3rd person:

Sansa tensed, clutching the handhold of her lightsaber as she surveyed the heavily armed Mandalorian warriors that had her and Torrin surrounded. The densely forested clearing of Dantooine had been a perfect setting for the Mando ambush. Sansa advanced out cautiously with the Force, discerning the broiling anticipation for violence emanating from everyone present. Even Torrin gave off a gray aura of readiness that was felt without the ability of the Force.

Beside her, he flourished his twin blue lightsabers, ready to charge into the fray if provoked. He met Sansa's gaze and gave an almost imperceptible nod --they would try diplomacy first before attacking. He knew better than to trust it but wanted to try Sansa's way before testing their hardy beskar armor. This would mark his 15th altercation with the Mandolorians, none ending with promise.

"We only wish to talk," Sansa said firmly, holding her unrestricted hand up to signify her peaceful intent. The scarred Mandalorian leader Jarelle snarled, the Force rippling with barely contained fury around her as her long black hair blew in the soft breeze. Her tanned skin proved her to be a Danturi-born Mandalorian as did her ornate gold helmet passed to her by her father when she took his place as leader.

"Your Republic dogs have tarnished our sanctuaries for the last time, Jetii!" Jarelle spat. "Leave now if you value your lives...I will not warn you again." Her warriors fanned out, their silver armor glinting with an array of built-in weaponry - flamethrowers, micro-rockets, energy blades, and so much more. They formed a perimeter around the small clearing where Sansa and Torrin stood guard, blaster muzzles and launchers tracking the Jedi from all sides in a proficient C formation.

Torrin took a slow step forward, lightsabers still torched in his hands, his tone defiant. "Hold your fire! The Jedi have a peace accord with—" His words were cut off as a barrage of blaster bolts and missiles screamed toward the Jedi. Jarelle roared as she slammed her ornate golden helmet into place and unleashed her ground troops with a war cry, the battle had begun.

Sansa swept into action, her purple blade gleaming as she called on the Force to augment her speed and deflect the torrent of fire. Her velocity cut grass as she rounded their formation. Torrin charged forward with blinding speed, his twin sabers whirling pinwheels and batting back blaster bolts with Djem So fury. Clan members crashed past Jarelle as she barked orders.

Sansa pirouetted gracefully, her silky cloak billowing as she wove through the trees to confront attackers attempting to flank Torrin. Blaster bolts peppered the forest around her as six Mandalorian warriors tried to surround the Jedi Knight. She smiled to herself.

Attuning to the assailants' movements and intentions, she anticipated their strikes before they could pull their triggers. With flowing, spinning motions she batted away every crimson bolt, her slender violet blade leaving trails of light in its wake.

Two warriors dropped to their knees as Sansa seized their feet with the Force and yanked hard, toppling them face-first into the dirt. Three more struggled against powerful telekinetic shoves as they were driven back against thick tree trunks, pinned there immobilized.

The last Mandalorian roared and unleashed a salvo of wrist rockets from his armor. Sansa's blade wove a blinding shield around her, slashing rockets out of the air to detonate harmlessly. She thrust a palm and the Force struck like a battering ram, denting the warrior's chestplate and hurling him overhead to smash down in a distant thicket.

More attackers descended upon her from the ridge, wrist blades extended as they screamed in their own dialect. Sansa closed her eyes, She became a swirling figure of serenity, cloak floating behind her as she bounced effortlessly through the chaos, redirecting weapon fire and putting her enemies out of commission with well-placed force techniques rather than killing blows.

Torrin swept his blade down in an X over an attacking Mandalorian's wrist blade severing it nearly instantly along with the man's twitching arm. He knew sustained blows from his sabers sliced Beskar-covered warriors down through their armor. Mandalorians scattered before him, though several fell brutally injured to deflected shots or precise slashes from his furious strikes.

Jarelle roared commands more furiously at the sight of her clan members being cut down by Torrin's aggressive saber work from behind a line of elite warriors. She drew a curved beskar twin-blade, its edge crackling with electric energy as she jetted towards the Jedi Knight.

