The dimly lit darkness of the drop pod was a welcome respite after the frenzied activity in the Incisor's embarkment area. Aadras had never been one for crowds and he preferred the company of his own thoughts or that of his Padawan, so he found that the confined space suited him just fine. He looked at Grozbecca standing across from him in the other harness, already going through the motions of strapping himself in. There was no need to speak the question which was clear in the Zabrak’s eyes – “are you ready?” that steady gaze asked. For his part, Grozbecca was just as laconic, settling for a simple nod. Aadras couldn’t help but smile at that; it seemed that his personality was starting to rub off on the young Wookiee. 

Aadras followed his Padawan’s example and fastened the belts of the harness, firmly securing his body in place. He’d only used escape pods a couple of times before and never in such a matter, so this was bound to be an…interesting experience. He had an idea of what forces to expect during their descent, but the construction of the harness, as well as the numerous safety belts he had to engage were more telling than any of the charts and diagrams he’d seen.  

Still, the Force would guide them, as it always had. Soldiers may rely on their shields and armour, but what the Jedi would bring to this war would be unlike anything they had ever seen, as the Mandalorians below were soon to find out. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes. 

The following events passed by in a blur. First, the hatch was closed, then a vibration and a shudder as the pod was moved into place. Next, of course, was the barrelling descent to the planet’s surface, accompanied by the crushing weight of the g-force which squashed them into their harnesses upon entering Javku’s atmosphere. Throughout this, Aadras was keeping his bearings and by his estimation they should be hitting the ground soon. Probably less th-

A feeling of danger overcame his senses, faster than thought. 

[i]”Brace! Danger![/i] were the only two words he had time to relay to his Padawan via their telepathic link. 

Then the impact of the blast came, sending their world spinning as the drop pod spiralled out of its trajectory. Many would have fainted at this point, but fortunately they were Jedi and their bodies were trained to endure such forces. It was still incredibly hard to keep one’s focus, however, and Aadras fought hard to suppress the urge to throw up as the lurching pod fell towards the ground. Their speed was decreasing nowhere near fast enough, which led him to believe that one of the thrusters must have been damaged. 

He couldn’t risk them getting stuck into this death-trap; they’d have to escape and they had to do it in the next few seconds. Recalling the pod’s schematics, he glanced to the side where he saw the switch that unsealed the pod manually, while the ones that disengaged their harnesses were in easy reach just above their heads. 

[i]”Get ready to jump!”[/i] he used telepathy again to alert Grozbecca. It was hard to do it while simultaneously getting ready to push two different buttons and turn on a switch, but he couldn’t trust that his words would carry over the din of screeching metal and burning gases. 

Reaching out with the Force, he pulled on the switch, causing the protective layer around the drop pod to peel away in a blast. A split second later, he pressed the buttons and the harness automatically unfastened itself, sending him flying into a freefall. He caught a glimpse of a brown tuft of fur somewhere to the right, but almost instantly lost the Padawan from sight. 

Aadras used the Force to dampen his fall and hit the ground in a graceful roll. The verdant blade came to life in his hands even before he regained his footing and was soon put to use as blaster bolts started flying in his direction. He used another downed pod as cover, taking a moment to better orient himself. Grozbecca was fine, he could feel the Wookiee was somewhere nearby, bruised but alive. 

Their pod had veered off course and crashed to the west of the landing zone, along with a number of others that had been befallen by a similar fate. He could see Republic soldiers trickling out of those damaged pods, dazed and disoriented from the impact, which made them easy pickings for the Mandalorians. 

His Padawan would have to manage on his own, he was far better suited to surviving the ordeal than these men and women. Aadras dashed out of his cover and began swinging his lighstaber in wider arcs, hoping to draw some of the defenders’ attention. An unnecessary tactic he soon realised; as the only Jedi in the vicinity, he was already a prime target. He advanced toward the spaceport, directing the scattered troops he came across to take cover by the rocks. The planet’s terrain was on their side at least, the large number of rocks and outcroppings provided ample cover. 

He heard shouting from one such outcropping, where a stern-faced human Sergeant was rallying her men and telling them to concentrate their fire. She turned her head sharply to regard Aadras with a scowl as he drew nearer. Whether she was about to say anything remained unknown, because he gave her no chance to speak. 

“Sergeant, we need to provide covering fire for our wounded!” He gestured at the pods behind them. “The Mandalorians are picking us off one by one!” 

“With all due respect, [i]sir[/i],” she shouted back, “the commander’s orders were clear. We are to assault the spaceport immediately! We must move!” 

She was right, he had to admit. Javku’s defenders might be recruits for the most part, but Mandalorians were well-drilled and they would organise a counter-attack swiftly. Every moment they wasted out here was a moment the enemy would use to regroup. 

“There’ll be no one left to hold the spaceport if we lose half our men here!” He hardened his voice and looked straight into the woman’s eyes. “We may be at war, but the Republic values the lives of those who serve it, we will not throw men away needlessly! Is that clear, sergeant?”

The woman gritted her teeth, but nodded in assent. 

“Good. Get heavy gunners on those hills there and lay down suppressing fire! Split the remainder of your men in two groups. The smaller one is to go back and assist the injured, then bring them here and hold position. You take charge of the rest and provide me with covering fire. After two minutes,“ he held up his fingers in a V shape, “advance on my position. Understood?” 

Aadras wasn’t sure that he was using the correct military jargon, but the Sergeant seemed bright enough to understand his intent. 

“Affirmative!” She cried over the sounds of battle. The high-pitched screams of blaster fire came from all around them, mixed in with the rumbling of autocannons in the distance and the wailing of security alarms across the Mandalorian compound. All in all, it was hard to hear one’s own thoughts, let alone commands of any kind.

“Corporal!” The sergeant cried into her comms, fingers pressed to the earpiece. “Get Dax, Bannis, Lem and Tavora and go back to the drop pods! Help the survivors get to safety. The rest of you, cover the Jedi! We move out in two minutes.”

That was Aadras’ signal to go and he darted from cover in a mad rush toward the spaceport. He had based his plan not on any knowledge of tactics or strategy, but simple common sense. They couldn’t leave those troops to die and they certainly couldn’t give up the element of surprise, so Aadras had to bear the brunt of this assault on his own. A reckless plan, even by his standards, but its saving grace was that they were coming in from the western side of the spaceport, which wasn’t as heavily defended as the front. The majority of the spaceport’s defenders were gathered at the main entrance where they were giving stiff resistance to the Republic soldiers trying to advance through an open field. Once again, Aadras was grateful for the rocks they had on this side. 

There must have been at least two dozen Mandalorians entrenched around the side entrance and, as expected, they focused fire on him. Aadras left the Force to guide his movements, trusting in it completely. One had to be calm, especially when in the eye of the storm, as that is what gave you clarity of purpose. In such moments of serenity, the knowledge of where the incoming bolts would hit came easily to him, giving him plenty of time to place his blade in their way. 

True to Soresu, Aadras kept the lighstaber close to his body, but he found himself using the deflecting techniques of Form V instead. Form III emphasised deflecting an attack away from the defender, while Shien taught that an enemy’s attack must be turned against them. And so, not only did the enemy fail to hit him, but he also saw some of the armour-clad figures go down, felled by their own blaster fire. 

He took no pleasure in the act of killing and the loss of life was regretful, but they had made their choice by being here and so had he. Perhaps the Mandalorians considered the Jedi as nothing more than peacekeepers and scholars, as so many others mistakenly did. But what they didn’t understand was that the unwillingness to draw a weapon did not mean that one couldn’t use it. They were in for a harsh lesson…