Chapter 13

Kai blinked her eyes opened, wondering exactly why she was awake this late at night.

The world around her was asleep. Even the two men were asleep, with Quinn snoring slightly. There were cricket noises that sounded almost fake against the back drop of the night.

Her heart thundered in her chest as she stood and made her way to the mouth of the cave. Kai turned her eyes towards the navy-blue sky, where stars glittered and twinkled.

It was so beautiful here at night.

Something in the air shifted when the wind picked up. Kai's nostrils flared as she picked up the scent of metal burning. Her heart thundered in her chest as she saw a streak of fire rocket downward. Kai couldn't believe her eyes until there was a resounding crash, followed by a mild shockwave.

Strangely, neither men had stirred.

"Guys." She whispered in shock. Kai found her voice, and said in a louder voice, "Guys wake up! Something's happened!"

When that didn't work, she kicked the feet of Captain Quinn, eliciting a groan and startled speech, still a bit slurred from sleep.

"Wha…..What's going on?" he asked.

"We've got a problem." Kai stated as she grabbed hold of her lightsaber.

"Whatever it is, it can wait til the morning." Quinn once again fell asleep.

Kai growled silently as she kicked him again. "Wake up! It's something that has to do with me, I think."

"Quinn?" Doctor Hynek's dreary voice cut through the argument. "What's going on?"

"Something crashed. Doesn't look too far, maybe about five kliks from here." Kai clipped a small, portable extinguisher onto her belt, deciding to leave behind her cloak for quicker movement. "Stay here if you like. I'm going to investigate."

She was gone within the next moment, flying through the trees with the aid of the Force. Kai didn't know if the others were following but she didn't care, launching from branch to branch, landing each time. Within minutes, the teen had arrived at the crash site.

The flames were blazing high, the heat almost too much for her. But Kai didn't stay shocked very long.

Kai leapt down and started to spray the extinguisher at the flames. She sprayed as much as she could, though the mediocre spray didn't do much against the giant flames.

"Hello?!" she called through the flames. Her eyes widened when, over the roar, she thought that she heard shouts of pain. The smells of cooking flesh met her nostrils. Her stomach tightened.

"Kai! What the hell!"

Quinn and Hynek was right behind her, but they didn't look too thrilled about her going into the flames.

"We need to go through there and find out who's in trouble!" she shouted back. Before they could stop her, Kai dashed through the wall.

The flames were hot and the smoke was almost suffocating, but she pressed on.

"Hello!?" she shouted. "I'm a Jedi! Let me help you! Tell me where you are!"

"HEEEEELLLLPPP MEEEE!" A voice, sounding as though indescribable pain, shouted.

"I'm coming!" She took a step forward before something hit her in the back of the head. "Oof!"

Someone ambushed her, slamming something into the back of her head. Kai took a deep breath as she rolled over on her back, catching a hilt of a knife on instinct rather than anything else. Her body was running on nothing but adrenaline at the point as she, with a jerk of her hand, broke her attacker's wrist. The stranger screamed in pain as Kai found the knife from where it dropped and stabbed it through the weak spot she saw in the armor.

When the attacker went slack, Kai kicked him off and stood up to her feet.

She was coughing much too hard. "Hello?!"

The voice of the man who was shouting had gone quiet. Kai stretched out with the Force, finding only Quinn's and Hynek's presences. Whoever else was out there had perished in the flames. With a distinct curse that she heard in her youth, Kai dashed out of the smoke. Her lungs took in the fresh air when she broke out of the flames, and she nearly collapsed if she hadn't been caught by Captain Quinn.

"Are you alright? You're hurt!" Doctor Hynek's voice sounded distant and muffled.

"'m fine." She muttered. Dark spots were blinking in front of her vision, but she pushed herself out of the men's grasp.

"What happened?"

"Ambushed. We're going to wait until the flames die down." She hissed as she touched the growing knot on the back of her head. Almost as soon as he noticed her in pain, Doctor Hynek knelt down to take a look at the knot. Though, it was almost hilarious to hear him fluster around as he tried to figure out how to not hurt her even more by moving her lekku out of the way.

Tingles were sent through her scalp and down her front as the man gently brushed some of them out of the way to get a better look. Thunder roared overhead, and Kai was thankful that another storm was rolling in. Without the rain, there would be no way to control the flames.

