Lord Darth Yoda - Haven't seen Rogue One yet (I know that's blasphemy. Seeing it tomorrow!). As for your comment - I do think you are on to something - lets see if you are right (you usually are!)

VibrantViola - Sascha and Nara really tried to do too much, but they kind of stunted the growth of the resistance at the same time. Now we'll see if they can do it alone. And as to why Aurine isn't telling Sascha and Nara - they're playing their cards close to their chest, for now. After all, the less people know what is happening, the less chance the secret gets out.

Speechbubbleme - Sascha and Nara's relationship is, and will always be interesting. Thanks for your comments as always.

A/N - This was a painful chapter to write, and edit. This was the first chapter I ever wrote that I actually got stuck on. I had to start writing the following chapters so I didn't get slowed down in writing the story before I finished this one.

I wanted to wish everyone happy holidays!

Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 44: A Gift From the Force

"While I am still under a 'house arrest' as one could say, I'm still being given information as to the progress of the war. It seems that the two Jedi Knights will wait for as long as possible, and then offer battle when my father comes with his fleet. If he comes with his fleet. I think he will, but I do not know what the cost in lives will be in just getting to that point.

-From the Journal of Pravin Ecalt, twenty nine days in to the Invasion of Ubrora

Lirri Boikana took aim down the sight of her blaster rifle, eying the commander droid that was her target. The commander droid was overseeing a cadre of Ubrorans civilians that were repairing a communications array. She shook her head dejectedly. Before the war, yellow had just been another pretty colour. Now yellow indicated commander droids. Now, yellow meant warning. Lirri wondered if she'd ever be able to look at that shade of yellow without involuntary reacting against it. She doubted it. So not only was this war potentially going to engulf her planet, it was going to ruin a perfectly good colour too.

Waiting for the signal from the worker that Arslan had arranged to be a part of this repair operation, Lirri reflected on the past few days. With the droid army being unofficially handed over to some mercenary in a suit of armor named Coren Vox, the droids had stopped patrolling the city as a show of force and instead had started collecting groups of Ubrorans at random and making them work doing menial repairs to the city, presumably as punishment. The irony that droids were making flesh-and-blood Ubrorans do the busywork that they would normally be doing was not lost on her either.

What really, deeply, boiled her blood though, was this sick propaganda campaign that was being voiced by all the broadcast stations on Ubrora. They painted these clean-up efforts as repairing the damage that the resistance had done to the beautiful cities of Ubrora. Of course these reports glossed over the fact that without the invasion of Vash Varless, there would have been no need for any resistance fighters at all! She had assumed that her fellow Ubrorans were smart enough to realize the obvious lies that were being told to them. Yet Arslan was reporting that public sentiment had been swinging away from the resistance and towards the invaders! From what Arslan was hearing, the people of Ubrora just wanted their lives to go back to normal. They didn't really care who ruled them, only that their lives would essentially remain the same. Lirri only had disdain for anyone who thought that way.

The broadcast she had watched last night had gone even further. In an EUN 'exclusive,' Manor Yoshara had sat down with her father for a one on one interview. She had hoped that her father might have at least tried to play neutral, considering she was the public face of the resistance and he was still her father. Instead, Murgo had his best politician face on, and he had declared that the leadership being displayed by President Mollek was going to lead Ubrora straight to a catastrophe. Her father said that he had spoken to Vash Varless and he said that the Duros promised that he would not rule over Ubrora, instead he would appoint a native Ubroran to the office of President. It didn't take much deductive reasoning to figure out whom Vash was likely to appoint as President. Yes, it seemed her father's lifelong ambition to be President of Ubrora might just come to fruition. In the worst possible way.

