and thought for a moment. When an option—the only option they had, really—hit him, he slung his rifle and stood. "Keep picking off the guys with the helmets. And try not to use grenades. I'll be back." Filling his palm with his lightsaber, he ran to the southern hallway.

The wall of junk in front of the southern exit was solidly built, consisting mostly of desks, chairs, database mainframes, and other scavenged hardware, but Kenos knew its contents and just how thick it really was. Besides, no wall is too much work for a man and a couple of thermal detonators. He gestured for Ilan to stand and move away from the rubble while he readied the explosives. Thumbing the timers, he placed the silver spheres on the pile of debris and backed away ten meters. Five seconds later the weapons exploded, vaporizing a substantial amount of everything within five meters. Igniting his lightsaber, Kenos took a step forward and began hacking at the remaining layers of random objects that had been used for the barrier.

A second set of hands joined his work. Looking up, he saw that Ilan was scrabbling at the rubble as best she could with her hands bound together. He gave her a quizzical look, and she returned it with a stern stare. "I'd be a bigger help if my hands were unbound." Kenos opened his mouth to refuse, but she interrupted. "Like you said, there's nowhere for me to go."

Kenos nodded and unlocked her binders. Though he hated to admit it, clearing the tiers of rubble became much easier with her help.

With all the warriors swirling about, it was nearly impossible for Lusak and Kortasha to find good shots. The fact that the good warriors were outnumbered three to one helped, but just when a clear shot presented itself, a warrior dodging an amphistaff strike would ruin it. Now that the advantage of ranged weapons had been taken away, Lusak and Kortasha stood at the main intersection in frustration. And with each of those warriors having to take three or four opponents, we're not going to survive this engagement, Lusak thought. Whatever Ossinian's doing better be good.

As if conjured by his thoughts, the major's voice came to Lusak over his helmet speakers. "Lusak, have the Vong warriors fall back to the southern exit. And do it quickly."

Lusak didn't understand why Ossinian would want to put his men in an inescapable corridor, but he knew better than to question the Jedi's orders. Looking around, he found the villip that the subaltern had dropped earlier. He picked it up and stroked it back to life. Though no Yuuzhan Vong face appeared in the gelatinous object, Lusak knew the commander was listening. "Commander Slak, we have to retreat. Have whoever's left retreat to the southern hallway. We'll give you cover."

Kortasha, who had heard the conversation, looked to the Givin sergeant in wonderment. Lusak answered his unasked question by priming a concussion grenade. Kortasha did the same, and the two tossed them into the crowd of blue-skinned warriors with all their strength. The remnants of Commander Slak's group pulled back to the peripheral of the battle, then sprinted towards the southern hallway as the two explosions rang out. Most of the enemy warriors didn't follow; they tended to the dozen warriors that had fallen to the ground with bleeding ears and eyes.

Firing at any warrior that decided to pursue the retreat, Lusak helped the injured Kortasha walk towards the southern hallway. Once there, the major ran over and used one of his Jedi tricks to levitate Kortasha through the hole he'd somehow created in their barricade. "Across the street, there's a pile of rocks that offers good cover," said the Jedi as the good warriors filed past them and out to the street outside. "We'll head over that way and blast any Vong that come out of this hole."

With a nod, Lusak sprinted over to the boulders. Once there, he trained his rifle on the southern exit but took a careful look at his surroundings. Commander Slak and the seven warriors left of his group were regrouping in the street, preparing for the rest of the enemy to show up. Major Ossinian was making his way across the street, simultaneously using the Force to reload his rifle and keep Kortasha four centimeters in the air. Lusak marveled at the major's unprecedented display of Force power; obviously, this war had matured him in more ways than one. Ilan followed him, looking around nervously. Some would think that she was merely wary of any stray Yuuzhan Vong warriors, but Lusak knew she was cataloging the surroundings for possible escape routes. He decided to keep a close eye on her.

"All right, take it easy," said the Jedi after he lowered Kortasha to the ground. "Lusak, you might want to check his bandages. Ilan, sit down and don't talk."

"Yes, sir," Lusak replied as Ilan did as ordered. "So, what now, Major?" he asked as he poked gingerly at a squirming Kortasha. "Plan 'A' didn't work."

"Then I guess we go to plan 'B.'"

If Lusak could have rolled his eyes, he would have. "And what's that, sir?"

"We sit here until help arrives." He smiled. "And try not to get killed."