As the rain started to pour and the three of them retreated underneath the shelter of some branches, Kai sighed.

"You've gotta go back to the town and keep everyone there. At least, try to keep them away from this place while I do some investigating and clean up."

"How long should we give you?" Captain Quinn asked.

"Let's say about three hours." Her eyes watched the sky. The rain had started to fall, the flames sizzling and slowly dying out. "Then be back at the cave as soon as possible."

The flames were gone much sooner than anticipated, as well as the two humans. They promised to be back, once they showered, changed their clothes and told the locals to stay away. Captain Quinn had warned her that the military would probably be coming since something else had happened.

Kai figured she didn't have much time left hidden here in the woods.

Which meant that she would have to make a choice sooner or later but now was not the time.

Alone, feeling slightly woozy from the head wound, Kai walked through the still smoking area after the rain let up just before dawn. She kept a conscious eye on the dead trees that shivered when the wind blew. A couple times she inhaled a bunch of ash and had to sneeze, which only exacerbated her head wound. By midmorning, Kai had found what she was looking for.

The ship was almost indistinguishable from the charred trees, but underneath the ash that had coated the thing, she could see the emblem of the Galactic Republic. Despite seeing things on the battlefield, Kai had to bite down on the bile that was threatening to rise at the sight and smell that lay in front of the crashed battleship.

"No….."

The broken, burnt remains of clone soldiers, their armor and bodies burned beyond all recognition, lay on the ground. Kai had to force herself to look at the corpses, and connect the pieces that they all died in the crash while the flames took care of the rest.

There were five bodies, Kai noted as she turned her head, ships like that could carry seven.

The two missing soldiers…

Oh Force…...

Kai didn't know if the tree that she was leaning against could withstand her weight but there had to be something that could keep her steady. Her heart was pounding, on the verge of a panic attack and her vision swirled.

She couldn't…...couldn't have…

The bile made a comeback and it won that time.

Why?

Maybe the clones thought she was an enemy…..

But they would recognize her.

Kai's heart pounding as her eyes went to the symbol on the end of the ship, right within the symbol of the Republic, was the symbol of her company. The Cthulu, a popular symbol of Nautolan culture.

She stood and examined the bodies and the ship. Nothing remained, not even the pilot's seat. So, there was no way that she would be able to figure out what was going on and why they crashed. She sighed.

Kai shook her head. In the distance, she heard what sounded like planes coming in.

Her heart tightened before she laughed.

"I didn't like this place anyway."

She had one last thing to do before she went back to the cave, though. Her stomach roiled at the thought of burying the burnt remains of her brothers-in-arms. Quickly and efficiently, Kai dug a hole as quick as she could with her bare hands and pushed the burnt remains into it. She searched the surrounding area for the remaining two, finding them just a couple of miles north of the crash. The teen froze as she looked at the body of Fighter.

The knife that she had stabbed through the weak point of his armor was still there, the hilt glittering in the grey morning.

With reverence, Kai removed the clone's helmet. His eyes were staring off, unseeing into the distance.

"I'm sorry Fighter." She whispered to the corpse. "I didn't know….."

She placed a hand on his forehead to close his eyes, only to draw it back in terror. His mind…..

Kai placed her hand back on his forehead, licking her lips as she plunged into his now-quiet mind, drawing a deep breath at the chaos that had dominated Fighter's mind before death. Kai clenched her teeth at the darkness, at the unaltered chaos that was not her friend's mind.

Images passed through her mind's eye; images of her master being mowed down by gunfire. She saw, through Fighter's eye, the other Clones standing over the broken body of Master Genno. She heard the voices order Fighter and the others to find the other one-

"GAH!"

She yanked her hand back, tears falling down her eyes as she sobbed. Something told her that 'the other one' meant her.

"Why…..?"

The chaos, the imagery, feeling as though Fighter had no control over his body…..

She shook her head as she left the two bodies there, leaving them for the animals. She ran all the way back to the cave, sobbing as she did so.

Kai tripped, collapsing to her knees.

She could feel it now: the chaos of the universe around her, the very Force crying out in agony as hundreds of Jedi were gunned down. Kai screamed as she felt the Light Side of the Force retreat back, and darkness, suffocating and thick, blanketed her.

Pain. Anguish. Despair. Grief.

