55

Something was pressing into Saedii's stomach.

She blinked her eyes open, wincing at the blur of colors around her – a wash of grey and black and brown. Her eyes watered at the sting of air and tears sliced down her cheek before she could help it. Smoke pricked at the back of her throat, making her cough.

A low crackling sound was nearby. When she turned towards it, a small fire was burning along the shattered remains of their rail car. Heat popped and sparks danced, sending a plume of acrid-smelling smoke into the air.

Around her, the broken remains of the derailed car and crushed platform sat in smoldering heaps. Stone had crumbled and broken, resting beside the melted remains of wires and steel. Shattered glass glittered on the ground, reflecting the haze of smoke that hovered around the clearing. Under her, a misshapen chunk of the rail line dug into her gut.

Bodies laid among the wreckage. Stormtroopers clad in white armor sat in puddles of blood. One close by had a shard of metal embedded in the gap between his helmet and his chest plate.

Saedii pushed herself up onto her knees. Pain shot down the back of her neck. She shook her head and blood dripped down her face, stinging her eyes.

"Wrecker?" Her voice was hoarse. From the smoke. She cleared it. "Wrecker?"

The giant Clone was nowhere to be seen. Saedii searched the wreckage for a glimpse of grey armor – for a telltale flash of yellow or orange.

A few yards away, Crosshair's long form was slowly rising its head. He shook his head, disoriented. Next to him, his long-range rifle had been snapped nearly in half.

Breath stabbed in Saedii's chest as she climbed unsteadily onto her feet. The air tasted heavily of smoke and blood. She coughed again and the simple movement sent sharp pain up her ribcage.

"Wrecker?" Saedii called again, looking around. The smoke was slowing curling away, revealing a larger field of destruction. More bodies of stormtroopers – though these were not dead. They were slowly climbing to their feet, groaning.

Somewhere close, a small voice called, "Hunter?"

Saedii spun in that direction.

A small shadow was moving gingerly through the smoke. Limping. Blonde hair shimmered into view.

Omega.

"Hunter?" she called again, voice weak. Dazed.

"Omega!" Saedii forced herself in that direction. Each step was more painful than the last. Her body felt stiff and awkward. Everything hurt.

Omega's form grew clearer as Saedii approached. She didn't look good. Her left leg dragged awkwardly behind her and there was blood beneath her nose. Her eyes looked around, glazed and unfocused.

Just as Saedii approached, Omega's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed.

Saedii slid into the dirt beside her, lifting Omega's head off the ground. Omega's eyes fluttered but she didn't wake as Saedii lightly tapped her on the cheek. Trying to wake her.

"Megs? Come on, Megs! Open your eyes," Saedii begged.

A cough sounded through the smoke. Saedii looked up and alarm filled her chest at the sight of stormtroopers getting to their feet.

They needed to leave. Where the hell were the guys?

Footsteps approached from the smoke. Saedii looked up in anticipation.

Her mouth went dry as a black-clad figure melted out before her.

"I told you," Kalth said slowly. Uninjured. His lightsaber sparked to life in his hand. "You should have run when you had the chance. Now you'll die with them."

Gently, Saedii laid Omega's head back on the ground. Blue light reflected in the smoke around them as she engaged both lightsabers, crouching over Omega's thin form. "She's not dying today."

"You are."

He jumped for her and the silence was suddenly broken by the sharp hiss of blade-on-blade. The muscles in Saedii's back and arms screamed as he pushed against her, muscling her away from Omega.

Saedii swung out, forcing him away. Stepping in between them once again.

She was painfully aware of how slow she was. Of how sluggish her body felt. Where before Saedii had been the faster of the two, now Kalth had the advantage. He struck out like lightning, forcing Saedii back to avoid his blade.

The pop of blaster fire suddenly filled the air behind them. When Saedii looked back, the vague form of the Batch was just visible in the smoke, clustered around Omega's position. Bright flashes of blaster shots lit the smoke around them as the stormtroopers tried to gun them down.

Kalth turned towards them. Saedii could sense his intention. The need to cut them down from behind. She jumped between them, forcing him back with a well-timed hit that caught his shoulder.

