In the middle of the battlefield stood two Jedi: Kuna Orden, a blue-skinned Twi'lek woman, and Rahn Phellis, a dark-skinned human man. They were trying as best they could to deflect blaster fire with their lightsabers, while shouting orders at their battalion of clone troopers.
In front of them were countless Separatist battle droids advancing toward them at frightening speed. The clones were taking cover while shooting at the droids. It was absolutely necessary to hold this position until reinforcements arrived. If the Separatists managed to seize this strategic area, they would build a base that would facilitate their conquest of the planet.
As droids approached their position, the Jedi used the help of teir greatest ally, the Force. Kuna Orden stretched her hand forward and several enemies violently flew backwards, as if they had been carried away by a powerful gust of wind. They never got up again. Rahn Phellis, meanwhile, deflected blaster bolts directly at the droids, disabling many of them. When the droids were close enough, the two Jedi began slicing them into pieces with their lightsabers, wielding them skillfully and becoming one with their weapons and with the Force. The Force that allowed them to sense everything around them and to predict what would happen in the next few seconds. This ensured that the Jedi would not let any droid overcome their defenses. Seeing their Jedi commanders fight so valiantly, the clone troopers felt renewed hope and new strength welled up within them. Courageously, they fought the enemy. They aimed and fired relentlessly. This position would not fall!
For several more minutes, the Republic military eliminated droid after droid, until finally, clone gunships, the LAATs, appeared in the sky and began firing on the enemy army with incredible firepower. Some of the gunships landed to drop reinforcements. The Jedi and clones, with the help of the gunships, quickly turned the droid army facing them into ashes.
Cries of victory and gasps of relief were heard all around, while clone medics rushed to tend the wounded.
Kuna and Rahn turned off their lightsabers and took a deep breath, looking at the carnage around them: dozens upon dozens of their soldiers' bodies were lying on the ground, and dozens more still seemed seriously injured. Kuna ran towards the wounded. Rahn remained motionless, trembling all over. He still had little experience with war, being only a padawan, an apprentice, and not yet a full Jedi Knight. His status as a padawan was easily recognizable, due to the braid of hair that hung over his right shoulder, symbolizing the rank of apprentice. Kuna herself was still a padawan. However, she did not have a braid, since she was a twi'lek, a species that naturally grew no hair. In this case, a different element allowed to recognize her padawan rank: a silka bead worn on one of her two lekkus, the appendages found on the back of a twi'lek's head.
Kuna and Rahn had both experienced a tragedy of the worst magnitude in the last weeks: their respective Jedi masters had been killed in combat. This was why they were now alone. The Jedi Code stipulated that in such an eventuality, the "orphaned" Padawans had to be assigned a new master. But given the exceptional circumstances of the Clone Wars, this had not been done yet. In addition, the Jedi Padawans still had a role as commanders within the Grand Army of the Republic, so it was important for the sake of the armed forces that they remained in place for the time being. Regardless, Kuna and Rahn had been terribly saddened by the loss of their masters, with whom they had strong bonds. But as Jedi, they had to not let themselves be carried away by emotion. They had be stoic and accept the events. Rahn, however, had cried for a few days following this tragedy, as he did not like the idea of not expressing his emotions, despite his Jedi nature.
Kuna used her knowledge of first aid and her skills with the Force to help the wounded, while commending their bravery and prowess in combat. The Republic high command tended to overlook the moral aspect of the clones, seeing them as nothing more than military assets to be disposed of as they saw fit. The clones were mass-produced in laboratories for the sole purpose of fighting wars, and as such, they were nothing more than "organic droids" in the eyes of the higher-ups. But Kuna did not share this view. As a Jedi, she had compassion for all life forms. Although the clones had been artificially created, that did not make them any less sentient. It was cruel to think that they deserved different treatment from any other "normal human".
Finally, Rahn came out of his stupor and went to help the clones and his Jedi colleague. The young man admired all the dedication with which Kuna assisted their soldiers, which in turn motivated him to put in extra effort to help these men.
***
The sun set and tents were set up. Campfires were lit all around and the troopers chatted and ate food. Kuna and Rahn were settled in their own tent, eating slowly and silently, without much appetite, sitting side by side. The shock of the last few days had not yet fully passed, despite the meditation they had done right before sunset. But they managed to comfort each other by their mere presence.
Kuna and Rahn had been friends for many years, having spent a lot of time training and studying together back when they were still younglings. At some point, they had begun to see each other less and less, when they had each been taken under the tutelage of a Jedi Master, each of them following their own master on various missions across the galaxy. However, they would still occasionally see each other at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Then one day, as Kuna and Rahn were young adults, the Clone Wars had broken out. During the following months, they partook in terrible battles. But nothing had been more terrible than the battles on the planet Malatrax V, where they had been stationed for endless weeks by now. The battles on this world were bloody and merciless and many Jedi had lost their lives, including their respective masters. Since this tragedy, Kuna and Rahn were alone with their clone troopers. Each of them had tried their best to support the other in this ordeal. They always stayed together, doing their best to survive and to advance the war in the right direction.
