Promise - Anakin Skywalker

.28

Ella's feet thumped on to the grimy metal roof of General Grievous's secret listening station. Anakin, their elite squad of clone troopers, and R3 landed right after her. All around them antennas, satellite dishes, and heavy artillery jutted out of the spherical station.

It just so happened that the search for R2-D2 had lead them there. She was happy to get R2 back, of course, but mainly overjoyed to have Anakin's stress reduced significantly. His bad moods were not fun.

This was not a rescue mission. The Council was strictly opposed to rescue missions. She'd learned that the hard way a few weeks ago. Technically, they were supposed to be destroying the listening station. But why not kill two birds with one stone, right?

She felt a coldness in the Force that made her blood boil. It was reminiscent of the storms of Hoth - but not temperatures. No, it was reminiscent of grief, of loss.

Grievous.

Anakin, feeling the chill as well, put a hand on her shoulder. She'd vowed to get revenge on Grievous the day he met her, he hadn't forgotten. "Don't be stupid," he said firmly.

Ella rolled her eyes. "You have such a way with words," she muttered sarcastically.

"I don't want you to get hurt," Anakin said sharply, "this is serious."

She nodded, "You've got nothing to worry about."

"I hope so," he replied before ramming his lightsaber into the thick steel. Ella cringed at the loud sound.

Then, once the hole was opened, they simply hopped through it. Anakin casually went first.

Ella followed him inside, and they continued forward. She was nervous and could feel her hands shaking.

They came across a control box with an outlet. Anakin's eyes shifted to R3. A disgusted look came across his face. "Pull up a map, R3."

"He hasn't done anything wrong yet," Ella reminded him.

Surprisingly, R3 pulled up a map projection on his first try. Ella gave Anakin a look before focusing on the map.

"The reactor is here," Captain Rex pointed out.

Anakin was the first to respond. "You use the explosives on the reactor, gravity will do the rest," he ordered the clones, taking off his backpack. He tossed it to Ella.

"Sir, where are you going?" One of the clones asked warily.

"- Just... having a look around, that's all," Anakin replied. He'd already begun to walk off.

Ella smiled and shook her head. "Hope you find R2," she said.

She led the squadron in the opposite direction from Anakin to the reactor room. They wandered the corridors, desperate to find where it was. She couldn't feel anything through the Force, her mind was too clouded by the feeling that lingered.

"R3, could you maybe help me out a little?" Ella called to behind her. "I can't remember which way to the reactor-"

"Commander, the droid isn't with us..." Captain Rex said.

Ella whirled around and scowled. "He was just behind us, though." She sighed and jogged back in the other direction to find the droid. She did not have time for this.

R3 rolled right up to her as she turned a corner. "R3! Where were you?!" Ella yelled, throwing her hands in the air. The droid simply ignored her and rolled passed to join back with the squadron.

They'd walked a bit farther on, but were stopped. A ray shield bollocked their advancement. Ella sighed once more. "R3, can you get this down?"

"That might take a while," snorted one of the troopers.

Suddenly, they heard marching echoing off the walls. Ella's stomach dropped. She looked from the source of the marching to the squadron to R3 who turned the outlet back and forth, still not able to open the ray shield.

"C'mon R3..." Ella urged, reaching for her lightsaber. The troopers began to reach for their blasters and move into formation. "We've got limited time here!"

"Time's up," Captain Rex said as a group of droids came around a corner.

"Keep going, R3," Ella ordered, right before the battle broke out. She rushed to the front lines and ignited both lightsabers.

Ella blocked shots fired at R3. She absorbed some with her sabers, and sent a few flying back at the droid army. Rebounding shots took up time and like Captain Rex had said, time was up.

The larger, more skillful droids came matching up the corridor behind them. "Droid poppers, now!" Ella shouted over the sound of shots fired.

Obeying her, two troopers reached into their backpacks, each pulling out a small metal ball. They tossed them towards the droid lines. The balls were so small that they rolled unnoticed, but their destruction capability was massive. 

With a loud zap, every single droid dropped dead to the ground from an electric shockwave sent through them. Even dead, they still had sparks lighting up their entire bodies.

After one last check, Ella extinguished both of her lightsabers. Suddenly, she froze. Her eyes widened and she whirled around. The usual warmth of the light side of the Force was greatly disrupted by a chilling darkness. And it was right behind her.