"Good plan," Lusak remarked. "How do we go about implementing it?"

The major tapped the power pack recharging port on his belt. "I suggest you recharge as many of these things as you can. Once the Vong start coming through that door, we're going to need them."

Kenos had been looking over the street for three whole minutes, and still the Yuuzhan Vong hadn't come back. He couldn't even feel what they were planning, and it frustrated him to no end. Still, the downtime gave him an opportunity to recharge some power packs—a service given to Special Operations troops by New Republic techs—and prepare for another battle. Impatiently, he glanced at his chrono and wondered just when the main invasion force was going to show up. I can't hold these guys off forever, he thought to whatever distant troops were on the planet. I need a little help.

It didn't come, however; at least, not in the fifteen more seconds of peace he had before the Yuuzhan Vong came again. A few scouts, no more than six warriors, came first and were easily mowed down. The next wave was larger but just as easily deterred. Despite the victories, Kenos was almost sick with worry. They've put their reserves in and strengthened their numbers. We're dead. He sighed, sending out his fear and anger in a relaxing breath. Well, at least I'll go out in a blaze of glory. Maybe Master Tionne will write a song about me.

Pushing more fatalistic thoughts from his mind, he tried to devise a new strategy for dealing with more Yuuzhan Vong warriors without any sort of stronghold. He didn't get far and was only a moment from giving up when another wave of warriors—judging by the size of the force, the last wave—came boiling from the Peace Brigade building. Kenos, Lusak, and Kortasha greeted them with searing laser blasts, and Commander Slak harried the enemy's flanks, but this wave wasn't going to be repelled. Knowing the ranged weapons of the non-Yuuzhan Vong to be a serious danger, the enemy warriors mixed themselves among Commander Slak's warriors to take away the Alliance troops' ability to pick them off. Commander Slak's warriors were fighting well, but without the suppressing fire of the Alliance soldiers, they were continuously being pushed back towards the middle of the street by the crushing number of enemy Yuuzhan Vong.

And just when matters seemed to be at their worst for Kenos and his men, the Yuuzhan Vong cut loose their main forces.

From the ruins behind him, Kortasha heard the shifting of rubble. A casual glance back showed him a sight that dropped a kilo of ice into his gut. Dozens of Yuuzhan Vong were twenty meters away and approaching the three soldiers, all of them with sneers of hate and bloodlust in their eyes. Yelling for his two companions to turn around, he began firing fully repeating bursts into the Yuuzhan Vong crowd.

Kenos, hearing Kortasha's scream and feeling his alarm, whipped around. When the sight of three dozen Yuuzhan Vong warriors filled his eyes, he nearly panicked. The Force provided composure and allowed him to shoulder his rifle and pull the trigger. It clicked and didn't discharge any bolts of lethal energy. He tossed it aside and drew his pistol, arming it to send magnetically accelerated bolts of metal at his targets. Using the Force to accelerate his trigger finger, it seemed that his pistol was fully automatic as he used it to drop warrior after warrior. Around him, his companions drew their pistols when their rifles ran out of energy and tried to burn down their enemies with the less powerful bolts.

After only a few seconds, the slug-throwing pistol ran dry. Lacking time to reload it, he dropped it and pulled out his lightsaber. He ignited the blade and ran forward to attack the warriors that outnumbered him and his comrades five to one. The Force sped and strengthened him, allowing him to dodge quick amphistaff strikes, or parry powerful blows. With the Jedi keeping most of the warriors busy, Kortasha and Lusak managed to fire blaster bolts through weakened armor or exposed skin. They kept up the fire for as long as their power packs allowed.

Still, just like the battle waging further down the bloodstained street, heart was giving away to numbers. Despite the Force, Kenos couldn't dodge or deflect a dozen strikes at once. Two quick warriors swiped their amphistaffs across the Jedi's back, cutting him deeply and causing pain to explode in his mind. His concentration and connection to the Force clouded by the pain, Kenos felt suddenly weary and dropped to the ground. Raising his head slightly, he could see three warriors lifting their weapons in preparation for the killing blow while the others walked slowly to Kortasha and Lusak. After five long years of war, Kenos had finally failed to complete one of his missions. Not a bad record, he had time to think before one of the amphistaffs came down.

