Jiyad was afraid.

That much was certain. This was impossible! In-kriffing-concievable! They were the Empire's best, armed with the best equipment His Majesty had to offer and this...this nobody comes in to the frame and drops them like flies!

Who is this woman!

Teeth gritting, his E-11 goes full auto, puffs of ionized cloud fills the air only for his shots to hit a comrade as the unknown assailant flips him around to absorb the friendly fire.

"Zek! No!" Yelled someone over the coms. Trooper Zek's body was quickly dumped aside and the enemy was on the move, putting blaster bolts directly between where the eyes would be beneath that bucket helmet.

"Clear my line of fire!"

"67 move ya schutta, I nearly blasted you!"

"She's trying to get under our fire!"

"We're gonna blast each other to pieces!"

"Get her! Somebody get- aughgrhgrh!" Whoever said that took a blaster shot to the throat and started gurgling over the coms. Jiyad turns it off, he was this close to breaking and the last thing he needed was to listen to a dying man's drivel.

2 guys from Platoon 1 shove Jiyad out of the way, their repeaters blazing, eager to avenge their friends. All she did was swiftly roll beneath their fire.

"Oh-"

"Fierfek!"

Two shots, two bodies dropped.

Tossing aside the two blaster pistols she 'acquired' from the dead officers earlier on, her hands whip out a far deadlier yet elegant weapon. A lightsaber.

She drops a stance with the length of the blade parallel to the floor and the handle close to her shoulder. "We're so kriffed." Deadpans a random trooper.

Jiyad couldn't help but notice her stance brought out the muscles in those smooth legs of hers- 'Stop it! Blast her you idiot!'

She breezes through Squad 2 and 3 with little to no effort, their screams lighting up the general net with each death scream unique in tone and pitch.

More troopers poured in, only to be cut down by the assailant.

This is unfair! It can't be how this will end! To be cut down and tossed aside by a...kid. A kriffing kid! Fear and anger permeated in his being. Yes, TK-2208 was afraid. Not of dying but of being bested by a minor who by all rights could never hold a candle to an Imperial Stormtrooper.

All that training, all that equipment. Useless!

When he was sixteen he'd always imagined he'd die peacefully on a bed surrounded by friends and loved ones. At twenty-two after his first tour he thought he'd go down in a blaze of glory for the Empire on some unknown planet with his hands wrapped around a terrorist's neck.

Now, he's not so sure anymore.

In a matter of moments, only the Signal Trooper was left standing between the kid and command bunker. She was in the middle of finishing off her latest kill, a slash across the belly, "Gahh!" And finally a reverse stab through the chest. "Dohhh!" The trooper crumples with a moan. She gives a grim smile towards him and twirls the saber, step by step at him.

Yep, Jiyad had wet his pants. Not that he'd let anyone know that. Maybe that embarrasing bit of info would die with him. Or not. He's never been one to curl up and die whimpering. He has to survive, for his family, for his friends waiting back home.

"S..stay back!" Step.

"I m-mean it! Or I will-" Step.

"You'll what? Shoot me? You can try, Imperial scum. Surrender and I promise you'll be treated fairly and with dignity."

Like hell

"Bitch!" His finger squeezes the trigger, blaster on full auto, attempting to overwhelm her.

'Damn slow firing rate!' The E-11 wasn't built for expending ion bolts at a high rate of fire, rather it was a carbine designed with incredible stopping power and able to function in any environment an Imperial soldier would fight in.

Flipping crazy acrobatics around, deflecting blaster bolts back at him, the Jedi teen has him on the backfoot. Jiyad was forced to run and gun in the tight narrow corridor, dodging redirected blaster fire and being careful not to trip over his dismembered comrades.

'One shot! All I need is one kriffing shot!'

She's getting closer.

'Dammit! Just die already!'

And closer.

'Ossik!'

She snarls and lunges forward, with the intent to impale him. The trooper twists to the side and barely evades the attack.

'Vader's mask I'm still alive!'

She cuts upwards and slices his blaster in half, singing his fingers and palm. The intense heat elicits a cry of pain from him.

'Motherf-!'

