3rd Person

Even before the Jedi, there was still the force.

A constant driving the galaxy forward.

The will of the force.

The force is generated by all forms of life, by every single living organism in the galaxy.

Therefore, it would stand to reason that the will of the force refers not to a singular entity, but a collective.

Every whill is a unique ember that fuels the brilliant flame of the force.

Adi

Mooga.

An unassuming world located in the Mid Rim.

Once under complete CIS control, the planet was now... contested.

When the Commerce Guild's profit-hungry gaze had drifted to other worlds, the Republic seized the opportunity to invade.

For what reason, I couldn't say. Moogan tea was average at best.

"Tap. Tap. Tap."

As the cruel sun beat down on me, I walked across the waves. Waves of rock that rippled over the landscape.

A stone ocean.

"Psshhht!"

The earth snorted, expelling geysers of boiling water from pores in the surface.

"Hssshhh!"

The land hissed, spewing out puffs of steam from cracks in the stone.

The warm mist coiled around me, forming a foggy carpet that concealed the terrain below my feet...

As if I was walking across the clouds.

'Skywalker...' I thought to myself, snorting.

Above me, there were plants, unburdened of the ground's grasp.

When the hot air swept over their foliage, it generated lift for the plants.

Each leaf was a feather that formed a wing.

Surrounded by the warm, calming atmosphere, my mind drifted to what had captured my attention for the past several days.

Legend.

I'd picked up the ancient text a short time after the mission to Irisella.

There was no one author. Rather, the text was a collection of folktales and personal accounts surrounding the story of a singular individual.

One who walked the way of the force...

Before the Jedi.

Legend

A long time ago on a planet far, far away...

In an era where space travel was still in its infancy...

A barefoot stranger roamed the forest.

She was scarcely sighted, but the local villagers that did witness her wandering through the lush woodlands all gave a similar description.

A tall, lanky frame.

Wispy white hair that touched the forest floor...

A ragged, red mantle, so shredded by nature that it had become scarlet vines that wrapped around her upper body.

And at her side, nested in a brylark-wood scabbard...

A sword.

A serrated, crystalline sword of lucent cyan.

Millennia later, that crystal came to be known as 'kyber.'

The stranger had a strained relationship with the nearby village.

Centuries prior, the village had gone to war with her clan.

The stranger's people were strange.

They lived alongside nature...

They could move things by moving their hands...

They could jump higher than the forest canopy...

And sometimes, if you stared them in the eyes for too long, you'd fall under a spell.

The villagers were fearful, and so they attacked with their greater numbers.

Everything burned, including the forest.

The stranger lost her parents, her closest friends, and the one she loved the most.

Only she survived.

Even centuries later, the villagers avoided the stranger, fearing her wrath.

Once, a local man went out to scrape the trees for their mucus.

By chance, he startled the stranger, and her hand darted toward her waist.

But she didn't draw her sword.

She never did.

Far away from the village, the planet's heirarchy was shifting.

A wealthy kingdom began conquering territory, their reach spreading across the planet's surface like a foul ailment.

In time, the emperor set his sights on the stranger's land, and the village that neighbored it.

His forces began pillaging the forest of its resources.

He burned trees to the stump, collecting their charred remains to use as fuel...

Then, he peeled back the planet's skin, constructing mines to harvest the hard, luminescent crystals beneath...

And he enslaved the villagers, forcing them to carry out the plunder.

Within the hearts of the downtrodden townspeople, a deep hatred was born.

Their hatred festered, until it bloomed into a brutal slave rebellion.

Stones were thrown.

Roads desecrated.

Finally...

A mob descended onto the emperor's palace.

His majesty's guard stood their ground.

As the bloodshed raged outside, the emperor grew more distressed.

He ordered his advisors, concubines, and generals to leave him...

To allow him to collect his thoughts.

But when he sat down on his bejeweled, crested throne...

The stranger appeared.

She raised her sword against his majesty...

And slew him.

Zevon

Day Nine

On the ninth day, my master never arrived with my breakfast.

I persisted in slashing the skyline for a time, but...

Eventually...

I gave in to instinct.

When I left the roof, I also left behind what little spirit I had left.

Of the five lightsaber forms I'd been studying for over a year, I hadn't mastered a single one.

Maybe that was the obvious outcome.

After all, many Jedi devoted their lives to a single form. It wasn't something you just figured out on a whim.

