Quick Author's Note:

Sorry about the inconsistent posting. Life gets busy, and I cannot guarantee how soon chapters will be finished in the upcoming weeks. I will try to get a better schedule together after finals are over.

#

From the surface of Naboo, Lux could still see fires burning on the decks of the Republic ships. His jaw was left agape at the sight of the shrunken fleet, and for a brief moment he wondered if his wife was alright. The voice that came the hallway a moment later was enough to ease his mind.

"Lux," he heard Ahsoka say as she came to meet him on the palace balcony.

The man turned to see his wife approaching with her arms outstretched. He noticed the scar on her cheek, and embraced her even more hastily, as if to say she was safe within his arms. His grip tightened around her backside, their foreheads touching as his eyes looked into the depths of her own. "I was worried, Ahsoka," he admitted, the front of his hair brushing against her lekku as the star set behind them. "When I saw the ships, I thought—"

Ahsoka pulled away the fraction of an inch, eyebrow cocked as she made a playful jab at his lack of faith in her. "You didn't think I could handle myself?"

Beads of sweat formed on Lux's face. "I didn't mean—" He fell silent when the woman brushed her mouth against his. He felt her body press tightly against his own, and the pair stood with their lips to one another for what felt like hours, so long the stars had finally came up. Then, Lux pulled away. He stared longingly into Ahsoka's eyes, a faint smile on his face as he brushed a lock of his hair to the side. "I love you."

"I love you too," Ahsoka beamed, only for her face to sink as her mind returned to the world around them.

Lux noticed her shift in mindset, and tilted his head as he waited with a yearning for all she had to say. "What happened out there?"

Ahsoka's shoulders sank, her eyes going to the concrete at their feet as visions of the dead played back in her mind. Death was nothing new to her, but the savagery of this strange enemy was. The Separatists committed terrible acts during the war, but the Republic had its faults. Nearly sacked planets the way these extragalactic monsters did. "You won't believe me if I tell you," she finally blurted out.

Lux rolled his eyes. "You know I trust you," he said, and gestured to her wound. "Besides, I think the evidence is on your side."

Taking his words to heart, Ahsoka explained what she had seen, from the devastation of Republic ships to the mass casualties on the Plains of Korak. She noticed Lux's expression change, like he was seeing a ghost manifest before him. Then she told him of the thousands of ships that arrived at the conclusion of their battle, and watched as the man stepped to the balcony's railing for support.

"Thousands?" he asked, eyes full of fear as his brows raised. "We've been at peace for near a decade now. An invasion like this is unprecedented."

Ahsoka nodded her head. "I know, but we're safe here."

Lux's expression turned grim. "For how long?"

Ahsoka parted her lips to answer, when her comlink pinged. After an elongated sigh, she reluctantly activated the device to hear a clone on the other end.

"Lady Tano, this is Commander Ridge," the voice said through static. "Repairs to the fleet are underway, and the general is about to contact Coruscant."

"Great, thanks for informing me," Ahsoka said, a false smile on her face as if Ridge could see her through the comlink. She looked back to her husband as a finger reached to turn off her device, when Ridge's voice came through once more.

"The general requests your presence. He feels it best that you be here when he addresses the Chancellor."

Rolling her head back, Ahsoka finally agreed before terminating communications. She could already feel the sorrow of her spouse, and looked up to find he was keeping a surprisingly solemn demeanor about the situation.

"It's alright, Ahsoka," Lux said, though inwardly he was pained to be letting her go again. "I'll see you after this ordeal is settled."

Ahsoka tilted her head. "Hopefully sooner." The pair shared a final embrace, and then they were apart once more. The stars beyond appeared to dim as the pair went their separate ways.

#

The Vanquisher was beginning to look like its former self when Ahsoka arrived. Commander Ridge met her in the hangar, and escorted her to the bridge at the peak of the vessel, all the while warning her of the general's mood.

"He's not taking the situation well," Ridge explained. He opened the doors to the bridge, and the pair bore witness to Jesse smashing his fist against the holotable, causing dents along its edge. They could see the frustration in his eyes, along with his exposed, clenched teeth. While Ahsoka wanted to reach out to him, Ridge appeared more hesitant. It was only when Ahsoka's step caused a creak in the floorboards that Jesse finally looked up.

The general's eyes widened a bit, like he had just performed an unseemly act before children. A hand went to the back of his neck as if to scratch it, and he tried contorting his face to reveal a happier expression. "You didn't see that, did you?"

Ahsoka crossed her arms. "Hard not to."

The spark in Jesse's eyes appeared to have gone out long ago, and they narrowed toward Ahsoka as his brows furrowed. "Look, I'm not in the best of mood's right now. We can talk about it after the meeting."

