A shot grazed the wing of Rain's fighter and she turned her head to catch a glimpse of the damage, frowning as she did so.

"Are you all right?" Mira's voice came over the communicator.

"I was just scratched," Rain answered, taking evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit again.

She breezed past one of the enemy ships, firing on it mercilessly as she passed. It wasn't making much difference, but it was all they could really do until General Skywalker arrived. Rain circled around, heading back to Master Aayla's battered Republic cruiser to catch a breath before making another bombing run.

Of course we had to get caught in an ambush, she thought irritably, glancing down at the Separatist-controlled planet of Quell below them, I bet they're feeling so pleased with themselves right now.

Rain wondered what the Separatists possibly gained from having control of that hunk of rock.

Maybe this was the sole purpose. Scaring the crap out of us and blowing up our ships.

She shook her head wearily as Mira's fighter pulled up next to her.

"Ready for another run, sis?" she asked through the communicator.

Rain sighed, "Ready as I'll ever be."

"You're not actually getting tired of this, are you?" Mira's voice asked slyly.

Rain laughed, "Not even close. Let's go."

Before they could make a move, a newly arrived ship entered the atmosphere. It was their long awaited rescue. But now they had something else to worry about. Rain could see a wave of super droids descending from one of the Separatist ships. They were headed right for Aayla's cruiser.

Master Aayla's voice came through the comlink, "Rain, Mira, keep those super droids busy until I can get off this wreck!"

"You got it, Master Aayla," Rain answered, aiming her ship at the rapidly approaching droids.

She took off, Mira at her side. Rain plunged fearlessly right into the wave of droids, shooting down each one in her path. Mira covered her left side, keeping her exit clear. Rain stayed on course until she was too close to the enemy ships for comfort, then she abruptly wheeled her fighter around and started back down the path she'd created.

Aayla's voice grabbed her attention through the comlink, "We're preparing to dock with Skywalker's ship."

Rain raised her eyebrows, "In this firefight? Are you cra--"

A scream filled her ears, drawing her attention to her right side as she recognized the voice. Mira's fighter burst into flames, spiralling downward toward Quell's surface.

"Mira!" Rain yelled, frantically turning her fighter in pursuit of her sister's fallen one, "Mira!"

"What's going on?" Master Aayla's voice demanded.

"Master, Mira's been hit! I have to help her!"

"No!" It was Admiral Yularen. "You can't--"

Rain shut off her comlink, diverting all power to the engines. Her astromech was beeping frantically but she ignored it. She pulled up under her sister's plummeting vessel, easing upward until the roof of her fighter made contact with the underside of the other ship. It made a horrible screeching sound, sparks flying in all directions and nearly blinding Rain. The shield of her cockpit cracked and overheated, and out of the corner of her eye she saw her poor astromech get fried. But she couldn't worry about the little droid. Her plan was working. Mira's ship was slowing down ever so slightly. Rain looked down to see the ground racing up at them, realizing they didn't have a lot time. She switched her comlink back on. It was silent.

"Mira!" she called.

No answer.

Rain growled to herself, "This is not going to be a soft landing."

Slowly, she let up on the steering, allowing her ship to level out inch by inch. Sweat broke out on her forehead as the flat sea of grey rock below them continued to rush up at them at an uncomfortably fast pace.

This isn't going to work!

Hastily, Rain broke away from her sister's ship and pulled her own fighter out in front. Rain's ship lurched forward slightly as the two fighters made contact. Rain set her teeth, reducing her speed again. Her fighter started shaking violently from the pressure being exerted on it from behind. Rain knew she was going to wreck her engines if she kept this up. The wheels of her mind were whirring silently, screaming at her to find a better solution and fast.

"Dang it!" she hissed.