But... if I wanted to keep up with anyone, let alone Ahsoka, I needed to do more than the average Jedi.

I didn't have Master Windu's talent.

I didn't have Master Yoda's long life.

By the time I was thirty, my physical body would start to decline.

I needed to master the forms before then... a form at the very least.

But now, more than ever, that seemed impossible.

"Because it is impossible." the Son whispered into my ear.

Adi

The local town wasn't far now. I could sense it.

Another cloud of mist enveloped me.

Yet again, I couldn't help but ponder the meaning of Legend.

How had we evolved since then? ...Had we regressed?

So many questions...

And no answers to any of them.

Regardless, the fable of Legend had clearly claimed its own little bit of territory in my mind.

Maybe if Zevon were here, I could've shown it to him.

"Tap. Tap. Tap."

Suddenly, the waves flattened, and the mist cleared. Neatly-packed bricks of stone now lay at my feet.

I made my way through the town by way of the brick road, striding past native Moogans as my coattails flapped behind me. The townspeople's whispers were of a native tongue I barely understood.

"Ghawei..."

"Lasnote va ir detlo marrick!"

"Jedi..."

Zevon

After a quick shower, I trudged to one the temple refectories.

My footsteps were heavier than they'd ever been.

With every step I took, the loose lightsaber components prodded my thighs through the pouch that held them.

After exchanging as few words as possible with the server, I received my food.

I sat in the corner of the cafeteria, as far as possible from anyone else.

When I was halfway through my meal, I noticed someone else enter. Someone I knew.

Those quiet, reserved strides. That pale, almost sickly olive skin. The strand of diamond tattoos that formed a bridge beneath her eyes.

Barriss.

"You should talk to her." the Son sneered. "Tell her why her master died."

My stomach contracted.

'There was nothing I could have done.' I insisted, saddened.

"Exactly." the Son sneered. "You shouldn't have been there to begin with. Any other Jedi would have been a better choice."

'Shut up.' I ordered weakly.

"Your stubborness killed her." the Son cackled.

After she received her food, Barriss looked around for a place to sit.

When I saw her walking toward me, I looked down at the ground.

"Hey..." Barriss greeted softly, waving to get my attention. "It's been a while."

"Sure has." I agreed.

I couldn't bear to look her in the eyes.

"Where's your master?" Barriss asked, looking around.

Guilt ripped through my chest at the mention of master.

"Off-world on a mission." I replied, my head bowed. "I couldn't bring myself to go."

"I don't blame you." Barriss sighed. "Where?"

"Some stupid planet called 'Mooga.'" I mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Mooga?! I love Moogan tea!" Barriss blurted out in excitement. "It's... you have to try it sometime."

"Sure, if I could get my hands on it." I pointed out. "Separatist control and all."

"True." Barriss sadly acknowledged, as if she'd suddenly slipped back into reality. "I haven't found a place that serves it for a while."

We talked and talked, even after our food vanished from our trays.

A silence then spread out between us.

Several fleeting, awkward glances were exchanged.

"So..." I trailed off. "How have you been?"

"I've been... shadowing a few masters." she answered, subtly addressing the looming Atsuminagi in the room.

"I'm sorry." I whispered weakly. "It's my fault."

"What?" she questioned, perplexed.

"Your master... Luminara... it happened because I'm useless!" I grunted, slamming my fist on the table.

Though she was startled by my outburst, Barriss took the mention of her late master's name rather well.

"No, that's not true." Barriss denied, squinting at me. "It wasn't your fault..."

"When Grievous had her... everyone was working together, but all I could do was watch." I muttered, letting it all out.

"It's not your fault we were in that situation." Barriss stated firmly. "And you're not useless either. Did you forget about the reactor?"

"That was... nothing." I declared, trying to convince myself.

"Master Kenobi wouldn't stop talking about your 'mad dash.'" Barriss emphasized, laughing slightly.

"Oh..." I acknowledged, unsurprised.

"Had you not been there, we would've all died." Barriss reassured softly. "Explosions are dangerous... even for Jedi."

"Barriss, I..." I started, realizing that I'd gone and made it all about me.

"Padawan Offee." a cold, gruff voice interjected. "Your break is now over."

Unnoticed by either of us, a hulking Besalisk Jedi had crept into our corner.

His four arms were thick, muscular, and the rest of his body was the same.

