I'm on board the Resolute with Ahsoka and uncle Anakin, preparing to go aboard Master Aayla's ship. Even though Luke's shields are as good as my own, through our sibling bond, I can feel his fear. And I can also feel the reassurance that Master Aayla pushes over to him. In turn, I send the feeling of being at ease over our bond.
"Prepare the gunships," uncle Anakin says.
We board the gunship, and I reach up to hold onto the handle.
"We're ready, Admiral," uncle Anakin says.
I take a deep breath in, just like I do before every mission. After holding it for a few seconds, I release it. Our gunship is soon airborne, and we head for Master Aayla's ship. It's a near vertical descent, but nothing I'm not used to at this point.
"Rocket droids! Incoming!" our pilot yells.
Oh boy. This just got way more interesting. I glance up to see the Relentless entering the fight. I can picture it. Amu (amu - mom) is standing on the bridge with her hands clasped behind her back. And buir (buir - dad) is standing beside her, his arms crossed as he watches the firefight. Amu (amu - mom) and buir (buir - dad) lay down the cover fire for us, distracting the Seppies to a degree. Better for them to have more than one problem to deal with.
"Those droids are boarding Aayla's ship!" uncle Anakin says.
No? Really? It's not as if we can't see that. Oh, wait... We can! Way to go, General Obvious.
A clanker is on top of one of the other ships, and tears off the top of the cockpit.
"Take care of that clanker," uncle Anakin orders. "I'll be on board Aayla's cruiser."
"Master," Ahsoka yells, "are you sure that's the wisest thing..."
"And never mind!" I say as uncle Anakin jumps off of the gunship.
It's definitely something that I would have done, but, you know, I wouldn't do it however many feet above the planet's surface we are. Our pilot loses his cockpit, and is pulled down to us by other troopers. Then, the flight starts going wrong. Of course it does! You have a Skywalker on board, that's just asking for things to go wrong. Because after all, neither Luke nor I go looking for trouble, trouble comes looking for us.
"Hey, kids."
"We know! We know! We're hanging on!"
The LAAT impacts on the surface of the ship, and all of us jump off. As soon as Ahsoka and I land on our feet, our lightsabers are in our hands, ignited. Then we start deflecting shots. It's not a lot, but then again, uncle Anakin has already been here.
Ahsoka and I slice through the beskar'ade (beskar'ade - droids) with our lightsabers before they can land shots on our men. Once we've sliced through a good few, we finally meet up with uncle Anakin. Who stabs a droid, then sends it flying. I would expect nothing less from a fellow Skywalker.
Then, we meet up with Master Aayla and Luke. Luke and I instantly gravitate to each other's side.
"Nice entrance, Skywalker. How do you plan to get us out of this mess?"
Good question, Master. I was wondering that exact thing myself. Because, you know, I would like to be knighted at some point. Dying sort of gets in the way of that goal. I glance at my brother while deflecting blaster shots, he rolls his eyes. No doubt I projected my thoughts over our bond. We both do that a lot. But when you have a bond like ours, it's hard not to.
"Well, I have a ship docking in the lower hangar as we speak."
Huh, not a bad plan uncle. Now, we just have to get to that hangar! Which is postponed because we happen to meet a squad of battle droids. K'oyacyi. (K'oyacyi - cheers)
"Uh, hold it!"
"How about no?" I yell.
"Um... Fire!"
The droids start firing on us. And uncle Anakin turns to me and says,
"Nice going, Leeda!"
"They would have shot at us regardless!" I yell back at him as I block a shot that was aimed for my head.
When we get past the droids, Ahsoka opens a door and says, "We made it."
An explosion starts behind us, and we all start running.
"It's too late!" uncle Anakin says.
He shoves us all forward, and we tumble into the ship.
"Master!" Ahsoka yells.
As the door in front of us closes, I can see uncle Anakin holding back the fire from the explosion, and closing the door in front. When the door in front of us closes, I can only hear what happens. I hear the other doors blasting open, and then something, uncle Anakin, hitting the door in front of us.
"Don't move the ship," Ahsoka orders into her comm.
Ahsoka pounds the door controls, and eventually it opens to a small diamond shape that we can see through. I join Ahsoka and we cut through the door. Luke helps Ahsoka pull uncle Anakin away from the blaze before Master Aayla says,
"Ahsoka, Luke, Leeda, we have to leave now! Get him on the ship.
Luke and I stop, while Master Aayla helps pull uncle Anakin to safety, in order to push the fire back. Alone, yes, we probably could have done it. But when Luke and I work together, it goes much better.
"I'm gonna turn on the deflector shield!" ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly yells, running toward the cockpit.
The ship releases, and we fly off. Luke and I help Ahsoka maneuver uncle Anakin onto the bed in the med bay. Before the two of us run up to the cockpit. When we get there, Master Aayla is talking to Admiral Yularen.
"You'll never be able to dock with our ship in the middle of this battle."
"We have no choice, Admiral. Anakin's condition may be critical. We must get him on board the Resolute."
For a moment, I wonder why Master Aayla calls him Anakin. Then I remember. Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Obi-Wan and amu (amu - mom) are practically best friends with her former master, Quinlan Vos. Whom ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Fox absolutely despises. His words, not mine.