It was time for a last resort. Exhaling sharply, Rain popped open her hatch and climbed out, moving cautiously across the wing so as to avoid losing her balance on the airborne vessel. She stepped onto Mira's starfighter, drawing her lightsaber and cutting open the damaged hatch. Mira was there, her eyes closed, her head hanging to one side. Rain prayed she was just unconscious. Taking her sister's hands in her own, Rain hauled away with all her might, dragging Mira out of the cockpit. With some difficulty, Rain slung the limp form over her shoulders, watching as the ground below rose to meet them.

Just a little closer. A little closer.

She jumped, hanging on tight to her sister. She rolled on impact, Mira ending up sprawled on the rocky surface. Their fighters hit the turf, debris scattering from the crash as they slowly ground to a halt. Mira's fighter pitched right over top of Rain's, flames licking at the air around it, leaving a trail of thick smoke in its wake. Finally they reached a standstill, looking like a literal junkheap. Rain doubted there would be anything to salvage from Mira's fighter, but her own ship didn't look too damaged. Maybe she could send out a signal for help. There was no point in attempting to fly out of there; that starfighter wouldn't fit two. Rain cursed the fact that both her and Mira's astromechs had been destroyed. Those droids were handy to have in such a situation. Heaving a defeated sigh, she crouched down next to her sister. Mira had no visible wounds, but Rain wasn't a medical expert. She knew one thing for sure. Mira wasn't waking up. And that was a bad sign.

Rain scanned the perimeter, amazed at how quiet and empty it was. There wasn't a droid in sight, but she certainly wasn't going to wait for any to show up. She realized full well that it would be pretty hard to miss seeing two crashing fighters. They'd have company soon enough, and Rain and Mira couldn't be anywhere close when they did.

Rain turned her gaze on the remains of her fighter, furrowing her brow indecisively. If she stayed and tried to fix the ship, they'd be captured by Separatists and there'd be no hope for Mira. If she left and took Mira to find a place to hide, her only hope of calling for aid would fall into enemy hands. Maybe they would get lucky, and those dumb droids wouldn't bother their heads about the fighters. They looked like scrap anyway, and the idea of capturing two stranded Republic pilots would probably be more of a priority for the Separatists. Rain needed to find somewhere close by, where she and her sister would be out of sight but would still be able to keep an eye on their fighters.

Rain took Mira's hand in hers, checking for a pulse. She sighed in relief as she felt it beating strongly under her touch.

"Come on, Mira," she murmured, "You have to help me out here." There was still no sign of stirring from the unconscious figure. "Okay then," Rain muttered, putting her sister's arms around her neck, "I guess I'll have to do things the hard way."

She started walking.

She had no idea how long she'd been walking for when she heard a soft voice in her ear.

"Rain?"

"Mira! Thank goodness! I was wondering if you'd ever wake up," Rain said, setting her sister down.

Mira sat up, wincing slightly.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Your fighter was shot down. I did what I could to give you a somewhat softer landing."

"We're on Quell," Mira said half to herself.

"Yes."

"We're on Separatist-controlled territory."

"Yes."

Mira looked Rain directly in the eye, "You're on Separatist-controlled territory."

"Uh, yes."

Mira shook her head, "You shouldn't have done that."

"What? Save your life?" Rain demanded sharply.

"You know better!" Mira snapped, "Let me guess, you disobeyed a direct order to come rescue me? And now we're both stuck here when you could have been helping the others!"

"I wanted to help my sister!" Rain argued, "Is that so wrong of me?"

Mira opened her mouth to answer but seemed to hesitate.

"Do you hear that?" she asked suddenly.

Rain listened. Sure enough, there was the unmistakable sound of approaching clankers.

"Time to go," Rain said, offering a hand to Mira.

Mira attempted to climb to her feet but fell back with a stifled gasp, clutching her side. Rain's eyes widened in alarm.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I don't know."

"Come on, we have to get out of here."

Rain slipped her sister's arm around her neck and hauled her to her feet. Mira leaned gratefully against her twin.

"See any place to hide around here?" Rain asked tensely.

The two of them took a moment to survey their surroundings before Mira silently raised a hand and pointed out their destination. Rain followed her line of sight and spotted a towering rock face with a small crevice in it. It was big enough to fit them.

