A special thanks to sachariah for helping me with this revised version of this chapter.

I do not own Star Wars.

"Captain Five-three-nine-one," said Chancellor Palpatine. "The Jedi have betrayed the Republic. Execute Order Sixty-six."

The image vanished. Thorn could only stare at the dead hypercomm in shocked silence. Traitors. The Jedi… had betrayed the Republic. What? When? How?

Why?

He floated in a state of numb disbelief. Nothing made sense. Nothing was registering. He should be doing something, but he didn't know what. He didn't know. He couldn't move.

Traitors.

He felt like he'd been hit by a huge wave. It smashed him down, driving the breath from his lungs and dragging him under. He tried to struggle free, but the current was too strong. Everything was a dark, airless vortex, and he didn't know which way was up. He wouldn't have been able to find the surface, even if he could move.

Cold panic flooded Thorn's body, and hot betrayal and numbing confusion. It overwhelmed him. His skin was too tight; he couldn't move. He was hyper aware of the drag of his bodysuit on the skin of his arms, the bead of sweat running down his nose, the frantic pounding of his heart that shook his body, yet left him frozen. His vision blurred and the world spun around him, a disorienting miasma of color, shape, and sound. He couldn't even breathe.

Distorted images swirled inside his mind. He could only catch faint glimpses, brief flashes of recognition, before they were gone.

His flash training module on Kamino, showing picture after picture of Republic worlds. A soothing voice repeated in his ear, "The Republic is the heart of civilization. The Chancellor is the heart of the Republic. Obey the Chancellor always."

The faces of the first men he'd been given command of, identical to his own, yet different. They looked at him with confidence, knowing that he would put their welfare above all else.

The faces of those same men, bloodied and battered, some burned beyond recognition.

His reassignment to Renegade. Edi's smiling face the first good memory he had of the war. Her laughter sparkling in his ears. Her back pressed against his, guarding him from what he couldn't see. Those long, unexplained talks with the Council…

Betrayal, anger, regret, confusion disbelief loss uncertainty fury resentment heartache anguish—pain, pain, PAIN!

He couldn't handle it. Thorn felt himself disengage, the part of him that was overwhelmed by grief and betrayal falling back and the obedient, unquestioning soldier moving forward to take his place. It was like he was looking from a distance, standing in the background. He heard himself repeat the order over the helmet's internal comm, but it wasn't his voice. He heard cries of dismay, shouts of denial, a choked sob, but none of it registered. His body turned and he saw Edi crouched down next to one of the blaster cannons. The sun shone off her black hair, giving it blue highlights. There was a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheekbones. Her nails were clean and cut short, her hands ridged with callouses.

Something inside Thorn was screaming, sobbing like a terrified child. How could she, how could she? How can this be happening?

He was watching the world end.

"Something's wrong."

Shades immediately sat up and sighted down the scope of his DC. He didn't see any threats down the pass. There was nothing on the opposite side, not that he could see. The convoy was still making its slow, deliberate way along the track. Shades didn't see anything to cause alarm.

He slid over next to Fib, their armored hips bumping lightly as he pressed close and slipped off his helmet. "I don't see anything. Think you can be a little more specific?"

Fib got a defocused look, his lips parting slightly and his head tipping back like he was looking at the sky. Shades waited in agitation, his eyes constantly darting between the medic and the surrounding landscape, looking for threats. His attention was jerked back to Fib as he gasped suddenly.

"The camp… Edi!"

Movement out of the corner of her eye was the only warning Edi had. Instinct took over and she hurled herself to the ground as the whine of a blaster range painfully close to her ears. She summersaulted to her feet, lightsaber flying to her hand—but it was hit by a blaster shot in midair and sent spinning out over the valley below.

Edi whirled, looking wildly. Separatists? Pirates? Local militia? Who was attacking? And why weren't the clones responding?

She turned. Her men were crouched or standing, aiming around trees or each other. Aiming at her.

"What—"

The clones opened fire.

