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Telora was donning her armour, but when she was on her way to put her regular lightsabers away and pack her Temple guard dual bladed one, she paused.
The force was insistent on bringing them along, which did not bode well for her day. While the Temple guard dealt with security, the most they ever had to deal with were drunks and protesters or the few infiltrators.
But the force insisted, so instead she relayed her feelings to her fellow guards through their chat and focused back on work. Today, she and her partner got stationed at one of the side gates.
These doors were only for evacuation and were otherwise a front. They existed in case of a fire or something of a similar threat, where the main entrance might be too far away. But in case of an attack, there were other exit points that only the guards knew of in case of traitors. Those exits were new and got made after multiple Jedi had fallen and joined the CIS.
Usually she would spend her time either meditating, playing games or talk with her fellow guards, but with the force nudging her the entire time, she remained vigilant. They always trusted their instincts to most of the guards would do the same.
Despite her attentiveness and only occasional brief meditations, nothing happened until sunset.
However, the feeling had yet to stop. She wasn’t sure why she did it, but she called up their General Chatroom and pulled everyone on duty into a voice call.
It wasn’t that rare for it to happen, so the others just rolled with it and talked.
Rakk was suddenly sending an attention signal to all of those not on the call.
“I have what appears to be the 501st, and a cloaked being coming straight at us.”
While that shouldn’t have made her feel worse, it did. So she did the only thing she could do at this moment.
“Something feels wrong. Be careful.”
What greeted her was a wave of affirmatives.
“Skywalker?”
Telora was on alert instantly when the unmistakable sound of lightsaber clashing entered her ear.
She wanted to run to the attacked area, but they had a separate squad for that, and abandoning her position would only leave the temple open for a breach.
A warning from the force almost came too late as she forced the both of them onto the ground to dodge a wave of blaster fire.
“Rokk here. The Temple is under attack. The clones are being led by the fallen Jedi Knight Skywalker. Treat all clones as hostiles until further notice and prepare evac.”
Telora could hear his laboured breathing through the comms and could only hope he would be alright. The temple guards were among the best, but few Jedi were on Skywalkers level. Even fewer of them were part of the Guards.
While important, the Guards had never been a famous posting.
In the meantime she had pulled her blade out and separated the double-bladed lightsaber into two. While she was getting covered, she used the opportunity to decapitate a few of the clones attacking them, and force pushed another group to the ground to regain some space.
It took the both of them a while, but with their teamwork and the clones’ robotic movements, they won in minutes.
Thanks to their helmets’ HUD, they didn’t need to communicate with the others to see where the attacks had progressed. Already three guards, including Rokk, died while the enemy breached the entrance, forcing their defences back inside their temple. The alarm was already blaring and after closing the reinforced doors they had just guarded, they rushed to the nearest defence line.
“Orders from the Captain. We have lost contact with the Councillors on planet and will act as if they are dead. Those of you who are currently free and not in combat, collect all masters and knights and have them help the defences. You may choose a few of them to accompany you. I want each of you to get a group of initiates and get them evacuated.”
Telora stopped in her tracks with her partner, and they turned around to fulfil their orders. During the entire time they ran, they continued to receive updates and orders.
“Evacuate using land-routes only. We have reports on the 501st not being the only legion that is compromised.”
“Sector one and two have fallen. We have 31 causalities. Expect combat in Sector five, six and eight.”
“Skywalker is continuing to cause the most damage. Our lines can’t hold with him here. Someone get the Battlemaster or we will lose the temple.”
Telora continued listening to the chatter while grabbing every Jedi she came across and giving them orders what to do.
They had finally reached a filled Initiate dorm. The first two were empty, but the third was full of initiates and a few Padawan along with a single Knight.
“We will evacuate you. Follow us.”
Her partner took the lead while Telora covered the back. Since the clones hadn’t breached this far yet, they could still concentrate on the evacuation instead of forcing a way out.
Shortly before they reached the evacuation tunnel, they ran into another group of guards, who were evacuating a group of initiatives.
Since the other group had quite a lot of Jedi, along with two Guards, Telora and her partner let their groups merge while they continued evacuating other groups.
It had risks, but the Temple was being attacked. Risks were inevitable.