The long, sizable sabers he kept at his waist were more akin to clubs than anything.

"Sorry, Master Krell." Barriss apologized, gracing the Jedi Master with a light bow.

When this 'Master Krell' turned to leave, I knew that Barriss had to as well.

"Duty calls." I shrugged.

"The war never ends, does it?" she laughed, smiling at me before leaving.

That smile had been nothing more than a mask to hide her pain.

But beyond that pain, I had sensed something more...

A newfound resolve within Barriss.

Adi

"BOOOM!"

"BOOM!"

"BOOOOOM!"

When I heard the rumble of explosions from afar, I turned back as fast as I could.

The Moogans panicked, gathering around a colossal stone dome in the center of their village.

Within that stone cage, there were thousands of the same flying plants I'd seen earlier. It must have been their primary food source that they farmed, or perhaps the leaves from which they made tea.

Soon I was back on the stone ocean, my heart pounding as I dashed across the waves.

Burst

"BOOOOOM!"

"BOOOOOOOM!"

"BOOOM!"

My eyelids were heavy, but that didn't matter. We were being slaughtered.

In front of me, an AT-TE walker's legs buckled, and the mighty, six-legged giant collapsed under its own weight. Beside me, a falchion tank's hull was evicerated by the well-placed shot of an AAT turret cannon.

The separatists had been on us before we'd even realized it, surprising my brothers with an all-out ground assault.

When we'd been briefed on the operation, we'd only been warned of one separatist commander with a penchant for ground assaults: General Oison Dartz, a Neimoidian CIS officer; highly-intelligent, albeit overly-cautious.

His caution had manifested itself in the form of a deflector shield, but his was thousands of times larger than my own personal shield. As the general's masses of AATs, hailfire droids, and crab droids advanced over the rocky landscape, the bubbly force field that encased them followed their path. Unsurprisingly, hordes of battle droids filled the cracks between the assault vehicles.

"Pew!"

I took out a B2 with my sniper.

"Pew!"

A second went down.

"Pew!"

A third.

"Pew!"

A fourth.

As I peered through my scope, readying another bolt, fear crept up from my feet to my ears. Hundreds of battle droids rose up from behind a stony crest, coming into my vision all at once.

I took cover.

"Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!"

The plasma shots hurtled over my head.

Dartz's outermost ring of forces lay just outside the shield, and yet they could still overwhelm us like this. Meanwhile, the real firepower was being comfortably escorted to the outpost, spelling doom for us.

'Maybe if we had leadership...' I cursed internally, a grisly grimace forming on my face.

"Lieutenant! What do we do?" one of the rookies asked from beside me, closely tailed by his two buddies.

'Raven,' the 'shiny with a plan,' suddenly didn't know what to do. Maybe this really was the end for the four of us... or for all of us.

'Raven,' 'Vulture,' and 'Owl,' three budding troopers... sent to die for a big, dumb hunk of metal built on even dumber stone.

With my back against the sand-blasted stone, I focused on the outpost, hundreds of meters behind our front lines. We had to retreat.

"On my signal, we run for the outpost." I intructed clearly. "I'll cover you three."

"But Lieutenant... how are..." Raven began.

"Don't worry about it!" I ordered. "Just get ready."

I peeked my head over my cover, watching the line of droids advance...

Eventually...

They sank out of view.

My hand chopped through the air, and the three rookies bolted.

I leapt out of the depression with them and pressed a large button on my belt, activating my personal shield.

"Pew! Pew! Pew!"

"Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!"

The blue bubble shielded me from the few droids that still had a visual. Additionally, the trio of shinies ran in a straight line ahead of me, also receiving protection from my localized force field.

We dashed past the fallen, stepped on their remains.

Bodies.

Brothers.

Even in death, they were trapped in the suits of armor they'd been forced into.

As we ran past a crippled AT-TE, I caught sight of a brother that was still standing.

His visor was bowed at the ground.

Six or seven lifeless clones were at his feet, most likely his squad.

When he heard our frantic footfalls, his helmet rose up.

He spotted the horde behind us.

"Go! I'll cover you!" the unknown soldier roared, whipping out his blaster rifle.

There wasn't enough breath in my lungs to say anything as I rushed past him.

The nameless clone dropped to the ground, camouflaging himself in the pile of his friends... and even braced his blaster on the armor on one of their chestpieces.

"Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!"

"Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!"

