She was fighting a sith...a sith!

The thought hadn't really struck Weela until now, hadn't really sunk in properly. But the more she moved her arms in the well practised moves to cut and parry the more it was intruding upon her mind, making her sluggish...terrifying her.

No! She was a jedi damn it! Gritting her teeth Weela forced herself to calm down, to centre herself into the battle.

She was only half successful.

Part of the reason was the growing realisation that they were in over their heads. Between her Soresu and the Ataru fighting style of her master they should have cornered and either disarmed or destroyed their foe. But Dooku's Makashi was perfect, leaving no gap in his defence even as the Sith pushed them both back.

He was even smirking, smirking as he fought them!

With a twirl the sith made a deceptively small slash at her, almost cutting through her defences for a horrifying moment...then she shifted her stance and bashed the small cut aside, the heat of it passing her face by a mere inch.

They were now close to the exit of the meditation chamber once more, Dooku forcing them both back so Boc Fac couldn't fight as freely as he wanted, leaving Weela to do most of the legwork. With a sweeping backhand blow Dooku almost severed Boc's lightsaber, instead he knocked it towards Weela, locking all three blades against one another. "Is this all the mighty jedi could muster?" Dooku smiled as he casually batted aside Weela's counter attack. "Surely this was not the smartest thing you have concocted?"

Gritting her teeth Weela forced herself not to reply as she pushed herself to the brink, her body aching with each blow by now.

Things weren't made better by the fact that the sound of blaster fire was getting more and more intense, as was the shouted orders from the commandos as they continued to tear apart the arriving droid reinforcement. Judging by the sounds and her senses things were getting a little difficult...

Cutter was the centre of calm, his mind moving through calm observations and analyses, as if he was merely on a firing range. Fourth was a bubbling vessel of anger, anger he struggled to let out by destroying his foes. Wrench was counting up a string of curses...and Lip seemed to struggle in containing the panic by joking with himself, badly.

"Focus my padawan, we can still defeat him." Boc muttered, darting forward to deliver a storm of heavy blows, all of which Dooku all too easily parried.

"Defeat me?" The count chuckled, his saber forming a figure eight in front of him as he inched back, ready to stop any attack. "Surely you realise that will not happen?"

Weela lashed out, only to find her saber almost getting torn out of her hand when Dooku lashed back, cruel smile never leaving his lips. "Master!?" She could hear the panic in her own voice, panic only growing when she saw Boc's saber getting pushed aside when the twi'lek came to her help.

"Damn..." Boc's voice was but a whisper. "Fourth! I need an exit!"

"How would I do that!?" Fourth barked back, if he was going to say anything more it was stopped by an explosion, followed by a shout. "Lip! Keep that one pinned!" There was another set of explosions. "Now you capture that sith or we'll all die sir!"

Weela's eyes widened, had the soldier just refused an order!? Taking a quick step back she let Boc handle Dooku for a moment while she looked back at the commandos.

From her position she could easily see the distant elevator, the door open and almost two dozen droids of different types leaving it even as the doors begun to close, no doubt so the elevator could get more troops up towards them. Keeping cover Fourth and Wrench fired off burst after burst against the opposition, only to be forced back by scything blaster fire and rockets.

More fire came past the crossing from the left and right, the two commandos guarding those sides apparently struggling with an ever growing force of enemies.

"Cutter!" The stab of pain was distant, the cry through the force of a life ending an odd contrast to the emotionless destruction of the droids. "Cutter's down! Wrench on his position! Revive if possible!"

The other commando obeyed, rushing across the open space of the corridor to head for his brother...then fell as a rocket took him in the hip.

Skidding across the floor the clone dropped his blaster, he still moved though, hand reaching out for the weapon even as he crawled forward. "Shield's out, I need-" A blaster round took him in the face, drilling a neat hole of scorched plasteel in the centre of the helmet.

Wrench's head dropped without a sound.

"Wrench!" Lip's cry was short as the clone came stumbling into sight, his armour scorched black by repeated blaster fire, his hand reaching out for his now dead brother...then he fell unto his knees, body twitching.

Fourth moved...then Weela was forced to focus back on Dooku as the Sith sent Boc sprawling with another deceptive slash that turned into stab towards Weela, singing the sleeve of her robe before she pushed the attack aside.

With Boc still struggling to get up from being tossed into the wall Weela found her guard failing under the concentrated assault of her foe, the count's smile widening ever so slightly as she on instinct went away from Soresu and switched to Shii-Cho. Such a basic type would never stand against Dooku...but Weela couldn't help herself.