Their blades crashed against each other, sparking violently. Jarelle's Cortosis-Beskarweave armor resisted the lightsaber's cut as she pressed the attack. She hammered away with heavy overhead chops aimed at splitting Torrin's skull, challenging him outright.

Torrin raised his blades, straining against her enhanced strength. He angled his sapphire weapons, directing each blow just shy of contact. The Force quaked around them as they dueled, small pebbles rose in their clash. Seeing an opening, Torrin circled and slashed viciously at her left leg. Jarelle knocked it wide with the second blade of her exotic twin-Beskar weapon, spinning it around her body.

"You fight well for a pacifist, Jetii!" she spat, cycling the intensity of her energized edge to a maximum setting. The magnetic containment field fluctuated chaotic wavelengths to resist Torrin's attacks. "I am no pacifist today, Mando scum!" Torrin stepped into the next looping chop and smashed an elbow against her helmet.

He followed it up with a blistering series of Djem So strikes meant to batter her into submission, the back of his saber finding her joints on 3 separate occasions. Jarelle gave ground under the brutal assault, retreating several steps. Her squad mates gritted their teeth, watching the battle with honor.

With a snarl, she dove into a backward roll and came up firing her left gauntlet flamethrower. Torrin crossed his sabers to block the broiling jet of fire just as a sleek dagger howled from her right vambrace. The Jedi barely managed to deflect the black dagger skyward before it could find his cranium as its target. He managed a short scoff at her lack of mercy.

"Is that the best you can do?" he goaded through the dissipating fire stream. He blossomed his weapons aggressively, reflecting his fierce emotions into his swordsmanship. "It's a wonder De'busk has had any trouble at all." The Mandalorians became riled and chanted even louder as Jarelle slashed wildly at the Naboo-born Jedi.

Across the clearing, Sansa felt a dark warning ripple in the Force - more presences approaching swiftly. She risked a glance skyward to see 2 Republic assault gunships screaming overhead, backlit by Dantooine's serene violet sky.

The screeching gunships' bay doors slammed open in unison, disgorging waves of human mercenaries and their unwilling Dantari meat shields. Most unarmed workers plunged screaming to their deaths while blaster-wielding troopers jetpacked safely down, joining the fray.

Commander De'Busk crunched stone under his heavy boots as he came into view atop a craggy ridge, viridian bolts lanced streaks from his gunships to his approval, scything through the tree line.

His gruff shouts of slaughter orders echoed across the battlefield as his forces encircled the area, penning the Mandalorians inside walls of charred timber and churned earth as the 2 gunships killed without warning.

Seeing her clan overwhelmed, Jarelle broke from her duel with Torrin. A surprise Force scream sent him tumbling into a freshly blasted crater."Fall back! Regroup at--" Her barked orders were drowned out by the thunderous turbo laser broadsides slamming into the forest as De'Busk's personal bomber came into view hovering oppressively overhead.

Mandalorians desperately returned fire even as the merciless bombardment tore their numbers apart. Smoldering armor pieces and mangled corpses littered the shattered clearing as De'Busk leapt down to join his troops, dark amusement rippling from him in the Force. His Wookie brothers fired oversized blasters into the battlefield.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Sansa's heart sank witnessing the carnage, but Torrin held no sympathy for the clan's losses. "Your interference may have cost us vital intelligence!" he shouted over the chaos at De'Busk, slashing an incoming Mandalorian's jetpack. The man flew into the sky before exploding into tiny bitter parts.

The Trandoshan simply leered, fangs glinting as the light in his eyes glowed feverishly. "Mercccy is for the weak, asss my father taught me." One of the last remaining Mandalorians attempted to stab him with two extended wrist blades. The 7-foot-tall reptilian grabbed the warrior by the shoulders, allowing him to be fired upon several times by waiting hairy sentries.

Sansa approached Torrin as they caught their breath, ignoring De'Busk's jeering remarks about victory. He followed her gaze to the growing wildfires now spreading through the forest underbrush. They had failed to prevent further violence from erupting. All Sansa could do was hope to still heal the deeper wounds inflicted on this divided world.

