Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.10.5

It took destroying two of the Separatist cruisers, multiple gunships runs to Windu's cruiser, and more than a few reckless stunts, but Obi-Wan managed to salvage about two hundred clones as well as Master Windu before they had to retreat. His medical unit got to work on the injured, but it wasn't the injuries that were tragic but the casualties. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done about that.

Not long into the hyperspace jump back to Coruscant, Obi-Wan found Windu sitting by himself one of the hangars. He knocked on the wall so as to not surprise him, but Windu hardly acknowledged his presence. Obi-Wan decided not to take it personally.

"I've told the rest of the Council about what happened," he said quietly, approaching him. "They don't think it would be wise to send more troops to Corellia until the Separatists leave."

"If they leave," Windu corrected him darkly, still recovering from the trauma.

Well, I wasn't planning on including the worst case scenario, but yes, he thought to himself. "If the coast clears, we'll send out a search team to see if we can find their bodies. Until then, we have orders to return to stay away from the Corellian system." Obi-Wan didn't need to specify which bodies.

Windu nodded, but still didn't look at him. The younger Jedi Master took that as a cue that the conversation was over, and he turned to leave the hangar. Windu didn't stop him, but just kept staring out into space.

He felt entirely responsible for their deaths. He knew of a common saying, not encouraged by the Jedi but not unknown either: 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.' Windu indeed felt shame. This wasn't the first time the Separatists had employed this tactic, even if they had doubled their forces this time. Last time, it had lead to the loss of their hyperdrives and a significant portion of their troops. Now it had lead to the loss of two Jedi, a Knight and a Master, and all but a fraction of their forces. Not to mention, they were currently down three cruisers.

The smart thing to do would have been to start thinking of ways to avoid it happening again, but how could they prevent themselves from falling into traps like this? They couldn't just not go on missions, or send out scouts to every battlefield, hoping that the delay wouldn't cost them the fight. If Dooku could accurately predict the Republic's movements, then how did they counter that? Just...send more cruisers on every mission? That was too impractical.

No, there had to be a better way to minimize casualties and get back ahead of the Separatists. If they kept doing this, and the Jedi kept failing to counter it successfully, they would lose the Clone War after four years of managing to sustain.

...or was this a tactic? Windu thought hard, wracking his memory for anything he could recollect from the first time. The Inquisitor had led that particular mission for the Separatists and she was dead. From what Windu had seen on the night she died, she and Dooku weren't exactly friends, so the reemployment of the ambush wasn't out of sentiment.

The one thing that had come out of that fight was Skywalker's change in mentality. He had gone from skeptical about the Inquisitor being Tano to absolutely sure that she wasn't, unless Windu had read him wrong. While it was a great Separatist victory, that day had been more about sending a message than the fight.

If that was the case, then what message was Dooku sending now? What hidden threat was underlying this attack? As he tried to come up with an answer, though, the ship lurched, jumping out of hyperspace. They were already back.

Windu sighed, knowing he needed to board a gunship so he could go back to the surface. He walked away, intending to find Kenobi but stopping dead in his tracks when it hit him.

They were back already. Corellia wasn't that far away from Coruscant, especially compared to some of the other places Dooku could have attacked. In face, Corellia was a Core World and a significantly close neighbor to Coruscant.