Alright people. Hello again. I know that I'm a little more than a month off schedule, but that's OK with me and I hope that's OK with you.

My only excuse for this is my beautiful 98 in Science and the 100 in Math. Thank you, thank you very much.

Let's see, the one thing in particular that I wanna discuss is whether I should change the classification from Sci-fi Parody to Action/Adventure-Parody or Action/Adventure-Sci-fi, either way, there's gonna be a change. Please, a penny for your thoughts.

And just in case you guys didn't get the last chapter, here's the recap. Robin and Yodaboy fought Darth Raven and Commando Cyborg. Then Cy got shot real bad from a mysterious source. (dooooiiiiioooouuuuuuuuuu!) This next chapter is the explanation.

Without further a-do, ENJOY!

Chapter 8

Starfire ran for her life. With her modified DC-15 blaster rifle slung over her shoulder, accompanied with the hefty weight of several pounds of combat equipment, it was no easy task. Having mortality hang beside her was definitely not helping.

The rebounding pain in her feet gave her mind a jolt. "Why am I not flying?"

She shifted her gaze a little to one side and she found her answer. "Of course, flying is far from possible."

All around her, enemy blaster bolts strayed from their marks and strung the air in intricate webs of lethal energy. It was to her advantage that no one in particular was looking for her. But that was not to say that a flying girl, clad in assassin gear, would stay camouflaged in the chaotic fray of battle.

But of course, she could always do that if she lost her footing from the unsettling wooden tree bridge that connected the gargantuan worshyr trees together. Being no stranger to the reality of aerial movement, it was not a problem that she was hundreds of feet above the ground.

What really worried her was the stray blaster and SPHA/T walker bolts. She was running on a bridge that ran alongside a sharp rock face, the precipice was a glaring target board that would collapse on the first solid strike. She could only save herself to some extent. Incapacitated by an artillery bolt or crushed by the overhanging rocks, she would be no different than the numerous bodies that carpeted Kachiro's harbor sand.

Then, beside her, one of the Separatist Corporate Alliance tank droids sent a ballistic missile on a one way course toward one of the nearby clone occupied tree garrisons. The needle shaped rocket blazed through the air trailing a bright purple flame. Swirling toward their position, Starfire saw the commandos evacuate the bunker with near mechanical prowess.

Fortunately for the clones, the projectile flew several feet away from their actual holdout saving their lives. They would be safe for another moment. That is, until another audacious droid mind decided to pick them out as a target.

As happy as she could be with the protraction of a clone human's life, the missile had found a different, much larger target: the rock face. Within the consecutive moments, the rocket metal collided with carved bedrock.

The subsequent explosion rocked the world. A tempest of fire erupted from ground zero. Superheated air burst forth like long-withheld water from a holed dam. Starfire quickly dropped down and hugged the wood floor that was just barely wider than she was. The fire never reached her, but the heat whipped her crouched form with open force. The next instant, it was all over.

Starfire got back up, as she waved off shell shock. Her head was still spinning when she heard the distant cracking sound of the rock face giving way. She felt a shower of wet rocks pattering at her helmet. Starfire didn't need another warning.

Taking the risk, she jumped off the woodwork. With the torrent of desperation overwhelming the sliver of caution that remained in her mind, she began to take flight. She would not let gravity do its business. Instants into the descent, she began to oppose the effect. As heavy as she was, with all the equipment weighing her down, taking to the air was no problem. Floating into the air, she drifted a few meters away from the walkway.

Seconds later, the rock face behind her crumbled like a deck of cards in the wind. A huge boulder separated from the main hulk and plummeted to the ground below. On its way down to the sandy floor, the rocky mass collided with the walkway that Starfire had trudging along moments ago. The huge clump of earth snapped the Wookie bridge like a twig. Then, it continued on its course as if it had met no resistance at all.

Starfire knew she had to pick up the pace. She was totally exposed in the open air. At any given moment, she could be shot plain out of the sky.

To a clone on the beachhead, she would appear as an advanced rocket droid floating in the air in search for its next target. They would not lose a fragment of time to hesitate, pull the trigger and the target is destroyed. To a droid trying to take the position, she would appear as a strangely composed jetpack trooper. They would exercise no more restraint than the clones. Either way, she'd be eliminated.