Torrin's fists clenched as he watched Commander De'Busk salivating over the captured and obliterated Mandalorians. "You have only inflamed this conflict!" Torrin shouted, striding toward the Trandoshan commander with lightsabers still drawn. "I had everything under control!" He said hautily.

De'Busk simply smirked, sharp reptilian teeth shimmering. "My job isss to crusssh insurgentsss and protect Republic assetsss, Jedi. Not make fruitlesss negotiationsss." He gestured to his forces roughly detaining the remaining warriors. Sansa rushed to dampen the spreading forest fires, calling on the Force to extinguish the licking flames.

The choking smoke billowed into the darkening sky. She reached out desperately for any spark of life beneath the scorched earth, attempting to suffocate the flames. Torrin trembled with barely contained rage as he stared down De'Busk. "The Jedi Council will hear of your reckless tactics here," he threatened. The Trandoshan simply chuckled before turning to hike back toward his waiting gunship. "I'm ssshaking."

Sansa finally managed to extinguish the last of the flames. But as she surveyed the scarred forest and captured warriors, she knew that the real damage could not be undone so easily. As De'Busk's forces harshly shackled the injured Mandalorian prisoners, one young warrior caught his eye.

The Trandoshan commander rushed over and tilted down, grasping the smooth chin of the struggling boy after his helmet was ripped off. "Well, well...if it isssn't Jarelle'sss little brother," De'Busk sneered. The boy spat at him defiantly. De'Busk only chortled before nodding to his Wookie guards. "Take thisss one to the detention block. Hisss sssissster will come for him sssoon..."

Nearby, Torrin watched the cruel display with assembling bitterness. "We cannot stand by while De'Busk makes a mockery of the Jedi at every turn!" He angled to Sansa beside him but she did not respond, her gaze fixed on the Mandalorian boy being dragged away. "You only care of how it looks..."

She had noticed the tattered gray scarf around his neck bore a familiar embroidered Tholothan sigil. Sansa strode forward, gently lifting the fabric without agitating the boy. There was no doubt now in her mind. "This belonged to Master Zinn. I recognize her robe's mark," Sansa said softly, dismay rich in her voice.

Torrin's face still expressed anger as he assumed the worst. "She clearly has fallen at the hands of these Mandalorians." Sansa carefully released the scarf and stepped back. "Is this true? Did you kill her?" She sensed the boy's fear of giving up anything to them, but deep underneath she felt there was more. "Fuck you!" Jarelles brother Garrin remained brave despite his fear.

As much as it pained Sansa, they could not change what had come to pass. She met Torrin's brown eyes. "We must have faith that our Council's wisdom will light our path ahead," She paused for a moment. "We need to contact them as soon as possible..." Torrin gave a slow nod.

"Then we will share what we have learned...and let the Force guide us from there." He cast one last glance at De'Busk's gunships before turning to follow Sansa back through the scarred battlefield. The moons of Dantooine made their slow dance over the horizon's purple dome behind them, smoke still choking the atmosphere.

---------------------

Jarelle slammed a fist against the side of the cockpit console of her hovercraft, rattling control panels as she and her now much smaller elite crew fled the smoldering Dantooine clearing. The day had descended into wanton tragedy due to De'Busk. Her master Zinn had warned the Republic's corruption would bring woe, yet never had Jarelle imagined such cruelty as the Trandoshan Commander brazenly unleashed now backed by more Jedi.

She gritted her teeth feeling the bleeding cavity in the Force where her clan once resided welling deep in her chest. Now there lay only charred trees, shattered Beskar, and stolen kinsmen awaiting Republic torment while she yet drew breath. Her brother had still not been reported among the scouts leaving her to assume his death at the tyrant lizard's filthy claw.

The female Kel Dor called Master Zinn had tempered her fury before, but now...now was vengeance's darkening dawn. Closing her eyes against the streaking currents of turbulence, Jarelle reached deep into Dantooine's rich living Force, letting its cleansing energy salve her fury.

The soft glow-moths that now danced in fluttering brilliant clouds as their breeding season emerged...shy laigrek's plucking ripened Fungi deep under the planet's grassy surface, chirping sweetly to their chittering insectoid young...proud spotted Kath Hounds racing across wildflower plains, dwarf nerf calves bleating as they struggled to keep pace...