Their second run was not nearly as smooth as they encountered a squad of clones. Despite the interruption, the duo dispatched the clones and soon found a small group of older initiates.
Since there was another evacuation tunnel close by, they made a break for it. Occasionally, they would run across both Jedi and clones. While most of the Jedi stayed to buy more time for the evacuation, some agreed to help and soon a small group of ten initiatives, three knights and one master were following them.
“Shit, this is B speaking. Both the Captain and Master Drallig are dead. The Clones have breached Sector ten, nine, five, six and eight. Clone activity continues in the other sectors. The only sector that has reported no breaches is sector thirteen. Expect combat soon as well as a likely breach. Combat will be inevitable during evacuation. Form teams of at least five and take anyone you come across with you. Our defences are bust. Focus on evacuation only. I’m afraid the Temple is going to fall today. I will join with Master Richmil and Master Rus to tie down Skywalker in sector seven, but I’m afraid we will not last long. B out.”
Telora cursed as she stopped in her tracks. If so, Skywalker blocked their evacuation route. She traded a small look with her partner and watched their shoulders sink in resignation.
While the group changed their course to account for Skywalker, Telora made her way to the fight. While she was far from Master Draillig in skill, she was still one of the best combatants in the guard. Now it only depended on the Masters and B still being alive. If they were, Skywalker might die.
Sector seven crushed her hope the moment she stepped inside. While B was still alive, he had a nasty gash on his arm, which would prove fatal in a fight. Master Rus was still standing, exchanging blows with Skywalker and keeping him from taking out B.
Without pause, Telora pounced and ignited her Lightsabers. Skywalker blocked them as expected, but it bought Master Rus enough time to get B out of the way of the next attack.
Since she knew B was useless, she gave him a new order. She just hoped he would accept. While she was his superior, B was already half delirious.
“B, take Master Rus and evacuate. Meet up with my group if possible. I will hold him back.”
Seeing B’s predicament, Master Rus relented, acknowledging Telora’s superior duelling skills would better contain Skywalker.
“Goodbye, T.”
Telora nodded before blocking another strike aimed at the two behind her. They could only hope that the evacuation was a success because Telora could do nothing to influence it anymore aside from keeping Skywalker away.
But if she was honest, even that had little use at this point. Even Master Draillig had lost to Skywalker. The Clones had likely been a big part of it, but every other Master would have the same problem. At this point their only hope was Master Yoda, Master Koon, Master Windu and maybe Master Kenobi returning to take Skywalker down. Everyone else would only fail.
Telora winced as another strike broke through her guard, singing her arm. She had planned to force Skywalker to follow her away from the surviving Jedi, but she had overestimated her abilities while under constant fire.
She was struggling to survive, and had been pushed back time and time again.
“This is B. We have met up with the last evacuation group. But I’m afraid the clone have blocked off the other routes.”
She cursed as she heard about their status. At that moment, the voice of the Oldest members of the entire guard resounded through every channel.
“I’m afraid the clones have blocked off most, if not all, of the evacuation routes. To all the surviving guards, buy as much time as you can for the evacuated. Larger groups should try using their lightsabers to cut a path through to the lower temple levels. May the force be with us.”
Telora used Skywalkers’ next attack to retreat a dozen metres to give herself a breather, but a second later Skywalker was back on the attack.
She knew she was going to die here. Had known it the moment she arrived, but the longer the fight went on, the more she realised just how low Skywalker had fallen.
There remained a difference between fallen Jedi. People like Offee were of the least dark variant. Despite their failings, they remained open to reason, as long as the subject didn’t touch upon the cause of their downfall.
But Skywalker’s reasoning was gone. She doubted any means existed to stop his rampage. Whatever he had fallen for, she doubted it would survive him.
That’s when she made her mistake. She had missed the angle to block the incoming sabre by 4°, which meant the sabre punctured her thigh.
She had little time to raise her lightsaber before the sabre pierced through her chest.
The lightsaber felt alien and heavy in her numb hand; the searing pain was a dull echo of a life cut short.
A tear escaped, tracing a cold path down her cheek as she whispered a silent farewell, her fading strength unable to convey the feelings in her heart.