Quickly, she scanned her surroundings, hoping to find a place to wait the day out. Maybe sometime in the veil of the evening, she could hope for better cover. Just then, her emerald green Tamaranean eyes spotted and abandoned clone bunker. Conveniently located on an outcropping higher up on the cliff face, it was more than acceptable.

Eyes locked on target, she zoomed toward the bunker. The calming lagoon air now felt like a dozen glacial whips, lashing at her face and body. True, the armor she wore prevented the gist of the pain, but her face suffered in full force. It was a most uncomfortable feeling and Starfire felt like she would just drop out of the air like a stone with all the equipment weighing her down. But she knew that the sooner she got there, she sooner it would be over. The less of a chance of her being gunned down.

Through the corner of her eye, Star glimpsed upon one particular battle droid. It was a four-legged automaton with an inbuilt forward cannon. The monstrosity was bursting through the water, lasers blazing. One of the more capable dwarf droids. she thought.

The though had just left her mind when it swiveled its lethal head in her direction.

Quickly, Starfire twisted her body in the droid's direction. Using the momentum of the turn, she grabbed her blaster rifle from her shoulder and held it up to her face. Then, weapon sights in her eyes, she took aim.

Starbolts would have made it easier for her. But a barrage of bright green bolts would not help; they would just illuminate her further. No doubt, there would be a myriad of units that would find her as cannon fodder. One more clone laser would not bear anyone notice.

Placing the automaton in her crosshairs, she shot.

And so did the droid.

The red laser bolts tore across the sky, meeting for one split second, Starfire's cyan blaster bolt. Starfire sharply jinked right in her flight. The red blaster bolt ripped through the empty air near her, blistering the shoulder pauldron on her body. Luckily enough, that was what armor was for, to save you from potentially fatal glancing blows such as this.

But the blue blast was fount its mark with copious luck. It struck the hemispherical head, tearing a huge hole on impact. The droid shuddered in place for a moment, and waved its head like a bull waving an annoying fly off its head. The blast was not enough to incapacitate, but it was surely enough to distract it. When the thing swiveled its head back to focus on its target, she was gone.

Moving as quickly and stealthily as possible, Starfire eased herself into the clone bunker's wide, slit opening. Catching her breath, she clutched her weapon in hand. She was glad to be alive, but that was about the only thing she had to be happy about. She was tired almost beyond the limits of Tamaranean feelings. Not only that, it had all been for nothing, the separatist commando was no nearer to her grasp than she was any closer to her being closer to finding to her friends.

She was at square one all over again. She was alone, she had so much to do and she was no closer to accomplishing them. Her only goal, only there because of her own incompetence, was to wait the battle out until night folded its veil over everyone's eyes. In the meantime, she did all she could do. She cried.

Her sadness vented out of her soul and unto her face. Clear tears filled her eyes, some streaming down her cheeks when they could. For all her training and boldness, she could not hide her emotions like Raven, though they had been abnormally "switched" once before. But she was who she was, and right now, she just felt like crying.

While the tears flooded away, she began assessing the damage and she tried with all her might to recollect the moments of the past few hours.

Starfire check her ammunitions clip of her sniper rifle. The metallic magazine gave off a cool release of tibanna gas. It small counter flashed a healthy five shots, much more than she needed for the mission. After all, she only needed one to finish him off.

Starfire fell back, lying down in the prone position that was taught to her by her short-time mentor, Boba Fett. Her sniper rifle rested on her arms and the butt of the weapon was pressed on her chest armor. Though uncomfortable, the pose served its purpose and the sight was fixed on her eye, waiting for the next unfortunate sap that wandered into it.

The crosshairs were fixed in one of the larger hut's open windows. Intel from her Fett had told her that there was to be an exchange between Republic and Confederate Special Forces there. It was sure to be expected that the separatist commando would be there, right in the middle of it. There was no way for her to miss, there was just too much at stake.

