Dravek scoffed, his fists clenching at his sides.
"This is a waste of time. We should be taking out those kriffing cultists, not running like scared rookies. We have the power to stop this!"
Evelyn's sharp gaze flicked to him, but she remained silent, her posture rigid. Kovu shifted uneasily, tail flicking as he looked between them. Dahlia winced at the hostility in Dravek's voice, her hands trembling at her sides, but she said nothing. Even Havoc, battered and struggling to stay upright, exhaled sharply, watching with narrowed eyes.
Dravek wasn't finished.
"We're Jedi," he pressed, stepping forward, his voice laced with simmering rage.
"We fight for people. We don't run. And we don't sit around waiting while people die."
His amber eyes locked onto Braze, challenge burning in them like a smoldering fire.
"You're not a Knight. You're just another Padawan. You don't get to order me around."
The words hung in the air like a loaded blaster. The tension was suffocating, the weight of the moment pressing down on everyone.
Then Dravek turned toward the plaza.
One step forward. Then another.
A breath away from throwing everything into chaos.
All eyes flicked to Braze.
Braze's pride wasn't what needed to be protected here. The padawans and the children were.
Braze under stood he must balance authority, diplomacy, and pragmatism. Dravek's defiance risks splintering the group, and making the wrong move could endanger them all.
The old Braze—his younger self—would have tried to enforce his will through power, using his physical prowess and command of the Force to put Dravek in his place. It would have been effective—immediate dominance, immediate compliance. But now, he saw the flaw in that thinking. It wouldn't unite them. It would break them.
Dravek wasn't thinking. He was feeling.
Trying to command him like a subordinate would only escalate the fight, and reason wouldn't reach him right now. What Dravek needed—what they all needed—was for Braze to acknowledge his emotions and channel them into something that wouldn't get them killed.
Braze exhaled sharply, making his choice.
"Fine. You want to fight? Then make it count." His tone was firm, but not dismissive. He motioned toward a vantage point overlooking the plaza.
"You and I create the distraction. But we do it my way. You're not dying today, and I'm not letting you get the others killed."
Dravek hesitated, his muscles still wound tight, but the fire in his eyes shifted—anger meeting strategy. The others watched, holding their breath, waiting to see if Braze's gamble would pay off.
This was it. The moment that decided whether they stood together—or fell apart.
Dravek's jaw tightened, his muscles still coiled with barely contained rage. His amber eyes flicked to the vantage point Braze had indicated, then back to the Padawan standing before him. He wasn't used to compromise—not like this. He was used to being told to stand down or being forced into submission, but this wasn't submission. This was recognition.
For a heartbeat, the tension held.
Then, with a sharp exhale through his nose, Dravek gave a stiff nod.
"Fine." His voice still carried frustration, but now it was directed at the enemy—not at Braze.
"But if this goes sideways, I'm not holding back."
It wasn't perfect, but it was enough.
Evelyn, who had remained silent throughout the exchange, studied Braze carefully before offering the slightest nod of approval. She didn't say it aloud, but she had agreed with Jasper's decision to put him in charge. And now, so did she.
"We're wasting time." Evelyn's voice was level, cutting through the fading tension.
"The pirates aren't going to wait for us to decide what we're doing. If this is the plan, we need to move. Now."
Kovu, having slinked back into formation after securing their flanking position, gave Braze an appraising look, then flashed a quick grin.
He twirled a vibroknife between his fingers before sheathing it.
"Just try not to get me killed, yeah?"
Havoc, who had been tense and restless the entire time, let out an irritated grunt.
"I still don't like sitting back," he muttered, flexing his injured arm with a wince.
"But whatever. Let's get this over with."
Dahlia, who had been quietly processing everything, gave a nervous nod, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Just… be careful."
Braze didn't waste another second. They had their roles, and now it was time to act.
And act they did.
The moment Braze gave the signal, chaos erupted.
Dravek moved first. He dropped from the vantage point like a meteor, boots hitting the pavement with a thud as he closed the distance between himself and the nearest pirate enhanced with Force speed. His fists were already moving—a brutal, driving elbow to the ribs before he grabbed the man by his collar and slammed him into the ground. The pirate let out a strangled grunt, the wind knocked from his lungs as Dravek turned, already scanning for his next opponent.
Braze wasn't far behind. The teal-green light of his saber cut through the blood-red hue of the dome above, casting long, jagged shadows across the plaza. The nearest pirate barely had time to register the glow before Braze was on him. A deft strike to the wrist disarmed a drawn blade, and with a powerful kick, he sent the man sprawling.
The trap was sprung—just not the way the pirates had planned.
Evelyn and Kovu struck next.
Evelyn was precise—a scalpel where others were hammers. She moved with cold efficiency, slipping between enemies like a ghost. She sidestepped a swinging club, pivoted, and delivered a calculated strike to the back of the knee. The pirate crumpled, and before he could react, she spun and slammed the pommel of her saber into his temple. She deflected blaster bolts left and right.
Kovu was all instinct and speed. He moved like a shadow, darting low and sweeping a pirate's legs out from under him. Before the man could hit the ground, Kovu was already on him, grabbing his head and slamming it against the stone pavement. He didn't wait to see if the pirate stayed down—he was already gone, vanishing into the darkness again.