"Saedii, we need to leave!" Hunter's voice said on comms. A thrill ran through her as she realized that, for the first time since she'd met him, he sounded scared. "Omega needs help!"

"Kalth is here!" Saedii ducked beneath Kalth's next swing, kicking out at the back of his knee. Just missing. "Plan 74. I'll relay my coordinates once I've dealt with him."

There was a moment of hesitation, filled with the sound of guns. Then, "Be careful."

Kalth brought down his lightsaber over the top of his head, forcing Saedii to the left. As she ducked, he struck out with a side punch from his free arm. It caught her straight in the chest, knocking her off balance.

She stumbled backwards and gasped as the ground sloped sharply beneath her. Air met her feet. Her stomach dropped as she tripped straight down the sharp embankment, rolling along the rocky ground.

A harsh grunt tore from her as she landed on the bottom. Here, the smoke tumbled down the embankment, lingering low. Cutting her line of sight to next to nothing.

The Force hummed around her. Warning of danger. Far away, the sounds of blaster fire were growing distant. The Batch was making good progress.

Something shifted against her skin. She spun just as a red blade emerged from the smoke, reaching for her unprotected back. Sharp heat bit at her shoulder as he grazed her back, but Saedii's blade took the brunt of the strike.

Kalth pressed forward aggressively. Forcing Saedii back from the ferocity of his attack. His feet were steady as he moved, but she stumbled along the rocks. Still off-balance from the crash.

On her comms, Tech called, "We are almost at the ship. Saedii, what is your position?"

Saedii rolled as Kalth swung for her. She tried to touch the button on her wrist, to relay back, but Kalth forced her to keep moving. To bring up her lightsabers to block his press.

Suddenly, the ground at her feet lit up. She tripped as a blaster shot grazed her foot, taking her by surprise.

In her moment of unbalance, Kalth struck.

His blade whistled towards her head. Trying to take her unawares. Off-balance, desperate, Saedii threw both lightsabers up to protect herself. Over-compensating.

Kalth easily ducked beneath it. His blade flashed.

Pain exploded along the back of her knee as blood burst from the wound. It was a deep cut, severing the tendon in the back of her leg. The artery. Immediately, Saedii's leg gave out and she collapsed.

A scream burst forth before she could help it. Blood pooled on the ground below her and panic clogged her throat as she tried to push herself back onto her feet.

It was no use. Her left leg was useless. Unable to support even an ounce of her weight. As soon as she tried to stand, she was sent immediately to the ground. The rock beneath her was growing wet and warm, saturated with her blood.

"Saedii! What are your coordinates?" Hunter's voice demanded.

There was a moment of stillness in the clearing. Before her, Kalth stalked slowly, only a few feet away. He knew that she was stuck. That without her leg, she wouldn't be going anywhere. His triumph filled the Force, suffocating with its arrogance.

White armor pressed in around her from the smoke. Blasters were raised in her direction. The nearby hum of an attack shuttle engine was growing closer.

Something sharp pierced her gut. Fear.

There was no way out.

"Saedii!" Hunter's voice was more insistent.

Saedii looked up, tracking Kalth's path before her. The almost-lazy way he held his lightsaber in his hand. Waiting to see what she would do. Around her, the stormtroopers' fingers hovered on triggers.

A lightheadedness was filling her head, like she'd inhaled too many fumes. But even so, her mind was alert enough to recognize that there was no way that Hunter and the others could save her.

A slow breath escaped her. With shaking hands, she reached down to her comms and answered, "I'm sorry, Hunter. I'm not going to make it."

"What's wrong?" His answer was immediate. Voice shrill. "Saedii, where are you –"

"Plan 99."

Her throat felt too tight. The words scraped out like knives.

Plan 99 – the same plan that had nearly cost Hunter and the rest their lives last year. A sacrifice for the greater good of the squad.

Hunter had taught it to her in case she ever needed to get Omega to safety. It was a plan meant to protect Omega. To protect her.

Now, Saedii was using it to save them.

The world seemed to slow around her. The stomping steps of the stormtroopers around her faded away until it felt like she was in her own little bubble. Like nothing existed except for the small stretch of grass before her. Her head swam.