Jiyad tries to overpower her with brute strength. Using his free hand, he grabs her sword arm by the wrist and attempts to twist it. A cry of pain from her indicates it was working. She responds by roundhouse kicking his side. "Uff..Off! Urghm!" He grunts in pain yet holds the vicegrip. She reaches for his other burnt hand and squeezes with her thumb. "Raaaaaagh!" He roars in pain and headbutts her, the helmet adding more power to his attack. In a stroke of luck the lightsaber slips from her hands. Jiyad kicks it, far away from the fight. He snags a nearby E-11, a plastoid armored hand still attached to the firing grip.

'Echuta what the hell!?' He tosses the hand aside.

"Not so tough without your shiny sword now are you?" Taunts the trooper as he takes aim at her. Blue eyes widen in terror, lips agape at how quickly the tables have turned. Jiyad could not help but feel her expression nothing short of adorable. 'No-no, shoot her!'

Click!

"What the-"

Click! Click!

Empty. Oh boy.

She grins and kips up. Jiyad attempts to give her a butt smash, she ducks low, brushes the gun sideways then kicks upwards. Now they were both weaponless.

No problem there, he knows how to fight. He'd learnt how to defend himself from the bullies infesting his school as a child but that was many years ago and Imperial Academy grade hand to hand combat was outright bouma shite. Oh well. Better to go down swinging at least. Her opponent's skin tight getup goes well with that ponytail hairstyle.

'Is that real or synth hair? Looks reals smooth- No! Bad trooper!'

Raising his fists to guard his jaw, legs in a '7' stance, TK-2208 prepares for the last fight of his life. Maybe. She does the same albeit her stance suggests her moving fast and striking hard as opposed to him playing defense.

He jabs - fast and clocks her nose. "Ugh!" Her cyan colored eyes widen in surprise. "Cmon, witch!" He taunts. She starts with some roundhouse kicks, he defends by absorbing the impacts, the armor he wore helped.

Jab-jab-hook-uppercut, dammit missed!

Hook-uppercut-jab-cross-hook 'hit her already!'

Hook-hook- 'Ragh! Hold still!' -jab-cross-jab-jab-jab-cross!

This was both tiring and stressful. She's dodging all his combinations, her movements fluid and graceful.

'Is she toying with me? Okay, eat this!'

Feint-hook! Ha gotch- oh krif! She took the punch head on and performed a hurricana which transitioned into a reverse headscissors. 'Can't breathe! Urkk!'

In another life TK-2208 would have been greatly aroused. Hell, This looked straight right out of those wierd bondage porn holos he watched as a teen. And to be honest, it was kind of hot, her strong legs wrapped around his neck squeezing the life out of -wait what? 'No! Snap out of it! She's just a kid! Not really, she looks way past puberty, 19 or 20! Why am I having these thoughts!? Must be the lack of oxygen.'

His arms were held down by her own, his neck's got her thighs snaked around it and the only vision he's got was a nice view of her ass. 'Not bad for a kid, huh she been working out? Snap out of it! I need to stop this! Now!'

He could try convincing her to ease up and strike when her guard was low. Downright dirty play but honour doesn't mean anything if you're a corpse.

'This better kriffing work!'

"Urkh...huh..Wait...wait...please!" He gave the most pathetic voice his throat could ever produce. 'This is so stupid, she'll never fall for this-' surprisingly enough the young Jedi relaxes her grip, if only barely. "I..I surrender. Don't kill me please," he whimpers, throat burning from the asphyxiation. Honestly Jiyad was hoping she'd just snap his neck with those awesome legs and spare him the humiliation of pleading. 'Wut?'

Her eyes rest on his twin black eye slits. Biting her lip in thought. "If I let you go. Promise you won't try anything funny?"

'Nope.'

"Uh, yeah! Of course and-and I could be real useful too...I know things!"

Liar.

"What kind of things?" Her eyes narrow.

'So adorable!''Shut up!'

"Names of important military personnel you can target. Locations of key installations, secret military bases! I used to be a runner for the Company's Officer Commanding so I get to handle real sensitive top secret stuff."

Slowly he feels the pressure being lifted off his throat then his chest. She gingerly tries to help him up.

"Thanks." He grins.

Holding on to the hand, he yanks hard, causing her to yelp and be pulled towards him. The other arm snaps in an uppercut, sending her reeling and tumbling along the corridor in a mass of brown hair and disbelieving blue eyes.

"Not!" Cackles the trooper. The saber now within her grasp comes to life with a snap hiss.