"Are all Jedi so reckless?" he asks.
"Just the good ones," all three of us chorus.
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly snorts, turns to me, and says, "Gar enteyor cuyir jatnese be te jatnese." (Gar enteyor cuyir jatnese be te jatnese - You must be the best of the best)
I roll my eyes and say, "Bal gar nayc jate'shya. Gar nu draar Jetii." (Bal gar nayc jate'shya - And you're no better. You're absolutely not a Jedi though)
"Nayc, Leeda'ika. Ni chaaj'yc jate'shya gar." (Nayc, Leeda'ika. Ni chaaj'yc jate'shya gar. - No, Leeda. I'm much better than you)
"Meh gar sirbur bid, ba'vodu Bly. Buir sirbur nu draar." (Meh gar sirbur bid, ba'vodu Bly - If you say so, uncle Bly. Buir says no way)
"Ni narir. Bal gar buir draar staabi, bid gar kar'taylir." (Ni narir. Bal gar buir draar staabi, bid gar kar'taylir - I do. And your dad is never right, so you know)
"Gar kaab sa ad." (Gar kaab sa ad - You sound like a child)
"Ne'johaa!" (Ne'johaa - shut up)
I smirk, and sit down. Point to me. After I've sat down, an explosion rocks the ship. Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly almost falls, and the other pilot hits his head. Without even looking, I can tell that he's dead. When ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly pitched forward, he apparently hit something, because he says,
"The hyperdrive's been activated!"
I figure they could probably use some help, so I get up and go over to the controls. With even just a small inspection, I can tell, we won't be able to shut the hyperdrive off. And by now, we've lifted into the hangar of the Resolute.
"Shut it down!" Master Aayla yells.
"We can't!" ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly says in return.
"General Secura, what's going on?" Admiral Yularen says through the comm.
"We're going into hyperspace. Detach! Detach!"
"They'll take us with them," a clone, that I don't know, says.
"Evasive maneuvers!"
The ship is detached, and in just a moment, we've entered hyperspace. Master Aayla leaves for a moment to go get Ahsoka. Luke and I take the body of the trooper, and I take his seat. Luke and Chase are both good pilots, but they're good at doing planned courses. When something like this happens, we've discovered that I'm the best fit for it. Could be that I'm as crazy as the situation, but whatever.
I check the scanners, and curse.
"Leeda, what is it?" Luke asks.
"Our coordinates were input incorrectly. We're headed straight for a star."
Without a word, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly is up out of his chair, and out of the cockpit. He's probably gone to get Master Aayla. Or, well, depending on how Luke answers my question, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla. Even if we're in a life or death situation, I still want to know. Maybe especially because we're in a possible life or death situation.
"Hey, Luke."
"Yeah?"
"I have a question for you. Are Master Aayla and ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly a thing?"
His expression tells me everything I need to know, but he confirms it anyway. "Yes, they are. And Force it's weird to be in the same room as them when they're flirting. It's gross. I think they're married too, but I'm not really sure about that."
I snort. "Have you ever watched buir (buir - dad) and amu (amu - mom) flirt? It feels like the end of the world. And, you know, it's weird. They are my parents in all but blood and name."
"Yeah, I know."
When ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly and ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla come back, they have Ahsoka behind them. She comments,
"You know, you two look way too relaxed for a deadly situation."
We both shrug. We are Skywalker's after all. And Skywalkers have a notorious reputation for being calm under pressure. Especially when we're flying.
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly, after checking some of the systems, slams his fist onto the control panel.
"It's no use. The navigation computer's completely fried!"
Yeah, no duh. I could have told you that, and I haven't even looked at the ship's systems in depth.
"But down all power circuits and reset the coordinates," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla orders
"That will cut off Anakin's life support!" Ahsoka argues.
I weigh the options. We either all die by being burned alive in a star, or we cut off power for a few seconds which shouldn't damage uncle Anakin too badly.
"I don't like it any more than you do," I speak up, "but it's a risk we're going to have to take."
I start cutting off the power, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly does the same, so does Luke and Ahsoka.
"We're switching off primary power units," I report.
"We're cutting it awfully close, Leeda."
"Ready to shut off auxiliary power," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla says.
"On three," Ahsoka says. "One. Two. Three!"
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla cuts the auxiliary power, and we come out of hyperspace. It's rough and jarring, but for now, we're still alive.
"We're out of hyperspace," I say calmly, "resume all power."
As I finish talking, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex flies backwards and into ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla. Thankfully, I'm sitting down, so I don't have to worry, too much, about doing what ba'vodu Rex did. Gah! I have too many ba'vodu'e! (ba'vodu'e - aunts/uncles)
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly snaps, "Switch the power back on! What are you waiting for?"
Luke and I keep the ship from going straight into the star, as ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly says, "Hurry, hurry!"
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla switches the power back on with the Force, I jerk the steering module to the left, and our ship curves around the star. All of us blow out a breath as ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly takes Luke's seat.
"Well," Ahsoka says from behind me, "we're not going to crash into the star, but we're definitely gonna hit that planet."
We go through the atmosphere, and to try and help ease the tension, I say,
"Well, shall we prepare for a Skywalker landing?"