She had been waiting in her camouflaged hideout for hours on end. Waiting like a rock was nothing interesting and there were so many things that just drove her crazy. It was sweltering hot in this suit; it would've been different if she was in her purple tank top and skirt, but unfortunately that was not the case. The armor was there to protect her from… everything. But even now that didn't seem to be the case as twigs and grime constantly found themselves lodged within the slots of the armor plates. If she wasn't on this mission, she'd never have found herself in this position, not in a million years.

"Anything for my friends…" she sighed to herself. "No matter how hard it is now, having them around later would be pleasant."

She'd just repeated her mantra for the six hundred and forty fifth time (for she had been keeping count) when she noticed a medley of droids and troops that flocked to one side of the giant tree hut. Super battle droids trooped into the scene in box formation, their wrist-blasters safely pointed harmlessly to the sky. They were not her concern. Among them swerved some even more intimidating robed forms; clearly the IG assassin droids or "magnaguards" as the datapads she had been provided had described. Those electrostaffs they bore could easily send victims to quick and sudden deaths. Now they were something to worry about.

Without a doubt, this was the assassination party in which the commando had himself in. She zoomed in closer to confirm if her guess was accurate and found out just how right she was. The dark, armor-clad commando was lodged in the center of the "box" and there.

If she really wanted to, she could kill him now if a clear shot showed up. Unfortunately, there would be no way to kill him and retrieve the body. That would be most impossible with the current escort. She'd be riddled with blaster shots before she got within a ten meter radius. Besides, she'd want the commando to at least know that he died in combat. Starfire couldn't imagine just walking down the road and suddenly, -fwip- death…

She'd just have to be patient…

She had to keep herself company, calling to memory a couple of the Titans' missions before she saw movement from a different direction. As far as her macrobinoculars could tell her, there were clones. The scarred, white armor was unmistakable. Traveling as quickly as they dared to go, the Republic commando squad approached closer to the hut. Unbeknownst to them, the Confederates were just quivering in their spot, awaiting their prey. Too bad for them that they would lose their lives to the soulless droids; Starfire couldn't fix everything. At least things would come up a lot faster now, that things were beginning to boil down.

As expected, the Republic party burst into a firefight a few meters into their stride. The crimson and crystal cyan blasts of light branched out of the walkway. Some clones were thrown off the sides, to their deaths. That wasn't surprising. But it was surprising to find that two shimmering blades of light dancing around, sending blaster bolts in splaying angles. Lightsabers no doubt… and that meant jedi… This would be more than the ordinary encounter.

All of a sudden, the lasers stopped. The opposition had been eliminated. The Republic group lost no time as they hastened their run, probably tense to the programmed bone. Starfire bit her lip at that point as they approached. The clones came close to the entrance when an explosion hit. The two clones on door breach duty were consumed by the blast, never to be heard from again.

At that point, the party freaked in mechanical madness. Scrambling to battle formations with commandos giving off silent orders, the clones still had no idea what they were doing. Rifles raised, they still managed to get themselves into the spring of the trap. It only took so long once they entered the hut for the real fight to break loose.

Like before, laser flashes ripped the blank scene. Bolts lanced out of the structure with blatant disregard for any living things that may have been within their range. The lightsabers were present too, as far as Starfire's window could tell her. But now, they did not seem intent on the more trivial task of deflecting laser bolts. The blades seemed to be slashing out more and more. With each slash, the energy swords seemed to meet with another weapon. A rogue Jedi? Maybe, at least if someone… dies… it would be quick and painless.

Starfire put away the macrobinoculars into its belt pocket, safely tucked away from harm. Having done with the specs, she then shifted her rifle sights to her eyes. The advanced optic zoom magnified her sight several dozen fold. If she enhanced the zoom further, she would be able to pluck the eyebrows off anything that may have come close.

Holding the weapon firmly in her two hands she waited patiently for her prey to fall into the crosshairs. It would only be a matter of time until the commando wandered to that window of hers. Then, all she would have to do is depress the trigger and… It'd all be over.

The waiting time had stretched a little longer than anticipated. Her heart beat so rapidly within her; she couldn't find it in her mind to calm herself. "All I have to do is wait. The target will come soon. Then I'll… I'll end it! All I have to do is push the little trigger button."