All those thoughts jumbled around in her head while she waited for the signal, just waiting for the moment, another moment that would bring her world closer to freedom. Her late night talk with the Jedi had crystallized some things for her. For one, now she was very mindful of controlling her emotions in these tumultuous times. Previously she had been fairly wayward with her thoughts, letting her anger, her fear dictate her actions. Now she kept focused on the 'good' things. Like how she was fighting for freedom, and fighting to protect her fellow Ubrorans.

After a few moments of waiting she saw the worker that Arslan had slipped inside the work group make his move. Making it look like an accident, the young Ubroran dropped his pack with all his tools, scattering them everywhere. All around him, the other workers groaned and began helping the young Ubroran put the tools back in their proper place. Yet now, with an excuse to clamber around the large mechanical contraption, he began withdrawing small objects from his pouch and hiding them on vulnerable sections of the communications array.

His job done, the worker scampered away from the scene of the crime, wiping his hands dramatically down the right side of his leg, twice. "That's the signal," she hissed to Sekac. The unflappable Sekac merely nodded and used his comlink to quietly inform the others, in case they had missed the signal.

Twenty seconds passed. Their plant, now back at work, pointed down the street and shouted loudly in a dramatic voice, "It's some of those damn resistance fighters. And they are coming this way!" Acting like a typically scared Ubroran, their plant bolted in the opposite direction, his finger now resting on the improvised trigger to the explosives he had just laid.

The dull-witted, or dull-programed droids, immediately stopped paying attention to the workers that they were overseeing and formed up toward the incoming 'resistance fighters.' Of course, there weren't any resistance fighters incoming, they were just a bunch of Arslan's non-combatants dressed up to look threatening. It was all a distraction and these droids were about to be scrap metal.

After the countdown ended, the resistance fighters in Lirri's squad emerged from their hiding places and opened fire. Lirri had been keeping her aim on the droids with the yellow commander markings and picked him off with a textbook headshot, before using her position to lay down fire in bursts that were not as accurate, but kept the droids from taking accurate shots at her troops. Most of her squad were seasoned veterans now, and those that weren't were quickly brought up to speed. The battle was short and swift, and it pleased her to see the droids destroyed without any problem, it was a far cry from when they had first started, when they would have needed the Jedi just to protect them from the droids.

Droids defeated, Lirri tapped her comlink, sending a signal to the Ubroran who had planted the explosives. The whole bit with the explosives had been Arslan's idea, and she hoped that it had merit. Arslan, using all the data he had acquired from their numerous raids had pointed out that reinforcements always got sent to investigate where the resistance attacked. Usually, the resistance fighters had already left by the time the reinforcements arrived, but Arslan pointed out the opportunity, if they left some explosives behind, they could potentially take out the reinforcements as well. The greater hope was that they might be able to take out one of the Mandalorians that had seemed to have made Bontha home in the past few days. Though that was probably little more than a dream.

Hopping down from her perch, she joined Sekac, who was already jogging back to base. Their headquarters had changed three times now, a simple precaution to keep those who might wish to attack the HQ of the resistance. Lirri was glad that the resistance had mostly stopped using her house, it was just such a pain the hindquarters to always be cleaning up after everyone…

Back at headquarters, which was now an old warehouse that belonged to a family of pro-resistance businessmen, she made her way over to Arslan and Ovans, who were immersed in datapads and maps. Seeing her return, Ovans nodded respectfully, such a dramatic change from when they had first met. Yet now they were comrades in arms, and while she didn't think she'd ever be friends with Ovans, there was a profound respect between the two of them now, "How did it go?" he asked.

"Part one was a success. We'll have to wait to see if part two has the returns that we are hoping for."

"It will work," said Arslan distractedly, not taking his eyes off whatever he was reading, "91% of the time, the droids follow up our attack with reinforcements. We just have to hope we don't get unlucky."

"We have something important to show you," said Ovans.

"Yes, bring the Jedi here and we can start planning," said Arslan.

Lirri hesitated, "The Jedi are…doing something themselves today. We are on our own."

"Can't you…contact them? This is important."