"Not funny, Leeda! We could be about to die," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex bursts out.
"You worry too much, ba'vodu! I'm one of the best pilots in the Jedi Order." (ba'vodu - uncle)
"That gives me no comfort. Your uncle crashes at least one ship a week! And you aren't any better!"
I manage to control the ship well enough while we start to go down toward the surface, and while parts fly off of the ship. This definitely will not be one of my better landings. When we crash, I do my best not to hit anything, except the ground, and I am successful. Then ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex kicks open the door and orders us all out. Since ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla said she and Ahsoka could handle getting uncle Anakin.
They come out just before it blows, and as the explosion happens, I take a picture of it. One of my friends who's a healer likes to draw stuff like this. Plus, when it gets sold it gets a lot of money. The Jedi Order has to make money somehow after all.
"Well, we made it, and Master Skywalker is still alive."
"That was fun," Luke says, his voice full of sarcasm as he helps one of his men sit up.
"Hey, it wasn't that bad. It could have been worse," I say.
"How?"
I put on a straight face and deadpan, "We could all be dead."
"Fair point."
We set up camp, and ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla, Luke, Ahsoka, and I all check on uncle Anakin.
"Anakin doesn't have much time. We have to find help tonight."
"Okay," Ahsoka says. "You and Bly go South, Luke and Leeda go East, and Rex and I will stay here with Anakin."
"No, Ahsoka," she says. "In order to get help quickly, we must all work together."
"I can't leave him! Master, I know if I was hurt, he'd never leave me behind!"
I speak up, "I know how hard this is, Ahsoka. I don't want to go either. But uncle Anakin has to stay behind, and we have to go now."
Luke emphasizes what I said, by saying, "There is nothing that we can do for him. To help him, we have to find someone who can. We have to do all we can to get off of this planet."
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla brings it all the way around. "As a Jedi, it is your duty to do what is best for the group."
Ahsoka turns and walks a few steps before turning again, and shielding her eyes from the setting sun.
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly comes over to ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla and hands her a tablet.
"General Secura, look. We're not the only ones here on this planet. There has to be some kind of something here."
Then, there are roars all around us, and my ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) and the other vode (vode - brothers) turn on the lights of their helmets. When it disappears, and they turn their lights off, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly turns to us and asks,
"If you don't mind me asking, General Secura, where exactly are we going?"
"To go find the people who live on this planet."
"Where are we going to find them? We have no idea where they are."
Luke grimaces, and I give him a sympathetic smile. Based on my twin's reaction, this is how ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla and ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly flirt a lot of times. And I could hear it in the tone.
"It seems to me," Ahsoka starts, "that the people we're looking for live near giant trees."
Luke and I lean over her shoulders, and nod together. Ahsoka seems to be right. It does look like the people we're going to be looking for live near giant trees. Great. I hate giant trees. Because giant trees have giant fruit or seeds. And when I was little, one of those almost smushed me. Something I still blame my brother for.
"Very perceptive, Padawan."
Ahsoka walks over to uncle Anakin and ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex follows her.
"Be strong, Master. Just a little bit longer. Rex will watch over you."
"It is time to go," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla says.
"Don't worry, kid. I'll take good care of him. And you two," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex turns to us, "behave yourselves."
"Captain Rex, keep your locator on. We should be back by daybreak with whoever or whatever lives on this planet."
"Got it, General Secura. Hey, kids. Good luck."
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla comes back with ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly and the rest of the remaining troopers from the 327th.
"Come on, guys, let's move out."
The three of us join up with them, and soon, we break into a run. With the practiced stamina that all of us posses, we should be able to run for a while. Which will be quite helpful in this. Because who knows what lives here.
We run for a good while, before slowing our pace to a walk. Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla and Ahsoka stay in the front, I can vaguely hear them talking about her worry for uncle Anakin. Luke and I stay in the back. Using the Force to sense out behind us what's there. So far, no signs of life. Well, aside from the plants, but nothing big like an animal or anything like that.
"So, what do you think we're going to find?" my brother asks me quietly.
"Why are you asking me?"
"Because you're the one who sees the future."
"True. But I have no idea. Something sentient, I know. I can feel the lifeforms in the Force. But I have no idea."
Luke snorts softly, "The girl who can see the future, doesn't know the future."
"Oh, ha ha. Very funny," I say, shoving him in the side.
He nudges me back, and then I nudge him. But before it can become a full on shoving battle, one of his troopers says,
"Knock it off, you two. Do your jobs."
"We are!"
"Uh huh."
We keep walking, and soon the sunset fades and gives way to night. Now Luke and I both have to rely on the Force, more than our other senses. We can't see as well as the others because we don't have helmets, and aren't a predatory species. So instead of using our eyes, we both use the Force to sense the things we can't see.
Eventually, we come up to a large tree. Everyone else walks underneath it, but I stay a bit away. Ever since that incident with Luke underneath the Uneti trees at the Temple. Even just remembering it makes me shiver. Luke hid up in the branches when we were playing hide and seek. I had had a vision the day before about a big tree falling and crushing people, it wasn't on Coruscant, it was on Naboo, and so he made noises like the tree was going to fall. The he dropped a big log pretty much right on top of me.