Ahsoka sighed, knowing well enough what he might be frustrated by. "Jesse, if this is about Utapau—"

The general threw up his arms in a fit of rage before they came down with a thud against his thighs. "Of course it's about Utapau!" His teeth gnashed together in his mouth as he pointed to Ahsoka. "Of course it's about losing thousands of soldiers, my brothers, in a battle that never had to happen!"

Ahsoka put up her hands as if surrendering to authority. "Jesse, we both agreed to—"

"No!" Jesse snapped. "If we had left when said to, if we had just played the situation smart, none of this would've happened." He turned toward the viewport, his eyes empty as he thought of the carnage at Korak. "Our fleet is half of what it used to be, and thousands of the very best in the Republic Army lay wasted." The man closed his eyes, trying to find some way of reconciling everything in his mind, and took a deep breath. Exhaling, he turned back to Ahsoka calmer than he had been. "Some of those men had been around since the beginning of the Clone Wars. Three years of campaigns across the stars, and another ten of valiant service, only to be cut down in that mess." He found himself laughing at the thoughts in his head. "Perhaps life really is meaningless."

Ahsoka was taken aback by his words. "You don't mean that, do you?"

Jesse's eyes widened ever-so-slightly, and for a moment he appeared to be in his right mind. He jostled his head, and then turned to the holotable. "Forget it. We have more important matters anyway." He saw the woman's mouth open, and aiming to cut her off, activated the holotable. It took only seconds to bring up the images of Chancellor Noramu and the High Council. The men looked on Jesse with curious eyes, ones peaked by the prospect of knowledge and yet, at the same time, fearful.

"We have a situation," Jesse stated to those before him. With Ahsoka by his side, they explained what they had found in the Utapau System. They recounted in vivid detail the horrors of the Yuuzhan Vong, and told them that despite their victory on the surface, all hope was lost with the arrival of the enemy's main fleet. Ahsoka informed them of the suffering she had felt in the Force as they abandoned the planet, and that nothing was known about what remained of the world.

Noramu's face contorted with a mixture of fear and disgust. An eyebrow was raised, his lips uneven as he took in what the pair had reported. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he looked to the Jedi masters. "What do you think?"

Anakin was the first to speak. "You heard them. We must act now, while we have the advantage."

Noramu shrugged. "And what advantage is that? Little of our military remains active. To bring our legions back online would require a vote from the Senate."

Windu raised a hand to interject. "Then make it happen. If what they say is true, another war may be on our hands."

The Jedi appeared to be in agreement, all except for Master Yoda, who sat quietly amongst them with his eyes closed. His fingers were interwoven, and apart from the faint twitches of his eyes and ears, he appeared completely still.

Windu raised an eyebrow at the sight before leaning toward the ancient Jedi. "Master Yoda, care to give your thoughts on the situation?" he asked in a soft voice.

Yoda's eyes slowly unraveled, and his head sank. "For a long time, peace have I tried to find. No peace in war there is." A finger went to his chin, and he appeared to gaze down at the ground for a moment. "Down a dark path, this conflict leads. Yet, hope there still is. Great evil I sense in the galaxy, but a light also. Yes, a light where no light can be found."

Windu tilted his head. "Then conflict is inevitable?"

Yoda nodded his head. "Know only hate, our adversary does."

All the while Obi-Wan sat at the edge of the group, hand to his chin while his left leg propped up his right. For a moment he felt old, and the slight graying of his hair did not help. "We mustn't rush headlong into this, but one thing is certain: we best be prepared for whatever this threat sends our way."

The Chancellor nodded his head accordingly, and turned to Ahsoka with stern eyes. "Hold position over Naboo. The planet could serve as an ample staging base for our operations." He then raised his fist to his chest, as if to try and spur forth the very courage he had been lacking. "I've no doubt the Senate will make the right decision, and the Republic will bring its full might to bear on this newfound enemy." He then looked to Jesse. "I'll send word to General Cody of the 7th Star Corps that he is to rendezvous with you. It so happens he's garrisoning Ryloth at the moment."

Jesse nodded to the holoimage. "We'll be glad to have him aboard."

"I'm sure you will," Noramu smiled before addressing the masters. "I trust the Jedi will be preparing as well. I know you're peacekeepers, but there will be no peace to keep if this situation is not resolved."

Windu answered for the others. "You'll have our full support, Chancellor."

"Excellent," Noramu beamed. "Then I think this meeting is concluded." With that, his communication cut out, and the masters were about to do the same when Anakin abruptly put up a hand.

His eyes focused on Ahsoka, like he was seeing through her to gauge her heart, and his brows loosened when he asked, "Are you alright, Ahsoka?"

The woman grabbed hold of her arm while tilting her head; she did not want him to have a better look at her wound. "No," she stated. "But I think that's a good thing."

The faintest of smirks appeared on Anakin's face before his image cut out, and then it was over. Ahsoka was back to the gloomy confines of the Vanquisher's bridge, with only the angry and silent to keep her company. She leaned toward Jesse, senses heightened as she prepared for another abrupt outburst of his. "You want to talk about earlier?"