Though his eyes were closed in preparation for death, he knew the blaster bolt had come within centimeters of hitting him by the heat that passed over his neck and smell of burnt hair that wafted through the air. Surprised by the rescue, he looked up at the nearest warrior to see that half of the Yuuzhan Vong's facial features were a mass of black char. He was about to turn to Lusak and thank him for the help when six more bolts lanced through the two warriors left around him. Six bolts? He snapped his head around to identify the sources of the extra bolts.

Expecting to see New Republic cavalry charging into battle to save the day, Kenos was shocked when he saw his true rescuers. Clad in gray battle armor of ancient design, the Mandalorians flitted through the air on jetpacks, deftly dodging razor and thud bugs while burning down warriors with well placed blaster pistol or rifle shots. The Yuuzhan Vong warriors, obviously astonished to be fighting airborne foes, broke ranks and became a disorganized mob.

The Mandalorians continued their attack, driving the Yuuzhan Vong away from the vulnerable Alliance troops. Now free to tend to his own men, Kenos rushed to the three other beings at the small bunker. When he reached them, Lusak slapped him happily on the shoulder. "Look, Major," he said and pointed down the street, past the battle of Yuuzhan Vong warriors. From around a corner came New Republic light armor and infantry. Blaster bolts sprouted from their weapons as they entered the fight between Commander Slak and the renegade warriors.

One of the Mandalorians—Kenos guessed he was the leader by the excessive scarring on his armor—made a hand signal to his companions. Each armor-clad warrior began backing away while they fired, heading west in an organized advance towards the rear. The surviving Yuuzhan Vong warriors, no longer concerned with the less than honorable kills that the Alliance troops would be, followed the Mandalorians. When both groups of ruthless warriors disappeared over a hill, and the sounds of battle faded slightly, Kenos looked over the damage the efficient Mandalorians had caused on the Yuuzhan Vong. As his gaze swept over the small area around him that had housed the battle, Kenos realized that all the bodies on the ground were blue-skinned Yuuzhan Vong.

All except one.

Almost totally covered beneath a dead Yuuzhan Vong and his sparking jetpack, one Mandalorian lay unmoving with his helmeted face in the dirt. Kenos dashed to the injured man, wanting to close the distance before the Mandalorian could react. Stretching one hand outward, he pulled the Mandalorian's blaster pistol to him and pointed it at the masked man. Though the Mandalorians had helped fight off the Yuuzhan Vong, he knew that they were not partial to anyone but their own people.

The Mandalorian must have been conscience enough to feel his blaster being ripped from him because he slowly looked up at Kenos. "Well," a gruff voice said over external speakers. "You got me, Jedi." Slowly, the armored man stood up and looked him over. Even without the Force Kenos could feel the intent stare coming from behind the other's reflective visor. "Are you going to shoot or not?"

Kenos paused in thought while a picture of the four-piped lieutenant colonel insignia danced in his head. He could very easily shoot the defenseless warrior, drag his body to the New Republic soldiers slowly making their way to his position, and receive a promotion before retiring, but the Mandalorian didn't deserve having to endure a New Republic interrogation. This man just saved my life, he thought. I definitely owe him one. With a sigh, he lowered the pistol. Besides, I really don't want to be the guy who arrested Boba Fett's son. "Here," Kenos said as he flipped the pistol around and extended it to the Mandalorian. "Take this and head west. That's where your friends went, and there aren't any Alliance troops in that direction."

The Mandalorian didn't even reach out to take his weapon back. "Keep it, Jedi," he said. With nothing else, he turned westward and began running. Kenos watched him until he disappeared over the same hill that had hidden his companions. Shaking his head, he called his Merr-Sonn pistol to his hand and returned it to its holster.

Lusak appeared next to him, pushing Ilan in front of him. Kenos opened his mouth to speak to him when light from the late afternoon sun glinted off of something in Ilan's hand. He moved his eyes to get a better look at what it was, but by the time he got his pupils focused on her light blue skin whatever had been there was gone. It reappeared a second later when Lusak screamed in pain and clutched at the inert vibroblade that had been jammed just under his chest armor. He fell to the ground, which made it easier for Ilan to twist the blade and remove it for a strike at Kenos.

In the seconds before the blade pierced the skin under his ribs, Kenos felt anger rush through his body. The emotion turned his skin to steel, preventing him from feeling the pain of the wound. He slapped Ilan's wrist away with his left hand and brought up the Mandalorian pistol with his right. Leveling the business end of the weapon on Ilan's forehead, he decided in an instant to pull the trigger and blow the treacherous Twi'lek to hell. A blue bolt leapt from the weapon and impacted her head. She flopped to the ground like a fish out of water, unconscious.