I really, really, really don't like big trees. And this one is even bigger than the Uneti trees.
"I don't see any signs of life."
Then, big pods start falling, and ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla tackles ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly to the ground, yelling,
"Watch out!"
I make a move to run away from the tree, but Luke grabs my arm and pulls me underneath the tree with the others. Bah! Brothers!
"No wonder it's deserted!" I practically yell, "It's a death trap! And why do I have to be under it?"
Luke just ignores my questions and says, "Yeah, you'd have to be crazy to want to dodge those on a daily basis."
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla turns her head and says, "It looks like someone or something intelligent enough to figure out a use for the pods has dragged them away!"
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly turns on his head lamp, and lights up a path, "All we have to do is follow the trail! Let's go!"
We run along the path, and finally get away from that tree. And I make sure to stay as far away from the trees, on either side, as much as possible.
We run along the path before stopping after hearing a high-pitched noise. Tapping into the Force, I can now hear thudding footsteps. And their coming along fast.
"Watch your left! Ahh!" one of the 327th boys yells, after being tackled by a big grey thing.
Luke and I ignite our lightsabers. The purple and green plasma blades lighting up the area around us. There are a lot of grey things around. I do my best to to stab the ones that are attacking me. But when I get bowled over, my lightsaber goes up, and pieces the abdomen of one of them.
I can feel the small light blink out as I sit up, and shove it off me. After a shot let off from, I think, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly, the creatures go running off. Luke grabs my hand and pulls me up off the ground. As I look around, I can see that all of the 327th troopers are dead. When my brother comes to the same conclusion, he looks down and closes his eyes.
I put my hand on his shoulder, and nudge him over our bond. He gives me a sad look, and I give him one of sympathy in return. I may not have known these men, but he did. These are his men, they are his brothers. Every one of them is life and a light in the galaxy, and for them to have been taken for nothing at all really, it feels wrong. All of this... the war, the fighting, the death, and the loss... it all feels... wrong.
"Cameron's dead. So are Lucky and Flesh," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly says with a sigh.
There is a definite note of sadness to her voice as ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla says, "We have to keep moving."
We all get up and run off. And we go until dawn peaks over the horizon. All the while following the path. Soon enough, we crest over a hill and see a village made of the pods.
"Pod central," Ahsoka says, "We made it."
All five of us jump and slide down the hill. If I weren't so exhausted, it would have been fun. But I've gotten the beginnings of a migraine, which saps my energy. And whenever I get a migraine, that means a vision. This ought to be fun.
We walk into the village, and Ahsoka shouts, "Hello?"
I cringe away, and bring my hands up to my ears. I hate migraines. Luke apparently notices, because he nudges my shoulder and gives me a concerned look. I whisper to him,
"Migraine. It's not bad yet, vision shouldn't start for another couple of hours."
"Do you need one of your shots?"
"Not right now, it isn't bad enough for it yet. I have some, when it gets bad I'll use one."
"Good, and make sure you sit down when it gets bad."
"I will, promise."
I give him a small smile. Ever since my second 'waking' vision, everyone I know carries around at least two syringes filled with a cocktail of pain relief medication to help manage the pain during my vision migraines. Which, indecently, are the only migraines I get. You say useful, I say dreadful.
Someone, who I presume to be the leader of the village, comes forward out of a crowd of whatever they are.
"What have you come here for?" he asks.
"We are peacekeepers. We are Jedi from the Galactic Republic. Our ship crashed a few miles away, and one of us is very badly injured. We need your help," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla says.
"Violence breeds violence. Jedi are no peacekeepers."
"We're fighting for freedom," Ahsoka says.
"And freedom and peace require fear and death? We colonized this system to find solace from your wretched war. We came here to find peace. You must leave. You will only destroy what small amount of peace is left in the galaxy. You will only bring the destruction of us."
I groan a little bit, both in frustration and in pain. My migraine just doubled in pain, and not because of noise. Usually when this happens, it's because whatever is going to happen, is going to happen soon. I reach into one of the pouches of my utility belt and pull out an alcohol swab. Once I yank up my sleeve, I wipe that over the skin of my elbow.
Then I take out a syringe filled with clear fluid, and take the needle cap off. Everyone around me keeps talking while I do this. I know Luke is watching me out of the corner of his eye though. I go to find the vein in my arm where I'll stick myself, and because I've had so much practice, I find the vein easily, then I stick the small needle into my arm. Once it's in, I gently press down on the plunger until all of the fluid is gone. When that's done, I draw the needle out, stick the cap back on, and put a tiny bacta patch on my arm.
Almost immediately I can feel the slight lessening of the pain in my head. I breathe out audibly. I always forget how fast this stuff works. Thank the Force for Wish, he's the one who discovered the cocktail I have to take to relieve vision migraine pain. Now that the pain has lessened, I return my focus to the conversation at hand.
"I cannot ignore a plea for help. I will send my son, Wag Too, to help your friend. He is a healer. But only three Jedi may go with him.
One of you must stay as insurance. We wouldn't want a surprise attack on our village or the kidnapping of our only healer."
"Bly and I will stay. Padawans, go and help Anakin."
"No! The clone and his blaster cannot stay. He will go with the younglings."
