“How much longer will the shields hold?”

  The ground beneath Knight Aurtera’s feet shook again as another artillery barrage bombarded their reinforced position and the shimmering shield sparking and humming in a dome above them.

  “Energy reserves are rapidly falling ma’am. Within hours in the best case,” the clone commander said respectfully. The Jedi Knight still found it a bit strange having all of these identical clones running around under her command, all speaking with the same voice, and even the same phrasing whenever they responded to her.

  But it was what it was, and they were effective at least. Without all their hard work, she imagined that the invading droid army would have already overwhelmed them completely.

  “What are our options,” she said flatly as she stared through the shield to the assembled lines of battle droids waiting a short distance away, defending their artillery as they bombarded their fortified base.

  “Our orders are simply to buy time. While the separatists are winning up in orbit, enough of our fleet survives to protect us from orbital bombardment. Reinforcements are coming.”

  “I know,” she said, her body unmoving as she folded her hands behind her back and kept staring at the droid lines, “But how? How will we buy that time? Christophsis is a critical world to the Republic, we can not allow it to fall to the separatists.”

  “I… Am unsure commander. We’re outnumbered at least three or four to one, with the droids occupying the surrounding city. When the shield falls, our fortified position will only last us so long. We’ve done what we could, but these were all civilian buildings. They are not reinforced enough to withstand direct artillery fire.”

  “I see… Then we must take out those cannons. Allow our energy for our defenses to last us longer,” she mused thoughtfully, “Just the solar panels won’t recharge them quickly enough for the shield to hold at this rate. Perhaps… Yes, that could work. But it will be difficult…”

  “What, Knight Aurtera? You have a solution?” the clone commander asked seemingly in surprise.

  “Indeed,” she said as she broke from her pondering, “I do. Go get the squad of Clone commandos. We’re going to go out there. We need to destroy those artillery before they destroy us.”

  “But our attempts to sally forth have been stopped cold for days, Knight Aurtera? How will this be any different?”

  “Because I will be joining them. Prepare for another large push to the droid lines in the next few hours. The Clone Commandos and I will use it as cover to accomplish our mission and take out the cannons.”

  The clone commander hesitated before nodding quickly, “Of course, Ma’am. Right away. I will make the arrangements.”

  — — —

  Knight Aurtera stood on the twentieth floor of a skyscraper, the twenty man group of five squads of four clone commandos standing behind her. Each had their own missions that they would accomplish once they reached their destination. They were almost directly above the droid lines, having spent hours slowly sneaking from cover to cover and zip lining from building to building to reach this point. They were standing in front of a large window showing a clear view of the street below. Luckily it was tinted, so the droids would be unable to see them inside as they looked out.

  “Five minutes,” she said as she took out her lightsaber and put it in her hands to dangle there lightly. Instead of her traditional Jedi robes, she wore light armor that allowed her freedom of movement while still allowing her some minimal protection from blaster fire.

  She reached up and adjusted her mask to help filter out the smoke, filter out chemicals, and provide her more visibility in battle. Most Jedi would probably consider their senses in the Force to be enough to beat any technology. That wearing a mask would dull their more important senses in the Force by relying too much on the technology. But she wasn’t about to take that risk. Not after the first time the droids almost proved to her why it was necessary in the first few hours of the invasion.

  “It’s time.”

  The booms and shouts of intense battle erupted in the streets below as the Clone forces pushed out through their energy shield and started charging toward the reinforced droid lines. The Republic artillery, tanks, and mobile energy barriers pushed forward in an attempt to defend the lines of Clones from the droid’s defensive fire. It was a slog, and Knight Aurtera could see that each step forward towards the droid's outer lines were paid for by dozens of lives each.

  “Moving, three, two, one,” the clone commandos said as they prepared themselves, all arranged in a line behind the window.

  At the count of one, Knight Aurtera slashed at the window with her ignited lightsaber and it shattered and exposed them to the whipping winds roaring through the city. She jumped forward out of the window and started to fall, and the clone commandos jumped out after her.

  The droids below were furiously battling with the main Republic assault, and were unprepared as Knight Aurtera and the clone commandos dropped directly on top of their heads. She ignited her jetpack for a single burst to slow her just before she hit the ground, stabbing directly through a B2 battle droid with her lightsaber as she landed. In a whirlwind of strikes she swirled around and decimated nearly a dozen droids directly around her and cleared the landing zone just in time for the clone commandos behind her to touch down.

