As soon as Sol's boots touched the sand, she jumped back into a flip to avoid a blast from a nearby droid. With a the soles of her boots skidding through the grains, Sol ignited her lightsaber and sliced through the metal body of the battle droid. It crumbled to the floor with its torso in two and its blaster laid limp in its three-fingered hand. Sol whizzed her weapon in crosses in front of her, blocking the red blasts that were fired from afar. They bounced off in opposing directions, but Sol guided them with the Force into droids that were next to her. Their bodies lurched and crumbled to the floor, but more appeared to replace them.
Sol took in the battlefield of droids and fellow Jedi. She recognised the Masters and Knights that had travelled from Coruscant and across the galaxy at Master Kenobi's distress call. But as much as she saw some triumph their battles, some weren't as quick. Sol saw a Jedi Knight that had just been promoted from Padawan fall to the sand with a blast wound to their abdomen. Without a twitch, their body was left behind as their soul went into the Force and their assassin turned to the next Jedi.
Three super-battle droids made their way into Sol's eyeline, and she straightened her back when they aimed their arm blasters in her direction. Shots left their cannisters and Sol jumped into the air, flipping with the help of the Force's guidance. A blast hit her cyan blade and rebounded backwards, hitting the droid in the middle. Its heavy armour protected its circuits, but once the remaining blasts were deflected by Sol's weapon, the shots broke through to its vulnerable frame.
After a series of twists and flips, Sol landed back on her feet and took advantage of the two remaining droids' close proximity. With two swings of her weapon, Sol's lightsaber burnt through their legs and left their heavy tops to fall. For good measure, she took her weapon into both hands and reared it back to drive it downwards into their chests. They malfunctioned as the searing cyan melted their insides and Sol waited for them to stop their twitching before she pulled the blade out of their metal torsos.
A twinge in the Force made her whip around with her saber raised, only to see a battle droid behind her with its blaster aimed at her head. Her heart stopped and the barrel of the blaster was all that she could think about, damning herself for not sensing the droid beforehand. But before the trigger could be pulled, its beige torso was sliced in two. Scorched metal separated the robot and its parts fell to the floor, leaving Sol to stand up straight in surprise. She looked to her saviour and couldn't help but grin.
'Master Obi-wan!' Sol cheered and the man let his borrowed weapon fall to his side in one arm. The bearded man smiled at the Padawan and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder in a form of greeting.
'Seems like you and Anakin can work together,' Obi-wan mentioned with a growing smile. 'Your rescue mission wasn't completely disastrous.'
'Then I suppose that's something.'
Master Obi-wan held back a laugh before the two Jedis' attention was drawn to the bounding beast that caused a deep rumble through the ground. Sol was brutally reminded of the reek that had been brought into the arena to execute Anakin and it was barrelling through Jedi and droids alike. It roamed free after Anakin, Padme and Obi-wan had been thrown from its back in the battle, while the nexu and acklay had been killed in the battle's crossfire. With its mighty horns and thick legs, the reek charged across the arena and in the direction of Sol and Obi-wan.
The two warriors looked at each other and silently agreed in the same action. With their lightsabers, Sol and Obi-wan used the Force to jump a foot backwards before the reek could tear through them. They reared their blades back before slicing through the legs of the animal, leaving deep cuts into the thick, red skin. It let out a pain-filled roar as its limbs failed and the reek went tumbling into the sand. The force at which it crashed made the cuts all the more painful in its legs and its assailants watched as it slid to a stop, unmoving and too injured to get back to its feet.
Sol and Obi-wan didn't have the moment to spend celebrating at their slaying when they were pulled back into battle at the sounds of blasters. Sol reared her wrist around to rotate her lightsaber and ran at different droids, slicing through them from above and below. She let the Force take hold and was a blur, cutting through droids of all kinds as they attacked in their rows.
But the Jedi numbers were thinning, and it wasn't long until the remaining had been forced back-to-back. A circle of remaining warriors formed and were surrounded by the droid army, their blasters aimed and ready to genocide the rest of the Jedi Order. Sol stuck close to Obi-wan throughout the fight and ended up next to him in the huddle, only glancing to her left at the sensing of a familiar, comforting Force signature. Anakin stood with a green lightsaber in hand and with Padme by his side with a stolen blaster. Sol resisted the urge to let her feelings spill in front of the Order and settled for a restrained smile, which the Skywalker returned with a twinge of relief at seeing her alive.