The sound of blue laser fire was swiftly swallowed by red.

Later

Adi

"Where were you, General?" Lieutenant Burst spat, his tone accusatory.

"I..." I started, glancing at the small percentage of troopers that had survived the assault. "I was going to collect intel from the locals."

"What, you couldn't have taken a SPEEDER?!" the ARC-trooper shouted angrily.

"Hey..." Commander Neyo spoke up suddenly, grabbing Lieutenant Burst's shoulder. "Are you looking for a court-martial, Burst? Because if so, continue."

"Court-martial..." the Lieutenant snorted. "Neyo, we both know that won't be necessary... not after the parade outside gets to us."

The softspoken commander moved to restrain Lieutenant Burst, but I shook my head.

"No, that's not necessary." I stated, and the commander relaxed his grip.

"Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack."

The din of metal soles on stone was deafening, even from within the outpost.

Despite dreading actually seeing the dire situation I'd enabled, I tiptoed to a crack in the durasteel wall to get a visual.

Burst

As soon as the General saw the advancing army, her legs turned to jelly.

She sat with her back against the wall, and her dark-skinned face turned to stone.

When the 91st legion saw her state, panicked whispers erupted from within the room.

I walked over to her, and then crouched down.

"I don't know about you, General, but I'm not looking to die here." I whispered angrily.

She said nothing.

Looking at her now, she was like a scared child... her sad state demanded sympathy.

Without even thinking about it, I'd started to give it to her, and that angered me.

"Get your head out of the clouds, General!" I yelled in her face.

Her face was still stone.

"These boys trust you with every fiber of their being." I reminded her "They need you to give them orders."

"I..." she murmured.

"Why can't you be like General Skywalker?" I growled, my face getting dangerously close to hers. "You got us into this mess... now get us out!"

Suddenly, the light returned to her eyes, and a scowl formed on her face.

"What units do we still have?" she questioned.

"An AV-7 Antivehicle Cannon." I answered. "And a single gunship."

"I can't make a plan with that." she asserted, defeat seeping through her tone once more.

"You're going to." I ordered.

All of a sudden, General Gallia locked eyes with me.

Then, she jumped to her feet.

"Skywalker, huh...?" she questioned. "Since when were you giving the orders?"

Later

"Listen up, boys!" Neyo roared, distilling the disorder into silence. "The General's got something to say."

All eyes were on General Gallia as she leapt onto a rusted table. After turning around, she cleared her throat.

"Every one of you was produced from the same template: Jango Fett, notorious bounty hunter and criminal." she stated plainly.

She continued.

"There are some who think of you as just that: hollow replicas of a cold blooded killer, made to further that purpose and nothing more." she state, still monotone.

She paused.

"However..." she trailed off, before raising her voice suddenly. "I disagree!"

With such an intense proclamation, she fully captured the attention of every trooper in the room.

"You are not just clones, you're individuals!" General Gallia roared. "You have the right to live in this galaxy, just the same as anyone else!"

She paused again, somberly this time.

"Yes, I am asking you to fight... but not for me. Not for anyone else!" she shouted. "Fight for yourselves! Fight to live!"

Her head swiveled, and her gaze passed over every one of her men.

"Neyo... Vulture... Burst... Razor... Raven... Stak... Owl... of you, my men that stand before me, each and every one of you is more unique than the last!" she yelled.

After one more pause, General Gallia finished her rousing speech.

"The one thing you share... is your unbreakable resolve." she declared confidently.

Her gaze wandered over to me, and we locked eyes.

"Follow my command." she added, staring me down as I refused to look away.

Oison

Their ground forces were crippled, and their infantry was in disarray.

The rocky battlefield was littered with downed walkers and fallen gunships.

With no resistance left, my forces were free to advance under the umbrella of our deflector shield...

Everything was going well.

"Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack."

My droids marched onward, slowly, so as not to trip over the wavy stone ridges.

"TX-53, did you happen to catch sight of their general?" I asked my advisor, retrieving a pair of binocs from within the piloting chamber of my AAT.

"Briefly, but I was not able complete my analysis." the tactical droid informed robotically. "However, they appear to be Tholothian."

...!

As I peered through the binocs, something caught my eye... even as the bubble of the shield distorted my view outside of it.

A tiny, dark sillhouette moving over the waves.

"You can complete that analysis now." I suggested, zooming in on the lone Jedi.

