A Star Wars Story: Not Our Time: Shadow Corps the Green Squad

Chapter 2

           Evadne's hands shook with anticipation. She peeked out of her hiding spot. She could see Anakin and Obi-Wan in the middle of the Geonosian arena from where she was. Padmé was with them. They were surrounded. She was glad they were still alive, but they weren't rescued yet. Evadne was itching to jump out then and there to help them. But she had to wait.
           "This party is over," Mace Windu's voice came from overhead.
             Ingrid nudged Evadne. "That's our que," she whispered.
             Evadne blinked back to attention. "Oh yeah." They ignited their lightsabers in sync and stepped out of the shadows. Across the whole stadium, hundreds of other lightsabers sprung to life. Suddenly, Evadne felt sickeningly nervous. More battle droids were marching in. Still tired from the other night, she was afraid she wouldn't have the focus to survive. She tried to push those feelings down as she jumped into the battlefield. I need to do this, for Anakin. For Obi-Wan.
             Evadne slashed every battle droid in front of her, trying to make her way to Anakin's side. It was too much, even with Ingrid by her side. She was forced to go on the defense, rickashaying every bolt off her lightsaber back to the sender. Everything was happening so fast. Before long, Evadne found herself cornered with the Jedi that were left. Surrounded by the droid army, Evadne realized that they had failed the rescue. The droids aimed at them but didn't shoot.
              Breathing hard, Evadne glanced to her side and saw Anakin. She nudged him. "You ok?" She whispered.
               Anakin nodded. "Yeah, are you?" he quickly replied in a low voice.
               "I think so," she said, checking herself over once.
                She looked around. Many Jedi had fallen, only a handful of the ones that had arrived were still alive. It was a wonder how Evadne was so lucky, going unscathed. Double checking, she looked for Ingrid to see if she was still there. She was. So was Obi-Wan and Padmé. But what was the point? They were surrounded. Their death was only a command away.
                "Master Windu, you have fought gallantly, worthy of recognition in the archives of the Jedi Order," Count Dooku's voice rang out across the arena. Evadne craned her head up to glare at the traitor. She didn't want to listen to what the old man had to say, but she had no other choice. "Surrender and your lives will be spared."
                "We're not hostages to be bartered, Dooku," Master Windu spat.
                 "Then," Dooku sighed, "I'm sorry, old friend."
                The battle droids aimed their guns at them. Evadne grit her teeth and stood her ground, looking straight ahead of her. She wasn't going to go down without a fight. Her grip around her lightsaber tightened.
               "Look!" Padme exclaimed. Seeing shadows move over the stadium and the faint hum of engines, Evadne looked up to see dozens of gunships circling down to them. She stared at them, baffled. But, they seemed to be there to help them out, blasting away the droids around them, so she just went along with it.
               The gunships settled around the group, creating a wall between them and the battle droids. Jumping out of the ships were... droids? No, not droids. They looked like droids with their blinding white plastoid armor covering them. But, Evadne could feel the life force flowing through them. They were men. Soldiers. But, how? Where did they come from? The Republic didn't have an army.
              Evadne's head was spinning. There wasn't time to ask all these questions. She could do so once she was in safety.
               A strong hand grabbed Evadne's arm, jerking her back into focus. Spinning around, she was greeted by a dark T visor staring down at her.
              "We have to go, ma'am," a deep voice came from it.
              Evadne didn't respond. She didn't move. She just stared at the visor, her wide eyed expression reflecting back. She noticed that he had red markings on his armor, unlike the other ones.
               He must've realized that she wasn't going to budge anytime soon, because he turned around and tugged her along towards one of the gunships. Letting her get on first, he whipped around to return fire at the droids. "Let's get them out of here!" He ordered, hopping into the ship.
               As they took off, Evadne stumbled back. Someone caught her. She looked up to see another soldier. This one had blue accents painted on his armor. He stood tall, pauldrons and kama adding to his intimidating look. He silently let go of her, his hand going up to grip a grab handle. She followed suit, standing on her toes to reach one.
               Looking past the trooper she saw the familiar red and gold robes of Ingrid. "Master!?" She called out.
              Ingrid turned, her eyes searching frantically, before landing on Evadne. "Evadne!" She made her way towards her, eyebrows knitted together. "Are you ok?"
             "Y-yeah..." Evadne blinked a few times. "Are you?"
             "Yes," Ingrid sighed, her body visibly relaxing, "I'm just glad you're alright."
              Evadne's eyes wandered back to the trooper with blue stripes. He was stiffly standing in between Ingrid and herself. She didn't realize she was staring until his black visor turned to face her. They stared at each other longer than Evadne was comfortable with. She looked away, her cheeks starting to burn. He was still looking at her. She could sense his curiosity towards her and Ingrid. At least the feeling is mutual. Finally, he looked away. She let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding.
               The other trooper, with red markings, came up to them. "There are droid reinforcements about 5 kilometers ahead of us. What are your orders, General?"
                Evadne looked at Ingrid. Her Master looked just as surprised as she did. She hesitated before opening her mouth. "Regroup with the rest."
                 "As you wish, ma'am," he nodded, turning to relay the order to the pilots.
                 Evadne shared a look with her Master. Evadne raised her eyebrows, questioning her silently. Ingrid shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head slightly.
                 Evadne looked back up at the trooper in between them. "Who are you guys?"
                 He seemed confused by the question at first, but he still answered. "We're clones, ma'am." He stated it like it was something obvious.
                 "Okay..." Evadne shared another look with Ingrid, "...But-"
                   She was interrupted by the gunship jolting and an explosion filled her ears. "We've been hit!" the red trooper yelled
                 Her stomach dropped along with the gunship as they plummeted towards the ground. "Brace for impact!"
                Evadne's hand instinctively seized onto the trooper's arm next to her. Her body lurched forward. Her head hit something hard. Everything went black.