"Fierfek." She looks pissed. "Uh, you know I..I..heard Jedi were not allowed to get angry-" but a very angry yell interupts him followed by a slash which nearly bisects Jiyad if not for him taking a hasty step back. "Or hate, krif! Gah!" He runs for his life as she charges, lightsaber raised over her head. "Get back here Impy scum!"

'Impy scum? Aww that's so adorable. What else will she call me-oh.'

She began firing Huttese cuss words at the top of her voice.

He wrenches a chest plate off a dead trooper and swings.

She ducks and sweeps her leg out.

"Doh!" He falls and she lands with her knee on his chest, winding him. Jiyad catches her fist, locks his leg, flips her over with a thrust of his hips, secretly aooreciating the muscles rippling in her abdomen and the uhm- nevermind.

As Jiyad began to rain blow after blow- wait, she holds a palm out and sends the trooper crashing into a wall. Something cracked, but at least he's alive.

'Can't move. Agh! My back hurts!'

The lightsaber now settled dangerously near his throat. He could feel the heat radiating off the sword.

"If you had surrendered, information or not, I would have done all I could to make sure you get fair treatment. Nobody else had to die you know?"

"You cut my friends in half and expect me to surrender? Delusional witch the only fair treatment is to repay you rebel scum in kind."

That sentence triggered her.

"You think I like cutting down people? You think I enjoy listening to their screaming as they die?"

"You seemed like you did back there, with all those good men you slaughtered!"

"I killed them because I'm fighting for a purpose! Not for sport or fun!"

"Yeah well so were we! At least we don't see a point in making the enemy suffer, one clean shot that's it. Why else would you cut Lieutenant Graves into 5 kriffing pieces. What? bisecting him wasn't good enough for you?"

"I didn't want that to happen," her voice soft, almost eliciting sympathy from the Stormtrooper. "I had no control over what happened to your officer, the force was guiding me throughout the entire fight, I was but a vessel made to watch."

"Oh the force huh? Now you're blaming that magical crap-"

"That magical crap you deny exists in all forms of life. Without us it cannot exist and without it-"

"What? Without it we cannot exist as well? All bouma shite. You're telling me you just picked up all that fancy CQB moves and that kriffing scary laser sword from some magical all encompassing life force doo hickey poodoo? Come on, I'm not buying it."

"Oh yeah? Well since you're sooo smart, why don't you give your own explanation."

"Easy. Lotsa bit of brainwashing here, regimental training there-"

"Don't compare us Jedi with how the Empire trained you guys!"

"Well the truth hurts! Newsflash girl but we Stormtroopers chose this life not to terrorize people or blast angry farmers. We enlisted to be a part of a better future, make it safer and better for the new generation, no matter how ungrateful they will be. Kath-hound shites like you are the reason why there's no order in this kriffing galaxy, why this war's been dragging on for decades. Maybe if you lot just do your part, quit ya yapping about all that 'freedom and democracy' rubbish and contribute to the New Order, then maybe we'd have wiped out organized crime and ushered in a new age of peace by now! But no, you take your bouma shite to the next kriffing level and start bombing Imperial Centers, assassinating Imperial governors, attacking Imperial personnel. I had a friend who was a cook in the navy. Real harmless guy, happy with his job to travel the galaxy and pursue his kriffing passion in cooking. Last year the rebs kidnapped him during his RnR and publicly executed him. What crime had he done? Huh? For being an Imperial? For feeding the troopers and the pilots?, look me in the eye when I'm talking, scum!"

The Jedi looked away, ashamed. "You can't-can't blame us for the actions of a few-"

"Don't give me that crap, you're the kriffing Rebel Alliance, if you knew a cell was frakked up the least you could do was hold them accountable, oh wait, you didn't cos you're too busy celebrating the deaths of Imperial citizens. Moff Bern, remember him? Your people shot him in front of his family during Empire's Day parade. That man brought crime rate to an all time low, abolished the slave trade in his planet and uplifted the economy for the first time in centuries! I remember reading your propaganda holo, gloating about killing the 'tyrannical aristocrat'."

Alena had heard of the news, hell she even attended a small celebration hosted by Mon Mothma herself for the Alliance Chief Of Staff in honour of their successes and made a brief mention of the moff's demise. She felt sick in the gut. Was the Stormtrooper still ranting? Oh wait he is.

"-not to mention everyone in this unit I know and care about is dead! Dead at the hands of a brainwashed underaged psychopath!"

'That was one long rant. Its good to let out all that pent up frustration too.'