  They were behind the droid’s defensive lines, less than a hundred meters from the line of heavy artillery cannons. One of the three major fortified positions that were spread out evenly on all sides around the Republic’s domed energy shield and main fortified base. Ten major cannons over seven meters tall each and with long barrels were firing on the Republic lines pushing out of the energy shield even now.

  The clone commandos fired their weapons and cleared out the dozen remaining droids in their immediate area in seconds even as Knight Aurtera started moving.

  Even as she charged forward, the massive artillery cannons kept firing, seemingly not having noticed her and the squad just yet. But she could feel the lines of thousands of droids around them turning and focusing their attention on the sudden intruders that had appeared in their midst.

  The Clone commandos charged after her, half of them jumping in the air and activating their jetpacks to spread out in their squads of four on all sides. Fighting to keep the main forces of the droid army at bay while she dealt with the artillery itself.

  Two squads of four jumped over her head and landed behind the position of the artillery cannons. The droids manning the artillery fired up at the commandos, but they moved quickly enough that the droids missed and their shots went wide as the armored figures sailed right over their heads.

  And facing upwards and confused by the sudden assault, the droids were distracted for Knight Aurtera’s own assault. She jumped amongst them and destroyed the dozen droids clustered around the large canon in seconds. She leapt up onto the large vehicle and with a casual burst of Force picked up the droid piloting it and tossed it flying through the air and out of her way after ripping open the metal hatch in the top of the artillery cannon. She jumped high through the air in a burst of the Force and through the open hatch inside and into the now empty piloting seat inside the cannon.

  She grabbed the controls and slowly began to turn the cannon to the side. She could see through the vehicle’s sensors that the clone commandos were locked in a furious battle against the overwhelming forces of the main droid army that had just reached their position, turning around from countering the larger assault from within the shield to turn their attention to Knight Aurtera and her squad of elites.

  There was the scream of a droid fighter craft flying in towards their position from the sky, prepared to reinforce the droid army. One of the clone commandos kneeled down and raised a giant tube over his shoulder and fired a rocket as the droid ship rapidly came closer. The fighter craft only let out a single blast of blaster fire that missed and slammed into a nearby building before its wing exploded as the rocket hit it and it went spiraling and slammed into the ground two hundred meters away with a massive explosion that destroyed its own droids forces.

  Knight Aurtera finished aligning her canon to turn it ever so slowly to the side. She fired and the canon at the end of the line exploded in a single massive explosion. The other eight were now slowly turning towards her and the small circle of the safety the clone commandos around her had bought them. She fired again, and another artillery piece was destroyed. Again, again. Now there were only six cannons left. She fired again. Five now. But those five were now all facing her.

  She tensed and fired one more time. Another vehicle exploded. Even as she did so she sent herself launching through the open hatch above her with all her strength and a massive burst of the Force.

  The four remaining artillery cannons fired in unison and her hijacked cannon exploded beneath her, sending her body off balance as it rode the wave of concussive force from below.

  She saw the clone commandos leap into the air and activate their own jetpacks to escape the blast zone. But not all of them made it. She watched as one of the B2’s fired at a clone commando that was about to sail past its head. The blast only scraped the clone commando’s shoulder, but it sent him tumbling and off balance and crashing into the ground below. Before the clone could stand to his feet he was consumed by the expanding ball of plasma behind him along with all of the droids surrounding him.

  Knight Aurtera coughed as she tumbled through the air as the shockwave from the explosion hit her like a massive slap launching her tumbling end over end through the air even with her leap away at the last minute.

  In a burst of the Force she halted her tumble and repositioned herself so her feet were facing downwards and her lightsaber was held at the ready in front of her as she fell, ready to block any blaster fire from below that could come her way.

  She hit the ground, and everything was immediately in chaos as she fought with everything she had. She was surrounded by the droids on all sides as she whirled about with her lightsaber, using all of her forms and skill to hold them back from all sides at once. Several blasts managed to sneak through and slam into her armor, luckily its material holding and only giving her a few painful bruises and throwing her off balance rather than searing right through her.

  She leapt through the air as she became settled enough to risk glancing around to determine her position. She leapt towards the next artillery canon and the remaining ten clone commandos went to follow after her. Some were already at the base of the cannon and fighting at its base. One was planting charges at its base as the other three of its squad held back the droids. The clone gave the others in his squad a thumbs up and all four of them jumped and jetted away as the charges went up and destroyed the cannon in a fiery explosion behind them.

