A short on-shot, my first Star Wars Story, too. I hope it's good.
Fear. Anger. Resolve. Rage. Confusion.
Hate.
What she could feel in the man hunting her was a mixture of all those. She was glad he couldn't feel what she was feeling: Fear. Sadness. Shattered trust. As she stumbled quietly up the dense forest slope, thoughts raced through her mind. Memories, ones she once cherished. Now they were tainted with betrayal and confusion.
Destroying droids together on Anaxes.
Surviving the gunship crash on Carida.
Me healing him on Sarrish.
Infiltrating that Seppie base on Secundus.
Destroying the comm relay here on Garel.
Back then, they'd both been afraid, but sure of themselves. Each other. Their unit, the battalion. They'd been friends, close friends. She could confide in him. And he... he had gone from a rule-following, by-the-book soldier into something more.
An individual. A man. Because of her.
She tripped over a stone, then stumbled on a protruding root, nearly falling over. She caught herself on a shag-bark tree. She realized as she came to a halt just how hard she was breathing – and how long tears had been streaming down her face.
His head was hurting. He thought his brain had enlarged and was throbbing against his skull. His hands where shaking as he clutched the rifle, his finger playing around the trigger. He was looking straight ahead, checking his heads up display often, trying to spot the... the Jedi.
She had a name, right?
She's a Jedi. She doesn't need a name. She's a traitor. She's lost whatever she had before; her and all her scum did.
No. That isn't...
He ignored the fight in his head, and concentrated on the inevitable fight ahead. This was a Jedi. Proficient in lightsaber combat. Capable of killing. He remembered seeing this one mow down battle droids with calm ease, their parts clattering to the ground as she moved past.
She could slice him apart just as easily. Jedi traitor. Scum. He kept that thought in his head as he advanced through the forest, alone, looking through the three-sixty view in his helmet. She could have sneaked up behind him, or above him. He glanced up into the trees. Nothing. He switched to infrared, then back. This was an organic-dense area; everything was heat.
Organic-dense? I sound like a droid.
He shook his head. Something caught his eye. Something... pale brown. Cloth. Coarse cloth. A Jedi. Kill the Jedi. His fingers curled into a half-fist around the barrel of his rifle. It wasn't moving. The Jedi was leaning up against a tree, it seemed, a few meters ahead of him. Could she... sense him?
Perhaps.
She knew he was there. She could sense that tarnished innocence, the weariness, and that new mix of emotions that were boiling above the surface. It struck her that there was no more of that playfulness, that humor, that love for living in him now. She could sense he was bent on destroying her, but some of him... it feared doing that. It hated what was happening.
And she realized that this wasn't his will. This was something else. Something darker. The man she'd fought beside, survived three long years with, wasn't in control.
He was close now. He could see her. Probably training her sight on her.
She turned around, releasing her wait from the tree and standing on her own. He didn't even need a sight at this range. It was point-blank. As soon as his shot fired, she'd be dead. That small corner of fear was screaming out to him to not do it, you'll regret it. No. Orders... orders are orders, Lieutenant. He closed his eyes and rested his finger lightly on the trigger. No movement from...
You knew her name. She had a name. You – you fought alongside her...
Now, she betrayed you. Kill her. Kill the Jedi.
That black visor had once been a friendly sight, a sight for sore eyes, she'd once said to him. Now... she didn't know. The red-and-brown markings that covered his armor had once been a relief, too. She was staring right at the man, both of their emotional states in turmoil.
No, don't. He'll kill you. He will kill you. But she still did it. She stretched out an arm, tears streaming down her face, and placed a hand on his shoulder plate, and she'd done after a costly victory at Felucia. Before coming here. Garel. Where their friendship would die with her.
He stared down into those blue eyes, her pale, dirt-and-tear stained cheeks. Her brown hair was a mess, some of it sticking to her face. He started feeling things bubbling beneath the surface. Regret. Remorse...
Kill the Jedi.
He pressed the barrel of his rifle right beneath her chest, closed his eyes beneath his helmet, fighting tears welling up in his eyes. No, no, no. These are your orders.
Immoral orders.
Kill. The. Jedi.
And he fired. With a quiet gasp, she stared into his helmet's visor, pain – not just physical – evident in her eyes.
She dropped to the forest ground, her body making a soft thump as it landed.
Then he turned around, his rifle dropping from his trembling hands, tears rolling from his bleak eyes, and walked down the slope.