"News flash buckethead, I don't enjoy killing people! And for every bad rep you can pin to us rebels, I can easily match the attrocities the Empire is responsible for and we'll never hear the end of it. I want this war to end, as much as you probably do Stormy but peace cannot happen, not when the galaxy is gripped in terror against a madman sitting on top of a throne built over lies and bodies of countless innocents."

"Madman!? That's Emperor Sheev Palpatine to you! He brought us all together, he rid the senate of the corrupt! He made the streets safe for us again! And it was his kriffing wisdom that ended the Clone Wars!"

"He ordered the deaths of tens of thousands of jedi! He sacked the Jedi temple! He gave the order to cut younglings down! He built a kriffing space station capable of destroying planets! Tell me how this is not the actions of a madman?"

Jiyad frowns at this. So she knows the true intents of the Death Star. Well, damn. Rebs got good intel.

"It was necessary,"

"How is building a superweapon ever necessary!? Force, I can't believe I'd ever meet someone try justifying the Death Star!" She throws her arms up in exasperation, the saber in her hand making a light hum while in motion.

"Talking to you rebels didn't work, we don't negotiate with terrorists and never will. Blasting them seems to be a temporary issue, kill 1 and 10 more pop up the next day. As large an organization the Imperial Army is, we can't be everywhere, big kriffing galaxy out there. HighCom needed a way to keep the rebellious systems in line, they figured if they had a weapon capable of destruction on a galactic scale, maybe-"

"Maybe people would keep in line." She finishes her sentence softly. He nods. "You can't seriously believe people would lay low and not fight back."

"We didn't thats why Grand Moff Tarkin fired it once. And only once."

"On Alderaan."

"Yes, the beating heart of the Rebel Alliance."

"I don't think that anything can ever justify murdering billions of citizens, inmocent or otherwise."

"That's what made the Republic weak, blind, unable to stomach what's needed to be done. To take a firm stand against injustice. Emperor Palpatine saw the rot, where it started and where it ended."

"The Jedi."

"One of the many problems plaguing the Republic, yes."

"So you commit one injustice in order to rid yourself of all other injustice?"

"For a better world, yes. Would you rather live in a world with drugs and gangs corrupting the youth? Gunfights between local law enforcement and organised crime syndicates an everyday matter? Smugglers, pirates, slavers a common sight in the damn streets? That was the reality I faced as a kid!" The Jedi takes a step back stunned, the Stormtrooper as well. That wasn't something he intended to let out. Oh well, too late now.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Course you didn't. You grew up in a fancy temple cut off from the outside world, surrounded by those other force magicky cultists of yours brainwashing their holier-than-thou-attitude into ya. But, I'm surprised to say that you don't display those qualities."

"I can't ever agree to condone genocide but can we at least agree something needed to be done at least?"

"Yeah," The trooper slowly nods. "That, we can, reb."

The memories of her childhood with her real parents were vague. The only prominent ones were her fleeing the her home planet as Imperial forces invaded and her Master saving her. Upon discovery of her force sensitivity, he took him under his wing and guided her, nurtured her.

"That's not what my master taught me."

"Then let me give you a little piee of Imperial history, the Jedi tried seizing power for themselves, a parody of peacekeeping warrior monks, they'd grown corrupt and blinded by power, sticking their noses into Republic politics when they shouldn't. They even tried to kill Palpatine when he would not bow to their whims!"

"He was a Sith Lord!"

"So? You'd kill a man just for having a different intepretation of your wierd cult? Damn you Jedi are petty."

"You don't understand how the Sith very nearly shattered the civilised world."

"Piss off schutta, as far as I'm concerned you rebels nearly shattered the stability of this galaxy itself."

"Ugh, why am I even arguing with you?"

"Pfft," The helmet's vocoder had dificulty emitting that noise. "Then just kill me and be done with!"

"I told you I don't kill without good reason and neither do I enjoy it."

"That's rich so what do you enjoy?"

Alena stopped herself there. Having an argument with a Stormtrooper no less had been surprisingly thrilling yet immensely frustrating to the extreme. However it did led her to an insight into the average Imperial's mindset. But what he asked for was personal, something she should not be discussing with an enemy combatant.

"We're not talking about this."