  Knight Aurtera started to fall slightly and she activated her jetpack to turn it into a glide as she passed over the much smaller explosion consuming the artillery piece below her compared to before.

  Now there were only three left.

  Her leap carried her almost fully to the next closest cannon. The Clone commandos behind her were falling behind, getting boxed in as more and more of the droid army around them turned their attention to assaulting them, allowing the main infantry assault to advance as they turned around to fire behind them.

  She leapt again with a burst of the Force almost as soon as she touched the ground, leaping towards the next artillery cannon. The droids around her landing point barely had time to even register that she was there before she was gone again.

  She frowned slightly through her mask as she saw a TC model tactical commander droid standing slightly off to the side of the artillery cannon she was currently flying towards with uses of the Force and small bursts of lift from the jetpack. The droid was looking up at her as she flew through the air.

  It turned around and gestured towards her with a sharp gesture all of the droids on the battlefield immediately ignored all of the clones and focused all their attention on her.

  With wide eyes she twisted and blocked the barrage of shots, her only saving grace that she was currently moving through the air and a hard target to hit at the moment.

  The droids were cut down in droves as they almost completely ignored the clones they were fighting, but they didn’t seem to care. The TC model droid raised its arms to the sky, metallic palms open as it stared upwards, seemingly not even seeing her anymore.

  She landed right in front of the droid, diverting her course to take out the droid. If she could stop it, then these droids wouldn’t be nearly as organized as they were right now as she barely managed to avoid their blaster fire in micro blasts and quick twists to either block or avoid their barrage of blaster fire.

  “Die, Jedi!” the TC model shouted as it brought its arms down from above to both point at her, both palms facing forward towards her chest.

  Despite herself, she flinched and brought her lightsaber to block whatever this unknown attack might be. But then she recovered herself as nothing happened and with a dash cleaved the TC droid in two in a single strike of her weapon. She turned her attention to the artillery battery in front of her, and defending herself from the droids pressing in from all sides around her. She was breathing heavily, her lungs moving inwards and out with stinging pain, every breath a supreme effort through her exhaustion and assorted bruises. But she was a Jedi Knight, she could push through for as long as she needed to.

  She was about to leap on top of the artillery piece before pausing as the sky rumbled above her. She instinctively turned to look up, and her eyes widened.

  A CIS cruiser was growing in the sky above them, its massive form shrouded by the flames of atmospheric reentry. Coming in fast. Republic missiles and fighters flitted around it like a swarm of biting flies or wild animals, tearing chunks out of it or causing portions of it to explode and crumple.

  But the ship didn’t seem to care, its defensive weapons firing defensively as it plunged downwards, building up its momentum like a raging bull in a blind charge.

  Knight Aurtera’s mind raced as she channeled the Force to the maximum as the ball of fire of the crashing cruiser grew larger and larger in the sky. She leapt forward, but this time not for the top of the artillery cannon. But under it. She deactivated her lightsaber and tensed as the roaring rumble grew louder and louder from above.

  The air grew blazing hot, and there was a tinkling of glass as all the surviving windows in the city shattered all at once. She closed her eyes and curled herself into a ball, following the Force's guidance to shift her body fractionally into position as the cruiser slammed into the ground and the world around her was consumed by a massive explosion.

  — — —

  “TC-2973? Why is our cruiser diverting off course? Isn’t it defending sector seven of the capital from the Republic attempting orbital assaults on our droids?”

  “It has a new objective now, commander. I have already diverted other vessels to plug the gap left by its absence.”

  “Absence? What is it doing?” the separatist said in confusion as it turned to the commando droid standing besides it on the flagship, “Wait, what is… Is it crashing into the planet?! We need the capital city intact, what are you doing?”

  “We can afford to rebuild one district of the city in the aftermath. There is a Jedi Knight of unusually high power and skill in battle. We must take this chance to eliminate her, even with some sacrifices in the short term. Her Force abilities are too powerful and useful to the Republic in the war effort to do otherwise. Should I rescind the orders and recall the cruiser back to orbit? Republic forces are already moving to intercept. They’re moving out of position from their surprise and rush to prevent it from crashing into the surface. Should we exploit their weakness?”

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  The separatist commander hesitated for a long moment before nodding.

