Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, or anything like planets, weapons, or cultures that can be recognized as Star Wars. I also don't own the song lyrics at the beginning of each chapter. I do own pretty much all the characters in this fic, and the planet Misha where most of the first part of the story will take place.

War: Sentinel

"A warning to the prophet, the liar, the honest, this is war. /To the leader, the pariah, the victor, the messiah, this is war."

30 Seconds to Mars—'This is War'

Prologue

Republic Cruiser Resilience, Gym, 2 years After the Battle of Geonosis

Kiera Jodell moved fluidly across the practice mat, blue eyes closed. Her hands moved, blocking the strike of an invisible enemy, than her fists darted out in a one-two motion as if hitting the nose and solar plexus. Her bare feet moved silently as she stepped through the kata, meditating as much as she was fighting. Sometimes the young Jedi found that the best way to clear her mind of the thoughts that begged her attention was to give her body something to do. This was one of those times.

She was a Jedi Knight. Kiera didn't feel like one, though. It seemed only yesterday that she was a Padawan, returning to Coruscant with her Master from yet another undercover mission. As Sentinels, undercover missions were typical for them, but after the war started, things had changed. Cloak and dagger operations blended with full out battles, until Kiera wondered how the galaxy would ever go back to 'normal.'

The nineteen-year old knew that the only reason she was made a Knight now was because of the War. The Clone Wars were killing more Jedi than any other time in recent memory. War did that. The Republic was desperate, fighting the war on multiple fronts (a tactic that didn't make sense to Kiera. If they wanted to end the war, why not concentrate their forces on the Home worlds of the Confederacy?) The Galactic Republic needed more Jedi. So Kiera and Master Trael returned to Coruscant as Master and apprentice, and left as equals.

Thank the Force that Kiera's first mission as a Jedi Knight would have her working side-by-side with her former Master. Things didn't have to change yet.

She blocked with her forearm, sidekicked, and mimed an elbow strike to the head. Turned, and repeated. Cross block, knifehand strike, kick. Kiera allowed the movements to clear her mind, and opened herself to the Force. It didn't matter anymore that it was in the middle of the night and that she was the only one in the large gym, or that she was on her way to another mission in a war that was tearing the galaxy apart, or even that lately, Kiera felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff about to jump, and didn't know what waited for her at the bottom. It was just her and the Force, and for now, that was all that mattered.

Keira moved through kata after kata, and sunk ever deeper into the Force, until with a blast of cold air that almost blew her off her feet she emerged out of the meditation trance. She wasn't on the Republic Cruiser anymore.

No, she corrected herself. I'm having a Force Vision.

Reassured, Kiera took in her surroundings. She stood in the middle of an arena, surrounded on all sides by high stone-gray walls with a shield meant to keep whatever happened to be in the arena inside. Cold wind blew auburn hair into her eyes, and she pulled it way, trying to get a clearer picture of where she was. Beyond the shield, seats rose even higher, filled with beings of all sorts, jeering and placing bets. A chill ran through the young Jedi, and it wasn't just from the cold. This is a Gladiator ring.

Blaster fire sounded behind her, and Kiera whirled around. What looked like a human woman wearing red Mandalorian armor was shooting at a large creature that looked like a nightmarish cross between an arctic bird and a bear. One of the blasts hit the monster in one of its six legs, and it screeched in rage. Before the woman—girl really, Kiera could feel that the Mandalorian was younger than she was—could take advantage of the injury, the creature knocked her to the ground and darted it's head forward, beak-like mouth open for the kill. Instinctively, Kiera tried to rush forward, but she was rooted where she stood, unable to intervene.

She needn't have worried, however. The Mandalorian slid under the creature's head, ejected a vibroblade from her gauntlet, and punched the monster's throat. Blood spewed everywhere, soaking the creature's white feathers. The girl rolled away from the dying animal, picked up her blaster from where it had fallen, and sprang to her feet. The crowd roared in excitement, pumping their fists.

Kiera watched, her heart in her throat, as the girl's red helmet moved slowly back and forth. Kiera knew that she was ignoring the dying animal, and trying to peer through the dust kicked up by the fight. The Mandalorian's Force sense was on edge and ready to fight, so she thought the fight wasn't over. There was something unusual about her, though. She was battle ready, but… Kiera sucked in a breath, shocked and a little outraged. The Mandalorian didn't want to be there. The Jedi could see it, now. The girl was a prisoner, just as much as the dead creature had been.

Before Kiera could calm herself down, she sensed a dark presence that caused her hair to stand on end. Straining her eyes, she could just barely see a cloaked figure in black approaching the girl from behind. Kiera tried to cry out, but the Mando was already whirling around to face the new threat. She fired, and the cloaked man—his presence was definitely male—deflected the bolts with a lightsaber. A red lightsaber. Before Kiera could fully take in the fact that the man was a Dark Jedi, he was on the offense. Dodging the girl's hopeless attempts to kill him, he kicked her in the head, dislodging her helmet. The force behind the kick spun the Mandalorian around and to her knees.