Adi

I had no plan.

Well, that wasn't entirely accurate.

I had the semblance of a plan, a gamble, held together by the thinnest of coarseweave strings.

There were thousands of unknowns, and that fact terrified me. Still, even as I approached the droid army solo, I couldn't afford to lose my composure.

Again, I felt the planet's breath waft over me...

Hot mist, and geysers...

Oison

Jedi Knights...

Practitioners of the force, guardians of peace and justice.

Everyone had heard their legend somehow, whether through tales told by their mothers, or whispers in the local tavern.

So, when the confederacy formed, and the loyalty of the Jedi became clear...

Nobody knew what to expect.

All of us were uneasy on some level.

And then...

The war.

...

If the Battle of Geonosis had taught us one thing, it was this: Jedi were not invincible.

However mystical their powers, however extraordinary their reflexes...

An orbital bombardment vaporized them all the same.

Still, when a Jedi approached you from afar...

As they traversed the landscape, their robes billowing in the wind...

As they faced down your army, alone, silently declaring that they stood a chance...

In the moment, you couldn't help but believe them.

"My databanks indicate her to be Jedi Master Adi Gallia." TX-53 informed robotically.

Adi

"You want Skywalker? I'll show you Skywalker." I muttered to myself.

Then...

I threw my hands skyward.

Oison

Steam, as well as airborne plantlife threatened to block my visual on the Jedi Knight, but her intentions were clear to me nonetheless.

I saw as she raised her hands in the air, the universal gesture for surrender.

And still, she edged closer.

"I'd avise caution, sir. A select few Jedi Generals have been known to utilize false surrender tactics." TX-53 warned.

"But is this... Adi Gallia one of them?" I inquired, still peering at the mystical warrior through my binocs.

"No." TX-53 acknowledged.

"Curious..." I muttered hesitantly, unsure of what to do.

Adi

Magma lurked deep within the planet core. Through subterranean veins, that magma rose.

The molten rock then passed on its heat to the wellsprings sitting beneath the surface.

The wellsprings boiled, blistered, and then rose through veins of their own... violently bursting out of earthen crust.

A geyser.

The force told me almost everything I needed to know, and my master's teachings filled in the gaps. Utilizing my senses, I searched through the planet's channels.

Eventually, I isolated one... a critical point.

Oison

As the Jedi Master continued closing the distance between us, I couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness.

"Sir, I have a shot." TX-53 informed, sticking the barrel of its sniper just outside of the deflector shield.

"..."

The potential repercussions of killing a surrendering enemy were too severe to ignore.

"No, we can't shoot her." I stated firmly, grabbing the long-range blaster rifle before TX-53 could fire. "Not yet, anyway. We need an excuse."

Beads of sweat trickled down my face, mixing with the mist.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..."

A faint hum...! It came from above... was I imagining it?

"HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

No. That irritating, loud buzz that came from Republic gunships was too distinct. My tactical droid and I promptly looked to the sky, examining the clear patches that the mist didn't cover.

...

"There, sir!" TX-53 asserted with its synthesized voice modulator, pointing at a faint shadow visible from within the clouds.

"Shoot it down!" I commanded my troops. "Oh, and TX-53, you have my permission to kill that Jedi now."

Adi

I sensed the exact moment I entered a blaster rifle's crosshairs, but the sniper was far too late. I'd already pressed my palm into the earth, and now...

I channeled the force, manipulating the wellspring veins underground, until...

Eruption.

"PSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTT!" "PSSHHHHHHHHTTTTT!" "PSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTT!" "PSSSSHHHHHHTTTTT!" "PSSSHHHHHTTTTT!" "PSSSSHHHHHHHHHT!"

One after another, volcanic explosions beneath the surface gave rise to a chain reaction of boiling geysers.

I was safe from blaster fire, for now. The gunship, however...

"BOOOOOOOOM!"

"No...!" I cried out.

An explosion tore across the sky, signifying that the white LAAT had been hit.

My fears were quelled, however, when I spotted several dots fall through the misty blanket in the sky.

Owl

After diving out of the side of the gunship, we used jetpacks to slow our fall, just as the General had instructed.

When we touched the top of the deflector shield, our speed was slow enough for us to pass through.

I hit the ground alongside Vulture.

We were all of us, now in the center of General Dartz's forces.

Flashback

"Land in the center." General Gallia stated.