  “Continue course. Use battle formation 54-7C. We… Can rebuild a single district, and the capital is already evacuated of civilians… Yes, this engagement could finally pin the Republic down and let us finish off what’s left of their fleet. Stagger battle lines so none of them can slip around our formations to escape. Move cruisers seven and eight to forward position and prepare for rotation…”

  When the burning of the husk slammed into the capital city of Christophsis, the Separatist commander barely even registered it, too busy leading his fleet to victory in the orbital battle high above.

  And the droid was right, unfortunately. As annoying as it was, trading one of his cruisers and destruction of a few dozen blocks of the capital of Christophsis in trade for the death of a Jedi Knight was probably worth it.

  Or at least that’s what he would argue in his reports.

  He shook his head. Enough of that. He had a battle to win. The Republic were out of position, and he could almost smell victory now.

  — — —

  The last of the Republic forces had been defeated, their troops having surrendered and their ships disabled and crippled just enough to serve as prisons until more permanent accommodations were organized to properly hold them. The battle was won.

  The commander let out a sigh of relief as he sat back in his chair. Now there were only a few scattered pockets of resistance from Republic forces on the ground. With the Jedi dead, and full orbital supremacy by his fleet, Christophsis would belong to the CIS within the week.

  He went to his bunk and waved for his second command to take the bridge. He went to sleep for the first time in what felt like days, finally relaxing after managing the high tension of the orbital battles for so long.

  He woke up to a buzzing alarm right next to his head.

  “Admiral. Admiral,” a voice whispered on the other side from the wall. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and rolled over, wondering what was happening to have his second command wake him up.

  “Yes? What is it?” he said, still slowly coming awake as he stared into the speaker mounted into the wall next to his bunk.

  “A Republic fleet has entered the edge of the system as of twenty minutes ago,” the soft voice replied, “They are moving fast, and will arrive within two hours.”

  He groaned and stretched on his bed.

  “I’ll be there in five minutes,” he said after a moment, “Start organizing into defensive formations until I can come and see what we’re dealing with.”

  “Yes, sir. See you soon,” the voice whispered again softly before the speaker clicked off again.

  The admiral quickly threw on his CIS uniform and splashed some water on his face before walking at a quick pace back to the bridge of his flagship.

  “Admiral on deck!”

  The droids and few living crew on the deck stood and saluted him as he walked in.

  “At ease,” he said with a wave and everyone returned to their consoles and kept working. His second in command stood up from the captains chair and respectfully stood to the side as the admiral sat down in his place and started inspecting the readouts of the newest Republic fleet coming their way.

  He frowned as he looked at the numbers on the screen.

  “This doesn’t make any sense,” he said to himself, “Their fleet is barely thirty ships strong. Even after our losses, we still outnumber them nearly four to one. Why are they coming at us so aggressively with such a small force?”

  “I’m not sure, Admiral,” his second command said, “They started barreling right towards us as soon as they jumped into the system with their hyperdrives. There’s only one thing that is odd.”

  He stepped forward and with a few taps brought up a blurry scan of one of the ships in the center of the Republic’s formation. A Venator class star destroyer in the center had an unusual profile, like it had been heavily modified in some way all across its bottom. There was what was apparently some long tube running along its underside from the base of its drives right to the end of its triangular nose. Over a thousand meters long. All the other ships were clustered around it defensively.

  “Some kind of new weapon?” the admiral wondered out loud, “Anything in our records of what that weapon could be? Focus all power on our forward shields, just in case this thing isn’t hot air.”

  “Yes, sir. Already done. And no, no record of what weapon this could be. We’ve already sent a message and our scans to command, but no response yet. And there won’t be one for another few hours or so.”

  “Hmmm… Alright. Then I suppose we’ll have to simply be cautious then,” the admiral said as he gripped the arms of his chair, “Reorganize our lines into defensive formation 34-98A to stop them from punching through our lines and reinforcing their remaining ground forces…”

  A little less than two hours later, the battle was about to begin. The admiral sat in his chair, organizing the last minute adjustments as the Republic cluster of ships charged directly towards the much larger fleet of the CIS.

  He still didn’t understand it. No matter what new weapon they had, surely they didn’t think that it could overcome numbers nearly four times their own?

  He and the rest of the crew waited in tension. Their forward shields reinforced to the absolute maximum and the first missiles already having been launched to intercept the small Republic fleet.

  The Republic’s point defense systems struck down the long range missiles as they approached, the blaster fire growing more and more intense as the two sides grew closer and closer.