Suddenly, it's as if the Force is shouting in my ear. I need to stay here. Why, I have no idea, but according to the Force, I need to stay. So I speak up.
"No, Master. I need to stay," I say.
"Padawan Skywalker?"
"The Force is telling me that I need to stay. There is something here that the Force needs me here for. Please, Master, I need to stay."
With a sigh, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla agrees. "Very well, Leeda, we won't be long."
They run off with a younger... whatever they are, and the village leader takes me inside one of the pods. I sit down, and close my eyes. Which forces a slew of images into my head.
First, the image of deadened grasslands, that looks like where we are. But... there are two Seppie droids still standing. This can't be good. Then the next image comes, uncle Anakin is up, but now we're fighting to defend the village. Great, a Seppie attack. Just what I wanted.
The next image is of the same young woman and man in cloaks that I saw on Coruscant. This time, they have a small child in front of them. The child appears to be around five or six years old, male, and is definitely twi'leki. He's crying and begging them not to hurt him. All he says is, "Please! Please, don't hurt me!"
Then, just like I'm traveling through hyperspace, even with the little light filled tunnel, I'm back in the pod on whatever planet we Skywalker landed on.
I groan as I blink open my eyes. More from frustration than anything. Why must my visions be either so vague or so far off? When my eyes adjust to the light, I see the village leader looking at me. He is holding a cup out to me.
"Here, it will restore your energy."
I take it from him, and say, "Thank you." After I take a few sips, which do help, I say, "I hope you know, us Jedi didn't start the Clone Wars. I wasn't even born when they started. Our hope, and our mission, is to end the war and see the galaxy restored to peace."
"What difference does it make who started the war and who only wants to end it? No side is free of fault. It takes two to fight."
"Aren't freedom and liberty worth fighting for?"
"But are they worth killing for? Fighting for something doesn't necessarily mean you have to destroy everything in your path. Only when you lay your arms down and pursue a course of non-violence can any of you make this claim to me that the Jedi are peacekeepers."
"Sometimes keeping the peace means taking up arms to defend it."
"Not if you can resolve the conflict before it starts."
The village leader leaves, and I am left alone with a lot to think over. Yes, it's true that it takes two to fight. Or more. But the Separatists, and our own Senate, want to continue the fighting. How can the Jedi, who are so tangled up in the Senate, go against them? I need to talk to ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Fox. He knows Republic law better than anyone else I know. He will know the full extent of the laws that now keep the Jedi Order tethered sot closely to the Senate.
I lean back against the wall and close my eyes again, opening myself up to the Force. Asking it in my head, "Why do you need me here?"
I delve so deeply into the Force that I can feel the life force of almost all the things on this planet. It seems as though the Force is giving me a gentle warning that should be heeded. There is something hidden on this planet, something sinister. Something big is coming, but what?
When the village leader comes back, he brings me outside. Not long after I step outside, Ahsoka, Luke, ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - aunt/uncles) Aayla, Rex, and Bly, along with the healer, Wag Too, I think, come back. Uncle Anakin is laying on a pallet of sorts. I use rapid battle sign to tell Luke that I had the vision, and that I'm fine. But we'll need to be careful. He nods, and comes to stand beside me.
When all of the villagers gather around him, uncle Anakin opens his eyes, and says, "Uh... Snips?"
Wag Too takes uncle Anakin to a pod, while ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Aayla, Ahsoka, Luke, and I head up to a ridge and watch the sun dip below the horizon.
"You were right all along, Master Secura," Ahsoka says.
"About what?"
"If I had stayed with Anakin, we probably wouldn't have found this village in time to save him. At least this whole ordeal is over now."
"We still have to find a way off this planet," I say. "And while we're here, we should be careful. My vision was unclear, but something is going happen here. I don't know what though."
I pull my knees to my chest, wrap my arms around my legs, and lay my head down on my knees. Luke pulls me to his side. This is how we sit when we're together, more often than not. I've missed him. After fourteen years pretty much never separated, these past seven months have been difficult.
"Well, I'm sure Admiral Yularen, Master Ileema, Commander Logan, and the Republic fleet are looking for us. It shouldn't take them too long to get here."
"I hope not," Luke says.
We stand up and walk down to the pod where uncle Anakin is. It seems like whatever Wag Too did is working. He seems to already be getting better. But soon, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly walks in, with his helmet on. This won't be good news.
"General?"
"Yes, Commander?" uncle Anakin asks, picking his torso off the ground a little.
"We've got a Separatist ship, incoming."
"This is neutral space," Wag Too says.
I speak up, "It won't be neutral for long, not if the Separatists have their way at least."
Uncle Anakin groans and says, "Help me up."
My uncle is a di'kut (dikut - idiot). Actually, scratch that, all of my uncles can be di'kutla (di'kutla - idiotic) at times.
"Don't struggle. I'm sorry, but you're still too injured to move," Wag Too says.
The village leader comes into the pod and says,
"What menace have you brought to our village now, Jedi?"
"Father, you can't blame them."
"He's right. The Separatists don't even know we're here," Luke says.
"And they can't know. We've got to hide," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla says.
"Your presence here endangers us. You must leave before your enemies find you," the leader says.
"But you'll need our help. You can't fight them alone," Ahsoka says.