Kiera's eyes met the girl's, and she felt a chill run up her spine. The red armored Mando had blue eyes—eyes that Kiera saw every time she looked in the mirror. The shape of her jaw looked familiar, too. The rest of the girl's face, however, was a stranger's. While Kiera only had a split second to take it in, she knew she would remember that face for the rest of her life. The girl was frightened, with short dirty blond hair plastered to her forehead with sweat and a small nose, the girl wasn't that pretty, but not what one would expect to see behind the T-visor of a Mando helmet.

The Dark Jedi moved, and the spell was broken. Adrenaline flooded Kiera's system as he raised his lightsaber for the final blow, but the Jedi could do nothing. Horror filled her as the young woman's body fell to the gray, dust covered ground. The last thing Kiera saw before the Force drew her back to the present was an emblem on the girl's armored shoulder—a red shield bearing the silhouette of a flying predator holding a bolt of lightning in its talons.

Kiera jerked back to the here and now, on her hands and knees, trembling. Blast. Slowly, she sat up, and rubbed her arms, which were covered in goose bumps. The young woman had never had a vision that intense, that real, before. What does it mean? Kiera thought. Why would the Force show me a Mandalorian being killed by a Dark Jedi?

Kiera wasn't as strong or as skilled in the Force as most Jedi, but a Jedi did not have to be a Seer to receive visions. They came often to Kiera, at least a few times a year, but they were usually muddled or vague. She could count on one hand the times a vision felt like it had—or would—actually happen.

The Jedi gulped in the ship's recycled air, and reached for the Force, trying to calm herself. Within a minute, her breathing and heart rate had slowed, and she didn't feel so shaky. Kiera cautiously stood up, and wiped away the shoulder-length hair that had become stuck to her face. I wish I could talk to Master Trael right now, she thought. But he wouldn't appreciate me waking him up.

For a moment, she wondered if she should meditate some more, and try to make sense of the vision of the Mandalorian. A wave of exhaustion hit her, and Kiera decided it would be better to try and get some sleep. Exiting the gym, Kiera shivered. The hallway air was a few degrees cooler than the gym, and it took a minute for her to adjust. She staggered to the officers' quarters, hoping to avoid anyone on the nightshift. It would be awkward if any of the clone troopers saw one of their Jedi Generals walking barefoot down a hallway in the middle of the night, just wearing exercise clothes. Kiera was sure she looked like a zombie.

Kiera reached her temporary quarters, and tapped the sensor by the door. It slid open, and entering the room, she raised her right hand to wipe the sweat off her face, then wrinkled her nose. That didn't work well. Why did I have to forget my towel in the gym? In fact, Kiera had forgotten her water bottle and shoes, too. She'd have to go back and get them later.

The Jedi wiped her sweaty hand on her pants, and glanced at the wall chrono. Twenty-seven minutes past midnight. The mission briefing was at 0800. Kiera grumbled to herself. "Tonight of all nights, I have to have trouble sleeping. Exercise and meditation was supposed to help, not cause problems." She knew that exercise wasn't the best option when she wanted to sleep, but over the past couple of days she just couldn't stay still. She had too much on her mind. And this latest Force vision just made matters worse. Sure, she was tired now, but she had more to think about.

Why did the Force show me this? What I saw… does it have something to do with the coming mission? Master Trael and Kiera hadn't been briefed while on Coruscant, because the Masters wanted the entire team assembled first. All Kiera knew was that they were supposed to rescue some Jedi that had been captured by the Separatists. But what does that have to do with a Mandalorian and a Gladiator Ring? Or does the Vision have nothing to do with the mission at all? That was the thing about Force Visions; just because the Force showed you something, didn't mean it would make sense right away. Or sometimes, ever.

Not bothering to turn the lights on, Kiera padded across the room, her bare feet against the dull gray carpet. The room was small, and occupied by a bed, dresser, and a desk. It was dark, illuminated only by the light of Hyperspace outside the window. In a couple of hours, they would drop out of Hyperspace to pick up the commando squad assigned to the mission. She hoped she would be awake enough then. Kiera stripped, glad to be rid of her sweaty, stinky exercise clothes, and jumped in the shower.

Kiera turned the knob to 'sonic.' While she preferred water, the ultrasonic vibrations would clean her without getting her wet, and Kiera didn't enjoy going to sleep with a damp head. After her shower, Kiera put some sleep clothes on and tossed her dirty clothes into the hamper. Jumping into bed, she curled up between the military-issue sheets, and promised herself she would do some research on Mandalorians tomorrow during breakfast. Hopefully, tomorrow would be better than tonight had been.

~#~

A/N: This is my first time writing Star Wars, although I have 'dabbled' in this fandom ever since my dad showed me and my siblings "The Phantom Menace" in grade school. I do wish he had started with "A New Hope," though. :P I have a lot of ideas for these characters, and hope to reach Order 66 and beyond. I'm going to try to write a chapter a month, so if I don't update for a while, feel free to bug me. I wouldn't mind a beta reader to bounce ideas off of, especially if they know Mandalorian and soldier/war culture. I might need a little help keeping things realistic in those areas.

There will eventually be romance, but there won't be any 'detailed' sex scenes anywhere. That being said, the T rating is mostly for violence, profanity of the SW kind, and adult content. Real life stuff that you'd find in a war. And hey, things get interesting when you put clones, Jedi, and Mandos in a blender!

Any feedback would be most welcome!