  “Massive energy spike from the central ship, sir!” his second command shouted as the battle started growing more and more intense and the shields of the ships on both sides started flaring up in flashes light as the occasional blaster bolt or missile managed to slip through their point defense systems.

  “Aiming for our left flank,” his second continued, “Cruiser 35 and 23 are prepared to move forward defensively depending on how much the weapon drains the target's shields.”

  “Yes, they’ll fire their weapon and try to leap in to finish off the target while they’re weakened,” the admiral added, “TC-2973, focus on managing the right flank while the two of us focus on the left after they fire their new weapon.”

  “Yes, sir. Right away,” the droid said calmly before pausing and staring into space, using their ships frequencies to communicate its tactical orders to the right flank of their formation while the admiral focused on commanding the more critical areas.

  The Republic’s weapon kept charging as the admiral kept barking orders and reorganizing his formations to defend the damaged ship in the aftermath of whatever weapon the Republic would deploy.

  “S-S-Sir,” the second in command stammered as he stared at the screen just out of the admiral’s line of sight.

  “What? What is it?”

  “These energy readings, they’re…”

  Before the man could finish speaking there was a flash of light from the Republic’s new weapon, and a massive shimmering green blast shot out of the barrel running the length of the ship.

  The blast came forward, slamming into the ship that it had targeted…

  And destroyed its shields effortlessly. Everyone on the bridge could only pause and stare at their screens in shock as the green bolt of roiling plasma passed right through the ship and passed out the other side, the ship's shields failing in a single instant.

  The beam of plasma kept going and slammed into another ship that had been hovering nearby in their formation, preparing to support the targeted ship after it was hit.

  The still massive ball of plasma slammed into the second ship behind, and there was a massive flash as the ship’s shield flared brightly for a single instant before failing as well.

  The green beam burrowed into the side of the second ship. The beam continued firing for one full second before abruptly cutting out.

  The admiral lowered his right hand from covering his eyes from the sudden bright flash, the fingers gripping the left arm rest of his chair trembling slightly.

  He flinched as the second ship that had been hit shuddered before abruptly exploding as its reactor likely ruptured from the severe damage it had taken. And as for the first ship… It had exploded almost on impact and was now slowly drifting as nothing more than twisted debris, in at least five major pieces slowly drifting away from where the functioning ship had used to be.

  “That’s… That weapon…” the second in command stammered as everyone on the bridge just stared at the destruction on their screens in disbelief. The weapon had destroyed one of their… No, two of their ships in a single hit.

  “Well—” the admiral cleared his throat, suddenly finding his mouth dry, “That’s— They can’t be firing anything like that again anytime soon. Back to work people! Aggressive formations, I want to take out that weapon before they can fire it again. If they can fire again! Yes, a prototype, maybe they only have one shot…”

  The fleet scrambled to reorganize, the Republic escort fleet to the weapon causing them some small amounts of damage in the chaos.

  Five minutes later, the admiral was ready to push forward full force towards the Republic fleet that had come to a stop relative to them and was simply holding their position defensively.

  “Forward!” the admiral shouted and pointed through the window of the bridge to the enemy fleet in their sights, “Arrowhead formation, Full frontal charge! Before they can fire again!”

  His ship’s engines rumbled as their thrusters fired full force to bring them forward to push them closer and towards a closer brutal melee with the Republic fleet. Even as the admiral watched the Republic fleet started falling back, retreating from the CIS charge, even if much too slowly to do buy them more than a few minutes.

  “Admiral! Another energy surge! It’s firing agai—”

  A beam shot from the center Republic vessel again, its beam a deep ocean blue this time. The carefully aligned shot destroyed two of the admiral’s ships, and heavily damaged a third that had been in its line of sight.

  “Spread out! Don’t let it hit more than one in one shot!” the admiral roared, his heart pounding as more of his ships were destroyed. His carefully arranged arrow formation scattered to the winds, all of his ships spreading out so none were behind the other and vulnerable to a dual strike from the fearsome Republic weapon.

  “TC-2973! What is this?!” the admiral demanded as he turned to the droid, “How is something like this not in our database? How is this possible? Why were they able to fire again so quickly?”

  “I… Don’t know, sir. It is… Unprecedented. The energy signatures, our sensors have never recorded something even remotely similar before. My database has no-no-nothing on this weapon. I recommend… Retreat.”

