1. The Code and the Shadow
The spaceport of Ord Mantell buzzed with the chaos of smugglers, traders, and bounty hunters alike. Jedi Knight Sashyn tightened the hood of her cloak, moving across the crowd with Anakin Skywalker beside her. Their mission was simple: intercept stolen Republic coordinates before they reached Separatist hands.
“Keep your senses sharp,” Anakin muttered, scanning faces. “Intel says Cad Bane’s somewhere in the mix.”
Sashyn’s heart clenched at the name. She knew this confrontation was inevitable, but she hadn’t expected it so soon, not with Anakin at her side.
Sure enough, a figure in a wide-brimmed hat emerged from the shadows, flanked by two droids. Cad Bane’s crimson eyes gleamed with amusement.
“Well, well,” he drawled. “The Jedi send Skywalker himself… and his little friend.” His gaze lingered just a second too long on Sashyn, though only she noticed the hidden softness under his taunt.
“Bane,” Anakin snapped, hand drifting toward his lightsaber. “Hand over the data chip.”
“Not my style,” Bane said with a smirk, shifting his blaster slowly, theatrically.
Sashyn swallowed hard. Her training demanded she fight beside Anakin, but her heart ached with conflict. Nights spent with Cad, whispered conversations in shadows, promises exchanged… they surged to the surface like fire. He wasn’t just an adversary to her. He was hers.
Anakin ignited his saber, blue light flashing across the port. “We do this the hard way, then.”
Bane’s blaster twitched up—aiming not at Anakin, but dangerously close to him, calculated to distract. Before the shot could leave his weapon, Sashyn moved, intercepting with her blade. She could feel Cad’s eyes on her as sparks erupted. Their clash was a dance practiced in secret, every strike too precise, too measured, not quite lethal.
“You’re holding back,” Anakin barked, suspicion creeping into his voice as he fended off incoming droids. “What’s wrong with you?”
Sashyn parried another of Cad’s strikes, their weapons locked for a split second. His low voice reached only her ears.
“You gonna tell your friend? Or keep our little secret?”
Her pulse spiked. She pushed him back forcefully, spinning to slice through a droid while muttering just loud enough for him to hear: “This isn’t the place, Cad.”
Bane’s smirk returned, though his eyes softened briefly. “It never is, darlin’.”
Anakin rounded on her as Cad fired a smoke bomb and disappeared into the chaos with the chip. Coughing through smoke, Anakin scowled. “He escaped—because you hesitated! Sashyn… are you hiding something from me?”
Her lips parted, but no sound came. Every part of her screamed to confess, to unburden the truth. But the Code—and her heart tangled in shadows—kept her silent.
The smoke cleared, revealing only the echo of Cad Bane’s laughter lingering in the distance. And Sashyn knew her double life had just become more dangerous than any mission the Jedi Council could assign her.
