Apologies in advance if any stray druids made their way into this story. Why anyone would be fighting twelve combat-class druids is beyond me, but to my spellchecker it seemed perfectly logical. I think I chased them all away though, and pointed out the error of its ways to my spellchecker.

XXX

'Hey, Admiral! Come look at this!' Rohin, the captain of Carth's flagship the Sojourn and long time friend and sparring partner, waved him over. Still a little stiff after his workout, Carth ambled over to the window.

Long curving corridors surrounded the training arena several meters below, and it was from here that a growing crowd gathered to watch the display. Faces pressed to the glass, trying to get a closer look. Rohin moved aside to make space for Carth.

Twelve combat-class droids ringed the arena, surrounding a lone human female in the centre. She wore a light combat suit, and a training helmet that covered the whole of her head and hair. She held a vibroblade in a relaxed ready stance. The remains of four droids already lay sparking at her feet.

As one the functional droids raised their arms. A murmur erupted from the crowd.

'She's got their blasters on!'

'They'll be on stun, calm down,' said someone else.

But once the droids opened fire, it was clear that they were not set to stun. The beams met in the middle of the arena in a blinding blue flash. The crowd shouted like one being. Surely the crazy woman hadn't survived that?

As the smoke cleared it was obvious that she had. Two droids were now down but the rest were closing in on her. Two raised their whirring combat chainsaw attachments and brought them down towards her. She dodged almost faster than the eye could track and they neatly severed each other's arms. Her vibroblade slashed twice, and their heads landed beside their fallen arms. Their bodies hit the floor in perfect unison seconds later.

The other droids were crowding her now. She leapt fully her own height off the floor and ran along their shoulders to land lightly behind them. A backward swing cut the rearmost droid in half.

'Vibroblades shouldn't do that,' someone muttered.

The droids turned on the spot and opened fire, trying to spray blaster fire over a large area so she couldn't escape. But she somersaulted and dodged the deadly beams agilely. Twenty seconds later the droids' programming realised this was a waste of energy and stopped. They began to circle again, trying once more to surround her.

One behind her raised its blaster fist. The end heated up as it prepared a super-charged bolt. It appeared that the woman had not seen it. The crowd shouted and banged on the window to alert her.

In the split second before it fired it seemed it was too late for her. Yet somehow, in the time it took the blast to reach her she spun and blocked it with her vibroblade. The blast ricocheted back to the droid, melting its torso.

There was no time for the crowd to think about this impossible feat. The woman leapt for another droid, neatly disembowelling its hydraulics and wiring before it could bring its combat arm to bear on her.

The remaining six droids readied their own combat fists and charged her. But she made the normally swift droids look like they were wading through mud. She seemed to be toying with them, taking an arm here, a slice of armour there. Her sword swept through them with graceful ease.

Rohin laughed beside Carth, obviously enjoying himself. 'She's great!'

Carth scowled. 'She's going to get herself killed.'

'Are you blind? You think she can't take four droids?'

There were indeed only four droids left now, he saw. Only two were still whole. The other two shook sparking arms at her as a human would shake a fist. She raised her sword in an obvious challenge.

The droids weren't up to it. Less than fifteen seconds later she was the only thing standing in the arena. She walked serenely back into the access tunnel, not seeming to hear the raucous applause from above. Only Carth Onasi didn't seemed impressed.

'What's wrong with you, old man?' asked Rohin. 'A great battle, a great show, a great body – what's not to like?' He regretted it instantly as Carth turned his angry stare on him. The Admiral's knuckles were white where he gripped the handrail. Rohin thought he saw fear in his old friend's eyes as well, but Carth grabbed his bag and left without saying another word or even bothering to change.

XXX

'What the hell is wrong with you?' He was so angry he couldn't have kept his voice down if he tried.

Lera looked up innocently from setting the table. 'What are you talking about?'

He strode round the table in three big strides and gripped both her upper arms tightly. 'Don't pretend! Did you think I wouldn't recognise you? You could have been killed!'

'But I wasn't.' She twisted free of his grip and stared him down.

Carth sat down heavily at the table, his rage replaced suddenly by something else. He put a hand to his forehead, covering his eyes. 'You don't need to hide it from me, you know,' he said softly, all his rage gone. 'I know what you've been doing. You're using the Force again. I suppose you thought I wouldn't notice? Do you think I'm going to try to stop you?'

She was quiet and wouldn't look at him.

'Talk to me, Lera. Tell me what's wrong, what you want. I know you're unhappy. Tell me what I can do to make it right.' He hated the pleading he heard in his voice, but couldn't make it go away.

She looked up. The regret in her eyes broke his heart.

'There's nothing you can do,' she said.

Silence stretched out between them.

XXX

For two days they avoided each other. Every time Carth came back from his shift he expected to find her things gone, but though he didn't see her she was obviously still around. He felt too depressed to tidy up, but when he returned the apartment was obsessively tidy. When there were no Sith to take things out on she always tackled chores. He just wanted to talk to her, but she knew how to be difficult when she wanted. He'd been attracted to that stubborn streak from their first days together. It had certainly made their courtship more exciting. Now it made every argument ten times worse than it had to be.

He sat behind his desk in the Admiralty offices on the station, staring into space. He kept running over in his mind what he would say to her when he saw her, but no words could say enough.

Bleeping from the terminal in front of him snapped him back to reality. All these damn reports would never be ready at this rate. But it was the comm chiming, not some reminder of a deadline. He answered it, hoping he looked more professional than he felt inside.

'Onasi here.'

'Get to my briefing room right away, Admiral,' Dodonna said. There was a furrow between her eyebrows, meaning this was not good news.

'What's wrong?'

'We're mobilising the Fleet for war.'