This beautiful ancient land was worth fighting for Jarelle affirmed strongly, letting the pure Light fill her spirit. In it she again found purpose - she would recover what had been ripped so cruelly away. The Republic mongrels would pay, and her family would be avenged. "You 3 will fly home from here." She muttered toward her clansmen. They silently agreed launching from the moving vessel to meet back with other scattered members of their tribe.

Her damaged hover-ship arced gracefully toward the lush emerald forests sprawling at Dantooine's northern reach. It slowed to navigate the towering dark woods until a small, camouflaged habitat structure peeked into view, harmoniously nestled amid the great trees marking the edge of the cold north.

Jarelle leapt from the lowered vessel, sprinting toward her mentor's quant wooden dwelling. The entry slid open and she froze - Zinn sat motionless surrounded by shattered honor blades and armor pieces. Glinting holopics of Jarelle and her large family adorned every surface like magnificent scars. Zinn's weak voice finally came through her aged Antiox mask.

"JaJa you survived!" Zinn's Goggled black eyes found Jarelle's. "I fear the Republic's game plays out yet again...I sensed the Jedi but did not expect them to send Sansa Jubarri." Jarelle rushed over cupping her hand to the Kel Dor's withered orange head tissues, her eyes fell on the bandages keeping Zinn's arms nearly immovable.

Zinn once burned with idealism's fire; now only icy shards of reality remained, reflecting the Outer Rim's long disaffection. She had attempted to warn the Council too often until she became the dissenter among the imposing Outer Rim mission. No true Jedi flourishes disconnected from the people's plight, yet this sector had been able to act unattended for nearly 6 decades.

De'Busk had silenced Zinn's probes...almost muted her utterly. Jarelle knelt lovingly before her wounded mentor, head bowed. "The Republic has taken my clan...my brother. I beg you, help me rescue the prisoners from De'Busk before they suffer more." Jarelle said wanting to end this stale-mate.

Zinn studied the young warrior she had so patiently adopted and even trained to hone her connection to the living force. Vengeance seethed within her, though her spirit's blaze yet scorched pure. Zinn knew the darkness awaited any who walked that knife's edge between justice and hatred. "I can train you more in Shii-Cho to defend yourself...But you must not give in to retaliation against the cruelty inflicted upon us."

Zinn gestured to the pole-hilted lightsaber pike mounted amongst the artifacts around her small dwelling, a weapon she had not wielded in many cycles since the Trandoshan's violent takeover forced her to retreat deep into Dantooine's unexplored regions.

Jarelle looked up, hesitation in her purple stares. "How can we stay idle while De'Busk colonizes Dantooine? It has been years of unchecked genocide against my people!” Tears glistened as she remembered her sweet mother's voice. “His Republic butchers those who defy while he pillages our sacred sites for Rakatan trinkets and rumors of star maps!”

Zinn's weathered features creased with shared sorrow. “I know well the horrors the Trandoshan has wrought here. When I confronted the Senate about his war crimes, he demanded they silence 'the Dantooine witch'...his assassin--.” Her voice turned icy.

Zinn softened as she thought of her old friend. “Fear has paralyzed the Republic against men like De’Busk for too long...I know this far better than you, but with Sansa now here, I think we may find an unexpected ally."

Jarelle stepped away, preparing a salve for her cuts left from the battle. "The Tholothian did seem to be holding back...But her companion the male Jetii--" Zinn studied her student’s gaze as Jarelle spoke, seeing the resolve burning behind her grief.

"He lacks a deep connection to the force, he will have to be convinced to stand down or..." Zinn rose slowly, strength returning to weary limbs. "We shall make him pay for every drop of blood spilled by dogma." Her gnarled clawed hand firmly grasped the saber pike from the wall, dust falling from its place.

"Now your training begins, Jaja...we do not have much time." Zinn compelled the long stick into Jarelle's firm hands. "For all our sakes, I pray you heed my warnings once darkness takes hold..." The orange pike ignited with a roar, bathing Zinn's scarred features in vengeful fire-like light.