Anger left the Jedi and was replaced by shock. He stared at the pistol unbelievingly as Lusak stood. "Ow," the Givin said.

Kenos looked to his friend in concern. "Are you okay?"

Lusak waved the question away. "Fine. One perk of having an exoskeleton. You?"

Already using the Force to accelerate his healing, Kenos was fine also. He told Lusak as much.

Prodding Ilan's body with a boot none too softly, Lusak nodded approvingly. "Good thinking, sir. I would have hit her with a kill shot."

Kenos went back to staring at the weapon incredulously. "I would have, too," he said. "I didn't put it on stun."

"And the Mandalorian was sure as hell using kill shots." Lusak grunted. "I guess it just got switched when he fell."

"I guess," Kenos echoed, though he didn't believe that was the reason. He had come within microns of killing another being out of anger—and it wouldn't have been the first time—and he found it hard to believe that he'd been saved from giving in to his dark emotions again by a stroke of blind luck. Someone out there is looking out for me.

"If you pay really close attention to things around you, you may notice me," Numa had said.

He looked up to the sky and gave it a small smile. I noticed you, Numa. Thanks.

Climbing over ruins and rubble, Colonel Talil and a small fire team walked over to the tired Alliance troops. Medics rushed to treat Kortasha while Colonel Talil waved over Kenos and Lusak. "Good work," the Ishi Tib said. "We've just started the landing, but we already have some good footholds on the planet." He adjusted his combat helmet. "Also, we've gotten more reports of Mandalorian activity." He frowned as Kenos quickly tucked the pistol behind his back. "Have you two seen anything since your last report?"

Kenos and Lusak exchanged glances, then the Jedi looked over the street that had turned into a battleground, at the dead bodies strewn around randomly, and at the Yuuzhan Vong warriors being taken into custody by Commander Slak. The death and destruction had lasted for five years, crushed the galaxy to ruins, but now it was over. Suddenly, Kenos didn't feel like answering the colonel's question.

Lusak gave the colonel an exhausted look before following Kenos as the human began to walk towards the New Republic vehicles. "Just take us home, sir."

Apparently, the resistance above Gyndine had been fiercer than many tacticians had predicted. Though no Yuuzhan Vong capital ships were in system, many small flights of coralskippers banded together to assault the New Republic fleet. The quick ships smashed through fighter screens, hardly bothering to engage in order to save their cohesion for their real targets—New Republic capital ships. Flying at full speed, coralskippers pelted the shields and hulls of the Harbinger and the larger ships of her battle group. The attack ended as suddenly as it began, but the Mon Calamari cruiser was left ravaged and in desperate need of repairs.

Flying by the ship on a small landing craft, Kenos could see the hangar's extensive damage. A long black scorch streaked almost all the around the cruiser, testament to the ferocity of the Yuuzhan Vong's last stand. The small shuttle zoomed by the large cruiser, and its pilot directed it towards its true target. Kenos had been told that he, Lusak, and Kortasha wouldn't be returning to the Harbinger. The injured Devaronian was on another shuttle and was being ferried to the battle group's medical ship, an aging Dreadnaught named the Salvation, but no one told him where he and Lusak were being sent until he asked the shuttle's pilot. When the pilot told him that they were being temporarily placed on the Sullustan Shield, Kenos found the irony almost too much.

The shuttle's ramp lowered slowly and eventually came to a rest on the Sullustan Shield's deck. Kenos and Lusak stepped out onto the Nebulon-B frigate totally unsure of who the local Quartermaster was and how they were supposed to arrange their temporary transfer. Luckily, a young lieutenant had been posted in the hangar to find the disoriented soldiers.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," the cheerful man said. "I'm Lieutenant Hij, and I have a few administrative things for you two to take care of." He flipped through a series of datapads in his hands, and after deciding that he had the correct pads, handed one to both Lusak and Kenos. "I'll need your signatures on line fifteen, please."

Lusak stared at his datapad. "What is this?"

The lieutenant cocked his head. "Well, Master Sergeant, signing that ends your enlistment in the New Republic Army." He turned to Kenos. "And yours, sir, resigns your commission."

Kenos grinned and opened his pad. After finding the appropriate line, he used a stylus to scribble his name. Just for kicks, he wrote it in Sullustan. "There you go, Lieutenant," he said happily as he handed the datapad to the company grade officer. Once the young man took the pad from him, Kenos wiped his hands, sending stray pieces of dirt to the otherwise clean deck, and waited for Lusak to finish signing his datapad.