"So is what they are doing," she said. A week ago that pronouncement would have started up an argument, but things were different now. Now the conversation just moved on.

Arslan scratched at his face, "Well, I suppose we don't need them for this." Arslan stretched out his limbs and pointed to something on his datapad. Curious, Lirri moved so that she could peer over Arslan's shoulder. On the datapad, what appeared to be a live recording played on the device. It showed a battalion of droids escorting a convoy of supply speeders.

"Another supply convoy? What are they building now?" she asked no one in particular.

"That's the thing," said Arslan, "we have no idea."

"I don't like not knowing what my enemy is doing," she responded.

"I don't think anyone does," chimed in Ovans.

"Well, there is a simple way to find out. We attack it, and take the supplies…or whatever it is," she said.

Ovans and Arslan shared a brief look, "It seems simple enough, I'll plot out their travel path so you can ambush the convoy, it's not overly protected, and so it should just be another attack."

"I'll round up the troops then," she said definitively, "I'll take Sekac as my second in command." Both Ovans and Arslan nodded and went back to their planning.

Lirri had to give the Jedi credit, the simple act of naming her head of the resistance had quelled much of the infighting, and had let everyone slip into their best roles. Arslan as the head of intelligence and non-combat operations. Ovans as the secondary commander and tactical support. Sekac as the reliable second in command and adept warrior. Now, more than ever, the resistance felt stronger, ran smoother and seemed to resemble an actual, coherent fighting force.

It only took a few minutes for her squad to be assembled by Ovans. Lirri walked into the room, which she tried hard not to notice was pretty clearly a spare bedroom that had been hastily converted into a briefing room. The room was badly cramped, but her squad moved to make room for her.

Without a holoprojector, she did most of her talking without any visual aid besides an oversized datapad that whenever she pointed to it, her squad had to squint at the screen to view. For as much as the resistance had modernized it was still a bare bones operation.

"Will the Jedi be coming with us?" asked a hopeful, young voice.

Lirri stalled for a moment before smiling magnanimously, "Why don't we show the Jedi that we Ubrorans can get things done on our own without their help." Grins and rounds of backslapping greeted that pronouncement.

Someone in the back piped up, "We have our own Jedi, we have you, Lirri." Lirri plastered a false smile on her face and hoped that no one would notice how uncomfortable that statement made her. She might be robed like the Jedi and comport herself like one of the leaders of the resistance, but she had no doubt that she was nothing but a pale imitation of a Jedi.

The truth of it was that neither of the Padawans had awoken at their usual time this morning. In Lirri's opinion, both the Jedi needed rest and she hoped to give them some today. If that meant taking on a larger workload today, that was fine with her. She would survive.

Before long, she and her squad were in position, waiting for the mystery convoy to make its appearance. While she waited for her scouts to report in she tried to disabuse herself of the bad feeling that had seemed to settle into the pit of her stomach. This was just another raid, she told herself, there was no indication that there was anything nefarious going on. Still, the feeling persisted.

"Here comes the convoy," said Sekac, who had saddled up beside her silently.

The convoy came into sight, a battalion of droids escorting a set of eight supply speeders that were apparently heading to the city centre. Lirri had no intention of letting them get there.

"Launch a probing attack and let's see how they respond."

Sekac was gone in a flash, silently moving back to relay the orders. Lirri knew that she was being cautious, but she felt like being cautious at the moment. If there was one thing working with the Jedi had taught her, it was to trust her feelings. Restless, she decided she would observe the initial attack. She poked her head around the corner, and saw the convoy of large supply speeders and its droid escort.

Lirri only saw a little movement before the attack came. Taken by surprise, the droid escorts were quickly overwhelmed and dispatched. Lirri felt pride blossom in her chest, that ambush had been perfectly executed. The resistance truly was formidable now, "I hope you are watching, dad," she whispered under her breath.