Jesse looked away from her at first, only to look back with sorrowful eyes. "I don't want to throw away lives anymore, Ahsoka. If we had left when I said so, we never would have done battle on Utapau."

"But we stopped their fleet," Ahsoka tried to argue, when Jesse put up a hand.

"The smallest of their fleets, sure," Jesse admitted. "But the cost outweighed the benefit. I lost too many good soldiers, and irreplaceable ones at that. Not all of them were clones, you know."

Ahsoka's gaze fell to the ground, and in that moment she understood. It was easy for her to rush in without thinking, because her instincts always kicked in. She was fast, nimble, and strong. With the swing of her lightsabers, heads would roll by the dozens. She had the Force, and because of her connection, she could do things few others could. She could change the tide of battle by simply moving her hands, but the others couldn't. These soldiers, these men, they weren't like her, and they could never be. Even the best of them, like Jesse, who tried desperately to keep up with her in the heat of battle, always fell short. What made them special were their hearts, not their skills, and thousands had lost theirs because of her. "Jesse," she said to the man before looking him in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

Jesse nodded. "I know you are." He then looked out on the viewport once more. "Let's just make sure nothing like that happens again."

The pair looked out on the vast expanses of space: colors of all sorts weaved between one another, distorting what Ahsoka otherwise hoped was a clear picture somewhere out there. Yet even so it was nice to stand there dreaming of what that picture was. How perfect it must have been compared to reality.

The holotable behind the pair began to ping, and Jesse had the officers put through the message. To their surprise, the image of Noramu displayed before them. Jesse looked up at the Chancellor and asked, "Sir, is something wrong?"

Noramu appeared like he had just seen demons. "Tatooine has gone silent."

"That's not possible," Jesse said. "Tatooine's thousands of parsecs northeast of us."

Noramu's eyes grew wider. "I don't know what to tell you, general. All traffic from the world has ceased. Reports came in that ships were setting fire to its surface, and then nothing."

Ahsoka's eyes grew, her chest tightening as she recalled the star systems near Tatooine. "Ryloth is in that belt."

Noramu understood where she was going, and put a hand up. "Good news is communications are still coming through from Christophsis. If the Cody's Shield Armada can move fast enough, he may still be able to reach you."

"And if not?" Jesse asked, though they all knew the answer.

Ahsoka's lips began to shake. "Then he's trapped on Ryloth."

#

Plasma shattered shields as coralskippers raced toward the dozens of Venators ahead of them. Laser fire rang out, and a hundred of the small vessels were shredded, with ARC-180s shooting forth from hangar decks to meet the rest of the enemy. At the edge of the system came frigates and destroyers of the Yuuzhan Vong, along with nimble corvettes that shot past the bulk of the fleet to give support to their fighters.

Aboard his flagship, the Warden, General Cody hastily barked orders at his officers. Z-97s still needed to be deployed, hulls needed to be secured, and main cannons had yet to reach full power. The fleet had been caught off guard, but Cody's tactical mind had left them fleet in loose formation, forcing the enemy to divide its own ranks in order to attack his. While shields were being brought back online, Cody paid little attention to the flashing red lights of the bridge as he ordered the fleet to tighten up.

An officer from the front of the bridge, a nonclone whose voice cracked from the surprise of conflict, spoke just loud enough to get the general's attention. "Sir, the rest of the fleet is still on the surface."

Cody shot a finger in the man's direction. "Get them up here! We need those Arquitens to run interference." He then took another officer by the arm, and looked the man dead in his eyes before saying, "Make sure the Christophsis hyperlane is cleared. Get a signal out." With that he let the officer go, only to stumble when a missile crashed against the decks below them. Cody looked out on the room, his eyes appearing bloodshot as he placed his helmet over his face. In that moment, the others did not need the face of a man, they needed the mask of a hero. "I want our troops packed up and aboard the armada within the hour."

"Sir," another officer spoke up. "We still have commando teams out in the wilds."

"Get them back here!" Cody shouted. "They're too valuable to lose on scum like this." Alarms started pinging from the bridge's radar, and Cody stepped to the nearest terminal in an effort to gauge the situation. "What's going on?!" he said to the officer on the equipment.

"Grafton just took a direct hit. Split her right down the center," the officer reported. "And Seraphim's trailing smoke. Coralskippers must have hit her engines."

"Evacuate the crippled ships," Cody ordered. "We're leaving no one behind." His words had little effect, however, when Vong corvettes suddenly swarmed the center of their formation. With the Grafton done in, and the Seraphim reeling from the previous assault, the center of their armada was left vulnerable, and the enemy was poised to exploit it. Vong troop carriers launched from their fleet in droves, headed for the open reaches of Ryloth. It was then that Cody began to panic. His armada was split in two, and his men were trapped below.