  “Retreat? After we’re so close to victory?” the Admiral demanded, feeling the blood rushing to his face and the room growing hot around him, “Not after we’ve fought for months for this damn planet! After I’ve been campaigning for victory since the damn near start of this war! Continue course! Focus fire on the Republic weapon, now! All weapons fire, punch through their lines!”

  “Sir, if that weapon can fire at that rate consistently, then I calculate our odds of survival at less than twenty percent.”

  “Like they could do that more than once,” the admiral said dismissively, “Clearly they must have strained it somehow to get it to fire again so quickly. No weapon that powerful can fire so quickly and dissipate its heat in time. It must be damaged by now,” The admiral paused suddenly as he seemingly registered the droid’s words, “Twenty percent…? Survival?” he said slowly, “And our chances of victory?”

  “Four percent, sir. Already they’ve taken five of our ships out of commission before the battle has begun in earnest. A traditional engagement of this magnitude can last hours or even days. We do not have that many ships available if that weapon can take them out with a single hit.”

  The admiral paused, conflicted even as his fleet kept barreling towards the Republic enemies retreating. The gap was closing, but not quickly enough.

  “We… We continue forward,” he said heavily, “Focus all fire on the weapon. We must take it out soon then.”

  “Admiral, it’s too well protected,” his second in command chimed in, “We have to break the surrounding ships protecting it before we have a real shot.”

  “I know that! So get on it! Open a path! Now!” the admiral demanded and slammed his closed fist on his chair. He grimaced and winced as his hand flared out in pain. He hissed and raised his hand and shook it out as the pain from the angry blow hurt him.

  “Yes, sir.”

  The fleet focused fire, and with all of their might managed to split off one of the Republic ships and with a stroke of luck destroyed it in what must have been a lucky blast to its reactor.

  But the gap was too small, and the other Republic ships quickly shifted to plug the gap in their lines before the admiral could even give the order to push through the gap to the devastating weapon that they were protecting from within.

  The admiral growled in frustration as for the third time his fleet failed to overwhelm the much smaller Republic fleet in their defensive positions. They would win, but slowly. Oh, far too slowly. And it had been nearly ten minutes now. Was the weapon able to fire again? Had the admiral been right? Was the weapon disabled for now?

  But his hopes were dashed as the blasted ship’s energy signature flared again and another devastating beam lanced out and into his ships. One ship was completely destroyed and another nearby clipped and moderately damaged, the carefully aimed shot from the Republic catching one of the ships when it was slightly out of alignment from the battle.

  “Sir, we must retreat,” TC-2973 insisted, “We are being whittled down. We must focus on preserving our forces for the larger war effort.”

  “But Christophsis, our victory…” the admiral said weakly, “We were so close…”

  He slumped on his chair, in a numb daze as the Republic weapon fired again five minutes later and destroyed another one of his ships. His forces were dwindling. Five of the thirty Republic ships had been destroyed. But it wouldn’t be enough. He might be able to win this battle. It was still possible, if more and more unlikely with every additional one of his ships being destroyed…

  But he would only win with nothing but a husk of his forces left at the end. The planet would be ripe for being reseized by a second Republic fleet mere weeks after the battle was won. And that was if they won. Who knew how many of these new weapons that Republic had available to them? What if they could send a second one to follow the first?

  The battle continued, and another beam from the Republic ship, a light shimmering blue this time was almost beautiful in its devastation as it destroyed all in its path.

  “Admiral, we… The droid is right. We must pull back. We won’t win,” his second command said as gently as he could given the urgency of the chaotic battle.

  The admiral licked his suddenly dry lips, feeling the victory that he’d been savoring only hours ago turned to nothing but ash.

  “Fine,” he murmured softly. His second leaned in, apparently not hearing him.

  “Fine! Kriff, you’re right,” he said grimly, “Full retreat. Abandon the planet, and move all forces to the edge of the system where we can request more reinforcements and come back later. The battle is lost. Central command must know of this new weapon and its capabilities at all costs.”

  “You are making the right decision, sir,” his second said in relief before turning to his console and started barking orders to all of the other ship’s captains to organize the tactical retreat.

  The Republic fleet didn’t chase, instead moving to take position above Christophsis and letting them go.

  Damn them for stealing his victory from him when he had been so close that he had practically tasted it.

  — — —

  “Another one! Life signs under the rubble! Yes, tractor beam here. No, on the marker, right there would collapse this whole segment of the debris on top of them you idiots…”

  Knight Aurtera blinked and let out a surprised rasping breath as her dark little alcove underground was filled with bright light for the first time in days.