Her heart beat a little easier than before. But then, she thought "I have the power in my hands to kill someone who, most likely doesn't and probably never would, know her."

"The decision is completely in my hands. I could take this man's life if I wanted too. He'd have no power to do anything, he'd probably never know. It'd not like he'll care right? I mean, what you don't know can't hurt you right? I suppose that counts for painless deaths too right?"

"But then again, he'd never be able to feel anything ever again…"

The mental clash in her mind was pounding at her soul; it just made sense that her body would follow. Her heart resumed its random, hurried pace as if it was bent to break out of her chest. Her palms suddenly became unnaturally warm and sweat formed around each and every crevice within her gauntlets. In a few moments she would have to make the decision. That was good in a way, after all, she only had a few moments to go before her body would just break down and faint.

The instant following this, she sighted her quarry. Through the open window that she had been watching for so long flashed with the black armored commando, apparently dueling with one of the jedi. This was her chance.

Her mind continued to wander in the miasma of conflicting thoughts. Until now, she had not come up with any easy decision. There was certainly no compromise. That was made certain long ago. It would have to be death, the commando's death to be sure. After all, there was nothing to think about, she was doing it for her friends…

The commando stayed firm in her sights…

But at what cost? Her friends or her soul? Starfire never actually killed any living being and had never been put up to it until now. Her starbolts could sear flesh just as well as it did non-living matter. But she chose to temporarily incapacitate instead. She had always put that decision in with her friends. But now they were gone…

The commando continued to prance around her crosshairs. The duel was clearly unbalanced, with the jedi fighting to keep up the pace. Any time now, he would fall. She needed to make it NOW!

"Quick! Press the trigger!" shouted a voice in her mind. "This person clearly doesn't know where you are, much less who you are. If you get this done, all you have to do is pick up the body once they clear up."

"Fire if you wish." countered another. "End his life. It's your soul on the line."

Voices shouted in her head. Clouding her senses. In the end, she never knew whether it was some of her body's spasms in the panic or whether she really wanted to do it. She fired.

The clear blue laser strung the air for less than a second. After that, it absorbed itself into the commando's body armor… and through it. He staggered for a second and looked down at the pothole sized hole it his armor. He almost fell onto his knees, electricity crackling at the hole. But he remained firm.

In short, she missed… and missed bad.

At that point, the whole thing broke down. Confederate droids flung themselves away from the hut before an explosion ripped through the highest point of the hut. Starfire noticed the commando slip through one of the windows with his accomplice. Through another side, she noticed the two jedi slip away as well.

From that point, she fled, just picked up and left with nothing accomplished.

Wiping the tears from her face, Starfire looked out the window. Day had finally shifted into the night. The battle raged still, but it was dark enough for her to do something. She'd get to her transportation in a minute; she just had to do one last thing.

Clearing her throat, Starfire tried to get rid of all the sadness within her. Leaning her back against one of the walls, she plunged her hand into one of the many pouches in her utility belt. Plucking out her silver comlink, she selected the one clandestine channel that she was told to use. She presses the transmit button and heard Fett's young voice through the device.

"Fett here." called out the voice.

"Sir, it's Star." she said, masking her voice from emotions as best she could. "I have news on the mission."

"Do you have the merc in your hands?'

"No sir." she said. "I-I missed my shot sir."

"Did they find you? I assume you left no trace of your mistake." his voice was as controlled as Raven's, almost monotonous, though he did seem to bite at the last word.

"No sir, they do not have my ID. I have remained secret for the moment"

"Good. Find them and just do your job."

"You can count on it sir." she gulped, relieved at some point that Fett had refused to get her off then and there.

"And Star, don't fail me again." commanded Fett, his voice much colder than before.

"Never again sir." she said through gritted teeth as she cut the transmission.

As Starfire began to pack up, she found the time to nail a thought to her mind. I will not fail again. I will have my bounty, even if I have to chase him through the ends of the galaxy.

I hope you all like that. The next one should come up sooner than this. But for now, just R&R. Thank you.