I've really enjoyed writing the last few chapters and would love to see what you guys think. I've kept this story largely canon, up until the end of Return of the Jedi. I've got big plans for this story, including appearances from Jedi whose lives after Order 66 have yet to be explained. As I've mentioned before, nothing encourages an author than reviews either good ones or ones containing constructive criticism. Obviously I'm not going to ask you to tell me I'm awful. Thanks to all for reading this. May the Force be with you.
The majority of characters and locations used in this work of fiction are property of George Lucas, LucasArts and the Star Wars franchise. All the copyrights associated with this story belong to them. Only the ideas contained within this story are the property of the author. No profit is being earned by the writer of this story. Lawsuits are not welcome here.
Chapter Two: Painful Memories
Devron tossed and turned in his bunk, muttering to himself. His breathing fluctuated rapidly, going from short and quiet to long extended gasps. The few objects in the room, a small table, two weathered chairs, tarnished cutlery, a wooden plate and cup, shook as if the ground was being rocked by an earthquake. The cup fell off the table, bounced off the floor, and remained suspended in mid-air, about a foot off the ground. It wobbled and then dropped to the ground, bounced and rolled into the corner of the room. Devron's murmurs increased, tears began to trail down the side of his face and his murmurs turned to sobs.
He deflected a laser blast with his lightsaber, the golden blade casually returning the shot back to the battle droid that had fired it. He glanced to his left, where a group of clones were crouching behind a fallen tree and blaster fire rained above their heads. He weaved his way over to them, cutting through two droids on the way. One of the troopers was Lieutenant Drake, who Devron had fought next to several times before during the campaign. He ducked down next to the troopers yelling over the noise of blasterfire. "Where is our back-up? We should have another platoon down here!" Drake primed a thermal detonator and casually tossed it over the tree, where it exploded, wiping out a cluster of droids. He looked back at Devron. "They're pinned down two klicks back. Swamped with NR-N99's. We're just going to have to hold out!" Devron nodded and sprang over the fallen tree, charging at the droids hunkered down in a makeshift embankment. He deflected several blasts away as the clones behind him redoubled their offensive. He leapt over the droids, clearing the bunker entirely, and landed on a patch of clear ground. The droids has spun around, following his flight through the air, when a shrill beeping noise caused one to glance towards the ground. Three thermal detonators lay at the droid's feet. Activated thermal detonators.
The explosion tore up the bunker, sending dirt, branches and pieces of metal flying. When the dust cloud faded away Devron walked back to the clones, who had regrouped with the remainder of their squad. Lieutenant Drake shook his head as Devron made his way through the debris. "You are kriffing insane. You know that, right?" Devron extinguished his lightsaber. "Would it be fun if I wasn't?" he asked casually, grinning. Drake glanced up into the sky in mock exasperation. "Kid, if you die how am I going to explain it to your master?" he continued in a sing-song voice. "Oh, yeah. He decided it would be a good idea to charge a heavily defended CIS bunker. Alone. Yes, I know it's generally considered to be suicide but it didn't seem to bother him." He sighed. "Do you get what I'm saying Jedi?" Devron frowned but nodded. "I suppose so Lieutenant. I'll tone it down." Drake sighed and turned to his squad, motioning for them to continue into the undergrowth. "I'll believe it when I see it."
In Devron's room, the shaking increased, going faster and faster. The table began to rise in the air before splitting into two and falling back onto the floor. The chairs splintered, fragments flying around the room. An R6-series astromech droid wandered in through the open door. A fragment of wood whizzed by the droid, who whistled indignantly, turned around and left the room. Devron winced in his sleep and muttered "No..."
Trapped by CIS super battle-droids, forced to take cover in a crashed LAAT/i. Devron crouched down, attempting to repair a damaged comlink. Clones surrounded him, returning fire to the attacking droids. "We're going to need backup Jedi!" yelled Lieutenant Drake as a clone collapsed, having been pierced through the shoulder by a laser blast. Devron glanced up, visibly struggling to keep his temper. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but perhaps you should have taken better care of the engineer's under your command. I'm hardly qualified in this area. I'm just good at breaking things!" He swore as a spark seared his fingers. He stopped fiddling with the communicator and paused. "Here we go." His thumb hit the power button.
The comlink miraculously lit up and Devron hurriedly spoke into it, holding it up close to his mouth. "Hello? This is Jedi Padawan Devron Taa'bat. My squad are pinned down in a crashed transport in sector AR7-K19. We have sustained many casualties. We urgently require support. I repeat, we urgently require support!" He paused, beginning to tense, then sighed in relief as a clone's voice crackled over the communicator. "We copy Jedi. This is Commander Bly. A transport has been sent to your location, which your master has commandeered. Just try to hold out, help is on its way." The clones cheered at that, but Devron merely raised his hand to his head and massaged his right temple. "Make it fast, Commander. I'm not sure how much longer we can hold out." He terminated the link, pocketing the comlink and glanced up at a clone's yell. Two super battle droids had cut their way through the side of the fallen transport and were climbing in. Devron stood up, activated his lightsaber and rushed over to the droids. He deflected a shot of blasterfire back at the first super battle droid, following up by slicing through its torso. Then he stepped over the stricken droid and casually sliced off the forearm of the second droid, finishing by plunging his lightsaber through its head.
