Survivor: A Star Wars Story

Chapter XV

REINA TAUTASKI

"Damnit." Reina spat as she kicked the remnants of a droid head across the dirt.

Carnage was the only word for what laid in front of her. The entire street was nothing but scattered limbs and droid parts. Makeshift barricades had been blasted to shreds along with the poor souls behind them and doors lay in splinters from being kicked down.  The smell of decomposition hung in the air like a rancid smoke and blood pooled around the mass of bodies on the ground, sprawled out lifelessly. 

"This is disgusting. Why go after civilians?" She muttered gravely as Commander Cody joined her in observing the mess.

"We're not sure of that yet sir. There's nothing at at the moment to show that they did anything to provoke the Separatists, although evidence suggests that they were ready for the fight." He answered gravely.

Reina scowled. "No, they probably did this in cold blood. That sounds like the Separatists all right." She pinched between her eyes in exasperation. "I'll call Master Kenobi.  He won't be happy about this."

"Sir." Cody interrupted before seeming to think twice.

Reina raised her eyebrows.  "Is there something you need to ask Commander?"

He paused before continuing.  "I'm sorry but I have to ask; are you all right sir?"

Reina's face dropped slightly as she glanced back at the bodies and pursed her lips before sighing.  "I would be lying if I said I didn't feel anything when I look at this.  But it's nothing that crying about it will change.  The best thing we can do for them now is make sure this doesn't happen to the city as well."  She stated before walking off to a quiet corner to call Kenobi.

Commander Cody yet again found himself marvelling at the mental strength of the Jedi.  He'd seen it plenty of times with other Padawans, but he never ceased to be surprised with how well they coped with situations like this at their age and how they always seemed to put a logic in their grief - something to make sense out of the mindless violence.

Yes.  Mindless violence.

That was just about the perfect word for this place.  Nothing but blood and bone, achieving nothing but further hate and further fighting.  Fighting for an impossible goal was something that not just Cody, but every clone knew all too well and yet something kept them at it.  Perhaps it was that they could get a shot at a peaceful life once this war was over and they would no longer have to fill out their roles as soldiers from birth.  The idea of settling down seemed almost absurd to Cody, as he'd never really known what it felt like, but at the same time that was why he wanted to have it - just to have something that so many others had.  Just like these people had.  Families, friends...

Families...

He started to frown as suddenly the scene in front of him started to break and make less sense.  All of the people here were adults, with the youngest in sight being of around age twenty.  There was around an even distribution of men and women and yet one glaring thing became obvious. 

There were absolutely no children.

Despite the limited resources, birth rates on planets with low economies like Jabiim were high, meaning that there should have been a lot of children, even in a village such as this one. Cody jogged over to one of the nearby houses. The door had been kicked in like many of the others and as he entered, he immediately started searching through the rubble, finding bits of pottery and personal belongings, but not what he was looking for.