But for Rahn, the battle that had just taken place was too much. He finished eating, put his bowl and utensils on the ground and stood up, pacing around the tent.
"Guardians of the peace..." he whispered, before continuing. "Throughout our youth, we were told that we would be guardians of the peace. So what is this? What is all this? Why are we soldiers?"
There was silence, and then Kuna put her bowl of food on the ground, stood up and went near Rahn.
"We are here to restore the peace that has been shattered." she replied.
Rahn was unconvinced by Kuna's words. He looked at the sky outside the tent and declared the following.
"I wish I had been born in a different time period. Can you imagine that for the last thousand years, the galaxy had been in a state of peace? Why weren't we born in that time period, instead?"
Kuna lowered her head with sad eyes and then raised it to look at Rahn before answering.
"The life of a Jedi has never been easy, even in the past."
"Maybe not... but maybe it would have been better than now."
"Maybe, or maybe not" Kuna replied before placing a hand on his friend's shoulder and continuing. "But unfortunately, no one can decide when to get born. All we can do is worry about the present and the living beings who need us right now."
"Kuna has always been good at giving stoic answers" Rahn thought to himself.
Indeed, his friend had always been a good student and had always tried to be a perfect Jedi. However, he could sense that part of her stoicism was a facade. She was hiding her inner self very well, but Rahn could feel, through the Force, that a bundle of emotions were boiling deep inside the young padawan woman. After the death of her master, she had not shed a single tear. He knew, however, that it was not out of insensitivity, because Kuna was close to her master. Rather, it was out of a desire to remain stoic and thus follow the Jedi code of conduct. A few times in the past few weeks, Rahn could almost see tears welling up in the Twi'lek's eyes, but she never let herself express her emotions. He felt particularly sad that his close friend couldn't express those emotions and was letting them build up inside her.. He cared for her and wished that he could emotionally support her through this ordeal. He decided it was time to talk to her about it. He placed both hands on the young woman's shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. He then talked softly.
"Kuna, I know that emotions are hidden deep within you. I know that you want to run away from them and repress them. But I can promise you that letting your emotions speak will only do you good and that, in no way, will it make you a bad Jedi. In fact, I think you're a great Jedi! You are with me and you will always be safe in my company. I will never judge you negatively for that. On the contrary, I want you to get better."
Rahn could see tears in Kuna's eyes, but then, the twi'lek quickly looked away, pulled away from the man's arms and walked away before saying "I can't, Rahn. We can't. We are Jedi, we can't let emotions get the better of us. We have to remain stoic."
Kuna tried to hide her feelings as best she could, not wanting her friend to use the Force to guess what was going on inside her. Currently, she felt ashamed. The moment Rahn had said those words while looking straight into her eyes, the young woman had felt what could have been described as an emotional wave going through her chest. And she was very much afraid that this emotional wave was, in fact, romantic love. This category of love and the passion that came with it were strictly forbidden by the Jedi code, and she was ashamed to feel that.
The two padawans heard footsteps approaching their tent. Then a clone sergeant entered and spoke.
"Commanders, sorry for the disturbance. We have just received a message from General Typho. He will be arriving shortly."
The sergeant was referring to Jedi Master Orron Typho, a Zabrak man that the two padawans knew well. Kuna and Rahn came out of the tent. Up in the sky was slowly flying an Acclamator, one of the Republic's large triangular-shaped ships. From the direction of this Acclamator came a gunship. When the gunship landed, a few clone troopers came out, as well as three individuals dressed in Jedi clothing. One of them was a Zabrak man: it was none other than Orron Typho. Kuna and Rahn went to greet him enthusiastically. Master Typho smiled at them and greeted them cheerfully. The other two Jedi who accompanied Typho were unknown to the padawans, but they introduced themselves. Both of them had the rank of Jedi Knight.
After the military formalities between the clones and the new trio of Jedi, Master Typho took Kuna and Rahn to their tent to explain the situation.
The Jedi Council had heard of the situation of the two orphaned padawans and Typho had received the formal request to take Kuna and Rahn under his tutelage, but only temporarily. It was forbidden for a Jedi Master to have more than one apprentice at a time, but an exception had been made, given the catastrophic situation of the war. It was considered out of the question that young padawans be left unprepared, to their own devices. All the other masters currently in this sector of the galaxy already had their own padawan, but it wasn't the case for Typho. In addition, the presence of Kuna and Rahn in the sector was still important to the war effort. Once the situation in this region of space would have improved somewhat, the two padawans would return to the Jedi Temple, where they would each be assigned a new master. But for now, they would remain with Typho. The two Jedi who had accompanied him in the gunship would remain here, in order to continue the fight on this planet. As for Master Typho, he had other missions to attend to in other star systems in the sector, and Kuna and Rahn would come with him.
