━━━━━☆☆━━━━━

WITH THEIR LASERS at the ready and their shields up and running, the Republic fleet left their hiding spot behind Ilum's moon. The three squadrons of starfighters -- led by Jaira and Eerie -- flew at the front and the five Star Destroyers followed close behind; flying in a V-formation to keep the two Hammerhead cruisers between them out of sight from the Separatists.

Jaira grinned as she ordered her yellow squadron to approach the line of blockade from below. She wished she could have seen the faces of the Separatists when they had come into sight, she wondered if they already regretted their decision to try to occupy Ilum? But alas, she couldn't see it from here and her imagination would had to do.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eerie's blue squadron pulling up to fire at the ships from above. The thirteen starfighters flew fast, turning into little dots within seconds. The Separatists wouldn't know what hit them.

'Attack formation,' Jaira ordered her clone troopers. Her grin faded, making place for a frown of concentration. She and her red squadron would fly straight towards the blockade, and they were almost within reach. It was the most risky approach out of the three, but also the most fun one to do.

Behind the three squadrons, the seven big ships of the Republic stopped moving forward. They would stay out of firing range until the starfighters had made a breach -- no matter how small.

Jaira took a deep breath, mentally gathering her strength and attuning herself with the Force.

The Separatists' ships grew in size as they came closer and closer.

'Now!' Jaira screamed through the communicator, at the exact moment both their weapons and the enemy's became useful. She yanked at the steering wheel to dodge the red laserbolts from the Separatists and fired her own lasers, pressing the buttons with such force that the weapons would fire faster if only they could. The green lasers shot towards her aimed target, but the bolts were deflected by the shield.

Jaira dodged another strike of lasers by making a barrel roll and kept firing her weapons as well. Her squadron next to her did the exact same and she hoped their plan would work; their relentless firing at the front should force the Separatists' ships to redirect the energy of their shields to the front, leaving the other sides unprotected.

She and her red squadron had almost reached the blockade of ships and though the twelve starfighters next to Jaira pulled up to fly back for another round, Jaira decided to fire her weapons one last time. There was still time, she wasn't scared like the troopers.

'Jaira? What are you doing?' she heard Obi-Wan ask through the com. 'Pull up, you are going to collide with blockade.'

Jaira ignored his warning and gritted her teeth as she pressed the buttons on her steering wheel, releasing a dozen of lasers at the Separatist's ship while she zigzagged between the red bolts. Her clean hits were still deflected by the shield, but every one counted to force the Separatists to redirect the energy to the front.

'Jaira, pull up, now. That is an order.'

She smirked, preparing to make a somersault to turn around. 'Piece of ca--,' but her sentence was cut short when her starfighter started to shake violently. She cursed, she was too close by the ship and its gravitation pulled her lightweight-starfighter in. Her ship wouldn't stand a chance against the shield, but maybe she could manage to stay away from it.

As fast as she could, Jaira wiped her sweaty palms on her trousers and cut off her communicator from the panicking voices shouting through it. She needed to concentrate and she gripped the steering wheel even tighter.

The vibrations grew heavier and her damp, auburn hair fell in front of her eyes while she tried to keep her starfighter under control, steering it over the massive ship of the Separatists. All she could hear was her fast beating heart and the blood rushing through her veins.

'Please do not clash, please do not clash,' she mumbled with clenched jaws, and she let out a breath of relief when the shaking lessened as she reached the top of the ship. She could steer again without a force pulling her the other way, and at last, she could make the somersault to turn around. She turned her communicator back on and pulled at the steering wheel.

'I am most disappointed in you, Jaira Wolfin,' Obi-Wan said as soon as he realised her com was back online.

Jaira sighed but did not respond. It hadn't indeed been her smartest move, but it all worked out in the end, did it not?

However, as she described a wide circle just to show off to Kenobi she was alright, something grazed the wing of her starfighter and Eerie's scream echoed through Jaira's ears.

Startled, Jaira looked above her -- as she was still upside down -- and saw she had hit the engine of Eerie's starfighter. Grey smoke whirled out of it and the ion engine sputtered as it tried to stay alive, but it was all in vain. The starfighter fell away, spiralling down to the planet.

'I'm going down!' Eerie's voice yelled over the com, it was followed by another fearful scream but then it was cut off abruptly. The Separatists didn't allow any signals coming from the planet.

'Padawan Jaira, turn your starfighter around and return to my ship,' Obi-Wan ordered when Jaira tried to follow Eerie's ship.

'But I can save her!' Jaira responded.

'No, it is too late and you have done enough. You have jeopardized this mission with your actions and unfortunately, Eerie now pays the price. I am relieving you of your command.'

'But. . .' Tears welled up in Jaira's eyes when Eerie's starfighter fell through the cloudy atmosphere of Ilum and disappeared out of sight.

'Disobey this order and the Jedi Council will revoke your padawan title. I can assure you of that.'

With a heavy heart, Jaira did as Obi-Wan ordered and returned to the Star Destroyer while the red squadron opened another round of fire at the front of blockade.

Jaira felt awful, if Eerie had died in the crash, she could no longer live with herself. This had to be the worst day of her life; first her master Verena got taken captive and now she might be responsible for her best friend's death. . . If only she knew how to turn back time.

━━━━━☆☆━━━━━