Saedii knew it was over. That Kalth would kill her.

The moment of her death had finally arrived.

Fear swelled inside of her. Tears pricked at her eyes as she was filled with the sudden, inexplicable realization that she wasn't ready to die. All her life, she'd accepted that death was just another part of her journey. That eventually, she would become one with the Force like so many Jedi before her.

Now that the moment had come, she wasn't ready.

"Saedii!"

There was more than one voice calling her name now. Pleading for her coordinates.

But they wouldn't be able to save her. If they came, Kalth would cut them down, one-by-one. Or the stormtroopers would blast them from the sky. Somehow, the knowledge that they could die scared her more than her own death.

They had to live. It was her only thought. The only thing keeping her going in these last few moments.

Pulling her comms from her vambrace, she smashed it on the ground.

Kalth watched the move in silence. He had to know there was a tracking device embedded inside. That Tech could have traced her coordinates. By smashing the connection, there was no way the Batch could find her.

In her hands, her lightsabers shook as she held them up before her. She would fight until the end – even if she knew that she wouldn't win. One last feeble stand, no matter how laughable it was.

With a lazy bat of his blade, Kalth disarmed her. Sending both lightsabers skittering away to disappear in the circle of smoke.

"Is that the best you can do?" he taunted. In his hand, his blade switched off. He was playing with her. Hoping she'd try something desperate to get away.

She didn't answer. Her breaths were coming quick and choppy, tangled by her fear. It was all she could do to keep breathing. To force herself to be brave even as she knew that she was about to die. The smoke shimmered around her and her hands and feet were starting to grow cold.

Around her, the troopers leveled their blasters.

"No," Kalth snapped, turning to look at them all. "This kill is mine."

The troopers back away, though they kept their blasters raised. Just in case.

"Time to die, Jedi."

This voice was a stranger. Nothing at all like the boy she'd known. It chilled her to her core. In that moment, she knew with certainty that she'd been wrong. The boy she knew was gone, replaced by someone who not only wanted her death, but was excited by it.

There was no use fighting it.

A wavering breath escaped from her. Swallowing her fear, Saedii forced herself to look Kalth in the eye and demand, "Take off your mask."

"What?" Her request surprised him. He froze, helmet tilted to the side.

"Take off your mask," Saedii repeated. A single tear wound down her cheek, but her voice was steady as she explained, "I want the last thing I see to be your face."

He was still as stone. His lightsaber, Saedii noticed, was suddenly shaking in his grasp. "Why?" he asked quietly.

"Because you're my friend. Or you were, at least."

Saedii wasn't sure how brave she could be in this moment, but the thought of looking on Kalth's face – of seeing his eyes one more time – made her think that she could do it. That she could die if she pretended that it was Kalth staring back at her instead of the eyes of an Inquisitor.

Troopers nervously adjusted their weight around her. Far away, the sound of an engine roared to life.

The Marauder.

The Batch would be safe.

To Saedii's intense surprise, Kalth reached up and removed his helmet.

His face looked so alien in this moment – gaunt cheeks and sharp jaw. Purple shadows beneath his eyes spoke of little sleep, and his skin was deathly pale. Those glacial blue eyes of his were swimming with emotion, though none that Saedii could recognize.

For a moment, the two just stared at each other.

Saedii stared only at his eyes. Remembering how they used to light up every time they saw her. How they'd fill with laughter whenever he told a joke. How they would look at her like his whole world revolved around her.

More tears slid down her cheeks. Holding her head high, urging herself to be brave, Saedii tipped her head back. Exposing her throat.

She hoped it was quick. That Kalth would strike true and kill her without any suffering. Saedii didn't think she could be brave if she was left to die slowly. As it was, it was taking all of her courage just to sit here and wait for death to come.

Red light illuminated the smoke. Kalth's blade.

Master, Saedii thought out into the Force. She held Kalth's eyes, trying to still the erratic beating of her heart in her chest. Master, I'm coming. We'll see each other again soon.

Plo would be waiting for her. And Ironside. The rest of the Jedi and the 104th.

Everything would be alright.

Kalth raised his arm. A flash of red rushed towards her face.

And then there was nothing at all.