"We will not fight them at all. We would rather die than to kill others."
"You're going to surrender? But how can you..."
"Ahsoka, stop," uncle Anakin says. "If the Lurmen-" So that's what they're called! "-want to remain neutral, we won't force them into war."
"See to it that they leave," the leader says. "I must see what our new visitors want."
Wag Too helps Ahsoka, Luke, and I pack our birgaans (birgaan - backpack), and when we're finished with that, I check my utility belt. I still have three shots left. Good, because the first one is wearing off. And I'll have a migraine for about twenty-four hours after a vision. Whoever said that the only consequence of visions was knowing what you couldn't change was wrong, and di'kutla (di'kutla - idiotic).
Wish has told me that when the first shot starts to wear off, go ahead and use another one if I'm going to be in a risky situation. When I might have to use my lightsaber, having to do the shot isn't ideal. So I hand Luke my birgaan (birgaan - backpack), and take out another alcohol swab to clean the area with. I take off the bacta patch and wipe the area with the swab.
Then I take out the syringe, find the vein, and stick it in. When I look down after I've applied the bacta patch, Wag Too is looking at me in confusion.
"What were you doing?" he asks.
"I had a vision earlier today, and the ones I have when I'm awake are always accompanied by a migraine that can't be relieved by normal pain relievers. So the clone medic of my legion made a mixture of a bunch of very powerful pain relief medication. All of us have some."
When he looks at all of the others, they all say, "We do."
Then Luke says, "Leeda is kinda bad about not remembering when she's out or syringes, then she'll get a vision, and she has no shots. So we've all just taken to carrying some around. Especially when we're going to be with her."
Wag Too nods, and ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) Bly and Rex help uncle Anakin to stand up.
"Take it easy, sir. We'll assist you," one of them says, I can't tell which because they are wearing their helmets.
We get out of the pod and run behind another. From our position behind one of the pods, we can see the Seppie droids tearing apart the pods that the Lurmen use for their homes.
"Why are they tearing apart our homes? We've done nothing to them," Wag Too asks.
"Violence. That's what those droids are programmed for," I say.
"Can't we do anything?" Ahsoka asks.
"No," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla says. "And if we're discovered, all of the Lurmen will be slaughtered."
"We'll be okay," uncle Anakin says, "if we make it to the tall grasses."
We start to make our way to the grasses to hide. Luke stays directly beside me, and I keep myself beside him. Since we're twins, when we connect over our Force bond, we can do more. So we use our bond, and keep an eye out using the Force. Master Delaney explained it using two ropes.
Luke and I are each one rope. When we're on our own, we're strong and we're powerful within the Force. But when you use both ropes, or when we work together, we get stronger and our power in the Force increases. When we got a little older, she explained that what we did was irregular between Jedi. Especially the amount of times we did it. Master Delaney called it a Force Meld. When we join together and draw strength from each other.
She said it's more common between siblings that are Force sensitive. Especially with twins. We actually got to talk to one of the only other set of twins in the Jedi Order, now they're masters, at the time they were only knights though. Jedi Masters, Tiplee and Tiplar. It was cool learning how they use their connection to become better Jedi.
"You know, I can't figure those villagers not wanting to fight. No pride, I guess," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex says, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"I call it no courage," Ahsoka says.
"Master Ileema told me once that sometimes it takes more courage to remain true to ones beliefs. She says that that's something every Jedi ought to know well," I say, recalling the conversation amu (amu - mom) had with me when she and I were discussing the different beliefs of the galaxy. I did paraphrase what she said though.
She actually said, "I want you to remember this, Leeda'ika, when you encounter someone who will not fight because of their beliefs. It often times takes more courage to stay true to ones beliefs than it does to fight for those same beliefs. As a Jedi, you will learn this lesson many times over. But remember it."
"We need to find a ship," uncle Anakin says, snapping me out of the memory. "And I think the only one around here belongs to the Separatists. We know they have a landing ship. They might have a shuttle."
"Sir, you talking about stealing from one of the clankers? Count me in," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex says.
"We need to find them first," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla reminds him.
I sense something behind me, and stand up. When I realize what it is, I say, "I think we just did. Or rather, they found us!"
"Blast it!" uncle Anakin orders.
The droid flies away in a zigzag pattern, avoiding the shots from ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) Rex and Bly.
"Jam its signal!" ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla orders. Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly jams the signal, then Ahsoka yells,
"After it!"
Luke stays with Ahsoka and ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) Rex and Bly, while I stay behind, and end up with ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla. Instead of following the others, she walks calmly in the other direction. I walk beside her, and ask,
"Why are we going this way?"
"You will see. But remember, Leeda, patience is something many forget, but it is also something that will pay off. You Skywlakers seem to not remember this. At least, my padawan doesn't."
I shrug, but keep pace with her.
In barely a moment, the droid comes flying at us. And ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla nods to me, and I take my lightsaber off my belt, then cut it in half. Huh, she was right. Instead of running after it, we waited for it. I guess patience does pay off. Maybe I should remember that.
Ahsoka, Luke, and my ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) come running up to us in barely a few moments. Without a word, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla turns around, and we all follow her over the the droid.
"I wonder where it was headed," Ahsoka says.