Everything slowed. Around her, the Force resonated with shock, anger, betrayal. It pounded on her chest, in her lungs. Her mind rang with it, echoing like a hollow tree, even as pain flared through her face, the side of her neck. Thoughts registered slowly, sluggishly. They swirled just beneath her conscious grasp, then burst suddenly into bright clarity. Her troops, her men, were firing on her. This wasn't an accident, or some misunderstanding.

They were firing on her. And they were going to kill her.

Pain exploded in Edi's heart, overwhelming all physical sensation. How could physical pain even exist, when her entire world was shattering around her? These men had been her world from the first time she'd been give command of them and entrusted with their lives. She had put their welfare above all else, even to the point of risking the mission. Thorn had lectured her often on the irrationality of such an act, and she'd had more than one discussion with the Council about her attachment issue. But it had all been worth it, if only one more clone hadn't had to die. They were all worth it, every single one of them. In a deep corner of her mind, Edi was actually glad that this horrible war had started. If it hadn't, then she never would have met these incredible men. They were the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Stop! I love you! Please, stop!

Edi was aware of distant screams, but somehow, they had no connection to her. She felt no compulsion to help, knew that she couldn't help. The unimaginable agony of this betrayal, that cut deeper than any other wrong ever done to her, was smothering her, crushing her under its weight. Her lungs couldn't expand to breathe. Her heart couldn't pump blood through her veins. She was drowning, drowning, and she didn't know why.

Why are they doing this? Please, tell me!

The Force had no answers. She reached for it, but it slipped away, out of her grasp. Its light, which she'd grown up with and had been nurtured by, was gone. She was alone in the dark.

In the end, everything came down only to this. All her Jedi training counted for nothing. The long nights of practice, the years of silent endurance, every mission ever completed, all were worthless. The doubts she'd struggled with, the limitations she'd overcome, all her sacrifices, all her hopes, all her dreams. In the end, they all added up only to this: a general killed by her own soldiers; a Jedi murdered by the clone troopers sworn to protect her; a woman betrayed by the people she loved most in the galaxy.

And she didn't even know why.

Blaster fire ripped into her, driving her to her knees. Her wounded and scorched body collapsed to the ground. She cried out as grass and dirt touched her raw, burned flesh. Struggling weakly and choking on sobs, Edi forced herself onto her back.

She didn't want to die, not like this. She was alone, and that scared her more than she could even comprehend. Through the fog of pain, a familiar presence touched her. She reached out to it desperately, begging for help. Save me! she screamed.

The blue morning sky swirled above her. Every cell in her body felt on fire. Her mind was fogged with pain, unable to think straight. She was slipping into a state of shock, barely even able comprehend what was happening around her. Everything had retreated to a distance. It didn't even seem real anymore. A white helmet appeared above her, blotting out the sky. Thorn's helmet, the T-shaped visor so familiar and so loved, and for a moment… for a moment she thought everything was going to be all right.

Then she felt the press of a blaster nozzle under her chin. This can't be happening to me.

"Thorn! Shades! Fib!" But Thorn was holding the blaster to her chin, Shades couldn't save her, and Fib was out of reach. She couldn't hear her own cries, but she was sure her lips were moving. The pain—she couldn't breathe.

This is just a dream.

The faint click of a trigger. And then the pain stopped forever.

Fib's scream shook Shades so badly that he dropped his DC. The sound echoed off the opposite side of the valley and down the pass, repeating again and again until it faded into the distance. Fib jerked up into a standing position, then toppled backward to crash to the rocky ground. Shades dove forward, grabbing desperately for his brother to keep him from going over the ledge. He crouched over Fib, clutching the back of his head with both hands.

"Fib, what is it? What's happened?"

The medic stared up at Shades with horrified eyes. "Edi. She's hurt, she—" His eyes lost their focus and he let out a strangled wail. "I'm sorry! I can't!" He jerked violently, then went suddenly limp.

Almost panicking, Shades pressed his fingers to the other man's pulse point. He felt a frantic, fluttery beat, as though Fib had been running. The medic's eyes opened and he gazed up at Shades, looking lost.

"She's dead."

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mad'ika