Lusak, however, hadn't touched his datapad. He had the stylus in hand and poised over line fifteen, but he didn't sign. Kenos could sense turmoil within the Givin, but it subsided a moment later. "No," Lusak said as he snapped the datapad closed. "I'm not signing this. I don't want to leave just yet."

The lieutenant frowned, obviously bewildered, but decided to indulge the Givin. "Um, okay, Master Sergeant. I guess I'll go find someone who can extend your enlistment contract." With quick strides, the young man walked out of the hangar.

When the lieutenant was out of earshot, Kenos turned a frown on his friend. "You're staying in? Why? The war's over; you and I can both do something else now."

Lusak shrugged. "I can't go back to Yag'Dhul, especially after they tried to sell Jedi out to save themselves." He shook his head. "And I can't think of anything else I'd like to do but be a soldier." He looked up at the slightly taller human. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

It was the Jedi's turn to shrug. "If you mean long-term, other than watching Ilan get grilled in trial, I don't really know." Glancing around the hangar, he spotted a line of A-wings being worked on by a tech crew. The sight sparked a memory and a smile. "But right now I'm going to do something I should have done a long time ago."

Kenos stopped his fist before it hit the office door for the fourth time and berated himself for it. It was funny that, after five years of war, surviving the most destructive conflict that the galaxy had ever known, and killing dozens of fearsome warriors, sometimes with nothing more than a vibroblade, Kenos Ossinian—Jedi Knight—was afraid to speak to one woman. Still, there was a mental urging that kept him from running away entirely. Ewok cubs have more courage than this, he told himself. Get a hold of yourself. Deciding once and for all to really knock this time, he brought his fist up and sent it downwards.

His fist never made it to the door. He felt a presence near the door from the other side and stopped his descending knuckles before the door slid aside. When it opened fully, his fist was about a centimeter and a half away from Jasila's forehead.

She jerked her head backwards and blinked. Kenos retracted his hand and flushed in embarrassment. "Oh, geez, I'm sorry," he stammered.

Her hand on her chest, she sagged in relief. "By the Force, you scared me," she said. She took a composing breath and waved him into her office. "Hey, what are you doing here? Did they put you here because of the damage the Harbinger took?"

He used a Jedi technique to flood the blood from his cheeks and looked her over before answering. She was wearing the standard orange flight suit that all New Republic pilots wore but she let dark her hair fall to her shoulders instead of putting it in the bun that New Republic Starfighter Command's regulations required. Kenos was so entranced by how attractive she looked in a flightsuit that he hardly noticed the large bulge under her right pant leg. "What happened there?" he asked.

She looked down, then smiled slightly. "Well, now all of the original Rapier Squadron has been shot down over Gyndine." She reached down and tapped the bacta cast hidden by her flightsuit. "When I ejected, my communications console slammed into my leg and crushed two bones." She shrugged. "I'll be fine in a couple days."

"Glad to hear it," he said as he leaned back against her desk.

"You didn't answer my question," Jasila said as she walked to her desk and began searching through its drawers. "What brings you to the Shield?"

"The damage the Harbinger took. Once I got here, though, I thought I'd pay you a visit." He began picking at his nails. "To apologize."

She looked up from her search with a frown. "For what?"

He sighed. "For turning down what you offered me about a week ago." He turned to face her. "I'm here to see if that offer is still on the table." A nervous smile crossed his lips. "Will you take me back?"

Her mouth fell open for a moment before it turned into an ear-to-ear grin. "Really?" she exclaimed. Kenos nodded, and she chuckled. "Well, I won't put you through any hoops to win me over. I'll take you back."

"Thank you," he replied with a grin of his own. "And as a very ceremonious first date, I'd like to take you to whatever cafeteria this ship has."

"Right now?" She grimaced and shook her head. "I can't." Grabbing a datapad from a desk drawer, she held it up. "I have to get this report to my wing commander right now." She smiled sweetly and extended a hand. "Would you care to escort me, Major? I need a brave soldier to see me to the commander's office safely."

"I don't think so, ma'am," he replied, playing along. "I'm a soldier, not a security guard."

She winked at him. "Don't worry, Major. I'm sure I can compensate you for your time in a satisfactory manner."

Something in her body language left him with no doubts of that. He arched a brow and glanced over her petite form conspicuously. "Well, when you put it that way…" He took her hand and led her out of the room.

