Eonin had fallen to the ground in rubble, ash and shattered equipment and countless bodies. Between the Warden's self-destruct protection and the Republic's fire, the smoke had thickened blocking out the sky and lasted for weeks. The sun never pierced through the veil and the roving clouds cast eerie shadows upon the land. Fires went on unchecked for hours at a time sometimes into a whole day. The planet was plunged into an oppressive silence interrupted only by falling debris. Starships lay in pieces among the grass, although it had been one of the few spared locations of Eonin.

Far away from the wreckage was Nefara sniffing at the air and idly pawing at the ground. Occasionally, the beast would howl into the sky and listen for a response. But nothing came. When the air began to stink of oil and rot, the hound left.

On the sixth day, something stirred in the rubble. Parts of the fortress submerged into the earth had endured. Certain supports had failed and the building caved in on itself some more, blocking off pathways and revealing others. Reaching up through the it all, was an arm. Battered and scraped was the armor, but it had protected against minor falling rocks above. All around him was bodies, crushed and torn apart by the explosion. Breaching the wreckage and seeing the sky, Echo gave a tremendous breath. He'd been holding it while climbing through the corpses. Staggering to his feet, he allowed himself to fall down the small mountain. Coughing and hacking, he sprayed a small amount of blood onto a nearby rock and lifted his head to the sky once more. The sun was blocked out and he shivered, the earth cold around him.

The doctors thought he was dead. But not quite. While they had left then room, he overdosed himself on the paralyzer. He almost did died. They brought his body to the freezer where he was just barely aware of the mounds of death around him. He panicked, and allowed himself to black out. When he came to, an explosive racked the entire building and lay amidst rubble and corpses until he regained mobility of his fingers…then his legs…then gradually he crawled his way to freedom.

Echo staggered down onto the grass and put miles between himself from the destroyed fortress. Blood dripped from his nose and his vision was blurry around the edges. He fell to his knees in the grass and surveyed everything around him. After hours and hours and when what little light there was faded, the dark realization set in and he felt chilled to the bone. Nobody was coming. Nobody knew he was here and alive. Everybody was gone…or dead. Echo dropped his head and let his tears flow freely, sobbing into his hands.

Darkness descended quickly and then an odd sound came in the distance. It was a whistling. Echo lifted his head and strained to hear. The whistling while still faint, was growing closer. It came from many directions all around him. When Echo glanced about, he saw dark shapes appearing on the horizon. And the whistling continued, growing louder and louder.