He glanced through the hole, but no more droids were waiting for him. He turned around to the clones, realising immediately that something was wrong. He looked at Drake. "What's going on?" he asked. Drake gestured over his shoulder, towards where the droids had been firing from, although Devron suddenly realised that they had ceased fire. Something was wrong. "The clankers have stopped firing, sir. In fact," he stopped, and then peered over the ledge that he had been crouching under. "I can't see any droids out there. They must have retreated." Devron stared blankly at him. "That makes no sense. They had us surrounded and outgunned! Could they be falling back to allow artillery to smoke us out?" Drake shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, sir." Devron shook his head in confusion, lowering his head towards the ground. He had to make a decision. Now. What did he know? The droids would never have given up a superior tactical position. After that, nothing. "Drake, I'm going to take a look outside. Get your boys to cover me." He walked over to the side of the transport, where the door lay half-open, guarded by three clones. He nodded to them, as he walked by, hopping out into the mist. He peered through it, looking for any sign of movement. Ever so faintly, right on the edge of his hearing threshold, there was a noise. A twig breaking a few dozen feet away. Not droids, his connection to the Force told him. Something…..animal. Something…..angry.
His lightsaber flew into his hand as a deafening, monstrous scream erupted from behind him. He spun around, slicing upwards with his lightsaber as a hideous face lunged at him. He sliced it's head off, noticing the tough, green skin and malevolent eyes. An acklay. He was given no time to recuperate, however, as another acklay charged out from the mist. He ducked as it attempted to stab him with its claw, then sliced the leg off. The acklay roared, smashing him with another claw, too fast for him to dodge, sending him flying. His lightsaber flew out of his hand as he crashed into the ground, lying there winded. The acklay roared again and went to attack him, but collapsed as a laser bolt pierced its head. The clones had abandoned the transport and were firing at the group of acklays that now surrounded them. Another acklay walked over to Devron as he lay breathless on the ground. He looked over at his lightsaber, about twenty yards away from him, and attempted to pull it towards him, but to no avail. He was too weak.
The acklay casually raised its front pincer. Devron stared at it. All the time he had spent fighting droids, and this was how he would die. He rolled as the acklay brought its pincer down, but the acklay had predicted this and had attempted to judge his movement. The tip of its pincer sliced through the flesh of his left shoulder, pinning him to the ground. He screamed out loud as the pain coursed agonisingly through his body. The acklay raised another pincer, a sickly grin across its face. It began to bring the pincer down, then stared in puzzlement as a flash of green and blue sliced through it, removing the pincer from the rest of its body. It removed its pincer from Devron's shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain and raised its missing limb to eye level, staring at it in confusion, before the green-blue blur sliced through its neck, its heading seeming to slow down time as it fell towards the ground.
Devron blinked as the pain began to overrule his mind and his eyes began to close, the world before him fading to black. He sighed and unwillingly shut his eyes but was almost immediately shaken awake. "Devron! Wake up! Wake up now!" He slowly opened his eyes and found himself looking at his master's face. Her lekku twitched nervously, looking over at his damaged shoulder. She looked back at him, and frowned. "What have I told you about keeping this with you?" she asked, holding up his lighsaber. He smiled weakly. "Sorry master. Must have slipped my mind." She nodded back to him, then stood up and yelled. "Troopers! Get this Jedi aboard the transport immediately. We are leaving!" Drake saluted to her, "Of course, General." and then ran over to Devron, motioning to two other troopers to help. "Gave us a bit of a fright there, sir. We could have done with a bit of warning." Devron chuckled despite the pain it caused. "Very funny Lieutenant. Next time, when I ask for you to cover me, I'd like it if you actually fired a few shots." The clones laughed, and hauled him onto the transport.
Behind them, his master clambered on, along with her other padawan. Before the war, Jedi were strictly limited to a single padawn, but war changes things, and it had become clear to the Council that in order to train the Jedi coming through, some Masters and Knights would have to take on more. His last thought before he faded to unconsciousness was how odd the too looked together, the padawan with her pale, white skin and their master, a strong blue colour, just like her favoured 'saber. They made quite a trio. Together, they were unstoppable.
The shuddering ceased, all of the objects that were floating in the air dropped, clattering onto the floor. Devron's eyes shot open. He slid out of his bed and got dressed. He glanced down at his left shoulder, a vivid scar running from the tip of his shoulder blade down to his elbow. He smiled, savouring the memories, back when he had a master, when he had friends. All he had now was pain. He glanced up as the R6 droid strolled in, whistling inquisitively. He glanced down and patted its head fondly. "I need you to stay here R6. Try to fix the transmitter." With a certain amount of ceremony, he slipped his arms into his robe, another symbol of the fallen Jedi Order, and pulled up the hood. His hand fell to his lightsaber as he walked out the door, muttering quietly to himself. "It's time….."