Chapter 5

Fei Tahn ran, spear in one hand and blade in the other, up the narrow trail to the top of the tall sea cliffs. She reached the top and her stomach dropped. The republic and the separatists were clashed in battle not a half-mile away. The sounds of the sea and the direction of the wind had hidden their approach. She was glad to see republic starships high in the atmosphere, but she noticed that the battle was moving in her direction. Fast. The separatists were losing, being pushed back toward the cliffs by the republic forces. A sound strategy, but with apparently overlooked collateral damage.

She ran. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, screaming all the way for her forces to drive the enemy in a different direction. She knew it was useless. They couldn't hear her, but she screamed anyways. A shockwave suddenly shook the atmosphere above her. A separatist ship dropped from light speed directly into the atmosphere. Fei came to a stop. 'No.' Her bare feet dug into the dirt. Fighters poured from the flight decks and tanks and troops were dropped to the ground just ahead of her. The infamous General Grievous at its lead.

She wanted to laugh and scream at the same time.

…

"Uh, General?" a clone trooper's voice came on over the com channel.

"Yes, trooper," Kenobi answered, lifting the back of his wrist to his mouth to speak in the midst of battle.

"I've spotted someone running toward the battle from behind enemy lines. I think it's a civilian- Oh! Enemy reinforcements incoming!" the trooper shouted.

"Damn!" Obi-wan cursed. "Get a fighter down there and evacuate the civilian, and see if there are any more."

"Yes s-" the com relayed before the connection went to static.

"Shot down," Anakin spat. He, and his padawan behind him fought angrily. The loss of their dear friend fueling an anger that made them ruthless on the battle field.

"Get a man down there!" Obi-wan called out over the coms. "We've got a possible civilian behind the enemy."

…

Fei ran back to the edge of the cliff. 'What was I thinking?!' she screamed to herself. 'Rushing into battle against blasters with a fishing spear and a knife?!' She ran back down the trail and to the barn and knocked on the wooden hatch. "It's me!" she called out. "It's Fei!"

"Fei," Tcheru answered, peaking up at her. "What's going on?"

"War," she stated. "The republic answered our call for help, but separatist reinforcements just arrived, and the battle is headed this way. I need to get you out of here… uh… do you have a boat? Big enough for the three of you? You need to get out of here."

"Yes," the man said, lifting the hatch all the way open. "Yes. Maeru, Harani, come!"

"I'll grab you some supplies. You three head to the boat and get it out on the water. Go, and don't look back," Fei ordered.

The Twi'leks rushed to haul their small sail boat past the shallows while Fei rushed to their house. The sounds of battle continued to grow.

"Hurry. Come, we're almost there," Tcheru said softly to his children, trying to comfort and calm them, as well as himself.

Fei ran to them just as Tcheru pushed off the ledge of the furthest tide pool, and out into the deep. "Here!" she shouted, reaching to put her basket full of food and water onto the sea canoe's platform. "I'll come find you!" she shouted as she turned back to the shore.

"What are you doing?!" Tcheru shouted.

"No! Maeru cried. "You have to come with us!"

"I can't," Fei turned back to face them with a smile. "I'll try to save your home. Plus, General Grievous has a date with revenge."

"Dad! No!" Maeru said, but he was ignored.

"We're headed due east. There's another group of islands about 20 kilometers out. We had better meet again!" Tcheru called out.

"Of course," Fei returned with a smile, then ran back to the top of the cliffs, weapons in hand. By the time she reached the base, the separatist forces were already retreating down the sloped trail, their backs turned and Grievous leading the withdraw from the rear. She sprinted forward and thrust her spear head into a battle droid, felling the machine easily and taking its blaster, and was firing blindly into the army of droids before Grievous could react.

Grievous turned in surprise, drawing his light blades to block the hot bolts by reflex. "Impossible!" he exclaimed. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"Improbable," Fei corrected, a note of mockery and amusement in her voice.

Grievous just snarled as he lunged toward her, sabers in hand. Fei rolled gracefully to the right at the last moment, allowing just a fraction of a second to nick her twin sabers from the general's hip. She ignited the lightsabers and aggressively went on the offensive, immediately driving Grievous to go on the defensive, reversing the roles of their last encounter. She swung her blades of green light with the intent to kill, done with her stalling and distracting. The android general could only keep up with her furious blows. He growled as he was forced toward the cliff wall, running out of space to retreat. Their sabers clashed, the pair pressed against one another, face to face, blade to blade. "How did you survive?" Grievous asked angrily.

"Do you know how many times you've tried to kill me, and I, you? How many times we've battled near to the death? Sweetheart," she said mockingly, but with a coy smile. "It's just not meant to be."

"Stop mocking me! Your toying… it's childish," Grievous hissed, shoving his foe backward and reaching for a second pair of sabers with his extra arms. "You won't be laughing when this ends the same way our last encounter did."

"Oh I don't know," Fei said playfully, angering the general even further. "I mean, I'd still be alive, and frankly, quite well." Grievous almost shrieked as he charged the young Jedi.