"Right."

She helped Mira over to it, allowing her to climb in first and pausing to cast one last look over her shoulder before ducking her head into the opening.

"I think it goes deeper," Mira said, crawling a little further down the tunnel.

"Hold on a minute," Rain said, keeping her eyes trained on the place where their ships had crashed.

Soon enough, a battalion of B1 droids began to pour into view. They surrounded the ships, inspecting them thoroughly. Rain strained to hear what they were saying but they were too far away to make anything out.

She turned to Mira, "Our only hope is if we can reclaim my fighter and repair it enough to use it to send out a distress signal."

"And what do we do if there's no one from our fleet left to hear that signal?" Mira countered.

Rain glared defiantly, "Well, I know I'm not going down without a fight."

"Rain--"

Rain cut her off, "You're the expert at fixing things. Do you think you'd be able to walk me through the repairs?"

"I can do it myself."

Rain raised a quizzical eyebrow, "Really? You can't even walk."

"I don't need to be able to walk to do some simple repairs. Besides, you don't seem to mind being a crutch."

Mira gave a weak smile, and Rain felt a twinge of remorse. She shouldn't be angry with Mira; after all, this whole mess wasn't her fault. And here she was, her typical self, trying to make the most of a bad situation.

She doesn't want you here because she hates the fact that you put yourself in danger for her.

Yep. Typical Mira.

"Do you remember back when we were younglings, still training with combat remotes?" Mira asked quietly, drawing Rain out of her thoughts.

"Of course."

"I never could learn to block those stupid things at first. I remember how bad they stung. No matter how hard I tried, I always missed. Do you remember what you did? You took my hand and blocked every single shot." Mira laughed gently. "You were always coming to my rescue. I guess in that respect, nothing has changed." Her smile vanished, a sad light coming to her eyes. "I'm sorry. I was never as skilled or ambitious as you. I've always felt like I'm holding you back--"

"Holding me back?" Rain echoed, hardly believing her ears. Abandoning her watch, she wrapped her arms around her sister, hugging her tightly. "Don't ever tell yourself that. Ever. You're the reason I find strength. Without you, I'd have nothing."

Mira chewed her lip in agitation, "That's not true. You'd still have a bright future. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me."

Tears started to well in her eyes.

Rain struggled to find her voice, "Mira, your future is just as bright as mine—brighter even!—and I'm here to make sure you live that future. You have no idea how special you are. You are the sweetest, kindest person I have ever known and I am proud to be able to call you sister. You have no idea how many times I've wished I could be you."

Mira stared at her, wide-eyed, "You...envy me?"

Rain gave her a smile, "You have such a gift. You can connect with people. And you know all the right things to say; I swear, you could charm a droid if you tried."

Mira giggled, "Maybe that could come in handy in a situation like this." She paused, her smile fading. When she spoke again, her voice was hardly above a whisper, "Rain, you know Jedi aren't supposed to have attachments."

Rain sighed, "I know."

Mira brushed a hand across her forehead, "Yeah, you know. But you won't let go, will you? Of course you won't."

"And you would?" Rain asked, knitting her eyebrows together, "You would be so quick to forget me if it came down to it?"

"No!" Mira said, horrified at the idea, "I-it's just that, we're Jedi..."

"Yes, we're Jedi," Rain agreed, forcing down the swell of conflicting emotions that rose in her as she said it, "But family has always been more important to me than that title. What do you believe is the more important of the two, Mira?"

Mira hesitated, "We became Jedi for a reason: to make a difference. There are innocents suffering because of this war. If I can use my abilities to help, even if it's only in a small way, that's good enough for me. Isn't that important?"

"Mira, I...I don't agree with everything the Jedi believe."

"I know you don't. You've actually made it quite obvious," Mira said with a reproachful look.

"And what would you have me do? Betray my own beliefs? I-I have to be able to think and act for myself, otherwise...I won't know who I am anymore."

