Breathing. That's the only sound she can hear. The sound of her own rapid, fearful, and abnormally loud breathing. She flattens herself against the rock wall of the underground cave, trying to will herself invisible, praying silently to the Force to protect her. She should not be afraid for she is a Jedi and they are but clone troopers, but she is. She is terrified. But not for her own safety, oh no, the Jedi have not yet sunk down that far. Instead, she fears for the safety of those few remaining "younglings" as Yoda would call them, whom even now, as she stood here trembling in this tunnel, were being taken to safety, away from here, away from the murderers who track them.
Voices. The new sounds now reach her ears. They all seem like the same mechanical voice that has been multiplied into many. Painstakingly, she attempts to control her breathing, gray eyes flitting around nervously. If Master Yoda were to be here, he would smack her with his gimmer stick. "Be afraid you should not, young Ailsa, for a Jedi you are. Guide you the Force does. Listen to it you should." Yes, that's what he would say, she decides. A smile comes to her face as she remembers those happier days back at the Temple.
But those are over now, over and gone, never to come again. Footsteps that draw closer quickly wipe the carefree grin from her face and she silently edges sideways further down the side tunnel.
The Force sends a warning ripple and she suddenly freezes in place. In her head, she thanks the Force for its warning for it she had been but a mere second slower, the clone troopers would've spotted her by now.
Stretching out with the Force, she finds eight troopers at the tunnel's mouth with more on their way. She breathes a silent sight that is a mixture of relief and fear. The relief is for the fact that if more come to her, than less shall threaten the children. The fear is for the fact that now she shall surely die. But that matters not to her now, for all must die sometime. Or perhaps this is merely a lie she tells herself in order to boost her courage. Either way, it is working.
Six of the clones advance cautiously into the tunnel, their blasters at the ready.
Five
Slowly, her hand comes up to firmly grasp her lightsaber, unhook it, and then return her hand back to her side, the hilt still tightly grasped in her hand. She concentrates even more on making herself invisible, though she doubts it will work. What she wouldn't give for the power of alter mind right now, to be able to show herself as elsewhere in the clones' minds.
Four
The clones say something, but she ignores the words for they can do nothing to change what she knows is coming.
Three
Her breaths are coming in short, ragged, pieces now. Her heart is racing. The anticipation of what is to come is affecting her now. Waiting to die is not easy.
Two
Never in her wildest dreams had she thought that she would die like this. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that the Republic would turn against the Jedi and hunt them down as they did now. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought it would come to this.
One
She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, trying to find her center and inner peace. If she is to die today, something that is almost certain, than she shall do so as a Jedi; a keeper of the peace and a warrior of justice.
Zero
Her silent count down coming to an end, she leaps out from her hiding place, blue lightsaber blazing to life. The clones begin to fire and she blocks what blaster bolts she can, expression determined.
But she is no match for six, no, now eight, blasters that fire at her. She cannot block all the shots.
Her last conscious thought as she collapses to the rocky ground is that she has failed the remaining younglings. Now, they will never survive.