"You are INSUFFERABLE!" Even with four blades, the general couldn't lay a finger on the Jedi Knight. His rage was near blinding, an anger that continued to grow as the lithe woman simply danced before him; dodging and parrying; bobbing and weaving. She slipped around him, between his blades, between his legs. 'HOW?!' He was in such a fury that he didn't notice his army being torn down around him as republic fighters aided the woman they'd thought a defenseless civilian and mowed down droids. Clone troopers forced the war machines over the sides of the cliff and to their deaths below.

It was a voice over the general's wrist com that cooled his anger.

"Sir, we are overwhelmed," a monotone voice hummed over the com channel. "The vanguard fleet has been demolished. Reinforcements are being shot down. I suggest retreat."

"Send a gunship down for me," he ordered, clearing his head.

"Running away again?" Fei taunted. "Coward?"

Grievous remained silent this time, only narrowing his eyes in muted anger before lunging forward again. He came to clash against the Jedi, and their swordplay continued. Fei was a master of the blade, wielding her sabers with a skill that few other Jedi could match, and in a one-on-one battle, Grievous felt himself being forced into a corner. He cursed under his breath as every swing of his blade was met with one of hers, and unlike last time, she was not tiring or weakening in any way. He was finally saved by his gunship, the heavy blaster fire forcing Fei to defend herself on two fronts. "So long, General Fei Tahn," Grievous smirked. "Until next time." He saw an opening in her distracted defenses and kicked her in the stomach. The blow sent the woman tumbling down into the sand, a cough forced from her body as the wind was knocked from her lungs. Grievous took that moment to leap up into the air, grasping a tight hold onto the short wing of the small fighter and scrambling into the open cockpit. He sped off before the space shield had even closed around him, tailed closely by two firing republic fighters.

Fei rolled over onto her stomach and sat up on her knees, brushing the sand off of her. Droids lay around her; dead. A few remained around her, all with their weapons aimed high toward the tops of the cliffs, where clone troopers fired in return. They were easy enough to dismantle with the Force. She slowly came to a stand and brushed the sand from her knees. Then a voice from above called down to her.

"General Tahn?" a trooper called down to her, more in shock than as an address.

"Yes sir," she saluted with a smile on her face.

"Fei?" she heard Anakin shout. "Is that Fei Tahn?!" Said Jedi smiled even wider as she saw the young man lean over the edge to stare at her.

Ahsoka screamed in joy when she saw her lost friend's face. "You're alive!"

"And well!" Fei shouted back up.

Obi-wan and Rex joined the two on their downhill race to embrace a friend they'd all thought dead. Ahsoka reached her first, sobbing as she tackled Fei to the sand in a tight hug. "I thought you were dead!" she cried.

Fei laughed. "So did I! I'm so sorry I hurt you, but I see you finished the mission. I'm proud of you."

Skywalker smiled as he pulled the Jedi master and his padawan back up to their feet. He felt almost as though he were about to cry for joy. "Master," he smiled sincerely, and embraced her. Obi-wan almost broke his composure as he came to a halt in the sand alongside Rex.

"Fei," he said, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. "I've never been so happy to see you."

Fei smiled in return, then turned to her captain.

"Sir," Rex saluted, the joy on his face hidden from his general by his helmet.

"Oh, loosen up!" Fei laughed. "I just came back from the dead," she said as she hugged him, overjoyed to see her friend; proud that he not only survived, but succeeded in bringing the wrath of Kenobi's fleet down upon Grievous.

"Words cannot express how grateful I am, sir," he said sincerely, returning her hug.

Fei Tahn smiled, surrounded by her closest friends, but she quickly remembered that there were a few people sailing out to open ocean and the smile quickly fell from her face.

"What's the matter, sir?" Rex asked as she pulled away.

"Oh, I just remembered that I need to go fetch some friends I left in the middle of the ocean," she said as she ran down to the shore. "I'll be back soon!" she called out, wading past the shallows. She slipped her pants off when the water rose above her waist, and threw them back to shore. "Hang on to those for me!" she shouted, then disappearing beneath the waves with a splash, a tail sparkling with silver scales propelling her dive.

Rex quickly scooped Fei's canvas pants up from the sand and shook them out. He was still speechless as he folded the pants up and held them for his general.

After a moment of silence, Obi-wan laughed out loud, startling the quiet group. "I don't believe it," he said with a chuckle still in his voice. "Same old Fei Tahn. Astonishingly energetic, ever positive, and alive and well."

…

Fei quickly reached the family of three on their small boat. They hadn't gotten too far.

Harani was first to spot a white splash of water in the distance. She could've sworn she saw a giant fish fin slip back into the water just as she turned her head toward the sound. "Daddy?" she asked.

"What is it Harani?" he asked kindly, still putting on a show for his young children.

"I just saw something out in the water," she answered. Tcheru stopped and turned toward the direction his daughter was pointing. He saw nothing for a moment, and was about to dismiss it as a fish, when a head popped up out of the water next to their canoe. Harani and Maeru, both leaning over the edge to get what they hoped would be a better view, leapt back with a scream of terror as Fei Tahn's smiling face broke the surface of the water.