  The metal belly of the artillery piece lifted away, a tractor beam from a ship hovering above lifting it effortlessly to float in the air above her. It was maneuvered to the side and placed down on the rubble to the side. Several people in white uniforms came rushing into the cavity six meters underground in the pit that Knight Aurtera found herself in.

  She tried to shift her body slightly, but stopped with more ragged gasps as her whole body flared with pain. She felt the burns and injuries all over her body acutely, just as she had for days laying down here helpless and unable to free herself.

  Even the Force couldn’t save her, the rubble pressing in on her too heavy to lift despite her best efforts.

  The medics were arguing above her as she stared blankly into the sky, barely able to focus on her surroundings. She looked down and remembered why they weren’t moving her. Both her legs were pinned and crushed under a heavy plate of metal that had fallen and warped from the heat of the explosion of the cruiser's crash. She hadn’t been able to feel her legs for a while, she’d almost forgotten about them at one point. Everything was so painful that what was happening to her legs was nothing but an afterthought.

  The rubble pinning her legs groaned and squealed as the ship above activated its beam and started shifting the rubble carefully stacked above where she lay.

  She lolled her head to the side and saw the symbol emblazoned on the right shoulder of the nearest medic. They were from the Republic. They must have won… That was… Good. At least it had been worth something.

  She slowly closed her eyes and finally let her mind fall into nothingness as the exhaustion of the last few days caught up with her all at once and her body slumped and shut down all at once.

  — — —

  “Knight Aurtera. You’re lucky to be alive.”

  She opened her eyes, and took a rasping breath. But this time the breath was soothing, a mask strapped to her face filling her lungs with soothing cold gas that numbed her and made her feel better.

  “Win-Du,” she murmured as she recognized the man standing above her, “Where— Am I?”

  “The battle for Christophsis is won. It is ours again,” Windu said, “You have done an excellent job, Knight Aurtera, and shown much bravery in service of the Republic. The Chancellor has decided to give you a medal for your bravery.”

  “T-Troops? Clones?” she asked, despite feeling sleepy from the feeling of what must be gaseous bacta entering her lungs with every breath. An euphoric feeling that made her eyes want to close and drift off back to sleep again. But Grandmaster Windu was here and talking to her personally. She couldn’t sleep now.

  “I’m sorry to say that you were among the less than a hundred survivors who were on the ground in that district,” Grandmaster Windu said gravely, “But you survived, and that’s what matters. Don’t worry. I have seen to it that you will be seen by the best doctors. There will be no need for cybernetics. You will be healed good as new.”

  “Cybernetics?” she rasped before glancing down and jolting, “Legs? Legs?!”

  Her legs were mangled on the hospital bed and wired up with a complex cast and various pins and beeping equipment covering them. The complex mass of wires and snare of white casts covered her whole lower body and up to her belly button. She’d just realized that she couldn’t feel anything below her waist. Was she paralyzed?

  “Not to worry,” Grandmaster Windu assured her, “I’m told it can be healed, if expensive. Even the paralysis. You’ll be good as new in no time.”

  “Good… As new,” she breathed, suddenly feeling ashamed in losing control in the presence of the venerable grandmaster and forcefully calming herself, “Thank you…”

  “It’s the least the Council could do for a Jedi as exemplary as yourself,” Windu said with a pleased smile, before suddenly frowning, “Unlike some traitors that I know,” he muttered almost so softly that she missed it.

  “Well, that’s all for now,” he said, his expression becoming pleasant again as he looked back to her, “I and the rest of the Council wish you well in your recovery. And assure you that you will be receiving the best care possible back here in Coruscant. We need more Jedi like you out there on the front lines. I wish you a quick recovery.”

  She nodded, feeling too tired to respond, even the short effort of focusing taking a toll on her by now. Grandmaster Windu seemed to understand and after giving her his own nod he turned and left the room again.

  Beneath her mask pumping her lungs filled with bacta, Knight Aurtera smiled as her head rolled to the side and her eyes began to finally close again. Grandmaster Windu and the Council valued and cared about her even when she was injured and useless with her paralyzed legs and all her injuries.

  She knew those traitors from the Ranja Root Order had been wrong. The Council always knew best, they just didn’t know how to listen.

  She knew how to listen. Her eyes fully closed and she drifted off to sleep, knowing deep in her heart that she’d do it all again if it made Grandmaster Windu and Council proud of her again.