The convoy, which had been slaved to the droids that had been escorting it, came to a halt. A single Ubroran, Garat, an veteran of the resistance, moved forward to inspect one of the supply speeders. Bulkier than a standard speeder, the ugly brown supply speeders were as ungainly as they looked. Garat unlocked the cargo pod with a blast from his rifle and then peeked his head inside. He seemed rather confused by what he saw inside and she started walking over herself, wanting a first-hand look. Then, a chill ran down her spine and the supply speeder exploded, engulfing the confused Ubroran in its orange glow.

The first thing Lirri felt was the heat from the explosion. The second thing she felt was a sharp pain in her right arm and leg as she turned away from the blast and dropped to her knees. Buffeted backwards she bounced back to her feet despite the acute pain. The supply convoy was still intact, but several of the supply speeders were destroyed, and from the others…large armored figures started to emerge.

The Mandalorians are here, she realized. Lirri instantly saw the flaw in her plan. The Mandalorians were smart enough to know that if they paraded an important looking convoy down the middle of the city, that they'd feel obligated to check it out. They knew that the convoy would be attacked and when we did…that they could trap us here...

"Run!" she screamed, "it's a trap!" A few of her troopers heard her and started a somewhat organized retreat. Most didn't hear her over the inferno that was a few meters away. Lirri cursed and fled back in the direction of her troops…maybe if she could get word out quickly, that the damage wouldn't be too bad…

The Mandalorians fell on the disorganized resistance fighters immediately, Lirri saw one Mando, her armour a little smaller than the others, pick off a fleeing Ubroran with a long-range shot from her dual wielded blaster pistols, before dodging some incoming fire by falling neatly to one knee.

Lirri turned and leveled her blaster rifle to take a shot at the prone Mandalorian, but before she could, she felt an impact on her right shoulder and pain ripped through her body. Her whole world was a blaze of pain, and she felt herself collapse to the ground.

"Lirri!"she heard Sekac yell.

More people were yelling, some people were screaming, but Lirri didn't know what was going on anymore. She was in such tremendous pain that she was using all of her remaining power to not cry out and reveal her position in the ongoing firefight. Then, without warning, darkness swallowed her world whole.

When Lirri Boikana came to, she was not lying in the middle of the road like she had been, instead she was inside a small house with a familiar face staring worriedly at her. "Sekac," she moaned, "What happened?"

Sekac crouched in front of her, "We are under attack. I pulled you from the road, and told everyone to scatter. I think we are the only two left behind."

Still feeling lightheaded she closed her eyes for a moment, "What's my condition? I can't feel much of anything."

"You took a blaster shot to the right shoulder. You need medical attention, for now I've used the freezing spray to dull the pain, though it's a temporary measure."

"I'm still in tremendous pain," she said, as she opened her eyes and risked a glance at her wounded shoulder. Her shoulder was barely recognizable as such. It was charred black and she felt nauseous even looking at it. Stay focused on the moment, she told herself, "So what is our escape plan, Sekac?"

"Escape plan? I don't have an escape plan!"

If Lirri hadn't been in excruciating pain, the sight of the normally unruffled Sekac losing his composure would have filled her with fear. As is, she wasn't capable of feeling much of anything. "Then come closer and I'll give you one." Sekac obediently moved closer, and she spoke in a clear tone, "Run, leave me here. Save yourself."

Sekac looked shocked, "Lirri…no. I can carry you…" he begged.

"I order you to leave me!" she screamed, causing her shoulder to ignite in pain. Somehow, deep down she knew that her path was ending here. She didn't want anyone else to go down with her. Somehow, she felt more at peace with this decision than any other decision she'd made recently. This was the right decision, the only decision. She remembered in some of the files that Sascha had sent her that some Jedi before their deaths felt a sense of serenity before they passed. Lirri wondered if that was what she was experiencing right now.