Crying out she felt her left arm burn when a thrust cut through cloth and skin. Stumbling back she raised her saber in a tight guard, struggling to put her mind back into the one of the Soresu. Instead she found herself cry out in pain once more as a quick slash cut across her right knee, burning partly through it.

Blinking through sudden tears Weela crouched into a lower guard, hoping to make herself small until Boc could come to the rescue. She didn't want to die...

Dooku's thrust came at her face, locking blades she pushed it to the left...only to find her weapon pulled around as the count easily twirled his blade around...and then pushed her lightsaber out of her hands.

Gasping Weela jumped back, her stomach afire with the pain from a grazing blow. Dropping unto her knees she could only watch as Dooku turned around in time to parry Boc's charge, crossed ligthsabers inches from the two's faces.

Then Dooku lashed back, pushing the twi'lek back his saber made a dizzying pattern in the air. With her injuries Weela found her vision clouded, the two combatants seemed awfully blurry...but there was no hiding Boc's pain as her master was hit. No way she could miss how his right arm came off at the shoulder...or the way his hip was pierced by a glowing blade...and which then drew up, drawing a massive wound up over Boc's body.

Cut in two along his length the twi'lek fell apart, eyes still wide in shock.

And all went dark.

----

"Come now, wake up." The gentle slap was enough for Weela to open her eyes, the blurry shape of count Dooku mere inches from her face. Groggily looking around she realised they were still in the meditation chamber, herself hoisted up by two super battle droids holding her arms up in cold pincers of steel.

There Boc lay, his shorn halves partly hidden behind two droids, both holding the limp forms of Cutter and Wrench, the two dead clones missing their helmets. In death they looked almost peaceful, as if they finally had found the calm they had been searching for.

Stepping to the side Dooku revealed the other two clones, unbound but on their knees the two clones kept their hands on their heads as four super battle droids kept their weapons trained upon the commandos. Lip's eyes were vacant, red blood running down his nose. Fourth's gaze was fixed upon the two dead clones, his lips pressed tightly together as he fumed with barely constrained rage.

"Very sad, that with your master, though don't worry, you'll soon join him." Dooku's words sent a chill down her spine even as the count turned to the two clones. "Quite a badly planed operation wouldn't you say?" Fourth snorted, eyes not leaving his dead brothers. "I guess it would have been successful if aimed at anyone but me...then again jedi have always aimed for the stars, not really realistic thinkers are they?"

"What do you want?" Weela croaked, her throat one big bruise for some reason.

"I'm not really talking to you here my dear." Dooku replied without turning. "Such magnificent warriors...I could use men like you two."

Now it was Lip's turn to snort. "Go to hell."

"How quaint." Dooku shrugged. Then one of the clone's pistols hovered through the air, the count smiling at the small weapon as he put it hovering in front of Lip's face. "Now please...take this and shoot the jedi here." The clone shot him a blank look. "Come now, I can feel your anger...kill her and you will live, I'll even give you true freedom."

"I'm a clone, I need nothing." Lip replied, looking away from the offered pistol.

"So they say...now come, I won't make the offer twice." Dooku calmly said, inching the pistol closer to Lip's face. "Kill the one that lead you into this and you will have a place within my retinue."

"Go to-"

The rest of Lip's sentence was cut short by Dooku's saber suddenly lashing out, the count separating Lip's head from his shoulders.

His head fell one way, his body the other.

Weela could do nothing but wince where she hung, he had died for her...she had liked him...and now she had gotten him killed.

"Now as for you..." Dooku held up the pistol to Fourth, but didn't get to finish the sentence as the clone instantly grasped the blaster, aimed, and fired.

Gasping Weela found all air leaving her as the burning pain in her chest paralysed her. He had shot her! Finding her eyes tear with pain she looked back at the clone, only to find unbridled hatred glaring back at her, the clone's lips twisting into a snarl. "Screw the programming." He suddenly smiled, for the first time ever as far as Weela remembered, then he turned to the count and bowed his head. "I'm at your command lord Dooku."

"Excellent, arise, not as a clone...but as a new man."

Weela's eye twitched as Fourth rose to his feet, standing tall, almost proud. Her leg kicked even as he turned to glare at her once more. He spat at her, but she couldn't feel the spittle...nor the impact when the super battle droids tossed her aside.

For she was dead.

The end