"That's suicide!" Burst argued, pushing back. "Why would we let them surround us?!"

"On the contrary, it will be difficult for them to hit you without hitting their own forces." General Gallia asserted. "But you won't be there, Lieutenant, I have a separate task for you."

End Flashback

"Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!"

The Jedi Master had been right. Even though we were prime targets in the regions with the densest amounts of battle droids...

They seemed to hit their own more than us, but the problem was... we were already too few in number.

Commander Neyo held his ground the best, but it soon became clear that without intervention, this would be our last stand.

I turned to the side to check on my friend, but saw no sign of him.

"Vulture!" I called out, receiving no response.

"Slam!"

Without warning, something hit me in the back of the head with brutal force.

After collapsing on the ground, I rolled over, getting a good look at my attacker: a B2 super battle droid.

In clone terms, a heavy clanker.

The metallic-gray menace pointed its wrist blaster at me...

"Shhhhkkk!"

A blue flash cleaved the clanker in two.

...

"Shhhhkkk!"

"Shhhhkkk!"

"Shhhhkkk!"

"Shhhhkkk!"

"Shhhhkkk!"

Clankers, heavy clankers, and rollies alike fell by the same spinning streak of blue... an azure disc of light. When the flash arced back around to its point of origin, it faded into the mist with a sizzle...

And then immediately reemerged, wielded by General Gallia. She dove out of the steam with a frightening urgency, rolling as she hit the ground.

"Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!"

Multiple shots were fired at her, but she deflected them off of the length of her blade.

"Shhhhk!"

"Shhhhhk!"

"Shhhhhhk!"

With effortless cuts and stabs, the Jedi continued rampaging through the droid army.

She was what exactly what we needed to turn the tide.

Behind me, Raven threw a thermal detonator. But just as the device left his palm, the AAT tank head he'd aimed at began rotating, rendering his throw useless.

And then, inexplicably, the detonator curved in midair.

General Gallia's doing.

Entering the tank cannon barrel with a satisfying "thunk," the explosive soon brought out a much louder noise.

"BOOOOM!"

The turret head burst open, and the tank and its pilot were incapacitated.

"General, I have an idea!" Raven called out.

Though General Gallia was still flipping over tanks and slicing through clankers, she gestured that she was listening.

Raven merely retrieved another detonator from his belt, and pointed at the shield generator tens of meters away.

He assumed his pitching stance, and General Gallia nodded in understanding.

Raven then hurled the explosive with impressive power.

As it arced toward the generator, the General adjusted its trajectory with her Jedi powers.

"BOOOOOOOM!"

Burst

...

"Now, Burst!" the General commanded, her voice crackling out of my wrist communicator.

My fist slammed down on the button to the elevator.

"Hmmmmmmm."

The circular platform began crawling to the top of the outpost with the AV-7 atop it. Situating myself in the pilot seat, I primed the artillery unit and anchored it in place.

My eyelids fluttered shut several times; I kept myself awake through self-inflicted physical abuse.

When the rocky battlefield entered my vision, I saw that the deflector shield was indeed deactivated.

Flashback

"Lieutenant Burst, your steady hand will be the key to our victory." General Gallia insisted, nodding at me.

End Flashback

Adi

"BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!"

A few moments after the shield went down, Burst began tearing the Separatist tanks to pieces with the AV-7.

The rest of us took cover in the crevices between the stone waves.

"BOOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!" "BOOOOOOOM!"

With each violent explosion, the layer of sooty debris atop us grew a little thicker.

Burst

I fired repeatedly, decimating CIS ground forces until the AV-7 begged me to stop. Even then, I refused to.

My soldier's instincts took over, and my conscious meandered, coming back to the same topic again and again.

Adi Gallia.

As much as I hated to admit it... in the end, she wasn't that much different from me.

We were both slaves of the Republic. The key difference between us...?

I knew damn well what I wanted. I wanted something more than this endless nightmare, scrapping clankers until my body gave out... but I was just too scared to pursue it. She on the other hand... she wouldn't even admit to herself that she wanted anything else in the first place. She was unable to.

Adi

The suffocating stench of smoke and oil filled the air, solidifying our victory.

After I forced General Dartz to order his droids to stand down, I shackled him.

What could have been a nasty defeat had been transformed into triumph... but I couldn't shake the underlying feeling of loss.