Sekac hesitated, clearly deciding whether or not he should obey her. She reached out and touched him with her good arm, "It's okay Sekac. This is my path." She got choked up for a second, "Tell everyone that…that they should keep fighting. Don't doubt that we are doing the right thing. Tell Sascha and Nara...I'm worry. Now go!"

Sekac, touched her face gently, which was the most intimate gesture she'd ever seen the hardened hunter ever make, "You will be remembered Lirri Boikana. You will be remembered for being the best of us. I give you my solemn promise that we will fight to our last breath is taken from us."

"Thanks…Sekac," she said through the tears that had suddenly appeared in her eyes.

Sekac snapped into a sharp salute, which she returned, though not without racking her body with pain one more time. She closed her eyes to fight the pain, and when she opened them, Sekac was gone and she was alone. She flopped onto her back, waiting for death.

With nothing better to do, she contemplated her life. She had lived a good life before the invasion, but she had been aimless, lacking a real direction in her life. That had all changed once Ubrora had been invaded, she'd found a real calling with the resistance, her life finally had a purpose. Over the past weeks, she'd lost contact with her friends, her family and the resistance had become her family. She hoped her mom didn't blame her for her choices…she hadn't spoken to her in so long….

Her reverie was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, "Sekac, I swear by the moon if you came back for me, I will…" her words died in her mouth when she saw that the person who opened the door was not Sekac, but Coren Vox and the female Mandalorian she had fired at in the street earlier.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here," drawled Coren in his harsh, accented basic, "it looks the trap has paid off bigger than I expected. It's nice to see you again, Lirri Boikana."

"I wish I could say the same, Coren," Lirri spat in between pained breaths. If she could just find a blaster or something, she might be able to take Coren unawares. She'd love nothing more than to take Coren down with her. Unfortunately, even sitting up was hard, forget looking around at all, getting her eyes to focus was enough of a challenge for her right now.

"What do you want to do with her boss?" said the female Mandalorian, her voice surprisingly soft and tender, "She's hurt pretty bad."

Coren came over and nudged her shoulder. Lirri cried out in pain, biting her cheek so hard that she thought she might have drawn blood. "That was a good shot Andar. Crippled her, but left her alive for questioning."

Lirri, her vision blurred, found the biggest mass in front of her and spat. Coren laughed, "Insolent to the end. Well, I applaud your warrior spirit, Lirri."

"Just kill me and be done with it. Spare me your gloating."

"We owe her that much, boss," said the female Mando.

"You are right, my dear. Lirri, I promised your father that I wouldn't harm you, but I think he'd be rather cross at the way I'm treating you now." Lirri felt Coren crouching over her as she lay, her breath coming in shorter and shorter gasps. "I'll grant you the honor of asking if you have any last words."

Such a cliché, thought Lirri. She managed to open her eyes long enough to see the figure that was overtop of her, she wanted to look at her killer, look into his eyes…well, his helmet. Then, she wasn't staring at a helmeted figure anymore, she was seeing something completely different.

A vision.

In her vision, it was a bright vibrant day on Ubrora, and she saw families and young people out celebrating. Ubrorans from all social classes gathered in the main square, and she saw a statue that had just been unveiled gleaming in the light of the afternoon sun. While she watched, Ubrorans dropped flowers or incense or other tokens of gratitude placed in tribute at the base of the monument. She smiled, knowing what that meant.

Lirri propped herself up into a sitting position. Somehow her shoulder didn't hurt anymore. All she felt was serenity. She stared up at the helmeted thug that stood before her and she said in a clear confident voice, "My planet will be free. I have foreseen it."

Coren Vox snorted derisively and pointed the blaster pistol downward towards her. Lirri made no move to escape, to resist. There was simply no point.

She said a silent goodbye to all the people that she'd miss. Her brother. Her mother. Sekac. Arslan. Nara and Sascha. Her father.

Time slowed to a crawl.

She saw Coren's finger pulling the trigger.

Then, there was only peace.

Only the Force.