Luke seems to notice something, and says, "Maybe we can see them from up there. And, sorry, vod'ika, (vod'ika - little sister) it is a tree." He points up to a branch on a large tree.
I shudder. I really don't like trees. I mutter to him, "I blame you."
"I know you do. Sorry."
We walk over to the tree, Luke keeps his hand on my shoulder, pushing me forward every time I stop. Since I haven't climbed a tree since I was little, it's been a while. So he helps me make it up, and then gently pushes me forward to stand with the others. I really hate this mission now.
Luke hands me a pair of electrobinoculars, or EBs, and I put them up to my eyes. Well kriff. This is just great! When uncle Anakin climbs up the tree, Ahsoka says,
I hope you're feeling better, Master, because look what we found."
"I'm getting stronger all the time, Snips," he says as she hands him her EBs. "But I'm not sure I'm ready for that," he says as he looks over the Seppie base.
We all continue to watch for a bit, when uncle Anakin says,
"That shuttle's our ticket off this rock."
"It's not gonna be easy, sir," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly says. "There don't seem to be any flaws in their security line."
As we watch, they seem to be bringing out something new. Mm, the Seppies have a new toy. Uncle Anakin, apparently, thinks along the same lines.
"Apparently, the Separatists have a new toy. See if you can get a closer look."
"Yes, sir."
"I'll go with you, vod (vod - brother)," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex says.
They use their cables to get down, and watching them go makes me shudder again. I really hate this.
We watch ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex and Bly from the tree, and when I spot two Seppie droids, I call the others attentions to them.
"Uh oh," uncle Anakin says, "Stay down, boys."
From the tree, I can see an arching ray of light as it soars above the grassy plains. I quickly snap my EBs up to my eyes and lock onto my ba'vodu'e's (ba'vodu'e's - uncles') positions. Now that they're running, I track them. So far, they seem to be fine.
"Oh, kriff."
"Leeda, what is is?" Ahsoka asks.
"This is the spot I saw in my vision earlier today. If I'm right, whatever that ray of light is, it's going to kill all of the grass around here. And the two droids there," I point to them, "will still be standing."
"Then let's hope that Rex and Commander Bly can run," uncle Anakin says.
"They should be fine. At least, Captain Rex should be," I say.
When it hits the ground, it turns to fire. Ahsoka, Luke, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla, uncle Anakin, and I all run down to a slightly lower branch of the tree. Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex has attached his cable to the branch. But ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly's cable misses, so ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla cuts a vine off the tree with her lightsaber, and swings down to grab him. It scares the snot out of me, but ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) Bly and Rex are fine, and so is ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla. I hate trees.
"That's some toy," Ahsoka says.
"Leeda was right," Luke says, "It took out every living thing."
"Where are they off to now?" ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla asks.
"They must be going back to the Lurmen village. There's nothing else in that direction," uncle Anakin says.
"Those villagers won't stand a chance," Luke says.
"First we'll take out the droids' communications station. Then after we get a shuttle, we'll go back and help the Lurmen," uncle Anakin says.
Ahsoka speaks up. "But Tee Watt Kaa said he doesn't need our help."
"There is a difference between pulling innocents into a war, and leaving them to extinction," uncle Anakin points out.
This mission has given me a lot to think about. And I have no idea when I'll be able to. The 345th, along with the 212th and the 501st, get some of the best results in this war. Shore leave for us is a rarity. Most battalions and legions get rotated on shore leave about every three months or so. The last time we got shore leave was the first time in almost a year.
After night has fallen, we make our move on the base. All three of us girls have gotten the job of actually breaking into the base, while the boys distract the guards. We climb up the wall, and flip over it. When we land on the other side, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla says,
"Get to the door. I'll handle the droids."
Ahsoka and I nod, then run off for door to the base. We sneak up behind the droids, then ignite our lightsabers, getting the droids out of commission. Then Ahsoka and I run over to the door. She opens it while I stand guard and make sure no more droids try to ambush us from behind. Once she's opened the door, we run off to help ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla. Not that she needs our help, mind you.
When we get close the the shuttle, either ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex or ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Bly spots something because one of them says, "Shield generators, sir."
"Let's take them with us," uncle Anakin says.
I help get them onto the shuttle, before running onto it myself. Once we're inside, uncle Anakin sits in the pilot's seat, and I steal the co-pilot's seat. With a smirk to both my brother and best friend. I help uncle Anakin get the shuttle off the ground and into the air. It takes a bit to fly to the Lurmen village, but thankfully, we arrive just shortly before the Separatists.
"Everyone, please. Please listen," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - aunt) Aayla starts. "The Separatists will be here in moments."
"What are you doing here? I told you not to return," Tee Watt Kaa says.
Now I speak up, "I'm afraid the Separatists don't care whether you're in the war or not. We need to get you to safety before they arrive."
"We will not abandon our homes."
"But they've got a new weapon. It'll burn this place to a crisp," Luke says, arguing our point. Ahsoka drives the pin further in. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
"Is this what all of you really want?"
"If it is our destiny to be destroyed in your war, so be it."
Using the Force, we levitate some of the pods to form a barrier around the village. I don't do as much s the others, because I'm the only one here who has been taught the ability Force Barrier, or Force Shield. Which I can use to help strengthen the shield generators. Unfortunately, it uses a lot of energy, so I can't do it for very long and still be able to fight.
Ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex climbs up on top of the barrier, and lifts his EBs to his eyes. After a moment, he turns around and says,
"Droids, inbound. We've got eight minutes tops."
Uncle Anakin comes toward us, "Come on, guys! Let's get these shield generators in place!"
I go sit in the the middle of the village, from here, I can strengthen every part of the shield. Because it's so draining though, I'll only reinforce the shields when they fire. Otherwise I'll run out of energy.
"Please stop what you're doing. Stop building that wall. I did not ask you to defend us," Tee Watt Kaa says, I am still sitting and meditating, but I'm listening.
"This battle is inevitable," uncle Anakin says. "You can stand by your beliefs, but let us stand by ours."
"Thank you for what you're trying to do," Wag Too says, "I'm sorry, but I cannot help. My father is very... strong-willed and set in tradition. Many others agree with me, but we were raised under a very strict code. We must respect it even if we don't agree."
"They're holding position," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex says.
"They're not going to charge us," uncle Anakin says. "Not if they can hit us from long range first. But if we can withstand that weapon, we'll draw them in. Leeda, are you ready?"
I draw a deep breath, and yell, "Ready."
"Good, you know what to do and when."
I nod, and take another deep breath. Then stand and get ready.
"Incoming!" ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex yells.
"Power the shields!" uncle Anakin orders.
When the shields power up, I stretch out my hands, one toward the front of the village, where the Seppies are coming from, and one toward the back of the village. Normally, these shields are blueish in color, but when I add my own Force Barrier, right in with the shield from the generators, it turns closer to purple.
I close my eyes, and push as much into the shield as I can, without hurting myself at least. I feel the rumble in the ground when it hits. And barely moments later, I can feel the strain of the fire on my shield. To keep it up, I push more energy into it. Then, I feel a wave of energy wash over me. Luke.
We create the Force Meld, and I manage to keep the barrier up. After a few minutes, there is no longer a strain on my shield. So I drop it, and let the shield generators do their jobs. Luke keeps up the Force Meld though, letting me draw some of his energy to myself so that I can help drive off the Seppies.
We break the Meld after a few moments, and run up to where Ahsoka, uncle Anakin, and ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - aunt/uncles) Rex, Bly, and Aayla are standing.
"Now, they'll have to get their hands dirty and meet us face to face," uncle Anakin says. K'oyacyi! (K'oyacyi - cheers)
"That's a lot of clankers," Ahsoka says. And she's right, it is a lot of flankers.
"We've got to stop them before they get through that shield," uncle Anakin's says.
Leading us through the shield. Ahsoka and Luke ignite their lightsabers, casting a green glow and uncle Anakin and ba'vodu Aayla ignite their lightsabers, creating a blue glow. Then I ignite my own, creating a purple glow in the middle of the green and blue. Ahsoka, Luke, and uncle Anakin get into their Djem So stances while ba'vodu Aayla and I get into our Ataru stances.
We wait until the droids start firing, them we deflect their bolts back at them. Then we all run at them. After I slice a few down the middle, I run and jump off of one, then flip over their heads. Beheading the ones I flip over. When I land, I run at them and after a jump, and slice through more of them. Then stab some, and slice more. After a short, but pretty intense, firefight, I cut the last one in half, vertically. Which is impressive for me. I'm not short, but most of them are closer to uncle Anakin's height of 6'2", so I tend to cut them diagonally or I stab them.
"That wasn't so tough," Ahsoka says.
"That was just the first wave."
Another group of droids come at us, and we start taking them down. Unfortunately, this is harder because they have commands droids with them now. Oh great. Eventually, us three padawans are ordered back to the village. Which we do obey, and we run in right as the droids are destroying the generators.
With the village exposed, they can use their new weapon. Though, we continue to block the shots aimed for both us, and the villagers. If we can. Some of them make it to the pods and fire at them.
When it looks like we're going to be overrun, Wag Too and his friends join us. Using ropes and other things to knock the droids down. I laugh, then flip over the head of a droid, and take it down. Maybe we won't lose this battle. With the help from the Lurmen, the battle turns in our favor, and it's soon over.
As we're preparing the shuttle leave, Wag Too comes up to us.
"Thank you, Wag Too," I say.
"Thank you. Our village would certainly have been destroyed without your protection. Father, I was just offering the Jedi
our thanks."
"Perhaps we do owe you thanks. But I still wonder, at what cost?"
Just then, I hear ships come out of hyperspace above us. And I can finally sense the Force presences of my amu (amu - mom) and my buir (buir - dad). When I look up, there are six Republic cruisers approaching.
"Greed and fear of loss are the roots that lead to the tree of evil." -Unknown
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update! I promise, I'm not dead. I went with my mom and my grandmother to visit my aunt for a while and we were busy while we were there and I didn't have time to write. Plus, I finally got to go back to the NRA after like four years! Then, I was suffering from writers block, working on other stories, then app I use to watch the show decided to stop cooperating, and my birthday along with the start of summer vacation. I hope you enjoyed it though! Next up, one of the ones I've been looking forward to most. (And one of my favorites!) Trespass!