"Oh nonono, we are!" She rolls her eyes. "Cmon, you obviously don't seem like the type to be cooped up in a cave meditating like a hermit. No one's gonna know anyway, you can trust me." She had a feeling the trooper even slipped a wink under that intimidating helmet. A few moments pass and neither spoke. Suddenly, "Wanna know what I like?"

Ugh should she humor him? Might as well, she did decide to spare him after all. He might just offend her hard to enough to kill him anyways.

Maybe.

"Placing your boot on top of some alien's throat while waving the banner of the Galactic Empire and proclaiming how their planet belongs to the Empire?"

Even with the helmet on she could tell he was amused and smiling. "That too but really, I..like..ugh..please don't laugh,"

She suppresses a small giggle. "Really? Is the Empire's finest scared of the opinion of a 'little girl'?" She teases. Jiyad can't help but be captivated by the light airy giggle she emits, the way the blue eyes widen with life, how her dimples seem to stretch each time she smiles...wut?

"Nuh-no! You don't look that young. I know its rude to ask a woman her age but, how old are you?"

"Noo! You're deflecting! Cmon you've gotten my interest, tell me!" She whines in an adorable way. Jiyad nearly held his hand out to scratch her nose until he realizes her lightsaber's still pointed at his throat. Although now her grip is much more relaxed.

"During my RnR, I make it a habit of visiting the cafes and diners of the planet I'm stationed on. Like, its fun travelling around the street without armor on, getting those wierd looks and you get to try all these local delicacies."

Her eyes widen in delight and squealed, "You're a foodie too?"

"Wh..what's a foodie!"

"That! Just now what you described! You like travelling and-and going around eating food right?"

"Uh-yeah, that's a foodie?" She nods. "So you too?" More nodding. "Mphm!"

"Wow, uhm. Ahem, damn rebels! Get your own hobby!" She giggles and snaps shut her saber.

"What?"

"What?"

"You powered down that sword of yours."

"Of course, I've decided to take you prisoner. You are now under my charge." She smirks.

What!?

"No. Not happening."

"Oh but the way I see it, you're unarmed and have no means of fighting back. You. Lost." She grins with a smug tone.

"No I didn't, I was winning."

"With my legs wrapped around your neck, yeah sure you were." He's thankful for the helmet. Otherwise she'd see him blush. Interacting with women had never been his thing. "Urrrkkk nooo arghh don't arghh!" She imitates his desperate tone a few moments back causing the trooper to sputter.

"No! No! I did not sound like that!"

"You did."

"I did not."

"You did."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Ugh fine! Rebel scum!" He huffs. "What happens now."

"Now, you will lead me to the command bunker and open the doors."

"I'm just a trooper, I have no clearance."

"Bouma-shite!" She snorts, 'Using my own lines against me? No originality.'

"Why should I help you anyways? So you can kill more Imperials?" Her face fell.

"It's not like that. I wasn't gonna kill them flat out, I'd have given them a chance to surrender."

"Like how you barged in and started with all that blaster-kata stuff?"

"Blaster-kata?"

"Never watched action holos before?"

"Err no."

"Well that's sad. Maybe one day I can take you to watch a few."

"I see. Thanks for the offer but I'm good. A jedi should always abstain from trivial pleasures."

"You're no fun. Just when I thought you had a streak of naughtyness in you. And you call yourself a rebel." A shy grin. Aww!

"A different type of rebel."

"Mhmm, still not gonna compromise Imperial secrets. Anyways the room's empty. We scrambled the database and bought enough time for the Higher Ups to evac before-" he pauses.

"Before I came."

"Yeah," he seemed upset. Alena placed a comforting hand on her prisoner. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"For..for killing your friends. I know what it's like to lose comrades."

"It's fine. Loss is a common things in the corps. I'll mourn them in my own way. But I appreciate the sentiment. Thank you."

She smiles. And he can't help but feel his heart flutter. He'd do anything to see that smile again. 'Da-krif is wrong with me?'

She holds her hand out, startling him. "Alena Varne. Jedi Padawan, nice to meet you Stormy." The Stormtrooper stares at the outstretched hand. Dare he? What if this was a trick? Friendship in one hand but a vibro blade in the other, Jedi were known to be cunningly deceptive. He felt this one was genuine. He wanted to believe her.

"TK-2208, 3rd Stormtrooper Battalion, Aurek Company." He shakes her hand. Yep this wierd captor-prisoner relationship is definitely going to be a doozy.

'What the hell is a doozy?'