"Fei!" they both shouted after recognizing their friend. The family of three all leaned over the edge to see their dear friend.

"What happened?"

"Are you okay?"

"Did you win?"

"Is our beach okay?" Fei was bombarded with eager questions, the chatter not pausing to give the Jedi a chance to answer.

"Slow down, slow down," Fei laughed. "I'm fine. Your home is fine. Everything is fine. The beach might be covered in scrap metal, but I'm sure we can haul all that off for good use elsewhere."

The family cheered at the news. "Does that mean we can go back home?" Maeru asked.

"Of course!" Fei answered cheerfully. "That's why I came out to find you! Follow me back and we'll be home in no time."

…

The clones down on the beach busied themselves with collecting scraps of droids for melt-down. They talked casually as they worked about different things; but they could all agree on their relief that the general's mood had improved. News of Fei Tahn's return spread like wildfire, and the joy the news brought spread alongside it.

"I know captain Rex and his men were pretty torn up about it," a pair of troopers talked as they walked the length of the beach. "I've personally never met General Tahn, but I've heard the most incredible things from the men who served under her command. I know Cody speaks very highly of her; she leads in much the way General Skywalker does, supposedly."

"Hey," his partner interrupted, his gaze turned toward the sea. "Do you see that out there?" he pointed toward the horizon.

"Hello! Hey!" they heard the distant calls on the wind.

"What in the world?" one clone asked the other.

"Whatever it is, it seems friendly… And not hostile. Hello there!" he shouted back.

"Hey!" a much closer voice suddenly called to them. Both troopers jumped in surprise as they turned to see a silver head pop out of the water to greet them.

"G-general Tahn?" one of the clones stuttered, barely recognizing to woman he'd only seen over holotransmition.

"The one and only," she said as the pair ran over to her. "Those out there calling to you are the family that live on this beach," she said, pointing to the wooden house pushed up against the sea cliffs. She pulled herself up into the shallows, digging her palms into the sand to keep the waves from washing her up on shore. "Would you be so kind as to help them when they arrive?" she asked.

"Yes, sir," they both saluted.

"And can one of you go find captain Rex? He has something I need."

"Of course, sir," one trooper answered, rushing off toward camp, taking into his wrist communicator.

…

Soon, Fei Tahn was standing in the twi'leks' door frame on two legs and borrowed pants, ready to take her leave.

"We owe you our lives," Tcheru said, hugging the woman tightly, not knowing how to show his gratitude. "There is no thanks that I can give that could possibly repay you."

"Tcheru," Fei started with a smile. "Your family took me in. Fed me. Clothed me. Treated me as one of your own. I'd say we're even."

Tcheru just answered with a smile as Maeru and Harani ducked between his legs with a couple of sacks full of gifts for their farewell. It was mostly food; tropical fruits and nuts, and seashells, but both had added a toy from their collections.

"To remember us by," Harani said with tears in her eyes.

"Don't cry," Fei said as she kneeled down and hugged them both. "I could never forget you. You made me a part of your family; so I will come back to visit when I can, and bring you gifts and foods and other things from distant stars and worlds," she said, releasing the kids from her embrace. "I'm going to miss you, but be good while I'm gone!" She kissed them each on the cheek and gave a wide smile as she turned and ran across the sand to her gunship, hopping aboard to join her men and stand at Rex's side.

"Good bye!" she shouted her farewell, waving slowly with one hand. The gunship lifted off the ground with a growl of the engines, sending sand spinning up into the air. Fei watched the small family grow smaller and smaller as they shot up toward the top of the atmosphere.

"They're good people," Rex said, noticing that despite the smile Fei still had on her face, she was a little bit sad. "I'm thankful that they're the ones who found you."

"Me too," Fei said. "… But I'm glad to be back. And I'm proud of you."

"Thank you, sir," Rex said. "You would not believe how glad I am to have you back."

"Oh I know," Fei said sarcastically, placing a hand on her cocked hip and brushing her hair out behind her very dramatically. "You just can't live without me."

Rex chuckled under his helmet, and Fei joined him.

"It's good to hear you laugh," Fei said. "So let's hurry up and finish this war."

"Yes general," Rex agreed. "I look forward to it."

And so the gunship raced up to Fei's fleet and was welcomed into the massive cruiser. Fei turned to look at the blue planet from the flight deck. She would return. It was a beautiful planet, but was ripped away in strokes of white light as the cruiser made the jump to hyperspace, returning to Coruscant to rejoin the war.

[Cue Star Wars theme and roll the credits]

SO that's it people! I hoped you enjoyed! I really like this character I've made, so I thought I'd write "episodes" following her journey through the clone wars, and I'm liking it so far. Hopefully I'll start another one some time in the not-too-distant future. Tell me what you thought! Do you want more? Questions? Comments? Concerns? ... Suggestions? I love to hear from you! Thank you for reading!