Stepping out of the office with Jasila's hand in his had a significant effect on the young Jedi. He felt suddenly lighter. No longer weighted down with the concerns of a military leader, he breathed more easily and had more bounce to his step. It seemed as if he'd marched out of the entire war once and for all.

Even the New Republic uniform he wore couldn't bring back war-time memories that would threaten his relief—his mind kept telling him that it described the soldier he had had to be, not the Jedi Knight he now was. And I'll never have to wear anything like this again. I can go back to protecting people through peaceful means, instead of being forced to destroy life in order to protect it.

"Hey," Jasila said, unintentionally interrupting his thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he answered with a smile. "Just fine."

She nodded and continued to lead them to her destination. "So, what changed your mind about us?"

Kenos smirked. "I ran into a long-lost friend, and she made me realize some things. For instance, that I was an idiot for turning you down when I really do want to be with you."

"Well, whoever she is, I wish she were here." She grinned and ran her thumb along his knuckles. "I'd like to thank her."

Kenos looked over and eyed her for a second as they continued to walk through the corridors of the ship. His gaze fell on her smile and bright blue eyes while his ears picked up her charming giggle. All of it brought visions of possible futures to his mind. A smile turned up the corners of his lips as he felt excitement buzzing in his gut and heart. There had been many times when he'd thought he could never love again, but it seemed to be happening right at that moment. With Jasila by his side, the task of rebuilding the war torn galaxy didn't seem so daunting. And if Numa hadn't pushed me, I would have missed this.

"Yes," he said in agreement with her statement. "I would, too."

It had taken three full weeks, but Kenos had finally managed to escape the New Republic's administrative clutches by returning everything given to him by the government. Unfortunately, that meant that Tina, his best friend over the past years, was now gone. Despite the droid's sassy attitude, Kenos had to admit that he missed the hunk of junk. Deep inside he hoped that the R7 missed him back, but he knew that all her memories of him were gone, lost in the limbo of deletion. Oh, well, he thought. I'll never forget you, R7-A85, no matter what your new name is.

He could only lament a second longer. Jasila continued to speak to him from a datapad he held while a living ship ferried him from orbit to the surface of Zonoma Sekot. "Message me back when you get done with your Jedi business," the young woman was saying. "We'll be heading back to Coruscant in two days, and I want to see you. I miss you. But enough of the sappy romantic stuff; I'll let you go." She titled forward and kissed the camera of her holo-terminal. Bits of lipstick on the camera caused her image to shift out of focus slightly as she leaned back and raised a hand to wave. "Love you. Bye."

Though he knew the message had been recorded hours ago, Kenos couldn't help but smile and wave back. Jasila's dazzling smile faded away just as the Sekotan ship decelerated for landing. Kenos marveled at how smoothly the living ship flew. Parts of it reminded him too much of a coralskipper to allow total comfort, but the fact that he could feel the craft around him was certainly a…different sensation. He couldn't wait to get on the surface and find his friends that had flown the Sekotan fighters during the final battle.

After the ship touched down—something even an experienced pilot like Kenos hardly noticed—the Ferroan pilot left the cockpit and opened the small ship's exit ramp. Kenos followed the man out of the ship and was stunned when he laid eyes on Zonoma Sekot. Towering mountains in the distance, beautiful grass prairies nearby, and a scattering of his oldest friends brought a large grin to the Jedi's face as he walked off the living ship.

He walked towards the gathering of Jedi and smiled when Master Tionne walked to him through a swarm of Jedi children running around her. "It's about time you got here, Chef," she said warmly with fists planted on her hips. "We've all been waiting for you." Some of the small children scampering around her stopped in their playing to wave at the newcomer. Their loud greetings caught the attention of Tenel Ka, Waxarn Kel, and other friends Kenos hadn't seen in months or years. Large chunks of the gathered crowd began to wander towards him.

Waving back to the children, Kenos looked over the gathered Jedi and opened his mouth to question what Master Tionne had meant—there were still so many of his friends absent. Then, with a sigh, he remembered where the missing Jedi were. It was yet another reminder—as if another were necessary— of the conflict the whole galaxy had just endured.

But that conflict was now over for good, and even though he couldn't completely get back to the life he'd enjoyed before, he was going to try his hardest. And as he walked into the crowd of his friends, returning hugs, handshakes, and greetings from everyone, he decided that that was good enough.

THE END