Mira leaned her head on Rain's shoulder, "I understand. But you can't ask me to choose between family and the Jedi teachings. We're on the same side; the last thing we need is to believe otherwise."

Rain nodded silently, enveloping Mira's hands in her own.

"I have to keep an eye on our fighters," she said, breaking the contact and returning to the entrance of the little cave.

The droids were still there, seemingly undecided over what should be done with the wreckage.

Stupid, slow droids! Figure it out already!

They did figure it out eventually, splitting off into several smaller groups and heading in different directions. A handful of B1 droids were left to guard the ships. Rain smirked.

This should make things easier.

The only problem was that one of the newly formed divisions was on a course bound for their little hideaway. Rain turned to Mira, signalling for her to move further into the cave. The twins crept along until at last they were stopped by a dead-end. Thankfully, the darkness hid them, and Rain fervently hoped that the droids wouldn't be bothered to inspect the cramped space. No doubt, they probably wouldn't even notice the crevice. Nonetheless, Rain kept her fingers crossed. She could hear the clanking walk of the B1 droids echoed through the tunnel. It grew louder, then faded. They had walked right past. Rain waited a few moments before returning to the entrance. All contingents except for the one guarding the fighters had left the area, but they'd be back.

"Mira, let's go."

Mira slowly crawled into the light, her face screwed up in pain.

Rain held up a hand, "Maybe you should stay here while I go take care of that group."

She watched with a look of worry in her eye as Mira's hand went to her side again.

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea," she agreed, sounding a little winded.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of this in no time," Rain assured her little sister, forcing a smile before taking her lightsaber in hand and stepping out of cover.

She strode undauntedly toward the lone unit of B1 droids surrounding her fighter. As she neared them, they reacted by training their guns on her.

"Aha!" the one nearest to her exclaimed, "You must be one of those missing Republic pilots! You're under arrest!"

"Uh, is that a lightsaber?" another droid spoke up, pointing at the weapon clutched in Rain's hand.

"Lightsaber?" the first droid echoed, "Wait! You're a Jedi!"

"How perceptive," Rain said, igniting her blade.

She bounded forward, cutting down the clankers in her path. She ducked to avoid blaster fire, slicing off the legs of a droid standing next to her. A single B1 droid seemed to be fumbling with a communicator.

Oh no you don't.

Rain jumped up, bringing her blade down on the droid's hand and sending him flying with a force push. A blaster bolt flew past her head and she turned on the remaining clankers. Drawing on the force again, she slammed them backward, finishing them off in a matter of seconds. She took a moment to catch her breath and make sure the perimeter was still clear before heading back to the cave.

"Ready to work your magic?" Rain asked Mira.

She stopped at the sight of Mira gone pale, beads of perspiration glistening on her forehead, her mouth gaping as she painfully pulled in breath after breath.

"Mira!" Rain gasped, kneeling next to her, "What's wrong?"

"I-I don't know," her twin answered weakly, "Just get me to the ship."

"You shouldn't move—"

"And how are we going to get out of here if I don't?" Mira asked, extending a hand in a plea for assistance.

Rain relented, helping Mira to her feet and slipping an arm around her to support her.

"Come on. The sooner we can get to work on the ship, the better our chances will be of reaching someone," Mira urged.

Rain tried to take it easy for Mira's sake but Mira seemed determined to cut herself no slack. Rain helped Mira into the seat of her fighter and let her get started while she took up watch. If the droids from earlier were to return, there would be little hope of success or survival for the twins.

"Looks like most of your systems are still online."

"Well, it's just the communications system that we need to worry about."

Mira considered her sister for a moment before speaking, "You know, if I could fix this, you might be able to fly out of here."

"Mira, we don't have time for this," Rain said, reaching over and activating her long-range signal. "We may have to boost the signal. If any of our Separatist friends pick it up though, we're going to have a lot of company really soon."

"That's assuming they haven't jammed any outbound transmissions."

"Well, then they'd have no way of communicating with their own fleet," Rain pointed out.