'Master Windu!' Count Dooku boomed and the Jedi looked up to the archducal box. The white-haired man stood over the arena with a microphone droid surrounding him to amplify his voice. At the silence, Sol glanced to Master Windu, who glared up at the ex-Jedi who had annihilated nearly half of his army.
'You have fought gallantly. Worthy of recognition in the history archives of the Jedi Order. Now, it is finished,' Dooku feigned a kind look down at the surrounded Jedi. 'Surrender, and your lives will be spared.'
'We will not be hostages for you to barter with, Dooku,' Master Windu said solidly, and if he had been addressing anybody else, they would have faltered under his piercing stare. But Count Dooku looked unaffected and was expecting the hostile answer. He stared at the group that had once been his close company and felt no sympathy at their destined fates.
'Then I'm sorry, old friend, you will have to be destroyed.'
Droids armed their blasters and aimed at individual Jedi. Sol held her lightsaber out in one hand with her other by her side, resisting the urge to quiver in fear. It wasn't the Jedi way to fear death, especially while in battle beside fellow Jedi, but Sol couldn't help it. If everyone was executed in the arena, there would be no Jedi left to continue the Order. The Force would be unbalanced, and the galaxy would be in darkness until the light somehow returned.
In a moment of comfort, smooth fingers brushed against the palm of Sol's hand. She jumped but didn't turn her head when she sensed the orange glow of Anakin by her side. He was close, with his shoulder brushing against hers and his hand encasing her free one in a tight hold. Anakin glared at the droids in front of them and resisted the urge to shuffle in front of Sol's smaller frame to take whatever blows were fired first. But he settled with the way her hand felt in his and took the time to enjoy how Sol's slender fingers sat in his hold, as if made to be held by his larger hand.
'Don't be afraid,' he said through the Force and Sol swallowed dryly.
'Only if you'll stay with me,' she replied and stared at the blasters aimed at their chests.
'Until my heart fails me from your absence.'
Sol was shocked to hear Anakin's intense words but remained still. She hadn't expected such sincere and attached words to leave him even in the spiritual realm, but she supposed that it was the end of their lives, and he was letting everything out in his final moments. Sol pressed her lips together and readied herself to give her last fight.
'Look!'
Padme's call made everyone turn to the senator to see her neck craned upwards. Following suit, Sol looked up and saw a ship blocking the sun's harsh beam. The belly of the ship drew closer as it descended into the arena and a cluster of blasts were dispensed into the droids below. As the ship landed, the group of Jedi looked to see the ship's hull carrying none other than Grand Master Yoda, and an army of armoured men.
The men in white and blue army rallied into the arena and took on the droids that initiated in battle with the newcomers. Jedi were able to re-enter the fight with reinforcements and more ships docked as possible getaways for the remainder of the army.
'Come on!' Master Yoda called over the blaster fire to the Jedi. 'Hurry! Hurry!'
Sol was one of the few who made is into the ship's hull through the battle. Another ship had lowered into the arena to gather more Jedi to take them to safety, while keeping their own division of armoured men. Droids were slayed left and right before the new army retreated into the ships' hulls to be airlifted, leaving the arena at last.
Sol sheathed her lightsaber and took hold of a loop that hung from the ceiling to steady herself. She caught the white attire of Padme who stood nearby and leaned over to speak to the senator.
'Are you okay, Padme?' she called over the sound of engine and rushing wind.
'Only heartbroken from my ruined outfit.'
Sol resisted a laugh as the senator turned to show her the three scratch marks that drew blood from her back. Her white shirt was ripped, and its sleeves were uneven, but Padme's concern over the ruined fabric told Sol that she wasn't harmed. Sol wanted to embrace the young woman, but held back when her gaze landed on Master Yoda, who was sat watching her from the corner of the hull.
'Far, you have already come, my young Padawan,' Master Yoda's croaky voice carried into Sol's ears. The wind didn't seem to distort the green Master's voice and Sol straightened her shoulders at being addressed.
'It's good to see you are well, Master,' she said in politeness. Even though Sol had loosened her manners in the past week with Anakin and Padme, they resumed like normal in the presence of her Master.
'Well, in physique, I am. But troubled in the mind, I am also,' Master Yoda hummed and Sol bit her lip, looking around at the armoured men who flew the ship and held their blasters near in the hull. 'Who is this new army, Master?'
'Clones, they are,' he answered. 'Master Kenobi found them on Kamino made for the Order. Of use, they have proven to be.'