But, in the meantime, we'll see how our friends are doing after they've been captured by the Kirzmin Lizards. (P.S.- I can't write space battles, sorry).


It was dark.

It was hot.

Rex's back arched as the whip cracked across his skin, sending spikes of pain through his spinal cord and to the rest of his body. He screamed but quickly bit his lip.

"Aw…" the female lizard said. "Does the whip hurt?"

The foul stench of blood and waste baked and tripled in strength in the muggy heat of the chamber. Not even the stones were cool, and the smell was starting to nauseate the prisoners. Acidic vomit was beginning to mingle with the blood.

The prison master's cold, yellow eyes stared coolly at the Captain, and he could feel a feral growl beginning to form in his throat. The whip cracked again.

"No fighting. You know that," she said, the teasing in her tone making Rex even angrier.

She aimed for the metal chains that held Rex's shackles in place, the electricity running along the slightly rusty steel bars and shocking everyone else attached to it.

Chained to a far wall, Kiki moaned, her dark hair creating a curtain around her face. They'd been in the dungeons for three days so far, and Kiki had been doing the worst. More than once she'd vomited on herself, and every hour she seemed more fatigued. Being the only prisoner facing forward gave her the ability to turn to her side if she needed to vomit again.

Rex's concern was growing.

Their torturer halted for a moment, sniffing the air, eyes narrowing at the Jedi. She slithered closer, a long, thin tongue flicking outward near Kiki's face. "Hmph," she grunted. Whatever she'd discovered, she wasn't pleased.

The door behind her opened, revealing a tall, hulking silhouette of another Lizard, this one male. "I'll take over," he said, taking the electro whip from her outstretched palm.

As the first prison master passed him, she whispered something to him. The male Lizard crossed his arms as he considered what she said. The door shut again, drowning the prisoners of war in darkness yet again. If they were going to go through the torture the way they'd done it for the first two days, the Lizard would do nothing but stand there behind the Jedi and clones, occasionally hissing.

Sometimes, the psychological torture was the worst. Each second would tick agonizingly slowly by, and none of them knew what to expect, or when it would happen. All that was ever heard was the soft, ragged breathing of the prisoners, the heavier breathing of the Lizard, and the ever-present low rumble in its throat. Occasionally, the whip would be activated, and they would all immediately tense up, pressing their faces against the warm stone, squeezing their eyes shut in anticipation.

At that point, the Lizard would laugh, its hissing voice echoing slightly in the cavernous room.

The bright orange whip activated within seconds, lashing across the backs of the prisoners.

Rex's back arched again, his breath ripped out of his lungs. He pressed his head against the wall, the only "comfort" they had in the torture cell.

"It's been so long," the Lizard hissed, deactivating his electro whip. His large three-toed feet shuffled forward, long nails scraping against the ground.

Kiki could feel his hot breath on face. She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for any onslaught of pain.

The Lizard made a noise of thought, his glowing yellow eyes narrowing to near-slits. His tongue flicked out briefly, once, hitting the side of Kiki's face.

She flinched, pressed her scratched cheek into her arm and screwed her eyes shut. Her heart beat quickened in her chest, the blood pumping angrily through her ears.

Finally, the Lizard backed away, an almost inquisitive look on his face. Without a word, he activated the electro whip again, this time aiming for Ridge, who was on the other end of the line. Pain and electricity shot through Ridge's body as the electro whip his back.

"Don't want you to get too comfortable, now do we?" he said, the same mocking tone from earlier tinting his voice.

The whip cracked again.

Obi-wan looked at the complete state of mayhem the hangar bay was in. Charred and twisted metal marred the durasteel flooring, wires hung from the ceiling at odd and angles, sparks occasionally shooting from their ends.

The clones were desperately trying to get rid of the dead bodies—both trooper and Kirzmin Lizard alike. Blood and oil stained the floor, and more than one area had to be sectioned off because it was too torn up and hazardous to reach. Bodies would be retrieved later.

Obi-wan's commlink chirped at his wrist, the tone signifying who it was. "Sunlaou? How are you fairing?"

"Master, we need you out here!" Sunlaou said, his voice crackly and faded. Sounds of star fighter engines whirred crazily in the background. "The Separatists are close to overrunning our forces, and Master Mundi's ship is still taking care of the Lizards." What sounded like a grunt of frustration came over the commlink. "How are you guys doing?"

"We've just finished taking out the last of the Lizards," Obi-wan stated, rushing over to his Jedi star fighter. He nearly slipped on a puddle of oil—or blood. He didn't stop to identify it.

R4 chirped at Obi-wan, his dome-shaped head swiveling to track the Jedi's movements. Obi-wan jumped into the hatch and sealed it with the Force, R4 immediately powering up the engines and flying through the magnetic shields. Just as he entered the wide zone of outer space, red laser fire scraped the left wing of his star fighter. A squad of vulture droids was flying in formation toward him—just behind them was Sunlaou, blue laser fire taking out the rear droids.

The lead vulture droid showed no signs of slowing down. It was preparing to suicide bomb the Jedi and would not be stopped.

Obi-wan swerved out of the way, right wing dipping down and away from the oncoming vulture droid. Metal screamed past his viewport in a ball of flaming scraps.