"Fair point," Mira conceded, wincing slightly.

She diverted power to the long-range signal, pushing its boundaries even further. She switched on the communications speaker.

"Hello, is anyone there? This is Rain and Mira Callyn calling for help. Admiral Yularen? Master Secura, are you there? Respond please."

There was silence. The twins exchanged worried glances.

Mira tried again, "Hello? Will someone answer? This is Rain and Mira Callyn calling for aid. Somebody, come in. Is there anyone out there?"

Still no answer. Mira sighed in defeat.

Suddenly a voice crackled brokenly through their receiver, "...hear you...Callyn...Respond..."

"Admiral? Is that you?" Rain cut in.

"Yes." The voice was clearer now. "We're glad to hear your voices. We were just about to pull out our forces when we picked up your signal. We have the enemy fleet on the defensive for now, so I'm sending some of my troopers to the planet's surface to get you out."

"You put the enemy fleet on the defensive? How did you pull that off?"

"I'll tell you when you get up here."

"Fair enough. We'll be eagerly awaiting the arrival of your men." Rain switched off the communications panel, sitting down on the wing of the fighter. "Now we wait. Keep the signal going so they can find us."

"That'll bring in Separatist forces for sure."

"Let me worry about that. You just remember to breathe, okay?"

"Got it."

Silence hung over them. Every minute felt like an eternity. All they could do was watch and wait. Wait for both enemy and ally to arrive, and pray that the latter arrived sooner.

As soon as Rain heard the sound of clankers approaching however, she realized that hope was in vain.

Here we go.

She ignited her lightsaber, waiting for her enemy to come in range.

"Here." Rain felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned to see Mira handing her her lightsaber. "I won't be able to do much, so you take it." Rain stared at her little sister in surprise. "What?" Mira asked, "You've been wanting to fight dual-bladed, haven't you?"

Rain smiled in appreciation, taking the offered weapon, "Are the shields on the fighter still working?"

Mira nodded.

"Good. Then activate them," Rain ordered, swinging the hatch closed.

She turned back to the enemy. There were two approaching battalions, one on the left and one on the right. Rain looked down at Mira's saber clutched in her hand.

This is certainly going to come in handy.

As soon as the battle droids were in range, they released a hail of blaster fire on Rain. She blocked, advancing slowly toward the squad on her left. If Mira was successful in getting the shields up, Rain wouldn't want to be anywhere near the ship when she did.

Rain lengthened her stride until she was running, diving straight into the midst of the droid battalion.

Let's see what I can do now!

She spun a full 360 degrees, letting her lightsabers tear through her opponents and scatter them. The race was on! There was no telling if reinforcements had been called or how many more droids were coming if there had. She needed to cut through as many of these guys as fast as she could. Rain let her training take over, the force flowing through her and guiding her every move. She weaved through the enemy ranks, leaving a trail of disabled droids in her wake. As the last of the left battalion fell, she turned to face the one on the right, only to realize there was another squad arriving from the direction of her fighter. They fired on the ship, their blaster bolts deflecting off the shield and back at them.

"Hey!" Rain snapped, causing the newly arrived battle droids to turn their heads in her direction.

She took off at a run, clearing the fighter in a single bound and dispatching the first row of droids in her immediate path. She raised her lightsabers for another attack but was startled when several of the B1 droids in front of her were shot down. She looked up to see three Republic gunships descending toward them, laying down cover fire as they came. Mira deactivated the fighter's shield and climbed out of the cockpit, leaning against the wing of the ship for support. One of the gunships landed and a handful of clones jumped out, blasting the few remaining clankers.

"Hello, ladies!" one of them greeted in a cheerful voice, "Glad to see you're alright! Honestly, we were expecting more of party."

"Perhaps it's lucky that all we had to worry about were a few small squads of B1 battle droids," Mira remarked as Rain helped her onto the gunship.

Rain grinned, "I could have handled anything they threw at me. Well, shall we be going?"