Hatred.

She almost couldn't breathe.

Anakin, please! Don't do this! I love you!

Master Skywalker, there are too many of them. What do we do?

Run Caleb. Run and never look back.

"Shut up…..." she growled out.

Master! The Clones have betrayed us.

Come back to me!

Execute Order 66.

"SHUT UP!" Kai shouted through the tears. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

The voices stopped, leaving her in the peaceful forest. Her sobs were the only thing that could be heard. Except for…...

She picked up something, something that sounded like multiple engines heading in her general area. Kai glanced at her ship; the decision easier to make now that she knew there was no one coming to get her.

There was no home to go back to.

Picking up her lightsaber and other small things that she couldn't part with, Kai stood outside the cave, memorizing the lines of her ship. Briefly, she noticed the light on her ship's communications dashboard was flashing. She had a message, but she knew what would be said, so she didn't bother. After taking a deep breath, the teen used the Force, brought rocks tumbling down. She watched through blurry eyes as the rocks came forward, only stopping until the entrance had been sealed. Kai turned, ready to dash off and hide only to feel her heart sink in fear.

She saw a man, definitely not Doctor Hynek and Captain Quinn, coming into view. Her heart was pounding, frozen like an animal in a spotlight, as the man was joined by another one. This one was a bit different, maybe a bit older and little bit stouter than the other man, but they both wore stiff military blues.

Kai watched as they came into view, holding her breath as they stood and examined the view in front of them. The teen didn't want to move, fearing that moving would draw their attention to her.

And it wasn't the attention one that she wanted; she was sure.

After what felt eternity, Kai started to shift.

Unfortunately, she stepped on a dry twig. Panic surged through her as she glanced back up, meeting the eyes of the two military men. There was a fear in their eyes, but also shock. Shock that quickly turned into anger as they reached for their weapons.

Kai took that as her cue to get the heck out of there.

She ducked down as the bullets hit the rocks above her. Kai didn't want to risk hurting the men, but she didn't want get hit.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. There were shouts behind her, words she recognized as Doctor Hynek's language before she connected them through the Force.

A piece of bark exploded next to her face as a bullet connected with it. Kai ducked, but continued running.

Kai had no way of finding Doctor Hynek or Captain Quinn except going through town. And considering that she wouldn't have time to make it stealthy and she would probably be held at gunpoint if she stepped out of the shadows, she would be screwed beyond belief.

Another piece of bark went flying, a small piece hitting her in the face.

She was screwed beyond all belief.

Kai, despite herself and the fear the pumped through her, stopped at the edge of the woods, her heart pounding fearfully. The men were right behind her, with tanks no doubt at their heels. She couldn't do her usual 'hiding in the treetops' this time, unfortunately.

She was trapped.

"Stelca!"

And she was surrounded.

The teen turned, finding herself face-to-face with a small group of men, all of them staring at her with a mixture of shock, horror and fear.

"Meennal." The general guy with white-blonde hair ordered. His weapon was shaking in his hand, much like the others. Kai had several options.

Well, more like two but she needed to remain optimistic.

She could go with these people, though she knew that her safety would be the last of these people's concerns.

Or she could risk it and try to find Captain Quinn and Doctor Hynek. Kai was tired, so she didn't think she had the strength to fight these men. Still, she needed a way to get out of here.

So, for the first time in her life, Kai tapped into the Dark Side of the Force.

It was easy to do, what with it swirling around the air now, but there was still a small sliver of hesitance when she dove straight down into that forbidden source of power. As Kai tapped into the dark power and as she lifted all of the men into the air, she took a breath as a blackened chill raked down her spine. Kai had to grit her teeth to keep the scream from ripping through her throat.

Deep down in her being, she heard laughter, evil and cold. Kai figured that it was the laughter of those who had chosen and fallen to the dark side, the spirits laughing at this hoity-toity Jedi that fell towards the side of darkness that they so often preached and warned about.

Kai promised herself, as she tossed the men against whatever she could, that this would be only a one-time thing.

But she couldn't deny the power that she felt. It felt undeniably…..well, powerful.

She stood over her enemies and, for a moment, stood over them, debating how worth it would be to see them with her lightsaber through their guts before she snapped out of it as she heard more men coming her way.

She had to find the other two and get out of here.

Now.