One in a Million

Break Down

KD's POV
-----
    "Grievous is ruthless. If you see him, I want no hesitation to shoot. He must be stopped at all costs, and we must steer him away from the young cadets and any injured. Our forces will be set up so that we can guide him to this landing platform out this way. Understood?"

"Sir yes sir!" All spoke in unison. Jaina nodded,  brief and stiff. Her eyes were glittering.

             "Why, may I ask, lead to this platform?" Inquired KD, looking at the hologram of the base. Jaina looked to her and answered, "That's where I will be waiting as Grievous, hopefully, takes the bait and chases Shaak Ti. I need to be there because that's where my ship is...and my droid. From there, I will try and transmit a signal to the Republic Blockade above us and meet Grievous away from his troops. The coward is nothing without support from his droids."

Right, KD thought. As they had discovered very recently, their coms and all transmissions were jammed. Blocked. All cut off from going anywhere else but this base. Jaina couldn't even contact her droid, Rate, as she called him, from even here. They were trapped, locked in. Grievous had done a very good job in planning this attack. Whatever tech he had aboard the imposter star destroyer was powerful. Powerful enough to cut off the base from its allies.

       Shaak Ti, who had been standing beside Jaina the entirety of the time, stepped forward and gave a short speech. One that gave confidence to the troops. It was about valor and fighting for their kin...but KD didn't really listen. She stared at the floor, lost in her own world. Her dark hair fell into her face though she didn't bother to move it. She just stared. This was a real battle. This was a real war. She was in it, and she had so much to prove.

                     "Dismissed," said the Jedi. At that, KD snapped out of her daze. Shaking her head, she went to put on her helmet and walk off, but Jaina grabbed her arm. Not hard enough to hurt, but it held enough strength that she felt the grip even with the armor. When she looked back to the red haired Jedi, the woman said, "I sense your fear."

KD immediately became defensive. "Well your senses are wrong," she replied and tore her arm out of the woman's grip. She was glad no one else seemed to see that act of disrespect.

Jaina refused to relent, however, even as KD started to walk off. She just followed her as the clone made her way to the door. "It's nothing to be ashamed of," Jaina spoke, her voice calm as ever. KD couldn't help but respond, "Easy for you to say. You're a Jedi. You have things I— we don't. Not to mention, your experienced too."

    Her brow furrowed when the Jedi laughed. Janina's bright eyes met KD's. They were brown, a very deep shade. Nearly the opposite of Jaina's river-blue and clear eyes. She waited for an explanation.

     "I quite like you KD. You have a fire, but you have to learn to be less...assuming. Do you truly think I'm not afraid?"

"You aren't," KD said, but then... "Are you?"

    They walked out of the room and Jaina looked back as the doors closed. She turned her attention back to the young trooper. "I am. I've always been." KD looked at her.

"Why?" She inquired.

"Because...Everyone here is counting on me. On Shaak Ti. I've failed before. It is the worst thing possible, especially when lives are on the line. Not to mention, I, much like you, have much to prove to my peers. To everyone. I'm very young and rather...different. Odd. I know you certainly think so."

KD started. "How did you know th-"

"Your thoughts aren't particularly difficult to sense, much less to understand. I get it, I do." KD only nodded in response. She wanted to ask more, but didn't want to pry further. She didn't want to waste this woman's time any more than she had to. Apparently though, she didn't need to at all.

     "Do you know what the meaning behind "Fear leads to anger" is?" KD frowned, then shook her head. She swore she recalled where she had heard that...but the memory evaded her.

    Jaina explained, "It's what the Jedi say. Fear leads to anger;anger leads to hate; hate leads to the dark side...but I say that's a load of bantha fodder. Everyone has to fear. We are people and fear keeps us from getting too cocky or even reckless. Fear is caution, you just can't let it control you."

    KD inquired, "And how do you not let it win?"

      She looked back to Jaina and the woman, who was still a teen, answered, "You control it. Fear can be your friend as easily as it can be your enemy. Remember, the needs of others come before fear. See fear only as a warning, not a road block." KD considered this. Perhaps she was right...she should be afraid to fight, but not petrified. She knew the possible outcomes, and now she had to go through with it. Life wouldn't stop because of her. The war wouldn't stop either. Her fear didn't matter. It was little more than a warning. A warning which she knew and accepted. Now it was time to push past it, and fight back.

    As the two women neared the end of the hall and were about to hit the turns, the building shook and rattled. Alarms went off, flashing red and bright. Both stumbled and looked at each other, with what could be the last time they did, and nodded. They ran their separate ways. Jaina going right, KD going left.
It was time.
.........
(Short time lapse)
--------
Jaina's POV
---------------
She burst out the back doors of the base. These doors she had ordered to be unsealed as soon as they came into view. She needed to get to Striker, her ship. If she did not, then they were all doomed.
The metal shutters had lifted from that door and only that door. Her legs carried her through them and to her ship. She skidded to a stop before the ship and hit the button for the loading ramp with a slamming push of force power. The ramp lowered, and out came a rather cranky little tin can. R8.

The little droid beeped and whirred furiously for leaving him so long. Jaina dismissed the droid's complaints. "We need to get a transmission to the Republic fleet. We are under attack, which I'm sure you have noticed. And-"

    He cut her off with more beeping. Her eyes went wide and jaw dropped.

    "You have got to be kidding me....Force, no!" She exclaimed. R8 gave a sad beep. He could not contact anyone either. He had tried. Whatever was on the enemy's ship...that impostor ship...It held something within that blocked all transmission on the planet, not just the base. The coms, any off-world transmission...it was all shut down, R8 told her.

    They were truly stranded.

--------
KD's POV
------------
They were trying to break in.

The clones had all been spread throughout the base, KD and her Ghost Squad in the halls that would lead to where Jaina was with her ship. Shaak Ti was at the front, where the entry doors were currently sealed, several clones at her back, all ready to take on the droids.

Although KD was nowhere near the front, nowhere near either Jedi, she knew what was happening— could hear from where she was. The banging on the metal shutters. The droids were trying to get in, and it was only a matter of time until they did.

So she waited, on one knee behind some crates they had pulled out for cover. Snipe, Jax, Anon and Sparks waited with her— blasters out.

  This is real, she told herself. This is war.
———-

Jaina Vaas - Jay-na V-oss (Vahs)

KD/Kara - Kay-Dee, Car-a

Shaak Ti - Shok Ti