Trooper Owl and Trooper Raven mourned the loss of their dear friend, Trooper Vulture, who'd perished in my gambit along with several other clones...

And so many others had lost their lives before I was even on the scene.

A single tear leaked out of the corner of my eye, but it was easy to bush off as condensed mist.

Why was I more choked up this time than before?

We, the Jedi, had accepted the consequences of this war when we'd entered it. As terrible as it is... with war, there is death, and I reluctantly took command of the clones while knowing that.

Suddenly, I sighted another puff of smoke, but this one was far away from the battlefield.

My stomach lurched as I inspected the source with a pair of binocs.

It was the stone cage I'd laid eyes on earlier, where the Moogans contained their crops.

I hadn't considered where the gunship would crash after my troopers jumped ship.

...

In order to transport General Dartz as a prisoner of war, we gave up our post to another Jedi General.

After that, we returned to the Absolute, and set out to dock at a remote refueling station in Republic-controlled space.

Zevon

It was a dark, cloudy night on Coruscant.

My eyelids were heavy, but that didn't matter. There was work to do. Steeling myself through heavy fatigue, my hands shook as I assembled my lightsaber piece by piece.

Power cell.

Energy gate.

Emitter shroud.

Activator.

Simple, gray alloys for the hilt.

Emitter matrix...

"Krackowww!"

Failure. I went back to step one.

"Krackooowww!"

Failure yet again...

I went... back to step one.

"Krackowwwww!"

Each blast of components was its own strike of lightning.

Placing my kyber crystal in my palm, I held it in front of my face.

'Grievous...' the luminescent crystal mumbled, as fixated as ever. It was like an insect, incessantly buzzing throughout my gray matter.

And yet, a memory returned to my mind momentarily.

Flashback

Flashing forward, I sprinted up the pillar as it fell, ending my mad dash with a force jump...

Sailing through the air, I made direct eye contact with the Jedi killer...

His eyes widened in shock, if only for a moment...

My finger brushed over the vulture droid, but I couldn't get a grip...

Failing to reach my target, I fell toward the ocean's surface.

End Flashback

I sighed, struggling to keep my eyes open.

...

'I surrender.' I thought to myself, with no one else around to see my defeat, or so I thought.

'Haha!' a voice sneered within my head. 'So you finally understand... that there's no hope for you.'

'I don't... care anymore.' I fired back, dejected and defeated.

I walked like a geonosian zombie through the halls, until I entered my private quarters and fell face-first onto the bed.

Now, I just wanted to go to sleep... and never wake up.

Adi

Just before we arrived at the station, I sensed that something was terribly wrong. When the Absolute exited hyperspace, my suspicions were confirmed.

"BoooOOOoom!" "BOOM!" "Boom...!"

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" "BoOOOooOoom!" "BOOM!"

"BoooOOOoom!" "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

The echoes of turbolaser fire enveloped the station.

A massive space battle.

Seven Republic Venator-class Star Destroyers, now including the Absolute.

Four Separatist Recusant-class light destroyers, and two colossal Providence-class Dreadnoughts.

Grievous

I hadn't anticipated the arrival of another Venator, but that was hardly an issue. It was which Venator that arrived that intrigued me.

The Absolute. Had it come as reinforcements?

No. The sudden jolt the cruiser experienced immediately after exiting hyperspace said otherwise. They were unprepared.

While observing the mighty vessel, I was suddenly reminded of the Mumuu, a fearsome beast native to my homeworld.

A Mumuu's hide was tough, almost as tough as Mandalorian iron. A Mumuu posessed two hearts, granting it immense strength and speed. A Mumuu had tusks that could puncture even durasteel.

But a Mumuu could still be hunted. With time, patience, and proper strategy, it would tire out.

The Absolute was likely already at that point.

Even the youngest, most inexperienced Kaleesh warrior could have seen it for what it was: easy prey. If I still had my mouth, I might've smiled.

"Move to intercept that ship." I coughed, ordering one of the two battle droids manning the bridge.

"But sir..." the B1 commander began. "We're already going to..."

"Smash!"

Swinging my fist in a wide, sweeping motion, I executed the commander.

"Clunk!"

His head crashed to the floor, silencing the droid next to him. After taking in the cosmic beyond one last time, I turned to exit the bridge.

The Jedi aboard that Venator had escaped me too many times.

"The story of Adi Gallia... ends here!" I declared, preparing to board.