"There was no need to try and dodge it; I would have shot it for you," Sunlaou said teasingly, circling back around and flying in tandem with Obi-wan.

"Glad to see you're okay, Sunlaou," Obi-wan said, bearing the smallest of smiles.

"You too, Master," Sunlaou answered. He veered off sharply to the left, tagging a squad of clone fighters that were having trouble shaking their tail of vulture droids.

Obi-wan went his own way, contacting the lead pilot of his 212th star fighters so he could coordinate his attack.

"General Kenobi," his lead pilot answered, "General Mundi is still infested with Lizards. Do you want me to send a squad of men to their aid?"

Obi-wan considered the option. Just as he was about to give his answer, General Mundi's voice came through his commlink. "No need to worry about us, we've just managed to take care of the last of these assailants. We will be sending out what men we have shortly."

"Have you managed to get a word through for reinforcements?" Obi-wan asked, voice raised to be heard over the background noise.

"Unfortunately, we haven't. Our communications are still jammed."

Obi-wan let out a small sigh, R4 tweeting in response.

"Don't worry Master, I'm sure we'll make it out of this one," Sunlaou said.

Obi-wan only hoped Anakin and his team was having better luck than they were.

Alick walked angrily through the jungle, ignoring Aella behind him.

They're all the same, Alick thought, focusing his eyes on the ground. Every single kriffing one of them.

"Alick…" Aella said softly.

He hadn't spoken to her for a day and he wasn't about to now.

Aella struggled to keep up with his pace while she called his name again. She may have been accustomed to maneuvering through the jungles, but his legs were longer. "Alick!" she said a bit louder.

He still ignored her. He'd kept his pace up for two hours, he could last a few more.

And people wonder why I don't like making fekking friends, he thought sourly, noting that the princess was beginning to catch up to him.

'Alick, she's been calling your name for thirty minutes now, haven't you heard her?' the clone from earlier asked him, private comm.

'I was listening to music,' Alick answered back, his tone curt and final. Liar, a voice said. You heard her. You were just hoping she would go away by now.

Her calling of his name was starting to attract attention. Alick had no choice but to answer her. "Yes, Your Highness?" He kept walking forward.

"Alick, I wanted to apologize for earlier—"

"Your Highness," Alick interrupted, still keeping his face forward. "Now is not the most appropriate time for that. We need to focus on getting you safely to your other home. Maybe later." Alick's stomach twisted at the hurt look on Aella's face that quickly changed to a guarded mask of neutrality.

See, Alick, this is why you don't have any friends. They try to apologize and you just—Alick quickly locked that voice in the back of his mind.

"Alright then," she said, hard-voiced. "Later."

"Let's take a break for now, men," General Unduli said, halting the platoon. Alick instantly went off into the jungle, wanting to get as far away from Aella as possible.

"Alick!" Aella called, rushing after him.

Alick stopped dead in his tracks, not thinking about what he was about to say next. "I need to take a leak." He didn't turn around for the princess's reaction.

"Then I'll wait," Aella answered almost sharply. She crossed her arms over her chest.

She's not gonna quit, is she? Alick thought. "Right there?"

"If I have to."

Alick sighed and stiffly turned around, avoiding eye contact. "What. Do. You. Want?"

"I want to apologize, you know that." Her voice dropped a pitch.

That same twisting feeling Alick had been feeling in his chest earlier returned, stilting his breathing for a moment. He kept his bucket on. "Didn't I tell you not to worry about it?" He'd told her. He wasn't sure if she remembered, but he was sure he'd said something along the lines of that.

"Well, yes but—"

He cut her off. "Then I don't see what there is to worry about—" Alick made a move to start walking forward, almost barreling past Aella.

Aella stepped back, directly in his line of flight. "Alick I'm sorry!" She looked him directly in his eyes, through the dark, menacing visor. "I'm sorry…" she said again, softer, her eyes almost shining.

She can't be…Alick could feel that pain in his chest twist again, along with his throat.

A loud snap was heard as Alick slowly took a small step forward. "Aella, I…" You what? his inner voice said. He swallowed, immediately not hearing anything but the pounding in his ears—not Aella's quick breathing, and not the sudden commotion in the camp site.

"Alick…" Aella avoided eye contact for a moment, looking to an area beyond his shoulder.

Alick wanted nothing more than to pull his helmet off and look her directly in the eyes, to tell her that he would forgive her for what she's said—but she seemed distracted. Something beyond him had caught her attention.

"Alick," Aella said his name again, but a little louder. All of the color drained from her pink cheeks, she hastily reached for Alick's hand.

Alick struggled to focus his attention on her eyes, but there was a feeling of dread beginning to trickle down his back.

"Alick watch out!" Aella grabbed his hand, pulling him closer to her.

At that same moment, shouts were raised in the campsite, blue laser fire erupting between the green foliage. Alick spun around, almost pulling his hand out of Aella's fierce grip.

A large, dark body was barreling towards him, mouth open to reveal flashing, sharp, bloody teeth.


Next chapter will have some…interesting things revealed about our characters. We'll hear a bit more about our original crew, so don't worry.

~AAx