Havoc, injured or not, wasn't about to sit idle.
A pirate lunged for Dahlia.
The Mirialan healer barely had time to react before Havoc threw himself forward, intercepting the attack. His body screamed in protest, his injury flaring white-hot, but he gritted his teeth and powered through. He caught the pirate's wrist, twisting it with a sickening crack, before driving his forehead into the man's face, horns and all. He too focused on deflection.
Dahlia gasped, stumbling back as the pirate hit the ground.
But they weren't out of the woods yet.
From the far side of the plaza, one of the pirates barked an order, and more figures began to pour in from the alleys and side streets.
Reinforcements.
Braze's stomach twisted. They had seconds before they were overwhelmed.
This wasn't about winning. It was about buying time.
He turned, his voice sharp.
"We've got what we came for! FALL BACK!"
Kovu was already grabbing the nearest child and pulling them toward safety. Evelyn kept to the edges, covering their escape. Havoc, despite the pain, moved to help Dahlia with the children.
Dravek hesitated for just a second.
The fire still burned in his eyes—the desire to keep fighting. To end this.
But then he heard the children crying.
He clenched his fists, snarled under his breath—then turned and followed the retreat.
Braze was the last one out, his saber flashing behind him as he covered their exit.
They had won the moment. But the battle for Ord Providence was just beginning.
They burst through the port, their boots slamming against the durasteel floor as the volley of blaster fire chased them. Red-hot bolts sizzled through the air, striking the walls and ground in violent bursts of sparks. The tension didn't break—not yet. Not until they were safe.
Knight Toth stood at the boarding ramp, lightsaber drawn, shielding the transport as Braze held the rear. His blade whirled in tight arcs, deflecting shot after shot, his muscles aching from exertion. Every instinct screamed to keep pushing, to hold the line, to ensure they all made it aboard.
Then, the ramp began to close.
The blaster fire grew muffled, swallowed by the pressurized seal of the transport.
For the first time since the chaos began, they could breathe.
Relief came in a flood—but so did exhaustion.
Kovu all but collapsed into one of the seats, his chest heaving, sweat matting his fur. His tail twitched restlessly, his adrenaline still running high.
"Holy kriff," he muttered, eyes darting between the others, as if needing confirmation that they had actually made it.
Evelyn remained standing, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides. Even now, her silver gaze stayed fixed on the viewport, tracking the city below as if calculating their losses—what was left to save. She said nothing, but the way her fingers tightened on the back of a seat betrayed the weight she carried.
Dahlia sank onto the floor beside the rescued children, her hands trembling as she wiped a streak of grime from her cheek. Her breath came in shallow, shaky gasps. Too much fear. Too much pain. The emotions of the city still clung to her, suffocating her in their sorrow. One of the younger children, no older than five, reached for her hand—a silent plea for reassurance. She swallowed thickly and squeezed it, forcing a wavering smile.
Dravek stood near the wall, his head tilted back, eyes closed. His fists remained clenched, knuckles white. He wasn't shaking from fear—he was shaking from restraint. The fire in him hadn't burned out, not yet. He had wanted more. Wanted to do more. But there was no fight left to have, not right now.
Havoc groaned as he slumped into a seat, gripping his injured side. Blood still seeped through the fabric.
"I don't wanna hear a single 'told you so,'" he muttered, his voice hoarse.
Kovu shot him a smirk.
"Wouldn't dream of it."
Then the transport lurched.
Knight Toth took the pilot's seat, engines roaring to life as the ship lifted from the surface. The city below shrank away.
But Braze wasn't done.
He turned to Knight Toth, his voice sharp, unwavering.
"Take me over the temple. I'm going back for the others." His stance remained solid, despite the exhaustion threatening to pull him down.
The weight of the battle was still in his eyes.
"Try and get a message out. Take them to safety."
Knight Toth's gaze shifted to him, measuring his resolve. The tension in the cockpit was dense. They had barely made it out as it was—now Braze wanted to dive back into the inferno?
In short order, the transport swooped low over the temple, the heat of battle still raging below. Smoke and fire painted the sky, the glow of burning structures casting eerie shadows across the wreckage.
Braze didn't hesitate. He threw himself from the loading ramp, the howling wind ripping at his robes as he plummeted toward the chaos below. The air rushed past him in a deafening roar, the ground racing up to meet him at a speed that would have turned a lesser warrior into little more than a smear on the temple's shattered stone.
But Braze was not a lesser warrior.
At the last possible moment, he reached out with the Force.
The invisible energy slammed into the air beneath him, slowing his descent in a violent push of kinetic power. His boots hit the ground hard, but he rolled with the impact, absorbing the force and springing up into a sprint before the dust had even settled.
Blaster fire erupted in his direction—pirates recognizing the lone figure that had just dropped into their ranks like a thunderbolt.
Braze moved like a wraith, weaving between incoming bolts with inhuman precision. His saber snapped to life—a streak of emerald light flashing through the carnage.
He was one man against an army.
But the army had no idea who they were dealing with.
